Damn American Culture, It’s All About The ‘Latino’ Vote

May 31, 2007 | Filed Under Constitution, Democrats/Leftists, Foreign Policy, Islam, Islamofascism, Media Bias, Publius Contributor, Security/Safety, Society/Culture, Uncategorized, Warner Todd Huston | No Comments

-By Warner Todd Huston

Michael Gerson of the Council on Foreign Relations, and the one time “conscience of the White House”, presents the perfect it’s-all-about-winning stance that some Republicans of the Karl Rove wing of the GOP adheres to in this current amnesty for illegals conflict. The idea is that if the GOP is seen as responsible for letting illegals become automatic citizens with little impediment to their attaining that status this will make these immigrants grateful enough to vote Republican and secure a GOP electoral victory for the foreseeable future.

Gerson’s rationale can be seen in his Washington Post article of May 25th, but, unfortunately, Gerson’s is both a cynical and unsafe stance to take. Cynical because it reduces the whole episode to be about nothing but getting votes and unsafe because it is a self-destructive, society destroying move to make the argument into a mere vote mongering scheme.

Gerson’s column starts off with a lament about “anti-immigrant sentiments” in 1882 and goes on to finger point at a current “certain kind of conservative” that we have today who he imagines must be just as racist as our hundred twenty-five year-old kin ostensibly were.

Interestingly, Gerson is all ready to cite a one hundred twenty-five year-old history where it concerns his perception of lurking racism but ignores the only 21 year-old history that figures far more prominently in this debate born of Reagan’s great 1986 amnesty mistake. Few of the requirements and restrictions asked of illegals during the ‘86 Reagan mistake were ever realized, yet we are expected now to assume that new requirements will be honored with today’s efforts?

Fool me once…
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Immigration: Solutions, Not Excuses

May 31, 2007 | Filed Under Democrats/Leftists, Immigration/Immigrants, Media Bias, Publius Contributor, Security/Safety, Selwyn Duke, Society/Culture, Uncategorized | No Comments

By Selwyn Duke

One frailty of man is that he is very adept at finding excuses to justify laziness and irresponsibility. There’s no point helping people because everyone is just out for himself anyway. Why study or work? I mean, no one is going to give me a break. I won’t take care of myself because you’ve got to die of something. We can’t deport 12-20 million illegal aliens.

I could point out that the word “can’t” never used to be in the American vocabulary. I could mention that members of the “can’t” set find it entirely possible to tax 100 million people and then transfer the money in hand-outs to 80 million others. Some of them even aspire to control the health care of 300 million Americans through government. Why, their ambitions just seem to grow with the size of the big government scheme.

There are two truths here. First, if ancient Egyptians could build the pyramids, if ancient Chinese constructed the Great Wall, we can deport any number of invaders and keep them out.

The second truth is that we don’t have to.
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Democrats Don’t Care About “The People”

May 30, 2007 | Filed Under Congress, Constitution, Democrats/Leftists, Publius Contributor, Security/Safety, Society/Culture, The Law, Uncategorized, Warner Todd Huston | No Comments

-By Warner Todd Huston

Now, some of you who are familiar with my past work might be a bit taken aback at the title of this piece. I usually don’t use such uncivil language, preferring instead to let the reader draw his own conclusions. However, after seeing the points I have to offer today, it is impossible to mistake the claim of the title, that the Democrat Party doesn’t care about American citizens and what they want, nor do they care much about our system of government wishing to tear it down to reflect only their own interests.

Last week, the Democrat Party tried to eliminate a decades old rule that allows the minority Party to slow the advance the bills that the opposition proposes. Since 1822 a rule called “motion to commit” has been used in Congress by members of the minority Party to force a bill back into committee before it gets a full hearing on the floors of Congress.

This “motion to commit” allows the minority Party another chance to alter a bill in committee before it goes to vote. Often for a Party in a minority status, this is the only way for them to have any say in a bill brought forth by the controlling Party.

The Democrat Congress under Nancy Pelosi, though, wanted to remove even that one chance the current Republican minority has to affect legislation by eliminating the ages old rule.
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Unexpected Benefits of Adversity

May 30, 2007 | Filed Under Family, Publius Contributor, Religion, Society/Culture, Thomas Brewton, Uncategorized | No Comments

-By Thomas E. Brewton

What seems to be a disaster may be God’s way of prodding us into action to accomplish larger goals.

Sunday’s sermon at the Black Rock-Long Ridge Congregational Church (North Stamford, Connecticut) was delivered by Rev. Kevin Butterfield. His message was the need to let go, to move out of our comfort zones and become witnesses to the unchurched, secular members of society.

It is not enough to hear and understand the Gospel; we must act upon it. We must lead kind, respectful, loving lives, and we must seek opportunities to serve those in need. People, particularly the young, must see us walk the talk. Hypocritical lip service will poison evangelical progress.

After the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus, Christianity made rapid gains in Jerusalem. Then disaster struck. Stephen was stoned to death. Christians were scattered to Judea and Samaria. Rather than the end of the church, however, this proved to be its great beginning.
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Frisco Based MSN Travel Writer Disgusted By ‘Ugly’ American Travelers

May 29, 2007 | Filed Under Democrats/Leftists, Foreign Policy, Media Bias, Publius Contributor, Security/Safety, Society/Culture, Uncategorized, War on Terror, Warner Todd Huston | No Comments

-By Warner Todd Huston

Diane Vadino, travel writer for MSN, seems to be just as disgusted by Americans who travel abroad as those foreigners whom she quotes in hers titled “How American Travelers Are Viewed Abroad: The U,K.”. Vadino revels in the “ugly American” stereotype and seeks out all the Brits she can find to validate her point. She even “apologizes” to an Iraqi for the evil of U.S. foreign policy on her visit to England.

In what woefully promises to be the “first in a series”, Vadino wonders, “Which affects British perceptions more: Stereotypes of the ‘ugly American’ or our country’s foreign policy? Or is something else at play?”

I can only imagine how often Vadino will say how much we are hated because of our foreign policy in this series, but whatever is to come this first segment is chock full of hating Americans by Brits… even as they are happy to eat our fast food, watch our movies and listen to our music not to mention take our money.

Vadino leads with the “ugly American” example (MSN even supplying the quintessential “ugly American” photo to accompany the article), recounting how we are loud, brash, stupid and annoying when we visit other countries. Yet, as she leads with all this negativity, she then turns around and says that this “unflattering view appears to be in the minority”, at least among the British people she spoke with.
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Hawaiian Supreme court to Say if Bloggers are Journalists

May 29, 2007 | Filed Under Publius Contributor, Society/Culture, The Law, Uncategorized, Warner Todd Huston | No Comments

-By Warner Todd Huston

Another test of whether Bloggers should be considered journalists or not is soon coming up in Hawaii. At issue is whether or not a Blogger there should be forced to turn over her sources for a story she wrote on a questionable land deal.

A lawyer trying to get an Internet writer to testify and turn over notes for a court case says Web bloggers shouldn’t have the same rights as mainstream reporters.

With the Internet increasingly blurring the line between “journalists” and everyone else it is only natural that we should come to a time when classifications and rulings must be made.

The courts will have to weigh how many press freedoms extend to the realm of the Internet, said University of Hawaii constitutional law professor Jon Van Dyke.
“How does she differentiate herself from the zillions of other people who use the Internet, posting things on MySpace or whatever?” he asked. “If we’re going to give special protection to the press, we should have some idea of who’s in it and who’s not.”

Absolutely the professor is right. These questions need to be answered. I often wonder myself just when what I write here on the Internet might serve to drag me into court for one reason or another. I get enough hate mail and threats of court action as it is and the legal limbo is a bit off-putting.

… not that this will deter me, naturally.
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Exporting Inflation to China

May 29, 2007 | Filed Under Economy/Finances, Foreign Policy, Publius Contributor, Security/Safety, Society/Culture, Thomas Brewton, Uncategorized | No Comments

-By Thomas E. Brewton

Our failure to maintain a sound currency guarantees a trade imbalance with China and threatens a repetition of the stagflation of the 1970s.

Republican and Democratic politicians, through ignorance of economics or sheer perversity, have for three quarters of a century pursued Federal spending programs that foment inflation, which makes domestic goods uncompetitive with foreign products. As long as foreign goods are cheaper than domestic manufactures, imports will continue to take a big share of the market.

Reacting to job losses, rising costs of living, and other economic dislocations, liberals (and too many conservatives) hypocritically blame China and other countries for exporting too much to us.

Liberal socialist Senator Charles Schumer and RINO Senator Lindsay Graham have led the growing parade of protectionists who cudgel Treasury Secretary Paulson for his failure to impose more trade restrictions on China and to obtain Beijing’s agreement to allow the yuan to float against the dollar.

The culprit, however, is not China, but our failure to maintain a sound dollar.
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The Conservative Mind - A Must Read For All Americans

May 29, 2007 | Filed Under Constitution, Democrats/Leftists, Education, GOP, Publius Contributor, Security/Safety, Society/Culture, The Law, Uncategorized | No Comments

The Wall Street Journal’s Opinion Journal has a great piece that all Americans should read to understand American Conservative theory, how it operates, what it posits and how it came to its conclusions.

If you are at all curious about why American Conservatism is different from European conservatives, read this piece. Even if you aren’t, this piece will give you a firmer foundation of what it is that American Conservatism is.

It might help you find some other reading material that might help you in your search for the true American Conservatism. It also shows how utterly bereft of intelligent thought is the American left… which is always good to have pointed out!

The Conservative Mind

The American right is a cauldron of debate; the left isn’t.

BY PETER BERKOWITZ
Tuesday, May 29, 2007 12:01 a.m. EDT

The left prides itself on, and frequently boasts of, its superior appreciation of the complexity and depth of moral and political life. But political debate in America today tells a different story.

On a variety of issues that currently divide the nation, those to the left of center seem to be converging, their ranks increasingly untroubled by debate or dissent, except on daily tactics and long-term strategy. Meanwhile, those to the right of center are engaged in an intense intra-party struggle to balance competing principles and goods.
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Happy Memorial Day

May 28, 2007 | Filed Under Uncategorized | No Comments

We take the rest of the day off for our Memorial Day observance…

Remembering What Memorial Day Is For

May 28, 2007 | Filed Under Frank Salvato, Patriotism, Publius Contributor, Society/Culture, Uncategorized | 1 Comment

-By Frank Salvato

As we enter into the Memorial Day weekend, many people are preparing their families for a weekend of fun, sunshine, the celebration of the unofficial beginning of Summer, BBQs, picnics and the like. Many people will be traveling to see family and friends, taking the opportunity that an extended weekend affords, to spend time with the ones they value most in life. While all of these actions can be considered “traditional,” they miss the mark on what Memorial Day is all about and miss it by a country mile.

The origin of Memorial Day centers on the American Civil War. This day, originally set at May 30th of every year, was at first an observance of those who died fighting for the Union cause.

One scholar, Professor David Blight of Yale University’s history department, cites the first Memorial Day as having taken place in 1865 in Charleston, South Carolina. On this day, according to Professor Blight, liberated slaves and Union soldiers gathered on the grounds of a former Confederate prison camp, grounds that also served as a mass grave for Union soldiers. A solemn parade ensued culminating in the singing of patriotic songs, a picnic and a remembrance of those who gave their lives to secure the unity of the Union.

In this long standing tradition, Memorial Day has come to symbolize a day when Americans of every political and ideological stripe break from their everyday lives in order to give thanks to those who have died taking up arms to afford our nation the freedoms and liberties that most of the time we all take for granted.
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Our country, Wrong or Right – Honor Whether We Agree Or Not

May 27, 2007 | Filed Under Patriotism, Publius Contributor, Society/Culture, Uncategorized, Warner Todd Huston | 1 Comment

Memorial Day, 2007

-By Warner Todd Huston

Memorial Day always seems so much more poignant when we have our soldiers in harm’s way as we have these last several years in Afghanistan, Iraq and around the world. As we set our minds to remember the sacrifices of past American soldiers we must also think of those who now serve in this perilous time.

The one thing that ties them all together, living and passed, is the righteousness of their service. One of our most famous Naval Heroes was Stephen Decatur, hero of the War of 1812 and a man who defeated the Barbary Pirates. It was Decatur who raised his glass to his country with the toast, “Our country right or wrong”. Decatur’s words have echoed from his time to ours among our soldiers, those words making a clarion call to the duty and the honor with which our soldiers view their service.

We have also had other days when the reasons our soldiers face a dangerous foe are controversial among the citizens of this great country. Every war has its detractors at home and the conflicts in which we are involved today are no different in that respect.
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Mitt Romney’s skeletons in the closet

May 27, 2007 | Filed Under Elections, GOP, President, Publius Contributor, Uncategorized, Warner Todd Huston | 3 Comments

I am now going to formally come out and say that I don’t want Mitt Romney as the candidate for the GOP nomination for the Presidency. His religion quite aside, he has proven that he is a flip-flopper extraordinary and simply will say anything to get elected.

The abortion flip flop (his acclaimed “considered” change of heart? Just can’t believe it) and his outright lie that he was a hunter “all his life” are just the latest. But, the Boston Globe has some more that we should all consider VERY carefully before making this hollow, unprincipled man our nominee.

No self respecting conservative should vote for this man when there are so many other sensible choices..
______

By Joan Vennochi, Globe Columnist | May 27, 2007

BLAME IT on his cheatin’ heart. It’s divorce: Mitt Romney v. the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.

The former Massachusetts governor paints a picture of irreconcilable differences, but that’s not the whole story.

Some guys break up via e-mail. Romney chose a television ad as the way to cut ties with the state he two-timed with a hotter date — a White House run.
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A Classic Bad Republican/Good Environmentalist Story - Despite Facts

May 27, 2007 | Filed Under Congress, Democrats/Leftists, Global Warming, Media Bias, Publius Contributor, Science, Security/Safety, Society/Culture, Uncategorized, Warner Todd Huston | No Comments

-By Warner Todd Huston

Reuters wants us to know that Republican Senators who block honors for “environmentalist pioneers” are bad but they don’t want to just come right out and say so, of course. So, they write a story that presents the environut in question as akin to a saint and the Republican Senator as somehow “arbitrary” and mean. This particular story from Reuters is a classic example of advocacy on the sly by presenting the “wrong” side of the issue as the uninformed or mean protagonist to the innocent and well meaning good guys.

In question is an honorific for what many imagine is the Godmother of the environut movement, Rachel Carson, the woman responsible for destroying the reputation of DDT, a life-saving insecticide that once helped control a killer called malaria all over the world. A resolution to honor Carson’s 100th birthday was to be introduced by Maryland’s Democrat Senator Ben Cardin, but Cardin put the brakes on his plans when it became clear that Senator Tom Coburn (R, OK) would use Senate rules to oppose the effort.

Reuters sets the subtle tone of chastisement for the Republican Senator with the title of their piece: Senator blocks honor for environmental pioneer. Eeeevil, mean Senator! Bad, bad man. And attacking a nice “pioneer”, yet!

The first two paragraphs present Senator Coburn as some lone man (obviously a nut, eh?) who “believes” that Rachel Carson was wrong in her “pioneering” environmentalist work.
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AP: Advocating for High Gas Taxes

May 26, 2007 | Filed Under Congress, Democrats/Leftists, Economy/Finances, Media Bias, Publius Contributor, Society/Culture, Uncategorized, Warner Todd Huston | No Comments

-By Warner Todd Huston

The Associated Press imagines itself a “news” organization. Ordinarily, “news” does not convey opinion, but only facts… at least that’s the ideal. That being the general understanding of what comprises news, it is interesting when we internet pundits and bloggers find odd bits of opinion encased inside any particular AP “news” story. But, it is really odd to find a story that is predicated almost entirely on opinion. Such is the case with the AP’s ”Frozen federal tax on gasoline leading to more toll roads, higher state fuel taxes”, a story that bemoans the fact that Federal gasoline taxes have stayed stagnant for 14 years.

Why is the AP worried about stagnant Federal gas taxes? Because the “falling” revenue prevents high spending on roads and bridges by the states. The AP worries that “A cash crunch is fast approaching for the government trust fund that pays to build and repair highways and bridges” and broadly hints that the taxes must be raised to save our roads.

The AP is worried that the roads “Trust fund” is too small for our roads, “trust fund” being a euphemism for Taxes, of course, trying to make it sound like it is something other than what it is. This story is filled with all sorts of such euphemisms. Words like “underinvest” (meaning not using enough tax money), “crisis” (meaning no one has raised taxes), and “looming shortage” (again meaning not enough tax raising going on) fill the story.

Amusingly, while other AP stories chronicle the need to raise fuel CAFE standards to “stop global warming”, this story cries that higher gas prices causes motorists to drive less resulting in lower tax receipts for the so-called “trust fund” and calls that fact a disastrous “shortfall”.
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Joe McCarthy: Gone but certainly not forgotten

May 26, 2007 | Filed Under Congress, Constitution, Democrats/Leftists, Entertainment, History, Media Bias, Publius Contributor, Security/Safety, Society/Culture, Uncategorized | No Comments

-By Michael M. Bates

It would be remiss of me not to note that this month marks 50 years since the death of Senator Joe McCarthy. What would Commies, pinkos, socialists, leftists, liberals, and their lackeys and handmaidens have done for the past half century if they didn’t have old Joe to kick around?

Even after all this time, the Wisconsin Republican is in the news. Recently, the Los Angeles Times ran an obituary for Bernard Gordon, described by the newspaper as “one of the younger screenwriters blacklisted during the McCarthy era.” Mr. Gordon, we’re told, was “unable to find work because of the blacklist.”

There was a blacklist, but it existed a long time before McCarthy jumped on the anti-Communist bandwagon. The House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC) investigated Red infiltration in Hollywood and called “the Hollywood Ten” of writers, directors and producers to testify in 1947. McCarthy started his crusade against Communism three years later.

Bernard Gordon was subpoenaed by HUAC in 1952, but was never called to testify. That was also the year of his first produced screenplay. So did he actually find himself out of work because of the blacklist?
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Immigration Reform Begins in Mexico

May 25, 2007 | Filed Under Congress, Constitution, Crime, Democrats/Leftists, Economy/Finances, Frank Salvato, Immigration/Immigrants, Publius Contributor, Society/Culture, The Law, Uncategorized | No Comments

-By Frank Salvato

As the debate over the issue of immigration reform rages, we would all be wise to examine, honestly, the reasons why more Mexicans emigrate to the United States than die in Mexico each year. While the common argument is that they come here seeking work, the true root of the problem is that the Mexican government has allowed corruption to reach such alarming levels – in both government and business – that the average Mexican cannot survive within the borders of his own country.

The above statement is not an exaggeration. In 2006, 559,000 Mexican nationals emigrated from Mexico to the United States while the Mexican Demographics Agency reported a total of 501,000 deaths among Mexico’s population. The question that begs to be asked regarding the massive emigration is why?
Mexico is a country rich with natural resources. With its wealth of petroleum, silver, copper, gold, lead, zinc, natural gas and timber, it has all the resources a country would need to keep it from becoming a destitute Third World country.

Further, the median age in Mexico is 25.6 years of age and the literacy rate for the total population is at 92.2%. This demographic, combined with their abundant natural resources and central location in the Western Hemisphere, are a perfect catalyst for an employment sector that would – under normal circumstances – compete on the First World economic stage.
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Why They Won’t Assimilate

May 25, 2007 | Filed Under Congress, Constitution, Democrats/Leftists, Immigration/Immigrants, Publius Contributor, Security/Safety, Selwyn Duke, Society/Culture, Uncategorized | No Comments

By Selwyn Duke

In the piece I recently wrote about the threat posed by immigration, both illegal and legal, I mentioned that today’s immigrants are not assimilating into our culture. And, as I pointed out, since Ted Kennedy’s Immigration Reform Act of 1965 has created a situation in which 85 percent of our immigrants hail from the Third World and Asia, this portends the destruction of the western civilization that has given us everything we hold dear, from our freedom to our prosperity.

With Moslems and Mexicans on the march from Maine to Monterey, this should be obvious. Yet, the gravity of this situation still eludes many, sedated as they are with bread and circuses. So let’s discuss assimilation.

Assimilation is not a process magically initiated upon setting foot on American terra firma. Rather, it only occurs when one or both of two conditions are met: The foreign elements must have a desire to assimilate or the host nation must place pressure on them to do so. Unfortunately, neither is the case today because both immigrants and native-born Americans are far different than they once were.
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Media Ignores Carter’s Lie in Quote Flap, Focuses on ‘Bush is Worst’ Instead

May 24, 2007 | Filed Under Democrats/Leftists, History, Media Bias, President, Publius Contributor, Security/Safety, Society/Culture, Uncategorized, War on Terror, Warner Todd Huston | No Comments

-By Warner Todd Huston

The left never ceases to amaze and confound an honest man. As we have seen reported on Newsbusters, Jimmy Carter called President George W. Bush the “worst” president in history then lied about it claiming that his words were “careless or misinterpreted.” Carter was seen on the Today Show trying to get the nation to imagine he didn’t really say what he said attempting to make it seem as if the Newspaper that first reported his outrageous, intemperate language had somehow gotten it wrong. In essence, Carter was trying to make it out as if the paper was doing the lying, not him.

The newspaper, however, can prove without the shadow of a doubt that it is Carter who is lying. He did say what was first reported and there is no “carelessness” or “misinterpretation” over his words.

The fact that a former president is caught in a bald faced lie should be big news. You’d think the MSM would be all over the lies of a man who lost his office in one of the biggest landslide elections in history. Yet, here we have Editor & Publisher compounding Carter’s lies by assisting him to avert the subject from his own culpability and to reinforce the “Bush is worst” theme Carter was trying to develop in the first place by obfuscating the fact that Carter was caught in a straight out lie.

So, apparently as far as the MSM is concerned Carter’s lies aren’t the story. That Bush is still evil is. Which begs the question: are there any immoral acts a Democrat can do that will bring condemnation from the MSM?

Obviously not.
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Liberal Pyromaniacs

May 24, 2007 | Filed Under Budget, Congress, Constitution, Democrats/Leftists, Economy/Finances, Publius Contributor, Society/Culture, Thomas Brewton, Uncategorized | No Comments

-By Thomas E. Brewton

Liberals behave like a pyromaniac who sets fire to his own house, then is angered because the rest of the family try to salvage their possessions and escape from the blaze.

Like the pyromaniac, liberals feed the destructive flames of inflation with deficit spending on new welfare programs and the mandated monsters, Social Security and Medicare. Then they become indignant when rational investors take steps to hedge against liberal-created inflation.

A example of this irrationality is Representative Barney Frank’s current committee hearings. In the May 20th edition of the New York Times (Sound and Fury Over Private Equity) reporter Andrew Ross Sorkin observes, Despite all the recent hand-wringing over the perils of the boom in private equity, the hearing, titled “Private Equity’s Effects on Workers and Firms,” demonstrated just how little lawmakers understand the buyout business.

The worldwide wave of corporate takeovers and consolidations would not be possible without the massive and continuous debasement of the dollar. It is driven, not by greed, but by fear of catastrophic loss of dollar purchasing power.

Unending Federal deficit spending, funded by the Fed’s creation of dollars to purchase Treasury debt, has left the world awash in excess dollars and created an expectation of major dollar devaluation.
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L.A.Times: Opinion Should Be ‘Elite Enterprise’, Bloggers Just ‘Yammering’, ‘Like Finger-Painting’

May 23, 2007 | Filed Under Democrats/Leftists, Publius Contributor, Society/Culture, Uncategorized, Warner Todd Huston | No Comments

-By Warner Todd Huston

Sometimes you read something by a member of the MSM that is just so elitist, someone whose arrogance is so amazing, that it is hard to believe it was written by a member of a democratic society.

We MSM watchdogs love to poke our fingers in the eyes of the homogeneously leftist, elitists in the media establishment assailing them for their pervasive assumptions of their own superiority. We don’t often, however, get to see them come right out and say that they truly do think they are better and smarter then the rest of us mere commoners. Usually they are sly enough not to show their arrogance so obviously, leaving it unsaid but broadly hinted at. But, once in a while their egos get the better of them and they let that upturned nose snort just enough at the rest of us to let us know where our “place” in life is.

This is one of those times.
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