Right News and Views

According to this Yahoo News report, it seems as if Bush has finally defeated his enemies in Congress who threatened to hamper US efforts to defeat our enemies in Iraq.

In a well-deserved reminder that they do not run everything in the United States, a humbled and bruised Congress learned to respect the power of the veto and the president’s role as Commander in Chief.

Their lesson grudgingly learned Congress is now working to fashion a bill that will pass the presidents desk and provide the necessary funding for US troops throughout the remainder of the fiscal year.

The bill should reach the presidents desk by Friday of this week.

According to Wikipedia, out of 42 presidents from best to works, Carter ties for 27th place (with Gerald Ford) in rank. In the last one hundred years, only Richard Nixon (ranked 32) and Warren G. Harding (ranked last at 42) are considered worse than Carter.

But Carter himself removes George W. Bush from his actual ranking of 22nd place and puts him in last place. Now I don’t want to be critical of Carter. He always struck me as a decent man despite the fact that I disagree with many of his positions. This impression of decency was reinforced when I sat in during one of Carter’s Sunday school classes at his church in Plains, GA in 1995.

At the time, I was serving as a Seasonal Park Ranger at Andersonville (just north of Carters birthplace). While there, I helped out a very little with the Department of the Interiors project to turn Carters old school in Plains into a National Historic Site. Mostly, though, I worked at Andersonville. Still, I got to know a little about Carter over the course of that summer. Listening to him speak I also got the impression he was a confident but not arrogant man, intelligent, kind, and friendly. In short, I liked him in person.

But I also noticed the effort to portray him, if I remember the exact wording of the tee shirts and other similar items for sale in local gift shops, as “the best ex-president since Thomas Jefferson.” Seeing this slogan – which I was and still am under the impression was created by someone in Carters hometown - always made me feel kind of sad. It was tantamount to saying “Okay, we the people of Plains admit Carter was a failure as president - but look at all he’s done since he left office.”

I always felt that such a slogan was rude and felt a bit sorry for Carter every time I saw it.

But I don’t feel that way any more. We all have free speech, of course. But when you’re a former president the prevailing courtesy has always been to refrain from commenting on your successors. Carter has disregarded this courtesy. That’s his choice, and he has that right. But I don’t think, given his presidential record, that he has the credibility.

Would you ignore someone who pleads for help? It’s a yes or no question.

How will the Democrats respond to this plea?

All I can say to this piece is wow. Vasko Kohlmayer wins RightNewsandViews appellation of “Columnist of the Week” for Of Flatulent Cows and Liberal Madness. Kohlmayer lays out exactly why conservatives view liberals as lacking sound judgment. He sites examples of these perceived lapses in judgment and then offers an explanation as to why obviously intelligent liberals are nevertheless clearly confused. It is their war against God that has clouded their minds.

He states: “The left is more than just atheistic; it is rabidly so. But this is a very precarious state to be in and something that a very wise book expressly cautions against. There we learn that those who turn on God will be afflicted with ‘madness, blindness and confusion of mind.’”

I am ashamed I did not understand this before. Instead of attempting to reason with liberals we should pray for them. Lest I sound arrogant I clearly know that we are all sinners- every single one of us. And I’m thankful that there are people out there praying for me. Of course,
sometimes it is difficult to act towards others as you should. All too often I savagely attack liberals. Kohlmayer’s piece reminds me that, though their problems differ from my own, we all need God’s forgiveness and love.

So let us pray for ourselves for forgiveness of our sins, pray for one another for strength, courage, and wisdom, and pray for changed hearts and minds in those who are at war against God.

Jonah Goldberg makes perfect sense in his Civil War Doesn’t Mean It’s Over - What’s so wrong with taking sides? He notes that the now trendy excuse - as popularized by defeatist John Murtha - to cut and run in Iraq is that we are “caught in a civil war” - “as if this is the geopolitical equivalent of ‘I’ve fallen and can’t get up.’”

Goldberg goes on to note that Joe Biden, the master of “open mouth, insert foot,” screamed out on the Senate floor: “I’m so tired of hearing on this floor about courage. Have the courage to tell the administration, ‘Stop this ridiculous policy you have.’ We’re taking sides in a civil war!”

We are? How terrible of us! Does Biden not have an opinion on which side was right and which side was wrong in our own American Civil War? Consider the honor with which we regard Lincoln and it is clear that all but the most vilely racist throwbacks are glad the North won.

Goldberg makes the point that many liberals want us to intervene in certain other civil wars as well- so why not this one? Check it out and appreciate the logic of the piece.

In answer to a comment from a previous post, it was suggested that there would be far more comments calling “Democrats traitors, accuse them of being guilty of treason, accuse them of supporting the enemy, charge them with being unpatriotic and of being evil.”

Well, let’s take a look at that by doing some quick research on Google:

1,540 hits for “Republicans are traitors”

694 hits for “Democrats are traitors”

6 hits for “Republicans are guilty of treason”

720 hits for “Democrats are guilty of treason”

284 hits for “Republicans support terrorists”

412 hits for “Democrats support terrorists”

2,320 hits for “Republicans are unpatriotic”

4,170 hits for “Democrats are unpatriotic”

19,600 hits for “Republicans are evil”

597 hits for “Democrats are evil”

Just for the fun of it, I threw in a bonus search:

761 hits for “Republicans are bastards”

3 hits for “Democrats are bastards”

But the “are bastards” search will NOT be tallied in with the below figures. The below only tallies up poster Doug’s criteria:

Negative Comments against Republicans: 23,750

Negative Comments against Democrats: 6,593

So, that is 17,157 more negative comments against Republicans overall. Well, seems as if the suggestion that overall you’ll find more comments calling “Democrats traitors, accuse them of being guilty of treason, accuse them of supporting the enemy, charge them with being unpatriotic and of being evil” is completely wrong. Of course, we can break it down by category- then you actually do have Democrats with three in their “favor” and only two in the Republicans “favor.” But I feel it is safe to declare liberals the winners of the mantel of “Most Negative.” The only question remains is to how they will twist these facts to try and make themselves sound less negative than Republicans? It will be hard to dispute cold, hard numbers but I’ve no doubt they will try.

I ran across something while attempting to illustrate a point earlier today and found it very interesting. There are 3600 entries on Google that say “Bush Must Die.” There are only three for “Pelosi must die.” I did more for other Democrats (Clinton, Reid, and Gore) and all combined did not even break 300 while Bush has 3,600. Even if you put his first name in front of this last in the search – to eliminate perhaps some entries that do not refer to the President, you still get over 1,000 entries. Run the search this way - George “Bush must die” – and you get 2,100 results. Now this certainly is not scientific but it strikes me that there are, at the most conservative estimates, slightly greater than 3 crazy liberals to every one crazy conservative. Again, this is completely unscientific – and I urge you to draw your own conclusions. Do your own research- but at first blush it certainly seems that there are a far greater number of Liberals that wish death upon their enemies than the other way around. And rational, logical people must admit that wishing death on your political enemies and stating the fact for all the world to see is not a rational, logical thing to do. So, to me- in my humble opinion and based on what I see – there are far greater numbers of liberal psychos than conservative psychos.

Of course, I’ve suspected this all along.

Democrats in the Senate failed to cut off funds for the Iraq war and so the specter of genocide in Iraq has been held off yet again. If only the Democrats would fail at everything they attempt. I for one certainly hope they do.

The story of their defeat can be found here.

According to the Drudge Report:

“After losing a string of embarrassing votes on the House floor because of procedural maneuvering, Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi has decided to change the current House Rules to completely shut down the floor to the minority.

The Democratic Leadership is threatening to change the current House Rules regarding the Republican right to the Motion to Recommit or the test of germaneness on the motion to recommit. This would be the first change to the germaneness rule since 1822.

In protest, the House Republicans are going to call procedural motions every half hour.”

And what is Pelosi’s dangerous liberal message in all of this? It is that if you can’t win by playing by the rules, change the rules. Got that, boys and girls of America? If things are going your way just throw a fit, claim free speech is for you but not for you opponents, and abuse your power. The system has worked for 185 years but it is just not good enough for Pelosi.

I did not support the nuclear option in the Senate when Republicans were in power (even though I desperately wanted the Democrats shut down and conservative judges filling every court throughout the land). But the Republicans had the wisdom to not set this dangerous precedent. If the ultra liberal follows through with her heinous threat, she will prove she lacks the wisdom Republicans in the Senate displayed.

This woman and her ego must be removed from her position in the House- and if possible entirely from the House. San Francisco “values” have no place in a position of authority anywhere but they especially do not belong in a position that is third in line to the Presidency.

Further, I voted for a Republican Representative to the House for my state of Georgia and I DEMAND that he at least be heard even if what he votes in favor of fails to pass.

I ask myself that every day- and Jonah Goldberg lays out the case that, if they are not actually crazy, then they at least have a “serious problem.”

In his recent opinion piece, Goldberg explains why he feels this way about the Democrats. Referring to a recent poll from Rasmusssen Reports, he notes that:

“Democrats in America are evenly divided on the question of whether George W. Bush knew about the 9/11 terrorist attacks in advance. Thirty-five percent of Democrats believe he did know, 39% say he did not know and 26% are not sure. So, 1 in 3 Democrats believe that Bush was in on it somehow, and a majority of Democrats either believe that Bush knew about the attacks in advance or can’t quite make up their minds.”

With this in mind, Goldberg asks how, since liberals think Bush is a moron, the president can at the same time be an evil genius responsible for the worst attacks on the American homeland in history.

Of course, Bush is not a moron. But rational people know he did not just allow 9/11 to happen, either. Like Goldberg said- they have a serious problem.

I don’t really care what polls say. I’m more concerned with doing what I believe is right than doing what others say is popular. But those of you who sniff the winds for change and don’t mind setting aside your values and beliefs when they go against the popular majority should check out this wonderful piece by Raghavan Mayur.

Seems as if not everybody wants to waive the white flag after all.

I delight in the sharp pen of Ann Coulter, respect the level-headed clarity of Walter Williams, and appreciate the wisdom of Rush Limbaugh. But few political commentators impress me quite as much as Thomas Sowell. Every piece he writes is thought-provoking, well-reasoned, and completely right.

In this piece, The Anger of the Left Sowell asks, then answers, why liberals get so bent out of shape, march in protests, and shout down speakers they disagree with far more often than their conservative counterparts. As with anything Sowell writes, this one is a must read.

In this New York Sun article by Eli Lake we learn that tribal leaders throughout Iraq are turning on Al Qaeda and becoming more willing to work with American forces. This is certainly good news for anyone left in America who hopes to see the US defeat the terrorists and establish a stable democracy in Iraq.

Sheikh Hussein al-Tamimi and his tribe are friendly to American forces though do not want US troops in Iraq forever. Sheikh Hussein said: “We would like America, a friend, to rebuild the country. This is what we want, what the tribes want. But to stay here as a military force indefinitely is unacceptable.” But Sheikh Hussein understands that America cannot simply abandon Iraq in the near future. The article noted that, at a luncheon Sheikh Hussein asked Lake to “please, tell the Democrats for now to stop pressuring Bush.”

This is, if not conclusive, at least encouraging. There is hope for Iraq.

According to this AP story, “Many Europeans believe the Jews dictate US policy in the Middle East, wield disproportionate global economic influence and talk too much about the Holocaust, according to a report released Monday by the Anti-Defamation League.”

There were 2,714 people surveyed in Germany, France, Italy, Spain, and Poland and their responses revealed high percentages of anti-Jewish sentiments.

In my opinion, the most shocking part of this survey revealed that “Poles were also most likely to subscribe to another long-standing belief, with 39% of respondents there saying they somewhat agree or strongly agree that the Jews “are responsible for the death of Christ.” Overall agreement with that statement was 20%.”

From a Christian standpoint, we know that all of mankind is responsible for the death of Christ. Our collective sin – from Adam to every human being since – is the reason Christ went to the cross. Jews are equally responsible along with the rest of us- so blaming Jews and ignoring your own culpability in Christ’s sacrifice on the Cross is rank hypocrisy.

Our world has a long way to go…

Ralph Peters pulls no punches in this piece on Iraq. He discusses what we all did wrong, what we need to do to correct it, and exposes some truth about ourselves concerning torture.

The best passage in it is the following:

Whether you’re left, right or in between, ask yourself this yes-or-no question: If torturing a known terrorist would save the life of the person you love most in the world, would you approve it?

If your answer is “no,” you’re not a moral paragon. You’re an abomination. And please make your position clear to your husband or wife, mother or father, son or daughter. Just tell ‘em, “Sorry, honey, but I’d rather see you dead than mistreat a terrorist. It’s a moral issue with me.”

His point is that he was surprised that so few of our military would not support torture if they believed it would save the life of one of their fellow soldiers. The media was, not surprisingly, horrified at how soldiers many approved. But when you are dealing with known monsters willing to blow up children and innocents just how much should you worry about them? The answer is not at all.

A well reasoned piece and a real “must read.”