Katrina coverage was disastrous

Here is a blistering op/ed (from perhaps my favorite pundit, Jonah Goldberg) about the worst media scandal of our day . . . coverage of Hurricane Katrina.

Hillary's grass roots apparently underground

Apparently Nashville wasn't the best place to stage a "draft Hillary" event to demonstrate Hillary Clinton's appeal in flyover country.

I don't think Hillary will need to be drafted (actually, I think they may have to get a restraining order keeping her away from the Presidential debates if she doesn't get the Dems' nomination), but the folks at hillarynow.org will need more than 20 votes in Democrat-heavy Nashville to win the White House.

GOP demands return of docs taken from Dem Jefferson's office

I'm not sure what to think about claims that "separation of powers" would prohibit an otherwise lawful search of a U.S. House member's office, but I am impressed (but not surprised--we're not moral relativists, after all) that the GOP is being principled rather than partisan about the issue.

Update: Sen. Bill Frist says he backs the FBI's search of the congressman's office. I think I'm going to side with Frist on this one; "arresting" a congressman to keep him from voting (or whatever) is different from searching his office. Here's the law at issue, the "speech and debate" protections in Article 1, Section 6 of the Constitution:

That section states that members of Congress "shall in all cases, except treason, felony and breach of the peace, be privileged from arrest during their attendance at the session of their respective houses, and in going to and returning from the same; and for any speech or debate in either house, they shall not be questioned in any other place."

Dems and their lack of self-awareness

I would love for Joe Lieberman to have to run as an independent in the Connecticut U.S. Senate race, because it would demonstrate how out of the mainstream Dem diehards are in Connecticut and most other states. Lieberman is about the only Democrat in the entire nation with any bipartisan credibility. Connecticut Democrats, please, PLEASE defeat Lieberman in the Democrat primary!

The depression did it!!!

This is a shocking report of a man in Georgia who intentionally ran his car over--and then ran over again, two mothers and their three small children in a McDonald's parking lot. His mother had a lot of nerve to offer up as an excuse that he had struggled with mental problems including depression. Sorry, ma, but "depression" isn't an excuse for this act. What a load of crock.

"Religious Left" -- no basis for unity

Here's a fascinating article about the "Religious Left's" fledgling efforts to establish itself as a force in American politics. A telling quote from the article:

Mr. Campolo, the Baptist minister, explained to the participants in a seminar that many people on Capitol Hill were religious, and that to reach them and to establish authority, liberals should rely on the Bible.

"You have no right to be a spiritual leader if you haven't read Scripture," he told the group. "People in Congress respect the Book, even if they don't know what it says. If we don't recognize this, we don't know squat."

A young man with long hair and a tunic challenged Mr. Campolo.

"I thought this was a spiritual progressives' conference," he said. "I don't want to play the game of 'the Bible says this or that,' or that we get validation from something other than ourselves. We should be speaking from our hearts."

On immigration, let's pull back from the edge . . .

I know that I don't see eye-to-eye with many Religious Conservatives on the immigration issue, but, hey, it's a free country, and I am very comfortable with my position. Here is some sound reasoning on the immigration issue (from "The Corner" blog at nationalreview.com):

Friday, May 12, 2006

A Final Word for Now [John Podhoretz]

There are really three immigration debates. There is the cultural debate, there is the economic debate, and there is the security debate. On matters of culture, I believe as everybody else here does that our immigration policy makes no sense if it is not directed at the process of turning non-Americans into Americans through the instruction of English, knowledge of civics and American history, and helping to instill a sense of pride and commitment to the country.

On economic matters, I agree that if immigrants are not of net benefit to the country, it makes no sense for us to allow newcomers to do harm in this way — and here, in my opinion, the case made by restrictionists is by far the weakest. On security matters, an uncontrolled border is clearly unacceptable, and a panoply of measures, including a border fence, is more than called for.

As for dealing with the illegals already here, there's a sense in which this debate has been radicalized to such an extent that the Right won't be satisfied with a policy that does not explicitly advocate expulsion — all other policies being dubbed "amnesty" and therefore illegitimate — while the Left refuses to consider any policy other than special-treatment affirmative-action line-jumping legalization. In other words, there is nothing our politicians can do, absolutely nothing, to satisfy the activists — because neither extreme will be reflected in any kind of law or policy that emerges even from a Washington energized to deal with them.

If a more sober reckoning of political reality does not intrude here, the Right will hurtle headlong toward schism, division, a third party and all sorts of other "pox on all your houses" actions. The cost of this is what I detail in the direst parts of my book Can She Be Stopped? — the easy transfer of power on Capitol Hill and the White House to the Democrats, and particularly to Hillary Clinton.

It's doubtful the policies she will follow as president on immigration will please anyone on the Right. It's certain that the policies she will follow on courts, on social issues, on foreign policy, on taxes, on regulation and on almost everything else you can think of will be deeply displeasing to people on the Right. And then, as a result of the pursuit of an impossible policy of purity on immigration, the country and the world will suffer the consequences.

The potential for self-destruction is terrifying. The potential for grave national harm is worse. Please, you guys, pull back from the edge.

Posted at 7:55 PM

Kerry, THIS time he could win it for the Dems!

Boy, they sure can pick winners in the Democrat primaries . . . I just read this linked article from RealClearPolitics.com about "The New John Kerry." Apparently, Kerry is working hard to be the Dems' pick in 2008, and the quote below describing how Kerry is more passionate and articulate on the stump these days demonstrates that Iowa and NH Democrat primary voters don't realize how out of touch they are:

Which prompts the question, Why now? Pollster Frank Luntz recently showed a focus group of Democratic primary voters in Iowa and New Hampshire footage of Kerry over the past few months. "Where the hell was this John Kerry?" Luntz says the voters asked him. "Why didn't he have this passion, this specificity, when we needed him to?" If Kerry had run in 2004 using his 2006 language, Luntz argues, he might be President now.

Uh, Kerry won in both of those primaries, but winning among core Dems doesn't win you the WH.

Gore v. Clinton (Mrs.)

Here's an interesting article contrasting a Gore candidacy and a Clinton (II) candidacy. I think the author is correct in stating that Clinton is more moderate sounding than Gore at this juncture, but I don't believe it is as easy as some would hope to shed a hard-earned (like Hillary's) reputation as a Liberal.

Wow, Dean misrepresented Dems' position on homosexual marriage!?

It appears old Howie is up to his shenanigans again . . . in an appearance on Pat Robertson's network, DNC Party Chair Howard Dean stated the Democrat Party's platform defined marriage as between one man and one woman. That'd be great . . . if it were true. When called on it by a homosexual group (which also reclaimed its $5,000 contribution to the Dem party), Dean admitted the misrepresentation.

Aside: I like how the AP writer labels the Dean's admission that the DNC supports homosexual marriage by saying he "reasserted the party's commitment to equal protection for all." How's that for objectivity?

Darfur, Sudan v. Iraq

Here's a disturbing op/ed pointing out the moral contortionism engaged in by the "sensitive Left" these days in addressing Iraq and Sudan. (Here's another article on the matter, though I wouldn't describe it as "disturbing"). Methinks the Left's hatred is blinding them.

Essay on "populism"

Here's a great essay from Jonah Goldberg on the issue of "populism." A great quote from the article:

. . . only populism in its purist form derives its entire agenda from “people power.” Indeed, the word basically means “people-ism.” It does not pretend to privilege objective truth or the best arguments or even justice—if by justice you mean an objective system of judgment which might rule against “the people.” For populists, “justice” is defined by the giant baby getting its bottle.

McCain and Liberty U. commencement address

Here are two articles (here and here) about Sen. John McCain and his upcoming commencement address at Liberty University--the school founded by Rev. Jerry Falwell. The articles show some thawing in the relationship on the part of leaders among Religious Conservatives, but I'm not sure that grassroots folks intend to wink and nod at McCain's "straight talk" from the past.

Should we investigate movie studios?

I was just reading about the opening of Tom Cruise's Mission: Impossible III, and was struck by the "windfall" that comes to moviemakers . . . the above article states that the first MI movie made perhaps a 100% profit. The current movie opened to disappointing ticket sales, and still the gross sales revenue appears to have matched--in the first weekend on screens, and long before going to DVD, the cost of making the movie. Why aren't we threatening to investigate movie companies' profits?

Clarence Thomas tome

Here's an insightful review of The Keeper of the Flame, a new book about Justice Clarence Thomas. The reviewer, Thomas Sowell, provides an overview of Thomas' Constitutional/correct judicial philosophy.

Yikes, on election problems in Memphis

Unfortunately, the problems detailed in this fine bit of reporting from Memphis are too common around the U.S. Messy voting/election practices make the system more vulnerable to fraud and abuse.

Low poll numbers and "direct democracy"

It appears from this report that Conservative dissatisfaction with the GOP on a national level is showing up in the President's low poll numbers. Though I complain as much as the next guy when leader's let me down, I also get involved in party-building and candidate-selection activities. Even more importantly, I don't sulk, sit out an election and allow Liberals to waltz to victory when an elected Republican doesn't give in to my letter-writing campaign/pressure.

Which leads me to another concern of mine about a phenomenon that has become more common due to advances in electronic communication as well as the popularity of talk radio: "direct democracy" or pressuring those in office toward a particular policy. As I alluded to above, the time to take action is at election time. I remember when ol' Ross Perot would talk about setting up a system of direct ballots or what amounted to referenda on Federal issues . . . how democratic! how noble! Uh, no. In reality it is counter to our form of gov't which is republican and representative not technically "democratic." Our constitutional republic is designed to foster rule of law and to counter mob rule. Sure, it's a free country, and we can and often should complain about politicians, but an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.

Shelby Steele article on Western Civ-guilt

Here's a link to the Shelby Steele op/ed that Rush has been talking about quite a bit lately. I think it is a profound essay, and I agree with Steele's every assertion, but Steele (who happens to be black) incorrectly--I think, has used the term "white" (as in "white person") where he should use the term "western" or "westerner" (as in "western civilization"). America's success/prosperity has zero to do with race and everything to do with ideas . . . ideas rooted in our Christian and Greek philosophical roots.

La backlash

Interesting story regarding what I believe was the major blind spot of the "illegal alien lobby" . . . backlash. (Hat tip, Bobbie Patray)

Eee-vul Wal-Mart in the news . . .

I heard today that Wal-Mart has been declared "unsafe" by a Lefty, pro-unionization, ant-Wal-Mart org. I'm glad they're so concerned about the public that they are attacking evil Wal-Mart. The organization's website has the number of "incidents" reported at each Wal-Mart and estimates how much policing of the incidents costs taxpayers. I guess that the crimes wouldn't happen if there was not Wal-Mart (or if Wal-Mart employees had a union, hmmm). All that aside, who in the world is funding this impressive website and the research required for the site?

And in a perhaps related story, a Maryland Wal-Mart employee discovered a man glued to a toilet seat. On the other hand, law enforcement folks probably were not summoned.