Month: November 2005

11 Days, 300 Towns, and no end in sight.

Rioting youths have taken over the country of France as the leadership passively stands by hoping it will all magically end without a heavy hand.

As President Jacques Chirac struggles outwardly to appear strong and resolved in his desire to quell the unrest, he has already lost the battle. He has lost because his government is pointing an unloaded gun. Instead of being filled with bullets, it is filled with a liberal ideology, top heavy in words but void of action.

President Jacques Chirac, in private comments more conciliatory than his warnings Sunday that rioters would be caught and punished, acknowledged that France has failed to integrate the French-born children of Arab and black African immigrants in poor suburbs who have been participating in the violence, according to Latvian President Vaira Vike-Freiberga, who met with the French leader on Monday.

She said Chirac “deplored the fact that in these neighborhoods there is a ghettoization of youths of African or North African origin” and recognized “the incapacity of French society to fully accept them.”

The problem is plain to see. When liberalism guides ones thinking, choices quickly become limited. Throw tear gas? Nope, can’t do that. We might actually blind one of the rioters and that could cause more unrest! Rubber bullets? No way. We can’t have pictures taken of our policemen shooting guns, even if the bullets aren’t lethal. That might damage our reputation as an ‘open, non-violent’ society. Arrest and jail the youths? They’re just children! What good could come of it? If we simply throw away these individuals and make no attempt to ‘help’ them through rehabilitation, we won’t ever understand their root problems. What they need is care, support…ALL THEY NEED IS LOVE!

The liberal must first ‘understand’ the plight of the rioter, the terrorist, the dissident, or the contentious objector before they have enough information in which to construct a program of solutions. Meanwhile, violence ensues, cities burn, and eventually, people die.

The French will attempt to end the unrest in the same way the approach the War on Terror. They’ll use words, programs, and collective thought with a wide variety of political and socio-economic experts. It won’t work. Their liberalism will ensure them one thing – France will continue to transform into a fractious society led by groups holding radical fascist ideologies on one side and groups with leftist ‘hold me til I’m loved’ ideologies on the other. 

Don’t think this couldn’t happen in America. If we become distracted by the bias propagated through the media, and start to believe the distortions sold as fact by the Democratic leadership, we could elect a leftist government to power in 2008 and watch as they passively lead America down the same path of liberal understanding and enlightenment growing throughout Europe today. Just as France is becoming less ‘French’ day-by-day, America won’t be very ‘American’ anymore.

Liberalism – The risk is just too great.

MORE from Joseph Loconte

England’s House of Bishops released a report entitled – “Countering Terrorism: Power, Violence and Democracy Post 9/11″. In it, one of the Bishops was quoted as stating the following:

“Terrorism, however destructive, has to be understood, first of all, in political terms.” The real problem, is U.S. foreign policy, and the solution is “a political settlement” that “meets some of the terrorist concerns.”

Young men who blow themselves up in cafés, behead civil servants and murder women and children do not have “concerns.” They have ambitions, stated openly and repeatedly. These include: the eradication of Western influence from Muslim lands; the forced conversion or elimination of alleged infidels; the use of nuclear weapons against civilian populations; and the establishment of a Taliban-like empire extending from Iraq to Indonesia.

And if we ignore the leaking drip of liberal thought as it attempts to breach the walls of our free society, this Taliban-like empire will go beyond Europe and Asia – straight to your front doorstep.

And less Defense.

AP – Bush Declares: ‘We Do Not Torture’

President Bush vigorously defended U.S. interrogation practices in the war on terror Monday and lobbied against a congressional drive to outlaw torture.

“There’s an enemy that lurks and plots and plans and wants to hurt America again,” Bush said. “So you bet we will aggressively pursue them but we will do so under the law.”

He declared, “We do not torture.”

I’m tired of this funk.

Bush is stuck in a defensive response mode right now, and he’s not making the news. He needs to step back into that ‘newsmaker’ role as soon as possible. As Republicans, we need to step up and start making news too. It’s time we take over the podium again.

Well, I’ve looked and looked and there just isn’t anything worth blogging about today that isn’t being blogged here, or here, or here. I’ll wait to see what Monday brings. Hope you had a good weekend.

Camp Kerry must be polling the evangelicals again…

Democratic Sen. John Kerry called the Republican budget approved by the U.S. Senate “immoral” and said it will hurt cities like Manchester.

“As a Christian, as a Catholic, I think hard about those responsibilities that are moral and how you translate them into public life,” the Massachusetts senator said at a rally Saturday in support of Democratic Mayor Bob Baines, who is running for re-election.

“There is not anywhere in the three-year ministry of Jesus Christ, anything that remotely suggests – not one miracle, not one parable, not one utterance – that says you ought to cut children’s health care or take money from the poorest people in our nation to give it to the wealthiest people in our nation,” he said.

Hey, he’s right! The phrase “Children’s Health Care” doesn’t appear anywhere in the Bible. I had no idea John Kerry was a Bible scholar! I know who I’m voting for in 2008!

Puhleeze.

If you’re a fan, you better stock up now because it’ll be all gone soon.

Global drinks giant Coca-Cola is to end sales of three flavors in the US by the end of 2005.

Vanilla Coke, Vanilla Diet Coke and Diet Coke With Lemon are to be replaced by Diet Black Cherry Vanilla Coke and Black Cherry Vanilla Coke.

You know there are millions of addicted Coke drinkers who are contemplating suicide after hearing this news.

To me, the Diet Coke with Lemon tasted like someone sprayed Pledge in it, and the Vanilla Coke just plain tasted weird. Nothing like the ones made with real vanilla.

Here’s what I drink every day. It’s the 1 liter size Diet Coke. We order cases of these from Safeway.

No one better mess with this Diet Coke, for if they do, I won’t be held responsible for what I might do.

The AP’s Mike Glover must have been desperate to find a quote to contribute to this story.

Former Senate Democratic Leader Tom Daschle said Saturday that President Bush’s presidency “is essentially over” but warned that Democrats can’t count solely on Republican troubles to win in the next election.

“I don’t think it’s enough for us to watch the Republicans self-destruct,” Daschle said in an interview with The Associated Press. “I think it’s important for us to set forth some ideas that give the party an opportunity to define itself and to contrast with Republicans.”

Apparently, all of the other washed up Democrats were busy this weekend.

Not news right?

Dan Riehl examines the eulogy delivered by the former president during the funeral for Rosa Parks and finds that Bulba stretched the truth a bit.

Haven’t we seen this before?

Note to Chirac, de Villepin, et al – if you need us to come in and fix things…again…we’ve got a few hundred of our troops who aren’t doing anything this weekend. It shouldn’t take a whole lot longer than that.

Or, perhaps this is just a continuation of the pay-back he owes Hillary from the Monica days. Whatever it is, when Bill Clinton says things like this, you know he’s working off a sin.

Clinton: Hillary Would Be Better President

Former President Clinton said in an interview Friday that he believes his wife would do a better job than he did in the nation’s highest office.

New York Sen. Hillary Clinton has not said whether she plans to run in Nonetheless, her husband told Israel’s Channel Two television that her experience as first lady would help make her a strong president.

“In some ways she would be (better) because of what we did together,” he said from New York. “First, she has the Senate experience I didn’t have. Second, she would have had the eight years in the White House.”

“I think she wouldn’t make as many mistakes because, you know, we’re older and more mature, and she is far more experienced now in all the relevant ways than I was when I took office,” he added. “So I think in a way she has the best of both worlds.”

Don’t you just love the way he uses phrases like “because of what we did together” and “we’re older and more mature”? Bill is just aching to be a co-president again, and due to that bothersome 22nd Amendment, his only hope is Hillary. Like a puppy begging for scraps at the dinner table, Bill Clinton is on his hind legs batting those blue eyes and dreaming of a cabinet post. How pathetic.

Regardless of what Bill thinks, what the MSM reports, and the giddiness of the Left – Is America really ready and willing to elect “Clinton – Part Deux”?

Don’t bet on it.

Google is getting its share of bad press right now, but is it legitimate? The company has exhibited success and has realized prosperity. Is that a crime? If you’ve read the stories about Google lately, you’d think so. Everywhere I turn I see anger at and envy of Google being reported as news. Today’s story was no different than the dozens of others I’ve read.

Wide-Flying Moguls: Google Duo’s New Jet Is a Boeing 767-200

On the road, Sergey Brin and Larry Page have owned environmentally friendly hybrid vehicles such as the Toyota Prius. In the air, they apparently prefer something roomier.

Google Inc.’s two billionaire founders, both 32 years old, will soon be cruising the skies in a Boeing 767 wide-body airliner. They bought the used plane earlier this year, Mr. Page says.

The 767-200, typically an airline workhorse, is an unusual executive jet. It commonly carries about 180 passengers. Delta Air Lines operates over one hundred 767s. The Italian Air Force has ordered a modified 767 as an airborne tanker for refueling military jets. The 767-200 is almost 70% longer and more than three times as heavy as a conventional executive jet, such as a high-end Gulfstream.

Mr. Page says his plane will hold about 50 passengers when its refurbishment is complete. A top Gulfstream business jet typically carries 15 or fewer. He declines to give other details. People in the aviation industry familiar with the planned interior say it will have a sitting area, two staterooms with adjoining lavatories and a shower. Farther aft will be a large sitting-and-dining area. At the rear will be 12 to 16 first-class seats for guests or employees and a large galley.

Tech moguls delight in public one-upmanship and the Google founders’ 767 raises the bar. Microsoft Corp. co-founder Paul Allen owns a fleet of aircraft, but his flagships — two Boeing 757s — are smaller than Messrs. Brin and Page’s 767. It also marks a new level of consumption by the Google executives, who have shunned most trappings of the super-rich despite a combined net worth estimated at more than $20 billion.

Mr. Page acknowledges that the purchase might seem ostentatious. But “we tend to have an engineering approach, to be fact-based,” he says. “We looked at this and we just did the economics and we said, ‘you know, it makes a lot of sense.'”

And why not? Google is hot right now. They’ve got lots of business opportunities throughout the world and commercial air travel is impractical. Should their executives be penalized for Google’s success and be forced to ride coach to meetings in India? Puhleeze. If the money is there shouldn’t they be allowed to spend it anyway they want?

The only people who have a right to be concerned with the health and overall viability of Google are its shareholders. If they don’t like the spending habits of the founders or upper management they can deal with it. There are plenty of watchdogs available. If this dot com blows up like a bomb, so be it. What we don’t need is a babysitting media monitoring items purchased from the allowances received by Sergey and Larry.