Hillary talks tough?

In an interview on Good Morning America...

Clinton further displayed tough talk in an interview airing on "Good Morning America" Tuesday. ABC News' Chris Cuomo asked Clinton what she would do if Iran attacked Israel with nuclear weapons.

"I want the Iranians to know that if I'm the president, we will attack Iran," Clinton said. "In the next 10 years, during which they might foolishly consider launching an attack on Israel, we would be able to totally obliterate them."

I wonder if she means obliterate like she means she supports the 2nd Amendment. Not to mention the fact that it's a bit late to try to position herself to the right of Obama on national security and foreign policy.

Wait, can I say that?

There has been much noise from the Left the last several years about "censorship" in the U.S.A. Of course, the world in which many of these folks live has very little in common with reality. Below is a bit of the real stuff, just for comparison.

Pakistan removed from the Internet by ZDNet's Richard Stiennon -- 4:30 PM Eastern (US). The telecom company that carries most of Pakistan’s traffic, PCCW, has found it necessary to shut Pakistan off from the Internet while they filter out the malicious routes that a Pakistani ISP, PieNet, announced earlier today. Evidently PieNet took this step to enforce a decree from the Pakistani government that ISP’s [...]

OK, I'm over it now. McCain it is...

Here's my two cents.

• You can't teach a political party anything. If you could, Republicans would still be riding the Contract With America horse, we'd have a Fair or Flat Tax, SS would be privatized, and there would be massive Republican majorities in both houses of Congress. I could change parties, stay home in November, or vote Democrat, but how does that advance a single conservative principle? For all extents and purposes, the race is decided, so, moving on.
• Any Republican to the right of Joe Lieberman is better than 100 Democrats to the left of Joe Lieberman.
• 2. All politics is compromise. It may be a  search for perfection, but it will never reach the pinnacle. Consequently, I will take any opportunity in a general election to advance a single conservative principle
• Really, wouldn't you rather see a Basset Hound in the White House than a socialist Democrat? I would. The Second Amendment implications alone of a Democrat Senate, House, and White House decide it for me.
• Can you think of a single bad law that a Democrat Congress would pass that John McCain might veto? I can. Can you think of many bad laws that will sail through a Democrat controlled government? I can.

Why/how do I arrive at this point? McCain v. Democrat...

	McCain	Democrat
War/Foreign Policy	1	0
Economy	1	0
1st Amendment	0	0
2nd Amendment	1	0
Borders	0	0
Taxes	1	0
Pro-Life	1	0
Pork	1	0

Now the way I count it, That's six of eight very important issues I can advance at least a small amount by voting for McCain if he gets the nomination, as opposed to  going backward on these six issues if I stay home or vote Democrat.

That's enough for me.

Stymied

I just don't know what to think. I just foudn out that Mitt Romney has dropped out of the hunt for the 2008 Republican Presidential nomination. I'm still trying to get my mind around it.
"I must now stand aside, for our party and our country," Romney told conservatives.
Evidently, he made the announcement at the CPAC convention in Washington.

My problem with Romney's exit is that there is no longer any reason for McCain to pretend to be conservative. With Romney in the race, McCain had some external force driving him to be more conservative. Now, there is no conservative in the race.

My only hope now is to regain a Republican majority in Congress. At all costs, we HAVE TO WIN BACK CONGRESS!!!

Now, go make it happen!

The Human Right of Self-Defense by Kopel, Gallant & Eisen

Read it here from the BYU Journal of Public Law.

The United Nations and some non-governmental organizations have declared that there is no human right to self-defense or to the possession of defensive arms.5 The UN and allied NGOs further declare that insufficiently restrictive firearms laws are themselves a human rights violation, so all governments must sharply restrict citizen firearms possession.
This Article investigates the legal status of self-defense by examining a broad variety of sources of international law. Based on those sources, the Article suggests that personal self-defense is a well-established human right under international law and is an important foundation of international law itself.

Of course, as in so much of what the UN does, there is little basis in reality for their conclusions. Disarming civilians is currently the answer to tyranny, genocide, global warming and really, really bad body odor.

 

Focus

First, I want to state my support for Mitt Romney. I think Romney is the best and the only conservative candidate for the Republican party. That said, I also want to point out that it will generally be more important for us to focus on restoring a Republican majority in Congress.

Let's remember that the primary role of the presidency is to set the foreign policy of the United States and to be the Commander-in-Chief of the military. The only domestic policy roles the president plays are to recommend a budget for the government and to set monetary policy. While it is vitally important for the United States to keep up the war against radical Islamists, it is equally important to keep our nation from sliding into socialism. Without a homeland worth protecting, why bother?

Now, I understand that my previous statement is extremely defeatist, but I'm trying to grab some attention for the 2008 congressional race. Recently, former Congresswoman Anne Northup (who lost her seat to Democrat John Yarmuth) decided to run for her former office. She faces a strong opposition. In the 2006 mid-term election she lost to Yarmuth by a slight margin. So, I'm hoping that Northup will be able to retake her seat. I'm also hoping that the Republicans can retake their majority.

One thing I would really like to see is War on Terrorism veterans deciding to get into the race for Congress. Imagine how much better things might be if those who have actually fought to defend the America were the ones who were setting her political course. In Robert A. Heinlein's novel Starship Troopers (not the movie), society had decided to restrict citizenship to those who have served in the military. Let those who value society enough to risk their lives defending it have the majority of the political control over that society. While their are some flaws in this philosophy, I generally support the idea of an elevated status for veterans (mea culpa: I am a 14-yr veteran of the Army) within society.

In the end, is important is to remember that, God forbid, if Clinton or Obama should win the presidency, it will be even more vital for Republicans to wins back congress in order to serve as check against the move of socialist domestic policy. Let's start discussing how to get Congress back in Republican control.

Makes no difference to me, but that wasn't a choice

I am a regular participant in national polls. I know that sounds odd, but it's true. I don't know anyone else who does, but my phone rings regularly with calls from groups like Gallup and Zogby. If I have time and feel like it, I answer questions.

The problem with most polls are how the questions are asked. I just completed a national poll where questions were asked, in essence, X is African-American, a woman, a Mormon, or 72 years old. will that make me much more likely, somewhat more likely, somewhat less likely, much less likely, or not sure that I'd vote for him/her for President on the basis of race, sex, religion or age.

These questions assume you are prejudiced. Period. You're either more or less likely to vote for a person because of their race, sex, religion, or age. This poll can only deliver a result that shows the assumed prejudice. Why wasn't there a choice for those (like me) who couldn't care less about these distinctions?

These choices should be about policy and philosophy of government. Sadly, many will go to the polls in the primaries and general elections having made their decision base upon one of the superficial "reasons" represented in the poll above. Even worse? Those of us who do not, will probably get the government they deserve.