Jonah Goldberg goes off the deep end
Next thing you know he'll be claiming all Catholics are agents of the Pope. One thing about the American Communist Party: Rosa Parks went to a training camp run by them. Try calling her a treasonous communist. Goldberg has just insulted hundreds of people whose lives were ruined by the Comunist witch hunts. What proof of spying was he talking about exactly? There is a little thing called free speech in this country, Jonah, where even if you did support the Holocaust it doesn't become treason. It is not a crime to be a Communist any more than it is to be a Republican. Just because somebody is wrong doesn't mean they must be treated as criminals. His implication that the Hollywood Ten were traitors because they were Communists and refused to be badgered by McCarthy is pure nonsense. If this is mainstream conservative thought I fear for the future of this republic.
Sunday, February 23, 2003
Apocalyptic Nexus of Evil and Ignorance, Part 1
Two crisises threaten to coincide that could very well be the most important events since the fall of the Soviet Union.
North Korea
This is going to be controversial, but I think that Bush has made one of the worse foreign policy decisions in the history of the United States. I think he is lying about North Korea having a uranium nuclear program. The evidence he has given for it is a few intelligence reports that we don't know the source of that give circumstantial evidence, and North Korea's "admission," which they have repeatedly denied happened. If there is a smoking gun out there that I don't know about, please e-mail it to me at natfre -at- hotmail.com. Bush is manipulating the situation in North Korea for political gain. He has cut off aid, and had set the return of it conditional on the end of the uranium nuclear program the North Korean s aren't doing and the inspectors in North Korea haven't been able to find any evidence of. North Korea accused the U.S. of lying and threatening them, and proceeded to threaten to actually restart the plutonium program unless the U.S. started a dialogue throught the Governor of New Mexico, who was an ambassador to NK. Bush refused, and North Korea gradually kicked out inspectors and has now shipped out the spent fuel rods that the inspectors were guarding. Whe NK threatened to do this in 1994, it led to a major crisis that ended with the '94 Agreed Framework, which Bush broke. As perhaps should have been expected, Bush ignored this. It appears that Bush may actually be getting serious about NK 5 months after they should have been dealt with, having sent Colin Powell to talk to China about dealing with NK. The problem appears to be that the crisis in NK peaked too early, and that dealing "conclusively" with NK will happen as the invasion of Iraq is, not afterward as Bush planned.
The problem is that it gets worse. NK could have a nuke in a month. It is not bluffing. Sure claiming that you are going to get a nuke is a good bluff, butr actually trying to make one is an even better threat. The real problem is that by not taking NK serious when they made their first move towards getting plutonium nukes, Kim Jong-Il thinks that Bush will only take them serious if they have a nuke. In fact, he may have gone off the deep end, and decided that he doesn't need aid if he can use nukes to control Eastern Asia. Worst-case scenario: North Korea issuaes an ultimatum to the U.S.; send U.S. troops out of South Korea, opening it up to invasion, or Tokyo gets nuked. You figure out a non-messy solution to that. The reason I don't think Kim Jong-Il is going to be bluffing about anything is that he has made isolation and resilience of the nation into a cult. If he starts a nuclear war, he will simply send the Koreans into the countryside for who knows how long, surely plotting a return to power. North Korea is the most important issue in foreign policy right now, and Bush refuses to see that.
Two crisises threaten to coincide that could very well be the most important events since the fall of the Soviet Union.
North Korea
This is going to be controversial, but I think that Bush has made one of the worse foreign policy decisions in the history of the United States. I think he is lying about North Korea having a uranium nuclear program. The evidence he has given for it is a few intelligence reports that we don't know the source of that give circumstantial evidence, and North Korea's "admission," which they have repeatedly denied happened. If there is a smoking gun out there that I don't know about, please e-mail it to me at natfre -at- hotmail.com. Bush is manipulating the situation in North Korea for political gain. He has cut off aid, and had set the return of it conditional on the end of the uranium nuclear program the North Korean s aren't doing and the inspectors in North Korea haven't been able to find any evidence of. North Korea accused the U.S. of lying and threatening them, and proceeded to threaten to actually restart the plutonium program unless the U.S. started a dialogue throught the Governor of New Mexico, who was an ambassador to NK. Bush refused, and North Korea gradually kicked out inspectors and has now shipped out the spent fuel rods that the inspectors were guarding. Whe NK threatened to do this in 1994, it led to a major crisis that ended with the '94 Agreed Framework, which Bush broke. As perhaps should have been expected, Bush ignored this. It appears that Bush may actually be getting serious about NK 5 months after they should have been dealt with, having sent Colin Powell to talk to China about dealing with NK. The problem appears to be that the crisis in NK peaked too early, and that dealing "conclusively" with NK will happen as the invasion of Iraq is, not afterward as Bush planned.
The problem is that it gets worse. NK could have a nuke in a month. It is not bluffing. Sure claiming that you are going to get a nuke is a good bluff, butr actually trying to make one is an even better threat. The real problem is that by not taking NK serious when they made their first move towards getting plutonium nukes, Kim Jong-Il thinks that Bush will only take them serious if they have a nuke. In fact, he may have gone off the deep end, and decided that he doesn't need aid if he can use nukes to control Eastern Asia. Worst-case scenario: North Korea issuaes an ultimatum to the U.S.; send U.S. troops out of South Korea, opening it up to invasion, or Tokyo gets nuked. You figure out a non-messy solution to that. The reason I don't think Kim Jong-Il is going to be bluffing about anything is that he has made isolation and resilience of the nation into a cult. If he starts a nuclear war, he will simply send the Koreans into the countryside for who knows how long, surely plotting a return to power. North Korea is the most important issue in foreign policy right now, and Bush refuses to see that.
Saturday, February 22, 2003
The FY2002 Budget and the Incredible Vanishing Surplus, Part 1
(Warning: Budget Figures Intensive, unlike certain other discussions of the budget)
Myth: The deficit can be overcomed by eliminating "pork-barrel" spending and making the budget leaner.
Fact vs. Reality
Fact: The amount of "pork-barrel" spending in the FY2002 Budget, according to Citizens Against Government Waste(a conservative watchdog group): $20.1 billion
Reality: Size of FY2002 Budget Deficit, according to U.S. Treasury Department: $157.7 billion
I think the numbers speak for themselves.
Sources:
FY2002 Budget Highlights: Financial Management Service, a branch of the U.S. Treasury Department
2002 Pig Book: A publication of Citizens Against Government Waste
(Warning: Budget Figures Intensive, unlike certain other discussions of the budget)
Myth: The deficit can be overcomed by eliminating "pork-barrel" spending and making the budget leaner.
Fact vs. Reality
Fact: The amount of "pork-barrel" spending in the FY2002 Budget, according to Citizens Against Government Waste(a conservative watchdog group): $20.1 billion
Reality: Size of FY2002 Budget Deficit, according to U.S. Treasury Department: $157.7 billion
I think the numbers speak for themselves.
Sources:
FY2002 Budget Highlights: Financial Management Service, a branch of the U.S. Treasury Department
2002 Pig Book: A publication of Citizens Against Government Waste
Friday, February 21, 2003
Saturday, February 01, 2003
"The Space Shuttle Columbia has disappeared over Texas..."
They're gone. Ilan Ramon, the first Israeli astronaut; Laurel Clark, a Navy physician from Wisconsin; David Brown, a 46-year old jet pilot/doctor on his first shuttle flight; Kalpana Chawla, an immigrant from India on her second spaceflight after making a mistake on her first; Michael Anderson, son of an Air Force pilot who followed in his father's footsteps, and went on to become one of the first few African American astronauts; Willian McCool, a Navy test pilot who was afraid of drawing blood; and Rick Husband, a test pilot who had a dazzling rise to the rank of Space Shuttle Commander. This is a cross-section of America, and of the brave. They handled the risk inherent in spaceflight with a bravery and fortitude that is exemplary, and they perished piloting the ultimate manned vehicle. Less than 0.000001% of the Earth's population has left our atmosphere, but those that have are living out the myths of such people as Daedalus' son, and like his son, some perish because they have soared so high, flown so fast. 22 astronauts and cosmonauts have died in space exploration; they are the martyrs of humanities quest to soar above the sky, and they are a testament to the human resolve to risk our life to discover and explore for the betterment of all. These are our pioneers, and should forever be honored for their sacrifice. May we return to space again, and may those who died today rest in peace.
"Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I shall fear no evil..."
-Psalm 23:4
They're gone. Ilan Ramon, the first Israeli astronaut; Laurel Clark, a Navy physician from Wisconsin; David Brown, a 46-year old jet pilot/doctor on his first shuttle flight; Kalpana Chawla, an immigrant from India on her second spaceflight after making a mistake on her first; Michael Anderson, son of an Air Force pilot who followed in his father's footsteps, and went on to become one of the first few African American astronauts; Willian McCool, a Navy test pilot who was afraid of drawing blood; and Rick Husband, a test pilot who had a dazzling rise to the rank of Space Shuttle Commander. This is a cross-section of America, and of the brave. They handled the risk inherent in spaceflight with a bravery and fortitude that is exemplary, and they perished piloting the ultimate manned vehicle. Less than 0.000001% of the Earth's population has left our atmosphere, but those that have are living out the myths of such people as Daedalus' son, and like his son, some perish because they have soared so high, flown so fast. 22 astronauts and cosmonauts have died in space exploration; they are the martyrs of humanities quest to soar above the sky, and they are a testament to the human resolve to risk our life to discover and explore for the betterment of all. These are our pioneers, and should forever be honored for their sacrifice. May we return to space again, and may those who died today rest in peace.
"Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I shall fear no evil..."
-Psalm 23:4