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

BBC Says They’re Too Smart For Audience

April 4, 2007 by

-By Warner Todd Huston

The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) continues to refute claims that they are heavily biased to the left and the State run entertainers deny any claims that they pander to the elites of British society. But a new internal study seems to be saying that the programing “remains too middle class and highbrow and needs to be driven downmarket”. Leave it to the BEEB to imagine that they are somehow too smart for their audience.

Executives at the corporation have always denied that it is a bastion of the liberal elite, pandering to the young, upmarket and metropolitan.

But now they are secretly conceding there may be some truth in the accusations and are drawing up plans to make programmes more populist.

Some “truth in the accusations”? As laughable it is for the BEEB to continue to deny their leftward leaning editorial underpinnings — they “embedded” a reporter with the Taliban to give them positive coverage, for Heaven’s sake — it’s even more outrageous that they imagine themselves the smartest one in the room.
Continue reading “BBC Says They’re Too Smart For Audience”

00Publius Contributor - Democrats/Leftists - Education - Health - Society/Culture - Uncategorized - Warner Todd Huston

Leftist Mantra of the Week Award Goes to…

April 4, 2007 by

-By Warner Todd Huston

“Dr.” Joshua D. Sparrow got his feathers ruffled by the claims of another writer who is positing we overindulge our children these days to the point where they are narcissistic little brats.

His reply to this claim is typical of the leftist mantra that driving an SUV is somehow “self-centered” in and of itself.(Are we raising a nation of little egomaniacs?)

Sparrow says one of the big problems is that Twenge makes a claim that kids are more narcissistic these days but she doesn’t account for the possibility that our culture as a whole may be more self-centered than it was 20 years ago. “Look at all the people driving gas-guzzling SUVs. They are not all 35 and under,” he says.

Now, after such a ridiculous comparison off parenting to driving an SUV, how can ANYONE take this “Dr.” seriously?

So, I give Joshua D. Sparrow, birdbrain at large, the Leftist Mantra of the week award!
Continue reading “Leftist Mantra of the Week Award Goes to…”

00Publius Contributor - Lee Culpepper - Military - Security/Safety - Society/Culture - Uncategorized

Shakedown

April 4, 2007 by

Warren Lee Culpepper

Hungry Teachers, Legal Shakedowns, and Callous Aphorisms
Since my father used to warn me that teaching was just a slow way of starving to death, you might imagine my angst when I spurned his aphorism and decided to teach high school English anyway. I had just completed my service as a Marine officer, and I was making my transition back to civilian life. My sublime ignorance regarding the muscle flaunted by those smug Marxists of public education (you probably call them teacher unions) shielded me from further discouragement concerning my decision. Being a Marine, I ferociously attacked the career — undaunted by its bureaucracy.

I knew only a modest amount regarding the serious issues facing our nation’s public schools: issues like qualified teachers (a phrase with murky connotations); school choice; grade inflation; and school accountability. Furthermore, I knew absolutely nothing about how shamelessly and vigorously the unions fight to stymie practical solutions to those problems. I simply took for granted my school had hired me because it needed someone who could do the job in the classroom – I presumed that meant teaching my students to think. After wedging my foot in the interview door (thanks to my volunteer work with the wrestling team) I had reasoned that a Marine officer, even without a teaching credential, could handle any potential challenge a high school classroom presented.
Continue reading “Shakedown”

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

Al Franken on Letterman: Kyoto Protocols Great for Economy

April 3, 2007 by

-By Warner Todd Huston

Failed radio mouth and Senatorial candidate from Minnesota, Al Franken, told David Letterman on the set of the “Late Show” that the USA should reconsider approving the Kyoto Protocols because the treaty is good for the economy — Despite that the ruinous treaty was voted down by a unanimous Senate vote in 1997 for the very reason that it would harm the economy.

To a fawning audience and a rapt host, Franken attacked Bush over the treaty that was voted down before he ever got to office, saying “One of the dumbest things that this president has said — and that is a high bar — is that if we abided by the Kyoto agreement, it would be ruinous to our economy. The opposite is true.”

Franken went on to claim that the Protocols are actually good for the economy because cities that have voluntarily adopted the Protocols are seeing that “the air and water is cleaner and high-tech jobs were being created.”

With his simplistic one size fits all explanation, however, Franken did not elaborate upon how these isolated successes in scattered cities would translate to the entire nation nor did he discuss the fact that some cities might not be as effected by the economic restrictions as others.

Franken claimed that we need to focus heavily on renewable energies saying we need massive new government programs to create them, programs similar to the Apollo space programs of the 1960s.
Continue reading “Al Franken on Letterman: Kyoto Protocols Great for Economy”

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

San Francisco’s Plastic Bag Ban as stupid as it sounds…

April 3, 2007 by

-By Warner Todd Huston

In another case of leftist hubris and stupidity, San Francisco is patting itself on the back for being sooooo environmentally conscious. In their latest paean to Greenists everywhere they have banned plastic grocery bags, forcing paper to become the norm in the left coast’s most leftist city.

Have they done the environmentally right thing? Should they be congratulated as the most green of the Greens? Have they saved the planet?

Um, no.

It seems that, as bad as plastic bags are, the paper ones are even worse.
Continue reading “San Francisco’s Plastic Bag Ban as stupid as it sounds…”

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

Free-Trade Hypocrisy

April 3, 2007 by

-By Thomas E. Brewton

Is liberal self-contradiction deliberate, or the result of ignorance?

Liberal labor union supporters speak of promoting human welfare by opposing free trade. But the evidence shows that free trade has greatly improved the lot of citizens in countries exporting to the United States.

The problem within the United States is not loss of jobs in total, but the loss of jobs in heavily unionized, therefore over-paid sectors of the economy that were able to free-load on the rest of the nation before foreign competition became a reality.

Liberals have hooked the free-trade issue into opposition to globalization, the latter being only indirectly related to the former. Globalization – the dispersion of a corporation’s activities around the globe to optimize economic efficiency – is not a necessary implication of free trade. Globalization is rather a phenomenon of instantaneous satellite communications systems and the transition of human activity into a more heavily technological age.
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00Publius Contributor - Budget - Congress - Democrats/Leftists - Economy/Finances - Society/Culture - Uncategorized - Warner Todd Huston

Democrats Stop Reporting Service for Budget Busting?

April 2, 2007 by

-By Warner Todd Huston

In January, Nancy Pelosi called for Bush to accept a more fiscally responsible budget. She and her fellow leaders in the Democrat Party wrote to Bush “urging him to change course from his reckless fiscal policies of the past and adopt new fiscally responsible policies in his fiscal year 2008 Budget.”

When she first became Speaker of the House, Pelosi claimed she would lead the “most honest, ethical, and open Congress in history” and claimed that she would lead “With integrity, civility, and fiscal responsibility”.

That was then… this is now.
Continue reading “Democrats Stop Reporting Service for Budget Busting?”

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

The Free-Trade Dilemma

April 2, 2007 by

-By Thomas E. Brewton

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

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

The article opens with the following paragraphs:

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

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

Mr. Blinder, however, is definitely opposed to protectionism. Instead:
Continue reading “The Free-Trade Dilemma”

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

Magazine, “The National Review”, mentions Warner Todd Huston…

April 2, 2007 by

I know I am a little late in noticing this, but back in January, the National Review gave one of my op eds a plug…

http://media.nationalreview.com/

It was my review of the Washington Post’s coverage of Bush’s State of the Union speech.

Just thought I’d pass that along for those who might be interested… like my Dad and Mom! (ha, ha)

00Publius Contributor - Budget - Congress - Democrats/Leftists - Economy/Finances - Elections - GOP - Society/Culture - Uncategorized - Warner Todd Huston

Now is the Time for a Taxpayer Bill of Rights

April 1, 2007 by

From the Federalist, Patriot Post:

Rep. Jeb Hensarling (R-TX) has long been a staunch advocate of responsible government spending. As Chairman of the Republican Study Committee(http://www.house.gov/hensarling/rsc/), he has renewed the call for a Taxpayer Bill of Rights, challenging the denizens of Capitol
Hill to embrace it before the federal government drives us into a fiscal disaster. Some of its basic points are:

  • 1) Taxpayers have a right to have a federal government that does not grow beyond their ability to pay for it
  • 2) taxpayers have a right to receive back each dollar that they entrust to the government for their retirement
  • 3) taxpayers have a right to expect the government to balance the budget without having their taxes raised
  • 4) taxpayers have a right to a simple, fair tax code they can understand.

Embracing the ideas that a balanced federal budget means less spending, not more taxes, and that taxpayers have the right to a simplified tax code seems antagonistic to liberals, but to those of us that live in the real world and advocate constitutional government, such rights are merely commonsensical.

00Publius Contributor - Book Reviews - Education - History - Lee Culpepper - Society/Culture - Uncategorized

Huckleberry Finn, “African-American” Jim, and Academic Achievement Scores

April 1, 2007 by

Warren Lee Culpepper

Twain’s 1884 classic opens with a warning to the readers who attempt to find a “motive, a moral, or a plot” to the story. The key word in the sentence is “attempting.” Clearly, those readers who fail to find all three elements are the mentally encumbered morons to whom Twain refers, when he states he would just as well see them “prosecuted, banished, or shot.” To miss these literary elements in the book would require tremendous effort or just sheer idiocy.

In today’s politically correct (PC), multi-cultural, intolerant-tolerant, and over-sensitive climate, children are fortunate if they ever have the opportunity to read this historically controversial book. Today most of the controversy surrounds the repugnance of the word “nigger” (a degrading brand suggesting a human being is not a human being). To defend including the novel in a school curriculum, some suggest looking past the word because of its historical context. Other educators sugarcoat the issue by replacing the word with today’s PC term “African-American.” Their students giggle or grimace and then struggle through the rest of Huck’s funny yet disconcerting narrative. But since the story demonstrates how an uneducated white boy unlearns everything he’s ever been taught about blacks — thanks to a black, truly human character named Nigger Jim — wasn’t Twain’s point to offend us? Do you really think Twain believed the word “nigger” was just contextually accurate? Do you really think Twain approved of its common use during his lifetime? If one character in the entire story seemed incapable of being human it was Pap — the child abusing, drunk racist, and dirty thief (Huck’s white father).
Continue reading “Huckleberry Finn, “African-American” Jim, and Academic Achievement Scores”

00Publius Contributor - Democrats/Leftists - Education - GOP - History - Media Bias - Military - Patriotism - Society/Culture - Uncategorized - Warner Todd Huston

The MSM’s Willful Ignorance of American History, More Anti-Southernism

March 31, 2007 by

-By Warner Todd Huston

A rather small section, one small paragraph, in a pretty straight forward story reveals the sheer absurdity and incomprehension that prevails in the Media today and serves to show the emptiness of what passes for thinking and logic about American history in what some feel are our cultural elites. It also shows the bias against things Southern in certain circles these days.
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00Publius Contributor - Elections - GOP - President - Society/Culture - Uncategorized

Searching for the Great Right Hope

March 31, 2007 by 2 Comments

-By Michael M. Bates

Conservatives, long the backbone of the Republican Party, are dissatisfied. For many, the current crop of GOP presidential candidates is about as exciting as a Barry Manilow concert.

Leading the pack in the polls is former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani. Admirers view him as the gutsy guy who straightened his city out first and then held it together after the 9/11 attacks. Not everyone sees it that way, naturally, but much of his popularity is premised on the belief he’s a strong leader.

Mr. Giuliani’s biggest disadvantage is that he doesn’t subscribe to several basic Republican principles. At least in the past, he’s been pro abortion, pro gun control, pro gay rights and pro amnesty for illegal aliens. Then there’s his thorny personal life. Add to all that those pictures of him prancing in a pink dress, a blonde wig and high heels that will haunt him and I don’t how he can win the party’s nomination.
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00Publius Contributor - Constitution - Democrats/Leftists - GOP - Media Bias - Society/Culture - The Law - Uncategorized - Warner Todd Huston

Carter ALSO Fired US Attorney for ‘Political Reasons’

March 30, 2007 by

-By Warner Todd Huston

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Lots of indignation there, eh?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

For a full bio, please CLICK HERE.

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

Legislating a Terrorist Victory in Iraq

March 30, 2007 by

-By Frank Salvato

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

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

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

Krugman and Friedman – Part One

March 30, 2007 by 2 Comments

-By Thomas E. Brewton

New York Times columnist Paul Krugman, a proponent of socialistic state-planning, takes a shot at Nobel Prize-winning economist Milton Friedman.

My neighbor David Lane asked for reactions to Mr. Krugman’s essay, which appeared in the February 15, 2007, edition of “The New York Review of Books.” Mr. Krugman pays tribute to the late Milton Friedman, but disagrees with some aspects of his analysis of economic cause-and-effect.

Paul Krugman is a controversial apologist for rather far-left-liberal political and economic views. He is by training and former profession an economist himself. Before joining the Times as a columnist, he was held in high regard among academic economists. Today he is seen more as a propagandist whose economic predictions, usually damning Republic moves such as tax cuts, have often been notoriously wrong.
Continue reading “Krugman and Friedman – Part One”

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

NYTimes Showers Pity on Former Speaker Dennis Hastert—One Last Kick for the Speaker

March 29, 2007 by

-By Warner Todd Huston

The New York Times cannot make up their mind if Dennis Hastert should be despised or laughed at, apparently. Neither can they decide if he is “rumpled and weary” or if he is “healthier and more relaxed” — they confusingly say both in the very same article. But one thing is sure, their underlying sentiment toward the former Speaker of the House seems to be one of pity. And this article was simply an opportunity to kick someone they think is down.

But Dennis Hastert is neither seeking nor requiring such special attention or emotion to be wasted upon him. Furthermore, he never has. The pity party thrown for him by the Times is a pointless jab at a man who has given his life to the community. Hastert should be celebrated, not pitied. Least of all from as cynical an organization as the New York Times.

The Times starts their portrait of Hastert as bedraggled, forlorn, and down and out with the very fist paragraph of “The Entourage Is Gone. The Jet Is Gone. But for the Ex-Speaker, the Work Goes On”. Even the title seems to cast him as a man longing for lost glories.
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00Publius Contributor - Democrats/Leftists - Education - Entertainment - History - Society/Culture - Thomas Brewton - Uncategorized

Art and Degeneration

March 29, 2007 by

-By Thomas E. Brewton

Art historically expressed the highest aspirations of society. In the 20th century art reversed field.

I had the pleasure today of viewing an exhibition of three-dimensional photo collages by Renee Kahn, who has an unerring eye for the artistic aspects of reality. Her subject was “Urban Dreamscapes: Stamford as a Work of Art.”

The occasion was a discussion panel (an artist, an art critic, a film historian-columnist) limning the 20th century setting of art and film as background for Renee’s work.

I was forcibly struck by recurrent themes in their presentations, some intended, some paradoxical.

A dominant theme was art, including movies, as recorder of the degeneration of life quality in the great cities.

What came across, however, was the presenters’ disdain for the source of order that historically had prevented that degeneration before the 20th century.
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00Publius Contributor - Congress - Constitution - Democrats/Leftists - Elections - GOP - Media Bias - President - R. A. Hawkins - Society/Culture - Uncategorized

The Real Story (Media Bias)

March 29, 2007 by

By R. A. Hawkins

Having actually been present and having seen how the media reported the incident, I have come to the conclusion that the media is biased so far to the left that they, like the protestors, aren’t smart enough to know it. For years while Clinton was in office we heard that the reason certain things went unreported was that they needed access to the White House. Back in those halcyon days if you reported anything embarrassing to the White House you were likely to never be allowed back in again.

Maybe Bush needs to recognize that what we’re engaged in here in the US is at the moment a war of words. But a war it is. Maybe he should remember that and start tossing these leftwing skanks out on their ear when they flat out lie. When Clinton nailed people and tossed them out it was for speaking the truth. The left thought that was okay, so I’m certain that it will be okay to throw them out for lying. But who am I kidding? Even most conservatives would be upset with him for doing that. I for one would not be upset. I hate to admit it, but I would have been happy to see him fire every single one of the people in the Justice Department that Clinton replaced after firing the ones who had been there for years. I would have found it difficult to trust them. But I digress.
Continue reading “The Real Story (Media Bias)”

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

Wash.Post: Evangelicals Turning Against the War — Offers NO Proof

March 28, 2007 by

-By Warner Todd Huston

It is always interesting to me how a story can be published as if it is serious work, a story that almost seems plausible until you step back from it to realize that not a shred of proof to support the supposition was ever offered. After you’re done reading it you realize that all you ended up with were empty phrases like “some say” or “many are” instead of any statistics, studies or other proof.

Such is the case with the Washington Post’s story titled, “War Causing Split Among Evangelicals”. In fact, writer Julie Sullivan flat out admits that there is no proof for her supposition that “many” evangelical Christians are turning away from the war… but she postulates the premise any way.

No polling data show conclusively that opinion has shifted among conservative evangelicals.

This is only the fourth paragraph (the previous three being one sentence affairs) so you’d think she could just retire the piece right there. But, no we have to start right up with the “some say” routine.

But some national evangelical leaders say debate about — and, in some cases, opposition to — the war is breaking out among Christian conservatives whose support was key to President Bush’s election victories.

Yes and SOME Christians say that the earth is only 6,000 years old and that the end times are here right now. But that doesn’t mean either of those ideas are prevailing sentiments among Christians.

Next Sullivan gives what she imagines are the “reasons” all these evangelicals are suddenly turning against the GOP.
Continue reading “Wash.Post: Evangelicals Turning Against the War — Offers NO Proof”

00Publius Contributor - Education - Family - Lee Culpepper - Society/Culture - Uncategorized

The Edge

March 28, 2007 by

Warren Lee Culpepper

Every inspirational champion has it. Every genuine leader has it, too. Raw talent has less to do with it because the edge comes from confidence nurtured by two crucial factors: first, our knowing that we have prepared painstakingly for a challenge — physically and mentally; and second, our learning that a competent, respected mentor believes in us. Coddling words of a merely appointed authority figure – the kind who often avoids his obligation to confront our faults – cannot produce this trademark self-assurance.

I think of how much time I invested wrestling, working hard to be good, but never believing that I could be the best. At an Ohio high school, I had one year with a talented mentor, Coach King. The end of my junior year, he announced at an all sports banquet that he thought I was one of the better wrestlers at my weight class that year, despite my failure to achieve every wrestler’s goal to be a champion. His simple comment elevated my self-expectations for the future. His words motivated me to believe in myself and to work harder for him. Under Coach King’s leadership, I started to appreciate the meaning and to develop the qualities of the edge.

However, I moved to Virginia my senior year. Aside from my older brother (whom I saw occasionally) and my father (who was battling depression) I would not encounter another mentor who captured my admiration and confidence until my third year in college. His name was Ken Haselrig, and he was a two-time NCAA all-American. He placed second in the 1987 NCAA Wrestling Championships. Ken was a quiet leader, but he led by example. Just my wrestling against him in practice contributed to my confidence. I knew competing against someone better than I was made me tougher.
Continue reading “The Edge”

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

NYTimes: Waited Full Week to Correct Military Rape Story – One Tale a Total Fabrication

March 27, 2007 by

-By Warner Todd Huston


On March 18th, the New York Times published a piece titled “The Women’s War”. It was a feature of great length (18 pages on the Internet) centered around the plight of several female Veterans of the war in Iraq. It detailed the mistreatment they suffered by the US Military, sexual harassment they received at the hands of army officers, and their PTSDs (post traumatic distress disorders). A shocking expose is what the Times was going for, it is sure. These women certainly deserved better treatment and the story should be well publicized, of course. It might have had more impact but for the fact that the Times knew that one of the subjects featured in the article wasn’t even in Iraq and that her story was a complete lie.

Worse yet, the Times published the story knowing full well that one of their subjects had lied to them. Finally, a whole week after their initial story was published on the 18th, on March 25th, the Times published a mea culpa, correcting the story.
Continue reading “NYTimes: Waited Full Week to Correct Military Rape Story – One Tale a Total Fabrication”

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

A Review Of Salvaging Civilization By H.G. Wells.

March 27, 2007 by

-By Frederick Meekins

To most Americans with a recollection of the Cold War, it was assumed the global superstate would be brought about through military conquest. However, in Salvaging Civilization, H.G. Wells suggests how this planetary political organization could be brought about through education and the management of public opinion.

According to Wells, the future of mankind is dependent upon the establishment of world unity in order to protect the human race from social disintegration and physical destruction. However, instead of blatantly imposing this new world order from without, Wells suggests conditioning the masses into accepting the world state through targeted forms of intellectual manipulation.

While Wells claims to have the best interests of man at heart, it is clear he does not think all that much of the common individual as in his view it is the place of such people to simply go along with the will of the elite. Wells writes, “It is often forgotten, in America, even more than in Europe, that education exists for the community, and only for the individual only so far that it makes him a sufficient member of the community. The chief end of education is to subjugate and sublimate for the collective purpose of our own kind the savage egoism we inherit (24-25).”
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00Publius Contributor - Democrats/Leftists - Islam - Islamofascism - Media Bias - Military - Security/Safety - Society/Culture - Uncategorized - Warner Todd Huston

U.S. Military Has Lost the PR Battle – But they Can Turn That Around

March 26, 2007 by

-By Warner Todd Huston

If this war is another Vietnam fiasco in the end, it will be just as much the fault of the Public Relations arm of the US Military as it is that of the enemy or the Mainstream Media. (Called PAOs for Public Affairs Officers from here on)

It is assured that the large preponderance of the MSM is antithetical to the armed forces of the US Military and Army authorities are right to be mindful that most reporters are not out there only to cover the war but are out there with the agenda to embarrass thee military, destroy the president, and alter US policies.

But, just as one must be wary of enemies, one should cultivate allies. And for the US Military to treat all reporters as if they are no better than the enemy, well that is a horrible mistake. And that is what appears to be happening.

Either that, or the PAOs are so utterly incompetent that it is nearly criminal.
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00Publius Contributor - Congress - Constitution - Crime - Democrats/Leftists - Entertainment - Society/Culture - Thomas Brewton - Uncategorized

Tim Robbins Two

March 26, 2007 by

-By Thomas E. Brewton

Stalin recognized that movies in the 1930s had become the most powerful propaganda tool for influencing mass opinion. That’s why he ordered the Communist Party USA to organize Hollywood screenwriters and crafts workers into Communist dominated labor unions.

Labor Unions: Double-Edged Blade described the affinity of actor-director Tim Robbins for Communist labor unions in Hollywood of the 1930s. The message Mr. Robbins conveys in his film “Cradle Will Rock” is essentially the original Communist Party USA (CPUSA) propaganda line at the time setting of the movie.

Seeing the great success of Leni Riefenstahl’s movies in creating public approval for the Nazi regime in 1934 and 1935, Stalin directed that Hollywood be organized to propagandize for the Soviet Union and the Communist cause.

V. J. Jerome, the CPUSA cultural commissar at party headquarters in New York City, sent Stanley Lawrence to Hollywood for that purpose in 1935. The aim was to create a single, industry-wide union that could shut down any Hollywood studio that balked at filming scripts approved by the CPUSA.
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00Publius Contributor - Congress - Democrats/Leftists - Elections - Islam - Islamofascism - Security/Safety - Society/Culture - Uncategorized - Warner Todd Huston

Congressman’s ‘Explanation’ of Support for Cut and Run Strategy- Same Old Liberal Stuff

March 25, 2007 by 5 Comments

-By Warner Todd Huston

Representative Hank Johnson of Georgia’s 4th Congressional District has decided to “explain” whey he supports the cut and run act proposed by the House last week on a New Blog he has set up.

Johnson’s blog is being hosted by the “Moderate Blog Network” and some may feel that the first term Georgia Representative fits that title well. Johnson, for those who may not know, is the candidate that beat the unstable Cynthia McKinney in the last election in the 4h District and next to her ANYONE would seem “moderate”. Johnson is nothing, though, if not a typical, far left Liberal so a political moderate he is not..

His first (and so far only) entry in this Blog is an explanation of why he voted to support the “Iraq Accountability Act”.

I am passionately opposed to the war in Iraq. I am committed to bringing our brave troops home and sickened by the prospect of prolonging this tragic and unnecessary conflict.

While Johnson claims to stand on compassion here, his support of an immediate withdraw will do nothing to further the concept of saving lives.
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00Publius Contributor - Congress - Constitution - Democrats/Leftists - Elections - Founders - Frank Salvato - Society/Culture - Uncategorized

Civic Responsibility & The Blame Game

March 25, 2007 by

-By Frank Salvato

Our Founders believed in ownership of the Constitution. By that I mean they expected, almost took for granted, that each American citizen would stake a claim of ownership to the principles and tenants set forth in our Founding Documents. But as we watch our elected officials, in Washington DC and in our State Houses, habitually place the political well-being of themselves and their parties above good government for their constituents and our country, we must ask ourselves: Are we doing our part in making sure our government is the best it can be?

The Founding Documents, The Declaration of Independence, The Constitution and The Bill of Rights, serve as a covenant between the American people and our government, a contract, as it were.

One of the unwritten provisions of this covenant, this contract, was that each American would exercise a certain level of self-prescribed civic responsibility where the role of caretaker, or steward, to the Constitution was concerned. They intended for Americans to engage in the governmental process by continuously questing for the truth and then engaging their representatives in elected office – when need be – on the issues using fact-based knowledge, civil discourse and a patriotic ideology, even when in disagreement.
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