Maverick Philosopher

Footnotes to Plato from the foothills of the Superstition Mountains

Category: Current Affairs

  • Robert Royal on the GZM

    Here. Excerpt: If you’re like me, you’ve probably heard enough about the mosque. But the problem for me is that what I’m hearing doesn’t seem to address the main question. When NY Mayor Bloomberg says it’s a tragedy if 9/11 results in the loss of religious liberty – as if Islam were being curtailed here –…

  • Hats Off to Hentoff: “Pols Clueless on Ground Zero Mosque”

    Here.  Excerpts: Imam Rauf has refused to call Hamas a terrorist organization and had no comment when, on Aug. 15, Mahmoud al-Zahar, its co-founder, strongly supported the Imam's mosque near Ground Zero, saying, Muslims "have to build everywhere" (Associated Press, Aug. 16). Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., said the support by Hamas of the Imam's mosque…

  • The Ground Zero Mosque: The Controversy Continues

    And it seems to be heating up as the anniversary of 9/11 approaches.  I suspect dialogue with liberals on this topic is impossible due to what I call the 'two planets problem':  conservatives and liberals live on different planets.  You could cash out the metaphor by saying  that we differ radically in temperament, sense of life,…

  • Sacrilege at Ground Zero

    Charles Krauthammer, Sacrilege at Ground Zero.  This excellent piece really ought to end the debate.  But of course it won't.  I was going to link to Katha Pollitt's recent piece for an alternative view but it is so bad it is 'beneath linkage.' 

  • Illegal Immigration and Liberal Irresponsibility

    Peggy Noonan, America Is at Risk of Boiling Over: To take just one example from the past 10 days, the federal government continues its standoff with the state of Arizona over how to handle illegal immigration. The point of view of our thought leaders is, in general, that borders that are essentially open are good,…

  • Paradoxes of Illegal Immigration

    Philosophers hate a contradiction, but love a paradox.  There are paradoxes everywhere, in the precincts of the most abstruse as well as in the precincts of the prosaic.  Here are eight paradoxes of illegal immigration suggested to me by Victor Davis Hanson.    The titles and formulations are my own.  For good measure, I add a ninth,…

  • Still More on the Ground Zero Mosque

    Dorothy Rabinowitz, Liberal Piety and the Memory of 9/11: In the plan for an Islamic center and mosque some 15 stories high to be built near Ground Zero, the full force of politically correct piety is on display along with the usual unyielding assault on all dissenters. The project has aroused intense opposition from New…

  • Mel Gibson, Misplaced Moral Enthusiasm, and Real Threats

    Mel Gibson is in the news again.  What I said about him on 1 August 2006 bears repeating: What's worse: Driving while legally drunk at 87 miles per hour in a 45 mph zone, or making stupid anti-Semitic remarks? The former, obviously. And yet a big stink is being made about  Gibson's drunken rant. I call…

  • Can Federalism Save Us?

    I fear that we are coming apart as a nation.   We are disagreeing about things we ought not be disagreeing about, such as the need to secure the borders.  The rifts are deep and nasty.  Polarization and demonization of the opponent are the order of the day.   Do you want more of this?  Then give government…

  • A Mosque Grows Near Brooklyn

    Here.  Where is the money coming from? Sarah Palin calls the building of this mosque an "unnecessary provocation."  As opposed to what, a necessary provocation?  But don't let Palin's infelicitous language distract you from the serious point she is making.  It is indeed  a  provocation, and the Islamists are testing us to see how far…

  • Come to the USA

    Here.

  • Is Rhode Island in Violation of the Supremacy Clause?

    Rhode Island is already doing what Arizona is fixin' to do come the end of this month. As William A. Jacobson, Associate Clinical Professor of Law, Cornell Law School,  reports over at Legal Insurrection, ". . . Rhode Island already has implemented the critical piece of the Arizona law [S.B. 1070], checking the immigration status of…

  • Gallup Poll: Americans Oppose Federal Suit Against AZ Immigration Law

    Here.  The notion that the Obama Justice Department would waste millions suing  a state for passing a law that mirrors the content of a Federal law is absurd on the face of it, especially when the same Justice Department turns a blind eye to sanctuary laws which actually do violate the Supremacy Clause; but also from…

  • The Empty Suit Suit: U.S. vs. Arizona

    The ridiculous lawsuit the DOJ is bringing against Arizona could be called the 'empty suit suit' inasmuch as  behind it are a bunch of empty suits in line behind the Empty Suit in Chief. See Lawrence Auster, The Gravamen of the DOJ's Case Against Arizona. It is nice to know that not everything in The Arizona Republic,…

  • Feds Sue Arizona Over S.B. 1070 and the Etymology of ‘Shyster’

    Here is the full text of the complaint.  Dive in if you can stomach it.  It lends credence to Martin Luther's "Reason is a whore."  But these days, with the upgrading of prostitutes to 'sex workers,' the saying should go, 'Reason is a lawyer.'  Pay them enough, and they will argue anything. The complaint alleges that…