Category: Leftism and Political Correctness
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Diversity and Divisiveness
Liberals emphasize the value of diversity, and with some justification. Many types of diversity are good. One thinks of culinary diversity, musical diversity, artistic diversity generally. Biodiversity is good, and so is a diversity of opinions, especially insofar as such diversity makes possible a robustly competitive market place of ideas wherein the best rise to…
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Cash For Clunkers
The lunkheads of the Left really outdid themselves when they dreamed up this new wealth redistribution scheme. An acquaintance of mine told me of his son who turned in a 1989 Ford pickup with over 200, 000 miles on the odometer, a vehicle worth $50 according to my friend, a former mechanic, and received $4,500…
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The White House Beer Summit
So what's on tap? If Officer Crowley shows up with a sixpack of Negra Modelo, will he be accused of racism by Professor Gates? After all 'negra' might remind someone of 'nigger.' Not long ago the use of the word 'niggardly' cost a man his job because it reminded some fools of 'nigger.' I am not making…
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Of Black Holes and Political Correctness: If You Take Offense, Is That My Fault?
Suppose a white person uses the phrase 'black hole' in the presence of a black person either in its literal cosmological meaning or in some objectively inoffensive metaphorical sense, and the black person takes offense and complains that the phrase is 'racially insensitive.' Actual case here. Compare that with a case in which a white…
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Ten Questions for Supporters of ‘ObamaCare’
The following piece by Dennis Prager is required reading. It's so good I herewith reproduce the entire article. The threat to liberty posed by the Obama administration is unprecedented. Do your bit to oppose it and stand up for what is right, assuming you actually care about yourself and your country.
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A Right to Health Care?
Food, shelter, and clothing are more important than health care in that one can get along for substantial periods of time without health care services but one cannot survive for long without food, shelter, and clothing. Given this plain fact, why don’t the proponents of ‘free’ universal health care demand ‘free’ food, shelter, and clothing?…
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An ‘Epidemic’ of Drunk Driving?
If you are a conservative, don't talk like a liberal. A while back I heard an otherwise intelligent C-Span presenter speak more than once of "an epidemic of drunk driving." But an epidemic, by definition, is an outbreak of a contagious disease in excess of what might normally be expected. To describe drunk driving as an epidemic,…
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Are You a Liberal? Take This Test
The following statements in boldface are taken verbatim from Dennis Prager's Are You a Liberal? I comment briefly on each in turn. Mirabile dictu, it turns out I am not a liberal! I could make of each of these items a separate post. (And you hope I won't.) I don't want to hear anyone complain that I…
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On Profiling
Do all liberals lack common sense? No, but many of them do. If you are a liberal and oppose criminal profiling, then I say you lack common sense. It is obvious that only certain kinds of people commit certain kinds of crimes. Suppose a rape has occurred at the corner of Fifth and Vermouth.…
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Is Greed the Engine of Capitalism?
The Financial Times reports on a piece of silliness from the Pope: Pope Benedict XVI on Tuesday condemned the “grave deviations and failures” of capitalism exposed by the financial crisis and issued a strong call for a “true world political authority” to oversee a return to ethics in the global economy. One mistake the good…
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The Medical-Industrial Complex, Part II
Part I is here. The liberal-leftist animus against corporations is undoubtedly excessive, as is their pollyannish trust in Big Government solutions to every problem under the sun; but this should not blind us to corporate irresponsibility especially when the corporate types work hand-in-hand with liberals to 'medicalize' the ordinary difficulties of life.
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The Medical-Industrial Complex
No doubt you have heard of ADD. Recently I learned of a new medical condition known as ADHD: attention deficit hyperactive disorder. What could be called the medical-industrial complex is a curious alliance of soft-headed liberals eager to invent diseases and celebrate their 'victims' and money-grubbing corporate types out to turn a quick buck. Liberals…
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Jacques Maritain on Right and Left
Before one is a conservative or a liberal ideologically, or by party affiliation, one is a conservative or a liberal temperamentally, or by disposition. My suspicion is that temperament is a major if not the main determinant of political commitments. First comes the disposition, then come the theoretical articulation, the arguments, and the examination and…
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Liberal Hypocrisy
Bruce Thornton reviews Peter Schweitzer’s Do as I Say (Not as I Do): Profiles in Liberal Hypocrisy, (Doubleday, 2005, 272 pp.) Excerpts:
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Is the Scamp Worse Than the Hypocrite? Right and Left Perspectives
Distinguishing among saints, strivers, hypocrites, and scamps, I implied that the hypocrite is morally superior to the scamp: Hypocrites espouse high and choice-worthy ideals, but make little or no attempt to live up to them. Scamps, being bereft of moral sense, do not even recognize high and choice-worthy ideals, let alone make an effort to…