So that we shouldn't forget

I'm saving this, because it has now returned to the news.  I hope other parties see fit to remind the voters of it during the campaign.

Speaking of which, the campaign ought to be a systematic analysis of those policies and legislative initiatives proposed or enacted--not to mention the "executive orders."  Just saying--there is no lack of material here, a great deal of which simply is odious to most voters.  Let's remind them, politely but firmly.  We've got months to work on this and get it right.

No excuses for failure!

Beautiful!

Save Hugh's comments for the campaign.  It contains a rubric for scoring the debates the right and effective way.

Stresses

When the history of these times is written, we may become aware of how close our republic has come to tyranny--the usurpation of private rights and dignities in favor of state manipulation.  The obsessive adherence of the current majority--may their hegemony be brief!--to the tools of bureaucracy, propaganda and economic disruption creates a pseudo-justification for an ultimately thuggish totalitarianism that cannot be sated.  I'm sure there are some in places of influence who work as the engineers of this process in the name of progressive, scientific humanitarianism.  What we see is the work of their amateurish, clumsy, uncentered, uncritical and often unwitting minions.  And seeing that is a good thing, for this insidious will to power must betray itself by its own contradictions.

A unifying program for Republicans, and citizens of good will.

Dick Morris has proposed a pretty detailed set of priorities that if followed could provide a unifying focus for the Obamacare resistance.  It's worth noting in full:

1. Restore the Medicare cuts mandated in this bill. Block the reduction of physicians' fees by 21 percent scheduled to take effect this fall. Override the cuts in Medicare that require annual approval by Congress. Challenge the Democrats over each and every cut. Try to peel away enough votes to stop the cuts from driving doctors and hospitals to adopt the course already taken by the Mayo Clinic in refusing to take Medicare patients.

2. Defeat the Democrats in the 2010 election! Start with the traitors who voted no in November and then switched to a shameful yes when it counted in March: Baird (Washington), Kosmas, and Boyd (Florida). Then go on to win the open seats in the House and Senate. And then fight to replace as many Democrats as possible. Remember:   Any Democrat who voted no would have voted yes if they had needed his or her vote. The only way to repeal Obamacare is to vote Republican.

3. Defund:  once we get the majority in both chambers, defund appropriations for the Obamacare program. The bill Congress passed and the president signed is simply an authorization measure. Congress must appropriate funds for it each year. Through zero funding these changes, we can cripple them before they take full effect.

4. Repeal, once we defeat Barack Obama, this disastrous plan before it can ruin our healthcare system. Then, we must replace it with a Republican alternative which relies on the marketplace, tax incentives, and individual responsibility to provide healthcare to all Americans

From a very clear-eyed observer...

...named Jacques Maritain (d. 1973), come these two comments: 

"I don't see America as a mainland, but as a sea, a big ocean. Sometimes a storm arises, a formidable current develops, and it seems it will engulf everything. Wait a moment, another current will appear and bring the first one to naught."

"The great and admirable strength of America consists in this, that America is truly the American people."

Maritain, a Frenchman, wrote a short testimonial to this country as he found it in the 1940's, called Reflections on America.  To some in the current moment, these words are a warning; to others, they are strength and consolation.  Be patient.  "Stay thirsty, my friends."

"Possible upward price pressures in the pipeline"

Now there are hints that the (inevitable) inflation which must result from the vast increase in government spending may be in evidence. We should hope this is not the case, for two reasons: One, it's just more hardship and pressure on the economy which is struggling to breathe on its own. Two, high inflation will provide another opportunity for the statists to interfere again in the marketplace by imposing controls. Here's another version of the same facts. You'd think that someone may have planned this....

On to Haiti...

Amid reports today of US troops now offshore to begin a mission in Haiti--and it is right that they do so--another step in shaping the Obama legacy is taken. Together with the now-renewed commitment in Afghanistan, this president's most lasting bequests to the nation may well be these potentially long-term commitments of American soldiers. They are two long-failed states whose stability will for a generation only be guaranteed by outsiders. I hope the folks in D.C. understand that.

My, what thin skins!

This White House crew, including their boss, have the thinnest skins in memory, and lack the shame to hide that fact in public. Like the old coach said to his excessively-celebrating athlete following a score: "Act like you've been there before."

See here: Gibbs takes gloves off to challenge reporters, hosts who cross Obama.

And of course, the ever-even-handed Mrs. Pelosi just loves freedom of political speech, as well: Speaker Pelosi Backs Senate Amendment to Regulate Talk Radio.

Shame and more shame.

Shame on these people--specifically, the president and the congress. The stimulus the country needs should address priorities, not all this senseless growth of government spending. Here are the clear priorities: provide relief in the housing mortgage sector--people genuinely need some intervention here; get the banks lending again--otherwise, what was the original TARP for?; provide people with quick cash through a fast tax rebate and/or substantial tax cuts. These actions would be LESS COSTLY and far more effective than this "generational theft," as several parties have called it. The nation will be limping from this ineffective indebtedness for many years. Actually, if all they did was to help with the problematic mortgages--which were encouraged by the government in the first place--the neediest and hardest-hit would benefit directly, and the economy would start itself in short order. I hate to call people fools, but this train is heading for the cliff.

"The most moral army . . .

. . . in the world."

See here: http://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2009/01/022466.php

I don't doubt the basic truth of this proposition for a second. As I write this, however, I hear some Palestinian representative on the Houston news talking about "a very large scale massacre." Of course, he had to look at his shoes as he said that.

Anatomy of a war

Dennis Prager diagnoses the nature of the conflict now being engineered by the extremist Muslims in the light of the Mumbai events. There is every reason, historically, politically and ideologically, to take seriously what he says--that the war on the Jews is a war on the democracies of the West. What will be our response?

The only guide to a man is his conscience; the only shield to his memory is the rectitude and sincerity of his actions. It is very imprudent to walk through life without this shield, because we are so often mocked by the failure of our hopes and the upsetting of our calculations; but with this shield, however the fates may play, we march always in the ranks of honour.

Winston Churchill, 12 November 1940, House of Commons

Justice, love and forgiveness

Rabbi Schmuley Boteach has a very challenging comment on the senseless violence perpetrated by terror agents in Mumbai. He suggests that "forgiveness" is not the pure-and-simple right attitude regarding such actions. I'm not sure that his call for a stern attitude is best and most purely motivated by moral revulsion--although this sense deserves to be acknowledged. Retribution always must come from the positive sense of justice and by the ever-present need of civilized, peaceful society to protect itself from the acts of the truly evil and the merely lawless among us. I always have a right to sacrifice myself. I never have the right to tolerate conditions where the violent will violate the innocent. The Rabbi is correct in saying there is a need for the expression of just anger, and for a determined response; but all such expressions must be rightly motivated.

Yet more clarity on the life issues

In the latest issue of the Texas Catholic Herald, Cardinal DiNardo summarizes the mood, both optimistic and very, very guarded, of the Catholic community, as it manifested itself in the recent (post-election) meetings of the U.S. bishops:

After much discussion, the Bishops also asked the President of the Episcopal Conference, Francis Cardinal George, to issue a statement concerning the recent national elections. I believe Cardinal George’s remarks are clear and helpful in dealing with some important matters that may come before us in the months ahead. He first recognizes the historical importance of the election of the first African-American President of the United States, and he writes that the bishops look forward to working together with President-elect Obama and the new members of Congress. The Church always looks to cooperate in bringing about the common good and the various goods that underlie it.

The Cardinal then writes:

“The fundamental good is life itself, a gift from God and our parents. A good state protects the lives of all. Legal protection for those members of the human family waiting to be born in this country was removed when the Supreme Court decided Roe vs. Wade in 1973. This was bad law. The danger the bishops see at this moment is that a bad court decision will be enshrined in bad legislation that is more radical than the 1973 Supreme Court decision itself.”

I share in Cardinal George’s recognition of a present danger. As the statement says, in the last Congress, a Freedom of Choice Act (FOCA) was introduced that, if repeated in the next Congress, would outlaw any law that limited providing abortion at will. Any moderate restraints by the States would be annulled. FOCA would coerce all Americans into subsidizing and promoting abortions with their tax dollars. Parental notification and informed consent precautions would be outlawed, as would be laws banning procedures such as partial birth abortion and protecting infants born alive after a failed abortion. FOCA would be disastrous for prenatal human life. FOCA would also have a disastrous effect on the freedom of conscience of doctors and nurses and health care workers whose convictions do not permit them to cooperate in the private killing of unborn children. Further, the passage of FOCA would threaten our Catholic health care institutions and Catholic Charities.

The bishops are of a single mind on opposing evil, the evil of abortion and those laws and statutes that promote abortion. I am in complete agreement with the Bishops on this and will, no doubt, be asking the commitment and active voice of our Catholic faithful in witnessing publicly to this basic commitment of our faith in the public square. We must all

watch carefully in the next few months to see how this pro-life issue is addressed and be ready to respond clearly and instantaneously.

Cardinal Francis George spoke for all the bishops in his formal statement, delivered upon the close of the conference. His words are even more stark than Cardinal DiNardo's:

FOCA would have an equally destructive effect on the freedom of conscience of doctors, nurses and health care workers whose personal convictions do not permit them to cooperate in the private killing of unborn children. It would threaten Catholic health care institutions and Catholic Charities. It would be an evil law that would further divide our country, and the Church should be intent on opposing evil.

On this issue, the legal protection of the unborn, the bishops are of one mind with Catholics and others of good will. They are also pastors who have listened to women whose lives have been diminished because they believed they had no choice but to abort a baby. Abortion is a medical procedure that kills, and the psychological and spiritual consequences are written in the sorrow and depression of many women and men. The bishops are single-minded because they are, first of all, single-hearted.

The recent election was principally decided out of concern for the economy, for the loss of jobs and homes and financial security for families, here and around the world. If the election is misinterpreted ideologically as a referendum on abortion, the unity desired by President-elect Obama and all Americans at this moment of crisis will be impossible to achieve. Abortion kills not only unborn children; it destroys constitutional order and the common good, which is assured only when the life of every human being is legally protected. Aggressively pro-abortion policies, legislation and executive orders will permanently alienate tens of millions of Americans, and would be seen by many as an attack on the free exercise of their religion.

This statement is written at the request and direction of all the Bishops, who also want to thank all those in politics who work with good will to protect the lives of the most vulnerable among us. Those in public life do so, sometimes, at the cost of great sacrifice to themselves and their families; and we are grateful. We express again our great desire to work with all those who cherish the common good of our nation. The common good is not the sum total of individual desires and interests; it is achieved in the working out of a common life based upon good reason and good will for all.

If these words aren't a clear message to the new administration and its supporters about who-owes-what, I don't know what is. There needs now to be a national drive to educate the Catholic public and Catholic politicians about the signal role of the life issues in the Seamless Garment doctrine. Certainly there are many types of advocacy collected under this general heading. However, we are ending the era when Catholic spokespersons, politicians, clergy and educators can draw a type of "moral equivalence" that levels out the issues and allows those who would cover their abortion-favoring agendas with this blanket.

Pro-Life's Next Step is Visibility

Now the secret is out: The Church teaches that both abortion AND the death penalty are immoral:

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/metropolitan/6129597.html

If the battle is to be joined on the life issues, now is the time. Newly-elected public officials ought to take notice that the Church is working to educate its own members, giving witness so that all will know, and acting in order to achieve genuine change. This is a genuine first step, especially considering the willingness of the Chronicle to play the action on page one. Good work all around.

I also note that congregations of other denominations aided in the prayer vigil. All it takes is leadership and initiative--they will come to the cause.

Sanity in education.

The president-elect could do a lot worse than consider the advice of two columnists, Meredith Baker and Mike Feinberg, in today's editorial section.

Ms. Baker's point is that the needs of the nation are currently poorly served in several areas of government policy, one of which is education. Our secondary schools, she says, don't produce graduates ready to lead in the world community; other nations far exceed what we ask of our graduates. Only 13 percent have taken Calculus upon graduation; the ratio of students in American schools who have studied Chinese versus students in Chinese schools who study English is 1 to 10,000. Ouch. She concludes:

My generation won't be able to effectively govern and keep the economy running strong (or at least help it recover) if we don't have a well-educated workforce and technically strong citizenry.

Mr. Feinberg, one of the founders of the KIPP academies, covers the familiar basics of education policy, including a strong appeal for freedom of choice:

Pick a secretary of education committed to accountability and public school choice: When Obama picks his Cabinet, he will make a strong statement about the direction of his administration. President-elect Obama should pick a secretary of education who deeply understands the issues of funding and accountability on the federal, state and local levels, and who is passionate about student achievement and growth. Having one national test with one rigorous set of national standards will ensure our children can compete in the global marketplace as well as help parents know how well their children are progressing in school. The secretary of education must also support the growth of public charter schools, which give educators freedom in exchange for increased accountability. Families will benefit from the healthy competition resulting when multiple high-quality public schools serve the same community.

The proportionality argument

In an e-mail conversation the other day, I allowed that I thought the U.S. Church was correct in its teaching that the life issues were to be taken as primary among the public considerations used by one's informed conscience as one votes. My friend and correspondent wrote something like this: "Well, you know that this terrible war in the Middle East is cutting short some lives and futures, too."

He has a certain point--a war may be a bad thing. I was tempted to buy into this informal equivalence argument. Fortunately, I gave it a moment's thought. There is a significant difference between the personal action of abortion and the decision of a government and its responsible parties to order hostile actions to be conducted in the name of their people.

Further, unless one is using nuclear weapons, the loss of life is grossly disproportionate, and that disproportion falls incriminatingly against abortion. The commonly accepted statistic for 2005 (slightly outdated, but one I recall clearly) is that 1.2 million elective abortions were performed in the U.S. By contrast, 4,191 American soldiers have lost their lives in the Iraq conflict--none last month, by the way. Using a ratio of abortions per day in 2005, that number of 4,191 abortions was performed in about 32 hours, 1 1/3 days, in that year. Granted that there would certainly be other arguments about war and about abortion, the sense that "they both take life" doesn't seem anything but a dodge to me.

Whose funeral are the poll-bearers attending?

Are the outliers the polls showing the 9-point gap in Obama's favor that the cheap--er, free--TV networks are touting or the polls showing the 2- to 3-point difference, with McCain closing intermittently over the last week. On the closer-race end of things, Hewitt's breakdown is here, and Geraghty's is here. If the latter scenario is the one shaping up, then Obama is right where Kerry was in 2004. "Got 'em right where we want 'em," should then be the theme from the McCain campaign.

News Flash: Radicals favor Republicans

Tapes from UBL, the Hezbollah takeover in Lebanon, and more unease from the IAEA about Iran's pre-nuclear mischief all seem to hint that the Al Qaeda and other radicals really do want to provoke the country into a conservative vote in the fall. You would think that these folks would lie low and play very politely in order to cast the impression that their intentions really are peaceful. After all, who wants to believe that they're really bullies?

Either that, or they can't wait.

Pure Propaganda

No wonder the daily papers are having trouble. That this disinformation should pass an editorial board is jaw-dropping:

Palestinians marked the 60th anniversary of their uprooting with rallies, sirens and black balloons today -- an annual ritual made even darker this year by crippling internal divisions and diminishing independence hopes.

... Today's events commemorated the displacement of hundreds of thousands of Palestinians who either fled or were driven out of their homes during the 1948 war over Israel's creation. Palestinians call it their "nakba," Arabic for catastrophe.

The only catastrophe here is this version of events. By the way: who initiated hostilities?

"Nothing is happening as planned."

The words of Olympian Stephane Diagana, one of the torchbearers for the 2008 Olympic torch as it was carried through the streets of Paris. It was apparently more of a daylong scuffle, as protesters of China's violent abuse of freedom-minded Tibetans impeded the progress of the parade and tried to make the point that China's hypocrisy in this matter merited a serious re-thinking of how the world's nations will approach their participation in this summer's Games. Now we're beginning to hear Olympic movement officials speak about their hesitations--at least those concerning the long procession of the Torch around the world. All of this encourages the Tibetans and confounds and embarrasses the Chinese tyrants.