Random Thoughts and Rhetorical Questions
This week I simply wish to tie up some loose ends by offering some random thoughts and asking some rhetorical questions on the current state of affairs.
I hope everyone had a wonderful Independence Day, and that everyone took a break from fireworks and partying to reflect on what a truly great country we live in. It may sound corny to some, but it is the truth.
Michael Moore’s latest fictional “documentary” Fahrenheit 911 was recently released to much media hoopla. The film was number one at the box office last week, mostly because no other major films were released. In terms of all-time grosses for an opening weekend, it ranked 222nd, just behind Legally Blonde 2: Red, White, and Blonde. Not so impressive, is it? I personally don’t plan to see this movie. If I wanted to kill brain cells, I’d go to a keg party. It would be more fun, plus the people I’d meet there would be more intelligent and coherent than the folks at a Moore film.
Isn’t it somewhat ironic that John Kerry claims he would reach out to our “allies” (namely France and Germany) if elected president, yet he routinely insults our real allies who are actually helping in Iraq by calling them “window dressing”? I guess it’s okay to be arrogant towards these countries so long as no one disrespects that almighty world power France.
A good book that I would recommend to anyone is Betrayal: How Union Bossses Shake Down Their Members and Corrupt American Politics by Linda Chavez. If you think labor bosses are your friends, you need to read this expose. You will see how unions have become politicized and corrupt, how they waste their members’ money on activism completely unrelated to workers’ rights, and how they have supported violence and organized crime. It’s definitely worth your time to read!
Speaking of labor unions, the United Campus Worker’s office on Cumberland Avenue is painted bright red. Coincidence?
Quoth Ralph Nader: "What these people are all afraid of, the Democrats, is democracy. That's what they're afraid of. They're afraid of competition. They're afraid of the tradition of third parties in the 19th and early 20th centuries pushing the two parties to pay attention to the needs of the people, instead of their own careerism." Maybe he’s not such a bad guy, after all…
The handover of power happened in Iraq, just as the Bush administration said it would. Many observers said it wouldn’t, but, as usual, they were proven wrong. The new Iraqi Prime Minister, Iyad Allawi, is certainly a very brave man, and has strong support from the Iraqi people. The road ahead will be rough, but ultimately, it will be successful.
Liberals are always telling us that Saddam Hussein had no ties to terrorism. Allawi has a totally different take. In an interview with Tom Brokaw, Allawi said he believes “very strongly that Saddam had relations with al-Qaida. And these relations started in Sudan. We know Saddam had relationships with a lot of terrorists and international terrorism… But definitely I know he has connections with extremism and terrorists.” But I’m sure Al Franken and Michael Moore know more about this situation than Allawi.
The UN Oil-for-food scandal remains the most under reported news item of the day. Recently Ehsan Karim, head of the Iraq Finance Ministry's audit board and in charge of investigating the scandal, was killed in a car bombing in Baghdad. Was he killed because of the investigation? A spokesperson for the Iraq National Congress said it was possible. We’ll probably never know for sure, but this is worth keeping an eye on, even if the media refuse to.
Abortion, one of the Democrat’s key issues, has ironically come back to haunt them. This is the case made by Larry Eastland in a recent edition of the Wall Street Journal. Since 1972, 40 million abortions have taken place. If these aborted children had adopted the political views of their parents (as a majority of people do), they almost assuredly would now be voting Democrat. If John Kerry loses this fall, it will be because of abortion. These abortions also cost Al Gore the White House.
The Democrats’ support for abortion-on-demand is now costing them elections. Somehow, one can’t help but see a little bit of justice in this.
- John Brown (www.johnnorrisbrown.com) is a senior in political science at the University of Tennessee @ Knoxville. Contact him at johnnyb325@aol.com. This column originally appeared in the July 6, 2004 edition of The Daily Beacon, entitled "Columnist challenges film-maker."