Left and Right; Absolutes and moral clarity

Rarely have I seen an article which so clearly explains the differences between the Left and the Right as Michael Medved's article today on Townhall. Please take the time to read it.

Are you a liberal?

Be sure to read "25 Reasons you Might be a Liberal" some time today. It would be hilarious if not for the fact that it is so true.

Pelosi: A Washington outsider?

In a recent interview with Larry King, Nancy Pelosi described herself as a Washington "outsider" (Hot Air).

Pelosi is Speaker of the House! She has been in Congress for over 20 years! Her father was a five-term congressman! If anyone is a Washington insider it is Nancy Pelosi.

It almost sounds like this woman has been playing politics for so long she doesn't even know how to tell the truth anymore.

Forced unionization

According to CNSNews:

Liberals in Congress have promised to enact the card-check law in the next Congress. Senator Barack H. Obama has pledged to sign it if he were to become President. In typical Orwellian fashion, the legislation is called the “Employee Free Choice Act.” As Secretary Chao has stated, this legislation would deprive ordinary workers of the right to a secret ballot as to whether to organize a union in a factory or company.

Unions, of course, are a power base for the Democratic Party. There's certainly nothing surprising about the Left using Orwellilan language to mask their power-plays, but what is suprising is that the Left's attempted power-grab in this case is so egregious, that even the very liberal former U.S. Senator, George McGoven has publicly opposed it:

According to McGovern there are many documented cases in which workers have been pressured, harassed, tricked and intimidated into signing cards which have led to mandatory payment of dues. McGovern suggested that workers could lose their freedom to express their will in private, the right to make a decision without anyone peering over their shoulder, free from fear or reprisal.

Pressure, harassment, intimidation, loss of freedom....and Barack Obama supports it!

Why Dennis is not a liberal

Talk show host Dennis Prager likes to emphasize "clarity." He just posted an excellent article on Townhall entitled, "Why I am not a liberal." I might quibble with him on a couple of minor points (mostly wording) but he pretty much speaks my mind.

Whether you agree with him or not, he does a good job of clarifying the issues.

Iraq war deaths

In the five years since the Iraq War began, over 4,000 Americans have lost their lives ridding Iraq of those who seek to oppress and brutalize Iraqis (USA Today). On the other hand, in one year alone, nearly 17,000 Americans needlessly lost their lives in senseless alcohol related driving fatalities.

If the anti-war crowd would devote even half as much energy opposing drunk driving as they do opposing freedom for Iraqis, we might have FAR fewer deaths.

Barack Obama on crime

Stanley Kurtz has an excellent (and lengthy) article on "Barack Obama's Lost Years" in the Weekly Standard. Excerpts appear below but please read the entire article when you get a chance:

We've heard a good deal of late about Ayers's Weatherman terrorism back in the 1960s and his lack of repentance….Obama has dismissed Ayers as just "a guy who lives in my neighborhood." Yet several Obama-Ayers connections are known: Obama's 1995 political debut at the home of Ayers and his wife (and fellow former terrorist) Bernardine Dohrn, Obama's joint service with Ayers on the board of the \ Woods Fund of Chicago, a couple of appearances with Ayers on academic panels, and what the New York Times called Obama's "rave review"…of Ayers's book on juvenile justice….

For all the attention, the actual content of Ayers's 1997 book, A Kind and Just Parent, as well as the political context of Obama's interest in it, have so far passed unremarked.

…Ayers's radicalism pervades his book on Chicago's juvenile court system.

The book also virtually defines the phrases "liberal guilt" and "soft on crime."
Ayers opposes trying even the most vicious juvenile murderers as adults. Beyond that, he'd like to see the prison system itself essentially abolished.

… Ayers argues that prisons artificially impose obedience and conformity on society, thereby creating a questionable distinction between the "normal" and the "deviant."
Given his decision to recommend Ayers's book in the Tribune, it's fair to say that Obama is at least broadly sympathetic to this perspective. When Obama offers examples of ill-conceived legislation, he often points to building prisons: Instead of uilding another prison, why not expand health care entitlements?

The most intriguing thread linking Obama, Ayers, and crime, however, runs through Ayers's wife, Bernardine Dohrn…. Dohrn...regularly and energetically opposes "get tough" crime laws. Ayers draws on his wife's wisdom in A Kind and Just Parent, and Dohrn, like her husband, publicly presents her work on juvenile justice not as a repudiation of her youthful radicalism, but as a continuation of it.

…Obama was one of only three Illinois state senators to vote against a proposal making it a criminal offense for convicts on probation or on bail to have contact with a street gang. A year later, on a vote mandating adult prosecution for aggravated discharge of a firearm in or near a school, Obama voted "present," and reiterated his opposition to adult trials for even serious juvenile offenders. In short, when it comes to the issue of crime, Obama is on the far left of the political spectrum and very much in synch with his active political allies Ayers and Dohrn.

Obama's "gaffes" and the media

Republican Vice President Dan Quayle was once helping with a spelling bee in a school in Trenton, New Jersey when he corrected a student for spelling potato without a final e. “Potatoe” is an outdated spelling, so the liberal press absolutely cooked Quayle’s goose for weeks over this triviality.

But when Barack Obama claims to be on the Senate Banking Committee (when he is not), or claims to have traveled through all 57 states, or talks about the “bomb” that was dropped on Pearl Harbor, or describes his philosophy of politics saying, “if they bring a knife, we’ll bring a gun”, the liberal press pretty much gives him a pass.

And they complain about Fox News being biased!

Education nightmare

Please read Michael Medved's short (3 paragraphs) post on the "national teachers union" "Nightmare vision for Education." Sounds like something the bureaucrats in the old Soviet Union would have been proud of!

Christian decapitates Muslim

Can you imagine a movie about a Buddhist decapitating a Muslim? Of course not. The very idea is rediculous. Of course, the idea of a Christian decapitating a Muslim is absurd also but that didn't keep some anti-Christian bigots at the BBC from airing a drama in which a Christian decapitates a Muslim. Read about it on Dhimmi Watch.

The Pickens Plan

Gas prices got you down? Tired of "fighting wars over foreign oil?" Have you ever heard of T. Boone Pickens?

On Fox and Friends this morning Pickens said that for the last 40 years Congress (both parties) has failed miserably when it comes to energy policy. He's got that right (though in fairness, I think virtually every energy proposal Republicans have made in the last 40 years has been blocked by Democrats.

Drill for domestic oil? Democrats say no
Build more nuclear power plants? Democrats say no
Build more dams? Democrats say no
Use more coal? Democrats say no

In the Democratic world environmentalism trumps everything. And now we're paying over $4 per gallon and some say it could go to $5 before summer is over.

Anyway, Pickens is an oil man (worth 4 billion dollars) who has an environmentally friendly plan to get off oil. He's certainly got my attention. Please check out PickensPlan.Com and watch his short video.

Chuck Schumer’s bank panic

In a bank panic reminiscent of the Great Depression, the California Indymac Bank closed its doors recently. According to an article by Jerry Bowyer, “Schumer started sending letters to regulators attacking Indymac, questioning the financial viability of a bank which he had never examined.”

Then Schumer leaked his letters to the press which ran a story suggesting that Indymac was about to go under. This became a self-fulfilling prophecy and Indymac customers started withdrawing their money to the tune of 1.3 billion dollars.

Bower says, “So far about half their workforce has been laid off; and roughly 10,000 depositors are without full insurance coverage for their lost deposits. The shareholders have lost nearly everything.”

All thanks to Democratic Senator Chuck Schumer. Schumer is presumably no idiot. He had to know the potential consequences of releasing such a letter to the media. Please read the entire infuriating story in TownHall.

Bush lied…

Five months before the Iraq War, the following speech was given:

"In the four years since the inspectors left, intelligence reports show that Saddam Hussein has worked to rebuild his chemical and biological weapons stock, his missile delivery capability, and his nuclear program. He has also given aid, comfort, and sanctuary to terrorists, including Al Qaeda members, though there is apparently no evidence of his involvement in the terrible events of September 11, 2001. It is clear, however, that if left unchecked, Saddam Hussein will continue to increase his capacity to wage biological and chemical warfare, and will keep trying to develop nuclear weapons. Should he succeed in that endeavor, he could alter the political and security landscape of the Middle East, which as we know all too well affects American security."

No, this speech was not given by George Bush or John McCain. This was a speech given on October 10, 2002 by Hillary Clinton. Similarly, on October 10, 2002, John Edwards, once a member of the Senate intelligence committee and one time Democratic Presidential candidate said,

"Saddam Hussein's regime represents a grave threat to America and our allies, including our vital ally, Israel. For more than two decades, Saddam Hussein has sought weapons of mass destruction through every available means. We know that
he has chemical and biological weapons. He has already used them against his
neighbors and his own people, and is trying to build more. We know that he is
doing everything he can to build nuclear weapons, and we know that each day he
gets closer to achieving that goal."

If Bush lied, so did Hillary Clinton, John Edwards and other Democrats. Please take time to read John Hawkins’ excellent articles about the other myths propagated by the Left: here and here.

Obama’s public housing

We’ve all heard of the hard work Barack Obama did for the poor in Chicago. The Boston Globe describes the scene today:

The squat brick buildings of Grove Parc Plaza, in a dense neighborhood that Barack Obama represented for eight years as a state senator, hold 504 apartment subsidized by the federal government for people who can’t afford to live anywhere else.

But it’s not safe to live here.

About 99 of the units are vacant, many rendered uninhabitable by unfixed problems, such as collapsed roofs and fire damage. Mice scamper through the halls. Battered mailboxes hang open. Sewage backs up into kitchen sinks. In 2006, federal inspectors graded the condition of the complex and 11 on a 100 point scale—a score so bad the buildings now face demolition.

This is not Barack Obama’s fault, of course. But it does illustrate what happens with various government projects, whether we’re talking about Social Security, Medicaid, VA hospitals or public housing.

It is hard to understand why Barack Obama would think that it would be a good thing to give government more control over health care or other social programs.

Alice Walker and feminism

Alice Walker, author of “The Color Purple” was one of the most prominent radical feminists of her generation. Charles Colson writes:

…Alice Walker’s brand of feminism was the kind that taught that “motherhood was bout the worst thing that could happen to a woman.” So says her daughter, Rebecca, who suffered the consequences of that thinking. In a recent london Daily Mail article, Rebecca Walker reflected on the neglect she experienced with her divorced father across the country and her mother too busy for her, frequently leaving her alone for long periods as a teenager. With her mother’s knowledge—and even support—Rebecca became sexually active at 13 and had an abortion at 14. She was well aware that her mother thought of her as a burden

Read Colson’s short article on The Legacy of Radical Feminism on Hot Air.

An appeal to Evangelical Christians

I’m appealing only to Evangelical Christians today. It seems to me that…

Those who think America is to blame for the world’s evil

Those who place the earth or animals on the same level of importance as people

Those who want to force Israel to make endless concessions to the terrorists sworn to kill them

Those who think conservative Christians are as bad as Muslim fundamentalists

Those who support the use of tax-payers’ money for anti-Christian hate “art” like a crucifix dipped in urine or the virgin Mary spattered with elephant dung

Those who fought to “enable” drug addicts by providing them with fresh needles

Those who support illegal behavior like mayors convicted of drug use Congresswomen who strike Capital Hill policemen, or Congressmen who hide illegally obtained money in their freezer

Those who oppose freedom of speech when they deem such speech to be politically incorrect

Those who oppose freedom of speech by disrupting speakers with whom they disagree

Those who fought to remove the Ten Commandments from courthouses

Those who fought to remove manger scenes from city squares and parks

Those who fought to keep Gideon Bibles from being distributed near public schools (even with parental consent)

Those who fought to remove Jesus from public school Christmas programs

Those who use the legal system to keep students from hearing that the world may have come into existence by design

Those who ran a Catholic adoption agency out of business simply because the agency wouldn’t adopt to homosexual couples

Those who fight against the Boy Scout’s right to use parks and other public places

Those who fight against student’s free speech right to bear witness to their faith at graduation ceremonies

Those who fight against military chaplains’ rights to pray “in Jesus’ name”

Those who fight to remove crosses from government parks and cemeteries

Those who fight to remove all signs of our nation’s Christian heritage from the public square and public schools, but are absolutely silent when tax money is used to support Islam in public schools

Those who fight to allow cross-dressing men to use your wives’ and daughters’ restrooms

Those who fight to make Christian preaching on homosexuality a hate crime, but turn a blind eye to the egregious anti-Christian hate-mongering by various homosexual groups

Those who use the force of law to compel religious organizations to hire people who behave in ways that their religion holds to be immoral

Those who use the force of law to compel private business owners to provide services that violate their religious convictions

Those who fight to force the country to accept same-sex marriage even above the objections of voters

Those who oppose regulation even of hardcore pornography like child pornography and the pornographic depiction of the torture of women

Those who oppose blocking pornography from public library computers that are accessible to children

Those who fight against the teaching of abstinence but promote teaching children how to use condoms

Those who support teaching public school children that dangerous, same-sex relationships are perfectly acceptable behavior, and that all who disagree are bigots

Those who oppose homeschooling or vouchers in their attempt keep your children from escaping those public schools that are educationally sub-standard, or exhibit anti-Christian bigotry/indoctrination, or are drug infested, or are just plain violent

Those who fight for the “right” to kill unborn babies—even unborn babies who are partially born…

Those who support these issues are almost always Democrats! Of course, not all Democrats agree with all of the points above, but if you asked people in an audience to raise their hand if they support any one of these issues, there is little doubt that the overwhelming majority of “those” in each case would be Democrats!

I’m not suggesting that the Republican Party is the solution to our problems. Evangelicals know that the underlying problem is spiritual and the only real solution would be something like another Great Awakening.

But in our national descent into decadence, Barack Obama and the Democrats will lead us into a freefall whereas John McCain and the Republicans are at least something of a parachute to slow the decline…or, if you prefer, salt to slow the decay (Matthew 5:13).

That being the case, I am at a loss to understand how Evangelical Christians can vote Democrat with a clear conscience. If it is because you think Democrats are more socially compassionate or environmentally minded, then come over from the dark side and help make the Republicans more compassionate and environmentally minded. But please, please, don’t give your support to a party that has been taken over by so many who are, at their core, both immoral and anti- Christian.

New York Times and treason

Ignoring requests by the CIA, the New York Times published the name of the interrogator of Khaled Sheikh Mohammed. In other words, an American newspaper just placed someone's life and family in danger....someone who was just doing his job keeping us safe.

Whose side is the New York Times on? Won't this discourage others who are fighting our war against terror? I mean, if you worked as an interrogator or investigator for the FBI, CIA or Homeland Security, wouldn't you be hesitant to do your job knowing that the New York Times may put your life and the lives of your family in danger by publishing your name?

If this isn't treason, what is?

No death penalty for child rape

By a 5 to 4 vote, the Supreme Court just struck down a Louisiana law that allowed for the death penalty in the case of child rape. Arguing against the Louisiana law, Justice Kennedy wrote, "The death penalty is not a proportional punishment for the rape of a child" (New York Times).

I agree. The death penalty is much too merciful for someone who has forcibly raped a child; but the Constitution doesn't allow for stoning.

UPDATE: Michelle Malkin provides a detailed description of what happened to the little girl who was raped in this case (warning: it is graphic and sickening. It is hard to read without crying). It is almost beyond understanding (disgusting, actually) how justice Kennedy could hear what happened to this little girl, and then write about "Evolving standards of decency" and "respect for the dignity of the person" in reference to his defense of the one who committed this atrocity!

It's the baby boomers' fault!

I just read an ad on Facebook that has the picture of a poutty little kid with a caption reading "Up yours Baby Boomers."

The caption went on to say, "The U.S. has 53 trillion worth of promises it can't pay for. With 78 million baby boomers retiring, who will be stuck with the IOU's?"

I think the ad makes a great point. Us baby boomers have screwed up our kids' economic future and left them holding the bag! But let's be fair. It wasn't all baby boomers. It was the ones who voted for all the Democratic entitlement programs!

So before you younger generation critics get too self-righteous, just look around you at how many of your own peers are voting for Barack Obama who will saddle your kids with so many entitlements it will make social security look cheap!

Little Alex won't go

Have you seen the new MoveOn.Org ad for Barack Obama? The with the young mother and her child where she says,

“Hi, John McCain. This is Alex. And he’s my first. So far his talents include trying any new food and chasing after our dog. That, and making my heart pound every time I look at him. And so, John McCain, when you say you would stay in Iraq for 100 years, were you counting on Alex? Because if you were, you can’t have him.”

This is probably going to be a very effective ad but when you analyze it, as William Kristol does in his New York Times article, the ad turns out to be almost as dispicable as MoveOn's general Betray-us ad.

Kristol makes the following points:

First, “John McCain isn’t counting on Alex to serve in Iraq, because little Alex will only be 9 years old when President McCain leaves office after two terms.”

Second, When McCain said U.S. troops might be in Iraq for a hundred years he qualified that explaining, “As long as Americans are not being injured or harmed or wounded or killed...”

Frankly, I disagree with McCain’s position here. I don’t want U.S. bases in Iraq like we have bases in Germany or Japan, not even if they want us there! But the point is that it is extremely dishonest for the Left in general, and this ad in particular, to imply that McCain wants to be fighting insurgents in Iraq for a hundred years.

Third, we do not have a draft and McCain doesn't want to start one so little Alex wouldn’t have to join the military if his mommy didn’t want him to. This is good for little Alex's mommy because as Kristol pointed out in a TV interview this morning, even Barack Obama has suggested increasing the size of our military!

Finally, Kristol quotes a soldier’s response to this ad:

“Does that mean that she wants other people’s sons to keep the wolves at bay so that her son can live a life of complete narcissism? What is it she thinks happens in the world? ... Someone has to stand between our society and danger. If not my son, then who? If not little Alex then someone else will have to stand and deliver. Someone’s son, somewhere.”

Kristol then comments,

“The MoveOn ad is unapologetic in its selfishness, and barely disguised in its disdain for those who have chosen to serve — and its contempt for those parents who might be proud of sons and daughters who are serving. The ad boldly embraces a vision of a selfish and infantilized America, suggesting that military service and sacrifice are unnecessary and deplorable relics of the past. And the sole responsibility of others.”

I think Kristol nails it! The ad is essentially a pack of lies, packaged in sentimental emotionalism. Unfortunately, the mindset Kristol describes is characteristic of so many on the Left. Kristol says it much better than my summary. Please read his entire article here.