In This Dimension

Steele & the GOP: A Suggestion

The GOP base is angry at the GOP National Chairman, Michael Steele. There are many good reasons for this, but it’s hard to see how this shouting match can help the GOP right now.

Steele, angrily defending himself (if not his actions), has told the GOP that , if they don’t like what he’s doing, fire him.

This comment sounds eminently reasonable. If you think something’s bad – do something about it – or not. But if you aren’t going to do something about it, whining makes no sense and should be left to Liberals.

There is a third choice here: Help the[…]

Anne Wortham

Anne Wortham is Associate Professor of Sociology at Illinois State University and continuing Visiting Scholar at Stanford University ’s Hoover Institution. She is a member of the American Sociological  Association and the American Philosophical  Association.

She has been a John M. Olin Foundation Faculty Fellow, and honored as a Distinguished Alumni of the Year by the National Association for Equal Opportunity in Higher Education.

In fall 1988 she was one of a select group of intellectuals who were featured in Bill Moyer’s television series, “A World of Ideas.” The transcript of her conversation with Moyers has been published in his book, A[…]

Electoral College Re-Run?

Given what happened in the 2000 election with the Electoral College and the popular vote, and given that right now McCain seems to lead in the Electoral College, and Obama in the popular vote, what do you think will be the consequences of a rerun of 2000, in which the GOP wins the Electoral College and the Democrats the popular vote?

Has anything changed in the past eight years? Nope. The Electoral College still triumphs.

Would the Democrats accept that? They didn’t last time.

Would they call for the removal of the Electoral College? Probably – they can submit a Constitutional Amendment and[…]

Iowa Flooding Responsibility

A couple questions from The National Review: 
 
Where are all of the  Hollywood celebrities holding telethons asking for help in restoring Iowa  and helping the folks affected by the floods? 
 
Where is all the media  asking the tough questions about why the federal government hasn’t solved the problem? Asking where the FEMA trucks (and trailers) are?
 
Why isn’t the Federal Government relocating Iowa people to free hotels in Chicago?
 
When will Spike Lee say that the Federal Government blew up the levees that failed in Des  Moines?
 
Where are Sean Penn and the Dixie Chicks?
 
Where are all  the looters stealing high-end tennis shoes and big screen television sets?
 
When will we hear[…]

Why Won’t the Media Recognize Racism?

In Bret Schulte’s column, “A Quiet, Yet Historic Moment” in the June 16 issue of US News & World Report, once again the Media refuses to discuss racism when it’s on their preferred side of the aisle.

How, exactly, are we - as a country - going to get past racism by refusing to acknowledge where it actually exists and combatting it there and then?

I know it’s fun for the Democrats and the Media to pretend that racism exists only in the bad-old-GOP ranks. It’s also ignorant and immature.

The GOP was the party of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. It was the Party that[…]

Obama and Racial ‘Hate Speech’

Senator Obama has now told everyone exactly where he stands on the issue of racism and hate speech: front and center in support of it - as long as that speech and racism emanate from blacks and are directed toward whites.

Reverend Wright speaks of the chickens coming home to roost - and he is more correct than he realizes. For it is the sense of entitlement fostered by decades of Affirmative Action (created not only by a white man and Republican, but by the politician all Democrats love to hate - Richard Nixon) that is the roosting chicken.

Having been held[…]

Equality

The problem, of course, is one of equality. Not actual legal equality which has been the law for decades, nor  cultural – very, very few places remain in America in which overt racism exists.

As Larry Elder  writes, and Chris Rock states blacks are more racist than whites. (If you disbelieve this ask why blacks overwhelmingly support Obama, whose stated policies will do more to harm blacks than any other ethnic group.)

No, the problem is perception of equality and the desire, demand, of one group to be more equal than others.

Do blacks want to be equal to whites or do they demand Affirmative[…]

Substitution Test

A “Substitution Test” is when you substitute another person or object for the person or object central to the argument, keep the argument itself the same, and then see if the argument remains logical or acceptable. If the substitute makes the argument unacceptable, then it is hypocritical to accept the original argument.
 
To wit:
 
Obama’s preachers preach several inflammatory statements against the US and against white people. Fine. They certainly are entitled to their opinions, and to call the USA the “US of KKKA,” etc., if they want to. And Obama certainly is free to distance himself - or not - from this kind of[…]

Mrs. Ferraro and Sen. Obama

Can Sen. Obama really think that Ms. Ferraro’s comments on race are neither relevant nor true?

Has the sense of entitlement African-Americans feel become so ingrained that they are incapable of recognizing that their race is a part of their character, part of the tone of media coverage and part of any view taken of minorities by the chattering classes, or anyone else, including themselves?

The last public figure to stress the content of one’s character over the color of one’s skin got shot for it, and Blacks - and liberals - have been preying on skin color ever since.

Sen. Obama has[…]