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August 31, 2004
Strong Connections
DOH!
Los Angeles, Calif.: Do you think the links between Bush and the Swift Boaters are as strong as the links between Saddam and al Queda detailed by Vice President Cheney prior to our invasion?It is terrible when you get caught like that.Michael Dobbs: That's a provocative, and amusing, question that I think I will pass on. I looked at the substance of the charges, rather than the links between Bush and the Swift Boaters. That is the subject for a different inquiry. I was unconvinced by the evidence Cheney provided of links between Saddam and Al-Qaeda.
Translation: Uhh . . . I guess not, now that you mention it. But I don't want to go on record saying so.
Posted by bubba138 at 11:18 PM | Comments (0) |
Why the Protests
Angelweave wonders:
Can someone explain to me the protesters of the convention? I just really don't get it. The Convention's part of politics and part of democracy as we know it, no? Are these people protesting democracy? I scratch my head at them. Can't they save their hard-or-not-so-hard-earned dollars to protest more worthy event if those protest needs are unfulfilled?Actually, many of them are protesting democracy. They are convinced it is bad. Luckily, their protests are effective, but not in the way they like (emphasis mine):
These PEOPLE, made my mind up for me tonight as to who I am going to vote for in November. I can't go along with people that protest in the face of Terror. Were they there protesting on 11 of September 2001, maybe 12 of September? Perhaps I didn't see them then... did they want to be there? Where are their hearts? I do NOT believe they are for America... I am appalled! Did the Republicans protest in Boston? If the demonstrators in NYC are for the party that opposes President Bush in November, I can NOT be with them.Sallie, you GO girl.
Update: Salon has more.
New York Times: The protesters are totally out of hand. Over nine-hundred were arrested yesterday alone, and they are looking at locking up even more:
Yesterday's incidents stood in contrast to the enormous, mostly orderly antiwar march that drew hundreds of thousands of people to Manhattan on Sunday. Many of those protesting yesterday had purposefully avoided seeking permits for their rallies but had publicized their plans well in advance, leading hordes of police officers in cars, bikes, scooters and vans to flood various parts of the city primed to pre-empt disorder before it could occur. The day's arrests brought the convention-related total to more than 1,460.Not only did the protesters storm Chris Matthew's Hardball, but they did their level best to prevent democracy from happening:
In one incident Tuesday night, a protester jumped a fence and ran onto a stage being used by MSNBC during a live broadcast of "Hardball." Host Chris Matthews was on set with former EPA chief Christie Todd Whitman, NBC Correspondent David Gregory, Newsweek's Howard Fineman and commentator Sherry Annis when the protester leapt onto the stage, ran in front of the camera and charged toward the set.Here is video of the Hardball attack. (hat tip)Security personnel grabbed the hooded man before he reached the on-air personalities. No one was hurt.
About 8:30 p.m., the protesters blocked two buses carrying convention delegates to Madison Square Garden before police intervened. They emptied the buses, and transported the delegates a different way. The protesters chanted, "This is what a police state looks like," and "the whole world is watching."
Posted by bubba138 at 11:08 PM | Comments (0) |
Best Quote
On MSNBC's Scarborough Country he was interviewing an Hispanic delegate:
Delegate: "Clinton is known as the first 'black' president. I like to think of George Bush as the first Hispanic present. He speaks our language, or at least tries to speak it..."
Scarborough: "He tries to speak our language too."
Posted by bubba138 at 10:47 PM | Comments (0) |
New York Time Lies Again
"A heartfelt, effective speech," said CBS' News Dan Rather when Mrs. Bush was finished, then noted that her address followed "a barn-burner of a speech" from Schwarzenegger, who "slapped Democratic opponent Sen. John Kerrie around like a hockey puck."Dan Rather praising a Republican speech? The Times must be lying again.
Posted by bubba138 at 10:00 PM | Comments (0) |
DNC vs. RNC Convention So Far
So far here is how the conventions stack up:
| Monday Night | ||
| Al Gore, Jimmy Carter, Bill Clinton. It was a hearty look at the past. All of these men are done. There is no future here. | John McCain, Rudy Guliani. The only question left is will 2008 be a Guliani-McCain or a McCain-Guliani ticket? | |
| Tuesday Night | ||
| Barak Obama, Ron Reagan, Teresa Heinz-Kerry. Obama, presenting a very moderate message is the star of the entire convention. I think he got more positive press than anyone, including John Kerry. Ron Reagan is inconsequential as Democrats only love him because he is a Reagan and Republicans dismissed him long ago. | Arnold Schwarzenegger, Laura Bush I just noticed the Democrats had three big names a night and the Republicans only pack two. Arnold was HUGE, at least as dynamic as Obama but with a ton more cross-over appeal. Laura Bush outclasses Teresa in so many ways it is unexplainable. |
Posted by bubba138 at 09:52 PM | Comments (0) |
THIS IS BREAKING RIGHT NOW
A Chicago passenger jet is being diverted right now. A bomb threat is involved. Nothing on the internet about it yet.
Update: Here is more:
An American Airlines flight from Chicago to New York was diverted Tuesday night to Pittsburgh International Airport after a bomb threat was found on the plane, federal officials said. The plane landed safely at 9:43 p.m. and the passengers and crew members were safely evacuated, said Amy Von Walter, a spokeswoman for the Transportation Security Administration.A search was conducted of the cargo area and passenger compartment, she said, and the passengers and baggage were rescreened.
The problem occurred about 9:15 p.m. when a bomb threat was found written on a tray table attached to the rear of a seat, Von Walter said.
The pilot was immediately notified and made the decision to land in Pittsburgh, she said.
Posted by bubba138 at 09:50 PM | Comments (0) |
An Open Letter to an Undecided Friend
I hear you, and I completely understand. This is a tough election and the glut of information and opposing viewpoints is almost as bad as having a lack of them. The truth is easily obscured in the cacophony of competing ideologies.
Communicating electronically as we do in this era is strange. Missing from the written word are essentials: voice inflections, hand gestures, and a myriad of non-verbal cues that express what pixels on a screen can never do. But for a moment (or for quite a few, for I fear this will be long), imagine we are sitting at the kitchen table, hands wrapped around a cup of coffee or tea. Imagine still, that we are both trying to connect -- not mind to mind but heart to heart -- as good friends do.
I have two distinct memories of the morning of 9/11. The first is of riding up the elevator from the parking structure to the office with a co-worker. On the radio in our respective cars we had just heard about the jet slamming into the second of the World Trade Towers. By then, obviously, all air traffic had been shut down. My co-worker's father was scheduled to come home from Washington DC that day, and we both reflected, almost jokingly, that he was going to be a little delayed.
The second comes a few hours later. Around a dozen or so of my co-workers and I were huddled in a twelve-by-twelve office watching a small portable TV as the first of the towers completely collapsed. We were, as was all America, shocked beyond words. The images coming across on that six inch screen screamed so loudly and shook so soundly it was nigh impossible to summon up the will to articulate what we were feeling.
Finally, however, one of my co-workers verbalized what she must have been thinking all morning, "I can't imagine what that moron Bush is going to do now."
I was then, and continue to be floored by that statement. We were witnessing perhaps the greatest tragedy in the history of our country. We were watching people jump over one-hundred floors to their deaths. We were watching unimaginable devastation. This person was not thinking about the countless funerals to come. She was not thinking of the children at school whose parents would never be able to pick them up again. She was not thinking of our brave fire fighters and police officers who were trading their lives for others. No, the overriding thought on her minds was, "Bush is a moron."
I am convinced that my co-worker was far from being alone in her sentiments about Bush at that very moment. She saw the entire morning through a particular lens. It is through this same lens that so much of what we hear and read comes filtered. This lens screams that Bush has not now, nor has ever had the intellectual equipment to handle leading this, the most powerful country in a complex world. Further, it says, even if he did have the equipment (and that is a big "if") he is not really his own man, but instead is a corporate crony, completely and wholly owned by capitalist interest. This sentiment, born in partisanship and hardened in offense over the 2000 election, is eloquently illustrated in this passage:
I don't think it's accurate to describe America as polarized between Democrats and Republicans, or between liberals and conservatives. It's polarized between the people who believe George Bush and the people who do not. Thanks to some contested ballots in a state governed by the president's brother, a once-proud country has been delivered into the hands of liars, thugs, bullies, fanatics and thieves.
This is a lens of presuppostion. It is a lens that says, no matter what, the President, his leadership, and every one of his choices are wrong. It is a lens that says, even though federal education funding has increased more under his watch than any previous administration, he has left all the children behind. It is a lens that blames the President for lack of funding, even though it is the responsibility of Congress to provide that funding.
This is a lens that says abuses of corporate America (Enron, Worldcom, etc.) that happened during the previous administration are the fault of the current administration. It also blames this President for economy in his first two years even though the year before he took office the stock market experienced a horrendous crash. This lens would have you believe that the loss in jobs, even though it began the within a month of his taking office -- and therefore long before any of his economic policies could be put into play -- were the fault of G.W. Bush. This is a lens that says dispite the terrible direction into which the economy was falling and that 9/11 targeted the nation's financial heart, the fact that we have been growing in GDP and jobs period for more than twenty four months is of no credit to Bush's policies.
It is a lens that says, even though we have liberated Iraq, and eighty-five percent of Iraqis support the current situation there, it is a failure. It is a lens that says the one-thousand coalition soldiers and ten-thousand Iraqis lives that have been lost in this conflict are somehow worth more than the thirty-thousand a year that died because of Saddam's brutal regime. This is a lens that says that even though we lost many more lives in one day freeing France froma dictator, Iraqi freedom is not worth it. It is a lens that ignores history, saying "no modern war of occupation will ever be won," and "every occupation is doomed," even though Germany, Japan and Italy all stand as testaments to the opposite.
I share your concern over the abuse of the prisoners at Abu Ghraib. What happened there was wrong. But keep in mind, long before ABC, CBS, NBC, CNN and others gave that story thirty-one straight days of top billing, the military had already addressed the situation. The abuse had already been halted, the soldiers had already been re-assigned, and the investigation was already well on its way. The wheels of justice were moving, and -- contrary to what the lens would say -- at no slow speed. Also consider, what happened at the hands of the Americans pales in comparison to what went on in that same prison not many months previous. In 2002, instead of being stripped naked and scared by dogs, prisoners were brutally beaten, their limbs were chopped off and just as often they were murdered. I say this not to justify what our soldiers did, but to reassure you that, even though ours was abuse at a much lesser degree, our military and we as a people still saw what they did as aborant, and put a stop to it. This should engender faith in our mission, not the opposite.
Remember the co-worker on the elevator on that Tuesday in September? Her father never did make it home. My co-worker and I didn't know it until later that day, but he was on flight 77. His remains are buried inextricably with, and undistinguishable from the rubble of the Pentagon. It is clear who she wants leading this country. It is clear her choice has nothing to do with an election in 2000. It is clear she wants someone who will lead and make hard choices, even if they are not politically expedient ones. She wants a President who says what he is going to do and then does it, as opposed to a person who still is not sure what the right thing to do is.
The other co-worker? She still thinks Bush is a moron. She, and hundreds of thousands always will.
It is my hope this has given you something to chew on as you consider your choice. Please believe me when I say my heart is with you, regardless of your vote. I know you, like both our candidates, are a great American. That this election (the most important one of our lifetime, I think) weighs so heavily upon you tells me this.
May God bless you and our country.
Posted by bubba138 at 09:16 PM | Comments (0) |
The Democrats Are Losing It
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This report is unconfirmed, but I also heard Chris Matthews, who set up his on-site studio just so protesters and Kerry supporters could be seen in the background, was attacked by one of said protesters who tried (and perhaps succeeded) in splattering him with fake blood.
Ugh: Powerline beat me to it.
Update: Here's something on the Chris Matthews story.
Allahpundit says Drudge was reporting on it as well:
"MSNBC Attack Attempt On Chris Matthews... Live On Air... Street Set Outside Convention... Hooded protester jumps security line ... Police move in immediatly... Guard Tackled... Developing..." UPDATE WITHIN AN UPDATE: Here's what Indymedia says: "Reportedly a man wearing an Abu Graib - style hood broke through barricades, busting in on an MSNBC live session." UPDATE WITHIN AN UPDATE: Drudge adds: "Bush/Cheney supporters gathered near show set at Harold Square pushed and spat on by protesters, fake blood thrown while Matthews remained on air..."
Posted by bubba138 at 08:42 PM | Comments (0) |
The First Lady
Mrs. Bush IS the first lady. The other gal, well, she's John Kerry's wife. There is no comparison.
Update: Baldilocks:
Even my great-aunt—a die-hard Democrat and known to bit a bit...shall we say…strident, where George W. Bush is concerned—clapped and said “beautiful, beautiful,” after Mrs. Bush’s speech.Yes, she does. I am watching Elizabeth Dole right now, and she is equally charming. Republican women definitely outclass those of the other side.She definitely has a way of charming nearly everyone.
Posted by bubba138 at 07:56 PM | Comments (0) |
Go Ahhnald
Opening shot across the bow: "One of my movies was called 'True Lies,' that's what the Democrats should have called their convention.
He experienced Soviet Communism first hand. It no longer survives because of America.
He talks of the Nixon/Humphries debates. Humphries sounded like the socialism he just left. Nixon sounded like a breath of fresh air. He asks his friend, "What party is he?" The friend answers, "Republican." Arnold says, "If he is a Republican, then I am a Republican."
"...Maybe you live in Ohio, Pensylvania or New Mexico..." -- Nice plug for the battleground states.
Also a nice play on "Big Tent" Republicanism. Republicans believe:
Yeah baby, he just whipped out the "Girlie men" quote. Then he backs it up. Japan did not take over the U.S. economy. The fears of India doing so is "rediculous."
We are not "two Americas." Our soldiers believe there is one America and they are fighting for it.
Praising Bush's tenacity, "he will not back down."
Terrorism is more insideous than communism. "Leadership isn't about polls, it is about making decisions you think are right and standing behind those decisions. That's why America is safer with George Bush as President."
Update: Watching Hardball right now. Even Chris Matthews is making verbal love to the Terminator. Curiously, there are no protestors behind him anymore.
And here is the AP account.
Update: Lileks: "Holy Crow, he’s just endorsed DICK FRICKIN’ NIXON. Only Arnie can go to China. "
Posted by bubba138 at 07:05 PM | Comments (0) |
Mostly Peaceful Protests II
CNS News has more detail on the violent activities of the mostly peaceful protests. They even interviewed some of the thugs:
"You people sold all that out, you sold out your own class to join the f***ing pigs. You sold out your own people. Someday you will stand before some kind of judgment," said the man, who would identify himself only as Zack from California.This probably is not our own beloved Zack, but wow, I sure did a double take when I read it.Protestors wore T-shirts with "Enemy Combatant" or "Evil Doer" written on them to protest the Bush administration's anti terror policies.
"Just because you are a terrorist, does that mean you are a communist? I guess that is the best thing I can say," explained Zack, the protestor from California.
"I don't think it's much different from McCarthyism really, it's kind of the same thing, you know. It's going on now. It's like anybody you can claim is a terrorist -- they are screwed," Zack said.
"So everyone out here [protesting] is being pointed to as a terrorist and everybody that has got something to say -- is trying to do something about it -- is a terrorist. They are just trying to be people and doing what they do, you know. I just think it's getting all messed up" he added.
Posted by bubba138 at 04:10 PM | Comments (0) |
How It Looked
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The image on the right is a perfect illustration of how ill-informed these people are. Their positions are not based on cool, rational evaluation of the facts, but upon knee-jerk partisan politics. They have one overriding principle: Republicans are evil, and the chief of this evil is George W. Bush. If this individual's main issue really was separation of church and state, she would be outraged at Kerry, Bill Clinton and Al Sharpton.
Another example of the intellectual dishonesty of these protesters is seen in this video of "anarchists" attacking the ProtestWarriors. Their duplicity is obvious. If they were truly anarchist, they would be attacking Kerry supporters as well as Bush supporters. Their inaction against the Democrat-aligned protesters betrays their true intentions.
Posted by bubba138 at 09:34 AM | Comments (0) |
MTV, Hollywood Practice Racist Censorship
Beanie Man is under the microscope and his music is being censored. MTV says it is because his lyrics are homophobic:
The issue of homophobia in dancehall reggae took center stage this past week after Grammy-winning artist Beenie Man was booted from a concert associated with today's MTV Video Music Awards in Miami.They say it is about gay rights groups, but MTV, the Grammys and Hollywood in general reacted much differently not all that long ago:MTV pulled the Jamaican from the roster after Florida gay rights groups threatened to protest because of past Beenie Man lyrics such as "I'm dreaming of a new Jamaica, come to execute all the gays" and "Queers must be killed."
A Metro Detroit gay rights organization is claiming that lyrics of controversial rap star Eminem promote violence against homosexuals, and his CDs should be pulled from music store shelves and radio station playlists.Censorship being the extreme evil that it is, Eminem's records did not get pulled (and they shouldn't have). But instead of shunning Eminem, the entertainment industry embraced him by rewarding him with Grammys and MTV VMAs for his homophobic, misogynist crap.The lyrics of "Kill You" on Eminem's second CD, The Marshall Mathers LP, include derogatory terms for homosexuals and threats of using a knife on lesbians and gays. The controversy doesn't appear to have hurt the CD, however, which remains atop Billboard's albums chart, where it has been since it was released three weeks ago. It has sold more than 3 million copies.
What is the difference between Eminem and Beanie Man? I can only see one, really.
Posted by bubba138 at 08:16 AM | Comments (0) |
August 30, 2004
Mostly Peaceful Protests
Earlier, the New York Times (as well as most other press outlets) were lauding the "mostly peaceful protesters" in New York. Well, it looks like it has been more peaceful for some than others:
When marchers approached the Garden, a police detective was knocked off his scooter. He was then repeatedly kicked and punched in the head by at least one male demonstrator, the police said.Tell me again, which is the party of hate?The detective, William Sample, was listed in serious condition at St. Vincent's Manhattan Hospital, where Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg and Police Commissioner Raymond W. Kelly both visited him, the police said. There was no immediate word of an arrest in the assault, but as of 9 p.m., the police said there had been 11 protest-related arrests.
Posted by bubba138 at 10:23 PM | Comments (0) |
Interesting Movement
These are internal Republican polls, so take this with a grain of salt:
Bush advisers told Republican officials working at the convention that the president is beating Kerry in Pennsylvania, Wisconsin and even Michigan. Those are key battleground states that some political observers say Kerry must win if he is to defeat Bush. Gore won Pennsylvania by four points, Michigan by five and Wisconsin by less than one.Like I said, grain of salt, but even that they are talking about winning Wisconson says something.Bush’s lead in those states is within the margin of error of the GOP polls, but strategists note that earlier internal polls had Kerry winning in them.
GOP strategists believe that winning Michigan and Pennsylvania will be challenging but are confident about Wisconsin.
“We’re going to win Wisconsin,” a senior GOP operative said, adding that Democratic stronghold Minnesota is also in play.
Republican strategists are worried about Ohio but discount the theory that the state is a must win, claiming that a Bush loss in Ohio could be offset by a victory in Pennsylvania.
Posted by bubba138 at 09:57 PM | Comments (0) |
Iraq to France: Take a Stand, Already!
Iraq's PM has made it plain what it would like to see from the French and the French are not impressed:
In comments reported in Le Monde daily, Mr Allawi said: "The French, like all democratic countries, cannot let themselves be satisfied with adopting a passive position.The French are supposed to be intelligent, educated, and perceptive. Yet the Foreign Minister could not see that casting cast doubt on France's determination in the fight against terrorism was not only exactly what the Iraqi PM was doing, but that they should perhaps begin to question their own position on that fight."Governments that decide to stay on the defensive will be the next terrorist targets.
"Let me tell you that the French, despite all the noise they are making, [such as] 'We don't want war', will soon have to fight against terrorists," he said, adding that future attacks could happen in French cities as well as in the United States.
The French government, which led the opposition to the US-led war in Iraq, called his comments unacceptable.
"These declarations seem, in effect, to cast doubt on France's determination in the fight against terrorism," the Foreign Ministry said in a statement, adding that France had called for a political solution in Iraq since the start of the crisis.
Posted by bubba138 at 09:34 PM | Comments (0) |
A Study In Contrasts III
In the depths of the Depression, Franklin Roosevelt inspired the nation when he said, "The only thing we have to fear is fear itself." Today, we say the only thing we have to fear is four more years of George Bush.
It's more than appropriate, it's necessary that even in times of crisis we have these contests and engage in spirited disagreement over the shape and course of our government.The Republicans who spoke tonight were clear about who they view as their enemy. Earlier this month, the Democrats were equally clear. Unfortunately, they did not agree on who that enemy is.We have nothing to fear from each other. We are arguing over the means to better secure our freedom and support the general welfare.
But it should remain an argument among friends who share an unshaken belief in our great cause and in the goodness of each other.
We are Americans first, Americans last, and Americans always.
Update: Josh picks out the best joke of the night.
Posted by bubba138 at 08:42 PM | Comments (0) |
You Friggin' Fascist
You have got to love the left:
A while back I paid a visit to our local bookstore (I live in southern New Jersey) with the intent of checking out the new release Michael Moore Is a Stupid White Man. I looked on the new-release, bestseller, new-non-fiction racks — nothing. I wandered around for a while and then headed up to the information desk. The clerk, a thirty-something reject from a Grateful Dead concert, smiles at me. Here's a fairly accurate transcript:CLERK: How may I help you?
ME: I'm looking for Michael Moore Is a Stupid White Man.
C: (still smiling) You mean Stupid White Men by Michael Moore . . .
M: No. Michael Moore Is a Stupid White Man. It's a new release.
C: We don't have it.
M: Are you sure? It's very popular.
C: (taciturn) Never heard of it. (Looks past me) Can I help the next person, please?
M: Excuse me, but can you check on your computer?
C: (very annoyed) Fine. (Bangs away at the keyboard. Scrolls down the screen at warp speed) No. Doesn't exist.
M: Wait — there it is.
C: (extremely annoyed) Oh . . . um . . . Yesss. We only received one copy. It's in the back.
M: Where in the back?
C: (loudly) In the political science section!
M: Thanks!
I checked out the section. The book was nowhere to be found. I walk back to the desk.
M: Pardon me, but I couldn't find it.
C: (Curses under her breath and slams her pen on the counter. Slams swinging door. Marches to the back of the store)
I could not believe what she did next. She grabs a step ladder and climbs up. The book was lying flat on the top row of books — with the spine toward the back so you couldn't see the title. She grabs the book, climbs down, slams it into my chest. Her face is beet red and she screams: "HERE!!! ARE YOU HAPPY NOW, YOU FRIGGIN' FASCIST!??!"
I was shocked, Mr. Nordlinger. This wasn't a mom-'n'-pop outfit. It's one of the largest booksellers in the Northeast that aren't Barnes & Noble.
So I figured, Okay, time for some Brooklyn diplomacy. I walked up to the counter again.
ME: Excuse me: Do you have Treason by Ann Coulter? In the bestseller section? I couldn't find it...
Posted by bubba138 at 04:31 PM | Comments (0) |
Zach Exley: Ruckus Master
Remember our friend Zach Exley? Apparently, he is one busy boy and is active in the goings on of the Ruckus Society:
Ruckus graduates have been armed with a huge toolbox of ways to goad police into overreaction, exploit situations, and cause problems for those they target. Ruckus has become the military academy where dozens of leftwing groups send their elite shock troop protestors to learn the skills of waging guerrilla street warfare against capitalism.Exley isn't just some nut off the street who wants to cause mayhem for mayhem's sake. He is an upper-level National Kerry campaign official. Just as a reminder, here is what Exley's friends at the Ruckus Society advocate:One such leftwing activist is Zack Exley, who was trained by and has worked as a “workshop facilitator” for The Ruckus Society.
Since April 2004 Exley has been the Director of Online Communications and Online Organizing for the John Kerry-John Edwards 2004 presidential campaign organization. Are Senator Kerry (and the Secret Service agents who protect him) aware of Exley’s training with and for this law-breaking violent anarchist group, and of its links to members of domestic terrorist organizations?
Internet-using anarchists are telling would-be troublemakers to decoy specially trained Labrador retrievers with gunpowder or ammonium nitrate-laced tablets in a bid to halt trains or even spur the evacuation of Madison Square Garden.Of course, all this is designed to suck security resources away from where they are needed. To the Ruckus Society, causing mayhem and confusion is more important than ensuring the safety of the conventioneers, New York's citizens, and the other two-hundred some-odd thousand protesters. Does Exley really agree that legitimate protest includes these dangerous practices? Does John Kerry endorse Zach Exley's participation with this kind of group?The posting instructed people to "go to a rifle, pistol or skeet shooting range, spend an hour shooting to saturate clothing with smell of gunpowder, go directly to a New Jersey Transit, LIRR or subway train headed for Penn Station.
"Try to have at least two people on a train in different locations, sit or stand near the doors as the train approaches the station, try to get near police and dogs, loiter as long as possible around the dog, try to pet it if possible.
"If the dog alerts on your scent, do not leave or resist; the situation will cause a major disruption of the train schedule. ... If there is more than one person on the train that causes a dog to alert, you can bet that the train will not be going anywhere for a long time ... neither will any trains behind it."
(Hat tip)
Update: Zack is a popular name for protesting thugs.
Posted by bubba138 at 03:53 PM | Comments (0) |
Polling Snapshot
Just so we have a point of reference, here are how the polls look as we go into the RNC convention (courtesy of PollingReport.Com):
Posted by bubba138 at 03:13 PM | Comments (0) |
California Outlook
The outlook of the California economy is improving:
Perception is everything. If the public outlook continues to improve, this could very well translate into votes for Bush. While the race in California is nowhere as close as some polls indicate, it is much closer than conventional political wisdom would have us believe. Even if Bush cannot take California, making Kerry pour human and monetary resources into it could help other battleground states tilt Republican.
- Californians’ previous very dismal assessment of the state’s economy has moderated over the past year. While 53% of voters still describe the state as being in bad economic times, this is less negative than opinions held last year, when 75% felt this way.
- A larger proportion of voters (44%) expect the state’s economy to improve next year than felt this way last year (30%). In addition, the proportion who believe the state’s economy will worsen next year has declined from 30% to 14% at present.
- There has been a small improvement in voter assessments of their own personal finances, with more now saying they are better off (41%) than worse off (27%) . In each of the two prior years about as many said they were worse off as better off.
- A large majority of voters describes Californian’s unemployment situation as very serious (35%) or somewhat serious (43%).
- Voters continue to have a high degree of confidence that inflation can be held in check (61% confident vs. 35% not confident), although the proportion who are confident is down slightly from recent years.
Posted by bubba138 at 02:05 PM | Comments (0) |
Kerry Opens the Door
He's cheering for the wrong side, but sometimes Mark Shields hits the mark:
That is no insult to President Bush, who this year has faced and weathered one political mishap after another, along with a Democratic opposition fiercely determined to remove him from office. Rather, the Southern leader's formulation signifies the realization in Republican ranks that they have dodged a bullet. Kerry had the opportunity to open a formidable lead against an incumbent president, and he failed.The assessment of what has been going on the last four weeks is much the same in both parties. By stressing his professions of military valor in Vietnam, Kerry opened the door to an examination of his questionable performance both during and after his four months of combat. His campaign was slow and then ineffective in its response, got off message, and finally switched from offense to defense.
Repeated Kerry blunders have benefited grateful Republicans. His statement that he would still vote for war in Iraq even with his current knowledge undercut a major emotional support base for him. Sending wheelchair-bound former Sen. Max Cleland to the Texas desert to be turned away at the gates of Bush's ranch was foolish. So was his predictably ineffective challenge for Bush to engage him in a weekly debate.
Posted by bubba138 at 01:24 PM | Comments (0) |
U.N. Set to Pass Another Resolution
BBC:
At least five aid workers are reported to have been kidnapped in Darfur, as a deadline nears for the UN to hear how Sudan is tackling violence there.Reconsider what to do? The U.N. should have already considered what to do and should be now prepared to do it. Instead, as the deadline passes, they will convene another panel, hold another set of meetings, accomplish nothing through another series of negotiations, and probably pass another scary resolution.The UN Security Council threatened to act if Sudan failed to disarm militias, blamed for killing civilians.
It called on the secretary general to report within 30 days after which it would reconsider what to do.
The U.N. has completely outlived its effectiveness. It is an international laughing stock and the only power it has is in ensuring its own continued existance.
Posted by bubba138 at 12:44 PM | Comments (0) |
Toying Around With Terror
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The intent of the toys is now becoming obvious. It seems to me these candy products were never intended for American shores, but plainly there is a market for these somewhere in the world.
Posted by bubba138 at 12:18 PM | Comments (0) |
Jonah Goldberg is Feeling Saucy
Posted by bubba138 at 11:00 AM | Comments (0) |
Make Love, Not War
Unless, of course you are making war against Bush supporters.
Posted by bubba138 at 10:52 AM | Comments (0) |
One Real Effective Blog
Again, it is energizing to know I am making a difference:
RIVERA: Quickly comment on the swift boat controversy's effectiveness and John Kerry in the polls etc.?It was quite nice of Geraldo to credit this humble blog in such a direct way. I'd like to think, however, that what I publish is at least mostly true.CLINTON: Well I think there has been too much controversy or discussion about the politics of it and little about its merits. All the guys that were on the boat with him say he told the truth. The records say he told the truth. There have been no serious disputes about any of the incidents in which he earned his medals. The ad was paid for by a big supporter of the president and the campaign's lawyer and one of the military advisers participate accurately in it and it was wrong. It was false witness.
RIVERA: Appropriate on a Sunday — you're about to give a sermon, but you have been a victim of Slings and Arrows. They don't necessarily have to be true to be effective.
Posted by bubba138 at 10:30 AM | Comments (0) |
Deal With It
As much as the Democrats want to paint the President as being some right-wing, fundamentalist nut, he takes conserable flak from the more conservative elements in the nation. Mitch says if you are in that category, just deal with with it.
Posted by bubba138 at 10:26 AM | Comments (0) |
Kerry: A Candidate for the Common Man
Kerry is doing the Bush camp a courtesy by staying off the campaign trail this week. Instead, he's relaxing in some of his favorite pastimes:
Bush did the same for Kerry during the Democratic convention in Boston, staying largely out of sight at his Texas ranch. This week, while the president campaigns through battleground states and accepts the Republican Party nomination Thursday in New York City, Kerry has a quieter agenda. He'll kite-surf the Nantucket Sound breezes, ride his $6,000, U.S.-made racing bicycle and dine with wife Teresa Heinz Kerry at restaurants in this old whaling port.Kite-surfing. $6000 bicycles. These are things the working man can really identify with. Oh, but there is more:
The Kerrys don't plan to make news as they relax at their nine-bedroom, gray-shingled house. It's one of their five homes — the others are in Boston, Pittsburgh, Washington, D.C., and Ketchum, Idaho. The Cape Cod-style house and its private beach are on Hulbert Avenue near the Brant Point lighthouse.
Posted by bubba138 at 10:11 AM | Comments (0) |
Speaking of Mayor Koch
Or shall I say, speaking with him.
Posted by bubba138 at 10:04 AM | Comments (0) |
Jihad: An Equal Opportunity Cause
Radical Islamists have launched a new magazine publication on the internet especially for women.You have got to love that religion of peace.The aim of the magazine is to show women how to reconcile the apparent contradiction of fighting jihad while maintaining family life.
One of its encouragements to jihad reads: "The blood of our husbands and the body parts of our children are our sacrificial offering."
It also gives them specific advice on how to bring up their children in the path of jihad, how to provide first aid and what kind of physical training women need to prepare themselves for fighting.
Most of the articles are written as if by women, although it is not clear if they actually were.
Posted by bubba138 at 09:55 AM | Comments (0) |
George Bush's Performance Review
Washington Post editorial:
For him, the convention that begins in New York today is not a nationally televised job interview but rather a four-day performance review.As far as being a "uniter not a divider," the President's performance has been exemplary in comparison to that of Gore, Daschle, Gephardt, Kerry, Dean, and a long list of other Democrats that have nipped at his heals in the last four years. His foriegn policy may not have been as "humble" as Clinton's, and most certainly may not be as humble as that of Kerry's. Instead, it realistically reflects the fact that in this changed world in which we live we no longer have the luxury of a laze-fair approach to global affairs.In looking back to four years ago, we are struck by the ways in which the Bush presidency has been different from the way it was originally sold to the country. Mr. Bush promoted himself to voters in the 2000 campaign as a bipartisan uniter, not a divider, but in office he has too often embraced a my-way-or-the-highway style of governing that has served to polarize voters. Mr. Bush the candidate promised a "humble" foreign policy; Mr. Bush the president has too often adopted a highhanded approach to the world that alienated allies.
Posted by bubba138 at 09:42 AM | Comments (0) |
Stretching the Connections
Now the press is stretching to get connections between Bush and the Kerry campaign:
GOP convention Chairman David Norcross practices law in the same D.C. firm, Blank Rome, as William Schachte, a retired Navy admiral who says Kerry did not deserve one of his Purple Heart medals, Time magazine reported yesterday.David Norcross is a GOP official, not a Bush campaign official. Just as this connection is not illegal, neither is the Norcross connection.Schachte is aligned with the anti-Kerry group Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, which has dominated the campaign in recent weeks with accusations that the former Swift boat skipper is lying about how he got his war medals.
Still missing from the majority of the press, and from all of the big press, are the many direct connections between the Kerry campaign and the more than one hundred seventy six million dollars worth of 527 organization propaganda.
Posted by bubba138 at 09:19 AM | Comments (0) |
North Korea, All Over Again
John Edwards says to Iran, "We can do a deal."
A John F. Kerry administration would propose to Iran that the Islamic state be allowed to keep its nuclear power plants in exchange for giving up the right to retain the nuclear fuel that could be used for bomb-making, Democratic vice presidential nominee John Edwards said in an interview yesterday.Our experience with North Korea showed us how well deal-making works with tyrant regimes and nuclear power. How plain can it be? Yet John Kerry and John Edwards thinks we can use the same failed strategy with Iran.Edwards said that if Iran failed to take what he called a "great bargain," it would essentially confirm that it is building nuclear weapons under the cover of a supposedly peaceful nuclear power initiative. He said that, if elected, Kerry would ensure that European allies were prepared to join the United States in levying heavy sanctions if Iran rejected the proposal. "If we are engaging with Iranians in an effort to reach this great bargain and if in fact this is a bluff that they are trying to develop nuclear weapons capability, then we know that our European friends will stand with us," Edwards said.
Posted by bubba138 at 09:06 AM | Comments (0) |
Taking the Pulpit
Reverend Bill Clinton took to the pulpit this weekend:
In a 25-minute speech chock-full of religious imagery, the former chief executive attacked President Bush and the GOP for "claiming Christianity" for themselves, discriminating against gays and smearing Sen. John Kerry.So punch behind Clinton's three-point sermon was that:"Politics and political involvement dictated by faith is not the exclusive province of the right wing," Clinton said to a thunderous round of applause from the Riverside Church congregation.
"The truth is that . . . a lot of the religious absolutists on the other side believe that all other issues are irrelevant, that all who disagree with them are somehow almost not human."
1) Christians claim Christianity for themselves.In other words, Clinton blasted Republican Christians for holding fast to Christian beliefs. The irony astounds.2) It is immoral to take the Biblical stance that homosexuality is wrong.
3) People of faith actually put their faith into practice and believe it.
I am still waiting, of course, for the "Separation of Church and State" groups to start screaming about Clinton's obviously political message sponsored by a church.
Update: Clinton was not the only one preaching this weekend. Sharpton did his part as well, but especially telling is this:
"It's our time; it's our turn," said [Bishop Victor T.] Curry, who made no apologies for turning his Sunday service into a political rally also attended by Democrats U.S. Rep. Kendrick Meek, state Sen. Frederica Wilson, state Sen. M. Mandy Dawson and Terry McAuliffe, chairman of the Democratic National Committee.If this is not a violation of the separation of Church and State, nothing is. The tax-exampt status of this church, and possibly the denomination should be revoked immediately. Will it happen? No. Will it even be questioned? Not likely. Once again the Democrat double-standard flys high.
Posted by bubba138 at 08:52 AM | Comments (0) |
Nice Slogan
The Democrats, headed up by Hillary, think they've got a winning slogan:
Democrats assigned to counter the Republican convention here have already accomplished the easy part of their job — coming up with a slogan. The hard part's going to be getting anyone to pay attention in a week dominated by President Bush.We can agree the mission is not accomplished. This is yet another reason to help Bush finish the job."Mission Not Accomplished" is the theme the opposition has come up with to underscore its contention that Bush has failed in Iraq, on jobs and other areas. It's a pointed reference to the "Mission Accomplished" banner that was Bush's backdrop when he announced success in Iraq in May 2003.
Posted by bubba138 at 08:44 AM | Comments (0) |
Protest Roundup
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The New York Times would have us believe the Republicans are spinning the protests into something they are not:
At the same time, responding to the sight of New York streets packed with protesters yesterday, Republican officials sought to connect the demonstrations to Democrats as part of a broader effort to paint Senator John Kerry as out of the mainstream. The Republican Party chairman, Ed Gillespie, noted to reporters that the legion of protesters included Peggy Kerry, Mr. Kerry's sister, who lives in New York and attended an abortion rights rally.
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Another NYT article says the protests were mostly peaceful. I personally watched on CSPAN as they set a huge paper machet dragon ablaze in the middle of the street. Pyromania seems to be a favorite:
After the march, hundreds of protesters in a more belligerent mood made their way to Times Square and blocked the entrances of two Midtown hotels, while another group harassed Republican guests at a party at the Boathouse restaurant in Central Park. But a post-march gathering on the Great Lawn of the park was peaceful.Mostly peaceful. Nonetheless, security is in place.At a news conference last night, Police Commissioner Raymond W. Kelly said there had been about 200 arrests, mostly for disorderly conduct, though nine people were charged with felony assaults on officers who were seizing a 10th suspect for setting a small fire outside the Garden, and 15 members of an anarchist group called Black Block were arrested after they knocked down police barriers and hurled bottles at police lines at 34th Street and Avenue of the Americas.
It was unclear how many protesters were injured. Mr. Kelly said three officers suffered minor injuries in the Black Block arrests, and a deputy inspector suffered a hyperextended elbow in another incident. Another officer sustained a wrenched shoulder as he went to the aid of a colleague outside the Marriott Marquis Hotel, and another suffered a knee injury chasing a disorderly protester at Union Square.
Posted by bubba138 at 08:40 AM | Comments (0) |
Seven Minutes
Seven Minutes is nothing. FDR waited eighteen.
Posted by bubba138 at 08:11 AM | Comments (0) |
Keeping the Swiftboat Vets Alive
If the "Republican attack machine" were behind the Swifties, it did a lousy job. The Swift Boat Veterans for Truth had barely $250,000 on hand when they launched their first ad in three mid-sized markets in Ohio, Wisconsin and West Virginia. By contrast, the three largest independent committees have raised and spent nearly $60 million on ads attacking Bush.Despite the media attempt at a blackout, the charges made by the Swifties were causing a hemorrhage of support for Kerry among veterans, thanks to the efforts of dozens of Web loggers. Still, his escalation of the issue is puzzling. Thanks to Kerry, many, many more people have heard of the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, and are curious about what they have to say. The publisher of "Unfit for Command" can't print books fast enough to meet demand.
While still small potatoes as far as 527 committees go, the Swifties are now -- thanks to Kerry -- relatively flush. The group reports having received more than $1.7 million in Internet contributions since Kerry attacked them. They won't be going away anytime soon.
Posted by bubba138 at 08:02 AM | Comments (0) |
The Bush Attack Machine
These guys are the most crooked, you know, lying group I've ever seen:
"I think his going to Vietnam was more heroic than my flying fighter jets. He was in harm's way, I wasn't," Bush said on the eve of his Republican Party's convention in New York.(context)
Posted by bubba138 at 07:58 AM | Comments (0) |
The Central Issue
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He is right.
Libertarian radio jock Neal Boortz, puts a finer point on it:
As I compose this note it's Sunday evening in New York. I'm in my 36th floor hotel room looking out toward the Hudson River. Three years ago I wouldn't have been able to see the Hudson River from this room. Eighteen months ago this room, and this whole hotel was empty. I wouldn't be able to see the river because the view would have been blocked by two skyscrapers, and I wouldn't have been staying in this room because this particular hotel was closed for 20 months to repair damage from the collapse of the World Trade Towers. Right below me, Ground Zero.The Democrats have tried and will continue to try to make this election about a range of issues -- gay rights, abortion, stem-cell research, the economy, you name it -- but don't let youorself be fooled. This election is about one thing and one thing only: picking the best man for the job of opposing the relentless march of Islamic terrorism across the globe. This is a threat that is real, present and active. We ignored it in the previous decade and to ignore it further is to do so at our own peril.
Update: Former mayor of New York Democrat Ed Koch agrees:
"I've never before supported a Republican for president," Koch told me last week. "But I'm doing so this time because of the one issue that trumps everything else: international terrorism. In my judgment, the Democratic Party just doesn't have the stomach to stand up to the terrorists. But Bush is a fighter."Yet another tactic the Democrats have used and will use is to accuse the Republicans of calling them unpatriotic because of their weak stance on terrorism. Ed Koch nails it: this is not a matter of patriotism, it is a matter of stomach. For the Democrats, Grenada was Vietnam. Panama was Vietnam. Gulf War I was Vietnam. Bill Clinton was afraid Somolia would turn into Vietnam, so he ordered U.S. forces to turn tail and run after we lost eighteen -- EIGHTEEN -- men. Afghanistan was Vietnam. Iraq is Vietnam. Every war for them is Vietnam. Their solution for Vietnam was to quit. Their solution for opposing terrorism is the same.
But we cannot quit because the terrorists and their supports will not quit until it is too painful for them to go on. One candidate will continue to put pressure on the terrorists, the other wants nothing more than to return to the Clinton era -- an era in which we looked the other way while the terrorist threat grew, in which we did nothing in response to the Cole, in which we ignored the behavior of the Enrons (oh yeah, that happened on the other guy's watch), an era when the dot-com bubble grew unchecked and unregulated and burst open into the recession that Democrats try to blame on Bush.
Posted by bubba138 at 07:32 AM | Comments (0) |
August 29, 2004
BREAKING NEWS: The Sky Is NOT Falling
Whether the protestors in New York like it or not, peace is breaking out all over:
The chilling sights and sounds of war fill newspapers and television screens worldwide, but war itself is in decline, peace researchers report.Well, peace isn't breaking out everywhere.In fact, the number killed in battle has fallen to its lowest point in the post-World War II period, dipping below 20,000 a year by one measure. Peacemaking missions, meantime, are growing in number.
''International engagement is blossoming,'' said American scholar Monty G. Marshall. ''There's been an enormous amount of activity to try to end these conflicts.''
For months the battle reports and casualty tolls from Iraq and Afghanistan have put war in the headlines, but Swedish and Canadian non-governmental groups tracking armed conflict globally find a general decline in numbers from peaks in the 1990s.
Posted by bubba138 at 03:04 PM | Comments (0) |
NYC Protests
Well the protests have already started in NY, and quite the crowd has turned out. I am watching it live on CSPAN and I must say, it is entertaining. The most often used chant?
...followed closely by...
If the biggest problem this country has is ONE single news channel, I think it is safe to say we are doing OK.
Update: In the Bullpen has photos, and Blogs of War is blogging it minute-by-minute. Best shot:
Overheard “F*** Dick Cheney and the party of hate.” which is a bit odd coming from such a hate filled crowd. Has it dawned on anyone that Republicans didn’t flood the streets, threaten to “pipebomb pigs", or otherwise intentionally disrupt or inconvenience folks at the DNC? Now they’re chanting “Intifada! Intifada!” which has to warm the hearts of terrorists everywhere.
Posted by bubba138 at 11:41 AM | Comments (0) |
August 28, 2004
Turning Our Face to Iran
It is not yet time to do so, but soon the U.S. is going to have to turn its face to Iran. As if they are a neglected child, disgruntled because it is not getting all the attention it thinks it deserves, Iran keeps popping off as if to say "Hey, don't forget about us!"
Iranian President Mohammad Khatami has warned that peace cannot come to the Middle East without the help of Iran. Mr Khatami was responding to questions from reporters about American policies in the region.The idea of "trusting" Iraq's neighbors to solve the "problem" in Iraq is so laughable it is painful. The very reason the problems existed in Najaf is because al-Sadr is a puppet of and propped up by Iran. Iraqi and U.S. forces have captured Iranian operatives in Iraq on more than one occasion.Speaking in Tehran, President Khatami said despite its many problems with the US, Iran would not let these effect its policies towards Iraq.
Mr Khatami said if the Americans had trusted Iraq's neighbours and countries in the region, instead of continuing their occupation, the problems in Iraq could have been solved.
When Khatami says peace cannot come without the help of Iran, he is not lying. This is a truth only because Iran itself is largely responsible for the unrest. In order for it to cease so must Iran.
Posted by bubba138 at 10:54 AM | Comments (0) |
Bomb Plot Foiled
AP:
Two men have been arrested in connection with an alleged plot to bomb a subway station in midtown Manhattan, sources said early Saturday.The AP doesn't mention it, but the New York post says at least one of the suspects is Muslim:At least one of the men may have an affiliation with a terrorist organization, according to two law enforcement sources, who spoke on condition of anonymity. The sources said the group in question was not believed to be al-Qaida.
Attorney Tom Dunn said his client, whom he identified as James L. El Shafay, faced a charge of conspiracy to damage the subway. The second suspect was not immediately identified.
The men appeared to be acting independently, and there was no evidence that the alleged plot to bomb the subway station at 34th Street was an attempt to disrupt the Republican National Convention, which is taking place a block away, the sources said.
The two men tried get explosives to bomb the station but did not succeed in obtaining any, the sources said. There was no timeline for the plot, which was first reported by WNBC early Saturday.
The men were arrested Friday, and were expected to face charges in federal court in Brooklyn. Spokesmen for the New York Police Department and the U.S. Attorney's office in Brooklyn did not immediately return calls for comment early Saturday.
The plot unraveled when the NYPD's Intelligence Division began conducting surveillance earlier this year on a group of Muslim men in Brooklyn.One of the men arrested yesterday had been thrown out of the group, sources said.
Posted by bubba138 at 10:23 AM | Comments (0) |
August 27, 2004
Not About Being Friendly
Italians are shocked at the latest beheading:
By all accounts here, Enzo Baldoni, the latest victim in Iraq of a videotaped killing at unknown hands, was a kind, light-hearted man.Once again we are graphically shown that this struggle has nothing -- absolutely nothing -- to do with oppression, hegemony, American arrogance or any of the thousand other reasons the left would have us believe. This is all about an ideology of hate; one that says you will be rewarded in heaven for killing any who won't convert to your sick religion.That fits the Italians' image of themselves -- a people the whole world views as simpatico, likable. So Friday, Italians not only mourned Baldoni but wondered aloud: How could this happen to such nice people, Baldoni and us?
"To us it seems he died for remaining faithful to his own character in a world in which generosity and fantasy are every day despised and trampled on," said Sergio Romano, a political commentator.
Such reflections represent a view widely held by the Italian government, press and public of the country's geopolitical place in the world. Unlike the United States, many people here contend, Italy is not out to change unfriendly governments through pressure or force of arms. Nor is it like Britain, out to support such campaigns with any political and military means available. Nor is it like France, which opposes the United States at almost every turn. Nor is it like Germany, pacifist to the point of non-involvement in messy affairs.
Rather, Italy's role is to be nice. "Someone as likable had never been kidnapped," columnist Francesco Merlo wrote hopefully in the leftist Repubblica newspaper.
On Wednesday, Italy's foreign minister, Franco Frattini defined his country's role in Iraq for Arabic-language satellite television. It had nothing to do with stabilizing a country that is in the middle of a power struggle, but to "to help the children, the women, the sick and . . . to rebuild the roads."
In a decent world, Enzo Baldoni's amiable nature whould have saved him, but those that killed him know no such decency. So call America arrogant. Call us imperialists. Call us warmongers. But remember, the U.S. is the only thing standing between these barbarians and civilization.
Posted by bubba138 at 11:56 PM | Comments (0) |
Middle Class Misery
John Kerry would have you believe the middle class is shrinking and the rich are getting richer because of it. Don Luskin says, "nope."
So not only are we all benefitting from Bush's tax cuts, but his economic policies are even achieving the Democrat's goals for income redistribution. Truly, we have a bi-partisan president.That’s a lie. To prove this, I’ll go to the least likely source you can imagine — the pages of that crusading liberal newspaper, the New York Times.
David Cay Johnston — whose liberal credentials include a ringing endorsement from Paul Krugman for his best-selling book on how conservative “ideologues have made America safe for wealthy people who don't feel like paying taxes” — wrote a story for the Times that was published on the very same day that Kerry made his claim about the shrinking middle class. Johnston’s story is typical Johnston and typical Times. It is designed to trash-talk the Bush economy.
But there’s something remarkable revealed in one of the tables that accompany Johnston’s story — which he cleverly avoids in the text. As Jim Glass, a perspicacious reader of my blog, pointed out to me, the table shows that the entire income-decline in 2001 and 2002 is due exclusively to losses by taxpayers making over $100,000 a year, with the vast majority of the decline coming from taxpayers making over $1 million. Taxpayers earning less than $100,000 — the overwhelming majority of American households — actually saw their incomes rise during the two-year period.
(Hat Tip)
Posted by bubba138 at 10:18 PM | Comments (0) |
NOT GOP Shills
John O'Neill defends himself and his Swiftboat compatriots:
Why have we come forward? As explained in "Unfit For Command," Mr. Kerry grossly exaggerated and lied about his abbreviated four-month tour in Vietnam. He disgraced all legitimate Vietnam War heroes when he falsely testified to Congress that we were war criminals, daily engaged in atrocities that had the full approval of all levels in the chain of command. So, once Mr. Kerry decided to apply for the commander in chief's job with a war-hero résumé, we felt compelled to come forward to explain why he is "unfit for command."Two million dollars. Soros has given six times as much on his own. That is quite a contrast.
How many different ways will John Kerry devise to ask President Bush to condemn our ads and squash our book? Why, Mr. Kerry, are our charges as a 527 group unacceptable to you, while the pronouncements from 527 groups favorable to you are considered acceptable, regardless of stridency and veracity? And we do not have a George Soros, willing to drop millions into our modest group. We control our message. To date, we have received $2 million from 30,000 Americans who have donated an average of around $64.
Posted by bubba138 at 04:39 PM | Comments (0) |
Checking the Demographics
First it was Soccer Moms, then Nascar Dads. But now the hunt for key demographics is getting rediculous:
Forget about red and blue states, this year's presidential election has gone to the dogs.Neal Boortz is most definitely part of the 14 percent:According to results in the first Presidential Dog Poll sponsored by the AKC Rewards Visa(1) Card from Bank One, dog owners likely to vote in the 2004 presidential election said they preferred a German Shepherd Dog serve as the First Dog for the next four years, 51-27 percent, over a Scottish Terrier! Respondents were not told that Senator Kerry owns a German Shepherd Dog and that President Bush owns a Scottish Terrier.
The poll also found that 51 percent of dog owners trusted Bush more than Kerry (37 percent) to walk their dog, while 44 percent believe the Bush administration is better for the happiness of their dog vs. 37 percent for the Kerry Administration.
In a finding that may raise the candidates' fur, dog owners say Bush reminds them of either a Labrador Retriever or Rottweiler (tie at 20 percent), 15 percent say Kerry reminds them of a Labrador Retriever, 14 percent Poodle.
Posted by bubba138 at 04:16 PM | Comments (0) |
Questioning A Vet's Service
John Kerry (version 2004) says it is wrong to question how a vet got his medals. President Bush agrees. But John Kerry (version 1996) had a different viewpoint:
In 1996, a left-wing news service raised questions about two small "V" clips that the chief of Naval operations wore over two of the medals on his chest full of them. The clips are awarded for valor under fire, and there was some doubt about whether Boorda's two tours in Vietnam aboard combat ships qualified him for the awards, although the Washington Post reported that a 1965 Navy manual appeared to support Boorda's right to wear the clips. Unlike Kerry, the awards did not provide grounds for Boorda to shorten his tours of duty. Hours before he was scheduled to meet with Newsweek reporters to discuss the controversy, the admiral went to his home at the Navy Yard and shot himself in the chest...1. Investigating how someone got his medals is acceptable...unless the one under investigation is John Kerry."Is it wrong? Yes, it is very wrong. Sufficient to question his leadership position? The answer is yes, which he clearly understood," said Sen. John Kerry, a Navy combat veteran who served in Vietnam.Citing uncertainty of whether Boorda deliberately wore the pins improperly, Kerry added: "If he made a mistake, in my judgment it wasn't worth his life, so I'm very sad about it."
And let us consult the Boston Globe for the same day:
"If you wind up being less than what you’re pretending to be, there is a major confrontation with value and self-esteem and your sense of how others view you."Of Boorda and his apparent violation, Kerry said: "When you are the chief of them all, it has to weigh even more heavily."
2. Sitting back while 527 organizations attack your opponent is acceptable...unless the organization is attacking John Kerry.
3. Requiring a candidate to open his all his records so the public cane really be informed is acceptable...unless the records are John Kerry's.
4. Talking about your opponent's record and how it lacks merit is dirty, negative campaigning...unless John Kerry is doing the talking.
5. Publically and directly questioning your opponent's service to the country is wrong...unless you are John Kerry.
6. Being in someplace and near someplace are two different things altogether...unless you are John Kerry.
Is anyone noticing a pattern here?
Posted by bubba138 at 04:00 PM | Comments (0) |
Bush Wins!
Well, not really, but CNN is saying if the election was held today, bush would pull it out on electoral votes:
Four years ago Bush 271 electoral votes, but this year if he takes all the same states less New Hampshire his electoral vote count actually increases. This is due to the realignment of electoral seats based upon the 2000 census.Bush would receive 274 electoral votes to Kerry's 264 if the election were held today, less than 10 weeks before November 2 and three days before the opening of the GOP convention in Madison Square Garden. If Kerry were to pick up a state as small as Nevada, the electoral vote would be tied, throwing the election into the House of Representatives.
The map bears a remarkable resemblance to the results of the 2000 election, in which Bush defeated Al Gore by just five electoral votes and lost the popular vote. Bush remains strong in the South, the prairie and mountain states. Kerry leads in his native Northeast and on the West Coast. The two candidates continue to battle evenly in industrial Midwest states.
Bush is carrying every state he carried four years ago -- except New Hampshire, which has four electoral votes.
Posted by bubba138 at 03:20 PM | Comments (0) |
A Balanced Platform
So does the GOP platform really have an ultra-conservative agenda forced through by the ultra-conservative President Bush? Going back to the LA Times account, you might be convinced that is just the case:
President Bush got his wish from Republican platform writers Thursday: a tightly controlled, highly conservative statement of party principles that lauds his administration and glosses over internal dissent.
But what are conservative groups saying about the platform? It's too liberal. And guess what, Bush rode rough over them, too:
President Bush's strategists outmaneuvered conservatives at every turn in Republican platform proceedings here, achieving nearly total success in pushing through the planks favored by the president's re-election campaign.If both sides are complaining about the platfom not being far enough to the left and the right, that tells me the GOP has come up platform that is smack-dab in the middle."By the time everyone got to New York, the battle was over -- the fix was in," said Richard Lessner, American Conservative Union executive director. "The committee simply rubber-stamped whatever the administration desired."
Conservative activists outside the platform committee got almost none of their language or policy goals into the platform that will be presented to next week's Republican National Convention.
"Conservatives were badly outflanked by the Bush operation," Mr. Lessner said.
Many conservative critics privately admit to grudging respect for the discipline and secrecy shown by the Bush campaign team and the Republican National Committee -- now essentially united as Team Bush -- in getting exactly the platform the party establishment wanted.
Posted by bubba138 at 01:27 PM | Comments (0) |
A Valid Witness
Are you ready for the next big witness that the press can dredge up to support Kerry's case? Try this on for size:
Lieutenant Donald Droz knew more about John F. Kerry's service in Vietnam than most men. By Kerry's side when he earned both the Silver and Bronze Stars, Kerry's fellow swift boat captain and friend spoke often of his admiration for the Yalie he called "a real fine guy."Let me get this straight. The Democrats are blasting many of the Swiftboat guys because they did not serve on the same boat as Kerry. It is no matter that they served alongside Kerry's boat on the same river in the same missions on the same dates in the exact same place at the exact same time of day. But this lady, who hasn't talked with her husband in thirty-five years, who was never in country, and definitely did not serve on Kerry's boat is a more credible authority.But Droz, a key witness in the ongoing debate over Kerry's service record, is missing from it, killed in a rocket attack in Vietnam in April 1969 days after Kerry returned home. While Droz cannot defend Kerry, his widow, Judith Droz Keyes, said she feels she must. She said she is confident that her husband would defend both Kerry's record in Vietnam and his antiwar activism.
"John Kerry was a good friend, and a loyal friend to my late husband," she said in a telephone interview from her office in San Francisco. "My husband isn't here to speak, and all I can do is to speak in his name. I don't feel I can remain silent anymore."
Keyes said that by challenging Kerry's record, the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, a group of former veterans opposed to Kerry's presidential candidacy, are dishonoring the memory of men such as her husband who fought by Kerry's side. "The suggestion that what Don did or that the award he got was somehow undeserved is crossing a line," she said.
Posted by bubba138 at 12:32 PM | Comments (0) |
Vets Trust Bush
There are alot of "they are lying" accusations flying back and forth over the Swiftboat convtroversy and it isn't always easy to see who is telling the straight story. Regardless, vets are making their preference known, and it is not good for Kerry:
Despite Kerry's courting, veterans say they trust President Bush more than Kerry as commander in chief, 56 percent to 38 percent, according to a report released yesterday by the University of Pennsylvania's National Annenberg Election Survey.Update: And then there is this:While the survey showed that Kerry got a boost from the Democratic National Convention, during which his Vietnam service was emphasized, 59 percent told pollsters recently that they have a favorable opinion of Bush, compared with 42 percent for Kerry. The sampling of veterans had a margin of error of 4 percent.
The poll, conducted August 23-25, shows Kerry's unfavorable rating at its highest point since Gallup began measuring Kerry's performance in February 1999. Forty percent of those surveyed have an unfavorable opinion of Kerry, compared to 52 percent who have a favorable opinion. Kerry's favorable rating is lower than the 54 percent of those surveyed who have a favorable opinion of President George W. Bush.From late March until early August, Kerry's unfavorable rating hovered in the mid-30s. It was 37 percent in a poll taken July 30-August 1. In a survey taken July 8-11, it was 34 percent. Before that, it was even lower. In mid-February, when Kerry locked up the Democratic nomination, his unfavorable rating was 26 percent.
Posted by bubba138 at 12:26 PM | Comments (0) |
LA Times and the Party Platforms
| Democratic Policy Finds a Happy Medium | GOP Platform Draft Toes Bush Administration Line |
| Democratic Party stalwarts intent on producing a partyplatform with broad appeal turned aside one effort after another on Saturday to move the presidential campaign document - and the party - leftward. | President Bush got his wish from Republican platform writers Thursday: a tightly controlled, highly conservative statement of party principles that lauds his administration and glosses over internal dissent. |
See how reasonable Democrats are compared to Evil Bushtm? The Democrats remained resolutely center moderate while Bush veered the entire party to the right. Evil man!
| Sixteen days before the party convenes in Boston, the platform committee approved a document that walked away from proposed language calling the war in Iraq a mistake and seeking a specific date for the withdrawal of U.S. forces. | The platform, drafted by a 110-member delegate committeeand set to be ratified after the Republican National Convention begins Monday, is a paean to Bush's record in office and a guide to at least some of his goals for a second term. |
"Paean" - A song of joyful praise or exultation.
Egomaniacal Bush made sure the platform praised him and his God guided policies. The Democrats, striking a concilitory tone, conceded the war in Iraq (but we all really know that the war was wrong).
| The minimal debate demonstrated the degree to which the party machinery was firmly in the grasp of the highly organized and motivated forces behind Sen. John F. Kerry's presidential campaign. They began the day facing 207 amendments to a draft platform completed a week ago. Nearly every amendment was withdrawn or incorporated using modified language accepted by Kerry's representatives and by other party leaders. For example, a proposal to denounce key elements of the Patriot Act, the controversial Bush administration tool to combat terrorism, was turned back. |
When Republicans agree on the majority of issues, the process "glosses over internal dissent." (first paragraph). It is top down oppressive force from Bush. When Democrats agree it is "minimal debate" because of the bottom-up support for Kerry. The reality is the Democrats kept crowing about unity but the only thing they are unified upon is beating Bush, so in an effort the court the moderate voter, they choose to codify positions in their platform that they do not really support (like not condemning the war in Iraq).
| At a daylong meeting in the heart of south Florida's Democratic enclave, the platform committee completed a 35-page statement with two overarching goals: to set out specific policy positions on the breadth of issues facing the country; and, perhaps more important, to set a tone that meshed with the tenor of the Kerry campaign. Terry McAuliffe, the party chairman, said the platform "offers an optimistic vision for a strong economy … a strong nation." | It backs Bush's offensive against terrorists and the invasion of Iraq, urges Congress to make the president's 2001 and 2003 tax cuts permanent, and defends the education program known as "No Child Left Behind." It reiterates the party's longtime opposition to abortion rights and takes a firm stand against same-sex marriage, echoing Bush's views on those and other social issues. It acknowledges that an "unwelcome but manageable" budget deficit has piled up on Bush's watch, but speaks only generally about how to erase it. |
The DNC platform certainly set out a "tone that meshed with the tenor of the Kerry campaign." That tone, of course, is one that says exactly the opposite of what they believe. The evil Republicans, take a principled, unchanged stand for those things they think are right and the LA Times frames that as "echoing Bush's views."
| The party leaders sought to emerge from the Westin Diplomat hotel with a document that could roll across the country without costing support in either the nation's solidly Democratic corners or among swing voters in heartland battleground states. They began the day facing 207 amendments to a draft platform completed a week ago. Nearly every amendment was withdrawn or incorporated using modified language accepted by Kerry's representatives and by other party leaders. For example, a proposal to denounce key elements of the Patriot Act, the controversial Bush administration tool to combat terrorism, was turned back. | "This platform makes clear that the American people will have a choice on Nov. 2," the preamble states. It frames the contest between Bush and Sen. John F. Kerry of Massachusetts, the Democratic challenger, as a "choice between strength and uncertainty … between results and rhetoric … between optimism and pessimism … between opportunity and dependence … between freedom and fear." |
Remember the "echoing Bush's views" quote earlier in the article? Yet somehow, disguising true Democrat positions with Kerry's "modified language" is much better. Instead of pointing out that the platform was forced into the parameters set by the Kerry campaign, the LA Times frames this as an effort to have broad appeal for both die-hard Democrats and heartland swing voters. The Republicans, on the other hand, are clearly divisive. They are offering a - gasp - clear choice. Forcing people to choose is bad.
| In what McAuliffe portrayed as a dramatic shift from past party platforms, nearly half of the document deals with matters related to foreign policy. National security issues usually take up no more than about 20% of the statement, he said. |
Notice that the LA Times did not comment at all on the fact that making National Security issues a priority was not a shift in Republican policy. That is a cheap slam, I know, but I make the point because the DNC had to make an effort to write into their platform something that should be there without question.
| The party avoided a potential split over Iraq between Kerry and his one remaining competitor for the presidential nomination, Rep. Dennis J. Kucinich of Ohio, whose campaign rests on his strident opposition to the war. During a night of negotiations that stretched nearly to dawn on Saturday, the Kucinich team stepped back from its insistence that the platform call the war in Iraq a mistake and demand that a date be set for the departure of all U.S. troops. Rather, the platform emphasizes the importance of bringing more nations into the coalition in Iraq to reduce the need for U.S. troops - a long-held Kerry position. "As other nations, including Islamic nations, contribute troops, the U.S. will be able to reduce its military presence in Iraq, and we intend to do this when appropriate so that the military support needed by a sovereign Iraqi government will no longer be seen as the direct continuation of an American military presence," a platform addition stated. John Sherman of Minnesota, one of Kucinich's two representatives among the 186 members of the platform committee, made the best of the agreement, saying, "I came here expecting nothing…. This language isn't what I want. I want us out [of Iraq] yesterday. But it is so much better than where we were." Rand Beers, Kerry's advisor on national security matters, said: "We shouldn't be in Iraq longer than we have to. But when we leave, we shouldn't do it in a way that leaves chaos and catastrophe in our wake." | Critics charged that the platform - titled "A Safer and More Hopeful America" - was loaded with hard-line policy positions that belied the lineup of prime-time convention speakers, featuring such party moderates as former New York Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani and California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger. Both favor abortion rights and gay rights. Instead, an antiabortion delegate, James Bopp of Indiana, teamed with an abortion-rights advocate, Stephen Cloud of Kansas, to pass a more generic plank saying the party would "respect and accept" - rather than merely "recognize" - people with differing views. A White House aide helped to broker the arrangement. Stone called it "a crumb - pathetic." The Log Cabin group was also irate. |
Remember the "glossed over internal dissent" comment? It looks to me as if there was internal dissent on both sides. It also looks to me as if both sides were resisting a pull to the left. Both sides also recognized that a leftward drift was not going to get them into the White House. One party is being honest about their views in their platform. The other is being, umm, less than.
The LA Times goes on to highlight more examples of the "glossed over" dissent in the Republican platform, but of course couldn't find the space to expand on Democratic dissent. Further, the discussion reported in the Republican effort covers a range of issues, but the Democrats somehow agree on everything except Iraq.
| Platforms are historically documents that, regardless of the fights attached to their writing, are usually forgotten by all but ideologues and interest groups. As general as the platform is - one of the three leaders of the committee, Los Angeles City Councilman Antonio Villaraigosa, called it "a guidepost for a better future, not a blueprint" - the ultimate goal remained clear throughout the day. Gov. Tom Vilsack of Iowa, another co-chairman of the committee, put it this way: "Two-hundred-twenty-eight years ago, our country had a list of grievances against a guy named George. We still have a list of grievances against a guy named George." | The platform zings the Democrats, charging that Kerry "insulted our allies by calling the nations fighting in Iraq 'window-dressing' and referring to them as a 'coalition of the coerced and the bribed.' " Delegates also voted to delete references to two 20th century Democraticpresidents, Franklin D. Roosevelt and Lyndon B. Johnson, mentioned in passing in the draft platform. |
We musn't finish the article without a final jab at how mean those zinging Republicans are. Of course the DNC platform had no such zings, unless of course, if you count:
- But the Bush Administration has walked away from more than a hundred years of American leadership in the world to embrace a new - and dangerously ineffective - disregard for the world.
- Despite his tough talk, President Bush's actions against terrorism have fallen far short.
- And in the specific case of Saudi Arabia, we will put an end to the Bush Administration's kid-glove approach to the supply and laundering of terrorist money.
- In the Bush Administration, energy independence doesn't get a thought.
- The Bush Administration, full of tough talk about terror, has no coherent plan for domestic defense.
- In President George Bush's America, unfortunately, too often you need special privileges if you want opportunity.
- Manufacturing has lost 2.5 million jobs under President Bush in its worst jobs crisis since the Depression.
- But in President George Bush's America, where everyday costs are soaring and ordinary incomes are sinking, the middle class is struggling, and our economy is suffering.
- President Bush and the Republicans in Congress have ignored the middle class since day one of this Administration.
- ...the Bush Administration have raided hundreds of billions of dollars from Social Security
- In President George Bush's America, drug company and HMO profits count for more than family and small business health costs.
- The Bush Administration has put ideology over science, skewing information about everything from women's health to scientific research.
- But in President George Bush's government, where polluters actually write environmental laws and oil company profits matter more than hard science and cold facts, protecting the environment doesn't matter at all.
Posted by bubba138 at 10:17 AM | Comments (0) |
NEWS FLASH!
President Bush today admitted (ADMITTTED!) that parts of the war have not gone exactly as planned:
President Bush acknowledged for the first time on Thursday that he had miscalculated post-war conditions in Iraq, the New York Times reported. The paper quoted Bush as saying during a 30-minute interview that he made "a miscalculation of what the conditions would be" in post-war Iraq.Bush said his strategy had been "flexible enough" to respond. "We're adjusting to our conditions" in places like Najaf, the paper quoted him as saying
I am glad we got that out of the way. President Bush is, at best, so-so in predicting the everything future. At least he has a firm grasp on the past, which is more than we can say of his opponent.
Posted by bubba138 at 07:49 AM | Comments (0) |
"I Know It When I See It"
Some art is good. Some is just, well, trash:
I guess the "existence" of some art is more "fintite" than others. If people kept inadvertantly throwing my "art" in the garbage, I think I'd take that as a hint.A bag of rubbish that was part of a Tate Britain work of art has been accidentally thrown away by a cleaner. The bag filled with discarded paper and cardboard was part of a work by Gustav Metzger, said to demonstrate the "finite existence" of art.
It was thrown away by a cleaner at the London gallery, which subsequently retrieved the damaged bag.
The 78-year-old artist replaced it with a new bag. The gallery would not reveal whether he would be compensated.
It is not the first time such a mistake has been made. In 2001 a cleaner at a London's Eyestorm Gallery gallery cleared away an installation by artist Damien Hirst, having mistaken it for a pile of rubbish.
The collection of beer bottles, coffee cups and overflowing ashtrays was said to represent the chaos of an artist's studio.
Posted by bubba138 at 07:33 AM | Comments (0) |
Islam Strikes Again
A lot of updates on the Russian jet crashes have come through in the last couple of hours. First this:
A top Russian official has stated that terrorism was the most likely cause of two jetliners crashing minutes apart killing 89 on board.Just a day after officials stressed there were many possibilities besides terrorism, presidential envoy, Vladimir Yakovlev, told Russia's ITAR-Tass news agency that the main theory "all the same remains terrorism".
Then this:
One of the two planes that crashed almost simultaneously in the Russian countryside this week fell apart in midair just moments after sending a distress signal, a senior official said yesterday, adding that the plane might have been destroyed by a terrorist explosion.The presidential envoy who oversees southern Russia for the Kremlin said the evidence, while not conclusive, pointed to a violent destruction of the plane long before it hit the ground and he declared that the main theory for both crashes, whose death toll officials put at 89, "remains terrorism."
And finally this:
A WEBSITE known for militant Muslim comment today published a claim of responsibility for the crashes of two Russian airliners, connecting the action to Russia's fight against separatists in Chechnya.Just a little telegram from the "religion of peace."The statement was signed "the Islambouli Brigades". A group with a similiar name has claimed responsibility for at least one other attack, but the authenticity of today's statement could not immediately be confirmed.
Posted by bubba138 at 12:12 AM | Comments (0) |
August 26, 2004
Server Reliability
As you probably have already figured out, the reliability of my hosting server is crap lately. I have emailed 1and1 asking what is going on and I am awaiting a reply.
I might just have to find another host. 1and1 has been quirky from the start and although I'd rather not move, I am beginning to lose hope of them improving. Xrlq has already passed the "fed up" level and made the jump, and I am very quickly getting there myself.
Posted by bubba138 at 03:58 PM | Comments (0) |
A Study in Contrasts II
We live in a media environment where a week is too long for the Swiftboat Vets story, but in that same week over five thousand articles were printed on the months-old Abu Ghraib story.
Posted by bubba138 at 02:42 PM | Comments (0) |
Free Speech at Risk?
Is campaign finance reform putting free speech at risk? Robert Samuelson thinks so:
Now there's another possibility. The government may screen what voters see and hear. The Kerry campaign has asked the Federal Election Commission (FEC) to ban the Swift Boat ads; the Bush campaign similarly wants the FEC to suppress the pro-Democrat 527 groups. We've arrived at this juncture because it's logically impossible both to honor the First Amendment and to regulate campaign finance effectively. We can do one or the other -- but not both. Unfortunately, Congress and the Supreme Court won't admit the choice. The result is the worst of both worlds. We gut the First Amendment and don't effectively regulate campaign finance.The New Hampshire Union Leader agrees, but makes it more personal:
PRESIDENT BUSH and Sen. John Kerry disagree on nearly everything, except this: The First Amendment does not apply to political speech...They think curbing free speech is good and citizens banding together to influence elections is bad.Now I am as much a proponent of free speech as anyone you are likely to meet. The problem with elections in the U.S. isn't an excess of free speech, but an excess of influence by a select few."I don't think we ought to have 527s," Bush said on Monday. "...I think they're bad for the system. That's why I signed the bill, McCain-Feingold."
Bush misunderstands McCain-Feingold, which did not regulate 527s. But his sentiments are unconfused. He does not want citizens to be able to join together and freely spend their money to voice their opinions on national politics.
Kerry shares Bush's disdain for the people's freedom to speak their minds. He voted for McCain-Feingold's strict limits on free speech rights, and he has tried to pressure media organizations to not run ads critical of him.
One thing that has become more plain in this election than in any other is that perception is everything and reality is meaningless. Regardless of the truth, does it matter that President Bush was never AWOL? Not at all. Does it matter whether or not John Kerry deserves all three of his Purple Hearts? Again, no. All that matters is that a set people believe he came upon his medals dubiously.
Remember this: people never vote based on reality. They always vote based upon perception.
Obviously, perceptions come from information absorbed through paid advertising and reporting by the media. The more a message is put in front of the populace, the more it is accepted, and eventually embraced. It only follows then, that the more money there is behind a message the more that message will be absorbed. In other words, more money directly translates into more influence.
Some would argue this is a good thing. After all, if a politician's ideas and positions are popular and embraced he or she will find more people willing to give to his or her campaign or to an organization that supports the same ideas and positions. But what it really means is that those with more money have more influence on the outcome of an election than most others. This influence is not based not upon an indiviual's constitutional right to vote nor upon the merit of the ideas he or she supports but upon nothing more than the size of his or her disposable income.
One of the principles upon which this country was founded was that each one should have his voice in the policies and procedures of the government. It is reprehensible therefore, in the context of electing those that run this country, that George Soros has a louder voice -- and hence more influence -- than I, simply by the virtue of his wealth. It is equally distressing that Richard Devos has more influence than Dwight Meredith.
That we need to examine and change the way politics are funded in the U.S. is undebatable (of course, someone is going to say we need to debate that). The question is how do we do it. The true believers in McCain-Feingold were (and are) hopelessly self-deceived. That bill is less reform than it is illusion but, and this is terribly important, it is at least a stab at reform. I don't know what the right solution should be, but I do know we need something. Even if McCain-Feingold is repealed and we go on to something different, something better, we can at least credit that bill for getting the ball rolling.
Posted by bubba138 at 02:35 PM | Comments (0) |
The Will of the People be Damned
Bills against partial-birth abortion have been passed by the legislature not once, not twice, but at least three times and still the left finds ways to strike them down. It has happened once again:
In a highly anticipated ruling, a federal judge found the Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act unconstitutional Thursday because it does not include a health exception.Public support for these bans is widespread, but that has no bearing on liberal judges whose ideology trumps all other considerations.U.S. District Judge Richard C. Casey in Manhattan said the Supreme Court has made it clear that a law that prohibits the performance of a particular abortion procedure must include an exception to preserve a woman's life and health.
Casey issued the ruling two months after hearing closing arguments in the case.
A San Francisco judge has already declared the 2003 law unconstitutional, and a judge in Lincoln, Neb., is still considering the question. The three judges suspended the ban while they held the trials.
The law is aimed at stopping a procedure, usually performed during the second trimester of pregnancy, in which a fetus is partly delivered, its skull punctured and its brain removed, often by suction.
Opponents, including Republicans in Congress who pushed for the ban, call the procedure "partial-birth abortion," but abortion rights groups and many doctors refer to it as "intact dilation and evacuation."
And don't neglect noticing the wordplay in the last graph. "intact dilation and evacuation" is nothing but a fancy term for "partial birth abortion."
Posted by bubba138 at 12:17 PM | Comments (0) |
Open Mouth, Insert Foot
This would be one of those awkward moments:
Kerry's latest faux pas: calling Vietnam veteran Robert "Friar Tuck" Brant and asking if he knew about that awful group Swift Boat Veterans for Truth."I said, 'I am one, John,'" Brant said.
The Massachusetts Democrat had failed to note or recall Brant's appearance at a news conference announcing the group in May.
"There was a moment of hesitation, and he said, `I appreciate your honesty.' He said, `Well, why are you?'"
Brant reminded Kerry of his depiction of veterans as war criminals. "I said, `You know that's not true,'" Brant recalled to the Associated Press. "That's been simmering in me about 35 years."
Posted by bubba138 at 09:51 AM | Comments (0) |
Top Ten Connections
Bush/Cheney lists out the top 10 connections between John Kerry and 527 organizations. They have found some I did not, and many that I did. The "lawyer" connections are tenuous at best.
The campaign didn't call to thank me for doing their research for free, but I'm OK with that.
Posted by bubba138 at 09:47 AM | Comments (0) |
Be Careful
Free speech can be hazardous to your health.
I don't know who Tom Leykis is, but shock jock or no, this is unacceptable. Whoever did this should be fully prosecuted.
Posted by bubba138 at 09:38 AM | Comments (0) |
Rewriting History
Did you know that our own United States was founded under the heavy influence of Islamic teaching? Neither did I. I am glad we have the great state of Massachusetts to fill us in on these details.
Remember, when John Kerry talks about multi-culturalism in education, this is what he means.
Posted by bubba138 at 08:07 AM | Comments (0) |
Double Standard? Nah.
Posted by bubba138 at 07:34 AM | Comments (0) |
August 25, 2004
Those Annoying Independent Voters
Former clown candidate for California governor, Arianna Huffington is tired of independent voters. What's more, she thinks she has a winning strategy for Kerry:
By reframing the discussion on his terms and not Karl Rove's, Kerry will not only inoculate himself against the next round of smears, he will also go a long way toward expanding the electorate by convincing unlikely voters -- the 100 million eligible voters who didn't vote in 2000 -- that this election, and their participation in it, would make a huge difference in their lives and the life of our country.I love the way Arianna is able to reshape reality to whatever she prefers to believe. To actually imply that the campaign has been framed by Rove is ludicrous.
For more than twelve months when asked a question on any of myriad subjects, John Kerry's answer has been, "I served in Vietnam." For those of us who watched any substantial portion of the DNC convention, the importance of Vietnam to Kerry's qualifications was seared -- seared -- into us. Kerry has not let any American who would listen forget that yes, he did win three purple hearts. In his acceptance speech, Kerry said, "judge me by my record," and except for a small aside, traded talking about his 20+ year political record for focusing on his four and a half months in Vietnam.
Four. And. One. Half. Months.
George Bush would say "national security", Kerry would reply "Vietnam." Bush, "terrorism", Kerry "Vietnam." Bush, "Iraq", Kerry, "Vietnam."
Tell me again, Arianna, how Rove framed this discussion.
Posted by bubba138 at 11:28 PM | Comments (0) |
Another Poll Quickie
Bush is on top for the first time in the LA Times poll. He is also considerably up in Arizona.
Posted by bubba138 at 10:46 PM | Comments (0) |
Going For the Photo Op
The ever vigilant Taranto nails it:
"I called the media. . . . I said, 'If I take some crippled veterans down to the White House and we chain ourselves to the gates, will we get coverage?' 'Oh, yes, we will cover that.' "--John Kerry, testimony before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, April 22, 1971"Kerry is sending to Crawford former Sen. Max Cleland of Georgia, a frequent companion of Kerry's on the campaign trail and a fellow Vietnam War veteran who lost three limbs during the war. Cleland . . . will try to deliver a letter protesting the [Swift Boat Veterans for Truth] ads to [President] Bush at his heavily guarded ranch, Kerry aides said."--Reuters, Aug. 25, 2004
Posted by bubba138 at 09:20 PM | Comments (0) |
A Call To Action
ProtestWarrior was hacked and now they are asking for help to hunt down the villian:
Well you've all heard about the hacking incident. We have a pronouncement to make.ProtestWarrior hereby charges this hacker with cybercrime, for violating our constitutional rights. We request that all political websites and blogs stand with us in rooting out this felon. Even if you disagree with our ideas, we can at least agree that internet privacy should be sacrosanct.
We've tracked him down, and we're 95% sure of who he is. To help us verify it, and if you think you've got the skill, we'd like to invite you to help us out. Whoever digitally hunts him down will receive full honors on our website, and membership in the PW Cyber Corps.
It's ironic that we're about to prove that anarchy works, in that we're going to demonstrate that the Internet can maintain rule-of-law strictly by private netizens who are fierce about protecting their electronic property rights.
Hey hacker, welcome to the wild wild west and we're puttin' up a Wanted Poster with your face on it. You best giddyup little doggie, cuz a posse is coming to hunt you down. As you know we live in Austin. Well you're about to learn a valuable lesson: don't mess with Texas.
If you have the skills, go help them out. Regardless of the ideology, this kind of thing must be shut down.
Posted by bubba138 at 04:27 PM | Comments (0) |
Rejected
More on Cleland's trip to the ranch:
I have to admit the photo of a legless vet delivering a letter at the ranch gates is a stunning visual. Still, the fact that this was all for show was made plain when Cleland refused to give the letter to Patterson. Do you think he refused because Patterson was one of those Kerry called a war criminal but the rest of us call a veteran?A Texas state official and Vietnam veteran, Jerry Patterson, said someone from the Bush campaign contacted him Wednesday morning and asked him if he would travel to the ranch, welcome Cleland to Texas and accept the former senator's letter to Bush.
"I tried to accept that letter and he would not give it to me," said Patterson. "He would not face me. He kept rolling away from me. He's quite mobile."
Patterson, who spoke with the president on the phone, said the campaign asked him to give Cleland a letter for Kerry written by the Bush campaign and signed by Patterson and seven other veterans.
(Hat tip)
Posted by bubba138 at 03:04 PM | Comments (0) |
Israel Gets Gold
Gal Fridman was awarded a gold medal for the windsurfing event at a ceremony in Athens on Wednesday evening, Israel's first ever gold at the Olympics.Cool. Too bad it wasn't in Judo.
Posted by bubba138 at 02:42 PM | Comments (0) |
A Picture is Worth...
...well, it's worth alot.
Posted by bubba138 at 02:41 PM | Comments (0) |
A Study in Contrasts
Americans have no problem spending four bucks for a cup of coffee but the world is ending when gas goes over two.
Posted by bubba138 at 02:19 PM | Comments (0) |
Linked Lawyers
The press is having a field day with Bush lawyer Benjamin Ginsberg's connections to the Swiftboat Vets. The strange (not really that strange, actually) thing is, the press is only giving limited attention to the same kinds of connections in the Kerry camp:
Ginsberg's acknowledgment Tuesday evening that he was providing legal advice to the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth marked the second time in days that a person associated with the Bush-Cheney campaign had been connected to the group, which Kerry accuses of being a front for the Republican incumbent's re-election effort.What Democrat lawyers? To whom are they connected? Why is there only surface level treatment of these connections? Ginsberg knows why:Lawyers on the Democratic side are also representing both the campaign or party and outside groups running ads in the presidential race.
In Ginsberg's letter to Bush, he accused the media of a "stunning double standard" between its focus on the activities of groups supporting Kerry and those that oppose him.
Not only is there a difference between the press treatment of the connections, there is a huge difference how the campaigns are reacting. Even though there is nothing at all illegal or unethical about representing two the two clients, the Bush lawyer, in an effort to be above reproach in appearance as well as practice, has quit representing the campaign:
An election lawyer for President Bush who also has been advising a veterans group running TV ads against Democrat John Kerry resigned Wednesday from Bush's campaign.We have seen no such actions from the Kerry campaign. Bill Hobbs is right on point here:Joe Sandler, a lawyer for the DNC and a group running anti-Bush ads, MoveOn.org, said there is nothing wrong with serving in both roles at once.
In addition to the FEC's coordination rules, attorneys are ethically bound to maintain attorney-client confidentiality, Sandler said. They could lose their law licenses if they violate that, he said.
Ginsberg said Tuesday he never told the Bush campaign what he discussed with the veterans group, or vice versa, and didn't advise the group on ad strategies.
Unlike John Kerry, whose campaign has been proven to be coordinating with MoveOn.org and other 527s on fundraising, events, voter registration, mobilization, message, and advertising, and has a revolving door of shared personnel between the campaign, the Democratic National Committee and the 527s, President Bush does not want his campaign workers to coordinate illegally with the 527 organizations. When the Bush campaign found out that some of its volunteers had also worked with the Swift Boat Veterans organization, possibly in violation of the law, they were immediately separated from the campaign. Why hasn't John Kerry done the same?Why, indeed?
Posted by bubba138 at 11:16 AM | Comments (0) |
Going Extreme
Just a quick note. Comparing the Kerry campaign to Nazis is neither constructive nor accurate. Slings and Arrows has been linked to by some who do this.
Even though I do use sarcasm to align Kerry with America's enemies, it is my belief that Senator Kerry is an American who loves his country and wants to do the best he can for it in the roll he has been given to play. Given the opportunity, I would fight to the death alongside Senator Kerry to protect our great country against those who, like the Nazis, truly oppose freedom and equality.
Comparing the Kerry camp to Nazis lowers the manner of the debate and equates one to Michael Moore and Ted Rall. The choice between Kerry and Bush is not a choice between evil and righteousness or even between bad and good. At worst it is a choice between average and better or between good and best. Let us not forget that.
Posted by bubba138 at 10:49 AM | Comments (0) |
Throw Rumsfeld From the Train
John Kerry is already calling for Rumsfeld's resignation:
Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry called Wednesday for Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld to resign and urged President Bush to appoint an independent investigation to provide reforms after a report faulted all levels of the military for abuse at Abu Ghraib prison...Of course, Kerry doesn't care that the report did not single out Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld for blame or that Mr. Schlesinger himself said, "his resignation would be a boon for all of America's enemies.""From the bottom of the chain of command all the way to the top, there needs to be accountability. The Schlesinger report makes clear that Secretary Rumsfeld was responsible for setting a climate where these types of abuses could occur."
Let's see if I have this straight. Schlesinger says Rumsfeld's resignation would be a boon to America's enemies. Kerry recognizes Rumsfeld's resignation would be a boon to his campaign. Does that make Kerry's campaign one of America's enemies?
Posted by bubba138 at 10:16 AM | Comments (0) |
Stunted Growth
Kerry must be smoking something that's stunting his campaign's growth because he thinks he can stunt his way out of the tight position into which he has put himself:
Former Democratic Senator Max Cleland, whose own Vietnam War wounds left him in a wheelchair, arrived in Waco late Wednesday morning carrying a letter signed by at least seven senators who are military veterans.Cleland, of course, didn't go by himself:The letter, which Cleland hoped to hand-deliver to President George W. Bush, who is spending a last day at his Central Texas Ranch, calls on Mr. Bush "to specifically condemn the attack ads and accompanying campaign which dishonor Senator John Kerry’s combat record in the Vietnam War."
Cleland, a political ally of Sen. John F. Kerry, reportedly is going to Bush's ranch with former Army Green Beret Jim Rassmann, who credits Kerry with saving his life.
I wonder, as they are talking -- civilly I am sure -- with the President about this, if John Kerry is going to -- indepently and of his own accord -- hold a press conference today condemning this:
Democrat John Kerry's US presidential campaign intensified last night when 10 anti-Bush ads, starring celebrities such as Matt Damon and Scarlett Johansson, were unveiled in New York.Somehow, I doubt it.The "10 Weeks: Don't Get mad Get Even" campaign, by political action group MoveOn.org, is expected to boost support and revenue for Kerry in advance of the November poll.
Update: The Kerry campaignn hasn't stopped calling the Swiftboat Vets a "Republican Smear Campaign" since it first came up. However, they don't have to go as far as Texas if they want to find out what a real smear looks like.
Update II: The Bush campaign responds:
We are pleased to welcome your campaign representatives to Texas today. We honor all our veterans, all whom have worn the uniform and served our country. We also honor the military and National Guard troops serving in Iraq and Afghanistan today. We are very proud of all of them and believe they deserve our full support.That’s why so many veterans are troubled by your vote AGAINST funding for our troops in Iraq and Afghanistan, after you voted FOR sending them into battle. And that’s why we are so concerned about the comments you made AFTER you came home from Vietnam. You accused your fellow veterans of terrible atrocities – and, to this day, you have never apologized. Even last night, you claimed to be proud of your post-war condemnation of our actions.
You can’t have it both ways. You can’t build your convention and much of your campaign around your service in Vietnam, and then try to say that only those veterans who agree with you have a right to speak up. There is no double standard for our right to free speech. We all earned it.
We urge you to condemn the double standard that you and your campaign have enforced regarding a veteran’s right to openly express their feelings about your activities on return from Vietnam.
Sincerely,
Texas State Land Commissioner Jerry Patterson
Rep. Duke Cunningham
Rep. Duncan Hunter
Rep. Sam Johnson
Lt. General David Palmer
Robert O'Malley, Medal of Honor Recipient
James Fleming, Medal of Honor Recipient
Lieutenant Colonel Richard Castle (Ret.)
Posted by bubba138 at 10:02 AM | Comments (0) |
How to Raise Thugs
The newest rage in child-rearing controversies? "Hot saucing:"
Advocates of "hot saucing" as a form of discipline will sometimes add a drop of hot sauce on their child's tongue as a punishment for lying or talking back.I beg to differ with the kind doctor, but pain and humiliation are two of the most effective teachers in life. When a person, adult or child, behaves incorrectly they deserve pain and humiliation in proportion to their misbehavior. All cultures from the beginning of time have employed pain and humiliation to encourage behavior modification.Boston family therapist Carleton Kendrick says he is vehemently against hot saucing or corporal punishment of any kind.
"There's no room for pain and humiliation and fear in disciplining healthy children," Kendrick said. "I think it's a rather barbaric practice to say the least."
Listen to the radio today. "Bitch," "Whore," "Ni--er," these are all staples of lyrical expression. A little Tabasco in earlier years may have affected that.
Listen to how students address their teachers in high school, junior-high, and even elementary school. Their speech is replete with swear words, their tone drips with contempt. What is worse, many give their parents no more respect than they give their teachers. If kids don't respect their parents with words, they certainly won't in actions. If a quick dab of sauce can change that -- and it can -- the "pain and humiliation" is is well worth it.
As I have said before, this world is full of pain and humiliation. If we raise children that cannot handle the slight pain and humiliation given them in punishment, what hope have they in surviving the real pain of the real world? Further, the world is unforgiving of unacceptable behavior. When you fail, there are consequences -- consequences that involve pain and humiliation. Shall we let our children's first lesson in that be from the cold, hard world, or from our loving, understanding hand?
Posted by bubba138 at 09:35 AM | Comments (0) |
Democrats for Bush
They seem to be popping up all over:
Youngstown Mayor George M. McKelvey - the Democratic mayor of a very Democratic rust-belt city - endorsed President Bush for re-election Monday, calling him a "friend" and a "kind, caring, God-fearing man."He joins former NY Mayor Ed Koch and the Mayor of St. Paul Randy Kelly (who is facing a recall because of his support). I think the Kerry camp would be hard-pressed to find as many Republican mayors endorsing of the John-John ticket.The Bush campaign called it the biggest Democratic endorsement in Ohio, and one of the biggest in the country. McKelvey's endorsement puts him in a league with U.S. Sen. Zell Miller, D-Ga., and St. Paul, Minn., Mayor Randy Kelly.
"I'm still waiting for someone to show me what we've gotten in this valley for delivering 70 percent of the vote to Democrats over the last 120 years. Are we not the most depressed valley in Ohio - if not the country?" McKelvey said.
Posted by bubba138 at 09:17 AM | Comments (0) |
Go Alice!
Morons. I've got morons on my team:
Never one to avoid self-examination, Alice (aka Vincent Damon Furnier) added: "If you're listening to a rock star in order to get your information on who to vote for, you're a bigger moron than they are. Why are we rock stars? Because we're morons. We sleep all day, we play music at night and very rarely do we sit around reading the Washington Journal." (We think he meant watching C-SPAN's "Washington Journal," or maybe he meant perusing the Washington Post and the Wall Street Journal, but either way you get the idea.)"Besides, when I read the list of people who are supporting Kerry, if I wasn't already a Bush supporter, I would have immediately switched. Linda Ronstadt? Don Henley? Geez, that's a good reason right there to vote for Bush."
Posted by bubba138 at 08:31 AM | Comments (0) |
August 24, 2004
Worse Than Missing
The "missing" Russian jet is, apparently, more than missing:
THE Russian plane that went missing around the time as another jet crashed issued a signal indicating a hijacking or seizure before disappearing from radar, the Interfax news agency has reported.I am not a smart man, but I think scrambling some fighters would have been a bit more appropriate than just some emergency workers.The signal came at 11:04 pm yesterday (0404 AEST today) from the Tu-154 airliner that went missing in southern Russia's Rostov region, Interfax quoted a source in Russia's "power structures" as saying.
Emergency workers were still searching for the plane hours after it disappeared from radar screens on a flight from Moscow to the Black Sea resort city of Sochi.
Posted by bubba138 at 10:00 PM | Comments (0) |
Are You Kidding Me?
The story has only been in the mainstream press since the nineteenth -- barely five days -- and someone has the nerve to ask if it has gone on too long.
By my count it has only been in the press for half as long as they ignored it. Perhaps they can bear with their guy being under fire for at least that long.
Posted by bubba138 at 09:50 PM | Comments (0) |
Unwound
The spinners are coming unwound and it is getting noticed:
Switch on the TV these days and you'll see John O'Neill, principal spokesman for the hundreds of Swift boat veterans who oppose their old comrade Kerry, talking calmly and patiently about the facts, citing chapter and verse and relevant footnotes, while some deranged interviewer is going berserk.So much in one little column. No wonder Mark Steyn gets the big bucks.The other day it was CNN host James Carville, former skinhead-in-chief to Bill Clinton, yelling and howling all over O'Neill's answers before brushing him aside with, "I've got no use for this man." [...]
Unlike John O'Neill's book, he didn't bother to give specifics: the US Army in general was rife with ear-severers. If you want to know why Paul Galanti is appearing in an anti-Kerry ad, it's because he first heard about this speech from his Viet Cong captors who cited it to try to persuade him and his fellow prisoners that resistance was now futile and they might as well cross over to the other side...
And even if he'd never slimed his comrades, there's something ridiculous about a fellow with four months in Vietnam running as Ike, the Duke of Wellington and Alexander the Great rolled into one...
After going around huffing and a-puffing that, if Bush wanted a debate about Vietnam, "Here is my answer: BRING. IT. ON," he's now gone to ground and is demanding Bush call it off. Meanwhile, his lawyers are threatening suits and the campaign's complained to the Federal Election Commission to get the Swift vets taken off air.
Posted by bubba138 at 09:41 PM | Comments (0) |
As the Cookie Crumbles
This looks as if it is aimed at junior-high schoolers. Ben Cohen is a smart guy, after all he built a multi-million dollar capitalist venture, and dumb guys cannot do that. Even so, the fallacies in his presentation are numerous.
First, Cohen's big baby, education is not, never has been, and should never be a Federal concern. To compare it to defense spending is apples to oranges.
Second, to measure our defense spending against any other single country is also simple tom-foolery. We aren't defending ourselves from a single country or threat, but against all the world's threats. Further, we are also defending the rest of the world from the world's threats (see Germany, France, et al).
How can people so smart be so, umm, dim?
Posted by bubba138 at 03:10 PM | Comments (0) |
Howard Dean Coming Around?
In a moment of clarity (which I am sure will be short-lived) Howard Dean actually said something that made sense:
Every day that goes by without action to stop the Sudan genocide is a day that the anti-Iraq war position so widely held in the rest of the world appears to be based less on principle and more on politics. And every day that goes by is a day in which George Bush's contempt for the international community, which I have denounced every day for two years, becomes more difficult to criticize.I doubt he will ever come around to saying something to the effect of "uh, maybe I was wrong," but at least this is something.
(Hat Tip)
Posted by bubba138 at 02:49 PM | Comments (0) |
Kerry Sez: Bush Went AWOL
Glenn "points out" Kerry's own words on his campaign website attacking Bush's service:
"If George Bush wants to ask me questions about that through his surrogates, he owes America an explanation about whether or not he showed up for duty in the National Guard. Prove it. That's what we ought to have. I'm not going to stand around and let them play games." -- John Kerry, NBC News, 4/26/04
Is the Kerry campaign paying for that website? I thought Kerry had not "spent one dime attacking President Bush."
Technically, I guess Kerry is right. He's spent alot more than a dime.
Update: Glenn asks, "Yes, this seems like a serious error to me. Perhaps born of desperation? Or just ineptitude?"
How about both.
Posted by bubba138 at 02:33 PM | Comments (0) |
Before You Get Uppity
The headline reads: Outside Panel Faults Leaders of Pentagon for Prisoner Abuse, but the details aren't quite so damning:
prisoner abuses photographed at the Abu Ghraib facility in Iraq were unauthorized, but other abuses were widespread and indirect responsibility goes up the chain of command to the highest offices in the Pentagon, an independent panel reported today.Just what those "other," "widespread" abuses were the article doesn't quite find the space to say.
Still, expect the Bush=Hitler crowd to start crowing for Rumsfield's head. Since they rarely read past the headline, they probably would have missed this part of the article:
But the report did not single out Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld for blame. Mr. Schlesinger, himself a former defense secretary, said, when asked if Mr. Rumsfeld or other high-ranking officials should resign, that "his resignation would be a boon for all of America's enemies."Than again, the "Anybody But Bush" gang probably has no problem with that.
Posted by bubba138 at 02:20 PM | Comments (0) |
Kerry Made It "THE" Issue
Howard Fineman, Newsweek:
Kerry made his own war story the central metaphor of the Democratic convention and of his campaign. Remember his salute at the start of his acceptance speech? Remember the parade of Swift Boat vets who support him? Remember the Spielbergian movie showing the bullets dancing across the waters of the Mekong Delta? The party platform said little new or startling, and Kerry spent next to no time in his speech talking about his 19-year career in the Senate. It was all about him, and the implicit argument that even though he is not now commander-in-chief, he is more qualified for the job than the not-always-present-and-accounted-for Texas Air National Guardsman who has had the conn in the White House for nearly four years.Which was all the excuse the attack dogs—and, by the weekend, former Sen. Bob Dole—needed.
Posted by bubba138 at 10:46 AM | Comments (0) |
Bring It On?
Or "<whine>Why are you being so mean to me?</whine>" John Kerry should figure out which:
Brant received a call from Kerry at his home in Virginia while he was watching the Olympics on TV.The call lasted 10 minutes, sources tell DRUDGE.
KERRY: "Why are all these swift boat guys opposed to me?"
BRANT: "You should know what you said when you came back, the impact it had on the young sailors and how it was disrespectful of our guys that were killed over there."
[Brant had two men killed in battle.]
KERRY: "When we dedicated swift boat one in '92, I said to all the swift guys that I wasn't talking about the swifties, I was talking about all the rest of the veterans."
Kerry then asked if he could meet Brant ["You were one of the best"] -- man to man -- face to face.
Brant declined the invite, explaining that Kerry was obviously not prepared to correct the record on exactly what happened during Vietnam and what happened when Kerry came back.
Posted by bubba138 at 08:45 AM | Comments (0) |
Finally, A Little Consistency
John Kerry has been rightly slammed as a flip-flopper these past months, but on certain issues he can hold a principled position. So it is only fair that we give him credit when credit is due:
Congressional Democrats on Monday blasted the Senate Intelligence Committee chairman's proposal for breaking up the CIA and Defense Department spying operations, while the party's presidential nominee, Sen. John Kerry, praised it.John Kerry has been trying to break up the CIA for decades. Finally, he has found an issue upon which he can be consistent.The Kerry campaign, while pointing out that any proposal needs bipartisan support to pass Congress, embraced Roberts' ideas. Kerry national security adviser Rand Beers told the Associated Press.
Posted by bubba138 at 08:32 AM | Comments (0) |
Let's Talk a Little Media Bias Here
Jeff Jacoby says there's not much doubt who the media wants to win:
With the exception of the Fox News Channel, the liberal tilt of the mainstream media - the major newspapers, the networks, National Public Radio, the news magazines - has long been a fact of American life. No one observing the coverage of this year's presidential campaign with both eyes open can have much doubt that the media establishment is pulling heavily for the Democratic ticket.It brings to mind the Kerry campaign's repeated calls to Bush to condemn the Swiftboat ads. "After all", they say, "we condemned the latest MoveOn.org ad." The press has been all to happy to carry water for the Kerry camp, repeatedly asking Bush to repudiate the ads:That explains why, for example, the intense media interest in George W. Bush's National Guard records last February wasn't matched by an equally intense interest in John Kerry's Navy history in May, when the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth first went public with their criticisms. Far from leaping on the charges that Kerry's Vietnam heroism had been greatly exaggerated, the mainstream media's initial reaction was to largely ignore them. And while the press saw no reason to question the credibility of Bush's accusers or to demand that Kerry repudiate them, their attitude toward the Swift Boat vets has been much more hostile.
GEORGE W BUSH: I think Senator Kerry served admirably, and he ought to be proud of his record. But the question is who best to lead the country in the war on terror. Who can handle the responsibilities of the commander in chief? Who's got a clear vision of the risks that the country faces?Yet, not one single person in the press has had the...umm, manhood...to ask John Kerry or John Edwards -- after more than twelve months and more than a dozen Bush-bashing hit pieces from the Media Fund and MoveOn.org -- why they waited until now to condemn a single ad.REPORTER: Why won't you denounce the charges that your supporters are making against Kerry?
GEORGE W BUSH: I'm denouncing all the ch-…all the stuff being on TV of the 527s. That's what I've said.
Taking a page from the Democrat's playbook, I quesiton the timing.
Posted by bubba138 at 08:17 AM | Comments (0) |
Comedy of Errors
John Kerry is planning on defending himself on the most important news program on air today:
When John Kerry decided it was time to do his first national TV interview since the Swift boaters for Bush launched their attack on the senator's Vietnam War record, he did not choose CBS's "60 Minutes," ABC's "Nightline" or "NBC Nightly News."Is this an example of how serious Kerry takes the presidency?Kerry picked Comedy Central's "The Daily Show," where he will appear tonight in an extended interview.
Personally, I enjoy watching the Daily Show, but rarely do I stay up that late. I think I know some who will, though.
Posted by bubba138 at 07:59 AM | Comments (0) |
Safer, But Not Safe Yet
This doesn't fill me with confidence:
An investigation has begun into how a reporter who claims he smuggled fake bomb equipment onto a holiday jet evaded security checks.It isn't a matter of "if", its a matter of "when."Anthony France, 31, was taken on as a baggage handler at Birmingham Airport by contractor Aviance despite giving bogus references.
The journalist, who was working for the Sun, hid the fake device in his boots on 17 August, the paper said.
The reporter said the components of the device set off a metal detector but he was waved through after telling staff the alarm had been activated by his steel toecaps.
He also alleged that he had been left alone in the rear hold and had taken pictures of himself holding his makeshift device.
Posted by bubba138 at 07:45 AM | Comments (0) |
A New Blogger
Limbaugh is now blogging. No, not that one. The other one.
Posted by bubba138 at 07:38 AM | Comments (0) |
It Shouldn't Matter...But It Does
Thomas Sowell:
I don't know where John Kerry was on Christmas 1968. In fact, I'm not sure where I was that Christmas. Moreover, it shouldn't matter in a Presidential election in 2004.Read the whole thing.Unfortunately, Senator Kerry himself has made it matter by incessantly parading his four months in combat long ago. There are men who served in combat for years, who have sustained devastating wounds in battle, and who have won the Congressional Medal of Honor, who don't talk about it as much as John Kerry does...
The same people who now say that an official government report should be conclusive proof did not regard George W. Bush's honorable discharge from the National Guard as conclusive at all as to whether he had fulfilled his service obligation.
Posted by bubba138 at 07:33 AM | Comments (0) |
August 23, 2004
Poll Watch
Quick link to a new CBS/Gallup poll. Comments coming later.
Posted by bubba138 at 06:47 PM | Comments (0) |
It Takes a Village Idiot
Now I know John Kerry's in trouble:
JOHN KERRY'S presidential campaign, which slighted Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton during the Democratic convention last month, now wants the former first lady to lead its "truth squad" at next week's GOP convention, The Post has learned.Hillary. Head of "Truth Squad."
Yeeeah.
(Hat Tip)
Posted by bubba138 at 05:07 PM | Comments (0) |
Bob Dole and His Friend, John Kerry
Bob Dole said he had a friendly chat with John Kerry this morning:
He said he was very disappointed, we'd been friends. I said John, we're still friends, but [the Swiftvets] have First Amendment rights, just as your people have First Amendment rights.Jim Geraghty of NRO's Kerry Spot noticed something Dole missed:Dole told Kerry, "I'm not trying to stir anything up, but I don't believe every one of these people who have talked about what happened are Republican liars. And very frankly, Bush is my guy, and I'm tired of people on your side calling him everything from a coward to a traitor to everything - a deserter."
Dole said he urged Kerry, "Why don't you call George Bush today and say, 'Mr. President, let's stop all this stuff about the National Guard and Vietnam - and let's talk about the issues."
Dole said Kerry responded, "I haven't spent one dime attacking President Bush."
But the Republican war hero shot back, "You don't have to. You've got all the so-called mainstream media, plus you've got MoveOn.org and all these other groups that have spent millions and millions of dollars trying to tarnish Bush's image."
Does Kerry not remember ads like, "Misleading America" or ads accusing Bush of supporting sending jobs overseas, or saying, "George Bush is appointing far-right judges determined to take away our privacy."Umm...Yep.All of those are Kerry campaign ads...And the most recent Kerry ads responding to the Swifties charges, "Instead of solutions, George Bush's campaign supports a front group attacking military record. Attacks called smears and lies... Bush smeared John McCain four years ago. Now he's doing it to John Kerry."
John Kerry has spent a lot more than a dime on attacking President Bush.
Posted by bubba138 at 03:30 PM | Comments (0) |
Smoke 'Em If You Got 'Em
With August pretty much in the tank for Kerry, perhaps he should take some time off and relax with some of his supporters:
Amid the bong sales, the drug-reform speeches and a certain aroma that permeated the annual pro-marijuana festival yesterday, Hempfest was also a venue for another cause: getting John Kerry to the White House.
Lovely, No? Regulars who attend the two-day festival to hear the usual cry of "legalize marijuana" also found organizers campaigning to get pot users to vote for Kerry.
With an expected 150,000 visitors over two days, Hempfest is billed as one of the world's largest pro-marijuana rallies. As organizers see it, that's a gold mine for Kerry, since the crowd is largely anti-President Bush.
Posted by bubba138 at 03:04 PM | Comments (0) |
Bring 'Em Home
Kerry did his best to slam Bush for suggesting that we bring troops home from Europe and South Korea, even though it was his idea. In his knee-jerk, "if Bush is for it I'm against it" response, Kerry forgot to check one thing before speaking out -- the polls:
August 23, 2004--Initial public reaction to a proposal for reducing the number of American troops in Germany and Korea is very positive.Of course, Kerry can get back on the right side of the people by simply stating, "I was for troop realignment before I was against it."Fifty-nine percent (59%) of voters favor the plan which would station more American troops in the United States while reducing our presence in nations that dominated the Cold War era. A Rasmussen Reports survey found that 23% oppose the idea.
Posted by bubba138 at 01:28 PM | Comments (0) |
Denied!
Anti-bush protesters have been denied their request to break their agreement and hold their protests in Central Park:
A federal judge refused to order New York City to grant a rally permit because he said the two groups failed to provide property damage control plans for a gathering expected to draw about 75,000 people on the park's Great Lawn on Saturday.Keep in mind these same groups criticise Bush for not having a "plan for keeping the peace" in Iraq. Yet they cannot even come up with a plan to control damage to a lawn.UFPJ has permission to march under the banner "The World Says No To The Bush Agenda" past the Madison Square Garden convention venue on Sunday but the city denied a permit for the protest to continue with a rally in Central Park.
Judge Pauley said he was "convinced" The National Council of Arab Americans, the A.N.S.W.E.R. Coalition (Act Now to Stop War and End Racism) and the city could work out their concerns.
"There are serious questions whether the Great Lawn can safely accommodate the proposed rally at this point," the judge said in his written decision.
Posted by bubba138 at 12:17 PM | Comments (0) |
Illegal Coordination
This has been floating around the Bush-blogs for a couple of days and on the outset seems damning:
The Democratic Party is partnering with MoveOn.org, People for the American Way, Campaign for America's Future, and dozens of other groups representing millions of Americans to organize a massive public mobilization. On Wednesday, May 14, join us by calling and emailing your representatives in Congress to let them know that the majority of Americans oppose more irresponsible tax cuts that go overwhelmingly to the wealthiest sliver of Americans.I'm no legal expert, but I don't think this is illegal. What is illegal is cooperation between a 527 organization and a candidate's campaign.
Posted by bubba138 at 11:42 AM | Comments (0) |
AP: Only Half the Story
In a remarkably short article, the AP talks of Harkin's disappearance from the Kerry campaign stump:
Republicans are suggesting that Sen. Tom Harkin has been pulled from a campaign swing for Sen. John Kerry for calling Vice President Dick Cheney a "coward."What the AP didn't mention was perhaps the real reason Harkin isn't on the "Tour of Honor" is because he doesn't qualify.Kerry's campaign in Wisconsin had been publicizing a "Tour of Honor" featuring Harkin and former Sen. Max Cleland. The Iowa senator was to speak in Eau Claire Thursday but withdrew for "logistical reasons," said Lesley Sillaman of Kerry's Wisconsin campaign.
She denied that Harkin was "pulled from the lineup."
Look for Harkin to start speaking for one of these guys.
Update: Whoops, I forgot the link. Here it is.
Posted by bubba138 at 10:48 AM | Comments (0) |
No Longer Seeing Red
It is amazing what teachers think can hurt our children's self-esteem:
"If you see a whole paper of red, it looks pretty frightening," said Sharon Carlson, a health and physical education teacher at John F. Kennedy Middle School in Northampton. "Purple stands out, but it doesn't look as scary as red."If we are raising children that are so sensitive that they cannot handle a little red ink on their paper, how can we expect them to get along, let alone lead, when they get into the real world? Further, this idea that red carries a negative connentation is self-fulfilling. After a few years of having their mistakes marked in purple, students will come to "fear" that color as much.That's the cue pen makers and office supply superstores say they have gotten from teachers as the $15 billion back-to-school retail season kicks off. They say focus groups and conversations with teachers have led them to conclude that a growing number of the nation's educators are switching to purple, a color they perceive as "friendlier" than red.
"I do not use red," said Robin Slipakoff, who teaches second and third grades at Mirror Lake Elementary School in Plantation, Fla. "Red has a negative connotation, and we want to promote self-confidence. I like purple. I use purple a lot."
Sheila Hanley, who teaches reading and writing to first- and second-graders at John F. Kennedy Elementary School in Randolph, said: "Red is definitely a no-no.
Luckily, not all the teachers are nuts. At least one exhibits some common sense and, surprise, she's from California:
California high-school teacher Carol Jago, who has been working with students for more than 30 years, said she has no plans to stop using red. She said her students do not seem psychologically scarred by how she wields her pen. And if her students are mixing up "their," "there," and "they're," she wants to shock them into fixing the mistake.Mixing up "their," "there," and "they're," is a problem even among adults who should know better. Perhaps their teachers should have used more red ink."We need to be honest and forthright with students," Jago said. "Red is honest, direct, and to the point. I'm sending the message, 'I care about you enough to care how you present yourself to the outside world.' "
Posted by bubba138 at 10:42 AM | Comments (0) |
Kerry's 527 Ties: Stephanie Cutter and Debra Deshong
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I believe this is smoking gun material. Here we see disciples of Media Fund mavin Ellen Malcom at the Kerry headquarters receiving direction from Kerry campaign staff. If this isn't coordination with the Kerry campaign, nothing is.
Update: Welcome Instapundit readers. This post is only the latest of several 527 connections. There are more here, including direct 527 ties to John Edwards, Jim Jordan and others.
Posted by bubba138 at 10:11 AM | Comments (0) |
Call the Waaambulance
Russian sour grapes:
"I'm just furious," Khorkina, who had been favorite for the coveted title, was quoted as saying in the daily Izvestia. "I knew well in advance, even before I stepped on the stage for my first event, that I was going to lose."Of course, the fact she almost fell off the balanace beam had nothing to do with Khorkina's second-place finish."Everything was decided in advance. I had no illusions about this when the judges gave me 9.462 for the vault after conferring with one another at length.
"I practically did everything right, still they just set me up and fleeced me," she said in the interview published on Saturday.
Asked why she felt she was marked down by the judges, Khorkina said: "You better ask them. I think it's because I'm from Russia, not from America!"
Posted by bubba138 at 09:09 AM | Comments (0) |
Swiftboat Vets Scoring Hits
Even Kerry's cheerleader Newsweek has to admit the Swiftboat Vets are making a dnet in the campaign:
At first the Kerry campaign dismissed them as cranks. But with their slickly made ad and frequent appearances on cable TV and talk radio, charging that Kerry had lied to win his medals in Vietnam, the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth began making inroads. According to a poll taken by the University of Pennsylvania's Annenberg Center, more than half the people surveyed had seen or heard about the ad, and about half of independent voters found the ad to be believable.
Of course the Newsweek article links to more than half-a-dozen Kerry ads. How many Bush ads do they link to? None. I hope the Kerry campaign paid for those ads. if they haven't, wouldn't that amount to a campaign contribution?
Posted by bubba138 at 08:11 AM | Comments (0) |
All About Vietnam
Neal Boortz (Use this link after August 23rd):
OK ... back to being fed up with the tenor of this election. Just remember ... it was John Kerry, not George Bush, who decided that this election would be all about his service in Vietnam. In 1992 when we had a Democratic draft dodger running for president Kerry was saying that the presidential election should not be about who served and who didn't. Then when he decided to run it was ALL about who served. John Kerry didn't make one single campaign appearance during the primaries where he didn't highlight his tour of duty in Vietnam. Then, of course, there was that goofy "reporting for duty" salute at the convention. Kerry set this table, now he doesn't want to eat at it.Exactly.
Posted by bubba138 at 07:52 AM | Comments (0) |
Kerry Campaign: Re-Writing History...Then Erasing It
From the Boston Globe:
The Kerry campaign removed a 20-page batch of documents yesterday from its website after The Boston Globe quoted a Navy officer who said the documents wrongly portrayed Kerry's service. Edward Peck had said he -- not Kerry -- was the skipper of Navy boat No. 94 at a time when the Kerry campaign website credited the senator with serving on the boat. The website had described Kerry's boat as being hit by rockets and said a crewmate was injured in an attack. But Peck said those events happened when he was the skipper. The campaign did not respond to a request to explain why the records were removed.(Hat Tip)
Posted by bubba138 at 07:36 AM | Comments (0) |
Kerry's 527 Ties: Web of Connections Round-up
As you know, since last week I've been tracking down Kerry's connections to 527 organizations. I thought it might be useful if I rounded them out in one post to make them easy to get to. So here we go:
- John Edwards: Vice Presidential nominee that has private lunches with ultra-rich playboy Steve Bing, who also happens to be major contributor to MoveOn.org.
- Zack Exley: Former MoveOn.org employee now works for the Kerry campaign.
- Gene Sperling: Senior Fellow at Center for American Progress which partners with MoveOn.org for multiple projects.
- Jim Jordan: Worked as Kerry's campaign manager, now works for the Media Fund.
- Harold Ickes: A senior political strategist in the Kerry team and also the president and founder of the Media Fund.
- Terry Edmonds: Kerry's speechwriter and linked to Ellen Malcom of the Media Fund.
- Minyon Moore: Kerry strategist and big-wig at America Coming Together.
- Mary Beth Cahill: Worked with Ellen Malcom at Emily's List. Malcom is a player at the Media Fund.
Posted by bubba138 at 07:17 AM | Comments (0) |
August 22, 2004
The New Soldier
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The epilogue gives a hint at where Edwards got some of his campaign rhetoric:
I think that, more than anything, the New Soldier is trying to point out how there are two Americas -- the one the speeches are about and the one we really are. Rhetoric has blinded us so much that we are unable to see the realities which exist in this country.
Update: In response to a question about the origin of these PDF files I found this:
Indeed, Kerry seems to have set himself up by leaning heavily on his wartime experience -- despite possible revelations that might be damning to his claimed history. The revelations lurk in medical records, personal diaries, and an angry first book, The New Soldier.This puts me at a bit of a quandry. What I thought was public domain, is actually the result of someone's hard work in digitizing the book. I have, therefore, removed the free links to the PDF files from this post. If you want a copy, please visit the site and purchase one, fifteen bucks is a fair price. Thank you for your understanding.Kerry has done his best to restrict access to all of these, refusing to sign the "Standard Form 180" to allow public inspection of his records; keeping his diaries remarkably secret, given his focus on Vietnam; and prohibiting the reprinting of his book. (An entrepreneur has put a PDF version of the book on the internet for $14.95, at http://www.thenewsoldierbook.com.)
By the way, much of the book can be found online for free here.
Posted by bubba138 at 08:28 PM | Comments (0) |
ARRG! A Web of Connections
I was going to do this, but Kevin beat me to it. ARRG!
I especially like the link to the MoveOn/Bush/Hitler ad. Nice.
Posted by bubba138 at 07:56 AM | Comments (0) |
Published
A letter I wrote was in the local paper yesterday. It must have been good, they published two opposing views to counter it.
Posted by bubba138 at 07:32 AM | Comments (0) |
August 21, 2004
Kerry's 527 Ties: Mary Beth Cahill
The Los Angeles Times did a bio piece on Kerry's campaign manager, Mary Beth Cahill. This snippet is particularly interesting:
"She's one of the smartest people I've ever met," said Karin Johanson, who worked with Cahill at Emily's List, the activist group that backs pro-choice female candidates. "She's very good at what she does. She likes to win."Mary Beth Cahill worked at Emily's list. The president of Emily's list is Ellen Malcolm who also happens to be a principal of the Media Fund.
Posted by bubba138 at 09:27 PM | Comments (0) |
Washington Post
There’s lots and lots of grist for the mill in here. Looks like the WP was busy digging while the NYT was busy spinning. There are lots more questions to be asked and answered, but the chorus is getting louder.I have noticed that as well. I wanted to comment on it earlier but I've been occupied with Kerry's 527 connections. Here's another on fund raising that isn't hiding the disproportionate balance between Democrat and Republican use of 527's:
Of this, $144.9 million was raised by pro-Democratic independent groups and $9 million by pro-Republican groups. The GOP groups began aggressive fundraising only in late May, and a better picture of their cash position will emerge on Oct. 20, the next reporting period.Jim Jordan, a spokesman for the two most successful Democratic 527s -- America Coming Together and the Media Fund -- said the large amounts of money being raised this year "are a sign of both a very energized electorate and the increasingly sophisticated mechanics of political fundraising." Jordan said, "More people want to give, and the campaigns and groups are better at finding those people."
Posted by bubba138 at 03:54 PM | Comments (0) |
Kerry's 527 Ties: Dewey Square
Dewey Square is a high-power political consulting firm, and Kerry is using them extensively:
If Boston is the quintessential political town, Dewey Square is the political shop that most represents the city's politics, with its attention to grass-roots organizing and turning out voters on election day. Its members are not only fully engaged in Kerry's campaign against President Bush; they are also regularly involved in the marquee races around the country. Jill Alper, head of the firm's political division, was instrumental in Jennifer Granholm's narrow victory in 2002 as Michigan's first elected female governor.Both Jill Alper, a senior Kerry strategist and America Coming Together principal Minyon Moore are Dewey Square employees.
(Hat tip)
Update: Looking again I see that DSG employee Jeremy Van Ess, DSG co-founder Michael J. Whouley, and even Minyon Moore are listed as Kerry campaign advisors.
Update II: To be more clear, here is additional support. Jeremy Van Ess:
Kerry’s communications team also got a boost from a few new faces as Phil Singer, Sarah Gegenheimer, Anthony Coley, and Jeremy Van Ess joined the group...Minyon Moore:Deputy Press Secretary Jeremy Van Ess was formerly the Deputy Press Secretary for Edwards. Before that he was Deputy Press Secretary for now-Governor Edward G. Rendell’s (D-PA) campaign and a Communications Associate with the Dewey Square Group.
One Kerry adviser, the Dewey Square Group's Minyon Moore, decided that charity begins at home but needn't end there: She donated $500 in the first quarter to the Kerry campaign, but gave $500 to Edwards, for whom many of her colleagues at Dewey Square work, on June 30.Michael J. Whouley:
The endorsement would also provide a last-minute tweak to Dean's main rival in New Hampshire, Senator John F. Kerry of Massachusetts. His New Hampshire campaign is led by former governor Jeanne Shaheen and her husband, William, and aided by former Gore aide Michael J. Whouley of Boston's Dewey Square Group. All three of them were credited with Bradley's last-minute defeat in New Hampshire.And here is a Who's Who naming Whouley as a senior political strategist.
Update III: One of the above links is not working because George Washington University is doing maintenance. I expect it will be working tomorrow.
Posted by bubba138 at 12:16 PM | Comments (0) |
Call 60 Minutes
It probably isn't worth asking, but I'm still going to do it.
Richard Clarke got an uninterrupted forum when his book came out. Bill Clinton was lionized when he published his pablum.
What are the chances 60 Minutes is going to interview William Ferris?
Soemwhere between zero and none, I'd wager.
(Hat tip)
Posted by bubba138 at 11:50 AM | Comments (0) |
DNC Skirting Soft Money Rules
The DNC is skating on the edge of campaign finance reform:
John Kerry may balk at the label, but his supporters' interpretation of the campaign finance laws can only be described as extremely liberal...Soft money can be raised in unlimited amounts by bodies independent of the campaign, but can only be used for what is known as "party building" - messages that educate the voter on issues while stopping short of saying which candidate to vote for.
But this year one Kerry ad in particular is skirting dangerously close to doing just that.
Titled "Strength", the ad runs clips from John Kerry's nomination speech, which highlight the war hero's credentials as a commander-in-chief-in-waiting, who can be trusted to keep America safe. It doesn't explicitly instruct you to vote for Kerry, but awash as it is in triumphant images of the nominee on the convention stage, it leaves no other conclusion.
Posted by bubba138 at 10:13 AM | Comments (0) |
Kerry's 527 Ties: Terry Edmonds and the Media Fund
Kerry speechwriter Terry Edmonds worked for Donna Shalala who shared a seat on an awards host committee with Ellen Malcolm. Ellen Malcolm is a principal of the Media Fund.
Yes, I know this one is flimsy, but no more than some of those cited by the New York Times.
Posted by bubba138 at 09:52 AM | Comments (0) |
Welcome Hugh Hewitt Readers
First off, thanks to Hugh for the link. Second, if you came here from Hugh's site, please pay special attention to these:
Find out how much money John Kerry's "Front Groups" have amassed and ask yourself why 527 groups didn't become an issue until one started doing him damage.
The direct links between the 527 groups and the Kerry campaign are astounding. John Edwards has private lunches with one MoveOn.org's biggest donors and the Kerry campaign hired a staff member straight out of the same organization.
Kerry's top economic advisor Gene Sperling is up to his neck in MoveOn.org association and Kerry's former campaign manager now campaigns for him under the safe umbrella of the 527 group the Media Fund.
Also, very few of the blogs noticed, but the Kerry campaign actually admitted they were counting on media bias to help them weather the Swiftboat storm:
[Kerry spokeswoman Stephanie] Cutter said the campaign relied on the media, surrogates and 700 letters to the editor to discredit the charges. "But every time one of these guys [from the Swift boat group] shows up on Fox, we get calls from veterans," she said.
Posted by bubba138 at 08:59 AM | Comments (0) |
Kerry's Campaign Finance Reform
The Kerry camp isn't only short-circuiting campaign finance reform with all the the 527 groups, he is just plain ignoring the old campaign finance laws:
According to the current OpenSecrets data, Bush's stats are:Of course, opensecrets.org has all the info summed up nicely.Full Disclosure: $156,147,934 (93.0%)
Incomplete: $2,378,738 (1.4%)
No Disclosure: $9,309,250(5.5%)Kerry's, on the other hand, are:
Full Disclosure: $85,533,842 (76.4%)
Incomplete: $762,427 (0.7%)
No Disclosure: $25,619,547 (22.9%)Bush's 93% compliance seems quite in line with OpenSecrets' 91% average from past Congressional campaigns, but Kerry's number, at 76%, is wildly out of wack.
Posted by bubba138 at 08:53 AM | Comments (0) |
Kerry Campaign Front Groups
Jason of "Generation Why?" has expanded on Kerry's 527 support. Some of his thought will be very familiar, but he also adds in choice quotes from Soros, et al.
Posted by bubba138 at 08:21 AM | Comments (0) |
August 20, 2004
Kerry's 527 Ties: Harold Ickes and Jim Jordan
Harold Ickes is the principal of the well funded Media Fund 527 organization. He was a Clinton advisor and has been active in Democrat politics for as long as I can remember.
As late as May 30th, the Telegraph was referring to Harold Ickes as "the senior political strategist in the Kerry team."
If that isn't enough, the Media Fund employs Jim Jordan, who is no stranger to the Kerry campaign:
The Media Fund, financed in part by billionaire George Soros, is expected to begin airing commercials in the next several days.The Kerry campaigns fingerprints are all over this 527 organization."The object is to give Democrats cover during a Republican advertising onslaught and to make sure that the national political environment stays favorable for Democrats everywhere," said Jim Jordan, who was Kerry's campaign manager until a staff shake-up last fall, and now is a spokesman for the Media Fund.
Posted by bubba138 at 11:58 PM | Comments (0) |
Kerry's 527 Ties: Economic Advisor Gene Sperling
In what I have determined to make an ongoing series, I will be exploring the Kerry campaign's connections to 527 organizations. Earlier today, we found that:
- Vice Presidential Nominee John Edwards has a direct connection to Steve Bing, who is one of MoveOn.org's largest donors.
- Zack Exley left MoveOn to work directly on John Kerry’s presidential campaign
The two organizations also cooperated on "Uncovered: The Whole Truth About Iraq," critical of the Bush administration's decision to go to war in Iraq based on questionable intelligence.
The Center for American Progress has also launched the American Progress Action Fund. Whether this is a 527 organization is a mystery at this point. The American Progress Action Fund cannot be found on opensecrets.org and nothing on its website inidcates its legal status.
Even so, Sperling's connection to MoveOn.org through his fellowship at the Center for American Progress is enough to raise questions about cooperation with the Kerry campaign.
Posted by bubba138 at 10:17 PM | Comments (0) |
A Race in California?
The most recent SurveyUSA poll has Kerry beating Bush in California by only three points.
It does look as if the poll over-sampled Republicans, however. Of the likely voters in SurveyUSA's sample, 237 were Republican and 218 Democrat. Since there are markedly more democrats in California than Republicans, I'd bet the poll isn't very accurate.
Still, if the Swiftboat Vets would show their ad in California it could become a competitive state. That would throw the Kerry camp into an absolute tither tizzy (or, if you prefer, dither)!
Posted by bubba138 at 06:13 PM | Comments (0) |
Another Viewpoint
There are right ways to look at Kerry's candidacy and there are wrong ways. And then, there are ways like this:
We are back to those offending fragments. They are evidence, damning evidence in my view, that Kerry's karma is way out of whack. If half the stories of his cutting to the front of the line, abusing subordinates, calling Secret Service agents names, etc., etc, are true, the guy is a walking karma black hole, with shrapnel wounds in his butt to prove it. We knew beyond doubt this was the case with Carter when he was attacked by the crazed rabbit. Can you imagine Reagan being attacked by a rabbit? You cannot. I don't care about Cambodia. I want to know, did Kerry, or did he not, blow up his butt with his own grenade? If the answer is yes, then, I'm sorry, but he cannot be our Chief. Irrational prejudice still counts for something in this country.
"I'm sorry Senator. You cannot be President because you blew up your butt."
Valid? No. Funny? Oh yeah.
Posted by bubba138 at 02:19 PM | Comments (0) |
Why I Do This
Sometimes -- usually after a very intense political week -- I experience a down period when I ask myself why I do all this blogging. After all, what am I accomplishing that and two thousand bloggers aren't already doing?
The main reason I write is because it is cathardic. After listening to the news and reading the paper blogging gives me a release and hence prevents me from throwing a brick though the television. This is a good thing because it means my wife can watch the Olympics. Watching the Olympics makes my wife happy. Having a happy wife is much easier than the alternative. I digress.
Second to that is the feeling that I have to do something to change (or maintain) the world around me. I'm just one little fish in a big ocean, but that doesn't have to mean my miniscule contribution to the court of ideas is without worth. I ask myself "Whether it is nobler in the mind to suffer the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune, or take up arms against a sea of troubles, and by opposing them, end them?" I choose to oppose, and this little insignificant blog is how I do it.
So, when I come across something like this, I am encouraged, knowing that we are making a difference:
I am a registered Democrat and I am voting for President Bush. After watching Michael Moore on Bill O'Reilly's show, I was so disgusted that I'm seriously considering switching my party affiliation. But being a democrat and voting for Bush is at least one more way to give my once-respectable party the finger.Some months ago Josh Marshall said, "I take it as a given that virtually no Gore voters from 2000 will pull the lever for Bush." That's not so much a given, now is it?If it wasn't for blogs and the internet in general, the "legacy technology" news media would have a strangle hold on the truth. Thanks for all of your efforts.
Posted by bubba138 at 01:10 PM | Comments (0) |
Kerry's 527 Ties: ZacK Exley and John Edwards
Kerry's campaign says Swiftboat Veterans is not valid, but MoveOn.org is:
Debra Deshong of the Kerry campaign told Fox News there's a difference between MoveOn.org and Swift Boat Veterans for Truth: "MoveOn.org is an independent organization that existed well before the Kerry campaign," she said, whereas Swift Boat Veterans for Truth "is not an independent group."You want ties? How about this:Deshong invoked Friday's New York Times article as proof: "And in today's New York Times, it details exactly all the ties this group (Swift Boat Veterans for Truth) has to the Bush White House."
The group operates with a very small staff of highly talented people, with much of their technical support outsourced, and staff members working primarily from their homes. [16, p. 4]. Along the way, Blades and Boyd have had the help of such talented folks as Zack Exley and Eli Pariser. Exley is the founder of the 2000 parody site GWBush.com about which George Bush declared “There ought to be some limits to freedom!” [24, para 10). Although Exley has left MoveOn to work directly on John Kerry’s Presidential campaign, Pariser is still with MoveOn, acting as the Executive Director.
Straight from MoveOn.org to Kerry's campaign. No ties there. But there is more. Steve Bing, who gave almost one million dollars to MoveOn.org has private lunches with John Edwards:
After a recent private lunch with Democratic vice-presidential candidate Edwards, Bing also declined to answer questions about his relationship with Montemarano.I'm absolutely sure they have never talked about the campaign.
Posted by bubba138 at 09:37 AM | Comments (0) |
Kerry Campaign Embraces Censorship
Salon's Eric Boehlert reports:
The Kerry campaign has told Salon that the publisher of "Unfit for Command," the book that is at the center of the attack on Kerry's military record by the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, is retailing a hoax and should consider withdrawing it from bookstores. "No publisher should want to be selling books with proven falsehoods in them, especially falsehoods that are meant to smear the military service of an American veteran," said Kerry campaign spokesman Chad Clanton. "If I were them, I'd be ducking under my desk wondering what to do. This is a serious problem."I cannot recall Kerry asking the same treatment for Michael Moore's film, Richard Clarke's book, or any of the half-dozen or so discreditted anti-Bush tomes that were released over the last twelve months.
Boehlert opines:
A Regnery Publishing spokesperson did not return a call seeking comment about the factual cloud over "Unfit for Command." But if Regnery doesn't withdraw the book, perhaps bookstore retailers will at least consider moving the title over to the fiction section.Or better yet, perhaps the Kerry campaign can buy them all up and have a good ol' book-burning party.
Update: Here's a nice list of books Kerry did not want banned
Posted by bubba138 at 08:53 AM | Comments (0) |
Blog Roundup
FrontPage Magazine's weekly blog roundup is up. Check it out.
Posted by bubba138 at 07:25 AM | Comments (0) |
Wheels Within Wheels
Was MoveOn.org's latest Bush/AWOL advertisement a setup? Whether it was or not, Matt Margolis makes a good point:
It's interesting that Kerry will condemn this latest MoveOn.Org ad, but not keep his campaign from making those same criticisms...Here's more:
Kerry, to be sure, labeled as "inappropriate" Tuesday a new commercial by his shadow campaign, the far-left folks at MoveOn.org, which accuses President Bush of having "used his father to get into the National Guard and when the chips were down went missing."This should be shocking. Unfortunately, it is the standard.The Democratic candidate, acting at the instigation of GOP Sen. John McCain, also insisted that "this should be a campaign of issues, not insults."
Which is all well and good — except that just hours after that statement, the Kerry campaign organized a conference in which two high-profile ex-military supporters simply parroted the MoveOn commercial's line.
Did the Kerry camp chastise these two notables by reminding them of what the candidate had publicly said just a few tics of the clock earlier?
Not at all: "These are veterans who earned the right to their opinion," said a spokeswoman. "John Kerry speaks for John Kerry."
Except, of course, that the Kerry campaign itself organized the press conference. This wasn't "Face the Nation" the two were speaking on.
Posted by bubba138 at 07:17 AM | Comments (0) |
August 19, 2004
Washington Post Finds Cambodia
They thought it was missing for good, but someone must have looked under the couch because the Washington Post has finally found Cambodia:
While Kerry struck back at the group, he did not address some of the accusations, including the charge that he lied about crossing into Cambodia on Christmas Eve 1968. Kerry, in a statement, maintains he was in Cambodia while serving in Vietnam but does not state that it was on that date. Swift Boat Veterans for Truth has also accused Kerry of lying about his war record to win a Bronze Star and using a self-inflicted wound to claim a Purple Heart, charges the Democratic nominee denies.Oh, and in case you had any doubt about the liberal media rest assured, the Kerry campaign had none:Instead of rebutting each charge, Kerry blamed Bush for sanctioning such highly personal attacks...
Bush has refused to condemn the ad, and there is no evidence the president's campaign has direct connections to the anti-Kerry veterans group...
The group spent about $500,000 on the ad, but its allegations that Kerry exaggerated his combat record to win medals have been on the Internet, 24-hour cable shows and, most recently, the nation's major television networks and newspapers.
[Kerry spokeswoman Stephanie] Cutter said the campaign relied on the media, surrogates and 700 letters to the editor to discredit the charges. "But every time one of these guys [from the Swift boat group] shows up on Fox, we get calls from veterans," she said.It is obvious Kerry thought he could leave off the issue and count on the media to let it die. It is not a stretch to surmise that the blogosphere, talk radio, and Fox news kept this alive. A new age has dawned: the Democrats no longer have a stranglehold on the truth.
P.S. I got the heads-up on this article from a Beth Cahill campaign email. Here's what she had to say about it:
Today marks the end of the dishonest and disgusting smear campaign against John Kerry and his crewmates from Vietnam. This morning on the front page of the Washington Post, one of the central figures in the effort to distort John Kerry's military service was completely discredited.Hmmm. I wonder if she read the same article. And how did she know at 9pm what was going to be on the front page of tomorrow's Post?
MY MISTAKE, this is the article to which Cahill refers.
Update: The New York Times even stepped into the Camboia waters, albeit reluctantly -- attaching the meme to the end of an overblown "six degrees of separation" hatchet-job. One wonders, has the New York Times done similar research on the Media Fund and its cousins? I didn't think so.
Kerry was counting on the media to discredit the Swifties. The New York Times at least came through.
Update II: The Captain is all over the New York Times piece:
In an article of over 3,500 words, those 99 are the only coverage the Gray Lady provides for the embarrassing debacle of the campaign's last two weeks. No mention of Kerry advisor Michael Meehan's clumsy geographical explanations of how the Mekong Delta formed the border between Cambodia and Viet Nam, which the London Telegraph noted was a "geographical area not found on maps." Not a word about how the Kerry campaign insisted that Kerry never said he had been in Cambodia, hastily reversed itself when shown the Congressional Record for March 27th, 1986, and then went silent for two days while it concocted the ludicrous notion that Kerry had meant he was near Cambodia -- which makes no sense of this supposed epiphany.
Update III: Why have the New York Times or Washington Post not exposed the very direct connections between the Kerry campaign and MoveOn.org?
Posted by bubba138 at 09:41 PM | Comments (0) |
Blame America First
| Might U.S. Wrongdoing Have Motivated 9/11 Attacks? | ||||
| July 2004 | Total | Rep | Dem | Ind |
| Yes | 38 | 17 | 51 | 44 |
| No | 51 | 76 | 37 | 44 |
| Don't Know | 11 | 7 | 12 | 11 |
Republicans and Democrats now hold sharply divergent views on a range of foreign policy attitudes, including the use of torture, the proper balance between fighting terrorism and protecting civil liberties, and even the root causes of the 9/11 attacks. Since late September 2001, a growing number of Democrats (51%) and independents (45%) believe that U.S. wrongdoing in dealings with other countries might have motivated the 9/11 attacks. Republicans reject that view even more decisively than three years ago (76% now, 65% in late September 2001).Both Democrats and Republicans can agree that says alot about politics in the U.S. today.
Posted by bubba138 at 02:33 PM | Comments (0) |
New York Times and the News: Sports
One of Glenn's readers says the press isn't really liberal, it is partisan, "Think of it like a sporting event where folks desperately want one team to win and the other to lose."
As if by way of proof, James Taranto notices this:
Yesterday Gail Collins's New York Times editorial board declared not only that Chávez was the legitimate winner but that it will brook no dissent on the question:Question the election of a socialist less than a week after the voting: bad. Question the election of a Republican almost four years later: good. All's fair as long as it helps your "team" win.It is time for President Hugo Chávez's opponents to stop pretending that they speak for most Venezuelans. They do not, as the failure of a recall referendum, promoted by the opposition, decisively demonstrated on Sunday. . . . The opposition . . . needs to stop shouting foul.This editorial ran three days after the Venezuela vote. Meanwhile, after more than three years, the Times is still shouting foul over America's 2000 election. Today, 1,381 days after George W. Bush's victory, the Times begins its lead editorial this way:One of the scandals of the last presidential election was the large number of voters who were denied the right to vote because of foul-ups in the election system, like errors in the voting rolls or problems in directing voters to their correct polling places.
Posted by bubba138 at 02:02 PM | Comments (0) |
John Kerry: "They're a front for the Bush campaign"
John Kerry himself has now personally spoken out against the Swiftboat Veterans for Truth:
``Over the last week or so, a group called Swift Boat Veterans for Truth has been attacking me. Of course, this group isn't interested in the truth -- and they're not telling the truth,'' Kerry said. ``Here's what you really need to know about them -- they're funded by hundreds of thousands of dollars from a Republican contributor out of Texas. They're a front for the Bush campaign.''
 |
One. Hundered. Thousand.
Big deal.
Let's compare, shall we? Looking at the top forty-nine 527 organizations, we find:
#1: The Joint Victory Campaign. The sole purpose of this organization is to raise funds for the number two ranked Media Fund and number three ranked America Coming Together. Both organizations are dedicated to defeating Geroge Bush. This organization sports no less than thirty-three individuals who have given more money than Bob Perry, twelve who have given at least one million dollars, with the largest contributor shelling out $7.75 million. George Soros has given more than $4.5 million to this organization.
#2: The Media Fund. This "Anybody but Bush" group has put together and paid for multiple TV ads that play in the battle-ground states. They are funded to the tune of over $28 million, almost half of which comes from the number one ranked Joint Victory Campaign. More than $5.5 million has come from employee unions.
#3: America Coming Together. Also against Bush, also helped by the Joint Victory Campaign, also a baby of George Soros ($5 million) and Peter Lewis (almost $3 million).
#4 & #5: The Service Employees International Union and the American Federationn of State/County/Municiple Employees More than $16 and $13 million respectively. Both are unions and hence partisan Democratic fronts.
Those are just the first five of the forty-nine. More staggering is when we step back and look at the forest, not the trees. Of the top forty-nine 527 organizations:
- Forty one (84%) are supported by Democrats and push Democrat causes.
- Only five are supported by Republicans and push Republican causes.
- Three are issue or industry oriented (like Peter Lewis' Marijuana Policy Project).
- The Democrat funding totals $176 million compared to the Republican total of $10.8 million.
By Kerry's measure, each of the organizations that support Democrat causes are "Democrat front groups." John Kerry only objects when a 527 organization slams him. President George Bush objects to it all, which begs the question, "Is this really a fight John Kerry wants to have?"
Posted by bubba138 at 12:22 PM | Comments (0) |
Integrity: The Price of Hyper-Partisanship
Even the Los Angeles Times noted Kerry's empty rhetoric on Bush's plans for troop reorganization:
But Kerry's effort to present a clear policy difference with Bush was potentially undercut by previous comments — some as recent as this month — when he voiced support for shifting some American soldiers stationed in Europe and Asia.The Cincinnati Enquirer also noticed it, and the driving motivation behind it:In an Aug. 1 interview with ABC's George Stephanopoulos, Kerry said he believed his brand of diplomacy would allow the United States to "significantly change the deployment of troops, not just [in Iraq] but elsewhere in the world. In the Korean peninsula perhaps, in Europe perhaps."
But you have to wonder what the vets think of Kerry's pro forma opposition to any idea from the Bush administrationYou can't win elections when your platform consists of only one rule: "If my opponent is for it I'm against it." Doing so lets the other side set the agenda, which is exactly what the Democrats have been doing since 2000.
Kerry so elequently said in his acceptance speech, "I am proud that after September 11th all our people rallied to President Bush's call for unity to meet the danger. There were no Democrats. There were no Republicans. There were only Americans. How we wish it had stayed that way." But he didn't ask the next question, "Who moved?" Whose position has changed since then? Not the Bush administration's.
In September of 2001, the entire country was behind Bush. Even Dan Rather was willing to fall into lock-step, including if it was to go into Iraq:
We now know that Saddam Hussein, we mentioned, you know, if he isn't connected to this, he's connected to any other things. He's part of this "hate America" thing...And later in the interview:And his hate is deep for us. I don't even like to use the word "hate," but, you know, this is what we're dealing with, and we have to wake up.
George Bush is the President, he makes the decisions, and, you know, as just one American, wherever he wants me to line up, just tell me where.But with time, and forgetfulness, the line has shifted. Democrats have stepped out from behind the President for no other reason but the fact that he's not a Democrat. Apply any of their anti-Iraq arguments to Clinton and Bosnia and they are left empty-handed.
In the end, all they are left with is Bush is in the wrong party, and that's not an issue voters care about.
Posted by bubba138 at 10:52 AM | Comments (0) |
Recall Randy
Randy C. Kelly, mayor of St. Paul, Minnestoa is facing a recall effort. His crime? He's a Democrat who has endorsed President Bush. That's it.
Posted by bubba138 at 09:47 AM | Comments (0) |
al-Sadr: Back at It
After acceeding to a truce and agreeing to disarm al-Sadr has once again given the Iraqi government the big middle finger:
Shortly before the mortar attack, al-Sadr's spokesman said the peace deal offered by the fledgling Iraqi government was unacceptable.First Sadr says "every drop of blood," then he says he wants to negotiate, then he says "martyrdom or victory.""It is very clear that we reject them," Sheikh Ahmed al-Sheibani, a senior al-Sadr aide and Mahdi Army (search) commander, told reporters, according to Reuters. The aide spoke from inside the shrine where about 3,000 of al-Sadr's fighters and supporters are holed up.
An official in the cleric's office, Haidar al-Tourfi, said he received a text message from al-Sadr saying: "Either martyrdom or victory."
With high frequency and sort intervals between al-Sadr's flip-flops, one might be led to beleive he is taking campaign hints from Kerry.
Posted by bubba138 at 09:28 AM | Comments (0) |
It's About Staying Alive, Stupid
The Democrats are doing their level best to blur the focus of this year's election and for months it seemed their strategy was working. Even multiple polls have shown that people's concerns over the economy had or would be overtaking security issues. However, the closer we get to the election the more focused America's thinking becomes and people realize the economy doesn't mean much if you are dead. Hence:
Concern about national security is dominating public attention in the final months of the presidential campaign because of continuing fears of terrorism and unhappiness about the war in Iraq, according to a poll released Wednesday.That last point is only half complete. While more say that our foreign policy should take allies' interests into account, 38% also said that Bush takes the interests of our allies into account by the right amount while 15% said he gives allied interests too much wieght. Certainly that tidbit moves the last point into the Bush column."For the first time since the Vietnam era, national security issues are looming larger than economic issues in an election year," said Andrew Kohut, director of the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press.
Nine in 10 say taking measures to protect the United States from terrorist attacks is a top priority. Six in 10 say the use of military force can sometimes be justified against countries that may seriously threaten this country but have not attacked. Bush is seen as stronger on handling terrorism than Kerry. Others would seem to favor Kerry:
Two-thirds are worried about a loss of respect internationally by the United States and most think that is a major problem. Six in 10 say the Bush administration is too quick to use force rather than trying harder for diplomatic solutions. People were more inclined to say that foreign policy should take allies' interests into account than to say foreign policy should be based mostly on U.S. interests.
Posted by bubba138 at 08:50 AM | Comments (0) |
August 18, 2004
Kerry's VFW Speech
As the New York Times reports it:
Today, the V.F.W. audience greeted Mr. Kerry with frequent applause, much as it had Mr. Bush on Monday.
As the AP reports it:
On Monday, Bush received a commander-in-chief's welcome from the VFW in this Republican-leaning city, drawing loud cheers of support. The veterans, who tend to vote more Republican than Democratic, gave Kerry a polite welcome.Large portions of the crowd applauded each of his many promises to protect veterans' benefits. Smaller portions vocally backed his points on Iraq and terrorism. Some veterans sat with arms folded, while others stood and clapped.
One man heckled Kerry, calling him a liar.
I detect a slight difference in the accounts, no?
Posted by bubba138 at 04:29 PM | Comments (0) |
Cipel Not Truthful?
Perhaps he is gay:
The New Jersey gay sex scandal took an explosive new turn as a man claiming to be Golan Cipel's lover came forward and reported the affair to aides of Gov. Jim McGreevey, sources said yesterday. The mystery man, a college professor from northern Jersey, called the governor's office to assert he and Cipel had been romantically involved, sources said.That would certainly answer this question.If true, the new lover could blow apart Cipel's claims that he is straight and seriously damage Cipel's credibility as a victim of McGreevey's unwanted sexual advances.
The governor's office was taking the claim seriously enough to have private investigators vet the allegations as part of McGreevey's efforts to repel a potential civil suit by Cipel, sources said yesterday.
"There have been at least three people coming forward, and this person seems the most credible," a source familiar with the inquiry said.
Posted by bubba138 at 04:20 PM | Comments (0) |
McGreevy: "The BEST of Jersey Boss Politics"
The mayor of Belmar, New Jersey (not to be confused with Belmawr!) tosses that suggestion aside, saying, "That's crazy. People will contribute to McGreevey's legal fees because they like him. To dangle that as a carrot, or think people will withhold that if he doesn't go along with what they want, smells of the worst of Jersey boss politics."Oh, so all the Democrats and Republicans calling on him to resign immediately really, really like him. You know, deep down. Also, these FBI investigations surrounding McGreevey's administration--that's not evidence of the worst Jersey boss politics.
It's the BEST Jersey boss politics!
Posted by bubba138 at 11:30 AM | Comments (0) |
Bring the Troops Home
Bush is for it, so of course Kerry is agin it:
But on Wednesday Mr Kerry said the president's withdrawal plan was misguided."Nobody wants to bring troops home more than those of us who have fought in foreign wars, but it needs to be done at the right time and in a sensible way. This is not that time or that way," he said.
"Why are we unilaterally withdrawing 12,000 troops from the Korean Peninsula at the very time we are negotiating with North Korea - a country that really has nuclear weapons?" he added.
"This is not that time." Well on this point he and Bush agree. This is not a new plan, nor is it one that is to be implemented right now. The plan calls for movements starting next year and 2006.
Kerry's real problem is not that Bush is planning on pulling troops home, but that the troops are not coming back from Iraq instead. To be clear:
| Good | Bad |
| Bring back troops from Iraq before they finish eliminating those that want us dead | Bring back troops stationed in Europe where there is no longer a threat |
| Prematurely declare the war in Iraq over | Finally conceed the cold war is cold dead |
| Hand Iraq over to the United Nations and the European Union | Hand Europe over to the United Nations and the European Union |
| U.S. quits peacekeeping duties in Iraq | U.S. quits peacekeeping duties in Europe |
| Abandon our friends (who wanted to be liberated and welcome our support) in Iraq | Abandon our "friends" (who consistantly oppose us on world matters and snear at America) in Europe |
Update: Christopher points out that Kerry was all for Bush's plan...until that is Bush vocalized it:
JOHN KERRY: If the diplomacy that I believe can be put in place can work, I think we can significantly change the deployment of troops, not just there but elsewhere in the world. In the Korean peninsula perhaps, in Europe perhaps. There are great possibilities open to us. But this administration has had very little imagination, enormous sort of ideological fixation and, frankly, took its eye off the war against al Qaeda and the war on terror shifting it to Iraq at enormous cost to the American people and to the legitimacy of the war on terror. (John Kerry, ABC’s “This Week,” 8/1/04)To be fair in the above quote Kerry uses the proviso, "If the diplomacy that I believe can be put in place can work," implying that he'd employ sensitive negotiation to enact the troop pull-out. This is very much in line with the question Kerry asked yesterday, "Why are we unilaterally withdrawing 12,000 troops...?"
Unilaterally? Not only does Kerry believe we need the world's permission to use our military and protect our interests, we also need their permission to bring them home.
Posted by bubba138 at 11:27 AM | Comments (0) |
Immigration Reform
This is not immigration reform. As a matter of fact, it isn't even acceptable:
A popular new reality TV show offers illegal aliens a chance to win the services of a law firm to gain a "green card" — if the contestants are willing to, among other things, eat a worm-stuffed taco.It is not often I agree with La Raza, but this is one of those very rare instances. This show takes advantage of a class of people that will do anything to improve their lives. That is not entertainment, it is opportunism, and it is wrong.Show winners are guaranteed the services of a noted immigration attorney for a year to apply for a government-issued green card, which gives them the right to work and permanently reside in the United States. The show's producers, Liberman Broadcasting Corp., do not guarantee a card will be issued, only that a law firm will be hired to seek one.
In an Aug. 11 letter to KRCA-TV, the Los Angeles station that airs the program, several groups, including the Southern California Chapter of the American Immigration Lawyers Association, the California La Raza Lawyers Association, asked that the show be canceled.
Posted by bubba138 at 11:03 AM | Comments (0) |
Like It Or Not, It Is Working
The Swiftboat Veterans are having an effect on this election:
The ad planted doubts in the minds of 27 percent of independent voters who planned to vote for Kerry or leaned pro-Kerry. After seeing it, they were no longer sure they'd back him, the study found.If this election is as close as the media is reporting it (a conclusion I have yet to buy into) the independent vote is the most crucial of all. Swaying twenty-seven percent of that group sways the entire election, especially when the swaying happens in the battleground states.
Posted by bubba138 at 10:36 AM | Comments (0) |
Kerry/Cambodia
Michael Kranish has written a skeptical yet incomplete piece on Kerry's Cambodia adventures. Hugh says this:
Note that it doesn't even mention the magic hat much less the more obscure Kerry claims like gun running. Has Kranish been asleep or is he too embarrassed at having bought this stuff in the bio he and other Globe reporters put out to raise the hard questions now?
Good questions. But the questions I have revolve around the Kerry campaign's own statement on the subject:
"During John Kerry's service in Vietnam, many times he was on or near the Cambodian border and on one occasion crossed into Cambodia at the request of members of a special operations group operating out of Ha Tien," Kerry spokesman Michael Meehan said in a statement...Kerry's own campaign has admitted that Kerry was not in Cambodia on Christmas. Kerry repeatedly said he was in Cambodia on Christmas, and when he did it was in the context of advancing a particular political agenda. In other words, Kerry purposefully lied about his Vietnam experiences in order to push forward his own political causes. How is this not news?"On December 24, 1968, Lieutenant John Kerry and his crew were on patrol in the watery borders between Vietnam and Cambodia deep in enemy territory. In the early afternoon, Kerry's boat, PCF-44, was at Sa Dec and then headed north to the Cambodian border. There, Kerry and his crew along with two other boats were ambushed, taking fire from both sides of the river, and after the firefight were fired upon again. Later that evening during their night patrol they came under friendly fire."
Second, the Kerry camp has now definitively stated that Kerry went into Cambodia once. One time. Uno. Yet Kerry's own words imply that he had repeated missions into, (into not close to) Cambodia. He has said that he was...
...in Cambodia at Christmas (a claim his campaign has back-peddled on but Kerry himself has not corrected).
...in Cambodia dropping off a CIA agent.
...in Cambodia at the request of a "special operations group." To be fair, this claim was made by Kerry's campaign, not Kerry himself.
...in Cambodia dropping off weapons for anti-communist groups.
Is it possible Kerry was doing all this on one single trip? Perhaps. But if that were the case you'd think he'd be able to get at least one of his "band of brothers" to back him up on it. So far not even his most ardent "brother" can lend credence to Kerry's claims:
James Wasser, who accompanied Kerry on that mission aboard patrol boat No. 44 and who supports Kerry's candidacy, said that while he believes they were "very, very close" to Cambodia, he did not think they entered Cambodia on that mission. Yet he added: "It is very hard to tell. There are no signs."
Update: The Minneapolis Star-Tribune has become the banner carrier for this story. Today they give the fullest treatment to the Swiftboat Vets claims I've yet seen in the print press. The piece is balanced and straight-forward. Most importantly, it is published in a battle-ground state where the President is today holding a rally in St. Paul.
Posted by bubba138 at 10:29 AM | Comments (0) |
Softball vs. Homespun
I read this article, but I missed this one. While reading the first, I found my self constantly repeating the question, "So how is this any different than any other campaign?"
Lucky for me, TimesWatch.org read both articles:
Same campaign tactic, but two very different takes: Both Kerry and Bush hold informal campaign chats with handpicked supporters. But according to the Times, while Bush "fields softballs from the faithful" that sometimes "aren't even questions at all," Kerry supporters merely "raised hands with questions rather than waving signs with slogans." While Bush's campaign comes off as cynical, Kerry's is described as "homespun." [...]As the headline indicates, Bumiller's story emphasizes the softball nature of the questions: "As anyone who has sat through the 90-minute forums knows, the questions are not hand grenades that detonate onto the evening news." [...]
By contrast, Tuesday's story from the Kerry campaign by Jodi Wilgoren, "Front-Porch Chat: Birth of a Kerry Campaign Tactic" soft-pedals the cynicism in favor of profiling the giddy middle-class people lucky enough to be used as a backdrop for the Kerry campaign...
Also note the lack of cynicism in Wilgoren's report on Kerry's chats, compared to that in Bumiller's report about Bush's. While Bush's events are in front of "faithful," "rapt Republican audiences," Wilgoren blandly states that Kerry's events are "invitation-only." [...]
Wilgoren emphasizes the positive: "The low-key, invitation-only events, where perhaps 100 people sit around red-checked picnic tables, raising hands with questions rather than waving signs with slogans, mimic the town-hall style campaigning for the Iowa caucuses at which both Mr. Kerry and Mr. Edwards excelled...
Oh, THAT liberal media.
Posted by bubba138 at 09:48 AM | Comments (0) |
Sources? We Don't Need No Stinking Sources
Hugh and Glenn are talking about the refusal of the establishment press to hop on stories the blogosphere has been covering for weeks. Quoting Kansas City Star "Readers' Representative" Yvette Walker:
"Such news must be verified, preferably with two independent sources. That doesn't always happen on Internet sites, talk radio and cable TV news shows even though such electronic media often are far ahead of other traditional news media in reporting controversy."
Here is the part that seems to be missing: 95% of the stuff on the higher to mid-level blogs is verified! That's because our sources are the press itself. For example, look at the Captain's treatment of Kerry/Cambodia. The vast majority of what he has written cites an establishment press article. The raw data is in the public forum for anyone to peruse, only the conclusions are entirely his. Such is the case for the majority of the blogosphere.
The failure of the establishment media is not in finding and verifying sources, but in refusing to look critically at the sources they have already vetted.
Posted by bubba138 at 08:33 AM | Comments (0) |
Sadr to Leave Mosque?
Iraqi delegates to a conference choosing a national assembly have said that radical Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr has agreed to government demands to end an uprising in Najaf.A letter from Sadr's office in Baghdad was read out at the conference, saying Sadr had agreed to demands, which included leaving the Imam Ali Mosque in Najaf.
Posted by bubba138 at 08:18 AM | Comments (0) |
August 17, 2004
Kerry/Cambodia: Blogdom's Avenue to the Print Press
The Kerry/Cambodia story has opened the door into print press for the blogosphere:
To date, however, we have been wrong. Neither the influential mainstream newspapers nor the broadcast television networks have reported the meltdown of Kerry's Christmas in Cambodia story. Only readers of Internet blogs such as ours have kept current on the exposure of Kerry's tall tale. Or on the Kerry campaign's lame efforts to resurrect a version of the story that contradicts what Kerry has said for the past 25 years, but allows Kerry to continue using his Vietnam experiences, real and imagined, for his own political purposes.Regardless of the outcome of this story, one thing is certain: the press is on notice. It can no longer choose what does and what does not make it to print.Whatever the reason -- and we have our suspicions -- when it comes to scrutiny of Sen. Kerry's veracity, the mainstream media are saluting, but they are decidedly not reporting for duty.
Posted by bubba138 at 05:26 PM | Comments (0) |
In Pennsylvania, Bush takes swipe at Kerry on missile defense
While campaigning in Delaware County, President Bush is taking a swipe at John Kerry on missile defense, saying critics of the system now being deployed are "living in the past."
Missle Defense? The real issue in PA is Philly Cheese Steak:
Bush in Ridley Park, PA: "This is my 32nd visit to your state [applause]. Since I've been President! A lot of people wonder why I'm coming so much. It's because I like my cheese stake with Whiz"Nice move.
Posted by bubba138 at 03:50 PM | Comments (0) |
Hardball: As Non-Biased as They Get
Chris Matthews isn't happy about the Bush campaign using an excerpt from his show to point out Kerry's anti-war stance:
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)"Are you one of the anti-war candidates?"MATTHEWS: Do you think you belong in that category of candidates who more or less are unhappy with this war? The way it's been fought? Along with General Clark, along with Howard Dean, and not necessarily in companionship politically on the issue of the war with people like Lieberman, Edwards and Gephardt? Are you one of the anti-war candidates?
KERRY: I am. Yes. In the sense that I don't believe the president took to us war as he should have, yes. Absolutely. Do I think this president violated his promises to America? Yes, I do, Chris. Was there a way to hold Saddam Hussein accountable? You bet there was and we should have done it right.
(END VIDEO CLIP)...
MATTHEWS: Let me ask you, Matt, are you going to have the president stop saying that John Kerry, on our show, on HARDBALL, because that's what he was referring to, clearly, 220 days ago when he said this, are you going to get him to stop saying that John Kerry declared himself the anti-war candidate, which is clearly not what he said because I used the word anti-war candidate and I referred to a number of them? You say what he said on my show and he didn't say that. That's all I'm asking.
"I am. Yes."
Question: Did Matthews watch the clip as he showed it?
If Kerry were answering the first question, "Do you think you belong in that category of candidates who more or less are unhappy with this war," the answer would have been "I do," not "I am."
Matthews' second beef, that Kerry hadn't "declared himself the anti-war candidate" is rediculous. Yes, Matthews used the word "anti-war," but the sentence "I am" implies the subject -- it is equivalent to saying "I am one of the anti-war candidates." Since Kerry is the only anti-war candidate left, that makes him "the" anti-war candidate.
One thing is clear: Chris Matthews is "one of the" anti-Bush journalists.
Posted by bubba138 at 01:42 PM | Comments (0) |
John Kerry: Gun Runner
Not only did Kerry drop off a CIA man into Cambodia, he ran guns to anti-communist forces as well:
Sen. John Kerry made his first forays into Cambodia during the Vietnam War as a Navy lieutenant on clandestine missions to deliver weapons to anticommunist forces. When he returned last week, the mission was official, but dicey nonetheless. At the request of the United Nations, Kerry is trying to broker a compromise on how to try leaders of the former Khmer Rouge regime, whose late 1970s reign of terror claimed the lives of some 1.7 million Cambodians.
Hat tip: Rantburg
Update: Hugh Hewitt is on it:
Because that statement isn't a direct quote of Kerry, I contacted the reporter, Kevin Whitelaw, this afternoon. Whitelaw still works at U.S. News & World report where he covers foreign affairs and intelligence matters.Hugh: "Did John Kerry tell you that he ran guns into Cambodia?"
Kevin Whitelaw: "That's exactly what he told me."
What we know:
- Kerry went to Cambodia on "one occasion."
- He received a lucky hat from a CIA agent when he went into Cambodia.
- He was running guns when he went into Cambodia
Posted by bubba138 at 11:21 AM | Comments (0) |
Children Against Spanking
Yet another worthless study:
A national survey of children's views on physical punishment, funded by Save the Children, is being done as the welfare organisation pushes to get smacking banned.Save the Children chief executive John Bowis said preliminary results showed children opposed physical punishment and believed it often did not provide the results adults expected.
In other news, Saddam's family thinks toppling his regime was a bad thing, as do the Taliban. Criminals in jail also reportedly believe imprisonment is "non-productive."
And the luntics have taken over the asylum.
Update: On the other hand, sometimes common sense does prevail:
Fathers and children won a major victory in the California Legislature today when Senate President John Burton pulled a bill that would have made it easier for mothers to harm children and fathers by moving far away after divorce courts have granted custody to the mothers, as they usually do.
Posted by bubba138 at 10:50 AM | Comments (0) |
McGreevey's Misdirection
Whether McGreevey is gay is immaterial, as is the other man's insistence that he himself is not. McGreevey hired Golan Cipel without a background check for the critical and sensitive position of Homeland Security Adviser, despite the fact that Cipel was an Israeli national and could not obtain the neccessary Federal security clearance...Watch as the "mainstream" media plays right along, calling him "brave" and "courageous" for discussing his homosexuality in public while ignoring the real story. As the Seattle Times reported, "Gay-rights groups expressed support and compassion for McGreevey, but their reactions were tinged with sorrow because McGreevey announced his resignation just as he became the nation's first openly gay governor." With the backing of such lobby groups, McGreevey will be able to turn any indictment, impeachment or demand that he step down immediately into a personal attack based on his sexual proclivities. Corruption of any magnitude can be excused by the media, if one is a member of a Liberal-protected group... and you can bet McGreevey knew that when he announced his delayed resignation.
The politically aware gay-lobby should be slamming Mcgreevy for using their issue to cover his incompetence and corruption. Instead they are cheering him on (round-up here) and offering support.
Posted by bubba138 at 10:16 AM | Comments (0) |
The Battlefield Expands
 |
- Los Angeles TV station KTLA duplicates today's LA Times piece
- The Illinois Leader has joined the fray.
- Twin Cities Pioneer Press has printed Kathleen Parker's opinion piece.
- The Fort Wayne Journal, one of the early entrants to this story, isn't letting go of it
Two points, however, are relevant. The first is that, for whatever reason, the Kerry campaign is remarkably sensitive about close examination of Kerry’s military record...
The other point is more oblique. While their attacks on Kerry are no help to Bush, in my view, the anger the Swift-Boat Veterans express is genuine...
Returning from Vietnam three decades ago, Kerry turned Shakespeare on his head: Not only did he deride and condemn the war, which was his right, but he publicly accused his band of brothers of routine war crimes and atrocities, which was something else... But now, in pursuit of power, Sen. Kerry embraces the band of brothers at his convenience.
Posted by bubba138 at 09:53 AM | Comments (0) |
Someone Please Tell Me Why!
Consider:
- Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat is waiting out the U.S. presidential election in the hopes that George W. Bush will be voted out of office
- Jew hater Al Sharpton is a very visible part of the Democrat party
- George Bush has been Israel's staunchest supporter in years
Still, three-fourths of American Jews will be voting for John Kerry:
The poll, released on Monday, said American Jews preferred Kerry to Bush by a 75 to 22 percent margin. The survey of 817 likely Jewish voters was conducted by Greenberg Quinlan Rosner Research between July 26 and 28, and has a margin of error of +/- 3.5 percent.
Wall. Head. Slam.
Posted by bubba138 at 09:23 AM | Comments (0) |
10 Suggestions...
10. Stop calling it a "war." Rename it to the "Protest Against Terror." Protests always get people's attention and let them know that what you're protesting against is wrong.Go read the rest.9. Use softer bullets. Metal bullets hurt the terrorists, and that makes them hate us more.
8. Perhaps President Kerry can invite Osama bin Laden to the White House for a "cuddling party" with Kerry/Edwards. Nothing makes friends faster than a good cuddle.
Posted by bubba138 at 09:04 AM | Comments (0) |
Memo to Doomsayers: Stop Worrying
The sky is not falling and the economy is not slumping. As a matter of fact, it continues to hum:
Good economic news this morning as July housing starts rebound and inflation evaporates with a significant decline in the CPI that exceeded consensus forecasts. Pre-market stock futures surge on the news, coupled with declining oil prices. Statements by government officials that the recent signals of inflationary pressure were temporary appear to be true. Importantly, average weekly earnings for workers rose by 0.7%. The recovery is clearly not over yet. With the re-election of President Bush, we can ensure that the growth-oriented tax cuts will remain in place and the recovery can continue.
Posted by bubba138 at 08:57 AM | Comments (0) |
Obama
I have absolutely no stake in the Illinois Senate race. Offering up Alan Keyes is very obviously a desparation move the Republican party had to make because they had no other alternative.
Obama on the other hand has become the Democrat's coming Messiah. Aaron over at Free Will Blog isn't impressed:
Chicago's working black community is apparently hysterically, militantly supporting a Harvard-educated, Hawaiian-born son of a Kenyan tribesman and a white atheist woman from Kansas, an abortionist and radical environmentalist, who was raised in a white household after his father went back to Kenya and also spent part of his childhood living in Indonesia with a Muslim stepfather, who now seems embrace some kind of multicultural pan-religion that involves Jesus, somehow. Neither of these candidates sound, on the surface, all that interesting, but by carefully misrepresenting himself, Obama has convinced many black Chicagoans that he's "one of them". Make sense to you?
Rich, elite people faking who they are in order to get elected? That never happens in the Democrat party.
Posted by bubba138 at 08:01 AM | Comments (0) |
Economics Over Morality
Deutsche Welle reports that Germany is worried about the troop pull out. What arre they worried about? Not that they are losing security, but that they are losing dollars:
"That has all kinds of repercussions, especially for the economy" Dennis Phelps of the American-German Business Club told DW-WORLD. "There is a whole American infrastructure here -- American houses, American schools -- when the military pulls out, these things close. It also means that soldiers are spending money in local shops or paying local landlords rents." [...]After propping up a dictator in exchange for oil subsidies, trading moral considerations for economic ones becomes easier and easier.Despite substantial anger among the German populace at US actions in Iraq (photo), and protests at some bases, many Germans see the economic considerations outweighing moral ones when it comes to a continuing presence of American troops in the neighborhood. Officials have begun doing what they can to convince the Americans to stay.
"Things will change," Volker Menzel, president of the Japanese Garden in Kaiserslautern, a popular destination for military families near Ramstein, told DW-WORLD. "The army is such a significant factor here, the strength of the entire economy will diminish."Everything in this world is changing. Everything, that is, except Europe.
Posted by bubba138 at 07:44 AM | Comments (0) |
"I'm a Gay American"
He did it with one sentence. "I am a gay American."On the face of it, it is irrelevant to whatever wrongs he may have committed against his state, his wife or his religion. But he did so because he knew that it would immediately deflect attention from his actions to his sexual orientation.
And then he would receive at least as much understanding and compassion as condemnation. Why?
Because the moment he announced he was gay, people assumed that he did what he did because a homophobic society forced him, a homosexual, to live a fraudulent heterosexual life.
Posted by bubba138 at 07:27 AM | Comments (0) |
Troops Coming Home
I've already noted Bush's plan to bring troops home from Europe and South Korea. Imagine my chagrin when I read of General Wesley Clark's reaction:
General Clark, who is supporting Senator Kerry, said: "As we face a global war on terror with al-Qa'ida active in more than 60 countries, now is not the time to pull back our forces. This ill-conceived move and its timing seems politically motivated.""The timing is politically motivated". Did he really say that?
Update: QandO has more on timing.
Posted by bubba138 at 07:21 AM | Comments (0) |
Newsom Mania?
Remember that San Francisco mayor that broke the law and started marrying gay couples? He and his wife are all the rage for the fashion set:
President? Not if I can help it.Which brings us to the latest installment of Gavin Newsom-mania. Harper's Bazaar dubs the San Francisco mayor and his wife, television legal analyst Kimberly Guilfoyle Newsom, "The New Kennedys." They represent "one of the most glamorous political unions since Jack and Jackie," claims the fashion mag, "extravagantly blessed with brains, drive, charm, humor and dedication to public service." One photo evokes a Calvin Klein Obsession ad, showing the couple lolling on the carpet in a mansion owned by philanthropist Ann Getty.
"Do I think he could be president of the United States? Absolutely," says the missus. "I'd gladly vote for him." Stop the presses!
Posted by bubba138 at 07:15 AM | Comments (0) |
August 16, 2004
Star Signs On
The Minneapolis Star-Tribune as joined the Kerry/Cambodia train, running Scott Canon's Kansas City Star article.
Posted by bubba138 at 08:31 PM | Comments (0) |
Character of the Campaigns
Yesterday I made the observation that the difference between the coverage of the Bush/AWOL and Kerry/Cambodia stories has less to do with media bias than it does the character of the respective parties. The argument can be made that the difference is more specifically in the characters of the candidate's campaigns.
Consider this. Just today on Kerry's official campaign weblog the Kerry campaign gave kudos to a blogger specifically for spreading the Bush/AWOL canard. By contrast, the Bush campaign website has absolutely nothing about Kerry's made-up story about a Christmas in Cambodia. As a matter of fact, the Pesident was given a golden opportunity to speak on this issue on the campaign trail and he refused to do so:
Q Mr. President, Mr. Kerry seems to have a lot of trouble remembering dates -- when and if he was in Cambodia; who was President -- Nixon or Johnson -- when he was assigned to Vietnam; what bills in Congress he worked for and when; cannot remember if he campaigned in Oregon or California for George McGovern. Your last opponent you exposed with fuzzy math. It's time to expose John Kerry with fuzzy memory. (Applause.)For two years the Kerry campaign has been attacking Bush. From the moment he had clinched the nomination Kerry's campaign has been talking about how nothing at all was beneath the Republican attack machine. When an independent group of vets release an anti-Kerry book the Kerry camp slammed Bush for not censoring them.THE PRESIDENT: You got a question?
Kerry's own campaign is complicit in keeping the Bush/AWOL meme going, while Bush's campaign completely refuses to give any support to the Kerry/Cambodia story. Now who's being dirty?
Posted by bubba138 at 07:12 PM | Comments (0) |
Kerry: Just a Normal Guy
Kerry thinks he can "hang." He might need lessons:
Throughout his campaign, Kerry has made it clear that he is not ready to cede to President Bush what Steve Rosenthal, the former political director of the AFL-CIO, once called "the hang test."So whether it's been shooting pheasant, playing hockey, tossing a football, or riding a Harley, Kerry has been presented to the public as fun-loving, athletic, outdoorsy, and, most importantly, the kind of Democrat who crosses the "testosterone threshold" needed to be commander-in-chief.
But the exotic nature of some of the sports he plays (say, kite-surfing in Nantucket) and the great lengths he goes in order to play them (say, flying from Idaho to Oregon to windsurf), can have the unintended effect of making him seem out of touch with the hard-pressed middle class whose cares he says have been his concern.
As his plane was flying from Oregon to Idaho on Saturday, Kerry defended his taste in sports, saying, "The guys who do it are all local guys -- plumbers, construction workers."
Asked if these regular folks fly from one state to another, the husband of the condiment heiress downplayed the cost, saying, "What? 250 bucks for a ticket?"
Actually, $250.00 is a little short of what it takes to get from Des Moines to Oregon. Now that might be splitting hairs, but for most plumbers, construction workers, and general all-around working guys, two and a half bills is enough to think about before blowing on a flight to another state just to go wind-surfing.
Update: Of course, a contractor or plumber would never have the extra bills to pay to fly his hairdresser to Portland for a trim. Not to mention most plumbers and contractors don't even have a hairdresser.
Update II: Here are the details of that cut.
Posted by bubba138 at 06:05 PM | Comments (0) |
A Dove in Hawk's Clothing
That's Mona Charen's assessment of John Kerry:
But he now asks to be commander in chief largely on the strength of that four-month stint -- which is like trying to build a pyramid atop a toothpick. Moreover, every position Kerry has taken on foreign policy since he left the swift boats behind stands in sharp contrast to those months of service...Concerning the flash-points of the Cold War conflict, Kerry was perennially inclined the give the communist side the benefit of the doubt. He denounced the U.S. ouster of Cubans from the Caribbean island of Grenada as "bullying," and he was a vociferous opponent of aid to the anti-communist forces in Nicaragua and El Salvador.
As recently as the 1990s, Kerry proposed to cut funding for intelligence agencies, and opposed the first Gulf War. He seems to believe that he would be successful in gaining the support of France where Bush has failed. But no one has yet asked him, to what end? Even if he could sweet talk the French into a more supportive posture (highly doubtful), how would that improve America's safety?
Kerry has draped himself in red, white and blue for 2004. But his new clothes cannot obscure the truth -- that his record is one of appeasement and weakness.
Posted by bubba138 at 12:30 PM | Comments (0) |
Where Are the WMDs?
I've posed this questions several times (here, here, here, here, and here) and once more won't hurt. It is my feeling the most dangerous part of the left's campaign has been to convince the world that Saddam Hussein's WMD never really existed.
He had them. U.S. intelligence knew he had them. The world's intelligence angencies knew he had them. Saddam told the U.N. he had them. Ignoring the threat posed by the Ba'athist regime's WMDs is to invite 9/11 all over again, especially if we ignore stuff like this:
Two defense sources told The Washington Times that the ISG has interviewed Iraqis who told of Saddam’s system of dispatching his trusted Iraqi Intelligence Service (IIS) to the border, where they would send border inspectors away.The shift was followed by the movement of trucks in and out of Syria suspected of carrying materials banned by U.N. sanctions. Once the shipments were made, the agents would leave and the regular border guards would resume their posts...
The United States spotted the heavy truck traffic via satellite imagery before the war. But spy cameras cannot look through truck canopies, and the ISG has not been able to determine whether any weapons were sent to Syria for hiding.
Posted by bubba138 at 10:08 AM | Comments (0) |
Coming Out or Hiding Behind Lies?
Gov. McGreevy's coming out party has been great for him. He's become the new media darling, a hero of the GLBT community and an all-around hip buy. Heck, even his approval rating has improved.
But is McGreevy really a "Gay-American" who had a consenual relationship? Alledged partner Golan Cipel says that is not the case:
The man in the middle of the New Jersey governor's gay sex scandal insisted Sunday he is straight and planned to sue only because Gov. Jim McGreevey was coming on to him.There is a lot more behind this story than we know at this point, but someone is lying. Was McGreevy's coming out party a blatant attempt to distract attention from a more damaging image as a sexual predator? Or is Cipel trying to complicate this in a quest for cash?"He hit on me over and over," Golan Cipel, 35, told Israel's Yediot Ahronot newspaper. "I got to a point where I was afraid to stay with him alone.
"Think about how scary it is when we are talking about a powerful man like the governor of the state of New Jersey," added Cipel, who is in hiding in New York.
Posted by bubba138 at 08:13 AM | Comments (0) |
Alston Did Serve Under Kerry
Byron York at NRO has got to the bottom of the Alston mystery. In all honesty, I am very relieved that Alston wasn't misleading in his speech. As a man of faith, Alston answers to a higher power than the Democratic party.
Posted by bubba138 at 06:59 AM | Comments (0) |
Eight Hundred and Counting
There are more than eight hundred blogs dedicated to re-electing President George W. Bush. It has become the largest blog community on the web. Get the scoop from Matt Margolis.
Posted by bubba138 at 06:50 AM | Comments (0) |
August 15, 2004
Good News From Iraq...Again
Chrenkoff has been busy again.
Posted by bubba138 at 10:11 PM | Comments (0) |
The Train Is Gaining Speed
Wall Street Journal has picked up on it: Holiday in Cambodia:
Last Wednesday Kerry spokesman Michael Meehan sent me a statement saying that "During John Kerry's service in Vietnam, many times he was on or near the Cambodian border and on one occasion crossed into Cambodia. . . . On December 24, 1968 Lieutenant John Kerry and his crew were on patrol in the watery borders between Vietnam and Cambodia deep in enemy territory." I asked for clarification as to whether the "one occasion" was Christmas Eve 1968. "No," was the reply.Now the Kerry camp is saying Kerry definitely went into Cambodia once, but not on Christmas. I think they are hanging themselves on this one.
Posted by bubba138 at 10:04 PM | Comments (0) |
Say It A'int So!
Matthew Hoy, America Hater?
I thought I'd never see the day.
Posted by bubba138 at 08:49 PM | Comments (0) |
Kerry/Cambodia vs. Bush/AWOL
I wanted to see if there was a difference in the way the press handled the "Bush/AWOL" story and how they are refusing to handle the "Kerry/Cambodia" story.
My hypothesis, of course, was that Bush/AWOL would have floated around the blogosphere for a shorter time before going to the big press. The problem with that was my assumption that the meme originated on the web, went to the press where the DNC took up and began waving that banner vigorously.
But that is not how it happened.
Looking back at the Left's premier blog, Talking Points Memo, refreshed my memory. The Bush/AWOL craze got started with none other than Michael Moore as he campaigned for Wesley Clarke. Ten days later the Washington Post laid out the case against Bush.
But the story really exploded when DNC bossman Terry McAuliffe publicly called Bush AWOL on national television. When the party chief does that, press coverage is obligatory.
The conclusion is we can't hold the media responsible for giving Bush/AWOL quicker attention than Kerry/Cambodia because the Bush/AWOL issue was forced by the DNC at its highest levels.
It really makes this sound hollow, doesn't it?
President Bush called Kerry's service in Vietnam 'noble,' " the Kerry statement said. "But in the same breath, (he) refused to heed Sen. (John) McCain's call to condemn the dirty work being done by the "Swift Boat Vets for Bush." Once again, the president sidestepped responsibility and refused to do the right thing. His credibility is running out."
Update: Welcome QandO readers, and thank you McQ for the link. This is the post you are looking for.
Posted by bubba138 at 08:35 PM | Comments (0) |
No Muqtada
That was what "Alsadr" thinks will be his way in Iraq ,what was the reaction of people all around here ?
People simply laugh ,when they hear him ,or listen to his speeches ,not only that but people are very upsetwith him ,angrier and angrier,for what that backwoods is man doing to Iraq and the Iraqi people .
We want to send a message to "Mogtada": there is no place in new Iraq for you or your militia and Iraq is not only "ALsadr" followers ,Iraq is about 27 million people and all who support "Alsadr" or "Fallujah" are not more than 750,000 .
Is it reasonable that we don’t live because of those thieves and extremists?
Everything clear now for all the world , those people like "Alsadr"and "Fallujah " don’t want to live according to law ,the Iraqi government invited them to join the political process ,and if as they say, that they are supported by the whole majority here ,and they are popular,then why are they afraid to have the elections ?
The reason is clear like the sun,they know that people don’t support them ,and people don’t want any extremist or fool to lead them no ,no more ,people want to live to liberate to see the world ,to be human ,sheep.
Therefore they used to terrify people and threaten them , thinking that they will control people. No ,you are wrong ,we are no longer your sheep ,we are human now ,and we don’t believe in you ,no, no longer .
We don’t believe in you hiding behind religion ,your religion ,which you create.
No ,we don’t won't your words and thoughts ,in the name of helping the Iraqi people ,Iraqis don’t won't you no more .
No, America is not our enemy ,no more ,they are our friend ,and we respect them as they do us .
He closes:
And many people come to me and ask me , to write to you ,asking me to write to Americans for help ,people from "Najaf" asking me to relase from their "Alsadr" militia ,from those criminals and thieves ,they steal their shops and homes ,and kill there families ,rape their women ,so they call for help ,and I told them that the united state of America will never let us down ,they will do their best to help. I and many Iraqis believe in you ,we believe in you USA ,we have faith in you to help us to build new Iraq ,Iraq of freedom and peace ,people here want your help .As long as this guy is President, we'll be there Sarmad. We'll be there.
Update: Baghdad Dweller's caption is "Al-Sadr still resisting," but the photo says it all.
Posted by bubba138 at 06:27 PM | Comments (0) |
A Veiled Reference
Has the New York Times has finally come aboard the Kerry/Cambodia train?
As a frail teenager, Charles had the same basic problem as a liberal from Massachusetts: proving his toughness. He didn't have a band of Navy brothers to bring along, and it was not yet possible for a campaigner to put on displays of kite-surfing, biking, football, skiing or hockey. But in one blatantly staged spectacle, Charles fought his way through ruffians on a bridge to rescue a maiden being held captive in a tower, which was then set on fire as a grand finale.Admittedly, one has to look hard for it, but the simularities between King Charles "staged" rescue and Kerry's imagined escapades into Cambodia.
Posted by bubba138 at 07:46 AM | Comments (0) |
John Kerry Is a Comedian
"I'm going to take a lot of tough positions here today," he promised, "but I am not going to choose between the Black Tornados and the Panthers." In case anyone was not yet convinced that Mr. Kerry was paying attention to where he was, he held aloft a locally grown pear and exulted, "I am smart enough to leave with some of these!"But he doesn't always get the opening right:So it went on Mr. Kerry's cross-country tour these past two weeks. Same speech, different opening joke at each stop.
Earlier, after a day and a half in Ohio, Mr. Kerry apparently missed the crossing into Michigan, where he was booed for saying, "I just go for Buckeye football."Ummm, and the name of that team is? OUCH."That was while I was in Ohio!" he tried to recover. "Now, I know, I'm in the state of Michigan. You got a great big M and a powerhouse of a team."
Posted by bubba138 at 07:29 AM | Comments (0) |
Doing Our Best to Please
Europe says they don't like us. They intimate they don't need us. George W. Bush says, "O.K."
As part of the largest troop realignment in years, Bush will shift about 70,000 uniformed military personnel, most of them currently in Europe, the senior officials said, speaking on condition of anonymity. A significant proportion will come home, though it was not clear when.
Posted by bubba138 at 07:12 AM | Comments (0) |
August 14, 2004
Reverend David Alston
Back at the DNC convention David Alston said this to the entire nation:
My name is David Alston, and I am a minister from Columbia, South Carolina.... I join you here tonight in Boston-birthplace of the American Revolution-to celebrate the bedrock ideals on which our nation was founded-freedom, equality, and democracy.As another man of faith, I certainly hope David Alston was telling the truth, because at this point it seems very unlikely.I also come here tonight to honor a friend of mine, a man of courage and conviction who has fought for these ideals his entire life: John Kerry...
I know him from a small boat in Vietnam, where we fought and bled together, serving our country. There were six of us aboard PCF-94, a 50-foot, twin-engine craft known as a "Swift Boat." We all came from different walks of life, but all of us-including our skipper, John Kerry-volunteered for combat duty...
And when the shooting stopped, he was always there too, with a caring hand on my shoulder asking, "Gunner, are you OK?" I was only 21, running on fear and adrenaline. Lieutenant Kerry always took the time to calm us down, to bring us back to reality, to give us hope, to show us what we truly had within ourselves. I came to love and respect him as a man I could trust with life itself.
I am a man of faith, and I did not come here tonight to glorify what we did. I came here to share my personal knowledge of a young naval officer who rose to the challenges and responsibilities of leadership, and who has always shown the courage to speak truth to power.
Update: It looks like Reverend Alston has been giving this same speech [original link removed, see below] since at least January.
Update II: David Alston did not give this speech in January. As you can see in the comments, Steve at "I Like to Write" posted the convention speech in his January archives which led me to believe it was given at that time. For some reason Steve back posted the convention speech instead of posting it as a current entry. I did not read the introduction carefully enough. I apologize for the error.
Further, as Steve repeatedly requests:
"Better yet, I wish you would kindly remove the link, as i don't want anything to do with you, George Bush or his minions. Just a request- take it as you want.
...I have removed the link.
Oh, and I think he's made it clear how he wants me to take it. (what ever happened to civil dialogue?)
Posted by bubba138 at 09:14 PM | Comments (0) |
All That's Fit to Print
Here's everything the New York Times has had to say about Cambodia in the last week.
Posted by bubba138 at 11:08 AM | Comments (0) |
Kerry's Quagmire
What if the single pivotal event of one's life -- the moment that altered one's entire course, illuminating the path ahead, providing that critical psychological turning point -- turned out to have been an invention of one's very own?I realize that's a convoluted question, but it's hard to discuss today's political events any other way. Convolution defines the story of Sen. John Kerry as told by voices from a haunted past Kerry doubtless now wishes he'd left behind. Instead, he made his four-and-a-half-month tour of duty in Vietnam 35 years ago the centerpiece of his campaign against self-declared "war president," George W. Bush...
The pivotal moment in Kerry's life, according to his many testimonials on the subject, was Christmas of 1968 when, he has said, he was in Cambodia. This experience was central to his later becoming a war protester and to his lighting out on a political path destined to culminate in a rise to the U.S. presidency...
It is a story of naked ambition and grandiosity, the narrative of a self-absorbed man who always needed to be best and first, whether captain of the boat in Vietnam or winner of the debate in school. Who, when accidentally knocked off his snowboard as an adult fumed, "I don't fall down."
He's the sort of man who thinks to take a movie camera to war to document himself for uses now known to be political; who willingly exploits his heroism in ways real heroes never do; who builds a career on disgust toward a war he later characterizes as the crowning achievement in a life that seems more resume than real.
Posted by bubba138 at 10:51 AM | Comments (0) |
"My Truth"
When McGreevy resigned his "my truth" statement made me shudder as if a cockroach was running up my spine. I knew I wouldn't be the only one to catch that, and it was only a matter of a couple of days when a true wordsmith would capture the idea:
'My truth is that I am a gay American,'' announced Gov. James McGreevey to the people of New Jersey last Thursday.Steyn continues by examining John Kerry's "truth." Read it allThat's such an exquisitely contemporary formulation: ''my'' truth. Once upon a time, there was only ''the'' truth. Now everyone gets his own -- or, as the governor put it, ''One has to look deeply into the mirror of one's soul and decide one's unique truth in the world.'' For Jim McGreevey, his truth is that he's a gay American; for others in the Garden State, the truth about McGreevey is that he's a corrupt sexual harasser who put his lover on the state payroll in a critical homeland security post, and whose I-am-what-I-am confessional is a tactical feint that distracts the media sob sisters from the fact that, as his final service to the Democratic Party, he's resigned in such a way as to deny the people an early vote on his successor.
Posted by bubba138 at 10:00 AM | Comments (0) |
Let's Be Clear
TNR's Noam Scheiber puts a plug in for obfuscation:
the controversy over John Kerry saying he would have voted for the war had he known there were no WMDs is so maddening I have to say something about it...The plain fact of the matter is that Kerry's stance on Iraq has been nothing short of a tall stack of waffles. Now he's for it, now he's against it, now for, now against, now for, now against, and now it's time for lunch.So my question is--oh, how to put this--WHY? WHY?!! WHY?!!!! With all due respect to Walter Russell Mead, Kerry had an obvious alternative to either remaining silent or answering the question yes or no: He could have answered a different question, which is what politicians ALWAYS do when they get a question that makes them uncomfortable. In this case, instead of saying whether he would have voted for the war had he known there were no WMDs--which is the kind of hypothetical question politicians NEVER answer because it's the kind of decision they NEVER face (would we have even been debating an invasion of Iraq had we known there were no WMDs? of course not)--Kerry could simply have said: "I do not regret my vote to authorize the war based on the information available at the time, which is the only decision that matters." He could then have launched into his usual--and completely appropriate--screed about how what he really regrets is the administration's gross incompetence in waging the war.
Noam isn't at all concerned that Kerry's position on Iraq isn't coherent. No, his concern is that Kerry didn't refuse to answer the question.
Noam continues:
That said, Kerry has a very easy way out of this problem, one that perfectly tracks with voters' intuitions about the two presidential candidates: Any time he gets a question about Iraq from here on out, he should say, very simply, "Look, if you like the way the war in Iraq turned out, vote for the other guy. If you don't like the way it turned out, vote for me." End of story.Here Noam is completely off base. The voter's intuition is telling them that the war in Iraq was fought by a President who didn't change his position, while if Kerry was in charge it would have been a half-hearted effort at best. Bush had (and has) the wherewithall to stick it out. When things got rough earlier this year we didn't turn tail and run as Bill Clinton did in Somolia and as John Kerry surely would have done. Instead Bush saw it through and that determination will put him back in the White House in November.
John Kerry's primary focus for Iraq is getting our troops out. George Bush's primary focus is to finish the mission. One of these alternatives is short-term, will get more Americans killed and demoralize our military. The other will produce a lasting stability, develop a new friend in the Middle East and give our men in uniform a new sense of pride and accomplishment they didn't have in the nineties.
Posted by bubba138 at 09:24 AM | Comments (0) |
The Middle Class Tax Burden Myth
The Congrssional Budget Office recently released its report on effective Federal tax rates and it has the liberals -- especially John Kerry -- all up in arms:
Today's report reinforces what middle-class families across the country already knew about George Bush. His tax breaks have forced them to pay a bigger share of America's tax burden forcing them to bear the brunt of his failed economic policies. George Bush says we are turning the corner, but he is turning his back on middle-class families. It is bad enough that George Bush has no plan to help middle-class families squeezed by declining wages and skyrocketing costs for healthcare, energy and college tuition. Now we find that he is deliberately stacking the deck against them. This is the straw that will break the back of middle-class families.
| "Burden" | Effective Rate | |||||||||
| Quintile | 2001 | 2002 | 2003 | 2004 | 2001 | 2002 | 2003 | 2004 | ||
| Lowest 20% | 1.1% | 1.1% | 1.1% | 1.1% | 5.4% | 5.3% | 5.2% | 5.2% | ||
| Second 20% | 5.0% | 5.1% | 5.1% | 5.2% | 11.6% | 11.6% | 11.0% | 11.1% | ||
| Middle 20% | 10.0% | 10.3% | 10.4% | 10.5% | 15.2% | 15.0% | 14.5% | 14.6% | ||
| Fourth 20% | 18.5% | 19.1% | 19.2% | 19.5% | 19.3% | 19.1% | 18.5% | 18.5% | ||
| Highest 20% | 65.3% | 64.2% | 64.1% | 63.5% | 26.8% | 25.4% | 24.4% | 23.8% | ||
In 2001, the upper fifth of households carried 65.3% of the income tax load. Compare that to this year's load of 63.5% and we see their "burden" has been reduced by 1.8%. By contrast, the upper middle class burdern increased by a full point and the true middle class by a half. So in essence, the evil rich got a 2.8% better deal than the upper-middle and a 2.3% better deal than the true-middle class. That's just not fair, is it?
But look again. The top 20% shouldered better than 65% of the load in 2001 and 63% in 2004. Surely any decent human being would agree they are doing more than their fair share. In 2001, the top bracket paid six and a half times as much of the Federal taxes than the true-middle class, and three and a half times as much as the upper-middle. In 2004 the upper bracket still pays six times more than the true-middle and three and a quarter times more than the upper-middle class, not to mention their burden is 150% of all the other brackets combined.
Most importantly what Kerry doesn't mention, and he hopes you forget is your tax burden has actually gone down because the total percentage in taxes taken by the government has decreased. The liberals like to play class warfare games and get the lower income masses jealous of the higher income few. But the reality is that a household's burden is never measured against its neighbor's taxes. The tax burden on a household is always felt against the household's income.
Let's take for example two households, the Anderson family making $75 thousand a year and the Smith family whose income is $200 thousand a year. The Andersons were paying 19.3% or $14,475 in taxes before the taxe cuts, and 18.5% or $13,875 after. The Smith family, on the other hand, paid 26.8% in 2001 for $53,600, and 23.8% in 2004 for $47,600. Are the Anderson's hurt by the Smith's tax break? Absolutely not. The Andersons still have more in their pockets in 2004 than they did in 2001. Their tax burden has been reduced, not increased as Kerry would have you believe. John Kerry says he'd repeal the tax cuts on the Smith's family. Perhaps that's more fair in John's eyes, but even if the Smiths go back to paying 26.8%, the Andersons tax burden is unaffected. There would still be no more cash in their household than before.
Is there more we can do with our taxes? You bet, but raising them is definitely not the answer. Are Bush's tax cuts perfect? Not by any stretch, but they are better than any tax plan Kerry will come up with.
Posted by bubba138 at 08:27 AM | Comments (0) |
August 13, 2004
Getting Closer
The normally left-leaning Atlanta Journal Constitution makes a remarkably reasonable point:
The nation may be done with Vietnam, content to treat the era as a campaign backdrop, with no further interest in whether the atrocities Kerry alleges were commonplace.The message is getting out. Because it is, the cash is rolling in for the Swifties:But the two groups -- the swift-boat veterans and other Vietnam veterans who feel wronged by his characterizations -- have earned the right not to be dismissed as cranks and partisans, at least until they are fully heard.
Much of my adult life has been spent in the media and in the military, first in Vietnam and then for more than two decades in the National Guard. I have deep affection for the media and the military. Both are enormously powerful instruments for good. And yet I have never been completely comfortable with either.
With both, the capacity to inflict harm can damage lives beyond repair. With guns, pens and cameras, abuse of power is an ever-present danger. They are, therefore, instruments to be used with great care and with adequate training, discipline and a rigid adherence to standards of moral and ethical conduct.
Disagree with the veterans if you like. Think them partisans. Accuse them of bitterness. But in the proper arena for public debate, hear them out.
A group of Vietnam veterans that is challenging Sen. John Kerry's claims of heroic war service says it received a flood of donations in recent days after advertising its contentions on television in three states.The more places it plays, the better.The group, Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, said it hoped to use the money to monitor Kerry's campaign travels and run ads in cities where he appears.
Posted by bubba138 at 10:16 PM | Comments (0) |
Open Up Those Records
Kathleen Antrim in the San Francisco Examiner:
With accusations flying, Kerry's version of free speech has shrunk down to only one veteran: himself. All others must be silenced.The crescendo for Kerry's records is getting louder. I expect sometime shortly after (or maybe even during) the GOP convention we'll see some high-mid-level party officials call for Kerry to come completely clean.This is called "damage control," folks, and it's in high gear because Kerry knows he's in trouble here. Big trouble.
Of course, this whole matter could be cleared up if Kerry would release his Vietnam records and his personal journal. It's a simple matter to release these records, requiring only a standard Form 180.
So, Mr. Kerry, if you haven't been making up stories, and if the Swift Vets are lying, then release your records and prove your case. Trust the American people to discern the truth. Or have the courage to admit you lied, over and over again.
Let me be clear, Mr. Kerry, as a journalist, a columnist and most importantly as an American citizen, I am asking you to release your Vietnam records and your journal (in its entirety) to the American people.
AND... the Fort Wayne Sentinel has joined the small group of print press talking about "Christmas in Cambodia." The New York Times and Washington Post are going to have to write about it soon.
Posted by bubba138 at 12:06 PM | Comments (0) |
Survey Madness
It amazes me what researchers think may be worth studying. In a colossal waste of time, effort and money, one study determined that many parents are unaware their teen children are sexually active. We needed a study to tell us this?
Next up, we find that the names we have affect our "Hot or Not" quotient. This ground-breaking discovery is sure to help humanity along.
On the positive side, and Ipsos Reid study has found that handheld technology really does save time. Funny, I thought it was so I could play solitaire while I'm in line at the bank.
Posted by bubba138 at 09:25 AM | Comments (0) |
Gallup Poll
Bush is looking good in the latest Gallup poll. Not great, but good.
Posted by bubba138 at 08:44 AM | Comments (0) |
The "Gotcha" Got Got
NBC thought they had a story on their hands:
Arlene Thomas grew suspicious when two men with out-of-state drivers licenses and a large wad of cash came into her Sauget helicopter hangar Wednesday morning and said they wanted to see St. Louis landmarks from the sky.Thomas called police, who searched the bags and the men and found a butane lighter, box cutter, two knives, duct tape, a powdery substance and a bottle filled with a clear liquid. The men also had maps of New York, Chicago, San Francisco and St. Louis with major landmarks highlighted in yellow.
The two men, John Zito, an Italian from New York, and Tyrone Edwards, who police described as an Asian-Indian from Atlanta, were part of a story that NBC planned to air Thursday night about security at small airports that charter helicopters. But after the plan fell through in Sauget, the incident at the airport was reduced to a brief mention at the end of the newscast.
NBC's plan was foiled not because of Homeland Security, a central intelligence czar, or a hightened security level. It was because Arlene Thomas used a little common sense, didn't let fears of racial profiling force her into ignoring the fact that these men looked like they were of "Middle Eastern descent," and called the police.
Posted by bubba138 at 08:43 AM | Comments (0) |
Judith Miller Tapped
New York Times reporter Judith Miller has been subpoenaed by the grand jury trying to determine who leaked the identity of a covert CIA officer, the newspaper said Friday.Publisher Arthur Sulzberger Jr. said the Times would fight the subpoena, which was issued on Thursday, according to the newspaper. Miller is one of several reporters who have been asked to testify in the probe.
More...
Posted by bubba138 at 08:29 AM | Comments (0) |
More al-Qa'eda Caught
Pakistan is doing its part lately:
Armed with intelligence from newly arrested Al Qaeda suspects, Pakistan has nabbed five more members of Osama bin Laden's network in the past two days as well as a leader of a militant group accused in an attack on a Pakistani general, officials said yesterday.Five more down and one important one to go.The arrests are the latest in a monthlong crackdown on terrorists that has netted about 30 fugitives, including a Pakistani computer specialist for Al Qaeda and a Tanzanian indicted in the deadly 1998 attacks on US embassies in East Africa.
Posted by bubba138 at 08:23 AM | Comments (0) |
Larry King Live
The President and First Lady were on Larry King Live last night. This was telling:
KING: Is this, though, a war they can never win? I mean, isn't a terrorist being born today somewhere...The President displays an attitue that it completely opposite that of Kerry and the Democrats. They look at terrorism and come to two conclusions. First, its America's fault and the solution is to be "more sensitive." Second, terrorism will always be, so the best we can do is manage it.G. BUSH: Well, it can be won by spreading freedom. It can be won by, if the United States continues to lead the world and encourage those who long for freedom to seek freedom, and to work with governments to put institutions in place that allow women to have rights and honor human dignity and human rights.
You know, I tell the story about the time I had dinner with Prime Minister Koizumi, Laura and I did in Tokyo. During the course of the dinner it was very interesting to hear two people that represented countries, that at one time were at war with each other, are now talking about the peace.
And had we given up on this concept that people could self-govern and that liberty can change the habits of people after World War II, it's conceivable I wouldn't have been having that conversation.
And some day, somebody is going to be sitting down with an American president, with an elected Iraqi leader, talking about the peace, because free societies are peaceful societies.
And so, to answer your question, you bet.
President Bush, on the other hand, says it can be defeated. Just as turning on the light destroys darkness, shining freedom upon oppressed peoples destroys terrorism. The belief that terrorism can and will be defeated is an optomistism I can buy into.
Posted by bubba138 at 08:19 AM | Comments (0) |
Kerry/Cambodia News Roundup
We know who isn't covering the Kerry/Cambodia fabrications. Here is a list of news outlets that have no problem giving equal coverage to the Democrat nominee's playful tryst with the truth:
In an article spotlighting Kerry supporter Jim Wasser, the Columbia Dispatch makes a brief mention to the controversy.
Investors Business Daily takes a look at Kerry's "credibility gap."
The admittedly conservative Washinton Times, has no less than four pieces that touch on Kerry/Cambodia.
It is curious, but the Brits have a better handle on this subject than the larger American papers. This opinion piece is especially on target:
Quite apart from the forthright statement from the gunner's mate on his own boat, that they "were not anywhere near Cambodia", this response is bizarre. There is no such territory "between" Vietnam and Cambodia. The two countries abut one another on the Mekong Delta.As well as inventing a fictitious South-East Asian no-man's-land, the Kerry camp is attempting to smear his critics by implying that they are a politically driven arm of the Bush campaign. But whatever the motives of Mr Kerry's dissident ex-comrades may be, the hard facts of their case remain disturbing, as the frantic fiddling of national borders suggests.
There are only two possible interpretations of this paradox. Either Mr Kerry is knowingly fabricating history for crass electoral advantage (and in rather odd contrast with his own renunciation of his Vietnam war experiences in the 1970s), or else he spent a fair amount of his time at war completely unaware of where he was. Neither possibility fits well with a campaign so squarely centred on Mr Kerry's war record.
Posted by bubba138 at 07:38 AM | Comments (0) |
Muqtada Injured - Iranians Captured
Also, Iran is looming large in this insurrection:
Security officials in Baghdad were last night urgently investigating the background of 30 Iranians who were caught fighting for a rebel Shia cleric in Iraq, amid mounting concern over the involvement of the Tehran regime in the uprising.Funny, I didn't know minutemen came from Iran."We are checking their identities but if they are found to have links to the Iranians then that would be tantamount to a declaration of war by them," said a senior Iraqi source, who spoke on condition of anonymity.
He added: "There has been a continuous stream of vehicles over the last few weeks trying to ferry arms across the border from Iran.
"We catch some, others must get through. The trouble is knowing who exactly is behind all this."
Posted by bubba138 at 07:00 AM | Comments (0) |
Leaving Stuff Out
And what's even more amazing -- and considerably more appalling -- is that I just checked the New York Times and Washington Post sites and there's still absolutely nothing on this story there. A Kerry claim proven false, a retraction, and a retrenchment -- and absolutely no coverage at all. If we were seeing the same sort of questions raised about George W. Bush I think we'd be getting wall-to-wall coverage. It's as is they're letting their coverage be shaped by the fact that they want Kerry to win or something. Kind of makes you wonder what else they're leaving out.
Its like the major papers treat truth like a smorgasbord. They only take what they want and leave the things they don't like off their plate.
Posted by bubba138 at 06:37 AM | Comments (0) |
August 12, 2004
Newsom's Folly
Newsom's Folly has now been, rightly, corrected...almost.
Four thousand couples who once thought they were married are now not. Of course, these marriages didn't come without a price. You may recall San Fran charged each couple a negligible $83.00 each for their illegal licenses. That amounts to $332 thousand dollars the city stole from people.
You don't suppose they're going to give that back, do you?
Posted by bubba138 at 04:00 PM | Comments (0) |
McGreevey Resigning
New Jersey Gov. James E. McGreevey announced his resignation Thursday and used a news conference to acknowledge that he had an extramarital affair with another man."I am a gay American," McGreevey said. He announced he would resign effective November 15.
- By the end of this week, McGreevey will be the poster boy for gay rights. His resignation will be painted as something he had to do because he was oppressed as a "gay American." All attempts to hold him accountable for lying to his wife, and -- if the accusations are correct -- sexually harassing a male aide will be labeled as gay-bashing.
- Borrowing a page from the Democrat's playbook: I question the timing! McGreevey isn't giving up the reigns until November. Coming out now guarantees the media will be hammering this until at least Sunday. By then the Kerry/Cambodia story that never happened won't ever have to happen.
Posted by bubba138 at 01:55 PM | Comments (0) |
When A Lie Matters
Hugh:
An interesting juxtaposition: Scot Peterson's lie to Amber Frey about being in Paris, and John Kerry's lies to the Senate about being in Cambodia on Christmas Eve 1968. Peterson's lie has practically guaranteed his conviction as whatever small bit of credibility he possessed is now destroyed. John Kerry, on the other hand, got a pass this morning from the Washington Post and the New York Times even though his campaign yesterday recanted a central detail of Kerry's Vietnam narrative that he has been peddling for three decades --a memory that he says was "seared, seared" into his consciousness, the Christmas Eve illegal voyage deep into Cambodian waters. Peterson lied to advance his chances of keeping up the ruse with Frey; Kerry lied to pad his political resume and add heft to his declamations about illegal wars. One lie was personal and intended to advance private gain; the other public and intended to advance political goals. The backdrop of the former is a double murder, of course, and the latter only prersonal ambition, but the immense gap in impact between the two is not because one is more destructive of credibility than the other, but simply because the media is chosing to treat it that way
Posted by bubba138 at 11:39 AM | Comments (0) |
A Tree Falls in the Forest
"If a tree falls in the forest and no one is around, does it make a sound?"
Never has that question been more relevant than now. Five days ago the New York Times graced its pages with its last (and almost only) reference to the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth and the book published by them. They have not followed up on -- or more accurately, they have completely ignored -- any of the vet's criticisms, accusations.
Is the book "Unfit for Command" hyper-partisan and over the top in its accusations? In many instances undoubtably so, but that is the nature of the political climate in new millenia America. The vet's new tome stands in the company of many other polemic works published this year such as Richard Clarke's "Against All Enemies: Inside America's War on Terror," and Ron Suskind's "The Price of Loyalty: George W. Bush, the White House, and the Education of Paul O'Neill." The only difference is that, while the assertions in the decidely anti-Bush Clarke and Suskin books received full treatment in the New York Times, the questions raised in Unfit has experienced little more than the sound of wind blowing.
After reading the anti-Bush works, New York Times columnists were only too happy to echo the claims of malfeseance and question the misguided motivations of the President and his administration. After reading Unfit, malfeseance and motivations are still on the minds of the NYT staff, only this time directed at the book's authors, not the subject of the book.
CNN, CBS, NBC, ABC, Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, all have remained silent about possible flaws in the character of the man who would be president. These outfits that ran 30 days of non-stop Abu-Grhaib photos, that loudly asked if Bush was AWOL, suddenly cannot find their voice when their chosen hero is found hollow.
For five days the blogosphere and talk radio has been abuzz with questions of Kerry's Cambodian Christmas. Five. Full. Days. The Kerry camp has gone from denying Kerry ever said it, to "we'll get back to you," to "he said it but we aren't sure what to say about that," to finally, "he said it, but he was mistaken." Kerry's campaign has been visibly shaken by this, but here's the rub: eighty percent of America hasn't even a clue about it. Of the twenty percent that do, half don't care because Kerry may be a liar, he may be crazy, he may even be a borderline traitor, but one thing he isn't and that's George W. Bush. This is the demographic in which the mainstream press lives.
It leaves us with the question, if Kerry didn't really go into Cambodia and no one around reports it, does it affect the election?
Posted by bubba138 at 11:28 AM | Comments (0) |
August 11, 2004
An Evening Well Spent
 |
Hewitt was excellent, entertaining, and informative. My wife, who doesn't listen to him vary often was completely impressed, especially with his politeness.
I expected him to go whole-hog promoting his new book, "They Can't Win If It's Not Close: Crushing the Democrats in Every Election and Why Your Life Depends On It," but he really didn't discuss it much.
Instead he gave the audience a baker's dozen of very clear distinctions between George W. Bush and John F. Kerry. It's beyond me to recall all thirteen of these distinctions, but they included:
Cabinet and subcabinet appointments: If Kerry is elected he will be appointing more than three thousand people to man his administration. Who will these people be? Michael Moore fans. Howard Dean fans. Not the kind of people we want in charge of our country.
Judicial appointments: Hugh named four Supreme Court justices that are all but retired. He mentioned the Newdow/Pledge of Allegiance case and how the current panel of justices punted. Bush nominees will be markedly different than Kerry's picks.
Abortion: No details needed here. Kerry's for them, Bush is against late-term, partial-birth abortions. So is everyone else that is rightly repuled at the thought of a doctor jamming a sharp instrument into the back of the skull of a healthy baby.
Pre-emptive military force: Kerry was clear. He said, "Any attack will be met with a swift and certain response." Horse. Barn. Doors. Got it? George Bush says get them before they attack us.
Those were just a few of Hugh's points that separate the candidates. These are enough in and of themselves to vote for Bush, and there are plenty more where they came from.
Posted by bubba138 at 10:51 PM | Comments (0) |
Fixing Hubble
The Hubble telescope needs help:
Since spring, Goddard engineers have expressed growing excitement about the prospect of a robotic mission, in part because of the spectacular test performance of the Canadian Space Agency's Special Purpose Dexterous Manipulator, or "Dextre." The unit has two 10-foot arms that pivot around a central "torso" and would do the job of replacing aging Hubble components.I say we round it off to an even $2 billion, but not for NASA. Instead make it a contest. Offer that amount to the first private interest to complete the job. We'll see it done faster, better, and more efficiently.NASA officials said O'Keefe told Goddard's Hubble team that the mission would cost between $1 billion and $1.6 billion, which could make it considerably more expensive than the $800 million to $1 billion spent on space shuttle trips to the telescope, the method used to service Hubble in the past.
Posted by bubba138 at 09:11 AM | Comments (0) |
WARNING: Partisanship Can Affect Your Paycheck
There are whiners on both sides.
Leslie Farr, a conductor for Amtrak, has been suspended for making an anti-Kerry statement over the train's PA system:
According to the Associated Press, conductor Leslie Farr, 26, who is a Republican congressional candidate, was on a Kansas City-to-St. Louis Amtrak train that was delayed Thursday while waiting for Kerry's locomotive to leave St. Louis and head to a Jefferson City, Mo., rally.Farr is none too happy about the suspension, "It's gotten me very, very upset. I feel like I'm being unjustly picked on."Farr told AP today he used the train's public address system to tell the passengers why they were being delayed and that they should vote accordingly in the November presidential election.
Amtrak is investigating the conductor's remark, claiming he violated company policy by making "inappropriate and denigrating announcements" to customers that "caused embarrassment to the corporation and the loss of good will of our passengers."
Farr should just buck up and deal with reality. When you work for a company it is expected that you put on a professional face and don't offend a large chunk of the company's customer base. Farr should look on the bright side, at least he didn't lose his job.
Posted by bubba138 at 08:57 AM | Comments (0) |
Anti-Environment Bush
It is a myth that Bush is anti-environment:
The audits, according to the CRC's David Healy, show that in the fiscal year 2004 budget, $143 million was channeled to environmental groups that disclose their finances. That's nearly twice as much as the $72 million that the groups got in fiscal year 1998.Between 1999 and 2004, the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation saw its federal awards increase nearly six-fold while its private donations were increasing at a much smaller rate. And the Nature Conservancy's federal grant money doubled between 1999 and 2004, even though the group has been plagued by scandal, Healy reported.
Posted by bubba138 at 08:50 AM | Comments (0) |
I Didn't Actually Mean My Blood
Yesterday it was "I will stay here until my last drop of blood."
al-Sadr issued a statement Tuesday saying he would welcome help from the United Nations in solving the crisis.Muqtada al Sadr: The Iraqi's answer to John Kerry."I have no problem cooperating [with the United Nations]," the statement said. "We hope for this interference during these hard times to help us establish a world of peace and prosperity far away from wars and occupation."
Notice also, that al Sadr isn't looking for negotiations, but "interference." The pro-U.N. camp should stop and think about the fact that a militant killer like al Sadr counts them as an ally. It should give them pause, but it won't.
Posted by bubba138 at 08:17 AM | Comments (0) |
He'd Make a Great U.N. Ambassador
U.N. officials have long thought they are outside the law when it comes to where and how they park. Apparently Mike Wallace wants the same priveliges:
Alan Fromberg, deputy commissioner for public affairs at the Taxi and Limousine Commission (TLC), told CNN that Wallace allegedly lunged at a TLC inspector about 8:30 p.m. ET.Update: Witnesses say the officers were overreacting, "They threw him in cuffs. There were policemen and, i mean, it was unbelievable. It was appalling. He didn't do anything."Two TLC inspectors saw that Wallace's vehicle, registered with the commission, was double-parked and approached the driver. According to Fromberg, while the two inspectors were questioning the driver and checking the vehicle, Wallace came out of Luke's Bar and Grill on Manhattan's Upper East side carrying a take-out order.
Wallace then approached the two inspectors, Fromberg said, in an "overtly assertive and disrespectful manner." Wallace was asked to step away three times by the inspectors. Wallace did not comply.
After the third request to step aside, Wallace "[lunged] at one of the inspectors," Fromberg said.
Posted by bubba138 at 08:06 AM | Comments (0) |
Have At You!
You've got to love it:
Bostic told police he asked a Home Depot employee for a pushcart so that he could load some two-by-fours. The employee told him to take a cart that contained some wallboard because it had been in an aisle for a while, according to police.As Bostic began to load his lumber, however, Sun appeared and demanded the cart back, police said. Witnesses said both men then swung their fists at each other but missed.
Then each grabbed a two-by-four and began a sword fight, police said. It ended when Sun threw his wooden board at Bostic, hitting him in the chin, witnesses told police.
Posted by bubba138 at 07:59 AM | Comments (0) |
Show Me the Money
I could really care less about the Kobe Bryant rape case because I think it deserves no more or less attention than any other rape case. However, I do remember at the beginning his accuser said she wasn't in it for the cash. I guess that's changed.
Posted by bubba138 at 07:54 AM | Comments (0) |
You Can't Trust the Left
No cages like at the DNC convention, the right to march past Madison Square Garden, and a rally area that is large enough to hold 250,000 protesters. You think that would be enough for them, but no:
Last month, the national coalition of 800 groups that oppose the U.S.-led war in Iraq and other Bush administration policies, agreed to a "final offer" by police to march on Aug. 29 past the Madison Square Garden convention venue and then rally on Manhattan's West Side Highway.The protest groups made this agreement last month. Now, two and a half weeks before the convention, they want to change the deal.The group rejected the offer to rally on the highway on Tuesday because of fears of heat stroke and other issues and filed another application with the parks department for Central Park about 2 miles north of the arena.
But parks officials and Mayor Michael Bloomberg, a Republican, turned them down.
Seriously, though, what's the big deal. Why not let them assemble in the park? This quote hints at it:
"I think that we can never put the rights of grass ahead of the rights of New Yorkers," city councilman Bill Perkins, a Democrat, said.What do the "rights of grass" have to do with it? Everything.
It seems that Central Park, the prime location for concerts, shows, and gatherings of all types, was getting quite ragged. The grass was all but gone. So the city has spent several months and who knows how much money restoring its condition and making it green again.
The protesters, and you can bet that 95% of them are extreme environmentalists, could care less about the environment of the park because their right to act like fools is more important. This is about more than the rights of the grass. It is also about the rights of the New Yorkers whose taxes paid for that grass.
Update: The Washington Post has more:
Parks Department officials have refused to budge on the site of the demonstration. In a written statement, the Parks Department denied the protest group's latest request "for the same reasons stated in the denial of your earlier application." Parks Commissioner Adrian Benepe has said that large numbers of protesters trampling the grass would cause irreparable harm to Central Park's Great Lawn.Oh, but the protesters have a solution:
Activists sought to answer this criticism by offering to use three sites within the park, rather than concentrate in one meadow."We won't all get together in one place, we promise." Uh huh. Seeing as how they are trying to break their first agreement, what reassurance does the city have that they'll not break another?
Posted by bubba138 at 07:26 AM | Comments (0) |
Where's the Traction?
Zev Chafets has a piece in the New York Daily News today which raises the Kerry/Cambodia question. Other than that, there is zilch, nadda, nothing about it in the mainstream press. Whether or not a Kerry staffer actually said "the media wouldn't have the nerve to come at us with this kind of stuff. The senior staff believes the media is committed to seeing us win this thing," they sure are doing their best to ignore this story.
Face it, its an uphill battle to win an election when the press is completely against you. President George W. Bush needs all the help he can get. We should all do our part to get him four more years.
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 06:32 AM | Comments (0) |
August 10, 2004
Kerry: For/Against Iraq War
Here's what Bush has to say:
"Now, almost two years after he voted for the war in Iraq, and almost 220 days after switching positions to declare himself the anti-war candidate, my opponent has found a new nuance," Bush said. "After months of questioning my motives and even my credibility, Sen. Kerry now agrees with me."Plenty of time.Bush added sarcastically that Kerry still had time to change his position: "There are still 84 days left in the campaign."
And in reference to Kerry's plan to remove troops from Iraq:
Bush said Tuesday he opposed Kerry's proposal."What we don't want is to cut short the mission. We don't want politics to decide the mission," Bush said at a question-and-answer session with supporters in Niceville, Fla.
"The key is not to set artificial timelines" that would, Bush said, signal to the enemy, "'Gosh, all we've got to do is wait them out."
Posted by bubba138 at 03:26 PM | Comments (0) |
Kerry Camp Responds
The Kerry camp's strategy for "Unfit for Duty"? Attack the messenger.
This isn't going to play. The media is starting to grab onto the issues raised in the book and they're not going to let go. Like it or not, Kerry's people are going to have to reconcile the descrepancies behind his accounts of the medals (and his Cambodia jaunt) and the accounts of the two hundred plus other officers that served with him.
Therin lies the problem for the Kerry camp. It is a matter of numbers. They may be able to discredit one of these veterans, but there are dozens more where he came from -- and they're not all "bigots."
Posted by bubba138 at 03:14 PM | Comments (0) |
Kerry's Friends, the Media
You may or may not believe the media is biased for Kerry. One thing is for sure, though, Kerry's camp not only believes it is, they are counting on it:
According to a Kerry campaign source, senior campaign advisers tasked two Washington-based campaign staffers to vet the recently published Unfit for Command...Ith says, "You have no idea how much I want these minions of Kerry's to eat crow. Or maybe you do."The campaign source said that the book was not considered a "serious" problem for the campaign, because, "the media wouldn't have the nerve to come at us with this kind of stuff," says the source. "The senior staff believes the media is committed to seeing us win this thing, and that the convention inoculated us from these kinds of stories. The senior guys really think we don't have a problem here."
I do , Ith. I do.
Posted by bubba138 at 11:57 AM | Comments (0) |
Our Next Super Hero
Some things are so wrong even Hollywood shouldn't get into them. This is one of them.
Posted by bubba138 at 11:41 AM | Comments (0) |
John Kerry: Al Gore Clone?
In 2000, Al Gore was hung upon his own petard when time after time he was shown to have a penchant for -- lets call it -- exaggeration. Now, with questions on how he obtained his three Purple Hearts and whether or not he really did go into Cambodia, Kerry is looking more and more like his predecessor. One could argue, "That's thirty years old, what's the big deal?" Perhaps, but then there is this:
Since his successful New Hampshire Democratic Presidential primary campaign, Kerry has told the story of Mary Ann Knowles as a woman undergoing chemotherapy for breast cancer who continued working for fear of losing her health insurance because her husband is unemployed.Hat Tip: Crooow BlogKerry has used the plight of the Knowleses to criticize the Bush administration's health care policies.
But the Knowleses' own account differs from Kerry's in one key detail. John Knowles told the New Hampshire Sunday News that Mary Ann could have taken disability leave without losing her health insurance, but needed to keep earning her full salary.
"Her coverage is very good," he said. "It's not something that is a problem with her employer."
Cady Goldfield, a spokeswoman for Mary Ann Knowles' employer, Elderhostel, said full-time employees are eligible for 26 weeks of paid disability leave, or more in some cases. And the company pays 90 percent of health insurance premiums.
"It wasn't really the best example of what to cite for people who don't have access to health care coverage," Goldfield said.
Posted by bubba138 at 11:24 AM | Comments (0) |
A Different Kind of Strangeness
But with Kerry, even before any gaffes or scandals, the official narrative makes no sense. He's publicly opposed to the Vietnam War. But he volunteers for it. Then he comes back disgusted with his experience in war, publicly hurls his medals away (or someone else's: that story keeps changing), denounces his fellow veterans as war criminals, torturers and rapists, and claims that he personally committed atrocities.But then he decides to run for president and suddenly Jane Fonda morphs into John Wayne and all those war criminals are war heroes he wants at every rally and he's got his medals back and his disgust at his wartime experience has mysteriously turned into pride in his wartime experience to the exclusion of all else.
If Steven Spielberg, Barbra Streisand or any of his other Hollywood supporters got a script like that, they'd send it to rewrite. Either that or they'd figure they'd got an early, rejected draft of the new Manchurian Candidate.
Posted by bubba138 at 11:00 AM | Comments (0) |
Krugman/O'Reilly Slugfest
I got a chance last night to watch some clips from O'Reilly's pounding of Krugman on Sunday. One thing jumped out at me and no one else has seemed to catch it. Krugman was arguing for rolling back the tax cuts for the higher income brackets when:
RUSSERT: And what would that do to the job creators in the country?Prof. KRUGMAN: Well, you know, again, we're getting back only to the tax rates we had in 2000, you know, the tax rates we had all through the '90s. There's no sign--you know, the United States is the lowest-taxed, advanced country by far.
So by Krugman's assessment, if we had higher taxes ou unemployment would be lower. How then does he explain Germany's 10.5% unemployment rate? Or France at 9/9%?
Posted by bubba138 at 10:56 AM | Comments (0) |
Blog of the Week
It is beyond intolerable that the EU cannot recognize a genocide when it is staring the world in the face. The rapes of black Africans by janjaweed militias are acts of genocide. The burning of black African village by these Arab extremists are acts of genocide. The mass murder of black Africans by these militias are acts of genocide. The systematic terrorization of black Africans with the tacit support of Khartoum directly implicates the Sudanese government in these acts of genocide.Jay Redding is this week's featured blog. Check him out.
Posted by bubba138 at 09:40 AM | Comments (0) |
No Traction in International Support
Not only is Kerry unable to get the international support that he boasts he can, but voters don't agree with him that the international falling out is America's problem:
Forty-seven percent (47%) of American voters believe that, in the interests of co-operation, America's allies should "do what the United States wants more often."That's almost a two-to-one ratio that think the international community (read Germany and France) is on the wrong side of the fence when it comes to world issues.The Rasmussen Reports survey found that 25% of voters take the opposite view and believe that the United States should do what our allies want more often. Twenty-two percent (22%) say neither approach is preferable.
Posted by bubba138 at 09:39 AM | Comments (0) |
Going to Get Hotter
The action in Najaf has been hot over the past week, and it is bound to get hotter:
US troops are asking civilians to leave parts of Najaf, raising fears of a new assault on the holy Iraqi city...Update: Iraq the Model has on-the-spot details:Our correspondent says the warnings raise fears that the action by the US-led multinational forces will intensify.
A spokesman for interim Prime Minister Iyad Allawi told the BBC that the US-led forces were answering a request to help Iraqi police and national guardsmen.
American Humvees are patrolling Najaf’s streets and announcing through loudspeakers that civilians should evacuate Najaf city as soon as possible. This has coincided with the departure of all the 4 most important clerics from Najaf today “ Grand Ayetullah” (The last one left today). Also a curfew was announced yesterday in Sadr city from 4 p.m. till 8 a.m. and will continue for an undeclared time.It seems that it’s time at last! I hope they get Muqtada this time and also all his deputies. People here are not only disgusted and upset with this gang but also most of them showed extreme anger and some of them went as far as condemning Islam and even the Mahdi himself!! I don’t agree of course with that, as Muqtada has nothing to do with Islam...
None of the people I met today showed any sympathy with Sadr and all of them showed eagerness to end this situation in a decisive way, not by negotiation but through capturing or killing Sadr and disarming his militia, but some of them showed pity towards the simple men who are deceived by his propaganda and are till now paying for it instead of the real criminals; Muqtada and his deputies. Many of them were unhappy with the hesitancy the government have shown, as they think that the government and the coalition forces are being rather soft with Muqtada. They all said that the way this will be dealt with should be a lesson to all freedom haters and should send a warning to anyone who might have similar stupid ambitions.
Posted by bubba138 at 08:43 AM | Comments (0) |
Cambodia: That's My Story...
Most of the references to Kerry's supposed trip to Cambodia are recorded before his run for President. Since he hit the campaign trail, he hasn't said much about Cambodia. Laura Blumenfeld however, in her fawning assessment of Kerry "John Kerry: Hunter, Dreamer, Realist", [PLEASE!], got him to talk about it just last year:
And who is he, really?There is no doubt Kerry has said -- and sincerly believes -- he was in Cambodia and he's had no problemA close associate hints: There's a secret compartment in Kerry's briefcase. He carries the black attaché everywhere. Asked about it on several occasions, Kerry brushed it aside. Finally, trapped in an interview, he exhaled and clicked open his case.
"Who told you?" he demanded as he reached inside. "My friends don't know about this."
The hat was a little mildewy. The green camouflage was fading, the seams fraying.
"My good luck hat," Kerry said, happy to see it. "Given to me by a CIA guy as we went in for a special mission in Cambodia."
Kerry put on the hat, pulling the brim over his forehead. His blue button-down shirt and tie clashed with the camouflage. He pointed his finger and raised his thumb, creating an imaginary gun. He looked silly, yet suddenly his campaign message was clear: Citizen-soldier. Linking patriotism to public service. It wasn't complex after all; it was Kerry.
He smiled and aimed his finger: "Pow."
Update: The link to the referenced piece, which was available this morning, is now no longer there: "To our Readers: washingtonpost.com is undergoing maintenance and some sections of the site are temporarily unavailable. We apologize for the inconvenience."
This link works. This one does too.
Posted by bubba138 at 07:47 AM | Comments (0) |
August 09, 2004
Kerry: Still in Vietnam
I said earlier today that Kerry's Iraq policy has one goal: bring our troops home. Of course, I was paraphrasing what I had been hearing from Kerry's statements over the last couple of weeks, but almost as if on cue, Kerry today outright said exactly that:
"My goal, my diplomacy, my statesmanship is to get our troops reduced in number and I believe if you do the statesmanship properly, I believe if you do the kind of alliance building that is available to us, that it's appropriate to have a goal of reducing the troops over that period of time," he said.Why is this important? It tells in the clearest way where Kerry's mindset is. Thirty years ago, the issue of the day was "bring the troops home." For Kerry, the issue hasn't changed. Very much like so many of his "band of brothers," Kerry is unable to move past his Vietnam days.
Here's the catch: we are no longer living in a Vietnam world. We are no longer living in a Cold War world. We are not living in the past.
More importantly, our enemies are not looking back on Vietnam. They couldn't care less about Vietnam. Their focus is not on the past. They live in the present and plan for the future. You can rest assured their plans for the future don't include us. You can also bet they agree with Kerry that fewer American troops in Iraq is a good thing.
We need a president that focuses on the opportunities and the threats of present and has an eye for things to come. John Kerry is not such a man. George Bush is.
Posted by bubba138 at 04:58 PM | Comments (0) |
Kerry: Scaring Democrats Off
Kerry is scaring Democrats out of the party. Louisiana Democrat Representative Rodney Alexander has switched from the Democrat to the Republican party, touching off a firestorm of criticism from his former party-mates. As a conservative, Blue-dog Democrat, Alexander says the switch will make his job easier, "I just decided I would be more effective in the 5th District in Louisiana as a Republican."
But is that all? Louisiana commentator Mike Baham thinks Kerry has something to do with it:
Not long after winning, the conservative Alexander was being courted to switch, but he demurred, ascertaining his allegiance to the party that believed in him and that made his election possible. And then reality paid Mr. Alexander a visit in the guise of John Kerry.You know there is a problem with your candidate when he is viewed as a liability by those in your own party who are also running for election.The 5th District is a very conservative area where the Massachusetts nominee is not expected to do well. The thought of sharing an informal ticket spot with a proverbial anchor was troubling. Even more so was that the GOP decided to offer up a challenger to him.
All of a sudden Congressman Alexander began wondering if yet another upset in the 5th District could be in the making, except this time he would be on the short end of the headline in the post-election edition of the Monroe News Star.
Posted by bubba138 at 04:03 PM | Comments (0) |
Its All About the Timing
Kaus:
Shorter Terror-Alert Story Line:Yep.Old Anti-Bush Spin: Why are you warning us about these threats now?
New Anti-Bush Spin: Why are you telling us why you are warning us about these threats now?
Old Anti-Bush Spin: Why did you wait three weeks before issuing the alert?
New Anti-Bush Spin: Why didn't you wait longer?
If Bush did blow part of the Al Qaeda investigation by prematurely revealing the name of a Pakistani computer engineer who'd been "turned" and was operating as a double agent, that's a serious screw-up. (Juan Cole is all over this angle.) But how many of those who will jump on Bush for any misguided revelation are the same people (e.g. Howard Dean, WaPo) who a week ago were the very ones pressuring him to reveal more about why he'd issued an "alert" about a three year old plot to blow up financial institutions--insinuating he was doing it for political reasons? ... Even shorter spin sum-up: How dare you be cowed by us! ...
Posted by bubba138 at 02:29 PM | Comments (0) |
A Slow Day for Blogging...
...or is counseling in order?
Posted by bubba138 at 02:11 PM | Comments (0) |
Krugman Vs. O'Reilly
This is what humiliation looks like.
Posted by bubba138 at 01:43 PM | Comments (0) |
Anti-Semitism at Auschwitz
While on a tour of the museum at the Auschwitz death camp in Poland on Sunday, a group of around 50 Jewish university students from Israel, the U.S. and Poland were verbally attacked by a three-member gang of French male tourists.Hat Tip: AllahPunditEvidently incited by the presence of an Israeli flag wrapped around the shoulders of Tamar Schuri, an Israeli student from Ben Gurion University, the first assailant ran at the group while its members were being guided through a model gas chamber and crematoria and began swearing and hurling anti-Semitic and anti-Israeli insults.
After the initial altercation, a second assailant grabbed Ober by the arm. "One of the guys held me by the arm and wouldn't let go," says Ober, who lost several members of her family at Auschwitz. "I was afraid. I couldn't move and I didn't know what he was going to do.
Posted by bubba138 at 01:32 PM | Comments (0) |
San Diego Protest Warrior Update
Citizen Smash and crew were at it again this weekend with OPERATION PINK OUT:
Most of the protestors, on the other hand, aren’t happy at all about our presence. As I walk in parallel to their march, one of their men approaches me.I love it.“Why are you trying to suppress our freedom of speech?” His tone is accusing.
“We’re not,” I calmly respond. "We’re exercising our own right to free speech.”
“But why do you always have to march with us?”
“Because we disagree with part of your message, and we’re here to present a rebuttal.”
“But you never do your own protests – you always follow us around!”
“That’s not true, we hold our own events.”
“Where?”
“I’d rather not say.” Why do their work for them?
“You’re trying to intimidate and repress these women.” Now he’s playing the role of the valiant protector, and casting me as a woman-hater.
“Hey, they present their message, we present ours, and the public decides – that’s democracy.”
“Democracy?” He sounds upset. “You’re trying to suppress speech – that’s fascism!”
“Nonsense – we all have freedom of speech in this country. There’s a free marketplace of ideas.”
“You mean, like competition?” He replies, derisively.
“Exactly. And if the people keep buying our ideas instead of yours, maybe it’s time for you to try out some new ones.”
That shuts him up.
Posted by bubba138 at 01:12 PM | Comments (0) |
Little Things Aren't Always Little
True.
Posted by bubba138 at 12:37 PM | Comments (0) |
How About that International Support?
Kerry's plan for Iraq has only one goal: reduce U.S. troop levels there, saying, "I believe that within a year from now, we could significantly reduce American forces in Iraq, and that's my plan."
He really doesn't care if Iraq survives as a democracy, and that's dangerous thinking. Even so, his plans aren't likely to come to fruition:
But Kerry's plan, which promises to effectively shift much of the Iraq war burden from America to its allies, so far is failing to receive the international support the proposal must have to succeed.Well, Mr. Campbell is a Brit, whose country actualy sent troops. Of course he'd say that."I understand why John Kerry is making proposals of this kind, but there is a lack of realism in them," Menzies Campbell, a British lawmaker who is a spokesman on defense issues for the Liberal Democratic Party, said in a typical comment.
"Some Europeans are rather concerned that Mr. Kerry might have expectations for relief [from abroad] that are going to be hard to meet," said one senior European diplomat in a statement echoed in several capitals.Really? Which European countries would those be?
The French and German governments have made clear that sending troops is out of the question. British officials have made no such categorical statement, but they have expressed concern that their troops are overstretched...How about Araby?Russia's ambassador to the United Nations, Andrei Denisov, ruled out a commitment of troops. "We are not going to send anybody there, and that's all there is to say," Denisov said.
Kerry has at times said he would particularly like to bring in troops from Arab countries. But diplomats, including those from Arab nations, say they consider the scenario unlikely. The Iraqi interim government has for months excluded the possibility of any peacekeeping troops coming from immediate neighbors, in part because the Iraqi people would be suspicious of neighbors' intentions.Another strike. Perhaps there is something Kerry can do to change the minds of our European cousins?
Kerry has proposed two other measures he has said would help draw support — convening an international conference on Iraq and naming through international consultations a "high commissioner," with U.N. backing, to give other countries more say.Of course, neither of these proposals mean much since Iraq is now a sovereign state. I'm not so sure the current Iraq administration would take too lightly being told what to do by a U.N. commission or a U.N. appointed "high commissioner." These are backward-looking proposals (not an uncommon vewpoint from the Vietnam obsessed), the world wants forward focused thinking:
"I don't think it would be a deal maker, as far as European participation," he said. "I think major governments are looking for ways to build up the Iraqi government and constitutional process."
Posted by bubba138 at 12:00 PM | Comments (0) |
Media Diversity
- I have never voted for a Democrat in my life: FALSE. I voted for Bill Clinton. Once. I'm cured now.
- I think my taxes are too high: TRUE.
- I supported Bill Clinton's impeachment: TRUE.
- I voted for President Bush in 2000: TRUE. I'm voting for him again in 2004.
- I am a gun owner: FALSE. I still completely support our Second Amendment rights.
- I support school voucher programs: TRUE. How else are under-privileged children going to get a quality education.
- I oppose condom distribution in public schools: TRUE.
- I oppose bilingual education: TRUE. I support extra-curricular tutoring to help bring immigrants up-to-speed.
- I oppose gay marriage: TRUE. I also oppose a Federal Gay Marriage Amendment.
- I want Social Security privatized: TRUE. At least partially.
- I believe racial profiling at airports is common sense: ALMOST TRUE. Lets use common sense. Our enemy fits a particular profile, but let's not go overboard, OK? Shaking down granny from Ohio is overboard. Searching every single Mohammod that crosses the metal detector is overboard.
- I shop at Wal-Mart: TRUE. At least once a week.
- I enjoy talk radio: TRUE. Every weekday.
- I am annoyed when news editors substitute the phrase "undocumented person" for "illegal alien.": TRUE.
- I do not believe the phrase "a chink in the armor" is offensive: TRUE
- I eat meat TRUE. More than once a day.
- I believe O.J. Simpson was guilty: TRUE
- I cheered when I learned that Saddam Hussein had been captured: TRUE
- I cry when I hear "Proud to be an American" by Lee Greenwood: FALSE. Men like me don't cry. [What about "It's a Wonderful Life" - Ed. Who asked you?]
- I don't believe the New York Times: FALSE. Of course I do, except the parts I don't.
Posted by bubba138 at 10:38 AM | Comments (0) |
Lawsuit Waiting to Happen
San Francisco is instituting new voting procedures:
Under the system, voters will rank their top three candidates in order of preference. If no one wins 50% of the votes when first choices are tallied, the candidate with the least number of votes is eliminated. The second choice of those voters is then added to the remaining candidates' tallies. The process — which some call an instant runoff — continues until a majority winner emerges.If voters couldn't handle a simple butterfly ballot how can we expect them to be able to handle voting for the same candidates more than once?
Posted by bubba138 at 09:46 AM | Comments (0) |
Good to the Last Drop
Sadr thundered defiance during a news conference at Najaf's holiest shrine, the Imam Ali mosque.We'll accept those terms."The Mehdi Army and I will keep resisting. I will stay in holy Najaf and will never leave," Sadr said. "I will stay here until my last drop of blood."
Posted by bubba138 at 09:25 AM | Comments (0) |
No One Cares About Nader
Ralph is completely out of this election:
Consumer advocate Ralph Nader did not collect enough signatures to make the ballot in California as an independent presidential candidate but his spokesman said on Sunday the campaign would keep trying.Nader had gathered about 85,000 signatures by Friday's deadline and had clearly failed to accumulate the 153,035 signatures needed to place him on the ballot, California Secretary of State spokesman Doug Stone said. Final tallies were not immediately available.
Don't forget he picked Peter Camejo, the Green's gubenatorial candidate for the recall last year. Even with that California clout he cannot get the support he needs to get on the ballot.
It is now a two man race. Ignore any polls with Nader's name on them.
Posted by bubba138 at 09:02 AM | Comments (0) |
Got Another One
They're falling like flies:
In a new blow to al Qaeda, authorities in the United Arab Emirates captured a senior operative in Osama bin Laden's terror network, who trained thousands of militants for combat, and turned him over to Pakistan, the information minister said Sunday.Will someone please question the timing.The man, Qari Saifullah Akhtar, was secretly flown to the eastern city of Lahore, where he was being interrogated, a Pakistani intelligence official said on condition of anonymity.
Posted by bubba138 at 08:44 AM | Comments (0) |
Kerry: Not Serious About the Threat
Last week, John Kerry took a que from Michael Moore's playbook and stated, "Had my top aide whispered in my ear, 'America is under attack,' I would have told those kids very politely and nicely that the president of the United States had something he needed to attend to."
The statement was instantly jumped on by astute bloggers all over the blosphere. But let's concentrate more on the current threat and less on the past, shall we? John Kerry, as the presidential candidate is now receiving the same security briefings as the President. Here is how serious he is about national security:
Seven hours after the White House offered to brief him, Kerry, who'd been unwilling to bump any campaign events, was finally parked in one place long enough so that a secure phone line could be set up in his bus. After playing softball with firefighters and autoworkers in Taylor, Mich., Kerry boarded his bus next to the field, and, still wearing his TEAM KERRY jersey, heard what lay behind last week's terror warnings.Seven. Hours.
That would be more than nine minutes, right?
Posted by bubba138 at 08:35 AM | Comments (0) |
No Nukes For Iran
Condi on "Meet the Press":
"We cannot allow the Iranians to develop a nuclear weapon," she added. "The international community has got to find a way to come together and to make certain that that does not happen."
John Kerry issued a statement later in the day, "We may or may not allow the Iranians to develop a nuclear weapon. That may or may not be a bad thing. But if they do, we surely may go in and maybe destroy the technology...or not"
Sarcasm aside, let us not forget the Kerry campaign did write an open letter of appeasement to Iran.
Update: Here is the transcript.
More: Chris Muir nailed it on Sunday:
Posted by bubba138 at 08:13 AM | Comments (0) |
Moore: "Less Than Honest"
Fueling the "Fahrenheit 9/11" controversy, members of the 9/11 Commission dispute filmmaker Michael Moore's claims that 26 members of Osama bin Laden's family were secretly shuttled out of the country while planes were grounded after the terror attacks. "That's not what we found," commission member Jamie Gorelick said of Moore's assertion that the Saudis were snuck out on a charter flight on Sept. 13 in violation of airspace restrictions.
Posted by bubba138 at 07:52 AM | Comments (0) |
Bush to U.N.: C'mon In
Thirteen nutty Democrat Congress persons insisted that the United Nations send election monitors to the U.S. for this November's elections:
Yesterday, those 13 Democratic House members got their surprising answer from the State Department – the administration will indeed invite foreign election monitors to observe the U.S. elections in November...Now, the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, the largest regional organization in the world with 55 participating nations, will monitor the U.S. election on Nov. 2. Members include Britain, France, Germany, Italy, Portugal, Russia, Spain and the United States.
Here's the irony in this. These congress persons all buy into the idea that the 200 election was either stolen or there were masses that were disenfranchised. By inviting the U.N. in, their goal was to point the finger of suspicion at the administration. Instead, this administration has turned the tables upon them, in essence saying "we've got nothing to hide."
When the elections go down without a hitch, these legislators will be shown to be the nuts they are. Game. Set. Match.
Update: CNN has more.
Posted by bubba138 at 07:50 AM | Comments (0) |
Economic Super Power
Have you ever asked yourself why do we control the world economically? Is it because of our superior resources? Mexico and Canada are similarly blessed, so that can't be it. Perhaps its just because we work harder? Naw, it can't be that simple.
Posted by bubba138 at 07:40 AM | Comments (0) |
Here's the Problem
We no longer live in a "post-Cold War World." Our is a post-9/11 era. The rules, priorities, and enemies are different and they require a different approach.
Posted by bubba138 at 07:31 AM | Comments (0) |
Why Kerry Will Lose
Adam Sparks explains it.
Update: Elenor Clift, not exactly a die-hard conservative, agrees.
Posted by bubba138 at 07:26 AM | Comments (0) |
Our Friends the Germans
In the WAR ON TERROR NEWS, our friends the Germans are reportedly dropping the charges against a Hamburg-based Moroccan Mounir el Motassadeq, accused of aiding the September 11 hijackers, because of concerns that evidence supplied by the Americans might have been obtained through torture. "[The testimonies from America contain] no details as to where [the witnesses] were questioned, nor whether torture or other forms of force were used to make them talk," says a senior German intelligence official. Notice the reversed presumption: you have to prove that terror suspects were not tortured, but since that's too difficult to prove we'll just throw out the evidence altogether. This would be funny if it actually wasn't so serious. I can't say I'm surprised though, remembering the story I reported some time ago, about German military personnel refusing to take Taliban prisoners in Afghanistan because they would have to be turned over to the Americans who might in turn abuse them.
Chrenkoff has this, and more news from Europe worth keeping up on.
Posted by bubba138 at 07:05 AM | Comments (0) |
August 08, 2004
Natural Causes?
Lewis died at 1:15 p.m. at Kaiser Foundation Hospital in Allied Gardens, authorities said.Now, please. Who dies of natural causes at age 37?The councilman appeared to have died of "natural causes," said Medical Examiner Investigator George Dickason.
An official cause of death was pending an investigation, but Kaiser spokeswoman Sylvia Wallace said Lewis was admitted to the hospital with internal bleeding.
"Apparently he had some sort of gastrointestinal issue," Wallace said.
But Dickason said the councilman appeared to have died of "natural causes."
Posted by bubba138 at 10:17 PM | Comments (0) |
Brown Books?
Are brown books what digital brown shirts use, or are these sstrictly of the pulp variety?
Posted by bubba138 at 09:58 PM | Comments (0) |
Political Corruption, FBI, and Death
If you have been a long time S&A reader, you will remember over a year ago several San Diego city council members were brought up before a grand jury by the FBI on suspicion of pay-for-play. It seems they got too buddy-buddy with some Las Vegas strip joint owners.
One of them, councilman Charles Lewis is now dead:
San Diego police have confirmed Lewis' death but no further details were immediately available.He and fellow council members Ralph Inzunsa and Michael Zucchet were indicted last summer for allegedly accepting money from the owner of the Cheetah's strip club. The owner was seeking to repeal an ordinance banning dancers from touching customers. All three officials pleaded innocent. The case against them is pending.
Lewis, as well as the other two candidates who were indicted with him, have understandably been having trouble fundraising this year.
Lewis, who was designated as indigent by the court and was provided a taxpayer-funded lawyer, raised just $1,649 in the first half of the year, reports showed. He spent $1,180.In 2003, Lewis raised $55,935, including $38,385 in cash contributions and a $17,000 personal loan. That was enough to satisfy the federal court's requirement that he pay the first $30,000 of his legal costs before the public begins to subsidize them.
The most frenetic fund raising happened immediately after the FBI searches at City Hall. By June 30, 2003 – just weeks after launching the fund-raising drive – Zucchet had collected $43,068, Inzunza $5,250 and Lewis had not raised enough to meet the $1,000 threshold for filing a report.
Michael Galardi, the nightclub owner in the middle of all this, has charged the FBI with foul play:
Galardi has told officials that Las Vegas Assistant U.S. Attorney Eric Johnson visited the Cheetahs strip club in Las Vegas and received favors there. He also said an FBI agent accompanied him to golf outings and NFL games and was on his payroll, said sources who declined to name the agent. Johnson was removed from the case. The FBI agent has been reassigned to another city.The Justice Department lawyers questioned Galardi, D'Intino, Montagna and others about whether Johnson and FBI agents had visited Jaguars or Cheetahs in Las Vegas, clubs owned by Galardi at the time. Montagna is a longtime FBI informant who befriended Galardi and D'Intino and became director of security for the Cheetahs clubs.
Among other things, they were asked if FBI agents had attended golf tournaments or professional football games with Galardi. The sources spoke on condition of anonymity because the investigation is secret.
What is exactly going one here isn't yet clear. What is clear is that this is one big mess.
More here. Michael's dad, who took over (or more correctly took back) the Cheetahs chain, hasn't exactly been an upstanding citizen himself:
"I think what we did was right on January 7 and it's right today," said Mayor Oscar Goodman in describing the council's original decision to fine Jack Galardi $1.017 million rather than pull the club's liquor license, a move that would most likely have forced the establishment to close...According to federal court records, Goodman once was Galardi's lawyer in an appeal of his 1972 conviction for conspiracy to steal federal money orders from an L.A.-area courthouse and cash them in Vietnam.
ALSO Jack Galardi just started talking about the situation this weekend.
Speaking out for the first time since his son was caught in a federal corruption probe, Galardi told the Las Vegas Sun for Friday's editions that he plans to reassert control over his strip clubs that extend across the United States and hopes to one day reconcile with his son."I trusted him to run Cheetahs,"Galardi said."I wasn't paying attention. The bills were being paid. I was drawing a nice salary. Everything was being taken care of to my knowledge. I had no concerns."
Posted by bubba138 at 08:58 PM | Comments (0) |
August 07, 2004
Reality Check
In case you need reminding what a police-state is really like, here's an example:
According to a report by Apple Daily, some villagers disclosed that Liu Guozhao, secretary of Shijiahe Village in northern Zhengzhou City, took land villagers used for farming and sold it to real estate companies. The average size of villagers' lands for farming dropped about 10 percent. On June 20, a large amount of land was sold, and the reduction in size went from 10 to 40 percent. One villager said, "We never received a penny from these land sales, and our lives are dependant on our land!"On the early morning of July 31, about 600 riot police and 50 vehicles blocked all roads to Shijiahe Village. They then proceeded to arrest the organizers of the protesting villagers.
Upon receiving word that protestors were being arrested, thousands of villagers formed a human wall in an effort to protect the protestors. Around 3:30 a.m., police began their assault on the villagers with rubber bullets and tear gas, creating a scene of chaos, that resulted in 30 villagers getting hit, and six being seriously injured and rushed to the emergency room.
Posted by bubba138 at 10:39 AM | Comments (0) |
August 06, 2004
Bloggeress Makes Good
Posted by bubba138 at 09:39 PM | Comments (0) |
He's Won Me Over
[Kerry] the Democrat told the UNITY gathering that he "might" have gone to war if Hussein had refused to disarm.That fills me with confidence."You bet we might have," Kerry said, adding that the result would not have cost as much in American casualties or taxpayers' money.
Posted by bubba138 at 07:18 PM | Comments (0) |
Glory Days
Bruce Springsteen (who is campaigning for Kerry on George Soros' unregulated soft-money tab) had a song in the eighties called Glory Days that wistfully examined our penchant to rest upon the glory of our youthful triumphs. As good as those days gone by were, they were probably not as good as we remember them.
Ironically, Kerry has based his entire campaign upon the glory days of his Vietnam service. The problem is, very few remember them in the same way Kerry does.
It seems to me Kerry has been barking up the wrong tree.
Posted by bubba138 at 03:54 PM | Comments (0) |
The Exception to the Rule
In his book, If It's Not Close, They Can't Cheat: Crushing the Democrats in Every Election and Why Your Life Depends on It, Hugh Hewitt makes a compelling case for voting a straight Republican ticket. Sometimes, however there are exceptions:
In November, the GOP candidate will oppose Rep. John Tanner, a Democrat who has represented the northwest Tennessee district for 15 years.The Republicans in Tennessee knew that the seat was ultra-safe for the Democrats so they didn't even put a token Republican up for it. This bit of apathy left the door wide-open for John L. Hart, racist extrodinaire, to run for the Republican nomination completely unopposed. Before anyone noticed, it was too late. Now the Republican party has egg on its face and it becomes easier for Democrats to classify it as the party of racists.Hart, 60, vows if elected to work toward keeping "less favored races" from reproducing or immigrating to the United States. In campaign literature, Hart contends that "poverty genes" threaten to turn the United States into "one big Detroit."
He has run for the 8th District seat before and drawn little attention. But people began to notice this time because he was the only Republican on the ballot.
What sickens me only slightly less than Hart's dispicable views is that the Republican party in that state was so willing to give up the seat without even a token fight.
Posted by bubba138 at 03:23 PM | Comments (0) |
Kerry's "Secret Plan"
Just how is Kerry going to pull off what Kofi Annan could not? According to the Captain the plan is to "do everything that George Bush did, except with better hair:"
1. Increase international involvement -- well, Bush got the UNSC to unanimously endorse the occupation and the interim government. He has 31 nations involved in Iraq now. He's working with Muslim nations to provide security to the ever-courageous UN mission that bugged out a year ago, and possibly with Russia. If Kerry thinks he can get significant troop contributions from France and Germany -- in election years -- he's out of his mind.2. Appoint a "high commissioner" to work with Iraq -- That was Paul Bremer. Now we have an ambassador to the sovereign government to Iraq. I doubt that Iraq perceives itself to need an American "high commissioner" to tell them what to do.
3. Convert security forces from American to Iraqi -- No kidding. It's exactly what we have already been doing, and to that end involving NATO in training the new Iraqi security forces.
Posted by bubba138 at 10:41 AM | Comments (0) |
A Little Reminder
Memo to Maqtada: Don't mess with the U.S.
U.S.-led coalition forces have killed about 300 militants loyal to Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr in fighting over the past two days around the city of Najaf, a U.S. military spokesman said by telephone from Baghdad.
Posted by bubba138 at 09:04 AM | Comments (0) |
August 05, 2004
Kerry Knocks Bush for Inaction on 9-11
Before a gathering of journalists in Washington, DC today, John Kerry criticized President Bush for his actions on 9-11-01 following the attack on the World Trade Center. Kerry blasted Bush for not acting swiftly, and instead choosing to sit with children in a Florida classroom.
"Had I been reading to children and had my top aide whispered in my ear, 'America is under attack,' I would have told those kids very politely and nicely that the president of the United States had something that he needed to attend to -- and I would have attended to it."First, it's telling that Kerry is using Michael Moore's propaganda as a playbook in his campaign. This has a definite whiff of desperation about it.
Read on.
Secondly, where exactly was John Kerry that morning when America was under attack, and what was he doing?
In an interview with Larry King on CNN, July 8, 2004, Sen. Kerry was asked where he was the morning of September 11th. Here is part of his response:
Kerry: "...And as I came in [to a meeting in Sen. Daschle's office], Barbara Boxer and Harry Reid were standing there, and we watched the second plane come in to the building. And we shortly thereafter sat down at the table and then we just realized nobody could think, and then boom, right behind us, we saw the cloud of explosion at the Pentagon..." (emphasis added).In other words: Sen. Kerry, who criticized President Bush for not rushing out of the Florida classroom for seven minutes, sat paralyzed with his colleagues for a full forty minutes. He is hardly in a position to criticize President Bush for "inaction."It should be noted that the second plane hit the World Trade Center at 9:03 a.m., and the plane hit the Pentagon at 9:43 a.m. By Kerry's own words, he and his fellow senators sat there for forty minutes, realizing "nobody could think."
Hat Tip: Shamelessly copied from RedState.ORG
Posted by bubba138 at 05:51 PM | Comments (0) |
Why Wait?
Why wait until after the election to heat up the court-rooms? Now is as good a time as any other.
It has only been a day since Swift Boat Veterans for Truth released its ad and the Democrat's attack machine has gone into high gear:
HUMAN EVENTS has obtained a copy of a letter which lawyers for the Democratic National Committee and John Kerry have sent to television station managers attempting to suppress the blistering anti-John Kerry TV spot created by the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth and first reported here on Human Events Online (click here to view the ad).George Soros. MoveOn.Org. Harold Ickes. All have spent millions slandering the President and not a peep from the Kery campaign. No refutation or condemnation came from the Kerry campaign when Bush was falsely called AWOL by party chief Terry McAliffe, Howard Dean and scores of other high-ranking Democrats. But when John Kerry's own fellow vets, (pictured here with Kerry) say Kerry is a fake, out come the lawyers.The letter claims the ad is "false" and "libelous" and suggests, in not-so-subtle terms, that TV stations should use their "legal authority" to refuse any requests for advertising airtime, stating that "because your station has this freedom [to refuse the ad], and because it is not a 'use' of your facilities by a clearly identified candidate, your station is responsible for the false and libelous charges made by this sponsor" (emphasis added).
Posted by bubba138 at 02:21 PM | Comments (0) |
Kerry the Diplomat -- Annan Admits Multilateral Force
John Kerry must think of himself as quite the diplomat. He believes his warmth and charm is enough to convince the international community into committing troops to Iraq. That would be quite a feat -- one that even Kofi Anan, the very leader of the international community, cannot pull off:
UN staff returning to Iraq will have to rely on the US-led multinational force for protection, UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan says...Examine closely those last two sentences. First Kofi says the U.N. must rely upon the "multi-national force. What's that? Yep. Multinational. Even the Democrat's hero Kofi Annan sees their "go it alone" canard for what it is: pure bull-pucky.Mr Annan said the UN had not received any firm offers from countries for the separate dedicated protection force it had hoped to have in place in Iraq...
"We are forced to rely on the multinational force to give us protection," Mr Annan said...
"We haven't had much success attracting governments to sign up for the dedicated force."
Second, General Secretary Annan himself hasn't had success putting together a dedicated force for Iraq. How then does Kerry hope to do so?
Posted by bubba138 at 01:59 PM | Comments (0) |
Religion of Peace Update
Two men with suspected al Qaeda links were arrested in a sting operation on an Albany, New York, mosque early on Thursday in a money-laundering scheme to buy a shoulder-fired missile, law enforcement sources said.They identified the arrested men as Ya Seen Arif, 34, and Mohammed Hoosain, 49. They said Arif is the imam of the Masjid As-Salaam mosque and Hoosain was the founder.
Posted by bubba138 at 01:09 PM | Comments (0) |
From Unity to Division
If you are like me, you felt Kerry's words of post-9/11 unity rang hollow, especially when he attributed the current partisan division of our country to the Persident's policies. Byron York explodes the myth of a non-partisan post-9/11 atmosphere:
Consider this: Less than two weeks after Sept. 11, as the smoke still rose from the ruins of the World Trade Center, Kerry’s campaign guru, Robert Shrum, along with his Democracy Corps colleagues James Carville and Stanley Greenberg, devised an intensive project to identify which issues Democrats might use most profitably to attack Republicans in the post-Sept. 11 era.In the second week after the attack, Shrum & Co. convened focus groups in Milwaukee, Tampa, Atlanta and Philadelphia.
In week three after the attack, they assembled groups in Toledo and Runnemede, N.J.
In week four, it was Oakland, Calif., and Wayne County, Mich.
In week five, it was Albuquerque. And in week six, it was Seattle and Des Moines — concentrating on “swing voters, split evenly between those who voted for Gore and Bush in 2000.”
In addition, Shrum & Co. conducted a poll of 1,000 likely voters to refine their findings.
Posted by bubba138 at 12:45 PM | Comments (0) |
Why Bush Will Win
Or, more pointedly, why Kerry will lose:
John Kerry is not a bad man. He probably wouldn't make a bad President. But he is a bad candidate in a terrible situation. He represents the wing of the Democratic Party that is imbued with a sense of its own moral, intellectual, cultural and social superiority. In short, he is the standard bearer for the unbearable.These people don't comprise a majority of the electorate or even Democratic voters (how could they and remain an elite?), but they have convinced themselves that they and their candidate - if packaged properly - will prove irresistibly attractive to lesser Americans.
The problem is, most Americans don't regard their lives as "hell" or Bush as Satan. The economy, after all, is not really in a Great Depression. In fact, it's doing pretty well. Iraq isn't Vietnam, and won't be unless there's a draft. The Islamic jihad against America isn't Bush's fault, either. A candidate who insists otherwise is bound to strike voters as detached from reality.
Posted by bubba138 at 12:39 PM | Comments (0) |
Outpacing the Pack
Say what you will about Kerry, there is one area in which he excels:
I’ve watched Senator Kerry closely as my Senator for 20 years. If he’s got a great intellect, he has kept it carefully hidden. Indeed, Senator Kerry is mediocre in every way except for one – he’s no doubt in the top percentile when it comes to ambition.
Posted by bubba138 at 07:55 AM | Comments (0) |
August 04, 2004
A Picture is Worth a Thousand Words
These are Kerry's fellow swift-boat officers, or those he calls his "Band of Brothers"
How many actually support him?
Posted by bubba138 at 09:45 PM | Comments (0) |
The New Tolerance
Consider this line of thinking the next time someone starts harping about Christian intolerance:
The CEO of Rising Star, Kujaatele Kweli, told Local 6 News that they have tried to create an office that accommodates anybody's religion -- not just Islam.This is not unlike how things work in "open" Islamic countries such as Egypt."Clearly you're accommodating," Holfeld said, "and you have an ecumenical philosophy," Holfeld said.
"Yes," Kweli replied.
"(Then) shouldn't you be able to accommodate all faiths in the same lunch room?" Holfeld asked.
"We do, we can," Kweli said.
"But you've dismissed one of your employees for eating pork in the lunch room," Holfeld said.
"Yes, pork is considered unclean," Kweli said.
"Clearly you're accommodating" Clueless said.
"Yes," Minister of government replied.
"And you have an ecumenical philosophy," Clueless said.
"Yes," Minister of government replied.
"(Then) shouldn't you be able to accommodate all faiths in the same country?" Clueless asked.
"We do, we can," Minister of government replied.
"But you've executed citizens for converting to Christianity," Clueless said.
"Yes, converting from Islam is considered a capital offense," Minister of government said.
Posted by bubba138 at 03:25 PM | Comments (0) |
Oh, Those Jovial Germans
First the fat Statue of Liberty and now this:
I imagine they've got to do something to keep them busy since better than one out of ten Germans aren't working:Picture this: a gigantic cheeseburger (with tomatoes and lettuce) slamming into two high-rise buildings, as cartoon characters run from the flaming ruins.
It's clearly a takeoff on the 9/11 terror attacks on the World Trade Center, and according to the Virginia-based Center for Individual Freedom, the illustration appears on page 18 of a 30-page "food diary" distributed by Subway sandwich shops in Germany.
The cheeseburger image is found in a Subway "food diary" that encourages Germans to track their food consumption for 30 days. The diary is "replete with anti-American images," the Center said.
Germany's unemployment rate rose to an 11-month high in July, reducing the chances that consumer spending in Europe's biggest economy will recover from two years of stagnation.And Kerry says our economy is bad?The unemployment rate rose to 10.6 percent from 10.5 percent in June, the Nuremberg-based Federal Labor Agency said. The number of jobseekers rose a seasonally adjusted 11,000 to 4.39 million, the sixth straight monthly increase.
Posted by bubba138 at 02:10 PM | Comments (0) |
The Secret Is Out
Mary Kunz: out of the closet.
It feels good, doesn't it?
Posted by bubba138 at 01:39 PM | Comments (0) |
Tell Me Something I Don't Know
Headline: "Witness describes England as undisciplined"
Ya think?
Posted by bubba138 at 01:26 PM | Comments (0) |
Online Contributions
Be careful to whom you give your money:
The messages, complete with legit-looking logos, carried subject heads of “President John Kerry, please vote and contribute,” and included links to Web sites where users could offer up their credit card numbers to make a contribution.This goes for more than just e-mail, too. I got a fund-raising phone call the other night from what sounded like the GOP. I had almost agreed to give them some cash, but thought better of it. After a few pointed questions, I found out that this organization wasn't the GOP, but a PAC of some sort -- phone call over.In reality, the sites were bogus -- one hosted from the U.S, the other from India (talk about outsourcing) -- and have since gone offline.
Regardless of who you support, only give through the candidate's official web site or directly to his or her campaign. You are much better off that way.
Posted by bubba138 at 01:07 PM | Comments (0) |
Who's Calling Whom Unpatriotic?
Rich Lowry points out that politicians are indeed accusing their opponents of being un-American and un-patriotic:
Clark based most of his primary campaign on questioning President Bush's patriotism. He said of Bush's landing on an aircraft carrier, "I don't think it's patriotic." He said that Bush had failed to do his duty to protect the country, and "if you're patriotic, you do your duty." He said of Iraq, "I don't think it was a patriotic war."Of course that's the tame stuff. Mr. Lowry didn't mention Robert Kennedy's charging the Bush administration of facism and comparing them to the Nazi regime.This fits a pattern. Back in May, Teresa Heinz Kerry called Dick Cheney "unpatriotic." Sen. Bob Graham has said that Bush's Iraq policy was "anti-patriotic at the core." New York Rep. Nita Lowey has called Republicans "unpatriotic" for cutting taxes. Howard Dean, again, has said that Attorney General John Ashcroft "is not a patriot." John Kerry himself has said that it was "unpatriotic" for Bush's "friends" in the corporate world to outsource jobs overseas.
Lowry concludes, "If Democrats want to question Republicans' patriotism, that's their business. They just shouldn't pretend that they are the victims of the kind of assault they themselves are launching."
Exactly.
Posted by bubba138 at 12:59 PM | Comments (0) |
Creative Campaign Finance
With both sides campaigning in Iowa today, both Bush and Kerry camps found yet another way arounf McCain-Feingold.
Posted by bubba138 at 12:49 PM | Comments (0) |
Class Is In
Last night I watched Bill O'Reilly interview first lady Laura Bush. It's easy to see, out of the two candidate's wives, which has more class:
Daughter Jenna, 22, laughed and stuck out her tongue at news media July 20 during a campaign trip to St. Louis with her father. Photographers caught the waggish pose as Jenna sat in the presidential limousine...Mrs. Bush principles are evident. First, expect your side to take responsibility for it's actions. Second, give grace to your opponents. That's class.Her advice to her daughter? "Maybe you should work on your issues of impulsiveness or something," she recalled...
When asked if Heinz Kerry's "shove it" comment was appropriate, Bush said: "It's hard when your husband's running for president. It's hard to be scrutinized and to hear the criticisms, and I think that's really what the fact of the matter is in what she said."
(Disclaimer: The linked article refers to a different interview, but the exchange is almost identical. Video here.)
Posted by bubba138 at 10:11 AM | Comments (0) |
Fahrenheit 9/11 Remix
Some enterprising youths have completely ruined Michael Moore's newest blockbuster. How?
Posted by bubba138 at 09:28 AM | Comments (0) |
Kerry's Fresh Start
Can Kerry really pull off a dimplomatic coup and get "the world" on our side? Feste says it's unlikely.
Posted by bubba138 at 08:58 AM | Comments (0) |
Missile Defense
The Democrats love to howl about the worthlessness of an updated, active domestic missile defense system. We are, after all, in a post-cold war era. The threat is no longer beligerant nations, but with shadowy cell groups of terrorists. Where is the wisdom in missile defense when a terrorist can eliminate New York with a suitcase bomb? Kerry is a leader in such thinking:
In 1996 hearings on missile defenses, Mr. Kerry questions the entire premise behind missile defenses by asserting that no one could possibly be concerned because "there are no Russian missiles aimed at the United States."President Bush believes in maintaining and enhancing national missile defense, and its a good thing, too:
North Korea is deploying new land- and sea-based ballistic missiles that can carry nuclear warheads and may have sufficient range to hit the United States, according to the authoritative Jane's Defense Weekly...It said communist North Korea had acquired the know-how during the 1990s from Russian missile specialists and by buying 12 former Soviet submarines which had been sold for scrap metal but retained key elements of their missile launch systems...
"It would fundamentally alter the missile threat posed by the DPRK (Democratic People's Republic of Korea) and could finally provide its leadership with something that it has long sought to obtain -- the ability to directly threaten the continental U.S.," the weekly said.
Posted by bubba138 at 08:44 AM | Comments (0) |
Conventional Wisdom...
...explains the lack of a post-convention bounce for Kerry by saying the electorate has already made up its mind:
Pollsters said such little movement after the extravaganza of a convention and the selection of a running mate underlined how tight and frozen the contest was. They said this suggested an electorate that had largely made up its mind and was resisting the kind of gyrations typical in most presidential campaigns.
Keep this in mind as September rolls around and the Republican convention finishes up. On the one hand, if Bush mirrors Kerry's performance, and doesn't get a bounce, pay attention to how it is treated in the media. Will they continue talking about a committed electorate, or will the harp and howl about the President's weakness? On the other hand, if he does get a marked bounce, will the press admit they were just flat out wrong, and that Kerry and the DNC convention just plain stunk?
Update: The Marist poll just released the results of its latest survey. Among likely voters the race is dead even at 47%.
Update: The Elliot Fladen suggests the polls haven't moved because nobody watched the convention. That's an acceptable theory, except for the fact that people did.
Posted by bubba138 at 08:05 AM | Comments (0) |
Attacks in September
Neal Boortz (use this link after today):
For months now the conventional wisdom has been that a terrorist attack against this country prior to the election would send voters to George Bush. I'm not sure that this conventional wisdom is valid. Kerry has shown an ability to market the appeasement strategy quite well. I'm sure I'm not the only one who has noticed.I think it is less about appeasement than it is about getting the job done:
But consider this: when Bush ordered the assault on Afghanistan in October of 2001, he clearly promised to get bin Laden, "Dead or Alive." Three years later we still have not captured him and niether have we seen his body.If there is an al Qa'eda attack between now and the election and it is merely perceived (perception is more important than truth in such matters) that bin Laden has engineered that attack, voters across the nation will come to the conclusion that Bush cannot do the job he set out to do. America will conclude that his policies cannot protect them from bin Laden and they will vote him out.
Posted by bubba138 at 07:41 AM | Comments (0) |
Wictory Wednesday
Some claim President Bush shouldn't have started this war. Lets put this into perspective.
FDR led us into World War II. Germany never attacked us: Japan did. From 1941-1945, 450,000 lives were lost, an average of 112,500 per year.
Truman finished that war and started one in Korea, North Korea never attacked us. From 1950-1953, 55,000 lives were lost, an average of 18,334 per year.
John F. Kennedy started the Vietnam conflict in 1962. Vietnam never attacked us.
Johnson turned Vietnam into a quagmire. From 1965-1975, 58,000 lives were lost,
an average of 5,800 per year.
Clinton went to war in Bosnia without UN or French consent, Bosnia never attacked us. He was offered Osama bin Laden's head on a platter three times by Sudan and did nothing. Osama has attacked us on multiple occasions.
In the two years since terrorists attacked us President Bush has liberated two countries, crushed the Taliban, crippled al-Qaida, put nuclear inspectors in Libya,
Iran and North Korea without firing a shot, and captured a terrorist who slaughtered
300,000 of his own people.
Somehow John Kerry and the Democrats call that failure, arrogance, and incompetence. We need to do everything we can to make sure George W. Bush is re-elected.
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 07:15 AM | Comments (0) |
August 03, 2004
Hardball
Chris Matthews asks Bill Maher: "When does it begin breaking for Kerry?
Its time to change the name of his program.
Posted by bubba138 at 09:02 PM | Comments (0) |
It's All About the Timing
Yet another suspiciously timed move by the Republicans.
Posted by bubba138 at 07:04 PM | Comments (0) |
The Reason for Con-Blogging
Andrew Ferguson has figured out the real reason bloggers were invited to the convention:
the real purpose of inviting bloggers to the convention suddenly became clear: They were there to be interviewed. Huddled together in the Fleet Center, conveniently herded into their own seating section, thinking and tapping away, they served the larger goal of giving mainstream journalists a story.Antonia Zerbisias adds, "Because, heaven knows, nothing else was going on at the convention, in the country or anywhere else in the world."
Posted by bubba138 at 04:15 PM | Comments (0) |
Mona Lisa Smile
Posted by bubba138 at 02:40 PM | Comments (0) |
Profits to the Democrats
Sen. John Kerry mentioned at the Democratic Convention that his prep school garage band, The Electras, may be getting back together. But already there's partisan squabbling.Jack Radcliffe, Larry Rand, John Prouty, Peter Lang and Andy Gagarin, who all attended St. Paul's with Kerry, recently got together in Hartford, Conn., to talk about re-releasing the Electras album.
At first, everybody got along fine. But Rand says "the reunion disintegrated" when the band couldn't agree on whether to go with an established label or distribute it themselves. They also couldn't agree on how to spend the potential profits.
Democratic Electras "wanted to send the profits" to the Kerry camp, Rand tells the New Bedford Standard-Times. But Republicans Radcliffe and Gagarin would hear none of it.
"If the proceeds from my songs go to the Democratic National Convention, I'll be worked up," said Radcliffe.
Posted by bubba138 at 02:05 PM | Comments (0) |
Curious
Within the past several days, the anonymous defense official said, a courier had been intercepted inside Iraq bearing a message from Zarqawi to bin Laden. The official would not reveal the contents of the message or exactly when and where its bearer had been found.I wonder if this was the man intercepted near Syria that some thought was Zarqawi himself.
Posted by bubba138 at 01:46 PM | Comments (0) |
THE DANGER WE FACE
Part of the problem, of course, is that throughout the 1990's and up until September 11, 2001, neither Bill Clinton, nor George W. Bush, nor the American public had come to realize or accept that we were at war with terrorists. Perhaps more accurately, we hadn't realized that terrorists had declared war on us.I think perhaps, too many of us have already forgotten.One of the gravest dangers we now face as a country is forgetting this fact or to start believing the struggle we're in is something less than a war. It would be far too easy for us to return to the days of summits, speeches and photo-ops, where much was said about fighting terror but little was accomplished.
Posted by bubba138 at 12:03 PM | Comments (0) |
Minority Entrepreneurship Initiative
Imagine that.. The media ignored a major substantive initiative introduced by the Bush administration.. What makes this particularly troublesome is that this is a program that tackles the problems of minority economic development with a self-sustaining approach, bringing together existing non-profits with the private sector.. It creates a network to provide education, training, and access to key resources for minority entrepreneurs.. These are the key elements that have proven to work for entrepreneurial economic development.Here's the only media reference to it I could find and it is far from being a flattering article. Oh, THAT liberal media.
Posted by bubba138 at 10:40 AM | Comments (0) |
DeLay Nails Kerry
Kerry wasn't impressed with Bush's response to the 9/11 commission's recommendations:
Kerry accused Bush of not moving with sufficient urgency to protect the nation from terror. He said three years passed before Bush endorsed the creation of a national intelligence chief and a counterterrorism center Monday.House Majority Leader Tom DeLay wasn't impressed with Kerry, either:"Congress should come back now, and that means a special session," Kerry said. "We should be prepared to return to do the job of creating what strengthens America as rapidly as possible."
"As for Senator Kerry's opportunistic bluster about calling Congress in for a special session, that's pretty tough talk from a guy who has fewer days at work this year than he has houses. He's not been around here during our regular session; what makes anyone think he'll be here for a special session?"Ouch.
Posted by bubba138 at 10:28 AM | Comments (0) |
Bush & Immigration
This is going to hurt in November:
Like a small but significant cluster of lifelong Republicans, the Tucson, Ariz., resident plans to make a statement by breaking with the Republican Party this year. The reason: He's furious over President Bush's proposal to grant resident status to illegal immigrants, known by critics as his amnesty program.Not that Mr. Nixon plans to vote for the Democratic candidate, John Kerry.
"Kerry's no good, and Bush isn't good, either," he said. "I'm going to write in a candidate, [Rep.] Tom Tancredo [Colorado Republican]. Because of his stand on immigration."
Posted by bubba138 at 10:23 AM | Comments (0) |
Twilight for the French
But these days, judging by several best-selling books in France and the tone of a self-effacing discourse on national radio and television and in newspapers, the country has begun to again broach the subject of its own decline. The discussion touches on the loss of influence in the spheres of politics, economics, art, film, diplomacy, and even language.Even topics once considered sacred are now on the table: Candid appraisals among French specialists indicate that the country's wines are slipping in comparison to what the French have always derisively termed New World vintages from such places as California and Australia.
Now just who is being marginalized in the world?
Update: Well, they aren't losing influence in every area.
Posted by bubba138 at 10:20 AM | Comments (0) |
P.C. Gone Wild
Students at the University of Colorado at Boulder can take the popular "School and Society" course on Fridays — as long as they're not white.That particular section is reserved for "students of color," according to a course description. It is also open to those of any race who are first-generation college students. Other students can take the course, which is a requirement for education majors, but during a different period.
University officials say the restricted class offers minority students "a much safer and open environment" in which to discuss issues of race, gender and class.
"Open" means screening out any person that may have a dissenting opinion or opposing viewpoint. Strange, when I went to school, "open" meant, umm, "open."
Posted by bubba138 at 10:01 AM | Comments (0) |
Parents vs. Planned Parenthood
The American Civil Liberties Union and Planned Parenthood have challenged a proposed constitutional amendment that would prevent a teenager from obtaining an abortion unless her parents are notified.This is an excellent example of where the ACLU has stepped outside the boundries of their purpose. It is illegal in many states for kids under eighteen to get piercings or tattoos without perental permission, but it is a violation of privacy to require parental notification before a minor is subjected to a surgical procedure."I think the Legislature is doing this to jeopardize the health and safety of women on the altar of anti-abortion politics," said Howard Simon, executive director of the ACLU of Florida.
Something is being sacrificed on the altar of politics, but it isn't what Howard Simon thinks it is.
Posted by bubba138 at 09:56 AM | Comments (0) |
Old Tapes
The only thing old about the data found that raised the terror alert status is the reaction from the media and the left. They were looking for a way to make it look as if the alert was for political purposes, so they found one.
Always quick to jump on the "Bush Lied" canard, they forget that such leaps often leave them in deep ditches. Can anyone say "16 words?"
Posted by bubba138 at 09:36 AM | Comments (0) |
The Keyes To Illinois?
Former GOP presidential candidate Alan Keyes told Illinois Republicans Monday that he is ''open to the idea'' of taking on the Democrat in the U.S. Senate race -- a move that would pit two eloquent, nationally known African Americans against one another."It would be a classic race of conservative vs. liberal," said state Sen. Dave Syverson. "It would put this race on the map in this country -- just for excitement."
I'm not convinced it would be all that exciting. Keyes is a semi-popular voice in conservative circles, but he isn't all too charismatic.
Posted by bubba138 at 09:18 AM | Comments (0) |
August 02, 2004
It's Not Us
Hoy says Kerry is dreaming when he says he'll be able to get more troops from the Europeans:
Well, it hasn't been getting much notice, but the Germans are maintaining that they won't get involved in Iraq no matter who is in the White House.Karsten Voigt, German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder's U.S. policy coordinator, yesterday said Berlin's policy of staying out of Iraq would remain in place even if Democrat John Kerry beat George W. Bush in the U.S. presidential election in November. "The German government has made it clear that the German military will not be deployed in Iraq – and that remains valid regardless of the outcome of the U.S. election," Voigt told the Berliner Zeitung newspaper.Kerry needs to work a little more on that magic wand of his if he's going to change the German government's mind. Otherwise, it would be nice if he'd admit the truth: It's not about President Bush or his foreign policy -- it's about the Germans, the French and the Russians. They don't want to help in Iraq because they don't want to help in Iraq -- not because they hate President Bush.
Posted by bubba138 at 07:03 PM | Comments (0) |
Democrats and Diety II
The Democrats are doing their best to work religion into their campaign, but it is hard to fake what is not inherently a part of your people:
On July 23, Democratic National Committee (DNC) Chairman Terry McAuliffe announced the appointment of Rev. Brenda Bartella Peterson as the Senior Advisor for Religious Outreach; she is an ordained minister in the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ)...Rev. Brenda Bartella Peterson was one of thirty-two clergy members to file an amicus curiae brief in behalf of Michael Newdow’s attempt to excise the words ‘under God’ from the Pledge of Allegiance. The brief shows infinitely more concern for the sensibilities of atheists like Newdow than it does for the 90 percent of Americans who believe in God.
So much for their commitment to religion.
Posted by bubba138 at 06:48 PM | Comments (0) |
Boob Back On the Tube
Al Franken is moving up:
Liberal political humorist Al Franken, once a star of "Saturday Night Live," is headed back to television next month with plans to bring his radio show to the Sundance cable TV channel, a spokesman said on Monday.
Starting Sept. 7, Sundance will package the best of Franken's three-hour weekday radio program into a one-hour telecast of highlights that will air at 11:30 p.m. the same night, with repeats at 2:30 a.m. and 7 a.m. the next morning.
Because, ya know, he's so successful on the radio.
Posted by bubba138 at 06:28 PM | Comments (0) |
Politics Channeling TV
Who would you want to follow, the Skipper, or Captain Kirk?
Posted by bubba138 at 01:54 PM | Comments (0) |
Dan Lied, People Died
Sometimes it is helpful to remember the past because it helps us focus on the present more correctly. With that in mind, watch this video of Dan Rather on the Tonight Show, September 17th, 2001 (transcript).
Key exerpt:
Dan [regarding the first Gulf war]: Another few hours, and Saddam Hussein might very well have gone to Yemen or the Sudan. But the decision was made to stop it. We all know now it was made to stop it too soon.The sad thing is, the left has been relentless on proving correct the world's assumption that we "don't have the stomach."But that's in the past. This is going to be much longer. This will take years. This may very well take another four, eight, ten years. And Americans are noted the world around for having great courage, having a great military, but the world's view of us in many places, with many people, is we just don't have the stomach to stick anything out.
And they say, well, it was great during World War II, yeah, but this is a new generation, and they're all spoiled.
But wait, you say, Saddam Hussein had nothing to do with 9/11. True, but Dan certainly didn't think that a material fact:
Dan: We now know that Saddam Hussein, we mentioned, you know, if he isn't connected to this, he's connected to any other things. He's part of this "hate America" thing.Somehow, we've fallen back asleep.You have to understand that Saddam Hussein is somebody I have sat this close, eye to eye. When his feet hit the floor every morning, he dreams of leading a victorious Arab army into Jerusalem, and he sees himself as the new Saladin.
And his hate is deep for us. I don't even like to use the word "hate," but, you know, this is what we're dealing with, and we have to wake up.
The left has forgotten the horror of those days, and in their intellectuality are now able to do what they could not do then: separate the War on Terror from the war in Iraq. Watching Dan Rather burst into tears, one is again thrust into the feelings of that week, the pain, the despair, the resolution. When we again feel those feelings, we all as Americans, will echo Dan Rather's sentiments:
George Bush is the President, he makes the decisions, and, you know, as just one American, wherever he wants me to line up, just tell me where.
Hat Tip: Irish Trojan
Posted by bubba138 at 12:50 PM | Comments (0) |
Slings & Arrows: The Dowd of the Right
I've been outed (in the comments):
Wow, your "quote" from Kerry is a total lie!!! I was just about to link to it on my blog, as evidence for the argument that the Dems are always "questioning the timing," but then I clicked on the Times link and realized... well... see for yourself:WHAT YOU CLAIM THE ARTICLE SAID: Senator John Kerry, the expected Democratic presidential candidate, said the timing of the announcement appeared intended in part to distract attention from Mr. Bush's sagging poll numbers and problems in Iraq.
WHAT THE ARTICLE ACTUALLY SAID: And some opponents of President Bush, including police and firefighter union leaders aligned with Senator John Kerry, the expected Democratic presidential candidate, said the timing of the announcement appeared intended in part to distract attention from Mr. Bush's sagging poll numbers and problems in Iraq.
So Kerry himself didn't say that at all! Wow! I think you have a good point, but this sort of blatant, worse-than-Maureen-Dowd fabrication really destroys your credibility. (Or maybe you just lifted this some someone else's blog, as I almost did from yours, assuming the other blogger's fabrication was accurate. But somebody, somewhere along the line, clearly did something shameless here.)
Actually, while the misquote was not intentional it was careless and inexcusable. I apologize. The post has been updated.
Interesting, however, is that it took almost two weeks for the inaccuracy to be noticed. Good eye, Brendan.
Posted by bubba138 at 11:53 AM | Comments (0) |
Not the Next Bond
Eric Bana is out of the running:
ComingSoon.net has confirmed that The Hulk and Troy star Eric Bana has not been cast as James Bond in MGM's and Eon Productions' 21st film in the popular franchise, despite the rumors.This story was picked up by numerous news outlets, including worldwide news agency AFP. But we have l