If you’re a “progressive,” you probably won’t agree with its premise, which is basically that there are two populations going in opposite directions: one is shrinking and getting older (post-Christian, postmodern Western civilization) while the other is growing and decidedly younger (Islam).

What happens when the first is coddled by the state from cradle to grave and believes in nothing while the other is animated by a violent ideology that takes no prisoners? Then add the fact that the former are elderly and addled by pop culture and politcally-correct multiculturalism while the latter are youthful and angry? The end of the world as we know it, at least according to Steyn.

The edition delivered to my front door includes a new introduction. While almost every sentence in the book is quotable, here’s a tasty one I found in the intro:

“Why do radical imams seek to convert young Canadian, British and even American men and women in their late teens and twenties? Because they understand that when you raise a generation in the great wobbling blancmange of cultural relativism, a certain percentage of its youth will have a great gaping hole where their sense of identity should be. And into that hole you can pour something primal and raging. Islam is an ideology. To claim it’s “race” is so breathtakingly stupid as to give the game away – and to confirm that “Racist!” is now no more than the cry of a western liberal who can’t stand his illusions being disturbed.”

Dueling bumper stickers: I was driving to Target the other day to partake in some rampant consumerism. Before I did my little part in destroying the planet, I noticed a car with two bumper stickers. One read, “Obama ’08,” the other, “I love my country but fear my government.” This puzzled me, because if one fears their government, is it prudent vote for the candidate who promises more of it? The problem with voting for more government is that, eventually, some right-wing fascist will be in power and abuse the hell out of the behemoth you helped create in the first place by voting for big-government guy (or gal). George W. Bush, for instance, would have been less likely to constantly violate our rights had the federal government been limited to begin with. It’s not a good idea to create an infrastructure that allows the next Hitler unfettered access to almost unlimited power.

“The jaws of power are always open to devour, and her arm is always stretched out, if possible, to destroy the freedom of thinking, speaking, and writing.”

John Adams

Ever since people started reporting on and analyzing the news on the Internet and other new media outside the traditional media outlets, the traditional media has been going through its own version of the Kubler-Ross Five Stages of Grief…

Denial… “This can’t be happening.”

Anger… “Who the hell do these pajama-clad people think they are?”

Bargaining… “Okay. We hate you, so we’ll start doing the same thing.”

Depression… “Our business model sucks and we’re going out of business.”

Acceptance… “Everything will be okay since I can get a federal bailout and have the feds regulate and harass my competition out of business, all in the name of some nebulous public good!”

Fake but accurate: When traditional "journalists" are sure something's true but have no evidence, it's time to go to Kinko's! Image from michellemalkin.com.

Whenever a high-profile blogger gets it wrong, jumps the gun or takes something out of context, the traditional media launches into “I-told-you-so” mode, most recently and notably with the Breitbart/Shirley Sherrod fiasco. However, when one of their own does it, there’s nothing to see (Rathergate).

The traditional media would like nothing better than to consolidate their power in such a way that everyone but the traditional media is held accountable for their actions. I think they call it “accountability journalism,” or what I like to call “baby talk.”

This begs the question: who fact-checks the fact-checkers? Who holds those who wield the sword of accountability accountable? What the traditional media desire is a monopoly on accountability, which is convenient for a demonstrably biased group advancing specific political and ideological agendas. As “gatekeepers” they will ensure the unwashed masses stay outside the gates. Safely inside the gates, the gatekeepers can do whatever the hell they want. Who needs transparency when the gatekeepers are so ethically and morally pure?

Was Breitbart held accountable for posting an out-of-context video? Certainly. Now that the entire video is out and people can see it for themselves they can make their own judgment about it without a monopolistic “accountability” filter designed to tell them what to think.

Fake but accurate: Filmed from multiple angles with hundreds of cell phone cameras recording at the same moment, not one person has come forth with evidence that Tea Partiers screamed racial epithets at black Congressmen who purposely walked the gauntlet to incite the racism that supposedly infuses the Tea Party movement. The accusation may be fake, but the traditional media decided it was accurate so there was no need to verify the veracity of the claims. Now that's accountability journalism!

By the same token, when the media reported with absolute certainty that the N-word was hurled more than a dozen times at black legislators purposely running the Tea Party gauntlet on Capitol Hill, the blogosphere cast serious doubt on this assertion. The traditional media’s reaction? Ignore the evidence and mindlessly repeat a lie since it fits their worldview and narrative.

The traditional media believes the Tea Party is racist, primarily because the Tea Party opposes the first black president’s agenda. In the traditional media narrative, opposition to Obama equals racism. So if A=B is true, then naturally the stuff we make up, C, is true, even if it really didn’t happen.

Rathergate was based on the same thinking. Dan Rather and his colleagues at CBS believed that George W. Bush was a nincompoop and a shirker so they didn’t waste any time double-checking the documents sent to them by a dubious source that helped prove the point. When the documents were shown to be obvious forgeries, Rather and the traditional media circled the wagons. Their final defense? Fake but accurate! I don’t know about you, but I prefer news that’s genuine and accurate.

So, while the traditional media whines and moans about the lack of accountability in the blogosphere, talk radio and Fox News, we’re actually living in a time of hyper-accountability. You can’t publish, post or air anything without someone somewhere holding you to account.

There are obvious drawbacks to this Wild West information age, such as the ease of defamation, but that’s a trade-off I’m willing to make. Information is power, and once concentrated in too few hands it is dangerous.

The Progressive Ideal: Fast on the heels of the death of the climate change bill, progressives everywhere are asking themselves, “What happened?” Mitch Perry at Creative Loafing quotes the following from a Washington Post article by Perry Bacon Jr.:

Joshua Freed, who directs the clean energy program for the centrist think tank Third Way, said the contrast shows the challenge Democratic leaders face when trying to marshal support for climate measures within Congress.

“China doesn’t have these problems,” Freed said. “It should be a wake-up call that the same day Republican opposition kills a carbon price in the Senate, China announces it will put a price on carbon in 2011.”

What kind of wake-up call is Freed talking about here? Should the U.S. dissolve its government and become a one-party totalitarian state? That’s the progressive ideal, except with the pesky human rights baggage. The Democratic party: a kinder, gentler totalitarian state.

D.C. Fires 241 Teachers for Incompetence: I haven’t actually read this article. I just like the headline, though it would be much better if it were legislators, as in, D.C. Fires 241 Legislators for Incompetence. That number sounds about right, though maybe 100 or so shy of the reality.

Massachusetts Over Taxed? The haughty, French-looking former-junior-now-senior senator from Massachusetts, who by the way served in Vietnam, is in the news again. Senator John Kerry has been docking his yacht in Rhode Island to avoid Mass. taxes. You have to love these transparent losers. Kerry has no problem soaking the public, unless, of course, he’s the one being soaked. These incompetent legislators turn their super soakers on the American public then cry like babies if someone turns a dollar-store water pistol on them.

The Racism Olive Branch: Shirley Sherrod is on the march. The same woman who didn’t correct an an audience full of racists is now in the name-calling business. On CNN Sherrod told Anderson Cooper that Andrew Breitbart wants to take us back to the days of slavery. Let the healing begin! Anderson Cooper didn’t challenge the smear, because he’s a pretty-face journalist masquerading as a poor man’s Phil Donahue. Cooper is skeptical of anything to the right of Michael Moore, but anything to the left he accepts without question. What an idiot.

Off to Priest Lake: That’s all I’ve got. I have three books to read over the next week. I have Sir Arthur Conan Dole’s Sherlock Holmes: The Complete Novels and Stories Vol. I and II. Another book I’m really looking forward to reading is Daniel Okrent’s Last Call: The Rise and Fall of Prohibition. I intend to drink heavily during the reading of Last Call. It seems only fitting. You may recall that, in an earlier post, Club Soda called for Prohibition reparations to be paid with a keg in every fridge.

Most Ethical Congress Watch

“The American people voted to restore integrity and honesty in Washington, D.C., and the Democrats intend to lead the most honest, most open and most ethical Congress in history,” Pelosi said. She added, “And nowhere did the American people make it more clear that we need a new direction than in the war in Iraq. ‘Stay the course’ has not made our country safer, has not honored our commitment to our troops and has not made the region more stable. We cannot continue down this catastrophic path.” She called on the Bush administration to work with Democrats “to find a solution to the war in Iraq.”

I remember shortly after the Democrats took over the Congress that we immediately pulled out of Iraq. Well, I guess it didn’t quite turn out like that. The Democrats messed up that whole ethics thing as well. Charles Rangel joins the ranks of politicians caught up in ethics charges. This is hardly newsworthy. Corrupt politicians are a dime a dozen, but when you promise to “lead the most honest, most open and most ethical Congress in history” and fail catastrophically, it has to be pointed out. And what happened to transparency? Everyone loves to hear that we’ll find out what’s in a bill after it’s been passed. That’s comforting! Why would anyone be cynical about politics?

Most Biased Is? Big Journalism has completed the Top Ten Most Left-Biased American Journalists and the winner is Helen Thomas. I don’t know. Helen Thomas hasn’t been relevant since Antoninus Pius was a Roman emperor. Oh yeah, she didn’t like the Jews back then either; however, it was a lot more acceptable back then. What is truth?

Ego Watch: A recent Rasmussen poll shows Charlie “The Ego” Crist trails Marco Rubio in the Senate race. I point this out because I really don’t like Crist. I would rather have Lindsay Lohan as my senator than Charlie Crist. She would be an awesome Senator and far more ethical than most of the yahoos currently sitting in that august body.

Wal-Mart Deserves Nobel Prize: That’s what Mark J. Perry says and who can blame him? Perry links to an article that explains how apparel jobs created by Wal-Mart in Bangladesh appear to bolster school enrollments of girls, especially for young girls. Wal-Mart should be praised for how they’ve reduced poverty worldwide; however, progressives like IKEA and Target better because…. I’m not sure, but I think it has something to do with doing what everyone else is doing. Progressives are very susceptible to peer pressure. Winning the Nobel Prize is no big deal anyway since it’s been reduced to an honorary award given to failed presidents and terrorists.

Climate Bill Dead? Never underestimate the Democrats’ ability to pass unpopular legislation, but it looks like the climate change bill is dead. Score one for the Republic. The bill accomplishes nothing except to make the price of goods increase and make some hippies feel better about themselves, which is really what it’s all about. Imagine all the people, and so on and so forth.

Editorial Note: My annual trip to Priest Lake in my own private Idaho starts on Saturday, so I’ll be gone until August 2. Club Soda is going to be busy as well, so that means no posts for a week, unless Club Soda is struck with divine inspiration. I know… How will you survive? I don’t know. Read a book, play an instrument, or dream of Lindsay Lohan’s first day of freedom. I shall do the latter, but don’t tell my wife.

Rev. Jeremiah Wright:

In one instance, Spencer Ackerman of the Washington Independent urged his colleagues to deflect attention from Obama’s relationship with Wright by changing the subject. Pick one of Obama’s conservative critics, Ackerman wrote, “Fred Barnes, Karl Rove, who cares — and call them racists.”

This is how these people think. It’s okay to slander people as long as the progressive agenda moves forward. Is it really that surprising then that Obama received the greatest media coverage in modern history? From the beginning I didn’t think it was possible for someone with such a lack of experience and ties to shady characters to get elected. I underestimated the members of the liberal media. It’s beyond me how any liberal can complain about the Right’s paranoia when it comes to mainstream news coverage.

Saint FDR: Historians are frothing at the mouth defending Franklin D. Roosevelt’s record during the Great Depression. Over the decades there’s been some kind of deification of Roosevelt’s policies during the Depression. The problem is that upon analysis the story doesn’t add up. Amity Shlaes has a point by point take on Conrad Black’s assertion that FDR’s policies saved the economy. I love Shlaes and I’m happy to learn she’s writing a biography about Calvin Coolidge. If she would only write one about Lindsay Lohan, then I’d really be stoked.

About Massachusetts: As a followup to yesterday’s post about the electoral college, I am so sad to learn that the popular vote legislation being kicked around in Massachusetts wouldn’t take effect until enough states have passed identical legislation. In other words, I won’t hold my breath waiting for this trend to sweep the nation. As an interesting side note, the Constitution actually calls for the election of electors, who would then cast votes for the President. The founders envisioned a true republic in which the only popular election was for the House. True wisdom.

Top Ten Most Left-Biased American Journalists: Big Journalism is doing a series on biased leftist journalists. One of my favorites, the indelible Paul Krugman is #3. The cartoon character Krugman is a hypocrite at best and at worst an ugly partisan hiding behind a Nobel Prize. “But he writes for the New York Times!?!” So what? Who cares?

That’s all I got today. It’s only Tuesday. Tuesday nights mean Hell’s Kitchen on FOX and endless Google searches for the latest on Lindsay Lohan. Now that’s my kind of entertainment.

The Democratic party knows they cannot effectively pass its agenda through the legislative branch without the help of judicial branch. They can ram it down our throats like they’re doing today, but the courts won’t allow it unless they’re stacked with brainwashed zombies who care more about International Law, personal experience and faux diversity than about the Constitution.

What happened to Miguel Estrada is a national tragedy, but there’s no one in the press that cares enough to write the story. The ends justify the means.

Toga, Toga, Toga!

Progressive lawmakers across the nation are trying to reform one of the biggest problems facing the United States. Yes, the electoral college. Twice in American history the person with the most votes has lost. Critics complain that our election system is too complicated. I complain that if you believe it’s too complicated you probably shouldn’t be allowed to vote. The electoral college exists for some clear historical reasons. It keeps states like California, New York, and Texas from bossing everyone around. Given all the problems in California and New York do we really want that mob deciding national elections?

The original electoral college wasn’t designed for a direct election. The only directly elected politicians were supposed to be the House of Representatives. Now we have a slightly different system today. However, I love the idea of Massachusetts giving their electoral votes to the popular vote winner. That would create all kinds of awesome possible election scenarios. Imagine if Obama loses the popular vote and has enough electoral votes, but Massachusetts gives their votes to the popular vote winner. There would be rioting in the streets.

Among the charges lodged against the tea party in the resolution:

• Tea party supporters have engaged in “explicitly racist behavior” and “displayed signs and posters intended to degrade people of color generally and President Barack Obama specifically.”

• Tea party activists have used racial epithets, have verbally and physically abused black members of Congress and others, and have been charged with threatening public officials.

• Tea party supporters also have a distorted view of race relations, the resolution says, citing poll data that found that 25 percent believe that the Obama administration’s policies favor blacks over whites, and 52 percent believe that “too much” has been made of the problems facing black people, compared with 28 percent of the general population.

Let’s start with the first point: signs that degrade President Obama. Unless you believe President Obama is the first President to ever be degraded that argument doesn’t hold water. Simply being opposed to Obama is equal to racism? I mean, really?

The second point… No one in the Tea Party movement has been charged with threatening public officials. As far as verbal abuse is concerned, the only thing we have to go on is the word of lying Congressmen who failed to produce any video or audio evidence in a crowd of thousands. You can’t wink in a crowd these days and not get filmed by eight different people.

The last point is the weakest (and that’s saying something). African-Americans are supposed to be outraged over some random poll that says the Obama administration favors blacks over whites? How many people in the NAACP believe that the Bush administration favored whites over blacks? I don’t even need the answer to that question and I simply don’t care.

The real question is this: What does the NAACP hope to accomplish wasting its time on such nonsense? Why does the NAACP keep supporting a national party that’s not helping blacks, and is, in fact, hampering blacks by trying their best to make selected minorities dependents and wards of the state. Idiotic resolutions do nothing to help people and only marginalize the organization.

Who has time for solutions when there are so many people to blame?

I long gave up hope of the President being a uniting figure. The only people who actually believe that Obama wants to bring people together are so pitifully delusional it’s not worth the effort. What’s interesting to me is the fact the President is far more divisive than Bush. The Left loved to complain about how Bush was so divisive, simply because he existed. During Katrina did Bush ever call out politicians from the opposing party like the current administration?

It’s been a couple of weeks since Rep. Barton made his apology to BP and it’s been over 70 days since the oil started leaking. In that time Barton’s apology is the most positive political thing that’s happened to the Obama administration. I can only assume that’s the case because our great uniter is still bringing it up.

“The top Republican on the energy committee even had the nerve to apologize to BP for the fact that we made them set up this fund. Apologize to BP! He actually called the fund ‘a tragedy.’ A tragedy? A tragedy is what the people of the Gulf are going through right now. That’s the tragedy. And our government has a responsibility to hold the corporations accountable that caused it,” says Obama according to excerpts.

I can appreciate the fact that Barton’s remarks would seem a poor political move on his part; however, it doesn’t change the fact that there’s a never-ending oil spill. If a tar ball washes up on Siesta Key I don’t think I’m going to be any less angry because Barton’s comments helped Obama politically. It would appear that the President’s first priority is to find a scapegoat in every catastrophe.