On September 11, 2001, I was a left-wing freelance journalist spending a few days in the African ghetto of inner city Johannesburg as an escape from the previous week of antisemitic mayhem at the UN World Conference Against Racism in Durban, South Africa.

I walked into a Bollywood movie at a crowded shopping center at 3 p.m.–which was 9 a.m. in New York–and when I emerged three hours later, I was completely alone.

Two memories from the aftermath stand out for me. First, the way my Muslim landlady and neighbors in a working-class neighborhood in Cape Town made a special effort to tell me how appalled they were at what had happened to America.

The Malay Quarter, Cape Town

Second, the way elite journalists and intellectuals in the international press actually celebrated the 9/11 atrocity, while offering formal condemnations of terror “in all its forms.” (more…)

From the UK’s Daily Mail:

Brussels is pouring nearly £20million a year from its human rights budget on lecturing the Americans on left-wing causes.

The EU Human Rights Fund is intended to help promote Western values in the developing world. But a shock report has found at least £17million of cash – around £2million from British taxpayers’ – has been ploughed into promoting the pet causes of Eurocrats in the U.S.

It is being spent on promoting abolition of the death penalty, discussion of climate change, green energy, and the International Criminal Court – all controversial subjects in the U.S.

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Even the most avid circus goers tire of the big top, apparently.

Saturday, various labor and left wing organizations attempted to hold another massive protest at the Wisconsin State Capitol.

The lackluster May Day rallies in Milwaukee and Madison were filled with pleas to head to Madison on May 14th to show Scott Walker that the fight isn’t over. Liberal radio hosts plugged the event. Lefty bloggers posted about it. Labor unions sent out emails and robo calls to their members. Madison coffehouses, bookstores and telephone poles were littered with brochures about the rally. People were bused in from across the state.

Yawn.

It appears “We’re not going away!” isn’t as catchy as “We skipped out of work, to show we deserve our pay.”

When the allure of shutting down schools or shutting down the legislature are missing, so are a hundred thousand protesters it seems. Now, 7-10,000 is still a crowd, but in Madison, Wisconsin the left can get that many out to protest an appearance by the rare conservative speaker on campus.

The changes to the public employee union’s collective bargaining power remain held up in court. But Act 10 has been signed into law. It’s done. It is just going to take some time to get past the liberal judges in Dane County.

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I don’t have much to say about the recent Arizona shootings by madman Jared Loughner, except this:

Many commentators almost as mad as Loughner have attempted to connect this lunatic’s actions to “inflammatory right-wing rhetoric.” I won’t go into here the long list of inflammatory left-wing rhetoric (and actions) that spill over into open violence. (Michelle Malkin has a good summary — with detailed proof — if you’re interested.)

Instead, I’ll make a suggestion.

If the Left wants to eliminate at a stroke the vast majority of heated, hated right-wing rhetoric there’s a very simple way to do that: give up.

Get out of the way. Stop advocating the violation of individual rights every day in every way. Stop trying to get legislation passed that steals private property for the purpose of funding your favorite social engineering goals. Stop extolling the alleged virtue of interpreting the U.S. Constitution in ways that further Progressive goals. End your advocacy of coercion through government.

Your cause is not noble, your methods are not virtuous, your philosophy is not just. Your ideas are more than mistaken; they’re immoral, impractical, and unconstitutional. Change your philosophy and change your behavior and ‘the Right’ will have no longer have an incentive to fight back against your support for squishy tyranny.

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 When you spend day after day examining the self-serving agenda of the nation’s two largest teachers unions, you develop a tendency to think badly of teachers.

That’s a mistake. We have to remember that there are millions of great teachers out there, doing their best to help our children develop on a dialy basis. We have to remember that many teachers do not subscribe to the left-wing political agendas of their unions, or approve of their tactics.

Larry Sand is a great example. This recently-retired educator from Los Angeles was a member of the NEA-affiliated California Teachers Assocation. To his credit, he’s also a major pain in the backside of the CTA.

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