Jul

31

2004

Valor defined

Filed Under War and Terrorism | Comments Off

The San Diego Union-Tribune should get some kind of award: they actually wrote something nice about our troops. When was the last time that happened in an American newspaper?

(hat tip: the venerable Ace of Spades)

UPDATE: On this theme, littlegreenfootballs takes note of the story I linked under Recommended Reading, where some of our Marines were forced to confront one of our most dangerous enemies: John F. Kerry. The comments, as usual, are precious. This is one former soldier willing to give a hearty SEMPER FI!

Jul

30

2004

Kerry’s speech – Just like in the movies!

Filed Under Politics | 2 Comments

I listened intently last night to a speech that all this week nearly every Democrat said needed to be a great, and afterward nearly every Democrat agreed was the best Kerry had ever delivered. As I listened, all I could think of was “Why is this guy sweating so much?” I mean, it was almost comical… reminiscent of Aaron Altman, Albert Brooks’ character in Broadcast News, who had a sweating fit in his debut as an anchorman (and subsequently lost the job). At first it I thought it looked like drool glistening off his chin which, given the desperate measures he has been employing lately, seemed totally appropriate! The fact that Kerry kept licking his lips only added to this perception. But then I noticed that his entire face was becoming wet. As a bit of an historian, it brought to mind the result of the Nixon/Kennedy debates. The radio audience thought Nixon won the debate, but no one watching on TV really listened to Nixon because of the way he appeared on camera… like a used car salesman! Similarly, I found that I couldn’t concentrate much on the substance of what Kerry was saying because he looked like a man who had invested everything he owned in a charade and needed desperately for those to whom he was speaking to believe him, lest the charade be exposed! Were that to happen, I’m sure he would insist Pay no attention to that man behind the curtain.

Kerry’s nervous sweat reminded me of another movie as well, Total Recall (starring the Governator, Arnold Schwarzenegger!). Remember the scene where some doctor walks in and tries to convince Arnold’s character (Quaid) that everything he has experienced is just a hallucination, and that he (the doctor) has been inserted into Quaid’s hallucination in order to ‘talk him down’ and thus save his life? The doctor is on the verge of convincing Quaid and getting him to let down his guard, when a telltale bead of sweat rolls down the good doctor’s face. Quaid sees that sweat, realizes that if the doctor was really there for the altruistic reasons he was proclaiming, then he shouldn’t be nervous or sweating, and BANG! – he puts a bullet between the doctor’s eyes! And so it is that the Democrats are trying desperately to convince the American public that, with Kerry as president, they can pretend the Bush tenure (to include 9/11) never really happened, that is was all just a bad dream, and we should now get back to a proper Clinton-like administration and set the world right again. Now I do not want anyone to think I am advocating that any harm should come to Mr. Kerry, I am absolutely not! I just want his political life to come to an abrupt and complete end, and the fraud of a man behind the curtain to be exposed. During the day on Tuesday, November 2nd, I believe we’ll all hear a loud click… and just after 7:00 PST, a dramatic BANG!

Jul

30

2004

Courage under fire

Filed Under Politics | 2 Comments

A comment (from frequent visitor “Senator PhilABuster”) responding to Ace of Spades’ convention round-up sums up Senator Kerry’s speech well:

“Imagine we believe in science,
and the wonders of discovery too,
Curing Aids and Alzheimers,
With stem cells isn’t hard to do.

Imagine there’s no children,
unsafe after school.
Imagine that our leaders,
eliminated hatred too.

You may say, I’m a dreamer.
But I’m not the only one.
I hope some day, you’ll join us.
And John Edwards and I can live as one.”

And Ace himself is no slouch in his remarks:
(W)hen New York is bombed – this time, bombed hard enough to shut down large sections of the city and leave me dead – I’ll at least be comforted by the notion that John Kerry confronted my killers with principle.
I still have hope. I think Kerry’s self-congratulatory salute mocks his aborted service in Vietnam more than it exalts it. When I heard his line, “Reporting for duty,” I thought it might sound persuasive. But when you see him do it, he looks like little John Jr. at JFK’s funeral – an infant with no understanding of responsibility. I think it actually enhances the facts: that he left Vietnam early, movie camera in hand, with enough tape to support his political career, that he led the forces of surrender who spat on his fellow servicemen as they returned, and accused those brave men of unspeakable crimes they did not commit.

We’ve been saying, “We don’t question Kerry’s service. We question what came after.” But let us add this caveat: we also don’t applaud his service beyond the recognition it deserves. He may deserve some respect, but a true Hero would not have fled the field. And the truest heroes still lie buried underneath it.

The American people have yet to hear from the Commander-in-Chief in New York. As a boy, unlike Kerry, he did not step on that field. But as a man, unlike Kerry, he has stayed and fought, and not shirked from his duty, and he has invited personal sacrifice.

He returned to Washington when his advisors told him it was not safe.
He visited New York when it still burned and his advisors told him it was not safe.
He stood in an open stadium and resolutely tempted assassination when his advisors told him it was not safe.
He asked that he be the first to receive the smallpox vaccination when his troops feared it was not safe.
And when many in the world told him we did not have enough cause to topple a brutal dictator who murdered his own people, who consorted with terrorists – some of whom have and would again attack us, and his opposition said the whole world called him reckless and irresponsible and they would not support him, and they would rip his presidency apart, he did what was right for America and not what was safe for his political career.

He did not tire, he did not falter, and under his leadership, “We will not fail”.

UPDATE: Al-Khaliq is thinking as I am.

Jul

29

2004

Ideological Impurity meets Wingnut Politics

Filed Under Politics | Comments Off

These cretins are why people hate politics – and more specifically, why Republicans continue to be regarded as a bastard ideology by so many people, compared with the saintly liberals, who can do no wrong in some eyes.

I don’t care what party or ideology you support, this concept of “losing to win” is pure, unadulterated bullshit. I strongly encourage Democrats and liberals to vote their conscience right alongside Republicans, conservatives, libertarians, and everyone else. We’re not going to get America on the right track by voting against ourselves anymore than we’re going to make her strong by ripping each other to shreds while the enemy laughs at us.

A note to the curious who might trip in from Body and Soul: I haven’t heard Obama’s speech, and don’t plan to listen any time soon. It’s not that I don’t want to – in fact I really do, because I can foresee a possible future where a man like this could provide all Americans with hope and offer the hand of friendship needed to dispel bitterness and unify a divided nation in true brotherhood.

But I see neither hope nor brotherhood in the Democratic Party of 2004, and I certainly don’t see America. I can’t listen to men who may very well be patriots when they consort with traitors. I cannot believe the honest when they shelter and support the liar. I see a group of people with vicious hatred for their countrymen, unyielding contempt for the land that bore them, and total disdain for her values – values which on the whole they feel are beneath them. Whenever I’ve thought I’ve seen the rational and the virtuous among them, my hopes have been utterly dashed, so I dare not hope any more this season.

Please, please, reject the devisiveness and understand that we do not wish to be your enemy. Support the Party of Robert Byrd if you must, but know that the Party of Lincoln stands ready to work with you, come what may, to “bind up the nation’s wounds”.

With malice toward none, with charity for all, with firmness in the right as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to finish the work we are in, to bind up the nation’s wounds, to care for him who shall have borne the battle and for his widow and his orphan, to do all which may achieve and cherish a just and lasting peace among ourselves and with all nations.
Listen closely to the blood in the stones of Iraq and hear the cries of the dead you so hypocritically have refused to hear. “I am my brother’s keeper,” – and I consider you the lost sheep I choose to run after, turning away from the rest of the flock to find you and bring you home. Please stop running so I have a chance to catch you.

Jul

28

2004

The most important news out of the Democratic Convention

Filed Under Politics, Race and Prejudice | Comments Off

Listen to the important audio commentary from the podium at the Democratic National Convention.

Jul

28

2004

Surprised?

Filed Under Politics, War and Terrorism | Comments Off

Little Green Footballs points out that the imam who gave a benediction one night during the Democratic National Convention has a little image problem.

Is this the dastardly work of those disgusting Republicans, who like to make McCarthyite guilt-by-association claims against innocent people?

Yup, and he’s just as innocent as the communists who never really existed in Hollywood.

Jul

27

2004

Rush imitates The Black Republican

Filed Under Politics | Comments Off

We’ve talked recently about the cause of the Militant Moderate. Today, Rush Limbaugh makes my case with his branded tongue-in-your-face manner.

But as far as I’m concerned, you can be who you are and convert some of those independents long before two weeks before the election — and if you don’t convert them, screw ‘em! It’s their problem, you know, it’s not ours. I just don’t like this business of holding back and denying who you really are because you’re living in fear; you’re worried you’re going to scare people. Both parties make me mad doing this stuff because you end up with total phoniness and you end up with people who aren’t being who they really are and they attract people on the basis of that and that’s how everything gets so screwed up. I really do believe, I think we ought to outlaw independentism. I think we ought to have a law that says, “Six months before the election every citizen ought to declare whether he’s Republican, Democrat, Libertarian, conservative or liberal. No independents allowed. No moderates allowed.” Make your mind up out there! Get some backbone! You’re screwing up the country by being so indecisive because you’re having a bunch of people pander to your indecision. That’s really going to get us a lot of places.
This is a slightly different tack on the concept that ideology is a necessary tool of the politically informed. Regardless of what your own ideology is, you have to be able to make a logical case for or against any idea based on a set of core principles. It really shouldn’t take you longer than a few minutes to at least know where your ideology might fit you into an argument, even if you don’t know which way you will eventually decide.

But if you wait for other people to plead their case, then say, “I like to weigh the arguments of both sides, and pick and choose who I think is right on each issue,” your participation in democracy doesn’t inspire my confidence. Please, figure out what it is that makes you tick, then champion that cause.

(I guess I should note that I’m not talking about people opposed to labels because they don’t want their ideology to be presumed. I’m talking about people who refuse to even consider that they have – or worse yet, oppose the idea they ought to have – an ideology. There’s a vast world of difference there.)

Jul

27

2004

The Oath

Filed Under Law and Ethics | Comments Off

Dean is asking “An Interesting Question For Conservatives”. I’ve given my answer.

Jul

26

2004

The Mean Season!

Filed Under Politics | Comments Off

And so it begins… the political mean season!

This weekend, every major news network (alas, including Fox!) all gave full lip service to the Democratic Convention “pre-game” show! While mostly fluff and pap, there were actually two enlightening and interesting things to come of this semi sycophantic love feast. The first is that the Democratic leadership is desperately trying to hold down the Bush bashing rhetoric in favor of promoting a more positive and pro-Kerry like image. Wow… this would be a good things for the country, and could actually promote honest and open debate between good people with differing political ideological viewpoints… and that is why I am wondering if the Donks can really pull it off, what with Michael Moore, Al Franken, and Al Gore wondering the convention floor.

The second interesting this is that the Donk leadership actually thinks they need to explain to the country exactly who John Kerry really is, even though they just spend $27.5 million on battleground state adds that were supposed to do just that! They believe that if they can just get out who this guy really is, people will begin to warm up to him. So the plan is to spend a great deal of the convention time and resources to “explain” John Kerry to the world. Even leaving aside the fact that very little of the convention will actually be viewed by anyone other than the Donk kool-aid drinkers and us political junkies, is this really the best strategy for them to follow? I mean, right now, without the vast electorate knowing that much about the new JFK, he is either marginally ahead or tied in the polls. Not to bad for a challenger to an incumbent war-time President at this stage of the game. If, by chance, the economy or Iraq take even a slight turn for the worse, Kerry is – as things stand right now – positioned very well to take advantage. So why tinker with the soup if the spices are right? Cause the soup ain’t gonna get done in time, that’s why! The Donk leaders seem to have conceded that neither the economy or Iraq will get worse, and will probably get better, so thet’re scrambling to bring some fire to their creation, and they think that explaining the new JFK will do the trick.

To support the Democratic leadership in their efforts, I will do something genuinely altruistic of me, I will gladly and honestly give some very good and free advice… be careful what you wish for, because if the general public ever does get to know the “real” John Forbes Kerry, they may not like what they see!

Jul

24

2004

ON STRIKE!

Filed Under Education | 5 Comments

I am so disgusted by what just occurred, I am barely able to keep my head from flying off my shoulders. The worst part of it is the sickening aftertaste, as I realize that like someone living in a tenement after witnessing a rape or murder, I could have done something but chose to stand there aghast and embarrassed and let the crime happen. Unlike those New Yorkers vilified back in the 1970’s, I don’t intend to sit by and do nothing while the criminals get away this time.

Read more

Jul

24

2004

Blast from the Past (and it’s still just hot air)

Filed Under Politics | Comments Off

Occasionally, I’ll click the link in my MT interface to go and edit a few posts that are still in a “draft” state in the Archives, hoping to bring them back on-line and up to date. It’s taking a lot longer than I’d expected, because it takes forever to save and publish each entry before going on to the next one, and in addition to the time wasted it’s incredibly boring.

In an attempt to amuse myself, I decided to edit a few from the first month of the blog and move forward, rather than progress backward from the last published post, as I have been doing. It’s been a treat – I’d forgotten how much fun I had in the first weeks, getting into the new medium. And some posts have actually shown some decent foresight, from my observation that the Democrats were going to crusade against Catholic judges, to who the future Majority Leader would be. Even if the meat of my commentary was going in the wrong direction, some of the details of the articles I cited are more true now than ever.

For example, long before Steve made a passion out of “Botox Watch”, Mark Steyn thought there was something awfully strange about John Kerry’s forehead. So take a break and go back and enjoy a little of December 2002.

Jul

24

2004

John and Trent, sitting in a tree?

Filed Under Law and Ethics | Comments Off

Maybe I should go back and research what kind of comments John Kerry was making against Trent Lott, back when the latter was busy shooting himself in the foot. Because the two have something in common, if you read into comments made by William Donohue of the Catholic League: one insinuated that Jim Crow wasn’t such a bad idea, and the other has made comments ethically supportive of the 1857 Dred Scott decision.

“Kerry’s dichotomy,” Donohue said, “was advanced by the U.S. Supreme Court in 1857 in the Dred Scott decision.”

“In that ruling, Chief Justice Roger B. Taney wrote that members of ‘the Negro race’ were ‘not regarded as a portion of the people or citizens of the government.’ Similarly, he concluded that ‘it is too plain for argument, that they have never been regarded as part of the people or citizens of the state.”

Donohue said Kerry’s view was at odds with that of most practicing U.S. Catholics who, he said, “know that a baby is a person, and persons have rights, beginning with the right to be born.”

Will John Edwards get jealous that the Massachusetts liberal is courting another Dixiecrat?

(hat tip: Catholic[?] Kerry Watch, note my correction in the comments)

Jul

23

2004

Fisk the Liberal

Filed Under Lies, Corruption and Scandals | Comments Off

Allah The Merciful is having a “Fisk the Liberal” party, and the guest of honor has just arrived. Play nice, partygoers.

Read more

Jul

22

2004

Literal

Filed Under Lies, Corruption and Scandals | Comments Off

Many years ago, Steve labeled me as having a “literal” sense of humor. (I must confess that I did consult a dictionary to determine whether the adjective was appropriate. ) Today (okay, I knew before today) I discovered that I am not alone. Literalmind.com is a sympathetic site for my particular mind set. Analyzing the use of proper phrasing on the television game show Jeopardy, Neal notes;

Sure, they insist on the answers being in the form of a question, but they don’t seem to care whether the questions the contestants come up with could actually be answered by the answer on the blue screen.

Then provides this fictional example of how things should be;

Later, in the Double Jeopardy round…

Alex: On August 28, 1963, this man gave his famous “I Have a Dream” speech on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial. Rudy?

Rudy: Who is Martin Luther King, Jr.?

Alex: Sorry, wrong question. Neal?

Neal: When did Martin Luther King, Jr., give his “I Have a Dream” speech?

Alex: That’s correct, for $200.

So, lets’ play the game using current events. The answer is, ‘Between July and October 2003, this former National Security Adviser stole classified documents from the National Archives.’

And the question is, ‘When did Sandy Berger provide the latest, (known), example that the Clinton Administration was not the most ethical administration ever?’

Jul

22

2004

Tick Tock…

Filed Under Politics | Comments Off

The 9/11 Commission’s Report has been handed to the President. The scene at the White House was cordial, with mutual respect shown between the President and the Commission’s Co-Chairmen.

So, it is time to start a stop watch, and let it run until one of the Commissioners falls back into their partisan ways. My money is on Ben-Veniste to be the first to one to use the report to attack the Bush administration. Tick-tock, tick-tock….

Note: I intended to present this idea earlier this week, with two stop watches, when the news about Sandy Berger broke. The first stop watch would be for timing how long it would take Kerry to dismiss Berger. The second would be used to time how long before the Republicans were blamed for Berger’s troubles. Both events occured before I could get to a computer and post.

Next Page →

  • Featured Sponsor

  • Recent Comments

  • Recent Posts

  • Archives

  • Categories