Don’t You Hate it When SUVs Kill People? The AP Sure Does

November 24, 2007 | Filed Under 00Publius Contributor, Democrats/Leftists, Energy, Global Warming, Media Bias, News, Society/Culture, Uncategorized, Warner Todd Huston | 1 Comment

-By Warner Todd Huston

Here is the kind of lapse in logic that drives me crazy (no pun intended). The AP today has a story headline that just makes me cringe: “SUV plunges into canal, killing 7 people inside.” Now here is the problem, HOW did an SUV go about killing these poor people? Did it unpark itself, drive across town, slam open its doors and gobble up some folks waiting at a bus stop and then drive them into a canal? Should we be wary of every SUV on the street for fear that it may kidnap us only to drive us off cliffs or into canals? Or is it more likely, AP, that a driver was responsible for killing the passengers INSIDE the SUV? Isn’t it a tad more likely that the SUV did not kill anyone, but that the actions of the human at its wheel was the culprit?

Here is the entire AP report as it appears on MSNBC:

SUV plunges into canal, killing 7 people inside

Four children, baby among dead in Central California; 2 passengers survive

KETTLEMAN CITY, Calif. – A sport utility vehicle ran off a Central California road and landed upside down in a canal, killing seven people inside, including four children and a baby, authorities said Sunday.

The SUV was going more than 55 mph Saturday night near Kettleman City, about 50 miles south of Fresno, when the driver, Sergia Olvera, 31, lost control, said Officer Joseph Miller of the California Highway Patrol.

The vehicle ran up a dirt embankment, rolled and landed upside down in the canal with 5 feet of water, Miller said.

“There were no child seats in the vehicle, and there was no evidence that any seat belts were used,” Miller said.

Survivor Dalia Olvera, 23, had moderate injuries, and 10-year-old Esmerelda Pompa was not injured, Miller said.

All of the victims were from Earlimart, about 50 miles from the site of the accident.

One wonders if the AP has a good hate on against SUVs with this sort of silly headline? But, whatever the case, it is an illogical way to write a story. However, it fits with their other often employed phraseology when talking about “gun violence,” doesn’t it? Where it seems that guns themselves are to blame for the killing instead of the hands holding it?

Anyway, it is just another example of the lapse in logic so often seen among the denizens of the MSM.

But, one thing I have to say. I will look askance at every SUV I pass from now on. I’d hate to be driven into a canal to my death!

Bad SUV…. BAD, BAD SUV!

Be the One to Thank God

November 24, 2007 | Filed Under 00Publius Contributor, Family, Religion, Society/Culture, Thomas Brewton, Uncategorized | Comments Off

-By Thomas E. Brewton

Occasionally people are aware that there is more to Thanksgiving than stuffing a turkey and themselves at the dinner table.

In Sunday’s sermon at Black Rock-Long Ridge Congregational Church (North Stamford, Connecticut), Pastor Steve Treash’s text was Luke 17:11-19:

Now on his way to Jerusalem, Jesus traveled along the border between Samaria and Galilee. As he was going into a village, ten men who had leprosy met him. They stood at a distance and called out in a loud voice, “Jesus, Master, have pity on us!”

When he saw them, he said, “Go, show yourselves to the priests.” And as they went, they were cleansed.

One of them, when he saw he was healed, came back, praising God in a loud voice. He threw himself at Jesus’ feet and thanked him—and he was a Samaritan.

Jesus asked, “Were not all ten cleansed? Where are the other nine? Was no one found to return and give praise to God except this foreigner?” Then he said to him, “Rise and go; your faith has made you well.”

With the Thanksgiving holiday approaching, each of us should follow the example of the leper and be the one to give thanks, praising God.

Reflect upon our many blessings, instead of lamenting what we don’t have.
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Because She’s a Woman

November 24, 2007 | Filed Under 00Publius Contributor, Democrats/Leftists, Elections, GOP, Media Bias, News, Patriotism, President, Selwyn Duke, Society/Culture, Uncategorized | Comments Off

By Selwyn Duke

It’s very easy to fall behind the times. It is for this reason that you find parents who never seem to really know what the younger generation is involved in, older folks who still act as if a hot dog should be 10 cents, and people who fight yesterday’s social battles. As to the last thing, there are those who ask if a woman can be elected president.

The real question is, can a man running against a woman be elected president?

With androgyny being the order of the day, it has often been lamented that men no longer know what is expected of them. Is being chivalrous courteous or condescending? Do I hold the door or let her roar? A similar quandary is apparent when watching the men who must run against Hillary Rodham Clinton.

When Clinton stumbled in the second to last Democrat debate, her opponents’ immediate political instincts were to attack the front-runner’s now exposed weak flank. This is what office-seekers do; it’s why the military term “campaign” is applied to political contests.

Yet almost as soon as the post-debate analysis began we heard the inevitable accusation that all and sundry were conspiring against the lone girl. The moderator, the other candidates, the butcher, baker, candlestick-maker and probably even male chauvinists beyond the grave were experiencing testosterone boil-over.
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Newspapers Are Guardians of Truth, so say ‘Journalists’

November 23, 2007 | Filed Under 00Publius Contributor, Democrats/Leftists, Media Bias, News, Society/Culture, Uncategorized, Warner Todd Huston | 1 Comment

-By Warner Todd Huston

Last Sunday, from the pen of editorial page editor of the Seattle Times James Vesely, we got a pretty good indication of why the new media of the Internet is so swiftly taking over the traditional role of the old, dead tree media. One word describes it; arrogance. It is an arrogance of the assumed supremacy of the old media and the air of entitlement that it holds dear. It is the presumption that what they write is “truth,” that newspapers are the arbiters of that truth, and that journalists are “democracy” personified and that without them we are naught but a “banana republic.” And it is the sneering, discountenance with which they look upon the reading public as the great unwashed that has finally caught up with them. However, some are beginning to notice it and unless the dead tree media realizes this truth staring them in the face, they truly are a doomed industry.

Mr. Vesely wrongly imagines that Americans are not abandoning his beloved, old media in favor of the Internet because of the failed content of the old media. Vesely imagines that people are not “willingly turning from fiber to cyber” as a “replacement of … the methodology of reporting and editing” of the old media. Vesely thinks people are only turning to the Internet because it is faster and more “modern.” He imagines that newspapers are “carefully edited” and that they speak truth and, that being true, people can’t possibly be turning away from his fellows because of content.

Here is is deluding himself. People are leaving the dead tree media in droves because they simply do not trust them anymore, their “methodology” has become corrupt and self-serving as well as ideologically homogenized all across the industry offering few avenues for differing opinion.

So, why are newspapers in decline? Amazingly, Vesley seems to imagine that the only reason newspapers are declining in circulation is because they are delivered by “a 13-year-old on a bicycle working after school.” He thinks the method of delivery is the only reason the old media is in decline.

But what about that Internet, doohickey, anyway? What does Vesely think of it? It turns out he feels it is all just “opinions” that would “befuddle the finest espionage organization” to figure out. Vesely imagines that the Internet is nothing but “rumor.”

NY Anchorman Resigns After Calling Live Show Under False Name

November 23, 2007 | Filed Under 00Publius Contributor, Democrats/Leftists, Elections, Entertainment, Media Bias, News, Society/Culture, Uncategorized, Warner Todd Huston | 1 Comment

-By Warner Todd Huston

Gary Anthony Ramsay, an anchorman for NY1 News, has resigned this week over his efforts to damage Rudy Giuliani’s bid for the White House by commenting on the Bernard Kerik situation under a false name on the air. It appears that Ramsay called into an episode of the station’s call-in show “The Call” and claimed his name was “Dalton from the Upper East Side” before going off on his rant against Giuliani associate Kerik. Looks like Mr. Ramsay couldn’t keep his journalistic integrity in force long enough to give his own name and stand by his own opinion and it has cost him his TV job.

Labeling his Nov. 19th call-in segment “a flash moment of frustration,” Ramsay let his emotions get the better of him.

Mr. Ramsay phoned “The Call,” an evening call-in show, and identified himself as Dalton, from the Upper East Side. The topic was Bernard B. Kerik, the former New York police commissioner facing a 16-count federal indictment, and the indictment’s effect on the presidential campaign of former Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani.

“So which is the real Bernie Kerik?” Mr. Ramsay asked on the show. “Is it the one who pleads not guilty before or is it the one who pleads guilty after he cuts a deal that he’s comfortable with?”

Ramsay told reporters that he was sitting at home watching the show and got “frustrated” with the callers’ comments. What struck him the most was that some callers thought this Kerik mess was instigated by Hillary Clinton operatives.

Of his lack of journalistic ethics here, Ramsay said:

Mobster Removed from Union Job Hired by New Jersey City Government

November 23, 2007 | Filed Under 00Publius Contributor, Business, Democrats/Leftists, Government, Corruption, News, Society/Culture, Uncategorized, Unions, Warner Todd Huston | Comments Off

-By Warner Todd Huston

Tony Soprano would be proud of his old home state, New Jersey. Apparently the Council members of Paramus Borough, New Jersey hired as their new borough administrator a mobster who was once cast out of his union job by the Feds.

Anthony Iacono was removed from his union job in 1996:

The monitor in 1996 removed Agathos as president of Local 69 of the Hotel Employees and Restaurant Employees International Union in Secaucus, asserting that he maintained mob ties and embezzled funds.

Yet the Paramus Borough Council said that they would hire Iacono for the $135,000 a year job even if they had bothered to look into his past.

So, you see, crime DOES pay… at least in the Soprano’s New Jersey.
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Al Taqiyya: The Islamist Terrorist Weapon of Deception

November 23, 2007 | Filed Under 00Publius Contributor, Democrats/Leftists, Foreign Policy, Frank Salvato, Islam, Islamofascism, Media Bias, Military, News, Security/Safety, Society/Culture, Uncategorized, War on Terror | Comments Off

-By Frank Salvato

Western civilization’s delinquent knowledge of the Islamic faith leaves us naïve to many of its tenets. Many among us would be hard pressed to explain the differences between the Sunni and the Shi’ite, let alone the reasons why they have remained in conflict for almost the entire existence of the Islamic faith. This delinquency in understanding Islamic culture and doctrine makes those they consider non-believers – or kafirs – vulnerable both individually and collectively. This is especially true when we examine the Islamic concept of taqiyya.

Taqiyya is defined literally as:

“Concealing or disguising one’s beliefs, convictions, ideas, feelings, opinions, and/or strategies at a time of eminent danger, whether now or later in time, to save oneself from physical and/or mental injury.”

In essence, taqiyya can be generally defined as the legitimization of deception in times of danger.

Taqiyya is alluded to in the following Quranic verse:

“Let not the believers take for friends or helpers unbelievers rather than believers: if any do that, (they) shall have no relation left with Allah except by way of precaution (“tat-taqooh”), that ye may guard yourselves (“tooqatan”) from them…” [3:28]”

In his book, al-Durr al-Manthoor Fi al-Tafsir al-Ma’athor, Jalal al-Din al-Suyuti conveys these words by one of Sunni Islam’s most respected voices, Ibn Abbas:

“al-Taqiyya is with the tongue only; he who has been coerced into saying that which angers Allah (SWT), and his heart is comfortable (i.e., his true faith has not been shaken), then (saying that which he has been coerced to say) will not harm him (at all); (because) al-Taqiyya is with the tongue only, (not the heart).”

In most every reference to taqiyya in Islam it is held that there are only a very few times when it is permissible:
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Happy Thanksgiving

November 22, 2007 | Filed Under Uncategorized | Comments Off

We here at Publius’ Forum wish all of you a happy Thanksgiving. Spend time with your family and friends, we’ll be doing the same.

God Bless.

Obama’s State Government Records Missing

November 21, 2007 | Filed Under 00Publius Contributor, Democrats/Leftists, Elections, Government, Corruption, News, President, Society/Culture, Uncategorized, Warner Todd Huston | Comments Off

-By Warner Todd Huston

The media has been on a low buzz about the fact that Hillary and Bill Clinton have made efforts to slow the release of millions of pages of documents that pertain Hillary’s actions during Bill’s White House years. What, these critics wonder, are the Clintons hiding with their reticence to release these documents? It is a good question, indeed. But, flying low under this Clinton document-gate radar is the stonewalling of a release of documents by another candidate for the Democrat Party nomination for president; Barack Obama.

While in State government here in Illinois, Barack was known as a “nice guy,” but has little to show for his years in state government. He was never particularly known by the public at large as a vocal leader and was rarely out in front of any issue. In fact, few Illinoisans even knew his name at all until he ran for the Senate seat against Alan Keyes. He was an unknown, a non-entity as far as state politics was concerned.

Yet, the Obama camp has made no effort to assist investigators to look into his state records. In fact, Senator Obama has blithely claimed that his records have been “thrown out.” Chicago columnist Lynn Sweet reports that Obama, who has called for “transparency in government” from his rivals, is not much interested in revealing his own documents.

“I was in the state Senate for eight years,” Obama said. “I had one staff person, that was what was allocated. I don’t have archivists in the state Senate. I don’t have the Barack Obama state Senate library available to me, so we had a bunch of file cabinets. I do not have a whole bunch of records from those years. Now, if there are particular documents that you are interested in, then you should let us know.” … “As I said, I didn’t have the resources to ensure that all this stuff was archived in some way . . . it could have been thrown out.”

But, the Chicago Tribune has been trying for months to get the Senator’s state papers and has met with no response from either the state of Illinois or the Obama camp. Even Tim Russert brought up the candidate’s state archives to an evasive Obama.

On the November 11th episode of Meet the Press, Russert brought up the records question.

You talked about Senator Clinton having records released from the Clinton Library regarding her experience as first lady, and yet when you were asked about, “What about eight years in the state senate of Illinois,” you said, “I don’t know.” Where, where are the—where are your records?

Obama replied that “every single piece of information, every document related to state government was kept by the state of Illinois,” but that other records do not exist.

That is a pretty convenient situation when questions of his dealings with shady businessman Tony Rezco comes into play. In fact, it is pretty convenient all around when it comes to who Obama met with and who he dealt with while in state government.

What ever the case, Obama’s own document-gate is not getting near the attention that the Clinton’s stonewalling is getting but it should get at least as much. Obama is right, of course, to say that the Clinton’s are defeating transparency in government by trying to slow or stymie investigators from looking into past records. After all, he should know from experience.

A Simple Reflection of God

November 21, 2007 | Filed Under 00Publius Contributor, Lee Culpepper, News, Society/Culture, Uncategorized | Comments Off

-By Lee Culpepper

As our day of Thanksgiving approaches, I’ve been wondering why we all possess the tendency to become so dazzled with ourselves whenever we encounter a little bit of success. Perhaps the wisdom we need to understand such foolishness lies in the biblical story about Lucifer. According to the Bible, God covered Lucifer with all sorts of precious gems and stones. He was God’s most magnificent angel. He is said to have ministered in God’s presence. As the anointed Cherub, he was the angel closest to God. Nevertheless, Lucifer’s own brilliance was simply a reflection of God’s glory. Yet, it was also Lucifer’s magnificence that led him to the pride and ambition that caused his fall.

If you are fortunate enough to have been born with natural good looks, consider how much you had to do with your appearance. Your parents and God created you. Consequently, you probably just resemble your mother and father. In addition, you likely depend on other people’s talents to design and to make the nice clothes you like to wear, which compliment whatever body type and good features you might have.

If you ever endured braces to improve your smile, did your parents or someone else pay for them? Even if you paid for them yourself, didn’t you need the orthodontist’s skill and knowledge to ensure that you were not stuck with teeth you didn’t like?

Attractive actors and entertainers often serve as the prime examples of the shallow self-importance that one’s physical appearance can inspire. How many of them have inflated images of themselves? So many entertainers manage to get involved in one crusade or the other, pontificating about social causes and usually oozing hypocritical self-righteousness. But what possesses them to feel so qualified?

Ironically, their fame and notoriety is a result of the ultimate deception. By pretending to be someone else through the roles they portray, attractive actors and actresses achieve their glory. They essentially live in a world of make believe. Furthermore, they generally rely on the talents and skills of other people to produce the scripts and characters that they, the actors, play. They also depend on other professionals to accentuate their physical appearances with make-up or cosmetic surgery. That so many entertainers have become completely deceived and smitten by the flattery and adoration of a limitless supply of naive people is a sad reality.
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Swag Bought With Embezzled Funds Goes on Auction

November 20, 2007 | Filed Under 00Publius Contributor, Business, Democrats/Leftists, Economy/Finances, Media Bias, News, Uncategorized, Unions, Warner Todd Huston | Comments Off

-By Warner Todd Huston

Well, it won’t be too much like “getting yours” in the true sense of getting something for free like most imagine of the union ethos (or lack thereof, as the case may be), but at least here is an opportunity to get for yourself some fine furs, purses and other expensive luxury items bought with union money.

Barbara Bullock of the Washington Teachers’ Union is now serving 9 years for embezzling union funds, and the $800,000 worth of brick-a-brack she bought with those ill-gotten gains are going up on the auction block to help the union recoup some of those stolen funds.

As the Washington Post reports:

The purse-obsessed Bullock spent tens of thousands on Chanel, Hermès and Judith Leiber handbags, which are estimated to sell for $500 to $800 at auction. (That’s about a quarter of their original price; ditto for the minks and jewelry.) The top lot: a 288-piece Tiffany sterling silver flatware service (Chrysanthemum pattern) purchased for $100,000-plus and estimated to sell for $25,000 to $35,000. Too much? Well, the Buccellati sterling wine cooler is expected to bring just $3,000 to $5,000. The feds also seized electronics that will sell at another auction — except for the TV that union officials kept for headquarters.

If ya want some neat-o stuff, check them out on Ebay.

If you want to get some of this stuff for free, why just run for the head position in some union or another. Apparently, it’s all the rage for union heads to steal the union blind. In fact, it may just be expected of you.
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Is Chivalry Dead in Hollywood? MSNBC Makes Fun of a Gentleman

November 20, 2007 | Filed Under 00Publius Contributor, Democrats/Leftists, Entertainment, Media Bias, News, Society/Culture, Uncategorized, Warner Todd Huston | Comments Off

-By Warner Todd Huston

On its Tabloid Tidbits blog page, MSNBC is taking potshots at both one time pinup boy Fabio and current left-wing, heartthrob George Clooney in a Hollywood smack ‘em up two fer. Now, I’m as unconcerned over the entertainment media beating up the denizens of Hollywierd as anyone else — especially when one of them is the uncouth, surly, leftist Clooney — but this one strikes me as interesting for the reason they are attacking Fabio; because of his act of chivalry. I guess entertainment reporters think it is odd, funny or execrable when a man sticks up for the virtue of a woman, now ‘a days? Sadly, it appears that acts of chivalry opens one up for ridicule in today’s Hollywood. They just can’t stand any exhibition of traditional manhood out there on the left coast.

The Tabloid Tidbits section goes for Fabio’s throat with its very first line

Nearly forgotten Fabio recently got the better of Hollywood heavyweight George Clooney, and he’s not about to let the world forget it.

“Nearly forgotten?” That was pretty uncalled for, wasn’t it? What’s more, he is obviously not “nearly forgotten” because this whole story is set against the backdrop (a little acting lingo there) of the charity work that Fabio was engaged in at the time. Obviously someone was remembering him if his fame was being lent to a charity.

So here is the story.

HEY KID!

November 20, 2007 | Filed Under 00Publius Contributor, Congress, Constitution, Democrats/Leftists, Economy/Finances, Government, Corruption, News, Society/Culture, Taxes, Uncategorized, Vince Johnson | Comments Off

-By Vince Johnson

If you are under the age of 18, listen up!

Are you aware that Congress has been borrowing vast sums of money from your future since the day you were born? In the Fall of 2007 your share of the federal debt exceeded $29,000 dollars! Your share of this debt is getting bigger every day. In September 2007 the debt ceiling was increased by $850 billion dollars and it is now at $9.8 trillion!

A huge amount of this money is being spent on questionable things like a $981 million “bridge to nowhere” in Alaska and $280 million for an indoor rainforest in Coralville, Iowa. The list of wasteful spending is unbelievably huge and you will be paying for highly questionable things like these as long as you live!

Don’t ever forget that all of this money has been borrowed from your future without your approval or consent. You will be making payments on it as soon as you get a job or have any kind of taxable income. If you do not make these payments (by paying your taxes) congress has enacted laws that allow the courts to levy large fines or have you sent to prison, or both!

Now get this straight. The act of forcing you to make payments on an debt as large as this, and incurred without your approval or consent, could be unconstitutional. It is urgent for you to find out how this matter can be brought before the Supreme Court. Ask your parents. Ask your teachers. Ask your principal. Ask a lawyer. Ask your Senators or Representative in Washington, D.C. There is nothing unreasonable about asking if it is constitutional to be forced to make payments on a horrendously excessive debt incurred without your knowledge, approval or consent.
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Mitt Romeny’s Many Flip flops on Abortion

November 19, 2007 | Filed Under 00Publius Contributor, Abortion, Elections, GOP, News, President, Security/Safety, Society/Culture, The Law, Uncategorized, Warner Todd Huston | 1 Comment

-By Warner Todd Huston

I am going to say it straight out. I cannot support Mitt Romney for President. He is not a conservative in any way whatsoever. In fact, he’s not really a Republican. He’s not a Democrat. He’s not an independent or Green. He isn’t anything. He’s a businessman. And that is the beginning and end of his “ideology.”

Mitt Romney is certainly a get-it-done type of fellow, that is beyond dispute. It is also beyond dispute that he is generally a center right kid of guy. But he has no principle that he won’t subordinate for the task at hand. He has no ideals that he won’t bend, ignore or “change his mind” on to win.

Sadly, Mitt Romney has no principles at all.

This abortion issue is the perfect example of his unprincipled desire to win. Watch this video and see how he flips and flops on the abortion issue all depending upon what he has to say to win and depending upon who he is talking to at the moment.

Like I said, Romney is certainly a guy who can get things done. No one can deny that fact. His record shows an able executive. But his is a record of building consensus on whatever is the prevailing opinion on the issue of the day, not one of leading from his own internal principles.

If this were an era in the US when we didn’t face some of the most dangerous times our country ever faced, Romney would be a fine caretaker president. If Romney should have presided over the era that Clinton did, for instance, he might have been just fine. But we are not in such a carefree era. We face some of the toughest decisions that a president will ever have to make and if we have a flip flopper like Romney, if we have a president who will preside by sticking his finger in the air for every major issue and then deciding that he, too, feels that way (just like Clinton did, by the way), well we will be in a world of hurt.

Romney is not the man for the White House in 2008. He will endanger this country just as bad as any Democrat would.

I urge any reader of this site NOT to vote for Mitt Romney. Thompson is good, Hunter is good… even Giuliani would be better than Romney (though I don’t support Rudy, either). But Romney would be a disaster for this country as well as the GOP itself.

Romney cannot be believed in anything he says as his many abortion stances prove and it isn’t just his abortion flip flops at issue. He has floated back and forth on most of the key Republican principles all his life never coming firmly and finally down on any one side. Our ideal president has been a man of strong character and leadership, not one who is led by everyone else. Romney has no character nor is he a leader, a man with strong ideas.

Vote against Mitt Romney in the GOP primary in your state.

The Dangers of DNA Research

November 19, 2007 | Filed Under 00Publius Contributor, Democrats/Leftists, Health, Media Bias, News, Society/Culture, Technology, Uncategorized, Warner Todd Huston | 1 Comment

-By Warner Todd Huston

The fields of DNA and gene manipulation research are incredibly exciting for the good that it can offer mankind. Imagine a day when the results of such research can assist mankind to treat previously untreatable diseases, maybe even prevent them? Wouldn’t it be tremendous to be able to alter the DNA of an unborn fetus to prevent its developing spina bifida or Down’s syndrome? Wouldn’t it be a Godsend if we could manipulate our genes in order to shut off the cancer cells that ravage us or rebuild broken spinal chords? Who would stand against such worthwhile gains in health, medicine and science? Of course, no caring human could oppose such work.

But that same work has its dark side and this is a subject that medical science is doing its level best to pretend does not exist. That dark side is not getting its due in the debate of the future of mankind through science. Unfortunately, it is not merely something to scoff at as unlikely because, for all our scientific knowledge, we are still, after all, men. Evil, selfishness, hatred and ignorance will remain with us whether we are free of cancer or know our full DNA sequence or not and those innate flaws inherent in man has, can and will corrupt the good that his science can do. The potential for evil is there no matter how wondrous that science can be.

The New York Times recently published a story about this very topic. Naturally, to further their own agenda, they only discussed a small portion of the potential evil that could result in the misuse of DNA research and left an awful lot of the debate unaddressed. In a story by Amy Harmon, the Times worried only abut racial prejudices being revived by DNA research (“In DNA Era, Worries About Revival of Prejudice”) as that research begins to decode the small differences that accounts for skin color or other things that denote racial groups. From physical characteristics to propensity for race specific disease, DNA research is beginning to map these differences giving hope that, at least in the case of disease, those differences might lead to treatments and prevention. But, the Times worries that this research might also revive discrimination based on those differences. “The notion that race is more than skin deep,” the Times reports, “could undermine principles of equal treatment and opportunity that have relied on the presumption that we are all fundamentally equal.”

Sadly, The Times also used its piece as an excuse to attack conservatives and push for more welfare spending. Claiming that conservatives would use DNA research to discriminate against blacks and, conversely, claiming that liberals could use that same research to demand more spending to “close the achievement gap,” the Times crudely used its article as an effort to demonize opponents instead of to truly address the real problems that the future could bring.
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National School Choice Drive Launched

November 19, 2007 | Filed Under 00Publius Contributor, Democrats/Leftists, Education, Israel Teitelbaum, News, Society/Culture, Uncategorized | Comments Off

-By Israel Teitelbaum

Parents for Free Choice in Education has launched a grass roots drive for school choice. Advocates are being asked to sign a letter being sent to U.S. Senators and Congressmen requesting they sponsor the Civil Rights Act for Equal Educational Opportunity. This would require states to end discrimination in the funding of education.

The Act completes what the Civil Rights Act of 1964 left unfinished when it required equal opportunity in housing, employment, travel, entertainment and other public accommodations. Only education was specifically excluded by limiting it to only public education. The new legislation would remove the word “public” and require equal educational opportunity for every child, including those attending private and religious schools.

Religious groups, schools and all concerned organizations are being asked to sign a letter being sent to U.S. Congressmen and Senators requesting they sponsor this legislation. This letter will be sent once 100 organizations are signed on. Subsequent letters are planned each time an additional 100 organizations sign on.

Individuals are being asked to email this letter directly to their U.S. Congressmen and Senator and to follow up with a phone call.
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The LATimes Caught in Blatant Anti-Fred Thompson Spin

November 18, 2007 | Filed Under 00Publius Contributor, Crime, Democrats/Leftists, Elections, Media Bias, News, The Law, Uncategorized, Warner Todd Huston | Comments Off

-By Warner Todd Huston

Thompson’s Prosecutorial Record Explained

A while back, the L.A. Times tried to make Fred Thompson’s record as a Prosecutor in Tennessee look bad. They wanted the public to get the impression that he was incompetent or that he had a bad record. Since that time, I was doubtful, but since I could not prove things one way or the other, I had to live with my doubts.

Well, someone finally took the time and looked into Fred’s record to see how his record really stacked up and determined that he was actually quite successful as a prosecutor. My suspicions on the accuracy of the MSM report is justified, after all.

A blogger called Anwyn did some research and actually contacted the L.A. Times writer who basically called Thompson a hack lawyer and Anwyn found that Thompson’s record actually showed a very competent man.

After describing how hard it was to come by the info, Anwyn contacted the L.A. Times guy to see if he had more than he let on in his report:

But Joe Mathews of the L.A. Times does have the numbers at his fingertips, after two weeks of digging 35-year-old files out of their boxes in Georgia for his article. And to my surprise and gratitude, he was willing to share them.

He broke them down by numbers of defendants, so there are more than 88 defendants because there were multiple defendants in various individual cases. In total, 88 cases covered 115 defendants, 34 of whom were moonshiners, 21 of whom were counterfeiters, and 17 of whom were bank robbers. The remainder (43) were various other crimes.

Out of 115, nine never stood in Thompson’s district either because they were never captured, were found dead, or were transferred to a different federal district. So we’ll subtract those nine. That leaves 106.

Out of 106, 12 found the charges against them dropped, 66 defendants pleaded guilty or no contest without going to trial, and 28 went to trial. Of the 28 who went to trial, 22 were found guilty, leaving six who were not convicted.

These numbers suggest that Thompson was a completely solid, if not shining, prosecutor. Of course, you could also draw that conclusion by the very fact of his having served as a prosecutor for three years–incompetence is not encouraged at that level by continued employment, one would suppose and hope. Of the 12 cases thrown out, at least two were the direct result of an error of Thompson’s. Joe Mathews:

Well, now, that is a whole different kettle of fish than the “he’s incompetent” claim, eh?

Once again, a little time taken to really investigate the facts … you know, the what, who, when, and where that the MSM claims is their sacred duty to report… proves that an MSM story is filled with spin, lies, and agenda journalism.

Obviously these so-called journalists assume that no one will be able to take the time to follow up on the facts so they imagine that they can pass off their political agenda as “news.” Only, this time they were caught. But, isn’t that why the Internet so threatens the traditional, dead tree media?

The Arizona Republic: Warming Skeptic is ‘On the Fringe’

November 18, 2007 | Filed Under 00Publius Contributor, Democrats/Leftists, Global Warming, Media Bias, News, Society/Culture, Uncategorized, Warner Todd Huston | Comments Off

-By Warner Todd Huston

Apparently, the Arizona Republic cannot discuss the work of globaloney skeptic Robert Balling of Arizona State University without constantly pointing out that his “peers” think he is an idiot that has been bought off by “industries.” The paper cannot write a story about his career without constantly pointing out that he is a “fringe” scientist and that he is “criticized” by those who imagine global warming is the biggest threat humanity faces today. What’s more, the Republic finds his personal life filled with “surprising contradictions” because this climatologist has a green lifestyle, as if any global warming critic must automatically believe in poisoning our waters and polluting our skies. Apparently the Az Republic thinks it’s impossible that a man can be interested in safeguarding the environment but also believe that global warming is a sham. And, even worse, the Az Republic seems aghast that Rush Limbaugh has quoted from the man’s work.

In “Outspoken ASU prof draws ire”, Az Republic writer Corinne Purtill just doesn’t get Robert Balling. He seems such a mystery to her that one can imagine that she feels he should be placed in a zoo where all can come view him as the odd creature he surely must be. In short, clipped sentences sure to be written so even the dumbest of Arizonans can follow her tale, Purtill tells us the odd story of a man who “attended the premiere of Al Gore’s global-warming documentary, An Inconvenient Truth” and who “bikes to work and eats organic food,” but who is hated by environmentalists. Why do they hate him?

Balling, 54, has spoken and written extensively against the widely held scientific view that the documented rise in global temperatures is the result of human activity and that serious consequences will result.

HERASY, I tells you!
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Stereotyping 101

November 18, 2007 | Filed Under 00Publius Contributor, Crime, Government, Corruption, News, Race, Security/Safety, Selwyn Duke, Society/Culture, The Law, Uncategorized | Comments Off

-By Selwyn Duke

In a racial profiling lawsuit against the Maryland State Police (MSP), a plaintiff’s attorney named Eliza Leighton said that some training documents contain “startling examples of racial stereotypes about Hispanics.” (Just so you know, when leftists use the word “startling,” it usually means, “Man, this truth hurts!”) According to the Associated Press:

For example, one document cautions that Hispanics generally do not hold their alcohol well. They tend to drink too much and this leads to fights. And it notes, Hispanic males are raised to be MACHO and brave, while females are raised to be subservient. Other sterotypes [sic] include the assertion that the weapon of choice for Hispanics is a knife and that Hispanics are reluctant to learn English.

Regardless of the outcome of this lawsuit, we can now expect such information to be purged from the training documents. But, as I wrote about Dr. James Watson’s comments regarding Africans, intelligence and genetics, this is part of a very distressing pattern. Everyone fixates on the fact that such comments constitute generalizations (about groups that are supposed to be immune from such things), as if this is an offense in and of itself. Yet, no one seems to ask the only relevant question.

Are the generalizations true?
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Sink the Earmark!

November 17, 2007 | Filed Under 00Publius Contributor, Budget, Congress, Democrats/Leftists, Economy/Finances, News, Taxes, Uncategorized, Warner Todd Huston | Comments Off

-By Warner Todd Huston

Senator Jim DeMint (R- SC) has launched the 100,000 Blogger challenge for earmark reform this week. I hope that each and every one of you out there interested in putting a halt to the drunken spending indulged in by Congress go to the Senator’s new website to sign the petition. Or, use the handy widget below to do so…

Be proud to say, I support Senator Jim DeMint’s fight for commonsense earmark reform.

Now, earmark reform is a really hard concept to get across to the American people. After all, it isn’t as sexy an issue as abortion or illegal aliens. It is also harder to explain. But we really must try.

For the uninitiated, an earmark is a sum of tax money inserted into a bill in Congress. This is tax money to be spent on some pet issue that a Congressman wants to send to his pals and buddies. It is basically graft for sale to the highest bidder. Worse, these earmarks do not have to have anything to do with the bill they are inserted in. So, if you have a bill to pay for our troop’s health care, for instance, a Congressman can slide in a little section that calls for tax money to go to that Congressman’s favorite pork project — like when Ted Stevens inserted millions into a bill to pay for a bridge to be built to a nearly empty island in Alaska. This is pork-barrel spending at its worst and we need to stop it dead in its tracks.

So, climb aboard this reform movement, folks. Let’s SINK THE EARMARK!

Judging Clarence Thomas

November 17, 2007 | Filed Under 00Publius Contributor, Book Reviews, Judges, News, Society/Culture, Uncategorized | 1 Comment

-By Michael M. Bates

Much of the reaction to Clarence Thomas’ new memoir, My Grandfather’s Son, has centered on the justice’s anger. You have to credit the mainstream media credit with consistency. Sixteen years after his confirmation to the Supreme Court, he’s as disliked by them now as he was in 1991.

A Hearst Newspapers’ columnist finds the book “the ultimate, most revealing act of hostility.” A Washington Post Writers Group essayist asserts that in his volume, “Thomas reveals himself to be a Shakespearean archetype, consumed by rage.”

On National Public Radio, the account is described as “a book of complete bitterness and rage.” Over at the Washington Post, readers were first told that “Justice Thomas Lashes Out in Memoir” and a few days later learned: “To read Clarence Thomas’ book is to be struck anew by the blast-furnace of his anger.”

I read Justice Thomas’ memoir today. It’s captivatingly interesting and gives hope there are yet thoughtful, honorable people in Washington. The impoverished black child from the Jim Crow South matured to be his own man and observes himself candidly, warts and all.
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Thompson’s Latest TV Commercial

November 16, 2007 | Filed Under 00Publius Contributor, Elections, President, Uncategorized, Warner Todd Huston | Comments Off

Dem Lawmakers to be Ousted Over Union Criticism?

November 16, 2007 | Filed Under 00Publius Contributor, Business, Democrats/Leftists, Media Bias, News, Society/Culture, The Law, Uncategorized, Unions, Warner Todd Huston | Comments Off

-By Warner Todd Huston

There is no room for disagreement among Democrats. If you are a Democrat that has anything at all critical to say about a union, for instance, they don’t just get mad at you and call you names, they arrange special meetings to throw you out of power! See, this is the more “tolerant” and more “adult” Democrat Party we have all come to know and…uh…. love.

In Prince George’s county, Maryland, a little dispute has arisen between the UF&CW (United Food and Commercial Workers union) Local 400 and two members of the Democratic Central Committee, Vice Chairman Arthur A. Turner Jr. and Chairman Terry Speigner.

At issue is the monkey wrench that the union is trying to throw into plans to build a Wegman’s grocery store in the area. This project will bring a lot of tax money as well as jobs into Prince George’s, but because Wegman’s is non-union, the union is trying to deny the area this new commercial development.

We find the story on Prince George’s Gazette.net.

The dispute began in August when a member of the United Food and Commercial Workers union filed an unsuccessful zoning appeal that could have hindered grocer Wegmans from coming to the county. Wegmans, a high-end grocery store chain based in Rochester, N.Y., does not employ union labor.

From here the two aforementioned Democrat Party officials sent out an email saying that they were aghast that the union would try to stop this useful community development.
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One of the Good Muslim Groups

November 16, 2007 | Filed Under 00Publius Contributor, Foreign Policy, History, Islam, Islamofascism, Media Bias, Military, News, Religion, Security/Safety, Society/Culture, Uncategorized, War on Terror, Warner Todd Huston | Comments Off

-By Warner Todd Huston

The clash of civilizations is in full swing between Islam and the Democratic west and one of the things that many on the anti-jihadi side of the argument are wont to say, those who use the term Islamofascism commonly, is that there aren’t any “moderate” Muslim groups out there. In truth, for the most part they are correct in the assertion that there are not many Muslims who oppose the Jihadists, Islamofascists and Wahhabist extremists in Islam (called Takfiris in the Mid East). It appears thus far that most Muslims are at least tacit supporters of the aims, if not the tactics, of the most radical Islamists. The “purity” that the most radical Muslims seek is an appealing feature even for the most peace loving Muslim. To put it in a broader context, what religious person of any faith could oppose a drive for the pure religion? Couple the ideals of purifying their religion with the general tendency of Islam towards collectivism and subservience of the individual to the group and you get an awful lot of Muslims reticent to criticize other Muslims even when they are blowing up innocents, stoning people, and chopping off heads. For far too many Muslims, the violence of the jihadis is “understandable.”

This all too common tacit approval through silence and a base level of “understanding” where the radicals are coming from evinced by the average Muslim leads to a misconception in the west as to whether or not there is such a thing as a “good” Muslim, one that will stand up against the evil of the Wahhabists and bin Laddenists of their kin. While westerners are correct that the Muslim who will stand up against the evil of Islamism is far and few between, they are not correct to say that there aren’t any Muslim groups who oppose the radicals and here I would like to showcase one that is, indeed, stepping up to the plate to protest those who would murder and destroy in the name of Muhammad’s religion.

The Weekly Standard’s Stephen Schwartz wrote a piece last week about Al-Baqee.org who’s tag line is “A Cry for Justice,” their call to action, “Stop the atrocities against the Ahlul-bayt(as) and their followers!” and “Shi’a and Sunni Muslims Against Wahhabi Extremism.” Here is a group that stands foursquare against Takfiri terrorism.

What spurred their activism is the constant destruction of thousand years old religious sites throughout the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia by ruling officials steeped in Wahhabi extremism as well as the oppression of minority sects or those Muslims who do not hold the reins of power in the Kingdom and elsewhere. It is an ethnic cleansing as complete as any that the west got all excited about in Bosnia, but one that doesn’t get much play in the west. To be sure, this is Al-Baqee’s chief fight against the Takfiri influence on Islam, terrorism against the west taking more of a back seat. Still, they do not mince words on any of the atrocities that the Takfiris commit.

Sadly, few westerners are aware of it, but the Saudi government has been systematically destroying Islamic shrines, Mosques, graveyards and holy sites of minority sects for many years now. Leveling graveyards and building government buildings upon the grounds and destroying ancient, holy buildings is a deliberate plan set in place by the Saudi government to eliminate any vestige of opposing religious voices. This sort of destruction has also featured in other parts of the region when extremists take charge. The destruction of the Golden Dome of the Askariya shrine in Iraq and the Bamiyan Buddha Statues in Afghanistan are other examples of this sort of destruction of Holy sites by Islamist extremists and it is this sort of terrorism that Al-Baqee.org has organized to combat.
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The War Against Unhappiness

November 16, 2007 | Filed Under 00Publius Contributor, Business, Democrats/Leftists, Economy/Finances, Media Bias, News, Security/Safety, Society/Culture, Taxes, Thomas Brewton, Uncategorized | Comments Off

-By Thomas E. Brewton

New York Times proposes a follow-up program by the folks who brought us the War on Poverty.

In an extraordinary opinion piece in the November 13 New York Times, editorial board member Eduardo Porter endeavors to make a case for socialism’s Holy Grail: forced equality of income and government-regulated consumption as the road to happiness.

He writes:

The framers of the Declaration of Independence evidently believed that happiness could be achieved, putting its pursuit up there alongside the unalienable rights to life and liberty…for all the public policies aimed at increasing economic growth, people have been left to sort out their happiness. This is an unfortunate omission…

The key to understanding Mr. Porter’s concept is the underlying psychological principle of liberal-progressive-socialist theory, beginning with the Epicureans of ancient Greece, revived in the 17th century by Thomas Hobbes, and made a cornerstone of socialism by Karl Marx. That psychological principle is the idea that human beings are merely mechanisms that react to external, material factors inducing pain or pleasure.
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A Review Of Saucer by Stepehn Coonts

November 16, 2007 | Filed Under 00Publius Contributor, Book Reviews, Democrats/Leftists, Frederick Meekins, Global Warming, Media Bias, News, Science, Security/Safety, Society/Culture, Uncategorized | Comments Off

-By Frederick Meekins

In most science fiction stories, extraterrestrial technology is unveiled to the world when it is piloted to earth by proverbial little green men or bug eyed monsters. However, in Saucer, Stephen Coonts presents a scenario where man’s initial exposure to a civilization from beyond the earth does not occur overhead but rather from beneath our feet.

In Saucer, Coonts details the account of a spacecraft unearthed in the Sahara desert and the international intrigue that results as various nations conspire to acquire the vehicle from an egomaniacal Australian industrialist.

Though the novel focuses primarily on the actions of the factions jockeying to acquire the saucer, Coonts brings up a number of intriguing questions that he raises even if he does not answer them directly.

Scattered throughout the novel are a number of comments examining the philosophical ramifications of evidence suggesting life beyond this earth.
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Lowe’s doing some SERIOUS backpeddeling…

November 15, 2007 | Filed Under 00Publius Contributor, Business, Democrats/Leftists, Family, News, Society/Culture, Uncategorized, Warner Todd Huston | 2 Comments

Christmas Under Assault: Dumping the Christmas Tree for a ‘Family Tree’

November 15, 2007 | Filed Under 00Publius Contributor, Democrats/Leftists, Judges, News, Religion, Society/Culture, Uncategorized, Warner Todd Huston | 1 Comment

-By Warner Todd Huston

In a further erosion of our American traditions and holidays, Lowe’s Hardware stores has decided that they aren’t in the business of selling Christmas trees anymore. They have decided, instead, that the big seller for 2007 will be the erstwhile “Family Tree” — that Christmas thingie being so gauche and offensive and all, you see. In fact, in their 2007 holiday catalog, Lowes uses the word Christmas a grand total of two times. And on their website, the tree listings all avoid the word in their descriptions.

Take a look at the first page of their “Family Tree” section in their new print catalog:

One of their tree products is even upside down for some unfathomable reason. Described as the “Holiday Living 7.5′ Pre-lit Switchit Cashmere Hard Needle Bavarian Fir tree,” this tree has what is generally the top of the tree affixed to the stand so that the wide base is what ends up in the air.

I suppose this might be considered funny by some and might be a novel thing to have to such folks, but it certainly does not evoke the Christmas spirit and absolutely doesn’t run along traditional, nor respectful, lines.
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My Mother Is A Feminist

November 15, 2007 | Filed Under 00Publius Contributor, Democrats/Leftists, Family, Nancy Morgan, News, Society/Culture, Uncategorized | Comments Off

-By Nancy Morgan

My mother is a feminist. A die-hard, take no prisoners, true-blue feminist. Armed with a hard-won PhD., she has made her life’s work the counselling of the transgendered, the gay and the sexually confused. Honest work in which she is passionately invested. The only fly in the ointment is me, her conservative daughter.

I am as passionate a conservative as my mother is a feminist. It’s hard to imagine two more diametrically opposing viewpoints. I view the current state of feminism as doing more harm than good. As undermining the traditional and family values that I consider the backbone of our country. On the other hand, my mother considers conservative values as outdated, invalid, and as having absolutely no intrinsic value.

I understand how mom came to be such an ardent feminist. Though I thoroughly disagree with her views, I respect and admire the courage and sacrifices she made in attaining them.
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AUTOPSY — Murdering Freedom

November 15, 2007 | Filed Under 00Publius Contributor, Democrats/Leftists, Media Bias, News, Race, Resa LaRu, "Warchick" Kirkland, Society/Culture, Uncategorized | 2 Comments

-By Resa LaRu Kirkland

It all began with the following letter that I emailed to Dog’s website, and then sent out to my mailing list to rouse support for Duane Chapman:

Dear DOG,

I left a phone message at the following phone number: 808-***-**** for you regarding his use of the word Nigger. (See? The world didn’t end…it’s just a damn word, the one thing that the Constitution ensures is free for all to use with no restrictions saving those of violence or panic.)

I wrote to you last week regarding your father, as I am a Military Historian whose focus is on the Korean War, and I wanted to know your dad’s story. I also write conservative commentary online, known as the WARCHICK, and am good friends with Bob Parks. He, too, is a conservative commentator who cannot stand the enslavement and fear-based power of the leftist blacks.(You should see what his fellow blacks called HIM when he dared to write about their wretched behavior after Katrina. No one covered those words–far worse than Nigger–and Bob somehow survived) There is no one more kind, decent, or intelligent on this subject. He deplores the idea–as we all should!–that in a nation of free speech we inexplicably have words that, if uttered, can cause a man to lose his job, business, home, possessions, and even his freedom. I, too, have written about this and discussed it on my radio show:

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