Ignorance Is Bliss, Or Is It?

-By Nancy Salvato

If there is one thing for certain in this world, it is when Jack Nicholson plays the male protagonist in a film, his performance will be outstanding. As McMurphy, in One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, his impression on me is as compelling today –as it was over 30 years ago when I first watched him bring to consciousness the minds of assorted inmates staying on Nurse Ratched’s ward of the mental institution. The message I took away while watching McMurphy undermine Nurse Ratched’s authority over her unit -until she has him lobotomized, stands the test of time. Power hungry people will resort to any means necessary to maintain control. Although Nurse Ratched’s actions were extreme, her display taught me just how vulnerable people are if they are labeled mentally unstable or forfeit the responsibility of making decisions on their own behalf. Those placed in their charge are not necessarily looking out for them.

Inherent in writing and exposing one’s own ideas about terrorism (or the war against radical Islamism), the border threat, or political correctness, is the likelihood of being branded a right wing nut. Being labeled as such isn’t personally offensive (I’ve begun to grow my Alligator Skin) but there is the danger that being branded as such could chip away at my credibility, which is the whole idea behind such mudslinging. This is why it’s so important to be able to back up an argument with facts. This is extremely difficult in the face of a movement doing everything it can to shut down ideas which run counter to their own.
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Anti-Gun Argument, Always Pure Hysterics

-By Warner Todd Huston

The anti-gun argument is always built solely upon emotional excess. It’s all about “feelings” and “fears” and almost never built on any facts or reality. In another example of the kind of hand-wringing, excessive, faux compassion that ignores the real statistics we are so used to, the Charlotte Observer has given space to one of their propagandists… I mean writers… to vent against the evil gun, once again.

The Observer’s Dannye Romine-Powell (God save us from another hyphenated named, female liberal) gets all amush over the “unruffled thinking” of her gun hating husband and tries her hand at citing statistics to such poor effect that it is embarrassing. But her empty argument very much embodies that which lies at the heart of the anti-Constitutional crowd.
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Hacker Proves How MSM is Fooled by al Qaeda Photochopped Images

-By Warner Todd Huston

At the Black Hat computer Hacker’s conference held in Las Vegas last week, Neal Krawetz of “Hacker Factor” showed how easily the MSM has been tricked into believing the fake images that al Qaeda has offered to further their propaganda. Krawetz specifically referred to two images, one the July 27, 2006 image of al Qaeda second in command al-Zawahiri supposedly sitting in a modern television studio. It was an image that had the tongues of the MSM and pundits alike wagging. How is it, they clucked, that al-Zawahiri could be sitting in a modern television studio yet still could not be found?

Krawetz demonstrated how the elements of the two images, however, are special effects and not real.

Krawetz showed another image of al-Zawahiri from July 27, 2006, showing him seated in what appears to be a television studio. Krawetz said many people who saw this video were outraged that he could sitting in a television studio somewhere, yet the U.S. government couldn’t find him.

Image analysis suggests that the studio and the various pictures positioned in the studio around him were added later. Again, a halo around al-Zawahiri suggests that he was shot in front of a monochromatic screen and pasted into a new background.

The fake TV studio image sure fooled Tucker Carlson of MSNBC’s The Situation Room. On January 30th Tucker said:
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Of justice and the fullness of hearts

-By Michael M. Bates

When Charles Schumer speaks, people laugh. Sadly, some folks also listen, possibly because he’s the third ranking member of the Democratic Senate leadership. In that lofty capacity it’s the New York solon’s right, nay, responsibility, to chatter inanely.

Schumer recently warned that, unless there are what he deems extraordinary circumstances, he’ll try to block any future Supreme Court appointments made by this president. So we have yet another reason to be thankful that Chief Justice John Roberts appears to be OK.

The Chief Justice and Justice Sam Alito, both of whom were nominated by the current President Bush, are the cause of Mr. Schumer’s threat. He now says the Senate was “hoodwinked” by them. He’s particularly miffed about Justice Alito. In addressing the American Constitution Society last week, Schumer said:

“Without question, my greatest regret in the 109th Congress was not doing more to block Alito. Alito shouldn’t have been confirmed. I should have done a better job; my colleagues said we didn’t have the votes, but I think we should have twisted more arms and done more.”

Twisted more arms. Yep, definitely he’s affiliated with the right party.
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AP Legitimizes Generbender With Idaho Inmate Who Castrated ‘Herself’

-By Warner Todd Huston

Is it so hard to tell a male human being from a female one? I guess to the AP it is because in a story from the 31st, the tale they told of a male inmate castrating himself with a broken disposable razor blade became the story of a male inmate castrating “herself” with a razor blade. One wonders what the AP Stylebook says about that little gem?

BOISE, Idaho – An inmate who castrated herself with a disposable razor blade after prison officials refused to treat her for gender identity disorder should have female hormone therapy paid for by the state, a federal judge said.

Someone should inform the AP that a female cannot castrate herself. It is a physical impossibility. If’n ya gots something to castrate, you ain’t no woman in the first place!
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Journalist’ Shield Law to Protect Bloggers, too!

-By Warner Todd Huston

Here is a bit of good news from the House of Representatives that affects all of us here on the blogosphere. As reported by J.A. Dlouhy of the Hearst Newspapers, new “legislation that would protect journalists from being forced to reveal confidential sources” has passed the House Judiciary committee. The good news is that this legislation will also cover bloggers.

The bill would cover all journalists, and it broadly defines that group so that in some cases, bloggers and other nontraditional members of the Fourth Estate would get protection.

The Department of Justice is trying to fight this legislation, but so far it has wide bi-partisan support.

Only one thing worries me. That it might have been watered down too far to please the Justice Dept.
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Is Immigration Really an “All American” Idea?

-By Warner Todd Huston

The plaque at the base of the Statue of Liberty sums up the general assumption most people have about where immigration fits into American principles. “Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, the wretched refuse of your teeming shore,” the famously inscribed tablet goes. “Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed to me. I lift my lamp beside the golden door.”

For most people that about settles it. We are a “nation of immigrants.” It’s as American as baseball and apple pie. Not very long ago, I made this very claim in a discussion about the anchor baby issue. It seemed to me that since this was a nation of immigrants, we couldn’t be intellectually honest and exclude people of foreign birth from having their children born on US soil being given automatic citizenship as set forth under the 14th Amendment. It was a natural assumption to make, but not one entirely informed. It was a matter that several letter writers quickly took me to school for seeking to disabuse me of my naive notions.

Since then, and after further study, I have reassessed my view on the matter. I have seen that the issue of immigration is not as cut-and-dried as it might seem, either currently or historically.

Now comes Thomas E. Woods, Jr. to try to simplify the anti-immigration point even further in a new book titled “33 Questions About American History You’re Not Supposed to Ask” (Crown Forum, 2007, $25.95). One of the “33 Questions” Woods asks and then answers is that of the immigration issue as far as the Founding Fathers were concerned with it. Fittingly, since it’s one of today’s most pressing issues, the immigration question starts the book off with chapter one; “Did the Founding Fathers Support Immigration?”

About immigration, Woods says, “… many people still assume that the right of immigration is a hallowed American principle that no loyal citizen can consistently oppose.” He claims, though, that “this assumption is false.” He also says, “The Founding Fathers were generally wary of immigrants, and many of them warned about the consequences for the United States if immigration levels were not limited.”

So, that’s basically a “no” as far as Woods is concerned. The Founders were not for untrammeled immigration and wanted limits to it. Woods focuses on the Founders anti-immigration points and clearly wishes the reader to feel they were generally against it.
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Free Enterprise and Government Regulation

-By Thomas E. Brewton

Lawmakers can dismount from their soak-the-rich hobby horses. Reality curtails business excesses; no need for help from Congressman Barney Frank.

The free marketplace has chastised hedge fund managers more effectively than any taxes or regulations Congressional socialists might have concocted.

The Wall Street Journal in its July, 27, 2007, edition reports:

As flagging debt markets bring the private-equity boom to a halt, the likelihood that Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. will have to postpone its initial public offering is increasing.

Jeff Arricale, who runs a financial-stock mutual fund for T. Rowe Price Group Inc., said he doubts KKR will be able to find enough investors to pull off an IPO if current market conditions continue. “Sure, at some price it is possible to do it, but I’d be shocked if they end up doing this IPO.”
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Stirring the Flames of Race Baiting Over School Segregation

-By Warner Todd Huston

Reuters seems to be jumping into the fray over the Supreme Court’s latest decision on the issue of racial diversity in our schools. At least, it seems so because their latest story on the decision seems an advocacy piece against the Supreme Court and for forced “diversity” policies in our schools. In fact, Reuters seems only too happy to claim that the Supreme Court is causing “fear” in our innocent children in their piece titled, “Students, schools fear end of racial diversity.”

Reuters is obviously giving voice to this forced “diversity” and giving the bussing crowd the thumbs up in a report that also seems to say that black kids only “get in fights” when they go to predominately black schools.

LOUISVILLE, Kentucky (Reuters) – Seventeen-year-old Quantae Williams doesn’t understand why the U.S. Supreme Court struck down his school district’s racial diversity program.

He now dreads the prospect of leaving his mixed-race high school in suburban Louisville and returning to the poor black downtown schools where he used to get in fights.

That seems vaguely racist, doesn’t it?
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Green Acres: Welfare for the wealthy – and dead

-By Michael M. Bates

We in the Land of Lincoln have many matters about which to fret. Will the budget impasse between the Democratic governor and the Democratic General Assembly get resolved? Will Illinois ever join the 48 states that permit concealed carrying of weapons, thereby giving law-abiding citizens a fighting chance against the bad guys? What week of September (or possibly August) will the Cubs choke this year? Will Gov. Milorad Blagojevich try sticking taxpayers with another $600 makeup bill?

There’s so very much for us to ponder. Happily, we don’t have to worry if our fair state is getting its “fair share” when it comes to Federal farm subsidies. The answer is yes, yes, yes! Illinois ranks third in the Nation.

We know this because the Environmental Working Group (EWG) has a Web site, mulchblog.com, compiling Agriculture Department (USDA) subsidy records. The EWG is extremely liberal; I don’t subscribe to many of its objectives. One thing I do endorse, though, is cutting giveaways in general and giveaways to folks who don’t need them in particular.

Illinois received well over $3 billion in commodity program payments for USDA program years 2003-2005, according to the database. All figures reflect that period.

Chicago generally isn’t known for its farming. Nevertheless, there are over 1,600 subsidy recipients in the city. In zip code 60611, home of Michigan Avenue’s Magnificent Mile, 92 gentleman/gentle lady farmers availed themselves of aid from Washington.
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THE AD YOUR KIDS SHOULD TAKE TO SCHOOL

-By Vince Johnson

It is a full-page ad designed to appear in such papers as the Wall Street Journal, New York Times, Washington Post, or USA Today. The headline is in 72 point type and appears over a photo of 12 Middle School students in a classroom:

WILL YOU SEND US TO PRISON IF WE
REFUSE TO MAKE PAYMENTS ON YOUR DEBTS?

We are talking about your federal debt. You keep borrowing money from our future to finance wars, build billion dollar bridges between Alaskan villages, and “little” things like the multi-million dollar Indoor Rainforest Project in Iowa. You blame this continual borrowing on the politicians and do nothing except complain about it whenever you get tired of yakking about the weather.

If you were truly responsible adults, you would tell us the truth. You would tell us that you do not have enough money to pay for all the things you want, so you borrow from us. The amount is now around nine trillion dollars and increasing everyday. That’s Nine Thousand Billion Dollars you have borrowed from us!

How would you like it if we borrowed that kind of money directly from your future? How would you like it if we did it without your permission? How would you like it if we passed laws authorizing the courts to send you to prison if you refused to make payments on money we borrowed from you?

That is exactly what your generation is doing to our generation. If you want to discuss this further, please wait until we graduate from high school. These next four or five years may be the few remaining where we can be kids and never have to worry about our nation going bankrupt or how we can survive with what we have left after paying taxes.

This ad concept designed by Vince Johnson, Reality Consultant

I am a veteran of WW II and the Korean Conflict. I believe it is unconstitutional to force our children to make payments on a debt we created without their knowledge or approval. If you agree, print this article and have your kids use it at school for “Show and Tell.”
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Democrats NOT ‘Fiscally Responsible’ as Claimed in ‘06 Elections

-By Warner Todd Huston

SINK THE EARMARK

Contrary to the claims that the voters’ “war weariness” was the reason the Republicans lost their majority in Congress in the 2006 midterms, the real reason that Republican and moderate voters lost their zest for supporting the GOP is because of the lie that the GOP majority made of their long standing plank of fiscal responsibility. The earmark frenzy and Congressional pork spending that the GOP indulged in, with the Democrat Party gleefully joining in, is what lost them the 2006 elections. Disenchantment with the war, the media’s favorite claim, is not the chief reason the GOP lost the confidence of the American people. After all, the president, not Congress, is the face of this war.

The right of center American voter looked to a GOP controlled Congress that seemed indistinguishable from what we would have with a Democrat controlled legislature and wondered: “why not vote in a real Democrat if what we have are just like them anyway?” So, the American people thought to give the Democrat Party a shot at proving their claims of newfound responsibility. The Republican’s hypocrisy was just too much for conservative voters and the centrists just saw no reason to stick with the GOP.

So, as a result we got the Nancy Pelosi House of Representatives and Harry Reid as majority leader in the Senate.

“Democrats will not disappoint… We pledge to make this the most honest, ethical, and open Congress in history…With integrity, civility, and fiscal responsibility as our guide, Democrats intend to move forward with the agenda for change on which we were elected.”– Incoming Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi, Nov. 14th, 2006 as published in the Christian Science Monitor

But, since their embarrassing loss in the last midterms, the GOP has been endeavoring to regain their status as the Party of fiscal responsibility. It hasn’t been easy, mostly because their own voters are so skeptical that their efforts have the ring of authenticity. But, still, it is good the Republicans are at least trying.
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Mitch McConnell, Hero of the GOP in the Senate

-By Warner Todd Huston

We Republicans and Conservatives (not always one in the same thing, necessarily… hello Linc “leftie” Chaffey) have been eyeing the Senate with disgust for many years, now. But we finally have a Senator who knows what to do with power. Mitch McConnell has rode in from the Blue Grass state — um, that would be Kentucky for those unaware — and taken control of the Senate, even though his Party is in minority status.

Frist was a useless addition to the Senate in the role of Majority leader. He did squat for the Party, the country or even his home state of Tennessee in that position. His best service was stepping aside. Yet, for as ineffective as Frist was, Trent “the mouth” Lott was even worse. Lott was, though, a great Democrat as the GOP majority leader. He helped their cause immensely so they should give him massive congrats on his work for them.

But, finally, we’ve got a man that knows what to do as a Party leader. Mitch McConnell has had the supposed majority Party running in circles and he isn’t done yet. Last week he did a masterful job of confounding the chief Defeat-o-crat, Harry Reid, during their showboat all night Senate session.
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NYTimes Wants us to Feel Sorry for an Illegal Immigrant’s Deportation

-By Warner Todd Huston

Last week, the New York Times ran an article feeling sorry for an illegal immigrant turned immigrant’s “rights” activist who was discovered by a random immigration check on an Amtrak train and subsequently slated to be deported back to Chile, his homeland. The Times tried to massage readers into feeling bad for the man because he had been here since 1984 when he illegally crossed the Mexico/US border — apparently the Times imagines that time bestows legality as opposed to obeying laws serving that purpose.

An axiom has resonated throughout the country that the NYT doesn’t seem to grasp; “What part of illegal don’t you understand?”
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Free Speech From the Mouths of Babes?

By Selwyn Duke

Last week the Supreme court handed down three free speech rulings that find favor with conservatives. One of them is Morse et al. v. Frederick, a case involving the free speech rights of students. At issue is a five year old incident wherein a Juneau-Douglas High School senior named Joe Frederick raised a 14-foot banner stating “Bong Hits 4 Jesus” and was subsequently suspended for “drug speech” by then school principal Deborah Morse. Writing for the majority in a five to four decision in favor of the school, Chief Justice John Roberts reasoned that the First Amendment should not be applied in this case because the student was encouraging drug use.

While I agree with the principal’s actions and take solace in the knowledge that educators’ hands won’t be further tied, the Supreme Court’s ruling does nothing to address what is the underlying problem. In fact, with the convoluted logic displayed by virtually all members of the court, it’s hard to find much to applaud in this judgment.

The real issue here extends far beyond this one case and harks back to a precedent set in 1969 in the Tinker v. Des Moines ruling, which divined from the Constitution a right to free speech in schools. Upon issuance of that decision the court stated,
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MSM Ignores Higher Placed Clinton Officials’ Conviction to Tout Libby’s

-By Warner Todd Huston

I keep seeing this talking point phrase in multiple MSM stories about the Libby conviction; “Libby was convicted in March, the highest-ranking White House official ordered to prison since the Iran-Contra affair roiled the Reagan administration in the 1980s.”(emphasis, mine) This is a misleading statement that makes the reader imagine that no high-ranking Presidential appointee, adviser, or member of the White House has been convicted of anything or sentenced to anything since Reagan’s era. But, at least one past official’s name should be placed above that of Libby’s. Henry Cisneros was the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development, appointed to that position by President Bill Clinton. Cisneros, it should be remembered, was indicted in 1995 on 18 counts of conspiracy, false statements and obstruction of justice. Cisneros pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor count of lying to the FBI. Now, I’d dare say that Libby, who only worked in the office of the Vice President, was a minnow in the pond in which Cisneros swam. Cisneros was the Secretary of HUD, a presidential cabinet member, after all!

Naturally, on his way out of the White House in 2001, Clinton pardoned Cisneros.

Yet, here we have the MSM constantly calling Libby the “highest White House official” convicted, completely ignoring the fate of a much, much higher official with Cisneros. Of course, that this man was a member of Clinton’s cabinet pretty much explains why the MSM is conveniently forgetting the fact that Libby is a small fish in this conviction game compared to Cisneros. And, Cisneros was certainly a member of the White House having been a Clinton appointee.

Still, this claim of Libby being “highest official” is everywhere. An MSM talking point, for sure. And a misleading one, at that.

Here are just a few quick examples:
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School Discipline

-By Thomas E. Brewton

Enforcing proper behavior is anathema to liberals, but essential to learning.

The recent Supreme Court decision in the MORSE ET AL. v. FREDERICK case, better known as the “BONG HiTS 4 JESUS” case, has generated controversy, both because of the Court’s decision, and because of the concurring opinion by Justice Clarence Thomas.

Facts of the case were the following:

At a school-sanctioned and school-supervised event, petitioner Morse, the high school principal, saw students unfurl a banner stating “BONG HiTS 4 JESUS,” which she regarded as promoting illegal drug use. Consistent with established school policy prohibiting such messages at school events, Morse directed the students to take down the banner. When one of the students who had brought the banner to the event—respondent Frederick—refused, Morse confiscated the banner and later suspended him.

The Court’s ruling, expressed in the opinion of Chief Justice John Roberts, was:

Because schools may take steps to safeguard those entrusted to their care from speech that can reasonably be regarded as encouraging illegal drug use, the school officials in this case did not violate the First Amendment by confiscating the pro-drug banner and suspending Frederick…. Our cases make clear that students do not “shed their constitutional rights to freedom of speech or expression at the schoolhouse gate.” Tinker v. Des Moines Independent Community School Dist., 393 U. S. 503, 506 (1969). At the same time, we have held that “the constitutional rights of students in public school are not automatically coextensive with the rights of adults in other settings,” Bethel School Dist. No. 403 v. Fraser, 478 U. S. 675, 682 (1986), and that the rights of students “must be ‘applied in light of the special characteristics of the school environment.’
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A Little Knowledge Is a Dangerous Thing

-By Nancy Salvato

“A little learning is a dangerous thing; drink deep, or taste not the Pierian spring: there shallow draughts intoxicate the brain, and drinking largely sobers us again.” — Alexander Pope

Around this time last year I participated in the Center for Civic Education’s National Academy, where Professor Will Harris led a selected group of students in 21 days of intense study on the basic issues of political theory, and the values and principles of American constitutional democracy. Early on, the importance of gaining a “surplus of mind,” as a crucial element of the democratic process, was discussed. In order to become thinkers or problem solvers, our citizenry must be taught by teachers who are ambitious in their learning goals. When teachers over simplify learning objectives, this conditions our citizenry to fail at more complicated tasks. Conversely, giving the populace the tools to figure out the world’s complexity enables each person to be more powerful and free. Moreover, this is a necessary component of our system of government.

To elaborate further, a surplus of knowledge is especially useful when dealing with unexpected situations. When weighing the possible consequences of a decision, an intelligent person draws on these reserves. The key to “intelligence” is a capacity to weigh the variables that come into play when assessing individual situations. A surplus of knowledge gives us a reasonable shot at being able to anticipate short and long term repercussions of actions or inaction. Indeed, as a colleague of mine recently noted, every choice comes with regret.
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We Blame the Politicians But We Put Them There

-By Frank Salvato

With the Comprehensive Immigration Reform Act of 2007 (S1639) now stalled – permanently, we hope – at the debate stage in the US Senate, we can come away with one lesson learned from this course of events, an unsettling number of politicians in Washington DC ignored the “baggage” that is their constituency. In light of this undeniable truth, it is understandable that outraged Americans would be looking to the section of the Declaration of Independence that talked about dissolving government. But when one takes a break from pointing fingers – and perhaps raising some toward their elected officials – it would be wise to remember who allowed this to happen.

Let me be perfectly clear, I am not about to apologize for the actions of those who have betrayed their constituencies. In fact, I believe that any elected official who doesn’t hold and respect the inclinations of his constituency in the highest regard should be removed from office. While the positions that elected officials hold need to have a degree of latitude when it comes to enacting the will of the people, it should never be the case that an elected official would be obliged to ignore or look down upon the positions of his constituents.

But the blame for getting to this pathetic and disturbing point simply doesn’t lie – exclusively – with the creatures that dwell inside the beltway or in the State Houses. A major portion of the blame needs to lie with We the People. It lies with you and me.
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FINALLY….Bush commutes sentence for Libby

It’s about time. If Bush had allowed Libby to go to jail, that wold have been the final straw in my support for him. As it is, with this action, I barely hang on as a supporter. The president is on thin ice with me, however. It won’t take much for me to wash my hands of him.

——-
Libby Gets Pardon

AP July 2, 2007

President Bush commuted the sentence of former aide I. Lewis “Scooter” Libby Monday, sparing him from a 2 1/2-year prison term in the CIA leak case.

Bush left intact a $250,000 fine and two years probation for Libby, according to a senior White House official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the decision had not been announced.
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A World Without Habeas Corpus

-By Nancy Salvato

“Sure, we want to go home. We want this war over with. The quickest way to get it over with is to go get the bastards who started it. The quicker they are whipped, the quicker we can go home. The shortest way home is through Berlin and Tokyo. And when we get to Berlin, I am personally going to shoot that paper hanging son-of-a-bitch Hitler. Just like I’d shoot a snake!”
— General George S. Patton– (addressing to his troops before Operation Overlord) – 5th June 1944

I woke from a very disturbing dream the other night. Five women and I were involved in some business undertaking in the Middle East. Heading toward a building where we were to be meeting, the two women I had been following took a wrong turn and we ended up at a beach with high rises behind us. Many people were sunbathing and swimming. I was in business attire so I could not enjoy the beach but I remember thinking how clean and clear the water looked. The scene was very inviting.

Suddenly there was a disturbance in the water, and a soldier patrolling the beach walked over to us. This man had been collecting pink papers off the tables lining the beach, each with names on them, when it occurred to me that these papers held the names of anyone who was at the beach at that moment. As he picked up a paper, he turned to me. My heart pounding rapidly, I read the name and said it was not me but the woman standing near me. Very gruffly, he told her to come with him. She was being arrested for complicity in the disturbance because someone had to be blamed for what appeared to be a shark attack. Worried about what would happen next, I woke up, thinking about writ of habeas corpus and due process. These are rights of which many people living under extremist regimes do not have access. These are rights that people in our country take for granted, rights which would never allow the above situation to occur.
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Avoid Gasoline — Pay a Fine!

-By Warner Todd Huston

Well, here is an interesting turn of events. A fellow in North Carolina converted his auto to run on vegetable oil so that he could “make a statement” against our usage of fossil fuels.

Great, you say? Stick it to the oil companies, the Saudis the whole mess in the Mid East? And on top of that we get a thrill that he won’t have to pay for the high cost of gas… OR the taxes on such.

Right?

WRONG!

Charlotte man converts car to veggie oil, gets fined by state

Bob Teixeira, a Charlotte guitar teacher, took a stand against US dependence on foreign oil last fall. He spent 12-hundred dollars to convert his 1981 diesel Mercedes to run on vegetable oil. He buys soybean oil in 5-gallon jugs at Costco, which costs him about a third more than diesel.

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The Incredible Judicial Disparity: Berger v. Libby

-By Frank Salvato

If you needed any more proof that the American judicial system is completely – and alarmingly – subjective, look no further than the disparity between the sentences imposed on Sandy Berger and

I. Lewis ‘Scooter’ Libby. In Washington DC’s version of The Peoples’ Court, it would seem that the deciding factors in how severe a sentence one gets depends on political party affiliation, the severity of the crime be damned.

This past Tuesday US District Judge Reggie B. Walton, a Bush 43 appointee, sentenced former Vice Presidential Chief of Staff I. Lewis ‘Scooter’ Libby to 30 months in prison and fined him $250,000 for obstruction of justice and lying to a federal agent. Walton said he saw no good reason to allow Libby to remain free pending appeal. Walton also required Libby to serve two years probation upon release from prison.
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Think Political Parties Are Destroying America? Thank the 17th Amendment!

-By Warner Todd Huston

If you think our nation is being ruined by the two party System you should consider the huge mistake we made in 1913 by changing our Constitution to allow American citizens to vote our Senators into office. In the beginning and until 1913 we did not elect our Senators to that chamber as the Founders originally meant for them to be individually appointed to office by the legislatures of the various states.

That mistake is the17th Amendment. Previous to 1913 Senators were appointed by the state governments to represent them in Congress but after passage of the 17th amendment Senators were from that point forward elected by the people at the ballot box in a general election.

At first hearing, it seems like a good idea full of populist “power to the people” and a way to “fix” what had seemed like an error in the original Constitution. The cure, however, has proven worse than the disease and made the old saying, “all politics is local” into a lie at long last.
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Milwaukee Columnist’s Anti-Gun Screed Unintentionally Funny

-By Warner Todd Huston

Barbara Miner of the Milwaukee Journal, Sentinel has written one of the funniest anti-gun screeds I’ve seen in a long, long time. Oh, she didn’t MEAN to be funny, of course. But, her article gave the effect of seeing a 40-year-old white guy trying to chant the lyrics to a popular Rap “music” tune to look cool to his eye rolling kids. Her rambling little column was so filled with unintentionally funny moments, was so clueless in its lack of introspection and so completely absurd that one would have thought the link at the Milwaukee Journal, Sentinel website had accidentally taken you to the satirical website, “The Onion”.

Now, I have always been somewhat confused when leftists are being unintentionally funny. Do we laugh and be mean at their utter cluelessness, or do we feel sorrow and pity instead of mirth? How should we feel, for instance, when Keith Olberman pretends that he is giving pertinent commentary, or when Babs Streisand acts as if she is to be taken seriously… or anytime we even see Cindy Sheehan doing, well, anything. So, when I read this anti-gun piece so chock full of absurdity, I was torn as to how to feel about it.

Ah, who am I kidding? I laughed like a hyena at how foolish this liberal chick is. I mean, what planet is this woman from?
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Democrats Don’t Care About “The People”

-By Warner Todd Huston

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

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

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

The Democrat Congress under Nancy Pelosi, though, wanted to remove even that one chance the current Republican minority has to affect legislation by eliminating the ages old rule.
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Hawaiian Supreme court to Say if Bloggers are Journalists

-By Warner Todd Huston

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

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

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

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

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

… not that this will deter me, naturally.
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The Conservative Mind – A Must Read For All Americans

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

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

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

The Conservative Mind

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

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

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

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

-By Frank Salvato

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

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

Further, the median age in Mexico is 25.6 years of age and the literacy rate for the total population is at 92.2%. This demographic, combined with their abundant natural resources and central location in the Western Hemisphere, are a perfect catalyst for an employment sector that would – under normal circumstances – compete on the First World economic stage.
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The Real Immigration Threat

By Selwyn Duke

Most of us will publicly lament our immigration woes, but not without a disclaimer. “Look, I have no problem with immigration,” say we, “I just want people to come here legally.” This, after all, is supposed to be the sober, sane, American point of view, as we “know” that immigration is the lifeblood of the U.S.A. Personally, I can sympathize with this perspective. Western civilization has become old, tired and decrepit; it’s a mere shadow of its former self, running on fumes and on empty. Perhaps its time for it to be euthanized.

I just want it done legally.

Now I’ll transition from a wise-guy to a guy who waxes wise. You should be outraged by the pandering to the illegal alien lobby, and I’ll unabashedly say that the three most important factors in immigration policy are deportation, deportation and deportation. Still, to focus our eyes narrowly on just illegal immigration is to lament only the salt thrown into the wound while accepting the wound itself. Illegal immigration is not the problem.

It’s an exacerbation of the problem.
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