Sunday, April 20, 2008

It's Not History, It's HBO

From David Almasi:

The Washington Post's Al Kamen poked fun at the ACLU and National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers in his April 16 column:

The American Civil Liberties Union and the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers are heading an effort to provide legal representation for alleged terrorist detainees at Guantanamo Bay. The groups say they've gotten involved in defending the detainees charged under the 2006 Military Commissions Act to ensure that constitutional rights are respected.

They've named their efforts the "John Adams Project," after the second president, who "defended the British soldiers charged with killing Americans in the Boston Massacre, and said that the case was 'one of the best pieces of service I ever rendered my country.'"

Wait a minute. John Adams? Wasn't he also the guy who signed the infamous Alien and Sedition Acts, which were intended to suppress opposition to an undeclared naval war with France and provided for fines and imprisonment for publication of "any false, scandalous and malicious writings against the government"? The law that led to imprisonment of a couple of dozen newspaper editors and the closing of their publications?

The mistake is understandable. When the John Adams Project was introduced on April 3, the John Adams miniseries on HBO had only progressed through Adam's inauguration as vice president in 1789. He didn't sign the Alien and Sedition Acts until 1798. That episode didn't air until April 13 (full disclosure: I still need to watch that episode as well!).

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Labels: Constitutional Law, Defense, Government Power, History

Posted by Amy Ridenour at 11:45 AM

Friday, April 18, 2008

Washington Post Gets Conservative Concerns About the ANC 20 Years Late, and Almost Too Late Altogether

From David Almasi:

An unsigned house editorial in the April 15 Washington Post is very concerned about post-election unrest in Zimbabwe, where, it seems, President Robert Mugabe is willing to do whatever it takes to remain in power despite indications he lost the popular vote. The twist is that the Post is laying the blame for Mugabe's ability to remain relevant at the feet of South African President Thabo Mbeki.

And they aren't that happy with Mbeki's foreign policy elsewhere, to boot. My, my.

Mbeki is the former president of the African National Congress (ANC), the current South African ruling party that was a terrorist organization mere decades ago. It was the political entity that benefited from the American anti-apartheid protests of the 1980s. Mbeki took over the presidency after Nelson Mandela's retirement.

When I was involved in the South Africa protests of that bygone era, we warned that the ANC was not the moral equivalent of our own Founding Fathers. Mandela, for instance, was a co-founder of the ANC's militant Umkhonto we Sizwe wing. Mbeki was a member. We warned about the ANC's ties and kinship with radical groups and governments across the globe, but we were told we were crazy (and worse).

Now, with the ANC firmly entrenched and South Africa serving on the U.N. Security Council and other U.N. bodies, the chickens are really coming home to roost. In its editorial, Post editors lament:

Since that country began serving a term on the U.N. Security Council last year, the government of President Thabo Mbeki has consistently allied itself with the world's rogue states and against the Western democracies. It has defended Iran's nuclear program and resisted sanctions against it; shielded Sudan and Burma from the sort of pressure the United Nations once directed at the apartheid regime; and enthusiastically supported one-sided condemnations of Israel by the U.N. Human Rights Council...

Every Western democratic government has condemned Mr. Mugabe's maneuvering, and even many Africans have appeared to lose patience with the 84-year-old strongman. That he remains in office is due mainly to Mr. Mbeki, who has used South Africa's considerable influence and prestige to bolster Mr. Mugabe.

Mbeki is crisscrossing Africa to continue to prop up Mugabe. I don't think I could have written it better than the Post editors have, except I and other conservatives could have told you this would happen 20 years ago.

The one thing the world has in its favor is that the old breed typified by Mbeki is dying out. Democracy has held together. Other, younger ANC leaders are already distancing themselves from Mbeki, including his successor in the ANC and the presidency. Mbeki, like the apartheid government he once fought, is becoming isolated in the world as well as in his own country.

But it's a shame, for the people of Zimbabwe in particular, that the world had to suffer his leadership even one day.

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Labels: Foreign Policy, History, Human Rights, Media, United Nations

Posted by Amy Ridenour at 7:13 PM

True Emancipation Would Be Something New to Celebrate

From David Almasi:

April 16 is a public holiday unique to the District of Columbia. It's "Emancipation Day" - the commemoration of President Abraham Lincoln's signing of the Compensation Emancipation Act in 1862. The Act freed the approximately 3,100 slaves in the nation's capital months before the Emancipation Proclamation freed them in Confederate states.

Along with the closure of public offices and the government-run schools, parades and performances mix are sometimes mixed with political action. Most notably, the day is often used as a rallying point for efforts to make the federal district a full-fledged state with two senators and a representative.

But how about using Emancipation Day to call for an emancipation from burdensome government, rather than demanding more of it?

As pointed out in a Washington Times commentary by Project 21 member and new National Center Policy Analyst Casey Lartigue, Jr. on April 16:

The focus was - as it is usually is in D.C. - on political power rather than policies to make citizens freer. Not to take away from the oppression of slavery, but Emancipation Day is more than an opportunity to celebrate the end of the oppression of slavery. It also is a good time to note that lawmakers typically look backward at liberty's advances rather than forward to find ways citizens can enjoy more personal freedom.

For example:

It won't be until a week after Emancipation Day that Americans will observe "Tax Freedom Day," the date when people essentially stop working to pay off their tax obligations and begin working for themselves. According to the Tax Foundation, April 23 is the national average. D.C. residents celebrate their particular Tax Freedom Day last - after all 50 states - on May 3...

Wouldn't it be a pleasant surprise today, Emancipation Day, if Mr. Fenty and the D.C. Council announced cuts in government spending or extended the occasional "tax-free" shopping periods?

Another way city leaders could expand freedom is to extend school choice, at a minimum, to every low-income student living in the District. Andrew Coulson of the Cato Institute recently pointed out that when all costs are divided by the number of students, the District of Columbia is spending close to $25,000 per child. The District essentially is providing mediocre public schooling at elite private school prices.

Casey did point out one bright spot on the horizon. Unfortunately, if this happens, this reform will not be by the hands of the District's leadership but rather through a legal mandate from the U.S. Supreme Court:

When D.C. leaders can't be relied on to extend freedom, others may help. The Supreme Court may soon step in to help D.C. residents by ending the city's ban on firearms.

Since 1976, ownership of virtually all firearms in the District has been illegal. The gun ban hasn't curtailed gun-related crimes against D.C. residents, but it robs them of the means of self-defense. The Supreme Court is expected to rule by June on a lower court's rejection of the ban.

To see the full version of Casey's commentary, click here.

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Labels: Education, Government Power, Government Spending, Guns, History, Project 21, Race

Posted by Amy Ridenour at 5:23 PM

Tuesday, November 20, 2007

Reagan No Racist, Says Deroy Murdock

Deroy Murdock has a lot of evidence to back up his contention that Paul Krugman and Bob Herbert are wrong: Ronald Reagan was not a racist.
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Labels: Conservatives, History, Liberals

Posted by Amy Ridenour at 11:30 PM

Wednesday, June 13, 2007

Wynton C. Hall's Speechwriter Anecdote: Here's Hoping His Source Made It Up

Writing in the Examiner, Wynton C. Hall shares an anecdote that, if true, reveals a breathtaking level of incompetence at the White House, not just in what it says about the staffer in question, but about the hiring process there:

...why can’t this White House get its oratorical act together? One explanation might lie with Bush’s current speechwriters. At a recent social gathering, I spoke to one woman who told me a story that would send a shiver up a speechwriter’s spine.

While chatting with one of Bush’s newly installed speechwriters, the woman said she mentioned how much she loved President Ronald Reagan’s “Pointe du Hoc” speech, delivered on cliffs overlooking Normandy Beach. The young new presidential wordsmith looked at the woman with a quizzical look. The presidential speech writer confessed to being unfamiliar with the speech but was looking forward to reading it.

Indulge me.

Open Letter to Young New Presidential Wordsmith:

Dear Young (may I call you "Young"?),

What fantastic circumstances placed you at the very top of the speechwriting profession while leaving you ignorant of what is most sublime of the profession itself? "I wasn't born then" can be no excuse for mediocrity. Where you born when Lincoln gave his Second Inaugural, or the Gettysburg Address? When Patrick Henry spoke before the Virginia House of Burgesses? The day after the date which shall life in infamy? When Marc Antony ulogized Caesar?

Young, I beg you, learn your craft. If you haven't read or watched those speeches (or what history records of them) and many, many others; if the words "blood, toil, tears and sweat," sound like the name of a rock group to you, take a leave of absence. Learn the history and art of your profession. Learn how Reagan used the imagery of D-Day in his Pointe du Hoc and Omaha Beach speeches on June 6, 1984 to inspire the allies of that day to persevere in the battle of freedom versus Soviet tyranny. Help our President also evoke our shared history, values and aspirations, as we fight the crusade before us now.

With sincerity,

Amy Ridenour

P.S. The text of the Point du Hoc speech is here; the text of the Omaha Beach speech is here. It's better to watch them as well; the Omaha Beach speech is here; I haven't been able to find a video of the Point du Hoc speech online.

Wynton Hall makes several other points. I agree especially about Bush 41 and the fall of the Berlin Wall. The American people are still owed a big party (something modeled on this, perhaps?) to celebrate the end of the Cold War. Is the Cold War the only major conflict ever concluded without a commemoration party? Possibly. At the very least, we should have an annual day of commemoration (I nominate November 9), preferably without time off work. We best honor our successes by building upon them.
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Labels: Conservatives, Europe, History

Posted by Amy Ridenour at 12:47 AM

Tuesday, May 15, 2007

JPMorgan Chase Slavery Apology Criticized

Project 21 Fellow Deneen Borelli, acting on behalf of the National Legal and Policy Center, will present a shareholder proposal (pdf) at the company's annual meeting Tuesday that is critical of JPMorgan Chase’s apology for slavery.

A National Legal and Policy Center press release explains:

A shareholder proposal critical of the JPMorgan Chase's slavery apology will be considered at the company's annual meeting on Tuesday, May 15, 2007. The event will take place at 10 a.m. at the company's offices at One Chase Manhattan Plaza in New York City.

The company unsuccessfully sought to exclude the resolution by appealing to the Securities and Exchange Commission, which ruled in favor of the National Legal and Policy Center (NLPC), the proponent.

The resolution will be presented by Deneen Borelli, a Fellow of Project 21, on behalf of NLPC.

Deneen Borelli said today, "It's absurd for someone to apologize for the transgressions of others committed hundreds of years ago. Slavery was an abomination and blemish on our Nation's history. JPMorgan Chase's apology for slavery, along with a $5 million donation for a scholarship fund, are the fruits of a shakedown. It is the looting of shareholder assets and sets a terrible precedent."

Peter Flaherty, NLPC President, said today, "If JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon were alive 200 years ago and owned slaves, the apology would be appropriate. Otherwise it is about as cynical and as hollow as you can get."

In a 2005 letter, then-Chairman & CEO William B. Harrison Jr. and then-President & COO Jamie Dimon stated, "We apologize to the African-American community, particularly those who are descendants of slaves, and to the rest of the American public..." This apology was accompanied by a Company pledge to establish a $5 million scholarship fund for African-Americans. Dimon now serves as Executive Chairman and CEO.

The apology and monetary pledge were apparently prompted by a Company-commissioned report produced in response to a municipal ordinance in Chicago, requiring firms doing business with the city to disclose their links to slavery. The report found only the most tenuous connections to slavery over 200 years ago by two banks whose successor banks had been acquired by the Company.

The supporting statement for the resolution points out that JPMorgan Chase (JPM) is currently being sued by plaintiffs seeking damages that they characterize as "slave reparations." The statement argues that the bank may be opening itself to lawsuits by the descendents of Irish, Chinese and Native Americans, whose ancestors also suffered injustice. For the complete proposal, supporting statement, and company response, go to www.nlpc.org.

Slavery "apologies" or other expressions of regret have been recently adopted or are being considered by Congress, a number of state legislatures and several cities. Banks that have apologized for alleged links to slavery also include the Bank of America, Wachovia and Lehman Brothers.

NLPC promotes ethics in public life, and sponsors the Corporate Integrity Project. The group has published a monograph titled The Case Against Slave Reparations that may be downloaded as a pdf file at http://www.nlpc.org/pdfs/Final_NLPC_Reparations.pdf.

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Labels: Business, History, Legal Reform, Project 21

Posted by Amy Ridenour at 12:01 AM

Wednesday, April 18, 2007

Remembering the Doolittle Raid

National Review reminds us that today was the 65th anniversary of the Doolittle Raid.

If you have children still at home who don't know what that was, get them this. As a child, I checked it out repeatedly from my grade school library -- it's riveting. Good for upper elementary students through adults. Highly recommended.

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Labels: Defense, History

Posted by Amy Ridenour at 10:14 PM

On the Eighteenth of April, in Seventy-Five

In honor of our forefathers, and an anniversary worth remembering, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's Paul Revere's Ride.

If you haven't read it lately, take a moment to read it again. It's worth recalling that the very birth of this nation was a close-run thing. We have much to be thankful for.

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Labels: Culture, Defense, History

Posted by Amy Ridenour at 12:12 PM