The Black Republican

Well, this isn't totally surprising, now is it! I don't see why it would be shocking, or even unexpected, that someone who has no qualms about faking that he is a Native American Indian would steal the artistic property of others. And has anyone looked into this guys book and published papers (if one could even stomach such a thing)? I wouldn't be surprised if it was discovered that this guy had borrowed intellectual property from various literary sources as well.

Perhaps he'll decide to move to England, change his first name to Winston, and write a series of books about the second world war! Perhaps if he does he'll earn tenure at Oxford!

(Stovepipe hat tip: Michelle Malkin)

I strongly suggest this piece by The Wall Street Journal as "Recommended Reading".

What will the morning bring for Terri Shindler-Schiavo? Today brought one Judge who allowed Michael Schiavo to have her feeding tube removed, and another Judge who ordered an emergency stay which blocks the removal. [also here]

And, on the radio I just heard a portion of a news cast which suggested there will be an application for a new legal battle based on the assisted suicide laws. How obvious! Of course this case falls into that arena, Mr. Schiavo's entire case hinges on his contention that he had a suicide pact with his wife should she ever need life support! I am not a legal expert, but I am hoping that his attempt to become an accomplice to her suicide puts him in legal jeopardy.

At the very least, let's all hope that her parents win their battle to become her guardian.

The parents, Bob and Mary Schindler, sought the stay in hopes of keeping their daughter alive long enough for them to file additional legal pleadings. They are trying to oust their son-in-law as her guardian and seeking medical tests which might back their assertion that their daughter has some mental capabilities

If attempts to have it recognized that she does have some mental capacity fail, another new strategy to keep her alive comes with the Pope's pronouncement that hospitals are "morally obligated" to continue nutrition and hydration to people in vegatative states. The family is prepared to file a motion which contends, that,

"Terri, as a practicing Roman Catholic, would have obeyed the pope and would not choose to have her tube removed."

Tomorrow there will be additional news about this case. And maybe one morning Michael Schiavo will be relegated to unconcerned observer, and her parents will be allowed to give her some real care.

Update 2/23 5pm: I see, on Google, that Govenor Bush is attempting to intervene once again. The article linked is a subscription page of the Atlanta paper, I will wait to see the details when I can find another source.

I also feel it necessary to post this link to Abstact Appeal. The page has not been updated in some time (10/22/03), but contains explanations for many of the major steps in this matter. This is presented as background material as it helps put many of the issues in context, even though some of the conclusions are not supportive.

UPDATE: (by Chris) I'm sorry Rick, I'm going to have to hijack the extended entry for myself. One of our readers has left a comment that has struck a chord with me.

Don't you think it's a bit of a stretch to equate removing a feeding tube and allowing one to die naturally with suicide?

Hogwash.

If I refuse to eat and die from malnutrition and dehydration, I've committed suicide, plain and simple. (In this case I think it's much more likely homicide, but that's a different argument.) Suicide by any means is one of the most egregious violations of the Faith for a Catholic. We do not believe anyone should willingly depart from the life God has provided them. One can be prepared to enter Eternity when the Master calls, but that's not the same thing as wishing for death. Even when one knows that their actions in attempting to save the life of another will lead to their death, we believe that the person should retain faith until the last moment that God's Will be done - He may choose to spare the person from the neccessity of death, or may call him Home. But to give up hope is to deny the Power and Providence of the Almighty, Who can do anything and from Whom all things derive their purpose.

In the Catholic Church, the phrase "Death with Dignity" is an oxymoron. Death is neither dignifying nor indecent - it is the absence of life, and once you're dead you're not going to have an opinion any more about how you should have died. But you will have eternity to deal with the consequences of how you lived. Woe to him who finds that near the end, he gave up hope in the Lord and hastened his demise against the Just Will of God.

In this case (as in too many places elsewhere in our culture) people must realize that despite heresy to the contrary, Catholics have no choice in this. One either obeys God's Will, or one is in a state of mortal sin. Our Faith teaches us there is no debating Truth. Heaven is not ruled by the majority, and it's not called God's Democracy for a reason. It is an absolute monarchy, where the King really does represent God, because He Is.

One last thing: that malnutrition and dehydration are the natural by-products of not eating is not only irrelevant, it's a disgusting statement of your ethics that you believe death is okay if it's "natural". Tell that to the millions of people who die each year from malnutrition. Are their deaths fine by you? After all, they died "naturally". Should they have welcomed death? How about people who die in a natural disaster? Should the people on the beach in South Asia last December have just welcomed the tsunami ashore?

When I pass from this earth, I plan to leave scratch marks all the way to the Pearly Gates. If He wants me, He can have me any time He says The Word. And until I hear that Word with my own ears, I'll assume His Will is that it is not yet my time. I only pray my death throes are long and painful, so that I might repay at least a little of the burden my Savoir endured for me.

[Edit: Just to reinforce Rick's comment below, I've tweaked things a little. As he said, please take note that the extended entry contains the slightly-more-than-personal opinions of the blog's proprietor, Chris, and not Rick, the original contributor of the post. We now return you to your regular blogging pattern....]

Over at Wizbang Jay seems to have nailed the Democrat's opposition strategy. The concept, they are against anything Bush is for, is not new; but the presentation is hilarious.

No, it isn't.

Yes, it is!

Today is my birthday...44! My feelings on birthdays tend to conform to that of most people: The first 21 were anticipated because there was always some benefit (real or perceived) to attaining that next age; the next 10-15 (to about age 35) there was ambiguity; at age 35 or so it begins to dawn on you that, with the life expectancy being about 70, you have lived HALF of your life... so every birthday after 35 just sucks! In talking with my father though, I know that feeling will change somewhere around the age of 70, because after that the feeling is "Whew! Made another one!"

Unfortunately, today is also the day that Michael Schiavo can, with the blessing of several State and Federal judges, starve his wife to death. For those of you who are not familiar with this case, here is a brief synopsis: Somehow, Terri Shindler-Schiavo suffered a neck injury, and her ribs and parts of her body suffered fractures. According to a neurologist who was asked by a court to examine Terri: "Right now we have a woman who had a collapse with no known cause. No evidence of infection, heart attack, respiratory failure or anything. The only thing found in the emergency room is a damaged neck." The result is that Terri suffered brain damage when the flow of oxygen to her brain was cut off for a period of time. Medical examinations have ruled out heart attack, cardiac arrest and potassium imbalance, meaning that it is likely that her oxygen supply was cut off when her neck was somehow injured to the point of extreme rigidity. And now the woman's husband, Michael Schiavo (who may or may not have been complicit in her obtaining those injuries), wants to have the tube that provides Terri with food and water removed because he claims that he is honoring his marriage vows by carrying out the wishes of his wife that she not be kept alive by "artificial means." Terri is cognitively disabled, she is not brain-dead, not in a comatose state, not terminal, and not connected to a respirator. If the feeding tube is removed, she will starve to death. Whatever she may or may not have said to her husband, I do not believe any human being could consider food and water as artificial means, do you? But so far, the courts and legal system in this country have been either unable or unwilling to side with Terri's parents efforts to keep their daughter alive. And today, unless something is done, Michael Schiavo will be allowed to starve his wife to death, all the while claiming that it is what she wants. Oh, did I fail to mention that the altruistic Michael Schiavo has been living with another woman for years (and has two children by her) and will gain financially from Terri's death? And, by the way, there is currently only one person alive that could confirm exactly how Terri received her injuries, and that's Terri. Should she be starved to death, that secret dies with her. How convenient!

(Read this to understand better!)

From what I can tell, the people that are supporting Michael Schiavo's efforts (read ACLU, Death with Dignity, Hemlock Society, et al) are telling Terri's parents, family, friends and the world that because she cannot function the same way she could before the "accident" that put her in her present condition, that she would not want to continue living - that this is her wish. To those people I wish to ask, do you think that Terri would have the same death wish were she aware of the affect her plight has had on millions of people across the country? And can you even be sure she isn't aware?

I have a designation on my drivers license identifying me as an organ donor, not because I wish for some misfortune to befall me, but in an attempt to turn any misfortune I may have into the greatest possible good for others. It gives me a good feeling now, while I am alive, to know that if something does happen, I could help save or improve the lives of others. It's a sad fact, but I only know who Terri Shindler is because of her misfortune, but don't you think she would want the same opportunity as me? As any of us? Don't you think she would want to do the greatest good for others that she could? I do. Terri's life, her struggle, as hard as it is, serves as an inspiration. I know for a fact that her life has had a greater positive affect on more people than mine ever has, and probably ever will. People have begun examining to a much closer degree the value we as a society place on human life, and that is a very good thing.

I also know her death, through the actions of anyone other than God, would only benefit a few, and possible only one.

I strongly suggest this piece by Bob Newman as "Recommended Reading".

The Gay Marriage judicial activism in Massachusetts has not gone unchallenged within the State. A surprising reaction from a state which is traditionally overwhelmingly liberal.

It seems the people of the Commonwealth which sent Kennedy and Kerry to the Senate also understand that judges are not supposed to make laws, only interpret those passed into law by the legislature.

Also surprising is the news that the #1 political talk show in New England is the one hosted by right-wing bombast Jay Severin! Severin, who is cutting edge, while a self-described "libertarin/libertine", even angers Libertarians, yet he must have more interesting things to say than anyone else in that region or he wouldn't have those numbers. (his station also broadcasts the radio shows of Laura Ingraham, O'Reilly, and Hannity, further evidencing the New Englander's desires for non-liberal views)

Another traditionally Democratic Commonwealth, my home state of Kentucky, is also showing signs of leaving the failed liberal ways behind, as a recent poll shows support for the Bush's plan in Iraq.

I strongly suggest this piece by Ann Coulter as "Recommended Reading".

I knew it was more complex than two colors could describe!

Stovepipe Hat tip- Colby Cosh

Please excuse the flippant note of Arthur Miller's passing as a title; it was the first thing that came to mind. Actually, I wouldn't be noting his death here at all if not that this Colby Cosh remark completely summarizes my own thoughts in elegant brevity.

" I don't have much to add, not being terribly familiar with Miller's oeuvre. When I think about the man who wrote plays about how capitalism thwarts human aspirations, and then got married to Marilyn Monroe, I'm afraid about all I can do is giggle."

I strongly suggest this piece by Tom Curry as "Recommended Reading".

I strongly suggest this piece by Michael Crichton as "Recommended Reading".

No additional comment necessary.

(Stovepipe hat tip: Cox & Forkum)

As you may or may not already be aware, members of the Watcher's Council hold a vote every week on what they consider to be the most link-worthy pieces of writing around... per the Watcher's instructions, I am submitting one of our posts for consideration in the upcoming nominations process.

Here is the most recent winning council post, here is the most recent winning non-council post, here is the list of results for the latest vote, and here is the initial posting of all the nominees that were voted on.

Did anyone watch the Grammy Awards this past weekend? Judging from this article (hat tip: The Drudge Report), not many of you did. But if you had you would have seen a classic example of what is wrong with the Artsy-fartsy, Hollywood, celebrity, elite crowd - style over substance.

In what I consider to be a Herculean effort to feel good about themselves, the members of the Recording Academy decided to award Ray Charles the two most prestigious Grammy awards available - album and record of the year.

Now, please don't misunderstand me - Ray Charles was an excellent and inventive musician. I have been a fan of his music since I was old enough to know what good music was, went to see Ray the first night it was out and ask for, and received, Genius Loves Company for Christmas. But I must say, having listened to both that CD and Alicia Keys' Diary of Alicia Keys, there is no way Genius Loves Company should have won either of those awards! It is a good album, but Diary of Alicia Keys is great!

IMHO, Alicia Keys is the best musician in a generation or more, and it is a travesty that her CD was pushed aside just so the members of the Academy could honor a great musician who just happens to have died this past year - because it made them look good to the people they feel are important, and made them feel good about themselves. I guess their rational is (write this down, and mark the date 'cause it will happen!) that they can always make it up to her by giving her those awards next year.

Ray Charles' music does deserve recognition - it always has! That's not my point. My point is, if the Academy really thought that Ray Charles deserved an award for is music, why didn't his Ultimate Hits Collection (my fav) win one? Why didn't more of his earlier work? Look, I was a musician in High School and have (or at least had) nominal talent - not a great deal, but not zero either - and I knew way back in the mid seventies that Ray Charles was exceptionally great, just as I know now that Alicia Keys is exceptionally great. Why give a good album awards that should go to a great album? Why not just do a big tribute to honor him and leave it at that? Or better yet, why not just play clips of Ray playing the songs that we all know and love? Clips from when Ray was at his best - being Ray.

Perhaps the Recording Academy saw an opportunity to make themselves look good, feel good, and at the same time, to assuage some of their guilt for past oversights, and it was just too sweet to pass up. Too bad really. Ray Charles should have been lauded more during the years he was alive, and Diary of Alicia Keys should have been recognized - this year - for being what it truely is... album and record of the year!

I strongly suggest this piece by Star Parker as "Recommended Reading".

I strongly suggest this piece by Michael Barone as "Recommended Reading".

A day late we take notice that the 196th anniversary of Abraham Lincoln's birth has arrived. President Bush took notice yesterday hosting a retrospective of the 16th President at the White house. He added his own words extoling the virtue of the great man, including these remarks.

"The Civil War was decided on the battlefield. The larger fight for America's soul was waged with Lincoln's words."

He said Lincoln was a master of the English language, but that his "mother tongue was liberty."

Today we are again at war, and now we have a President who recognizes the battle is for security and human dignity and who believes that the war will be decided by liberty. Lincoln would be proud.

Abraham Lincoln Online.org

Abraham Lincoln- Wikipedia Entry

Abraham Lincoln Historical Digitization Project

Terri Shindler-Schiavo. It is, I believe, with intent that the group National Right To Life identifies Terri by both her married and maiden names. Their point, as I take it to be, is that she belonged to the Shindler family before, and since, she became a Schiavo.

And, I also believe, given that Mr. Sciavo no longer has an interest in her existence, while her parents wish her to continue on, using her maiden name and thereby reaffirming her heritage is more appropriate than it is to continue to recognize her marriage as valid. For while marriage is not necessarily permanent, blood is. Mr. Schiavo is determined to bring a permanent ending to his relationship to Terri, her death. Her parents want to help her recover. And his powers to act on her behalf toward this unalterable end is based on his connection to her through an alterable arrangement, marriage; sad. (his powers to call for an end to her life-support are also based on his contention that she wished to not be kept alive atificially). The courts say her parents have no powers in the matter.

Especially sad when the state of her condition is in doubt, with experts on each side of the possibilties strongly holding that she either is, or isn't, aware of her surroundings. Either can, or can never improve. Terribly sad when we consider that her parents are willing to take on the responsibilites of her care and rehabilitation. Her parents, who have known her longer than anyone, and, who believe that she responds to them.

And, who is to say what is possible? Consider the story of Sarah Scantlin; brain-damaged for twenty years, and then suddenly she regains the ability to speak. The experts did not predict, and can not now explain, her recovery! How can anyone be certain that Terri Shindler-_______ could not also recover?

This woman, Terri, who came to be injured under suspicious conditions, has been denied the treatment and therapy which may promote the sort of miracle which Ms. Scantlin has created. Yes, which Ms. Scantlin has created; not the doctors and nurses, though we gratefully acknowledge them for the care and expertise they have provided, (and I won't presume to give credit to the hand of the Lord, for I have no evidence that he directly intevened). I credit the miraculous powers to heal ourselves which we all possess, and which,in her case, Sarah Scantlin exercised. How she, and the rest of us, came to be endowed with such powers is a discussion I will leave for another time; my point is to illuminate the fact that we all possess such powers, and that the extent to which they will be exercised is unknowable beforehand. Though we do understand some of the parameters within which such recovery is more likely, and we know that Michael Schiavo has been denying those contributory conditions to the Shindler's daughter for the past ten years.

The possibility that Terri will heal herself only becomes a certainty when she either achieves that goal, or her body dies. Until that time comes, anything is possible. Miracles happen!

Ask Sarah. For the first time in two decades she can answer.

[I wish to compliment Sarah on that achievement. And, I thank all who had a helping hand in her recovery. Lastly, I pray that Michael Schiavo will get out of the way, turn Terri's care over to her parents, and allow her the very best opporunity to get better.]

terrisfight.org
A tip of the Stovepipe Hat to Two Dogs for the link.

I strongly suggest this piece by Mike S. Adams as "Recommended Reading".

I like Ann Coulter. I appreciate her acerbic wit, even if it can be over the top at times. To me she's like gasoline in search of a flame - sometimes making a beautifully roaring fire that warms you up, and occasionally making a raging inferno that scorches everything close to it.

This time? All I can say is... break out the marshmallows and let's start singing "Kumbaya My Lord"!

I strongly suggest this piece by Robert H. Scales as "Recommended Reading".

I strongly suggest this piece by Hugh Hewitt as "Recommended Reading".

I strongly suggest this piece by Timothy J. Penny as "Recommended Reading".

I have always been suspicious of Dick Morris, but always respected is political instincts immensely. The fact that he was instrumental in getting Bill Clinton elected being the most obvious reason for both the suspicion and the respect. But Mr. Morris has been quelling my suspicions of late and increasing my respect because he seems to have become (in his mind, perhaps always has been) more interested in advancing an agenda that is actually good for America, not just a political party or ideology.

And now, today, Dick Morris has finally come around and completely rehabilitated himself and allowed me to forgive him of his Clintonian transgressions - he now agrees with me!

The nut of what he say is the core reason why Chris, Rick and I maintain this blog...

America longs to put the period on the disgraceful chapter in our nation’s history that began when the first slave arrived at Jamestown, Va., more than 400 years ago. We also want to send a message to every girl, and every African-American or Hispanic baby, that there is no ceiling and that you can rise as far as your ability will carry you. The day Condi Rice is sworn in as president, regardless of the fate of her administration, that message and the punctuation of our history of racism will be obvious.

History teaches us that it just doesn't payoff to dream small. Martin Luther King didn't ("I have a dream..."), JFK didn't ("... a man on the moon..."), Ronald Reagan didn't ("Tear down this wall!"), and neither do we.

Our dream? Helping to finish what The Black Republican started 142 years ago: not just putting a period on a disgraceful chapter in our nation’s history, but starting a new chapter free of the remnants of that disgrace. Championing the American dream, as Americans, with no need for hyphens.

Dream big dreams, or don't dream at all.

As you may or may not already be aware, members of the Watcher's Council hold a vote every week on what they consider to be the most link-worthy pieces of writing around. Since I'm so vapid as to forget to submit something each week, we rarely get any exposure there.

This week, someone spotted our recent post, A Man for Our Time, and was kind enough to nominate it for consideration.

So as not to seem ungrateful, I'll belatedly reciprocate by following The Watcher's instructions for the nominations process. Here is the most recent winning council post, here is the most recent winning non-council post, here is the list of results for the latest vote, and here is the initial posting of all the nominees that were voted on.

Good luck to all, and to our anonymous admirer, thanks for the nomination.

After my estrangement from my wife had begun, for a time we were still in contact while she had the children and I was trying to set up a home in another state. It was when she informed me that had converted and been baptised in the Mormon religion that I told her I could not tolerate her keeping the children any longer. After a few more weeks I brought them to live with me. (The whole story is a little more detailed, but perhaps not appropriate here.) Before I could pick them up, she had already brought them to several Sunday school classes at her new church. Since she eventually dropped Mormonism to become a Muslim, I often wonder if she would have tried to raise our children in that faith as well.

Today's editorial in the Chicago Sun-Times makes me shudder to think what the results of that would have been.

What is happening in some American mosques, including a few in the Chicago area, is deeply disturbing. In certain Islamic schools, textbooks spit vitriol against Jews, Christians and other non-Muslims: "Be disassociated from the infidels, hate them for their religion." In mosque publications, America is the "Abode of the Infidel." The idea of human and civil rights is heresy. Working women are immoral.

These views are extreme, they promote violence and they are being espoused right under our noses. We knew this was happening in France, Germany and England but we didn't know the extent of the problem here. It is not happening in all mosques or Islamic schools, by any means, but in those select ones funded by the Saudi government to disseminate the fanatic Wahhabi-style Islam that has its demagogic roots in Saudi Arabia.

The Center for Religious Freedom just issued a discomfiting report looking at the spread of hate propaganda in America by Saudi Arabia. The center collected 200 books and other publications from mosques across the country and spent the past two years analyzing them.

"The Saudi textbooks and documents spread throughout American mosques preach a Nazi-like hatred for Jews, treat the forged Protocols of the Elders of Zion as historical fact, and avow that the Muslim's duty is to eliminate the state of Israel," writes Nina Shea, the Center's director. In addition, they "instill contempt for America because the United States is ruled by legislated civil law rather than by totalitarian Wahhabi-style Islamic law." Woe to Christians who should be actively hated because they stir up images of crusaders and colonists and because they are "enemies to Allah, his Prophet and believers." Woe to Muslims who advance tolerance and human rights -- they, too, are infidels. Woe to homosexuals or heterosexuals who have sex outside marriage -- it is considered "lawful" to kill them.

Stovepipe hattip: Cox & Forkum

I strongly suggest this piece by Niall Ferguson as "Recommended Reading".

Perhaps I should give up on James Taranto. If we were ever going to get his attention, this would have been it. In today's Best of the Web (next-to-last item, "Body Politic"), he singles out various factions of conservatism, and even invents a few new ones as he pokes fun at some funky phraseology by the Associated Press. Yet among the "paleos" and "neos" and even the inventive "cardioconservatives", nowhere does he mention negroconservatism. Do you suppose it's got something to do with us being melanin-challenged Americans?

Then again, if we really lived up to the title of this post, wouldn't we be "necrocons" instead of "negrocons"?

I strongly suggest this piece by Dug Begley as "Recommended Reading".

I strongly suggest this piece by Ben Stein as "Recommended Reading".

I strongly suggest this piece by Joshua Muravchik as "Recommended Reading".

David Brooks' column in The New York Times today about MoveOn.org and the rest of the Deaniacs is rather pedestrian, summing up history we're all pretty much aware of. That is, right up to the final quote, when he lets go of a zinger that puts it all in perspective.

Thanks to this newly dominant group, the Democrats are sure to carry Berkeley for decades to come.

In the current issue of American History magazine, Dinesh D’Souza analyzes the tripolar historical kerfuffle perpetually raging over the most effective political mind in the history of our Republic, and the touchstone for this website: Abraham Lincoln, the Statesman.

Lincoln was a case-study in dichotomy. He was an abolitionist willing to maintain the institution of slavery. He was a libertarian who violated some of our most cherished rights under the Constitution. He was a liberal who sought to conserve more than reform. Most of all, he was an idealist with the most overwhelming grasp of practicality our Nation has been fortunate to send to the White House.

Lincoln knew that the statesman, unlike the moralist, cannot be content with making the case against slavery. He must find a way to implement his principles to the degree that circumstances permit. The key to understanding Lincoln is that he always sought the meeting point between what was right in theory and what could be achieved in practice. He always sought the common denominator between what was good to do and what the people would go along with. In a democratic society this is the only legitimate way to advance a moral agenda.

As they have since his death, historians today are not divided on Lincoln simply in terms of pro and con, but in three camps: between those who thought him a radical tyrant who destroyed the Constitution, those who consider him a hypocritical opportunist who turned his back on the Negro, but the vast majority of Americans know him as Preserver of the Union, The Emancipator of Slaves, and a flawed human being who deftly performed the impossible: he prevented an irresistable force from destroying the American Democracy as it collided headlong into an immovable object. That this was a formulated plan is a testament to a brilliant intellect.

One cannot understand Lincoln without understanding why he agreed with (Senator from Massachusetts, Charles) Sumner's goals while consistently opposing the strategy of the abolitionists. The abolitionists, Lincoln thought, approached the restricting or ending of slavery with self-righteous moral display. They wanted to be in the right and - as Sumner himself says - damn the consequences. In Lincoln's view, abolition was a noble sentiment, but abolitionist tactics, such as burning the Constitution and advocating violence, were not the way to reach their goal.

America would have been fortunate if we could have seen these philosophies played out in peacetime as he practiced it in war. But it is not a strategy that should be relegated merely to history books and articles in magazines. It is the template for how American politicians should go about fulfilling their Constitutional duties. Some men and women even today remember Lincoln, and try to live up to his example. And if you're reading this, you know our name.

I strongly suggest this piece by Johnny Carson as "Recommended Reading".

The SITE Institute has a copy of a message board post bouncing around the 'net through which a young Iraqi "claimed responsibility" for the "abduction" of the "Special Ops Cody" doll.

A message is currently in circulation on Jihadist message boards in which an Iraqi by the nickname of "al-Iraqi4" admits to being behind the hoax of the US soldier’s capture by the Mujahideen [using a toy soldier that he named John Adam]. While some message board members prayed for the hoaxter’s guidance toward righteousness and resorted to God for judgment, others were furious at him for "demoralizing" the members.

From the sound of it, the perpetrator turned out not to be such a desperate insurgent after all, just an immature prankster of the college-student variety.

Watch it, pal - pranking the loons in your country is going to get yourself killed.

(hattip: Snopes.com)

I strongly suggest this piece by Jonathan Chait as "Recommended Reading".

I strongly suggest this piece by Paul Geary as "Recommended Reading".

I strongly suggest this piece by Gerard Baker as "Recommended Reading".

Trying to jumpstart my blogging and re-engage the rest of the blogosphere, I tripped over to La Shawn Barber's Corner just in time to hear her bring out some good news: Andrew Sullivan is taking a vacation. Long-time readers will know that I tolerated Sullivan for almost a year because he claimed a conservative philosophy and supported the war. Then I couldn't take any more of his pet issue and eventually decided he must be running some sort of scam. I've distrusted him ever since, and eventually my opinion went even lower than that, so I stopped visiting his site.

I don't begrudge anyone blegging, and once in a blue moon I remind people that I've made only a pocketful of change myself since adding Paypal, CafePress and Google ads to my site. What irks me is that someone who spends an inordinate amount of time complaining about the "pornography" of The Passion of the Christ is very close to prostitution himself. (Among many other hypocritical positions.)

Nobody's columnist credentials and writing skills merit $200 grand in donations from a rather simple (and free) blog site.... So what exactly do you suppose people are paying for? Based on the experience I've had - which is similar to most of the rest of the blogosphere, apparently - there has to be (pardon the pun) something deeper going on here. I'd bet the people who would think Sullivan's rants are worth something have the same agenda his site was established for, and they're paying so he'll continue to promote it on their behalf. He's essentially a paid columnist delivering a specific point of view from within conservative ranks. It's not like we haven't heard of this before (though in this case, there's no evidence the opinion delivered isn't based solely on the asking price).

The fact that no one even dares ponder this politically incorrect speculation leads me to think it's probably close to the truth.

RNC Chairman Ken Mehlman has sent out a link to a petition through the GOP website to press the Democrats on the President's Social Security initiative.

Everyone who lives in a state with a Democratic senator has to make it clear to the Obstructionist Democrats that - just like every other time they misunderestimated him - we aren't going to let them stop the President on Social Security either. Please call, write, and email your senators, your House representative, your friends and relatives to let them know how you feel about this issue. If we fail, we're never again going to get as good a chance to pull our kids out of the black hole of debt The Great Society has dug for them.

Follow the Democratic mantra of the 90's and... do it for the children.

I strongly suggest this piece by William Voegeli as "Recommended Reading".

I strongly suggest this piece by Mort Kondracke as "Recommended Reading".

"The road of Providence is uneven and unpredictable - yet we know where it leads:
It leads to freedom."

                      - Geo. W Bush, State of the Union Speech, February 2, 2005

I strongly suggest this piece by Mary Katherine Ham as "Recommended Reading".

I strongly suggest this piece by Walter E. Williams as "Recommended Reading".

I am seeing the likelihood that the Democratic Party is engaging in racism (see Tom's explanation of the distinction between racist and racism) when it comes to Conservative minority advancement being considered in more and more venues. Last night on Fox News' Hannity and Colmes, with the Rev. Jesse Lee Peterson as the guest representing the right, for instance. The idea, and the pressure it puts on the Libs is building; it even so concerned Colmes (the Lib host) that he retorted with the claim that as a white male Liberal he is the victim of racism, the first step in ending demagogery is causing the demagogue to so confuse the issue that his words are meaningless. Score one for the Rev. Peterson last night. Hannity, particularly, made the point that Conservative minorities can not expect representation from the likes of the NAACP, and other "Black" advocate groups, only the liberal black need apply.

I also came across Annika presenting a brief note on the media's reaction to the Iraqi election containing a tie-in to racism which included this question:

Are the nay-sayers in the media, who refuse to see the democratization of Iraq as a good thing, any different than old fashioned racists?

UPDATE (Chris): Shi' Bubba, who's drivin' dis bus anyhow?

BUS DRIVER

Today's Day By Day cartoon by Chris Muir helps me present an image I found via Ace, via National Review.

Hey, Al Jazeera, our dolls also fight.

And, via Ace, via The New Vintage we found a link to this billboard.

I first saw the bilboard on Fox News, there are other versions up out there, we can only hope the Hollyweirdos move to France before they tire of looking up.

Please excuse my illusion to the crocodile in Peter Pan as I present this piece from Chapin Nation on Ted Kennedy, but I can't help wonder if it would cushion the shock if we heard him coming before he opens his mouth and forces us to passively participate in his insanity.

I don't know what makes Ted Kennedy tick - or rather not tick. Perhaps it was the murders of his two great brothers President John F. Kennedy or Senator Robert Kennedy. Perhaps it is guilt due to his cowardly and drunken abandonment of a dying woman at Chapaquiddick - perhaps it's just due to years of drunken self abuse. Whatever the reason, even people within Massachusetts are seeing that having this man as a U.S. Senator is dangerous.

I strongly suggest this piece by Dennis Prager as "Recommended Reading".