BARBARA'S TCHATZKAHS

When I believe they're right - I am happy to give these opinions more bandwith on my blog: TERROR IN TEXAS The nation today ponders the irony of the slaughter of US soldiers, not on a battlefield in some dusty and distant land -- but on an Army base deep in the heart of Texas. But there is no irony. In the terrorists' war on America, every square inch of the nation is a potential battlefield, including Ft. Hood, Texas. The point of terrorism is to terrorize. It matters not at all whether the victims are soldiers on a military base, or office workers in downtown Manhattan, as long as the results are so shockingly bloody that they sap the will of Americans to stand up for their way of life. But is the alleged gunman -- Army psychiatrist Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan -- really a terrorist? Well, with no warning and less provocation, Hasan on Thursday suddenly shouted "Allahu Akbar!" (Allah is great!) and opened fire on soldiers and civilians at a Ft. Hood deployment center. Thi...

I got my undergrad degree in English Literature. That included a heck of a lot of writing of long essays and reading some really dry books. I did my senior thesis on Herman Melville. Yeah, I like to do things the hard way. When I first moved to New York 29 years ago I did a lot of reading on the subway. I spent most Friday nights either at The Strand downtown or Coliseum Books ( which used to be at 57th & Broadway) . There were regulars there, we didn't even know each other's names but we did know what certain people liked to read. One night a nice, older man came up to me in the Philosophy section at Coliseum and said - "Ayn Rand. The section's over there. ( pointing ) You need to read her." So I sidled on over. First one I grabbed was Atlas Shrugged . I was transfixed. I tore through the book, written the year I was born, with vigor. While heading to an evening gig I was reading it on the subway and a man leaned forward across the aisle and said ...

POLITICAL CORRECTNESS IS RUNNING AMOK! This article was the first good laugh I had all week (aside from my child putting a princess crown gently on a friend's cat and the cat sitting still for it!) What the heck is wrong with us? We can't talk, walk or breathe without offending someone? Give me a break! I live in NYC so I thought my name was changed to "YO" for a while there. Was I offended? No! Enjoy: Halle Berry Said "JEWISH!" Is She out of her Half-Black Mind?! by Michael Seitzman "If you watch the clip, you can see Halle saying the word Jewish....[she] should be ashamed of herself!" I'm not sure who is a bigger douche, the Leno audience member who said that, or Richard Johnson, who quoted her on Page Six, under the headline , "Berry Nose Better Than That." Are we really such a nation of pussies now? Someone says the word Jewish and we call 9-1-1? Excuse me, but my tribe has been run down by every small-dick thug since cro-mag...

POLITICAL CORRECTNESS CAN BE TOXIC Chaim over at Freedom's Cost had a great post that really got me thinking about political correctness. ( Chaim , by the way, is a superb writer and very knowledgeable - its a blog to read even from my side of the aisle!) One of my children has a serious problem being bullied. A very sensitive, good looking, tops in class, wins awards at school kid so, hmmm... wonder why? Be that as it may, it's very hurtful. I have been talking with them about it, giving them things to read and doing as much as I can to raise my kids' self esteem. It's hard when the other parent is overly critical, as he was when we were married. He wasn't the first person to do this to me. The abuser gets you defending yourself about things you didn't do, never said and have no clue about and thereby successfully diverts you from their behavior. As my child said, "what did I do to them to make them do this to me?" I don't know because I...

Ideological Warfare I had a few problems with this otherwise very good article. The main one being that we need to wage an "ideological" war on terror. That is an excellent point - harkening to the rose-colored statement of the Chimp-in-Charge that we needed to win the 'hearts and minds of the Iraqi people.' But a point not totally off base, upon reading this piece. This would be fine IF we were not dealing with Islamic terrorists who present a CLOSED SYSTEM OF LOGIC to their own members. Evident from their archaic treatment of women and their brainwashing of children. Again - this article is good except it makes the common mistake of saying we and the terrorists are on a level playing field. It does however, make some very good points that we cannot continue to treat these cultures of hate, death and terror equally to ours. We cannot allow them to enjoy the same freedoms because of political correctness because the abuse and pervert these freedoms for terrorism...