00Publius Contributor

00Publius Contributor - Family - Morals/Sex - News - Religion - Society/Culture - Thomas Brewton

The Miracle of Restraint

March 8, 2008 by

-By Thomas E. Brewton

God, Who can impose whatever He wants upon the cosmos, chooses to give us free will.

Sunday’s sermon at Black Rock-Long Ridge Congregational Church (North Stamford, Connecticut) was preached by Pastor Larry Fullerton, who confessed that sometimes he wishes God were different.

How satisfying it would be if God employed His awesome power to smash Satan and his emissaries of evil. How gratifying if God alleviated all the suffering in the world. How uplifting for the whole world if God simply changed everyone’s spiritual life instantly, making all mankind believers in Jesus Christ.

Clearly Jesus’s ministry on earth satisfied none of these desires. The Jews expected a military messiah who would overthrow the Romans and re-establish David’s earthly kingdom. Even Jesus’s disciples, after living with him every day for four years, expected some sort of earthly kingdom, failing to grasp fully Christ’s Divinity and the nature of His mission until after the crucifixion and resurrection.

What emerges from scripture is the reverse of what people expected of the Messiah. Jesus used, not the powerful rulers or the established religious leaders, but the poor and lowly to demonstrate His power and to convey His message. Even when challenged directly by Satan, Jesus was remarkably restrained.
Continue reading “The Miracle of Restraint”

00Publius Contributor - 2nd Amendment - Constitution - Crime - Democrats/Leftists - Media Bias - News - Security/Safety - Society/Culture - Warner Todd Huston

Reporter Who Badgered Elderly Robbery Victim Fired

March 7, 2008 by

-By Warner Todd Huston

You may recall the report last October of the story of reporter Rebecca Aguilar of Fox 4 in Dallas, Texas who confronted and badgered an elderly victim of several robberies who responded to his attackers with deadly force. Aguilar was seen in her interview keeping the poor fellow from shutting his car door as she accusingly asked the man if he was “a trigger happy person” because he had killed the robbers who accosted him.

Well, we have an update on this pushy, unfeeling reporter, It seems she’s been fired.

In a telephone interview Wednesday night, Aguilar, 49, said she was checking her mail at mid-afternoon that day when she noticed an envelope under her front door mat. It informed her that Fox4 was exercising an option to drop her at the halfway point of a two-year contract that began on March 6, 2007.

“No doorbell, no knock on the door,” said Aguilar, who had been on paid suspension since Oct. 16th following her controversial interview with an elderly West Dallas salvage business owner who had shot and killed two alleged burglars within three weeks time.

Aguilar’s controversial, attack dog-like interview of James Walton, the elderly business owner, is quite a show. In it Augilar treated this 78-year-old man as the criminal. Mr. Walton, though, had been robbed countless times and was only protecting himself.

As was reported last October, the Dallas police are defending Walton’s actions. According to some reports Mr. Walton has made over 40 calls to police concerning break ins.

Police said Mr. Walton is allowed to protect his property. No charges were filed against him Sunday, though the case will be referred to a grand jury, police said.

“He’s got a right to defend his property. What gives a stranger the right to go in and vandalize or burglarize his business?” said Dallas police Sgt. Gene Reyes. “He’s within every legal right to do this.”

But despite that he is the victim, Aguilar treated him as the criminal. By her accusatory tone, you’d have thought it was the robber’s Constitutional right to rob the old man instead of his right to defend himself!

(Also see video at BreitbartTV)

In any case, it seems as if justice is done and this ignorant woman has been canned. Good for Fox 4.

Continue reading “Reporter Who Badgered Elderly Robbery Victim Fired”

00Publius Contributor - Crime - Democrats/Leftists - Education - Family - Judges - News - Security/Safety - Society/Culture - Warner Todd Huston

Our Weakened Sense of Right and Wrong

March 7, 2008 by

-By Warner Todd Huston

There is a growing number of Americans who have the conception that too many judges are weak on crime, that their judgments all too often mollycoddle criminals. It’s hard to quibble with such a conception, unfortunately. But we cannot merely cast blame on our judges and move on as if there is no other area of concern. While perhaps heightened, judges often are a reflection of our greater society and what they are reflecting is a sever degradation of our moral center.

A recent story about a small case in Winona, Texas, embodies all that seems broken not only with our judicial system, but with our education system, our immigration laws as well as the attitudes that so many of our youth employ towards their elders in society as a whole — It reflects the permissiveness in all.

The Tyler Morning Telegraph reported a tale of truancy, the courts and deportation last week that encapsulates much of what is wrong with this country today and it all boils down to rampant disrespect. Disrespect for our immigration laws, for education, for the courts, even for basic societal comportment.

The Morning Telegraph’s story centered around an astonished Smith County Justice of the Peace who resided over several truancy cases of twin teenaged sisters from the John Tyler High School.

Justice of the Peace Mitch Shamburger ruled over the cases of Brias and Lluva Amante, found them guilty, and fined them for repeatedly skipping class. Neither ever showed much respect for either the judge, the law or the seriousness with which they should be approaching their schooling. The twins persisted in snickering and giggling during each of the cases they were involved in showing disrespect to the judge.

Continue reading “Our Weakened Sense of Right and Wrong”

00Publius Contributor - Business - Economy/Finances - Media Bias - News - Society/Culture - Unions - Warner Todd Huston

Chief of SEIU Finds Critics at Home

March 7, 2008 by

-By Warner Todd Huston

The New York Times just unleashed an interesting piece detailing certain troubles being had the by current head of the SEIU, Andy Stern.

Andy Stern has been hailed in some quarters as the nation’s top labor leader largely because his union, the Service Employees International Union, has added members faster than any other, 800,000 over the last decade.

But the president of one of the union’s biggest locals has begun a public war with Mr. Stern, accusing him of having a “growth at any cost” mentality that has shortchanged union members.

By “growth at any cost,” the insurgent union chief facing Stern is claiming that Stern has made too many concessions to new union members who would otherwise vote against the union formation process. In other words, the charge is that Stern has made it easier on the concerns that new union members have just to get new membership. The unions ended up with less power than they’d prefer according to Sal Rosselli, Stern’s opponent.

But, here is the real question… so what? It would seem to me to be a smart move by Stern. Give up some power now because soon enough the union could leverage all they want from a quaking and weakened government (government workers is the focus here) that will bend over backwards for them later.
Continue reading “Chief of SEIU Finds Critics at Home”

00Publius Contributor - Congress - Democrats/Leftists - Media Bias - Military - Nancy Morgan - News - Security/Safety - Society/Culture

Warning: Democrats At Work

March 7, 2008 by

-By Nancy Morgan

Liberal Democrats were very busy last week conducting the people’s business. In the Senate, our dedicated public servants spent the week debating a plan by Sen. Russ Feingold to begin withdrawing troops from Iraq by July. Alas, the plan was a few votes short. After failing to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (Democrat) passionately vowed “The antiwar fight will continue.”

Meanwhile, in Iraq, several positive indicators show the tide may have turned. Due to the success of the surge, violence is down a whopping 80%. The Iraqi government is finally stepping up, having passed several key pieces of legislation recently. I believe this is called ‘political progress’. Maliki stated that Iraq has achieved stability and overcome sectarian strife. Good news, indeed.

‘The people’ the Democrats claim to represent were briefly in the news, as Gunnery Sgt. William Gibson, a dedicated Marine, returned to Iraq for a second tour. This, after having his leg amputated above the knee. Sgt. Gibson is but one of thousands of patriotic American heroes who have voluntarily decided to sign up for multiple tours in Iraq. Even a 26 year-old member of the Washington National Guard said he will be signing up for his third tour, this, right after he won a million dollar jackpot. True Americans.
Continue reading “Warning: Democrats At Work”

00Publius Contributor - Democrats/Leftists - Islam - Islamofascism - Media Bias - News - Religion - Security/Safety - Society/Culture - Warner Todd Huston

WaPo Editor: ‘I Want More Muslim Journalists’

March 6, 2008 by

-By Warner Todd Huston

Philip Bennett, the Washington Post’s managing editor, paid a visit to the University of California, Irvine for a little chat earlier this week. During his comments on the subject of religion and politics, Bennett claimed that the MSM should hire more Muslims because the media has too many misconceptions about Islam. Bennett told the UCI audience, “At the Post I want more Muslim readers and I want more Muslim journalists. ”One wonders how far this new understanding of Islam in the media will go for Bennett, though? Will his desire to be inclusive and to create a new politically correct understanding go as far as excusing Islamofascism as we try to better understand Islam?

The report in the Daily Pilot from Newport Beach, California also reported that the newsroom at the Washington Post was even debating whether or not they should even use the word “Islamist” because it might be too “contentious.” This WaPost debate alone does not auger as well for any better understanding as it does for overlooking the evil perpetrated in the name of Islam in favor of making believe that our understanding of them will somehow stop the violence and hate against us.

Still, I agree with Bennett that there is quite a bit of ignorance about Islam in the media and there is also a lot of confusion and questions in the minds of the general American public. The question is, is journalism really the place where these questions and misconceptions should be cleared up? Can we trust the media?

Bennett, for his part, thinks they are the ones to do the job.

Continue reading “WaPo Editor: ‘I Want More Muslim Journalists’”

00Publius Contributor - Dan Scott - Democrats/Leftists - Elections - GOP - Media Bias - News - President - Security/Safety - Society/Culture

John McCain and the GOP

March 6, 2008 by

John McCain and the GOP
-By Dan Scott

As usual, we have heard far more about the rhetoric of Clinton and Obama than anything being said by the McCain or Huckabee. The MSM news blackout continues on what if anything the GOP is for or against. Nor have we heard anything from the House of Representatives all of whom come up for election every two years or from one third of the Senate that is also up for re-election. It seems the entire MSM attention is on Clinton and Obama as if that’s really all there is for the voters to consider. Sounds like some very long coattails to me.

After a review of McCain’s website and another issues oriented website called On the Issues, I have come to the firm conclusion that maybe the MSM is right to ignore the GOP entirely. They haven’t said anything compelling that hasn’t been said before nor is there any hint of leadership on where he intends to take the country. Yes, they say all the appropriate things about this and that, but leadership and vision is missing. Of course I got my GOP questionnaire asking me if I wanted Clinton as the next president and if I didn’t I needed to send them $80, 120 or $200 to defeat her. The gist of the entire GOP campaign strategy is vote for us if you don’t want Clinton. I don’t know about you but in my opinion, that’s more pathetic than the Democrat’s campaign slogan of “Change.”
Continue reading “John McCain and the GOP”

00Publius Contributor - Democrats/Leftists - Elections - History - Media Bias - News - Patriotism - Selwyn Duke - Society/Culture

Why Most Voters Shouldn’t Vote

March 6, 2008 by

By Selwyn Duke

Often the most fanciful ideas become the least questioned assumptions. In this election season a few have made themselves apparent, such as the notion that “change” is good by definition and “experience” is definitely good. Yet an even better example is the oft-repeated platitude that greater voter participation yields a healthier republic.

Ah, I’ve transgressed against dogma, but let’s be logical. Most of us agree that having an educated populace is a prerequisite for a sound democratic republic. We also know that not everyone is well-educated. Thus, it cannot be a good thing for everyone to vote. For those of you who had trouble following that line of reasoning, please remember that Election Day is November 5.

And one needn’t be disenchanted with universal suffrage to agree. It’s one thing to have one man, one vote; it’s quite another to have one man, one obligation to vote. Yet we still hear that it’s our “civic duty” to go to the polls. Well, no, actually, it’s a civic duty to make ourselves worthy to do so.
Continue reading “Why Most Voters Shouldn’t Vote”

00Publius Contributor - Democrats/Leftists - Immigration/Immigrants - Media Bias - News - Society/Culture - Warner Todd Huston

Today’s Immigrants See Much Less Discrimination Than Past Minorities

March 5, 2008 by

-By Warner Todd Huston

You know, words mean things, right? That having been said, the Washington Post today employed a subtle wording in a headline that turns people who stand against illegal immigration into people who hate the immigrants themselves.

In their February 23rd piece, the Post headlined a report on illegal immigration in Maryland with a grave “Anti-Immigrant Effort Takes Hold in Md.” With that headline, you’d expect the story to be revealing Marylanders who are against a certain block of people. But, as you read the story, you’ll find that no one interviewed is saying they hate the immigrants. They are however, saying they are upset with untrammeled illegal entrance into this country. So, in the end, the story is about being pro-lawful immigration, and not about any hate for the immigrants themselves.

Even the subhead makes it seem as if the efforts of folks in Maryland to stop illegal immigration is directed at the immigrants themselves. “Grass-Roots Movement Expands Beyond Montgomery in Targeting the Undocumented,” the Post claims. Yet, again, nowhere in the story are any of those interviewed saying they are against people. What they are for is an enforcement of our laws and new laws to stop people from breaking our immigration laws. What they are against is lawlessness.

Continue reading “Today’s Immigrants See Much Less Discrimination Than Past Minorities”

00Publius Contributor - Business - Democrats/Leftists - News - Security/Safety - Society/Culture - Unions - Warner Todd Huston

Employees Reject Union…. Union Still Claims Representation

March 5, 2008 by

-By Warner Todd Huston

OK, you guys out there, have you ever been dumped by a girl? Once she told you in no uncertain terms that it was over, did you still walk around claiming you two were an item? How about this, when was the last time a politician lost his election yet stayed in Congress anyway? Was there ever a president who lost his election but stayed in the White House?

I ask this because we have seen unions that are voted out of their position as representatives of a given group of workers yet these same unions still stomp around on picket lines and still harangue business owners and management claiming they still represent the very same worker who have told them to take a hike.

Well, it’s happened again. The packaging workers at the San Diego Union-Tribune decertified the union by a majority vote. Yet, the Teamsters is still accosting the management of the paper with demands for “their” workers… the very same employees who voted the union OUT of their hair.
Continue reading “Employees Reject Union…. Union Still Claims Representation”

00Publius Contributor - Business - Democrats/Leftists - Google - Inernet - Media Bias - News - Scott Cleland - Society/Culture - Technology

Why ultimate FCC decision on Comcast network management is expected to be unanimous

March 5, 2008 by

-By Scott Cleland

(See end of this email for bottom line on why there will be a unanimous FCC decision on Comcast’s network management practices.)

It’s obvious that there is much more that is uncertain than certain after listening to the five-hour FCC En Banc hearing at Harvard on the FreePress and Vuze petitions on Comcast’s network management practices.

Professor Tim Wu, who coined the term net neutrality, was a panelist and framed the Harvard spectacle in CNET as a “…trial of the Internet. … Comcast is in the docket accused of crimes against the public interest.”

Well if this was a trial, Wu/FreePress et al did not prove their case, and certainly did not prove it “beyond a reasonable doubt.” Only in the “make-it-up-as-you-go-along” world of net neutrality is it an alleged”crime against the public interest” for an ISP to protect the quality of service for many users by imperceptively delaying the packet delivery of non-time sensitive applications for a few users.

FCC Commissioner Tate got all the first panelists to agree that there was a baseline need for “reasonable network management.” Even Professor Wu conceded that there was “good discrimination and bad discrimination,” just like there is “good cholestorol and bad cholestorol.”

Then the specific question before the FCC: was Comcast “reasonable” in its network management of p2p traffic in this instance?
Continue reading “Why ultimate FCC decision on Comcast network management is expected to be unanimous”

00Publius Contributor - Democrats/Leftists - Elections - Media Bias - News - President - Security/Safety - Society/Culture - Thomas Brewton

The Affirmative-Action Campaign

March 5, 2008 by

-By Thomas E. Brewton

Senator Clinton’s campaign emphasis on skill and experience is out of harmony with affirmative action, in which diversity is the prime criterion.

My friend Jon Gardner observed, I believe accurately, that the Democratic presidential primary has been driven by the same sort of feelings that impel businesses and educational institutions to seek minority candidates. Standards are lowered in the name of diversity and the accompanying feel-good effects of assuaging guilt. Affirmative action becomes a secular religious experience for liberal-progressives.

The lowered standards of affirmative action are rationalized under the rubric of tolerance, which, as used by liberal-progressives, means effectively the absence of standards. Anything goes, one culture is as good as the next, and all sentiments other than patriotic devotion to the United States are welcomed.

Whatever Senator Obama’s knowledge and skills may be for the presidency, and they are evidently considerable, that seems not to be the subliminal issue in the race between him and Senator Clinton.
Continue reading “The Affirmative-Action Campaign”

00Publius Contributor - Democrats/Leftists - Media Bias - News - Race - Warner Todd Huston

ABC Blogger Makes Rush Limbaugh Out A Racist Over Caller’s Comments

March 4, 2008 by

ABC Blogger Makes Rush Limbaugh Out A Racist Over Caller’s Comments
-By Warner Todd Huston

so, how is a Rush Limbaugh caller’s comments News?

Unfortunately, this is the kind of silliness that the net is sometimes prone to as sites try to fill pages with “news.” On March 3rd during the Rush Limbaugh radio show, one of the callers…. remember, I said a caller here… said that Barack Obama reminded her (the caller’s) daughter of the cartoon character Curious George. And, um, this is somehow news? Well, it is according to ABC News at least. Excitedly, ABC’s Political Radar blog delivered us a headline that virtually screams “look at the racist” — Limbaugh Caller Says Obama Reminds Daughter of Cartoon Monkey.

On March 3rd, the Political Radar blog breathlessly reports this momentous “news,” this stupendous, stultifying, divisive, pointless, news. Even more shocking, Limbaugh “laughed at the caller’s comment.” The NERVE!

Seriously, people! How is it that a caller’s comments to any radio show amounts to news? Would it be news if I reported what some guy at the 7/11 store said to me yesterday? The news should be what the hosts say, not the callers. And, even at that rate, the news value of what a radio host says might easily be considered less consequential than what a politician or other public figure says.

Ah, but we all know what the “news” here is, don’t we? ABC was excited to be able to paint Rush Limbaugh as a racist. Yes, ABC was salivating at the chance to say that the evil, rotten, mean-spirited, conservative Limbaugh is a nogoodnick. That is the beginning and end of the agenda.

Here is how the Political Radar blog begins:

ABC News’ Tahman Bradley Reports: Conservative talk radio host Rush Limbaugh issued an on-air apology to Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., today after a caller said her daughter thought the Democratic presidential frontrunner looked like the cartoon character Curious George, a monkey.

Limbaugh, who laughed at the caller’s comments, later apologized explaining he didn’t know anything about Curious George.

In true Limbaugh fashion, though, he was able to take a silly thing and wring a cogent, political point out of it. And kudos to ABC for at least allowing Limbaugh his point, even if they did bury it at the end of the piece.

Continue reading “ABC Blogger Makes Rush Limbaugh Out A Racist Over Caller’s Comments”

00Publius Contributor - Democrats/Leftists - Elections - Media Bias - News - President - Race - Religion - Society/Culture - Warner Todd Huston

Chgo Sun-Times Columnist’s Support of Racist Louis Farrakhan

March 4, 2008 by

-By Warner Todd Huston

Chicago Sun-Times columnist Mary Mitchell has proven that skin color is deeper than hate in her Sunday column as she scolded Barack Obama for distancing himself from the endorsement of the racist Nation of Islam leader, Louis Farrakhan. Mitchell scoffed at Barack’s denouncement of Farrakhan as merely a “game” to placate racist white people and tried to pump up the legitimacy of Farrakhan at the same time. Shockingly Mitchell excused every hateful thing ever said by Farrakhan and said that Barack should have “found a way” to accept Farrakhan’s endorsement “without denigrating Farrakhan’s legacy.”

Mitchell scolded Barack Obama because he tried to make sure that voters don’t think that he, Barack, supports the sort of racism evinced in the past by Louis Farrakhan. Saying that, “most black people understand the game,” Mitchell seems to feel that the only reason Obama eschewed Farrakhan’s praise is because all those racist whites would pillory Barack for accepting such an endorsement and so, she feels, he had to trash Farrakhan. Sadly for Mitchell, Farrakhan is a worthy representative of the black community and she feels that Obama is somehow being an apostate to that community for dumping on Farrakhan.

How Mitchell can excuse Farrakhan for all his racist comments is inexplicable. She seems, though, to merely accept at face value his word that he isn’t a racist. One wonders if she would as easily accept the disclaimer from any KKK member that he doesn’t really hate blacks… wink, wink… in the same way she so easily seems to take Farrakhan at his word despite all his continued racist comments?

Continue reading “Chgo Sun-Times Columnist’s Support of Racist Louis Farrakhan”

00Publius Contributor - Democrats/Leftists - Education - News - Society/Culture - Unions - Warner Todd Huston

Education Revolt in Watts

March 4, 2008 by

Here is an inspiring video from Drew Carey and the folks at Reason.tv. (Did the teachers union help? Here’s a hint…Um, no!)

Vikki Reyes has had it with Locke High, the school her daughters attend in the Watts neighborhood of Los Angeles. She walked in on class one day and recalls “the place was just like a zoo!” Students had taken control, while the teacher sat quietly with a book.

Frank Wells has also had it with Locke High. When he became principal he says gangs ruled the campus. He tried to turn things around but ran into a “brick wall” of resistance from the school district and teachers union.

Locke seemed destined to languish in high crime and low test scores until Wells, Reyes, and many reform-minded teachers joined with a maverick named Steve Barr in an attempt to break free from the status quo. Their battle is just one example of the charter school education revolt that’s erupting across the nation.

00Publius Contributor - Democrats/Leftists - Media Bias - News - Thomas Brewton

God to Gore:

March 4, 2008 by

-By Thomas E. Brewton

Go to your room, sonny boy, and stay there!

Much counter-evidence to the man-made global warming hypothesis has come to light.

Forget global warming: Welcome to the new Ice Age

Temperature Monitors Report Widespread Global Cooling

Measuring the Phoenix Urban Heat Island

Global warming skeptics buoyed by record cold

UA prof challenges one of central beliefs about global warming

Ocean circulation in a warming climate

Chilling Effect

Global Warming: Experts’ Opinions versus Scientific Forecasts

Kilimanjaro’s ice set to linger

The Sun Also Sets

Read the sunspots

The real costs of climate change

Since the Renaissance, considerable human energy and ingenuity in the Western world has been applied to improving and increasing food production and the results of manual labor. Aiding the resulting elevation of living standards was the rise of mathematics and the physical sciences. People came increasingly to understand the workings of the physical world and the God-given laws of science governing nature.

In the 19th century, however, scientific progress became infused with nonsensical political theory, the atheistic and materialistic socialism of the French Revolution. From this came the idea of progress toward conquest of nature. It was not sufficient merely to understand the processes of nature. Man had to become godlike and to control the forces of nature.

As C. S. Lewis warned us in The Abolition of Man,

At the moment, then, of Man’s victory over Nature, we find the whole human race subjected to some individual man, and those individuals subjected to that in themselves which is purely ‘natural’ – to their irrational impulses. Nature untrammelled by values, rules the Conditioners and, through them, all humanity. Man’s conquest of Nature turns out, in the moment of its consummation, to be Nature’s conquest of man.

Our current-day obsession with the hypothesis of global warming as a man-made phenomenon, rather than a normal cycle of God’s nature, is one result.

Its impetus is to transfer all individual freedom to a single, universal control board whose chairman presumably would be Al Gore. The Kyoto Protocol, don’t forget, was a product of the UN and collectivist bodies like the EU.

Individuals are no longer to be free to make decisions about how to heat their homes, what automobiles to drive, even what foods to eat. Liberal-progressive-socialist councils will tell us what we are required to want and how we are required to conduct our daily lives.

Gore, the man who would be God, is unsatisfied with continuing an open scientific investigation of natural phenomena. He has, once and for all time, selected his hypothesis and strives mightily to achieve the earthly power to impose its sanctions upon us all.
Continue reading “God to Gore:”

00Publius Contributor - Democrats/Leftists - Elections - Frank Salvato - Media Bias - News - President - Security/Safety - Society/Culture - Taxes

Barack Obama’s Word Games

March 4, 2008 by

-By Frank Salvato

Much is being made of Barack Obama’s oratory skills. True, he is quite good when it comes to captivating a crowd of sycophants and this includes the lemmings in the mainstream media. But if words matter, as Obama (and surreptitiously Duval Patrick) claims they do, then we must acknowledge that in this case words do make the man, in this case Mr. Obama must be judged in his words and in the deeds that back-up those words.

Ironically, I agree with Mr. Obama when he says that words matter. One of the harshest criticisms I have had of the Bush Administration is that communication between the presidency and the American people has been, at best, horrible. While I can lay much of the blame on a hateful mainstream media who wouldn’t cover the White House if it was on fire, a gaggle of journalistic abortions hell-bent on achieving an anti-Bush/anti-Republican agenda, so too blame must be laid at the feet of an administration that failed to use all the tools available to the bully pulpit to get its message across.

Words do matter. In a society that has grown so delinquent in teaching its populace critical thinking skills, words — and the choice of words — have become the upper-tier chess pieces in the tactical game of attaining and holding on to power. Of course, this is nothing new.

Great people through time have understood the importance of words, their meaning and their successful communication. Cicero, Aristotle, Plato, John Locke and Thomas Hobbes certainly knew the importance of words. Through their philosophy the seeds of our uniquely American ideology were planted. Those who understood the importance of their message, their words — Franklin, Adams, Jefferson and Madison — were able to manifest the American experience, to motivate a people to the quest of freedom and liberty. These great men — our Founders and Framers — also had a penchant for words as is evidenced by the Charters of Freedom, which stand alone in their ideology of liberty.

But just as there were great people who used words to move humanity to good, so too were their very evil, narcissistic men who used words to manipulate masses of people into ideologies of oppression and inequity, who used words to capture power from people, who used words to steal liberty, usurping the Natural Law of man.

Continue reading “Barack Obama’s Word Games”

00Publius Contributor - Democrats/Leftists - Media Bias - News - President - Society/Culture - Warner Todd Huston

AP’s Fantasy Headline: ‘Bush Resigns Because Of Plagiarism’

March 3, 2008 by

-By Warner Todd Huston

You can mark this as news from a moonbat’s fantasy land, but the AP has made a howler of a Freudian slip in their headline about a low level Bush aide who has resigned because he plagiarized a newspaper article he wrote. Instead of saying that a Bush aide resigned, AP headlined their report “Bush Resigns Because of Plagiarism.” (Image as it appeared on the CBS website)

Me thinks that the AP’s headline writer revealed his unconscious desires in this goofup. AP’s parapraxis merely describes what they wish was true, I’m sure. The headline topped an AP story about the aide’s resignation on the 29th of last month.

The story itself is a sad affair of a young staffer who was caught lifting portions of others’ work for his own columns in the News-Sentinal in Fort Wayne, Indiana.

The News-Sentinel said an internal investigation found that 20 of 38 of Goeglein’s columns published in the past eight years contained portions copied from other sources without attribution. Goeglein has submitted unsolicited, or guest, columns to The News-Sentinel for more than 20 years and he has never been paid for them, the paper said.

Well, I’d say that this fellow is in interesting company. Doris Kearns Goodwin, Stephen Glass, Jayson Blair, Joseph Biden, Al Gore, Jack Kelly, Michael Olesker, Michael Isikoff and a host of others have histories of plagiarism. Curiously enough, few of them ever resigned over their theft of others’ words. And, surprise, surprise, these folks are all liberals.

So, in the end, it is bad that this fellow culled the words of other writers without giving attribution. It goes without saying that this is a bad, dishonest thing. Of course, it can be said that — once again — Republicans police their own, expecting far more out of themselves than Democrats and liberals do. After all, this fellow was excoriated and made to resign his position. Few of the liberals noted above were ever forced to pay for their theft. In fact, many of them went on to make even better deals for themselves with the full and fawning support of liberals everywhere. They were not forced to pay for their perfidy at all, for the most part.

Anyway, it is nothing short of hilarious that AP never realized that they had a headline stating that Bush resigned over the plagiarism of one of his low level aides when it just never happened that way.

Yep, it was pure wishful thinking on behalf of the Associated Press.

(Updated to correct that the headline was an AP mistake, not a CBS mistake.)

Continue reading “AP’s Fantasy Headline: ‘Bush Resigns Because Of Plagiarism’”

00Publius Contributor - Democrats/Leftists - Inernet - Islam - Islamofascism - Media Bias - News - Security/Safety - Society/Culture - Technology - Warner Todd Huston

Free Expression Quashed: YouTube Removes ‘Blasphemies’ Against Islam

March 3, 2008 by

-By Warner Todd Huston

The Islamofascists are mad at YouTube… or at least there were. They aren’t anymore, of course, because YouTube has folded to a cyberterror campaign launched in Islamabad, Pakistan. Islamists in Pakistan launched a cyber attack against YouTube over the video service’s hosting of the trailer to a Dutch documentary that claims that Islamic doctrine is an “inspiration for intolerance, murder and terror.”

So, in another strike against freedom of expression, YouTube has promised to eliminate any content that is deemed by extremist, Islamists half way across the world as “highly provocative and blasphemous” against Islam.

Once again, extremist, Islamists win another battle against the ever more weak spined and compliant west. And this win is ominous for the Internet because now the Islamofascists don’t even have to take control of a government or a population to impose their oppression on the people of the world. They can do it all across the world at once with cyberterror.

Continue reading “Free Expression Quashed: YouTube Removes ‘Blasphemies’ Against Islam”

00Publius Contributor - Democrats/Leftists - Elections - Media Bias - News - President - Security/Safety - Society/Culture

Not a dime’s worth of difference

March 3, 2008 by

-By Michael M. Bates

Forty years ago, third-party presidential candidate George Wallace cackled that there wasn’t “a dime’s worth of difference” between Republican Richard Nixon and Democrat Hubert Humphrey. Gov. Wallace, who was a stanch Democrat most of his life, could have been describing the distinctions between his party’s presidential candidates in 2008.

Democrats may protest, but the reality is they have a choice of candidate, not of platform. Evidence of the similarities between Senators Clinton and Obama abound in the ratings awarded by assorted interest groups. Project Vote Smart (www.votesmart.org) compiles many of these evaluations.

Mrs. Clinton was given a 100 percent rating by both NARAL Pro-Choice America (previously conducting its nefarious business under the more straightforward name of the National Abortion Rights Action League) and Planned Parenthood for her 2006 votes. By golly, so was Mr. Obama.

For 2005-2006, the National Right to Life Committee awarded Mr. Obama a zero. Shockingly, that’s what Mrs. Clinton was also given.
Continue reading “Not a dime’s worth of difference”

00Publius Contributor - Budget - Economy/Finances - News - Society/Culture - Taxes - Thomas Brewton

How Interest Rate Manipulation Punishes Us

March 3, 2008 by

-By Thomas E. Brewton

Why is it bad for the Fed to reduce interest rates when, as now, the dollar is falling against other currencies?

The Fed doesn’t just issue an order for rates to come down. It has to pump artificially created money into the financial system to reduce interest rates.

Interest rates are the price for money. The relationship is easier to see with ordinary goods and services. If a bumper crop of apples hits the market, the price of apples will fall. In the same way, if the supply of money increases, interest rates (the price of money) will tend to fall.

There is, however, a real limit to the effectiveness of the process, as we learned painfully in the 1970s stagflation. Up to that point, faith in Keynesian economic orthodoxy (the standard doctrine of the Democratic party) assured us that increased government spending is the cure for any recession.

To implement decisions of the Federal Reserve Board to reduce interest rates, the open market desk of the New York Federal Reserve Bank creates money with bookkeeping entries and buys Treasury securities from financial institutions. The result is a net addition to the money supply, which ordinarily will result in lower interest rates and an increased readiness of financial institutions to make more loans.
Continue reading “How Interest Rate Manipulation Punishes Us”

00Publius Contributor - Business - Democrats/Leftists - Media Bias - News - Warner Todd Huston

Turmoil: The New York Times Facing Internal Take Over Bid?

March 2, 2008 by

-By Warner Todd Huston

Looks like Pinch Sulzberger is facing some stiff carping from the NYT’s shareholders and there are rumors of the dynastic family being pushed to move the paper’s Internet migration at a faster pace. The Telegraph reports “outside investors” are also trying to loosen the iron grip the long time owners have had on the Gray Lady. The feelings of these outsiders is that the Times will fail if it doesn’t realize that the times they are a changin’.

The Sulzberger-Ochs family has controlled what is arguably America’s most influential newspaper since 1896. Next month outside investors will try to make the family loosen its grip. It is shaping up to be a spectacular battle.

Of course the reason is that the NYT is lagging too far behind in their attention to the Internet. Some of you may recall the abject failure the paper’s premium content program was, this being an example of its failed Internet ideas. As the Telegraph reports: “Dissident shareholders and other critics say Sulzberger is moving too slowly into the digital age and putting one of the world’s great news brands in jeopardy.”

The Telegraph also reports that one former NYT executive said, “The prevailing philosophy of the place is that we are the Times and as long as we carry on doing what we do, the money will come.” This arrogant, short-sighted assumption held by the NYT rings a death knell if there ever was one.

Continue reading “Turmoil: The New York Times Facing Internal Take Over Bid?”

00Publius Contributor - Democrats/Leftists - History - News - Society/Culture - Thomas Brewton

Education for Slavery

March 2, 2008 by

-By Thomas E. Brewton

Aristotle spoke of people who, by their natures, are slaves. American educators are doing their best to make slavery part of their students’ natures.

Ironically, Jean Jacques Rousseau, a liberal-progressive of the 1789 French Revolutionary era, spoke of freeing men from the chains of social custom and morality, forged, in his view, by Judeo-Christianity. Yet it is today’s liberal-progressive educators who have assumed the role of blacksmith to hammer anew the chains of ignorance and slavery onto our children.

When the British North American colonists fought for their independence in 1776 and when they wrote the Constitution in 1787, equality meant equal economic opportunity, unfettered by government, to improve their lives and to pass along the fruit of their labors to their children and grandchildren.

The focus was upon political and economic freedom. Today the focus is upon imagined and undeserved rights to enjoy the fruits of others’ labors.
Continue reading “Education for Slavery”

00Publius Contributor - Democrats/Leftists - News - Security/Safety - Society/Culture - Warner Todd Huston

Freeloading Euro Backpacker Upset People Think He’s a Freeloading Euro Backpacker

March 1, 2008 by

-By Warner Todd Huston

Much of what we do here is serious commentary on the leftist bias in this world, issues that are consequential to the debate between right and left. But, today we can sit back and have a little lighthearted fun with our lefty friends without all that worry and seriousness hovering over us like a cloud of leftist generated noxious gas. So… do ya wanna hear something funny?

The Telegraph brings us the heart wrenching tale of one Mr. Mark Boyle, the man who thought he was going to backpack on foot from Bristol, England to Mahatma Gandhi’s birthplace in Porbander, India. Unfortunately, Mr. Boyle was crestfallen to have to quit this noble effort early. And we are all the poorer for it.

Speaking of poorer…

Mr. Boyle, who is a member of the Freeconomy Movement, wanted to do this important trek all to bring the world “peace.” So selfless, ain’t he? Yes, Boyle was courageously trying to bring the whole wide world’s attention to his quest so that all men everywhere could be consoled that one man, one lone but resolute fellow, could have the chips to launch such a heroic effort, one that would bring the world to its feet in solidarity and awe. Who could want to fight after that, eh?

Being a good member of that aforementioned society of high thinkers and humanitarians, he thought he was going to do it without a penny in his pocket, too. See, the Freeconomy Movement imagines that everything can be free, that money is unnecessary. In fact, they want to completely do away with money.

So, off he went one bright and sunny British morn to begin this legendary journey about which, one day, movies would surely be made, books written, cults begun even. And perhaps Mr. Boyle might be at long last able to impress the birds down at the pub, too? The world held its breath and excitement arose with Boyle’s every step as he started his epic, storybook effort.

Continue reading “Freeloading Euro Backpacker Upset People Think He’s a Freeloading Euro Backpacker”

00Publius Contributor - Budget - Business - Congress - Constitution - Dan Scott - Democrats/Leftists - Economy/Finances - Media Bias - News - Society/Culture - Taxes

Taxation without Representation

March 1, 2008 by

-By Dan Scott

Before the founding of the Republic, the colonies were a source of income to the British Empire. Besides the profitable trade made by the various investment houses of England, the Empire shared in that trade via taxation. The principle interest of the colonies to the Empire was pure and simple how much money could be heaped into the Treasury. Nationalism had little to do with the expansion of the British Empire, this was the day of Mercantilism where wealth was gained in a zero sum game by one party at the expense of another. Nationalism was merely an excuse to get the peons to go along with the game. The practice of Mercantilism is where Colonialism got it’s bad name. As in all things, the point of amassing great wealth was not just for creature comforts but also for status. The Rulers of the Empire wore their wealth in their jewelry and crowns, the multiple castles and palaces and the size of their military to establish their status in the world. With status comes power, the point of power is the exercise thereof.

The Empire taxed all trade to and from the colonies to fill their coffers. When the Royalty of Europe were fighting amongst themselves, those coffers needed substantial sums and the colonies were forced to pay ever higher taxes to accommodate that need. Thus set the stage for the Boston Tea Party. The colonists had this notion that the point of taxation was for local use on things such as building roads, bridges, townhalls, schools, to employ the sheriffs and judges to keep order, etc. The colonists weren’t interested in funding some war 3000 miles away, they weren’t interested in status, theirs was a parochial view of government. In a live and let live atmosphere, raising taxes for things that didn’t concern them was an abuse as they didn’t have a say in those decisions leading to all the spending from the Treasury. It’s one thing to pay a tax when you may derive some benefit down the road, it is quite another thing to pay ever higher taxes because someone else is making the spending decision relegating you to being the piggybank with no say in the matter. The cry from the colonists was Taxation without Representation! If they were to pay taxes, they believed they had at least a right to participate in the decisions on why and how that money was to be spent. When the Empire refused to have colonial representation in Parliament, they paved the way to the US Revolution.
Continue reading “Taxation without Representation”

00Publius Contributor - Democrats/Leftists - Inernet - Media Bias - News - Security/Safety - Society/Culture - Technology - Warner Todd Huston

AP Beginning New Crack Down on Blog Critics?

February 29, 2008 by

-By Warner Todd Huston

AP Shuts Down Blogger With Threats of Legal Action

Well, here is what might be a landmark case for the blogosphere, for the Internet, and for the future of our new media, citizen journalism. The AP has just sent a cease and desist letter to Brian C. Ledbetter telling him to stop using their copyrighted images on his website, snappedshot.com.

Snappedshot.com is a site predicated on criticism of photo-journalism. In pursuit of his criticism, Mr. Ledbetter uses photos from across the web that he thinks are doctored or misleading in some way. He then reports his opinion on the bias he sees therein.

Because of this pending legal action, snappedshot.com is now been placed on hiatus until the situation can be cleared up.

So, here is the issue facing us, folks: can we use copyrighted material under the commonly observed fair usage rules without getting hauled into court? After all, Mr. Ledbetter was not making money from his website and he used those photos in order to critique them, not to enrich himself. That would seem to be the very definition of fair use, would it not?

Now it comes down to whether use of the AP’s photos in order to do social commentary and criticism is fair enough to be considered fair use?

Worse, if this tactic works, can it not be used by every mainstream news source out there to silence criticism of them?

I say we have the makings of an important ruling on whether we bloggers are free to criticize the MSM without being dragged in to court at the whim of any MSM bigwig.

We’ll try to follow this story and see where it goes.

Continue reading “AP Beginning New Crack Down on Blog Critics?”

00Publius Contributor - Islam - Islamofascism - Media Bias - Military - News - Security/Safety - Warner Todd Huston

Angelina Jolie’s Call for US to ‘Stay in Iraq’?

February 29, 2008 by

-By Warner Todd Huston

In a recent editorial published in the Washington Post, an unusual call for the USA to stay in Iraq rang out with pleas for the US to commit even more money and resources to help rebuild that war torn nation. Published under the byline of Angelina Jolie, the piece said that, “we have finally reached a point where humanitarian assistance, from us and others, can have an impact.” This editorial is unusual because the Washington Post is usually filled with tales of how we have failed in Iraq and how we should just get out, but here is this one saying we are now at a place where leaving would be the worst thing we could do. One wonders if this article will find the name of Angelina Jolie used as an epithet by the get-out-now, anti-war set from among the netrooters and the MSM? Or will her celebrity and long standing interest in humanitarian efforts give her cover with the same sort of people?

What ever treatment we’ll see meted out by the far left to the Hollywood star who’s name graces this interesting piece, the fact that a call has been made to stay in Iraq by someone other than the conservative movement here is interesting if not amazing. It strikes a little heard note of optimism in news coverage that usually focuses only on the so-called failures of US forces in Iraq.

It should first be noted that this piece assumes the surge has worked. A few lines are also devoted to the feelings our troops have that the efforts in Iraq are neither fruitless or finished.

As for the question of whether the surge is working, I can only state what I witnessed: U.N. staff and those of non-governmental organizations seem to feel they have the right set of circumstances to attempt to scale up their programs. And when I asked the troops if they wanted to go home as soon as possible, they said that they miss home but feel invested in Iraq. They have lost many friends and want to be a part of the humanitarian progress they now feel is possible.

While it is certainly gratifying that this piece seriously calls for renewed commitment in Iraq, some of the assumptions made in the piece with Jolie’s byline are a bit overheated. In one part, the article claims that the “humanitarian crisis has not improved” in Iraq, but this is clearly not completely true.

Continue reading “Angelina Jolie’s Call for US to ‘Stay in Iraq’?”

00Publius Contributor - Congress - Elections - GOP - Media Bias - News - Security/Safety - Society/Culture - Warner Todd Huston

The GOP Must Avoid Becoming Democrat Party Lite

February 29, 2008 by

-By Warner Todd Huston

After the disastrous loss of majority status that befell the Republicans in Congress with the results of the 2006 midterm elections, conservative members of the GOP — and even a few not so conservative — began floating a new sound bite mantra. We have “lost our brand” became the meme as House members fanned out to the media in an attempt to reassure the rank and file that they had realized their mistakes, were chastened, and were about to “take it back.”

The biggest focus of that “lost brand” was that of fiscal responsibility. Wild Congressional earmarks, “bridges to no where,” and waste became a hallmark of the Republican Congress and many Republicans believed that this was one of the main reasons that Republicans lost the support of the electorate. In a reversal of the conventional wisdom some polls even showed that Americans had come to trust the Democrats in spending more than they did Republicans.

Florida Republican Adam H. Putnam told the Pittsburg Tribune-Review back on March 31st of 2007 that it was time to get serious.

“I think a key reason was the issues of corruption, where we had a bumper crop of scandals and incompetence. … Americans lost the sense that Republicans brought a commonsense, business-like manner to governing (and that) undermined our brand.

It was further undermined by a sense that we had lost our way on fiscal responsibility. So when people went into those voting booths, they really felt disenchanted with a party that they perceived to have lost its way. We were seen as being petty. We were seen as being only in it for ourselves. We had stopped talking about big, bold ideas. We had stopped talking about relevant solutions — and we paid for it. “

In November of 2007, former RNC chairman Mel Martinez told Ronald Kessler, “When I look at polls and they show that the American people trust the Democrats more than the Republicans on spending, it shows us how we’ve lost our brand. We’ve got to get our brand back.”

This idea of taking the brand back even made itself into a new organization of conservative Congressmen called Reagan21. With this new caucus of sorts, the *members of Reagan21 wish to assure us all that they are still committed to Reagan’s vision of government.

Continue reading “The GOP Must Avoid Becoming Democrat Party Lite”

00Publius Contributor - Crime - Democrats/Leftists - Media Bias - News - Society/Culture - Warner Todd Huston

New Jersey Mayor Indicted for Corruption…’Democrat or Not?’

February 29, 2008 by

-By Warner Todd Huston

Former Newark, New Jersey Mayor Sharpe James has been brought up on charges of corruption and the AP, The New York Times and several other outlets have all been reporting that jury selection for the event is underway this week. These news outlets dutifully reported the charges against James, reported his long political career, some have even reported how popular he was in office. Yet, not one of them remembered to mention he was a Democrat. So, today’s episode of “Democrat or Not?” leaves us right back where we usually are… with a story of corruption of a public official where his Democratic party affiliation is somehow not “relevant” to the story.

In two versions of the story the Associated press seems not to notice that Sharpe James is a Democrat (here and here).

NEWARK, N.J. (AP) — Former Newark Mayor Sharpe James is scheduled to appear in federal court today for the first of two federal corruption trials.

After being indicted in July, both James and his co-defendant, Tamika Riley, pleaded not guilty to all charges and are free on bail.

And what are the charges?

The first trial focuses on whether James, 72, arranged for the sale of nine city-owned properties at discounted rates to Riley, a woman nearly half his age with whom he traveled. Prosecutors said they will present evidence to show the two had an intimate personal relationship.

Prosecutors said James improperly steered properties to Riley, 38, and that she, with James’ help, quickly resold them at much higher prices. Riley was able to buy the properties although she lacked real estate, construction and financial experience to rehabilitate them, according to the indictment.

And where is his party affiliation mentioned….

Continue reading “New Jersey Mayor Indicted for Corruption…’Democrat or Not?’”

00Publius Contributor - Business - Crime - Democrats/Leftists - Elections - News - President - Society/Culture - Unions - Warner Todd Huston

Corruption Embroiled Union Gives Hillary Their Endorsement

February 29, 2008 by

-By Warner Todd Huston

The New York Post gives us a reminder of the sort of shady characters that supports the Hillary Clinton campaign for president. Last week the New York carpenters union announced their support of Hillary Clinton and it should be pointed out that their head, Michael Forde, has been linked to mob corruption in his role as union head.

Forde and union business agent Martin Devereaux are set for trial Nov. 26 on charges they took bribes from contractors to allow nonunion, off-the-books labor on job sites.

Forde was originally indicted in a massive 2000 probe of mob influence in the construction industry. Among the 38 people charged was alleged Luchese crime family acting boss Steven (Stevie Wonder) Crea, who pleaded guilty to price fixing, labor racketeering, bid rigging and constraint of trade.

Forde and Devereaux were convicted in 2004 – facing up to 25 years in prison – but got their cases tossed after a judge ruled jurors improperly discussed the case before deliberating.

But there is another interesting thing with this endorsement. Unions claim that they are the ones more interested in “democracy” and are always looking out for “the little guy,” right? Well, it is interesting that the NY carpenters union with Forde in the lead held a secret, closed door meeting during which this endorsement was decided.

The meeting was an “eyebrow-raising, closed-door endorsement,” that “broke ranks with the national union,” as the Post put it. If unions are so much for “democracy” and all that, why the secret, closed door meeting?

Who can doubt that it is because the myth that unions are interested in democracy is and always has been a sham.

In any case, it is instructive to be reminded of what sort of character the Clintons surround themselves with.
Continue reading “Corruption Embroiled Union Gives Hillary Their Endorsement”