Jewish World Review Dec. 26, 2002/ 21 Teves, 5763

Marianne M. Jennings

Marianne M. Jennings
JWR's Pundits
World Editorial
Cartoon Showcase

Mallard Fillmore

Michael Barone
Mona Charen
Linda Chavez
Ann Coulter
Greg Crosby
Larry Elder
Don Feder
Suzanne Fields
James Glassman
Paul Greenberg
Bob Greene
Betsy Hart
Nat Hentoff
David Horowitz
Michael Kelly
Mort Kondracke
Ch. Krauthammer
Lawrence Kudlow
Dr. Laura
John Leo
David Limbaugh
Michelle Malkin
Jackie Mason
Chris Matthews
Michael Medved
MUGGER
Kathleen Parker
Wes Pruden
Sam Schulman
Roger Simon
Tony Snow
Thomas Sowell
Cal Thomas
Jonathan S. Tobin
Ben Wattenberg
George Will
Bruce Williams
Walter Williams
Mort Zuckerman

Consumer Reports


Capital offenses, power and Harry Potter


http://www.NewsAndOpinion.com | The Miami blue butterfly hovers near extinction, a victim of hurricanes, mosquitoes, and troglodyte developers. Environmentalists weep and liberals blame the Bush administrations, presidential and gubernatorial.

These same butterfly mourners form a blockade against the teaching of Creationism because evolution is the origin of species. The liberal mind has tangled ganglia and mitochondria that prevent short-circuits for philosophical inconsistencies. They will not acknowledge that evolution, by its very definition, demands extinction.

Liberal brains are hotwired so that laws and order don't interfere with desires. With the Lott expulsion, conservatives use megawatt capacity trying to glean the liberal rules of play.

From the folks who preach tolerance, forgiveness and all manner of biological excuse for misdeeds, we witness nothing but judgment, penalties, and inconsistency. Sen. Lott needed his comeuppance for his shabby conduct, and conservatives said so. But why is Sen. Robert Byrd exonerated for worse remarks, including the "N" word?

Liberals leave us, once again, with the question, what is a capital offense? What conduct is so offensive to them that it is universally wrong?

Homicide is not a capital offense for Teddy Kennedy lives on in revered state despite Chappaquiddick, and O.J. Simpson walks the golf courses of the world in search of himself, the real killer, because LA detective Mark Fuhrman used the Byrd racial slur 11 years prior to investigating the Simpson murders.

Bribery is a capital offense only if said bribery causes your poll numbers to tank. Sen. Robert Torricelli, (NJ) (D) committed so many ethical violations, if not crimes, that even New Jersey's Cosa Nostra blushed. He was yanked from his re-election bid only when his poll numbers sagged perpetually.

Sexual misconduct once appeared to be a capital offense. Senator Bob Packwood was drummed out for stolen kisses. Clarence Thomas remains uninvited from campuses and discounted as a justice for charges of sexual harassment by a single scorned woman. Rep. Bob Livingston (R) was poised to become the Speaker of the House, but was ousted by Democrats from public life because he confessed to an extra-marital affair during Monica and Clinton, Kathleen and Clinton, Juanita and Clinton, Jesse Jackson and his love child and, well, you get the idea.

Corporate ties and exorbitant gains came close to being capital crimes. Mr. Bush and Mr. Cheney still fight their respective Harken Energy and Halliburton battles over their enrichment during a market era when even monosyllabic GenXers became multi-millionaires. But, Mrs. Clinton's odd parlaying of $1,000 into $99,537 in the yippee-kay-ay commodities market using advice from a political donor got a free pass as did DNC chair Terry McAuliffe's $18 million windfall from a $100,000 investment in the now-bankrupt and under-investigation Global Crossing.

Zoe Baird and Kimba Wood, Clinton nominee and near-nominee for attorney general, were hurled from the Beltway for failure to pay nanny taxes, the wage taxes on caregivers for their children. Baird faced immigration questions on her hired help as well. But liberals marched conservative labor secretary nominee Linda Chavez out of the Beltway on a rail because of her complex financial arrangement in giving shelter and money to an illegal immigrant.

This singular act of consistency reveals the overarching premise of the liberal mind. Petty offenses bother the liberal mind, not the big ones. Sexual harassment is an issue, but adultery is human nature. Immigration and wage tax laws trump compassion. Racial slurs justify homicide.

Liberals do not adhere to universal, natural or eternal laws. They prefer the made-up rules for they are in charge. I marvel at their deftness with PC language rules. They have daily rule entries and resulting victims.

Under their rules, accountability and responsibility are banished by their beloved psychiatric DSM manual that includes a defense for every crime, an excuse for every nasty human habit and a disease to explain every poor human choice. Liberals make it all up as they go along. Rulebooks grow. New rulebooks develop. As keepers of the rules, they are perpetually employed as selective protectors of their followers with rapiers drawn for those who question the nonsensical rules.

Creationism frightens them so because of the possibility of divine ouster. Author J.K. Rawling's Harry Potter has a nemesis who mocks gallant Harry for his adherence to absolutes, "There is no good and evil, there is only power." Therein lies the consistency key to the secret chamber of the hopelessly inconsistent liberal mind.

Enjoy this writer's work? Why not sign-up for the daily JWR update. It's free. Just click here.


JWR contributor Marianne M. Jennings is a professor of legal and ethical studies at Arizona State University. Send your comments by clicking here.

Up

12/20/02: Mundane superlatives cause trouble
12/09/02: Let the sacking begin
12/05/02: Amazing Grace that saved me from my CO2 emissions
11/27/02: Free speech, Harvard, and First Amendment looneys
11/25/02: Eminem culture
11/14/02: Hollywood trash
11/04/02: Patron Kennedy Saints
10/28/02: What the snipers and Moose taught
10/22/02: Nobel Prizes and other ventriloquist acts
10/17/02: The window on the liberal mind and war
10/14/02: Leaders don't change; followers do
10/07/02: Do it yourself
09/27/02: Hosers rise again
09/20/02: Girly gridiron
09/13/02: Erudite buffoons
09/11/02: One year later, crass demands, greed, and litigation are back --- but rights are diminished
09/06/02: Public schools: An unqualified success
08/30/02: The Shakespearean tragedy of affirmative action
08/23/02: Hollywood Joe's admission
08/15/02: Cheapskates
08/08/02: Ode to a coal miner
08/02/02: Sarah Brady's gun gift
07/26/02: Don't do it, Tiger
07/18/02: Reality Muppets
07/09/02: We're all going to die, live with it
07/02/02: From the eye of the storm
06/27/02: Nick not right
06/20/02: Behind the music
06/14/02: The sum of all fears in vouchers
06/06/02: Where was Agent Rowley when the FBI needed her?
05/30/02: Of big hair and sanity
05/24/02: Should I embrace liberalism?
05/20/02: Some passion about Israel
05/09/02: A mother who cares enough
05/02/02: Go ahead, pass judgment
04/29/02: The irritation of the modern wedding
04/18/02: Claire's life
04/15/02: Harvard takes off its pants one leg at a time
04/09/02: The Clinton legacy: Politics of personal destruction
03/31/02: Oscars' subtle bigotry was embarrassing
03/22/02: Blame Oprah, Rosie, Sally, Ted, David
03/14/02: The costs of women's feeble choices
03/08/02: Botoxic faces
02/28/02: The dangers of organized philanthropy
02/25/02: Don't take the gold
02/14/02: Ease up on the brothers and sisters
02/11/02: Because I was courted
02/05/02: Fat fault
01/24/02: Tolerance does not mean stupidity
01/17/02: Too old too soon
01/10/02: Ethically challenged firms
01/03/02: The year that was
12/27/01: The Twelve Days of inconsistency
12/20/01: Free Speech and the political spectrum
12/13/01: Curbing brats
12/06/01: Power to influence
11/29/01: The disappearing art of grading
11/21/01: The Big Two-Five
11/13/01: You can never find a lib when you need one
11/01/01: Unlucky in sports
10/26/01: An epidemic of counselitis
10/16/01: A touch of class
10/12/01: Of human nature and monsters
10/05/01: Sensitive man
10/01/01: Post-September 11 security
09/20/01: No tinhorn terrorists can frighten us
09/06/01: If there is no honor in youth sports, it is because of the adults
08/27/01: The draw of Condit
08/23/01: Lowering expectations and flying high
08/17/01: Thoreau, Walden and stems cells
08/13/01: Our masters: The animals
08/02/01: FRAN, MARY JO, MONICA & CHANDRA
07/30/01: When principle hits too close to home
07/13/01: Rage born of sublimation
07/06/01: Patient's rights and the Valley of Death
06/29/01: There is no excuse
06/21/01: I want an eternal soulmate, but the marriage thing is another issue
06/14/01: Which way maverick McCain? An Arizonan's perspective
06/07/01: No stroke of genius
05/30/01: The lesson of the Mr. Green Jeans senator: 'Moderate' is a classy term for wishy-washy
05/25/01: Baseball has not been so good to me
05/18/01: Clothes make the woman
05/11/01: Selective precaution
05/04/01: Grades: Equality of students, by students, for the students
04/27/01: The Horowitz revelations as seen by a college professor
04/20/01: First, let's kill all the tests
04/13/01: The continuing mistake of underpricing electricity
04/06/01: That pill, Julia Roberts
03/29/01: If it weren't for the parents, we might accomplish something
03/23/01: The melt down of the academy
03/15/01: Columbine redux: Moral infants
03/09/01: The lessons of Tom and Nicole
03/01/01: Pardon the temporary outrage
02/23/01: In defense of homework
02/20/01: A Message for faith-based organizations: Don't take the money, just run
02/06/01: Enough already with the Clintoons
01/26/01: The challenge to be better than we have been
01/19/01: Where have you gone Frieda Pushnik?
12/29/00: The year that was
12/23/00: Litigation: It's the American way
12/15/00: In defense of rhetoric
12/06/00: The company we keep: Lawyers and elections
12/01/00: Liberals' art of trashing of women
11/20/00: Put me out of my misery
11/17/00: On being a statesman
11/13/00: When it's broke, fixing it wouldn't offend the Framers
11/08/00: ELECTION 2000: I SURRENDER
10/27/00: Al in the package? Memo to women: Choosing presidents and husbands
10/20/00: Ten things the gay community should understand
10/13/00: "You Have a Lump."
10/06/00: The government as the pharmacy: Don't
09/29/00: The capacity for truth
09/22/00: Charity with strings and an agenda
09/15/00: The taming of the shrew: Gloria Steinem takes a husband
09/09/00: Why rich folk don't bother me none
08/28/00: Survival of the not-so-fit but conniving
08/25/00: Conventions: A study in contrasts
08/18/00: Resenting the accusations of racial prejudice
08/04/00: Women: Their own worst enemy
07/21/00: Hillary: Our longshoreman First Lady
07/21/00: SUVs: The root of all evil
07/14/00: The basketball gene and white men not jumping so well
07/07/00: I wanna be around
06/23/00: The liberal conversion
06/14/00: Sex and the City: The shallow but vulgar female
06/08/00: No excuses schools
06/02/00: Oh, Canada: Our Nutty Neighbors to the North
05/23/00: The new mollycoddling coach
05/16/00: On adultery and leadership
05/12/00: Taking your lumps
05/02/00: Elian: There's never a liberal around when you need one
04/25/00: Life's circle and tenderness
04/18/00: Womyn who want it both ways
04/11/00: The monsters we're raising with the ergo proposition
04/05/00: Endowing the Hooters Chair for Literature Appreciation
03/28/00: Dr. Laura: The passive/aggressive kid's mom
03/21/00: Dough and campaigns
03/14/00: The volunteerism of conscription and pomp
03/07/00: Hope and pray that religion remains a force in politics
02/29/00: Ditzes in TV Land
02/22/00: Cranky nitpickers make writing a [sic] experience
02/15/00: Those chameleon 60s activists
02/08/00: McCandidate McCain: Flirting with principles
02/01/00: The demise of marriage
01/25/00: Stroke of the pen, law of the land: Clinton's Camelot
01/18/00: Off the Rocker Rorschach Test
01/11/00: Oprah's lemmings
01/04/00: Struggling mightily amidst the comfort
12/23/99: Confused fathers
12/14/99: Drop-kicking the homeless
12/07/99: Turtles and teamsters, side-by-side in Seattle
11/29/99: When conservatives behave badly
11/22/99: Compassionate conservative: Timing and targets
11/18/99: The elusive human spirit and accountability
11/11/99: Succumbing to the intellectual child within with the help of crackpots and screwballs
10/28/99: Live by litigation, die by litigation
10/22/99: Jesse, Warren, Cybill, Donald and Oprah
10/14/99: Inequality and injustice: It's the big one
10/05/99: Dan Quayle, morals and schoolyard bullies
09/30/99: The monsters of epidermal parenting
09/21/99: The Diversity Hoax
09/15/99: Waco Wackos
09/09/99: Selective censorship
09/01/99: The village, the children, judicial imperialism and abortion
08/24/99: Naughty Newt?
08/17/99: In defense of Boy Scouts and judgment
08/10/99: Ruining the finest health care system in the world
08/03/99: Nihilism and politics: ethics on the lam
07/26/99: Of women, soccer and removed jerseys
07/23/99: Not in despair, a mere mortal doing just fine
07/20/99: "Why me?" How about "Why us?"
07/13/99: Bunk, junk & juries
07/06/99: An Amish woman in a Victoria's Secret store
06/30/99: That intellectually embarrassing Second Amendment
06/24/99: Patricia Ireland eat your heart out --- but check out the recipe in 'women's mags' first
06/22/99: Dems and the Creator coup
06/17/99: True courage is more than just admitting troubles

© 2002, Marianne M. Jennings