Quick Roundup 56

Karl Rove, Take Note

Apparently, our President is quite concerned about the prospect of spending the second half of his term being raked over the coals by Democrats. This is a problem of his own making -- for prosecuting an unfocused war. But he has also had a big assist from his fellow Republicans in Congress -- for being profilgate spenders and pushing a religious agenda. Here's a hint: You will not solve your problems by continuing to act like Democrats who have more than a passing familiarity with the Bible.

But don't take my word for it. Fellow submarine blogger and self-described "South Park Republican" Bubblehead puts it very well.

Republicans currently in charge of Congress don't seem to me to be Conservative at all, if by "Conservative" you mean supporting less government intrusion in our lives and concern about increased government spending. They've run up huge deficits while arrogantly refusing to cut pork, and have no one to blame but themselves -- they control the whole budget process. Their recent attempt to "reform" ethics is, quite simply, a joke -- it's as if they don't even care that the voters know it's a sham. Why can't they even pretend to give up their boondoggle overseas "fact-finding" trips?

The last straw for me, though, is the failure of the Administration to prosecute the Global War On Terror with the level of intensity that I think is required. They started off pretty well, but somewhere they lost the way. I believed President Bush when he told the world that, "If you're not with us, you're against us". Coming up on five years later, we have the remnants of Al Qaeda's leadership hiding in NW Pakistan, and all we can do is an occasional Predator attack. [bold added]

Read it all. And if you're Karl Rove, or a Republican officeholder, promising lower taxes, spending cuts, and a more ruthless war would help. Actually delivering these things would help a lot more, and beyond just the next election.

Bush's abysmal poll numbers do not mean we've become a Cindy Sheehan Nation. Far from it. But her party might win anyway if the Republicans don't grow a pair come November.

You heard it here first.

It was with some grim satisfaction that I saw the following headline breathlessly shouted from the mountaintop by Matt Drudge: "'Katrina effect' blamed for rise in homicides".

Violence among Hurricane Katrina evacuees, much of it occurring in southwest Houston neighborhoods targeted in a new anti-crime campaign, accounted for nearly a quarter of homicides in the city so far this year, police officials said Friday.

Since Jan. 1, police have investigated 124 homicides, 29 of which involved evacuees as victims or attackers, said Capt. Dale Brown of the Houston Police Department. There were 103 homicides over the same period last year; without the evacuee-related deaths this year, the city would have experienced a 7.8 percent decrease.

We absorbed somewhere between 100,000 and 200,000 refugees. Our area is home to about 5 million souls, but Houston alone has 2 million, meaning that the refugees still account for only 5-10% of the population. And yet they represent a quarter of the murders this year.

I saw this a mile away. (And after the story developed some more, I posted a roundup here. Scroll down.) This is going to make for some fascinating reading after it unfolds some more and is studied in detail. I just hope I don't get robbed or killed before then.

200 and 50,000

Zach Oakes just racked up his 200th post, and Bo recently had his 50,000th visitor.

Great Minds Think Alike, Part I

Nick Provenzo likes maps too, I see. I did one for countries I have visited awhile back. Here are my states:


Hint: I live in Texas. Looks like we might have a de facto meme going here. Blair posted his, as well.

Great Minds Think Alike, Part II

Awhile back, I saw March of the Penguins. Unlike Diana Hsieh, though, I didn't take the time to review it. She's spot-on with hers, brief as it is.

Win 25 Smackers

There's an Objectivism Wiki contest over at Objectivism Online.

Why Be Sneaky?

Daniel Pipes reports that our law enforcement does, in fact, do exactly what it must: profile Moslems. However, in this age of political correctness, they feel pressured to publicly deny what they are doing.

I have long thought that Multiculturalism was not just an attack on Western civilization, but on the rational faculty at its root as such. If concept formation is, as Ayn Rand pointed out, a process of measurement omission, then this is precisely what law enforcement officials have to do, and which is being slammed as "profiling".

Cops must integrate learned knowledge about and experience dealing with criminals to be able to make good guesses about whom they need to keep an eye on. Otherwise, they become impotent, wasting time and effort treating everyone with an equal degree suspicion. (e.g., Old ladies being inspected for bombs at airports.) Men have free will, but past choices, reflected in appearance, customs, and mannerisms, are a pretty good indicator of future actions. And it is exactly these things we are asking the police to ignore when we condemn profiling!

Now that I consider it, the politically correct attack on profiling may indeed be the most clear-cut example of multiculturalism being an attack against the exercise of reason there is!

Losing the War?

Gideon Reich notes the heroism and effectiveness of the American military and asks whether we are winning battles, but losing the war.

-- CAV