… the next ice age is coming.

Ah, the mindless prattle of the uncaring, the ill-informed, the apolitical. It’s a chorus I’m sure you’ve all heard before, whether it came from a social studies teacher, an apathetic co-worker or perhaps an activist passing out leaflets on a street corner near you. It’s one of the favored tracts from the modern multiculturalist’s playbook, used as an idictment against shared American values in an attempt to marginalize what should be the obvious advantages of Americanism.

This time, it was dropped at a party I attended over the weekend. As a certain segment of the partygoers entertained themselves by singing the peans of anime (just exactly how gay is Naruto? I wasn’t really curious to begin with, thanks), I began having a discussion with my friend Ed about Islamism and the need for westerners to begin standing up in defense of their culture, before it’s overrun and lost. I was looking for conversation a bit more stimulating than rehashing twenty-year old Cosby material. I mean, sure, the cookie jar routine was funny… in 1986. Can we move on, please?

At this point, a young woman at the party, apparently starved for a bit more than cartoon talk and novocaine jokes, sidled up to Ed and interjected herself with that aforementioned line. Hard for me to be sure, but it was delivered in such an offhand manner that, it seemed to me, it originated more from indoctrination than conviction.

The “old me” would have cringed inwardly, said something noncommittal, and taken the argument in a different direction. The “current me” saw an opportinity, and pounced. “Of course, that’s not true”, I rebutted. Fortunately, this young lady was actually willing to listen to and consider counter-argument, and after quite a long evening of conversation, I like to think she left with more perspective to consider.

People look around themselves today, and make superficial judgements based on what they see around them, immediately to hand. They see the AP articles on salsa overtaking ketchup as the number-one national condiment. They see “Chinatowns” in just about every major urban area, and Chineese restaurants on ever street corner - with eateries right next door boasting “REAL Italian pizza!”. They see a latino Attorney General of the US, and a black woman running the State Department, and the son of a Kenyan positioning himself for the Presidency. They see this, and extrapolate “it’s true, America has no culture of its own, it’s just a mish-mash. A mongrel. What Mr. Smith told me in 7th grade is true.”

Bullshit.

Anyone who understands civics and government in this great country, anyone with even a basic understanding of their American history, knows (or should know) that the value of this country doesn’t rest in ethnic restaurants. Nor does it derive from Sony electronics, the NYSE, the bagel shop down the road or the Islamic center next to it. Rather, the greatness of the culture that we share is laid down in the principals espoused at the founding of a free and independent America.

It is a culture of liberty, prosperity and the rule of law. And while those principles have at times been witheld from segments of our citizenry, they are the principles that those people have fought for, bled for and died for, for decades and centuries. The freedom we share is the tie that allows all citizens to live together in this “melting pot” and prosper together. It is the mechanism through which other persons from other cultures can influence our own, and find success through doing it. It is the blanket under which all citizens from all cultures have found shelter, which is provided by the blood shed by the brave sons (and recently, daughters) of this country on battlefields across the planet.

America doesn’t require you to be white, male or Christian. America requires you to work hard, be a good citizen and contribute to the advancement and prosperity of its society. It affords you the liberty to pursue your goals, no matter your race or religion. It only asks that you be exceptional, and earn what you have. People of all cultures have come to America to pursue their dreams of prosperity and comfort; better lives for their children. From year to year, those who are determined to, find it.

American culture, Americanism, was unique in the world when laid down by the founders over two hundred years ago. It has provided the framework for the most powerful, prosperous society of the modern age, and been the idea by which most other clasically liberal, modern societies have been formed. While occasionally tarnished, bruised and beaten down, it still exists as that “shining city on the hill”. We must protect it against all odds, at all costs, lest it be lost to history under a wave of encroaching illiberalism and, dare I say the word… barbarism. We face nothing less than a return to Dark Ages thought, and the death of true intellectualism.

The first step toward that end will be when Americans - all westerners, really - cease valuing their culture as something worth defining and defending. This has been creeping incrementally into the American collective psyche for decades - but finally, citizens are beginning to stand up and fight back against that tide.

American Exceptionalist, and damned proud of it.

Update: Orson Scott Card, noted author, opines on the coming Dark Ages here. I swear I didn’t know about this essay until about an hour ago, heh.

Once the American people come to understand the nature of McCain-Feingold’s assault on liberty, there is no doubt that the final outcome will be the same today as it was for the Sedition Act: repeal. Those skeptical of seeking this reform should consider the words of Ronald Reagan: “If you’re afraid of the future, then get out of the way, stand aside. The people of this country are ready to move again.”

-Newt Gingrich, 06/01/2006

MANCHESTER – Former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich yesterday said the country will be forced to reexamine freedom of speech to meet the threat of terrorism.

Gingrich, speaking at a Manchester awards banquet, said a “different set of rules” may be needed to reduce terrorists’ ability to use the Internet and free speech to recruit and get out their message.

“We need to get ahead of the curve before we actually lose a city, which I think could happen in the next decade,” said Gingrich, a Republican who helped engineer the GOP’s takeover of Congress in 1994.

-yesterday

You know, it’s funny. Not more than three weeks ago, during a dinner table conversation with my father, I placed Gingrich at the vanguard of potential Republican ‘08 presidential candidates. “Well”, I posited, “Giuliani loses the base because of his social liberalism on issues like gay marriage and abortion. McCain is hated by the base for the McCain-Feingold incumbent protection act which is seen as a direct congressional assault on free speech rights by purist conservatives. Romney is easily painted as a local lightweight and pretty easily tarnished by the Big Dig fiasco (among a plethora of Mass political fiascos). Condi is identified too closely with ‘Neoconservatives’, who’ve used up and thrown away any political capital they’d accrued from ‘00 - ‘03. Nobody else has the name recognition. No, if there’s an electorate out there longing for a Reagan-esque figure, it will be the architect of the Contract. He’s the closest thing we have to a Regan-era conservative that has a prayer in ‘08. He’s articulate, intellectual, educated and above all, the base sees him as a “true conservative.”

My, how little I know.

Curious to see whether any conservative blogs will be picking this up and running with it.

Note to Newt: the battle against Islamism and other poisonous idealogies will be won with more free speech - not less.

Our friends, the Saudis.

I’ll preface this link by stating that I have no real “opinion” on the following article; it provided an intriguing yet seemingly subjective viewpoint, but one I can’t necessarily “buy into”. My high-school-educated mind eschews the larger view here in immediate favor of “but do they take it in the ass?”.

I’d be curious to see Malvolio’s wife’s take on this piece.

Click me.

In the days leading up to November 8th, Republican pundits were in a lather, consumed by get-out-the-vote frenzy. The GOP’s best hope seemed to be feeding conservative delusions of maintining its vise-grip on Congress, if only you plebians would do your civic duty. Their campaign line? “Yes, we’re terrible, but the other guy is worse.” A party lacking any substance attacked their bitter foe for… lacking substance.

Unsurprisingly, this has led to a handy defeat of Karl Rove’s “permanent majority”.

At press time, the Senate is still a toss-up.

As the balloon of backbiting, recriminations and hand-wringing among the GOP swells up and bursts, drowning the pages of opinion colums across the country for the next several weeks, both parties should consider their respective victory and defeats.

Democrats: No, this isn’t your “Republican Revolution”. No, your slim lead doesn’t equate to a “mandate”. The majority of Americans do not want their taxes raised, national security compromised on the front page of the Times, or an ignominious retreat from Iraq - items which comprise the seeming majority of your vacuous “platform”. They also understand that increasing VA benefits is not a policy for national security.

You may be feeling a little itch somewhere in the back of your hungover, euphoric minds; that’s your “must gallop of to the left” impulse. I strongly suggest you ignore it. You were handed this electoral victory by a Republican Party that doesn’t deserve the name; cozy back up to Communist principles, and you’ll earn yourself a ticket back into the political wilderness in ‘08, where you can commence your soul-searching yet again. However, that aside, your support of moderate “Blue Dog” democrats in key races provides us center-right folks with a glimmer of hope that you can, one day, govern responsibly.

Republicans: Congratulations; your incompetence, arrogance and near-total abandonment of conservative principles has drug you behind the woodshed and given you a country ass-whuppin.

“Conservatives” in this country ask you to uphold a few key principles: Govern ethically (failed), shrink government (failed), reduce government spending (”failed” is far too kind a word, here) and use this reduced spending to decrease the national tax burden (your one shining star). Your failure, in my eyes, is a failure of the concept of “compassionate conservatism” - simply a pseudonym, apparently, for religious governance enjoying a late-night drunken tryst with complete fiscal irresponsibility. The Ted Haggard of political philosophy, if you will.

On top of that, we asked you to competently and quickly get a handle on illegal immigration (failed), live up to your vision of an “ownership society” by bringing some of that famed fiscal responsibility to the Social Security program (failed), and maybe take a serious look at completely overhauling our ridiculous, antiquated tax code (another campaign promise in ‘04, failed).

Most of us recognized the situation from 91-03 in Iraq as ridiculous and untenable, and supported a war there to oust the Hussein regime once and for all - WMD or no. You get a free pass for going in, but in regards to your gross mismanagement of the situation after your big “Mission Accomplished” announcement? Failed.

Notice a trend, here?

Now, as you toil for the next two years (at least) in the shadow of your Democratic Overlords, I’d like you to reconsider a few things:

1. As so-called “conservatives”, your goals as a party must center on spending reduction, tax reduction and entitlement reduction (or at least, reform). When you remember this and aggressively act on it, you win.

2. This is not government of the Jesus, by the Jesus and for the Jesus. Sure, there are 30 million evangelicals that are politically active in this country, but there are another 270 million people moved by the spectacle of Michael J. Fox being ravaged by a progressive and deadly disease. The stand on stem cell research is a killer for your party, regardless of whether there’s actually any conclusive science on the matter. You’ve lost the PR battle here long ago; let science march onward and leave this issue alone.

3. What in the fuck were you thinking, re: Terry Schiavo? Getting the Federal Government involved in a state-based right-to-die case was one of the grossest oversteps of Federal authority I can, in my 33 years, recall. In it’s entirety, it stood starkly against the principles of limited government that you frauds claim to champion. And in the end? You lost, and she’s feeding the worms. Finally. Well done.

4. Illegal immigration must be stopped, and you’re the only party that supposedly cares about stopping it. There’s plenty of room for debate about how to handle the multiple millions that are already here, yet there’s no excuse for the plaintive wails heard from the GOP about finally securing that goddamn border. And for all the pulling-of-teeth it took to get 700 miles of unguarded wall approved (a third too short, at that), now we’re just facing a congress that will likely defund it - making it unbuildable - because the party of Abraham Lincoln preferred Abramoff’s illicit cash to maintaining the ethics they claimed to champion in ‘94.

There’s plenty more to come, but I have other duties that need attention. Like Arnold, though… I’ll be back.

Update: George Will weighs in.

Proving that stupidity knows no bounds, Pat Robertson has levied his expert scientific opinion on the subject of Manmade Global Warming:

“We really need to address the burning of fossil fuels,” Robertson said on his “700 Club” broadcast. “It is getting hotter, and the icecaps are melting and there is a buildup of carbon dioxide in the air.”

I guess the question I have is: Where the fuck is Jesus with your predictions when you need him, Pat? A/C units would’ve been a hell of a lot cheaper four months ago. Tell your hippy deity to get on the ball, please.

Dumbass.

What’s it been now, six weeks?

Apologies. I’ve been spending quite a bit of time with my “professional writing” for Gaming Horizon, and as such, most of my “reading and research time” is spent dealing with the electronic gaming industry, not politics.

It is amazing what effect this has on my blood pressure.

In any event, I assure you I’m still keeping up-to-date on the goings on in the world around us, I’m just a bit worn down on the whole writing thing by the time I can get to more personal stuff. Hopefully, one on the other contributors here will take some time to step up and put something in here that’s worth reading. At some point, I’ll try to start updating here once a week or so, once I feel like I’m totally settled in with GH.

In the meantime, read Alan Dershowitz’s commentary on terrorism here.

Perhaps rational minds can eventually win out in this ridiculous debate. 

Read.

In our age of overpaid, overpampered professional athletes, stupidity abounds. However, certain athlete-celebrities work hard and long at rising above the normal level of brain malfunction to achieve truly stupefying levels of idiocy.

Terrel Owens. Barry Bonds. Joe Namath had his “I want to kiss you” moment, and Jason Grimsley had his “I’m only holding that HGH for a friend” moment.

Now, Ben Roethlisberger, quarterback of the champion Pittsburg Steelers, has set his feet firmly on that ladder, and begun his ascent. From ESPN.com:

PITTSBURGH — Steelers star Ben Roethlisberger, the youngest quarterback to lead a team to the Super Bowl championship, broke his jaw and nose in a motorcycle crash Monday in which he was not wearing a helmet. Roethlisberger remained in serious but stable condition after seven hours of surgery that ended at approximately 9 p.m. ET, according to Dr. Daniel Pituch, chief of oral and maxillofacial surgery at Mercy Hospital. “He suffered multiple facial fractures,” Pituch said at a news conference.

I’d bet that shit hurt like a motherfucker. The best part is, that for the freedom of feeling the wind blowing through his hair (and now, whistling through the shattered remains of his teeth), he quite possibly put not only his career, but most of his bonus earnings in jeopardy. From the report:

Pittsburgh Steelers officials warned quarterback Ben Roethlisberger in writing last year that he might jeopardize portions of his contract, and could suffer financial implications, if he continued to ride a motorcycle.

League and team officials confirmed for ESPN.com on Tuesday night that the Steelers last year sent a letter to Roethlisberger’s representatives stating their concerns and the possibility his contract could be affected if he was injured while riding a motorcycle. Agent Leigh Steinberg confirmed for the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette that the Steelers sent such a letter.

Well done, Big Ben.

The one possible upside of this, of course, is that he has a golden excuse to fix up that goddamn balogna nose once and for all.