Voice in the Wilderness

Oogling Obscene Profits, Web Giant Helps Communists Create Alternative Universe

The blogosphere has been aflame with wrath of late at Google cozying up to the Chinese Communist government. Little Green Footballs has done a side by side comparison of the Chinese version and regular version of Google (HT: Dave Benzion at Lone Star Times), which is partially reproduced below.

GoogleImage search of "Tiananmen"

Free World Version

Chinese Dictatorship Version

Read Benzion's whole post and the updates.

What's the Result of a Weaker America?

You've seen them...unkempt hair, bedraggled appearance, lots of black/goth clothes, pale complexion, strong body odor. They're anti-American activists, protesting anything and everything about the United States: our history, government, free market economy, foreign policy, domestic policy, cultural preferences, religious affiliations, the blogs we read, etc.. To them, the United States is the root of all evil in the world.

But, as it turns out, the world actually benefits greatly from our benign hegemony. In the most recent edition of Foreign Policy magazine, Dr. Michael Mandelbaum of Johns Hopkins University’s School of Advanced International Studies finds that our hippy-dippy, stuck-in-the-60's friends and neighbors should be happy with this state of affairs. Money quotes:

"Non-Americans may not enjoy formal representation in the U.S. political system, but because of the openness of that system, they can and do achieve what representation brings—a voice in the making of American policy."

See, we're open and inclusive! The openness and fragmentation of our system of government allows interests groups of all kinds (including overseas interests) to present their concerns on how the US does things overseas. Generally, this is a good thing....except when US federal courts cite foreign case law precedents, but that's a topic for another post.

"The alternative to the role the United States plays in the world is not better global governance, but less of it—and that would make the world a far more dangerous and less prosperous place."

The unacknowledged alternative of the various anti-war, anti-American and "peace" movements is a world governed by more malevolent players in the absence of beneficient American power. Dictators and their designs on territorial conquest have not gone away. They are simply held at bay by the spectre of swift, righteous, American-led retribution.

So, while foreign dignitaries dyspeptically fulminate about the evils of America, don't expect them to do anything to end the free ride they've gotten for years on the back of the United States. And do not expect a coherent answer from your scruffy, college-aged nephew to the question "If the US went away, how would Taiwan defend itself against China?"

This morning's BreakPoint Commentary reports that one of my unfortunate predictions about the Supreme Imperial Court's Kelo decision is coming true.

In 2003, government leaders in Sand Springs, Oklahoma, adopted what they called “Vision 2025.” The plan is billed as the “largest set of public redevelopment projects in the history of Tulsa County.”

The members of Centennial Baptist Church in Sand Springs call it something else: an “unholy land grab.” It’s a land grab for which we have the Supreme Court to thank. Part of “Vision 2025” calls for redeveloping “an abandoned industrial area” in Sand Springs for “big box retailers” and other stores. However, the area in question isn’t exactly “abandoned”: Not only is Centennial Church located there, but it’s also flanked by a McDonald’s and a muffler shop.

As I discussed here, what is to stop the local government mandarin from using the broad powers granted under Kelo to condemn church property to build strip clubs and porno shops? After all, those enterprises generate more sales tax receipts and create more jobs. Or what if the local politicians just don't like your religion because it is too "exclusive", "intolerant", "oppressive", "narrow-minded", enter-your-own-PC-rant-here? Can it be too long before a more "productive" use of the property will be found?