Guitierrez Amnesty Plan a Disaster, focus should be on American jobs

November 20, 2009 | Filed Under Chicago, Congress, Conservatives, Cook County, Democrats/Leftists, Freedom, GOP, Government, Corruption, Illinois, Immigration/Immigrants, Liberals, Republicans, Society/Culture, State Government, Warner Todd Huston | No Comments

Rosanna Pulido, staunch defender for unemployed American citizens in her district, expressed outrage this afternoon at Luis Guterriez’s Amnesty reform bill, to be introduced some time this month. “With unemployment in Illinois at 10% and rising, our nation’s legal law abiding citizens do not need more competition for jobs”, Rosanna said. “It is irresponsible public policy”.

53 rallies have been held across the country this week protesting the Obama administration’s amnesty for undocumented immigrants already living in the United States, along with a promise of tougher enforcement and a streamlined legal immigration system. In other countries, if you enter their borders illegally, you could be shot or thrown in prison. Cross the border into America, you get a drivers license, Social Security card, welfare, Food Stamps, bank accounts and credit cards, subsidized rent or a loan to buy a house, free education, free health care, a lobbyist in Springfield and Washington and a voter registration card. All paid for by the Illinois taxpayer.
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Letter from Illinois GOP Congressional Delegation on transfer of terrorists to Thomson, IL

November 20, 2009 | Filed Under Anti-Americanism, Barack Obama, Chicago, Congress, Cook County, Foreign Policy, GOP, Government, Corruption, Illinois, President, Republicans, Society/Culture, State Government, Terrorism, War on Terror, Warner Todd Huston | No Comments

All Republican members of Illinois’ Congressional Delegation have signed the following letter to President Obama:

Dear Mr. President:

According to the Chicago Tribune, your Administration may transfer up to 200 Al Qaeda terrorists from their detention facility in Guantanamo Bay a prison in Thomson, Illinois, 150 miles from Chicago.

If your Administration brings Al Qaeda terrorists to Illinois, our state and the Chicago Metropolitan Area will become ground zero for Jihadist terrorist plots, recruitment and radicalization.

Furthermore, since Thomson is located in the Northern District of Illinois, any civilian prosecution of Al Qaeda terrorists would occur in Rockford or downtown Chicago.

As home to America’s tallest building, we should not invite Al Qaeda to make Illinois its number one target.

The United States spent more than $50 million to build the Guantanamo Bay detention facility to keep terrorists away from U.S. soil. Al Qaeda terrorists should stay where they cannot endanger American citizens.

As elected officials in the State of Illinois, we urge you to put the safety and security of Illinois families first and stop any plan to transfer Al Qaeda terrorists to our state.

Rep. Peter Roskam
Rep. Mark Kirk
Rep. Judy Biggert
Rep. Tim Johnson
Rep. Don Manzullo
Rep. Aaron Schock
Rep. John Shimkus

Another Obama Slight to American Jews

November 20, 2009 | Filed Under Anti-Semitism, Barack Obama, Democrats/Leftists, Foreign Policy, Government, Corruption, Islam, Islamofascism, Israel, Liberals, President, Security/Safety, Society/Culture, Warner Todd Huston, Western Civilization | No Comments

-By Warner Todd Huston

In another in a long series of swift kicks to Israel and American Jews, the Obama Administration has announced that it is slashing the guest list and budget for its 2009 Hanukkah celebration.

According to the Jerusalem Post the guest list is being cut in half causing some American Jews to wonder if Obama is giving them the cold shoulder… again.

In case no one has been paying attention, President Obama has been slighting Israel and American Jews since before he became president. His pick of Samantha Power, the Palestinian apologist, for his Mid East policy team was a fine example of his obvious disdain for Jews. And she isn’t his only pro-Palestinian adviser.
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Americans embrace George Washington and Abraham Lincoln, not Chairman Mao Zedong

November 20, 2009 | Filed Under Anti-Americanism, Barack Obama, Budget, Business, Capitalism, Communism, Congress, Democrats/Leftists, Economy/Finances, Founders, Free Speech, Free Trade, Freedom, Government, Corruption, Health, House of Representatives, Liberals, Marie Jon, President, Religion, Republicans, Socialism, Society/Culture, Taxes, The Law, Western Civilization | No Comments

-By Marie Jon

America is under siege from within. Our nation has undergone a bloodless coup that required no military action. It occurred one year ago this month, at the hands of liars, cheats, and thieves who — calling themselves “progressives” — deceived the electorate at the polls and defrauded the electoral process.

Our lives have been shaken and turned upside down and inside out as a result. “The Twilight Zone” has become a reality right here in the U.S.A. Fortunately, with the help of the Internet, blogosphere, conservative talk radio, and Fox News, the Utopian facade we’ve unwittingly accepted is being exposed for what it really is. It cannot stand the light of day, and it is crumbling as a result.

Facts and truths are being laid out before us regarding the current Marxist “coup.” Americans are growing more than just a tad concerned about President Barack Obama and his handpicked and unaccountable “Czars.” These elitists hold to un-American ideologies that are certainly not mainstream. One cannot reconcile the radical, leftist philosophies of Obama and his cohorts with the noble goals of our Founding Fathers. We who love the American ideal embrace George Washington and Abraham Lincoln, not Chairman Mao. View: Does it Matter?

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Harry Reid Wants to Vote on a Phantom Bill (Dem Dirty Tricks Edition)

November 19, 2009 | Filed Under Anti-Americanism, Barack Obama, Budget, Business, Capitalism, Communism, Congress, Democrats/Leftists, Economy/Finances, Free Trade, Government, Corruption, Health, Liberals, President, Senate, Socialism, Society/Culture, Taxes, Warner Todd Huston | No Comments

-By Warner Todd Huston

Either today or later this week, Senate Democrat Majority Leader Harry Reid (Nev) wants the Senate to vote on a “motion to proceed” on the Senate’s version of the healthcare bill. That wouldn’t be so bad except for the fact that it has barely been seen by anyone in the Senate. At least not as far as most Senators are concerned. Why is that? Because the bill has not been shown to them with sufficient time to study it, that’s why.

What Reid wants is for the Senate to vote to proceed on a bill that has not been seen, not read, not studied by the very Senators from whom he wants to force a vote. If this bill is so important, why isn’t it imperative that our Senators actually get to see the thing they are expected to vote on?

And that isn’t the worst of the unconscionable dirty tricks that Reid is playing with this “important” legislation. He’s also planning on a bait and switch tactic once he gets his vote to proceed.
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Where is THIS Republican Party?

November 19, 2009 | Filed Under Anti-Americanism, Budget, Business, Capitalism, Communism, Congress, Constitution, Democrats/Leftists, Economy/Finances, Free Trade, GOP, Government, Corruption, Liberals, Patriotism, President, Republicans, Socialism, Society/Culture, Taxes, The Law, Warner Todd Huston | 1 Comment

-By Warner Todd Huston

An excerpt of the 1924 Republican Party Platform:

The prosperity of the American nation rests on the vigor of private initiative which has bred a spirit of independence and self-reliance. The republican party stands now, as always, against all attempts to put the government into business.

American industry should not be compelled to struggle against government competition. The right of the government to regulate, supervise and control public utilities and public interests, we believe, should be strengthened, but we are firmly opposed to the nationalization or government ownership of public utilities.

In 1924 the GOP ran Calvin “Silent Cal” Coolidge for president. And he won on this platform.

Even then Democrats were trying to tun this country into a less powerful version of Europe by emulating its socialist systems. A proud Republican Party repudiated these socialist tendencies and reiterated its pride in the American way. These principles appealed to the true American spirit and also won elections.

Unfortunately, the very next president, himself a Republican, turned toward socialist, collectivist concepts and set the stage for what later became Franklin Roosevelt’s New Deal destruction of the American economic system that compounded a market correction and turned it into “The Great Depression.” And save for a brief time under Ronald Reagan, it appears that the GOP has never recovered its principles as espoused in its 1924 platform.
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Confronting the Spin on the Fort Hood Massacre

November 19, 2009 | Filed Under Afghanistan, Anti-Americanism, Barack Obama, Crime, Democrats/Leftists, Foreign Policy, Frank Salvato, GOP, Government, Corruption, House of Representatives, Islamofascism, Israel, Liberals, Palestinians, President, Religion, Society/Culture, Terrorism, War on Terror | No Comments

-By Frank Salvato

It is sad and disturbing commentary on the state of American culture when the facts surrounding an event, such as the slaughter that took place at Fort Hood, can not only be manipulated to facilitate a political ideology but blatantly ignored in the pursuit of a political agenda. In the face of the most potent enemy the United States and the free world has ever know – aggressive and violent radical Islam – our leaders and members of the mainstream media are doing just that; manipulating the truth to facilitate an agenda, and we are all in danger because of it.

By now, everyone in the world knows the details surrounding the massacre at Fort Hood, Texas. US Army Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan, in committing not only an act of terrorism but an act of treason, perpetrated the most deadly terrorist act on American soil since the attacks of September 11, 2001. Actions and statements made by Hasan prior to his murderous spree indicate beyond doubt that he was not only opposed to US military action in the Iraqi and Afghan theaters and that he felt it was appropriate for Muslims in those countries to kill US and NATO soldiers in response to “the infidel occupiers,” but that he made a purposeful and premeditated choice to execute his jihad. Yet, President Obama, his spokespeople and members of the mainstream media are hyping the “backlash against Muslims” sentiment while completely ignoring – and in some cases arguing against – the mountain of evidence that points to the fact that Hasan was a radical Islamist and a jihadist.

Four Qualifications for Terrorism

Alan Colmes erroneously cited a definition for the word “terrorism” as used by Webster’s Dictionary during a recent stint on The O’Reilly Factor. While Webster’s is a wonderful resource for everyday use in divining the meaning of words, where terrorism is concerned it falls short.
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Europe is Our (Insert Female Pejorative Here)

November 18, 2009 | Filed Under Anti-Americanism, Europe, Foreign Policy, Government, Corruption, Humor, Society/Culture, Warner Todd Huston, Western Civilization | No Comments

-By Warner Todd Huston

**And now a word from my inner swaggerer…

Europe is a chick’s name. That’s right, you heard me. The word Europa from which Europe is derived is of feminine gender in origin. In Greek mythology Europa was a Phoenician princess abducted by Zeus. Zeus disguised himself as a bull to pull off the caper.

So, what do we have? Let’s review: Europe is a defenseless but pretty chick fooled by a bunch of bull and ravaged by a God.

Yep. Sounds about right.

Now what about America? How chikified is our name? Well, not much.

As it happens America is named after Amerigo Vespucci, a cartographer and explorer from the mid 1400s who was one of the first westerners to map the coast of the Americas. He was a man, baby.

A man’s man, an explorer, a man of means (well, early in his life, anyway), a sailor. A real tough guy. And even if that isn’t true, at least a person with a swinging anchor and some ballast which is more than we can say for the weeping, cringing Europa.

And since the naming, our two continents have certainly lived up to the theme. Europe, constantly ravaged, always weeping, forever moaning about being nice to folks, and never strong enough to stand on its own for long has been as weak and feckless as can be imagined..

On the other hand America has been the jewel of the world. America was born of the woman but strode forward in confident, self-possessed strides leaving mommy behind sniffling and waving her handkerchief to her successful son and warning him not to forget to write or at least leave a text message. America has spawned riches uncountable with its toils and with the United States at its head has become the world’s father and policeman. It’s a manly nation to say the least.

So, what’s in a name, William old sod? Nothing less than the expression of character (or weakness thereof). We Americans stand astride the world in manliness while Europe swoons by our side in supplication… and nagging, nagging, nagging like the gnarled old hag she has become. Even Zeus would be tired of her by now.

Yep. Europe is our bi_ _h.

Take that you Euroweenies!

So, go on. Call me a cowboy. But whose twirling rope are you Euroweenies gonna reach for when you’ve let the Islamofascists take over your lands? Whose six-shooters will come in handy when the Chinese are blowing you away? Which man in the white hat are ya gonna call on when you suddenly find yourself surrounded by hostiles on all sides? If’n yer lucky, pardner, we might jess lope on by and help ya out. Ya never know. Give us a whistle and see.

… OK, I feel better. And now back to the news.

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Say NO to Terrorists in Illinois

November 18, 2009 | Filed Under Anti-Americanism, Chicago, Congress, Cook County, Democrats/Leftists, Government, Corruption, Illinois, Islam, Islamofascism, Liberals, President, Security/Safety, Society/Culture, Taxes, Terrorism, War on Terror, Warner Todd Huston | No Comments

-By Warner Todd Huston

In a follow up to my earlier post advocating for an actual debate on this issue here in Illinois on this business of bringing terrorists to live in Illinois, a new effort to try and stop this mess has been launched.

Go to Not In Illinois and sign the petition and tell Governor Pat Quinn that we do NOT want terrorists living among us.

We, the undersigned, do not willfully agree with the transfer of terrorists onto American soil. Terrorists must be tried in military courts and not in civilian courts. They are a danger to the citizenry of the United States and should not be brought onto our shores.

We, the undersigned, will work to unseat any politician who agrees with the transfer of terrorists into Illinois or any state in the union.

Those Healthcare Hoops

November 18, 2009 | Filed Under Barack Obama, Budget, Business, Capitalism, Congress, Democrats/Leftists, Economy/Finances, Government, Corruption, Health, House of Representatives, Society/Culture, Taxes, Warner Todd Huston | No Comments

Sure the game seems fair and balanced. Why everyone can still play. The government just wants to be fair to everyone. Then the feds bring in the ringers and… well, you can see where THIS is going.

The Rule Of Law

November 18, 2009 | Filed Under Anti-Americanism, Barack Obama, Crime, Dan Scott, Foreign Policy, Government, Corruption, Islam, Islamofascism, Military, President, Religion, Society/Culture, Terrorism, The Law, War on Terror | No Comments

-By Dan Scott

The Obama Administration via Attorney General Holder has announced that they will try Khalid Sheikh Mohammed (KSM) in the US, specifically New York. The location of the trial is rationalized as the so-called location of where the crime was committed. As with many things liberals foist upon the public it seems to make some shallow sense until we start digging beneath the surface. Why would President Obama and liberals in general insist on the location of the trial being in the jurisdiction of the crime? In general principle of US Law, the trial of any defendant should occur as a matter of practicality where the crime was committed in order to ensure witnesses are available to testify to the details of the crime. Sounds good so far, except 911 was not a criminal offense, but an act of War, specifically a war crime.

Terrorism it so happens, falls in a gray area of being between a criminal act and an act of War. When Timothy McVeigh bombed the Oklahoma City Federal Building, his act of terrorism was a criminal act. Why? Timothy McVeigh was not allied or working at the behest of any foreign or transnational group such as al Qaeda. Timothy McVeigh was NOT an agent of a foreign power, whether that be a country or a group like al Qaeda. Timothy McVeigh was DOMESTIC TERRORIST; his crimes were of civil insurrection not war. KSM by his own admission was an agent of al Qaeda, a foreign entity who publicly declared war upon the US. The US Congress in granting President Bush powers to prosecute action against al Qaeda, formally DECLARED WAR against it. A state of war exists between al Qaeda, it’s allies (including self directed individuals) and the US government. Therefore any prisoners taken by the US in the prosecution of that war is by definition a prisoner of war. Since the legalities of uniformed combat as recognized by the Geneva Convention didn’t fully deal with non-uniformed or irregulars, they were called enemy combatants. KSM falls in this category but the US has for it’s stated purposes treated him as a prisoner of war.
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5th District Race: Ratowitz Responds to Immigration Question

November 17, 2009 | Filed Under Chicago, Congress, Cook County, Elections, GOP, Immigration/Immigrants, Republicans, Society/Culture, State Government, Warner Todd Huston | 1 Comment

-By Warner Todd Huston

On Nov. 14, Cao’s blog featured some pointed questions for 5th Congressional District candidate David Ratowitz on his stance on illegal immigration. That blog took the position that Mr. Ratowitz is an apologist for illegal immigration and is an amnesty supporter. We discussed that post here.

At that time, I asked for the Ratowitz campaign to clarify and shortly a short comment from the campaign was sent to me. The campaign also promised a longer treatment of the subject.

Today I received that longer treatment. Here it is in its entirety:
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Americans for Tax Reform Illinois: Pelosi’s Heinous Helathcare Bill

November 17, 2009 | Filed Under Barack Obama, Business, Congress, Cook County, Democrats/Leftists, Economy/Finances, GOP, Government, Corruption, Health, House of Representatives, Liberals, President, Senate, Socialism, Society/Culture, Taxes, Warner Todd Huston | No Comments

Dear Illinois Patient,

Last weekend, Representatives Bobby Rush (IL District 1); Jesse Jackson (IL District 2); Daniel Lipinski (IL District 3); Luis Gutierrez (IL District 4); Mike Quigley (IL District 5); Danny Davis (IL District 6); Melissa Bean (Il District 8); Janice Schakowsky (IL District 9); Deborah Halvorson (IL District 11); Jerry Costello (IL District 12); Bill Foster (IL District 13); and Phil Hare (IL District 17), voted in favor of HR 3962, Nancy Pelosi’s national health care bill. There are dozens of heinous elements in this bill, but here is a short sample of the contents:
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Dold Pulls Ahead in Super Saturday Votes

November 17, 2009 | Filed Under Chicago, Congress, Cook County, Elections, Government, Corruption, House of Representatives, Illinois, Republicans, Society/Culture, State Government, Warner Todd Huston | No Comments

An Update on Dold’s 10th District race from his campaign:

Wins New Trier Republican Organization Endorsement

Winnetka, IL- Robert Dold, Republican Candidate for Illinois’ 10th Congressional District, is proud to announce his endorsement by the New Trier Republican Organization. Having also recently won the endorsement of the Elk Grove Township Republican Organization, Dold has received the first two grassroots endorsements in the district. Dold continues building momentum in his campaign to replace Congressman Mark Kirk who is running for the U.S. Senate.

“I am thrilled to receive the endorsement of the NTRO”, said Dold who received more votes than all of the other six candidates combined. “The NTRO endorsement was instrumental in Mark Kirk’s successful 2000 campaign and I am honored by the support of this important organization.”
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Union Thug Attacks Young Boy Scout

November 17, 2009 | Filed Under Anti-Americanism, Democrats/Leftists, Economy/Finances, Government, Corruption, Liberals, SEIU, Society/Culture, State Government, Unions, Warner Todd Huston | 1 Comment

-By Warner Todd Huston

17-year-old Kevin Anderson wanted to add another Eagle Scout badge to his well-earned collection and so spent some 200 hours over several weeks to clear a walking path along the river in east Allentown park in Allentown, Pennsylvania.

Little did young Mr. Anderson know it but he was about to prove once again that unions have a pernicious influence on governments everywhere. After Kevin’s good deed the city’s public employees union went gunning for the poor kid with threats and gyrations meant to shake down the city and scare off any citizen that might dare to imagine that they could perform any act of charity or community service for their fellows without the union getting its piece of the action.

In his best Sopranos impression, the thug president of the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) Nicky Balzano began to issue his threats.

“We’ll be looking into the Cub Scout or Boy Scout who did the trails,” Balzano ominously warned the City Council.
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Google-AdMob’s Antitrust Problems

November 17, 2009 | Filed Under Budget, Business, Capitalism, Computers, Congress, Democrats/Leftists, Economy/Finances, Free Trade, Google, Government, Corruption, Inernet, Liberals, Scott Cleland, Socialism, Society/Culture, Technology | No Comments

-By Scott Cleland

Google’s acquisition of AdMob, “the world’s largest mobile advertising marketplace,” will receive serious antitrust scrutiny focused on whether the deal lessens competition by extending search advertising monopoly to mobile devices.

Expect the review process to be a magnet for a host of antitrust, competition, and privacy product/services concerns, much like the proposed Google Book settlement has been a magnet for antitrust, competition, and privacy content concerns.

First, Google is misleading with its blanket statement: “We don’t see any regulatory concerns with this deal.”

Not “any” concerns implies Google does not expect: any DOJ/FTC discussion over who reviews the deal; no second request for information; no CIDs (subpoenas); no hearings; or no serious competitor objections that authorities will have to explore. If that is true, why does Google say it could it take “several months” to close?
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ISI Conference Part Three: More British Than the British!

November 16, 2009 | Filed Under Britain, Christianity, Conservatives, Constitution, Democrats/Leftists, Education, Government, Corruption, History, Liberals, Patriotism, President, Religion, Rights, Society/Culture, State Government, The Law, Warner Todd Huston, Western Civilization | 1 Comment

-By Warner Todd Huston

This is the final installment my three part report on the Intercollegiate Studies Institute’s one day conference on The Roots of American Order. So here is part two of mine titled Lift a Glass to the Past: America Rooted in Tradition or a New Covenant? (Click for parts one and two)

After a break for lunch, Mark C. Henrie took up America’s Britishness. Henrie wrote the ISI’s A Student’s Guide to the Core Curriculum that explains the value of a traditional core of studies in Western civilization and his session reflected that study.

Capitalizing on Birzer’s citation of Edmund Burke who praised the colonist’s essential Britishness, Henrie made the point that America is best understood not as a break from tradition but as the culmination of a long series of continuous ideals that range back through Western history, specifically through England.

Henrie says that we get four essentials from England.

  • The English language and literature
  • The common law and a respect for the rule of law
  • A desire for self government
  • Manners and a social order

One of the questions that researchers have often wondered is why American English and British English are essentially the same? Why didn’t America reinvent English for its own purposes in the same way the Dutch altered German, for instance? Henrie says that the reason is that the focal point of language in the colonies was contained in the King James Bible and that pervasive reliance on a single source of language arrested any development of a widely diverging American version of English. We Americans inherited the English language through the Bible.
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ISI Conference Part Two: Christ in Our Soul

November 16, 2009 | Filed Under Britain, Christianity, Conservatives, Constitution, Democrats/Leftists, Education, Freedom, Government, Corruption, Liberals, Patriotism, President, Religion, Rights, Society/Culture, State Government, The Law, Warner Todd Huston, Western Civilization | 4 Comments

-By Warner Todd Huston

This is part two of my three part report on the Intercollegiate Studies Institute’s one day conference on The Roots of American Order. So here is part two of mine titled Lift a Glass to the Past: America Rooted in Tradition or a New Covenant? (Part one can be seen here)

The second speaker of the day was Brad Birzer who regaled us on America’s Judeo-Christian History.

Bizer began his session by noting that historian Donald Lutz discovered that the founders used Christian references in their pre-war writing far more than any other source. St. Paul was the most referenced New Testament figure with Micah 4:4 being the most referenced Old Testament verse.

But they shall sit every man under his vine and under his fig tree; and none shall make them afraid: for the mouth of the LORD of hosts hath spoken it.

On this Lutz quotation, though, I want to clarify something. Many have bandied about the claim that Donald Lutz said that 34 percent of the founder’s writing contain direct Biblical citations. This claim is not altogether true. On the other hand, it is not something to quickly dismiss as fans of the Enlightenment influence want to do, either.
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Illinois’ Gov And Senator Think Terrorists Bring ‘Good-Paying Jobs’

November 16, 2009 | Filed Under Anti-Americanism, Barack Obama, Chicago, Congress, Cook County, Crime, Democrats/Leftists, Economy/Finances, Foreign Policy, Government, Corruption, House of Representatives, Illinois, Islam, Islamofascism, Liberals, President, Religion, Security/Safety, Society/Culture, State Government, Taxes, Terrorism, War on Terror, Warner Todd Huston | No Comments

-By Warner Todd Huston

Once again we see how clueless Democrats like Illinois Governor Pat Quinn and Senator Dick Durbin are on matters of national security. With Barack Hussein Obama’s decision to treat the terrorists at Guantanamo Bay as if they are common American criminals, as the president bestows all American rights upon them, and with his decision to spread these monsters out across the U.S.A, we see Quinn and Durbin idiotically asserting that terrorists equal “good paying jobs.”

These jobs might come from the sale to the federal government of the Thomson correctional facility in west central Illinois where Obama could send some 100 detainees in preparation of closing down the Guantanamo Bay, Cuba facilities. Obama is struggling to figure out what to do with these detainees after his hastily made, ill-informed decision last January to close down the terrorist detainment facility.

After the idea was announced both Quinn and Durbin found themselves all excited to welcome these monsters into their state and both imagined that the occasion means that Illinois gets jobs. Durbin is quoted in the Wall Street Journal as saying that this is a dramatic opportunity.
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Lift a Glass to the Past: America Rooted in Tradition or a New Covenant?

November 16, 2009 | Filed Under Britain, Chicago, Christianity, Conservatives, Constitution, Democrats/Leftists, Education, Government, Corruption, History, Liberals, Patriotism, Religion, Rights, Society/Culture, The Law, War on Terror, Warner Todd Huston, Western Civilization | 8 Comments

-By Warner Todd Huston

Is the United States a grand experiment, a new covenant invented out of whole cloth by the fertile minds of the founders from never before seen ideas or is it a nation spawned from deeply rooted traditions of western thought? This was the question posited in a one-day-long conference on classicism in America’s founding sponsored by the Intercollegiate Studies Institute (ISI) and held in Skokie, Illinois, a near northern suburb of Chicago.

The short answer is that the liberal mindset that holds that we should invent the USA anew with each succeeding generation is an erroneous conception of what the United States was meant to be when it was founded. Sure America has some ideas never before seen by political man, but at heart, America is rationalism informed by tradition, not some amorphous mélange of constantly changing ideas.

The founders created a new nation based heavily on Western ideas through British tradition, not one based solely on rationalist thinking. As they struggled to set their new nation on its new Constitutional course, for instance, the words of Founder John Dickinson of Delaware served as their benchmark.

Let experience be our only guide. Reason may lead us astray.

An intimate crowd of 60 some participants enjoyed four separate addresses by lecturers associated with ISI. Appearing behind the lectern were Bruce Thornton, Professor of Classics at Fresno State University; Brad Birzer, Professor of History at Hillsdale College; Mark C. Henrie, Senior VP and Chief Academic Officer of ISI; and E. Christian Kopff, Professor of Classics at the University of Colorado, Boulder.

In these three installments, I will lay out what we talked about at this interesting one-day conference.

Part One: How it all Began
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Help the Soldiers!



"Governments are instituted among men,deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed." Declaration of Independence July 4, 1776




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