Hugh Hewitt listeners rip Joel Stein...

The LA Times columnist really tried to express, in my view, some of the Left's hypocrisy, for "supporting the troops," but not the cause. His column is certainly incendiary but I also find it refreshing.

HH and others were outraged about the column's insensitivity, but I think it honest.

If Michelle Malkin has not yet unloaded, you better duck Joel.

His last line though, in reference to parades for returning military, was a bit over the top:

"Seriously, the traffic is insufferable."

Texas Border Scare, if true

I know nothing about this website but am starting to hear more and more of these rumors:

"Mexican soldiers and civilian smugglers had an armed standoff with nearly 30 U.S. law enforcement officials on the Rio Grande in Texas Monday afternoon, according to Texas police and the FBI."

"...a decidedly conspiratorial worldview"

How true!! I do believe in a wide variety of conspiracy theories and the whole "9/11 war on terror" has just added new fodder for those of us who share this worldview. So I offer this - compliments of Keith Olbermann from October 12, 2005. (scroll down until you find The Nexus of Politics and Terror)

One or two could be a coincidence - but 13?! I smell conspiracy...

Carmine said two boys; here are three.

I meant to get this up before he posted but didn't. We welcome "Love Johnson" to SSJ. (Scooter: I didn't think I had to say anything to him about his screen name, but clearly I did. Sorry.)

I intended to say a little bit about "LJ" and what to expect but his post speaks for itself. I'll add that LJ is an old friend of ours (30-plus years for me and about 20 for Scooter) and in addition to a definite lefty bent, he has a decidedly conspiratorial worldview.

Two comments LJ: (1) proofread (you seem to have a "shall" where you wanted "say;" (2) mix in a dictionary occasionally (it's "elicit" not "illicit").*

Hey, if we can't hold each other up for public ridicule, what's the point?

Anyway, welcome LJ. I'm looking forward to an interesting discussion. (Yes I intend to post more often.)

*This is going to come back to bite me. Hard. I dislike proofing, can't spell worth a damn, and my spell checker doesn't work.

the voice of the people

First, a cell phone. Next, Tivo. Now, a blogger. Guess I'm officially part of the 21st century. My role (as I see it) is to question, debate and offer a more, shall we shall, leftist view than my fellow secondhand smoking jacks. And to ask logical (well, at least they understand my particular brand of logical) questions and illicit their opinions and views on current events and subjects.
They are the voice of the bourgeoisie - I am the voice of the people!

Thanks guys for inviting me - I'll try to live up to the high standards set so far.

Whew, maybe I’m not a geek...

Peter Suderman at National Review Online on my favorite show...Battlestar Galactica.

[Update] No comments in three or four days...I guess I am a geek.

Texas Football Pride

I've had the great joy of seeing the UT Tower lit with the No. 1 from my patio for about 10 days. It's back to normal now and I miss the "Orange" and the "1."

Austin 5th most educated...

Austin is the 5th most educated city in nation, the survey says

Drill in ANWR

I hate when I don’t think of these arguments. This is also about Native Americans. Thanks to Tara Sweeney. It's not just national security and capitalism and cheaper energy costs. And this from me, whose only lib bone in my body is my green bone.

Ashby out!

I don't like it. I'll get Milo for half the Astros games and two guys I don't know. I don't like it one bit.

Rush v. Hugh

Was thinking today, and it is likely not an original thought, Hewitt seems a Republican first and Limbaugh a Conservative. Not anything revelatory...just crossed my mind.

This weekend...

One thing you said this weekend that I've been thinking about...

"Rush does a disservice when he says Dems want America to fail because they love America but just don't get/understand how things really work."

I paraphrase but you get my meaning.

I agree that what you say is true about the Dem base...the voters. I'm not sure I agree about the the big guns in the Party. I'm not ready to let them off the hook. A writer at Townhall last week said that he'd talked to a Repub ME senator until he was blue in the face about tax cuts but she couldn't change her position because of a segment of her electorate.

She chooses to take her stance because of her base in spite of the facts.

If Rush refers to Leadership, I'll agree because they know, or should know, better.

George Will on Analog Welfare

I love Will but rarely does he make me laugh.

In his column on the the "compassionate conservatism" of tax dollars subsidizing TV viewers for the switch to digital, he asks:

"Why is this a crisis? Because, although programming currently is broadcast in both modes, by April 2009 broadcasters must end analog transmissions and the government will have auctioned the analog frequencies for various telecommunications purposes. For the vast majority of Americans, April 2009 will mean ... absolutely nothing. Nationwide, 85 percent of all television households (and 63 percent of households below the poverty line [emph. added]) already have cable or satellite service."

He calls the pending house version of the law (cheap at $990M, ack!) the "No Couch Potato Left Behind Act."

Former Ambivalence about Immigration Reform

I've always been of two minds on the issue. I've always felt that as a nation of immigrants, we should welcome those who come here to make a better life for themselves and their families. If they needed to cut corners to get here, so be it. If I were struggling to put bread on my family's table, I'd make like Jean Valjean and do what it takes.

Since 9-11 though, I've become uncomfortable with my position. Clearly, the possibility of terrorists crossing illegally changes everything. That's easy. The question of what to do to stop them is more difficult. I have no answers and that is not the subject of this post.

Another thing that has changed my feelings about the issue has to do with multi-culturalism (and its sister, political correctness) and the "balkanization" of our country (and Europe as demonstrated in France with the riots and the UK with the recent bombings there). It is the transformation from the "melting pot" to the "salad bowl" our country seems to be experiencing. I know the problems here are nowhere near that of France, Germany and apparently the UK, but I fear it is only a matter of time.

As she usually does, Peggy Noonan has asked some questions in her column today that offer some of the reasons why my thinking has changed. I think it primarily a matter of respect:

"What does it mean that your first act on entering a country--your first act on that soil--is the breaking of that country's laws? What does it suggest to you when that country does nothing about your lawbreaking because it cannot, or chooses not to? What does that tell you? Will that make you a better future citizen, or worse? More respecting of the rule of law in your new home, or less?"

Subsidize Big Oil!

Thoughts on Windfall Profits from Paul Greenberg:

"What about the millions of Americans whose retirement depends on their mutual funds, in which oil stocks are heavily represented? How many of those pension funds are dependent on the oil companies' profits, and what happens to those pensions if the profits evaporate? Don't the pensions shrink, too? Instead of talking about laws against price-gouging, shouldn't Congress now be holding impassioned hearings, complete with widows and orphans, to ask how it can help increase Big Oil's income to help those dependent on it? Worse news could still be ahead: The price of gas, which hovered around $3 a gallon on Labor Day, now has dropped some 80 cents and could dip below $2 a gallon by Christmas. Oh, the humanity! Shouldn't Congress act before it's too late? Disaster impends!"

Can't we all agree on this?

Anathema? Update

Does anyone know why the noun "anathema" never has an article in front of it?

"My conservative views are anathema to my liberal friends."

instead of

"My conservative views are an anathema to my liberal friends."

Update: I may not know anything about predicate nominatives, but the folks at Princeton don't seem to have any difficulty using an indefinite article:

"he is an anathema to me"

George Will on "Windfall" Profits

George Will offers this pocketbook argument against the tax:

"They [Robert J. Shapiro, former undersecretary of commerce in the Clinton administration, and Nam D. Pham, an economist] calculate that 41 percent of oil company stocks are owned by pension plans and individuals' retirement accounts. Hence much of the tax's burden would have fallen on current and future retirees, reducing both the market value of, and dividends paid by, those stocks. The cost to all the oil companies' shareholders, in forgone stock appreciation and dividends, would have ranged -- depending on oil prices and inflation -- from $21.3 billion to $121.8 billion per year."

I know I'm the only person on the planet who cares about this stuff but actions have consequences and our representatives have to consider them while they preen.

Update: a tonic for Abe Foxman

Update from Isi Liebler at the Jerusalem Post:

It is therefore highly regrettable that organizations devoted to promoting pluralism and combating anti-Semitism would paint friends as adversaries. This is hardly the way to retain the support of the one American major group that consistently and unconditionally supports Israel. It is surely wrong and counterproductive to insult friends and allies, even if we differ with them on many other issues.

If we had 50 million evangelicals in Europe the situation for Jews would be dramatically different. Conversely, we would do well to ask ourselves what the status of Israel and Jews in the United States would be in the absence of our evangelical supporters.


I know about the historical persecutions, but have never figured out the fears expressed today.

Thanks to Rabbi Lapin, Julia Gorin and Jeff Jacoby for weighing in. Foxman gets a bit tiresome.

Lapin:

As an Orthodox rabbi with an unquenchable passion for teaching Torah and devoting myself to the long term interests of Judaism and America’’s Jewish community, I believe we Jews must turn our backs on the secularism that will sink us all. An act of friendship would be welcome. Let us all go out of our way to wish our many wonderful Christian friends——a very merry Christmas. Just remember, America’s Bible belt is our safety belt.

Gorin:

Apparently, Jews don't have enough enemies in this world, and the one friend they have is one too many. Or perhaps these two and the Jews who think like they do figure that the world doesn't stand a chance against Islam, so why not help battle the only remaining religion standing in its way of world domination?

Jacoby:


On the contrary: It makes me feel grateful -- to live in a land where freedom of religion shelters the Hanukkah menorah in my window no less than the Christmas tree in my neighbor's. That freedom is a reflection of America's Judeo-Christian culture, and a principal reason why, in this overwhelmingly Christian country, it isn't only Christians for whom Christmas is a season of joy. And why it isn't only Christians who should make a point of saying so.

National Review and Narnia

Ok, the cover of NR this week has me ready to subscribe. When I did that silly summer at Oxford, I made a point of having a pint at the "beak and baby" or Eagle and Child...the pub where the Inklings met.

Thanks to Vox Day for reminding me.

Still more on "Gouging"

I know this is quickly becoming a sick obsession of mine, but Ben Lieberman makes more good points on the issue at Heritage:

"Katrina hit the Gulf Coast on Aug. 29, and the resulting combination of reduced oil production, knocked-out refineries and closed pipelines sent gasoline prices skyrocketing nearly 50 cents per gallon in a week. At its worst on Sept. 5, the national average hit $3.06 per gallon."

and then:

"The lesson is that markets work. Katrina-induced supply shortfalls caused an immediate jump in prices, which quickly triggered a series of self-correcting actions. The additional profit motive sent the oil industry scrambling to make repairs even before the floodwaters had receded, bringing supplies back online very quickly. Similarly, the high prices attracted extra gasoline from Europe and elsewhere to the American market."