To win the presidency in 2012, the Republican candidate will require certain strengths. Among them, a credible passion for ideas other than cost-cutting and small government. He or she will have to speak in the voice of Americans who know in their bones the extraordinary character of their democracy, and that voice will have to ring out steadily. That Republican candidate will need, no less, the ability to talk about matters like Medicare and Social Security without terrorizing the electorate.
What If Jews Had Followed the Palestinian Path?
It is doubtful that there has ever been a more miserable human refuse than Jewish survivors after World War II. Starving, emaciated, stateless—they were not welcomed back by countries where they had lived for generations as assimilated and educated citizens. Germany was no place to return to and in Kielce, Poland, 40 Jews who survived the Holocaust were killed in a pogrom one year after the war ended. The European Jew, circa 1945, quickly went from victim to international refugee disaster.
Yet within a very brief time, this epic calamity disappeared, so much so that few people today even remember the period. How did this happen in an era when Palestinian refugees have continued to be stateless for generations?
Killing Bin Laden: An Act of Absolute Moral Clarity…and then there’s “President Boring.”
On May 1, 2011, President Obama announced to the world that he had personally shot Osama bin Laden in the head.
Well, not exactly. But it was close.
“I directed Leon Panetta, the director of the CIA, to make the killing or capture of bin Laden the top priority of our war against al-Qaida,” he said. “I was briefed on a possible lead to bin Laden … I met repeatedly with my national security team as we developed more information about the possibility that we had located bin Laden hiding within a compound deep inside Pakistan. And finally, last week, I determined that we had enough intelligence to take action … Today, at my direction, the United States launched a targeted operation against that compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan …”
Legal vs. Moral
What do you say when someone throws the “But abortion is legal” mantra at you? Let me begin by telling you a little about a piece from the L.A. Times last Friday, February 17. It’s entitled “War Against a Woman’s Right.” Obviously, it is about abortion because women’s rights now pretty much focus on the issue of abortion. This is an editorial piece that reflects on some recent fires at abortion clinics. It makes a couple of comments.
1st Amendment Protects ‘Hurtful’ Speech, Court Says
The First Amendment protects free speech even if it is as hurtful as signs at a Marine funeral proclaiming “Thank God for Dead Soldiers,” the Supreme Court ruled Wednesday in a decision that was one of the court’s most significant on freedom of expression in recent years.
The Westboro Baptist Church celebrated the death of Lance Cpl. Matthew Snyder in Iraq with signs such as “God Hates You,” along with antigay messages at his funeral in Maryland in 2006. The late Marine’s father sought damages for emotional distress, but the court ruled that he had no case.
An American vs. An American Apologist
“Seven o’clock this evening, Eastern Time, air and naval forces of the United States, launched a series of strikes against the headquarters, terrorist facilities and military assets that support Moammar Khadafy’s military activites.
Post Traumatic American Syndrome
I have noticed fewer people around town this past weekend. First I thought it was because of the Presidents Day holiday. Then I realized it was because anarchists were being bused into Wisconsin! More for them, and less for us!
The Midwest is getting a bit of a taste of Berkeley life. I’m guessing they are not liking it one bit. The violent, hostile vibe wouldn’t sit well with decent Midwestern folks.
The Catastrophic Failure of European Multiculturalism
Europe’s leaders have realized, and are acknowledging one after another, that that continent’s multiculturalist policy–the idea that geographic areas could be ceded to immigrants from Islamic countries who would treat them as Islamic enclaves, rather than being encouraged to assimilate–has been a disastrous failure.
Iran 1979 Redux?
Whither Egypt? Is Obama replaying, step-by-step, Carter’s handling of Iran in 1979? Harvard Historian Niall Ferguson thinks so.