Redstate

Posted at 4:21pm on Oct. 23, 2007 He Was For Vote Reallocation Before He Was Against It

By dpayton

Republicans in California are trying to change the way electoral votes from California are distributed.

Veteran GOP consultants said Monday that they were relaunching a drive to change the way California allocates its electoral college votes, aimed at helping the 2008 Republican presidential nominee capture the White House.

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Posted at 3:03pm on Oct. 12, 2007 The Nobel "Peace" Prize, and My Nominee for 2008

By dpayton

It is a "peace" prize for a strained definition of "peace". Try finding a mention of peace in this article. (Hint: Don't spend too long on it.)

Former Vice President Al Gore and the U.N.'s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change won the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize on Friday for their work to raise awareness about global warming.

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Posted at 2:50pm on Sep. 6, 2007 He Who Pays is In Control; Socialized Medicine and the NHS Health Miles Card

By dpayton

When you want to buy something, especially a high-ticket item -- let's say a car -- you want to do your research first. You have certain things that are important to you, as well as those things you think would be nifty to have, and balance that with how much your needs and wants are going to cost you. Then, you make your choice, good or bad, and you buy a car. You may buy just what you need, or you may buy more than that, but whatever the price, you are responsible for it. Your neighbor can neither tell you what to buy nor should your neighbor pay for any part of it, even the excess gas if you buy a guzzler. You pay the money, so you control the choice, and the consequences.

Posted in Policy — Comments (1) / Email this page » / Read More »

Posted at 2:09pm on Aug. 23, 2007 Christians & Political Parties: A Response to Anne Rice

By dpayton

This is one of my longer posts, possibly the longest I've done on my personal blog. What happened was, I was reading an open letter from a Christian planning on voting a particular way, and as I read further and further into it, one objection after another kept coming to my mind, and one problem after another regarding the writer's reasons kept getting in the way. Finally, I realized I'd have to just set aside some of my typical day-to-day blogging of the link-and-quick-comment type, and go in-depth into the problems I see with the author, and Christians in general, who vote Democratic for specifically Christian reasons, and especially regarding the social issues brought up in the letter. Pull up a cup of coffee and sit back.

Posted in 2008 — Comments (37) / Email this page » / Read More »

Posted at 4:49pm on Aug. 1, 2007 The Roeaux Effect

By dpayton

James Taranto has given a name to the idea that the country is getting more and more anti-abortion partially due to abortion being legal. Calling it "The Roe Effect", it postulates that since those who favor legal abortion are more likely to get one, and assuming children generally follow the political leanings of their parents, more abortion foes are being born than abortion advocates, and thus over time support for legal abortion will dwindle. (See the Wikipedia entry for links to other articles on this.)

After the Roe decision, it would take at least 18 years for the effect to start being seen, when the post-Roe kids were of voting age. However, there's another trend occurring that may have an effect on American politics without the waiting period.

Posted in Elections — Comments (5) / Email this page » / Read More »

Posted at 11:47am on Jun. 12, 2007 Speaking Truth to Evil

By dpayton

Twenty years ago today, the President of the United States did what every single diplomat told him not to do, but he did it because he believed it was the right thing to do.

And it was.

Powerline highlights Peter Robinson's story of how he researched and then wrote a speech to be delivered by Ronald Reagan at West Germany's Brandenburg Gate. It was Robinson who wrote the lines, "Mr. Gorbachev, open this gate. Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall." No one at the State Department or the National Security Council liked it because it was too confrontational and raised false hopes.

Indeed it was confrontational, but you don't slink away from confronting evil. It only raised false hopes if you had no faith in your cause and a belief in the ultimate victory for what was right. If you didn't want to offend evil, and if you didn't think winning was really possible, you really wouldn't like that tone.

Posted in Foreign Affairs — Comments (0) / Email this page » / Read More »

Posted at 12:56pm on Jun. 11, 2007 "Stop Sending Us Aid!"

By dpayton

An Kenyan expert in economics, James Shikwati, was interviewed by the German magazine Der Spiegel. The interview got off to a quick start as Shikwati surprised the journalist.

SPIEGEL:Mr. Shikwati, the G8 summit at Gleneagles is about to beef up the development aid for Africa...

Shikwati: ... for God's sake, please just stop.

Posted in Foreign Affairs — Comments (20) / Email this page » / Read More »

Posted at 4:37pm on Jun. 1, 2007 Serve Me, Or Else!

By dpayton

With a tip of the hat to Ron Coleman at Dean's World comes word of a certain clientele that will take a company to court for not catering to them.

Now, would it make sense for used of Macintosh computers to sue software companies that only write for Windows, complaining that they should have equal access to that software as well? No, it would be silly, and certainly not allowed. I mean, after all, those Windows programmers know the PC, not the Mac. You'd want someone who knows the hardware you're using to write for it. And besides, can't a company choose it's market?

Perhaps not. Depends on who you are.

Posted in The Courts — Comments (0) / Email this page » / Read More »

Posted at 3:31pm on Mar. 27, 2007 "The Other Iraq"

By dpayton

Recently on the Public Radio program Open Source, Christopher Lydon did a show on Iraqi Kurdistan, or, as it's PR campaign calls it, "the other Iraq". You can listen to the show and read the show notes here on Radio Open Source. He interviewed Qubad Talabani, Kurdish Regional Government (KRG) Representative to the United States and son of Iraqi President Jalal Talabani, Bayan Sami Abdul Rahman, KRG Representative to the United Kingdom, and Peter Galbraith, former (and first) Ambassador to Croatia under Clinton, Senior Diplomatic Fellow at the Center for Arms Control, and Non-Proliferation Advisor to the KRG.

For some, it may be an eye-opening program. From the discussion of how Americans were indeed greeted as liberators, to the economic prosperity, to the lack of sectarian violence among the Sunni, Shia and Christian Kurds, this program should give pause to those saying we should get out of Iraq ASAP. In fact, both the Kurdish guests warned against a withdrawal too early. (Ambassador Galbraith, predictably, disagreed. More on that in a moment.)

Posted in Foreign Affairs — Comments (4) / Email this page » / Read More »

Posted at 7:16pm on Feb. 26, 2007 Religious Freedom Inconvenient for Public Schools

By dpayton

Would you believe that here in the United States, someone would suggest that religious freedom and parental right undermine the public school system? It's happened. A US District Judge has used that as part of his reasoning in a recent ruling.

A federal judge in Massachusetts has ordered the "gay" agenda taught to Christians who attend a public school in Massachusetts, finding that they need the teachings to be "engaged and productive citizens."

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Posted at 5:13pm on Nov. 30, 2006 Smashing the Charity Stereotypes

By dpayton

The New York Times asked, "Are we cheap?" Liberals give their opinions on that. (But they're not seeing the whole picture.)

"Yes," they say. Former President Carter recently said the rich states "don't give a damn" about people in poor countries. And when it comes to helping the needy in poor countries, U2 singer Bono says, "It's the crumbs off our tables that we offer these countries."

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Posted at 3:48pm on Sep. 28, 2006 The Calm Before the (Next) Storm

By dpayton

Ah, the wonders of a UN resolution. The peacekeeping troops are there, and they're doing...what, exactly?

One month after a United Nations Security Council resolution ended a 34-day war between Israel and Lebanon’s Hezbollah militia, members of the international force sent to help keep the peace say their mission is defined more by what they cannot do than by what they can.

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Posted at 10:20pm on Jul. 14, 2006 With an Eye to History - The Arab-Israeli Conflict

By dpayton

The Israeli-Palestinian situation is not--or I guess I should say "should not"--be a matter of left/right, liberal/conservative, Democrat/Republican, Muslim/Judeo-Christian or whatever divide you want to put forth.  It's a matter of history, and sadly the reaction to it does seem to generally break into all of those two camps.  Typically it's that the former generally leaning towards the Palestinians (with some added generalities about stopping "all" violence, though they find their voice more often against Israel) and the latter leaning towards the Israelis.  But if you look at history, it really shouldn't be an ideological issue.

Charles Krauthammer has an article today that seeks to answer the question "Who is at fault?"  Some folks think that trying to assign blame and figure out who started it is an exercise in futility.  Often that's true.  However, there is a generation of history to look back on and see that the causes of this conflict can far more often be laid at the feet of those who break their promises, target indiscriminately, and twist history to try to gain an advantage.

Posted in User Blogs — Comments (1) / Email this page » / Read More »

Posted at 1:15pm on Jul. 10, 2006 Fast-Forward Considered Harmful; Hollywood Stifles Viewer Choice

By dpayton

You are not allowed to choose what you will and won't watch in a movie.  So says Hollywood and the courts.

A federal judge in Colorado has handed the entertainment industry a big win in its protracted legal battle against a handful of small companies that offer sanitized versions of theatrical releases on DVD.

The case encompasses two of Hollywood's biggest headaches these days: the culture wars and the disruptive influence of digital technologies.

Senior U.S. District Court Judge Richard Matsch came down squarely on the side of the Directors Guild of America and the major studios in his ruling that the companies must immediately cease all production, sale and rentals of edited videos. The summary judgment issued Thursday requires the companies -- Utah-based CleanFlicks, CleanFilms and Play It Clean Video, Arizona-based Family Flix USA and the separate entity CleanFlicks of Colorado -- to turn over all existing copies of their edited movies to lawyers for the studios for destruction within five days of the ruling.

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Posted at 12:57pm on Jun. 20, 2006 Kim Jong Il's Countdown Clock is Ticking

By dpayton

As Kim Jong Il appears prepared to launch a missile, ostensibly as a test, the Pentagon says it's ready.

The United States has moved its ground-based interceptor missile defense system from test mode to operational amid concerns over an expected North Korean missile launch, a U.S. defense official said on Tuesday.

The official, speaking on condition of anonymity, confirmed a Washington Times report that the Pentagon has activated the system, which has been in the developmental stage for years.

"It's good to be ready," the official said.

Well, depends on what you mean by "ready".  There have been some encouraging tests, but very few of them.  Then again, this is just one missile, which should make things a little bit easier to be "ready" for.

Still, if North Korea had a nuclear payload on this missile, what should we do about it?  Even if it's just a dud, but this test moves them forward technologically towards a Taepodong-3, which could hit all of the continental US, what should we be doing?  Or should be sitting back and just watching it?  

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