Vin Suprynowicz

The text for today’s reading in the Gospel of the Politically Correct comes to us from the July 25 London Evening Standard, current sad spokesrag for a nation which rose to greatness in the day when the average peasant was supposed to regularly practice his ability to kill with a longbow at several hundred yards.

Commenting on the actions of a “homegrown terrorist” who set off a deadly explosion in downtown Oslo before dressing up as a police officer and heading to a summer camp on Norway’s forested island of Utoya, there to shoot and kill at least 80 “Labor Party” offspring in what The AP calls “one of the deadliest shooting sprees in history” (isn’t it funny how they never count government “shooting sprees”?) as “terrified youths ran and even swam for their lives,” the editorialists of the Standard remind us “It is customary, after every violent tragedy, to observe that lessons must be learned from it. But the reality of the Norwegian massacre is that there are rather few to be learned.

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The monsoon was obliging Monday, considering it was late July in the Mojave. Flocks of doves and then the occasional itinerant bat swooped in to see what we were up to as the low-scudding pastel clouds turned evening gray; a moderate breeze sprung up to spread the smoke from the bundle of sage smoldering behind Wendy Rule. The pagan Australian vocalist and songwriter delivered an energetic and full-throated performance at her back-yard “house concert” in the quiet village of Blue Diamond, at the south end of the dramatic Red Rock Canyon, 10 miles west of Las Vegas.

The brunette is a long-time fan; it was her idea to put together one of Wendy’s first concerts in Massachusetts, a decade ago — in Salem, actually. I was glad for a first chance to hear Ms. Rule’s strong and jazz-trained voice up close, as she got inside her tunes and helped us discover some firm and confident notes we otherwise wouldn’t have known were in there.

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Wow. Talk about alienating your base.

Did you see where the AARP disowned Barack Obama, vowing to support his 2012 Republican challenger (whoever that may be), after the president called for bumping the Social Security and Medicare retirement ages to 70, and then “means testing” both programs, cutting off benefits to anyone whose home and retirement accounts together add up to more than $750,000?

Did you see how the Center for Biological Diversity, the Sierra Club and the Natural Resources Defense Council similarly ripped Mr. Obama a new one when he offered to close the Environmental Protection Agency, entirely? And how about the practically unprintable response of the National Education Association when the president offered, in exchange for sufficient GOP “raise-the-debt-ceiling” votes, to similarly shut down the 34-year-old federal Department of Education?

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I happened to tune in a news broadcast on National Public Radio as I was driving home last week.

The newscaster said progress was slow, but President Barack Obama still holds out hope for a deal to raise the national debt ceiling by Aug. 2, without which the United States will default on its debt.

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By now most folks have likely heard about the case of Nigerian-American Olajide Oluwaseun Noibi, 24, also known as Seun Noibi.

On June 25, America Flight 415 from New York’s JFK to Los Angeles was two hours into its journey when passengers in the upscale “Main Cabin Select” section complained that the man seated in 3E reeked of body odor, the L.A. Times reports.

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Image via WikipediaThis column was originally published July 4, 2006

This weekend we celebrate that stirring day in history, July 4, 1812, when the first president of the United States, Benjamin Franklin, emerged from the old State House in Boston, held up the new Constitution freshly penned by Thomas Jefferson of New York, and announced to the cheers of the gathered throng that “These United Colonies are, and of right ought to be, free and independent of the crown of Spain!” Who would not wish to have been there, joining in the joyous tumult, as the commander of the Continental Army, Ulysses S. Grant, promptly ordered his men to board the waiting steamships and set sail for San Juan Hill?

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“Of course everyone agrees a failure to raise the debt ceiling would have devastating repercussions for our economy,” says the voice on the radio — one of a myriad. “But what the Republicans have to be sure they get in any deal to raise the debt ceiling is a firm commitment to cut spending in future …” blah blah blah.

No, everyone does not agree. For starters, I don’t agree. In fact, if the goal is to cut spending, the only effective answer is to NOT raise the debt ceiling, to spend this fiscal year only that amount which the government takes in, and next year to LOWER the debt ceiling.

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This “post-partisan” president was going to “bring us all together,” some may recall.

But at his press conference last Wednesday, President Obama said: “If we choose to keep those tax breaks for millionaires and billionaires, if we choose to keep a tax break for corporate jet owners, … then that means we’ve got to cut some kids off from getting a college scholarship. That means we’ve got to stop funding certain grants for medical research. That means that food safety may be compromised. … Before we cut our children’s education, … I think it’s only fair to ask an oil company or a corporate jet owner that has done so well to give up a tax break that no other business enjoys. … And I’ve said to some of the Republican leaders, you go talk to your constituents, the Republican constituents, and ask them are they willing to compromise their kids’ safety so that some corporate jet owner continues to get a tax break.”

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“I’m sure you’ll be satisfied with Silver Blaze,” says the distinguished gentleman in the cigar lounge of San Francisco’s exclusive Bohemian Club. “The horse has run well at both Golden Gate and Del Mar, and you’re getting him at a bargain price.”

“Time will tell,” smiles the buyer, handing over a handsome check.

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Bill Clinton presumably didn’t do much to smooth over his family feud with “upstart” President Barack Obama — running scared from today’s already heavily understated jobless numbers — when the former president came up with a plan, published in last week’s Newsweek, called “14 Ways to Put America Back to Work.”

It would have been refreshing to see a renewed embrace of the free market. Instead, what’s simultaneously most discouraging and least surprising in these “new” Democratic proposals is how they continue to focus on precisely what’s been failing now for years — heavy-handed government initiatives to subsidize politically correct “winners,” paid for by taxing and crushing everyone else in red tape.

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