The Law

00Publius Contributor - Crime - Democrats/Leftists - Economy/Finances - Immigration/Immigrants - Media Bias - Security/Safety - Society/Culture - The Law - Uncategorized - Warner Todd Huston

Falling Home Construction Market in USA Hurts Mexico?

May 8, 2007 by

-By Warner Todd Huston

In Sunday’s paper, the L.A.Times has a piece that mourns a downturn of a portion of Mexico’s economy and, naturally, the Times blames the USA for it. How is it that the USA is responsible for this downturn? New home construction is down in California and illegal Mexicans have found themselves out of work because of it. This means that these out of work Mexicans cannot send US dollars to Mexico and, therefore, Mexican families back home are finding less money in their family incomes.

So, according to the L.A.Times, the US is unfairly hurting Mexican families because of a downturn in new home building in the USA. Why are we Americans so darn mean to those innocent illegals, anyway? For shame you selfish Americans!
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00Publius Contributor - 2nd Amendment - Democrats/Leftists - Elections - GOP - Security/Safety - Society/Culture - The Law - Uncategorized - Warner Todd Huston

Illinois County Says NO To Gun Control

May 6, 2007 by 2 Comments

-By Warner Todd Huston

The Media was all a frenzy on the debate about gun control right after the VT killings cynically attempting to push their Constitutionally illegal gun banning ideas on a grieving public. But one Illinois County has bravely decided to make moves to protect their 2nd Amendment rights with action by the County Board.

The Pike County Board has adopted a resolution that will oppose any sort of gun control measures that infringe on the right to keep and bear arms adopted by the state of Illinois. A brave move in a state controlled by a gun grabbing, extreme left leaning Democrat Party orchestrated by a Mafia infested Chicago mayor who lately moves the State legislature around like a chess player.

Mayor Daley has been trying to manufacture gun banning laws for decades, but had been stymied by a state legislature with enough Republicans in it to throw a monkey wrench into his anti-Constitutional plans. But, since the 2006 election, the state has fallen under the spell of the Democrat Party which easily controls all aspects of the state. And Daley controls the Democrat Party, for the most part, as nearly all the members of state government in key positions are from Daley’s old Chicago cabal.

Pike County is apparently afraid of what this Democrat controlled government will try to do now that the state GOP has made themselves utterly ineffective. In a 7 to 2 vote, the County Board passed the resolution which is to be forwarded onto the state government in Springfield and the rest of Illinois’ County governments.
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00Publius Contributor - Congress - Democrats/Leftists - Elections - GOP - Military - President - Security/Safety - Society/Culture - The Law - Uncategorized - Warner Todd Huston

Trent Lott, STILL a Disaster for the GOP (And RINO Pal Voinovich, too)

May 2, 2007 by

-By Warner Todd Huston

More proof that Mississippi Senator Trent Lott, the former Democrat and the one responsible for making all Republicans look like racists — with help from the MSM — is at it again.

Lott is making noise that he would like to compromise with the Democrat Party over the safety of our troops and listen to talk of cutting and running from Iraq since President Bush has vetoed the Democrat’s latest Surrender bill.

Lott has been a capitulator to the Democrats for decades and his disastrous tenure as Majority Leader of the Senate several years ago was a fine example of how bad he is for the GOP. But, now he isn’t just damaging the Party as he usually does. NOW he is floating the possibility that he will allow the Democrat Party (his old home) to engineer an utter defeat in Iraq.
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00Publius Contributor - Congress - Democrats/Leftists - Elections - Islam - Islamofascism - Media Bias - President - R. A. Hawkins - Security/Safety - Society/Culture - The Law - Uncategorized

Self Immolation (Dhimmicrats Don’t Get it)

May 1, 2007 by

By R. A. Hawkins

As I watch this nation reap the rewards of another Democrat victory I wonder: What did everyone expect? Who are these people that vote for self destruction? Certainly the liberals represent some strange and demented fraction of our society. I haven’t heard anyone talking about secession lately so maybe my idea of throwing certain states out of the Union might just be catching on. Who knows?

Now that the liberals are on the path that I knew they would pursue I think it’s time to say some of what I’ve wanted to say. Idiots shouldn’t be allowed to vote. There I said it. I feel so much better. But it is interesting in a way to watch events unfold, interesting in a manner that reminds me of Thursday at 4:50 AM three weeks ago. It was foggy and I had gone a whole one mile on the Interstate. I had just gotten on to the highway and looked in my rear view mirror. There was some idiot overtaking me and my Honda Civic at about 85 to 90 miles per hour. I went into evasive action mode and minimized the damage but not enough to save my car, only my life. The driver was drunk and as the incident unfolded I watched in slow motion as my mirror went spinning away and my fender disengaged from the underside of her car. That is how I feel as I watch events unfolding here right now.
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00Publius Contributor - Congress - Elections - GOP - Patriotism - President - Security/Safety - Society/Culture - The Law - Uncategorized - Warner Todd Huston

Will Conservatives Shun 2008 Elections? Should we Care?

April 27, 2007 by

-By Warner Todd Huston

Remember that one kid you used to know that always got so mad that he would quit whatever game was being played because no one was doing what he wanted to do? Oh, he was an OK guy, but at least one time in every play session he would skulk off to the corner and pout. His pouting didn’t alter anyone else’s behavior, of course, and it certainly didn’t cause anyone to run after him to cajole him to return, but he went off in a snit just the same. Remember how the response to his pouting was merely a collective shrug of everyone’s shoulders with the game continuing without the pouter in attendance? And remember how he just came back the next day as if nothing happened anyway?

It makes you wonder; what did all the pouting achieve? Nothing changed, so why did he do it? He didn’t get his way, so what was the point? Yet, there is seemingly always one in the bunch who will act this way whether on the playground, in business, or in politics, whether among a bunch of kids or we adults.

In politics today, we see a small core of Conservatives on the right who have become the pouters, the ones threatening to go off in the corner refusing to play with the rest of us.

The question is, why would they do this and if they do, so what?

My question came to mind after I saw a new petition on the Internet pledging that “unless a suitable candidate is selected for the GOP 2008 presidential nomination” the signatories will “stay home or vote third party”. This is no sudden sentiment but representative of the feelings of many Conservatives, one that is gaining adherents of late. At the very least, the din is getting louder.
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00Publius Contributor - Congress - Constitution - Democrats/Leftists - Elections - Frank Salvato - Islam - Islamofascism - Media Bias - Military - Patriotism - President - Security/Safety - Society/Culture - The Law - Uncategorized

What Do They Know and Why Don’t They Know It

April 27, 2007 by

-By Frank Salvato

Recent actions and statements by those who exist on the left side of the aisle have served as proof for any reasonable American that congressional Democrats, especially their leadership, are invested in – and in fact insist upon – placing politics before government. Their blatant disregard for the well-being of our nation leads me to ask, how well do the Progressive-Left and the Democrats who appease them understand the duties associated with being an elected member of the United States government?

One of the last true statesmen to have graced the halls of Congress, Henry Hyde (R-IL), was often heard to say that those elected to office are the stewards to the US Constitution. By this he meant that they were beholden to the principles, ideals, tenets and procedural boundaries held within the document itself. My belief goes a bit further to include the idea that all Americans are vested with this commitment and that in addition to the principles, ideals and tenets of our founding documents each and every one of us is obligated to at least understanding the philosophy that influenced our Founders and Framers to compose such a revolutionary form of self-governance.

That said, and current events taken into consideration, I am led to believe that many in Congress from both sides of the aisle – and perhaps most people elected to office – are sadly devoid of a proper understanding of the Constitution and just exactly what it is they are required to do for their constituencies.

Two instances, appalling in nature to those of us who embrace the idea of good government, took place this week at the hands of Democrat leadership.
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00Publius Contributor - Democrats/Leftists - Elections - GOP - Islam - Islamofascism - Media Bias - Military - President - Security/Safety - Society/Culture - The Law - Uncategorized - Warner Todd Huston

MSM & Dem Prez Candidates Attack Giuliani For Something He Didn’t Say

April 26, 2007 by 1 Comment

-By Warner Todd Huston

To show the feeding frenzy that is the MSM — as well as the constant inaccuracy — reports abounded yesterday with rebukes to Rudy Giuliani from Democratic candidates for the 2008 Presidential elections over something they all merely assumed he said at a campaign appearance.

Every single paper out there quoted the stern rebukes of each of the front running Dem. candidates and nearly every source of MSM news, from TV to the internet, repeated what it was that Rudy “said” to force the rebukes.

Unfortunately for all concerned, it appears that Rudy never said the phrase attributed to him.
Continue reading “MSM & Dem Prez Candidates Attack Giuliani For Something He Didn’t Say”

00Publius Contributor - 2nd Amendment - Crime - Democrats/Leftists - Family - Lee Culpepper - Media Bias - Security/Safety - Society/Culture - The Law - Uncategorized

Judgment, Tolerance, and Virginia Tech

April 25, 2007 by

Lee Culpepper

Monday I watched in disgust the wickedness that throttled the Virginia Tech campus that I once roamed. I was carefree and brash in those days, but since then I have developed a humble appreciation for the education Tech provided me. My heart mourns for Hokies everywhere, but more so for the students and faculty gunned down by evil. I cannot imagine the grief those thirty-two devastated families are feeling. I also mourn for the family of the murderer; they are most likely victims, as well. On the other hand, I recognize that my sympathy for his parents could change as facts are revealed. Regardless, Virginia Tech, like the University of Texas and Columbine High School, will ultimately endure the evil that surfaced, but those thirty-two Hokies’ lives were stolen forever.

I wondered immediately how much the “don’t-judge-me, you-don’t-know-me climate” factors into Tech’s horror. What’s the point in having a brain when America’s “climate of tolerance” pressures us not to use it? Our ability to reason is a responsibility, not a luxury, but the don’t-judge-me establishment shackles common sense and maims critical thinking. The mindless chant of tolerance promotes an idea that feelings are equal to rational thought. Furthermore, to disapprove of someone else’s queer behaviors – which today are passing deceptively as “misunderstood cultures” – reflects negatively on us if we show the courage to express our honest thinking. Consequently, we “feel” we better stay quiet, particularly if judging harshly any culture except traditional American culture. Nevertheless, we make ourselves vulnerable to danger and evil when we suppress reason because we feel obligated to tolerate inappropriate behavior – which again is often just cleverly excused as one’s culture or unique eccentricity.

Having taught analytical writing, I used the “don’t-judge-me issue” to strike a nerve with my students. The drumbeat of tolerance that resonates in public schools has conditioned many young minds not to think and certainly not to judge. However, my point during these discussions focused on the need to use facts to formulate meaningful arguments and logical judgments. I tried to emphasize how simply feeling a certain way exposes us to danger, whether that danger is common ignorance or physical harm. Many students don’t appreciate the difference between reasoned arguments and flaky opinions. I asserted that we have to analyze available facts and to act on them, not to trust or to act on impulsive emotions or mushy feelings. We have to differentiate between our brains and our hearts when we are thinking.
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00Publius Contributor - Congress - Crime - Democrats/Leftists - Elections - Islam - Islamofascism - Media Bias - Military - Security/Safety - Society/Culture - The Law - Uncategorized - Warner Todd Huston

Democrats Skipping Military Briefings — Where’s the Media Outrage?

April 24, 2007 by

-By Warner Todd Huston

A few sources, not the least of which is Michael Barone, are reporting that the Democrats are ignoring important Iraq briefings conducted by General David Petraeus in an apparent effort to stymie efforts in Iraq. It is well known that they are not supportive of the troops in Iraq and the president’s “surge” plan they are currently conducting, but whether they like the plan or not, to skip these briefings is an act of blatant negligence that borders on the criminal. So where is the MSM’s outrage? Why are we not being told of this Democrat negligence?

Barone, one of the best political pundits out there today, closed his recent Real Clear Politics Report with the following:

What’s curious is that congressional Democrats don’t seem much interested in what’s actually happening in Iraq. The commander in Iraq, Gen. David Petraeus, returns to Washington this week, but last week Pelosi’s office said “scheduling conflicts” prevented him from briefing House members. Two days later, the members-only meeting was scheduled, but the episode brings to mind the fact that Pelosi and other top House Democrats skipped a Pentagon videoconference with Petraeus on March 8.

It has also been reported that one recent meeting with Gen. Petraeus on the Hill only saw one Democrat in attendance, that being Senator Carl Levin of Michigan.

It might be too early to say directly that it is some concerted effort or plan of the Democrat leadership to steer clear of Iraq briefings, but at the very least it certainly reveals their collective feeling that the war is already lost and that it’s time to move on past it all.

But here is the thing; they simply cannot claim to “support the troops” if they won’t even attend briefings held by the General in command of those troops. If the Democrats don’t attend these briefings they simply cannot claim to have the knowledge they need to make decisions necessary for policy direction. Unless, that is, they have fully decided, regardless of what is actually going on on the ground where our troops are facing the enemy, that all is lost.
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00Publius Contributor - Constitution - Democrats/Leftists - Family - Islam - Islamofascism - Security/Safety - Society/Culture - The Law - Thomas Brewton - Uncategorized

Suicide Bombers and Abortion

April 24, 2007 by

-By Thomas E. Brewton

Training Islamic children to become suicide bombers has much in common with abortion.

For an excellent analysis of the Supreme Court’s recent Carhart decision on partial-birth abortion, see The Supreme Court and Reasonable Hope by Richard John Neuhaus on the First Things website.

Reactions to Carhart raise the question whether our hedonistic, pro-choice liberals have any better claim to rectitude than Islamic jihadists.

Even liberals who blame the United States for Islamic aggression profess distress at the horrific phenomenon of Islamic families proudly urging their children to blow themselves up in order to kill infidels.

Those same liberals strenuously uphold the “right” of any woman, without the slightest recourse to due process of law, to murder her unborn infant. No tears are shed for the innocent life butchered in the abortion process.
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00Publius Contributor - Democrats/Leftists - Economy/Finances - Elections - Media Bias - President - Society/Culture - The Law - Uncategorized - Warner Todd Huston

Chris Matthews/Hardball: Campaign Contributors ‘Unsavory’, Romney’s are ‘Rich People’ and ‘Loaded’

April 7, 2007 by

-By Warner Todd Huston

Chris Matthews attacked campaign fund donations to Mitt Romney last night on Hardball, calling the entire system of political fund raising “unsavory” along with claiming that Romney’s contributors in particular are all “rich people” and people who are “loaded”. In fact, he didn’t seem to understand at all why anyone would even donate to a Romney campaign because he thinks everyone sees him as a “stranger”.

In a report that was supposed to be about this first round of fund raising of all the candidates, Matthews found no time in a ten minute segment to even mention the many millions of dollars raised by Democrats, focusing almost entirely on his distrust of Romney, even though Romney raised far less than Clinton.

Matthews seemed to be claiming that Romney was doing something nefarious by raising the cash he raised. He also seemed to be saying that rich people were out of order to donate to what ever candidate they wanted to support solely on the basis that they were, indeed, rich. I guess in Matthews’ world, rich people should not be allowed to have a right to a political candidate?
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00Publius Contributor - Budget - Congress - Democrats/Leftists - Economy/Finances - Society/Culture - The Law - Thomas Brewton - Uncategorized

The Free-Trade Dilemma

April 2, 2007 by

-By Thomas E. Brewton

Free trade may no longer be the winner of the past, but liberal prescriptions will only make the problem worse.

The March 28, 2007, edition of the Wall Street Journal carries a front-page, feature article titled Pain From Free Trade Spurs Second Thoughts.

The article opens with the following paragraphs:

For decades, Alan S. Blinder — Princeton University economist, former Federal Reserve Board vice chairman and perennial adviser to Democratic presidential candidates — argued, along with most economists, that free trade enriches the U.S. and its trading partners, despite the harm it does to some workers. “Like 99% of economists since the days of Adam Smith, I am a free trader down to my toes,” he wrote back in 2001.

Politicians heeded this advice and, with occasional dissents, steadily dismantled barriers to trade. Yet today Mr. Blinder has changed his message — helping lead a growing band of economists and policy makers who say the downsides of trade in today’s economy are deeper than they once realized.

Mr. Blinder, however, is definitely opposed to protectionism. Instead:
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00Publius Contributor - Constitution - Democrats/Leftists - GOP - Media Bias - Society/Culture - The Law - Uncategorized - Warner Todd Huston

Carter ALSO Fired US Attorney for ‘Political Reasons’

March 30, 2007 by

-By Warner Todd Huston

As the Media Research Center’s News clip Page, Newsbsuters, has proven many times (see here and here among others), the MSM’s focus on Bush’s firing of a handful of U.S. Attorneys is wonderfully empty of any balanced treatment whatsoever. Not only has the MSM ignored the Clinton story — where he fired EVERY one of them — but they have also ignored the fact that Jimmy Carter also fired a U.S. Attorney for “political reasons”. Not to be left behind, the Boston Globe today reports an uncritical story about Senator Edward Kennedy’s (D, Mass) recent statement about the issue.

In a short report by Globe Staffer, Rick Klein, the Globe finds no room for any discussion of Clinton or Carter’s firings — par for the course for this shallowly reported story.

WASHINGTON — Senator Edward M. Kennedy yesterday accused President Bush of using the Department of Justice to further his administration’s “right-wing ideology,” saying that veteran prosecutors were replaced by political operatives in key states to ensure that “reliable partisans” are in place in time for the 2008 presidential election.

The Globe quotes Kennedy as saying “at least two” of Bush’s AGs were fired because they “refused to investigate spurious claims of voter fraud that were initiated by Republicans”.

The piece also quotes Senator Patrick Leahy (D, Vt) to the effect that they will continue this witch hunt even if Attorney General Alberto Gonzales resigns and Senator Chuck Schumer (D,NY) who is looking for a “smoking gun”.

The story also reports that a former chief of staff to AG Gonzales will be “grilled” about this faux scandal.

Lawmakers said they plan to grill D. Kyle Sampson, the former chief of staff to Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, about the firings and about the involvement of Gonzales and White House officials in the decision-making.

Lots of indignation there, eh?

And not a word from the other side of the issue for balance.

Of course, we all know that the ginning up of this “scandal” is all smoke and mirrors meant solely as an attack on President Bush, to weaken him and to further destroy the GOPs chances in 2008.

We also all know that every president has the Constitutional right to fire any or all the U.S. Attorneys just like Clinton did. But, it wasn’t just Clinton, apparently. Even President Jimmy Carter fired an attorney that was making things too warm for one of the members of his party, making the action purely political in nature. And he lied about it to the people on top of it.

Human Events has a story detailing Carter’s political firing of a U.S. Attorney in 1978: “Marston: Carter ‘Lied Then, Lies Now’ on U.S. Attorneys Firing”.

Former President Jimmy Carter “lied then” about firing a U.S. attorney in 1978 investigating Democratic officials in Philadelphia and “lies now” in condemning the Bush Administration’s firing of eight U.S. attorneys and calling for Atty. Gen. Alberto Gonzales to go.

John Gizzi of Human Events reveals how unconcerned over this political firing a Democrat controlled Congress was in 1978.

What does Dave Marston think? “He’s trying to rewrite history,” was the response of the 64-year-old former prosecutor to the President who fired him. “Under the standard he has imposed on Gonzales, the President should have fired Atty. Gen. Griffin Bell in 1978.” Although it is so far unclear how much Gonzales knew about what the U.S. prosecutors were working on when they were forced out and what reasons were behind their exits, Marston pointed out that then-Rep. Joshua Eilberg (D.-Pa.) had actually called Carter on November 4, 1977 to demand Marston’s ouster and that the Prsident, in turn, called Bell and told him to “hurry up” in finding a new U.S. attorney in Philadelphia. Eilberg himself was the subject of a corruption probe by Marston’s office and, as Marston recalled to me, “the Justice Department was aware of this because I told Russell Baker [Bell’s top aide] that Eilberg was under investigation. And Russell Baker, who was a stand-up guy, confirmed this.”

A significant difference between his situation and those of the fired U.S. attorneys that Marston pointed out to me was that “Democrat controlled Congress in 1978 and did not investigate a Democratic President. Today, they control Congress and they will investigate the Republican Administration.”

And how president Carter lied about it… causing no furor.

In reviewing the transcript of Carter’s “Today” interview, Marston pointed out that the opening segment featured a clip of Carter from a news conference on January 12, 1978 in which he is asked about the Marston sacking and says: “I’ve not interfered at all.”

“That was on January 12th,” the former prosecutor pointed out, “and yet the evidence shows that he had called his attorney general about replacing me two months earlier.

Do you think we will see more on this story of Jimmy Carter firing a U.S. Attorney for political reasons in future stories about the Gonzales firings?

Yeah, I don’t either.
____________
“The only end of writing is to enable the reader better to enjoy life, or better to endure it.”
–Samuel Johnson

Warner Todd Huston is a Chicago based freelance writer. He has been writing opinion editorials and social criticism since early 2001 and before that he wrote articles on U.S. history for several small American magazines. His political columns are featured on many websites such as Andrew Breitbart’s BigGovernment.com, BigHollywood.com, and BigJournalism.com, as well as RightWingNews.com, RightPundits.com, CanadaFreePress.com, StoptheACLU.com, AmericanDaily.com, among many, many others. Mr. Huston is also endlessly amused that one of his articles formed the basis of an article in Germany’s Der Spiegel Magazine in 2008.

For a full bio, please CLICK HERE.

00Publius Contributor - Congress - Constitution - Democrats/Leftists - Elections - Frank Salvato - Islam - Islamofascism - Media Bias - Military - President - Religion - Security/Safety - Society/Culture - The Law - Uncategorized

Legislating a Terrorist Victory in Iraq

March 30, 2007 by

-By Frank Salvato

If anyone was under the impression that congressional Democrats actually considered their actions, with regard to the “troop withdrawal bills,” beyond achieving victory over the Bush Administration, they would be playing the part of the uninformed, Kool-Aid drinking fool. While Democrats Nancy Pelosi, Harry Reid and the rest of their anti-war, pro-genocide, hate-Bush contingent revel in the fact that they have succeeded in passing a bill that opposes the president, al Qaeda operatives in Iraq are preparing to set their alarm clocks for “half-past redeployment” so the slaughter of those who braved Iraq’s polling places can begin.

Upon a logical, thoughtful examination, all congressional Democrats really achieved was a guaranteed veto at the hand of the president, a veto that in all likelihood, in light of the slim margin by which the bills’ passed, will be sustained. President Bush plainly promised to veto any bill that included a timetable or withdrawal measure and he made it perfectly clear to even the most feeble-minded in Congress that would be the case. So their actions – the bloviating, the grandstanding and the headline grabbing, in reality, were a pre-determined waste of time and taxpayer dollars.

Even more disconcerting is the fact that congressional Democrats, cheered on by the mind-numbing inanity of the anti-war Left, used tactics such as bribing Blue Dog Democrats with taxpayer funded pork projects placed in an emergency supplemental bill simply to achieve a political victory over the president. Let me say that again – they bribed many who wouldn’t have normally voted for defeatist policies with taxpayer dollars for pet pork projects; remember that the next time anyone tries to say that moderate Democrats are different from Progressive-Left Democrats.
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00Publius Contributor - Democrats/Leftists - Economy/Finances - Society/Culture - The Law - Thomas Brewton - Uncategorized

Labor Unions: Double-Edged Blade

March 25, 2007 by

-By Thomas E. Brewton

Liberals see labor unions through rose-colored glasses. Reality is somewhat different.

Tuesday’s edition of the Stamford Advocate, my local newspaper, has a front-page article about actor-director Tim Robbins’s attempt to revive public interest in his 1999 film “Cradle Will Rock.” Mr. Robbins, a resident of the adjoining Westchester County town of Pound Ridge, spoke to a Stamford audience the night before at the Avon Theatre Film Center on Bedford Street.

Mr. Robbins’s movie, according to the Wikipedia:

… chronicles the process and events that surrounded the production of the original 1937 musical The Cradle Will Rock by Marc Blitzstein. Tim Robbins, in his third film as director, adapts history to create this fictionalized account of the original production, bringing in other stories of the time to produce this commentary on the role of art and power in the 1930s, particularly amidst the struggles of the 1930s labor movement and the corresponding appeal of socialism and communism among many intellectuals and working class people of that time.

Mr. Robbins’s evidently identifies emotionally with labor unions of the 1930s and sees business as a source of evil.

In a speech given at an antiwar rally in New York City’s Central Park on October 6, 2002, he said:
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00Publius Contributor - Constitution - Democrats/Leftists - Education - Elections - History - Security/Safety - Society/Culture - The Law - Thomas Brewton - Uncategorized

The Genealogy of American Liberal-Progressive Gnosticism

March 16, 2007 by

-By Thomas E. Brewton

Whence came the deformed conceptions of anti-Constitutional, regulatory government and judicial activism?

American liberal-socialism is the gnostic descendant of the French Revolution and its Reign of Terror. The genealogical connection begins with Henri de Saint-Simon, the French intellectual who codified the doctrine of socialism in the first decades of the 1800s, shortly after the Revolution.

His colleagues and followers, including Auguste Comte, formed a body of disciples known as the Saint-Simonians. They spread the Gnostic gospel to German universities, where it became mixed with the philosophies of Fichte and Hegel.

During the ferment preceding the French Revolution, the same intellectual influences produced the English constitutional radicalism of Jeremy Bentham, the founder of Utilitarianism. In 1789, the year of the French Revolution, he published Introduction to the Principles of Morals and Legislation, which outlined the Utilitarian doctrine that all political action should be in the form of regulations scientifically calculated to produce the greatest good for the greatest number of people. In this, Americans will recognize the genesis of New Deal regulatory agencies and the liberal-Progressive obsession with controlling every aspect of our daily lives.

At first hearing, the Utilitarian principle of “the greatest good for the greatest number” sounds good. The rub is that implementing it necessitates overturning existing social traditions and constitutional principles, just as President Franklin Roosevelt did with his 1930s New Deal.
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00Publius Contributor - 2nd Amendment - Congress - Democrats/Leftists - Elections - GOP - Immigration/Immigrants - Islam - Islamofascism - Military - Patriotism - President - R. A. Hawkins - Security/Safety - Society/Culture - The Law - Uncategorized

It Ain’t Too Purty (Like 500 Miles of Busted Concrete)

March 15, 2007 by

By R. A. Hawkins

When I look at the current state of affairs in American politics I have to say that it ain’t too purty. I realize that some might immediately think that I’m referring to Pelosi and Hillary when I write like 500 miles of busted concrete (an understandable mistake mind you), but I’m referring to both parties right now. On one side we have the likes of McCain and Giuliani and Romney. And on the other we have a laughable catastrophe. I find little humor in the Republicans’ inclination to emulate Bill Clinton’s tendency to stick a moist finger in the air and see which way the wind is blowing at the moment. So I’ll start on them first.

Giuliani thinks that gun control is a nice idea. I can see one reason why the Republicans might decide to pick him and only one. He got a lot of really nice face time on the tube after 9/11. That’s the only reason I can see for them picking him. The mere fact that he hails from that lofty example of Americana and statehood that voted Hillary and Schumer in is enough to make him useless to any real conservatives. Unless an (R) behind the name is all it takes anymore. Now that brings me to Mitt Romney. He comes from a wonderful place that repeatedly puts the likes of Ted Kennedy and John (I threw medals over the White House fence that’ll show ‘em) Kerry into office. That should count him out right there. Then there is the RINO McCain. I really don’t have much to say about him that’s good so I’ll drop it. On the other hand…what a doof! Make it official you dummy! Switch to the Democratic Party! There I said it.

And now for my favorite party: There’s Gore, who may be getting an honorary PhD from some university in Minnesota for being able to read the script to a movie with made up science, which for the university that should be only an “Inconvenient Truth”. Liberals will begin to flock to that place because in the true spirit of liberalism, they’re even giving degrees away. Nice. As a side note it is interesting that the liberals who claim to be the party of Jefferson have tossed FOX News out of the Nevada debates. I think that’s because they’ve refused to read the liberal script. All FOX has to do to counter that cruel maneuver is do a few reruns of ‘Spanky and Our Gang’ at the same time. The Nielson ratings from that would tell the liberals that had been the wrong move to make.
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00Publius Contributor - Budget - Congress - Democrats/Leftists - Economy/Finances - Security/Safety - Society/Culture - The Law - Thomas Brewton - Uncategorized

Need We Fear Inflation?

March 13, 2007 by

-By Thomas E. Brewton

Contrary to the popular understanding, higher wage rates and higher oil prices do not cause inflation. They are symptoms of the real danger.

News reports express concern that the tightening labor market and increasing oil prices will lead to increased inflation. This is an upside-down view of reality.

Inflation is nothing more nor less than an increasing ratio of money to available goods and services.

Higher prices – rising wages or higher oil prices, for example – result from two things.

First is excessive money supply creation and the resulting excessive amount of bank credit pumped into the economy.

Second is a change in the balance between supply and demand. Wages will rise whenever increasing business activity necessitates hiring more workers, with the requisite skills and experience, than are available in the needed locations. Oil prices will rise because demand exceeds current or anticipated supplies in the locations where oil is needed.

In either case, price increases are the result, not a cause.
Continue reading “Need We Fear Inflation?”

00Publius Contributor - Constitution - Democrats/Leftists - Founders - Media Bias - Society/Culture - The Law - Uncategorized - Warner Todd Huston

Editor & Publisher to Journalists: Get over Your Big Egos

March 12, 2007 by

-By Warner Todd Huston

As I have in the past, to be a fair and honest reporter, I’ll bring the good news about the MSM to the fore right along with the bad. Today I have some good in the form of a piece in Editor & Publisher’s Shop talk section titled Who’s a Journalist These Days? This is an interesting piece that takes journalists to task who share, as E&P puts it, the “big ego disease” that seems woefully prevalent throughout the MSM.

In fact, Mark A. Phillips doesn’t at all mince words when taking to task his fellow journalists, not sparing their feelings a bit. He even identifies by name one of the journalistic comrades of whom he is scolding. That being one Debra J. Saunders of the San Francisco Chronicle.

In a recent article on the Josh Wolf affair, Saunders raised the question of the legitimacy of Wolf’s claims of being a journalist. Wolf, is a blogger who has been jailed since last year for refusing to reveal to investigators a news source he used on his Blog.

Saunders described Wolf variously as “…a blogger with an agenda and a camera”, and a man who likes to “…put himself in the company of real journalists”. Saunders’ final analysis negates Wolf’s claims of being a journalist. “But a camera and a Web site do not a journalist make, any more than shooting a criminal makes a vigilante a cop”, she haughtily proclaimed.
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00Publius Contributor - Congress - Democrats/Leftists - Economy/Finances - Security/Safety - Selwyn Duke - Society/Culture - The Law - Uncategorized

Are You Really a Liberal?

March 11, 2007 by

By Selwyn Duke

Writers such as myself devote a lot of ink to the species known as liberals. And when you carry your banners openly on the field of battle, you define yourself and relinquish any pretense at that most illusory quality, impartiality. This places you in the crosshairs, although you can take solace in knowing that your adversaries will always miss left.

Some of the liberals who contact me spew callow vitriol, at times peppered with language that would make a guttersnipe blush. But there’s another type of “liberal” respondent. This person is almost always civil, even when indignant. He’ll query me and wonder how I could ascribe all the qualities I do to liberalism, mystified that I would impugn an ideology possessed of but the most ethereal of virtues. Then, either confused or fancying me so, he’ll provide a dictionary definition, something always to the effect of:

“lib-er-al-ism . . . a political philosophy based on belief in progress, the essential goodness of man, and the autonomy of the individual and standing for tolerance and freedom for the individual from arbitrary authority in all spheres of life.” (1)

Well, I’ll be. Only Darth Vader would oppose such pristine philosophy. The problem here, though, is that using a dictionary to understand your politics is much like using one to try to understand your religion. “C’mon, Duke, aren’t you just a conservative trying to rationalize away inconvenient facts?” ask the naysayers. Well, read on.
Continue reading “Are You Really a Liberal?”

00Publius Contributor - 2nd Amendment - Constitution - Crime - Democrats/Leftists - GOP - Media Bias - Patriotism - Security/Safety - Society/Culture - The Law - Uncategorized - Warner Todd Huston

AP and Reuters On The D.C. Gun Ban Reversal

March 10, 2007 by 1 Comment

-By Warner Todd Huston

On Friday, Judge Laurence Silberman of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit ruled that the city of Washington D.C. could not ban its citizens from owning firearms because such a ban violates the Second Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.

In light of this ruling so damaging to gun grabbers everywhere, I was curious to see how the wires were handling the news. Turns out, they don’t seem too happy.

In two reports on Friday the AP gave far more time in their “balanced” report to opponents to Second Amendment rights than they did to proponents. Worse, it never seemed to occur to them to report that gun violence in Washington D.C. has consistently ranked as among the highest in the country despite being one of the strictest anti-gun cities therein.
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00Publius Contributor - Constitution - Crime - Democrats/Leftists - Frank Salvato - Media Bias - Security/Safety - Society/Culture - The Law - Uncategorized

The Politicalization of Adjudications

March 10, 2007 by

-By Frank Salvato

The debate over the verdict in the Lewis “Scooter” Libby obstruction of justice and perjury trial will go on for years. The fact that the catalyst for the investigation ” whether Valerie Plame was classified as a covert agent at the time of the so-called ‘leak'” is but one of the contentious issues. But if we allow this adjudication to become politicized, if we allow revisionists like Harry Reid to rewrite the actualities of the case, we are not only doing a disservice to our country we would be complicit in its degradation.

Harry Reid and the politically opportune of the Progressive-Left wing of the Democrat Party are no strangers to rewriting history to suit their agenda. You need only to look back to the most recent election to find evidence to that effect.

The common misinformation, repeated anytime there is a live microphone in front of anyone with a “D” after their name, is that the 2006 mid-term election was a vote on the Iraq War. While the election may have been a vote on the war for the anti-war crowd “which recent opinion polls indicate is a minority of our populace ” it certainly wasn’t a vote on the war for those of the Conservative stripe.

Continue reading “The Politicalization of Adjudications”

00Publius Contributor - Congress - Crime - Democrats/Leftists - Media Bias - Society/Culture - The Law - Uncategorized - Warner Todd Huston

C-SPAN Gives Speaker Pelosi a Free Pass on Copyright Violations

March 9, 2007 by 6 Comments

-By Warner Todd Huston

Well, even though Pelosi is getting let off the hook for violating the law, we in the Blogosphere are gaining a new ability: to re-broadcast C-SPAN video without fear of copyright violations.

C-SPAN alters copyright over Pelosi flap

WASHINGTON – It turns out that Republicans were right: House Speaker Nancy Pelosi did violate C-SPAN’s copyright by using its televised footage on her blog promoting Democrats.

Officials for the cable TV network that provides daily gavel-to-gavel coverage of House and Senate proceedings at first said the blog was in violation, then announced it wasn’t. On Wednesday, they said that it was but that they’re changing their policy so that it won’t be in the future.

The new copyright policy will allow non-commercial Internet users to share and post C-SPAN video as long as they attribute it to the public service channel.

So, now Bloggers can use C-SPAN video. That can’t be anything but good. C-SPAN’s president belatedly pulling Pelosi’s fat out of the fire actually did us a good turn for a change.
Continue reading “C-SPAN Gives Speaker Pelosi a Free Pass on Copyright Violations”

00Publius Contributor - Congress - Constitution - Democrats/Leftists - Elections - Family - Gays - Media Bias - Military - Patriotism - President - Religion - Society/Culture - The Law - Uncategorized

Mrs. Clinton endorses gay adoption, quietly

March 9, 2007 by

-By Michael M. Bates

Struggling with Senator Barack Obama for black votes, Hillary Clinton acquitted herself well in Selma the other day. That Southern drawl she’s suddenly developed assures her a job with any future revival of “Hee Haw” if her presidential ambitions are quashed.

Not so widely covered by the mainstream media was a speech Senator Clinton delivered two days earlier. She spoke before 400 members of the Human Rights Campaign, which boasts it’s the nation’s largest gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender civil rights organization. Hillary was gushing with enthusiasm for the HRC: “I love the fact it’s my initials, have you ever noticed that?”

She’s proud to stand with the Human Rights Campaign, she told them. Apparently not, however, proud enough to publicize her address to the group. The Associated Press reported that when she was asked Monday why she didn’t advertise the speech, as is usually done, Mrs. Clinton responded, “You’ll have to ask my campaign.”

The liberal double standard is wondrous to behold. George W. Bush is directly responsible for the misdeeds of any soldier anywhere in the world. Yet when one of their own is challenged, liberals immediately shift into full Sergeant Schultz “I know nothing . . . nothing!” mode. This, despite the fact that Hillary’s campaign isn’t quite as large as the U.S. military. Although it may spend more. Private detectives can be so very expensive.
Continue reading “Mrs. Clinton endorses gay adoption, quietly”

00Publius Contributor - Democrats/Leftists - Media Bias - President - Security/Safety - Society/Culture - The Law - Uncategorized - Warner Todd Huston

Rudy Gets the MSM’s Attack Dogs Rolling

March 8, 2007 by 1 Comment

-By Warner Todd Huston

As has been well detailed on the Newsbusters site, Mitt Romney has recently been the object of the MSMs attack dogs (see here, here, here… and many others.). But it seems that, with the recent polls showing it is Rudy Giuliani, rather than Mitt, who leads in the polls, the MSM attack dogs have turned their attention to the nation’s Mayor.

For just two recent examples over the last week or so, the MSM has jumped on Rudy’s perhaps strained relationship with his children, and scolded Rudy for not facing the tough crowds they think he should face so early in his campaign. And the attack articles are mounting.

Apparently it isn’t enough to just go after Rudy, though. Now the Boston Herald is going after his bigoted and obviously stupid potential Conservative voters — stupid at least as far as the Herald is concerned.
Continue reading “Rudy Gets the MSM’s Attack Dogs Rolling”

00Publius Contributor - Congress - Constitution - Democrats/Leftists - Security/Safety - Society/Culture - The Law - Uncategorized - Warner Todd Huston

France Makes Effort to Criminalize Bloggers, Internet News Sites

March 8, 2007 by 1 Comment

-By Warner Todd Huston

In a warning to the sanctity of free speech in a democratic nation, France is about to show us what happens when the state is allowed to legally determine who is allowed to be a “journalist”, or who is a “legitimate” source of news: You get the criminalization of speech.

France bans citizen journalists from reporting violence

The French Constitutional Council has approved a law that criminalizes the filming or broadcasting of acts of violence by people other than professional journalists. The law could lead to the imprisonment of eyewitnesses who film acts of police violence, or operators of Web sites publishing the images, one French civil liberties group warned on Tuesday.

This would, in fact, place the power to silence whistleblowers from being able to expose abuse by government officials into the hands of those very officials in the case of police abuse, for instance.
Continue reading “France Makes Effort to Criminalize Bloggers, Internet News Sites”

00Publius Contributor - Congress - Constitution - Economy/Finances - Media Bias - Scott Cleland - Security/Safety - Society/Culture - The Law - Uncategorized

Why Net Neutrality Matters

March 7, 2007 by 1 Comment

-By Scott Cleland

Conservatives who care about free markets and limited government need to get smart and engaged on the biggest future threat to the Reagan/Thatcher/Friedman legacy of deregulation.

The Internet is the greatest deregulation and privatization success of all time.

However, the liberal net roots, led by Moveon.org, vehemently disagree and are pushing radical legislation and new net regulation that they’ve cleverly branded “net neutrality” to allegedly have the government “save the Internet” from competitive broadband providers.

  • Net neutrality is basically a “socialized Internet.”
  • Senators Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, John Edwards, and Speaker Pelosi, and Rep Markey, all support this new net regulation, genuflecting to Moveon.org’s power in the Democratic primaries.
  • Google, whose employees donated 98% to Democrats in the last cycle, is the corporate ringleader for regulating the net in order to freeze in place their current competitive advantages.

Our website www.NetCompetition.org provides a wealth of material on the issue and some very good one-pagers. Since we are so confident we are right on the issue we are the only site to include links to both sides of the debate.

The best single page explanation of what it’s all about can be seen here:Net Neutrality in One Page.
Continue reading “Why Net Neutrality Matters”

00Publius Contributor - Budget - Congress - Democrats/Leftists - Economy/Finances - Society/Culture - The Law - Thomas Brewton - Uncategorized

Echoes of 1929?

March 7, 2007 by

-By Thomas E. Brewton

Tuesday’s big drop in stock market averages and questionable financial market conditions bear an uncomfortable resemblance to the stock market crash of 1929 and the Great Depression of the 1930s.

A great many economic conditions, as well as the structure of the financial markets, are different from those of the 1920s. Not all of the differences, however, are reassuring.

Recent news reports tell us that banks’ reserves against risky loans such as sub-prime mortgages are at low points. Money is pouring into hedge funds and private equity groups. The massive prevalence of derivative securities in portfolios of pension funds, insurance companies, and commercial banks is worrisome. In 1998, the cratering of Greenwich’s Long Term Capital Management, because of unanticipated consequences of its derivatives investments, threatened to sink the international financial markets.
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00Publius Contributor - Elections - President - Security/Safety - Selwyn Duke - Society/Culture - The Law - Uncategorized

Rudolph Giuliani? What Were We Talking About?

March 3, 2007 by 2 Comments

By Selwyn Duke

Okay, I’ve had enough. I know the empty-vessel Shill Media struggle for something, anything to talk about, this being the lot of those intellectually and philosophically bankrupt. But Rudolph Giuliani for president? Please. There’s more chance I’ll simultaneously be made head of NOW and the NAACP and be invited to George Soros’ next soiree.

I know a little something about Giuliani. Although my politics, faith, appearance, gun case and, well, most everything about me say otherwise, I was raised in New York City. And one of my last acts before departing the Den of Iniquity for suburbia was to cast a vote for America’s Mayor. Don’t hold it against me; he was running against David Dinkins, a man who made Forrest Gump look smart.

Unlike the piece I wrote about the now listing U.S.S. Mitt Romney, I’m not herein trying to sound the alarm. Rather, I simply point out that Giuliani is a ship that only floats in New York Harbor. He is far too liberal to get the Republican nomination.
Continue reading “Rudolph Giuliani? What Were We Talking About?”