On Saturday, July 28, 2007, Worldnetdaily.com published my article "Our cotton-candy-fluffy-bunny news." Disgusted with the recent coverage of celebrity lawbreakers, I decided to write an article decrying the low standards of journalism, especially in television coverage.
"This was a full week for the world media: President Bush explained that insurgents in Iraq are tied to al-Qaida, Attorney General Gonzalez sparred with U.S senators, and the Dow lost 226 points. Yet, as I watched the headlines blur across my TV screen, it was clear the media had "Hilton syndrome." Lindsay Lohan's arrest dominated headlines and was the lead story on almost every news program. A nauseating reminder of the Hilton media frenzy, America confirmed its infatuation with the cult of the celebrity.
"A month ago, when socialite Paris Hilton managed to get herself a jail sentence, the media pushed aside world affairs for the opportunity to catch a glimpse of the blond heiress. Enamored with her looks, and nothing else, the media reached rock bottom in standards of coverage.
"To confirm the permanence of our society's deterioration, news of Lindsay Lohan, as well as the meltdown of Britney Spears, spread across TV screens Thursday and Friday like a bad virus on your computer. Yet these are these stories Americans want. We clamor for news about our favorite celebrities. Does she trim her nails herself? Did he have a weekend fling on the beach? Will they get married, or just continue living together for the next 12 years?
Why are we so shallow?"
Monday, July 30, 2007
Monday, July 23, 2007
Al Qaeda in Iraq
While liberals continue to tell America that Iraq is not apart of the war on terrorism, a revolutionary partnership has taken place in Iraq that confirms exactly the opposite. The Washington Times reported today that, "U.S. forces have brokered an agreement between Sunni and Shi'ite tribal leaders to join forces against al Qaeda and other extremists..."
Public Terrorist Number One is Al Qaeda, and it has terrorist cells in Iraq.
The rival tribes Suuni and Shi'ite have been warring factions for hundreds, or thousands of years. For these two groups to join forces is historic. It takes something pretty extreme to cause these rivals to halt their bloody feuding and take up arms against someone else. But Al Qaeda has enough of a presence in Iraq that it is the catalyst.
Iraqi President Talabani told President Bush earlier this year that, "We have serious problems with terrorism. The main enemy of Iraqi people is al Qaeda and terrorists cooperating with them."
So liberals, take a hint. We cannot accept anything except complete victory in Iraq.
Public Terrorist Number One is Al Qaeda, and it has terrorist cells in Iraq.
The rival tribes Suuni and Shi'ite have been warring factions for hundreds, or thousands of years. For these two groups to join forces is historic. It takes something pretty extreme to cause these rivals to halt their bloody feuding and take up arms against someone else. But Al Qaeda has enough of a presence in Iraq that it is the catalyst.
Iraqi President Talabani told President Bush earlier this year that, "We have serious problems with terrorism. The main enemy of Iraqi people is al Qaeda and terrorists cooperating with them."
So liberals, take a hint. We cannot accept anything except complete victory in Iraq.
Friday, July 20, 2007
A Less Hypocritcal Mexico
"It's very hard for Mexico to preach to the north what it does not do to the south," said Mexico's ambassador Artuor Sarukhan in a meeting with some editors and reporters at The Washington times yesterday. "Unless we correct the fundamental challenge of the violation of human rights o fLatin American or Central American migrants crossing the border into Mexciao, it's very hard for me to come up and wag a finger and say you guys should protect the rights of my citizens in this country."
Ironically, Mexico has created a situation where many Mexicans no longer want certain jobs because they can come to the US and get better jobs. The International Herald Tribune reported on this story last year in its article "Mexico worries about its own southern border."
"Here at Mexico's own southern edge, Guatemalans cross legally and illegally to do jobs that Mexicans departing for the north no longer want."
Former Deputy Foreign Minister Geronimo Gutierrez admitted in an interview with the New York Times last year that, "Mexico's immigration laws were 'tougher than those being contemplated by the United States,' where the authorities caught 1.5 million people illegally crossing the Mexican border last year."
I guess Mexico is starting to realize that it can't enforce its own immigration laws and ask the US to ignore ours. However, even if Mexico opened its southern border, we certainly shouldn't follow suit.
Ironically, Mexico has created a situation where many Mexicans no longer want certain jobs because they can come to the US and get better jobs. The International Herald Tribune reported on this story last year in its article "Mexico worries about its own southern border."
"Here at Mexico's own southern edge, Guatemalans cross legally and illegally to do jobs that Mexicans departing for the north no longer want."
Former Deputy Foreign Minister Geronimo Gutierrez admitted in an interview with the New York Times last year that, "Mexico's immigration laws were 'tougher than those being contemplated by the United States,' where the authorities caught 1.5 million people illegally crossing the Mexican border last year."
I guess Mexico is starting to realize that it can't enforce its own immigration laws and ask the US to ignore ours. However, even if Mexico opened its southern border, we certainly shouldn't follow suit.
Monday, July 16, 2007
One Nation, Under Shiva?
“We meditate on the transcendental Glory of the Deity Supreme, who is inside the heart of the Earth, inside the life of the sky, and inside the soul of the Heaven. May He stimulate and illuminate our minds.”
These words were not the utterances of a priest at a pagan temple, nor were they the invoking of some New Age group. These were the opening words at the US Senate on Thursday. For the first time since the Senate was formed in 1789, a Hindu chaplain led the openings prayers in the upper chamber.
Guest Chaplain Rajan Zed, who directs interfaith relations at a Hindu temple in Reno, Nevada, prayed for peace and unity of spirit. He asked the “Deity Supreme” to, “Lead us from the unreal to the real, from darkness to light, and from death to immortality.” He continued to emphasize unity, enlightenment, and being in one accord.
Sorry Mr. Zed, but unity is one thing the Senate is not good at. And praying to the ambiguous god of the earth, or the sky, or the soul of Heaven probably won’t do much good.
It wasn’t Krisha, Ganesh, Shiva, Maya, or any of the other hundreds of Hindu gods that the Founding Fathers prayed to.
In a handwritten manuscript book, George Washington recorded this prayer.
“O Most Glorious God, in Jesus Christ, my merciful and loving Father; I acknowledge and confess my guilt in the weak and imperfect performance of the duties of this day. I have called on Thee for pardon and forgiveness of my sins, but so coldly and carelessly that my prayers are become my sin, and they stand in need of pardon.”
You’ll notice the lack of Hindu gods in George Washington’s prayer. Hiduism plays no role in America’s heritage. However, hundreds of books document the strong Christian foundation of this country. And it is this heritage that gives the Senate the tradition of opening up its proceedings with a Christian prayer.
John Quincy Adams, during a 4th of July celebration address, specifically tied the founding of this nation to the Christian faith.
“Why is it that, next to the birth day of the Saviour of the World, your most joyous and most venerated festival returns on this day? Is it not that, in the chain of human events, the birthday of the nation is indissolubly linked with the birth-day of the Saviour? Is it not that the Declaration of Independence first organized the social compact on the foundation of the Redeemer's mission upon earth? That it laid the corner stone of human government upon the first precepts of Christianity.”
The House Judiciary Committee took up the constitutionality of chaplains in Congress in 1854. In its findings, the committee specifically cited Christianity as vital to America.
“[W]hereas the great vital and conservative element in our system is the belief of our people in the pure doctrines and divine truths of the gospel of Jesus Christ, it eminently becomes the representatives of a people so highly favored to acknowledge in the most public manner their reverence for God: therefore, Resolved, That the daily sessions of this body be opened with prayer and that the ministers of the Gospel in this city are hereby requested to attend and alternately perform this solemn duty.”
After guest chaplain Zed finished his prayer, Senator Harry Reid saw it fit to comment on the blessing. “I think it speaks well of our country that someone representing a faith of about a billion people comes here and can speak in communication with our Heavenly Father regarding peace,” he said.
It sounds like Senator Reid wasn’t listening to Mr. Zed’s prayer. If Senator Reid is referring to the God of the Bible when he says “Heavenly Father,” then he and the guest chaplain are talking about two different things. The Bible does not support the idea of a god who dwells in the earth, but also in the sky and heaven. (In fact, traditionally it is someone else who is in the “heart” of the earth.)
This idea of compatibility among all faiths is a myth. The world contains more Muslims than Hindus, but that doesn’t mean the Senate should invite Osama Bin Laden or Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to give an opening prayer to Allah.
Our country has a specifically Christian heritage. And we should protect and preserve this heritage by continuing the tradition of Christian chaplains asking God’s blessing on the proceedings in Congress.
These words were not the utterances of a priest at a pagan temple, nor were they the invoking of some New Age group. These were the opening words at the US Senate on Thursday. For the first time since the Senate was formed in 1789, a Hindu chaplain led the openings prayers in the upper chamber.
Guest Chaplain Rajan Zed, who directs interfaith relations at a Hindu temple in Reno, Nevada, prayed for peace and unity of spirit. He asked the “Deity Supreme” to, “Lead us from the unreal to the real, from darkness to light, and from death to immortality.” He continued to emphasize unity, enlightenment, and being in one accord.
Sorry Mr. Zed, but unity is one thing the Senate is not good at. And praying to the ambiguous god of the earth, or the sky, or the soul of Heaven probably won’t do much good.
It wasn’t Krisha, Ganesh, Shiva, Maya, or any of the other hundreds of Hindu gods that the Founding Fathers prayed to.
In a handwritten manuscript book, George Washington recorded this prayer.
“O Most Glorious God, in Jesus Christ, my merciful and loving Father; I acknowledge and confess my guilt in the weak and imperfect performance of the duties of this day. I have called on Thee for pardon and forgiveness of my sins, but so coldly and carelessly that my prayers are become my sin, and they stand in need of pardon.”
You’ll notice the lack of Hindu gods in George Washington’s prayer. Hiduism plays no role in America’s heritage. However, hundreds of books document the strong Christian foundation of this country. And it is this heritage that gives the Senate the tradition of opening up its proceedings with a Christian prayer.
John Quincy Adams, during a 4th of July celebration address, specifically tied the founding of this nation to the Christian faith.
“Why is it that, next to the birth day of the Saviour of the World, your most joyous and most venerated festival returns on this day? Is it not that, in the chain of human events, the birthday of the nation is indissolubly linked with the birth-day of the Saviour? Is it not that the Declaration of Independence first organized the social compact on the foundation of the Redeemer's mission upon earth? That it laid the corner stone of human government upon the first precepts of Christianity.”
The House Judiciary Committee took up the constitutionality of chaplains in Congress in 1854. In its findings, the committee specifically cited Christianity as vital to America.
“[W]hereas the great vital and conservative element in our system is the belief of our people in the pure doctrines and divine truths of the gospel of Jesus Christ, it eminently becomes the representatives of a people so highly favored to acknowledge in the most public manner their reverence for God: therefore, Resolved, That the daily sessions of this body be opened with prayer and that the ministers of the Gospel in this city are hereby requested to attend and alternately perform this solemn duty.”
After guest chaplain Zed finished his prayer, Senator Harry Reid saw it fit to comment on the blessing. “I think it speaks well of our country that someone representing a faith of about a billion people comes here and can speak in communication with our Heavenly Father regarding peace,” he said.
It sounds like Senator Reid wasn’t listening to Mr. Zed’s prayer. If Senator Reid is referring to the God of the Bible when he says “Heavenly Father,” then he and the guest chaplain are talking about two different things. The Bible does not support the idea of a god who dwells in the earth, but also in the sky and heaven. (In fact, traditionally it is someone else who is in the “heart” of the earth.)
This idea of compatibility among all faiths is a myth. The world contains more Muslims than Hindus, but that doesn’t mean the Senate should invite Osama Bin Laden or Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to give an opening prayer to Allah.
Our country has a specifically Christian heritage. And we should protect and preserve this heritage by continuing the tradition of Christian chaplains asking God’s blessing on the proceedings in Congress.
A Talking Polar Bear
I was riding the Metro in Washington DC the other day when I saw this advertisement on the wall. I found it quite ironic that organizations will put more time into protecting a polar bear than an unborn baby.Instead of wasting money putting words in a polar bear's mouth, which I'm sure he would much rather have had a seal or a human in his mouth, this group should run an ad that says something along the lines of, "First you create a single-parent home for me. Now you want to kill me." (Yes, many children are born into wonderful homes, but almost half, if not more, of all babies are born into homes that have a less than optimal environment.)
Where did this organization get the idea that polar bears are mad about their ice melting? Even that first statement is dubious. Who says that the ice is the polar bears? I think the next ad in this hypothetical world should be a seal or sea lion to the polar bears, "First you eat my baby seal, now you eat me."
Obviously polar bears, seals, and every other predator does not believe in animal rights. They freely eat members of other animal species, and sometimes of their own species. A predator will often look for the weak, the sick or the young. Like I mentioned in my article about sea lions earlier this month, animal rights activists are mostly self-contradictory.
"One day the self-appointed protector of the environment decries humanity for encroaching on wildlife and crimping the mating habits of the deer mouse; and the next day the same environmentalist swears by the theory of evolution, praising the notion of survival of the fittest and natural selection.
Thursday, July 12, 2007
Justice for Border Agents
The Washington Times reported today that the Senate Judiciary committee will hold hearings next Tuesday on the punishment of two border agents.
"Ignacio Ramos, 37, and Jose Alonso Compean, 28, were sentenced in October to 11- and 12-year prison terms, respectively, for shooting Osbaldo Aldrete-Davila, a Mexican national, as he fled into Mexico after abandoning 743 pounds of marijuana near Fabens, Texas."
"Border Patrol agents have a difficult and often dangerous job in guarding our nation's borders," [Senator Diane Feinstein] said in letters to Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales and Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff. "I believe that aggressive prosecution of Border Patrol agents has a chilling effect on their ability to carry out their duties and on the morale of all agents.
"I am extremely concerned about how this case continues to unfold," she said.
While Senator Feinstein is normally wrong on most issues, she certainly does not dissapoint here. She is absolutely right. Not only does the Border Patrol have to worry about automatic rifles and drug smugglers, but now, agents also have to worry about federal prosecution.
Not only did the government prosecute these two heros, but it proceeded to give both medical attention and full immunity to the known drug smuggler. An article in WorldNetDaily.com puts things in perspective.
"When Border Patrol Agent Ignacio Ramos pulled the trigger last February, all he knew was that his partner was lying on the ground behind him – bloodied from a struggle with a fleeing suspect – shots had been fired and now, it appeared, the drug smuggler he was pursuing had turned toward him with what looked to be a gun in his hand.
In the split-second he had to respond, Ramos determined the course of his and his partner's lives – federal prison for the next 20 years for assault with serious bodily injury, assault with a deadly weapon, discharging of a firearm in relation to a crime of violence, violating civil rights and obstruction of justice. "
Both of these agents were named Men of the Year on FrontPageMag.com.
Hopefully, after review of the events, the committee will recommend, and President Bush will grant, a commutation, if not a full pardon to these two men.
"Ignacio Ramos, 37, and Jose Alonso Compean, 28, were sentenced in October to 11- and 12-year prison terms, respectively, for shooting Osbaldo Aldrete-Davila, a Mexican national, as he fled into Mexico after abandoning 743 pounds of marijuana near Fabens, Texas."
"Border Patrol agents have a difficult and often dangerous job in guarding our nation's borders," [Senator Diane Feinstein] said in letters to Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales and Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff. "I believe that aggressive prosecution of Border Patrol agents has a chilling effect on their ability to carry out their duties and on the morale of all agents.
"I am extremely concerned about how this case continues to unfold," she said.
While Senator Feinstein is normally wrong on most issues, she certainly does not dissapoint here. She is absolutely right. Not only does the Border Patrol have to worry about automatic rifles and drug smugglers, but now, agents also have to worry about federal prosecution.
Not only did the government prosecute these two heros, but it proceeded to give both medical attention and full immunity to the known drug smuggler. An article in WorldNetDaily.com puts things in perspective.
"When Border Patrol Agent Ignacio Ramos pulled the trigger last February, all he knew was that his partner was lying on the ground behind him – bloodied from a struggle with a fleeing suspect – shots had been fired and now, it appeared, the drug smuggler he was pursuing had turned toward him with what looked to be a gun in his hand.
In the split-second he had to respond, Ramos determined the course of his and his partner's lives – federal prison for the next 20 years for assault with serious bodily injury, assault with a deadly weapon, discharging of a firearm in relation to a crime of violence, violating civil rights and obstruction of justice. "
Both of these agents were named Men of the Year on FrontPageMag.com.
Hopefully, after review of the events, the committee will recommend, and President Bush will grant, a commutation, if not a full pardon to these two men.
Wednesday, July 11, 2007
Enforcing our immigration laws
Monday evening, the Prince William County Board of Supervisors passed a resolution to start enforcing immigration laws. Prince William, a large suburban county in northern Virginia, adopted this resolution with some excellent provisions.
"All officials, agencies and personnel of the County shall fully comply with and, to the full extent permitted by law, support the enforcement of federal law prohibiting the entry into, presence or residence in the United States of aliens in violation of federal immigration law.
"County Police Officers shall inquire into the citizenship or immigration status of any person detained for a violation of state law or municipal ordinance..."
I'm sure it won't be long before the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund files suit to prevent this resolution from being fully enforced. I wonder why MALDEF even has "American" in its title. There is little American about it.
Hopefully other counties will follow this bold example.
"All officials, agencies and personnel of the County shall fully comply with and, to the full extent permitted by law, support the enforcement of federal law prohibiting the entry into, presence or residence in the United States of aliens in violation of federal immigration law.
"County Police Officers shall inquire into the citizenship or immigration status of any person detained for a violation of state law or municipal ordinance..."
I'm sure it won't be long before the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund files suit to prevent this resolution from being fully enforced. I wonder why MALDEF even has "American" in its title. There is little American about it.
Hopefully other counties will follow this bold example.
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