LEAVWORLD: GRAFFITI POLITTI

The Supreme Court has no business ruling on religion or religious symbols in the public square. To support this, I'll cite the text of the first amendment: "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances." This should be the limit of their jurisdiction. Period. What law has Congress passed that put the ten commandments in those courthouses? For that matter, when did Congress pass any law "establishing" school prayer, or religious displays in any public space? The closest thing I can think of is when Congress "established" Christmas as a national holiday. The rest of these things came about through individual initiatives, at the local or state level. Even if one accepts the proposition that state and local governments are held to th...

Dear Senators Schumer and Clinton, As a constituent of yours, I have a few questions for you: Why are you supporting the fillibuster of John Bolton, the man credited with getting the U.N. to reverse the "Zionism equals racism" resolution, and keeping him from being our next U.N. ambassador? Why are you blocking private retirement accounts for middle class people like me, and especially for the lower paid workers? Why do you support the status quo of spending the Social Security surplus as if it's general tax revenue? Why were you silent regarding Sen. Durbin's degrading comments about our military, likening them to the that of the worst regimes in modern times? I was born and raised in Manhattan, and moved to L.I. in my teens. I served in the U.S.M.C. from '81 - '85, and have lived on L.I. since. I feel that neither of you is representing me, or my ideas, in the Senate. As a native New Yorker, I am frankly apalled. Both of you speak about the need to hear ...

I just accepted an invitation to join a blog called LOVE AMERICA FIRST . My first post over there is titled FREEDOM AND RESPONSIBILITY , and I highly recommend reading it, of course (ha-ha). I'll be posting links to anything I post there, as well as putting the site on my favorite blog list. CHECK IT OUT!

I just got wind of a very underreported CNN story about a rescued Australian hostage in Iraq, Mr. Douglas Wood. The GALVIN OPINION , however, picked up on it, and it's worth a post here (tip o' the hat). Galvin posts a moving photo juxtaposition of Mr. Wood at terrorist gunpoint and his reunion with his wife, and I agree with Mr. Galvin's comments on the story. The underreported story is that Mr. Wood apologized for the statements he was forced to make, and reiterates his belief that the U.S - coalition policy is working. He bases the second point on the fact that he was rescued by Iraqis, not foreign coalition troops. This is huge, and should be touted by Pres. Bush in some way (a White House photo-op?). This man would be the perfect counter to the GITMO stories. He can tell the tale of being in a true life-or-death situation that the detainees at GITMO haven't faced since they were on the battlefield. The difference is that the threat of death to Mr. Wood was worse ...

This is an excerpt from a post on my friend MAGUA'S new LIBERALS SUCK blog. He got it from the "top ten liberal lies" at Boycottliberalism.com- Home By Thomas N. George, Editor of BoycottLiberalism.com© 2004. It lists numerous Liberal mischaracterizations made to thwart freedom in this country. Point # 9 explodes the "risky" liberal mischaracterization of this basic fact: SOCIAL SECURITY REFORM NEEDS TO INCLUDE PRIVATE ACCOUNTS! This has been neglected on this blog for too long; Here is my first attempt at correcting that oversight. Also, see the Blog Alliance for Social Security Reform website for the truth about this program, and the efforts to bring it into the 21st century. Tip o' the hat to MAGUA, who clearly "gets it." Here's the excerpt: Privatizing social security is risky. Contribute $300 a month to Social Security and you may get $1,800 a month when you retire. Sound like a good deal? There was a story about Dick Gephardt's moth...

This Morgan "Spurious" Spurlock guy has been burning my britches for some time, though I've not written about him before. He wrote and starred in the movie "Supersize Me," and now has a TV show called "30 Days." In the movie, he spends 30 days eating nothing but McDonalds, and has a doctor document the adverse effects on his health as he gains weight. On his new show, he does other things for 30 days, hence the title. If his formula holds true, the show will be a huge success. My problem is with his formula. I didn't see his movie, but the same result might be obtained by eating at any "mainstream" diner or restaurant in the USA that serves breakfast, lunch and dinner (basically everything but vegan-tofu joints or hoity-toity dinner clubs). For that matter, I could start drinking a bottle a day from the selection at my local liquor store and document much worse health effects. Perhaps this explains why he only appears in the first episode...

Since I've ridiculed several ABC news programs, both in this blog and on their local affiliate's message boards (even a few emails), I thought it only fair to praise them for their continued employment of John Stossel . I always enjoyed his consumer reporting over the years, but haven't seen much of him since I stopped watching most ABC news shows (the overnight World News Now being the exception, as it's the only news I get on my non-cable TV at those hours). He's writing a column now, and has taken on government regulation with the same gusto I remember him having for exposing fraudulent products and services from the private sector. This has got him labeled "conservative," and caused some controversy, but it seems that ABC is doing the right thing by keeping him employed. His new book, "Give me a Break!", and his new weekly column will undoubtedly bring more viewers to 20/20. Mr. Stossel has already become one of my favorite weekly reads, and ...

ZETTY TWINE is my favorite place for common-sense extremism, shown excellently by this post (link no good). Okay, MAGUA's a little nuts, but so am I! I'm not throwing stones from this glass house, especially when he posts gems like this! I agree with him that regarding the "islamofascist" terrorists, no "Sympathy for the Devil" from these quarters should be found. Indeed, "No Quarter" should be given at all. Spread the word, and use the graphic. UPDATE: MAGUA'S moved his ZETTY site, and the graphic is no longer available. I'll try to post it at LEAVART with links here and elsewhere, as soon as he emails it to me.

In my previous post about GITMO detainees flushing the Koran, I cited three vague reports. I also implored the MSM to look into this (-as if!), to make amends for the hyping of a small number of detainee abuse incidents. The silence was deafening. Well, Michelle Malkin has stepped up to fill the void left by the MSM. Her latest column outlines the abuses of the Koran by the detainees themselves . (Here's a link to her 06/03/05 blog post preceding the column, also linked in the title of this post.) I read it today in the NY POST, but it's not in their online edition. The gist is this: there are several documented occasions of detainees "abusing" the Koran, including ripping out the pages and flushing them down the toilet. It appears that urinating on someone else's Koran is an acceptable act if done by one detainee to another through the cell bars; some even have renounced Islam altogether, and returned their Korans. I'm starting to think that the Koran is...