Thompson on "America First":
To be sure, the majority of American immigrants — legal and illegal — come here precisely because they seek a better way of life. Contrary to left ideology, most immigrants understand that adapting to the cultural strategies of success in the United States is in their best long-term interests. Of all the tough immigration-related choices we collectively face, no imperative is greater than pulling out all stops to ensure that those who play by the rules in coming to America are clearly committed to the political and cultural norms of our national civic culture.
If Blair can sound like this, why can't our "leaders"? Read entire
NYT is Dancing to NARAL's Tune: American Spectator
In the Sunday Times (UK):
"Even for someone who agreed with you about the war in Iraq and the deception perpetrated by our government to prepare us all for it — the latest stuff feels suspiciously close to treason. It is hard to know whether we should laugh at Galloway or hang him."
Scott Johnson on the ACLU's War on the Boy Scouts: Weekly Standard
Iowahawk focuses on the culturally underprivileged in Crawford, seen through the eyes of reporters. A re-tread, still good:
It was a scene that would be constantly repeated throughout the first weeks of the Bush retreat; dozens of panicked media professionals wandering the streets of Crawford, searching in vain for alternative weeklies, gallery openings and Peruvian-Vietnamese tapa parlors, only to be met with blank stares and offers of free beer. The experience stunned many.
Virtue breaking out all over? David Brooks
Steyn on Almost Winning:
Republicans may see the increasingly arthritic, corpulent, wheezing, flatulent Democratic Party as a boon for them, but I don't. Two-party systems need two parties, not just for the health of the loser but for that of the winner, too. Intellectually, philosophically, legislatively, it's hard to maintain the discipline to keep yourself in shape when the other guy just lies around the house all day.
Aker takes on the "mainstream moderates":
Sometimes people call themselves moderates because they're not bright enough or interested enough to have positions on important issues. It's easy to see both sides, but it takes thought, knowledge and courage to decide which side is right.
And on the big questions, one side is always right. These are questions like whether we should have stopped the genocides in Rwanda and Cambodia, whether to sterilize and lobotomize the mentally ill, and whether it's good for the economy to have an income tax rate over 50 percent.
The Mainstream Coalition was about as bold as you'd expect a bunch of moderates to be in crafting their list their principles. They're for human rights, religious freedom and quality education, against saying mean things about homosexuals and racial minorities, against candidates who lie about their beliefs, and against requiring office-holders to belong to a particular religion.
This would only matter if anyone with power or influence were taking the opposite position on these things, and none are.
The Mainstreamers should add a little to their statement that a quality education is the cornerstone of freedom and democracy. Along with quality education, you need guns, a constitution, ammunition, private property, citizens who know how to use guns, judges who follow the constitution, gun factories and a separation of powers. And maybe a few more guns.
You need one more thing. A moral population. A religious citizenry.
Read entire, in Rapid City Journal
The Christian Left: One example here: Two thoughts about it: First, the Christian Right emerged in the 80s as a reaction against the Christian Left of the 60s, which seemed to have co-opted the religion and still dominates Protestant main line denominations. Second, interesting how the website is mostly about getting the govt. to do stuff - no surprise there. It's political, not religious, same as some parts of the Christian Right.
