A woman sees two men trying to force open the door of  her neighbor’s house.  Knowing that he is away on an extended vacation, she calls the police to report this break-in as it is happening.  Minutes later, the police arrive but by this time, one of the puported burglars is inside the house so the officer asks him to step outside.  The man refuses but identifies himself from behind the door whereupon the policeman explains that he is responding to the neighbor’s claim of a possible break-in.  At this point, the man becomes agitated and vituperative, eventually stepping outside but continuing to behave in a manner insulting and aggressive enough for the policeman to cuff him and bring him to the station where he is held for a few hours and subsequently released.

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Obama officially unveiled his doctrine on his first day in office. One is entitled to read much in the following short lines, as every line in major presidential speeches, above all on inauguration day, are carefully crafted, reviewed, and checked one more time, precisely to ensure that they send the right signal. Obama stated: “To those who cling to power through corruption and deceit and the silencing of dissent, know that you are on the wrong side of history; but that we will extend a hand if you are willing to unclench your fist.”

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Back in 2003, I had the opportunity to interview then-author, now Minnesota Senator Al Franken for Heeb magazine. I found his take on America’s relationship with Saudi Arabia to be interesting; likewise he had some provocative things to say about how Arab governments have neglected the Palestinians. I recall that when I asked him about the education of Palestinian children — and whether he felt liberals should question U.S. taxpayer resources going to fund the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNWRA) while it uses teaching materials in Palestinian schools that glorify suicide “martyrdom,” he cut the interview short. Below is the full text.

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     Who would have guessed that billionaire Mike Bloomberg would turn into a scared rabbit when faced with the wrath of the Teachers’ Union?  The mayor was strong enough to voice his disapproval of adding two new Muslim holidays to the school calendar but has now decreed that aides paid for by parents’ groups will no longer be allowed to work in public schools.  These aides are used in non-teaching capacities to relieve the burden of overcrowded classrooms in many of the city’s better schools.  They are needed to equalize the disproportionate siphoning of state funds to the worst schools in the system, leaving little for schools that service middle class children who are motivated to obtain a real education as opposed to custodial day care.  The union salary for the same job is more than twice that of independent aides - $23/hr plus benefits versus $12 - $15/hr with no benefit package.  Ironically, the union paraprofessionals tend to be graduates of community colleges and not as experienced as the privately funded aides who frequently end up teaching at the schools they assist at.

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DATELINE CALIFORNIA — The border city of Cynicville on Thursday voted to ban Latinos from living in a six-square-block area of town.
The move seeks to end decades of controversy over allegations that Latinos are practicing “ethnic cleansing” against the city’s non-Latino population, which has, nevertheless, grown exponentially since before such reports began circulating.
Plan proponents argue they’re fed up with Latinos buying and building homes for themselves in neighborhoods in which non-Latinos have lived for generations and claim for their own. Non-Latinos and their supporters also continue defending the long-standing practice of periodically anonymously hurling Molotov cocktails into Latino neighborhoods as part of their resistance strategy.
Many worldwide regularly criticize Latino reaction to the sometimes deadly attacks, and a recent poll suggests 90 percent of respondents favor creating Latino-free zones in Cynicville and elsewhere to eliminate the escalating violence.
OK, now before you go off and organize a massive protest, let me assure you the above account is fictional. No one is suggesting Latino-free neighborhoods in California, despite the illegal immigration controversy and the proximity of Mexico and the rest of Latin America as potential ethnically appropriate living areas for that particular group.
It’s meant to illustrate how ugly such a suggestion would be, and I think most people get it.
Until you substitute the word “Jewish” or “Israeli” for “Latino,” and “disputed territories” for “Cynicville,” that is, and, suddenly, the whole thing makes perfect sense to a whole slew of folks who would never stand for it otherwise.
I don’t get it.
This ongoing issue, which is heating up as President Obama’s increasing pressure on Israel to stop building housing in parts of Jerusalem “claimed” by the Palestinian Arabs for a future state, threatens to turn reason on its ear in the same way Anti-Semitism always does.
I have several questions about this widely-shared stance.
If I claim Paris for my summer home, do I get to have it?
What’s wrong with housing being built? I mean, is there such a thing as “Jewish apartments” — as in the apartments themselves having some sort of religious or ethnic affiliation that could contaminate any non-Jew who moved in? And what’s wrong with Jews living anywhere they want to, just like everybody else?
I’m fairly certain there is nowhere in Israel where Arabs are prohibited from living. Such a thing would be huge international news that would surely draw righteously indignant calls for the immediate dismantling of the “Zionist entity.”
What it looks like to me, and someone please correct me if I’m wrong, is that most of the world recognizes the idea of an Arab-free Israel as racist, but views the concept of a Jew-free Palestine as somehow essential.
Why is that? How can that be justified? It strikes me as exactly the same thing, yet it keeps being presented as somehow different.
And just looking at it from a realistic, factual viewpoint, there are more than 20 Arab countries, several of which surround Israel — Jordan comes immediately to mind — where Palestinian Arabs could live under Arab rule, if that’s what they want. But there is no other Jewish country. No place else Jews can live under Jewish rule. And no place else on the planet that contains the several-thousand-year history of the Jewish people in its bricks and mortar, in its soil and in its very air.
If there is some other explanation besides outright anti-Semitism for this strange, otherwise inexplicable phenomenon, I’d like to know what it is.

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Sometimes absurdity is the best teacher.  Like a firm slap, it can shock the senses. Like the alarm on your nightstand, it can break the power of nightmares, awaken us from illusion, arouse us from dreams and call us back to reality.  The ridiculous juxtaposed with the rational can indeed be a most effective tool in showing the clear difference between the two.

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The knowledge that circumcision can play a key role in reducing the of AIDs is nothing new. Circumcision lowers the chances of contracting AIDs by 60%. It has been widely discussed in international conferences and various circumcision clinics have been set up. Still, anti circumcision ideologues prevent a major push. That is the reason I have been so delighted in seeing the story on South Africa’s opposition to the life saving procedure make the Drudge report.

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Man walked on the moon 40 years ago today.

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Barack Hussein Obama Jr. became president of the United States six months ago today.

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The movie, “First Knight” is one of my favorite films. The story of King Arthur, Lancelot and Guinevere is a never ending legacy of romance, altruism, betrayal and honor. Until today, I always thought of this saga as a work of fiction. But, seeing it played out on the worldwide stage of the 2009 British Open, I know now it to be true. And, my heart was broken all over again watching Tom Watson in the role of a real life King Arthur.

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“We paid a high price [during the Tet offensive] but so did you [Americans]…. Do not forget the war was brought into the living rooms of the American people….The war was fought on many fronts. At that time the most important one was American public opinion.”–General Vo Nguyen Giap, commander North Vietnamese forces

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In 1923, Sarah Bernhardt, 78, died a broken actress. Said a friend, “She should have retired at the top of her career.” This month, Alaska Governor Sarah Palin, 45, resigning, ended her career — or did she? As Yogi Berra mused, “It’s dangerous to make predictions — especially about the future.”

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(First published in the Vallejo Times-Herald) 

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Oh, but we shouldn’t stop here.  We would need to conclude our conversation with the Holy Grail of human development theory: The Plus-One Concept.  This shibboleth tells us that all growth is incremental.  Moral development is realized in sequential steps rather than broad leaps.  To misdiagnose the “starting point” is to miss the whole point.  As educators we must assume that all students are dualistic, black and white thinkers.  If we are to honor the “plus-one concept” our goal must be to first assess the present developmental stage of the pupil and then to challenge these students to abandon their childlike affection for absolutes and move up one rung on the developmental ladder and, thus, embrace multiplicity as the next natural phase of life.

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A lot of Americans are so used to calling something a “right” they never stop to consider what that really means. Such is the case currently with regard to health care. Do Americans actually have a “right” to health care? No, they don’t–not unless it’s coerced. What do I mean?

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Well, it’s been a little over a week since Sarah Palin announced she will resign as Alaska’s governor, and to the extent she has sought any coverage in national media, it is to weigh in on a serious issue, which is more than can be said of her critics.

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Barack Obama may be an international celebrity but his so called popularity has failed to improve the economic or strategic position of the country over which he presides. The opposite is true. Barack Obama’s America is no longer a leader but a follower and I am not speaking merely about rising Asia but also about rising Europe. Nothing demonstrates the new balance better than Iceland’s decision to begin negotiations on joining the EU. For when faced with the choice between the dollar of the Euro, Icelanders opted for the Euro despite the fact that doing so meant not only the loss of long cherished independence but the endangerment of its all important fishing industry.

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It’s hard to know where to start explaining what a debacle Obamacare is. So let’s go with something simple: the president is a liar, and it only took Investor Business Daily about fifteen minutes of slogging through the House’s version of the healthcare bill to discover a whopper.

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Obama is challenged to come up with ways to pay for a health insurance plan that will cover most, if not all, Americans. Many call for cutting services and reducing fees for doctors and for hospitals. Others favor raising taxes one way or another. I say first cut out the crooks. You may say this is an often-used gambit; that people who do not want to face the tough choices that must be made claim that you can pay for what must be covered by curbing fraud and abuse. However, in this case, there are strong data that show that scores upon scores of billions could be saved in this way.

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One particularly attractive fantasy dies hard:  Let’s send over some of our government officials or volunteers, loaded with good intentions and some money, to turn an illiterate, corrupt regime into an American suburb. Quickly (if only to “drain the swamp in which terrorists thrive”). Cheaply (there is not much tolerance for foreign aid among our voters). And on the run (no need to learn the local language and culture; we are soon on the way to develop the next nation).

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In the debate over human cloning we would be wise to remember Richard Weaver’s 1948 axiom: Ideas have consequences. All ideas lead somewhere.  Question:  Where will human cloning inevitably lead? (more…)

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Congressman Eskridge of Idaho says it’s wrong for the U.S. to make its northern border policy identical to the southern policy because the two borders are so different.  For example, there aren’t nearly as many Home Depots.

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Growing up in central California, I have fond memories of lying on the floor of my dad’s bedroom as he read, The Sporting News and we listened to the Giants game on my transistor radio. I can still hear Russ Hodges and Lon Simmons getting excited over a triple by Felipe Alou or a home run by Orlando Cepeda. And…”There’s a drive to straightaway centerfield, Mays is under it, puts it away in his basket for out number three. At the end of seven innings, Giants 7 and the Dodgers 1…” Ah, what great voices they had as I grew up with them.

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As I’ve written repeatedly, this whole enviro doomsday and global warming nonsense is the bogeyman that scared leftists and inept governments which have already surrendered to Islam use to distract from real threats. So here, finally (in May), we have a Muslim leader encouraging precisely this kind of sublimation:

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We’ve all seen it in Supreme Court confirmation hearings: Conservative senators bristle at liberal nominees; liberal senators bristle at conservative nominees.

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Mortimer Zuckerman is right. The Economy is Even Worse Than You Think but not only because of the terrible unemployment and underemployment numbers. It is worse because, ultimately, only private investment can revive the productive economy. Unfortunately, the insecurity and the unpredictability created by Congress and the Obama administration makes it impossible for any level headed private investor to plan with any degree of accuracy. So, private investors buy treasuries and wait. This unfortunate phenomenon is the reason treasury has so little difficulty raising money. It has no competition from the private sector:

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In today’s edition of “Sonia Goes to Washington,” Judge Sotomayor was asked about her now-infamous statement (made repeatedly) that a “wise Latina woman” would come to a “better judgment” than your average white guy because of “the richness of her experiences.”

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I am speaking out about President Barack Obama’s statements regarding staffing practices for faith-based organizations. I am very concerned. From the beginning the President has made it explicitly clear that he advocates government imposed hiring standards for religious colleges and other faith-based organizations.  Such State intrusion cannot help but lead to government control of what ideas can and can’t be taught on our campuses.  The bottom line is that State imposed hiring practices and the corresponding truncation of religious expression should cause all universities that are Christian, Jewish, or otherwise religious, to be concerned for their very existence

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Here we go again. The justly dreaded Saudi “morality” police, enthusiastically supported by the country’s interior minister, recently acquitted by the courts for causing the death of “four youths in a car accident after chasing them on suspicion of being with unrelated women.”  For in Saudi Arabia, to be accused of being in the company of unrelated men, amounts to a death sentence:

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One of three escaped inmates from an Indiana prison was captured by a bodyguard for Chicago Mayor Richard Daley, who turned him over to authorities…and gave him an absentee ballot.

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Talk, as the old saying goes, is cheap. It gets even cheaper when it is completely undermined by events which reveal it to be nothing more than rank hypocrisy. For revealing such hypocrisy, thoughtful Americans owe a debt of gratitude to a most unlikely source: North Korea.

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