The NAACP, an old and respected civil rights organization, is taking the unwise step of condemning the TEA Party for alleged racism. Those allegations include unsubstantiated charges that TEA Partiers rallying at the Capitol against passage of the unconstitutional health care takeover had yelled racial epithets at black congressman who were walking from their offices to the House of Representatives to cast historic votes. They yelled the “N” word, the congressmen claimed. But no one seems to be able to produce any video, any audio, or any sworn statements naming names, or even pointing to specific yellers.
When asked why they chose to walk through a crowd of anti-ObamaCare demonstrators, the liberal Members disingenuously replied: It was the first day of spring. Right. And Mark Sanford wanted to enjoy the spring air hiking the Appalachian Trail, too.
I want to remind my friends why the NAACP is revered in the black community in this country. At a time in the early 1900s when hundreds of communities in this land of liberty were in the grip of the murderous Ku Klux Klan, when hundreds of black Americans were lynched every year for daring to exercise their right to vote, when local law enforcement, editors and jurors ignored the plight of black Americans, the NAACP was there to champion civil rights for them.
For these and many other courageous actions, the NAACP deserves the gratitude of all Americans. But this legendary organization is risking its honored legacy when it cries wolf and hurls baseless charges of racism against Americans who are exercising their civil rights to protest against radical policies coming from Washington, D.C.
The NAACP can once again become the respected organization that champions civil rights for all, if it avoids these race-baiting tactics.
A couple months ago, I wrote a blog over at Big Hollywood, regarding Hollywood's fight against RealDVD. Here's what I wrote:
"... Hollywood is also missing the boat by resisting emerging consumer demands regarding technology and intellectual property rights.
A prime example is a new software program called RealDVD, which allows consumers to take any DVD they own and save one copy to their computer or laptop hard-drive (imagine that, owning the DVD’s you own!)."
I thought I would give you a quick update on the courtroom drama that is unfolding.
This is from CNET News:
"Real is locked in a court battle with the major movie studios over RealDVD, a software that enables owners to copy DVDs and store them to a hard drive. The Motion Picture Association of America filed suit against Real last fall, accusing the company of violating copyright law and breach of contract. U.S. District Judge Marilyn Patel could rule on whether to remove a ban on the sale of RealDVD as early as Thursday.
Real on Wednesday filed with U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California a written statement from Peter Biddle, an Intel executive who had dealings with the movie industry over a decade ago. He disputes Hollywood's claims that the industry included in a license for its DVD-encryption technology a ban on copying DVDs while in a computer hard drive."
As you know, I'm of the belief that Hollywood is making a mistake by stifling this sort of technology that would allow consumers to get more enjoyment from their products, without costing them any revenue.
Regardless of how this turns out, this is an issue to keep an eye on as the outcome will likely have long-term implications regarding intellectual property and fair use rights -- and the future of Hollywood.
I applaud the courageous decision of my colleague, Professor Mary Ann Glendon of Harvard Law School, in refusing to accept the prestigious Laetare Medal from the University of Notre Dame at its commencement ceremony next month that will also feature President Barack Obama.
Professor Glendon was to receive the Laetare Medal, which is among the highest American awards for Roman Catholics, given to the most deserving Catholic for enriching academia through work that embodies the best of Catholic Church teaching. I have visited the Vatican with Professor Glendon, who has served as U.S. ambassador to the Vatican for the past two years. When I served as the U.S. ambassador to the U.N. Human Rights Commission we talked at length about protecting the rights of the unborn.
Yesterday Ambassador Glendon released a letter to the president of Notre Dame, informing him that she cannot in good conscience receive the medal or participate in the graduation ceremony. She cites as part of her reasoning that Notre Dame was using the fact that she was being honored alongside President Obama as a way to deflect criticism for bestowing an honorary degree upon the most pro-abortion U.S. president in history, and having him give the commencement address at such a prestigious institution.
For years, I have fought for the unborn alongside Mary Ann Glendon. I can say from firsthand experience that she is one of the most brilliant, eloquent and effective pro-life advocates this nation has ever seen. It is a tremendous honor for any Roman Catholic to receive the Laetare Medal. To decline such an honor, along with the experience of addressing Notre Dame’s graduating class, out of conviction is a moving and courageous decision.
The bravery and self-sacrificing spirit of Mary Ann Glendon is an example to which we should all aspire.
The internet and the tabloids are having a field day with the vexed question of whom President Obama will choose as his ambassador to the Holy See. President Bill Clinton’s choice was the pro-life Ray Flynn, former Mayor of Boston. Flynn met the first test of an ambassador: he did no harm. How accurately Ray was able to represent his principal is a question.
Bill Clinton famously said he wanted abortion to be “safe, legal, and rare.” But he also said—in official statements to the U.S. Supreme Court—that abortion was a fundamental constitutional right. Is there any other fundamental right that we would want to be rare?
That Clinton statement was of course subject to interpretation. The Clintons wanted to make abortion rare by offering a national health care plan that would have required the 87% of U.S. counties that do not have abortion centers to open them. They made it rare by dispatching the Red Cable—orders to every U.S. embassy in the world--requiring our diplomats to lobby their host countries for abortion on demand. The Clintons pushed abortion at the UN, abortion in overseas “family planning,” and abortion in U.S. military hospitals. They supported the Freedom of Choice Act (the fatal FOCA) that would have removed any and all protections for unborn children. The only places, arguably, that abortion became rare by Clinton administration policy were the Moon and Antarctica.
Ambassador Ray Flynn was able to maintain his faith and his integrity. He is a respected pro-life ally. He says Caroline Kennedy would be a bad choice for President Obama’s Ambassador to the Holy See. He’s right.
What a tragedy. To millions of American Catholics, John F. Kennedy will always be the hero who blazed the trail for Catholics in public life. Even when we disagreed with his policies, we laughed at his wit and admired his style.
In 1962, President Kennedy attended the Al Smith Memorial Dinner in Manhattan. He regaled his impressive audience with the old story of Al Smith sending a one-word telegram to the Pope when he lost his presidential bid: “Unpack.” Then, J.F.K. said the Holy See had just seen his latest proposal for federal aid to education. The Vatican didn’t like it. The Pope, President Kennedy said, had just sent him a telegram: “Pack!”
The audience roared. The whole country laughed. I laugh whenever I see video of Jack Kennedy delivering those lines—even as I would have opposed his education bill. That’s because it stiff-armed the needs of parochial school students and their tax-paying parents.
Caroline Kennedy’s picture during those terrible days of November, 1963, remains in all our minds. It is tragic that she has joined the politically correct legions. Does she really think that unrestricted abortion and counterfeiting marriage are ways of remaining true to her father’s legacy? If President Kennedy supported any of these things, he certainly never said so in public. The American Catholic community—which remains strongly pro-life—should respond with great regret to Caroline Kennedy’s hopes for a diplomatic assignment in Rome: “Unpack!”
President Barack “the Redistributor” Obama says he has no interest in running General Motors. Too late. When you fire the CEO, you run the company.
It’s always prudent not to read too much into one government action, or sometimes even two. But by the time you see three consistent actions you can often discern a pattern. We’ve long since passed three actions of massive government intervention in the management of our economy.
We’ve seen Barney Frank say that whenever government bailout money secures a majority stake in a company, the government should assert its rights as the controlling shareholder. Then we saw the stimulus bill and the budget, all of which set forth a long-term blueprint for permanent, massive involvement by the federal government in the private sector.
Next, the president announced that GM and Chrysler needed to do more to satisfy him regarding their business plans, and then he fired GM’s CEO. Pressing ahead, Secretary Geithner says he needs the power to decide which companies could damage the U.S. economy if they failed, and then have the power to influence their management decisions.
Whenever government takes over a business, it runs it according to political pressures and special interests not sound business practices. So the problems will continue, with billions more lost in taxpayer dollars and bankruptcy an almost certainty for the American car companies.
GM now has a defacto CEO who distrusts the free market, advocates centralized planning of the economy and government control of major industries. Who’s next?
President Obama’s budget can unite conservatives against expanding government. This budget is designed to make people look to the government to forever regulate whole new areas of their lives, all under the euphemistic phrase of, “We need to invest in healthcare and education.”
As my column on Townhall.com today explains, economic and social conservatives must stand united against this big government agenda. It not only weakens our economy and buries our children (and even grandchildren yet unborn) under a mountain of debt, but it also hurts families and fosters a crippling lifelong dependency on government.
Well, now President Obama has his own Katrina. The bill that allowed for the AIG bonuses was hastily written. It was rammed through without discussion or debate. Republicans were systematically excluded from the bill. Not a single Republican was allowed to participate. When Democrats showed up to the conference committee, they brought the finished conference bill with them and didn't allow Republicans to see it. Then it was posted online in the middle of the night. And the very next day it was passed, almost exclusively on Democrat votes.
President Obama promised he wouldn't sign anything into law until it had been online for five days, so that the American people could read it. If this had been done, business experts and finance experts would have analyzed the bill, and we could have caught this and stopped it.
But instead, President Obama broke his word. Like so many of his campaign promises he broke his word without a word of apology. Now we're all stuck paying the bill that Barack Obama stuck paying the bill.
And just as former President George Bush had his point man in Katrina, Michael Brown, so President Obama has his point man in Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner.
