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April 30, 2004

The Democrats Have Lost Their Way

Kerry wants Al Sharpton to speak at this year's DNC in Boston. Taranto puts this in the right context:

Sharpton is best known for the racially charged Tawana Brawley rape hoax, and later he led marches against a Harlem store-owner during which, as Fred Siegel recalls, "picketers from Mr. Sharpton's National Action Network, sometimes joined by 'the Rev.' himself, marched daily outside the store, screaming about 'bloodsucking Jews' and 'Jew bastards' and threatening to burn the building down." In due course, someone actually did burn the building down, killing seven innocent people. This is who John Kerry wants to address his party's convention.

Someone please remind me why Jews vote predominately Democrat.

Posted by bubba138 at 02:57 PM | Comments (0) |

SHHHH...

It's a secret.

Posted by bubba138 at 02:52 PM | Comments (0) |

Keep the Net Free

Here's good news:

The United States Senate broke an eight-month stalemate on Internet access tax policy early Thursday evening, casting a 93-3 vote to ban state and local tariffs on Internet connections for another four years.

The Internet Tax Non-Discrimination Act (S. 150) now goes to a joint conference committee to hammer out a compromise with a sharply different House of Representatives view...

President Bush, who has recently added a goal of ubiquitous American broadband penetration by 2007 to his re-election stump speeches, has said he will sign a new Internet access tax prohibition.

This move will only enhance an already humming economy, and it is good to know G.W. Bush is completely behind it. I wonder where Kerry stands on this issue?

Sen. John Kerry, the presumptive Democratic Party presidential nominee, was on the campaign trail and missed the vote.

I guess that's just one more to add to the list. Perhaps this is the best way to ensure Kerry doesn't flip-flop.

Posted by bubba138 at 01:49 PM | Comments (0) |

Go Figure: Tax Cuts Work

And this is just the beginning...

Posted by bubba138 at 01:28 PM | Comments (0) |

Read the Names

Ten reasons for Koppel to read the names:

10. We are too comfortable with death when it is far away. Read the names.

9. It is right to remember our fallen heroes. Read the names.

8. Political motivation doesn't always make it wrong to do the right thing. Read the names.

7. American life is easy, we take liberty for granted. Read the names.

6. Freedom is not free is more than a stupid slogan. Read the names.

5. Pat Tillman's story should inspire us. All our war dead should inspire us. Read the names.

4. They died because they believed in something bigger and grander than themselves. Read the names.

3. They did not count their sacrafice without worth. Neither should we. Read the names.

2. What Koppel and CBS means for politics and profit, we can can turn into honor. Read the names.

1. They fought. They bled. They died. They desrve our respect. Read the names.

Posted by bubba138 at 11:14 AM | Comments (0) |

Tillman Reprise

UMass' Daily Collegian is taking fire for publishing an opinion article that blasted Tillman. The author spouted off Indymedia style insults:

"You know he was a real Rambo, who wanted to be in the 'real' thick of things...I could tell he was that type of macho guy, from his scowling, beefy face on the CNN pictures. Well, he got his wish. Even Rambo got shot in the third movie, but in real life, you die as a result of being shot. They should call Pat Tillman's army life 'Rambo 4: Rambo Attempts to Strike Back at His Former Rambo 3 Taliban Friends, and Gets Killed.'"

The student has since apologized:

Gonzalez said in an e-mail to a Boston TV station that he was trying to say Tillman's celebrity had factored into his being labeled a hero.

Setting aside the fact that the apology is obviously weak and his excuse is a patent lie, there are a couple of important issues that require exploration.

First, many are saying this article should have never been published. One radio jock in San Diego actually believes Gonzalez should be sued.

But we live in a country and under a rule of law that gives Gonzalez the right to publish his opinion, no matter how vile we find it. Sure, the left will cry out "censorship!" no matter what happens. But the bottom line here is that Pat Tillman died precisely so Gonzalez in America and others like him in Afghanistan have the right to say what they want to say. I believe Pat would have it no other way.

Second, how we react to Gonzalez will play a big part in how America views the looney left. If we do our best to shut the Gonzalez's of the nation down, if we refuse their right to speak out, then no one will hear how stupid they really are. It doesn't take a genius IQ to figure out which side of the political fence Gonzalez and his buddies fall on. The more Americans see that the Democratic party rides upon the rage of the Gonzalezites, the more disgusted they will become.

Posted by bubba138 at 07:55 AM | Comments (0) |

April 29, 2004

Gorelick's Gotta Go

The water is getting hotter for 9/11 commission member Jamie Gorelick. In the last week we found out that:

1) The memo that created a "wall" between criminal and counter-intelligence investigations also served to protect Clinton during the China-gate investigation.

2) Gorelick and team were advised to modify the policies outlined in the memo:

The Justice documents released Wednesday also show sharp criticism from Mary Jo White, the former U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York, whose office prosecuted the terrorists convicted in the 1993 World Trade Center bombing. That office also indicted Usama bin Laden for the 1998 bombings of two U.S. embassies in Africa.

"It is hard to be totally comfortable with instructions to the FBI prohibiting contact with the United States Attorneys' offices when such prohibitions are not legally required," White wrote in a June 13, 1995, memo to then-Attorney General Janet Reno.

3) Gorelick's office flatly refused http://www.cnsnews.com/ViewSpecialReports.asp?Page=/SpecialReports/archive/200404/SPE20040429b.html):

However, the Vatis/Gorelick memo offered a blunt reply.

"I recommend rejecting this change," the June 19, 1995 document stated. "[A] USAO (U.S. attorney's office) should not be notified of a national security investigation -- particularly one that has not yet developed into a criminal case -- without the approval of the AAG (assistant attorney general), Criminal Division."

Gorelick must be put off the commission. Anything less would be a mockery.

Posted by bubba138 at 12:01 PM | Comments (0) |

Economy Still Humming Along

It keeps getting better:

Look for John Kerry and krew to start harping about inflation and rising mortgage rates, but for them good news is bad news, and vice-versa. So don't worry, be happy. Enjoy your tax-cut generated economic boom.

Posted by bubba138 at 11:20 AM | Comments (0) |

Torricelli Lautenberg Video

If you didn't get to hear the Lautenberg rant, here's the video.

The New York Times was impressed with Lautenberg. Senator John McCain was not:

Mr. Lautenberg's tough criticism draw a plea from Senator John McCain, Republican of Arizona and a prisoner-of-war in Vietnam, for all sides to move past the fight over Mr. Kerry's record as well as Mr. Bush's time in the National Guard. He said such exchanges could actually be damaging to military morale.

"It is time to declare a truce," Mr. McCain said. "At least could we declare that the Vietnam War is over and have a cease-fire?"

Posted by bubba138 at 09:42 AM | Comments (0) |

Kerry: Still Wrong

In the 80's, when the communist threat was still alive and well, Kerry showed his forward thinking in a memo that advised the following:

More telling than these advised cuts, however, is the opening paragraph of the memo:

"The Reagan Administration has no rational plan for our military. Instead, it acts on misinformed assumptions about the strength of the Soviet military and a presumed "window of vulnerability" which we now know not to exist"

Like the 9/11 commission, we now have the advantage of hindsight and we know that Reagan had a well thought out plan and purpose. His policy of peace through superior strength played a huge roll in the downfall of the Soviet empire and brought democracy to Eastern Europe.

Kerry's memo asserted two things. First, that Reagan had no plan and, second, that a "window of vulnerability" did not exist. He was wrong on both points.

How fitting it is that Kerry's rhetoric has not changed. He continues to say Bush had (and has) no plan for Iraq and that this was not the right time for our actions abroad. He was completely wrong then, what makes anyone think he's right now?

Posted by bubba138 at 08:49 AM | Comments (0) |

April 28, 2004

Bible Haiku

Genesis by Eric
Exodus by Jasmine
Leviticus by Daniel:

God unto Moses
His holy laws did command;
Keep them, Israel!

I've Got Numbers:

Count Tribes of Jacob
Argument with a donkey
God guards the marchers

If you wish to continue this meme, your book is now Deuteronomy. Just include my Numbers haiku in your post along with a link to this entry, and provide the following instructions for those following you:

Your post should include:

1. the previous book's haiku;
2. a link to the post where the previous haiku appears;
3. your book and its related haiku; and,
4. these basic instructions.

Update: Keep track of the Haikus here.

Posted by bubba138 at 03:45 PM | Comments (0) |

IndyMedia & Tillman

Ben Shapiro has picked up the baton regarding IndyMedia's disgraceful treatment of Pat Tillman's sacrafice to his country. Mr. Shapiro goes past disgust and looks under the hood of IndyMedia:

Yet the American left has neglected to excise the Indymedia cancer from its support base. In 2002, the left-leaning Ford Foundation gave Indymedia $50,000. The Tides Foundation has donated $376,000 to Indymedia, according to Frontpagemag.com. Two of the biggest donors to the Tides Foundation? George Soros, who has given over $15 million to Democratic causes during this election cycle, and Teresa Heinz Kerry. Ralph Nader is one of Indymedia's biggest supporters; his group, Public Citizen, is listed as on Indymedia.org as an "ally."
This is yet more evidence that the extreme left is more often than not considered mainstream by the Democratic party proper.

Posted by bubba138 at 03:05 PM | Comments (0) |

Are There WMD's in Fallujah?

I may be skipping down a flower trail here but a couple of seemingly unrelated things have come together in my mind.

1) The ferocity of the resistance in Fallujah cannot be fully explained merely by the fact that it is a Ba'athist town. It doesn't seem logical that political affiliation alone would be enough for them to sacrafice their lives. Is it possible they are they protecting something of value?

2) Northeast Intelligence is reporting the likelyhood that Fallujan fighters may be planning to kill hundreds in a gassing of the city and blame the U.S.:

In recent months, we have seen a number of postings that indicate that the militants have been considering perpetrating some sort of mass casualty event and blaming it on the United States in an attempt to catalyze a large scale reaction against the United States and its coalition partners...It quotes a report by the Islamic Thinker Website indicating that the militants in Al Fallujah are bracing for a chemical weapons attack by the United States.

If the Fallujans are planning a chemical attack, from where are they to get the chemicals? Could it be they are already stored somewhere in Fallujah?

3) In last night's love-fest interview on "Hardball," Kerry left himself wiggle room on the WMD issue:

MATTHEWS: Why did Bush and Cheney and the ideologues around take us to war? Why do you think they did it?

KERRY: It appears, as they peel away the weapons of mass destruction issue—and we may yet find them, Chris.

Up to this point, I cannot remember Kerry hedging on the WMD question. Why is he now saying "we may yet find them?" Does he know something we do not?

Then again, maybe it is time for me to start shopping for a tin-foil hat.

Posted by bubba138 at 02:19 PM | Comments (0) |

Vietnam Medals

Life is about choices. One of the choices John Kerry has had to deal with lately is the one he made regarding his Vietnam war decorations. What he did with his stands in stark contrast to this:

The chaplain said some words that I couldn’t hear and two Marines removed the flag from the casket and slowly folded it for presentation to his mother. When the ceremony was over, Chance’s father placed a ribbon from his service in Vietnam on Chance’s casket.

Posted by bubba138 at 01:35 PM | Comments (0) |

Advice For Kerry

Mitch has some advice for Kerry. It's amazing Vietnam John has yet to learn these things.

Posted by bubba138 at 11:53 AM | Comments (0) |

The Torricelli Option

Hugh Hewit expounds on the idea:

There are powers in the Democratic Party, and they cannot be pleased. Tom Daschle, for one, has got to be thinking through the impact of a presidential contest that is over once the polls close at 6 in the East...

Streisand's got to be worried as well...Rob Reiner knows a thing or two about stiffs as well. Remember 1994's "North"? Neither does anyone else. Reiner knows that hopes and dreams do not a success make.

And the Clintons-in-Exile, they must hear the music...Hillary gets the nod in 2008, but what will be left after the wipeout? [...]

Bill Clinton just announced the publication date of his new memoir: Late June..sucking the air right out of an already spent balloon. [...]

So as Kerry melts away, there – on every television screen in the land – will be Saturday Night Bill, playing his sax, blowing his own horn, saying stuff. All sorts of stuff. Looking incredibly large, opposite the incredibly small Kerry.

Tick, tick, tick. The Torricelli Option. Coming to theaters near you this summer.

Posted by bubba138 at 11:04 AM | Comments (0) |

Opportunistic, man?

More "Kerry sez" from the ineptly named "Hardball":

I served my country. I bled for my country. I defended my country. And I decided when I came home I would stand up. And it wasn‘t popular back then. I‘ve heard people say, oh, this was opportunistic.

I said, “Opportunistic, man? If I wanted to be opportunistic, I would have gone home, sat on my medals and gone to work and done anything else.” Standing up there and taking on Richard Nixon and being put on an enemies list and getting a polarized nation that fought tooth and nail over an issue, it was hardly an opportunity.

According to Kerry, the vets who came home from Vietnam, sat on their medals, and went to work were opportunistic. All those union workers who returned from Vietnam to run the steel mills, drive the trucks, dig the ditches and in general keep this country moving were opportunists, while Kerry, who involved himself with cabals that would plot assasinations of United States politicians, who jumped at every (ahem) opportunity to get in front of a camera, was being humble.

Posted by bubba138 at 09:19 AM | Comments (0) |

Kerry: Not Capable of Resolve

It was a regular love-fest between John Kerry and Chris Matthews last night. Somehow the show's title, "Hardball," isn't sonding quite accurate anymore.

Pushing aside Matthew's complete lack of investigative initiative, we can still learn a thing or two about the presumptive Democrat nominee:

CHRIS MATTHEWS, HOST: As a man who was in war, and you were in a war in Vietnam [He was? I'm glad Chris mentioned that because I had no idea!], when you read the papers, like in Fallujah today. You check up during the day, as you've been doing today about what's happening over there with our men, coming back in, trying to retake that city.

What do you think you know that the average guy who hasn't been in a war knows?

SEN. JOHN KERRY (D-MA), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Well, I don't think about that, Chris. What I think about, I just-I mean, I think about the safety and I think about the feelings of those guys right now.

They're-they're in the middle of a kind of hell. And I think it's good for them to know that everybody here in America is thinking about them and hoping and praying for their safety. I mean, it's-they're in a tough business.

Awww...isn't that nice? Touchy-feely Kerry is thinking about their safety and about the feelings of those guys. Without a doubt the safety of the soldiers is important, but a President has much more to think about than that.

For the safety and overriding security of the nation, the President may, at any time, be required to order men and women to their deaths. This is a heavy responsibility which must not be taken lightly. At the same time, the "feelings" of the soldier should never be a consideration when that kind of a decision has to be made. The President must have the resolve to get done what needs to be done, regardless of pain, suffering, and "feelings." With these comments, Kerry shows he is not capable of such resolve.

Moving on...

MATTHEWS: When you‘re in combat, and you‘re facing the enemy every day and you get up, do you have a sense of the politics of that war all the time? Or is it, like in Vietnam—somewhere in the Vietnam experience you decided this war isn‘t the right war.

KERRY: Yes...it was a gradual process over the course of a number of weeks and months. But when you‘re in combat or when you‘re going into a river on a mission and you‘re doing something like these guys, you‘re not thinking about that.

You‘re thinking about your friends. You‘re thinking about the task, the mission. You‘re thinking about survival. And you‘re thinking about getting through.

Matthews is asking this question in the context of the war in Iraq, referring to the men and women who are serving there now. Matthews' question and Kerry' answer illustrates a central flaw in the Democratic party: for them, every war is Vietnam. Given, in the bushes of Vietnam, the prime motivation of our boys may have well been survival.

But that is not, has never been, nor is it becoming, the case in Iraq. It only takes a cursory reading of the the letters from those fighting over there to figure out that they fight for nothing less than complete victory. They believe in the mission and are proud of the role they are playing in bringing freedom and democracy to a land that has been too long without it.

Knowing that he is incapable of the resolve neccessary to complete the job, and that in his mind Iraq and Vietnam are no different, the United States of America cannot risk having Kerry as the Commander and Chief of our armed forces. To allow that would spell doom for the mission in Iraq, the Middle East, and quite possibly the world.

Today is Wictory Wednesday. Every Wednesday, I ask my readers to volunteer and/or donate to the Bush 2004 campaign.

If you've already donated and volunteered for the Bush campaign, then talk to your friends and enlist them in this battle for America's very soul.

If you're a blogger, you can join Wictory Wednesdays simply by putting up a post like this one every Wednesday, asking your readers to volunteer and/or donate to the Bush campaign. And do e-mail Poli-Pundit at wictory@blogsforbush.com so that he can add you to the Wictory Wednesday blogroll, which will be part of the Wictory Wednesday post on all participating blogs:

Posted by bubba138 at 08:55 AM | Comments (0) |

April 27, 2004

Is This Thing On?

John Kerry, after his interview yesterday:

After a terse exchange with host Charlie Gibson, Kerry's displeasure at the interview was evident. Fuming, he muttered into a live television microphone: "They're doing the work of the Republican National Committee."

This is the second time Kerry's been caught saying something stupid into an active microphone.

Someone explain to me how Kerry doesn't know the difference between "off" and "on" and yet Bush is the stupid one.

Posted by bubba138 at 09:24 PM | Comments (0) |

The Torricelli Option: A Bad Idea

In 2002, New Jersey Democrat Robert Torricelli was facing a complete defeat in the race for Congress Senate. The Democrats pulled one of their most arrogant stunts of all time by replacing him with the "more electable" Frank Lautenberg. Far be it for the Democrats to let the law get in the way of making this illegal swap:

Under New Jersey law, a party can replace a statewide nominee on the ballot if the person drops out at least 51 days before the election. Torricelli missed that deadline by 15 days.

However, Democrats say decades of state court decisions put voters' rights above filing deadlines and other technical guidelines.

The Village Voice is suggesting the Torricelli Option might be a viable idea for the Democrat's Presidential candidacy.

With the air gushing out of John Kerry's balloon, it may be only a matter of time until political insiders in Washington face the dread reality that the junior senator from Massachusetts doesn't have what it takes to win and has got to go.

Kerry has all the delegates he needs to get the nomination, but he hasn't yet been officially nominated. After what happened in New Jersey two years ago, it isn't beyond the realm of possibility for the Democrats to switch horses in the middle of the Presidential race. It would, however, be a bad idea.

Democrats cannot look back at 2002 without experiencing sharp pain. For the first time in uncountable years, the Republicans gained control of both houses of the Congress while also controlling the Executive office.

While the Democrat's strategy in New Jersey worked (Lautenburg did win the election) the nationwide reaction to the move was less than favorable. It can be arguably demonstrated that a major part of the reason the Democrats lost so many races that year was due to their underhanded tactics in that small East-coast state. Americans across the land couldn't prevent Lautenburg from winning, but they could -- and did -- express their disgust by voting against their local Democratic candidates.

In 2004, the Democrats need to look at the big picture. Yes, they could probably replace Kerry if his numbers (which aren't really that bad) decline to the point of no return. But in doing so, they risk losing any chance of retaking the Senate or the House. It's their gig, though, and the way they've been playing it lately doesn't give one much confidence.

Hat Tips: Instapundit found the Village Voice piece. Hugh Hewitt floated the Toricelli Option idea two weeks ago.

Update: Dale Franks has more.

Posted by bubba138 at 03:33 PM | Comments (0) |

April 26, 2004

Talking Tough?

Glenn says Kerry is talking tough on Iraq:

If elected president, John F. Kerry would move to increase the US military by 40,000 troops. He would send more soldiers to Iraq if commanders said they were needed. He would stay in Iraq as long as it took to get the job done.

I wonder what Robert Byrd has to say about sending 40,000 more troops into Iraq?

"Surely I am not the only one who hears echoes of Vietnam in this development," Byrd said in a speech on the Senate floor. "Surely, the administration recognizes that increasing the U.S. troop presence in Iraq will only suck us deeper, deeper into the maelstrom, into the quicksand of violence that has become the hallmark of that unfortunate, miserable country."

In the interest of disclosure, Byrd really wasn't talking about Kerry's position. If Kerry decides to send more troops -- a position that will probably change several times before November -- I'm sure Byrd will be as supportive as can be.

Posted by bubba138 at 09:23 PM | Comments (0) |

Brits Filling the Gap

Blair may be sending more troops to fill the gap left by Spain's turn-tail policy:

Britain is having talks with the US and other Coalition partners about how to replace the troops - recalled by Spain's new government.

There is also speculation that British troops could be sent to operate in more hazardous areas further north of their base in Basra, in the south of the country.

Posted by bubba138 at 04:03 PM | Comments (0) |

Avon Walk for Breast Cancer

Did you know that every three minutes, another woman in the United States is diagnosed with breast cancer? I did and last year a friend of mine became another survivor.

Justene also has a friend who has recently survived cancer. She's showing her support by participating in the Avon Walk for Breast Cancer.

I'm supporting her with cash. You should too.

Posted by bubba138 at 02:31 PM | Comments (0) |

Kind of Fuzzy on the Good/Bad Thing

Important Safety Tip: Stay away from Mahmoud Zahar:

Israeli military officials said Monday that they believed Mahmoud Zahar, a surgeon and prominent hard-liner, was the new leader of the Islamic militant group Hamas in the Gaza Strip.
Hangin' with this guy would be a bad thing -- as in total platonic reversal bad.

Posted by bubba138 at 01:19 PM | Comments (0) |

Headline Funnies

I never cease to be surprised by how headline writers editorialize. For example, last month home ownership increased by a dramatic 8.9%. But look how CNN reports this fabulous news:


Oh, THAT liberal media.

Posted by bubba138 at 01:03 PM | Comments (0) |

Evaluating Arnold

Rob Tagorda is looking back on the six months since the gubernatorial recall here in California:

...he has certainly moved state government to significant action, putting the lie to Gregg Easterbrook's accusations of a "full flake-out." He has found a way to work with Democrats. He has mixed legislative negotiations with ballot initiatives. It's hard to ignore these victories, particularly in light of his predecessors' struggles.
Yep.

There's more. Lots more. Go read.

Update: Arnold's success is grating on the nerves of the liberal press so much they are now making up reasons to not like him:

As with President Bush, the traditional news conference has become something of an endangered species in Sacramento. Instead, Schwarzenegger's favored pipeline to the public has remained the cozy TV interview -- say, on Jay Leno's couch or in Oprah Winfrey's studio.

Boo hoo. But Weintraub says they're crying about nothing:

But Schwarzenegger has had a number of press conferences since becoming governor, often takes impromptu questions at public events, and recently completed a round of one-on-one newspaper interviews with nearly every paper in the state.

But the bigger fallacy here is that reporter contact with the governor is what allows the media, and by extension the public, to understand what he is doing. That's simply not true.

The funny thing is that despite the alleged controls on the media, and all the grousing that has resulted, the coverage of Schwarzenegger's policies, proposals and actions to date has been far more exhaustive than that of any recent governor, probably any governor in history. From the bond measure proposal to the early budget ideas and workers compensation, reporters have been dissecting everything this guy does, and how he does it.

What they don't like is that everything he does and how he does it works.

Posted by bubba138 at 12:09 PM | Comments (0) |

Sporty New Look?

...not quite.

In an effort to get MovableType to work better on 1and1.com I have gone back to the default templates. The hope is that stream-lining the templates will create a smaller load on the server when I post and rebuild.

We'll see.

Posted by bubba138 at 10:21 AM | Comments (0) |

Kerry's Medals, err, Ribbons

From this morning's ABC News Good Morning America:

KERRY: this is a phony -- charlie, this is a phony controversy [...]

this comes from a president who can't even show or prove that he showed up for duty in the national guard.

GIBSON: senator --

KERRY: i'm not going to stand for it. i'm in the going to stand for it. [...]

george bush has yet to explain to america whether or no t to tell the truth about whether he showed up for duty.

Up until this point Kerry has played hands off on the Bush/National Guard phony controversy. There was not much to indicate that his campaign was doing anything to feed that "story", although they also did little to discredit it either.

Similarly, there is little or nothing to indicate that either the Bush team or the White House is driving the Kerry/Medals "phony controversy." But as now that it has become the meme of the week, Kerry jumps off his lilipad and tries to revive the Bush is AWOL canard.

In his mind he thinks he's giving tit for tat. The reality of this situation is that the Kerry/Medals "story" is already the tit to the Bush/AWOL tat.

Kerry says he's not going to stand for it and that "George Bush has yet to explain to America whether or not to tell the truth about whether he showed up for duty." But President Bush has released all of his military records. They've been gone over with a fine tooth comb and even hyper-partisans like Kevin Drum and JM Marshall cannot construct a convincing argument that Bush was AWOL. Kerry should know this canard is dead dead dead. Unless he fancies himself the messiah (which may well be the case) I don't think it will be ressurecting anytime soon.

Update: Kerry attacking Bush's National Guard service is yet another one of his flip-flops:

Kerry said Tuesday night that he doesn't want to hear his surrogates questioning whether Bush fulfilled his National Guard service, which Democratic National Committee chief Terry McAuliffe first questioned less than two weeks ago.

"It's not an issue to me and I have never made an issue in the course of my entire career about what choices anybody made about where they served, or didn't serve," Kerry told Fox News.

Posted by bubba138 at 09:54 AM | Comments (0) |

April 23, 2004

1and1 and Movabletype

You may have noticed a dramatic decrease in posts this week. The main reason for this is that it has become increasingly painful to use MovableType. Almost every time I post the server returns a "500 internal server error." Rebuilding archives also returns the error. At this point I am almost dead [which isn't exactly completely dead...almost dead is still a little bit alive. Completely dead there's only one thing you can do, go through his pockets and look for loose change...but I digress] in the water.

I have fired an e-mail off to my hosting company, 1and1.com and I am waiting for their reply.

I am hoping this isn't serious. I would hate to have to change servers...ugh, what a pain!

Posted by bubba138 at 04:43 PM | Comments (0) |

In Perspective

Forget about the millions of dollars and privileged life of an NFL player that he left behind. Now it is about a loving family and friends who, like so many others, are grieving the loss of a soldier in the Middle East. Now it is about the ultra-harsh reality of war reminding us, once again, how trivial fame, fortune and everything else that once were part of Tillman's world really are. [...]

All of a sudden, talk of exactly where and by whom each player would be selected became a whole lot less important than it seemed at the start of the day. All of a sudden, Eli Manning's preference to avoid the San Diego Chargers and the mind-numbing trade scenarios involving just about every team in the league seemed to lose their significance.

Yep. That's exactly what we fans in San Diego have been voicing all day.

Posted by bubba138 at 03:44 PM | Comments (0) |

A True Hero

Like 700 others, Pat Tillman has given everything to serve his country. Pat inspired a nation when he traded a lucrative football career for the grunt and grind of the army. His dream was nothing less than to become an Army Ranger and to serve the country he loved.

What makes Pat different than the 700 others that have also sacraficed their lives and those who have yet to pay the ultimate price? Nothing. Each is a hero. Each bled and died so our blood would not be required. Each needs to be honored.

Some would say Tillman's death is a shock to America because up until now the deaths of our men and women have been faceless -- and they'd be right. Tillman's sacrafice has made this conflict, and the price we are paying for it, starkly real.

Some would even celebrate this new awareness in the hopes that the reality of death will swing American opinion into bringing our troops home immmediately -- but they'd be wrong. To cut an run now would completely dishonor the lives, service, and sacraice of our fallen. They went into conflict knowing what they were getting into, knowing not all of them would be coming home. They went believing in the mission, believing in the righteousness of the cause, believing that victory -- complete and correctly accomplished -- was worth the price. To leave the job undone, in any way, would be to say their lives were spent for nothing. We cannot, must not, let that happen.

Posted by bubba138 at 12:09 PM | Comments (0) |

April 22, 2004

Why We Fight

There are two reasons why we fight the war on terror. Here is one:

Why should I be strong while watching others run away; Spain, Honduras, Thailand, human organizations, the UN and all the others who want (and it’s their right I must say) to avoid the dangers. But why did they disappoint us? Why abandon us in this moment when we really need them?...

We need political, financial and military support, and once we get rid of the terrorists, WE will show you what we can do, and we will not forget those who helped us, they will remain as friends and allies, that’s from a political point of view. As for me, they will remain as my real family, my brothers and sisters...

I was afraid most of the time. I have always looked for safety above all. I lost faith in the whole world and I wasn’t ready at all to make the slightest sacrifice for the sake of others. I was trying to leave my country and find a better job in a safe place, BUT, The brave solders (who don’t hold shares at Halliburton or Bechtel) who crossed seas and oceans and came to my country to fight for our freedom -and don’t anyone dare say the opposite, as I met so many of these soldiers and had hundreds of letters from them and there families and I know their motives; they fight for their country’s safety and for our freedom and they are proud of what they are doing- gave me the faith and showed me that man should not care only about himself, his family or his country, these are not enough to make a human being. These guys are MUCH better than me because I have to fight for my issue and they fight for me. They deserve the respect of the world and so do the people who support them. They always give me hope to go on no matter how difficult it seems.

and here is the other:

Four young British Muslims in their twenties - a social worker, an IT specialist, a security guard and a financial adviser - occupy a table at a fast-food chicken restaurant in Luton.

"As far as I'm concerned, when they bomb London, the bigger the better," says Abdul Haq, the social worker. "I know it's going to happen because Sheikh bin Laden said so. Like Bali, like Turkey, like Madrid - I pray for it, I look forward to the day."

...says Abu Yusuf, the earnest-looking financial adviser sitting opposite. "I would like to see the Mujahideen coming into London and killing thousands, whether with nuclear weapons or germ warfare. And if they need a safehouse, they can stay in mine

His friend, Abu Musa, the security guard, smiles radiantly. "It will be a day of joy for me," he adds, speaking with a slight lisp.

But it was the events of 11 September that crystallised Sayful's worldview. "When I watched those planes go into the Twin Towers, I felt elated," he says. "That magnificent action split the world into two camps: you were either with Islam and al Qaeda, or with the enemy. I decided to quit my job and commit myself full-time to al-Muhajiroun." Now he does not consider himself British. "I am a Muslim living in Britain, and I give my allegiance only to Allah."

According to Sayful, the aim of al-Muhajiroun ("the immigrants") is nothing less than Khilafah - "the worldwide domination of Islam". The way to achieve this, he says, is by Jihad, led by Bin Laden. "I support him 100 per cent."

We fight to keep Mohammed and people like him alive. We fight to keep those who would kill Mohammed from also killing us. If we do not face the stark reality that Islam is not, nor has never been, a religion of peace, we will be destroyed.

Posted by bubba138 at 09:07 AM | Comments (0) |

April 21, 2004

Things Are Looking Up

While they are surprised this last month hasn't absolutely destroyed Bush in the polls, the media would have us believe he is just barely hanging on:

"After last month, with pundits out there saying the president is weak, in trouble, the president in almost every attribute has improved," Bush strategist Matthew Dowd told reporters in a conference call Tuesday.

Not quite. The Quinnipiac poll shows that Mr. Bush's approval rating has not improved, but has held steady at about 47 or 48 percent. The other polls agree and also find that only about half of Americans think the war was worth fighting, a result of a slow, steady decline in the last few months.

Not quite? This piece is based on the very same ABC News/Washington Post that shows Bush improved in every issue, save one in which he lost nothing. Let's see how it stacks up:

BushKerryRelative
IssueMarchAprilMarchAprilChange
The U.S. campaign against terrorism58573736-
The situation in Iraq52484148+11
The issue of same-sex marriage51443543+15
Taxes49434351+14
Education47404452+15
The Economy47414753+12
Creating Jobs46434851+6
The Federal Budget Deficit45384653+14
Prescription Drug Benefits for the Elderly42414550+6
Social Security42384654+12
The Cost, Availability, and Coverage of Health Insurance42364852+14

So in seven of eleven categories Bush realized a double digit improvement in his rating against Kerry. Further, he has completely overtaken Kerry's previous lead in three issues: the economy, education, and taxes. Adding to those, Bush's numbers on creating jobs are convincingly approaching Kerry's.

Still, this is shaping up to be a close election. Bush must have help to win. Today is Wictory Wednesday. Every Wednesday, I ask my readers to volunteer and/or donate to the Bush 2004 campaign.

If you've already donated and volunteered for the Bush campaign, then talk to your friends and enlist them in this battle for America's very soul.

If you're a blogger, you can join Wictory Wednesdays simply by putting up a post like this one every Wednesday, asking your readers to volunteer and/or donate to the Bush campaign. And do e-mail Poli-Pundit at wictory@blogsforbush.com so that he can add you to the Wictory Wednesday blogroll, which will be part of the Wictory Wednesday post on all participating blogs:

Posted by bubba138 at 11:09 PM | Comments (0) |

Democrats Continue to Get a Pass

Over the course of the last two weeks, the controversial Senate Judiciary Committee memos have gradually made their way back into the news. But you won't read about any of the latest developments in either The New York Times or The Washington Post. [...]

When Sen. Ted Kennedy (D-Mass.) was asked about the connection of two former aides to the "Memogate" controversy, the senator's refusal to answer resulted in a segment on Fox News and found its way into the Washington Times, but no other media outlet reported it.

This whole situation bugs me. Kennedy's office was clearly caught in blatantly unethical behavior. Yet not only is his office getting away with it but they were able to turn it around and make the issue more about the impropriety of Miranda reading the memo.

The Gray Lady and the Washington Post are certainly remiss in their collective duty here, but there is plenty of blame to go around. This issue would most definitely get more media attention if the Republicans would make an issue of it. It amazes me that with majorities in both the House and Senate they have not been able to better support their judicial nominations. The reason for it is clear: they just do not have the backbone to fight the fight. If they did, this sad affair would be completely exposed. Instead, the Republicans are complicit with the Democrats and the newspapers in keeping this under wraps:

"Sen. Hatch told me specifically, point blank, that if I resigned he could then talk about the substance of the memos," Miranda tells Insight. "I was told by the Frist office that, if I resigned, the Democrats would basically calm down" and the Republicans could make the memos public.

Posted by bubba138 at 01:57 PM | Comments (0) |

A Proper Devotion

The battle is raging in the BFL about Pepperdine refusing to sanction student Grant Turck's vision for a "Students Against Homophobia" club. Boi's take, of course, is that, even though Mr. Turck could choose from thousands of gay-friendly universities, a serious injustice has been carried out:

Indeed, Grant could have chosen any of 4000 universities. But, as a devout Christian, his choices were more limited.

Therein lays the problem. Mr. Turck is not a devout Christian. At best he is a nominal Christian.

A devout Christian's life is dictated by the Bible. It mus be understood all people, Christian and non, live outside the paramters prescribed by the Bible. They make mistakes. They sin. The difference between a devout Christian and a nominal one is how one reacts when one's life is shown to be contrary to God's Word.

The devout Christian agrees with the Bible when his or her life is out of sync with it. He or she says, "I have sinned. God is right, I am wrong. I need forgiveness." Thank the Lord, His mercy is such that in that repentance the sinner is made clean, his or her sins are completely forgiven and he or she can start anew.

The nominal Christian, on the other hand says "The Bible is wrong. God could not have meant what He said. Even if God meant it, the God I worship would not have said that." There is no recognition of sin. Instead he or she trades repentance from sin for rejection of God's truth.

21Yes, they knew God, but they wouldn't worship him as God or even give him thanks. And they began to think up foolish ideas of what God was like. The result was that their minds became dark and confused. 22Claiming to be wise, they became utter fools instead. 23And instead of worshiping the glorious, ever-living God, they worshiped idols made to look like mere people, or birds and animals and snakes. 24So God let them go ahead and do whatever shameful things their hearts desired. As a result, they did vile and degrading things with each other's bodies. 25Instead of believing what they knew was the truth about God, they deliberately chose to believe lies. So they worshiped the things God made but not the Creator himself, who is to be praised forever. Amen. 26That is why God abandoned them to their shameful desires. Even the women turned against the natural way to have sex and instead indulged in sex with each other. 27And the men, instead of having normal sexual relationships with women, burned with lust for each other. Men did shameful things with other men and, as a result, suffered within themselves the penalty they so richly deserved.

I am the first to admit the above passage is harsh. Many would quite vehemently condemn this as "homophobic." But at issue here is not whether the passage is harsh, but wehther the passage has authority. Devout Christians say it does. Believing and living as if it is not authoritative makes one a nominal Christian.

Pepperdine, a Christian University, has as its primary directive the responsibility to uphold the Word of God. Not allowing Mr. Turck's anti-Biblical, pro-gay club is in line with that responsibility.

Posted by bubba138 at 10:48 AM | Comments (0) |

April 20, 2004

Not Wanted

As if I needed another reason not to vote for Kerry there's this.

Kerry has set aside a special "communities" page on which each of his target demographics are uniquely served and connected. These demographics are:

But where is the "Almost Middle Age White Male" community? The closest I came to any of the above is the "Workers for Kerry" category -- and that's really stretching it because I think Kerry really means "Union Workers" and I've never been affiliated with a union in my life.

Does Kerry think he can win without my demographic, or does he think he can take all us baby-boomers for granted?

Posted by bubba138 at 10:12 PM | Comments (0) |

Summing It Up

The very liberal Village Voice sums up the short-sighted thinking of the left in what it thinks is a condemning commentary on the "bleak future" of Iraq:

"I continue to get very upset about the electricity issue," Gardiner said last week after reviewing the memo. "I said in my briefing that the electrical system was going to be damaged, and damaged for a long time, and that we had to find a way to keep key people at their posts and give them what they need so there wouldn't be unnatural surges that cause systems to burn out. Frankly, if we had just given the Iraqis some baling wire and a little bit of space to keep things running, it would have been better. But instead we've let big US companies go in with plans for major overhauls."
Sure, bailing wire may have worked in the short term, but it still wouldn't hold up to the sabotages that have plagued the power systems. But to take such short-sighted measures is to ignore the fact that the core of the power problem is due neither the war nor the reconstruction, but to the dozens of years of neglect by a corrupt regime.

Statements like these show it was not only alright with the left for the Iraqis to live in sub-standard conditions before the war, but it continues to be acceptable for them to live in such a state for years to come.

Posted by bubba138 at 08:41 AM | Comments (0) |

April 19, 2004

The Governator

He's kicking butts and taking names...and it is getting national attention:

Last month, when it appeared as if the legislators would balk at a compromise on workers' compensation reform, Gov. Schwarzenegger let it be known he has another missile ready to launch against them if they continue to frustrate his reform agenda. While on vacation in Hawaii, he picked up on an idea he first supported when he met with a group of Huntington Beach businessmen in a campaign swing last August. "I want to make the Legislature a part-time legislature," he told the Los Angeles Times. [...]

Everyone under the Capitol dome knows that if Mr. Schwarzenegger decided to really push for a part-time legislature he would be tapping into a rich vein of public frustration. "He could pass an initiative," says Bob Stern, of the Center for Governmental Studies, a Los Angeles think tank. "He could get 60%. It would pass easily."

That's why state legislators and liberal special interest groups alike are far more nervous than they are letting on about the governor's comments.

The legislators are nervous? Good. A nervous legislature is more apt to do meaningful work for the people of the state. Further, isn't it part of the Governor's job to make them nervous?

Posted by bubba138 at 10:49 PM | Comments (0) |

Poll Wars

Which poll is right? This one:

The Zogby poll, released April 19, gives Democrat Kerry 47 percent support, compared with 44 percent for President Bush. That's about the same as an April 1-4 Zogby poll, which gave Kerry 47 percent to Bush's 45 percent.

...or this one:

The survey, taken Friday through Sunday, shows Bush ahead 50% to 44% among likely voters, a bit wider than the 4-point lead he held in early April. The shift, within the margin of error of +/-4 percentage points in the sample of likely voters, wasn't statistically significant. (Related items: Poll results | Support in USA growing for sending more troops to Iraq)

The president's job-approval rating was steady at 52%.

Zogby's got the best reputation for accuracy. Regardless of which poll is most accurate, both suggest that the hyped coverage of the partisan 9/11 commission is having little effect on neither Bush's approval rating nor the head-to-head match-up.

Update: ABC/Washington Post weighs in:

There are still miles to go before Election Day, but given these changes, it follows that overall vote preferences have shifted slightly. In a three-way match-up, including Ralph Nader, 48 percent of registered voters prefer Bush, 43 percent Kerry, and 6 percent Nader. That's a slight four-point gain for Bush and a five-point loss for Kerry since March.

With Nader removed from the equation, it's 49 percent for Bush, 48 percent for Kerry — a 50-50 nation.

Posted by bubba138 at 10:09 PM | Comments (0) |

Monday Quickie

It has been a classic Murphy's Law Monday -- everything that can go wrong has. Fixing all the little problems has severely limited blogging time.

One quick note on Iraq, though.

Kerry and the left keep whining about Iraq being such a dismal failure. They're dismayed that Bush is not dismayed about the loss of American lives. To their way of thinking, the very loss of life is evidence that Bush didn't know what he was getting us into and his apparent lack of concern shows he is ignore the facts on the ground.

But Bush has said repeatedly that the war against terror was not going to be easy, that it will not be over quickly, and that it requires a high level of commitment and sacrifice. He was always prepared for what the costs would be, and -- by his own words -- he did his best to prepare us. His grim determination is not a lack of concern, but an expression of his resolve. He knew there would be costs, heavy ones, but he resolved those costs were necessaries. Until this month the price for freedom in Iraq -- and by extension in the U.S. -- has been unexpectedly low. Even now, the body count, both American and Iraqi, is far short of the tens of thousands estimated by the anti-war screamers before the war began. The reason Bush isn't aghast at the number of war dead is because even now they are far lower than expected.

If anyone has under-estimated this conflict it is Kerry and his ilk. They are the ones claiming the price of defending our freedom is too high. They are the ones that have an entirely unrealistic view of war.

For some reason they thought terrorist, Baathists and Sadr-ists would just roll over and allow a Democratic Iraq emerge unhindered. And somehow, in Kerry and Klan's twisted thinking, when those twisted factions did resist it was the fault of the Bush administration. Never do they consider that these same factions regarded every American President, Carter, Reagan, GHW Bush, Clinton and now GW Bush as the great Satan. Never does Kerry imagine that the next President, whether his party's symbol is an elephant or a donkey, will also be viewed as evil by these evil men.

This poses the question, is Kerry, being so out-of-touch with the realities of war and conflict, truly fit to be Commander in Chief?

I think not.

Posted by bubba138 at 02:41 PM | Comments (0) |

April 18, 2004

Handing Out States

Steve asks:

Why do the Palestinians get to jump ahead of the Kurds?

Oppression is morally politically O.K. when Arabs are doing it. It was O.K. for the Palestinians to be oppressed by Trans-Jordan and Egypt. It is only when the "oppressors" changed identity that it became an issue.

Posted by bubba138 at 07:24 AM | Comments (0) |

April 17, 2004

Rantisi's own words: ABDUL AZIZ

Rantisi's own words:

ABDUL AZIZ RANTISI: We are all waiting for the last day of our life, nothing will be changed. If it is by apache or by cardiac arrest, I prefer to be by apache.

His terms were accepted.

Posted by bubba138 at 04:22 PM | Comments (0) |

April 16, 2004

More Worker's Comp...

It passed:

The Legislature approved landmark workers' compensation reform Friday, sending the plan to Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, who said passing these reforms would help keep businesses in California. [...]

"Why have we waited this long to do these reforms?" asked Assemblyman Russ Bogh, R-Beaumont. "It's no accident, let's be honest. We are here today because of one thing – because over 1 million people answered Gov. Schwarzenegger's call for signed petitions to reform workers' compensation."

Obviously, not everyone was in favor of this legislation. The group pictured here walked past the restaurant in which some co-workers and I was eating lunch today. There were about 75 or so, but another 1 million or so workers instead spent the day at their jobs. Working.

As a Californian, I love what Schwarzenegger's doing. He sets goals, he sets priorities, and then he gets them done. If he keeps this up I am expecting he'll get rehired in two and a half years.

Posted by bubba138 at 04:10 PM | Comments (0) |

More International Cooperation

There's no plan for the transition of power in Iraq!

To whom are we going to hand over power?

We need international cooperation!

WAAAH!

President Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair said today they welcome a U.N. special envoy's proposal for an Iraqi interim government that would receive political power June 30, a step they portrayed as crucial to making Iraq an example of democracy in the Middle East. [...]

In opening remarks at the news conference, Bush said, "We welcome the proposals presented by the U.N. special envoy, [Lakhdar] Brahimi," who has come up with a plan for a caretaker government to assume sovereignty from the U.S. occupation authority in Iraq. Brahimi has "identified a way forward to establishing an interim government that is broadly acceptable to the Iraqi people," Bush said.

He said the United States and its allies would continue to work with the United Nations to prepare for national elections in Iraq to choose a new government in January 2005. "We're grateful that Mr. Brahimi will soon return to Iraq to continue his important work," Bush said.

Brahimi, a former Algerian foreign minister, has proposed an interim Iraqi government led by a prime minister and including a president as head of state and two vice presidents. It would take over from the current Iraqi Governing Council and would formally receive sovereignty from the U.S. administration headed by L. Paul Bremer on June 30.

Blair also hailed Brahimi's work and said "we've both made it clear that we welcome" it.

Contrary to the Democrat's canard, Bush and Blair are willing -- more than eager actually -- to work with the U.N. The question really is whether the U.N. is willing to work with the Coalition.

Posted by bubba138 at 01:15 PM | Comments (0) |

April 15, 2004

Oh, That's How You Say It

Call me a dork. For weeks I have been reading Gorelick's name in conjuction with the 9/11 commision reporting. Today I heard her name on the radio for the first time and was surprised to find out it is pronounced GO-REL-ICK.

It kind of takes the tickle out of thinking a partisan Democrat's name was actually GORE-LICK.

Posted by bubba138 at 09:35 AM | Comments (0) |

Another Thing About al-Sadr's Surrender

The New York Times reports:

Finally, the aides said, Mr. Sadr had agreed to submit to a warrant for his arrest in the murder of a rival Shiite cleric last year, but only "after the formation of a legitimate and sovereign government" — meaning after American control of Iraq ends.

This leaves the doors wide open for Sadr's permanent alsylum in Iran. If he is to return only when a "legitimate and sovereign government," he can argue that no matter what government we leave in Iraq it is not legitimate. al-Sadr's brand of Islam declares there is no government but Allah's, so in his mind nothing short of Sharia law is legitimate. Of course, Democracy does not -- can not -- comply with Sharia:

The Republican system is not an Islamic system and Islam does not approve of it whether it is Presidential in nature as in the US or it is Parliamentary, as found in Germany, because the Republican system in both these forms is based on the democratic system which gives the sovereignty to the people, whilst the system of Khilafah is based on the system of Islam that gives sovereignty to the Shara’.

Posted by bubba138 at 09:15 AM | Comments (0) |

al Sadr Willing to Surrender

Juan Cole:

Muqtada surrender to the grand ayatollahs and agree to have Abdul Karim al-Unzi (an official of the Da`wa Party) negotiate for him with the Americans, in the name of the top religious leaders. Muqtada would accept the outcome of those negotiations without condition. Iran would offer him temporary asylum, until June 30 and the formation of a sovereign Iraqi government, at which time he could report to Najaf for his trial. In return, the US would withdraw its forces from the environs of Najaf.

Right off the bat hearing the news that Al-Sadr is willing to surrender pleased me. But, as is so often the case, the devil is in the details. This agreement isn't really a surrender, it is asylum. Al-Sadr gets to vacation in Iran for a few months, proppoed up by those who sponsored his violence in the first place. True, he agrees to return to Iraq once it has its sovriegnty in order to face trial -- in Najaf where he will be surrounded by his supporters.

Forgive me if I think the fix is in. This is a lose-lose situation. If he comes back and is convicted, his followers have an excuse to riot and -- since by that time Iraq will be soveriegn -- the U.S. will be condemned for interfering in the internal affairs of the nation. If he is not convicted, he is free to lead his rabble in revolt against the sitting government.

BY THE WAY, it is interesting the Iranians have been flown in at the invitation of the U.S. in order to broker a deal with al-Sadr. Do you think Kerry recognizes this tremendous example of international, multi-lateral cooperation brought about by the Bush administration?

Nah, I doubt it.

Posted by bubba138 at 08:55 AM | Comments (0) |

April 14, 2004

Identity Confusion

I used to think I was a normal, everyday, nice guy. But lately I've been going through a bit of an identity crisis.

I mean, only a couple of weekends ago I found out I am a facist.

Tonight I discovered I am really just a follower.

Posted by bubba138 at 10:19 PM | Comments (0) |

Wictory Wednesday

It is 8:20 and I just realized it is Wednesday! DOH!

With all the good economic news the Democrats are running out of things to campaign on. Dean has suggestions:

For Howard Dean, the most important issue in the presidential campaign has become credibility.

"It's not jobs any more," Dean told a capacity crowd of about 300 at Dartmouth college on Wednesday night.

The man who spoke of "jobs, jobs, jobs" during his meteoric rise, then fall, in the race for the Democratic Party nomination said former presidential counterterrorism adviser Richard Clarke changed his mind.

"The biggest issue in this campaign has become the credibility of the United States," he said.

This is the way it is going to be for the next seven months. The Dems will move the target, and Bush will nail it, only to have them move the target again. If you are like me, you are getting more than tired of this.

Today is Wictory Wednesday. Every Wednesday, I ask my readers to volunteer and/or donate to the Bush 2004 campaign.

If you've already donated and volunteered for the Bush campaign, then talk to your friends and enlist them in this battle for America's very soul.

If you're a blogger, you can join Wictory Wednesdays simply by putting up a post like this one every Wednesday, asking your readers to volunteer and/or donate to the Bush campaign. And do e-mail Poli-Pundit at wictory@blogsforbush.com so that he can add you to the Wictory Wednesday blogroll, which will be part of the Wictory Wednesday post on all participating blogs:

Posted by bubba138 at 08:33 PM | Comments (0) |

Look Out Janet Jackson...

...here comes Britney Spears with a high ranking entry to the top ten list of things we really, really, really don't need:

According to press reports, her representatives are currently shopping the idea for a show called "OnTourage," where cameras would capture Spears and her entourage during her upcoming Onyx Hotel Tour in Europe. According to reports the show will be a cross between MTV's "The Real World" and "Madonna: Truth or Dare." The idea is to film the tour for six weeks and produce six episodes. The filming would include Spears capturing some of the behind the scenes action with a video camera of her own and the pop star will narrate each episode.
Ugh.

Posted by bubba138 at 04:59 PM | Comments (0) |

Presidential Gender Gap

How do women stack up in this year's election? According to Open Secrets, they're doing their part to support the candidate of their choice:

Overall, President Bush has recorded far more female donors and has raised significantly more money from women than Sen. John Kerry. But when the number of female donors and their donations are looked at as a percentage of each candidate’s overall contributors and total fund-raising, Kerry holds an edge over his rival.

Through the end of February, Bush reported 28,333 female donors to his campaign, compared to 6,935 female contributors to Kerry’s campaign. [...]

Women constituted 34 percent of Kerry’s donors and 31 percent of Bush's donors that the Center was able to identify by gender. [...]

A look at female donors who gave the maximum amount of $2,000 to either candidate reveals similar trends. Bush had reported 16,282 women who contributed the maximum amount to his campaign through February – 34 percent of his total number of men and women the Center identified as maximum contributors.

Kerry had raised the maximum amount from far fewer women: 2,394. But that represented a larger proportion – 37 percent – of his total number of maximum contributors.

So Bush is attracting more women (better than 4 to 1) who are giving more money (better than 5 to 1) than Kerry. Kerry's proportion of women to men is better, but not by much.

The future looks bright.

Posted by bubba138 at 04:35 PM | Comments (0) |

Air America...Going Down

By now the entire blogosphere has heard about Air America getting booted from Chicago and Los Angeles. If nothing else, we must recognize the good that it has done by putting a mirror up to other stations. For instance, we can now say without a doubt -- if, that is, there ever was one -- that NPR is decidedly liberal:

I have counted on NPR for decades for the objectivity it brings to what is otherwise a radio wasteland of bad music and bad talk. The ONLY other radio station I have the stomach for is Air America. Just you and them. Remember that. It is not a zero sum game out here and your network should not lightly trash the only other station most of your listenership can stand to listen to.

Dave Savidge

Posted by bubba138 at 03:00 PM | Comments (0) |

Outsourcing: American Style

Jobs aren't the only things going overseas in this economy:

The February trade gap totaled $42.1 billion, down more than 3 percent from January and slightly below analysts' pre-report expectations of $42.5 billion.

U.S. exports leapt four percent -- the highest monthly increase since October 1996 -- to a record $92.4 billion, while imports rose 1.6 percent to a record $134.5 billion.

Retail is up, overseas trade is up, jobs are on the rise, and Kerry is talking about middle class misery. Does anyone else see a disconnect from reality here?

Posted by bubba138 at 10:48 AM | Comments (0) |

Another Reason Bush Will Win

Bush said last night "After 9/11 the world changed for me..." It changed us all. Most of all, it has forced many on the left to face the fact that evil exists, and that ignoring that evil for political gain is hideous:

The facts of my own political history are this: I have never since I began to vote in 1967 voted for a Republican candidate except once in New York City when I broke down and voted for Rudy Giuliani's second term. Other than that one "slip" I have been voting Democrat my entire life. Until now. [...]

Now I have come to the place where the whole sorry spectacle and circus of the Democrats over the last year has finally angered me. The party whose ideals once excited me has become a parody of itself, a dangerous parody. Instead of inspriation it delivers either numbing boredom or sheer despair at its intellectual and spiritual poverty. Instead of telling us what sort of New Jerusalem it would have us build as our City on the Hill, it takes us into the slums of the soul. Instead of waving the bright banners of how, it dons the rags and bones of defeatism and appeasement.

You just don't see anything like this coming from the Republican camp. The Democrat 9/11 switch-overs are going to win this election for Bush.

Hat tip: InstaPundit

Posted by bubba138 at 10:13 AM | Comments (0) |

Worker's Comp

The the fact that the glare of the spotlight has dimmed hasn't stopped Schwarzenegger from getting things done. It is clear he is taking his role as governor seriously as he continues to address the very issues on which he campaigned. The latest issue that he will soon be able to check off his list is worker's compensation.

Previous issues have been pretty much slam dunk. His overwhelming victory was a message to law makers that the people are tired of the increasing taxes, so it wasn't difficult to get the vehicle registration un-tripled. That was, after all, in the political intersts of everyone in the legislature.

But now, several months into his administration, the newness of having the Terminator as governor has worn off and the typical voter is less informed about what Arnold is doing. This makes getting his agenda through the partisan Assembly and State Senate a bit more problematic. Fortunately, he's not let this lack of attention disuade him from flexing his muscle:

In a key concession, Democratic leaders confirmed Tuesday that they have dropped insurance rate regulation from their list of demands for reaching a compromise agreement this week on workers' compensation. [...]

Schwarzenegger and Democratic Senate President Pro Tem John Burton said Tuesday that a legislative package would be ready for consideration today by a special six-member Assembly-Senate conference committee. The package is expected to save at least $5 billion from the $17.9 billion workers' compensation system.

Five b-b-b-b-b-billion. Dollars. That's almost a 30% savings. I cannot imagine this would have ever been done under the previous administration.

It is stuff like this that makes it easy for me to accept Arnold's wishy-washy stand on gay marriage and abortion.

Update: I guess those evil corporations aren't quite so, well evil, after all:

One of the company's top attorneys said Tuesday that even though Costco fully supports the governor's goal, store managers should not have let him solicit petition signatures in front of the discount retailer.

As a result, Costco's corporate counsel Karen Raines said, the company will offer an opposition group 30 minutes to argue its side to shoppers in front of the Burbank store. "It's probably a fair thing to do," she said.

Although they violated no law, yet they are giving equal time to groups who oppose changes to worker's compensation law that will benefit Costco.

Posted by bubba138 at 08:52 AM | Comments (0) |

The Happy Index

While Kerry's having fun with numbers, professionals whose real job is to examine the economy are saying something completely different:

Some economists are raising their forecasts for growth in the first quarter of 2004, based on surging consumer spending, rising factory orders and glimmers of a turnaround in the job market. The better-than-expected performance is beginning to translate into rising consumer and business confidence. [...]

"The implications of these data are massive," says Steve Stanley, chief economist at Greenwich Capital Markets, also responding to the retail sales report.

"Off the top of my head, I would say that we just moved from 4% gross-domestic-product growth in (the first quarter of 2004) to something like 5%."

Those who should be feeling the biggest pinch from Kerry's "Misery Index" don't seem to be noticing their pain:

U.S. retailers and restaurants rang up their biggest sales gains in a year last month as consumers spent more on clothes, furniture, cars and building and gardening supplies, the government said Tuesday. Retail sales rose 1.8% in March from the prior month, the Commerce Department said. That was up from a 1% gain in February and was the biggest rise since March 2003. Excluding the 2.1% increase in sales at car dealerships and auto parts stores, sales rose 1.7% last month, the biggest increase in four years.

People do not spend money if they think they are in dire straits. Kerry's view of the economy is considerably out-of-step with America's

Posted by bubba138 at 08:28 AM | Comments (0) |

More Misery

FactCheck.Org has analyzed Kerry's "Misery Index" and found it wanting. First, they point out the reason Kerry had to invent his own index:

By [the] classic misery measure the country is faring better than average under Bush: the unemployment rate for March was 5.7% -- which is just 0.1% above the average for all months since 1948. And the inflation rate remains historically low – the Labor Department’s Consumer Price Index rose only 1.7% in the 12 months ending in February, the most recent month on record. So the classic “misery index” number is currently 7.4.

It never got this low during any of the years under Richard Nixon, Jimmy Carter, Ronald Reagan or Bush's father. And the classic "misery index" was higher in every one of Clinton's first four years than it has been in any of Bush's years.

Since the Misery Index makes Bush look good, Kerry had to work hard to make him look bad:

The Kerry index is, to put it mildly, selective.

Rather than use all consumer prices, the Kerry index cherry-picks three items that have gone up faster than the overall rate of inflation: college tuition (at public four-year universities only), gasoline, and health care.

And rather than use the overall unemployment rate -- which was 5.5% at this point in Clinton's first term, only two-tenths of one percent lower than now -- Kerry has used the number of jobs, which produces a more negative picture.

But if fabricating a new index out of thin air isn't enough, Kerry's team still felt compelled to lie about Bush's relationship to it:

The Kerry news release proclaimed that the new index under Bush shows "the largest three-year fall on record and the worst record of any president ever." But look closely: their own calculations don't back that up. The "record" only goes back to 1976, when some of the statistics Kerry uses were first collected. The 13-point drop that the Kerry advisers calculate for Bush is indeed the worst in that relatively brief 28-year period, but they can't call it the worst "ever." What about Herbert Hoover?

With this "index", Kerry thinks he can put one over on the American voter. I think they are smart enough to figure out that this is nothing but a political stab and has nothing to do with reality. This hurts Kerry's credibility and fuels the notion he's willing to do anything, no matter how underhanded, to get into office.

Posted by bubba138 at 07:58 AM | Comments (0) |

April 13, 2004

No Really, Who Can?

What do the U.N. and the Catholic Church have in common?

Impotence:

I don't have all the answers. I believe denying Kerry the sacrament of communion would help, not hurt, his presidential campaign, and that that is why The New York Times is virtually taunting the Catholic bishops on this issue: Provoke an anti-Catholic firestorm or confess your own impotence.

I don't believe in playing politics with the sacraments, one way or the other.

But if Catholic bishops cannot stand up for the teachings of the church, who can?

Indeed.

Posted by bubba138 at 10:19 PM | Comments (0) |

Where'd They Go?

It looks like awesome, fem, conservative blog Right We Are has been stomped upon. The blog is gone and the domain has been taken over. This is nothing short of a tragedy.

Posted by bubba138 at 07:41 PM | Comments (0) |

Bush Press Conference: Reaction

I'm giving Bush a 'B'

Good points:

Not so good points

Update: Full transcript here.

Posted by bubba138 at 06:45 PM | Comments (0) |

Bush Press Conference

Coming in late...

REPORTER: Clarke apologized to the American people...Are you prepared to apologize?
BUSH: Osama bin Laden is responsible for the killing of Americans.
Bush is determined not to jump through his political opposition's hoops.

BUSH: Some would say if you are of brown skin you cannot handle democracy. I firmly reject that.
I love it when Bush goes on the offense.

BUSH: After 9/11 the world changed for me...and I think also for the American people.
I think it changed for everyone, but plenty are trying their best to change it back.

BUSH: Iraq is a part of the war on terror. It is not the war on terror.

REPORTER: Do you plan on continuing in Iraq even if it means losing your job

BUSH: I don't plan on losing my job.

REPORTER: What was your biggest mistake since 9/11?

BUSH: Historians will write about how things should have been done differently
We don't have to wait for historians. Kerry and Kennedy feel comfortable doing that today.

BUSH: Can you ever win the war on terror? Of course you can. That's why it is so important to promote free societies in the Middle East...that's why I'm pressing the Middle East Reform. Freedom is not this country's gift to the world. Freedom is the Almighty's gift to all of humanity.
Inalienable rights endowed by the creator. I believe in one of our founding documents...

REPORTER: Do you feel you have failed as a communicator? Have you failed in any way to make the case?
BUSH: That's what the voters will decide in November. If I tried to fine tune my messages based upon polls, I'd be pretty disappointed in myself...I look forward to the debate in the campaign. One thing is for certain, though. When I say something, I mean it. And the credibility of the United States is important for the peace of the world.
Big difference between this and the last president. This one acts on conviction and belief. He chooses a course based upon values not upon public sentiment.

Posted by bubba138 at 06:16 PM | Comments (0) |

Ludicrous? Maybe...

What some Arabs think is the truth is sometimes mind-boggling:

'No Conclusive Proof' that 9/11 Was an Outcome of Arab and Islamic Terror - It May Have Been Done by Americans or with American Assistance

"The claim that the Greater Middle East Initiative aims, wholly or partly, to eliminate terror of the type seen on September 11, 2001 is unconvincing, for several reasons. One is that there is still doubt that the September attacks were the outcome of Arab and Islamic terror. No conclusive proof to this effect is yet available.

The mind reels. From where does such a thought generate? What foul literature has this man been reading? With what does he feed his cognative process?

Many writers, American and European, as well as Arab, suspect that the attacks were carried out by Americans, or with American assistance, or that Americans knew about them and kept silent. Such doubts are strong and rest on damning evidence...
American and European writers, that's where. Does Kennedy take this into account when he rants about Bush knowing about 9/11? Does Ben-Viniste and Bob Kerrey? Do they not realize their own words are used to fuel the Arab's hatred of the U.S.? Or, more likely, do they not care, as long as it leads to them achieving the White House only to have the Arab hate turned upon them?

Posted by bubba138 at 05:07 PM | Comments (0) |

Clueless Clooney

Actor George Clooney has become a lightning rod of criticism for his father's campaign and he doesn't like it:

It's recently been brought to my attention that my father, Nick Clooney, has been running for Congress from the 4th District of Kentucky. Although he told me, I didn't really believe him until I started reading all the stories about myself in the paper.
Recently? It has been almost a month since the press reported about him stumping for his dad. Furthermore, if Nick's own son can't believe him, why should the voters?
It seems the best way to campaign against my father is to go after me. The head of the Kentucky 4th District GOP, Marcus Carey, is quoted in the Enquirer as saying that because of me, my father and I will "go down with my ship" - a reference to a film I made called The Perfect Storm.
George could have stayed out of the campaign, he didn't. It shouldn't be a surprise to him that after he took an active role in fundraising for Nick's bid that people would start to link the son's political thinking to the father.
I have two quick thoughts. First, it's probably not the best idea to use an actual event where six fishermen lost their lives as a lighthearted metaphor to hammer away at yours truly.
If we are to believe Ol' George's reasoning here, it is morally abhorent for Nick's political rival to barely reference a film that portrays six men dying. But it is honky dory, A-OK, just fine for George to make millions off the same movie. Forgive me if I am not getting as outraged as George may like.
For future insults, let me see if I can help.

It should go something like this: Batman and his father are gonna be taught The Facts of Life about Kentucky politics. The Peacemaker and his old man have been campaigning From Dusk Till Dawn to prove that a deficit that's Out of Sight can hurt your paycheck. O Brother, next they'll tell us that it would be Intolerable Cruelty to send patients away if they can't afford services in the E.R.

See? No references to any actual event where people died, yet filled with vim and vigor and a little zest. So, Mr. Carey, you have that one.

Cute...and pithy, too! But it really doesn't convey the point, which is George's leftist, anti-Bush, anti-American views harm his dad's chances of being elected. That's really what Mr. Carey was trying to say.

The second point I want to make is this: My father has dedicated 50 years to living and working in your community. Anyone who knows him (and that's a lot of Kentuckians) knows that he is his own man and always has been. Politically, my father and I certainly disagree on some issues. But what we don't disagree on is this: We should be judged as a country by how we take care of those who can't take care of themselves. Senior citizens, veterans, the poor, the uninsured ... this list goes on.
Agreed. By the way this country is comprised of millions of individuals. Some are dirt poor and some are filthy rich. Anyone in this country can live beyond confortably on $100k a year. Until George and his ilk decide to do so voluntarily, and give the excess to the poor, I will not buy into their rhetoric about believing that the measure of a country is in how it "takes care of those who can't take care of themselves." I'm sure George is very generous with his money, but I know he's not living at my level, and he's definitely not living anywhere near the level of the national median.
After 50 years, my father has earned the right to be judged on his own merits, and they are many; on his own political beliefs, and they are well-documented; and on his own strength of character, which is unquestionable.

Nick Clooney is a grown man and he can take his own hits ... but it'll be One Fine Day before he should take mine too.

Good for Nick. But if he believes the same things that George does, then these hits are correctly aimed. If not, the hits give him a chance to separate himself from George's rants...and that's a good thing, isn't it?

Posted by bubba138 at 04:29 PM | Comments (0) |

April 12, 2004

Vilifying Bush

The Democrats know that in order to win the presidency, regardless of reality, they have to make Bush look bad. So it is imperative for them to find out how bad they can make Bush look before they go too far:

One leading Democratic interest group recently asked a focus group in Florida to respond to a potential television ad accusing Bush of negligence in failing to stop the attacks. The result was volcanic — against the ad.

"They were so angry I thought they were going to turn the tables over," said a Democratic operative who watched the session. "It was a very polarizing ad, and it pushed people who were on the fence decidedly away from us."

I guess there weren't many Deaniacs in that focus group.

I find it interesting they tested this in Florida, where Democrats perceive the voters are sensitive to Bush having "stolen" the 2000 election.

Posted by bubba138 at 10:01 PM | Comments (0) |

What To Do?

With all the indicators showing a dramatically expanding, highly productive economy, what is a presidential challenger to do?

Easy, make up your own economic indicator...completely out of thin air.

The Bush campaign denounced the new index as "bogus," noting that it gives President Carter a better rating (plus 6) over his tenure than President Reagan (minus 5).
Carter's economy was better than Reagan's? That's all the information I need to judge the index as unfiltered garbage.

Posted by bubba138 at 09:26 PM | Comments (0) |

Comments

You may or may not have noticed, but the comments are back online. I put in a javascript routine that should prevent further spamming. It remains to be seen how well it will work.

Posted by bubba138 at 02:50 PM | Comments (0) |

Bush's Vietnam

No, it isn't:

Fresh warnings by Sens. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., and Robert Byrd, D-W.Va., that Iraq is becoming ano- ther "Vietnam" drew this enlightenment on the Senate floor Wednesday: "There is no superpower that is backing these minority of Shias and Sunnis who are seeking to gain political power through the use of a gun, and there is no comparison as far as the sanctuary which this enemy has."

That vital distinction was pointed out by Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., who, like Sen. Kerry, draws on firsthand experience for his "lessons of Vietnam." And while pondering those competing lessons of the past, and the present and future perils of being reviled as infidels, remember that highly agitated Muslims in Iraq and beyond have no monopoly on weird interpretations of religious duty.

Posted by bubba138 at 01:42 PM | Comments (0) |

9/11 Commission: Nothing But a Show - Part III

Last week Ben Veniste was whining about getting the Aug. 6th PDB memo declassified so the public could see what it said. Interestingly enough, the Washington Post reported on the toothlessness of the the memo almost two years ago:

The top-secret briefing memo presented to President Bush on Aug. 6 carried the headline, "Bin Laden Determined to Strike in U.S.," and was primarily focused on recounting al Qaeda's past efforts to attack and infiltrate the United States, senior administration officials said.

The document, known as the President's Daily Briefing, underscored that Osama bin Laden and his followers hoped to "bring the fight to America," in part as retaliation for U.S. missile strikes on al Qaeda camps in Afghanistan in 1998, according to knowledgeable sources.

Bush had specifically asked for an intelligence analysis of possible al Qaeda attacks within the United States, because most of the information presented to him over the summer about al Qaeda focused on threats against U.S. targets overseas, sources said. But one source said the White House was disappointed because the analysis lacked focus and did not present fresh intelligence.

Hat tip: Taranto

Update: This brings to mind two questions:

Posted by bubba138 at 12:45 PM | Comments (0) |

Dick Clarke: No Longer Hot

Dick Clarke's top 40 hits keep falling off the charts. Yet another one of his fabrications factual errors has been exposed as patently untrue:

Moreover, others involved in the Ressam case say Clarke's book contains factual errors and wrongly implies national-security officials knew of Ressam's plan to set a bomb at Los Angeles International Airport long before they actually did. [...]

According to a former customs agent who was involved, Clarke's version, laid out in one chapter of his book, wrongly implies they were on "heightened alert" and somehow looking for terrorists.

"No," was the terse reply of Michael Chapman, one of the customs agents who arrested Ressam, when asked if he was aware of a security alert.

"We were on no more alert than we're always on. That is a matter of public record," said Chapman, now a Clallam County commissioner.

I have a feeling Clarke's lies errors will continue to be discredited one by one for weeks to come.

Posted by bubba138 at 12:09 PM | Comments (0) |

New Clear Thinking

The logic skills of the anti-war types are lacking world wide:

But he got a different message from hundreds of protesters who rallied for a fourth day near his office, waving rainbow-coloured peace flags and holding placards calling for the troops to be brought home.

"Japanese will definitely not forgive politicians who abandon the hostages," protester Mayumi Ujiie said.

I am consistantly blown away by the ability of left wingers to contradict themselves in consecutive breaths without even blinking an eyelash. Does no one in this camp see that pulling its troops out of Iraq is abandoning the hostages?

Posted by bubba138 at 09:54 AM | Comments (0) |

April 09, 2004

Strangness

This is just wierd:

The daughter of an 84-year-old man who died when his home burned in March says a mummified body that was later discovered in the garage could be her missing mother.

Posted by bubba138 at 02:34 PM | Comments (0) |

San Diego Terror Alert!

A bomb threat right here in my home town?

A one-block area was evacuated Friday as a bomb squad investigated a suspicious device that was found attached to a fence at a San Diego Gas & Electric substation in Encanto, a company official said.

A worker who was walking around the substation at 6836 Benson Avenue saw the device about 7:30 a.m., said Ed Van Herik of SDG&E.

"He alerted our security department, who called the police who, in turn, called the bomb squad," Van Herik said.

Police evacuated the 6800 block of Benson and established a perimeter of about 300 yards, Van Herik said.

Then again, perhaps not. I heard on the radio a moment ago that this is a test of the local law enforcement by the Feds. Stay tuned...

Update: Yep, it was a drill.

Posted by bubba138 at 02:32 PM | Comments (0) |

A Fresh View From the Left

What with the bloviating of the Senior Windbag from Massechusetts, it is sometimes it is hard to hear a carefully thought out assessment of our world situation from the left. Despair not, such voices do exist:

As for Iraq, there are those who believe that the reasons for which the United States, Great Britain, and their coalition partners occupied that country are inseparable from the consequences of this action. If we invaded for the wrong reasons, the theory goes, nothing good could come of it. We would only have stirred up enmity in the Middle East that helped Bin Laden recruit more followers. Throw rocks at a hornet's nest they say and Madrid is the best evidence that you're going to get stung.

People who argue this way believe passionately in their positions. I respect that. I simply disagree with them.

I'm no apologist for the Bush administration. I supported the war in Afghanistan, but I didn't support the invasion of Iraq. I thought U.N. inspections should continue for at least until we had proof of what we know now—that Iraq had destroyed its weapons of mass destruction—or indisputable evidence to the contrary. I doubted that a canny political survivor like Saddam Hussein would ever give weapons of mass destruction to religious zealots such as Bin Laden for fear that the latter would use them against Hussein's regime. [...]

But can anyone seriously deny at this late date that some great good has come of the Iraq occupation? One of the most brutal tyrants of the late 20th Century—a man who murdered hundreds of thousands of his own people—is in custody and will soon stand trial for his crimes. The Iraqi people have approved a Constitution. They may, God willing, vote in a new government this summer.

Those are remarkable achievements in less than a year's time. I do not believe that more than 500 young soldiers have died in vain.

I didn't support the invasion of Iraq because I doubted Iraq's larger connection to the war on terror. In this, I was wrong. Al Qaeda has made Iraq an official battleground in that conflict. Anyone watching or reading daily news reports about foreign-born combatants attacking U.S. troops can see the truth of this, but the cell that struck Madrid made the connection explicit.

Ron is a prime example of why I think Bush is going to win this election in a landslide. Whether Ron actually votes for Bush or not, he's been forced to think about foriegn policy in a new way and consider that the left's view is wanting. Conversely, there aren't that many right-leaning people whose views on foriegn policy have veered leftward.

Posted by bubba138 at 01:04 PM | Comments (0) |

PetCo Park

The Padres had their home opener in their new stadium last night. It was an exciting game capped off by an extra-inning home-team win. But Carl Luna has the best take on the opening ceremonies:

Local: Jimmy Carter tossing out the first pitch at Petco? Egad, whose idea was that? As if the Padres aren't under enough curses (though yesterday's victory over the dreaded Dodgers was music to one's ears) we get the least effective President of the last 72 years (and yes, that would take us back to Hoover) to inaugurate the new stadium? What, Gray Davis was busy that day?

Ouch.

By the way, if you are a San Diego blogger and you aren't on this list, you should be. Email Jeff Dillon and get on it.

Posted by bubba138 at 12:31 PM | Comments (0) |

Where was the Applause Coming From?

Neal Boortz knows (use this link after 4/9/2004):

There were 80 seats reserved for family members of 9/11 victims at yesterday's hearing. The applause? Look at those 80 seats. Remember the September 11th Families for a Peaceful World? That is a group made up of a few wives and family members of 9/11 victims. This group is leftist in its political viewpoint, and is stridently anti-war and anti-Bush. Don't expect the media to identify these people as members of a left-wing anti-war group. To the media, they're just family members of 9/11 victims.
That explains alot. So does George Will:
The applauders, perhaps including some who applauded Richard Clarke's testimony two weeks ago, evidently believe what Clarke testified that he does not believe: implementing Clarke's agenda during those 233 days would have prevented the attacks.

Posted by bubba138 at 11:06 AM | Comments (0) |

April 08, 2004

10 Million Jobs

Hey! That's what I said.

Posted by bubba138 at 11:04 PM | Comments (0) |

9/11 Commission: Nothing But a Show - Part II

Hugh Hewitt agrees that the commission was all about posturing:

Ask yourself: Did one or both of these men conduct their questioning in a different fashion than would have been the case had the hearing not been testified? If your answer is "yes"--and any honest answer will be "yes"-- then the conclusion is inescapable that these two had an agenda other than getting at the facts, that they intended to shape public opinion, which means they had a preconceived objective, which means the Commission's reported is tainted by politics before it is written. What a horrible joke on the 9/11 families and the country, but not surprising. Very few Democrats of high profile within that party have been able to put the country ahead of their party. Just this week Kennedy, then Kerry, then ben Veniste, then Kerrey all postured when they might have come to the defense of the mission.

Posted by bubba138 at 10:43 PM | Comments (0) |

Good News Keeps Coming

The fewest Americans in more than three years claimed jobless benefits last week and wholesalers bulked up inventories in February...

First-time claims for state unemployment insurance fell an unexpectedly steep 14,000 in the week ended April 3 to 328,000 -- their lowest level since just before President Bush took office, the Labor Department said.

"Clearly good news," said economist Pierre Ellis of Decision Economics Inc. in New York. "What appears to be the resumption of new hiring should combine with this reduction in layoffs to promote strong employment growth."

As John Kerry is famous for saying, "bring it on!"

Posted by bubba138 at 04:59 PM | Comments (0) |

Bush Fights Outsourcing

Bush just may do his part to fight outsourcing:

German politicians are traveling to Washington to lobby against the closing of American military bases in Germany. Closing military bases in the United States has long been a major political and financial problem. Military bases have always brought new jobs (for civilians employed at the base) and the spending the troops and their families injected into the local economy.
Great! I'm all for bringing those jobs and spending home.

Michael comments:

StrategyPage reports (April 8th, 2004) that German diplomats are coming to America to convince Congress not to close our military bases in Germany. Good luck. We have long memories: watch what happens when you screw us over.
[Insert Glenn voice here] Indeed.

Posted by bubba138 at 04:22 PM | Comments (0) |

APPLAUSE

Someone please answere the question, "who is doing the clapping?"

My life has been relatively short, but in that time I have never seen or heard applause come from questioning or testimony regarding matters as serious as the 9/11 commission. Today it looked like a regular Minnesota funeral political rally. Was this a somber proceeding or a game show?

In all but one instance, every time the "audience" clapped during the Rice testimony it was in response to a question or zinger statement from a Democrat:

RICE: I understand, Commissioner, but it's important...

BEN-VENISTE: Did you tell the president...

RICE: ... that I also address...

(APPLAUSE)

RICE: What the August 6th PDB said, and perhaps I should read it to you...

BEN-VENISTE: We would be happy to have it declassified in full at this time, including its title.

(APPLAUSE)

GORELICK: To me, and you're free to comment on them, they are feckless. They don't tell anybody anything. They don't bring anyone to battle stations.

And I personally believe, having heard Coleen Rowley's testimony about her frustrations in the Moussaoui incident, that if someone had really gone out to the agents who were working these issues on the ground and said, "We are at battle stations. We need to know what's happening out there. Come to us," she would have broken through barriers to have that happen, because she was knocking on doors and they weren't opening.

(APPLAUSE)

KERREY: [...] Secondly, let me say that I don't think we understand how the Muslim world views us, and I'm terribly worried that the military tactics in Iraq are going to do a number of things, and they're all bad. One is...

(APPLAUSE)

No, please don't -- please do not do that. Do not applaud.

RICE: [...]I'm aware, Mr. Kerrey, of a speech that you gave at that time that said that perhaps the best thing that we could do to respond to the Cole and to the memories was to do something about the threat of Saddam Hussein.

That's a strategic view...

(APPLAUSE)

RICE: But since we have a point of disagreement, I'd like to have a chance to address it.

KERREY: Well, no, no, actually, we have many points of disagreement, Dr. Clarke, but we'll have a chance to do in closed session. Please don't filibuster me. It's not fair. It is not fair. I have been polite. I have been courteous. It is not fair to me.

(APPLAUSE)

RICE: Mr. Roemer, let's be very clear. The PDB does not say the United States is going to be attacked. It says bin Laden would like to attack the United States. I don't think you, frankly, had to have that report to know that bin Laden would like to attack the United States.

ROEMER: So why aren't you doing something about that earlier than August 6th?

(APPLAUSE)

Did the Democrats stack the gallery? It sure seems so.

Posted by bubba138 at 04:08 PM | Comments (0) |

Comments

After removing several dozen totally inappropriate comments I have turned comments off.

More details: Thinkling Jared (thanks for the props, bud) is wondering about the nature of the inappropriate comments. To be specific, several dozen of the comments were spammed with links to porn and penal enlargmement sites. Needless to say, this displeases me.

Ith experienced this some months ago and she fixed it by upgrading to a more recent version of Moveable Type. I've made modifications to MT that I do not want to lose, so I've been hesitant to upgrade. It looks like I'll have to bite the bullet do it, though. With Easter in only a few days, I'm not thinking it will happen until next week.

Posted by bubba138 at 12:41 PM | Comments (0) |

9/11 Commission: Nothing But a Show

At the beginning of the 9/11 Commission one could reasonably argue that their purpose was a positive one: find out why 9/11 happened so we can prevent it from happening again. As time goes by, it becomes clearer and clearer that this is nothing more than a partisan attempt at smearing the current administration. From the moment a commission member waved Clarke's book of lies at a witness we've known that this is nothing more than grandstanding. Today, we had yet another example:

BEN-VENISTE: Isn't it a fact, Dr. Rice, that the August 6th PDB warned against possible attacks in this country? And I ask you whether you recall the title of that PDB?

RICE: I believe the title was, "Bin Laden Determined to Attack Inside the United States."

Now, the...

BEN-VENISTE: Thank you.

RICE: No, Mr. Ben-Veniste...

BEN-VENISTE: I will get into the...

RICE: I would like to finish my point here.

BEN-VENISTE: I didn't know there was a point.

RICE: Given that -- you asked me whether or not it warned of attacks.

BEN-VENISTE: I asked you what the title was. [...and Dr. Rice answered that part of the question]

RICE: You said, did it not warn of attacks. It did not warn of attacks inside the United States. It was historical information based on old reporting. There was no new threat information. And it did not, in fact, warn of any coming attacks inside the United States.

BEN-VENISTE: [The Congressman rails against Rice about what she knew...]

RICE: Do you have other questions that you want me to answer as a part of the sequence?

BEN-VENISTE: Well, did you not -- you have indicated here that this was some historical document. And I am asking you whether it is not the case that you learned in the PDB memo of August 6th that the FBI was saying that it had information suggesting that preparations -- not historically, but ongoing, along with these numerous full field investigations against al Qaeda cells, that preparations were being made consistent with hijackings within the United States?

RICE: What the August 6th PDB said, and perhaps I should read it to you...

BEN-VENISTE: We would be happy to have it declassified in full at this time, including its title.

(APPLAUSE)

RICE: I believe, Mr. Ben-Veniste, that you've had access to this PDB. But let me just...

BEN-VENISTE: But we have not had it declassified so that it can be shown publicly, as you know.

RICE: I believe you've had access to this PDB -- exceptional access. But let me address your question.

BEN-VENISTE: Nor could we, prior to today, reveal the title of that PDB.

RICE: May I address the question, sir?

The commission had full, "exceptional" access to this document. In no way would declassifying the document enhance or enable the commission to better prevent a 9/11 in the future. Ben-Veniste makes it abundantly clear that his purpose on this commission is not to get to the facts, or to develop plans for the future, but to find any shred of evidence that can be blown up into a scandal and make it publically available to the press. Just like Kerry and Kennedy, Ben-Veniste's goal is to discredit the administration for no purpose greater than gaining power for the Democrats.

The sickening continues.

Update: Da Boi asks, "Am I being cynical about them?"

No.

Posted by bubba138 at 12:35 PM | Comments (0) |

Sick With Disgust

I am, today, sick with disgust at the state of Democratic politics. It sickens me to hear Kennedy blather on about "Bush's Vietnam." It sickens me that he's right:

Iraq is Bush's Vietnam.

I admit, I am no scholar of the conflict in Vietnam. I only know what I remember as I grew up during those tumultuous times. What I remember is that because of political pressure -- or more pointedly, political opportunism -- every administration, from Johnson to Nixon, was hamgstrung by detractors from doing what they needed to do to win.

Vietnam was Vietnam because our soldiers came home to constant, ascerbic, biting commentary about the unjustness of the war, the ineffectiveness of the war, and the dishonesty of the leadership of the White House administrations that prosecuted the war. This unending harping devalued the sacrifice made by our military.

This is indeed Bush's Vietnam, but not because of anything Bush has done. This has become Vietnam-esque precisely because of Kennedy, Kerry, Kucinich [The KKK? Wow, I didn't plan that] and their ilk. Every turn of the war has been lambasted by these. Every casualty has been trumpeted as a singular tragedy. Every enemy attack has been paraded as ineptness on the part of the Bush administration.

Because of these men our soldiers are treated to a steady diet of propaganda that serves only to weaken their resolve and their confidence in their commander in chief. Further, it emboldens our enemies. The ultimate results of this will be American lives lost. But what galls me the most about this is that Kerry and Kennedy aren't doing this out of genuine moral conviction, but for nothing more than to gain the presidency. To them, sacrificing the lives and of our soldiers is an acceptable price for gaining political power. That's wrong and no one is saying so.

The Democrats have been feigning anger for two years now. It is about time the Republicans start showing a little of their own -- but lets make it real.

Update: David also says Iraq is Vietnam...kind of...

Posted by bubba138 at 12:16 PM | Comments (0) |

April 07, 2004

John Kerry the Catholic?

Hugh Hewitt on Kerry's form of Catholicism:

If what Kerry says is true, then the Church really doesn't care if its members advocate for wide-ranging abortion rights and receive Holy Communion, despite the bishop of St. Louis' instruction to Kerry to refrain from the sacrament on that bishop's turf.

I am not familiar with those documents of Vatican II to which Kerry refers, and would appreciate direction to them. Perhaps they are in the small volume of works by Pope Pius XXIII.

At issue here is not whether a Bishop can tell a Presidential candidate to abstain from a pro-abortion position, but whether a pro-abortion candidate can continue as a Catholic.

Posted by bubba138 at 11:51 AM | Comments (0) |

Wictory Wednesday

Speaking of al-Sadr's newspaper, which was shut down by coalition forces last week after it urged violence against U.S. troops, Kerry complained to National Public Radio, "They shut a newspaper that belongs to a legitimate voice in Iraq."

In the next breath, however, the White House hopeful caught himself and quickly changed direction, adding, "Well, let me . . . change the term legitimate. It belongs to a voice — because he has clearly taken on a far more radical tone in recent days and aligned himself with both Hamas and Hezbollah, which is a sort of terrorist alignment."

Legitimate, ummm, not legitimate. Hamas and Hizbollah...sort of terrorists. This is the man who wants to be president. The fact that Keery only percieves that al-Sadr's voice has taken a radical tone "in recent days" shows he has less grasp of the situation in Iraq than he accuses Bush of having.

In no way is this election a slam dunk for Bush. The press is only too happy to promote images of death and destruction in Iraq, the 9/11 commission's camera hungry proceedings and less than sensible conclusions, and Dick Clarke's unsubstantiated anti-Bush screed in order to make G.W. look bad.

Now more than ever the Bush team needs our help. Today is Wictory Wednesday. Every Wednesday, I ask my readers to volunteer and/or donate to the Bush 2004 campaign.

If you've already donated and volunteered for the Bush campaign, then talk to your friends and enlist them in this battle for America's very soul.

If you're a blogger, you can join Wictory Wednesdays simply by putting up a post like this one every Wednesday, asking your readers to volunteer and/or donate to the Bush campaign. And do e-mail Poli-Pundit at wictory@blogsforbush.com so that he can add you to the Wictory Wednesday blogroll, which will be part of the Wictory Wednesday post on all participating blogs:

Posted by bubba138 at 08:59 AM | Comments (0) |

April 06, 2004

New Digs

Professor Yin has moved. Check him out.

Posted by bubba138 at 11:38 PM | Comments (0) |

Ask the Iraqis

What do the Iraqis think of al-Sadr? Let's see...

Firas says:

As an Iraqi in Baghdad in such day I should say something about what’s going on. But I’m not going to analyze anything…..I’m going to give facts I saw and heard today and things I know about...

All what we heard about the clashes was from TV (Arabiya & Jazira). I am not saying it didn’t happen, but it was exaggerated. As I said I don’t want to analyze anything yet but I wanted to tell you about what I saw.

Salam Pax offers a possible explanation for Firas' reluctance to analyze:

Remember the days when every time you hear an Iraqi talk on TV you had to remember that they are talking with a Mukhabarat minder looking at them noting every word? We are back to that place.

You have to be careful about what you say about al-Sadir. Their hands reach every where and you don't want to be on their shit list. Every body, even the GC is very careful how they formulate their sentences and how they describe Sadir's Militias. They are thugs, thugs thugs. There you have it.

Omar:

Ayad Allawe (GC member) condemned Muqtada's actions and described him as a man who's breaking the law and inciting unjustified violence.

Alaasmary puts less confidence in al-Sadr than the U. S. media does:

The fear still clear on the Iraqi people face, the life is continue and Muktada will become a big loser. I think there are two important points (Usama Ben Laden and Iran). Iran supports Muktada and Usama support Al-falluja, and we must cut the snakehead. Muktada is very fear and now he starting in retreat he is out of the Al-Kufa mosque maybe he wants runaway to the Iran it is a safe place to him.

Kurdo has no problem being clear in what he thinks:

I have one thing to say against this Iranian agent..."Terrorise him before he terrorises us"... A couple of Israeli tips would help here....They are great in dealing with these kinda people.. If Bremer gives a green light to his termination, it will be the right decision..there might be some unrest for a few days but there will be a great positive effect for long-term..


It is officially a war.. and freedom-loving people will lose nothing.. it is not us who started it...

Sam states a recurring theme of many of the Iraqi bloggers: Iran is behind al-Sadr:

There are two kinds of supporters for MS. Those who are close to him and they are opportunistic no different from the security of SH. The other largest group are those who may get some benefits or obsessed by his black turban!

MS money comes mostly from Iran and from the successor of his father Kadhem AL Hairi in Iran and may be other groups. Very recently an important officer from the Iranian Intelligence services defected from Iran and mentioned that the Iranian Intelligent Security had established many secret bases inside Iraq.

Many will try to turn al-Sadr into a powerful civil warlord, but these blogs make it clear he's nothing but a gangster.

"I am ready to shed my blood for my holy city, my clerics and my society," wrote Mr Sadr, 30.

U.S. forces will be more than happy to oblige.

In two weeks we won't even remember who he was.

Posted by bubba138 at 09:59 PM | Comments (0) |

More Kerry the Catholic Reaction

Dimmy has this to say about Kerry's blunder:

Yeah, I'm sure Kit Seelye knew there was no Pius XXIII off the top of her head. This is reminiscent of Dean getting in trouble in January when he cited Job as a book of the New Testament, then went back and corrected himself that Job is in the Old Testament. Apparently we now require our presidents to be religious scholars and historians.

No, Dimmy, we require our presidents to be what they actually are. If Kerry really was a Catholic, he wouldn't need to be a religious expert in order to know who the Popes were. The problem is that Kerry makes himself out to be something he is not. That is a problem for someone who wants to be president.

Posted by bubba138 at 08:06 PM | Comments (0) |

A Great Voice Silenced

Recently the press was full of sorrow for the passing of actor Peter Ustinov. Although he was talented, prolific, and fun to watch, he was after all just another actor.

Lost in all the other news was the death of a truly great voice in British-American media: Alistair Cooke.

For more than half a century, Alistair Cooke's weekly broadcasts of Letter from America for BBC radio monitored the pulse of life in the United States and relayed its strengths and weaknesses to 50 countries. [...]

He returned to the United States in 1937 to work as a commentator on American affairs for the BBC. He made his home there and, in 1941, became an American citizen.

March 1946 saw the first edition of American Letter, which became Letter from America in 1949.

The series was the longest-running series in history to be presented by a single person.

Good night, Sir Cooke. May you rest in the Lord's glorious peace.

Posted by bubba138 at 03:04 PM | Comments (0) |

OUCH!

The always quick witted Taranto slings a zinger Teddy's way:

The Associated Press reports that Kennedy said, "This president has now created the largest credibility gap since Richard Nixon." And: "He has broken the basic bond of trust with the American people."

Mary Jo Kopechne could not be reached for comment.

That's gotta hurt!

Posted by bubba138 at 02:35 PM | Comments (0) |

Not Anti-War...Just on the Other Side

Blix has finally shown his true colors:

"What's positive is that Saddam and his bloody regime is gone, but when figuring out the score, the negatives weigh more," the former chief U.N. weapons inspector was quoted as saying in the daily newspaper Jyllands Posten.

"That accounts for the many casualties during the war and the many people who still die because of the terrorism the war has nourished," he said. "The war has liberated the Iraqis from Saddam, but the costs have been too great."

The negatives weigh more and the costs have been too great. What about these costs, and these and these?

That the world and the looney left would orient their moral compass off those such as Blix is sickening.

Posted by bubba138 at 12:30 PM | Comments (0) |

Augusta Revisited

Martha Burk is at it again. Now she's soliciting for anyone who may have a sexual discrimination or harrasment complaint against any of the Augusta members (and/or their companies):

Burk is singling out a number of Augusta members for an "investigation" of alleged "gender bias and exclusionary practices" at their firms. [...]

"The reason we are doing that is because we are hearing from women in those companies," Burk said. The complaints include "everything from glass ceiling and pay issues to outright sexual harassment." [...]

While last year's debate focused on the golf club itself, Burk insists the debate now centers on CEOs of corporations that employ "many, many women"; have "control over women's careers;" and who belong to a club "that makes a statement [that] sex discrimination is okay."

To my eye this amounts to some sort of litigative blackmail. The ethics of this are questionable at best.

It is scary to imagine where and how else such a tactic may be used.

Posted by bubba138 at 10:51 AM | Comments (0) |

Kerry the Catholic

Ooops, he did it again.

"I'm not a church spokesman. I'm a legislator running for president. My oath is to uphold the Constitution of the United States in my public life. My oath privately between me and God was defined in the Catholic church by Pius XXIII and Pope Paul VI in the Vatican II, which allows for freedom of conscience for Catholics with respect to these choices, and that is exactly where I am. And it is separate. Our constitution separates church and state, and they should be reminded of that."

Mr. Kerry apparently meant John XXIII, as there is no Pius XXIII.

I'm not a Catholic so I wouldn't have caught Kerry's gaffe. But one would think of Kerry is going to market himself as a Catholic he'd know there was no Pius XXIII.

Perhaps he should just convert to AME, since that's where he's spending his Sunday mornings anyway.

Update: After some searching (prompted by the comments) I found out who Pius XXIII really is:

After 40 years of the Holy See being vacant, the Catholic Church has, on October 24, 1998 elected Pope Pius XIII as the Vicar of Christ on Earth. [...]

The deception into which you have been drawn by bogus Council Vatican II (1962 - 1965) is extremely acute. Why? Because those leaders, all the Fathers of the bogus Council Vatican II plus their leaders (John XXIII, Paul VI, John Paul I and now John Paul II) kept not only the name Catholic Church, but they also kept their position in the community that continues to call itself the Catholic Church. The only way that one can prove this truth is to examine the teachings of the Catholic Church before bogus Council Vatican II, and then compare those earlier teachings with the ones now taught by that unfortunate and diabolical Council Vatican II.

So Kerry, true to form, wants it both ways -- recognizing both Pope Paul VI, who authorized Vatican II and Pope Pius XXIII who rejects it. But accrding to both the Holy Roman Catholic Church in Rome and to the "True" Catholic Church one cannot have it both ways:

John Paul II is NOT the Pope and never was. Neither were the 3 other imposters, John XXIII, Paul VI or John Paul I. These 4 claimants to the Chair of Peter, never for one instant held the papal office, because each was a non-Catholic.

Once again Kerry has shown he is incapable of taking a clear stand. He calls himself a Catholic, but will not choose which Pope under whose authority he submits. He says he's Catholic but he hardly darkens the door of a Catholic church. If Kerry was true to himself and America he would come out and say his is the Church of JFKerry and be done with it.

By the way...the "true" Catholic church headed by Pope Pius XXIII is known as the Sedevacantist movement. The press has spent the last six months blasting Mel Gibson for being a sedevacantist. Will the press be equally critical of Kerry's faith?

Update: Prof. Bainbridge and Hugh Hewitt have more.

Final Update: Boy do I feel sheepish. As I was looking over this once more, I noticed that Pius XXIII and Pius XIII are not the same. Somehow I was off X and didn't even notice it. DOH! Scratch that!

Posted by bubba138 at 10:26 AM | Comments (0) |

Beat Up Clarke Day

It must be beat up Clarke day. InstaGlenn points to several references to the Clinton administration's final security report of 2000, objectively showing Billy's boys were less concerned with al Qaeda than Clarke would have us believe. By way of piling on, Laurie Mylorie says Clarke's view holds up only if one conveniently ignores crucial facts:

• Fact No. 1: "Ramzi Yousef" entered the U.S. in September 1992 on an Iraqi passport, with stamps showing a journey beginning in Baghdad. This fact is attested by the inspector who admitted Yousef into the U.S. Yet Mr. Clarke contends that Yousef entered the U.S. without a passport.

• Fact No. 2: The sole remaining fugitive from the 1993 bombing, Abdul Rahman Yasin, is an Iraqi. After the attack, Yasin fled to Iraq. The Iraqi regime rewarded Yasin with a house and monthly stipend. Yet Mr. Clarke claims, incredibly, that the Iraqis jailed Yasin.

• Fact No. 3: Seven men were indicted in the 1993 attack. Two of the seven, Yousef and Yasin, have Iraqi connections. Yet Mr. Clarke inflates the number of participants to 12, so as to create the impression that the presence of one or two men with Iraqi connections was no big deal.

• Fact No. 4: The truth is, we don't really know much about the prisoner bearing the name "Ramzi Yousef." Judge Kevin Duffy, who presided over Yousef's two trials, observed at sentencing: "We don't even know what your real name is." Yet Mr. Clarke claims to know what the judge did not: Yousef, he writes, "was born Abdul Basit in Pakistan and grew up in Kuwait where his father worked."

There was and is ample evidence that Iraq was a terrorist sponsoring state. Given that, it would have been terribly irresponsible had Bush not ordered Clarke, "Iraq -- find out of there is a connection."

Update: Even Chris Muir is in Clarke booty kicking mode.

Hat tip: I just noticed that Left Coast Conservative scooped me on this piece two days ago.

Posted by bubba138 at 10:18 AM | Comments (0) |

April 05, 2004

Fallujah Mutilations: Bush's Fault

Boortz notices Dan Rather's blatant attempt to blame Bush for the deaths of the four contractors in Fallujah:

On last Wednesday night's newscast Rather asked the question: "What drives American civilians to risk death in Iraq? In this economy, it may be, for some, the only job they can find."

These four men were former military. They were former Navy Seals and special forces operatives. They were earning a living the way they wanted to earn a living. One of these men was from Delaware. The unemployment rate there is 3.1%.

Oh, THAT liberal media.

Posted by bubba138 at 03:47 PM | Comments (0) |

The Glass is Half Full

NOT an April Fool's joke:

But the most surprising news of the day came on stationery with the letterhead of the Coalition Provisional Authority in Iraq. The news release, dated April 1, announced that a new chapter of the Optimist Club had just formed in Baghdad. Coming the day after the killings and mob violence in Falluja, this seemed like a gruesome joke. But a call to Laura Boyd at the St. Louis headquarters of the Optimist clubs confirmed there was indeed a new chapter in Baghdad. "The recent news doesn't seem to faze them over there," Miss Boyd said. "They're very upbeat."

Posted by bubba138 at 02:51 PM | Comments (0) |

Honesty

This is telling:

The reason some people are excited about the possibility of Senator McCain being on the Democratic ticket is his unassailable honesty, and that honesty is exactly what will keep him from being Senator Kerry's running mate.

Oil and water don't mix, I guess.

Posted by bubba138 at 08:52 AM | Comments (0) |

April Fools!

The best thing about April fools is the number of people who fall, head over heels, for an obvious prank. This column contained clue after clue about its inauthenticity. Here's just one:

This time a consortium of Arab businessmen, along with the Plumbing and Concrete Union of New Jersey and actor Lou Diamond Phillips, bypassed both voters and a clueless city government that apparently remained unaware of the project until heavy equipment began eating away at the site early this morning.

Lou Diamond Phillips?

Yet dozens thought the article was the real McCoy:

I heard from 50 or 60 and I'm not counting the editor who took me in by saying that our publisher "wasn't happy" with my column before adding, "April Fool's!" But this is what I get for being such a fun-loving guy.

One man called upset because his wife had called him in tears after reading the fake airport article. "That wasn't funny AT ALL!" he said.

Ya gotta love it.

Posted by bubba138 at 08:14 AM | Comments (0) |

Spanish Submission

This is what appeasement has purchased for Spain:

In a videotape found outside a Madrid mosque two days after the March 11 attacks, an Arabic-speaking man read a statement signed by Al Afgani claiming responsibility for the March 11 bombings.

The ABC letter said Spain had until April 4 to end its support for the United States and withdraw its troops from Iraq and Afghanistan.

"If these demands are not met, we will declare war on you and ... convert your country into an inferno and your blood will flow like rivers," the letter said.

The group said it had showed its force with the "blessed attacks of March 11" and the planting of a bomb along the high-speed railway line linking Madrid and Seville last week, which did not explode.

I'm sure glad AQ follows the religion of peace.

Posted by bubba138 at 08:00 AM | Comments (0) |

April 04, 2004

Child Protection Act?

Patterico isn't too thrilled about the new "Three Strikes" bill.

Neither am I. The fact that it is labeled the "Three Strikes and Child Protection Act of 2004" is sickening. It will only serve to protect the children of mothers of criminals.

Posted by bubba138 at 07:41 AM | Comments (0) |

April 03, 2004

Neptune Shield: Mission Accomplished

antiantiwar 013.jpgI just got back from San Diego's huge [well, not quite] anti-war protest today. Together with Matthew Hoy, Jeff, and Mr. Breaker, and others I joined with Citizen Smash (who, by the way, heads up the San Diego chapter of ProtestWarrior) for a little counter-op.

We met about a half hour before the rally was scheduled, and less than ten minutes before it was supposed to start there we're little more than a couple of dozen peacenics. I asked one of the organizers, a hispanic young lady person where everyone was.

"Oh, we're working on colored time," she replied.

Funny, I thought A.N.S.W.E.R. was against racism. I guess that statement is one of those things that are only racist if a white male says it.

Anyway, one of the speakers actually invited our quaint little group to join them inside their roped off area. "We're open to a mix of opinions," he said. Apparently he was open, but several others were not. One guy in particular was particularly offended, and passionately informed me that I am a facist.

antiantiwar 019.jpgThat's something about myself even I didn't know. Then again, this is the same guy who called for revolution from the podium exclaiming, "We're not going to stop until this red flag is waving at the White House." He has no evidence that I'm a facist, but he clearly identifies himself as a communist.

The best thing about the day was the media exposure our little band got. Smash was interviewed by three local TV channels (Fox, KFMB, and KUSI) as well as by the San Diego Union Tribune.

Even over an hour into the rally, there were only fifty so anti-war protesters. Our group of fifteen added a full thirty percent to the number of people marching.

All in all attending this rally was completely worth it. We marched a small distance behind the communists, and it was more than gratifying to get thumbs up as we passed people on the streets. We were easily distinguished from them. They carried mostly Palestinian flags (not a single one carried an American flag), while our group was dominated by Old Glory.

Update: Instapundit has more.

Update: You can see all my photos here.

Posted by bubba138 at 07:54 PM | Comments (0) |

April 02, 2004

The Players

Ali in Iraq reacts to the Fallujah mutilations:

This is not between Isalmists and the west, not between Saddam loyalists and America this is between good and evil, light and darkness and I can’t sit and watch or explain anymore. You can say, “Nuke Mecca” or “nuke Fallujah” and you can chose the Spanish government’s attitude and submit to terror, or you can join us (Iraqis and coalition) in fighting dictatorship, terrorism and their-no less evil and damaging- propaganda machine.

And Mohammed informs reminds us:

We were ruled by people like those who committed the crime in Fallujah. Every day we were shocked by scenes like these for our beloved ones our children our thinkers and artists; our bodies were mutilated for 35 years.

Posted by bubba138 at 01:50 PM | Comments (0) |

Lose - Lose

Nathan gives a prime example of the left's total lack of logical continuity.

In one post he accuses Bush of personally trying to poison Europe because the White House went to bat for U.S. corporations:

Richard Mills, the spokesman for the United States trade representative, said Thursday that the administration estimated that "one million jobs are on the line - you're darned right we raised our concerns with the European Union."

"The regulations would not help the environment because they were unworkable," Mr. Mills said. "We want regulations that protect the environment and don't stifle U.S. jobs and economic growth."

Yet in the very next post Nathan decries today's very positive jobs report because "the amount of hours worked for everyone else fell on average 0.1 percent." He continues:

We'll see lots of spinning of this number as heralding the success of Bush's economic policies, but the plain fact remains that there is just a hell of a lot less work out there than before he became President.

First off, no spinning is needed. Three hundred thousand jobs is three hundred thousand jobs, period. Splitting hairs because the total hours worked went down by one thousandth is spinning.

But more stunning is how Nathan and his ilk can condemn Bush for protecting a million jobs in one breath and condemn him for not creating enough jobs in the next.

Posted by bubba138 at 11:51 AM | Comments (0) |

A Response to Falluhjah

Donald Sensing says:

Last night I wrote that we would likely awaken here in the US this morning to see the Marines entering the city on TV. It hasn't happened. Why the delay? There are several possible reasons, but my gut feeling is that one of the chief ones in that the Marines are stockpiling supplies, ammo and equipment. Assault units are carrying our detailed rehearsals. The storm they are gathering outside Falluhjah is no raid. I think it will be a campaign. The action coming soon will decisively break the Baathist's back and end in their true defeat.

There is no doubt the U.S. forces are using time to get their ducks in a row. But I suspect what is happening is even more strategic. It wasn't a coincidence that there were Arab cameras in Falluhjah to document these brutal killings. Those who planned the attacks wanted the whole world to see they could be every bit as barbaric as those who killed our men in Mogadishu. But their quest for global notoriety will be their undoing.

Because of their meticulous planning, Kimmit and crew have a tome of mug shots which they can match up to the Falluhjah residents after they roll into town. Getting these photos in order has to be one of the reasons action in Falluhjah has been delayed.

Posted by bubba138 at 09:29 AM | Comments (0) |

April 01, 2004

AirAmerica Radio Watch

John Mellencamp was on the early morning show today.

First off, he says logic doesn't enter into conservative world. Conservative are acting emotionally without thinking. Since to the left the definition of intelligence is agreeing with them, it isn't like we haven't heard this before.

He's still an activist for the small family farm against the evil corporate factory farm. It is morally wrong that our society would rather shop at Walmart over spending more money on affordable goods in order save the small farmer.

He's astonished at the immorality of the fact that a family farmer growing organic products on several acres cannot match the output that factory farm can get out of a half acre.

In Mellencamp's world we'd all eat off family farms and food production would be lower, supply would be lower, so prices would be higher and it would be more expensive (and probably prohibitively so) to feed the needy, starving masses of the world. All so the family farmer could have a little self dignity and keep his farm instead of looking forward and developing a 21st century skill set.

Posted by bubba138 at 08:41 AM | Comments (0) |