This ain't Hell, but you can see it from here

Category: Society

  • Tax scandal reaches back to the ’90s

    The Washington Examiner reports this morning that the Harriet “Mother” Walters scandal that has drained at least $20 million from DC and federal coffers has it’s roots in the 1990s; (more…)

  • Another Day, Another Liberal Attack on Free Speech

    Philly.com Story
    University of Pennsylvania professor Camille Charles, has decreed that the “This is America, when ordering, please ‘speak English” sign posted at James Vento’s business, Geno’s Steaks is akin to Jim Crow.The Philadelphia Commission on Human Relations decided to charge that Vento discriminated against non-English speakers.

    You know what? All the founding documents of this country are written in English, all our elected representatives conduct their business in English, this is, primarily an English speaking country.
    According to the CIA’s World Factbook 82.1% of Americans speak English.

    Here’s the thing, no thinking person gives a damn if you speak Swahili, Urdu, Farsi, or Pig Latin in your home or among your friends. However, if you choose to do business in this country, even as only a consumer, you should speak and read English fluently. Because that is what we do here. In a country where English is not the main language spoken, France for example, by all means, speak French. But, here, we speak English. To claim that is discriminatory is foolish. I am sure Mr Vento wants everyone’s business, however, his employees speak English, so ordering in Spanish, Turkish, or Arabic is not going to get you speedy service, in all likelihood, all that would get you is a frustrated employee asking “Do you speak English” loudly and slowly. We get along with each other better when we all speak the same language, don’t whine, adapt.

  • Killing Two Birds with One Stone

    You have to hand it to the Democrats. By co-opting the media so long ago, their influence is massive, subtle for it’s size and amazing to behold.

    As I mentioned previously, Mike Huckabee won’t be our next president because the Christian haters in the Democratic party and elsewhere will make him look like a crackpot for having beliefs. Not “flexible” beliefs as Lawrence O’donnell tells us are allowed but, those nefarious “Strongly held beliefs”. Who was it the US Senate slapped around with that term during confirmation hearings?

    The NY Post has a story, doubtless carried far and wide by dint of it’s somewhat fantastic sounding title:“Huckabee: Mormons Think Jesus, Devil Are Brothers”
    Huckabee does not help himself by being quoted in Sunday’s NY Times as asking “Don’t Mormons believe that Jesus and the devil are brothers?” Questioning the Mormon belief that we are all God’s spiritual children and thus, brothers and sisters. Well, gee, that is a twofer isn’t it. It manages to slam Huckabee as the big I “Intolerant” and also casts a specter of implied kookiness on Mitt Romney i.e.,”Holy crap! They believe THAT?!”

    Romney didn’t help himself any by giving his “Religion Speech” and only uttering the word Mormon once. He really should have at least pointed out that like him, Harry Reid is a Mormon too. But, out of what I can only assume was a decision to not drag other people into questions about him, which, while it is indeed honorable and respectable, it didn’t have the desired effect.
    If anything his silence on Mormon doctrine fuels the curiosity of those who don’t know anything about the LDS church. Many of those will doubtless take their curiosity to the internet, where if one is not careful and savvy it is easy to be misled. The aforementioned headline is a prime example of misleading,and deceptive information. The headline makes it look like Huckabee made a statement, when he asked a question, there is a difference.

  • The ‘O’ and ‘The One’

    The Washington Examiner today features an article written by Susan Ferrechio, entitled “The O Factor; Turning Oprah’s fans into voters“; (more…)

  • A Few Words on Mitt and Mormons and Huckabee and Dems UPDATE

    While Mitt Romney is running for president, there is a Mormon in Congress whose job is far more influential than a former governor. Who could it be? Its Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid. But, while Romney is expected to give a dissertation on the differences between Mormons and everyone else, Reid is spared this incessant questioning.
    Why? Because he is an elected Democrat, and no one expects them to actually hold to the tenets of their religion(s). For proof of the preceding statement see; Clinton, Bill, Kennedy, Ted, and Kerry, John. Ted and John claim to be Catholic and yet run afoul of many of the tenets of the Catholic Church (Multiple divorces anyone? Support for abortion, etc)

    This is another time around on the old double standard, Democrats can claim affiliation with any religious group and give campaign speeches from pulpits, but, the instant Mike Huckabee, an ordained Southern Baptist minister, runs for office we see articles like this from the Politico about how the IRS is investigating Huckabee’s campaign. Isn’t holding one side to a different standard of belief, or faith, or at the very least faithfulness, than the other on religion bias? Aren’t we exhorted to accept every religion? Or, are we supposed to accept their religions only if they don’t follow the tenets of their religion? That really doesn’t make sense…

    Mike Huckabee won’t be our next president for a variety of reasons, but, that he is a Southern Baptist is the one that will be attacked with the most vigor. Wait and watch as Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama have what will amount to almost a competition to see which of them can speak from behind more pulpits between now and the Democratic Convention. My money is on Hillary by close to two to one, most of them will be black churches too…

    Why the truly religious get bashed for their views and the purportedly religious get a pass isn’t too hard to figure out, if you think about it.

    Hugh Hewitt interviewed Lawrence O’Donnell about religion.
    The one thing scripture isn’t is “Flexible”.

  • Only 5?

    I was doing some research for something else and, as it often happens, I got sidetracked and ended up bumping into this story about a movie about the only 5 Cubans ever to be imprisoned apparently; (more…)

  • It is a Spade, Damn It!

    With todays obsession with never, ever offending anyone, our world gets worse. Political correctness has been around for years and all it has done is hide the truth and obfuscate facts.
    DNC Chairman Howard ‘YEARRRRRRGH!’ Dean has pontificated that in the most recent debate, Republicans used “outrageous phrases like ‘illegal aliens.’ ” He urged the candidates to “have some morality and some humanity.”
    Excuse me? Using the proper legal terminology is now outrageous? What is moral or humane about condoning crime? The democrats’ continued efforts to make illegal immigration flatly ignores several important facts:
    The problem isn’t with Hispanics, it is with criminals.
    Criminal is not now, nor has it ever been a race.
    Not all Illegal Aliens are Hispanic, to suggest that they are, is racist.
    The Republican presidential candidates should NEVER have participated in the Univision debate. There are far more people in this country who do not speak Spanish and to pander to those who do is an insult to the rest.
    To claim that the term illegal alien is outrageous is so stupid as to be laughable.
    Dictionary.com defines illegal as:
    1. forbidden by law or statute.
    2. contrary to or forbidden by official rules, regulations, etc.:
    and alien is defined:
    1. a resident born in or belonging to another country who has not acquired citizenship by naturalization (distinguished from citizen).
    2. a foreigner.
    3. a person who has been estranged or excluded.
    4. residing under a government or in a country other than that of one’s birth without having or obtaining the status of citizenship there.
    So, then an Illegal Alien would be properly defined as:
    (My definition)A person residing in a country, not of their birth, in a manner contrary to or forbidden by law or statute
    Dictionary.com’s definition:
    1. a foreigner who has entered or resides in a country unlawfully or without the country’s authorization.
    2. a foreigner who enters the U.S. without an entry or immigrant visa, esp. a person who crosses the border by avoiding inspection or who overstays the period of time allowed as a visitor, tourist, or businessperson.
    That’s odd, I didn’t see anything in any of those definitions about Hispanics, or Mexicans, or about speaking Spanish… Why is it then that politicians are compelled to kiss up to the Hispanic population? Oh, I see, they do that because the single largest group of illegal aliens are Hispanics who happen to be from Mexico. That doesn’t matter. It really doesn’t matter a bit. Where they criminals were born or what language they speak doesn’t have anything to do with the crimes they commit, unless you are a racist…

  • Look in the mirror, Jesse

    Jesse Jackson, race pimp extraordinaire, has set his sights on “predatory lenders” in the lastest crisis de jour of subprime lenders. (Reuters)

    Civil rights activist Jesse Jackson will hold a rally on Wall Street next week to persuade the financial community to help people who are foreclosing on their homes amid a deepening mortgage crisis.
     
    Jackson wants financial leaders to restructure mortgage plans for people who risk losing their homes because they are falling behind in their payments, he said in a statement.

    “Two million homes nationwide will be at risk of foreclosure by 2008,” Jackson said in a statement. “Most foreclosures result from shady products that have been offered by subprime lenders ultimately financed by Wall Street.”

    I watched Jackson on the local Fox 5 news last night as he called the mortgage problems a “financial tsunami” in Prince George’s County, Maryland. Apparently, the word “crisis” has lost it’s cache and Leftist hyperbole demands a more urgently discriptive term.

    But, it’s significant that Jackson was in Prince George’s County – the county borders on Washington DC’s poorer Black neighborhoods. PG County largely reflects it’s neighbors’ economic and demographic condition. Most of the businesses that ply trade in both areas are black-owned and black-operated franchises. The predators that Jesse Jackson are blaming are largely Black, but Jackson and others are trying to cover up that inconvenient fact (Bloomberg);

    As many as 2 million homes are at risk of foreclosure, Jackson said in a statement. The rallies will be held Dec. 10, and also sponsored by the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People and National Urban League. Other rallies will be held in Atlanta, Los Angeles, Detroit, New Orleans, Washington and Chicago.

    Jackson’s plans show how the increase in delinquencies on subprime mortgages, some of which were the product of what Federal Reserve officials said were “lax” lending practices, is capturing political attention. Democratic Senator Hillary Clinton, a candidate for her party’s presidential nomination, this week called for a 90-day moratorium on foreclosures.

    There is definitely greed involved in the subprime lending market – the mortgage companies, their representatives and ultimately, the borrowers themselves share in the blame. The borrowers were willing to accept the temporary lower rate in the short term, fully knowing the payment would bloom into a much larger payment – and they now claim ignorance, with Jesse Jackson showing the way. Jackson and the media have compounded the problem by telling delinquent mortgagees that they aren’t culpable if they default on their loans. 

    But, either way, Jackson knew he’d get to hold mortgage companies responsible; can you imagine the hue and cry from the race pimp if mortgage companies hadn’t been so “lax” in their lending practices and had excluded Blacks from the housing growth of the last half-decade?

    Jackson complained in an opinion piece in the Wall Street Journal entitled A Marshall Plan for Mortgages that President Bush’s plan doesn’t go far enough;

    The Bush administration’s proposed five-year freeze on home-loan rates, while a step in the right direction, doesn’t go far enough. The plan, unveiled yesterday, simply doesn’t help most of the families facing a foreclosure threat. Of the 6.5 million subprime borrowers in total, only about 750,000, or 12%, would be helped, according to some estimates. They are the homeowners who are up-to-date now with their loan payments but would fall behind and risk foreclosure when the loan resets in the coming year.

    Jackson’s main problem is that there’s no government money for him to skim off with his Rainbow Coaliton – that’s why he’s driving his pity train to Wall Street.

    It’s time for another U.S. government-sponsored Marshall Plan. But instead of reconstructing Europe after World War II, today’s Marshall Plan for mortgages would restore homeowners’ and investors’ confidence and dreams.

    In other words, Jackson’s first solution is always government (taxpayer) money instead of a last resort. Mortgage companies don’t want people to stop paying their mortgages – that makes no sense, where would they make money if people lost their homes. But in the world of Jesse Jackson where all money is government money, apparently it makes perfect sense.