War, Peace and Oil
I have read of it in various publications, had the merits of it explained to me by many distinguished speakers, have been induced to believe that it is of common acceptance, and for the better part of my early life on earth I actually believed that the essence was doable:
That doable was that peace was indeed a realistic goal; that this nation's policy, in scope and function, both domestic and international should be to establish peace. I thought that peace was universally desirous and was a shared commonality for all of humankind. But, with the passing of years, as with all things child-like, I put such beliefs aside and dealt with the world as it is rather than as I wish it was.
"Obama doesn't like me"
I am neither bitter nor cynical but I do wish there was less immaturity in political thinking.
- Franklin D. Roosevelt
Beyond Conservatism: Freedom in a Godless Future
That the GOP is experiencing an identity crisis is self-evident. Over the last few months the Party cannibalized herself as one candidate after another tripped over their feet trying to climb on top of her shaky political pedestal. No one can convincingly say what Republican voters were looking for, but it looks like they've pretty much found it in John McCain. Yet there is restiveness in the so-called Conservative sector, once hailed as the core ideological constituency of the Right but now finding itself marginalized to the peripheries of the Republican Party whose political headquarters are being rebuilt Leftwards.
Most Conservative icons have criticized the Arizona senator's controversial Conservative credentials, but some have gone as far as to boycott the Party over his nomination, thus translating the Conservative tantrum into a highly leveraged ultimatum. So Conservatives indeed feel betrayed by the GOP's leadership, but have they ever scrutinized their faithfulness to their own principles? Most importantly, have they ever coherently articulated what Conservative principles represent? ...Can they?
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For the Love of Despots
For reasons that defy both common sense and reason, modern liberals are drawn to despots and tyrants. The most notable, read egregious, example is former president Jimmy Carter, who this week met with Nasser Shaer, a senior leader of the Hamas terrorist organization.
Carter's history of this kind of madness dates to more than thirty years ago. Recall that during some of the most tense years of the Cold War, when the Soviet Union had thousands of nuclear missiles trained on the United States, Carter dismissed those who demanded that America take the threat seriously, calling them alarmists. He also had a hand in propping up the Pahlevi dictatorship in Iran, and, of course, left office with U.S. hostages in Iran--a shameful legacy.
Will anyone help Morgan Tsvangirai?
It may be necessary to use methods other than constitutional ones.
- Robert Mugabe
Gas Tax- Does the Government Have the Ability to Act in the Interest of the Gasoline Consumer
I have often thought that the rising price of oil and the corresponding increase in the cost of a gallon at the pump has produced benefits for certain persons and entities. Surely, the shareholders of Exxon Mobil Corp, Royal Dutch Shell, Conoco, BP (ARCO), and Chevron Texaco to mention a few of those publicly traded companies that produce and refine this commodity are pleased at the rising price of gas.
Imagine, the appreciation of the shareholders' holdings eventually fills the coffers of the federal government via the tax on shareholder gains; the stock rises in value and the shareholder is giving up a percentage of gains not vested capital, everyone is a winner. The corporation's after tax profits are utilized for future investments in infrastructure, exploration, and financial sureties of differing descriptions.
Obama: Wrapped up or undone?
The last few weeks started out as the most difficult of the campaign for Senator Barack Obama. But they may turn out to be the weeks in which he won the Democratic presidential nomination.
A few weeks before this difficult period, just as he closed in on the nomination, the media began to examine his statements, his voting record, his affiliations and his friends. Voters began to express doubts and second thoughts. Then tapes of some of his pastor's sermons hit the Internet. Many political activists predicted that Obama would implode.
Liberalism & The Nature of Sacrifice
We've spent countless hours trying to divine the modern liberal sensibility, from its atavistic embrace of noxious racial politics to its perennial preoccupation with victimhood. Perhaps the most vexing and inscrutable issue is their apparent incapacity to appreciate the geopolitical implications of the war in Iraq.
For a prototypical example, we turn to Leonard Pitts, whose piece on Iraq in the Miami Herald covers every counter-intuitive paradox in the liberal play-book. Although it's largely a 'cut and paste' editorial cobbled together from the left's book of received wisdom, it's still instructive to peer inside the dark inner-workings of their arguments, if only to try to fathom the curvilinear nature of their reasoning.
Is It Time the United States Grew Up About Race?
Before I begin my rebuttal to some of the blog posts listed on this site as well as the coverage of the mainstream media on Barack Obama's historical speech on race, I would like to clarify that I have not previously been a Barack Obama supporter. In fact, all one need do is search the archives of this website. There one will find a blog post with my endorsement of former Democratic candidate John Edwards, a white, wealthy man. In my endorsement, I explained that though I long desired to see the day when an African-American or a woman (or someone who is both) take up residence in the Oval Office as commander-in-chief, I cannot endorse someone based on such superficialities. I contend that to do so would be equally racist or sexist as voting against someone simply based on those factors. Furthermore, my past posts on this site as well as others have expressed criticisms of Mr. Obama due to some of the contradictions and ambiguities in his campaign.
That being said, I believe Mr. Obama's speech about race yesterday was one of the most mature and honest expositions of the subject to be broadcasted. As such, I am somewhat appalled and disconcerted by the adverse reactions to his speech by the media. More disheartening is the exploitation of certain remarks made by Mr. Obama's pastor that have been taken out of context. Of serious concern is the fact that most of these pundits are complaining that had a white man made such incendiary comments about minorities or had questionable relationships with certain groups favoring white supremacy, they would be chastised severely. First, the pastor did not advocate for black supremacy or urge violence against the white community. Though some of his comments were over the top, he was angrily relaying frustration at America for waging war on other countries, and so bringing violence upon ourselves as well as for creating a drug system that imprisoned black people both figuratively and literally. Many of these claims have been backed up by evidence and are not fully without validity. Most importantly, the gist of the pastor's sermons spoke of karmic relevance reminiscent of Old Testament-style testimonial. We bore the fruit that we sow the seeds for, etc.
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Clinton's Michigan and Florida Hypocrisy
Suppose that the Dallas Cowboys play the Houston Texans in an exhibition game next August and the Texans win. Then suppose that the Texans subsequently appeal to NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell to have the game counted in the regular season standings. How fair would that be? Of course, it wouldn't be fair at all as the Cowboys would rightly argue that, had they known the game was going to count, they would have put more resources into it and tried a lot harder to win it.
As we all should know, it's not fair to change the rules after the fact, but that's exactly what Hillary Clinton is arguing to have done. It's no different than what the Houston Texans would be arguing for in my supposition above. Last August, the Democratic National Committee decided to strip Michigan and Florida of all of their convention delegates because they scheduled their primaries before February 5 (a date that only Iowa, New Hampshire, and South Carolina were allowed to precede). That reduced Michigan's and Florida's primaries to mere beauty contests (that's what exhibition games in politics are called).
The race card: Who would believe this?
Where are the Democrats going? Who planned this trip? The Democratic Party nominating process has reached Alice in Wonderland levels.
Republicans are amazed. If GOP rules had been in effect for the Democratic primaries and caucuses, Senator Clinton would have wrapped up the Democratic nomination about the time Senator McCain wrapped up the Republican nomination. What is it about the Democratic process that makes this so difficult?
Admiral Fallon & the Denial of History
We've all heard the axiom, one that has achieved a wholly unwarranted level of credibility, that war should always be a last resort. Military historians have a plethora of examples of wars that were either lost or needlessly protracted due to a belated entrance. Although Hannibal enjoyed many military successes in the Second Punic War, some historians argue that Carthage's twenty-three hiatus after the First Punic War was a contributing factor in its ultimate destruction.
In modern times, the most ignoble example is World War Two, and in a moment of inadvertent prescience relative to our current war against radical Islam, William F. Buckley was once asked whether or not he believed that war should be a last resort. He replied that it was an absurd notion, and that had we stopped Hitler before he took the Sudetenland in 1938 we might well have prevented the war. The difference, he noted, could be measured in the 45 million souls who perished.
The Democratic Presidential Race: A Status Report
It looks like Barack Obama has recovered most of the momentum he lost on March 4, when Hillary Clinton broke his winning streak by scoring primary wins in Ohio, Texas, and Rhode Island. Since then, Obama has been declared the winner in the Texas Caucuses and actually ended up being awarded more delegates from that state than was Clinton. Therefore, what appeared to be major victories for Clinton in the March 4 contests only netted her about six more delegates than Obama. Obama's subsequent wins in Wyoming and Mississippi netted him seven more delegates than she, meaning that he now leads in total delegates by 124 -- one more than he lead by on March 3.
In addition, Clinton had pulled ahead of Obama in the national polls just as she was getting her big wins on March 4. However, that lead only lasted about five days, as Obama was able to pull back ahead of her, even before his resounding victory in Mississippi. His lead in the national polls is now about what is was at the end of February. Most of the professional pundits didn't seem to notice this -- or at least I've never heard any of them point it out.
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Has China shrunk?
China may be smaller than we thought. The Chinese economy is not a $10 trillion economy about to pass the United States, but a $6 trillion economy - 40 percent smaller than previously calculated. India's economy is 40 percent smaller, too. The figures are from a World Bank statistical report of the economic output of 146 countries. What does this mean?
For one thing, it means that lots of people disagree with the World Bank's figures and the methodology behind them. The International Monetary Fund has different figures. So do other agencies, financial institutions and international organizations. The disagreeing experts may confuse, not clarify, the situation.
The Fallout from the Florida GOP Primary
How did the Florida Republican primary change the race for the nomination? Let's assess the fallout from that crucial contest conducted two days ago.
John McCain got the big win in Florida that he so desperately needed. McCain is now the clear frontrunner and is in a commanding position to secure the nomination. The race is now McCain's to lose. In the vernacular of his campaign, he might well be "unstoppable" at this point. However, he will have to wait until next week to see if he can become the presumptive nominee. The litmus test will be whether or not he can get more than half the delegates that are up for grabs on Super Tuesday. More than likely, McCain will reach this plateau. However, anything less would leave the outcome of the nomination race still very much in doubt.