Mr. Thompson is a former Republican senator from Tennessee, and former ABC News Radio contributor.
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A Better than Fair Day
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Yesterday was a good day. Talk radio, along with the blogs, helped block an immigration bill that the American people overwhelmingly opposed. Then, a congressman, who is also an ex-radio talk show host, managed to get a “yes” vote on language in a House bill that could permanently stop those who want to resurrect the Fairness Doctrine.
We've been hearing threats to use the obsolete Fairness Doctrine to go after talk radio ever since the left-leaning talk radio network, Air America, failed. Ironically, I think Air America might have had a shot if its target audience hadn’t already been served so well by many in the mainstream media. But regardless, giving the government veto power over radio stations' programming decisions is wrong. I don't think forcing the one sector of the media where conservatives have a clear voice to provide equal time to liberals is the American way. At the very least, it has a chilling effect on station owners.
posted by Fred Dalton Thompson at 5:37pm
The Darfur Genocide and Global Warming
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Recently, the new UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said that the root cause of the current genocide in Darfur is … global warming. Now if you've been following the tragedy of the Darfur region in the African nation of Sudan, you know how absurd that statement is.
There's not room here for even a good summary, but let me make a few points. Sudan straddles the line between Christian African and Muslim Arabic cultures, bordering Egypt and Libya on the north. Bloody regional warfare stretches back centuries but, in modern times, the country has been in pretty much of a constant state of war since the 1950s. It's safe to say that millions have died in wars that are often aimed at control of the rich oil fields in the South. Today, however, the vastly reduced African Christian population isn't even involved. Two Muslim factions, divided along racial lines, are fighting for control of Darfur.
posted by Fred Dalton Thompson at 4:27pm
Common Sense on Capital Punishment
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Our country seems to be able to come to the right conclusions over time, even when we’re being told over and over again that we're wrong. When I say the right conclusions, by the way, I mean conclusions supported by honest research and real evidence. I've got a good example -- capital punishment.
For decades, the self-proclaimed smart kids have been telling us that the death penalty just doesn't work. The people with the top jobs in academia and the news business have scoffed at the American people's insistence that executions prevent murder.
posted by Fred Dalton Thompson at 4:11pm
Duplicating Disaster
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We're hearing those phrases again; national health care, universal health care, socialized medicine. We're being told that government bureaucrats can take over our entire medical industry -- which by the way is the best and most complex in the world -- and make it better.
It used to be a lot easier to make the case for nationalizing health care before we actually started looking at the countries that have it. A lot of people don't seem to have noticed but, in recent years, the grand experiments in bureaucratic medicine are coming apart at the seams.
posted by Fred Dalton Thompson at 3:48pm
The Queen and Free Speech
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Last week, I was fortunate enough to spend some time in London. Being there, I couldn't help but think how much America owes to British culture and traditions. Even our past disagreements, like that “taxation without representation” thing, had their roots in British thought. The American Revolution can, in fact, be traced directly back to ideas set forth by the great British thinkers such as John Locke and Adam Smith.
For our part, I think what happened in the 13 colonies actually helped the British rid themselves of the “divine right of kings.” Perhaps because of the fact that we fought a war to escape undemocratic monarchy, Americans are sometimes puzzled by Britain's maintenance of royal institutions and traditions.
posted by Fred Dalton Thompson at 5:28pm
Tax Cuts for Kids
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One of the reasons I keep ringing the bell about the Bush tax cuts is that they’ve been so good for our country in so many ways. Letting them expire would amount to a tax hike of historic proportions -- a tax hike that would take a higher share of our total economy than any year but one since the end of World War II.
Prosperity is a wonderful thing in many ways. When societies have strong economies, people voluntarily take care of all kinds of problems, and the quality of life improves for everybody. This may be particularly true for children. Look around the world and you see healthy, growing economies have cleaner environments and better educational systems. The wealthier a society is, the better its children are in terms of nutrition, health care and even crime.
posted by Fred Dalton Thompson at 2:34pm
A Federalist Approach to Malpractice Abuse
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Out-of-control medical malpractice lawsuits have been a problem in many parts of the country for a long time. Malpractice insurance costs can be driven so high, that doctors and insurance companies flee to more reasonable business climates. With too few doctors, it’s the patients who suffer the most.
In the past, those who want to solve this problem have tended to ignore our Federalist tradition. They've driven right past their state houses to their airports and flown to Washington to ask for national legal remedies. Fortunately, now we're seeing that states can take effective action themselves.
posted by Fred Dalton Thompson at 3:29pm
Good News about CAIR
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I've talked before about the Council on American-Islamic Relations -- most recently because it filed that lawsuit against Americans who reported suspicious behavior by Muslims on a U.S. Airways flight. Better known just as CAIR, the lobbying group has come under a lot of scrutiny lately for its connections to terror-supporting groups. This time, though, The Washington Times has uncovered some very good news about the group.
posted by Fred Dalton Thompson at 5:03pm
Union Dues and Secret Ballots
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There was a time in America when local governments and employers could take advantage of powerless workers. Unions formed as a result. Nowadays, government generally sides with, instead of against, unions. The single biggest advantage unions have, of course, is collective bargaining rights – the right to negotiate for whole groups of employees.
Even with these advantages, however, unions have been losing membership in every sector but government -- which is another story. In the last 25 or so years, private sector union membership has dropped from about 19 percent to under 8 percent today. Most decertification votes, giving workers the chance to end union representation, go against the unions.
posted by Fred Dalton Thompson at 4:18pm
Reading Harry Reid
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Well, you've heard by now that Senate leader Harry Reid insulted one of this country's brightest military minds, Marine Corps General Peter Pace -- calling him "incompetent." Let me take a few moments to put this in context.
First, Harry Reid voted for the war, like a majority of our legislators. America decided as a nation to free Iraq and the region from Saddam Hussein's tyranny. I have friends, both Democrat and Republican, who questioned the decision at the time, but the Republic made a commitment based on constitutional and democratic procedures. So they are now a hundred percent committed to moving forward in a way that’s best for our country. None of them, by the way, believe surrendering to the forces of terror in Iraq is what's best for our country.
posted by Fred Dalton Thompson at 1:49pm
Banning Dave Barry
It's funny how things change. Well, not always, but in this case, the story involves one of America's best humor writers -- Dave Barry.
There was a time when American universities were known as havens of free speech, places where controversial ideas could be expressed and discussed. Unfortunately, political correctness has crept into the halls of academia. Then it chained the doors and started duct taping the mouths of anybody who voiced unapproved opinions.
posted by Fred Dalton Thompson at 5:36pm
The Castro/Chavez Axis
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We're coming up on the 45th anniversary of the Cuban Missile Crisis and I think it's worth talking about. In 1962, President John F. Kennedy faced down the USSR, risking total war, and forced the Soviets to remove ballistic weapons from Cuba. Missiles located less than a hundred miles from America were aimed at the US.
A lot of people, I think, have forgotten. Most schools don't even teach about it in any real detail. Judging by the indifference that many people have to the nuclear arming of Iran, I think it's a lesson almost entirely lost -- except among Cuban-Americans.
posted by Fred Dalton Thompson at 5:04pm
A Prescription for the Nursing Shortage
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It’s funny how historic events can have unexpected impacts many decades after memories have begun to fade. America, in fact, is facing a crisis in the next few years that could be traced directly to actions in Nazi Germany and Imperial Japan.
Many young people today have no idea of the scale of World War II -- and I expect it explains why some are impatient regarding the War on Terror. It's hard to fathom now, but nearly 20 million Americans served their country in that conflict. Enormous sacrifices were made by civilians. Approximately 400,000 soldiers gave their lives.
posted by Fred Dalton Thompson at 4:52pm
Podcast Special Episode #10 - Suing for Silence
Fred Thompson talks about intimidation of airline passengers, free speech and Oriana Fallaci.
Original blog text can be found here.
posted by Fred Dalton Thompson at 4:35pm
An Unsustainable Development
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If there's a hell on earth, it's probably Zimbabwe. Life expectancies in the landlocked nation in the South of Africa are the world's lowest. Reports say women live an average of 35 years; men a bit longer. Four in five people are unemployed. Government printing presses run day and night to produce enough money to keep the military from rebelling, so inflation is at an annual rate of 3,700 percent and rising. Cash loses over ten percent of its value everyday.
posted by Fred Dalton Thompson at 4:03pm
Podcast Special Episode #9 - Wishful Theorists
Fred Thompson talks about Harry Houdini, Jesse James, Charlie Sheen, Rosie O'Donnell and conspiracy theories.
Original blog text can be found here.
posted by Fred Dalton Thompson at 6:11pm
The New Hostages
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When Iran abducted 15 British citizens from Iraqi waters in March, the world knew about it. The regime used the hostages for their own underhanded propaganda purposes, but they were at least released. Last week, President Bush called for the release of Americans that almost no one knows are being held hostage in Iran.
When the British sailors and marines were kidnapped, some analysts said that they were second-choice hostages -- that the Iranian management really wanted Americans. Intelligence reports indicate that at least one attempt was made in Iraq to grab a small group of American soldiers, though they fought back and escaped.
posted by Fred Dalton Thompson at 5:14pm
Sentencing of Scooter Libby
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The sentencing of Scooter Libby was the last in a series of acts that has resulted in a shocking injustice – one created by and enabled by federal officials. As I’ve been saying for many months, this is a “he said-she said” case about political infighting that would have never been brought in any other prosecutor’s office in America.
The CIA started the ball rolling by sending the Democratic partisan husband of one of its employees to Niger on a sensitive mission. Knowing an opportunity when he saw one, he returned and blasted the Bush Administration (the fact that he blatantly falsified a few important things along the way is another story). It should not have been a shock to CIA officials when people then asked, “Who is this guy and why was he sent to Niger?” The only mystery in Washington is why the CIA employee-wife’s name, Valerie Plame, took as long as it did to leak.
posted by Fred Dalton Thompson at 5:23pm
Podcast Special Episode #8 - War-Funding Puzzlement
Fred Thompson talks about the signals and pork in the emergency War funding bill.
Original blog text can be found here.
posted by Fred Dalton Thompson at 5:27pm
A Story of Vigilance
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We’ve all heard by now about the plot by Muslim extremists to use jet fuel tanks and pipelines in a terror attack on JFK Airport and Queens, NY. One reason the incident is interesting is that the suspects have mostly Caribbean origins. The roots of the group arrested for plotting an attack on Fort Dix in April were European. This is obviously an international movement.
We’re still learning about the details of the JFK Airport plot, but it appears that an informant was crucial to preventing the scheme. Time and again, we’re seeing how important it is that we’re vigilant.
posted by Fred Dalton Thompson at 5:42pm
Podcast Special Episode #7 - Democratizing the Campaign Trail
You might have heard that someone altered Apple Computer's 1984 Super Bowl commercial, replacing the face of George Orwell's Big Brother with Hillary Clinton's. A message supporting Barack Obama was also added, and it was posted to the Web.
Guerrilla campaign ads have been around for several years, but this one got noticed. It really got noticed. It might be because it sparked tension between the Democratic Party's two front-runners. Or it might have been because, for two weeks, no one knew who was responsible.
posted by Fred Dalton Thompson at 6:13pm