Obama and Iran

If Obama did say that Iran is a tiny country that doesn't pose a serious threat to the US then it is hard to imagine how anybody could vote for him to be President of the United States. Such inane reasoning would be laughable in a State Senator. It is dismaying and repulsive in a US senator and would be dangerous beyond belief in a president.

This would be like saying in the 1930s that Japan and Germany weren't threats to the US because they were tiny countries.

It is true that the relative might of the US versus Iran is greater than the relative strengths of 1940 Japan and the US. Nonetheless we are not concerned about Iran launching traditional attacks on US soil. Iran is not going to send over its Air Force and bomb US cities. However there can be a co-ordinated series of attacks (snipers, bombs, suicide attacks and the like) by infiltrated Iranian soldiers.

California Supreme Court Rules in Favor of Gay Marriage

I'm 100% in favor of gay civil unions but 100% against the decision made by the California Supreme Court. This is a matter for the California legislature not the courts. We all know that the legislature and the courts are in constant battle but here is a classic case of the courts overstepping their constitutional bounds.

Talking with Terrorists

Obama and the Democrats should not have reacted so negatively to Bush's comments about talking with terrorist states and organizations. This should not be an issue. Does anyone seriously believe that the US government has not been in contact with Iran and Hamas? Does anyone believe that the Truman, Eisenhower, Kennedy, and Johnson administrations were not in contact with the Chinese government? Who believes that the first talks between the United States and China was when Nixon traveled there? The issue here is not back room discussions; the issue is with state visits. The only outcome of state visits is prestige being conferred upon despicable people and their organizations. It must be understood that there are situations where talking will not solve the problem, where there can be no common ground.

Say you were the mayor of a town and the KKK was gathering their forces saying that they would kill all the Niggers in the town. What sort of common ground can their be? What sort of compromise? Kill only half the Niggers in town? Insist that the KKK refrain from using the n-word and call all the black folks African-Americans or People of Color while they're being lynched?

No the only communication you could, or should, have with them is "Come here with that shit and we're going to kill you like the fucking rabid dogs you are."

One more example of the sillyness of hate crimes

Apparently, on Halloween 2007 a group of black and Hispanic kids beat up a group of white kids in Howard Beach (NYC). Some of the black kids shouted "I'm going to kill you, you white motherfuckers."
Now I feel, as you all know, that the very concept of a thought crime is reprehensible. And find it more than a little ironic that the same people that think that Bush & Co. are bringing fascism and a police state think nothing of enforcing "guess-what-the-perp-was-thinking-and-feeling" statutes.

These same knuckleheads (supporters of hate crimes) would be the first to tell you how inaccurate eye witnesses are, and yet they believe they have the insight into a person's mind to tell you if an epithet was a generic insult or based on racial hatred.

Immigration: Open front doors, closed windows.

I have thought about immigration reform for years. The short of it is that first things first we have to have control of our borders. It has always been important, but in a world dominated by international terrorism and the possibility of nuclear, biological and chemical weapons it must become a priority. We cannot have people entering this country without knowledge of who they are.

It is good that the debate has become public. We should expand this public debate to have referendums regarding citizenship and the road to citizenship. We’ve all heard the term “ugly American,” well now we have the “ugly immigrant.” It is surreal to hear that people who want to come and live and be part of the United States consider it to be racist that they learn English. We must also change our immigrant policies. No longer should it be policy for relatives of newly minted citizens to have priority over others who wish to come. We should take a page from Canada and value some skills over others.

Global Warming

I’ve been meaning to look at some of the journal articles regarding global warning and see how global warming advocates had been playing with the data. Thankfully others are looking into this as well. Michael Fumento, in his article When ‘Science’ Plays Politics brings up an article from Science, which in response to the Hurricane Katrina declared: “A large increase was seen in the number and proportion of hurricanes reaching categories 4 and 5.” But, as Michael Fumento points out, “the researchers simply cut off their data at 1970, though public statistics go back to 1850. Using the full data set would have reversed the conclusion.”

The funny thing is – I do think that global warming is a concern, even though humanity has little or nothing to do with it. Major climatic change needs to be understood and dealt with; as do changes in the earth’s magnetic field (due soon) and major asteroid impacts. What we don’t need are advocates of a certain political viewpoint using science to promote their agenda. This is as disgusting and as venal as religious leaders preventing scientific progress because it interferes with dogma.

Paranoid of the might-be and Complacent to the horrors of the day

It’s incredible how people on the left can both be so worried about the overreaching of government and yet desire to continue the expansion of government power. It doesn’t make any sense. If you’re scared of the power of the government why do you keep giving it more power, keep abrogating your rights in favor of this same government?

A few days ago the NYTs had an article “After Subpoenas, Internet Searches Give Some Pause” which recounted how a woman looked up the term “rent boy” after reading about a British politician who had resigned over an affair. Finding out that rent boy meant a young male prostitute she feared that Google might inform the US government and be whisked away to a “Navy prison in the middle of the night.”

Ms. Hanson assumed the worst and her paranoia paralyzed her ability to think things through. If a child rapist has his day in court, why wouldn’t Ms. Hanson for googling the phrase “rent boy.” A child rapist gets 60 days in jail and Ms. Hanson, the hardened criminal, the infamous googler, would “disappear” in the middle of the night.

This paranoia is emblematic of today’s wimpy left: paranoid of the might-be and complacent to the horrors of the day. Do you want to be horrified about something Ms. Hanson, be horrified about religious madmen who want to curtail any criticism of their faith; fanatics who are in a tizzy about some very tame cartoons.

Do you want to google something try “Danish Mohammed Cartoons”? I’m sorry that you won’t find any of those images in the New York Times. Apparently it didn’t make the cut of “All The News That’s Fit To Print.”