by J. F. Kelly, Jr. | Coronado
One of the least inspiring national debates in recent memory is the ongoing brouhaha over whether or not a new Islamic Center and mosque should be built in the Ground Zero neighborhood of Manhattan. By now, you’ve heard most and perhaps all of the arguments, pro and con, but indulge me for a few moments while I offer mine. Read the rest of this entry »
by Jon Coupal | Sacramento
If you thought this column was about oil, you’re going to be disappointed. Drill is a word that also means a practice or exercise in preparation for the real thing – think fire drill or the endless “drills” conducted on ships to prepare the crew for battle or emergencies. But as it relates to the California Legislature, even this definition is far too charitable. Read the rest of this entry »
by Burt Prelutsky | Los Angeles
Those on the left have made every attempt to tar those on the right as racists. They have done it so often and so ineptly that by now I doubt if even the rabid likes of Chris Matthews, Joy Behar and Rachel Maddow, take it seriously.
As far back as last March, when the Tea Party members gathered in Washington to voice their objection to ObamaCare, we all saw the way the liberals choreographed the event in order to make the patriots appear hostile to blacks. It was so simplistic, Read the rest of this entry »
by Burt Prelutsky | Los Angeles
Every so often, one of my readers who has apparently dipped once too often into the cooking sherry wonders why I don’t run for Congress. The short answer is that I don’t want to ever again wear a necktie. I also don’t wish to spend my life going hat-in-hand begging for campaign contributions. Worse yet, what if I actually won the election and then had to listen to Nancy Pelosi and Barney Frank mouth off endlessly? Between her nursery school delivery and his lisping, I’m sure I’d soon be popping Excedrin like peanuts. Read the rest of this entry »
by J. F. Kelly, Jr. | Coronado
Eager for a foreign policy victory to bolster its sagging popularity at home and in the world, the Obama Administration is launching a new round of Israeli-Palestinian peace talks. The prospects for success, never great in the past, are even poorer today. Still, the consequences of failure are not enormous because none but the hopelessly naïve believe that these talks will succeed where previous ones have failed utterly to resolve anything other than the shape of the conference table and the seating protocol. Read the rest of this entry »
by Burt Prelutsky | Los Angeles
When it comes to liberals, there are simply not enough hours in a day for one person to record all of their mischief. Speaking for myself, even if I had a staff the size of Mrs. Obama, I’d probably still fall behind.
For instance, liberals love to pretend that “separation of church and state” appears in the Constitution, although I’m sure that most of them are aware that the words only appeared in a letter that Thomas Jefferson wrote to the Danbury Baptist Association. What’s more, they in no way contradicted the First Amendment, which merely prohibited the federal government from establishing a state religion, such as existed in England. Read the rest of this entry »
by Burt Prelutsky | Los Angeles
I have long been intrigued with the final words uttered by those on their actual or figurative deathbeds. The trouble, of course, is that you never know if the words were spontaneous or rehearsed, whether they were really spoken aloud or were conjured up after the fact by someone who hoped to gain for himself a piece of anonymous immortality by acting as a giving-up-the-ghost writer.
While I have no way of vouching for their authenticity, I regard the following farewells as among the most memorable. Read the rest of this entry »
by J. F. Kelly, Jr. | Coronado
America is the land of freedom and justice for all as we have learned through faithful recitations of the pledge of allegiance. These freedoms were earned and defended by the blood and sacrifices of patriots and we hold them sacred. But the wise men who assembled that hot summer in Philadelphia two and a quarter centuries ago knew that there were limits on those freedoms as there must be in every complex, ordered society.
The constitution that emerged was an elegant document, brilliant in its simplicity and yet intentionally vague in some respects, leaving parts open to interpretation. The drafters knew that times and circumstances would change and that the country would change to deal with them. The future need for amendments was foreseen and the procedure for accomplishing them was established. Slavery became recognized for the evil that it was. Women attained equal suffrage. Read the rest of this entry »
by J. F. Kelly, Jr. | Coronado
Federal District Court Judge Vaughn Walker, in ruling that California’s Proposition 8 violates equal protection provisions of the U.S. Constitution, wrote that “Proposition 8 fails to advance any rational basis in singling out gay man and lesbians for denial of a marriage license.” The opinion advances the argument that marriage is a right that should not be denied to anyone on the basis of sexual orientation.
Proposition 8, however, does not deny the right of gays and lesbians to marry. Rather, it affirms the centuries-old definition of marriage as a social and legal institution under which a man and a woman establish their decision to live as man and wife. Read the rest of this entry »
by Burt Prelutsky | Los Angeles
The worst thing about the oil leak, assuming you don’t live and work in the Gulf, was having to keep viewing the same stuff on TV day in and day out for months on end. It got so bad, I began seeing the undersea footage, the oily pelican and Thad Allen, in my dreams.
Speaking of Mr. Allen, if he’s retired from the Coast Guard, why does he get to wear his uniform on camera? I always thought veterans only got to take their uniforms out of mothballs for parades. Apparently, Mr. Allen wears his to the supermarket. Read the rest of this entry »
