Young, spoiled South Koreans are protesting at the American embassy, demanding the withdrawal of US troops from South Korea. This after they just elected a “progressive” president who ran on an anti-American platform.
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: If the South Koreans are stupid enough to yell “Yankee Go Home!” maybe yankee should go home. We could use those 37,000 troops on our borders with Mexico and Canada.
Quite enough has been said about the claim this morning that the first human clone was born. I’ll only add that this is like a bad sci-fi plot: A weird religious cult, calledthe Raelians, worships aliens and clones a human baby, holding a big press conference by a bimboish scientist to announce its success on national TV.
Here’s a link to actual audio of Patty Murray talking about Bin Laden.
There’s a sentence that has been left out of most newspaper quotes, since The Columbian, the newspaper that broke the story, left it out of its original article. Here’s the full quote with the missing sentence:
Osama bin Laden has been very, very effective. We’ve got to ask, why is this man so popular around the world? Why are people so supportive of him in many countries?He has been in many countries that are riddled with poverty. People don’t have phones, no sewers, no roads, no schools, no health care, no facilities just to make sure their daily lives are OK. He’s been out in these countries for decades building roads, building schools, building infrastructure, building day care facilities, building health care facilities, and the people are extremely grateful. It made their lives better. We have not done that. We haven’t been out in any of these countries helping them build their infrastructure.
In other words, Murray’s comments are even dumber than they seem at first glance. Murray is under the impression that the US hasn’t given foreign aid to “any of these countries.” A cursory search reveals that the US gave $170 million to Afghanistan in 2001, before 9/11.
Strong winds here in western Washington state knocked out power to several hundred thousand homes for several hours. It’s striking how dependent we are on electricity. Nothing - the phone, the stove, the computer, the radio, the telephone - worked. Traffic ground to a halt as signals went offline. The only thing to do was to take a nap.
Newspapers are full of reports of illegal immigrants from various Arab countries who’ve been swept up in a net after all citizens of those countries were asked to register their address with the INS.
As a foreign-born legal immigrant, I’ve dealt with the INS for years. It is a sclerotic bureacracy that treats legal immigrants like dirt and lets illegals pour into the country.
Legal immigrants loathe the INS. The bureaucracy usually takes years to “process” routine applications that sit on dusty shelves. After years have passed, these applications are reviewed for just a few minutes by an immigration officer and usually approved. For this, the INS charges hundreds of dollars in fees. Why not use at least use these fees to enforce US sovereignty at its borders?
In addition to its already considerable problems, the INS is swamped by stupid legislation from congress. For example, there is the ridiculous “diversity visa” program. This brainchild of Ted Kennedy hands out 50,000 green cards to immigrants from various “under-represented countries” every year. “Under-represented countries” means every third world hell-hole whose inhabitants have not yet figured out how to send people here in the proportions that Europe, Mexico, China and India have done. The Egyptian shooter who shot up LAX airport on Independence Day was the beneficiary of one such “diversity visa.” Most such visas go to people from Africa and the middle east - prime terrorist recruiting ground. Then there are the hair-brained “amnesty” schemes which result in hundreds of thousands of green cards being issued every year to illegal immigrants - most from Mexico, thousands from the middle east.
I don’t trust the INS. It’s so far gone that I think we should tear the whole darn thing down, replace it with a new agency built from scratch and completely overhaul our immigration laws.
In the meantime, though, how do we keep out the terrorists? We can’t keep subjecting people to various indignities and watch liberals howl about it. I have a simple, completely effective solution that I’ve proposed before: Deny visas to citizens of certain countries. You can read more about my proposal here.
Now the Taliban are using Senator Patty Murray’s comments to boost their cause.
Do you think Senator Patty Murray should apologize for praising Bin Laden? Vote here and let her know.
Bill Frist is the new Senate majority leader. Who would have thought he’d get the support of his colleagues and the White House so quickly? The obvious reason for the quick coalescing of support - and the one I’m inclined to - is that Frist will make a terrific majority leader. In the spirit of cynical political analysis, however, I still wonder why these folks gave Frist so much support. Here’s a theory: Maybe they did it to get him out of the presidential race in 2008.
It’s well known that Frist has national ambitions. It’s possible, even likely, that he’ll run for president in 2008. Frist won the gratitude of Republicans by successfully running the 2002 Senate campain. He then voluntarily stepped down to focus on building a legislative record, especially on health care issues, which would have served as an excellent springboard for running for president. His potential 2008 rivals include Senator George Allen (R-VA) and Jeb Bush. Allen was one of the first senators to step out and support Frist. The White House stayed lukewarm towards Lott. These events helped make Frist majority leader. Now, notice that Allen and Jeb Bush are both considered potential 2008 presidential contenders. What better way to weaken their most formidable opponent than to give him the majority leader’s job?
Frist’s presidential candidacy may be hampered by becoming majority leader because:
1. Frist has promised his constituents not to run for re-election in 2006. Now that he’s majority leader, will he really want to step down? Especially if Republicans build on their Senate majority (as is looking increasingly likely) in 2004?
2. Senate majority leaders accumulate considerable ideological baggage, which makes it difficult for them to portray themselves as centrists. Just ask Bob Dole. Or even Tom Daschle.
Personally, I’m hoping Frist won’t get demonized for being the majority leader, the way Daschle has. I’m hoping he’ll be a successful majority leader, not seek re-election to the Senate in 2006 and run for president in 2008. Frist is extraordinarily successful at everything he does. He’s a solid conservative (ACU rating 100) who knows how to put on a moderate face, just like George W. Bush. He would make a superb president.
I’m not a christian, but Merry Christmas to all who are celebrating! It’s a good thing you don’t live in Saudi Arabia:
As evincedby the atmosphere in this Riyadh gift shop, Christmas is mostly hidden in this desert kingdom, where Islam is the only accepted religion.Expatriate workers hold discreet holiday parties within walled compounds, out of sight of the government’s religious police, who guard against offenses to the faith. For many other foreigners, the anniversary of Christ’s birth is a private day of reflection.
“I only pray in my room,” said a Roman Catholic laborer from Sri Lanka, noting there is little else to do to celebrate Christmas.
Some embassies, he said, organize gatherings for their citizens during the holiday season, but generally not on Christmas Day to avoid offending Saudi sensibilities.
The Washington Post is the latest liberal paper to come out with an editorial supporting Patty Murray. The paper recognizes that Murray’s comments were “inept,” but says:
Either way, this is a point worth debating, and no one should be called “unpatriotic” for bringing it up.
There’s a huge problem here. No one has called Murray “unpatriotic.” Look it up on Google News.
The Post is concocting an argument that conservatives never made. We don’t contend that Murray is “unpatriotic.” We contend she’s dangerous because she’s mind-bogglingly stupid and misguided. She does not deserve to be one of only 100 people who are privileged to cast a vote in the US Senate.
The New York Times has a surprisingly glowing profile of Bill Frist, the man.