Radley Balko in Time:blockquote>Whodda’ thunk that twenty or ten or even five years ago that a major news magazine could pose a question like “are you responsible for your own weight” and not only would there be actual debate on the question, but the “no” side would start the debate with the upper hand?

It’s crazy. If you aren’t responsible for what you put into your mouth, chew and swallow, what’s left that you are you responsible for?

I would have actually watched the State of the Union if it had been like this.

By no means do I wish to downplay the stupidity that occurred at Abu Ghraib, nor do I wish to say anything other than it was wrong. This is an interesting tidbit I read today on Kuro5hin.

This movie makes Abu Ghraib look like a Christian summer camp. It depicts naked POW’s transferred between camps. Many of them apparently suffocated during the transport, all hold marks of heavy beating and torture, one has an open fracture of an arm.

All of this was filmed by a Russian guard back in 2000. The prisoners are fighters who, once promised amnesty, surrendered after the battle of Komsomolskoje in Chechnya.

None of them is believed to be alive today. Three (out of 76 prisoners) managed to escape. Out of those three, two hung themselves, and the remaining one had disappeared.

Read this article by Cathy Seipp about Ike: Countdown to D-Day. She has some great commentary about Hollywood and war. Here’s some good stuff from the author of the screenplay:

“The parallel today is not about Democrat or Republican,” Chetwynd noted. “Without leadership that clearly understands what it must do, and is willing to take responsibility for that, you don’t win. In war, there is little nuance. You win or you lose.”

“All through the ’30s and into the first part of the war, particularly during the Battle of Britain, there was a position that if we just sit down with that nice Mr. Hitler and talk to him, everything would go away,” Chetwynd continued. “And there’s some of that now

I not happy with George W. Bush as President. He has expanded government, increased entitlements, and he has not done positive things. However, now more than ever it is apparent that he was a superior choice to Al Gore. Here’s a speech Gore gave recently, and man, he has come unhinged.

Check out what John Podhoretz has to say about the Gore speech:

I’VE been on many radio shows in the past few months talking about President Bush, and I’ve invariably been asked to justify the view that Bush made a place for himself in history by responding quickly and forcefully to the 9/11 attacks.

Surely, say hosts and callers, it didn’t matter all that much who was president on 9/11, because Al Gore would have reacted and acted in exactly the same way. I have usually responded by saying that, yes, I think he might well have responded similarly.

I was wrong. There is no way of knowing how he would have responded, because it is now clear that Al Gore is insane.

I don’t mean that his policy ideas are insane, though many of them are. I mean that based on his behavior, conduct, mien and tone over the past two days, there is every reason to believe that Albert Gore Jr., desperately needs help. I think he needs medication, and I think that if he is already on medication, his doctors need to adjust it or change it entirely.

Yahoo News reports:

Author E.L. Doctorow, who penned “Ragtime” and “City of God,” was stunned when his commencement address at Hofstra University was booed by some students angry at his criticism of President Bush.

“I thought we were all supposed to speak out,” he told The Washington Post in Tuesday’s editions. “Isn’t that what this country is about?”

In a 20-minute address to graduates at the Long Island school on Sunday, the novelist criticized Bush’s tax cuts, anti-terrorism policies and the Patriot Act, but focused mainly on what he called Bush’s “untrue” stories about the war in Iraq.

How can Doctorow complain? Weren’t these students merely “speaking out.” Isn’t that what Doctorow thinks people should do? Plus, what did he expect? If you turn a commencement speech political, you can expect that you are going to get booed. Especially when you call the President a liar.

One of my biggest frustrations with liberals is that they don’t trust people to make the “proper” decisions for themselves. Here’s Harold Meyerson (who thinks that unions and high taxes built California) on education in California:

But Arnold’s political skills have made for some awful public policy. By refusing to restore the tax bracket that applied to California’s wealthiest citizens during the 1990s, he is shortchanging the young people on whom the state’s future depends. Schwarzenegger is also proposing a 44 percent cut in Cal Grants — a program for qualified students from poor families that enables them to attend in-state private and public colleges.

Peter Dreier, a political scientist at Occidental College, a small, rigorous Los Angeles college with a stunningly diverse student body, notes that “most of my best students — disproportionately immigrants and the children of immigrants — have been those who would not have been able to attend college without Cal Grants.”
…
He betrays no understanding that a well-educated citizenry was the secret of the postwar California boom, or that investing in promising young Californians today does more to build a prosperous state than enabling the rich to invest more money in ventures across the globe.

I’m sorry, but anyone who wants a college education can get enough loans and grants from the federal government and private parties to get through college, even at Occidental. The State of California isn’t the sole provider of money for the education of college kids. Without Cal Grants these kids might have to take more personal responsibility, but isn’t that a good thing? I doubt Meyerson would think so and would insist that these college kids don’t know what’s good for them and would pass up on a college education to save a buck in the short term. Maybe so, but who am I to say that a college education is right for everyone?

Here’s a great website that explains your Constitutional rights regarding traffic stops, street stops, and when the cops come to your door.

The movie, The Day After Tomorrow is just a excuse to play with special effects, but some people think it should have real implications. For example, there’s this quote:

“Whether its premise is valid or not, or possible or not, the very fact it’s about climate change could help to spur debate and dialogue,” said Gretchen Cook-Anderson a spokeswoman for the US National Aeronautics and Space Administration.

“In the event that the movie is popular beyond American borders, it will be an opportunity to spur dialogue, to inform people and educate people about climate changes.”

Did Star Wars “spur debate” about aliens and extraterrestrial life? Does Shrek 2 “spur debate” about Ogres and the care fore Ogres, because the disasters that occur in The Day After Tomorrow are in the same league of fantasy as Ogres.

I’m fine with the movie as a special effects extravaganza, but Al Gore’s trying to use the movie to make political point is why I don’t like him. The article also say:

The world premier in New York will be accompanied by a demonstration in favor of protecting the environment to be attended by former vice president Al Gore (news – web sites).

Gore said, “Millions of people will be coming out of theaters on Memorial Day weekend asking the question: ‘Could this really happen?’ I think we need to answer that question.”

The answer is NO Al. Yes Ice Ages happen and yes the earth can warm up, but not like it does in the movie. But this just goes to show that people like Al Gore will use any scare tactics to try to gain converts to his religion.

Wal-Mart is taking over Vermont, or so says the National Trust for Historical Preservation. They write:

With historic villages and downtowns, working farms, winding back roads, forest-wrapped lakes, spectacular mountain vistas and a strong sense of community, Vermont has a special magic that led National Geographic Traveler magazine to name the state one of “the World’s Greatest Destinations.” Yet in recent years, this small slice of America has come under tremendous pressure from the onslaught of big-box retail development. The seriousness of this threat led the National Trust to name the state to its list of America