Friday, July 28, 2006
Is it Really Hypocrisy?
I've said this a dozen times if I've said it once, liberals HATE hypocrisy. But try to pin them down as to whether there is such a thing as absolute truth (Is it an absolute truth that hypocrisy is evil?) and they'll go running to the valet door even if it is hidden under a lamp shade.
And now comes the accusation that Laffey, opposed to Federal spending on embryonic stem cell research, is (dare I say) hypocritical since he invests some of his private assets into privately funded stem cell research.
Well, two things: private is better than public, and Laffey makes a distinction: his investment is in stem cell research, not embryonic stem cell research, which usually involves the destruction of fertilized human embryos. And as Andrew Morse at Anchor Rising has aptly noted, there is a difference.
One 30,000 foot observation here: Chafee must see something we don't see for him to be picking such fights. Is he trying to persuade Laffey supporters to give it up? Why? Is he fading and needs the votes?
The summer is young.
And now comes the accusation that Laffey, opposed to Federal spending on embryonic stem cell research, is (dare I say) hypocritical since he invests some of his private assets into privately funded stem cell research.
Well, two things: private is better than public, and Laffey makes a distinction: his investment is in stem cell research, not embryonic stem cell research, which usually involves the destruction of fertilized human embryos. And as Andrew Morse at Anchor Rising has aptly noted, there is a difference.
One 30,000 foot observation here: Chafee must see something we don't see for him to be picking such fights. Is he trying to persuade Laffey supporters to give it up? Why? Is he fading and needs the votes?
The summer is young.
Simply Amazing
If you think life is hard sometimes, and you're not sure how you're going to make it, just watch this incredible story of dedication, commitment, inspiration and Love.
Thursday, July 27, 2006
This Week Goes to Laffey
Yes, we're in the dog days of summer, though we're approaching about eight weeks before the primary. This week, with the announcing of Cranston as one of Money Magazines' top 100 (78) cities in the country, and the revelation by some congressional policing outfit that Chafee as one of the biggest tax and spenders in the US Senate, I'll give the week to Laffey. But very few are listening right now.
In the mean time, check out Anchor Rising's look at the reason why so many Democrats may have disaffiliated. It's becoming likely that the Democrats Chafee will need just may not show up for the Republican primary in September.
In the mean time, check out Anchor Rising's look at the reason why so many Democrats may have disaffiliated. It's becoming likely that the Democrats Chafee will need just may not show up for the Republican primary in September.
Tuesday, July 25, 2006
Surely You Jest!
From MSNBC:
NABATIYEH, Lebanon - As Israeli troops sealed off a Hezbollah stronghold and Beirut was pounded by new air strikes, a senior Hezbollah official said Tuesday the guerrilla group did not expect Israel to react so strongly to its capture of two Israeli soldiers last month.
NABATIYEH, Lebanon - As Israeli troops sealed off a Hezbollah stronghold and Beirut was pounded by new air strikes, a senior Hezbollah official said Tuesday the guerrilla group did not expect Israel to react so strongly to its capture of two Israeli soldiers last month.
Thursday, July 20, 2006
At Least He's Consistent!
Pacifist US Senator Lincoln Chafee's view on the war in Lebanon as discussed on Rush Limbaugh's July 19 radio show (HT: Marc Comtois at Anchor Rising):
CHAFEE: I think there should be a ceasefire and I disagree with the administration on that. I think immediate ceasefire and as this spreads, has the danger of going throughout the Muslim world, uh -- and that's from Morocco to Indonesia, having this unrest spread in the Muslim world...
RUSH: Where's this guy been? We need a ceasefire? All this is Bush's fault? He needs to be defeated. It's about time we get rid of these -- whatever you want to characterize Linc Chafee as being -- out of the Senate. This is absurd. It's Bush's fault! Bush missed the opportunities? There needs to be a ceasefire? All a ceasefire is is a period of time for the bad guys to arm up again and come back with even bigger and stronger and more weapons than they were using before the first time. It's like Bolton said: Ceasefire with terrorists? How in the world do you negotiate that? You don't! All the while, by the way, George Bush is helping Linc Chafee in his reelection effort just as he helped Arlen Specter. But Chafee's fallen five points behind in Rhode Island, and feels he has to come out and bite the hand that feeds him in order to boost his poll numbers up. This is not exactly the display of the execution of core principles.
To Chafee, every war is the Vietnam war, and every time is a time to cut and run.
CHAFEE: I think there should be a ceasefire and I disagree with the administration on that. I think immediate ceasefire and as this spreads, has the danger of going throughout the Muslim world, uh -- and that's from Morocco to Indonesia, having this unrest spread in the Muslim world...
RUSH: Where's this guy been? We need a ceasefire? All this is Bush's fault? He needs to be defeated. It's about time we get rid of these -- whatever you want to characterize Linc Chafee as being -- out of the Senate. This is absurd. It's Bush's fault! Bush missed the opportunities? There needs to be a ceasefire? All a ceasefire is is a period of time for the bad guys to arm up again and come back with even bigger and stronger and more weapons than they were using before the first time. It's like Bolton said: Ceasefire with terrorists? How in the world do you negotiate that? You don't! All the while, by the way, George Bush is helping Linc Chafee in his reelection effort just as he helped Arlen Specter. But Chafee's fallen five points behind in Rhode Island, and feels he has to come out and bite the hand that feeds him in order to boost his poll numbers up. This is not exactly the display of the execution of core principles.
To Chafee, every war is the Vietnam war, and every time is a time to cut and run.
Tuesday, July 18, 2006
Iran has Answered
A Wall Street Journal editorial today on what's really going on between Israel and Lebanon has covered the situation perfectly, and helps to explain the long delay in Iran's response to the generous offer made to them to cease their nuclear development. Some excerpts:
The war between Hezbollah and Israel is a tragedy for its victims, but it could also be a clarifying moment if the world draws the proper lessons....
...Hezbollah is not the indigenous Lebanese "resistance" organization it claims to be, but is a military creature of Tehran. Iran has used its strategic alliance with Syria to arm the group, primarily via shipments through Damascus airport. The Palestinian terrorist-political group Hamas likewise maintains close ties to both Iran and Syria. And a week ago Monday this axis of evil swung into action...
...The Hezbollah operation would never have been attempted without the agreement, and probably the active encouragement, of Tehran....
...In short, while many elites in America and Europe have spent the past year fretting that President Bush might strike Iran, the Iranians have struck first. But don't take our word for it. Lebanese Druze leader Walid Jumblatt recently told al-Arabiya television that "What is happening in Lebanon is part of the struggle between Syria and Iran on the one side and Israel on the other." And: "Iran is saying to the U.S.: '[If] you want to fight in the Gulf or hit our nuclear facilities, we will hurt you in your home, in Israel.' "
...In disarming Hezbollah, Israel would be doing Lebanese patriots a favor. In this regard, one bad idea is the international call for an immediate "cease-fire" to be monitored by a multinational peacekeeping force. U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan has made this suggestion, as has British Prime Minister Tony Blair. This didn't work out too well the last time, in the early 1980s, when 241 Americans and 58 French soldiers were killed in Beirut by truck bombs almost surely sent by Hezbollah. Any international force would be a terror target once again, and at this stage any cease-fire imposed from the outside would merely hand Hezbollah a victory....
But read the whole thing.
The war between Hezbollah and Israel is a tragedy for its victims, but it could also be a clarifying moment if the world draws the proper lessons....
...Hezbollah is not the indigenous Lebanese "resistance" organization it claims to be, but is a military creature of Tehran. Iran has used its strategic alliance with Syria to arm the group, primarily via shipments through Damascus airport. The Palestinian terrorist-political group Hamas likewise maintains close ties to both Iran and Syria. And a week ago Monday this axis of evil swung into action...
...The Hezbollah operation would never have been attempted without the agreement, and probably the active encouragement, of Tehran....
...In short, while many elites in America and Europe have spent the past year fretting that President Bush might strike Iran, the Iranians have struck first. But don't take our word for it. Lebanese Druze leader Walid Jumblatt recently told al-Arabiya television that "What is happening in Lebanon is part of the struggle between Syria and Iran on the one side and Israel on the other." And: "Iran is saying to the U.S.: '[If] you want to fight in the Gulf or hit our nuclear facilities, we will hurt you in your home, in Israel.' "
...In disarming Hezbollah, Israel would be doing Lebanese patriots a favor. In this regard, one bad idea is the international call for an immediate "cease-fire" to be monitored by a multinational peacekeeping force. U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan has made this suggestion, as has British Prime Minister Tony Blair. This didn't work out too well the last time, in the early 1980s, when 241 Americans and 58 French soldiers were killed in Beirut by truck bombs almost surely sent by Hezbollah. Any international force would be a terror target once again, and at this stage any cease-fire imposed from the outside would merely hand Hezbollah a victory....
But read the whole thing.
Saturday, July 15, 2006
A recent LA Times Op-Ed piece forecasts the coming demise of what is now the "mainstream" Episcopal Church. (Hot Tip: LL)
Gilder and Me
George Gilder has written another seminal piece. This time on the subject of evolution, and not just evolutionary theory and its effect on science, but, as is his wont, the entire effect it has on the philosophy of the current age.
Gilder will be long remembered as one the most important intellectuals of the 20th and 21st centuries. He's written extensively on diverse subjects as the silicon revolution in technology, and sexual revolution.
This piece is important reading. For those who subscribe to National Review magazine, the piece can be found here. I have also posted it in the Senescent Man library blog, Oblogatory Reading. It is not a short essay, but well worth the time. I highly recommend it.
Gilder will be long remembered as one the most important intellectuals of the 20th and 21st centuries. He's written extensively on diverse subjects as the silicon revolution in technology, and sexual revolution.
This piece is important reading. For those who subscribe to National Review magazine, the piece can be found here. I have also posted it in the Senescent Man library blog, Oblogatory Reading. It is not a short essay, but well worth the time. I highly recommend it.
Happy Birthday Rembrandt!
Wednesday, July 05, 2006
Thoughts on the Fourth
In honor of this Independence Day, I share with you some profound remarks by the Great Communicator (as shared with me by a friends):
"The day of our nation's birth in that little hall in Philadelphia, [was] a day on which debate had raged for hours. The men gathered there were honorable men hard-pressed by a king who had flouted the very laws they were willing to obey. Even so, to sign the Declaration of Independence was such an irretrievable act that the walls resounded with the words 'treason, the gallows, the headsman's axe,' and the issue remained in doubt. [On that day] 56 men, a little band so unique we have never seen their like since, had pledged their lives, their fortunes and their sacred honor. Some gave their lives in the war that followed, most gave their fortunes, and all preserved their sacred honor... In recent years, however, I've come to think of that day as more than just the birthday of a nation. It also commemorates the only true philosophical revolution in all history. Oh, there have been revolutions before and since ours. But those revolutions simply exchanged one set of rules for another. Ours was a revolution that changed the very concept of government. Let the Fourth of July always be a reminder that here in this land, for the first time, it was decided that man is born with certain God-given rights; that government is only a convenience created and managed by the people, with no powers of its own except those voluntarily granted to it by the people. We sometimes forget that great truth, and we never should." —Ronald Reagan
"The day of our nation's birth in that little hall in Philadelphia, [was] a day on which debate had raged for hours. The men gathered there were honorable men hard-pressed by a king who had flouted the very laws they were willing to obey. Even so, to sign the Declaration of Independence was such an irretrievable act that the walls resounded with the words 'treason, the gallows, the headsman's axe,' and the issue remained in doubt. [On that day] 56 men, a little band so unique we have never seen their like since, had pledged their lives, their fortunes and their sacred honor. Some gave their lives in the war that followed, most gave their fortunes, and all preserved their sacred honor... In recent years, however, I've come to think of that day as more than just the birthday of a nation. It also commemorates the only true philosophical revolution in all history. Oh, there have been revolutions before and since ours. But those revolutions simply exchanged one set of rules for another. Ours was a revolution that changed the very concept of government. Let the Fourth of July always be a reminder that here in this land, for the first time, it was decided that man is born with certain God-given rights; that government is only a convenience created and managed by the people, with no powers of its own except those voluntarily granted to it by the people. We sometimes forget that great truth, and we never should." —Ronald Reagan
Monday, July 03, 2006
Advantage Chafee Part Deux
Another week, and another solid week for Chafee in the ad wars. The McCain TV ad is a bone crusher, despite the fact that McCain has his adversaries - they really are a small subset of the whole, though I know many of them, and they are friends of mine.
Also, I realize the focus should be on Republians for the primary, but repeatedly stating that Chafee "is too liberal" by the Club for Growth guys is just not doing it for me, though they are right.
Why not really underscore the Chafee waffle - particularly on Iraq.
Also, I realize the focus should be on Republians for the primary, but repeatedly stating that Chafee "is too liberal" by the Club for Growth guys is just not doing it for me, though they are right.
Why not really underscore the Chafee waffle - particularly on Iraq.
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