Progress on the Home Front

After five years of partisan squabbling and Democratic obstruction, Congress, in the last few weeks, has finally done some good.

The energy bill provides $14.5 billion in tax breaks and other incentives to encourage new nuclear plants, cleaner-burning coal facilities, production of more oil and natural gas and of energy from wind and other renewable sources, investment in electrical transmission lines and to make homes and office buildings more efficient. Drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge will be considered later this year.

The $286 billion transportation bill was approved overwhelmingly by the House and the Senate.

Congress approved the Central American Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA). The president cast the accord in national security terms - as buoying the economic and political health of hemispheric neighbors.

Congress also voted to reauthorize portions of the USA Patriot Act, granting sweeping powers to authorities to combat terrorism.

The Senate scheduled hearings for Supreme Court nominee John G. Roberts to begin Sept. 6.

On the education front, the National Assessment of Educational Progress -- also known as the national report card -- released good news on long-term educational trends in America. Reading competency for 9-year-olds has reached its highest level since NAEP began measuring progress in 1971.

What is more, the achievement gap is narrowing. The gap between black and white 9-year-olds was 44 points in 1971, down to 26 points in 2004, while the gap between white and Latino students narrowed from 34 points in 1975 to 21 points in 2004. Half the gap-narrowing has occurred since 1999.

Of course, educrats are scrambling to make sure that no credit goes to President Bush or his No Child Left Behind program. Look at any reform that has boosted student performance -- phonics, direct instruction, English immersion -- and the chances are, the educrats were against it. Bush packaged his approach under his promise to fight "the soft bigotry of low expectations." For years, educators blamed parents, demographics, money, you name it, for poor student performance.

Bush didn't want to hear the excuses -- and his Texas swagger paid off.

"He almost makes you believe in the power of positive thinking, because he has just never acknowledged that he's down," says Fred Greenstein, a presidential scholar at Princeton University.

Airhead America Payola

Air America is the far left radio talk show featuring Al Franken, Janeane Garofolo, Randi Rhodes and Stuart Smalley, famous only for its Bush hatred. Air America is also a financial disaster barely being kept afloat by money from George Soros and his ilk. In ultraliberal NYC its rating is below even that of the Caribbean station it replaced.

Now it appears that Air America has also accepted money from at least one non-profit charity organization funded by the public. The Washington Times asks: Did Al Franken's liberal radio network Air America divert city money for the elderly and inner-city children to itself?

In June, NYC officials designated the Gloria Wise Boys & Girls Club , a nonprofit organization that runs mentoring programs for children and day care for Alzheimer's patients, a "non-responsible city contractor." Investigators found "significant inappropriate transactions and falsified documents that were submitted to various City agencies." It turns out that the mishandled money went to Air America. One source claims that $480,000 was wrongly transferred.

Why the public till should be tapped to rescue a foundering news outlet was a question no one seemed to consider. Maybe Air America officers thought spending public funds on their network was a truly compelling public interest. Air America is struggling to find listeners, leaders and reliable funding. But should it take money from children and the ailing elderly?

Hugh Hewitt has a good overview of the developing scandal and he offers: At least Bernie Ebbers looted his own company, not the Boys & Girls Club.

Radio blogger Brian Maloney has the lowdown. Read the whole thing. Then send a message to NY super sleuth Elliot Spitzer . His new website stresses "Accountability" and "Integrity." Not if he lets his lefty friends get a pass as he chases after every suit on Wall Street. And note that Spitzer has been crusading against radio payola. How's that for irony?

Creation

Many scientists believe that life cannot be accounted for only by known natural causes, that life shows features that one would attribute to intelligence. Living organisms are too complex to be explained by any natural, mindless process.

This was the thesis of a previous post called Intelligent Design Is (6/22/05). PVBlog readers were interested enough to contribute several thoughful comments.

Pam Cleveland noted that Phillip Johnson’s book Darwin on Trial makes the argument that theories of evolution are based on philosophical naturalism.

Anonymous said biology teaches that life arises from life and can't come from non-living matter. I have been studying Darwin for some time now and haven't come across him saying that life arose from non-living matter.

Dave Young took issue with the premise that “design” in nature leads to the necessity of a designer. What does it mean that something shows signs of “design”? I vaguely recall from complexity, or maybe, chaos theory the idea of strange attractors. It seems that nature appears to favor certain forms of organization over others. It may well be that there are immutable laws that manifest themselves as these designs you refer to.

In The Origin of Species, Darwin wrote that most naturalists had believed that species were immutable productions, separately created. However a few (Lamark, Hershel, Huxley) believed that species undergo modifications begetting new species, including man. Darwin’s findings argued for the origination of new species from common ancestral forms by an iterated process of genetic mutation, natural selection, and hereditary transmission. That was the original meaning of the theory of evolution, and it said nothing at all about the creation of life from inanimate matter. Anonymous is right.

The extrapolation of Darwin’s theory down to the basic units of life and the further extrapolation to cosmic dust creating life by some unknown random process was the work of newer generations of naturalists. It is this radical form of neo-Darwinism that most scientists and non-scientists are unwilling to accept.

Pam is also right. Angry evolutionists frequently slip up and reveal that their real agenda is atheism. Atheists use Darwinism as the basis of “scientific materialism” their philosophical belief that nothing exists except matter and that the world must obey only the laws of physics and blind chance. In many cases the beautiful theory of Darwinian evolution is cynically used to support a program of atheist indoctrination, and an assault on the moral and spiritual goals of religion.

Most people, including most scientists, see no contradiction between the idea that the universe, life, and human beings evolved according to natural processes, and the idea that a divine being can be credited with the existence of everything, having set those natural processes going in the first place.

The obvious existence of “design” in nature does not necessarily mandate the existence of a “designer”, as Dr. Dave notes. However, those who believe in God, the Creator, have no difficulty understanding that He created our universe, a very special universe, and He interjected once more several billion years later to create the first living cells.

Science always rests upon faith in a set of postulates. Cosmologists believe that the laws of physics as we know them pertain over all space and time. Those postulates and the observation of cosmic expansion led to the Big Bang model of the universe. The Standard Big Bang model holds that the Bang (around 15 billion years ago) created matter and energy out of nothing and started our time clock.

Physicists studying the cosmos find that the universe we inhabit is incredibly, almost unbelievably, “fine tuned.” For example, the initial explosive force was “just right” as a change in the magnitude of this force by only one part in 10 to the 59th power would have created a universe that would have collapsed back on itself already or expanded too rapidly for stars (and earths) to be formed. Those of us who believe in God find that incredible precision to be just what we would expect.

Non-believers have been struggling mightily with these cosmic coincidences. Their latest brainstorm is that ours is just one of an infinity of universes, each with its own set of physical laws and constants. We’re just lucky to be in this one. It seems that to abolish one unobservable God, it takes an infinite number of unobservable substitutes.

Dave also makes the point that nature appears to favor certain forms of organization over others. It may well be that there are immutable laws that manifest themselves as these designs you refer to.

But it turns out that order does not spring forth spontaneously from disorder by unconscious laws. To the contrary, order emerges from a deeper order already implicit in nature. Chaos theory is in fact a new way to detect order and pattern where formerly only the random and chaotic had been seen.

Fixing Public Education at Aspen

Over the weekend, C-SPAN broadcast a panel discussion titled "Grading America's Education" that was held at the Aspen Ideas Festival. The panel, moderated by Walter Isaacson, CEO, Aspen Institute, included Lawrence Summers, President, Harvard University; Derek Bok, former Harvard President; Patty Stonesifer, President, Gates Foundation; and William Bennett, former Secretary of Education.
The political left was well represented by Summers, Bok and Stonesifer while the right position was taken by Bill Bennett. It was an unfair fight in Bennett’s favor.

There were two stipulations by the entire panel: (1) Public education is in a desperate state, especially among low income groups; (2) in spite of the 250% real spending increase on education over the last two decades. So what is the solution to this unfortunate dilemma?

Summers made a good start, emphasizing the importance of measure, measure, measure, and hold teachers accountable. He also said it should be possible to fire poor teachers, pay for performance and try experiments, including voucher programs. Maybe Larry is a conservative after all.

Bok noted a political change in college students. Entering students are evenly divided between liberals and conservatives and graduating students are also equally split. This is a big change from the 1980s when grads were overwhelmingly liberal, despite equal numbers entering. This shift is truly remarkable when one considers the huge liberal bias of college professors. He defended racial preferences in college admissions. Bok had little to say about improving K-12 education, aside from spending more money.

Stonesifer noted that only half of black and Hispanic kids are graduating from high school. Among black boys, only 30% are graduating. There are many good schools, but not many good school systems. She would restrict high school size to 500 students and push decision making down to the local principal level.

I saved Bill Bennett for last. He spelled out a comprehensive program to address the real problems.

1. Double the salaries of school principals and hold them accountable.

2. Recruit math and science teachers with substantially higher salaries. In math/science our 4th graders score near the top in international competition while by 12th grade they score near the bottom.

3. For at risk kids, front load the study of reading and math in the first 4 grades, even to the exclusion of most other courses. About 63% of black 4th graders cannot read.

4. Provide vouchers for all school parents and emulate special schools that actually work. He emphasized the Knowledge Is Power Program (KIPP).

KIPP Schools are free open enrollment college-preparatory public schools where educationally underserved students develop the knowledge, skills, and character needed to succeed in top quality colleges and the competitive world beyond. Over 95% of KIPP students are African American or Latino/Hispanic.

KIPP Schools share a core set of operating principles known as the Five Pillars that ensure that all students will learn.

1. KIPP students are in school from 7:30 a.m. until 5:00 p.m. on weekdays, for four hours on Saturdays, and for a month during the summer. In spite of the long hours, average daily attendance at KIPP Schools is 96%.

2. Students complete over two hours of homework each night. Teachers are available on cell phone for assistance.

3. Students, parents, and teachers sign a Commitment to Excellence form that confirms their commitment to the school and to each other towards achieving success.

4. Rigorous college preparatory instruction is balanced with extracurricular activities like martial arts, music, chess, and sports.

5. The school year culminates with academically-oriented experiential field lessons to national parks, historically significant regions, and college campuses.

Bill noted his objection to racial preferences but favors helping poor students and boys. In colleges today, 58% of the students are women while only 42% are male. Among blacks, women outnumber men by 70% to 30%. Men are more fragile, they need help said Dr. Bennett. I heartily agree.

Dancing Jack

Hugh Hewitt interviewing White House Press Secretary Dan Bartlett:

HH: I want to start with the toughest question of all, Dan. When was the decision made, and who made it, to extract Dancing Jack Roberts from the president's announcment of his father's nomination to the Supreme Court?

DB: Well, being in charge of communications at the White House, I had some role in the family being a part of it, you can imagine my heart stopping about four or five times during that process. Unbelievably, Jack didn't make a peep. I was just expecting him to crawl up onto the podium itself and take over, but... So there were a few tense moments, but I give credit to the boss. He powered through it, despite all the antics, and it's turned out to be pretty funny.

HH: Oh, it was pretty funny, and when I saw the tape on Fox News the other night, there were tears in my eyes. I guess it's every parent's worst nightmare. But the fact is, they exited stage left, and my compliments to whoever the SWAT team was that went in and got young Jack.

Donald Trumps the UN

The Senate International Security Subcommittee was holding a hearing Thursday into the proposed $1.5 billion refurbish project of the United Nations building. One of the star witnesses was The Donald. Just on pure theater, it was fun to watch. In case you missed it, here's Trump's testimony downloaded from RadioBlogger.

07-22thedonald.mp3

Here are a few excerpts.

I have to start by saying I'm a big fan, a very big fan of the United Nations, and all it stands for. I can't speak as to what's been happening over the last number of years, because it certainly hasn't been good.

The Ambassador to the United Nations from Sweden read about the success of Trump World Tower, which is very substantially bigger than the United Nations. And he read they were talking about $1.5 billion dollars to renovate the United Nations. I said well, there are only two reasons, either gross incompetence or something far worse, corruption.

When I went to see Kofi Annan, I was actually quite excited. Because I thought that I could save this country, this world, a lot of money. Unfortunately, there was just no response.

Mr. Conners didn't know the first thing about what he was doing. I said, "What are you going to be doing with the curtain wall?" He said, "What is a curtain wall?" Now, he was in charge of the project. The curtain wall is the skin of the building. He had no clue.

You have to deal in New York City construction, to see what tough people are all about and they're just going to take you lunch, and you're just not going to even know what happened. So this project will cost, in my opinion, $3 billion dollars. However, in my opinion, it should cost approximately $700 million dollars.

Now, I've seen one thing that sticks out more than all of the rest. The number of $44 million dollars for an architect is one of the great numbers in history. I think this man is a genius, whoever he may be, wherever he may be in Italy. I would like to meet him. Now, I have great respect for architects, but I'm going to give you an example. For the tallest residential building in the world, my architect got paid approximately $1.5 million dollars.

Senator, congratulations. You've got yourself a mess on your hands.

Bill's Toy

I'm just learning how to post pictures on the blog.

Here I am in my Porsche. It's my first sports car, after 62 years of deprivation.

Lee says it's the product of my 4th or 5th midlife crisis. Hey, it's just like getting zits; means you must be young. I say bring on the midlife crises.

Liberal Education is an Oxymoron

Everything liberals touch turns to crap. With typical clarity, Dennis Prager commented on two recent stories about public education, the most long-standing liberal failure.

From The Guardian in England, the message is: A child does not fail, but defers success. At the conference of the Professional Association of Teachers in Buxton, Derbyshire the teachers will vote on a motion that reads: It is time to delete the word “fail” from the educational vocabulary, to be replaced with the concept of “deferred success." In the US a growing number of K-12 teachers have already made the transition from red pencils to blue pencils since tests marked in red could be discouraging.

In California, the San Bernardino school district will institute a new policy this fall to reach out to black students, its lowest-achieving group. Beginning this fall, teachers will receive training in black culture and customs and the curriculum will include the historical, cultural and racial impact of blacks in society. A suggestion by Cal State professor Mary Texeira to use the ebonics dialect (black English) as a tool to better communicate with black students and improve their self-image, has been met with such round disdain that district officials have been quick to renounce such a development. Thank heaven.

Where do academics come up with these wild ideas? How often do they have to fail? Is there anything we can do to combat the lunacy? Prager suggests that a good first step would be to abolish the graduate schools of education. Only someone with a PhD in Education could hatch such rotten eggs. Does the EdD make one a great, even a good, teacher? Dennis notes that George Will knows so much about baseball that he could qualify for a PhD in Ball, if such a degree existed, but that would not make him a great player.

I agree with Dennis, but would go further. I'd also eliminate the undergraduate schools of education and hire as teachers college graduates who have exhibited subject matter excellence. Folks with a degree and business experience (eg. Starbucks Bob G.) should be recruited. On-the-job training and evaluation in the classroom could lead to a permanent position. Tenure should be abolished.

Finally, I would give all the school administrators a test in common sense and fire those who exhibit liberal lunacy.

SCOTUS Report

I am continually surprised by the courage of our president. The Senate Democrats warned him to avoid nominating a Supreme Court justice who was “out of the main stream.” Sandra Day O’Connor must be replaced, they said, by a moderate in her mold. Laura Bush urged George to replace a woman with another woman. GOP strategists saw this appointment as an opportunity to reach out to the growing Hispanic electorate by picking a judge such as Alberto Gonzalez or Emilio Garza. The right wing wanted a judge in the conservative image of Antonin Scalia or Clarence Thomas. So with all these forces in play, who did the president pick?

President Bush nominated Judge John Roberts (Here's his bio) a conservative young white man who just happened to be the best candidate for the job. Bush overlooked warnings and urgings and political opportunity and simply selected the best. How refreshing, and how in character for our brave president.

Hugh Hewitt called the selection a home run for the president, the SCOTUS, and for the United States. Judge John Roberts may be the smartest lawyer I have known, and he combines that intellect with a graciousness and good humor that will make it hard for any except the most extreme ideologues to oppose him.

Hugh may be a bit too optimistic. Already the left wing smear machine is at work. Here is what you find on the NARAL Pro Choice America web site.

Dear Senator xxxxx, As your constituent, I am urging you to oppose John Roberts, President Bush's nominee to the Supreme Court. If Roberts is confirmed to a lifetime appointment, there is little doubt that he will work to overturn Roe v. Wade. As Deputy Solicitor General under the first President Bush, he argued to the Supreme Court that "Roe was wrongly decided and should be overruled…."

Then there’s this commentary on the Daily Kos blog about Roberts’ wife Jane:

We may not know how Roberts feels about abortion. But we do know how his pro-business wife feels about it: She’s a feminist for life. Among the personal tidbits we know about the Roberts clan: they have two (very cute!) adopted children. Expect more cute photo-ops of the children, because the love of adopted non-aborted kids is something the right is prepared to talk about.

And we can always count on the Democratic Senators to bring the proper perspective to their deliberations.

The president has chosen someone with suitable legal credentials, but that is not the end of our inquiry. The Senate must review Judge Roberts' record to determine if he has a demonstrated commitment to the core American values of freedom, equality and fairness. --- Harry Reid, Senate Minority Leader

I look forward to the committee's findings so that I can make an informed decision about whether Judge Roberts is truly a guardian of the rule of law who puts fairness and justice before ideology. --- Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton

Don’t be fooled, it’s all about ideology: Fairness before justice, equality before liberty is all Democratic code for judicial activism. Democrats want justices who rule based on their sense of fairness, never mind the rule of law. They want the Supreme Court to create law that advances equality by redistributing wealth and imposes preferential treatment based on race and gender.

The box of bricks award goes to (can you guess?) Senator Babs Boxer who worried about Roberts' position on a host of rights, guaranteed by the Constitution, especially the right to privacy (code: unfettered abortion), the right to harassment-free work places (see Legal Heaven on Earth), the right to clean air and water, and the right of redress for veterans to benefits they were promised. Is she amazing, or what? Not every California Babs could invent four novel Constitutional rights in just one sentence.

Legal Heaven on Earth

For trial lawyers there is no place on earth quite as heavenly as California.

Case in point:

Employers often had to endure jealous and emotional squabbling among the girlfriends of prison warden Lewis Kuykendall. Two of the girlfriends bragged to others about their power over Kuykendall. Cagie Brown, one of the girlfriends and a candidate for a promotion, said that Kuykendall would have to give her the job or she would "take him down" by naming "every scar on his body."

Now two of the galfriends co-workers have filed a sexual harassment law suit claiming that warden Kuykendall, who was married, had sexual affairs with three other employees and gave them preferential job treatment.

It used to be that to qualify as a victim of sexual harassment you had to be sexually harassed. No more. The guys in the white hats on the California Supreme Court have ruled that harassment means that you did not get the job you wanted.

Chief Justice Ronald M. George wrote the unanimous decision for the court: Widespread favoritism based upon consensual sexual affairs may imbue the workplace with an atmosphere that is demeaning to women because a message is conveyed that managers view women as sexual playthings and other employees may believe that the way required to secure advancement is to engage in sexual conduct with managers.

The plaintiff’s lawyer was gratified: "It vindicates women who sit there and watch their sisters in the workplace have affairs."

Watch out you workplace romantics, BIG BROTHER will be watching.

Does anyone doubt that judicial appointments are crucial? President Bush will be announcing his nominee for the US Supreme Court tonight. The betting money seems to be on Edith Brown Clement of the 5th Circuit Court in New Orleans. Clement, 57, is considered conservative but has not left much of a paper trail. Lawyers describe her as pro-government, pro-business and pro-defendant in civil cases. My preference would be Emilio Garza, also of the 5th circuit, who served in the military, has denounced the Roe v. Wade decision and has a strong belief in the historic Constitution.

Quantum Computers for Judy

This post introduces a new feature of PalosVerdesBlog, the song request. Talking today with Zone Bridge friend Texas-Judy Floyd, I asked what she would like me to write about. It was a rhetorical question. Judy shot right back: Tell us about how you became you. Oh my dear, she wants an existential expose’ about moi. I begged off that one but she quickly came up with another topic: something about recent advances in computer technology. Judy’s wish is my command.

I no longer find computer technology to be riveting. After so many generations of Moore's Law, it seems like the future will be much like the past, doubling processor speed every 18 months due to doubling the number of transistors per square inch on integrated circuits every 18 months.

But perhaps there is a limit out there when shrinking the size of circuitry packed onto silicon chips eventually reaches a point where individual elements are no larger than a few atoms. Here a problem could arise since at atomic scales the physical laws that govern the behavior and properties of the circuit are inherently quantum mechanical in nature. Atoms behave differently than marbles.

Ordinary computers utilize bits of magnetic material that can be magnetized in either of two states, say up or down, and the magnetic state can be described in binary arithmetic by a “bit” that can take on one of the values 0 or 1. The magnetization is a macroscopic effect obeying the rules of classical physics.

Atoms, however, follow the more elusive rules of quantum physics. A simple 2-level atom is superficially similar to the magnetic bit with up and down states. But when you measure the atom’s condition, you may find it up, you may find it down. Experiments are not deterministic, not repeatable. In fact the state of the atom is not described by classical bits; rather it is described by a “superposition” of the up and down states.

Quantum pioneer Erwin Schroedinger explained this odd situation with his famous dead cat thought experiment. Imagine a box containing a cat, a vial of cyanide and an atom. If the atom were to decay and emit a photon, that would trigger the release of cyanide and the cat would be no more. The quantum description of the system is a superposition of one state where the atom is still excited and the cat alive and another state in which the atom has decayed and the cat is dead. Poor cat.

These more complicated superposition states are described by quantum bits or “qubits” that can have more than 2 values. For example a quantum system of 5 qubits (atoms) can exist in any one of 32 states (2 raised to the 5th power) and any one state is represented by a list of 5 zeros and ones (eg. 01100).

The reason why this is so important in computers is that a physical operation on an n-qubit system simultaneously operates on all n states in one fell swoop. This is massive parallelism when compared to normal computers where one clock cycle yields one binary operation. Thus our tiny 5 qubit system executes 32 operations in one clock cycle. Imagine the speed of a larger quantum computer.

Quantum computers are a hot research topic at major universities, government labs and companies such as Intel. Two researchers who graduated with me from the University of Rochester quantum optics group are actively engaged in this work, Dan James at Los Alamos and Jeff Kimble at Cal Tech.

Opinions on the Terrorist Psyche

A recent post called Down with Diversity (7/8/05) looked at the dangers of multiculturalism that has infected the West, including the horrific bombings in London on July 7. It appears that some find my commentary to be insensitive to Muslims and overcritical of Europeans. I’ll take that up another day. Today I will bolster my commentary with recent published opinions from noted political writers in well respected news outlets.

Kenan Malik, London Times: One was a loving father. Another helped out in his parents’ fish and chip shop. The shoe bomber Richard Reid was brought up in South London. His fellow conspirator Sajid Badat was born in Britain and educated at the prestigious Crypt Grammar School. Ahmed Omar Sheikh, convicted of the murder of the American journalist Daniel Pearl, was educated at the London School of Economics. Asif Hanif and Omar Sharif, the two Britons who carried out a suicide bombing mission in Israel, became friends at university. The most detailed study of al- Qaeda supporters shows that the majority are middle-class with good jobs. Most are college-educated, usually in the West. Less than one in ten have been to religious school. Why has radical Islam found a hearing in Britain? Partly, it is because the idea that we should aspire to a common identity and a set of values has been eroded in the name of multiculturalism. Today many young British Muslims identify more with Islam than with Britain primarily because there no longer seems much that is compelling about being British. And without anything to believe in, without moral restraints or the sense of responsibility to a cause or to a people, the unthinkable becomes possible. As in London nine days ago.

Thomas Friedman, New York Times: Why are young Sunni Muslim males, from London to Riyadh and Bali to Baghdad, so willing to blow up themselves and others in the name of their religion? Neither we nor the Muslim world can run away from this question any longer. "Some of these young Muslim men are tempted by a civilization they consider morally inferior, and they are humiliated by the fact that, while having been taught their faith is supreme, other civilizations seem to be doing much better." This is not about the poverty of money. This is about the poverty of dignity and the rage it can trigger.

Charles Krauthammer, Washington Post: The most remarkable discovery is that Europe's second- and third-generation Muslim immigrants are more radicalized than the first. The fact that native-born Muslim Europeans are committing terrorist acts in their own countries shows that this Islamist malignancy long predates Iraq, Afghanistan and Sept. 11, 2001. What Europe had incubated is an enemy within, a threat that for decades Europe simply refused to face. British Islamists had spoken of a "covenant of security" under which Britain would be spared Islamic terrorism so long as it allowed radical clerics free rein. One of the reasons Westerners were so unprepared for this wave of Islamist terrorism is sheer disbelief. It is a return to a primitiveness that we in the West had assumed history had left behind. Decadence is defined not by a civilization's art or music but ultimately by its willingness to simply defend itself.

Times of London: Common to all Islam is a familiar list of timeless and actual Muslim grievances, the sense of a religion under assault combined with a sense of lost glory, and what begins to emerge is a liberation theology. In its extreme form this combines a virulent Islamist "nationalism" with a civilisational war to recover all the lands of Islam and cleanse them of the taint of the infidels and their "apostate" puppets. This is a battle between freedom and a form of totalitarianism that could easily last a generation. Defending our freedoms is the only way we will defeat it.
David Gelernter, Los Angeles Times: London's mayor, Ken Livingstone, condemned the recent terrorist bombings. But in the past, he never seemed too concerned about terrorists murdering Israelis. The tale of Livingstone's ambivalence is a sordid kind of Greek tragedy. Last year, he welcomed a violently Jew-hating Muslim preacher to London. In so doing, he became a silent partner of Islamic terrorism — which has now turned against his own city. Today, he is an updated Oedipus Rex, accessory to a horrible crime of which he himself is a victim. Too many Europeans are ambivalent, like Livingstone. Terrorists, they figure, are evil; but if their preferred victims are Jews and Americans, how bad can they really be? As Europe prepares its own destruction, it resembles Germany in the early 1930s: Jew-hatred everywhere, on a low boil. But now London's mayor might think twice before welcoming another theologian of terror. The theologians themselves should carry government health labels. "Warning: Terrorists don't only kill Jews."

Gerard Baker, London Times: Right after September 11, a question widely asked in the media was: Why do they hate us? It was not, to be sure, the first question out of the mouths of most Americans. That question was: “What are their names and addresses and how quickly can we dispatch a B52 to their neighbourhood?” A week after July 7, I have the same question. Why do they hate us? But the “they” of my question are not the al-Qaeda slaughterers, but the massed ranks of so many British opinion-formers. The common thought behind them is essentially this: our nation’s military action in Afghanistan and Iraq is morally indistinguishable from the terrorists, so don’t call one, terrorism, and not the other. Instead, say London and Baghdad have both been “bombed”. This English self-loathing would be less objectionable if it had not been so prominent in its less virulent form, in so much British policy and public life, for the past 60 years. It was the driving force behind the misguided anything-goes multiculturalism of the 1960s and 1970s and the desire to shed vestiges of British or English nationalism within the European Union for 40 years now.

Leon de Winter, New York Times: For centuries the Netherlands has been considered the most tolerant and liberal nation in the world. That Netherlands no longer exists. The murder last year of the filmmaker Theo van Gogh and the assassination of the politician Pim Fortuyn in 2002 marked the end of the Holland of Erasmus and Spinoza. But these killings showed the cumulative effect of two forces that have shaken the foundations of Dutch civic society over the last 40 years: the cultural and sexual revolution of the 1960's and 70's and the influx of Muslim workers during those years of prosperity. Hence the current image of Dutch tolerance: marijuana served at coffee shops, public television showing full nudity and, for those who prefer not to work, a government package of benefits that makes a toil-free life entirely feasible. Theo van Gogh, artiste provocateur nonpareil had focused increasingly on the problems with immigration and with Muslim intolerance. Many of these young men have found an expression for their growing sense of frustration, alienation and anger in orthodox Islam. They have no use for Holland's tolerance of alternative lifestyles, or for its professional blasphemers. Last November a young Islamic fundamentalist born in Amsterdam shot Mr. Van Gogh in the street and then tried to cut off his head.

Victor Davis Hansen, National Review Online: Failed states in the Middle East — autocratic, statist, unfree, intolerant of women and other religions — blame the West for their self-inflicted miseries. Sometimes they are theocratic, like the Iranian mullahs, but always they are dictatorial like the Syrians, Pakistanis, Saudis, or Egyptians, who have come to accommodations with the terrorists to shift popular anguish onto the West and the Jews. To criticize Islamic fascism is supposedly to be unfair to Islam, so we allow on our own shores mullahs and madrassas to spread hatred and intolerance, as part of our illiberal acceptance of “not offending Islam.” It is our task, each of us according to our station, to speak the truth to all these falsehoods, and remember that we did not inherit a wonderful civilization just to lose it to the Dark Ages.

Victor Davis Hansen, National Review: Our first hindrance is moral equivalence. For the hard Left there is no absolute right and wrong since amorality is defined arbitrarily and only by those in power. Taking back Fallujah from beheaders and terrorists is no different from bombing the London subway since civilians may die in either case. A half-dozen roughed up prisoners in Guantanamo are the same as the Nazi death camps or the Gulag. Our second shackle is utopian pacifism — ‘war never solved anything’ and ‘violence only begets violence.’ Thus it makes no sense to resort to violence, since reason and conflict resolution can convince even a bin Laden to come to the table. The third restraint is multiculturalism or the idea that all social practices are of equal merit. Who are we to generalize that the regimes and fundamentalist sects of the Middle East result in economic backwardness, intolerance of religious and ethnic minorities, gender apartheid, racism, homophobia, and patriarchy?

Diana West, Washington Times: Only one faith on earth may be more messianic than Islam: multiculturalism. Without its fanatics who believe all civilizations are the same, the engine that projects Islam into the unprotected heart of Western civilization would stall and fail. It's as simple as that. Notice I didn't say "Islamists" or "Islamofascists" or "fundamentalist extremists." I think such terms allow us all to give a wide berth to a great problem: the gross incompatibility of Islam — the religious force that shrinks freedom even as it "moderately" enables, or "extremistly" advances jihad — with the West.

Ed Koch, New York Times: Make no mistake: It is a “War of Civilizations.” The various terrorist organizations are overwhelmingly Muslim and they are supported by millions of Muslims around the world who are bent on destroying Western civilization and Christians, Jews and those Muslims who believe in the Western values of democracy and tolerance.

Finally, this from the dark side in Detroit.

Imam Mohammad Ali Elahi, Detroit Free Press: The bloody attack on July 7 in London was a warning to the world to wake up against the evil of terrorism in all its forms. We, the imams of the Michigan mosques, gathered in Dearborn last week to condemn the recent crime in London and to announce anything harmful to human society is forbidden in Islam. We want everybody to know that al-Qaida is not a spokesman for the 1.2 billion peace-loving Muslims of the world. The question is, how Iraq became a training center for so-called jihadists and how the British became bombers? Some unthoughtful words by the President and some irresponsible statements by Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld -- combined with the scandals at the Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq and the Guantanamo detention center -- helped al-Qaida recruit more extremists to its army. And as long as Jews can immigrate to Israel by the tens of thousands each year while Palestinians stay hungry and homeless, I am afraid this will contribute to the violence in the Middle East and elsewhere.

Liberal Lunacy

Every day I have tons of positive things to write about; then I listen to talk radio, check the internet and hear about some outrageous liberal lunacy and I’m hooked.

Today’s edition is about the femi-nazis at NARAL Pro Choice America.

One of the leading abortion-rights groups took a swipe at cultural conservatives by inviting young donors to a "Screw Abstinence Party" in Seattle. The event promo says: "Tired of Bush & Co. spending your tax dollars on abstinence-only-until-marriage initiatives that promote dangerous misinformation? Throw your hands up and say it loud: 'Screw Abstinence!'"

Even the lefty Seattle weekly, The Stranger, thought NARAL was making a politically foolish choice.

Does this strike anyone else as a cringe-worthy and counterproductive theme for a pro-choice fundraiser? It seems politically idiotic for the preeminent pro-choice group in the country to be sponsoring this pandering, pseudo-hipster 'sex positive' event.

The Stranger worries about stereotypes of the left as a promiscuous bunch of libertines.

Wow-weee, the left is 'pro-sex' and those meanie Christian activists want to preach abstinence in the schools. Look, I'm just as freaked out as anyone about the creeping evisceration of separation of church and state … but let's be smart politically. A 'Screw Abstinence' fundraiser is … trite, juvenile, and politically stupid.

When The Stranger thinks you are stupid libertines, you'd better worry.

NARAL's screwy party was designed to raise funds for programs to "secure comprehensive and medically accurate sex education" for all and sundry. NARAL wants your kids to be sexually active because it's good for business: Abstinent kids don't buy contraceptives and abortions.

NARAL committed a grave tactical error in revealing its true colors so brazenly. Moms and dads who may not have been paying much attention will now clearly see NARAL's pro-abortion, pro-contraception, pro-child-sex agenda. This event will likely have parents running to their school boards demanding protection from comprehensive sex education.

The historian Will Durant, writing of the decadence of ancient Rome, described this NARAL attitude as "a shallow sophistication which prides itself on childlessness and despair". For NARAL, sex is for gratification and nothing more - an animal action disconnected from anything higher than momentary physical pleasure.

When Democrats wonder why they get shellacked at the polls on the issue of moral values, they really need to look no further than at NARAL and similar groups.

We should get on our knees daily to thank GOD that President Bush will have the opportunity to pick 2-3 Supreme Court nominees. People (Hillary et al) who think like and support the NARAL crowd are too stupid to be given such authority.

Icon Wars

Library Board meeting tonight so I have to be brief.

This from Zone Bridge buddy Judy Floyd, aka TexasJudy1:

Late Night Action

When you go to bed at night and forget to shut down your computer, I think you ought to know what actually goes on.

It's 11 PM and do you know where your icons are and what they are doing?? Go to the site below to discover.

Icon War

Visit our lovely Library at PVLD.

Embarrassment and Misery

Now I’m in BIG trouble at home. After the Kudo to the Times post on 7/12 several readers expressed surprise, captured quite well by Pam’s comment: “Billy, after your acknowledgement of Lee being a Methodist in your latest blog….”

Yesterday I tried to clarify the mix-up in SHE was the Methodist where Lee explained that the above phrase was from a great movie Life With Father, and has become a family joke at the Lama’s.

Today I found a comment from new friend Marie: “Assumed Lee was from another Christian group. Two of my best PV friends are also as you two. He comes to 7:30 AM Mass and then takes his wife to the Methodist Church on Crenshaw… Keep up your blogs.”

I laughed, but Lee did not. To set the record straight, I now officially declare: Lee is NOT a Methodist…not that there’s anything wrong with that.

Lee was baptized a Roman Catholic, attended Saint Paul’s parochial grammar school and Saint Rose Academy, both in San Francisco, then Saint John Fisher College in New York. She owns numerous (blessed) rosaries and uses them for prayer and to keep the rain away from our picnics (check the bushes next time you are at an outdoor event at our home) and at least one scapular. When we attend Late Night Catechism she knows all the answers to Sister’s questions. You can check it out. Whew. Hope that’s enough.

It seems appropriate to close this post with the Global Misery Index. In the latest issue of Forbes magazine is a table of countries ranked by their total tax rates, at the highest rate, including both personal and business taxes, social security, sales, … It is our best proxy for evaluating whether policy attracts or repels capital and talent. Misery is the sum that can exceed 100%, though anything over 100 reflects socialist policies and is not good. "USA reform" represents a proposed flat income tax with a federal consumption levy. Here are selected results.

France…………175
China……………160
Italy……………..146
Japan…………..123
Germany……….117
Britain………….111
Australia………..98
USA………………. 85
India………………84
USA reform…. 79

Very interesting! Not surprisingly France (175) is the worst country in the world when it comes to taxes (and many other things). No wonder the French voters rejected the EU constitution that would have added even more taxes to their happy lot. Note that France is even worse than Communist China where the tax rate used to be 100% of everything. China is now a lower tax country than France. No wonder China’s economy is growing like gangbusters while France is in the doldrums.

Among the European countries, our friend Britain is much more tax friendly than France, and England’s economy is also percolating nicely. Another USA buddy, Australia, is also a great place to live, where you get to keep most of your income.

The USA is terrific (85), in spite of the Democrat’s unending attempts to increase our taxes. According to Forbes the USA reform (79) is even better, good reason to examine the flat tax.

SHE was the Methodist

I must be more careful with my inside jokes. In the last post (Kudo to the LA Times) I complained that Lee, “the Methodist,” won’t let me cancel our subscription to the LA Times since she wants the crossword puzzles.

Good friend and blog reader Pam from Tampa Bay wrote about modern Methodism.

“Billy, after your acknowledgement of Lee being a Methodist in your latest blog, I immediately thought I must get out my two manila folders filled with fact sheets re: Methodist political activity.” Pam closed with “I am sure Lee is not aware of what the Methodist Church is today.”

Oh Oh! My little family joke fooled my good friend. To make amends I asked Lee to explain where the Methodist reference comes from.

The movie Life with Father (from the 40’s) starred William Powell, Irene Dunne, Zasu Pitts and Elizabeth Taylor. Powell and Dunne played Clarence (Clare) and Lavinia (Vinnie) Day who lived in NYC. Zasu Pitts (Vinnie’s cousin, Clara) and Elizabeth Taylor (Mary, the daughter of a family friend) came to visit the Days and their four sons. There was an immediate attraction between the teenagers Mary and the eldest Day son, Clarence. Clarence played the violin (badly) and Mary played the piano. They decided to play a hymn, but they couldn’t get the words and tune to coincide. Mary said, “That’s funny, the words are right, but it’s the wrong tune.” Clarence replied, “That’s how we sing it in church.” Mary replied, “That’s not how we sing it in the Methodist church.” Clarence said, “We’re Episcopalians.” Mary said, “I know” in a tone that reflected she knew Episcopalians had a higher social status. Then Mary suddenly exclaimed, “Wait! I just remembered, my father was an Episcopalian! He was baptized an Episcopalian! He was an Episcopalian right up until he married my mother. SHE was the Methodist!” So they started playing again and the romance went on.

Rent the movie, it’s great.

Helen wrote: "Ahh come on Bill - the Times has many uses - don't throw it out! It makes great table coverage when you are painting, it starts a fire nicely then turns to ash so it can be buried, it stuffs windows when they are broken - give it some kudos."

David wrote: "The crossword in the Orange County Register is much better than the one in the LA Times. There are 2 daily, and 3 on Sunday, including the famous New York Times crossword. Additionally, the OC Register is around $5.00 less per month. And.... you will rarely become upset at the editorials. Which could save you untold stress and future medical bills. Perhaps you should consider changing? ;-) Doc.

Judy wrote: "Hey, Lee probably enjoys reading the Society section as well...no other city has so many famous celebrities in it's society section helping in the community.

Such smart friends!

Kudo to the Times

For many, many moons I have been wanting to throw the LA Times onto the trash heap of history, or at least cancel our subscription. But noooo, Lee wants the crossword puzzles, so it still invades my presence every day and the best I can do is throw it away unread (after Lee, “the Methodist,” does the puzzles).

Today, however, I was induced to go outside and retrieve it from the blue bin before the trash was picked up. Dennis Prager was taking on the radio about the new Times opinion section, now called Current, and how it now contains a smattering of conservative views.

Indeed, there was Dennis himself on page M2 telling about the role of the Jews as the canary in the mine shaft, warning the civilized world of impending danger. The Jewish canary senses anti-Semitism, “the most accurate predictor of an evil that humanity will have to fight.” The most recent evil is Islamism, the ideology that is “obsessed with annihilating the one Jewish state, an obsession analogous to that of the Nazis.”

Another opinion piece that I liked was by Govindini Murty explaining the Hollywood box office blues. Murty targets the Hollywood ruling liberal elites who “keep going out of their way to offend half their audience.” I would argue that it is well over half. Besides, it’s mostly garbage anyway.

I was also surprised by the “By the Numbers” column that addressed the fearsome Patriot Act. In 2004 there were 7,136 civil rights complaints to the Justice Dept. and only 1 was related to the Patriot Act. One!

So I give the LA Times one kudo.

Then I read today’s Times, just to see if they could be fair/balanced two days in a row. Too bad! Today’s editorial began with the sentence:

"The helicopter crash in Afghanistan that killed eight Navy SEALs last month was the worst single-day death toll in the proud unit's history."

Here is what Hugh Hewitt had to say.

"The crash did in fact kill eight SEALs, and it also took the lives of eight Army special operations men, and three more SEALs were dead on the ground and one wounded."

"There is no reason for an opening line so incomplete as that except that the writer, and his or her editors, didn't know what happened and couldn't be bothered to find out. The point was to bleed Bush by marrying the loss of American life in Afghanistan and British life in London and underscoring the fact that bin Laden remains on the loose. It is one thing to prove yourself a fool by employing the "diversion" argument, but it takes a knave or knaves to pimp dead heroes to try to score a political point."

I’ll take my kudo back.

Morsels

Capitalism Rocks From Stephanie over at The Daily Vegetable: Interesting, too, that women are becoming such great spokespeople for capitalism. I wrote a book for moms, Cost Benefit Simplicity, that illustrates how capitalism is actually healthier for the planet, and helps keep our lives "simplified." My fear was that young moms were buying into the socialist teaching they got in public school. But your readers give me hope!

Thanks Steph, and where can I find your book? BTW, Stephanie’s blog features some of the prettiest vege’s on the net. And her posts can be funny too. I liked the one about the sexy lettuce that can boost your “performance.” Rock On.

Socialist Profs This from an anonymous reader: In my economics class in high school the teachers taught us how capitalism can't work without government stepping in. Now I attend the university of Nebraska and it is very frustrating because SOO many of my professors are closer to communist then they are capitalists and Nebraska is supposed to be a red state. I start to get discouraged but then I see the positive effects on the economy and feel better. The Bush tax cuts are larger than expected and unemployment is down to 5% now, the lowest in over 4 years. Liberals should just compare that to France.

Anony, You are sooooo right. Please leave your name next time.

Namby-Pamby Nation In her recent article Michelle Malkin noted: The left-wing Kumbaya crowd is quietly grooming a generation of pushovers in the public schools. At a time of war, when young Americans should be educated about this nation's resilience and steely resolve, educators are indoctrinating students with saccharine-sticky lessons on "non-violent conflict resolution. She describes the latest example of Hand-Holding 101 in the New York City public schools called Operation Respect: Don't Laugh at Me. The teaching materials were created by the Educators for Social Responsibility's Resolving Conflict Creatively Program and includes lessons on (hyped) anti-Muslim discrimination in America to "understand" the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. She's not kidding!

Global Scamming The lefties are all in a tither since George Bush told the G8 leaders where they can stuff their Kyoto accord. Economist Robert Samuelson noted: Europe is the citadel of hypocrisy. From 1990 to 2002, emissions of carbon dioxide (CO2), the main greenhouse gas, increased 16.4% worldwide, reports the International Energy Agency. The U.S. increase was 16.7%, but Europe, after all its bellyaching had a net gain also. The estimates of the increases: France, 6.9%; Italy, 8.3%; Greece, 28.2%; Ireland, 40.3%; the Netherlands, 13.2%; Portugal, 59%; Spain, 46.9%; Germany, - 13.3% (closed coal-fired plants in eastern Germany) and Britain - 5.5% (shifted electric utilities from coal to natural gas). To reduce emissions significantly, Europeans would have to suppress driving and electricity use, depressing economic growth even more and fanning popular discontent. It won't happen.

Elsewhere, Canada's emissions are up 23.6%; Japan's, 18.9%. Forget about China and India. And in New Zealand, which aggressively supported the Kyoto Protocol and anticipated a $500 million windfall by coming in below its pollution target, taxpayers will be at least $1 billion worse off under revised Government estimates of the costs of the Kyoto treaty.

Dennis Prager has published three more chapters of The Case for Judeo- Christian Values.

Part 15: We are not just animals
Part 16: Nature must not be worshipped
Part 17: Without man, the environment is insignifficant

Dennis is a mench.

Down With Diversity

For the last decade or so the model of inclusion in much of American society has morphed from the melting pot to the tossed salad. Diversity has been elevated as the new American ideal by nitwits like Al Gore who managed to invert e pluribus unum into “out of one, many.” Schools and courts do everything in their power to subvert the unique American identity in a misguided homage to multiculturalism.

It is fortunate that in America there are those, indeed the majority, who reject relativism and cling to traditional American values while they fight the good fight against the forces of liberalism. The Supreme Court battle is the latest front in this culture war.

It is unfortunate that the Europeans have long since given up the fight. Nowhere has the tossed salad model of inclusion been more earnestly embraced than in European capitals such as London.

Great Britain and London in particular have long welcomed migrants from the Arab world including many Muslim asylum seekers. This liberal policy had the inevitable effect of allowing radicals, criminals and terrorists to enter.

One such example is Sheik Omar Bakri Mohammed whose family was granted asylum in 1986 and has been supported by the British social system. As a sign of his thanks, Bakri has preached intifada against the West to hordes of Muslim immigrants.

Last May he praised Osama Bin Laden in public to followers who chanted “Bomb New York” and “Kill George Bush” while burning US flags. The mob asserted that the murderous Abu Musab al Zarqawi was about to wreak vengeance on Britain while chanting “UK, you will pay—Zarqawi is on the way.”

Yesterday the London subway system and a bus were bombed by terrorists. Approximately 50 people were killed and 700 wounded.

It should be abundantly clear that many (estimates are 15–20,000) Muslims in Britain have no intention of embracing the Anglo-Saxon rule of law. And they take full advantage of liberal PC sensitivity. “To criticize Islamic fascism is supposedly to be unfair to Islam, so we allow on our own shores mullahs and madrassas to spread hatred and intolerance.”

We must regain our manhood, “speak the truth to all these falsehoods, and remember that we did not inherit a wonderful civilization just to lose it to the Dark Ages.”

Rock On!

The last post (“Capitalism Rocks”) generated great commentary from my splendid readers.

Dori wrote:

I was listening to the radio this morning and I heard of some interesting stories coming out of the Live8 concert...performers received $12,000 gift baskets; backstage they feasted on, among other delicacies, lobster; egos got bruised here and there esp. between McCartney & Beckham's...etc., etc. Bob Geldolf was quoted as saying, "we must do something even if it doesn't work."

WHAT? You want me to give my hard earned money to something that may not work?! You will be happy just to do SOMETHING...ANYTHING, Mr. Geldolf, no matter the outcome? That's exactly the problem. Billions of $$ have been poured into Africa, for example, and look at that place. It's worse than ever --

Right on Dori!

And at least one African agrees. Kenyan economics expert James Shikwati says that aid to Africa does more harm than good. In an interview with German paper DER SPIEGEL, Shikwati addressed the disastrous effects of Western development policy in Africa.

SPIEGEL: Mr. Shikwati, the G8 summit at Gleneagles is about to beef up the development aid for Africa...

Shikwati: ... for God's sake, please just stop. Such intentions have been damaging our continent for the past 40 years. If the industrial nations really want to help the Africans, they should finally terminate this awful aid. Huge bureaucracies are financed (with the aid money), corruption and complacency are promoted, Africans are taught to be beggars and not to be independent.

SPIEGEL: Would Africa actually be able to solve these problems on its own?

Shikwati: Of course. Hunger should not be a problem in most of the countries south of the Sahara. In addition, there are vast natural resources: oil, gold, diamonds. Africa existed before you Europeans came along. And we didn't do all that poorly either.

The full article is a must read.

On the other end of the capitalism spectrum is Ireland.

This from Pamela:

Thomas Friedman recently devoted two columns (in the NY Times) to the boom of Ireland's economy. Ireland today is the richest country in the European Union after Luxembourg. How did ireland do it?

"... the government, the main trade unions, farmers and industrialists came together and agreed on a program of fiscal austerity, slashing corporate taxes to 12.5 percent, far below the rest of Europe, moderating wages and prices, and aggressively courting foreign investment. Today, 9 out of 10 of the world's top pharmaceutical companies have operations here, as do 16 of the top 20 medical device companies and 7 out of the top 10 software designers. Last year, Ireland got more foreign direct investment from America than from China. And overall government tax receipts are way up."

"The question is "when Germany and France will face reality: Either they become Ireland, or they become museums."

Capitalism does work! So France and Germany put that in your pipes and smoke it!

Rock on Pam!

I love my readers.

Capitalism Rocks

Yeah, yeah, yeah! especially in poorer countries. Just look what capitalism has done for South Korea and Taiwan and what is happening in China and India. On the flip side are North Korea, Cuba and most of Africa. These economic and human disasters share a common demographic, ie rule by a megalomaniac like Kim Il Sung, Fidel Castro or Robert Mugabe. The lesson is that wherever capitalism is allowed to flourish, it does so and poor people prosper.

That reminds me of the Live8 rock-fest that kicked off last weekend. “Sir” Mark Steyn pinpoints the mortal flaw of the Live8 bonanza. At the first LiveAid bananarama two decades ago, “Sir Bob (Geldof) was at least demanding we give him our own fokkin' money. This time round, he was asking that we join him into bullying the G8 blokes to give their taxpayers' fokkin' money.”

Steyn again: “I love old rockers - not for the songs, which are awful, but for their business affairs, which so totally rock. In 1997, David Bowie became the first pop star to hold a bond offering himself. Once upon a time, rock stars weren't rated by Moody, they were moody. Today these faux revolutionaries are capitalists red in tooth and claw. The system that enriched them could enrich Africa. But capitalism is the one cause the poseurs never speak up for. The rockers demand we give our fokkin' money to African dictators to manage, while they give their fokkin' money to Winthrop Stimson Putnam & Roberts to manage.”

President Bush announced last week that the U.S. would be doubling aid to Africa. He had already agreed to cancel the debts of the world's poorest countries and to give $15B to combat the AIDS epidemic in Africa.

But the socialists at G8 won’t be satisfied since the principle US approach relies far too much on that nasty capitalism.

What they want is protectionist tariffs for agriculture in the Third World that would raise food prices in those countries, penalizing the poorest, and choke off trade with the West, thus reducing economic opportunities for poor producers. The G8 approach is for government controls and against markets -- ignoring the fact that government in poor countries is very often corrupt. It wants more aid instead of more trade -- ignoring the fact that aid goes to governments and strengthens their power, whereas trade benefits the hardworking poor. It wants to stop privatization programs -- ignoring the fact that government monopolies in the Third World are treated as private bank accounts by the government.

Aid should be made conditional on ending corruption in government, as Bush has rightly seen, but also on protecting the property rights of the poor. (John O’Sullivan, Chicago Sun Times.)

The U.S. approach is based on the Millennium Challenge Corporation, described thus by the Economist (7/23 issue):

"Other donors tend to focus on tear-jerking issues such as AIDS, or on boosting the budgets of the better-run poor-country governments so they can provide better public services. The MCC seeks to promote economic growth in those countries--which is more complicated and takes more time."

A new paper from the International Monetary Fund finds that aid does little to promote economic growth. And economic growth is by far the most effective way of alleviating poverty in the developing world. A World Bank study of growth and poverty in 14 developing countries found that poverty dropped in the 11 countries that experienced substantial growth, and rose in the three that saw little or no growth.

It will be interesting to watch the G8 conference this week to see if the other nations are willing to let capitalism work or prefer to impose socialist policies. In spite of all the evidence, I’m not very hopeful.

Patriotism

Words have meaning, but the great political divide in America today is between those who believe that and those who reject it. A good case in point is the Constitution and it’s “interpretation” by the Supreme Courts.

Conservatives believe that the Constitution is a binding legal document, that the words mean what they say and that in the event of ambiguity we should look to the writing of the Framers for guidance.

Liberals, on the other hand, believe that the Constitution is a “living document” subject to change through judicial decree. Of course there is a legal way to change the Constitution through the amendment process but activist judges feel that they know what’s better for us and that the amendment wheels grind much too slowly.

There may be no greater political chasm in America today.

On Independence Day, it is appropriate to think of another great debate over the meaning of the word “patriotism.”

Conservatives believe in the dictionary meaning. A “patriot” (from the Greek patris for fatherland) “is one who loves and zealously supports one’s own country.” American patriots love and support America. That is why statements such as “I support the troops but not the war” are nonsensical. Ask the troops if they think that is patriotism.

Yet liberals today believe that the patriotic feelings most of us share are “reactive and negative.” They argue that patriotism also concerns “a love of privacy and free speech” and many "actions such as registering voters, working in an AIDS hospice, volunteering at a disadvantaged school or raising questions about the Bush administration’s full-throttle militarism.” (Richard Kaye, LA Times, 7/3/05)

Is there any wonder that the Democratic Party, ruled by it’s liberal base, is out of favor. They disparage the true patriotism that the majority of Americans believe in and replace the meaning of patriotism with a mixed bag of rights, good works and opposition.

Independence Day is a time for patriotism, for loving America and for honoring those who have suffered and died to protect our independence.

“Especially today, we must keep the children and families of our soldiers and military in our hearts and prayers - for it is through their sacrifices, loyalty, and bravery that we celebrate this Patriotic holiday.” (Maggie)

And as sweet as it is to celebrate our independence, “we should boldly celebrate something more: our delivery of the gift of independence to millions elsewhere.”

God Bless America.

God Bless Our Soldiers

The first rule of war is that young men and women die.

The second rule of war is that surgeons cannot change the first rule.

We had already done around a dozen surgical cases in the morning and the early afternoon. It is not boastful or arrogant when I tell you that some of the best surgeons in the world were present - I have been to many institutions and I have been all around the world, and at this point in time, with this level of experience, the best in the world are assembled here at Balad.

The call came in. An American soldier had been injured in an IED blast north of here, and he was in a bad way with head trauma. The specifics were fuzzy, but after three months here, what would need to be done was perfectly clear - the 332nd Expeditionary Medical Group readied for battle.

All was ready, and we did not have to wait very long. The approaching rotors of a Blackhawk were heard, and Chris and I moved forward to the ER followed by several sets of surgeons' eyes as we went.

They wheeled the soldier into the ER on a NATO gurney shortly after the chopper touched down. One look at the crew's faces told me that the situation was grim. Their young faces were drawn and tight, and they moved with a sense of directed urgency. They did not even need to speak because the look in their eyes was pleading with us - hurry. And hurry we did.

Max called out the injuries as they were found, and one of the techs wrote them down. The chest was auscultated as the ET tube was switched to the ventilator. All the wounds were examined and the dressings were removed except for the one on the head.

The two neurosurgeons came forward, and removed the gauze covering the soldier's wounded head, and everyone's heart sank as we saw the blossom of red blood spreading out from shredded white and grey matter of the brain. Experience told all the surgeons present that there was no way to survive the injury, and this was one battle the Medical Group was going to lose.

But he was American, and it was not time to quit, yet. Gentle pressure was applied over the wound, and the patient went directly to the CT scanner as drugs and fluids were pumped into the line to keep his heart and lungs functioning in a fading hope to restore the brain. The time elapsed from his arrival in the ER to the time he was in the CT scanner was five minutes.

The CT scan confirmed what we had feared. The wounds to the brain were horrific and mortal, and there was no way on earth to replace the volume of tissue that had been blasted away by the explosion. He had no hint of respiratory activity, his heart that had beat so strongly early in the day ceased to beat forever, and he was pronounced dead.

I am always surprised that anyone still has tears to shed here at Balad, but thank God they still do. The nurses and techs continued to care for him and do what they could. He was silently placed in the body bag when mortuary services arrived as gently as if they were tucking him into bed.

Later that night was Patriot Detail - our last goodbye for an American hero. His duty was done he had given the last full measure, and he was on his way home.

The third rule of war should be that we never forget the sacrifices made by our young men and women, and we always honor them.

We honor them by finishing what they came to accomplish. We remember them by never quitting and having the backbone and the guts to never bend to the yoke of oppression.


This account of the Brotherhood of War was exerpted from a letter by Col. Brett Wyrick commander of the 154th Medical Group, serving as a surgeon in Balad.

Thanks to Gen. Paulson for sharing it with us. The full letter is available for the asking.

Soldiers Angels

From Hugh Hewitt’s web site, an e-mail from SoldiersAngels:

"I wanted to let you know that our Adoptions Unit has been swamped over the last 3 days. We have processed over 900 adoptions in the last 72 hours...

We are working really hard on a couple of projects right now:

Operation Armor Up - We purchase and send KEVLAR blankets to soldiers in combat zones. The soldiers use these armored blankets to line the doors and floorboards of their Humvee's and personnel carriers to protect them from direct fire and exploding IED's. These blankets cost $925 and in the last week, we have purchased 6 to send over into the combat zones.

Operation PC - We are working with a Colonel at Brooke Army Medical Center in Texas to purchase PC's for wounded soldiers to use while in the hospital and take home with them so that they can keep in touch with their units back in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Backpacks for the Wounded - We provide backpacks full of personal items, toiletries and love to our soldiers returning from battle injured and alone. Many times these soldiers are evacuated without their personal items, and they cherish what we are able to provide. We include a special handmade blanket which provides them with some security after the horrors they have experienced.

These are just some of the many projects we are currently working on in addition to our normal activities such as providing calling cards to soldiers so that they can keep in touch with their loved ones back home, purchasing plane tickets for families and heroes to reunite, dedicating living trees to those who have fallen, and much more."

So dear friends, don’t forget to sign up at Soldiers Angels to adopt a soldier. Melanie told me at Starbucks this morning that she already has done so after seeing my post on 6/29 (Lessons of September 11th). Way to go Mel!!!

Bye, Bye Sandra Day

Justice Sandra Day O'Connor, one of the "swing votes" on the Supreme Court, has announced her retirement. O’Connor was an unknown Arizona judge when she was nominated by Ronald Reagan to be the first woman Supreme Court justice.

While she was far from a strict constitutionalist in the mold of Frankfurter, Rehnquist or Scalia, Justice O’Connor did side with the conservatives in some important cases. The most recent instance was the regrettable decision a week ago, in the eminent domain case of Kelo v. City of New London. There the court applied the law according to Humpty Dumpty. Until last week, the words "public use" meant "public use." Now they mean "public purpose or private benefit."

Once again the court has effectively amended the Constitution by judicial interpretation.

But Justice Sandra Day O'Connor filed a powerful dissent: "Today the court abandons a long-held, basic limitation on government power. Under the banner of economic development, all private property is now vulnerable to being taken and transferred to another private owner, so long as it might be upgraded -- i.e., given to an owner who will use it in a way that the legislature deems more beneficial to the public."

We must take advantage of this Supreme Court vacancy to appoint a justice who will not be a judicial activist. O'Connor's replacement must be one who will finally bring this court back, away from its recent trend to "legislate from the bench" -- and from the left.

Already, the sharks on the far left smell blood in the water, and are beginning their feeding frenzy. The Left has already amassed a HUGE JUGGERNAUT against us:

A coalition of 70 far-left groups, including People for the American Way, leftist labor unions, the Sierra Club, MoveOn.org, NARAL Pro-Choice America and the National Organization for Women, has formed to coordinate their efforts against any conservative nominee from President Bush.

Don’t let it happen. Write the President, the RNC and your Senators. In California, don’t bother with the “Box of Bricks” but send Feinstein a message.