A Bama Blog

A night like this

2010-11-03T01:05:00.003-05:00

...is enough to make me want to start blogging again.

What an extraordinary election! Here in Alabama, Republicans made a clean sweep of those statewide offices up for election, and come January, both houses of the state legislature will have Republican majorities for the first time in 136 years. ONE HUNDRED AND THIRTY-SIX years. And it wasn't even close.

Nationwide, Republicans have won control of the House of Representatives by a large margin. They failed to win the Senate, but with the election of folks like Mario Rubio and Pat Toomey, I'm convinced that their minority status will be temporary.

Happy, happy, joy, joy...

Happy Bastille Day!

2010-07-14T21:02:00.002-05:00

If you're a Frenchman, raise both hands so we'll know who you are!

I hear they celebrated in Paris today by planting trees along the Champs Elysees - so that next time the Germans can march in the shade.

They were going to have a big fireworks show at the Eiffel Tower this evening, but after the first shot, France surrendered to China.

The French army will be entertained tonight with a special showing of its favorite film - Forrest Gump. Nike will be providing free running shoes as door prizes. Coppertone will be handing out free sunscreen so the army men won't burn their armpits; Gillette will give away razors so the women can shave theirs. Rosetta Stone will provide copies of their software so that soldiers will be able to say "I surrender" in any language. Swiss Army will be distributing their famous knives, customized for use by the French military: the logo will be a white cross on a white background.

In honor of Bastille Day, the U.N. flew a white flag at its NYC headquarters today. President Obama sent a note of congratulations to the French people, in which he commended them for their support in the war against terrorism, especially for teaching the terrorists how to properly surrender.

The French have commissioned a new ship for their navy this Bastille Day. A marvel of engineering, it has a glass bottom so that its sailors can see all the other ships in the French Navy.

On a sad note, a French soap factory burned to the ground today. Oh...never mind...that wasn't in France.

Congratulations, Dr. Bentley

2010-07-13T23:59:00.004-05:00

Two doctors won the Republican primary tonight - Robert Bentley and Paul Hubbert. It's hard to say which one deserves the most credit.

Raising my middle finger

2009-07-10T01:55:00.006-05:00

Time.com's Claire Suddath asks "Why are Southerners So Fat?"

I'm looking forward to her article on why Yankees are so f***ing rude.

It's easy to get them confused

2009-07-07T01:03:00.005-05:00

Obama trips up.

Or maybe he was just having a little fun.

I would have.

Paul Sanford wins big in Alabama Senate race

2009-06-10T00:30:00.004-05:00

A conservative Republican replaces Democrat Parker Griffith, who was elected to the U.S. House last November. And this actually is a laughing matter.

Thought for the day

2009-04-30T21:59:00.002-05:00

If you believe that money grows on trees, why on earth would you try to clear the forest?

A Dream

2009-04-15T23:32:00.004-05:00

If you haven't heard Ms. Susan Boyle sing yet, please do. It's guaranteed to brighten your day as much as it did mine.

Checking in

2009-04-15T23:19:00.002-05:00

It's been quite some time since I've posted anything, huh? No worries. Just taking a little time away. This blogging thing can get stressful, believe it or not. I'll be back full speed soon enough.

Take the Limbaugh challenge

2009-03-30T01:15:00.003-05:00

I'm a conservative and a Republican, and I'm unabashedly unashamed of Rush Limbaugh. I agree with him 90% of the time. As for the 10% of the time I don't agree with him, I still appreciate him for his sincerity.

Rush Limbaugh says what he believes, straight up and without reservation (unless perhaps a dutiful regard for the four Cardinal virtues* constitutes a "reservation").

How many politicians or other celebrities do that? Heck, how many of us who blog regularly - or semi-regularly, as has been the case with me of late - do that?

And so I join Andrew Klaven in challenging my friends - the liberals, the conservatives, and the fence-straddling moderates - to take the Limbaugh Challenge:

I listen to Limbaugh every chance I get, and I have never heard the man utter a single racist, hateful or stupid word. Do I always agree with him? Of course not. I'm a conservative; I think for myself. But Limbaugh, by turns insightful, satiric, raucously funny and wise, is one of the best voices talking about first principles and policy in the country today.

Therefore, I am throwing down my gauntlet at your quivering liberal feet. I hereby issue my challenge -- the Limbaugh Challenge: Listen to the show. Not for five minutes but for several hours: an hour a day for several days. Consider what he has to say -- the real policy material under the jokes and teasing bluster. Do what your intellectual keepers do not want you to do and keep an open mind. Ask yourself: What's he getting at? Why does he say the things he says? Why do so many people of goodwill -- like that nice Mr. Klavan -- agree with him?

The mainstream media (a.k.a. the Matrix) don't want you to listen to Limbaugh because they're afraid he'll wake you up and set you free of their worldview. You don't want to listen to him because you're afraid of the same thing.

Don't believe me? Well, then, gird your loins. Gather your courage. Accept the Limbaugh Challenge. See what happens.

I dare you.

* The four Cardinal virtues, according to Christian tradition, are prudence, justice, temperance and fortitude.

Why the President uses a teleprompter

2009-03-20T00:54:00.002-05:00

Jake Tapper:

The first appearance by a sitting president on "The Tonight Show" may well end up being the last.

President Obama, in his taping with Jay Leno Thursday afternoon, attempted to yuk it up with the funnyman, and ended up insulting the disabled.

Towards the end of his approximately 40-minute appearance, the president talked about how he's gotten better at bowling and has been practicing in the White House bowling alley.

He bowled a 129, the president said.

"That's very good, Mr. President," Leno said sarcastically.

It's "like the Special Olympics or something," the president said.

When asked about the remark, the White House said the president did not intend to offend.

"The president made an off-hand remark making fun of his own bowling that was in no way intended to disparage the Special Olympics," White House deputy press secretary Bill Burton said. "He thinks the Special Olympics is a wonderful program that gives an opportunity for people with disabilities from around the world."

Facing tough questions about the performance of his Treasury Secretary, $165 million in bonuses for AIG officials and anticipating a fight over his $3.55 trillion budget, the president has not had a particularly good week, and it's unlikely this will help matters.

Barack Obama's teleprompter has a blog

2009-03-19T21:31:00.002-05:00

An anonymous blogger has a little light-hearted fun.

Bill Clinton shows his ignorance

2009-03-12T23:36:00.004-05:00

The former President should take a refresher course in basic human biology before speaking publicly about embryonic stem cell research. Sadly, I'm afraid his ignorance is shared by many Americans, including our representatives in Congress.

Alexander Hamilton, Modern America's Founding Father

2009-03-05T23:24:00.002-06:00

That's the title of this excellent essay by Myron Magnet in the current edition of City Journal.

The Tired War on Rush Limbaugh

2009-03-04T23:31:00.001-06:00

Jonah Goldberg:

Here we go again. Rush Limbaugh is public enemy No. 1.

Liberal bloggers and media chin-strokers are aghast at Limbaugh’s statement that he hopes Barack Obama fails.

Well, given what Obama wants to do, I hope he fails too. Of course I want the financial crisis to end — who doesn’t? But Obama’s agenda is much more audacious. Pretty much every major news outlet in the country has said as a matter of objective analysis that Obama wants to repeal the legacy of Ronald Reagan and remake the country as a European welfare state. And yet people are shocked that conservatives, Limbaugh included, want Obama to fail in this effort?

Wonder if they taste like chicken?

2009-03-04T23:11:00.001-06:00

Doubtful.

Hillary the realist

2009-03-03T23:37:00.003-06:00

Some would say (and I would agree) that Secretary of State Clinton's diplomatic overture towards Syria is overdue. And as if to reassure potential critics, Clinton also made it clear that she has no illusions about the challenge of dealing with Bashar Assad:

(New York Times) But in a region where even small steps take years to negotiate, officials sought to tamp down expectations of rapid progress. “It is a worthwhile effort to go and begin preliminary conversations,” Mrs. Clinton said, noting Syria’s wide influence in the region, as well as its troubled history with the United States. Yet, she cautioned, “we have no way to predict what the future of our relations with Syria might be.” ...

“We don’t engage in discussions for the sake of having conversations,” Mrs. Clinton said, after a meeting with the Israeli foreign minister, Tzipi Livni. “There has to be a purpose to them; there has to be some benefit accruing to the United States and our allies."

Obama's message to the Russians: Let's make a deal

2009-03-02T21:21:00.008-06:00

I hope that this effort succeeds:

(New York Times) WASHINGTON — President Obama sent a secret letter to Russia’s president last month suggesting that he would back off deploying a new missile defense system in Eastern Europe if Moscow would help stop Iran from developing long-range weapons, American officials said Monday.
The letter to President Dmitri A. Medvedev was hand-delivered in Moscow by top administration officials three weeks ago. It said the United States would not need to proceed with the interceptor system, which has been vehemently opposed by Russia since it was proposed by the Bush administration, if Iran halted any efforts to build nuclear warheads and ballistic missiles.

Russian cooperation is essential if the U.S. and its allies are to reach a diplomatic solution that averts a potentially disastrous confrontation with a nuclear-capable Iran. In this game of strategic chicken, the U.S. is betting that the Russians are no more enthusiastic about the prospect of Iranian nukes than we are, but that they view the deployment of NATO missile defenses in Eastern Europe as the greater long-term threat.

The Bush administration's full throttle efforts to deploy missile defenses in Poland and the Czech Republic have provided President Obama and his national security team with a strong hand to play. So far, it looks like they're playing it wisely.

Update here.

John Henry Newman on Lent

2009-02-27T00:11:00.001-06:00

At First Things.

Allan Bloom

2009-02-26T21:50:00.008-06:00

Many of us fear that something has gone drastically wrong with our culture today, and we suspect that a small but influential group of intellectuals - mostly on college campuses - might have had something to do with it. Not because they are intellectuals, but because their egos have so often outweighed their ideas.

Professor Allan Bloom shared our fears and validated our suspicions. If you're a conservative who bristles at the charge that conservatism is innately "closed-minded," but you struggle to muster up a credible defense against the charge, you might want to check out Bloom's best-selling book, The Closing of the American Mind. It's even more relevant today than when it was published in 1987. Or if you're a liberal who wants to become unmired from the swamp of intellectual heresy that surrounds you, it would probably do you some good, as well.

And some of Professor Bloom's lectures are accessible on this Youtube page. (They're heavy on philosophy, so if that's not your thing...)

Flannery O'Connor

2009-02-26T21:44:00.002-06:00

Author Brad Gooch talks to John J. Miller about his new biography of Flannery O'Connor - one of my favorite short story writers.

A D.C. House seat: an "unconstitutional ruse"

2009-02-26T21:24:00.002-06:00

From the editors of National Review:

Congress is on the verge of granting the District of Columbia statehood on the cheap: This week, lawmakers in both chambers are debating a scheme to give the District a permanent seat in the House of Representatives. The bill in question violates the plain meaning of the Constitution and should go no further.

A Republic, if you can keep it

2009-02-26T19:59:00.003-06:00

The House of Representatives shall be composed of Members chosen every second Year by the People of the several States, and the Electors in each State shall have the Qualifications requisite for Electors of the most numerous Branch of the State Legislature.

No person shall be a Representative who shall not have attained to the Age of twenty-five Years, and been seven Years a Citizen of the United States, and who shall not, when elected, be an Inhabitant of that State in which he shall be chosen.

- U.S. Constitution, Article I, Section 2.

One needn't be a strict constructionist to see that the Constitution's language is indisputable here: the U.S. House of Representatives is to be composed of members chosen by the people in each of the states, of which there are exactly fifty. The District of Columbia is not one of them.

Even so, President Obama and the Democrats in Congress are poised to give D.C. a seat in the House and to grant its occupant the same privileges as every other member of that body. Aggression against the Constitution has rarely been so bold.

A suggestion

2009-02-25T00:04:00.001-06:00

Instead of reading the stimulus bill, we should all read (or re-read) the Federalist Papers (available online here or through Amazon here for a mere $7.95). It's 900 pages shorter, a heckuva lot cheaper, and much more stimulating.

Obama's address

2009-02-24T23:32:00.004-06:00

Since today - Mardi Gras - is commonly viewed as a day of indulgence, I can only hope that tonight's speech signals Our President's intent to give up bullshit for Lent.

Repeal the 17th Amendment

2009-02-23T22:32:00.004-06:00

George Will is on board (H/T Southern Appeal):

A simple apology would have sufficed. Instead, Sen. Russ Feingold has decided to follow his McCain-Feingold evisceration of the First Amendment with Feingold-McCain, more vandalism against the Constitution.

The Wisconsin Democrat, who is steeped in his state's progressive tradition, says, as would-be amenders of the Constitution often do, that he is reluctant to tamper with the document but tamper he must because the threat to the public weal is immense: Some governors have recently behaved badly in appointing people to fill U.S. Senate vacancies. Feingold's solution, of which John McCain is a co-sponsor, is to amend the 17th Amendment. It would be better to repeal it.

Before the 17th Amendment was ratified, U.S. Senators were appointed by their respective state legislatures, giving state governments a direct role in the federal government and thereby providing an essential check against the majoritarian impulses of the popularly-elected House of Representatives. In providing for this delicate balance within the national legislature, the founders sought to guard against a "tyranny of the majority" and the grave threat it posed to individual liberty and state sovereignty.

The idea that more democracy necessarily equates to more freedom is one that was rejected outright by the framers of the Constitution. We would do well to heed their warning. The Constitution was crafted not to impose majority rule, but rather to "secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity."

Happy Birthday, President Washington

2009-02-22T23:59:00.001-06:00

President George Washington, the Indispensible Man, was born on Feb. 22, 1732.

Sunday funnies

2009-02-22T23:31:00.003-06:00

Are you jinxed or did you have it coming?

A new form of eugenics

2009-02-22T13:30:00.002-06:00

Pope Benedict issues a prescient warning.

These slopes are slippery, folks. Surely we are experienced enough now to know that. Aren't we?

Clinton to the Norks: Stop acting like children

2009-02-20T00:34:00.002-06:00

Pretty much. I'm not sure how much the North Koreans will like that message, but I think it's a clear signal to friends, foes, and in-betweens that U.S. policy with respect to North Korea hasn't changed.

The New York Times has more on Clinton's trip to Asia here, here, and here.

The pro-New Deal "consensus"

2009-02-20T00:19:00.001-06:00

It just isn't there.

The "Chicago Tea Party"

2009-02-20T00:04:00.003-06:00

Let's go. Chicago's nice in the summertime.

Persecuted over a parody

2009-02-19T23:31:00.003-06:00

The New York Post has issued an unnecessary and unwarranted apology for its "controversial" cartoon.

I don't know what the Post's cartoonist had in mind, but when I first saw his cartoon, I immediately thought of this.

Aid and comfort?

2009-02-18T23:17:00.002-06:00

Google Earth is a neat piece of technology, but in addition to raising privacy concerns, it is proving to be an invaluable intelligence tool for America's enemies.

Al.com: Change for the better?

2009-02-18T01:04:00.003-06:00

Is it just me, or is the Alabama news site Al.com even more difficult to navigate now than it was before its recent "upgrade?"

Best basketball story of the year

2009-02-18T00:26:00.002-06:00

I'm not a big fan of basketball, but Michael Lewis's story in the New York Times about Houston Rockets's forward Shane Battier is a great read.

The Animaniacs sing about the Presidents

2009-02-17T00:01:00.000-06:00

Pretty good:

Reuters: "Obama to lift ban on stem research soon"

2009-02-16T01:53:00.019-06:00

The story is as deceitful as the headline. Truth is, there is no federal ban on stem cell research in general or even on embryonic stem cell research in particular. There is only a partial ban, put in place by President Bush in 2001, against providing federal funds for that form of stem cell research that involves the killing of human embryos. This National Review symposium on the subject, published just after President Bush's speech outlining the policy, considers its details and potential ramifications.

Here are the first few paragraphs of that Reuters story...corrected:

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Barack Obama will soon issue an executive order lifting an eight-year ban [on federal funding of] embryonic stem cell research imposed by his predecessor, President George W. Bush, a senior adviser said on Sunday.
"We're going to be doing something on that soon, I think. The president is considering that right now," Obama adviser David Axelrod said on "Fox News Sunday."

In 2001, Bush limited federal funding for [embryonic] stem cell research only to human embryonic stem cell lines that already existed. It was a gesture to his conservative Christian supporters [and others] who regard embryonic stem cell research as destroying ~~potential~~ life, because the cells must be extracted from human embryos [,which are destroyed in the process].

See, wasn't that easy? With those few minor modifications, we have a fair and balanced news story instead of a propaganda piece.

The enemies of Jim Crow

2009-02-16T00:20:00.002-06:00

Jeff Jacoby notes that legally-enforced segregation was by no means universally supported in the post-Civil War South.

I don't know about you, but today I'm celebrating George Washington's Birthday

2009-02-16T00:03:00.004-06:00

Presidents' Day? What's that?

Hope and change

2009-02-15T23:04:00.003-06:00

After this year's portion of President Obama's "stimulus" package is all spent up, I dearly hope that there's enough loose change scattered around the floors of the Treasury building for Secretary Tim Geithner to hire a tax preparer.

The Vatican on Darwin

2009-02-15T12:05:00.000-06:00

Lessons learned:

Evolution and creation pose no opposition to each other, but rather they show themselves to be complementary.

- Father Marc Leclerc, professor of Natural Philosophy at the Gregorian Pontifical University of Rome

The New York Times on indulgences

2009-02-15T09:00:00.002-06:00

The Catholic Encyclopedia states clearly what they are not:

To facilitate explanation, it may be well to state what an indulgence is not. It is not a permission to commit sin, nor a pardon of future sin; neither could be granted by any power. It is not the forgiveness of the guilt of sin; it supposes that the sin has already been forgiven. It is not an exemption from any law or duty, and much less from the obligation consequent on certain kinds of sin, e.g., restitution; on the contrary, it means a more complete payment of the debt which the sinner owes to God. It does not confer immunity from temptation or remove the possibility of subsequent lapses into sin. Least of all is an indulgence the purchase of a pardon which secures the buyer's salvation or releases the soul of another from Purgatory. The absurdity of such notions must be obvious to any one who forms a correct idea of what the Catholic Church really teaches on this subject.

Apparently, no one at the New York Times took the time to read that, or else the many errors that appeared in this article last week wouldn't have made it past the editor's desk.

Happy Valentine's Day!

2009-02-14T23:12:00.002-06:00

Hopefully, yours isn't Ronery:

"I'm Hen-e-ry the VIII, I Am"

2009-02-14T09:00:00.000-06:00

Sing along to the famous Herman's Hermits song while learning who Henry VIII's wives and offspring were:

U.S. to Russia: We'll slow down European-based missile defense in return for help with Iran

2009-02-13T20:23:00.005-06:00

This diplomatic initiative by the Obama administration is precisely what needs to be done at the moment to put a brake on Iran's nuclear ambitions and to improve U.S.-Russian relations. Very encouraging. I only hope it succeeds.

How the Alabama delegation voted on the stimulus package

2009-02-13T14:47:00.003-06:00

Six of Alabama's seven U.S. Representatives voted "No" on the American Indebtedness Act of 2009, including Democrats Parker Griffith (AL-5) and Bobby Bright (AL-2). Artur Davis (AL-7) provided the Alabama delegation's only "Yes" vote.

Modern economics from Calvin and Hobbes

2009-02-13T13:56:00.001-06:00

Here.

Lessons from the Swedish Chef

2009-02-13T13:02:00.000-06:00

The Swedish Chef making a donut:

Kinda resembles the Democrats making a stimulus package.

Bill Clinton: We need "more balance" on the airwaves

2009-02-13T12:05:00.000-06:00

From Politico:

Even though no member of Congress has scheduled hearings on the Fairness Doctrine, it remains on a hot topic on both liberal and conservative shows.

Today, radio host Mario Solis Marich asked former President Bill Clinton if it was time for "some type of enforced media accountability."

"Well, you either ought to have the Fairness Doctrine or we ought to have more balance on the other side," Clinton said, "because essentially there's always been a lot of big money to support the right wing talk shows and let face it, you know, Rush Limbaugh is fairly entertaining even when he is saying things that I think are ridiculous...."

Clinton said that there needs to be either "more balance in the programs or have some opportunity for people to offer countervailing opinions." Clinton added that he didn't support repealing the Fairness Doctrine, an act done under Reagan's FCC.

Rush Limbaugh IS balance, Mr. President.

Lincoln at 200

2009-02-13T02:10:00.001-06:00

Rick Brookhiser comments on why Lincoln still has such a hold on our minds.

Abraham Lincoln

2009-02-12T23:27:00.001-06:00

Today is Abraham Lincoln's 200th birthday - a fitting time to read or re-read the Lincoln-Douglas debates that were held in 1858 during the Illinois race* for U.S. Senate. You can find the text of those debates here.

* It may be a misnomer to call that contest a "race," since in 1858 U.S. Senators were still chosen by the state legislatures.

Remembering Charles Darwin

2009-02-12T01:13:00.003-06:00

Today is the 200th Anniversary of Darwin's birth. As my dad used to point out in his high school biology class, faith and reason are not polar opposites. They are two sides of the same coin, joined together by a common love of truth. And so Darwin's theory of evolution shouldn't be viewed as an affront to faith, but rather as an admirable attempt to answer the "how" of our existence. It has never been so proud as to attempt to answer "why."

Stimulus: A history of folly

2009-02-11T23:38:00.002-06:00

James K. Glassman doubts that President Obama's stimulus package will be any more effective than its predecessors, and quotes F.A. Hayek:

If man is not to do more harm than good in his efforts to improve the social order, he will have to learn that in this, as in all other fields where essential complexity of an organized kind prevails, he cannot acquire the full knowledge which would make mastery of the events possible. He will therefore have to use what knowledge he can achieve, not to shape the results as the craftsman shapes his handiwork, but rather to cultivate a growth by providing the appropriate environment, in the manner in which the gardener does this for his plants.

On prejudice

2009-02-11T23:26:00.004-06:00

All of us hold certain prejudices - some that are reasonable and some that aren't - but it's only when we act on them unjustly or intemperately that it becomes a problem for others.

The young lady in the CNN story I mentioned two posts back obviously had a prejudice against Southerners. Had she left that unspoken - or had she at least not acted on it - there would be little cause for offense. As it stands, I think she and her sponsors at American University owe the good people of Arab, Alabama a contrite apology.

Social welfare: a threat to individual liberty

2009-02-11T21:36:00.005-06:00

When people become dependent on government assistance for their material well-being, their business becomes our business to a much greater degree than if such assistance were not offered. Consider the case of the California woman who recently gave birth to octuplets. No doubt the popular outrage that has already been unleashed against her will only grow as taxpayers get clued in to the fact that they will bear the financial consequences of her decision:

LOS ANGELES (AP) - A big share of the financial burden of raising Nadya Suleman's 14 children could fall on the shoulders of California's taxpayers, compounding the public furor in a state already billions of dollars in the red.
Even before the 33-year-old single, unemployed mother gave birth to octuplets last month, she had been caring for her six other children with the help of $490 a month in food stamps plus Social Security disability payments for three of the youngsters. The public aid will almost certainly be increased with the new additions to her family.
Also, the hospital where the octuplets are expected to spend seven to 12 weeks has requested reimbursement from Medi-Cal, the state's Medicaid program, for care of the premature babies, according to the Los Angeles Times. The cost has not been disclosed.
Word of the public assistance has stoked the furor over Suleman's decision to have so many children by having embryos implanted in her womb.

Now, imagine a society in which all of us - or most of us - are as dependent on government as Ms. Suleman and her children are. Or in which all companies depend on government as much as those who are currently on the receiving end of federally-provided bailout funds. Some would call such a society "progressive," but progressive for whom?

Government is intrusive enough when it exercises those duties that are intended to preserve liberty. (See U.S. Constitution, Article I, Section 8 for one listing of such duties.) How much more intrusive will it become if we grant it powers which by their nature stand opposed to liberty?

Confronting prejudice in Arab, Alabama

2009-02-11T00:06:00.006-06:00

From CNN:

ATLANTA, Georgia (CNN) -- Hailey Woldt put on the traditional black abaya, expecting the worst.
The last time she'd worn the Muslim dress that, with a head scarf, covered everything but her face, hands and feet, she was in Miami International Airport, where the stares were many and the security check thorough.
This time, she was in a small town called Arab. Arab, Alabama, no less.
"I expected people to say, 'What is this terrorist doing here? We don't want your kind here,' " said Woldt, a 22-year-old blue-eyed Catholic, recalling her anticipation before stepping into a local barbecue joint. "I thought I wouldn't even be served."
Instead, Woldt's experiment in social anthropology opened her own eyes. Apart from the initial glances reserved for any outsider who might venture through a small-town restaurant's doors, her experience was a pleasant one.

And so it seems that the real prejudice here was not held by those rural Alabamians who were the subjects of this delusional academic experiment, but rather by those who conducted it. Those of us who actually live in Alabama aren't the least bit surprised.

Praising Charles Darwin

2009-02-10T18:20:00.010-06:00

February 12 would be Darwin's 200th birthday. Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O'Connor, the Archbishop of Westminster, writes:

One of the things that mars our culture is the fracture between faith and science. It impoverishes our inquiry into the realities that make up our life and world. This is a false opposition.
If we see the two as fundamentally opposed - science endangering and undermining faith, or faith obstructing knowledge - then distortions are produced on both sides. For example, some Christians argue for “Young Earth Creationism” or Intelligent Design as an alternative to evolutionary theory. Creationism is the belief that the biblical stories of Creation as described in the Book of Genesis are literally true.
Is genuine Christianity obliged to adopt any of these positions? No, it is not. Belief in creation is not equivalent to any one of them. It is a mistake to treat the theology of creation in the Book of Genesis as a scientific textbook. It does unfold a profound and valid truth about the world in which we live, its order and purpose. The Book of Genesis speaks about the relationship between God and creation and especially about the place of humanity in that relationship. That wonderful narrative of creation offers us a first vision of an “ecology of holiness” in which every material and living thing has a place and its creativity is consecrated in goodness by God. The account of creation in Genesis is pointing us beyond the question “how?” to the question “why?” Ultimately, science as well as faith must come to that most fundamental of all questions: the question of meaning and purpose.

Well said.

Later, the Cardinal makes an interesting point that is often lost in this debate: that creationists and ID'ers aren't the only ones to draw false conclusions from Darwin's theory. And as luck would have it, there's a good example of that in today's New York Times:

Darwin also had the intellectual toughness to stick with the deeply discomfiting consequences of his theory, that natural selection has no goal or purpose. Alfred Wallace, who independently thought of natural selection, later lost faith in the power of the idea and turned to spiritualism to explain the human mind. “Darwin had the courage to face the implications of what he had done, but poor Wallace couldn’t bear it,” says William Provine, a historian at Cornell University.

Now, I don't know whether Darwin really thought that one consequence of his theory was that "natural selection has no goal or purpose" or whether the Times is putting words into his mouth. I suspect the latter, since Darwin was a very smart man who was not inclined to make that type of logical error. While the ultimate goal of natural selection may not be discernable through the scientific method, Darwin's theory certainly doesn't exclude the possibility that a Creator had some purpose in mind from the moment he set the process into motion. As Jim Manzi wrote: "[The Discovery Institute's John G. West] claims that Neo-Darwinism asserts 'that the evolution of life was an unplanned process of chance and necessity.' While some scientists may say that, there is no such scientific finding."

Milton Friedman on capitalism and "greed"

2009-02-09T18:16:00.000-06:00

Professor Friedman takes on Phil Donahue and delivers a knockout:

The only point that Friedman didn't make that I wish he would have is that acting in one's economic self-interest does not necessarily constitute "greed," since greed is characterized by an intemperate desire for wealth and riches.

NYT: Japan's Big-Works Stimulus is Lesson

2009-02-06T15:30:00.003-06:00

The New York Times had this timely and surprisingly balanced piece yesterday on the results of Japan's decade-long experience with fiscal "stimulus." An excerpt:

Japan’s rural areas have been paved over and filled in with roads, dams and other big infrastructure projects, the legacy of trillions of dollars spent to lift the economy from a severe downturn caused by the bursting of a real estate bubble in the late 1980s. During those nearly two decades, Japan accumulated the largest public debt in the developed world — totaling 180 percent of its $5.5 trillion economy — while failing to generate a convincing recovery.

Now, as the Obama administration embarks on a similar path, proposing to spend more than $820 billion to stimulate the sagging American economy, many economists are taking a fresh look at Japan’s troubled experience. While Japan is not exactly comparable to the United States — especially as a late developer with a history of heavy state investment in infrastructure — economists say it can still offer important lessons about the pitfalls, and chances for success, of a stimulus package in an advanced economy.

Stimulis

2009-02-06T14:14:00.001-06:00

Because all economies have performance issues:

Constitutional conservatism

2009-02-04T00:36:00.003-06:00

The Hoover Institution's Peter Berkowitz's has an excellent essay on the topic.

Obama seeks space weapons ban

2009-01-25T22:03:00.000-06:00

I'll wait for all the details, but at first glance, this seems recklessly naive. It has implications for missile defense and satellite defense, among other things, and would effectively amount to unilateral disarmament on the part of the U.S., since the technology of our "strategic competitors" in those areas is years behind our own. If President Obama is seeking to reassure America's friends and foes that U.S. defense policy will remain strong under his administration, this is not a good signal.

What Roe really did

2009-01-25T21:33:00.000-06:00

Jeff Jacoby clears up some popular misconceptions about Roe v. Wade and its companion case, Doe v. Bolton. The upshot:

Taken together, Roe and Doe meant that abortion could not be barred at any stage of a pregnancy. The "attending physician" could always say that in his medical judgment, the woman's "emotional" or "familial" health made it necessary to abort her unborn child. The result has been 36 years of abortion on demand at any stage of pregnancy. ...

Since 1973, more than 40 million US pregnancies have ended in abortion: Ours is the most liberal abortion culture in the advanced world. Reasonable people can differ over whether to preserve Roe or overrule Roe. But surely the way to begin is to understand Roe.

Roe has to go

2009-01-22T23:00:00.003-06:00

Ed Whelan, President of the Ethics and Public Policy Center, gave many of the reasons why in his 2005 Senate testimony. Here's a taste:

First, Roe v. Wade marks the second time in American history that the Supreme Court has invoked "substantive due process" to deny American citizens the authority to protect the basic rights of an entire class of human beings. The first time, of course, was the Court’s infamous 1857 decision in the Dred Scott case (Dred Scott v. Sandford, 60 U.S. 393 (1857)). There, the Court held that the Missouri Compromise of 1820, which prohibited slavery in the northern portion of the Louisiana Territories, could not constitutionally be applied to persons who brought their slaves into free territory. Such a prohibition, the Court nakedly asserted, "could hardly be dignified with the name of due process." Id. at 450. Thus were discarded the efforts of the people, through their representatives, to resolve politically and peacefully the greatest moral issue of their age. Chief Justice Taney and his concurring colleagues thought that they were conclusively resolving the issue of slavery. Instead, they only made all the more inevitable the Civil War that erupted four years later.

Roe is the Dred Scott of our age. Like few other Supreme Court cases in our nation’s history, Roe is not merely patently wrong but also fundamentally hostile to core precepts of American government and citizenship. Roe is a lawless power grab by the Supreme Court, an unconstitutional act of aggression by the Court against the political branches and the American people. Roe prevents all Americans from working together, through an ongoing process of peaceful and vigorous persuasion, to establish and revise the policies on abortion governing our respective states. Roe imposes on all Americans a radical regime of unrestricted abortion for any reason all the way up to viability—and, under the predominant reading of sloppy language in Roe’s companion case, Doe v. Bolton, essentially unrestricted even in the period from viability until birth. Roe fuels endless litigation in which pro-abortion extremists challenge modest abortion-related measures that state legislators have enacted and that are overwhelmingly favored by the public—provisions, for example, seeking to ensure informed consent and parental involvement for minors and barring atrocities like partial-birth abortion. Roe disenfranchises the millions and millions of patriotic American citizens who believe that the self-evident truth proclaimed in the Declaration of Independence—that all men are created equal and are endowed by their Creator with an unalienable right to life—warrants significant governmental protection of the lives of unborn human beings.

Today is the anniversary of Roe v. Wade

2009-01-22T22:46:00.003-06:00

And here's something to think about:

Mad transvestites attack Memphis McDonalds

2009-01-22T22:29:00.002-06:00

Hmmm...so I guess the Memphis police will have to set up a massive dragnet to apprehend these guys. (YouTube alert.)

The new New Deal

2009-01-22T10:56:00.001-06:00

Reason TV asks, "Will it be as bad as the old one was?"

Jonah Goldberg on "What Obama brings to conservatives"

2009-01-22T00:35:00.000-06:00

Jonah's gotten a lot of flak for this today (to which he responds here), but I think he's right. Obama is not a conservative and is unlikely to govern as one, but his inauguration as President was a proud moment for America that carries with it a great deal of promise - even for those of us who are conservative Republicans. As Jonah said:

If Obama lives up to the dreams of his supporters in writing a new, post-racial chapter for America, he will have at once done more for America than any Democratic president in generations. But he also will have cut the knot holding much of the left together. As an American and as a conservative, I certainly hope that’s the case. He’s already made a good start of it just by getting elected.

We certainly shouldn't paper over our differences, nor should we concede the point that President Obama made in his inaugural address "that the stale political arguments that have consumed us for so long no longer apply." Arguments over the proper role of the federal government in American life are not stale, nor are they inapplicable to the current economic and political environment. Still, on one issue that has been at the root of the most divisive events in our nation's history - race - it's unquestionable that we've turned a corner. It's hard to see how that can work in favor of the Jesse Jacksons and Al Sharptons of the world.

She's a poet, but you'd never know it

2009-01-22T00:28:00.002-06:00

The best thing I can say about Elizabeth Alexander's inaugural poem is that it lived up to expectations.

State Rep. Alvin Holmes speaks out on the term "African-American"

2009-01-22T00:11:00.004-06:00

No doubt about it, Rep. Holmes never fails to speak his mind.

From Tom Gordon at the B'ham News (H/T Flash Point):

Alvin Holmes could not be happier now that Barack Obama has taken the oath.

But you'll get Holmes' dander up if you call Obama an African-American.

"First of all, he's an American who happens to be black," Holmes said. "I don't look at him as African-American. Bob Riley is an American who happens to be white. We're all Americans first."

The veteran Montgomery legislator can't stand hyphenated designations. He has had more than a few arguments with other black leaders on the subject, including Jesse Jackson.

"African-American means anybody from the continent of Africa," Holmes said. "That would include the Egyptians, the Sudanese, and it would include the white people from South Africa. If a white man from South Africa comes to America, he's African-American. I mean, the white people who had the apartheid system, if they come over here, they're African-American.

"I dislike very much anybody using that word African-American," Holmes said.

"The only people who want to use African-American are these pointy headed, briefcase-toting black intellectuals," Holmes said. "I ain't never had nobody in my district support people who called themselves African-American.

"When the police come through there and beat up some of them, they don't ever call me and say, 'Mr. Holmes, you need to come over here and check things out. The police just came through here and beat up a bunch of African-Americans.' They call me and say, 'Mr. Holmes, the police been through here and done beat up a whole bunch of blacks.'"

The Frenchman

2009-01-22T00:01:00.003-06:00

Headline of the day:

Former French President Chirac hospitalised after mauling by his clinically depressed poodle.

Another "historic event"

2009-01-21T23:55:00.003-06:00

President Obama took the oath of office twice. The second time according to the actual language of the Constitution.

President Obama

2009-01-20T12:51:00.001-06:00

Congratulations to President Obama for his remarkable achievement. May God bless him and the nation he serves.

Raccoon

2009-01-18T15:30:00.000-06:00

It's what's for dinner.

A follow-up question

2009-01-17T23:19:00.002-06:00

How did someone capable of spouting such verifiable nonsense ever get to be recognized as a "leading climate expert"?

NASA "scientist": Obama has four years to save the world

2009-01-17T22:13:00.005-06:00

The Guardian reports:

Barack Obama has only four years to save the world. That is the stark assessment of NASA scientist and leading climate expert Jim Hansen who last week warned only urgent action by the new president could halt the devastating climate change that now threatens Earth. Crucially, that action will have to be taken within Obama's first administration, he added.

That may be close enough for guv'mint work, but it's not quite right.

Clearly, Mr. Dr. Hansen based his estimate on the fact that Obama is the Anti-Christ and is therefore pure-dee eeeee-vil. That means that the amount of time it will take for Mr. Obama to save the Earth from climatological collapse - and thereby delay the apocalyptic return of the real Messiah - can be deduced by multiplying the sign of the beast, 666, by the number e, which is approximately 2.71828183. That comes out to 1810.87569878 days, or about 4 years, 11 months, 15 1/2 days. Unfortunately, that's than the four-year election cycle, so if Mr. Obama intends to save the world, he'd better damn well get himself re-elected.

What's in a name?

2009-01-17T21:33:00.003-06:00

Here's a question:

There are several buildings in Alabama named after our senior U.S. Senator, Richard Shelby, but are there any named after Jeff Sessions?

Good interviews are hard to come by these days...

2009-01-15T01:35:00.001-06:00

What with all the loud-mouths who won't let their "guests" get a word in edge-wise. But Charlie Rose is different, as this recent interview with Defense Secretary Robert Gates shows. Rose asks intelligent questions and engages in intelligent conversation while maintaining the proper sense of humility that makes for a great interviewer: focusing the attention where it should be focused - on his guest.

And thankfully so in this case, because Gates is such an impressive public servant. In his interview with Rose, Secretary Gates outlines a view of American defense policy (and foreign policy) that is both realistic and consistent with American idealism. Pay particular attention to what he has to say with regard to Russia and NATO expansion. Very interesting. That President-elect Obama has chosen to retain him as Defense Secretary is an encouraging sign.

Ricardo Montalban, RIP

2009-01-15T01:15:00.000-06:00

Fantasy Island's Mr. Roarke has died at the age of 88. Like me, he was a friend and subscriber to National Review. Cool.

Alabama NAACP: We like diversity...except when we don't

2009-01-13T21:35:00.003-06:00

Perhaps Artur Davis should have a chat with the leadership of the Alabama NAACP.

Update: The Mobile Press-Register reports that "State NAACP President Edward Vaughn said he never suggested that Mobile's Azalea Trail Maids should be excluded from next week's presidential inaugural parade and apologized for saying their appearance could make Alabama a 'laughingstock.'" That's good to hear.

And then there's this, also from the Press-Register:

The flap over the Azalea Trail Maids' appearance at Tuesday's presidential inauguration will get an airing on this morning's Today program, which runs in the Mobile area from 7 to 11 a.m. on local affiliate WPMI-TV15, a network spokeswoman confirmed late Tuesday afternoon.

No other details from the network were immediately available, but a spokeswoman for U.S. Rep. Artur Davis, D-Birmingham, said the congressman had been interviewed for the segment.

In a statement, Davis, the only black member of the Alabama congressional delegation, said he is disappointed that "a multi-racial group which represents the entire community of Mobile has unfairly been criticized."

Also good to hear.

Andre Glucksmann on "Disproportion"

2009-01-12T00:18:00.000-06:00

From the conclusion to his article in City Journal:

To work for peace in the Middle East, we must escape the temptations of absolutism, which entice not only fanatical hard-liners but also angelic souls who imagine that some sacred “proportion” would bring a providential balance to murderous conflicts. In the Middle East, the conflict concerns not only the enforcement of rules of the game, but their establishment. One has every right to discuss freely the appropriateness of a given military or diplomatic initiative, but not to imagine that the problem is soluble in advance by the ostensible right-thinking of world opinion. To wish to survive is not disproportionate.

Read the whole thing.

Theodore Dalrymple on modern art

2009-01-11T22:19:00.002-06:00

It's all about ego.

Artur Davis on seating Roland Burris: Keep race out of it

2009-01-11T19:49:00.004-06:00

Rep. Artur Davis is a real gem.

From the B'ham News:

"I choose not to associate myself with any argument from some quarters that Burris' race or the desire for diversity entitles him to be seated, and I cannot join any suggestion that those who oppose Burris are racially motivated," Davis said in a written statement explaining his decision not to sign the CBC letter.
Burris, who is black, was appointed by Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich to the Senate seat vacated by President-elect Barack Obama, but Blagojevich is under federal investigation for trying to sell the appointment to the highest bidder. Democrats initially opposed Burris' arrival in Washington, but they are now considering allowing him to take office.

Although Davis said he agreed that Burris - who is not accused of wrongdoing - is legally entitled to be sworn in, he objected to implications that the controversy was driven by racism.

The CBC letter did not mention race, but some caucus members have compared Burris' treatment to a lynching.

On Wednesday, Davis left a closed meeting of the 41- member black caucus before the group voted to back Burris. And Thursday, he went public with his opposition.

The controversy "should not be treated as an occasion for racial solidarity," he said. ...
Davis, who would like to be elected Alabama's first black governor in 2010, said the election of the first black president should end attempts to "inject race into arguments where it doesn't belong."

"Barack Obama never based his campaign on racial appeals and it is time to honor the example of this historic election," he said.

Wow. What a breath of fresh air, not to mention an excellent political play. Although if Rep. Davis is really serious about removing race from those areas of public life where it should play no part, perhaps he should reconsider his membership in the Congressional Black Caucus.

Fr. Richard John Neuhaus, RIP

2009-01-11T19:10:00.003-06:00

Father Richard John Neuhaus, founder of First Things magazine and one of the most influential social conservatives in America, died January 8 at the age of 72.

I first "met" Father Neuhaus through First Things and its blog-like department called On The Square (both of which I link to over in the right sidebar). I was immediately drawn to him because he was a man of faith who was also a man of reason: one who believed that true faith and right reason are inseparable - two sides of the same coin, both oriented towards those "first things" that give life its meaning.

One of his most moving and personal reflections - entitled "Born Toward Dying" - has been reposted on the First Things web site. In addition, many of Fr. Neuhaus's other writings and several reflections on his life and work have been compiled here.

Barbecued Bacon and Sausage

2009-01-10T17:58:00.001-06:00

Be still my heart.

The U.S., Russia, and Georgia

2009-01-10T17:55:00.001-06:00

As Doug Bandow points out, we're playing with fire.

Heresy on abortion from the New York Times

2009-01-10T15:23:00.001-06:00

Marvin Olasky noticed a subtle lapse in the New York Times's pro-abortion orthodoxy recently. You'll have to read his article to find out what that was, but he goes on to ask a very good question:

Two positions on abortion are logically consistent. One states, with biblical objectivity, that the killing of small human beings, whether born or unborn, should be illegal. The other, as espoused by Princeton's Peter Singer and others, is subjective: Small human beings dependent on others gain rights only as their needed protectors give them. This means that not only abortion but infanticide up to toddler stage should be legal.

This is not to say that Americans can't come at least temporarily to an illogical middle position. Most Europeans have. In France, for example, abortion during the first 10 weeks is legal but discouraged; after that time, sharp restrictions set in. If the Supreme Court hadn't in Roe v. Wade gone to the extreme of legalizing abortion through all nine months of pregnancy for any reason, we'd now have laws that allow for some abortion but do not freeze us into Court-dictated subjectivity.

Subjectivity: Right now killing an unborn child with the consent of the mother is legal in all 50 states—but in at least 35 states it is murder if a father or anyone else kills that child without the mother's consent. In other words, our law is based on the idea that unborn children do not objectively have value unless they are recognized as children by their mothers. Do we really believe that?

The problem is that even if we don't believe that, there's little we can do to amend it, since the U.S. Supreme Court has placed almost all practical options for restricting abortion off limits. The Court has written this grave injustice - if that's what it is - into the Constitution, and it is now the supreme law of the land.

Although it's daring of us moderns to do this sort of thing - placing man's law in direct opposition to the moral law - I can't say that it's very smart.

Reps. Griffith, Bright in first test of "independence"

2009-01-08T18:04:00.000-06:00

Both fail.

From the Huntsville Times:

Within an hour or so of officially becoming a congressman, [Rep. Parker] Griffith [D.-Huntsville] cast two votes: One to retain Nancy Pelosi of California as speaker of the House and one to pass the Pelosi-proposed rules package that does away with term limits for committee chairs and limits the minority party's ability to offer some legislative motions. Both votes quickly drew criticism from Republicans, who enacted the term limit on chairmen 12 years ago.

The selection of speaker was handled by a voice vote, and Griffith - he was sitting beside Republican Congressman Robert Aderholt of Haleyville - stood and pointed as he called out his vote for Pelosi.

And the Montgomery Advertiser:

[Rep. Bobby] Bright's [D.-Montgomery] first vote Tuesday was to re-elect Rep. Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., as speaker of the House. He also joined most other Democrats to support a bill to change several House procedural rules, including making it harder for Republicans to delay votes on bills and not requiring tax increases or funding cuts to offset the cost of emergency bills.

Silent Cal

2009-01-06T00:22:00.002-06:00

Ryan L. Cole has this piece in the American Spectator on one of my favorite Presidents - Calvin Coolidge.

Vaclav Klaus II

2009-01-05T23:55:00.001-06:00

See his remarks to the CATO Institute here.

Vaclav Klaus

2009-01-05T22:53:00.002-06:00

This month, the Czech Republic assumed the EU Presidency, and the new prominence that has afforded Czech President Vaclav Klaus has caused quite a stir. In addition to being a staunch opponent of the push by European elites to vest the EU with vastly expanded powers, Klaus is also a vocal skeptic of the climate change hysteria that has gripped the West. In 2007, he wrote in the Financial Times:

As someone who lived under communism for most of his life, I feel obliged to say that I see the biggest threat to freedom, democracy, the market economy and prosperity now in ambitious environmentalism, not in communism. This ideology wants to replace the free and spontaneous evolution of mankind by a sort of central (now global) planning.
The environmentalists ask for immediate political action because they do not believe in the long-term positive impact of economic growth and ignore both the technological progress that future generations will undoubtedly enjoy, and the proven fact that the higher the wealth of society, the higher is the quality of the environment. They are Malthusian pessimists.
The scientists should help us and take into consideration the political effects of their scientific opinions. They have an obligation to declare their political and value assumptions and how much they have affected their selection and interpretation of scientific evidence.

Of former Vice President Al Gore's Nobel Peace Prize, Klaus remarked that "The relationship between his activities and world peace is unclear and indistinct. It rather seems that Gore's doubting of basic cornerstones of the current civilization does not contribute to peace."

It should be an interesting six months.

How progressive is the federal tax system?

2009-01-05T22:18:00.002-06:00

See for yourself.

Gov. Riley vs. AG King on gambling

2009-01-05T01:34:00.001-06:00

Gov. Riley: Enforce the law.

Riley-appointed Attorney General Troy King: I intend to, but the Governor is mistaken as to what the law actually says.

Talk about a "clash of civilizations"

2009-01-05T00:55:00.000-06:00

Salon's Michael Lind advocates a "Third Reconstruction," directed against the American South. With lots of fightin' words...like these, for example, in which he essentially accuses Southerners of being traitors to the Union:

In the early 20th century, the Southern states were the first to adopt conscious statewide economic development policies, which then as now meant poaching industries from New England and the Midwest where wages and public spending and regulation were greater. That's how the South took the textile industry from New England, before losing it to lower-wage Asia. Now with the help of Nissan, Toyota, and BMW, the South is trying to replace Detroit as the center of U.S. automobile production, using low wages, anti-union laws, and low taxes to benefit from the outsourcing of industry from societies more advanced than the South, like Japan and Germany. The economic Axis is collaborating with the neo-Confederates against their common opponent -- the American Union. If they succeed, the losers will be not only non-Southern regions in the U.S., but the majority of Southerners of all races, whose interest in decent wages, good education, and adequate public services have almost always been sacrificed to the greed of the well-connected few by Southern statehouse gangs.

Samuel Huntington, RIP

2009-01-05T00:52:00.010-06:00

In 2004, National Review's Rich Lowry called Samuel Huntington, who died on December 24, "the most important political scientist in America." His New York Times obit is here.

Foreign Affairs has posted a selection of Huntington's essays here, including one of his most influential, written in 1993 and entitled "The Clash of Civilizations?. It's definitely worth a read or a re-read. ("The Lonely Superpower" is also worth your time.)

New Jersey fires a warning shot against religious liberty

2009-01-04T23:14:00.002-06:00

See the full story from the AP and the New York Times here and here.

MarriageDebate's William Duncan and the American Spectator's W. James Antle comment here and here.

Additional background from the American Spectator's Mark Tooley here.

Israel and the Palestinians, continued

2009-01-03T19:44:00.005-06:00

Like many Americans, the misbehavior of Gazan Palestinians has made it very difficult for me to sympathize with their plight. My response to the ongoing mess in Gaza, which has now erupted into war, has pretty much been that Hamas and its supporters - both active and passive - deserve everything that the Israelis can mete out, and probably more; that this is not an occasion for Israeli restraint, but rather one that calls for a wildly disproportionate response that puts an end to this conflict for good.

But alas, the Middle East and its problems are never so simple as to lend themselves to such a smite-and-make-right solution. And while our sympathies in this latest conflict may lie squarely with the Israelis, we have to come to grips with the fact that America's permanent interests are not always so clearly defined as its temporary passions.

In the lastest issue of Foreign Affairs, Walter Russell Mead discusses what America's interests are with respect to Israel and the Palestinians and offers some advice on how they might be achieved. It's definitely worth a read - for providing a thorough background of the issues involved, if nothing else.

Israel and Hamas: What would a "proportionate" response look like?

2009-01-03T17:43:00.002-06:00

R. Emmett Tyrrell:

It is dreadful that Gaza, one of the most densely populated places on earth, is under heavy aerial bombardment from Israel. Yet Hamas, the governing entity in Gaza, has been lobbing shrapnel-filled missiles into Israel on a regular basis for months. Two weeks ago Hamas arbitrarily broke its six-month ceasefire with Israel, and the danger to Israeli life and property has gotten worse. How many missiles is Israel to suffer before it is warranted to defend its territory and its people?

Now that word "disproportional" is being raised among foreign policy elites. Israeli air strikes since Saturday have killed several hundred Palestinians and injured several thousand. So we are hearing that the Israeli actions are "disproportional." I can almost imagine a learned seminar being convened here in Washington wherein the assembled gogues excogitate precisely how many incoming Hamas missiles will warrant one air strike or more. And how will these advocates of proportionality factor in the targets of the Israeli air strikes? It is tragic that Palestinian civilians are dying, but Hamas locates its military installations and administrative facilities in civilian areas precisely to dissuade Israel from attacking Hamas as it insouciantly bombards Israel, its soldiers, and more frequently its civilians. ...
I have no idea how many Hamas strikes against civilians warrant how many Israeli acts of retribution. Frankly, such calculations strike me as beside the point. The real question is how many Israeli strikes are needed to close down Hamas? That is what is necessary. The Israelis have at their border a violent, unprincipled enemy that has vowed to destroy Israel. Hamas not only vows to destroy Israel, it bombards Israel and expects the world to object when Israel counterattacks. Now that strikes me as irrational. Hamas should accept the consequences of its assaults on Israel. Hamas might even renew the ceasefire that it broke. For that matter Hamas might end its war against Israel. I doubt the Israelis would object.

Mobile brings in New Year with giant Moon Pie drop

2009-01-03T17:14:00.002-06:00

A neat idea, but where was the giant can of RC Cola?