OBSRVATION: Who Will Die for Political Gain?

I have often said that public opposition to the war in Iraq by the ever present anti war claque, and the politicians who would rather govern a weakened America than allow others to govern over a strong America, will undermine our efforts, create international disunity, embolden the murderous terrorists, and … bottom line … kill a lot more American and allied soldiers, and innocent civilians.

This is not a futuristic view. It is happening. The weakened leadership that America and President Bush deal with in the world today is more the result of homegrown disloyalty than any policies coming out of Washington. We will never know who might have lived had the mass murdering terrorists been seen as the enemy instead of our own leaders. But, we can know for sure that there are many.

One can forgive the well intentioned, albeit misguided, activists, who think Cindy Sheehan is a heroine. There is no reason, however, to forgive the likes of Senators Kennedy, Kerry, Durbin, Schumer, et al, who would advance their career ambitions over the bloodied bodies of so many good people.

REACT: She’s Baaaaaaaack!!

Cindy Sheehan is back in the news.

I was thrilled to have her in Europe selling her unique brand of anti-American drivel to the left-over lefties or the Old World. But alas, she has returned to the United States to the every ready publicity of the Fifth Estate.

The fact that polls show little support for her obsessive antics and extreme rhetoric does not tone down the press reports. Even anti-war activists have turned to critics on the basis of her outrageous statements. They fully understand that the more exposure Sheehan gets, the more the public sees her manifest madness. (I have to confess, I now am all in favor of giving her lots of publicity.)

Of course, those who know her best, her family, have abandoned her. Her husband divorced her, and other family members hardly speak to her at all – and when they speak of her, it is not very complimentary.

Once the mourning of her dead son was seen as an act to gain sympathy and publicity, Sheehan’s popularity plummeted. Even now, polls show an overwhelming percentage of the population find her more of an annoyance. While some say she has created the modern anti-war movement, most seem to think she has made it more unpopular.

In her ego driven need for attention and self worth, Sheehan seeks the public spotlight by standing on the gravestone of her heroic and honorable son, who scarified his life for America’s good cause. She is shameless. She is a civic masochist who finds her justification for being in the punishing derision and criticism of the public.

There is only one true hero in the Sheehan family, and it is not Cindy.

REACT: Mayor Daley: What does he know, and when did he know it?

Recently, Mayor Daley was asked if city services are tied to elections, and if people get more services closer to Election Day – as political favors. He replied, “No. None whatsoever.”

You can now add this to the long list of common, well-known practices of the Democrat machine of which Mayor Daley is clueless. Where did this man grow up? Who is he trying to fool? (Oh yeah, the U.S. Attorney.)

As a young Republican precinct captain in the old 36^th ward, I was once successful in bringing in a GOP majority in an election. That winter, I recall watching the city workers shoveling the front porch of the ward committeemen. When a ploy reached our precinct, the blade was lifted and the truck drove past our homes, leaving only its tire tracks in the snow. When I requested that a curb repair for a neighbor, the alderman bluntly told me that the department (Streets and Sanitation) would not be responsive to requests from our precinct until there was a better election result. My neighbors were unable to get free garbage cans offered through the ward committeeman’s office.

We all knew how city work schedules are arranged to provide maximum service, and minimum disruption, near elections. Street paving is done after elections because it tends to tie up traffic and anger motorists. Free trees for the parkway and new curbs take place closer to elections. The boys at Streets and San laugh about this kind of stuff over brewskis in local taverns.

That mayor of ours sure has a way with good old fashion Irish blarney. He should join the boys from Streets and San at the corner pub. Maybe he would learn something of how the city is run.

REACT: The Chicago Alderman have put themselves in a box … in a BIG box.

So eager to punish Wal-Mart for doing nothing more than being a very successful company that proves the superiority and benefits of our free market system, Democrat alderman passed an incredibly ridiculous ordinance that can only cost the city much need jobs, cause the lose of significant tax revenues, terminate further hope of economic and community improvement is some of the neediest neighborhoods, provide bargain prices for every one, and incur a bunch of legal fees to defend its dubious constitutionality. In passing this ordinance, the majority of the council joined the ranks of anti-capitalists and bashers of corporate America who would lead our nation in the direction of excessive government regulation – a concept that has failed all over the world.

Of course, they knew from the experiences of other communities that a war on Wal-Mart alone is unconstitutional. So, the city legislators crafted the ordinance so that a few more retailers, such as Target and Sears would fall under the living wage scheme. Many observers think this will also fall because of the “equal protection” clause of the Constitution.

It is ironic that the first time the otherwise compliant City Council has defied the strongman mayor, it does so with a sudden burst of stupidity.

So determined are the arch-liberals to bring down Wal-Mart that they will defy the Constitution and common sense. No one better personifies this liberal thinking than 46^th Ward Alderman Helen Shiller. She could not bring herself to even vote on the measure because it did not single out Wal-Mart. And, the ordinance could imperil the Target tentatively scheduled for her ward. Target was not her target. Wal-Mart was her target. That annoying United States Constitution prevented her from singling out the world’s successful retailer. So, the Honorable Shiller ducked and ran. Now Target has dropped plans for two future stores in Chicago, and the store in her district she hoped to protect may join the exodus.

Time for our good municipal legislators to think outside the box.

REACT: The Case of the Paranoid Professor

According to newspaper reports, a University of Wisconsin instructor, Kevin Barrett, has come under criticism from Republican legislators for teaching a course on Islam: Religion and Culture which professes that 9/11 was produced by the U.S. government as a pretext to war. That the accused terrorists did not have sufficient skill to fly the plans (despite the cell phone reports of many on-board victims). That the buildings were felled by pre-planted demolitions. Etc. Etc… Etc.

Several things struck me about that story … apart for the overriding absurdity. His neo-Muslim religious affiliation is not enough to explain his sudden allegiance to lunacy.

How does a person so demented get a job as an instructor? Hmmmmm. (Okay, I think I have answered my own question. Having spent a lot of time on college campuses, the out-of-reality ratio is quite high in academia. And of course, campuses incubate a large share of our low self-esteem antiestablishment feelings. This guy, however, is on the linty edge of the liberal fringe.) Amazingly, WU’s Provost Patrick Farrell defends the hiring. He issues the old clichés about academic freedom, and the course will get students thinking. Personally, I am thinking that Provost Barrett is not.

My second observation was the comparison to the teaching of a creation theory. If you cannot offer up a creation alternative, then what concept of academic freedom covers Barrett’s outrageously idiotic theories? Whatever you think of evolution vs. creation, there is a lot more scientific validity to the creation theory than Barrett’s paranoid 9/11 creation.

Finally, I was struck by the opposition of “Republican legislators.” Weeeell … I do know that newspapers like to spin anything that would suggest Republicans to be anti intellectual Neanderthals (and some are). Inadvertently, however, the newspaper appears to have made the unmentioned Democrats look bad. I mean, WHO would not be outraged that a major academic institution getting tons of taxpayer dollars should employ this guy. (We do have to cut a little slack since we are speaking of the University of Wisconsin – which institutionally is a bit off kilter anyway.) Is the inference to be drawn that the donkey party legislators support this guy? I would not even believe that of the most die-hard left-wing Dems. Okay… maybe John Kerry and Al Gore. But certainly not the good Democrats of the heartland.

REACT: PETA and the Dog Days of Summer

A local Chinese government has come under criticism for killing more than 50,000 dogs to curb rabies. In the most extreme cases, dogs were taken from owners on the streets and clubbed to death on the spot. Well ... I am not going to defend the method or even the killing of dogs that could have been inoculated. Of course, the People of Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) is up in arms ... or up in paws, as the case may be.

It is more than a little hypocritical for the rabid animal extremists to bare their fangs since a goodly amount of PETA's funding comes form their killing off unwanted pets. Yeah! Your reading it right. One of the main "services" of PETA is to roam the back roads of America in mobile Nazi-style gas chambers and kill off thousands of God's lesser creatures.

Of course, PETA spokeshumans say they dispatch the furry four-legged animals in a "humane" fashion. Humane ... like you would, or should, treat humans. The last time we treated humans like that, we called it a holocaust.

PETA got in a bit of trouble for their good work. Seems like some of their killing teams were dumping the lifeless carcasses in private dumpsters and trash cans. Well, can you hardly blame them? How high can you pile up a bunch of dead dogs on the back of a pick-up truck and still have room for a gas chamber.

Speaking of PETA. They have this promotional campaign where activists go naked in public with the claim that they would rather their bare skin that some animals skin. I first wonder why lunatic fringe liberals always seem to think going naked is an effective means of protest for everything from wars to Oreo cookies. (Personally, I think nakedness and Oreo cookies has some real possibilities ... but my thoughts are definitely of civil disobedience.)

I would also suggest to the hard-core PETA activists, "You look much better in a nice floor-length mink than you do in your wrinkled, sagging human skin. They only prove that au naturale can be au nauseous. Naked animal activist, except for the hopelessly blond movie star types, give me doubts about the perfection of God. Putting a naked Pam Anderson next to a bare-it-all PETA regular is just another version of Beauty and the Beast.