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Wednesday, November 30, 2005
Boy Does This Bring Back MemoriesSoxblogger Dean Barnett: It’s at times like this that I just can’t resist the urge to say “I told you so” to my liberal friends. Since Kerry has taken his sorry act national, haven’t I been telling you all that everyone who knows him dislikes him? The stories concerning the senator around Boston that end with Kerry intoning, “Do you know who I am?”, are legion.So legion, in fact, that one of his many nicknames last year was DYKWIA. And we absolutely documented that to know, know, know Kerry was to hate, hate, hate him.
DC Comics Characters to Be Featured on Stamps in 2006Story here. 
Honesty from the Environmentalists?Or just engaging in a little Mao-style self-criticism over tactics? "We keep crying wolf and we keep overstating the doomsday scenario," said Ong Keng Yong, the Secretary General of the Association of South East Asian Nations (Asean).
"It will not serve the cause of protecting the environment."I remember years ago, an environmental reporter on an NPR show made a rather unintentionally telling observation. He said that it was tough being an environmental reporter because the editors' response to a pitch was "Another "end of the world" story? We just did that last week!" Of course, one would think that the fact that the world has not ended would tell them that they're just blowing smoke.
Al Franken's BookI borrowed a copy from the library today; I'd like to think that I was depriving a liberal of the opportunity to read it, but there was another copy right next to it on the shelf. Amazing how that works with a New York Times Bestseller, eh? It's called The Truth (With Jokes). Obviously that presents a little bit of a problem for any critique of the book, because anywhere the book is found to be less than truthful, Franken can claim that he was just joking. But I thought I'd just check to see how long it takes Franken to lie in a book called the Truth. The answer, if we ignore the foreword, which is intended to be a joke, is three paragraphs. Our hard work had paid off. In the preceding seven months we had built an explosively popular radio network.... The first chapter of the book is sheer schadenfraude, as Franken recounts the giddiness of the liberals on election day as the election polls came streaming in. His show was over early, and so they started planning the next day's show, complete with Queen singing "We are the champions!"
Lorie Byrd on the Need to Fight BackOne of my favorite bloggers has a column in the newly-redesigned Town Hall: One lesson learned over the past three years is that intelligence collected and interpreted by humans always contains an element of subjectivity and even what might appear a “slam dunk” can be found to be wrong.
In light of this, voters have to ask on which side of the decision-making equation they want their leaders to err in this post-9/11 world.Nothing but net! Lorie is best known for her work at Polipundit, but she also has a personal blog.
The Taxman ComethAnd his name is Kofi Annan. Claudia Rosett has the details. And what is that plan? The UN’s 1945 founding mandate was to promote peace. Sometime during the past six decades of dictator-packed voting blocks, diplomatic privileges, immunities and institutional secrecy, the UN instead got into the business of promoting mainly itself. At today’s UN, that involves the self-interest of two basic groups, and neither bodes well for the internet.
Is That An X On Your Pants Or Are You Just Happy to See Me?Kitty pointed out this photo:  My guess is that the photographer meant to crop the picture so Big Willie's Little Willie was missing.
Blogs for Heather Our buddy Chris at Lucky Dawg is looking for more blogs to support Republican Heather Wilson in her campaign for reelection. If you want to know why I support Congresswoman Wilson, look no further than this article in the Albuquerque Tribune. On Dec. 13 of last year, Ben was driving a 23-ton vehicle known as a Stryker with members of his 25th Infantry Division outside of Mosul in Iraq, when a green Ford Explorer entered his peripheral vision.
"It came out of nowhere," he recalls. "And it did not register as normal."
Seconds later, the Explorer hit Ben's vehicle. The resulting explosion blew the helmet off his head and shattered his left elbow. The ensuing flames caused second- and third-degree burns to his arms and face. Eight other soldiers in the vehicle escaped with minor injuries.
Ben and three other veterans were honored this morning at a ceremony at Veteran's Memorial Park by Congresswoman Heather Wilson. Wilson, an Albuquerque Republican, took a personal interest in Ben and the Rosecrans' family after they contacted her to help them through some snafus in Ben's medical treatment, most of which took place at Brook Army Medical Center in San Antonio, Texas.
"I was struck by Ben's humility and the whole family's commitment to service," Wilson says. "He was very humble. He did what he was trained to do and saved the lives of the rest of his convoy because of it. That's something that really strikes you."
Today, after many medical treatments, Ben's face is as clear and smooth as a baby's. The ear they told him he might lose, he jokes, is "as big as normal."
"I didn't get any prettier, unfortunately," he says, laughing. "That was my hope."While you're over at Lucky Dawg, be sure to check out his moving and dramatic video of the week on the men who didn't cut and run.
Not Antiwar, Just on the Other SideThat's how I'd sum up this terrific article at the American Thinker. For reasons we need not go into here, some people in capitalism develop an aversion toward it. Needless to say, it can be seen and felt in many places – at anti-establishment rallies, globalization protests, in the ranks of our cultural and intellectual elites, among radical activists, and the movies of Michael Moore to mention just a few – where capitalism is spoken of as evil, exploitative, alienating, dehumanizing and such.I tend to view the anti-capitalist outlook as an expression of laziness more than anything else. It takes hard work to get anything in a capitalist society; the communists promise us deliverance from effort. As an aside, has anybody else noticed that the youth "movements" of the last 50 years have all had a lazy core? The beatniks in the 1950s, the counterculture in the 1960s and early 1970s were both profoundly lazy. The slackers of the 1980s-1990 advertized their sloth in the name.
Saddam's Other ComplaintsOur buddy Buckley F. Williams has compiled the list. #2 definitely cracked me up.
Robert Shane Pugh, Hero You Big Mouth, You has the details.
The Bush EconomyIs doing quite well, despite the doom and gloom crowd in the media. U.S. economic growth rose at a 4.3 percent annual rate from July through September, the quickest since the first quarter of last year and evidence of the economy's resilience in the face of record energy costs.
The revised figure for gross domestic product, the value of all goods and services produced in the U.S., was higher than forecast and compares with a 3.8 percent pace initially estimated, the Commerce Department's figures showed today. Growth was 3.3 percent in the prior three months. Yep, and with gas prices receding we can expect to see Bush's poll numbers climbing in the near future.
Crescent Dropped from Flight 93 Memorial--UpdatedCongrats and thanks to Michelle Malkin, who made this a cause celebre. Update: Chris from Lucky Dawg pointed me to this marvelous photo essay of the Flight 93 Memorial as it exists now. Get out the hankies, and be absolutely sure to read down to the end.
The Amazing Race: Old Faceful--Updated!I had to tape TAR to get other things accomplished elsewhere. And, to be honest, it's an episode I could have skipped without missing a thing. The segment starts out with a drive to a balloon race, which, as anybody could have predicted, ends up with all the teams in the same order that they started, despite some balloon-bumping drama, and a hillside rendezvous. Then everybody has to drive to Park City, Utah. No skiing events this time, instead it's a railroad detour, where teams have to choose between shoveling coal or laying a railroad for 20 yards. It was clearly a time for shoveling coal, but the first three teams chose laying down the rail. The Weavers, in last place, made me cheer when they decided to be the different team (usually the only way you catch up, when you're behind). Sure enough, they finished third, while the Linzes and the Bransons (with Wally finally showing what a man can do that his daughters can't), pounded the rails into submission. The Desperate Housewives finished this task last. The next challenge is nothing--drive to Bonneville Salt Flats and find a very weird-looking artificial tree. Same order--Linzes, Bransons, Weavers and Godlewskis. Next is to get thee to a campground. Apparently a simple task, but as we watch in astonishment, the Bransons, Weavers and Godlewskis arrive before the Linzes. It is explained in a quick voiceover that due to a production error involving the camera, the battery on the Linzes vehicle had conked out. This was the same production error we saw earlier this season and it ruins the drama of the episode. The Linzes are in last place and yet there is no drama because we all understand that they got hosed by the show, so there must be a spot where they are guaranteed to catch up, right? Roadblock at the next cluebox. Teams must find two players to ride horses and take a small group of cattle to a corral. The Bransons do well, and the Weavers (who have three horses on their property, we are told) do better. The next task is to drive to Old Faithful. The Bransons get there first, but the show only happens every 92 minutes so they must wait. Sure enough the Weavers arrive in time to see the eruption. But the other teams just miss and so we know they will finish at least an hour and a half behind. So now the Linzes are safe because of the production error and the Godlewskis are in trouble. Meanwhile the Weavers and the Bransons are looking at a mad dash to the mat. Rollie says he is going to tackle Wally and for the rest of the family to dash ahead. Of course, they don't really allow that kind of behavior, and so the Bransons finish seconds ahead of the Weavers. But... cue the dramatic music! The leg isn't over. The teams are still racing. Which means that next week there will be some sort of bunching mechanism, so that the Linz's problem with the camera draining their battery doesn't matter. Which means we really have four families in a mad dash for the money. I still say it's the Weavers. They're the only team we've really gotten to know. The Linzes are ciphers, the Branson gals are three peas in a pod. The Godlewskis we've gotten to know a little more; they will definitely be contenders. Update: As always, if you want a better rundown of the episode, check out Viking Pundit's summary. Sorry for forgetting to put this in the original post; it was late at night when I finally finished it.
Tuesday, November 29, 2005
Move-On Photoshopping Brits to Yanks?Our buddy the Man at GOP & the City notes that George Soros' favorite charity is guilty of doing a little creative work to make their point. Be sure to click on the bottom picture, it gives you a great look. Great job!
New And NotableLet me suggest that you check out the American Scratchpad, a new (started in November) blog that's well-written and intelligent. I agree with his rave about what the #1 right in America should be.
LA Times Cans RamirezPulitzer prize-winning cartoonist gets the axe in cost-cutting measure. Now, you know I'm not usually impressed with the P-U-Litzers, but Ramirez is deserving as this example shows:  Now, I could suggest that those of you still subscribing to the LA Times consider threatening to cancel your subscription, but let's face it; nobody's subscribing anymore to the dog trainer. I am hopeful that Ramirez will go on to bigger and better things.
Bolton Gets ResultsThe UN actually condemns Hizbullah: This condemnation - slamming Hizbullah by name for "acts of hatred" - marked the first time the Security Council has ever reprimanded Hizbullah for cross-border attacks on Israel. The condemnation followed by two days a failed attempt to get a condemnation issued on Monday, the day of the attack, when Algeria came out against any mention of Hizbullah in the statement.
When asked what changed from Monday to Wednesday, one diplomatic official replied: "John Bolton," a reference to the US ambassador to the UN. Bolton lobbied vigorously for the passage of the statement.George Voinovich was heard sobbing as the condemnation was read.
The Usual Gang of IdiotsSupporting clemency for Tookie Williams: Entertainers including Foxx, Elliott Gould, Danny Glover, Laurence Fishburne, Ted Danson, William Baldwin, Mike Farrell, Harry Belafonte, Edward Asner, Jackson Browne, Russell Crowe, Richard Dreyfuss, Gabriel Byrne, Snoop Dogg, Bianca Jagger, and politicians such as former state Sen. Tom Hayden, former New York Gov. Mario Cuomo and Los Angeles City Councilman Bill Rosendahl support clemency for Williams.Who the heck did Bianca Jagger ever entertain (besides Mick)?
Regarding Ted RallI heard quite a bit of discussion on the Laura Ingraham show about this execrable cartoon by Ted Rall. Laura noted that Ted's cartoon was syndicated to over 140 newspapers, including the New York Times. I did a little endeavor called the Ted Rall Unemployment Project last year after Rall's notorious Pat Tillman cartoon, and what I quickly discovered is that Rall appears in a LOT fewer than 140 newspapers. The New York Times and a couple other newspapers wrote back saying that they hadn't carried him in years. We did get MSNBC to stop carrying him, so it wasn't a total waste. I suspect that most of the newspapers carrying Rall are "alternative" weeklies and that there's not much use writing to those papers.
Superman Radio Show Helped Defeat the Klan?Ah, I just love this little tidbit: In their insightful and offbeat Freakonomics Steven Levitt and Stephen Dubner tell the remarkable story of Stetson Kennedy’s important role in preventing a substantial national revival of the Ku Klux Klan following World War II. Kennedy first infiltrated the Klan on his own and learned its secret structure, terminology, and passwords and then, in a stroke of genius, provided these to . . . The Adventures of Superman radio show. The script writers made great sport of the Klan’s goofy terminology (“Exalted Cyclopses,” “Kleagles,” “Klaverns,” etc.) as Superman battled against them. Very soon all over the country children were playing Superman vs. The Klan and mocking the Klan’s bizarre and murderous thuggery. Members began to leave in droves.I have talked in the past about the Superman radio show's post-WWII effort to promote racial harmony.
It's a Good Thing I Live In a Conservative AreaWhere the libraries don't censor my access to conservative books. Beautiful Atrocities notes that Berkeley's library system doesn't yet have any copies of Michelle Malkin's Unhinged. But of course, conservative or not, Phoenix's library books get bought by librarians, who tend to be just a tad left of center. As I write this, Phoenix has one copy of Unhinged, on order. They have 18 copies of Al Franken's new book, The Truth (With Jokes). Scottsdale? They have zero copies of Unhinged, and zero copies of In Defense of Internment. They do have a couple of copies of Invasion, Michelle's 2002 book. They also have a mere 22 copies of Al Franken's The Truth (With Jokes)
Moron Cindy Sheehan's Book Signing--UpdatedJohn at My Take on Things has some amusing reflections. Updated: Cindy claims the book signing was a big success.
The Michelle Malkin InterviewOur buddy John Hawkins is the best interviewer in the blogging business, and he interviews one of the top names in punditry.
Brit Peacenik Kidnapped in IraqLet's hope the jihadists get tired of listening to how he sympathizes with their cause and set him free. The organisation, which has had a permanent presence of up to seven members in Iraq since before the war, refused to comment. A man standing at the door of Mr Kember's home in Pinner, north-west London, refused to give his name but read a statement on behalf of the family.
"Norman feels very strongly that the occupation in Iraq is a mistake," he said. "He has been a pacifist all his life, working in hospitals rather than doing national service at the age of 18.
"He was in Iraq for a short time to join a peace group that is talking and listening to people of all persuasions, believing that dialogue, not confrontation, should help to bring about conciliation."I'm with Mrs G on this one; if he can be rescued without hurting any of our soldiers let's do it. But if it's risky at all, let Michael Moore lead the raid. Update: The kidnappers have released video.
Monday, November 28, 2005
Latest Tactic of the LeftI heard a couple of the local Air America idiots trying out this meme, and sure enough, Randi Rhodes was blathering on about it this evening. The notion is that the War Powers Resolution was not an authorization to go to war. As best I can figure it, this is an attempt by the chattering classes to come up with an excuse for all the Democrats who voted in favor of it. Rhodes was saying that there were all sorts of conditions attached to it, including a requirement that Bush go back to the UN, which he didn't do. Funny thing, looks like Bush duped them again. Here's the text of the War Powers Resolution, and somehow that part got edited out. Here's what I see as the res of the affair, leaving out all the whereases: Now, therefore, be it resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, SEC. 1. SHORT TITLE.
This joint resolution may be cited as the "Authorization for the Use of Military Force Against Iraq".
SEC. 2. SUPPORT FOR UNITED STATES DIPLOMATIC EFFORTS
The Congress of the United States supports the efforts by the President to--
(a) strictly enforce through the United Nations Security Council all relevant Security Council resolutions applicable to Iraq and encourages him in those efforts; and
(b) obtain prompt and decisive action by the Security Council to ensure that Iraq abandons its strategy of delay, evasion and noncompliance and promptly and strictly complies with all relevant Security Council resolutions.
SEC. 3. AUTHORIZATION FOR USE OF UNITED STATES ARMED FORCES.
(a) AUTHORIZATION. The President is authorized to use the Armed Forces of the United States as he determines to be necessary and appropriate in order to
(1) defend the national security of the United States against the continuing threat posed by Iraq; and
(2) enforce all relevant United Nations Security Council Resolutions regarding Iraq.
(b) PRESIDENTIAL DETERMINATION.
In connection with the exercise of the authority granted in subsection (a) to use force the President shall, prior to such exercise or as soon there after as may be feasible, but no later than 48 hours after exercising such authority, make available to the Speaker of the House of Representatives and the President pro tempore of the Senate his determination that
(1) reliance by the United States on further diplomatic or other peaceful means alone either (A) will not adequately protect the national security of the United States against the continuing threat posed by Iraq or (B) is not likely to lead to enforcement of all relevant United Nations Security Council resolutions regarding Iraq, and
(2) acting pursuant to this resolution is consistent with the United States and other countries continuing to take the necessary actions against international terrorists and terrorist organizations, including those nations, organizations or persons who planned, authorized, committed or aided the terrorists attacks that occurred on September 11, 2001.
(c) WAR POWERS RESOLUTION REQUIREMENTS. --
(1) SPECIFIC STATUTORY AUTHORIZATION. -- Consistent with section 8(a)(1) of the War Powers Resolution, the Congress declares that this section is intended to constitute specific statutory authorization within the meaning of section 5(b) of the War Powers Resolution.
(2) APPLICABILITY OF OTHER REQUIREMENTS. -- Nothing in this resolution supersedes any requirement of the War Powers Resolution.
SEC. 4. REPORTS TO CONGRESS
(a) The President shall, at least once every 60 days, submit to the Congress a report on matters relevant to this joint resolution, including actions taken pursuant to the exercise of authority granted in section 2 and the status of planning for efforts that are expected to be required after such actions are completed, including those actions described in section 7 of Public Law 105-338 (the Iraq Liberation Act of 1998).
(b) To the extent that the submission of any report described in subsection (a) coincides with the submission of any other report on matters relevant to this joint resolution otherwise required to be submitted to Congress pursuant to the reporting requirements of Public Law 93-148 (the War Powers Resolution), all such reports may be submitted as a single consolidated report to the Congress.
(c) To the extent that the information required by section 3 of Public Law 102-1 is included in the report required by this section, such report shall be considered as meeting the requirements of section 3 of Public Law 102-1.It's a funny thing, but I see an authorization to use force. I see some requirements as to reporting. And I see zero, zilch, nada, about the president having to go back to the UN and get authorization from Kofi and the boys.
Second Thoughts on the ColtsNow that was a pasting. The Colts' D made Roethlisberger look like a rookie back there. Madden was talking about how Ben had to throw it deeper, but every time he did it came close to getting picked off. I still have some doubts, but at this point it's time to acknowledge the obvious; the Colts are the best team in the league.
Carnival of the Clueless is UpRick Moran has more links than I have puns about links.
Pete Rose's Chance for Hall Slim and NoneHis eligibility to be elected by the writers has passed. And that has always been his best chance, as the sportswriters loved Rose. Now he goes to the Veteran's Committee, which has a fair number of Rose detractors. Something of a lightweight ballot this year: Rick Aguilera, Albert Belle, Bert Blyleven, Will Clark, Dave Concepcion, Andre Dawson, Gary DiSarcina, Alex Fernandez, Gary Gaetti, Steve Garvey, Dwight Gooden, Rich Gossage, Ozzie Guillen, Orel Hershiser, Gregg Jefferies, Tommy John, Doug Jones, Don Mattingly, Willie McGee, Hal Morris, Jack Morris, Dale Murphy, Dave Parker, Jim Rice, Lee Smith, Bruce Sutter, Alan Trammell, Walt Weiss, John Wetteland. Hmmm. Given those choices I'd vote for Blyleven (most wins by a player born in the 1950s), Jack Morris (2nd most) and Alan Trammell, with Rice, Gossage and John as probably the next best group. Hershiser was a fine player, but 204 wins strikes me as just a little short of the HOF standard. Ditto with Mattingly and Murphy, guys who had great seasons, but just not enough of them. Mattingly from 1983-85 was probably the best hitter in the game.
Killing Two Frogs With One StoneOur buddy Bulldog Pundit must like the French, because he's come up with a solution to two of their current problems.
Lost At CKitty has a contest! She's been referring to Hillary Rodham Clinton as "Her Royal C", which at one point got her into trouble with Lucianne's staff watchdogs, who thought that perhaps the "C" was an abbreviation for a forbidden word. So she's come up with a contest to give the "C" an official meaning. Keep it clean!
The 16th Minute of FameIn case you needed further confirmation that Cindy Sheehan's star has faded. Mrs Media Matters has more thoughts.
Who's the Republican Frontrunner?Josh Gerstein says it's John McCain. Intensifying public concern about the war in Iraq, the prospect of protracted corruption trials in Washington, and renewed qualms among Republicans about federal spending are all putting wind into Mr. McCain's sails while setting back most of the senator's rivals for the nomination.
"If Iraq and foreign policy and national security and deficit spending are important issues, that will benefit people like McCain," the publisher of a leading political newsletter, Stuart Rothenberg, said.And indeed, if we look at Tradesports' contract on the Republican Presidential Nominee, we see that McCain has been rising quite a bit lately (although still not where he was last year):  (Note: Tradesports uses the European convention for dates; 27/10 is October 27, 2004.) Hugh Hewitt says Frist has pretty much blown it, unless he really gets the job done in 2006: The Senate's GOP's go-along-to-get-along attitude explains Senator Frist's calamitous political situation, and should also dictate his moves when the Senate gets back from its very, very long Thanskgiving recess in mid-December: Get nominee Boyle a vote. Get nominee Kavanaugh a hearing and a schedule for a floor vote. Get a schedule worked out for all current and future judicial nominees for 2006. If Chairman Specter balks, convene the party caucus and remove him from the committee. Get the Patriot Act through the Senate.
In other words, Senator Frist cannot afford to waste December, not if he wants to be a serious contender for the GOP nomination in '08. He'll be out of the Senate in a year and running for president on exactly what? Having made Senator Reid happy, or having kept Senator Specter pleased?And again, Tradesports agrees:  A word of caution. A lot of people think these markets have good predictive powers. This is not the case. In 2000, for example, the Iowa Electronic Markets predicted that then-Governor Bush would win the election for most of October and early November. On election day, the market whipsawed back and forth as it looked like Gore would win, then Bush. (The same thing happened in 2004, with the exit polling fiasco). In the ultimate irony, the IEM paid out on the Gore contracts, as their pre-existing determining factor was the popular vote. What markets like the IEM and Tradesports are good at is distilling the conventional wisdom, which is why they have gyrated wildly on the day of the last two presidential elections.
Frank Rich Takes a PoundingThanks to the New York Times, we can't read his original article unless we want to shell out $50. Judging from this editorial by the NY Sun, that would be wasted money. Mr. Rich's New York Times column yesterday refers to Mr. Bush's 2003 State of the Union address with the "bogus 16 words about Saddam's fictitious African uranium." Those words were, "The British government has learned that Saddam Hussein recently sought significant quantities of uranium from Africa." But those 16 words are neither bogus nor fictitious. They were and are true. A July 2004 report of the bipartisan Senate Select Committee on Intelligence reported that an Iraqi delegation visited Niger in June of 1999 and met with Niger's then-prime minister, Ibrahim Mayaki. The committee relayed that Mr. Mayaki said the meeting was about "expanding commercial relations" between the two countries, which Mr. Mayaki interpreted to mean "that the delegation wanted to discuss uranium yellowcake sales."
A July 2004 report by the British government's Butler Commission found that Mr. Bush's State of the Union comment was "well-founded." As the Commission put it, "It is accepted by all parties that Iraqi officials visited Niger in 1999.The British Government had intelligence from several different sources indicating that this visit was for the purpose of acquiring uranium. Since uranium constitutes almost three-quarters of Niger's exports, the intelligence was credible. ... The forged documents were not available to the British Government at the time its assessment was made, and so the fact of the forgery does not undermine it."Indeed, I went through the Senate Intelligence Commission's report a few months ago, and it clearly exhonerated President Bush and castigated serial liar Joe Wilson. But Joe Wilson got back in the news the last couple of months and the media are determined not to tell the truth about him. It's as if they believe the old maxim that if you tell a lie often enough, people will think it's the truth. Mr. Rich's New York Times column yesterday accuses Messrs. Bush and Cheney of "falsely claiming they've been exonerated by two commissions that looked into prewar intelligence - neither of which addressed possible White House misuse and mischaracterization of that intelligence." Yet two major reports that looked into the matter of the administration and intelligence did exonerate the president. Here is a quote from the report of the bipartisan Robb-Silberman commission: "The Commission found no evidence of political pressure to influence the Intelligence Community's pre-war assessments of Iraq's weapons programs. As we discuss in detail in the body of our report, analysts universally asserted that in no instance did political pressure cause them to skew or alter any of their analytical judgments."
Here is a quote from the report of the bipartisan Senate Select Committee on Intelligence: "The Committee did not find any evidence that Administration officials attempted to coerce, influence, or pressure analysts to change their judgments related to Iraq's weapons of mass destruction capabilities." Yet, in contravention of those conclusions - reached by groups that included Democrats such as Senators Edwards, Levin, Wyden, and Durbin and Clinton administration officials Lloyd Cutler, William Studeman, and Walter Slocombe - Mr. Rich speaks of "the administration's deliberate efforts to suppress or ignore intelligence that contradicted its Iraq crusade."Yes, when you argue about this with the libs, they claim that the pressure was subtle; that the administration kept sending back the reports until they got the results they wanted. Terrific editorial by the Sun. Hat tip to Lucianne for pointing it out.
Sunday, November 27, 2005
If You're Thinking Toys for Christmas...Think Hasbro. Just a nice little story about a good corporate citizen.
The Feingold Express is ComingThe antiwar types will no doubt be thrilled by this news: The time has come for a "cheesehead" in the White House, although Sen. Russ Feingold, D-Wis., doesn't know if he's the one to take that mantle.
He put his chances of seeking for the nomination in 2008 at "probably higher" than one in 100 while saying it was too early to commit to the race.
"But I do think one thing we can all agree on is that this country is overdue for a cheesehead president. We've never had one," he told ABC's "This Week."
What Are These Numbers?28, 20, 21, 17, 37. Answer: The number of points the undefeated Indianapolis Colts have given up in their last five games. I just don't see them as Super Bowl winners. This could be one of those years when a surprise team takes home the Lombardi trophy. The Bears look to have the league's best defense, but I'm far from sold on their quarterback's ability to win a game from behind. Seattle looks good but they also have a question mark at QB, and let's face it they haven't won a playoff game since Doug Flutie graduated from college. In fact, the only proven playoff winner in the NFC hunt is Jake Delhomme.
Just Being Nominated is the HonorThanks to our buddy Mr Right for nominating Brainster's for the 2005 Weblog Awards at Wizbang. I can't quite find the post where he nominated us, but I saw it in a referring link list last night. I don't expect to win anything; it would be a thrill to even reach the finalist group for blogs from 1000-1750 in the TTLB.
Hollyweird Diet a Little Rich in Vitamin PCMark Steyn on the box office slump: The average multiplex is surely not long for this world. Already, 85 percent of Hollywood's business comes from home entertainment -- DVDs and the like. Suits me. Or so I thought until, on the way home from the hell of Harry Potter, I stopped to buy the third boxed set in the ''Looney Tunes Golden Collection.'' Loved the first two: Daffy, Bugs, Porky, beautifully restored, tons of special features. But, for some reason, this new set begins with a special announcement by Whoopi Goldberg explaining what it is we're not meant to find funny: ''Unfortunately at that time racial and ethnic differences were caricatured in ways that may have embarrassed and even hurt people of color, women and ethnic groups,'' she tells us sternly. ''These jokes were wrong then and they're wrong today'' -- unlike, say, Whoopi Goldberg's most memorable joke of recent years, the one at that 2004 all-star Democratic Party gala in New York where she compared President Bush to her, um, private parts. There's a gag for the ages.No apologies to white men for Elmer Fudd.
Saturday, November 26, 2005
Bruce Willis to Make Blog-Based FilmBased of course on the writings of Michael Yon. ANGERED by negative portrayals of the conflict in Iraq, Bruce Willis, the Hollywood star, is to make a pro-war film in which American soldiers will be depicted as brave fighters for freedom and democracy.
It will be based on the exploits of the heavily decorated members of Deuce Four, the 1st Battalion, 24th Infantry, which has spent the past year battling insurgents in the northern Iraqi town of Mosul.
Willis attended Deuce Four’s homecoming ball this month in Seattle, Washington, where the soldiers are on leave, along with Stephen Eads, the producer of Armageddon and The Sixth Sense.
The 50-year-old actor said that he was in talks about a film of “these guys who do what they are asked to for very little money to defend and fight for what they consider to be freedom”.I've always liked Bruce Willis, ever since the days of Moonlighting. To this day, whenever I'm late, my excuse is always "The lights were against me!"
America's First Attempt at Socialism FailedOur buddy Songbird has the information.
Time to 'Fess UpI suppose I should admit now that my claim to have been drafted by the New York Jets in the first round of the 1965 AFL draft is a bit of an exaggeration. In fact, I felt a draft from a passing jet one time.
In Solidarity With the Suicide Bombers, You MeanThe loons at Camp Casey had Iraqi food for Thanksgiving: “The idea is that it's an Iraqi-style meal to eat in solidarity with the Iraqi people who are dying there,” said Linda Foley, a protester from Azle. “We're not having the traditional indulgent American dinner.”
The Wonderful Woman's FutureI was rereading Wonder Woman #7 (Winter 1943) last night. It's one of those cheerfully goofy tales of the future that comic book writers generally couldn't resist back in the 1940s and 1950s. In this story, Wonder Woman's mother shows her the future using the Magic Sphere. This device records everything that has happened and thus can predict everything that will happen (a concept used by Isaac Asimov in the Foundation novels as psychohistory). In writer William Marsten's future women rule the planet, which is now known as the United States of Earth. Marsten was a radical feminist, but like everybody else, he was a creature of his time. Thus, even though women rule the world, they are mostly still secretaries in the workforce (click on pictures to view larger):  Diana is still alive as are the rest of the 1940s Wonder Woman cast. It turns out that Etta Candy, Wonder Woman's chubby sidekick, invented a fountain of youth drink that prevents people from getting old and dying. Steve Trevor is still around, although somewhat emasculated as this senator from the Man's World Party notes:  The senator visits the female president and demands the release of Grafton Patronage, a former corrupt political boss. She refuses to sign. Meanwhile the prison warden, named Dorothy Dear, has asked Patronage to her office for some psychoanalysis. The prisons of the future are run by politically correct jailers:  But Patronage quickly takes over the prison. Warden Dear is quite distressed:  Wonder Woman foils the prison escape, and an assassination plot against the president. In the second part of the story, we get a look at the presidential race of 3004. Steve Trevor decides to throw his hat in the ring:  Diana Prince runs against him. Of course Steve, who comes across like Jethro Bodine in this story, is being duped by the leader of the purple shirts. Diana seems on her way to victory, but politics has not changed much in 1000 years:  My god, it's just like Ohio 2004! ;) Eventually things are righted and Diana becomes the new president, which makes Wonder Woman ambivalent: 
NOLA: From Girls Gone Wild to Girls GoneGee this wouldn't have anything to do with all the rape stories the media told us a couple of months ago, would it? The male-to-female ratio is most obvious in the French Quarter, where workers come to blow off steam in the evenings, but it crosses into other areas. Professional men — their wives and children settled elsewhere until the end of the school semester — gather in threes and fours at local restaurants. On Friday afternoons, they leave by bus or car or airplane, staying outside the city just long enough to get a taste of family life.
Friday, November 25, 2005
Busy for NowWhy don't you go check out the intelligent posts by the Chief Brief and Educated Shoprat?
Master Criminal of the DayWilliam Swanberg: When no one was looking, Swanberg switched the bar codes on Lego boxes, replacing an expensive one with a cheaper label, said Detective Troy Dolyniuk, a member of the Washington County fraud and identity theft enforcement team.
Target officials contacted police after noticing the same pattern at their stores in the five western states. A Target security guard stopped Swanberg at a Portland-area store on Nov. 17, after he bought 10 boxes of the Star Wars Millennium Falcon set.
In his parked car, detectives found 56 of the Star Wars set, valued at $99 each, as well as 27 other Lego sets. In a laptop found inside Swanberg's car, investigators also found the addresses of numerous Target stores in the Portland area, their locations carefully plotted on a mapping software.
Records of the Lego collector's Web site, Bricklink.Com, show that Swanberg has sold nearly $600,000 worth of Legos since 2002, said Dolyniuk.
Sticking Up for Chairman MaoIt's a dirty, disgusting little job, but somebody's gotta do it: "It's just outrageous," said Gary Miller, a volunteer at Berkeley's Revolution Books, as he leafleted the authors' event on campus. "A lot of people look with a great deal of affection at the Mao years because China's been turned into one giant sweatshop."
In October, the city of Berkeley celebrated Bob Avakian Day in honor of one of the city's most stalwart revolutionary sons. A few weeks later, Raymond Lotta, a Chicago-based Maoist political economist and author, spoke to students at UCLA and UC Berkeley in what he called a bid to set the record straight.
"What sets this apart from other historical studies is that this person Mao, who led an historic revolution and changed the landscape of China and was an inspiration throughout the world -- they're saying this was a scheming, bloodthirsty opportunist who was evil from the day he was born to the day he died and who hijacked a revolution," Lotta said. "I think it's part of a continuing attempt to discredit communism and Maoism and any alternative to the current world order."
Tom Gold, associate dean of international and area studies at UC Berkeley, said he visited China on a guided tour in 1975 and was impressed. "You can't just say it was one evil person," he said in a phone interview. "What Mao did was tap into some sort of psychology. You cannot get away from saying that Mao tapped into something."
Connie Wu, who graduated from UC Berkeley in 2004 with a degree in international political economy, traveled throughout China as a Haas Scholar. She talked to Chinese who grew up under Mao and are adjusting to life in a capitalist economy.
"A lot of their response would be, 'Materialistically it's great. We can get whatever we want. We don't have to wait in long lines.' But they also said that morally it's really going down because now it's a money society," she said.What Mao tapped into was greed, pure and simple. The difference between capitalism and communism is that the former uses the greed of the wealthy to make more money, while communism uses the greed of the poor to redistribute the wealth.
Thursday, November 24, 2005
Some Things To Be Thankful ForFrom Ann Coulter: In the Iraq war so far, the U.S. military has deposed a dictator who had already used weapons of mass destruction and would have used them again. As we now know, Saddam Hussein was working with al-Qaeda and was trying to acquire long-range missiles from North Korea and enriched uranium from Niger.
Saddam is on trial. His psychopath sons are dead. We've captured or killed scores of foreign terrorists in Baghdad. Rape rooms and torture chambers are back in R. Kelly's Miami Beach mansion where they belong.
The Iraqi people have voted in two free, democratic elections this year. In a rash and unconsidered move, they even gave women the right to vote.
Iraqis have ratified a constitution and will vote for a National Assembly next month. The long-suffering Kurds are free and no longer require 24x7 protection by U.S. fighter jets.
Libya's Moammar Gadhafi has voluntarily dismantled his Weapons of Mass Destruction, Syria has withdrawn from Lebanon, and the Palestinians are holding elections.
(Last but certainly not least, the Marsh Arabs' wetlands ecosystem in central Iraq that Saddam drained is being restored, so even the Democrats' war goals in Iraq are being met.)As for the liberals, what do they have to be thankful for? Poll numbers. That's about it. Oh, they can also prepare their big celebration for the 2500th US casualty in Iraq.
Convict Freed By DNA Testing, Murders WomanPredictably, the response from innocence advocates has been, we don't want to talk about him. Let us not talk about Steven Avery, another man now sitting in a county jail charged with killing a young woman. Not tonight. Not again.
"This event is not about that," the moderator, Lawrence C. Marshall, a law professor who has spent years trying to free wrongfully convicted prisoners, urged. "Tonight we are here to talk about the much bigger issue."A reminder that sometimes the cons who are innocent of the crimes for which they were convicted are not always innocent of criminality.
Wednesday, November 23, 2005
As Usual, I Was RightAnd Bill Gates and Warren Buffet were wrong. Microsoft's Bill Gates said with fulminating certainty in Davos last January that it was time to "short" the greenback. "The ol' dollar is going down. It is a bit scary. We're in uncharted territory when the world's reserve currency has so much outstanding debt," he said.
His friend Warren Buffet kept pace, switching $22billion (£13billion) of Berkshire Hathaway funds into foreign currencies. He said it pained him as an American, and broke the habits of a life-time. But a country living so far beyond its means with a zero savings rate and a current account deficit nearing 6pc of GDP was about to pay the inevitable price.Gee, you know what? Old Brainster wrote about the "falling dollar" early in 2005: Look, this is pretty simple. The dollar rises and falls with interest rates. When interest rates are low, (especially relative to inflation), the dollar will decline. When interest rates are high, the dollar will rise. This is not all that surprising when you think about it. Foreigners are looking for two things when they invest their money. Safety (and US Treasuries are the safest investments in the world) and return. Short term interest rates rose during the year, and money flocked to America to take advantage of the higher returns. The ol' greenback did fine as a result, and you no longer see idiots writing "the incredible shrinking dollar" stories.
A Modest ProposalI suggest that whenever a murderer is executed in the United States, that his or her offspring (whether juvenile or adult) be put to death as well. Some may think this is a drastic proposal, but it is certainly in keeping with mainstream liberal thought. Robert Jensen writes today: One indication of moral progress in the United States would be the replacement of Thanksgiving Day and its self-indulgent family feasting with a National Day of Atonement accompanied by a self-reflective collective fasting.Why does Professor Jenkins feel this way? But in the United States, this reluctance to acknowledge our original sin -- the genocide of indigenous people -- is of special importance today. It's now routine -- even among conservative commentators -- to describe the United States as an empire, so long as everyone understands we are an inherently benevolent one. Because all our history contradicts that claim, history must be twisted and tortured to serve the purposes of the powerful.
One vehicle for taming history is various patriotic holidays, with Thanksgiving at the heart of U.S. myth-building. From an early age, we Americans hear a story about the hearty Pilgrims, whose search for freedom took them from England to Massachusetts. There, aided by the friendly Wampanoag Indians, they survived in a new and harsh environment, leading to a harvest feast in 1621 following the Pilgrims first winter.
Some aspects of the conventional story are true enough. But it's also true that by 1637 Massachusetts Gov. John Winthrop was proclaiming a thanksgiving for the successful massacre of hundreds of Pequot Indian men, women and children, part of the long and bloody process of opening up additional land to the English invaders. The pattern would repeat itself across the continent until between 95 and 99 percent of American Indians had been exterminated and the rest were left to assimilate into white society or die off on reservations, out of the view of polite society.Clearly Professor Jenkins believes in the concept of guilt for the sins of our ancestors, if he thinks that we should all atone for them. Never mind that my ancestors didn't do anything to the Indians, as they were all still in Europe until the 1890s at the earliest. None of my grandparents were born in the United States, they were all immigrants. But leaving that problem out of it, this misconception about guilt handed down from generation to generation underlies a lot of the foolishness among the Left--from reparations for slavery to the Aztlan nonsense to support for the Palestinians to Affirmative Action. But if liberals want to take this concept to its logical extreme, then they should support capital punishment for the children of murderers. Or, at least, life imprisonment.
Hillary Will Be the NomineeI generally agree with John Hawkins, but I have to take issue with him on this post. Hillary is widely assumed to be the Democrats "chosen one" for 2008, a candidate who will easily take the nomination and will be a tough opponent Republicans will be lucky to beat. But, as the days have worn on, I have become convinced that she is a significantly weaker candidate than most think. In fact, not only would I go so far as to say that she probably won't beat a moderate to strong GOP candidate in 2008, but I'm becoming less and less sure she will even be the nominee for the Democrats.Hillary will be a solid candidate. A lot will depend on where the economy is, and whether the Iraq situation has settled down. But anybody thinking that she will be a weak candidate has not been paying attention to her for the last six years. When she was first elected, we all marveled at what a tin ear she had for politics, with gaffes like the Suha Arafat kiss.  But she's a quick learner. I defy anybody to come up with a real bone-headed move she's made in the last couple of years. She's taking great care not to come off as too liberal, and while that would normally be problematic for the Democrat primaries, she's the only candidate who can afford to run to the middle before wrapping up the nomination. I'd add to this that even though Hillary does well among Democrats, which bodes well for her chances in the primaries, the Michael Moore/Kos crowd is very lukewarm to Hillary. Although that's a loopy group of libs, they're also highly motivated, highly influential, and are likely to make up a disproportionate percentage of volunteers and financial contributors.Yes, but who among those respected luminaries has shown any ability to get their candidate elected? IIRC, Kos and Moore were a supporter of Wesley Clark. I can't think of a major blogger among the left who started out as a Kerry fan; most of them were in favor of Howard Dean. When you consider that Hillary isn't doing well with independents, isn't likely to carry any Southern states, isn't particularly charismatic, isn't doing well with independents, and according to this poll, is losing men by 22 points, you've got to wonder if we might see a Howard Dean like flame-out when Democratic voters have to actually decide if they want Hill as their candidate. Granted, Hillary and Dean are stylistically two very different types of politicians, but when Democratic voters concluded Dean was too much of a big mouth to win, they abandoned him. In Hillary's case, if they conclude she just has too much baggage to win, the same thing could happen.The Howard Dean like flame-out will come from somebody the Moore/Kos crowd adopts; Russ Feingold seems to be angling for that honor. Dean's problem was that his base of support in the party was never really that big to begin with. Although the far Left is strongly represented in the blogs and the Democrats' activist base, it still represents only a fragment of the Democratic primary voters. Put another way, most Democrats are not idiots. They did not turn away from Howard Dean, they just weren't paying close attention when he was on top of the world. When they did stop and focus for a moment, his bubble burst, because Dean was not a candidate that could stand close examination. Hillary's been in the spotlight for 13 years now. She's not going to make the stupid mistakes that Howard Dean made, like embracing LIHOP on the Diane Rehm Show. As for Hillary's baggage, I hate to be the one to break this news to my fellow Republicans, but we know all the skeletons in her closet. Anybody who thinks they can score points against her by digging something up from the past is kidding themselves. Every square inch of her life has been covered. Whitewater? Nobody's going to want to hear about it. Commodity futures? We know. Hillary can be beaten. But it's not going to be easy, and it's not going to happen in the Democratic primaries.
Professor Daly Hits the BricksWe covered the story of this nitwit a couple days ago; he got his fifteen minutes of fame by responding to a student's invitation to a speech by a veteran of the Iraq war with an angry email about how she was a fascist. He's now resigned from his (untenured) position at Warren County Community College. Soon to pop up at Evergreen State (Rachel Corrie U) probably. But get the headline: Provoked professor leaves WCCC post
Hooray for Joe!There are plenty of Democrats weighing the political implications of supporting the war in Iraq. And then there's Joe Lieberman: "We cannot let extremists and terrorists, a small number, here in Iraq deprive the 27 million Iraqis of what they want which is a better freer life, safer life for themselves and their children" Lieberman said after his meeting with Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari.
The Connecticut Democrat, a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, said the cost of success in Iraq would be high "but the cost for America of failure in Iraq would be catastrophic -- for America, for the Iraqi people and I believe for the world."The best choice Al Gore made in the 2000 campaign. I'm sure there will come a time when Joe will annoy me again. But he's a great American.
Tuesday, November 22, 2005
The Amazing Race UpdateThe early part of the episode continues with the Arizona theme. The teams travel first to Monument Valley, in the northeastern corner of the state. Actually most of the part they show is in Utah, but only accessible from the Arizona side. It's one of the most beautiful areas on earth, but it's a long way from where I live. The only time I saw it was in 1989 or so with my parents when we met up in Albuquerque and went from there. No drama here, so the next stop is Moab Valley, which is well known among mountain bike enthusiasts like me as a terrific ride. Some possible foreshadowing with the Weavers bored with the scenery that everybody else marvels about. Unfortunately, I could tell right away that a six-mile ride versus a rappelle down a beautiful arch was an easy choice as to which would be faster. I've done both and there's no way the rappelling could be slower than riding a mountain bike. Although they did go pretty slow. The Linzs are determined to win this week. They choose the rappelle, while the Weavers, arriving shortly after, take the bikes. But it doesn't seem to make a big difference as the teams leave that stage though in pretty much the same order: Linz, Weaver, Branson, Godlewski. At some point in here we hear that the Godlewskis fell behind because of a dead battery. Next is a campground for the night, with timed departure differences of 15 minutes. The next morning the teams have to drive to a town in Utah and find "Bart". Bart turns out to be a trained grizzly bear. The families have to walk down close to him, although the trainer stands between them and the bear the entire time and actually takes the clue from the bear's mouth. Yucchh! At any rate, I certainly wouldn't be doing what all the families do, which is exclaim how beautiful and nice the bear was as they strode briskly down the hill. Of course, if that's the "human" training, I would, but otherwise I would approach that bear as slowly as possible. Which is to say, I'd try coming around from the other side of the world. But this is not like that wonderful incident earlier this year in Kansas where a high school class decided to be photographed with a tiger, who promptly killed a girl. (Hell of a photo, though, I'm sure). Nobody is eviscerated by Yogi. Next up is a yield and a roadblock! The Weavers know this means almost certain doom for them. The teams have a choice of an apparent shortcut or a longer way by interstate. Of course, those of us who live in the southwest are aware that shortcuts don't always turn out that way and interstates are the way to go when you can. As a result the Weavers are the last to arrive at the roadblock and predictably they have been yielded by the Linz family. But a funny thing happens. They take it in good humor, and sit down to enjoy a fast food lunch. And much of the bad karma that they had been giving off the whole episode seemed to disappear. Suddenly they weren't the evil team anymore, they were the family that had survived much and deserved another chance. The roadblock is to ski down a waterjump into a pool. It looks challenging from above but when you see the people doing it, it looks like nothing. I can ski and waterski. And in the end we see only the thrill of victory, no agony of defeat from the jump. So there is zero drama tonight except whether it will be an elimination leg. But when everybody starts hoping it will to eliminate the Weavers, I'm guessing strongly it won't. Sure enough Phil just takes the possessions from the Weavers and leaves them in the game. Comments: A little too obvious with the emphasis on the apparent boorishness of the Weavers (exclaiming that Mormons live in Utah, for example) versus the Linz family, who marvel at the scenery. At one point we are served up the contrast of the Linzes seeing a spectacular waterfall, with the Weavers talking about a boring hillside, followed by one of the other families spotting a terrific rock formation. Okay, we're not supposed to like the Weavers, check. Still I like their chances. These reality shows are reverse-engineered. That is to say, once they've found out who wins, they highlight the things that show why that team deserved to win. And the Weavers have done a lot to show that they earned it. And I can't see anybody else that they're setting up as deserving. Who's overcome the obstacles they have?
What's The Quote and Who Really Said It?The quote starts, "When fascism comes to America it will ..." This is one example where the internet doesn't help things, it actually muddies the water. For example, here's one site where the quote is put on a bumper sticker as follows: "When fascism comes to America it will be wrapped in the flag and carrying a cross"--Sinclair Lewis. That certainly sounds like something Sinclair Lewis would have said, but when I tried to find out where, the usual citation was the book It Can't Happen Here. Which again makes some sense, since Lewis' novel was about the rise of fascism in America. One problem, though, the phrase "when fascism comes to America" appears nowhere in the book as you can see if you check this online edition. Just for fun I checked just the word "fascism" and the word "cross", and nothing like the bumper sticker phrase came up. Dave Weintraub says the actual quote is "When fascism comes to America, it will be wrapped in the American flag." Certainly a rather oddball quote for a firebreathing populist like Huey Long, to whom the quote is credited. Here's a Wikipedia version of that same quote. Unfortunately when you click on Huey Long, there, it takes you to some of his quotes, which includes this one: "If Fascism comes to America it would be on a program of Americanism."Pat Buchanan also credits the quote to Huey Long, but this time the quote is substantially different (and better IMHO): When fascism comes to America... it will come in the guise of anti-fascism.Anybody know the real source and the real quote?
Israeli Sniper a HeroThis is pretty good: IDF paratrooper Corporal David Markovitch foiled a would-be attack when he killed four Hizbullah operatives carrying an anti-tank missile in the village of Ghajar near South Lebanon on Monday.
Markovitch, a trained sniper, aimed at the rocket, which exploded, killing three of the terrorists. He then shot the fourth, whose body was taken back across the lines by other Hizbullah members. The IDF was holding the other three bodies.He told reporters that "It happened that [they] were in the middle of things, but really, it was a miracle. Them not seeing us - it was a miracle." Despite being trained combat soldiers, Markovitch admitted, they were afraid. "We didn't know what was going to happen," he said. "We were panicked, but we did our job."That's a good working definition of heroism. Afraid, but you do your job anyway.
Murtha Gets An Embarrassing SupporterI'm sure he hates it when this happens: Iran's Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, has urged the visiting Iraqi president to push for a speedy pullout of foreign troops from his country.
The ayatollah also told Jalal Talabani that the US was mainly responsible for widespread violence in Iraq. More on the Democrats' good friends the Iranians over at Rick Moran's.
Back to the PajamasLooks like OSM/Open Source Media got TKOed by the Pajamahudeen.
But They Support the TroopsThis is truly disgusting. A female soldier in Iraq (in the 101st Airborne!) has been posting tributes to her fellow soldiers. Unfortunately, some Leftist hacker couldn't stand the truth: Just to explain, as it seems to be a big question. When I add a new soldier to the tributes script/program it prints to the website "you have been hacked....Bush lied..." no matter what I type. So while it does not seem to have affected what I previously did, I cannot add anymore soldiers to my tribute. I can delete, but not add. But there have been many offers to fix or rebuild the website, which I hope to accept their offers and never have this happen again.Thanks to our buddy Mr Right for pointing this story out. Something to keep in mind the next time you hear the "We Support the Troops" mantra from the Left.
O'Neill: Don't Kerry Our SoldiersOne of the signal heroes from 2004 checks in with an editorial in the NY Sun, that is, unfortunately, subscriber only after the first two paragraphs: Senator Kerry, supposedly defending Rep. John Murtha, said, "I won't stand for the Swift-Boating of Jack Murtha!" As one of the 254 members of Mr. Kerry's unit in Vietnam who belonged to Swift Boat Veterans and POWs for Truth, I found Mr. Kerry's comments most ironic.
To us, Mr. Kerry's comments meant that no one should do to Mr. Murtha that which Mr. Kerry did to all of us and our fellow Vietnam veterans, living and dead. Mr. Kerry's disgraceful comments on many occasions in 1971 (while we were locked in combat), claiming falsely that we were "murdering" hundreds of thousands of Vietnamese and committing rape and mayhem on a daily basis, are a part of the public record for which he has never apologized. This might be called "Kerrying" our soldiers.Our long-ago buddy ACE (aka Airborne Combat Engineer) was the first person I know of (page formatting problems, scroll way down) to use the word "Kerry" as a verb. *kerry is a new word, meaning:
1. to hestitate on difficult decisions, then flip-flop later
2. to use "nuance" (spin) to wiggle out of embarassing positions caused by flip-flopping as in 1. aboveAs you can see from this snippet ( gleaned from Michelle Malkin), O'Neill essentially agrees with this definition: Are the politicians like Mr. Kerry who led the campaign to send our kids to war (when it was popular) now to withdraw support while they are locked in combat and apparently succeeding because the task is difficult or unpopular? Will Mainstream Media "Kerry" our troops by portraying Abu Ghraib or isolated cases of prisoner mistreatment as the rule to demoralize our troops and nation, while ignoring the beheadings and butchery of those peacefully praying in Mosques or shopping in a Bazaar?Update: Confessions of a Pilgrim links to this post which contains the entire editorial by Mr O'Neill. Good comments by The Sword of Enlightenment as well.
Democrats Muttering About New HampshireIt's not often I agree with Tom Oliphant. The latest looming mess regarding the next nominating season is the appointment of a commission to recommend ways of increasing geographic and ethnic diversity in the early voting events that since 1976 have been built around the precinct caucuses in Iowa and the primary in New Hampshire.There are a couple of factors coming into play. One is the Democrats' obsession with "fairness" (is it really fair that New Hampshire has the first primary every presidential election year?) and the second is "diversity" which holds that the Granite State is far too white and non-Hispanic. The third, of course, is that Democrats think that New Hampshire must be the reason why they keep losing presidential elections. One would think that the fact that John Kerry won almost every primary he entered in 2004 would convince them of the foolishness of this notion, but never underestimate the Democrats' ability to deceive themselves.
Monday, November 21, 2005
But Of CourseNegative on guns, positive on fast cars:  | You scored as Batman, the Dark Knight. As the Dark Knight of Gotham, Batman is a vigilante who deals out his own brand of justice to the criminals and corrupt of the city. He follows his own code and is often misunderstood. He has few friends or allies, but finds comfort in his cause.
Batman, the Dark Knight | | 75% | James Bond, Agent 007 | | 50% | Indiana Jones | | 50% | The Terminator | | 46% | Maximus | | 46% | The Amazing Spider-Man | | 42% | Neo, the "One" | | 42% | Captain Jack Sparrow | | 38% | Lara Croft | | 33% | William Wallace | | 33% | El Zorro | | 29% |
Which Action Hero Would You Be? v. 2.0
created with QuizFarm.com |
Hat Tip: Vox
Mannequin Panickin'The Man at GOP & the City has a tale of forbidden romance.
The Toughest Job In the WorldAbout 13 years ago, a very close friend of mine died of a massive heart attack at age 37. His wife came home from work to find him sitting on the couch; he had passed away about four hours earlier. The ambulance came and whisked him away, and she didn't know how to drive, so she called me and I drove her to the hospital where they told us that he'd died. We went back to their house and she started making the telephone calls. But of course the moment anybody got on the line she'd start sobbing and hand the phone to me, so I had to tell his parents and his brothers and various other friends and relatives that he'd died. It was, by a large margin, the worst day of my life. Major Steve Beck has gone through that five times. Each door is different. But once they're open, Beck said, some of the scenes inside are inevitably the same.
"The curtains pull away. They come to the door. And they know. They always know," he said.
"You can almost see the blood run out of their body and their heart hit the floor. It's not the blood as much as their soul. Something sinks. I've never seen that except when someone dies. And I've seen a lot of death.
"They're falling - either literally or figuratively - and you have to catch them.
"In this business, I can't save his life. All I can do is catch the family while they're falling."This is not a fun little story. But it's extremely moving and well-written. Thanks to our buddy Chris from Lucky Dawg for pointing this one out.
Not Antiwar, Just on the Other SideOur buddy Teflon over at Molten Thought says that now that he thinks about it, he does question their patriotism. After reading it, so will you.
Kerry's Foreign Policy Team At State Department?That's what this editorial in the NY Sun says: Mr. Burns has impeccable credentials for a Kerry administration official. He studied in France, earning the Certificat Pratique de Langue Francaise from the Sorbonne, and speaks French, Arabic, and Greek. He did a stint as spokesman for President Clinton's first-term secretary of state, Warren Christopher, where his service included criticizing Mayor Giuliani for kicking Yasser Arafat out of a concert at Lincoln Center, saying that Mr. Arafat deserved to be treated with "respect, dignity, and hospitality." Mr. Holbrooke's praises of Mr. Burns as being among a group of diplomats who are "centrists" and "non-ideological" are no doubt spot on. He's just not what the American people voted for, and when Mr. Bush returns from his gallivanting overseas the best thing he can do to redeem his commitment to voters is to do something about it.
Sunday, November 20, 2005
It's Not the Children...It's the parents.
Zarqawi Dead?Let's hope this is true. In Washington, a U.S. official said the identities of the terror suspects killed in the Saturday raid was unknown. Asked if they could include al-Zarqawi, the official replied: "There are efforts under way to determine if he was killed."
The official spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the information.
On Saturday, police Brig. Gen. Said Ahmed al-Jubouri said the raid was launched after a tip that top al-Qaida operatives, possibly including al-Zarqawi, were in the house in the northeastern part of the city.
During the intense gunbattle that followed, three insurgents detonated explosives and killed themselves to avoid capture, Iraqi officials said. Eleven Americans were wounded, the U.S. military said. Such intense resistance often suggests an attempt to defend a high-value target.I'm sure Michael Moore will be crying tonight over the death of Iraq's George Washington. Update: White House is playing down the reports. Could be they have better information, could be an attempt to underpromise and overdeliver.
One of the Drawbacks of a College EducationIs that your kid will have to deal with the likes of Warren Community College professor John Daly: Miss Beach said she was "very shocked" at the message she received from Mr. Daly. He told her he would ask students and others to boycott the event. He also charged that signs her group had posted about Col. Rutter's appearance "looked like fascist propaganda."
Mr. Daly also charged that "capitalism has killed many more people" than communism and that the "poor and working-class people" are recruited to "fight and die for Exxon and other corporations."
"I will continue to expose your right-wing, anti-people politics until groups like yours won't dare show their face on college campuses," Mr. Daly wrote.
He added: "Real freedom will come when [U.S.] soldiers in Iraq turn their guns on their superiors."Later: According to the newspaper, Mr. Daly said: "A lot of people are really upset about this main comment, my belief, and the belief of others, and the historical evidence that the war will end when soldiers turn around and fight for social justice here at home."As usual, when a Leftist uses the term "social justice" he means communism. Also note that he hides behind the first amendment, but his goal is to make sure that "groups like yours won't dare show their face on college campuses." The fascist urge among the Left is strong.
Steyn on the Cut and Run SenateHe uses the sharp knife on the world's greatest deliberative body: Good to see that even in the viciously partisan atmosphere of today's politics, Republicans and Democrats can still work together to carry out the people's business. In the same spirit, I wonder whether the Senate chamber itself should not be renamed the Abu Musab al-Zarqawi United States Senate. With increasingly rare exceptions, just about everything that emerges from the chamber tends to support the Zarqawi view of Iraq -- that this is a psychological war in which the Great Satan is an effete wimp who can be worn down and chased back to his La-Z-Boy recliner in Florida.One expects nothing from the Democrats. Their leaders are men like Jay Rockefeller, Democrat of West Virginia, who in 2002 voted for the war and denounced Saddam Hussein as an "imminent threat" and claimed that Iraq could have nuclear weapons by 2007 if not earlier. Now he says it's Bush who "lied" his way into war with a lot of scary mumbo-jumbo about WMD.
What does Rockefeller believe, really? I know what Bush believes: He thought Saddam should go in 2002 and today he's glad he's gone, as am I. I know what, say, Michael Moore believes: He wanted to leave Saddam in power in 2002, and today he thinks the "insurgents" are the Iraqi version of America's Minutemen. But what do Rockefeller and Reid and Kerry believe deep down? That voting for the war seemed the politically expedient thing to do in 2002 but that they've since done the math and figured that pandering to the moveon.org crowd is where the big bucks are?For more on this, see Another Rovian Conspiracy, which is a great blog name.
Saturday, November 19, 2005
Zarqawi LiesCaught in a storm of anger by his normal sympathizers over the suicide bombing attack of a wedding party in Jordan, Zarqawi tries the big lie: "People of Jordan, we did not undertake to blow up any wedding parties," Abu Musab al-Zarqawi insisted.
"For those Muslims who were killed, we ask God to show them mercy, for they were not targets. We did not and will not think for one moment to target them," he said on an Internet audiotape.Of course, his claim is rather undercut by the woman who tried to blow herself up: CALM, composed and showing no sign of remorse, a 35-year-old Iraqi woman recounted on Jordanian television last night how she and her husband planned a double suicide bomb attack on a wedding reception in the Radisson SAS Hotel in Amman last Wednesday.
Sajida Mubarak al-Rishawi’s husband succeeded in blowing himself up and killing at least 23 guests, including the bride’s father and father-in-law. But she survived, and was arrested yesterday after al-Qaeda — apparently unaware that she was still alive — issued a statement boasting that four bombers, including a husband-and-wife team, had carried out the bombings.
“I came to Jordan with my husband on November 5, 2005, and we were both travelling on fake Iraqi passports,” al-Rishawi said in a dramatic one-minute interview filmed at the Jordanian intelligence service’s headquarters.
“We came to Jordan to carry out a mission in hotels . . . We rented a flat. My husband had two explosives belts with him, so he took mine out and started teaching me how to use it, how to wear it and how to pull the detonator.”
Last Wednesday evening “we stopped a taxi, and drove to the hotel. I went to one corner and he went to another. Inside there was a wedding party, with lots of men, women and children. My husband detonated his belt successfully.
Friday, November 18, 2005
Searchlight Duped by Intelligence Estimate He Didn't ReadWe've always known that Harry "Searchlight" Reid wasn't exactly a towering intellect, but this is pretty dumb even for him: Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid (D.-Nev.), who is leading a spurious Democratic campaign that alleges President Bush misled the country into war, admitted last week that he did not read the National Intelligence Estimate on Iraq’s weapons of mass destruction programs that Director of Central Intelligence George Tenet prepared in 2002 at the request of Senate Democrats specifically so Congress would have up-to-date intelligence as it debated whether to authorize the Iraq war.
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