Quote of the Week

I appreciate that Rove is called “the architect” by his admirers – possibly by virtue of transforming what should have been a walkover against an empty suit like John Kerry into a squeaker and meeting the attacks and slanders against the Bush administration with some of the most tepid and ineffectual responses in modern history (effectively surrendering the narrative to the Left) – but I’m sure this time he’s onto something.

Democrat Tax-Cut Propaganda Obliterated

Michael Eden at Start Thinking Right has a must-read article destroying the Democrats’ lies on tax cuts. Be sure to take the time to read the whole thing to learn all sorts of good stuff, not the least of which being the discovery of which radical right-wing corporate stooge said the following:

“Our tax system still siphons out of the private economy too large a share of personal and business purchasing power and reduces the incentive for risk, investment and effort – thereby aborting our recoveries and stifling our national growth rate.”

Thoughts on 9/11

On September 11, I was still in middle school. Around the middle of an otherwise-unremarkable school day, we began to hear unsettling murmurs of a plane hitting a skyscraper somewhere. Near the end of the day, our English teacher told us that it was the World Trade Center, and two planes had been deliberately rammed into it, causing the towers to collapse and kill God knows how many people.

It was a sickening wake-up call. Such monstrosities simply didn’t happen on American soil outside of the movies. I had been starting to develop a mild interest in politics prior to 9/11 (due in large part to abortion), but the sudden death of 3,000 civilians for nothing more than getting on a plane or showing up to work in the morning drove home the urgency of political involvement. It wasn’t just far-away bickering; what our country did or didn’t do could have serious real-world implications. I was no soldier, but if I could use the skills I did have to prevent this from happening to anyone else again, I was in.

Nine years later, the political landscape isn’t as neatly divided between right and wrong, problem and solution as it once seemed – as admirably steadfast as he was in the beginning, George W. Bush’s execution of the Iraq War and his failure to root out political correctness in the military may have disastrous long-term ramifications for the war, and the libertarian trends in the Tea Party movement are threatening to take the Right’s eye off the ball entirely. Even so, the broad strokes are still there:

Either we believe in fighting those who wish us harm, or we don’t.

Either we believe in denying them the means to cause mass destruction, or we don’t.

Either we believe in honestly examining their motives – including religious – or we don’t.

Either we understand that endlessly talking to the irrational is itself irrational, or we don’t.

Either we understand that those who want us dead will accept no concession other than our death, or we don’t.

Either we see 9/11 for what it was – pure, unadulterated evil – and understand the ramifications for our future, or we don’t. 

We don’t need new investigations into what “really” happened. We don’t need hand-wringing about whether or not we deserved it in some way, or whether or not we’re becoming the bad guys in response. We don’t need to keep indulging those who insist on lying about us and about our enemies. We simply need to ask ourselves whether or not we’re prepared to pay any price or bear any burden to prevent it from happening again.

Rave Reviews 5!

Ladies and gentlemen, after a long, inexcusable hiatus, I’m thrilled to announce that Rave Reviews is back! We’ve got a lot of catching up to do, so sit back and feel the love!

“I bet he’s also one of Tom Krannawitter’s lapdogs…er…lapcats?”Conimbricenses
“Don’t even pretend like you’re interested in a debate. You’ve already made up your mind…Your and other’s immaturity is the reason why I left the Republican party.”Eagle
“I stand by my original contention that Sean Hannity is a racist and that Mr. Freiburger’s defense of said racism suggests that he too might harbor the same sentiments…He really is overinflated with his sense of self-importance.”Priscilla
“Damn Calvin, I never dreamed you could stoop so low. But, unfortunately, I was obviously wrong… you couldn’t be more naïve… silly and asinine… extremely sensitive political correct sensibilities.”ObamaYoMama
“Behold the ‘Vitriolic Right’ for whom all politics is personal, nasty & vicious.”John Guardiano
“Holy cow, what a blowhard!… a loudmouth undergrad from a joke of a college with an unread blog who looks like a nerdier Harry Potter.”anon
“Gee Calvin, you must have taken ‘Attempted Insult Lessons 101’…”Pat
“Don’t give Calvin a pass on being a class A tool himself.”Scott Feldstein
“Many of the posters here, especially ‘Calvin,’ should come to the realization that courts don’t give a flaming rat’s ass what you personally think, nor does anyone else in the entire world except you.”Zorky
“Is this what passes for honest intellectual debate at Hillsdale these days? That’s a sad and surprising revelation if so.”M. O’Neal
“You surely attempt to sound middle ground on this and fair. But you really aren’t.”Robert
“I believe Mr. Freiburger writes these pieces so often because he is extremely insecure.”Mike
“What nonsense!”tramky
“Nice article, although you misunderstand Christianity.”@InvisibleAir
“Your hatred of Obama is really off the charts. Where were you when Bush Jr was wrecking the country and the world?”ganymede
“Yet the Puritan need to control and “perfect” others continues – on the right and the left. Give it up. The world can’t take any more of your good intentions.”R Sweeney
“Don’t waste your time with Calvin Freiburger. He is the most intellectually dishonest person I have encountered to the right of Karl Marx.”The Inquisitor
“Even if you aren’t violent, you are fanning the flames, inciting those that may be on the edge. There is more at stake here than whether someone is for or against the issue. There is the rule of law. This misogynistic thinking imitates Sharia law. This is America.”Naomi Litvin
“Calvin, you are being deliberately obtuse.”Optimus Maximus
“Your analogous safety-fascist measures all decrease safety… It is precisely the lack of principled commitment to freedom you exemplify that has allowed liberty to recede and tyranny to gain ground in America.”Tim Starr
“Calvin, it appears you have forgotten what America is all about! Oh no!”britney12
“‘Conservatives’ like you are no friend to truth.”headjanitor
“When you can’t answer a question, simply attempt to mock the questioner.”QSuzy
“You’re obviously a leftist posing as a conservative to meet your own ends, whatever those may be. Either that or you’re a practicing homosexual yourself.”Trucon
“You can take your totalitarianism and shove it up your a$$ with a d!ld0.”aspacia
“You definitely have an anger management problem. It seems anyone disagreeing with your interpretation of history ends up with comments about them like the ones above. Grow up!”kwg1

“Calvin, you REALLY don’t want me to start in on your writing style. To be honest a lot of your work resembles a right wing version of the Huffington Post screed.”Joseph Veca

Calvin Freiburger Online: shouldn’t you be reading?