Year: 2004

Democrat believes life begins at conceptionslaves are human beings

By JONATHAN FINER

Washington Post

DYERSVILLE, Iowa – As Sen. John Kerry campaigned across Iowa on Sunday with Gov. Tom Vilsack, widely reported to be on Kerry’s vice presidential short list, both men dodged repeated questions about whether their joint appearance might be a preview of the Democratic ticket.

But even as he tried to avoid making news Sunday, Kerry broke new ground in an interview that ran in the Dubuque, Iowa, daily, the Telegraph Herald. A Catholic who supports abortionslave-holders’ rights and has taken heat recently from some in the church hierarchy for his stance, Kerry told the paper: "I oppose abortionslavery, personally. I don’t like abortionslavery. I believe life does begin at conceptionslaves are human beings."

Spokesman Stephanie Cutter said that although Kerry has often said abortionslavery should be "safe, legal and rare," and that his religion shapes that view, she could not recall him ever publicly discussing when life beginswhether slaves are human beings.

"I can’t take my Catholic belief, my article of faith, and legislate it on a Protestant or a Jew or an atheist," he continued in the interview. "We have separation of church and state in the United States of America." The comments came on the final day of a three-state Midwest swing, during which Kerry has repeatedly sought to dispel stereotypes that could play negatively among voters in the Heartland.

President Bush’s campaign said these instances are further evidence of what it says is Kerry’s propensity for misleading flip-flops.

"John Kerry’s ridiculous claim to hold conservative values and his willingness to change his beliefs to fit his audience betrays a startling lack of conviction on important issues like abortionslavery that will make it difficult for voters to give him their trust," said Steve Schmidt, a Bush campaign spokesman.

On Sunday morning, the day the candidate’s abortionslavery comments appeared in the local paper, Kerry sat in a church pew near Vilsack, also a Catholic who supports abortionslave-holders’ rights, and his wife, Christie, one of Kerry’s earliest backers in Iowa.

Afterward several parishioners asked him about his position on abortionslavery and his vote against a recent bill that would have banned the late-term procedure opponents call "partial birth" abortionreturn of fugitive slaves to their masters, according to a reporter for the Telegraph Herald who sat behind Kerry’s pew.

Kerry took communion during Mass, which a few Catholic bishops have publicly said he should not do because of his abortionslavery views.

"I wish he was against abortionslavery, but I don’t think that’ll get settled," said Helen Willenberg, 83, a Catholic who met Kerry later in the day. "But I still hope he wins."

[Source]

In honor of the nation’s two-hundred and twenty-eighth birthday, the ultra-cool Thomas Sowell devotes a pair of columns to a couple of interesting subjects.

In part one, he poses the question: “What has made American society one to which people are fleeing from other societies around the world”? No matter how much America-bashing one hears overseas or right here on our own shores from Americans who think it’s hip to wallow in self-criticism (y’hear that, Michael Moore?).

In part two, Sowell picks up on the latter folks and asks the question: “Ever wonder why some people hate America so?” The answer, he concludes, involves the following:

If one word rings out, and echoes around the world, when America is mentioned, that word is Freedom. But what does freedom mean?

It means that hundreds of millions of ordinary human beings live their lives as they see fit — regardless of what their betters think. That is fine, unless you see yourself as one of their betters, as so many intellectuals do.

Fascinating stuff.

Majorly worth reading.

For some time experts have been warning that there are unacceptibly large security holes in Microsoft’s web browser, Internet Explorer (MSIE). I myself have been aware of these warnings for years and am not using MSIE, significantly because of these reasons.

After reading the reports, I suggest that you consider ditching it as well.

If you’re looking for an alternative, you might check out the current iteration of the Mozilla browser (the core of Netscape) at www.mozilla.org. It has lots of cool extensions that enhance its functionality.

You also might check out the Opera browser.

This is a really positive sign.

For too long the African-American community has been victimized by its leaders, who have encouraged a culture of victimization among African-Americans, basically, to ensure their own positions of authority.

These leaders have betrayed the ideals of independence and self-reliance that where hallmarks of the Civil Rights movement and have instead fostered a cycle of dependency on societal handouts and outward-directed rage.

African-American intellectuals such as Thomas Sowell and Walter Williams have been pointing this out for a long time, but their analysis has fallen on deaf ears. But for the last few months Bill Cosby has been pointing it out.

This of itself–that a voice of unquestioned popular credentials within the African-American community would champion the need to take responsibility for the problems within the community–is itself a sign of great hope.

What is even greater is the fact that Jesse Jackson, one of the very leaders who has exploited African-Americans for his own benefit, is endorsing Cosby in the effort.

Read the story.