Bookworm – Page 3 – John Hawkins' Right Wing News

Barack Obama’s “understanding” of all things Muslim

Posted on February 7, 2011 by Bookworm

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

Posted on February 5, 2011 by Bookworm

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

Posted on February 3, 2011February 3, 2011 by Bookworm

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?

Posted on January 28, 2011 by Bookworm

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

Posted on January 28, 2011 by Bookworm

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

Posted on January 22, 2011 by Bookworm

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

Posted on December 19, 2010December 20, 2010 by Bookworm

‘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

Posted on December 19, 2010December 19, 2010 by Bookworm

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)

Posted on December 19, 2010 by Bookworm

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

Posted on December 14, 2010December 14, 2010 by Bookworm

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

Posted on December 10, 2010 by Bookworm

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

Posted on December 10, 2010 by Bookworm

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 […]

It’s no fun, being an illegal alien

Posted on December 10, 2010 by Bookworm

Life can be tough when you break the law. The people who murdered Annie Mae Aquash discovered this fact when they were arrested and tried for murder 35 years after killing Aquash. Sara Jane Olson, an SLA terrorist during the 1970s, discovered that when her quiet, suburban life in Minnesota was revealed and she spent […]

The morality of education and the DREAM Act

Posted on December 8, 2010 by Bookworm

I don’t see Harry Reid having the political umph to pass the DREAM Act, but I also never imagined back in 2007 that Barack Obama would be President, so what do I know? I do know that I have a problem with the DREAM Act, and that’s despite the fact that there are some very […]

Liberal thinking in a cup of tea

Posted on December 7, 2010December 7, 2010 by Bookworm

We are a family of tea drinkers. As dedicated tea drinkers, we like good tea, which usually means loose leaf tea. Loose leaf tea, in turn, means special tea makers. Our favorite is the Adagio Ingenuitea Teapot, which makes one perfect cup of tea at a time. The only downside of the Ingenuitea maker is […]

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

Posted on December 5, 2010 by Bookworm

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 […]

Liam Neeson — great voice, little brain

Posted on December 4, 2010 by Bookworm

Liam Neeson, who does the voice of Aslan the Lion in the Narnia movies, has upset people by claiming that Aslan could as easily be Allah or Buddha as he could be Christ: Ahead of the release of The Voyage of the Dawn Treader next Thursday, Neeson said: ‘Aslan symbolises a Christ-like figure but he […]

Taxes, government dependency and happiness

Posted on November 23, 2010 by Bookworm

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

Posted on November 20, 2010 by Bookworm

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”

Posted on November 20, 2010 by Bookworm

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 […]

Your PC, supportive IRS at work

Posted on November 20, 2010 by Bookworm

Many of us view the IRS with a certain amount of suspicion. Being fair-minded people, we know that all societies need some mechanism to collect revenue to pay for basic government services (with the fault lying with Congress if those revenue demands are excessive). We also know that our family and friends may work for […]

George Soros: A missing moral compass

Posted on November 17, 2010 by Bookworm

In my “real” facebook world, there’s been a lot of outrage over Glenn Beck’s excavation of George Soros’ adolescent work for the Nazis, work Soros (a Jew) engaged in to stay alive while passing as a Christian in Nazi occupied territory. Liberals howl “How dare Beck judge Soros? ” But is that what Beck is […]

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

Posted on November 15, 2010 by Bookworm

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, […]

Changing reality, one word at a time

Posted on November 11, 2010 by Bookworm

This is an absolutely true story: The conversation at my Mom’s retirement home got around to the subject of dogs. Someone mentioned the Belgian Sheepdog. “Oh,” my Mom said. “My own mother had one of those before WWI. It was a beautiful dog. It looked a little like a German shepherd, only it was black–” […]

In honor of Veteran’s Day — thoughts about redemption

Posted on November 10, 2010November 10, 2010 by Bookworm

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 […]

Judge not lest ye be judged

Posted on November 9, 2010 by Bookworm

People who know me in person also know that nothing is more likely to send my blood pressure spiking than talk about judges. (To any of my readers who are in fact judges, I’m sure you’re the exception to anything nasty I might be about to say about judges.) I dislike judges, something that is […]

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

Posted on November 8, 2010 by Bookworm

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

Posted on October 30, 2010October 31, 2010 by Bookworm

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

Posted on October 28, 2010October 28, 2010 by Bookworm

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

Posted on October 27, 2010April 3, 2011 by Bookworm

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. […]