2008 Election, Politics, War On Terror

When Winning Is Losing

Congress is poised to land a one-two punch to Bush and the country. Perhaps counting on Congress renewing the tax cuts that were put in place in 2001 and 2003, those are the ones that have brought record revenues to the government and created over 3 million jobs, was being overly optimistic on how Democrats in Washington would act when they set to expire January 1, 2011.

Next, and more prescient is the NSA warrantless wiretapping program for terrorists and suspected terrorists. It is set to expire in February 2008.

President Bush today called on Congress to make permanent a law that gives the government broad authority to eavesdrop without warrants on phone calls, e-mail and other communication between people in the United States and suspected terrorists abroad.

The president wants Congress to extend the law, set to expire in February, that allows spy agencies to intercept the communications of suspected terrorists that pass through U.S. switching facilities.

All Congress has to do, led by Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid, is sit on their hands and they will get everything they wished for. Raise taxes and disengage from the war on terror. They are campaigning on losing the war now, so for them it is a win win situation.

2008 Election, Politics, Race Relations

A Race To The Bottom

You know it was a matter of when, not if, Jesse Jackson would find a way to play the race card. Just to show that it is possible for politics to cross racial lines, they are both thought to be black, Jesse Jackson is saying that Barack Obama is acting white over the ‘Jena six’ incident. Jackson says the obvious, “If I were a candidate, I’d be all over Jena.” Presumably, Obama is acting white because he isn’t “all over” it?

While Jesse Jackson keeps digging, so does congress.

America Needs Me link

Politics

Chavez Threatens Takeover Of Schools

Becoming restless and confident at the same time, the hemisphere’s idiot, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, doesn’t like an educational system that doesn’t push his socialist agenda. He thinks it is best to nationalize them if they don’t shape the children into good socialists. The capitalist ideas being taught must be eliminated, according to Chavez.

But one college-level syllabus obtained by The Associated Press shows some premedical students already have a recommended reading list including Karl Marx’s “Das Kapital” and Fidel Castro’s speeches, alongside traditional subjects like biology and chemistry.

The syllabus also includes quotations from Chavez and urges students to learn about slain revolutionary Ernesto “Che” Guevara and Colombian rebel chief Manuel Marulanda, whose leftist guerrillas are considered a terrorist group by Colombia, the U.S. and European Union.

Real critical thinkers, like Gabriel Gomez Guerrero, 22, of Colombia and others who are dropping out of his university had this to say about Chavez’s educational plan.

About 20 of the 400 foreign pre-med students have dropped out of the Latin American Medical School near Caracas. Among them was Gabriel Gomez Guerrero, 22, of Colombia, who was shocked that the syllabus counts Marulanda among “important Latin American thinkers” to be studied. The head of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia is his government’s public enemy No. 1. “They aren’t going to introduce that man to me as a ‘Latin American thinker,'” Gomez said. “They may brainwash other people, but not me.”

link: Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez Threatens to Take Over Private Schools

Politics, War On Terror

Rebuttal Rebuttal

We’ve heard the Democrats’ prebuttal and rebuttal to the President’s briefing of the nation on the way forward in Iraq. But you may not have heard the Rebuttal to the Rebuttal. It addresses every point that Jack Reid made in his rebuttal to Bush’s address to the nation, and does it well.

It should help in lowering your blood pressure a few points from last week. And hats of to TXPoet for doing the really hard work of actually listening to Reid’s entire speech. I only lasted about a minute before I turned the channel. For the younger audience, its what you do when you grab the remote and push a number.

Ft. Hard Knox: Rebuttal to the Rebuttal

Race Relations

10,000 Men On The Street In Philly

Philly has been trying to get a grip on the murder rate in the city. It has been at a record high all year, and getting worse. There are 294 murders as of today. Mostly in black neighborhoods where both shooters and victims are kids. Sylvester Johnson, the police chief is looking for citizen volunteers to help.

Sylvester Johnson says black men, in particular, have a duty to protect more vulnerable residents. He wants each volunteer to pledge to work three hours a day for at least 90 days.

“We are definitely encouraging black men to be involved in it,” Johnson told The Associated Press on Thursday. “We have an obligation to give back. We have an obligation to protect our women, our children, our elderly.”

But Johnson said he would not turn away men of other races.

“We have to put the tourniquet where we’re bleeding at this point,” he said. “We’re not restricting anybody.”

It is sickening to see this happening to the kids and it does have to be stopped. It never has been as bad in Philly as it is now. Sylvester is looking for volunteer citizens to get involved by going into their neighborhoods and give 3 hours a day for 90 days. 10,000 if possible, but he’d be pleased if he only gets 1000. What I like about this idea is that these volunteers are not ‘the man.’ They are fathers, uncles, brothers, and sons of families living in the neighborhood, not police with guns, clubs, and pepper spray. This kind of involvement will be the starting point for turning things around in the city and the chief deserves all the support he can muster.

According to the 10,000 Men website, Sunday October 21, 2007 is the kick-off of ‘It’s a new day in Philadelphia’ in the Liacouras Center at Temple University, 12 noon.

Philadelphia Daily News link

related: More Kids Killing Kids In Philadelphia
No Stopping Philadelphia Murderers

Race Relations

General John “Black Jack” Pershing, Happy Birthday

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General John Pershing, a republican, was born Sept 13, 1860. Did you know that “his first job was elementary school teacher for African-American children in Missouri? Pershing later gained the nickname “Black Jack” for commanding African-American troops in Montana and Cuba.

I didn’t know that. But Michael Zak does. He wrote the book on the history of the Republican party in areas of civil rights.

h/t Stix Blog

related: Black Political History IQ

Belly up to the counter. Politics are on the menu and Ross is on the grill.