Fresh Tasty Ideas

Remarking that something is “Orwellian” has become cliché in the super-vitriolic ultra-polarized political climate of our day. Yet, there are occasionally stories which stand tall above the hyperbole and really seem like they were ripped from the pages of 1984. This harrowing example today comes from the European Union.

The ever-clandestine ruling elitists of the EU have decided that some words are simply unfit for the job when it comes to reporting on incidents of terrorism. Words such as “jihad” and “Islamic” and “fundamentalist” would be blacklisted from any government press releases or other official reports, should the EU adopt the secretive measure. The primarily unelected powers-that-be in Europe have decided that these words (however truthful) alienate Europe’s Muslim population. Hence, they are removed from the politician’s working lexicon.

Because that’s how you deal with a problem… you don’t fix it, you ban anyone from using the words which properly address the situation. God, what a long way we’ve come. Churchill and C.S. Lewis are rolling in their graves.

Islam, Europe, terrorism, political correctness, Orwell, 1984

Politicians are especially busy these days passing laws which ban fatty donuts, talking on your phone while driving and other activities which the government has no business dabbling in.

You’re not eating that! Put the phone down! Pull those earbuds out! And put down that bat; you’ll hurt someone!

Lawmakers around the country are passing or proposing laws to regulate the grease your doughnuts are fried in, the calls you make from the road, what you listen to when you cross the street, even the bat your kid hits a baseball with.

The ideas are offered with the best intentions — usually to minimize a newly recognized danger or to encourage healthy behavior. Lawmakers worry, for example, that text-messaging while driving can be deadly, and that foods fried in trans fats promote heart disease.

Critics counter that regulating french fries and Blackberries infringes on personal liberties. “Nanny government” some critics call it, and they point to a playpen full of behavior-related bills before city councils and state legislatures.

“If we were really at war, if we were in a depression, people wouldn’t be wasting their time with this stuff,” said David Boaz, executive vice president of the libertarian Cato Institute, “but because we’re not, you know, it’s easy to look at every little thing that bothers you.”

Attempts by the government to modify public behavior have a long history, from Prohibition in the ’20s to safety belt laws in the ’80s and smoking bans in the ’90s. In recent years, lawmakers have increasingly focused on food.

The big action this year involves trans fats, or partially hydrogenated vegetable oils used for deep frying and baking.

In December, New York City imposed the nation’s first ban on the use trans fats in restaurants. The idea has spread like greased lightning since then, with bans or warnings introduced in at least 18 states. Philadelphia recently approved a ban, and one was even discussed in Buffalo, N.Y., birthplace of the chicken wing.

BanTransFats.com founder Stephen Joseph, who grew up in England, said the heated reaction to the ban seems uniquely American.

“I was on a talk show a couple years ago and the host said, `Well, you’re trying to bring socialism to America!’” Joseph said, “I mean, what an incredible overreaction for trying to change a cooking oil.”

New York’s City Council recently called on residents to voluntarily stop using the n-word and approved a ban on metal baseball bats in high school games, because of fears that youngsters will get killed by balls rocketing off the bats. Mayor Michael Bloomberg has yet to take action on the bat ban.

New York in 2001 became the first state to make it illegal for drivers to talk on cell phones unless they have a hands-free set. And last month a state legislator proposed $100 fines for people who listen to iPods, talk on cell phones or text-message in New York City crosswalks.

Connecticut, New Jersey and the Washington, D.C., also have hand-held-while-driving bans. And 35 states have before them “distracted driver” bills aimed at activities like cell phone use, text-messaging, DVD watching, reading, writing, grooming, even playing a musical instrument, said Matt Sundeen of the National Conference of State Legislatures.

California’s cell phone driving ban goes into effect next year. In the meantime, lawmakers there are being asked to consider a ban on smoking in cars if there are children in the vehicle. A bill that would make spanking a crime was withdrawn.

Two states, Arkansas and Louisiana, already ban smoking in cars if there is a passenger in a child seat, according to Americans for Nonsmokers’ Rights. That is in addition to 21 states that ban smoking in bars or restaurants or workplaces or all three, according to the advocacy group.

Boaz of the Cato Institute said that banning drivers from text-messaging can arguably protect people from the dangerous behavior of others. But as for bans on such things as unhealthy food, “if I prefer doughnuts to the promise of a long life, well, I think that’s my choice.”

Exactly.

government, liberals, big brother

In Iraq, because of tighter security since the troop surge, terrorists have resorted to new lows in order to continue causing death and destruction. Now, children are being used as decoys in vehicles laden with explosives. The youths lower suspicion at checkpoints, and then, when clear of authorities, the adults hop out of the vehicle and detonate the explosives:

Insurgents in Iraq detonated an explosives-rigged vehicle with two children in the back seat after US soldiers let it through a Baghdad checkpoint over the weekend, a senior US military official said Tuesday.

The vehicle was stopped at the checkpoint but was allowed through when soldiers saw the children in the back, said Major General Michael Barbero of the Pentagon’s Joint Staff. “Children in the back seat lowered suspicion. We let it move through. They parked the vehicle, and the adults ran out and detonated it with the children in the back,” Barbero said.

The general said it was the first time he had seen a report of insurgents using children in suicide bombings. But he said Al-Qaeda in Iraq is changing tactics in response to the tighter controls around the city. A US defense official said the incident occurred on Sunday in Baghdad’s Adhamiyah district, a mixed neighborhood adjacent to Sadr City, which is predominantly Shiite.

After going through the checkpoint, the vehicle parked next to a market across the street from a school, said the official, who asked not to be identified.

“And the two adults were seen to get out of the vehicle, and run from the vehicle, and then followed by the detonation of the vehicle,” the official said. “It killed the two children inside as well as three other civilians in the vicinity. So, a total of five killed, seven injured.”

Officials here said they did not know who the children were or their relationship to the two adults who fled the scene. They had no information about their ages or genders.

I want to cry when I think of kids being blow up all in the name of “Allah.” But don’t forget that America is the biggest impediment to world peace.

terrorism, Iraq, Islam, car bomb

The argument that poverty invariably breeds terrorism is unfounded, according to this article in CNNMoney.com. The author cites the relatively wealthy 9/11 Saudi hijackers, the widespread support of terrorist attacks among higher-status Palestinians, and Osama bin Laden himself from one of the richest families in the Saudi kingdom.

Simply blaming terrorism on poverty seems blasé anyway — just like blaming America for global warming or Microsoft for your computer crashing.

poverty, terrorism, economics

While moonbats in America circle-jerk each other as Bush allegedly destroys our freedoms, across the Atlantic, that very thing is actually happening (and no uproar can be heard from the lefty blogosphere). In France, a law was passed which makes it a criminal offense to film or broadcast violence unless you are a “professional journalist.”

As this article points out, the law was passed exactly 16 years to the day since the Rodney King beating. If that had been in present-day France, the person filming the incident would quickly have gone from behind the camera to behind bars.

This is a transparent move by the French government to keep untidy things like the French Intifada under wraps. Thousands of burning cars and packs of angry Muslim youths ransacking the suburbs of Paris can’t be good for tourism.

But I don’t know what disturbs me more: this blatant and egregious infringement of individual freedom by the French government or the lack of uproar coming from those who normally make a living accusing the Bush administration of shredding the constitution. You could argue that these people only care about American law (and not French law) but you would think that the government overstepping its bounds this much would raise Cain with anyone who cares about freedom of speech and personal liberty.

citizen, France, violence, French Constitutional Council, ban

Michael Moore has owned it. Now George Soros owns 1.9 million shares of Halliburton.

Yes, this is the same George Soros who bankrolls all the left’s crazy anti-war rallies where naked idiots can protest how much money Halliburton is making off of the Iraq war.

It’s hypocrisy week in liberal-land I guess.

Halliburton, Soros, Iraq

I guess that’s what a general lack of morals and common decency will get you:

So how much more does the Left use Carlin’s “seven words” versus the Right? According to my calculations, try somewhere in the range of 18-to-1.

The “seven words” can be found here. Here’s the statistical breakdown for the left and for the right.

I’m simply fascinated with this whole Gore flap. The head cheese of the global warming “sky-is-falling” brigade can’t be bothered to actually reduce his own energy consumption. Classic. It’s like the pope having an abortion.

But seriously, the few liberals who even have had the courage to address the whole mess have created a primer in logical fallacies. Here’s what I’m talking about:

1. Attack the messenger: Over at Huffington Post, they immediately criticized the Tennessee Center for Policy Research, even though Gore did not deny the energy figures that were reported. That’s not the issue however, what’s at stake is Gore’s energy consumption after all is said and done, solar panels and all.
2. Set up a straw man: ThinkProgress falsely claimed that Gore has done nothing to reduce his energy consumption, then proceeded to disprove this statement of their own making by claiming Gore installed solar panels and fluorescent light bulbs.
3. “Everybody does it”/the Bill Clinton defense: Remember when Democrats across the country were rushing to defend Clinton for cheating on his wife (then lying about it) by claiming that if everyone who cheated on their spouse lost their job, the whole country would come to a stand-still? I’m hearing a lot of this too. Oh sure, Gore may wastefully consume energy, but no one’s perfect.

It’s pathetic. If liberals really wanted to take the high road and show they are above conservatives, they would banish Gore for his hypocrisy. But no, they rush to his defense.

But, did you know that Gore is the founder and chairman of the company that he buys his “green credits” from? That’s right, by offsetting his “carbon footprint” he’s actually buying stock in his own company: Generation Investment Management LLP. Anti-war protesters go on and on about Cheny-Haliburton collusion, and they overlook the sweet little deal Gore has with carbon credits. By touring the country to warn us of the dangers of global warming, he’s actually drumming up business for his own company!

This isn’t even to mention the gross perversity of Gore asking people much less wealthy than himself to make sacrifices that he himself cannot make but can compensate for with money. In the old days, the Roman Catholic Church used to have indulgences which allowed a certain amount of sin only if you could afford to pay tribute to the Church. Naturally, the created a nice moral vacuum for the aristocracy, but left the common (read poor) man out to dry. Fornication and drunken debauchery? The Church forgives you, depending on how deep your pockets are. Gore is essentially setting an example for a modern-day environmental indulgence system. As Bill at Ecotality puts it, the rich essentially have no rules, while the rest of us are fit with a carbon straight-jacket from which we have no escape.

But the media gave this issue a total pass, as I thought they would. A preacher who has gay sex and deals meth on the side, that’s national news for days. Mitt Romney’s great-great-great grandfather had several wives (he was Mormon, they like them their wives) and the AP puts out a hit piece on him. Gore, the godfather of global warming has his hypocritical lifestyle exposed, and you nary can hear a peep from the mainstream media.

global warming, Gore, Generation Investment Management, carbon, green