The Right Stuff - 11/30/2008
By Don O'Nesky | 11/30/08 | 06:00 AM EDT | 0 Comments
Obama Friends: Communist Party USA
Statement of the National Committee of the Communist Party USA at its November 15-16th 2008 meeting in New York
The Communist Party USA is thrilled that Obama was elected, they stated: "We hail the tens of millions who came to the polls and registered an historic defeat of the ultra right. These voters saw through the direct and indirect appeals to racism and voted for Obama. We salute those who rejected the Republican anti-communist, anti-immigrant attacks and numerous other slanders and voted their hopes and not their fears. Their votes represent the highest expression of patriotism."
If the Communist Party USA believe someone or something is patriotic, then you can bet the farm it is not in the best interest of this nation. In fact, it is just the opposite.
What do you call someone that acts like and talks like a Communist? - Don O'Nesky
GOP Strength Rests in Its Core Beliefs
"It's that time again. Throngs of delirious Democrats are invading the streets and suites of Washington to celebrate their victories in November. Across town, members of that other party gather in hushed bands, mourning their loss of power, employment and staff. The more prolific have taken the op-ed pages of every newspaper as their pillories, to flog themselves for their defeat. As a member of that other party, enough is enough. It is time to look forward, not back."
I wrote those words for a column in February 1993. Back then, the future of the GOP could not have looked dimmer. The party needed to refocus and recharge. The following year Republicans took control of both chambers of Congress and state legislatures across the country.
Now, after two disastrous election cycles, it is clear the Republican Party must refocus again... America is a center-right country, both economically and socially. The majority of Americans support domestic energy development, low taxes, and allowing people choice in their retirement planning and their children's education. The majority of Americans also support marriage between a man and woman, restrictions on abortion, protecting common religious expressions such as "one nation under God," and Second Amendment freedoms.
On these and many other issues, the Republican Party embraces what the majority of Americans believe, and the Democratic Party opposes those same positions. These policies naturally flow from the basic Republican principles of limited government, economic opportunity and personal responsibility. Such policies represent the three legs of the Reagan Coalition: economic conservatives, social conservatives, and national-security conservatives.
Unfortunately, Republicans have not been true to Republican principles... These repeated and constant failures sapped the energy out of the GOP base. It led to some voters staying home or not contributing their time and money. Some even jumped ship in protest. Republicans have failed to communicate new and innovative ideas to persuade new voting blocs that GOP principles are something they should support... And there are solutions that represent Republican principles that can win their support.
Michelangelo is said to have denied he was a great sculptor. He said the beauty of his work was already in the rock, and all he did was find the masterpiece within it. It is time for emerging Republican leaders to become the Michelangelos who again unleash the beauty and power within the rock of GOP beliefs. Republicans must excite, energize and mobilize their base, while reuniting old coalitions and forming new ones. They must provide bold and innovative leadership to recapture that sense of optimism and opportunity.
In 1994, the party refocused and found its way back. It will do so again.
---Ken Blackwell, TownHall.com
November 26, 2008
Right Man, Right Job, Right Time
Far from an effete welfare statist, the EU's next president is a bold free-market advocate who suffers neither fools nor the usual Euro-nonsense. In short, just what the doctored ordered for a sclerotic continent. It's just November but Europeans and even some Americans are already trembling at the prospect of Czech Republic President Vaclav Klaus taking over as the symbolic head of the European Union on Jan. 1. Czech President Vaclav Klaus won't mix well with Brussels bureaucrats.
"Oh God, Vaclav Klaus," Austrian daily Die Presse fretted on behalf of change-resistant central planners. The New York Times senses "palpable fear" that "Klaus will embarrass the world's biggest trading bloc and complicate its efforts to address the economic crisis and expand its powers."
But this is nothing new. In 2003, Arie Oostlander, a Dutch member of the European Parliament, lamented that "the worst thing that the Czechs could have done was to elect to the presidency a follower of Margaret Thatcher." Yet Klaus, a student of the great F.A. Hayek and Milton Friedman, is exactly the sort of leader that Europe has to have. The liberty-minded defender of free markets has the opportunity to rock the continent out of its self-inflicted economic malaise.
What he'll be able to achieve in six short months of organizing and chairing meetings of the European Council is uncertain. But the fact that he's feared by advocates of the status quo indicates he will make things uncomfortable for them and their static world... Under Klaus' guidance, the Czech Republic became the first post-communist nation to be given an investment-grade credit rating by international credit institutions. Unemployment has been kept low and productivity is running high. This, from a state-owned economy in which the private sector produced a mere 3% of the national income in 1989. More recently, Klaus has turned his attention to global warming, believing the environmental movement has become an assault on freedom, and to regulation, too much of which, he says, caused today's financial crisis. These ideas won't make him popular in Brussels, but they could make a positive difference if a few EU nabobs considered their soundness...
Europe -- and the world -- need more defenders of liberty and the free market who think that way. Heaven knows, too many dismissive and obstinate leaders with leftist agendas have condemned tens of millions to lives of misery and quite often agonizing death.
---Editorial, Investor's Business Daily
November 26, 2008
Bailing Out Ignorance
WASHINGTON -- So much for the wisdom of The People. A new report from the Intercollegiate Studies Institute (ISI) on the nation's civic literacy finds that most Americans are too ignorant to vote... What's behind the dumbing down of America? The ISI found that passive activities, such as watching television (including TV news) and talking on the phone, diminish civic literacy. Actively pursuing information through print media and participating in high-level conversations -- even, potentially, blogging -- makes one smarter.
The ISI insists that higher-education reforms aimed at civic literacy are urgently needed. Who could argue otherwise? But historian Rick Shenkman, author of "Just How Stupid Are We?" thinks reform needs to start in high school. His strategy is both poetic (to certain ears) and pragmatic: Require students to read newspapers, and give college freshman weekly quizzes on current events.
Did he say newspapers?! Shenkman even suggests government subsidies for newspaper subscriptions, as well as federal tuition subsidies for students who perform well on civics tests. They could be paid from a special fund created by, say, a "Too Many Stupid Voters Act."
Not only would citizens be smarter, but also newspapers might be saved. Announcements of newsroom cuts, which ultimately hurt quality, have become routine. Just this week, USA Today announced the elimination of about 20 positions, while the Newark Star-Ledger, as it cuts its news staff by 40 percent, lost almost its entire editorial board in a single day.
In his book, Shenkman, founder of George Mason University's History News Network, is tough on everyday Americans. Why, he asks, do we value polls when clearly The People don't know enough to make a reasoned judgment? The founding fathers, Shenkman points out, weren't so enamored of The People, whom they distrusted. Hence a Republic, not a Democracy. They understood that an ignorant electorate was susceptible to emotional manipulation and feared the tyranny of the masses.
Both Shenkman and the ISI pose a bedeviling question, as crucial as any to the nation's health: Who will govern a free nation if no one understands the mechanics and instruments of that freedom? Answer: Maybe one day, a demagogue.
---Kathleen Parker, Nationally Syndicated Columnist
November 26, 2008
Card Check: Highly Refined Nonsense
From a Politico story on the political pressure Senate Democrats face over the anti-democratic Employee Free Choice Act: "We don't know if we have 60 yet. We're at 59 [for cloture] right now," said Josh Goldstein, a spokesman for American Rights at Work, a pro-labor group. "The issue has become front and center, and the worse the economy gets, the more support we get. [Business groups are] trying to make this a volatile issue for senators." That's some spin. You can claim the 59 votes for cloture with some measure of sincerity. It may be wrong, but it's not a dishonest claim. Otherwise, the issue of card check has been front and center since the Senate voted to block H.R. 800 in June 2007. As for the other nonsense:
"The worse the economy gets, the more support it gets." Sure. The worse the economy gets, the more the public demands the employees be forced into unions against their will. The more attention given to labor's fault for the domestic auto industry's difficulties, the more the public says, "Give us more of that!" "Business groups are trying to make this a volatile issue." Snort. It's not business groups that are trying to destroy the secret ballot in the workplace or enact the biggest shift in employer-employee relations since the 1935 Wagner Act. Throw gasoline on the fire of labor relations and don't be surprised when things get "volatile," Mr. Goldstein.
Next thing you know labor representatives will try to claim that the Employee Free Choice Act doesn't eliminate the secret ballot. Do they think the public is stupid?
---ShopFloor.org
November 25, 2008
Trade Versus Protectionism
There's a growing anti-trade sentiment in our country. Much of the dialogue is grossly misinformed. Let's try to untangle it a bit with a few questions and observations. First, does the U.S. trade with Japan and England? Put another way, is it members of the U.S. Congress trading with their counterparts in the Japanese Diet or the English Parliament? An affirmative answer is pure nonsense. When I purchased my Lexus, I had nothing to do with either the Japanese Diet or the U.S. Congress. Through an intermediary, a Lexus dealer, I dealt with Toyota Motor Corporation.
While it might be convenient to speak of one country trading with another, such aggregation can conceal a lot of evil, particularly when people call for trade barriers. For example, what would be a moral case for third-party interference, by either the Japanese Diet or the U.S. Congress, with an exchange between me and Toyota Motor Corporation? Some might reason that since Japan places restrictions on U.S. products entering their country, an appropriate retaliatory measure is not to allow Japanese products to freely enter the U.S. By the way, Japanese protectionist restrictions on rice imports force Japanese consumers to pay three or four times the world price for rice. How much sense does it make for Congress to retaliate against Japan by imposing restrictions on their products thereby forcing American consumers, say Lexus buyers, to pay higher prices? Should our rule be: If one country screws its citizens we should retaliate by screwing our citizens?
Since there is no moral argument for preventing one person from trading with another, anti-traders shift their argument to a patriotic appeal such as suggesting that we're losing our manufacturing sector...
The decline in manufacturing employment is not limited to the U.S. Since 2000, China has lost over 4.5 million manufacturing jobs. In fact, nine of the top 10 manufacturing countries, which produce 75 percent of the world's manufacturing output (the U.S., Japan, Germany, China, Britain, France, Italy, Korea, Canada, and Mexico), have lost manufacturing jobs but their manufacturing output has risen.
Despite the pretense of being a free trade nation, the U.S. has significant barriers to trade that come in the form of tariffs, quotas and steep regulatory barriers. Our restrictions are just not as onerous as many other countries but there's a push to make them so. It's simple politics. The people who face foreign competition, say management and workers in the auto industry, are well organized, have narrowly shared interests and the resources to have considerable clout in Washington to get Congress to enact trade barriers. Restricting foreign competition means higher prices for their products, and hence higher profits and fuller employment in their industry. The people who are benefited by foreign competition, say auto consumers, have widely dispersed interests; they are not organized at all and have little clout in Washington. You never see consumers descending on Washington complaining about cheap prices for foreign products; it's always domestic producers who do the complaining.
The relationship between prosperity and economic freedom, including free trade, is a no-brainer. But if you need hard evidence, check out the Heritage Foundation's "Index of Economic Freedom". You'll find that nations having the greatest measure of economic freedom are the most prosperous and peaceful.
---Walter E. Williams, Nationally Syndicated Columnist
November 26, 2008
Is Gay The New Black? Must Be A Sick Joke!
Gay is the new black is one of the mottoes of the movement to redefine marriage to include two people of the same sex. The likening of the movement for same-sex marriage to the black civil rights struggle is a primary argument of pro same-sex marriage groups. This comparison is a major part of the moral appeal of redefining marriage: Just as there were those who once believed that blacks and whites should not be allowed to be married, the argument goes, there are today equally bigoted individuals who believe that men should not be allowed to marry men and women should not be allowed to marry women.
It is worth noting that the people least impressed with the comparison of the gay struggle to redefine marriage with the black struggle for racial equality are blacks. They voted overwhelmingly for California's Proposition 8 which amends the California Constitution to define marriage as being the union of a man and a woman.
One reason given is that blacks tend to be socially conservative. But another, less verbalized, reason may well be that blacks find the comparison demeaning and insulting. As well they should... Gay and straight activists who liken their demand to redefine marriage to black suffering under Jim Crow merely cheapen historic black suffering. Most blacks know this but for the sake of their political coalition wont say it. They should. Rosa Parks is in a different moral category than the protesters against Proposition 8.
---Dennis Prager, TownHall.com
November 18, 2008
Obama-Crazed Media Having Hallucinations
If there is a dreadfully overused word in the giddy countdown to the Obama inauguration, it is "smart." Not just "smart," but also its stronger cousins like "brilliant" and "genius." These words have been offered shamelessly for nearly every person assigned a role by President-elect Obama. They are assembling an "all-star Cabinet." This was not an honor for those having attended all the right schools, but a tribute to people who have all the "right" ideas. Liberals are smart because they're liberals. Conservative beliefs are honed from having been dropped on your head as an infant.
Last week, Newsweek almost comedically compared Obama to Lincoln, hailing the strength of his "humility." How could anyone stay humble with all these hyper-flattering cover stories about whether you're Lincoln or you're Franklin Roosevelt? Nobody asked: But what if he turns out to be another ineffective Jimmy Carter? Then again, not to worry. Just as Time turned Obama into FDR on its cover, they comically projected Carter as Gary Cooper in "High Noon" in the hostage-crisis spring of 1980.
Back in June 2001, Newsweek headlined an article on an upcoming Bush foreign policy trip with these words: "See George. See George Learn Foreign Policy." He was painted like a president who couldn't prove he was smarter than a fifth-grader on TV...
Conservatives and Republicans have an important role to play now in holding this alleged Team of Geniuses accountable. This disgraceful "news" media won't. They will line up to serve Obama only slightly less explicitly than Chris Matthews, who typically blurted out that his new job as a television host was to ensure Obama's success. We say "blurted out" because Matthews tends to . . . blurt. But give him credit for one thing: the courage to admit the attitude of servitude that his colleagues so piously deny.
---L. Brent Bozell, Investor's Business
November 26, 2008
21st Century Welfare Queens
...The Big 3 automakers--General Motors, Ford and Chrysler--are asking Congress to give them $25 billion of taxpayer money. These companies recently had $25 billion earmarked to them by the federal government to pay for retooling and redesigning to make more advanced and more marketable products such as hybrid vehicles. Yet now they want more, making them 21st-century welfare queens...
Not only that, but there are players bigger than the Big 3 now lining up for a handout. The big cities of Philadelphia, Detroit and Phoenix are requesting billions of dollars each, and others will follow. And the state of California is now tens of billions of dollars in the hole. Having taxed everyone in the state to the hilt, the Golden State is now looking for federal tax dollars to fill their coffers. Others will follow.
As a former mayor of Cincinnati, and the former Treasurer of Ohio, let me assure you that cities and states can wield far more power than any corporation or union. The mayors and governors who run them have enormous influence, and presidents standing for reelection and members of Congress seek the favor of such individuals. Each of the three cities named above are in swing states, and California is a massive source of campaign cash for both parties.
I was always taught when growing up that when you reward bad behavior all you get is more bad behavior. From the mortgage meltdown to the automaker debacle to cities and states going under, it's all bad behavior. It should not be rewarded. The problem here is that our culture of debt--both personal and corporate--has created a culture of dependency. Everyone is calling out to our central government to give them money. And horrors of horrors, many are willing to let the federal government take ownership stakes in these entities and have a hand in their management.
That is the road to socialism. The first step to ending the culture of dependency is to tell these corporations, cities and states they need to start taking responsibility for their actions by dealing with the consequences they have created for themselves. If not, then we could accumulate a national debt that even our grandchildren will never pay off.
---Ken Blackwell, TownHall.com
November 19, 2008
Unions Fight To End American Capitalism
In the 1979 film Norma Rae, Academy Award-winner Sally Field, playing a textile worker, chats with Ron Liebman, a union organizer. I know the unions the only way were gonna get our own voice, make ourselves better, he tells her. She nods. I guess thats why I push, she says.
Todays labor unions aren't pushing for a voice. They're pushing for better benefits; they're pushing for higher wages; they're pushing for more retirement pay. And they're pushing American-style capitalism over a cliff. While Americas trade unions are hardly conspiring to bring capitalism down about our ears, trade union leadership couldn't care less about the current economic crisis. They're still pushing for their perks. The union leadership is no longer in business to create decent jobs -- the union leadership is in business to boost its own power...
Why would the union bosses allow private businesses to go bankrupt? Because they arent uncomfortable with the idea of the government running American businesses. While unions have generally fallen out of favor in the private sector -- only 7.5 percent of private sector workers are unionized -- they've remained stronger than ever in the public sector, where 35.9 percent of workers were unionized as of 2007. The strongest unions in the country are all public unions, and virtually all of them have earned incredible benefits and quasi-tenure for their members. If private industry is forced to become government industry, the private sector unions wont mind. They'll simply be negotiating with the bureaucrats they helped elect rather than the management they hate.
America is no longer a nation of Norma Raes. We don't need union heavies breathing down our necks, asking for our protection money while forcing us into the unemployment lines. No one is reverting to the bad old days of child labor and worker maltreatment. Once worker safety has been achieved, the free market must take over, or well all be working for the government.
---Ben Shapiro, TownHall.com
November 26, 2008
American's Already Suffering From The Left's Protectionism
Throughout the presidential campaign Barak Obama apologists like Fareed Zakaria hoped that Obama was just lying to the American people about his protectionist stances on trade, and that if elected Obama would prove to be every bit the free trader that Presidents Bill Clinton and George Bush have been. We still hold out hope that Zakaria is right on that count.
The same cannot be said of Speaker Nancy Pelosi. This summer Pelosi single handily destroyed over three decades of U.S. credibility on trade by gutting the "fast track" guarantee key to U.S. Trade Promotion Authority. Since Pelosi killed the U.S. - Colombia FTA, Colombia has since signed free trade deals with both Canada and China. Now those countries goods will automatically be less expensive then similar American goods. As the Wall Street Journal notes: " If the United Auto Workers thought their Caterpillar exports were losing global ground before, wait until they compete on this not-so-level playing field."
---Conn Carroll, The Heritage Foundation
November 26, 2008
Good News From Iraq
ISF captures a suspected terrorist in Mosul raid
MOSUL, Iraq - Iraqi Security Forces captured a suspected terrorist in Mosul, bringing the number of terrorists captured this week to 31. During an ISF-led intelligence-driven raid, Iraqi Army soldiers from the 1st Battalion, 7th Brigade, 2nd IA Division, and Soldiers with the 1st Battalion, 8th Infantry Regiment, captured a suspected terrorist in the Al Intisar neighborhood and took the individual into custody.
IA visits Tal Zallat neighborhood, provides food, clothing to residents
MOSUL, Iraq - The Iraqi Army visited residents of the Tal Zallat neighborhood to distribute food and clothing and establish a better rapport with the residents. During the visit, the soldiers provided residents with winter clothing, school supplies and food. The Iraqi Security Forces have been conducting these types of events throughout the city and neighboring villages to assist the people with their immediate needs. They also want to improve their relationship with the residents and reassure everyone that the ISF is in there to protect them from terrorists and help pave the way for projects needed to better their lives.
7 suspected criminals arrested in central Iraq
BALAD, Iraq - Iraqi Security Forces, with Coalition forces advisors, arrested seven suspected criminals during operations in central Iraq. A reported Special Groups leader and two others were arrested in Al Qurna during an Iraqi Special Operations Forces operation. The suspected SG leader has allegedly worked with Iranian intelligence for three years and helped smuggle weapons, money and information into Iraq to facilitate SG activities. In a separate operation, Iraqi Army soldiers, operating under the authority of a Diwaniyah judicial warrant, arrested a suspected criminal who reportedly was trained conduct assassinations of ranking ISF officials. In an unrelated operation in Hashimiyah, an Al Hillah Special Weapons and Tactics team, acting on a warrant issued by the Ministry of the Interior, arrested another suspected criminal during a raid to disrupt criminal operations in Babil province. Nov. 20 ISOF captured another suspected criminal during an operation in West Rashid, Baghdad. In an unrelated operation, an Al Hillah SWAT team detained another suspected SG member in Hayy Askari.
Iraqi Security Forces seize weapons caches, capture 2 suspected terrorists in northern Iraq
BALAD, Iraq - Iraqi Security Forces (ISF), with Coalition force advisors, captured two suspected al-Qaeda in Iraq/Islamic State of Iraq terrorist and seized a weapons cache during separate operations in northern Iraq. Iraqi Army (IA) soldiers captured a suspected AQI/ISI terrorist during a raid in Al Zirai. This operation targeted terrorist leadership and operational capability in Ninewa province. The detained individual was suspected of facilitating foreign fighters, displaced insurgents and equipment moving through Mosul. In a separate operation, the IA detained an alleged AQI Foreign Fighter Facilitator in the Farhatiya area. In an unrelated operation, Mandali Special Weapons and Tactics Teams (SWAT) discovered a weapons cache in the Mahmoud Salman Dahash Village. The cache contained a variety of improvised explosive device making materials.
---Multi-National Corps - Iraq
November 29, 2008
Statement of the National Committee of the Communist Party USA at its November 15-16th 2008 meeting in New York
The Communist Party USA is thrilled that Obama was elected, they stated: "We hail the tens of millions who came to the polls and registered an historic defeat of the ultra right. These voters saw through the direct and indirect appeals to racism and voted for Obama. We salute those who rejected the Republican anti-communist, anti-immigrant attacks and numerous other slanders and voted their hopes and not their fears. Their votes represent the highest expression of patriotism."
If the Communist Party USA believe someone or something is patriotic, then you can bet the farm it is not in the best interest of this nation. In fact, it is just the opposite.
What do you call someone that acts like and talks like a Communist? - Don O'Nesky
GOP Strength Rests in Its Core Beliefs
"It's that time again. Throngs of delirious Democrats are invading the streets and suites of Washington to celebrate their victories in November. Across town, members of that other party gather in hushed bands, mourning their loss of power, employment and staff. The more prolific have taken the op-ed pages of every newspaper as their pillories, to flog themselves for their defeat. As a member of that other party, enough is enough. It is time to look forward, not back."
I wrote those words for a column in February 1993. Back then, the future of the GOP could not have looked dimmer. The party needed to refocus and recharge. The following year Republicans took control of both chambers of Congress and state legislatures across the country.
Now, after two disastrous election cycles, it is clear the Republican Party must refocus again... America is a center-right country, both economically and socially. The majority of Americans support domestic energy development, low taxes, and allowing people choice in their retirement planning and their children's education. The majority of Americans also support marriage between a man and woman, restrictions on abortion, protecting common religious expressions such as "one nation under God," and Second Amendment freedoms.
On these and many other issues, the Republican Party embraces what the majority of Americans believe, and the Democratic Party opposes those same positions. These policies naturally flow from the basic Republican principles of limited government, economic opportunity and personal responsibility. Such policies represent the three legs of the Reagan Coalition: economic conservatives, social conservatives, and national-security conservatives.
Unfortunately, Republicans have not been true to Republican principles... These repeated and constant failures sapped the energy out of the GOP base. It led to some voters staying home or not contributing their time and money. Some even jumped ship in protest. Republicans have failed to communicate new and innovative ideas to persuade new voting blocs that GOP principles are something they should support... And there are solutions that represent Republican principles that can win their support.
Michelangelo is said to have denied he was a great sculptor. He said the beauty of his work was already in the rock, and all he did was find the masterpiece within it. It is time for emerging Republican leaders to become the Michelangelos who again unleash the beauty and power within the rock of GOP beliefs. Republicans must excite, energize and mobilize their base, while reuniting old coalitions and forming new ones. They must provide bold and innovative leadership to recapture that sense of optimism and opportunity.
In 1994, the party refocused and found its way back. It will do so again.
---Ken Blackwell, TownHall.com
November 26, 2008
Right Man, Right Job, Right Time
Far from an effete welfare statist, the EU's next president is a bold free-market advocate who suffers neither fools nor the usual Euro-nonsense. In short, just what the doctored ordered for a sclerotic continent. It's just November but Europeans and even some Americans are already trembling at the prospect of Czech Republic President Vaclav Klaus taking over as the symbolic head of the European Union on Jan. 1. Czech President Vaclav Klaus won't mix well with Brussels bureaucrats.
"Oh God, Vaclav Klaus," Austrian daily Die Presse fretted on behalf of change-resistant central planners. The New York Times senses "palpable fear" that "Klaus will embarrass the world's biggest trading bloc and complicate its efforts to address the economic crisis and expand its powers."
But this is nothing new. In 2003, Arie Oostlander, a Dutch member of the European Parliament, lamented that "the worst thing that the Czechs could have done was to elect to the presidency a follower of Margaret Thatcher." Yet Klaus, a student of the great F.A. Hayek and Milton Friedman, is exactly the sort of leader that Europe has to have. The liberty-minded defender of free markets has the opportunity to rock the continent out of its self-inflicted economic malaise.
What he'll be able to achieve in six short months of organizing and chairing meetings of the European Council is uncertain. But the fact that he's feared by advocates of the status quo indicates he will make things uncomfortable for them and their static world... Under Klaus' guidance, the Czech Republic became the first post-communist nation to be given an investment-grade credit rating by international credit institutions. Unemployment has been kept low and productivity is running high. This, from a state-owned economy in which the private sector produced a mere 3% of the national income in 1989. More recently, Klaus has turned his attention to global warming, believing the environmental movement has become an assault on freedom, and to regulation, too much of which, he says, caused today's financial crisis. These ideas won't make him popular in Brussels, but they could make a positive difference if a few EU nabobs considered their soundness...
Europe -- and the world -- need more defenders of liberty and the free market who think that way. Heaven knows, too many dismissive and obstinate leaders with leftist agendas have condemned tens of millions to lives of misery and quite often agonizing death.
---Editorial, Investor's Business Daily
November 26, 2008
Bailing Out Ignorance
WASHINGTON -- So much for the wisdom of The People. A new report from the Intercollegiate Studies Institute (ISI) on the nation's civic literacy finds that most Americans are too ignorant to vote... What's behind the dumbing down of America? The ISI found that passive activities, such as watching television (including TV news) and talking on the phone, diminish civic literacy. Actively pursuing information through print media and participating in high-level conversations -- even, potentially, blogging -- makes one smarter.
The ISI insists that higher-education reforms aimed at civic literacy are urgently needed. Who could argue otherwise? But historian Rick Shenkman, author of "Just How Stupid Are We?" thinks reform needs to start in high school. His strategy is both poetic (to certain ears) and pragmatic: Require students to read newspapers, and give college freshman weekly quizzes on current events.
Did he say newspapers?! Shenkman even suggests government subsidies for newspaper subscriptions, as well as federal tuition subsidies for students who perform well on civics tests. They could be paid from a special fund created by, say, a "Too Many Stupid Voters Act."
Not only would citizens be smarter, but also newspapers might be saved. Announcements of newsroom cuts, which ultimately hurt quality, have become routine. Just this week, USA Today announced the elimination of about 20 positions, while the Newark Star-Ledger, as it cuts its news staff by 40 percent, lost almost its entire editorial board in a single day.
In his book, Shenkman, founder of George Mason University's History News Network, is tough on everyday Americans. Why, he asks, do we value polls when clearly The People don't know enough to make a reasoned judgment? The founding fathers, Shenkman points out, weren't so enamored of The People, whom they distrusted. Hence a Republic, not a Democracy. They understood that an ignorant electorate was susceptible to emotional manipulation and feared the tyranny of the masses.
Both Shenkman and the ISI pose a bedeviling question, as crucial as any to the nation's health: Who will govern a free nation if no one understands the mechanics and instruments of that freedom? Answer: Maybe one day, a demagogue.
---Kathleen Parker, Nationally Syndicated Columnist
November 26, 2008
Card Check: Highly Refined Nonsense
From a Politico story on the political pressure Senate Democrats face over the anti-democratic Employee Free Choice Act: "We don't know if we have 60 yet. We're at 59 [for cloture] right now," said Josh Goldstein, a spokesman for American Rights at Work, a pro-labor group. "The issue has become front and center, and the worse the economy gets, the more support we get. [Business groups are] trying to make this a volatile issue for senators." That's some spin. You can claim the 59 votes for cloture with some measure of sincerity. It may be wrong, but it's not a dishonest claim. Otherwise, the issue of card check has been front and center since the Senate voted to block H.R. 800 in June 2007. As for the other nonsense:
"The worse the economy gets, the more support it gets." Sure. The worse the economy gets, the more the public demands the employees be forced into unions against their will. The more attention given to labor's fault for the domestic auto industry's difficulties, the more the public says, "Give us more of that!" "Business groups are trying to make this a volatile issue." Snort. It's not business groups that are trying to destroy the secret ballot in the workplace or enact the biggest shift in employer-employee relations since the 1935 Wagner Act. Throw gasoline on the fire of labor relations and don't be surprised when things get "volatile," Mr. Goldstein.
Next thing you know labor representatives will try to claim that the Employee Free Choice Act doesn't eliminate the secret ballot. Do they think the public is stupid?
---ShopFloor.org
November 25, 2008
Trade Versus Protectionism
There's a growing anti-trade sentiment in our country. Much of the dialogue is grossly misinformed. Let's try to untangle it a bit with a few questions and observations. First, does the U.S. trade with Japan and England? Put another way, is it members of the U.S. Congress trading with their counterparts in the Japanese Diet or the English Parliament? An affirmative answer is pure nonsense. When I purchased my Lexus, I had nothing to do with either the Japanese Diet or the U.S. Congress. Through an intermediary, a Lexus dealer, I dealt with Toyota Motor Corporation.
While it might be convenient to speak of one country trading with another, such aggregation can conceal a lot of evil, particularly when people call for trade barriers. For example, what would be a moral case for third-party interference, by either the Japanese Diet or the U.S. Congress, with an exchange between me and Toyota Motor Corporation? Some might reason that since Japan places restrictions on U.S. products entering their country, an appropriate retaliatory measure is not to allow Japanese products to freely enter the U.S. By the way, Japanese protectionist restrictions on rice imports force Japanese consumers to pay three or four times the world price for rice. How much sense does it make for Congress to retaliate against Japan by imposing restrictions on their products thereby forcing American consumers, say Lexus buyers, to pay higher prices? Should our rule be: If one country screws its citizens we should retaliate by screwing our citizens?
Since there is no moral argument for preventing one person from trading with another, anti-traders shift their argument to a patriotic appeal such as suggesting that we're losing our manufacturing sector...
The decline in manufacturing employment is not limited to the U.S. Since 2000, China has lost over 4.5 million manufacturing jobs. In fact, nine of the top 10 manufacturing countries, which produce 75 percent of the world's manufacturing output (the U.S., Japan, Germany, China, Britain, France, Italy, Korea, Canada, and Mexico), have lost manufacturing jobs but their manufacturing output has risen.
Despite the pretense of being a free trade nation, the U.S. has significant barriers to trade that come in the form of tariffs, quotas and steep regulatory barriers. Our restrictions are just not as onerous as many other countries but there's a push to make them so. It's simple politics. The people who face foreign competition, say management and workers in the auto industry, are well organized, have narrowly shared interests and the resources to have considerable clout in Washington to get Congress to enact trade barriers. Restricting foreign competition means higher prices for their products, and hence higher profits and fuller employment in their industry. The people who are benefited by foreign competition, say auto consumers, have widely dispersed interests; they are not organized at all and have little clout in Washington. You never see consumers descending on Washington complaining about cheap prices for foreign products; it's always domestic producers who do the complaining.
The relationship between prosperity and economic freedom, including free trade, is a no-brainer. But if you need hard evidence, check out the Heritage Foundation's "Index of Economic Freedom". You'll find that nations having the greatest measure of economic freedom are the most prosperous and peaceful.
---Walter E. Williams, Nationally Syndicated Columnist
November 26, 2008
Is Gay The New Black? Must Be A Sick Joke!
Gay is the new black is one of the mottoes of the movement to redefine marriage to include two people of the same sex. The likening of the movement for same-sex marriage to the black civil rights struggle is a primary argument of pro same-sex marriage groups. This comparison is a major part of the moral appeal of redefining marriage: Just as there were those who once believed that blacks and whites should not be allowed to be married, the argument goes, there are today equally bigoted individuals who believe that men should not be allowed to marry men and women should not be allowed to marry women.
It is worth noting that the people least impressed with the comparison of the gay struggle to redefine marriage with the black struggle for racial equality are blacks. They voted overwhelmingly for California's Proposition 8 which amends the California Constitution to define marriage as being the union of a man and a woman.
One reason given is that blacks tend to be socially conservative. But another, less verbalized, reason may well be that blacks find the comparison demeaning and insulting. As well they should... Gay and straight activists who liken their demand to redefine marriage to black suffering under Jim Crow merely cheapen historic black suffering. Most blacks know this but for the sake of their political coalition wont say it. They should. Rosa Parks is in a different moral category than the protesters against Proposition 8.
---Dennis Prager, TownHall.com
November 18, 2008
Obama-Crazed Media Having Hallucinations
If there is a dreadfully overused word in the giddy countdown to the Obama inauguration, it is "smart." Not just "smart," but also its stronger cousins like "brilliant" and "genius." These words have been offered shamelessly for nearly every person assigned a role by President-elect Obama. They are assembling an "all-star Cabinet." This was not an honor for those having attended all the right schools, but a tribute to people who have all the "right" ideas. Liberals are smart because they're liberals. Conservative beliefs are honed from having been dropped on your head as an infant.
Last week, Newsweek almost comedically compared Obama to Lincoln, hailing the strength of his "humility." How could anyone stay humble with all these hyper-flattering cover stories about whether you're Lincoln or you're Franklin Roosevelt? Nobody asked: But what if he turns out to be another ineffective Jimmy Carter? Then again, not to worry. Just as Time turned Obama into FDR on its cover, they comically projected Carter as Gary Cooper in "High Noon" in the hostage-crisis spring of 1980.
Back in June 2001, Newsweek headlined an article on an upcoming Bush foreign policy trip with these words: "See George. See George Learn Foreign Policy." He was painted like a president who couldn't prove he was smarter than a fifth-grader on TV...
Conservatives and Republicans have an important role to play now in holding this alleged Team of Geniuses accountable. This disgraceful "news" media won't. They will line up to serve Obama only slightly less explicitly than Chris Matthews, who typically blurted out that his new job as a television host was to ensure Obama's success. We say "blurted out" because Matthews tends to . . . blurt. But give him credit for one thing: the courage to admit the attitude of servitude that his colleagues so piously deny.
---L. Brent Bozell, Investor's Business
November 26, 2008
21st Century Welfare Queens
...The Big 3 automakers--General Motors, Ford and Chrysler--are asking Congress to give them $25 billion of taxpayer money. These companies recently had $25 billion earmarked to them by the federal government to pay for retooling and redesigning to make more advanced and more marketable products such as hybrid vehicles. Yet now they want more, making them 21st-century welfare queens...
Not only that, but there are players bigger than the Big 3 now lining up for a handout. The big cities of Philadelphia, Detroit and Phoenix are requesting billions of dollars each, and others will follow. And the state of California is now tens of billions of dollars in the hole. Having taxed everyone in the state to the hilt, the Golden State is now looking for federal tax dollars to fill their coffers. Others will follow.
As a former mayor of Cincinnati, and the former Treasurer of Ohio, let me assure you that cities and states can wield far more power than any corporation or union. The mayors and governors who run them have enormous influence, and presidents standing for reelection and members of Congress seek the favor of such individuals. Each of the three cities named above are in swing states, and California is a massive source of campaign cash for both parties.
I was always taught when growing up that when you reward bad behavior all you get is more bad behavior. From the mortgage meltdown to the automaker debacle to cities and states going under, it's all bad behavior. It should not be rewarded. The problem here is that our culture of debt--both personal and corporate--has created a culture of dependency. Everyone is calling out to our central government to give them money. And horrors of horrors, many are willing to let the federal government take ownership stakes in these entities and have a hand in their management.
That is the road to socialism. The first step to ending the culture of dependency is to tell these corporations, cities and states they need to start taking responsibility for their actions by dealing with the consequences they have created for themselves. If not, then we could accumulate a national debt that even our grandchildren will never pay off.
---Ken Blackwell, TownHall.com
November 19, 2008
Unions Fight To End American Capitalism
In the 1979 film Norma Rae, Academy Award-winner Sally Field, playing a textile worker, chats with Ron Liebman, a union organizer. I know the unions the only way were gonna get our own voice, make ourselves better, he tells her. She nods. I guess thats why I push, she says.
Todays labor unions aren't pushing for a voice. They're pushing for better benefits; they're pushing for higher wages; they're pushing for more retirement pay. And they're pushing American-style capitalism over a cliff. While Americas trade unions are hardly conspiring to bring capitalism down about our ears, trade union leadership couldn't care less about the current economic crisis. They're still pushing for their perks. The union leadership is no longer in business to create decent jobs -- the union leadership is in business to boost its own power...
Why would the union bosses allow private businesses to go bankrupt? Because they arent uncomfortable with the idea of the government running American businesses. While unions have generally fallen out of favor in the private sector -- only 7.5 percent of private sector workers are unionized -- they've remained stronger than ever in the public sector, where 35.9 percent of workers were unionized as of 2007. The strongest unions in the country are all public unions, and virtually all of them have earned incredible benefits and quasi-tenure for their members. If private industry is forced to become government industry, the private sector unions wont mind. They'll simply be negotiating with the bureaucrats they helped elect rather than the management they hate.
America is no longer a nation of Norma Raes. We don't need union heavies breathing down our necks, asking for our protection money while forcing us into the unemployment lines. No one is reverting to the bad old days of child labor and worker maltreatment. Once worker safety has been achieved, the free market must take over, or well all be working for the government.
---Ben Shapiro, TownHall.com
November 26, 2008
American's Already Suffering From The Left's Protectionism
Throughout the presidential campaign Barak Obama apologists like Fareed Zakaria hoped that Obama was just lying to the American people about his protectionist stances on trade, and that if elected Obama would prove to be every bit the free trader that Presidents Bill Clinton and George Bush have been. We still hold out hope that Zakaria is right on that count.
The same cannot be said of Speaker Nancy Pelosi. This summer Pelosi single handily destroyed over three decades of U.S. credibility on trade by gutting the "fast track" guarantee key to U.S. Trade Promotion Authority. Since Pelosi killed the U.S. - Colombia FTA, Colombia has since signed free trade deals with both Canada and China. Now those countries goods will automatically be less expensive then similar American goods. As the Wall Street Journal notes: " If the United Auto Workers thought their Caterpillar exports were losing global ground before, wait until they compete on this not-so-level playing field."
---Conn Carroll, The Heritage Foundation
November 26, 2008
Good News From Iraq
ISF captures a suspected terrorist in Mosul raid
MOSUL, Iraq - Iraqi Security Forces captured a suspected terrorist in Mosul, bringing the number of terrorists captured this week to 31. During an ISF-led intelligence-driven raid, Iraqi Army soldiers from the 1st Battalion, 7th Brigade, 2nd IA Division, and Soldiers with the 1st Battalion, 8th Infantry Regiment, captured a suspected terrorist in the Al Intisar neighborhood and took the individual into custody.
IA visits Tal Zallat neighborhood, provides food, clothing to residents
MOSUL, Iraq - The Iraqi Army visited residents of the Tal Zallat neighborhood to distribute food and clothing and establish a better rapport with the residents. During the visit, the soldiers provided residents with winter clothing, school supplies and food. The Iraqi Security Forces have been conducting these types of events throughout the city and neighboring villages to assist the people with their immediate needs. They also want to improve their relationship with the residents and reassure everyone that the ISF is in there to protect them from terrorists and help pave the way for projects needed to better their lives.
7 suspected criminals arrested in central Iraq
BALAD, Iraq - Iraqi Security Forces, with Coalition forces advisors, arrested seven suspected criminals during operations in central Iraq. A reported Special Groups leader and two others were arrested in Al Qurna during an Iraqi Special Operations Forces operation. The suspected SG leader has allegedly worked with Iranian intelligence for three years and helped smuggle weapons, money and information into Iraq to facilitate SG activities. In a separate operation, Iraqi Army soldiers, operating under the authority of a Diwaniyah judicial warrant, arrested a suspected criminal who reportedly was trained conduct assassinations of ranking ISF officials. In an unrelated operation in Hashimiyah, an Al Hillah Special Weapons and Tactics team, acting on a warrant issued by the Ministry of the Interior, arrested another suspected criminal during a raid to disrupt criminal operations in Babil province. Nov. 20 ISOF captured another suspected criminal during an operation in West Rashid, Baghdad. In an unrelated operation, an Al Hillah SWAT team detained another suspected SG member in Hayy Askari.
Iraqi Security Forces seize weapons caches, capture 2 suspected terrorists in northern Iraq
BALAD, Iraq - Iraqi Security Forces (ISF), with Coalition force advisors, captured two suspected al-Qaeda in Iraq/Islamic State of Iraq terrorist and seized a weapons cache during separate operations in northern Iraq. Iraqi Army (IA) soldiers captured a suspected AQI/ISI terrorist during a raid in Al Zirai. This operation targeted terrorist leadership and operational capability in Ninewa province. The detained individual was suspected of facilitating foreign fighters, displaced insurgents and equipment moving through Mosul. In a separate operation, the IA detained an alleged AQI Foreign Fighter Facilitator in the Farhatiya area. In an unrelated operation, Mandali Special Weapons and Tactics Teams (SWAT) discovered a weapons cache in the Mahmoud Salman Dahash Village. The cache contained a variety of improvised explosive device making materials.
---Multi-National Corps - Iraq
November 29, 2008
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