News: March 2008 Archives

"Earth Hour" is a post-civilizational effort to make a mockery of human progress and ingenuity by encouraging people to sit around in the dark and ruminate on the despoiling of our planet, et cetera. To honor this repulsive nonsense, I'm going to leave all my lights on all night -- I call it "Light Night". Feel free to join me if you're so inclined.

It seems that leftists are only with taxpayer money, not their own personal wealth.

Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama and his wife Michelle gave $10,772 of the $1.2 million they earned from 2000 through 2004 to charities, or less than 1 percent, according to tax returns for those years released today by his campaign.

The Obamas increased the amount they gave to charity when their income rose in 2005 and 2006 after the Illinois senator published a bestselling book. The $137,622 they gave over those two years amounted to more than 5 percent of their $2.6 million income.

Bill Burton, a campaign spokesman, said the Obamas gave as much as they could afford. He also said the Obamas gave $240,000 to charity in 2007, though they have yet to make last year's tax returns public.

My wife and I make a lot less money than the Obamas, so I'm surprised to learn that we give away a lot more. I guess it's just a difference in priorities. Leftists prefer to tax others to fund their generosity, while conservatives are willing to give their own wealth away. It sure makes Barack Obama's lectures on "hope" a little less palatable, doesn't it? Put your money -- not mine -- where your mouth is, Senator.

The fact that he decided to give more away when his candidacy for the presidency became serious makes him look worse, not better.

(HT: Political Punch.)

Hope everyone is having a good time celebrating the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Despite what many professing Christians focus on these days, Christ's resurrection is really the cornerstone of our beliefs.

Acts 2:29-39

"Brothers, I can tell you confidently that the patriarch David died and was buried, and his tomb is here to this day. But he was a prophet and knew that God had promised him on oath that he would place one of his descendants on his throne. Seeing what was ahead, he spoke of the resurrection of the Christ, that he was not abandoned to the grave, nor did his body see decay. God has raised this Jesus to life, and we are all witnesses of the fact. Exalted to the right hand of God, he has received from the Father the promised Holy Spirit and has poured out what you now see and hear. For David did not ascend to heaven, and yet he said,

" 'The Lord said to my Lord: "Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet." '

"Therefore let all Israel be assured of this: God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Christ."

When the people heard this, they were cut to the heart and said to Peter and the other apostles, "Brothers, what shall we do?"

Peter replied, "Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. The promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off—for all whom the Lord our God will call."

Barack Obama gave his bigspeech on race, and as usual he was eloquent. Also as usual, he shied away from any practical policy proposals and displayed a disingenuous ignorance of how liberty and free markets could be applied to bridge the racial divide, if not so hampered by taxes and regulations. (Drudge had the text of the speech first, but I expect that link will expire.)

First, Obama appears to have a solid grasp on some of the concerns of whites that are rarely broached in public.

In fact, a similar anger exists within segments of the white community. Most working- and middle-class white Americans don’t feel that they have been particularly privileged by their race. Their experience is the immigrant experience – as far as they’re concerned, no one’s handed them anything, they’ve built it from scratch. They’ve worked hard all their lives, many times only to see their jobs shipped overseas or their pension dumped after a lifetime of labor. They are anxious about their futures, and feel their dreams slipping away; in an era of stagnant wages and global competition, opportunity comes to be seen as a zero sum game, in which your dreams come at my expense. So when they are told to bus their children to a school across town; when they hear that an African American is getting an advantage in landing a good job or a spot in a good college because of an injustice that they themselves never committed; when they’re told that their fears about crime in urban neighborhoods are somehow prejudiced, resentment builds over time.

Like the anger within the black community, these resentments aren’t always expressed in polite company. But they have helped shape the political landscape for at least a generation. Anger over welfare and affirmative action helped forge the Reagan Coalition. Politicians routinely exploited fears of crime for their own electoral ends. Talk show hosts and conservative commentators built entire careers unmasking bogus claims of racism while dismissing legitimate discussions of racial injustice and inequality as mere political correctness or reverse racism.

Just as black anger often proved counterproductive, so have these white resentments distracted attention from the real culprits of the middle class squeeze – a corporate culture rife with inside dealing, questionable accounting practices, and short-term greed; a Washington dominated by lobbyists and special interests; economic policies that favor the few over the many. And yet, to wish away the resentments of white Americans, to label them as misguided or even racist, without recognizing they are grounded in legitimate concerns – this too widens the racial divide, and blocks the path to understanding.

The purpose of the speech seems to be to transform racial division into class division: all us poor people of every color need to fight against our common enemies, the rich! And the only solutions he can come up with involve the coercive use of government power:

That is one option. Or, at this moment, in this election, we can come together and say, “Not this time.” This time we want to talk about the crumbling schools that are stealing the future of black children and white children and Asian children and Hispanic children and Native American children. This time we want to reject the cynicism that tells us that these kids can’t learn; that those kids who don’t look like us are somebody else’s problem. The children of America are not those kids, they are our kids, and we will not let them fall behind in a 21st century economy. Not this time.

This time we want to talk about how the lines in the Emergency Room are filled with whites and blacks and Hispanics who do not have health care; who don’t have the power on their own to overcome the special interests in Washington, but who can take them on if we do it together.

This time we want to talk about the shuttered mills that once provided a decent life for men and women of every race, and the homes for sale that once belonged to Americans from every religion, every region, every walk of life. This time we want to talk about the fact that the real problem is not that someone who doesn’t look like you might take your job; it’s that the corporation you work for will ship it overseas for nothing more than a profit.

This time we want to talk about the men and women of every color and creed who serve together, and fight together, and bleed together under the same proud flag. We want to talk about how to bring them home from a war that never should’ve been authorized and never should’ve been waged, and we want to talk about how we’ll show our patriotism by caring for them, and their families, and giving them the benefits they have earned.

I think the bolded part is particularly insincere. Obama knows that the majority of Americans are shareholders in these evil corporations -- directly or indirectly through pension funds -- and those profits go straight into American pockets. What's more, the primary beneficiaries of lower prices are the poor.

And so forth. As you'd expect, I find the policies that Obama vaguely hints at to be antithetical to liberty and ruinous to our economy, facts that far outweigh the common eloquence of his words. I think this speech made a meaningful contribution to the discussion of race in our country, but the conclusions he'd have us draw are misguided and dangerous.

Barack Obama's crazy racist spiritual advisor, Jeremiah Wright Jr., is finally getting some attention from the mainstream media, but you may remember that I was all over this story almost a year ago. (Which is why I believed, asserted, and still believe, that Barack Obama cannot win the general election.)

It's not like "Pastor" Wright is an strange estranged family member associated with Obama by random chance... Obama and his family have been under his spiritual guidance for 20 years by their own volition. There's no way for Obama to disassociate himself from this nutcase at this point... and frankly, there's no reason to believe that Obama doesn't share Wright's view of the world.

Barack Obama is smart enough to refuse any consideration of running as Hillary's vice president. Even if he were losing the primary I can't see any reason why he would want to hitch himself to the Clintons.

The Illinois senator used his first public appearance of the week to knock down the notion that he might accept the party's vice presidential nomination. He noted that he has won more states, votes and delegates than Clinton so far.

"I don't know how somebody who is in second place is offering the vice presidency to the person who is first place," Obama said, drawing cheers and a long standing ovation from about 1,700 people in Columbus, Miss.

Saying he wanted to be "absolutely clear," he added: "I don't want anybody here thinking that somehow, 'Well, you know, maybe I can get both.' Don't think that way. You have to make a choice in this election."

"I am not running for vice president," Obama said. "I am running for president of the United States of America."

Even if Obama weren't the leader at this point, he has nothing to gain and everything to lose by taking the second spot on a Clinton ticket.

1. The VP candidate is expected to be the attack dog. Assuming that role would greatly diminish the "new politics" image Obama has built for himself.

2. Obama is young. He's only 46 years old, which means that if he wants to he can run for president six more times and still be younger than John McCain. Why take a chance running with Hillary Clinton? Not only a chance on losing, but a chance on winning and then being embroiled in the inevitable tsunami of scandals.

3. Vice presidents aren't successful presidents, when they even manage to get elected.

4. When next he ran, he'd be on the tail end of Democrat/Clinton fatigue.

5. He'll have more power if he stays in the Senate, and may actually have time to accomplish something his supporters can think of when interviewed.

Wow, Hillary has won in Texas and Ohio. The Democrats' primary is going all the way to the convention. I love this stuff. This is shaping up to be one of the most exciting election years ever!

Even though Obama is leading in delegates, it's interesting to consider how the Democrats' primary would be shaping up if they selected a nominee using the Electoral College. Using 270ToWin and the primary/caucus victories that Hillary and Obama have already racked up, I calculate that Hillary would have 263 electoral votes to Obama's 193.

Hillary's substantial (hypothetical) electoral college edge is due to her victories in all the high-population states. The largest state Obama has won is Illinois with 21 electoral votes, but Hillary has won California (55), Texas (34), New York (31), Florida (27), and Ohio (20).

The Democrats' system for awarding delegates in their primary is almost the exact opposite of the winner-takes-all Electoral College. I wonder if it will produce another nominee who can win the "popular vote" without actually winning the presidency?

(Side note: Why doesn't 270ToWin have a way to create a link to a page with a certain configuration of states? That would be nice.)