Connecticut Commentary: Red Notes from a Blue State

It’s always a hazard to make predictions, because future events depend upon current events that change rapidly. The best sort of prediction is a vow: “I pledge in the New Year to be kinder to my friends and more hostile to my enemies.” This sort of prediction depends solely on will power and determination, which always lie in the hand of the vow taker. Predictions about historic events are always iffy. History, as a rule, snatches the better angels of our nature from us and consigns them to Hell. The careful reader will note that I have capitalized “Hell.” This, with apologies to honorable atheists among us, is because it is a place name for a real place, as yet undiscoverable by the spiritually vacuous tools of modern science. The following are safe predictions because, with the exception of #7, they are limited to what will not happen in the coming year. 1) Bloggers -- who are nasty, brutish and short (with just about everybody) – will continue on their private path to Hell (note the...

Q. What’s the best strategy for closing the gap [between black and white students] and what in your view are the prospects for success? A. Abigail Thernstrom: If I had my druthers, I would turn every urban school into a charter school and with the bucks stopping on the principal’s desk. A. Stephen Thernstrom: I wouldn’t want to restrict the choice made available to students to charter schools. I see no reason why we cannot make it through some kind of voucher plan. San Diego San Diego Union Tribune, November 13, 2005 Vouchers, besides charter schools and private schools, are covered in Herbert J. Walberg ’s new book, SCHOOL CHOICE, THE FINDINGS . It contains solid empirical evidence on all schools including private schools, secular and parochial. Walberg, an expert on effective educational practices and research methods, has fitted the findings into a tiny paperback which will fit into a pocket or pocketbook. The findings are from all...

Politico is reporting that the embattled Sen. Chris Dodd, who has not risen much above 2.5% in the polls, has slipped a dagger or two in the sides of Democrat presidential wannabes Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama. The presidency involves more than giving great speeches, al la Obama, or observing politics, a la Hillary Clinton Dodd said in Iowa: “It isn’t just a question of giving a great speech, giving an ennobling idea. It isn’t enough just to be sitting on the sidelines and watching your husband necessarily deal with problems over the years.” Expanding on the idea of witnessing, Dodd said, “Laura Bush is a wonderful person, a delightful first lady, but I don’t think anyone would assume necessarily she is ready to be president of the United States. Now, Hillary Clinton has been elected to the Senate, and that adds a bit more to all this. But the idea that, for the last 10 or 15 years, because you’ve been next to events as they’ve unfolded somehow qualifies you to do this job is an ex...

One can only make sense of a world turned upside down by standing on one’s head. The New Year presents us with at least one important “Who done it?” Who assassinated Benizar Bhutto and why? The historic stage is littered with potential culprits. Immediately after Bhutto’s assassination, the administration of Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf, released a tape purporting to be a conversation between people involved in the hit and a person who ordered the hit. “We terminated the most precious American asset which vowed to defeat mujahideen.” These were the words of al-Qaeda’s top commander for Afghanistan operations and spokesperson Mustafa Abu al-Yazid, immediately after the attack that claimed the life of Pakistani politician Benazir Bhutto on Thursday (December 27), Asia Times on line reported. President George Bush had engaged both Musharraf and Bhutto diplomatically in an effort to turn Pakistan in a democratic direction. That diplomatic effort appeared to be succeeding, and the...

Whenever liberals in Connecticut get in trouble – not often – they like to drape the “moderate” mantel around their shoulders and strut and preen, Chanticleer-like, before Connecticut’s largely liberal press. Just look at me! This cocky imposture puts me in mind of a story told by Bill Buckley, I think at a gathering at his house in Stamford. Traveling in Ireland visiting pubs, Buckley noticed that no matter where a conversation began, it ultimately was steered in the direction of religion. Someone had mentioned a prominent local atheist, and Buckley, taken aback, remarked, “You mean to say there are atheists in Ireland!!!” Oh yes, he was told – “But you have to understand: There are Catholic atheists and Protestant atheists.” In Connecticut, there are liberal moderates, many of whom write for newspapers, and conservative moderates. But really – wink, wink – the whole lot is programmatically liberal. Colin McEnroe, a talk show gabber, is instinctively liberal, as is his sometime gues...

South Asia Times is reporting that a spokesperson for a top al-Quaeda commander, Mustafa Abu al-Yadid, said Benizir Bhutto was assassinated because she was “the most precious American asset which vowed to defeat mujahideen.” These beasts actually have spokesmen, just like US senators and presidents. Had Mustafa Abu al-Yadid been caught by American troops in Iraq, America’s most precious assets, Chris Dodd among them, would have festooned him with Constitutional rights, supplied him with a lawyer – probably ex-US Attorney General Ramsay Clark – and no one would have laid him on a water board to extract actionable data from him. Benizar was not long for this world; she was a courageous woman, like Hersi Ali , who also has a price on her head. The jihadists hate women, booze and democracy. It may also be worth pointing out that Bhutto was assassinated because she was conducting diplomacy with the Bush administration. In an age swarming with jihadists, diplomacy has once again become a ...

An attack on a political rally killed the Pakistani opposition leader Benazir Bhutto near the capital, Islamabad, Thursday. Witnesses said Bhutto was fired upon before the blast, and an official from her party said Bhutto was further injured by the explosion, which was apparently caused by a suicide attacker.