It's not often we get to wish one another Happy Leap Day - the only other time for this blog was in the very early days of its existence. So let's celebrate the opportunity to catch our calendars up to the earth's solar revolution schedule, and enjoy the irony of what this day means. One of my favorite February 29 memories comes from my freshman year in college, walking to the buildings on "the Hill" and seeing homemade signs posted urging us to wish fellow student Sam a happy 5th birthday. No, Sam - whom I later got to know and appreciate for his good nature and good humor, not to mention his artistic and literary gifts - wasn't some sort of amazing prodigy. He was what Wikipedia informs me is called a "leapling." Another "leapling" is … [Read more...]
Barack Obama’s “No, We Can’t” About-Face on School Vouchers
I almost missed this one... From the editors of the New York Sun comes notice that Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama may be more cynical and duplicitous than widely given credit for:No sooner had we issued Elizabeth Green's dispatch under the headline "Obama Open to Private School Vouchers" than his campaign was scrambling to undo the potential damage with the Democratic primary electorate. On February 20, his campaign issued a statement headlined, "Response to Misleading Reports Concerning Senator Obama's Position on Vouchers" that said, "Senator Obama has always been a critic of vouchers." The statement went on, "Throughout his career, he has voted against voucher proposals and voiced concern for siphoning off resources from … [Read more...]
Tribute to Buckley Reminder of “Great Task Remaining Before Us”
Over at Pajamas Media, Scott Johnson eulogizes the late William F. Buckley, Jr.. First, probably his most significant accomplishment:When Buckley founded National Review as the voice of the [conservative] movement, he performed two acts of statesmanship that were vital to the movement’s ultimate, if unlikely, success: he reserved exclusive ownership of the magazine to himself so as to prevent the kind of sectarian brawls that had killed other such magazines, and he prohibited John Birchers and other kooky anti-Semitic organizations from the magazine’s precincts. Johnson also observes what is left undone:Until [Buckley] gave up public speaking in 1998, his frequent campus speaking engagements were part missionary work, part … [Read more...]
Dems Push Forward “Wet Noodle” Anti-Strike Legislation
A bill that would ban strikes for Colorado state workers passed a Senate committee yesterday, reports the Denver Post - all unleashed by the stroke of Gov. Bill Ritter's pen. Today's article omits the significant detail, so it's incumbent upon this blogger to remind you that the Democrat proposal is weak and ineffectual. Colorado Senate News features the best commentary on the bill:"Obviously, this bill wouldn't have been introduced at all if Republicans hadn't urged the governor to do the right thing and assure taxpayers their vital public services wouldn't be jeopardized by the threat of a strike," the GOP's Sen. Bill Cadman, of Colorado Springs, said after the committee vote. "Unfortunately, what we got from the governor and his … [Read more...]
Bill Buckley (1925-2008)
Via K.J. Lopez at the Corner, news comes today that the great William F. Buckley, Jr., has passed away. While very few writers and speakers have ever had a greater facility with the English language than Buckley did, there was much more to him than the elegance of his prose. He was an intellectual champion for conservatism long before there was any popularity to be gained by it. From his seminal book God and Man at Yale to his great legacy in the founding of National Review, he did as much as any American in the 20th century to advance the conservative cause through logical, forceful, and passionate argument, as well as through refined wit and good humor. To get a glimpse of the man - his ideas and his rhetoric - you can search a … [Read more...]
Nature Dousing the Global Warming Crowd with Ice-Cold Water?
From Lorne Gunter at the National Post yesterday:Snow cover over North America and much of Siberia, Mongolia and China is greater than at any time since 1966. The U.S. National Climatic Data Center (NCDC) reported that many American cities and towns suffered record cold temperatures in January and early February. According to the NCDC, the average temperature in January "was -0.3 F cooler than the 1901-2000 (20th century) average." China is surviving its most brutal winter in a century. Temperatures in the normally balmy south were so low for so long that some middle-sized cities went days and even weeks without electricity because once power lines had toppled it was too cold or too icy to repair them. There have been so many snow … [Read more...]
A Tale of Two Alans
Here is a true tale based on the published insights of two men, highlighting an important contrast in credibility. Both men are named Alan. Both are from the Denver area. Both are Democrats. There the similarity ends. The story stems around Denver's Life Skills Center charter school, a program tailored to serve the city's most desperate "last-chance" students. The school has made a positive difference with some, but not all, of the students it serves. As this Denver Post story points out, Life Skills has struggled to meet its performance standards but is showing improvement. The first Alan is Alan Franklin, a paid Left-wing hack who does the bidding of political attack dog Michael Huttner. Franklin jumped on the Life Skills story to … [Read more...]
Battle of Cambria 46 Years Later
Diverting from our regular blogging fare on this Friday, we pause to remember the 46th anniversary of the decisive and destructive Battle of Cambria. It is also the 12th anniversary of the founding of Cambria Tours (Facebook account required to view page). The ill-fated, crushing defeat of February 22, 1962, along the frozen pond and quiet streets of a midwestern hamlet, marked the ultimate demise of the small and short-lived Socialist Union of Al Gansee. It's all chronicled in the biography of the quixotic and eccentric, Michigan-born dictator, Passion and Purpose: The Rise and Fall of Al Gansee. Rumor also has it that the battle's story is being adapted into a screenplay. We'll see if it goes anywhere. Questions linger regarding how … [Read more...]
Mr. Bob and Michael Yon: Last Major Iraq Battle?
Mr. Bob (via the amazing Michael Yon) points us to "The Last Major Battle in Iraq?" It is to my discredit that I don't keep up with events in the Middle East as well as I should. With the success of the "Surge" strategy, events in Iraq largely have fallen off the MSM radar and out of the Presidential campaign debate. But it was interesting to read this news today. After you check out this post, remember also to stop by the Victory Caucus website, which is loaded with tons of information and commentary. … [Read more...]
For Those Still Interested in Donating to Republicans, Announcing…
The National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC) has created a new user-friendly Web feature that enables online political contributors to give to any or all of the Republican candidates for U.S. Senate in one stop. It's called Two Seats. For conservative Republicans with limited resources who want to give strategically, I recommend campaign donations not only to Bob Schaffer, of course, but also to incumbent Sen. John Sununu (New Hampshire) and Norm Coleman (Minnesota), and to challenger John Kennedy (Louisiana). … [Read more...]
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