China - Friend or Foe?

Here is in an interesting take by Cal Thomas referencing Dr. Constantine Menges who was the former special assistant for national security affairs to President Reagan and national intelligence officer at the CIA.

As anyone who has bought anything can attest, the United States is fulfilling one of Lenin's doctrines by purchasing the rope with which the communists plan to hang us. Too many things sold in America are made in China and too many corporations have moved their plants and operations to China, undermining the U.S. domestic economy and helping a nation that seeks to destroy us.

I for one want to believe that economics will transend hegemony.  However, it is hard to dispute the facts.  And, history shows us that dictatorships seek to control and not let democracy flourish.

Fillibuster Compromise Fallout

My first reaction was the same as many conservatives…anger at the 7 GOP senators who betrayed the president’s agenda. That said, it was interesting to see the Whitehouse come out this morning favorable to the deal. Not one for believing everything in Washington you see or here is above board, I got to thinking. This could be one of those deals with the devil which 1) kicks the can down the road, 2) tactically gets 3 key judicial nominees voted on, 3) energizes the GOP base once again to rail against the Dems and get a 60 vote majority in the Senate.

Washington may not be a pretty place but it sure does give us all a lesson in the art of the compromise and shrewd deal making. I am not the only one thinking this either. And, it also may corner the Dems in other areas.

New Weapon System - No Recoil

Check out this new weapon system.

Pepsi's prez gives US the Middle Finger?

These comments by Pepsi’s president doesn’t sit well.  I suspect it was an attempt at humor.  But, this was certainly an inappropriate place to try that.  I would say that this is one soda that went flat.  Also, I find it surprising.  My experience with Indian nationals doesn’t fit this thinking.

The Global Warming Pseduo Science Unveiled

This is a very good article on how the science behind the theory is supported more by ideology than facts.

Myron Ebell, who works for the Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI) in Washington, D.C., one of the few groups that examines global-warming claims skeptically, says that environmentalism is now a $1.5 billion industry. In Washington, skeptics (like himself) are outnumbered by global warming advocates perhaps by a margin of 300 to one. Yet CEI, greatly underfunded by comparison with groups like the Sierra Club, tends to be characterized in the media as "industry supported." The enviros' problem is that they have "everything going for them except the facts," Ebell says.

MSM attacks rather than apologizes

Reporters are scum.  I heard that they are the people who can’t pass anything else so they write articles which typically attack and denigrate others.  No ethics, amoral, anti-Christian, anti-American, can’t take the heat scumbags.  Read how they questioned Scott McClellan today.

Another Stormy Hurricane Season?

Let’s hope this is one forecast that the weatherman misses!

The Impact of the Newsweek Mess

The outrage that has poured out from the Arab street over the now retracted Newsweek article suggesting that US soldiers had desecrated the Quran has put our nation in a particular difficult situation possibly setting our efforts paid for in much bloodshed back several years. Further there is much doubt in the Muslim world about what the truth is.

What is particularly galling about this is the reaction of the liberals and Newsweek itself. The apologists are out in full force on the looney left. From their point of view, the end (power) justifies all means of achieving it – even the bloodshed of our sons and daughters. They are simply beneath contempt. Someone in the Pentagon who leaked this untruth as an unnamed source should go to Levinworth for many years.

Articles by others on this outrage can be found here, here, here, here, here, and a good summary of others’ reactions here.

Best thing to do is cancel your subscription. You can express your own outrage directly to Newsweek - mark.whitaker@newsweek.com

The Dichotomy of India

Squatters in the shadows of high tech offices in Hyderabad.
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Singapore in April

Picture of me in Singapore.
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The Five Rathas

The Five Rathas in Mahabalipuram. This is a stone monolith that took 30 years to carve in the 7th century AD.
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Hindu Temple

Hindu temple in Chennai. Rich tradition in their religion.
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Displaced Tsunami Victims

Displaced tsunami victims south of Chennai.
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Indian Countryside in April

Picture of Southern India country side from the door of the train I took overnight from Chennai.
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What Lane?

Traffic in Chennai.
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Brazil in April

View from churrascaria where we had lunch overlooking the mouth of the Port of Santos. Brazil is a really neat place. Good food, great people!
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Sandy gets away with it

How does Sandy Berger get away with lying to Federal prosecutors and Martha Stewart didn’t?  Seems like an awfully unbalanced and severe mis-carriage of justice.

Courts are troubling

Good review of the length to which our courts are usurping power from the other two branches of government.

What hits you most deeply? Odds are it's something the courts have done that affects your daily life or your beliefs. Other than the war, the issues that are Balkanizing America are those that the courts have decided to decide, usually without Constitutional imprimatur and in contravention of long-standing precedent. So what's your poisonous penumbra? Roe v. Wade? Gay marriage? The anti-constitutional hijacking of the President's powers as commander in chief? How about Sandra Day O'Connor and Anthony Kennedy importing European law to decide American constitutional issues? For House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, the breaking point was Terri Schiavo.

Norm Coleman sizes up Kofi Annan

The Senator from Minnesota provides good insight to the shenanigans going on at the UN.  If this were Kofi was in Ken Lay’s shoes at Enron, he would have been indicted already.

What Terri's life can teach us

Terri Schiavo passed away today. Please keep her and her family in your prayers.

We should not forget the lessons the focus on the final days of her life have taught us. Regardless of where you come down on the morality of her death, none of us should sleep well for the interference that occurred in this decision. It strikes me as simply stunning that the judiciary in this country has made such a raw power grab manifested in the way they treated this woman. Are we at a point where the interests of a position taken, argued about in a court, ruled on and "judged" outweigh the importance of life and its moral underpinnings? Our forefathers created the judiciary to temper us from populist movements. How do we temper our judges?

We should all worry where we are headed next. Karen Pittman lays out an excoriation of the judges who rule by judicial fiat and the chicken littles in the statehouses and Washington who do nothing to stop this blatant power grab by the judiciary.

Ultimately, it is our responsibility to hold our government accountable. I am willing to bet this will fall off the front pages and be forgotten until the next Terri comes along. We cannot and should not let her life lesson be lost on us as a nation lest we succumb to the depravity of moral relativism and a culture of death.