Sharp Knife

FREE PEOPLE

"...the myth of socialism is far stronger than the reality of capitalism. That is because capitalism is not really an 'ism' at all. It is what people do if you leave them alone." --Arnold Beichmen

SORRY 'BOUT THE LIGHT POSTING

but I'm camping outside the President's ranch until he comes out and explains to me why we haven't yet deposed the Saud Slave Power. Dammit, man; I want answers!

What's up with Sen. George Allen suggesting that the President meet with Cindy Sheehan? He didn't even mention that President Bush already met with her once. Or that Bush had graciously sent out two national security advisors to explain our policy to her. This doesn't speak well of Allen, who wants to be president; he's telling us that as president, he would fall for these kind of stunts.

And don't even get me started on Sen. McCain's mini-me, "Old Cut n' Run" Hegel. When did the Times become a state? They've got two senators.

Even after calling Bush a murderer, a terrorist, a Halliburton stooge and a tool of the Jews, Mrs. Sheehan might still have gotten a third meeting...but then she insulted his daughters; I can assure you Hell will freeze over before any such meeting occurs. Not to mention the fact that the Secret Service would be derelict in their duties to let such a mentally unbalanced person near the president.

Recently, Maureen 'Desperate House-Organ' Dowd wrote "...the moral authority...of parents who bury children....killed in Iraq is...absolute."

Only God has absolute moral authority. And with all authority comes responsibility. And who was it who accepted responsibility here? Specialist Casey Sheehan. By enlisting, then re-enlisting and then volunteering for a dangerous assignment. The moral authority is his, not his mother's. In fact, Cindy Sheehan's beef is not with the president; it's with her son. His life stands as a rebuke to everything she is now saying. Such as:

"America has been killing people on this continent since it was started. This country is not worth dying for."

Here, she demeans not just her son's service, but that of every soldier who has ever defended this nation. The Minutemen? Chumps. The Tuskeegee Airmen? Fools. The men of Gettysburg, the Marne and Iwo Jima? Suckers all.

And where did she say this? At an event supporting Communist attorney Lynne Stewart, who was actively co-conspiring with her terrorist client, the leader of the first WTC bombers.

Is that what you mean by "moral authority", Mo?

I'd also like to know where this mythical perfect country is, the one that IS worth dying for. Presumably, a socialist and pacifist country like Sweden would qualify. Apparently, the only country worth dying for...is one where the people won't fight!

That's the road to serfdom and slavery, the path rejected by Spec. Sheehan.

Greater moral authority hath no mom.

JFK WOULD BE SURPRISED

to learn that, according to NARAL, his Supreme Court pick, Justice Byron "Whizzer" White, was a judge "whose ideology leads him to excuse violence against other Americans."

You see, Justice White agreed with John Roberts' position in 'Bray'. As did 5 other justices. Including Anthony Kennedy and David Souter.

NARAL is correct; Kennedy and Souter should be removed from the bench immediately...Stop the Violence!

In other irony, if the bombs of those clinic bombers had killed only the unborn children inside, they would be guilty both of terrorism...and practicing medicine without a license. Think about it.

PARTIES WITH MOM

You know, maybe it would be a great thing if Moms did Rule the World. But that's not the world in which we live.

In this fallen world, men fall prey to evil. And decent men and women have to stand up to them--yes, even at the cost of their very lives. Thankfully, Army Specialist Casey Sheehan was just such a man.

I don't think Spec. Sheehan would want to see his mother attacked verbally, so out of respect, I'll forbear. I know for sure he didn't want to see his mother literally attacked--that must be why he enlisted in the first place. But it must be said that she has made common cause with those who believe her son deserved his death.

This is a complete, total & wholly Manufactured News(tm) Event. The press has chosen to hype this in order to undermine support for the war. And the blood-sucking vampires of the Left have attached themselves to the confused and grieving host, hoping she won't notice they really regard her fallen son as vermin, or at best, a dupe.

Some dupe.

Spec. Sheehan volunteered because he evidently believed that some things are worth fighting for. He must have believed in the Iraq mission, as he re-enlisted knowing full well he'd be sent there. He gave his life trying to rescue a trapped convoy from his unit, a mission for which he did not even have to volunteer.

He lived, served and died, not as someone's child, but as a man, a member of what I'm coming to regard as the new Greatest Generation.

But he did not volunteer to become cannon fodder in the Liberal Media's War On George W. Bush.

And he certainly didn't volunteer to become a trophy corpse for parasitic America-haters and those who sympathize with and excuse his killers and wish to use his profound and noble sacrifice in order to demoralize the soldiers with whom he served.

I hope someday they'll read his Bronze Star citation and hang their heads in shame. By the way, that's a real medal, not a self-recommended-John Kerry-as-Frank Burns-get-me-outta'-here-medal-per-week-medal.

We'll pray for your mom, soldier.

Well done, thou good and faithful servant. Sir.

...DO ORDAIN AND ESTABLISH..."

And don't you forget it.

John Roberts:

"When the other branches of government exceed their constitutionally-mandated limits, the courts can act to confine them to the proper bounds. It is judicial self-restraint, however, that confines judges to their proper constitutional responsibilities."

While Roberts is right to call for judicial restraint, he is wrong to say there are no checks on an out-of-control judiciary other than "self-restraint".

The Executive is checked by elections, impeachment, term limits, Congressional veto over-rides & Consent to nominees and review by the Judiciary.

The Legislature is checked by elections, impeachment, expulsions, the presidential veto & his right to nominate, assertions of executive authority and review by the Judiciary.

And the Judiciary is checked by...nothing but the self-restraint of judges? I don't think so.

The Framers would have no more granted unchecked powers to a Justice-For-Life than they would have granted unchecked powers to a President-for-Life.

The Judiciary is subject to serving with good behavior. If not, they may be impeached. This is not just for taking bribes, but for outrageous rulings. Otherwise, 5 justices could rule we were a colony of France and we'd all have to go to John Kerry's house and learn French.

The Judiciary's jurisdictions are defined in the Constitution and "with such Exceptions, and under such Regulations as the Congress shall make." Whether you think Congress was right or wrong in the Schiavo case, they had every right to order the courts to review the case again. The Courts ignored Congress and defended the concept of Judicial Supremacy instead of Miss Schiavo's rights.

The Judiciary is also subject to assertions of executive authority. This is why all officers take an oath to the Constitution, not to the latest decision of 5 justices. A good example is when Lincoln held that the outrageous Dred Scot ruling would apply only to Dred Scot and not to any other black Americans. A bad example is when Bill Clinton snatched Elian Gonzales out of the jurisdictions of a state and a federal court.

All things being equal, that assertion cost Al Gore the election and thus the People--not the Court as commonly said-- had the Last Word on THEIR Constitution.

THE LAST FULL MEASURE OF JOURNALISM

From his last blog post, The Naive American:

"I'd wanted to introduce Layla to the Gary Cooper side of America, and I felt I'd succeeded. Instead of the evasive, over-subtle, windy Iraqi, fond of theory and abstraction, here was a to-the-point Yank, rolling up his sleeves with a can-do spirit of fair play and doing good. "I want to have a positive effect on this country's future," the Captain averred. "For example, whenever I learn of a contracting firm run by women, I put it at the top of my list for businesses I want to consider for future projects." I felt proud of my countryman; you couldn't ask for a more sincere guy.

Layla, however, flashed a tight, cynical smile. "How do you know," she began, "that the religious parties haven't put a woman's name on a company letterhead to win a bid? Maybe you are just funneling money to extremists posing as contractors." Pause. The Captain looked confused. "Religious parties? Extremists?"

Oh boy. Maa salaama Gary Cooper, as Layla and I gave our man a quick tutorial about the militant Shiites who have transformed once free-wheeling Basra into something resembling Savonarola's Florence. The Captain seemed taken aback, having, as most Westerners--especially the troops stationed here--little idea of what goes on in the city. "I'll have to take this into consideration..." scratching his head, "I certainly hope none of these contracts are going to the wrong people." Not for the first time, I felt I was living in a Graham Greene novel, this about about a U.S. soldier--call it The Naive American--who finds what works so well in Power Point presentations has unpredictable results when applied to realities of Iraq. Or is that the story of our whole attempt to liberate this nation?

Collecting himself, "But should we really get involved in choosing one political group over another?" the Captain countered. "I mean, I've always believed that we shouldn't project American values onto other cultures--that we should let them be. Who is to say we are right and they are wrong?"

And there it was, the familiar Cultural-Values-Are-Relative argument, surprising though it was to hear it from a military man. But that, too, I realized, was part of American Naiveté: the belief, evidently filtering down from ivy-league academia to Main Street, U.S.A., that our values are no better (and usually worse) than those of foreign nations; that we have no right to judge "the Other;" and that imposing our way of life on the world is the sure path to the bleak morality of Empire (cue the Darth Vader theme).

But Layla would have none of it. "No, believe me!" she exclaimed, sitting forward on her stool. "These religious parties are wrong! Look at them, their corruption, their incompetence, their stupidity! Look at the way they treat women! How can you say you cannot judge them? Why shouldn't your apply your own cultural values?"

It was a moment I wish every muddle-headed college kid and Western-civilization-hating leftist could have witnessed: an Air Force Captain quoting chapter and verse from the new American Gospel of Multiculturalism, only to have a flesh and blood representative of "the Other" declare that he was incorrect, that discriminations and judgment between cultures are possible--necessary--especially when it comes to the absolutely unacceptable way Middle Eastern Arabs treat women. And though Layla would not have pushed the point this far, I couldn't resist. "You know, Captain," I said, "sometimes American values are just--better.""