Whenever, I tee off on the French, I get e-mail from angry Franco-Americans who — from a safe distance, obviously — complain: "If you wrote that way about black people, you'd be called a racist!" To which I usually respond "Wiener Schnitzel!" and they run away in terror.
Black students organized a "Say No to Racism" march and demanded more protection against white-on-black harassment. They blasted the school's president for not apologizing quickly enough for the racial slurs. The school's "Minority Affairs" director demanded that the university establish "programs and procedures" to ensure racial sensitivity and prevent hate crimes. The "Institute for Racial Reconciliation" and the "Committee On Sensitivity and Respect" convened meetings. Activists called for criminally prosecuting the perpetrators under state felony laws or federal hate crime statutes.
If the attackers had been white, they faced possible federal prison time. Because the suspects are black, the most serious consequence they face is expulsion. Welcome to equal treatment under the law, 2002-style.
Mississippi is winning the race to become the first state in the nation to equip all of its public school classrooms with computers and get wired to the Internet. The state is outdistancing second-place Delaware, according to the National Governors Association in Washington.
I want to say this about my state: When Strom Thurmond ran for president, we voted for him. We're proud of it. And if the rest of the country had followed our lead, we wouldn't have had all these problems over all these years, either.
What happens when (radio talk show host) Rush Limbaugh attacks those of us in public life is that people aren't satisfied just to listen," the South Dakota Democrat explained. "They want to act because they get emotionally invested. And so, you know, the threats to those of us in public life go up dramatically, on our families and on us, in a way that's very disconcerting."
Basically we have been seeing this rising tide of anti-Muslim rhetoric in the US — from right-wing commentators and evangelical Christian leaders – and there has been a barrage of anti-Muslim hate speech.
“There was a resounding silence from the president and other elected officials — and we felt that their silence equaled acceptance. On several occasions, we asked the president to speak out on this issue, and he, and Secretary of State Colin Powell, finally did,” said Ibrahim Hooper, national communications director at CAIR, the Washington-based Council on American Islamic Relations.
“I think it was clear that this rhetoric was so damaging to America’s image around the world, that they just had to do something,” said Hooper. He said he didn’t know if the president would continue to speak out in defense of Islam. “We don’t know, but when they start a policy line like this, other officials carry it forward, so hopefully that’s the case, here.”
“It is encouraging that President Bush responded, and that (Secretary of State) Colin Powell also spoke out positively. We welcome it and we appreciate it,” said Rizwan Jaka, president of ADAMS (the All Dulles Area Muslim Society), in Herndon, Virginia.
“It is something that was needed, because people were starting to wonder why the administration had not responded thus far.
“There were definitely a lot of people in the community who were starting to feel quite frustrated and disappointed that these attacks were occurring against Muslims, and nobody in the administration was responding.”
I'm not going to say "gutter." That's what we're supposed to say now, instead of Qatar — instead of "Qa-TAHR." It's the latest thing. From time immemorial — defined as the moment of my birth on — we've said "Qa-TAHR." All red-blooded Amurricans say "Qa-TAHR." But the other day, I even heard Condi Rice — the otherwise unimpeachable Condi Rice — say "gutter." I almost busted a gut.
Still, despite the endorsement the notion of an American empire has received from writers across the political spectrum, something is missing from the analysis. There is more to having an empire than simply the possession of great power. Empire presupposes the existence of a military establishment that is charged with the task of insuring, through the threat and use of force, that local and regional conflicts are settled by the application of imperial power. Understood that way, the imperial model does not match American foreign policy as it has actually developed since the end of the Cold War: Indeed, we fear empire rather than welcome it.
"Well, folks, Tuesday is the day! The day that George W. gets taught a long overdue lesson. The day that we, the MAJORITY -- the 52% who never elected him -- get our chance to reclaim a bit of our former democracy (back when ALL the votes used to be counted). What if, on Tuesday, all of us, regardless of our political stripe, and just for the fun of it, decided to serve one big-a** eviction notice that said, you have two years to remove yourself from the premises-and you had better not damage anything on your way out? I think we can give Bush the Mother of all Shellackings on Tuesday."
Moore is extremely suspicious of everything he hears on mainstream TV news and everything he reads in newspapers owned by large media conglomerates. He feels that local TV news in particular has poisoned the American public with unfounded fear. But there is a cure.
"The Internet actually has been the antidote," Moore tells Martin. "The Internet is where you get the truth. It's on the Internet that you can find out what the real facts are."
Suggest that Han Blix might need to be aggressive on his mission to ferret out Iraqi weapons of mass destruction, as Steve Kroft did, and the Swedish diplomat cautions that aggression is not permitted under his U.N. charter. So how will he perform his inspections? “We’ll be correct and effective,” he tells Kroft in an interview to be broadcast on 60 MINUTES Sunday, Nov. 17 (7:00-8:00 PM, ET/PT) on CBS.
“Aggressive is an American quality. You are aggressive in business. That’s fine. Aggression is prohibited under U.N. charter,” Blix tells Kroft. “And as a European, I would rather use the word dynamic and effective.”
With the slumping economy and financial markets, job layoffs and federal budget deficits, "this is the wrong time for Congress to give itself a pay hike," Feingold said in a statement.
Representative Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) wins the House minority leader race against Rep. Harold Ford, Jr (D-TN), 177-29. Ford stepped in to challenge Pelosi after Martin Frost (D-TX) dropped out of the race. Like Frost, Ford portrayed himself as the more moderate alternative to the very Leftist Pelosi. Now many on the left, particularly Alan Colmes of Hannity and Colmes, are whining and pitching hissie fits that conservatives are demonizing Pelosi by calling her a "San Francisco Democrat." Didn't liberals call Newt Gingrich "The Gingrich Who Stole Christmas" and other not-so-kind words?
Bush said Saddam was in violation of the terms by typing his response in the "freedom-hating" Times New Roman font, when Helvetica had been specifically mandated. He also cited Iraq's response within five days instead of seven, but admitted "geometry" was never his strong point.
Nevertheless, the commander in chief said the U.S. was ready to send in inspectors.
"It'll be quite an inspection," said Bush. "We're gonna be sending in a barrage of weapons-inspecting missiles. Yeah, those weapons-inspecting missiles – they'll be able to signal a weapons-free area with a massive explosion."
For we are to God the fragrance of Christ among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing. To the one we are the aroma of death leading to death, and to the other the aroma of life leading to life. And who is sufficient for these things? For we are not, as so many, peddling the word of God; but as of sincerity, but as from God, we speak in the sight of God in Christ.
--2 Corinthians 2:15-17
More than 100,000 votes went missing on Tuesday between the time they were counted by electronic machines and the time they were reported on cable-access television and on the Supervisor of Elections web site.
A glitch in the vote reporting system left a 104,000-vote difference between Tuesday night's totals and those reported late Wednesday.
Election officials said the error has no effect on the outcome of any races, though voter turnout jumped from 35 percent to 45 percent after it was corrected.
If he is forced to run a real, albeit quick, campaign, Mondale could also have some problems with his base. Yes, he's a liberal Democrat. But he's not a child of the New Left, as Wellstone was. The fact that he's on the board of an HMO won't endear him to Wellstone's core constituency. Mondale also co-chaired a commission that came out for Social Security reform, including both private accounts and an increased retirement age (according to an AP report from earlier this year). Mondale can also reasonably be asked to state his position on Iraq: Would he have voted for or against the war resolution? He won't want to be against the president on this. But if he says he would have voted for the resolution, the Wellstonites will feel betrayed.
Alexander, the front-runner in the Senate race, laughed off the incident as "just a media stunt." He told us: "He gave me a firm handshake and I gave him a firm handshake, and I've just shaken 2,000 more hands at a barbecue in Knoxville. I feel fine. I think I may go home tonight and play a little Chopin."
| Weaseliest Organization | |
|---|---|
| Democratic Party | 5,727 |
| Major League Baseball | 4,118 |
| White House | 3,700 |
| Congress | 2,702 |
| Republican Party | 2,333 |
| FBI | 872 |
| Weaseliest Country | |
|---|---|
| France | 6,684 |
| Saudi Arabia | 4,488 |
| Pakistan | 3,601 |
| Iraq | 3,453 |
| North Korea | 669 |
| Iran | 285 |
| Weaseliest Company | |
|---|---|
| Microsoft | 7,661 |
| Arthur Andersen | 3,908 |
| Enron | 3,621 |
| WorldCom | 1,381 |
| Rite Aid | 1,255 |
| Merrill Lynch | 576 |
| Tyco | 535 |
| Qwest | 486 |
| Weaseliest Profession | |
|---|---|
| News reporters | 4,875 |
| Lawyers | 4,447 |
| Politicians | 3,539 |
| Tobacco executives | 3,484 |
| Oil executives | 1,159 |
| Accountants | 1,098 |
| Advertising executives | 926 |
| Weaseliest Individual | |
|---|---|
| Martha Stewart | 4,734 |
| Gary Condit | 3,810 |
| Marie Reine Le Gougne (French Ice Skating Olympic Judge) | 3,475 |
| Kenneth Lay (Enron) | 3,284 |
| Michael Jackson | 2,009 |
| Dennis Kozlowski (Tyco) | 810 |
| Gary Winnick (Glob. Cross.) | 483 |
| "Chainsaw" Al Dunlap | 342 |
| Sam Waksal (ImClone) | 255 |
| Weaseliest Religion | |
|---|---|
| Islam | 6,112 |
| Catholicism | 5,227 |
| Atheism | 4,221 |
| Protestantism | 1,710 |
| Judaism | 1,147 |
| Buddhism | 239 |
| Hinduism | 233 |
The safest road to hell is the gradual one--the gentle slope, soft underfoot, without sudden turnings, without milestones, without signposts.
C. S. Lewis (1898-1963), British author. Screwtape, in The Screwtape Letters, letter 12 (1942).
Much of the modern resistance to chastity comes from men’s belief that they "own" their bodies--those vast and perilous estates, pulsating with the energy that made the worlds, in which they find themselves without their consent and from which they are ejected at the pleasure of Another!
C. S. Lewis (1898-1963), British author. Screwtape, in The Screwtape Letters, Letter 21 (1942).
There are two equal and opposite errors into which our race can fall about the devils. One is to disbelieve in their existence. The other is to believe, and to feel an excessive and unhealthy interest in them. They themselves are equally pleased by both errors and hail a materialist or a magician with the same delight.
C. S. Lewis (1898–1963), British author. The Screwtape Letters, Preface (1942).
Courage is not simply one of the virtues but the form of every virtue at the testing point, which means at the point of highest reality.
C. S. Lewis (1898–1963), British author. Quoted in: Cyril Connoly,The Unquiet Grave, pt. 3 (1944; rev. 1951).
It is hard to have patience with people who say "There is no death" or "Death doesn’t matter." There is death. And whatever is matters. And whatever happens has consequences, and it and they are irrevocable and irreversible. You might as well say that birth doesn’t matter.
C. S. Lewis (1898–1963), British author. A Grief Observed, pt. 1 (1961).
Can a mortal ask questions which God finds unanswerable? Quite easily, I should think. All nonsense questions are unanswerable.
C. S. Lewis (1898–1963), British author. A Grief Observed, pt. 4 (1961).
An appeaser is one who feeds a crocodile, hoping it will eat him last.
Sir Winston Churchill (1874-1965), British statesman, writer. Quoted in: The Reader's Digest (Pleasantville, N.Y., Dec. 1954).
A fanatic is one who can't change his mind and won't change the subject.
Sir Winston Churchill (1874-1965), British statesman, writer. Quoted in: New York Times (5 July 1954).
Moral of the Work. In war: resolution. In defeat: defiance. In victory: magnanimity. In peace: goodwill.
Sir Winston Churchill (1874-1965), British statesman, writer. Epigraph to The Second World War: The Gathering Storm, vol. 1 (1948).
Men are qualified for civil liberty in exact proportion to their disposition to put moral chains upon their own appetites; in proportion as their love to justice is above their rapacity; in proportion as their soundness and sobriety of understanding is above their vanity and presumption; in proportion as they are more disposed to listen to the counsels of the wise and good, in preference to the flattery of knaves.
Edmund Burke (1729–97), Irish philosopher, statesman. A Letter to a Member of the National Assembly, 19 Jan. 1791.
We must not always judge of the generality of the opinion by the noise of the acclamation.
Edmund Burke (1729–97), Irish philosopher, statesman. First Letter on a Regicide Peace (1796; published in The Writings and Speeches of Edmund Burke, vol. 9, ed. by Paul Langford, 1991).
It is a general popular error to suppose the loudest complainers for the public to be the most anxious for its welfare.
Edmund Burke (1729–97), Irish philosopher, statesman. Observations on a Publication, “The Present State of the Nation” (1769).
Among a people generally corrupt, liberty cannot long exist.
Edmund Burke (1729–97), Irish philosopher, statesman. Letter to the Sheriffs of Bristol, 3 April 1777 (published in Works, vol. 2).
The true danger is when liberty is nibbled away, for expedience, and by parts.
Edmund Burke (1729–97), Irish philosopher, statesman. Letter, 3 April 1777, to the Sheriffs of Bristol.
There is but one law for all, namely that law which governs all law, the law of our Creator, the law of humanity, justice, equity—the law of nature and of nations.
Edmund Burke (1729–97), Irish philosopher, statesman. Speech, 28 May 1794, Westminster Hall, at the impeachment of Warren Hastings.
Your representative owes you, not his industry only, but his judgement; and he betrays instead of serving you if he sacrifices it to your opinion.
Edmund Burke (1729–97), Irish philosopher, statesman. Speech, 3 Nov. 1774, to the electors of Bristol, England.
I have never yet seen any plan which has not been mended by the observations of those who were much inferior in understanding to the person who took the lead in the business.
Edmund Burke (1729–97), Irish philosopher, statesman. Reflections on the Revolution in France (1790).
And having looked to government for bread, on the very first scarcity they will turn and bite the hand that fed them. To avoid that evil, government will redouble the causes of it; and then it will become inveterate and incurable.
Edmund Burke (1729–97), Irish philosopher, statesman. Thoughts and Details on Scarcity (Nov. 1795; published in Works, vol. 5), cautioning against the “attempt to feed the people out of the hands of the magistrates.”
To drive men from independence to live on alms, is itself great cruelty.
Edmund Burke (1729–97), Irish philosopher, statesman. Reflections on the Revolution in France (1790).
No government ever voluntarily reduces itself in size. Government programs, once launched, never disappear. Actually, a government bureau is the nearest thing to eternal life we'll ever see on this earth!
Ronald Reagan (b. 1911), U.S. Republican politician, president. "A Time for Choosing," television address, 27 Oct. 1964 (published in Speaking My Mind, 1989).
We might come closer to balancing the Budget if all of us lived closer to the Commandments and the Golden Rule.
Ronald Reagan (b. 1911), U.S. president. Quoted in: Observer (London, 5 Feb. 1983).
The government's view of the economy could be summed up in a few short phrases: If it moves, tax it. If it keeps moving, regulate it. And if it stops moving, subsidize it.
Ronald Reagan (b. 1911), U.S. Republican politician, president. Address, 15 Aug. 1986, to the White House Conference on Small Business.
Freedom-loving people around the world must say . . . I am a refugee in a crowded boat foundering off the coast of Vietnam. I am Laotian, a Cambodian, a Cuban, and a Miskito Indian in Nicaragua. I, too, am a potential victim of totalitarianism.
Ronald Reagan (b. 1911), U.S. Republican politician, president. Speech, 27 May 1985, at Bergen-Belsen Concentration Camp, Germany (published in Speaking My Mind, 1989).
If the federal government had been around when the Creator was putting His hand to this state, Indiana wouldn't be here. It'd still be waiting for an environmental impact statement.
Ronald Reagan (b. 1911), U.S. Republican politician, president. Speech, 9 Feb. 1982 (published in Speaking My Mind, "The Wit and Wisdom of Ronald Reagan," 1989).
Freedom prospers when religion is vibrant and the rule of law under God is acknowledged.
Ronald Reagan (b. 1911), U.S. Republican politician, president. Speech, 8 March 1983, at the Annual Convention of the National Association of Evangelicals, Orlando, Fla. (published in Speaking My Mind, 1989).
Government does not solve problems; it subsidizes them.
Ronald Reagan (b. 1911), U.S. Republican politician, president. Speech, 11 Dec. 1972 (published in Speaking My Mind, "The Wit and Wisdom of Ronald Reagan," 1989).
My objection to Liberalism is this-that it is the introduction into the practical business of life of the highest kind-namely, politics-of philosophical ideas instead of political principles.
Benjamin Disraeli (1804-81), English statesman, author. Speech, 5 June 1848, to House of Commons, London, on the expulsion of the British ambassador from Madrid.
[Referring to liberals] Cosmopolitan critics, men who are the friends of every country save their own.
Benjamin Disraeli (1804-81), English statesman, author. Speech, 9 Nov. 1877, Guildhall, London.
The principle feature of American liberalism is sanctimoniousness. By loudly denouncing all bad things--war and hunger and date rape--liberals testify to their own terrific goodness. More important, they promote themselves to membership in a self-selecting elite of those who care deeply about such things. . . . It’s a kind of natural aristocracy, and the wonderful thing about this aristocracy is that you don’t have to be brave, smart, strong or even lucky to join it, you just have to be liberal.
P. J. O’Rourke (b. 1947), U.S. journalist. Give War a Chance, Introduction (1992).
In the end we beat them with Levi 501 jeans. Seventy-two years of Communist indoctrination and propaganda was drowned out by a three-ounce Sony Walkman. A huge totalitarian system . . . has been brought to its knees because nobody wants to wear Bulgarian shoes. . . . Now they're lunch, and we're number one on the planet.
P. J. O'Rourke (b. 1947), U.S. journalist. "The Death of Communism," in Rolling Stone (New York, Nov. 1989; repr. in Give War a Chance, 1992).
Communism is the opiate of the intellectuals [with] no cure except as a guillotine might be called a cure for dandruff.
Clare Boothe Luce (1903-87), U.S. diplomat, writer. Newsweek (New York, 24 Jan. 1955).
The word "conservative" is used by the BBC as a portmanteau word of abuse for anyone whose views differ from the insufferable, smug, sanctimonious, naive, guilt-ridden, wet, pink orthodoxy of that sunset home of the third-rate minds of that third-rate decade, the nineteen-sixties.
Norman Tebbit (b. 1931), British Conservative politician. Quoted in: Independent (London, 24 Feb. 1990).
There are two kinds of liberalism. A liberalism which is always, subterraneously authoritative and paternalistic, on the side of one's good conscience. And then there is a liberalism which is more ethical than political; one would have to find another name for this. Something like a profound suspension of judgment.
Roland Barthes (1915-80), French semiologist. Interview with Bernard-Henri Lévy, in Art and Text, no. 8 (1977; repr. in Discourses: Conversations in Postmodern Art and Culture, ed. by Russell Ferguson, et al., 1990).
[Referring to liberals] I sit on a man's back, choking him and making him carry me, and yet assure myself and others that I am very sorry for him and wish to ease his lot by all possible means-except by getting off his back.
Leo Tolstoy (1828-1910), Russian novelist, philosopher. What Then Must We Do? ch. 16 (1886).
The Christian ideal has not been tried and found wanting. It has been found difficult; and left untried.
G. K. Chesterton (1874–1936), British author. What’s Wrong With the World, pt. 1, ch. 5 (1910).
I’m not an Uncle Tom. . .. I’m going to be here for 40 years. For those who don’t like it, get over it.
Clarence Thomas (b. 1948), U.S. Supreme Court Justice. Washington Post, (October 28, 1994), answering attacks on his character at a meeting of African American journalists and other African Americans.
While Belafonte was making millions of dollars entertaining white folks in the 1960s, Colin Powell wasn't living the good life. He wasn't singing "Day-o." He wasn't rubbing shoulders with the Hollywood elite. He was fighting for his country in Vietnam.
Nothing was handed to Colin Powell in his life. He worked hard, studied hard, fought hard and became a general and, later, the first black secretary of state in the history of the United States. Harry Belafonte sang the "Banana Boat Song."
DSA’s national electoral project this year is the Minnesota Senate Election. Together with YDS, DSA’s Youth Section, we are mobilizing to bring young people to Minnesota. Minnesota is one of the few states that allow same day voter registration. We will therefore focus our energy on registering young Minnesotans. Wellstone will need a high percentage of young people to register and vote for him if he is to stave off the campaign that Bush, the Republicans and the Greens are waging against him. He is the Right’s Number One electoral target.
Because we are focusing on issue-based voter registration, this electoral work can be supported by tax-deductible contributions. The DSA FUND is soliciting tax-deductible contributions to support this project. Contributions are needed to underwrite the costs of transportation as well as providing a stipend for expenses; housing is being donated.
The chairman of the committee, Gunnar Berge, used the prize to make a scathing attack on President Bush's campaign to topple Iraqi President Saddam Hussein.
U.S. lawmakers gave Bush solid bipartisan support on Thursday for a strike on Iraq. Carter said last month it would be a "tragic mistake" for the United States to attack Iraq without U.N. backing.
"With the position Carter has taken...(the award) can and must also be seen as criticism of the line the current U.S. administration has taken on Iraq," Berge, a former Labour cabinet minister, told reporters after announcing the award.
Asked if it was a "kick in the leg" at Washington, Berge said: "Yes, the answer is an unconditional 'yes."' A "kick in the leg" is a Norwegian phrase meaning "a slap in the face."
CATO RULES
Sen. Robert Byrd has been waging a week-long war on the floor of the Senate to block the one that President Bush wants to wage in Iraq. On Thursday Byrd could be seen waving about a palm-sized version of the U.S. Constitution in booklet form, which has been published and distributed around the world by the Cato Institute.
"When we pointed out that the think tank that published it was libertarian, he didn't want to bring it on the floor," says a Democratic staffer on the Appropriations Committee, which Byrd chairs. "But it was the only copy we could find in the office."
And where did they find it? "We took it from a Republican staffer's desk," says the Democrat.
