The Parade Of Liberalism Creeps Onward

Once again, we see liberalism everywhere we look...the creep continues!

Speaking English is hostile to Hispanics

A Catholic school in Kansas with a substantial Hispanic population wants its students to speak English only. The school had to deal with serious discipline problems. Requiring everyone to use the same language helped alleviate disruptions.

Enter the ethnic grievance-mongers and anti-assimilationist mob. They sued the school and were in federal court this week arguing that the English-only rule violated the Hispanic students' civil rights. Yes, they've gone and made a federal case out of it– and they are demanding "court and attorney costs and unspecified damages for discrimination and emotional suffering."

Malkin suggests this is the logical liberal response to the Catholic church's often-held position that open borders are a-okay.  Talk about gratitude...

The felon vote
Mark Krikorian comments on a Washington Post story about the effort of various Democrat-base groups to obtain the right for felons to vote:

The Post has story on how the ACLU, People for the American Way, and other Democratic organs and activists are working hard to register ex-cons. In the words of the protagonist of the piece, Florida civil rights lawyer Reggie Mitchell:

"The majority of people to get their rights restored are Democrats, and if we get them registered, [we] might overtake the state," he said.

(Peter Kirsanow recently mentioned the "Ex-Offenders Voting Rights Act of 2007" as a bill that could be fast-tracked by an Obama Administration.)

Republicans are right to be skeptical of such moves, though the political concern is less serious than some might expect — while I'm sure that ex-cons overwhelmingly embrace Democratic positions, the subset of former felons who've gotten their lives together and know when election day is and actually get out of bed to vote is likely to be less overwhelmingly Democratic than ex-felons as a whole.

Krikorian suggests that while the Democrat plan should be very skeptically regarded by Republicans (duh!), he supports the idea of allowing felons to earn the right to vote again through a process similar to becoming a naturalized citizen.  Personally, I'm not sold on the idea...I think that if one chooses to commit a felony, one also chooses to forfeit certain rights of free citizens, and voting is one of them.  But, I'm open to being persuaded if the right argument comes along...  Regardless, I heartily agree that the Dems' plan is bad.  This strikes me as being akin to the Democrat-led effort to grant amnesty to about 3 million illegal immigrants back in the 1980s.  Reagan signed the bill into law on the premise that if the amnesty went through, the borders would then be secured.  Funny how that second part never seems to materialize when this sort of deal comes through...do we really think that earning thing would materialize once felons got the right to vote?  Doubt it.

More foreclosure tear-jerkers
The SanFran Chronicle runs another sob story about a foreclosed-upon family designed to tear your heart out in sympathy:

Joann Gardner sat forlornly on her living room floor, waiting for the final step in her home's foreclosure process. The lender's representative was due any moment to give her "cash for keys," a transaction in which she would deliver her family home vacant in exchange for an incentive payment.

"I'm glad it's done," Gardner said wearily. "I just want to sit down and have some Hennessy."

Only days earlier, the house had been jammed with boxes and bags holding the worldly goods her family had accumulated during 54 years in the cramped Oakland bungalow.

Now it was entirely empty, the possessions in storage or donated to the Salvation Army. Gardner's elderly parents, both suffering from dementia and other ailments, had moved a week earlier to a local board-and-care home whose cost would be covered by their Social Security and pension checks. Gardner, who has been her parents' full-time care provider for the past 18 months, planned to move in with her boyfriend in Vallejo and look for a job, perhaps something at Costco.

Surely these people have been greviously wronged or shoved through some sort of terrible personal tragedy, right?  Uh...no:

Joann's parents, Johnnie Gardner, 87, and Estelle, 88, bought the two-bedroom in the Sobrante Park neighborhood in 1954 for $11,500. His salary as an electrician at the Oakland naval shipyard allowed them to make the payments.

But in recent years, Joann and her brother refinanced it several times for increasingly larger amounts.

The final refinance at the end of 2006 left the family owing $454,000. The monthly payments of $3,362 exceeded the household income of $3,144.

What happened to the money from all the refinances?

Gardner can't quite say. Some went to paying off credit cards; some was eaten up in huge loan fees. What is clear is that the family has not made a mortgage payment since December 2006.

I keep telling you, these bailouts benefit far more people who have simply been irresponsible than people who genuinely got 'stuck' by circumstances, and this is another perfect example.  These people peddled a home bought for $11,500 into a debt of almost half a million dollars, and can't really even say where they spent all that money??  When will the American people demand a stop to this ridiculous spending by Congress?

Bailouts fund far Left groups
Speaking of bailouts, something that Congress and the MSM really seem to try to hide about these bailouts is the vast amount of pork involved.  Case in point:

The housing package signed into law by President Bush extends an unlimited line of credit to troubled mortgage giants Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae and rescues homeowners near or in foreclosure. The measure also increases the federal debt limit by another $800 billion -- and sends millions of dollars in aid to La Raza and the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now, or ACORN.
 
Representative Michele Bachmann (R-Minnesota), a member of the House Financial Services Committee, says she finds it "unconscionable" that the legislation included funding for the two groups, which serve as political action arms of the Democratic Party.
 
"At the same time that the American taxpayer was being asked to bail these companies out, Barney Frank, the chairman of the Financial Services Committee, instituted a sort of tax on Freddie and Fannie, and that tax goes into what's called an affordable housing trust fund," explains Bachmann. "It's a really a taxpayer-subsidized housing fund, but that money will go to organizations like La Raza and...ACORN." Both groups -- "particularly ACORN," says Bachmann -- have been found to be involved in "activities where they have perpetrated voter fraud," she contends.

For the record, Bachmann is one of the few really good conservatives in the House, so if you have any opportunity to vote for her or contribute, please do so.  On the subject of the bailouts, this is just icing on the liberal cake, as these Leftist groups get millions in taxpayer money from bills that have nothing to do with them.  The thing that truly boggles my mind is that Republicans continue to go along with it, apparently not caring that they are not only spending taxpayer money frivolously, but also that they are funding the very same lobbyist groups that will oppose them in every election!  The Republicans who vote for this are truly dumber than a box of rocks, and need to be sent packing.  I would say they deserve what they get, but it's actually the American people -- you and me -- who end up getting hurt in the end.  Idiots.

One of the 300 foreign policy advisers?
For a man who boasts of having some 300 foreign policy advisers, one can't help but question Barack Obama's judgment on the quality of those advisers, at least if this story is anything to judge by:

George Clooney once famously declared he could never run for public office because he'd 'slept with too many women, done too many drugs and been to too many parties'.

But now the Hollywood heart-throb has entered the political arena at the highest level – by becoming an unofficial adviser to US Presidential front-runner Barack Obama. Oscar-winner Clooney, 47, is said to be helping the Democratic candidate to polish his image at home and abroad. But he is also sharing with Obama his strong opinions on Iraq and the Middle East.

Sources say the actor has tried to hide the pair's friendship for fear his Left-wing views and playboy image would hurt the Presidential hopeful's bid for the White House. But Democratic Party insiders have revealed that Clooney and Obama regularly send texts and emails to each other and speak by phone at least twice a week.

One said last night: 'They are extremely close. A number of members of the Hollywood community, including Brad Pitt, Ben Affleck and Matt Damon, offered to help raise funds for Barack but it was with George that he struck up this amazing affinity. George has been giving him advice on things such as presentation, public speaking and body language and he also emails him constantly about policy, especially the Middle East.'

I'm always amused when actors think they are experts in subjects that they have played in movies.  The sad part is that a lot of ignorant people believe they know what they're talking about.  Seriously, think about it...does a couple months of study about how to pretend to be someone in a movie qualify these people to speak with authority and experience on a subject?  Hahahahahaha...!  Now, of course it is possible for someone to study issues over a long period of time and put in much consideration before speaking out on a topic (that's essentially what I'm striving to do with this blog), but that doesn't mean they're an expert or worth listening to.  You have to take what they say with a grain of salt - when it comes to the knowledge, can they be considered an expert, or not?  In my case, I'm really not an expert in any of this political stuff...I just think about it, make logical conclusions about it, and -- here's the important part -- cite people who really are experts.  In any case, most actors don't bother with any of that study or consideration...they just act their parts in real life in a sort of reverse reality role.  And yet, for the Left, that's perfectly acceptable.

So, the parade of liberalism creeps onward.  Fortunately, we sometimes see signs of rolling back the creep.  Here are just a few of those...

The waning warming debate

For all the recent coverage of the pollution surrounding Beijing's Olympic Games, global warming has gotten relatively little attention, whether on the nightly news or on the campaign trail. While the majority of Americans still say they consider climate change a serious issue, a new poll suggests public concern over the issue has ebbed since last year.

According to a survey [PDF] from ABC News, Planet Green and Stanford University, fewer than half -- 47 percent -- of Americans consider global warming an important issue to them personally, down from 52 percent in April 2007. Although a vast majority still think the planet is warming -- 8 in 10 respondents -- that figure is also down from last year, having dropped 4 percentage points. Furthermore, in an open-ended question, the number of respondents who called global warming the biggest environmental challenge facing the world fell 8 points from 2007 and currently hovers at 25 percent.

The article attempts to spin this significant decline as a simple result of fewer stories about global warming.  I would hope the real reason is that people are starting to see the fact that our planet is far more complex than we understand, and therefore perfectly capable of handling a bit of carbon emissions; the scientific 'proof' of man causing any climate change is laughable; that the motives behind the climate change fanatics are far less than noble; and, that if we give in to these 'planet-saving' measures, life will suddenly become much more annoying, restrictive, and expensive.  The truth is winning out there, and we need to keep spreading it.

Big win for homeschooling in CA

The good news this afternoon is that a California appeals court has reversed itself and ruled that parents in the Golden State can homeschool their own children without having to obtain a government credential.

This is essentially allowing things to go back to the way they were before the ridiculous ruling saying that homeschooling was unconstitutional.  Still, the creep of liberalism will not rest long:

The bad news is that the teachers' union/Big Nanny war on homeschooling never ends. Homeschoolers are a threat to their turf, a threat to their funding, a threat to their long-held and fiercely protected monopoly.

This battle will likely spread to other states, too.  Watch for it.

Tyson reinstates Labor Day

Tyson Foods, Inc. announced today it has reached a new agreement with the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union (RWDSU), an American union, reinstating Labor Day as one of the designated paid holidays under the contract for covered employees in the Shelbyville, Tennessee, plant. Tyson made this request on behalf of its Shelbyville plant employees, some of whom had expressed concern about the new contract provisions relative to paid holidays. In an effort to be responsive, Tyson asked the union to reopen the contract to address the holiday issue, and the union agreed to do so. The union membership voted overwhelmingly Thursday to reinstate Labor Day as one of the plant's paid holidays, while keeping Eid al-Fitr as an additional paid holiday for this year only.

Chalk up a victory for America, and for patriotic grass roots efforts at immediately killing this capitulation to Islam.

So, while liberalism creeps ever onward, all is not without hope!  Keep your mind sharp, keep your heart strong, and keep your voice bold.  We are on the side of Truth and Right, and as we persuade people -- one at a time, if need be -- that liberalism is NOT the way, conservatism will win the day to benefit us all.

There's my two cents.