By Thomas E. Brewton
Why does much of New Orleans still look as if the 2005 devastation of Hurricane Katrina had occurred just a few weeks ago?
Huge areas of New Orleans still are wastelands. New Orleans's liberal-progressive-socialist Senator Mary Landrieu has grabbed far more than her share of Congressional pork. Hundreds of millions of Federal dollars spent for rehabilitation have produced far too little beneficial result. People were without electric power for months; the police department contained more thieves than honest law enforcers; drug-dealing and prostitution remain major enterprises; and the city still retains its crown as the nation's murder capital.
One of the city's few "legitimate" businesses is casino gambling.
City and state administrations have yet to coordinate rebuilding plans, as politicians fight over who gets what share of the spoils.
The best that the city's Mayor Nagin can do is to demand that the Democratic-socialist Party presidential candidates pledge to send even more pork to New Orleans.
What accounts for this dismal record?
The answer is simple. New Orleans abandoned God and personal moral responsibility, turning instead to worshipping the atheistic, secular political state. That secular god has failed miserably, notoriously so in the aftermath of Katrina.
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Posted by Walt in Economics, Liberalism, Politics, Social Issues categories at 11:49 PM EDT
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By Alan Caruba
“Trusting in the Rock of Israel we now place our signatures in witness to this proclamation, sitting as the Provisional State Council, on the soil of the homeland, in the city of Tel-Aviv, this day, Friday afternoon, the 5th of Iyar, 5708, the 14th of May, 1948.”
This was the moment of the re-birth of Israel announced by Ben-Gurion, the first Prime Minister of Israel. I would call your attention to the year of the Jewish calendar he cited, 5708. It reaches back over the millennia, deep into the Torah, the Old Testament, with its long history of a people chosen to be “a nation of priests and a holy people.”
This fact alone eviscerates all arguments and lies put forth that the Jews do not have a right and a claim to their own homeland. Historians put the birth of Judaism at approximately two thousand years before the advent of Christianity. When the Roman Empire fell, it was restructured as the Holy Roman Empire with Christianity at its core. Jewish resistance to the Roman Empire shaped much of its early history.
At the heart of the Islamic protestations of modern Israel is their contempt for the two faiths that preceded their own that began in 622 A.D. By then Judaism was already a very ancient faith. To be anything other than a Muslim, then and now, was declared to belong to an inferior faith. Islam is distinguished by its inflexible fixation on Allah, a former moon god worshipped in Mecca, and the cult of Mohammed.
More than a billion of the world’s population is Muslim. More than a billion is Christian. Billions believe in Hinduism and Buddhism. Judaism, which was never an evangelizing faith, existed in small numbers, but for reasons of faith, both Christianity and Islam persecuted the Jews in their midst because their very existence raised questions of spiritual legitimacy.
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Posted by Walt in Middle East, Politics categories at 11:44 PM EDT
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From 1789 to 1815 Congressmen received $6.00 daily, but only on the days they showed up. From 1815 to 1855 Congressmen received a modest salary, compared to the massive salaries of the Congressmen today. In 1855 their salaries increased to $3,000 annually. Then in 1865 they gave themselves a 66% increase to $5,000 annually. 6 years later they boosted their salaries another 50% to $7,500 per year. The American People became so outraged by the greed that congressmen were showing, that congress was forced to take a 33% paycut, which lasted 34 years until 1907, at which time they gave themselves another 50% increase back to $7,500 annually. They took two other paycuts, both of which were during the Great Depression, for a total of 15%. These are the only 3 times in American History that any Congressmen have ever taken salary cuts.
In 1935, Congress voted themselves a 19% increase, then they didn't receive another pay raise until 12 years later, when they gave themselves a 25% increase in 1947. In 1955 Congress gave themselves a whopping 80% increase. In the years 1987, and 1991 Congress received 2 raises per year. 3% + 20% in 1987, and 4% and 25% in 1991. Within the last 10 years Congress has raised their salaries 8 times for a total of 26%. While the lowest paid American Workers have only received 1 raise within the last 10 years.
In the last 25 years Congress has seen 18 salary increases totaling 277%. While the lowest paid American Workers have only seen 5 wage increases in 25 years totaling a mere 166%. In the last 25 years the cost of living has increased 251%. The Minimum Wage has not been increased since 1997. While Congressmen's pay has increased 8 out of the last 10 years. To see what Minimum Wage would be, if Congress had given American Workers the same amount of increases they took, click here.
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Posted by Walt in Economics, Politics categories at 11:40 PM EDT
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By Daniel Clark
If it’s true that patriotism is the last refuge of a scoundrel, then that explains the tendency of liberal Democrats to seek shelter behind the Stars and Stripes.
When Barack Obama tried to distance himself from the anti-American ramblings of his spiritual advisor, Jeremiah Wright, he enlisted the help of not one, but eight American flags. He must have figured that, with all those banners standing behind him, he’d sound patriotic no matter what he actually said. That was apparently an accurate assessment, in fact, as few accounts of his widely lauded speech have bothered to note that he indirectly blamed Wright’s hatred of America on America itself.
This is the same Sen. Obama, remember, who had once worn an American flag pin on his lapel, but removed it in protest of the war in Iraq. The war continues, and so does Obama’s protesting it; nevertheless, he has changed his mind and embraced the American flag, now that he needs it as a security blanket.
Bill Clinton affected a similar reconciliation back in 1994. When he’d been a student at Oxford during the Vietnam War, he had protested against his own country on foreign soil. He had by that point been drafted, but had received an unprecedented deferment in exchange for an insincere promise to join the ROTC. In a letter justifying his duplicity to his ROTC director, Col. Eugene Holmes, Clinton told the former POW and Bataan Death March survivor about his “loathing the military.” Solipsistically unaware of the insult he was delivering, he wrote in closing, “Merry Christmas.”
While Clinton was running for president in 1992, Col. Holmes warned of “the imminent danger to our country of a draft-dodger becoming Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of the United States.” In an affidavit detailing the ways in which Clinton had misled him, the colonel explained, “These actions cause me to question both his patriotism and his integrity.”
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Posted by Walt in Politics, Presidential Race categories at 11:52 PM EDT
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by Stephanie Vance
Recent polls show that Americans aren't at all impressed with our U.S. Congress. Really. I know you're shocked to hear it, but it's true. In fact, a recent AP poll shows that 73% of Americans disapprove of the job Congress is doing, while only 22% approve. These are the lowest numbers in decades. Oh, and in case you're wondering if the question was "leading", it wasn't. Here is specifically what people were asked:
"Overall, do you approve, disapprove or have mixed feelings about the way Congress is handling its job?"
I don't know about you, but I don't think there are a lot of ways to misinterpret that question.
So what's behind all this crankiness? Well, I think a few key factors are coming together in a sort of "perfect storm" for members of Congress. What are they? I'm glad you asked.
Reason #1: Candidates Over Promising
In the 2006 elections, with Democrats eager to take over the House and Senate, there were a whole lot of promises made by candidates about getting the U.S. out of Iraq quickly. If you haven't noticed, we're still in Iraq. In fact, most of the increase in disapproval ratings comes from annoyed liberal Democrats who assumed that once Democrats took over Congress, all would be well (from their perspective).
Here's the thing, though. Frankly, there's no way in heck that any single member of Congress can have any impact at all on an issue of such national scope – much less quickly. In the legislative process it takes a minimum of 271 policy makers (½ the House plus ½ the Senate plus the President) to reach agreement on anything before it can be implemented. 271 people simply aren't going to make quick decisions.
Clearly, candidates and incumbents alike do a disservice to their constituents when they promise things that, because of the nature of the institution, they can't deliver. As citizens, we have a responsibility to call them on it every once in a while, right?
Reason #2: No One Understands What "The Job" Is
But the problem isn't just with unscrupulous politicians making promises they can't keep. In fact, a major part of the problem is that very few people – candidates and citizens alike – have any idea what "Congress' job" is! When asked, most people would say that it is Congress' job to pass legislation. Period. So naturally it's disappointing when we hear that of the 10,000 bills introduced in a Congressional session, only about 4% pass.
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Posted by Walt in Politics categories at 12:05 AM EST
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By Frank Hyland
Every generation firmly believes that, because they’ve got all the answers, it’s time for their predecessors, their elders to step aside and out of the way to make way for them. All the calls for "Change" tell us that once again those in their 20s, 30s and 40s are panting to take over the lead from the "old codgers" who are making all the mistakes. Many of the youngsters, though, display a words-deeds dichotomy that speaks loudly that they can use a bit more "seasoning" before they take the reins.
Added to the daily barrage of calls for "Change," we’re now told that it is once again time for a new generation to assume the leadership of the United States. We are told this by no less an authority on young people than Senator Edward Kennedy, age 76. Senator Kennedy, for those not intimately familiar with him, is also a paramount example of truthfulness, marital fidelity, and non-partisan politics. Nevertheless, it is always helpful to look at the day-to-day behaviors of the younger generation to see if there are clues there, clues to how they would act in the Oval Office. The younger generation clamoring for change and to take the reins of power, like all other generations before it, needs to be willing to look in the mirror and to be honest with itself as to the image it sees there.
There is a way to at least get an indication of how Young Folks would act in the Oval Office, The US Senate, or the House of Representatives: Their predecessors’ behavior in office has been very similar, identical actually, to the way they acted before being elected. In most cases, to be fair, the behavior in office has been honorable (or at least the Mainstream Media hasn’t yet uncovered the truth). It’s the behavior of Young Folks in society at large that can be alarming.
Essentially, we must be able to trust the word of our public officials. Well, what we used to call wedding "vows" seems to have taken on a new meaning, as divorce rates soar. Promissory notes for bank loans take a back seat more and more as bankruptcy rates soar. Realtors must wonder at night how many of the "15-year" mortgages these days will be honored longer than 15 weeks; moving out in the middle of the night and bringing in hogs to take your place, because you’re upset at being foreclosed, may become even more of a trend. The horror stories about abuse of others, children and adults, are made more horrible by the growing number of police officers, priests and ministers, counselors, health professionals and teachers who are convicted of perpetrating the crimes.
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Posted by Walt in Politics, Presidential Race categories at 1:26 AM EST
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By Alan Caruba
There always comes a time at some point in the process by which Americans select the next “leader of the free world” that one experiences the nausea incurred by too much political rhetoric. There is an impolite word for this that begins with the word “bull.”
Depending on one’s age, fortitude, gullibility, gender, et cetera, the nausea can set in early or late, but it will arrive and, with it, what is generally called wisdom. There is that quiet voice in the back of your head that says these are the same people that put the nation in the mess we’re in and we’re arguing over which one of them should dig the hole deeper.
How much change will either Sen. Obama, McCain or Clinton bring about when they have all been part of the gang that managed to add 55,000 “earmarks” over Bush’s seven years in office that cost Americans more than $100 billion? When the President sent a $13 trillion dollar budget to Congress this year, not one of them rushed to the microphone to suggest we’re broke. The government keeps itself in business by borrowing millions every day.
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Posted by Walt in Politics, Presidential Race categories at 12:54 AM EST
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By Alan Caruba
I am already quite sick of hearing Democrat candidates say that we have to “improve America’s standing in the world” as if the whole world holds our nation in contempt or disagrees with our actions.
All nations act upon what they believe to be their best interests and those interests are often shaped by their political philosophy. These things are subject to change. For example, there are some 200 sovereign nations in the world. Of these, 120 are multi-party democracies. Compare this with 1970 when there were fewer than 35 nations that were not outright dictatorships or operating under the iron fist of the single party rule of Communism.
One might conclude from this that democracy is catching on around the world and that in this new century most people want some form of representative government for their nation.
This is what inspires Buddhist monks to risk their lives to march against the military dictators in Burma (now Myanmar). This is what provokes outrage in the former Soviet satellite of Georgia when the rule of law is suspended or, most dramatically, when lawyers and judges, along with others, pour into the streets of Pakistan when its president seeks to extend his term in office by declaring an emergency and martial law. It’s thousands of Venezuelans filling the streets to try to stop the dictatorial ambitions of Hugo Chavez.
Where did these nations and people learn about democracy and representative government? For the most part, the United States of America has been both the example and the instrument for the spread of these concepts.
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Posted by Walt in Politics, US Constitution, US Military categories at 6:32 AM EST
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by Sher Zieve
On 6 June 1944, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt delivered one of the most arguably powerful prayer speeches in history given by an American president. Over Radio, Roosevelt’s speech was given as allied forces comprised of Americans, Brits and Canadians battled valiantly on the beaches of Normandy. This was D-Day in World War II. If the same speech were given today, in an ACLU and terrorist-accepting (if not terrorist-friendly) society, current presidents—most specifically Republican presidents—would be vilified. As a matter of fact, President George W. Bush has already been soundly denounced by the media and those who would placate the opponents of humankind for one word he used to describe a campaign against these enemies of humanity.
Note: The word used by President Bush was crusade and the terrorist and Western ‘mainstream’ media, alike, excoriated Bush for using it—just days after the brutal Islamist 9/11 attacks on the United States of America.
In his D-Day speech, President Roosevelt said: "And, O Lord, give us faith. Give us faith in Thee; faith in our sons; faith in each other; faith in our united crusade." Please bear in mind that the 1930’s and 1940’s liberal media was almost as appeasing and placating to the enemies of the USA as are our own current leftist channels of manipulated news. But, despite the media’s disagreement with President Roosevelt’s waging WW II he was—after all—a Democrat. And, just as today, with a few exceptions Democrats were largely given a pass by their media brothers and sisters—no matter what they did. Just five days after the 9/11 attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, President Bush told the American people: "This crusade, this war on terrorism is going to take a while." The Western media dutifully and with great politically-correct aplomb attacked President Bush for his use of the "C" word.
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Posted by Walt in Politics, Terrorism categories at 9:47 PM EDT
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by Daniel Clark
You can tell that things are looking up in Iraq, because President Bush's enemies are having to delve deeper into the mothballs to come up with reasons to criticize him. One example of this is an Aug. 9th Houston Chronicle story by Julie Mason, in which she revives the fatuous argument that Bush spends too much time on vacation.
Citing numbers that had been compiled by a CBS reporter, Mason writes that Bush is only a couple weeks away from breaking Ronald Reagan's record for vacation days taken by a president. This assumes, ridiculously, that the President of the United States is no longer on duty when he leaves the White House. In reality, there is seldom any particular reason that the president must stay in Washington when Congress is out of session. It stands to reason, then, that Republican presidents would leave town more often, rather than remain in the midst of a hostile Washington press corps.
From the way that liberals talk about Bush's "vacations," you'd think that when he moved operations to his Crawford ranch, his work went undone. One imagines him returning to his desk to find one of those pink "While You Were Out" slips, saying something like, "Putin called. Said it was urgent, but you know how he is. Told him you'd gone fishing."
The headline of Mason's story dubs Bush "the vacation president," but the truth be known, President Clinton was more on vacation in the Oval Office than Bush has ever been in Crawford. For all we know, one of Clinton's many sordid trysts might have even involved a snorkel.
It was Clinton who said that the one thing he'd miss most about being president would be the White House movie theater. Any other president would have said something about the privilege of serving the American people, or maybe the dedication of his staff and secret servicemen, but leave it to Bill Clinton to take that question as an opportunity to audition for MTV's Cribs.
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Posted by Walt in News Media, Politics categories at 10:24 PM EDT
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