Wednesday, August 30, 2006

Gazette attacks MCRI

The Gazette continues its string of inane editorials by attacking the Michigan Civil Rights Initiative. This may not be the worst-argued editorial I've ever seen, but it's close.

They start by arguing that the MCRI would "end affirmative action" (cue scary music). As I have argued--in the Gazette, no less--the term "affirmative action" is so vague as to be practically meaningless.

Then there's this gem.

In many ways, it's an economic imperative. If our public schools, colleges, universities and governments don't reflect the growing diversity of the communities they serve, we will not be as effective competing globally.
Don't you love argument by assertion? The editors make no attempt to justify this whopper.

As it happens, Thomas Sowell shreds this absurdity in his latest column.

Can you cite one speck of hard evidence of the benefits of "diversity" that we have heard gushed about for years? Evidence of its harm can be seen--written in blood--from Iraq to India, from Serbia to Sudan, from Fiji to the Philippines. It is scary how easily so many people can be brainwashed by sheer repetition of a word.
All sorts of countries have done just fine economically without being the slightest bit diverse. Examples include Japan, Hong Kong, and most European countries before recently. Economic success is a product of economic freedom and cultural values such as valuing education and motivation to succeed. If race is an irrelevant construction, how can it matter in economic success? And what, pray tell, does local diversity have to do with global competition?

Ward Connerly makes an excellent point that the (voluntary) segregation of Michigan would seem to indicate that "affirmative action" isn't exactly working as planned. But the Gazette, providing an excellent example of the definition of insanity, argues that what's needed is more of the same. They say that things would be even worse without it. Really? How much more segregated could Michigan get?

Of course, the Gazette never even attempts to show that "affirmative action" actually achieves the intended results. It would seem that they only care about feeling morally superior, not about the actual effects of their chosen policies.

Buy them a clue

The Gazette has written an editorial sympathetic to the idea of a gun buy-back.

Kalamazoo area law enforcement officials should follow the lead of their counterparts in Kent County.

The Kent County Sheriff's Department, the Grand Rapids Police Department and the Kent County Prosecutor's Office recently announced that weapons can be turned in over the course of several days in early September. Supporters have so far raised about $10,000 to use in purchasing the weapons and hope to increase that amount to $50,000.
First of all, the name "gun buy-back" is highly misleading. The government did not own the guns in the first place, so how can it buy them back? The Gazette seems to believe that all power ought to be in the hands of the government.

There are those who say buy-back programs as ineffective. But recent programs in Detroit, Chicago and Boston show those critics are off target. Detroit had a five-day program that brought in 683 guns, including some high-powered assault rifles. Chicago got more than 3,000 weapons in its buy-back and Boston took more than 1,000 guns off the streets.
How do you like that non sequitur? The goal of a gun "buy-back" is supposedly to reduce crime. Its success is measured in reducing crime, not in the number of guns collected.

The critics are correct, of course, that these programs do nothing to reduce crime. Criminals who depend on guns for their living are not going to turn them in. The only possible exception is if they are guaranteed that evidence in a crime will be destroyed.

Once again, the consequences are quite different than what liberals expect. People will only sell "back" guns if the government pays more than they could otherwise get. Thus "buy-backs" increase the resale value of guns. This makes owning guns more lucrative, and so provides an incentive to purchase them. Thus gun "buy-backs" actually encourage gun ownership!

The real purpose of gun "buy-backs" is to attempt to delegitimize gun ownership, to imply that guns are contraband and that only the government should have them. Thus the deceptive name.

Of course, gun "buy-backs" are a huge waste of taxpayer money. Attempting to stigmatize gun ownership makes them all the more repugnant.

Perhaps the government should "buy-back" the Gazette and save people from this nonsense.

Sunday, August 27, 2006

POLITICAL UPDATE--English

This update focuses on English. Our national language serves to unite us, but it is being undermined by massive immigration and government policies.

Human Events demonstrates that English is becoming a foreign language in America.
Michael Reagan argues that English will not survive.
Phyllis Schlafly shows that the federal government mandates foreign language ballots.
Lynn Woolley argues that English should be our official language.
Schlafly points out that teaching English is essential in America.

The Democratic Slate

The Democrats held their state convention on Saturday and Sunday in Detroit. (They must have all skipped church to be there.)

Former judge Scot Bowen had been the establishment Democratic candidate until recently. However, many Democrats objected to the fact that he is pro-life. Many also wanted a black candidate; hence they nominated Detroit attorney Amos Williams. Kwame Kilpatrick may have recruited Williams to undermine the candidacy of Mary Waters for Secretary of State. Bowen clearly appeared to be the stronger candidate, so I suspect that Mike Cox is relieved today.

I can't help wonder what Alexander Lipsey thinks today. He is a black State Rep. from Kalamazoo who ran for Attorney General, only to be forced out of the race by Granholm in favor of Bowen.

Black State Rep. Mary Waters of Detroit was the presumptive candidate for Secretary of State. But Kilpatrick opposed her because she supported his opponent for mayor last year. Also, many Democrats objected to the fact that Democrats always nominate a black candidate for Secretary of State, and not something more important (every election since 1970, what a coincidence). This time around, they nominated white Carmella Sarbaugh, the Macomb County Clerk.

Sarbaugh is a more credible candidate than Waters would have been, but Terri Lynn Land should still prevail.

That's the ticket

The Michigan Republican State Convention took place on Friday and Saturday in Novi, Michigan. The convention was largely perfunctory since all of the races were uncontested. Anyone interested in a summary of what happened there can find it on the Michigan GOP blog.

This is the slate that was nominated:

Republican slate

Governor Dick Devos, 50, of Ada Township, president of The Windquest Group and former president of Alticor Inc. (parent company of Amway).

Lt. Governor Oakland County Clerk Ruth Johnson, 51, of Holly

U.S. Senator Oakland County Sheriff Mike Bouchard, 50, of Birmingham

Attorney General Mike Cox, 44, incumbent of Livonia

Secretary of State Terry Lynn Land, 48, incumbent of Bryon Center

Michigan Supreme Court
Maura Corrigan, 57, incumbent of Grosse Pointe Park.
Marc Shulman, 54, attorney and former Michigan House member of West Bloomfield.

Michigan State University Board of Trustees
Dolores "Dee" Cook, 74, incumbent of Greenville
Dave Porteous, 53, incumbent and attorney of Reed City

University of Michigan Board of Regents
David Brandon, 53, incumbent and Chairman and CEO of Domino's Pizza from Ann Arbor.
Susan Brown, 65, owner of interior design company from Kalamazoo

Wayne State University Board of Governors
Andrew McLemore, 51, executive vice president of AMAC Construction Services, from Detroit
John Akouri, 41, CEO of the Lebanese Chamber of Commerce from Farmington Hills.

State Board of Education
Tom McMillin, 41, president of a charter school in Mt. Clemens and former mayor of Auburn Hills
Eileen Wieser, 56, incumbent and executive committee member of the Michigan Council for the Arts and Cultural Affairs from Ann Arbor.

Friday, August 25, 2006

Common Sense About the MCRI

The Kalamazoo Gazette has published a well-written, informative opinion piece about the Michigan Civil Rights Initiative. Read it all:

Common sense about civil rights initiative

Wednesday, August 23, 2006

There is plenty of misinformation swirling about concerning the Michigan Civil Rights Initiative (MCRI), a proposal that will appear on the ballot in November in Michigan. Case in point is Joshua Woods' July 17 Viewpoint, ``Civil Rights Initiative reads like a bad `Saturday Night Live' script.''

Woods claims that the MCRI would ``ban affirmative action.'' This isn't exactly true.

The use of the term ``affirmative action'' in this debate serves to confuse rather than clarify. Different people use this term in different ways to refer to different types of programs. It can refer to both programs that discriminate based on race, and those that seek to recruit more minorities. The former would be banned, the latter would not. Hence, saying that the MCRI would "ban affirmative action'' is inaccurate.

The MCRI would only ban preferential treatment or discrimination based on race, sex or ethnicity in public contracting, public education and public employment. Private schools and businesses would be exempt.

Make no mistake. You cannot support both civil rights and racial preferences. Supporting civil rights means treating people based on their character, not on the color of their skin. Racial preferences treat people differently based on the color of their skin.

Supporters of the MCRI don't deny that there are racial problems in America. We deny that racial preferences help to solve them. Racial discrimination creates an atmosphere of suspicion and mistrust which only serves to further divide us. Racial preferences are all too easily exploited by both white and black racists to promote hatred.

Another reason that racial preferences will not help to solve racial problems is that they do not help black people. Racial preferences are usually conceived as helping blacks while hurting whites, with people supporting the interests of one group or another. However, racial preferences actually hurt black people by setting them up for failure. They promote a systematic mismatching of candidates and positions. In fact, studies have shown that a large percentage of people who are admitted to college because of racial preferences end up dropping out. This doesn't do them any favors.

Woods claims that MCRI proponents disdain democracy, but it is the opponents of the MCRI who have repeatedly filed lawsuits in an attempt to stop the people from voting on this measure. Thankfully, they failed.

In November, we will have an opportunity to support the Michigan Civil Rights Initiative and end governmental racial discrimination once and for all.

State Convention Preview

Both Republicans and Democrats are going to hold their state conventions this weekend. Barring any last minute surprises, the slate of nominees for the Republicans appears set. Meanwhile the Democratic nominees for several major offices, including Attorney General and Secretary of State, remain undecided. Democrats appear to be fighting over everything from abortion to race to the 2005 Detroit mayoral race to electibility. From the Detroit News:

Democrats, who will be meeting at Detroit's Cobo Center on Saturday and Sunday, appear likely to face at least one floor fight Sunday and possibly more.

Both Detroit lawyer Amos Williams and former judge M. Scott Bowen of Grand Rapids want to win the nomination to take on Republican Attorney General Mike Cox. Williams appears to have won the backing of labor unions, making it likely he'll win the nomination.

But Bowen said the powerful United Auto Workers union had not yet made a decision and said reports that it had are untrue. He said again Thursday that he will take his fight for the attorney general nomination to the convention.

"They have not made a decision," Bowen said in a phone interview while his campaign picked up "Going with Bowen" T-shirts for the convention. "Did (the UAW) put out a press release? They haven't."

Democrats still are discussing their choice for a secretary of state and for a second Michigan Supreme Court nomination besides incumbent Justice Michael Cavanagh. Macomb County Clerk Carmella Sabaugh is considered to have a better chance at the secretary of state's nomination than state Rep. Mary Waters of Detroit, but Sabaugh has not publicly said she wants to run.

Some say Bowen would be a good Supreme Court nominee if Williams gets the attorney general bid and if Bowen is interested.

But there may be some infighting going on among Democrats who do not want to nominate candidates who oppose abortion, as Bowen and Sabaugh reportedly do, and those who say those are the best candidates regardless of their abortion stance.
Detroit Mayor is trying to sabotage Mary Waters because she supported his opponent in the 2005 mayoral race. He has been accused of trying to sabotage Bowen and nominate a weaker candidate because he likes Republican Mike Cox.

Wednesday, August 23, 2006

No more tax increases!

On the heels of the passage of a tax increase to fund a new juvenile home in Kalamazoo County comes word that yet another tax increase will go before the voters. From the Gazette:

Kalamazoo County residents will be asked to increase taxes by 0.45 mill -- about $26 per year for the average county homeowner -- on Nov. 7 to pay for public transportation.

Bill Schomisch, director of transportation for the city of Kalamazoo, said the tax increase is needed to stabilize the area's public-transit system and erase a $1.5 million Metro Transit deficit.

The nine-member Kalamazoo County Transportation Authority Monday night approved ballot language for the proposed tax increase, which, if approved by voters, would be levied in 2006 and 2007.

The tax increase is expected to raise $3.39 million in 2006, its first year. Taxes levied in the last weeks of 2006 won't be collected until 2007, while taxes levied in 2007 won't be collected until 2008. The increase represents about $26 for the average county home, which has a market value of $138,310 and a taxable value of $56,991.

I'm not sure who the Kalamazoo County Transportation Authority is or who gave them the authority to put tax increases on the ballot, but this has got to stop.

The County Commission unsuccessfully tried for a larger justice facilities millage last year and a new jail before that. The Kalamazoo Public Schools succeeded in raising taxes in the Kalamazoo school district earlier this year.

As I have written before, the public buses are of poor quality and this service could better be provided by the private sector.

Every tax increase that passes will make us poorer and destroy even more jobs in Kalamazoo County. Let's hope the Kalamazoo County Taxpayers Association opposes this initiative and brings about its defeat.

Sunday, August 20, 2006

Tap Them Wires!!!

So I've been having a hard time dealing with this "warrantless" wire tapping issue. As I'm sure many of you know, a federal judge in Michigan declared it illegal for our friends at the NSA to continue tapping into phone calls coming from or going to other countries.

Now for the past few months I've been working in the shipping business at a UPS Store. This means I've handled a decent amount of international shipping. If there's one thing I've learned, it's that customs can do whatever they darn well please with a package that enters their country. For example, if a package comes into the US, it can be opened and inspected for whatever reason. There is no need for a warrant. This includes letters too. So what's the difference between looking into a package or a letter going internationally and looking into a phone communication going internationally? It just doesn't make sense to me. I support the movement to impeach this justice. Because much like the Dixie Chicks are ashamed Bush is from Texas, I'm ashamed this attack on national security went down in the great state of Michigan.

Friday, August 18, 2006

POLITICAL UPDATE--Marriage and Homosexuality

This update focuses on marriage and homosexuality. The battle to preserve traditional culture and Western Civilization continues. Marriage is the fundamental institution upholding our society. Homosexuality seeks to redefine and undermine marriage.

Vedran Vuk writes that the family promotes charity and freedom.
Mike Adams argues that homosexuality is immoral.
Pat Buchanan writes that homosexuality leads to discrimination against Christians.
Thomas Sowell writes that there is no such thing as "gay marriage".
Terry Jeffrey writes that limiting court jurisdiction can protest marriage.
Ken Connor argues that politicians use marriage to stay in office.

Thursday, August 17, 2006

Gay rights and wrongs

The Kalamazoo County Commission has voted to add homosexuality to its "nondiscrimination" list, the list of protected characteristics that prevent someone from being fired. From the Gazette:

In a 9-8 vote, commissioners passed his proposal to include "a person's political affiliation, sexual orientation or gender identity'' in the county's nondiscrimination policy.
Supporting the change were all seven Democrats plus Republicans Joe VanBruggen (Comstock) and Bob Brink (Oshtemo). Brink switched his position suddenly, having voted against the policy in 2004.

The term "sexual orientation" is used by liberals to confuse the distinction between immutable characteristics and chosen behavior. This policy has the effect of endorsing homosexuality, a position that runs contrary to the moral foundations of our country.

What about "gender identity?" "Gender" is the term that liberals use to denote the psychological and behavioral differences between men and women. This stems from dislike of "sex," which implies that such differences are genetically based, and immutable. The concept "gender identity" implies that people can have whatever gender they want, independent of their sex. It refers to "bisexuals" or "transsexuals".

Of course, there are many behaviors that should not result in firing. Should they all be part of the "nondiscrimination" policy?

Quite aside from the morality of such behavior, this new policy will have negative consequences. This policy will make it more difficult to fire people by facilitating lawsuits, public outrage, etc. This is true whether or not a given firing was unjustified or not. Making it more difficult to fire people means that the county will be less likely to try, whether or not it is justified. If there is less risk of being fired, county employees are less likely to work as hard or as well. Thus this policy will cost the taxpayers money.

Another problem is that some of the above categories are not even readily identifiable. As far as I know, there is no way to objectively test for homosexuality. Will homosexuals be required to register with the county? Can anyone claim to be one when about to be fired and cause the county a legal nightmare? Did anyone think about this policy before voting for it?

Then there's "political affiliation". I'm sure we'll all sleep more soundly at night knowing that the county can't fire Nazis anymore. But what if a Nazi's political affiliation requires him to discriminate against homosexuals? Then who does the county fire?

Michigan by the numbers

An article in the Detroit News provides a polling snapshot of the major statewide races in Michigan.

Governor Gov. Jennifer Granholm 50% Dick DeVos 47%
U.S. Senate Michael Bouchard 42% Debbie Stabenow 54%
Proposals
Affirmative action ban Yes 47% No 47%
Guarantee school funding Yes 67% No 32%
Restrict state spending Yes 49% No 39%
Dove hunting Yes 35% No 61%
The gubernatorial race remains very tight.

As I say below, Michael Bouchard is starting in a decent position in his bid to unseat Debbie Stabenow.

The MCRI faces a difficult fight between now and November.

The K-16 initiative leads for now, but its numbers will plummet as almost every politician in the state comes out against it and the chamber of commerce spends big to defeat it.

The SOS/TABOR measure also faces a tough fight.

The success or failure of the dove hunting measure will probably turn on whether people see it as about doves or about hunting.

Bouchard closing in

Michigan's U. S. Senate race is tightening quickly. Until now, the race hasn't gotten a lot of attention, as the Republicans focused on a low-key primary in which they had virtually the same positions on every issue. Hence not much attention has been paid to Senator Stabenow's record.

That will change. Mike Bouchard is now free to go after Debbie Stabenow. Once Michiganders hear about her incompetence and doctrinaire liberalism, her support will drop further. One vote that should be used much more is her vote to give social security to illegal immigrants.

Robert Novak reports:

Michigan: Oakland County Sheriff Mike Bouchard (R) polls 44 to 48 against Sen. Debbie Stabenow (D) in a new independent poll. The results come a week after the primary election in which Bouchard easily defeated his opponent and after a few ads that boosted his name identification.

This result, coming so early, means a rough road ahead for Stabenow. It confirms our belief that this race, given little attention by most, will be one of the closest and one of the GOP's best pickup chances for 2006. Leaning Democratic Retention.
This just illustrates the folly of trusting poll results before the campaign has been run. Ironically, Stabenow may end up being a casualty of Governor Granholm.

Tuesday, August 15, 2006

Bailey fired!

Oh happy day!

WMU President Judy Bailey has been fired! The Board of Trustees gave her the ax at a closed door meeting at noon today. Here is the story from Mlive:

KALAMAZOO, Mich. (AP) Western Michigan University's board of trustees fired Judith I. Bailey as president on Tuesday, saying she failed to adequately address enrollment declines and rising costs. The board took its action eight months after it extended Bailey's contract.

The board had offered Bailey a one-year buyout of the remainder of her contract, which ran through June 30, 2009. The buyout was worth about $400,000 in total compensation. But Bailey rejected the offer and was fired.

"I believe that Western Michigan University deserves a president who has the skill and commitment to lead the university through this difficult period," Bailey said, reading aloud from a written statement during the trustee's special meeting. "I believe I am that person. There are those who disagree. I have a contract with the university. I expect that contract to be honored."

Diether Haenicke, who served as Western Michigan's president from 1985 until he retired in 1998, was appointed interim president while the board starts a national search for Bailey's replacement.

Bailey took over as president July 1, 2003, after serving as president of Northern Michigan University in Marquette.

Western Michigan was founded in 1903 and has about 26,000 students enrolled in 141 undergraduate and 90 graduate programs.
Apparently, she doesn't intend to go quietly.

The meeting was unscheduled and was announced late yesterday. Here is the Gazette story announcing the meeting. Rumors swirled that she would be fired.

Exactly why she was fired is somewhat unclear. The board listed the usual complaints of declining enrollment, poor management, and widespread discontent. Just eight months ago, the board had extended her contract. The major controversy since then has been the graduate review fiasco, and the resulting furor amongst graduate students and faculty.

Regular readers of this blog will know that the WMU College Republicans are not fans of Bailey.
Here is my evaluation of Bailey from April.
Linda Delene resigned in May over controversy surrounding the graduate program review.

WMU College Republicans in particular dislike Bailey for two reasons. One is the failure to prosecute the lowlife and self-described "national socialist" who attacked Pat Buchanan when we brought him to Western to speak in April 2005. The university talked a good game about free speech, but it failed to adequately respond to the assault and intimidation of a speaker with a different viewpoint.

The second reason is the illegal immigrant scholarship. The "first step scholars" program was created by Bailey and is funded out of private donations. It gives $6500 per semester scholarships specifically for illegal immigrants, so that they pay the equivalent of in-state tuition. It is a way of avoiding a federal law that bans giving in-state tuition to illegal immigrants. Hopefully, this scholarship will follow Bailey out of Western.

Diether Haenicke, the excellent former President of Western and friend of the WMU College Republicans has been appointed as interim President.

Tear down this wall

With the beginning of another school year rapidly approaching, the question on the mind of yours truly is "Will all the construction on campus be done in time?"

For the past year, campus has been practically cut in half by the construction of a new chemistry building. The construction site comes complete with a barbed wire fence to prevent anyone from shortening their travel times.

Meanwhile, a new art building is also under construction nearby, making even more of campus off limits. Western also tore up the stairs between Knauss and Dalton, making travel routes even more circuitous. Recently, Western has started digging up sections of sidewalk in seemingly random locations all over campus. They include places near Brown, Faunce, and Rood halls.

West Michigan Avenue remains under construction, as well. The North side of the road was finished a while back, but the south side remains dug up.

The new chemistry building appears to be nearing completion. I can't help but wonder whether it will actually be done in time. Classes have been scheduled to start there in the fall. The old chemistry building, McCracken, has been designated for use by English and other departments while Brown hall is renovated. (Ah-hahahahaha!!!) I'll bet that Western is glad that classes are starting after Labor Day this year.

Construction has marked by some peculiarities, including the construction of a giant ramp near Waldo library that was torn down a month later.

Anyhow, the good news that inspired this post is the fact the portion of the barbed wire fence that surrounded half of the parking lot between Sangren and Kanley has been taken down. This made travel particularly long all last year. The rest of the fence remains, for now.

In totally unrelated news, enrollment has declined since Judy Bailey became President of Western.

Ruth Johnson

Dick DeVos announced his nominee for Lieutenant Governor--Ruth Johnson, the Oakland County Clerk.

Johnson certainly fits the right demographic profile; she's a woman from Oakland county. Traditionally, LG candidates tend to be of the opposite sex as the gubernatorial nominee and from a different part of the state.

John Gizzi of Human Events says that Johnson "is considered a strong conservative."

Friday, August 11, 2006

Some thoughts I had

OK, I've had enough of some of my fellow Americans. One thing I keep hearing is all these terrorist threats and actions are simply them getting back at us for the Iraq situation and because of that, we need to leave. I simply can't stand anyone who thinks like this.
To think we spurred this streak of attacks is rediculous. We weren't in Iraq when the Cole was hit. We weren't in Iraq when the towers were destroyed. To say Iraq is the reason we're getting attacked is a joke. Anyone who believes that is simply giving into the idea our enemy wants us to give in to.
I think the problem is too many people in my generation have forgotten WWII. The case there was we had an evil person in charge of Germany. He was committing evil acts. Some great men and women went over there to stop this evil. They did this, risking their lives so their children, nieces, and nephews could have a life free of this evil.
But evil didn't end there. Now it has come up in the Middle East. And like the generation of WWII, we cannot ignore it. We cannot let it go on as it tries to destroy our way of life. We cannot let it tear apart a great country like Israel. We must stop it.
Iraq was a first step. Now we need to keep going. Hezbollah is attacking Israel and they are backed by Iran and Syria (and therefore, Russia as well. Russia has entered into defense agreements with Iran and Syria). Much like as the Nazi party rose up in Germany and attacked our friends in Poland, these terror groups are trying to spread their radical ideas across the lands and destroy the Jews.
But my generation seems to be unable to do anything but whine. They're complaining about the cost of the Iraqi war. They're crying about tougher security at airports making it harder for them to board their planes. They're throwing a fit whenever the idea of racial profiling comes up for finding these terrorists. We have such a "ME ME ME!" mentality that is causing us nothing but problems.
We have an ally under attack. One that has been nothing but helpful to us (take a lesson from them France and learn how a true ally acts). But we're sitting over here in our comfy chairs doing nothing to help them and asking "How will this effect my life? How much is it going to cost? Could I get drafted?" How selfish! While we have friends being attacked, we refuse to jump in out of fear of getting our hands dirty.
I'm ashamed of my generation. They've forgotten the lesson that was passed to us by the WWII generation. That lesson is that it's not about us. It's about the future. It's about giving those who come after us the chance to live without the fears and evils we face today. It's about time we remembered that lesson and stepped up to the plate. But instead we worry about instigating a fight and possibly getting hit in that fight.
Right now I'm so thankful that we went into Iraq like we did. The Israelis are having a hard enough time fighting the will of Hezbollah, Iran, Syria, and Russia. It would only be worse if Saddam threw his weight in there too. Our ally is seeing the benefits of a Saddam-free world right now. Yet we continue to have people here sitting around complaining about how much it cost, about how we've lost so many troops, about how Bush "lied." They're so ungrateful for the evil that was defeated in that country. Take Cindy Sheehan for example. Her son died fighting this evil. Yet all she can do is complain about the work her son did. Just completely unacceptable. But a good look at the mentality of many Americans. They don't see a direct benefit in their lives right now. So to them, it must have been a bad war.
We cannot forget that these people are coming after us too. They mean to destroy us and our friends in Israel. We cannot just sit in our chairs doing nothing because we're afraid to provoke an attack. That is the most cowardly thing I've ever heard!
I'm reminded of a quote that came out of WWII. I don't know exactly how it goes, but it's something along the lines of "When they came after the Jews I did nothing because I was not a Jew. Then when they came after the Catholics, I did nothing because I was not a Catholic. Then when they came after the protestants, I saw there was no one left to stand with me." They're coming after Israel. We must stand with them so there's someone to stand with us the next time they're coming for our shores.
We may have not picked this fight, but it picked us. We cannot ignore that. We must rally together, rally behind our troops, and win this fight. Not for us. Not for our pocketbooks. But for the future of this country. God bless America, and God bless Israel.

Wednesday, August 09, 2006

Conservatives Triumph!

I will continue to update this post as more results become available.

While we are still waiting for a few results, I think it is safe to declare this election a triumph for conservatives. What follows is a brief summary of many results across the state along with some comments from me.

Jack Hoogendyk won his race convincingly. Hooray!

Tim Walberg defeated Joe Schwarz. Double Hooray!

Lorence Wenke narrowly won renomination over Jerry VanderRoest, 52-48, in the 63rd State House district. This was closer than anybody, including me, expected. Just like 2004, Jerry won Kalamazoo county and Wenke won Calhoun county. However, Jerry picked up votes in Calhoun over last time while Wenke picked up votes in Kalamazoo. Jerry has to be seen as the favorite to win this seat in two years when Wenke is term-limited.

Pam Lightvoet finished first in the Kalamazoo County judicial race. (Great!) She will face second-place finisher Democrat Martin Glista in November. Conlin and Benson lagged behind.

The juvenile home millage passed with about 61%. No big surprise, given that there was no organized opposition.

Robert Jones easily won the 60th State House Democrat nomination. No surprise.

Armando Romero barely won (55-45) the 60th State House Republican nomination. This is shocking, considering that Gloria Ham is an oddball who did not campaign. I can only assume that her totals come from name recognition from her many past runs for office. This does not portend well for Armando in November.

Democrat Franklin Thompson won renomination over Larry Stieglitz in Kalamazoo County Commission district 6. No surprise.

Mike Bouchard beat Keith Butler and will take on Debbie Stabenow in November. Interestingly, Butler won five counties: Kent, Ottowa, Allegan, Barry, and Newaygo. Butler was strongest in the conservative heartland, not in Detroit as expected.

Brian Calley won the Barry/Ionia State House district 87. The Right to Life endorsement made the difference here.

Elizabeth Fulton won the Republican nomination in the 19th State Senate district over Al Cavasin. She will face Mark Schauer in November.

Neal Nitz narrowly defeated his challenger in the (South Berrien County) State house 78th district. Good.

Mark Jansen narrowly beat Joanne Voorhees in the Kent County 18th Senate district.

Johnny Knowles won the East Lansing 69th district House primary. Great! The differences in Republican and Democrat vote totals portend a difficult race to follow.

Congressman Joe Knollenberg easily disposed of liberal challenger Pat Godchaux in the (Oakland County) 9th Congressional District. Good.

John Pappageorge beat Shelley Taub for the (SW Oakland) 13th Senate district nomination. Not great. Let's hope that the party establishment is right that he can hold this seat in November.

Marty Knollenberg narrowly won the (Troy) 41st district House primary. Not good. Still, the fact that Mike Bostic almost beat someone with the Knollenberg name is important.

Bob Gosselin won his bid for nomination to the Oakland County Commission, beating an incumbent. Great.

Libertarian Leon Drolet won his bid for the Macomb County commission. Let's see how much stuff he can privatize.

Conservative Mark Abbo defeated liberal Beth Stewart in the (Plymouth/Northville) 2oth House district. Good.

Every one of the Detroit legislative races had contested Democratic primaries. All the incumbents won. No surprise.

Pro-life moderate Democrat John Gleason won the (Flint) 27th Senate primary.

Carl Williams won the (Saginaw County) 32nd district Democrat primary. He was the most liberal candidate, and is the least viable in the general election. Republican Roger Kahn has to be a slight favorite in November.

Walberg wins!

Conservative Tim Walberg has defeated Congressman Joe Schwarz! Here are the results.

U.S. House - District 7 - GOP Primary
South Central Michigan
311 of 336 Precincts Reporting - 92.56%
Name Party Votes Pct
Walberg, Tim GOP 32,292 53.29
Schwarz, Joe (i) GOP 28,309 46.71

Schwarz won Calhoun, Eaton, and Washtenaw counties, while Walberg won Lenawee, Hillsdale, Branch, and Jackson counties. Surprisingly, Schwarz only won about 55% in Calhoun and Eaton, which he represented for many years in the State Senate. Meanwhile, Walberg racked up huge margins in Lenawee, which he had represented, and Hillsdale, which is staunchly conservative. Of course, without Democrat crossovers, Walberg would have won by even more.

Congratulations to Michigan Right to Life, Club for Growth, and most of all the Republican voting base for making this victory possible. This victory proves what the conservative movement can accomplish with hard work and a solid message.

Jack cleans up

Conservative hero and friend of the WMU College Republicans Jack Hoogendyk has won the 61st district primary. Here are the results.

State House - District 61 - GOP Primary
49 of 49 Precincts Reporting - 100.00%
Name xxxxxxxxx Party x Votes x Pct
Hoogendyk, Jack (i) GOP 5,285 59.49
Deshazor, Larry GOP xxx 3,194 35.95
Zondervan, Scott GOP xxx 405 4.56

Jack won overwhelmingly in Oshtemo, Texas, Alamo, Prairie Ronde, Parchment, and much of Kalamazoo Township. He also won in Portage, but more narrowly. Larry won a few Portage precincts, and one in Kalamazoo Township. Of course, we have to assume that at least a few voters were Democrats, so Jack's margin amongst Republicans was even higher.

As Jack said, this result and margin proves that a candidate who is a staunch social conservative and takes principled outspoken stands can win convincingly.

Tuesday, August 08, 2006

Election Day

Today, August 8, is election day. Wherever you are in Michigan, you should go out and vote for good conservative Republican candidates. For plenty of coverage of Michigan politics, just keep scrolling down.

I'll post my thoughts on the results sometime after the polls close. Meanwhile, you can follow the results as they become available at the following sites.
Secretary of State
Detroit News
Detroit Free Press
Mlive.com
Lansing State Journal
WOOD TV
WWMT

POLITICAL UPDATE--Liberals and the War on Terrorism

This update focuses on liberals and the war on terrorism. Several recent stories indicate that we cannot trust them with our security.

Ann Coulter examines the New York Times' revelation of secret anti-terrorism programs.
Coulter writes that liberals ignore threats to American security.
Phyllis Schlafly attacks the Supreme Court decision concerning enemy combatants.
Thomas Sowell analyzes the accomplishments of 'peace' movements.
Robert Spencer writes that terrorists staged a massacre for propaganda.

Friday, August 04, 2006

Gazette attacks Jack

The Kalamazoo Gazette has endorsed State Representative Jack Hoogendyk's opponent in the primary race. It's no surprise that a liberal paper like the Gazette didn't endorse a conservative like Jack. The real surprise is that they ever endorsed him in the past.

As is typical when the Gazette's editorials venture into politics, their endorsement is full of errors and specious reasoning.

Bizarrely, they claim Jack supports larger government:

Unfortunately, while Michigan continues to bleed jobs, state Rep. Jack Hoogendyk, R-Texas Township, has been hard at work his last two terms combating embryonic stem-cell research, battling public universities over curriculum, putting an end to benefits for same-sex partners of public employees, making English the official language of Michigan, and micro-managing the way public school districts spend their money.

Hoogendyk says he's for less government, but his actions support a much more intrusive government -- which, in our view, is not less.
Let's go through these one by one. Stopping the state government from spending money on embryonic stem-cell research is stopping the government from getting larger, not making it larger. Stopping same-sex benefits also means that government will be spending less money, making it smaller, not larger. Making English the official language of Michigan will help to save money on the printing of documents in foreign languages, again making government smaller.

Monitoring university curriculums and public school spending might not make government smaller, but it won't make it larger, either. This is not being "intrusive," it is holding government schools accountable for how they spend taxpayer money. Apparently the Gazette thinks that the legislature should just shovel money at schools and universities and not worry about what they do with it. With attitudes like that, it's no wonder schools are failing.

So what led the Gazette to endorse Jack's opponent? Here's their entire explanation:

He pledges his focus will be on the economy, jobs and education.
That's it. They don't list any of his positions that differ from Jack's; in fact, they don't list any of his positions at all. They don't say what he might actually do about the economy, jobs, and education. It's far from clear that they have any idea at all. (But whatever he does about education, it had better not involve public school spending or university curricula!)

"Focusing" on the economy won't magically make it better. The Gazette seems to think that if someone in government somehow pushes the right buttons and pulls the right levers, the economy will improve. But what the economy needs to improve is less government involvement, not more.

On this, Jack's record is as good as anyone's. He has consistently voted to cut taxes, cut spending, and cut regulation.

The Gazette's real problem with Jack is not that he pursues the wrong issues, but that he takes positions they don't like. As I have written in the past, they claim that any issue that they don't want to debate is not a "real issue." The voters have said differently in the past, and they will again on August 8.

Deportation not so hard after all

One of most persistent arguments of the foes of immigration enforcement is "You can't deport 10 million immigrants." And if you can't deport them, well, then you have to do something with them; so you need some sort of amnesty program.

But this is a myth.

Consider this story out of Middletown, Ohio. It begins with this weepy headline:

Talk worries Hispanic immigrants
A community in Ohio becomes less friendly to undocumented workers, so many are moving on.
It continues:

[Bravo] said he has sold at least 10 tickets in recent weeks to people who are moving to Michigan or other parts of Ohio, or who have decided to go back to Mexico.

Tough talk on immigration over the past year in Butler County has alarmed some of the area's immigrants, many of whom work in construction in this booming area midway between Cincinnati and Dayton.

The community has been roiled by debate over the county's resolve to crack down on employers of illegal immigrants, calls for a new law allowing local authorities to expel illegal immigrants, a state legislator's bill to make English Ohio's official language, and protests from civil rights activists after county authorities detained 18 undocumented immigrants.

Around the county, billboards show Sheriff Richard Jones -- arms folded across his burly chest, a revolver at his side -- warning, "Hire an Illegal-Break the Law," with "Illegal Aliens Here" in a circle with a slash through it.

"The public is so frustrated with illegal immigration," said Jones, who contends the hiring of illegal immigrants violates Ohio tax law. He has yet to arrest any employers. But county officials have talked about denying building permits to contractors who hire illegal immigrants.
So merely threatening to enforce the law led illegals to pack up and leave.

The open borders crowd implies that the only way to remove illegal immigrants from America is to drag them kicking and screaming back across the border. But this ignores the incentives that government policies create. Just as a guest-worker/amnesty program would only encourage more illegal immigration, enforcing the law would reduce it and cause many illegals to leave on their own. This is because enforcing the law will increase the risk of being penalized, which will increase the cost of being here. For many illegals, it just won't be worth it, so they will leave.

This is known as the attrition strategy.

Removing illegal aliens from this country is not impossible. It would require enforcing our immigration laws consistently over a period of time. What is lacking in Washington is the will to do so.

Immigration books abound

Immigration continues to make headlines in America. Several new books provide valuable information on this issue.

I earlier reported the publication of In Mortal Danger: The Battle for America's Border and Security by Congressman Tom Tancredo.

Now, the founder of the Minuteman Project, Jim Gilcrest, has written a book with Jerome Corsi entitled Minuteman: The Battle to Secure America's Borders. You can read excerpts from the book on guest worker amnesty, taxing the middle class, and the Reconquista movement. The publisher's description follows.

Minutemen: The Battle to Secure America's Borders by Jim Gilchrist and Jerome Corsi

President Bush has called them vigilantes, but millions of Americans call them heroes -- and they're determined to make sure that what happened on September 11, 2001 never happens again. They're the Minutemen, the new all-volunteer group dedicated to reasserting control over our borders. What does border control have to do with 9/11? Everything: on 9/11, over 3,000 Americans were brutally slaughtered because immigration laws had not been enforced. America is at war today abroad because our borders have been rendered irrelevant at home.

In 2004, the decorated Marine veteran and patriot Jim Gilchrist determined to do something about it. Armed with only binoculars and cell phones, Gilchrist and his fellow patriots proved that America's porous borders could be successfully guarded, and in the process set off a national debate on an issue the Federal government had long ignored. In Minutemen: The Battle to Secure America's Borders, Gilchrist teams up with bestselling author Jerome Corsi to provide a shocking firsthand account of the fierce battle that is raging today at America's southern border -- and the plucky team of patriots that is fighting for our country there.

Minutemen describes in vivid detail how our nation's southern border has disintegrated into a horrifying, anything-goes Wild West of human trafficking, drug smuggling, and violent gangs. But Gilchrest and Corsi also explain here why out-of-control illegal immigration poses a threat not only to the border regions, but also to our nation as a whole. They detail why illegal immigration amounts to nothing less than a Trojan Horse invasion of our country, and a springboard for Mexico's ambitious plan to reconquer the American southwest. They clarify why illegal immigration is now creating a massive crisis in social services, saddling the American middle class with an immense, onerous tax burden, giving street gangs and drug cartels free rein in American cities, and even providing a handy escape route for killers fleeing justice in Mexico. Even jihad terrorists have taken notice of our porous borders, and are taking full advantage of them.

They elucidate the role that NAFTA and our need for oil have played in creating this crisis -- and above all, the show how an awareness of all this led Gilchrest to found the Minutemen. Like their Revolutionary War predecessors who defended America against a hostile foreign power, today's Minutemen have risen up to answer their nation's call against another invasion. Minutemen is their story. And best of all, Gilchrest and Corsi show what we can and must do now in order to reclaim America.

With anti-American protestors taking to the streets of all our large cities to demand citizenship for all illegals, and with the President of the United States himself endorsing open borders, it has never been more critical for American citizens to understand the massive social, economic and security problems caused by illegal immigration. Minutemen makes that possible with a refreshing combination of facts and straight talk. This book is an urgent call to arms that no American can afford to ignore.

In Minutemen, Gilchrest and Corsi reveal:

Why the President's non-enforcement of our immigration laws is a disgrace to the sacrifices made by countless Americans to preserve American freedom

American taxpayers: how they're forced to pay the staggering economic and cultural price tag of illegal immigration -- and why our government wants to keep the true costs hidden from the public

How the government of Mexico actually encourages the mass emigration of millions of impoverished peasants -- and will stop at nothing to keep the border open

The huge number of illegal border crossings: why they are not discrete, random events, but actions of a carefully controlled mass movement

Why drug lords are so intent on controlling who gets across the border and how

Why some liberal Catholic Church leaders are speaking out in favor of amnesty for illegal immigrants

Why so many "intellectuals" believe that Americans (and the world) would be better off if globalization replaced Washington with a multilateral authority -- and how the attack on our borders fits into that view

How the Minuteman Project's opponents tried to intimidate it with legal opposition and media attacks

The not-so-secret plan to submerge American sovereignty within a large North American economic and political union

Plus: a pledge for politicians to help guide and fortify them to make the right choices about illegal immigration
Now comes the announcement of a new book on immigration by Pat Buchanan. It is entitled State of Emergency: The Third World Invasion and Conquest of America. From the publisher's description, it sounds like a follow-up to Death of the West, which would be a welcome development indeed.

State of Emergency: The Third World Invasion and Conquest of America by Pat Buchanan

Civilizations die by suicide, not murder, says Patrick Buchanan, and liberalism is the ideology of Western suicide. Its ideas, pursued to their logical end, will prove fatal. And none of those ideas is as certain to bring our civilization to an unhappy end as the proposition that America's borders must be open to any and all comers, legal and illegal. In State of Emergency: The Third World Invasion and Conquest of America, Buchanan explains why the very life of our nation is at stake in the immigration debate. If immigration and border controls aren't reintroduced, it will be the end of America as we know it -- and soon.

Buchanan explains why the massive influx of illegal immigrants into America is nothing less than an invasion -- and yet the Bush White House and GOP-controlled Congress appear disinclined to do anything about it. He details how our current policy of "open borders" and nearly unrestricted immigration have brought a stream of criminals and thugs into our nation -- for the benefit only of an entrenched political establishment that couldn't care less about the good of the American people. He explodes myth after myth about illegal immigration -- including President Bush's notorious statement that illegal aliens "do jobs Americans won't do" and the idea that foreigners somehow have a natural right to come to America.

Nor will all this be an easy problem to solve. Buchanan demonstrates that any presidential candidate who speaks out against the Hispanic onslaught in the American Southwest will now lose the electoral votes of California, Arizona, New Mexico, and Texas. Soon, electoral realities will make it impossible for any serious candidate to speak out against unrestrained immigration. Yet, he points out, if it wanted to, the U.S. Government could secure the Mexican border within weeks -- and details the political reasons why this won't happen, despite the fact that immigration control measures have consistently won large margins of support from American voters.

America, says Buchanan, could soon be facing its last chance to stave off national suicide. In State of Emergency, he provides a comprehensive primer for all politicians, activists, and concerned citizens who want to stop the flood of immigration before it's too late.

How illegal immigration threatens every American:

Fact: our illegal population today is greater than the total number of Irish, Jewish, and British immigrants who ever came to the U.S.

Why the reigning Republicans ignore the law and do little or nothing to stop illegal immigration

How mass immigration inevitably tilts the center of gravity of American politics to the Left

How the numbers of Americans of European descent are rapidly decreasing -- and the political and social implications

Eurabia on the rise: the devastating consequences of unrestricted immigration in Europe

How Los Angeles today provides a glimpse of what all of America will be like in 2050

Why Mexico's President Fox has done nothing to help secure the U.S.-Mexican border -- and has actually abetted the invasion of the U.S. by millions of illegal aliens

Fact: not only are arguments about the economic benefits provided by illegal aliens false, but illegal immigration also constitutes a massive drain on our economy

The Mexican War is not over: its deep impact on contemporary immigration politics

Why it is difficult, if not impossible, for cities to get control of the growing crime menace of immigrants and illegal aliens

Latin elites that are doing everything they can to prevent the assimilation of Mexican immigrants into American culture

Bush's guest worker plan: how it provoked a surge to the border

How, as Republicans dither, some Democrats are beginning to see the potency among voters of the illegal immigration issue

Why so many children of Asian-American and Hispanic immigrants are assimilating into a deadly subculture of gangs and crime

How we must recapture control of immigration policy from politicians paralyzed by fear of ethnic lobbies and cultural contributors, or immobilized by ideology

Why ideology and democracy are not enough to save America -- and what we need most now to trump the call of ethnicity

Six critical steps that must be taken now to secure America's borders and preserve the republic
I haven't read these books yet, but I hope to soon.

Wednesday, August 02, 2006

Supreme smackdown

There are plenty of major political battles that take place at the Michigan Supreme Court, but they aren't usually between Supreme Court Justices.

The setting was the ruling in a case concerning a reprimand for bombastic trial lawyer Jeffrey Fieger. He had attacked several of the Michigan Supreme Court Justices:

The court majority found the comments -- in two 1999 radio broadcasts in which Fieger compared the judges to Nazis and suggested they deserved to be sodomized -- could be punished because of their potential to undermine respect for the legal system.
Fieger was the Democrats' 1998 gubernatorial nominee, losing in a landslide to John Engler. He is known for his unkempt hair and abrasive personality. He is also a very successful trial lawyer, winning major cases and racking up millions in legal fees. However, the Michigan Supreme Court has shot down several major awards, costing Fieger millions of dollars. The majority voted to reprimand Fieger.

The Michigan Supreme Court has seven justices. Four--Corrigan, Markman, Taylor, and Young--are solid conservative Republicans who have consistently delivered good rulings and opposed judicial activism. Two--Cavanagh and Kelly--are Democrats. The seventh, Elizabeth Weaver, is a moderate Republican.

Weaver has been alienated from the conservatives since the other Justices--including the Democrats--voted not to reelect her as Chief Justice, replacing her with Corrigan. The Detroit News reports:

Justice Elizabeth Weaver wrote a scathing dissent charging that four justices - all fellow Republicans - showed bias and prejudice against Fieger by not disqualifying themselves from the case.

That didn't please Chief Justice Clifford Taylor, who wrote in a strongly worded response that, "with her dissent, Justice Weaver completes a transformation begun five years ago, when all six of her colleagues voted not to renew her tenure as Chief Justice of this Court."

"This transformation is based neither on principle nor on 'independent' views, but is rooted in personal resentment," he added in an opinion joined by Justices Maura Corrigan, Stephen Markman and Robert Young Jr.
Ouch!

In the staid world of legal opinions, this is the equivalent of cursing someone out.

The article continues:

Weaver has grown so out-of-step with the other four Republicans on the court that she's become known for joining the dissents frequently written by Democrats.

Weaver has said she's just being independent. But in the Fieger case, Taylor suggested Weaver's independent streak was really about losing the chief justice position five-and-a-half years ago.

"It is deeply troubling that a member of this Court would undertake so gratuitously, and so falsely, to impugn her colleagues," he wrote. "This is a sad day in this Court's history, for Justice Weaver inflicts damage not only on her colleagues, but also on this Court as an institution."

Weaver in turn characterized the majority's opinion as misleading, inaccurate, irrational and irrelevant. She argued they should recuse themselves and cited statements about Fieger from their campaigns for the high court, including a fundraising letter mailed by Corrigan's campaign earlier this year.

Weaver said Corrigan adopted statements from former Republican Gov. John Engler that "we cannot lower our guard should the Fiegers of the trial bar raise and spend large amounts of money in hopes of altering the election by an 11th-hour sneak attack."

The other Republican justices, however, pointed out that Weaver had received a campaign donation from Fieger.
Weaver was most recently elected in 2002. In early 2005, barely two years into an eight-year term, she announced that she was going to resign. This would have let Governor Granholm appoint a replacement, and given the overwhelming power of incumbency in Michigan court elections, it would have given the Democrats a seat for decades. If she wanted to retire, she could have done so two years earlier, and let Republicans nominate somebody else. This was a move calculated to betray the people who put her in office.

Someone managed to talk her out of it, but it's apparent that she hasn't let go of her grudge.

You never know when a moderate Republican might betray you.

Spanish language ballots

The Gazette reports that Clyde Township, Allegan County is required to print Spanish language ballots. This is despite the fact that nobody uses them.

The township has been tied to a requirement of the federal Voting Rights Act since 1976. That practice isn't going away, even though, in the words of one county official, the township's population ``doesn't really need it.''

Clyde Township is mandated by the federal government to provide a Spanish ballot to voters. The other is Buena Vista Township in Saginaw County.

The 1975 Federal Voting Rights Act Language included the Minority Provision requirement, meant to ensure that language assistance was available at polling locations for citizens with limited English proficiency. The requirement took effect in 1976.

Clyde Township at one time had more Hispanics than non-Hispanics, Allegan County Clerk Joyce Watts said. But now, even those who are of Hispanic descent don't have trouble speaking English, she said. Only 25 Spanish ballots are printed for each election, the minimum required.

In her nearly 18 years as clerk, Watts said, only one Spanish ballot has been requested, and that was by the American Civil Liberties Union when the group was inspecting whether the Spanish ballot was accurate.

...

Between 1976 and 1992, however, the law was ignored in both Clyde and Buena Vista Townships.

The ACLU filed suit against the townships in 1992. A three-judge panel held that the townships must make Spanish ballots and election materials available to voters.
Was this what the civil rights movement was fought over? I'm sure the zero people who used Spanish language ballots are grateful to the ACLU for defending their civil rights.

How the Catholic Church Built Western Civilization

In How the Catholic Church Built Western Civilization, historian Thomas Woods presents much fascinating information concerning the development of Western Civilization and the role that the Catholic Church played in that development. Much of this information is largely unknown to the public, and Woods' book can help to correct this problem.

The book covers the years 500 to 1600, though it occasionally extends outside of this period on both ends. Woods particularly seeks to debunk the myth of the middle ages as"dark ages." They were not a time of backwardness and ignorance; some significant advances were made.

The book explores the contributions of the monastery system. The Church invented the university system out of a respect for knowledge. Far from being an enemy of science, Christianity actually invented science. Woods explores how Christian theology made this possible.

The Church also invented the modern notion of charity, made huge contributions to art and architecture, invented and concept of international law, and made significant contributions to economics.

There are a couple aspects of the book that readers may wish to know. Woods is a devout Roman Catholic, and he takes the Catholic positions on several theological issues that divide Catholics and Protestants. He is also a strict noninterventionist, which he alludes to several times. These issues only affect a few pages of the book.

Beyond the Catholic Church, Woods' work serves as a celebration and defense of Western Civilization. For most of the period covered, the Catholic Church was practically synonymous with Christianity. Thus Woods shows how Christianity was indispensable to creating and building the West.

Reading this book shows how unique and precious Western Civilization is, and now much would be lost if it were overrun. It should inspire a renewed defense of the West.