February 26th 2005
IMAO has the top ten indicators you may be left of liberal, starting with:
10. You never could throw your full support behind John Kerry once you found out his first name is found in the Bible, of all places.
… and continuing here.
February 26th 2005
McClellan or Grant? How about Sherman?
I only suggest this because the display of brutal power into the heart of the beast — make that the Beast, because this is a moral battle — is called for in the name of the 6 million unborn who are lost because of liberal revisionist judges, and the untold millions to follow, unless the courts are turned around.
This is a battle that is being played out on many specious fields. Senate rules. Tradition. The right of the small state Senator to be heard. The right of the minority party to not be inconsequential. They are all a charade. The single issue is the Democratic Party’s undying defense of the culture of death and its rock-solid refusal to accept any weakening of abortion laws.
Contrast this to the Dems’ clumsy efforts to adapt a language of morality. We hear that fighting poverty is moral, that maintaining the Social Security status quo is moral, probably that subsidizing public transit is moral. They aren’t. They are policies. Whether the created will be allowed to be born or not — that is morality, not policy.
For the GOP response to be somewhere between Grant and Sherman, it will require not only forcing the rules change, but also dominating the language of the debate: This must be about the Dems’ litmus tests on abortion, not procedures and traditions. Frist must say he’s moving the nuclear option because it’s the option that stops the abortion litmus test in its tracks and forces the Senate to look at the complete CV, not just the D&C.
February 25th 2005
Hat tip to Best of the Web for this:
This Ain’t Rocket Science
“A toxic component of rocket fuel has been found in breast milk of women in 18 states and store-bought milk from various locations around the country,” reports LiveScience.com. “The chemical, perchlorate, can impede adult metabolism and cause retardation in fetuses, among other things.”Just one question: Since when do fetuses drink milk?
February 25th 2005
The Lebanon-based Arab Bank, target of multiple post-9/11 lawsuits alleging it funded terrorists, has been put out of the money laundering business, at least in the US:
U.S. regulators said Friday that Arab Bank PLC, one of the largest financial institutions in the Middle East, has inadequate controls against money laundering at its New York branch and has been ordered to stop transferring funds or opening new accounts there.In an unusual move, the Office of the U.S. Comptroller of the Currency, a Treasury Department agency, said the branch was being converted into an entity that will not conduct traditional banking activities but will continue to engage in corporate and trade financing.
Arab Bank has branches in 27 countries in addition to the US, so this blockade of laundering at its only US branch will mean little unless other nations follow suit — starting with Europe, one hopes.
February 25th 2005
A reader of my most recent perchlorate rant (where has that bandwagon gone off to?) suggested I forward my perchlorate posts to Number Watch and ask for the purveyor’s take on it, which I have.
Purveyor John Brignell, a professor emeritus in the Department of Electronics & Computer Science, University of Southampton, has quite a little operation going at Number Watch. A little Chaucer, a little debunking, all quite witty, valid and delightful. Here’s Prof. Brignell’s description:
All about the scares, scams, junk, panics, and flummery cooked up by the media, politicians, bureaucrats, so-called scientists and others who try to confuse you with wrong numbers.
This weekend, spend some time with Number Watch. You’ll enjoy it.
February 25th 2005
In a funny and informative piece that deserved page one but got the bottom of A-18, LATimes reporter Johanna Neuman dissects the Gannon story in a new light; she asks, what’s the definition of a White House journalist anyway?
Neuman starts by pointing out that neither the media nor government want to, or dare to, define what a journalist is, then she lets us know it was liberals, not GOP fans like Gannon, that forced the issuance of the now notorious day press passes:
Marlin Fitzwater, former press secretary to Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush, said in an interview that he created day passes in response to a federal court decision in the late 1970s requiring the White House to admit all journalists unless the Secret Service deemed them threats to the president or his immediate family.The lawsuit involved Robert Sherrill of the Nation, who was denied a press pass on the Secret Service’s recommendation because, it turned out, he had punched out the press secretary to the governor of Florida.
Seems like a good reason to deny close access to the President, but that logic apparently didn’t convince Sherrill.
Most interesting is Neuman’s recounting of some of the others, besides Gannon and Sherrill, who have been “passed:”
(Oh, and yes, they’re still delivering the LAT to me. Interestingly, while the print edition downplayed the story, it is displayed more prominently in the online edition, as the lead “Nation” pick on the Home Page. Are they marketing to bloggers?)
February 25th 2005
This is from an editorial in Wednesday’s WashTimes. You may have already seen it, but even so, it’ll be a good reminder of just how whacky academia has become:
Should Mr. Summers retain his position as president — and he should — the entire fiasco may have represented the high-water mark of liberal-dominated political correctness. Even if Mr. Summers is forced out, people who had never given a second thought to academia will immediately wonder why their child’s professor or university defended Ward Churchill, but attacked Mr. Summers. The liberal academic’s mind has been revealed to be closed. The end of such a mentality will be a long time in coming, but perhaps we have just witnessed the beginning of the end.
Wishful thinking … but, hey, let’s join them in wishing for it!
February 25th 2005
USMC 2nd Lt. Ilario Pantano, charged with killing two Iraqis while on a military operation in Iraq, got some good suporting testimony today:
An eyewitness to the killing of two Iraqis by Marine Corps 2nd Lt. Ilario Pantano says in a sworn statement that the officer, who has been charged with murder, twice ordered the insurgents to stop in Arabic before opening fire, according to documents obtained by The Washington Times.
Read on at the WashTimes.
February 25th 2005
In an editorial this morning, the LATimes understands Hollywood’s concerns that would let consumers delete violence, profanity and sex from films that deliberately exceed mainstream norms:
Hollywood is not amused, and we understand its concerns. Certainly we wouldn’t be thrilled if it became a fad for households to cut up, shrink and rearrange their copy of the Los Angeles Times every morning. But this is a losing battle.
Funny. Here’s what the LAT subscription department said to me, after I finally cancelled my subscription in disgust:
LAT: Do you enjoy the business, sports and calendar coverage in the Times?CSM: No, not particularly. Why?
LAT: Well, if you would still like to still receive those parts of the paper, we can deliver them to you without the news sections.
CSM: [thunderstruck silence]
As they say, they’re fighting a losing battle as long as they continue to reflect their own narrow view and not the morals and politics of the mainstream.
February 24th 2005
Ruud Lubbers said farewell to his staff at the UN High Commissioner for Refugees today. Among his parting comments:
“I saw a lot of misery during my time as High Commissioner, but a lot of wonderful things as well.”
The misery of the woman you are alleged to have made unwanted sexual moves on, Ruudy boy?
For all its failures dealing with war, tyrants and repression, the UN has done good with refugees, so it’s a shame Lubbers tarnished the reputation of that agency.
Let’s see … last time I checked, we were fighting a global war against jihadist Islam, the Russians were acting particularly nasty, China’s been busy stealing our military secrets, India and Pakistan are huffing and puffing, Israel and Hamas are warring, and Ahmadinejad and Li’l Kim are messing with nukes … so the PEOTUS nominates Leon Panetta as CIA chief?
Yes, sure you’ve got to be good at protecting secrets to be Bill Clinton’s chief of staff, but that’s hardly qualification enough to head up our primary international intelligence gathering facility at any time, let alone times like these.
In congress, Panetta served as chairman of the House Budget Committee; the Agriculture Subcommittee on Domestic Marketing, Consumer Relations, and Nutrition; the Administration Committee’s Subcommittee on Personnel and Police; the House Select Committee on Hunger’s Task Force on Domestic Hunger; Vice Chairman of the Caucus of Vietnam-Era Veterans in Congress, and member of the President’s Commission on Foreign Language and International Studies. He was also a member of not particular significance on the 9/11 Commission.
Am I missing some standout qualification here?
Obama justified the curious and downright dangerous nomination by saying … nothing.
With Obama winning the presidency by seven percent, we can't blame the media. Their laudatory coverage and refusal to extensively probe into Obama's background and [lack of] experience was at best responsible for five percent of his vote, the pundits tell us. Here is a compilation of over 100 significant instances of pro-Obama/anti-McCain bias during the 2008 campaign.
"Thank you for the Voice of the Victims films. The students really liked it, and it means so much to them to hear real stories and not watch a cheesy drama like so many other videos."
— a high school teacher.
The most powerful film about drugs of choice and choices about drugs.
