I'm editing my words this morning. Michele as usual, was on point.
I reacted in anger, and that reduces me to the same level as men who multilate bodies and encourage children to hate blindly. This is the same mentality that dresses toddlers in suicide belts and sends 13 yr olds to their deaths as martyrs. We are not that.
I thought about the images that made me so angry. That the celebrants on the bridge were mostly children and youths. That should fill us with as much rage as the henious acts in which they they participated. We must somehow change the cultural impulse to celebrate and admire death, be it an enemy or a martyr by replacing it with another message.
No, I am not saying we join hands and sing Kumbayah with the citizens of Fallujah, or cut and run, but we need to take a deep breath and not act from anger or we become that which we abhor. The military will deal with the Ba'athists and terrorists of Fallujah, in the time and manner of their choosing.
So, I am posting an image that gives us and Iraqi children hope.
Please visit Operation Give and donate today, that is how we stop the hatred that fueled the savagery in Fallujah, one child at a time. It is going to be a long haul, but we really have no choice and eventually Arabic children will celebrate life and their own achievements, not death.
Tonight on Fox, SecState Madeline Albright claimed that Bush is making the Arab world hate us even more.
Excuse me, Madam Secretary, but how does wishing us merely dead under your stewardship, to sincerely dead make a whit of difference?
The Clintonistas really don't get it, but according to Newsweek, 65% of us do.
A strong majority (65%) of Americans say former President Bill Clinton and his administration did not take the threat of global terrorism seriously enough (26% disagree), while a majority (61%) of Americans say President George W. Bush and his administration have taken the threat as seriously as they should have (34% disagree).
Why is this arrogant bint trotted out by the Dems as if her opinion and record is an asset, she's about as relevant and helpful to the dialog as is Henry "I gag at the thought" Kissinger.
I'm begging all news producers, please for the love of God, keep Albright, Haig and Kissinger off TV.
Ding Dong! de Villepin is gone!!!
France announces new government; de Villepin to head Interior MinistryPARIS (AP) - Foreign Minister Dominique de Villepin, a relentless critic of the U.S. war in Iraq, will head the Interior Ministry under a major French government shakeup announced Wednesday.
De Villepin, France's top diplomat since May 2002, will be replaced by European Commissioner Michel Barnier, the presidential Elysee Palace announced.
Au revoir M. Mssrs. Chirac et Raffarin, n'a pas laisser la porte vous a frappé dans l'âne.
According to French Daily Le Monde in its Tuesday edition, French President Jacques Chirac on Tuesday made a contract with his Prime Minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin, asking him to stay for 100 days until the European elections on June 13.In the unprecedented contract between the two, Chirac asked Raffarin to recover the country's situation before the European elections, if he fails, he will quit the post, said Le Monde.
Yesterday John Kerry said:"We should be putting pressure on OPEC to increase the supplies and not allow those countries to undermine the economies of the world,''
Today OPEC cut production. Keep talking Senator, you're doing a great job giving our enemies fuel to undermine our economy and hope. It is no longer possible to deny that their goal is to defeat George Bush by interferring in our election. The only problem is that these people have seriously misjudged the American people. They remember a frightened government that ran from Somalia, that left repeated attacks go all but unpunished. They read the polls and see an opportunity.
They made a huge mistake today in Fallujah.
Today is Wictory Wednesday. Every Wednesday, I ask my readers to volunteer and/or donate to the Bush 2004 campaign.
If you've already donated and volunteered for the Bush campaign, then talk to your friends and enlist them in this battle against western civilization.
If you're a blogger, you can join Wictory Wednesdays simply by putting up a post like this one every Wednesday, asking your readers to volunteer and/or donate to the Bush campaign. E-mail PoliPundit at wictory@blogsforbush.com so that he can add you to the Wictory Wednesday blogroll, which will be part of the Wictory Wednesday post on all participating blogs:
Susanna Cornett, in her post New Coke vs Classic Coke, points out another heartless media corporation taking a 30-year veteran broadcaster off air to fix what ain't broke. Yeah, you'll be surprised.
Juliette asks the obvious question: Was Richard Clarke playing with a stacked deck? and when will pigs fly?
Another melding of blog voices arrived recently as Deb Yoder's Accidential Jedi and Jay Solo's Verbosity join forces in the all newAccidential Verbosity. If you are ahead of a fool's learning curve then nevermind. As you were.
Yum...lamb. The Delightfully Venemous Kate tempts the palate with two mouth-watering lamb recipes. I plan to make the Picatta tonight! Thanks Kate! I'll send one back at ya in the extended entry, just because I can.
Shanks For The Memory;
Lamb Shanks in Casserole:
This recipe is a perfect dish for a weekend dinner when you are hanging around the house and have time for the pot to simmer in the oven. Do not be put off by the condensed soup, you could use your favorite stratch-made mushroom and cream of tomato soup recipes if you wish, you'll need 2 cups of each...but I promise you'll never be able to tell the difference. Serve with a green salad and crusty bread for sopping up the juices. I usually serve cold stewed fruit with gingersnaps and vanilla ice cream for dessert.
Serves 4 generously as the finished dish is very rich.
You will need:
4- lamb shanks approx 1.25 - 1.50 lbs each is the usual size (the bone is large)
1- Can Campbell's condensed Cream of Tomato soup
1- can Campbell's condensed Cream of Mushroom soup
1- Medium yellow onion (omit if onions are not liked or tolerated)
1-teaspoon cooking oil: olive, corn, safflower, canola...doesn't matter
4-6 Fresh medium-sized Button mushrooms, thinly sliced
4- large Russet potatoes
Fresh minced Parsley (Garnish-optional)
Salt & pepper
2-1/2 Qt. Covered baking dish, casserole or Dutch oven.
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees; place the rack in the middle position.
Method:
Lightly coat the casserole or baking dish with oil, rub it around evenly with your fingers or a bit of paper towel.
Coarsely chop the onion and evenly place in the casserole. Rinse the lamb shanks with cold water and pat dry with a paper towel. Lightly salt and pepper the shanks on top of the onions. Scatter the sliced mushrooms over the shanks
Whisk (a fork works fine) together both cans of condensed soup and 2-Cups of tepid water in a bowl. It may look a little lumpy and unappetizing at this point...that's okay. Pour the soup over the shanks, cover and place the casserole in the center of the oven.
Bake for 45 minutes, remove from the oven, the dish should be simmering nicely, gently baste the shanks, scraping the sides of the dish down. Turn the oven down to 325. Cover and return the dish to the oven for an additional 45 minutes. Remove from the oven and add the peeled, quartered potatoes (you want nice big wedges)...lightly salt, cover and return to the oven for 30-40 minutes or until the potatoes are fork tender.
Serve each person a shank with 3-4 wedges of potatoes and lots of sauce in large soup plate or shallow bowl. Garnish with a sprinkling of parsley and a grind of black pepper. Serve hot. Enjoy!
Arrrgggh! I didn't buy the Nikon D70. I planned to review this product for Carnival of the Consumers, however, my fragmented friend Fred is shopping cameras, so I'll put my two cents worth in now. Consulting has been thin the past few months, so I balked at the price tag on the D100 and D70 and shopped down price-wise.
[click here for a large image]
I regret it every time I pick up the Canon G5 I chose. While there's no disputing that the Canon takes a handsome photo with a minimum of fuss, it has one of the worst case layouts I've ever used.
The Set and Menu buttons are on the top-right back grip space, so you hit the damned things with your thumb when you handle the camera. In wide angle/close zoom mode the edge of the lens housing intrudes into viewfinder/comp window...how farging dumb is that?
Nope...can't recommend it. Get the Nikon, Fred.
Host Eric Berlin challenges the Blogosphere to decern which are the real posts and which are April Fool's parody in this week's Carnival of the Vanities.
Air America takes to the air today...don't miss it if you can.
O'Franken Factor? Hoo-boy, a real knee slapper, that Al...he's a stitch ain't he?
Chance are they aren't on the airwaves in your market, having only five stations lined up to date...but never fear, you may catch the brilliant riffs of Franken, Garafalo and talk show host Randi Rhodes on Air America's web broadcast. (BYO Air sickness bags.)
Seems they ground looped while taxi-ing to the launch pad in the Bay Area.
"The O'Franken Factor" -- comedian Al Franken's answer to talk radio conservatives like Bill O'Reilly and Rush Limbaugh -- hits the airwaves today in several major markets, but it won't be on the dial in the Bay Area for two more weeks.Air America Radio, a national liberal talk radio network, has pushed back its San Francisco premiere to April 15. The company says it will announce the station on April 7.
Evan Cohen, the New York venture capitalist who chairs Air America's board, said the deal in the Bay Area was signed, but not all employees at the station know about the change in format, causing the delay.
"We wanted to make sure the employees currently working at the station were aware" of the change in formats, Cohen said.
Air America announced earlier this month that it would start today in the top four U.S. markets, including the Bay Area. Now that the date is here, the network will hit the airwaves in New York, Los Angeles and Chicago, the top three markets, as well as in Portland, Ore., and in Riverside and San Bernardino counties.
Cohen, the network's chairman, said the Bay Area start will be accompanied by a billboard, television and Internet advertising blitz. "We'll be in San Francisco soon," he said. "We think it's a perfect market for us."
The top talk radio stations in the SF Bay Area?
Even in the politically liberal Bay Area, two conservative talk stations -- KSFO, owned by the Walt Disney Corp., and KNEW, owned by Clear Channel Communications -- are slugging it out with little overt liberal competition.
Don Imus also has a huge Bay Area audience in the morning drive-time slot of 5-9 AM , as does Tom Likas in the afternoon drive slot, both carried on Infinity Broadcasting's KYCY-AM 1550 (no web site).
A few years ago KGO's, the long-time top-rated radio station and the ABC TV/radio affiliate, popular morning host, Ronn Owens decided he was the liberal messiah and went to LA to launch his blitz against Rush...he tanked badly and and returned to his comfy niche on KGO.
The Bay Area has a captive audience in the loony Left enclaves such as Santa Cruz and Berkeley for Pacifica Radio and NPR, but the mass-market audience, especially in the 4 hour drive time slots in the morning and afternoon listens to man-talk, sports or right-wing talk radio. Go figure.
LIVE UPDATE: Oooo...ironic Rock & Roll intercut with emotionally-weighted Liberal Pol soundbites...are they kidding? Maybe it's just me but cutting Livid Color's "Cult of Personality" with clips of JFK's inauguration speech is actually dissing JFK...isn't it?
Franken says Bush is going DOWN. Yeah, okay Al. Whatever.
Their streaming server can't keep up with the load...these guys aren't very well prepared for the massive funding that they claim went into this effort. They didn't even manage to get a website up...Jees. Other's with a radio feed will have to pick up the commentary...I'm bailing before RealPlayer dumps my Windows session.
EVENING UPDATE: Dale Franks offers Air America Roundup, a page of quotes and opinion from the blogosphere. I liked the original Air America sky pilots hangin' at Kadena's Flame Room a whole lot better.
Cartography buffs and members of the VRWC take note, the Commissar has unearthed a seminal Blogosphere document that delinates the historical political divide clearly...in his own mind at least.
Blogging from the bowels of the courthouse via wireless/cell phone dialup...it works pretty well...the speed sucks. The security guys groaned when they saw a dozen of us in line with laptops.
I wonder who told the cat-in-the-knit hat that grubby mis-matched sweats with his ass hanging out is appropriate jury attire? Isn't it interesting how a group of strangers sorts themselves out in a public room? Losers and hookers wandering nervously near the door, seniors in the front rows near the loo and managerial/professional types near the windows.
I'd guess that most of us on the window side of the room aren't going to make the cut. I'm waiting for some one to ask what "warblogging" on my questionaire means.
We've been told to pack up the electronics and stow the cells. Looks like we're moving to chambers. Voir Dire is always my nemesis.
Heh.
UPDATE: Didn't make a jury...think the "Nuke France" button put them off?
Kerry inserts both feet in mouth:
March 30 (Bloomberg) -- Massachusetts Senator John Kerry, the Democratic candidate for U.S president, said the U.S. must put pressure on oil-producing nations and stop filling the nation's strategic reserves to check rising gas prices.Let me get this straight...the Gulf Coast oil industry is and has been on high alert since June of 2003 and could be decimated by al-Qaeda in a nanosecond and Kerry wants to stop filling the strategic reserves? WTF?!``I pledge to you I will put in place the principle, long since overdue, that no young American in uniform ought to ever be held hostage to America's dependence on oil for the Middle East,'' Kerry said at a rally attended by 600 students and faculty at the University of California, San Diego.
Gas prices are becoming an economic and political issue in the U.S. seven months before Kerry, 60, and Bush, 57, face each other in the general election. The average retail price for gasoline reached a record $1.758 a gallon, the Energy Department said yesterday, and exceeded $2 a gallon in California, the most populous U.S. state.
Without the strategic reserves to keep key power plants, municipal infrastructure up and vital freight services fueled there could be chaos and food shortages in heavily populated urban areas. Think back to the Rodney King/LA riots. It doesn't take much for society to break down.
Kerry will not protect the oil fields when our very survival depends upon them?This is the height of recklessness and a pledge he cannot possibly keep...of course the word "ought" is operative here...as a Democrat we've learned that much depends on what ought is.
Dem hand wringing over gas prices is a load of horse pucky. The SF Bay Area would rejoice with $2 @ gal gas...we've been paying in the $2.25-2.50 range for the past ten years or longer. I paid $2.79 to fill up on Sunday. Conservation will not begin to close the gap, we must invent our way out of dependency on fossil fuels, but that's not going to happen in the foreseeable future.
This sort of expedient political rhetoric flies in the face of reality, and is why John Kerry will not be president.
Whoa!
Want to know how much and to which candidate/party your neighbors are donating? You can pull up maps or type in an address.
The invasion of privacy is mildly disturbing, but then the info is a matter of public record, and it's kinda cool. I would suggest running your spyware after grazing here.
I HATE the jester...it seemed like a good idea at the time... new layout tonight.
Jury pool call this afternoon. That should be fun...the casts from Cocoon and the Road Warrior up close and personal.
Alan Forkum and Tom Maguire sum up the Clarke side show.
Instapundit posts this interesting graph and link. Apart from the partisan bitch-slapping contests, Clarke's testimony and week long media appearances aren't working for Kerry. Clarke's book cuts both ways, as 62% place blame on Clinton and 54% on Bush for failing to prevent the 9/11 attacks. Even worse for Kerry, he can't get his message out as the media frenzy sucks air from his campaign as Bush ramps up ad buys in key states.
The Dems think they will get a convention bump as the 9/11 Comission reports lands as they open in Boston, but I think not. Just as the early Dem primaries are not providing a lasting media boost, Clarke's 15 minutes came too early in the election cycle. Thanks to Clarke's ego-fest/book tour, the commission will be very old news, with most Americans having made up their mind.
By mid-summer the media will have a new focus as the convention venues are security nightmares, both located above railway/subway stations and a 9/11 anniversary approaching. I predict that terrorism concerns and the inevitable elevated alerts will consume the media. Kerry's nomination may well become a peripheral story to massive security concerns. Bush can use his incumbancy to great advantage as the White House nudges the news cycle to drown Kerry and the Dems out. Factor in a possible terrorist attack, ala Madrid, in Europe and Kerry becomes a footnote.
Coverage of the GOP convention in NYC will overshadow the Dems many fold as Bush will be a media lightning rod. The Hate America crowd is organizing to mount protests that may suck the air from Kerry after his convention, all but killing his media bounce. The DNC made two strategic errors, they front loaded their primary season too early and chose Boston for their convention.
Ted at Rocket Jones excellently hosts this week's Symphony from Munuvia. Head-spinning, pulse-weakening and will-sapping...Ted bravely slogs on in a NyQuil induced haze... with a minimum of whining and embellishments...knowing that good writing, like the cheese, stands alone. Ted's nominaton for the all-time best album cover is a nice touch. Ah...those were the days...when cover was art.
Okay fine...it's the weekend and I'm sick of the Bush-Clarke media pukeathon...I'll pimp out the cats for a little Carnival of the Cats fun at Lair's. There's mighty cute Yourish kitties, the tale of Buttons and much more.
In honor of the occasion I downloaded a few cat pages from my family site. Here's a really smaltzy page 'o kitten pix ...and if that doesn't send the cat haters screaming into the night...then try this one....or perhaps Zozo's page will fill the bill.
I've pushed Paul's meme as far as possible and this story ruined the mood.
Now that the UN's Iraqi Oil scam is finished they are looking for another cash cow.
The United Nations wants a big piece of the Internet.
U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan set the tone in a speech Thursday, criticizing the current system through which Internet standards are set and domain names are handled, a process currently dominated by the United States, Canada, Europe and Japan. Such structures "must be made accessible and responsive to the needs of all the world's people," Annan said.
Although the U.N. process is still in its early stages, the result could dramatically reshape the way the Internet is run and put an end to some of the informal, collaborative processes that exist today. The master root servers that serve up addresses for country codes and all other top-level domains, for instance, are operated in part by volunteers instead of through a U.N.-style apparatus.Dozens of delegates from developing nations echoed Annan's remarks throughout the rest of the day, arguing that their governments do not have a voice in the way the Internet is operated and that more money and investment from richer nations is the only way to end the so-called digital divide. Khalid Saeed, the secretary of Pakistan's Ministry of Information Technology, said his country must "play an active role in all layers" of organizations that control the operation of the modern Internet.
Many delegates to the Global Forum on Internet Governance appeared to favor the International Telecommunication Union, a U.N. agency, taking over at least part of ICANN's functions. "We don't have to create any new organizations," said Alain le Gourrierec, ambassador from France's Ministry of Foreign Affairs. "We don't have to create any new agencies. The U.N. exists for this reason. The main point is to make sure the developing countries are part of this movement to make the Internet part of society."
The few representatives of Internet technical bodies, such as the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF), the Internet Architecture Board (IAB) and the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C), who participated in the summit were outnumbered but emphatic."The IETF has an extremely open process," said IETF Chair Harald Alvestrand. The group, which sets most of the standards that keep the Internet working, is "a place where stakeholders come together...Make sure when you talk about Internet governance, you're talking about things that really need governing."
"We're in danger of overregulating," not underregulating, said Karl Auerbach, a former ICANN board member and a veteran Internet engineer.
VeriSign/NetSol sucks at a task they invented and have the most experience in managing. In a very short order the UN Internet would be totally FUBARed and burning money like a drunken UN diplomat in a French whorehouse.
A UN takeover of ICANN can only result in a two tier Internet. One can imagine English speaking counties in North America, the UK, Australia, New Zealand, India, Japan and a few Southeast Asian countries maintaining the current US-based top level servers.
A tip of the chapeau to Linda at Civilization Calls.
Really....Priceless.
(Hey this linky stuff is a lot easier than actually writing, thanks Paul!)
I have no idea why this is so funny.
Oho! because it is.
(How am I doing Paul?)
I've read far and wide today, nothing much to say, it's all been said. So much noise generated from so little substance as the Congress trots out it's 9/11 dog and pony show. We are in the fight of our lives and half of us think the other is the enemy. Big Sigh.
Then Baldilocks, via Da Commissar, pointed me to Laughing Wolf, who cut through the partisan chatter with a simple sentence:
"The fact that cannot be ignored in all of this is that we are at war."
The thought occured to me that a goodly portion of the Left and most of the old media do not believe that it is so. They believe George Bush is at war.
The Wolf continues:
The question before us is simple: What do we do now? The answers are not simple ones, nor are they easy. There are three basic answers and they entail risk, heartache, destruction, and more. One of them leads to peace and prosperity in the shortest time, but with a high cost. One leads eventually to peace and prosperity, but comes at an even higher cost. The final one leads to the fall of civilization as we know it, and the highest cost of all.
Go read the entire piece The War: What Happens Now and ask yourself which choice will Kerry will make? Bush has already chosen.
The corrosive, non-productive campaign rhetoric becomes irrelevent when viewed through the lens of war, in fact the election itself is peripheral, the war will continue no matter who is elected. Our enemies lie in wait for the next opportunity to exploit our free society. Oh, it will come, that is the one thing of which we may be sure. Another attack will not gain them the advantage they seek, it will be their destruction. Eventually the Left will be forced by events to stand and fight. Our enemies have misread or are ignorant of our history.
Pete Holiday cracks the Ringmaster's whip and wise at this week's Carnival of the Vanities. Get your fill of red-hot bloggy goodness-on-a-stick before the fun moves on.
...and we know they know we know.
No matter how mightily the media twists and turns to put blame on the Bush Adminstration, Neocons (them Joos again), Rummy and the two house slaves...it won't wash. Americans are not stupid and though we may be partisans, we recognise a rat when we smell it.
Is SecState Albright kidding?
"FORMER SECRETARY OF STATE MADELEINE K. ALBRIGHT I can say with confidence that President Clinton and his team did everything we could, everything that we could think of, based on the knowledge we had, to protect our people and disrupt and defeat Al Qaeda. We certainly recognized the threat posed by the terrorist groups. . . .But I also do know that many of the policy issues that we had developed were not followed up.
And I have to say with great sadness to watch an incoming administration kind of take apart a lot of the policies that we did have, whether it had to do with North Korea or the Balkans, was difficult. So I think you have to ask people that were in the Bush administration as to how they saw things on this particular issue. But I do think, in all fairness, that 9/11 was a cataclysmic event that changed things and that they must have had similar reactions. But clearly there are many issues and many questions now about how they were responding to the terrorist threat and how seriously they took it.
Albright and the Clinton administration were roundly duped by Nth Korea, and the wheels are still coming off the Balkans.
Then there was this admission by SecDef Wiliam Cohen:
Clinton's Secretary of Defense William Cohen defended the administration, noting that Clinton and his top advisers turned aside more aggressive action, such as an invasion of Afghanistan, because they believed the president would be pilloried domestically and overseas in a pre-Sept. 11 climate in which he was accused of pumping up the terrorist threat to deflect attention from the scandals that plagued his administration.
Clinton foolishly indulged his personal weaknesses and was forced to spend his political capital and public good will protecting his ass, not ours. Had he not been embroiled in the Lewinsky scandal he may have acted more forcibly.
The Clinton Administration was warned repeatedly that the airlines were vulnerable, yet he chose to appoint Linda Daschle, an airline lobbyist, as deputy administrator of the FAA, putting her in charge of regulating her once-and-future clients; and she wound up running the agency as acting administrator.
When the FAA was pondering making mandatory a criminal-background check for all airport employees, Linda, who was then running the agency, vigorously opposed this common-sense move — echoing the position of the airline-industry lobby that had previously employed her.Before 9/11, Senator Daschle pushed through the sleazy deal in the backrooms of Capitol Hill that forced the FAA to buy defective baggage scanners from one of Linda’s other clients, L-3 International (from which Linda’s firm raked in $440,000 in the ’97–’01 period). Under a provision Linda’s husband had slipped into the 2000 budget for the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT), the FAA was required to buy one of L-3’s scanners for every one it purchased from the company’s competitors. The L-3 scanners were found to be substandard by DOT’s inspector general; FAA tests of the scanners showed high failure rates; and most have not yet been installed because of their defects (the one at the Dallas–Fort Worth airport — another of Linda’s clients — leaked radiation), which is a major reason DOT says it won’t be able to screen all luggage for explosives for years to come.
It was no coincidence that Inspector General for the Transportation Dept. Mary Schiavo was fired and publicly pilloried by the Clintonistas when she would not back down on her scathing critique of airline safety issues.
Stuart Taylor has written repeatedly on this issue:
In 1996, President Clinton put Vice President Al Gore in charge of a White House commission to recommend improvements in airliner security. But from the start, according to The Boston Globe, "debate over the program focused on civil liberties, not effectiveness." The Gore commission declared, "No profile should contain or be based on ... race, religion, or national origin." Accordingly, the Federal Aviation Administration, in unveiling its Computer-Assisted Passenger Screening program, stressed that the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division—an ultraliberal bastion—had certified that the CAPS criteria "do not consider passengers' race, color, national or ethnic origin, religion, or gender," or even "names or modes of dress." That left few criteria for flagging possible terrorists other than reservation histories—as any competent terrorist would have known.
So tell me again how the Neocons are responsible?
This weeks Bonfire of the Vanities is off to an auspicous start as Craig at MTPolitics snarkily proclaims a fest of meta-lamness as he roasts each entry before tossing them on the bonfire of Blogoverse opinion. Whew! I'm outta lame metaphor as well...so on with the weenie roast!
Kerry's campaign re-tools as he ditches his negative message and macho motto "Bring It On" for a softer, positive image.
Democrat John Kerry's camp announced yesterday he was - for now - becoming Mr. Nice Guy. His campaign manager said Americans were going to get sick of negative attack ads, so Kerry's going positive. Kerry's tag line is now:
"A new deal direction for America."
What next earth tones?
BUWHAHAHAHAHA!
Ben at Infinite Monkeys says:
Saddam Hussein's secular-socialist Ba'ath regime had no link whatsoever with the radical Islamists of al Qaeda and Osama bin Laden. Yeah, and I'm the king of Siam.
Iraq-al Qaeda link
We have obtained a document discovered in Iraq from the files of the Iraqi Intelligence Service (IIS). The report provides new evidence of links between Saddam Hussein and al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden.The 1993 document, in Arabic, bears the logo of the Iraqi intelligence agency and is labeled "top secret" on each of its 20 pages.
The report is a list of IIS agents who are described as "collaborators."On page 14, the report states that among the collaborators is "the Saudi Osama bin Laden."
The document states that bin Laden is a "Saudi businessman and is in charge of the Saudi opposition in Afghanistan."
"And he is in good relationship with our section in Syria," the document states, under the signature "Jabar."
The EU seems to be a tad confused, and/or conflicted.
Europe's Terror Fight Faces ObstaclesThe savage train bombings in Madrid have awakened Europeans to the danger of global terrorism. But a myriad of differing legal and cultural standards complicate Europe's ability to respond to the threat.
Since the March 11 attacks, which killed 202 people and injured more than 1,800 others, the 25 current and soon-to-be members of the European Union have been scrambling to shore up defenses against al-Qaida and other Islamic extremist movements believed active within Europe's large Muslim immigrant communities.
Some European countries, notably Germany, Italy, Britain and Spain, have successfully battled homegrown terrorists. France's intelligence service is among the world's best in tracking Islamic underground movements, especially those from North Africa.
Oh really? Then pray tell how this happened.
Jewish Center in France AttackedTOULON, France (AP) - Attackers set fire to a Jewish community center in southeast France overnight, causing slight damage to the entry hall, police said Tuesday.
The assailants broke a window at the center in the southwestern city of Toulon and doused the interior with a flammable liquid that was then set on fire, police said. Several walls were blackened by flames, but there were no injuries.
Yves Haddad, who leads the local Jewish community, expressed "disgust and sadness" at the attack, saying it might be "an importation of what's happening in the Middle East."
France has been battling anti-Semitic violence for more than two years, often involving attacks against Jewish schools, synagogues and community centers. In March 2002, a synagogue in the nearby city of Marseille was burned to the ground.
"This is Dick Clarke's American grandstand," White House spokesman Scott McClellan said. "He just keeps changing the tune."
A Hat tip to Robert Prather
SF anti-war Protester Endorses Kerry...er, sort of.
LGF commenter Zombie documented the SF anti-war protests with pages of photos he took at the rally. The usual suspects and causes were out in force: Bush and Jew haters, Commies, Pro-Palis, wacko-conspiracy buffs....even a Ho Chi Min T-shirt...nice touch. One hopes "Coolie Boy" didn't get lucky, cuz he is definately wading in the shallow end of the gene pool.
UPDATE: Here's Pix of the LA protest march taken by Rayra. A scruffy looking bunch... more Seattle than LA.
Go Freepers!
(Via LGF reader Thom)
Aaron at Pardon My English has a report and pix on the NYC protest.
Blackfive almost lost it in Chicago.
Susie at Practical Penumbra, hits all the right cultural notes as Moose and Squirrel perform this week's Best Of Me Symphony libretto.
Interesting that the mainstream media didn't reveal the epithet Dem presidential candidate John Kerry used after his Secret Service agent inadvertently moved into his path during a ski mishap in Idaho, sending Kerry falling into the snow.
When asked a moment later about the incident by a reporter on the ski run, Kerry said sharply, "I don't fall down," the "son of a bitch knocked me over."
John Kerry doesn't fall; he stumbles. A lot.
via Drudge.
This is so cool....so's this and this.
Maj. Mark Mount from the 99th Expeditionary Reconnaissance Squadron begins to taxi a U-2 "Dragon Lady" out to the flightline at an undisclosed forward operating base in Southwest Asia, Feb. 10, 2004. The Dragon Lady is a high altitude reconnaissance platform that provides near-real-time surveillance imagery in support of operations Iraqi and Enduring Freedom. U.S. Air Force photo by Staff Sgt. Suzanne M. Jenkins.
March 20th marks the One Year Anniversary of The Command Post.
Stop by and join the festivities...rumor has it that Michele may jump out of a cake...or something about cake...I dunno the thought of free cake distracted me....anyhoo Lair might bring pretzels...or cough up a hair ball...neither event is to be missed.
The media pounds Bush and Cheney constantly for their past business connections, yet are completely mute on the Kerry-Heinz Company connection.
Including this story.
Limits Urged on Eating TunaFor the first time, the federal government has warned pregnant and nursing women and young children away from eating more than a limited amount of canned albacore "white" tuna because of potential hazards from mercury in the fish.
Responding to research that showed concentrations of mercury are significantly higher in the larger albacore species than in the smaller skipjack, or "chunk light" tuna, the government advised potentially vulnerable consumers yesterday to eat no more than six ounces of albacore tuna per week. That would amount to one meal.
Tuna is the second most popular seafood in the United States. The issue of whether children and childbearing women should be warned away from it has been hotly debated.
The tuna industry has generally resisted the warning and questioned the scientific findings underlying it, and some consumer and environmental groups have pressed for stronger action.
From the Heinz Company profile:
Tops in Worldwide Tuna
Heinz accounts for 20% of global branded tuna sales and is the world's largest purchaser of tuna. StarKist's unmatched assets include: a procurement network stretching from the Pacific to the Atlantic and Indian Oceans; a string of strategically located canneries in American Samoa, Ecuador, Puerto Rico, Ghana, Portugal, France, the Seychelles and Australia; consumer markets in Asia/Pacific, Europe and the Americas; and powerful brands - StarKist, John West, Petit Navire, Greenseas, Wattie's, Heinz and Mareblu. In North America, television pitchman Charlie the Tuna long ago propelled the StarKist brand into the number-one market position, with a nearly 50% share. (emphasis added)
So where's the media outrage? The house Kerry used as collateral for his campaign loan is half owned by Teresa Heinz, aren't her real assets fruit of the Heinz tree as much as Cheney's are of Halliburton?
Note: Heinz tuna, including the popular Starkist brand, is not canned by American workers. Why not?
Lincoln's words ring true today as we face another test of our resolve to remain a free people, or to retreat in the face of an implacable enemy and live cowering in fear.
Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth, upon this continent, a new nation, conceived in liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that "all men are created equal"
Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived, and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a great battle field of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of it, as a final resting place for those who died here, that the nation might live. This we may, in all propriety do. But, in a larger sense, we can not dedicate -- we can not consecrate -- we can not hallow, this ground -- The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have hallowed it, far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here; while it can never forget what they did here.
It is rather for us, the living, we here be dedicated to the great task remaining before us -- that, from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they here, gave the last full measure of devotion -- that we here highly resolve these dead shall not have died in vain; that the nation, shall have a new birth of freedom, and that government of the people by the people for the people, shall not perish from the earth.
These are the faces of Americans who gave the last full measure: Honor them.
After reading and dismissing this story on several wire sources...Bill Quick's link pointed out that Spanish troop replacements are being deployed to Iraq before Zapatero takes office...then it hit me...the perfect Kerry anti-Iraq ad. (sorry my Flash skills are not up to the task...you'll have to imagine it)
Fade in> The UN...edits of John Kerry forcefully outlining his plans to hand over Iraq to the UN.
Quick montage follows>A spirited Q & A exchange between Kerry and Bush coalition, edited to reflect the Senator's position.
Cut to/Close-up>The Spanish Ambassador (Aznar's appointee) challenges Kerry's assumptions about Coalition troop withdrawal.
Close-up>Kerry frowns, leans into to the micophone and asks the Spanish ambassador in a bellicose tone:
"Sir, how can you ask a Spanish soldier to be the last to die for a failed war?"
Fade out.
It could happen....and that's the really scary part.
The silence from the Left's anti-war movement is deafening.
NATO sends reinforcements to Kosovo after ethnic clashes kill 22, injure hundreds
NATO sent U.S. and Italian reinforcements to Kosovo on Thursday after fighting between Serbs and ethnic Albanians killed 22 people and wounded hundreds -- the worst violence since the province's war five years ago.
Attackers burned several Serb houses and an Orthodox Christian church on Thursday in Obilic, an ethnically mixed town west of Kosovo's capital, Pristina. U.N. police and NATO troops evacuated dozens of Serbs.
The Kosovo clashes triggered fighting elsewhere in Serbia, where nationalist crowds burned mosques and shouted slogans threatening Kosovo's ethnic Albanians with "slaughter" and "death."
Bracing for more trouble, NATO sent in about 350 soldiers, mostly from Bosnia and Italy, to back 18,500 international peacekeepers now in Kosovo.
The troops from Bosnia include an American infantry unit of about 100 soldiers. Britain, which already has 280 soldiers in Kosovo, will send another 750 within days, its defense ministry said Thursday.
The unrest illustrated the failure of international efforts to set the province on the path of reconciliation after a 1999 NATO air campaign stopped a crackdown by Serb leader Slobodan Milosevic on Kosovo's secessionist ethnic Albanian majority.
NATO played down the prospects of renewed conflict.
"I don't believe there is a possibility of a war. We will do what is necessary to restore and uphold law and order," NATO spokesman Jamie Shea said Thursday.
Note that US, British and Italian forces were moved in to do what the French cannot or will not. Given that ethnic Albanians (aka Muslims) are the agressor in the current round of violence, how long before Islamo-terrorists begin to attack US, British and Italian forces in Kosovo?
Kosovo Crisis a Wake-Up Call from NATO's BackyardBRUSSELS (Reuters) - Just when NATO was gazing at far-flung hotspots from Afghanistan to Iraq, ethnic violence flared up in its backyard in Kosovo this week, putting the alliance's global pretensions to their most severe test yet.
Analysts said on Thursday that the violence in Kosovo might open NATO to charges that its peacekeeping mission there was reduced too quickly, and would certainly underline the gap between its ambitions and the number of troops available.
"The missions in terms of intensity and tempo are expanding exponentially, but the forces are not," said Julian Lindley-French at the Geneva Center for Security Policy. "Until they sort that out, NATO is in big trouble."
Stagnant defense budgets in most NATO countries have limited the supply of costly helicopters and other vital equipment and reduced the number of soldiers ready for overseas action. Of the 1.5 million Europeans in uniform, only 150,000 can easily be used for 21st century crisis management, Lindley-French said. Allowing for troop rotation, that leaves barely 50,000 troops available for operations at any one time.
This is the force John Kerry would enlist to execute the War on Terror.
UPDATE: Bear Flag blogger Slings and Arrows posts a question.
...not walking the walk. Liberal, anti-war SF Bay Area folks are working for the Pentagon in increasing numbers as Bay Area companies snap up profitable defense contracts.
Click image for larger map
Bay Area firms large and small tap into Pentagon budget
A growing number of Bay Area companies have found a flush new customer -- the Pentagon.
With the occupation of Iraq pumping money into the military, roughly 300 more local companies sold to the U.S. Defense Department in 2003 than in 2002, an increase of 30 percent.
Their products range from the highest of tech to the lowest. One new contractor makes sophisticated diving gear for Navy Seals. Another makes brownies.
All are drawn by the chance to grow. For some companies, the Pentagon's swelling budget represents a welcome change from commercial markets that have stayed sluggish for years.
--
A Chronicle analysis of Defense Department spending found that the amount of money pouring into the Bay Area economy through the Pentagon rose 19 percent from 2002 to 2003, hitting $5.5 billion. That figure doesn't even count cash from other federal agencies -- the Energy Department, for example, or the State Department -- that may be linked to defense work.
The number of companies selling to the Pentagon also rose. In 2002, about 1,000 local companies appeared in the Defense Department's spending records. In 2003, the number reached about 1,300
Uh-oh, is this a indicator that California may not be as firmly in Kerry's pocket as assumed?
American Underwater Products already has a working prototype of the mask, developed under a multiyear agreement with the Navy that allowed the company to use military expertise but provided no money until the Pentagon chose to place an order last year. The cash will be used to make a version of the mask that can be mass-produced. The company wants to sell the mask outside the military as well, said CEO Robert Hollis. The firm markets a line of diving gear under the brand name Oceanic."It will be affordable to those who seek out the high-end toys, like the people who always want the latest laptop," he said.
Hollis said he sees potential in selling to the military, but he also sees reasons for caution. Military budgets and priorities change. Programs funded by one administration can die under another.
"A change in administration or a change in policy, and it could evaporate, " he said.
One wonders if these firms and folks are part of the conventional media's White House-Halliburton conspiracy.
Cox & Forkum's spot-on cartoon Bonfire of the Mullahs and Allen Forkum's accompanying post on the Iranian freedom movement, a rebellious celebration and links are a must read companion piece to Ledeen's column. As Allen says:
The Iranian theocracy has for years proudly proclaimed "Death to America." Today it is common knowledge that the regime actively supports terrorists and pursues nuclear weapons. If we are to keep America safe from further harm by Islamists, the least our government can do is morally and materially support an uprising by the Iranian people. And since our government doesn't seem to be overtly providing such support, we can only hope it is doing so covertly.
One certainly does.
Michael Ledeen's column, Drifting Dangerously at NRO yesterday offers a few thoughts on the the Spanish election, Iranian freedom movement and the War on Terror.
ROME, ITALY — There are two competing explanations for the Spanish vote on Sunday: Either the Spaniards were intimidated by the terrorists, or they punished Aznar for trying to trick them into thinking it was the Basques, when he had strong evidence that the jihadists were involved. I rather think it was the latter — it would be hard for me to think of Spaniards as easily intimidated — but whichever is correct, the political consequences are the same. The terror masters believe that they have successfully toppled a Western government by the use of force, and that will encourage them to do more of it.We will no doubt learn a lot more about the specific components of the terror network that operated in Spain, but one important element in the story has been universally ignored in the Western press to date. Judge Balthazar Garzon, who has been a tower of strength in Spain's antiterrorist campaign (against jihadists and ETA as well) publicly announced several weeks ago that the evidence unmistakably pointed to the fact that al Qaeda has reconstituted itself in Iran. The mullahs do not take kindly to this sort of exposure, and if, as is quite likely, they were involved in the network that struck Madrid, this would have been an additional motive, and an additional reason for satisfaction at the results.
As for incoming prime minister Zapatero, the new hero of the European and American Left, his original proclamations — retreat from Iraq and willingness to sign the draft of the European constitution — have been both feckless and foolish. Feckless because he would have been in an excellent position to obtain considerable favors and concessions from Bush if he had said "let's talk, and see if there is an acceptable compromise," while now he is so firmly committed to his position of total appeasement that it is very difficult for him to back off. And foolish, because Aznar had held out against enormous Franco-German pressure to sign a constitution that would give Spain a position weaker than their current standing in the European Union. If Aznar had ever decided to accept the document, he could have exacted a considerable price for it, but Zapatero has sold out for an empty bowl. He will have to beg for his porridge.
Less than one might have expected from a law professor. But perhaps his quasi-official nickname, "Bambi," is psychologically as well as physically accurate.
So the previously sound "new Europe" has been deprived of its strongest pillar, and undoubtedly the other two principal supporters of the war against terror, Italy and Poland, are imminent targets. If the terrorists are as cabalistic as it seems (the eerie fact that March 11 arrived exactly 911 days after 9/11 has been noted, and should be underlined), then one possible target date is 6/11 — six being an inverted nine — which comes a couple of days before the Italian vote for the European parliament. Probably a good day to visit Baghdad.
---
The terrorists will now be encouraged to strike whenever and wherever they can. We cannot possibly defend all their possible targets. This war cannot be won by playing defense, which is a chump's game. We have once again been offered a glorious opportunity to take the offensive, by supporting all those brave Syrians and Iranians who are crying out for freedom. Will we betray them again? Only the president can insist on supporting them, because it is clear that the others will not.If we do not, the wheel will turn once again. The terrorists will strike, we will debate, and it will all become ever more difficult and costly. Meanwhile, innocents die and hopes dwindle, and our enemies march on, convinced that the West does not have the will to resist.
John Kerry's approach? Apart from the worrisome delay in commenting on the Spanish situation, no doubt polling to see what will offend his base least, Kerry offers this:
John Kerry issued the following statement on today’s bombing in Iraq.“Today’s horrific bombing in Baghdad further demonstrates that the work of building a peaceful and stable Iraq is far from done. But we cannot allow those who are willing to use violence against innocent civilians to succeed in undermining our commitment to seeing this process through.
“We must send a strong message that these cowardly acts will only strengthen our resolve, not only to the enemies of peace in Iraq, but to our coalition allies – like the Spanish – who may be questioning whether the price is too high. We must make it clear to all that now it is the time for all nations to come together to fight our common enemies.
“That is why today I reiterate my call for America to convene an international summit to coordinate our efforts against terror and to strengthen and grow our coalition in Iraq – at this critical juncture, we must show the world that we will be steadfast in leading the fight for the right of civilized people to live in peace.”
Convene an international summit. Yeah, that'll scare Al-Qaeda off. Steadfastly hit them with a bullet-pointed agenda, wow them with a PowerPoint presentation and do lunch.
Ledeen understands what Europe and Kerry won't, or can't admit: it has been brung on.
Donald Sensing pens a powerful piece on why radical Islam hates us and why this is a war of civilizations.
Yussuf al-Ayyeri, one of Osama bin Laden's closest associates since the early 1990s, was one of the terrorists killed by Saudi security forces in Riyadh last June. Not long before, wrote a book published by al Qaeda entitled, The Future of Iraq and The Arabian Peninsula After The Fall of Baghdad . In it Ayyeri wrote, as Amir Taheri summarized"It is not the American war machine that should be of the utmost concern to Muslims. What threatens the future of Islam, in fact its very survival, is American democracy." . . .
I watched in dismay this evening as a reporter in Baghdad smugly opined (paraphrasing from memory) "The Arabic world wants change, they want self determination, they simply do not want the US delivering it to them". The sheer fecklessness of such a statement begs the question: why then haven't they done so?
As the Europeans are discovering, no one is safe. We hurdled past diplomacy and appeasment on September 12th. Anyone who thinks electing new leadership and playing possum will prevent future attacks is fooling themselves. These words "Those without swords may still die upon them." are as true today as when Tolkien wrote his epic battle of good and evil before the gathering storm of fascism and Stalinism crashed upon Western civilization.
Cheeseboogie, cheeseboogie. Cheeps. No Coke! Pepsi!
The irrepressible Aaron grills up a meme for this week's Bonfire of the Vanities. Throw on a thong and head on over while the Margaritas last.
Is this so cool:
Chicagoans celebrate St. Baldrick's DayMarch 12, 2004 — St. Patrick's Day might not be until next Wednesday, but the festivities have already begun. There will be parties all weekend and the city's official parade kicks off at noon Saturday. Friday, for some people, St. Patrick became St. Baldrick. "Bald" as in shaved heads for charity.
People are getting their heads shaved to help fight kids cancer. All afternoon at Smith and Wollensky restaurant on State Street volunteers offered up their heads.
Five-years ago in New York St. Baldrick's raised $17,000. Now it's worldwide and should pass $5 million in total donations.
Here's a page of last year's "Shavees."
Is this a great country or what?
Via GeorgeBush.com...Kerry's record is Kerry's worst nightmare...once again caught in a web of his own words. Tim Noah points out another flip-flop on an issue that voters in a key state hold dear.
Whopper: John Kerry Stop lying about your record!"I'm pretty tough on Castro, because I think he's running one of the last vestiges of a Stalinist secret police government in the world,'' Kerry told WPLG-ABC 10 reporter Michael Putney in an interview to be aired at 11:30 this morning.
Then, reaching back eight years to one of the more significant efforts to toughen sanctions on the communist island, Kerry volunteered: "And I voted for the Helms-Burton legislation to be tough on companies that deal with him."
—Peter Wallsten, "Kerry Stances on Cuba Open to Attack," in the March 14 Miami Herald
It seemed the correct answer in a year in which Democratic strategists think they can make a play for at least a portion of the important Cuban-American vote—as they did in 1996 when more than three in 10 backed President Clinton's reelection after he signed the sanctions measure written by Sen. Jesse Helms and Rep. Dan Burton.
There is only one problem: Kerry voted against it.
Please support George Bush, donate and/or volunteer for the Bush campaign, talk to your friends and enlist them in this battle for Western Civilization ( yes, including the French).
Bloggers can join Wictory Wednesdays simply by putting up a post like this one every Wednesday, asking your readers to volunteer and/or donate to the Bush campaign, and e-mail wictory@blogsforbush.com to be added to the Wictory Wednesday blogroll, which will be part of the Wictory Wednesday post on all participating blogs:
Here's an interesting personal story about Afghanistan's newly appointed Ambassador that is very encouraging. The East Bay is home to a large community of Afghani emigres, so we get a trickle of news in the local papers.
Serving his country from afarAfghan man leaves war-torn homeland to make a new life for himself -- and become U.S. ambassador
Washington -- In the saga of Said Tayeb Jawad's forced exile and sudden return to his homeland and his current posting as ambassador on Washington's leafy Embassy Row you can see the wild roller coaster ride of the last quarter century of Afghanistan's history.
As a 23-year-old law school graduate from a well-to-do family, Jawad fled Afghanistan in 1980 in the wake of the Soviet invasion. He ended up in the Bay Area, where he continued his schooling, became a U.S. citizen, landed a good job and settled into a comfortable life with his wife and son in the Oakland hills.
Then came the grisly events of Sept. 11, 2001, and the subsequent U.S. invasion of Afghanistan aimed at ousting the Taliban and its al Qaeda allies. Jawad felt compelled like many other Afghan emigres to help his homeland and its new president, Hamid Karzai.
With no previous government experience, Jawad was pressed into service first as the president's press secretary, then as chief of staff and now as the holder of Afghanistan's most important overseas post: ambassador to the United States, the Karzai government's main patron and protector.
The new job, which Jawad took up in December, is probably the most personally wrenching of all the posts he has filled for Karzai in the whirlwind of the past two years.Under international law, the 46-year-old Jawad had to give up his U.S. citizenship, at least temporarily, to become ambassador. His wife, Shamim Jawad, and their son Iman, 14, had stayed behind in Oakland while he went to Kabul and hitched their star to Karzai.
Shamim Jawad, a financial consultant for the giant TIAA-CREF mutual fund company, sold their home with its view of the Golden Gate Bridge in November and moved with Iman to an imposing mansion in Washington's swank Kalorama neighborhood, which is still undergoing remodeling after years of sitting empty while Afghanistan's wild situation was sorted out.
"It was a hard decision to sell our home,'' the ambassador said in his vast and still sparsely decorated office. "And it was a hard decision to give up my citizenship. But it was a technical decision because in this way I could serve my country and U.S. interests better.
Al Qaeda Opens First Embassy in Madrid.
Just in time for the latest release of their favorite game.
(via Allah Pundit warning:completely tasteless)
Of course if tasteless is your flavor-of-the-day...it doesn't get any better than Joe Cartoon.
Unless it's the perfect donation to Kerry's campaign.
Christopher Hitchens works up a smallish head of steam over the Spanish elections and resulting stupidity:
To Die in Madrid
The nutty logic that says Spain provoked Islamist terrorism....The Basque country, with its historic capital in Guernica, had been one of the main battlegrounds against Hitler and Mussolini in their first joint aggression in Spain, and many European families adopted Basque orphans and raised money for the resistance. It is tedious to relate the story of ETA's degeneration into a gangster organization that itself proclaims a fascist ideology of Basque racial uniqueness, and anyway one doesn't need to bother, since nobody any longer argues that there is a "root cause" of ETA's atrocities. In the face of this kind of subhuman nihilism, people know without having to be told that the only response is a quiet, steady hatred and contempt, and a cold determination to outlast the perpetrators while remorselessly tracking them down.
However, it seems that some Spaniards, and some non-Spanish commentators, would change on a dime if last week's mass murder in Madrid could be attributed to the Bin-Ladenists. In that case not only would there be a root cause—the deployment of 1,300 Spanish soldiers in the reconstruction of Iraq—but there would also be a culpable person, namely Spain's retiring prime minister. By this logic, terrorism would also have a cure—the withdrawal of those Spanish soldiers from a country where al-Qaida emphatically does not desire them to be.
Try not to laugh or cry, but some spokesmen of the Spanish left have publicly proposed exactly this syllogism. I wonder if I am insulting the readers of Slate if I point out its logical and moral deficiencies:
Many Spaniards were among those killed recently in Morocco, where a jihadist bomb attack on an ancient Moorish synagogue took place in broad daylight. The attack was on Morocco itself, which was neutral in the recent Iraq war. It seems a bit late to demand that the Moroccan government change sides and support Saddam Hussein in that conflict, and I suspect that the Spanish Communist and socialist leadership would feel a little sheepish in making this suggestion. Nor is it obvious to me that the local Moroccan jihadists would stop bombing if this concession were made. Still, such a concession would be consistent with the above syllogism, as presumably would be a demand that Morocco cease to tempt fate by allowing synagogues on its soil in the first place.
The Turkish government, too, should be condemned for allowing its Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan to visit the shattered synagogue in Istanbul after the latest mass murder (thus becoming, incidentally, the first Turkish prime minister ever to do so). Erdogan is also the first prime minister ever to be elected on an Islamist ticket. Clearly, he was asking for trouble and has not yet understood al-Qaida's conditions for being allowed to lead a quiet life. Not that he hadn't tried—he prevented the U.S. Army from approaching Baghdad through what is now known as the Sunni Triangle. He just hasn't tried hard enough.
It cannot be very long now before some slaughter occurs on the streets of London or Rome or Warsaw, as punishment for British and Italian and Polish membership of the anti-Saddam coalition. But perhaps there is still time to avoid the wrath to come. If British and Italian and Polish troops make haste to leave the Iraqis to their own "devices" (of the sort that exploded outside the mosques of Karbala and Najaf last month), their civilian cousins may still hope to escape the stern disapproval of the holy warriors. Don't ask why the holy warriors blow up mosques by the way—it's none of your goddam crusader-Jew business.
The other countries of NATO, which has now collectively adopted the responsibility for Afghanistan, should reconsider. As long as their forces remain on the soil of that country, they are liable to attract the sacred rage of the Muslim fighters. It will not be enough for Germany and France to have stayed out of Iraq. They cannot expect to escape judgment by such hypocritical means.
Indeed not...neither will a Kerry administration.
Senator Joe Biden has been all over the airwaves today, pontificating on the war on terror, Bush's lack of finesse with our Allies and repeating the Dem foreign policy talking-points-of-the-day. However, as usual Biden's ego got the better of him and he wandered off the reservation by suggesting a Kerry-McCain ticket. "It would be a 'fusion' ticket, bringing the red and blue states together" he opined smugly.
Typical thinking for a man totally bereft of ethics: Kerry, who will say anything and McCain abandoning his principals....hmmm....maybe Biden's on to something...sounds like the perfect Dem ticket; one-way to oblivion. Nothing would turn off the Dem base more than a right-wing white guy and the GOP base would turnout in record numbers.
Fellow Bear Flagger, Dale Franks provides an excellent piece on the Euro press' post-Madrid bombing commentary. Dale also found this must-see/blogroll gem:
Bill Hobbs fisks John Kerry's recent remarks on how he would handle the war on terrorism:
John Kerry gave a speech and issued a press release yesterday outlining his approach to the War on Terror. It's filled with the language of playing defense, rather than offense, which is to say, the language of defeatism and cowardice and resignation in the face of mass murder.-It's the language of disengaging from the terrorists, and preparing for when they hit us again. It's the language of switching from offense to defense.
How very French.
Stand up, walk to the nearest full length mirror, raise both arms over your head. There you have it:
Kerry's position on the war on terror.
The Sun giddily reports:
French Going Wild For Senator Kerry In Election Fever‘A CERTAIN ELEGANCE’ IS SEEN
If November’s presidential election were being held here, there’s no doubt that Mr. Kerry, the Massachusetts senator and Democratic candidate, would win by a landslide.
“People are going crazy. My phone is ringing from morning to night because everybody wants to know about Kerry,” said the head of the France chapter of Democrats Abroad, Constance Borde. “I’m even getting calls from French people asking if they can contribute to the campaign, and of course I have to tell them no.This is something I’ve never seen happening.”
-But in Mr. Kerry, the French seem to have found an American they can embrace.
-Mrs. Borde said the French see in Mr. Kerry the kind of leader they are more accustomed to.
Oui! Oui, et il se rend bien aussi!
- Mr. Kerry’s connection with France dates back to his youth, when he spent summers with a flock of cousins in St-Briac-sur-Mer, a summer resort town where his maternal grandfather had built an estate.James Grant Forbes, an international lawyer and banker,settled there with his wife, Margaret Winthrop, in 1908. The couple raised 11 children, including Mr. Kerry’s mother.
Their rambling cliffside property, called “Les Essarts,” was destroyed when Nazi troops occupied St-Briac, but Mr. Kerry’s grandfather rebuilt the estate and it became a regular summer haunt of far-flung relatives.
-One of Mr. Kerry’s cousins, 58-yearold Brice Lalonde, is a former French environment minister and now mayor of St-Briac.In an article in L’Express under the headline “My cousin JFK,” Mr. Lalonde recently wrote of how Mr. Kerry always took charge of his cousins’ activities when he visited the estate.
Still, Mr. Kerry has not returned to St-Briac in 20 years. At the height of American-French tensions last year, he skipped a family reunion that saw more than 200 relatives gather at the estate.
Oh-la-la! Le flip-flop!
ALISO VIEJO, Calif. (AP) - City officials were so concerned about the potentially dangerous properties of dihydrogen monoxide that they considered banning foam cups after they learned the chemical was used in their production.Then they learned that dihydrogen monoxide - H2O for short - is the scientific term for water.
Undaunted by falling victim to an internet hoax, the concerned burghers of Aliso Viejo pressed on:
the City Council of this Orange County suburb had been scheduled to vote next week on a proposed law that would have banned the use of foam containers at city-sponsored events. Among the reasons given for the ban were that they were made with a substance that could "threaten human health and safety."The measure has been pulled from the agenda, although Norman said the city may still eventually ban foam cups.
"Our main concern is with the Aliso Creek watershed," Norman said. "If you get Styrofoam into the water and it breaks apart, it's virtually impossible to clean up."
A hat tip to Brian at American RealPolitik.
The Euroweasels finally got the message: they're next.
EU to step up its fight against terrorism
EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - The EU is set to come up with new proposals on how to toughen its fight against terrorism following the attacks in Madrid last week.The European Commission has used the resulting upheaval surrounding the attacks to reprimand member states for not putting anti-terrorism measures - adopted after the 11th of September attacks - into practice and to suggest new measures.
Anti-terrorism commissioner?
At a meeting on Thursday, member state representatives will discuss ideas for a person specifically tasked with anti-terrorism duties.EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana had already mooted the idea of such a person to member states at the beginning of this month.
However, today Commission President Romano Prodi gave more credence to the idea by suggesting that anti-terrorism could be a portfolio for a Commissioner.
"We have to discuss thoroughly the entire [security] strategy and we will do it at the Summit next week. The anti-terrorism commissioner could be a piece of that strategy", said Mr Prodi.
Dragging feet until now. Up until now, member states have been very slow at implementing anti-terrorism measures.One bugbear with the Commission is the European Arrest Warrant.
Supposed to be implemented by all the member states by 1 January this year, five countries have still not done it - Germany, Italy, Austria, Greece and the Netherlands. (emphasis added)
"The European Union has already put in place a series of measures to combat terrorism. What we need now is swift action to ensure that all of them are turned into reality", Commission spokesperson Reijo Kemppinen said on Monday (15 March).
Another issue is a pledge by member states in June 2002 to set up common penalties and sanctions to terrorist offences.
"The implementation of this instrument is not even close to perfect", Mr Kemppinen said, adding that the Commission intends to raise this issue with the Member States to ensure that the necessary actions are taken.
The conventional media wisdom: the Popular Party's defeat was a response to Aznar's support of the US and involvment in Iraq. Not exactly.
In a stunning backlash, the ruling Popular Party of Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar was swept out of office Sunday, as voters turned on a government they believe provoked last week's bombings with its support for the U.S.-led war on Iraq.It was the first time a government that backed the Iraq war has been voted out. The vast majority of Spaniards opposed the war and victorious Socialist party leader Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero had pledged to bring home the 1,300 troops Spain has stationed in Iraq when their tour of duty ends in July.
However isn't it interesting that TIME reported that similar populist dynamics drove Aznar's election in 1996?
AMID A MURDEROUS WAVE OF BASQUE TERRORISM, THE CONSERVATIVE POPULAR PARTY IS POISED TO END 13 YEARS OF SOCIALIST RULE AND LEAD SPAIN INTO A NEW ERANot since the failed military putsch of 1981 had there been such an upsurge of public indignation. Nearly a million people converged on central Madrid last week following the murders of two prominent Spaniards by the Basque separatist group E.T.A. (Basque Homeland and Liberty). Enraged by the violence that has left more than 700 people dead over the past three decades, businessmen, workers and students braved a freezing rain to join politicians and union leaders in the 3-km march from Plaza de Colon to the Puerta del Sol. Many of the marchers had painted their hands white in a symbolic condemnation of E.T.A.'s bloodspilling. Others chanted, "Basta Ya!" (Enough!).
At the head of the cortege was a large banner bearing the words AGAINST VIOLENCE AND TERRORISM AND FOR FREEDOM. It was carried by a constellation of past and present political leaders, including Socialist Prime Minister Felipe Gonzalez and conservative Jose Maria Aznar, the man who is poised to unseat him in Sunday's election, according to the latest polls. Their handshake was splashed across the front page of El Mundo the next morning. But it was only a brief truce in an electoral contest that became increasingly bitter in its final days.
At elaborately choreographed rallies around the country, Aznar, 43, accused the Socialists of corruption, cronyism and mendacity. Gonzalez, 53, portrayed his challenger as a closet far-rightist who would dismantle the welfare system and turn away from European integration. Behind the campaign fireworks, though, the amazing reality was that just 20 years after the death of dictator Francisco Franco, Spain had become a mature, stable democracy in which power changed hands via ballot boxes and not bullets. "The alternation of power is crucial," says sociologist Victor Perez-Diaz. "Electing a conservative government is a way of exorcising the specter of Francoism."
Aznar had many problems that contributed to his party's defeat, the March 11 bombings pushed voters over the edge. Aznar's handling of the oil spill disaster off the country's north-west coast resulting from the sinking of the tanker Prestige created massive protests and began the erosion of popular support much as George H.W. Bush was taken to task for his reponse to Hurricane Andrew.
Aznar's rentless pursuit and crackdown on the Basque separatist group ETA and his presidency of the EU was seen by the Socialists as a ploy to reform Spain's welfare programs and weaken unions. They skillfully used working class discontent over reforms to erode Aznar's popularity and his party in the countryside.
Since he (Aznar) took office in 1996, his government's program of privatization, liberalization, and labor market reforms has helped transform Spain into one of Europe's fastest growing countries. Over the last five years, the Spanish economy has added 3 million jobs--one out of four created in Europe. Growth this year is forecast at 2.2%, compared with 1.2% to 1.4% for the EU. "The Spanish have shown that market liberalization creates growth," says Manuel Balmaseda, economist at Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria in Madrid.
Spain's politics are still emerging from Franco's long shadow as the two opposing ideologies vie for control of the social agenda. However, domestic politics aside, Spanish voters sent terrorists the worst possible message.
The lesson taken from the Spanish elections is that we are now at even greater risk if the outcome convinces terrorists that an attack in America will defeat Bush.
Why didn't I think of this? Cloned Martha websites are selling tons of Martha swag.
Fans call for Martha Stewart dayShoppers to descend on Kmarts to buy her lines
Now that she's in big, felonious trouble, they plan to return the favor by observing National Save Martha Day on Saturday.
Rallying the faithful with, ''Forget the sit-in; we're staging a knit-in!'' the New York-based website savemartha.com is urging fans to flock to Kmarts to purchase Martha Stewart Everyday housewares and urge other shoppers to do likewise -- while wearing Save Martha garb conveniently available on the website.
''The ground troops will be invading Kmart!'' declared website host John Small. ``The homeland security alert for Saturday will be the color pink.''
Kmart corporate communications didn't return calls.
But Small's call to arms is getting someone's attention. In recent days, he said, the website has gotten half a million hits and he has received nearly 15,000 e-mails -- enough to crash his server
Okay, I'm done and so is Martha.
Stephen Green exclaims:
I could kiss Charles Krauthammer right on the mouth for coining the phrase "shooting French in a barrel."
I'd pay to see that.
As Green noted, a great lede to a stem winder middle and adroit finish:
For the world. For France.
Lair makes a good point about the Madrid bombings:
I can't help think that the wave of Islamic terror and bloodshed in Israel has been beta-testing for terrorists groups throughout the world, and now they're going into their public-release gold versions of terrorism.
Senator John Kerry on job loss, out-sourcing and company off-shoring, claims that "Over 2.7 million manufacturing jobs have been lost since President Bush took office." The graf below is a quote from the Kerry website:
Make Trade Work for America. The Bush Administration has neglected to enforce trade laws or respond to the unfair practices of some of our nation's largest trading partners. As President, John Kerry will: order an immediate 120 day top to bottom review of all trade agreements to ensure that foreign nations fully comply with trade agreements they sign with our country; vigorously enforce our trade laws to ensure our workers are not victims of unfair trading practices; insist future trade agreements incorporate within them core labor standards and environmental protections; demand that other countries, such as China, do not manipulate their currencies to gain unfair trade advantages; and help any workers displaced by trade develop new skills and find new jobs.
Interesting.
Now go here
Seems John Kerry may have a little credibility problem in his own household.
John Kerry likes to talk rough with the guys at the plant, as in his remarks about the GOP recently. However, Kerry is a wealthy aristocrat from a privilaged background, with an even wealthier wife, both whom enjoy profits derived in ever larger percentages from global operations. Heinz recently acquired a majority stake in an Argentine pet food producer, Alimentos Pilar, are the wages and benefits on a par with those in Ohio?
Heinz Co is the number two producer of dog food in the US, guess we'll see if the voters eat the Kerry brand.
UPDATE: Fox News reported that 53 of Heinz's 57 factories are off-shore.
Sen. John Kerry slammed Republican "attack" squads. Is he kidding?
These are the attack squads I'm worried about, not partisan American political operatives. How about you?
The attack in Madrid occurred exactly 2 1/2 years after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks in the United States - and there 911 days in between the terror attacks in Madrid and those in New York and Washington.
Someone is sending us a message and they're not conspiracy buffs.
Do you hear them now Senator Kerry?
The Euroweasels may finally get it: Europe rethinks war on terror
Michele sums it up in a nutshell: it's everyone's war.
Stay informed, check The Command Post for breaking stories and news items.
UPDATE: An appropriate Kerry quote at Horsefeathers.
I'm waiting for the flip-flop to drop.
Still believe there is no liberal bias in the media?
Accused spy is cousin of Bush stafferWASHINGTON (AP) -- The woman charged with working for the Iraqi spy agency is a distant cousin of President Bush's chief of staff, Andrew Card, and has held a variety of jobs in journalism and on Capitol Hill.
Susan Lindauer, 41, worked in the press offices of four Democratic members of Congress. She also worked for Fortune magazine, U.S. News & World Report, the Seattle Post-Intelligencer and Fox News.
Lindauer started her congressional career in 1993 when she took a job with Rep. Peter DeFazio, D-Ore. The next year she went to work for a second Oregon Democrat in the House - Ron Wyden. Two years later she joined the staff of Sen. Carol Moseley Braun, D-Ill.
After a brief stint at Fox News, she worked for Rep. Zoe Lofgren, D-Calif., for a few months in 2002.
The SF Chronicle's lede graph:
The government is accusing a one-time journalist and Congressional aide of secretly becoming a paid Iraqi intelligence agent before trying to influence her distant cousin -- the White House chief of staff -- on U.S. policy.
The LA Times:
Ex-Aide Accused of Being an Agent for Iraq
WASHINGTON — A former journalist and legislative aide with connections to the White House and Congress was arrested Thursday, accused of trying to influence U.S. policy as a paid agent of Saddam Hussein's intelligence services.
The NYTimes went with the AP wire story leading with Card's connection.
So much for fairness.
Aaron's RantBlog is on the case, playing like a pigeon with
the ginchiest Carnival of the Vanities piling up the eyeballs.
Oh no! Unfair! How dare Bush mention Kerry by name.
Kerry can't have it both ways, his record, statements and proposals are the heart of the matter. Only the ABB crowd don't care what, if anything, Kerry stands for.
The National Taxpayer's Union analysis of Kerry's proposals:
NTUF has reviewed Kerry's web site, speeches, and news coverage of his campaign and has tallied the new spending associated with his campaign promises.As of March 8, 2004, Kerry has proposed ideas that would increase annual federal spending by $276.9 billion a year ($2.769 trillion over ten years).
Won't The Children have to pay his $2.79 TRILLION increase?
As to Kerry's foreign policy gravitas, even the Washington Post is not impressed with Kerry's recent grandstanding on Haiti.
SEN. JOHN F. KERRY of Massachusetts, the presumptive Democratic nominee for president, said last week that he would have saved Haitian president Jean-Bertrand Aristide from forced exile. "I would have been prepared to send troops immediately, period," Mr. Kerry said in an interview with the New York Times. Purposeful and decisive, no doubt, and useful as a riposte to Republican portrayals of him as a waffler. But on Feb. 24, when Mr. Aristide's fate still hung in the balance, Mr. Kerry did not sound quite so decisive. He called then for the administration to "do more to preserve the democratic process" and to support a multilateral force including police from Caribbean nations and others. But the most he was ready to advocate in terms of U.S. troops was "a visible show of U.S. military force off the coast."
The "Mother" of All House PartiesThe East Bay for Kerry/MoveOn House party on December 7th combined the forces of two grass-roots organizations based in San Francisco East Bay Area. We had 200 guests eating, drinking, and watching the MoveOn Documentary “Uncovered” featuring Joseph Wilson and Rand Beers from the Kerry campaign.
When Teresa Heinz-Kerry arrived, she handed me a pin that read in the center: “Asses of Evil” with “Bush”, “Cheney”, “Rumsfeld” and “Ashcroft” surrounding it.(emphasis added)
You be the judge as to who went negative first. Once again in the spirit of Kerry's gentler, kinder campaign, I offer an unofficial Bush ad:
A hat tip to CavalierX.
The gloves are off as Kerry makes crude remarks on a live mike:
Earlier Wednesday in Chicago, Kerry toughened his comments about his GOP critics after a supporter urged him to take on Bush. "Let me tell you, we've just begun to fight," Kerry said. "We're going to keep pounding. These guys are the most crooked, you know, lying group I've ever seen. It's scary."
What a tough guy, I'm so impressed with his gravitas. He can't run on his own record and the Dems haven't had a new idea in years...so all he has left is class warfare, 3-card Monty tax policy, and ad hominem attacks. Pity. We as a nation deserve better.
You might also note in the above article that the AP fawns:
Kerry had 2,037 delegates after sweeping four Southern primaries Tuesday,
I'm beginning to miss Howard Dean.
In the Kerry spirit of fair play, I offer you this little gem: (mpeg file)
Greetings from cold, dusty, windy Iraq: Pontifex is back in country.
Smash posts a must read.
Kerry on National Security
Who: Senator Daniel Inouye (D-Hawaii).
What: Speech in opposition to amendment No. 1452 to the Emergency Supplemental Appropriations Act for Fiscal Year 1994 (excerpted from the Congressional Record).
When: February 2, 1994.
Where: The floor of the United States Senate.
Why: "As long as we are confronted with madmen, terrorists, and countries with strained agendas, I think it would be prudent on the part of the United States to maintain a ready force of men and women who are willing to stand in harm's way."
Tim at CPT Patti asks How Bad Can it be? and gets cranky with John Kerry's blather (scroll down to DEBUNKING SENATOR KERRY'S COMMENTS)
Kerry:
"If I am president, I will be prepared to use military force to protect our security, our people, and our vital interests. But I will never send our troops into harm's way without enough firepower and support."Kerry said that U.S. helicopters in Iraq even now "are flying missions without the best available anti-missile systems" and that "un-armored Humvees are falling victim to roadside bombs and small-arms fire.
"The Bush administration waited through month after month of ambushes and only acted to start manufacturing armored door kits three months ago," he said.
"Un-armored HUMMWVs" Senator? If you had a single solitary clue Senator you would know that HUMMWV's were never intended to be armored. As I've written here before, the HUMMWV replaced the Jeep. The Jeep was never armored. Nor was it expected to be. If you are so gol' darned concerned about HUMMWV armament, Senator, where was your "Congressional" inquiry to the Department of Defense asking about the absence of armor on HUMMWV's long ago?The HUMMV was never designed to be an armored vehicle because on a traditional battlefield it doesn't need to be. And fighting on traditional battlefields is how Congress funds the US Military. The problem we face now is that this war on terror is not fought on a traditional battlefield.
I defy you to show me one solitary line in any Defense Department Budget for "occupation operations" Senator. But it is precisely because we are in this unforseen situation that the issue of armor on HUMMV's has even come up.
To be fair to former Army Chief of Staff Shinseki, the Stryker vehicle envisioned hostile urban operations, Senator. Were you out there introducing legislation to hurry this vehicle into production and fielding, Senator? I didn't think so.
Senator, spare us the intimation of your prescience...you didn't have it, you don't have it.
Chief Wiggles posts a thank you...a standing Ovation is in order.
::::APPLAUSE:::::
SGT Hook signs off for a while...his unit for is deploying to Afghanistan ...you've been keeping up, right? Drop by and wish him good luck, Godspeed or whatever...a few bucks in the Q fund can't hurt either.
Donnie of We The People offers The Fragger Lexicon and wants your opinion.
Blackfive posts another Failed Bush Foreign Policy.
Here's my list of reasons we shouldn't increase censorship of public airwaves.
Thanks to Wiley at Non Sequitur.
Sorry, I just can't get worked up about Howard Stern's yanking our morality chain or his departure...he's so tedious. I certainly agree with Emperor Misha on the slippery slope and reject the concept of a "decency clause" and/or government censorship of public bandwidth. The right-wingnuts clamoring for censorship suffer from an accute case of myopia and possibly a case of morality melvin chaffing. Atheists could use their argument to build a case against Christian radio-TV using public bandwidth ( They will sooner or later).
As His Highness points out; we're on public bandwidth and wouldn't the Left love to shut us up?
Stern's firing wasn't about decency, it was a pre-emptive strike to head off loss of ad revenue. The media companies have another governing concept: the bottom line. That's why it's called "the media business".
Just as Hollywood willingly blacklisted people HUAC fingered in the 50's to protect profits, media companies will scurry from their spideyholes and cover their asses...for a while...then the public forgets what offended them and/or the culture makes another shift and it's back to business as usual.
I find ABC News and NPR's rampant anti-Semitism far more offensive than Howard's juvenile antics or Janet's tit. Yet, I don't want NPR removed or some Fed goon or committee blue-lining their scripts. Just change the effin' channel fer Peet's sake! How hard is this?! There's plenty of choices...make one and STFU.
An enlightening article in the WaPo on the Democrats "parallel campaign" funded and organized by "527" groups.
Most of these new organizations have been established as "527s," shorthand for the provision of the tax law that covers their activities. The 527s are controversial because they accept soft money from corporations and unions, which critics say represents an evasion of the ban on large, unregulated contributions in the new campaign finance law known as the McCain-Feingold Act, and because they operate under less stringent disclosure regulations.
The Democratic 527 organizations have drawn support from some wealthy liberals determined to defeat Bush. They include financier George Soros and his wife, Susan Weber Soros, who gave $5 million to ACT and $1.46 million to MoveOn.org; Peter B. Lewis, chief executive of the Progressive Corp., who gave $3 million to ACT and $500,000 to MoveOn; and Linda Pritzker, of the Hyatt hotel family, and her Sustainable World Corp., who gave $4 million to the joint fundraising committee.
So much for the party of the common man. Opensecrets.org has more on the various shadow groups of wealthy business executives, lawyers and industralists who are donating millions to defeat Bush. A bit of unintended economic policy humor from the data titled "527 Committees identified as Democratic/Liberal":
Campaign for America's Future
Total Receipts: $0
Total Expenditures: $1,575.00
I personally have no problem with the rich donating to campaigns, anyone who thinks the rich don't have more access is fooling themselves, it's fact of life on both sides of the political spectrum, however I am a little tired of the Dems hubris and dishonesty. Does anyone really think that Soros will not have special access to a Kerry administration?
That's why I have decided to climb off the Indie fence (yes, I seem to be doing a lot of that of late) and support George W. Bush by participating in Wictory Wednesday. I encourage you to volunteer and/or donate to the Bush campaign.
Breaking News!
AP- UPI- released two hours ago. Junior Senator Hillary Clinton of New York was flying cross-country last night in her private plane and was forced to make an emergency landing in southern Ohio because of bad weather.
The accident scene pictures, including the wreckage of Hillary's plane are here.
....didit...dah...didit....
DNC Demands Bush Drop 'President' from TV Ads
(2004-03-09) -- After slamming the Bush-Cheney 2004 re-election campaign for its use of 9/11 imagery in campaign ads, the Democrat National Committee (DNC) today again demanded that the ads be pulled... more
Another of Bush's miserable failures ocurred today.
Iraq's Governing Council Signs Interim ConstitutionIraq's Governing Council signed a landmark interim constitution on Monday, creating a 13-article bill of rights, setting up an outline for the parliament and presidency and enshrining Islam as one of the bases of law.
Before an audience of prominent Iraqi and American civilian and military officials, including the top administrator in Iraq, L. Paul Bremer (search), the 25 council members signed with commemorative pens the document on an antique desk once owned by King Faisal I, Iraq's first monarch.
Holding a rifle in one hand, Saddam Hussein fired 140 shots during a five-hour military parade held to show solidarity with the Palestinian Intifada.
By the data to date, there is only one opinion in the Blogosphere dangerous to the blogger -- his own. So he must supply his own indispensable competition. This week's Symphony is cleverly annotated by Christine at Irritable Blog Syndrome
A double safe found by a looter in a secret concrete chamber under exiled Haitian President Jean-Bertrand Aristide's livingroom contained $350,000 in decomposing U.S. banknotes, including these bills. (bold emphasis added)
Maybe Baby Doc forgot it.
Jobs are more likely to be shipped overseas from Silicon Valley and the nine Bay Area counties than any other region in the nation. The SF Chonicle is running an ongoing series of articles that challenge what we think we know about the issue. Today's in-depth coverage is recommended reading.
Sen. John Kerry, derides "Benedict Arnold CEOs" who send job overseas, yet as this article in today's SF Chronicle Business section proves, his view is not shared by many of Silicon Valley's top executives who are staunch Dem supporters and mega-donors.
Straight from the mouth: Executives speak out
"You sound like a piano player in the old days when there were 35,000 piano players playing in the front of every movie theater when they had silent movies. You're saying, 'Who's going to employ all of us now that they have sound embedded in the films?' Gang, we've got brains. There will be lots to do. What's an American company? We do half our business internationally. Does that make us an international company or a U.S. company?Global companies grow globally. Shouldn't India be a little upset that we have most of their software programmers here? Who's making the value judgments here? "Scott McNealy
Chairman and CEO
Sun Microsystems***
U.S. corporations' first responsibility is to their shareholders. You cannot say, 'I'm going to put national interests ahead of shareholder interests.' That said, well-managed companies are able to balance the interests of their investors, the interest of their employees and the interest of the countries in which they serve. Our company derives half its revenue from outside the United States. And while we are a U.S. company, we have active operations in dozens of other countries. So we have an equal obligation in places where customers provide the underpinning revenue that helps grow our business. "John Thompson
Chairman and CEO
Symantec Corp.***
"We're at an interesting turning point on this topic in the U.S. Some well- meaning people argue that we have to take drastic measures and put up various barriers to protect American jobs. My personal view is the facts absolutely refute that. Over a long period of time, increased economic activity in China and India and anyplace else in the world will lead to more opportunities and economic growth - not less. That's the result you want.In the next few years, will (American) jobs be lost? Absolutely. But after all we've been through in the last 30 or 40 years, I'm not sure who in manufacturing in the U. S. in 2003 thinks their job is permanently going to stay in the U.S. "Marc Andreessen
Chairman
Opsware
***
"This is the big argument I had with Ross Perot on NAFTA (the North America Free Trade Agreement). Perot said, "My God, if we do this, Mexico will get a lot of good jobs."Isn't that a terrible thing? That a poor country like Mexico would get a lot of jobs.Can you imagine, isn't that awful? I think it's great. I think NAFTA is great. Free trade will not only help the United States, but will transform India, China and the world into a more prosperous place. "Larry Ellison
CEO
Oracle***
"There is no job that is America's God-given right anymore. It's interesting to me that so many people talk about China or India or Russia as being a source of low-cost labor. Truthfully, over the long term, the greater threat is the source of well-educated labor. And if you look at the number of college- educated students that China graduates every year, it's close to 40 million. The law of large numbers is fairly compelling. "Carly Fiorina
Chairman and CEO
Hewlett-Packard
Senator Feinstein recently sponsored a bill to prevent US banks from transferring customer data to out-sourced accounting, debt collection and customer call centers. That horse bolted the gate twenty years ago when credit cards went global and more recently as debit cards, ATMs and cell phones began to dispense cash world-wide. The good senator obviously doesn't shop online either.
Another Dem bugaboo is that our medical records will be pawed by a foreigner and sold for profit. As if our domestic hospitals, HMOs and insurance industry isn't in the data mining business. However, not all are eager to out-source.
"Our medical record information will be done in the U.S. It's not going to be outsourced. It's not going offshore. "George Halverson
Chairman and CEO
Kaiser Foundation Health Plans and Hospitals Inc
Data collection and analysis by SRI and researchers at UC Berkeley reached a different conclusion about job loss than the Dems class warfare cant and old media's conventional wisdom:
I would add that worker's comp increases, over-regulation and tax burdens levied by Gray Davis accelerated downsizing and many of the job losses Kerry laments were sent out-of-state to Nevada, Arizona or off-shore by the Dems themselves.
Offshoring's giant target: the Bay Area
Silicon Valley could face export of 1 in 6 jobs -- worst in nationDespite the growing worker outrage about offshoring, researchers agree it's not the top reason people are losing jobs or having trouble finding new ones. Of the California jobs at highest risk to outsourcing, most of the 200, 000 lost between 2001 and 2003 were casualties of the tech crash, not overseas relocation, the UC Berkeley researchers say.
"Probably more jobs were lost due to normal automation or capital invested that improves productivity, rather than offshoring," said John "Matty" Mathieson, director of the Center for Science, Technology and Economic Development at research institute SRI International.
The Chron's economics writer, Sam Zuckerman offers an insight into the economics of offshoring: Economic Arguments.
However the quote that struck me as demonstrative of just how out of touch our elected officals are, and how little they understand real-life economics, is this one:
On Thursday, the Senate voted to prevent federal contractors from using tax dollars to move American jobs offshore, despite the opposition of numerous Republicans. Another federal bill -- backed by Kerry, among others -- would require call-center operators to disclose where they are. ("Good morning, this is Dell tech support in Bangalore.")
BUWHAHAHAHA!
Right. I was totally confused about that.
Senator Kerry, the Indian accent might be a large clue that the call center is not in Kansas. Jeebus, are consumers really that dumb?
Lileks screeds better than anyone in the Blogosphere, today's is a humdinger (funny thing is, I was wondering how to best use this photo from TIME).
"Will Bush run ads that contrast John Kerry’s sonorous litany about “the worst foreign policy” with pictures of women in Kabul throwing off the burqa or men in Iraq toppling a statue?"
A few days before the Minnesota caucuses a flier was stuck in my door. It was from “Peace in the Precincts,” an organization that wanted five planks inserted into the laundry list of caucus resolutions. Number four caught my eye:Be it resolved, that the US should renounce the doctrine of preemptive war and promote the rebuilding of the international community through the United Nations to track down and incapacitate international, terrorist organizations, and to intervene to stop genocides, tyrannical regimes, and international armed conflicts through diplomacy, the promotion of democracy, focused and forceful nonviolent intervention, and peaceful conflict resolution.
Okay. A simple quiz.
1. We should promote the rebuilding of the international community through the UN to stop tyrannical regimes through forceful nonviolent intervention.
Or:
2 "You’re either with us, or with the terrorists."
Imagine a bomb just went off in your local mall. Choose one.
Read it all, as I left out the good bits about 673 dolls, 50 cents in pennies, a kaleidoscope and a flashlight.
Depressed that the Domestic Goddess is headed for the slammer? Need a good laugh Bunky? Well, Michele is always happy to oblige, as are a small coterie of overwrought Leftie trolls (hmmm...that may be a redundant description).
RALL RULES! All you fascists eat your own shit on tablecloths with eyeholes cut out. I can't even begin to say how superior we are to you! Kerry, Hillary, Dean, etc are the future! There is no room for your hate mongering, tiny brained, cross burning kind in our new world order. We will remake the world in our image. All out war - no more fascist conservatives!
If this rant is indicative of the quality of thought emanating from the Left, then they are indeed in deep doo-doo.
Happy is the Carnival of the Vanities where no editor hath marked,
And happy is Dodgeblogium at night whose Carnivals are posted.
Whoa! Guilty!
Martha Stewart set to offer K-Mart a new line of linens.
Bernie Ebbers will be next.
In response to the Bush campaign ads that began running today:
The campaign of Senator John Kerry, the presumptive nominee for the Democratic Party, as well as firefighters and some families of the victims of the World Trade Center attacks, have criticized the use of the images as cynical exploitation of a national tragedy.
Excuse me Senator, do you recognise this image?
You have no problem cynically thumping your medals and metaphorically standing on their graves to make yourself more palatable to voters in 2004. No one has used death and destruction more cynically than have you and the Dems in the primary campaign.
There are more than 58,000 families who still grieve for their fathers, husbands, brothers and sons, many who served willingly and all who served honorably, only to have their service tarnished by your self-serving rhetoric.
We are deeply offended.
The tragic events of Sept 11, 2001 occured during President Bush's term in office, he has the same right as any American to display the imagery of that awful day in a respectful manner. Sept. 11th was a national tradegy, and a rite of passage for all Americans, they were our brothers and sisters, we mourned them then and still grieve for their loss.
It is the Democrats who are using the issue improperly by making a campaign issue of it. Shame on you.
Update:
Isn't it curious that both widows protesting the ads had almost identical verbiage and that all four major networks found both of them simultaneously?
Like many bloggers I've hesitated to enter the gay marriage debate because it is a personal moral and ethical dilemma, but a wedding invitation arrived in the mail yesterday that pushed me off the fence.
No, the invitation is not to a gay wedding, it is the wedding of a lovely young woman I've known her entire life. Her mother is a childhood friend who has a twenty year relationship with her female partner. The young woman was the result of a closeted marriage that ended by mutual agreement. The father remarried and maintained a close relationship with the birth mother and the child received the best of both families.
I know some of you are thinking "So what! another tale of happy lesbians from the wacko Left coast". Well, you would be wrong because this story doesn't have a happy ending.
You see as I sat with the invite in hand the heart of this matter lept out.
The daughter can marry the partner of her choice, but her mother cannot.
This is a civil rights issue. It is not about being gay, or approval of the gay lifestyle, but is about everyone having the same rights under law.
Where we go from here I don't know, there is no easy answer, but we must grapple with the underlying issue of equal rights or we are all diminished.
UPDATE: Juliette of Baldilocks has another viewpoint to consider.
Tony of Oriental Redneck wonders...
Where Are My War Dividends?I just paid 29 dollars for almost 12 gallons of high-octane gasoline.
If the war was about the oil, where the heck is my cheap gas?
...and deconstructs Representative Corinne Brown's disavowal of racism.
Isn't it interesting that the Dems are seldom taken to the woodshed for outrageous racial remarks and rumor mongering. Just imagine the uproar if such an offensive exchange had taken place between a white Republican congressman and an African-American witness. Brown should be removed from any and all committees.
This item from Tim at Four Right Wing Wackos:
The long talked-about liberal talk radio network has finally found an affiliate in New York - WLIB-AM, The Post has learned.Air America, as the network will be known, is also expected to announce that outspoken comedian Janeane Garofalo will join pit-bull humorist Al Franken in its line-up.
South Florida liberal Randi Rhodes will follow Franken and be up against Sean Hannity (WABC), Bill O'Reilly and Bob Grant (both on WOR) in New York.
She told her West Palm Beach listeners this week that she plans to "bury" Hannity and Grant.
BUWHAHAHAHAHA!!
"Air America" They're kidding, right? Not even the anti-war Left is that obtuse.
However, the Left is bereft of ideas and intellectually if not factually dishonest, as this data set at American RealPolitik amply demonstrates.
Now we will see if the American public is as gullible as the left believes.
Slings and Arrows has a very good post on the Bush tax cuts and a bit of data the Dems don't want you to know.
Linda at Civilizations Calls pens an excellent rant on the failed gun grab yesterday. Note that Kerry, who has missed every vote this year, made a point of voting for the Dem amendments. Maybe next time Feinstein and Schumer will not call a gloatfest press op before the final vote. The Dems were uniformly shocked that the Repubs withdrew the bill rather than pass their amendments....looks like election year is going to be very interesting as the GOP Senate plays Lucy to Kerry's Charlie Brown.
Right On The Left Beach says of his computer-voting machine experience yesterday:
The system is creepy. You sign in and they give you a piece of paper with numbers on it. Then you hand the paper to a person at a terminal that gives you a "secret number." I felt like my voting privacy was violated at that point. It seems like entry of the numbers in the terminal is a way to track my ballot back to me. The person at the terminal knew when I "cast" my ballot. I felt creepy again. Does the terminal operator know how I voted?The operation of the terminal is stupid. It seems designed for stupid people.
Uh-oh, it's going to be Palm Beach all over again.
John Cross says that
Bush has been right on the BIG things has really pissed off the people that don't like him on an emotional level. This includes a lot of Democrats and liberals.So, since the anti-Bush crowd has an emotional dislike of GWB, they are trying their damndest to find reasons to vote against him.
What people are missing, though, is the following:
"What is the alternative?"
The Left might ponder the fate of the car-chasing dog who finally caught one.
Juliette tells a familiar tale of polling place hostility created by the "big tent party" of tolerance. If this were a white GOP polling place Maxine Waters and her ilk would be having a hissy fit. Shame on the Democrats for allowing this to continue.
I switched parties in protest over Teddy Kennedy in 1980 and in 1992 became an Indie. So I've voted in both party precints over the years and only the Dems made me feel uncomfortable to the point of wondering if my ballot would be actually be counted.
Fortunately, California offers permanent absentee ballots so those of us in the minority in our counties don't have to run a gaunlet of disapproval to exercise our franchise.
Blackfive posted a piece 'John Kerry - Bush Failed in 9/11 Response' that got me to thinkin' about the 2004-as-1968 meme that has taken hold. As I wrote in Matt's comments this election may have far more in common with 1984.
Let's have a look at just how different the world and our nation was in 1968:
That was one hell of a year, in a decade of searing events. However, even as one searches for and lists events it is very apparent that the world and nation in 1968 has very little similarity to 2004.
We've come a long way since 1968. John Kerry can't go home any more than the rest of us who lived through those times can, it changed us, our country and the world forever, and in my opinion, for the better.
A historical footnote: I didn't think this item fit into a timeline of events per se, but it certainly is worth consideration:
September 29, 1968:
This date marks the thirtieth anniversary of Neville Chamberlain's Munich agreement ceding Czechoslovakia's Sudatenland to Hitler. This action widely seen as a major contributing factor to the devastation of World War II.
The domino theory which underlay so much of American action in Vietnam can be seen as a direct response to the failure of international response to the German dictator.
Perhaps this is a lesson we have finally learned?
Pixy Misa host's this week's Bestofme 'R' Us an amusing arrangment of blog ditties, show tunes and riffs at Ambient Irony.
