Monday, July 28, 2008

Novak 7/28/08


These are professional pundits who usually say things that are significant. Robert Novak’s policy is to have something nobody knows in each column. In his memoir at the left he writes of the 50 years he’s covered the news in Washington.




McCain Is Closer Than He Should Be



Summary: Obama’s campaign has been brilliant while McCain’s has been lackluster. Yet Obama is only a few points ahead. Despite the electioneering aspects of Obama’s campaign, the substantive aspects hinder him. Can McCain back into the general election the way he backed into the Republican nomination?

Quote:

The toughest interrogation of Obama came from CBS anchor Katie Couric in Jordan last Tuesday. She asked four times whether the troop surge he had opposed was instrumental in reducing violence in Iraq. Obama answered straight from talking points by citing "the great effort of our young men and women in uniform." That sounded like the old politics. He would have sounded more like a new politician if he had simply said, "Yes, the strategy did work." That would have infuriated antiwar activists but not enough for them to drop Obama.

My Views: Obama doesn’t bug me so much as the obvious media bias. This also occurred in the Clinton campaigns. While the press did give him a hard time, too, that was not in 1992 or 1996. In the run-up to the elections, they always seem to give the Democrat candidates an easy ride.

None of this can explain why Republicans have such a hard time getting their act together.



Here’s Novak’s essay.



Disclaimer: The book pictured is Novak's memoir. This gives you a picture of the book, of him, and an idea of what it costs. The fact that I will be compensated if you click on the link and buy the book turns this post into a semi-advertisement. I only will link to Amazon.com for books I actually liked.

Tuesday, July 15, 2008

Don’t Overlook This! 7/15/08

These are stories in the news that have much more significance than they’ve received. These stories should have been the leading news items of their day. Their significance extends beyond just a particular area and beyond just a particular news cycle.

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Foreign Courts Take Aim at Our Free Speech
Senators Retaliate

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Libel suits in America are limited by the First Amendment of the US Constitution so people have taken to suing writers in foreign courts. These courts have been used a variety of odius techniques to enforce their judgements on US authors. One is to block all sales of the author's publisher in their country.

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Here is the story in The Wall Street Journal.

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Why this is significant:

Anti-U.S. feeling is being expressed in a variety of ways. This corresponds to a decline in Western values in Europe and elsewhere. To put it succinctly, freedom of speech is not as important to some anymore as it used to be. It all depends on who the aggressor is.

At least someone in a position of responsibility in the U.S. government recognizes that these lawsuits are a threat to the American way of life.

Sunday, July 13, 2008

Incredibly Stupid Game

Yes, this game is incredibly stupid! So, can you beat it?



This is an online game with really dumb questions. So, you can get them all correct, right?

Tuesday, July 8, 2008

Don’t Overlook This! 7/8/08

These are stories in the news that have much more significance than they’ve received. These stories should have been the leading news items of their day. Their significance extends beyond just a particular area and beyond just a particular news cycle.

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Ireland Rejects Treaty but European Union Will Grows in Power Anyway

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The European Union has already assumed many of the functions of a nation state. It has a capital, Brussels, it has a President, and it has a Parliament. It has a currency, the Euro. Like the Euro, its laws are supplanting the laws of most of the nations of Europe.

It still lacks a Constitution. The Original Constitution was turned down by voters in France, Holland and other countries. The statesmen of Europe decided to get around the voters by getting the same thing done by Treaty instead of a formal Constitution.

The trouble this scenario is that Ireland has a requirement it it's own Constitution that any treaty that would change it's government would require a vote by the people. So the Treaty was put to a vote and then defeated.

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Here is the story in The American Spectator.

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Why this is significant:

First, Europe is rapidly coalescing into one big super-state to rival the United States.

Second, it is based upon elitism and bureaucracy and not democracy. This is a milestone in the path.