I've been really busy, and when real life intervenes, my blogging suffers (grades are more important right now). Also, I'm just sort of irksome at American politics right now (probably more on that at one time or another).

Anyway, this week's hero is Tory leader David Cameron.

I'm really I fan, and I suspect he's not really all that conservative, but every once in a while, he gets it right:

Both violent crime generally, and violent crimes involving knives specifically, have doubled over the last ten years. These horrific acts are simply the worst expression of a phenomenon we see all around us: a growing culture of disrespect, ‘attitude’, and straightforward delinquency. This is the consequence of an erosion of what used to be called the moral fabric of society – the sense that your status in the eyes of others depended on living up to positive social expectations. In many of our inner cities today, as we learn from reading about boys like Carty and Brown, a completely different set of social expectations prevails. There is only so much that Government can do to repair our society’s moral fabric. We can – and should – ensure that schools have more power to discipline pupils who misbehave. We can – and should – remove financial penalties against marriage in the tax and benefits system. But ultimately it is society, not the state, which transmits moral messages to young people. Most of all, it is families which are primarily responsible for whether a child does well – like Mr ap Rhys Pryce – or goes wrong, like Carty and Brown. And it will surprise no-one to learn that both Carty and Brown grew up in homes without fathers. I hope the men who left those boys’ mothers to bring them up alone are reflecting on their own responsibility this week."

I agree with him both on the violent crime in Britain (illegal guns = more knife crime, not less murders), and the lacking of paternal responsibility. Well done, Tories.

My hack this week is Carl Levin, a Michigan Senator opposing Star Wars:

The incoming chairman of the Senate’s Armed Services Committee is Carl Levin. Levin, a Michigan Democrat, has long been a foe of missile defense. In 1980s, he worried that President Reagan’s Strategic Defense Initiative — which aimed to develop technology to destroy Soviet missiles during all phases of flight — was “destabilizing.”

Today Sen. Levin sings the same tune in a different key. “They’ve not done the operational testing yet that is convincing,” said Senator Levin during a post-election press conference. He was referring to the Ground based Missile Defense [GMD] system being installed in Alaska and California, to defend against North Korean missiles. He added that he favors stalling purchases of interceptor missiles - vital for missile defense — until after testing is complete.

In short, Sen. Levin and other longtime opponents of missile defense plan to use “testing” - set to an unrealistically high level - to stop missile defense.

Missile defense is crucial, and allows the United States to protect ourselves from China, and gives us more leverage in dealing with Iran and North Korea.

Posted by Ryan S. on Friday, December 01, 2006 at 1:23 PM | Permalink |