Entries for June 2009

By Bonnie Erbe, Thomas Jefferson Street blog.

Todd Purdum's excoriation of Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin comes as close to making me feel as sorry for her as any gently disguised screed possibly could. When Sen. McCain first chose her as his running mate, I thought it was a stroke of genius. Then she opened her mouth, completing the transition from strong, successful woman to evangelical extremist. The nadir was Palin's Katie Couric interview, in which she waxed poetic about the history of our great country, while dodging the question, "Besides Roe v. Wade, are there any other Supreme Court decisions you disagree with?"

By Bonnie Erbe, Thomas Jefferson Street blog.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy has predictably drawn the ire of Muslims worldwide by backing demands to ban the wearing of the burkha in France. But let's remember a couple of things about the burkha. First, it is the complete body-covering garment which reveals only a slit for the eyes—it is not a mere headscarf. The burkha can be worn and indeed has been worn by male and female suicide bombers to hide deadly weaponry. It creates a terror issue not created by the wearing of a headscarf.

That is not Sarkozy's main justification for backing the ban. He based his position on the burkha's degradation of women:

By Bonnie Erbe, Thomas Jefferson Street blog

Interesting that supposedly liberal Salon.com sports an article about horse slaughter that reads, in part, like a cheat sheet from the slaughter industry. I have written about the despicable horse slaughter industry from a decidedly antithetical perspective. I would have thought a progressive mouthpiece such as Salon.com would share my views on this issue. Instead, the piece on horse slaughter, although written by a self-professed horse and donkey owner, seems to favor the slaughter industry:

By Bonnie Erbe, Thomas Jefferson Street blog

President Obama has appointed yet another czar—you know, one of those people in his administration with a long title, huge portfolio and no budget to get anything done. This time, it's a worthy enough portfolio assigned to Lynn Rosenthal—fighting domestic violence. But it's a czar-like post of such little consequence, the public announcement was handled by Vice President Joe Biden, not President Obama. From ABC News:

By Bonnie Erbe, Thomas Jefferson Street blog.

Has anyone noticed it took an experienced female country leader to get President Obama to take on Iran? 

By Bonnie Erbe, Thomas Jefferson Street blog

As President Obama escalates the tone of his rhetoric against the Iranian leadership, from pablum to "outrageous," I keep thinking back to my criticisms of him during his presidential campaign.

By Bonnie Erbe, Thomas Jefferson Street blog.

I come to my opposition to mass illegal immigration from an environmental perspective. This country's ballooning population is polluting our water, our air, turning beautiful open space into tacky suburbs and malls and generally degrading the quality of life here.

Individual immigrants, whether legal or illegal, are generally good people. They want what native-born Americans want—to make a good living and provide for their families. That's completely understandable. Unfortunately, at this point in our history, there is no way they can do so here without degrading the environment. It's tough to say that, as looking at new immigrants, my heart goes out to them. But does my heart hurt to the point where I want to see the American countryside destroyed, rural life pushed aside, and our air and water polluted to the breaking point? No.