An Assortment of Things to Consider

With so much going on in our world today, it is hard to focus on any one thing. We do our best to keep track, but we can feel that things are spinning out of control. I have gathered a few articles that may let you think a little more deeply about some of today's concerns.

"Offshore Oil Drilling: An Environmental Bonanza" by Humberto Fontova

"Why the Law is Foreign to Ginsburg" by Selwyn Duke

"Koh Fails the Democracy Test" by John Fonte

"Nine Questions the Left Needs to Answer About Torture" by Dennis Prager

"Survival Optional" by Thomas Sowell

"Soros Show Trials" by Matthew Vadum

"Presidential Poison" from the Wall Street Journal opinion page

Those articles cover a range of issues, yet don't touch on them all. You can read one viewpoint in the mainstream media (see "Media Sharks No More" by Jed Babbin), but you may not be aware that there are other ways of looking at these issues, and what I try to do is let you be aware of those other ways.

More Political Stuff

Yesterday's post about the torture memos and "truth commissions" and all have me thinking about the issue. I ran across two other columns today that give more to consider. See what you think.

"Conservatives Torn on Interrogation 'Truth Commission'" by Jennifer Rubin at Pajamas Media

"The Torture Controversy" by Rob Miller at American Thinker

Both bring out some of the consequences that having such 'truth commissions' and trials would set for our country.

On a much more cheerful note, indulge in some daydreaming about what it might be like if Texas seceded from the Union with this Capitol Hill Coffee House column by Richard Geno titled "Texas Does Not Have Enough Land".

The Torture Issue (Updated)

Torture is a touchy subject. Few people can tolerate even the discussion of such a topic. I know that I don't like to think about it or read about it, not even in fiction. It has come to the forefront lately, particularly since President Obama felt the need to release Bush administration memos about torture. I don't know what his motives were, although I suspect it has a lot to do with appeasing his leftist followers from his continuation of the war in Iraq and Afghanistan, or perhaps it is an effort to distract the public from the economic issues here at home. Be that as it may, there is talk of creating a "truth commission" to look into the torture issue.

I ran across an interesting piece at Weekly Standard titled "Telling the Truth" by Noemie Emery. It is a very thought-provoking article and will give you a new perspective on this issue.

Updated to add: This link is to a video of Norah O'Donnell interviewing Liz Cheney (daughter of the former Vice President), former assistant deputy Secretary of State, regarding torture and the memos. It is worth watching. It runs 8:36. http://www.redstate.com/moe_lane/2009/04/25/liz-cheney-breaks-nora-odonnell-on-torture-discussion/

Global Warming and Mainstream Media

Here are two very important links regarding global warming and Al Gore.

"House Democrats shield Gore from debate on warming (Updated)" by Thomas Lifson

"10 Questions for Al Gore" by Steven Milloy

Why don't we hear about these things from the Mainstream Media? Perhaps the following video gives us a clue.

"Updated Exclusive! Entire GE CEO Confrontation"

Margaret Sanger a Feminist Heroine?!

Some feminists say that Margaret Sanger is a feminist heroine, an early feminist icon. I have to wonder if they are familiar with all of Sanger's ideas. If they are, I have to wonder about their own values.

"Mrs. Clinton Can’t Defend Patron Saint of Planned Parenthood" by Mona Charen (at National Review Online)

Ms. Charen writes:

Mrs. Sanger was certainly a birth-control pioneer. But when you examine the totality of Mrs. Sanger’s views, you’d think modern feminists would blanch — at least a little. Margaret Sanger was a most thoroughgoing racist. “Eugenics,” she wrote, “is the most adequate and thorough avenue to the solution of racial, political, and social problems.”

She also writes:

Representative Smith asked Secretary Clinton to respond to Mrs. Sanger’s views about the “deterioration in the human stock” and “the perpetuation of defectives, delinquents, and dependents.” As Goldberg has observed, conservatives are always asked to “own” their intellectual forebears and to disavow that which requires disavowal. Yet liberals skate by without having to distance themselves from the dreadful opinions and writings of their heroes and heroines.

We would all do well to consider the whole person before we hold anyone up as a role model--a hero or heroine.

Obama's World Tour

My apologies for being such a slacker on blogging. I've had a lot going on, but I will try to post more often.

President Barack Obama has recently been on several overseas trips, meeting with foreign leaders at various summits. I suspect that too many in America don't realize the import of what Obama has been saying and doing. Two articles at American Thinker will give you some food for thought about the seriousness of it all.

"American Imperialism, Obama Style" by James Lewis

"Hillary at the Latin American Summit" by Humberto Fontova

The last thing we need is to have our President and our Secretary of State giving legitimacy to such foreign leaders as Castro, Chavez, Ortega, and others. We should not be supporting such governments that are cruel to their own people. In addition, we do not need to be showing such weakness to the world. We encourage cruel oppression by doing so. We also should not be throwing our allies, such as Israel, Britain, Poland, and Columbia, under the bus. Today's foreign policy is in serious trouble because of the actions of Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton and others like them in Congress and elsewhere. Actions have consequences.

Think about it.