Andrew Long's walking commentary on current events, politics, religion, media, and more.
You know, now that I'm blogging, I guess it's official that the blogdom has reached critical mass.
"Temet Nosce"
I welcome your comments, questions, advice, appraisals, compliments, jokes, insults, hate mail, links to your
blog site, and naked pictures of your mom (!). Just send me an email to uscrepublican-at-hotmail.com.
Please leave comments on my posts--your opinion is welcome and coveted!
Redistributive socialism at its finest Mugabe pulls together the best of all worlds: taking from the rich, white colonialists, and giving it to the poor, black downtrodden. Do Jesse Jackson, the NAACP, Maxine Waters, and liberal academics et al dare cheer?
End of an era Lakers broadcaster died today. He will be sorely missed for a long, long time. Watching or listening to a Lakers game will never be the same, but rest assured that the Jell-O will be jigglin' for a long, long time even without him--as long as Shaq and Kobe stick around.
Enlightened environmentalism Unfortunately, it doesn't exist. If it did, debates like this wouldn't need to happen. I mean, it's completely obvious that we need to thin forests out to prevent the build-up of dangerous fuel that helps spark massive, destructive fires during times of drought, but the enviro-wackos just won't allow it because it might possibly benefit the timber industry. Talk about cutting off the nose to spite the face.
And just like that, an era comes to an end Doesn't anybody realize how monumental this is, that Chick Hearn will likely no longer be able to do the Lakers broadcasting? People, this is seriously bad news; things will never be the same.
On the Europe-America divide Victor Davis Hanson gives us another gem on the existence of real differences in values that separate Europeans from Americans. He ends by saying we'll stick together despite our squabbles, and that when it comes to our policies of global intervention, "Europe won't like publicly what we do, but privately they will agree that we did what we had to do."
Puff and huff Many people were puzzled by the nature and timing of a particular NY Times puff piece praising Colin Powell, with nary a hint of disagreement or contrariness anywhere. Today, the Times' motive became clear with this dramatic call to action. The message was clear: Powell, you need to stand up and oppose this war on Iraq, and take a stronger stand against as much of the president's foreign policy goals as possible. Colin, you're our only hope! (Tom Daschle is too impotent apparently.) Of course, the blogosphere does not let such blatant politicking by newspapers go unnoticed. Such naked chicanery is somewhat embarrassing for "the newspaper of record" to be engaging in, don't you think?
Magic Eight Ball for liberals Just like the real thing, only designed for hyper irrational liberals:"The far left is busy these days. Between whining about the country's war efforts and attending celebrity benefits for fashionable diseases, they simply don't have the time for trifles like political debate and thoughtful analysis of issues."
"Therefore, as a public service, buttafly.com has invented the amazing Hysterical Liberal Magic Eight Ball. So if you would like to hold a discussion of current events and politics but can't find any liberals, don't worry! Just click on the magic ball for the answer to any tough question from the point of view of an emotional, irrational liberal."
Pharma explanation If you've ever wanted to know how the pharmaceutical industry works, why drugs are expensive, and why reimportation of drugs from Canada won't help, go here. It's a long, thorough post, and there are tons of great replies in the Comments section, so check those out too.
Death of the SUV I don't think implementing new regulations to curb greenhouse gases is such a bright idea, but it will have one nice benefit: less SUVs on the road. As a driver of a Honda Civic and an avowed truck hater, I won't be sorry to hear that SUVs will either be getting more expensive or have weaker, more fuel-efficient engines to comply with the new emissions standards.
New Geneva blog Innocents Abroad documents the frivolity that occurs daily in the world capital of diplomatic condescension and NGO/IGO self-righteousness. Check out his refutation of EU bloke Chris Patten concerning America's reasoning for opposing the ICC.
2 plus 2 equals... Alan Keyes is getting bumped from MSNBC's lineup, despite relatively decent ratings. Is he being silenced because of his views on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict?
Subverting democracy "for a good cause" I understand the desire of homosexuals to legalize gay marriage, and I can appreciate the comparison to the civil rights movement of the '60s, but I don't agree that undermining the democratic process is the way to go about establishing domestic policy. The ballot meausre to ban gay marriage in Massachusetts should have gone to the voters, not quashed by the legislature unfairly. I don't particularly care for the idea of "direct democracy" and propositions/initiatives, but if you're going to have that as part of your system, then don't thwart it illegitimately.
Oh my God I can't believe the blatant hypocrisy of The New York Times. I mean, I read both of the articles in yesterday's paper condemning Bush for the way he got rich off the Arlington Stadium deal, and the newspaper's owners are doing the exact same thing in NYC! That's beyond ridiculous. Where is their credibility, their integrity?
