July 31, 2008 | Filed Under 00Publius Contributor, Crime, Democrats/Leftists, Europe, Foreign Policy, Media Bias, News, Security/Safety, Society/Culture, Warner Todd Huston | 1 Comment
-By Warner Todd Huston
Most haughty Europeans look down their nose at we “violent Americans.” They sniff the air at the ugly American and assume that they are, one and all, more “civilized” than we gauche colonials. Look at all the gun violence in America, they say. They tsk. tsk us for the deaths by gun. Certainly they are better than we?
Now shocking news emerges out of England this month. It is estimated that 25,000 stabbings have occurred in Jolly, more civilized ol’ England in the last 12 months alone. You read that right, there have been 25,000 incidents of knife violence in England in the last year.
Worse, those numbers generally only include incidents where blood is drawn.
The count includes only murders, stabbings where blood is spilled and knifepoint muggings. If less-serious crimes like threats or illegal possession were included, numbers would be far higher.
And what is the government doing? Well, in truth it doesn’t matter a bit what they are or are not doing. Since the common people have no right to defend themselves in England, they are like sheep to the slaughter.
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July 31, 2008 | Filed Under 00Publius Contributor, Democrats/Leftists, Elections, Media Bias, News, Society/Culture, Warner Todd Huston | No Comments
-By Warner Todd Huston
Starting off with the often ridiculed 1998 hyperbole from writer Toni Morrison who decided that Bill Clinton was the nation’s first black president, “Asian Pop” writer,Jeff Yang of the San Francisco Chronicle, has decided that Barack Obama could be the first “Asian American president” if elected in November. Apparently Yang is unaware of how much ridicule has been heaped upon Morrison, and deservingly so, and he is lining up for some smacking around himself with this outlandish Chronicle piece.
We all remember that Morrison claimed that Clinton was some sort of honorary black man in the 90s. Apparently, because Clinton payed attention to — and incessantly pandered to — the black power establishment in the 90s, that was all that was required for a race-graft. At least that almost makes some sense, if only metaphorically. Now Yang takes Morrison’s loose connections one better, though. Apparently, all Obama has to have done to become an “Asian” is to have known some during his lifetime. After all, Obama is not known for being a politician constantly pandering to the Asian community like Clinton pandered to the black power structure. Does anyone recall Barack Obama sitting in a church as an Asian minister “God D_mns” America? But, why heck, he did grow up with a few Asian-like folks. So maybe there’s a little sumpthin’ in this!
After commenting on Morrison’s absurdities, Yang goes on to moon over Obama.
In fact, reading Obama’s absorbing 1995 memoir “Dreams from My Father,” it strikes me that the tropes that surround and define Obama can just as easily be read as those of another community entirely. Which raises the question: Could it be that our true first black president might also be our first Asian American president?
Case closed. Obama is now neither white, nor black, but Asian.
So, how is it that Obama can be claimed an Asian instead of a black man? Let’s run down Yang’s bullet points…
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July 31, 2008 | Filed Under 00Publius Contributor, Business, Crime, Democrats/Leftists, Media Bias, News, Society/Culture, Unions, Warner Todd Huston | No Comments
-By Warner Todd Huston
The Wall Street Journal today has an interesting little story highlighting a newly adopted change to the constitution of the powerful Service Employees International Union. At issue is whether it is legal for the union to require the locals to “donate” the equivalent of $6 per member to the SEIU political action committee. This new requirement has netted $150 million dollars that the SEIU is going to spend to help Democrats get into office in 2008.
The union adopted a new amendment to its constitution at last month’s SEIU convention, requiring that every local contribute an amount equal to $6 per member per year to the union’s national political action committee. This is in addition to regular union dues. Unions that fail to meet the requirement must contribute an amount in “local union funds” equal to the “deficiency,” plus a 50% penalty. According to an SEIU union representative, this has always been policy, but has now simply been formalized.
The problem is that this requirement placed upon the locals may violate Federal laws stating that contributions to a union PAC has to be voluntary, not mandatory.
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July 31, 2008 | Filed Under 00Publius Contributor, Media Bias, News, Science, Society/Culture, Warner Todd Huston | No Comments
-By Warner Todd Huston
The Chicago Tribune posted a story in the July 30 edition that highlights the often absurd hyperbole all too common in the language of environmentalists and eco-watchers. The story detailed the findings of scientists studying Lake Michigan and the ecology of the Great Lakes, one of them saying it is in “catastrophic” shape. Native fish and vegetation are being crowded out by new species and the “Great Lakes are at a tipping point” the Trib warns. It’s all presented as some major disaster that should alarm us all, as if Mother Nature is being ruined, presumably by man.
But a closer reading of the story proves that Mother Nature is doing just fine. It is only that our conception of what sort of ecology the Great Lakes should have that is taking a “catastrophic” turn.
The Trib report details the massively changing ecology of Lake Michigan as new species — like the zebra mussel, the guagga mussel and the round gobie, etc. — are remaking the ecology of the Great Lakes into something completely new in relation to what it once was. Scientists have found native fish species changing in their eating habits or beginning to disappear with new species adding a new aspect to the chain of life there.
It seems somehow to be alarming scientists.
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July 31, 2008 | Filed Under 00Publius Contributor, Democrats/Leftists, Elections, Frank Salvato, Media Bias, News, President, Security/Safety, Society/Culture, Taxes | No Comments
-By Frank Salvato
New York Times columnist David Brooks recently wrote, “The reason we have a democracy is that no one side is right all the time. The only people who are dangerous are those who can’t admit, even to themselves, that obvious fact.” Aside from the glaring error in his declaration that we live in a democracy (the United States is actually a Democratic Republic, not a democracy) his assertion is spot on. In light of the logic in Mr. Brook’s statement, it would seem that the woman slated to be Barack Obama’s “Muslim liaison” is dangerous, especially to women.
While Barack Obama was lecturing tens of thousands of Germans during his “fact-finding tour” – interesting that he declared he was going to the Middle East and Europe to “listen” and ends up pontificating – his campaign created the position of “Muslim Liaison;” a position meant to serve as a conduit between his campaign and the Muslim community. Presumably, this position was created because his campaign realized that their Islamophobia (he has yet to address a Muslim forum or talk at a Mosque) was incredibly hypocritical and served to disenfranchise and discriminate against the American-Muslim community.
The likely candidate for this position is Hiam Nawas, a Jordanian-American who served in a similar capacity for the ill-fated 2004 presidential campaign of aspiring politician Wesley Clark (interestingly, for someone who served in a recent presidential campaign the Internet is stunningly devoid of any substantial biographical information on Ms. Nawas).
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July 30, 2008 | Filed Under 00Publius Contributor, Democrats/Leftists, Elections, Media Bias, News, President, Society/Culture, Warner Todd Huston | 3 Comments
-By Warner Todd Huston
Jonathan Weisman is reporting on his “The Trail” blog that presumptuous Democratic nominee Barack Obama told House Democrats that he believes himself to be the symbol of all that is good in America. It appears that he is beginning to believe the over-the-top hype that he really is the Obamessiah for America. So, will this little Washington Post blog post make waves in the media? Will Barack’s increasingly out-of-control ego become the talk of the day?
Weisman reports that candidate Obama met in a closed door meeting with House Democrats and he let loose with a “real zinger,” as Weisman put it. He told the rapt audience of House members that his candidacy was the moment “the world is waiting for” — as if the whole world clamored for his presence? He went even further than that proving that he may be losing touch with reality and believing his own surreal campaign rhetoric.
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July 30, 2008 | Filed Under 00Publius Contributor, Democrats/Leftists, Elections, Media Bias, News, President, Security/Safety, Society/Culture, Warner Todd Huston | No Comments
-By Warner Todd Huston
How many Germans would vote for Barack Obama for our president? CNN claims to know. During the last weekend that Barack Obama was in Germany, CNN used a graphic on the Wolf Blitzer show that claimed that 72% of Germans preferred Obama with only a mere 11% who favored John McCain. Of course, CNN didn’t think it relevant to mention that only 501 Germans were even polled, nor that the poll was conducted by German pollster Emnid for a notorious tabloid newspaper named Bild — not the most trustworthy of sources. This is the same newspaper that published with “gushing immaturity” an Obamtastic “report” by one of their giddy female reporters who supposedly worked out with Obama in his hotel gym after which Obama claimed to have been “hustled.”
So where did this lopsided, 72% approval rating come from? How was the poll conducted? What questions were asked? How do we know what level of knowledge the respondents had about our candidates? Why should we just assume that this is even a relevant result to our elections? I guess all that CNN needed was to show that Obama is loved by Germany, no other investigation needed.
To give you a flavor of the sort of stories that comprises “news” with Bild tabloid, a perusal of some recent stories are in order. With such “news” as an interview with one Tatjana Gsell headlined “I Love Sex and Eroticism,” and another touting that “Sexy Claudia is Lahm’s New Neighbor” (Philipp Lahm is a German Sports figure), various Amy Winehouse stories and at least one story with a photo of actress Bai Ling bending over showing her breast popping out of her dress, you can see the caliber of stories that fills Bild Newspaper. They are also chock-a-block with sports stories galore. So, not much for hard news, to be sure.
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July 30, 2008 | Filed Under 00Publius Contributor, Crime, Democrats/Leftists, Economy/Finances, Media Bias, News, Society/Culture, Unions, Warner Todd Huston | No Comments
-By Warner Todd Huston
You’d be excused if you felt like you fell down Alice’s rabbit hole with this story, only you’d soon discover that this Alice is named Andy, and it is quite real, indeed. Not long ago, Andy Stern, the radical chief of the Service Employees International Union (SEIU), tried to sue members of an internal faction of his own union, the United Healthcare Workers (UHC). Stern alleged that the UHC was misappropriating funds. The suit was brought, conveniently enough, just before the SEIU convention held at the beginning of June, so that the worst possible light would be directed upon the insurgent faction of the SEIU just before they all came together to address the issues in dispute.
Well, as of June 222nd, US. District Court Judge John F. Walter threw out the SEIU’s lawsuit saying it was completely without merit.
The court ruled that SEIU had brought no valid legal claim against members of United Healthcare Workers-West (UHW) and the case was dismissed without the need for a hearing. The ruling entitles UHW members to compensation fr≠om SEIU for costs incurred as a result of the illegitimate lawsuit. UHW will seek full compensation on behalf of the ten members named in the suit.
According to UHW’s Executive Board Member Rosie Byers, the lawsuit was only “PR stunt” initiated to “to silence reformers within the union.”
The charges made against local union members had no legal basis. The only purpose of this suit was to harass and discredit members of UHW who had spoken out against Andy Stern’s and Anna Burger’s backroom deals with corporations that hurt healthcare workers and our patients.î
Seems pretty obvious that Mrs. Byers is right on target with her claim. After all, if the suit was so baseless, Andy Stern’s own legal council would have been sure to make him aware of that fact. It is hard not to assume that he launched the lawsuit only in an effort to make the rest of his union membership feel that the UHW faction was illicit just before they arrived at the annual convention. This cloud over the UHW would have been sure to influence other union members that the UHW was untrustworthy and, therefore, would have discredited the UHW’s concerns and actions at that very convention.
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July 30, 2008 | Filed Under 00Publius Contributor, Business, Democrats/Leftists, Google, Inernet, Media Bias, News, Scott Cleland, Society/Culture, Technology | No Comments
-By Scott Cleland
GOOG-YHOO earn ~100% of profits
With the 3Q08 earnings releases by Google, Yahoo and Microsoft in the last few days, DOJ antitrust investigators of the Google-Yahoo partnership now get their first fresh look at the most recent revenue and profit market shares for this market.
While many, including myself, have focused on the proxy market share measures of searches from ComScore, Nielsen and Hitwise to track Google’s relentless taking of share on a monthly basis, antitrust investigators will likely look past proxy search shares and focus on the truer and more accurate measures of market share–actual, reported revenues and profits.
There are strong reasons why antitrust investigators will shift from the market’s obsession with the monthly search share proxy figures to real financial numbers.
First, users do not pay for search, advertisers and website publishers do; this makes search share an indirect and less relevant measure of true market power.
Second, all searches are not equal, some lead to clicks and some clicks are dramatically more valuable than other clicks.
Third, the search shares are third-party proxy estimates based on samples; they are not auditable and accountable as publicly-reported financial data are; moreover, SARBOX requires CFOs/CEOs to personally sign that the finances are accurate, subject to severe penalties if they are proven to be fraudulent.
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July 29, 2008 | Filed Under 00Publius Contributor, Congress, Democrats/Leftists, GOP, Government, Corruption, Media Bias, News, Society/Culture, Taxes, Warner Todd Huston | 1 Comment
-By Warner Todd Huston
I have been made aware of a great resource tool for tracking bills that have taken a vote in Congress. It is called Govit.com (http://www.govit.com/) and it really helps when looking to see what Congress voted on, who voted for what, and when it happened.
Here is the “about” section to better describe the site:
Govit empowers citizens to take action in our representative democracy. On Govit you can connect with your elected representatives. Organize and promote specific legislation.
Vote on active legislation and have your vote sent instantly to your reps. Keep a a running record of your votes compared to your reps, and others (when election time comes, you’ll know if your representatives have really represented you!).
You can also do cool things like see what legislation the presidential candidates have sponsored, or check their voting records.
Govit is a non-partisan democracy platform. It was built by a regular citizen (Taylor Norrish), and has no special interest or government backing.
Go on over to http://www.govit.com/ and take a tour. It’s a very useful site.
July 29, 2008 | Filed Under 00Publius Contributor, Business, Democrats/Leftists, Economy/Finances, News, Society/Culture, Unions, Warner Todd Huston | No Comments
-By Warner Todd Huston
In a follow up report to our earlier coverage, the Hudson Institute has unveiled its damning study on the largely ubiquitous insolvency of the pensions plans of the nation’s largest unions (download PDF here)
Excerpts:
At a time when unions are intensifying efforts to organize American workers, it’s troubling to see a widespread pattern of relatively poor performance among collectively bargained pension plans. They perform poorly relative to plans sponsored unilaterally by employers for nonunion employees. Equally disturbing, some pension plans for union officers are better funded than the plans for rank-and-file union members. The disparity raises this question: Do collective bargaining contracts lack provisions for the funding necessary to generate the generous retirement income that unions advertise?
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July 29, 2008 | Filed Under 00Publius Contributor, Democrats/Leftists, Education, Israel Teitelbaum, News, Society/Culture, Taxes | No Comments
-By Israel Teitelbaum
According to Wikipedia, “The elephant in the room is an English idiom for an obvious truth that is being ignored or goes unaddressed. It is based on the idea that an elephant in a small room would be impossible to overlook. It is sometimes used to refer to a question or problem that is obvious, but which is ignored out of embarrassment or taboo. The idiom also implies a value judgment that the issue ought to be discussed openly. The term is often used to describe an issue that involves a social taboo, such as racism or religion, which everyone understands to be an issue but which no one is willing to admit.”
This is a perfect description of the one issue that most sharply divides the two major parties, but no one is willing to discuss. Whether your issue is self defense, taxes, education or government-run healthcare, your position depends on which side of the culture divide you are on. Those on the right favor less government control and more individual liberty, while those on the left believe that government is the solution to all our problems.
The party that wins this year’s election will either move our nation farther to the left and increase government authority, or hold the line. Our sharp turn to the left began in the 1960’s, and has scarcely stopped turning. Being that our nation’s culture begins with the education of our children, the issue we should be addressing is who should be in control - parents or educrats?
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July 28, 2008 | Filed Under 00Publius Contributor, Budget, Congress, Democrats/Leftists, Economy/Finances, GOP, Government, Corruption, News, Society/Culture, Taxes, Warner Todd Huston | No Comments
I don’t usually just reprint another website’s article in full, but this one bears repeating.
+++++
Coburn’s cognition
By David Keene, The Hill
Tom Coburn’s Senate colleagues don’t know quite what to make of the doctor from Oklahoma. Many of them find him personally likable, but they can’t understand why he seems to want to change the way the exclusive club to which they all belong has been doing business for so long.
And what’s worse, they have no way of controlling the man. Coburn (R) left the House in 2000 after three terms there because he had voluntarily term-limited himself, and he says that he’ll retire from the Senate after two terms there to go back to practicing medicine in Oklahoma. What that means, of course, is that he won’t be around quite long enough to chair an important committee even if the GOP should retake the Senate at some point — and that, therefore, he doesn’t have to watch his manners lest party leaders squelch his ambitions.
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July 28, 2008 | Filed Under 00Publius Contributor, Democrats/Leftists, Elections, Foreign Policy, Media Bias, News, Society/Culture, Warner Todd Huston | 1 Comment
-By Warner Todd Huston
And now, as an International man of mystery, I find that the famed German magazine Der Spiegel has quoted me making fun of one of their competitors, Bild newspaper.
In my July 25th piece on the “gushingly immature” Bild newspaper reporter that had a workout with Barack Obama, I lambasted the German daily for acting like a “rock-star struck teeny bopper” instead of a serious, adult reporter.
Well, now Der Spiegel, one of the largest selling German language magazines in the world, ran a story today reporting that Barack Obama is claiming he was “hustled” by the Bild reporter. In the Spiegel report, my July 25th piece is quoted and I am referenced by name.
The translated Bild report was rapidly picked up by US blogs, where it became the subject of endless derision.
Blogger Warner Todd Huston wrote: “Apparently, Bild, a newspaper in Germany, hires 14-year-old, starry-eyed, fan-girls as reporters instead of serious grown-ups. Or, at least one would be excused in thinking this reporter was a rock-star struck teeny bopper upon reading her gushingly immature account of having an exercise workout with Barack Obama on the German leg of his trip.”
Bonesky is actually 27. “Let’s enjoy her sexytime memories, together,” the Washington blog Wonkette said, recalling the encounter in a wooden translation of the Bild report that evokes fictional reporter Borat in his comedy “Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan.”
So, me and the Wonkette are heard ’round the world.
This is so much fun!
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July 28, 2008 | Filed Under 00Publius Contributor, Democrats/Leftists, Foreign Policy, Islam, Islamofascism, Media Bias, Military, News, Patriotism, Religion, Society/Culture, War on Terror, Warner Todd Huston | No Comments
-By Warner Todd Huston
** Now With Update… A Soldier Speaks **
The New York Times is miffed. They aren’t happy that there has been a dearth of news photos showing dead American soldiers in the war in Iraq. The Times is lamenting that there have been “4,000 U.S. Combat Deaths, and Just a Handful of Images,” so more carnage and death is their druthers. Well, more American dead, anyway. They aren’t interested in the dead of the enemy, to be sure.
Using the story of photog Zoriah Miller who had his embed status removed when he publicized photos of dead U.S. Marines after a suicide bombing, the Times reveals their pique over the fact that not enough dead Americans have been peddled to the American public. The Times denounces the military for protecting the troops and their families saying, “after five years and more than 4,000 American combat deaths, searches and interviews turned up fewer than a half-dozen graphic photographs of dead American soldiers.”
Complaining for opponents of the war that the lack of casualty photos has created a a situation where the “public portrayal of the war is being sanitized,” the Times wonders if the homefront is being badly served because we here are not seeing the “human cost of a war that polls consistently show is unpopular with Americans.”
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July 28, 2008 | Filed Under 00Publius Contributor, Democrats/Leftists, Family, Foreign Policy, Islam, Islamofascism, Media Bias, News, Religion, Security/Safety, Society/Culture, War on Terror, Warner Todd Huston | 1 Comment
-By Warner Todd Huston
In yet another example of why the west might not beat the onslaught of radical Islamofascism, Minette Marrin of the Timesonline thinks she has found a solution to the clash of cultures. Marrin details the extremism evinced by too many Muslims in England and then posits a solution: ban all religion. Talk about an absurd idea. It’s as foolish as throwing out the baby with the bath water. It also discounts thousands of years of worthy and enlightened western culture influenced, guided and based on Christian philosophy.
In To beat extremism we must dissolve religious groups, Marrin’s wooly headed prescription also serves as a fine example of the most shallow of PC, postmodern “thinking.” Famed French mathematician Jules Henri Poincaré once said that, “to doubt everything or to believe everything are two equally convenient solutions; both dispense with the necessity of reflection.” It is a lesson in discernment and critical thinking that escapes most on the left, and specifically this prosaic, anti-intellectual Timesonline columnist.
The first half of Marrin’s piece details recent poll results revealing the extremist leaning of Muslim students in England and it is alarming information, indeed. These poll results show, for instance, that four out of ten Muslim students in Britain support Sharia law in the UK. One third said that killing in the name of religion was justified. It shows that a quarter think women are not equals to men. The poll also shows that, among other results, 57% believe Muslim soldiers in the British army should be allowed to opt out of the war on terror. This alarming YouGov poll will be released on Monday, July 28. To sum up, Marrin says of the poll:
The authors make it clear that the majority of Muslim students support secularism and democratic values and are broadly tolerant of others. However, the CSC points out that the incidence of conservative and separatist Muslim beliefs has been growing and is more prevalent in young Muslims than in their parents’ generation. British Muslims used to be much more moderate.
It is an alarming poll. Of course, who can doubt such results? The Brits have for decades been collectively turning their back on western society with politically correct teaching that holds that their own culture is no more than just another culture and, therefore, not deserving of special consideration. Like most left leaning provocateurs, British liberals have become fond of morally equating their own culture with the worst lot of humanity. On the other hand, these young Muslims are taught from birth that their religion is superior. Not only that, but Islam is a political system as well as a mere religion. So why shouldn’t British Muslims seek to replace the British culture with one they are taught is superior? If the English aren’t going to insist their culture is optimal, why should anyone else?
In all this England is reaping what it has sown. Also in this they aren’t much different than the French, the Germans, Spain, Canada, and to a lesser extent, even the U.S.A.
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July 28, 2008 | Filed Under 00Publius Contributor, China, Democrats/Leftists, Economy/Finances, Foreign Policy, Government, Corruption, Media Bias, Military, Nancy Salvato, News, Security/Safety, Society/Culture, War on Terror | No Comments
-By Nancy Salvato
As the mainstream media is dominated by its attention to the preparations for Beijing Olympics being held August 8-24 this year, an obvious truth is being ignored or going unaddressed. The more important story is that China is on a mission to dominate the United States and the rest of the world militarily by building nuclear weaponry meant to defeat the United States on the world stage. The actual Olympics pale in comparison to this upcoming event. And while our people continue to be distracted by a variety of “shiny things” meant to divert their attention, the Chinese continue their march to dominance in the military sphere. What serves to distract our nation from such an important subject?
Let’s first look at the notion of Global Warming. Despite the fact that, “There is a considerable presence within the scientific community of people who do not agree with the IPCC conclusion that anthropogenic CO2 emissions are very probably likely to be primarily responsible for global warming that has occurred since the Industrial Revolution,” (Daily Tech) the mainstream media continues to report on a phenomenon that has not been proven as though it is fact. Furthermore, policy around carbon emissions is being developed based on this misinformation. “In the past 70 years the Sun was more active than at almost any other time in the past 11,400 years…Mars, Jupiter, Neptune’s largest moon, and Pluto warmed at the same time as Earth.” (IBID)
The upcoming election serves as a distraction — in that the really important issues are not discussed and instead media attention is focused on Barak Obama’s associations, i.e., Jesse Jackson using the “N” word (in two different ways, mind you); Jeremiah Wright and the novel idea (sarcasm) that there is a contingent of black people who do not like white people; fellow democrat Kucinich, who during his first presidential campaign quoted the Koran and roused his Muslim audience to chant Alahu akbar (Daniel Pipes) wants us to spend oodles of tax payer dollars to impeach George Bush (and at the end of his term of office, completely irresponsible), and Tony Rezko, a slumlord connected to Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich (who may also, rightly so due to his mismanagement of Illinois government, face impeachment). None of this enlightens the electorate on Obama’s strategic plan for the defense of our country, if he was to be elected to the highest office of the land. If Obama had plans to aggressively fight terror, secure our borders, and defend our sovereignty, I think it would be safe to say that most of the people who want to see this on his platform would ignore all the rest.
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Tags: Publius+Forum, Nancy+Salvato
Yes, there are two Americas. The one where John Edwards used to have a scholarship program that he intended to set up as an example for all of America to follow… and the one where he cancels that scholarship program. Is it because he isn’t running for president any more? Since Edwards has other things to do now — like hiding from the media in his mistresses’ house and maybe getting a few $400 haircuts — Edwards has pulled the plug on his pilot scholarship program in North Carolina. It was for the kids… now it isn’t. As the media ignores Edwards’ love child story, any takers if they will ignore this one, too? 
