More Economic Bad News, Congress Asks About Firing Of Terrorism Expert And The Politics Of Race And Sex

The ripples are already being felt around the world. But is anyone watching and really paying attention? Check out the following from Yahoo News:

Asian markets plunged Wednesday on growing speculation the U.S. economy -- a vital export market -- is sliding into a recession that could lead to a global slowdown. Investors dumped stocks after an overnight sell-off on Wall Street and on news that Citigroup Inc. had lost nearly $10 billion in the fourth quarter as it wrote down mountains of bad mortgage assets -- the latest fallout from the credit crisis. Weak U.S. retail sales figures added to the gloom. ... In Hong Kong, the benchmark Hang Seng index sank 5.4 percent -- its biggest percentage drop since the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks -- to 24,450.85. Tokyo's Nikkei 225 index fell 3.4 percent to 13,504.51 points, its lowest in more than two years. Markets in Australia, China, India, South Korea, New Zealand and the Philippines also dropped sharply on uncertainty about the U.S. economic outlook and the full extent of the subprime mortgage crisis.

The signs are all there. What more do you need? Call you financial advisor and ask about how you can weather the coming storm. It will not be a small one.

You can access the complete article on-line here:

Asian Stock Markets Plunge
Dikky Sinn
Associated Press via Yahoo News
January 16, 2008

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Those who practice the idiotic philosophy of political correctness are going to get hundreds, if not thousands, of people hurt or killed. Jeopardizing the safety of American citizens seems to be of no concern to some, especially if that is the price we have to pay for not offending some particular group. From Cybercast News Service:

Members of Congress are seeking more information regarding the firing of a top terrorism expert at the Pentagon following reports that he was dismissed for being too critical of Islamic law. Earlier this month, the Pentagon Joint Staff told Stephen Coughlin, a specialist on Islamic law at the Pentagon, that his contract would not be renewed in March. The firing apparently resulted from pressure by pro-Muslim officials working in the Department of Defense, according to numerous news reports. Meanwhile, members of Congress have not had much success in getting answers from the Pentagon either, said Rep. Sue Myrick (R-N.C.), co-chair of the bi-partisan House Anti-Terrorism Caucus.

Why is this necessary? Becasue of this:

Coughlin - who supporters say had one of the most important jobs in analyzing how Jihadists think -- crossed Hasham Islam, an aide to Deputy Defense Secretary Gordon England, according The Washington Times. The paper reported, without attribution, that the aide told Coughlin to "soften his view" on radical Islam. When Coughlin refused, Hasham Islam called him a Christian zealot "with a pen," according to the report. The incomplete reports and near silence from the Pentagon creates the need to get at the truth, Myrick said.

But apparently, all Coughlin did was state the obvious about a religion that is inherently violent:

Coughlin's 333-page thesis, " To Our Great Detriment: Ignoring What Extremists Say About Jihad," was accepted last year by the National Defense Intelligence College. The report describes an Islamic culture that teaches violence from an early age. It says, for instance, "So how does one explain the prevailing assumption that Islam does not stand for such violence undertaken in its name with the fact that its laws and education materials validate the very acts undertaken by 'extremists' in Iraq?" And continues, "The first 'radicalizing' lessons Saudi youth receive that motivates them to travel to Iraq and fight coalition forces does not come from 'extremist' groups like al Qaeda, but rather is taught as part of Saudi Arabia's standard secondary school curriculum." The sentiments of Coughlin's research apparently were too much for some in the Pentagon, said Andrew Bostom, an author and lecturer on Islam, who has known Coughlin for more than three years.

So, according to some misguided fools, it is better to ignore the problem altogether rather than at least admit that the problem exists?

You can access the complete article on-line here:

Congressmen Seek Answers About Terror Expert's Firing
Fred Lucas
CNSNews.com Staff Writer
January 16, 2008

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And finally, we have a very insightful column by Kathleen Parker from TownHall. For decades, the Dems have built their party around race-baiting and sex-baiting in the hopes to a) capture the black and women's vote and b) play on the collective white/masculine guilt of America.

From her column:

Despite their protests to the contrary, both Obama and Clinton have been playing to their respective demographics. Obama hasn't overtly made his campaign about race, but he didn't have to. In Clintonian tradition, he has let surrogates make the case for him. Oprah Winfrey laid it out plainly enough when she told a throng in Columbia, S.C.: "We don't have to just dream the dream anymore. We get to vote that dream into reality. I believe that now is the time for somebody like Barack Obama." "Somebody like Barack" and "the dream" don't require much elaboration. The dream was the Rev. Martin Luther King's, of a future when blacks and whites lived in harmony. And though Obama is unique in his broad appeal, Winfrey was clearly urging voters to put an African-American in the White House. For her part, Clinton has insisted that women shouldn't vote for her just because of gender. "I am not asking you to vote for me because I am a woman," she told a crowd in New Hampshire. "I am asking you to vote for me because I believe I am the most qualified person to hit the ground running in 2009." Except when she is urging women to vote for her because she's a woman. Speaking at her all-female alma mater, Wellesley College, Clinton called upon women to rally against "the all-boys club of presidential politics. We're ready to shatter that highest glass ceiling."

But in order to be a victim, you have to have come from a victim's background, which neither Clinton nor Obama can claim. As such, they have to re-invent themselves as victims and play to their own fabricated victimhood. But that means that each one must now pit their own "victimhood" against the other's. Not a good combo, especially considering how blatantly the Dems pander to such "victims." It will split their party.

Of course, an election should be about issues, but the Dems have yet to offer any real soultions to any of the most important issues (economy, immigration, terrorism, etc.).

In the end, the Democratic Party may be hostage to its own noble intentions. By co-opting equality as their party's identity and making victimhood their rallying cry, the battle for race and gender necessarily has become a fight between race and gender. If a Clinton victory is viewed as a victory for all women, then her defeat can only be viewed as a defeat for women. The same goes for Obama and African-Americans. It shouldn't be about race and gender, but it is. And the Democratic Party made it this way.

You can access the complete column on-line here:

The Perils of Pandering
Kathleen Parker
TownHall.com
January 16, 2008

Are Polls Worth Anything? And A Recession On the Horizon?

It is damn near impossible to turn on a TV news show, or pick up a newspaper or magazine without hearing or reading the words "According to the latest poll ..." I get sick and tired of it for the simple fact that no one from Gallup or Rasmussen or Zogby has ever polled me. Nor have they ever polled any of my friends or family.

What gives? We are average people with average lives. Aren't we the very type of people that the polls claim to represent?

Well, yes, but the polls almost never reflect our views. Why?

Because polls can be manipulated and twisted, that's why.

Writing for Human Events Online, Timothy P. Carney has this:

Pollsters don’t just call a random, representative sample of the electorate and tally up their responses. They make many assumptions: how many independents will vote, who counts as a “likely voter,” how many seniors will vote, and so on. If the pollster’s sample has 15% senior citizens, but he estimates that seniors will comprise 20% of the electorate, he will weight his results. There’s tons of guessing and tweaking. A couple of tweaks in the wrong direction, and you’ve got the wrong guy winning.

And it is not just the guesswork that should be questioned, it is the geography of the demographics as well. For example, if I took a poll of 5000 inner-city residents across the United States, I could rightly claim that it was a nationwide poll. But did the results actually reflect the nation as a whole? Not likely.

Thus, it can clearly be seen that Carney's most profound observation is right on the mark: Polling is an art, not a science.

Carney also offers three pieces of advice, of which the first is most important:

Basically, don’t trust polls.

You can access the complete article on-line here:

Why The Polls Were Wrong In New Hampshire
Timothy P. Carney
Human Events Online
January 14, 2008

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I know, most people don't like to talk about a slowing economy if they can avoid it. In fact, back before the big crash of 1929, people absolutely refused to listen to any naysayers who would question the strength of the U.S. economy during the 1920's. Well, they got a pretty big shock on Black Thursday (or Black Tuesday depending on when you think the Great Depression kicked off).

Irwin M. Stelzer, writing for the Weekly Standard has a few observations about the current market trends:

Economists and analysts are rushing to revise their 2008 forecasts, and journalists are competing for page one placements with scary stories about evicted homeowners sleeping in the streets, and consumers filing for bankruptcy. Western singer Kris Kristofferson did not have fallen CEOs and other investment bankers in mind in mind when he sang about the man who "Once ... had a future full of money, love, and dreams, which he spent like they was goin' out of style," but it is an apt description of many shell-shocked bankers and investors. They have reason to worry. Oil finally hit $100 per barrel, sending share prices tumbling, gold prices soaring in anticipation of renewed inflation, and developing nations deeper into poverty. Food prices continue their upward trajectory and, combined with gasoline prices that are due to break new records, are reducing consumer discretionary-spending power to a mere shadow of its former self. Latest surveys suggest that even soaring exports will not keep the U.S. manufacturing sector from slowing down, with falling sales of autos a particular drag. So desperate are dealers to clear inventory-laden lots that one has taken out a magazine ad offering 12-year financing to anyone who thinks he can afford the gasoline guzzled by one of the Rolls Royces sitting on his lot. Most important, last month the unemployment rate soared from 4.7 percent to 5 percent, with more industries losing than gaining jobs.

I think there is reason for concern. So, one of my New Year's Resolutions is to have a nice long talk with my financial advisor and figure out a strategy. No, I am not going to do any kind of advertising here. I am simply offering the advice that now is the time to start thinking about a major economic downturn and how to ride it out.

More:

We know, too, that as the greenback depreciates in value, foreign central banks are less and less inclined to keep stores of pictures of American presidents in their vaults, and more interested in diversifying their currency holdings. The dollar's share of central banks' holdings of foreign reserves has fallen from 66.5 percent to 63.8 percent in the past year. Equally important, oil-producing nations, which until now have accepted dollars-for-crude, and have pegged their currencies to the dollar, are finding it increasingly difficult to hold to that policy. The dollars they are getting, which they use to pay the large foreign workforces on which their work-shy citizens rely, buy less and less when remitted to the wives and families of these workers. That is causing social discontent of the sort that horrifies the ruling classes in the Arab countries. My guess is they will begin pegging their own currencies to a basket of currencies that includes the dollar, but in which the euro is importantly represented. A negative impact on U.S. influence in the region is one possible consequence.

And that all points to trouble. Now, the U.S. economy will survive but how well individual citizens weather the storm will depend on who takes the situation seriously.

You can access the complete column on-line here:

Uncertainty Reigns
Irwin M. Stelzer
The Weekly Standard
January 8, 2008

Do You Know The Ingedients Of The Big Mac Better Than The Ten Commandments?

How well do you know the Ten Commandments? According to an October 4, 2007 article of the Catholic News Service survey, more than half of the participants could name the ingredients in a Big Mac, but less than half could recite the Ten Commandments.

From the article:

In truth, the Big Mac has advantages. There are only seven ingredients to remember, and they have a catchy jingle behind them. McDonald's Corp. has poured enough money into commercials that the decades-old jingle remains familiar today. The survey of 1,000 Americans, by Kelton Research, was undertaken to help promote the new animated movie "The Ten Commandments," which will open on 700 screens nationwide Oct. 19. Voice talents featured in the movie include Ben Kingsley as the narrator, Christian Slater as Moses, Alfred Molina as Ramses and Elliott Gould as the voice of God. The vast majority of those surveyed could easily name the primary ingredients in a Big Mac: two all-beef patties (80 percent), lettuce (76 percent), sesame-seed bun (75 percent), special sauce (66 percent), pickles (62 percent) and cheese (60 percent). By comparison, "You shall not kill" was known to fewer than six in 10 respondents. Less than half (45 percent) could recall the commandment to "Honor your father and mother." Even those who said they go to church at least once a week had trouble naming all of the commandments. Seventy percent recalled "You shall not kill" and 69 percent remembered "You shall not steal" but the Big Mac's all-beef patties and lettuce got more recognition from the survey group (79 and 76 percent, respectively).

I must confess than I too am guilty of knowing the Big Mac ingredients better than the Ten Commandments. Back in the 70's, McDonalds ran commercials offering free Big Macs to everyone that could name all of the ingredients in three seconds or less. Me and my friends practiced all the time.

Perhaps I should have paid more attention to my CCD studies and tried to go through all Ten Commandments in 10 seconds or less.

If you are like me an need a refresher, here are the Ten commandments given to Moses by God according to Exodus, Chapter 20:

- "I, the Lord, am your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, that place of slavery. You shall not have other gods besides me." - "You shall not take the name of the Lord, your God, in vain." - "Remember to keep holy the Sabbath day." - "Honor your father and your mother." - "You shall not kill." - "You shall not commit adultery." - "You shall not steal." - "You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor." - "You shall not covet your neighbor's house." - "You shall not covet your neighbor's wife, nor his male or female slave, nor his ox or ass, or anything else that belongs to him."

You can access the complete article on-line here:

Survey: More Americans Know Big Mac Ingredients Than Ten Commandments
Mark Pattison
Catholic Online
October 4, 2007

Global Warming Causes ... Snow? A Look At Grass Roots Republicans

Noel Sheppard over at NewsBusters made an interesting observation. He noticed that Al Gore and his followers are using the term "Global Warming" less and less and the term "Climate Change" more and more. Why would that be?

Perhaps because Global Warming Theory has failed in just about every prediction it made. Hurricanes weren't as bad as predicted and the planet has not heated up as predicted. The Global Warming crowd was starting to look like a bunch of hysterical fools. So, they came up with a new term to try and scare the living bejeezus out of everyone: "Climate Change."

Here is what Noel has to say:

Add another item to the growing list of things caused by the liberal bogeyman known as global warming: SNOW!!! I kid you not.

What brought this about? Snow fell in Baghdad, Iraq for the first time in 100 years. Even though anamolous weather has occurred since the beginning of time, modern day charlatans are trying to blame it on something else:

You see, what the alarmists - led of course by Nobel Laureate Al Gore - have brilliantly done is renamed the bogeyman "climate change" such that anything that occurs on this planet dealing with weather exemplifies the threat they avow will destroy us all if we don't stop burning fossil fuels: The director of the meteorology department, Dawood Shakir, told AFP that climate change was possibly to blame for the unusual event. "It's very rare," he said. "Baghdad has never seen snow falling in living memory. "These snowfalls are linked to the climate change that is happening everywhere. We are finding some places in the world which are warm and are supposed to be cold."

Or it could be the result of the sun going through a change in energy output and the combined dynamics of several newly discovered solar cycles which in turn cause anamolous weather patterns here on the earth as the amount of energy our atmosphere absorbs from the sun varies from year to year. (Anyone ever wonder where wind comes from?)

Of course, Al Gore and Old Media have been ignoring all of this every chance they get.

You can access the complete column on-line here:

Climate Change Blamed For First Baghdad Snows In 100 Years
Noel Sheppard
NewsBusters.org
January 11, 2008

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Michael Reagan looks at what a grass-roots Republican effort can do and what it has done. His latest column is about how his father, Ronald Reagan, accomplished so much back in the late 70's/early 80's.

He writes:

Nobody has focused on building the Republican Party since Ronald Reagan took on the job. My dad won the presidency because he worked to build the party from the ground up from 1976 to 1980. He went out there and he supported local congressional and senatorial candidates, and many other Republicans at the local and state level. Electing them required an army of workers at the grass roots, and through his efforts in many states where the Republican Party had been all but absent at the local level the party now had a grassroots organization capable of spreading the GOP gospel and getting out the vote on Election Day. As a result, when he decided to make a second try at winning the White House in 1980, he had a huge core group of supporters in place at the grass roots ready to help him. The point is my dad went out and did the hard work required to build a winning organization, which became such a key part of the Reagan revolution because it was at the level where the majority of Americans live.

Yes, President Reagan certainly did. It is yet another reason why he was known as the "Great Communicator."

Michael goes on:

Today -- especially after the debacle of 2006 when the Democrats took control of both houses of Congress -- the GOP is in shambles. The great coalition my dad built is history, and in vast areas of the country the GOP exists at the local level in name only. Ask yourself just how many of the current crop of Republican presidential candidates have spent the last four, six or eight years working out there in the states helping to elect Republican congressional candidates and local and state officials and in the process helping to rebuild the grass roots? How many have followed the example Richard Nixon set after his defeat in the 1960 presidential election and in his later campaign to win the California governorship? Instead of retiring to California and licking his wounds, he spent the next six years tirelessly crisscrossing the country working to elect Republican congressional and state and local candidates and as a result, by 1968 he had a vast network of GOP grass-roots organizations that helped elect him and other GOP candidates. That's the kind of work you have to do to create a national political party, but it has been sadly lacking in recent years. It needs to go on not just in election years, but in between elections. It's a full-time job.

Yes, it is. Right now, our hope is that those of us working in New Media (bloggers, talk radio, website forums, etc.) have been quietly doing the grass-roots work necessary to build the GOP back up, but none of our candidates seem to realize this.

President Reagan's philosophy for the GOP was a good one, a winning one. It doesn't matter if it is old. As one of Murphy's Laws reminds us: "If it's stupid but it works, it ain't stupid!" A good corollary to that is: "If it's old but still works, it ain't stupid!"

You can access the complete column on-line here:

A Party Turned Upside-Down
Michael Reagan
GOPUSA.com
January 11, 2008

More Leftist Bias From CBS, Dems Support Fraud Voter And Congressional Pay Raise

The Dan Ra^ther fake National Guard documents story is still the leading example of how Old Media uses its broadcast power to influence elections on behalf of the left. But CBS hasn't learned the lesson about being fair and objective. Newsbusters has a story about how CBS newsreaders fell all over themselves to criticize the income tax proposals from the GOP candidate pool, but gave no criticism at all for proposals coming from the Dems.

From the article:

Thursday's CBS Evening News took a look at the economic and tax plans for some of the candidates from both parties, but, while Democratic plans were reported without any references to criticism, correpondent Chip Reid took jabs at Republican tax cut plans, labeling that of Mitt Romney, who "made a fortune in business," as being "right out of the playbooks of Ronald Reagan and George Bush." Reid further suggested that Mike Huckabee's plan for a national sales tax contradicts his "populist" message of "protecting the middle class," as the CBS correspondent neglected to mention that Huckabee's plan would also abolish the federal income tax and provide rebates to those with lower incomes. ... Reid went on to report economic plans of Democrats Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama and John Edwards without mentioning any potential down sides to raising the minimum wage or to raising taxes on the wealthy. Reid: "The Democrats' economic game plan is dramatically different. ... They say what's needed is help for the middle class, not for corporations and the wealthy."

Reid never mentions the fact that raising taxes depresses an economy and causes a loss of jobs due to inadequate capital for job creation. He also never mentions the fact that ultimately, all tax hikes are paid for by the middle class. This is typical of a leftist-socialist who doesn't understand the dynamics of a robust economy.

CBS is apparently stumping for the Dems by witholding crucial information about the effects increased taxes will have on our economy while simultaneously handing out standard leftist innuendo about tax cuts.

You can access the complete article on-line here:

CBS Takes Jabs At GOP Tax Plans, Reports Dem Plans Without Criticism
Brad Wilmouth
NewsBusters.org
January 10, 2008

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Neal Boortz has an interesting tidbit about the Dem's poster child for striking down Indiana's Voter ID law. It seems that 72-year-old Faye Buis-Ewing is in violation of the law when it comes to voting.

According to Nealz Newz:

She has become a "poster child" for the disenfranchised voter that will be protected under a voting system with no ID requirements. But now we've discovered one minor problem. Not only is Faye registered to vote, but she is registered in two different states. She claims two states as her primary residence. She received a homestead exemption on her property taxes ... in two different states. In other words, the leftist poster girl for their fight against voter identification laws is a criminal. What a shame. Faye could not only vote, but she could technically vote more than the average citizen registered in only one state! She explains that she and her husband "winter in Florida and summer in Indiana." Isn't that sweet? She says that she has never voted in Florida, but she has a Florida driver's license. And when she went to vote in Indiana in November 2006 with her Florida driver's license, they, logically, did not accept it. Doesn't seem like rocket science to me! But hey, this is the average voter we are speaking of. Now the League of Women Voters (I'm sure they are my biggest fans) say this experience is exactly the reason the law should be changed. No, ladies .... That is exactly the reason why the law should be upheld! I'll bet dollars to doughnuts that Faye is voting for Hillary Clinton. Maybe twice.

Now, I'll bet that if it were the Republicans trying to do away with the Indiana law, this story would be all over Old Media.

You can access the complete story on-line here:

Voter ID Law
Neal Boortz
Boortz.com
January 11, 2008

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Some people around the country are starting to worry about their employment propects due to a deteriorating economy. But members of Congress are above all of that. Despite a record low approval rating, they are getting a $4000 pay raise.

From the Associated Press:

Lawmakers in 2008 will receive salaries of $169,300, a boost of $4,100 over the pay they have lived with since January 2006. That 2.5 percent increase is mirrored by similar raises for associate justices of the Supreme Court, who will see their pay go from $203,000 to $208,100, and Chief Justice John Roberts, whose pay will rise to $217,400 from $212,100. The salary figures were published in Tuesday's edition of the Federal Register. Last year was the first since 1999, when the pay was $136,700, that members of Congress did not receive a cost-of-living allowance raise along with other federal employees. Democrats, newly elected to the majority, had vowed to block an increase in their paychecks until Congress raised the minimum wage. With the minimum wage increase accomplished last year, House Democratic leaders joined with their Republican counterparts to oppose a procedural vote to bring the COLA issue to the floor, leaving the way clear for their automatic raise.

Interesting that they do more to put people out of work than any other group in the nation, and they get a pay raise for it.

You can access the complete article on-line here:

Congress Members Get $4,000 Pay Raise
Jim Abrams
Associated Press via GOPUSA.com
January 10, 2008

Employer Of Illegal Alien Murder Suspect Arrested And The Immigration Mess

It's news stories like this that don't get reported enough in Old Media. Apparently, Old Media newsreaders are more interested in being politically correct rather than giving their audiences a full picture of the news.

Here's what happened: An illegal named Juan Leonardo Quintero allegedly shot and killed a Houston police officer, Rodney Johnson, back in September of 2006. Quintero is charged with capital murder for the crime.

But wait until you read about Quintero's employer, Robert Lane Camp. According to the Houston Chronicle:

Court documents show that Robert Lane Camp, 47, went to considerable lengths to help Juan Leonardo Quintero and keep him on the job at his Deer Park landscaping company before the September 2006 killing of officer Rodney Johnson. In August 1998, Camp posted a $10,000 bond for Quintero after he was jailed on an indecency with a child charge and hired an attorney to defend him. After the worker was deported in May 1999, Camp sent him money in Mexico and later bought him a plane ticket from Phoenix to Houston after Quintero re-entered through Arizona illegally, according to an affidavit by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent. Camp then purchased a house in Houston and rented it to Quintero.

All of this to get cheap, tax-free labor from an illegal alien.

How much was it worth to Camp? So far, it was worth a child's innocence and possibly the life of a police officer.

Any more questions on why we need to crack down on illegals and those who employ them?

You can access the complete article on-line here:

Employer Of Murder Suspect Arrested
James Pinkerton and Diane Schiller
The Houston Chronicle
January 10, 2008

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And Victor David Hanson looks at the illegal immigrant issue more closely in his latest column. From Pimetime Politics:

Some time ago, supporters of open borders lost the debate. The majority of Americans want them closed — now! They ignore the tired slurs like "anti-immigrant," "racist," "protectionist" and "nativist." And noisy May Day parades with Mexican flags and heated rhetoric from the National Council of La Raza ("The Race") only turn more people off. It doesn’t do any good, either, for a Mexico City functionary to cry about how mean we are to want a secure border with Mexico. Most Americans also tuned that out long ago. They know instead that Mexico cares mostly about sending north those it won't or can't feed and house — so it can skim off from them billions in remittances once they arrive in the United States. Mexico City, of course, could reform the country's laws and economy whenever it wants. But it changes only enough to draw in tourists or Americans looking to buy vacation homes, not to better the lives of millions of its mestizo poor in the heartland. ... Nowadays, worry about illegal immigration is just as likely to mean that African Americans are terrified of racist alien gangs in Los Angeles. Asian Americans are frustrated that their relatives with college degrees wait years to emigrate legally, while thousands without high-school diplomas to the south simply break the law to enter the United States. And many Mexican Americans are probably tired of being expected to defend the indefensible of foreign nationals breaking immigration laws simply because they may share an ethnic heritage with illegal aliens.

Clearly, this is more than just an economic issue. It touches the very fabric of our society and theatens to rip it to shreds.

But ultimately, the issue will hurt the Dems more than the GOP.

Hanson goes on:

To the extent Democratic candidates ignore illegal immigration, or demonize those who worry over hundreds of thousands of new illegal aliens each year, or talk of guest workers and amnesty before they mention closing the borders, it is a losing issue that could alienate millions of voters. Democratic candidates can't really claim that redneck racists are rushing to the border to clash with poor campesinos just crossing to better their lives, because many poor Democrats also resent how illegal labor drives down their own wages. It is mostly the American poor and middle class who worry about the sudden influx of thousands who don’t speak English and often need public assistance.

I don't agree with Hanson on his assertion that mass deportation won't work. It will, if we simultaneously go after the businesses who knowingly employ illegal aliens in order to cheat on taxes and labor costs. But, he did do a good job of showing how deep and complex the problem has become.

You can access the complete article on-line here:

The Messy Politics Of Illegal Immigration
Victor David Hanson
Primetime Politics
January 10, 2008

Campaign 'Dirty Tricks,' Voter IDs And Ann Coulter's Dad

So, why would Old Media be squawking about campaign "dirty tricks" when they themselves are more guilty of dirty tricks than anyone else? Well, it's just the old leftist double standard at at work. Apparently, when Old Media comes up with something that hurts a GOP candidate, it is good journalism, but when someone comes up with something that hurts a Dem candidate, Old Media brands it as "dirty."

Writing for Accuracy In Media, Cliff Kincaid and Roger Aronoff have the following to say:

ABC reporter Brian Ross suggested that campaigns which expose other candidates' lies and deceptions are somehow engaging in dirty tricks. He cited the cases of Republicans helping expose Al Gore and John Kerry as liars. One case involved Gore, during a 2000 presidential debate with George W. Bush, making a false claim about flying with then FEMA director James Lee Witt to observe some oil fires in Texas. Ross said Gore had "walked into a trap" when he said that, and strongly implied that it was dirty politics to point out that he was lying. Gore, when confronted with the record, admitted the story was false the next day on Good Morning America. What is dirty about that? Another example of a supposedly dirty trick against Democrats was when a Republican operative had, in 2004, confidentially given Brian Ross a videotape of an interview with John Kerry from 1971, in which Kerry is seen saying, totally in proper context, that he had given back "six, seven, eight or nine" of his Vietnam medals, though he had been denying that on the campaign trail. Ross said ABC had verified the authenticity of the tape, and put it on the air. He then showed what he described as a "suspicious and angry Kerry" who accused ABC "correctly of using Republican material." But it wasn't Republican material, it was a videotape of a TV show that was given to them by a Republican operative. What is wrong with Republicans exposing Democratic lies?

Apparently nothing, unless you happen to be a leftist-leaning reporter pushing a leftist-leaning agenda rather than actually reporting news.

The article goes on:

Other cases cited by Ross involved good old-fashioned opposition research. All of these activities, including the distribution of videos of candidates making contradictory statements, are legitimate. What makes them possibly illegitimate is when the media focus on them to the exclusion of a serious discussion of substance and issues. The Washington Post, for example, ran a series of stories during the Virginia Senate contest about Republican George Allen getting caught on video using the term "Macaca" to describe a campaign worker for his opponent, Jim Webb. The Post constantly implied, without proof, that this was racist on Allen's part. Allen mishandled the controversy, in part by failing to adequately explain where the mysterious term had come from. In the end, the controversy prevented Allen from talking about legitimate campaign issues and was a major distraction. The coverage had the intended effect, from the point of view of the liberal Post. It helped elect Webb.

And Webb has turned out to be a liar himself. One of his beggest campaign promises was that he would never vote to raise taxes and Virginia believed him. On his first opportunity to vote on a possible tax increase, Webb decided to become a lapdog of the DNC rather than represent his constituents. He voted to approve of an $800 billion tax increase despite his promise not to do so.

So, the next time you hear Old Media complaining about "dirty tricks," it probably means that someone in the GOP did some pretty thorough research.

Who's Guilty Of Campaign Dirty Tricks?
Cliff Kincaid and Roger Aronoff
Accuracy In Media via GOPUSA.com
January 8, 2008

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Yesterday, the Supreme Court took up the issue of requiring voters to show proper identification before being allowed to vate. Personally, I think this is a good idea. It would help to prevent situations where people try to vote twice, try to vote in someone else's place or try to vote under a false name.

From Fox News:

On Wednesday, the Supreme Court will hear arguments challenging the Hoosier State’s controversial 2005 voter ID law. It’s the highest-profile Republican v. Democrat case to reach the high court since the infamous 2000 Bush v. Gore lawsuit that effectively decided that year’s presidential race. This case doesn’t have as much at stake, but has still managed to inflame the passions of political partisans even during this primary season. The law was passed on a party-line vote by a Republican-controlled legislature and signed into law by Governor Mitch Daniels — also a Republican. Those in favor of it argue that the law is necessary to help prevent election fraud at the polls. They also note that the Indiana law is one part of a nationwide trend since the controversial Florida ballot counting in 2000 to maintain and improve the integrity of the election process. And they say that the law effectively combats bloated voter registration lists that could be ripe for abuse

And that is the big issue, combating voter abuse. Opponents claim that it amounts to a new poll tax but that hasn't panned out since they have been completely unable to produce anyone who was actually barred from voting under the new law.

Here in Loudoun County, Virginia, we are required to show proper ID before voting and that is the way it should be.

You can access the complete article on-line here:

Supreme Court To Hear Arguments Challenging Voter ID Law
Lee Ross
Fox News
January 8, 2008

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And finally, we note with sadness that Ann Coulter's father has passed away. Ann has written a very moving tribute to John Vincent Coulter:

Father hated puffery, pomposity, snobbery, fake friendliness, fake anything. Like Kitty's father in "Anna Karenina," he could detect a substanceless suitor in a heartbeat. (They were probably the same ones who looked nervous when I told them Father was ex-FBI and liked to shoot squirrels in the backyard.) He hated unions because of their corrupt leadership, ripping off the members for their own aggrandizement. But he had more respect for genuine working men than anyone I've ever known. He was, in short, the molecular opposite of John Edwards. Father didn't care what popular opinion was: There was right and wrong. I don't recall his ever specifically talking about J. Edgar Hoover or Joe McCarthy, but we knew he thought the popular histories were bunk. That's why "Treason" was dedicated to him, the last book of mine he was able to read. ... When Mother was in a rehabilitative facility briefly after surgery a few years ago and Father was not supposed to be driving, we were relieved that a snowstorm had knocked out the power to the garage door opener, so Daddy couldn't get to the car. It would just be a week and then Mother would be home. My brother came home to check on Father the first day of this arrangement to find that he had taken an ax to the side door of the garage, so he could drive to the rehab center and sit with Mother all day.

Mr. Coulter sounds like a very devoted man.

You can access the complete column on-line here:

John Vincent Coulter
Ann Coulter
AnnCoulter.com
January 9, 2008

Where Did Global Warming Go?

Jeff Jacoby has penned a good one for the Patriot Post. What is going on with Global Warming? None of the major predictions have come true and alot of what is happening in the world right now is in direct contradiction to the predictions of Global Warming Theory. From the article:

[A] funny thing happened on the way to the planetary hot flash: Much of the planet grew bitterly cold. In South America, for example, the start of winter last year was one of the coldest ever observed. According to Eugenio Hackbart, chief meteorologist of the MetSul Weather Center in Brazil, “a brutal cold wave brought record low temperatures, widespread frost, snow, and major energy disruption." In Buenos Aires, it snowed for the first time in 89 years, while in Peru the cold was so intense that hundreds of people died and the government declared a state of emergency in 14 of the country's 24 provinces. In August, Chile's agriculture minister lamented “the toughest winter we have seen in the past 50 years," which caused losses of at least $200 million in destroyed crops and livestock. ... University of Oklahoma geophysicist David Deming, a specialist in temperature and heat flow, notes in the Washington Times that “unexpected bitter cold swept the entire Southern Hemisphere in 2007." Johannesburg experienced its first significant snowfall in a quarter-century. Australia had its coldest ever June. New Zealand's vineyards lost much of their 2007 harvest when spring temperatures dropped to record lows. Closer to home, 44.5 inches of snow fell in New Hampshire last month, breaking the previous record of 43 inches, set in 1876. And the Canadian government is forecasting the coldest winter in 15 years.

The reason may lie in a new 200 year solar cycle that scientists have recently discovered. The article goes on:

"Stock up on fur coats and felt boots!" advises Oleg Sorokhtin, a fellow of the Russian Academy of Natural Sciences and senior scientist at Moscow's Shirshov Institute of Oceanography. “The latest data . . . say that earth has passed the peak of its warmer period, and a fairly cold spell will set in quite soon, by 2012." Sorokhtin dismisses the conventional global warming theory that greenhouse gases, especially human-emitted carbon dioxide, is causing the earth to grow hotter. Like a number of other scientists, he points to solar activity - sunspots and solar flares, which wax and wane over time - as having the greatest effect on climate. "Carbon dioxide is not to blame for global climate change," Sorokhtin writes in an essay for Novosti. “Solar activity is many times more powerful than the energy produced by the whole of humankind." In a recent paper for the Danish National Space Center, physicists Henrik Svensmark and Eigil Friis-Christensen concur: “The sun . . . appears to be the main forcing agent in global climate change," they write.

Now, these scientists are not being paid off by any oil company. They are looking at all of the data available rather than just a small sliver of it the way Al Gore's scientists are paid to do.

You can access the complete article on-line here:

Br-r-r! Where Did Global Warming go?
Jeff Jacoby
Patriot Post
January 7, 2008

Democrats In Denial About Iraq, MS-13 Strikes Again And Supreme Court Looks At Lethal Injections

Ever since MoveOn.org completely embarrassed the Democrats with their slanderous ad about General Patreus, the Dems have been very mum and quiet about the War on Terror, in particular, the pacifying of Iraq.

It is no secret that the surge strategy is working now and has been for several months. Where there used to be headline after headline about more U.S. troop deaths in Iraq, the headlines barely mention it anymore. In other words, "if it isn't bleeding, it isn't leading." Old Media will never make front page news out of a situation that appears to be going good, especially if such news makes a Conservative look good. Old Media will instead sniff out stories to make the Conservative look bad.

But they can no longer do that with Iraq. That's why the Dems are quiet. They don't want to admit that they were wrong and Presdient Bush, under advisement of his military commanders, was right.

According to the Review & Outlook section of the Wall Street Journal:

Across the political spectrum, observers have announced the surge a success. This achievement must be a source of enormous pride to the U.S. soldiers and Marines who have pulled it off. So what we take away from the four Democratic Presidential candidates' stunning display of misinformation and false statements about the surge Saturday evening is that they have simply stopped thinking about Iraq. They seem to have concluded that opposition to the war permits them to literally not know what the U.S. or the Iraqis are doing there. As the nation commences the selection of an American President, this is a phenomenon worth noting.

What Barack Obama said is most noteworthy here:

His first assertion echoed what has become a standard line by the war's opponents, that "we have not made ourselves safer as a consequence." What can this possibly mean? In more than six years there hasn't been one successful terrorist attack on the U.S., even as places elsewhere were hit or actively targeted. Then Senator Obama placidly said that the Sunnis in Anbar Province began to help the U.S. "after the Democrats were elected in 2006." What's more, the Democrats' victory showed them they were "going to be left very vulnerable to the Shias." This obviously means the Democrats would abandon them. But the Sunni Awakening, as it is called, with its fall in bloodshed, occurred only after the Anbar Sunnis were convinced that the U.S. troops would not abandon them to al Qaeda in Iraq. Sunni sheiks have said explicitly it was the new U.S. policy of sustaining the offensive against AQI that made it possible for them to resist the jihadists. The U.S. military has supported the spread of these "awakening councils" in other areas of Iraq. It is navel-gazing in the extreme for Mr. Obama to suggest U.S. Congressional elections caused this turn.

Perhaps someone out there will remind B. Hussein Obama that his own leader in the Senate, Democrat Harry Reid of Nevada, was all over the national news screaming, "The war is lost!"

If Obama honestly believes that such an attitude caused the changes in Anbar, then surely the Senator will purchase a bridge is Brooklyn that I have for sale.

More:

Governor Bill Richardson, who touts his foreign policy credentials, in the space of a minute made five false statements about Iraq. He asserted "zero" internal reconciliation, "zero" progress on sharing oil revenue, "zero" regional elections, "no" increased effort by the government to train their own security forces and "no" effort to push back against Iran. One can certainly question what the Iraqis have done in all these areas, but to reduce the last year to a nullity isn't worthy of a serious candidate. "If you look at what happened in Iraq," said John Edwards, you'll see that violence fell after the British withdrew from "where those troops were located." This is precisely the opposite of what happened. The Brits were located in southern Basra province, and their drawdown began last month after what U.K. Foreign Secretary David Miliband at the handover ceremony called a "massive" decline in insurgent activity. Mr. Edwards's view that a troop pullout will reduce Iraq's violence is unique among public figures anywhere. In different ways one can explain the views of these three. Senator Obama seems to be talking his way toward believing that eloquence and credibility are the same thing; Mr. Edwards's campaign is aggressively parochial in its interests; and Bill Richardson used the debate Saturday to blow up the remnants of his campaign.

The Dems need a serious reality check.

You can access the complete article on-line here:

Democrats In Denial
Wall Street Journal
January 8, 2008

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And in a previous blog entry, we saw how Mara Salvatrucha, aka MS-13, defaced a Vietnam Veterans War memorial in Connecticut. It seems as though they have struck again.

From the World Net Daily:

Authorities in New Haven, Conn., have launched an investigation into the establishment of the radically violent MS-13 street gang in their city after a second case of apparently gang-related vandalism within a week. ... "This irks me. This hurts me deep to my heart," Vietnam Army veteran Emery Linton Sr. told the station then. Linton, who served in Vietnam from 1969 to 1972, noted he lost friends there and called the mess on the memorial a slap in the face to veterans who made the ultimate sacrifice for their country. "People here respect these names. They gave their lives for everything, for the freedoms they have," Linton said. As WND reported, the El Salvador-based MS-13 operates in 44 U.S. states, according to the FBI. WND reported as early as 1995 the gang reportedly was meeting with representatives of al-Qaida and smuggling operatives into the United States from Mexico.

It should be especially noted here that New Haven, Connecticut is a sanctuary city that provides illegal aliens with driver's licenses so they can access public services at the taxpayer's expense.

And exactly how long will we continue turning our heads in the opposite direction?

You can access the complete article on-line here:

MS-13 Hits Vietnam Vets' Memorial Again
World Net Daily
January 8, 2008

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Finally, we have the Supreme Court looking into the issue of whether or not execution by lethal injection causes pain for the condemned. Check this out:

Several justices indicated a willingness to preserve the three-drug cocktail that is authorized by three dozen states that allow executions. Such a decision would allow lethal injections, on hold since late September, to resume quickly. Justice Antonin Scalia said states have been careful to adopt procedures that do not seek to inflict pain and should not be barred from carrying out executions even if prison officials sometimes make mistakes in administering drugs. "There is no painless requirement" in the Constitution, Scalia said. Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Samuel Alito also indicated their support for the states' procedures. Other members of the court, who have raised questions about lethal injection in the past, said they are bothered by the procedures used in Kentucky and elsewhere in which three drugs are administered in succession to knock out, paralyze and kill prisoners. The argument against the three-drug protocol is that if the initial anesthetic does not take hold, a third drug that stops the heart can cause excruciating pain. The second drug, meanwhile, paralyzes the prisoner, rendering him unable to express his discomfort. "I'm terribly troubled by the fact that the second drug is what seems to cause all the risk of excruciating pain, and seems to be almost totally unnecessary," said Justice John Paul Stevens.

I'm terribly troubled by the fact that these murderers caused excrutiating pain to their victims and the victims' families but libs only have feelings for the murderers, not the murdered.

I thought libs were supposed to be sensitive people.

You can access the complete article on-line here:

Justices Divided Over Lethal Injections
Mark Sherman
Associated Press via GOPUSA.com
January 8, 2008

A Look At Barack Obama And More Old Media Bias

It's still too early to tell who the candidates are going to be for each party in the Presidential election. But we can take a look at who the current presumed front-runner for the Dems: Barack Hussein Obama.

I was watching Glenn Beck last night and he posed a question to three political commentators about B. Hussein Obama: "Specifically, which of his policies do you like best?" Not one single commentator could come up with a specific reason.

So, maybe we should start looking into this ourselves. I found this item by Dennis Prager at Town Hall about the "call for unity" Obama made:

I do not doubt Mr. Obama's sincerity. The wish that all people be united is an elemental human desire. But there are two major problems with it. First, it is not truly honest. Second, it is childish. First is its dishonesty. Virtually all calls for unity -- whether national, international or religious (as in calls for Christian unity) -- do not tell the whole truth. If those who call for unity told the whole truth, this is what they would say: "I want everyone to unite -- behind my values. I want everyone who disagrees with me to change the way they think so that we can all be united. I myself have no plans to change my positions on any important issues in order to achieve this unity. So in order to achieve it, I assume that all of you who differ with me will change your views and values and embrace mine."

But what are his values? What does he really believe? That is what Glenn Beck was trying to get the commentators to answer but no one would say.

Dennis goes on:

Barack Obama wants American troops out of Iraq now. About half of America believes that American troops abandoning Iraq will lead to making that country the world's center of terror and to the greatest victory thus far for the greatest organized evil in the world today. How, then, will Mr. Obama achieve unity on Iraq? Mr. Obama believes in repealing the tax cuts enacted by the Bush administration. How will he achieve unity on that? Many of us believe that re-raising taxes will bring on a recession.

And this:

For nearly eight years the media and Democrats have labeled President Bush's policies "divisive" simply because they don't agree with them. They are not one whit more divisive than Sen. Obama's positions. A question for Democrats, the media and other Obama supporters: How exactly are Mr. Obama's left-wing political positions any less "divisive" than President Bush's right-wing positions? Second, the craving for unity is frequently childish. As we mature we understand that decent people will differ politically and theologically. The mature yearn for unity only on a handful of fundamental values, such as: "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness." Beyond such basics, we yearn for civil discourse and tolerance, not unity. The next time Sen. Obama speaks with his usual passion and eloquence about his desire to unite Americans, someone must ask him two questions: Why are your left-wing positions any less divisive than President Bush's right-wing positions?

That is the question that leftists in Old Media will never ask for fear of the answer.

You can access the complete column on-line here:

Sen. Obama's Calls for Unity Are Not What They Seem
Dennis Prager
TownHall.com
January 8, 2008

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And how much proof do you need to come to the realization that Old Media has a leftist slant and bias in its coverage? How about ABC's Good Morning America which gave a full fifteen minutes of coverage to the Dem campaign but only 31 seconds to the GOP?

From NewsBusters.org:

Over the course of the two hour program, GMA featured four segments on the Democrats and only a solitary (and brief) piece on the GOP contest. This included co-host Diane Sawyer interviewing Barack Obama twice. ABC anchor and former Bill Clinton operative George Stephanopoulos talked to Senator Hillary Clinton. Kate Snow discussed the state of the New York senator's White House bid. Aside from mentioning the latest GOP polls in the show's intro, the only analysis of the Republicans resulted from Sawyer asking Stephanopoulos this banal question: "And what about the Republicans?" The conversation that followed lasted 31 seconds.

The really sad part is that ABC thinks we were too stupid to notice.

You can access the complete article on-line here:

ABC's GMA Devotes 15 Minutes To Dem Race; 31 seconds To GOP
Scott Whitlock
NewsBusters.org
January 7, 2008