The Right Priorities

I'm not a basketball fan but this story grabbed me. It sounds like something from a Disney movie - but it's true. There's at least one Real Man in the NBA:

OAKLAND, Calif., May 10 — Derek Fisher had 30 minutes Tuesday morning to decide whether to remove his daughter’s left eye.

Fisher, a point guard for the Utah Jazz, sat in an office at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York, across from Dr. David Abramson and Dr. Pierre Gobin, asking them how to cure the cancer that had formed in his baby girl’s retina.

“He really had three choices,” Abramson said. “Remove the eye, remove the eye or remove the eye.” Read on.

David Kuo is starting a Derek Fisher For President campaign.

Happy Independence Day!

IN CONGRESS, July 4, 1776.

The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America,

When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.--That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, --That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security... READ ON

Scooter Walks

I am greatly annoyed at the President's decision to commute Scooter Libby's jail sentence, and even more annoyed at the hypocrisy of those on the right who think it is a wonderful idea. Some are even angry that Libby isn't getting a full pardon. Be patient - you'll get your wish if his appeals are not successful or the day Bush leaves office, whichever comes first.

The reason Scooter Libby was sentenced to prison is that he intentionally lied to a grand jury. This fact is really not in dispute. Even Libby's defenders concede that he did commit the crime of perjury. Consider what one law enforcement official had to say about the case.

... a jury of citizens weighed all the evidence and listened to all the testimony and found Mr. Libby guilty of perjury and obstructing justice. They argue, correctly, that our entire system of justice relies on people telling the truth. And if a person does not tell the truth, particularly if he serves in government and holds the public trust, he must be held accountable. They say that had Mr. Libby only told the truth, he would have never been indicted in the first place.

This completely correct statement came from President Bush himself. He nonetheless decided that the prosecutor he appointed asked for, and the judge he appointed imposed, a sentence that was much too harsh. He therefore overruled them, having forgot what he said in 1999 when he was governor of Texas and running for president.

"I don't believe my role is to replace the verdict of a jury with my own unless there are new facts or evidence of which a jury was unaware, or evidence that the trial was somehow unfair." Source

Now one could quibble by saying that Bush didn't technically overrule the jury's verdict. Fine. Want to bet that Bush won't go all the way to a full pardon if Libby's appeal isn't successful? Anyway this is a distinction that makes no difference. Bush doesn't do this sort of thing for regular people, only his political cronies.

Some argue that there was no underlying crime. So what? As the president says, our system of justice relies on people telling the truth. We cannot allow people to lie under oath to law enforcement officers and grand juries, for any reason. Period, end of story. Libby lied. Now he should pay the price.

Republicans had no problem understanding this back in 1998 when Clinton lied to a grand jury about his sex life. There was no underlying crime then, either, but it was enough to get him impeached. Even some of Clinton's defenders argued that he could and should face criminal justice after leaving office. Only now, when it is a GOP stalwart in the crossfire, do they decide that perjury is no big deal after all.

The whole affair again reveals what a lawless monarchy the Bush Administration has become. Here's a nice summation:

Tell the American people the core narrative of this monarchical presidency: this president believes he is above the law in wiretapping citizens with no court oversight; he has innovated an explosive use of signing statements to declare himself above the law on a bewildering array of other matters, large and small; he has unilaterally declared himself above American law, international law, and U.N. Treaty obligations in secretly authorizing torture; he has claimed the right to seize anyone in the United States, detain them indefinitely without trial and torture them; his vice-president refuses to abide by the law that mandates securing classified documents; and when a court of law finds a friend of the president's guilty, he commutes the sentence. Source

Once these kind of precedents are established, they don't disappear. Our next president will claim the same privileges. If it's President Obama or Clinton, look for Republicans to suddenly become devoted to the rule of law again. Power is now the only principle left in politics.

How Nations Die

NEW YORK - The percentage of Americans who consider children "very important" to a successful marriage has dropped sharply since 1990, and more now cite the sharing of household chores as pivotal, according to a sweeping new survey.

The Pew Research Center survey on marriage and parenting found that children had fallen to eighth out of nine on a list of factors that people associate with successful marriages — well behind "sharing household chores," "good housing," "adequate income," a "happy sexual relationship" and "faithfulness."

In a 1990 World Values Survey, children ranked third in importance among the same items, with 65 percent saying children were very important to a good marriage. Just 41 percent said so in the new Pew survey.

Chore-sharing was cited as very important by 62 percent of respondents, up from 47 percent in 1990.

The survey also found that, by a margin of nearly 3-to-1, Americans say the main purpose of marriage is the "mutual happiness and fulfillment" of adults rather than the "bearing and raising of children." MORE

Here we have an example of a divergence between what is desirable for individuals and what is desirable for the common good. The fact is that our future depends on the continuing production of children, and families are the primary means of doing this. On some level we all know this, but most of us are still selfish enough to assume someone else will do the heavy lifting. (See here for more on this trend.)

The stakes are high. While birth rates in the West are falling to well below replacement level, the Islamic world exhibits a fecundity that may, if it continues, result in the defeat of our civilization by sheer numbers. We will fade into history much as the Romans did centuries ago, and for similar reasons. The trend is already well along in Europe.

So, loyal Americans, it is critical that you have more children. You need at least three to make up for those who are unable to do their part. Turn off the TV and get busy. There is no time to waste.

Hat Tip: James Taranto

Smart Kids

Leticia from Causa Nostrae Laetitiae has this interesting story from her time as a public school teacher.

I was teaching bilingual US history. We were studying how a bill becomes law. The class was Congress, and as, the President, I could veto any bill they passed. Now, what kind of law would you expect teenagers to pass? Lower the drinking age, perhaps?

The first law was open immigration. OK, that I expected. The second law was to outlaw abortion, giving a life sentence to the mother, and the death penalty to the abortionist. This passed 29 to 1, with the only 'nea' coming from Maria, who was the only student from Europe, not Latin America. "Maria, you are intelligent, why can't you see that abortion is murder?" her classmate argued. I told the students not to listen to their other teachers, they already knew MUCH more than they. MORE

The immigrant kids sound like they have a much better moral compass than a lot of native-born Americans. Unfortunately it won't stay with them for long. This is one area where assimilation into our society will not be to their benefit.

I highlighted another of Leticia's stories here a few weeks ago.

UPDATE 7/2/07: I wish to clarify that I am NOT in favor of prison for women who have abortions. Maybe in some cases, with women who are very irresponsible and have repeated abortions, some kind of sanction would be in order. Most of the women who have abortions are confused and misled. Those who perform abortions for money, however, are nothing less than murderers in my opinion, and should be treated as such.

Fred Thompson Rocks NH?

Fred Thompson got a decidedly cool reception in New Hampshire this weekend.

The former Tennessee senator with the baritone drawl showed up Thursday in New Hampshire, the site of the first primary voting, and gave a speech that lasted only nine minutes, skipping over hot-button issues such as Iraq and immigration to invoke platitudes about freedom and strength.

He left more than a few Republicans disappointed. more

The conservative blogosphere is still enraptured with Thompson, but I continue to think it is mainly due to disappointment with the other candidates. Practically anyone would be preferable to Giuliani or McCain, and Thompson may well prove to be the best we can hope for. So far, however, I see nothing to indicate he is the second coming of Ronald Reagan, to whom he is so frequently compared.

There is now at least one Anti-Fred blog, and my guess is that once he starts having to take actual positions on actual issues, rather than mouthing patriotic platitudes, his support will drop precipitously. My big question is his stance on abortion. There is a lot of ambiguity in his record and a few things that are downright disturbing.