Apr
30
2004
What gives?
Filed Under Religion | Comments Off
What gives?
Filed Under Religion | Comments Off
Sent this evening:
To: opinionjournal@wsj.com
From: chris@theblackrepublican.net
Subject: What gives?Mr. Taranto,
I have been a loyal reader of your column for many years, so I find it very distressing at the insult you have thrown in the direction of America’s Catholics.
In your last entry on Friday, rather than describing the tumultuous disruptions occuring in our church by using your usual, fair, Gaelic-derived pet word “kerfuffle”, you libeled us by using instead the French-inspired “brouhaha”. Are America’s Catholics not good enough to earn a “kerfuffle” from you? We demand an apology.
Christopher O’Conor
www.theblackrepublican.net
Apr
28
2004
Random Notes
Filed Under Politics | 6 Comments
Random Notes
Filed Under Politics | 6 Comments
Below is a copy of the instant message
Apr
27
2004
The President and the warm bucket of spit
Filed Under Politics | Comments Off
The President and the warm bucket of spit
Filed Under Politics | Comments Off
Ever since Condi Rice’s testimony before the 9/11 commission turned out not to be such a boon for the Democrats, the wailing from the Left has centered around the other half of the deal that made that happen: Bush and Cheney will appear before the commission on Thursday together. The press and the Democrats have had a field day asking “Why?” What has allowed the fire to burn on this question has been the Administration’s lame excuse that “it just makes sense.” Perhaps Karl Rove is setting up rope-a-dope #142, but it aggravates me that I know of at least two reasonable, rational, and plausible reasons for this, and no one in the GOP is saying either one of them.
First and foremost, the President and the Vice-President are the only two elected officials of the sitting Administration. That’s the way it works in the United States under the Constitution: the top dog and his running mate really only “answer to” all the voters, and only once every four years. Testimony before a congressional committee or a congressionally-created commission has been almost non-existant. (I know only of Gerald Ford, who went to the Hill to explain his pardon of his predecessor, Richard Nixon – a singular event unto itself.) For what purpose other than chicanery would any body seek the separate testimony of these two men, who by all authority are required to speak with one voice, especially while still serving in office?
The other reason is even more basic. What does the Vice-President have to testify about? The man only has two duties under the Constitution: 1) Cast a deciding vote when the Senate is tied, and more importantly, 2) be prepared to assume office on the death of the President. The former capacity has not been utilized by Mr. Cheney in any matter related to 9/11. The latter would lead to just one question, “Were you prepared to assume the duties of the President if Air Force One was shot down that day?”
When you combine my first answer to the question of why the President and Vice-President should be appearing together with the latter half of my second answer, there’s simple no rationale why the two should be appearing separately, beyond the expectation of a successful witch hunt. And we all know that when you hunt witches, there’s only one verdict.
UPDATE: At the risk of sounding like someone haughty and French-looking… My lips. Karl Rove’s ears.
Filed Under Internet and Blogging | Comments Off After a day off from work to take care of two kids with stomach flu, there can be no better treat than to start the work week with a few Cox & Forkum cartoons I’d missed. And what do I find when I get there? An auction for a signed copy of “Black & White World”, with the proceeds going to Spirit of America. I know I’ll soon get outbid, but I had to get in there while I could, just for the irony. I wish the only problem we had between “black and white” in America today was Cox & Forkum occasionally running out of ink. UPDATE: Outbid before I could even refresh. Those of us who can remember back to when David Letterman was still funny may recall a skit he used to do called “Brush With Greatness”, wherein studio guests would share their experiences while in contact with a famous person. I once attended a taping of his show, (after he moved to CBS and into the old Ed Sullivan Theatre where the Beatles once performed for America on television), and in the weeks between when I knew I would be going, and when
Filed Under Politics | Comments Off I should add that I was also inspired by the event, for several reasons. First and foremost, I was stunned that so few people took the time to read the ProtestWarrior.com signs. We were constantly having to defend ourselves from the Right (who thought we were hippies), and we had to practically beg the Left to read and understand that we weren’t one of them. At one point, a pair of elderly leftists with Kerry2004 buttons gave us such enthusiastic thumbs-up signs, I was hyperventilating in the Florida haze from laughing so hard. There’s no doubt we’re winning the debate on Education reform – the people who CAN read can’t comprehend well enough to read a protest banner. Still, it was strangely comforting to know that we have a Constitution that encourages these people to stand outside in the heat and make fools of themselves. We heard more than a few Republicans shouting back at the more profane demonstrators, which put Steve and I in the rediculous position of acting as schoolmarm (in some cases, for people twice my age), begging them not to stoop to the same level. But most encouraging (yes, encouraging) was the look and feel of the display the other side was putting on. Despite the fact that we didn’t see any of the really wacko A.N.S.W.E.R. types carrying Palestinian flags (or perhaps because of that), I expected my fellow Catholics from the pacifist Pax Christi organization to be less BUSH LIED!!!! and more “kumbaya my Lord”. They weren’t. Worse yet, if there were Pax Christi people there, I couldn’t tell who they were. Was one the old woman all in black screaming, “Bush is a pretend Jesus freak!” (is that a slam or a compliment?) just before saying, “George Bush is the anti-Christ!” (now I’m really confused…)? Or perhaps the young butch-haircut female screaming, “George Bush is a (expletive) (expletive) who doesn’t (expletive) care about the (expletive) (expletive) environment!” Or might it have been the man who said, “Bush doesn’t effing care about the effing border! Take the illegals out of the jails and put them into effing camps where they belong!”? (Could this have been the fascist the Left keeps calling us? – and no, I didn’t edit that quote; he actually said, “effing” – as in “John effing Kerry”.) All things considered (pardon the pun), I couldn’t help but see the paltry collection of human debris (there were no more than 100 people there from both sides), turn to Steve and say, “Look around you – we’ve won.” This hit even closer to home as I was leaving, when I heard Pat Tillman was KIA. I have more faith in the American people than to believe that when the Tillmans of the world are measured against the people I met today, more people will say he should have died in vain, and that our troops should be protected from their own patriotic ideals. Come November, people who have never voted, or who have never voted Republican, will close the curtain and look at their choices. They will pull the lever that allowed Pat Tillman to defend his country from all enemies… foreign and domestic. UPDATE: We met up with Chris Pritchard of DefendingLiberty.com, who was kind enough to take a picture of Steve and I. Hmmm… looks like Mr. Atkins and I still have a ways to go yet, eh? Filed Under Politics | Comments Off It’s been a long time since I read a news article about politics that didn’t reflect the clash of ideologies present in America today, but a discussion of constitutional reform in the way the House recovers from a national emergency may be one. Though Democrats and Republicans are described in the story, the fault lines don’t seem to break by party or ideology, but only by the degree that each legislator is willing to contemplate amending the constitution. If you ever wanted to see a constitutional amendment be created, watch this story in the future. I’d predict the reformers in the Senate will eventually convince their House counterparts that the idea cannot be ignored. Regardless, it’s nice to see them discussing something important AND at the same time avoiding the usual ideology war. Filed Under Liberty and Democracy | 1 Comment Stand tall and be proud – this has been a awesome day. I feel as proud to be an American as much or more today than any day since the ceremony for my commissioning as an officer in the US Army. The first reason I’m so proud is because today Chris and I, in a manner, put ourselves in harms way – at least as much as is possible without leaving sunny southwest Florida! We played the part of “Protest Warriors” outside the location being visited by President Bush today. We had our 36″x40″ posters (courtesy of www.ProtestWarrior.com), I wore my BUSH IN 2004 T-shirt (which, BTW, Chris got me for Christmas) and Chris had a I LOVE THE USA T-shirt, and we were both
Filed Under Lies, Corruption and Scandals | Comments Off I have been angry with the American news media for some time. Their lack of honesty is nothing new, and they indulge in partisan meddling time and again. But, CBS may have hit a new low with the presentation of a photograph of the dying Princess Diana, I hope the world, correctly, blames our press and not our country and its citizens. As one American put it: First, it was word last week that New Jersey – sitting as it did one fateful morning three years ago, in the very shadow of the Manhattan skyline – was tilting right again. Now Howard Fineman, resident Democratic water-carrier for MSNBC, has cracked so completely he’s beginning to tell the truth. Filed Under Internet and Blogging | Comments Off Due to family concerns, I’ve been a bit too busy to post much the last few days, but I wanted to take note that The Black Republican was mentioned in the Carnival of the Bush Blogs this week. (Not too much of an achievement – I submitted the post myself. Filed Under War and Terrorism | Comments Off I haven’t said much about Israel lately, so I thought I’d take note of the death yesterday of Abdel Aziz Rantisi, the leader of the terrorist death cult known as Hamas – just weeks after taking charge of the organization. It appears he was the target of an ayassination. (I hope now my membership in the Lizardoid Guild is secure for a few more weeks….) EDIT: I’d originally said, “the victim of an ayassination”, but I was forced to change it. Even I couldn’t stomach that much sarcasm. Filed Under War and Terrorism | 1 Comment Andrew McCarthy does an excellent job in National Review Online explaining conflicts of interest and how Democrat commissioner Jamie Gorelick’s participation in the 9/11 commission is completely untenable. But what bothers me is how inept even the Republican members are, most especially Chairman Thomas Kean from my old home state of New Jersey. The utter vapidity required for any public servant to say, “people ought to stay out of our business” is incredible. That a member of a fact-finding commission would say it is laughable. That the chairman of that commission would say it is nothing short of disgusting. You don’t want us in your business Mr. Kean? Fine with me. Now get out of our business. Take this commission and whatever it says – regardless of what it reveals about either party, either of the involved presidential administrations, and whomever it seeks to blame – and shove it where the sun doesn’t shine. You’ll hear nothing from me from now on but how totally irrelevant and illegitimate this bag of wind is. The whole thing’s a fraud. Filed Under War and Terrorism | Comments Off Congressman Sensebrenner has been calling for Jamie Gorelick to resign from the 911 Commission. Bravo, finally, our tax dollars at work! sensenbrenner@mail.house.gov Up Filed Under Liberty and Democracy | Comments Off Tired of sitting on your hands watching the events ebb and flow in Iraq? Want to make a difference? Well here’s a way you can help the cause… without leaving your keyboard. And, if my guess is correct, the deeds of those reading this may just help show that the blogosphere is truly a great untapped resource and a force to be reckoned with. So when you help with this effort, be sure to credit the blogosphere for getting the word out! UPDATE: I see that more people are getting into the act! Keep it going!
Apr
27
2004
I really wish I could win this…
Apr
27
2004
Apr
23
2004
Defending America
Apr
23
2004
Nonpartisanship – What a concept
Apr
23
2004
A Great Day To Be an American
Apr
22
2004
Diplomatic Disaster
I thought it would be the European paparazzi out to make millions of dollars by selling a picture. I never expected it would be the media in my country that would do such a thing.
No wonder some are taking a break from politics, most of us get our news from the media; generally, the media lacks judgement and integrity.
Apr
22
2004
Kerry told financial supporters in New York the other week that his objective, for now, was to “preserve my acceptability.” That
Apr
20
2004
Asleep at the switch
)Apr
18
2004
Hamas leader Rantisi dead
Apr
17
2004
Let’s take them for their word II
Apr
16
2004
Defend Nation From Gorelick
Sensebrenner is right, Gorelick (Deputy AG under Reno/Clinton) should not be on the panel any more than Cheney, Gore, Clinton, Bush, Reno, Ashcroft, Tenet, Freeh, or Richard Clarke should be on it. And for the same reasons!
She should have known that her previous work made her an inappropriate choice, and she must know that she should be a witness. So, in addition to her conflict of interest we can now surmise this about her, that she is either crooked or an idiot! The suggestion in the article Gorelick’s Wall that she may have raised the “wall” to prevent a full investigation of Clinton campaign contributions, and thus created the information sharing restrictions that eventually led to the intelligence service’s failure to detect and prevent 911, makes the former a likely choice! Either way, she must go, and it is to the discredit of the entire panel that she hasn’t been unamimously removed already.
I sent the following message to Mr. Sensebrenner this morning. I provide his e-maill address with the hope that you will also contact him with your support to remove Gorelick.
Representative Sensebrenner thank you for your efforts to get Jamie Gorelick to resign from the 911 Commission. I have been watching in stunned disbelief as this body has made a sham of the investigative process, now this Gorelick conflict of interest puts a topper on the mess. She must go, and, for my money, the committee is useless (at this time) and can disband none too soon.
I found this article last night, Ms Gorelick addressed an ABA seminar on the subject of intelligence gathering methods while she was Deputy AG. http://www.abanet.org/natsecurity/nslr/s96panel.html
This is further, and non-classified, evidence that she was involved in setting policy on the issue she is now “investigating”; you are correct she should be a witness.
She made this interesting remark:
JAMIE GORELICK: “I think Reid’s point is well-taken. I do agree with Jim that the wall cannot come down….”
Please pin their ears to the wall on this one!
Richard D. Jones
Naples, FlApr
16
2004
Spirit of America!