Apr

30

2005

The Bolton Hearings Placed In Perspective

Filed Under Politics | Comments Off

The Left’s pathological hatred of President Bush, coupled with their pathological affection for a Global Test (read: hatred for America), made it a certainty that they would attack any competent nominee for U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations. So, the current character assassination of John Bolton was to be expected. Biden, Boxer, Kerry and their sick ilk are more interested in hurting GWB that in helping the USA.

IMAO parodies the hearings, this fiction is rooted in truth. To hear the Dems tell it, the State Department lackeys complaining of Bolton’s personality must have been raised on soy milk, wimps. We need someone tough at the UN representing our interests, not another Paul Volcher. Bolton has the confidence of the President, (you know him, also known as the leader of the free world), and so he should be the man. And, I, for one, will be gloating when he is confirmed.

Volcher, by the way, is reminding us of Jamie Gorelick; who was directly involved in our anti-terrorism protection during the Clinton administration, then served on the Commission which was tasked to investigate why we were vulnerable to attack. Investigating herself, in part. His insistence that his former staff can not be subpoenaed means he is left to investigate himself, or not. The charges by the former Oil For Food investigators, that the Volker report was too soft on Kofi Annan, need to be looked at by an independent source. Such as the US Senate, lacking a non-partisan forum.

Apr

30

2005

Americana: Photo Of The Day

Filed Under Entertainment and Sports, History, Science | 1 Comment

Thank TR.JPE

If You Like The Outdoors; Thank A Republican

“Conservation means development as much as it does protection. I recognize the right and duty of this generation to develop and use the natural resources of our land; but I do not recognize the right to waste them, or to rob, by wasteful means, the generations that come after us.” – Theodore Roosevelt

Apr

28

2005

Those Bonnie Blues come out

Filed Under Religion | 4 Comments

That provocateur, Dean Esmay, has an interesting post about “theocracy” – or lack thereof. But it’s in the comments where the joy comes out, especially when someone decides it’s time to fly the Confederate flag. Shouldn’t that be some sort of corollary to Godwin’s Law?

Apr

27

2005

Ingraham update from Malkin

Filed Under Entertainment and Sports | 2 Comments

She Who Comes In Second, Michelle Malkin has news about how Laura Ingraham is doing after surgery. As an extra bonus prize, Michelle quotes Elizabeth Edwards as she tries to be nice – and almost succeeds! Better luck next time, Lizzy.

Apr

27

2005

Stupid is as stupid does!

Filed Under Entertainment and Sports | Comments Off

You know, eventually, at some place and time, badmouthing the President and the country crosses some line – not a line of decency (that line is often crossed, by those who do such things, fairly early on) but one of law. It seems the malcontents at Air America may have discovered just where that line is… and hopefully, just how stupid it is to cross a line that even Forrest Gump would have had enough sense to stay away from.

Apr

26

2005

Hoping one tough cookie is extra tough

Filed Under Entertainment and Sports | 1 Comment

I’ve often said that I’d drop Ann Coulter in a heartbeat to have one evening with Laura Ingraham. That heart just skipped a beat with news that may favorite gal pundit is undergoing surgery today for breast cancer. We’re praying hard for you, Laura.

UPDATE: Laura posted the news on her website.

Apr

26

2005

Under Old Management

Filed Under Internet and Blogging, Religion | Comments Off

I have just completed renovation of my other blog, the formerly-known Ex Parte Fide. A lot about the old format never quite caught my imagination. The events of the last few weeks however, with the death of John Paul II and the election of Benedict XVI, have reinvigorated me in a way, and given me inspiration to try another title and theme. Both will allow that space to be properly seen as a true sister blog of this site:

The Black Madonna

Apr

25

2005

Blacks, Whites and Love

Filed Under Race and Prejudice | Comments Off

This must be my month. First I find a local story that has national implications to blog about, and now a nationally recognized writer, Nicholas Kristof, has penned an op-ed piece in the NYTimes on an issue that, according to the numbers he sites, I know more about than over 90% of the country. Actually, since it does have so much relevance to my life, I have been toying with the idea of a post about this topic for some time, I just didn’t know how exactly I wanted to approach it.

I agree with Mr. Kristof’s assessment that Hollywood, despite being populated by self described progressive liberals, has been woefully behind the times when it comes to portraying interracial relationships. I have to take exception, however, to his characterization of the interracial relationship in the movie Guess Who.

The latest “Guess Who” is about a white man in love with a black woman, and that’s a comfortable old archetype from days when slave owners inflicted themselves on slave women. Hollywood has portrayed romances between white men and (usually light-complexioned) black women, probably calculating that any good ol’ boy seeing Billy Bob Thornton embracing Halle Berry in “Monster’s Ball” is filled not with disgust but with envy.
Does Mr. Kristof really think that the only real interracial relationship worthy of portrayal are the ones where a black man is with a white woman? And his snide, backhand insults to white southerners – which I assume is who the “good ol’ boy” reference is intended to intimate – and his reference to Hollywood only teaming white actors with light-complexioned black women seems to contradict the very point he makes in his article. And honestly, is there any man alive today – of any race – that would have a problem embracing Halle Berry? But more to his point, wouldn’t a white man with black woman also be considered an interracial couple? And what of blacks with asians, or whites with hispanics? It seems to me that Mr. Kristof should look to his own prejudices before he starts criticizing Hollywood.
Back in 1967, “Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner” helped chip away at taboos by showing a black man and white woman scandalizing their parents with their – chaste – love. In 2005 we have a new version of “Guess Who,” but it only underscores how little progress we’ve made.
How can you explain an entire article dedicated to chastising Hollywood for not portraying interracial couples accurately, support that claim with proof of the amazing ratios that interracial couples actually exist in America, and then make a statement in the middle of the same article about how supposedly we’ve made such little progress?
Huge majorities of both blacks and whites say they approve of interracial marriages, and the number of interracial marriages is doubling each decade. One survey found that 40 percent of Americans had dated someone of a different race.
Does Mr. Kristof mean we the American people have made such little progress, or should he have said they (as in progressive, liberal, forward thinking Hollywood) have made such little progress?

Which is it? Mr. Kristof really doesn’t seem to have made up his mind. Or perhaps his political leanings, or those of the paper for which he writes, just wouldn’t allow him to accept that the relationships between the races have actually improved without the help of Hollywood and in spite the constant caterwauling of racism by the so-called “black” leadership and the liberal elites.

In actuality, Mr. Kristof, you have it all wrong. The fact that Guess Who portrays an interracial relationship in a humorous manner is a huge example of progress. Though it was controversial in it’s day, Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner (GHCTD) garnered critical acclaim and would still play well today for the power of it’s message. Guess Who (GH) on the other hand, while no masterpiece by anyone’s estimation, was still fairly popular. But can anyone really say that if played in 1967 it would have done anything other than stir hatred and loathing? GHCTD was a serious movie about a (at that time more than today) serious subject. GH is a comedy, poking fun at the very same subject. What has changed? The country’s attitude toward the wrongness of those relationships, that’s what has changed. What was controversial and rare in 1967 is so commonplace today that we – black, white, brown, yellow, or red – can laugh at how absurd it is to distrust, dislike, or even be suspicious of someone simply because of their skin color. The numbers that Mr. Kristof himself sites suggest that a large number of Americans have seemed to accept that it’s who a person is that makes them attractive, no matter what the color of their skin happens to be.

Don’t get me wrong, having been in an interracial relationship for 12 years I know for a fact that not everyone accepts an interracial couple – on either side of the color spectrum – and that irrational distrust, dislike, and suspicion still exists. But when my wife and I have seen disapproving stares or heard disparaging remarks (extremely rarely), it has tended to be from those belonging to an older generation… a generation who grew up with Jim Crow, segregation, and lynchings – and we tend to laugh at their pigheadedness. Perhaps the reason we have a different attitude is because our generation grew up with The Civil Rights Act, Martin Luther King Jr., and Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner. And how much better will things be in the future with today’s generations growing up with 10% or more of the country being in an interracial relationship?

Last year my 9 year old Godson and I were playing a game of I Spy when I decided to test his powers of observation. I put my left hand up to his right – palm to palm – and asked him what was different. I knew what I had in mind but his guesses were predictable – “your hand is bigger”, “your hand has more hair”, “you have more wrinkles”, but none came close to what I was looking for. Just so you know, he and I are of different races – one black, one white – and not once did it even enter his mind that that was a difference between us, or that was the difference I was looking for (which it wasn’t). He didn’t see the difference in our skin color at all – the thought never even entered his mind. How beautiful it was that he didn’t see the most obvious visual difference – because he wasn’t raised to see that as a difference! He finally guessed what I was looking for was that I was wearing my wedding ring… and I told him he was right! Not just because that actually was what I was thinking, but because that was, is, and will always be, aside from age and size, the only real difference between us.

Apr

22

2005

Columbus’ Shame

Filed Under Lies, Corruption and Scandals | 1 Comment

If you haven’t been following this story, you should be. A developmentally handicapped 16-year-old girl was beaten and raped at Mifflin High School in Columbus, Ohio. The entire incident was witnessed by several students – and even videotaped.

The girl’s father was not told of the alleged incident until more than an hour after administrators were alerted, the station said. Teacher Lisa Upshaw finally called the father, but said once he arrived Assistant Principal Richard Watson would not call the police, even when the father asked him to.
Yes, you read that right. The assistant principal Richard Watson would not call the police even when asked to do so by the girls father, for fear of media scrutiny. Glenn Beck has been championing this issue and has recently attracted a lot of attention for criticizing Michael Coleman, the mayor of Columbus, for not doing more. In an interview on his nationally syndicated radio show, Glenn Beck could not even get the mayor to express any outrage at all over the fact that the assistant principals involved in the incident were only suspended for 10 days and then transferred to different schools (ala Bernard Cardinal Law). As has been pointed out by Mr. Beck and others, under Ohio law, school employees who hear of a sexual assault on a child are required to immediately report that knowledge or suspicion to police or a county child-welfare agency. Actually, the inaction of the school administration could legally be construed as obstruction of justice and tampering with a crime scene. These are the people hired to teach and protect children?

I was born in Columbus. It is my hometown and a place I dearly love. But this incident, and the cold indifference of the school and political officials involved, is an ugly stain on the image of a great city. I make this post and these statements not to tar all of the people involved – some are actually trying to do the right thing – but just to shine a light on the vermin who are trying to hide, cover up, and obfuscate the truth in this case.

Some of you may not know this, but Columbus is often used as a test market city because it’s location and demographic makeup are so close to the national medians. That means that Columbus is an average city with fairly average citizens when compared to the whole country. Let’s hope that the behavior of the Columbus city school and government officials is not representative of the national average.

Update: Michelle Malkin has additional info and links.

Apr

19

2005

Habemus Papam!

Filed Under Religion | 2 Comments

I am so overwhelmingly happy. I had others in mind, but those hopes have been burned away with the white smoke. I can’t believe they elected Cardinal Ratzinger. Dom Bettinelli is reporting that The Ratzinger Fan Club web site has crashed.

May our new Holy Father’s papacy be long and fruitful, and may our beloved Church and the whole world be blessed by his reign.

VIVA BENEDICT XVI!

Apr

19

2005

Random Note- April 19, 2005

Filed Under Politics | 1 Comment

With 199 Cardinals representing 52 countries and six continents; the Papal Conclave is something of a miniature United Nations.

Except the Conclave has a purpose, agrees on the rules, and will produce a result.

Apr

17

2005

Schiavo Wikipedia Article: Neutrality Disputed

Filed Under Law and Ethics | Comments Off

The Wikipedia biography for Terri Schindler Schiavo is tagged as, “The neutrality of this aritcle is disputed”.

As I mentioned previously, the battle for the truth rages on. My original plan to compile the facts and present them, along with the myths which have cropped up, to Snopes.com for arbitration is not necessary. Wikipedia allows readers to give input toward the presentation. And to challenge anything which does not meet with the facts. Even the tenor of the article can be challenged. So, my goal can be accomplished there, and all sides will have their chance to be heard.

So, if you are also concerned about how Terri’s story is being told, please read the biography, and then present your reactions in the talk page where they can influence the presentation.

Deciding the facts is the first step toward reaching consensus on the policy.

Also: Abstract Appeal has a Terri information page.

Apr

17

2005

Democrat’s Dean, The New Doctor Of Death

Filed Under Law and Ethics | Comments Off

Howard Dean promises to let Hollywood’s gays loved ones decide they can die. While he does not go so far as to promise immediate action on the matter, he says letting them get the Schiavo treatment will be an issue in future elections.

We’re going to use Terri Schiavo later on

‘Do you want this guy to decide whether you die or not? Or is that
going to be up to your loved ones?’”

We are left to interpret what he meant by “or not”, in his phrase, “die or not”; most of the people I know expect that alternative to be, to live. However I do not know Dean’s meaning. I consider the goal of this existence is, to live, whereas Dean seems to believe the goal is to die. The chasm between those two objectives is too great for any proponent of one to fully understand the motivation of a proponent of the other.

It is also unclear whether this strategy will garner the votes for the Democrats he was hired to deliver as DNC chairman, or whether his constituency will be patient enough to still be around and eligible to vote anywhere outside of Cook County, IL. in the elections of 2006 and 2008.

As peculiar as I find it that anyone would be motivated to achieve death, I can’t be surprised that the Democrats are targeting a new group with this campaign promise, for they have spent years protecting those who wish to end their loved ones lives before they are even born. So, it is not a leap to see how they could elect to franchise that philosophy for the post-born as well.

Ace notes,Three quick points:.

Apr

17

2005

Capt’n Ed On The Price Paid By Judicial Nominees

Filed Under Politics | Comments Off

Basically, judicial nominees pay a personal price while they wait for a decision.

Apr

15

2005

When will it be time to stand up for the Constitution?

Filed Under Law and Ethics | 1 Comment

Ace of Spades reported breathlessly last night that Bill Frist is going “to finally push for the ‘nuclear option.’”

I’ll believe it’s happening when Janice Brown is sworn in as a federal judge. Until then, it’s just more talk.

What got me here blogging about it was a comment from one of Ace’s guests:

This is a very bad idea. The filibuster has been used by the Republican Party numerous times in defense of the 2nd Amendment.If the Republican Party gets rid of this, it pretty much paves the way for increased gun regulation.
As I ineloquently stated in my response to Davo, that is the dumbest excuse I’ve ever heard in my life.

To prevent further erosion of the 2nd Amendment of the Constitution through legislation, let’s allow the Democrats in the Senate to use an extra-Constitutional filibuster so they can prevent strict constructionists from getting on the bench where they could have protected the 2nd Amendment.

This isn’t brain surgery. Do what’s RIGHT and take each challenge as it comes. Too many people get themselves backed into a corner, petrified by the possibilities of hypothetical maybes that have absolutely nothing to do with the issue at hand. Is it right that the Democrats should filibuster any judicial nominee (nevermind 10 of them), in violation of Senate history and Constitutional law? NO. Then be done with it.

Push the button, Billy-boy. And piss on Teddy’s face on the way out.

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