Krauthammer Is Right About Sotomayor*

*Image courtesy of AP Images.

Charles Krauthammer makes an interesting point about would be Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor in "The Jerusalem Post." Namely, that race has become a tool utilized by Sotomayor and her ilk on the left to place genetic and cultural identity--especially in the case of minorities--above that of plain merit. This is especially so in the case of firefighter Frank Ricci, a case in which she presented an absurd and even disturbing decision. 

As Krauthammer admits, I guess we get what we voted for.

Proposition 8 Upheld*

*Image courtesy of AP Images.

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has made a statement commending the California Supreme Court's action in upholding Proposition 8, the controversial amendment to the state constitution that defines marriage as being between a man and a woman.

While the Church has been vociferously criticized by opponents for their support of this amendment, officials are correct in asserting that it was the citizens of California who voted for this at the ballot box. That there are still opponents attempting to hurt the reputations of those who voted in favor of Proposition 8 appears very petty and even ignorant--to suggest otherwise is to assert that the minority has a right to overturn the will of the majority in a democratic process, even when that will has been expressed through the legally cast ballots of citizens residing in that state.

What is also clear is that those officials sitting on the California Supreme Court made this decision mostly to save their own hides--otherwise, they would not have even heard the argument. But whatever their motivations, and while previous "same-sex marriages" remain untouched, at least justice has been done in the case of this ballot proposition. Though we should not be surprised for the debate to continue for some time to come.

Some Good News From Pakistan*

*Image courtesy of AP Images.

Right now, a critical battle is playing out in Pakistan's Swat Valley. Reportedly, troops have taken back the significant city of Mingora, one of the region's largest. Fighting against the Taliban is sure to be brutal for many months to come, but this development is at least encouraging in the face of what seemed an utter unwillingness on the part of Pakistan to defend itself against terrorism.

And Pakistan must pay the price--however high it might be after the catastrophic attempt at bowing to extremism--to secure its own borders. As mentioned previously in this venue, to do otherwise is to seek appeasement with an enemy that wants bloodshed and the total annihilation of any society that succeeds under principles of personal freedoms and modern economics. This war is total, and it is refreshing to see that Pakistan is finally starting to get its head in the game as it may now have a shot at preserving both culture and country. 

Occidental powers should strongly support this fight, as it is the same one we find ourselves currently engaged in. To do otherwise is to invite disaster not only for Pakistan and her citizens, but also for ourselves as well.

OTHER NEWS: Farouk Hosni--pledged Hebrew book burner--seems to be maintaining the lead in his bid to head UNESCO, the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization, based in that lovely city of Paris. That this sort of scoundrel is running should not be terribly surprising. But why Israel is reportedly now backing Hosni after his apology over the book burning item is troubling, to say the least.

AN UPDATE ON OMAR AL-BASHIR: My own thoughts on Omar al-Bahir have been clearly outlined in this venue before both here and there. Yet Paul Moorcraft over at "The American Spectator" feels that taking the stick to this wicked individual is unacceptable because the ICC is the one doing it. Granted. Their are likely some issues of viability as far as international authority is concerned here. But al-Bashir still needs to answer for the atrocities in Darfur, and painting him as some needed asset and as a viable leader is an insidious argument for crude diplomatic expediency. 

Clearly, Omar al-Bashir is not some misunderstood political figure that we ought to have empathy for as he might be the key to some theoretical cease fire. The man is a war criminal, and that much should be obvious to even the most casual of observers.

SADLY, THIS MIGHT BE TRUE: Wow. Now I understand all the rockets.

Kim Jong Il Announces Plan To Bring Moon To North Korea

Hollywood Types*

*Image courtesy of AP Images.

While North Korea continues to send out missiles and reopen its dormant nuclear plant--and one can only pray this means Kim Jong Il is handing off the empire to some idiot son, soon to be easily deposed--here's a pleasant reminder from Robert J. Avrech over at Big Hollywood of just how movie stars actually used to treat our men in uniform with respect.

After all, it sometimes seems Memorial Day is just too short on gratitude for all that our soldiers, sailors, airmen, and marines do day in and day out for our freedoms.

At The Crossroads*

*Image courtesy of AP Images.

The time for feeble diplomacy and warmed over appeasement approaches is over. Really. North Korea is not serious about disarming, and likely never has been, as should be clear from today's reported underground atomic blast by that member state of the Axis of Evil--a labelling sober Americans should be happy to revive, even if it is so hated by the intelligentsia on the Left. Bush, when all is said and done, seems to have had it right.

And President Obama should continue to push for a Security Council resolution from our friends at the U.N., though we should note here that there already was a resolution supposedly blocking the very kind of action taken today by North Korea. And while we are pursuing multi-lateral support from a group of nations largely lacking any sort of upright spine since the end of WWII, we also need to be earnestly preparing for regime change. After all, the point here is not diplomacy for the sake of some deluded feeling of civilized sophistication--the point is to annihilate Pyongyang's nuclear program and foster the installment of a leader less prone than Kim Jong Il to human rights abuses on a grand scale. To do less is to invite real catastrophe for South Korea, the region, and ourselves for much longer than Obama is likely to stay in office.

And neither should we fear a two front war should it come to that. Such a war was waged quite successfully and honorably by Americans roughly sixty years in the past, and more recently, in an ongoing war taking our good troops to both Iraq and Afghanistan. In fact, on this Memorial Day, perhaps we would do well to remember the price of indecision when a war can and should be fought.

On that topic, Obama's words so far have been on key, but it remains to be seen whether or not clear and undeniably firm actions will follow should the Security Council decisively fail in disarming this bloody tyrant. My guess is that we will be feeling the inadequacies of both the U.N. and our President very shortly. 

Finally--and oddly enough--there seems to be an almost uncanny adoption of Bush-era real politics when it comes to handling these dictators of late. Perhaps Obama shouldn't finish up with the lease at Guantanamo just yet. We may need the space.

UPDATE: It's been condemned. Now Obama needs to roll up his sleeves and get to work dismantling the program, by force if necessary.

IN OTHER RELATED NEWS: As if those other enemies filling out the rest of the Axis of Evil weren't getting enough attention, Israel reports that communist rabble-rouser Hugo Chavez of Venezuela and the fine country of Bolivia have been supplying Iran with uranium. And no, that's likely not for peaceful purposes.

Obama Makes Kids Cry*

*Image courtesy of AP Images.

President Obama reportedly thought 10 minutes was too long to wait for a group of Kindergarten kids scheduled to meet with him. 

They showed up, were snubbed, and understandably cried while officials told them they were just too late. Perhaps 10 minutes was just too much of his time. Or perhaps it might have had something to do with his own appointment to airbrush his image as a friend of the military. 

A Man of the People.

International Relations By The Unskilled*

*Photo courtesy of AP Images.

America matters--culturally as the zenith of Western Tradition with all its democratic ideals, spiritually as a bastion of religious experience and sentiment, and even physically as a bulwark of freedom against what is ostensibly a very dark and dangerous world beyond our borders.

All of which make President Obama's recent foreign relations gaffes so troubling. Why does he scrape the dirt for King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia? Why does he so graciously accept a vitriolic book of raunchy victimization porn from Hugo Chavez after coolly slapping hands at the Summit of the Americas? And why does he allow our posture of strength to get overrun by the likes of another rancid old communist in a track suit--Cuba's Fidel Castro--as the same plays keep-away with our foreign policy? The inferred answers are not encouraging.

Some--notably Joseph Shattan over at "The American Spectator"--argue that we have entered the age of The Obama Doctrine--a dismal mix of cosmopolitanism, soft power, appeasement, and global meliorism. If correct, frightening years are indeed ahead.

And here it should be said that wherever Obama decides to lead, he must remember that America should ultimately remain in control to ensure the freedom of her citizens. And this should also be the case to safeguard our very lives.

Given this, the most pressing issue in this arena after terrorism--homegrown with foreign ideas of fratricidal slaughter or foreign-born under the current illusion of power through victimization--is of course illegal immigration. 

Immigrants have always been an important part of this country, if only for the individual freedoms they take up for themselves and their own small part in growing this American experiment. More often than not, these individuals also foster positive sentiments for our democracy in those relatives left behind. In other words, Obama's legacy on foreign relations will likely come down to how he handles the pesky problem of illegal immigration, as glaring as his other meet and greets have been with foreign officials of various import.

To be clear, how Obama chooses to acknowledge and even prize the contributions of legal entrants into this country will have a tremendous impact on how we stay unified as a country, and not just on which minority groups choose to vote for him come 2012. And what is more, how he turns a blind eye to less than friendly and illegal foreign influences will also have a tremendous impact on whether or not we hold to traditional Western values; whether or not our enemies view us with paralyzing fear or with open derision; and whether or not we go the way of a malaise-ridden Europe or continue towards the bright dawn of uninterrupted freedom.

That's a heavy bill to pay for any leader. But the President will have to pay and do so willingly in order to show naysayers that America still matters--and that in all the history of the world, it matters the most.

Sutherland Takes His Role Very Seriously*

*Image courtesy of AP Images.

Yeah, actors are a little crazy sometimes. At some fancy schmancy fashion show, Kiefer Sutherland allegedly headbutted fashion designer Jack McCollough right on the nose, breaking the poor guy's snot locker in the process.

It seems Sutherland was sloshed and felt the quickest way to the bar was between the designer and Brooke Shields. Oh well. Some reports have Sutherland coming to Shields' rescue, but with her denying it, I guess we'll never know just what happened.

What we can be sure of is that Sutherland will act contrite if he was indeed in the wrong, as he did with his drunk driving beef of last year. Either way, I'd like to think that Shields isn't just throwing him into the justice system on a whim or because she simply dislikes violence as he's now facing assault charges. If she did get pushed down, she should speak up.

But really, let's be honest. Isn't it nice to see a male star going all Jack Bauer on some glorified tailor that likely dropped out of high school because the regular guys picked on him? And all this for some decent treatment of the opposite sex. I mean, come on. Most guys in Hollywood would just get drunk, get a girl pregnant, and then refuse to man up and get married. Sheesh. That might be the real issue, here.