The Occasional Observer

I don't even know what else to say about this. Obviously BA could care less what I think, since I'm not a frequent trans-Atlantic traveler. But could you just imagine this happening to a Muslim employee? How would the Islamic community in Britain react?

Yet another example of the secular-progressive set, self-styled protectors of "individual liberties," trampling on individual rights.

Sure, America is the land of democracy, ever proud to have continually extended the vote to all quarters in our society, save illegal immigrants and felons (although that will be coming too, if Democrats have their way). And I suppose it's all for the good.

Of course, our founders had a stricter notion of what would be required of its citizens--personal learning, discipline and civil responsibility--to make a democracy work than we have today. It was unfortunate that not everyone's voice was accounted for in the early days of our republic, but at least citizens took their civic obligations seriously, both for themselves and their fellow countrymen. What I'm fairly sure of is that the political dynamics that existed back then are completely dissimilar to the fickle, vain, and unserious way that we pick our elected officials today. Take an excerpt from this WaPo article, for example:

AUBURN, N.Y. -- Maybe Democratic candidate Michael Arcuri is running strong in this Republican House district because he pledges to expand health coverage, balance the budget and raise the minimum wage.

Or maybe it's his piercing Italian eyes and runner's physique.

"He is pretty good-looking," observed Paula Ferrin with admiration, as the 47-year-old district attorney worked the crowd at a local senior center.

"What we want is brains, honey," scolded her friend Rose Oliver.

"True," Ferrin answered, "but handsome doesn't hurt."

The research is unambiguous that Ferrin is right: Attractive politicians have an edge over not-so-attractive ones. The phenomenon is resonating especially this year. By a combination of luck and design, Democrats seem to be fielding an uncommonly high number of uncommonly good-looking candidates.

I'm pretty sure I remember similar chatter during the election for our 4th grade class president.

Look, I'll lay it out there: I love Mel Gibson. Love Braveheart. Love The Passion of the Christ. Love his commitment to the Latin Mass.

That said, the guy's more primed to self destruct than a recording on Mission Impossible. Mel: if you're position is that Jews are the biggest problem in the world, you're not going to get a lot of backing among most mainstream thinkers in America. But if you want to stick to that position anyway, hey, that's your choice. But don't apologize for your statements, claim to want meetings with Jewish organizations to help you gain "sensitivity," and then offer this lukewarm pseudo-apology to Diane Sawyer.

"But there's a difference between saying that place is a tinderbox and the constellation of things happening there could take us all down, and saying the Jews are responsible for all the wars," Sawyer said.

"Well, I did," he said of his comment to the officer that night.

"The Jews are responsible?" Sawyer said.

"Well. Strictly speaking, that's that's not true

Strictly speaking? Let's not mince words here, Mel. We're not asking you what the definition of "is" is. Are the Jews responsible for all the world's wars? Yes or no?

If "strictly speaking, no" is your answer when you're contrite, sober and apologetic, I guess we all know where you come down on the issue. So stop the dance and admit it. Sure you'll be blackballed in Hollywood for the rest of your life, but at least you can stop blaming booze for your actual opinion.

Great news here.

Air America has filed for bankruptcy.

Former Virginia Gov. Mark Warner, an '08 favorite amongst the Kos Kiddies, has decided not to run. This guy would have been a dangerous candidate because he could have credibly run as a moderate, and still have maintained Dem unity: for some reason he still seemed to have the moonbat wing (i.e., "the Democratic wing") of the Democratic party behind him.

One bullet dodged, one to go: if we clear Evan Bayh off the list of '08 possibilities, we'll have eliminate their two best chances. Of course, the field just opened up considerably for Sen. Bayh, so the probability that he'll run just went up. The rest of the '08 field? Biden? Billary? Gore? Kerry? I like our chances. Edwards might make a dangerous candidate, but it's going to be hard for anyone who was on a losing ticket previously, save Gore, to get traction with the Dem base. You know "progressives," always looking for the flavor-of-the-week.

I just hope this means the pastor at my parish will now squelch the 7 PM youth-group rock mass (which oddly seems to have at its core a bunch of 50-somethings who came of age in the 1960's playing drums and guitar). I guess in place of a bad Cream cover band we'll have to settle for the timeless sound of liturgical chant. Hey, bandana boy: See-Ya!

I'm sure most of you have seen this, since it's been out on Drudge for a few days now. The headline of the you-tube clip is, "Ted Turner says he can't pick sides in the War on Terror." His actual words were as follows:

"There are a lot of things about this war that disturb me, and one of them is...the attitude that was well expressed by our President...[that] either you're with us or you're against us. And I had a problem with that, because I hadn't really made my mind up yet..."

Upon reading that Teddy T wasn't sure whether to support his countrymen risking their lives abroad, I have a confession to make: I wasn't angry. I should have been outraged, but I chalked it up as just one more example of liberal America-loathing, moral equivocation, and political "gotcha."

Having seen the headline 4, 5 or 6 times, it finally started to sink in. This was the warped mentality that was the founding inspiration for one of our major MSM news outlets. The entire CNN network, which bangs the anti-GOP drum 24-7-365, was built on the foundation of Teddy's America-hating. I know he'd recoil at being called an America-hater and probably fancies himself a good citizen. Unfortunately, his idea of America has little to do with our historical culture. In his world, millionaire yachtsmen sell-out their countrymen, cooperate with special-interest group shills to hold taxpayers hostage, and force secularism and defeatism down the throats of their fellow citizens. It's the bizzaro America that has taken root in the last 40 years, and is now bearing fruit in the American left stating aloud that losing to Islamists is just as good as winning; preserving our way of life is not morally superior to surrendering.

Those of you who read this blog know that I am no blind supporter of the current President's foreign policy, but make no mistake: the President wants victory. Ted Turner isn't sure if there's anything worth fighting for. There is a big difference.

Why people like this get to serve as the filters, deciding what is news-worthy for the American people, is beyond me. Why real patriots can't infiltrate the news industry, and speak truth to moral equivocation (to use some dKos language), escapes me. Here's hoping for a better press down the road, and the marginalization of crackpots like Ted Turner.

UPDATE:

Michelle Malkin, goddess of the conservative blogosphere, weighed in on Turner's comments here. She focused on Teddy's distate for patriotic symbols, and hit another column out of the park.

If you've ever read any of her books, as well researched and fact-oriented as they are, Michelle would be the perfect person to give an investigative reporting show, if there's a network gutsy enough to stand up to the liberal establishment. I don't know if she'd be willing to give up the flexibility she has now, but I can only imagine what she could do with 30 minutes a week on the tube.

With a sombrero tip to absentee at RedState, this is one great collection of links.

The hypocrisy of the left strikes again. Jefferson doesn't have to resign. Clinton didn't have to resign. Reps. Studds and Frank didn't need to resign. But every single Republican needs to resign. What a joke.

From time to time (as the blog title suggests), I weigh in on whatever the heck I feel like. Today's installment, starting an O.O.S.C. award that I'll give out periodically to people who, in my view alone, have earned it. Number one on my list: Tom Monaghan.

Here's an entrepreneur who built a fortune, and then donated $1 Bil to a charitable foundation which is committed to catholicizing our culture and sanctifying our nation. He's built a university and a law school in order to leverage his investment: each person he helps educate can bring the gospel to others. Through his foundation, he's also funded the Thomas More Law Center, Legatus, and a radio network.

Thanks for all you've done, Mr. Monaghan, and all you have yet to do.

From Newt.org:

ALLEN: We are interrupting that story because we have now on the phone with us Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich. Speaker Gingrich, your reaction to the U.S. attacks today on Osama bin Laden's terrorist network.

REP. NEWT GINGRICH (R), HOUSE SPEAKER: Well, I think the United States did exactly the right thing. We cannot allow a terrorist group to attack American embassies and do nothing. And I think we have to recognize that we are now committed to engaging this organization and breaking it apart and doing whatever we have to suppress it, because we cannot afford to have people who think that they can kill Americans without any consequence. So this was the right thing to do.

We have not yet gotten assessments of the damage, but I hope that it's been very decisive. And I think it's very important that we send a signal to countries like Sudan and Afghanistan that if you house a terrorist, you become a target. And if you want to get rid of the target, you've got to get rid of the terrorist.

Gingrich response to US Strikes against Osama bin Laden’s network
CNN BREAKING NEWS 13:45 pm ET
August 20, 1998; Thursday 1:45 pm Eastern Time

. . . terrorism is a much more profound threat than we have responded to. It should trouble every American that we've been trying to get bin Laden since 1993. You just mentioned the cost of repairing an American warship damaged by terrorists. We should all be concerned that we don't have the intelligence to know where they are, the ability to preempt, or the capacity to punish. And in fact, we have people who routinely go around the world holding press conferences explaining they're at war with the United States.

Gingrich Testimony to The House Armed Services Committee on U.S. National Security
Chaired By: Representative Bob Stump (R-Az)
March 21, 2001 (25 Weeks before September 11)