Jerry Bowyer: The California Fires: Where were the Looters?

San Diego had a major fire just four years ago. Did they wallow in their victimhood and demand more government funding? Did they play the race card, claiming that George Bush just doesn?t like Mexicans? The answer to these questions is "no". Here's why: culture matters.

Congressman Thomas Price:
Democrats Show Their Partisan Colors on SCHIP

It has been stunning how quickly Democrat leaders have shown their true colors this Congress, pandering and playing politics to usurp ever more personal and economic freedom.

Oliver North: The Future of the 'War on Terror'

This week, the Pentagon released official figures on how dramatically the security situation has improved in Iraq. Terrorist attacks, secular violence, roadside bombings, Iraqi civilian deaths and U.S. casualties are all down. The announcement received scant notice from the so-called mainstream media.

Paul Greenberg: Shocking: Scientist Commits Heresy

Few may have noticed, but Mr. Gore shared this year's Nobel Peace Prize with a real scientist, or rather a whole slew of them on the UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. That group's work is as unglamorous as its bureaucratic name.

John Hawkins: Keep Religion In, Not Out Of, Politics

Christians are still welcome to mouth politically correct platitudes and vote for whoever says a few nice words about Jesus, but if we actually support policies and candidates based on our religious beliefs, the anti-Christian secularists start tut-tutting and slinging cliches.

All Eyes on Iran

By Hugh Hewitt

It seems increasingly likely that some time in the months ahead you will turn on your radio, television or Internet connection to discover that American and allied planes are over the skies of Iran dropping bombs on facilities involved in Iran's outlaw attempt to acquire nuclear weapons.

While ground forces in Iran are almost impossible to imagine, the prospect of airstrikes seems increasingly likely, given the refusal of Iran to cooperate with demands for transparency and a halt to their proliferation ambitions.

American politics will be driven by such strikes, which is why it is important now for all candidates who wish to succeed George W. Bush to speak clearly on the key issue: If Iran will not stop, must it be stopped by force? All of the major Republicans candidates have said in one way or another that force is an option. None of the Democrats have said anything of the sort.

The media and political pros need to demand clarity before bombs begin falling. Some decisions cannot be ducked, including whether to allow a revolutionary and expansionist Islamist state to acquire weapons of mass destruction.

Ted Kennedy's America

“If you think American politics have gotten nastier, crueler and more symbolic over the last 20 years, blame Ted Kennedy. This month marks the 20th anniversary of the borking of Judge Robert Bork, Ronald Reagan’s failed Supreme Court nominee. And it was Ted Kennedy’s bilious bugle blast that brought the man down... In Ted Kennedy’s America, it’s blow for blow and eye for eye now, and everyone is blind to how we got here.”

—Jonah Goldberg

Hilliam Clinton

Remember "Clintonesque"? So does Hillary.

In the 1990s, "Clintonesque" became a by-word for political double-speak. We even became, briefly, a nation of deconstructionists when President Bill Clinton mused on the meaning of "is."

Such existential questions seemed to be in the past. But with another Clinton running as if she's all but a sure thing for the White House, Clintonesque is once again becoming a politically relevant adjective. In Tuesday night's Democratic Presidential debate, the moderators and Hillary Clinton's fellow panelists took pains to pin her down on one question after another, without notable success. The junior Senator from New York seems increasingly to have adopted her husband's political methods, minus the savoir-faire. The result is that it's impossible to know what she believes about anything.

On Iran's nuclear ambitions, moderator Brian Williams asked a number of the candidates what their "red line" was. As he put it to Barack Obama, "What would make it crystal clear in your mind that" the U.S. "should attack Iran?" When he repeated the question to Senator Clinton, her answer was, in sum, "I think that what we're trying to do here is put pressure on the Bush Administration." She added, "we've got to rein him in." And, no, she didn't mean Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. When pressed by Mr. Williams, she clarified, in a way. "We're not in my view, rushing to war. We should not be doing that. But we shouldn't be doing nothing."

Read more about Mrs. Mealymouth.

Sometimes...... Truth Can Be a Good Thing

“Many elected to office are agenda and ideologically driven, simply engaged in the pursuit of power. To these people, the truth is a ‘good thing’ when it aids their cause and something to be spun or ignored when it stands to detract from their agendas.”

—Frank Salvato

Thou Shall Not Have Wet Feet

“College campuses across the nation are installing foot baths to accommodate Muslims’ daily bathing ritual, while surgically removing the Ten Commandments from every public space in America. Maybe the Ten Commandments could be printed on towels and kept next to the foot baths.” —Ann Coulter

A Few Clowns Short of a Circus Now Aren't We?

“Presidential candidate Dennis Kucinich says that he once had an encounter with a UFO. Apparently, several weird looking, little men got off the ship, saw Kucinich, and said, ‘It’s alright. He’s one of us’.” —Conan O’Brien

Exactly.

The Tonight Show

Jay Leno:

Lot of candidates getting into the Halloween spirit. Today, John Edwards said he was going to get a $15 haircut and go as someone from the other America. ...... New York Governor Eliot Spitzer has announced that New York will give driver’s licenses to illegal immigrants. So, for the first time ever, a lot of New York City cab drivers will actually have a license. ... Democrats in Congress have announced they will now be taking Fridays off. Apparently, they were getting worried their approval rating was too high. ... The president of France, Nicolas Sarkozy, and his wife have gotten a divorce. Apparently, there were rumors of infidelity and lack of trust. To which Bill and Hillary said, ‘Well, that’s no reason to get divorced’.

Dinesh D'Souza: What Has Atheism Done for Us?

If we look at the history of Western civilization, we find that Christianity has illuminated the greatest achievements of the culture. Does it make any sense to say that "religion poisons everything"?

CLICK PICTURE TO ENLARGE.

Hillary campaign in melt down?

First of all let me say that it is way too early to tell. There is a lot of time left and anything can happen - good or bad - that might drastically shape the landscape. But, Hillary does have a lot of baggage that could get drudged up and laid out before the voters.

And now we have all these questionable campaign donations, not to mention the court case involving Stan Lee and Peter Paul and a fundraiser for Hillary. Hillary and Bill and a slew of their cronies will have to testify in court.

It made me wonder if things did snowball and her campaign does start to unravel badly, might this be the impetus to make Al Gore jump into the race to save the Democrat party in this next presidential election.

And then I saw this article:

Zogby: Al Gore Leads ‘Blind’ Poll
A Zogby International “blind bio” telephone poll shows that former Vice President Al Gore is favored over the current Democratic front-runners by likely Democratic Party voters nationwide — particularly among liberal Democrats.

Kinda' makes you wonder. Doesn't it?

Hillary Loses ‘She Can't Lose’ Status

Hillary’s major stumble on the issue of giving illegal aliens New York State driver's licenses could very well be the beginning of the end of her campaign — if not in the primaries then in the general election.

No issue strikes a cord like this issue. Period.

CLICK HERE FOR THE FULL STORY

Hillary Unhappy with Russert

Read the article here.

Blogged with Flock

Amanda Carpenter: La Raza: Immigration Raids Hurt Kids

The open borders advocacy group National Council of La Raza said Wednesday morning that government-led immigration raids induced mental disorders and instilled fear among immigrant children.

Emmett Tyrrell: Lies and Deceits

Perhaps as conservatives continue to break the liberal monopoly, the liberals will raise their journalistic standards. Or maybe they will get worse

Robert D. Novak: Nancy's "Committee of One"

Jim McCrery, ranking Republican on the House Ways and Means Committee, has spent all year trying to establish good relations with Chairman Charles Rangel. He succeeded, only to discover that Rangel does not really run Ways and Means. Nancy Pelosi does.

George Will: Something

In today's political taxonomy, "progressives" are rebranded liberals dodging the damage they did to their old label. Soon, liberals will need a third label if people notice what "progressives" are up to in Utah.

Victor Davis Hanson: Please: Not Another Farm Bill

The House this July passed another five-year, multi-billion-dollar farm support bill. Here we go again with payouts to well-off Americans that have neither logic nor morality.

Good News is No News

Hugh Hewitt echoes what I said here.



By Hugh Hewitt

The news from Iraq is so good that, suddenly, it is hardly news at all. For two years the mainstream media and Democrats in Congress could not let a day go by without pronouncing defeat in Iraq. Now that the surge has dramatically lowered American, Coalition and, yes, even Iraqi casualties, the media has turned elsewhere for its lead stories.

The American Enterprise Institute's Fred Kagan, one of the architects of the policies behind the surge, urges Americans to keep the recent dramatic successes against al Qaeda in Iraq in mind as prophets of doom switch their dark glasses to the prospect of out-of-control Shia militias and long-term Iranian domination in Iraq. Kagan writes that "those who now proclaim the hopelessness of future efforts also ridiculed the possibility of the success we have achieved."

Kagan is right. General Petraeus and his team have earned a great deal of deference by reclaiming the momentum and restoring stability in Iraq. We should be sure to trust them in the months ahead--not their partisan critics."

A little housekeeping is in order.

I am going to take the time to make a couple of house keeping comments. I appreciate your readership. I appreciate your comments. Keep them them respectful and clean, and I will not delete them. I don't always have the time, or if the comments are really off the wall, the inclination to respond to them. Occasionally, the comments are not worth the effort required to respond.

Additionally, I have many links on my blog. There is a purpose to that. The blogosphere's draw is that it is an avenue in which many viewpoints can be communicated - stretching from the far right to the far left, and of course all points in between. I invite readers to read many blogs for insight and education, even if you don't agree with someone, there is information to be gained.

With that said, I might not agree with all the views of everyone that appear in my blog links. And that is the way it should be. Nor, do I, or can I, read all the material in all the links I provide; that should be obvious to all.

And while I encourage you to read as many of the blog links you can (that I provide), remember these are separate blogs with their own blog owners/writers and have no connection to me.

Therefore, if you click on a link and want to comment on what you have just read, it is just common sense to leave a link there (on that blog) and do not leave a comment on this blog. Because, chances are, I, nor any other reader, will know what in the h.... you are talking about.

This happened most recently and a thread with a few comments was started under a post that had absolutely no connection to the post itself.

So what I decided to do was to delete the comments under that post and then re-post the comments under this housekeeping blurb. Feel free to continue with any comments.

• what are you talking about? why all this anticommunism? i was reading the top 10 reasons to stop ACLU (or whatever you call it) and I think that the appropriate title is the top 10 reasons not to stop ACLU. Especially the thingy about child pornography was really misused. I think that they were talking about freedom of speech which unavoidably cannot stop the distribution of child pornography. But they also said that you should fight this problem in it's roots by prohibiting the production of this type of pornography. And you translate this thing into: "The ACLU supports child porn distribution". What can I say...

  By Tritonio, at 8:33 PM

• HAAAAAAALLLLLP!!!
  
  WTF?
  
  I see the screw-up fairy has visited us again...
  
  You!...Off my planet!
  
  It sounds like English, but I can't understand a word you're saying.
  
  Totally incoherent.
  
  Does your train of thought have a caboose?
  
  You are validating my inherent mistrust of strangers.
  
  If I throw a stick, will you leave?
  
  Oh, and any connection between your reality and mine is purely coincidental.

  By HeavyHanded, at 9:19 PM

• OK I'll try to rephrase everything I said (and add some new facts too).
  1. I am neither an ACLU member nor a fanatic communist nor a criminal.
  2. You have a link to "Stop ACLU" and I clicked on it.
  3. I then followed another link titled: "The top 10 reasons to stop ACLU"
  4. One of the reasons was "The ACLU supports child porn distribution and child molesters like NAMBLA."
  5. The explanation was that Barry Lynn said that "While production of child porn could be prevented by law, he argued, its distribution could not be."
  6. I think that Lynn talks about freedom of speech. Everybody should be free to communicate with anyone and about anything and in any way (privately or publicly). You cannot make any exceptions to this, not even for child pornography. Because everytime a goverment makes one exception, then comes another, and another, and another... Until there is no freedom of speech at all.
  7. Lynn also meant that you should try to prevent child pornography by stoping it's production. After all the damage is MAINLY done the moment a child is sexually abused and not when people see it.
  8. I don't know if the ACLU guys or this Lynn are bstrds. I just know that you try to fight them by using fake evidence.
  9. And finally all this "stand up for america" thing is totaly insane. I have seen greeks that say "stand up for greece". Germans that say the very same thing for the country etc. It's because of people like you that the earth is always on war. Why don't you say instead stand up for Africa (which is dying)? Why not stand up for the World...
  
  I hope I make sense now...

  By Tritonio, at 5:38 AM

• Well, the meaning of your words is now clearer but you do not make all that much sense. Barry Lynn’s words that ‘child porn could be prevented by law’ are not all that clear either but you correctly interpret him to be saying that child porn can be legally proscribed against within the constructs of the Constitution while it’s distribution can not be as the latter would be a violation free speech. But then you go on to say that “Everybody should be free to communicate with anyone and about anything and in any way (privately or publicly). You cannot make any exceptions to this, not even for child pornography.”
  
  There are, in fact, many exceptions to free speech. There is the classic of yelling fire in a crowded theater. You are free to believe someone is a homicidal maniac but without valid evidence to that effect you cannot say so without facing charges of libel. You cannot offer words penned by others as your own work without facing charges of plagiarism. You cannot lie under oath without facing charges of obstruction of justice.
  
  I will not presume you to hold views other than what you have specified but I would point out that there are those who would share your view on child pornography and free speech but who have no problem supporting other, less justifiable, restrictions on free speech such as school prayer and campaign finance reform.
  
  As to focusing on preventing the production of child pornography, you make a valid point but one nobody has contested. Equally, murder is a heinous crime that is best prevented in the first place but if some otherwise innocent third party were to obtain a video of the crimes execution and seek to distribute it I would not defend his doing so as a matter of free speech.
  
  Standing up for America, by the way, is not blind nationalism oblivious to our countries faults and failings that has, historically, so often devolved to tyranny but is, rather, acknowledgement and gratitude that despite recognizing our inevitable imperfections we are blessed with a system of self-rule whereby we can sustain being governed in a manner to which we consent. It is not support for all that we do but appreciation that what we do remains within our control. It is, among other things, standing up for the ability we are exercising in conducting this discussion without fear of retribution, something that is not available in much of the rest of the world, Africa being no exception. Perhaps that is contributing in some small way to its demise? Anyway, I do applaud you for standing up for your beliefs. Will you stop doing so should those beliefs become recognized as typically American?

I am SHOCKED they would find literature such as this in a place of worship

UK Gov't Urged to Raise Mosque Incitement With Saudi King
Britain's leaders planning to meet with visiting Saudi King Abdullah on Wednesday have been challenged to raise the issue of Saudi-funded hate literature found in British mosques...

'Islamophobia' Used to Crush Muslim Dissent, Panel Says
Muslim extremists are branding opponents "Islamophobes" in an effort to paint themselves as the victim and silence dissent and opposition to their political and religious beliefs, according to a panel convened in Washington, D.C., on Tuesday...

FISA Law Irrelevant and Unconstitutional, Critics Say
- When the U.S. Supreme Court said in 1967 that the Fourth Amendment protects telephone conversations in a phone booth from surveillance without a warrant, Justice Potter Stewart said in the majority opinion that the ruling did not address "a situation involving national security"...

Feed The Children

Another one of my favorite charitable organizations is Feed The Children.
I have just made a contribution to them. They are seeking donations for the California fire victims.

Can you help out? If so go here.

Is Hillary vs. Rudy Inevitable?

By Dick Morris

What if the current polls in Iowa are the final result?

What if Romney wins in Iowa and then comes in first again in New Hampshire? What if Giuliani stumbles badly in Iowa and finishes fourth? What if Huckabee surges and finishes second in Iowa? What if Fred Thompson makes an unimpressive third-place finish there?

CLICK HERE FOR THE FULL STORY

Hillary Caught on Driver Licenses

Hillary stumbles in latest debate trying to have her cake and eat it too.

"Hillary Clinton finally got too cute by half in her explanation of her convoluted position on giving driver's licenses to illegal immigrants. The American people saw her tying herself into a knot over the issue, trying to have it both ways.

Dick Morris offers his take on Hillary's debate performance in Philadelphia Tuesday night:

"Hillary Clinton finally got too cute by half in her explanation of her convoluted position on giving driver's licenses to illegal immigrants. The American people saw her tying herself into a knot over the issue, trying to have it both ways," he says.

How to Reform the Individual Income Tax
TCSdaily.com

They'll Get No Sympathy From the Socialists in This Country

‘Going Green’ Puts Business in the Red

Green may be the new black in the media, but it can leave companies in the red. As reports of businesses trying to go green fill the television screen, Business & Media Institute takes a look at the other, more costly side of the story. Read on.

'Today' Tries Carbon-Belching Publicity Stunt for Global Warming Awareness

Lauer, Roker and Curry travel to extremes 'to find out what's going on with the world's climate.'

By Jeff Poor
Business & Media Institute

Even though NBC’s “Today” crew is fretting over the effects of climate change and the price of oil, exceeding $90 a barrel – that isn’t stopping them from traveling to the “ends of the earth” in the name of climate change. The trips will release nearly 25 tons of carbon into the atmosphere – more than three times what a typical American uses in a year.

“Well, the journey has begun,” co-host Matt Lauer said on the October 29 broadcast. “‘Today’ is going to the ends of the earth to report on the changing climate and examine the limits of human exploration in an unprecedented simultaneous broadcast from the top, the bottom and the middle of the world.”

These globe-trotting travels will leave a sizable carbon footprint for this one assignment.

Read more.

Chris Matthews: People 'Ought to Be Fearful' of Hillary Being Elected

'Hardball' anchor appears on CNBC's 'Mad Money' with ominous message 'Democrats raise taxes and Hillary already said she's going to repeal the Bush tax cuts.'

You know troubled times are looming if Hillary Clinton is elected president when even the once-top aide to the former liberal Democratic Speaker of the House Tip O’Neill and MSNBC “Hardball” anchor Chris Matthews says so. More.

The Future of News Is All That Is Left

Liberal media experts populate journalism conference co-sponsored by communications union.

By Dan Gainor
Business & Media Institute

The future of the news industry is made up of unions and liberal media experts. At least, that was how “The Future of News Industry Jobs” was presented at one of the nation’s foremost journalism schools. When it came to discussing the business of news, the panel was packed with everything from a former Democratic gubernatorial candidate to anti-corporate think tankers and the founding CEO of Air America.

The one-day news conference was co-sponsored by the Communication Workers of America, part of the AFL-CIO, and the University of Maryland’s Phillip Merrill School of Journalism. Two union executives were featured on panels and several newspaper guild members were in attendance. But the real peek at how journalists see their own future came with the final session. It wasn’t what the panel discussed so much as who was chosen to talk.

The panel’s six experts were asked about “Economics and the Future” for the industry. They included two left-wing think tank representatives, a former Maryland Democratic gubernatorial candidate, a former member of boards at both Air America and NewYorkTimes.com and a former publisher who now works with prominent left-wing billionaire Ron Burkle.

Only one member of the panel seemed to have no obvious political leaning – Jane Scholz of McClatchy-Tribune Information Services. There were no representatives from any conservative media.

The first panelist to speak was Jeff Johnson, the former publisher of the ....

Continue reading ...

Carl Horowitz: The Jena Defendants: Is Thuggery a New Right?

Times had been tough for a while for Al Sharpton, Jesse Jackson, and other self-proclaimed civil-rights spokesmen.

Terence Jeffrey: A War We Are Still Losing

Cananea is in the war zone next door. It is a place where Mexican criminal syndicates, bolstered by Mexican army deserters, fight one another for control of the best smuggling routes into the United States.

Poorer Getting Poorer?

Yesterday I posted this quote under the topic headline: Getting left behind? Maybe not so much.

"The average annual income of the poorest American families has increased by over a third since 1991 (in inflation-adjusted dollars), according to a recent report from the Congressional Budget Office. Among all families, the poorest had the highest overall growth in earnings from wages over the last decade and a half. So much for the old canard about the poor getting left behind by the American economy."

Walter Williams rights on this subject today:

Are the Poor Getting Poorer?

People who want more government income redistribution programs often sell their agenda with the lament, "The poor are getting poorer and the rich are getting richer," but how about some evidence and you decide? I think the rich are getting richer, and so are the poor.

Read on.

John Stossel: Utahns Can Vote for School Choice Tuesday

Next Tuesday, Utah voters go to the polls to decide if their state will become the first in the nation to offer school vouchers statewide. What a great idea.

Allison Kasic: The Coming Academic Title Wave

If the October 17th House hearing is any indication, a full-scale assault on the academy is coming. The target: STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) fields. The charge: wide scale discrimination against women.

"On the other hand, the duty imposed upon him to take care,
that the laws be faithfully executed, follows out the strong
injunctions of his oath of office, that he will "preserve,
protect, and defend the constitution." The great object of the
executive department is to accomplish this purpose; and without
it, be the form of government whatever it may, it will be utterly
worthless for offence, or defence; for the redress of grievances,
or the protection of rights; for the happiness, or good order,
or safety of the people."

-- Joseph Story --

MY GRANDSON

My grandson went to the apple orchard and pumpkin patch this past weekend and had a grand old time. Here are some pictures: Meet my grandson Jason.This is a picture of my son (HH Jr.) and my grandson "hamming" it up.

Jason enjoying a carameled apple.

Jason enjoying an apple flavored sugar cake donut.

Here is Jason "hamming" it up yet once again. Behind him in the background is my son's girlfriend.


They went on a hayride, also. They had a ton of fun.

War Plans: United States and Iran

By George Friedman

A possible U.S. attack against Iran has been a hot topic in the news for many months now. In some quarters it has become an article of faith that the Bush administration intends to order such an attack before it leaves office. It remains a mystery whether the administration plans an actual attack or whether it is using the threat of attack to try to intimidate Iran -- and thus shape its behavior in Iraq and elsewhere. Unraveling the mystery lies, at least in part, in examining what a U.S. attack would look like, given U.S. goals and resources, as well as in considering the potential Iranian response. Before turning to intentions, it is important to discuss the desired outcomes and capabilities. Unfortunately, those discussions have taken a backseat to speculations about the sheer probability of war.

Let's begin with goals. What would the United States hope to ................

READ FULL ARTICLE.

Zogby: Majority Favor Strikes on Iran

A majority of likely voters - 52 percent - would support a U.S. military strike to prevent Iran from building a nuclear weapon, and 53 percent believe it is likely that the U.S. will be involved in a military strike against Iran before the next presidential election, a new Zogby America telephone poll shows.

The survey results come at a time of increasing U.S. scrutiny of Iran. According to reports from the Associated Press, earlier this month Secretary of State ...... READ ON.

IRAN WILL NEVER GIVE IN

Former American Ambassador to the United Nation John Bolton writes in a new book that expecting Iran to abandon its nuclear program is “the road to the Nuclear Holocaust.”

In “Surrender Is Not an Option: Defending America at the United Nations and Abroad” – due out on November 6 – Bolton asserts that the three years during which Europe tried to use diplomacy to halt Iran’s efforts to become a nuclear power were useless.

“Iran will never voluntarily give up its nuclear program,” he writes, “and a policy based on the.....

READ MORE.

Schwarzenegger vs. Boxer for U.S. Senate?

John McCaslin: Conquering America

The Mexican government apparently has no problem with its citizens penetrating the U.S. border by the millions. In fact, it's been written that increasing the number of Mexicans working illegally in America is among Mexico's highest foreign-policy objectives.

John Boehner: Pelosi-Rangel Really Is "Mother of all Tax Hikes"

The U.S. House that already has passed $100 billion in tax increases this year to pay for bigger government and wasteful pork thinks otherwise. Last week, led by the Ways and Means Committee chairman, Rep. Charlie Rangel, D-N.Y., congressional Democrats unveiled a breathtaking proposal: the single largest tax increase in American history.

Frank J. Gaffney, Jr.: LOST Runs Silent, Runs Deep

According to Senator Jon Kyl, the entire Senate Republican leadership is now opposed to a controversial treaty supported by the President and an implausible alliance of special interests ? from the U.S. Navy to Greenpeace.

Cal Thomas: Count Rangula

Just in time for Halloween comes House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Charles Rangel - henceforth known as Count Rangula - with a bill that would suck more blood from the American taxpayers.

Thomas Sowell: Political "Solutions"

It is remarkable how many political "solutions" today are dealing with problems created by previous political "solutions." Three examples that come to mind immediately are the housing market crisis, the wildfires in southern California, and the water shortages in the west.

Dennis Prager: The Left and the Term "Islamo-Fascism"

I was particularly interested in the controversy Islamo-Fascism Awareness Week engendered as well as in the larger question of whether the term "Islamo-Fascism" is valid. Various Muslim student groups condemned these awareness weeks and the term itself, charging that both are no more than expressions of anti-Muslim bigotry, i.e., "Islamophobia."

FOR THE CHILDREN

“So what is the best thing America could do ‘for the children’? Well, it could try not to make the same mistake as most of the rest of the Western world and avoid bequeathing the next generation a system of unsustainable entitlements that turns the entire nation into a giant Ponzi scheme... And so in a democratic system today’s electors vote to keep the government gravy coming and leave it to tomorrow for ‘the children’ to worry about. That’s the real ‘war on children’ —and every time you add a new entitlement to the budget you make it less and less likely they’ll win it.”

—Mark Steyn

I have not heard of this angle before ....

“I have never before witnessed such a disgrace in professional journalism... I should know. I live in Jena [Louisiana]. My wife has taught at Jena High School for many years. And most important, I am probably the only reporter who has covered these events from the very beginning... According to the expulsion committee, the crudely constructed nooses were not aimed at black students. Instead, they were understood to be a prank by three white students aimed at their fellow white friends, members of the school rodeo team. (The students apparently got the idea from watching episodes of ‘Lonesome Dove.’) The committee further concluded that the three young teens had no knowledge that nooses symbolize the terrible legacy of the lynchings of countless blacks in American history... As with the Duke Lacrosse case, the truth about Jena will eventually be known. But the town of Jena isn’t expecting any apologies from the media. They will probably never admit their error and have already moved on to the next ‘big’ story.”

—Craig Franklin, assistant editor of The Jena Times

Eating Food Will Kill You
By Alan Caruba

It is now a proven fact that eating food -- any kind of food -- will kill you. No one who has eaten food in the past is alive today, and everyone currently eating food will die. Therefore, those noble people who seek to save us from eating every kind of food that the earth provides should be hailed and saluted for their efforts to keep us alive...

Possibly the Final Push for the Law of the Sea Treaty
By Paul M. Weyrich

The Law of the Sea Treaty ("LOST" to opponents, "UNCLOS" to supporters) is up for a vote in the Senate Foreign Relations Committee this Thursday, November 1. The State Department pushed this treaty in 1981 when Ronald Reagan was president...

Critics Claim ENDA Would Threaten Religious Freedom

With congressional Democrats trying to gather votes for a bill to extend employment discrimination protections to cover sexual orientation, religious groups are concerned that the bill would threaten religious liberties, while proponents of the bill say these concerns are unfounded...

Cuba Expects Big Show of Support at UN

Tuesday will be a big day for Cuba when the overwhelming bulk of the world's nations side with it against the United States in the U.N. General Assembly in New York...

Software Glitches Put Virtual Border Fence Months Behind Schedule

Efforts by the Department of Homeland Security to establish a 28-mile digital fence along the U.S. border with Mexico are four months behind schedule, according to a report released last week by the Government Accountability Office...

The Education of Rochelle Reed

By JAMES TARANTO

Best of the Web

Rochelle Reed, an editor at the Tribune of San Luis Obispo, Calif., published an essay recently about her son's decision to join the Army. "This was definitely not the way things were supposed to turn out," Mrs. Reed writes:

Never in a million years did I imagine my son would join the Army. Nor did Evan. In high school, he'd hang up on recruiters who called the house. He'd blurt, "Get away from me!" to the ones who trawled the local hangouts. Our home was liberal Democrat and anti-war and now, at 21, he was a Michael Moore fan. The night before he left, he spent his time reading "Stupid White Men." . . .

When I tell people that Evan has joined the Army, their reactions are almost always the same: their faces freeze, they pause way too long, and then they say, "I'm so sorry, I'm so sorry for you." I hang my head and look mournful, accepting their sympathy for the worry that lives in me. But as it dawns on them that Evan wasn't drafted, as Vietnam still clings to my generation, their expressions become quizzical, then disbelieving. I know what they're thinking: Why in the world would any kid in his right mind choose to enlist when we're in the middle of a war? I begin telling them the story, desperate to assure them it wasn't arrogant patriotism or murderous blood lust that convinced him to join. What finally hooked him was a recruiter's comment that if he thought the country's role in Iraq was so screwed up, he should try to fix it.

Mrs. Reed's piece is sincere and candid, and our purpose in noting it is not to pick on her. But it is quite a window she provides into the "liberal Democrat and antiwar" subculture of which she is a part. Because of her family's politics, "never in a million years" did she think her son would join the military. The people she knows see his decision as a cause for sorrow, not pride. Mrs. Reed has to talk them out of the assumption that only "arrogant patriotism" (the adjective itself is telling) or "murderous bloodlust" would motivate someone to serve his country, that no "kid in his right mind" would do so.

Judging by Mrs. Reed's account, American liberals harbor a deep and invidious prejudice against the military--a prejudice Mrs. Reed herself is now overcoming, thanks to the bravery of her son.

A year ago, a famous liberal Democrat remarked, "You know, education--if you make the most of it, you study hard, you do your homework, and you make an effort to be smart, uh, you can do well. If you don't, you get stuck in Iraq." Perhaps he didn't know any better. Rochelle Reed now does.

Why the Left Wants History Rewritten

"History by apprising [citizens] of the past will enable them to judge of the future; it will avail them of the experience of other times and other nations; it will qualify them as judges of the actions and designs of men; it will enable them to know ambition under every disguise it may assume; and knowing it, to defeat its views."

-- Thomas Jefferson --

Charlie Rangel and other liberal leaders want to raise tax rates even if it means lower tax revenues.

BY PETE DU PONT

A Shocking Combination: Good News and the U.N.

By Michael Medved

The whining and self-pity so prevalent in today's America now face a formidable new foe: the United Nations. The world body released a report called "State of the Future" showing that global conditions have dramatically improved by every significant measure.

The world's increasingly capitalist economy has developed at an unprecedented rate, and people nearly everywhere do better in terms of personal income, food availability, life expectancy, literacy, infant mortality, access to health care, access to safe water and much more. At current rates of growth, the report suggests "world poverty will be cut in half between 2000 and 2015."

In the past, grim reports about the state of the world drew screaming headlines by predicting mass starvation or environmental catastrophe. But as Stephen Moore of the Wall Street Journal notes, the shockingly good news in the new UN study has been "mostly ignored" by the media, reflecting a sick, destructive addiction to gloom and doom.

Getting left behind? Maybe not so much.

"The average annual income of the poorest American families has increased by over a third since 1991 (in inflation-adjusted dollars), according to a recent report from the Congressional Budget Office. Among all families, the poorest had the highest overall growth in earnings from wages over the last decade and a half. So much for the old canard about the poor getting left behind by the American economy."

Keene: Romney in Best Position for GOP Nomination

While Rudy Giuliani leads in the polls, David Keene, chairman of the American Conservative Union, says most people have not begun to focus on the election. Once they do, they will recognize how liberal Giuliani is on some social issues and Romney’s strategy of focusing on key states like Iowa and New Hampshire could propel him to the nomination, Keene says.

Read the Full Story.

U.S. Investors, Businesses Eye China Coal

Hillary, Obama Neck and Neck in Iowa

Bush's Budget Includes Funding Plans for Iran Attack?

An item buried in President Bush’s latest request for $190 billion in emergency war funding offers telling evidence that the U.S. could be preparing an attack on Iran. Read the Full Story.

“They are not to do anything they please to provide for the general welfare, but only to lay taxes for that purpose. To consider the latter phrase not as describing the purpose of the first, but as giving a distinct and independent power to do any act they please which may be good for the Union, would render all the preceding and subsequent enumerations of power completely useless.”

-- Thomas Jefferson --

“In each new Congress since 1995, Rep. John Shadegg (R-AZ) has introduced the Enumerated Powers Act (HR 1359)... Simply put, if enacted, the Enumerated Powers Act would require Congress to specify the basis of authority in the U.S. Constitution for the enactment of laws and other congressional actions. HR 1359 has 28 co-sponsors in the House of Representatives. When Shadegg introduced the Enumerated Powers Act, he explained that the Constitution gives the federal government great, but limited, powers. Its framers granted Congress, as the central mechanism for protecting liberty, specific rather than general powers. The Constitution gives Congress 18 specific enumerated powers, spelled out mostly in Article 1, Section 8. The framers reinforced that enumeration by the 10th Amendment, which reads: ‘The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved for the States respectively, or to the people.’ Just a few of the numerous statements by our founders demonstrate that their vision and the vision of Shadegg’s Enumerated Powers Act are one and the same... I salute the bravery of Rep. Shadegg and the 28 co-sponsors of the Enumerated Powers Act. They have a monumental struggle. Congress is not alone in its constitutional contempt, but is joined by the White House and particularly the constitutionally derelict U.S. Supreme Court.”

-- Walter Williams --

“Liberty is a word which, according as it is used, comprehends the most good and the most evil of any in the world. Justly understood it is sacred next to those which we appropriate in divine adoration; but in the mouths of some it means anything, which enervate a necessary government; excite a jealousy of the rulers who are our own choice, and keep society in confusion for want of a power sufficiently concentered to promote good.”

-- Oliver Ellsworth --