"Higher" Education, Indeed

Unbelievable post from Powerline about a recent appearance by Ann Coulter and the reaction from the loony left...

I have a son who is a sophomore in high school. He will be looking for a college in the next year. I cannot imagine subjecting him to this kind of atmosphere. What is wrong with these people? Whatever it is, I believe that it severely hampers their ability to provide an education for our future generations. I think that they are taking the term 'liberal arts' education literally!

The post is too long to include here....just go read the original. The heading is "Katie Kieffer Reports" and there is an earlier post entitled "Hateful Speech Revisited".

It reminds me of the hysteria of the Red Guards in Communist China. Never thought that it would happen here...

EMP: WMD of Choice?

Scary article in WorldNetDaily about possible Iranian plans to knock out the U.S. telecommunications and power grid by detonating a nuclear bomb up in the atmosphere high above the U.S.

Iran is not only covertly developing nuclear weapons, it is already testing ballistic missiles specifically designed to destroy America's technical infrastructure, effectively neutralizing the world's lone superpower, say U.S. intelligence sources, top scientists and western missile industry experts.

The radical Shiite regime has conducted successful tests to determine if its Shahab-3 ballistic missiles, capable of carrying a nuclear warhead, can be detonated by a remote-control device while still in high-altitude flight.

Scientists, including President Reagan's top science adviser, William R. Graham, say there is no other explanation for such tests than preparation for the deployment of electromagnetic pulse weapons – even one of which could knock out America's critical electrical and technological infrastructure, effectively sending the continental U.S. back to the 19th century with a recovery time of months or years.

The implications of such an attack are daunting....think about your daily life and how dependent we have all become on electricity, computers, refrigeration, heating/air conditioning, telephone lines, etc.

Graham describes the potential "cascading effect" of an EMP attack. If electrical power is knocked out and circuit boards fried, telecommunications are disrupted, energy deliveries are impeded, the financial system breaks down, food, water and gasoline become scarce.

As Kyl put it: "Few if any people would die right away. But the loss of power would have a cascading effect on all aspects of U.S. society. Communication would be largely impossible. Lack of refrigeration would leave food rotting in warehouses, exacerbated by a lack of transportation as those vehicles still working simply ran out of gas (which is pumped with electricity). The inability to sanitize and distribute water would quickly threaten public health, not to mention the safety of anyone in the path of the inevitable fires, which would rage unchecked. And as we have seen in areas of natural and other disasters, such circumstances often result in a fairly rapid breakdown of social order."

"American society has grown so dependent on computer and other electrical systems that we have created our own Achilles' heel of vulnerability, ironically much greater than those of other, less developed nations," the senator wrote. "When deprived of power, we are in many ways helpless, as the New York City blackout made clear. In that case, power was restored quickly because adjacent areas could provide help. But a large-scale burnout caused by a broad EMP attack would create a much more difficult situation. Not only would there be nobody nearby to help, it could take years to replace destroyed equipment."

Yikes. If we didn't have enough to keep us awake at night...and, of course, how will we 'prove' to the world that this threat exists BEFORE it is used against us? Some stern words from the U.N.? A visit from Jimmy Carter? John Kerry's 'global test'?

Michael Barone on Christianity vs. Secularism

Michael Barone, one of my favorite pundits, has a great article on Christianity vs. secularism at http://www.realclearpolitics.com/Commentary/com-4_25_05_MB.html.

I find it amazing that many liberals have an almost uniform knee-jerk reaction to discussions of the role of faith , citing all of the horrible deeds by Christians in world history. Their most recent example??? The Crusades. No credit is given at all for current history--where people of faith seek practical ways to show the love of Christ for their fellow man all over the world--by building villages, digging wells, providing food, clothing and shelter, teaching children, supporting local churches, providing health care, and so on.

But, as Michael points out, the religions of secularism and communism have been responsible for much more recent atrocities.

The real question is whether strong religious belief is on the rise in America and the world. Fifty years ago, secular liberals were confident that education, urbanization and science would lead people to renounce religion. That seems to have happened, if you confine your gaze to Europe, Canada and American university faculty clubs.

But this movement has not been as benign as expected: The secular faiths of fascism and communism destroyed millions of lives before they were extinguished.

And what pinnacles of human progress hath secular humanism brought to life in the United States? In a recent conversation, a colleague stated that he thought we had 'evolved beyond' the Ten Commandments....oh, really? Which ones?

Not Your Father's CBS (or NBC, ABC, NPR...)

Very interesting post by George Will at townhall.com on the future of the mainstream media, based on trends in demographics and the burgeoning resources on the internet, cable news and satellite radio....

Check it out.

Biz Week Cover Article on Blogs!!!

Blogging is becoming mainstream!!! See the cover article of BusinessWeek.

It will be interesting to see how the business world adapts to the blogosphere. The internet actually became a great 'leveler'--where two guys and a server could start competing with large, international corporations. It was interesting to watch the early winners and losers in the internet space...wonder if blogging will be the same way.

Check out the entire issue.

It always seems to come down to $$$$

No matter how highly principled our opponents to the war in Iraq...as the layers are peeled back, it always seems to come down to whose palms are being greased. Gotta love this post from Instapundit...

CANADIAN SCANDAL UPDATE:

The Canadian company that Saddam Hussein invested a million dollars in belonged to the Prime Minister of Canada, canadafreepress.com has discovered.

Cordex Petroleum Inc., launched with Saddam’s million by Prime Minister Paul Martin’s mentor Maurice Strong’s son Fred Strong, is listed among Martin’s assets to the Federal Ethics committee on November 4, 2003. . . .

Yesterday, Strong admitted that Tongsun Park, the Korean man accused by U.S. federal authorities of illegally acting as an Iraqi agent, invested in Cordex, the company he owned with his son, in 1997.

I remember a lot of talk about a "coalition of the bribed," but I'm not sure this was what people meant. . . .