A Touchy Subject

A Potentially Touchy Subject...

“The ACLU's Campaign Against Racial Profiling fights law enforcement and private security practices that disproportionately target people of color for investigation and enforcement. We represent individuals who have been victims of racial profiling by airlines, police, and government agencies. Our work also encompasses major initiatives in public education and advocacy, including the creation of essential resources, lobbying for the passage of data collection and anti-profiling legislation, and litigation of airline and highway profiling cases.”

Look, if you haven’t noticed, I’m not an ACLU fan. If you really think about it, what we need to do is not to racially profile, but rather religiously profile. Luckily, the ACLU hasn’t covered that area.

There seems to be some sort of trend with the people who are attacking us, coming in from the outside and even so with “home-grown” terrorism. I really hope that the American public has made this connection in that it is mainly Muslims (yes I know that Timothy Mcveigh was a white agnostic and that Bill Ayers was “protesting”) that are attacking us, and several other innocent communities abroad, please note: Islam transcends specific races and is all over the world.

Now before you self-loathing left wingers call me a hate monger, there is something you should know, that I am NOT generalizing Muslims, I am simply stating a fact. Now I think that if you are still lost as to why they would attack us I would suggest taking a nice long look at their holy text called, The Koran. In several places it clearly, not only condones violence, but provides instruction on exactly how to and why they commit these acts of violence.

For those of us who have a copy of the constitution handy, as I do, the first amendment clearly states that “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof;...” in this sense, the government can still racially profile. I know you unicorn riders might even bring up our right to privacy, well I would pose this question to you: Is someone’s privacy worth protecting if their privacy threatens peoples lives?, the answer is a clear: NO.

The catch-22 here: On one hand people are perfectly comfortable with their religions to openly express what faith they profess, but on the other hand to single members of a religious group out for the actions of members of their community which were influenced and guided by the teachings of their religion in the name of safety (and true tolerance), is looked upon as an “invasion of their privacy”.

The real kicker here: I think that most of us who get our news from several sources are able to see that the left preys on “minority races” and clearly identifies them in the name of their convoluted oppressive agenda, but when a conservative mentions race to keep us safe, suddenly we’re hate mongers.

The question: is being pulled aside at the airport for an extra 10-15 minute search when you showed up 2 hours early, as an extra precaution for our safety, if you have nothing to hide, really inconvenient? I personally, believe that it's not.

PS-* I hope someone caught the pun in the title

Peace Prize-Winner Spending on Weapons

Nobel Peace Prize-Winner, Barack Obama, is set to spend more on nuclear weapons than his predecessor George W. Bush.

The Obama administration plans to seek more than $5 billion in additional funding over five years for sustaining the U.S. nuclear complex and deterrent, starting with a $600 million increase in fiscal year 2011. In defense of the new budget to be presented to congress on Monday of next week, Vice President Joe Biden yesterday wrote:

"As long as nuclear weapons are required to defend our country and our allies, we will maintain a safe, secure and effective nuclear arsenal... Among the many challenges our administration inherited was the slow but steady decline in support for our nuclear stockpile and infrastructure, and for our highly trained nuclear work force."

I personally don't believe there has been a decline in support of anything that can extend the reaches of civilian safety, but maybe VP Biden knows something we all don't?

President Obama may have wanted to double-check if his VP was listening to his long and drawn out State of the Union address more closely; especially the part about how "nuclear weapons were the greatest danger facing the U.S. people."

During his 70-minute State of the Union speech on Wednesday, which marked his first year in office, Obama said: "I have embraced the vision of John F. Kennedy and Ronald Reagan through a strategy that reverses the spread of these weapons, and seeks a world without them."-- I have no idea what this means.

As of this morning the questioning of Biden's comments with regards to the need to update facilities that have been ignored is underway. It seems every time he says anything (or writes anything, and you would think someone is editing the content before publication) he puts his foot in his mouth.

The underlying joke in all of this, of course, is the fact that it flies directly in the face of the Nobel Peace Prize awarded to Obama, for no reason, back in October for his "extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between people" including reducing the world stock of nuclear weapons...

oops.

TV News Network Ratings

Fox News was the top cable network in primetime last week, averaging the most total viewers between January 18th-24th. The last time FNC topped USA and came in first was during the week of the 2008 presidential election.

In a week dominated by coverage of the earthquake in Haiti and the U.S. Senate election in Massachusetts, FNC drew an average of 3.2 million total viewers in primetime (Mon-Sun).

Fox News's decision to stick with its opinion shows Friday night while their competition carried the "Hope for Haiti Now" telethon worked for ratings.

Fox News more than doubled CNN and MSNBC which carried the concert and telethon from 8pm-10pmET.

•  FNC - O'Reilly/Hannity avg.: 3,807,000 Total Viewers / 938,500 A25-54
•  CNN - Hope for Haiti Now: 1,187,000 / 393,000
•  MSNBC - Hope for Haiti Now: 468,000 / 130,000

Primetime average (8-11pmET):

• FNC: 3,317,000 / 814,000
• CNN: 1,255,000 / 428,000
• MSNBC: 568,000 / 163,000

Fox was ranked 3rd in total day. CNN was 22nd in primetime and 19th in total day, and MSNBC was 25th in primetime and 31st in total day.

Here's are the primetime cable rankings for the week of January 18th:
Cable Ranker - Primetime - Week of 1-18-10  

In the Red...

Yet another polling cycle in the books, and the results for the President, his party and his policies are same, declining approval, skyrocketing disapproval. (See for example here, here, and here.)

It does not seem particularly surprising to me that Obama’s support continues to spiral downward (especially among Republicans and Independents) as unemployment continues to climb and the so-called “honeymoon effect” he had with the American public continues to wear off. (Although it is interesting to note that the actual Gallup Report shows a pretty flat looking trend line - if gradually declining a bit - over the last couple months for Obama himself).

One of the best interactive tools I've seen online is courtesy of US Today which has a interactive graph looking a the approval ratings of all the post World War II presidents. I would encourage any democrat or George W. Bush hater to spend a few minutes and compare the end of Bush's second term numbers with the end of first year Obama numbers... numbers don't lie.

We'll just have to wait and see what the numbers look like next week after the big victory in Massachusetts for the Republicans sinks in and the official death of the ObamaCare bill is declared.

Roundtable of Thoughts

There is just so much going on at the moment that I am personally finding it hard to keep up with things. I have started and stopped writing nearly ten times in the past week as my attention shifts from one topic to another.

Harry Reid vs Racism
Janet Napolitano vs Terrorism
Pat Robertson vs Haiti
Martha Coakley (D) vs. Scott Brown (R)
Jay Leno vs Conan O'Brien vs NBC

Even Kraft buying Cadbury, in a tasty cheese meets chocolate deal, peaked my interest at one point. But all that said, the only topic I remain dedicated to following is the dire situation in Haiti. I personally am planning to go as early as April (maybe March) to lend a hand in absolutely any way I possibly can.

This past weekend I was in Atlantic City, New Jersey with friends for a "bachelor party" weekend. While we had a great time stuffing our faces at elaborate buffets, and dining on gourmet burgers, while drinking everything we wanted for free... the reality is the money we all spent could have gone much further in a different application. Now, by no means am I saying that all money should be sent to Haiti or other countries of need, but I am saying that a healthy dose of perspective is always a good thing. There was one point where my group was sitting at the 21 table and a complete stranger walked over, played one hand at $300 and walked away a loser... it was moments like that when it really stings you in the heart to think of the wealth some of us have aquired and in this case how foolish we act with it.

I know some will read this and say I've gone off the deep end in the liberal lake of socialism or something similar and that I want the world to hold hands and share the wealth but I assure you (and I assure myself) that is not the case at all. I just truly feel moved and compelled to do my part to help a small, poverty stricken, island nation, that in one week has experienced over 30 earthquakes/aftershocks over 3.0 on the richter scale. Think about it... over thirty! How many buildings could possibly withstand that?

There have since been earthquakes reported in Guatemala, Venezuela, and Argentina as powerful as 6.0.