Editorial Blog
June 14 - June 30, 2002
By JEFF RUSHING, Webmaster
The War on Fat has already begun. New state-of-the-art bomb scanning machines slated for airports have trouble distinguishing between TNT and essential food groups, especially peanut butter and chocolate. Be careful about packing those Snickers family packs in your suitcase on the next trip!
Posted 06/29/02, 6:33 a.m.
Chris Dufresne, Los Angeles Times, on how to make soccer more popular in the U.S.:
"Award six points for a goal. American football has duped fans for years by awarding six points for one touchdown, making games appear much more action-packed than they actually are."
Posted 06/29/02, 6:33 a.m.
Some of Paul McCartney's honeymoon in the Seychelles with new wife Heather Mills was spent writing the top 100 shareholders of McDonald's, urging them to globalize its animal welfare standards. Boy, he sure knows how to celebrate marital bliss. Wonder if Heather is rethinking those vows of "for richer or poorer, for veggie burgers or tofu steaks, for animal rights or activism, until meat us do part."
Posted 06/29/02, 6:32 a.m.
I am reminded that the Declaration of Independence says that Americans are "endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights." Does that mean our entire basis of freedom is unconstitutional? Guess I should freshen up on "God Save the Queen."
Posted 06/29/02, 6:32 a.m.
If liberals are so accepting of welfare and not school vouchers, do they demand that recipients of food stamps be unable to buy kosher hot dogs? After all, the government would be funding a religious food choice.
Posted 06/29/02, 6:32 a.m.
Tom DeLay on how we should look at the Mideast conflict:
"It's wrong to ask Israel to accept terms every American would reject on principle."
Posted 06/29/02, 6:31 a.m.
I need to mention Bush's speech on the Israel-Palestinian mess. I liked that the president stood up for freedom and democracy, demanding that the Palestinians become civilized (as in, mothers not being happy that their sons killed Israeli babies via suicide bombs). Another plus in recognizing that Yasser Arafat is not the man who will be in charge when and if the peace process is solved.
Posted 06/28/02, 10:03 a.m.
A new study says that men won't commit to marriage because they enjoy a sexually active single life in a social climate that doesn't push them to marry.
Well, I guess I always did profess to be outside the mold, since I sure wish that was my problem!
The study also says that the median age of first marriage is up to 27, so at least I've got over a year to meet that mark.
Posted 06/28/02, 5:17 a.m.
Good news from the Supreme Court today for school choice advocates (like me). The 5-4 ruling says that vouchers are not unconstitutional as long as students have a choice of public and private schools, whether secular or religious. And this is the case every time they've have been used. In the court's review of Cleveland's use, the fact that only a handful of secular schools and no suburban public schools have signed up to accept voucher students is not the fault of the program itself.
Maybe now Pres. Bush can stop schmoozing with Ted Kennedy on education and reaffirm his commitment to ensuring that children can leave failing government schools and get a decent education.
And for opponents who love to try and stump Christian conservatives by saying, "But this means kids can go to Islamic schools, too," I say, so? Fine with me.
Posted 06/28/02, 4:30 a.m.
Thankfully ignoring the White House, the House Transportation Committee approved a measure Wednesday to allow about 1,400 commercial airline pilots to carry guns on board planes. This should really be a no-brainer. It's backed by most airline pilots, the majority of whom have military or law enforcement backgrounds, and are best judges on how to protect their airplanes.
Posted 06/28/02, 1:16 a.m.
Here's a nice problem to have: A library in Fulton County in metro Atlanta is struggling. Struggling to meet demand, that is. In April alone, 132,161 materials were used or circulated through the library, double the number at the next highest used library in Fulton County. The three-year-old facility is already used so much, a new library is being built.
Posted 06/28/02, 1:16 a.m.
Former tennis great Martina Navratilova criticized her adopted homeland, the U.S. in a German newspaper on Wednesday, saying that she "exchanged one system (Communist Czechoslovakia) that suppresses free opinion for another."
She directed her ire mainly at the GOP: "The Republicans in the United States manipulate public opinion and sweep any controversial issues under the table," Navratilova said.
Geez Louise, I wish that Republicans had as much power as she describes. I always complain that it is the Left that gets to much of its way in our "if it makes you happy, do it" society.
Posted 06/27/02, 4:17 a.m.
The Pledge of Allegiance is unconstitutional, according to the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, which has overturned a 1954 law adding the words "under God" to the pledge. No surprise that the Ninth Circuit would do this, since it "is the most liberal and the most overturned appeals court in the country." (CNN.com)
Where do we go from here, though? Next, I'm sure they will demand that Major League Baseball was wrong in letting "God Bless America" replace "Take Me Out to the Ballgame" during the seventh inning stretch following 9/11/01, and "In God We Trust" will have to be removed from our money.
The guy who brought the suit also sued over Franklin Graham's prayer during Pres. Bush's inauguration in which he also mentioned the monotheistic deity. It's more of this new right of freedom from religion that we've been bombarded with for forty years.
What this really proves is that we need to focus more on Senate Majority Leader Tom Das-hole's refusal to allow Bush's judicial nominees to be voted on or even hold hearings. That is no laughing matter.
Then again, this type of silly 'outrage' from the Left is just the sort of item that gets mainland America, a.k.a. flyover country, in a tizzy and gets them to the ballot boxes to vote Republican.
Posted 06/27/02, 4:13 a.m.
This week's best Vents from the Atlanta Journal-Constitution:
- The Georgia Lottery's switching from the Big Game, with odds of 1 in 76 million, to the Mega Millions, with odds of 1 in 135 million, has forced me to rethink my retirement plans.
- Suggested "Celebrity Boxing" matchup: The Dell guy vs. Jared from Subway.
- Large Americans, unite! If the airlines make you buy two tickets for two seats because you're so big, make sure you also get two meals.
- I was born a Democrat and I'll die a Democrat. When I was born I knew nothing. When I grow old and senile, I'll know nothing. But in between, I'm a Republican.
- The guy who came to fix my computer brought a big roll of duct tape. Should be be concerned?
Posted 06/25/02, 3:34 a.m.
Southwest Airlines says it will begin enforcing a 22-year-old policy next week when it routinely charges large passengers for a second seat on its flights.
As a fine capitalist, I would normally say that Southwest is right that the obese should pay for two seats. But the seats on planes nowadays are RIDICULOUSLY small. Being 6'4, 270 pounds, even if I lost another 50 I would still have to squeeze into the seats, especially since the seats are made for the average person, if that person lived in 1850, being 125 pounds and 5'6".
Posted 06/24/02, 5:05 a.m.
If the death penalty were abolished tomorrow, I wouldn't really care. But I'm not in a hurry to see it go away, either. I do think it serves a purpose, by ridding horrible people from the earth who don't have the right anymore to breathe the same air as you and me.
The Supreme Court waddled into murky water this week, saying that executing the retarded is unconstitutional. Forget that this ruling should never have been made in the first place, being completely directed by personal opinion than law. On its face, anyone will say, "Oh, I think the mentally challenged should get treatment, not executed for terrible crimes."
But it does get murky beyond the feel-good soundbites. Will every murderer now be subjected to IQ tests? The hreshold for being retarded is 70 and you live, 71 and you die. This I guarantee: Many criminals will suddenly become idiots when given IQ tests in an effort to skirt lethal injection or any harsh penalty.
And what of those who constantly tell us that the retarded should be treated as normal people? Every movie out of Hollywood tells us that they live ordinary lives and have the ability to raise children and take on jobs. I don't dispute it, I just question that if the mentally challenged can do this, they also know right from wrong and should be responsible for their actions, too.
"The case on which this judicial overreach was decided involved a Virginia man, Daryl Renard Atkins, who, along with another man, abducted Eric Nesbitt at the point of a semiautomatic handgun, robbed him of the money on his person, and drove Nesbitt to an ATM machine in his pickup truck, where cameras recorded the withdrawal of additional cash. The men then took Nesbitt to an isolated location where he was shot eight times and killed. Atkins was judged to have an IQ of 59, though details of the crime seem to indicate he knew what he was doing." (Cal Thomas, syndicated columnist)
Posted 06/24/02, 5:00 a.m.
Let me get this straight: Russia is privatizing its equivalent of Social Security, and has already instituted a flat tax. So the U.S. is now the backwards country in regards to giving citizens more control of our monetary fate.
Posted 06/22/02, 5:23 a.m.
Today's fortune cookie is intriguing: "Magic will be created when an unconventional person comes to stay."
Posted 06/22/02, 5:13 a.m.
Want to see how the country is feeling today? Check out
MoodMap.com.
Posted 06/22/02, 3:13 a.m.
Did you just hear that? It was the sound of a multitude of knee-jerkers reacting simultaneously to the news that new research proves adult stem cells are just as useful as embryonic stem cells. I guarantee that this won't be on "Good Morning, America" or any other news show, but if the research had proved that adult stem cells were worthless you'd see a million interviews with activists, especially the pro-abortion crowd, saying that we need to produce a billion embryonic stem cells to destroy.
Posted 06/22/02, 3:03 a.m.
As a New York Times writer looked for reasons to make fun of Memphis and the South during the Tyson-Lewis fight hype, he learned a geography lesson. He wrote that: "Suites for the heavy gamblers known as whales are booked up in the gambling town of Tunica, Miss., across the river." Of course, Tunica is on the same side, East, of the Mississippi River as Memphis, and an hour's drive south.
Posted 06/22/02, 2:57 a.m.
Another World Cup winds down as the U.S. loses a close match to Germany in the quarterfinals. It's been a lot of fun to be up all night watching some fun matches, as the crowds in South Korea and Japan are boisterous.
One thing I like is the sportsmanship, notably how the players exchange jerseys after games. This desperately needs to be transferred to other sports. I would certainly stick around for the end of a Jennifer Capriati-Anna Kournikova first-round match if I knew they'd switch shirts afterwards.
Posted 06/22/02, 2:52 a.m.
I'm weird. That's not news. But are you?
Posted 06/21/02, 3:54 a.m.
Here's a nifty idea for churches, that has more to do with people helping people rather than worrying about dos and don'ts of life. The Mount Carmel Baptist Church in Norfolk, Virginia. has a project to deliver members from credit card debt. At monthly “debt liquidation revivals” the church members choose one family, a collection is taken, and the credit card is paid. That family is then compelled to attend financial seminars and to be ready to help other church members in the future. Thus far the church has liquidated over $300,000 credit card debt.
Posted 06/21/02, 3:53 a.m.
More on the gay lobby's agenda, what could be titled "Be Careful What You Wish For," from OpinionJournal.com:
"There's a famous joke about a New York Times headline: 'World to End Friday; Women, Minorities Hardest Hit.' Today's Times has an actual article in a similar vein: 'Gay Stores Feel the Pinch of Customers' Liberation.' It seems that 'gay and lesbian issues are now so openly discussed in the mainstream media that it's almost as if gay literature were no longer niche publishing.' Result: Gay bookstores are going out of business."
Posted 06/21/02, 3:43 a.m.
In favor of a lesbian, I defend Martina Navratilova. The 45-year-old Hall of Fame tennis player participated in her first tour singles match in eight years, even winning on Monday to become the oldest woman to win a WTA match.
Tuesday, the tournament took advantage of this whirlwind of publicity and good will by putting Navratilova's second round match on center court. This didn't go down well with No. 1 seed Jelena Dokic, who has apparently developed the aura of a diva: "You would think that the No. 1 seed would play on center court, but there's some ridiculous match out there instead," she said.
No, Jelena, that "ridiculous" match was one of the best tennis players in history and something you should have been applauding and wanting to see yourself. Then again, Dokic lost on a side court in her second-round match, so maybe she was trying to see Martina play as well.
Posted 06/21/02, 3:43 a.m.
I expect ABC to give Rosie O'Donnell a one-hour forum promoting her lifestyle with no dissent (in exchange for her 'coming out' in a Barbara Walters special). I do not expect, and I am outraged that Nickelodeon would give her and other gay parents free promotion of the gay parent lifestyle on a children's network, in a special show sandwiched between children's cartoon "As Told by Ginger" and "The Cosby Show," which should instead be used as an example of the ideal Americana family.
Posted 06/21/02, 3:40 a.m.
A nice note to read from InstaPundit.com reader Jorge Schmidt (an occasional contributor to OpinionJournal.com as well):
"I've been following the latest World Cup games pretty closely on Spanish-language TV and radio in Miami, and I'd like to share the following observation:
TV and radio commentators, and callers to radio shows, call the American team "el equipo de todos nosotros" (the team of all of us). This morning, as I was driving home after the U.S.-Mexico game, there were calls from Colombians, Argentineans, Brazilians, Central-Americans of various stripes, all rooting for the U.S. team, and all expressing the same sentiment, that the American team was the "home" team. This is a marked departure from previous World Cups, where Latins tended to stick with other Latin countries if their own didn't make the cut. I had never heard this expression, "the team of all of us," before this World Cup.
As one caller explained, they feel this way not just because the U.S. is the country that received them, but also because many have U.S.-born children, and they want to teach their children to root for their country. Who would have thought of soccer as a force of acculturation and assimilation?"
Posted 06/19/02, 1:08 a.m.
Are you practicing proper hot dog etiquette at picnics and cookouts this summer?
Posted 06/18/02, 7:33 p.m.
This week's best Vents from the Atlanta Journal-Constitution:
- Queen Elizabeth has been around for 50 years and I don't even know her last name.
- Forget sun worshipers! Bow down before the mighty power of thine air conditioner!
- The weather folk are quick to tell us the historic record high and low temperatures. What I'd like to know are the records for the highest low and the lowest high.
- Have you seen that new movie about the paranoid mathematician? It's called "Fear of All Sums."
- Stay tuned. I could say something brilliant at any moment.
- My computer is down again and I can't do anything. What did people do before computers?
- My bills are religiously paid on time. The religion comes in because I pray the checks with clear.
- I feel so much safer now that I know that the ACLU is protecting the rights of terrorists against profiling.
- Why is it called Alcoholics Anonymous when the first thing you do is stand up and say, "Hi, my name is Bob, and I am an alcoholic"?
- Life Lesson No. 13: Never ask your wife if she's going for a ride when walks by with a broom in her hands.
- The ACLU is an organization without A CLU.
- My wife must really think I'm too nosy. At least that's what she writes in her diary.
Posted 06/18/02, 3:45 a.m.
For an example of that 'slippery slope' that I worry about concerning so-called Hate Crimes Bills (they're really Thought Crimes Bills), we turn to Sweden. There is a move that is one vote away in the Parliament from outlawing speech or materials opposing homosexuality and any other alternate lifestyles. If the amendment becomes reality, violators could be subject to prison sentences.
Annalie Enochson, a Christian member of Parliament, said under the amendment, Christians could be arrested for speaking out in churches. "That means people coming from (the homosexual) lobby group could sit in our churches having on the tape recorder and listen to somebody and say, 'What you're saying now is against our constitution.'" (Focus on the Family)
Posted 06/18/02, 3:43 a.m.
Muslim groups are up in arms over Israel's refusal to allow 20 American Muslims entry into the country. While Israel may be open to criticism, as OpinionJournal.com notes, to have it done by groups like the Council on American Muslim Relations (CAIR) smacks of hypocrisy, because never have they released a statement condemning that almost all Muslim countries -- Egypt, Jordan and Turkey are exceptions -- refuse to allow entry to anyone carrying an Israeli passport, or even to non-Israelis whose passports show evidence of a visit to Israel.
Posted 06/18/02, 3:38 a.m.
The Associated Press reports: "A heavily armed black man allegedly shot three people and tried to set patrons at a Manhattan bar on fire Sunday before being wounded by officers and arrested in what police said was a racially motivated attack. No one died, and the suspect, Steven Johnson, was charged with attempted murder. Witnesses say that he was "ranting about white people and vowed revenge for thousands of years of suffering."
If this had been a heavily armed white man shooting black people, there would be a million protesters in the streets, led by Jesse Jackson, to decry the racist white majority, and "Nightline" would have spent a full week on "Why Are Whites So Anti-African-American?"
Posted 06/18/02, 3:34 a.m.
Iceland sent police officers to Boston and three European cities to help prevent Falun Gong members from flying in on its airline while Chinese President Jiang Zemin is visiting. The Falun Gong movement is outlawed in China, and Iceland banned visits by the group's members from June 7 to June 18 to prevent large demonstrations against Jiang, who arrived Thursday.
Falun Gong should instead gather to demonstrate against Iceland on June 19, protesting the country's human rights abuse of preventing the right of freedom to assemble.
Posted 06/18/02, 3:30 a.m.
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution regularly takes a poll of area residents. This weeek they asked: "When you die, do you believe that, in 'the next life,' you'll know people from this life? The results are interesting when split down party lines.
Sixty-nine percent of Republicans said Yes, only 55% of Democrats agreed. Ten percent of Democrats said no, we won't know people in the next life, while six percent of Republicans said so. Then, 15% of Democrats answered that they don't believe in a 'next life,' to 10 percent of Republicans. Of those answering that they didn't know, 20% of Democrats said so, and 14% of Republicans.
I don't know what the results mean, but they are interesting when comparing religious views of the constituents of the two major U.S. parties.
Posted 06/18/02, 3:25 a.m.
Jeff's Editorial Page | Column Archives | Home