rstreu's blog
Posted at 1:37pm on May 31, 2008 Time to Take Action: 10-yr-old suspended for having shell casing
By rstreu
(cross-posted at http://www.independentthinking.tk)
A Fourth-grader at Toy Town Elementary School in Winchendon, MA was suspended for five days for showing his friends an empty shell casing to some friends at lunch. According to the NRA-ILA (http://www.nraila.org/Legislation/Read.aspx?ID=3975), Bradley Geslak had been given the casing — from a blank fired during Memorial Day — by a US veteren. He was given two, one of which he gave to his grandfather, also a veteren.
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Posted at 9:50am on May 29, 2008 Sympathy for the Devil: HRC, Assassinations and What Actually Matters (AKA: Let's Focus, People!)
By rstreu
This post has been nearly a week in coming -- and to be honest, I've been so annoyed by the prospect of actually having to defend Hillary Clinton that I wasn't sure I was going to do it at all. Then I heard O'Reilly talking about Hillary's RFK assassination "gaffe" the other day, and I knew somebody would have to stand up for the truth -- regardless of who was involved.
First, I admit that I think Bill O'Reilly's a pompous blowhard, and find no great difficulty in disagreeing with the man. That he happens to be right sometimes I equate more with the level of blind squirrels finding nuts than with any level of political scholarship on his part. Having said that, I was somewhat surprised by his thick-headed insistence to his guest that Hillary was indeed referring to an assassination of Barack Obama.
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Posted at 10:29am on May 7, 2008 Blogivism Vs. Activism
By rstreu
Cross-posted at Society for Independent Thinking
It is a unique little hobby we political bloggers have undertaken. We spend untold hours a week following the news, poring over political and legal texts, studying history, not to mention checking the other blogs to see what we’ve missed, and ultimately writing it all down — becoming arguably some of the best-informed voters in America — all for the few dozen, few hundred or few thousand people who happen to wander by our web pages to read what we have written.
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Posted at 1:08pm on May 2, 2008 Life and choice/"Life: The First Part of Freedom"
By rstreu
A lot of people here at RedState have been talking about pro-life/pro-choice issues lately, as it relates to the discussion of an appropriate VP choice for John McCain.
I'm writing this partially because I don't want to threadjack by promoting my own opinions on abortion in the VP discussions, and partially as a "public service" to avoid further burdening of the threads with the issue.
First, for reasons explained below, I'll say that I am pro-life -- at the very least in the sense that I am anti-abortion (the difference will be explained, up to a point). I'd also like to denounce the idea that "exceptions for rape and incest" are a legitimate stance for a pro-lifer to take.
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Posted at 4:24pm on Apr. 24, 2008 Keyes Leaving GOP; Will He Go to Constitution Party?
By rstreu
(Cross-posted at http://independentthinking.tk)
I think at this point, pol watchers have been waiting for Alan Keyes to make his departure from the GOP — especially given the presumptive nomination of John McCain as Republican POTUS candidate.
Keyes disagrees with McCain — and many other Republican leaders, including President Bush — on the issue of border security. And, he says, it was this that prompted his departure from the party. Keyes may be headed for the Constitution Party.
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Posted at 6:47pm on Apr. 15, 2008 Hillary's First 100
By rstreu
(cross-posted at http://www.independentthinking.tk)
Hillary Clinton outlined a plan for her first hundred days in office. Included in the plan: immediately begin withdrawl of troops from Iraq (is it me, or does she keep changing her mind on this subject?), roll back the bush tax cuts, un-veto bills for the expansion of embryonic stem cell research and create more government-funded healthcare for citizens. In short, she says, “starting from Day One, the Bush-Cheney era will be over in name and in practice.”
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Posted at 5:59pm on Apr. 9, 2008 ... And With That, Political Correctness Takes its Final Nosedive Into Absurdity
By rstreu
cross-posted at http://www.independentthinking.tk
The Chicago Sun-Times reports today that an Obama delegate and Carpentersville Village Trustee has resigned her delegate nomination and will not be seeking reelection as trustee after a perceived slur made by her to some kids in a tree.
(source: http://www.suntimes.com/news/politics/obama/883120%2CCST-NWS-trustee08.a...)
What happened, in essence, is that Trustee Linda Ramirez-Sliwinski went outside Saturday and spotted two children -- black children (this is important) -- in a tree. She says she "told the children to quit playing in the tree like monkeys." The mother of one kid was offended because her black kid was likened to monkeys (I liken my own white children to monkeys on a near-daily basis, in much the same way as the Trustee did here) and created something of a scene.
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Posted at 11:13pm on Apr. 6, 2008 Freedom by Default: An Essay
By rstreu
(cross-posted at http://www.independentthinking.tk)
Recently, Cuban leader Raul Castro made headlines by granting Cuban citizens the right to make certain purchases, own cell phones and even to stay at certain posh resorts. Some have speculated that these changes will serve to strengthen communism; I would submit it at least highlights the difference in thinking between the communist/socialist and that of the libertarian (by which I’m referring not to a political party, but to a philosophy).
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Posted at 1:49pm on Mar. 5, 2008 Dear John: Don't Make Us Regret This
By rstreu
cross-posted at http://independentthinking.wordpress.com
So, predictably at this point, John McCain has cinched the Republican primary. Unlike most Republican nominees, however, McCain’s win seems not to be because of Conservatives, but in spite of them. McCain’s win was handed to him largely by open primary states, which allowed Democrats and indies to help select the Republican nominee. This is evident to anyone who deigns to pay attention: Conservatives don’t want to vote for John McCain. McCain himself seemed to know this; he’s spent the entire primary process pandering to “independents and independent-thinking Democrats.” This has not gone unnoticed by the core of the Republican party. Even in these latest Primaries, where McCain was essentially the only viable candidate running, he barely scraped more than half the vote.
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Posted at 2:36am on Feb. 8, 2008 Can I vote for McCain, in Spite of McCain?
By rstreu
Cross-posted at http://independentthinking.wordpress.com as "What's a Conservative to Do?"
It was with a heavy heart that I watched Fred Thompson bow out of the race. A heavy heart as I finally made the decision on Super Tuesday to vote for the nearest candidate left to a true conservative: Mitt Romney.
It was with a heavy heart that I watched Romney get his ass handed to him on Tuesday, and then read his concession speech today.
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Posted at 12:00am on Feb. 4, 2008 Get Real: Why are we worried about Constitutional Amendments?
By rstreu
Originally posted as "Choosing the President Based on Amending the Constitution," at www.independentthinking.wordpress.com on 01-17-08
************************
This election season has seen more than its share of candidates vowing to “create Constitutional amendments” that will do … well, whatever: end abortion, ban gay marriage, permanently end the income tax, or what have you. These promises have certainly proved beneficial for those candidates making them — and somewhat detrimental to those who refuse to.
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Posted at 5:12pm on Jan. 23, 2008 I've Come To A Decision
By rstreu
Cross-posted at http://independentthinking.wordpress.com
I’ve been pretty down since Fred Thompson’s announcement to end his bid for the Presidency yesterday (Tuesday). I won’t go into it again; I explained my reasoning already. I’ve been doing a lot of thinking since then — sadly, I don’t have the luxury of a brain that turns off. I’ve considered the possibilities of where to go from here, considered turning my support to the second-best candidate, Mitt Romney, and I’ve reached my decision: I’m voting for Fred Thompson on Super Tuesday.
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Posted at 10:03pm on Jan. 22, 2008 The Difference Between “Voting For” and “Voting Against” -- Thoughts on a Post-Thompson Primary
By rstreu
Cross-posted at http://independentthinking.wordpress.com
If you take all the remaining GOP candidates and mash together the best qualities of each, I think we’d have the perfect conservative candidate. Take the fiscal policies of Mitt Romney, the consistent social conservatism of Huck, the foreign policy experience of McCain and the basic knowledge of the Constitution contributed by Ron Paul (but without the crazy), and there’s my perfect candidate. And you know what? We had him.
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Posted at 8:30pm on Dec. 26, 2007 I'm baaaaaaaack...
By rstreu
Been a while since I've been here -- so long, in fact, that the last blogs I posted as a RedState member no longer even exist.
But, I'm back. Though I do most of my political blogging at the Society for Independent Thinking, I've decided to do a weekly news roundup with commentary here rather than there. It just fits better here.
It's called "Riding the Bull" and you'll see it every Sunday.
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Posted at 11:42am on Nov. 4, 2005 what is intelligent consumerism?
By rstreu
In an earlier post, I mentioned there was a way we everyday Americans can improve our lives, and change our country for the better, without having to rely on the government. We, the consumers and voters of America, are the real power in this country... if we take hold of the power given to us and refuse to let the courts and the legislature fight all our battles for us.
Our weapon is money. Our strategy is Intelligent Consumerism. Intelligent Consumerism (let's go with IC, just so I don't have to keep typing it) is nothing more or less than deciding where we spend our money on factors other than the price of what we buy.
Let me give you a simple, every day example:
A co-worker of mine explained how he went into a national home improvement store, looking to buy some cinder blocks. Try as he might, he simply could not find anyone to help him with what he was looking for.
At this point in the story, another co-worker suggested, "you should have just gone [to the home improvement store] across the street."
"No," responded the story-teller. "I'd already priced them out. Instead I just found it myself. But I was really put off."
Okay, from this story, we learn two things about my co-worker:
- What he says is important to him is different than what is demonstrably important to him
- He values money over service.
Now this is a fine response; there's nothing wrong with it... if you don't want the first store to change its attitude toward service. But is there a way that we, the consumers can have the best of both worlds? In this case, both quality service and a good price? Absolutely. But we may have to be patient, and willing to make some personal sacrifices in order to reap the later benefits.
An IC response would have been different. Rather than purcahase the cheaper block, one would instead seek out the manager. Then one would simply let the manager know, "I had a hard time finding service here today. Your competitor is selling the same block at a higher price, but I know I can count on their Customer Service Associates to be helpful, so I'll be shopping there for a while."
Sure, with this approach you have to spend a little more money. In the short run. In the long run, with enough of these encounters, the store in question will get the idea, and you, as well as your fellow consumers, will have a better experience because of it.
So, that's IC in an apolitical context. But it works on a political front as well.
I've heard a lot of people complain about certain car manufacturers shipping jobs over-seas. And more often than not, they are driving a car made by the company they're complaining about.
What they say is important to them is different than what is demonstrably important to them.
It bothers them... it puts them off that a company is contracting foriegn labor, but they want the government to deal with it. They don't want to change their own lives; sacrifice their own comforts.
The question I have is this: Why should a company change its practices if it isn't even important enough for you to change your own?
If it really bothers you that GM closed plants all over Michigan to contract Mexican labor at half-price, then don't drive GM. If it bothers enough people, and enough people stop driving GM, then either they'll change their practices or close their doors. Either way, the rest of the industry will get the message.
So there it is, folks. That's Intelligent Consumerism in a nutshell. It's simple. It's easy. And best of all, it works, within the context of the constitution, the way it was intended all along.
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