Daniel Clark

Daniel Clark - South Korea

Pondering People Pills: Don’t think it can’t happen here

June 4, 2012 by

-By Daniel Clark

According to the U.K. Daily Mail, customs officials in South Korea have confiscated about 17,000 Chinese “miracle cure” capsules, filled with the powdered flesh of aborted and stillborn babies. The existence of these pills was first uncovered last summer by a South Korean documentary, which found that the manufacturers received a regular supply of tissue from a network of affiliated abortion clinics and hospitals.

It’s tempting to assume that this outrage will confine itself to the Far East. After all, reporter Yojana Sharma revealed in a 1995 Daily Telegraph story that, in China, the eating of human fetuses for health reasons is not uncommon. She even obtained a “fist-sized glass bottle stuffed with thumb-sized fetuses” from a state hospital, by pretending to be sick. “Normally, we doctors take them home to eat,” she was told.

That doesn’t sound like the kind of thing we have to worry about over here, where taboos against cannibalism have held up quite nicely over the years. Nevertheless, the Daily Mail story ought to concern Americans, because many other elements conducive to that result are present in our society today.
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Pondering People Pills: Don’t think it can’t happen here”

1st Amendment - Constitution - Daniel Clark - Democrats/Leftists - Ethics - Government - Liberals - Music

Windy City Madman: Nuge Meets Obama ‘Truth Squad’

May 14, 2012 by

-By Daniel Clark

During the 2008 presidential campaign, candidate Barack Obama deployed so-called “truth squads” throughout the swing state of Missouri. Comprised mainly of prosecutors and high-ranking law enforcement personnel, these partisan watchdogs announced their intention to monitor private citizens’ political speech. Although they would later protest that they’d never directly threatened to arrest or indict Obama’s critics for voicing their opinions, the implicit threat was plain to see.

They defended themselves by pointing out that Missouri law contains no speech-crime provisions for them to enforce. Still, one might reasonably have feared being targeted for unrelated trivial or imagined offenses, as punishment for having committed crimes against superhumanity. If the squadders’ only intention was, as they claimed, to rebut attacks against Obama by revealing the “truth,” then why did the campaign make a point of recruiting such authority figures, instead of simply hiring some good p.r. people?
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Windy City Madman: Nuge Meets Obama ‘Truth Squad’”

Barack Obama - Budget - Daniel Clark - Democrats/Leftists - Elections - Ethics - Health - Liberals - Obamacare - Taxes

Extended Terms: Libs Stretch the Letter of the Law

April 28, 2012 by

-By Daniel Clark

One of the reasons why liberals think they’re so much smarter than the rest of us is their use of big words. Not big words like “sesquipedalian,” but more ordinary words that liberals have inflated in such a way as to make them include meanings that were never intended.

A favorite Democrat talking point about the pending Supreme Court decision on Obamacare is that, because health care represents one sixth of our nation’s economy, the Commerce Clause must apply. This conclusion rests on their equating “commerce” with “economy,” when in reality, the definition of the former is far narrower than that. “Commerce” is the large-scale trading of commodities, or material goods. It is not just anything that directly or indirectly affects the way a dollar changes hands.

The amendment process is very long and difficult by design. Besides, it relies on the actions of elected representatives, whose constituents may not share the liberals’ utopian ideals. Why not circumvent those obstacles, and simply change the Constitution by expanding the definitions of its terms?
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Extended Terms: Libs Stretch the Letter of the Law”

Anti-Americanism - Barack Obama - Business - Daniel Clark - Democrats/Leftists - Economy/Finances - Energy - Ethics - Green Energy - Liberals - President - Solar

Outrage Outage: Why Solyndra Fails to Spark Anger

April 5, 2012 by

-By Daniel Clark

After all the anger, rational and otherwise, that was directed at Enron after it went bankrupt several years ago, one might have expected Americans to be incensed by the failures of Solyndra and other federally-subsidized “renewable energy” companies. So why aren’t we?

For conservatives, the answer is fairly simple. To us, the Solyndra fallout has been the proverbial spilled milk. It’s not as if we thought these “green energy” ventures would actually pay off. The real offense was the taxpayer-financed investments that Obama made in these companies through his gargantuan stimulus package, at which we really were angry, and still are.

Since liberals championed the stimulus package, it stands to reason that they are undisturbed by Solyndra, assuming that they didn’t expect it to pan out, either. If the subsidies were meant primarily as a symbolic expression of liberal ecological sensitivity, then they have already served their purpose, regardless of whether or not they yield any real-world results.
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Outrage Outage: Why Solyndra Fails to Spark Anger”

Abortion - Children - Constitution - Contraception - Daniel Clark - Democrats/Leftists - Liberals

Only Human: When ‘Person’ is a Subjective Term

March 22, 2012 by

-By Daniel Clark

On February 23rd, the Virginia state legislature put off any action on its proposed “personhood bill” until next year, much to the relief of Republican strategists who want to steer clear of so-called “social issues.” These critics may have a point when they complain that the bill needlessly throws a wild card into an electoral deck that appears to be stacked against the Democrats, but perhaps its proponents aren’t concerned with political expediency. Maybe they simply believe that the law ought to tell the truth.

Supporters of the initiative want the law to recognize that, at the instant of fertilization, a new member of the human species is created, and that this being is, by definition, a person. That might sound like an open-and-shut case as far as the facts are concerned, but when liberals find the facts disagreeable, they assume the ability to just theorize them away.

An article in the Journal of Medical Ethics, cited in a February 29th London Telegraph article, condones infanticide, although authors Alberto Giubilini and Frencesca Minerva prefer the darkly comical euphemism “after-birth abortion.” That term reflects their contention that, “Both a fetus and a newborn certainly are human beings and potential persons, but neither is a ‘person’ in the sense of ‘subject of a moral right to life’.”
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Only Human: When ‘Person’ is a Subjective Term”

Budget - Congress - Daniel Clark - Democrats/Leftists - Ethics - Government - Liberals - Regulation - Socialism - Taxes - Welfare

Defense Vs. Dependency: ‘Safety Net’ Isn’t so Safe

March 10, 2012 by

-By Daniel Clark

During the 1990s, when liberal politicians raided our military budget in order to fund their favored domestic initiatives, they referred to it as reaping the “peace dividend.” Their argument was that with the Cold War over, much of the money being used to maintain the world’s most powerful military could better be used elsewhere.

When war was thrust upon us a decade later, we were woefully under-equipped to handle it, and it’s no wonder why. The Pentagon budget, rather than being increased or cut based on its own merit, had been forced to directly compete for dollars with the pet projects of those politicians who get to determine the winners and losers. Once budget debates were framed in that way, any new military spending could be demagogued as the taking of food from the mouths of the poor.

Today, President Obama is proposing a return to the “peace dividend” model, despite the fact that we are far from being at peace. Even with commitments remaining in Iraq and Afghanistan, a crisis roiling in Iran, chaos reigning throughout the Middle East, and the deployment of a small number of American soldiers to Uganda, the president plans to decimate our nuclear arsenal, and dramatically reduce our numbers of ships, planes, and active military personnel. Meanwhile, he has proposed another $3.8 trillion budget for 2013, whose deficit will surely top the trillion-dollar mark yet again, his highly optimistic GDP projections notwithstanding.
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Defense Vs. Dependency: ‘Safety Net’ Isn’t so Safe”

Daniel Clark - Democrats/Leftists - Ethics - Liberals

Occupy Pipers: Where Tolerating Treason has Led Us

March 2, 2012 by

-By Daniel Clark

Is it okay to start questioning their patriotism yet?

On January 29th, Occupy Oakland demonstrators broke into City Hall and stole several American flags, two of which they have since set on fire. Other flag-burnings have been caught on camera at Occupy events in Denver and Portland, Maine.

Not that the sentiment expressed by these actions is anything new to the Occupy movement. All along, the Occupiers have been using American flags as floor mats in their grimy encampments, wearing them to mask their faces like bandanas, and creating mock versions, with corporate logos in place of the white stars. They’ve also been chanting anti-American slogans, waving signs identifying themselves with various socialist organizations, and displaying the image of Communist icon Che Guevara. Nevertheless, if they had expected to incite public outrage, they must by now be terribly disappointed.

One might generously assume that behavior like this is not characteristic of the movement as a whole, if it weren’t so perfectly aligned with its goals of bringing down capitalism and abolishing property rights. The group’s original moniker, “Occupy Wall Street,” itself suggested a violent takeover of the free market system.
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Occupy Pipers: Where Tolerating Treason has Led Us”

Congress - Constitution - Daniel Clark - Democrats/Leftists - Liberals

That’s Why We Have a Bill of Rights, Dr. Paul

February 7, 2012 by

-By Daniel Clark

Do state governments have the right to legalize murder? According to Ron Paul, they do.

During a January 19th debate in Charleston, South Carolina, former senator Rick Santorum charged that Congressman Paul, in spite of his fervent advocacy of the anti-abortion cause, has only about a 50 percent pro-life voting record in Congress. Incredibly, Paul’s response was that the slaughter of innocent human beings — as he unambiguously recognizes abortion to be — is none of the federal government’s business. “All other violence is handled by the states,” he said. “That’s a state issue.”

While it’s true that murder and other violent acts are prosecuted at the state level, it does not follow that the states have the authority to legalize them. The Fifth Amendment says, “No person shall … be deprived of life, liberty or property, without due process of law.” By taking the position that the systematic killing of millions of innocent people is a state issue, Paul must suppose that the Bill of Rights is a mere suggestion, from which the states may opt out.

If Paul insists on constantly warbling on about the Constitution, he really ought to go back and re-read it. He often cites the Tenth Amendment to support his libertarian philosophy of devolving power to the states, but that is not what it prescribes in all cases. What it says is, “The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.” (emphasis added)
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That’s Why We Have a Bill of Rights, Dr. Paul”

Bill Clinton - Daniel Clark - Democrats/Leftists - Ethics - Liberals

Bubba Takes The Cake: At last, the Clinton Legacy

January 21, 2012 by

-By Daniel Clark

Former White House pastry chef Roland Mesnier likes Bill Clinton, so there’s no reason he would have made up the story he told at the Katzen Center for the Arts, as cited by an article in Washingtonian magazine’s Capital Comment Blog. Not that there would be any reason to doubt him, since his anecdote is so quintessentially Clintonian as to practically corroborate itself.

Describing the 42nd president’s appetite as “scary,” Mesnier told the story of how Clinton gobbled up half a strawberry cake in one evening, and then awoke the next morning expecting more. “No one could find the cake,” the story goes, perhaps because someone had gotten the crazy idea that it had been intended for more than one person. “Clinton was pounding on the table and shouting, ‘I want my goddamned cake!'”

What an epitaph for the most spoiled, overindulgent, quick-tempered, self-absorbed glutton ever to serve in the Oval Office. If almost anyone else had, for whatever reason, devoured that much in one sitting, that person wouldn’t want to look at another piece of cake for weeks. In Clinton’s case, having consumed half a strawberry cake only served to remind him of half a strawberry cake. Therefore, he did what to him was only natural, and angrily demanded half a strawberry cake.
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Bubba Takes The Cake: At last, the Clinton Legacy”

Barack Obama - Crime - Daniel Clark - Democrats/Leftists - DOJ - Eric Holder - Ethics - Liberals - Mexico - President

O’s Gun Show: Fast & Furious = Bowling for Columbine

December 27, 2011 by

-By Daniel Clark

At their 2004 national convention, the Democrats honored Michael Moore by seating him right next to former president Jimmy Carter. If that was outrageous, it was nothing compared to the fact that the next Democrat administration would conduct itself as if it were producing one of Moore’s phony documentaries.

A scene in Moore’s anti-gun film Bowling for Columbine depicts him opening an account at a Traverse City, Michigan bank that offers a free rifle to each new customer. After filling out some paperwork, he exits the building, victoriously hoisting his easily obtained firearm overhead. Like everything else in Moore’s movies, that’s not exactly how it happened.

The bank, which was also licensed as a gun dealership, administered background checks, after which it would issue vouchers redeemable for rifles kept in a vault at a remote location, about 300 miles away. Moore had already opened his account and passed his background check long beforehand, and arranged to have his gun delivered to the bank for the purpose of shooting the scene.

Moore was allowed this departure from the usual procedure because the gullible manager was eager to cooperate with what the congenitally dishonest filmmaker had told him was a story about innovative business practices. In exchange for having done him this favor, the bank and its employees were lied about, and turned into objects of derision.
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O’s Gun Show: Fast & Furious = Bowling for Columbine”

Budget - Business - Capitalism - Daniel Clark - Democrats/Leftists - Elections - Energy - Ethics - Government - Liberals - Oil - Republicans - Ronald Reagan - Taxes

We’ve Been Had: Reagan’s Words Have Gone Unheeded

December 8, 2011 by

-By Daniel Clark

In Ronald Reagan’s first inaugural address, he described America by saying, “We are a nation that has a government, not the other way around.” Thirty years later, that doesn’t exactly ring true.

During the 2008 primaries, Barack Obama told a group of supporters in Oregon that, “We can’t drive our SUVs, and eat as much as we want, and keep our homes at 72 degrees at all times, and then just expect that other countries are going to say, ‘oh, okay.’ That’s not leadership. That’s not going to happen.” Exercising our freedom as consumers is “not going to happen?” Spoken like the future leader of a government that has a nation.

This September, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack lectured representatives of the National Restaurant Association about the amount of salt and sugar in their food, as part of an intimidation campaign with which several large restaurant chains are already “cooperating.” Of course, salt and sugar cost money, so if it made good business sense for restaurants to reduce the amounts they use, they would have done so already. They haven’t because the food just won’t taste as good, as you’re well aware if you’ve ever accidentally bought a can of low-sodium soup, and then carpet-bombed it with salt in an attempt to make it palatable.
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We’ve Been Had: Reagan’s Words Have Gone Unheeded”

Budget - Business - Capitalism - Communism - Constitution - Daniel Clark - Democrats/Leftists - Elections - Ethics - Government - House of Representatives - Jobs - Liberals - Massachusetts - President - Senate - Socialism - Taxes

Sour Mash, Bitter Man: or, Hit the road, Jack Daniel’s

November 28, 2011 by

-By Daniel Clark

If you read the label on a bottle of Jack Daniel’s (not that one happens to be handy), you’ll see that it’s made in “Lynchburg (Pop. 361).” Perhaps this should be updated to say, “at least one of whom is a raving Communist lunatic.” That person is Charles Rogers, a “concerned citizen” who has proposed a measure, passed by the Moore County Council (no relation to Michael), requesting permission from the Tennessee assembly for a referendum to impose a new “barrel tax” on the famous whiskey manufacturer.

Supposedly, Rogers wants the tax in order to pay for infrastructure projects, but he let the real reason slip when, according to an October 21st Fox News story, he explained, “We are entitled to more money from the only industry in the county. They created the image of this little old hamlet down here being the place where this fantastic whiskey is being made, and the people didn’t realize what was going on.” O, the exploitation!

Jack Daniel’s general manager Tommy Beam responded that the company is already heavily taxed, and that, being the county’s largest employer, it has expanded the tax base dramatically. The population of Lynchburg is now actually close to 6,000 (The 361 figure on the bottle is from the time that the label was trademarked, about 50 years ago). In addition, the distillery brings in an estimated 200,000 tourists every year. This demonstrates a point that ought to go without saying, which is that a successful industry is beneficial to the community in which it resides. Yet Rogers treats Jack Daniel’s as if it were a deadbeat, failing to pay its “fair share” to the local government.
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Sour Mash, Bitter Man: or, Hit the road, Jack Daniel’s”

Anti-Americanism - Barack Obama - Business - Capitalism - Communism - Daniel Clark - Democrats/Leftists - Elections - GOP - Government - Jobs - Liberals - New York City - President - Socialism - Taxes - Unions

The Second Man: Libs Reveal Their Anti-Truth Bias

November 5, 2011 by

-By Daniel Clark

You can tell a liberal is trapped when he pulls out the trusty fill-in-the-blank evasion that White House press secretary Jay Carney used when discussing the “Occupy Wall Street” demonstrations: “One man’s mob is another man’s democracy.”

This time-tested rhetorical tactic has often been used by liberals to shield their positions from examination, by denying the very existence of an objective reality. “One man’s terrorist is another man’s freedom-fighter,” they’ll say. “One man’s pornography is another man’s poetry.” Simply by asserting that there are differing opinions, they declare the issue to be effectively nullified.

The fundamental flaw in these arguments is that the theoretical Second Man in each example is demonstrably wrong. Considering his track record, one would have to conclude that he’s either a liar, or else an ignoramus unable to discern fact from fiction, or right from wrong. An Islamic terrorist who wants to force the rest of the world to submit to his beliefs is not a freedom fighter. Larry Flynt is not just a modern-day Robert Frost in a puddle of drool. The fact that somebody might take contrary positions on matters like these does not elevate those contentions to equal footing with the truth.
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The Second Man: Libs Reveal Their Anti-Truth Bias”

Anti-Americanism - Barack Obama - Daniel Clark - Democrats/Leftists - Liberals - President

Orator Overrated: Ranking Obama’s worst speeches

October 7, 2011 by 1 Comment

-By Daniel Clark

President Obama is renowned as a great orator, as he would be the first to tell you. According to Harry Reid’s 2009 book, The Good Fight, the Senate majority leader praised then-Senator Obama for giving a “phenomenal” speech, to which Obama replied, “I have a gift, Harry.”

The president generously shared this gift with Queen Elizabeth, whom he and the first lady gave an iPod, already loaded with, among other things, audio of his inaugural address and his 2004 convention speech. One can just imagine Her Majesty going out for a brisk morning walk, energizing herself by listening to exhilarating tidbits like, “Uuuhhh, let me be clear.”

What the president and his acolytes have never learned is that what makes a great speech is not the way the speaker tilts his head, not the lilt in his voice, and not the quality of the stage props surrounding him. A great speech is made great by the idea behind it, and sadly, Barack Obama seldom has anything of value to convey. As evidence, consider the following baker’s dozen of the most dismal and ill-considered speeches he’s given so far.
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Orator Overrated: Ranking Obama’s worst speeches”

Daniel Clark - Democrats/Leftists - Elections - Government - Liberals

Label Them Liberal: No Labels, no honesty, no guts

September 22, 2011 by

-By Daniel Clark

You might remember a Peanuts strip in which scoutmaster Snoopy tries to teach his bird scouts a lesson in survival. “If I were lost in the woods, you know what I would do? I’d open this can of tennis balls,” he says. “You know why I’d open this can of tennis balls? Because, when I was packing my gear, I thought it was a tall can of soup.” That’s the sort of confusion that an organization calling itself “No Labels” is trying to inject into our political discourse.

No Labels, which claims to represent the “vital, civil center” of the political spectrum, aims to “overthrow the tyranny of hyper-partisanship that dominates our political culture today.” To that end, it tells politicians to “put aside their labels” and “check their preconditions at the door,” so that they can end “gridlock,” and get on with the business of solving problems.
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Label Them Liberal: No Labels, no honesty, no guts”

Business - Daniel Clark - Democrats/Leftists - Economy/Finances - Government - Liberals - Pennsylvania - Taxes

State Of Inebriation: PA Tries to Hold its Liquor

September 1, 2011 by

-By Daniel Clark

Eccentric Russian politician Vladimir Zhirinovsky once tried to win his country’s presidency by promising cheap vodka, “at every corner, around the clock.” Despite the populist appeal of that platform, he was not elected. Perhaps he should have been running for office in Pennsylvania, instead.

Here in the Keystone State, the sale of liquor has been the function of “state stores,” controlled by the Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board, ever since the end of prohibition. It’s an arrangement Zhirinovsky might have designed himself, resembling as it does the punch line to a Yakov Smirnoff joke: “In Russia, government drive you to get drunk; in Pennsylvania, you drive to government to get drunk.” Over the past several decades, governors from both parties have repeatedly tried to get the state out of the booze business, but have been consistently thwarted.

The latest effort is being led in the state legislature by Allegheny County Republican Mike Turzai. The PLCB and the United Food and Commercial Workers oppose his plan, contending that privatizing the liquor business would result in alcoholic beverages becoming more expensive and less accessible to consumers.
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State Of Inebriation: PA Tries to Hold its Liquor”

Abortion - Daniel Clark - Democrats/Leftists - Government - Liberals - Planned Parenthood - President

Ella’s End Run: HHS Decree Makes You Pay for Abortion

August 18, 2011 by

-By Daniel Clark

Using one of the many powers ceded to her by the Democrats’ health care law, Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius declared that a broad range of “women’s preventive services” must be covered by insurers, without any deductible or co-pay. Included under that heading are “all Food and Drug Administration approved contraceptive methods,” including so-called “morning-after pills” that often kill already fertilized human embryos.

They do this by preventing a newly created embryo from adhering to the uterine wall. Though lethal, this does not technically constitute an abortion. That’s because in an abortion, the thing being aborted is the pregnancy, not the fetus or embryo. If an embryo has not been conceived in the womb, there is no pregnancy, and therefore can be no abortion. Hence, a “morning-after pill” like Plan B can accurately be described as a contraceptive, in that it prevents conception in the womb, despite the fact that it kills an existing human embryo.

Last year, the FDA approved a drug called “ella” (chemical name: “ulipristal acetate”) to be used as a contraceptive, which qualifies it for inclusion among these essentially free services. The catch is that ella can also be used to kill a child who has already been conceived in the womb. That makes it an abortifacient, no matter how you slice the semantics. In fact, ella acts in the same way as mifepristone, a drug more commonly known as RU-486. By suppressing a hormone called progesterone, it not only prevents an embryo from implanting, but can also weaken the womb’s lining to the point that an already implanted embryo will detach itself and die of malnourishment.
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Ella’s End Run: HHS Decree Makes You Pay for Abortion”

Barack Obama - Budget - Business - Capitalism - Congress - Daniel Clark - Democrats/Leftists - Economy/Finances - Government - House of Representatives - Liberals - President - Republicans - Senate - Taxes

Starve The Swarms: or be Devoured by Gov’t Gluttony

August 2, 2011 by 1 Comment

-By Daniel Clark

Liberals often justify their disdain for our nation’s founding documents by saying that the men who wrote them could not have foreseen the way things are today. Our founders needed no foresight about bureaucratic tyranny, though, because they experienced it first hand, as illustrated in the Declaration of Independence.

Contained in that document is one indictment of King George that is especially relevant today: “He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harass our people and eat out their substance.” If rewritten in the first person, this passage could have been used in an Obama campaign ad.

As tumbleweeds continue to bounce across America’s economic landscape, Washington has become a boomtown, thanks to a gusher of new government jobs. According to Labor Department statistics, the federal workforce expanded by 7 percent during President Obama’s first two years in office, while private sector employment declined by 2.6 percent.
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Starve The Swarms: or be Devoured by Gov’t Gluttony”

Christianity - Daniel Clark - PCism - Religion - Society/Culture - Western Civilization

The ‘Reason’ Excuse: FFRF Practices Political Religion

July 16, 2011 by

-By Daniel Clark

If you’ve been reading the papers lately, you’re probably aware that the Freedom From Religion Foundation is becoming increasingly busy. The Wisconsin-based atheist organization has backed an unsuccessful attempt by one of its honorary board members, Michael Newdow, to remove the words “under God” from the Pledge of Allegiance. It has also been trying to ban national and state Days of Prayer, and was involved in a controversy when one of its anti-God billboards was, apparently inadvertently, placed on church property.

In one episode that borders on self-parody, FFRF succeeded in having a plaque that said “Only God can make a tree” removed from a tree in a county park. Just how grotesquely has the First Amendment been warped, that “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof,” is now taken to mean that religiously influenced poetic allusions are banned from public places? Is FFRF aware that Joyce Kilmer’s poetry can also be found in public libraries? Fahrenheit 451, here we come.

The atheists at FFRF like to flatter themselves as “freethinkers” who are guided by “reason,” as if their godlessness had been derived through a factual analysis. There are some questions that human beings simply lack the wherewithal to factually answer. Evidence to support the various hypotheses about the origin of life, for example, is so scarce that reason cannot compel a belief in any one of them. The conclusion that any of them is correct requires a belief in something for which there is no proof — which is to say, faith.
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The ‘Reason’ Excuse: FFRF Practices Political Religion”

Conservatives - Daniel Clark - George W. Bush - GOP - Government - President

Unmisrememberizing Dubya: GOP Should Reclaim GWB

July 3, 2011 by

-By Daniel Clark

In a June 21st piece at National Review Online, Rich Lowry suggests that Republicans are becoming increasingly disdainful of former president George W. Bush. He’s probably right about that, and it’s a shame.

Conservatives have always had our differences with Bush, which is why we were unenthusiastic about him during the 2000 primaries, despite his being opposed by a fairly weak field of candidates. Bush was liberal on illegal immigration. He was already promising massive new federal spending on education. He insulted his own voting base by declaring himself to be a “compassionate conservative,” a term seemingly derived from his father’s “kinder, gentler” drivel. He foresaw a more active role for government than any Republican presidential nominee ever should.

Still, we knew all this about him before he even won the nomination. It’s not as if he, in liberal parlance, “grew” in office, like Richard Nixon did. The Dubya who was inaugurated in 2001 was the same Dubya who left office in 2009. It’s not logical for mainstream conservatives who supported him during his reelection campaign to now denounce him as if he’d been their enemy all along. Unless they’ve been listening to the pollsters, that is.
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Unmisrememberizing Dubya: GOP Should Reclaim GWB”

Anti-Americanism - Business - Capitalism - Daniel Clark - Democrats/Leftists - Economy/Finances - GOP - Liberals - PCism - Society/Culture - Western Civilization

Mattel Lacks Mettle: Another Victim of Liberal ‘Dialogue’

June 25, 2011 by 1 Comment

-By Daniel Clark

In September of 2000, Republican congresswoman Helen Chenoweth-Hage of Idaho attended a public hearing about wildfires at the University of Montana. It was there that a young environmentalist stormed to the front of the lecture hall, shouted, “you are the greatest threat to the forest,” and struck her with a pie filled with rotten salmon. After his removal, a recess had to be called so that Rep. Chenoweth-Hage could clean all the fishy bits out of her hair and clothing. That’s what happens to people who try to sit down and reason with liberal activists.

This is a lesson that corporate executives never seem to learn. Every time some interest group demands to have a “dialogue,” they come running to show their eagerness to get along. In the end, they always get walloped with the proverbial rancid salmon pie, but they never see it coming, no matter how often it happens. The latest example of this involves a protest by Greenpeace against Mattel, manufacturer of the Barbie doll. If the connection between the two is not apparent to you, that’s only because you are sane.

Eight Greenpeace members rappelled down the side of the company’s headquarters, and unfurled a banner featuring Barbie’s boyfriend Ken, saying, “Barbie, it’s over. I don’t date girls that are into deforestation.” The accusation is that the packaging Mattel uses for its dolls is destroying the “rain forests.”
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Mattel Lacks Mettle: Another Victim of Liberal ‘Dialogue’”

Anti-Americanism - Children - Climate Change - Daniel Clark - Democrats/Leftists - Education - Environment - Government - Home Schooling - Liberals - Nanny State

Tying One On: ‘Green Ribbon Schools’ Defy Sobriety

June 4, 2011 by

-By Daniel Clark

Our federal Department of Education has got a lot to worry about, if it chooses to do so. American students now rank only 48th in math and science, according to the latest survey by the World Economic Forum. History textbooks are riddled with factual errors. Language skills, already suffering from decades of rot under “whole language” theory, must now contend with the corrosive influences of text messaging and social media.

High school education has grown so insufficient that remedial courses are now taught at many universities. Public schools are often unsafe, as well as ineffective, prompting parents to try to help their children escape with the help of school vouchers. Home schooling has become an attractive option to more and more people, who have generally produced superior academic performances to those of the government schools.

So what’s a man like Education Secretary Arne Duncan to do? Why, initiate a “Green Ribbon Schools” project “to recognize schools that are creating healthy and sustainable learning environments and teaching environmental literacy,” of course.
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Tying One On: ‘Green Ribbon Schools’ Defy Sobriety”

Animal Rights - Daniel Clark - Democrats/Leftists - Ethics - Government - Liberals - PCism - PETA - Rights - Society/Culture - Western Civilization

Petulance: Animal Ethicists are Just More Liberal Killjoys

May 26, 2011 by

-By Daniel Clark

“I am not an animal! I am a human being!”

That John Merrick, what a bigot. Didn’t he realize that by claiming superiority over other creatures, he was being speciesist? Too bad there weren’t any “animal ethicists” around in those days to set him straight.

A new pseudo-academic periodical called the Journal of Animal Ethics claims that much of the language we use in reference to our furry friends is demeaning and exploitative, and may even contribute to animal cruelty. Among the chief offenders, believe it or not, is the word “pet.” Actually, they might have a point there. Andy Capp and Flo address each other as “pet” all the time, just before proceeding to beat the fish and chips out of each other.
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Petulance: Animal Ethicists are Just More Liberal Killjoys”

Anti-Americanism - Chicago - Children - Cook County - Daniel Clark - Democrats/Leftists - Education - Government - Liberals - Society/Culture - Taxes - Teachers Unions - Unions - Western Civilization

Totalitarianism For Tots: School lunches are just a start

May 10, 2011 by 1 Comment

-By Daniel Clark

The prohibition on bagged lunches at Chicago’s Little Village Academy elementary school was not the result of Michelle Obama’s culinary reign of terror, as was widely assumed when it was first reported by the Chicago Tribune. In reality, the ban had been unilaterally enacted six years ago by principal Elsa Carmona. So, although there may be one little tyrant presiding over one little school, it is not indicative of a broader, nationwide campaign. Or is it?

Carmona’s edict has just become newsworthy because of the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act, signed by President Obama in December. That law has imposed far stricter nutritional standards on school lunches, while at the same time rejecting all standards of edibility. Because the kids won’t want to eat the gruesome grub, Little Village’s forbidding them from bringing lunches from home may lead to their refusing to eat lunch at all.

While touting the new rules, the White House posted a sample of a weekly elementary school lunch menu online. If we fed many of these same items to the terrorist detainees at Guantanamo, the ACLU and Amnesty International would scream brutality, and for once they’d have a point.
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Totalitarianism For Tots: School lunches are just a start”

Barack Obama - Daniel Clark - Democrats/Leftists - Elections - Government - Liberals - President

HRC-ing Things: Making a Mountain out of Hillary

April 21, 2011 by

-By Daniel Clark

Now that President Obama has formally announced his candidacy for reelection, speculation has begun swirling about a possible primary challenge from Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, despite her having told CNN’s Wolf Blitzer in no uncertain terms that she would not run.

It’s not surprising that people dismiss her statement on the matter, since denials of presidential ambition are among the most frequently broken political promises, and Mrs. Clinton was not exactly renowned for her candor during her years as first lady. What’s so curious is that people believe she’s capable of winning the nomination over the incumbent president, when in reality she’s the one politician in the weakest position from which to challenge him.

As her husband’s “co-president,” Hillary tried unsuccessfully to establish so-called “universal health care,” as Obama has since done. She cannot now appeal to big-government liberals by saying she agrees with Obama, but wasn’t competent to produce the same result. Nor could she gain much traction among the Obama plan’s critics on the basis of her failure to implement it. Thus, Obama’s greatest domestic policy liability would be nullified.
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HRC-ing Things: Making a Mountain out of Hillary”

Daniel Clark - Democrats/Leftists - Government - Liberals

Inexact Science: Liberals’ Words Reveal Their Ignorance

April 5, 2011 by

-By Daniel Clark

If there’s ever a time that liberals are more dishonest than when they claim to defend the Constitution, it’s when they pose as the embodiment of scientific integrity. Because they accuse their conservative opponents of “fearing science,” liberals presume the unconditional endorsement of a fictitious character they call “science” for anything they say. Perhaps because of this self-assuredness, they feel no responsibility to be precise in their terminology, as they would if they truly held science in such high esteem.

The most recent example of this has come in response to Republican efforts to strip the Environmental Protection Agency of the power to regulate carbon dioxide emissions. Henry Waxman of California denounced the notion as “anti-science,” and “a know-nothing, do-nothing approach,” as if science had dictated that quasi-legislative powers be given to the unaccountable wonks at the EPA.

Waxman’s fellow Democrat Ed Markey of Massachusetts satirically sniffed, “I’m worried that Republicans will overturn the law of gravity, sending us floating about the room.” If he and his colleagues really had been sent floating, it wouldn’t have been from a lack of gravity, but from the fact that their noggins are filled with gaseous liberal pretension.
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Inexact Science: Liberals’ Words Reveal Their Ignorance”

Conservatives - Daniel Clark - Elections - GOP - Government - Karl Rove - Republicans

Karljacked: Rove’s Attack Against Palin is Petty

March 16, 2011 by

-By Daniel Clark

If Karl Rove doesn’t think Sarah Palin would make a good presidential candidate, he could have made a reasonable case for his point of view, as could be made against any other potential candidate being considered. The criticism he offered during a recent interview with New York magazine, however, says a lot more about him than it does her.

Rove pointed to Palin’s TV show, Sarah Palin’s Alaska, as being beneath the dignity of a presidential candidate. Referencing a scene from the program, he mimicked the ex-governor saying, “Holy crap! That fish hit my thigh! It hurts!” Then he asked, “How does that make us comfortable seeing her in the Oval Office?”

So she should be disqualified from the presidency for saying “crap?” Has Rove forgotten what his former boss, George W. Bush, said about New York Times correspondent Adam Clymer during the 2000 campaign? Or what Vice President Cheney said to Sen. Patrick Leahy on the Senate floor? How about John Kerry’s premeditated f-bombing in a Rolling Stone interview?
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Karljacked: Rove’s Attack Against Palin is Petty”

Daniel Clark - Democrats/Leftists - GOP - Government - Republicans - Ron Paul

MoveOn Ron: Time to Stop Humoring Rep. Paul

March 3, 2011 by

-By Daniel Clark

During the 2008 Republican presidential primary campaign, Texas congressman Ron Paul repeatedly blamed the 9-11 attacks on America’s foreign policy. So why do conservatives continue to tolerate him?

The more outrageous Paul’s pronouncements have become, the more conservative pundits have felt the need to praise him for the stands he’s taken on economic issues. It’s as if they think they can select his policies a la carte, leaving the noxious ones behind like the turkey bacon at a breakfast buffet. It doesn’t really work that way, of course. When you accept somebody, you also accept his bad points, which in Paul’s case are horrid.

Some left-wing bloggers have fantasized about a third-party ticket that would pair Paul with Dennis Kucinich, the UFO-spotting, vegan Democrat from Ohio, who had proposed to impeach President Bush and Vice President Cheney over the war in Iraq. Not only did Paul not discourage this speculation, but he boasted that he and Kucinich had often cooperated on defense-related issues.
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MoveOn Ron: Time to Stop Humoring Rep. Paul”

Abortion - Children - Crime - Daniel Clark - Democrats/Leftists - Government - Liberals - Planned Parenthood

Gosnell’s Guardians: Philly killer had plenty of help

February 24, 2011 by

-By Daniel Clark

News accounts of Philadelphia abortionist Kermit Gosnell have portrayed him as an isolated lunatic, who committed acts so heinous that nobody else in his profession could have dreamt they were happening. That’s an understandable perception, but is it true?

The district attorney’s report on Gosnell’s “Women’s Medical Society” included a rebuke of the Pennsylvania Health Department, which had discontinued inspections of abortion clinics during the mid-90s. “Even nail salons in Pennsylvania are monitored more closely for client safety,” it says. This period of inaction has coincided with the administrations of two pro-abortion governors, Republican Tom Ridge and Democrat Ed Rendell, who must have felt that health inspections would place an “undue burden” on the “fundamental right” to abortion.
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Gosnell’s Guardians: Philly killer had plenty of help”

Abortion - Anti-Americanism - Children - Congress - Constitution - Crime - Daniel Clark - Democrats/Leftists - Government - House of Representatives - Liberals - Planned Parenthood - Senate

Rare, As In Bloody: Abortion Booms in Blue States

February 9, 2011 by

-By Daniel Clark

As every good liberal pretends to know, the cause of high abortion rates is religious conservatives’ refusal to cooperate with “family planning” advocates, toward the supposedly common goal of reducing the number of abortions. If only those snake-handling bumpkins would see the wisdom in making abortion “safe, legal and rare,” the argument goes, fewer abortions would be “necessary.” Thus, the liberal media explain, those simple-minded anti-abortion activists are unwittingly defeating their own cause.

It follows, then, that abortion rates should be lowest in places where social conservatives have the least influence. Then why aren’t they? According to New York City’s Department of Health, 41 percent of all pregnancies there end in abortion. Planned Parenthood, feigning displeasure with that figure, is blaming it on the city schools for not embracing its preferred sex education curriculum. So you see, even in one of the most liberal cities in America, the frequency of abortion is the fault of those meddlesome right-wing Christians, as usual.
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Rare, As In Bloody: Abortion Booms in Blue States”