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Saturday, May 28, 2005
I'm Sure It's An Environmentally Friendly Motor HomeThe folks at Lucianne are having a hard time controlling their giggles at this one: Margaret Beckett today urges the Bush administration to accept that the "incontrovertible" weight of scientific evidence on the dangers of global warming is stimulating an urgent worldwide dialogue that the US must seriously engage with - or risk being left out.Punchline: She will be holidaying by caravan, as usual, if her conference timetable permits this summer.A caravan in the UK is what we call a motor home in the US.
"I actually did sign the 180, before I did a 180."Polipundit catches a pro-Kerry blog actually trumpeting the imminent release of Kerry's signed 180.
Hunter S. Thompson Update--Now With Jeff Gannon Tie-In!HST's still dead, still the subject of countless stories. Organizers of a memorial for Hunter S. Thompson plan to erect a 150-foot structure _ courtesy of actor Johnny Depp _ to shoot the gonzo journalist's ashes onto his ranch near here.
Friends and acquaintances gathered Thursday to discuss the Aug. 20 invitation-only service, which will be six months after Thompson shot himself in his Woody Creek home.
Actor Johnny Depp poses for a portrait June 21, 2003, in Los Angeles. Depp, who portrayed the author in the movie version of Hunter Thompson's book "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas" will pay for the construction of a 150-foot tower, which will resemble Thompson's "gonzo fist" emblem with a cannon at the top. As per Thompson's wishes, his cremated remains will be shot out of the cannon onto his property.
Jon Equis, the event producer working with Thompson's family, said the tower will be 12 feet wide at the base and 8 feet wide at the top, where a cannon will be placed.
Depp, who portrayed the author in the movie version of Thompson's book "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas" will pay for the tower, designed to resemble Thompson's "gonzo fist" emblem.
As Thompson requested, his ashes will be shot out of the cannon onto his property.Meanwhile, Jeff Gannon just keeps on giving. Turns out that he's at least partly responsible for HST's "assassination". : But even in death, Hunter is causing trouble.
: Conspiracy theorists claim he was assassinated
: because he was about to blow the lid on a White
: House child sex porn ring with links back to
: the Franklin Cover-Up case, (which uncovered
: 15 year old callboys staying at Bush Snr's
: White House).
: Jeff Gannon, A White House journalist, was
: recently unmasked as a male escort entrepreneur
: called James Guckert, but crazy conspiracists
: reckon he is really Johnny Gosch, a kid taken by
: a paedophile ring in Des Moines in the 80s. One
: of the other victims of the ring, Paul Bonacci,
: testified that he helped kidnap Gosch to
: participate in a paedo orgy at the Bohemian
: Grove club... an event he claimed was secretly
: filmed by Hunter Thompson.Coming soon: Was Jeff Gannon at the Grassy Knoll?
Everybody Complains About the Environmental WackosHere's the highly entertaining story of a rancher who finally did something about it and won a lawsuit for $600,000. It's long but worth the read. Essentially what the story boils down to is that an Earth First! spinoff was trying to stop the rancher from being allowed to use federal land and lied about how he was taking care of the property.
Friday, May 27, 2005
You Can't Make This UpAdam McKay has a post over at the Huffpo where he seems to be saying, "Can't we all just get along?" I honestly don't think the right and left or liberals and conservatives or queer-ass liberals and Nazi boneheads disagree as much as we seem to.
So let's try something. I'm going to list issues that concern me as a parent, a taxpayer and moderate. Then you post and tell me where you disagree or think I'm out of bounds or that I'm being a pussy Democrat who wants to let gay rapists teach our children... Let's see if we can pinpoint all of this insanity so we can end it and get to work on things that actually matter.Gee, sounds like Adam's not one of those barking moonbats, but a sane liberal, just trying to reach across the aisle to find common ground. Uh, no. Here's Adam's latest project (extreme obscenity warning).
Iran-BloggingThought I'd do a little homework on Iran, on the off chance that place becomes somewhat more newsworthy in the next year or so. Here's an excellent article on where the Europeans are wrong: If Iran has decided to get the bomb, it is not going to stop because Straw talks to a junior mulla. Nor would the promise of investment and trade persuade them to change course. As for the threat of “referring” them to the United Nations, then above-mentioned Asefi has already described it as “laughable”.
Shamnesty InternationalAll the institutions of the left have lost their moorings.
Translation ServiceHillary, in an interview with Judy Woodruff: CLINTON: Well, I don't know many Democrats who support gay marriage. Translation: CLINTON: Well, I don't know many Democrats who have national ambitions who admit that they support gay marriage. Hat Tip: Just One Minute
Favorite Bands?Ankle-Biting Pundits wants your favorite bands and singers. Here's my list: #1 The Who (1970s Arena Rock) #2 Renaissance (1970s Art-Rock) #3 Caldera (1970s Jazz-Fusion) Are we seeing a trend here? #4 Return to Forever (1970s Jazz-Fusion) #5 Santana (mostly the 1970s albums) #6 Jeff Beck (and his various groups) #7 U2 (my modern group) #8 Steeleye Span (1970s folk-rock) #9 Todd Rundgren/Utopia (more 1970s) #10 Enya
You Say Po-Tah-ToThe Brits are messing with our common language. What do you expect from a country that pronounces clerk as "clark"?
When Knives Are Outlawed....Criminals will no doubt resort to candlesticks.
Friday OdditiesRioting winemakers? Only in France. Protesting winemakers in southwestern France set fire to train cars, pelted them with rocks and blocked rail traffic on their way home from demonstrations Thursday, authorities said.Clinton's 16-year-old lover? Life in Prison for DUI? This case might have a deterrent effect. I have mixed feelings about this one. Yes, he's a hazard, but would he be getting life if he'd actually killed someone in a DUI? Then why is he getting life to prevent him from killing someone?
Put Kondracke In the Coalition of the Chillin'Actually, maybe he's the first member of the Coalition of the Republicans Won. Challenging article by one of the savviest observers of the American political scene. The Coalition of the Chillin' is made up of those who don't think the world ended when the gang of 14 made their deal. I'm on board with that, even if they haven't linked me (not enough snob appeal?). Update: Captain Ed is leading the Coalition of the Grillin'.
Thursday, May 26, 2005
Galloway Going Down?That's what this article implies, based on research by this blogger, who started his blog early this week and has already been linked by Little Green Footballs and Roger L. Simon. It can happen!
Fair Trade is NeitherAlex Singleton shows why.
Why Newspaper Circulation is DownPam Meister tackles the decline of the fishwraps.
Israel Supporters Must Go, Holocaust Deniers May StayJohn Ruberry has post on DePaul's holocaust denier.
More Bowling PicsOur buddy Chris at Lucky Dawg News pointed this site out to us, which has pictures of lots of people bowling, including Hillary Clinton (terrible form), Richard Nixon in an op-art shirt, and John Kerry, actually looking graceful in an athletic pose for a change.
Always Check Your NumbersThis article is good overall, but you gotta wonder about the opening sentence: For more than four years - steadily, seriously, and with the unsentimental rigor for which we love them - civil engineers have been studying the destruction of the World Trade Center towers, sifting the tragedy for its lessons.Uh, let's hope that they haven't been studying the destruction of the WTC for more than four years, since it only took place about three years and nine months ago.
Peggy Noonan On Our Latest HeroesThis one's not to be missed: You've heard the mindless braying and fruitless arguments, but I'm here to tell you the facts, no matter what brickbats and catcalls may come my way. Lindsey Graham defied the biases of his constituency to do what was right, not what was easy. Robert Byrd put aside personal gain to save our Republic. David Pryor ignored the counsels of hate to stand firm for our hopes and dreams. Mike DeWine protected our way of life. These men are uniters, not dividers.
How do I know?
Because they told me. Again and again, and at great length, as they announced The Deal. And I believed them, because I am an idiot. Or as they might put it, your basic "folk" from "back home."
Listening to them I thought of some of the great and hallowed phrases of our Republic. "The rooster who thought he brought the dawn." "The only man who can strut sitting down."Great stuff!
Jesse, DNC FinedAnkle-Biting Pundits has the scoop. Michael King's taking book on how long before Jesse cries racism. "It's another Selma!"
More On Dead GI's PhotosAs a followup to this post of mine the other day, Van Helsing notes that FDR (that fascist!) prohibited the publication of photos of dead US servicemen during World War II.
When Parity Is 2-1What would we do without the New York City Council? With nary a dissenting vote, the City Council yesterday passed sweeping legislation to bring so-called potty parity to the city's bars, sports arenas, movie theaters and other venues at which long lines at the ladies' room have long been a frustrating fact of life.
The measure, called the Women's Restroom Equity Bill, will require all new establishments falling under the terms of the legislation to maintain roughly a two-to-one ratio of women's bathroom stalls to men's stalls and urinals. Existing establishments will have to come into compliance when they undergo extensive renovations, while restaurants, schools, hospitals, and municipal buildings are excluded.Good to know that New York doesn't have more pressing issues facing it. Hat Tip: Just One Minute
Why RINOs Don't Change Their Spots--Errrr HornsGood observation by Dana at Northshore Politics. As I mentioned in the comments, another drawback to switching is that the next time you run for reelection, in the primary you'll be facing the voters who've been voting against you in previous elections.
Hardware CornerACE (that's Airborne Combat Engineer) wants to know, if you could keep only three tools and three materials in your toolbox, which would they be? I'd keep the socket wrench and hammer. I said screwdriver in my response, but realized afterwards that the cordless drill (with screwdriver bits) was a better answer. For materials, I'd take nails, screws, and a roll of duck tape. What's that? It's duct tape? Why a duct? (Bonus Marx Brothers points).
Thank You, Howard Kurtz!Brainster's pops up in his media notes column today for the prediction that McCain would win New Hampshire in the 2008 Republican primaries, and nowhere else. Thanks also to Kitty, who linked the post over at Lifelike. As I mentioned in an email to her, the odds that Howard found us through her post are about 50%.
This Just InThe New York City Council is liberal: Infuriating law-enforcement organizations and his colleagues, a City Council member, Charles Barron, introduced a resolution yesterday urging clemency for a convicted and escaped cop-killer, Assata Shakur, formerly known as Joanne Chesimard.
On May 2, 1973, Chesimard was involved in a roadside shoot-out with New Jersey State Police after the vehicle in which she and two companions were traveling was pulled over because of a malfunctioning taillight. During an exchange of gunfire, a New Jersey state trooper, Werner Foerster, was wounded. Chesimard, then a member of the Black Liberation Army and the Black Panther Party, was convicted of first-degree murder in 1977 for seizing the incapacitated trooper's side arm and using it to shoot him in the head.
While serving her sentence at New Jersey's Clinton Correctional Institution for Women, Chesimard, with the help of fellow members of the Black Liberation Army, staged a prison break in 1979. She escaped to Cuba, where she was granted asylum and is now shielded by the island nation's communist dictator, Fidel Castro. On May 2, New Jersey law enforcement announced that the Justice Department raised the bounty on Chesimard, 57, to $1 million from $50,000, and added her name to the list of wanted domestic terrorists.
Mr. Barron's council resolution, which he announced yesterday at a press conference on the steps of City Hall, calls on the New Jersey State Police and the Justice Department "to cease portraying Assata Shakur as a terrorist, and ... to rescind the reward for Shakur's capture and grant her clemency." The Brooklyn council member's resolution praises the convicted murderer as "a social justice activist, a poet, a mother, and a grandmother."She wrote poetry? Well, in that case, she must be innocent! Here's a good site on Chesimard from a Law Enforcement point of view. The good news is that the million dollar reward may spur some bounty hunters to take up the chase. I strongly suspect the push for clemency is coming as a result of the increased reward money. Here's an interesting post where three liberal bloggers take on the Chesimard case, and a communique from Mos Def, musician and actor, proclaiming her innocence. I don't know the real facts of the case, obviously, but I am suspicious of the claim that she didn't have any gunpowder residue. There's an aroma of "Mumiamania" about this case.
This Just InBill Moyers is a liberal. As the extra little cherry on top, all Moyers' nut conspiracy theories were being broadcast on PBS, subsidized by the U.S. taxpayer. Not only that, but Moyers takes a cut of every video of his show sold, and he has family members on the payroll. Let's see now: a corrupt, partisan demagogue and his family caught feeding at the taxpayers' trough. Let's just hope he never took a free golfing trip to Scotland!
Wednesday, May 25, 2005
Rainbow KidsYou will not believe this one.
Kitty Gets Mentioned Over At ABPOur buddy Bulldog Pundit mentions her as one of the women who could make it in the rough and tumble world of op-ed punditry. I concur with that assessment, especially since Kitty has had an op-ed published in USA Today.
Caption Contest Here's a photo with unlimited possibilities.
Lots of Updates at Lucky Dawg NewsThe crybaby of the week is up, as is Chris's revelation that political correctness has come to NASCAR.
A History of Anonymous SourcesNeo-neocon looks at the increasing practice of using anonymous sources and concludes that it all stems from the most famous anonymous source of all. One thing that I've definitely noticed in the last few years is the increasing use of anonymous "experts" and "insiders" and "those in the know".
JibJab Guys to Hawk SudsI'm sure you all remember their hilarious "This Land is Your Land" parody from last summer. Next up: This Bud is Your Bud.
Just When You Despair About Young PeopleYou hear something like this: The students of Mr. Pallesi’s Leadership Class, at Sierra High School, located in the foothills east of Fresno, CA, loved what Operation Soldier, was currently doing for American’s military.
The students loved the cause so much, they dontated $1100.00 dollars to Operation Soldier, on Friday, May 20th, 2005.
The money was raised through various fund raiser events, that the students held throught the school year. Those events were everything from car washes, to dinners, to selling snacks at a snack stand on campus.
Several students in the Leadership class, related how they have loved ones, and friends that are in the Armed Forces, and are fighting overseas in Iraq or Afghanistan.
Heather Harrelson, a junior at Sierra High School, and student in Mr. Pallasi’s Leadership Class said, “It makes us proud to be able to help those that sacrifice to much, so that we may have what we enjoy everyday.”
On hand to accept the donation from Mr. Pallesi’s Leadership Class was Operation Soldier President, John Bush.John is our old friend from My Take on Things, and Operation Soldier is a worthy cause as highlighted by this article: It is with great honor that Operation Soldier and our Patriot Down Foundation presented Randy and his family with a $1000 contribution, to help offset and alleviate the financial burden of traveling back and forth to Walter Reed.
The Bad News is Right Wing News is On VacationThe good news is John's got links to his greatest hits posted at the top of the blog. Read his interviews with Ann Coulter or Victor Davis Hanson.
July the 4th is Punch Out a Flag-Burner Day!A proper and measured response to this. Hat Tip: Michelle Malkin
On the Other Hand(Welcome readers of Howard Kurtz's Media Notes Column! Please take a look around and if you enjoy what you read, bookmark this blog's home page). The Arizona Daily Star (known to Tucson Republicans as the "Red Star") claims that McCain's clout has grown. May 23, 2005, will go down in the history of the U.S. Senate as the day John McCain announced a dramatic last-minute compromise over judicial nominations and filibusters.
It could also mark the unofficial beginning of the Arizona Republican's second campaign for the White House.
McCain emerged as a clear winner Wednesday as the dust settled on a bipartisan agreement that allowed a yes-or-no vote on some of President Bush's judicial nominees.
The leading role McCain played - as deal-broker, problem-solver and peacemaker - is fueling speculation in Arizona and the national media about what it could mean for the four-term lawmaker in 2008.Here's my speculation: McCain runs in 2008, and wins New Hampshire (where "independents" are allowed to vote in either primary), sending the media into swooning fits. And doesn't win anywhere else, allowing the media to concoct the narrative that his bid was derailed by dark forces in the GOP. A rerun of 2000, in other words.
Graham Taking Heat in South CarolinaAs Hugh Hewitt remarked on the show yesterday, Lindsay Graham was something of a rising star in the party, having ascended to the Senate after doing a marvelous job in 1999 as one of the House managers of the impeachment proceedings. Not any longer. Seduced by the media, he has fallen out of touch with South Carolina. “The calls won’t quit, and they’re almost all against Lindsey,” state Republican Party chairman Katon Dawson said.
Dawson counted more than 900 phone calls to party headquarters in 36 hours — mostly from people who helped elevate Graham from the House to the Senate in 2002.
Graham unleashed this anger Monday night, when, as part of a bipartisan group of senators, he announced a last-minute compromise to end the Senate’s filibuster crisis.Why is it that whether a Democrat or Republican gets national (i.e., presidential) aspirations, they all move to the left?
Tuesday, May 24, 2005
Major Tommy PittmanMajor Tommy Pitman, who has died aged 90, won an MC in Palestine in 1936 while serving with the 11th Hussars.
In September that year, the 11th Hussars were rushed to Palestine to help suppress the First Arab Revolt, and C Squadron was deployed in the northern area along the border with Lebanon. One afternoon, Pitman's troop was called out to support a platoon of the York and Lancashire Regiment that had been ambushed on the Acre-Safad road by an Arab force many times their number.
On arriving at the scene, Pitman found that three members of the platoon were dead, four were wounded and there was a man lying out in the open whom no one had been able to reach because of the intense Arab fire. Pitman ordered his armoured cars to give him maximum covering fire while he and a comrade tried to rescue the man.
The pair ran forward while bullets hummed around them like angry wasps and ricocheted off the boulders. They found the casualty, dressed his wounds and carried him back to safety. Pitman was awarded the MC and received the decoration from King George VI, who was Colonel-in-Chief of his regiment.The MC is the Military Cross; it is considered roughly equivalent to the Bronze Star in the United States. Hussars are cavalry, although by WWII they were riding tanks, not horses.
We Support the Troops But the editorial cartoonist at the Seattle Times?
I Want to Agree with Hugh, But...It's tough when he's suggesting that we support Democrats over RINOs. 4. It will be much easier to persuade GOP voters to abandon Lincoln Chafee and Olympia Snowe in 2006. Worse than useless, defeating one or both of these incumbents will send a much needed message on how the party regards deals based on scissoring the Constitution.And he has been specific on the show; he's not just talking about abandoning Chafee and Snowe in the primaries in favor of more conservative Republicans (which I could support); he's talking about abandoning them in the general election. As I've said before, Chafee is the RINOest of the RINOs, but he's a darn sight better than any of the Democrats from the Northeast. Suppose Patrick Kennedy decides to run against him? Would Hugh say that he's better than Chafee?
The Latest Teen SlangBuckley F. Williams has been keeping up with the lingo and finds the newest schoolyard putdown.
Just a Funny Photo Jeez, how did we miss this one over at Kerry Haters? There's Kerry's rather girlish pose, there's the guy about to get kicked in the nuts (and apparently anticipating it)... I mean, this is the perfect photo. Better late than never, I suppose. Hat Tip: Wonkette, via Polipundit
Whither the Blogs?Rachel has an interesting post on the future of blogging. As I mentioned in her comments, I think long-term the MSM will start to co-opt the bloggers. You can already see signs of it; Captain Ed has written for the New York Sun and Kevin Drum now plies his trade at Washington Monthly, while the Daou Report has been absorbed into Salon. The interesting thing is that the right side of the blogosphere seems much healthier than the left side. That's because the left side of the media are so dominant and blinkered by their institutional biases. Look at the big stories to come out of the blogs in 2004: Ra thergate and Christmas in Cambodia. Why did they arise? The first one happened because an MSM outlet was so blinded by anger at Bush they ran with an obviously bad story, and then compounded the error by stonewalling for days before admitting that perhaps the documents could not be proven true. The second came about because the media were unwilling to dig deep into Kerry's past for fear of finding something that would scotch his candidacy. In other words, neither story would have happened had the media been doing its job. Look at the lefty bloggers' big story of 2004. As best I can figure it's the mysterious object Bush had under his jacket at the first debate. In 2005, they got Jeff Gannon; our side brought down Eason Jordan, again after the media tried to bury the story.
Robert McCartney UpdateNow that the spotlight is off the McCartney case, things are reportedly getting uglier for his sisters. Now that the news media caravan has moved on, the immutable rules of fear and complicity that govern life in Belfast's ethnic ghettoes have reasserted themselves. The sisters' situation has become precarious.
A few days ago, police warned them of threats to burn their homes and businesses.
It did not come as a surprise. The sisters have endured harassment on the street. They have been visited at midnight by family members of the accused, advising them it would be wise to leave the neighborhood.
There also has been an ugly smear campaign on the Internet.
"They said that two of us were prostitutes, that two of us were handbag thieves, that one of us had wiggled her way into an old lady's will, and that one of us was seen frequenting the police barracks late at night," said Paula McCartney, 40, a mother of five and a part-time university student in women's studies. She has emerged as the family's spokeswoman.
"I do think a lot of people are still supporting us, but it's silent support," said McCartney, sipping tea in the living room of her modest flat.
"The open hostility that we're getting, that comes from the relatives and the associates of the murderers. But when you figure that there were at least 15 involved in Robert's murder, you're talking about a hell of a lot of people, especially in a community like this," she said.Hat Tip: John Ruberry
PCUJohn Ruberry has an amusing post on the trials and tribulations of the Marquette Warriors/Golden Eagles/Gold/Your Nickname Here.
Kerry: I Actually Did Sign The 180....Even Joan Venocchi is suspicious. ''I have signed it," Kerry said. Then, he added that his staff was ''still going through it" and ''very, very shortly, you will have a chance to see it."
The devil is usually in the details. With Kerry, it's also in the dodges and digressions. After the interview, Kerry's communications director, David Wade, was asked to clarify when Kerry signed SF 180 and when public access would be granted. Kerry drifted over to join the conversation, immediately raising the confusion level. He did not answer the question of when he signed the form or when the entire record will be made public.
Several e-mails later, Wade conveyed the following information: On Friday, May 20, Kerry obtained a copy of Form 180 and signed it. ''The next step is to send it to the Navy, which will happen in the next few days. The Navy will then send out the records," e-mailed Wade. Kerry first said he would sign Form 180 when pressed by Tim Russert during a Jan. 30 appearance on ''Meet the Press."Where will the records be sent out? If it's directly to Kerry, this is worse than useless, as you can bet the records will be scrubbed before they are released to the press. The idea of the Form 180 is for the Navy to release the records to a third party for their independent review. We've seen the records Kerry wants us to see; what we need a look at are the infamous other 100 pages or so. Hat Tip: LucianneCaptain Ed & has similar thoughts. But Michelle Malkin says John O'Neill claimed that Form 180 authorizes the military to release the information to anybody who asked. Looking at the form here, that appears to be incorrect, as the form asks for the address to which the reply is to be sent. 3. Where reply may be sent. The reply may be sent to the member or any other address designated by the member or other authorized requester.My suspicion, as I mentioned in the comments here, is that Kerry will fill in his own name and address in that block and then try to hand the (scrubbed) files out to the media.
Monday, May 23, 2005
Why The Deal GallsBecause the Repubicans should be able to do what they want by this point. Remember after the 2000 election the Democrats kept saying that Bush had no mandate for leadership. I don't buy it, but at least an argument could be made that didn't require willful stupidity. At first, the Republicans had a bare majority in the Senate, but then Jim Jeffords bolted, giving the Democrats control of the upper house of Congress. In 2002, the people said "Enough of that" and the Republicans improved by two seats to 51. And in 2004... well you know about that. Four more Republican Senate seats and a president returned to office with the most votes in the history of the country. By now he's got a mandate, right? And yet a handful of Republican senators sold two of his nominees down the river. Chuckie Schumer griped last week that if 51 senators could pass a judge, then senators from states representing about 21% of the population could make decisions for the rest of the country. But here we have 14 senators probably representing an even smaller portion of the population making a deal that effectively binds us all.
Deal AnalyzedCaptain Ed reads the tea leaves and says the deal amounts to Saad being thrown under the bus and Myers left dangling. Pryor, Owens and Rogers-Brown get passed. Filibusters remain an option later, but the moderate Democrats agree that it can't just be conservative judicial philosophy from otherwise acceptable nominees. He's surprised at Hugh's tame reaction on the blog, but he obviously didn't listen to the show; Hugh was frothing at various points. Near the end of the show Hugh commented that it was good he was ending before he said more. It's really on what happens in the future. Obviously Frist is the big loser today, for failing to keep his caucus in line. If this doesn't work out, the Republican mods will pay a stiff price, especially the ones with further aspirations (McCain & Graham). But it might work out. Remember this deal isn't with Harry Reid & Ted Kennedy, it's with Democratic mods like Joe Lieberman. And the reaction on the Left has not been triumphant as yet.
Mods Cave?Hugh Hewitt is on the warpath. Power Line says it's hideous. Caller to Hugh's show says they have kept the Nuclear Option in the event the Democrats act in bad faith.
The Times on BloggingSorry, but I didn't get any further than this: To analyze Web log buzz, the study zeroed in on a few dozen political blogs, from left-leaning forums like Daily Kos and AmericaBlog to conservative ones like Instapundit and Power Line, as well as middle-of-the road sites like BuzzMachine and Wonkette. All were "filter blogs," or blogs that comment on - and link to - content found elsewhere on the Web, according to an emerging taxonomy of the form.Don't you just love that? Kos and Aravosis are left-leaning, but Instapundit is conservative? And Jeff Jarvis and Wonkette are middle-of-the-road? That's absurd. Kos and Aravosis are left-wing, Jarvis and Wonkette are liberal (although Jarvis is more moderate) and Instapundit is libertarian. The only blog they've placed correctly on the political landscape is Power Line, which is indeed conservative.
Pat Tillman PostHis family complains about the delay in telling them what happened to Pat that fatal day. That's legitimate; from the accounts it does appear that the army was aware almost immediately that he was killed by "friendly fire". And this detail is a little disturbing: The investigation also revealed that soldiers later burned Tillman's uniform and body armor.Not good; the coverup is always worse that the original crime. That said, I have to wonder about this part: Mary Tillman says the government used her son for weeks after his death, perpetuating an untrue story to capitalize on his altruism -- just as the Abu Ghraib prison scandal was erupting publicly. She said she was particularly offended when President Bush offered a taped memorial message to Tillman at a Cardinals football game shortly before the presidential election last fall. She again felt as though her son was being used, something he never would have wanted.Except that it was about two months before the election and was non-political.
Warren PeaceWarren Beatty bores them to tears at a Berkeley Graduation. Imagine a hot day in Northern California, and having to listen to this tripe: I'll repeat I wanted to be rooting for Arnold, but he'd have to take some of that bombastic marketing and market the right thing — telling rich people like me the truth: that with a state debt of $18 billion caused by energy deregulation and the dot-com bust, our taxes are going to have to be a little higher on the rich. No matter what that group of advisors say. And maybe only temporarily. Which is what both Ronald Reagan and Pete Wilson did.
And tell them, Governor, just as your advisor Warren Buffet told you before you told him to be quiet and do 500 sit-ups, that Proposition 13 has to tax businesses the same as homeowners, and that'd raise about $5 billion a year. It won't make business leave California. And that the Bush tax cuts for the upper 1 percent in California alone amount to about $12 billion a year, so what's the point of ruling out all new taxes on the rich other than to make sure they continue to finance your nonstop campaign advertising?
And what is the sense in running to Wall Street and borrowing $15 billion, raising the debt to over $30 billion, and then coming back here and trying to cut programs and obligations to nurses, firemen, teachers, cops, students, schools, the elderly, the blind and disabled, and then denigrating these good people as special interests? Please. These are the people you should be especially interested in.The article describes the speech as similar to Bulworth, and it certainly is; a bunch of nonsense considered profound by only the idiot left.
Monday Microbe MiningHere's an interesting blog from a New Zealand woman living in Vietnam. I read it for awhile, couldn't detect any significant political content, but it does give you a feel for what things are like in the city formerly known as Saigon. It's always this way here in Ho Chi Minh City- nothing is advertised. EVER. The only way you get to see anything is if you happen to drive by a venue and translate the poster into English.The Ominous Harbinger is pretty funny, although not often updated. More Next Week!
Prediction: Liberals Will Change Their Minds On This IssueRight now there seems to be uniformity of opinion that medicare paying for Viagra for former sex offenders is a bad idea. Countdown for liberals saying that if we're going to pay for Viagra, we should pay for it for sex offenders who've served their time: 3, 2, 1....
I'll Probably Catch Hell for Linking ThisBut it's extremely well done, and the lyrics are particularly appropriate (definite volume check before clicking). Tut-tut, tsk tsk, deplore the imagery, doncha know?
Let's See Some Gory PhotosSheesh, Greg Mitchell is an idiot, as I have remarked before. The Times survey covered the period from Sept. 1, 2004, until Feb. 28, 2005. During that time, 559 Americans and Western allies died, but readers of the L.A. Times, The New York Times, St. Louis Post-Dispatch, The Washington Post and The Atlanta Journal-Constitution did not see a single photo of a dead U.S. serviceman. Nor did readers of Time and Newsweek.
The Seattle Times carried a photo three days before Christmas of a dead U.S. soldier, killed in the mess hall bombing, but his body was covered.How dare they cover the body of a bombing victim! We need to see those photos so they can be used to stop the war!
Liberals Start to Forget Newsweak Got It WrongAt least, that's my take on this ridiculous piece by Terry Neal. The liberal Web site Buzzflash.com has been screaming about Newsweek's retraction for a week. Liberal writer Greg Palast wrote in his blog: "But I don't want to leave out our President. His aides report that George Bush is "angry" about the report -- not the desecration of the Koran, but the reporting of it. And so long as George is angry and Condi appalled, Newsweek knows what to do: swiftly grab its corporate ankles and ask the White House for mercy."Hello? The desecration of the Koran story was false, Terry. It didn't happen. It couldn't happen, at least not as described. Try flushing a Koran down the toilet sometime and report back to us. So of course the President was angry about the report; it was a lie that led to the deaths of 18 people. A certain and clear pattern has emerged when a damaging accusation or claim against the Bush administration or the Republican-led Congress is publicized: Bush supporters laser in on a weakness, fallacy or inaccuracy in the story's sourcing while diverting all attention from the issue at hand to the source or the accuser in the story.That's called defending yourself against phony charges, Terry. When your accuser says something fallacious or inaccurate, you point out the fallacy or inaccuracy and call into question the rest of the allegations. There's another clear and consistent pattern: The news media rushes a story because it has anti-Bush overtones, and when they get caught try to claim that it was all done in good faith. Hilariously, he goes on: Often this tactic involves efforts to delegitimize the entire news media based on the mistakes or sloppy reporting of a few. We saw this with the discrediting of CBS's story on irregularities in President Bush's Texas Air National Guard service in the 1970s. Although the CBS "scoop" was based on faked documents, the administration's response and backlash from both conservative and mainstream media essentially relieved Bush of having to deal with the story. In other words, the allegedly "liberal" media dropped the story like a hot rock.The allegedly "liberal" media dropped the story because they had been pursuing it for years like Ahab after the white whale. The memo story was the first new lead on the case since 2000; when it turned out to be a dry hole they decided that Abu Ghraib-type stories were the only remaining club with which to beat Bush.
Gorgeous GeorgePaul Mirengoff (Deacon of Power Line) smacks down the left for their support of George Galloway. Leftist bloggers and important elements of the mainstream media gushed over Galloway's wrestling interview-style performance. Some wondered why Democratic senators weren't more like Gorgeous George. Never mind that Britain's Labour party expelled Galloway for bringing them party into disrepute.
Fortunately, the subcommittee's ranking Democrat, Senator Carl Levin, had no desire to be like George. In a version of the "strange bedfellows" wrestling scenario, Levin stood side-by-side with the Republican chairman, Senator Norm Coleman, demanding straight answers to straight questions. In response, Galloway derided Levin for supporting the "illegal" war in Iraq, something Levin says he never did. Maybe the Jewish name fooled Galloway.
At the end of his day in Washington, Galloway, in the words of the Scotsman was "no closer to clearing his name than when he took his seat in front of the subcommittee." The admirer of Stalin and Saddam had, however, become a hero to the adolescent element of the American left.Lest you think he's wrong about Galloway becoming a hero, check out some of the blogs mentioning him on Technorati. Like this one.
Sunday, May 22, 2005
No More Left TurnsSo says Keith Thompson in a long and moving account of his political evolution. My estrangement hasn't happened overnight. Out of the corner of my eye I watched what was coming for more than three decades, yet refused to truly see. Now it's all too obvious. Leading voices in America's "peace" movement are actually cheering against self-determination for a long-suffering Third World country because they hate George W. Bush more than they love freedom.It's not really all that new though; in the 1960s who was rooting for a totalitarian, evil regime and who was rooting for democracy? Yes, the South Vietnamese government was not perfect. But compared to what came afterwards they were angels. The difference was that we could actually kid ourselves that Ho & his thugs might be better than the US-backed government. With Saddam and the insurgents, there is no kidding oneself.
The Ultimate Bleeding HeartGet this bit from Stephen Elliot over at Arianna Hufnpuf: It's really not so complicated. A fifteen-year-old boy sets off to commit his first crime. He's a bumbling criminal, his chances of success were never good. Where are his friends? There is evidence of psychological trauma, but isn't there always? Who is this young Jesse James and where did he get his gun? Who cares? The boy is sentenced to thirteen years in adult prison. There will be no school, no rehabilitation. The child is thrown into a warehouse, a crowded meat locker, separate from the adult population but without access to education, gang intervention, drug programs, etc. Not even eligible for education courses offered to adults because the child populations has to be kept separate from the adult population until they turn eighteen, at which point they are mainlined into the system. There is no doubt Alonza will come out worse then he went in. His chances were always low; now there is no chance at all.Here's what the bumbling boy did: It's the second week in March, 2000, just days after the election. A fifteen-year-old boy named Alonza Thomas walks into a convenience store wearing a bandana over his mouth and nose. He's carrying a gun. He places the gun against the clerk's chest and demands money. Another clerk tackles the boy and a struggle ensues in which the gun is fired leaving a tidy hole in the store rooftop. Plaster and dust sprinkles on the combatants while the boy is subdued.Yes, a gun was fired. So what, nobody was hurt, right? Look this is simple. The kid needs to be locked up as a menace to society. The only difference between him and a killer is aim. If you want to grumble that he should be afforded an education while he's in an adult prison, fine (although I doubt he'll be very interested). But don't expect tears from me because he got a stiff sentence. And get this: Because the financial expenditures that we are going to put into punishing Alonza Thomas are much higher, hundreds of thousands of dollars higher, then they would have been had we tried to rehabilitate him. And the likelihood of his continued drag on society are astronomically higher. There is no academic debate on this. Everybody knows the numbers. Studies have been done. It is well documented that threats of longer sentences do not deter crimes, particularly threats to adolescents that they will be tried as adults. The research is unambiguous and the conclusions exactly what one would expect.We aren't punishing Alonza with a longer sentence because it acts as a deterrent to other juveniles. We're punishing him with a longer sentence because it acts as a deterrent to Alonza committing more crimes; he's not a threat to do so while in jail. Other Voices: Ex-Liberal in Hollywood has much the same take, but he does a full-on fisking. Talk Left sees this as a serious article.
New DigsFor Rudy Carrera, fka Carreterus Linnaeas. Will I be the last person left on blogger?
Who's the Victim?Business Weak checks in with a defense of the Pepsi COO entitled "Bloggers Finger a New Victim". In case you're not aware, Business Weak is the business publication for liberals. Back during the 1980s they must have run hundreds of articles on the "structural" budget deficit and how we were not going to get it down without raising taxes. The liberal line in other words. Get this part: Others bloggers (sic) used her words as a platform to disparage women's rights in India or view her stance as a direct slap to U.S. troops. Meanwhile, The Times of India tried to take the executive's side: "Who could blame Nooyi for thinking East Coast campuses at least were still bastions of liberal thinking and giving them a 'I'm-one-of-you vibes'?" the paper said in her defense. Well, don't you just love that? Notice that the "other bloggers" are not mentioned by name. And of course, Nooyi thought she was in safe territory; unfortunately for her, she was addressing the Columbia B-School grads, not the J-Schoolers who would have carried her off the stage on their shoulders.
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