Tag: Blithe Spirit

Progressively fussing

It’s an old joke, but maybe you never heard it: Hearing police siren, one dude to other: “Change your name, here comes the wagon.”


This is the wise(guy) strategy of libs, now espousing “progressive.” I’ve said it before, I say it again, what’s wrong with liberal?


What’s wrong with it is that the ones who have used it the last 50, 100 years are in flight from their awful record and would like us not to think about that.


Besides, conservative has gained cachet, so that its presumed opposite has lost some.


Answer? Presto-change-o, let’s be PROGRESSIVE. After all, who wants to be un-progressive, i.e., stuck in mud, opposing new ideas, unwilling to change, etc.?


It’s a marketing ploy by those who, hearing siren sounds of voters switching, make haste to adopt new nomenclature.

Hard question for Sun-Times

Tom Roeser does Rev J. Jackson Sr. up brown in this rundown (second item) on his squeezing corporate money and jobs to feather his own nest, noting along the way how Sun-Times has retreated from its onetime muckracking of The Pout, as R. calls him, to the point of giving him a column for going after Republicans.

Which, says R.,

leads [to] a news consumer question: when will the newspaper stop paying a tithe in the form of a newspaper column which is nothing more than DNC boilerplate for which Jackson gets the sum of $150 weekly . . .

It’s a good business decision by S-T editors, because it gets Rev. JJ off their back and fits in with their Dem Party attachment, says R., but does it serve the consumer?

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Primitives in revolt vs. each other

In Investors Business Daily:

Middle East: Violence between rival Palestinian factions has erupted across the Gaza Strip. The death toll since the fighting escalated Saturday has hit 70. But in the West, none dare call it a civil war.

Oh my.  Can’t say if other outlets have been reporting this, but Fox News has been doing so for several nights now.  It’s a terrible sign of how incapable of governing themselves are the Palestinians and how needful they are of Israeli occupation to create a semblance of order and prosperity.

The intelligentsia of the developed world have too much invested in portraying the plight of the Palestinians as a problem created by hard hearts in Israel. Civil war? That better describes the quagmire President Bush faces is in Iraq. No such thing in the Palestinian territories. The people there and their beleaguered leaders are just spending too much of their energy trying to survive Jewish cruelty to fight among themselves.

And there’s more, more, more for our anti-Israel friends to consider . . .

 

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How bills (don’t) get passed 

The immigration bill is a sign of what’s to come with legislation once too complicated to understand except by highly paid lobbyists.  Thus John Podhoretz in NY Post, here excerpted.

This was a “comprehensive” bill, designed to thoroughly “take care” of a thorny problem. It sought to address every important issue relating to immigration – border and employer enforcement, guest workers, legalization and the means by which immigrants can become citizens.

. . . . For almost any lay person outside of government, it might as well be written in Urdu – so indecipherable is the drafting language.

That is by design. These bills aren’t written by the senators who negotiate them, but by the staffers who work for the senators. And since the bill seeks to “reform” existing laws, a lot of it simply makes reference to those laws and says Word A should be changed to Word B.

All of this shields the actual meaning of the legislation from the public, which must rely only on the general summaries of the legislation from politicians.

That’s the culture of Washington, thwarted by the Internet:

There was almost no way in the pre-Web era to piece together the actual provisions of reform legislation before it became law. Lobbyists were paid millions of dollars to do just that for panicked business clients – and to get their friends to stick in a few words here or there that would tilt the balance of the new law to benefit them and their clients.

This time, the bill, “released within minutes of its completion” on the Internet, “was quickly hacked to bits by paid experts, think tankers, lay thinkers, lawyers and logicians.”

They reported that “the bill would be ineffective at best at doing what it promised to do – identifying and regularizing illegal immigrants already here – and would only accelerate the entry of illegals after its passage.”

There was nothing to recommend it to those who believe illegal immigration is a critical problem for the country. Worse still, many of us who hold the view that illegals have proved a net plus to the nation could not countenance the legislation once the corkscrew impact of its provisions became clear.

So?

This can be a problem for any piece of “comprehensive” legislation, particularly those touching topics on which there is no national consensus. And the immigration bill’s defeat suggests that comprehensive bills of all ideological stripes will be susceptible to citizen revolts.

Ladies and gentlemen, we have met the enemy, and the enemy is not us, and we have free speech like never before.

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Missing the point on the Finkelstein story

Sun-Times carries a bad exercise in journalism today with this piece on denial of tenure:

For a man who has just lost his job after a highly public battle, DePaul University assistant political science Professor Norman Finkelstein is calm and accepting.

That’s because Finkelstein, whose tenure bid drew widespread interest because of the Jewish professor’s blunt criticism of Jews and the state of Israel — and the attack on those views waged by Harvard Law Professor Alan Dershowitz — stands firmly on the beliefs that may have got him fired.

Let us now praise noble men who stand firmly on their beliefs, for one thing.  But let us not give an iota of attention to tenure standards.  For another, denial of tenure is not a firing, as the lede implies, though it is a year’s notice.

For yet another, let us lay it on thick as a personality piece that is blatantly complimentary to a prof who has been denied tenure elsewhere, as we read in Chi Trib.  Thick?  Consider the 3rd and 4th ‘grafs:

“There is a song by the folk singer Keith Seeger, ‘Die Gedanken sind frei,'” the controversial academic reflected in a rare interview with the Sun-Times.

“That means, ‘thoughts are free.’ No one can deny that ‘die gedanken sind frei.’ They can deny me tenure, deny me the right to teach. But they will never stop me from saying what I believe.”

Etc. etc., violin chords in the background.

In Chi Trib, on the other hand, we hear both sides, including this:

Before coming to DePaul, Finkelstein taught at several New York universities but was not granted tenure. At DePaul, his application for tenure was supported by the political science department but opposed by Dean Chuck Suchar of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, who said he found Finkelstein’s attack-style scholarship inconsistent with the university’s commitment to respect for the views of all. [Italics added]

Attack-style scholarship, eh?  So there is a bigger question here, or at least more pertinent to the story, than one man sticking to his guns, which is a generic issue?  In any case, that’s what the dean did, right?

 

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Chi Trib on Knoxville murders

Don’t miss the Howard Witt-Chi Trib “special report” on black-on-white crime with focus on the Tennessee case of kidnapping, rape, and murder:

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — What happened to Channon Christian and Christopher Newsom, a young Knoxville couple out on an ordinary Saturday night date, was undeniably brutal. The two were carjacked, kidnapped, raped and finally murdered during an ordeal of unimaginable terror in January.

But whether the attack was a racial hate crime worthy of national media attention is another question, one that has now ignited a fierce dispute over the definition of hate crimes and how the mainstream media choose to cover America’s most discomfiting interracial attacks.

Witt, who is based in Austin TX for the Trib, touches all bases in his account, including conservative bloggers who have made this a cause celebre — though not my Queens NY friend Nicholas Stix, who has covered the matter exhaustively.  Witt writes with admirable control and keeps the wordage down. 

He also resists the urge to pontificate and draw conclusions, as if he were producing a dissertation in which he had to prove something.  Instead, he delivers a bona fide report, in which Stix and others may find gaps but I don’t.

Yes, he buries this:

[W]hen overall cross-racial violent crimes are tabulated—including incidents not formally classified as racially motivated hate crimes—Justice Department statistics show that blacks attack whites far more often than whites attack blacks.

But not jarringly so, in view of his adequate base-touching in fewer than 1,400 words.  This is a newspaper.  You don’t expect it to do opinion-journal things, or shouldn’t.  You very much do not want it to. 

It’s also a mainstream newspaper, which I admit may temper my criticism.  Page one on Sunday splash is not bad for a story that’s been underplayed for dubious reasons at best.

Witt does not question the whole hate-crime category, which is the product of our era of compulsive classification according to academe’s top trio of things that make the world go ‘round — race, class, and gender, as a journal (or blog) might do.

Less significant than the hate-crime description is the neutral designation black-on-white crime, as used by U. Tenn. law professor Glenn Reynolds, a.k.a. Instapundit, and cited by Witt.  There’s far more of that than white-on-black crime, Witt reports, which leaves us wondering if it’s adequately reported, legal requirements or not.

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About this being baffled . . .

. . . as said of “several” priests cited bafflingly by Sun-Timeswoman Hogan-slash-Albach:

What’s so “perplexing” about what the cardinal said? Isn’t it more perplexing that Pfleger used “snuff” and didn’t know what it meant on the street? Yeah, very, very, VERY strange. Now we’re gonna make the NRA the bad guys?

says a faithful reader.  Another, however, is not convinced:

i believe that he didn’t know what “snuff” means.. i think he used it in a way that indicates that…  you know he doesn’t want to kill anyone… he’s eccentric but not amoral.

I, on the other hand, am baffled by that comment.  What Father P. is or isn’t is not at issue, but what he said and what he believed about what he said.  Deep mystery here — not Trinity-doctrine-deep but still deep — as to why a holy priest of God would talk that way.  But let us leave it at that and not rush to judgment in either direction.

Meanwhile, the perhaps also baffled Cardinal George issues A STATEMENT!  Thank God for statements, which get things finally before the public and substitute, no matter how lamely, for face-to-face meeting and confident exercise of episcopal authority.

Again, however, credit Sun-Times, which broke the sacred noosepaper silence in the matter, while Chi Trib remains haughtily above the fray, unwilling to get its hands soiled.  Aren’t they sweet?

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Cardinal George knows how to hurt a guy

Cardinal George finally said something about Fr. Pfleger, who called for people to “snuff out” a gun store owner — to the public but not to Pfleger. 

He called Pfleger’s call to action at an anti-gun rally “[betrayal of] the civil order and . . . morally outrageous,” which is tough talk in some circles but sure to make no difference.  (full statement below)

He didn’t even tell Pfleger personally, says P., and oh my, does that not say volumes about the state of holy obedience in the archdiocese.  Nor did any of his aides on Superior Street, including his chancellor, Jimmy Lago, who calls the shots anyway, says Tom Roeser.

Pfleger continues to say he didn’t know what “snuff” means in his neighborhood, which is extremely odd.  In fact, it’s very hard to believe.  Not quite impossible but very, very, VERY hard.

The Sun-Times religion writer, having ignored the matter until George issued a statement (give G. credit, he got this in the Sun-Times but couldn’t make it into Chi Trib, which remains above the fray), cited “several of the archdiocese’s priests [who] said privately they were baffled by the cardinal’s statement.”

Oh?  In what respect?  Baffled?  Religion reporter Susan Hogan-slash-Albach is apparently also baffled but does not exercise her journalistic right or fulfill her obligation to inquire further.

She does, however, immediately note that George’s spokeswoman, Colleen Dolan, “said the cardinal wasn’t bowing to pressure from members of gun associations.”  Oh?  Someone said that? 

I’d prefer to think he’s bowing to pressure from Tom Roeser.

=================

STATEMENT OF THE ARCHDIOCESE OF CHICAGO
REGARDING REMARKS MADE BY FR. MICHAEL PFLEGER
June 4, 2007

On Saturday, May 26, 2007, during an anti-gun rally at a Riverdale gun shop, Fr. Michael Pfleger, pastor of St. Sabina parish, reportedly made aggressive and inappropriate statements threatening the store’s owner.

If the comments reported are accurate, and a threat was made, it is up to the civil authorities to investigate the matter and determine what if any action should be taken against Fr. Pfleger.

Francis Cardinal George, O.M.I., Archbishop of Chicago, stated, “publicly delivering a threat against anyone’s life betrays the civil order and is morally outrageous, especially if this threat came from a priest. It is first of all up to the civil authorities to determine what threat might have been contained in the remarks attributed to Fr. Michael Pfleger. With that determination, the sponsors of the anti-gun rally and the Archdiocese can better decide how to respond.”

— from Archdiocese at its site as of 6/10/07

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News that fits

Chi Trib with p-1 sob story that supports lib editors’ position on immigration.  Do they ever go with a sober assessment based on greatest good for greatest number?

Plus, “immigration reform”?  In whose playbook?  The 300–plus–page bill’s supporters’.

Obama plays race card with “Obama warns of black ‘quiet riot’: Rare speech on race decries hopelessness.”  He’s a climber, I told the lady of our house.  Punk, I’m telling you.

Cormac McCarthy doesn’t care how many read his books: He should be disbarred as a writer.  My books sold so few, it’s pitiful, but I lit a candle of thanksgiving for every one and would be glad to tell O. Winfrey any day, if she would only listen.

And how about those AP stories about the indicted La. congressman that don’t say he’s a Dem?  Not today in Chi Trib, where we have five inches on p-9, top left in home delivery hard copy, also AP, with its (D-La.).  About time.

Later: Note Dennis Byrne’s discovery of this as recurring phenomenon last April, at his Barber Shop blog.

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Lone Rangers never die . . .

Tony Peraica is going for broke as a lone wolf at the county board table.  His own release makes virtue out of his failure to get any support for his latest effort:

CHICAGO, IL – Cook County Commissioner Tony Peraica’s resolution of “No Confidence” in the Stroger Administration failed to garner even a “second motion” in today’s County Board meeting, cutting off debate and a vote on the measure.

“By failing to support this resolution, my fellow commissioners have made it clear that they stand with Todd Stroger instead of the Cook County taxpayers,” said Peraica. “By voicing confidence in Stroger, they are saying loud and clear they support the rampant corruption in County government, the hiring of Stroger’s political cronies, the utilization of the County budget as a political payback tool, the continued third-world conditions at Stroger Hospital, and Stroger’s support for a property tax increase.”

However, he quotes other commissioners, agreeing with his intent if not his resolution:

“I think we’re about to see a revolt,” said Commissioner Larry Suffredin in a 5/29 CBS 2 News story. “”There’s no confidence in this government today.”

“I think this is a hijacking of the county budget,” said Commissioner Mike Quigley in a recent Chicago Sun-Times column, speaking about Stroger’s use of Richard Velazquez, who is paid out of the public defender’s budget, as his personal legal counsel.

“There has been absolutely no leadership from [County Board President] Todd Stroger or anyone else in this county,” said Commissioner Forrest Claypool in a recent Chicago Sun-Times story, discussing the deteriorating conditions at the County’s Juvenile Detention Center.


His fellow Republicans want no part of this:

The Republican commissioners – including Liz Gorman, who also serves as chair of the Cook County Republican Party – have been largely silent on Stroger’s failings. This isn’t surprising, given that not one commissioner – Republican or Democrat – supported Peraica’s recent resolution opposing the governor’s “Gross Receipts Tax” proposal. Several Republican commissioners also supported Stroger’s budget, which cut countless frontline workers and county health clinics, while protecting Stroger’s patronage army.


So.  Cook County marches on . . .

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