My hero this week (for the first time ever, I think) is President George W. Bush. Only Nixon could go to China goes the now-popular saying, and maybe in the future, it will be only Bush could go to India. This is a really big deal in terms of foriegn policy, and James C. Bennett thinks this could be the start of something big, going so far to call this "may end up being the single most consequential act of the Bush presidency." A comment made by an Indian man on Vodkapundit:

10 thousand protest Bush? Bah! More people gather to watch when a cow upsets a hawker's handcart on an Indian Street!
Bush's approval is at 40% in US, v/s 54% in India. That coupled with our population being more that thrice that of US means we have much more Bush fans than entire US population! We love him because we are a pragmatic bunch who can cut through the PC/lefty/dhimmi cr@p and see who is fighting the good fight.

Posted by Tushar D at March 2, 2006 02:18 PM

My hack this week is Chase Enterprises and the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board. The PGCB is trying to bring casino gambling to Pennsylvania, something I have no basic problems with. However, the Chase proposal places Gettysburg battlefield at the top of the nation's endangered Civil War historic sites:

A proposed slots casino in Straban Township has propelled the Gettysburg battlefield to the top of the Civil War Preservation trust’s endangered battlefields list.

In its annual report unveiled Tuesday morning, the trust identified sites nationwide it sees as especially threatened by development and other factors.

“Hallowed ground, where more than 600,000 Americans gave their lives, is being paved over in favor of shopping malls, housing tracts, and even gambling casinos,” Trust president James Lighthizer said in a press release.

“These endangered battlefields are irreplaceable treasures and now, more than ever, we must work to preserve and protect these sites because once they’re gone, they’re gone forever,” he said.

The report comes in the wake of a fund-raising letter written in early February by Lighthizer that encourages recipients to sign a petition to prevent the construction of the casino in Gettysburg.

The letter refers to the gaming facility proposed by Chance Enterprises as a “reckless scheme to build a gambling casino complex” that would include “a complex of hotels, a convention center and multi-screen movie theatre in addition to a sprawling slot-machine casino.”

I have often visited Gettysburg, and I almost went to college there (way out of my price range). It holds a place in my heart that I cannot fully describe, and to see it desecrated by a casino when the town has tried very heard (especially in recent times) to maintain as much as possible from 1863. The Gettysburg Tower, a horrid looking monstrosity opened in 1974 was demolished in 2000 as "first dramatic step in a major effort to restore the Gettysburg battlefield to its 1863 appearance." I hope it stays that way, because regardless of your stance on the War itself, I cannot think of any other place I have been to that fully achieves the impact of history upon the soul like the terrain of Gettysburg.

Hero/Hack appears every Friday at Jokers to the Right.

Posted by Ryan S. on Friday, March 03, 2006 at 12:05 AM | Permalink |