Cup o' Joel

Michael Smerconish’s Fort Hood strawman

Joel Mathis — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 17:00:03 +0000

Michael Smerconish wants you to believe that the Fort Hood massacre is proof that warrantless wiretapping is good and necessary: HERE’S one thing you’re not hearing in all the coverage of the Fort Hood gunman: Complaints that the government was reading his e-mail. No, the outrage is just the opposite – that not only should it have been [...]

Poll: Americans love Republicans more than Democrats

Joel Mathis — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 15:30:59 +0000

New York Daily News: For the first time in years, the GOP has the lead in generic ballot preferences over Democrats. That is, if people are asked whether they’ll vote for an unnamed Democrat or Republican for Congress, 48% are saying they’ll back the Republican, versus 44% who will choose the Democrat. A lot is driven by [...]

“Modern Warfare 2″: Slaughtering civilians is fun!

Joel Mathis — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 15:00:01 +0000

Hey, maybe there’s a “create your own character” mode where you can make yourself into Nidal Hasan! The New York Times review: Basically, the player, in the guise of an American commando, can participate in a massacre of unarmed civilians. The commando has been given the task of infiltrating the inner circle of a terrorist named Makarov. [...]

Lou Dobbs quits CNN

Joel Mathis — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 13:00:29 +0000

I don’t watch much cable news — I’d like to keep my blood pressure from spiking — so this doesn’t really matter much to me. I guess it’s just amazing to me that a journalist who kept the “birther” rumors alive in the mainstream media far longer than they deserved still has the least bit [...]

Afghanistan: Obama wants to know how it ends

Joel Mathis — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 09:00:33 +0000

This has already set off howling and teeth-gnashing from the right: President Barack Obama does not plan to accept any of the Afghanistan war options presented by his national security team, pushing instead for revisions to clarify how and when U.S. troops would turn over responsibility to the Afghan government, a senior administration official said Wednesday. That [...]

NPR: Army officials thought Nidal Hasan ‘psychotic’

Joel Mathis — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 22:05:38 +0000

Disturbing report from NPR that Walter Reed Hospital officials actively considered the question of whether Nidal Hasan — the Fort Hood shooter — was “psychotic” long before his killing spree. So why didn’t officials act on their concerns and seek to remove Hasan from his duties, or at least order him to receive a mental health [...]

Maybe Fort Hood couldn’t have been prevented

Joel Mathis — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 16:36:14 +0000

My friend and nemesis Jim Lakely wants to pin at least some of the blame for the Fort Hood massacre … on the ACLU and its intimidation of the Army into “politically correct” modes of thought. The glib answer is to suggest that civil rights groups don’t kill people — people kill people. And if [...]

The persecution of gay marriage opponents

Joel Mathis — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 19:37:42 +0000

You see this kind of thing a lot on the conservative side of the argument: I’m 26 years old and my generation holds very strong views on this topic… in my experience, mostly in support of same-sex marriage. Personally, I’m on the fence about it. But for most people my age, that is not good enough. [...]

Fort Hood: Why Christians can’t be trusted

Joel Mathis — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 17:03:05 +0000

This is certainly shocking: “Of course, most U.S. Christians don’t shoot up abortion doctors. Fine. As soon as Christians give us a foolproof way to identify their doctor-killers from their moderates, we’ll go back to allowing them to carry guns. You tell us who the ones are that we have to worry about, prove you’re right, [...]

John Derbyshire: The interview

Joel Mathis — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 16:21:05 +0000

Google the words “John Derbyshire” and “sexist” and you get 24,800 results. Google the words “John Derbyshire” and “homophobic” and you get 32,600 results. Google the words “John Derbyshire” and “racist” and you get a mere 21,700 hits. With those bits of information about Derbyshire, a writer at National Review and author of the new book “We Are [...]