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A Roundup Of Classiness From Other Blogs

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Thoughts on Social Security reform:

SocialSecurityChoice.com on "Ideological Differences" on the issue:

"The debate can be viewed as one between supporters of individualism and free market solutions and supporters of the welfare state."

Indeed, one reason to reform Social Security now is to stave off the kind of pension crisis most European countries, with their socialist-leaning welfare states, have faced. When most of your population depends on the government just to get by, your economy is not as efficient as it should be. In an increasingly integrated global economy, the United States needs to be as efficient. Prosperity will flow where the market is most free and fair. America needs to be that place.

Patrick Ruffini on Harry Reid's thin skin:

"It took Daschle sixteen months as Majority Leader to finally crack under pressure. One month later, he became the only man in history to see his Senate majority lost to an incumbent President in a midterm election.

Reid has been on the job for less than two months, and in a much less weighty position. What disasters await The Man from Searchlight? And what does it say about Reid that the GOP has already defined him more thoroughly than he ever could himself?"

Harry Reid had a chance to work across the aisle, to rescue the Democrats from their recent anti-reform spasms, but he has chosen instead to set up a "war room" staffed by Kerry campaign types and continue the Daschle ways.

Liberal whining about poor little Harry Reid, from the Political Animal blog:

"Remember Tom Daschle? Mild mannered senator from South Dakota. Had the misfortune of being Senate Minority Leader when George Bush took office. By all accounts, about as good a guy as you could hope to meet.

I still remember the day several years ago when I turned on the radio and heard Rush Limbaugh lay into him for an entire hour. 'El Diablo' he called him. The most liberal, conniving, liberal, obstructionist, liberal, backstabbing, revoltingly nasty thug ever to hold a seat in the U.S. Senate.

Wow, I thought. (This was pre-blogging, so I only thought it.) This is what they're saying about Tom Daschle? Who's next? Mother Teresa?

Of course not. Mild mannered, gentlemanly Harry Reid is next up for the treatment. At least this time it doesn't come as a surprise."

Lame. Tom Daschle just oozed fakeness. He was not a nice guy. Plus: he WAS the chief obstructionist in the country. Comparing Tom Daschle or Harry Reid to Mother Teresa? Good grief.

Dalythoughts.com takes on Social Security from a political strategy point of view:

"The last time I checked, Democrats can still introduce legislation. They may not have the votes, but they can introduce their own plans. If they are unified and can peel off some Republicans such as Lincoln Chaffee, Olympia Snowe, and Susan Collins, they might even be able to pass something. And if it does not pass, they will be able to point to their plans during the next election cycle. Why are they not doing so?

Let me answer my own question with a guess. The reason is because Democrat politicians believe that their preferred alternatives would be political poison. Keep the death tax and roll back the Bush tax cuts? Sounds like a plan for cementing the view of the Democrats want to raise taxes. How about private Social Security accounts as an add-on? Most people have something already (401-k plans, IRAs)– and it would send a disasterous (for Democrats) message: private accounts are good, and those who can afford it can have them, but those who are barely getting by, you are out of luck."

Democrats are earning their label as the "just say no" party.

Polipundit comments on the upcoming British elections, sarcastically:

"On May 5, 2005, a general election will likely be held in Great Britain. The Labor Party has a nine point lead over the Conservative Party, 41%-32%. In 2001, the Labor Party won 43%-31%. So as you can see, the Iraq War is defintely an albatross around Blair’s neck."

Journalists and pundits have counted Tony Blair out many times over the past couple of years. They, of course, were wrong. Why were they so wrong? Maybe because they hoped he would be punished for Iraq. They hoped so much to be right about Blair's downfall that they let it cloud their judgment.

WILLisms.com is planning a retrospective piece on just how wrong the media elites were regarding Tony Blair's political future, coming up around the time of the British elections, so stay tuned.

The Captain's Quarters Blog destroys the media-driven notion that Iraq will now become a theocracy under Shari'a law:

"Contrary to the desperate analyses from Western journalists that have appeared almost daily since the Iraqi elections, the most influential Shi'ite cleric does not want an imposition of Shari'a law. Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani instead wants the government to follow parliamentary processes to codify a new direction for the world's newest democracy."

Again, the elite media REALLY want Iraq to become a democratically-elected theocracy. They hope/predict that Iran's government will gain great influence in Iraq. They hope that Bush's advance of freedom will mean the freedom to reject the U.S. and choose Islamic fundamentalism. They, of course, as usual, are wrong.

Powerline has the story on Ward Churchill's potential academic fraud:

"Churchill apparently has fabricated a story about the U.S. Army intentionally creating a smallpox epidemic among the Mandan tribe in 1837. Citing a paper by Thomas Brown of Lamar University, Campos reports that Churchill simply invented almost all of the story's most crucial facts, and then attributed these 'facts' to sources that say nothing of the kind.

In addition, according to Campos, John Lavelle, a Native American scholar, has documented what appear to be equally fraudulent claims on Churchill's part regarding the General Allotment Act, one of the most important federal laws dealing with Indian lands. Lavelle also accuses Churchill of plagiarism."

This Churchill guy is really symbolic of what is wrong with higher education these days. What does he even contribute to academia? What does he contribute to society?

These are just some of the classy stories out there. Stay tuned to WILLisms.com for more unlame commentary.

Posted by Will Franklin · 8 February 2005 01:04 PM

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