An Open Letter to General Wesley Clark (Ret.)
July 8, 2008 | Filed Under Democrats/Leftists, Elections, Media Bias, Military, News, Publius Contributor, Security/Safety, Society/Culture, Vince Johnson, War on Terror | No Comments
-By Vince Johnson
Dear Wesley:
Your recent comments on MEET THE PRESS June 29, 2008 are disturbing and entitled to rebuttal:
For example: You said: “He (John McCain) hasn’t held executive responsibility. That large squadron in the Navy that he commanded — that wasn’t a wartime squadron.”
Don’t you realize that the entire United States Senate will be unhappy to learn that you do not believe serving in either House of Congress involves executive responsibility?
Do you really believe it is wise to belittle John McCain’s six years in the House and his twenty years in the Senate when your candidate, Barack Obama is in his first term in the Senate? This also invites your opposition to point out that your candidate has never been qualified to command any “large squadron” at any time in his life.
Your most shocking statement was this: “I don’t think riding in a fighter plane and getting shot down is a qualification to be president.”
As a retired general with your many years of service, you should know there is a huge difference between flying an airplane and riding in one. In your eagerness to belittle John McCain’s background, you have insulted every pilot that ever flew a fighter plane since World War I.
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Flight 93 Memorial Update…
July 8, 2008 | Filed Under Flight 93, Islam, Islamofascism, Media Bias, News, Security/Safety, Society/Culture, War on Terror | No Comments
Calling Michelle Malkin, Charles Johnson, A.J. Strata, Ed Morrissey, Richard Fernandez and Ace of Spades
When the Crescent of Embrace memorial to Flight 93 was unveiled in September 2005, these six high profile conservative bloggers were instrumental in raising the public protest that forced the Memorial Project to agree to a redesign. Charles Johnson stayed with the story until the summer of 2006, and Ace has done two links since 2005, but for the most part, these conservative heroes seem to have decided that the “circle of embrace” redesign is okay.
It is NOT okay. Architect Paul Murdoch described his original Crescent of Embrace design as a broken circle. The redesign is still described as a broken circle, and the unbroken part of the circle (the crescent) remains exactly as it was in the original design.
Reuters: Accuses US of Being Against the Rule of Law
July 6, 2008 | Filed Under Constitution, Democrats/Leftists, Foreign Policy, Media Bias, News, President, Publius Contributor, Security/Safety, Society/Culture, The Law, Warner Todd Huston | No Comments
-By Warner Todd Huston
It looks like Reuters is trying to say that the United States stands against the rule of law with their latest piece on a recent ruling from the so-called World Court — the International Court of Justice (ICJ). The ICJ wants the U.S. to vacate the death penalty sentences of several Mexican nationals that sit on death row in prisons in several states and Reuters is shaking its finger at the nasty Americans that deny the jurisdiction of the self-styled World Court.
Mexico has been agitating with the World Court to force the United States to vacate (or at least revisit) the convictions of 51 Mexican nationals now on death row because they claim that these murderers were not alerted to their right to seek consular assistance before they went into the American court systems.
Naturally, the ICJ happily complied with Mexico’s request and demanded that the U.S. comply with the World Court decision. Bush made an unfortunate decision in 2005 to ask the various states to comply with the ICJ, but the issue has since been settled by the Supreme Court of the United States. Fortunately, just this month the SCOTUS said that our courts are not bound by the ICJ rulings.
Of course, Reuters seems to imagine that the U.S. now stands against the rule of law because we have told the ICJ to take a hike. The Reuters report is filled with the stern scolding of a U.S. that “violated” international law and how the U.S. is “in breach of its international obligations.”
Another Liberal Myth – The US has no energy policy
July 5, 2008 | Filed Under Congress, Dan Scott, Democrats/Leftists, Energy, GOP, Global Warming, Media Bias, News, Publius Contributor, Security/Safety, Society/Culture | No Comments
-By Dan Scott
I have even heard my coworkers repeat the talking point that Democrats love to continually repeat. “The country has no energy policy.” The reason why we seemly don’t have an energy policy which would bring stable energy pricing is that we have had 30 years of political meddling in the nation’s energy supply starting with President Carter.
I find it interesting that President George W Bush is being blamed for the Democrat Party’s pandering to environmental extremists for over 30 years and yet the Democrats have the nerve to claim the US has no energy policy when in fact it does. The policy is the culmination of legislation enacted by Democrats over 30 years. Blaming someone else for the consequences of one’s own actions is a liberal tactic called Blame Shifting.
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The Mike Bates Independence Day Quiz
July 3, 2008 | Filed Under Democrats/Leftists, Education, History, Michael Bates, News, Publius Contributor, Security/Safety | No Comments
-By Michael M. Bates
Happy Birthday, America. It’s been 232 years since the Declaration of Independence was proclaimed. Take a quick quiz to see how much you know about this statement that changed the world.
- From what country did the American colonies declare their independence?
- In what city was the Declaration written?
- What colony did George Washington represent when he signed the Declaration?
- What two signers died on an anniversary of the Declaration?
- How many of the 13 colonies approved the Declaration?
- Who signed the Declaration on July 4, 1776?
- Whose authorship of the Declaration was treated as a state secret for 24 years?
- What U.S. bill depicts the Declaration?
- In what year was July 4 declared a federal holiday?
10. Which signer included where he lived on the Declaration?
That was fun, wasn’t it? Here are the answers. - Great Britain. You might think everyone knows that, but they don’t. One Gallup poll found that only 76 percent of Americans answered the question correctly.
- Philadelphia.
- Sorry, that was a trick question. George Washington didn’t sign the Declaration of Independence. He was busy commanding the Continental army.
- John Adams and Thomas Jefferson both died on July 4, 1826, the fiftieth anniversary of the Declaration. Political adversaries at times, and friends at others, these two remarkable men were vital to the creation of the United States. In his wonderful biography of Adams, David McCullough writes that, when told it was the Fourth, Mr. Adams answered “It is a great day. It is a good day.” Among his last words were, “Thomas Jefferson survives.” Mr. Jefferson had died several hours earlier.
- Only 12 colonies approved the document. New York abstained.
- On the great day itself, just two men signed the Declaration. They were John Hancock, the Continental Congress’s president, and Charles Thomson, its secretary. Most of the delegates signed the document on August 2.
- Thomas Jefferson. It wasn’t until he ran for president in 1800 that his authorship of the Declaration became widely known. In his later years, John Adams recounted the arguments he used to persuade Mr. Jefferson to write the Declaration: “Reason first: You are a Virginian, and a Virginian ought to appear at the head of this business. Reason second: I am obnoxious, suspected, and unpopular. You are very much otherwise. Reason third: You can write ten times better than I can.” That wasn’t Tom’s recollection, but it still makes a good anecdote.
- The $2 Federal Reserve Note. Thomas Jefferson’s portrait has been on the front of the note since 1869. Observing our bicentennial in 1976, the back of note was changed to feature an engraving of John Trumbull’s painting “The Signing of the Declaration of Independence.”
- If you knew the answer to this one, you need to get out more. It was in 1870 and, according to the Congressional Research Service, Independence Day, Christmas, New Year’s Day, and Thanksgiving were the first four days thus recognized.
- Maryland’s Charles Carroll added “of Carrollton” after his signature. It’s believed that was done so relatives with the same name weren’t confused for him. Signing the Declaration was treason pure and simple, and the courageous men who affixed their names to it were risking everything. Mr. Carroll was also the only Catholic to sign, a not inconsequential deed at a time when people of his faith weren’t even permitted to vote. He was the last signer to die, passing away in 1832.
If your score is 9 or 10: You sure know how to use Google.
If your score is 6-8: Someone was paying attention in high school.
If your score is 4 or 5: Someone wasn’t paying attention in high school.
If your score is 3 or less: Been a Democrat long?
I’ll spend Independence Day trying not to remember it’s my birthday and dwelling on what a blessing it is to have been born in these United States of America.
Have a terrific Fourth!
(This Michael Bates column appeared in the July 3, 2008 Reporter Newspapers.)
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Michael M. Bates has written a weekly column of opinion - or nonsense, depending on your viewpoint - since 1985 for the (southwest suburban Chicago) Reporter Newspapers. Additionally, his articles have appeared in the Congressional Record, the Chicago Tribune, the Chicago Sun-Times and the Mensa Journal. He has been a guest on Milt Rosenberg’s program on WGN Radio Chicago, the Bruce Elliott show on Baltimore’s WBAL, the Jim Sumpter show on the USA Radio Network and the New Media Journal’s Blog Radio. As a lad, Mike distributed Goldwater campaign literature and since then has steadily moved further to the Right. He is the author of “Right Angles and Other Obstinate Truths.” In 2007, he won an Illinois Press Association award for Original Column.
His presence on the web can be viewed at www.michaelmbates.com And he can be reached at mikembates-at-gmail.com
Philly Inquirer Says No 4th For You, America is Evil, WOT is a ‘Scam’
July 1, 2008 | Filed Under Constitution, Democrats/Leftists, Education, Founders, Islam, Islamofascism, Media Bias, News, Patriotism, President, Publius Contributor, Security/Safety, Society/Culture, War on Terror, Warner Todd Huston | No Comments
-By Warner Todd Huston
You know, I was wondering when this was going to happen, when someone in the MSM would say Bush has ruined July Fourth? The Philadelphia Inquirer didn’t disappoint by wallowing in the worst example of blame-America-above-all as well as the most extreme case of BDS that I’ve seen outside the kind of nutroot sites like Daily Kos and the Democratic Underground. A mainstream paper has now gone that extra mile to let us all know that America does not deserve a July Fourth celebration this year because of Abu Ghraib, Guantanamo, CIA secret prisons, and, lest you imagine otherwise, the fact that we have made George W. Bush our president. “Cancel the parade” because America is evil. It’s all there in all it’s anti-American splendor in A not-so-glorious Fourth, U.S. atrocities are unworthy of our heritage.
Inquirer columnist Chris Satullo thinks that America is fraught with sin and that we don’t deserve a Fourth celebration. “This year, America doesn’t deserve to celebrate its birthday,” he whines. “This Fourth of July should be a day of quiet and atonement.”
We have failed to pay attention. We’ve settled for lame excuses. We’ve spit on the memory of those who did that brave, brave thing in Philadelphia 232 years ago.
We’ve “spit on the memory” of the Founders? Does he mean when the Democratic Party helped us lose Vietnam? How about when liberals somehow divined in the Founder’s name a “right to privacy” in the Constitution? Were either of those times when we spit in their faces? How about when the American left destroyed religion in America, or when they invented a “right” to abortion, or when they turned our various systems of education into places where fringe, wackos reign supreme and American history, civics and… well, anything actually educational… is banished into the mists of the past? Does Our pal Chris Satullo mean those times when the Founders saw the spittle fly?
You can guess that no is the answer to my questions.
No, to Chris Satullo, the only time we’ve “spit on the memory” of the founders is when we reacted to the time when 3,000 of our own were killed in New York City by Islamic terrorists. He is all upset that we’ve tortured prisoners, illegally imprisoned people “for years,” and practiced “rendition.”