Reuters says: Afghanistan’s Taliban plan to abduct and kill more nationals from foreign countries whose troops serve under NATO and the U.S. military in the country, a spokesman for the Islamic movement warned on Monday. The vow comes just days after the Taliban released 19 South Korean hostages after their government struck a deal that…
Author: marc
Marc is a software developer, writer, and part-time political know-it-all who currently resides in Texas in the good ol' U.S.A.
3 Congress Critters and Their Tales
Two Republican senators have been in the news lately and not for anything good. David Vitter of Louisiana had his telephone number show up: in the phone records of Pamela Martin and Associates, the alleged prostitution ring run in the nation’s capital by Deborah Jeane Palfrey. Palfrey, who faces, federal racketeering and conspiracy charges, says…
Bush’s Bailout
President Bush outline a plan today that would help bail out hundreds of thousands of borrowers who have been unable to pay off their mortgages. CNN says: Foreclosure rates have soared over the past year as homeowners struggle to pay off loans that have become more expensive as they mature. Many are hybrid adjustable rate…
A Study in Cowardice
The Center for America Progress’ (CAP) recent study entitled “How to Redeploy: Implementing a Responsible Drawdown of U.S. Forces from Iraq” (PDF alert) features a quote from Sun Tzu, author of The Art of War: “No nation has ever benefited from protracted warfare.” This is meant to lead us into the center’s belief that America…
Football, Sport of Chumpions?
Is it just me or is football – the American variety, I should clarify, lest Europe be swept by another plague of soccer hooliganism because of this blog – the employer of a disproportionately large number of socially maladjusted freaks who either don’t know right from wrong or simply don’t care to acknowledge the norms…
Buckley: No More Unassimilable Muslims
Writing about the problem of assimilating illegal immigrants earlier this year I said: …this is exactly what assimilation demands – the cutting of ties with the former mother country and the leaving behind of other loyalties. Immigrants who come to this country and then actively seek to change the laws, values, and norms of their…
Censoring Satire
It seems the Washington Post and a large number of other mainstream U.S. newspapers will refuse to run the next two Sunday’s worth of Berkely Breathed’s Opus cartoon strip. Why? Judge for yourself: Pretty mild. And mildly funny. Certainly not worth censoring, voluntarily or otherwise. There are times when it can be embarrassing to be…
Going Down for Drugs
What won’t those daffy drug dealers do to disseminate their deadly produce? In Texas they dig tunnels hundreds of feet long so as to bypass border security. Now the Houston Chronicle reports they’ll even build their own pseudo-submarines like this one: The Chronicle says: The drug cartels are taking trafficking to new depths. The latest…
Elvira Arellano, Martyr
I recently discussed the arrest of Elvira Arellano, the flamboyant illegal immigrant who took refuge in a Chicago church to avoid deportation and proceeded to attach U.S. immigration policy from her sanctuary. One commenter to that post noted that he wasn’t all worked up about illegal immigration. But I can’t understand the attitude that condones…
Multiculturalism in Education
School is about to start in Texas and all over the state children and teenagers are alternately awaiting and dreading the beginning of another 180-odd days of enlightenment that will be delivered by the finest teachers a sub-standard pay rate, a regressive labor union, and a back-end loaded retirement system can deliver (along with more…