Leadership

Going to war, in my view, is one of the toughest decisions a leader must make. But, when faced with a particular time and circumstance, a good leader will wage war justly and end it quickly. This Pentagon Plan seems like it is aimed at helping our President do just that.

Poor leaders, whether real or fictional, resort to crying foul and lashing out like children at the slightest hint of their own impropriety. This seems to be exactly what one Martin Sheen is doing. Calling a communist a communist does not McCarthyism make. Mr. Sheen might know that if he was really a president.

And, lastly, those who have no business leading fall into the trap of moral equivalence and selective memory. Marcy Kaptur is one such individual. By noting that America’s Founders had help from religious folks, she makes a parallel with Osama Bin Laden. The Quakers may have been many things, but Violent Fanatics they were not.

Deroy Murdock, I salute you

A NRO columnist comes out against the Ashcroft head shop shake down.

Money Quote:

This federal overreach featured an unhealthy dose of rhetorical overkill. “People selling drug paraphernalia,” said acting DEA chief John Brown, “are as much a part of drug trafficking as silencers are a part of criminal homicide.” Yes, and wineglass makers cause drunk-driving deaths.

American Idol

So I was up pretty late last night (as I am every night) and I happened to Dennis Miller on the 1:30 a.m. broadcast of the Tonight Show. The original airdate was Jan. 29. Miller was simply brilliant in his defense of the Bush administration. First, he slammed the Germans and French, then the war protestors, and finally he faced the camera and thanked President Bush for all the fine work he’s doing.

Forget Monday Night Football, Miller needs to be a speechwriter. I actually stood up in my living room and saluted the television.

Here a few quips from the show:

— “I think he ought to take Saddam Hussein up on this debate. I like that idea because we can’t find the guy anyway. Maybe this is a way to flush him out.”

Miller then proceeded to outline a Godfather-inspired scenario in which Cheney would leave a gun in a rest room for Bush to use to shoot Hussein. (Definitely not an idea which would earn the approval of Peter Jennings.)

— “The Nazi signs have got to stop. If you’re in a peace march and the guy next to you has a sign saying that ‘Bush is Hitler,’ forget the peace thing for a second and beat his ass, because he is not Hitler.”

Here a few more Miller quotes, this time from Hardball. (Got to love Mathews’ SNL worthy intro: “I don’t think I have to slow the pitch down for you one bit, Dennis Miller. You are one sharp, smart guy who’s in touch with America.”)

Here’s the leftist response to Miller’s Hithensesque about-face:

I think Dennis Miller is in cahoots with the GE/NBC machine to promote the war on behalf of the Bush administration and its benefactor corporations and may be getting paid lots of money to do this…. If you are really interested in protesting the war against Iraq, you should also be doing whatever you can to boycott Dennis Miller and his appearances on the Tonight Show. While I subscribe to free speech and believe that everyone is entitled to their own viewpoints, I also think the Tonight Show has gone way overboard to give the pro war viewpoint a viable spokesperson in Dennis Miller, without providing nearly enough balance with opposing viewpoints.

And back to the Tonight Show, the musical guest was TaTu. NBC cut to the guitar player when they started to make-out. Part of me was turned on, but mostly I was insulted that there’s an audience for an obviously contrived kiddie porn act with little to no talent save a fondness for fondling each other. Remember when Jane’s Addiction released Nothing’s Shocking?

Seems like a long time ago.

University education has reached a new low.

In the ODE letters to the editor today, we were greeted with the usual brainless, self-righteous banter that we’ve all come to know an accept. What struck me was that at the bottom Brian Bogart, the author of this particular piece of leftist garbage, is a graduate student in peace studies. When I first read this, I hoped that it was some kind of a joke…

The Univeristy of Oregon’s Peace Studies program is a minor option for undergraduates. Graduate students (like our dear Mr. Bogart) can specialize in peace studies if they can prove that they are worthless hippie scum with less brain activity than a three-month dead cadaver. This program is aimed at trying to convince people that not only is world peace actually a possability, (as opposed to a hallucination created by 26 consecutive bong hits) but that they have the power to make it happen. All they need to do is find a way to stop the evil violent people, like me, from solving our problems with violence and using other methods…like whining and cowering like a little girl.

Because getting your own minor program here seems easier than getting a firearm in Texas, I am starting my own. It’s called Drunken, Violent Bastard studies. There’s no real classes you have to take, but you you will be required to take six shots of whiskey and strangle a peace studies minor to death.

Sex, Drugs, and Felony Assault

The Daily Emerald has a nice collection of articles on the Rodney Woods controversy (see also today’s commentary.) For those of you who haven’t been following Ducks football, Woods is a two-time All-American cornerback being recruited by the Ducks. He also has a felony conviction associated with a fatal beating that took place at a party in Fresno, California. On Friday, the felony charge was reduced to a misdemeanor by a Californian judge.

Interesting stuff. It’s probably not a good PR move by the Ducks. Additionally, I’ll try to keep my distance from Woods if I see him at a party.

Anti-Semitism in the Emerald?

More than a dozen Jewish students wrote and co-signed a guest commentary in the Emerald yesterday that expressed disgust at the use of Nazi symbolism by the U of O anti-war movement.

This guest commentary takes a shot at the anti-semitic sentiment espoused by some anti-war activists. Keep an eye out for more signs of racism in the peace movement. For a colorful statement on race and the anti-war movement, check out the last page of our new issue.

OH, THE HUMANITIES!

From the University of Connecticut’s Daily Campus this morning:

About 9,000 copies of The Daily Campus were stolen Friday from The Daily Campus Building and several dozen delivery locations on campus. Employees at the Co-op reported seeing two females removing issues of the newspaper near the front entrance. Witnesses also reported seeing two females taking copies from the South Campus dining hall.

Stealing newspapers has long been a calling card of left-wing campus activists. It happened at the UO in ’98 when the Emerald endorsed OC’s The Tamir for ASUO Exec; it happened to the OC in ’93-’94 on account of a critical MECHA cover story. It happened to Berkeley’s California Patriot and got one of its editors on O’Reilly. Surely there must be some new twist this time around?

The newspaper thefts came one day after The Daily Campus ran a controversial column in Thursday’s issue. The paper featured a column written by Josh Levinson that argued cultural centers do more to divide than they do to unite students on campus.

Hmmm. Perhaps not. Levinson’s original column is here; today’s expanded letters page is here. Controversial, yes — but still nothing like the broken phallus of Harvard Yard.

WORST EDITORIAL EVER

From—you guessed it—the ODE.

We have a suggestion for those professors opposed to this war who want to make a personal statement that isn’t speaking for the University as a whole: Join the nationwide movement calling for a general strike on Wednesday. It’s somewhat baffling that at the University, which has a reputation for being progressive, there hasn’t been any general chorus to join the strike. OSU students are calling for a strike, and the OSU faculty already passed an anti-war resolution.

Corvallis may be ahead of us on this front, but professors, if you’re against the war, cancel classes and call in “sick of war” on Wednesday.

Here’s an idea: Let the ODE staffers call in sick on Wednesday. That way we won’t have to read through more crap like this on Thursday. Maybe the OV staff can take over for the day, and they can do a theme issue about pedophilia.

Jesus, I am feeling bitter today or what?

Archive Update

Two issues from 2001-2002 are now in the archive. The first one, from November 2001, features a profile of campus watchdog Bruce Miller. The second, from May 2002, focuses on the U of O Greek system going dry.

Note: you must have Acrobat Reader installed in order to view these files.

Happy Texas Independence Day

On this day in 1836 Texas declared its independence from Mexico. On May 14th, 1836 the Velasco treaty was signed and Mexico officially recognized Texas as an independent republic. Mexican troops began their withdrawl on May 20, 1836. That’s a little history lesson for y’all this morning. Also, it’s my buddy Joel’s birthday today, so happy birthday to Joel…even if he is an Aggie.

In The News:

Dems cannot decide who to support.

Kim Jong IL offers Saddam a place to stay.

And the Human Shields are fleeing Iraq citing safety concerns. Don’t even get me started on how bloody insane these people are.

This Week’s Sign That the Apocalypse is Upon Us

Rob Zombie and former Commodores frontman Lionel Richie are uniting to update the 70s classic “Brick House.”

February Stats:

Hits: 70,960 (Up from 39390 in Jan.)

Unique Visits: 4,552 (Up from 2902 in Jan.)

A 50% increase in unique visitors and 75% increase in hits is pretty good month-over-month. Thank you all who are coming, and of course all those who contribute to the quality of the magazine and this web site.

Incoming!

John McWhorter, the brilliant Berkeley linguist, author and Manhattan Institute fellow will be doing a full one-hour interview with the enigmatic Brian Lamb on C-SPAN’s Booknotes program tomorrow, Sunday, at 8PM (7PM Central and Mountain, one would assume). More info here. Be there or be square.

We Want You to Join the OC!

We’re looking for some good soldiers to fill the burgeoning ranks of our army — an army bent on global liberation while also liberating itself with booze.

Click here for details.