Feb
12
2009
Back in December, remembering that TIME’s Man of the Year and various other awards would start flowing from the halls of the rich and witless, I thought fleetingly of posting my usual call for nominations for our annual The Black Republican of the Year honoree. That the post was never published should not be recognized as part of my usual, chronic apathetic falling-down. On this occasion, I intentionally dispensed with the tradition, for there seemed to me to be only one choice.
By a mile.
Maybe even by 663,268 square miles.
The year 2008 was a bad year for conservatism. It began with the continuation of a presidential campaign unprecedented for its length, the victory of a lethargic and erratic candidate for the Republican nomination who was barely on speaking terms with most of the party, and the victory in the Democratic primaries of an ultra-left socialist who offered plenty of platitudes for the simpleminded, but not much else. And that was almost the high-water mark. The outgoing President seemed unwilling to do more than fight the war, which as things go is pretty important and admirable, but not very encouraging when the other side is promising to capitulate at the first opportunity. It was looking more and more like conservatism was gasping for its last breath, just like all the pundits and commentators were (and still are) claiming.
But news of the death of our ideology was a bit premature. We still had life to offer, and as John McCain prepared to announce his running mate, we were about to respond enthusiastically to the arrival on the national stage of a young, vivacious, and unashamed conservative voice few of us had given proper attention. The governor of the last frontier state, an avid hunter, a prominent and unrelenting defender of the value of human life, an expert in energy policy, a soon-to-be grandparent at just 44. And just to make things even more interesting, that new conservative voice was pitched in the mezzo-soprano range.
Here was a vice-presidential candidate who may not have been able to do enough to save John McCain from defeat. But those of us on the right who, up to that point, were barely able to picture ourselves going to the polls can attest that there was probably no one short of Dutch’s ghost who could do that. Yet the person McCain chose as his running mate may have been the only one who could prevent “the Maverick” from being yet another laughingstock presidential candidate from Arizona. Without a doubt, she – and she alone – prevented a total implosion of the Republican Party in 2008. While every other piece of evidence suggested to us that there was no hope the GOP would stop sliding into the pit of apathy and irrelevance from which the Whigs never returned, here was a bright light that told us: ‘There is still hope for the Party of Abraham Lincoln.’
On this, the bicentennial of the birth of our Founder, we are proud to honor The Black Republican Of The Year for 2008: Sarah Louise Palin.
Feb
12
2009
The Wheeler Economic Stimulus Ideas
Filed Under Economics | Leave a Comment
The Wheeler Economic Stimulus Ideas
Filed Under Economics | Leave a Comment
To ’stimulate’ the economy, why not help skilled people move to where their skills are needed? For example, we have skilled construction people in Ft Myers. They need skilled construction people in Oklahoma. The workers in Ft Myers don’t have the money/resources to move to Oklahoma. The company in Oklahoma can’t afford to compensate people to relocate. This way, we don’t have to CREATE jobs, we can use the ones that already exist. Even the HOUSING market could benefit from this.
Idea #2: you want government-sponsored ‘infrastructure’ jobs? Start building a 10′ high concrete wall along the border with Mexico. I understand that illegal immigrants are leaving the country, but it would still be jobs. Plus, there are other economic ramifications to helping to solve the whole illegal immigrant problem.
Feb
10
2009
A message to humanity
Filed Under Internet and Blogging | Leave a Comment
A message to humanity
Filed Under Internet and Blogging | Leave a Comment
While WordPress mechanisms are doing a good job of preventing spam comments from getting onto the blog posts, I’ve been getting about 1-5 registration notices a day from what I presume are bots being foiled in their attempt to gain access to the system. It doesn’t really do very much but clog up the user list with a bunch of “subscribers” that don’t really exist.
To combat this “registration spam”, I have installed a new plugin for WordPress that supposedly prevents the bots from passing through registration successfully. We’ll see if the registrations slack off from here out, but even if it works I’m still left with a good number of users that aren’t really ever going to participate in discussions or post a comment.
To that end, I will be deleting all “subscriber” accounts without even one comment. This is your fair notice – please post a comment (or trackback) to this thread to let me know you’re real, and I won’t delete your account. I’ll do the deletions in a couple of days.
Feb
9
2009
The real Inconvenient Truth
Filed Under Law and Ethics, Politics, Race and Prejudice, Religion, Science | 4 Comments
The real Inconvenient Truth
Filed Under Law and Ethics, Politics, Race and Prejudice, Religion, Science | 4 Comments
If you are a supporter of “a woman’s right to choose” please read this article. I ask this of you because, once you have read it, I need to ask you a few questions. If you are not supporter of abortion, please pass this along to any friends or associates that may be “pro-choice” and have them answer the questions.
Eighteen and pregnant, Sycloria Williams went to an abortion clinic outside Miami and paid $1,200 for Dr. Pierre Jean-Jacque Renelique to terminate her 23-week pregnancy.
Three days later, she sat in a reclining chair, medicated to dilate her cervix and otherwise get her ready for the procedure.
Only Renelique didn’t arrive in time. According to Williams and the Florida Department of Health, she went into labor and delivered a live baby girl.
The complaint says one of the clinic owners, Belkis Gonzalez came in and cut the umbilical cord with scissors, then placed the baby in a plastic bag, and the bag in a trash can.
Williams’ lawsuit offers a cruder account: She says Gonzalez knocked the baby off the recliner chair where she had given birth, onto the floor. The baby’s umbilical cord was not clamped, allowing her to bleed out. Gonzalez scooped the baby, placenta and afterbirth into a red plastic biohazard bag and threw it out.
OK… now the questions: 1. Does this story bother you? 2. Is the clinic owner guilty of murder? 3. Do you believe Sycloria Williams has the moral standing to sue the clinic? Answer these questions in your heart, but – whether anyone is around you or not – please verbalize your answer, so that the words become real. And after each, ask yourself if the words coming out of your mouth match what you feel in your heart.
1. If you answered “Yes” that this story did bother you, an avowed pro-choicer, then I must ask why? Sycloria Williams walked into that clinic and paid $1,200 to terminate a pregnancy – and that is exactly what happened. Perhaps, you are disturbed by the manner in which the termination occurred? Again I must ask why? Oh, wait… that’s a inconvenient question. We’ll move on for now.
2. I assume, again since you are an avowed pro-choicer, that you believe the clinic owner is not guilty of murder, because in your view, abortion is not murder. Right? But the baby was actually born – she had air in her lungs – she was alive! Isn’t causing the death of a living, breathing child … Oops! Another inconvenient question. Next!
3. As for whether Ms. Williams has the moral standing to sue the clinic, I’ll bet you are really conflicted on that one. On the one hand, you probably agree that she is the victim of a morally bankrupt and evil corporation’s malpractice and greed. Ergo, she does have the moral high ground to claim that the clinic didn’t kill the fetus she was carrying before it became a baby. On the other hand, it’s an abortion clinic… a Temple of modern liberalism that frees women from the shackles of motherhood. Ergo, their moral authority is sacrosanct and unassailable. My oh my, what is a progressive to do with a Morton’s Fork like that?
Questions too tough? Need help? Maybe you could look to popular opinion for an answer. After all, isn’t that what the liberal politicians do?
“The baby was just treated as a piece of garbage,” said Tom Brejcha, president of The Thomas More Society, a law firm that is also representing Williams. “People all over the country are just aghast.”
Even those who support abortion rights are concerned about the allegations.
“It really disturbed me,” said Joanne Sterner, president of the Broward County chapter of the National Organization for Women, after reviewing the administrative complaint against Renelique. “I know that there are clinics out there like this. And I hope that we can keep (women) from going to these types of clinics.”
Does that help?
I believe that if you really answered those questions honestly, the story really did bother you (though you may not understand exactly why), you do think that poor baby was murdered (or allowed to die), and that as horrific as the experience must have been for her, Sycloria Williams has no right suing a clinic for doing exactly what she really wanted – “getting rid of” the baby she was carrying. Combine that with the fact that the National Organization for Women want’s you to help keep (women) from going to these types of clinics (would that be Abortion clinics?) and you’ll find that what it comes down to is that you who are pro-abortion really just want the right to kill what the rest of us consider to be a baby, before you start thinking about it as a living being.
The Inconvenient Truth here is that the science and technology you prize above all else keeps moving the line you draw, between when it is a lump of cells and when it is a living being, closer and closer to the point of conception. And I believe that while your intellect may be able to handle that, your conscience cannot. As a progressive thinker, the type of person that often personifies animals, plants, and even the Earth itself (Gaia), you must have real trouble not personifying an embryo – which, if left alone, would have an excellent chance of actually becoming a real person. I think your intellect may even be betraying you, because you have to know that at one point you – your living, breathing, thinking, caring, thriving, progressive self – was just a “lump of cells,” and look how far you have come. You must wonder if any person, given the chance, and with help from progressives like yourself, couldn’t grow and thrive in the same way – no matter how initially unwanted or unloved.
Well, here’s something else to wonder about; what if one of those millions of babies that were disposed of was the next Jonas Salk, Albert Einstein, or would have invented the cure for AIDS or invented an alternative fuel to replace our dependence on oil? Tired old pro-life argument, you say? Ok… what if, now that you approach your golden years, one of those discarded lumps of cells was around to love you, call you mom, give you grandchildren who would think the world of you, and help take care of you as your body and mind failed? Ever think about that?
You know, for a bunch of folks known as the “Free Love” generation, you have just about guaranteed that as you grow old, many of you will do so alone. How profoundly sad.
Feb
6
2009
Who paid for last night’s ‘retreat’? I’ve honeymooned in Williamsburg. That town isn’t cheap.
Feb
6
2009
The New Deal (for slavery)
Filed Under Law and Ethics | Leave a Comment
The New Deal (for slavery)
Filed Under Law and Ethics | Leave a Comment
(This post is adapted from an email I sent Mandy Connell this morning. I’ll be adding Mandy to “Abolitionists” for her stalwart conservatism (should have long ago) but I hope she also adopts the label for other reasons….)
When you hear people talking about their quandary over their personal belief about abortion and their concern that it might not be the responsibility of the federal government to do anything about it, just remember that we’ve already had this national conversation – it was called slavery.
Just about every perspective you can bring up with regard to one issue is relevant to the other, with the only difference being that one problem existed before America was created, and one became a national problem after the development of our medical technology. They are both terrible injustices against another human being that some people deny is human. The Constitution puts the responsibility on the States to regulate it (or not – 10th Amendment), yet it’s a national question over a moral outrage that will eventually need to be fixed by an Amendment.
So if you ever worry if it should be a federal government responsibility to do something about abortion, pretend you’re an abolitionist and that the baby is a black slave being beaten to death by it’s “master” and ask yourself the question again.
Feb
2
2009
Does Martinez Know Something We Don’t?
Filed Under Economics, Politics | 3 Comments
Does Martinez Know Something We Don’t?
Filed Under Economics, Politics | 3 Comments
Below is the response the Honorable Senator Mel Martinez sent me on Friday regarding my desire to see him NOT vote for this jumbo pile of bovine dung.
“In February 2008, the Congress, with my full support, passed the Economic Stimulus Act of 2008. This legislation was designed to jump start our slowing economy and encourage job creation. Included in the package was direct financial relief for individuals and families, as well as tax incentives for businesses aimed at stimulating investment. ”
Now, either he MEANT 2008 and there was some stimulus package last year (that I don’t recall) OR he’s EXPECTING this piece of garbage to be passed AS IS.