Archive for September, 2009

Dan Calabrese

Talk about timing. The same day the New York Post runs a piece claiming Sarah Palin is a tough sell on the lecture circuit (” . . . they think she’s a blithering idiot,” says a predictably unnamed “industry expert”), her book becomes a bestseller of unprecedented proportions, two months before it comes out.

Phenomenal.

Palin’s book doesn’t even have a cover design yet, although it does have a name, Going Rogue, which recalls her decision during the 2008 presidential campaign to stop taking advice from the clueless McCain campaign staffers and start following her own instincts.

Both Amazon and Barnes & Noble have Palin’s book in the top spot, an absolutely unprecedented performance for a non-fiction book so far in advance of its release date, which is November 17. (That’s my birthday, by the way, hint hint . . .)

Read the rest of this entry »

David Karki

When I saw that Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid had canceled the Columbus Day recess so as to try and ram the monstrosity that is Obama’s health care bill through, I was forced to stop and wonder why. After all, the bill will not go into effect until 2013 anyway – can’t have it causing bad things that would put President Obama’s re-election in 2012 in jeopardy, you know. So why the heated rush?

Stuntman.

My first thought was simple politics. The more people find out about this thoroughly unconstitutional bill, the less they like it and rightly so. But that ship has really already sailed; Sarah Palin’s now famous “death panel” Facebook posting saw to that.

Moreover, the bill is not wanted, there isn’t a poll around that doesn’t indicate this, the Democrats’ own right flank in both chambers is acutely aware of this as their re-elections in 2010 would be the most imperiled by any backlash it caused.

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David B. Livingstone

Sometimes, it really does take a wise Latina to cut through the mountain of bovine excrement that passes for jurisprudence in these Clueless States of America.

In one of her first questions posed as the newest member of the nation’s highest Old Boys’ Club – er, court – Sonia Sotomayor hit a home run the likes of which haven’t been seen in more than a century. The mother of all home runs, as Saddam Hussein might have phrased it: Imagine a home run wherein a steroid-fuelled Sammy Sosa lapped the bases eleven times before the scoreboard had had a chance to change.

Behind you, boys.

That’s what Sotomayor did – and in so doing, this junior justice neatly outshone generations of justices before her when it came to good old common sense.

Sotomayor posed a simple question that would seem obvious to almost any elementary school student, but which has somehow escaped brilliant legal minds like Clarence Thomas, John Roberts, and Antonin Scalia. Namely, she asked whether the courts might have been wrong in affording corporations legal status as persons all these many long, stupid years.

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Lawrence J. Haas

Welcome to the first “International Free Press Day,” commemorating the start of a cartoon controversy in Denmark that showcased the conflict between freedom of the press and efforts to protect religion from insult.

It was September 30, 2005 when a gutsy Danish newspaper, Jyllands-Posten, published 12 cartoons of Islam’s prophet, Mohammed. It sought to demonstrate that, in Denmark and the West, freedom of the press was and should remain a higher value than the prohibition in Islamic law

Was it something I said?

against depicting the prophet.

The controversy – which fueled violence in the Middle East and Africa, boycotts of Danish products, and tensions between Denmark and Islamic nations – opened our eyes to the ferocity of that conflict. But it did not produce the needed resolve across the West to ensure that freedom continues to prevail.

Four years later, freedom of the press – and free expression in general – remains under attack on a host of fronts across the West. Many, though not all, of the attacks are rooted in religious sensitivity. Some play out in courtrooms, others in the court of public opinion. And, most disheartening, some derive not from attacks from the outside but from self-censorship to prevent such attacks.  Read the rest of this entry »

Andy Hefty

I try to stay out of entertainment news.  I focus on things that are more important than which actor is sleeping with what singer and whether Larry King can get them on a live interview.  But the circus surrounding convicted child rapist Roman Polanski has sparked a little outrage in me.

Let’s understand a few facts.

First, Polanski, when in his mid-40s, raped a 13-year-old girl.  He used champagne and Quaaludes

Direct THIS!

on a minor.  He had his way with a little girl, even after being told to stop.

Secondly, he admitted and pleaded guilty, making him in today’s vernacular a convicted child sex offender.

Finally, he fled the country rather than face prison and begin the process of appealing.

Enter 2009.  Child rapist Roman Polanski is 76, and his victim (who has since forgiven him) is in her 40s.  He is arrested in Switzerland with the possibility of being sent to the U.S. for justice.  And now, the Hollywood crowd and not a few liberals are all up in arms. Read the rest of this entry »

Ashley Stinnett

Much has been debated over the recent video that surfaced in which elementary school children are singing praises to President Barack Obama. The first initial reaction by some was that these little New Jersey kids were learning about American history and this was a catchy jingle to help establish a cute learning environment. In fact, the school’s administrators pawned off the whole debacle as an experience in learning black history month.

All hail!

OK, some may still argue that, but that is not the overall problem with what happened. After watching the video a couple of times a giant buzzer went off signaling something else, something much more dangerous. All of a sudden parents all over America got a brief glimpse into the future of what education will look like. Rather, the politics of education.

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Dan Sherrier

I have a theory.

Yes, it seems bizarre that with everything else going on in the world, President Obama would choose to take a trip to Copenhagen to lobby for Chicago hosting the Olympics in 2016.

As RNC Chairman Michael Steele pointed out, the 2016 Olympics wouldn’t create any jobs here for another seven years. And the 2016 economy won’t help Obama’s 2012 election chances anyway. So economic stimulus probably isn’t his objective.

There's a method to his madness.

It appears incongruous with his education aims, as longer school days would make it difficult to train athletes to Olympic quality, putting us at a competitive disadvantage.

All those planes flying in from around the globe would undo any environmental progress the administration might accomplish by then. The gods and goddesses of global warming are each shedding a tear at the very notion of that air traffic. Read the rest of this entry »

Dan Calabrese

NBC’s Ken Strickland has the details.

Democrats Baucus, Lincoln and Conrad (all from red states, not surprisingly) joined all the Republicans on the committee to send it to defeat by a 13-10 vote.

Strickland says no more committee votes on the public option are expected.

What now?

Bob Maistros

Winston Churchill once opined that “democracy is the worst form of government … except all those other forms.”

Bzzzzzzzzzzzzz! Wrong!

Face it, democracy stinks. Exhibit A-Z: Health care reform.

Every sentient economist or policymaker in America (which leaves out about half of that

The trains ran on time.

octogenary society known as the U.S. Senate and all of the Democratic House Leadership) knows that two simple measures would largely resolve our so-called health care “crisis:” Tort Reform and Tax Reform.

Tort Reform alone is said to be worth about $200 billion in health cost savings each and every year. Not to mention rejuvenating the supply of medical-care providers who are now parachuting out of practice one jump ahead of the bill collectors. The public overwhelmingly favors revamping the legal system.

But can it get passed? NOOOOO!

As Common Good Chairman Philip Howard points out in a Wall Street Journal opinion piece, “A few thousand trial lawyers are blocking reform that would benefit 300 million Americans.” Your “democracy” – or more precisely, “Democrat-ocracy” – at work.  Read the rest of this entry »

Jamie Weinstein

Larry King (LK): Tonight, live from New York with two of the world’s most intriguing leaders. Straight from their controversial speeches at the United Nations, Libyan Brother Leader Mohmmar Khadafy and Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad join us for the evening. 

Wow what a night. Let’s get right to it. Brother leader, are you still a colonel? 

Mohmmar Khadafy [MK]: Yes, of course. But it is just one of my many titles. I am also King of Kings of Africa Larry. 

LK: How does one become the King of Kings of Africa? 

I'm the King of Kings of Africa, Larry

MK: Well, it’s a good story. I was playing the game Risk with some friends and I happened to take over the continent of Africa. 

LK: And? 

MK: That’s it. 

LK: It’s that simple to become the King of Kings of Africa?  Read the rest of this entry »