Archive for February, 2007
Congress Resurgent?
by Thomas E. Brewton
Will we have a reprise of the post Nixon-era Congressional invasion of the President's Constitutional powers that led, among other things, to eviscerating the CIA?
Congress is reassessing the President's Constitutional powers, as it did in the aftermath of President Johnson's Vietnam war and President Nixon's Watergate scandal.
The new Democratic Congressional majority are challenging the Constitutional powers of the President on the whole sweep of national security measures. They are particularly infuriated by President Bush's intention to deploy 17,000 or more new troops in Iraq, their ire augmented by the President's short-term ability to do so whether they approve or not.
Posted in Cultural Vigilantism
by Erik Rush
When Joseph Smith kidnapped 11-year-old Carlie Brucia in front of a Florida mall (and a closed circuit video security monitor) in February of 2004, raped her, killed her and discarded her body like a used condom, I responded with a column entitled "Give Him Death", in which I outlined my ambivalence regarding the death penalty, among other things.
"Officially" I am against the death penalty, because, as I said in the column: "I am personally against the death penalty for one reason: I don’t trust the state not to execute innocent people. I believe that if one innocent individual is executed, that’s one too many."
While I believe that most police and prosecutors take their duties in appropriately solemn fashion, we all know that there are those without conscience, those more devoted to career advancement than law and justice, and who reason that certain individuals "have it coming" whether or not they happen to be guilty of the crime at hand. Thus, I am in favor of life without parole for certain crimes, although I do worry about how legislatures, the judiciary and prison overcrowding can throw a wrench in that one.
My aforementioned ambivalence, and that for which I would make exception, are those crimes (like the Brucia killing) in which there was unequivocal guilt. Sadly, although there many cases of evident unequivocal guilt, there are very few methods by which the state can prove unequivocal guilt, particularly after a suspect "lawyers-up."
Which bring us to Michael Devlin, Missouri’s 41-year-old corpulent pizzeria pedophile accused of kidnapping Shawn Hornbeck 4 ½ years ago, and then 13-year-old Ben Ownby on January 8 in Beaufort, Missouri. A tip led authorities to Devlin's suburban St. Louis apartment, where on January 12 they found Hornbeck and Ownby. Devlin, now lawyered-up, has pleaded not guilty to charges of kidnapping Ben Ownby, which I am sure is a major surprise to the reader. He is also charged with kidnapping Shawn in 2002 but has not yet entered a plea.
If one reads newspapers or watches television news at all, it is obvious that there are all manner of irregularities concerning these cases, from Devlin’s ability to maintain a double life to questions of why Shawn Hornbeck made no attempts to escape despite having contacts in the community, contacts with police, to his parents willingness to parade him in front of Oprah Winfrey’s audience less than a week after his rescue.
Although I do have some of the same voyeuristic, morbid curiosity as the rest of us, I’m not going to get into all that. My greater interest lies in our attitude as a society toward such events and our manifest lack of outrage. I say "manifest" because despite strong verbiage being thrown around, that’s about all that’s being thrown around – rather than, say, Michael Devlin being thrown from a window with a good strong chain around his fat neck.
Oh, yes, we have a system of (deteriorating) jurisprudence, and there’s the presumption of innocence and all that. Again though, as in the case of Carlie Brucia, we have unequivocal guilt. Devlin abducted the boys. No doubt. In all probability, Hornbeck was his sex slave, and Devlin planned the same fate for Ownby. An angry mob won’t have the opportunity to drag him from the jail and summarily execute him, but I’m here to tell you that wistfully regretting that fact doesn’t make you a bad person.
In a way, it was a week of happy endings in the realm of child abductions. In addition to the Missouri rescues, there was the case of Marissa Marie Graham, who, after being abducted in Oklahoma, leaped from the back of her kidnapper’s car and found aid in New Mexico after he stopped at a convenience store for gas. Leave it to a 10-year-old girl to save the day by her own wits, God bless her…
On a completely different (but, trust me, relevant) tack: Back in the ‘Sixties, my father, who was an absolute computer systems pulsing brain, worked for this little company called International Business Machines (IBM). The company, which was known for stringency and, of course, mega-success, had a motto: "think". My dad even brought home a plaque he got from work emblazoned with it. This motto became so popular, in fact, that marketers got a hold of it; plaques and posters began to appear in novelty shops bearing the spoofed legend: "think".
Whatever else IBM subsequently became, at the time, they reflected the epitome of American innovation and excellence. What did they need to do better than anyone else in order to succeed in their increasingly-competitive industry? "think".
Which is what Americans need to start doing, not only respecting existing domestic political and geopolitical issues – but right at home. While I realize that Nancy Pelosi and her posse are in all likelihood working on a bill right now to criminalize this controversial activity, I would admonish the reader to increase their regular participation in this particular activity. Not to be condescending, but it’s clear that Hollywood, advertisers, pervert activists, and socialist radicals (who now control Congress) are dedicated to the early sexualization of children – and have been, I maintain, since I was a child.
Between this and the subversion of the American family they’ve foisted upon us during the same period, it’s no wonder we have dead-eyed freaks like Smith, Devlin, and the increasing number of similarly infamous characters who’ve practically became household names.
Our PC lawmakers are never going to go for immolation of pedophiles, implementing castration via oxyacetylene torch, or hurling them from windows with good strong chains around their necks. So it’s up to us to do what we can – for the moment, figuratively speaking.
My kids are a tad perturbed at me right now because I installed a really cool parental control software package on their computer. In addition to filtering, monitoring and reporting, it even reports places my kids are thinking of visiting online.
"Dad – why can’t I get on this page?"
"Because I blocked it."
"How come?"
"Because it’s bristling with spirit poison."
"Oh…"
They get over it. They’re not savvy enough yet to know that this is happening by design – but when my seven-year-old can get from Postopia.com to a clip of buck-naked Alyssa Milano having her breasts lasciviously fondled in three clicks or less, it takes a fool not to at least suspect there’s something decidedly sinister going on.
As an aside: I’ve got a big beef (no pun intended) with Alyssa Milano. This Hollywood-raised brat is a boob (pun intended) of the highest (or is it lowest?) order, and was the operative who, during the 2004 general election campaign visited our fair city with the mission of enlightening us folks as to how evil the Republicans are and which deviant-supporting socialist-progressives for whom we should cast our votes.
Give it a try! After all, it could mean one of your kids avoiding sex slavery or a gruesome death someday. Go on – I know you want to… "think!"
Erik Rush is a New York-born columnist and author who writes a weekly column of political fare. He is also Acting Associate Editor and Publisher for the New Media Alliance, Inc. The New Media Alliance is a non-profit (501c3) national coalition of writers, journalists and grass-roots media outlets. An archive containing links to his writing is at www.ErikRush.com.. His new book, "It's the Devil, Stupid!" is available through most major outlets. His new book, Annexing Mexico, is scheduled for release shortly.
New Muslim Outrage Materializes
by Sher Zieve
As we in the Western world have come to expect, many Muslims and Islamic organizations claim "outrage" at almost anything and everything they can find. They rioted, burned buildings and vehicles over cartoons that parodied their prophet Muhammad. Then Muslims rioted, burned buildings and vehicles and even murdered a nun when Pope Benedict XVI quoted a 14th century Emperor who was critical of Islam. Like the Left, apparently, they have little to do—except riot or protest and attempt to silence all of those who have the unmitigated gall to disagree with their tenets of belief. Political correctness has completely taken over the secularists of the West, which has become feckless, jaded and pathetic. Now, all that terrorists and their supporters have to do is complain that they are "being discriminated against" (and threaten to call someone—somewhere—a "racist") and the West caves easily and willingly to all of their demands. Nowhere is this surrender more evident than in the case of Muslims’ latest indignation.
John Kerry Still Suffering From Hoof in Mouth Disease
by Sher Zieve
Not satisfied with calling US troops stupid, via his now infamous 2006 remarks, the European wannabee Sen. John Kerry has now blasted the entire United States of America. But, then he also did that in the 1970s. Speaking from one of the "world’s stages", this time in Davos, Switzerland, Kerry firmly placed his horsy hoof in his mouth—again—when he referred to the United States as "a sort of international pariah.." Note: John Kerry is one of the few US citizens who actually is a pariah.
Tricky Ahnuld: Schwarzenegger Mimics Hero Nixon
by Daniel Clark
At the 2004 Republican National Convention, Arnold Schwarzenegger told how he first became involved in American politics when he came to this country in 1968. It started when he was watching coverage of the presidential race between Richard Nixon and Hubert Humphrey.
"I heard Humphrey saying things that sounded like socialism, which is what I had just left," he said. "But then I heard Nixon speak. He was talking about free enterprise, getting government off your back, lowering taxes and strengthening the military. Listening to Nixon speak sounded more like a breath of fresh air. I said to my friend, "What party is he?" My friend said, "He's a Republican." I said, "Then I am a Republican."
… But a funny thing happened on the way to Sacramento. It seems that Schwarzenegger, like Nixon, has "grown" — which is how the media condescendingly describe it when a politician becomes more liberal over the years. By this measure, he has become more massive than ever, since announcing his latest proposals on health care and global warming.
Don’t Just Stand There! Do Nothing!
The virtue of gridlock
by Thomas Lindaman
On January 4th, Democrats took control of the House of Representatives and tenuous control of the Senate. With the change of power comes the possibility of something big government types dread.
Having to beg Ted Kennedy for political favors. Heck, the last lobbyist who asked Kennedy for a favor when he was in the majority broke his back carrying the portable wetbar around the Kennedy compound.
But there is something even more frightening than being Kennedy’s liquor boy. That something is gridlock. For those of you unfamiliar with the term, gridlock refers to when Congress can’t do its Constitutionally-mandated job of passing bills because the two major parties can’t agree on what needs to be done. Why does this bother big government types? Well, when you consider their veins run red with the bureaucratic tape of the same hue, having Congress unable to pass more laws makes them edgy.
Statistical Virtue
by Thomas E. Brewton
Liberal social justice is based on statistical averages relating to an abstraction called "humanity." Individual morality is not an element in that liberal cosmology.
One of the first legislative acts of the newly ensconced Congressional liberals was increasing the minimum wage. Countless studies have demonstrated that the legal minimum wage is counter-productive. But it sounds good and it can be applied at one shot without the tedious process of arriving at fair wages in individual cases.
The minimum wage is an example of the sound-good, feel-good statistical virtues of liberal-socialist-progressivism. Another is Al Gore's championing the Kyoto Protocols that would eliminate millions of workers' jobs in the Western world to reduce greenhouse gases, a statistical virtue that state-planners hypothesize will prevent the current high-point cycle of sun spot activity from warming the earth.
Washington Versus America: Grim “Two Party” Reality
by Christopher Adamo
Despite the complete disdain that conservative America holds towards former Assistant Attorney General Jamie Gorelick, it is hardly likely that she actually intended to help Bin Laden’s terrorists to successfully perpetrate the September 11 attacks. Rather, her goal was to stifle the ability of the justice system to hold her boss, Bill Clinton, accountable for the corruption being conducted from his office. Bin Laden merely benefited from her enablement of Clinton’s exploits.
Unfortunately, her lack of sinister intent, at least as it might pertain to the terrorists, was irrelevant to the ultimate harm she caused her country. More unfortunate still is the fact that in the aftermath of the attacks, those who, along with Gorelick had left the nation vulnerable, remained focused on their own interests and thus continue to act in a manner that poses a grave danger to the country.
The ongoing saga of former National Security Advisor Sandy Berger, and the selective myopia of the "9-11 Commission" stand as grim reminders of such.
America Goes Insane Over the Weather
By Alan Caruba
It’s official. America is now totally insane over the weather.
Even the Weather Channel that used to simply provide reasonably accurate, short-term information about the weather is now telling everyone we’re doomed because global warming is going to destroy the Earth. Why not just rename it the AlGore Channel?
The weather used to be the concern primarily of farmers and ranchers. It determines how well or not crops would grow and herds will thrive. As America became more urbanized, the rest of the population wanted to know whether to bring an umbrella or what to wear. Now it is a source of daily anxiety over the fate of the Earth.