A Peek at the Curious Paradigms of the Left

It was just a little one.

After recently completing a rather tedious back and forth with a proponent of the left's ideology, I find the ongoing efforts by Warren defenders to explain away Elizabeth Warren's mis-representations all the more humorous.  So then here is Bernie Quigley mounting his defense of the truth challenged senatorial candidate:

So Warren's claim to be "part Indian" is correct in mythical terms. Every old-school white Oklahoman is in this regard even if this is nominally not true. But it is not a lie to want to be Indian and to imagine your ancestors were.

When Ms. Warren applied for the position at Harvard Law, did she say to them that she wished to be a Native American, or did she in fact state she was a Native American?

Did Bernie ever wish himself to be a fireman or an astronaut?

If Bernie had to undergo an operation, would he find it understandable and excusable to he discover the person that did the operation always wished to be a surgeon, though in fact they were not?

Those nominal flasehoods are a bummer sometimes.

It's as if Mr. Quigley is divorced from the environment in which Ms. Warren made this claim. She was promoted by the university as an example of diversity (in outward appearance and classification only).  She was likely hired for this reason. For Warren to claim she is Native American and Quigley to excuse it as wishful thinking on her part is to be naive in the extreme. Wishful thinking on Quigley's part, certainly, but not on the part of Ms. Warren.  The very notion is laughable, and people like Quigley should be laughed at, and laughed at heartily.

Go ahead.  That's pretty much what I do.

Steyn Rings the Bell

Mark Steyn has written another great one. As creepy as John Edwards is, and he is pretty darn creepy, the most scary thing for you and I is the abusive power of the Federal government.

" ...the prosecution has too many advantages. With corporate fraud, the tradition is that, in order to skewer the CEO, the government buys the CFO. Having deemed a politician's "family image" to be in effect a business venture, the feds identified Andrew Young as Edwards's CFO.

Young is a confessed liar whose loyalty to his boss was such that he claimed to be the father of Edwards's baby. But it's remarkable how the offer of federal immunity can wither the devotion of even the most stout-hearted of retainers. Having bought its witnesses, the Justice Department files multiple counts, generally ensuring that jurors wishing to appear sophisticated can dismiss the majority of them while convicting on enough to send the accused to jail for longer than the average European serial killer, and for a crime no one can explain to anybody who isn't a federal prosecutor.

John Edwards lives with the two youngest children of his official government-regulated "family image." Emma Claire is thirteen and Jack is eleven.

They have no mother. For some reason the United States regards it as a priority to see that they be more comprehensively orphaned."

As wrong as the prosecution of Conrad Black was for him, for us the prosecution of John Edwards is equally vile. The expansion of governmental power and its intrusion into the freedoms of the common, or uncommon, citizen has become grotesque in the extreme. Let us be a free people yet, and to that end let us require the government to reign itself in.

Read his whole piece here.

TSA Returns to Clown School

Priding themselves on making no use of judgment whatsoever, the TSA has outdone themselves in absurd searches and patdowns.

Former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger got searched by a Transportation Security Administration employee while going through a security checkpoint at LaGuardia Airport in New York Friday, The Washington Post reports. Kissinger, who was in a wheelchair, was told by a TSA agent that he needed to be searched.

Why now, would Mr. Kissinger need to be searched? Do they really think he possesses the intention, let alone the capability, to take over or destroy the aircraft he would soon be riding in?

Earlier this year, Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., was detained at a Nashville airport after refusing to be searched by TSA officials.

Yes, well, of course.

The only thing that would add to the folly would be if the former Secretary of State and author of the Paris Peace Accords was not recognized by our stalwart defenders of freedom.

“They gave him the full pat-down. None of the agents seemed to know who he was.”

Perfect.

Steyn on the Loss of Liberty

Mark Steyn has an excellent piece on Islam, multiculturalism and the strangulation they have upon the free societies that they have blossomed in:

For every independent-minded soul like Senator Bernardi, Lord Pearson of Rannoch, or Baroness Cox (who arranged a screening of Wilders’ film Fitna at the House of Lords), there are a thousand other public figures who get the message: Steer clear of Islam unless you want your life consumed — and steer clear of Wilders if you want to be left in peace.

But in the end the quiet life isn’t an option. It’s not necessary to agree with everything Mr. Wilders says in this book — or, in fact, anything he says — to recognize that, when the leader of the third-biggest party in one of the oldest democratic legislatures on earth has to live under constant threat of murder and be forced to live in “safe houses” for almost a decade, something is badly wrong in “the most tolerant country in Europe” — and that we have a responsibility to address it honestly, before it gets worse.

Read the whole of his piece here.

Jonas on Distinctions

George Jonas reflects on the left's focus on identity politics and privileged grievance groups.

One of the worst things about identity politics is that they encourage individuals to define themselves by their least important attributes (sex, race) rather than their most important ones (intellect, character). Identity politics expect people to choose role models who are of the same sexual or ethnic or socio-economic background, rather than the same interest, moral outlook, or intelligence.

What nonsense. As a 12year-old, I picked powerful Porthos as my role model from Alexander Dumas' novel The Three Musketeers. I cared little if he was far removed from me in ethnicity or socio-economic status, to say nothing of period, class, and lifestyle. I chose the portly musketeer as my role model, as no doubt thousands of other 12-year-olds did, because of his courage and loyalty. What I admired was his unthinking readiness to draw his sword for his comrades. His ethnicity mattered as little to me as his blood type would have, had the eminent story teller provided it.

I love that guy. And I have to read the Dumas classic. But you can read the whole Jonas piece here.

Fijian Tribal Elder Weighs in On Liz Warren

The Happy Warrrior once again has fun at the expense of the aimless Elizabeth Warren, whose foray into multiculturalism decades ago has caused such interest in her take on diversity and self promotion:

Elizabeth Warren, who can’t understand why anyone could possibly get the idea she’s been passing herself off as a Cherokee for most of her adult life. Well, maybe they got if from Harvard’s daily newspaper. From 1998:

Harvard Law School currently has only one tenured minority woman, Gottlieb Professor of Law Elizabeth Warren, who is Native American.

This may be the drollest diversity scam since an Englishman called Archibald parlayed himself into global celebrity as the Ojibwe Indian “Grey Owl“.

Steyn's a crack up. Read his whole peice on the matter here.

Conservative Mourdock to Challenge RINO Dick Lugar for Senate Seat

Indiana has a primary race on its hands for the seat of 35 year encumbent Republican (not really) Richard Lugar. Dick Lugar is as liberal a Republican senator as one is going to find. A Washington insider, he has been there so long he has become disconnected from his home state. In fact, Indiana is mis-acredited as Lugar's hime state, as the senator sold his home there in 1977 and has not lived there since. A Tea Party favorite, Mourdock is being outspent 10 to 1 against the 80 year old Lugar, and yet the challenger is holding a ten point lead. The conservative Mourdock has been underscoring the lack of fiscal responsibility among Washinton elites:

“The downgrade by S&P of our debt from ‘AAA’ to’ AA+’ is a serious event that will impact all Hoosiers and Americans. Financial markets will open this coming Monday to see the United States with a credit rating of less than ‘AAA’ for the first time ever. How the markets will respond is impossible to predict.

“S&P’s downgrade illustrates its viewpoint of our entire economy, not just the government’s ability to pay its bills. In mandating its downgrade, S&P, in effect, is stating that they have less confidence in the United States’ economy to grow and recover in the long run. They believe the United States is losing the ability to create the wealth, which is the basis of the taxes the government needs to pay its bills.

Not good.

“Conservatives have said for years that the federal government must be forced to live within its means. I take some consolation that S&P has now echoed our call.”

Amen, brother.

Meanwhile, Lugar is out asking Democrats and independents to cross over and vote for him in Indiana's open primary. Sheesh.

Endorsed by Mark Levin, Sarah Palin, Rick Santorum, Michelle Malkin and a host of other conservatives, State Treasurer Mourdock has the right stuff to make a difference in Washington. Best of luck Tuesday to Richard Mourdock.

Rhetoric Stomping White Boy

After making the point that the story puts to question Elizabeth Warren's credibility, Tucker Carlson goes on to make the broader point that one's genetic make-up does not qualify one for distinction, and would not do so in a just society:

But leaving that aside, it does provide a window into a system that is fundementally corrupt, that rewards people based on their DNA, a system that is inherantly unfair. It was unfair when it happened under segregation, it’s unfair now. Indeed, it’s indefensible and that’s why she doesn’t want to talk about this, because she did gain material advantage by lying about her ethnic background. And no one should gain advantage because of his ethnic background, period.

For this Jehmu Greene calls him a bow-tying white boy?

Yeah, well he's the bow-tying white boy that's kicking your ass. The best Greene could come up with was a false query:

"Are you saying that the only reason she succeeded at Harvard was because of a box that she checked?"

No, Greene, he is saying that people that advance themselves in this manner do so under a system that places a perphiral and inconsequential feature above true acheivement. Such a system will be capricious, and not only abuses those people passed over for failing to have the proper skin tone, but also undermines and places into question those minorities that do succeed on the basis of their hard work and ability.

Next time, Jehmu, think about preparing an actual argument. And leave your racial toss away lines back at the apartment.

Hat tip to George Pal

The Politics of Ruination

With an administration pursuing policies that are ruinous to the country, one may be puzzled with the logic of it all. Thomas Sowell has unwound the politics of a government bent on punishing the energy and job creators that make the country go:

"...history shows that some of the most successful politicians have been people who ruined the local economy and chased job-creating businesses away. Mayor Coleman Young of Detroit in the 1970s and 1980s was not worried when affluent whites began moving out of the city in response to his policies, because they were people who were likely to vote against him if they stayed. Of course they took their taxes, their investment money and the jobs they created with them. But that was Detroit's problem, not Coleman Young's problem. Barack Obama may win re-election by turning the United States into Detroit writ large."

A voice crying in the wilderness? Perhaps so, but Dr. Sowell's on the money. Read the whole thing here.

High Time

The BBC reports:

Former media mogul Conrad Black has been released from prison in Miami after serving just over three years

Lord Black has said he didn't steal from his company, and the evidence supports that position. His new book, "A Matter of Principle," is a finalist for Canada's National Business Book Award. In the book, Lord Black recounts his fight in the U.S. justice system.

Welcome home, Mr. Black. You have been missed.