A Voice for Freedom

Black History Month, Hispanic Heritage Month, Asian Pacific American Heritage Month, American Indian Heritage Month, Women's History Month...good lord, the calendar is getting crowded with liberal stupidity. Suddenly at various randomly chosen times of the year we're supposed to pay especially close attention to the history of one group over all others, with the noteable and predictable exclusion of us evil white men. So I'm here, as usual, to demand equality for the melanin-deprived.

Let me make one thing perfectly clear: I have no problem with historical figures being members of minorities; I just have a problem with being told I have to care that they were. Sure, it matters to her historical importance that Rosa Parks was black. It does not matter, however, that Chuck Berry was black (which I didn't even know until today). All I need to know is, the dude could sing. Just like it doesn't matter that Marie Curie was a woman, just that she was really smart. And it doesn't matter that Tennyson was a white guy, so long as he could write.

What we really need to do is abolish these silly month-long celebrations of segregation, but if that's not possible, at least we poor neglected white folks should claim ourselves a month before they're all gone.

Thailand has just seen its twentieth military coup since 1932. Today, the "Democratic Reform Council" took power while Thailand's Prime Minister was in New York, waiting to give a speech to the UN. Though there was apparently no blood, the Council has already dissolved the parliament and done away with the constitution. Stay tuned to the Bangkok Post for news, though be warned, their server is obviously not up to the demand suddenly being placed on it. I'm sure Elephantman over at ConservaGlobe will be staying up to date on this too; it's certainly more his type of topic than mine, but I had to draw people's attention to it. The world may have lost a democracy today.

The majority of Ku Klux Klan members and founders were Democrats.

The 1924 Democrat National Convention in New York was host to one of the largest Klan gatherings in American history - and the majority of Democrats at the Convention had no problem with their presence.

In 1935, the Democrats defeated an Anti-Lynching Bill supported and put forward by the Republicans.

It was Ronald Reagan (or "that horrid fascist neo-con bastard", as he is known by many Democrats) who made Martin Luthor King, Jr.'s birthday a national holiday.

As of 1994, long after the Democratic Party established its undeserved reputation as the champion of equality in America, there had been only one black Democratic senator (compared the the GOP's three); there had not been any black Democratic congressmen in the previous three House terms; and when there had been black Democrats in the House, they have always come from predominantly black neighborhoods, while black Republicans seem to be allowed to run regardless of demographics.

It was the Democrats' big hero, Franklin D. Roosevelt, who allowed the internment of Japanese Americans during World War Two. In Canada, by the way, a similar atrocity was headed up by Liberal Party leader William Lyon Mackenzie King.

The Democrats opposed 80% of civil rights bills between 1933 and 1960.

For further reading...
http://www.papillonsartpalace.com/democrathatefreedom.htm (warning: good writing, BAD web design)
http://members.tripod.com/~GOPcapitalist/democratrecord.html
http://hnn.us/roundup/entries/3554.html (gets a couple of things wrong with regard to the War Between the States, but nevertheless an interesting site)
http://www.carnellknowledge.com/interesting-facts-about-democrats-and-republicans/

Anyone who knows anything about British politics can tell you that Tony Blair has been on his way out since before he got in. Chancellor Gordon Brown has been staging a gradual and relatively peaceful takeover within the government for years; Blair has already given him a completely unprecedented level of power. Keep in mind that when Brown's voters elected him, they merely expected him to be a local representative - they had no idea he would be running half the country and poised to soon take over the other half.

In the past week, the infighting in the Labour Party has intensified, with the occurrence of what is being termed a "coup" against Blair. The only thing that seems clear at the moment is that Gordon Brown, who may have been behind the "coup" himself, is placed to take over the British government any time between tomorrow and next September - and that spells bad news for the rest of the world.

Remember, Brown will take over without a popular vote. Canadians can remember Paul Martin and Americans Gerald Ford if they want examples of the sort of leaders we can get when the decision is taken out of our hands. To make matters worse, Brown is a devout socialist and is decidedly against common sense in politics; see his book Where There Is Greed: Margaret Thatcher and the Betrayal of Britain's Future for further reading on that subject.

The Prime Minister of the United Kingdom is perhaps the second most influential person in the world today - in fact, as he has considerably more individual authority over his government than the President of the United States, I'm going to go right ahead and say that the British Prime Minister is the most influential man in the world, which makes Mr. Gordon "raise taxes, that'll fix it" Brown a dangerous addition to the international political scene.

Bush said a while ago that "America has no truer friend than Great Britain". Prepare for that to change, my friends....

"In the name of freedom of choice, it [Canada] is confronted with the daily destruction of unborn children."

That was just one of the things Pope Benedict had to say to some Ontario bishops visiting the Vatican recently. Now, I'm not going to say that I agree with everything he had to say (regulars will remember I'm a supporter of gay marriage), but he has a point about politicians not allowing their consciences to guide them. Most of them believe whatever will get them more votes in the particular moment.

So basically, I would like to thank the Pope for calling our leaders to account on their moral fiber (or lack thereof). I hope, after a few more years of Tory government, we might see a better situation.

The Detroit Federation of Teachers went out on strike last Monday to protest a pay cut. It amazes me how little some of these people actually care about their students.

I've said it before: when I'm a teacher, I will not join a union, and this sort of self-indulgent inanity is why. If you're a teacher, you're there for the students' benefit, which means you do NOT deny your students educational opportunities. In short, you don't strike. You want to make a buck, you become a dishonest investment banker. You want to do a vital and taxing job for low pay, you become a teacher - and you know from the outset that the priority in your job is not how it affects you, but how it affects your students.

Striking should be illegal for teachers - as well as firefighters, nurses, doctors, and policemen. My (sarcastic) reaction when my dad mentioned he'd heard about this strike was "shoot 'em and hire new ones". I was exaggerating, but they should be subject to arrest. They are, after all, robbing these kids blind.

This may be the best news I've heard since November 3, 2004: Hillary Clinton is considering pulling out of the 2008 presidential race.

According to Time Magazine, "Hillary would be unstoppable in a Democratic primary but unelectable in a general election."

"Insiders" (whatever that means) say that Hillary may instead take over as Senate minority leader in 2009.

Bill and all the couple's friends want her to go for it. Then again, this circle of friends probably includes former DNC chairman Terry McAuliffe, who thinks that Bill Clinton is "probably the most popular politician in the world". If I thought that was true, I'd likely shoot myself with one of those evil guns ol' Willy doesn't want us to have.

Anyway, the upshot is, Hillary's name is not as certain to be on the ballot next time around as we thought. Hallelujah.

And you thought the "chocolate city" monologue was as thickheaded and inappropriate as New Orleans' illustrious mayor could get. Guess again. A 60 Minutes interviewer recently pointed out to Nagin the flood-damaged cars that can still be seen on the streets of New Orleans. Nagin's response: "You guys in New York can't get a hole in the ground fixed, and it's five years later."

Well, Iran has refused to halt its nuclear program by the UN deadline. Surprised, anybody? No? Well, good, you must have an IQ of over seven.

So what is the UN going to do about this? Economic sanctions? Nope. Talks. They're going to sit down with Iran and talk some more. That should help.

The UN Secretary-General, Kofi Annan, said "I don’t think the Council is going to act tomorrow."

I'd like to ask when the last time was, exactly, that the UN Security Council did anything promptly? Or even in a manner any faster than that of an extremely lethargic octogenarian tortoise?

In fact, it appears the Council doesn't even know what kind of sanctions it would invoke, if and when it does invoke sanctions, which it may do if there's no progress made in the talks which will inevitably follow the talks that they're currently in talks about setting up.