Current Issues
In and Around Arizona
(newest at the top)

Remember When the "Abu Ghraib" story hit? Remember "Gitmo"? Remember how incensed the democrats were at the treatment the terrorists were getting that we held prisoner? Remember how they danced around in high dudgeon, and accused our military and President Bush of the most heinous of war crimes?

Well, I've been through the pictures of the evidence and I saw extreme embarrassment and even extreme discomfort. For example, on February 15, 2006, Australia's Special Broadcasting Service TV released these pictures which were used by an anti-war website. WARNING: They depict full frontal nudity.

Al Qaeda and other terrorist organizations probably looked at the pictures and marveled at our gentleness. After all, they had this for comparison.
WARNING: This material contains graphic and disturbing images.

Figuring, (it turns out correctly), that Maricopa County Republicans aren't against Northern Arizona University, your intrepid webmaster set out to educate himself about all those badges that folks were wearing at the County Statutory meeting. Herewith, in his own hand, his results.

The results of the Presidential Straw Poll are in. Of the 800 ballots passed out at the Maricopa County Republican Statutory Meeting, 458 were filled out and returned. These are the raw results. For a graphical presentation in PDF format click here.

An Assault of Freedom Of Political Expression
Of course Sen. Russ Feingold (D., Wis.) thinks his Campaign Reform Act "has changed our political system for the better" ("Campaign Finance Law Levels Challengers' Field," Letters, Nov. 24). There's little doubt that Sen. John McCain shares his sentiment. They're both wrong. McCain-Feingold is the worst assault on freedom of political expression since the First Amendment was drafted. Adding insult to injury, this ostensible reform does not remedy the "corrupting influence" of unregulated soft money; it merely transfers corruptible office-seekers from reliance on constituents' generosity to the hip pocket of whoever signs the 527 checks.

Only in Washington, D.C., could it seem more reasonable to limit the amount private citizens can spend to support their beliefs, than to prosecute officials who sell their public trust.

Only in D.C. could it seem more reasonable to restrict expenditures of private citizens than to require recusal of elected officials from decision-making participation in matters of direct interest to their more generous contributors.

Only in D.C. could it seem more reasonable to legislate what private citizens can or cannot do with their own resources than to require full disclosure by elected officials, with the industries, trades, professions and affiliations of large donors, plus prior and subsequent voting records on issues impacting said industries, trades, professions and affiliations.

Only in D.C. could it seem more reasonable to address corruption by regulating the participation and activities of private citizens rather than the ability of elected officials to game the system.

McCain-Feingold is an anti-democratic, odious piece of legislative claptrap that should never have been signed (shame on W for bending on that one), and should be scrapped forthwith.

Merry J. Whitney
Lombard, Ill.

"Liberalism is Altruism through the sacrifice of others."
Think about it... Doesn't it catch much of what Liberals are all about?
It's an infectious disease too. Even Republicans can catch it. Here's a current case, introduced in Q & A form:
Q: Who is to be sacrificed?
A: An indeterminate number of American fighting men and women as well as much larger numbers of innocents in the countries where we are fighting Islamo-fascism.
Q: How?
A: They will die as the war on terror drags into unnecessary innings because unconstitutional laws and judicial rulings are in the making that tie America's hands in interrogating terrorists captured in the course of the war.
Q: Who is it this time?
A: John McCain. Again.
Q: Why?
A: J. Peter Mulhern attempts to explain in: The Moral Exhibitionism of John McCain. If you are a Conservative Republican, have an air-sickness bag handy. A related article by Christopher G. Adamo is also a must-read:"Applying the Geneva Convention Will Destroy It".

What do the letters JBL and MSJ have in common? Car stereo's and Morgan Stanley? The answer, here.

Many stores held sales over the Memorial Day holidays. In Washington, the Senate immigration bill has been selling our birthright for a message of political pottage. Full text here.

A Thank You Card from Iraq. What are the chances you'll see anything about this on the front page of a major American newspaper any day soon?

Immigration: Required Reading .

(Unilateral Disarmament) Henry Mark Holzer discusses what our "maverick" Senator John McCain's politically correct "Torture Bill" would likely accomplish and why, here.

On the McCain Feingold law: (From Men in Black, how the Supreme Court is destroying America by Mark R. Levin) "What was once unthinkable is now law. Your right to free speech--especially political speech--is being supressed with the active support of the courts. So absurd and dangerous has the Supreme Court's view of free speech become that it struck down an anti-virtual child pornography statute as a violation of the First Amendment, but upheld prohibitions against running a political ad during the month before a federal general election as criminal."

(Food for Thought) A universal attribute of the American Left is put succinctly by the quote: Liberalism is Altruism through the sacrifice of others." Thomas Sowell describes another example here.

(About spending) The administration knows that Republicans are becoming alarmed. Its attitude is: "We're having some trouble with part of the base but"--smile--"we can weather that."

As PC's we are at the top of the list when the Party sends out its pleas for more money. If you are a conservative, here is something you might want to print and save so you can read it each time you get one of those urgent requests.

Two of the very best conservative writers out there today:

Peggy Noonan: Bookends Why the base--and some outside it--are standing by President Bush.

Thomas Sowell: Judge's 'views'