Quote of the day

I was listening to an archived podcast of The Dennis Prager Show a couple of minutes ago, and Prager said something I felt I had to share with all of you:

“I do not want America to be loved. If it happens, that’s lovely. It is of no interest to me. Zero. To Liberals, it is very important. I want America to do what is right. If we end up loved, fine. If we don’t end up loved, fine. Since when does “world love” correspond with “world goodness?” Exactly when?”

I can’t tell you how often this topic comes up at the UW in my political science classes. This past quarter, for example, I had a media and politics class where we discussed America’s brand image, and what we could do to “fix it”  around the world.” The whole idea was to figure out how we could change  to make other countries like us more.

Out of 100+ students, I was the only one who vocally expressed that I didn’t care what other countries thought about us. I am so in alignment with Prager on this issue, it’s not even funny. I couldn’t care less about being liked. Like Prager, all I care about is that we’re doing what’s right.

UW Graduating Seniors Protest SecDef Robert Gates’ Commencement Speech – VIDEO

As Hugh Hewitt would say, these people are nutters.

First, a vid from Elliot Stoller with Seattle Indymedia:

Next, a report from Komo 4 News:

Robert Gates’ UW Commencement Speech – Update

Just wanted to give an update on a couple of blog posts (part 1, part 2) I wrote about two weeks ago, entitled: “UW Nutjobs Plan To Protest SecDef’s Commencement Speech Next Weekend.” The groups planning on protesting were:

- The International Socialist Organization

- Democracy Insurgent

- Bail Out the People — Not the Banks!

- Socialist Alternative

- World Can’t Wait

- The Anti-War Collective

Lovely.

Anyway, just saw this Facebook update from a Conservative friend of mine who’s graduating today. He wrote:

Robert Gates gave an amazing speech. Protestors were expelled with large cheers. Maybe I am proud of UW.

Good stuff, glad to hear it.

You Know You’re at a Liberal University When…

…the professor asks a class of 100 students to raise their hands if they think being a cop is more noble than being an academic professor, and you’re one of three people to do so.

Btw, the professor is an ex-police sergeant and 15-year vet on the force.

Welcome to life at the UW.

Correction

Remember all of the groups that were going to be protesting SecDef Gates’ commencement speech next week? Well, strike one from the list — the Muslim Student Association. In a letter to the UW Daily, MSA senior advisor Zakariya Dehlawi, wrote:

It recently printed in Rachel Solomon’s article, “Groups plan to protest Gates as commencement speaker,” that the Muslim Students Association (MSA) at the UW was going to protest the commencement speaker, Robert Gates. This is patently not true.

The MSA is purely a religious organization, and we strive to be apolitical. Our goals are to educate the UW community about Islam and provide for our diverse membership. Endorsing political rallies is not in our mandate.

I understand this is a student newspaper, but accurate reporting is appreciated. I request that The Daily print a retraction because this reckless coverage has negatively affected our reputation.

In looking at the groups that were planning on protesting (International Socialist Organization, Democracy Insurgent, Bail Out the People — Not the Banks!, Socialist Alternative, World Can’t Wait, the Anti-War Collective), I was actually wondering why the MSA was among them. I’m glad Mr. Dehlawi was able to clarify his group’s position, and I wanted pass along his letter to you.

UW Nutjobs Plan To Protest SecDef’s Commencement Speech Next Weekend – Part 2

As if Elizabeth Fawthrop’s and Veryl Pow’s comments weren’t insane enough in the article I posted yesterday, they have actually one-upped themselves in the comment thread on the UW Daily website. And it’s not just them, but other people who sympathize with them as well.

After posting my criticism of Fawthrop’s claim about Gates “leading” the military, a person who calls themselves “ewb” wrote:

Your definition of what it means to lead is very narrow. While the generals you mentioned may directly oversee the invasions in Iraq and Afghanistan, this in no way excuses Robert Gates from the role he has played in promoting these wars.

So, is Gates leading or promoting the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan? I’m confused. Anyway, let’s move on…

Gates is obviously a leader of these wars, and is implicated in them just as much, if not more so because of his position of power, as the generals.

Do you realize what “ewb” just wrote? Not only does he or she believe that Gates is complicit in the deaths of Iraqi civilians and American soldiers, but that Generals like George Casey and David Petraeus are as well. That level of lunacy can only be found in Code Pink and MoveOn.org-type circles; “Pink” with their berating of Donald Rumsfeld a few weeks ago, calling him a “war criminal,” and MoveOn with their “General Betray Us” ads from 2007.

Here’s more from commenter “hakalo”:

How can you draw a distinction between starting wars and perpetuating wars? The fact stands that Gates is implicated in these wars, regardless of whether he was the SoD when they started or not.

Which means that Obama is also implicated in these wars, right? I’ll post a response to that question if I get one.

Moving on, when a fellow CR, Holland Avery, pointed out that Gates was speaking for free (Democracy Insurgent has been oustpoken against current UW budget cuts), “hakalo” wrote this:

There is a ton of security involved with bringing Gates to Husky stadium. The UWPD specifically will be pulling on a lot of its resources to provide security. Gates’ visit is not free in any sense of the term.

How ridiculously petty is that? Robert Gates is the Secretary of Defense of the United States of America. Of course he needs to have security! Grow up.

Finally, Veryl Pow himself chimed in:

On Gates and the Budget Cuts, the campus is undergoing increased militarization as many other programs and workers are getting cut.

Remember his evidence for that claim? Yeah, it was the fact that one CIA Officer is currently acting as a visiting researcher on campus. Great point, Veryl.

More:

By speaking here, Gates isn’t raising money for students of color who will no longer be able to afford tuition under the 28% hikes over the next two years. It isn’t going to the anti-racist, anti-patriarchal organizations like the Women’s Center which is facing devastating cuts. He isn’t saving the jobs of the 17 custodians, most of whom are immigrant workers, who have already been laid off.

First of all, notice how Pow infused the matter of race into his comment, pointing out that “students of color” won’t be able to afford tuition? His comments on race get worse later in his comment, but I just think it’s interesting that Pow somehow thinks that every white person who goes to the UW is going to be able to afford these tuition hikes.

Secondly, Pow’s line of argument here is silly. Of course Gates won’t be raising money or saving custodial jobs by speaking at the seniors’ graduation ceremony. But guess what? Neither will any other speaker who comes to the UW! Pow’s point adds nothing to his argument, and serves to make him seem even more loony.

Pow continues:

Instead, that Gates is speaking for free represents the broader trend of militarization of campus, along with agent Tim Thomas, who is paid for by the CIA and the UW gets money for hosting him.

Merriam-Webster’s definition of broad: “Extending far and wide.”

Merriam-Webster’s definition of trend: “To show a tendency.”

Again, Pow’s evidence for the broader trend of the militarization of the UW? One CIA researcher and a speech being given by the SecDef of the U.S.

Here’s where Pow’s comments on race get really outlandish:

The only way people of color can get access to the university is through joining the army reserve.

Riiiight.

So Nick/Holland, take your racist chauvinism somewhere else before claiming we are incapable of rational thought. Ya our peoples have heard that from white folks for centuries now, and just because we have a different conception of freedom (because we are denied those white privileges of yours under this ‘democracy’), don’t make our struggle worthless or irrational.

Amazing, isn’t it? That is the far-Left for you, ladies and gentlemen.  If you disagree with anything they say or do, you’re labeled a racist, a chauvinist, or a host of other things. It’s quite sad.

American hero, Veryl Pow

UW Nutjobs Plan To Protest SecDef’s Commencement Speech Next Weekend

Let’s just look at this article piece by piece, shall we?

From the UW Daily:

Groups plan to protest Gates as commencement speaker

Graduating seniors will fling their caps into the air next weekend, celebrating their accomplishments in higher education and symbolizing their entry into a world beyond textbooks, GPAs and the dreaded all-nighters central to finals week.

But some students feel there is a political stain on this year’s ceremony. The selection of Secretary of Defense Robert Gates as the class of 2009’s commencement speaker has spurred students dissatisfied with the cabinet member’s war record to protest.

Here’s where it gets good:

“Robert Gates has, for the last year and a half, led the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and has killed thousands of civilians, thousands of American troops,” said Elizabeth Fawthrop, a member of the International Socialist Organization at the UW and a graduating senior.

Um, what? Robert Gates has led the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan for the past year and a half? First of all, her timeline is way off, as Gates assumed his position as Secretary of Defense on December 18, 2006. Secondly, it’s not currently, nor has it ever been Gates’ responsibility to lead the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. When he became SecDef, the Commanding General in Iraq was George Casey, who was then followed by Gen. David Petraeus. In Afghanistan, there have been a host of commanding Generals, none of which have been named Robert Gates.

As far as Fawthrop’s claim about Gates killing “thousands of civilians” and “thousands of American troops,” it’s almost not worth responding to. The anti-war nuts like her will always blame people like Gates for the deaths of innocent civilians, but to also claim that he has killed thousands of American soldiers? Only true nutjobs believe nonsense like that. Our men and women in the service volunteer to defend this country, and know they may be put in harms way. That is something people like Fawthrop will never understand, and never appreciate.

Here’s more of the article, if you can stomach it:

Democracy Insurgent member Veryl Pow cited the secretary’s involvement in the Iran-Contra scandal in the 1980s and what Pow believes to be the increased militarization of campus — with CIA Officer Timothy Thomas presently acting as a visiting researcher — as reasons for protest.

The increased militarization of campus? One CIA Officer comes to the UW as a visiting researcher, and you cite that as evidence that the UW campus is being militarized? Are you serious?

More:

Although this year marks the first time the UW will host a sitting member of the presidential cabinet as commencement speaker, Gates’ high-profile status is inconsequential to Pow.

“To me, Robert Gates is a nobody,” he said. “I’m very ashamed he’s affiliated with America.”

Simply stunning.

The story proceeds to list the groups that are going to protest the commencement speech:

Student and national groups joining the International Socialist Organization and Democracy Insurgent include the Bail Out the People — Not the Banks! movement, Socialist Alternative, World Can’t Wait, the Anti-War Collective and the Muslim Student Association.

Sounds like a lovely bunch, doesn’t it?

The article ends with this:

“This is a special day for us and for our families,” Fawthrop said, “but what we’re trying to say is that the UW should have done better.”

This coming from the girl who can’t even get her facts straight about the man she’s protesting against.

I’ve said it before, and I’ll keep saying it: welcome to life at the UW.

American hero, Veryl Pow

Capital Punishment

That’s the current subject of discussion in my “Law in Society” class. My professor is a liberal (shocker!), as is my TA, so it’s been quite interesting to see which angles they have been pushing on the issue. Right now, we’re reading Craig Haney’s article, “Psychological Secrecy,” in which the author laments how our society renders criminals as “less than human,” and “depicts the killing process as less than grotesque.”

Welcome to class at the UW.

Haney uses the 1992 execution of Robert Alton Harris as the framework for his argument. On July 5, 1978, Harris and his brother decided to steal a getaway car in order to carry out a bank robbery they had planned later that day. They came upon two teenagers, both sophomores in high school, who were sitting in a car at a nearby Jack in the Box. The brothers then commandeered the car at gunpoint and drove to a wooded area with the teens still in the car. The brothers had promised that they wouldn’t hurt the teens, but that promise was broken when Robert Alton Harris proceeded to shoot and kill them both. Later that day, the men carried out the bank robbery, which netted them $2,000 in cash.

More from a 1990 article by Kevin Leary of the San Francisco Chronicle (found through ProQuest):

Later, after he was arrested, Robert Harris boasted to a cellmate that he told the terrified Baker boy to “quit crying and die like a man.” And when the boy started to pray, Harris said, “God can’t help you now, boy; you’re going to die.”

After killing the two boys, according to testimony, the Harris brothers drove to a girlfriend’s apartment, where Robert finished the rest of the murdered boys’ half-eaten hamburgers and flicked bits of gore from his pistol barrel. He laughed and bragged about how he had killed them and giggled at what it would be like to be a police officer telling the victims’ families that the boys had been murdered.

In other words, Robert Alton Harris was vile scum.

That’s not how Craig Haney see it, however. In his article, he decides not to talk about Harris the murderer, but Harris the victim of a troubled childhood. In Haney’s words, he focuses on the “significant psychological events that helped to shape his life.”

In section today, my TA said that he literally cried when reading Haney’s article. Not for the victims, mind you, but for Robert Alton Harris, the man who was executed for brutally murdering two teenagers.

Again, welcome to class at the UW.

I will never understand the mentality of someone who cries for the murderer rather than the victim. Never.

This is a topic that Dennis Prager recently touched on as well, while discussing the case of a woman who was beaten to death by two men who held her for ransom. The whole segment is worth listening to if you have the time:

Waterboarding Comes to the UW

I wrote a column defending waterboarding for the school newspaper on May 12th. Here’s an excerpt:

Waterboarding received such extensive coverage that you might think its use by the CIA was routine. However, it was revealed in 2007 by the CIA that waterboarding had been used just three times, each time against high-level al-Qaida operatives. The CIA later said the technique yielded valuable information from the operatives that likely saved American lives. This is what makes liberals’ outrage so comical. They know waterboarding worked, but they’ve decided not to acknowledge that. Instead, they’re choosing to go after the Bush administration for “torturing” our enemies. This is highly irresponsible — and to pretend to have the moral high ground on this issue is disingenuous.

I also talked about how the Convention Against Torture, which was ratified by the U.S. Congress in 1994, defines torture as the intent to “inflict severe physical or mental pain or suffering” upon a person in custody. Waterboarding does neither, and therefore, shouldn’t be considered torture. Liberals can’t figure this concept out, so they go onto campuses like the UW and stage ridiculous demonstrations like this:

From the UW’s “Daily”:

Waterboarding Simulation in Red Square Protests Torture

On May 13, President Barack Obama reversed a court order mandating the Pentagon’s release of photographs illustrating U.S. military personnel allegedly torturing prisoners of war. The photos were supposed to be released yesterday.

To protest this refusal to publish the pictures, members of World Can’t Wait (WCW), a national organization that says they’re dedicated to, among other issues, prosecuting those who permitted torture during the Bush administration, held a waterboarding demonstration in Red Square yesterday as part of the National Day of Resistance to U.S. Torture.

Here’s my favorite part of the article (emphasis mine):

Kaplan volunteered for a simulation of the procedure, allowing two “interrogators” to question her and slosh water over her face — covered with a mask to prevent any water from actually entering her lungs — as she shouted and struggled.

“It’s really, really scary because you can’t move, you’re tied down and you have absolutely no control over what’s being done to you, and they’re asking these questions, and I don’t know the answers,” Kaplan said following the experience. “There are a lot of people who have been detained who don’t know anything about al-Qaida or terrorism.”

THREE men, all high-level al-Qaeda terrrorists, were waterboarded by the CIA. That’s it! This girl has no idea what she’s talking about.

Btw, here’s the accompanying photo to the article.

Morons.

My Very First Post

What better way to kick off the new blog than to post a link to my column that was published today in the UW’s daily paper? The task was to analyze Obama’s first 100-plus days in office.

Here’s an excerpt on the economy:

Now, Obama can keep blaming the current recession on former President Bush, but the fact is that he has made it much, much worse. And with his plans to nationalize health care and institute a cap-and-trade program, the deficit will only continue to grow.

An excerpt on Obama’s foreign policy:

As of late, Obama has stunningly reversed some of his own positions, which has put him in an awkward place with his far-left supporters. For example, the day after his inauguration, Obama ordered all military tribunals halted for detainees at Guantanamo Bay. However, acknowledging that there was no better alternative, administration officials announced earlier this month that Obama would revive the tribunals. In addition, it is now looking less and less likely that Guantanamo Bay itself will be shut down by next January, as Obama had promised. Robert Gibbs, the president’s press secretary, said on Wednesday that closing Gitmo was a “hasty decision.” It might have saved Obama some embarrassment if he had thought about where the detainees would be sent before he shut down the prison — but I digress.

And finally, an excerpt on Obama’s policy towards Africa:

It is shocking to me that out of a $3.6 trillion budget, Barack Obama cannot find $3.3 billion to fulfill our relief obligations in Africa. What’s not shocking is that this has gone unreported in the mainstream media, as it continues to provide cover for the president. The stomach-turning irony here is that while Obama is attempting to restore the United States’ image in Europe, he is simultaneously tarnishing it for the very people who have fallen in love with the United States during the past eight years.