Sometimes it’s the questions you don’t ask that are telling.  Case in point: the New York Times account of our event with Governor Palin last night.

Young America’s Foundation hosted Governor Sarah Palin for the keynote address at the opening banquet of our Reagan 100 weekend. This weekend marks the 100th anniversary of Ronald Reagan’s birth. Celebrations are taking place across the country, but this is a particularly significant weekend for our organization—since the spring of 1998 we’ve been preserving Ronald Reagan’s beloved Ranch home in the mountains north of Santa Barbara, Rancho del Cielo. Today Ronald Reagan’s Western White House is a place where young people come to be inspired by the life, the ideas, the character of Ronald Reagan.

Photo credit: (c) Jensen Sutta

And Governor Palin visited the Ranch for exactly the same reason.

The Governor gave a powerful speech at our banquet last night, before an enthusiastic overflow audience. She eloquently and gracefully paid tribute to one of the most significant speeches in American history, Ronald Reagan’s “Time for Choosing” address—while at the same time outlining a vision for America that builds upon President Reagan’s.

The speech was universally well received by our audience of all ages. But the New York Times chose to focus on some of the logistics of the event in their account:

Presidential contenders, regardless of their celebrity, are put through a gauntlet of rituals that require a delicate air of patience as they deal with their admirers. Prospective candidates, particularly if they are courting supporters, routinely sit through dinners and mingle with guests. But in her case, Ms. Palin entered the room only for her speech and left immediately after.

The appearance here was marked by tight security and rigid rules, with guests admonished to stay in their seats when she arrived. (“We’d all like to jump up and give her a high-five, but please stay at your tables,” Kate Obenshain, vice president of the foundation, announced from the dais. “There will be no book signings or autographs.”)

Governor Palin has a remarkable effect on people. For many conservatives, she’s a rock star. When the Governor walks into a room, normally even-keeled and good-natured people tend to forget their surroundings and rush towards her—to give her hug, to tell her how grateful they are for her courage, to tell her specifically how she has touched their lives. Event planning requires adherence to a basic schedule. At a minimum, you have to make it possible for your speaker to take the stage, in the “friendly confines” of tightly-packed and small room. Not an easy task with a superstar like Sarah Palin but our team sought to make the event run smoothly. (more…)

The question is meant only half-facetiously, of course. Under the current rules of engagement between the media and politicians, it is never right to punch a reporter.  Treat him or her with contempt, dripping condescension, sarcasm, obfuscation, hostility, Heep-ish like servility or even a couple of drinks, but up til now, no punching.

Then along came Bob Etheridge, Congressman from North Carolina, and a new era of hostilities — not only between our august “public servants” and the press, but between the New Mandarin Class and the folks they were ostensibly elected to “serve.”

Of course, Etheridge has issued a classic non-apology apology, the usual suspects (hello, MSNBC) immediately tried to change the subject from the utterly indefensible actions of a minor Congressman to the propriety of two citizens asking the question: “Do you fully support the Obama agenda?”

So poisonous have our politics become, and so corrupt the media that reports on them, that this rather innocuous query has become in part the focus of the story.  What did the kid mean by that? What were his motives in asking such a question? How dare he be “aggressive,” instead of averting his eyes as one of America’s bonzes strolled by? And just who the hell is he, anyway? (more…)

We are in the middle of the Dahe Fajr (the “Ten-Day Dawn”) in Iran.  On February 1, thirty-one years ago, Ayatollah Khomeini landed at Mehrabad Airport in Tehran.  Ten days later, the Shah’s government fell.  For these ten days Iran strings its streets with lights and joyfully makes ready to celebrate the founding of the Islamic Republic on February 11, which is this Thursday.

And indeed, everywhere you look, everybody’s getting ready for the holiday:

The Islamic Republic

On February 1, President Ahmadinejad announced that Iran will “deliver a telling blow” to the “arrogant global powers” on the 11^th. (more…)

Students taking lab science courses at Berkeley High School in California face loss of a substantial amount of instructional time next year, in order to free up funding for unspecified “equity programs.”

“Equity,” as it’s used in the People’s Republic of Berkeley, seems to mean whatever the speaker believes will close “the achievement gap,” which is virtually an obsession in the district. After all, no one wants to be seen as hostile to “equity.”

Supporters of the current system, in which lab science classes meet for six periods a week (and Advanced Placement lab classes for seven), cite the school’s outstanding performance on AP exams, and the opportunity to use the extra time to help struggling students.

Some critics, on the other hand, feel that not enough of the right kind of people are taking the courses that benefit from additional lab time.  Some even come right out and say it: too many whites take those courses. (more…)