Content by rstreu
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.