00Publius Contributor

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

AP Blaming US Border Agents for Illegals/Drug Dealer’s Violence

January 3, 2008 by

-By Warner Todd Huston

US border agents have been increasingly suffering physical attacks at the hands of drug traffickers and illegal entrants across the southern border, “nearly 1,000 times during a one-year period,” AP reports. Naturally, this has caused the US border patrol to step up their replies and the levels of force they use to subdue these attacks — after all, should our agents just take being attacked by flying rocks and bullets without reply? But, what does the AP report in theirs titled, “Border Patrol’s counteroffensive riles Mexico”? They report that the Mexicans are mad at us. AP makes it appear as if we are at fault because they are increasing in their level of violence to which we are forced to reply.

Check out the sympathy that the AP offers Mexicans living near the border…

The Border Patrol says its agents were attacked nearly 1,000 times during a one-year period along the Mexican border, typically by assailants hurling rocks, bottles and bricks. Now the agency is responding with tear gas and powerful, pepper-spray weapons, including firing into Mexico.

The counteroffensive has drawn complaints that innocent families are being caught in the crossfire.

“A neighbor shouted, ‘Stop it! There are children living here,” said Esther Arias Medina, 41, who on Wednesday fled her Tijuana, Mexico, shanty with her 3-week-old grandson after the infant began coughing from smoke that seeped through the walls.

First of all, AP quotes someone who claims they saw a “neighbor” who “fled” with her child, but does not interview the actual woman herself. AP broke the very first rule in reporting: verification. After that, the following sentence AP gives us is this one…

Continue reading “AP Blaming US Border Agents for Illegals/Drug Dealer’s Violence”

00Publius Contributor - Business - Congress - Democrats/Leftists - Media Bias - Nancy Salvato - News - Security/Safety - Society/Culture - Taxes - Technology

Beware of Greeks… or Chinese Bearing Gifts

January 3, 2008 by

-By Nancy Salvato

China makes the little voice inside my head nervous. China has surpassed India in having the largest population in the world with no other country coming remotely close to a billion in number. [1] As a matter of fact, the United States claims less than the number of China’s population. If forced into a war with China, we would be battling the largest military in the world. [2] It’s possible they are not as well trained as our forces and do not have as sophisticated weaponry, however there is no disputing they are currently “engaged in the most significant military buildup in the world.” [3] They’ve produced submarines and missiles that are serious threats to the United States. [4] Indeed, they are diplomatic and economic allies of Iran, a country which certainly cannot be trusted with nuclear weapons of mass destruction, and whose leader would like to decimate Israel and has made no secret of his animosity toward western ideas…wanting to unite the world under Islam. [5]

Of lesser, but still of considerable concern is China’s blatant disregard for how their industrial development is polluting the atmosphere. Although this has garnered the attention of the green movement, there is tacit acknowledgement that unless China chooses to address the issue, no one will mess with China. Because the media is preoccupied with an anti-Bush agenda for the past two terms our president has held office, sufficient attention has not been given to the true threat of Islamofascism, nor to how the one world movement (driven by the fictitious idea that by undermining the US economy global warming could be controlled) would actually impact the freedoms we take for granted.

Under the radar, China has catapulted into a position of power because of what Rowan Callick coins, “The China Model.” [6] Deng Xiaoping opened China’s economy “to foreign and domestic investment, allowing labor flexibility, keeping the tax and regulatory burden low, and creating a first-class infrastructure through a combination of private sector and state spending.” [7] The paradigm shift is that while he implemented these changes, he maintained the ruling party’s “firm grip on government, the courts, the army, the internal security apparatus, and the free flow of information. A shorthand way to describe the model is: economic freedom plus political repression.” [8] China continues to jail those who advocate democracy or religious tolerance. [9] Clearly, capitalism + a politically free society are no longer the only conduit to a free market economy.
Continue reading “Beware of Greeks… or Chinese Bearing Gifts”

00Publius Contributor - Constitution - History - Judges - Society/Culture - Thomas Brewton

The Judiciary: Tyranny’s Active Agent

January 3, 2008 by

-By Thomas E. Brewton

Have the Constitution’s checks and balances come unglued?

The First Things website carries a provocative essay by Richard John Neuhaus. The essay explores the contention that, as Anti-Federalists feared in the 1787-89 Constitutional ratification debate, the judiciary has come to be the dominant power in the Federal government.

Without exaggeration, it can be said that most of the activist, anti-traditional measures of government have been judicially imposed. Those have been predominantly aimed at outlawing Judeo-Christian morality, notably Roe v Wade and measures to banish spiritual religion from education and politics, while encouraging an accelerating descent into the cesspool of sensual gratification.
Continue reading “The Judiciary: Tyranny’s Active Agent”

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

Unions Thwart Private Property Rights

January 3, 2008 by

-By Warner Todd Huston

Here is a loss to liberty, freedom and our rights. Once again, judicial activism slaps down one of our most central rights, property rights, n favor of union thugs. In California, unions won the right to be able to disrupt the businesses inside malls.

Now, a mall should be considered private property, but these extremist leftists on the Calif. Supreme court have decided in their finite wisdom that a union may legally invade a mall and protest a business that they don’t like, disrupting the store’s operations and scaring customers away.

The 4-3 ruling came in a case dating to 1998 involving the Fashion Valley mall and a labor union representing press workers at The San Diego Union-Tribune. The court majority said that free-speech rights – as interpreted under the state Constitution and a 1979 state Supreme Court case – also extend to the private property of shopping malls.

“Urging customers to boycott a store lies at the core of the right to free speech,” Associate Justice Carlos Moreno wrote for the majority.

Moreno was joined by Chief Justice Ronald George and Associate Justices Joyce Kennard and Kathryn Mickle Werdegar.

Almost half the court had enough sense to understand that this ruling is a violation of the rights to private property:

In a strong dissent, Associate Justice Ming Chin criticized the ruling and said the court should have overturned the 1979 case that extended free-speech rights to shopping malls.

“Private property should be treated as private property, not as a public free speech zone,” Chin wrote.

He was joined by Justices Marvin Baxter and Carol A. Corrigan.

Call this one a strike against Americanism and our rights and a win for union thugs all across the state. Now, lets hope that such a blow against freedom and liberty isn’t replicated elsewhere.

Continue reading “Unions Thwart Private Property Rights”

00Publius Contributor - Constitution - Democrats/Leftists - Education - Elections - History - Media Bias - News - Patriotism - President - Society/Culture - Uncategorized - Warner Todd Huston

Why I Don’t Want Your Kid to Vote

January 2, 2008 by 2 Comments

-By Warner Todd Huston

Every election year we are presented with stories about the vaunted “youth vote.” We are told how we must get the kids to the polls, we are told that the candidates are working hard to court the youth vote and we are given story after story of the efforts of one organization or another that is trying to excite young people to vote. We are presented with these stories as if it is a good thing that kids under 21 should vote, that it is somehow a desired thing. Well, I am going to say right here and now that I don’t want anyone under the age of 21 to vote. So, please, do keep your uninformed kid home on Election Day.

Many people will recall the reported words of the venerable Ben Franklin who said upon exiting the final session of the Constitutional convention that our representatives had created a republic “if we could keep it.” By this, Franklin meant that it is up to each of us to learn the issues, understand the principles upon which our system was created, as well as the mechanics of the system itself in order to cast an informed vote that will uphold those principles and keep our government orderly. This all means that it is incumbent upon each of us to stay informed and to educate ourselves.

I will not, of course, claim that all people under 21 are inherently incapable of becoming such a well-rounded and informed citizen. In some cases, there are surely 19 year-olds that are smarter, more informed, and trustworthy than certain 30 year-olds out there. This is beyond question. But one cannot make general rules for society by honing in on every individual case. One must strike for the best general rule and the general rule here is that people under 21 do not care a whit about government and will, therefore, make for uninformed — maybe even dangerous — voters.

Continue reading “Why I Don’t Want Your Kid to Vote”

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

State of Ill. Sponsoring Kids Global Warming Poster Contest

January 2, 2008 by

-By Warner Todd Huston

Here is the sort of garbage your State EPA is foisting on your children, Illinois. The State EPA is instituting a Statewide Poster And Poetry/Prose Exhibit: “Global Warming – What Can We Do?” for the kiddies to help the Democrat controlled state EPA office to further their globaloney propaganda. Nothing like forcing our kids to toe the line of political propaganda, eh? Of course, it matches right up with our school children being forced to read that “Heather has two Mommies” and being handed condoms for their sexual escapades, doesn’t it? Apparently, we don’t need to be bothering our children with those ridiculous things like history, math and real science when there are so many political agendas that need to be pushed!

The state EPA is making global warming political propaganda fun, though.

We invite your students to participate in the annual Environmental Pathways statewide poster and poetry/prose exhibit. The theme of the 2008 event will be “Global Warming – What Can We Do?” focusing on the importance of clean air and protecting our environment.

Loads of fun for all the kiddies.

Here is the thing, though. The state EPA is propagating an idea that is no way settled scientifically. This is not a “scientific” or factual based endeavor, but a political one.

And, get a load of this liberal, emotion-speak from the state EPA website:

Continue reading “State of Ill. Sponsoring Kids Global Warming Poster Contest”

00Publius Contributor - Democrats/Leftists - Frank Salvato - Islam - Islamofascism - Military - News - Religion - Security/Safety - Society/Culture

Assassinating the Democratic Process

January 2, 2008 by

-By Frank Salvato

The assassination of former Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto presents a cadre of possibilities for the future of Pakistan, the South Asian and Middle Eastern regions and the world. One positive result from this barbaric event would be that her supporters in the Pakistan People’s Party would press forward in a more concerted and immediate effort to bring the democratic process to fruition in the wake of her murder, thus advancing the very principles for which she was killed. But, with iniquitous forces holding considerable influence – both inside Pakistan’s government and out – the prospects for any positive outcome to this tragedy are minuscule. With the assassination of Benazir Bhutto, Pakistan has become the epicenter in the global war against Islamofascist aggression.

That Pakistan is a volatile and politically complex country is an understatement. Ever since its creation in an Indian move to independence from Britain in 1947, Pakistan has struggled with its political identity while trying to lend credence to the claim of being the home of South Asian Muslims. The osmotic migration of Muslims to Pakistan and Hindus to India served to create the Kashmiri conflict. With the USSR’s Cold War intervention in Afghanistan, Pakistan saw an influx of thousands of mujahedeen who used Pakistan as a launch point for their jihad against the Soviets. With the defeat of the Soviets in Afghanistan many of the jihadi staging and training locations in Pakistan became more permanent and those who were drawn to jihad by the fascist rhetoric of radical Islam turned their attention toward Bosnia, Chechnya, Indonesia and the infidels of the West.

Today there are both pro-democracy and pro-Islamist factions existing throughout every aspect of Pakistani society, including its government and military structures. Because Pakistan, in its creation, was to serve as a homeland for India’s Muslim population the cohesive force behind Pakistani society is Islam. But while Pakistan’s military leaders, in their quest for power and control, adopted Islamic ideology in its attempt to seek legitimacy in their rule, the seeds of democracy were sown into the political ideology of Pakistanis early on. This ideological and political dichotomy exists today.
Continue reading “Assassinating the Democratic Process”

00Publius Contributor - Elections - GOP - President - Resa LaRu, "Warchick" Kirkland - Security/Safety - Society/Culture

A Mormon President – The Talk VS. The Walk

January 2, 2008 by

-By Resa LaRu Kirkland

(Is a Mormon ready for the White House? Is THIS one?)

Before we were born, we had a choice to make. As our Heavenly Parents were helping us decide on the hows and whats of the next section of our eternal progression, we were confronted with a baffling decision. We had progressed as far as we could spiritually; now was the time to conquer the flesh. We all wanted to return to live with our Parents when our earthly mission was over, but knew that once we had a body on earth, we would be weak things whose default mode was sin. That meant it would be impossible for ANY of us to return to Father, who can look upon sin with no tolerance.

What to do?

Enter two beloved siblings, each with a plan.

The plan of our oldest brother–who would on earth be known as Jesus–was to allow us what we already had in Heaven–free will–but pay the wages for any of us sinners who would agree to follow him. That way He could satisfy the demands of justice–which mercy can NOT rob–but give the gift of mercy for those who would choose it. He even volunteered to be the one who paid that price, and in humility offered the glory that would follow such a gift back to His Father.
Continue reading “A Mormon President – The Talk VS. The Walk”

00Publius Contributor - Democrats/Leftists - Frank Salvato - Military - News - Security/Safety - Society/Culture - UN - Uncategorized

A Standing Army for the United Nations

January 1, 2008 by

-By Frank Salvato

There are many disturbing issues to contemplate in the world. From the dangers of aggressive Islamofascism to the pomposity and arrogance of the American elected class (and those vying to be included) the world stands witness to myriad threats and power grabs. But two power grabs opens the door for the United Nations to both amass sovereign rights and to fund and assemble a military force under its own banner.

That the United Nations is a corrupt and ineffective institution is an understatement. The list of illegal activities and instances of institutionalized bigotry are so numerable that they weave a tapestry of embarrassment that would incite any governmental body with integrity to disband. Truth be told, they can‚t even agree on a definition for “terrorism.” As they say, absolute power corrupts, absolutely.

An example of the UN‚s corrupt leadership can be seen in the Oil-for-Food scandal, one of the larger blemishes on the face of the organization. Alas, it is a blemish that the secular-progressive press failed to expose in detail. You see, a few corrupt world leaders ˆ we‚ll cite Jacque Chirac as a prime example ˆ were utilizing their seats on the UN Security Council to hold the United States and aligned coalition countries at bay while they violated the resolutions put in place by that very organization. Their actions defrauded the Oil-for-Food program of millions if not billions of dollars and enriched Saddam Hussein in the process.
Continue reading “A Standing Army for the United Nations”

00Publius Contributor - Education - Israel Teitelbaum - News - Security/Safety - Society/Culture - Uncategorized

Parents Launch Drive for Equal Educational Opportunity

January 1, 2008 by

-By Israel Teitelbaum

Parents seeking improved educational options have launched a national grass roots drive timed to coincide with the coming presidential primary. This affords us our best opportunity in decades to leverage our votes in exchange for legislation that will provide equal educational opportunity for every child. A nation founded on individual liberty should not be financially coercing parents to send their children to government-run schools.

Leading the grass roots drive is Larry Cirignano, a leading community activist on issues of importance to families, such as life, liberty and equal educational opportunity for all children. He was recently the target of trumped up charges of assault for preventing an ACLU activist from disrupting an anti-gay marriage rally in Worcester, Massachusetts. After a week long trial Cirignano was found NOT guilty by a jury of his peers.

Major organizations lending support to this effort include National Committee for the Furtherance of Jewish Education, Torah Communications, Sephardic Voters League, Family Research Council, Center for Equal Opportunity, New Jersey Family Policy Council, American for Tax Reform, CatholicVote.org, SchoolChoiceVoter.org, and the list is growing.
Continue reading “Parents Launch Drive for Equal Educational Opportunity”

00Publius Contributor - Uncategorized - Warner Todd Huston

Predictions 2008

January 1, 2008 by

-By Warner Todd Huston

Here are a few of my predictions for 2008:

  1. If either Mitt Romney or Rudy Giuliani are the GOP nominee, the Democrats will easily win the White House because the conservatives will stay home in droves.
  2. If Ron Paul and Michael Bloomberg run as independents… the Dems still win because Paul will siphon off more GOP voters than Bloomberg will siphon from the Dems. But if Paul stays out and Bloomberg runs, his entrance just might cut in favor of the GOP candidate. Neither Paul nor Bloomberg can win on their own, of course.
  3. Rosie O’Donnell will get even fatter in 2008.
  4. Pakistan’s Pervez Musharraf will be assassinated.
  5. The GOP will continue to fight the good fight against the Dem Congress making great headway and setting themselves up for some excellent wins in 2010.
  6. Britney Spears will go into rehab. She will be photographed having a pillow fight there with Lindsay Lohan.
  7. Neither the Chicago Bulls, the Cubs, the White Sox, nor the Bears will win much of anything.
  8. Speaking of Chicago, Mayor Richard Daley will be involved in a scandal that he claims not to know anything about.
  9. Kieth Olberman will have a brain aneurism… if he does, indeed, have a brain, that is.
  10. Rush Limbaugh will say he is right about something or another, probably in his first show of the New Year.
  11. Hillary Clinton will say someone is out to get her. But, it won’t be Bill because he hasn’t been interested in her for about 20 something years.
  12. And I will make some liberal somewhere mad. A lot. Repeatedly.

OK most of those aren’t out too far on a limb, but I never said I was any Sylvia Brown. Or maybe I am better than that because her prediction record is really, really horrible.

Happy New Year, y’all.

00Publius Contributor - News - Patriotism - Podcasting - Uncategorized - Warner Todd Huston

Voice of Liberty Podcast Episode #9

December 31, 2007 by

Happy New Year! This is our last podcast of the year and we’re looking forward to a prosperous new year and conservative gains in November’s elections. Our weekly listenership has grown into the three-figure domain – next stop – four figures. We appreciate you listening to the podcast, and we especially appreciate when you tell your friends. Our audience is growing quickly, and there are going to be some very exciting changes coming in the new year. Stay tuned for further details.

In this week’s episode, Andrea Shea-King looks back on her year. Warner Todd Huston reveals the vacuousness of political correctness. The Blue Collar Muse wonders aloud why Mrs. Clinton continues to promote the failed notion of socialism. Host John McJunkin wraps up the episode with Reason Number Eight Why Mrs. Clinton Will Never Be President.

Download Podcast-Duration: 00:29:30

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

Reuters: Will You People Stop Using ‘Surge’ and ‘Post 9-11′?

December 31, 2007 by

-By Warner Todd Huston

This is the time of year for lighthearted fluff for most news agencies and it is usually a welcome respite from hard news as we all get ready to celebrate the arrival of “Baby New Year.” The year-end list is a staple of that happy, fluff and we get them up the wazoo, for sure. The list of “overused words” is one of those that we see every year, as well, and Reuters gives us a list by which they hope we wring out a few overused words and phrases as we ring in 2008. But, I am a bit dismayed over the choice of two of the words and phrases they want us to forget. The first is “post 9/11″and the other one is “surge.” The choice of words and phrases in the case of these particular two seems to be made not only with a left leaning bias, but with a bias that leads to the sort of dangerous ignorance that caused 9/11 and the surge in the first place. The ignorance of head-in-the-sand, looking the other way that allowed Islamofascism so so easily sneak up on all of us is rampant with the inclusion of these two in this list.

Reuters writer Andrew Stern gives us this first paragraph:

CHICAGO (Reuters) – A “surge” of overused words and phrases formed a “perfect storm” of “post-9/11” cliches in 2007, according to a U.S. university’s annual list of words and phrases that deserve to be banned.

While most of the words and phrases that the public relations department at Michigan’s Lake Superior State University in Sault Ste. Marie chose for their list is innocuous fun, including “surge” and “post 9/11” seems to me a dangerous inclusion.

Such phrases as “post 9/11” and “surge” have also outlived their usefulness, they said. Surge emerged in reference to adding U.S. troops in Iraq but has come to explain the expansion of anything.

“Post 9/11” has “out lived its usefulness”? How so? Has the danger of radical Islam passed us by? HARDLY! To make people forget 9/11 is a travesty and will open us right up to the sort of complacency that we wallowed blissfully in on September 10th, 2001 — a blissful ignorance that was shattered so horribly. Does Reuters and Lake Superior State University want us to return to 9/10 thinking? When one sees that they also want us to forget about Bush’s “surge” policies in Iraq, as well, it would seem that forgetting is exactly what they want. It’s all just so passé, huh?

There was also one other somewhat disturbing bit in their year-end list of over used words and phrases.

Continue reading “Reuters: Will You People Stop Using ‘Surge’ and ‘Post 9-11′?”

00Publius Contributor - Democrats/Leftists - Elections - Inernet - Media Bias - News - Technology - Uncategorized - Warner Todd Huston

More Lazy Reporting From UPI: Internet ‘Not Ideal’ For Political Ads

December 31, 2007 by

-By Warner Todd Huston

As we point out on a daily basis, the MSM is heavily left leaning and biased. But this isn’t the MSM’s only failing. They are also extremely lazy. Leftist or not, and take little time to really think about the news nor do any research about what they are reporting. Take this UPI report for instance: “Political videos not reaching Web viewers.” In this one, the UPI is claiming that political video on the web isn’t “reaching Web viewers” and that it isn’t the “ideal way” for candidates to reach voters, but the story itself does not satisfactorily prove such a conclusion at all. When compared to the percentage of actual voting adults, for instance, the penetration might be quite favorable toward political videos reaching those they are aimed at. So, why report it as a negative? Because they neither employed reason nor research while writing their article, that’s why.

UPI claims the following:

WASHINGTON, Dec. 27 (UPI) — Just over one-third of U.S. adults who have watched online video report watching a political video, a Harris Poll found.

The survey suggests online video is not an ideal way for political candidates to reach voters. However, that 35 percent figure represents millions of people.

While “one-third” of America’s adult population seems low, when we take a more full view of the statistics, we see that it isn’t as bad as it seems but we also see that this poll isn’t much help in making any determination as to whether or not political ads on the Internet are effective.

For one thing, only 73% of our adult population has internet connection in the first place according to a Pew Research finding (Download PDF file here). Now, according to the U.S. Census Bureau there are about 220 million adults in the U.S. so that means that of that 220 million, about 165 million some Americans have internet connection. One third of that 165 million, then, means that around 55 million or so adults are watching video with political content on the Internet.

55 million is a whole bunch o’folks, sure, but what does that mean to actual votes cast and are Internet videos actually making a difference in politics? There certainly is no way to know that from this report.

Let’s take a quick look at the voting stats.

Continue reading “More Lazy Reporting From UPI: Internet ‘Not Ideal’ For Political Ads”

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

Honestly, is this the best we can do?

December 31, 2007 by 1 Comment

-By Michael M. Bates

In little more than 200 years, we’ve gone from George Washington, who could not tell a lie, to modern political figures who will never be mistaken for the indispensable man.

Barack Obama is running an ad in Iowa that ballyhoos his “scrupulous honesty.” That bouquet was tossed by Time magazine’s Joe Klein.

The candidate’s scrupulous honesty must have been sorely strained in his dealings with Democratic fat cat and wheeler-dealer Tony Rezko, soon on trial for an assortment of fraud schemes. Rezko was widely known to be under Federal investigation by the time Obama approached him, hoping he’d “develop an interest” in buying some land that just happened to adjoin a parcel owned by the senator.

Mr. Obama’s honesty was brought into question from the moment he announced his candidacy for president. That’s because the day after his 2004 election to the U.S. Senate, he forcefully vowed that he wouldn’t run for president before the end of his full six-year term.

The Chicago Sun-Times carried the story:

“‘I was elected yesterday,’ Obama said. ‘I have never set foot in the U.S. Senate. I’ve never worked in Washington. And the notion that somehow I’m immediately going to start running for higher office just doesn’t make sense.

‘So look, I can unequivocally say I will not be running for national office in four years, and my entire focus is making sure that I’m the best possible senator on behalf of the people of Illinois.”’

He further elaborated: “Look, I’m a state senator who hasn’t even been sworn in yet. My understanding is that I will be ranked 99th in seniority. . . I’m going to be spending the first several months of my career in the U.S. Senate looking for the washroom and trying to figure out how the phones work.”

Responding to unrelenting reporter questions on the matter, he said that he was definite that he wouldn’t run for president in 2008. He even termed the question itself “silly.” So who’s laughing now?

Not Senator Clinton, who’s shown herself grievously honesty-challenged more than a few times over the years. One poll of likely Iowa Democratic caucus-goers found that Barry beats Mrs. Clinton 2-1 as the more honest and trustworthy candidate.
Continue reading “Honestly, is this the best we can do?”

00Publius Contributor - Democrats/Leftists - Economy/Finances - Media Bias - News - Society/Culture - Thomas Brewton - Uncategorized

Rebuild a Welfare-State-Dependent New Orleans?

December 31, 2007 by

-By Thomas E. Brewton

The New York Times editorial board still believes in the fairyland of Stalinist dictatorship of the proletariat in which all the shots are called by the collective government’s commissars.

The Times editorialists implicitly are horrified at the prospect that New Orleans might be rebuilt by free-market forces responding to present-day economic reality. Their prescription is back (and I do mean backwards) to the Nanny State.

As noted in New Orleans: The Harsh Moral and Political Realities, New Orleans has for generations been rotten at the core as a consequence of the welfare state inaugurated by Huey Long in the 1920s. The last thing needed, by its former welfare-dependent residents or by its working population, is to sink again into the swamp of socialist despond.
Continue reading “Rebuild a Welfare-State-Dependent New Orleans?”

00Publius Contributor - Education - Entertainment - Media Bias - News - Science - Society/Culture - Uncategorized - Warner Todd Huston

PBS Make ‘Documentary’ Full of Lies

December 31, 2007 by

-By Warner Todd Huston

Not long ago, I wrote a piece on how our PBS stations have been foisting a so-called documentary on the wife of thinker Albert Einstein and how she supposedly had a large hand in his famous scientific theories. It’s all bunk, of course, but PBS is foisting this piece of junk biography on the public, none-the-less. Worse, our tax dollars are going to help pay for these lies.

In that piece from August, I introduced you all to the exhaustive work of one Allen Esterson who has tirelessly been trying to get PBS to pull their support for this flawed “documentary.” Since that time, Mr. Esterson has not ceased his efforts and saw fit to give me an update that I thought I’d share you all of you.

Dear Mr Huston,

I thought you might be interested in the latest developments re PBS and “Einstein’s Wife”. In regard to the film, David Davis, VP National Production OPB, has informed me that the broadcasting rights have expired. However, on the “Einstein’s Wife” website PBS is continuing to promote the grossly misleading and dishonest film, and the DVD is still being sold by PBS.

As I anticipated when I (indirectly) heard that the writer Andrea Gabor had been commissioned to rewrite the website material, the revised web pages (posted in late September) continue to propagate false and misleading contentions. While no longer claiming that Mileva Maric co-authored the celebrated 1905 papers, Gabor contends that during their marriage Maric took part in “longstanding give-and-take” discussions of physics, which “almost certainly yielded some help with mathematical proofs”. The facts are that there is not a single known document in which Maric expresses any ideas, or even views, of her own on physics, nor a single specific report of any such ideas, nor any hint in letters to her closest friend over three decades of any such discussions. As to her giving help with mathematical proofs, even her Zurich Polytechnic entrance exam average grade in mathematics was mediocre, and her final diploma mathematics grade was a dismal 2.5 on a scale 1-6. In contrast, Einstein was precociously gifted in mathematics, and mastered the basics of differential and integral calculus by the time he was 15. In his Ph.D. thesis submitted to Zurich University in 1905 the mathematics was so difficult that the relevant sections were given to a math specialist to assess, and he reported that “the manner of treatment demonstrates *a thorough command of the mathematical methods involved*” (emphasis in original).
Continue reading “PBS Make ‘Documentary’ Full of Lies”

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

Wash. Monthly Blog Shows for Left, Name Calling = Political Analysis

December 30, 2007 by 1 Comment

-By Warner Todd Huston

Now With Updates…Kristol responds to critics and Benen Responds to me!

Washington Monthly has a blog called Political Animal that is also picked up by the CBS News website. It is written by Kevin Drum, but recently has been guest penned by a former Clinton intern and Internet gadfly named Steve Benen who makes no bones about the fact that he is an extreme leftist. Looking over his Wash. Monthly blog posts shows that he also makes no bones about the fact that his chief mode of political analysis is to name call his opponents. None of his recent work, though, goes nearly as far as the hatred he displayed for conservative Bill Kristol, newly minted New York Times columnist and Editor of the Weekly Standard magazine. It looks like someone forgot to administer Stevie’s distemper shots or something, but it does go to show that the left is pretty comfortable with wild-eyed name calling in place of real political discourse.

Benen calls Kristol a “cast off from Time magazine,” a writer of “shallow, predictable tripe,”an embarrassment,” a speaker with “bitter, sycophantic belligerence,” a “thug,” “clownish,” and says that The New York Times has “damned standards and consequences” to have hired him. That’s quite a litany of name calling all stuffed into one short post nearly half of which consists of pulled quotes from other sources. Benen calls Kristol that many names in only six short paragraphs three of which are merely sentences instead of full paragraphs.

Quite an achievement, really.

The amusing thing is that Benen was an intern in the Clinton White House speech writing office! Looks like young Stevie wasn’t a very attentive intern, eh? Unless, he learned his potty mouth from Hillary who, form all accounts, was a screaming, lunatic while co-president in the 1990s.

Continue reading “Wash. Monthly Blog Shows for Left, Name Calling = Political Analysis”

00Publius Contributor - Business - Democrats/Leftists - Economy/Finances - News - Society/Culture - Uncategorized - Warner Todd Huston

Teamsters Official Charged with Extortion, Embezzlement

December 30, 2007 by 1 Comment

-By Warner Todd Huston

The New York Sun brings us the heartwarming Christmas tale of union corruption, extortion and embezzlement,once again. This time it is Anthony Rumore who is accused of trying to order union members to “contribute” money to his own defense fund to help him fund his legal efforts concerning pervious charges of wrongdoing.

Prosecutors accuse Anthony Rumore, 63, of ordering members of his union to perform personal services and collect contributions for a legal defense fund he established in response to earlier accusations of wrongdoing by a union review board.

There is no free will in a union, ya know? Someone shudda told them union members to just shut up and pay… oh, wait. Rumore DID do that.

According to the indictment, Mr. Rumore ordered union officers, business agents, and staff to work as his personal chauffeur and run personal errands, including picking up his daughters from high school and installing a roof, skylight, and deck at his second home in Lakeview, Pennsylvania.

Employees did not raise objections because they feared being fired, the indictment said.

This isn’t Rumore’s first spot o’ trouble, either.

In 2003, prosecutors say Mr. Rumore ordered his staff to collect $30,000 in contributions from union members for a legal defense fund he created in response to a disciplinary proceeding against him by a court-appointed board that monitors the union. The panel charged Mr. Rumore with embezzlement and improper behavior for his alleged role in similar activities that federal prosecutors described today.

Like the sequel to “Home Alone” said, “Merry Christmas you dirty rat.”
Continue reading “Teamsters Official Charged with Extortion, Embezzlement”

00Publius Contributor - Elections - GOP - Media Bias - News - President - Selwyn Duke - Society/Culture - Uncategorized

The Church of Huck: Growing Government in the Name of Religion

December 30, 2007 by 1 Comment

By Selwyn Duke

There is a candidate in the presidential race who has a serious religion problem. No, it’s not Mormon Mitt or recently-religious Rudy. It is Mike Huckabee.

Just for the record, I share Huck’s faith in Jesus Christ. Not only have I no problem with religion in public life, I also understand that one can’t really separate a person’s world view from his politics. The political is merely a reflection of the spiritual; our politics doesn’t emerge in a vacuum.

So what is my problem with Huck? Do I accuse him of false religiosity?

No, what scares me is that his beliefs are all too real.

To that enormous secular conservative voting block out there, I will say, be not afraid. It’s not that Huck would impose religion through government. No, his actions would truly offend you.

He would impose statism in the name of religion through government.
Continue reading “The Church of Huck: Growing Government in the Name of Religion”

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

The Indians Just Quit US! …Or DID They?

December 29, 2007 by 1 Comment

-By Warner Todd Huston

Sioux Indians “Withdraw From the USA”? Or not!

Here is the kind of story that really proves how little the MSM bothers to research things, how they often simply print glorified press releases without doing any real “journalism,” and how the defective end product gets picked up and regurgitated like it is suddenly a “fact.” In this one we have the story of “the Lakota Sioux Indians” announcing that “they” have withdrawn from agreed upon treaties with the US government and that they are now a sovereign nation, no longer to be called citizens of the USA. Problem is “the Lakota Sioux Indians” that have made this announcement are just an unaffiliated group of Indian activists the leader of whom does not represent the official Lakota tribe leadership! Yet here is the news media reporting this story as if all “the Lakota Sioux Indians” have banded together and quit the union.

Take this report from USA Today: Lakota withdraw from treaties, declare independence from U.S.

The Lakota Sioux Indians, whose ancestors include Sitting Bull, Red Cloud and Crazy Horse, have withdrawn from all treaties their forefathers signed with the U.S. government and have declared their independence. A delegation delivered the news to the State Department earlier this week.

Wow, it sounds momentous, alright. But, who says that “the Lakota Sioux Indians” have abandoned their treaties?

“We are no longer citizens of the United States of America and all those who live in the five-state area that encompasses our country are free to join us,” said Russell Means, a longtime Indian rights activist. “This is according to the laws of the United States, specifically Article 6 of the Constitution,” which states that treaties are the supreme law of the land.

And who is this Russell Means? He is a long time Indian activist and sometimes Hollywood actor who does not officially represent any tribe, that’s who. It takes the local press to make this clear. The Rapid City Journal of Rapid City, South Dakota informs us that, “Means’ group is based in Porcupine on Pine Ridge Indian Reservation,” and that “it is not an agency or branch of the Oglala Sioux Tribe. Means ran unsuccessfully for president of the tribe in 2006.”

Yet in report after report, this Means character is presented as if he is “the Lakota Sioux” when, in truth, all he really is, is A Lakota Sioux — not a representative of all of them. He does not represent American Indians except as a tangential, activist. He has no authority to make this “declaration of Independence” from the U.S.A. for “the” Lakota or any other American Indian tribe for that matter.

Continue reading “The Indians Just Quit US! …Or DID They?”

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

Minn. Star Trib: ‘More People’ Against Religious Christmas? Is 27% ‘More’?

December 29, 2007 by 1 Comment

-By Warner Todd Huston

Here is the sort of ridiculousness that makes people distrust the media. The Minneapolis Star Tribune published a story that breathlessly proclaims that “More people say there should be less of a Christian emphasis placed on the holidays” making it appear that a Christian Christmas is falling into disfavor with the American people. Wow, how dire for Christianity! Yet when you look closer at the story, it turns out that only 27% of those responding to a poll are saying such a thing. It happens that 64% say there should be more focus on the birth of Jesus during Christmas. So, with such an overwhelming percentage in favor of the religious content of Christmas why is the headline focused on the anti-Christian sentiment? As a result of that negative focus, should someone simply read the headline, a false impression that contradicts the facts is quickly fostered.

But even as the headline and first few paragraphs of the story is focused on a negative reaction to the Christian content of Christmas, the actual stats show that the great preponderance of Americans are strongly in favor of the religious nature of the season. Still, the first two paragraphs of the story wallow in the negative.

While a majority of American adults still believe that Jesus should be the focus of the holiday season, a growing segment of the population disagrees.

A recent poll conducted by the Rasmussen Reports found that 27 percent of respondents said that there should be less of a Christian emphasis on the holidays. That’s up 10 percentage points from a year ago when just 17 percent of adults felt that way.

But wait. These supposedly anti-Christian Christmas celebrants are no where near a majority.

Still, 64 percent of respondents said that the holiday season should focus more on the birth of Jesus. That’s down one percentage point from 2006, when 65 percent felt that way, and eight percentage points from two years ago when 72 percent said Jesus should be the reason for the season.

Only the American media can see 64 percent approval as a reason to proclaim that “more people” are against something. Not only that, but those approving is only down 1 point from last year, a statistically meaningless move.

Continue reading “Minn. Star Trib: ‘More People’ Against Religious Christmas? Is 27% ‘More’?”

00Publius Contributor - Business - Democrats/Leftists - Economy/Finances - News - Uncategorized - Unions - Warner Todd Huston

Fed-Ex Gets Christmas Present – No Union Interference

December 29, 2007 by

-By Warner Todd Huston

FedEx corporation was given an early Christmas present by the House early this week. In the omnibus spending bill being sent to the Senate, House Republicans succeeded in stripping language that would force the air delivery service to be open to unionization by the Teamsters, language the Democrat Party was pushing to get included.

We get the story today from the Memphis Commercial Appeal:

FedEx wins labor word war House passes spending bill without jurisdictional change

WASHINGTON — In a victory for FedEx, the 2,206-page omnibus spending bill passed by the House Monday does not contain language to change the jurisdiction of labor agreements that involve FedEx Express.

Efforts to kill the language that put the division under the jurisdiction of the National Labor Relations Act, which was passed in a House bill that reauthorized the Federal Aviation Administration earlier this year, were successful, those familiar with the negotiations said Monday.

This is a blow to the Teamster’s efforts to destroy yet another business…

The International Brotherhood of Teamsters has been trying to organize the company’s drivers at the local level, where labor disputes are resolved by the National Labor Relations Board. A labor dispute at a single local could affect FedEx’s overall operation and jeopardize the company’s reputation for next-day deliveries.

Kudos to the GOP for this win. Let’s hope that the GOP continues to be able to resist any and all union efforts.
Continue reading “Fed-Ex Gets Christmas Present – No Union Interference”

00Publius Contributor - Family - News - Religion - Thomas Brewton - Uncategorized

God Is Closer Than You Know

December 29, 2007 by

-By Thomas E. Brewton

A Christmas reminder: Jesus, Immanuel, means God with us.

For Sunday’s sermon topic at the Black Rock-Long Ridge Congregational Church (North Stamford, Connecticut), Pastor Steve Treash chose “God’s Presence is Closer Than You Think.” Michelangelo symbolized the relationship in his famous Sistene Chapel ceiling painting of God stretching down from heaven to touch Adam and bring life to humanity.

Christmas calls us again to thank God for the miracle of His Advent through the birth of Jesus Christ, bringing Grace and the Holy Spirit to all of humanity who choose to hear and accept the Gospel.

God literally is everywhere in everything, but the world is not God.

God is existence preceding essence. The entirety of the universe – past present, and future – existed beforehand in the Mind of God. He imparted the qualities of the universe to it at the moment of creation.

If you prefer scientific terminology, God IS prior to the Big Bang. At the instant of the universe’s creation, God imposed an intelligent design upon it, from which come the laws of physics, chemistry, and quantum mechanics. The laws of science, in Biblical terms, are the Word of God.
Continue reading “God Is Closer Than You Know”

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

Unconstitutional New Illinois Anti-Gun Law

December 28, 2007 by 2 Comments

-By Warner Todd Huston

Cook County is at it again, trying to make legal gun owners as uncomfortable as possible. The Cook County Board of Commissioners is working on their latest unconstitutional set of gun laws and one particular idea they want to implement shows how disingenuous lawmakers can be.

As Kane County Chronicle columnist Steve Sarley writes:

This new legislation, if passed, would not allow gun dealers within 15 miles of another dealer, even if the other dealer was in a different county. Gun dealers also would be unable to be located within a mile of any public or private school, a mile from any church or place of worship, home for the aged, indigent or veterans, military stations or public parks.

In Illinois there is already a three day waiting period to purchase a handgun so, what logical sense does this one mile proscription make? Is that one mile distance from gun store to school supposed to make it harder for a gun crime to occur? Can we expect that this one mile proscription would make the distance harder to traverse after the three days a gun buyer had to wait before getting the gun? If such a buyer was going to use that gun he had to wait three days for in a crime, what difference does that one mile make if he was willing to wait three days before putting his criminal plan into action in the first place?

And anyone who can’t figure out how to make it the one mile between a gun shop and a school… well, no law will help such a stupid person in any case.

But, look closer at the list of places that a one mile proscription affects. In fact, in a populated urban area, a gun shop would be illegal just about anywhere using such criteria. Parks, Churches, public and private schools… these things are around practically every corner of any US city and the cities in Cook County aren’t any exception.

In effect, if this unconstitutional ordinance is passed, new gun stores will be illegal everywhere. This law may as well have been written to say that no gun store may be opened under the bright blue skies countywide. These lawmakers, while pretending that they are only looking out for the children, are effectively outlawing all gun shops. Under the guise of helping the children they are hiding their real goal.

Every upstanding gun owner in Cook County should vigorously oppose this travesty.

Continue reading “Unconstitutional New Illinois Anti-Gun Law”

00Publius Contributor - Business - Democrats/Leftists - Economy/Finances - News - Uncategorized - Unions - Warner Todd Huston

NY Carpenters Can’t Hammer Way Out of Corruption to Save their Lives

December 28, 2007 by 1 Comment

-By Warner Todd Huston

The Village Voice in New York gives us the all too common tale of another corrupt union local this Christmas season. It is filled with union officials who “roam about” their palatial Summer homes instead of reporting to work, and “a mismanaged mess where [business agents] come and go as they please, following few, if any, rules.” We are, of course, completely used to such stories here. After all, it is our well proven contention that corruption and unions are inseparable. But, the amusing thing with this story is that the unions thuggish officials were dismissed three weeks ago and union members STILL don’t have any real answers to what the heck is going on.

Remember, unions are only there to serve the little guys… as long as the little guys don’t get too uppity and ask all sorts of questions, that is!

“Nobody knows what the hell is going on,” griped a veteran carpenter who called this newspaper in a vain attempt to find something out.

Ouch. So much for the membership being an important part of the union, eh?

The first official out the door was William Hanley, 55, the $140,000-a-year president and business manager of Local 157, who resigned his position shortly before Thanksgiving. Hanley’s sudden retirement came after he was confronted with evidence gathered by William Callahan, the union’s court-appointed independent investigator. The evidence was in the form of cell-phone records that suggested the union leader had spent many weekday afternoons roaming Long Island, where his family happens to have a splendid waterfront home, instead of working the streets of Manhattan’s East Side, where his members are employed.

Similar evidence was presented against Hanley’s second-in-command, financial secretary Fred Kennedy, who made the same quick career choice. Local business representative Daniel DeMorato was suspended from his post and reassigned. But another target, local vice president George DiLacio, told his interrogators to get lost. DiLacio refused to give up his elected post at the local but was summarily fired from his $127,000-a-year job as a union representative.

There is a lot more where that came from… not that the union membership knows any of it.

Go to the Voice and read this whole lamentable story. It’s a laugher, to be sure.

Continue reading “NY Carpenters Can’t Hammer Way Out of Corruption to Save their Lives”

00Publius Contributor - Democrats/Leftists - Elections - News - President - Society/Culture - Uncategorized - Warner Todd Huston

Definitions for 2008 Election: Are YOU Informed?

December 28, 2007 by

-By Warner Todd Huston

We have a few major problems with the debate in the 2008 elections. Far too many people, with the leftists in the Media in the lead, are using words incorrectly and causing the debate on the candidates and issues to go wildly off track, so much so that no one has a clue what they are talking about. We need to get back to using words that we KNOW the definition of and we need to do it before people begin casting their first Primary ballots. That being said, there are two words in particular that are causing us trouble in the 2008 election, words to which we desperately need to understand the definitions.

1. Bigot

Mitt Romney’s folks are the guilty party for misusing this word. People like Hugh Hewitt and the rest of team Romney constantly do their best to squelch debate on “the Mormon question” by claiming that anyone who discusses it is a “bigot.”

My 1968 edition of the Standard College Dictionary defines bigot as such:

Bigot 1. One whose attitude or behavior expresses intolerance, as because of race, religion, politics, etc., 2. A narrow-minded, intolerant adherent of a particular religion.

Now, to question if a Mormon is a real Christian or not is not a bigoted question. It is a discussion of the relative aspects of Mormonism that do or do not adhere to general Christian doctrine, one based on theological facts. Look again at the definition. It is centered around intolerance and hatred, not theological discussion.

Few pundits — in fact not one that I know of — have said theyhate Mormons. No one in the mainstream is saying they shouldn’t vote for Mitt Romney because he is somehow evil for being a Mormon. In fact, I cannot even tell that “the Mormon question” was raised decades ago when his father tried to run for president so it really isn’t the issue here. Certainly, very many theological commentators have made the credible case that Mormons have enough doctrinal differences from Christianity to make them not members of a Christian faith. (For some of my own reasons that Mormons aren’t Christians, go to this one I wrote in early in 2006)
Continue reading “Definitions for 2008 Election: Are YOU Informed?”

00Publius Contributor - Democrats/Leftists - Elections - GOP - Media Bias - News - Religion - Society/Culture - Thomas Brewton - Uncategorized

The Social Gospel Has Found its Savior

December 28, 2007 by

-By Thomas E. Brewton

The Baby Boomers, who performed a frontal lobotomy on their spiritual life, find the meaning of life in secular environmentalism.

Read Lawrence Auster’s Deification of Gore in View From the Right.

Regrettably, well meaning Christian ministers like Rick Warren are supporting Mr. Gore’s junk scientism and the power of man over the earth, rather than sticking to faith in the one True God as Creator and Regulator of the cosmos.

In so doing they are verging perilously close to the social gospel, a phenomenon of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The social gospel reflected the rising popularity of the secular political state and its presumed capacity, when properly structured on the socialistic model, to produce earthly salvation without need for God and the Holy Spirit.
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