Uncategorized

00Publius Contributor - Elections - GOP - News - President - Security/Safety - Society/Culture - Uncategorized - Warner Todd Huston

Thompson Proposes Plan to Save Social Security and Protect Seniors

November 11, 2007 by

Fred08.com

Thompson, the First candidate to speak the truth and offer real solutions about Social Security

McLean, VA — Senator Fred Thompson today held an honest and straightforward discussion about his proposal to save Social Security for today’s generation of workers and protect America’s seniors by fully preserving their benefits. Sen. Thompson is the only presidential candidate to offer a comprehensive proposal on one of the nation’s most critical domestic issues.

“There’s no reason to run for President of the United States if you can’t tell the American people the truth about complex issues like Social Security,” Thompson said. “As we speak, Congress is raiding the Social Security Trust Fund. If we don’t act soon, the politicians in Washington will either repay those ‘IOUs’ through tax hikes or benefit cuts.

“My plan keeps our promise to America’s seniors by fully protecting their benefits and leaving them unchanged. Younger workers will be given the option of growing their personal wealth for the future and participating in a successful investment program similar to the one enjoyed by Members of Congress,” Thompson added.

Fact: The first Baby Boomer applied for Social Security benefits in October. She is the first of 80 million Boomers to seek the entitlement. The ratio of workers per recipient will fall from 3.3 to 2.1 over the next 24 years, when all Baby Boomers are past of the age of 65. Currently, Americans aged 65 and older account for approximately 12% of the population, but in 2030 they are expected to comprise 20% of the total population.

Goals for Saving Social Security and Protecting America’s Seniors:
Continue reading “Thompson Proposes Plan to Save Social Security and Protect Seniors”

00Publius Contributor - Uncategorized - Warner Todd Huston

The Blog Readbility Test

November 11, 2007 by

Texas Fred sent me this one. It’s a test about what level of education a reader needs to read your blog called Blog Redability Test.

Here was the Publius’ Forum score:

cash advance

So, is this good or bad? Am I talking over people’s heads?? Or is this test a load of… well, not genius oriented matter?

Anyway, have fun putting your in there. I put several and was surprised at how low the rating was for some well-known blogs out there.

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

2 Convicted for Ohio Vote Fraud, Media Forgets They’re Democrats

November 10, 2007 by

-By Warner Todd Huston

We have seen over and over again how the MSM (and the AP in particular) can’t seem to force themselves to mention the party affiliation of some elected official accused and/or convicted of a crime if that official happens to be a Democrat. Now the MSM has expanded that from elected officials even to party workers. The AP reports a story on two Democrat election officials convicted of recount rigging and neglect of official duties for their actions during the 2004 elections but, for some hard to determine reason, few if any news sources are mentioning that these two are Democrats.

Jacqueline Maiden and Kathleen Dreame have pleaded guilty to the charges after an aborted conviction from last January, the original trial having been granted a retrial on grounds not connected with the pair’s actions.

Their crime is a bit hard to explain, but what it comes down to is that they committed fraud with the 2004 ballot recount procedures that amounted to their attempt to get out of following the proper procedure to conduct the recount.

Most of the news reports take great pains to say that the convicted operatives’ actions “weren’t for political purposes,” but even if that were true does that make legitimate not mentioning that they are Democrat Party election officials in Cuyahoga County, one of Ohio’s most Democratic counties?

Again, we have to ask, what would these news sources do if these two guilty officials were Republican election workers? Who can doubt that the party affiliation would have led the reportage of this crime?
Continue reading “2 Convicted for Ohio Vote Fraud, Media Forgets They’re Democrats”

00Publius Contributor - Democrats/Leftists - Family - Frederick Meekins - News - Religion - Society/Culture - Uncategorized

The Law & Gospel Dynamic

November 10, 2007 by

-By Frederick Meekins

In classical Lutheran theology and homiletics, a two part approach is often taken referred to as Law and Gospel. For it is through this dynamic duo that the individual is made to realize that he is a sinner in need of salvation and what the solution is for this vexing dilemma.

In old detective movies and police shows, when a suspect was interrogated often a tactic was used referred to as “good cop/bad cop”. In this approach, the suspect is at first confronted by a seemingly harsh officer whose task is to bluntly tell the suspect what the suspect is alleged to have done, that the evidence as to such is overwhelming, and that the best thing the suspect can do for their own sake is to confess to what they have done. Once the suspect has been worked over psychologically, the good officer arrives on the scene to offer the best deal possible in terms of the suspect’s interests in exchange for cooperation.

Though the analogy is not perfect, one can roughly think of the Law as the bad cop and Gospel as the good cop.
Continue reading “The Law & Gospel Dynamic”

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

Obama Campaign Placed Anti-Hillary Stories in Press – Where is MSM Outrage at Being Used?

November 9, 2007 by

-By Warner Todd Huston

On Thursday, Chicago Sun-Times columnist Lynn Sweet picked up on a story related by the Atlantic Monthly’s Marc Ambinder that claims that a few months ago the Barack Obama campaign sought to place the Norman Hsu scandal in the press in an effort to create anti-Hillary buzz in the MSM. Such a political “dirty trick” would seem to be a juice story for members of the MSM, wouldn’t it? So, why is Lynn Sweet the only one focusing on this one, anyway? With the sneaky actions of the Obama campaign, one would think that the MSM would be in an uproar for having been used so badly by a political candidate. And, were this a GOP “dirty trick,” it would be sure that news creators the nation over would be wagging their fingers and clucking their tongues at this violation of their purported integrity and independence for being used so by a mere political campaign. But, so far the condemnation of the Obama campaign is nearly nonexistent with this barely even causing a raised eyebrow. Don’t you wonder why that is?

Sweet’s story is written with little sign of surprise or any indignation that the press is being used as a mouth piece for a political campaign.

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Barack Obama’s presidential campaign “scored a significant hit” against chief rival Hillary Rodham Clinton “by helping to place” a story about tainted Democratic donor Norman Hsu, according to an article about Obama in the December issue of The Atlantic.

Sweet also reports that Ambinder is claiming that an Obama aide came up to him and, in an effort to stir the pot, asked why the press isn’t discussing Bill Clinton’s sexual misadventures more often during the campaign coverage.

“…And at a campaign event in Iowa, one of Obama’s aides plopped down next to me and spoke even more bluntly. He wanted to know when reporters would begin to look into Bill Clinton’s postpresidential sex life,” Ambinder writes.

Naturally, the Obama campaign is dismissing Ambinder’s claims as untrue.
Continue reading “Obama Campaign Placed Anti-Hillary Stories in Press – Where is MSM Outrage at Being Used?”

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

Macon, Georgia: Race Baiters Flourish at City Hall

November 9, 2007 by 1 Comment

-By Warner Todd Huston

Macon’s The Telegraph gave us some clear proof that substance and seriousness is not the standard operating procedure for the denizens of the city government there. In the story titled “Insensitive e-mail raises race concerns at City Hall” we find an innocent, straight forward emailed suggestion to save the city some cash turned into an excuse to beat the tired race drum by city officials whoa re more interested in displays of their faux outrage than in doing city business.

At issue is an innocent email sent by a citizen of Macon to a member of the city council that recommended that prisoners be hired to spruce up the Macon City Auditorium in preparation for the Oprah TV show that is scheduled to be filmed there on November 17th.

Naturally, the Mayor of Macon, Jack Ellis, was kind enough to tell Oprah that he’d spend any amount of the tax payer’s money to be sure his auditorium was ready for the Oprah filming. I wasn’t aware that a city was required to pay for their Mayor’s bout of starstuck, hero worship but apparently our good Mayor disagrees. Anything for his Oprah… no matter HOW much it’ll cost YOU!

But, we will have to save the discussion of the waste of taxpayer’s cash for another time because the Macon city Council has bigger catfish to fry…
Continue reading “Macon, Georgia: Race Baiters Flourish at City Hall”

00Publius Contributor - Business - Congress - Democrats/Leftists - Economy/Finances - Google - Inernet - Media Bias - News - Scott Cleland - Technology - Uncategorized

A Bogus Attack on Cable Giant, Comcast

November 9, 2007 by

-By Scott Cleland

Bogus petition against Comcast’s reasonable network management is a back door ploy to reinstate common carriage for broadband

The Moveon.org/FreePress petition to the FCC to declare Comcast’s reasonable network management illegal is a deceptive back-door scheme to reverse FCC deregulation of broadband as an information service and to (de facto) reinstate common carriage for broadband.

The petition will be found to be a bogus and manufactured scheme to deceive the FCC and the public that necessary, responsible, and “reasonable network management” — that serves consumers and the Internet public by delivering quality of service and protecting consumers from the harm of viruses, spam etc. — should be declared illegal “degrading” of an Internet application.

Upon full FCC airing of this issue, it will be clear that the offending P2P application traffic is the culprit that is in fact harming the overwhelming majority of Internet consumers by “degrading and impairing” the responsiveness and utility of the Internet for the many because of the irresponsible bandwidth hogging of the few.

First, if managing out-of-control p2p traffic that is degrading and impairing the responsiveness and utility of the Internet for the many by the few is not “reasonable network management,” then no network management is reasonable.

The petitioners have made a grave error in choosing to put all their “eggs in one basket,” defending spiraling p2p traffic, because there is probably no more widespread “rotten” Internet application than most p2p traffic.
Continue reading “A Bogus Attack on Cable Giant, Comcast”

00Publius Contributor - Democrats/Leftists - Islam - Islamofascism - Media Bias - Nancy Morgan - News - Security/Safety - Uncategorized

Media Ignore Success In Iraq

November 9, 2007 by

-By Nancy Morgan

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, the highest-ranking elected woman in the U.S., was on a Fox morning show Thursday. With the utmost sincerity and barely concealed outrage, she described the situation in Iraq as, “A war without end that is a total failure.”

Meanwhile, in Ramadi, once considered the heart of the resistance to the U.S.-led coalition, Iraqis were holding a victory parade, celebrating the defeat of the terrorists (LiveLeak.com – Iraqi Unity Parade). Pelosi’s outright falsehood was broadcast widely. The parade in Ramadi was not.

On Saturday, it was announced that more than 3,000 Iraqi families driven out of their Baghdad neighborhoods have returned to their homes in the last three months. Again, this news was met with a deafening silence by the mainstream media. They were busy reporting on the Democrat-led effort to deny confirmation to President Bush’s nominee for attorney general.

Continue reading “Media Ignore Success In Iraq”

00Publius Contributor - Crime - Democrats/Leftists - Family - News - Science - Society/Culture - Uncategorized - Warner Todd Huston

For Sake of Science They Abused These Girls

November 8, 2007 by

-By Warner Todd Huston

“Science without religion is lame; religion without science is blind.” –Albert Einstein

Secularists today love to frame the religion vs. science debate as one of “superstitions” against fact as if theistic truth, morality and the spiritual aspect of humanity is meaningless fluff not to intersect with the hard fact and incontestability of science. But, as I quoted Einstein, the patron saint of scienceists, there is a part of science that dangerously crosses over into religion’s realm of morality even as secularists try to deny that fact. And here is a story that does, indeed, show scientists crossing over into the realm of evil to satisfy scientific curiosity. It is an evil not as bad as that of a Doctor Mengele to be sure, but one that rises to a level of evil that few would expect in today’s modern age.

Imagine taking twin baby girls and purposefully splitting them up merely as an experiment to observe their lives as they grew up keeping them from knowing of the existence of each other? Would you find justified this dispassionate decision, this coldly scientific decision, to take away a lifetime of sisterhood just to satisfy a scientific curiosity? Apparently Doctor Peter Neubauer, an internationally renowned child psychiatrist, found no struggle with his conscience over such a scientific experiment because that is exactly what he did to identical twins, Paula Bernstein and Elyse Schein, when they were infants. In 1968 Doctor Neubauer used the twin girls for a bizarre and immoral social experiment splitting them away from each other in order to observe how they would progress. They grew up neither knowing that they had an identical twin sister out there.

Nature versus nurture has been a nagging question for scientists for generations. Are we the result of our genes or of our environment goes the raging debate. Apparently, Doctor Neubauer decided to use the lives of these two girls to satisfy his curiosity over the ages old question. And evidently he knew what he was doing would be considered wrong because he ordered that the results of his study be locked in a Yale archive, not to be opened until 2066, long after all concerned should be deceased.

He didn’t have the spine to own up to the consequences of his actions, obviously.
Continue reading “For Sake of Science They Abused These Girls”

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

Want a New Gas Tax? Call it a ‘Fee’ to Fool Voters

November 8, 2007 by

-By Warner Todd Huston

The Contra Costa Times has given us an interesting new angle to fool the voters into voting for a new gasoline tax in an article titled, “Calling gas tax a ‘fee’ may help at ballot.” In an opinion laced article, the CCTimes is advising politicians to call the tax hike a “fee” instead of a tax to fool the voters into accepting it at the ballot box. Throughout this piece is the obvious assumption by staff writer Erik N. Nelson that the county governments in and around San Francisco are “cash-starved” and that these taxes… oops, I mean fees… are needed because it is important that the governments “look for new funding” for roads and to “curb global warming.” Not a hint that these governments have wasted the money they are already confiscating from the citizens, nor any investigation why some of the highest taxes in the country have not been able to satisfy the needs there. No, instead of an investigation into government mismanagement and waste, the CCTimes and writer Nelson are trying to find sneakier ways to steal the taxpayer’s income by “semantics” and wordplay.

The CCTimes first bemoans that the idea died last time a new gas tax was floated.

In a proposal that fell on deaf ears in Sacramento last year, the Metropolitan Transportation Commission’s staff is recommending legislation that would make a gas tax a “fee,” and thus make it easier to prevail at the ballot box.

Gosh, imagine that? The people don’t want more taxes in one of the highest taxed areas in the country, even if the name of the thing is changed! Can you be any more surprised?

But, the CCTimes reports there is a great new idea to come to the rescue: not only call it a “fee” instead of a tax, but claim it is also to help “fight global warming.”
Continue reading “Want a New Gas Tax? Call it a ‘Fee’ to Fool Voters”

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

Figures Don’t Lie, But Liars Can Figure

November 8, 2007 by

-By Thomas E. Brewton

Is Paul Krugman at it again?

Whose statistics are the right ones?

New York Times columnist Paul Krugman is not in doubt. In his November 2 column he writes:

“My chance of surviving prostate cancer — and thank God I was cured of it — in the United States? Eighty-two percent,” says Rudy Giuliani in a new radio ad attacking Democratic plans for universal health care. “My chances of surviving prostate cancer in England? Only 44 percent, under socialized medicine.”…

Let’s start with the facts: Mr. Giuliani’s claim is wrong on multiple levels — bogus numbers wrapped in an invalid comparison embedded in a smear.
Mr. Giuliani got his numbers from a recent article in City Journal, a publication of the conservative Manhattan Institute. The author gave no source for his numbers on five-year survival rates — the probability that someone diagnosed with prostate cancer would still be alive five years after the diagnosis. And they’re just wrong.

You see, the actual survival rate in Britain is 74.4 percent. That still looks a bit lower than the U.S. rate, but the difference turns out to be mainly a statistical illusion. The details are technical, but the bottom line is that a man’s chance of dying from prostate cancer is about the same in Britain as it is in America.

So Mr. Giuliani’s supposed killer statistic about the defects of “socialized medicine” is entirely false. In fact, there’s very little evidence that Americans get better health care than the British, which is amazing given the fact that Britain spends only 41 percent as much on health care per person as we do.

In contrast, a MedScape Medical News report, dated August 22, 2007, is headlined “Cancer Survival Rates Improving Across Europe, But Still Lagging Behind United States.”
Continue reading “Figures Don’t Lie, But Liars Can Figure”

00Publius Contributor - Elections - GOP - News - President - Security/Safety - Society/Culture - Uncategorized - Warner Todd Huston

Evangelicals Split on POTUS Nominee

November 7, 2007 by

This is awfully interesting. The Evangelical leadership is split on who to support for the GOP nomination for president. Just last week, Paul Weyrich came out in support of Mitt Romney (despite that Romney is no Christian) and today Pat Robertson has come to the banner of Rudy Giuliani.

Neither candidate supports a whole heck of a lot that Evangelicals really support, so these two endorsements are amazing. But, it also shows that these leaders in the Christian community don’t have an “obvious” candidate that they can all rally behind as far as they are concerned.

This campaign is quite interesting, I have to say. This nomination is all over the map and up in the air still. And it really shows that it is still anyone’s guess on the GOP side.

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

Time Mag Finds ‘Lifelong Republican’ For Obama in Omaha

November 7, 2007 by

-By Warner Todd Huston

Here we go again with another ridiculous MSM report of a so-called “lifelong Republican” who is slobbering all over himself for a Democrat presidential candidate, this time Barack Obama. And, also, here we go again as an MSM story tries to puff up a small handful of purportedly turncoat Republicans into gargantuan proportions — the veritable mole-hill into a mountain story. This week’s Republicans-gone-Dem story (for the MSM seems to have these weekly anymore) we are treated to Time Magazine’s breathless report of ship-jumpers in Nebraska.

Dave Filipi, a 48-year-old family doctor, made his way to the back room of McKenna’s Blues Bar near the University of Nebraska’s Omaha campus. Nervously smoothing his suit, he lingered in the doorway. “To be honest, I’m a Republican,” Filipi sheepishly said as two dozen curious faces swinging around toward him.

“Trust me, you’re not the only one here,” Solomon Kleinsmith, the head of the group “Nebraskans for Obama” and himself a lifelong Republican, replied with a chuckle. “Come, sit down.”

A campaign donor search of Mr. Filipi shows no financial activity thus far reported. That doesn’t make the lie to his claim of being a Republican, but it does say he wasn’t so active as to have donated his money. For a Doctor, that says a lot. There is also no donor activity for Mr. Kleinsmith, but his Barack Obama group page shows a photo of quite a young man, he can’t be even into his thirties, so it’s a bit hard to take the “lifelong” claim too seriously. At his age how much time could he really have vested in that “lifelong” Republican claim, anyway? The average person rarely pays much attention to politics before their thirties, for instance.

But, so far, Time has given us two people to justify their headline of “Obama’s Red State Appeal.” What else do they have?

Political organizing for Democrats in red states like Nebraska can often feel a bit like leading AA meetings. But that hasn’t deterred more than 300 Nebraskans from forming a dozen groups for Senator Barack Obama’s presidential campaign, and they aren’t the only ones.

OK now we are given the number of 300 Republicans who have “crossed party lines” to support Obama.

Let’s see what the numbers show us, shall we? The number of total registered voters in Nebraska is 1,140,741, out of a population of 1,768,331 (must not be too many kids in Nebraska!). Of that total we have 578,916 Republicans, 371,037 Democrats and 184,119 classified as nonpartisan.

So what percentage is 300 of the 578,916 Republicans? Seems to me we have a number that puts these ship-jumpers at way under 1%. In fact it is around .0519% That ain’t a lot in my book, despite that Time is wont to say…

Continue reading “Time Mag Finds ‘Lifelong Republican’ For Obama in Omaha”

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

Understanding the Wahhabist Infiltration of America

November 7, 2007 by

-By Frank Salvato

Part of the reason many Americans don’t appreciate the significance of Osama bin Laden’s declarations of war against the United States and the West is because they are completely oblivious to the in-roads radical Islam has made within the United States. Radical Islamists (i.e., Islamofascists, Wahhabis) understand that the conflict must take place on multiple fronts: militarily, economically, diplomatically and ideologically. Because they understand the complexity of the confrontation and the ability of the West to adapt to challenges – albeit lethargically – they employ multiple tactics in their aggressive pursuit of victory. The West’s addiction to sensationalism, epitomized by our limited attention to detail, unless it plays in the superficial 24-hour news cycle, facilitates the successful infiltration of radical ideology into Western society.

Much to the chagrin of the multicultural and the proponents of diversity, those who promote radical Islamist ideology thrive on the fact that the politically correct culture of the West – and the United States in particular – deems it inappropriate to question religious practices or teachings. With this politically correct “wall of separation” in place little if any scrutiny is given to the information disseminated within any given religious institution. This directly facilitates the ideological advancement of Wahhabism, the most radical and puritanical form of Islam, within the mosques of the United States.

To accurately understand the depth of infiltration of the Wahhabist ideology on American soil we need to examine the ideology and how it is advanced within the United States.

Wahhabism is a fiercely fundamentalist form of orthodox Sunni Islam. After a brief examination of its tenets it is clear that it is one of division, domination and hate.
Continue reading “Understanding the Wahhabist Infiltration of America”

00Publius Contributor - Business - Economy/Finances - News - Society/Culture - Thomas Brewton - Uncategorized

From Personal to Colossal

November 7, 2007 by

-By Thomas E. Brewton

Corporate globalism was preceded by the passing of relationship banking.

As recently as 1958, when I went to work in Wall Street, bankers took very seriously the idea of relationship banking. That is, bankers felt a moral responsibility both to evaluate the creditworthiness of potential borrowers, and to stick by those borrowers in their times of financial need.

Since then, investment banking and commercial banking have become vastly more abstract and impersonal, as the deals have become more colossal. Numbers, not personal character, seem to be the primary, if not the sole, criterion.

We are bombarded with TV ads assuring us that, no matter how bad our credit record, loans are available. Loans produced by such policies are part of the structured investment vehicles (SIVs) plaguing commercial and investment banks.

Banks are now so large that apparently senior officials no longer can monitor the quality of the assets they put on their books. The two most prominent examples are the CEOs of Merrill Lynch and Citicorp, who have lost their jobs for that reason.
Continue reading “From Personal to Colossal”

Podcasting - Uncategorized

Launch of Voices of Liberty Podcast Network

November 7, 2007 by 1 Comment

Launch of Voices of Liberty Podcast Network

Announcing our Inaugural Podcast

Here it is . . . the inaugural Voice of Liberty Podcast – Episode #1. The world is changing – the Internet has increasing sway over political opinions, and it’s time for the conservative side of the world to leverage it in order to influence people. The right-wing blogosphere is sailing along at full steam and has largely counterbalanced any advantage that the left presumed would accrue to them by blogging. The one area that remains wide open for the right to step in and dominate is the audio-only podcast, which is very similar to another medium that we own – talk radio. The difference is that anyone and everyone can do it, just like blogging. As a matter of fact – we like to think of audio podcasting as “verbal blogging” if you will. We are going to “promote conservative American values and principles” just like it says in our masthead. We invite you to join us each week for 20-30 minutes of punditry and opinion from the right. We also invite you to comment on what you hear – feel free to post a comment below. And if you yourself are a blogger, we’d love to be included in your blogroll. As a matter of fact, you may note that we have inaugurated the notion of a “podroll,” and if you’re so inclined, we’d like to be number one on the new podroll that you establish at your blog or podcast.

In our first episode, John McJunkin talks about how this podcast came about. Andrea Shea-King pays tribute to a true American hero – General Paul Tibbets. Warner Todd Huston calls for the termination of all government employees . . . really. And the Blue Collar Muse, Ken Marrero, shares with us the touching love letter he wrote when his son recently reported for duty with the US Army.

Thanks for joining us – take 31 minutes and enjoy our first episode – just click the triangular “play” button below. Then come back and join us next Monday for the next episode. Tell 10 friends, and make sure they tell 10 friends. In less than one year, we will go to the polls to elect the next president of the United States of America. We’ve all seen the candidates presented by the left – and it’s a frightening picture. There is too much at stake to leave this to chance. Help us do all we can to ensure a GOP victory next November – get the word out. Thanks again, and enjoy the podcast!

John McJunkin
Avalon Podcasting

00Publius Contributor - Crime - Democrats/Leftists - Immigration/Immigrants - Media Bias - News - Security/Safety - Uncategorized - Warner Todd Huston

Tulsa, OK TV 8: Immigrants ‘Afraid’ in The USA

November 6, 2007 by

-By Warner Todd Huston

Apparently, TV 8 (KTUL) in Tulsa, Oklahoma, wants us to know that illegal immigrants are all cowering in fear or streaming out of the USA today because of the crackdown on illegal immigration in the Sooner state. The Tulsa TV folks are trying to make it seem as if there is a climate of fear for illegals even as our government is bending over backwards to comfort illegal immigrants not to mention the fact that many thousands of illegals brazenly paraded, without being molested by bystanders or authorities, in the streets of several large US cities in protest for their “rights” not long ago. So how much “fear” could there be in the illegal underground in the USA? And why is KTUL trying to fan those flames?

The fearmongering and sensationalism by the TV report, “Hispanic Families Begin Packing Up & Moving Out”, is palpable and, it seems to me that their opening claim is a bit suspect.

Thousands of Tulsa families are now packing up and moving out in light of Oklahoma’s new immigration law. Police and deputies can ask about citizenship when a person is arrested and if someone can’t prove it, that person can be deported. We spoke with one family that says it’s leaving Tulsa next week.

KTUL assures us that “Thousands of families are leaving because they don’t want to get deported.” But, thousands? I’d like to see some proof of that… not that the TV station helps us out with anything like “proof” of their clams. KTUL just states them like the Gospel truth without trying to prove anything. Additionally, TV 8 also doesn’t seem to mention where these “thousands” are moving to.

The story is written so that the conclusion might be reached by the viewer that these illegals are moving back to Mexico, but — once again — TV 8 does not give us anything like enough facts to say so. TV 8 tries to foster the feeling that all these illegals are moving back to Mexico, without really saying it directly in their report.

“My husband was thinking about going back to Mexico, but this is my country. I have been here forever, you know.”

Thinking about it is not doing it. But KTUL clearly wants to lead people to imagine that this is where they are going, that we mean ‘ol Americans are forcing these innocent illegals to leave the country in fear.
Continue reading “Tulsa, OK TV 8: Immigrants ‘Afraid’ in The USA”

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

NYTimes: Extremist NARAL Leader Labeled a ‘Women’s Leader’

November 6, 2007 by

-By Warner Todd Huston

The folks at The New York Times are experts at obfuscation, aren’t they? Here is a perfect example of the soft selling we get from the leftist editorial board of the Times, a great demonstration of their underhanded practice of creating labels out of thin air that sound sooooo much nicer than would a label that truthfully describes one of their fellow travelers. This time we have an abortion activist given a more benign title in order to make her seem more representative of women instead of an extreme abortion activist that might represent only a small percentage of people. Obviously the Times wants this person’s opinion to be more acceptable than it might if her true background were more obvious.

In “Different Rules When a Rival Is a Woman?” we find a John Edwards operative quoted in a story about how mean the Democrat candidates were to Hillary at the last Democrat Presidential debate. The woman quoted is one Kate Michelman.

“It’s outrageous to suggest that it’s sexist for the other candidates to ask her tough questions or criticize her,” said Kate Michelman, a women’s leader and a supporter of Mr. Edwards. “To call it sexist is to play the gender card. Any claim of sexism is just a distraction from the fact that she did not do well in the debate, that she did not answer important questions on Iraq and Iran.”

First let’s say how interesting it is to have this “women’s leader” bashing Hillary. But, let us also consider this label, “women’s leader,” a little closer.

What, exactly, is a “women’s leader,” anyway?
Continue reading “NYTimes: Extremist NARAL Leader Labeled a ‘Women’s Leader’”

00Publius Contributor - Congress - Democrats/Leftists - Elections - Marie Jon - News - Society/Culture - Uncategorized

Are Democrats Prepared To Lead Our Nation?

November 6, 2007 by

-By Marie Jon’

Many Americans were not interested in the Democrat’s latest debate, and so refrained from watching it. We have become fed up with the negative bombastic rhetoric we’ve endured for the past six and a half years of the Bush presidency. We are all too aware of the lame contrived talking points.

Whenever the Democrat candidates speak, they hurt our country. We can no longer respect their views. Unfortunately, the Democrats leadership and too many of their constituents are extremists.

Middle America wants nothing to do with the far left ideology. Visit the websites where Democrats gather. You will find rude people who despise everything and everyone but themselves. They are socially inadequate, deeply afflicted and loathsome. They have deliberately chosen to embrace the angst they feel against their fellow countrymen and country.
Continue reading “Are Democrats Prepared To Lead Our Nation?”

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

Oprah finds answers aren’t so simple

November 6, 2007 by

-By Michael M. Bates

Oprah Winfrey’s heart was in the right place. She used a significant portion of her abundant wealth to start the Oprah Winfrey Leadership Academy for Girls in South Africa earlier this year.

The $40 million facility would give about 150 students from disadvantaged families a quality education and, ultimately, a better life. Unpretentious as always, Ms. Winfrey expressed the hope her academy will help change the face of a nation.

Oprah is as big an alarmist on the topic of AIDS as Al Gore is on global warming. So she identified another reason for establishing the school: “Girls who are educated are less likely to get HIV/AIDS, and in this country which has such a pandemic, we have to begin to change the pandemic.”

Whether or not her assumptions on changing South Africa and reducing HIV/AIDS are true, Ms. Winfrey was trying to help. When targeted for criticism by those who thought she should have set up the academy in her own country, her response was starkly direct. “If you ask the kids (in our inner-city schools) what they want or need, they will say an iPod or some sneakers,” she told Newsweek. “In South Africa, they . . . ask for (school) uniforms.”
Continue reading “Oprah finds answers aren’t so simple”

00Publius Contributor - Elections - GOP - News - Uncategorized - Warner Todd Huston

Thompson’s Ooops Moment: the Philip Martin Case

November 5, 2007 by 1 Comment

-By Warner Todd Huston

First of all, I am a Thompson supporter and obviously so is this blog. But, there must be a comment made on this Martin story. I am sure by now everyone has seen the Washington ComPost story about the campaign fundraiser in Fred Thompson’s inner circle, a man that has a criminal past. I’ve waited a day or so to get all the facts and reactions.

I do have to dispute one thing with the Post’s coverage, first off. It seems (and I am no campaign insider mind you) that this guy is less an “adviser,” as the Post’s headline proclaims, and more of a high level fund raiser. Philip Martin has also legally lent his private jet to the Thompson campaign. Again, I stress, LEGALLY. But it seems he has been more of a fund raising source and long time associate for Thompson than a true adviser.

In fact, the thing that I take away from the Post’s report is that Martin has kept his nose clean for the last 20 years, which comprises the entire time that Thompson has known the man. This could easily mean that Martin successfully hid his past from all his current associates.

For their part, the Thompson campaign told the MSM that they cannot be expected to check every single member of the campaign for up to 20 years into their past. And, of course they can’t. As we have seen with the Clinton campaign, she doesn’t check the CURRENT criminal record of her donors!

But, let’s contrast this story with that of Hillary Clinton’s criminal associates many of whom are CURRENT criminals! Seems like Thompson’s errant pal is far from the same crop of criminals that the Clinton campaign employs.

… and lest we mention that her husband has a criminal past?
Continue reading “Thompson’s Ooops Moment: the Philip Martin Case”

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

Is Pedophilia a Mental Disorder?

November 5, 2007 by 1 Comment

-By Warner Todd Huston

The website ScienceDaily.com posted a short story claiming that researchers may have discovered that there is a correlation between a man’s height — or rather his lack thereof — and a predisposition toward pedophilia. Now, the science of this is not the issue that immediately popped into my mind when I read this. No, what struck me as interesting was the social aspect of this study when contrasted with the newfound favorability that homosexuality has seen since the 1970s. After reading this report on pedophilia, I found myself wondering how long it would be before pedophiles would protest this characterization of their predilection as as a mental disorder? I wondered how long it would be before their condition was deemed a “natural” one by someone and I wondered how long before they would advocate for the determination that they had some sort of mental defect to be reversed mirroring the same success homosexuality had in getting that mental disorder sanctioned as “normal” by the mental health profession?

The Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH), a series of teaching and research facilities in Toronto, Canada, has apparently found that pedophilic males are shorter than average, non-pedolhilic males. Their study was recently published in Sexual Abuse: A Journal of Research and Treatment and suggested that pedophiles may have been “exposed to pre-birth conditions that affected their physical development.” The study observed this difference by analyzing the files of over 1,000 men in Toronto who were assessed for pedophilia or other sexual disorders between 1995 and 2006.

“A difference in average height is a trait found in other illnesses with biological links. The average difference in height was two centimeters, which is similar to the shorter height associated with schizophrenia or Alzheimer’s disease,” says the report on ScienceDaily.com. The report also suggests that pedophilia might, then, be caused by biological factors and if that’s true, “the discovery of biological markers for pedophilia has important implications for future study and possibly treatment.”

That’s not all. The study also found that pedophiles seem to have lower IQs, are three times more likely to be left-handed, have repeatedly failed grades in school, and strangely, had more head injuries as children.

Naturally, they claim that more study is required to solidify these findings.

But, here is the question that struck me: if pedophilia is found to have “biological” causes and might be treatable should these “markers” be discovered, what does that say about homosexuality? Why should homosexuality be considered “normal” and not open for treatment while pedophilia should be considered a treatable mental disorder? What is the difference between the two conditions? After all, they are both considered aberrant behavior by most people even today, and they both certainly have been considered “sick” behavior throughout history.
Continue reading “Is Pedophilia a Mental Disorder?”

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

Even Harvard Says MSM Biased for Democrats

November 5, 2007 by

-By Warner Todd Huston

Harvard: Positive Newspaper Stories on Dems- 58.8%, Positive for Repubs- 26.4%

If even Harvard University says that the Media overwhelmingly favors Democrats in their coverage, you’ve got to finally accept that it is true. The MSM loves Democrats and hates Republicans. It’s just that simple. Investor’s Business Daily gives us the low down on the gushingly positive coverage that the MSM bestows upon their favored political party by reporting the results of the Project for Excellence in Journalism and the Joan Shorenstein Center on the Press, Politics and Public Policy from Harvard (“hardly a bastion of conservative orthodoxy” as IBD quips). The survey found that the “media are sympathetic to Democrats and hostile to Republicans.”

Here on Publius’ Forum we say, “DUH!”

Democrats are not only favored in the tone of the coverage. They get more coverage period. This is particularly evident on morning news shows, which “produced almost twice as many stories (51% to 27%) focused on Democratic candidates than on Republicans.”

The most flagrant bias, however, was found in newspapers. In reviewing front-page coverage in 11 newspapers, the study found the tone positive in nearly six times as many stories about Democrats as it was negative.

It’s always nice to get one of your main premises proven correct and this survey does just that. Here is how the stats broke down:

Newspapers
Democrats — 58.8% Positive, 30% Neutral, 11.3% Negative
Republicans — 26.4% Positive, 34% Neutral, 39.6% Negative

Network Evening News
Democrats — 39.5% Positive, 43.4% Neutral, 17.1% Negative
Republicans — 18.6% Positive, 44.2% Neutral, 37.2% Negative

Cable News
Democrats — 33.9% Positive, 40.6% Neutral, 25.5% Negative
Republicans — 28.7% Positive, 40.9% Neutral, 30.4% Negative

NPR’s “Morning Edition”
Democrats — 41.2% Positive, 52.9% Neutral, 5.9% Negative
Republicans — 30% Positive, 50% Neutral, 20% Negative

PBS News
Democrats — 8.3% Positive, 66.7% Neutral, 25% Negative
Republicans — 0% Positive, 77.8% Neutral, 22.2% Negative

The newspapers stats very much confirm my own thoughts on that industry and TV is no surprise, either. But, I’d also like to point your attention to the PBS stats where you can see that the survey didn’t find a single positive story about a Republican on PBS. Zero. Nada. The big goose egg.

Folks, this is our state sponsored broadcast agency paid for by YOUR taxes. Yet, they couldn’t find one single Republican to do a positive story about? Half the electorate is not being represented by this agency that those voter’s taxes pay for? Imagine that!

Just one more reason why we should instantly end their funding. Don’t we live in a Representative Democracy? Shouldn’t our taxes go to benefit us all equally? Well, PBS does not benefit half those who pay for it.
Continue reading “Even Harvard Says MSM Biased for Democrats”

00Publius Contributor - Congress - Constitution - Democrats/Leftists - Frederick Meekins - Islamofascism - Judges - Media Bias - News - Race - Security/Safety - Society/Culture - Uncategorized

Old Warhorse Losing His Kick

November 5, 2007 by

-By Frederick Meekins

As the former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Colin Powell at one time (whether deservedly or not) had a reputation as a voice of sober realism in the arena of American foreign policy. However, as he ages and heads into his sunset years, he is so increasingly muttering to himself about assorted forms of appeasement that he is coming to remind the citizen cognizant of the efforts to undermine this great nation more of Neville Chamberlain than as a soldier the statesman most perceived him to be throughout the early 90’s.

During the 1930’s, British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain signed a pact with Adolf Hitler granting the German tyrant Czechoslovakia as part of what Nazi doctrine referred to as Lebensarum or “Living Space”. For his part of this deal, Chamberlain has from that point forward pretty much been branded a coward for thinking such a policy would appease aspiring despots and those out to undermine individual liberty.

As disappointing as he was, at least it was some lesser power’s real estate Chamberlain was giving away. For today, his globalist descendants are such proponents of policide that they are no longer content to carve up the helpless corners of the earth but rather long to dismantle the strong nation-states in which they themselves reside in the hopes of accruing more power into their own hands and control over the lives of those under them.
Continue reading “Old Warhorse Losing His Kick”

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

Pittsburgh Paper: Hugo Chavez Has ‘Right To Come Here and Make Money’

November 4, 2007 by

-By Warner Todd Huston

The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review recently published a story about Citgo gas stations in Pittsburgh finding a dip in gasoline sales. The piece sympathetically portrays Hugo Chavez, the America hating dictator of Venezuela, as a victim attacked by mean American boycotters even as they then claim at the end of the story that it isn’t boycotters, but a down economy causing the dip (or maybe it isn’t, the story can’t make up its mind). So, if it is a down economy, why did the Trib-Review spend so much energy with the first half of the piece decrying a non-existent boycott of that poor, innocent Chavez? Why all this sympathy for Chavez? Your guess is as good as mine.

In fact, there aren’t a whole lot of facts presented in this piece at all, so when all is said and done, there is no real conclusion reached begging the question of just what the heck the point of the article was in the first place if it weren’t for exploiting the mean American boycotters angle?

The very first line in the piece sets the tone of pity for Chavez.

Greg Marnell thinks everyone has a right to do business in the United States, even Venezuelan leader Hugo Chavez.

In their attempt to make a victim of Hugo Chavez, the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review apparently had to find the most misinformed citizen of the city. Then our somewhat brainless Pittsburgh consumer blurts out his next absurdity.
Continue reading “Pittsburgh Paper: Hugo Chavez Has ‘Right To Come Here and Make Money’”