Archive for the ‘opinion/news’ Category

Mark Helprin Redux on DADT

Posted: November 9, 2010 by datechguy in opinion/news
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In case anybody forgot. From Jan 2007 to Jan 2011 The democratic party held both houses of congress.

From Jan 2009 a democratic president was in the White House.

During all of this time democrats had the ability to repeal DADT…

…they did not.

Now with less than 60 days to go in their majority, budgets and key items to pass the NYT is whining:

Prospects for Congress to authorize repeal of the “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy face new uncertainties as time runs out for the Senate to act and strong objections remain among Republicans and the most senior ranks of the military.

What a crock. I expect the liberal media to spend the next two years beating their breasts over this.

Update: In case you don’t get the reference let me quote Mr. Helprin from Aug 2000:

If George W. Bush becomes president, the armies of the homeless, hundreds of thousands strong, will once again be used to illustrate the opposition’s arguments about welfare, the economy, and taxation.

Now that you mention it I haven’t seen many stories on the Homeless. I suspect after Jan 3rd that might change slightly.

and BTW my own opinion on DADT is here.

Two reminders of Reality on Two of DaBlogs of DaMonth

Posted: November 8, 2010 by datechguy in opinion/news
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One of the things that drives me nuts is the denial of things directly in front of you.

The first comes from Isreallycool as he demonstrates the dire conditions that Palestinians in Gaza

My point is not that there is no hardship in Gaza, but rather that the situation is a far cry from what is being presented by the Palestinians, their supporters and the mainstream media. Introducing Al-Azhar University, Gaza’s second largest university with over 11,000 registered students between eight faculties: Pharmacy, Medical Professions, Science, Agriculture, Education, Arts, Economics & Administrative Sciences and Law.

And don’t forget the Mall photos of course.

The second is even more serious and comes from Shrinkwrapped, it’s pure unadulterated 100% Racism:

When considering the possibility that a third force, such as NATO, could be given the responsibility of overseeing the implementation of the planned agreement, Mahmud Abbas imposed a condition: that there should not be a single Jewish soldier and any Israeli. “I am ready to accept a third party which supervises the implementation of the agreement, NATO forces for example, but I will not accept the presence of Jews in these forces or a [single] Israeli on the Land of Palestine.”, emphasis mine

Is such a demand tainted with antisemitism? It should not come as a shock, if we remember that Mahmud Abbas defended his doctoral thesis which was based on Holocaust denial at a school for political indoctrination in the Soviet Union.

Some may see a polemical and ideological expression in the term “racist,” but Mahmud Abbas’ demand with regard to NATO leaves no doubt in this respect.

I am constantly amazed that those who refer to Israel as an “apartheid state” never address the need for arabs to demand that any “Palestinian” state be completely Judenrein? Shrinkwrap continues:

For the American left the rationale for ignoring violent eliminationist rhetoric from all corners of the Muslim world is two-fold. We quite reasonably want to minimize the power of the Islamist narrative that posits a civilizational war between Islam and the West; in addition, ignoring the Islamist rhetoric while violently addressing those who attempt to put such rhetoric into action allows us to keep the war relatively hidden from the home front. Unfortunately, the outcome of such denial is an enemy that has command in the information war and the loss in small bits of our civilization’s legitimacy.

And this continues, Just this week a scandal erupted in Iran over a weightlifter (winning a silver) appearing on a podium next to an Israeli (who won the gold) even though he refused to shake the Israeli’s hand.

And back in August we had an Iranian “competitor” fake an injury rather than face a Jew in the final:

Alex Gilady, an IOC member from Israel who handed out the medals for the competition, said it was a tactic by Iran to avoid violation of Olympic rules.

“Once he (Soleimani) was injured, that meant he still would win the silver … have to stand on the podium and listen to the Israeli anthem and see the Israeli flag over the Iranian flag,” Gilady said. “They put him in an ambulance so at least they would not create a crisis that would have demanded further action. So it looks like everything is OK.”

Every time the left passes on this stuff without comment they further cement their cowardice and irrelevance.

Did I just hear James Clyburn suggest that’s its racist to call him liberal?

Posted: November 7, 2010 by datechguy in opinion/news, politics
Tags: , , , ,

Bob Schieffer just asked Clyburn if he goes higher in the leadership with Pelosi will it make the Democratic Party in the house more liberal.

Clyburn said he defied labels pointing out that he campaigned in more bluedog districts than progressive ones and said people are calling him liberal based on the color of his skin.

I guess no fact and no election will allow some people to drop the race card, let me educate the congressman (who knows these things but is spinning)

1. He was invited to more blue dog districts because those were the seats in danger.

2. He was invited to those seats to energize the black vote that is totally de-energized, so if anyone was basing their judgment of him based on skin color it was his fellow blue dogs.

3. To say in one breath that he is not liberal and then defend health coverage as a fundamental right can only be done when you have a safe seat and an interviewer who will not challenge him.

Let’s be blunt, he owes his election to the fact the district is majority minority (Whites only make up 40% of the electorate) and has the largest percentage of blacks, who vote monolithic democrat, in the state.

No wonder he plays the race card even here. Without that card ironically played by the Republicans in the statehouse to concentrate the black vote as much as possible, he likely doesn’t have the power he holds today.

What a joke.

In 2010 the Republicans have been given two gifts

Posted: November 7, 2010 by datechguy in elections, opinion/news, politics
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The first was one they did not seek; The re-election of Harry Reid and the second is one they did not expect Nancy Pelosi poised to become the Democratic minority leader.

One of the many problems that the Obama administration had this cycle was they tried to make the case that the election of Republicans in congress was the return to Bush Bush Bush. This proved ineffective because president Bush has become more rather than less loved over the past two years but more importantly there is exactly a 0% chance that George Bush will ever be president again.

However as 2012 comes by, no matter how well or poorly they do with Nancy Pelosi as Minority Leader in the house and Harry Reid newly re-elected there is absolutely a 100% chance that a republican defeat will mean going back to the Pelosi/Reid agenda.

You can’t underestimate how important this is. Democrats were running away from Nancy Pelosi like there was no tomorrow in this last election. It will be interesting to see what they say in 2012 when they are running for seats again with the promise of putting Nancy Pelosi and company back in charge.

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