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Conservative commentary served up in bite-sized bits.
" Considerettes"? "Warning: first examination of Considerettes suggests an excess of rational thought goes into that blog." - Clayton Cramer Comments, questions, cookie recipes? E-mail me! (frodo at thepaytons dot org) Considerettes in the news: UPI Hugh Hewitt Slate << Return to "Consider This!"  Features Georgia Marriage Amendment Rally Considerettes Radio: 
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Monday, January 30, 2006
Since the Hamas majority victory in the Palestinian elections, it's been interesting to see how the EU has had to upend it's policies. It shouldn't have caused so much turmoil for them, since one set of terrorists were simply replaced with another, but the EU's (and the UN's) refusal to see what was so obvious has caused it. When the Fatah guys were siphoning off all the aid they were getting, and undoubtedly sending some to their Hamas buddies, these august world bodies could use the excuse the Hamas was just an extremist organization and didn't represent the view of the Palestinian people. The vote, however, put them in a difficult situation. Some flip-flops, however, aren't as strange as they look. The recent election of German Chancellor Angela Merkel moved Germany to the right, and their policy change is consistent with conservatives elsewhere; treat terrorists like terrorists. German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who has threatened to cut vital European Union aid to the Palestinians, said on Monday President Mahmoud Abbas should urge Hamas to recognize Israel and renounce violence. The first step in "negotiating with terrorists" is getting them to renounce terrorism. Then you can negotiate peace. This needs to be the free world's policy regarding Hamas. And I'm not just talking about a press conference; I'd want to see the Hamas charter--which is now essentially a political platform--rewritten to respect the existence of the state of Israel. Without that change, there can be no negotiations regarding the Palestinian situation. You can't negotiate a peaceful settlement between two parties if the charter of one insists on the destruction of the other. Treating terrorists like terrorists means, as a first step, getting Hamas to renounce its terroristic goals. This actually puts conservatives in a good situation with regards to the Palestinian situation. If Hamas refuses to denounce terrorism, it demonstrates to the UN, the EU and other liberal organizations that their denouncements and blaming of Israel while ignoring Palestinian atrocities has been as misguided as conservatives have said all along. Israel has not been as pure as the driven snow, to be sure, but you might assume the Palestinians, who have specifically targeted civilians, were indeed supremely innocent if you only looked at UN resolutions. Thus, if Hamas won't officially renounce the terror of their ways, they are exposed for those yet willing to see. If, however, they do officially denounce terrorism, they become, so some extent, defanged. Even if such a denouncement is simply a facade, they demoralize and anger their base among the Palestinians in Gaza. Their majority could very well be in jeopardy following that. So now that Hamas is the official face of the Palestinian people, it puts them in a difficult situation, one in which they could have avoided by staying in the minority. While the election results may have been surprising to most (possibly even to Hamas itself), the ultimate diplomatic position it creates can, at least in the short term, help Israel and the Middle East. It's disheartening to see how much of Gaza buys into the idea of the destruction of Israel, but now that Hamas has been pushed to the fore, their awkward situation can be used against them as another blow to terrorism. (Cross-posted at Stones Cry Out, Blogger News Network and Redstate. Comments welcome.) Thursday, January 26, 2006
If you've ever said that it's not the Palestinian people that hate Israel, just their government... ...if you've ever said that the Palestinians just want to live in peace with the Jewish state... ... if you've ever had any illusions about what it would take to get peace between Arabs and Jews in the Middle East... ...this is your wake-up call. The Islamic militant Hamas won a landslide victory in Palestinian parliamentary elections, winning 76 seats in the 132-member legislature, election officials said Thursday. The rival Fatah Party, which controlled Palestinian politics for four decades, won 43 seats. Hamas, classified by the US, the EU, Canada and (obviously) Israel as a terrorist organization, has a one-party majority in the Palestinian parliament. What they say, goes. As a reminder, here are some selected quotes from the Hamas Charter (courtesy Wikipedia): "Israel will exist and will continue to exist until Islam will obliterate it, just as it obliterated others before it." Any group who's charter is founded on paranoia arising from a hoax like the "Protocols" is not a stable group. And any country that votes them in as a clear majority of their government, given Hamas' view on the existence of Israel, cannot be simply said to be a people misrepresented by their government. It's not just the fanatics and the nut cases affirming the mission of Hamas, it's a majority of the people. There are arguments to be made on both sides of the issue regarding whether Sharon should have evicted Jews from Gaza. But one good thing that came out of it was the opportunity to put a magnifying glass onto the actions of the Palestinians and their real motives. The world has been put on notice. Is anyone listening? Not surprisingly, Iran is thrilled. (Cross-posted at Stones Cry Out and Blogger News Network. Comments welcome.) Wednesday, January 25, 2006
Today's Odd "Considerettes" Search Phrase - a picture of a guy getting shocked by an outlet [#1! on Yahoo! Search] The Georgia legislature has signed off on the final version of a bill to require photo IDs at polling places. Next stop: the governor's desk, and he says he'll sign it. This was tried last year, but a judge struck it down, considering it tantamount to a poll tax. Since I believe it said that people without a driver's licence could get a state-issued ID but would have to pay for it, I can understand that ruling. This version makes it free. Predictably, the Democrats don't like this anti-voter-fraud idea. State Rep. DuBose Porter of Dublin, the Democratic leader in the House, denounced passage of the bill as unnecessary and an attempt by the GOP “to rig this November’s elections.”. Well, if you don't check ID at the polls, how can you substantiate claims of voter fraud? Wonderful catch-22. Just as predictably, the ACLU is ready to challenge this common-sense measure. Must protect the civil liberties of those ballot stuffers, dontcha' know? (Cross posted at Stones Cry Out, Blogger News Network, and Redstate. Comments welcome.) Tuesday, January 24, 2006
The motto of the Google folks is "Don't be evil", and they certainly set a high bar in their Code of Conduct. But does capitulating to a communist government that doesn't want inconvenient facts to be known by its citizens fit in that code? Online search engine leader Google Inc. has agreed to censor its results in China, adhering to the country's free-speech restrictions in return for better access in the Internet's fastest growing market. Now, this isn't a First Amendment issue (which only applies to the US federal government) and Google is free to conduct its business any way it sees fit. I have no issue with that. I'm just noticing the apparent disconnect between its motto and its actions. Google officials characterized the censorship concessions in China as an excruciating decision for a company that adopted "don't be evil" as a motto. But management believes it's a worthwhile sacrifice. Does filtering search results rise to the level of being truly "evil". No, not really. But it does make it complicit in doing a disservice to Chinese users who want to learn about what freedom really means. It may not be "evil", but I don't know how "good" it is. Google does filter things in other countries, like some Nazi references in Germany and France, but I think this is a bit different. (Cross-posted at Stones Cry Out and Blogger News Network. Comments welcome.) Joshua Sharf at "Oh, That Liberal Media" maps out the path of a story on the pages of the Washington Post. As the news gets worse, the farther forward it comes, all the way to page 1. As the news gets better (i.e. more bad guys die), way back it goes. Consider the following sentences:
All these sentences were handed down in a 2-week period, January 6-19, in Massachusetts and Vermont. In the debate on punishment vs. rehabilitation, certainly there should be some combination of the two. And at least have the former if the latter is deemed unlikely (think repeat offenders, as in the second and third examples above) if for no other reason that societal self-defense. These are children we're talking about, after all. UPDATE: The 60-day sentence has been extended to 3-10 years. The judge's statement: "The court agrees a punitive response - punishment - is a valuable and necessary component of society's response to criminal conduct," he said. "It is a tool that the court has routinely used for the past 24 years on the trial bench. As stated during the sentencing hearing, however, punishment is not enough of a response in some cases. But to me, the original sentence didn't have much of any punitive response. Nonetheless, I'm glad this was done. (Cross-posted at Stones Cry Out. Comments welcome.) Today's Odd "Considerettes" Search Phrase - The nouns of my Saudi selected player [#1! on Yahoo! Search] Good news from the fledgeling democracy in Iraq: The 3 main factions have agreed to work together (H/T Mark Kilmer at "No End But Victory"): The main Shi’ite bloc in Iraq, the Iraqi Alliance, fell short of gaining an absolute majority which would have enabled them to run the government themselves. They are willing to work with the Sunni parties with a proviso: the must actively combat the insurgency.But he [Senior Iraq Alliance member Dr Hussein al-Shahristani] warned the Sunni parties that if they wanted to join the coalition, they would have to fight the insurgency actively. At this point, the Iraqi experiment is still working, and getting stronger. The first class of cadets from military training graduated recently, and the multi-national force continues to help Iraq beat back the insurgency. Continued efforts by Iraqi and Coalition Forces continue to help Iraq progress toward democracy by making it harder on the insurgency, building up infrastructure and fostering stability. It's not without its losses, but as Iraq moves more and more into self-government, the cause is a good one. UPDATE: The BBC is reporting that "Iraqis and Afghans are among the most optimistic people in the world when it comes to their economic future". In Afghanistan, 70% say their own circumstances are improving, and 57% believe that the country overall is on the way up. (Cross-posted at Stones Cry Out. Comments welcome.) Monday, January 23, 2006
In the "I'll Believe It When I See It" Department, Hamas says it'll negotiate with Israel under some preconditions. Hamas is "interested" in Israeli peace proposals and may be willing to negotiate indirectly with the Jewish state, Dr. Mahmoud al-Zahar, Hamas chief in the Gaza Strip, said in an exclusive interview while ruling out the possibility of his terror group disarming or ceasing "resistance" attacks. Hamas has targeted civilians in its fight for a Palestinian state, which would make it a terrorist group in the eyes of most. And yet that detail doesn't seem to have bothered a lot of Palestinians. Hamas last month was largely victorious in local municipal elections in Gaza and the West Bank, and is expected to do well in Palestinian parliamentary elections scheduled for Wednesday. The main reason I'm very skeptical of all this is that their mission statement hasn't changed. The official Hamas charter calls for the destruction of Israel by "assaulting and killing," and rejects all peace talks with the Jewish state. Doesn't sound like a group interested in negotiations. (Cross-posted to Stones Cry Out. Comments welcome.) Friday, January 20, 2006
Today's Odd "Considerettes" Search Phrase - comical sayings or signs to put up at work in the courthouse [#1! on Yahoo! Search] Space, the final junk-tier. In January 2005, the US Space Surveillance Network saw a 31-year-old US Thor rocket body collide in space with part of the third stage of the Chinese CZ-4 rocket that exploded in March 2000. At least three pieces broke off the Thor rocket stage, adding to the growing collection of space junk orbiting Earth. "Sorry sir, we can't take the shuttle down to the surface. Too much junk in the way." "Guess we'll have to stay in orbit until we invent transporter technology." Thursday, January 19, 2006
Republicans and Democrats have each presented their own government reform packages, but according to a watchdog group, neither is good enough. Democrats on Wednesday declared an end to the "Republican culture of corruption," announcing their own "real reform" plan one day after Republicans announced theirs. The problem is that both sides break the law, not that there aren't enough laws. The reason they break the law is because there's so much money floating around Washington because government is just way too big. Fortunately, there are those who are putting forth a real step in dealing with this root cause. Lobbying reform alone is not enough, said the Council for Citizens Against Government Waste (CCAGW), which has urged Congress to fix the "mangled and secretive budget process." Transparency with regard to the slinging around of pork is a good first step, and it's just a first step. The more power and money we give to Washington, the more this kind of thing will happen, regardless of the number of "reforms" passed. Lobbying isn't a crime and taking contributions from lobbyists isn't a crime. However, the reason both of these legal actions can be abused is because in a government as large, complex and awash in money and power as ours, humanity's weakness kicks in. Giving Washington more and more to do, especially those things that aren't even constitutionally mandated, is simply an invitation for more abuse, and anyone who advocates for the former while ranting against the latter is ignorant at best and disingenuous at worst. (Cross-posted at Stones Cry Out and Blogger News Network. Comments welcome.) Enrollment at Christian evangelical colleges is on the rise, quite sharply, across the nation. This excerpt from the Grand Forks Herald notes the numbers for Minnesota. Across the state, and the nation, colleges with ties to evangelical movements are seeing their enrollments soar. Wednesday, January 18, 2006
From the Sioux Falls Argus Leader: Former South Dakota Sen. Tom Daschle is weighing the possibility of running for the Democratic presidential nomination in 2008. Heh, yeah. Probably a lot of encouragement from Republicans in there. Tuesday, January 17, 2006
Progress is occurring in the Milwaukee Public School System. Milwaukee schools are still struggling, but progress is obvious. Students have improved their performance on 13 out of 15 standardized tests. The annual dropout rate has fallen to 10% from 16% since the choice program started. Far from draining resources from public schools, spending has gone up in real terms by 27% since choice began as taxpayers and legislators encouraged by better results pony up more money. How did they do this? School vouchers. Choice. Making the monopoly compete. The results have impressed even the MPS superintendent. "No longer is MPS a monopoly," says Milwaukee Public Schools superintendent William Andrekopoulos. "That competitive nature has raised the bar for educators in Milwaukee to provide a good product or they know that parents will walk." The city's public schools have made dramatic changes that educators elsewhere can only dream of. Public schools now share many buildings with their private counterparts, which helps alleviate the shortage of classrooms. Teachers, once assigned strictly by seniority, are now often hired by school selection committees. And 95% of district operating funds now go directly to schools, instead of being parceled out by a central office. That puts power in the hands of teachers who work directly with students. Mr. Andrekopoulos loves it. The parents love it. The teacher's unions...well, they're predictable. Far from questioning the public-school monopoly, teacher unions are digging in. They have an ally in Gov. Jim Doyle, a Democrat elected in 2002 with 45% of the vote (a Libertarian candidate got 10%). Running scared in this election year, he claims he wants to raise the cap on Milwaukee's choice program. But he insists on including side issues in any deal with the Legislature. For instance, he demands choice students take standardized tests and have the results made public. But in 2003 he vetoed a bill that would have done just that because the teachers union wanted to block an objective study of choice. Instead of letting more kids take advantage of these better results, the cap on the number of eligible students is going to be interpreted in such a way that it may throw the program into disarray and close some of the schools. The unions would rather hold on to their power and influence rather than give the kids a shot at a better education. "Fix it, don't kill it" is a common phrase heard by folks trying to preserve this monopoly, but the parents know that they don't have that sort of time, and they know that the school system doesn't have that sort of inclination. It's only in competition that things will get better. It works amazingly well in our colleges and universities,which are among the best in the world. It would work for K-12, too, if it were to be given a chance. (Cross-posted at Stones Cry Out and Blogger News Network. Comments welcome.) From the London Telegraph: Men who take drugs for impotency such as Viagra or Cialis and who have previously had a heart attack may have a 10-fold increased risk of damaging their eyesight, an American study claims today. That is to say, if you keep it up, you'll go blind. >grin< Pat Robertson's at it again. "God is mad at America," in part because he does not approve "of us being in Iraq under false pretenses." Further, "he is sending hurricane after hurricane after hurricane, and it is destroying and putting stress on this country." Robertson also said that God was mad at black America for not taking care of themselves, their women and their children. He noted that 70 percent of black children are born to one parent. Expect liberals to get outraged over this in even larger proportion to their reaction to some of his previous pronouncements that weren't as racially charged. This could get ugly. 'Cept it won't. That's because, in reality, New Orleans mayor Ray Nagin said it. It's OK for him to say this because he's black and because he's a Democrat. If he'd been white or Republican and talked about God being upset with blacks, it would have been considered hate speech. And of course, when people invoke God in the name of liberal ideas, in this case on the war in Iraq, you'll hear hardly a peep. The NY Times covered it only to the point of reprinting the AP wire copy, but that's it. In fact, I heard on the radio this morning (from the generally conservative host, not the news folks) that there had been some concern by a black city official about Nagin's "chocolate city" imagery. He wasn't upset at Nagin (he is black and Democrat, after all), but was concerned that such imagery would be taken in the wrong way. Even that little bit of worry wasn't mention by the AP nor the Times. Calling blacks the dark chocolate of the world and whites the white milk raiseth not an eyebrow. Nope, this is no big deal to <redundancy> the Left and the Media </redundancy>. At least this time it isn't. Frankly, I don't think it's a big deal either. Call me a Lactose-American; whatever. I don't object to colorful language regarding my race. And if Nagin thinks God had a hand in this, that's his opinion and he's welcome to it. But if Newt Gingrich or Bill Bennett or, indeed, Pat Robertson himself had said this, we'd be treated to news articles galore on reaction from the Left, and op-eds expressing outrage. Instead, a little wire copy is dutifully pushed and the case is essentially closed. Nagin's trying to read God's mind just as much as Pat was, but little will be said about it, other that mostly right-wing bloggers noting the hypocrisy by <redundancy> the Left and the Media </redundancy>. If only they could move on (.org) as easily all the time. (Cross-posted at Stones Cry Out and Blogger News Network. Comments welcome.) Friday, January 13, 2006
SCO's Head Stone (hmm, perhaps I need to give him a better title), Rick Brady, has been putting in a lot of long weeks helping to manage the FEMA effort in New Orleans. (See here for a post from the "front" with pictures.) His initial thought was that he'd be there at least 3 months. Well, those 3 months are up and there's probably another 6 months or so left. Some of the rebuilding effort is caught up in red tape. While the term "red tape" is typically a disparaging term, some of these obstacles have a good reason behind them. The upside is that rebuilding without knowing future flooding potential is being kept down. The downside is that folks have been waiting for some time to get their homes and businesses back. Ever since hurricane Katrina washed much of New Orleans away, where to allow rebuilding has been Question No. 1. After months of emotionally exhaustive waiting and wondering, homeowners in the most devastated parts of the city now know the answer: They'll have to wait until late June to rebuild - and, even then, it's not certain their property will be safe from public seizure. Some of this red tape actually makes the rebuilding more difficult, of course, especially when you get into a hurry-up-and-wait situation, followed by a give-me-an-answer-now situation. Making things worse is what may be a rather unrealistically high bar set by the City Council. Making the process even more difficult, members of the New Orleans City Council have said they will not back any plan that does not allow immediate rebuilding everywhere in the city. It's the competing plans that seem to be the crux of the issue. Some folks, however, have given up on the whole thing. That's cold comfort to Angela and Keith Jackson, who are surveying the Lower Ninth Ward neighborhood for the first time since the storm. If a city is built on the coast, but no one's there to live in it, does it really exist? I don't really think that NO would be vacant when it comes back, but it's quite possible that it'll be a shadow of its former self by the time all the signatures are affixed to the right paperwork. Stay tuned. Thursday, January 12, 2006
Global Warming Update: Where does new research show almost a third of the greenhouse gas methane in our atmosphere come from? Trees! As usual, ScrappleFace nails it. Wednesday, January 11, 2006
Why is Iran thumbing its nose at international organizations with regards to its nuclear program? One reason may be that the President of Iran, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, believes that the Shi'ite "messiah", the Twelfth Imam or Mahdi, will be returning very soon. He's making serious preparations for it, including having a special train line built to a holy city involved in the story of his return. Daniel Pipes has the details. If Ahmadinejad believes that the return is imminent, you can see why he may be inclined to ignore all the urgings, reports and diplomatic words of concern over his nuclear aspirations. (Cross-posted at Stones Cry Out. Comments welcome.) Cox & Forkum draw what I've been saying lately; the UN is playing into Iran's hands by talking, discussing, showing concern and writing reports long after such demonstrations of diplomacy have been proven to make no difference to the mad mullahs. Looks like a mushroom cloud over Israel is the only thing that might--might--get them riled. Tuesday, January 10, 2006
Monday, January 09, 2006
Today's Odd "Considerettes" Search Phrase - fan and track and angle and solution [#1! on Yahoo! Search] Iran continue to work on creating nukes while the EU and the UN fiddle. Iran said on Sunday it was preparing to remove U.N. seals at some nuclear research and development sites, despite strong Western opposition to its decision to resume atomic work halted more than two years ago. With chance after chance for Iran to do the right thing, the EU and the UN continue to be concerned, alarmed and even prepare to >gasp< issue a report to the IAEA's board of governors! That'll show them. Global warming update #1: NEW DELHI - The Indian capital Sunday saw its first winter frost in 70 years as a cold wave sweeping in from the Himalayas killed more people in northern India overnight, officials said. Global warming update #2: The snow country, ensconced between the Sea of Japan and the Japanese Alps, is one of the world's snowiest regions and typically lies under a dozen feet of snow for several months a year. But the coldest winter in decades has brought record snowfalls to the region in recent weeks. Friday, January 06, 2006
This is food for thought, given the current issue with NSA wiretaps. Alexander Hamilton wrote these paragraphs in Federalist #23 regarding the power of a federal government in "the preservation of the Union". It's a long-ish quote so that context is maintained. Italics and capitalization have been preserved, so emphasis by me is shown in red. The authorities essential to the care of the common defence are these--to raise armies--to build and equip fleets--to prescribe rules for the government of both--to direct their operations--to provide for their support. These powers ought to exist without limitation: Because it is impossible to foresee or define the extent and variety of national exigencies, or the correspondent extent & variety of the means which may be necessary to satisfy them. The circumstances that endanger the safety of nations are infinite; and for this reason no constitutional shackles can wisely be imposed on the power to which the care of it is committed. This power ought to be co-extensive with all the possible combinations of such circumstances; and ought to be under the direction of the same councils, which are appointed to preside over the common defence. The Federalist Papers were explanations to the people regarding a new federal government under the proposed Constitution, and why it was a good idea. What's interesting is that Hamilton is essentially saying that this new Constitution will not, in fact, be a "suicide pact". When the Constitution talks about providing for the common defense, then, it means it, and Hamilton says that it should not be used as shackles to keep what needs to be done from being done. This passage talks about, I believe, the federal government in its totality. Thus, Congress is as much a part of this as the President. They still hold the purse strings, and if they want to cut funding to the NSA to keep something from happening they don't agree with, it's their prerogative. That, among other things, is a check on Executive Branch power, but according to Hamilton, it's not necessarily a constitutional issue. Hamilton's words do not have the weight of those in the Constitution, to be sure. However, he does provide a framework for understanding the Constitution as written and intended. It expresses ideas you wouldn't hear much about today. He'd probably be considered a right-wing extremist. Considering these ideas for our omnipresent and over-extended federal government does, I admit, make me wonder whether this concept is such a good idea for the Washington, DC of today. But he was expressing the concerns and intents of those who wrote one of our most important founding documents, and those thoughts should not be lightly ignored or hand-waved away. (Cross-posted at Stones Cry Out, Blogger News Network and Redstate.org. Comments welcome.) Iran is snubbing the UN's request to explain the resumption of their nuclear program. Iran's delegation to the International Atomic Energy Agency abruptly left Vienna Thursday without attending a meeting in which delegation members were to explain the reasons behind Tehran's planned resumption of its nuclear program, IAEA spokeswoman Melissa Fleming said. Two words: They won't. Iran is using the UN against itself, hoping that the diplomats who stake their reputations on finding diplomatic solutions will talk away the hours until Iran reaches the point of no return. So far, the gambit is working. "In the meantime, Dr. ElBaradei also calls on Iran to take voluntary measures to build confidence, and enable the resumption of dialogue with all concerned parties." They won't even voluntarily attend a conference, for goodness sake! Why in the world do you think they'll agree to anything? The only way Iran will not create a nuclear bomb is if they meet with force opposing it. On balance, the actions of that country have proven that, and the UN ought to be doing more than just taking notes and hoping Iran might someday play nice. Peggy Noonan expounds further on the connection between the Abramoff scandal and big government in "The Steamroller". Thursday, January 05, 2006
To be honest, I know this blog doesn't have all that big a readership. I do appreciate all of you that have felt it worth bookmarking, to be sure. However, 40 visits a day (as per SiteMeter) isn't a Tier B or Tier W blog. One of the benefits of this (in a way) is that I don't get much hate mail. I don't get much mail at all based on the blog, but at least not that much hate mail. We're talking about 1 e-mail per year. Really. Last year's e-mail came during my Christmas break (which is why I didn't get to it immediately), and it was about the NSA wiretapping issue. It wasn't hate mail, per se, at least not directed at me. According to Christian Pecaut, the issue is as simple as black and white. There's no comparison between Clinton (Democratic Administration), and Bush (Republican Administration). Apparently, Christian is privy to the secret plans of the Vast Right Wing Conspiracy(tm). That's the black, now the white. Yes, Clinton, as the President, inherited a whole worldwide apparatus of spying and subterfuge. Poor Clinton inherited this apparatus (guess he wouldn't have really wanted it), but he used this power for good, as every Democrat and good liberal would. The overall purpose of Republican spying, lying, and power is to harm people and take from them whatever you can (especially maps of long term security). Thanks for clearing that up. In short: Republicans bad, Democrats good. Always and without question. Thanks for clearing that up. (Boy, is this guy going to be disheartened by the list of Democrats that got contributions from Abramoff.) All this legal chit-chat is moot. A declaration that legal stuff is moot, followed by a legal accusation. Whether or not something is Constitutional is pointless to Mr. Pacaut. We'll keep this in mind should he ever be nominated for the Supreme Court. Once 911 truth comes out, the Republicans will go down, and then we can actually sort out what is best for everyone. Because, by definition of course, that's what they do. I don't think this is generally how the other half thinks, but it was interesting to note that some actually do think this way. No doubt it's an extreme position, but if you look at the Daily Kos, you'll find plenty of articles, diaries and comments that seem to come from the same point of view as this guy. Wonder how extreme this really is for the Left, or how mainstream it may be. One of the anonymous sources on the NSA wiretapping program has come forward and wants to testify. A former National Security Agency official wants to tell Congress about electronic intelligence programs that he asserts were carried out illegally by the NSA and the Defense Intelligence Agency. I wonder if Mr. Tice is also, or has consulted, a constitutional law expert, as his assertion of the actions as being unconstitutional are pretty forceful. Other folks are not so sure, and are at least being circumspect about it (emphasis mine). Critics of the eavesdropping program, which gathered and sifted through large amounts of telephone and e-mail to search for clues to terrorists' communications, say the activities might have been illegal because they were carried out without obtaining a FISA court order. But since Mr. Tice is a whistleblower, he must know more about this. Mr. Tice said yesterday that he was not part of the intercept program. OK, well maybe only just a little more. UDPATE: Power Line has more information on Mr. Tice. The economy just keeps getting better. The latest front: jobless claims. The number of newly laid-off workers filing claims for unemployment benefits fell to the lowest level in more than five years last week, providing strong evidence that the labor market is shaking off the effects of a string of devastating hurricanes. I believe the economy does the best when government gets out of the way, so I don't credit Bush with properly manipulating the economy; I credit him with letting capitalism do what it does best. The tax cuts were a good start, but the next step should be a combination of more tax cuts and parallel spending cuts. DeLay was flat wrong that there's nothing left to cut. For those who do tend to give the President direct credit for the economy, and especially those who credit Clinton for any upticks during his administration, are you ready to credit Bush now? If not, it's time to reexamine you opinions. Wednesday, January 04, 2006
France says, "Pretty please?" France on Tuesday called on Iran to reverse its decision to restart nuclear research after a two-year suspension, and said Tehran should respond to the concerns of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). We all know the answer already. Why won't Europe do anything more than talk, make useless rulings, and simply be concerned? The first Carnival of Homeschooling has been posted. Looks like a good place to read up on the subject. (Disclosure: We currently homeschool 3 of our 4 kids.) The Abramoff plea deal has obviously rocked Washington, and rightly so. This particular scandal, while it may catch members of both parties, will most likely tilt heavily Republican due to Abramoff's affiliation. I say "good". I won't be surprised to find more Republican names than Democrat ones, as the Republicans are the party in power now, and that power corrupts, as all power tends to do. I'd be very happy to see a house-cleaning of the majority party. We need that as a country. What I think we'll see are Congressfolk who are heavily entrenched in the system who thought they were untouchable. With Washington awash in so much money, the lure of it becomes, I imagine, greater than many can handle. These people need to be exposed and removed. I don't want to be passing sentence before the facts are in, but when they do come in, I would like to see the guilty do the right thing and step down rather than put us through a bunch of trials. This scandal, while it may involve more Republicans than Democrats, actually buttresses a point small-government Republicans have been trying to make for years; government is too big. There's too much money flying around and much of it can disappear without a trace, sometimes into the pockets of politicians, and they'll do things they would not otherwise do to get it. The more a government does, the more we invite this sort of corruption. Those wishing to centralize more and more of our country's operation, and wishing to give it more and more to do, would do well to understand that this very scandal is, in a large part, a result of that. While this particular scandal will, again, likely expose mostly Republicans, I think the problem is not one of party but of human nature. The Founding Fathers understood this and created a decentralized republic; united states. "...[T]he States can best govern our home concerns and the general government our foreign ones. I wish, therefore ... never to see all offices transferred to Washington, where, further withdrawn from the eyes of the people, they may more secretly be bought and sold at market." --Thomas Jefferson Keep those who govern us in your prayers for this reason, and for a million other ones. (Cross-posted at Stones Cry Out. Comments welcome.) Tuesday, January 03, 2006
Illegals are threatening the "free health care" already available to poor legal immigrants and citizens. (That's in quotes, because nothing's truly "free", but it comes at no cost to the consumer of it.) Hospital emergency rooms in Florida may soon be closing their doors as a result of increased demands by uninsured and under-insured patients – many of them illegal aliens. First of all, not being insured doesn't mean you can't get health care. Let's get that out of the way. Second of all, illegal aliens--the same ones that liberals say we're discriminating against when we ask for tighter border security--are going to ruin this health care opportunity for those who are citizens and those who have played by the rules and immigrated legally. And it's not just a matter of following the rules; those rules have a purpose. "Today, legal immigrants must demonstrate that they are free of communicable diseases and drug addiction to qualify for lawful permanent residency green cards," writes [Madeleine Pelner] Cosman, a medical lawyer, who formerly taught medical students at the City University of New York. "Illegal aliens simply cross our borders medically unexamined, hiding in their bodies any number of communicable diseases." Including leprosy! Illegal immigration is a healthcare issue, among a lot of other things. Happy New Year, folks! I just added a new blog to the roll. Camp Katrina is a blog from SPC Phil Van Treuren of the Ohio National Guard JAG, who writes about the Katrina recovery and much, much more. His blog's tagline says it all, "Proving that the United States military does much more than just kill people and break things." |
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