Political Potpourri

Edition 2 of our new semi-regular roundup of newsworthy items...

Yet another installment in the slow and disturbing decay of Western values in the United Kingdom:

Muslims have complained over a police advert featuring a puppy sitting in an officer's hat. A police force has apologised to Islamic leaders for the "offensive" postcard advertising a new non-emergency telephone number, which shows a six-month-old trainee police dog named Rebel.

Horrors continue in Zimbabwe, and no one seems to quite be able to muster the courage to do something about it:

The supposedly civilised world has allowed Mugabe and his horrors to happen, mainly unchecked. Sanctions on his country merely starve those who disagree with him. Zimbabwe has all the natural, and had all the human, resources to be an example to the rest of Africa. It is now merely a symbol of what happens when a dictator takes charge, and those who might rein him in simply look away.

The guy who came up with the whole national health care system in Canada now thinks it was a bad idea:

"We thought we could resolve the system's problems by rationing services or injecting massive amounts of new money into it," says Castonguay. But now he prescribes a radical overhaul: "We are proposing to give a greater role to the private sector so that people can exercise freedom of choice."

In Obama news, the Boston Globe has done some high-quality investigative reporting into some pretty shady dealings in Chicago. It's a lengthy discussion of the complete failure of public housing in Obama’s Illinois state senate district, managed under programs he supports and by people involved in his campaigns, including Tony Rezko.

And at least one commentator is worried about what an Obama presidency might mean for individual freedoms in the United States. Jeffrey Lord writes:

Pull back for a moment from the day-to-day and see the pattern.

Talk radio. Oil. Guns. Global warming. Smoking.

On the surface this is a seemingly unconnected laundry list of issues, their connection one to another tangential at best. Or is it?

In the increasingly disturbing view we are all getting of the messianic world that is Obamaland, these subjects in fact have a chilling commonality.

Remember, it's not only the freedoms listed in the first and second amendments that make this country great. As a conservative, I also value the freedom to spend my time and money the way I want to, to be in control of my own health care, to make (currently hypothetical) decisions about my (future) children's schooling, etc. And if I want to use my own money to heat my house to 72 degrees (I don't) or drive an SUV (I do!), the government really ought to stay out of my way. You know, it's that whole crazy thing about "life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness"... seems like maybe I read that somewhere... might be an important part of the founding of our country or something... anyone?