LEAVWORLD: GRAFFITI POLITTI

I often post about STOP the ACLU , and repost alot of their stuff. This week, I want to focus on an organization that I learned about from the fine folks at STACLU. The Alliance Defense Fund is kind of an ACLU for people of faith, who choose to express it openly. Apparently, the ACLU is often an opponent of religious civil liberties; the ADF is there to oppose them, as well as some like-minded activists in the bureaucracy and judiciary. Here's a roundup of some of their latest cases, so you can get an idea of where they stand : 5th Circuit upholds parental rights victory for Texas teacher Teacher represented by ADF ally denied promotion after declining to move her children from private religious school to public school ADF attorney available to the media following hearing on Ga. man jailed for handing out religious literature Alliance Defense Fund Senior Legal Counsel David Cortman will be available to answer questions from the media following a hearing Wednesday in the case Bauma...

"Bush wants to take us into a war with Iran." HULABAZOO! This is a "scare tactic" from the left. I love it that they aren't terrorized by the thought of a nuclear weapon in Iran's possesion, than the thought that Bush might authorize a war with them over it. It's not going to happen. This has become a political football for the Dem primary candidates. Obama accuses Hillary of giving Bush "cover" for an invasion with her vote declaring Iran's Republican Guard and Al Quds Force terrorist organizations, but he wasn't there for the vote. I have to side with Hillary on this one. The truth is that these organizations are responsible for the Shiite terrorists in Iraq, as well as linking with both Sunnis and Christians in Lebanon and the Palestinian Authority, especially the Gaza. They fund Hezbollah, Hamas, among other terrorists. Let's look at the "sabre-rattling" done by other world leaders recently. Ahmedinejad just called the...

Seeing the recent news (link) about the Mafia's "vote" on whether to whack Giuliani back in the '80's, I was reminded of an old publicity stunt he pulled with then-Sen. Al D'Amato, in '86. Picture D'Amato and Giuliani dressed as bikers. buying crack on a NYC streetcorner. Here's an excerpt from The New Yorker, August 4, 1986, p. 66: (link) D'Amato & Giuliani, dressed in disreputable clothing, went to what amounts to an open-air drug market in Washington Heights. They were accompanied by 30 armed federal agents & undercover police plus photographers. Within a few seconds each had bought 2 vials of crack. No arrests were made. The purpose of the excursion was to demonstrate that it's easy to buy crack in that neighborhood. I remember the photos. They were hilarious! Expect them to resurface soon, probably with a story of how improved that corner is today. Google the title of this post for more links, but I didn't find any that sho...

In my last column , I noted that the NYCLU thanked NY Gov. Spitzer for his "illegal alien drivers license" plan. I wonder if they'll thank him for this week's stunt. Assembly Minority Leader James Tedisco (R) has pledged to sue Spitzer, to block the drivers license plan. Now, Spitzer has blocked $300,000 of "member item" spending in Tedisco's district. "Member items" usually mean pork, but in Tedisco's struggling Assembly district, the money was designated for, among other things, the following : Upgrading one school district's elementary school playgrounds; video surveillance upgrades for another; finally, $100,000 for Schenectady's health clinic, which provides free health care for poor and uninsured people. Tedisco predicts that this will shut the clinic down, harming the most needy people in his district. It's not hard to see why the Gov's poll numbers are in a freefall, and not likely to come back up anytime soon. Stil...

There they go again. The NYCLU sent out an email containing the following excerpt: Then, on September 21, Governor Spitzer announced his plan to expand access to New York State driver’s licenses to hundreds of thousands of immigrants living in New York. This was a tremendous step for public safety, for immigrants’ rights and for the civil rights of all New Yorkers. The policy will enable some 500,000 New Yorkers to emerge from the shadows and become full contributing members of society and the economy, building trust between undocumented communities and law enforcement. Take a moment to thank the governor for taking action to promote public safety, safe roadways, and civil liberties for all New Yorkers by clicking here. Now, this is not surprising, but it brings up several questions. First, won't this make it harder for employers to screen out people who are here illegaly, opening them up to legal sanctions? I hear my friends on the left saying that the feds should "go after...

No one can dispute the lack of reporting on improvements in the Iraqi front of the war. Here are three (make that four) stories that haven't seen much exposure, but they are far from the only ones. Let's start with the number of US casualties dropping greatly in the last months. This excerpt is from Special Report, with Britt Hume : Washington Post media writer Howard Kurtz spoke Sunday with Post reporter Robin Wright and CNN Pentagon correspondent Barbara Starr about why the media paid so little attention to the shrinking casualty numbers coming out of Iraq. Kurtz asked Wright if the story should have received more play. She responded - "Not necessarily. The fact is we're at the beginning of a trend - and it's not even sure that it is a trend yet... The numbers themselves are tricky." Starr said she needed more than one month's numbers before she "gets too excited" about the subject. But when Kurtz asked if an increase in casualty figures would ...

"I'm innocent, I'm VERY innocent"... So said Isaiah Thomas, after he, James Dolan, and MSG were found guilty of sexual harassment of Anucha Browne Sanders in the workplace. The trial featured depositions of Mr. Thomas saying that a Black man calling a Black woman "bitch" was not as offensive as a White man doing the same thing, and another MSG executive saying that the "N" word is okay for executives to use to co-workers. You won't find any record of that in a Google search, but I saw it myself, in the early part of the trial. Why is race relevant to a sexual harassment trial? Good question, but maybe Mr. Thomas answered it. If he sees a difference in the meaning of the word "bitch," directed at a Black woman, from White and Black men, it seems to support the case that he is insensitive to women's perceptions, which is a prerequisite of this kind of harassment. As a man, I can say that I've seen this type of man before, and th...

In response to the Media Matters -inspired "dustup" over Rush Limbaugh's "phony soldier" comment, Sen. Tom Harkin took to the Senate floor, and said "Maybe he was just high on his drugs again. I don’t know whether he was or not. If so, he ought to let us know. But that shouldn’t be an excuse." As a person who has been addicted to drugs, I am outraged. To use a federally-sanctioned (and subsidized) "handicap" as a slur demeans the office he holds, and the floor he spoke on. Would he be able to get away with saying that "Rush is back on crutches again?" Or how about "that disease must be getting to his brain, again?" Would the "honorable" Senator Harkin deign to use that phrase against a political pundit? The Senate needs to censure Harkin, for citing Mr. Limbaugh's addiction in the lowest, most offensive type of personal attack. Harkin's comments, and the whole ginned-up controversy are covered over at Mic...