Take Your Ritalin Katilunas

Note: This is the post I recovered that was lost last night.

K. over at her blog posted this:

Today, on the 15 minutes I could stand of Meet the Press, we had as our guests...the Rev. Jerry Falwell, the Rev. Jim WhatsHisName, the Rev. SoandSo and the Rev. Al Sharpton. What a colleciton of assholes this was. Its a sad panel when Al Sharpton is the voice of reason. In todays world, with literally, world peace hanging in the balance, genocide in Africa, AIDS pandemics, people starving in America, segregation still in Alabama's state constitution, and who do we have on Meet the Press, the Reverand No-Nothing and his posse of do-gooders.

My friend Zorpack, goes on a classic rampage on religion. I won't go that far but I will say this, those Christian moral voters, those judgmental bastards who defy everything that Christ stood for, will turn this country into a theocracy quicker than you can say Amen and we'll all be in for it. How do they not see that they are the same as the Muslim fundamentalists--THEY JUST ARENT AS SUCCESSFUL...well, at least not yet anyway. Our poor founding fathers. These idiots who put 'In God we Trust' on the money in the 50's and 'One nation, under God' in the pledge in the 50's. People, these arguements aren't about America, they are about pushing your religion on the people.

Where do I start with this? First off, I'm reasonably sure they taught you in school about that document they call the Constitution. I'm reasonably sure that at that liberal college you attended they destroyed all intelligent insight into what that great document says and what it stands for. The men who joined together to write it, our "Founding Fathers", decided that yes, in fact the dreaded word God was really not such a bad thing. They founded the country on Judeo-Christian principles. They believed in the separation of church and state but not the full removal of those principles.

Those so-called "judgmental bastards" are allowed to assert their opinions in much the same way that moveon.org and the svelte Mikey Moore are allowed to assert theirs. The major problem is that while Jerry Falwell and Pat Robertson were justifiably smacked upside the head for the ignorant views they held, Michael Moore was seated next to a former President at the Democratic convention. The whacko right-wingers were relegated to the fringe while the whacko lefties are the mainstream. Look at what happened to Trent Lott over some stupid things he said at a party. It was the Republicans who forced him to the side. Now look at what happens when a Democrat says or does something stupid; nothing, nothing at all. You embrace the most radical in your party and choose not to seek the counsel of your moderates (read Evan Bayh, John Breaux and Joe Lieberman).

As for your other points; let's start with genocide in Africa. The UN has done nothing to alleviate the suffering of these people. Read any of my posts for the last three months and you can see that it has been Bush supporters calling for the intervention of the UN. As for AIDS, George W, Bush has given more money and done more for African suffering than any other US President. Perhaps if people would take a second to realize that AIDS is a preventable disease views may change. Bush has pledged $15-billion dollars to fight this epidemic and has paid half that so far. As for the racism jab, I can only say this; Colin Powell, Condi Rice, Rod Paige, Miguel Estrada, Elaine Chao, Morman Mineta, Alberto Gonzalez...you get the point.

You are being intellectually dishonest by slamming religious people. They believe in a higher power and have the right to do so. Do not compare a Baptist, Methodist, Jew or any other non-Muslim believer to Muslim fundamentalists. While Christians do indeed travel to other lands to "spread the word" they do not do so murdering and killing non-Christians and brand them as infidels. A Judeo-Christian renaissance in this country will not force you to wear a burqa or perform genital mutilation on your pre-teen daughter. To compare the Christian Right to Islam is not only dishonest and unbecoming for a person of your intelligence, it makes you sound like the unhinged idiots over at Democratic Underground or Indymedia.

As for the McDonalds reference, I have no idea how you ended up with that. maybe my cold Republican mind is so filled with hatred against gays, the homeless, women, minorities and the NEA that I don't have enough space to bridge the ideas you laid out.

Note: K. has printed a sort of mea culpa:

ah...don't you love re-reading your angry posts and realizing your anger took over for a second there?but the jist is still the same...the so-called 'moral' voters don't realize that they are turning this country more and more towards a religion-based government. The goverment (sic) has no business commenting on 'sanctity' of anything. McDonalds just being a ridiculous tool to show that anyone can have an opinion on whats damaging...if you believe it, act on it in your own life...but it is not the place of our goverment to legislate it.

Okay, if the government has no right to comment on the sanctity of anything, let's leave abortion to the states. We can all be a true democracy and vote on it. I suspect that it would be overturned rather abruptly.

Update: K. replies.

I Lost Another F+*&ing Post

I posted a reply to a post at another blog and it's lost. Damn it!

Kofi is Surprised

Kofi Annan can't believe that his son would have been involved in skimming money from the Oil for Food program:

The United Nations has revealed that the son of the secretary general, Kofi Annan, worked for a company being investigated in the Iraqi oil-for-food scandal for four years longer than he first admitted.
Mr Annan said last night he was "very disappointed and surprised" that his son Kojo had not told him the full story of his links to Cotecna in Geneva.
The oil-for-food scheme allowed Iraq, which was under UN sanctions, to export limited quantities of oil in return for food and medicine. It later emerged that Saddam Hussein diverted billions of dollars from the scheme to bribe officials.

You know what Kofi? I'm surprised when my son takes out the trash without being told. I'm disappointed when my son doesn't listen to his mom. I believe that I would be livid, pissed or even outraged if my child lived large on the backs of desperate people and through his actions Saddam built another palace. I guess the new BMW Kojo gave you last year was not a surprise. You're despicable.

For the Lizardoid Who Has Everything...

Cox and Forkum have a book of their editorial cartoons from 2002 through the election. The added bonus is commentary by Charles.

Anti-War or Anti-American?

This is a refreshing article out of Canada:

The pre-invasion anti-war movement morphed into a post-invasion anti-Bush movement. The failure of both efforts has deepened the resolve and refocused the efforts blue-state liberals, socialists, and the ever-present rent-a-mob crowd. ANSWER is revving up its street-theater engines to protest the President’s inauguration, and to create a world-wide protest March 19, the second anniversary of the invasion of Iraq.

Disappointed media moguls have already begun the campaign. In a Washington Post article, Robert Kuttner says the anti-war protests will be the most determined antiwar movement since the anti-Vietnam protests led by John Kerry and Jane Fonda.
Like Kerry’s anti-war campaign, the propaganda is based on lies and half-truths, designed to inflame a strong emotional response. The purpose of the war is distorted, obscured, and misrepresented. For example, ANSWER justifies its anti-war position by claiming that the U.S. deliberately targets civilians. They claim that "the top enlisted Marine in Iraq has called on his troops to commit war crimes against the tens of thousands of remaining residents" of Fallujah.
But they completely ignore the fact that coalition troops have uncovered mass graves that contain the bodies of nearly a half-million Iraqis executed by Saddam Hussein, and the discovery of slaughter-houses in Fallujah where innocent victims were routinely beheaded.
These people are not simply "anti-war," they are anti-American.
They call President Bush a " war criminal" while praising the terrorists in Iraq as "resistance fighters" and calling on all Americans to display the Palestinian flag in three days of mourning; "Let every flag and kuffiyya fly high in honor of all those who have passed - from Fallujah to Rafah and from Baghdad to Jerusalem."

Of course, read the entire thing.

Why Capitalism Rules

Go now and read the Carnival of the Capitalists. These people are great bloggers and deserve to be read.

I've been asked if Bush is a free market-type guy. I believe he is at heart and we will see that in the second term (damn, that still sounds good). I was against the steel tariffs he had imposed, but I do understand that he knew he'd need the steel manufacturing states and in the interest of votes he passed them. Unfortunately, that is how modern politics works.

What Say I? I Say Shut The Hell Up Bill

Bill O'Reilly is a complete caricature of himself. Like Chris Matthews, he believes his own press about his importance and thinks what he says carries more weight than others. Here's the last word, Bill, you're a friggin' moron:

Right-wing talk radio in particular pounded Kerry and also bludgeoned Dan Rather for his role in another smear incident - the charges against President Bush about his National Guard service. Again, Rather was found guilty without a fair hearing. Charges that he intentionally approved bogus documents that made Bush look bad were leveled and widely believed. It was chilling.
As a CBS News correspondent in the early '80s, I worked with Rather and have known him for more than 20 years. Listen to me: There is no way on this Earth that he would have knowingly used fake documents on any story.
It may be true that Rather did not vet the information supplied to him by producers, but few anchor people do. They are dependent on other journalists, and this is a huge flaw in the system.

Uh Bill, Rather knew full well that the story was uncorroborated and chose to run it anyway. He had an agenda and used his position to push it. I think with your recent "issues" you would do well to take a break and stay out of the spotlight. However, being as you're an arrogant SOB, that is not likely to happen. What does this say about your credibility? Would you have run them?

The Party Of Free Thought? Not!

Over at Powerline they have a link to a Chicago Sun-Times report about Steve Gardner. One of two men who served with Kerry and told what he recalls about what type of leader J. F. Kerry really was. You remember that name, right? The MSM gave both views on the issue, right? Wrong. Go read about what happens to a man who stands by his convictions when exposing a politician for what he really is.

New Jersey Politics

Tigerhawk, a fellow New Jerseyan, has a roundup of the current New Jersey political scene.
Governor Codey, whom replaced Jim McGreevey, will indeed have his hands full with Senator Corzine in next years gubernatorial election. On the GOP side you have Doug Forrester and Brent Schundler. Forrester may have a shot if he can campaign more effectively than he did againt Toricelli/Lautenberg. He has kept his name in the news by running ads against McGreevey for the last year. Schundler is another story. He is a strong Conservative and will be painted as a right-wing whacko by the Corzine campaign. Strong Conservatives do not win in a state like NJ. Case in point; the last two Republican governors were Christie Whitman and Tom Kean, not exactly Reaganites if you ask me.

Corzine is gearing up for a run at the Oval Office in '08 and knows full well that a Senator will not be elected to the nations highest office. There's too many votes that could be turned around on a sitting Senator.

I read in the comments of Tigerhawk's post that a long shot may come out of South Jersey. It ain't happening. I would love to see someone from south of Route 195 win but it is highly unlikely.

Thanks, Dude

Things like this just make your day. Keep writing Bro, I enjoy the insight.

Eagles Vs. Giants

The Eagles can clinch the NFC East with a win at the Meadowlands today. Throughout Andy Reid's tenure, they are 2-4 at Giants Stadium:

But enough nostalgia! The here-and-now concerns every NFL team as December beckons -- especially the 9-1 Philadelphia Eagles. With a win this Sunday against the Giants in New York, Philly can clinch its fourth division title in a row, and become only the third team since the 16-game schedule began in 1978 to win a division title by its 11th game (1985 Chicago Bears and 1997 San Francisco 49ers).
"The Eagles have been dominating this division," says Washington head coach Joe Gibbs. "They're well-coached, well-balanced and their quarterback (Donovan McNabb) is phenomenal."

I predict the Birds win 23-13 and clinch homefield throughout the playoff in week 14.

Even Maureen Dowd's Family Thinks She's Wrong

MoDo's brothers have better sense than she:

WASHINGTON — I've been surprised, out on the road, how often I get asked about my family. They're beyond red - more like crimson. My sister flew to West Virginia in October to work a phone bank for W.
People often wonder what our Thanksgiving is like.
It's lovely - if you enjoy hearing about how brilliant Ann Coulter is, how misguided The New York Times's editorial page is, and how valiant the president is as he tries to stop America's slide into paganism.

Sounds about right to me.

Darfur Update

The government Janjaweed militias have murdered, raped and displaced the non-Muslim citizens of Sudan. The UN did nothing except whine and wring there hands. If they would've acted, they could have prevented this:

ABU SHOUK, Sudan - There were no smiles, no blessings at the birth of the light-skinned girl with the ebony eyes and curly black hair. Not a glimpse of joy. For a family still bleeding from war, the baby was like salt on their wounds.
"My father didn't speak for the entire day," recalled the baby's mother, Suad Abdalaziz, 28, her voice cracking and her face streaming with tears. "He was not angry at me. He was angry at the Janjaweed and the government for giving me this baby."
In the troubled province of Darfur, pro-government Arab militias called Janjaweed have raped countless black African women in a campaign that the Bush administration has called genocide.
Now, their babies are emerging across this tableau of human suffering. They are outcasts in a war-scarred society where rape is a source of shame and the father's identity defines a child.
Relatives shun the babies, seeing in their tiny faces the atrocities committed by enemies. Mothers struggle to accept them, torn between loyalty to their tribe and their instincts to love and care. Many are resigned to a life of isolation, where marriage is unlikely and their children will forever carry a stigma.
"These are the babies of the Janjaweed," said Hassan Abdallah Bakhur, a tribal elder from the town of Tawilla. "I don't know how we can solve this problem. They and their mothers face a bad future."

An entire generation will be shunned because their mothers were raped by genocidal muslims and the world did nothing.

Update: Here's more:

IS IT because they are black? It makes you wonder. Not just about how the people of Darfur are treated by the Government of Sudan, but also about how they are treated by the wealthy nations of the world.
People argue that there are not Arabs and black Africans in Sudan, only different black tribes competing for scarce resources. That may bear some truth, but it is not what the victims say. “The Arabs are doing this,” I was told over and again by refugees on the Chad-Sudan border this year. “When the Janjawid (Arab militias) and the Government attack they call us slaves and niggers. That is why they kill, steal and destroy.”
Over centuries many Sudanese tribes have assumed an Arabic identity. Once that was the same as taking on Islamic culture, but now the distinction is not so clear. Those who see themselves as Arab look down on the others, even the pious Muslim African tribes.

The War on Terror Continues

Saddam's old special forces are being utilized in fighting the terrorist insurgents throughout Iraq:

NEAR ISKANDARIYA, Iraq (Reuters) - Twenty months after toppling Saddam Hussein (news - web sites), U.S. troops still battling his followers in the heartland of Iraq (news - web sites)'s old arms industry are hitting back with a new weapon -- ex-members of Saddam's special forces.

For five months, Iraqi police commandos calling themselves the Black Scorpions have been based with U.S. Marines in the region along the Euphrates south of Baghdad, which roadside bombs, ambushes and kidnaps have turned into a no-go areas and earned it the melodramatic description "triangle of death."
"All of them were previously officers in the Iraqi army or special forces," the Scorpions' commander, Colonel Salaam Trad, said at the Marines' Kalsu base near Iskandariya on Saturday.
"But Saddam was dirty and no good for Iraq."

Also on the Iraq front, Knight-Ridder has a five day piece on the taking of Fallujah from one of their imbedded reporters:

Standing next to his Humvee, Mayfield screamed for U.S. mortar strikes on the five-man team. After the ensuing rumble, a voice called over the radio: "Can I get a battle damage assessment?"
"An assessment?" the reply came. "There is no more building."
Sims laughed to himself.
Sniper shots pinged off Sims' vehicle.
"Where is that sniper? Here it is," Mayfield barked, turning to a gunner behind an automatic grenade launcher. "Blow him away."
The red-hot streak of another bullet whizzed past. The gunner with the grenade launcher sent round after round hurling towards Fallujah, the reports of the explosions echoing through the streets. Then he pulled a pair of binoculars to his face and announced, "He is not there anymore."

The integration of technology between different divisions and branches is amazing. The piece is pretty straight forward from a reporting standpoint. Kind of like reporting is supposed to be.

Meanwhile, the propaganda wing of al-Qaeda says the US is using napalm. Note the MP who says we're using the napalm; Alice Mahon. Alice seems to be anti-American and shows up throughout Arabic newspapers as a useful idiot. Such as this:

London, Nov 25, IRNA -- A group of MPs are calling on the British parliament to urge Prime Minister Tony Blair to stand up to US threats against Iran's nuclear programme.

...The motion, raised by veteran anti-war MP, Alice Mahon, said it further noted that Iran's statement has been welcomed by Mohamed ElBaredei, Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency, and that the UN watchdog is now checking to confirm.

SI Sportsman of the Year

There's is only one person who should be selected Sports illustrated's Sportsman of the Year:

People play sports for all of the wrong reasons. Little children play because their parents foolishly imagine themselves freed from paying for college because their little boy or girl will win a scholarship. Grown children play because they foolishly imagine themselves fabulously wealthy, hosting a televised tour of the their mansion. Even those who hit the sports lottery drain the joy from the games, playing only for fringe benefits. There's precious little joy in any of this.
Pat Tillman played football because he loved it with a child's passion. As a kid, he used to climb slender trees in windstorms and sway on the breeze. He played football the same way and when he found something more important, he moved on. That's a sportsman. That's my Sportsman of the Year. And he would probably hate that, too.

Gov here and vote.

Hat Tip: Blackfive

The Compassionate Head Tilt Rules

A Tim Blair reader shows his compassion and the best power fist ever.

Ukraine

Anything you want to know about the situation in Ukraine can be found at Chrenkoff.

A Few New Daily Reads

Here's an interesting new blog entitled POV I've yet to link to. He's a fellow Big Ten fan, although his Hawkeyes are faring much better than my Nittany Lions lately. I bet praising Ohio State particularly hurt. He is smart, thinks before he writes and is a must read every few days.

This site is updated frequently and is chock full of opinion.

I'm Alright Jack, Keep Your Hands Off Of My Stack

The harmonious school kids who sang back up on Pink Floyd's The Wall album grew older and litigious:

A group of former pupils at a London comprehensive school are poised to win thousands of pounds in unpaid royalties for singing on Pink Floyd's classic Another Brick In The Wall 25 years ago.
The pupils from the 1979 fourthform music class at Islington Green School secretly recorded vocals after their teacher was approached by the band's management.
Now the 23 ex-pupils are suing for overdue session musician royalties, taking advantage of the Copyright Act 1997 to claim a percentage of the money from broadcasts.
Music teacher Alun Renshaw took the 13- to 14-year-old pupils out of lessons by to the nearby Britannia Recording Studios in Islington to record - without the head's permission.
With its chorus of "We don't need no education, we don't need no thought control, no dark sarcasm in the classroom - teachers leave them kids alone," the song was an anthem for teenagers. The album The Wall sold over 12 million copies.

I know that Money is on the Dark Side album BTW. Roger Waters, the real heart of Pink Floyd has new songs on his website and this one excoriates Bush and Tony Blair:

Are these the people that we should bomb
Are we so sure they mean us harmIs this our pleasure, punishment or crime
Is this a mountain that we really want to climb
The road is hard, hard and long
Put down that two by four
This man would never turn you from his door
Oh George! Oh George!That Texas education must have fucked you up when you were very small.

...When I was 17 my mother, bless her heart, fulfilled my summer dream
She handed me the keys to the car
We motored down to Paris, fuelled with Dexedrine and booze
Got bust in Antibes by the cops
And fleeced in Naples by the wops
But everyone was kind to us, we were the English dudes
Our dads had helped them win the war
When we all knew what we were fighting for
But now an Englishman abroad is just a US stooge
The bulldog is a poodle snapping round the scoundrel's last refuge.

...Is gentleness too much for us
Should gentleness be filed along with empathy
We feel for someone else's child
Every time a smart bomb does its sums and gets it wrong
Someone else's child dies and equities in defence rise
America, America, please hear us when we call
You got hip-hop, be-bop, hustle and bustle
You got Atticus Finch
You got Jane RussellYou got freedom of speech
You got great beaches, wildernesses and malls
Don't let the might, the Christian right, fuck it all up
For you and the rest of the world.

...Not in my name, Tony, you great war leader you
Terror is still terror, whosoever gets to frame the rules
History's not written by the vanquished or the damned
Now we are Genghis Khan, Lucretia Borghia, Son of Sam
In 1961 they took this child into their home
I wonder what became of them
In the cauldron that was LebanonIf
I could find them now, could I make amends?
How does the story end?

I don't agree with Waters but the dude is a great musician and lyricist and this site is open to all opinions, no matter how misguided. Waters is by most accounts a Communist. He hates capitalism (except perhaps when it comes to money from the Pink Floyd name), which is made abundantly clear on Dogs off of the Animals album, and anything remotely right-wing. Boy, it sure is hard to enjoy a great songwriter when you really enjoy how he writes but disagree with what he writes. As an aside, my son asked me for several CD's he can listen to. I had to think hard about what I have in my collection that would be okay for his young ears. I gave him The Wall, Pearl Jam Vs. and a Lynyrd Skynyrd CD so that he could experience differing types of music and choose what he likes. I also gave him Bob Marley's Natty Dread because it is an excellent intro to an eclectic sound.

France Aids Arafat After Death

The French government was a staunch supporter of terrorist Yasser Arafat in life, now they are pushing his agenda in death:

Israel's ambassador to France has criticized the French government for issuing a death certificate for deceased Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat stating his place of birth as Jerusalem.
"I cannot understand how the French government agreed to issue a death certificate based on false information," ambassador Nissim Zvili told a press conference in Montpellier, AFP reported.
Municipal officials at Clamart, the suburb of Paris where Arafat died on November 11, said they issued the document on the basis of a family record book itself issued by the French foreign ministry in 1996.
Arafat was born Mohammed Abdel-Rawf Arafat al-Qudwa al-Hussaini, on August 4, 1929.
The official version of his life history records he was born in Jerusalem. However numerous biographers agree that he was, in fact, born in Cairo, where his father, from Gaza, owned a business.

Revisionist history, French style.

A Useful Idiot to the End

Hans Blix has resurfaced:

London - Former United Nations chief weapons inspector Hans Blix said on Thursday he would be "surprised" if a chemical laboratory found in Iraq was capable of creating weapons.
"Let's see what the chemicals are," Blix told a packed gathering of the Oxford Union debating club, after Iraqi officials claimed to have uncovered a chemical bomb factory in Fallujah.
"Many of these stories evaporate when they are looked at more closely," he told the mainly student crowd. "If there were to be found something, we would all be surprised."

Where is Scott Ritter? I haven't heard from him lately.

Now For An Important Message

If you can afford it, give to the Spirit of America fund to assist the Seabees and others in rebuilding Iraq. The Environmental Republican account is at $150 and every dollar will help the cause.

Good News From Iraq

It seems that our assaults on Fallujah and other areas in the Sunni Triangle are having a good effect:

BAGHDAD — Sunni insurgents backing Abu Mussib Al Zarqawi have expressed alarm at the prospect of a defeat by the U.S.-led coalition in Iraq.
An audio tape said to be from Al Zarqawi charged Muslim clerics with letting down the insurgency "because of your silence."
On Wednesday, Al Zarqawi, with a $25 million bounty on his head, was the target of a major manhunt in the Sunni Triangle, Middle East Newsline reported. Iraqi military sources said Al Zarqawi was said to have been seen in an area south of Fallujah.
Islamic sources said that for the first time in more than a year the Tawhid and Jihad group led by Al Zarqawi appears to have lost control over many of its insurgents in the Sunni Triangle.
The sources said Iraqi and U.S. assaults on major insurgency strongholds in such cities as Baghdad, Fallujah, Mosul, Ramadi and Samara have resulted in heavy insurgency casualties and a break in the command and control structure.
Over the last few days, Al Zarqawi supporters have appealed for help from Al Qaida and related groups. The sources said Al Qaida's allies, including the Salafist Brigade for Combat and Call, have sought to increase recruitment of Muslim volunteers to fight the coalition.

I don't care how many terrorists are flowing into Iraq, they cannot sustain the ass-kicking we've been giving them. How many would be "insurgents" have thought twice about joining the jihad in Iraq and decided against it?

Update: I guess they are want more...good:

"The Mujahedeen will teach a memorable lesson to the collaborators who sold Iraq and prove to Arab regimes that only the language of guns and martyrs makes a difference," it said.

OK, we'll supply the guns, you supply the martyrs.

Annan On The Take

Kojo Annan, UN Secretary General Kofi's son was taking checks for the Iraq Oil For Food program until this year:

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - The son of U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan (news - web sites) got monthly payments more than four years longer than was previously known from a Swiss firm that won a lucrative contract under the scandal-ridden U.N. oil-for-food program, the United Nations (news - web sites) said on Friday.
Kojo Annan, the U.N. leader's son, was paid $2,500 monthly -- a total of $125,000 -- by Geneva-based Cotecna from the beginning of 2000 through last February, as part of an agreement not to compete with Cotecna in West Africa after he left the firm, U.N. chief spokesman Fred Eckhard said.
There have been no specific charges of wrongdoing on the part of the secretary-general in the world body's December 1998 award to Cotecna of a multimillion-dollar contract to monitor Iraqi imports under the oil-for-food program.
But the disclosure of the extra years of payments renewed questions about conflicts of interest and left Annan and his staff looking inept in their handling of the matter.

Annans bank account was filled why innocent Iraqi's were killed. The UN just plain is a sham under the auspices of Kofi. Elect Vaclav Havel!

What Did We Really Find In Fallujah?

Click here to see a round up of the most hard fought victory our troops have attained in years. The MSM tells you about an American Marine's alleged war crimes, these blogs tell you the truth.

The Ukraine in Chaos

The recent election for leader in the Ukraine pitted a western-supporting challenger and a Moscow-backed incumbent. The incumbent says he won but both the US and Canada, as well as other nations are calling the election a sham. Glenn is all over it.

Hizbollah to Air TV Network in France

The Simon Wiesenthal Center is urging people to contact M. Chirac to protest the vile network of terrorist group Hizbollah being granted the right to broadcast their filth to the French public. I'm not a big fan of censorship but I am a devout enemy of terrorism and this will only incite the young French Muslim population.

A Long Overdue Overhaul

Over the winter I expect to completely change the look of this site. I will include comments, links and other assorted goodies that will give you options when my posts are horrible. Check back in every so often to chart the progress.

Donations are Flowing In

Many thanks to the folks who donated to the Spirit of America in my name. LGF is raking it in for a good cause but the $125 donated so far on my slate makes me feel humble yet proud that my readers are willing to shell out their hard-earned shekels for a great cause.

Reauthorize Superfund

If I was an advisor to President Bush, I would highly recommend that he do what Bill Clinton didn't, reauthorize the Superfund. Superfund was a tax on businesses that have been known in the past to pollute such as refineries, chemical producers and other industries in the same vein. Clinton didn't reauthorize it because he needed the support of these businesses or they had supported him during the '96 election. Currently the Superfund is funded by tax dollars from the general fund.

Why should Bush support reauthorization? Because it is of the utmost importance that these contaminated sites get remediated, I see them on a daily basis and it is not pretty. Contaminated water wells, soil and streams are the norm in areas where housing is prevalent. In the spirit of openess, if Superfund was reauthorized it would increase the work available for my company and would benefit me. That said, I am not a nutty environmentalist who thinks that we should all be driving Prius' and building windmills in our back yards. I see the people who have been living next to these sites and the shock of finding out that you and your children have been drinking from a tainted well can't be at all pleasant.

If Bush chose to reauthorize Superfund, he must first insist that the way the money is distributed and the process of getting businesses to comply is streamlined. The government can do nothing cheaply, a job that should cost $3-million costs $7-million and the liable company is forced to pay up. Perhaps offering companies the option of voluntary clean-up under the direction of the EPA or state regulatory agencies within a set time period such as two years would be a step in the right direction. In it's current state, the Superfund program is cleaning up projects that were identified in the early 1980's.

Environmental Issues

When I started this blog it was with the intent of providing pertinent environmental news without the bias displayed by the MSM. To that end, I will definitely be commenting on more environmental issues in the future. I'll start with this interesting remediation method:

Tumbleweeds prove to be effective tool for removing uranium from soil
19 November 2004Greenwire
© 2004 E&E Publishing, LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Tumbleweeds absorb uranium from contaminated soil faster and more safely than other conventional methods, according to a recent study by a New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology researcher.
Dana Ulmer-Scholle found that if harvested before they blow away, tumbleweeds are an effective way to clean up uranium-contaminated areas near military bases or the estimated 12,000 inactive mines in the Western United States. More traditional remediation methods are costly and involve removing, transporting, reburying and encasing massive amounts of soil. Ulmer-Scholle said her method could cheaply clean up individual sites in about a decade.
Other plants, including ferns and junipers, are also capable of absorbing heavy metals such as uranium, but Ulmer-Scholle found that the Russian thistle and kochia varieties of tumbleweed absorb the metal much faster. The Defense Department funded Ulmer-Scholle's research.
She said once a project is complete, the uranium would be filtered out of the tumbleweeds and disposed of in hazardous waste facilities, and the plants would be burned.

The story comes from this site that requires registration.

Help Iraq Become a Strong Democracy

I have proudly joined Spirit of America in raising funds to aid the creation of a viable Iraqi democracy. You can pledge your support by clicking here. You can read more about the project by clicking here. I will be sending them money in the next few days to aid what I believe is the most important cause at present.

Lileks

James:

Target. Sunday. Four PM. Two moms, two daughters. The mothers are dressed well, late 40s; one daughter is a lanky teen wearing the standard sullen LIFE SUCKS face, eyes darting around to see if anyone catches her doing something as STUPID as looking for Christmas ornaments with her Mom. If you could intercede, you’d say “see this here? This item your Mom is considering for this year’s tree? In 25 years you’re going to come across this in a box of stuff when you’re cleaning out her house and it’s going to stop you dead just to look at it. Either you’ll recognize it, and be reminded of all those Christmases you had that you’ll never have that way again, or you won’t recognize it – in which case you’ll wonder what was so terribly important that a Christmas at home with your folks went unrecorded in your teenaged mind. Loss or guilt, your choice. Maybe both.” But of course if you do that, they call the manager. The other child was 13 or so, not yet infected with the bleak soul-sucking ennui of American Teenhood, but clearly looking forward to the day when everything would suck as much as it sucked for the cooler older girl.

At the risk of sounding old: Indeed.

More Good News in Iraq

An e-mail to Rich Lowry:

I am also a professor at a military-related institution, and my little brother is an enlisted Marine (a sniper with 1-3) in Fallujah. This weekend he called for the first time since the battle began. He informed us that a large number of the residents of Fallujah, before fleeing the battle, left blankets and bedding for the Marines and Soldiers along with notes thanking the Americans for liberating their city from the terrorists, as well as invitations to the Marines and Soldiers to sleep in their houses. I've yet to see a report in the media of this. Imagine that.

I imagine that the residents of a city that is controlled by terrorists were very happy to see us. Thank God for the alternate media who can do what was not done during the Vietnam war, provide insight into what is really happening in a war zone.

Anti-Semitism at Columbia?

The NY Daily News reports on oppression at one of the premiere schools for higher learning:

In the world of Hamid Dabashi, supporters of Israel are "warmongers" and "Gestapo apparatchiks."
The Jewish homeland is "nothing more than a military base for the rising predatory empire of the United States."
It's a capital of "thuggery" - a "ghastly state of racism and apartheid" - and it "must be dismantled."
A voice from America's crackpot fringe? Actually, Dabashi is a tenured professor and department chairman at Columbia University. And his views have resonated and been echoed in other areas of the university.

Wow, I'm shocked that an elite, northeastern, Liberal school would have professors who act like this.

The Good News in Iraq

Read about the Local Governance Program (link in PDF)

It is directed at "promoting representative citizen participation in governance; strengthening the management skills of city and provincial administrations and civic institutions; promoting advocacy and participation of civil society organizations; enhancing leadership skills; and serving as a recruiting tool for future leaders." The program recently reached a milestone, with 750,000 Iraqis participating in Democracy Dialogue Activities. Read also this report from Iraqi bloggers about their participation in the Friends of Democracy program aimed at spreading democratic ideals among the Iraqi people.
In a victory for transparency and the rule of law, authorities are introducing new regulations to make politicians more accountable: "Iraqi officials, starting with the President of the Republic, will have to declare their assets to a new transparency commission set up to fight graft and corruption. 'Starting from January 2005, all Iraqi officials including the president will have to publicly declare their assets and account for them,' said the commission's head Radhi Daraji. 'My commission has set the principle that no one is above the law as its prime target, therefore everyone will be held accountable in the light of outstanding laws and regulations,' he said." The commission will conduct independent investigations to check the veracity of declarations.

Arthur Chrenkoff does an excellent job on his blog as well as in the WSJ. Read the entire article; it's long but well worthit.

Clinton & The House of Saud

Remember in Fahrenheit 9/11 when Michael Moore portrayed Bush in cahoots with the Saudi's? I'm sure he'll be honest in his his next movie and show Clinton in the same light:

LITTLE ROCK, ARK. - President Clinton's new $165 million library here was funded in part by gifts of $1 million or more each from the Saudi royal family and three Saudi businessmen.The governments of Dubai, Kuwait, and Qatar and the deputy prime minister of Lebanon all also appear to have donated $1 million or more for the archive and museum that opened last week.

Never mind, that would require Skinny-Mike to be honest and report the facts.

How to be Intellectually Dishonest

The world is upset that a battle-weary Marine shot a wounded terrorist who moments earlier had been shooting at said Marine from a mosque. Civilized nations are displaying righteous indignation that the US could be capable of such atrocities and butchery. How dare a US Marine shoot an Arab terrorist, Arab-Muslims are to be understood and lauded. Now Africans are a different story. Let's imagine this; a group of French soldiers opens fire on an unarmed crowd in Ivory Coast wounding unknown numbers, this would be huge news, right? I mean, a world power indiscrimanantly shooting at the indigenous population of a former French colony in a military action that is being conducted unilaterally. That would be huge news, right? Right? Wrong. The MSM is so bereft of moral character that they cannot bring themselves to slap the wrist of the French. Is it because it is the French who doing the shooting or is it because it is occurring in Africa and the victims are not "Freedom Fighters" as in Iraq, they are just poor black people who are trying to change their country? Or is it just because they are black people, period?

Update: Here's the first half of the video that is longer and *warning* more violent.

Why People Voted for Bush Reason #54,678

A member of the President's security detail was blocked from following Bush into a dinner in Chile:

SANTIAGO, Chile (AP) - President Bush stepped into the middle of a confrontation and pulled his lead Secret Service agent away from Chilean security officials who barred his bodyguards from entering an elegant dinner for 21 world leaders Saturday night.
Several Chilean and American agents got into a pushing and shoving match outside the cultural center where the dinner was held. The incident happened after Bush and his wife, Laura, had just posed for pictures on a red carpet with the host of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit, Chilean President Ricardo Lagos and his wife, Luisa Duran.
As Bush stepped inside, Chilean agents closed ranks at the door, blocking the president's agents from following. Stopping for more pictures, Bush noticed the fracas and turned back. He reached through the dispute and pulled his agent from the scrum and into the building.
The president, looking irritated, straightened his shirt cuffs as he went into the dinner. The incident was shown on APEC television.

So simplisme, the most powerful man in the world takes care of those who take care of him. I don't think that the Clinton's would have done that, unless of course, the agent was carrying Hillary's bags.

Scheer Ignorance

LA Times columnist Robert Scheer is a bit upset about the changes occurring in the Bush cabinet:

Out: Secretary of State Colin Powell, whose political epitaph should now read, "You break it, you own it" for his prescient but unwanted warning to the President on the danger of imperial overreach in Iraq.
Out: Top CIA officials who dared challenge, behind the scenes, the White House's unprecedented exploitation of raw intelligence data in order to sell a war to a Congress and a public hungry for revenge after 9/11.
Out: Veteran CIA counterterrorism expert and Osama bin Laden hunter Michael Scheuer, better known as the best-selling author Anonymous, whose balanced and devastating critiques of the Iraq war, the CIA and the way President Bush is handling the war on terror have been a welcome counterpoint to the "it's true if we say it's true" idiocy of the White House PR machine.
Meanwhile, incompetence begat by ideological blindness has been rewarded. The neoconservatives who created the ongoing Iraq mess have more than survived the failure of their impossibly rosy scenarios for a peaceful and democratic Iraq under U.S. rule. In fact, despite calls for their resignations - from the former head of the U.S. Central Command, Gen. Anthony Zinni, among others - the neocon gang is thriving. They have not been held responsible for the "16 words" about yellowcake, the rise and fall of Ahmad Chalabi, the Abu Ghraib scandal, the post-invasion looting of Iraq's munitions stores and the disastrous elimination of the Iraqi armed forces.

Those dread Neocons are still around even though Gen. Zinni called for their resignation. Who is Zinni to call for the resignation of anyone in the cabinet? How about this Robert, I call for your resignation. Do I have the right to call for your resignation? Scheer continues:

So far, half a dozen of the nation's top spymasters have been forced out abruptly - a strange way to handle things at a time when bin Laden and al-Qaeda are still seeking to attack the United States. Ironically, this all comes as Goss is suppressing a lengthy study, prepared for Congress by the CIA's inspector general, that, according to an intelligence official who has read it, names individuals in the government responsible for failures that paved the way for the 9/11 attacks.
Thus Bush, with Goss as his hatchet man, is having it both ways: He can be seen to be cleaning house at the CIA - when he is simply punishing independent voices - while denying Congress access to an independent audit of actual intelligence failures.

But isn't capturing bin-Laden one of the biggest criticisms of the Bush administration? Three years out from 9/11 and Osama is still on the run, the CIA is responsible for gathering and moving on intelligence and they have failed. As with any organization that fails to do what it is chartered to, failure means changes. Why do you suspect Scheer is so upset; is it because the CIA was full of Clinton-era folks whom Scheer thinks are the "balance" needed, or more likely, the people who failed at their jobs are properly being relieved and they've complained to an anti-Bush columnist who has an axe to grind with the evil Neocons?

UN Smacks Kofi Annan Upside Head: World Better For It

International criminal and Nobel laureate Kofi Annan is being censured by his UN buddies:

UN staff are expected to make an unprecedented vote of no confidence in Secretary-General Kofi Annan, union sources say, after a series of scandals tainted his term in charge of the world body.
The UN staff union, in what officials said was the first vote of its kind in the almost 60-year history of the United Nations, was set to approve a resolution withdrawing support for Annan and senior UN management.
Annan has been in the line of fire over a series of scandals including controversy about a UN aid program that investigators say allowed deposed Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein to embezzle billions of dollars.
Staffers said the trigger for the no-confidence measure was an announcement this week that Annan had pardoned the UN's top oversight official, who was facing allegations of favouritism and sexual harassment.

You must be a real degenerate to be rebuked by the UN. Hell, they were for keeping Saddam in power and his rape rooms open, they have taken absolutely no action beyond hand-wringing concerning Darfur and they are currently allowing Iran to put a full-blown nuke program in place.

On a similar note, fellow Nobelist Jimmy Carter's National Security Advisor, Zbiginiew Brzezinski, says that the US is being "irrational" with regard to Iranian nuke plans:

Berlin, Nov 19, IRNA -- Former US national security advisor Zbiginiew Brzezinski criticized the American government's "irrational and paranoid" policy towards Iran's nuclear program, the website of the weekly stern (sic) magazine quoted him as saying.
Asked about his reaction on Washington's allegations that Iran was a nuclear military threat to the rest of the world, Brzezinski responded, "These are only irrational and paranoid slogans."

Uh, Zbiginiew, I seem to recall that youwere very wrong about the intentions of the the Iranians before.

I Wouldn't Wait For An Apology

Don Imus is under attack from CAIR for derogatory words about some Muslims. The person who said the offending words was Sid Rosenberg, the sports guy on the show and Imus and Charles McCord joined in. They were referring to the chaos surrounding the Palestinians awaiting the terrorist Yassir Arafat's corpse. Here's the offensive lines:

DON IMUS: They're (the Palestinians) eating dirt and that fat pig wife of his is living in Paris.
COLLEAGUE (Rosenberg-ed.): They're all brainwashed, though. That's what it is. And they're stupid, to begin with, but they're brainwashed now. Stinking animals. They ought to drop the bomb right there, kill 'em all right now...
IMUS: Well, the problem is we have (reporter) Andrea (Mitchell) there; we don't want anything to happen to her.
COLLEAGUE: Oh, she's got to get out. Andrea, get out and then drop the bomb and kill everybody...
COLLEAGUE: Look at this. Animals. Animals!

Memo to CAIR, Imus doesn't care what you have to say and probably won't even respond to you.

Reaction to the WaPo Pulling Rall

Over at Katinula's blog, she equates Ted Rall to Ann Coulter. I see several differences; first Coulter has made over-the-top statements but is an excellent essayist. Slander, Treason and High Crimes... are quality written books that are very comprehensibly foot-noted. Ann does some serious research. Second, Rall is so radically ignorant as to be ignored by most sane folks. Besides, K. oughtta know not to use the word "tit" in a post talking about Ann Coulter, it gets us cold-hearted right-wing folk very excited.

Blogger Went Kaput

I posted what was probably my best post in months and got a page showing that Blogger was down for maintenance from 3-4 PST. ARRRGGGHH! (insert Howard Dean joke her).

Mugger

This week, the best writer without a blog (with the exception of possibly Hitch or Krauthammer or Noonan, etc.) is on:

EXECUTIVES AT Philip Morris USA probably had to furtively step outside last week—gloating is forbidden at this pariah company—but you know the high-fives and revival of the catch-phrase "You've Come a Long Way, Baby!" resounded within the tobacco industry.
Talk about early Christmas presents. At a time when smokers are considered barely more tolerable than convicted child molesters, a Los Angeles Times photographer snapped a young Marine in Fallujah with a cigarette dangling from his battle-scarred mug, and instantly we're back in Marlboro Country again. The picture was printed, according to the Times, in more than 100 newspapers, and subsequently the 20-year-old Kentucky native, James Blake Miller, is the object of female adoration and gung-ho partisans of the war in Iraq.
"If you want to write something," Miller told Times reporter Patrick J. McDonnell, "tell Marlboro I'm down to four packs and I'm here in Fallujah till who knows when. Maybe they can send some more. And they can bring the price down a bit." Effin' A, dude! The article appeared on Nov. 13, and it's a safe bet that Philip Morris has already sent a plane filled with cigs for Miller and his buddies.

Russ also defends Glenn Reynolds and talks about blogging in general.

It's About Friggin' Time

The WaPo has finally dropped Ted Rall from its editorial page:

NEW YORK WashingtonPost.com is no longer running the cartoons of hard-hitting liberal Ted Rall.Rall said he thinks the site dropped his work because of a Nov. 4 cartoon he did showing a drooling, mentally handicapped student taking over a classroom. "The idea was to draw an analogy to the electorate -- in essence, the idiots are now running the country," he told E&P."That cartoon certainly drew a significant amount of negative comment from our users," said WashingtonPost.com Executive Editor Doug Feaver when contacted by E&P. But he added that the decision to drop Rall was a "cumulative" one that had been building for a while.

No, it was because things were great when Teddy-boy was degrading Republicans and 9-11 wives, it was over the line when he made fun of mentally impaired individuals. Teddy couldn't shut up though:

"The analogy obviously fell flat, or overshadowed the main point of the cartoon," Rall said of his Nov. 4 drawing. "More importantly, I forgot the editorial cartoonist's obligation to comfort the afflicted while afflicting the comfortable. I got the latter in that cartoon at the expense of the former. Special-needs children face a lot of challenges; they don't need, or deserve, mocking from me. ... The cartoon was effective in its way, but it could have been better."Rall said he was dropped for one "boneheaded" drawing when WashingtonPost.com has "no problem with 99% of my work." He noted that the site could have pulled the one cartoon without canceling him entirely.

Um, Ted, the analogy of Republicans=stupid is not why you got pulled. The use of a drooling, wheelchair-bound, mentally handicapped person is. The Republicans=stupid analogy would have worked if you would have portrayed them wearing a dunce cap or somesuch. Don't woory dude, I'll toss you a quarter as I pass your broke, dumb ass on the street corner where you belong.

A New "Must Read" Blog

My friend has started her own blog, however belatedly. She is smart (for a person who believes in a whacked ideology), attended Fairleigh Dickinson in fact, and is an avowed lib. She will be worth reading daily and has created a nice looking site; so go visit and take it easy on her...at least initially. Congrats K.

MNF Time

Time to watch the Eagles put the wood to the Cowgirls on national TV. My brother is there in Dallas and is a Cowpie fan. He should be miserable within hours.

The Marines are Smoking

The NY Post showed this picture of a Marine in Fallujah. Some went nuts as James Taranto shows, and some are perplexed by the controversy. The picture is an excellent shot of a battle weary and tired Marine. Look at the dude's face, that is the face of a true hero doing his damnest to protect the country.

Chirac Vs. Blair/Bush

M. Chirac is talking stupid once again:

JACQUES CHIRAC dealt a blow to Tony Blair’s attempt to heal the wounds between the US and Europe last night by saying that the Prime Minister had won nothing for supporting the war against Iraq.
As Mr Blair used a keynote speech to present Britain as a “bridge across the Atlantic”, President Chirac doubted whether anyone could play the “honest broker”. Speaking before he visits London on Thursday, he said that it was not in the nature of this Administration to return favours.
Mr Blair suffered another setback when Colin Powell, the US Secretary of State and the administration figure most trusted by Europe, resigned. There were doubts over whether his successor, possibly Condoleezza Rice, the National Security Adviser, would be as accommodating.

Finally, a diplomat who will not be accomodating with hypocritical, despot supporting, international law breaking, greedy criminal. How refreshing this will be.

Krauthammer on Arafat

A rare Monday Krauthammer piece:

Bill Clinton was astonished when Arafat rejected the offer of a West Bank and Gaza state, turning down the opportunity to be its George Washington. Americans never understood that Arafat saw himself completely differently: as an anti-imperialist revolutionary in the mold of Ho Chi Minh, Mao Zedong and Fidel Castro. Like them, his motto was "revolution unto victory." Total victory. No half loaf. And given Israel's stubborn refusal to die, Arafat's cause became sustaining the struggle -- the revolution -- indefinitely, almost as an end in itself.
It is for this reason that, while Arafat's death does open a first chance for peace since he took over the Palestinian movement four decades ago, that chance remains remote. Why? Because the revolution continues. Arafat made sure it would survive him. He created Palestinian nationalism and shaped it in a revolutionary mold that will take years, perhaps decades, to undo.
It is a legacy in two parts: means and ends. The means? Violence. Arafat invented modern terrorism: airplane hijackings, kidnappings and the spectacular mass murder, like the Olympic massacre of 1972. Others had tried it. Arafat perfected it. He turned terrorism into a brilliantly successful political instrument, a vehicle to international recognition and respect. The man who murdered more innocent Jews than anyone since Hitler died an international hero. The president of France bowed to his casket. The secretary general ordered U.N. flags to fly at half-staff.

As they say, read the whole thing.

A High School Republican in Deep Blue Country

Meet Lorraine Jablonski. Lorraine is a 17-year old Republican in New jersey. She writes for her own blog at American Lady and is a guest blogger assisting John at Blogs of War. Go over, read her thoughts and drop her a line to keep her going. Hell, high school is tough under any circumstance, being a Republican is probably making it tougher.

The Taking of Fallujah

The soldiers and Marines who took Fallujah deserve immense respect. Here's a 31/2 minute raw video of one of the battles. They have found some truly chilling things in the terrorists former enclave:

Colleagues of kidnapped British aid worker Margaret Hassan said they cannot rule out the possibility that the mutilated body of a Western woman found in Fallujah is the captured humanitarian.

It is understood US Marines discovered the corpse, which had its arms and legs cut off, as they scoured the battle-scarred town for militants yesterday.
The body, which some reports say had blonde hair, had a slashed throat and is thought to have been disembowelled.

Emphasis mine. Think of what they did to this woman. These people are barbarians that must be exterminated with all prejudice.

Rice To Replace Powell

Condi Rice will be nominated to succeed Colin Powell as Sec State:

National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice, one of President Bush's closest counselors, will be nominated to replace Colin Powell as secretary of state, ABC News has learned.
Senior administration sources confirmed that Rice would be Bush's choice. The news comes just hours after the White House announced Powell had submitted his resignation.
ABC News has also learned that Deputy National Security Adviser Stephen Hadley will likely replace Rice as national security adviser.
Powell submitted his resignation on Friday, though his departure was not announced until today.
The retired four-star general was known for his moderate views and for clashing with members of the administration on the issue of Iraq. Even so, it was Powell who went before the United Nations in February of 2003 to make a case for the U.S.- led invasion of Iraq.
Rice, if confirmed by the Senate, will take over the job of international diplomat during a war that has divided the nation and the world.
A Stellar Academic Career
The new post comes as a sort of birthday present for Rice, who turned 50 on Sunday.
Rice was the first female U.S. national security adviser. She would be only the second woman and second African-American to be appointed secretary of state.

I like the idea of Rice as Sec State. She seems to be on the same page as Bush and will not play the diplomatic games that are par for the course at Foggy Bottom. What of Ridge? More importantly, what is to become of Cheney? I'd be surprised if he is still VP a year from now.

Lack of Posts

I've been super busy lately and haven't had much time to write. Bear with me and the posts should be more frequent soon.

Russ Smith

Mugger on the election reactions of Liberals:

We're dealing with stereotypes and clichés here, so that inevitably points to the New York Times as a starting point. Joseph Berger's Nov. 4 article about the disconsolate New Yorkers he encountered—not one Bush supporter was chucked into the story, so I guess this is, at least temporarily, a real war of words—typified the desperate condescension mouthed by Democrats. Beverly Camhe, a film producer that Berger spoke to, is a fitting example.
Camhe, the reader learns, "frequents Elaine's restaurant" by night, and "spends many mornings on a bench in Central Park talking politics with homeless people with whom she's become acquainted." Judging by the hundreds of homeless men and women I've encountered in the past 20 years, most would rather receive a buck or cigarette than squander time on their rounds gabbing about the mendacity of Tom DeLay, but let's be generous and not trash noblesse oblige right now. The Times reporter further explains that Camhe "spent part of [Nov. 2] knocking on doors in Pennsylvania to rustle up Kerry votes, then returned to Manhattan to attend an election-night party thrown by Miramax's chairman, Harvey Weinstein, at The Palm."
She also expresses this heretofore never-expressed boast: "You know how I described New York to my European friends? New York is an island off the coast of Europe."
This sort of snotty view is not only an insult to the vast majority of the 56 million citizens who voted for Kerry, most of whom don't know Weinstein or frequent Elaine's, but those much-derided "heartland" Americans who pulled the lever for Bush. An unbiased observer who didn't follow the campaign but just read the commentary after the election couldn't be faulted if he believed that every single Bush supporter lived in Nebraska. The arrogance is astonishing.

A couple of nice slams at Howell Raines also, which always warms my cold Reopublican heart.

My Heart is Pumping Piss

Yassir is relinquished to the dustbin of discarded lies:

RAMALLAH, West Bank - Yasser Arafat (news - web sites), revered as the beacon of Palestinian statehood but reviled as a sponsor of terrorism, died Thursday at the age of 75.

His passing marked the end of an era in modern Middle East history, and prompted calls from President Bush (news - web sites) and other world leaders to seize the moment to spur new efforts at Israeli-Palestinian peacemaking.

Adios Yassir, I hope Suha is broke and a true leader rises, however doubtful that may seem.

Friends and Allies: This Is War

Salaam at the Mesopotamian:

Friends and allies: this is War and a very serious and dangerous one too. Do not underestimate the enemy. In Iraq you have at least 80% of the population on your side and desirous of change and success in creating the new society. Anybody who tells you otherwise is simply a liar. Wars are terrible and cruel but what must be done must be done. Remember what it took to defeat Nazism, Fascism and Japanese Militarism- the flattening of most of Europe and Hiroshima and Nagasaki, horrible as that may have been. Yet both Europe and Japan recovered and eventually enjoyed tremendous prosperity and peace, and the outcome of the horrors of war was entirely in the interest of all the “conquered” peoples. Why was that? Very simple! The right side won the war. The right side must win this war too, for the sake of our future generations and world peace.

The attack on Fallujah is on and may well be the battle to end battles. God bless the troops and let's hope for a quick and decisive victory.

The Inherent Risk Of Unilateralism

The French invaded Ivory Coast without UN approval or building a coalition. That, in fact is unilateralism. They do have some assistance, UN troops, which is the same as having no assistance. They just may be knocking at our door for help soon:

ABIDJAN, Ivory Coast (AP) -- Ivory Coast warplanes bombed French peacekeepers in the rebel-held north on Saturday, killing eight French troops and wounding 23 others, French officials said, marking the gravest-ever confrontation between France and its war-divided former West African colony.
France scrambled three Mirage fighter jets in response, and separately hit back by destroying two Ivory Coast Sukhoi fighter jets, French military spokesman Col. Henry Aussavy said.
French infantry destroyed the Ivory Coast aircraft on the ground at an airport in Ivory Coast's capital, Yamoussoukro, Aussavy said, "in retaliation."
The retaliatory attacks threatened a grave escalation of Ivory Coast's civil war, reignited by the government on Thursday after a more than one-year cease-fire.

It's a quagmire! To bad for Chirac it won't be in the cards for the US to bail them out of this one. Maybe they can seek help from fellow members of the EU who have the huevos and know-how to fight such as Poland, Italy, Britain and Holland.

Welcome Back

Peggy Noonan is back writing for the WSJ. I link to her not only because her writing style is so agreeable, I also link to her because the substance in her essys are the finest in the business:

George W. Bush is the first president to win more than 50% of the popular vote since 1988. (Bill Clinton failed to twice; Mr. Bush failed to last time and fell short of a plurality by half a million.) The president received more than 59 million votes, breaking Ronald Reagan's old record of 54.5 million. Mr. Bush increased his personal percentages in almost every state in the union. He carried the Catholic vote and won 42% of the Hispanic vote and 24% of the Jewish vote (up from 19% in 2000.)
It will be hard for the mainstream media to continue, in the face of these facts, the mantra that we are a deeply and completely divided country. But they'll try!
The Democrats have lost their leader in the Senate, Tom Daschle. I do not know what the Democratic Party spent, in toto, on the 2004 election, but what they seem to have gotten for it is Barack Obama. Let us savor.
The elites of Old Europe are depressed. Savor. The nonelites of Old Europe, and the normal folk of New Europe, especially our beloved friend Poland, will not be depressed, and many will be happy. Let's savor that too.
George Soros cannot buy a presidential election. Savor. "Volunteers" who are bought and paid for cannot beat volunteers who come from the neighborhood, church, workplace and reading group. Savor.
The leaders of the Bush effort see it this way: A ragtag band of more than a million Republican volunteers who fought like Washington's troops at Valley Forge beat the paid Hessians of King George III's army. Savor.

We're glad to have you back, Ms. Noonan.

Welcome Back

Peggy Noonan is back writing at WSJ. I link to her not only because her writing style is so agreeable but also because the substance of what she writes is the best in the business.

Welcome Back

Peggy Noonan is back writing at WSJ. I link to her not only because her writing style is so agreeable but also because the substance of what she writes is the best in the business.

A Dutch Jihad?

After the recent assasination of Dutch filmaker Theo van Gogh, the authorities found a letter threatening a parliament member, and several countries attached to his chest with a plunged knife:

The document, attached to the body of filmmaker Theo van Gogh, was titled "An Open Letter to [Aayan] Hirsi Ali," referring to a Somali-born member of parliament. She had scripted Mr. van Gogh's latest film, "Submission," which criticized the treatment of women under Islam. Miss Hirsi Ali, who calls herself an ex-Muslim, has gone into hiding. "Death, Ms. Hirsi Ali, is the common theme of all that exists. You and the rest of the cosmos cannot escape this truth," the letter said. "There will come a day when one soul cannot help another soul. A day that goes paired with terrible tortures, ... when the unjust will press horrible screams from their lungs. "Screams, Ms. Hirsi Ali, that will cause chills to run down a person's back, and make the hairs on their heads stand straight up. People will be drunk with fear, while they are not drunken. Fear will fill the air on the Great Day," the letter said. "I know definitely that you, Oh America, will go down. I know definitely that you, Oh Europe, will go down. I know definitely that you, Oh Netherlands, will go down. I know definitely that you, Oh Hirsi Ali, will go down," it said. Deputy Prime Minister Gerrit Zalm agreed with comments by other politicians who called Mr. van Gogh's slaying a declaration of Islamic jihad, or "holy war." "We are not going to tolerate this. We are going to ratchet up the fight against this sort of terrorism," he said. "The increase in radicalization is worse than we had thought."

This a portent of things to come in Europe, from France to Great Britain and down through Germany, this will be the new battle.

The Inquirer and Arafat

A letter to writer to the editor at the Philly Inquirer beat me to the punch on this one:

Is there any limit to the liberal media's championing of the Palestinian cause?
A Nov. 3 article ("Israel razes teen bomber's house") quotes the mother of the suicide bomber, who murdered three innocent Israelis and wounded more than 30 others: "It's immoral to send someone so young. They should have sent an adult who understands the meaning of his deeds." Silly me. I think it's immoral for an adult to murder and maim innocent people, too.
On the Commentary Page the same day, Gwynne Dyer, a London-based independent journalist, opines, in "Arafat's reign: a mixture of failures and successes," that Yasir Arafat did two things that were "right," the second of which was that "he made the whole world acknowledge the existence of the Palestinian nation. He did that, for the most part, by acts of terrorism." Thus, according to Dyer, acts of terrorism are "right" when done for what he deems to be a significant goal.
Shame on The Inquirer for giving legitimacy to these vile opinions.
Jeffrey C. SchwartzCherry Hill

Amen Mr. Schwartz. You must remember that in the MSM mind, the Palestinians are militants and insurgents, not terrorists.

Another letter writer has had with the good old US of A:

I am in awe over the results of the election. It should not have been about partisan issues as much as removing an obviously inept and corrupt administration. I do not understand how any semi-informed American could vote for President Bush unless he or she is an evangelical Christian who doesn't believe in the separation of church and state.
It's sad when an incumbent cannot run on his record, instead focusing his entire campaign on destroying the credibility of his opponent. I do not believe the majority of the country takes on the responsibility of making an informed decision.
For the first time in my life, I am embarrassed to be an American. My wife and I are expecting our first child in January. We have decided that the environment in this country, right now and for the foreseeable future, is not one in which we want to raise our child. We will be relocating to Canada.Marc BlumPhiladelphia

Us Bush voters are just a bunch of semi-literate, God-fearing, homophobic rednecks I guess. By the way, enjoy the beautiful climate of Canada, the socialist mindset should agree with you.

Stop Blaming Clinton

"Screw 'em" Kos says that Bush has been blaming everything on Clinton and now that he's won another term he should stop it and accept responsibility for things from now on. OK, we'll start with this:

With a little help from good weather, the Los Angeles area has had its cleanest air in 25 years, regulators said Thursday.
While the region's air quality remained the worst in the nation, it was cleaner this year than the air in Houston and the San Joaquin Valley under some standards, said Sam Atwood, a spokesman for the South Coast Air Quality Management District.
"The weather was a major factor this year, there's no denying that," Atwood said. "Were headed in the right direction but we have to definitely not rest on our laurels."
The region benefited this year from several weather conditions that aren't conducive to smog, including cooler weather, fog, low clouds, and weak inversion layers.
Cleaner cars, industries, and businesses also contributed to the improved air quality, district officials said.
The district covers Orange County and parts of Los Angeles, San Bernardino and Riverside counties.

Of course couldn't have been from any of the Bush environmental policies, it was the result of the weather. How about this:

SIDNEY, N.Y. Federal officials say construction work needed for the cleanup of a Binghamton-area Superfund site has been finished.The Environmental Protection Agency today announced the completion of construction at the Sidney Landfill site -- about 30 miles northeast of Binghamton.
E-P-A officials say industrial, commercial and municipal waste was dumped at the landfill from 1967 to 1972.
The site was placed on the federal Superfund list in 1989 because officials concluded it posed a potential health threat to nearby residents.
E-P-A regional administrator Jane Kenny says the site no longer poses a threat to the community.

Kos also posts this question:

Kerry has an email list that was, at last count, 2 million strong. He garnered 56 million votes of confidence. He is currently the top Democrat in the nation.
If you were his top adviser, what would you recommend he do now?

That's an easy one, switch parties.

Hillary Clinton: Centrist?

The Dems are in a deep funk about losing the election:

"We were on a tough playing field," said House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., suggesting Republicans had made inroads among socially conservative former Democrats by emphasizing "wedge issues" like gay marriage and abortion.
Ballot measures in 11 states to ban gay marriage also helped boost turnout for Republicans.
Democrats also have no strong leader to pull the party out of the wilderness.
With the defeat of Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle of South Dakota, the party's top two congressional leaders are Pelosi, a San Francisco-area liberal, and Nevada Sen. Harry Reid, now the No. 2 leader, known mostly as a low-key insider.
For 2008, the presumptive leading presidential candidates are New York Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, a Northeastern centrist and one of the most polarizing figures in American politics, and North Carolina Sen. John Edwards, a trial lawyer and failed vice presidential candidate with little public service besides six years in Congress.

Emphasis mine. So it starts, the media will attempt to portary Hillary as a centrist and not a Liberal. Will the donkeys never get it?

TMQ

Gregg Easterbrooke on the Redskins presidential barometer theory:

(Nov. 2, 2004) -- As everyone has heard all week, in every presidential election since 1936, if the Washington Redskins win their final home game before the Tuesday voting, the party in power keeps the White House; if the Redskins lose, the party out of power retakes the White House. In recent years, both political parties have become increasingly sophisticated about manipulating events -- polls, turnout, media coverage, "surprise" scandals and etc. Why are we so naive as to think both parties did not attempt to manipulate the Packers-Redskins outcome? On an exclusive basis, Tuesday Morning Quarterback has learned this is exactly what happened!
First, the Republican National Committee arranged for Joe Gibbs to come out of retirement and take over the Redskins -- talk about clever long-term planning. But the Democratic National Committee made secret unregulated donations to the Green Bay Packers' salary cap, nullifying the Gibbs edge.

Prior to the game, the Redskins placed prized No. 1 draft pick Sean Taylor on the inactive list, owing to a driving arrest. Tuesday Morning Quarterback has learned that the Democratic National Committee hired a Taylor look-alike to drive around the Washington area, hoping to get arrested. Meanwhile, the Republican National Committee hired a Brett Favre look-alike to wander through the Pentagon, sticking his head into meetings and saying, "I would have found the explosives." This double was supposed to get arrested too, but instead, Pentagon workers mistook him for the real Favre and asked for autographs.

Bush destroyed many bellwhethers on Tuesday.

Hitch

Christopher Hitchens on the Australian program Lateline:

CHRISTOPHER HITCHENS, JOURNALIST: Well, I hate to sound banal, but to me what it means is a crushing defeat for the racket that is formed by the media and the opinion poll industry, who have for weeks, months, been telling us it's a cliffhanger, purely in order as far as I can see to attract attention to themselves and the enormous tranche of campaign money that goes into their pockets the closer it is.If this wasn't being done by the American press and poll industry, it would be being reported by the American press.All I wanted, I have to say, is a result that made the pollsters look stupid and it well exceeded my expectations in this respect.As to what it means otherwise, there wasn't anything very much between the candidates that you could say was a moral or political issue.I mean, there was no big trouble between them about, for example, the war in Iraq, which did in the end I think become the single issue of the campaign even if not the only one.TONY JONES: It could, of course, have turned -- CHRISTOPHER HITCHENS: But above all else, people will laugh when they hear the name Zogby from now on, and I can't tell you how important that is.

Zogby came out of this looking worse than any polling firm. The whole exit polling racket is going to be abandoned or severely reworked after Tuesdays election.

Prayers For Elizabeth Edwards

John Edwards wife, Elizabeth, has been diagnosed with breast cancer. I pray she will be okay.

The World Reacts

Tony Blair and Vladimir Putin welcomed the Bush victory and laud him as crucial in the War on Terror. The Muslim world was not as happy. Count the number of bullshit statements in this:

"President Bush himself may realise the approach he has been taking may not be all that successful, because there is general agreement that the US, their allies and their friends face a much graver threat than before the September 11 attacks," said terrorism expert Rohan Gunaratna.
"He realises that without the support of the Europeans, without the support of the Asian and Middle Eastern countries, especially the Muslim countries, he cannot persist."
Malaysian Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, also urged Bush to give his "whole attention" to the Palestinians' plight.
There was widespread dismay among Arabs, that four more years under Bush could fuel wider chaos and bloodshed in the Middle East.
But the Palestinian leadership pledged to work with the new administration.
"President Arafat welcomed Bush's victory and voiced the hope that his new mandate and the confidence placed in him by the American people will give new momentum to the Middle East peace process," said Mohammed Rashid, an aide to Yasser Arafat (news - web sites).

Israel is rather gleeful, however:

Deputy Prime Minister Ehud Olmert told public radio: "He has led the war against terrorism, especially Palestinian terrorism, and he has refused any contacts with Arafat (and I suspect that Arafat won't be making contact with anyone but Satan soon-ed).
"All this reflects the fact that he is the most friendly president towards Israel that we have ever had."