(First published in the Vallejo Times-Herald) 

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It has been said by those who know him that Bill Clinton is obsessed with his legacy. Not to worry, Mr. President. If the statistics of 2007 study published in the “Journal of Adolescent Health” are accurate, America’s youth will never forget you: 70% of teens between the ages of 14 and 19 don’t consider oral sex to be sex.

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(First published in the Vallejo Times-Herald) 

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At last week’s Personal Democracy Forum, one of the events that I missed was the launch of a coalition called InternetforEveryone.org. I’m skeptical of the organization, and while I admit I’m not really sure what it’s all about, therein lies part of my skepticism. It’s very easy to agree that Internet access should be as widely available as possible. However, the policy details are not so easily agreed upon. But as a market-oriented thinker, I’m inclined to agree with Erick Erickson that this is in fact a bad idea.

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Best case we’ve heard yet for John McCain to pick Alaska Governor Sarah Palin for his running-mate. From “Fox News Sunday”:

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The New York Times has a story today that it entitled, “McCain Gets Praise, Not Backing, from Grahams.”

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The Obama and Obama-Friends strategy now seems to be to attack McCain’s war record. Obama has yet to castigate Wes Clark–when in the past someone made an outrageous statement, Obama quickly distanced himself, but not htis time–so we can assume Obama is fine with what Clark said. I truly hope the Obama campaign and its supporters go after John McCain on his war record. This will produce the biggest backfire they could have ever created, because it will do nothing but 1) waste money, time and image firing up the hate-Bush crowd (which is already theirs); 2) drive more than a few moderate-conservative Dems out of the Obama camp; 3) fire up lukewarm-for-McCain Republican voters; and 4) turn off independents and swing-voters. I cannot imagine a serious political pro making a case for this “knock McCain’s war record” tack–clearly this is driven by a complete misreading of the attacks on John Kerry. Mike’s Free Advice to Dems:  The reason this won’t work is McCain didn’t come home and sit before Congress to denounce his fellow soldiers as professional rapists and efficient killers of children. So please, Obama, please:  bring this attack on, bring it hard, and don’t stop. You’ll make McGovern’s 72 run look like genius by comparison.

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I have believed that Obama & Co. had a little more class than the usual operation, but now it’s pretty clear that they do not. In their fundraising alert out today, they continue their recent whining about McCain’s 527 prowess. Ummm, Senator Obama? McCain’s not the one with the 527’s out there doing his bidding. You are. You’re the one with literally tens of millions of (coerced, it must be said) union-dues dollars working on your behalf. You’re the one with MoveOn.org on your side. You’re the one with an organized underground of Internet Google-bombers. You’re the one with dozens of anti-Bush groups buying ads for you and skirting the law. You’re the one who not only opted out of public funding, but tried to portray your broken promise as a virtue. Politics ain’t beanbag, but my goodness, but there is a mighty gap between your rhetoric and reality. Obama has learned well from the Clinton’s:  Say whatever it takes, enjoy the benefits, and the truth doesn’t matter. Funny how the libs now believe that a few lies here and there are just fine since their cause is so very, very just….

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Just finished reading Khaled Hosseini’s “A Thousand Splendid Suns,” a novel about two women, set in modern Afghanistan. It’s a valuable book for many reasons, not least of which is the light it sheds on women’s lives under the Taliban, who rose to power in 1996.

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Here’s the only question for me in Gordon Smith’s latest campaign ad with the Barack Obama cameo: Does my pleasure in watching partisan Democrats tear their hair out over the appropriation of their hope ‘n’ change presidential nominee in the Smith ad outweigh my pain in watching Oregon’s Republican senator sidle up to Obama as he runs for re-election?

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Please see here.

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Please see here.

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Historically, Seymour Hersh has a less than direct relationship with fact, but I hope he’s right here:  Our government is working to destabilize the government of Iran. (By the way, file this revelation under “Duh.”) Of course, the reason I note Hersh’s (always dubious) reporting is to draw your attention to his disapproving tone. Funny how libs oppose military action against Iran in favor of working behind the scenes, then when we work covertly (that is, behind the scenes), they condemn that, too. The positions of many libs are united by a single principle:  Screw America. I try to believe that they love America and want what’s best for us, but when I see their positions over and over, opposition to America is the only unifying idea behind them. What gives? Where do they think life is better? And why don’t they move there?

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So libs say that George Bush has rolled back civil rights–even human rights over the threat of terrorism. They say that affecting our personal freedom of choice one iota over even the threat of death makes Bush the worst and most evil world leader on the world stage. Oooookay. But the Democrats are fine banning (wait for it…) fried foods at their convention. Yes, you read right. Fried foods. Sure, extra screening at the airports is a violation of civil rights, per the ACLU crowd, but banning fried foods? That’s just the smart thing to do!

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Here’s a “Vote for Obama” ad in the Washington Post–and it’s on the front page! No, wait. It’s a scare-article warning readers that if McCain wins, the Court will be inexorably turned into a fortress against progress and a bludgeon against those great goods that all decent people favor. Must be nice to be Obama, getting all this free ink in your favor on the front page of the nation’s most important political newspaper. Good ol’ McCain-Feingold, limiting every private citizen’s speech while elevating newspaper editors to cheerleaders. Regulation, goes the liberal mind, is good for everybody as long as it’s not imposed on me. Sigh.

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North Korea gave the world some good news this week - finally handing over a declaration about its nuclear program and promising to blow up the cooling tower at its Yongbyon nuclear facility. But don’t break out the best bubbly just yet.

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Ms. Hillary Rodham and her Wellesley sisters sat in the crowd awaiting words of inspiration from their speaker. The commencement speaker that year was Senator Edward W. Brooke (R-MA), who in 1966 became the first African-American elected to the U.S. Senate since Reconstruction. Brooke came to extend his congratulations to the 401 women. It was a good speech, perfectly reasonable—but not to Hillary Rodham.

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Michael Radu tells the story of Abu Qatada

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As part of his activities as a Visiting Fellow at the European Foundation for Democracy, Dr Walid Phares delivered a lecture on the “Future of Salafi Jihadi Terrorism” at the Italian Institute of International Affairs in Rome, Italy’s leading strategic think tank. Dr. Phares, who was introducing his new book The Confrontation: Winning the War against Future Jihad, analyzed the global trends of the Jihadist movement, focusing on the Salafi networks. 

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Please see here.

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If it’s true that the District v. Heller ruling is the first time in U.S. history that the Supreme Court has has directly ruled on the meaning of the Second Amendment, it also seems likely to be the last. The battle has carried on for decades in lower courts, but those cases too are likely to be cut short, if not cut off altogether.

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Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama lovingly embrace each other in Unity, New Hampshire today. Message: All is well. All has been well. Last time someone tried to rewrite history this egregiously, and was forced to say certain words to make everyone so happy, this happened:

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Please see here.

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Please see here.

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One of the paradigm shifts in my lifetime was liberals’ success in teaching their children and other gullible Americans to implicitly fear firearms. Not firearms in the hands of criminals. All firearms–period.

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I must admit I knew nothing about Cindy McCain beyond the fact that she is beautiful. So, I was rather surprised to discover while reading Holly Bailey’s Newsweek article In Search of Cindy McCain that she is a woman of substance. Unlike Hillary Clinton or Michelle Obama, she is not motivated by ambition and the lust for power rather, like Laura Bush, by the wish to be her own woman and set her own goals. In other words, Cindy McCain is as independent minded as her husband. I suspect he would not have it any other way. And, yes, their’s seems to be a very modern but sweet love story:

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Since the 1970’s, female athletes have made remarkable progress in realizing gender equity with their male counterparts, the notable exception being financial compensation at the professional level. In virtually every sport, women playing professional sports have never earned close to what men do. In terms of earning power, equal opportunity for women in sports has been like climbing Mount Everest - a long, difficult struggle to reach the top and once there, those successful find nothing but snow and ice.

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Please see here.

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(First published in the Vallejo Times-Herald) 

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My daily walk around Washington took me to the National Mall. I had intended to do a simple power walk up and down the Mall, but the heat forced me to take a break, so I strolled into the Smithsonian Sculpture Garden. There I came across a “Wish Tree” planted last year by Yoko Ono.

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Click here to see a member of Congress tell a member of the Administration that he hopes Al Qaeda gets a good look at him on CSPAN so these terrorists can identify him for their own purposes. This is among the most unhinged and disgusting remarks I recall hearing from an elected official, and that is saying a lot. This individual–I won’t use the term “man”–should apologize and resign before the sun sets. Oh–and assuming he doesn’t quit, I declare here and now that I will send a check to the first person who runs against him, Republican or Democrat, who denounces him for this. Just let me know, okay?

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Since I grew up in Haifa, I could not resist posting this flight of fancy written by a Syrian journalist Abi Hassan and published on the liberal Arab website Al-Awan on May 30, 2008 and translated by MEMRI. It gives one hope. The illustrations are mine.

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Last week, Barack Obama said: “They’re going to to make you afraid of me. He’s young and inexperienced and he’s got a funny name. And did I mention he’s black?”  He and his supporters have been building up to this point for some time.  And now another major Democrat has stepped up the attack.  According to a Kansas City Star political blog:

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“The death penalty is not a proportional punishment for the rape of a child.”–Justice Anthony Kennedy writing for the majority in the Supreme Court’s 5-4 decision outlawing the death penalty for child rapists

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Please see here.

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