http://www.takimag.com/blogs/MEpstein.xml The Online Magazine for Independent Conservatives, edited by Taki Theodoracopulos en MEpstein@takimag.com Copyright 2008 2008-05-03T04:38:00-05:00 http://www.takimag.com/blogs/article/was_mlk_really_pro_life/ http://www.takimag.com/blogs/article/was_mlk_really_pro_life/#When:04:38:00Z As Martin Luther King is now regarded as the nation’s premiere secular saint, virtually every single cause tries to attach itself to his legacy. It is therefore not terribly surprising that the pro-life movement tries to construe King as pro-life. Charles Colson, for example, said “Were he alive today, I believe he would be in the vanguard of the pro-life movement.” Usually the extent to the connection is his appeals to morality and natural law to fight civil rights, which is what the pro-lifers claim they are doing as well. According to Human Events, “King explained the civil rights cause the … 2008-05-03T04:38:00-05:00 http://www.takimag.com/sniperstower/article/saving_ron_paul_from_who/ http://www.takimag.com/sniperstower/article/saving_ron_paul_from_who/#When:18:59:00Z Justin’s does a great job taking my friend Dave Weigel to task, but I he’s missing a larger point.  Lew Rockwell has been instrumental in helping Ron Paul’s career for over 30 years.  He served as Paul’s Chief of Staff when he was in Congress in the 1970s.  He helped Ron Paul’s run for president in 1988, and encouraged him to return to Congress in 1996.  In between these campaigns, Rockwell used his immense skill as a fundraiser to maintain and grow Paul’s following up to and including his latest run for president. In contrast, Reason was running debates as to … 2008-05-02T18:59:00-05:00 http://www.takimag.com/blogs/article/margaret_sanger_and_the_eugenics_meme/ http://www.takimag.com/blogs/article/margaret_sanger_and_the_eugenics_meme/#When:04:44:00Z Disclaimer: This is the second in a series of pieces critical of certain types of arguments that many pro-life advocates make.  My concern is that they have negative consequences for other issues and the conservative movement as a whole.  It is not my intention to disparage the pro-life cause, which I am sympathetic to. If there is one bette noire of the Pro-Life movement, it’s Planned Parenthood Founder Magaret Sanger. This is not particularly surprising. Planned Parenthood is the largest and most well funded advocate of legalized abortions. Unlike groups like NARAL, they also set up clinics to perform abortions as … 2008-04-27T04:44:00-05:00 http://www.takimag.com/blogs/article/the_splc_feels_your_hate/ http://www.takimag.com/blogs/article/the_splc_feels_your_hate/#When:03:49:00Z Recently, the Associated Press breathlessly proclaimed, “Number Of Hate Groups Rising, Report Says,” parroting claims from the Montgomery, AL based Southern Poverty Law Center.  Despite the group’s assertion, there is not a proliferation of hate groups, just an ever expanding definition of “hate” the SPLC uses to include perfectly mainstream conservatives and opponents of illegal immigration, most recently the Federation for American Immigration Reform. With funding from groups like George Soros’ Open Society Institute, The SPLC has an endowment of over two hundred million dollars, making it “the nation’s richest civil rights organization” according to USA Today. The SPLC was founded … 2008-04-18T03:49:00-05:00 http://www.takimag.com/sniperstower/article/do_the_anti_racist_anti_abortion_arguments_work/ http://www.takimag.com/sniperstower/article/do_the_anti_racist_anti_abortion_arguments_work/#When:14:33:00Z John points out that there are some neoconservative elitists and racists who like abortion for eugenic reasons.  This may be true, but regardless of what they say about abortion after a few drinks, they are not the types of people who support or get involved with NARAL or Planned Parenthood.  The mindset among most of these militant pro-choicers has nothing to do with wanting more or less children of any race.  It has everything to do with their view that every woman—regardless of race or economic status—has the right to abort their fetus and that society has an obligation to make … 2008-04-17T14:33:00-05:00 http://www.takimag.com/blogs/article/is_abortion_racist/ http://www.takimag.com/blogs/article/is_abortion_racist/#When:12:11:00Z Disclaimer: This is the first in a series of pieces critical of certain types of arguments that many pro-life advocates make.  My concern is that they have negative consequences for other issues and the conservative movement as a whole.  It is not my intention to disparage the pro-life cause, which I am sympathetic to. Affirmative action used to be one of the most unifying and popular issues for conservative students. They would often come up with creative ways to protest the policy like “affirmative action bake sales.” Yet now, conservative students’ idea of creativity is to tie support for legalized abortion … 2008-04-16T12:11:00-05:00 http://www.takimag.com/sniperstower/article/whats_the_matter_with_obama/ http://www.takimag.com/sniperstower/article/whats_the_matter_with_obama/#When:23:16:00Z No one should be surprised by Obama’s remarks at a San Francisco fund raiser that because small towns in Pennsylvania and the Midwest haven’t had sufficient economic growth, they “cling to guns or religion or antipathy to people who aren’t like them or anti-immigrant sentiment or anti-trade sentiment as a way to explain their frustrations.” This is exact same thing he said in his much heralded race-transcending speech in Philadelphia where he attributed white “resentment” to “a corporate culture rife with inside dealing, questionable accounting practices, and short-term greed; a Washington dominated by lobbyists and special interests; economic policies that favor … 2008-04-12T23:16:00-05:00 http://www.takimag.com/sniperstower/article/forecasting_the_election/ http://www.takimag.com/sniperstower/article/forecasting_the_election/#When:19:50:00Z If Hillary gets the nomination, we will hear Jack Kemp and co. tell us how this is a “historic oppurtunity” for Republicans to appeal to black voters after the racist anti-Obama campaign from the Clintons.  McCain will still get less than 10% of the black vote.  2008-03-20T19:50:00-05:00 http://www.takimag.com/blogs/article/grover_norquist_vs_walter_jones/ http://www.takimag.com/blogs/article/grover_norquist_vs_walter_jones/#When:16:57:00Z Grover Norquist, president of Americans for Tax Reform, recently went down to North Carolina to campaign against Walter Jones. Jones is one of the strongest conservative leaders in Congress when it comes to issues such as gun control, traditional values, and immigration. He is also one of the few Republicans willing to stand up to the Bush administration’s reckless foreign policy.  Norquist insists that the war has nothing to do with his opposition to Jones and that it’s all about Jones big spending and tax hikes. Jones major sin was his support of the Democratic versions of the Energy and Agriculture … 2008-02-25T16:57:00-05:00 http://www.takimag.com/blogs/article/wayne_gilchrest_the_conservative_movement_and_antiwar_republicans/ http://www.takimag.com/blogs/article/wayne_gilchrest_the_conservative_movement_and_antiwar_republicans/#When:14:00:00Z The defeat of incumbent Rep Wayne Gilchrest at the hands of State Senator Andy Harris is a victory for the conservative movement. Harris defeated the liberal Republican Gilchrest in the heavily conservative 1st congressional district of Maryland by 11%.  Harris repeatedly touted his conservative credentials against the moderate to liberal voting record of Gilchrest focusing on the incumbent’s support for gay marriage, environmental legislation, and troop reductions in Iraq. In his victory speech, Harris said “It’s hard to fool the Republican primary voters … They know who the real Republican conservative is.” Gilchrest was bitter in defeat and refused to give … 2008-02-20T14:00:00-05:00