Now for something fun....Last week I posted a book meme from WarDialer.
Michele discovered another, via Treacher:
1. Grab the nearest CD.
2. Put it in your CD-Player (or start your mp3-player, I-tunes, etc.).
3. Skip to Song 3 (or load the 3rd song in your 3rd playlist)
4. Post the first verse in your journal along with these instructions. Don’t name the band, nor the album-title.
Cuando you and me
we were just chiquillos
we would always run
through the tall nopal
we would often say
say to each other
there could be no fin
siempre los dos
Go back to Michele's post, then Treacher and follow the links, comments & trackbacks and see how many songs you recognize. I won't shame myself by admitting how few I knew. Blogger's have esoteric tastes that's for sure. Gees.
Now I feel so lame.
This gutless weasel retreated so fast he must have whiplash.
UMass Student Apologizes To Tillman Family For ColumnAMHERST, Mass. -- A University of Massachusetts at Amherst graduate student is apologizing to Pat Tillman's family.
Rene Gonzalez had written a column for the campus paper saying the football player-turned-soldier who died in combat in Afghanistan wasn't a hero -- but a "G.I. Joe guy who got what was coming to him."
Gonzalez said in an e-mail to a Boston TV station that he was trying to say Tillman's celebrity had factored into his being labeled a hero.
He admits he tried to prove his point in an "insensitive way" and that the article wasn't worth publishing.
The school's president issued a statement calling Gonzalez's column "a disgusting, arrogant and intellectually immature attack" on Tillman.
The paper ran a letter to readers today saying the column didn't express the paper's views.
Ted Koppel says he doesn't think the American people know what is going on, that we need to be reminded that young people are dying in Iraq. Is he fucking joking? The media has beaten that horse into the ground. How can anyone with a TV escape their constant hammering and yammering about the war and that it is going dreadfully wrong.
I've sooo had it up to HERE with the media that I posted a rant at the Command Post Op-Ed page today.
You people going to sit and watch this travesty much longer? Or will you finally get off your collective asses and start compalining and writing to irresponsible media outlets and their advertisers, BEFORE, they cost more lives...photos of whom Ted Koppel will piously broadcast, no doubt.
We did it! The Blogosphere raised $50,000 for Spirit of America. You guys rock, thank you for hitting the site, participating in auctions, donating directly or playing my lame games. A special thank you to John Donovan, Michele Catalano and Dean Esmay, awesome team leaders all.
The WSJ's Dan Henninger has been following the progress of SOA's fund raising effort to equip a TV station and people-to-people projects in Iraq and Afghanistan, here's a photo and the the money graphs for those who do not subscribe.
The grand response to the Spirit of America request says to me that the public understands that we are there in Iraq and the job now isn't to debate its value but to get the job done. Most Americans don't want to be one of the partisan bobbleheads on television. They want to be part of a genuine homefront, helping. One who responded to the Spirit of America appeal, Dick Kampa of Tucson, Ariz., put it this way:
"My sense is that there are many who would support civilian, home-front activity that would bolster troop morale and communicate to the Iraqi people that we really are their friends. Putting a political label on such activity would be counterproductive. I think Democrats and Republicans should, and many would, unite in these activities. Perhaps we need rallies or community meetings linked to constructive actions like funds for impactful projects in Iraq, adopt-a-communities, collection of goods, bandage rolling, etc., things that involve people across America."
You know for a fact that if Laura Bush undertook any such homefront effort, it would be dissected and mocked as hokey and irrelevant. Too bad. I don't think most Americans want to debate woulda, coulda, shoulda just now. They want to win. Spirit of America is a start, but someone high in the Bush administration ought to start thinking of ways to let more people pitch in.
I agree, President Bush should call upon Americans to get involved and use the bully pulpit to raise the profile of the many heroic efforts already undertaken by ordinary people who want to contribute. If a small cadre of bloggers can raise $50k in a week, imagine what a WH photo op or a press mention would do for Spirit ofAmerica. The latest polls indicate that 47% of us think the war is worthwhile, that is one hell of a force for good.
Just ask us, Mr. President, use the force.
As the Left rallies their brethren with hate-filled rhetoric and the media cackles over a keenly anticipated defeat, remember these words:
...If we wish to be free-- if we mean to preserve inviolate those inestimable privileges for which we have been so long contending--if we mean not basely to abandon the noble struggle in which we have been so long engaged, and which we have pledged ourselves never to abandon until the glorious object of our contest shall be obtained--we must fight! I repeat it, sir, we must fight! An appeal to arms and to the God of hosts is all that is left us!They tell us, sir, that we are weak; unable to cope with so formidable an adversary. But when shall we be stronger? Will it be the next week, or the next year? Will it be when we are totally disarmed, and when a British guard shall be stationed in every house? Shall we gather strength by irresolution and inaction? Shall we acquire the means of effectual resistance by lying supinely on our backs and hugging the delusive phantom of hope, until our enemies shall have bound us hand and foot? Sir, we are not weak if we make a proper use of those means which the God of nature hath placed in our power. The millions of people, armed in the holy cause of liberty, and in such a country as that which we possess, are invincible by any force which our enemy can send against us. Besides, sir, we shall not fight our battles alone. There is a just God who presides over the destinies of nations, and who will raise up friends to fight our battles for us. The battle, sir, is not to the strong alone; it is to the vigilant, the active, the brave. Besides, sir, we have no election. If we were base enough to desire it, it is now too late to retire from the contest. There is no retreat but in submission and slavery! Our chains are forged! Their clanking may be heard on the plains of Boston! The war is inevitable--and let it come! I repeat it, sir, let it come.
It is in vain, sir, to extenuate the matter. Gentlemen may cry, Peace, Peace-- but there is no peace. The war is actually begun! The next gale that sweeps from the north will bring to our ears the clash of resounding arms! Our brethren are already in the field! Why stand we here idle? What is it that gentlemen wish? What would they have? Is life so dear, or peace so sweet, as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery? Forbid it, Almighty God! I know not what course others may take; but as for me, give me liberty or give me death!
They are as true today as they were spoken by Patrick Henry, March 23, 1775.
Donate to Spirit of America so that others who are frightened and oppressed may hear these words and believe that they too can live free. I know you're tired of bloggers begging for donations on every site this week, and we bloggers are tired of it too, but we can't afford to be tired. This is not bean bag.
Remember Jefferson's words:
“I have sworn... eternal hostility against every form of tyranny over the mind of man”
We must not fail, Americans are freedom's last, best hope. Should we withdraw from the war on terrorism, tyranny will fill the void, placing all at peril.
Never forget, contrary to the picture painted by the media of an inept or thuggish US military and lapped up by the self-loathing Left; Army Spec. Theresa Lynn Flannery is not the exception, but the rule and be damned thankful.
Maybe she asked herself, "What in the world is a girl from Madison County doing in a spot like this?"Certainly, it would have been understandable if Army Spec. Theresa Lynn Flannery had wondered that, what with Iraqi sniper bullets buzzing over her head like angry bees and three of her fellow soldiers lying seriously wounded.
But if the question did cross her mind, it never caused her to hesitate.
The 26-year-old Flannery -- a former Miss Teen Madison County and "a 5-foot-3 fireball," according to her mother -- threw herself into the battle at Najaf, Iraq, earlier this month. She shot back at the enemy, then used her combat lifesaving training to treat her wounded buddies.
Once during the two-hour firefight she had to dive for cover, breaking bones in her right wrist and hand in the process but carrying on despite the pain. An Associated Press photographer shot a picture of her racing for cover during the battle, and it was circulated around the world. A week passed before the extent of Flannery's injury was discovered, while she continued to perform her duties.
Flannery, an Army Reservist with the 350th Civil Affairs Command, has been recommended for the Bronze Star with a "V" device for valor, the nation's fourth highest military honor, for her actions during the battle early this month. She also is getting the Purple Heart for the injury she suffered while under fire.
Flannery's parents knew she had volunteered for a dangerous mission, knew she had been in several firefights, and knew she had been injured. But they-didn't learn the extent of her exploits until this week, when they received a letter from Col. William Ettinger, deputy commander of her unit.
"Words cannot express how proud I am of your daughter," Ettinger wrote. "She is a fine soldier ... more than willing and able to get the job done. It is an honor to serve with her."
Spec Flannery is an American soldier doing her duty to her country and brothers at arms. Real heroes don't expect medals or accolades, they simply do their duty when it arises. Be it on the battlefield, plunging into a frozen river to save a child or running into a burning office tower.
John Kerry dishonors them all by trading on his service. Not only is it unseemly, but dishonest in a way Kerry cannot fathom or he would not do so. Is it any wonder so many of us distain Senator Kerry's self-serving, chest-thumping rhetoric about his valor and service, after tossing his medals ribbons and denouncing the military as war criminals. What is it Senator? Ashamed or proud? Hero or insurgent? You can't have it both ways, you really can't.
Yale, of Horsefeathers, gets it about right.
IRAQ IS NO PLACE FOR A CRUSADE: AN OPEN LETTER TO PRESIDENT BUSH
Mark Steyn asks:
I wonder if John Kerry has perhaps launched his descent into caricature a couple of months too early.
Usually, the successful losing candidate waits till late spring/early summer before shifting gears and beginning each day with the campaign trying to explain some rhetorical triviality from the previous week that has stuck to his shoe and that he can't seem to shake off.
SteynOnline readers offer: THE JOHN KERRY SONGBOOK...where every number is in the key of F!
"A Giant Sucking Sound" 2004 Edition" Wherein, Stephen Macklin, of etalkinghead, explains the disconsolate whisperings emanating from the Democrat body politic.
Frizzen Sparks' Graumagus debunks Conspiracy Theories.
It was only a matter of time.... MedalGate.
Finally...Michele takes a leftie dunce to task...which may be grossly unfair given her superior cognitive abilities and his tenuous grasp on reality.
You can't make this stuff up! Although Musings From Brian J. Noggle can and did:
World Exclusive!It's common knowledge that John Kerry communes with dolphins:
"He[President Bush] thinks that empty slogans like the 'Clear Skies' initiative and the 'Healthy Forest' initiative -- that somehow names that would make George Orwell rise up and cheer -- that those names will make people forget what is really happening in our country."Almost on cue, a dolphin slipped through the water. "There he is over there," Kerry said. "He says, 'help, help, help."'
"Help, help, help," is not all the dolphin had to say. We here at All Things Belittled have an exclusive interview with Kerry's guest star. (Warning: 2.7 Mb Mp3).
Okay, Senator Kerry you have the means to help poor Charlie and his kin, call upon the H.J. Heinz Company to stop killing dolphins in the Pacific fishery.
Wut? Wha? I hear you ask.
Once again Kerry is caught in a web of his own weaving by his pandering to the green lobby. He enjoys the jets, ski lodges, SUV's, yachts and mansions provided by the Heinz family holdings, yet says nothing about the largest canner of tuna in the US and their impact on dolphin populations. Is this really a man concerned about dolphin mortality and mercury-tainted canned tuna being served to the nation's children?
(hat tip to Thief's Den...host of the next COTV)
This New York Post's Page Six headline is screamingly funny.
HOT OVER GLOBAL-WARMING FLICK
April 29, 2004 -- A POLITICALLY-charged disaster movie about global warming is burning up the George Bush campaign, while John Kerry backers hope "The Day After Tomorrrow" will sway eco-conscious voters to their side.The partisan swirl surrounding the $125 million thriller is underscored by Al Gore's decision to hold a huge environmental rally just a few blocks away from the May 24 premiere at the Museum of Natural History.
Directed by "Independence Day" helmer Roland Emmerich, "The Day After Tomorrow" follows the onset of a new Ice Age just three days after the polar ice caps melt because of smokestack and tailpipe gas emissions. The flick, which stars Dennis Quaid and Jake Gyllenhaal, features the flooding and freezing of New York and giant tornadoes ripping through Los Angeles.
In addition to the rally, hosted by Bush-bashing political group Moveon.org, volunteers will be recruited to hand out global warming brochures titled "Could This Really Happen?" at theaters.
Politically charged? Good God Jim, now the Dems are openly making it up!
Let me spell it out for those of you who are reality challenged, aka Lefties:
BTW-James Earl Jones is not really Darth Vader....thought you might need that cleared up too.
According to the media, Bush's numbers are down and support for the war is fading. Well, D'oh! dudes. Your campaign to defeat Bush and the military is working, at last. The media was getting worried for a while, it looked like we might easily win in Iraq, but five months of wall-to-wall anti-Bush media and Dem coverage has taken it's toll.
Kerry, his Dem surrogates and the media are giving the insurgents reason to fight and hope. They are now convinced that we will cut and run if they can continue to feed the media's hate-Bush machine with deaths and destruction and elect Kerry.
I don't think so, while the President's numbers are taking a hit under a massive media campaign to defeat him, a majority still do not trust the Democrats to protect us and there is nothing Kerry can do to change that perception.
Would you buy a used car from this guy?
Kerry's jabs at Bush grow more personal'Fired-up' rival hits president on Iraq, job losses
ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- Senator John F. Kerry, whose attacks on President Bush this week have becoming increasingly personal in tone, told voters yesterday that the Iraq occupation was faltering because of Bush's own ''pride" and that the president was afraid to ''look the people in the eye who have lost their job."
This from a man who flies in a hair cutter on a private jet to tend to his hair before a TV appearance. Of course Kerry would think that holding to an announced policy or position is "stubborn" because he can't decide from day to day what he believes.
The other sides in the Battle of the Blogs haven't quite conceded, but we have all decided to pool our resources to get to the magic $50,000 for Spirit of America by midnight tomorrow night.
The BIG push is on. You know what to do. All three Team Spirit Donate links appear below.
| Blog / Coalition Amount Raised: | ||
| Castle Argghhh! Fighting Fusileers for Freedom! | $18497.39 | Donate |
| The Victory Coalition | $17567.44 | Donate |
| Liberty Alliance | $9004 | Donate |
April 28th is Saddam's Hussein's 67th birthday, the Red Cross visited him, one assumes they didn''t bring cake.
What a difference from his last B'day shindig:
BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- Millions of Iraqis were estimated to have gathered across Iraq on Sunday in celebration of President Saddam Hussein's 65th birthday.Iraqi television carried live coverage of the celebrations in the president's home town of Tikrit and across the Iraqi capital, Baghdad.
An estimated 1 million people gathered in the city with major parts of the city closed, The Associated Press reported.
In different provinces, crowds led by members of the ruling Ba'ath party took to the streets baying, singing, dancing and wishing Hussein a happy birthday.
In Tikrit, 160 kilometers (100 miles) north of Baghdad, one of Hussein's closest aides, Ali Hassan al-Majid, led the ceremonies, cutting a giant cake and firing a revolver in the air in celebration.
Ah, those were heady days, Chemical Ali handing out cake and death.
Jump forward two years and Chief Wiggles, for the Liberty Alliance, offers a photo "liberated" from the wall of Saddam's palace to the highest bidder/donation to SOA.
You knew this post was going there, didn't you? You know you want it. Go.
Today's Fusileer Easter Egg Hunt Has been won by Puddle Pirate, who correctly identified Joanie's delectable clevage, a donation of $75.00 has been made to SOA. BTW-there were 7 hidden pix.
The Booby mating ritual parallels the human in many ways. The male parades around his territory, flaunting his assets in an exaggerated, high-stepping walk, and presents small pieces of bling to the female.
Flight Display: the male also flashes his assets at his mate in an airborne "salute".
Pointing Display: The female angles her assets to the sky and the male then utters a thin, piercing whistle, while the female gives groaning calls.
Seems to be a bad video day for Kerry too. This report from ABC News speaks for itself.
Discarded Decorations
Videotape Contradicts John Kerry’s Own Statements Over Vietnam MedalsApril 26 — Contradicting his statements as a candidate for president, Sen. John Kerry claimed in a 1971 television interview that he threw away as many as nine of his combat medals to protest the war in Vietnam.
LGF posts a must see video:
Challenged on his blatant lies about “massacres” in Jenin, Robert Fisk loses it. Big time. (MPEG video, 7.7 Meg. Hat tip: Y&Y.)
A US airman salutes, as four Royal Australian Air Force F/A-18 Hornets perform the “missing man” formation during Anzac Day commemorations at a Middle East air force base.
The Australian War Memorial site features "Captured In Color" an exhibition of orginial WWI photos and the ABC posts a page with a RealAudio commentary of the photos, those of you interested in military history will find the AWM site and the exhibition compelling.
A duel purpose cat post this week...Zoe poses for Carnival Of The Cats at The Waterglass and raised some dough for SOA.
This weeks carnival is outstanding. Go. Now.
Zoe is getting too fat for the perch next to my 'puter station. This pix was taken this morning as she tried to enjoy the early morning sun but her butt kept slipping off and the nap was easily pierced. It never ceases to amaze me how cats can sleep while precariously perched and yet seldom fall.
Can you find and identify the second cat in the photo? Mouse over the computer screen for a bigger picture of the inspiration for the egg, The Blobmonster.
WINNER! Kam correctly identified the kitty on the screen as Edloe and SOA gets another $50. Thanks for playing along.
I didn't know what to add to the many fine tributes to Pat Tillman, then it seemed as if everything had been said....until I read Sgt Hook.
God Bless Sgt Tillman and keep Sgt Hook safe.
The nation's "Newspaper of record" gets it wrong again.
Oops! Coors' photo used in Klan storyNew York Times runs wrong picture with murder report
Thursday's New York Times misidentified GOP Senate candidate Pete Coors as a Ku Klux Klan member who murdered a black sharecropper.
The Coors campaign found the error "so outrageous it's kind of funny," said spokeswoman Cinamon Watson.
"It could have been worse," she joked. "Pete could have been identified as John Kerry."
BUWHAHAHAHAHA!
How appropriate.
May 1 marks unification of EuropeNext week, on the first day of May, champagne corks will pop in the European Union (news - web sites)'s Brussels headquarters and flowery speeches will flow in two dozen other European capitals.
This is the day the two halves of Europe--East and West, old and new, rich and poor--become whole. It is the day the EU will welcome 10 new members, eight of them from the former communist bloc, and thus bury the unhappy and artificial division that defined the Cold War for nearly half a century.
This graph really made my hackles rise as the article was written by the Chicago Tribune in their very best Euro ass-kissing tone.
The initial exuberance that followed the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989 has given way to rancorous haggling over the size of subsidies to be offered to Polish farmers and whether Latvians will be allowed to look for work in London.
How fortunate that the wall spontaneously fell.
It's time for the US to bug out and leave Europe to their own devices. I personally, no longer give a damn.
John Kerry has the "Clinton disease" he shades the truth when a straight answer would better serve him. To wit the SUV flap:
Kerry Says His 'Family' Owns SUV, Not He
PITTSBURGH (AP) - Does John Kerry, who supports higher automobile fuel economy standards, own a gas-guzzling SUV? He does, but says it belongs to the family, not to him.
During a conference call Thursday with reporters to discuss his upcoming jobs tour through West Virginia, Pennsylvania, Ohio and Michigan, the Democratic presidential candidate was asked whether he owned a Chevrolet Suburban.
``I don't own an SUV,'' said Kerry,
[...]
Kerry thought for a second when asked whether his wife, Teresa Heinz Kerry, had a Suburban at their Ketchum, Idaho, home. Kerry said he owns and drives a Dodge 600 and recently bought a Chrysler 300M. He said his wife owns the Chevrolet SUV.
``The family has it. I don't have it,'' he said.
Kerry said it's important for his family to buy American cars and pledged to keep car manufacturing jobs in the country if elected. He said he is interested in a hybrid car, and has talked to Ford about making it the ``campaign car.''
``We're going to keep jobs in America and help the industry be more competitive with foreign manufacturers that are building those cars today,'' Kerry said.
``I want cars to be made in Michigan, made in America, made'' by the United Auto Workers, Kerry said.
WTF? The Chrysler 300M is made at DaimlerChrysler's Ontario, Canada plant.
Maybe Kerry missed this story in 2000 about his choice of "American" automobile manufacturers and saving jobs.
DaimlerChrysler to cut thousands of jobs in North America
The discussion of mass layoffs followed an emergency meeting in Stuttgart, Germany where management fired several leading executives at the Chrysler division, including unit president James Holden, who was replaced by longtime Mercedes Benz executive Dieter Zetsche. Within days the company announced that four plants would be idled during Thanksgiving week and the next because of large inventories of unsold cars. The temporary layoffs affect some 17,000 workers.
Schrempp, who laid off more than 40,000 employees after taking over Daimler Benz in 1995, picked Zetsche because of his reputation for slashing jobs to cut costs. In September, Zetsche directed the layoff of 20 percent of the US workforce at DaimlerChrysler's truck division, Freightliner, eliminating 3,800 jobs after orders fell. In a recent letter to Chrysler employees Zetsche said the division faced “far-reaching structural problems” that required “painful, but necessary actions.”
Once again Kerry doesn't know what the hell he's talking about. The UAW must be cringing.
The headline is telling in its lack of respect.
Pentagon Ban on Pictures of Dead Troops Is Broken
Dead Troops. So many pieces of media fodder.
One doesn’t have to be a partisan to see that this story drives the anti-war sentiment, gives the enemy comfort and seeks to damage the President. It certainly doesn't honor our fallen military. The media is completely clueless about and insensitive to military culture and traditions.
The media doesn't seem to realize that when most military families receive the dread visit their first impulse is not the call the media, they mourn and grieve and bury their dead with respect and tenderness accorded a loved one, not a pawn on the political board.
The media is accomplishing an unintended goal in making "news" from the images of flag-draped coffins, they are making themselves despised.
While the media thinks they've outflanked the Administration, they have once again proved that their interests and political goals are served before ours.
Just as Bush recognized that attending the return of the P-3 crew captured in China would put the focus on him and not the air men and women involved, he knows the media will use images of coffins and military funerals against those being honored. To the media these coffins represent nothing more than a lede story or 30 seconds network air time.
So eager are they to have images of military coffins as a political issue that they do not see the respect accorded nor the reverence given, nor do they recognize the repellent nature of their zeal in pursuing "freedom of information" for which each man or woman gave their life.
No, I will not provide a link to the ghouls who obtained the photos or the Times article, I do not need to see pictures to understand the nature of the sacrifice.
Perhaps the authors of the NYT story should volunteer in one of our National Cemeteries for Memorial Day or Veteran’s Day ceremonies. The Feste family has volunteered for many years; a tradition began by my father to honor his fallen WWII brethren. Walking the rows, placing flags on each gravesite with the smell of freshly cut grass redolent on the crisp morning air, the quiet broken only by the snapping of a distant flag and witnessing the white crosses stretching to the horizon gives one a new perspective on the phrase "Freedom isn't free".
Damn the media, damn them to hell.
UPDATE: COLUMBIA CREW MISTAKENLY IDENTIFIED AS IRAQI WAR CASUALTIES.
The media picks up the story off the website and runs with it.
The AP: A page from the Memory Hole.org's homepage shows photographs of American war dead arriving at Dover Air Force, the nation's largest military mortuary, Thursday, April 22, 2004. The photos are of the Columbia crew.
Rueter's pushed this to my mailbox, the photo is also the Columbia crew. The Washington Post ran the story and photo but posted this correction online:
_____Correction_____A photograph of an Air Force color guard carrying a flag-draped casket that previously accompanied this article was not a picture of a fallen soldier from Iraq but of an astronaut killed in the 2003 Columbia space shuttle crash. The photograph had been posted on a Web site called the Memory Hole, which had requested the Iraqi pictures from the U.S. military under the Freedom of Information Act. The image that accompanied this article was among several hundred photographs posted on the Memory Hole Web site after they were released by the Air Force.
The dog ate their homework, they had a flat tire, they ran out of gas....it's not their faaauuult!
Peggy Noonan has her fingers on the pulse of the silent majority in her latest WSJ column. (subscription req'd)
People Have Eyes
Americans dislike Bush's enemies more than they dislike Bush.I do not know precisely why President Bush's popularity continues high despite a month of the most relentless pounding from partisans, the press, the 9/11 commission and history itself (Fallujah, etc.) No one else knows either. Professionals will read the polls through the prism of their own expertise. Media people will say it's the cumulative effect of Mr. Bush's stirring ads. Those who agree with the president's stand on Iraq will say it's Iraq. Others may argue it's because he put tax cuts at the heart of his economic policy and the economy has begun to rebound. There is probably some truth in all of this. But my guess would be something else.
I think Mr. Bush is admired and liked after three years of war, terror, strife and recession because people have eyes.
They look at him, listen to him, and watch him every day. They can tell that George W. Bush is looking out for America. They can tell he means it. They can see his sincerity. They can tell he is doing his best. They understand his thinking because he tells them his thinking. They think he may be right. They're not sure, but at least they understand his thinking.
They are not shocked that our intelligence system wasn't working very well before 9/11. They would like our intelligence system to be first-rate and the best in the world, and they like to say they expect it to be best in the world. But they also think it comes from Washington, it's government, and so by definition flawed. Mr. Bush has survived not finding of the weapons of mass destruction for two reasons. One is that Americans have come to be sure that Saddam was an unusually bad man and a threat to whatever stability the Mideast enjoys. The other is that Americans believe Mr. Bush himself honestly believed Saddam was a threat. If Bill Clinton, who thought Iraq had WMDs, had invaded Iraq post-9/11 and not found them, he would have been thrown out of office. That's because no one ever believed what Mr. Clinton said, and they wouldn't have believed his explanations. They assumed most of what he did had a cynical and self-serving basis. Mr. Bush doesn't have that problem, because regular people don't think he's a habitual liar. (This is why in presidential elections character trumps everything. It's not some abstraction, it has practical and daily presidential applications.)Americans do not think Mr. Bush has a persona to dazzle history, they think he is the average American man, but the average American man as they understand the term: straight shooter, hard worker, decent, America-loving, God-loving.
[...]
The implications for the election? We all know a presidential campaign involving an incumbent is in good part a referendum on that incumbent. Which sounds like a one-part process, but it's a two-part process.
If you want to fire the incumbent, you have to have someone to hire in his place. The guy who opposes the incumbent has to seem like a credible president. He has to be a real alternative, a possible president. So far, roughly four months into his national fame, John Kerry has not made the sale. There are people who have Bush-fatigue, but they do not have Kerry-hunger.
So far he doesn't seem like a possible president. He seems somewhat shifty, somewhat cold, an operator. He has a good voice but he seems to use it most to slither out of this former statement or that erstwhile position. It's OK that he looks like a sad tree, but you can't look like a sad, hollow tree. And it looks a little hollow in there. As if Iraq is an issue Kerry feels he has to handle deftly, and not a brutal question we have to solve, together. As if homeland security is an issue, or civil defense, or preparedness. They're not issues. They're life and death. Mr. Kerry doesn't seem to know.
Which is why he isn't gaining traction, or gaining purchase on the president. The Democrats and their nominee say on one day that Mr. Bush ignored terrorism, and on the next that he exaggerated the threat. They say his administration didn't give enough time to planning Iraq, then they say he was obsessed with Iraq. They say he's dimwitted and gullible, then they say he's evil and calculating--he cooked Iraq up in Texas, in Ted Kennedy's phrase.
You know why they can't define what's wrong with Mr. Bush? Because they don't even know what's wrong with him beyond that he is not them, not Mr. Kerry, not a Democrat.
Can the Democrats win this way? No.
The last three grafs are exactly right, the Dems see the election in terms of polls, slogans and the remaking of Kerry's clothes, but we see he wears none.
Never one to get in the way of a well done rant; I give you, French Journalists, by George Turner.
I would be remiss to pass on an opportunity to display an image from Operation Iraqi Freedom that illustrates my feelings on the matter perfectly.
Shamelessly stolen from BFLer Michael Williams at Master of None:
Question: How do you tell the difference between liberals, conservatives, and southerners?Try this. Pose the following question: You're walking down a deserted
street with your wife and two small children. Suddenly, a dangerous
looking man with a huge knife comes around the corner, locks eyes with
you, screams obscenities, raises the knife, and charges. You are carrying
a Glock .40, and you are an expert shot. You have mere seconds before he
reaches you and your family. What do you do?Liberal Answer:
Well, that's not enough information to answer the question!
Does the man look poor or oppressed?
Have I ever done anything to him that would inspire him to attack?
Could we run away?
What does my wife think?
What about the kids?
Could I possibly swing the gun like a club and knock the knife out of his hand?
What does the law say about this situation?
Does the Glock have appropriate safety built into it?
Why am I carrying a loaded gun anyway, and what kind of message does this send to society and to my children?
Is it possible he'd be happy with just killing me?
Does he definitely want to kill me, or would he be content just to wound me?
If I were to grab his knees and hold on, could my family get away while he was stabbing me?
Should I call 9-1-1?
Why is this street so deserted?
We need to raise taxes, have a paint and weed day and make this a happier, healthier street that would discourage such behavior.
This is all so confusing! I need to debate this with some friends for a few days and try to come to a consensus.Conservative Answer:
BANG!Southerner Answer:
BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG!
click....(sounds of reloading).
BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG!
click.
Daughter: "Nice grouping, Daddy! Were those the Winchester Silver Tips?"
"nuff said 'bout that too.
An interesting exercise from WarDialer of Amish Tech Support:
1. Grab the nearest book.
2. Open the book to page 23.
3. Find the fifth sentence.
4. Post the text of the sentence in your journal along with these instructions.
Here is mine:
"Mr. Sethna couldn't see Mr. Dhar, who was deep in the bougainvillea, but he had no doubt that the crude movie star was in the thick of this crisis; the steward sighed in disapproval at the very idea of Inspector Dhar."
"A Son Of The Circus" by John Irving, who piles up improbable and hugely amusing characters at a lunatic pace, you will find yourself laughing out loud.
Passing of Time, I will not return, Distractions, other
By Chief Wiggles.
Go.
Read.
"Nuff said.
(Hat tip to a thoroughly hosed Esmay)
Timeout for Wictory wednesday. Rush pens an opinion piece in today WSJ that sums up this non-story perfectly.
Woodward at War
A "Plan of Attack" against George W. Bush?BY RUSH LIMBAUGH
Wednesday, April 21, 2004Bob Woodward is back with yet another book, "Plan of Attack." That title made me first think the work was a manual on unseating George W. Bush. Discussing his book on CBS's "60 Minutes," Mr. Woodward said, in essence, that Dick Cheney ran the Iraq war and talked President Bush into it, though President Bush was never crazy about it; the CIA botched everything again; the one man in the administration we can trust, Colin Powell, was kept out of the loop; God talks to President Bush and President Bush listens; and President Bush is an idiot who disdains the truly smart people of the world.
[...]
But even if the president had decided to go to war against Saddam in January 2003, what's the big deal? Congress knew full well that war was imminent, as did the rest of us. In October 2002, Congress voted overwhelmingly to give President Bush the authority to use military force against Iraq. The Senate approved the measure 77-23, the House by 296-133. In November 2002, the Security Council unanimously passed Resolution 1441 giving Iraq "a final opportunity to comply with its disarmament obligations." There's nothing secret about these public acts, which were deliberate and debated. Saddam remained belligerent, making war unavoidable. If he'd opened his country to unencumbered inspections, there would have been no war.
As for some of Mr. Woodward's observations about the president's intelligence, his supposed misapplication of funds for military preparations against Iraq, his personal relationship with God, etc.--how elitist! And strange. Remember this from JFK's inaugural address? "In the long history of the world, only a few generations have been granted the role of defending freedom in its hour of maximum danger. . . . The energy, the faith, the devotion which we bring to this endeavor will light our country and all who serve it--and the glow from that fire can truly light the world." The World. It sure sounds to me like Mr. Bush is a man of his times and that his critics have lost their anchor. And their heroes.
Are we done now? Is the media really planning to spend the next six months brewing up tempests in teapots?
While the Presidents numbers have held up pretty well in spite of the media's best efforts and three months of wall-to-wall negativity, we can't take re-election for granted. Every Wednesday, I ask my readers to volunteer and/or donate to the Bush 2004 campaign.
If you've already donated and volunteered for the Bush campaign, then talk to your friends and enlist them in this battle for America's very soul.
If you're a blogger, you can join Wictory Wednesdays simply by putting up a post like this one every Wednesday, asking your readers to volunteer and/or donate to the Bush campaign. And do e-mail wictory@blogsforbush.com so that you can be added to the Wictory Wednesday blogroll, which will be part of the Wictory Wednesday post on all participating blogs:
Okay Fusileers and Volunteers!
I will donate $50 Simoleans to the effort if anyone can tell me what is going on in this photo.
WE HAVE A WINNER: Jaspar!!
In a Late push, The Fighting Fusileer's Artillery softens up the VC for the final assault.
Dudes! We're ahead! We're romping, stomping, chomping!
Blog / Coalition Amount Raised
Castle Argghhh! Fighting Fusileers for Freedom! ..........$2862
The Victory Coalition................................................ $1695
Liberty Alliance.........................................................$890
Hit that button until your credit card screams!
UPDATE: Yesterday's contest is closed with no winner. The $25 rolls to today's Egg...worth $50 to the Fusileer effort at SOA.
Listen up troops!
Now is the time to to put our money where our mouth is and join The Fighting Fusileers to counter the poisonous anti-American message pumped out by Al-Jazeera.
Spirit of America's efforts to counter Arabic propaganda and improve conditions for Iraqis is a force for good in a sea of evil. We must win this battle of hearts and minds or Iraq will slip into the dark of Islamofacism.
Fusileer Smash provides excellent commentary about the SOA and his personal experience with the organization here.
The Fusileers intend to seriously kick some Catalano and Esmay ass!
We need YOU!
Click on the Donate button, it's tax-deductable!
Do It Now!
The New Moon is bringing the Leftie Bats out in full foam mode.
Hillary "Missing Billing Records" Clinton must be kidding.
WASHINGTON Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-N.Y.) told newspapers editors gathered here this afternoon that they had to be "more vigilant" and act with "more tenacity" to combat the failures of the Bush administration to provide "vital information" to the public.Interviewed by Marvin Kalb on the opening day of the annual American Society of Newspaper Editors convention, Sen. Clinton said: "It's difficult for editors and publishers here to get to the bottom of stories. This administration, to an extent I haven't seen before, tells the press to go away -- and they do, like most people do when told that more than once. ... Many in this administration are quite expert at saying nothing despite your best efforts to get them to say something."
Yeah, like what the meaning of "is" is.
BUWHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!
Michael Moore continues his self-inflicted moonbat marginalization. This goes beyond Moore's usual hate America rhetoric, it's simply too delusional to be taken seriously. Now all he need do to complete the transition to irrelevancy is to join Nader's campaign.
Alan Forkum states the obvious to all but Moore and the antiwar lefties:
First he asserts that the insurgents killing our soldiers are not the enemy, and then he compares the insurgents to America's revolutionary-era Minutemen. In other words, he wants us to believe that our soldiers are the oppressive, colonial enemy of freedom-fighting Iraqis. The truth is just the opposite -- it is the militant Islamists who seek to establish another dictatorship, and it is America who fought to depose the previous one.
One can only hope Moore continues to spew hate since every bilious meme he embraces forces the Dems to put distance between the anti-war left and their position. Kerry is being forced to run away from them that brung him to the dance, which is a recipe for defeat.
John Kerry gets pass after pass from the media while he dissembles over releasing records and Teresa's tax returns. However a small chink in the leftie media wall appears from time to time.
Kerry Misnames UN Special Representative to Iraq for Two Days, Given Pass By Partisan Media
"For the second day in a row, Kerry, who prides himself on his expertise in foreign policy, repeatedly misnamed the U.N. special representative, Lakhdar Brahimi, who is helping to negotiate the terms of the transfer of power to the Iraqis on June 30. Kerry referred to him as 'Brandini.'Kerry: "They've got Brandini over there, and he's negotiating. They've basically turned over the decision of what they're going to turn over the government to, to Brandini -- whatever he creates."
[emphasis added]
Apart from this sort of juveline parsing and silliness with which the media pounds Bush, isn't this exactly the solution Kerry proffered? Now he's scorning a U.N. negotiator?
We're not quite that stupid....let me clarify...non-Dems are not that stupid.
I never thought Feste would leave tonight...Molly an' me been waitin' to post some new cat stuff. First, here's a pix of Molly slightly baked on catnip.
WaIT, juSHT oNe MiNtue, I wAs Not BakeD, I wAS tOAsted...bIg Diff yA kNOw. HUMph.
Nevermind that Molly, move over...leave the mouse alone! It's my turn to post.
This week's post for Lair's Carnival of the Cats #5 stars guess who? Tada! Me.
Mr. Sneakeasy is making hoity-toity music over at the Joint with the Bestofme Symphony #20.
Finally The Donovan's Fusileers are getting ready to kick some serious Dean of Whizbang ass...or something. I'm not too sure...Feste babbles a lot about this shit...who listens anymore? But I think it's real important and you should check it out.
Time for some salmon jerky, this typing with paws is a lot more work than you might think.
Zozo out.
For a year I've bitched and griped about Al-Jazeera's coverage, now I have the opportunity to do something about it, so can you.
I figure you can't go wrong hanging with the side that can hold their likker, is heavily armed and can operate lethal machinery. I'm joining the Imperial Armorer's Fighting Fusileers for Freedom!
Okay, here's the deal. Dean Esmay has arranged things with the Spirit of America people, who are working with the Jarheads in Iraq to give the Iraqis an alternative to Al-Jazeera. . Starting Monday or Tuesday of next week, the Castle Argghhh! Fighting Fusileers for Freedom will be joining a 10-day campaign to raise funds for U.S. Marines to equip TV stations in Iraq. There are two fronts in this war. The Spirit of America website will have donation buttons for the three Alliances. More, if more form.Dean Esmay, and Rosemary, Queen of All Evil are one party. The QOAE is offering a peek at her rack if we'll join their side.
The other is Michelle, of A Small Victory. She has the coolest looking website, and is taking the high road, refusing to pander to pervy pulchritude.
Good blog fun aside, we need to do this. I've written about Spirit of America's good works from time to time. However if you're not familiar with the organization, go have a look at the varied missions they've undertaken. Link to whichever blog coalition you like or form your own, but get the word out and blog for hate-free airwaves in Iraq.
A story in Roll Call will be of interest to Bear Flag Leaguers in particular. As many of you know, passage of The Clean Air Act by Congress in 1990 mandated the use of oxygenated gasoline in certain geographical areas not meeting the National Ambient Air Quality Standard ("NAAQS") for carbon monoxide, which resulted in the use of MTBE in our fuel mixture.
California is now awash in MTBE ground water contamination and clean up costs from the easily migrating additive will be in the billions, if removing it from the water supply is even possible. The full scope of ecological and human damage from MTBE may never be known.
Californians protested and petitioned to stop the additive but the federal government prevailed, California and refineries were decreed by the EPA to accept the additive or face withdrawl of federal funding and fines.
Roll Call staffer Emily Pierce reveals how MTBE was fast tracked in Washington, neither party is covered in glory, but Senate Minority Leader Tom Dashcle (D-SD) is in it up to his lobbyist loving eyeballs.
Inside the MTBE Fracas (subscription req'd)Back in 1990, Sen. Tom Daschle, a young Democrat from South Dakota and protégé of then-Senate Majority Leader George Mitchell (D-Maine), led the fight to require oil companies to produce cleaner burning fuels.
Fourteen years later, those companies contend the current Senate Minority Leader’s original plan to require oxygen content in gasoline contributed to the rash of defective product lawsuits against an oil company-produced gasoline additive, methyl tertiary butyl ether (MTBE), which adds oxygen molecules to fuel.
Congress “forced us to produce a product that otherwise never would have been produced in such quantities,” said Bob Slaughter, president of the National Petrochemical and Refiners Association. “They told the industry to do this, and now the industry is being sued for millions of dollars for something they told us to do.”
[...]
During the 1990 debate, Daschle and others were wary of being accused of favoring one fuel over another, so they left the choice of oxygenates up to the EPA, which certified several, including MTBE.
Oil companies were already using MTBE in smaller quantities to replace the octane that lead had previously supplied. (Gasoline makers were forced to phase out leaded gasoline in the 1970s and 1980s because of pollution concerns.)
[...]
Of course, by using the lower-cost MTBE over ethanol, oil companies thwarted the goal of Daschle and Harkin to encourage the production of corn-based ethanol — an effort they have renewed in this year’s energy bill.
And since a number of states — such as California and New Hampshire — have banned MTBE, ethanol is finally taking off.
“We got about 15 percent of the market in the early years,” said one ethanol industry spokesman. “We’ve got up to 50 percent today. Over 50 percent of reformulated gas is blended with ethanol.”
But with Congressional opponents of ethanol use like Sens. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) and Judd Gregg (R-N.H.) pressing the EPA to exempt their states from the 2 percent oxygenate requirement, even the cleaner-burning ethanol could be in trouble.
“You have to use it whether you need it or not,” complained Feinstein. “We can meet our clean air standards without an oxygenate.”
It’s an argument eerily similar to the one oil companies were making 14 years ago.
The very argument many of thousands of us made on the steps of the Capitol Building in Sacramento twelve years ago. We were dismissed by the media as right-wing cranks aiding and abetting the Big Oil cronies of Bush 41.
Now we are treated to the self-serving rhetoric of Dem Pols such as Senator Barbara Boxer (D-CA) decrying the extemption of oil companies to MTBE suits in the latest energy bill. Where was Senator Boxer in 1990 when we tried to stop MTBE? Oh, that's right, she was in the House of Representatives voting YEA on H.R. 3030.
The Dems have a real flip-flop problem, I'm beginning to think it's a pathological need to win at all costs.
Boi From Troy escorts the Blogosphere on the penultimate tour/bar crawl as the Carnival of the Vanities rolls through West Hollywood.
The old media is in full smear mode today, primping and preening on their self-serving gotcha performance last night.
Evan Thomas, of Newsweek, epitomizes the media elite's disdain for Bush this morning on Imus during a give & take about Iraq and the June transition.
Thomas sneered "I doubt Bush even knows who Chalabi is".
::::Clank!::::Shreech!:::: Let's back the truck up Mr. Thomas.
While Thomas has previously remarked on the Imus show that he often doesn't read the print version, which is a rather stunning admission by the Assistant Managing Editor of Newsweek, but not surprising given Newsweek's quality level, he may have missed Newsweek's coverage of the story, but I would bet the farm that he reads the WaPo:
Bush Pays Surprise Thanksgiving Visit to Troops in Iraq
The goverrning council members with whom Bush met today were Ahmed Chalabi, head of the Iraqi National Congress, Jalal Talabani, a Kurdish leader who is this month's council president, Mowaffak Rubaie, a Shiite Muslim physician who returned from exile in Britain, and Raja Khozai, a Shiite who directs a maternity hospital in the southern city of Diwaniya.
The Bush-as-idiot or Neocon/Israeli puppet meme drives much of the old media to absurd lengths. So eager are they to damage or belittle Bush that they insult their readership/viewer's intelligence.
Later in the same broadcast, NBC's David Gregory defended his stupid "have you made mistakes?"question by saying it was his job to challenge the President, not to seek information. That he wanted to elicit a reaction, create a "real moment that revealed Bush's thinking".
What twaddle. How can anyone take journalists such as these or their reporting seriously?
Yet another entertaining blog, Bastard Sword, recommended by Den Beste offers opinion serious and folly gleeful.
Go read, George Turner pens wicked clever song parodies, wears chain mail and thinks Galileo started it all.
Can't argue with any of that.
Insults Unpushished has a new contributor, David Andersen , who not only uses elegant phrases such as Panglossian assertion but promises truth telling, which is akin to juggling Jell-o in a wildly spinning Blogosphere.
Welcome aboard.
I hear many astute bloggers and commentators remark that raising the top income tax rate is no big deal; the rich can afford to pay a more. I gnash my teeth, waiting for someone to point out the fallacy of this proposition.
There is a small problem with that thinking. It’s called a Subchapter S corporation. An S corporation is a C corporation that has filed an election to be taxed as a "pass through" entity. This means that instead of being taxed on its income, it passes the income through to the shareholders, who are then taxed on it. An S corporation avoids the double taxation that faces C corporations. Profits are "passed through" to the shareholders without being taxed in the corporation.
S Corporation is widely used by small businesses, partnerships, service firms, accounting and law LLC’s. The most robust portion of the economy and the largest employer is small business. Small business is dominated by families and women.
Let’s create an example, shall we?
Joan and Nancy are friends and skillful cooks, they are both divorced and have two children each and a mortgage. They are mid-level management making enough to get by, but they know they will not be advanced to the next level. They decide to start a catering business on the weekends to supplement their income. They have a partnership agreement drawn up, using their credit cards they rent a kitchen, a van and begin to network for clients. They have a talent for event planning and soon they are sought after. They hire four full time employees in the kitchen, 3 hourly wait staff and contract a florist. They begin to make enough money to quit their jobs and Nancy’s famous chocolate truffles are a monster hit. A local gourmet distributor wants them in quantity. They need to expand operations to do so. They decide it is time to incorporate and apply for a loan to finance their expansion.
They are advised to form a S corporation, J&N Inc., which allows the profits to “pass through” to shareholders ( Joan and Nancy in this case) and taxed at their personal tax rates, which may be a much lower rate. J& N obtain a contract for production to secure the loan and startup their wholesale operation and the truffles sell like hot cakes. Soon the entire enterprise is cranking out truffles by the hundreds of thousands, but it’s not all ganache at J&N Inc.
Rising costs of imported raw materials, electricity and gas eat into their margin. California increases employer contributions and sales taxes, Oakland raises the city inventory tax, their staff unionizes and more is sliced off the net cake. J&N Inc. is in a very competitive industry, they cannot increase wholesale prices. J&N now face the classic small business dilemma; growing costs that cannot be passed on to customers.
Add a federal income tax increase and they have no choice but to refinance, downsize, close or sell to their competitor Bigge Candy International, who owns the gourmet distributor and made them a very attractive offer. Joan and Nancy gave it a good try, they had a boffo product, worked hard, but they have little incentive to continue. So they sell to Bigge, who promptly closes J&N’s operations and produces the truffles in their Mexico factory.
This is of course a very simplistic view and many of you can think of various ways that J&N could offset expenses, grow their business and continue, but it reaches a point of scale where you are working only to break even, to keep loyal people employed. Eventually most small business owners walk away exhausted and discouraged, those who do not often end in bankruptcy court. Increasing taxes and fees are a back-breaking reality for hundreds of thousands of small businesses, the dry cleaners, the florist, the car wash, the copy shop, restaurants, bakeries, and the myriad of small businesses that provide our daily services and goods.
Next time you're out running errands think about each small merchant you do business with, look at the faces. They are the "rich" Kerry plans to tax along with his wife and country club friends. The only difference is that the dry cleaner can't afford a top-5 accountancy firm to find a loophole; he hocks the family home or closes.
This is a dirty little secret the Dems won’t tell you and the Repubs are too dim counter effectively. The tax increase will hit the middle class where it can least absorb the cost; small businesses, family farms and mom & pop operations.
Still think only the rich will pay the Kerry tax roll back?
Is Dick Morris floating an idea that may become the Kerry/DNC position on Iraq? While Morris is often dismissed as a denouement, if not joke, he is still one of the sharpest political operatives around. Morris is also the perfect focus group of one; the DNC can disavow his views and position theirs accordingly. I have never been convinced that his ties with Clinton are broken.
Morris' appearance on Fox yesterday and his current column offers Bush advice on disengaging from Iraq.
Bush will be in real trouble if the situation in Iraq deteriorates. The reported boast of one anti-American demonstrator that he and his ilk "cannot drive America out of Iraq, but we can drive Bush out of the White House, like we did to Carter" is not far-fetched.So what is Bush to do?
Procedurally, the June 30 deadline for handover of power to the Iraqi government looks like an essential element in the president's escape from political danger. But behind it must lay humility and a realization of our limited means and the even more attenuated patience of the American people.
We were willing to support Bush in Afghanistan and over the Patriot Act. We backed the invasion of Iraq and agreed that Saddam needed to be removed. Even when no weapons of mass destruction turned up, the American people still supported Bush.
But last week's polling suggests that Americans are not prepared to sacrifice their sons and daughters to assure democracy in Iraq. That nation, which has never known freedom, may or may not be able to achieve democracy. But Americans are not willing to bet our children on the outcome. Nor should Bush wager his presidency.
As long as Saddam Hussein and his Ba'athist Party are out of power - and do not return - the United States will have accomplished its essential objective in Iraq. Saddam is an evil man. His villainy, coupled with his access to oil wealth, made him a potent threat to peace and freedom. He had to go.
To make sure he remains out of power, we must keep a large garrison, safely ensconced at a secure base, in Iraq once we hand over power to the Iraqi Governing Council.
In effect Morris advises abandoning Iraq to civil war while establishing a "garrison" similar to Gitmo, aka sitting ducks in an angry Arab barrel. Should we betray the Iraqi people we have lost the best, and perhaps the last chance to influence generations of young Arabs, to turn them away from isolation and theocracy to self-governance and participation in the free world.
Morris continues :
But democracy may be a bridge too far in Iraq; even peace may be elusive. We must heed the lessons of Nixon's successful disengagement from Vietnam. As Nixon did, we must turn the war over to the locals, a process he called Vietnamization.
As today's news headlines demonstrates this has been a disaster for Vietnam's minority tribes.
HANOI, Vietnam - Vietnam's Central Highlands remained sealed off Monday by police and security officials following protests by hundreds of ethnic minority Christians over Easter weekend.Scores were arrested and injured when more than a thousand people took to the streets Saturday in Buon Ma Thuot, the provincial capital of Daklak, in what was supposed to be peaceful prayer demonstrations against religious repression and land confiscation. Most of the indigenous mountain tribes are Protestant.
[...]
Vietnam recognizes only a handful of state-sponsored religions and has clashed many times with Buddhists and Christians. International human rights groups allege some ethnic minorities have been persecuted for their beliefs and forced to publicly renounce their faith. The European Union and the U.S. State Department have criticized Vietnam for religious repression.
Vietnamization overlaid upon the Northern communist takeover produced the obvious result; a repressive majority regime. Should we adopt a similar withdrawal technique in Iraq a Shi'ite civil war ensues and a theocracy regime will take power in Iraq. The Kurds would demand and fight fiercely for independence, throwing Turkey into turmoil. Civil and territorial wars would roil Iraq and its neighbors. Ba'athists and weaponery would pour back into Iraq from Syria. A theocratic Iraqi government would be little more than Iran's puppet. Could Saudi Arabia withstand the internal pressures of a unified Iraq and Iran?
Morris is a clever campaigner and reader of popular sentiment, but his advice in this case is poisonous to the American body politic. There is no quick fix. I do not think Bush is considering such a scheme, it goes against his grain and he has surely internalized the failure of his father to take on the task in 1990. The reason Bush 41 didn't go to Baghdad was not because we couldn't win as easily as a year ago, but to avoid the situation with which we now grapple.
As a nation we have asked the Iraqi people to trust us to finish what we began a decade ago and we will stand by them. That we betrayed them in 1990 is a large part why they are fearful of aiding us in rooting out the bad actors and thugs, they do not believe we will stay the course. Why would Afghani's trust us not to do the same? The Arab world will not give western civilization another chance if we cut and run in Iraq and in effect we will have handed a small radical minority the tools to engage us in the next stage of their war, the decimation of the oil fields in order to cripple our civilization. Oh, I can hear the lefties sneering "See, I told you it was about oil"...but our society, comforts and very existence is supported by Mid-East oil, and that is an immutable fact.
What we have undertaken is the most important task since the post-WWII reconstruction of Europe and Japan. To view it through the prism of winning an election is not only exceedingly stupid, but dooms the next administration to chaos and even higher costs in American lives and perhaps the stability of our system for decades. As a nation we have always undertaken what is right, not what is easy. It's the best part of our character.
Cross-posted to The Command Post Op-Ed Page.
Just how miserable ARE you?
John Kerry claims you are the most miserable ever, he even has a newly minted "Misery Index" to prove it. Of course the decades old, agreed upon criteria for the real misery index, unemployment and inflation don't work for him, so he has a new set of criteria by which you may judge your misery:
That first misery index, invented by the late Arthur Okun, an economic adviser to former Presidents Kennedy and Johnson, was an easy-to-grasp gauge that combined monthly unemployment figures with the annual percent change in the consumer price index, otherwise known as inflation. It peaked at about 21 back in 1980, and in February sat at 7.29, which is down a tiny bit since President Bush took office and, as noted by the campaign, lower than where it was when Bill Clinton sought re-election in 1996 (8.22), not to mention Mr. Bush's father in 1992 (9.46), Ronald Reagan in 1984 (12.49) and Jimmy Carter in 1980 (20.46).
[...]
This newfangled misery index, in case you weren't confused yet, is measured in the opposite way from its better-known progenitor — a higher number means less, not more, misery.Under President Bush (the current one), the Kerry misery index has fallen 13 points, the worst three-year decline ever (other bad patches were 1979-82 and 1989-92, which, depending on your perspective, either creates a convenient pattern around new Republican presidents or an odd coincidence relating to the start of decades). Mr. Sperling's old boss, former President Clinton, saw this middle-class misery index shoot up (remember, up is good, down miserable) 23 points during his tenure; the current President's father watched it fall (down = bad) 12 points
Let's see how the Feste Family rates: median family income increased slightly, all college paid, Health-care costs minimal (excellent employer coverage), gas prices are always high in my area=1 misery point, no bankruptcies, full employment among adults seeking work, own home.
On a scale of 1-7, the Feste Family rates a 1.
Yikes! Is 1 good or bad? I didn't realize how awful my life is until Senator Kerry pointed it out.
How about you? Are you worse off by the Kerry/Sperling "Fantasy Misery Index"?
(If Kerry and the Dems continue to make up shit, I'm going to be forced to change this category from Election 2004 to Fantasia 04)
...with bogus email addresses: Bite me. This is not Pollyanna.com...however it isn't latestnews.com either...it's opinion about a wide range of topics.
Please go to The Command Post for breaking news about Iraq.
The news isn't good tonight, it will get worse as the world press reacts, as an advance copy of the NYT amply demonstrates.
Remember this:
Writing on the left-wing Web site AlterNet last March, senior editor Tai Moses expressed dread of the coming of a war that "could create more than a million refugees."The BBC, citing a "confidential" U.N. document, predicted that up to 500,000 Iraqis would be seriously injured during the first phase of an American attack, while 1 million would flee the country and 2 million more would be internally displaced.
The Organization of the Islamic Conference foresaw the "displacement of hundreds of thousands of refugees," plus "total destruction and a humanitarian tragedy whose scale cannot be predicted."
Well, well...seems they were WRONG.
A few weeks ago, the United Nations shut down the Ashrafi refugee camp in southwestern Iran. For years Ashrafi had been the largest facility in the world housing displaced Iraqis, tens of thousands of whom had been driven from their homes by Saddam Hussein's brutality. But with Hussein behind bars and his regime crushed, Iraqi exiles have been flocking home. By mid-February the camp had literally emptied out. Now, the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees reports, "nothing remains of Ashrafi but rubble and a few stones."
Well, well...crow anyone?
In a nationwide survey conducted by Britain's Oxford Research International, 56 percent of Iraqis say their lives are better now than before the war; only 19 percent say things are worse. Because of "Bush's war," Iraqis today brim with optimism. Fully 71 percent expect their lives to be even better a year from now; less than 7 percent say they'll be worse. Iraq today may just be the most upbeat, forward-looking country in the Arab world.With hard work and a little luck, it may soon be the best governed as well. The interim constitution approved by the Iraqi Governing Council protects freedom of speech and assembly, guarantees the right to privacy, en- sures equality for women and subordinates the military to civilian control. It is the most progressive constitution in the Arab Middle East.
Nearly a year after the fall of Baghdad, Iraq is hugely improved. Unemployment has been cut in half. Wages are climbing. The devastated southern marshlands are being restored. More Iraqis own cars and telephones than before Hussein was ousted. Some 2,500 schools have been rehabbed by the U.S.-headed coalition. Above all, Iraq's people are free. The horror and cruelty of the Hussein era are gone forever.
This is the face of failure? This is what we should turn over to the self-serving egos and thieves at the UN to bungle and mismanage, or cut and run ala Clinton, leaving whomever is strongest and most brutal to rule. Again.
No, everything is not rosy in Iraq, but much more is going right than wrong. As the convenient camera coverage of the outrage in Fallujah demonstrates, American opinion is being played as events are orchestrated for American political consumption. The Left has given the insurgents and terrorists hope that we will cut and run, and our people on the ground are paying a high price for the election-year rhetoric spewed by Senators Kennedy, Biden and Kerry.
Someone should tell these asshats to stop digging:
WLIB plans to go Black at night“You remember things like WLIB’s logo ‘Keeping the business in the family,’ ” said Irwin Claire, co-director of the Queens-based Caribbean Immigration Services. “You remember that you used to hear comments like, ‘Rip the knob off your radio, because you wake up and go to sleep with WLIB on the dial.’”
“[That] puts it in perspective,” Claire added as he spoke about the sense of regret and offense many feel about the abruptly announced scheduling changes at New York’s radio station WLIB-1190 AM, which as of March 31 will help launch “Air America Radio,” the new, predominately white, liberal talk-radio network.
“It’s not something where I’m going to get bitter or angry. Businesses make decisions; they have a right to do that for their shareholders. But where they have stopped programming Caribbean shows, they continue to play the music—without saying anything on air about the new changes. That’s not just sticking the dagger in, but slowly twisting it, too.”
After years of building political and cultural rapport in the African American community, WLIB created a strong following among Caribbean Americans with shows that featured music and also made “Island Link” connections with radio stations in Jamaica, St. Lucia, Trinidad, Grenada, St. Vincent, Antigua and St. Kitts.
[...]
“We’re angry that they think they can just turn WLIB into a white talk station and then are arrogant enough to say that the issues they are talking about affect everybody. This is the Democrats,” Law said. “They believe that you don’t really need a Black voice because their [white liberal] concerns are everybody’s concerns.”
In what may be an effort to win back its community standing, Inner City’s general manager, Kernie L. Anderson, this week announced that although Air America has leased broadcast time during the day, March 31 will also initiate WLIB’s 12 a.m. to 5 a.m. overnight focus on Black issues programming. Saturday nights will feature “Moment Creole” with Stanley Barbot, and “Caribbean Cross Culture” will be on every Sunday night. David Dinkins and Rev. Al Sharpton have been offered Sunday morning shows; on weeknights Dr. Carlos Russell will revise his Afrocentric issues show, “Thinking It Through”; and the journalist-author Herb Boyd will host a two-hour call-in news segment, “Conversation with the People.”
Gees...them free-thinkin' white liberals are going to let the black island folk ride in the back of the radio bus. Franken, the Dems et al, should be ashamed and they should immediately offer daytime slots for this community.
Thanks to Baldilocks for the update.
Today, I choose to honor The Royal Scots and say "Thank You"
Our Brothers-in-Arms, The Royal Scots, 1st Battlation is serving in Iraq. Visit their web site and click on Company A, C and R for an Irag diary and photos. You might give them a shout on the regimental email.Recce Coy in Basrah
Today is the Blogosphere's Tartan Day, you can find a list of participating blogs at Blackfive or Absinthe and Cookies. While I'm not a Scot, I appreciate the culture and adore the people, the heartbreakingly beautiful countryside, and their bemused fondness for Yanks, not just because of shared ancestry, but because like the Scots, we take names and kick ass. They get it.
A bit of military history for those who appreciate such things:
The Royal Scots (The Royal Regiment) is the oldest Regiment in the British Army and as such is the senior Infantry Regiment of the Line. It was raised in 1633 when Sir John Hepburn, under a Royal Warrant from King Charles I, recruited 1200 men in Scotland. The first battle honour awarded to the Regiment was Tangier 1680, since when a further 148 have been gained in a history which has involved them in almost every campaign the British Army has fought.
We were living in the UK and attended the 1983 Tattoo when the Regiment celebrated its 350th Anniversary and it was spectacular. I recommend the Tatto as a must see for anyone holidaying in the UK in August.
The word tattoo is a corruption of a Dutch phrase meaning "turn off the taps"....when a lone drummer would play a "tattoo" or drum roll to signal the inkeepers to stop serving beer and to summon the troops back to barracks. This ceremony was performed by the British while they were in the low countries during the early 18th century, but it is a custom common to many armies of that time, in particular the various German princeapalities of the day. Over time the Tattoo evolved into a more elaborate affair as more bands and musicians were drawn into its fare and 1947 became the Tattoo we know today.
There are usually five or six pipe bands massed in the Edinburgh Tattoo. In 1983 they pulled out the all the stops for a massive celebration attended by the Royals... it was a peak experience.
The infantry battalions of the Scottish Division are always well represented and the regular services will provide at least one other band -perhaps from the Guards, the Cavalry, the Gurkhas or the Royal Air Force. The musicians in these bands are all fighting servicemen for whom combat must take priority over piping and drumming. In the infantry, for example, the pipe band usually has the official role of battalion machine gun platoon.
On 30th June, 1667 Samuel Pepys met Lord George Douglas in Rochester and mentions seeing his Regiment; he records that "here in the streets I did hear the Scotch March beat by the drums before the soldiers, which is very odde."
The battle marches (mpeg- turn up your speakers) struck fear in the hearts of their enemies as they heard the din of the drums and pipes marching towards them, knowing the fiercest of the fierce were just over the hill and it was their day to die.
Catching up...Laughing Wolf asks the question that has been on my mind since the imagery from Fallujah aired. It is obvious that media anti-war/anti-American bias is the elephant in the world media's living room, when will they police and censure their own? Wait...I know. Never.
Baldilocks posts a dissing of Air America...not the lame content...that's a given...but their take-over of a black community radio station in the NYC market. Way to go guys.
One would think the Dems would have a boffo campaign given that the mass-media/marketing and entertainment industry are avowed supporters...how to explain the darth of ideas and crappy presentation. The Back Country Conservative comments on their latest effort at cleverness. Nor can Kerry come up with a resonating campaign motto..."A New Direction For America"?
Yeah, as in a hard left turn at speed onto a short pier.
HElWoE...fEstE wEnT To bEd aN sHo Im poShTinG dIs wEEkS aMIsh KaRnIVal oF tHe KatZ enTRy.
Zozo An mEES hEar 'BoUt a KaT nAmEd ElWoOd aLL tHe tIMe...Ooooo hEsh sooo gOOd...HeSH Sooo cUte...WEes aRe ShIck oF iT...SO's WeEs poShTinG a piCThEr of hIs faT asSH...hE's eVen faTTer DaN EdlOe...meBBe nOt.
Elwood 1990-2002
More about Els in the extended entry:
Els was the gentlest of cats...not only could you bury your face in his furry belly, he would stretch across your chest and neck like purring 20 lb. scarf and fall sleep anytime the opportunity presented itself. He was the ultimate lap cat.
I found Elwood and his three littermates in a dumpster next to the 7-11 where I stopped to get a bottle of cold water. As I walked past the dumpster I heard a faint mewing and inside a paper shopping bag were four newborn kittens. I took them to my Vet and we began a hand-rearing process. I kept the two orange & white ones, his assistant the gray and white ones.
Jake (top) & Els at 12 weeks
All survived, the gray & whites found new homes among the Vet's client's list and Jake and Elwood stayed with us. They were simply a delight...not realizing they were cats...they assumed they were just like us, but smarter and furrier. They adored the two elderly Irish setters and generally ruled the roost...zipping and zapping over, on and under everything. They were indoor cats until we moved to a new home with a quiet, safe street and lots of parkland to roam...or so I thought.
[Jake was killed by the newspaper delivery guy about six years ago...the moron whipped at speed into our drive to turn around and hit the cat who was coming to the Spousal Unit's call at front door. ]
Els was the sort of cat who never left your side if you were ill and always had a smile on his face when called. He never ventured far from the house...preferring to sun himself on the patio furniture and dig up anything newly planted to see what was at the bottom of the hole...planting bulbs was a challenge. I covered the newly planted patches with flagstones...which was only midly successful...as I discovered that cats can do the math to tunnel in horizonally.
Like most cats, Els loved hiding in odd places and springing on his victim, but never unleashing a tooth or nail ...just a grab, kick and roll... then scampering off to flop for a tummy stratch reward. He loved to ride on our shoulders around the house. As he grew into his full Maine Coon size that became a dicey bit of bidness...I have a 3" scar from a badly judged leap off the cat tower. One of his fav games was to hide in the dark on the opposing upper stairs and snag your hair as you came up the lower. Shreiking, dropping trays and other mayhem was an added bonus. Jake was always a silent accomplice....riding shotgun in the shadows... scampering off quickly only to stroll up nonchalantly as if to say "Whats' the fuss here?" and help out by lapping up spilled trays.
Elwood was a master of the 90db Midnight hairball hurk...cat owner's know of what I speak. ...no need for gruesome details about slippers, bedcovers and such.
Els was also the grandmaster player of the game of Undertoad...although Molly is becoming very adept at escaping at the last second. Zozo gets suckered in every time. The *UnderToad lives/lurks under the edge of the bed covers and pillows...luring cats to fish the edge for his finger-like tentacles...then suddenly grabbing them and pulling them under the covers for kissing and hugging. They love/hate it.
*Called the undertoad cuz as kids that's what we thought Gran was saying when she warned us about the dangers of playing on the nearby riverbank... a malaprop that stuck and is part of our family lexicon.
Lair, as usual, has invaluable advice and insight into the nation's semi-annual clock setting ritual.
Those of you in Indiana, Hawaii and Arizona may carry on with newpaper log rolling, tin-can lid coaster-making and tatting doilies from Piggly-Wiggly plastic bags...the rest of us must attend to sorting thread bare-assed underwear and wenching shrieking smoke detectors from the ceiling...and figuring out how the hell to reset our collection of LCD time vampires.
Via Dan Spencer at The Command Post:
Nader Asked To Abandon Presidential Effort.
According to the AP Nader rejected the pleas that he quit:
“You have to stand for something and I think these liberal groups, with their anybody-but-Bush advocacy, are going to get nothing in return,” said Nader spokesman Kevin Zeese.
Harsh.
BUWHAHAHAHAH!
I have no idea what is going down with Trombone Guy.
However I'm pretty sure that the girl by the whirlpool, is lookin' for a new fool.
One can understand the national perception that the SF Bay Area is a loony bin of anti-war, tree-hugging, America-last moonbat liberals, especially after the preceeding post, but that is far from the real picture.
The greater Bay Area is a melange of *spit* diverse *spit* communties as varied as the weather micro-climates they enjoy. The joke is "Don't like the weather? drive 20 minutes in any direction and it changes entirely" Politics is pretty much the same. Don't like Dem-hard Left? Drive in any direction and you'll find people rolling out the World's largest American flag, supporting military museums attending Fleet Week in record numbers and honoring those who serve our country in uniform.
This is a nice story:
Welcome Home soldier.
Army Pvt. Jacob Brown's leg was mangled, his wrist mashed and his spleen crushed.And Brown is one lucky young man.
That's because he is still alive, he has a lovely new wife and he's from Danville. Brown, 22, returned home three weeks ago to a city that has helped him find a job and a home filled with new furniture. If city leaders have their way, every Danville veteran will enjoy the same homecoming through what is believed to be the first program of its kind in the nation.
We've all seen the kiddies at anti-war Hate-America protests holding signs and chanting alongside their activtist parents and we've wondered what happens to these children, are they the next generation of protesters? Sometimes they become Army Rangers.
This story in today's SF Chronicle is maddening on so many levels that one doesn't know where to begin:
Susan Galleymore had traveled 7,472 miles from Alameda to search for her son in Iraq and was close to finding him. The Army Ranger had urged her not to come. He wouldn't even tell her where he was stationed. It was too dangerous, he said.But on Feb. 1, seven days after she arrived, the 48-year-old woman was outside the U.S. military base where her son might be. Her car idled among a dozen waiting to be inspected. She stepped out, her face covered in a borrowed hijab, the traditional head scarf worn by Muslim women. She approached a gun- toting U.S. soldier as he inspected a car.
"I'm coming up behind you, I mean you no harm," she said. She pulled out her U.S. passport. "I have business here and I want to speak to your sergeant."
"Ma'am," the guard said firmly, as he whirled toward her. "Get back in your car, ma'am!"
Galleymore held her ground. Six soldiers moved toward her. "I will do that as soon as I talk to your sergeant," she said, and pulled down her hijab.
"You're American," one of the soldiers said.
The tension melted. Soon, she was inside the gate, hugging her son.
Doesn't that give you the warm fuzzies? This stupid cow distracts a sentry in midst of a search and exposes herself and the men guarding the entry to an attack, yet the author purrs approval. It doesn't seem to occur to Galleymore or the Code Pink sponsors that when they enter a war zone, should things go wrong, they needlessly risk other mother's sons.
At wit's end, she decided that the only way to calm her fears was to go to Iraq. She got in touch with Code Pink, which has led about a dozen parents to Iraq over the past few months. After holding a fund-raiser, which netted half of the trip's $2,200 cost, she left for Iraq on Jan. 24.Wits end? These people are witless and selfish beyond belief.Her goal was to interview Iraqi mothers and to find her son -- even though three days before she left, he had begged her not to come. It was too dangerous; the landscape was littered with bandits and homemade explosive devices, he said.
Nick was prophetic. During their 12-hour ride into Baghdad from Jordan, one of the three cars in the convoy was pulled over and its occupants robbed. No one was hurt.
Galleymore had done what some military parents only consider during their sleepless nights: She went to Iraq to find her son and see for herself how he was doing. And the 90 minutes they spent together, she said, was well worth the danger."I wouldn't change a thing," Galleymore said. "But I felt sad when I went home. I was going back to my safe little home, while all of these lives are being destroyed over there."
The weeks before and after Galleymore's 10-day visit to Iraq have been a complex transformation from the personal to the political. Her quest to find out about her son has evolved into trying to understand what Iraqi mothers, as well as other U.S. military parents, are going through.
That journey has been by turns lonely, satisfying and moving. It has cost her close friendships, given her new ones and complicated her relationship with her active-duty son Nick. Some objected to her post-trip writings about Iraqis who told her of how "jittery GIs shoot Iraqi civilians in the streets," as she mentioned in one online essay.
In one essay, Galleymore asked for others to appreciate that the soldiers are in a dilemma, "caught in a military culture that encourages the numbing of most emotions but anger. Whip up enough anger in young men emotionally isolated, denied friends, family, lovers, even civilians clothes, physically exhaust them, nourish them inadequately, expose them to extreme temperatures and violent behavior, confine them to base and portray everyone else as murderous and you create impossible stress."Not by abandoning them to the feckless thieves at the UN and the waiting Ba'athist thugs, fundemental clerics and Islamo-terrorists that will fill the vacuum. She weeps crocodile tears for the people of Iraq, her motives are for regime change here, not in Iraq.Nick told his mother that wasn't his experience. She doesn't know how they'll get along when he returns.
"I don't know if he hasn't been responding to my e-mails because he can't, or because of something else," Galleymore said.
Even after meeting halfway around the world, Galleymore's relationship with her son is in some ways as complicated as it was before he left. But she knows they'll eventually understand each other; they're mother and child. She hopes that Americans eventually achieve the same with Iraqis.
Apparently the author knows nothing of Operation Give and other good works Americans and Iraqs are doing together. How easily he accepts Galleymore's anti-American, anti-military point of view as the norm reveals his bias. I am sure there wasn't a dry eye in the house this morning when this piece of slanted journalism hit the doorsteps. Tomorrow's Letters to the Editor will run hot with outrage and applause for Galleymore, just as they have been demanding we pull out of Iraq since the savagery in Fallujah occured.
Of course the next terrorist scare at SFO or the Golden Gate Bridge, these same folks will be lighting up the phones and editorial pages demanding a quicker military response.
Having a late lunch...watching The Fox All-Stars ...Brit Hume asked Mort Kondracke how we should handle the Fallujah insurgents.
Kondracke replied that he would take a page from Kerry's playbook, approach it as a police action, gather intel, plan a response and then he'd do what George Bush would do, "Go in and kill the bastards."
Kondrake flashed a sardonic grin he pulls off so well as Jeff Birnbaum twitched and you could see Birnbaum wondering if he heard Kondracke correctly. This sort of against-type commentary is what makes the All-Stars entertaining...Barnes and Birnbaum are predictable, rehashing the daily talking points... but you never know what the hell Kondracke or Krauthammer will say.
Chris Matthews grinds on with his Clarke fest trapping Joe Biden in an incoherent web of Biden's own making. Nothing new here folks, so we'll move along.
This item found at the Media Research Center boggles even this jaded news junky's mind:
In honor of our special day, I offer the Blogosphere's Fools:
Of course one would be foolish indeed not to honor the Grandfather of Foolishness:Punch Magazine.
Partake of the bounty of wit, opinion and folly our freedom bestows, for if you allow yesterday's savage acts to deprive you of a smile then as the hacks say; the terrorists win.
Fuck 'em if they can't take a joke.
