BMEWS
 
Sarah Palin is the only woman who can make Tony Romo WIN a playoff.

calendar   Friday - October 05, 2007

Can We Question Their Patriotism Now?

Two stories are making the rounds this morning.

First, we see that Barak Osama Obama has decided to not wear an American Flag pin on his lapel.

An eagle-eyed reporter for the ABC affiliate in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, noticed something missing from Democratic presidential contender Sen. Barack Obama’s, D-Ill., lapels.

“You don’t have the American flag pin on. Is that a fashion statement?” the reporter asked, at the end of a brief interview with Obama on Wednesday. “Those have been on politicians since Sept. 12, 2001.”

The standard political reply to that question might well have been, “My patriotism speaks for itself.”

But Obama didn’t say that.

Instead the Illinois senator answered the question at length, explaining that he no longer wears such a pin, at least in part, because of the Iraq War.

“You know, the truth is that right after 9/11, I had a pin,” Obama said. “Shortly after 9/11, particularly because as we’re talking about the Iraq War, that became a substitute for I think true patriotism, which is speaking out on issues that are of importance to our national security, I decided I won’t wear that pin on my chest.

Wolf Pangloss asks a great question:

Symbols are important. They are not meaningless. Does Obama take off his wedding ring when he has a fight with his wife? Does he remove his wedding ring as a protest against the empty symbolism of the ring, instead explaining to every Obama girl how he loves his wife and is
committed to his marriage? Wouldn’t that explanation work better if he kept a ring on his finger?

The second story is from a Fox News poll that shows one out of five Democrats think the wolrd would be better off if we lost the war.

NEW YORK — Nearly one out of every five Democrats thinks the world will be better off if America loses the war in Iraq, according to the FOX News Opinion Dynamics Poll released Thursday.

The percentage of Democrats (19 percent) who believe that is nearly four times the number of Republicans (5 percent) who gave the same answer. Seven percent of independents said the world would be better off if the U.S. lost the war.

Click here for results of the poll.

Overall, 11 percent of Americans think the world would be “better off” if the U.S. lost the war, and 73 percent disagree.

I kinda thought that wishing for your country to be defeated was the antithesis to being a patriot, but maybe I’m out of touch.


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Posted by Drew458   United States  on 10/05/2007 at 07:10 AM   
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calendar   Wednesday - October 03, 2007

Breakaway States

What could bring the Liberals in Vermont together with the Rebels of Tennessee?

Secession

CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. - In an unlikely marriage of desire to secede from the United States, two advocacy groups from opposite political traditions — New England and the South — are sitting down to talk.

Tired of foreign wars and what they consider right-wing courts, the Middlebury Institute wants liberal states like Vermont to be able to secede peacefully.

That sounds just fine to the League of the South, a conservative group that refuses to give up on Southern independence.

“We believe that an independent South, or Hawaii, Alaska, or Vermont would be better able to serve the interest of everybody, regardless of race or ethnicity,” said Michael Hill of Killen, Ala., president of the League of the South.

I’m not sure either of them has enough natural or human resources to make this a viable path to go, but more power to them for thinking about it.


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Posted by Drew458   United States  on 10/03/2007 at 12:50 PM   
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calendar   Thursday - September 27, 2007

Breathless Non-News Story of the Day

It must be a slow news day when you get crap like this:

3 Times More Blacks In Prison Than Dorms

WASHINGTON—More than three times as many black people live in prison cells as in college dorms, the government said in a report to be released Thursday.

The ratio is only slightly better for Hispanics, at 2.7 inmates for every Latino in college housing. Among non-Hispanic whites, more than twice as many live in college housing as in prison or jail.

So, there must be some problem they’re going to tell us about, right?  There must be something draconian in the way we round up the black folk and put them in jail, right?

The numbers, driven by men, do not include college students who live off campus.

Is that important?

Previously released census data show that black and Hispanic college students—commuters and those in dorms—far outnumber black and Hispanic prison inmates

So, let me see if my small mind can get around this story so far.  There are three times the number of black men “living” in prison then there are “living” in college dorms?  But, if we look at all black men IN COLLEGE, we find there are more there then in prison.  I have this, right?

Nevertheless, civil rights advocates said it is startling that blacks and Hispanics are more likely to live in prison cells than in college dorms.

They are shocked, SHOCKED!

It’s one of the great social and economic tragedies of our time,” said Marc Morial, president and CEO of the Urban League. “It points to the signature failure in our education system and how we’ve been raising our children.”

Huh?  One of the great TRAGEDIES of our time?  Good grief.


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Posted by Drew458   United States  on 09/27/2007 at 03:18 PM   
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calendar   Wednesday - September 26, 2007

My Dinner With Dinner Jacket

I agree with Charles puke

My Dinner with Ahmadinejad
TIME

The invitation was on creamy stationery with fancy calligraphy: The Permanent Representative of the Islamic Republic of Iran “requests the pleasure” of my company to dine with H.E. Dr. Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. The dinner is at the Intercontinental Hotel — with names carefully written out at all the place settings around a rectangular table. There are about 50 of us, academics and journalists mostly. There’s Brian Williams across the room, and Christiane Amanpour a few seats down. And at a little after 8pm, on a day when he has already addressed the U.N., the evening after his confrontation at Columbia, a bowing and smiling Mahmoud Admadinejad glides into the room.

This is now an annual ritual for the President of Iran. Every year, during the U.N. General Assembly in New York, he plots out a media campaign that — in its shrewdness, relentlessness, and quest for attention — would rival Angelina Jolie on a movie junket. And like any international figure, Mr. Ahmadinejad hones his performance for multiple audiences: in this case, the journalists and academics who can filter his speech and ideas for a wider American audience.

......

Finally, in response to a question about whether war with Iran was growing more likely, he says, “Mr. Bush is interested in harming Iran. But I believe there are wise politicians in America who will prevent such a war. We hate war. We would not welcome it. But we are prepared for every scenario. Yet I don’t think war will happen.”

With that, Ahmadinejad says he has an early morning appointment the next day, and that he welcomes greater dialogue like this evening. And then, still composed, and with the same slightly mysterious smile that never leaves his face all evening, he bows deeply and heads upstairs.


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Posted by Drew458   United States  on 09/26/2007 at 12:59 PM   
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calendar   Tuesday - September 25, 2007

Out of Touch

I hate being away from the blog on a big-news weekend.  It’s so hard to come and comment on a story, even a big one, when everyone and their Aunt has already said all that can be said.

I had a great weekend though.  My daughter is a volunteer at the Frontier Culture Museum.  She interprets at the German farm, so gets to learn about history and interact with people all day.  This weekend, her and about 15 other yutes put on a version of Aesop’s Fables for the visitors to the museum.

My brother-in-law and his wife came down from Maryland for the show.  They are moderate, left-leaning folk from the big city, so coming down here is always a treat.  We broke out the weaponry and began a shoot-fest that went on for a couple of hours (when we ran out of light).  Mrs. Christian as well as our sister-in-law were having a great time shooting cans of SAM’s Cola and clay pigeons.

After church on Sunday, we went down to the local park and played tennis.  I don’t play tennis (more of a racquetball person), but it was fun smacking it back and forth with the kids.

Monday’s are always busy, so I rarely get a chance to blog until sometime in the evening...which didn’t happen last night because I was finishing up a web project for a client.

So, now that you’re caught up with the life of Fletcher Christian, here’s a couple of things that I’ve caught from the hundreds of news items I’ve browsed through: