Free Frank Warner

Abortion doctor shot to death in Kansas

Dr. George Tiller, who specialized in late-term abortions, was shot to death at his church, the Reformation Lutheran Church, today in Wichita, Kansas.

Tiller's death was the first homicide of an abortion doctor since 1998, when a physician was killed by a sniper in Amherst, N.Y.

Frank Warner

Susan Boyles comes in second in talent show

It's just as well for the Scottish singer. Had she won in "Britain's Got Talent," it would have looked fixed. Some dance troupe that no one remembers won the contest.

Frank Warner

Does anyone need gold?

Here's a dumb question on gold: Does anyone really need gold?

I mean, is it valuable simply because it's rare and somewhat popular as bling-bling? What happens if the world loses all its gold? Do I lose my electric power? I can imagine the frowns on pimps and pirates. Would there be another problem?

The price of gold has gone up from $256 an ounce in 2001 to $980 an ounce today. Does gold have any more price stability these days than Dutch tulips did in 1637? Why does gold cost anything?

Can other metals do gold's job just about as well as gold? If so, then why pay a lot for gold, why hoard it, why look at it as a safe investment? Can't we do without gold?

Frank Warner

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Afterthought: I just noticed that copper, a useful metal, sells for 1.33 cents an ounce. That's $0.0133 per ounce.

Here's a proposal: Ban the sale of gold in the United States for 10 years, just to test its real value. If it really is valuable, we'd suddenly have a black market on gold. People would be desperate for it, for all its unique qualities. If the black market is fairly lame, it would say something about gold's true value. Perhaps closer to 1.33 cents an ounce than $980.00 an ounce.

Court could have 2 from Catholic schools

When I heard Sonia Sotomayor went to Catholic schools, I wondered if any current Supreme Court justice had. Well, Power Line has the answer:

Justice Thomas also graduated from Catholic schools. There are no Justices from poor, single parent families who graduated from public school.

It makes you wonder about our public schools. How many public school teachers who live in cities send their own children to public schools?

Frank Warner

Sonia Sotomayor’s surprise: The new unacceptable is bigotry from any group

Judge Sonia Sotomayor probably would take back at least part of her suggestion in 2001 that a Latina woman’s judgment could be superior to a white man’s, President Obama said yesterday.

What Sotomayor said, among other things, eight years ago, was this:

“I would hope that a wise Latina woman with the richness of her experiences would more often than not reach a better conclusion than a white male who hasn’t lived that life.”

‘Nine white males.’ Obama told NBC’s Brian Williams yesterday that Sotomayor probably didn’t intend the statement to be a claim to Latino supremacy, as many conservatives are arguing it is.

“I’m sure she would have restated it,” Obama said. “But if you look in the entire sweep of the essay that she wrote, what’s clear is that she was simply saying that her life experiences will give her information about the struggles and hardships that people are going through.

“You know, she was pointing out, in that same essay, that it was nine white males who passed down Brown versus Board of Education, which is probably responsible for me sitting here. So that’s hardly the kind of statement that would indicate that she subscribes to identity politics.”

‘I would hope.’ The president makes a good point. Sotomayor’s statement was not a declaration of superiority. She did include the clause “I would hope,” which means she was not claming the Latina edge as a fact, but as an aspiration.

She was saying, in effect, I hope I’m better than the white men who have traditionally been our judges. If she didn’t hope that, if she didn’t believe that was possible, she’d have to disqualify herself from serving.

If you want to continue splitting hairs, note then that she was comparing a “wise Latina woman” with a white man. She wasn’t saying all Latinas are wise, but that she hopes those Latinas who are wise would be better than plain white guys.

The new unacceptable. Debates about race and ethnic groups are always in sensitive territory. Like many people, I believe there is only one race, the human race, so I wince when people look at themselves as part of a “race” smaller than the human family.

But Sotomayor also seems to have been caught up by a new social phenomenon. For decades, it has been assumed that, in America, it is impossible for any minority to be racist because a racist must be part of the dominant ethnic group in power. That assumption is changing.

As black people and Hispanics reach high positions of power, and as white people themselves become a minority group, words that minorities used without objection in the last half of the 20th century suddenly are becoming unacceptable.

A side effect. What previously was shrugged off as minority pride in ethnicity or ancestry now can be interpreted as laying the foundation for official discrimination. This is a relatively tiny side effect of decades of progress in human relations, but it should not be overlooked.

Still, we all have to be more flexible about how others celebrate their heritage. I’m half Irish-American and often proud of that. But if I say at a party of the Ancient Order of Hibernians, “The Irish are the best!” should I be disqualified forever from serving on the Supreme Court?

I think we all can cool it on this. I don’t mind that Sotomayor is proud of herself, and I don’t think her pride will hurt the court or the country.

Frank Warner

Total U.S. debt and obligations: $63.8 trillion

The total obligations of the U.S. government, in debt and promised benefits, is calculated in various ways. But it is huge.

USA Today now calculates that the U.S. government now owes $63.8 trillion, and private citizens owe another $14.2 trillion. (I’ve seen the total U.S. obligations calculated around $100 trillion, so these numbers are relatively low.)

$78,000,000,000,000 owed.

That means the average American household (about 2.56 people) owes $546,668 for federal obligations, and $121,953 for personal debts.

China most certainly is watching these numbers carefully, and wondering how you and I are going to pay all this back.

Payment is soon due.

Frank Warner

Had democrats won at Tiananmen, today China would be cool

Over the last 20 years, China has proven the power of freedom in the marketplace of things. Imagine China today had it also unleashed freedom in the marketplace of ideas.

China would be cool.

Had the Chinese Communists embraced political freedom in 1989, instead of crushing it at Tiananmen Square, China today would be seeing its first generation of creative sensations. It would have its own James Dean, its own Elvis Presley, its own Marilyn Monroe, its own Louis Armstrong. People all over the world would want to be Chinese.

Instead, China has Jackie Chan, last seen groveling before his masters. And the only people more uncool than a groveler are the ones he’s groveling to.

Frank Warner

Goddess of Democracy in China: ‘That day will come’ (Tiananmen Square plus 20 years)

Twenty years ago today, Chinese art students in Beijing began to erect a 33-foot-tall statue in Tiananmen Square. On May 30, 1989, it was unveiled at great risk for the world to see.

The Chinese artists who built the Goddess of Democracy or sponsored its sculptors wrote this on a banner nearby:

“At this grim moment, what we need most is to remain calm and united in a single purpose. We need a powerful cementing force to strengthen our resolve: That is the Goddess of Democracy. Democracy … You are the symbol of every student in the Square, of the hearts of millions of people. …

“Today, here in the People’s Square, the people’s Goddess stands tall and announces to the whole world: A consciousness of democracy has awakened among the Chinese people! The new era has begun! … The statue of the Goddess of Democracy is made of plaster, and of course cannot stand here forever. But as the symbol of the people’s hearts, she is divine and inviolate. Let those who would sully her beware: the people will not permit this! …

“On the day when real democracy and freedom come to China, we must erect another Goddess of Democracy here in the Square, monumental, towering, and permanent. We have strong faith that that day will come at last. We have still another hope: Chinese people, arise! Erect the statue of the Goddess of Democracy in your millions of hearts! Long live the people! Long live freedom! Long live democracy!”

Deadly oppression. On June 4, 1989, the Chinese Communist Party’s “People’s Liberation Army,” a fighting force dedicated to preventing the people’s liberation, sent in tanks that toppled the Goddess of Democracy. That army also arrested, beat and killed students whose only crime was that they yearned to breathe free.

In China today, the right to freedom remains inalienable, but it also remains denied. Someday, the Chinese people will live in a democracy that allows them the liberty to choose their own way. “That day will come at last.”

Frank Warner

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See also: 20 years after Tiananmen Square, the Goddess of Democracy speaks.

Obama bobbleheads held up by Customs; nation of origin unknown

A thousand President Obama bobbleheads were supposed to be given away at a West Virginia minor-league baseball game tomorrow, but U.S. Customs has held them up.

The weirdest part of this is that the baseball team had no idea which nation the imported Obama bobbleheads came from.

If they're checking for lead content, we might guess.

Frank Warner

Susan Boyle melts down, curses at hotel

Susan Boyle, who now looks like a cross between Chairman Mao and Winston Churchill, is not handling her new “Britain’s Got Talent” fame well. She reportedly cursed out police, guests and even a TV set two days ago at the Wembley Plaza Hotel in London.

“I Dreamed a Dream” that Susan wouldn’t scream.

Frank Warner