My New Senate Hero is Jeff Sessions, speaking about the president's desire to push the "comprehensive immigration legislation" (shudder) through:
Sen. Jeff Sessions, R-Alabama, also appearing on CNN's "American Morning" on Tuesday, said, "I think the president is wrong to push this piece of legislation so hard after we've demonstrated the flaws that are in it. He needs to back off. He needs to help us write a better bill and not push a bill that so many of us can't support."
Amen!
Michelle Malkin says It Ain't Over 'Til the Alien Wins:
As you follow the debate over the Bush-Kennedy immigration bill, keep this cardinal rule in mind: 99.99 percent of the lawmakers who promise you that they'll ensure the deportation of anyone who doesn't follow their new "guest-worker" regulations are either A) lying or B) completely clueless.
From Tom DeLay:
Nixon obstructed justice to cover up a scandal, Democrats hounded him from office; Clinton did the same thing, Democrats rallied to his defense. G. Gordon Liddy tried to steal stuff from the DNC, he's a pariah; Sandy Berger successfully stole stuff from the 9/11 Commission, he's a hero. Ronald Reagan says he wants to reform welfare, he's a racist; Bill Clinton says he wants to reform welfare, he's a visionary. Sen. Robert Torricelli quits his reelection race in New Jersey, Democrats demand the party replace him with a better candidate; I quit my reelection race in Texas, Democrats demand that Republicans not be given the same opportunity. Clarence Thomas is incredibly accused of sexual harassment, Democrats fly into a rage; Bill Clinton is credibly accused of sexual assault, Democrats play deaf. Bill Clinton says Saddam Hussein needs to go, Democrats rattle their sabers; George W. Bush actually does something about it, Democrats howl.
The only thing consistent about Democrat politics these days is its insincerity.
Nice.
Tony Snow handling "journalist" Harry Smith:
No, Harry, you can't have your own facts.
Heh!
Investors Business Daily, on the subject of Bush's "rock star" reception in Albania:
Americans — and Europeans — who are bothered by capitalist wealth in developed countries and the West's strong defense of freedom should try living like the Albanians did for 46 years. Communist tyranny will quickly change a person's outlook.
Word.
Somehow liberals have been unable to acquire from life what conservatives seem to be endowed with at birth: namely, a healthy skepticism of the powers of government agencies to do good.
— Daniel Patrick Moynihan
On the global political menu of ice cream flavors, if we called George W. Bush vanilla and Mahmoud Ahmadenijad New York Super Fudge Chunk (with extra nuts), our elections give Americans a choice between vanilla and French vanilla.Read it all for a decent giggle.
There's no mystery about why the U.S. Supreme Court threw the Ten Commandments out of the courthouse.You can't engrave "thou shalt not steal" or even "thou shalt not commit adultery" and certainly not "thou shalt not lie" on the walls inside a building full of lawyers, judges and politicians without creating a hostile work environment.
In discourse, diversity in viewpoint leads to intellectual growth.Those of differing opinions, please don't suffer in silence. Commentors on this blog have actually influenced my opinions as my political thoughts mature. For that I am thankful.
— AlphaPatriot, 28 June 2005
The only kind thing that can be said about Dick Durbin's rant this week on the Senate floor, as hearings on alleged prisoner abuses at Guantanamo began, is that it made Howard Dean look sane.
... find me a liberal who can consistently think apart from his or her party's talking points and I'll find you a future libertarian or conservative.
He swore at subordinates. He chased after women, used bad language to underlings, cooked the data to get the results he wanted, and alienated as many people as he attracted. So much for his U.N. ambassadorship, eh? So let's hear no more about giving Bill Clinton that job.
"The American Republic will endure, until politicians realize they can bribe the people with their own money."— Alexis de Tocqueville, (1805-1859)
If I could only have one gun it would be aimed at the guy who said I can only have one gun.via Say Uncle
Sometimes we convince ourselves that the "unnoticed" gestures of "insignificant" people mean nothing. It's not enough to recycle our soda cans; we must Stop Global Warming Now. Since we can't Stop Global Warming Now, we may as well not recycle our soda cans. It's not enough to be our best selves; we have to be Gandhi. And yet when we study the biographies of our heroes, we learn that they spent years in preparation doing tiny, decent things before one historical moment propelled them to center stage.Do yourself a favor and at least take a look. Perhaps it will affect you as much as it did me.
In one of history's fine little ironies, the "Arab street," long considered our mortal enemy, now threatens Muslim tyrants, and yearns for support from us.Michael Ledeen in Watersheds: We live in a time of democratic revolution.
To me, liberalism in it's truest sense is the notion that we owe something to more than ourselves; the idea that a certain degree of sacrifice for the benefit of others is not only moral and just, but necessary for the survival of a moral and just state. This is not the sort of ethos that reasonable people can disagree with unless they've read too much Ayn Rand.
Subsidies are like a heroin fix. They feel good, but they lead to more subsidies.Read it all.
I'm trying to juxtapose video of Iraqis dancing in the street (purple fingers in the air*) with the still fresh images of vandalized and destroyed Bush campaign offices. I can see why Kerry wouldn't be too happy about democracy in Iraq. He and his supporters didn't like it when we were doing it here either. They especially didn't like the results.
There cannot be an absence of moral content in American foreign policy. And furthermore, the American people would not accept such an absence. Europeans giggle at this and say we are naive, but we are not European, we are American and we have different principles.Nice! But there's more:
On European allies who opposed the Iraq war: “Punish France, ignore Germany and forgive Russia”Moral clarity and the world of diplomacy don't usually mix. It will be a very interesting four years.On using American power: “There is nothing wrong with doing something that benefits all humanity”
On international treaties: “Multilateral agreements and institutions should not be ends in themselves . . . Foreign policy in a Republican administration will almost certainly be internationalist — but it will also proceed from the firm ground of the national interest, not from the interests of an illusory international community”
On Iran, Iraq and North Korea: “The US must approach regimes like North Korea resolutely and decisively. The first line of defence should be a clear and classical statement of deterrence — if they do acquire WMD their weapons will be unusable because any attempt to use them will bring national obliteration”
On China: “Co-operation should be pursued, but we should never be afraid to confront Beijing when our interests collide”
On Palestine: “A reformed, democratic Palestine would not only meet the aspirations of the Palestinian people, its first and most important task, but it would also inspire confidence by Israel that a true partner for peace had emerged”
On advising the President: “I don’t talk the President into almost anything, all right? You can’t do that with the President. What you can do with the President is make your arguments”
Query: is Condi being groomed for a run at the presidency in '08?
John Quincy Adams possessed a remarkably clear, uncompromised understanding of the permanent Islamic institutions of jihad war and dhimmitude. Regarding jihad, Adams states in his essay series,Read it all."…he [Muhammad] declared undistinguishing and exterminating war, as a part of his religion, against all the rest of mankind…The precept of the Koran is, perpetual war against all who deny, that Mahomet is the prophet of God."...And Adams captured the essential condition imposed upon the non-Muslim dhimmi “tributaries” subjugated by jihad, with this laconic statement,“The vanquished may purchase their lives, by the payment of tribute.”
If the U.S. presidential election were held in Canada, John Kerry would win a landslide, with at least three-quarters of the vote, perhaps taking even Alberta. But they don't hold it here. (My reader will immediately grasp why no Republican administration could ever wish to annex Canada. Conquer and enslave us perhaps, but no plan that involved an extension of the franchise could fail to subvert the invaders.)The world at large, and even the arguably-allied West, might well vote differently from the Americans, given their druthers. But they aren't Americans, and no matter how similar or dissimilar their societies, they do not carry the responsibilities which our southern neighbours bear. The U.S. simply IS the world's uncontested superpower -- the adult in the planetary kindergarten -- and with that comes an outlook no one else can fully share.
Bull.
If hindsight was 20-20 then people would realize that appeasing tyrants leads to them becoming more bold and tyrannical, that raising taxes on businesses strangles the economy, that calling for more money for public education is throwing good money after bad, that building oil pipelines through Alaskan wilderness is something Caribou actually like because they can cozy up to them for warmth, that socialized medicine doesn't and can't work, that disarming a populace doesn't make them safer, it only makes them victims, and so on.
If hindsight is 20-20 then liberals need glasses. We'll call them reality-lenses.
Rome did not create a great empire by having meetings, they did it by killing all those who opposed them.Simplistic, yet so true.
So is John Kerry intentionally misleading the public? "I think," said Fund, "he's creating an alternate conceptualization of reality."This blows away the previous Quote of the Day posted below.
I'm just saying.
Why can those who claim to understand the dangers of meddling with a complex ecosystem like the natural environment, not understand that government interference with a complex system like the economy is perilous too?The conflict between conservatives and Leftists is not usually a conflict between realists and idealists. Mostly it is a conflict between realists and people who will say anything to win applause.
The benefits will be immediate. We can cut $300 billion from our defence budget. This will be almost enough to pay for the ageing baby boomers’ prescription drug benefits, which can now include Levitra, Botox and medicinal cannabis.America will enjoy cleaner air and less traffic congestion as oil goes to $200 a barrel due to chaos in the Middle East. A US withdrawal from the Middle East will cause chaos, of course. Then again, a US intervention in the Middle East has caused chaos already. And, during those periods of history when the US was neither intervening in nor withdrawing from the Middle East, there was ... chaos. ...
One thing to whine about will be the fate of Israel. Without American safeguards, that nation is certain to be militarily attacked. To judge by previous Israeli wars, in 1948, 1956, 1967, 1973 and 1982, the result will be serious headaches for Israelis as the Knesset furiously debates the status of Jewish settlements outside Damascus and on the west bank of the Euphrates.
So anyway, she is smart and in her younger years could easily be called a Yuppie. Now she has two small children and is concerned that her income may take her out of the bracket in which she gets to take advantage of the child tax credit (we should all have such weighty problems).
In the course of our conversation I mention that Kerry has no African-Americans high up on his staff, whereas Bush appointed not one but two African-Americans to the top three positions of his cabinet, making the "big four" (Secretary of State, Secretary of Defense, National Security Adviser, and, of course, the President) 50% "minority". Put another way, he made Powell and Rice the most powerful "people of color" in modern history.
"Ah," says my friend, "but Rice isn't really Black."
This is news to me. Incredulous, I ask her why not.
"Because she grew up privileged!"
I then explained that both of her parents were high school educators and that she did not grow up going to prep schools and such.
It did not occur to me until after we hung up that I should have asked her why rich African-Americans people aren't really "Black". Such are the subtle shades of racism that has crept even into the White subconsciousness.
From Of The Social Contract or Principles of Political Right, Book 2, Chapter 3:
If, when an adequately informed people deliberates, the Citizens had no means of communication among themselves, the general will would always result from the large number of small differences, and the deliberation would always be good. But when factions arise, small associations at the expense of the large association, the will of each one of these associations becomes general in relation to its members and particular in relation to the State; there can then be no longer be said to be as many voters as there are men, but only as many as there are associations. The differences become less numerous and yield a less general result. Finally, when one of these associations is so large that it prevails over all the rest, the result you have is no longer a sum of small differences, but one single difference; then there is no longer a general will, and the opinion that prevails is nothing but a private opinion.No factions, no cabals, no political parties. Screw campaign finance reform, just outlaw all political affiliations. Vote the man, not the party.
What a concept.
Barron's comment (emphasis added):
He castigates other vets for things he admitted doing himself, throws away medals (not his own) at a rally, and hangs out with hanoi Jane...yuch! He gives a bad name to both vets and anti-war protesters for his cold calculation of what was necessary to get elected.Yowzaa!I'd rather see my daughter date a Kennedy than have this guy as POTUS.
The Republican Party is not the party of the rich, the Republican Party is the party of human dignity.