Category Archives: Political Commentary

Culture Of Corruption

Why is this not a bigger story? Particularly in light of all the calls among many for the UN to do something about the current situation in the Middle East?

The Tongsun Park case has gotten remarkably little press, but it is both an important and a cautionary tale. It illustrates how easily the U.N., behind its veils of secrecy and diplomatic immunity, can be exploited by the most unscrupulous tyrants on the planet. And Mr. Park’s conviction is a warning to beware any “back channels” now running between the U.N. executive suite and such rogue states as North Korea and Iran.

Clueless

If the Democrats were smart, they’d listen to Evan Baye (Birch’s son):

In his speech, Bayh said the party has focused most of its attention on the needs of lower-income Americans, but it also must address issues that matter to people on the next rung up the economic ladder.

“Without an agenda that speaks directly to the middle class and all who aspire to it, we will no longer be the party of Roosevelt, Truman, Kennedy and Clinton. And we will not be a majority party,” Bayh said, invoking the names of former Democratic presidents.

But they aren’t, so they won’t.

Could The Blogosphere Propel Newt To Victory?

I once asked if Bill Clinton could have been elected in a world in which the blogosphere existed. I think the answer may have been “no.” In fact, I suspect that it would have shredded the Sixty Minutes puff piece that Don Hewitt credited with saving his candidacy in a similar manner that it did the Dan Rather hit piece in 2004.

A similar question is whether or not it would be sufficient to overcome the MSM bias against Newt Gingrich.

He’s said very little thus far that I’d disagree with. He seems to be more straight talking than even John McCain, and there’s been a lot of implicit criticism from him of Bush on the war, which I think is badly needed, since most of that commodity has been provided by the brainless left, to date, and there is in fact much to criticize (in terms of the fact that he’s been wobbly against the enemy, to the point of continuing to fear to name it).

If he runs, I don’t think that the media will be able to get away with all the misleading hit pieces that they ran against him when he became Speaker in 1994. At the least, there will be an honest debate about his positions, instead of simple demonizing.

And of course, if elected, it’s impossible to imagine a president more pro-space, and pro-free-enterprise-space, than Newt.

So They Don’t Cry

The history of Soviet jokes:

Jokes were an essential part of the communist experience because the monopoly of state power meant that any act of non-conformity, down to a simple turn of phrase, could be construed as a form of dissent. By the same token, a joke about any facet of life became a joke about communism. There have been political and anti-authority jokes in every era, but nowhere else did political jokes cohere into an anonymous body of folk literature as they did under communism. With the creation of the Soviet bloc after the war, communism exposed itself to Czech and Jewish traditions of humour

So They Don’t Cry

The history of Soviet jokes:

Jokes were an essential part of the communist experience because the monopoly of state power meant that any act of non-conformity, down to a simple turn of phrase, could be construed as a form of dissent. By the same token, a joke about any facet of life became a joke about communism. There have been political and anti-authority jokes in every era, but nowhere else did political jokes cohere into an anonymous body of folk literature as they did under communism. With the creation of the Soviet bloc after the war, communism exposed itself to Czech and Jewish traditions of humour

So They Don’t Cry

The history of Soviet jokes:

Jokes were an essential part of the communist experience because the monopoly of state power meant that any act of non-conformity, down to a simple turn of phrase, could be construed as a form of dissent. By the same token, a joke about any facet of life became a joke about communism. There have been political and anti-authority jokes in every era, but nowhere else did political jokes cohere into an anonymous body of folk literature as they did under communism. With the creation of the Soviet bloc after the war, communism exposed itself to Czech and Jewish traditions of humour