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

Another America Hating Cannuck

April 15, 2007 by

Here we have yet another Canadian politician wallowing in his hatred for the USA. What will the Cannucks do about it? Probably nothing. They let terrorists come and go at will to and from Pakistan and points Mid Eastern every day without raising a hand. Why should they say anything about one of their OWN guys?
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Green candidate stands by remarks praising 9/11 ‘Beautiful’

A federal Green party candidate in Vancouver-Kingsway is standing behind a controversial editorial he wrote more than four years ago in which he describes the falling of the World Trade Center twin towers as “beautiful.”

The editorial, entitled, A Revolting Confession, was first published on Nov. 28, 2002 in an alternative newspaper, The Republic of East Vancouver, which Kevin Potvin founded.

“When I saw the first tower cascade down into that enormous plume of dust and paper, there was a little voice inside me that said, ‘Yeah!’ When the second tower came down the same way, that little voice said, ‘Beautiful!’ When the visage of the Pentagon appeared on the TV with a gaping and smoking hole in its side, that little voice had nearly taken me over, and I felt an urge to pump my fist in the air,” Mr. Potvin wrote in the editorial.
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00Publius Contributor - Congress - Elections - President - Society/Culture - Uncategorized - Warner Todd Huston

Thompson explores Congressional Support for his Candidacy

April 15, 2007 by

Stephen F. Hayes of the Weekly Standard penned a piece on the Senator and his exploration of a candidacy. It is a MUST read for a Thompson supporter.

Here are some excerpts of Hayes’ piece…

From the Courthouse to the White House
Fred Thompson auditions for the leading role.

A strange thing happened a few weeks back when I went to the Café Promenade at the Mayflower Hotel for an off-the-record interview with an unpaid adviser to the non-campaign of unannounced presidential candidate Fred Thompson.

Fred Thompson showed up.

Thompson was there to have lunch with Ed Gillespie, former chairman of the Republican National Committee and a powerhouse consultant with ties to the White House. The two men worked together in the fall of 2005 on the confirmation of Supreme Court nominee John Roberts. Thompson had invited Gillespie to lunch to discuss a potential presidential bid.
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Democrats/Leftists - Education - Lee Culpepper - President - Society/Culture - Uncategorized

Highly Qualified Teachers: Es Muy Obscuro

April 14, 2007 by

Warren Lee Culpepper

Poor President Bush, I feel his pain. His education law calling for a “highly qualified teacher” in every classroom has yet to meet its mark – more than four years after its inception. I imagine this letdown has to gnaw on him, as it only adds to everything else the honorable man is struggling nobly to make better, like Iraq and America’s out of control southern border.

As far as the meaning of “highly qualified teachers” though, my illegal- fifty-one-year-old friend, Luis, from Texas (I mean, Mexico) would say, “El definicion es muy obscuro.” No Child Left Behind mandates that teachers have a bachelor’s degree, a state license, and proven competency in every subject they teach. All of that sounds pretty good, except for the high toll one must pay to acquire a state teaching credential and the various standards between states – essentially both are barriers for unwanted competition from aspiring teachers outside the existing establishment.

Not long ago I poked fun of the process I endured to acquire my teaching credential. I compared the requirements to a legal shakedown versus any meaningful training to develop competent teachers. I don’t know all the details regarding states’ laws, but I do know the process I endured would be exasperating for anyone with a brain or even a partial brain.
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00Publius Contributor - Democrats/Leftists - Elections - Media Bias - President - Society/Culture - Uncategorized - Warner Todd Huston

The Call for Gore to Run for President ‘Heats Up’?

April 13, 2007 by 2 Comments

-By Warner Todd Huston

Talk about making a mountain out of a mole hill, the Boston Globe reports on the “push” to draft Al Gore to run for president in 2008 in the April 4th edition of the paper. The story’s starry-eyed subjects launching Gore for president websites and sponsoring web petitions are in for the best fluff treatment lending their claims of a “surge” in support for a Gore candidacy far more legitimacy than it deserves.

The sunny representation of these Gore for president campaigns the Globe gives is almost pathetic in it’s obvious wishful thinking. The only qualifying language to downplay the efforts used in the piece is an understated “How big is the effort? Hard to say.”

No, it’s not really that hard to say even when assessing the fluff the Globe reported. In fact, it’s pretty easy to say that there is little interest — at least far from enough interest to show a “surge” in support for a second Gore run for the White House. Far from “heating up” it seems more likely that there is a flaming out in the offing.
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00Publius Contributor - Democrats/Leftists - Entertainment - Family - Frank Salvato - Media Bias - Society/Culture - Uncategorized

You Either Abide by the First Amendment or You Don’t

April 13, 2007 by 1 Comment

-By Frank Salvato

It really doesn’t matter whether you find radio shock jock Don Imus’s description of the women on Rutgers’ basketball team offensive or not. In an age when you can turn on any popular urban radio station and hear most of the words used in George Carlin’s “Seven Dirty Words” comedy routine the term, “nappy-headed hos” can hardly be deemed offensive, especially coming from a shock jock. What is at issue is whether or not the politically correct have used bullying tactics to infringed upon the guaranteed right of free speech under the First Amendment.

I can’t say that I am a fan of Don Imus but then I can’t say I dislike him either. I have never taken the time to listen to his radio show nor have I viewed his broadcast on MSNBC. Being from Chicago, I grew up listening to Larry Lujack, Dan Walker – the governor of Rock ‘n Roll – and later on Jonathon Brandmeir and Steve Dahl. Imus wasn’t a Chicago staple.

Of course, Chicago had its fair share of FCC imposed and special interest group inflicted radio personality suspensions but those seemed to work more in the favor of the radio show being yanked from the air than for the government or advocacy group. I predict that Imus’s suspension will work to his advantage in the long run as well. Such is the animal of America’s “car accident” curiosity and sitcom attention span.

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00Publius Contributor - Democrats/Leftists - Education - Family - History - Society/Culture - Thomas Brewton - Uncategorized

The Paradox of Reason

April 13, 2007 by

-By Thomas E. Brewton

Liberal rationality leads to chaos, thence to tyranny.

The foundation of liberal-Progressive-socialism, beginning with the pre-Revolutionary French Encyclopedists, has been belief in the supremacy of human reason as the sole guide to social order. In practice it turns out to be a foundation of sand, always washed away in the deluge of political tyranny.

Reason as the only source of wisdom was almost immediately stripped of such pretense and revealed as naked savagery in the French Revolution’s Reign of Terror, instituted to compel conformity to the revolutionists’ political aims.
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00Publius Contributor - Democrats/Leftists - Entertainment - Family - Society/Culture - Uncategorized

Imus’ selective acts of contrition

April 13, 2007 by

-By Michael M. Bates

In terms of media saturation, Don Imus is this month’s Anna Nicole Smith. The radio host has had a good thing going. His program is broadcast on more than 70 radio stations and cable network MSNBC most weekday mornings.

Along with big money, Imus earned standing among politicians and media personalities. Democratic Senator Christopher Dodd announced his presidential candidacy on “Imus in the Morning” last January. Senators Lieberman, McCain and Biden appear regularly. Chris Matthews, Tim Russert and Brian Williams frequently check in.

Imus evidently sees himself as a power player; some pols play along. When Senator John Kerry impugned U.S. soldiers in what he called a botched joke right before last fall’s elections, Kerry cancelled his scheduled appearances elsewhere and called into the Imus program to apologize.
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00Publius Contributor - Health - Selwyn Duke - Society/Culture - Uncategorized

Does Violence Have to Be Taught?

April 13, 2007 by

By Selwyn Duke

It seems that the more we come to believe that “Violence has to be taught,” the more our children learn to be violent. It’s a strange, Jean-Jacques Rousseau-like fantasy, this fancy that a child sports a halo until some neanderthal adult knocks it off with a five-finger attention-getter. “Don’t you dare spank your kids!” say those schooled in the fictions of sickology, “It’ll teach them to be violent.” I wonder, does crying in their presence teach them how to bawl, too?

I would ask if the people who espouse this belief have ever had any experience with babies, since the latter get angry quite often and, when they do, will sometimes instinctively slap the object of their displeasure. Oh, their strikes aren’t delivered with the accuracy and power of a George Foreman right hand, but in the baby world they embody true violent intent.

The idea that violence has to be taught appeals to many and is parroted by them mainly because it serves to demonize corporal punishment, something you only eschew if you’re taught to do so. It’s not something they think deeply about; rather, it’s a knee jerk reaction, an idea that can make those whose lips it passes feel like desert mystics rendering a sage pronouncement. It’s nothing more than philoso-babble.
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00Publius Contributor - Congress - Democrats/Leftists - Education - Science - Society/Culture - Uncategorized - Vince Johnson

An Oddity About GW

April 13, 2007 by

Vacationus interruptus…
-By Vince Johnson

It is now fashionable to take sides on the GW (Global Warming) issue. As far as I can tell there are six basic viewpoints regarding GW:

1.Those who are certain GW will destroy life as we know it no matter what we do, nor when we do it.

2.Those who are certain GW is taking place, but not certain it will destroy life as we know it even if we never change our lifestyle.

3.Those who are not certain GW is taking place, but realize other disasters could destroy life as we know it regardless of when we change our lifestyle. (Germ warfare. Pandemics. Giant Meteorites. Atomic bombs. Huge volcanic eruptions. Federal bankruptcy. Etc.)

4.Those who don’t have the slightest idea one way or the other, but have found making radical comments about GW can put them in the media spotlight even if they only pretend to know what they are talking about.
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00Publius Contributor - Democrats/Leftists - Islam - Islamofascism - Military - Patriotism - Security/Safety - Society/Culture - Uncategorized - Warner Todd Huston

Coloradans Protest Statue of Fallen Soldier

April 11, 2007 by 2 Comments

-By Warner Todd Huston

When reading about the story of protests in Colorado over the raising of a memorial statue to a fallen U.S. Soldier, one is tempted to feel that Americans have lost every vestige of manhood that it ever possessed. Just the very fact that someone would be so free of patriotism and testosterone that they’d protest this statue should be enough to affirm that there are no men left in the nation… or at least in the state of Colorado. Fortunately, the final analysis of the case tends to affirm the opposite, but the very fact that someone was ignorant enough to protest this memorial to an American hero is enough to rankle the American spirit.

Danny Dietz was a Navy SEAL from Littleton, Colorado who was killed in action in Afghanistan on June 28th, 2005. Dietz’ family and the City of Littleton combined efforts to have a statue to his memory erected near Goddard Middle School, Centennial Elementary and Community School for the Gifted.

The statue is a representation of the young Dietz in a kneeling position, in full battle dress, matching one of the last pictures taken of him in the field in Afghanistan. He wears his battle harness with clips and pockets about his chest and cradled in his arms is, of course, his service weapon.

Naturally, it is the presence of the weapon that caused the love of community and patriotism to drain right out of the hearts of some of Littleton’s weakest citizens. Why, we can’t have a statue to a fallen soldier carrying a weapon, right? That would be so gauche, wouldn’t it? And this monstrous statue is to be put near a school, yet! What, they must think, will become of us all if our children could catch a glimpse of an evil, evil gun in the hands of an imperialist oppressor as they toddled off to school each day? Shouldn’t this statue be shoved far off into a corner where no one will have the misfortune to be forced to view it, they probably wonder?
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00Publius Contributor - Democrats/Leftists - Economy/Finances - Education - Frederick Meekins - Media Bias - Science - Security/Safety - Society/Culture - Uncategorized

Eco-Celebrities Spew Ideological Toxins

April 11, 2007 by

-By Frederick Meekins

One thing about the various threats conspiring to undermine human liberty is that, even if they fall out of public view for a while, it won’t be long until they resurface with a renewed ferocity to bend the people of the United States to the will of the elites. With the threats of immigration and the war on terror (both from foreign heathen fanatics as well as those within our own government out to use these efforts to protect the innocent from such violence as an excuse to implement measures that will do very little to actually protect the nation but only make it less free) it has been a while since most concerned Americans have given much thought to the subversive machinations of those claiming to make ecology their primary focus of ethical concern. However, in light of statements made by those straddling that ghoul-filled spectrum between politician and entertainer regarding their environmental visions, freedom lovers would do well to once again expose the dangers that result from those with a sense of guilt for having acquired exorbitant fortunes in a less-than productive manner wanting to control your life in an attempt to assuage their own consciences.

During the 1990’s, Al Gore carved out a niche for himself in the American political landscape as a proponent of a revolutionary environmentalism that went beyond being a good steward of the earth by taking your trash with you after a picnic at the beach so that a sea turtles don’t end up ingesting plastic bags thinking they are jelly fish but rather to embrace the notion that the entire basis of our civilization had to be reconstructed from the ground up including religious, political, and family structures as detailed in “Earth In The Balance” . Distracted by more important things such as having to invent the Internet, rehashing the 2000 election ad nauseam, and deciding whether or not to grow a beard, Gore seemed to stray from his original focus for a while.

However, this errant apostle of Mother Earth has come back to his true faith with the release of his documentary about global warming titled “An Inconvenient Truth”. In it, Gore once again ascends the pulpit warning us ignorant slobs how we must repent of our industrialized ways or face ecological judgment.
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00Publius Contributor - Democrats/Leftists - Economy/Finances - Media Bias - Science - Security/Safety - Society/Culture - Uncategorized - Warner Todd Huston

Absurd Claims: 50 Million People to Lose Homes to Global Warming

April 10, 2007 by 4 Comments

-By Warner Todd Huston

Agence Presse France has published a whopper about Global Warming, titled “Climate refugees — the growing army without a name”, in which we get the claims of a UN Climate Committee that “50 million” will be homeless because of Global Warming “by 2010”. But the report is so filled with could be’s, might be’s and the ever popular “some experts say” that it is hard to take the claims seriously. It is, in fact, downright impossible to believe a word in the report unless you suspend all faculties of disbelief and merely accept as a matter of faith that they “could be” right. Of course, that is the nub of the Globaloney debate in the first place; the willing suspension of disbelief.

The first paragraph of this report sets a dichotomy that the rest of the report tries hard to refute with their “expert” testimony.

Global warming could create tens of millions of climate refugees, although numbers are hard to predict with accuracy and the definition itself is open to debate, experts say.

“Experts say”, do they? Yet, even as the claims that our mean ‘ol Globaloney could create all these refugees the report admits it is “hard to predict with accuracy”. Then how do we take them seriously? Could our “experts” be any more disingenuous?
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00Publius Contributor - Democrats/Leftists - Education - Lee Culpepper - Society/Culture - Uncategorized

Union Teachers Stand, Divided Schools Fall

April 10, 2007 by

Warren Lee Culpepper

Recently, I heard from an accomplished educator, a math teacher at an excellent charter school in Scottsdale, Arizona; his name is Thomas. Thomas agrees with many problems I address concerning education, but we don’t agree completely on teachers’ unions.

I assert that teachers’ unions inflict more harm than good, and Thomas concedes that unions are a problem, but he proposes the following: “While I agree with most of your argument, your portrayal of the unions is not entirely correct. Remember, this country was founded on the fledgling concept of ‘united we stand, divided we fall.’ Since management holds most of the power, labor needs to unite. Teacher pay is abysmal yet is much higher due to the unions. So, I think you are over simplifying the union’s conscious contribution to the problems you discuss.”
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00Publius Contributor - Education - Family - Lee Culpepper - Religion - Society/Culture - Uncategorized

My Shame in Anger My Value in Humility

April 10, 2007 by

Warren Lee Culpepper

When my dad died in 1993, my friends’ father, Mr. Ripol, drove over an hour one way – after midnight – to pick me up from Marine Corps Officer Candidate School. The Corps had put me on emergency leave to deal with my family’s loss. To articulate just how much I respect Mr. Ripol, I need only one word — awesome. He is a great father, and he recently wrote to me expressing concern about my writing’s undertone of “anger.” Because I admire him, I listened to his wisdom.

Digesting his comments, I realized the anger he uncovered is my contempt for teachers’ unions and teacher-credentialing programs – keep in mind I am a teacher. I see unions like I see bullies. Bullies stir most everyone’s anger by picking on smaller, weaker people. In my rowdier days, I had a bad habit of stepping in, too eager to fight them. The bullies who were bigger than I was, who reveled their size advantage, were the ones I couldn’t wait to knock down a peg or two. Similarly, unions behave in the same arrogant and intimidating manner as bullies. They’re emboldened by their numbers and size. They anger me with all their scams. They claim to benefit teachers, and they boast about looking out for students. However, they actually jeopardize students’ learning and attempt to sedate competitive teachers. Many union members are not competitive people. These individuals fear standing alone. They stir my anger because they should just be thankful to have a job. They often lack ability, and the idea of holding them accountable for their students’ successes or failures causes them heart trouble. (Mr. Ripol’s wits are probably beginning to tingle again.)
Continue reading “My Shame in Anger My Value in Humility”

Uncategorized

New Conservative version of Youtube!!

April 10, 2007 by

The goal at QubeTV is to create the number one conservative online video, still picture and social networking site on the Web. We will be introducing new features shortly that are designed to give you and your fellow conservatives the opportunity to be a full participant in the 2008 elections and the daily life of the American media.

Go check it out, folks.

00Publius Contributor - Democrats/Leftists - Entertainment - Family - Media Bias - Religion - Security/Safety - Society/Culture - Uncategorized - Warner Todd Huston

Director/Actor Kevin Smith To Attack Christians/Republicans in New ‘Horror’ Movie

April 9, 2007 by 2 Comments

-By Warner Todd Huston

Is the Clerks and Dogma creator next going to attack middle America, Conservatives, Republicans and Christians in an upcoming movie? It certainly seems so with a recent interview he gave that appears on the moviefan website called Rottentomatoes.com.

Smith, known for his irreverent skewering of conventional mores, seems to be in the midst of production on a horror movie based on a “Fred Phelps” styled character.

UK audiences recently saw documentary journalist Louis Theroux spend time with members of the Westboro Baptist Church in Topeka, Kansas, a controversial church group made largely of members of the Phelps family and run by preacher Fred Phelps. Infamous in America for taking a supremely homophobic stance and for picketing the funerals of soldiers killed in Iraq, the group see media interviews as a platform for airing their views and the word of their founder, Fred Phelps.

“That dude has always fascinated me and he’s really informed the horror movie that I’m working on,” Smith told us, “The movie’s called ‘Red State’ and it’s very much about that subject matter, that point of view and that position taken to the absolute extreme. It’s certainly not Phelps himself but it’s very much inspired by a Phelps figure.”

Red State, huh? Can you just guess what that means? “Red” as in Republican, “horror” as in the horror of Conservative ideals? Along with another Smith attack on religion, I can imagine how badly he is going to treat the average American in “flyover” country with this one.

Think I am reading too much into it. Well, read more of director Smith’s interview.
Continue reading “Director/Actor Kevin Smith To Attack Christians/Republicans in New ‘Horror’ Movie”

00Publius Contributor - Congress - Elections - GOP - Immigration/Immigrants - Islam - Islamofascism - Military - Patriotism - President - Security/Safety - Society/Culture - Uncategorized

A man named Fred

April 9, 2007 by

-By Melanie Morgan

I’ve seen him in real life; just outside the ABC broadcast facilities in Washington, D.C., where he exited after taping a broadcast for Paul Harvey’s “News and Comment.”

I nearly sprained my neck looking up and trying to take in his 6-foot 6-inch frame.

He didn’t look well that day. At dinner the previous evening, Thompson had contracted food poisoning. The D.C. bureau chief told me that despite his obvious discomfort, he had nonetheless posted his segment. In my business, that counts for a lot. Deadlines are everything.

So, what do we know about Fred Thompson and his possible candidacy for the highest office in the land?
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00Publius Contributor - Education - Family - Lee Culpepper - Society/Culture - Uncategorized

Linking Fragile Toilet Paper to Teaching Teenage Girls

April 9, 2007 by

Warren Lee Culpepper

Linking Fragile Toilet Paper to Teaching Teenage Girls by Lee Culpepper
With the alarming percentage of ill-advised marriages and their subsequent breakups, I bet you’re asking yourself a reasonable question: “What can male teachers, Marine Corps leadership principles, and high school English classes do to help teenage girls avoid bad relationships and rash decisions to marry in the future? Okay, maybe you’re not, but you should be.

Since I have experience in all those worlds, I have some suggestions. I’ll begin with a few notes concerning fathers. Good fathers teach their daughters how men should treat and respect women. A daughter should also learn from her father about the purity of fatherly love – the love with no selfish expectations concerning her ambitions, her dreams, her looks, or even her understanding of how much he loves her. Good fathers protect their daughters from bad boys who grow up to be bad men. A good father also teaches his daughter how to deal with such jerks on her own.
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00Publius Contributor - Congress - Democrats/Leftists - Economy/Finances - Family - Security/Safety - Society/Culture - Thomas Brewton - Uncategorized

Savings?

April 9, 2007 by

-By Thomas E. Brewton

A potentially dangerous definition of savings is being pushed by some economists and investment advisors.

An increase in the market value of your home is not savings in either a practical sense or from the viewpoint of the economy as a whole. Nonetheless this idea appears repeatedly in the media.

An example from the April 16,2007, edition of Forbes magazine is money manager Ken Fisher’s “Portfolio Strategy” column:

American savers, end your guilt trip. You have been told, by economists and by official government statistics, that you are inadequate, that the U.S. savings rate is negative. Wrong! It’s a myth that Americans don’t save.

The official numbers have some big deficiencies. They don’t count capital gains….
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00Publius Contributor - Democrats/Leftists - Economy/Finances - Elections - Media Bias - President - Society/Culture - The Law - Uncategorized - Warner Todd Huston

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

April 7, 2007 by

-By Warner Todd Huston

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

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

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

Mr. McAuliffe’s Excellent Adventures

April 7, 2007 by

-By Michael M. Bates

Democratic bagman Terry McAuliffe is one awesome guy. If you don’t believe that, just ask him.

McAuliffe’s new book, “What a Party! My Life Among Democrats,” is an inadvertently hilarious exercise in narcissism. The former chairman of the Democratic National Committee (DNC) and fundraiser extraordinaire is as self-absorbed as his comrade Bill Clinton.

McAuliffe writes that he’s a Democrat because of his yearning to help common people. No one promised him the struggle would be painless.

So here’s Terry having brunch at Barbra Streisand’s mansion. Terry at Pamela Harriman’s house asking singer Paul Simon him if he’s had any hits. Terry hunting ducks with actor Larry Hagman.
Continue reading “Mr. McAuliffe’s Excellent Adventures”

00Publius Contributor - Congress - Constitution - Democrats/Leftists - Economy/Finances - Education - President - Society/Culture - Uncategorized - Vince Johnson

Vacation time for Reality Check

April 7, 2007 by

-By Vince Johnson

Over 240 issues ago REALITY FACTOR came into existence as a commentary letter published about 30 times a year. After more than eight years it seems appropriate to take some time off to see if anyone will notice. For the most part, this endeavor has been a lot of fun. However, there are aspects that were extremely frustrating. Example:

I used this publication to ask three questions in behalf of all Students Attending Public Schools in the USA. These questions were:

1. Please explain the ethics of borrowing trillions of dollars from underage citizens without their knowledge or consent.

2. Is it fair that Congress has passed laws that will require these citizens to make payments on this debt as long as they have taxable income or face years of imprisonment should they fail to do so?

3. Why have over 3,000 young Americans lost their lives protecting the territorial integrity of the Iraq border along Iran and Syria while we are almost totally ignoring the territorial integrity of the border between the USA and Mexico?

In February and March 2007 I sent the above questions directly to President Bush and others as indicated below:
Continue reading “Vacation time for Reality Check”

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

Geraldo and O’Reilly Almost Come to Blows!! Both Lose Cool

April 6, 2007 by 2 Comments

Simply wow, is all I can say to the segment on last night’s O’Reilly Factor. Both of them lost their cool in the extreme.

O’Reilly screams that Geraldo wants “anarchy”, Geraldo yells that O’Reilly wants to take illegal aliens and “do something to them” over the story of a drunk illegal who killed two teenaged girls in a Virginia Beach car accident.

I have to say, in my opinion they were both wrong a little and right a little, but neither did his case any good by getting into a shouting match. O’Reilly made it solely an illegal alien issue, and Geraldo completely excused the illegals of all wrongs. O’Reilly had the better point, of course, but both tried to make it a single issue discussion with Geraldo accusing O’Rielly of, in effect, being a racist and O’Reilly screaming that Geraldo might not care about his own teenage girls.

They both lost their cool and looked like raving lunatics, as far as I am concerned.

(Hat tip Media Bistro)

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

Eric Alterman: ‘Most MSM Pundits are Lazy, Ill Informed’

April 6, 2007 by

-By Warner Todd Huston

Eric Alterman recently got his dander up over at the Nation about many of the MSMs political pundits today, calling them “lazy” and blasting them for their near universal refusal to address Blogger’s critiques of their work. Obviously he isn’t happy over the treatment he received at the hands of Time Magazine’s Joe Klein who dealt him a series of “schoolyard insults”, as Alterman phrased it, after he criticized some of Klein’s work. But, this personal vendetta aside, Alterman is on to something.

Alterman is filled with disgust at many Pundit’s arrogance as they ignore the ankle biting leveled at them by Internet opinionists and Bloggers. And I cannot say that I disagree with him over his contention that the MSM is trying so hard to ignore rising Internet pundits and the influence they are garnering that they have damaged their own credibility in the process by overlooking substantive critical analysis offered at lightening speed by Internet writers.

The advent of the Internet–particularly the blogosphere–has changed all that. Now, not only are the things pundits say and write preserved for posterity; there are legions of folks who track pundit pronouncements, fact-check their statements and compare them with previous utterances on the same and similar topics. They also demand a degree of transparency about methods of inquiry and the reasoning behind conclusions drawn. While proving pundits wrong–over and over and over–has not yet cost anyone a job, it has contributed to a precipitous decline in pundit prestige. The reaction to this decline varies from pundit to pundit, to be sure, but more often than not, it bespeaks a kind of panic.

Alterman offers several examples from George Will to Tim Russert of this refusal to engage bloggers by MSM pundits. Though I am not sure his particular examples are completely satisfactory, he is certainly right over the end result. The MSM is whistling past the graveyard by pretending Bloggers and their criticisms are irrelevant… or worse that they don’t even exist.
Continue reading “Eric Alterman: ‘Most MSM Pundits are Lazy, Ill Informed’”

00Publius Contributor - Congress - Constitution - Democrats/Leftists - Elections - Frank Salvato - GOP - History - Islam - Islamofascism - Media Bias - President - Security/Safety - Society/Culture - Uncategorized

Are We Experiencing a Constitutional Crisis?

April 6, 2007 by

-By Frank Salvato

I have been disappointed to hear that some of the radio personalities and editorialists who usually present a modicum of reason to the American public are having a hard time finding anything wrong with Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi’s recent attempt at promoting rogue foreign policy in the Middle East. To be sure, our Constitution does not vest any member of Congress – speaker or otherwise – with the power to usurp the authority of the Executive Branch where conducting foreign policy is concerned.

This isn’t to say that Congress doesn’t have any authority over the formulation of US foreign policy, it certainly does. Article 2, Section 8 clearly states that Congress shall have the power:

“…To regulate Commerce with foreign Nations, and among the several States, and with the Indian Tribes; To declare War, grant Letters of Marque and Reprisal, and make Rules concerning Captures on Land and Water;…”

Further, in Article 3, Section 2 it clearly states that by their “advice and consent” they authorize the President of the United States:

“…To make Treaties, provided two thirds of the Senators present concur; and he shall nominate, and by and with the Advice and Consent of the Senate, shall appoint Ambassadors, other public Ministers and Consuls, Judges of the Supreme Court, and all other Officers of the United States, whose Appointments are not herein otherwise provided for, and which shall be established by Law;…”

In other words, Congress has the authority to regulate business between the United States and foreign nations, to declare war and regulate the spoils of war and to validate and make official any treaties negotiated through the Executive Branch. Article 3, not Congress, empowers the Executive Branch with the ability to appoint ambassadors, ministers, counsels, Supreme Court Justices and all other officers including official representatives of the United States. In essence, Congress has the limited power to legislate the general character and policies comprising American foreign policy.
Continue reading “Are We Experiencing a Constitutional Crisis?”

00Publius Contributor - Democrats/Leftists - Elections - GOP - Media Bias - Patriotism - President - Security/Safety - Society/Culture - Uncategorized - Warner Todd Huston

‘Just an Actor’ Drumbeat Begins Against Fred Thompson

April 5, 2007 by

-By Warner Todd Huston

I have been waiting for the MSM to start the drumbeat against Fred Thompson that they so often and so boringly used (and still do) against Ronald Reagan; the refrain of “He’s just an actor” Now, Rebecca Sinderbrand of the New York Observer has used the general theme for her latest piece, The Mysterious Appeal of Fred Thompson. Subtitled “Actor, Senator, presidential candidate… but what G.O.P. gap is he filling?, Sinderbrand makes liberal use of Thompson’s “roles” as a foil for his seriousness as a candidate and seems to be saying that the only reason anyone is considering him is because he looks the part as a result of his “camera presence”.

Sinderbrand’s entire piece is dismissive and shallow in its approach to the Senator with constant allusions to his being an actor playing a role and treats the Senator as if his candidacy is an effort at bait and switch, or at the very least a silly proposition. Throughout, Sinderbrand constantly mentions the acting aspect of the Senator’s life as if that is all there is to him just like they have always done with Reagan.

The “just an actor” accusation, though, doesn’t ring true in Thompson’s case because his acting was a late in life career move, not one that he pursued his whole life as other professional actors have done. This fact makes Thompson quite unlike Ronald Reagan who’s political career, not the acting career, was the later in life pursuit.
Continue reading “‘Just an Actor’ Drumbeat Begins Against Fred Thompson”

00Publius Contributor - Religion - Society/Culture - Thomas Brewton - Uncategorized

Palm Sunday Expectations

April 5, 2007 by

-By Thomas E. Brewton

It’s not what we expect, but what God wants.

The Palm Sunday sermon at the Long Ridge Congregational Church (non-UCC) in North Stamford, Connecticut, was delivered by Rev. Kevin Butterfield. His text was John 12:12-15.

The next day the great crowd that had come for the Feast heard that Jesus was on his way to Jerusalem. They took palm branches and went out to meet him, shouting,
“Hosanna!” [Save us]
“Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!”
“Blessed is the King of Israel!”

Jesus found a young donkey and sat upon it, as it is written, _”Do not be afraid, O Daughter of Zion; see, your king is coming, seated on a donkey’s colt.”

The feast of the Passover was a joyous occasion for the Israelites at any time. But for the great crowd following Jesus into Jerusalem and rushing out of the city to greet him, there was an almost delirious expectation that Jesus was about to become their earthly king who would deliver them from the rule and taxes of Rome.

The problem for those people was not the Romans, but themselves. They had drifted far from the real spirit of the Mosaic covenant between God and the people of Israel.
Continue reading “Palm Sunday Expectations”