Stop the Blame Game Over Budget Stalemate
March 31, 2011 at 10:02 am | Posted in NewsRealBlog | Leave a commentTags: budget, Budget Cuts, Chuck Schumer, compromise, debt, deficit, John Boehner, Mark Meckler, NewsReal Blog, tea party, tea party patriots
by Walter Hudson, contributed to David Horowitz’s NewsReal Blog
It goes without saying that messaging is important in politics. To that end, it is not uncommon for allied politicians to synchronize their rhetorical watches and get on the same talking points. Even so, it’s one thing to know that. It’s another to catch a rare glimpse of it actually happening.
Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., a member of the Democratic Senate leadership, got on a conference call with reporters Tuesday morning without realizing the reporters were already listening in. Schumer thought he was on a private line with four Democratic senators who were to talk with reporters about the current budget stalemate.
Schumer instructed the group(…)
“The main thrust is basically that we want to negotiate and we want to come up with a compromise but the Tea Party is pulling Boehner too far over to the right and so far over that there is no more fruitful negotiations,” Schumer said on the call. “The only way we can avoid a shutdown is for Boehner to come up with a reasonable compromise and not just listen to what the Tea Party wants.”
The Reign of Group Think: Be Nice and Compromise
March 29, 2011 at 7:00 pm | Posted in NewsRealBlog | 2 CommentsTags: Antonio Gramsci, Cable News, Hegelian Dialectic, John Avalon, minnesota, mngop, News, NewsReal Blog, Republicans, Saul Alinski, Socialism, The Daily Beast
by Walter Hudson, contributed to David Horowitz’s NewsReal Blog
I remember being grouped together with other students as early as the first grade. Rather than being arranged in rows of individual desks, we were clustered in groups of four, facing each other. We were given work to do as a group, rather than as individuals.
I despised the practice then, and I continued to all the way through college. It didn’t seem right to have to compensate for others and share a grade. The result was always the same. I did less and worse than I would have individually. It was far more work to pull others along than it would have been to work alone, and there were diminishing returns. Since I did not benefit from that extra work, I found a slower pace which resulted in the best work-to-result ratio.
It wasn’t until I viewed Curtis Bower’s fantastic documentary film Agenda: Grinding America Down, and subsequently interviewed him for NewsReal Blog, that I fully understood just how insidious such group work is. It’s objective is to produce the results I saw growing up, retarding the individual and promoting group think.
Consider how effective this and similar strategies have been. We now operate within a political culture which regards compromise as a virtue.
Clinton & Gates Suggest Constitution No Longer Supreme
March 28, 2011 at 9:19 am | Posted in NewsRealBlog | Leave a commentTags: barrack obama, constitution, Hillary Clinton, international community, Libya, Military, National Sovereignty, NewsReal Blog, Responsibility to Protect, Robert Gates, United Nations
by Walter Hudson, contributed to David Horowitz’s NewsReal Blog
Recall how confused many of us were by the Obama candidacy? Remember how we laughed at “community organizing,” “hope,” and “change?” Do you recall the promise of “fundamental transformation,” and how few of us understood what it really meant?
If we learned anything from the Obama candidacy, it’s that we ought to be on our highest guard when this president is at his most perplexing. It is a mistake to dismiss what seems nonsensical and assume there is no method to the madness.
Since American military action began against Libya, confusion has reigned among policymakers and pundits. Some have pointed out the glaring inconsistency between President Obama’s past comments and his current actions, while others stretch the limits of credulity in an attempt to reconcile the disparity.
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton added to the cacophony on Sunday.
Robin Hood Was a Tea Partier
March 24, 2011 at 4:12 pm | Posted in NewsRealBlog | Leave a commentTags: Cable News, News, NewsReal Blog, Ridley Scott, Robin Hood, Robin Hood Tax, Socialism, tea party, UK Uncut
by Walter Hudson, contributed to David Horowitz’s NewsReal Blog
In a recent post covering a forthcoming London protest by UK Uncut dubbed the “March for the Alternative,” NRB’s Michelle Horstman introduced us to the Robin Hood Tax. It’s pretty much what it sounds like, a proposal to seize wealth from banks and redistribute it to “fight poverty” and “tackle climate change.” UK Uncut has garnered much attention as of late for its unconventional protest tactics, which is to say its willingness to use force to disrupt lawful trade.
Obviously, the folks at UK Uncut and their allies regard themselves as modern day Merry Men. They are certainly willing to skirt the edge of the law in pursuit of their cause, a supposedly noble crusade on behalf of the downtrodden. However, it is likely that Robin Hood would not recognize these pretenders. In fact, the preponderance of evidence within the folklore suggests Robin Hood would identify more with the modern American Tea Party than any socialist.
Paving the Road to Hell in Libya and Beyond
March 22, 2011 at 9:59 am | Posted in NewsRealBlog | Leave a commentTags: barrack obama, Intervention, Libya, National Sovereignty, NewsReal Blog, Peace, Responsibility to Protect, UN, United Nations, War
by Walter Hudson, contributed to David Horowitz’s NewsReal Blog
As the world’s focus shifts from the natural disaster in Japan to the man-made one in Libya, a fascinating controversy has developed within the foreign policy establishment. Many, including NewsReal Blog’s Joseph Klein and our colleagues at FrontPage Magazine, have argued that America should intervene militarily in Libya. Those arguments have evoked a “‘responsibility to protect’ civilian populations from genocide, war crimes, ethnic cleansing and crimes against humanity.” The United Nations has since passed a resolution to establish a no-fly zone, citing this “responsibility to protect.” This has led some to wonder whether the “R2P” principle will be turned against the United States and her allies, particularly Israel. The concern is well-informed.
It is easy to express righteous indignation in the face of Qaddafi’s campaign of terror against his own people. However, when we start to talk about a “responsibility to protect,” we are legitimizing a flawed strain of moral reasoning which could undo both national sovereignty and individual liberty.
The stakes of the issue cannot be overstated. If we are truly responsible to protect others, then the Left is right and we ought to become socialists.
Constitutional Fail: 7 Ways the Left Abuses the First Amendment
March 20, 2011 at 1:50 pm | Posted in NewsRealBlog | 1 CommentTags: constitution, First Amendment, Freedom of Assembly, Freedom of Association, freedom of religion, Freedom of Speech, Freedom of the Press, islam, morality, News, NewsReal Blog, objectivism, Public Employee Unions, secession, Socialism, tea party, unions, Wisconsin protests
by Walter Hudson, contributed to David Horowitz’s NewsReal Blog
It is perhaps the most renowned sample of law in the Western world, the first of ten amendments anti-federalists insisted upon adding to the Constitution. It’s purpose has been bemoaned by the sitting president of the United States.
…the Constitution is a charter of negative liberties, says what the states can’t do to you, says what the federal government can’t do to you. But it doesn’t say what the federal government or the state government must do on your behalf.
Despite the First Amendment’s intended purpose of prohibiting federal encroachment upon individual rights, the Left has masterfully twisted its guarantees into both rhetorical bludgeons and demands for provision. It seems increasingly common to encounter mindless cries of “freedom of speech” or “religious freedom” from people who do not understand what those or other rights actually are.
Gimme Gimme: A Tour of the Entitlement Mentality
March 18, 2011 at 9:00 am | Posted in NewsRealBlog | Leave a commentTags: Collective Bargaining, entitlement, Force, Labor Unions, liberty, NewsReal Blog, Public Employee Unions, Scott Walker, unions, Wisconsin protests
by Walter Hudson, contributed to David Horowitz’s NewsReal Blog
Words have meaning. If they did not, communication would be impossible. Unfortunately, in our political discourse, words are often sapped of their meaning and reduced to empty rhetoric. This handicaps our capacity for thoughtful deliberation. After all, if you can’t find common ground in the dictionary, what chance is there to find it elsewhere?
In the comment section of a recent NRB post regarding public employee unions and the related protests in Wisconsin, one of our readers demonstrated a curious inability to distinguish force from choice. The exchange was instructive of the entitlement mentality propagated by the Left. It is a worldview which includes relativism so extreme that it disputes the definition of words. Consider these excerpts.
pjz29: As a taxpayer with two non-union jobs, I am more than happy to pay good wages to public employees. Just because the “private sector” labor jobs are being reduced to match the 3rd World, it doesn’t mean that we should be bitter against those who [are] still… living comfortably.
NRB: Good for you. Then here’s what you can do. Take some of that hard-earned cash you have left over after the federal, state, and local governments have punished you for having the audacity to work hard in the private sector at multiple jobs to stay off the dole, then contribute as much as you can to parties, candidates, and political action committees which will work to insure other people (not you or your family) continue “living comfortably.” That is your right. It doesn’t have to make sense to me.
All I insist upon is a level playing field, that contributions to such causes be motivated by genuine desire such as yours, and not compelled(…)
Conservatives Must Rise Up and Shout “I’m Wisconsin!”
March 17, 2011 at 9:11 am | Posted in NewsRealBlog | Leave a commentTags: Collective Bargaining, Democracy for America, Hollywood, Howard Dean, huffington post, Labor Unions, NewsReal Blog, Public Employee Unions, Recall Elections, Scott Walker, Spartacus, unions, Wisconsin protests
by Walter Hudson, contributed to David Horowitz’s NewsReal Blog
It’s been many years since I watched the 1960 Academy Award winning epic Spartacus, spiritual predecessor to Ridley Scott’s rousing Gladiator. I don’t recall every detail. However, I do remember that much referenced scene toward the end.
Roman soldiers have finally routed a ragtag army of rebel slaves led by Kirk Douglas’ title character. The Romans offer to spare the defeated mob, and return them to their lives of slavery, if they will only give up their leader. As Spartacus rises to offer himself up for his men, one of them leaps to his feet.
I’m Spartacus!
Then another arises. And another. Soon the entire mob is risen, all contending to be the leader their enemy seeks.
A similar moment is called for in aid of besieged Republicans in Wisconsin. As The Huffington Post reports, conservatives are ill-prepared to fight back against the enraged union-fed beast they successfully stung earlier this week.
Who Are Wisconsin’s True “Forces of Evil?”
March 15, 2011 at 10:30 am | Posted in NewsRealBlog | Leave a commentTags: American Federation of Teachers, Collective Bargaining, Evil, Labor Unions, Madison Protests, morality, NewsReal Blog, objectivism, Public Employee Unions, Scott Walker, unions, Wisconsin protests
by Walter Hudson, contributed to David Horowitz’s NewsReal Blog
Over the weekend, public employee unions held a rally in Madison where the list of speakers included Bill Franks of the American Federation of Teachers. Franks had this to say about rank-and-file Republicans:
… the would-be Republicans, anybody making $30-40,000 who think they can afford to be a Republican is not living in any kind of reality. Real Republicans don’t recognize them. Because the real “haves” are them. And these people who think they can afford these [conservative] principles, they can’t afford them. That’s not in their self interest. That’s what we gotta cure as a pathology.
This is a common claim from the Left, that middle class conservatives are “lackeys” or “wanna be” dupes beholden to super-rich overlords. As a black Tea Party activist, I get double-takes for being both a “have not” and a racial minority. Why are you voting against your interest? I am asked. Don’t you know conservatives are holding you down?
In fact, I know the opposite. It has been the policies of the Left which have retarded opportunities for those with low-incomes.
Horrific Stabbing of Infant Shows Flaw in Leftist Worldview
March 14, 2011 at 11:45 am | Posted in NewsRealBlog | Leave a commentTags: Iran, isolationism, Israel, Itamar, libertarian, News, NewsReal Blog, Right to Exist, Ron Paul, stabbing, Terrorist, West Bank
by Walter Hudson, contributed to David Horowitz’s NewsReal Blog
A three month old baby girl was stabbed to death along with most of her family on Friday.
In the Israeli settlement of Itamar on the West Bank, at least one terrorist broke into the home of Ruth and Udi Fogel (35 and 36). The mother and father of six were brutally stabbed to death in their bed. The killer(s) then stalked from room to room and slayed three of six children – two boys, Yoav (11), Elad (3), and a three month old infant girl whose name was Hadas.
“The children were literally slaughtered,” an IDF officer said, describing the scene, including the children’s toys spilled out on the floor and covered in blood. “This is one of the most brutal attacks we have ever seen.”
Three other children in the family survived. Two were in a side room and perhaps went unnoticed. A third, the eldest son Tamar (12) was away from the home. Imagine how their lives have been devastated, how difficult it will be to salvage their broken hearts and rattled souls.
Follow & Contact:
-
As Seen On:
Become a fan on:
Blog at WordPress.com. | Theme: Pool by Borja Fernandez.
Entries and comments feeds.
