Where the Right is right.

[Zhukov]

From Nicholas D. "Big Lib" Kristof:

Liberals took the lead in championing human rights abroad in the 1970's, while conservatives mocked the idea. But these days liberals should be embarrassed that it's the Christian Right that is taking the lead in spotlighting repression in North Korea.

Perhaps no country in human history has ever been as successful at totalitarianism as North Korea. Koreans sent back from China have been herded like beasts, with wires forced through their palms or under their collarbones. People who steal food have been burned at the stake, with their relatives recruited to light the match. Then there was the woman who was a true believer and suggested that the Dear Leader should stop womanizing: after she was ordered executed, her own husband volunteered to pull the trigger.

"The biggest scandal in progressive politics," Tony Blair told The New Yorker this year, "is that you do not have people with placards out in the street on North Korea. I mean, that is a disgusting regime. The people are kept in a form of slavery, 23 million of them, and no one protests!"

Actually, some people do protest. Conservative Christians have aggressively taken up the cause of North Korean human rights in the last few years, and the movement is gathering steam. A U.S.-government-financed conference on North Korean human rights convened in Washington last week, and President Bush is expected shortly to appoint Jay Lefkowitz to the new position of special envoy for North Korean human rights.

......

It's not all a glowing endorsement of the conservative movement's policy on NK, but it's much more than most liberals have managed to admit.

When exactly did gay 'rights' and reproductive 'rights' trump human rights for Democrats?

Somewhere between the left's collusion with Charlie and the left's hostile take over of liberalism I guess........

 

[Gunny]

From Nicholas D. "Big Lib" Kristof:




It's not all a glowing endorsement of the conservative movement's policy on NK, but it's much more than most liberals have managed to admit.

When exactly did gay 'rights' and reproductive 'rights' trump human rights for Democrats?

Somewhere between the left's collusion with Charlie and the left's hostile take over of liberalism I guess........

I have no idea what we're doing negotiating with these world-class screwups. Continuing to pay Clinton's blackmail money is just going to keep the NKoreans demanding more.

 

[MissileMan]

From Nicholas D. "Big Lib" Kristof:




It's not all a glowing endorsement of the conservative movement's policy on NK, but it's much more than most liberals have managed to admit.

When exactly did gay 'rights' and reproductive 'rights' trump human rights for Democrats?

Somewhere between the left's collusion with Charlie and the left's hostile take over of liberalism I guess........

Two points Z.

1. I expect U.S. legislators to place American rights ahead of foreigner's rights every time, no matter what their political affiliation.

2. If the defenders of gay and reproductive rights, and they're not limited to Dems, are distracted from foreign matters like NK, the blame can be put squarely on the extreme religious right in the U.S. Jerry Falwell, et al, have been relentless in their pursuit to declare homosexuals less than human and not worthy of human rights and to force all women to become slaves, reproductively speaking, to Christian ideals.

 

[Zhukov]

1. I expect U.S. legislators to place American rights ahead of foreigner's rights every time, no matter what their political affiliation.

But should they be expected to invent new rights, rights that aren't defined by our constitution, in lieu of doing something constructive about the auto-genocide that's going on in North Korea and the behavior of the North Korean regime that threatens the stability of a large and important section of the world? Dealing with North Korea is more important than making sure gay people can "marry" one on another.

2. If the defenders of gay and reproductive rights, and they're not limited to Dems, are distracted from foreign matters like NK, the blame can be put squarely on the extreme religious right in the U.S. Jerry Falwell, et al, have been relentless in their pursuit to declare homosexuals less than human and not worthy of human rights

Less than human and not worthy of human rights? Have any examples of the opinions you have attributed to those people?

force all women to become slaves, reproductively speaking, to Christian ideals.

The revulsion against aborting children for no good reason transcends Christianity. Besides, where's the force? If they got their way every state in the union would be able to vote for themselves (see that? vote. I know the will of the people has become quaint these days, but some people still like it) whether or not they want to permit abortion.

A pregnancy that threatens the life of the mother will always be permitted to be terminated.

A pregnancy that results from rape can be terminated immeadiately.

All that leaves is people who abort on a whim, sometimes leaving it until the child is fully formed and ready to live on it's own. More than 2/3rds of people in this country don't support that. It was never voted on......and yet it is legal? There is your force. There is the problem. The will of the people has been ignored.

The right didn't start this war. This war was started in the 60's by the liberal sexual revolution of throw away love, complete sexual permisiveness, and the 'if it feels good do it' mentality. The right is fighting defensively in this culture war but the line that the right started it is part of the big lie.

 

[William Joyce]

The people are kept in a form of slavery, 23 million of them, and no one protests!"

Switch that to 300 million, and it's the U.S.

 

[NATO AIR]

This is why I like Kristof... though he is prone (like most liberals and many conservatives as well, including me) to suspending common sense to support an argument he wholeheartedly believes in, he is honest enough to admit when the other side is right, and indeed, I don't think he views conservatives through that same liberal prism that other liberal writers do. The man is a damn fine writer, whether discussing Pakistan, China, North Korea or Sudan. And he shows other liberals (who sadly decline to pay attention) the many areas of common ground with conservatives on human rights, foreign policy and women's issues.