| Opinion | Visit our friends at ExileStreet located somewhere between Hollywood and Vine... |
 San Francisco |
The Contrarian: Ban the Man? by Sally C. Pipes 7/25/08 |
Next month the world’s athletes gather in Beijing, what we used to call Peking, for the XXIX Olympics, this iteration bearing the slogan “One World, One Dream.” One outstanding American athlete had a dream to compete in these Olympics, but will not be doing so. It’s not because of drugs, steroids, or anything like that. Rather, it’s because he is a man.
His name is Kenyon Smith and he is 18 years old. His sport is synchronized swimming, one of the three Olympic sports that excludes men. The others are softball and rhythmic gymnastics. For the record, Olympic baseball and boxing still exclude women, which troubles me not at all. [more]
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Julia Gorin
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- Charles Schumer is a Terrorist
by Julia Gorin [pundit/comedian] 7/25/08 - At This Rate McCain Will Be Narrowly Winning
Just Before the Conventions
by John Mark Reynolds [author, academic] - Obama in the Epicenter
by Joel Rosenberg [novelist]
 Coronado |
Mending a Broken Border by J. F. Kelly, Jr. 7/24/08 |
Presidential hopefuls John McCain and Barack Obama recently addressed the National Council of La Raza at its convention in San Diego. Each was, of course, eagerly courting the Latino vote. Sen. Obama has the easier task in that regard, especially in California where polls indicate that they favor him over Sen. McCain by a margin of greater than 2 to 1. For all the GOP talk about being competitive in California this year, the state has become incurably liberal and therefore safely in the Democrat column, thanks to the large and growing Hispanic population which the party largely takes for granted.
Top issues which the convention organizers wanted discussed included health care, the mortgage crisis, education and, of course, immigration. On the latter issue, Mr. Obama again holds the advantage. While both candidates favor comprehensive immigration policy overhaul and Mr. McCain actually tried to get something done by co-sponsoring with Sen. Edward Kennedy a plan for it, McCain shifted his emphasis to strong enforcement measures first in order to gain the support from party conservatives that he needed to become the presumptive nominee. Mr. Obama, on the other hand, has remained consistently in favor of comprehensive reform. [more]
 Sacramento |
Voters Should Reject Rail Bond Boondoggle by Jon Coupal 7/23/08 |
Few proposals on the November ballot make as little sense as Prop. 1, the so-called High Speed Rail initiative. Why is Prop. 1 so bad? Let's count the ways:
First, Prop. 1 is a boondoggle that will cost taxpayers nearly $20 billion dollars in principal and interest. Taxpayers will foot this bill -- it's not "free money." According to the measure (Article 3, Section 2704.10) "... the full faith and credit of the state of California is hereby pledged for the punctual payment of both principal of, and interest on, the bonds ... ." This measure will take $20 billion dollars out of the general fund over the life of the bonds. That's over $2,000 for an average family of four! [more]
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REVIEW: Generation Kill – Part Two The Cradle of Civilization by Richard S. Lowry [author] 7/22/08 |
In part two, The Cradle of Civilization, Ed Burns' and Eric Wright's credibility started to erode. While the series remained visually stunning and the characters seemed like real Marines, the story started to stray from the truth.
When it comes to the battle for Nasiriyah, I will probably end up being Burns' and Wright's worst critic. I know too much about that fight to be dazzled by their literary license. The Generation Kill story is unfolding to be quite an adventure and we still cannot tell which direction the writers will be taking us. It appears that they will portray 1st Recon's enlisted Marines as gruff good guys and officers and other units as lacking in courage, intelligence and morals. Last night, I was particularly offended by the implication that 2d LAR indiscriminately killed civilians north of Nasiriyah. I was also disgusted with the distortion of the truth in the events surrounding the fight in Nasiriyah. [more]
 Los Angeles |
from ExileStreet.com Tweedle-Dee and Tweedle Dumb by Burt Prelutsky [scriptwriter] 7/21/08 |
Timing, as they say, is everything, and not just for baseball players trying to hit a 95-mph fastball. For example, if Hitler had come along 70 years later than he did, I have no doubt that he would have succeeded in conquering all of Europe. One only has to look at how close he came, and that was in spite of all those nations and the U.S. aligned against him. Today, much of Europe has no backbone, and I doubt that, in the wake of Iraq, Americans would have the collective will required to oppose Nazism. It bears remembering that when we went to war against the Axis powers, FDR was never asked if he had an exit strategy.
While it’s true that our presidents must deal with a great number of issues other than war, war and national defense are at the top of the list. Can anybody actually picture Barack Obama, a man born to be a left-wing social worker, as commander-in-chief? Keeping America safe is simply not on Obama’s to-do list. He has made that perfectly clear by several of his statements. For instance, he insisted that John Kennedy got Nikita Khrushchev to pull Soviet missiles out of Cuba by sitting down and reasoning with him. He obviously believes he will turn evil dictators into peaceful lambs by the sheer power of his personality. [more]
Coronado |
Defining Differences by J. F. Kelly, Jr. 7/18/08 |
Conventional political wisdom holds that presidential candidates must cater to their party core positions in order to win the nomination. They can move closer to the mainstream once it is secured. That principle certainly seems to describe Sen. Barack Obama’s slide toward the center since prevailing over Sen. Hillary Clinton. Sen. McCain similarly appealed to his party’s conservative base to become the presumptive nominee, especially by modifying his views on immigration overhaul in favor of stricter enforcement methods first. McCain, however, has since stayed generally on message while Obama now seems to be waffling a bit on earlier positions, especially with regard to how quickly he would end the war in Iraq.
I believe that what you see in John McCain is pretty much what you will get. He is moderately conservative with plenty of Washington experience but modest oratory skills. He has an independent nature and will make his own decisions. He will always attempt to do the right thing, I believe, regardless of political consequences and he is willing to reach out to Democrats to get things done. [more]
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