Day By Day© by Chris Muir.

April 30, 2008

Identity Politics is Bad for America

My latest over at Pajamas Media:

What used to be the Great American Melting Pot has turned into the Not-So-Great American Salad Bowl. Instead of taking the best that different Americans have to offer and adding it to a rich, savory stew that everyone will enjoy, they prefer to toss separate grievance groups into a bowl and drown the resulting mishmash in a mucky house dressing labeled “multiculturalism,” pleasing no one but the one who wields the salad tongs.

Divide and conquer: that’s what identity politics is all about. Encouraging folks with different backgrounds, ethnicities, religions, etc., to separate themselves from the larger group and demand special treatment and consideration means it’s easier to gain their vote by promising various and sundry handouts to keep them all happy.

Read it all here.

April 29, 2008

Why Austria Should Have the Death Penalty

I know I have been remiss in my blogging, but I had to come out of my hole and comment on this news story. Why should Austria have the death penalty? Two words: Josef Fritzl.

The 73-year-old man kept his daughter Elisabeth locked up in the basement of their home for 24 years. Elisabeth, who is now 42, not only was kept in the basement all that time but bore her father's children -- seven of them. Six lived, one died several days after birth, and Elisabeth says her father burned the body in the incinerator. Three of those children were locked up in the basement with their mother while the other three were adopted by Fritzl and his wife. He claimed Elisabeth had run away with a religious cult and left the three children on the doorstep because she couldn't care for them. Fritzl's wife said she knew nothing, and neither did any of the tenants Fritzl rented rooms to.

The plot began to unravel when the 19-year-old daughter living downstairs became extremely ill and needed hospitalization. One wonders why he even bothered bringing her to the hospital. Maybe her body wouldn't fit in the incinerator. (Sorry, but the whole situation is simply repulsive.)

For news stories about this heinous crime, click here, here, here and here.

And here I thought that such horrors only happened in America. Nothing bad happens in Europe, right?

This miserable, revolting excuse for a human being faces a possible 15 years in prison for his crimes. Sure, at his age it's a death sentence, but why waste time and taxpayer dollars? He ruined the lives of eight people (I'm including the baby who died) forever. Elisabeth and the children who lived in the basement face years of psychiatric therapy with no guarantee that it will solve their problems. And the children who were raised by Fritzl and his wife now must deal with the knowledge of their parentage and what Daddy/Grandpa did to their mother and siblings. The whole affair is ghastly.

Sorry, Austria, I know you like to think that the death penalty is cruel and inhumane. I remember well your opposition to the execution of Stanley "Tookie" Williams, who was convicted of killing four people in cold blood. But when you think about what this man did to so many people and for how long, giving this guy the chop will give the victims some much needed closure and relief from some of the anguish they must feel.

Unfortunately, I don't believe in miracles.

April 24, 2008

Quote of the Day

"In a way, Obama is the Jon Stewart candidate. He sits on the edge of politics, making “wry and sardonic” comments about what other people do without doing anything himself. No wonder younger voters love him; he gets to be ironic while taking no responsibility for anything. And when people press him for action, he’d prefer to eat his waffle in peace until he can find a way to act as a commentator rather than as a real agent for change." ~ Ed Morrissey

April 20, 2008

Investigating CEO Pay? Investigate Others, Too!

Those of you who think that everyone is out to keep you poor will love my suggestions on Pajamas Media today:

This being an election year, don’t expect Congress and presidential candidates to listen to people like Thomas Sowell, who know what they’re talking about. They must do something to look as though they’re appeasing the masses. More bread and circuses! And so, in that light, I’d like to suggest a few other areas of salary inequity they may want to look into. No, it’s none of their business how much these people make, but neither is CEO pay. And it would make some really good press.

You'll have to read it to find out!

Carter's Middle East Pilgrimage: A Cause for Concern?

This article actually posted Friday to Family Security Matters, but I was nowhere near a computer and so could not post a link. Here's an excerpt:

And regardless of whether Hamas can be treated with or not, it’s no longer Carter’s call to make, as he left office nearly 30 years ago (in a landslide defeat by Ronald Reagan, if memory serves). It’s the sitting president who maps America’s foreign policy and designates surrogates to carry it out. By taking it upon himself to visit with the head of a group that’s been officially designated as a terrorist organization, Carter not only thumbs his nose at President Bush but grants Hamas legitimacy in the eyes of the world – including our other enemies in the region. Additionally, he’s doing what he can to make President Bush an international laughingstock.

I don’t feel very ashamed after all.

Full article here.

April 10, 2008

Benedict Arnold, Meet Jimmy Carter

My latest at Family Security Matters:

It’s bad enough that Carter could, conceivably, be considered the worst president of the 20th Century. Does he have to be the worst ex-president as well? Richard Nixon earned the grudging respect of his critics in his post-presidential years. Carter would have done well to take a page out of his book.

But the die has been cast. Not only could Carter be considered an anti-Semite and coddler of terrorists, but his post-presidential years are chock full of slaps in the face to American foreign policy and America in general. Behold the wonder:

Read it all here.

April 07, 2008

Teens Who Hate America

My latest Pajamas Media offering:

My daughter may not want to know why these kids might hate their own country, but I can make a pretty good guess. Think about it: what would you believe if you were raised on a steady diet about the failings of the dullard in the White House (who was nevertheless crafty enough to “steal” the 2000 election); about our “reduced standing” in the world since he took office; how capitalism is causing the earth to go up in a jolly blaze of global warming; how we are a nation of evil “haves” and powerless “have nots”; how our foreign policy is to blame for 9/11 and the Middle East considering America to be the “Great Satan”; and how the majority of Americans are a bunch of bigots and racists? Add to that the constant barrage of anti-war and anti-America rhetoric from groups like Code Pink and World Can’t Wait, and the complicity in these sentiments by the mainstream media and the entertainment industry — what would you think? After all, if the likes of Bill Maher, Michael Moore, Keith Olbermann, Susan Sarandon, and the brain trust on The View say it’s so, why would a teenager argue?

Read it all here.

April 04, 2008

Newsflash: Hanoi Jane's Voting for Obama

Over at FSM today:

Some of you may have thought that Fonda, the feminist’s feminist, the one who blithely spouted the “C” word on live television back in February, would back Hillary Clinton, one of her sisters in the fight against the sexist patriarchy that forms the backbone of America. But feminism is only one of the more recent incarnations of a woman whose film career includes the diametrically opposed Barbarella and 9 to 5. Fonda’s real social roots go back to the Vietnam War and her highly publicized trip to Hanoi to give moral support to the North Vietnamese and Cambodian Communists. And so her endorsement of Obama, the anti-war candidate, isn’t really much of a surprise.

Link to full text here.