Every week the members of the Watcher’s Council nominate the posts they think were the finest of the previous week. The entire list of submissions is here These are the submissions this week:
Right Truth, “Home grown terrorism and the media”
Debbie contrasts the prevailing media narrative on terrorist plots in the United States with what actually happened in an informative post.
The Razor, “Death to Inclusiveness!”
Scott critiques Colin Powell’s comments about the need for greater inclusiveness in the Republican Party. I understand where Scott is coming from but I think that it should be recognized that the Democratic Party in 2006 and 2008 is no model for the Republicans’ comeback or, at least, it’s no model that’s within their control. If President Obama’s policies prove to be as unpopular as the war in Iraq became, he may have something but, frankly, I doubt that will be the case.
Joshuapundit, “Jerusalem Day”
Freedom Fighter reflects on May 21, celebrated as “Jerusalem Day” in Israel, commemorating the reunification of Jerusalem as a consequence of the Six Day War.
The Glittering Eye, “Living Within Your Means: California Edition”
In my submission this week I comment on California voters’ rejection of Gov. Scharzenegger’s plans for California’s budget. If California is a model for the rest of the country in the matter of state budgets, we are in a world of hurt.
The Colossus of Rhodey, “More Obama administration waffling on “torture—
The testimony of Att. Gen. Eric Holder, quoted in Hube’s post, certainly suggests that however otherwise qualified for his job he might be the AG doesn’t have the ability to think on his feet. Hube’s right: the AG is hopelessly muddled here. I think that he may be confusing intent with consent but even then he doesn’t have it right. Actually, although I don’t buy it that’s one of the arguments in favor of torturing prisoners to get information: that by their actions they have given their implicit consent to be tortured.
Wolf Howling, “Obama Has The Left Going Nauseous”
GW points out the consternation that President Obama’s adoption of substantial parts of President Bush’s foreign policy and War on Terror policies have caused among some of his erstwhile supporters. President Clinton had lots of his supporters convinced that he was a liberal for his entire presidency so I suspect that whatever he does there will be those in the Democratic Party who will continue to make excuses for President Obama’s routine disregard of what they claim to be closely held principles.
Bookworm Room, “Does Brown v. Board of Education constitute the Supreme Court’s one free pass?”
Bookworm considers Brown v. Board as the sole case in which an activist Supreme Court did the right thing. I have a couple of problems with her post. First, it wasn’t just the South that had Jim Crow laws as suggested by Bookworm. Second, I’d like to hear some arguments that absent federal court decisions Jim Crow would have collapsed on its own. Counter-evidence: restrictive covenants were upheld by Northern state and local courts right into the 1960’s. Contrariwise, I think that what happened were actually the last shots fired in the Civil War and that what really eliminated the problem was the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965. We’re still dealing with the consequences, of course, and IMO we’ve been going down the wrong path for forty years. But that’s the stuff of another post.
Soccer Dad, “Mr. obama and mr. netanyahu – the alternative version”
Soccer Dad presents the editorial he wishes the New York Times had written about the meeting between President Obama and Israeli PM Netanyahu.
Well, I’ve decided which posts I’ll vote for this week. Which posts would get your votes?
OVERPOPULATION–HIGHER TAXES– E-VERIFY should be classed as the paramount issue when it comes to illegal immigration. The corporate elitists who are partnered with many corrupt politicians do not live in the real world. The business entities who lobby for cheap labor are isolated from the traffic chaos on our highways. They do not live in the pollution of our cities, amongst the gangs and criminals who have swarmed across the borders. Only mainly the middle class will be subjected to a new push for a second path to citizenship or better known as AMNESTY. This revised so-called immigration reform will sweep across America, without any voice allowed to repudiate it from—THE PEOPLE–who must pay for everything. Business pay NOTHING, nor the farmers and using slave labor at cheap rates without any benefits, that lowers American wages across the board. Here are the issues that voters must consider:
1. Are Americans expected continually to pay for the hiring practices of businesses and farmers? 2. Why have the agricultural community not advanced in using mechanized machines to harvest crops, when they are well subsidized by government agencies? Sen. Feinstein is reintroducing an AGJOB bill that would allow at least 2 million foreign nation legalization. The issue here is 3. Why are our legislators drafting a 2nd AMNESTY, when the 1986 Simpson/Mazzoli bill was weakened on not even enforced and full of fraud? 4. If another AMNESTY is forced on Taxpayers are they expected to cover the costs of an almost impossible regimen of processing 20 million plus foreign nationals? 5. Who is going to pay for the–CHAIN MIGRATION–for the extended family members who will want to live with newly legalized migrant? Then Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY), stated “the borders are now safe enough to take a step forward. We can pass strong, fair, practical and effective immigration reform this year,” he said. Perhaps he should take a trip to the fence and reverse his initial statement. The border is definitely not secure. It’s a place of death at the hands of criminal drug cartels that have even infiltrated the American communities. 6. Isolated border sheriff’s voices of alarm, fell upon deaf ears for years in Washington, repeatedly stating of their limited manpower, could not stem the tide of drugs crossing our border.
Our Washington elitists, who are adamant free traders and open border zealots, have not only ruined small Mexican farmers living standards, because of the inception of CAFTA, but now unable to scratch a living have poured across the border along with other impoverished peoples. 7. If millions illegal aliens are legalized, why should honest potential immigrants waiting patiently for years, bother with a employment visa and not just slip past an undermanned, poorly erected border fence? 8. Why are taxpayers forced by mandated law to support hired illegal labor, when businesses pay nothing for them being here. 9. Although not the illegal children’s fault, why should our own children suffer under the controversial Dream Act? This gives an academic education within state lower tuition fees, while American students must pay higher fees? 10. In conclusion, should the anti-sovereignty, pro-illegal immigrant, open border pass AMNESTY, how are they going to halt the next daunting waves of indigent people looking for a better life in the United States and placing in jeopardy poorly skilled American workers, who should not have to compete with alien labor?
We now know the major Democratic culprits who under funded, weakened or otherwise killed strong immigration legislation such as E-Verify. Sen. Harry Reid, Speaker Pelosi, Sen. Burris, and others, including even Republican Party members involved in this travesty to cut-out the Real ID Act, 247(g) giving the power of arrest to the police. NUMBERSUSA is the site to reveal the poor grades of Senators and Congressman. They are the ones who approve the laws and added weight to your taxes. California–A Sanctuary State–is a great example of out-of-control illegal immigration, where taxpayers have been stung by higher taxes to pay for the benefits by an unfit Sacramento Liberal Democrat assembly. Next in line is New York that is staring into a chasm of potential bankruptcy. IF THIS IS NOT “TAXATION WITHOUT REPRESENTATION” what is?