Limousine Liberal Hypocrisy

Goldman Sachs has been one of the most aggressive firms on Wall Street about taking action on climate change; the company sends its bankers home at night in hybrid limousines.

--The New York Times, Feb. 25

Written without a hint of irony--if only your neighborhood dry cleaner sent his employees home by hybrid limousine--this front-page dispatch captured perfectly the eco-pretensions of the rich and the stupefying gullibility with which they are received.

Remember the Leonardo DiCaprio and Al Gore global-warming pitch at the Academy Awards? Before they spoke, the screen at the back of the stage flashed not-so-subliminal messages about how to save the planet. My personal favorite was "Ride mass transit." This to a conclave of Hollywood plutocrats who have not seen the inside of a subway since the moon landing and for whom mass transit means a stretch limo seating no fewer than 10.

Leo and Al then portentously announced that for the first time ever, the Academy Awards ceremony had gone green. What did that mean? Solar panels in the designer gowns? It turns out that the Academy neutralized the evening's "carbon footprint" by buying carbon credits. That means it sent money to a "carbon broker," who promised, after taking his cut, to reduce carbon emissions somewhere on the planet equivalent to what the stars spewed into the atmosphere while flying in on their private planes.

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Utopia and its Scapegoats - The Realist

The last two columns on IW have criticized the Utopianism of our age. We saw in “The Realist Vision” how deeply engrained in our culture the Blank Slate/Noble Savage theory of human nature is. The next column, “The Truth about Human Nature,” revealed that this Utopian vision not only contradicted facts established by the human sciences, but also the very nature of life itself. Human beings do not come into the world as Blank Slates or Noble Savages; rather, our selfish genes have ensured that we are equipped with instincts that enable us to compete effectively in the struggle of life.

People are inclined to be indulgent with Utopian idealists. While they may be naïve, we think, at least their heart is in the right place. Even if their idealism is incompatible with human nature, how can we possibly object to their ambition of establishing a less competitive, more harmonious society? At worst, it seems, such people are harmless dreamers.

Such indulgence is misplaced, however, for Utopianism can be, and has been, profoundly destructive. Utopians’ belief in the perfectibility of human nature prevents us from recognizing our innate limitations. Moreover, the logic of Utopianism requires scapegoats. If human beings are meant to live in harmony with each other, someone must be to blame for our current unharmonious state. Utopians must therefore invent an agent of radical evil responsible for introducing unhappiness into the world and preventing us from being the Noble Savages we naturally are
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Aborted Fetus Sings By Phil Harris

This is from an article in my archives, which I originally published in June of 2006. As we move closer to another round of electioneering by those who would be our leaders, it seems there are more important issues hanging over our heads this time around, than there are bats hanging from the roof of a Central American cave. It is tempting to pick a few issues that are meaningful to the present day's news cycle, but doing so runs the risk of forfeiting hard-won ground on issues that are old and battle weary. Abortion is one such topic.

One of the most effective ways to demonstrate the absurd horrors of abortion is to put a face on the issue. No one wants to look at photographs of aborted babies. Abortion advocates would rather lay an ostrich egg, before they would knowingly stand in the same room with such an outrageously inappropriate image.

Anti-abortion demonstrators march along Constitution Ave. in Washington, Monday, Jan. 22, 2007 on the 34th anniversary of the Supreme Court decision that legalized abortion. (AP Photo/Lawrence Jackson) Read the following snip from a Rocky Mountain News article, about the final day of the Colorado House of Representatives session. Following the article snippet, read a letter from then Colorado State Representative Ted Harvey, as he explains the episode in detail. It is a bit long, but worth it. You can draw your own conclusions, but from where I sit... way to go Ted!

This is not so much about Ted Harvey, who I believe now serves in the Colorado State Senate, but rather, it is about the willingness of our elected leaders to look the abortion beast in the eye, while standing firm on the convictions they profess while running for office. Some of our Republican Presidential candidates have a rather ambiguous history on the issue. I hope that as we evaluate the current contestants, we will perform adequate due diligence in fleshing out their pro-life fortitude.

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Three Good Options for The Right By George F. Will

The axiom is as old as human striving: The perfect is the enemy of the good. In politics this means that insisting on perfection in a candidate interferes with selecting a satisfactory one.

Which is why the mood of many of the 6,300 people, lots of them college age, who registered at last week's Conservative Political Action Conference here, was unreasonably morose. Sponsored annually by the American Conservative Union, CPAC is the conservative movement's moveable feast. Many at CPAC seemed depressed by the fact, as they see it, that the top three Republican candidates -- John McCain, Mitt Romney and Rudy Giuliani-- are flawed. Such conservatives should conduct a thought experiment.

Suppose someone seeking the presidential nomination had, as a governor, signed the largest tax increase in his state's history and the nation's most permissive abortion law. And by signing a law institutionalizing no-fault divorce, he had unwittingly but substantially advanced an idea central to the campaign for same-sex marriages -- the minimalist understanding of marriage as merely a contract between consenting adults to be entered into or dissolved as it suits their happiness.

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The Incredible Speed of Falling By Rev Michael Bresciani

The most arduously practiced, meticulously choreographed and gracefully executed dance routine can end in a second with a dancer falling into a contorted heap at the gasp of a watching crowd. Is the social experimentation of this era a wary dancer, over confident and heading for a fall? The most insightful dance coaches say it is.

One of the youngest conquerors in history, Alexander the Great swept across the world with only foot soldiers and horses to bring civilization to its feet in only 13 short years.

In Germany’s war weary society a mere would be artist wormed his way up through the discontent and confusion in about seven years to become this world’s most infamous dictator to date.

Communism hung as a dark portent over the minds of people who thought individuals were no less important than the state for about a generation. After the fall of the wall in 1989 communisms greatest bastion of hope, the Soviet Union crumbled like a house of cards in only a few short years.

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The Myth of Moral Neutrality By Gregory Koukl

Gen. Peter Pace was vehemently denounced and condemned earlier this week for expressing a personal moral judgment that homosexuality is immoral. The criticisms excoriated Pace for making a value judgment, while implying that the denunciations themselves were morally neutral. In reality, Pace’s critics expressed a moral judgment, too. They declared his comments wrong, not just factually but morally – and their moral outrage was palpable.

Let me make this clear up front: All people regardless of their sexual orientation or other differences should be treated fairly. We all have equal intrinsic value and dignity. But the goal of gay rights advocates isn't so much to gain rights they are being denied as to gain societal approval. Thus the loud denunciations when Pace made a moral judgment. All the while, these advocates claim that that theirs is the neutral moral position. It isn't, and really can't be. But their objection conveys a fundamental assumption of many in our society today that one side of the public debate is "pushing its morality" on society, when in fact that is what the nature of their advocacy accomplishes.

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To Our Americans Serving In Iraq - Bob Parks

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Will the Third Rome Fall to Islam? By Fjordman

I recently read the book The Reformation by Owen Chadwick, about the Protestant Reformation and the situation in 15th and 16th century Europe. It is fascinating to read about Western Europe during a period when it was genuinely dynamic, not the anemic and self-loathing continent it is now. But still, I was also struck by how many similarities there are between the situation then and now. This was also during a period of Muslim aggression, as the Turks made inroads into the Balkans and Central Europe, eventually threatening even Western Europe.

Ironically, this period was also when the Greco-Roman heritage was rediscovered in the West. The classical heritage had been preserved in the East for a thousand years after the Western half of the Roman Empire collapsed, and with the pressures from Muslims, many Greek Byzantine scholars brought their texts with them to northern Italian cities such as Venice, thus fuelling the Renaissance.

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The Coming War with Islam By Solly Ganor

Five years ago, I had a conversation with a young Palestinian student who in short precise terms explained how Islam will defeat the West. The conversation opened my eyes to a much larger picture in which Israel plays only a minor role in the Islamic game of conquest. Since then I tried to speak to some Arabs who come to pray at the Mosque, but they were not as outspoken as the student.

Last week, I had another conversation with an Israeli Arab construction boss by the unlikely name of Francis who was in charge of building a villa near our house in Herzelia. He told me that his family was Christian, and his name was given to him in honor of the Franciscan monks. Our conversation was as interesting as the first conversation I had with the Arab student five years ago and I would like to share it with you. Francis frequently parked his car near our house and we would exchange polite greetings.

About a week ago, the water was shut off for repairs in the house he was building, and Francis asked me if I could give him some hot water for his coffee. He was a tall man of about forty, with reddish hair and blue eyes. He spoke a perfect Hebrew, and I naturally became curious about him. I felt that he may the right person to exchange some views with. By his looks, I assumed that he was either a Druze or from the Syrian region. He looked more like a teacher than a construction worker and, as I later found out, he was actually a teacher by profession. Since my conversation with the student five years ago, I was always curious to hear their side of the story; therefore, I decided to invite him for a cup of coffee to our house. I saw him hesitate for a moment; then he smiled and thanked me for my hospitality.

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By the Way: We're Not Losing By Austin Bay

The chattering class nostrum that Free Iraq and its coalition allies have 'lost the Iraq war' is so blatantly wrong it would be a source of laughter were human life and hope-inspiring liberty not at such terrible risk.
In terms of fundamental historical changes favoring 21st century freedom and peace, what Free Iraq and its Coalition allies have accomplished in four short years is nothing short of astonishing.
Consider what Iraq was, not simply in A.D. March 2003, but in 2003 B.C. Both historical frames provide instructive lessons in the obvious.
Iraq, as ancient Mesopotamia (the land between the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers), seeded Abraham's Ur and Hammurabi's Babylon. The region was the Eden of city-states, the consolidator and exporter of the Agricultural Revolution. It is also the center of a predominantly Muslim region where -- to paraphrase historian Bernard Lewis -- something 'went wrong.' Lewis was addressing the 'fossilization' that began to afflict the Middle East at least six centuries ago, a cultural, intellectual and, yes, political ossification and decline.

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Threatened by the Jihad by Steven Emerson

On January 26, 2007, I appeared on Fox News Channel’s Hannity and Colmes program to discuss a January 8, 2007 meeting between the Attorney General of the United States and various Muslim and Arab groups, some of which have a long history of supporting terrorist groups and extremist ideologies. In response to a question from Alan Colmes about the importance of “good relations” between Attorney General Gonzales and the Muslim community, I stated, “[b]ut when you say the ‘Muslim community’ – [the Attorney General] is anointing them representatives of the Muslim community, when in fact there are many others who support the war on terrorism, who don't tell their members not to cooperate with the FBI, who don't support Hamas and Hezbollah, unlike members of this group. So, in fact, I think it's wrong to confer legitimacy on those very organizations that inhibit cooperation with the FBI, that support Hamas or justify Hezbollah, and who are radical in terms of portraying the war on terrorism as a war against Islam.

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WHY CHRISTIANS STRUGGLE TO REDEEM THE CULTURE By: Robert Meyer

Perhaps you are one of those people who often wonder how come there are so many professing Christians in America, yet the culture is deteriorating like a timber foundation infested with termites and dry rot.
My own recent experience is a nut shell illustration of the principle problem.
Last fall, my state was one of several to offer a binding voter referendum defining the parameters of legal marriage. Our local Unitarian Universalist fellowship placed up a large banner under the sign identifying the location of their organization. The banner encouraged passers-by to vote no on the amendment.
While the belief that traditional marriage is a sacred institution in Christianity and other religions, no local house of worship saw fit, or had the fortitude, to place up advocacy for the amendment, or even an endorsement of traditional marriage on their marquees. Furthermore, when I asked a few local Christian pastors if they were addressing the issue of marriage before their congregations, I generally received a lackluster response. On the other hand, clergymen from liberal churches seemed more than willing to either announce or publicly debate their views decrying legislation supporting traditional marriage.

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Information Warfare - Truth as the Ultimate Weapon By John D. Turner

Have you ever considered how much of everything we do each day depends on the concept that what we perceive is true? Truth underlies almost everything we take for granted.

Our legal system is grounded in the belief that witnesses will tell the truth; that once under oath, whatever is said on the stand will be “the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth”. If witnesses lie, justices is cheated; the guilty are wrongly freed and the innocent erroneously jailed. Our medical system is based on truth; when you go visit the doctor you expect that his or her diagnosis is made based on their knowledge of medicine and your symptoms. When they prescribe medication for you, you take it on faith that their diagnosis is correct and what they prescribed is for you is exactly what you need to make you better. Most Americans believe that what they read in their newspapers and hear on their TV news programs is the truth, or at least that those presenting the news are not intentionally lying to them.

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America Must Save Herself by JB Williams

For several years now, I have been researching the American political landscape and writing columns about the current condition of our nation and the election process that pretends to guide our national agenda. And for years, I have been paying close attention to reader mail from across the country and around the globe, from the far left to far right and everywhere in between.
There has been one common sentiment across the board and one lingering question rising out of that sentiment and the time has come to provide a specific coherent detailed answer to that question.
The one common sentiment – Nobody on earth trusts Washington DC or any of the people who work there today. While the two primary political parties pretend to divide the trust of the American people and our friends around the world, the truth is, neither party currently enjoys the trust or support of the American people or the world. The reasons for this should be obvious.
Washington DC has been working for its own agenda at odds with pretty much every American and every nation for decades now and both parties have proven themselves completely untrustworthy. Neither party is worse than the other, but together, all of Washington DC is indeed a culture of personal greed and corruption today.

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Atheists, Conservatives, and Christianity By Steven M. Warshawsky

There is an interesting, and important, debate going on within conservative circles these days over the role of religion in American conservatism and the role of Christian conservatives in the Republican Party. In particular, the "atheist" wing of the conservative movement (largely made up of libertarians) is starting to challenge the supposedly predominant role of Christian conservatives within the movement.

This conflict is summed up in the title of Ryan Sager's new book, The Elephant in the Room: Evangelicals, Libertarians, and the Battle to Control the Republican Party. Although Sager's book has garnered some attention, what brought this conflict out in the open -- and generated a firestorm of discussion and invective -- was Heather Mac Donald's piece in the American Conservative last summer, in which she wrote that

"the conservative movement is crippling itself by leaning too heavily on religion" and that "a lot of us do not have such faith -- nor do we need it to be conservative."

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Burnt offerings on the altar of multiculturalism By Diana West

Only one faith on Earth may be more messianic than Islam: multiculturalism. Without it -- without its fanatics who believe all civilizations are the same -- the engine that projects Islam into the unprotected heart of Western civilization would stall and fail. It's as simple as that. To live among the believers -- the multiculturalists -- is to watch the assault, the jihad, take place un-repulsed by our suicidal societies. These societies are not doomed to submit; rather, they are eager to do so in the name of a masochistic brand of tolerance that, short of drastic measures, is surely terminal.

I'm not talking about our soldiers, policemen, rescue workers and, now, even train conductors, who bravely and steadfastly risk their lives for civilization abroad and at home. Instead, I'm thinking about who we are as a society at this somewhat advanced stage of war. It is a strange, tentative civilization we have become, with leaders who strut their promises of "no surrender" even as they flinch at identifying the foe. Four years past 9/11, we continue to shadow-box "terror," even as we go on about "an ideology of hate." It's a script that smacks of sci-fi fantasy more than realpolitik. But our grim reality is no summer blockbuster, and there's no special-effects-enhanced plot twist that is going to thwart "terror" or "hate" in the London Underground anymore than it did on the roof of the World Trade Center. Or in the Bali nightclub. Or on the first day of school in Beslan. Or in any disco, city bus or shopping mall in Israel.

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Onward, Christian Soldiers! Part One By Mary Grabar

For too long Christians have been in retreat. Lately, several men with very little knowledge of theology or cultural history have foisted tracts on to a public that has been denied exposure to the rich tradition of Christianity upon which our rights, our values, and highest forms of art are based. A handful of smug "scientists" (Richard Dawkins and Sam Harris, among them) have come along displaying their ignorance in pedestrian prose.

Like the big Liar, they look for and exploit weaknesses. The flock has been demoralized both by the weasels (called humanities professors) nipping at them when they were young and vulnerable, and by the leaders of churches who have either sacrificed some lambs (hoping to appease these atheist hyenas) or have simply retreated from the world.

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Jihadists Against The Troop Surge - The Peoples Cube

A new cave video released by Ayman al-Zawahiri praised the non-binding resolution against Iraq troop surge passed in the House today, describing it as a step in the right direction, while also criticizing the bill as "inadequate and meager kickback for the tremendous effort and sacrifice" al-Qaeda's had given to help the Democrats win the mid-term elections. "What in Allah's name is a non-binding resolution?" al-Qaeda's number two shouted while shaking his AK-47 in the air. "We sacrificed thousands of our best men, raising body count of US troops and Iraqi bystanders to unprecedented numbers so that you could work your ungodly media polls to win the House and the Senate. And now you're basically telling us that 'the check is in the mail'? Really? If our IEDs were as symbolic and non-binding as your resolution, Pelosi wouldn't be your speaker. The question that many Jihadists are asking today is, can we trust the Democrats?"

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Runaway American Brainwashing By Joel S. Hirschhorn

You may not want to know this. Americans have been successfully brainwashed to fear exactly what their revered Constitution gives them the right to have. Those smart Framers of the Constitution decided that we needed exactly what the establishment, pro-status quo elitists who run our plutocracy do NOT want us to have. There is even a well funded semi-secret group organized to prevent what we the people have a right to.

Has the brainwashing worked? You bet it has. In the absence of public furor, for over 200 years Congress has not done what Article V of the Constitution says it “shall” do. Congress has never issued a call for an Article V convention of state delegates to consider constitutional amendments, in response to two-thirds of state legislatures asking for one. That numeric requirement – the only specified requirement in Article V – has been satisfied, with 50 states submitting over 500 requests. Such a convention operating under authority of the Constitution would be a fourth, impermanent branch of the federal system, not beholding to the three permanent branches. Such independence has been cartooned into a frightening monster.

There is no uncertainty about what the Framers thought the nation needed. They wrote in crystal clear language a two-step process for amending the Constitution. First, craft proposals for possible amendments. Either Congress can do it or an Article V convention of state delegates can. Second, ratify proposed amendments by three-quarters of the states, either through their legislatures or state conventions, as Congress chooses. The Framers believed that Americans, acting through large numbers of state legislators, deserved a way to circumvent the excessive power of Congress or its refusal or inability to satisfy sovereign citizens – their bosses. No role was given to the federal judiciary and executive branch in amending the Constitution.

An Article V convention is a clear threat to the political, social and economic establishment exerting self-serving influence on Congress. It can put into public debate ideas for amending the Constitution that threaten established political forces, both liberal and conservative. Acting independently, it can courageously propose amendments without interference from status quo defenders.

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Iraq, Iran, Global Warming and The Apocalypse By David J. Jonsson

Islam has many apocalyptic prophecies; this aspect of Islam contributes to the driving force of Islam. Iran joined by Syria wants to end the democratic experiment in Iraq. Iranian money, weapons and expertise are used by terrorists to kill Americans in Iraq. Iran’s support of Hamas disrupts Palestinian peace efforts. Hezbollah, a group also backed by Iran and Syria, seeks to destabilize Lebanese democracy and restart a border war with Israel. Iran which denies that a European Holocaust ever took place is now planning to create a second Holocaust in Europe and in the U.S. with the development of nuclear weapons and the missiles to deliver the weapons.

Only the sustained American policy of ostracizing Iran and Syria, galvanizing the international community to enforce financial and trading sanctions, supporting Iranian and Syrian reformers, and keeping all options for war on the table including a high-profile presence in the area offers any hope containing a potential holocaust.

In order to understand the issues faced by the Administration it is necessary to review history and look at the many factors that are currently leading to the almost intractable solution to the crisis developing in the Middle East. The solution requires thinking outside the current events in Iraq. It requires abandoning the ‘silo’ approach of addressing foreign policy, energy, environment—Global Warming, homeland security, and defense as separate issues. The solution also requires the integration of commercial/business and government sectors in the solution. Without addressing the geopolitical ramifications to the U.S., EU, Russia and China beyond the immediate crisis in Iraq and Iran; a solution cannot be found.

Exclusively increasing military strength, diplomacy or withdrawing from Iraq will not defer or result in a lasting peace. Whatever way the Iran and Iraq crisis is resolved, it will lead to a major shift in the geopolitical landscape. The goal is to have a soft landing. This will require sacrifice, compromise but not appeasement, and most importantly prioritizing the most important elements of our culture – faith, freedom, liberty, and democracy, as we know it in America. Decision time is fast approaching. Unfortunately both Iran and the U.S. may be underestimating the power of the other side and overestimating their own. Iran thinks it has a lot of deterrents, in Iraq and elsewhere, and in the armed forces - and it sees the US bogged down in Iraq, Washington divided and public opinion in the Muslim world opposed to war.

We will discuss how these elements are directly interrelated and suggest potential solutions for consideration.

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Emotionalism, The New Religion, Is Ruining America by Phil D'Agostino

In what now seems like ancient times, there were two great maxims to live by. They were, “sticks and stones can break my bones, but words can never hurt me.” And, “When the going gets tough, the tough get going.” Today, not only are words as bad as sticks and stones, but from what seems to be every quarter of our society, we are told again and again, that, you have a right to feel the way you feel, you should feel bad whenever anything goes wrong and that feeling bad and displaying to all is something to be more proud of than hard work and real achievement. It seems to be better to be a person of great feeling, (especially if you feel angry, insulted, guilty or just plain hurt), than to be a person that has learned to ignore life’s indignities and the results of the small-mindedness of others, and focus instead on a pursuit of value.

We hear that you must not let people get away with disrespectful language and we are encouraged to engage in at the very least “chest thumping” and bellowing like a primate, or at the worst, engage in some form of physical score-evening such as “keying” a car in a parking lot, sabotaging someone’s work position and even coming to blows on a busy intersection while crowds of empathizers cheer you on. Such behavior is at the very core of increasing violence in schools and groups or gangs in our cities. It is so pervasive, we now have a new word that even finds its way to the lips of our elected leaders. The word—“dissing”. Ask almost anyone you meet, and they will know what it means.

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