cb.blog

Category: Politics

Pol·i·tics: the art or science of government or governing, especially the governing of a political entity, such as a nation, and the administration and control of its internal and external affairs. Posts in this category pertain to local and national politics.

  • The So-Called “Nuclear Option”

    The Democrats, once again, are on the wrong side of a Civil Rights debate – and they are using the same old obstructionist tactic in the Senate. ProverbsDaily quotes [LA Times Editorial Page Editor Andres Martinez]* from an LA Times editorial on the history of the filibuster:

    A “cornerstone of American democracy” is exactly what Democrats would have you believe the filibuster is. Fortunately for Times readers, Martinez reminds us of the not so bright history of the filibuster.

    The Senate filibuster dates back to the early 19th century, but the obstructionist tactic will always be associated with the efforts of the Senate’s Southern Dixiecrats to block civil rights legislation in the 20th century….The filibuster kept the federal government from combating racial lynchings, the poll tax and plenty of other outrages

    And this time the Democrat-defended injustice is infanticide. The reason for the liberals’ unprecedented animosity toward President Bush’s judicial nominations is the same reason for conservatives’ passionate support. And the fate of abortion hangs in the balance.

    Why does this mostly Christian topic blog care so much about the filibuster? It’s simple. Some of the reasons for filibustering judges is their pro-life position or their tendancy to base their morality on their religious traditions. Supreme Court justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg was a director for the ACLU. A candidate with a similar conservative anti-abortion title would never get through a filibuster. As long as the filibuster is around, strong pro-life federal judges will not be.

    However, I don’t completely agree with ProverbsDaily. While abortion is certainly the hot topic, the underlying issue is the role of the judiciary. President Bush has nominated primarily those who are strict constructionists: subordinate law is interpreted against superceding law. In the Federal judiciary, law is interpreted against the US Constitution.

    In the arena of ideas, liberalism has lost miserably. Liberalism is proving to be such an abject failure that those who espouse it no longer even claim the once-proud label (opting currently for the euphemism “Progressive”). Debate no longer exists; liberals now resort to physical attacks against conservative pundits. Having lost their stranglehold on the Executive and Legislative branches of the Federal government, liberals have turned to their last recourse – an activist judiciary – to enact an agenda that America has resoundingly rejected, again and again.

    I don’t want a Federal judge making a ruling based on my theology any more than I want a Federal judge making a ruling based on liberalism; I want Federal judges who make rulings based on the US Constitution – the way our Founding Fathers intended the Judicial branch to participate in the check-and-balance system. I don’t want Federal judges to rule abortion “unconstitutional” because the Bible says it is wrong; I want Federal judges to rule abortion unconstitutional because this country was founded on the principle that all men are endowed by our Creator with certain unalienable rights, and among them are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness; and because laws exist in the country prohibiting murder.

    I must hand it to the long-term strategists in the liberal camp; they have carried out a successful, subversive takeover of two key American institutions over the course of the past 40 years: the educational system and the judiciary. Conservatives were entirely too slow and/or oblivious to recognize the threat and counter it. But now, Conservatives are making headway in both arenas, and liberalism is starting to act like the cornered beast that it has become.

    Let the hysteria begin.

    * (Ed: correction: quote originally mis-credited to US Senator Mel Martinez. Correct attribution of quote per original source.)

    (Temporary: original Haloscan Comments – Comments)

  • Clueless

    Hello, Liberal Idiot, this is the Real World; have we met before?

    As if the Krugman koolaid-drinking isn’t evidence enough, we get this gem with respect to why liberals tend toward “academia” and conservatives tend toward “corporations”:

    To generalize: liberals like studying and discussing and learning; conservatives like making money, and sometimes stealing money.

    So close, yet so far away. TO quote someone much wiser than either LeftCoastBlog or me:

    Make it your ambition to lead a quiet life, to mind your own business, and to work withy your hands, just as we told you, so that your daily life may win the respect of outsiders and so that you will not be dependent on anybody.

    I Thessalonians 4:11,12 (NIV)

    and again:

    For even when we were with you, we gave you this rule: “If a man will not work, he shall not eat.”

    II Thessalonians 3:10 (NIV)

    Perhaps it is that conservatives tend toward gainful vocations through which they can provide for themselves and their families, and contribute to the good of society. (Those evil “corporations” pay the majority of taxes, provide jobs for the majority of working Americans, and provide the grants that allow high-and-mighty liberals like LeftBankBlog to sit around on their duffs all day, consdescending the utterly inferior conservatives in their midst.) Liberals may like “studying and discussing and learning”, but those alone, unless put into action, contribute nothing to society. Nice jab, by the way, with this statement:

    Meanwhile, the conservative students are all eagerely working on their economics or business majors in preparation to go off and be the next Ken Lay’s and Bernard Ebbers’ of the world.

    Yet another shining example of liberal tolerance and open-mindedness.

    Next we come to this little gem (the one Conservative Dialysis referenced, which led me to the original:

    Let’s face it- Liberals are smarter and therefore more likely to have the PhD qualifications needed to teach at universities. I know it sounds arrogant, but there’s some truth to it.

    So, which is it? Is the fact that liberals are smarter than conservatives so ubiquitous that the statement needs not be defended with evidence, and we should just “face it”, or is the generalization so incongruous as to have only “some truth to it”, and to sound “arrogant”? Apparently, LeftBankBlog believes the latter, and uses the former – an incredibly pathetic logical fallacy to bolster such an indefensible claim.

    He then goes on to quote from a recenk Krugman screed in which, among other things, Krugman states the folowing:

    Mr. Baxley says that he is taking on “leftists” struggling against “mainstream society,” professors who act as “dictators” and turn the classroom into a “totalitarian niche.” His prime example of academic totalitarianism? When professors say that evolution is a fact.

    Now, since our liberal friend admits his areas of study are “Islamic and Middle Eastern Studies [and] History” (which, should he ever decide to leave the Ivory Tower, will inevitably be followed by, “Would you like fries with that?”), I will give him the benefit of the doubt and assume that he does not understand the basic concepts of the Scientific Method, which Wikipedia defines as follows:

    The scientific method or process is considered fundamental to the scientific investigation and acquisition of new knowledge based upon physical evidence. Scientists propose new assertions about our world in the form of theories: observations, hypotheses, and deductions. Predictions from these theories are tested by experiment. If a prediction turns out to be correct, the theory survives. Any theory which is cogent enough to make predictions can then be tested reproducibly in this way. The method is commonly taken as the underlying logic of scientific practice. The scientific method is essentially an extremely cautious means of building a supportable, evidenced understanding of our world.

    The Scientific Method is a process involving four basic steps: Characterization, Hypothesis, Prediction, Experiment. The problem with macro-evolution (that is, speciation) is that it has never been 1) observable, or 2) reproducible. These criteria are the burden of proof necessary to consider a hypothesis as scientific “fact.” I have no problem at all with presenting evolutionary theory, as long as it is rightfully presented as theory. To the contrary of evolutionary theory, the more we learn about our universe and the intricacy of the physical laws that govern our existence, the more the application of Occam’s Razor points to intelligent design as the explanation of Origin in preference to chance and random selection.

    Of course, liberals, in their own tolerant and inclusive way, insist that such viewpoints merit no discussion, and instead stifle that discussion in the name of “tolerance.”

    But then, what would I know? I’m just another intolerant, religious-right, Republican scientist.

  • Iraqi Parliament Elects a “Kurdish” President

    Gateway Pundit cheers the continuing successes of the nascent Iraqi democracy:

    Wow… I thought that this was a country divided among warring minority factions? That’s what the MSM has been saying since they were dragging that metal statue head of Saddam through the streets of Baghdad. But, now we here news that the newly elected parliament (you may recall that January 30th election?) just elected a Kurdish President!

    Granted, the power-sharing structure was pre-determined, such that Sunni, Shiite, and Kurdish factions would each hold one of the elected offices of Prime Minister, Speaker, and President (if I recall correctly); but having the General Assembly accomplish these elections peacefully certainly represents a watershed moment for the new government. (Which means the MSM will probably bury the story – or, at the very least, its signifigance.

  • Bill Gives Unborn Equal Protection

    ProLifeBlogs reports good news for innocent unborn humans in South Carolina:

    COLUMBIA, S.C. — An unborn child would have rights to due process and equal protection of the law under a bill passed by the House Judiciary Committee Tuesday. The measure passed on a 15-to-5 vote. It would establish that rights begin “at fertilization.”

    Not that the Fiat Federal Judiciary will let it stand… but it’s about time some State decided to stand up to fight for the right to Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness for unborn humans.

  • Top 10 categories of MSM/DNC bias

    The Cassandra Page exhaustively chronicles the many manifestations of MSM bias:

    Bias in the MSM/DNC takes many forms. I am forced to compare these forms each time I catalogue another “lie” for the 2005 list. Much of the MSM/DNC behavior constitutes mere spin or bias, slanted headlines or failure to report opposing points of view. Those items, while reprehensible, do not constitute “lies.” For the sake of clarity and so that we can more easily discuss the tactics of the MSM/DNC, I have categorized here some of those MSM/DNC tactics

    Great list, required reading. And by referencing it I give implicit permission for anyone to call me on using any of the bias methods mentioned.

    (Hat tip:PoliPundit)

  • More Liberal Hubris

    Conservative Dialysis dissects typical liberal hubris as expressed in a comment to an earlier post:

    So let’s review: According to the commenter, conservatives are stupid because all of their knowledge and experience failed to produce a political belief system which leans left, and everyone knows that in order to be considered smart your political beliefs must lean left. I don’t think that this is much of an argument.

    Quite to the contrary, this dogmatic liberal viewpoint was proven to be a resounding failure in the half-century experiment in socialism that was the Soviet Union. Whereas the 230 year experiment in democracy, free-market capitalism, and rugged individualism that is the United States remains the greatest nation in the history of mankind.

    This arrogance exemplifies one of the primary reasons I chose to leave academia after earning “just” a Bachelor’s degree: I wanted nothing to do with the Ivory Tower that produces just this kind of attitude.

  • The Myth Of Liberal Tolerance

    Michelle Malkin on the duplicity of the MSM:

    These physical attacks targeting conservatives on campus and in the public square are getting more frequent. (See Kristol, Coulter, Perle, Harris, and the conservative kid who got kicked by a left-wing nut professor, for starters.) The Left continues to snicker about it. The MSM makes light of it (CBS: ‘A Dressing-Down For Pat Buchanan‘; NPR: ‘What’s a little pie in the face?‘). And for the most part, college administrators let the thugs get away with it.

    Let me explain part of why I am a conservative: I believe that humans consist of one, single race; that humans were created in God’s image; and that humans should be seen as individuals, not as a gender, ethnicity, age, religion, sexual preference, weight, philosophy, political view, or any other division, faction, or pigeonhole. Now, humans have not been perfect in this ideology; but it was the Republican Party – the party of Lincoln, formed on an anti-slavery platform – that led the charge to end slavery, pioneered women’s suffrage rights, and led the Civil Rights movement.

    Granted, the Democrat party stands behind Affirmative Action, reparations, and other liberal interests. However, in our current system, laws exist to protect against discrimination, and Affirmative Action acts only as legalized, reverse discrimination and is an insult to those who supposedly “benefit” from it.

    I’m a pretty thick-skinned person, but I’ve even had to deal with liberal (in)tolerance. I even left a group Bible study because apparently my conservative views were the only ones not tolerated in such an ostensibly open-minded group. The last straw was being ostrasized for having the audacity to claim that the rebels who took school children hostage in Beslan, Russia last year were Muslim – when in fact, the Chechnans are Muslim, and the terrorists who carried out the attack included Arab Islamist fanatics.

    As it stands right now, conservatives are winning the majority of political and social polemics of our day – but the fight has become one-sided. While conservatives debate the message, liberals by default resort to attacking the messenger. The level of political and social discourse has so degraded in our society that I truly cherish the few liberal friends with whom I can discuss issues on a purely ideological level. They are becoming all too rare, unfortunately.

  • IRAQ THE MODEL

    Just a link tip tonight: IRAQ THE MODEL is one of the best Iraqi blogs I have found. The contributors:

    -Mohammed: 35 years old dentist/single/graduated from Baghdad university in 1995. Left his job 6 years ago because he refused to serve in Saddam’s army, and now back to work in Samawa City in the southwest part of Iraq. Interests: poetry, reading (history, religions, philosophy and politics).

    -Omar (I’m the one responsible for the publishing and internet work): 24 years old dentist/single/graduated from Baghdad university in 2002. Saved from the military service only by God and the coalition. Now working in Basra. Interests: music, sports (martial arts), reading (novels) and now blogging. We were all born in Baghdad and still living here.

    Great commentary on Iraq, from the Iraqi perspective.

  • Sandy Berger Pleads Guilty

    Are those classified documents in your pants or are you just happy to see me?:

    Remember the story of Sandy Bergler and the missing classified documents? Well, he finally plead guilty to stealing the classified documents. But he and his fans can’t seem to comprehend why we have laws in this country. When the news broke, Bill Clinton, the man who hired this guy to be National Security Advisor laughed. Now wonder the Democrats can’t win an election… they view national security as a joke.

    (Hat tip: GOP Bloggers)

    (Temporary: original Haloscan Comments – Comments)

  • Paul Krugman, Times Columnist, Declared Insane

    RightWing Nut House reports something we already knew to be true:

    Famed New York Times columnist Paul Krugman, shouting “I’m just as sane as any other liberal,” was dragged off to Bellevue Mental Hospital this morning after it became clear he had gone stark, raving mad.

    Be sure your coffee cup is safely away from your mouth, especially when you get to the part referencing MoDo… (Hat Tip: Hugh Hewitt)