Category: Leftism and Political Correctness
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The Last Refuge of a Liberal
The last refuge of a liberal are charges of bigotry and intolerance. Charles Krauthammer: . . . promiscuous charges of bigotry are precisely how our current rulers and their vast media auxiliary react to an obstreperous citizenry that insists on incorrect thinking. — Resistance to the vast expansion of government power, intrusiveness and debt, as represented…
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More on ‘Suicide Bomber’/’Homicide Bomber’
I have been receiving e-mail about my earlier post on this topic. Here is one letter: I fear you may have been a little harsh on Bill Keller in your recent post about the virtues of calling suicide bombers 'homicide bombers'. Whilst I accept the conceptual and definitional analysis of the terms, surely the simple point is…
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‘Suicide Bomber’ or ‘Homicide Bomber’?
Bill Keller is the Executive Editor of the New York Times. I saw him on C-Span 1 on the morning of 1 September 2004. In response to a caller who brought up the issue of liberal bias in the NYT, Keller rightly pointed out that political opponents often try to seize control of the terminology…
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What Explains Islamist-Leftist Collaboration?
An analysis by Daniel Pipes. Excerpt: Why, then, the formation of what David Horowitz calls the Left-Islamist "unholy alliance"? For four main reasons. First, as British politician George Galloway explains, "the progressive movement around the world and the Muslims have the same enemies," namely Western civilization in general and the United States, Great Britain, and…
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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,…
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Islam’s Role in the Etiology of Terrorism
WARNING: Free speech and political incorrectness up ahead! Our man on the ground in Afghanistan, Spencer Case, writes: Here at Forward Operating Base Thunder, the captain has recently returned from leave, bringing with him his propensity for political debate. One hot subject in the office, the Ground Zero mosque, has led to a genuine philosophical…
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Don’t Mess With Texas: After 9th DWI, Texas Man Gets Life
News accounts like this one give me hope that there is still some common sense left in this crazy country dominated as it is by the politically correct. The sentence is just. Think about it. This is the miscreant's 9th conviction. The road to conviction is long. First there must be an apprehension, then a trial, then a…
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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,…
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Yet More on the Mosque and Matters Muslim
Malcolm Pollack e-mails from Gotham: That was an excellent post about that damned mosque. [. . .] I have meanwhile been arguing, back at my place, with Bob Koepp over burqa-banning – an excellent discussion of which was written at NRO yesterday by Claire Berlinsky. I think you would find it interesting; it's here. Very interesting…
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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,…
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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…
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More on the Ground Zero Mosque
This from a long-time reader: As a follower of your blog—in all its iterations throughout the years—I have a tremendous amount of respect for your opinions, philosophical and otherwise. Yet in your recent post on the Cordoba House building plan—apparently now called park51–I found myself disagreeing with you on several points of your discussion. When…
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Against Politically Correct Atheism
If contemporary Christianity and contemporary Islam are judged by their fruits, which is more conducive to human flourishing, or, if you think nothing good comes from religion, which is less conducive to human misery? I hope you are clearheaded and unprejudiced enough to see that the religion of 'peace' is far worse than Christianity, at…
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‘Guns on the Street’
It's a liberal phrase, a silly phrase, a phrase that aids and abets thoughtlessness. Liberals speak of the 'guns on the street' and of getting them off the street. Now I've walked down many a street inmany a city in this world, but I have yet to see any guns on the street. But I have…
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Will Liberals Ever Retire the Race Card?
Why should they? As good leftists, they believe the end justifies the means, and their shameless race-baiting is a means conducive to their ends. It works. That's why they do it. They must at some level have an inkling of what vile people they are to employ such a shabby tactic, but whatever sense of moral…