By Scott Tibbs, May 16, 2008
♣ World Net Daily floats the possibility of Hillary Clinton running as an independent against John McCain and Barack Hussein Obama. That would virtually guarantee John McCain would win the White House, which is exactly why it is not going to happen. This year is her best shot at becoming President, and if/when she loses this year her Presidential ambitions are probably over. Nonetheless, if McCain defeats Obama in November, Mrs. Clinton has the option of running again in 2012 and she can still play a high profile role in the U.S. Senate. Mrs. Clinton is far too politically smart to throw her political career away for a race she cannot possibly win.
♣ Revisiting the 1988 election, Susan Estrich argues that the infamous prison "furlough program was well-grounded in policy terms" and "wardens supported such efforts because they contributed positively to prison discipline". It was the furlough program, of course, that allowed Willie Horton out of prison. Horton used the opportunity to commit a brutal rape. Horton, who had brutally murdered 17-year old gas station attendant 12 years earlier, should never have been out of prison. That is not a "political" statement - it is a requirement for justice and protecting innocent people from him and savages like him. It is sickening that Estrich would reduce the Horton argument to politics. Whatever arguments one may want to make about the furlough program overall, people like Horton should never be allowed to leave a prison unless they are on the way to the cemetery.
♣ It is not often that I agree with People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, but Chicago's ban on foie gras is one of those times. There is absolutely no reason to force-feed birds and subject them to terrible pain and suffering for a "delicacy". It is poor stewardship of the creation that God has given to us. Unlike PETA, I have no problem with eating meat. In fact, just last evening I ate the flesh of a cow slaughtered for my benefit. I do, however, have a major problem with torturing animals. Like it or not, if you consume foie gras, you are an accessory to torture.
♣ Jonah Goldberg hits a bulls-eye with his argument for more nuclear power. Obviously, we need to keep our options open in researching and using alternative energy sources such as wind and solar energy, but nuclear energy offers us a reliable source of electricity right now. As I said eight years ago, we need to get over our irrational fear of nuclear power and embrace what is a clean, safe and plentiful source of electricity.
♣ There are calls in some quarters for the United States to use military force to coerce the government in Burma to allow humanitarian aid. I emphatically and vehemently reject this idea. I am not a pacifist, but I do believe that we should not be using our military unless it is absolutely necessary for national security. Invading Burma, like Somalia and Bosnia before it, simply does not make the cut. All we're going to do is give people another reason to hate us, like many do in Somalia. Pardon me for being selfish, but I'm not willing to spill a single drop of American blood in a purely humanitarian mission just so some will have an excuse to hate us even more.
