James R. Rummel

I am a self defense instructor who lives in Columbus, Ohio.

The Light Dawns

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The current Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, David Cameron, has something to say about state multiculturalism. It has failed.

“Frankly, we need a lot less of the passive tolerance of recent years and much more active, muscular liberalism,” the prime minister said.

Building a stronger sense of national and local identity holds “the key to achieving true cohesion” by allowing people to say “I am a Muslim, I am a Hindu, I am a Christian, but I am a Londoner… too”, he said.

In other words, he wants Great Britain to become more like the United States.

(Glenn gets a hat tip for the tip off.)

There Is No Place Like Home

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Obama donor who brought in big money for the Presidential campaign is rewarded by being named Ambassador to Luxembourg.

To the victor goes the spoils, and she acted like the perfect little dictator in her vitally important posting. She could do as she pleased, right? After all, The Pres had her back! Might as well use legation funds to live the high life, act like a raging crone to the staff, and otherwise make the lives of everyone around her a living hell.

What blows my mind is that some of the diplomats assigned to her post actually requested reassignment to Afghanistan! Give up the cushy conditions in a modern European city, and trade it for the poverty and physical danger found in Kabul. Anything to get away from that harridan!

The author of the news article linked to above says that such is the danger when amateurs meddle in a field that clearly calls for career diplomats. I think it shows the danger of passing out important positions to political supporters without first bothering to ask if they are suited for the job.

But now she is going to retire to a quiet life with her family. Why is it that these people always claim to find a sudden burning desire for the home fires after their excesses are found out?

Funding Corruption

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According to this news item, Republicans in the US House of Representatives are vowing to cut payments to the United Nations. Of greater interest to me is the promise of investigations into corruption.

There was a great deal of drama over the UN soon after the 9/11 terrorist attacks. Humanitarian programs were seen as chances for graft and bribes, and resolutions against Iraq certainly did nothing to convince Saddam to abide by the peace agreement that ended Gulf War I. Why does the American taxpayer pony up more than 20% of the United Nation’s budget if the organization is nothing but a toothless waste of time that is run by a collection of criminals?

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Wave Of The Future

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One of the big topics of discussions in the right side of the blogosphere lately has been how the pay and benefits of public employees has contributed to the current fiscal emergency our nation now faces. Of particular interest is how unfunded pensions are causing a budget crises every fiscal year.

The Buckeye Institute, which the local news media dubbed a “conservative think tank” here in Ohio, has a searchable database that lists the salary of every public school teacher in this state. They even go so far as to include the estimated pensions that the educators have coming.

This will probably become something that every state will have, and it has been a long time coming.