Sometimes the news’ timing is bittersweet. On the heels of a piece I just wrote about modern man and the wrath of God, New Orleans Mayor "Sugar Ray" Nagin chimed in with his own thoughts on the matter. While he seemed to agree with those who attribute Hurricane Katrina to divine retribution, his conception of God’s priorities differs a tad from those of the Pat Robertsons, Jerry Falwells and Hank Irwins of the world.

Sugar Ray said,

"Surely God is mad at America. He sent us hurricane after hurricane after hurricane, and it's destroyed and put stress on this country."

If a new application of the Global Positioning System (GPS) passes muster and finds favor with the Big Siblings of Western democracies, speeding may eventually become a thing of the past. Being tested in Canada and at least contemplated in Britain, the system would be placed in vehicles and communicate with orbital satellites, informing the car’s computer about the speed limit of the road being traversed. All the government need do then is mandate that automobiles be fitted with speed-limiting devices and, voilB, your car would be prevented from exceeding any speed limit, no matter how unrealistic it was or what emergency arose.

Elements of this technology have already been used to a similar end in our nation, albeit by a private entity. It was found that the Acme Auto rental car company was using GPS technology to monitor its customers and then charged them a $150 penalty every time they drove at least eighty miles-per-hour for more than two minutes. And while a GPS installed in your vehicle can enable law enforcement to locate it if it’s stolen, it could also allow insurance companies to ascertain the frequency with which you use your car, the distance you travel and speed at which you drive. They would then be able to base your rate on the data.

When is a hate-crime not a hate-crime? Answer: when the powers-that-be say it isn’t.

One problem with hate-crime laws is that they’re more the result of bad ideology than good criminology, and nothing illustrates this point better than the current spate of church burnings in Alabama.

As you may know, five churches were burned in rapid succession late last week, followed by four more overnight Monday/Tuesday. Yet, while I had encountered much reportage on this story prior to writing this piece, I had yet to hear any government official or media figure hazard the guess that these acts could constitute a hate-crime. So I did a Google news search.

There’s a gathering political storm centered around ports, one that has united a motley crew from across the political spectrum, from Hillary Clinton and Chuck Schumer to Rick Santorum and Michael Savage. At issue is a deal that would allow DP World, a United Arab Emirates company, to assume control of seaports in New York, New Jersey, Philadelphia, Baltimore, New Orleans, and Miami.

What concerns opponents of this plan should be obvious. With millions of large cargo containers being brought to our shores every year – each one with the storage capacity to house a nuclear device that could destroy even the largest American city – the seaports constitute a true Achilles’ heel. And with the bulk of our immediate enemies residing in Islamic Arab countries, allowing one of the latter’s companies to be the custodian of six major US seaports is going to raise both eyebrows and ire.

It really is true that lies have short legs.  One way or another, liberals always end up contradicting themselves, tacitly acknowledging that their pronouncements are more political artifice than statesmanlike artistry, more incitive than insightful.  

What brings this to mind is the controversial plan allowing the Dubai-based company DP World to assume managerial responsibilities at six major US seaports.  In the piece I just wrote in opposition to the Arab takeover, I quoted Senator Chuck Schumer, who has become a strange bedfellow in his leading of the charge to scuttle the arrangement.  Having a nose capable of detecting political opportunity every bit as well as it could sniff out marriageable men of potential, Hillary Clinton has cast her lot with Schumer.  Now, as I have indicated, I support them in this, but the incongruity of their stance hasn’t escaped my notice.  No, they have done violence to principles their ilk has most sanctimoniously claimed embody true virtue, and I won’t miss this chance to hoist them on their own petards.

No, Not All Cultures and Religions are Equal

If anything renders people sheep among wolves, it’s when they convince themselves that every creature is a sheep.  We live in an age in which one of the few sins is giving offense, one of the only virtues is a tendentious tolerance and one of the top priorities is getting along.  In light of this, it’s not surprising that a steadfast refusal to draw moral distinctions is all the rage.

We hear a lot about women’s “reproductive rights.”  In fact, some leftist politicians – Barbara Boxer comes to mind – seem to be able to segue from any conceivable topic to a discussion of them with aplomb.  But do men have reproductive rights too?

While art imitates life, it’s also true that life imitates art.  It’s with this in mind that my eyebrows were raised upon hearing about Big Love, a series with which HBO breaks new, albeit not hallowed, ground.  It stars Bill Paxton as Salt Lake City businessman Bill Henrickson, a man with two lives and three wives, as he is a polygamist who keeps his families life secret.
    

While the invasion of our nation through the southern border continues unabated, our fearless leaders are once again busy cooking up cures that are worse than the disease.  The latest scheme is a form of de facto amnesty euphemistically called the “Secure America and Orderly Immigration Act.”  And if it passes, it could be America’s final act.

Are conservative leanings the fruits of intellectual inquiry or the fault of psychological frailty?  If psychologist Jack Block is to be believed, it’s the latter.