Oh sometimes it is just too easy to mock Democrats. This weak Tom Daschle and Al Gore have decided to stage public meltdowns by delivering awful public speeches. (Of course, I thought Al Gore's unfocused and poorly delivered nomination speech would kill his campaign in 2000 and that Elizabeth Dole's (media hyped) ramble at the 1996 GOP convention stunk to high heaven. Which shows me that at least during the Clinton years Americans' ability to appreciate fine oratory was at a nadir. Mike Gerson has, I hope, helped to rectify that situation by offering President Bush some tremendously well-crafted orations.)
Daschle threw a hissy fit on the floor of the Senate yesterday because President Bush deigned to tell people in New Jersey that "the Senate is putting special interests ahead of the national interest with regard to the Homeland Security Bill." The quote is not exact, but it is close enough in the sense that the President did not mention the Democratic party by name in making this point. Daschle of course was peeved because his party has been holding up the Homeland Security Bill to appease government union workers and he didn't like President Bush reminding people of this fact even obliquely. Former Klansman, Robert Byrd echoed Daschle's high hat routine. If only Jesse Helms and Strom Thurmond could pull Grand Dragon Byrd out of the Senate with them when they retire in December. They could move in together in a house in Florida and call themselves The Golden Bubbas. Sen. Kennedy could provide occasional comic relief by always entering the room with either a bottle, a bimbo or no pants.
Some unsolicited advice I'd give to Tom Daschle. Next time you want to come down to the floor of the Senate and talk tough, leave the granny glasses and pink tie at home. Seeing the performances of Daschle and Byrd made me almost whistful for the characters in the 19th century Senate. I can imagine a burly fellow walking across the room and smacking Byrd upside the head and telling him "Shut up you old coot!" or better yet slapping Daschle with a glove and challenging him to a duel saying "You sir, have insulted the honor of the President and the Republican Party and I demand satisfaction." Instead you had Trent Lott, giving a speech, which was nearly as pathetic as Daschle's and Byrd's in response. The only ones who hit the right note yesterday were the president and Sen. Zell Miller (D-GA).
As for Al Gore...I was really going to lay into him, but its been done pretty well already by Rush Limbaugh and Michael Kelly and Bill Bennett already to paraphrase "Animal House" Fatuous, Dumpy and Arrogant is no way to go through life.
Something Scary
My impersonations of Saturday Night Live's Darrell Hammond's impersonations of Bill Clinton and Al Gore are pretty good. I also can do Ross Perot and the classic muppets (which are pretty much the same thing.) Yet I can't get a handle on President Bush. Perhaps it is easier to mock the inherently mockable.
Which Missouri Polls Do You Believe?
Josh Marshall of talkingpointsmemo.com cites polls that show Jeanne Carnahan pulling away from Jim Talent in the race for the Missouri senate seat. Joel Mowbray at National Review Online suggests that Talent is leading. Admittedly I am not on the ground watching the campaign, but I'd be shocked and disappointed if Carnahan were to win. Her being in the Senate in the first place is a fluke. She is not an experienced politician. If she temporizes at all on Iraq she's definitely toast. I like to think of Missourians as ordinary people with more than a modicum of commonsense. The election of Carnahan, in the absence of extenuating circumstances, would cause me to seriously question that impression.
Wednesday, September 25, 2002 The She-Goat got my Goat
The Arizona Republic ran an op-ed of Molly Ivins today. I am not exactly sure how a woman that monumentally stupid managed to find people even more creinous to pay her for writing what she does. I am not going to link to her article because I don't want to arrested for corrupting the youth of America. I'll just mention one key point. In the article Ivins bloviates about the latest National Security memo. To her it represents a great case of warmongering. Instead she offers that the greatest diplomatic success of the 20th century was the Marshall Plan. Therefore the U.S. needs to reform its foreign policies to resemble the Marshall Plan. This might appear to be a keen political insight except that it fails to acknowledge one key point. What made the Marshall Plan possible was the fact that the U.S. had thoroughly defeated its enemy. The U.S. was being magnanimous in victory. After the U.S. has deposed the regimes of its military opponents enemies and established the groundwork for acceptance of democratic practices in those countries I will be happy to support a new Marshall Plan. The important word being AFTER not before. Just to clarify. After = Magnanimity, peace Before = Appeasement, war
A woman who devoutly attends Church every day is stricken with a rare cancer that can be cured with an extremely expensive operation. Because the surgery is experimental her health insurance will not cover it. She prays to God for the resources to pay for the surgery. An angel appears before her and gives her the winning numbers for the lottery. She plays, wins and goes in for the surgery. Just before she is wheeled into the operating room she prays and asks the angel how long she will live. The angel tells her that she will live another 40 years. Overjoyed with the news she decides after the surgery for cancer to get all sorts of cosmetic surgery done so that she can look great for the next forty years. She is in the hospital for a month during which time she neglects to go to Church or even to pray. When the cosmetic work is done she looks fabulous. As she is walking out of the hospital she checks herself out in her compact mirror. Just then a truck careens out of control, strikes her and kills her instantly. Up in heaven she tracks down the angel. "You said I'd live another 40 years, yet here I am only 1 month later." "I'm sorry," the angel replies "I didn't recognize you."
Admittedly not the funniest joke in the world. (Form my money it is the Leprachaun nun joke.) But it does raise an interesting question for all those who have chosen to alter their bodies, especially those who have engaged in radical transformations such as sex changes. When God resurrects your body will he make it a disease and deformity free version of his work or will he cede to your own engineering preferences?
NO CIVIL RIGHTS FOR THE RELIGIOUS?
I'd like to bring people's attention to two articles that speak volumes about the American left. One is Kathryn Lopez's article about the Abortion Non-Discrimination Act at National Review Online. The bill would allow institutions to deny abortion services as a matter of conscience. This doesn't sit well with the abortion on demand crowd because more and more doctors and hospitals are choosing not to engage in the gruesome procedure thus restricting the number of places a woman can go to kill her baby.
The other appeared in the Boston Globe and is about Barney Frank's and Gay Interest Groups' efforts to scuttle the Charitable Aid Recovery and Empowerment Act up for consideration in the Senate because it doesn't force religious groups to give up their right to take potential employees religious beliefs into account when hiring. I daresay that liberals would be up in arms if an interest group tried to kill legislation that will help spur community service by advocating a change to the bill that would force the NAACP to hire Ward Connerly or NOW to hire a pro-life activist or someone like Priscilla Owen or even Kathryn Lopez. Apparently creating uniformity of committment is okay for liberal groups but not for religious ones. Before some smartie pants argues that the religious groups would be receiving government funds I'd advise them to check out the balance sheets for NOW and the NAACP to see where a bit of their money comes from.
I was going to use this spave to deconstruct Al Gore's speech to the Commonwealth Club yesterday. It was about Iraq. Unfortunately it is such an unholy mess that I need more time to digest it and spit it out. One snippet that I'll address now is his assertion that our pre-emptive action against Iraq will destroy the concept of international law by allowing other countries to act when they say that they believe another country portends a threat. In short, according to Gore, unilateral action by the U.S. would set a dangerous precedent.
Okay, let's examine the precedent being set based on what the U.S. has done and is doing prior to its possible invasion of Iraq. 1. More than a decade ago the U.S. led a coalition in victory during a war started by a brutal dictator who had invaded a sovereign country that had some ties of friendship to the United States. 2. After winning it led the coalition, including the U.N., in setting terms for the surrender of the dictator and his country. 3. It monitored the compliance of the defeated enemy to the terms of its surrender and found that compliance to be unsatisfactory. 4. It announced the failure to comply to the world, elucidated its reasons for being dissappointed with the non-compliance, outlined the reasons why forcing compliance or regime change is necessary and waited for the world to agree with it.
This is where we stand now. Step five would be invasion. The U.S. has shown that a defeated enemy is creating weapons of mass murder and has shown intentions to use them against the U.S. and its allies in the near future. It has asked for the allies help in ending this threat. So the precedent set for international law by our action would be If you have defeated an aggressor state and if that state fails to honor the terms of its surrender and if the aggressor state is developing weapons that might be used offensively against you and if you do not receive help from those you ask in dealing with the enemy then you may go it alone and initiate regime change.
This seems like a fairly restrictive precedent. It is doubtful that many (any) other nation might be able to make the same claims anytime soon. Perhaps the mentally impaired might engage in a reductio ad absurdum to determine that the precedent set is might makes right or whatever the Gore formulation is.
The strength of the case established is probably why the Bush Administration has chosen to take down Iraq as opposed to Iran or N. Korea or Libya or wherever else leftists mention when they ask why Iraq why not Country X. The precedent set by going after those countries might really weaken international law. That is why I suspect that we will try to use other means to destabilize those regimes rather than engaging in direct action.
At any rate, on Thursday I'll tie the rest of Al Gore's speech to the Whipping Post.
Tomorrow is the Catholic Joke of the Week...suggestions are welcome.
1. The gospel at Church this weekend was interesting. Employer hires workers at different points in the day then pays them all the same. Workers hired early in the morning are upset to be receiving the same pay as those who were hired late in the afternoon. It is a dispiriting lesson in capitalist economics but an inspiring one for those called to work in the Lord's fields. It doesn't matter when you here the call as long as you answer you'll receive the same reward. The key is that you have to make the commitment.
There are of course a couple of other lessons in the parable. One is that the reward is the same no matter how long you've been working because God doesn't make distinctions in Heaven. A second is that envy is a really silly sin. As you do the best you can and focus on being good it shouldn't matter to you what anybody else has more of than you.
2. I was struck during the petitions how we were asked to pray for world peace. Just once I'd like to pray that those who adhere to non-Christian faiths should have their eyes opened by God to the one true religion and convert to Catholicism. We've just stated about two minutes earlier that we believe in one true, holy and Apostolic Church so why not ask God to help others recognize that fact?
3. I haven't had a chance to digest Al Gore's speech from today. From the brief snippets of commentary I've heard it was a masterful show of lousy political instincts. I'll try to learn more and comment tomorrow in my Talking Politics section.
4. The N.Y. Giants and Dolphins won yesterday. The Virginia Cavaliers won on Saturday. The Dodgers are hanging on in the race for the N.L. wildcard. Again I wonder is the Arizona curse lifting?
1. Sen. Reed for Rhode Island with the help of Sen. Daschle is torpedoeing efforts to get a unanimous consent agreement for consideration fo the Charitable Aid Ecovery and Empowerment Act (CARE) Act. The act is part of President Bush's faith-based intitiative. It essentially contains provisions for modifying the tax code to encourage greater charitable giving. Given the softness of the economy it could provide a needed jumpstart to charitable donations. It will allow taxpayers who do not itemize their taxes to deduct donations they make to charity. It will encourage donation of IRA monies to charity. It includes a number of provisions designed to make it easier for corporations to donate goods. Senators Lieberman and Santorum are crafted the bill. Even Hillary Clinton is a co-sponsor. The bill would be a tremendous boon for non-profit organizations that are working to serve the needy. Yet for Daschle the desire to deny President Bush a faith-based bill seems to trump the good of the people who work in and are served by struggling community service organizations.
2. This story about Davis Corruption further demonstrates why I think Bill Simon has a very good chance of being California's next governor.
3. The University will send its football team up against the Zips of Akron tomorrow. I am hoping that the school from Ohio's nickname will be an accurate prediction of the number of points its team will score. I am curious about one thing. Before every UVA home game the big video screen shows a computer generated cartoon of the Cavalier being called down to central Grounds to confront the mascot for the opposing team which is running amok. N.C. State Wolfpack = wolves, Duke = Blue Devil, Clemson = Tiger. How will the Zips be represented? Perhaps by some character like The Flash?
4. Some folks are amazed about how President Bush has turned the tide of the debate on Iraq in his favor so quickly. I am not. I was writing and thinking back in April and March that this scenario would play out this Fall. In truth last December I though that we'd be creating the impetus for inspections in the Spring so that we could say that Iraq had had enough time to comply in the Fall thus setting up an invasion in January 2003. Once Spring came without action it seemed likely that they would begin the push in the Fall. I don't think, however, that this pushes off the eventual invasion. It has been said that the terrorists like to choose days for action that have some symbolic significance for them. I wouldn't be surprised to see the Bush administration turn the tables and begin the invasion either on the anniversary of the first Gulf War beginning or on the day that Iraq surrendered and agreed to the terms of defeat. Going in on the latter date especially would symbolize our determination to finish the job this time.
5. The Cubs starting pitching has been pretty darn good this year. The hitting and bullpen have not been so great. Mark Bellhorn has emerged as a pretty good player but Moises Alou has been a major disappointment. The Cubs need two more hitters and 2 good middle relievers to be highly competitive next year. Sammy needs 3 more homeruns this year to set a record for the most consecutive years with 50 or more. I hope he does it.
6. This weekend there will be a Pagan Pride Parade in Phoenix to celebrate the Autumnal Equinox. As they say at Marvel Comics 'nuff said.
7. This weekend a movie called "The Four Feathers" opens in theaters. It is set in the late 1800s. From what I know of the movie based on reviews of it and its predecessors (its the 5th different telling of the story) the focal point of the plot is the concept of honor. A man is branded a coward and seeks ways to redeem his honor. I'll be interested to see how the movie fares. A book came out not long ago about the "death" of honor as a motivating concept in human relations. The same year Braveheart came out another film Rob Roy, starring Liam Neeson, Jessica Lange, John Hurt and Tim Roth also appeared. Rob Roy was about a Scotsman who wars against a local noble because his honor has been offended. I preferred the movie and the motivation of Rob Roy. William Wallace's cry for freedom was a guttural instinct, Rob Roy's fight for honor was based on a higher sense of intellection. Anyone can claim freedom only the noble care about honor. One strives to live one's life honorably, obeying certain tenets of behavior. When one's honor is challenged the paths to redemption are clearly prescribed.
Today honor seems less important to most people. In the past if one was accused directly of lying by someone whom others might judge to be a credible accuser and one was not guilty of the offense, the accused would invoke the insult to his honor and challenge the accuser.
Although there is a rough concept of honor at play in the reponses people make to instances of suffering disrespect today (being "dissed") they are a far cry from the formalized system that was once employed. It would be nice to see "The Four Feathers" revive an interest in the older notion of honor. It would be even nicer to see a pundit or politician invoke it one day against someone who radically and purposefully distorts his or her position or argument on an issue. While I would not recommend a return to dueling with pistols rotten eggs at dawn on the Mall would be welcome.
A women named Suzie Waley won the Professional Golfers Association of Connecticut Sectional Tournament earlier this week. Her win qualifies her to play in the Greater Hartford Open a PGA event. She has earned the right to play against the likes of Davis Love III and Phil Mickelson. This is quite an accomplishment.
It is an accomplishment that has also drawn some controversy. There are at least a couple of reasons for this. First, the PGA event will be played on a longer and harder course than the one Waley played on to qualify. She could end up embarassing herself. Second, she could harm the Ladies Professional Golf Association. Good, young women's golfers may grow up with the goal of playing on the PGA tour because it pays higher purses. The result would potentially be a reduced talent pool for the LPGA, the dilution of the product would help to widen the gap between purses on the two tours. The result is a lot of pressure for Ms. Waley not to compete.
One side issue is that the lower tier men's tour, born Hoga then Nike then Buy.com who knows what next, pays smaller purses than the LPGA. It is only a matter of time before some joker sues to get access to that tour citing Ms. Waley as precedent.
Wednesday, September 18, 2002 Catholic Joke of the Week
I just made this one up so I hope you'll forgive me if it is a little rough, a little untheologically correct and perhaps not quite so funny. But it is as far as I know original.
A U.S. soldier is preparing for war in Iraq. Before he leaves the barracks he kneels down and prays.
"God, Jesus and Holy Spirit, give me and by fellow soldiers the strength we need to defeat our enemy and crush their forces."
Just then the Holy Spirit fills the room and begins to descend upon him. It is soon followed, however, by the appearance of Jesus. He walks over to the stunned soldier and says "You should never pray for strength to harm others, it is not what I tried to teach you."
The confused soldier begins to stammer out an answer. Just then a big ball of fire appears near the ceiling of the barracks. A voice booms at Jesus. "Back off, son." The fireball then nears the man and bellows "You shall be strengthened for your task ahead." "But why? Why not preach peace." Jesus asks. "Those idiots have been killing my chosen people, calling me Allah and saying that you're not my son for over a millenia, its about time someone kicked their @$$."
I'll know that I've truly arrived if this joke comes back to me as part of an e-mail listserve within the next year.
P.S. If this joke seems a little pointed it is because I recently received news that has me inclined to be a little less charitable toward persons of Middle Eastern descent. If I receive permission from the person involved I will post details in the future.
More Politics
This new poll backs up what I said on Monday about President Bush's approval rating going up. Look for the trend to be mirrored in other polls in the next week or so.
1. The Senate. I'd be surprised if the GOP didn't win the Senate races in NJ and MO. At the end of a recent debate the Democrat, Bob Toricelli had people rolling in the aisles when he closed by telling voters the election was about "Who do you trust?" (Given the Torch's history of stretching the limits of campaign finance laws it was a particularly inapt rhetorical question.) Missouri owes the GOP and Talent has enough to beat Mrs. Carnahan. The big issue will be whether or not the GOP can steal IA and MN, if war is the agenda it will be much easier given the incumbents' (Wellstone and Harkin respectively) well-known pacifism. I haven't seen the latest polling from AR and OR, but there is yet hope that the GOP will hold those seats. I wouldn't be shocked by a four seat pick up by the GOP. The pick ups would include SD (J. Bottum's article for the Weekly Standard not withstanding), MN, NJ, and MO. Two more possible although less likely pick ups in GA and IA would be balanced by potential losses in AR and OR. As I've mentioned before I think that the Democrats killed Ron Kirk's chances in Texas when they killed Priscilla Owen's nomination for the 5th Circuit. The GOP candidate, John Cornyn, should benefit from conservatives having their dander up over it.
When the possible results in November are combined with the fact that there will be some extremely vulnerable Dems (Boxer (CA), Murray (WA), Edwards (NC) --yes, the man who would be president might have a hard time holding his seat, he's moved too far left to court national Dems) and a highly popular president in 2004 and you might see the GOP up at 55-57 seats in 2005.
2. The overturning of the fraud verdict against Bill Simon's firm has revitalized his campaign. He has pledged to spend a bit of his own money in the final weeks, which should bolster supporters. He is running ads featuring President Bush and Rudy Giuliani. (The next round of public opinion polls will probably show an uptick in President Bush's popularity after his successful public turns last week.) The Democatic incumbent, Gray Davis, is still widely disliked by regular Joe's and Jane's. His supporters are also singluarly unenthusiastic about him. What this adds up to is that there is still plenty of time for Simon to overtake Davis before election day. I think he will.
3. I think that the news from Iraq yesterday rgarding its willingness to accept a fresh round of weapons inspectors is both helpful and hurtful for President Bush and the GOP. The helpful part is that now they can include a "casus belli" in the bill authorizing the president to use force against Iraq. The justification being that such a bill will add heft and force to the inspections because the stick will be evident. At least that is the way I'd play it. The downside is that it will be easier for Democrats to cast a favorable vote. They will be insulated from having to actually support action for a while. They can then also hem and haw about whether or not the conditions that will justify the use of force have truly been met. (They can appear hawkish before November and return to dovedom afterwards.) As a result of this "free" vote the clear distinction between the parties over the issue of regime change in Iraq could be blurred. (Although if the resolution is worded correctly it could possibly make the vote less free.) Consequently, although the President will be able to claim a greater mandate for action due to wide bi-partisan support the downside will be a lessening of the importance of foreign policy in congressional politics and perhaps less mobilization of male voters in general (who may be more motivated to vote by issues of war and peace.)
Increased male voter mobilization or the lack thereof could affect the GOP not only in congressional races, but in state elections as well because men who come out to support GOP congressional candidates will likely vote Republican for other races as well.
1. The readings at mass this weekend were on the subject of forgiveness. I was worried that the priest was going to start equivocating about Iraq and the terrorists. Fortunately my fears were not met.
2. I caught a blurb in the sports section about Marianne Stanley, the head coach of the Washington Mystics, a women's professional basketball team. Apparently in her previous job as coach of the UC-Berkeley women's team she told a pregnant assistant that she could either have an abortion or be fired. The assistant kept the child and recently received a settlement from UC-Berkeley. Stanley denies the charge. The accusation may have been a ploy by the assistant to help win her case. If true, however, it is disgusting. If not, there is enough other evidence to suggest that Coach Stanley is an uncharitable individual.
3. The three medical students who were pulled over in Florida on Friday are denying making any such comments and are accusing the woman who reported them of being racist. I believe the woman and my belief has nothing to do with race. Here's why. A. From what I've gathered the woman is rather simple. I may be naive but I don't think that a desire to hurt people of another ethnic background would manifest itself in her writing down their license plate and calling it in to the police. Slashed tires maybe, hurtful remarks sure, but involving law enforcement and bothering to take down license numbers is too elaborate an exercise for someone simply motivated by racial animus. B. The guys in question tried to jump a toll. The effort smacks of a certain arrogance. As medical students they are too old to conceive of toll jumping as a sign of rebellion. Their act wasn't one of youthful exuberance it was a calculated attempt to see what they could get away with. I have no doubt that they viewed the Georgia lady with some contempt. (I am willing to concede that she may have said or done something to provoke them.) She was a kick from rural Georgia, they were medical students. They decided to have some fun with her, but they underestimated her intelligence. They thought they would just shake up a yokel, they didn't count on her being savvy enough to write down their license numbers and to call the TIPS line.
The poor woman will eventually get pilloried by media elites for her provincialism. She deserves better.
4. Giants, Dolphins and Cubs all won on Sunday. Is the AZ curse lifting or is this just a temporary respite?
5. We watched "We Were Soldiers" on DVD on Friday. It stars Mel Gibson as Lt.Col. Hal Moore. It is set in Vietnam and covers the time leading up to and through the first sustained engagement between U.S. troops and the North Vietnamese army in the Ia Drang valley. Moore's cavalry division of 350 men took on roughly 2000 enemy soldiers in a 3 day period. In the end there were roughly 100 or so U.S. dead and over 1800 Vietnamese. The movie does not sugarcoat the war scenes although the gore is actually kept to a minimum. The courage displayed by the men is inspiring. The level headedness of Moore is remarkable. It is a movie well worth renting.
6. Although I love to play golf. Fall by far is my favorite season. I'll miss being on the east coast and watching the leaves turn color. I'll also miss Saturdays at Scott Stadium the home of the University of Virginia Cavaliers and the award winning indoor-outdoor precision? pep band and chowder review society unlimited. In the 80s it was one of the best scramble bands in the country. Then certain people took offense at their jokes and they have fallen into a state of disarray. I prefer scramble bands to marching bands. Marching bands are fine for high schools but I find that at the college level the quality of the band seems to run in inverse proportion to the academic quality of the school. The day UVA gets a "real" marching band is the day I start going out to the parking lot at halftime.
1. Would you want to receive medical care from these idiots? The men in question are medical students who are of Middle Eastern descent. In a Shoney's Restaurant in Georgia they talked about bringing something down in Miami. A patron overhears them. Perhaps she had acted in a way prior to their statements to prod them to have a little fun with her, perhaps not. Having made these statements they proceed on their way to Florida. They then run through a toll plaza without paying and are pulled over. Due to their previous statements the Shoney's patron had seen fit to supply their license plate number to the police so the routine traffic stop ends up in a terrorist investigation that closes down the highway. I'm sure that some civil libertarians will have a field day with this. The phrase racial profiling will be thrown around too. But to me the key point is this. If they hadn't attempted to break the law by running the toll the police would have eventually tracked them down once they got to their destination, asked them a few questions and everything would have been okay. What they did was the rough equivalent of saying to the baggage handler as you go through security "Don't shake that too much you might jar the detonator" and then running down the terminal. The police were perfectly within their rights to act as they did.
A peripheral point I'd like to make is the following. Many commentators (mostly liberals) have bemoaned the fact that Americans aren't being asked "to give things up for the cause." There are no ration stamps or rubber drives or bond drives or national calls to reduce oil consumption by giving up S.U.V.s. In short, no checks on our consumerism. The problem with this situation is that the lack of such restrictions inhibits our ability to share the burdens of the war and therefore to have its consequences brought to the homefront. Perhaps there is something to the communal ideal. If, from the outset, people had been asked to sacrifice goods for the sake of the troops in Vietnam maybe public sentiment would have been different. I suspect not, but maybe.
What these critics miss is that we have been asked to give up something. We've been asked to stop whining like a stuck pig over every imagined affront to civil liberties that might result from the prosecution of the war. We've been asked to keep things like the events in Florida in perspective. We've been asked not pretend that the fact that the government has treated a happenstance U.S. citizen (born in the U.S. but emigrated soon thereafter) as an enemy combatant (because he was caught fighting for the Taliban) is a sign that it might be coming after regular citizens soon. To wit, we've been asked to trust our officials, elected and appointed, to act prudently in prosecuting the war on the home front.
Sadly, we're not doing so well with regard to this request for collective action. Ironically it is the advocates of sacrifice who seem to be the ones most likely to ignore the request. I suspect the reason for this is that their real motive for calling on Americans to sacrifice material goods isn't for the benefit of the war or to build a sense of community, it is because they don't like American consumerism and the war is simply another convenient excuse to call for ending it.
2. The website for the Foundation for Community and Faith-centered Enterprise is up and running. Check it out at FCFE.org.
3. Thanks to Emily Stimpson at HMS BLOG for announcing my return to one and all.
4. My brother will be interviewing for a job as the Head Golf Pro at a club in Florida this weekend. Prayers and well-wishes on his behalf will be most appreciated.
5. While on hiatus I noticed that two fellows I knew from The University are at work in the blogging universe, Wyeth Ruthven and Greg Greene. As Democrats they are, of course, wrong about many things, but it is still nice to see fellow Wahoos on the web.
6. After scanning one the two aforementioned pages I find that Alcoholic Beverage Control (ABC) Officials in Virginia are looking to take away the liquor license of an outdoor cocktail party that takes place in Charlottesville every Spring and fall called the Foxfield Steeplechase Races. I would be highly disappointed if this happened. I have fond memories of attending and actually watching horses run by me as I stood at the rail with a glass of champagne in one hand and a fine cigar in the other. From what I have heard, however, the cocktail party has become a little too much of a bacchanalia. I imagine that the situation will be touch and go.
7. By the way a belated congratulations to my friends Chris and Lisa Wesche on the birth of their daughter, Megan Taylor. May she grow up to happy, healthy and a good Republican and Christian. (The Elephant sent along a pink animal created in his image to insure that at least the third part will come true.)
8. Belated congratulations also go to my friend, John Ritchie, who got married while I was on hiatus. Unfortunately circumstances prevented me from attending the wedding which means that I have yet to meet the new Mrs. JFR. Blessings to both.
9. The Dodgers have decided to swoon the past week of so. Will the Arizona curse continue till we return to the East? (I think I mentioned in an earlier post how all my sports teams seem to have tanked it since we migrated to the desert.)
10. Good news yesterday for Bill Simon. A judge threw out the bogus fraud verdict that had been submitted against his firm. He can now get on with the business of making Grey Davis a one-term governor.
11. We made the mistake of attending the folk mass at our church last weekend. I hope that the inventor of this liturgy spends a long time in purgatory.
12. One of many reasons to like Mel Gibson can be found here. He is a real Catholic and he still has managed to succeed in Hollywood.
Once upon a time economic sanctions were promoted by "right-thinking" liberals as the humane alternative to war. The idea was that leaders would stop their nefarious practices in order to alleviate the economic hardship on their people. The fly in the ointment is that most leaders who commit acts worthy of incurring economic sanctions are sociopaths who don't care about how the effects of their actions may harm their own people. As Saddam Hussein has demonstrated economic sanctions are ineffective if a dictator doesn't care how many of his people die.
This, of course, has led to a dilemma for "right-thinking" liberals. Sanctions have indirectly led to the death of numerous Iraqis yet the only reasonable alternative is direct military action. Sadly, the solution for many is to advocate against sanctions and military action. An apt analogy would be recognizing that your next door neighbor has taken fifty people hostage and is making bombs that he intends to plant around town and not doing anything about it because if you cut down on his water and food supplies he'll starve the hostages to death in stead of giving up and you don't think its right to violate his private property. A fool would sit idly by while he makes more bombs and tortures his hostages. A idiot would actively oppose actions taken by others to deal with him. Unfortunately there are an awful lot of people out there demonstrating their idiocy.
Whooping Post Just read President Bush's Speech and be glad that he is our commander in chief.
On Iraq
A current liberal critique of some advocates for taking military action Iraq is that such advocates are too old to serve in a war, but many are too young to have sons that might be put in harms way. They are sometimes referred to as chicken hawks. Of course such critiques do nothing to alter the correctness of the policy. Denigrating a policy's advocates doesn't affect whether a policy is right or wrong. Still there is something to be said for putting one's money where one's mouth is. At the time of the Gulf War I was serving a year as a volunteer in residence at a place called the Emmaus House in Atlanta. I decided then that if the war looked like it was going to continue I would join the military when my year of service ended. The war ended a lot quicker than anyone thought likely and I didn't have to make that choice. (I wanted to serve my country in war, not in peace.) Although I am past being eligible for the draft if America looks like it will be invoved in a continuing military action against Iraq I will once again consider the possibility of service. That's how important I think that the mission is.
On Elections
Many pundits have commented on how the debate over war with Iraq will affect congressional races. The affect of the debate will be twofold. First, the debate will draw voters attention away from domestic issues like prescription drugs and the economy thus negating the Democrats advantage on those issues. Second, voters tend to view the Republican party as being better on foreign policy and wars and therefore people will cast their ballots accordingly. One effect that has not been mentioned to my knowledge is the effect that the debate on Iraq might have on state races. In 1994 Republicans were the beneficiaries of large voter turn out. The raw Democratic vote has stayed relatively the same from 1992 onward. The GOP vote spiked up in 1994 and then declined thereafter. The main component of that vote spike was more white male voters. The debate on Iraq has great potential to help mobilize male voters. In so far as white men tend to vote Republican down the line GOP candidates in state races for governor and attorney general etc. may be beneficiaries as well.
Wednesday, September 11, 2002 THE ANNIVERSARY Every Sunday I pray that those affected will be comforted and that the President will make the right choices for our country and the world. Speeches like the one he just gave tonight help to confirm my relief that my daughter was born during the Bush rather than the Gore presidency and my belief that our country and the world are being led by the right man at the right time. May God Bless America.
Again this is more of a heaven joke than an explicitly Catholic joke obviously some poetic license is necessary.
Sam "The Clam" Mangione and Ozzie "Oyster" Pearlman, best friends from childhood, die in a car crash on their way to church. Their friendship continues up in Heaven, they even open up a dance hall together. Then one day Ozzie, who had a career as a lounge singer, is called by Gabriel to join the Heavenly Choir. He cedes his half of the dance hall and moves up to train with the Heavenly Host. His lessons proceed and he earns the right to have his own harp. He misses his friend Sam, however, and asks for permission to visit him. Gabriel grants him permission but warns him that he has to be prepared to return to the choir on a moments notice. To make sure he's always prepared and to show off a little to his old friend Ozzie brings his harp with him to the dance hall. Their laughing and having a good time when Ozzie beeper goes off and he hurriedly returns to the Choir. Unfortunately he realizes too late that he has forgotten his instrument. Gabriel approaches and asks him, "Brother Ozzie, where is your instrument." "I cannot tell a lie, Gabriel," replies Ozzie, "I left my harp in Sam Clam's Disco."
More Politics 1. Congratulations to Andrew Peyton Thomas for winning the GOP primary for Attorney General of Arizona. 2. Janet Reno is still trailing McBride in the Florida Democratic Gubernatorial Primary. With 95% of the vote counted she is down by roughly 24,000 votes. Fortunately for her most of the votes still uncounted are from Miami-Dade and Plam Beach counties and if the remaining votes to counted match those previously recorded she will close within about 3,000 votes which by my reckoning is close enough to trigger at least an automatic machine recount if not a full hand recount. I haven't heard any further news today about El Reno's plans, but I hope that she will be as tenaciously obstinate in the face of prudence now as she was for the eight years she carried the hod for Bill Clinton. Eight weeks of similar treatment for the Dems wouldn't be nearly enough payback for the 8 years of psychic pain she inflicted on right-thinking individuals, but it would be a nice start. Perhaps they might arrange for both Reno and McBride to be on the November ballot. Go Jeb!
Tuesday, September 10, 2002 Bits & Pieces and Talking Politics wrapped up in one.
I've been bogged down with some other things so I have been a little slow on posting. Sorry.
1. Virginia whomped the University of South Carolina in football on Saturday night. This could be the start of a nice winning streak for the Cavaliers.
2. The Giants lost on Thursday night. The problem was that they tied the score too early. San Francisco had enough time to drive down into field goal range. Their defense played well enough and their offense showed glimmers of competency (passing is not running) so that other teams in the NFC East should worry. (By the by, on an ESPN pick'em game I chose the Texans to beat the Cowboys.)
3. Sammy Sosa hasn't been the same hitter since he collided with Mark Bellhorn in the middle of August. He'll need to hit 1 home run every 3 games to get to 50 for the season. Meanwhile the Cubs have been without Mark Prior for a couple of weeks and they've sunk further into the mire. I still believe that with a revamped bullpen and 1 more bat they will be a force to be reckoned with next year because of Sammy and their starting pitching.
4. Arizona primaries are today. I'll soon be voting. One thing that I've noticed about many GOP pols is that if they are pro-abortion choice/fiscal conservatives they tend to get squishy on fiscal stuff awfully darn quick once in office. On a different note. One candidate for office here in AZ is named Kyrsten Sinema. Her signs just say SINEMA. The name always tickles me as something one might find as the generic title for Cinemax's late night adult movie offerings.
5. Heard on the news that Noelle Bush, Florida Governor Jeb Bush's daughter, was caught with cocaine in her drug rehabilitation clinic. She should, of course, be treated like any other drug offender. One can't help, however, wondering about two things. First, why didn't the Governor have a private guard monitoring his daughter's behavior at the clinic. Second, even in the absence of such a guard she shouldn't have been able to get drugs in the clinic. This suggests that the clinic needs to tighten its security and/or perhaps some political enemies arranged to make drugs available to Miss Bush. In any case it is a sad occurence.
6. Augusta National, the golf course that hosts The Masters golf tournament is being pilloried for not having any female members. The controversy started when Martha Burk of the National Council of Women's Organizations wrote a letter to Augusta National suggesting that it should admit some women into its membership. Hootie Johnson, the Chairman of the club, responded that the club might someday invite a woman to join, but it would do so on its own time schedule. Burk threatened to arrange a boycott of tournament sponsors so August National decided to present the tournament without any sponsors. Burk then threatened to push CBS, the network that traditonally broadcasts The Masters, to drop its coverage. A few points A. There is a certain dynamic to guy interactions that changes when a woman is present. The idea of preserving some spaces where such guy to guy interactions can take place more freely is not wholly antediluvian.
B. This is not about access to the course. Women are allowed to play on the course, they just can't be members of the club.
C. I would hazard to guess that more people are excluded from joining Augusta National by wealth or lack thereof than by gender, yet there is no outcry yet for Augusta National to invite poor people to join. The club has something like 300 members. Only a miniscule percentage of Americans will ever be in a position to be considered for membership. Given the paucity of the impact the admittance of women members to Augusta would have on the lives of ordinary American men and women doesn't the NCWO have any bigger fish to fry? If the club didn't host The Masters would Ms. Burk even care about its existence? The action appears to more motivated by the longing for publicity (before this I would bet that most people had never heard of the NCWO) than by true concern for women. But due to its fame Augusta National is now like the Bailey Building and Loan, a thing of value that the Mrs. Potter's can't get their hands on and it is gnawing at their craw.
D. No self-respecting man would be raising a fuss if one of the clubs that sponsors and conducts an LPGA event excluded men from membership. Especially if they could still play the course as a guest of a member.
E. Elite opinion on sports pages etc. seems to be running against the fellows at Augusta National. "C'mon just let a woman in, get with the times." I hope they hold out. In a couple of years Burk will get tired of hawking for publicity and achieving no success. I will never be able to become a member of Augusta National, but I think that it is important that some places like it continue to exist.
F. I resent the comparisons to exclusionary rules regarding race. There is a course in Charlottesville, VA that for many years refused to admit minority members. Although I was offered the chance to play there on several occasions I demurred. I did not want to give my sanction to the place by playing there while it still held exclusionary policies.
7. Speaking of golf, Jay Nordlinger has a wonderful piece in National Review about Tiger Woods. There is so much to admire about him (here I am referring to Tiger Woods, but the same holds for Nordlinger) that I would be a devoted fan if only he would end his affiliation with NIKE.
8. A few weeks ago there was a big hubbub at some Catholic blog sites over shaking hands at church. I don't care for the practice. I find that it often is symptomatic of a lack of orthodoxy in other areas. Coffee and Doughnuts. Small Christian Communities. Natural Family Planning support groups. Pro-life rallies. These are far better ways to build community.
Two events in the past few days have gotten my goat. The first was the vote today by the ten Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee who voted against sending the Priscilla Owens nomination to the floor of the Senate for a full vote. I don't know what the Vermont voter registration laws are like, but if you only need a month or two lead time I'd love to see 20,000 or so committed young, Republicans move and register to vote in Vermont at the beginning of October 2004. They can return home after the election. In a state as small as Vermont that number should be enough to end Pat Leahy's political career. Other than watching President Bush steamroll whomever the Democratic nominee is, that would be the sweetest part of the night for me. (The same approach could also work wonders in South Dakota.)
The second is an affirmation for my disgust with the senior senator from Arizona, John McCain. Arizona has adopted a Clean Elections law that provides public financing for campaigns. (I'll stipulate up front that although it is helping a candidate I support, I think the law is a bad idea.) Over the summer McCain was picked to be a spokesman for the law. In the Republican primary for Attorney General there are three candidates, but only one is pro-life, Andrew Thomas. Thomas is also the only candidate running under the Clean Elections law. The other two are funded with special interest money. One Foster Robberson is in the pocket of trial lawyers. The other John Greene has been bought by the Gay Rights lobby. Greene also has the distinction of being the only candidate in recent Arizona history to receive the Arizona Republic's endorsement and then to lose it two weeks later. The reason for their withdrawal of support was the fact that Greene tried to game the Clean Elections system. Clean Elections candidates receive a set amount of guaranteed money. If their opponents' spending exceeds that amount they receive matching funds up to a preset maximum. As a result of this system Clean Elections candidates receive extra money when their opponents financial reports are submitted. Greene's campaign purposely concealed about the amount of money they had spent in their last filing to avoid triggering extra funds going to Thomas. The idea was to report the expenditures later, after the primary when they would be of no avail to Thomas. Greene's campaign was caught. They were originally going to be fined $47,000. They arranged to pay a $10,000 fine. Robberson, the third candidate, defended a notorious abortionist--he by all accounts really enjoyed his work--who has been charged with sexually assaulting dozens of female patients. Out of the three candidates, Thomas the Clean Elections, pro-life candidate with experience in the Attorney General's Office, Robberson, the lawyer without a conscience backed by trial lawyers, and Green, the rule breaking political hack, which one did John McCain endorse?
If you answered, John Greene, step to the head of the class. It is questionable decisions like this that make one wonder why anybody takes John McCain seriously on campaign finance reform or anything else for that matter.
Wednesday, September 04, 2002 Catholic Joke of the Week
When I left I was almost out of jokes. Now that I am back I find that I am still almost out of jokes. This one is only peripherally Catholic it is a Hal Roach joke so it is more about the Irish, but it does mention a priest so...
On a train from Dublin to Cork a man bursts into the compartment and asks "Is there a Catholic priest here?" Surprisingly there is not so he leaves. A minute later he bursts in again "Is there an Episcopal minister here?" Again no answer. He leaves and a minute later re-enters. Before he can say a word a man gets up and says "I'm a Baptist preacher, son, is there anything I can do for you?" "'Fraid not, sir, I'm looking for a corkscrew."
Better to laugh at this I guess than to cry when viewing the new monstrosity masquerading as a cathedral in Los Angeles.
Before my hiatus I predicted that Bill Simon would win the California Governor's Race by 4 points. That prediction was made before a judge issued a ruling against Simon's investment company. Now Gray Davis has an 11 point lead according to some polls 41 to 30 with 29% undecided. Recriminations in California were starting up a couple weeks ago but a visit by President Bush helped quell them for a little while. I don't think it's over. Davis still has incredibly high negatives and is ripe for satire as this site mentioned by Emily Stimpson at HMS Blog illustrates. Simon has no more room for error but he can still pull it out. His biggest problem is energizing a Republican base that is too easily psyched out.
Given that it is now football season -- Yea, verily,yea! -- I'll make an analogy from the gridiron. Imagine an underdog team with modest locker room dissension, slightly more talent than the players give themselves credit for and a star quarterback going to play at the home field of a national powerhouse. In the first half the powerhouse team fumbles, has some big penalties and generally plays sloppy ball. The underdog leads at halftime. In the second half the powerhouse builds a little momentum, but it is clear that its players are off their game. Tha game now seems in reach for the underdog. With 5 minutes left in the 3rd quarter the star quarterback fumbles the ball away while being sacked and the powerhouse team recovers it and scores to take the lead.
It is gut check time. The underdogs can squabble amongst themselves or they can rally around the quarterback and make a pact not to let their hobbled leader get sacked anymore. The quarterback can hang his head and use his injury as an excuse for not trying or he can run back on the field and play with abandon. I have a feeling that Simon will do the latter. I hope that his Republican compatriots will rally. The powerhouse is bound to make one more mistake, especially now that it thinks the game is won. I won't predict it, but I can see Simon winning in a squeaker.
The Elephant is back after a hiatus. I had written up a number of comments, but they wouldn't publish and then my computer froze so they are lost in time. If I get a chance later today I will try to reformulate my thoughts and post them. My regular publishing schedule is as follows. Monday is Bits and Pieces Tuesday is Politics Day -- Until November it will be primarily devoted to the CA Gubernatorial Election, but I'll sneak some other stuff in. Wednesday is time for the Catholic Joke of the Week. Submissions are accepted. Thursday is the Whipping or Whooping Post depending on whether I wish to laud or chastise someone. Friday is time for musings on the week that was. On the Weekends I rest from blogging.
