Author Archive

Dan Sherrier

In case you didn’t know, it’s hard work being the president. So hard, it tires even the great Barack Obama!

That’s the basic gist of a recent AP article, (which was pointed out on Michelle Malkin’s Web site.) If you thought that the honeymoon might be nearing its conclusion, think again:

He's so tired.

“After a sleepless, overnight flight to Oslo to accept the Nobel Peace Prize earlier this month, President Barack Obama made a not altogether surprising admission. He was tired,” the article begins. “Who could blame him?”

Is it naïve of me to expect objective reporting from the AP? Or any news outlet that claims to be objective?

Yes, being president is hard, no matter who you are. This is not news.

Reading further, we learn how the poor man can’t even take a vacation in peace. Yeah, not news either. Read the rest of this entry »

Dan Sherrier

It’s easy to deflect objections to abortion by shouting, “Who the heck are you to be shoving your religious views down everyone else’s throats?”

Except it’s really not about religion, not any more than objections to killing babies who have already passed through the birth canal. If a parent snaps and kills his/her one-week-old baby, we’d all consider that a criminal issue, not a freedom of religion issue.

Life.

True, many people who consider themselves “pro-choice” still do object to late-term abortions. Once the baby begins to look like a baby, they become too uncomfortable with abortion, and rightly so. And yes, I realize few people “favor” abortions or are totally comfortable with them. I realize most people don’t do it lightly, and it’s a very painful decision for them. Still, whether or not an innocent gets to live isn’t a decision anyone should have in the first place, regardless of how far along the baby is, because even an embryo is unique human life. Read the rest of this entry »

Dan Sherrier

The House of Representatives has approved a $155 billion “jobs” bill.

Oy vey.

If Congress could magically create $155 billion without consequence, that would be nifty. But it can’t. Therefore, the very idea of a jobs bill is unsettling.

Don't worry. Our kids will handle it.

The money has to come from somewhere. No other country is going to give it to us for free, so ultimately, it becomes our responsibility. The $155 billion to pay for these jobs must be generated from within America. The government can’t create it; it can only require that private citizens hand it over in the form of taxes.

So all of us who qualify as “private citizens,” we’re paying for it. Or our children. Perhaps their children. But debt payments can only be deferred for so long. And don’t forget interest. Read the rest of this entry »

Dan Sherrier

The Internet is a strange entity.

It’s done wonders for opening lines of communication. Plenty of useful information flows through the digital world. But tons of garbage gets caught in the stream, too.

AKA Emmanuel Goldstein

An online message board should be a forum for productive, civil discussion–a place to throw around ideas and exchange thoughts with random strangers. Such a tool can be valuable for political discourse, so you can say what you need to say and then focus on more fun matters in the real world. Unfortunately, message boards often devolve into Two Minutes Hate.

I refer you to George Orwell’s 1984: “Winston’s diaphragm was constricted. He could never see the face of Goldstein without a painful mixture of emotions. … Goldstein was delivering his usual venomous attack upon the doctrines of the Party–an attack so exaggerated and perverse that a child should have been able to see through it, and yet just plausible enough to fill one with an alarmed feeling that other people, less level-headed than oneself, might be taken in by it. … Read the rest of this entry »

Dan Sherrier

Global warming is perhaps the most brilliant scam in all of history.

I say “perhaps” because I acknowledge the possibility that it could be real to some extent. But it certainly looks like a scam, and it did even before recent events. It didn’t have to be this way, but it is nevertheless.

...But not the best spokesman.

The scam’s brilliance is that it appeals to both good and bad people. What good person wouldn’t want to take part in saving the world? And what bad person–particularly one in a position of power–could resist the opportunity to acquire more power and more control?

And it spreads from there: Less ethical scientists who want government subsidies can offer interpretations of data that further a politician’s ability to justify seizing more power. Or, you can invest in “green” companies, knowing that the government will stack the decks for those companies to do well. There’s plenty to gain. Read the rest of this entry »

Dan Sherrier

Political correctness not only plagues the United States, but Italy as well.

According to CNN, a European panel of judges has advised the Italian government to consider taking down the Christian cross in some public spaces, particularly schools. It’s not a mandate at the moment, just a suggestion.

If it bothers you, just pretend it's the letter 't.'

The rationale: “Saying the cross violated the principle of secular education in public school, the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg said the display of Christian crosses, which is common but not mandatory in Italian schools, could be ‘disturbing’ for children of other faiths,” CNN reports.

Why would it disturb children of other faiths? If you’re not Christian, isn’t it simply a t-shaped object, utterly meaningless one way or the other?

I’m a Christian, but if the Jewish Star of David was hanging up in my classrooms as a kid, I wouldn’t know what to make of it, for good or bad. It would just be a six-pointed star that carried little, if any, effect on my life. At most, I might’ve learned something new about another religion. Read the rest of this entry »

Dan Sherrier

Remember that ordeal in New York recently? When the Republican establishment backed a left-leaning candidate, until conservatives led by Sarah Palin rallied around a third-party candidate who held views more strongly in line with their values?

Pundits had a field day with that one, as they carried on about the GOP being taken over by the “radical right,” which sought to purge the party of moderates.

Sorry, not progressive enough. Gotta go.

This was hailed as a horrible situation for the Republican Party that would no doubt favor the Democrats in elections. The general tenor equated to “those stupid conservatives, sabotaging their own party!” followed by a “Ha! Ha!” similar to that bully kid from The Simpsons.

DNC Chairman Tim Kaine said in a Nov. 4 statement, “However, perhaps the most consequential race of the night was the special election in the 23rd Congressional District of New York in which the Republican candidate, a moderate, was purged from the Republican Party by the most extreme elements of the conservative right wing including Sarah Palin, Rush Limbaugh and Glenn Beck. Read the rest of this entry »

Dan Sherrier

Every now and then, you just need to talk about super-heroes and the Founding Fathers in the same column.

But first…Leigh Scott at the Big Hollywood blog wrote a good piece the other day that should be reassuring to people with right-leaning political ideologies (whether they want to call themselves conservative, libertarian, classical liberal, or invent their own new labels.)

A true American hero builds himself.

He begins by taking a look at the new sci-fi remake V. I only watched the pilot so far and don’t know if I’ll continue, but there’s enough in that first episode alone to make supporters of left-leaning political ideologies uncomfortable (whether they want to call themselves liberals, progressives, socialists, or invent their own new labels.)

The series examines the dangers of blind hero worship, intense adoration, media manipulation, and looking to others to solve the problems of world. Sounds like a cautionary tale against the worst fears people hold of the Obama Administration. Read the rest of this entry »

Dan Sherrier

I was trying to figure out a way to acknowledge Veterans Day without being trite or using the troops as a political football. Then, at the last minute, the obvious occurred to me.

What better way to honor the sacrifices of veterans than by reading or re-reading the Declaration of Independence and U.S. Constitution? After all, that is what they fought for, and what many continue to fight for.

It’s not as time-consuming as it might sound. I’m not saying to read The Federalist Papers, or any analysis. Go straight to the source. In the Constitution, read the words that are law and make sense of them for yourself.

You can find it online, conveniently typed-up.

The Constitution is a remarkably straightforward document. After a short preamble, Article I lays out the ground rules for Congress. Article II tells you about the President, while Article III rounds it all out with the Supreme Court. That’s the bulk of the original document right there, with just four more articles. Really, if you can get past reading about Congress–the longest article–you’re good to go. Read the rest of this entry »

Dan Sherrier

That was lovely weather we had this past weekend. Nice, sunny and comfortable. Not hot, but certainly warm by November standards.

It sure beats bundling up with heavy coats and multiple layers, doesn’t it?

Yep, you’ve guessed it…I’ve got more random musings on environmentalism!

You're looking too hard, Chicken Little.

Most life thrives in the warmth, but cold and life aren’t the best of friends. (Would you rather be lost in the woods at 20 degrees or 90?) So if global warming can give us nice fall days like these, then what’s the problem?

Of course, I doubt the existence of catastrophic man-made global warming, but I do believe that the climate will shift one way or the other on its own, regardless of our influence. Also, a few unseasonable days neither prove nor refute global warming, as unseasonable temperatures have been popping up for a long time.

More importantly, I trust our ability to adapt to changing circumstances. Read the rest of this entry »