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June 30, 2004

Fuzzy Numbers

The Bastard Sword is confused about the Democrat's accusation that the economy has lost 3 million jobs during Bush's tenure:

So instead of being down 3,000,0000 jobs, we have 138,772,000 - 135,836,000 which equals 2,886,000 jobs GAINED. There was a point where the jobs had dipped that low, and the press wouldn't shut up about it. Then it began rebounding and perky Katie Couric got quieter and quieter, and now you hear hardly a peep about job numbers.

I checked it myself. The December 2000 Employment Situation report does show 135.8 million jobs while May 2004 shows 138.7 million. Where I went to school that's a gain.

If it were that simple one would think the Bush campaign would be trumpeting this as loud as possible. The fact that they are not gives me the feeling something is missing from this analysis. Do you know what it is?

Posted by bubba138 at 05:22 PM | Comments (0) |

Iran Update

Iran has been rattling its sabres more loudly and frequently over the last couple of weeks. One gets the impression the regime is feeling a bit, umm, threatened. Here are some indicators and influences:

• Remember the Brits that had "wandered" into Iranian waters? They have a different story to tell:

  ...in a written statement Defence Secretary Geoff Hoon said: "In a recent debriefing the crews have said that they were operating inside the Iraqi border and were forcibly escorted into Iranian territorial waters.

  "Our assessment continues and will be greatly assisted by the retrieval of navigational information in the Global Positioning System equipment carried by the crews...

  Mr Hoon also disclosed that the Iranians have failed to comply with yesterday's deadline set for the return of the British equipment, including three boats, weapons, ammunition, radios and navigational equipment.

  Once the Brits have their equipment back they can either verify or refute the sailor's stories. The problem is that Iran refuses to give the equipment back. That's more than a little fishy.

• Iran denies the allegations of course, but two of their U.N. security guards were recently expelled for shooting videotapes and photos of sensitive New York City tourist sites.
• A free Iraq moves the center of religious influence away from Iran:

  Many senior clerics are particularly concerned about any shift in the center of gravity within Shi'ite Islam away from Iran's holy city of Qom, from where clerics wield immense political authority, toward Najaf in neighboring Iraq.

  The emergence of Najaf coincides with the rise to political prominence of Iraqi clerics, such as Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, who question the legitimacy of absolute rule by the clergy.

  ''Now Najaf, as a more moderate center, will regain the place it held for most of the past 1,500 years," said Hadi Qabel, a reformist, mid-ranking cleric from Qom.



• While the "reform" government has no control over nuclear policy, Mullah Rafsanjani insists Iran has a right to nuclear technology. He's not alone as Iran mullacracy thumbs its collective nose at the IAEA.

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

Busting Conspiracy Theories

The Middle Ground has been busy busting the left's conspiracy theories. Check 'em out:

Supply and Demand

Value of Iraqi Oil vs. Cost of War

Haliburton - Dealing with the Devil or The Devil is in the Details

They're long, informative, accurate, and without invective.

Yes, the truth is out there.

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

Aid and Comfort

Posted by bubba138 at 11:25 AM | Comments (0) |

What Liberal Media

Speaking of Hillary's outing, where are the Los Angeles Times, New York Times, and Washington Post on this?

Nowhere.

Posted by bubba138 at 09:00 AM | Comments (0) |

Interest Hike

Inflation will be all the news today as the Fed seeks to raise interest rates. So far, Kathleen Hays is the only journalist I've seen that is keeping things in perspective:

Back in the early 1980s then Fed chairman Paul Volcker pushed the key rate up to around 20 percent to break the back of inflation that had climbed above 13 percent!

Today we are looking at a Fed that's going to hike the key rate from a 45-year low of 1% to 1.25%, a mere baby step...

For the immediate period ahead, though, it looks like the Fed will keep moving in baby steps and money will only get less cheap, not super expensive.

Posted by bubba138 at 08:48 AM | Comments (0) |

Wictory Wednesday: VEEP Hillary?

Yesterday, Hillary entertained us with this revealing quote:

"Many of you are well enough off that ... the tax cuts may have helped you," Sen. Clinton said. "We're saying that for America to get back on track, we're probably going to cut that short and not give it to you. We're going to take things away from you on behalf of the common good."

Today DRUDGE says Hillary has the inside track to VEEP:

Official Washington and the entire press corps will be rocked when Hillary Rodham Clinton is picked as Kerry's VP and a massive love fest will begin!

So predicts a top Washington insider, who spoke to the DRUDGE REPORT on condition he not be named.

"All the signs point in her direction," said the insider, one of the most influential and well-placed in the nation's capital. "It is the solution to every Kerry problem."

Scary -- but we can overcome it.

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 08:35 AM | Comments (0) |

Congrats

Well done, Mama & Papa Dolittle.

Careful, it looks like you're out-numbered now.

Posted by bubba138 at 08:19 AM | Comments (0) |

Good News From Afghanistan

In the tradition of Good News From Iraq, Chrenkoff give us Good News From Afghanistan. I especially like this part:

Some 2,200 child soldiers have been demobilized under a programme to reintegrate the young combatants back into Afghan society, the UN Children's Fund said Thursday. The programme began in February and is working in eight provinces, helping boys aged 14 to 18 who once fought or worked as porters and cooks for private militia armies. According to the UN Children's Fund, or UNICEF, which coordinates the rehabilitation effort, there are about 8,000 former child soldiers in Afghanistan, a country recovering after a quarter century of war. Many of them left their units informally during the past year. The programme aims to demobilize about 5,000 young soldiers across northern and central Afghanistan by the year's end. They are offered education and skills training to help them take up a peaceful life in their communities.

As always, Chrenkoff has been more than diligent, and there is more good news than one would imagine.

Posted by bubba138 at 08:18 AM | Comments (0) |

June 29, 2004

It Is Real

Sean does not like it when I call him a 9/11 Victim. He tells me he's not a victim. His coworkers who died were victims. His wife of ten years was a victim. He was just there when it happened.

When we are together, I ask him questions about her. He is patient with me, explaining their relationship, not diminishing it just because she is no longer here, which I appreciate. I listen, trying to understand how it must feel to be in his skin and to live through that day and the thousand days that have passed. A few weeks ago, while in New York, I sat on the counter of his modern kitchen while he poured glasses of red wine. On the fridge was a snapshot of his wife and their son taken in Central Park that September. She's tiny, with a brown ponytail, bright brown eyes, and a natural, genuinely happy grin. I didn't feel like an interloper, exactly. Maybe an observer. A witness. Had things been different, she is the kind of woman who might be one of my best friends.

Instead, I'm dating her husband.

Required, not optional: Read the rest.

Posted by bubba138 at 04:54 PM | Comments (0) |

Micael Moore: Roasted

Is Michael Moore a sex offender? A material supporter of terrorist acts? Is he protecting Syria and Iran?

The facts make one think.

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

More Economic Good News

Consumer confidence lept this month:

The board's June index came in at 101.9., up from the revised 93.1 reading in May. It marked the best reading for the index in two years. Economists surveyed by Briefing.com forecast the index would rise to 95.

"Looking ahead, consumers expect the economy to continue to grow at a healthy clip and to continue to generate additional jobs," said a statement from Lynn Franco, director of The Conference Board's Consumer Research Center. "And, with prices at the pump beginning to ease, the short-term outlook remains favorable."

Posted by bubba138 at 04:02 PM | Comments (0) |

Movie Reviews

Mel Gibson and Michael Moore: How do they compare? Let's see:

A.O. Scott, New York Times:
F9/11: Mr. Moore's populist instincts have never been sharper...he is a credit to the republic.

Passion: Gibson has exploited the popular appetite for terror and gore for what he and his allies see as a higher end.

Michael Wilmington, Chicago Tribune:
F9/11: Received both the first prize and the longest continuous standing ovation in the history of the Cannes Film Festival and it wasn't because of some cliched French antipathy to America.

Passion: Lacks artistic and even spiritual balance.

William Arnold, Seattle Post-Intelligencer:
F9/11: A masterful job of ridiculing the personality, intellect and employment resumé of George W. Bush ... could well become the docu-equivalent of "The Passion of the Christ" and even affect the presidential election.

Passion: Despite Gibson's claim that he's finally telling "the true story," his movie strikes me as less faithful to the Gospels than the earlier Christ movies. Crammed full of scenes and dialogue and minor characters that he's completely made up.

There are more. Many more.

Posted by bubba138 at 01:00 PM | Comments (0) |

Scalia v. Thomas

Jeremy the Parableman attacks the notion that Justice Thomas is nothing more than Justice Scalia's lapdog:

Usually, when a clearly-wrong belief persists like this one does, there is some sort of memetic explanation-- some reason that the belief is convenient, or that people who do not share it are unlikely to prosper, or some reason that the wrong belief has a particular advantage in replicating itself. But I can't think of any such explanation here. Well, I can, and I would have though it obvious.

...A third student told me that Colin Powell isn't really black, and this whole discussion on Condi Rice shows that many people won't allow one of the smartest people in the Bush Administration to be considered anything other than a house slave led around by a leash. So it's not surprising that people would say the same about Justice Thomas. It wouldn't fit with their whole worldview to see Thomas as anything other than a doofus who can't think for himself and needs Scalia to tell him what to do.

It's a crab mentality. Fortunately, more and more are showing us all how to maintain both our identity and our independence.

Posted by bubba138 at 10:16 AM | Comments (0) |

Off the Hook

It is plain now why Kerry did not cross the picket line for the Mayor's get-together:

Boston's main police union abandoned yesterday their threat to picket at the site of next month's Democratic National Convention, handing Senator John F. Kerry a major victory on the day he honored the union's picket line by not making a speech before a US Conference of Mayors meeting in Boston.

Nice trade, John.

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

Slippery Slope?

The Delco Times says it is against opening Kerry's sealed divorce records because it would lead down a slippery slope into dangerous territory. But they give the lie to their motivation when they reveal it was the right thing to do in the Ryan case:

It is difficult for us to argue that public court records as a matter of course should be sealed because they might cause embarrassment to the people involved. We think Judge Schnider is right, not only as a matter of law but also as a matter of fact.

Normal people aren’t routinely accorded the benefit of having their court disputes kept secret. Why should the rich and powerful be treated any differently? They shouldn’t be.

Still, the media shouldn’t be in the business of gratuitously printing the embarrassing details of people’s private lives, even when they are brought up in court. The key word here is "gratuitously."

Politicians know that voters don’t just vote for the political positions candidates take. They often vote for the person they feel most comfortable with and like personally.

Likeability and personal magnetism go a long way in politics.

Which brings us to Sen. Kerry.

Who, obviously, doesn't score very high on the likeability and personal magnetism scale. I agree that Kerry's divorce papers should remain private, but it should apply in all cases. To call the decision in the Ryan case justified and then say it is gratuitous to go after Kerry's papers is nothing less than partisan.

Posted by bubba138 at 09:31 AM | Comments (0) |

Separated at Birth...

...or alter ego?

Talk show host Neal Boortz	Green Party Candidate David Cobb

Posted by bubba138 at 08:58 AM | Comments (0) |

Education

Back in May there was a flurry of articles on the 50^th anniversary of Brown v. Board of Education. Many of them were celebratory, others, of course, tried to make the case that not much had changed. But things have changed:

A record 85 percent of U.S. adults aged 25 and older had at least a high school diploma in 2003, the U.S. Census Bureau reported Tuesday.

The 27 percent of U.S. citizens holding a college degree last year also represented a record.

The Census Bureau reported 89 percent of non-Hispanic whites and 80 percent of blacks in the same age group held a high school diploma or higher -- marks that are also records.

There is still a disparity that we need to address, but we needn't discount the progress we have made. I'm on board with Clarence Page's attitude:

Back then: Legal action spearheaded by Thurgood Marshall and the NAACP Legal Defense Fund changed the law from an obstacle into an advantage for African-Americans in their pursuit of civil rights and equal opportunity.

It also spurred a decade of civil rights protests, backlash, legislation and ultimately grand reforms.

Today: We have narrowed the income and achievement gap between blacks and whites. But we unfortunately have widened the gap between black haves and have-nots.

Conclusion: We need a new black liberation movement that the courts alone cannot provide. We need to work with our families, schools, churches and other institutions to take advantage of the hard-earned victories that have come over the past half-century.

The past 50 years have made me optimistic about the progress African-Americans have accomplished. Our next big challenge is to narrow the achievement gaps for those who have been left behind.

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

Oil Prices Down

Here's another issue that has been yanked from Kerry's hand:

Oil prices dropped to their lowest in more than two months on Tuesday as the handover of power to Iraq's interim government raised hopes for less sabotage and steadier exports, and reinforced indications of healthier world supply.

Posted by bubba138 at 08:31 AM | Comments (0) |

Watch Out Robin Hood

It is time to be amazed at the advances of medicine:

Coming to a pharmacy near you, hordes of blood-sucking leeches!

It may sound like a horror movie, but the FDA says it's good medicine.

After thousands of years of use as an alternative treatment to blood-letting (an antiquated and abandoned practice of draining blood to cure diseases) and amputation, the FDA today approved the commercial marketing of leeches for medical purposes.

The small, slimy creatures were widely used in the 19^th century to cure a variety of ailments. Currently, they are used in many parts of the world to help heal wounds and restore circulation in blocked blood veins.

Next thing you know we'll be burning women because they weigh the same as a duck. (Yep, along with the title of the post, that last sentence completes a two-fer-one on obscure references.)

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

Love the Graf

CNN slipped this nice commentary into a piece about Chirac's temper tantrum yesterday:

The brush with Chirac threatened to chill relations with France, which leaders on both sides of the Atlantic had been working to thaw.

"Threatened to chill" relations? Can they get any cooler?

Posted by bubba138 at 08:23 AM | Comments (0) |

Where Are the WMD's -- Again

Reader Dan Drummond emails:

One of the disturbing things I have seen in the liberal media is how they just don't get the facts straight when it comes to Iraq, the war on terror, and what W is doing to protect us.

For instance I just finished reading a new book about the Iraq war that reveals all kinds of intelligence proving there are weapons of mass destruction. The book, the "Secret History of the Iraq War" by Yossef Bodansky, tells how Iraq has been hiding them in places like Syria and Lebanon. And even North Korea and Iran have been trafficking in WMD for sometime. Talk about the axis of evil working together. Yet, the media completely ignores this.

More to the point is what's going on now in Iraq. Bush has said repeatedly that the fight in Iraq was going to be long and ardous. Anything worth fighting for always is. And the reason the fight is getting tougher is because Al-Qaeda is working behind the scenes in Iraq, causing even more trouble and engaging in a jihad against the West. Bodansky's book contains plenty of evidence to support this fact. The author even points out that Iraqi military intelligence trained al-Qaeda on how to use WMD and chemical weapons.

That's some pretty scary stuff. Of course you don't see that reported. But it's out there. Bodansky has written about it. Our President has talked about it. The media ignores it. I urge everyone to read this book and get the facts out to your friends and family. The President is right and must be re-elected to keep fighting for our security and freedom.

I haven't read the book, but I also think more Americans should be concerned about the location of the WMDs. To say they never existed is to subscribe to the most extreme of revisionist history. We have documented inventories of Saddam's weapons and no evidence they were destroyed. This has been frequently voiced here at S&A, and the question still remains open.

Update: As if on cue Michael D. Evans has this:

There is mounting evidence that at least some of Saddam Hussein's missing weapons of mass destruction are in Syria, smuggled there by the Iraqi dictator for safekeeping before the beginning of the war. Part of the stockpile the coalition forces have so far failed to find in Iraq was probably destroyed; part is likely still hidden. But a massively lethal amount of Iraq's chemical and biological weapons is stored alongside Syria's own stockpiles of WMDs.

Perhaps more worrisome, there are indications these weapons are not under the control of Syrian President Bashar Assad. Rather, in a potentially catastrophic palace intrigue, his sister, Bushra, and her husband, Gen. Assaf Shawkat, the No. 2 in Syria's military intelligence organization, the Mukhabarat, are said to have made the storage arrangements with Saddam as part of a bid for power.

Worrisome? That's putting it mildly.

Posted by bubba138 at 08:05 AM | Comments (0) |

June 28, 2004

Go Ahead, Mrs. Kerry

Here's good news:

Party and campaign officials said it was also likely that Mr. Kerry's wife, Teresa Heinz Kerry, would have a prominent speaking role at the convention, as could one or more of Mr. Kerry's primary and caucus opponents.

Tuh-ray-sah just could be the best Bush campaigner possible.

Posted by bubba138 at 10:25 PM | Comments (0) |

Moore Holes

Fox points out holes in Moore's "documentary." Here's one:

Moore shows prominent members of the Taliban visiting Texas, implying that they were invited by then-Governor Bush. The Taliban delegation, however, was invited to Houston by UNOCAL (search), a California energy company.

Moore also doesn't mention that the visit was made with the permission of the Clinton administration, which twice met with Taliban members — in 1997 and 1998.

Posted by bubba138 at 10:02 PM | Comments (0) |

Lying Headlines and the Papers that Print Them

The New York Times just published the results of its most recent president polls:

Bush's Rating Falls to Its Lowest Point, New Survey Finds
President Bush's job approval rating has fallen to the lowest level of his presidency, according to the latest New York Times/CBS News poll.

The survey, which showed Mr. Bush's approval rating at 42 percent, also found that nearly 40 percent of Americans say they do not have an opinion about Senator John Kerry, the likely Democratic presidential nominee, despite what have been both parties' earliest and most expensive television advertising campaigns.

Given, 42% isn't stellar, but is it really Bush's lowest approval rating? I think not. Last month's New York Times/CBS News poll has his rating at 41%. So 42%, though not great, is an ever so small improvement over last month's rating.

What liberal media?

Posted by bubba138 at 09:21 PM | Comments (0) |

The First Day

Here's a hour-by-hour look at the transition:

10:30 a.m. More than a year of foreign occupation ended in five minutes, as L. Paul Bremer, the American administrator for Iraq, renounced control of the country in a surprise ceremony inside the government center...

1 p.m. A telephone call interrupted a meeting to announce that Bremer had left Iraq on a U.S. military plane. A huddle of government workers working on a speech stared at one another incredulously until one young aide finally spoke up:

"You mean that's it?" Azhar Ali asked. "He's not coming back?"

Read it all.

Posted by bubba138 at 04:16 PM | Comments (0) |

Iraq vs. Germany

Chuck points out how much, in comparison to Germany, Iraq has been a quagmire.

Posted by bubba138 at 03:35 PM | Comments (0) |

Kerry: A Divider Not a Uniter?

The Kerry campaign has oft pelted Bush for being a poor diplomat, citing the lack of U.N. cooperation over Iraq as evidence. It is obvious to his supporters that the more polished Kerry would have done much better in that arena.

Well, he had a chance to display his diplomatic skills over the weekend and failed miserably:

Kerry's inability to negotiate a temporary truce between two of his own supporters, as I said earlier, belies his self-promoted reputation for diplomacy. If Kerry can't find common ground between a Democratic mayor serving on his campaign and a police union which endorsed him for President, how can anyone expect him to negotiate agreements between, say, France and the US on security matters? Pakistan and India? Hell, what about Nancy Pelosi and Denny Hastert?

Posted by bubba138 at 01:58 PM | Comments (0) |

Power Transfer: Iraqi Roundup

Hammorabi:

The handover is a surprise for the enemies of the free and democratic Iraq. The terrorist may have been planned a major attack on the 30 July 2004. The earlier handover may have been aborted such an action.

Good luck for Iraq and the civilized people the friends of Iraq.

God bless Iraq and America and their friends and allies.

Nabil:

This is a great day Iraq gets the Power back and we should give the new government a chanse to see what they going to do to slove Iraq problems and espicilay the Iraqis problems. I wish they will do good.

Iraq the Model -- Mohammed:

With great delight we received th news. this is the right and important step to build the free Iraq and it’s a painful strike for terrorism and its allies.

They really missed this surprising and brilliant timing. And I guess they’re deeply shocked right now.
their luck couldn’t help them to scar this glorious day with a crime of theirs.

Most Iraqis met this news with happiness and hope about the new government’s performance and who walks in a Baghdad now can feel relaxation in the atmosphere...

Today we were freed for ever from the fear that a man and his family might once again control Iraq.

God bless Iraq and her people.
God bless America and her people.

God bless all the coalition forces who supported operation Iraqi freedom.
May God bless the souls of all those who sacrificed their lives to free Iraq.

Iraq the Model -- Omar:

I’ve noticed that most people I met in the streets were delighted by this news and I saw a lot of optimism on their faces. Some were sorry for the sudden depart of Abu Haider (Mr. Bremer) while I actually believe that he deserves a long vacation after his hard and long journey taking care of Iraq in this critical period. During my ride there was no evidence of any presence for the coalition forces except for some helicopters watching from above. “What happened was great, and the timing was so right” as described by many Iraqis. It’s a painful strike for terrorism and their allies.

Sarmad:

Great moments ,great time ,here in Iraq , The transfer of power to Iraq sovereignty has been completed 2 days in advance ,this was ,a great news for the Iraqis .
From this moment we started to celebrate ,and people ,all over here conciliation each other ,this is a great moments ,I resaved calls from all over the world greeting me for this happy moments .
Thank you Mr. . primmer ,for being great president for Iraq all this time, Thank you for great job you did for Iraq ,we will never forget you , you will be always in our minds and harts.
Thank you united state of America for your great Job you done here .
Thank you coalitions forces for you brave work and supporting good.
Thank you all Brave mans ,who lost there life here ,your bloods will be the river of hope for us .
Thank you all good friends out there ,thank you for being with us all the way , minute by minute ,day by day ,living our sadness and happiness ,standing beside us ,encouraging us
Supporting us ,worry about us ,we always felt that you are there beside us ,with us .
Thank you all brave Iraqis who stand out there to fight for better future and freedom.
I will go now to celebrate with all people for this happy moments ,it has been long time since we celebrate.

Celebrate while you can, Sarmad. You deserve it.

Raed, however, is in less than a party mood:

in a great, huge festival... the handover of the authorities took place in a small shelter in one of the basements of the green zone. bremer, the new ugly Iraqi "president", the cia agent "P.M.", another couple of losers were standing in a small circle at the sunrise, clapping their hands and trying to smile

some hours later, bremer ran away in a black military plane

god, dont you call this a historical carnival?
:*)

in arabic we say, "sharro el balyyati ma yodhek", the worst catastrophes make you laugh

Alaa:

This is a famous Arabic verse of divine Wisdom; the eloquence and resonance of the sentence cannot be translated but the meaning is as follows:

“As for the scum, it will go (disappear) in vain (uselessly); and as for that which has benefit for people, it will stay in the earth.”

One man of the people is asked by an MBC (An Arab network) reporter what he thinks about the new government. He answers very simply in that spontaneous genuine manner of simple folk: “aren’t these men better than the riffraff who used to govern us?” Truer words have never been said.

This day, this modest ceremony, no elaborate celebrations, no fanfare; yet surely this is a “Mother of Days” for Iraq, and history will remember this day...

As for the enemy, he will not reap but failure and the bitter taste of defeat.

Glory and honor to the U.S. and Allied men and women whose blood is irrigating the tree of freedom in this land; and their sacrifices, suffering, and toil is laying the foundation for a future renaissance of the Mesopotamian People. Hail soldiers of freedom and enlightenment. Do not be dismayed by the trouble and turbulence of the present, for the future generations will remember and appreciate.

And last but not least; Hail, Great El Bush, a leader not only of the U.S. but a true hero of mankind. And Hail Mr. Blair and the other Leaders of the Free World.

God Bless the New Republic of Iraq; God Bless America.

Fayrouz:

I'm actually so happy for this decision. It was a very smart decision. It reminds me of smart chess moves.

I'm sure the hopeless terrorists from Falluja didn't see this one coming.

I hold high hopes in Iraqi Prime Minister Ayad Allawi and his courageous team. Yes, you could say every negative thing about them. But, those people wake up every morning to go to work not knowing if they'll be alive be end of the day. Cowards don't do that.

Thank you to everyone who helped Iraq since the collapse of Saddam's regime. Thank you to everyone who encouraged the Iraqi bloggers to write their thoughts even when everyone felt down. No, I'm not going to stop blogging. I'm just thankful to the people who read these amateur Iraqi blogs, which represent the new Iraq and its newborn democracy.

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

Kerry's Positive Stump Speech

In San Jose, Kerry turned in one of his most positive speeches to date. This snippet is particularly interesting:

First, we can create a business environment that will strengthen the American economy and fuel high-tech job growth...

If I am President, we will invest more in areas of research that are likely to create the industries and jobs of the future - - areas like advanced manufacturing, clean energy, and nanotechnology that have the potential to improve lives and save them.

First, there aren't that many union jobs in the high-tech arena. Second, wouldn't "advanced manufacturing" include automation that would put thousands out of their jobs?

Posted by bubba138 at 10:59 AM | Comments (0) |

The Real Reason

Rick MacArthur, the publisher of Harper's Magazine explains the real reason for the early transfer of power in Iraq:

...suggested that Iraq's interim government is a sham - a proxy of the United States -- and he also suggested that the date for transferring sovereignty to Iraq was moved up two days to draw the media's attention away from a U.S. marine who has been threatened with beheading.

He can call the interim government a sham, but a huge majority of Iraqis are quite happy with the leadership.

Further, why exactly is Mr. MacArthur so concerned that terrorists aren't getting the publicity they so dearly desire?

Posted by bubba138 at 09:41 AM | Comments (0) |

Luv the Gov

Arnold just doesn't mess around. First, he cut a favorable deal with the state employee's union:

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger yesterday dropped his proposal for a cut in state worker pensions, agreeing instead to a two-year plan for new employees that could provide $900 million toward a state budget solution.

In an unusual step, about 60 bargaining-unit representatives of the 92,000-member California State Employees Association met at the Capitol to approve the plan, receiving a thank-you visit from the governor afterward.

Next, because of his clear-thinking leadership, the state can start hiring people again:

The Schwarzenegger administration is not extending the state's longtime hiring freeze after it expires July 1. Instead, state agency heads will be able to decide on their own how to pare spending, according to the governor's budget.

On paper, the change signifies an abrupt end to what has been a sweeping policy for much of the state's ongoing budget crisis.

Finally, it looks like Schwarzenegger's workers comp reform is paying off already:

Overall, workers' compensation rate plans submitted by 70 carriers with the Department of Insurance show a wide spectrum of reductions. Decreases range from 1.59 percent to 20.94 percent. The numbers include two rounds of rate cuts, in January and upcoming in July.

To be fair, law makers were expecting larger cuts, but hey, it's only been a couple of months. Carriers are in busines for profit and to slash too close before they know the long-term effect of the reform would be too risky.

Update: It takes quite a politician to bridge the huge gap between Republicans and the Hollywood left, but it can be done.

Posted by bubba138 at 09:00 AM | Comments (0) |

Kennedy Kar Troubles

Teddy just can't seem to keep his cars under control (scroll down):

Massachusetts Sen. Edward Kennedy's (D) "driverless minivan crashed into three other parked cars, including that of" Sen. Rick Santorum, R-Pa., "near one of the entrances to Dirksen last Thursday morning," Roll Call reports.

There is no word on whether his current girlfriend has been injured.

Update: More details here.

Posted by bubba138 at 08:38 AM | Comments (0) |

Steyn vs. 9/11 Commission

Steyn bemoans the uselessness of the 9/11 Commission:

But I'd go further. I'd say the underlying assumption behind all the whiny point-scoring is false, and deeply dangerous. Most of what went wrong on Sept. 11 we knew about in the first days after. Generally, it falls into two categories: a) Government agencies didn't enforce their own rules (as in the terrorists' laughably inadequate visa applications); or b) The agencies' rules were out of date --three out of those four planes reached their targets because their crews, passengers and ground staff all blindly followed the FAA's 1970s hijack procedures until it was too late, as the terrorists knew they would.

Posted by bubba138 at 08:31 AM | Comments (0) |

How Is the Economy, Really?

Slings and Arrows readers know that the economy has been red hot for almost a year now, but the public perception still lags. The Washington Times says that's starting to turn around.

Declining voter approval of Mr. Bush's handling of the economy is turning around. The Pew, Gallup and Annenberg polls show his numbers on the economy have begun floating back into the mid-40s — and there's still another four months to go before the November elections.

True, the polls do seem to be moving in the right direction but I think it is too early still to call it a trend. I'd have to wait another month or so before doing that.

Posted by bubba138 at 08:20 AM | Comments (0) |

The Roe Effect

Best of the Web's James Taranto was the first to coin the term "Roe Effect" to explain the declining liberal vote as a result of abortion. The idea is catching on, and Larry Eastland has put some muscle behind it.

Posted by bubba138 at 08:17 AM | Comments (0) |

Bush and Kerry Agree

Kerry harped repeatedly that the June 30^th date for the turnover of Iraqi sovreignty was an arbitrary date. Today's surprise shows that the administration agreed.

General Kimmit on the Laura Ingraham show this morning said that everything was in place early, so there were no reasons to put it off any longer.

Sounds like clear thinking to me.

Update: NATO now wants to play:

At the same time, NATO heads of state meeting here responded to an Iraqi request for military training assistance, saying that the alliance would offer help and encourage its members to contribute to the training of Iraqi armed forces.

Posted by bubba138 at 07:38 AM | Comments (0) |

June 27, 2004

Jack Ryan Only The Beginning

It looks like Kerry's sealed divorce records are now at risk of exposure:

After last week's front page headlines over ugly unsealed divorce record in the Republican Illinois senate race, media outlets now face a dilemma: What to do about Democrat presidential hopeful John Kerry's sealed divorce records!

The race is on in political and media circles to gauge the import of Kerry's sealed July 25, 1988 divorce from his first wife, Julia Stimson Thorne.

TRIBUNE, which successfully sued a court to gain access to Illinois Republican Jack Ryan's divorce papers and child custody records [over the objection of both Ryan and his former wife], is considering a similar push on Kerry

I don't like this one bit. The office of the president has been disgraced enough by the last occupant. We don't need the press over-stepping its bounds to help out in that area.

Posted by bubba138 at 08:05 PM | Comments (0) |

June 26, 2004

Anti-Bush Europe

The press has been going on non-stop about the Irish protesting Bush's visit, but more remarkable to me has been the number that did not protest. I'm not the only one who has noticed. Here's the report from an anti-Bush Dublin professor:

Bush's reputation has crept slightly off rock-bottom and the anti-war movement is a shadow of its former self...

...A couple of months ago it might have been expected that the Bush visit would bring out protesters in their tens of thousands, at least. The numbers on Friday evening and Saturday morning will be nothing close to that, with some protesters trying to get near Shannon Airport (where 10,000 US troops go through every month and Dubya is due to land) and others hoping to hold the largest possible demonstration more than 100 miles away in Dublin....

But frankly, it's getting harder to persuade people that Bush is still worth shouting about, that the EU and UN are not reining him in but providing cover for him in an election year. I hope I'm wrong about the prospects for protest, but it's more likely to be the Turks rather than the Irish who give Dubya the reception he deserves.

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

Totally Incompetent or Completely Dishonest

Remember the Bush campaign's Wild-Eyed Democrats ad? Well, in response the Kerry campaign sent this fundraising email:

Yesterday, the Bush-Cheney campaign, losing any last sense of decency, placed a disgusting ad called "The Faces of John Kerry's Democratic Party" as the main feature on its website. Bizarrely, and without explanation, the ad places Adolf Hitler among those faces.

The Bush-Cheney campaign must pull this ad off of its website. The use of Adolf Hitler by any campaign, politician or party is simply wrong.

We sent you a fundraising plea earlier this morning. But when this came up, we decided it was important to show you just what we're up against: a presidential campaign that is willing to do or say absolutely anything to win. You're our only line of defense against these underhanded tactics. Please contribute today:

...

Thank you,

Mary Beth Cahill
Campaign Manager

Does this ad compare Kerry to Hitler? Nope. The Hitler image is from a MoveOn.org ad that very plainly compares Bush to Hitler. In their response to the ad, the Kerry campaign either understands what the Bush ad was showing and deceptively and dishonestly chose to lie about it, or they are so unintelligent as to not realize from where the image came.

You pick which one.

Update: The Bush campaign responds on its blog:

• Where was John Kerry's disgust when he hired Zack Exley - the man responsible for encouraging the production of these ads as part of a MoveOn contest - to run the Kerry campaign's internet operation?
• Where was John Kerry's sense of outrage when Al Gore, just Thursday afternoon, compared the Bush Administration to the Nazis saying, "The Administration works closely with a network of 'rapid response' digital Brown Shirts who work to pressure reporters and their editors for 'undermining support for our troops.'"
• Where was John Kerry's anger when Al Gore in May spoke of "Bush's Gulag"?
• Why has John Kerry not denounced billionaire and Democrat Party donor George Soros for comparing the Bush Administration to Nazis. Soros stated, "When I hear Bush say, 'You're either with us or against us,' it reminds me of the Germans. It conjures up memories of Nazi slogans on the walls, Der Feind Hort mit ('The enemy is listening')."
• Why has Kerry not spoken out against filmmaker Michael Moore who last October compared the Patriot Act to Mein Kampf. "The Patriot Act is the first step. 'Mein Kampf' - 'Mein Kampf' was written long before Hitler came to power."

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

June 25, 2004

DOH!

It didn't take Schwarzenegger long to reverse himself on this one:

Gov. Schwarzenegger announced this afternoon that he has withdrawn a proposal that would have allowed shelters to put lost animals to death sooner. In a move to give cities and counties more flexibility to handle their own budgets and save money, Schwarzenegger had proposed repealing a state mandate that requires shelters to hold animals for six days before putting them to death. But animal rights activists protested the move, and now Schwarzenegger has relented.

“I realized last night there was a mistake I made,” Schwarzenegger told reporters in a hallway outside his office. “Animals will be kept in animal shelters for six days. Everything will be kept exactly the same.”

That was one bad suggestion. Arnold showed his wisdom when he quickly recognized it as such.

Posted by bubba138 at 08:47 PM | Comments (0) |

Gun Toting Passenger Arrested

This is potentially scary:

A man who was arrested at an Orange County airport after he allegedly tried to board a flight with a loaded gun and knife said he forgot the weapons were in his carry-on bag, authorities said Friday.

Ali Reza Khatami, 65, of Yorba Linda, had a .38-caliber handgun and a six-inch buck knife with him when he attempted to catch a plane Thursday bound for Chicago from John Wayne Airport, sheriff's spokesman Jim Amormino said.

The man claims it is just a mistake of forgetting the weapons were in the bag. It seems to me that anyone with a Middle-Eastern name like his is better off not "forgetting" such details, however trivial they may seem.

The article says the man lives in Yorba Linda which is a decent bedroom community in Orange county. Interestingly, his name is identical to that of the brother of the President of Iran (fourth paragraph from the bottom).

Posted by bubba138 at 08:24 PM | Comments (0) |

Digital Brown Shirts

They do exist!

Posted by bubba138 at 05:18 PM | Comments (0) |

Good News

The "Bush is Hitler" crowd might snearingly call the interim government in Iraq a puppet regime, but that's out of step with the majority of Iraqis:

73 percent of Iraqis polled approved of Allawi to lead the new government, 84 percent approved of President Ghazi Yawar and almost two-thirds backed the new Cabinet. These impressive showings indicate that the new leaders have support spanning ethnic and religious groups, U.S. officials said...

Four out of every five Iraqis expected that the new government will "make things better" for Iraq after the handover, with 10 percent expecting the situation to remain the same and 7 percent anticipating a decline, the poll shows.

U.S. officials are particularly encouraged because the poll showed high name recognition for the new leadership, in contrast with many members of the former council, U.S. officials said. More than 70 percent of Iraqis polled have heard or read a significant amount about the new leaders, who were named about three weeks ago.

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

This Isn't Horseshoes

Almost got Zarqawi:

As they began to drop 500-pound bombs on the house, a convoy of cars rolled up to the home. A man got out of a car as the bombs fell and was thrown to the ground by the blast. According to the official, he was hustled back into the car, clearly alive, and driven away.

The official said al-Zarqawi is thought to be the only person in that network of terrorist insurgents who travels with such a large security detail.

The man they saw fall to the ground "wasn't wearing a name tag," but they believe it may have been al-Zarqawi.

Just like we killed chemical Ali and Saddam Hussein at the start of the war? "US officials," senior or not, should keep their mouths shut until Zarqawi et al are actually made into dog meat. Otherwise they do nothing but undermine the credibility of the leadership.

Posted by bubba138 at 04:18 PM | Comments (0) |

Federal Marriage Amendment

Here's a well balanced article on the state of the Federal Marriage Amendment. Snippets:

Democrats assert that in calling for a vote on the FMA the week of July 12, Frist is seeking to embarrass Sen. John Kerry, the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee, two weeks before the party nominates him at the Democratic National Convention in Boston.

Appearing on Fox News Sunday, Frist disputed that charge and said “activist judges” in Massachusetts were forcing him to schedule a vote on the matter immediately.

If Frist had scheduled the vote for after the DNC convention he'd be accused of timing it to take away from the affect of the event. Look at the calander. No matter when the vote happens it will either be before or after the DNC convention, before or after the RNC convention, or just before the election. It doesn't matter when the vote is scheduled, the Dems will accuse the Repubs of playing political games.

Personally I wish the FMA would just go away. I abore the idea of amending the Constitution with a law that limits the rights of the citizens. Amendments should only and always be used to limit the rights of the Federal government.

If you ever found it hard to believe that the government penalizes people for getting married, here's your proof:

Also this week, the Congressional Budget Office released an analysis showing that gay marriages would actually benefit the federal government by bringing in under $1 billion each year for the next decade in additional tax revenue, assuming that same-sex marriages are legalized in all 50 states and recognized by the federal government.

A severely under-reported aspect of this issue is the disgust that minority groups have for gay marriage and the homosexual agenda:

Also on the 24th, the National Coalition of African-American Ministers was scheduled to hold a news conference on Capitol Hill to voice their support for a Federal Marriage Amendment, led by Bishop Keith A. Butler, paster at Word of Faith International Christian Center in Southfield, Mich...

"We find the opposition’s attempt to yoke their homosexual agenda to that of the civil rights movement extremely disturbing," Butler said. "Homosexuality is not a civil rights issue; it is a lifestyle choice, a decision that is not natural or normal."

More and more these days the Republican party is more in line with the views of minorities

• The Jewish population is more in line with the Republican stance on Israel and out of step with the open anti-semitism of the Democrats.
• African Americans and Hispanics line up with Republicans on school choice (vouchers) and traditional family values

Currently, minorities continue to vote Democrat out of loyalty and habit. Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton are still effective in painting Republicans as uneducated racists. Gradually, however, they are awakening to see the Democrats have abandoned them.

Posted by bubba138 at 09:30 AM | Comments (0) |

Tourettes Day

As long as we are on swear words today, you may recall CU President Elizabeth Hoffman's assertation a couple of weeks ago that the "c-word" could be used as a term of endearment? As can be expected, she and her university are taking hits from the left and right, but most especially from feminist groups.

Well, that's got Mike Adams all confused:

Much to the dismay of his father, after the boy went to buy popcorn he came back with a button on his shirt that said “Vagina Friendly.” The button was sold to the unsuspecting child by members of the “c**t club” at Wesleyan.

Naturally, the father protested by writing a letter to the editor of the school newspaper, saying that "peddling sexually explicit slogans to a six-year old" is "offensive and inappropriate conduct" that "necessarily detracts from the seriousness of (the c**t club’s) message."

...the three c**t clubbers took the time to explain the general purpose of the c**t club:

"One of the main goals of the c**t club is to foster healthy attitudes towards women, c**ts (in the appropriate sense) and sexuality. We want women to be proud of their c**ts, demand respect for them, and know how to pleasure themselves and be pleasured by lovers. We strive for a c**t-friendly world that is free from shame and violence towards c**ts…"

So there you go, Elizabeth Hoffman was right after all.

Posted by bubba138 at 08:42 AM | Comments (0) |

Get A Life (Or at Least a Real Story)

The AP needs to MoveOn already:

The Associated Press sued the Pentagon and the Air Force on Tuesday, seeking access to all records of George W. Bush's military service during the Vietnam War.

Filed in federal court in New York, where the AP is headquartered, the lawsuit seeks access to a copy of Bush's microfilmed personnel file from the Texas State Library and Archives Commission in Austin.

Isn't this non-story played out yet?

Posted by bubba138 at 07:49 AM | Comments (0) |

Dick "F-Bomb" Cheney

Well, the pressure got to the veep yesterday and is all the rage today.

But let's look on the bright side. At least he's won over a convert:

In other news, Howard Stern announced this morning that he will have Dick Cheney in as a special guest next week. "We have a lot in common now." Stated Howard Stern, "We are both being hounded by the FCC for our thoughts. Not only that, but I want him to come into my show so that I can call him 'Dick'. Dick Dick Dick. I like that."

And then there's this:

Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle, a South Dakota Democrat proposed a “civility bill” which he hopes will “halt the downward spiral before the house turns into a sh-- infested f--- hole”.

Posted by bubba138 at 07:29 AM | Comments (0) |

June 24, 2004

South Korea

Point of fact: It's not Spain.

Posted by bubba138 at 10:47 PM | Comments (0) |

Home Depot Comes Through

Well done, Home Depot.

The Home Depot Inc. is delivering Thursday on its pledge to donate $1 million in tools and materials to support the U.S. military in Iraq.

Nearly 100,000 tools and materials, including shovels, table saws, concrete mixers, safety scaffolding, power generators, light bulbs, jackhammers, and thousands of letters from associates at Atlanta-based Home Depot to troops will be loaded on nine tractor trailers in San Diego this morning to begin an 8,000-mile journey by U.S. Army and U.S. Marine Corps transportation to U.S. military installations in Iraq.

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

Aussie Rules Football

I just recently got digital cable and one of the new channels is Fox Sports. Right now Australian Rules football is on. Man, I love that sport!

Understanding it, well that's another thing altogether.

Posted by bubba138 at 08:46 PM | Comments (0) |

Doodie Heads Ruin Kerry's Day

Here are the details.

Posted by bubba138 at 07:15 PM | Comments (0) |

The New Partisan

Lots of good stuff here.

Posted by bubba138 at 06:41 PM | Comments (0) |

Get Ready for the Apocolypse

The messiah has returned:

More than a dozen lawmakers attended a congressional reception this year honoring the Rev. Sun Myung Moon in which Moon declared himself the Messiah and said his teachings have helped Hitler and Stalin be "reborn as new persons." The Korean-born businessman and religious leader then delivered a long speech saying he was "sent to Earth . . . to save the world's six billion people. . . . Emperors, kings and presidents . . . have declared to all Heaven and Earth that Reverend Sun Myung Moon is none other than humanity's Savior, Messiah, Returning Lord and True Parent."

Here is what someone else had to say about people like Mr. Moon:

And Jesus answered and said to them: "Take heed that no one deceives you. For many will come in My name, saying, "I am the Christ,' and will deceive many.

Don't be one of the many.

Hat tip: Centerfield

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

Them Wild-Eyed Democrats

I love this:

President Bush's re-election campaign lumped together vocal outbursts by Democrats Al Gore, Howard Dean and others on Thursday and called them part of John Kerry's "Coalition of the Wild-Eyed."

The Bush-Cheney campaign released a video on its Web Site that played up some of the more strident statements Democrats have made on the campaign trail and declared: "This is not a time for pessimism and rage."

The implication the Bush campaign appeared to be trying to leave was that some of the main boosters of Kerry's presidential campaign are filled with rage and perhaps a bit kooky.

A bit kooky? Ya think? Catch the video here.

Posted by bubba138 at 03:38 PM | Comments (0) |

Priorities

What's the primary issue of this campaign?

When polled, the public says it is the economy. For Andrew Sullivan and those that think like him, it is advancing the Gay-Lesbian-Bisexual-Transvestite agenda. For John Kerry, it is whatever he thinks Bush looks weak on today -- his choice du jur being health care.

To Abu Musab al-Zarqawi the top priority is world domination under the banner of Islam:

In the audiotape, the speaker thought to be al-Zarqawi told Iraq's interim prime minister, Iyad Allawi, that "we will continue the game with you until the end." The speaker said "we will not get bored" until "we make you drink from the same glass" as Izzadine Saleem, the Iraqi Governing Council president killed last month in a car-bombing claimed by al-Zarqawi's group.

"We will carry on our jihad against the Western infidel and the Arab apostate until Islamic rule is back on Earth," the voice said.

These are serious times and serious times demand serious leadership. America is a free place and people are free to speak, act, and vote anyway they chose, but there are thousands of Zarqawis out there that would destroy us for no other reason than their desire to ensure that "Islamic rule is back on Earth." We did not create them. They aren't victims of American hegemony. They are true followers of Mohammad and seek to extend the rule of Islam over everything by any means neccessary. It is foolishness to ignore this.

George W. Bush has stated it time and time again, his priority is to rid the world terrorism. He realizes that GLBT rights will never survive Islam. Gay men and adulterous women are slaughtered without mercy by such as Zarqawi. Unlike Kerry, Bush also realizes that adequate health care means absolutely nothing to a corpse. The HMO can't help us if we are dead.

So, regardless of what your top priority is, ask yourself this. What should be the top priority of the leader of the free world? Should he concentrate on making me happy, or should he focus on keeping me alive?

It's your decision. Make it wisely.

Posted by bubba138 at 01:29 PM | Comments (0) |

Will Common Sense Prevail?

The Hill reports:

Michael Moore may be prevented from advertising his controversial new movie, “Fahrenheit 9/11,” on television or radio after July 30 if the Federal Election Commission (FEC) today accepts the legal advice of its general counsel...

At the same time, a Republican-allied 527 soft-money group is preparing to file a complaint against Moore’s film with the FEC for violating campaign-finance law.

The opinion is generated under the new McCain-Feingold campaign-finance law, which prohibits corporate-funded ads that identify a federal candidate before a primary or general election.

This is a win-win for the Republicans and hopefully for all of America. McCain-Feingold is unconstitutional and needs to be struck down. Challenging Michael Moore's film which should under the first amendment, have every right to be shown and advertised nationwide brings the issue to a head. There are mainly two ways this could come out.

First, McCain-Feingold could hold up and Fahrenheit 9/11 publicity would grind to a halt. In the short term this would be great for the Republicans and Bush. In the long term, however, such a result would be the first steps in a long and winding road of litigation to decide what is and what isn't campaign speech. If we ban F911, do we also ban the rash of Bush bashing books that have hit the market in the last twelve months? Do we make it illegal to release such a book in the last 60 days before a general election?

How about appearances on news shows? It is common practice for guests to be paid by the network. Will networks no longer be allowed to interview candidates, spokespersons, or advocates if money changes hands?

How about blogging. Our very own Slings and Arrows is a Blog for Bush. I am, in effect, donating my time and limited talents to the Bush campaign in my own way. Will i eventually have to stop mentioning election issues in the last 60 days?

The better result, of course, is that the first amendment will win out and McCain-Feingold will be abolished or hopelessly nuetered. Yes, Michael's inane film will continue to be marketed, but really is it such a bad thing that America gets to see what nut-jobs are those who support Kerry? Our feedom of speech will be preserved and we will be free to pursue another, more intelligent method to reform campaign finance.

Posted by bubba138 at 10:42 AM | Comments (0) |

Good News From Iraq

The media won't do their job so Chrenkoff is doing it for them. Here is what is happening in Iraq in four parts.

Posted by bubba138 at 09:41 AM | Comments (0) |

Clinton: My Life

If you don't have the time (or stomach) to read Clinton's tome, don't worry. Slate has read it so you don't have to.

Oh, and here is a list of women Clinton somehow forgot to mention in his manuscript. It appears he has made some factual mistakes as well.

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

Still Missed the Vote

As we all know, John Kerry interrupted his campaign to fly back to vote on a veterans bill. Unfortunately for him, the vote didn't come off. Needless to say, he wasn't happy that the entire Senate didn't screech to a halt and do John Kerry's bidding:

"These people are so petty, so sad, so political," the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee told the annual convention of the Service Employees International Union. "All they could do was spend the whole day finding a way not to let John Kerry vote."

Is Kerry so full of himself that he thinks the vote didn't come off just to make him look bad? Is it really all about John Kerry? Kerry thinks so.

Just what we need is an egomaniac in the White House.

Update: Pirate John has more:

Of course when the Donks refuse to allow votes on Judicial Nominees, that's just standing up for your principles. Of course Kerry leaves out one small fact, that the Donks were holding up the vote too..

Bob Stevenson, spokesman for Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, dismissed Kerry's complaints. "This isn't about courtesy. This is about commitment. We were here hoping to go to a vote on that amendment if we could get a commitment (from Democrats) for final passage" of the underlying defense bill, he said. "We were working on that when John Kerry left town."

But then again the Donks were standing by their principles and the GOP was just playing games with Kerry's "Highway." Speaking of which, I do find it ironic that Kerry accuses the GOP of saying its "my way or the highway," but then Kerry wants the Senate to run according to his campaign fundraising schedule now who wants it "his way or the highway"?

Perhaps the Senator would have more influence on what happens in that house if he spent more time there?

---

There's more yesterday's story about the Democrat convict canvassers. Apparently the group has close ties with the Kerry campaign:

Officials with America Coming Together, a nonprofit group heavily pushing Kerry's campaign agenda, conceded last night they hire cons in some states but insist the public is in no danger...

...the ACT operation is run by longtime Kerry ally Dennis Newman, a Boston lawyer.

The wire service's review of criminal records showed the names and hometowns of dozens of ACT employees in those states matched those of people convicted of crimes such as burglary, drug dealing, assault and sex offenses.

And then there's this:

On its Web site, ACT openly campaigns against President Bush [related, bio], saying its canvassers are "laying the groundwork to defeat Bush and elect Democrats in federal, state and local elections in 2004."

This sounds like a campaign slogan in the making:

Osama, Saddam, and Convicted Felons All Agree: Vote Kerry.

Update: Captain Ed has more on Blogs For Bush.

Mr. Miller offers another slogan suggestion: "Kerry - Working hard to get criminals off the streets, and into your homes"

Posted by bubba138 at 08:25 AM | Comments (0) |

June 23, 2004

Democrat Desperation

Mitch has found yet another unbelieveable example of Democrat ineptitude that puts the community at risk. They're employing felons -- some of them sex offenders, muggers, and burglers -- to go door to door registering people to vote.

ACT canvassers ask residents which issues are important to them and, if they are not registered, sign them up as voters. They gather telephone numbers and other personal information, such as driver's license numbers or partial Social Security numbers, depending on what a state requires for voter registration.

Well, I'm sure none of these felons would ever use that information for malicious purposes.

Hugh Hewitt has a great sound bite that he plays when he talks about Democrats. It says, "I don't like you because you're gunna get me killed." That pretty much sums up this little escapade.

Posted by bubba138 at 07:50 PM | Comments (0) |

President's Commission on Mental Health

President George W. Bush established the President’s New Freedom Commission on Mental Health in April 2002 as part of his commitment to eliminate inequality for Americans with disabilities. From June 2002 to April 2003, 22 Commissioners met monthly to establish a comprehensive mental health strategy for the nation. They completed the study and submitted the results to the President in May. He is apparently supposed to unveil the study publicly in July.

My wife works in the Mental Health field, and I can tell you I thank God for her and people like her who perform great works of compassion with no recognition and little reward. We need professionals like her and our society can do better to care for those who are challenged in this way. I am all for any plan that can efficiently and effectively integrate more from that population into working, productive members in our society.

However, one aspect of the study is quite troubling. It has to do with enacting a plan of assessing every person for mental health. How will they do this? They'll start with our children, of course:

In a transformed mental health system, the early detection of mental health problems in children and adults - through routine and comprehensive testing and screening - will be an expected and typical occurrence...

Quality screening and early intervention will occur in both readily accessible, low-stigma settings, such as primary health care facilities and schools, and in settings in which a high level of risk exists for mental health problems, such as criminal justice, juvenile justice, and child welfare systems. Both children and adults will be screened for mental illnesses during their routine physical exams.

I have a huge problem with this. Mental health professionals work out of a tome called the "Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders - Fourth Edition" (DSM-IV). This huge
reference (943 pages, not as long as Clinton's book but a more entertaining read, I'm sure) lists out every single mental health symptom, disorder, diagnosis.

Here's the catch. Every single one of us could easily be diagnosed with one disorder or another. So you can bet if standardized mental health testing was performed on our children, the rate of those suffering from mental health disorders would skyrocket. Your kids and mine would quite probably add to that number.

For now, this is only a study and a recommendation to the President. It still remains to be seen what he does with this recommendation. I think he needs to know what our concerns are with it.

Hat Tip: Neal Boortz

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

Immigration Crack-Down

California's Border Protection agencies are proactively searching our cities for illegal immigrants and sending them home. It has caused quite the uproar. Patterico offers clear thinking.

Posted by bubba138 at 09:38 AM | Comments (0) |

Wictory Wednesday: Campaign Finance Reform

With McCain's campaign finance reform in full swing the Democrats thought they would be limiting the Republican's ability to raise cash. Unfortunately for them, their logic was based upon the flawed assumption that Republican money comes in large chunks from from big business and rich people. True, Republicans do tend to raise more money, but it comes in smaller chunks from more people, where the Democrats get their funds in larger chunks from fewer sources, ie: special interest.

So with reform, the Democrats have put themselves at a severe disadvantage. But worry not, they've found a way around their difficulties. Instead of raising money for campaigns, they've decided to let the campaign make money. Here are some examples of that strategy:

• Against All Enemies: Inside America's War on Terror


• Plan of Attack


• The Price of Loyalty


• My Life

Sarasota

• Fahrenheit 9/11

"Ha, Bryon, now you are spinning comspiracy theories!" Am I?

Moore has acknowledged that one of his aims in making "Fahrenheit 9/11," which won top prize at this year's Cannes Film Festival, is to help Democrat John Kerry defeat Bush in November.

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) |

Read the Black Patch

Posted by bubba138 at 08:12 AM | Comments (0) |

June 22, 2004

Outed?

Hmmm.

Posted by bubba138 at 07:03 PM | Comments (0) |

Drop Cheney?

I have heard a lot of talk about dropping Cheney as the VEEP for 2004. It is fun to talk about because, well, with Kerry's nomination all cinched up and no sign of a VEEP pick from him on the horizon, we have to talk about something.

The name that most often swirls around in these conversations is John McCain. The logic goes, if a Kerry-McCain ticket is a winner, then a Bush-McCain ticket would be even more so.

Not.

Kerry-McCain works only because McCain overcomes Kerry's myriad weaknesses. For Bush, McCain is the weakness -- boat anchor would be more appropriate.

If we're switching VEEPS, I prefer Condi.

Even so, all this talk is really an exercise in futility, because Cheney will be the 2004 GOP VEEP. Here's why:

As my best liberal pal Jeff pointed out to me, no matter what the reason given for Cheney stepping aside and no matter who steps in, the move will be used by the left to prove and admission of policy failure by the Bush Administration, which could ultimately hurt G Dubya.

We must assume he's right about that.

Yep, he is.

Posted by bubba138 at 05:19 PM | Comments (0) |

Quick, Hide!

Dick Morris says Kerry's best move is to completely stay off the campaign trail.

He's right, and Kerry knows it.

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

New Anti-Kerry Ad

I saw this on TV last night. It wasn't bad.

Here are the people who put it together:

Founded in 1999 by Steve Moore, National Review president Dusty Rhodes, Cato Institute president Ed Crane, Richard Gilder, economist and CNBC Kudlow & Cramer co-host Larry Kudlow and other like-minded pro-growth conservatives, the Club for Growth sends campaign contributions from our members to the most free-market oriented candidates in tight, but winnable races...

Some of the people who are already Club for Growth members include:

Larry Kudlow, economist and CEO of Kudlow & Co. Larry is co-host of the the primetime CNBC show "Kudlow & Cramer."

Milton Friedman, economist, winner of the 1976 Nobel Prize in Economics.

Thomas L. Rhodes, President, National Review magazine.

Bret Schundler, former mayor of Jersey City and 2001 New Jersey GOP gubernatorial nominee.

Bill Simon, 2002 California GOP gubernatorial nominee.

They even have a blog.

Posted by bubba138 at 12:57 PM | Comments (0) |

VEEP Watch

&c.:

The latest issue of Newsweek reports that "Kerry sources" say the vice presidential contest has become a two-man race between Tom Vilsack and Dick Gephardt. Vilsack's only advantage, as far as I can tell, is the freshness/boldness factor. Of course, that's been a relatively important criterion for recent Democratic nominees (see Joe Lieberman in 2000 and Al Gore in 1992). And it could be for Kerry, too--particularly since he isn't viewed as the freshest or boldest guy around. But I think Gephardt's selling points (lack of political ambition, ample national experience, and the ability to carry a vote-rich swing state--Iowa in my book is neither vote-rich nor a bona fide swing state) put him over the top. That's assuming, of course, that Newsweek is right about these being the lone remaining contenders...

3 Ways to pick a VEEP:

Kerry has three ideas in front of him -- a tactical choice, a national security move, and something from the value-added tradition. This year, tactics involve the Midwest and Florida -- in this case former House Democratic leader Dick Gephardt, Iowa Governor Tom Vilsack, and Senator Evan Bayh of Indiana; or Florida Senators Bob Graham and Bill Nelson.

The national security move, which would be a surprise given Kerry's credentials in this area, is based on current events. It would require a dark horse on the order of nominal Republican Bill Cohen of Maine, Clinton's second-term defense secretary.

The value-added idea is where Senator John Edwards of North Carolina dominates.

It was done quitely, but Kerry actually has selected a VEEP:

While in Colorado, Kerry made a quick stop in Aspen for a $500,000 fund-raiser at the home of Michael Goldberg, president of Miami-based airline leasing company Aerolease International. Kerry invited Aspen resident and writer Hunter S. Thompson to ride in his motorcade and brought three copies of Thompson's book about the 1972 presidential race, "Fear and Loathing: On the Campaign Trail" for autographs.

"Just to put your minds all at ease, I have four words for you that I know will relieve you greatly," Kerry told the fund-raiser. "How does this sound -- Vice President Hunter Thompson."

Update: Scott Ott reports the top Kerry VEEP contender has infiltrated the Bush campaign.

Posted by bubba138 at 12:44 PM | Comments (0) |

Dinner With Max

He didn't lose three limbs so you could ignore this article.

Posted by bubba138 at 12:43 PM | Comments (0) |

Actually Working

John Kerry actually showed up for work today. His absentee rate in the Senate is so bad even CNN's lede read:

Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry canceled a trip to the swing state of New Mexico Tuesday to make a rare appearance in the Senate.

After missing 118 out of 132 votes (90%) this year alone, what makes today's vote so important? It is about health care for veterans, that's what. Since Kerry's campaign has centered completely around his status as a "war hero," this voting on this measure is not optional. Once again he demonstrates that doing the right thing (showing up for votes and representing his state consistently) takes back seat to doing the politically expedient thing.

Posted by bubba138 at 11:55 AM | Comments (0) |

A Soldier's View on Iraq

The analogy is simple. For years, you have watched the same large, violent man come home every night, and you have listened to his yelling and the crying and the screams of children and the noise of breaking glass, and you have always known that he was beating his wife and his children. Everyone on the block has known it. You ask, cajole, threaten and beg him to stop, on behalf of the rest of the neighborhood. Nothing works. After listening to it for 13 years, you finally gather up the biggest, meanest guys you can find, you go over to his house, and you kick the door down. You punch him in the face and drag him away. The house is a mess, the family poor and abused...but now there is hope. You did the right thing.

I can speak with authority on the opinions of both British and American infantry in that place and at that time. Let me make this clear: at no time did anyone say or imply to any of us that we were invading Iraq to rid the country of weapons of mass destruction, nor were we there to avenge 9/11. We knew we were there for one reason: to rid the world of a tyrant, and to give Iraq back to Iraqis.

The war was the right thing to do then, and in hindsight it was still the right thing to do. We can't overthrow every murderous tyrant in the world, but when we can, we should. Take it from someone who was there, and who stood to lose everything. We must, and will, stay the course. We owe it to the Iraqis, and to the world.

As they say, read it all.

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

Indian Gaming

I'm not quite sure yet what to make of the Governor's deal with the Indian tribes. Things I like about it include the $1 billion in revenue and the fact that Schwarzenegger's effectiveness marginalizes the legislature. However, It isn't entirely clear how much control we are giving over to the tribes. Are we selling ourselves down the road? Will they really be able to buy land downtown, declare it a part of the reservation and build a casino? That is a scary prospect.

Anyway, here is a round-up of articles on the deal:

• San Francisco Chronicle
• Oakland Tribune
• San Jose Mercury
• Sacramento Bee
• Orange County Register
• San Diego Union-Trib
• New York Times
• Los Angeles Times

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

June 21, 2004

It's All About Inclusion

San Diego Blog points out that the effort is Iraq isn't only than multilateral, its multi-species.

Posted by bubba138 at 12:07 PM | Comments (0) |

Kerry's Take On Jobs

Posted by bubba138 at 11:21 AM | Comments (0) |

More Balanced Coverage, Please

Here is some of what you won't see reported in the mainstream press:

Barham Salih, a prominent leader from Kurdish northern Iraq, made his plea June 19 to American reporters traveling in Iraq with Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz.

"I hope you from the American press will be able to tell people back home … that (through) this mission you are giving an entire nation an opportunity to be rid of their challenges," he said.

"These soldiers are helping renovate schools and so on, and very, very little of that is reported," Salih continued. "We have to be grateful to those young men and women who have come from afar, sacrificing their lives to defend our security and our freedom."

He said context is important, and many American papers don't put things in the proper context. For instance, he said, "Many of the op-ed writers before the war predicted that Kirkuk would become the scene of the most vicious civil war," he said, referring to the northern Iraqi city that has been the site of problems between Kurds and Arabs.

"There are tensions in Kirkuk," he said, "but no civil war."

New Iraqi President Ghazi al-Yawer explained his belief that 90 percent of what's happening in Iraq is good news, and 10 percent in bad. "The media is magnifying the 10 percent, ignoring the 90 percent," Yawer said.

Posted by bubba138 at 10:08 AM | Comments (0) |

What Is the Big Deal

So what's the big deal about a privately funded space shot? Jon Henke knows:

...it will be done for a bit over $20 million - a fraction of the price of a NASA spaceflight. And not a dollar out of my pocket or yours.

Posted by bubba138 at 09:44 AM | Comments (0) |

Because I Could

NY Daily News on Clinton/Lewinsky (scroll down):

There has been a lot of media attention on a sound bite from tomorrow's "60 Minutes" interview with the ex-Prez. Of the Lewinsky matter, he says, "I did something for the worst possible reason. Just because I could. I think that's just about the most morally indefensible reason anybody could have for doing anything." Not really. There are far more morally indefensible excuses floating around. "I was just obeying orders" is a perennial.

As for "Just because I could," well, that's a classic, evasive Clintonism right up there with parsing the meaning of the verb "is." Here's how that actually translates: "I had a sexual relationship with an immature, emotionally needy young woman because she made herself available." And here's what it avoids saying: "I had a sexual relationship with an immature, emotionally needy young woman because I was a callous, hedonistic, reckless predator and serial philanderer who placed my own momentary gratification over faithfulness and honesty to my wife, over the welfare and feelings of my daughter, over respect for the presidency and over the best interests of the United States."

Posted by bubba138 at 09:38 AM | Comments (0) |

Union Politics As Usual

For the first time, New York unions are threatening labor unrest at the GOP convention—and CNN may be to blame. In 2003, CNN terminated its relationship with a subcontractor whose employees were repped by the National Association of Broadcast Employees and Technicians (NABET). CNN hired half the workers back, but won’t recognize NABET—and now the union’s retaliating. "Our goal is to embarrass CNN before a national audience by creating difficulties at the convention," says NABET president John Clark. NABET may stage a picket that other workers could be reluctant to cross.

This, of course, has nothing to do with representing the union members and has everything to do with partisan politics. If NABET really wanted to make an impression they'd "create difficulties" at both the Democrat and Republican conventions.

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

June 20, 2004

Top 100 Movies

Ok, I'll jump on the bandwagon. Here are the ones I have seen:

1. Titanic
2. Star Wars
3. E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial
4. Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace
5. Spider-Man
6. Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King
7. Passion of the Christ
8. Jurassic Park
9. Shrek 2
10. Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers
11. Finding Nemo
12. Forrest Gump
13. Lion King, The
14. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone
15. Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring
16. Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones
17. Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi
18. Independence Day
19. Pirates of the Caribbean
20. Sixth Sense, The (1999)
21. Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back
22. Home Alone
23. Matrix Reloaded, The
24. Shrek
25. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets
26. How the Grinch Stole Christmas
27. Jaws
28. Monsters, Inc.
29. Batman
30. Men in Black
31. Toy Story 2
32. Bruce Almighty
33. Raiders of the Lost Ark
34. Twister
35. My Big Fat Greek Wedding
36. Ghost Busters
37. Beverly Hills Cop
38. Cast Away
39. Lost World: Jurassic Park, The
40. Signs
41. Rush Hour 2
42. Mrs. Doubtfire
43. Ghost (1990)
44. Aladdin
45. Saving Private Ryan
46. Mission: Impossible II
47. X2
48. Austin Powers in Goldmember
49. Back to the Future
50. Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me
51. Terminator 2: Judgment Day
52. Exorcist, The
53. Mummy Returns, The
54. Armageddon
55. Gone with the Wind
56. Pearl Harbor
57. Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade
58. Toy Story (1995)
59. Men in Black II
60. Gladiator
61. Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs
62. Dances with Wolves
63. Batman Forever
64. Fugitive, The
65. Ocean's Eleven
66. What Women Want
67. Perfect Storm, The
68. Liar Liar
69. Grease
70. Jurassic Park III
71. Mission: Impossible
72. Planet of the Apes
73. Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom
74. Pretty Woman
75. Tootsie
76. Top Gun
77. There's Something About Mary
78. Ice Age
79. Crocodile Dundee
80. Home Alone 2: Lost in New York
81. Elf
82. Air Force One
83. Rain Man
84. Apollo 13
85. Matrix, The
86. Beauty and the Beast
87. Tarzan (1999)
88. Beautiful Mind, A
89. Chicago
90. Three Men and a Baby
91. Meet the Parents
92. Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves
93. Hannibal
94. Catch Me If You Can
95. Big Daddy
96. Sound of Music, The
97. Batman Returns
98. Bug's Life, A
99. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
100. Waterboy, The

Posted by bubba138 at 09:41 PM | Comments (0) |

No Link Between 9/11 and Iraq

We all know there was no direct link between 9/11 and Saddam Hussein's Iraq. Or do we?

The commission investigating the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks has received new information indicating that a senior officer in an elite unit of the security services of deposed Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein may have been a member of al-Qaida involved in the planning of the suicide hijackings, panel members said Sunday.

John F. Lehman, a Reagan-era GOP defense official told NBC's "Meet the Press" that documents captured in Iraq "indicate that there is at least one officer of Saddam's Fedayeen, a lieutenant colonel, who was a very prominent member of al Qaida."

he lieutenant colonel, Ahmed Hikmat Shakir, has the same name as an Iraqi thought to have attended a planning meeting for the Sept. 11 attacks in January 2000, in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. The meeting was also attended by two of the hijackers, Khalid al Midhar and Nawaf al Hamzi and senior al-Qaida leaders.

Posted by bubba138 at 09:14 PM | Comments (0) |

Running on Fumes

The hub-bub between Ray Bradbury and Michael Moore is just the latest chapter in a recurring theme on the left. Consider:

• Al Franken had to copy both Fox's "fair and balanced" slogan for his book and O'Reilly's "Factor" as the title of his radio program.
  
• The Kerry campaign has no platform of its own, other than if Bush is for it, they're against it.
  
• Democrat voters aren't so much as for Kerry as they are for "anybody but Bush"
  
• Michael Moore cannot even come up with an original title for his movie and refused to get permission from Ray Bradbury before stealing one.

Can it be any clearer that the left is completely out of ideas?

Posted by bubba138 at 07:23 PM | Comments (0) |

Smelling a Rat

When I heard about the Saudis killing the matermind of the Johnson beheading, the first thought that came to my head was, "My, that's convenient." Firestone over at Calblog had a similar reaction.

Now apparently they really haven't identified the body. Couple that with the probable possible cooperation of Saudi forces with al Qa'eda and we have an interesting brew indeed.

Posted by bubba138 at 06:01 PM | Comments (0) |

Saudi Help?

From the "Saudis are not our freinds" deparment.

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

June 18, 2004

Playing the Race Card

Kerry tried his best to play the race card yesterday but something got in his way: facts.

The US DOJ tells us the number of blacks incarcerated at mid-year 2002 (page 11, Table 13): 818,900 black men; 65,600 black women; total 884,500 blacks.

The US Census Bureau tells us the number of blacks in college during 2002: 802,000 black men; 1,476,000 black women; total 2,278,000 blacks.

Taranto has more:

It's true that among black men the number of prison inmates was slightly higher than the number of college students. But as the Statistical Assessment Service notes, this is a meaningless comparison, since "you can go to prison at any age, but are most likely to be in college between the ages of 18-24." A college-age black man, it turns out, is 2.5 times as likely to be in college as in prison. Also worth noting: A career criminal can easily end up spending decades of his life behind bars, while only the laziest student stays in college that long.

After McGovern, Mondale, and Dukakis the Democrats should know the old slogan: "A campaign is a terrible thing to waste."

Posted by bubba138 at 02:13 PM | Comments (0) |

On the Couch?

Bill Clinton says in his new autobiography that his wife looked as if he had punched her in the gut when he finally confessed to his affair with Monica Lewinsky, and he slept on the couch for at least two months after that.

Does the former President really expect us to believe there wasn't another (empty) bed in the whole of the White House? Are we to accept the idea that the leader of the free world actually slept on a couch for two months?

I kind of doubt it.

Posted by bubba138 at 02:03 PM | Comments (0) |

9/11 Commission Findings

The press is widely reporting that the 9/11 Commission found no link between al Qa-eda and Saddam Hussein's Iraq. Here is what else the Commission found:

• Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden "explored possible cooperation with Iraq during his time in Sudan."

• "A senior Iraqi intelligence officer reportedly made three visits to Sudan, finally meeting bin Laden in 1994."

• "Contacts between Iraq and al-Qaeda also occurred after bin Laden had returned to Afghanistan."

...and here is what the commissioners themselves have to say about the media's "reporting:"

Chairman Thomas Kean has confirmed: "There were contacts between Iraq and al-Qaeda, a number of them, some of them a little shadowy. They were definitely there."

Following news stories, Vice Chairman Lee Hamilton said he did not understand the media flap over this issue and that the commission does not disagree with the administration's assertion that there were connections between al-Qaeda and Saddam Hussein's government.

Is it any wonder that people don't trust the media?

Posted by bubba138 at 01:32 PM | Comments (0) |

The Good Economic News Keeps Coming

No matter how bad Kerry wants it to be otherwise, the U.S. economy is strong and getting stronger:

An index of the U.S. economy's likely performance over the next three to six months rose in May, initial jobless claims fell last week and a measure of inflation accelerated, government and private reports showed.

"The confluence of economic strengths is a recipe for continued job gains, and possibly a little more inflation," said Ken Goldstein, an economist at the Conference Board in New York.

Reality is setting in for the Kerry campaign. He's having to change his rhetoric:

Kerry said Thursday that more jobs will be created during the coming months, but "my candidacy is not based on the fact that we've lost a job here or there." He said the campaign will continue based on the need for better health care, education, environmental protections and foreign policy.

Puh-leeze. Jobs jobs jobs jobs jobs jobs jobs. Jobs rhetoric has comprised the majority of Kerry speeches over the last six months. Now he says his candidacy isn't based upon "the fact that we've lost a job here or there." What's even better, the jobs are being created in the battlegorund states:

Wisconsin, which former vice president Al Gore carried by 5,708 votes out of 6 million cast four years ago, added 12,100 workers last month...

Ohio, which lost more than a quarter-million jobs between mid 2000 and the end of last year, gained 1,100 in May, while Florida added 6,800.

With Bush's policies working beautifully, and none of his own to offer, Kerry is forced to make himself a part of the "Bush lied" crowd:

"What will not go away is the impact of the loss of moral authority of the United States in the world because of what's happened in the prisons in Iraq and because of the abuses that we've seen and the failure of this president to show that he can lead our country with the truth," he said.

At this point, I wouldn't be surprised if he announced Howard Dean as his VP candidate.

Posted by bubba138 at 01:32 PM | Comments (0) |

House Sized Meteorite?

DRUDGE is linking to an article that claims a "house-sized" meteorite has fallen in Australia. The problem is they can't find it:

No other reports were received by police and extensive police patrols of the area for more than an hour did not turn up the space debris.

"We went out to check if it was something bad, like a plane," said a police spokesman.

"However we didn't find anything - there was no bloody great rock sitting in the middle of the highway, anyway".

Apparently, someone seems to be mistaken:

Australian National University astronomer Vince Ford said searchers were unlikely to find anything because whatever was rocketing to earth likely burned up before it hit, creating the illusion of a large object streaking across the night sky.

If a house-sized meteorite had hit the earth, it would have made a sonic boom and registered on seismological graphs, Ford said.

Posted by bubba138 at 12:50 PM | Comments (0) |

They Killed Him

Paul Johnson is dead:

Three chilling photographs on an Islamist Web site appear to show the beheaded body of American hostage Paul Johnson, who was kidnapped a week ago by Islamic militants connected with al Qaeda.

Abdel Aziz Al-Muqrin, the self-proclaimed military leader of al Qaeda in Saudi Arabia, claimed responsibility for Johnson's kidnapping and the death of another American, Kenneth Scroggs, on the same day on behalf of a group called the Al Falluja Squadron...

The State Department has urged all Americans to leave Saudi Arabia, but Johnson's sister, Donna Mayeux, said in a CNN interview that her brother "always felt safe in Saudi Arabia."

"My brother is an honorable man," she said. "He has always treated people with dignity and respect."

Dignity and respect are things al Qa'eda cannot understand.

Update: Apparently the mastermind is dead.

Posted by bubba138 at 12:36 PM | Comments (0) |

Military Expansion

The Army is getting bigger:

The Senate voted Thursday to increase the size of the Army by 20,000 soldiers in an effort to ease the strain on a military with commitments across the globe.

"Our Army is overstretched," said Sen. Jack Reed (D-R.I.), a former Army officer who sponsored the measure, an amendment to the $447-billion defense authorization bill for fiscal year 2005.

I think this is a good move. Of course, John McCain has to get his obligitory dig in:

"Why were they so reluctant to send additional troops?" McCain asked. "The dirty little secret is they didn't have them."

I wouldn't be totally opposed to pulling our troops out of Germany and other European countries so they can serve elsewhere.

Posted by bubba138 at 11:37 AM | Comments (0) |

Kerry and Religion: Bad Mix

The Kerry campaign is toning down any religious references:

Sen. John Kerry's advisers are telling the presidential candidate to steer clear of talking about religion after running afoul of several Catholic bishops and after the campaign's new director of religious outreach was criticized this week for espousing left-wing causes...

Meanwhile, the Kerry campaign also has sidelined its new religion adviser, closing journalists' access to Mara Vanderslice and ignoring her advice on how to appeal effectively to religious voters.

"Every time something with religious language got sent up the flagpole, it got sent back down, stripped of religious language," a Kerry campaign source said of Miss Vanderslice's ideas on overcoming Mr. Kerry's secular image.

The campaign source also said former Clinton aides Paul Begala, John Podesta and Mike McCurry have tutored campaign operatives on more aggressively using religion to appeal to voters...

Plans were, said Miss Sullivan, for the campaign to assemble a "people of faith" page for the Kerry Web site, at which point Miss Vanderslice was to be announced as the contact person.

But with Miss Vanderslice not being allowed near the press, "They have no one in their communications shop who is conversant in religion," she said.

When the Kerry campaign has only one religious voice in the campaign, and they shut that down completely, they are showing a huge disconnect from the American public. According to Barna reasearch, America is a predominately religious country:

85% of Americans self-identify as Christians. (2002)

7% of US adults classify as evangelicals (2004) (see Evangelical category for more information)

38% of US adults classify as born again, but not evangelical. (2004)

37% are self-described Christians but are neither evangelical nor born again

Atheists and agnostics comprise 12% of adults nationwide. (2004)

11% of the US population identify with a faith other than Christianity (2004)

69% believe in God when described as the all-powerful, all-knowing, perfect creator of the universe who rules the world today. (2004)

7% believe that God is the total realization of personal human potential. (2004)

15% say God is no longer involved in their life. (1997)

Almost nine out of ten people (87%) say the universe was originally created by God. (2000)

The Washington Times article makes a good point:

"Maybe the Kerry campaign is learning the wrong lesson from the 1960 presidential campaign," said Steven Waldman, the founder of the religious Web site Beliefnet.com. "They figured that if [John F.] Kennedy emphasized separation of church and state, that's the way we will do it, too.

"At the time, the question is whether Kennedy is too influenced by the church. The question now is whether Kerry is influenced too little."

Posted by bubba138 at 10:47 AM | Comments (0) |

DNC Convention: Too Much Waste

Assuming they can digest union strikes and budget problems, the DNC has other, umm, internal problems:

Of all the concerns stemming from the Democratic National Convention in Boston, environmentalists reportedly are worried about an abundance of toilet flushing and wasted food, the Boston Globe reported.

Considering the profusion of bile that will be spewed in those few days, having proper waste facilities is a legitimate concern.

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

Bush & Saddam: Morally Equivalent

Madonna, er Esther, has gained new-found wisdom in her pursuit of Kabbalah. She can now tell the difference between right and wrong as demonstrated by her judgement of our President:

Madonna’s current Re-Invention tour carries a strong anti-war message and her recent video for the song American Life was clear in its opposition to the Iraq conflict.

In the final scene of the video, a President Bush lookalike kisses Saddam on the cheek.

“I don’t want to equate George Bush with Saddam Hussein. But I believe that George Bush and Saddam Hussein are both behaving in an irresponsible manner. So, in that respect, they’re alike,” Madonna said.

So it's, "I don't want to equate the two, but I will."

Somehow, making the world safer against terrorism is as irresponsible as filling mass graves with hundreds of thousands of bodies. This coming from America's paragon of moral virtue.

This reasoning is sickening. She has (and the left with her) minimized Saddam's obvious, great evil to mere "irresponsible behavior." In the same swipe she makes Bush out to be no better than one of the vilest world leaders in history. Is it any wonder the left is losing it's grip on the American public?

Posted by bubba138 at 08:02 AM | Comments (0) |

Iraq: No Ties With al Qa'eda

How about this:

A U.S. Federal Grand Jury in New York on Nov. 5 issued an indictment against Usama Bin Laden alleging that he and others engaged in a long-term conspiracy to attack U.S. facilities overseas and to kill American citizens.

The indictment noted that Al Qaeda, Bin Laden's international terrorist group, forged alliances with the National Islamic Front in Sudan and with the government of Iran and with its associated group Hezballah to "work together against their perceived common enemies in the West, particularly the United States."

Additionally, the indictment states that Al Qaeda reached an agreement with Iraq not to work against the regime of Saddam Hussein and that they would work cooperatively with Iraq, particularly in weapons development.

The indictment was issued in November of 1998. Bush did such a great job fabricating his false reasons for war with Iraq, he was able to orchestrate an indictment two years before he was president.

Talk about pro-active. If nothing else, he deserves to be re-elected because he can just plain get things done.

Posted by bubba138 at 06:56 AM | Comments (0) |

June 17, 2004

Bush Bump

It looks like Bush got a bump from the Reagan Memorial week:

"Bush got a little lift last week from the Reagan commemoration," Kohut said. "His (approval) ratings were 44 percent in interviewing done before ... and went up to 50 percent after Reagan's death."

Bush's job approval rating in the poll was 48 percent, up slightly from 44 percent in May, according to the poll by the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press. The poll of 1,806 adults was taken from June 3-13 and has a margin of sampling error of plus or minus 2.5 percentage points, slightly higher for the sample of registered voters.

Bush had a slight lead over Kerry in a three-way matchup, with the president at 46 percent, Kerry at 42 percent and independent Ralph Nader at 6 percent. Bush and Kerry were tied in a two-way race. [No they weren't, the poll shows Bush up by two]

Almost six in 10, 57 percent, said the situation in Iraq is going well, up from 46 percent a month earlier. Almost that many, 55 percent, said military action in Iraq was the right decision, up slightly from 51 percent a month earlier.

Posted by bubba138 at 05:23 PM | Comments (0) |

Go Get 'Em Patterico

Patterico's blog is again going after the LA Times. This time it is about fair disclosure in the Newdow/Pledge of Allegiance case.

Pat's a bulldog. I hope he never comes after me.

Posted by bubba138 at 05:00 PM | Comments (0) |

Beam Me Up, Scotty!

This is just plain cool:

Two teams of scientists report today that for the first time they have teleported individual atoms, taking characteristics of one atom and imprinting them on a second...

A quantum computer could use teleportation to move the results of calculations from one part of the computer to another. "Teleportation in principle could be done pretty quick," said Dr. David J. Wineland, head of the Colorado team, noting that directly moving atoms containing intermediate results would almost certainly be too slow.

Of course they're only talking teleporting a single atom and aren't very confident in much larger success:

"It's certainly not useful for any beaming in the 'Star Trek' sense," Dr. Blatt of the University of Innsbruck said. "Consider even some molecules or something small like a virus. I cannot imagine it. As far as I can see, it's not going to happen."

But this is a start, and great things come from such starts.

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

VEEP Watch

Kerry Meets Gephardt:

Democratic White House candidate John Kerry spent more than an hour meeting privately with Missouri Rep. Richard Gephardt on Wednesday, adding fuel to the vice presidential guessing game.

The presumptive presidential nominee and his former rival met for between 60 and 90 minutes in Kerry's Capitol Hill office, a Democratic official said.

Kerry's Hunt for Number Two:

The name of Sen. Joe Biden of Delaware, former chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, has recently turned up as a "dark horse" in the veep contest.

Kerry Steps Up Veep Search:

The Kerry-Gephardt meeting came as another candidate, Iowa Gov. Tom Vilsack, made the rounds in Washington but refused to say whether he was meeting with Kerry.

Kathleen Sebelius of Kansas, a Democrat touted by some party officials as a potential candidate, also was in Washington with Vilsack. She said she was not meeting with Kerry.

Later, Kerry met at his Washington home with campaign manager Mary Beth Cahill and Jim Johnson, head of his vice presidential search team. Officials said Kerry did not interview candidates at his home.

Kerry narrowing choices for VP:

Vilsack also was here for an event by a family advocacy group on the uninsured. While his office declined to comment, Vilsack said during a news conference: "You need to ask Sen. Kerry about his schedule."

Posted by bubba138 at 01:54 PM | Comments (0) |

June 16, 2004

Posted by bubba138 at 11:59 PM | Comments (0) |

Losing Faith

Things like this make me lose my faith in humanity:

Nick O'Brien, 4, was at a Texas Rangers baseball game with his parents Sunday night when a foul ball hit by right fielder Gary Matthews Jr. landed at his feet.

Before Nick could reach down to pick it up, a grown man leaped in front of him, pinned Nick to the seat and grabbed the ball.

Fortunately the Rangers made good and gave the kid a bat and ball from the dugout. The sorry character who stole the ball slinked out of the stadium amid the crowd's booing. He kept the ball. Here's the kicker:

As for Starr, the man who apparently took the ball, he's said nothing publicly. But his pastor described the married landscaper and former youth minister as "not the bad guy he's been made out to be."

"He probably got a little aggressive and did something he regrets," Rick DuBose of the Sachse Assembly of God Church told the Dallas Morning News. "But that's not Matt. He's a good kid, a good young man."

Former youth minister? That's not quite being an effective witness for Christ.

It speaks of our culture when a foul ball is more important than courtesy. Mr. Starr could have very well realized his mistake and given the ball to the boy, but for some reason the ball was more valuable than his integrity. His wife must be proud.

Posted by bubba138 at 09:43 PM | Comments (0) |

Iraq and al Qa'eda

Mark A. Kilmer says what I've been thinking all day:

The nodus here seems to be that the press believes that if Saddam and al Qaeda cooperated on anything, the must have cooperated on everything, including the September 11 plan. This is a logical fallacy.

Yep.

Posted by bubba138 at 08:24 PM | Comments (0) |

Dem Prospects Jockey to Run at Kerry's Side

USA Today looks at the Veep contenders.

Posted by bubba138 at 07:13 PM | Comments (0) |

Me-Tooism

E.J. Dionne Jr. argues that Bush is looking more and more like Kerry:

The Kerry camp makes the opposite point: That in seeking and winning a United Nations' resolution supporting the new Iraqi government and in trying unsuccessfully at last week's G-8 summit to win a NATO troop commitment to Iraq, Bush is actually flip-flopping himself and following Kerry's lead.

How anyone arrives at this conclusion is beyond me. Bush hasn't flip-flopped in any way at all. From the very beginning his administration has pursued U.N. support for operations in Iraq. However, pursuing it and getting it are two different things.

The difference between Kerry and Bush is that once rejected by the U.N., Kerry would have given up Iraq and left Saddam in power. In contrast, Bush did as he said he would, with or without a final, final, final (count out fourteen to eighteen finals) U.N. Security Council resolution.

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

Wealthy Lingo

MSNBC reports:

The word "millionaire" shows up only twice in the report — in the footnotes. Instead, individuals with more than $1 million in financial assets, excluding their main home, are called HNWIs, or "high net worth individuals" by the authors, using a term coined by the banking industry.

"Ultra-HNWIs" are the super rich, defined as a small but rapidly growing group of 70,000 individuals with more than $30 million in assets. It was Merrill who pegged the "ultra" threshold at $30 million, a few years ago.

How do you pronounce "HNWI"? I'm thinking it is something like hun-wee. It would be interesting to see how many HNWIs own Humvees.

Posted by bubba138 at 04:18 PM | Comments (0) |

Dales' Electoral College Breakdown 2004

If you haven't visited Dales' Electoral College Breakdown 2004, do so. I hit this site at least daily.

As the Democrats experienced harshly (but perhaps not yet learned) in 2000, national polls mean almost nothing. Ours is not a Democracy, but a Republic, so a key to prognostication is watching the state races, which is exactly what Dale is doing.

Right now, Dale has Bush ahead with 249 electoral votes to Kerry's 221. States change every day, so watching the map is quite entertaining.

Posted by bubba138 at 03:43 PM | Comments (0) |

KERRY FOR PREZ

John Kerry has picked up his first newpaper endorsement:

This week, the presidential campaigns of George W. Bush and John F. Kerry, suspended out of respect to the deceased 40th president, start fresh.

In that spirit, this newspaper, the first in the nation, endorses John Kerry for president. Unlike the current White House occupant, Kerry can lead America to a brighter, better future. He has shown the personal courage, compassion, intellect and skill to lead this country in a time of war abroad and economic troubles at home. He is a serious man for a serious time.

Posted by bubba138 at 02:38 PM | Comments (0) |

Religion of Peace Update

This is not the worst thing to happen to Christians in Sudan, but it is still quite deplorable:

Cecilia John Holland, 27, was on a bus heading to her suburban Khartoum home April 13 when about 10 police officers forced the vehicle to stop and dragged her from it,

The next morning, Holland was taken to Sizana Islamic Court where the Muslim policemen testified against her. She was not allowed to make a statement or speak in her own defense.

The court declared her guilty of charges she was "standing near a garden at night" and not wearing a scarf on her head.

She was sentenced to 40 lashes on the back and a fine of 10,000 dinars, the equivalent of a month's wage.

But of course, abu Graib was much worse, which is why it got thirty uninterrupted days of press coverage.

Posted by bubba138 at 11:28 AM | Comments (0) |

2004 Democratic National Convention

As if it weren't enough for striking unions to stall construction on the site for the Democrat's 2004 convention, the Convention is already hopelessly over budget as well:

Soaring production and construction costs are pushing the Democratic National Convention well above its $64.5 million budget, with staging, building, and readying the FleetCenter for television expected to cost $10 million more than initial estimates.

According to convention organizers, construction is expected to cost $13.9 million, nearly twice the $7.2 million estimated by local and national planners in 2002. And this week organizers signed off on a production budget of $9.1 million for Ricky Kirshner Productions, up from the $6 million in the Democratic National Committee's original agreement with the host committee.

Bad unions, bad budget, bad candidate. This just might be an altogether bad year for the Democrats.

Update: There are more than a few Bostonians who aren't excited about having the convention in their town. Not only will it cause major traffic, but security isn't allowing traffic copters to be anywhere near the site.

Posted by bubba138 at 11:23 AM | Comments (0) |

Getting the Message Out

Media is changing, and political campaigns are trying to keep up:

The problem may be most acute on television -- the medium of choice for political advertising over the past 50 years -- but the alternatives are not much better. No matter where political consultants turn these days -- to the mail, the phones, the Internet and polls -- the story is much the same. Each message channel is more crowded, and hence less effective, in reaching people than in preceding elections. As veteran Democratic direct-mail specialist Hal Malchow puts it, "all media for communicating with voters are in trouble..."

As a result, the broadcast networks, which commanded 71 percent of the prime-time audience in the 1991-1992 season, attracted 52 percent in the 2003-2004 season, according to Nielsen Media Research. Even that diminished figure overstates the share of any single network inasmuch as the original Big Three of broadcasting (ABC, CBS and NBC) now share 52 percent of the prime-time audience with four other national broadcasters (Fox, UPN, the WB and Pax). The balance of viewers are scattered across dozens of cable and independent stations.

The new world of campaigns will be, and is, the internet. Blogs are the beginning of revolution that reaches into every area of life, and political campaigns is not the least of these.

Posted by bubba138 at 11:17 AM | Comments (0) |

Vision vs. Pessimism

Kerry's entire campaign has been based upon pessimism. Economy, iraq, health care, you name it if there is the smallest downside to any issue he will find it.

There are two problems with his strategy. First, when things turn around before the election, as they have on all the issues about which he has complained, his platform completely disappears from underneath him. Second, it makes him look like chicken-little, always looking for the sky to fall regardless of reality.

Voters don't vote for pessimists. By the end of his second term in office, Carter was a pessimist, bemoaning America's "Crisis in confidence." America booted him. Dukakis was a liberal pessimist from Massechusetts (sound familiar?) and he got rocked. Like him or not, Clinton was an optimist who spoke in terms of vision and a bright future. In contrast Dole was a pessimist and the voters didn't give him a chance.

Bush is an optimist and his campaign recognizes Kerry is not.

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

L.A. Times poll draws GOP fire

Here's more on the skewed LA Times poll.

Posted by bubba138 at 11:01 AM | Comments (0) |

Ter-AY-sa Heinz-Kerry

Boortz is right (use this link after 06/16/2004):

Ms. Kerry, the multi-millionaire supporter of numerous liberal causes, tells us that she made the switch because she became disgusted when Republicans attacked the patriotism of Max Cleland during the 2002 election...

Nowhere was Max Cleland's fealty to Tom Daschle more apparent than in his participation in the Democratic attempts to stall the formation of a homeland security department until certain government employee union demands were met. In short, Max Cleland put the Democratic allegiance to government employee unions ahead of the security concerns of our country. The voters didn't like it, and they turned him out.

Posted by bubba138 at 10:36 AM | Comments (0) |

News Flash!!!

Dan Rather rather likes Clinton's book:

"Maybe he didn’t come totally, absolutely clean with himself, but he made an effort to do it," he said, "an effort it would be difficult to find with any former President."

Did Mr. Rather like the book?

"I liked it more than I thought I would," he said, "more than I was prepared to like it. Who knew that Bill Clinton could write this well?"

"As Presidential memoirs go," he added, "on a five-star scale, I give it five."

Oh. That's a surprise.

Update: Linda Chavez shares what you won't see in Clinton's book.

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

Wictory Wednesday

The economy is rip-roaring, manufacturing is up, jobs are up, GDP is up, and still, GW Bush is getting low marks on this issue. It does us well to remember and learn from the past:

In the 1992 election, Bush's father, former President George Bush, argued that a recession had ended and the economy was growing. The figures backed him up but voters did not believe him. Bush took less than 40 percent of the vote and lost the White House to Bill Clinton.

I was one of those who voted for Clinton because I thought GHW Bush, foreign policy wiz that he was, had no clue about the domestic issues. Twelve years later I can see that he had things well in hand and the economy was on already on its way back. The problem wasn't Bush's policy, but his inability to get the message about the improving economy.

This makes it imperative for us to echo GW Bush's successes. The regular media won't do it, Kerry is their man. Did anyone else notice how as soon as the jobs recovery heated up the media started talking about inflation?

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 09:47 AM | Comments (0) |

June 15, 2004

Kerry Strategy Flawed

Steven Pearlstein is no Bush fan, but Kerry isn't impressing him either:

For Kerry, the danger in playing this economic blame game is that voters will come to see him as no different than a president who has used exaggeration and selective use of facts to justify a war against Iraq. Rather than offering a contrast to the Republicans' highly partisan, attack-dog approach to political discourse, Kerry mimics it -- potentially turning off moderate, independent voters.

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

The Roe Effect

Jame's Taranto's Best of the Web regularly talks about the "Roe Effect" -- how legalized abortion is making the U.S. a more conservative nation. The idea is taking hold:

Marina Malenic's review of the coming population implosion raises an important point that I haven't seen in similar articles: the fact that religious people have higher birthrates. This may be what saves the world.As a fundamentalist father of three, I can vouch for the concept that a traditional (dare I say "patriarchal") extended family based on Biblical moral values is the best model for a prosperous society. Not only are traditional family-oriented people more entrepreneurial, they generally make more productive employees and make fewer demands on government services. As the secularists, liberals, et al. die off, their numbers will be replaced by more of us orthodox types. As our numbers increase, our growing political power will allow us to institute more conservative policies that will improve society.

If my outrageous statements manage to goad our liberal friends into making more babies, not to worry. If liberals manage to breed bigger broods, they will tend to adopt more traditionalist values. Having kids can do that to you.

Posted by bubba138 at 04:53 PM | Comments (0) |

More Veep Stuff

Adding on to today's earlier post, some union officials aren't so sure that Gephardt is getting the nod:

Kerry is to meet with senior AFL-CIO leaders in Atlantic City today, where he will speak to the national conference of the union, but also get an earful from leadership over his veep selection...

Increasingly, union bosses have been hearing the Gephardt is no longer in the running.

"Gephardt better damn well be the pick," says an AFL-CIO lobbyist. "We've done too much for Kerry to get screwed this way. A governor from Iowa ain't going to cut it for our membership. It's been tough enough selling Kerry to some of our people."

One must take such hyperbole with a grain of salt. Union hacks typically vote a straight Democrat ticket. Is it really sensible to believe that if Kerry doesn't pick Dick that they'll all switch over to Bush? I don't think so.

Posted by bubba138 at 04:44 PM | Comments (0) |

FDA Finds Fault With Canadian Pharmacies

Three Canadian pharmacies shipped unauthorized medication to Wisconsin residents, newly released documents show, underscoring federal concerns about state and local programs that encourage cheap drug imports.

Full story...

Posted by bubba138 at 04:31 PM | Comments (0) |

More blacks run as Republicans in the South

Herman Cain is a well-to-do black businessman with a strong belief that the Democratic Party that blacks embraced during the civil rights struggle has swung too far to the left. That is why he is running for the U.S. Senate this year as a Republican...

More...

Posted by bubba138 at 04:30 PM | Comments (0) |

Blast Off!

Posted by bubba138 at 04:24 PM | Comments (0) |

That Was Fun

We just had a 5.1 shaker. It felt more like a collision than an earthquake -- one quick, hard jolt and it was over.

Here's more.

Posted by bubba138 at 03:54 PM | Comments (0) |

Will the Real Jim Treacher Please Stand Up

Treacher is Parrot. Or is Parrot Treacher? I keep forgetting.

Posted by bubba138 at 02:09 PM | Comments (0) |

Dain Bramage

Perhaps there's an explanation after all for why some teenagers are so notoriously difficult: Their minds cannot yet fully reason.

Government researchers found in a recent study that the last areas of the brain to mature in humans appear to be those responsible for reasoning, problem-solving and other sophisticated functions. This doesn't happen until sometime between ages 18 and 21.

This isn't news to clear thinking adults, but some Californian Democrats like Assemblyman Gene Mullin and Senator John Vasconcellos don't get it. Both have proposed amendments to the state Constitution to allow minors the privilidge to vote.

Fortunately, Mullin's proposal was shot down today:

Assembly members rejected a proposed constitutional amendment that would have allowed 17-year-olds to vote in primary elections, if they would be 18 by the general election.

Mullin's amendment is much tamer than the one proposed by Vasconcellos:

Another proposed constitutional amendment to change the voting age is pending in the state Senate. That proposal, by Sen. John Vasconcellos, would give 16-year-olds a half-vote and 14-year-olds a quarter-vote in state elections. It is scheduled for a committee vote June 23.

Hopefully today's voting down of the less ludicrous of the two measures is the tolling of the death knell for Vasconcellos' bill.

Posted by bubba138 at 01:53 PM | Comments (0) |

Why Is He Still a Senator?

Message to Kerry, commit already:

Lt. Gov. Kerry Healey argued that Kerry, the state's four-term senator, has missed too many roll call votes and has done a poor job of representing his constituents. Of the 112 Senate votes this year, Kerry has voted just 14 times, according to an Associated Press tally.

"It's not fair, it's not right and the public is not being well-served," said Healey, who said she was speaking on behalf of Republican Gov. Mitt Romney. "I'm calling on John Kerry to resign so that we can fill that office with someone who is 100 percent devoted to the job of representing the people of Massachusetts."

Is it possible Kerry believes less in his chances to win than do his supporters and the pollsters?

Posted by bubba138 at 01:38 PM | Comments (0) |

Enlightened Moderation

Pakistan's President Musharraf is trying to pass himself off as a thoughtful poli-philosopher.

Nitin Pai isn't the only one who is none too impressed.

Posted by bubba138 at 11:13 AM | Comments (0) |

No Wonder

Drudge has the scoop on last week's lopsided LA Times poll:

Sen. John Kerry "has taken big lead," according "to an L.A. Times poll."

But the Times poll that showed Kerry "beating Bush by 7 points" has created a controversy over whether the poll's sample accurately reflects the population as whole, ROLL CALL reports on Tuesday.

"Not counting independents, the Times' results were calculated on a sample made up of 38 percent Democrats and 25 percent Republicans -- a huge and unheard-of margin," ROLL CALL claims.

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

Kerry & Religion

Kerry has hired Mara Vanderslice as his director of religion outreach. She's a social activist in tune with the Sojourner crowd. Here is how she describes herself:

Ultimately, I can't separate my Christianity from my values or my values from my politics. For me, being engaged in politics is an expression of my deepest held religious beliefs-it is about actualizing a collective commitment to protect the integrity of God's creation, it's about meeting the needs of the "least of these," and about our nation being a generous and trustworthy leader in the world. There are certainly positions taken by leading Democrats with which many Christians won't agree-and many Christians are appalled by what they see as the exploitation of religion for political gain on the part of the Republican Party. The bottom line in applying our beliefs in the political arena is making an across-the-board assessment of who best represents the values we hold most dear.

Sounds balanced, doesn't it? It's not unlike how I would describe myself. Yet, when she says, "I can't separate my Christianity from my values," is she letting her Christianity inform her values, or are her values informing her Christianity.

The Catholic League implies it is the latter.

According to them, Ms. Vanderslice college days included both a conversion to Christianity and an active role in the Earlham Socialist Alliance (they think Chompsky is a diety, nuff said).

Why hasn't she been with Kerry from the start? William Donahue, the president of the Catholic League, has a working hypothesis:

"At first John Kerry was considered too moderate for Mara, which is why she became Howard Dean's Religion Outreach Director," Donohue said.

Posted by bubba138 at 09:50 AM | Comments (0) |

Who's Going to be the VEEP?

This and this say Edwards has a good chance.

The Boston Globe asks, "How about Howard?"

Who is Eliot Spitzer?

AFL/CIO execs say Gephardt is the man. Done deal and all. With his daughter 'running for president' on a new reality TV show, adding Gephardt to the ticket means plenty of free publicity.

Posted by bubba138 at 08:32 AM | Comments (0) |

Iran Getting Hostile?

This should cause some concern:

Iran reportedly is readying troops to move into Iraq if U.S. troops pull out, leaving a security vacuum.

The Saudi daily Al-Sharq al-Awsat, monitored in Beirut, reports Iran has massed four battalions at the border.

Al-Sharq al-Awsat quoted "reliable Iraqi sources" as saying, "Iran moved part of its regular military forces towards the Iraqi border in the southern sector at a time its military intelligence agents were operating inside Iraqi territory."

Update: They're also getting more uppity about the U.N. atomic probe:

"Continuation of this behavior under the pressure of America will seriously harm mutual trust and Iran's cooperation with the international community on Iran's use of peaceful nuclear technology," Khatami warned in the letter to Europe's big three, extracts of which appeared in the Sharq newspaper.

"Continued unfriendly behavior and ignorance of undertakings, will push Iran to consider its different options."

More and more the Mullacracy in Iran sounds like the former Soviet Union. Is this a sign they are soon to perish?

Posted by bubba138 at 08:22 AM | Comments (0) |

June 14, 2004

Irony Alert

Isn't it ironic:

A television cameraman filming a story about a dangerous intersection was struck and killed by a vehicle, police said.

Posted by bubba138 at 02:54 PM | Comments (0) |

Passing the Test

Daniel Drummond explains why going to Iraq was the right move:

A favorite aphorism of many lecturers, is the cautionary pronouncement; “Those who do not learn from History are condemned to repeat it.” For some reason, however, I cannot remember anyone following through to the obvious counterpoint: What happens when a leader does learn from History, and applies what he knows to his plans? We may very well be seeing the answer to that question, in President Bush’s plans for the Middle East...

It's a long, but very worth it, read.

Posted by bubba138 at 02:13 PM | Comments (0) |

More Good Economic News

CNN is doing its darndest to hide it, but here it is:

Retail sales rose at a solid clip in May, the government said Monday, boosted mainly by sales of cars and auto parts.

The Commerce Department reported that sales jumped 1.2 percent to a seasonally adjusted $335.8 billion last month, compared with a revised 0.6 percent decline in April.

Bloomberg only reports it as a caveat to the 'drastic' bad news:

April Trade Gap Widens, Retail Sales Rise in May

Treasury Notes Fall Before Retail Sales, Consumer Price Reports

Has anyone else noticed the press is no longer focusing on jobs?

Posted by bubba138 at 08:29 AM | Comments (0) |

Michael Moore withheld crucial evidence:

Michael Moore withheld crucial evidence:

The pictures of US prison guards abusing Iraqi inmates were exposed by the 60 Minutes programme earlier this year.

“I had it months before the story broke on 60 Minutes, and I really struggled with what to do with it,” Moore said.

“I wanted to come out with it sooner, but I thought I’d be accused of just putting this out for publicity for my movie,” he told the San Francisco Chronicle.

I have just one word for Michael: BULL. Mr. Moore has never been afraid of publicity for his movies. He was probably pissed 60 minutes published the photos before Fahrenheit 9/11 was released -- that cost him a prety penny.

Posted by bubba138 at 08:02 AM | Comments (0) |

June 11, 2004

Master of the Obvious

John muses:

Notice how Reagan's Funeral is repectful to honor the man and Wellstone's Funeral was a victicrat pep-rally?

Yep. I did notice that.

Posted by bubba138 at 12:27 PM | Comments (0) |

We're Sorry

A religious advocacy group said yesterday it is raising money over the Internet to pay for advertising spots on Arabic-language television networks in which American religious leaders express sorrow over the "sinful" abuses committed by U.S. forces in Iraqi prisons.

Tom Perriello, co-director of FaithfulAmerica.org, said Jewish, Protestant, Roman Catholic and Muslim leaders will appear in the spots beginning June 15 on the al-Jazeera and al-Arabiya networks, which reach millions of Arabic speakers around the world.

Are they expressing true sorrow or a making a political statement? Let's look at the ad's transcript:

A Salaam A’alaykum ["Peace be with you" in Arabic]. As Americans of faith, we express our deep sorrow at abuses committed in Iraqi prisons. We stand in solidarity with all those in Iraq and everywhere who demand justice and human dignity. We condemn the sinful and systemic abuses committed in our name, and pledge to work to right these wrongs.

"Systemic abuses?" Looks like they let the cat out of the bag. They obviously believe the abuse comes from the top-down. FaithfulAmerica claims to be non-partisan, but their "On the Issues" link points to Sojournor's Magazine, whose lead article today calls for Rumsfield's resignation. The issues page also contains such articles as:

• "Dangerous Religion: George W. Bush's theology of empire."
• "'War on Terror' or Real Security?: A just and viable alternative to the Bush doctrine."
• "The Project for a New American Empire: Who are these guys? And why do they think they can rule the world?"

Not all of the "issue" positions are anti-Bush, but many are and absolutely none of them are pro-Bush. If these are the issues to which FaithAmerica is pointing people, it is hard to claim non-partisanship.

What effect will their ads have?

Edward P. Djerejian, a former ambassador to Syria who wrote a report last year critical of U.S. public relations in the Middle East, said that if the ad "is an attempt to criticize the current administration with a political agenda, it could be harmful" to U.S. interests.

I'm thinking that is exactly their purpose.

Update: "FaithfulAmerica.org is a project of the National Council of Churches with support from TrueMajority and Res Publica. "

The National Council of Churches is consistantly on the left of every issue. They opposed the war in Iraq, and want nothing more than to have the U.N. take over Iraq.

TrueMajority was founded by Ben Cohen, Co-founder, Ben and Jerry’s. Here's where he stands:

A 12ft effigy of Bush with his trousers burning is touring the US in the Pants-on-Fire mobile display, an attempt by a group that includes some of America’s most prominent business leaders to highlight the "lies" coming from the President ahead of November’s vote.

The ‘burning Bush’, as followers have nicknamed it, is the idea of Ben Cohen, co-founder of the Ben and Jerry’s ice-cream empire and leader of an internet-based advocacy group called True Majority, which claims to have 380,000 subscribers around the country.

Res Publica says that:

At the nexus of three developments in contemporary America – the religious right's perceived monopoly on values, the political right's clear intent to focus political debate on values, and the actual erosion of certain core civic values – lies an urgent need to resuscitate the once vibrant progressive religious community...Res Publica believes that liberal clergy must be as visible and vocal in defending the moral underpinnings of the public good, as conservative clergy have been in promoting the value questions currently in the public spotlight.

<sarcasm>Sounds non-partisan to me.</sarcasm>

Posted by bubba138 at 08:12 AM | Comments (0) |

Kerry Republican?

Kerry is looking to pick up some dissatisfied Republican votes, but I don't think he'll be getting much.

In interviews with two dozen Republican voters at Kerry events over the last month, none of them embraced the label "Kerry Republicans"; anybody-but-Bush Republicans came closer. These voters, echoed by Republican and nonpartisan pollsters, say Kerry has not come close to offering the empowering, engaging ideology that helped Reagan win over many Catholic, working-class, and anticommunist Democrats. Rather, Kerry has played to the disdain that some Republicans feel for Bush, and won some extra points with aspects of his own message -- with veterans, that he was a war hero in Vietnam, or for Republican women, that he backs abortion rights and early childhood education.

Posted by bubba138 at 07:39 AM | Comments (0) |

Basking In God's Glory

Kathleen Parker points out that Reagan has given us a timely reminder:

His death came at just the right moment. Not for his family, though they must feel relief that his suffering is ended, but for the nation he loved. I mean this: Americans are in the throes of an identity crisis, trying at this difficult historical juncture to figure out what kind of people they are.

To read commentary from the far left these days -- or to view the world through Michael Moore's propagandist camera lens -- one is hard-pressed to find American affirmation. For the Bush-hating crowd, the leap from "We deserved it" to "President Bush lied!" to "quagmire" and now to "Iraq is an unmitigated disaster" was a matter of mere baby steps.

That's how life looks if your glass is always half empty. If your glass is half full, as Reagan's surely was, you might see things differently.

It is nice to be reminded of these things. Reagan's death was a deus ex machina in the tragedy of American guilt and self-loathing. Not to go biblical, but his final act was divinely ironic: By his death, the man who lost his memory restored the nation's.

Read it all.

Posted by bubba138 at 06:47 AM | Comments (0) |

June 10, 2004

The Outsourcing Boogeyman

Kerry and kompanions made so much of the outsourcing meme, but just like everything else they've harped on in the last twelve months this "issue" has gone bust:

The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), in its first look at layoffs due to the relocation of work, identified only 4,633 jobs that were lost due to relocation of work overseas during the first quarter.

The jobs lost to overseas relocations were outweighed by 9,985 jobs lost due to relocation of work within the United States.

So Bush and co were right, outsourcing really does help the economy.

Democratic candidate John Kerry has proposed changes in the tax code that he argues currently benefits companies that shift work to overseas operations.

Kerry would make sweepeing changes to our tax code over a mere 3 tenths of a percent of the entire workforce.

Posted by bubba138 at 10:47 PM | Comments (0) |

More Poetic Justice

The crane driver looked at the surging line of picketers, listened to what they shouted, shook his head and turned away. Victory for the union.

That is the picture beamed from Boston. It is more than the picture of a showdown between one city mayor and unhappy union members. It is also the picture of the Democratic Party held hostage by organized labor. [...]

There's a bigger urgency at stake: not just showcasing Boston, but the Democratic party.

Show some collective courage, Democrats. If you can't stand up to Tom Nee, how do you stand up to Jacques Chirac, Yasser Arafat or Al Qaeda?

Yeah, how? One way is to get a judge to tell them to knock it off. Another is to get deals done with cooperating unions.

Posted by bubba138 at 09:55 PM | Comments (0) |

Anti-PC Before Anti-PC Was Cool

How's this for hitting the nail on the head:

"Now let's take up the minorities in our civilization, shall we? Bigger the population, the more minorities. Don't step on the toes of the dog lovers, cat lovers, doctors, lawyers, merchants, chiefs, Mormons, Baptists, Unitarians...Brooklynites, Irishmen, people from Oregon or Mexico...the bigger your market...the less you handle controversy, remember that! [...]

"There you have it...it didn't come from the Government down. There was no dictum, no declaration, no censorship, to start with, no! Technology, mass exploitation and minority pressure carried the trick, thank God."

-- Fire Chief Beatty explaining to Montag why reading books is illegal in Ray Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451. He wrote this over fifty years ago. It is stunning how well he forsaw the future, not only in the technical areas but in the socio-political.

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

Are You Legally Protected?

This article should be of interest to everyone who blogs:

The Internet has lowered the barriers to entry for publishers. This complicates the question of who qualifies as a journalist when it comes to laws designed to protect the confidentiality of sources. How inclusive should shield laws be? A test case for this murky issue has yet to emerge.

It's long, but read the whole thing.

Posted by bubba138 at 07:20 PM | Comments (0) |

No More Sneaking Around

Allison Burnett is out of the closet:

It was time, I realized, to say goodbye to my double life. I flung open the closet door with a bang, vowing never to return. While I still believe that a writer's sexual preference should be irrelevant to the appreciation of his fiction, I also know now that living a lie of omission is just as exhausting and demoralizing as living one of commission. I can only imagine how terrible it must be in the military, where the penalty for speaking up is not a possible dip in book sales, but the certain termination of one's career.

Last month, I was asked to join a gay author's chat room. I wrote back to the author who had invited me: "I would love to, but I am not gay." I heaved a deep breath and waited for his reply. It came quickly. "Yeah, I heard that. It doesn't matter." I'd always hope I'd find that kind of acceptance. But when you've been oppressed as long as straight writers have, you begin to have your doubts.

Posted by bubba138 at 07:10 PM | Comments (0) |

Kerry: So Hip!

Taking a page from the Clinton playbook (who blasted his sax on Arsinio), Kerry wants all the young voters to know how hip he is. After all, he did say he was "fascinated by rap and by hip-hop" -- a nice dodge without actually admitting whether or not he listens to it.

So, as proof of his hipness, his blog is showing off the fact that Kerry was in a rock-n-roll band back in the sixties.

Well, I ask, who wasn't? (Besides me, of course...)

It's easy to be hip when you are in high school. It says another thing altogether when someone in his sixties is pushing how in touch he is with the youth of today.

Please.

Posted by bubba138 at 11:28 AM | Comments (0) |

Jacques Chirac: Democracy is Bad

The more that things change, the more they stay the same:

French President Jacques Chirac blasted the Bush administration yesterday, saying President Bush's drive to spread democracy throughout the Middle East is ill-conceived and rejecting Bush's call to expand NATO's role in Iraq.

"Democracy is not a method, it's a culture," Chirac said, in a statement translated from French. "Reform is not imposed from the outside. It is accomplished (from) the inside."

This sure sounds alot like the rhetoric that assailed Reagan before the walls came down. Those of Chirac's bent were wrong then and he is wrong now.

"Democracy is not a method, it's a culture," Chirac said, in a statement translated from French. "Reform is not imposed from the outside. It is accomplished (from) the inside."

Democracy is a natural expression of a collective nation's desire for freedom. That desire is innate in all human beings. Only elite snobs believe that the unwashed Arabs aren't ready for it.

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

Where Are the WMD's?

Yes, just where are they?

Equipment and material that could have been used to produce banned weapons and long-range missiles have been emptied from Iraqi sites since the war started and shipped abroad, the head of the United Nations inspectors office told the Security Council on Wednesday.

Demetrius Perricos, deputy to the former chief weapons inspector Hans Blix and now the acting executive chairman of the United Nations Monitoring, Verification and Inspection Commission, told a closed session of the council that many of the items bear tags placed by United Nations inspectors as suspect dual-use materials having capabilities for creating harmless consumer products as well as unconventional weapons.

Mr. Perricos accompanied his briefing with a report showing satellite photos of a fully built-up missile site near Baghdad in May 2003 and the same site denuded in February 2004.

Another photo showed an engine from a banned SA-2 surface-to-air missile that had been tagged by the United Nations in Iraq in 1996 and recently discovered in a scrap yard in Rotterdam, the port city in the Netherlands.

Posted by bubba138 at 08:30 AM | Comments (0) |

Kerry Intelligence

Robert Novak says Kerry has a problem on his hands when it comes to his non-support of the U.S. intelligence budget. Notable:

The senator is described by campaign aides as attempting to restore human intelligence to learn about terrorism, drug trafficking and international crime. But at an Intelligence Committee meeting in 1995, Kerry asked "whether we should use paid clandestine human assets in situations where the ramifications of discovery are so great and the risk of U.S. security is so minimal."

Days, weeks, and months after 9/11 as we were trying to determine how three planes could be hijacked on the same day I repeatedly heard experts say we just did not have the human intelligence that we needed. Kerry would have limited that even more. He didn't even have the wisdom of many of his own (very liberal) collegues:

Kerry's amendment failed 75 to 20 -- opposed by his Massachusetts colleague, Sen. Edward M. Kennedy; a future Intelligence Committee chairman, Sen. Bob Graham of Florida; and the Appropriations Committee chairman, Sen. Robert Byrd of West Virginia.

Liberal, conservative, good ideas, bad ideas...the bottom line is I don't like Kerry because he'll get us killed.

Posted by bubba138 at 07:53 AM | Comments (0) |

June 09, 2004

Cheney Out, Giuliani In?

WorldNet Daily:

There are whispers among high-level political advisers to President Bush suggesting the possibility of replacing Dick Cheney with former New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani as the vice presidential running mate prior to the Republican National Convention in New York beginning Aug. 30.

Cheney, who has no aspirations to run for president in 2008 and has had well-publicized heart problems, has been involved in the discussions and is open to the idea if it strengthens the ticket and helps position a viable Republican candidate to succeed Bush

Unlikely, but if this does happen Rudy won't be heading up the CIA, which I think is good. For some reason I'm uncomfortable with the CIA being led by a politician.

Personally I think GW could do worse than to replace Cheney with Dr. Rice. She's more than competent and could bring in a sizable cross-over vote. It would go a long way to demonstrate which is really the party of the minorities.

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

Reagan: The Non-Partisan President?

The Boston Globe reports that Democrats are harkening back to Reagan's civility in bridging party lines. Partisanship today is just so mean!

Senator Harry Reid, a Nevada Democrat and his party's whip, spoke affectionately of Reagan, who had sent him a hand-written note on the issue of term limits.

"He surrounded himself with good people. They weren't mean-spirited," Reid said.

Is it just me or wasn't it only four years ago when the Democrats were bashing Bush for surrounding himself with Reagan appointees?

Posted by bubba138 at 08:05 PM | Comments (0) |

High Oil Prices?

What's all the hub-bub,bub?

Turns out it's nothing.

Posted by bubba138 at 06:47 PM | Comments (0) |

Abortion...

...a racial issue? Or maybe a racist one.

Posted by bubba138 at 04:17 PM | Comments (0) |

Poetic Justice?

I love it:

Democratic National Convention organizers were forced to shut down the start of FleetCenter construction yesterday after some construction workers and delivery trucks refused to cross a picket line led by Boston police officers outside the arena. More construction problems were expected today, as city and convention officials scrambled to cope with the unanticipated disruptions.

So as I understand it, the service unions are striking against the city, and the construction workers, standing in solidarity with their union "brothers," won't cross the picket line. All this hinders the construction required for the Democrat's national convention. Talk about shooting themselves in the foot.

Sweet.

Posted by bubba138 at 09:40 AM | Comments (0) |

Wictory Wednesday

Lets assess the situation in Iraq. In a little over a year, we have

• Completely taken over the country
• Withstood multiple assasinations of Iraqi officials
• Completely quashed two separate and distinct insurgencies (Fallujah and al-Sadr)


• Killed more al-Qaeda operative than possible had they not run to their deaths in Iraq


• Scared the weapons out of Libya


• Captured Saddam Hussein


• Killed Saddam's sons


• Captured almost all the high ranking Baathist officials


• Proved that WMDs did exist in Iraq


• Attained full United Nations cooperation on the future of Iraq


• Taken oil rights from the U.N., the French, the Russians and other nefarious characters self-styled do gooders


• Restored oil rights to the Iraqis


• Have all but achieved Bush's "arbitrary" deadline of June 30th for the transfer of sovereignty


• Have suffered less than 1000 coalition casualties -- less than 10% of the loss of life suffered in the first ten days of the Normandy invasion


• Restored power, utilities, hospitals and dozens of other services to better than pre-war levels
• Completely turned the country's economy around

We've accomplished all this and still popular opinion says that 1) George Bush hasn't handled the war correctly and 2) it was not worth going to war.

This tells me that either I should be ashamed to be an American, or we need to fight harder against the slanted press and their campaign against G.W. Bush.

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 09:12 AM | Comments (0) |

ACLU & Los Angeles Seal

Ryan has an excellent suggestion.

Posted by bubba138 at 08:27 AM | Comments (0) |

June 08, 2004

Not a Battle of Flesh and Blood

Not much has changed since Reagan was President. He was right then, and his words still echo unbounded wisdom:

While America's military strength is important, let me add here that I've always maintained that the struggle now going on for the world will never be decided by bombs or rockets, by armies or military might. The real crisis we face today is a spiritual one; at root, it is a test of moral will and faith.

Marxism-Leninism is actually the second oldest faith, first proclaimed in the Garden of Eden with the words of temptation, “Ye shall be as gods.”

The Western world can answer this challenge, he wrote, “but only provided that its faith in God and the freedom He enjoins is as great as communism's faith in Man.”

I believe we shall rise to the challenge. I believe that communism is another sad, bizarre chapter in human history whose last pages even now are being written. I believe this because the source of our strength in the quest for human freedom is not material, but spiritual. And because it knows no limitation, it must terrify and ultimately triumph over those who would enslave their fellow man. For in the words of Isaiah: “He giveth power to the faint; and to them that have no might He increased strength….But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary….”

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

June 05, 2004

Rest Well Brave Man

An NRO reader says it better than I can:

I don't know why I'm writing you this, other than the fact that I can't get a hold of anyone close to me that I can talk about the effect of Reagan's death with. I guess it's the feeling of friendship which evolves when one follows the career of public figures whom he admires. You guys and gals don't know me from Adam, but I feel I know NRO somewhat, so I wanted to share my feelings on this bittersweet day (I say bittersweet because, as sad as this day may be, in the touched-on "Irish wake" manner, there is a great celebration and remembrance of Reagan's life, which can't help but bring a smile to my face while tears are rolling down my cheeks).

Ronald Reagan was the President of the United States of America for the majority of and the most important formative part of my childhood. Born in 1976, I was just old enough to have real memories by the time he came to the Office. He was President from the time I was four until I was twelve, and I can honestly say I don't remember first hand a single speech, a single act, a single specific event that he was involved in. I was too young for specifics. What I do remember was knowing that I was a child in the United States of America, and that Ronald Reagan was my President. I remember from my earliest days knowing great joy and pride that I was a child in the United States of America, and even then I knew that in part he was to be credited. I remember seeing snipets of speeches and events and viewing the man with awe. At the time, the awe was mainly for the Office, not the man. In the fifteen years I've lived since he left office, I've come to replace my awe of President Ronald Reagan with an even greater awe of the man Ronald Reagan.

"It's morning again in America". How beautiful a turn of phrase that is. And it was true. We had wakened from a dark night of scandal, malaise, and distrust to re-elect and re-affirm a man with strength, character, vision, and faith. A man who knew the battles he wanted to fight, and would compromise outside these battles but fight to the end when he knew he was right. A man who conveyed his joy and love and faith in our country to the rest of us, who looked up and understood that we *were* the "shining city on the hill". That we should stand up and rejoice, for we were Americans, and we should thank God that this was true. That we had hard times and hard battles ahead of us, but we should never, ever, lose sight of the simple fact that America is the "last, best hope for mankind" and worth all the praise and love we can shower upon this great nation.

Reagan made us see this. He made us proud again to be Americans. With his quick, wry wit, his personal warmth, his strength of character, and his unshakable faith in the ideals of America he changed our world for the better. I offer my solemn prayer that he now rests in the hands of the Creator, comforted by the knowledge that the country he loved so much offers love to his memory, condolences to his family, and eternal gratitude for his vision and determination.

May he rest in peace.

Posted by bubba138 at 10:03 PM | Comments (0) |

June 04, 2004

California Budget Woes

One of the reasons I voted for Arnold is because he shares my belief that our state's budget woes aren't because of inadequate funding but because spending is not under control. In other words, by functioning more efficiently and with proper oversight, we can reduce the state budget and still maintain better than adequate services. Here's proof:

Health care costs for California's prisoners are spiraling out of control amid little oversight or accountability, with some inmates receiving cosmetic treatments, including a male prisoner who underwent breast reduction surgery, legislators said in a hearing Tuesday...

Assemblywoman Rebecca Cohn, D-Saratoga, closely questioned prison health officials about why the state spends hundreds of millions on contracts for on- call physical therapists, dermatologists, and ultrasound technicians, among others. When she asked why the state had on-call contracts for phlebotomists when prison hospital staffs employ people who draw blood, she was met only with silence.

Medical costs for the California prison system top one million dollars. A twenty percent improvement in that alone could pay for one entire county's mental health program.

The underlying truth here is that this kind of waste has been going on, and has been ignored by our politicians for decades. Now that the people have spoken, and elected Schwarzenegger, is it no longer politically safe to allow this to go on. It is quite encouraging to note the legislators who are leading this charge:

Assemblywoman Rebecca Cohn, D-Saratoga
State Senator Jackie Speier, D-Hillsboro
State Senator Gloria Romero, D-Los Angeles

Do you see a pattern? They all come from the party that was screaming for tax increases not eighteen months ago. It looks as if they may have stumbled on a new source of revenue: wisdom.

Posted by bubba138 at 03:27 PM | Comments (0) |

Mainstream Democrats: Hate America First

Hugh Hewitt says what America needs to understand:

Al Gore's screams and Ted Kennedy's characterization of Saddam's torture chambers as "under new management, U.S. management," are not aberrations. They are the norm of the leadership of the party that Kerry leads. When Kerry does not condemn such fevers, he endorses them. This is why he is Mr. Implausibility. A party that hates America so much that it cannot see the difference between the 9/11 terrorists and the liberators of Iraq cannot lead a nation in war. It could only hope to lead a nation in surrender.

Posted by bubba138 at 12:56 PM | Comments (0) |

Yes, I Am a Star Wars Geek

No, I will not be voting for Kerry.

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