The Wisdom of Mark Steyn

The immigration bill is a fraud. According to Mark Steyn:

On Fox News the other night, I was told by NPR's Juan Williams, ''You're anti-immigrant!'' Er, actually, I am an immigrant -- one of the members of the very very teensy-weensy barely statistically detectable category of ''legal immigrant.'' But perhaps that doesn't count anymore. Perhaps, like Colin Powell's blackness, it's insufficiently ''authentic.'' By filing the relevant paperwork with the United States government, I'm not ''keepin' it real.''

...

The people who are truly ''anti-immigrant'' are the folks who want to send that immigrant from Slovenia or Fiji who applied in May 2005 back to the end of the line. But then ''comprehensive immigration reform'' is about everything but immigration, including subverting sovereignty and national security. Remember the 1986 amnesty? Mahmoud abu Halima applied for it and went on to bomb the World Trade Center seven years later. His colleague, the aforementioned Mohammad Salameh, was rejected but carried on living here anyway. John Lee Malvo was detained and released by U.S. immigration in breach of its own procedures and re-emerged as the Washington sniper. The young Muslim men who availed themselves of the U.S. government's ''visa express'' system for Saudi Arabia filled in joke applications -- ''Address in the United States: HOTEL, AMERICA'' -- that octogenarian snowbirds from Toronto who've been wintering at their Florida condos since 1953 wouldn't try to get away with. The late Mohammed Atta received his flight-school student visa on March 11, 2002, six months to the day after famously flying his first and last commercial airliner.

The government does not have all the answers, and shouldn't be your nanny. According to Mr. Steyn:

That's it? Anglicans need to fast-track a liturgy for gay couples so they can free up time to deal with the real issues like global warming? Half that catalogue of horrors seems to be different ways of saying the same thing ("child poverty… economic injustice… growing disparity") in order to give a bit of pro forma padding to the totally cool cause du jour of global warming. Which is so cool that, if an Anglican archbishop shows up at a climate-change conference, he'll be lucky to get in the room, and if he does he'll be stuck at the table with the wonky leg next to the toilet, barely able to see the Most Reverend Almer Gortry up on stage doing his power-point presentation and warning that rising sea levels will send tidal waves crashing through every gay wedding reception in Provincetown by Saturday afternoon.

...

Go back to those Canadian archbishops who want to worry about "child poverty." Poor children are the children of poor grown-ups. If the state assumes responsibility for those children from their parents, what kind of adults are you likely to end up with? And if you can't trust free-born citizens to reach their own judgments on cheeseburgers, what can you trust them with?

Separation of Mosque and State?

Why is it that in the Minnesota public university system you can't play Christmas music at Christmas, but a college will use public funds to install non-needed Muslim foot-washing basins?

Modern Journalism

Recovering from a week of anti-Christian TV spots for the Easter season, it's no wonder I am supremely annoyed (but not surprised) at the following:

The London Telegraph reports that the bitter old BBC won't air a drama about Britain's youngest surviving Victoria Cross hero "because it feared it would alienate members of the audience opposed to the war in Iraq."

British soldier Private Johnson Beharry saved his fellow soldiers twice while putting himself at great personal risk in Iraq. First he pulled his comrades out of a burning military vehicle while under enemy fire, and the other time he drove his armored vehicle out of harms way after getting a rocket-propelled grenade to the head (among other things). He has been given Britain's highest military commendation, and Britain's national TV network won't air his story. Modern journalism and political correctness at work.

Ignorance on Parade

I feel bad for people who make a stand on positions of ignorance. Take Burger King for example. Apparently, the #2 burger joint in the nation is going to "begin buying eggs and pork from suppliers that did not confine their animals in cages and crates." I admit, I don't know much about chickens, but I helped raise hogs for about a decade.

Burger King wants "10 percent of its pork to come from pig farms that allow sows to move around inside pens, rather than being confined to crates." Of course, for those of us who know (and Burger King clearly does not) allowing sows to "move around" in their pens and not be in cages mean that hundreds and hundreds more baby pigs will be crushed and suffocated to death.

Do you know why sows are put into crates? Because when sows are tired and lie down, they don't care what they lay on, and often lay on top of their own young. Maybe one or two baby pigs a day will be crushed to death, screaming for hours until they finally give up. (You can tell which ones get crushed by sows because they die with their tongues hanging out; screaming.) Crates confine sows and allow the baby pigs some safe room to move around so that the sows can't squash them. Which is more humane?

Next, my favorite taco joint, Chipotle, is about as stupid as Burger King. Here's a sign they routinely display:

We serve naturally raised pork and chickens
*never given antibiotics
*never given growth hormones
*humanely raised
*vegetarian fed

Do you know what this sign means? It means the pigs it buys for pork were sick a lot. I'm not so keen on growth hormones, or vegetarian-fed animals, but if they were never given antibiotics they are telling me that their pigs were sick and did not receive treatment.

Pigs are like us in many ways (biologically very much so) and as a pig farmer, if you go out and hear pigs coughing (yes, they cough) then you find out what they are sick with (often the flu) and give them some yummy anti-biotic powder, or if you are serious a shot of antibiotics. All Chipotle is advertising is that their pigs were sick. A lot. And a number of them most likely died from the elements, since I doubt they were housed indoors (un)"humanely."

Before these big chains restaurants start advertising their ignorance, they should learn few facts about the livestock they depend on.

Political correctness is more important than saving lives

Political correctness has reared its ugly head again. Far be it for anyone to offend anyone, political correctness is worshiped by some as the end all be all of human existence. Unfortunately, Iowa State University has joined the fray in the form of its student-run Greek Week committee. For years part of the Greek Week competition included having a certain percentage of Greek students from each chapter give blood at Iowa State's spring blood drive - one of the largest student-run blood drives in the country. This year, however, the Greek Week committee decided that the question, "Have you had sex with another man since 1975?" discriminates against gay men enough for them to pull support of the blood drive completely.

The writer of this letter in the student paper claims that even though he supports the blood drive:

American Red Cross's stance is that, in the past, gay men have been statistically too at-risk for AIDS to give blood.

The truth of the matter is these statistics are outdated and currently, gay men aren't much more inclined, statistically, to have AIDS than some other straight demographics.

Indeed, this statement is totally wrong. According to the CDC, over 66% of new HIV cases in men in the U.S. in 2005 were reported by men who engage in male to male sexual contact. Nearly 50% of all new HIV cases in 2005 were reported by gay men. Further, the other categories listed by the CDC included male to male sexual contact and injection drug use, and heterosexual contact with a person known to be "high risk" for HIV infection (i.e. gay men). These statistics are neither outdated nor discriminatory. The reality of the situation is that gay men are wildly more likely to have HIV than straight men, and the Red Cross and other blood centers are making their blood banks safer for those who depend on them. They are also relieving the pressure on their screening methods by eliminating an entire HIV high-risk demographic before they donate.

Finally, why is it that political correctness protects only the gay men? Why isn't the blood drive protested by people who are injection drug users? People who visit Africa? Women who weigh less than 110 pounds? Why? Because no one cares if they are "offended" - only if gay men are.

Political Correctness Wins the Day

Babies 'R Us sponsors a drawing for $25,000 to the first three American babies born in the new year. This year one of the three babies that won the drawing was disqualified because her Chinese mother is not a legal resident of the U.S.

After an email barrage, a plethora of "concerned citizens" and activists whining, and a few news stories in national papers, Babies 'R Us is (of course) is giving in to the "outrage."

Forget official rules - forget legal qualifications. Heck - forget U.S. citizenship! If your "suffering" and "injury" can be portrayed as racism or inequality to a underprivileged minority you can get anything you want in this country.

Lesson learned.

What kind of tree?

At least there is one public place you can still find a Christmas Tree.

The Return of the Holiday of Winter

Although I think things have improved from last year, it seems that my alma mater has begun another year of celebrating the paganism of winter - and this year they are calling it "Winterfest." A celebration of, uh, coldness?

This time the article includes a picture if the apparently unnamed "tree," formerly the "Christmas Tree" and then the "Holiday Tree" and then the "Century Tree" (?). Evidently the best way to avoid controversy was to not call the tree anything at all.

Multiculturalism = No-culturalism.

Back in the day my fraternity walked campus during the former "Festival of Lights" and sang Christmas carols. Now the article talks loosely of "holiday songs." Right.

Well, anyway - I'm glad to see that Iowa State is still in the business of denying religion in the name of diversity and celebrating the 23.5 degree tip in the axis of the Earth in the northern hemisphere rather than the birth of the Son of God.

Just another Holiday...

Our Litigious Society

What's new? No tag or touch football on an elementary school playground in Massachusetts.

Lawyers and the politically correct are taking over this country and its children.

More Rumbles of the Protected Classes

As I have written about before, there seems to be a new and emerging problem in America. We Americans have made certain classes of individuals immune from political discourse and civilized debate. To remain politically correct we must not question certain individuals and groups, and we must not call into question their beliefs.

But what happens when two of these protected groups battle each other? Who are we to side with?

Another example of this has sprung up all over the country, the most pointedly in Minneapolis. It seems that taxi drivers at the Twin Cities airport are refusing to transport certain passengers. Almost 50% of cabbies in the twin cities are Muslims, and they refuse to carry passengers who are carrying alcohol, passengers who are blind and have seeing eye dogs, and passengers who are transgendered - all due to their religious beliefs. Some of the cabbies have been disciplined, others have quit, and others are continuing on refusing service.

Are we to ask blind or transgendered individuals to just become content with discrimination? Are we to ask Muslims to ignore their religious beliefs and transport dogs and people who reject heteronormative sexuality?

It seems we have quite a problem here. Of course, if the drivers were Christians, we already know what choice would be made.

NBC - smart enough?

As I reported earlier, in a desperate attempt to get children to watch cartoons on Saturday mornings again, NBC had to stoop to the level of asking Christian-themed cartoon creator Phil Vischer if they could use his wildly popular Veggie-Tales show. NBC allowed the show to air - just so long as Phil removed any and all references to God, which infiltrate the original Veggie-Tales.

Well, I watched the show today, and I see that we will have to wait and see if NBC is smart enough to realize they have been dooped. Mr. Vischer has stated many times that true morality can only come from the Bible - hence his Christian cartoon series. In today's particular episode of Veggi-Tales, Larry the Cucumber is told that to keep his "super hero" identity, he must learn that "those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted." This phrase comes from the "Super Hero Handbook" in the show, but what the NBC producers (sadly) probably don't know is that is of course a verse from the Bible.

I have a feeling that all of the NBC veggie cartoons will be like this, and I have a feeling that once NBC figures it out, they will be off the air.

God forbid children learn about God from TV.

Never Forget

Five years ago today I crawled out of my bed and walked into the hallway of my fraternity house at Iowa State. As I staggered down the hallway something seemed strange. I could tell that almost every TV in each room was on, and before 10:00 in the morning?

I walked into my room to see the complete horror of that day. I watched on TV as both the towers fell, and as they reported from the Pentagon, and about that small field in Pennsylvania.

I watched Bush's speech that day, the next day, and one year later. I knew that he would do what was necessary.

My mother called me that day, also. She rarely did - she respected my privacy as a college student. She asked me to please let her know before I did anything - or joined anything. She wanted to be the first to know if I was going to be leaving school. A number of us thought about at the time; it was quite a role reversal from the care-free college student.

We, as a nation, must never forget the horrors of that day. We must never forget who was and is responsible. We must also never allow the history of that day to be rewritten or watered down in order for it to be "politically correct." Radical fundamentalist Islamic fascist terrorists are at war with us, with our way of life, and with our nation. They neither hesitate nor show remorse for their atrocities and given the chance they would gladly murder us all without a second thought. There is a difference between us and them, and not even as complex as cultural, political, or sociological.

They cheered when the towers fell, and as nearly 3,000 Americans died.

And we will never forget.

Political correctness, hypocrisy, and the media

Do you all know about veggie tales? They're a small cgi cartoon that has veggie characters recount Bible stories. The series is well over 10 years old, and has been selling nationwide for years now.

Evidently NBC wants to show the series on Saturday mornings, but under the condition that the Bible verse and explanation at the end is removed.

Phil Vischer, the creator of the show, initially agreed, and later found that NBC actually wanted all references to God removed. NBC fights for first amendment rights, but definitely does not want children to hear a reference to God on Saturday morning.

This is shameless pandering to political correctness. NBC has fought indecency regulations, their ability to drop the f-bomb on network TV, and were not exactly ready to show the dreaded Mohammed cartoons on the evening news. All of that is ok, but mention God - no way!

Straight Shooter

I thought Time Magazine told me the era of "Cowboy Diplomacy" was over? If that's true, why is Bush swearing at Syria and making fun of Kofi Annan?

This is exactly the reason why people like me like George W. Bush so much. In an era of political correctness and reserved speeches, we have a commander in chief who speaks his mind - even if he didn't expect anyone to hear him...

Bush: You see, the ... thing is what they need to do is to get Syria, to get Hezbollah to stop doing this shit and it's over.

...

Bush: I felt like telling Kofi to call, to get on the phone to Bashad [Bashir Assad] and make something happen

Blair: Yeah

A President properly pointing the finger at a terrorist-sponsoring state? A President making the ridicilously valid point that the Secretary General of the UN should do something about the Middle East conflict? Unheard of - unless someone forgets to turn their microphone off.

Philadelphia in a hissy-fit

Geno's Steaks in Philly has a sign on their window that says "This is America... when ordering speak English." Joey Vento, whose grandparents were immigrants from Italy, is a patriotic guy and is concerned with immigrant's inability to speak English. He has become a regular celebrity after reports of the sign went nationwide, and was quoted on Good Morning America as saying that he thought it wasn't to hard to say "cheeze whiz" in English. (PS - I've been to Philly not to long ago and ate at Geno's. All you need to say to order is literally what kind of cheese you want. You could walk up and say "whiz" or "swiss" and get a sandwich.)

The City of Philadelphia can't handle the sign (or Vento's attitude) and its "Commission on Human Relations" is lodging a complaint against the Philly cheese steak guru. They say the sign is discriminatory, but when Vento says that he helps people order who can't speak English he was told that wasn't the problem:

"The issue is not whether anyone has been denied service, but that such a sign discourages people from coming asking for service," [the commission chairman] said.

This whole situation is naturally silly, of course. Many restaurants have signs prominently displayed that read "This establishment reserves the right to deny service to anyone." I saw one of these just the other day. The City of Philly is not concerned about people not eating at Geno's or being "discouraged" from doing so, the city is passing out their version of political correctness, which evidently includes the idea that people in America need not speak English.

The truth is the sign is great, and it's a reminder of the worldviews of some immigrants compared to others. Some believe that they can and should assimilate, and others believe they can make a little mini-nation of their own here in America. Vento is going to fight to keep his sign, and even the ACLU won't help him protect his right to free speech.

I'm offended and discouraged from going to a lot of places and businesses. Just because of that doesn't mean a person has to sacrifice their rights within their own business to fit within another person's definition of politically correct.

Christianity is Dangerous

Or so the Motion Picture Association of America thinks. They just slapped a PG rating on a family Christian movie made by two church pastors in Georgia. They claim that the movie, which describes a high school coach struggling with his faith and receiving affirmative responses to his prayer:

...contained strong 'thematic elements' that might disturb some parents...

and also the MPAA:

decided that the movie was heavily laden with messages from one religion and that this might offend people from other religions. It's important that they used the word 'proselytizing' when they talked about giving this movie a PG...

This is a whole new low for the MPAA and for common sense vs. political correctness. It's not like a child seeing a positive view of Christianity is ever "disturbing," or that supporting one religion is "offensive" towards another. How many movies have the mass murderer quoting the Bible as he kills?

This is like having a "Viewer Discretion is Advised" warning before Touched by an Angel.

Hi George!

My token lefty websites are hilarious tonight. Check out this post from the Democratic Underground:

The point is that I don’t feel safe anymore to freely speak my mind. There is no reason that I should feel this way, other than the facts that a) I am a liberal Democrat, b) I oppose this administration’s policies, and c) at any given moment, the NSA might be listening.

So he's a navy officer, and he feels like he can't speak his mind because the NSA might be listening!

Are you kidding me? Did you ever go to college? Do you have a Master's Degree?

Let me tell you the most politically hostile environment in the country - the higher education system. I have to make an active attempt to interrupt and correct my colleagues, professors, and undergraduate students that regularly talk of George Bush as an "idiot," the Supreme Court as "in danger," and conservatives as racist morons.

I feel concerned to express my opinion every day and in every class because my colleagues and professors literally think I am an idiotic fundamentalist racist Christian who thinks all gay people should be killed on sight. We have a liberal Navy officer thinking that the government cares what he says? I work in a field that employs individuals so radically left that they are unemployable in the public sector!

Liberals - cut out the paranoid lines. They're a joke, and they ignore the obvious and simple regular hostility towards conservatives. In 2008 if Democratic election offices are broken into and conservatives' houses defaced I'll believe liberal paranoia. Until then, I'll occasionally keep my politics out of the classroom so that I can graduate.

Political Correctness, Religious Pluralism, and the "Holidays"

It's come to the attention of some this year that the political correctness bandwagon that surrounds this part of year has hit a bit of an impasse. Bill O'reilly whines about it practically every night, John Gibson (also of FoxNews) wrote an entire book about it, and Dennis Hastert has flatly rejected it. Now, I don't have too much of a problem being inclusive and representative of minority populations and diverse perspectives, but I do have a problem with "the holidays" when "Christmas" becomes a dirty word.

Christmas is evil - didn't you know? Student Affairs types like me are supposed to believe that because Christians are the "majority" that we and our religion are "in privilege" and that any acknowledgement of our "privilege" (a.k.a. Christmas, Jesus, etc.) represents the oppression and domination of other cultures. Others consider the secularization of everything and the offense of no one to be paramount. It's not enough that we now wish everyone "Happy Holidays" anymore - a colleague of mine just told me tonight that he is no longer supposed to use the word "holiday" - because it implies Christmas.

No, in our secular non-religious borderline pagan society we are supposed to deny religion at all costs. Here's an example - at Iowa State University the favored tradition of the "Festival of Lights" has been replaced with "Winter Festival." There's not too much wrong with this because this particular celebration was never particularly "Christmas-ee" (besides when my fraternity brothers and I sang only Christian Christmas carols all over campus the night of). However, on closer observation the "Winter Festival" comprises of everything that disgusts me about this attempt at not offending anyone.

"Winter, the end of the semester, and the community" are what one of the organizers of "Winter Festival" claim it celebrates. Winter? We are celebrating Winter?

Thanks to a faithful reader I received an electronic copy of the pamphlet explaining this year's "Festival." On the front cover are written the lyrics of "Jingle Bells" and "Frosty the Snowman."

Wow.

To top it off, you can take a look for yourself at the "Century Tree". Although the history of this tree remains shrouded in mystery, it was once the "Christmas Tree" on campus, then became the "Holiday Tree" - to much scrutiny and overall student disgust - and now has evidently been renamed the "Century Tree" (with purple or blue lights, no longer multi-colored - is that religious?) in recognition of Iowa State's... I actually have no idea why.

(P.S. - A Christmas tree is just that - a Christmas tree. If you don't like Christmas or Christians don't put one up. It exists in no other faith tradition - and we don't ever refer to the "Holiday Menorah" or anything of the type)

I again have no problem with "Happy Holidays" or the like. However, this growing nationwide elimination of Christmas will and is beginning to see a backlash. So if you want to stand around a purple "Century Tree" singing "Frosty the Snowman" to celebrate "Winter" in a way that won't offend anyone be my guest.

As for me and my house we will celebrate the birth of Jesus.

UPDATE: In addition, while attempting to not offend anyone you will never see or hear tradition Christmas terms used in advertising. However, I encourage you to listen to background music in commercials. While they won't say "Christmas" so that you aren't offended, they don't hesitate to play elevator-versions of traditional Christmas songs in order to get you to buy a vacuum cleaner or some coffee. It's ridiculous!

The Best of Radar

... on "Global Warming"

Global (Warming) Shenanigans
The crux of my argument against the theory of global warming.

The Unstoppable Fantasy
Claims that "global warming" is already unstoppable.

No Matter What We Do!
Decreasing pollution actually increases "global warming?"

Environmental Destruction of the Earth Visible from Space!
"Global Warming" theory from the space shuttle.

Non-Experts use Abstract Facts and Unsubstantiated Events to "Prove" Theory
Hillary Clinton and John McCain "prove" "global warming."

Another Climate Change Laugh
Yes, you can sue to stop "global warming."

I've had it: The Truth About Hurricanes and "Global Warming"
Exactly what it says.

Global Warming not so Global...
"Global warming" on Mars. Crap!

So it Begins - Science is the Attack Dog; Scientists will say anything...
More hurricane and "global warming" conspiracy theories.

Here we go again!
The latest media attempt to "prove" the theory.

"Global Warming" in Europe
Another assault on the inconsistencies and problems with "groupthink" science.

The Economist and "Global Warming"
An excellent article on global climate change; yet no evidence that this change is anything but natural.

Global Warming is Natural and Trees are Bad
Some thoughts on bad science and environmental assumptions.

Global Warming Will Make Hurricanes Worse!

More on this bizarre myth.

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Global Warming Strangeness

Using .0000088% of the worlds climate history to "prove" their theory.

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Global Cooling

Cooling, warming - what's the difference?

Global Warming Beat-Down
A thorough destruction of global warming alarmism in the media.

...on Liberalism in Academia

Academia Prejudiced
How liberalism in higher education is the norm.

Academia Prejudiced Again
The continuing struggle against political stereotypes in education.

Political Dialogs - Volume 1: Political Assumptions and Activism
Political Dialogs - Volume 2: Concerns
A conversation with college students concerning politics.

The Continuing Crisis in Higher Education
One of my many indoctrination classes on socialism and revisioned history.

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Brinkman vs. Miami University: Pregame

Brinkman vs. Miami University: The Main Event

A conservative Ohio legislator enters the lion's den.


...and all the rest

Political Correctness, Religious Pluralism, and the "Holidays"
The backlash from the all-out assault on Christmas.

Fear of Academic Freedom
Why colleges and universities don't actually believe in intellectual discourse.

The Frightening Muslim Oppression of Women
Something we should all know about.