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<em>Dancing under the Red Star</em>: An American survivor of the Soviet gulag

During the all-too-brief Thanksgiving weekend, I actually did unwind a bit. We had Thanksgiving dinner at my parents' house, along with my sister and her family, and we celebrated my birthday (belated) and my dad's (early). I took the 14-year-old to the Friday night late showing of Harry Potter and...

Posted by Michael Bates on November 29, 2010 9:25 PM

Useful idiots and congressional socialists

The BBC World Service has aired a two-part series, Useful Idiots, about Western intellectuals and journalists who were and are apologists for evil regimes. (The title is a phrase of Lenin's.) Part one focuses on the Soviet Union, Stalin, and his defenders, like George Bernard Shaw, H. G. Wells, and...

Posted by Michael Bates on August 14, 2010 2:03 AM

Links elsewhere 2010/06/22

Man of the West looks at the Leftist track record and wonders why America's leftists "champion the same policies that have brought whole nations to their knees and criticize their opponents for their alleged insensitivity to the poor--the poor that leftist policies indisputably create in massive numbers!" He also offers...

Posted by Michael Bates on June 22, 2010 8:59 PM

Pray for China, May 12 through June 4

More than 80 Chinese Christian leaders, most of them involved in the 1989 Tiananmen Square protest movement, released a statement today calling for "forgiveness, repentance, truth, justice, and reconciliation." They call upon all Chinese Christian churches, in China and overseas, "to pray between May 12 - the anniversary of the...

Posted by Michael Bates on May 6, 2009 11:58 PM

Victims of Communism: Liu Xiaobo

Liu Xiaobo, a writer and outspoken advocate for freedom of expression in Communist China, was honored by PEN yesterday with its 2009 Freedom to Write award. Liu has been "in and out of jail" since his active involvement in support of the Tienanmen Square protests nearly 20 years ago. His...

Posted by Michael Bates on April 29, 2009 12:11 PM

Flaming Lips flame war

There's been a lot of discussion about the vote in the Oklahoma House of Representatives on whether to ratify "Do You Realize??" as the official rock song of Oklahoma. The resolution received only 48 votes in favor, three short of the required majority. Gov. Brad Henry signed an executive order...

Posted by Michael Bates on April 26, 2009 6:25 PM