It was fun discussing Kerry's misadventures in Vietnam. There still seems to be a treasure trove of material yet to discuss with regard to the International Man of Mystery. If the media want to sabotage him for Hillary's sake, they should have no trouble locating some interesting stories that the mainstream media showed no interest in pursuing, like:
The Vietnamese woman whom Kerry and his crew assisted in the delivery of a breech birth baby. The story appears in the introduction to the Boston Globe book on Kerry, but curiously, given the extraordinary drama and heroism of young Lieutenant (jg) Kerry, the story never appears in Tour of Duty.
Kerry's Rosie Ruiz run in the Boston Marathon. As broken by our buddy John Ruberry (an authentic marathoner) Kerry claimed to have run in the Boston Marathon, apparently unaware that records are kept of all runners.
Kerry's attendance at a VVAW meeting where the assassination of US Senators was proposed and discussed heatedly. While we're on the subject of meetings, what about the two meetings Kerry and other VVAW leaders had with the North Vietnamese in Paris?
Kerry's improbable stories. It's not hard to find several of these. What about VC the flying dog? Kerry claimed that when his boat was hit by a mine, the dog was catapulted through the air, only to miraculously land on the deck of a following boat. Or my personal favorite (since it seems obviously ripped off from a sit-com), the time that Kerry claimed to have been taking his car through a car wash and suddenly water started pouring into the vehicle from everywhere and he worried about drowning. (As I commented at the time, it was an experience that both senators from Massachusetts had in common).
(This post will be on top for the rest of the day, scroll down for newer posts.)
I will be on the radio today starting at about 4:05 Eastern time today, on the Constitutional Public Radio show, AM 1510, Brevard County, Florida. You can also listen to the live stream. Cohosts Andrea Shea King and Mark Vance and I will be discussing Christmas in Cambodia, which has now morphed into Abraham Lincoln day in Cambodia.
You can also join in the show by chatting here (upper right).
Update: Great experience talking to Andrea and Mark; they clearly know a lot about the Boston Fog Machine. I'm so jealous that they got to meet the Swiftees & POWs for Truth--Thurlow, O'Neill, Day, McManus, Galanti... those guys are the heroes of 2004.
It's time for North Carolina to make reparations for an 1898 Wilmington race riot that killed an unknown number of black residents and disenfranchised the city's black community for generations, a state commission said today.
The 13-member commission studied the events of November 1898, and their aftermath, for six years. The group released its final report today, saying that the riot was a conspiracy plotted by white supremacist Democrats -- and supported by newspapers, including The News & Observer -- to drive blacks out of power. The committee also made a host of recommendations that would help compensate black.
Members said that, if nothing else, they want the riot to become part of the state's history curriculum.
I don't see any reason why it shouldn't be part of the history lesson, but I am curious about what other reparations are proposed. Let's remember, it's unlikely that anybody alive today lived through this incident. Indeed, I suspect few grandchildren of those involved are even alive today.
They're trying to sell him as perhaps representing the keystone to the Democrats' chance to retake the Senate, which is still a longshot at best. Most of the article is boilerplate, although this anecdote raised an eyebrow:
And Mr. Ford, a five-term congressman from Memphis, rouses his audiences, white and black, with little parables of political possibility: How he was driving back to Memphis one day on the campaign trail, fired up after a meeting at a church, and decided to stop and shake hands at a bar and grill called the Little Rebel. How he looked with some trepidation at the Confederate flag outside and the parking lot filled with pickup trucks, covered with bumper stickers for President Bush and the National Rifle Association.
And how he was greeted, when he walked through the door, by a woman at the bar who gave him a huge hug. "And she said, 'Baby, we've been waiting to see you.'"
Gee, you mean those folks with Confederate flags and Bush bumper stickers might not be a bunch of ignorant racists? Who would have dreamed we'd read this in the Times?
But they step over the line into outright boosterism here:
In the tradition of other Southern Democrats who prospered in conservative times, Mr. Ford presents himself as a pro-growth, centrist, fiscal hawk.
He voted for the resolution authorizing the use of force in Iraq (he has also called for the resignation of Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld), for a constitutional amendment outlawing same-sex marriage and for the Partial Birth Abortion Ban Act. NARAL Pro-Choice America considers him "mixed choice" on abortion; the National Rifle Association gave him a grade of C in the 2004 election. He also backs a constitutional amendment to require a balanced budget.
One of those things is not like the other; one of those things just doesn't belong. In the middle of paragraph detailing Ford's "pro-growth, centrist fiscal hawk" positions, the writer (Robin Toner) throws in the bit about calling for the resignation of Rumsfeld. Why? Because she knows that Ford's vote in favor of the Iraq War is a huge turnoff for the paper's liberal readers. Sensing that she's perhaps gone too far in establishing his centrist credits, she tosses a bone to the partisans who are wondering why they should support somebody who voted for the war.
Here's an article on three German women who wanted to become suicide bombers in Iraq.
SPIEGEL ONLINE has learned that German intelligence agencies have prevented three German women from travelling to Iraq in recent weeks. The women, who have close contacts to the Islamist scene in Germany and at least one whom has converted to Islam, came to the attention of intelligence agencies after one of them had announced on an Internet site that she intended to blow herself and her child up in Iraq.
This is just a symptom of the rot that has infested Euroland. Their culture has become so decadent that radical Islamists find it a fertile breeding ground for their hate. Can they right the ship in time? I tend to doubt it; for one thing their youth are increasingly Muslim; secular Germans are far less likely to breed.
This article certainly makes it sound like he's not running, no matter how much he seems to like Bush-bashing.
At the weekend, Time magazine reported that he was telling key fundraisers they should feel free to sign on with other potential candidates. The magazine quoted unnamed Democratic sources as saying that the former vice-president had also been asking the fundraisers to "tell everybody I'm not running".
Mr Gore would not find it difficult to raise millions of dollars, if he did decide to run. But while public denials might prove a wise campaign strategy - not least by prolonging the period of positive attention Mr Gore is now receiving - actively turning away fundraisers does suggest a firmer resolve not to re-enter electoral politics.
If Gore's not running, that certainly helps Russ Feingold and potentially John Fraude Kerry.
My squad leader is sitting right beside me, and we just compared notes on how many IEDs we've been through. We counted six each. One of them hit my truck, one of them hit his. I can tell you from firsthand experience that after an IED goes off, every soldier's first instinct is to start shooting at everything in sight that's moving. Someone has just tried to kill you, and you can't kill him back. That said, we've never gone on a shooting rampage after an IED. On the other hand, all the roadside bombs we've encountered have only resulted in minor injuries. To play devil's advocate, I can't imagine how it feels to lose a friend and comrade to an unseen enemy. If the Marines in question are found guilty of committing a crime, I will partially understand their emotions even if I abhor their decision.
More IEDs will be placed, more weapons will appear on the streets, and more soldiers are going to die. I'm a major supporter of the First Amendment, but I have a vested interest in this incident being kept low-profile. If it's true, it's an atrocity, and the men responsible from bottom to top should swing from the yardarm. If it turns out to be yet another case of the media attacking the Bush administration, an as-yet unknown number of U.S. servicemen will have been killed as a result of a media circus. If the latter is true, can we hang the reporters for negligent manslaughter?
Mr. Kerry's supporters have also frozen frames from his amateur films of his time in Vietnam and have retrieved letters and military citations for other sailors to support his version of how he won the Silver Star — rebutting the Swift boat group's most explosive charge, that he shot an unarmed teenager who was fleeing his fire.
Frozen frames from his amateur films? But it's well established that those films were recreations after the fact, not film shot in the heat of battle, as reported by the Boston Globe back in 1996. Note that in the linked article, Kerry claims that's a mistake, but he also lies about his intentions:
"It is so innocent," he said by way of introducing his youthful cinematic effort, adding a little defensively, "I have no intention of using it" for campaign purposes.
No doubt The Times got that part wrong, since Kerry did in fact use footage from those home movies in the pre-speech film of his life.
You see, many years ago, Mr. John Kerry was involved in a secret mission on a small fast watercraft northwards on the Connecticut River, which took him and a load of Boy Scouts many miles beyond the Massachusetts border, deep into the muddy mysterious shallows between Vermont and New Hampshire on a hunt for the illusive shad.
To prove his point and to lend further credence to his fabulous tales, he also carries his water stained log book in his brief bag as well, to illustrate his points and to serve as mental reminders to the high points he encountered, such as...
"23 May 61 0403Z Picked up six scouts at Vernon VT landing, running in full dark mode, heading upriver past the So Long Bridge. Gassed up. Cap fits well. Have maps."
For what it's worth, the Chicks' new single bombed on country radio, putting their careers further in question. It's a problem they wouldn't have had if they'd kept silent.
Thankfully, they didn't. There's already too much of that going around.
Yep, they may not make any money. But Leonard Pitts likes their politics.
It was a dark and stormy Christmas Eve on the Mekong. We had left Sa Dec a few hours earlier, and were still exhilarated over the adventure of the drawbridge. As we came out of the town we realized that even with the drawbridge up all the way, we'd have very little clearance. But we decided to gun it rather than wait for low tide and made it through with about an inch to spare. The villagers who had come to watch us smash up applauded politely.
We were in that nebulous area between Cambodia and South Vietnam. The CIA spook was applying lampblack to his face. The hat was lying on the table between us. It was big and floppy and camo and I lusted after it.
The CIA man grunted. He was featureless like all spooks; after 4-5 missions they all started to look the same. But his voice was pure Southern farmboy.
"Y'all want the hat?" Before he could withdraw the offer I snatched it up and put it on my head a jaunty angle. He smiled, but it was a cold smile. "Y'all gotta swap one of yours."
I hesitated. The only hat besides my regulation Navy equipment was my old Red Sox cap, autographed by Eddie Yost himself. I liked to think of it as my lucky cap. But it wasn't camo, and it wasn't the hat of a real CIA man. So I handed over the baseball cap.
This was one of those unofficial missions that I chafed at. "Surely Nixon can't be running the government already," I had complained to Elliot when receiving my orders. "He's not the President yet!"
Commander Elliot had winked. "This has been Nixon's war all along, you know that as well as I do."
Gardner poked his head in the door. "Couple PBJs--err, PBRs coming up, Skippy--err, Skipper." I could see him surpressing a grin and wondered why, then cursed and whipped off the camo hat. Later that night I would have to put it in the secret compartment of my attache case. Otherwise Gardner and the other guys would undoubtedly visit indignities on it, which would probably lead to mildew.
I groaned at the news of the PBRs. The f'ing Navy couldn't do anything right. Elliot had assured me this area would be clear. But as the craft approached us, a mortar whistled overhead. "What was that?" I yelled. The second one hit the water only a few yards away.
The PBRs took off and we darted into Cambodia. Again, but not for the last time.
(Note: This is a post from the Kerry Haters days, suddenly topical again thanks to Le Fraude's decision to reopen the Christmas in Cambodia story yet again.)
Sheesh, have I been waiting on this story! John Kerry today came forward with a ridiculous explanation for Christmas in Cambodia. It's almost as if he's daring people to check the record, which will prove him wrong.
Kitty Myers and I scooped the world a little over two years ago that John Kerry had not only claimed to be in Cambodia during Christmas Eve 1968 but that his biographer, Douglas Brinkley had refused to include the story in his otherwise glowing account of John F. Kerry's life.
We got tremendous recognition out of that moment, and as a result I continued to follow the Christmas in Cambodia story with a passion. And I think it's paid off today.
Kerry's lying, and it's ridiculously obvious:
John Kerry starts by showing the entry in a log he kept from 1969: "Feb 12: 0800 run to Cambodia."
He moves on to the photographs: his boat leaving the base at Ha Tien, Vietnam; the harbor; the mountains fading frame by frame as the boat heads north; the special operations team the boat was ferrying across the border; the men reading maps and setting off flares.
"They gave me a hat," Mr. Kerry says. "I have the hat to this day," he declares, rising to pull it from his briefcase. "I have the hat."
Three decades after the Vietnam War and nearly two years after Mr. Kerry's failed presidential bid, most Americans have probably forgotten why it ever mattered whether he went to Cambodia or that the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth accused him of making it all up, saying he was dishonest and lacked patriotism.
Why is it obvous Kerry is lying? Because there was a very easy way Kerry could have proven all this in 2004. Mike Medeiros, a crewmember on Kerry's second Swift Boat crew (Jan-Mar 1969), is given credit in Douglas Brinkley's hagiography of Le Fraude, as having a complete record of every mission he ever went on. If this was available in 2004, why didn't they use it then?
Update: Confederate Yankee looks at a map and discovers Kerry couldn't get to Cambodia from where he was.
Anton van Haperen, a wetlands expert with the Dutch national forestry service, is blunt. Since 1960, Zeeland has lost two thirds of its wetlands, he said. "Farmland has less value, ecologically." Yet he has no doubt that, without EU laws, politicians would not dare to flood farmers' fields.
The de Feijters will be given compensation, worth £2 million. They talk of buying a new farm and starting again, though they are in their 60s.
They do not rail against the EU, instead blaming "environmental extremists". Arguably, their foes are the shoppers of Holland and Belgium, with their appetite for cheap goods from the Far East.
In order to allow ever bigger container ships into Antwerp harbour, a deeper channel is to be dredged that will speed up erosion of the banks.
It is that loss of habitat that must be compensated for.
Jesse MacBeth's Last Address Before Entering the Service
Just about every other aspect of the Jesse MacBeth story appears to have been laid to rest, but I noticed an oddity in the DD-214 McQ over at Q & O came up with that I thought I'd comment on. Click on the first "Show Excerpt" button.
The part that caught my eye was his "Home of Record At Time of Enlistment". The address is 1244 E. McDowell, Phoenix Arizona. I live in Phoenix, and the area around 12th Street & McDowell is very commercial, with a focus on medical facilities. Good Samaritan Hospital is at 11th Street & McDowell.
So I Googled the address and quickly found out that he staying at a place called Home Base Youth Services.
Program: Shelter, childcare center, free laundry, 3 meals a day, can stay up to 2 yrs. Transitional living program for youth age 18-21,learning center Fees: Free Age: 18-21 Areas Served: Phoenix, Tempe Eligibility: Homeless or runaway, by referrals only.
He was certainly eligible under those guidelines. I point this out not to pile on, but to add an additional detail. I can't feel angry at poor Jesse; he's a troubled young man being used by people who don't care for him except as a weapon they can point at the US military.
Sheesh, looking at these photos, it looks like grunge never lost its cachet in the Pacific Northwest. Either that or the Not In Our Name crowd is recruiting homeless bums to pad their numbers.
The only problem with this set of photos is that the cops probably had to be deloused after dealing with these wackos.
Of the 11 people considering a presidential bid in 2008, Dodd has one great advantage: He doesn't have to position -- or reposition himself -- each morning.
While many in his party are straining to color themselves red, wishing to be reborn in a border state, Dodd's a traditional Democrat from way north of the Mason-Dixon line and happy about it. ``I'm a Sam Rayburn Democrat -- without prefix, suffix, or apology,'' Dodd said, recalling that former Senator Dale Bumpers forgave him for being a ``a northerner because he had a southern sense of humor.''
In the end, geography is insignificant, Dodd says, if you can ``connect with people, convince them you can do something about their problems because the job you've done prepares you for the one you're seeking.''
Like JFK, Bill
Affable and Irish, Dodd comes closest of anyone in the field to the raw political talent of a JFK or Bill Clinton. Dodd, who turns 62 tomorrow, looks like a white-haired lion out of ``Advise and Consent,'' not a Ken doll of a hundred focus groups.
The reason a lot of Democrats wish they were Southerners, is because no Northern Democrat has won the White House since JFK. You can blab about connecting with people all you want; only Southern Democrats have pulled it off.
Even if she doesn't, my bet is on Dodd to claim the un- Hillary spot. His entry puts the most spontaneous of politicians next to the least, and Dodd is one of the few who can still belt out an optimistic and energizing stump speech. He has the greatest advantage you can have in politics: He's a natural who doesn't need handlers to position him. He would never try to appeal to conservatives by introducing a bill that would make flag-burning illegal, as Senator Clinton has done.
Actually, Russ Feingold or Al Gore strikes me as most likely to take the un-Hillary slot, and Dodd seems quite likely to be gone before Iowa.
In an interview with GQ magazine, the reporter asked him: "Would the assassination of, say, Tony Blair by a suicide bomber - if there were no other casualties - be justified as revenge for the war on Iraq?"
Mr Galloway replied: "Yes, it would be morally justified. I am not calling for it - but if it happened it would be of a wholly different moral order to the events of 7/7. It would be entirely logical and explicable. And morally equivalent to ordering the deaths of thousands of innocent people in Iraq - as Blair did."
Let's remember that this is a guy who only months ago appeared on a celebrity reality show:
Let's remember that this is also the guy who reportedly got a bundle from the Oil for Food program.
Mr Galloway yesterday made a surprise appearance on Cuban television with the Caribbean island's Communist dictator, Fidel Castro - whom he defended as a "lion" in a political world populated by "monkeys".
Mr Galloway shocked panellists on a live television discussion show in Havana by emerging on set mid-transmission to offer passionate support for Castro. Looking approvingly into each others' eyes, the pair embraced.
George Galloway, supporter of dictators everywhere, and democratically-elected representatives nowhere.
Tree-sitting protesters, including some celebrities, vowed to peacefully resist eviction from a 14-acre (5 1/2-hectare) urban garden on which the landowner wants to build a warehouse.
The inner-city site is "a place of safety and respite from the harshness of the concrete jungle ... we just have to save it," actress Darryl Hannah said Thursday from the branches of an old walnut tree where she perched for the day despite her vertigo.
Vertigo? Quick somebody shake the tree a bit!
The land originally was owned by developer Ralph Horowitz but the city seized it in the 1980s, forcing him to sell it in order to build a trash-to-energy incinerator. When the project fizzled, the land was turned over to a food bank and people began gardening there after the 1992 Los Angeles riot.
Horowitz sued to get the site back and the city settled in 2003 by selling it to him for $5 million, leading to court battles. Eventually, he agreed to sell 10 of the 14 acres to The Trust for Public Land for $16.35 million but the group fell $10 million short and the option expired Monday.
Talking with reporters at City Hall, the mayor called on Horowitz to slash the selling price.
He should "sell this property for what he bought it for," Villaraigosa said, noting that supporters of the garden had picketed his home.
Of course he should. And Daryl Hannah should sell tickets to her new movie for what they cost her.
Kitty located this video of Rick Monday's dash to save the flag. I've blogged about this event several times in the past, nice to see some live footage. It also has Monday today, which sounds a bit like an Abbot & Costello routine.
Rick is also the answer to a baseball trivia question. Who was the very first player drafted in the very first baseball draft?
As a motion picture, An Inconvenient Truth has a lot to say, but contains little imaginative cinematography that might have made global warming engaging at the suburban cineplex. The picture the movie paints is always worst-case scenario. Considering the multiple times Gore has given his greenhouse slide show (he says "thousands"), it's jarring that the movie was not scrubbed for factual precision. For instance, this 2005 joint statement by the science academies of the Western nations, including the National Academy of Sciences, warns of sea-level rise of four to 35 inches in the 21st century; this amount of possible sea-level rise is current consensus science.
Yet An Inconvenient Truth asserts that a sea-level rise of 20 feet is a realistic short-term prospect. Gore says the entire Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets could melt rapidly; the film then jumps to animation of Manhattan flooded. Well, all that ice might melt really fast, and a UFO might land in London, too. The most recent major study of ice in the geologic past found that about 130,000 years ago the seas were "several meters above modern levels" and that polar temperatures sufficient to cause a several-meter sea-level rise may eventually result from artificial global warming. The latest major study of austral land ice detected a thawing rate that would add two to three inches to sea level during this century. Such findings are among the arguments that something serious is going on with Earth's climate. But the science-consensus forecast about sea-level rise is plenty bad enough. Why does An Inconvenient Truth use disaster-movie speculation?
The answer of course is that the lie serves a "higher" truth. Remember that anti-drug ad that was out about 20 years ago, purporting to compare the brainwaves of a normal 16-year-old (bouncing around like a ball), and a 16-year-old on pot (flatlined)? The group that produced the ad didn't care that it was completely bogus; they just hoped it was effective.
I don't buy that logic myself. A lie never serves the truth; in fact, when it is discovered, it may discredit the truth. This is something that I've been blogging on heavily over at Screw Loose Change. Many in the purported 9-11 "Truth" movement have been willing to overlook the obvious lies and errors in Loose Change, in the hopes that this slick, MTV-inspired movie will draw more converts to their beliefs.
Our buddy Gaius has a picture of Gore with some other stuffed shirts.
For one—to paraphrase a slogan once applied to Barry Goldwater—in his heart, Gore knows he’s right. He’s been ahead of more curves than a NASCAR driver: the concerns about global warming, the implications of the rise of the internet, the need to be wary of deadly friction along the faultline between Islam and the West, his early and deep opposition to the launching a war in Iraq. It’s an impressive record.
“The reason people don’t like Gore is that he has been right so damn many times,” James Carville told me with an appreciate laugh.
Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean said Wednesday that there is no comparison between the ethical problems faced by U.S. Rep. William Jefferson (D- La.) and what he termed the Republican "culture of corruption" in the nation's capital. A GOP spokesman dismissed Dean's criticism as "trying to sell a fundamentally flawed campaign slogan."
"There's a difference between the involvement of Congressman Jefferson in activities for which there's been no indictment and the culture of corruption that extends throughout the White House, the vice president's office and both houses of Congress," Dean said during a press conference at the DNC headquarters in Washington, D.C.
Yeah, and the difference is that there will be an indictment in the Jefferson case.
Maher said he first approached Bantis about three years ago during a Memorial Day event in Peoria.
"I told him, 'You do realize you're wearing your awards incorrectly?' He just turned and walked away," Maher said Monday. "I never could find out if he was telling the truth or not."
And the classic alibi:
Bantis claims his military records are sealed because of his work with naval intelligence.
Shed a tear for Brian Haw (above), the nutty protester in England who's been waging a five-year battle against the war:
Police moved in overnight to remove the majority of anti-war placards from Parliament Square - although its lone protester, Brian Haw, has not been evicted.
Although Mr Haw - who began his Iraq peace vigil in 2001 - has been allowed to stay, all but three metres of his posters facing parliament have been removed.
"What gives them the legal right to remove 40 metres of evidence of genocide and reduce it to just three metres?"
The legal size of the protest - three metres - was imposed by the Serious Organised Crime and Police Act (SOCPA) 2005.
Mr Haw now suggested he may go on hunger strike in protest at the move. He said: "It seems I am going to die in this place now because I'm going to be fasting and praying - I have to accept the possibility.
Basically there are two templates Glenn uses for his posts:
1. Republican bloggers are blindly loyal to Bush.
2. Democratic politicians won't go along with the liberal blogosphere.
Obviously today's post is #2:
Yet again, Senate Democrats show that they have no more concern for the rule of law and for the excesses of this administration than Senate Republicans do. Due to their really pitiful passivity, they are every bit as much to blame for the excesses and abuses of the administration as the compliant Republicans are.
A more careful man might conclude that perhaps the Democrats have a better idea of what works and doesn't work in the political arena. But then, the anti-Bush blogosphere has never believed in that principle yet, why should they start now?
Anti-war zealots initially defended the bogus soldier's tale, but are now moving quickly to cover up the MacBeth stain. The video was yanked Tuesday afternoon. But not to worry.
I hear former CBS producer Mary Mapes, champion of "fake but accurate" journalism, is interested in publicizing Jessie MacBeth's tall tales.
Longtime friend of this blog John Hawkins has a column in Human Events Online that everybody should read.
Since that’s the case, it’s not hard to see why so many conservatives have become dispirited and angry about the performance of our elected representatives. However, if there’s one thing I’ve learned about politics, it’s that the solution to the GOP’s problems is never, “more Democrats.”
That doesn’t mean that we conservatives should engage in a bunch of fake “rah-rah” or refuse to criticize Republicans if they deserve it, but it does mean that when November rolls around, conservatives should show up at the ballot box and pull the lever for the GOP.
Making the opposite case is another longtime friend of the blog, Teflon at Molten Thought.
Hugh Hewitt's fond of saying "when everybody tells you you're drunk, it's time to sit down."
What message is the conservative punditocracy sending the President and the GOP establishment regarding immigration if not, "You're drunk. Sit down"?
My own thoughts? Those that think they're going to send a message to the Republicans by sitting on their hands had better think hard about what message they might be sending to the Democrats as well.
And the message is not always received on our side. Losing in 1992 didn't force the Republicans to nominate a tax-cutter; instead they nominated Bob Dole, who ran ads against the flat tax.
MYTH: If I treat a woman well and listen to what she says, she'll stop complaining
TRUTH: Women never stop complaining. For them, it's a sport. Some complain more than others, but none of them will ever stop, any more than one day men will stop discussing football. Men have built civilizations, created law, invented husbandry (that's keeping domestic animals by the way, not marriage; women invented marriage), built skyscrapers, invented cars, washing machines, antibiotics, toilets, computers, and microwave ovens, and generally dragged us out of caves and into condos. Don't kid yourself: men did it all. If it were up to women we'd still be living in caves and dying at 20. I know that men did it all because I know why they did it: they hoped that it would stop women complaining. It didn't.
Greg Gutfeld has a hilarious post on the speech Jean should have given:
I felt bad for McCain. But not really. I mean, he didn't even bring up Darfur which I am bringing up now - because a friend of mine said it would be cool if I did. So, like, what's going on in Darfur sucks. Or maybe wearing Darfur sucks. Anyway it wasn't McCain fault that he got invited into a pit of very well-educated vipers, and it really wasn't my fault that I did what I had to do in the situation. We are all prisoners of fate! Which is like being a prisoner of war. Yet we both survived it!
Meanwhile, our buddy Pat Hynes has a good piece in the AmSpec on the Agents of Intolerance on the Left.
Therein lies exhibit, oh I don't know, 4,972 of the bizarre upside-down-ness of our national politics. George W. Bush and the Republicans are said by their detractors to be dividers, not uniters. And yet it is the fringe left (also known as mainstream Democrats) who can't stop fighting with everyone.
Olga Rutterschmidt, 73, and Helen Golay, 75, took out 19 life insurance policies on the two victims and tried to take out more, according to an affidavit filed in federal court. They offered to help the men get off the streets in exchange for the men signing a life insurance policy. Then the women had rubber stamps made from the signatures and used the stamps to acquire more insurance, court records show.
Police believe the women kept up the rent on the men's apartments for two years after their policies were signed and then ran them down to collect the money. California law allows an insurance company to contest a new policy for two years, Vernon said.
"Senator, I served with Jack Kennedy. I knew Jack Kennedy. Jack Kennedy was a friend of mine. Senator, you're no Jack Kennedy."
But, sadly as it turns out, the press once again didn't do their job, didn't check the facts. A recent story on NewsMax.com – 15 years later – revealed that Bentsen wasn't a friend of JFK. In fact, JFK didn't even know Bentsen, had never met him.
The Online report said NBC anchor Tom Brokaw remembers getting a call two weeks after the Bentsen/Quayle debate from longtime JFK aide Dave Powers, who was in charge of the Kennedy Library in Boston. Brokaw says Powers told him in 1988: "We've gone through everything we have on this. And there's no evidence whatsoever that Jack Kennedy ever knew Lloyd Bentsen."
I doubt that Kennedy had never met Bentsen; after all they did serve in the House together for two years before Kennedy moved up to the Senate.
Although the album hits stores Tuesday, the first two singles from the album are not getting widespread airplay, Billboard.com reported Monday.
The first single, "Not Ready to Make Nice," only peaked at No. 36 on the Billboard Hot Country Songs chart and the second single, "Everybody Knows," is moving downward after its peak at No. 48.
Sounds like country fans are not ready to make nice either.
Never let it be said that virtual anonymity would stop somebody from running for president.
Sen. Christopher J. Dodd said today he has "decided to do all the things that are necessary to prepare to seek the presidency in 2008."
Of course, I have heard of Dodd. I just haven't heard anybody saying, "Why doesn't this guy run for president?"
But a Dodd White House run would faces numerous hurdles. He lacks the name recognition of candidates such as 2004 ticket-mates John Kerry and John Edwards, former Virginia Gov. Mark Warner, Delaware Sen. Joseph R. Biden Jr., and others. And the $2 million Dodd has on hand for a race is dwarfed by New York Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton's estimated $20 million and Kerry's estimated $17 million.
This may be a trial run, with the idea of getting his name out there, so that he can make the real push in 2012 (or 2016 if a Democrat wins in 2008).
Brainster's rule about military imposters: They all claim to have been in elite units. You meet a guy who claims to have been a Green Beret or a SEAL, odds are high he's BSing. You meet a guy who claims to have been a radioman or in a supply unit, odds are high he's telling the truth.
Here's a video of the nut claiming that he committed lots of war crimes:
After sending the Google Help Desk a query concerning the matter, Salvato was informed that there had been complaints of “hate speech” at his website, and as a result, The New Media Journal would no longer be part of Google News. As evidence of his offense, the Google Team supplied Salvato with links to three recent op-eds published by his contributing writers, all coincidentally about radical Islam and its relation to terrorism.
Unfortunately, this was not the first conservative e-zine to be terminated in such a fashion. On March 29, Rusty Shackleford, owner of The Jawa Report, received a similar e-mail message as Salvato informing him that:
“Upon recent review, we’ve found that your site contains hate speech, and we will no longer be including it in Google News.”
For those unfamiliar, The Jawa Report focuses a great deal of attention on terrorist issues and how they relate to radical Islam.
We covered this wet behind the ears grad of the New School, who used her graduation speech to deliver a diatribe against John McCain. Here's her discussion of the event over at the HuffPo.
The rest is a blur. I didn't have a high school graduation, so I was kind of looking forward to the whole ceremony of it, but all I remember is suddenly being in a robe, walking down the aisle of the MSG Theater to the cheers of my friends (who, incidentally, had no idea what to expect) and then I was on stage staring out at thousands of people and trying not to vomit. Eventually I spoke, and everyone loved it. And McCain spoke and we all had a bit of déjà vu. Then some other people spoke and I tried to pay attention but I couldn't stop gawking at the protesters in the audience. And just before the end of the ceremony Bob Kerrey asked if I wanted to walk out with McCain. I said that would be OK. Kerrey led me over to him as the recessional music began, and I took McCain's arm. "I'm sorry, man," I told him, "I just had to do it." He mumbled something about it being alright, but I think he probably would've rather not had me there. It really wasn't his fault that he got invited into a pit of very well-educated vipers, and it really wasn't my fault that I did what I had to do in the situation. Had he been speaking at something other than our graduation, or had he spoken about almost anything other than his life and his position on the Iraq War and Darfur it might have been OK. But what did he expect? Campaigning for the Republican presidential nomination at the New School is like trying to catch fish in a swimming pool. It was just totally out of place. Many thanks go to the people in the audience who managed to capture with a few yelled and widely-quoted phrases, just exactly what was going on there.
Reading through the entire post, it's not hard to see that she did it to be popular. She realized that this was her moment to get catapulted into the big time, to get mentioned in a Maureen Dowd column.
The ultraliberal kids at the New School, the pacifist Greenwich Village university, think of themselves as free-thinking rabble-rousers in a world where many college kids, complacently cocooned under iPods, don't even like to debate, much less protest.
When a rigid-faced Mr. Kerrey chided the audience for being rude, a young woman yelled out, "You're a war criminal!" And a guy chimed in, "Yes, you are!"
It was a remarkable tableau to see the two iconoclastic vets, their bodies beneath the black gowns still bearing broken pieces from Vietnam, being pilloried by kids angry about another endless war, faceless enemy and feckless defense secretary.
The students here are all twits. And John McCain's Chief of Staff rightly chided them in a comment on Rohe's post:
Let me tell you a little bit about the Senator, the man you dismiss so derisively. Once upon time, even among the young, the words courage and hero were used more sparingly, more precisely. It took no courage to do what you did, Ms. Rohe. It was an act of vanity and nothing more. And please don't worry about the Senator's discomfort with you. He has managed to endure much worse. McCain was once offered release from imprisonment and torture because of his father's position as a senior military officer. He declined because he would not leave his comrades behind, and thus, willingly, accepted four more years of hardships life will spare almost all of us from. In his political career he has shown the same character he showed as a Navy officer all those years ago. He has, over and over again, risked personal ambitions for what he believes, rightly or wrongly, are in the best interests of the country. What, pray tell, have you risked? The only person you have succeeded in making look like an idiot is yourself.
The claim that President Bush's top political strategist had been indicted in the CIA leak investigation was written by a journalist who has battled drug addiction and mental illness and been convicted of grand larceny. That didn't stop more than 35 reporters -- from all the major newspapers, networks and newsmagazines -- from calling Luskin or Rove's spokesman, Mark Corallo, to check it out.
The reports appeared on the liberal Web site Truthout.org, run by Marc Ash, a former advertising man and fashion photographer in California. Jason Leopold, the author of the stories, directed inquiries to Ash, who says that "we stand by the story. We have multiple points of independent confirmation of what we originally reported. Our problem is, the prosecutor's office is under no obligation to go public."
Holes, first rule of. Notice as well that there's no discussion of Leopold revealing his sources, although he claimed at the time that he'd reveal them if the story didn't pan out.
Or just statistical variability? Here's an interesting article on icebergs, which discusses whether global warming could be to "blame" for the absence of them this year:
"There is no doubt in my mind that major climate change is happening," says Murphy who has been a professional oceanographer for 22 years. "Studies in Greenland show that the glaciers are moving twice as fast as before. That means a lot of production of ice. My expectation has always been if the Greenland glaciers started moving faster there would be increased production [of icebergs] for decades and there should be an increase in the number of icebergs into the shipping lanes. That was my model. But the last couple of years that hasn't happened, and I'm having a hard time understanding what is going on except that there are complicating factors having to do with increased storms. Maybe the destruction processes dominate over the production processes."
BTW, when he talks about the glaciers "moving twice as fast", he means growing. Hence the "climate change" rather than "global warming. It certainly highlights the problems with climate models:
In 2005, according to the US National Snow and Ice Data Centre, sea-ice cover was at its lowest extent since satellite monitoring began in 1979, and this year the IIP have noticed "very little although not an absolute minimum" level of sea-ice conditions. Yet a computer model linking sea-ice levels to the number of icebergs making it into the shipping lanes has performed "horribly" according to Murphy.
And this certainly suggests that there is another cause:
Yet, Murphy points out, that does not explain the huge discrepancy in the number of icebergs recorded in years before climate change was an issue: eg, 15 icebergs in 1952; 1,500 in 1972. After thoroughly studying and analysing data from as far back as 1900, Murphy can find no significant or consistent pattern in the number of icebergs making it into the shipping lanes.
"It's a very complicated system and there are a lot of moving parts," he says, but he claims some people are eager to ascribe meaning to the figures.
"Back in the mid-1990s, when we had thousands of icebergs, I got a call from Japanese TV who wanted to do a story on us because they believed the large number of icebergs was indicative of global warming," he says. "Then, in 1999, we had only 22 icebergs and I got a call from a European TV company who wanted to do a story because they were certain that the fact that there were only 22 bergs in the shipping lanes was a clear indication of global warming."
James of the Chief Brief and I were interviewed regarding the Screw Loose Change blog we've created by "Tom Paine" of the Anglospheric group blog Silent Running. The interview is included on this week's edition of the Shire Network News, which features bloggers from the UK, Australia, Canada and the United States, including Damian Penny (who suggested that Tom interview us). I recommend strongly that you listen to the entire podcast--it's terrific, with a biting wit and smart commentary--but if you're in a rush be sure to check out Tom's thoughts on Ned Lamont's new commercial featuring Kos starting at about 13:58 (falling out of your chair funny). Our segment begins at 23:40.
I know I speak for James when I say that the interview was almost as entertaining to give as it is to listen to. "Tom" is a fascinating individual and after the interview as over we had a wide-ranging conversation for over a half hour (fortunately on his dime). Thanks, Tom, and thanks Damian! Tom tells us he has 3,000 weekly listeners; make that 3,002 and counting.
The time has now come, however, to issue a partial apology to our readership for this story. While we paid very careful attention to the sourcing on this story, we erred in getting too far out in front of the news-cycle. In moving as quickly as we did, we caused more confusion than clarity. And that was a disservice to our readership and we regret it.
As such, we will be taking the wait-and-see approach for the time being. We will keep you posted.
Well, of course, if Rove is indicted in July they will claim they were right all along; just right too early.
Senator John McCain of Arizona received a cantankerous reception during his appearance at the New School commencement Friday, where dozens of faculty members and students turned their backs and raised signs in protest and a distinguished student speaker pointedly mocked him as he sat silently nearby.
The historically liberal university has been roiled in controversy in recent weeks over the selection of McCain, a conservative Republican and likely 2008 presidential candidate, to deliver the commencement address.
Some 1,200 students and faculty signed petitions asking the university president, former Nebraska Sen. Bob Kerrey, to rescind the invitation. Petitioners said McCain's support for the Iraq war and opposition to gay rights and legal abortion do not keep with the prevailing views on campus.
A few more stories like this and McCain may start sewing up his rift with the religious right. And get the dripping sympathy for a twit student:
But Kerrey's remarks were immediately overshadowed by those of Jean Sara Rohe, one of two distinguished seniors invited by the university's deans to address the graduates.
Beginning by singing a wistful folk tune calling for world peace, Rohe announced she had thrown out her prepared remarks to address the McCain controversy directly.
"The senator does not reflect the ideals upon which this university was founded," Rohe proclaimed to loud cheers, with McCain sitting just a few feet away.
She added that she knew what McCain would be saying to the graduates since he had promised to deliver the same speech he gave at Rev. Jerry Falwell's Liberty University last weekend and Columbia University on Tuesday.
"He will tell us we are young and too naive to have valid opinions," Rohe said. "I am young and though I don't possess the wisdom that time affords us, I do know that pre-emptive war is dangerous. And I know that despite all the havoc that my country has wrought overseas in my name, Osama bin Laden still has not been found, nor have those weapons of mass destruction."
No, Jean Sara, you're not too young to have opinions. You're just too young to have opinions that will impress many adults beyond sympathetic New York Times reporters.
"I'd like to thank the members of the Academy, my co-producers, and especially our new President, Nancy Pelosi...."
(Voice in background): "Dylan! Dylan!"
"Vice President Conyers, for convening the impeachment proceedings the day after the new Congress was seated..."
(Voice in background): "Dylan!"
"Huh? Who?"
"It's me, Condoleeza Rice!"
"Dr Rice! What are you doing here?"
"I'm here to warn you--Don't get on that plane tomorrow!"
"But I've got to! My film's been nominated for Best Picture. I'm going to walk the Red Carpet with my new girlfriend, Lindsay Lohan!"
"Well, don't say I didn't warn you!"
(Later)
"May I see your boarding pass and driver's license, sir?"
"But--but you're Marvin Bush!"
"Yeah, I'm in charge of security here at Dulles International Airport. Don't you remember? You mentioned me in your film. Now, may I see your boarding pass and driver's license?"
(Later, on the plane)
"Is this seat taken?"
"Mohammed Atta! You're still alive?"
"Of course I'm still alive. Don't you remember, you even said in your film that my father got a phone call from me on September 12th? I've got somebody I'd like you to meet."
"Hello Dylan."
"Hani Hanjour!"
"I wasn't too happy about what you had to say regarding my flying skills in your movie. But that's okay, you're going to find out just how wrong you are."
"Ohmigod! I gotta call the FBI!"
"Aw, crap, I forgot, cellphones don't work in airplanes."
"If you'll excuse us, we've got some work to do up in the cockpit."
Our buddy over at Blue Crab Boulevard has a letter from his son in Iraq that is incredibly moving.
I've never tried to curl up in my helmet during a concentrated artillery barrage. I've never rushed a machine gun nest. I've never seen hordes of my enemies advancing relentlessly across an open plain. I've never held the limp body of a friend in my arms and wondered how I still lived while he lay dead. To me, the men (and more recently, women) who have endured these hardships of war are the ones who have truly seen the Elephant.
I have expelled rounds in the direction of my enemies. I have been fired upon. I have cowered in fear before, and embarrassingly, slept through mortar attacks. I have been on three separate convoys that were attacked with improvised explosive devices (the infamous IED of the Iraq War), one of which exploded directly in front of my truck. I have stood over the broken bodies of Islamic contractors, victims of attacks and accidents, waiting for MEDEVAC helicopters and knowing there was literally nothing I could do to stop those men from dying. I have a combat action badge, and I wear the "Screaming Eagle," the famed patch of the 101st Airborne Division, on my right shoulder, denoting that I've been deployed to a combat zone under the aforementioned command.
Terrific post. You did a great job raising him, Gaius!
Human rights groups are raising alarms over a new law passed by the Iranian parliament that would require the country's Jews and Christians to wear coloured badges to identify them and other religious minorities as non-Muslims.
Without a national race to focus on, thousands of activists from other states — encouraged by a host of liberal bloggers — have contributed money and volunteered to help the campaign of Ned Lamont, a cable television executive with little political experience who is trying to unseat Mr. Lieberman in the state's Democratic primary in August.
"It's absolute Democratic cannibalism," said John F. Droney, a former Democratic state chairman in Connecticut.
I don't think Lamont stands a snowball's chance. Despite the enthusiastic backing of the netkooks, Lieberman's got over ten times as much money in his campaign account. Lamont has to overcome the association with Kos, who has now supported something like 19 consecutive losing candidates. And even if Lamont were to win the primary, polls have shown that Lieberman could run as an independent and crush the opposition.
But this race is guaranteed to provide lots of entertainment during the summer.
That's the only conclusion I can draw from this story:
Rudolph Giuliani, the former New York mayor considered a potential 2008 candidate for president, headlined a fundraiser Thursday for former Christian Coalition leader Ralph Reed in his run for Georgia lieutenant governor.
The two politicians were effusive in their praise for one another as they entered the Atlanta fundraiser just before noon.
"I just want to say I believe Rudy Giuliani is one of the finest leaders in not only the Republican Party but in either party," Reed said.
Giuliani responded: "We're here to get you elected. It would be a great thing for Georgia."
The Republican field for 2008 is looking stronger every day.
One of the corniest of the cornball ads has been released by the Ned Lamont campaign. Lamont starts out giving a standard campaign commercial, but in midstream "Screw 'Em" Kos and a couple other liberals break into his house to announce their support for his campaign.
Well, Allahpundit enjoyed it so much that he set it to the tune of the old Mentos ads (dooo dooo dooo dooo dooo dooo dooowahhh!). Funny stuff indeed!
John Conyers expresses surprise that anybody would think he'd hold impeachment hearings without first holding evidentiary hearings:
But none of these allegations can be proved or disproved until the administration answers questions. For example, to know whether intelligence was mistaken or manipulated in the run-up to the Iraq war, we need to know what information was made available to -- and actually read by -- decision makers and how views contradicting the case for war were treated.
The committee's job would be to obtain answers -- finally. At the end of the process, if -- and only if -- the select committee, acting on a bipartisan basis, finds evidence of potentially impeachable offenses, it would forward that information to the Judiciary Committee. This threshold of bipartisanship is appropriate, I believe, when dealing with an issue of this magnitude.
Just enough reassurance for the moderates and just enough red meat for the partisans.
Bombtruck, the new member of the Ankle-Biters, notes that Conyers isn't fooling anybody who's been paying attention. He also points to this artice from last summer:
Rep. John Conyers Jr. (D-Mich.) banged a large wooden gavel and got the other lawmakers to call him "Mr. Chairman." He liked that so much that he started calling himself "the chairman" and spouted other chairmanly phrases, such as "unanimous consent" and "without objection so ordered." The dress-up game looked realistic enough on C-SPAN, so two dozen more Democrats came downstairs to play along.
The session was a mock impeachment inquiry over the Iraq war. As luck would have it, all four of the witnesses agreed that President Bush lied to the nation and was guilty of high crimes -- and that a British memo on "fixed" intelligence that surfaced last month was the smoking gun equivalent to the Watergate tapes. Conyers was having so much fun that he ignored aides' entreaties to end the session.
What he really means here is that they won't start the impeachment hearings the moment they get into power. Instead, they'll do some partisan investigations first -- and then trump up whatever charges they think have the best chance of succeeding.
Blue Crab Boulevard's title points out how you can tell Conyers is lying.
But the details of what happened that morning in Haditha are more disturbing, disputed and horrific than the military initially reported. According to eyewitnesses and local officials interviewed over the past 10 weeks, the civilians who died in Haditha on Nov. 19 were killed not by a roadside bomb but by the Marines themselves, who went on a rampage in the village after the attack, killing 15 unarmed Iraqis in their homes, including seven women and three children. Human-rights activists say that if the accusations are true, the incident ranks as the worst case of deliberate killing of Iraqi civilians by U.S. service members since the war began.
I'm always a little suspicious of stories that involve US military killing women and children because it seems to play to the moonbat image of our soldiers as bloodthirsty beasts. It's more than a little reminiscent of this:
They told the stories at times they had personally raped, cut off ears, cut off heads, taped wires from portable telephones to human genitals and turned up the power, cut off limbs, blown up bodies, randomly shot at civilians, razed villages in fashion reminiscent of Genghis Khan, shot cattle and dogs for fun, poisoned food stocks, and generally ravaged the countryside of South Vietnam in addition to the normal ravage of war, and the normal and very particular ravaging which is done by the applied bombing power of this country.
I don't know the story of what happened that day. There are certainly indications in the MSNBC story that the accusations may be true. I'm not sure of the probative value of this:
A videotape taken by an Iraqi showed the aftermath of the alleged attack: a blood-smeared bedroom floor and bits of what appear to be human flesh and bullet holes on the walls.
The video, obtained by Time magazine, was broadcast a day after town residents told The Associated Press that American troops entered homes on Nov. 19 and shot dead 15 members of two families, including a 3-year-old girl, after a roadside bomb killed a U.S. Marine.
Let's hope the story isn't true. But even if it is, it's one instance; anybody trying to find a pattern here is going to need to come up with a lot of similar cases.
All the recent scare-mongering about the coming ruination of the Internet is cloaked in rhetoric about how recent court rulings and regulatory actions by the FCC have undermined certain "protections." This is mostly bluster. Companies like AOL did not migrate from a "walled garden" to a more-open, Internet-centric model because of mandates from Washington but because the alternative was extinction.
Given the impulse on the left to regulate anything that moves, perhaps the real surprise here is that it's taken this long for someone to seriously suggest the Net will wither in the absence of a federal regulatory apparatus. "Don't ruin the Internet" is a slogan with a lot of merit. But it comes with a modern corollary, which is "Don't regulate what isn't broken."
In the first part of the show, teams must travel to an elephant park that opens at 4:00 AM (?). Of course, this acts as a bunching maneuver, as all teams arrive before the opening. They receive T-Mobile Sidekicks with the next clue. Fly to Tokyo!
The Hippies are elated because Tyler speaks Japanese and so they feel confident they can get an advantage. But almost immediately that hope is dashed as they fail to get the first flight, and so must make up almost an hour and a half.
The next task is to go to the Times Square of Tokyo, where they must look for the next clue on one of the video boards. Find Hachiko, a statue of a dog. This does not appear to pose much of a challenge, but by this time the Hippies have passed Ray & Yolanda.
Detour: Maiden or Messenger. In Maiden, teams must carry a woman in a sedan chair to a tea ceremony. In Messenger, they must deliver packages to two office buildings. The Hippies take advantage of their familiarity with the language to choose Messenger, while the other two teams carry the Maiden. It seems to work out well for all concerned, but Ray and Yolanda have clearly fallen behind the other two teams.
Next task is to find the Capsule Land Hotel, a place where you can stretch out in the comfort of a capsule instead of an actual hotel room. Teams are given staggered departure times. The Frat Boys check in first, Hippies next, Ray and Yolanda last.
The next morning they must find their way to Fujiko Highland, an amusement park. There, they have to ride three rides while looking for a man holding a clue. As usual with these segments, the challenge is not that great and everybody sees the clueman the first time through.
The next stop is the Pitstop at Lake Yamanaka. Teams must paddle swan boats out to a a larger boat in the middle of the lake. The Hippies arrive with a slight advantage over the Frat Boys, and manage to maintain that. They win T-Mobile Sidekicks and three years' service. The Frat Boys arrive next, followed by Ray & Yolanda. But... non-elimination leg. They lose their money and possessions.
The finale follows. Teams must fly to Anchorage, Alaska. The Hippies help Ray & Yolanda with some money, but they also beg. Apparently the Japanese think Yolanda looks like Janet Jackson, so they are generous.
Lots of drama about the plane connections, but in the end everybody gets into Anchorage at the same time. The Hippies do manage to convince a hotel clerk to pretend there's no internet access, but it's all in vain as the Frat Boys get their plane by telephone.
So all teams are even as we return to the US. They dash out to SUVs which conveniently include parkas, so there's no real disadvantage to BJ & Tyler and Ray & Yolanda.
Detour: Drill or Deliver. As it works out Deliver is ruled out by weather, so all teams must drill 10 holes through the ice, then move icehouses out to reveal at least two of the holes. The Hippies and Frat Boys start this one neck and neck, but Ray and Yolanda are behind again.
The Frat Boys take the lead here. Next stop is Kincaid Park, where teams are required to find a cluebox on a snowshoe trail. The Frat Boys get out on the course fairly quickly, while the Hippies apparently hose themselves by walking right past the snowshoes twice. Ray and Yolanda continue to slip further behind.
Now teams must fly to Denver, to a cluebox in Boulder, and then return to the Red Rocks amphitheater for the final challenge. They must find the flags of all the countries they visited, then place them in the order they were visited. Although the Frat Boys come close, the Hippies eventually work the puzzle out and dash to the mat, $1 million richer.
Comments: Great and entertaining season. The Hippies are two of the best characters the show has had at least in the three seasons I've been watching. They dominated the competition except, ironically, in two of the three non-elimination rounds. They played fair except for with the Frat Boys, which nobody can blame them. I was pleased to see Monica give a little pout at seeing them win the race. I was very glad not to see the Frat Boys win; they were grating.
Ray's got something going on with his eyes. Not sure if it's a walleye or a lazy eye or a glass eye, but it was noticeable tonight.
Well, not really. Chris Bowers of MyDD got himself elected to the Pennsylvania Democratic State Committee.
As Dean Barnett points out, he does not handle it with grace and humility:
It is over. We won. I feel like crying. I honestly cannot believe this happened. I accepted Kevin's offer to run less than eight days ago. I will now serve on the Pennsylvania Democratic State Committee. The city, the state, and the nation will change as a result. I promise everyone that.
What, no pledges of changing the world, the universe and everything?
Of course, it wasn't easy; Bowers had to contend with the evil boxes designed by Diebold to prevent netroots candidates from winning:
At around 8:30 am today, I was ready to declare massive voter fraud in my campaign, because both of the machines in my district were not allowing write-in votes. Worried that darker forces had tried to keep Kevin and I from taking office by screwing with our machines, I spent much of the morning on the phone with the board of elections and with committee people in other divisions (precincts) in our ward. Eventually, it became apparent to me that the voting machine problems I was experiencing were not he result of foul play, but instead the result of an apathetic and incompetent election system in Philadelphia that really did not give a rat's ass whether. everyone had the right to vote or not.
Rove sent down the word that Bowers had to be stopped, you see.
And let me close by saying this: we will all win, eventually. With few exceptions, all of the challengers who ran against the party establishment today will prove victorious in the long run. While victories such as mine were rare, all of the progressive and reform defeats will eventually succeed as long as the people who participated in those losses keep trying. If there is one thing the establishment is not prepared for, it is a dedicated group of people who will keep trying to win even after temporary setbacks. Even if our victories are few, our victories will keep multiplying as long as we keep running.
Can't you just hear the music (and Bowers' head) swelling?
I haven't covered this topic so far, but our buddy Chris decided to take a look into it. He opposes Net Neutrality. John Hawkins supports it. I have not done enough reading on the topic to form my own opinion.
I don't usually give kudos to posters over at the Huffpo, but here's an interesting post by a sixteen-year-old girl.
I am the founder of Girls for Girls, International, an organization dedicated to helping young women in developing countries gain access to the education that they need and deserve in order to grow up to be strong and successful women. I am also sixteen years old.
Last Tuesday, Girls for Girls held a really successful fundraiser in support of the Nyaka AIDS Orphans School. We raised over four thousand dollars -- far exceeding our goal for the night. Next year, the students at the Nyaka AIDS Orphans School will be playing basketball on a court that we built. They will be reading books that we've bought and using mathematical sets that we've provided.
Here's a somewhat wacky story about a new proposal:
The old circus trick of firing a person from a cannon is being considered by the US Defence Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) as a way to get special forces, police officers and fire fighters onto the roofs of tall buildings in a hurry.
Of course, way back in 1940, another man had the same idea:
It's useful to have a target, but you also have to have a plan. Anyway, I think the better scare tactic is "President Pelosi", which is what she'd be if the Democrats actually impeached Bush and Cheney together. And nobody should doubt that's what John Conyers (who would chair the House Judiciary Committee if the Democrats take over) is planning.
There are many now arguing that even if we had to endure two years of Speaker Pelosi or Majority Leader Reid, it would pay off in the long run, perhaps as the first two years of the Clinton administration resulted in the 1994 Republican landslide. Well, this is not 1994. Even two years of control of one branch of the government could do irreparable harm at a time when the outcome of the mission in Iraq and the status of judicial appointments is at such a delicate and critical point.
Disagree, dissent, march, email, telephone the White House and the Congress, heck, even mail a brick, but it doesn’t make sense to completely destroy the man who will be leading the country for two more years, or to destroy the Republican Party unless you are ready to accept the agenda of Speaker Pelosi and Majority Leader Reid.
I have been voting GOP my entire life. I voted for George H.W. Bush in 1992. I voted for Bob Dole in 1996. I voted for this president in 2000, and again in 2004. In between, I've voted a straight party line ticket in every congressional race.
I'm not going to criticize either side in the immigration debate, other than to say that I respect the opinions of people on both sides, and so I don't agree with any efforts to disparage the motives of people on the other side of the issue. I know lots of people on both sides whom I respect and I have no intention of refereeing this bout.
King Abdullah has told Saudi editors to stop publishing pictures of women as they could make young men go astray, newspapers reported Tuesday.
In recent months, newspapers have published pictures of women — always wearing the traditional Muslim headscarf — to illustrate stories with increasing regularity.
