Map Of The Middle East

Examine the map of the Middle East, and note just how long the “evil” infidels occupied the Muslim sandbox:

Victor David Hanson: The Benevolence Of The West

Food for thought this weekend:

The Benevolence of the West

Throughout these last crazy weeks, I have been struck by Western tolerance and benevolence. Can you imagine, as Pakistan’s Musharref does, a President Bush publishing his book in Pakistan and then touring the Hindu Kush, hawking its message of criticism of his host to local tribes?

Or can you imagine, thousands in the street in the US or Europe, chanting ‘Death to Islam’ over the latest theocratic rant from Iran or Saudi Arabia?

Or better yet, imagine how 15,000 American Christian students would be treated in Saudi Arabia, had 15 Americans blown up 3,000 Saudis.

Or contemplate enormous Christian Churches being built by expatriate Americans in Riyadh?

Or what if the Pope thought the Islamic exclusion of infidels from Mecca was a good idea worth emulating, and thus no non-Christians could enter either Rome or the Vatican?

The West really is the world’s life raft, and that is why immigration—civilization’s precious barometer of men’s innermost thoughts—always flows from East to West, never vice versa.

Palate Cleansing–"Poll Smoking"

Potentially NSFW, but hilarious examination of America’s fixation with election polling:

Rocky Mountain News Endorses Bill Ritter

The Rocky Mountain News endorsed Bob Beauprez in each of his congressional races, but chooses Bill Ritter for governor of Colorado, for some pretty unsurprising reasons:

Our choice was not an easy one, since we also admire Ritter’s Republican opponent, Bob Beauprez. Indeed, we have to believe the 7th District congressman – whom we’ve endorsed both times he’s run – would certainly make a better governor than he has let on during this campaign. For that matter, the most powerful argument for electing Beauprez may be to preserve a divided government in a state where the legislature is likely to remain dominated by Democrats.

This is a legislature that in the past two years, despite real accomplishments, has churned out a remarkable array of cockamamie measures that would have curtailed economic freedom and enhanced the power of such Democratic stalwarts as trial lawyers and unions. (One especially ignorant bill that passed allowed the state to “opt out” of international trade agreements.) Owens vetoed most of those bills and Beauprez undoubtedly would veto similar ones in the future. Fortunately, Ritter insists he’d spike the bulk of such legislation, too.

For us, the tipping point between the two men has to do with their campaigns. To be blunt, Beauprez’s performance during the past 15 months has not been reassuring. It began with his taking an unconvincing stand against Referendum C, one seemed designed to secure his right flank rather than satisfy personal conviction. It continued with his mysterious embrace and then repudiation of Amendment 38, and a couple of verbal gaffes. And for a long time it wasn’t clear why Beauprez even wanted to be governor. Only recently – too late in our view – have his positions begun to gel into a focused, coherent message.

This newspaper has watched Ritter under fire and seen him take on new challenges. In everything he does there’s a certain steadiness that we believe Coloradans will find reassuring.

Eighteen months ago Ritter was an improbable candidate whom few gave a chance of grabbing the Democratic Party’s nomination, given his anti-abortion views. Now he’s poised to defy the odds and become the next governor. Fortunately for Coloradans, he’s shown he deserves it.

In other words, Beauprez snatched defeat from the jaws of victory. The RMN endorsement basically restates many of the points this blog highlighted two weeks ago: Beauprez doing too little, too late.

Campaigning is not just about wonky policy points, negative attack ads, shaking hands and fundraising. The campaign itself creates perceptions that resonate beyond the candidates themselves. In 2002 Tom Strickland’s often angry and defensive demeanor helped Wayne Allard’s low-key approach. Allard’s campaign made the voters think about Strickland-the-candidate and less about reelection. Strickland proved he could not escape the “lawyer-lobbyist” appellation.

Beauprez has proved unable to assert his own presence in the campaign, let alone do anything substantive to overcome the “Both Ways Bob” moniker that his then-primary opponent Marc Holtzman dubbed him. Ritter’s campaign and supporters merely folded this catchy phrase into their own campaign framework. Ritter has made the campaign about Beauprez, and reduced the focus on himself. Beauprez’s campaign has faltered repeatedly, failing to even get out of the gate. With the polls that have come out the past few weeks seeming to confirm Beauprez’s deficit, it appears that the Republican candidate–barring any last minute revelation or miracle push–will be DOA on November 7.

Woman Dubbed "Tokyo Rose" Dies

Without a doubt very few CU students would know this woman’s suspected role in WWII:

Iva Toguri D’Aquino, who was convicted and later pardoned of being World War II propagandist “Tokyo Rose,” died Tuesday of natural causes, said her nephew, William Toguri. She was 90.

Tokyo Rose was the name given by soldiers to a female radio broadcaster responsible for anti-American transmissions intended to demoralize soldiers fighting in the Pacific theater. D’Aquino was the only U.S. citizen identified among the potential suspects.

In 1949, she became the seventh person to be convicted of treason in American history and served six years in prison. But doubts about her possible role as Tokyo Rose later surfaced and she was pardoned by President Gerald Ford in 1977.

Inhofe Blasts Biases, Scaremongering MSM On "Global Warming"

Following Sen. Inhofe’s comments on “global warming”misinformation and alarmism earlier this week, CNN issued a hit-piece claiming Inhofe “stood alone” in his views in Washington. The rest of the MSM was predictable in its response, which you can guess meant a complete lack of coverage. Squelching opposition through silence, the MSM’s tool of choice.

Vail Arsonists/Eco-Terrorists Enter Plea

Time to face the music, enviro-wackos.

CU Seniors Behind Nat’l Avg. In History Knowledge

No wonder being a teaching assistant in introductory level history classes was so hard in terms of grading, testing my patience on a daily basis.

CU students are morons when it comes to history:

University of Colorado seniors who were asked introductory-level questions about U.S. history, government and the economy answered correctly less than half the time, according to a new study.

Nationwide, college seniors got just 53.2 percent of the 60 multiple-choice answers correct, according to Tuesday’s report from the University of Connecticut’s Department of Public Policy. At Colorado, the school’s freshmen scored only 39.7 percent and seniors just 48.6 percent.

“I wouldn’t want to suggest that a 48.6 is something we ought to be excited about,” CU Regent Tom Lucero said. “We all ought to be concerned. I think it’s not only an indictment of the university for its teaching of American history, government and economics but it’s also an indictment of K-12. You’re talking about freshmen who are coming to us illiterate in these areas.”

Campus administrators need to review the study before commenting, spokesman Barrie Hartman said.

More than 14,000 students took the test, which included questions about the formation of the U.S. government, the Civil War, Reconstruction, women’s suffrage, World War II, the Bill of Rights, Saddam Hussein and free enterprise.

This news is not surprising, however, my own teaching experience notwithstanding.

Why? Because high school and college history courses now indoctrinate victimhood, sensitivity, diversity, and contempt for the evil and dreaded dead-white-males. Instead of learning some historical facts along with their context, students are subjected to historical revisionism from the likes of Howard Zinn, lies and misinformation from Ward Churchill, and pedagogical techniques that prioritize diversity, multiculturalism, and “concepts” or “themes” over facts and historical frameworks that help student’s understand the cause and effect of history. As a result, even mastering simple chronology is beyond most students.

This revelation now explains why two years ago, in an introductory U.S. survey course (Civil War-present), one student answered a question explaining a point about WWII by citing the German invasion of the Japanese-held Philippines as a reason for the United States entering the war. My head nearly exploded with disbelief when I read that sentence. Of course, if entering freshman are entering with less than 40% in historical knowledge that only marginally improves to near 50% by the time they graduate, then perhaps a stronger history requirement is necessary. What astounds is that at CU (from personal knowledge) history is actually a pretty large major in the School of Arts and Sciences, with several hundred students.

Perhaps a return to education, away from the indoctrination that now pervades historical discourse, would elevate students’ historical aptitude. A lack of foundational education could probably be cited for the increase in conspiracy theories, especially those that abound on the well-educated (in diversity and sensitivity, that is) but ill-informed left side of the political spectrum. They point to history to accuse their opponents, but fall short when their citations fail and their “theories” come apart upon closer scrutiny.

CU Seniors Behind Nat’l Avg. In History Knowledge

No wonder being a teaching assistant in introductory level history classes was so hard in terms of grading, testing my patience on a daily basis.

CU students are morons when it comes to history:

University of Colorado seniors who were asked introductory-level questions about U.S. history, government and the economy answered correctly less than half the time, according to a new study.

Nationwide, college seniors got just 53.2 percent of the 60 multiple-choice answers correct, according to Tuesday’s report from the University of Connecticut’s Department of Public Policy. At Colorado, the school’s freshmen scored only 39.7 percent and seniors just 48.6 percent.

“I wouldn’t want to suggest that a 48.6 is something we ought to be excited about,” CU Regent Tom Lucero said. “We all ought to be concerned. I think it’s not only an indictment of the university for its teaching of American history, government and economics but it’s also an indictment of K-12. You’re talking about freshmen who are coming to us illiterate in these areas.”

Campus administrators need to review the study before commenting, spokesman Barrie Hartman said.

More than 14,000 students took the test, which included questions about the formation of the U.S. government, the Civil War, Reconstruction, women’s suffrage, World War II, the Bill of Rights, Saddam Hussein and free enterprise.

This news is not surprising, however, my own teaching experience notwithstanding.

Why? Because high school and college history courses now indoctrinate victimhood, sensitivity, diversity, and contempt for the evil and dreaded dead-white-males. Instead of learning some historical facts along with their context, students are subjected to historical revisionism from the likes of Howard Zinn, lies and misinformation from Ward Churchill, and pedagogical techniques that prioritize diversity, multiculturalism, and “concepts” or “themes” over facts and historical frameworks that help student’s understand the cause and effect of history. As a result, even mastering simple chronology is beyond most students.

This revelation now explains why two years ago, in an introductory U.S. survey course (Civil War-present), one student answered a question explaining a point about WWII by citing the German invasion of the Japanese-held Philippines as a reason for the United States entering the war. My head nearly exploded with disbelief when I read that sentence. Of course, if entering freshman are entering with less than 40% in historical knowledge that only marginally improves to near 50% by the time they graduate, then perhaps a stronger history requirement is necessary. What astounds is that at CU (from personal knowledge) history is actually a pretty large major in the School of Arts and Sciences, with several hundred students.

Perhaps a return to education, away from the indoctrination that now pervades historical discourse, would elevate students’ historical aptitude. A lack of foundational education could probably be cited for the increase in conspiracy theories, especially those that abound on the well-educated (in diversity and sensitivity, that is) but ill-informed left side of the political spectrum. They point to history to accuse their opponents, but fall short when their citations fail and their “theories” come apart upon closer scrutiny.

Denver Inches Closer To Hosting ‘08 Democratic National Convention

Denver still has to beat out New York, which is no small feat.

But with Minneapolis selected by the GOP for its own ‘08 convention, the possibility of hosting the Dems is closer to becoming reality, which for conservative/GOP bloggers is a great thing.

A good showing by Dems in Colorado this year could also give Denver a boost:

Denver City Councilwoman Elbra Wedgeworth, a member of the Denver 2008 host committee, thinks Colorado’s location will give Denver the edge.

“I think in order for the Democratic Party to win the presidency you have to stretch the map, and the West, Midwest and Southwest brings a lot to the table politically,” said Wedgeworth.

. . .

Colorado’s Democrats hope their edge in the polls for the state’s Governor’s race and Congressional campaigns will attract the national party to build momentum for a presidential run.