Monday, November 18, 2002

Fidel Castro Heads U.S. Protest [AP World News] President Fidel Castro led tens of thousands of people in a rally outside the American mission Monday to protest the U.S. government's decision to free eight Cubans who left the island last week on a stolen crop-duster plane. Okay, here's a real difference between Bush and Clinton. If this had happened when Clinton was President, those eight people would be sent back to the hellhole they escaped from. comment () trackback ()  9:13:43 PM     I finally ordered a PC for myself today, which using Symantec's employee computer purchase program. I got a Micron, which I will probably end up using mostly for games. I'm eagerly awaiting Star Wars Galaxies, which will (hopefully) be out early next year. comment () trackback ()  2:04:41 PM     The 'Great Generation'?. In 1794, Congress appropriated $15,000 for relief of French refugees. James Madison stood on the floor of the House to object, saying, "I cannot undertake to lay my finger on that article of the Constitution which granted a right to Congress of expending, on objects of benevolence, the money of their constituents." James Madison, you'll recall, is the acknowledged father of the Constitution, and he couldn't find constitutional authority for spending "on the objects of benevolence." Your congressman might say, "Madison was all wrong; after all, there's the 'general welfare' clause." Here's what Madison had to say about that: "With respect to the two words "general welfare," I have always regarded them as qualified by the detail of powers connected with them. To take them in a literal and unlimited sense would be a metamorphosis of the Constitution into a character which there is a host of proofs was not contemplated by its creators." Thomas Jefferson echoed similar sentiments saying, "Congress has not unlimited powers to provide for the general welfare, but only those specifically enumerated." [WordNetDaily] comment () trackback ()  1:01:06 PM     The Myth of the Tolerant Left. Consider the House Un-American Activities Committee, one of American liberalism's bêtes noires for its investigations of suspected Communists. It was actually founded at the instigation of a left-wing New York congressman named Samuel Dickstein, who wanted to investigate the Ku Klux Klan, "fascists," and other miscreants. For its first few years it was known as the Dickstein Committee, and liberals had no objections to it. Later, however, it was chaired by Congressman Martin Dies of Texas and began turning its attention to Communist activities in this country. At that point liberals changed their minds and decided that the Committee was the American version of the Spanish Inquisition. As for Dickstein himself, Flynn notes that he later became "a paid agent of the Soviet Union." [Sobran's] I hadn't heard about the Dickstein Committee before, but it didn't surprise me at all that such a thing existed, and that the liberals had no objection. After all, liberals' poorly-concealed fondness for Communists is hardly surprising. However, it goes both ways--a search on the Dickstein Committee reveals that they were investigating actual fascists just as McCarthy was investigating actual Communists. The scare quotes Mr. Sobran added are in keeping with conservatives' poorly concealed fondness for fascists. The title of this article is a bit misleading, though. Sure, the left likes to talk about how tolerant they are, but does anyone else actually believe them? I think most non-leftists are well aware that the left is totally intolerant. comment () trackback ()  12:51:00 PM     The Spoils of Victory. Today, one might think that the GOP faces something of a problem. The party has been running on a platform of cutting government in every election since World War II. During that time, the overall tax burden on the American family has risen from 17 percent to 40 percent. [Ludwig von Mises Institute] Personally I don't think there's any chance the Republicans will change. Why should they, when they've successfully convinced the people who vote for them that they will cut government and lower taxes despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary? comment () trackback ()  12:26:07 PM     N. Korea Radio Backs Off Nuke Report [AP World News] North Korea's state-run radio backed away Monday from a report that the communist state has nuclear weapons, South Korean officials said. I'll bet they did that so the Europeans would have an excuse (however feeble) to oppose whatever the US government decides to do about North Korea's nuclear weapons. comment () trackback ()  11:53:08 AM

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