Author: Bookworm

Barack Obama’s “understanding” of all things Muslim

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When I was six years old, within a few short months, I went from having perfect vision to being extremely nearsighted. I was discussing that fact with a friend today, and noted that I have no memory of ever having seen well without help from glasses or contacts. This comment made me realize how little […]

 

It is (I hope) not futile to resist the Islamic Borg

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One of the things the Leftist multiculturalists refuse to acknowledge is that Islam does not assimilate. Individual practitioners of the faith may, periodically and superficially, espouse the culture in which they live, but the fact remains that Islam, by its nature, is the Borg. Borg-like, the Islam collective’s motto is “Resistance is futile. You will […]

 

Defining our terms when we speak about Egypt

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A lot of people keep talking about a desire for a “democratic” Egypt. I hate to say it but, with the word “democratic” as the starting point, that’s not a very useful discussion. The dictionary definition of a “democracy” is as follows: government by the people; a form of government in which the supreme power […]

 

Is global warming hysteria responsible for Egypt’s revolution?

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Track me on this one: 1. With help from Al Gore, Hollywood, and the entire Leftist panoply, global warming fears reach hysterical levels. 2. As part of their apocalyptic battle against rising seas and dying polar bears, warmists declare ethanol is one of the answers (never mind that it turns out that it takes 1.5 […]

 

The Egypt crisis; or, the Community Activist and foreign policy

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I was going to open this post with a snarky line about whether anybody with even marginal intelligence expected a 40-something community activist to have the necessary chops to deal with an international crisis of the type currently unfolding in Egypt. Indeed, I think I still will: Does anybody with an IQ over the single […]

 

Comparing apples and oranges — federal projects old and new

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Rumor has it that the President is going to use the State of the Union address to call for more government spending. Much more government spending: President Barack Obama will call for new government spending on infrastructure, education and research in his State of the Union address Tuesday, sharpening his response to Republicans in Congress […]

 

A Christmas appreciation

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‘Tis the season for the usual politically correct attacks on Christmas. Ecumenical signs, disingenuously trimmed with Christmas holly and ornaments, urge a generic “Happy Holidays.” Bank inspectors, perhaps seeking an easier task than examining a bank’s books, remove crosses. Every December, Scrooge takes his steroids and is out in full force. You’d think, of course, […]

 

Interesting assumptions underlying a study about Fox viewers’ ignorance

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The New York Times reported today on a study showing that the more one watchers Fox news, the less one knows: In particular, they found that regular viewers of the Fox News Channel, which tilts to the right in prime time, were significantly more likely to believe untruths about the Democratic health care overhaul, climate […]

 

Republicans = slavery lovers (or so saith an article in the NYT)

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Every summer for the past several years, we’ve gone to a local (and wonderful) Civil War reenactment. Without exception, the people who have chosen to reenact the Southern side will tell one, quite earnestly, that the Southern side was about states’ rights, not about slavery. Even 145 years after the war ended (or perhaps I […]

 

Challenging the notion that it’s beneficial to a society to have every citizen highly educated

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This is a somewhat random post, since I’m mushing an idea around in my mind, and would love to have your input. The start for this post is my upbringing. I was raised in a European household (although that household was located in America). Both my parents came from the educated class, but both were […]

 

Something very, very weird is going on in Washington

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Are the wheels coming off the bus, or are we witnessing the most brilliant, and dangerous, political theater in our life times? Here’s what it looked like a few days ago: the President caved on maintaining the current tax rate, leaving Republicans triumphant. In exchange, it seemed as if the Republicans were extending unemployment benefits, […]

 

No air of verisimilitude to this otherwise unconvincing narrative

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It turns out that the young man who hung on the Union Jack flag in order to climb a cenotaph dedicated to the dead of WWI, a cenotaph that has inscribed on it in large letters “the glorious dead,” has apologized, claiming he knew not what he did. Hogwash. First of all, any halfway civilized […]

 

Israel, American Jews, American Christians and a whole bunch of other stuff too

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I struggled for a few minutes to find a clever title for this post that would convey the volume of information I’m about to download from my brain, but realized I couldn’t. A laundry list description will just have to do. You see, last night, I had the pleasure of attending a Hanukkah party that […]

 

Taxes, government dependency and happiness

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Two interesting things rolled across my desk today, interesting because they address the same topic — dependence on Big Government — but reach diametrically opposite conclusions. The first is a Dennis Prager column that examines why American conservatives are happier than American liberals. This isn’t just Dennis’ opinion, by the way. Instead, several recent polls […]

 

American taxpayers officially on the hook for a 1.7 mile tunnel in SF

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I blogged earlier this week about the fact that San Francisco, which is broke, was trying to find $137 million so that the feds would provide it with almost $1 billion dollars in funds to build a 1.7 mile subway tunnel. Federal money, of course, is your money. This is not money belonging to beleaguered […]

 

Another conversation with a liberal: “You won’t like it, because I say no one else does”

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My liberal friend and I were talking about having pizza for dinner. I suggested Round Table. My friend was appalled. Liberal Friend: “Round Table is awful.” Me: “I like it.” Liberal Friend: “It’s awful. Just go on Yelp.” Me: “Why should I go on Yelp? That’s helpful if I haven’t been some place and am […]

 

Our de-aspirational society; or, a society aiming for victimization and tawdriness

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More than a hundred years ago, writing in a deeply religious era, Robert Browning observed “Ah, but a man’s reach should exceed his grasp, or what’s a heaven for?” Perhaps it’s no surprise that today, in a society with a pop and media culture dominated by secularists who have abandoned entirely the notion of heaven, […]

 

In honor of Veteran’s Day — thoughts about redemption

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Since I was a child, I’ve enjoyed a very specific type of book or movie, of the kind that I call the “Getting it Right” genre. Getting it Right entertainment involves a protagonist who is making big mistakes, and who figures out how to — yes — get it right. The moral trajectory of failure […]

 

Why I am a fascist (according to my liberal friend)

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As I’ve related in past posts, my liberal friend repeatedly calls me a fascist or Nazi for supporting the Tea Party.:  Aside from being really rude, these appellations bewilder me.:  The historical record is very clear that both the Italian fascists and the Germany Nazis were socialists.:  Socialism, by definition, means the concentration of political […]

 

NPR’s carefully crafted tales — and why I don’t listen any more

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When I left law school, a switch tripped in my brain. Whereas before I’d listened only to top twenty music, I suddenly got bored with music and switched to news. But not just any news. NPR news. Whenever I was in the car, I had my radio tuned to my local public radio station. In […]

 

Those wacky, extreme, ill-informed, violent, dishonest Democrat politicians

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My liberal friend — the same one who thinks that, politically, Tea Partiers are American Nazis — is also convinced that Tea Party candidates are nut jobs, more suited for an insane asylum or remedial education class, than for high office. My friend’s belief is actually unsurprising, since that is the song the media is […]

 

Californians: Vote a straight Republican ticket

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My friend Sally Zelikovsky says it in the clearest words possible: Unless conservatives in California vote for the Republicans, we will have a Sacramento government made up entirely of San Francisco Democrats. If that horrible outcome sounds painfully obvious to you, you don’t know California. There are two dynamics in California that are a problem. […]