A Response to John

I tend to not respond to most of the comments in the main blog section and tend to keep my responses in the comments. That said, this comment requires a full response:

You are a brainwashed sorry little parrot.

Ah, the beginning of a great intellectual argument. Real geniuses begin debates by belittling their opponent.

If you honestly believe that central America is "More stable than it has ever been", you are either a paid gop lier, or a delusionist.

No sir, you must not understand that I am a Neocon. My money comes from the zionist lobby. Come on, any "progressive" knows that. I'm a paid zionist "lier".

I have lived and travelled extensively throughout Central America for the past 30 years, and you SIR have no clue what you are talking about. I cannot count with my fingers the # of relatives I lost throghout Reagans reign. DIRECTLY caused by Reagans policies.

I am sorry that you lost family members, and without knowing your country of origin, I can't respond to you on this issue. However, the leadership of your country and the population I would tend to think had much more of an effect than did Reagan.

Today Central America is worse off than ever. We have become a tool of Imperialism. Americans are losing jobs to Central American slaves who work for less than prisoners in the US FEDERAL penitentiaries.

The use of worse than ever in Central America is a very subjective thing. I don't hear of too many ongoing civil wars in CA. That is at least a better thing than raging wars, is it not?

What empire currently rules over CA? Is it America or is it capitalism? My guess is that you are not a capitalist.

I am probably wasting my breath...........I dont know you and you are probably so convinced of your own position that you will not learn from others. The atrocities of thr Reagan administration directly affected myself and my family. You have NO IDEA of the SATANIC acts committed in the name of ANTI_COMMUNISM. In fact much of what you have been told of COMMUNISM is a lie.

OK, let's look at where communism has been attempted. The former Soviet Union resulted in tens of millions of dead citizens. China, again millions dead. Cambodia, Cuba, Vietnam, North Korea...Need I say more? Do people who live in communist countries have civil rights? I've read much of communism and it's not all it's cracked up to be.

Reagan was not fighting communists in Central America, he was fighting guerilla nationalists that were lumped together and branded communist. In the end we wanted C.A. for ourselves to exploit. The reality is we didn't care if they called themselves "Communist", as long as WE controlled them.

What's this "we" shit, amigo? Were not the Sandinista's communist? Are Hugo Chavez and Fidel Castro not communists? Explain to me what type of "control" the US has over any CA nation. By the way, Hitler was a nationalist.

Reagan was a fascist. He labeled all his enemies as "THEM". When in fact they were diverse, from farmers to doctors..........from commies to nationalists.

Wrong, Reagan was a conservative, which in your vernacular is synonymous with fascist, I guess. The enemies are "them". They may have been diverse, as many conservatives and libertarians are. Any other nation is going to have diversity.

Think man.............think.

OK, I'll try it. After careful consideration, I think you are completely wrong on every issue you've laid out in you screed.

Dont just buy into the mindless drivel that you heard on fox and friends. Realize that the world is not just black and white.

I don't even watch FOX. You see, most conservatives read alot. I'll let you in on a little secret, Karl Rove e-mails me my talking points every morning before 7:00 AM. If my computer is down, he sends them via carrier pigeon. It's not the fasted method as I live 300 miles from DC, but it's important that I write everything as Lord Rove wishes it to be written. I further understand that the world is "nuanced", John Kerry told me that.

Reagan will continue to get the credit for the" fall of communism", However it is just plain ignorant to believe that his policies were the MAIN reason. Why dont you actually examine what his policies were and the numerous effects they had. And after that why dont you come visit us here in Panama...............and then I'll give creedance to your "OPINIONS"

Reagan deserves alot of the credit in concert with Pope John Paul II and Gorbachev. Reagan knew the the communist way of government was doomed and only survived because of raw power used by dictatorial rulers. Honecker, Stalin and Ceaucescu are a great example of iconic communist leaders who've been judged by history as brutally oppressive tyrants.

As for coming to Panama, I don't see that happening soon as I tend to vacation in different parts of the world. I imagine things are sufficiently better than they were in the 80's since you're connected to the Internet and have a computer. Plus you have that nice, balboa-generating canal that the evil America built in Imperialist fashion and Jimmy Carter turned over to you for nothing.

The Human Development Index lists CA nations as either high or medium human development. As a matter of fact, Panama ranks in the upper 50%, just below Russia and better than Brazil, Venezuela and the emerging Thailand.

The State Dept. says of Panama:

The Constitution provides for an independent judiciary; however, the judiciary was susceptible to corruption and outside influence, including manipulation by other branches of government.

It sounds as though the problems of Panama are not caused by the US, but by internal corruption.

With wireless internet access and a free press, I'd say that things are better.

As for you agreeing with, reading or giving creedance to my opinions, I couldn't care less.

Saturday Reads

Oldsmoblogger is back from OBX and has a great post on Bill Bennett and his call for a draft.

Fellow Delaware Valleyan, the Good Lieutenant, has some thoughts on W's approval numbers over at Mein Blogvault. He also is getting the fever of Flyers hockey. Too bad we had to let LeClair go.

Mugger takes John Podhoretz to the wood shed.

Did you ever think you'd give a damn what friction occurs between Belarus and Poland? Me neither til I read this Chrenkoff post.

This site has almost as many links as Dave Barry, who by the way is moving.

Hating Reagan and Revising History

Some unknown at the Huff Po has posted a screed that just begs a response:

God bless wireless Internet connections. Because I need to vent to somebody about my current predicament as I wait for my connecting flight out of George Bush Intercontinental Airport, and -- since all of the somebodies in my immediate vicinity seem to be wearing gator-skin boots and/or “United We Stand” tees -- I’ve decided that the more favorable, less-likely-to-whoop-my-ass candidate is you.

You would be wrong. Although in an odd way, your naivete is endearing.

What I’d like to vent about is this: Several hours ago, I was standing in an enormous security screening line at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport, reading a very good book entitled -- rather fortuitously -- Resisting Reagan: the U.S. Central America Peace Movement. Out of the blue, this skinnier-than-asparagus lady waiting behind me in a white golfing outfit gave my shoulder a tap. “I hope you know, girl,” she said, “that Ronald Reagan is the best leader our country’s ever had.”

This girl has a way of describing conservatives by what they wear; gator skin boots, golf outfit, etc. Why? Do liberals not golf?

Hmmm...I paused for a second. I seriously contemplated looking this complete stranger in the eye and reciting the paragraph she had just interrupted, the one in which the author recounts a particularly haunting practice of the Reagan-funded, U.S.-trained military forces in El Salvador during the mid-80s:

“They take an entire family from their home, and the next day the bodies are found strung up in the outskirts of the town with their faces tied together, as if kissing each other... Disfigured bodies began to appear with signs that read, ‘Merry Christmas, people. We are ridding you of terrorists.’ ... By 1985, right-wing death squads alone had murdered more than forty thousand Salvadorans.”

She chooses not to examine what the eventual outcome of Reagan's policies were. Central America is now stable, so much so that a trade agreement was recently passed in congress to increase business with that region.

But I figured this might be inappropriate security line banter. And I was too genuinely tongue-tied to articulate how I feel about a president who funneled $9.5 billion annually into supporting these unthinkable death squads; into training the Nicaraguan Contras to gouge out the eyes and genitals of community leaders who were sympathetic to “the enemy”; and into fortifying a genocidal regime in Guatemala that destroyed over 440 villages and slaughtered more than 100,000 indigenous people.

So I just smiled like my name was Kathy Lee Gifford and said, “No, I wasn’t aware of that.”

It's interesting to point out that when Nicaraguan's were actually given the chance to vote, they chose the horrible Contra's in spite of mass voter fraud by Sandinista leader Daniel Ortega's army. A woman name Violeta Chamorro risked death from the dictatorial Ortega and established a true democracy. If you want to read a true account of that election in 1990, read P.J. O'Rourke's excellent Give War a Chance.

And now, I’m eating a Cinnabon here in the airport in Houston, and my loss for words is starting to catch up with me. Of course, I’m already feeling pretty annoyed that the cheapest way I can get to Leon, Mexico for a conference on feminist resistance to U.S. imperialism and corporate globalization is by flying through RONALD REAGAN NATIONAL AIRPORT AND GEORGE BUSH INTERCONTINENTAL AIRPORT (heh--ed.). But this is further compounded by the realization that my own speechlessness about Reagan’s unforgivable role in Central America reflects a much larger, collective inability of the left to combat national amnesia about the Great Communicator’s true legacy. Even more abstractly, it reminds me of our failure to hold U.S. imperial presidencies accountable for the terror they’ve incited and continue to incite -- from the fincas of El Salvador to the trenches of Iraq to the militarized ghettoes here at home.

Only a hard core lefty can not acknowledge the improvement in living conditions throughout central America. From Costa Rica to Panama, the standards have risen dramatically. What of the imperialist invasion of Bosnia, a region we still occupy. The last sentence is drivel straight out of the leftist handbook and honestly doesn't warrant a reply.

I can think of no other explanation for why a man with such an abominable record could have a national airport named after him, and then go on to win the Discovery Channel’s “Greatest American” contest over candidates like Ben Franklin and Martin Luther King.

Folks, we’re getting our butts whipped in the battle over communal memory, over the definition of historical “facts.”

And so, I’m writing you not only for the sake of catharsis, but also to pledge that I won’t stop searching for the right words to address all future Reagan-lionizing golfer ladies until I can fly from Delores Huerta National Airport to Emma Goldman Internationalism Airport, where passports will be optional and “Ronald Reagan” will be nothing more than a brand of sanitary napkin disposal bins.

It's interesting to note that she used two mens names when she talked about greatest Americans, yet used womens names when talking of the airports. Was no woman "great" enough to rate in the "Greatest Americans" category?

As for the comment "passports will be optional", that's been attempted and seems to have crashed and burned, they called it the EU. Sorry, my happy little feminist, the land of John Lennon's "Imagine" has yet to materialize. Instead we have a world of realities that include "facts" such as Islamic terror, dictatorial regimes in Cuba, North Korea and Venezuela and an ever strengthening China. Notice anything about the nation's I just listed? All of those regimes are Communist or some bastardized off-shoot.

History may be written by the victors, but let’s hope it can also be revised by pissed-off bloggers and others who are willing to almost miss their planes in order to set the record straight.

You should've just gotten on your plane, because you've done nothing to "set the record straight", you've just given people like me the chance to point out the error of your thinking. Thanks.

Update: Hat tip: the Corner.

Tsunami Funds Misused

Charitable funds sent to aid tsunami victims are said to be in the hands of known terrorist groups:

CHARITABLE donations to help people affected by the Asian tsunami disaster are falling into the hands of radical Islamic groups linked to terrorists in Indonesia, a leading expert on the global al-Qaeda network warned yesterday.

Relief money had become the "primary source" of income for two militant groups, including one founded by a Muslim cleric serving a prison sentence in connection with the Bali bombing in 2002 in which more than 200 people were killed.

Dr Rohan Gunaratna, head of the international centre for political violence and terrorism research at Singapore's Institute of Defence and Strategic Studies, told the Asia-Pacific Financial Crime Conference that the Boxing Day disaster had given "unprecedented opportunities for these groups to expand their areas of influence".

...MMI, which has been called the Indonesian equivalent of Sinn Fein, was founded by militant cleric Abu Bakar Bashir, who is serving a 30-month jail sentence for conspiracy in the Bali bombings. Its name means the Council of Mujahideen For Islamic Law Enforcement.

The Brussels-based International Crisis Group has said Mujahideen Kompak plans to wage holy war in Indonesia.

And, according to the US-based analysts Global Security, Mujahideen Kompak has been responsible for attacks on Christians, including the nail-bombing of a church in North Jakarta during evening prayers in November 2001. Its leaders are also sometimes drawn from the infamous Indonesian terrorist group Jemaah Islamiyah.

Nice people, huh? The world comes to the rescue to assist those who need it and the money is directed to terrorist organizations. More on Bashir here.

Headlines

Oliver Stone should probably retrieve what little of his self respect that Roger L. Simon decided to leave him with. Ouch.

Blogger burnout at INDC. Hang in there, Bill. I for one think the IM conversations with Goldstein are pretty damn funny. When I burnout, I just post stupid collections of other blogger's posts.

A random Goldstein post, just because it's too damn hard to choose and that jerk Reynolds beat me to the best one. Bastard!

Just click and scroll.

Signs that the Almighty just may not be taking a shine to what you are doing.

Grading the GDP.

It's college football time. Boi From Troy will be posting some of the best college football commentary in the nation in a few weeks.

Update: I've neglected to link to two great bloggers who I've been reading for eons (at least in blog terms), POV and Spartacus. These guys are must reads.

Blogger Gets Results

A local blogger does a great thing:

Thanks largely to the efforts of a local Internet blogger, the Figueroa case is receiving plenty of national coverage, particularly from cable news.

"These missing-persons stories happen every day," said the blogger, Richard Blair, who operates a progressive political Web site at www.allspinzone.com. "But which become newsworthy? A lot of it has to do with skin color and economics, but more important, I think, is what catches somebody's eye. If you get the word out, news organizations will respond. That's what we did."

Late last week, Philadelphia police briefed reporters about the missing woman. But little coverage ensued.

So on Tuesday, Blair, thinking the case deserved more attention, dispatched a pointed e-mail to Nancy Grace, host of a nightly show on CNN Headline News. Grace's show has given constant coverage to the case of Natalee Holloway, the Alabama teenager missing in Aruba.

The e-mail read: "Latoyia Figueroa is still missing after 8 days. And as tragic as the Natalee Holloway case might be, Natalee doesn't have a 7-year-old child wondering where she is, nor was Natalee... 5 months pregnant."

Emphasis mine. Police briefed reporters yet little coverage ensued. I didn't read anything about this in the Inquirer and I read it cover to cover (figuratively since it's not a tabloid) every day. Now that it's a media frenzy, the Inqy is all over it. This is a story that was in their backyard and they ignored until CNN, MSNBC and FOX forced them to cover it. Shameful.

This blogger has done a good thing and attained front page coverage for this story.

Another missing girl in California is pictured here.

Compare and Contrast

American born Sheikh Khalid Yasin believes that:

There’s no such thing as a Muslim having a non-Muslim friend, so a non-Muslim could be your associate but they can’t be a friend. They’re not your friend because they don’t understand your religious principles and they cannot because they don’t understand your faith.

Mansour El-Kikhia has these thoughts:

As soon as the advertisement was broadcast on America's media, I read a column by one of the nation's most ardent Islam-phobic columnists, Cal Thomas, now also a FOX News personality, which plowed into CAIR's reconciliation efforts. Long before 9-11, Thomas' writings were full of venom for Arabs and Muslims. He represents a despicable and ignorant attitude that, unfortunately, a sizable segment of America has come to share. There is nothing American Muslims can do to satisfy this group short of packing up and leaving the United States.

Read the entire second piece, it's eye-opening.

Mount Soledad Cross To Stay--Atheists Pissed

In the last decade, San Diego has fought some battles with ACLU types who would use any means necessary to remove any semblance of a cross on public lands. They forced the La Mesa (the birth place of my children) Police Dept. to remove a replica of the Mt. Helix cross from their logo and then forced the transfer of the site to private owners. They then set their sites on Mount Soledad in San Diego.

Smash brings you up to speed.

This should really piss off these folks.

CAFTA Approved

The Central American Free Trade Agreement was passed in a close Senate vote. The agreement is a major win for Bush and may assist the US in decreasing trade with China (commented on here). CAFTA may well succeed in bolstering the economies of nations in our hemisphere with the byproduct of reducing illegal immigration through our porous southern border:

The Senate approved CAFTA last month 54-45, and it now goes to the president for his signature.

It was a major victory for the Bush administration, which had to fend off claims by critics that the pact would harm American workers.

"CAFTA helps ensure that free trade is fair trade," the president said in a statement following the vote. "By lowering trade barriers to American goods in Central American markets to a level now enjoyed by their goods in the U.S., this agreement will level the playing field and help American workers, farmers and small businesses."

The accord eventually eliminates tariffs and other trade barriers between the United States and Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua and the Dominican Republican. The countries signed the trade deal a year ago.

Those nations join Australia, Chile, Singapore, Jordan and Morocco in seeing free trade agreements approved during Bush's time in office.

Trade is the best deterrent to violence. It also gives us a big stick should any of these nations' leaders decide they want to go the Hugo Chavez dictator route.

Air America is Dead

The highly touted and heavily promoted Air America seems to be in it's death throes:

On March 31, 2004, Air America Radio, promoted as the liberal antidote to conservative-dominated talk radio, was launched with great fanfare and prolific media coverage.

Since then, it has generated headlines while losing some stations and picking up others. In April, it fired head writer Lizz Winstead, cocreator of Comedy Central's Daily Show, who is suing for back pay (including money she says she is owed for flogging Vermont Teddy Bears).

Her show, which costarred ex-rapper Chuck D, has been replaced by TV talkmeister Jerry Springer, who is mulling a run for governor of Ohio.

Now that it's possible to compare ratings for this spring to last year's start-up, it's clear that the network has yet to climb out of the cellar.

Air America's overall ratings, which rose initially after all the free publicity, faded before the November election and haven't recovered.

You know when stories such as this--Air America getting greedy with charity money--are printed, it can't be a good omen.

The King Dhimmi

The Vietnam era leftists have been awaken in the last few years because of the Iraq war. They claim to "support the troops" and scream when we appear to even remotely question their patriotism.

Today in the Inquirer, we have a great example (third item) of how these old-school liberals really think. A letter from a Ben Burrows sums up how wrong we on the right have been:

There seems to be no story about Islam that commentator Charles Krauthammer cannot convert to a stereotype of racist intent and European blindness to his own brand of Sharonista recklessness.

Sharonista, get it. Krauthammer is a Jew. Brilliant!

To me, the real story behind the "sudden" appearance of racial and religious minorities in Europe is the failure of former colonial countries to acknowledge the continued false sense of colonial superiority without any sense of welcoming and integration into the general European culture - of a maintenance of permanent difference.

The general idea behind emigration to another country was to integrate and assimilate to the ways of your new country. The Italians, Poles and Germans who came to America learned the language and culture of America and adapted to our ways. They didn't scream that they wanted to prosecute under their religious law as the Muslims do.

I worry that, far from attempting to repeat the previous American success of integrating previous waves of immigrants, we have ourselves become infected with colonial hubris. This "white man's burden" mentality has brought both Democrats and Republicans to grief, most recently in Iraq.

I'd say that the previous waves of immigrants such as those listed above, and more recently Vietnamese, Korean and Indian emigre's have done a great job of integrating. As for the "white man's burden" mentality, it seems that that is not even close to being the case. But let's move on to the real gist of Bennies letter:

It is time for us to recover a sense of gratitude for our diversity, and from this gratitude to derive a sense of common purpose.

Well radical Muslims have a common purpose, to kill the infidel (you are one, Mr. Burrows) and expand Islam worldwide.

Theo van Gogh's portrayal of Muslims was, in its way, just as much a blanket denunciation of a multicultural, multiethnic cohort as anything of Krauthammer's.

Theo van Gogh was speaking his mind, which is a right that every person should enjoy (there was a time when liberals actually believed that). Is Mr. Burrows intimating that van Gogh was guilty of something so horrible that he deserved to be murdered in the street by a Muslim thug? Can a film maker not speak out when a religion conducts horrid practices such as genital mutilation of women and stoning of homosexuals? By pointing to practices that Muslims do not hide but extol, the man deserved to be left in a Dutch street bleeding to death with a note (text here) denouncing him and promoting Islam tacked to his chest with a knife? Theo van Gogh's work was created with a Muslim woman who saw the injustices perpetrated by her religion on women. Does she deserve to die?

In our efforts to seek justice and freedom for all, we must all remember the injunction to love the stranger, and not to embarrass or isolate those different from ourselves.
Ben Burrows

Kumbaya, Mr. Burrows. That is the leftist mantra in a nutshell. Perhaps if Mr. Burrows would read something besides the Nation and the Inquirer, he'd realize that Europe has not isolated Muslims in the least. In fact they've bent themselves into a pretzel attempting to accommodate them. They've done this to their own detriment.

How do I know that Mr. Burrows is a leftist/liberal, well, besides the inane rantings he wrote to the Inqy? Well a quick Google search shows this:

"Hi, I'm an old fogey who went "Clean for Gene" in 1968. I will not abide another candidate who pretends to go head-to-head with George Bush and then says "I agree!""

Update: Theo van Gogh's killer was convicted by a Dutch court and sentenced to life yesterday:

Bouyeri seemed unfazed by the sentence, looking relaxed as he shook his attorney's hand and strolled out of the courtroom with his guards. He has two weeks to lodge an appeal but had said he hoped to receive the maximum punishment, preferably death, in his quest for martyrdom.

Wearing a black-and-white checkered head scarf, he remained seated when the judges filed into the high-security courtroom yesterday, in a show of disdain for the non-Islamic proceedings.

Besides the van Gogh killing, Bouyeri was convicted of the attempted murder of two bystanders and eight police officers during a subsequent shoot-out; illegal possession of firearms; and impeding the work of a parliament member, Ayaan Hirsi Ali, whom he threatened to kill in a letter impaled in van Gogh's chest.

I suppose that Mr. Burrows thinks that all Bouyeri needs is a little "loving" and less "embarrassment". Give me a break. This guy killed for one reason and one reason only; Islam.

A Promise Broken

A few moons ago, I said I wouldn't pick on Minipundit when he begged me to back off. Well, sometimes he writes a post that irks me to such an extent that I just have to respond. Let's start off with his lede:

I guess they're the same in the U.K. as in the U.S. Here, they beat black men senseless, shoot them 41 times for pulling out their wallets, and get acquitted. There, they kill an Arab man because he "looked" like a suicide bomber. Racial profiling triumphs again:

The NYPD and LAPD acted wrongly in both cases. In the case of Rodney King they beat down a man who was already subdued. With regard to Diallo (by the way, dude, you may want to read the link instead of linking to a dead link), the NYPD reacted as they did because they thought the man had a gun, they were mistaken. 41 shots is surely excessive and the cops paid dearly. I'm not a NY cop and never have been so I don't know what compelled them to shoot and neither do you.

As for the London incident, the forces that shot this innocent man did so because their city was attacked twice in two weeks. They were under orders to shoot to kill, preferably in the head, as anyone who has served in the military knows is the part of the body that will put you out of commission the fastest.

They shot a man who chose not to heed their warnings, exited a building that was under surveillance and where suspected terrorists were living and headed for the Tube where numerous people died on July 7.

Anyone who has read the papers in London knows full-well that the city is on edge and this mans actions were not considered normal.

More:

Let me get this straight. He happens to live in an apartment building that was under surveillance; we have no reason to believe that he caused it to be. He left the building and, because he was in public, was followed by the police (which is totally not stalking). His clothing and behavior were "suspicious", and so they shot him. It's not as if he pulled a gun on the cops. What he "did" wouldn't even be grounds for an arrest. This is why there is no logic to Islamist terrorism. Even if an attack succeeds, and even if the terrorists' demands are met, racists in the country they attack are inevitably going to start persecuting Muslims.

Of course he didn't pull a gun, they are essentially illegal in Britain (which has led to a stunning increase in crime, but of course that's a post for another day), he instead headed for the subway and was not just dressed "suspicious", he was wearing a jacket on a warm day. That is how a suicide bomber hides a bomb belt.

The agencies involved have apologized and have shown remorse. More importantly if you're worried about terror, they've not backed off their shoot to kill policy.

More:

P.S. As Justin Delabar points out in the comments, the guy was Brazilian, not Arab or Muslim. All the worse.

You're right, it is all the worse as radical Islam is not just confined to Arabs, it's spreading to near every country on the planet. I guess your whole racial profiling argument got flushed down the toilet just like a Koran at Gitmo. The new type of profiling will be a guy who acts nervous, refuses to listen to police and wears a jacket in the middle of summer while boarding a subway car.

You miss the salient fact in all this, the reason the innocent man was shot was simply because British civilians were massacred by Islamofascists who don't give a damn about women or children. They would kill you or your loved ones and scream "Allahu Akhbar" as they did it. The Brits were forced to instill extraordinary means to protect their citizens.

I imagine that this is a lost argument if you are from the "we brought it on ourself" camp, but facts are facts.

God forbid that a terrorist event happens in New York or New Hampshire, if it does, the US will be forced to upgrade our security to the point that events like this may occur. This is why we must defeat them where they live, not here.

My prayers go out to man's family. Unfortunately he became the latest in a long line of American's, Israeli's, Brits, Spaniards, Phillipino's etc. to die in a war started by Muslim extremists. A sad death, but I fear, not the last.

All Rove, All the Time

In the last three weeks, major terrorist strikes have occurred in London, Egypt and Israel. A near disaster was averted last week in London. The WoT is heating up and the following months may be crucial to the future of free societies and rights.

With all that happening, the Huffington Post continues to nip at Karl Rove's ankles like a pissed off chihuahua. On the blog at 1753 on Monday, July 25th, the blog over the HP has numerous posts about Rove (including this inane post likening the Rove non-story with the resignation of Nixon), the tragic, yet unavoidable killing of an innocent Brazilian, Li'l Kim and prison and a real tearjerker about convicted murderers in prison.

Nothing about the true big story, the wanton murder of hundreds of civilians by Islamic radicals. The left is so pathetic.

Bob Schieffer-Republican Shill

According to the always reliable, and very liberal, Media Matters, Dan Rather's replacement as anchor for CBS News, Bob Schieffer is partisan towards the GOP:

It's been four months since CBS news anchor Dan Rather stepped down. But Les Moonves, the network's president, is in no hurry to replace Bob Schieffer, the 68-year-old reporter who has been filling Mr. Rather's chair on the evening news show. Mr. Moonves told a meeting of TV critics in Los Angeles last week that under Mr. Schieffer, "We've gotten our credibility back" and "as long as we have Schieffer there, we don't have a gun to our head."

But Mr. Moonves got into hot water with liberal activists by adding that a fringe benefit of having the avuncular Texan in the anchor chair is that "obviously the White House doesn't hate CBS" anymore. Media Matters, a liberal media watchdog, darkly noted that Mr. Schieffer has played golf with President Bush and that his brother, John Thomas Schieffer, was a business partner of Mr. Bush's and served his administration as ambassador to Australia. The liberal group further noted that Broadcasting and Cable magazine had reported that CBS News President Andrew Heyward had met with White House officials in January and assured them that "from here on out (CBS) would do everything it could to be fair and balanced."

You got that? Because CBS assured the White House that they will strive to be "fair and balance", they are now an extension of the RNC. I guess if a man isn't fabricating documents and then lying about them, he must be a propagandist for the Bush administration.

The Carnival of the RINO's is Up!

Thanks to Countertop Chronicles for hosting this week's carnival. The check is in the mail.

Setting Things Straight

I'm a big believer in the power of blogs in the national debate. Bloggers are different from the MSM because we are aware that what we write has consequences and if we make a mistake, we rectify it as soon as possible.

That said, I recently left a comment at the Huffington Post in response to a post by Paul Rieckhoff that demeaned him for not serving and slamming the military in his post. I read the bio of the poster and somewhere between reading and commenting, I believed that he had never served in the military. I was thinking of a bio from another Huffington Post blogger.

Well, Paul did serve, and very admirably at that. I received an e-mail from Mr. Rieckhoff's friend and co-blogger, Jeremy Broussard. The entire e-mail is printed here with the exception of some cut and pasting Mr. Broussard added from the original post. I did not edit anything:

For your information, Scott, Paul and I are both veterans of the Iraq War. Paul Rieckoff was an infantry officer and platoon leader patrolling the streets of Baghdad with the NY Nat. Guard in 2003-2004. I was a field artillery officer serving in Kuwait and southern Iraq in 2003. We do know what we speak of.

The point of Paul's piece is that if the administration and its apologists spent as much time, money and effort forming effective policies for Iraq and the Middle East (diplomatic AND military) as they do on spin and outright propaganda, we'd be in a better situation.And hee's right: we DO need more leaders, not salesman. Bush's response to the dwindling public confidence in his leadership and the mission in Iraq this summer was to do a better job "selling" the war... that's an indication of an administration out of touch with the realities of winning Iraq or the war on terrorism.

But I found your comments "You know nothing of what it takes to be a soldier or sailor" to be ignorant, insulting to Paul's service, and counter-productive and I wanted to set the record straight.FYI... check out www.Optruth.org and you'll hear a lot of unfiltered comments from real veterans--Iraq veterans--and not chickenhawk cheerleaders here at home.

Jeremy Broussard
Fmr. Captain, U.S. Army

Again, apologies with regard mistakenly noting that you had not served. As you may notice, I commented within 4 minutes that I'd made a mistake and offered up additional comments.

The issue I now have is that Mr. Broussard knows full well that part of any military campaign is propaganda. The Army has used it since the Revolutionary War.

The difference between now and any other military action (with the probable exception of Vietnam) is the press are doing everything in their power to discredit this war and those who are prosecuting it. As a consequence, they've demeaned the good men and women who have served or are serving currently. The press is not giving a balanced assessment of the war.

Worse than that, the MSM is not portraying the war as one step in the wider war against radical Islam and global terror. It is a major portion of that war, and that war will go on for years if not decades.

The American people re-elected Bush knowing full well that we were engaged in Iraq for the foreseeable future. They have spoken and that is democracy in action.

I will link to your site and read it regularly to see what the returning soldiers and Marines are saying. I will also continue to write about what I feel is really happening in Iraq and Afghanistan, with insight from friends who have served in both theaters.

I respect the fact that you served and as one vet to another feel bad that I commented in error. Thanks for serving.

The Death of Unions

Organized labor is in the midst of being an afterthought. Throughout the union heyday of the fifties and sixties, a member of a union was guaranteed a reasonably steady income with a retirment package that would sustain them through their later years. It was good deal for the workers.

It was such a good deal that employers felt like they were getting a bad deal; rising costs forced the unions to increase benefit costs; which were then passed on to employer. Employers were courted by nations in Asia and elsewhere and realized that their bottom line showed a greater profit if they moved manufacturing overseas. China and Taiwan replaced Evansville and New London.

In the meantime, the unions banked on there good will with the Democrats who at that point were entrenched in power. They supported the Democrats blindly and the prospective candidates bowed down to the AFL-CIO and AFSCME's power. So much so that local unions in Philadelphia, northern New Jersey and NYC had election day written in their contracts as paid days off. The union's to this day will send battallion's of members to drive people to the polls and get out the vote. Sometimes legally, sometimes not.

While enjoying the sunny glow of shacking up with incumbent politicians (generally Democrats), the union's failed to see the US working environment changing. Instead of manufacturing, the US became a service oriented country. Lots of small businesses started up and the bigger corporations were centered on high technology manufacturing and research and development. The workers in these types of occupations were not the under educated type that led to the rise of unions, but well-educated people who were paid good money right out of college and didn't want or need union affiliation.

For those who don't understand how unions operate, here's a short primer. Let's look at the labor-type unions. Generally, a laborer will join a local and be placed on a list. A construction contractor will win a bid to erect a new building, such as a library. The contractor will call the local and request 10 workers. The workers will be put on the payroll of the contractor after the contractor signs an agreement with the local. The contractor will pay not only the salary of the worker, but also into a benefits fund. The benefits portion is 1/2 to double the salary portion. This is a huge added expense to the contractor, but more so to the corporation or municipality who is paying for construction.

The laborers work at the site and get paid every week, which is another burden on the contractor as they must expend time and resources on collection and disbursement of payroll checks.

When the work is completed, the laborers are laid off and they return to the hall. Some of the better workers will be carried by the contractor and utilized on other job sites.

If the construction sector is going full-bore, as was the case over the last few years, the hall is generally empty and everyone is working. When things slow down, the hall fills up and a waiting list is employed that determines who works and when.

Now, unions are being tossed aside as smaller construction firms, such as those who build homes, are utilizing skilled, non-union labor. These workers tend to work for less money but receive benefits such as health insurance and vacation time that is paid for by the employer.

Here is a good, if somewhat dated, synopsis from 1998:

New employment legislation has made it easier for workers, without the assistance of a union, to challenge unsafe working conditions, job discrimination, workplace harassment, and unjust dismissals. Compensation provided through unemployment insurance and welfare benefits can also replace traditionally union-provided benefits and services. Some evidence suggests that increased government expenditures on social services have created less of a perceived need for unions in the workplace.4 Furthermore, federal deregulation and the 1948 Taft-Hartley right-to-work provisions have transformed the organizational climate facing unions.

Here's a pro-union blog that seems to be updated often.

Getting back to unions and politics; where I live in the northeast, unions have immense pull and their backing can almost ensure that a candidate wins an election. The problem arises when they have to repay their debt. An great example was when Jim McGreevey was elected Governor of New Jersey, one of his first acts was to force contractors who win state work to use union labor.

The New Jersey Business and Industry Association summed it up thusly:

"Without so much as one public hearing on the issue, Governor McGreevey has gift wrapped billions of taxpayer dollars and given it to the labor unions," Stoller said. "This order will create a virtual monopoly for labor unions. It will effectively shut out hundreds of qualified contractors and thousands of nonunion workers from participating in state public contracts. Every public works project impacted by this order will cost taxpayers more."

That order still stands even though McGreevey is long gone.

The public, however is becoming hip to the fact that using union-only labor increases costs dramatically. The aforementioned smaller contractors are making a lot of noise and that noise is slowly being heard.

This post is not meant as pro or anti-union, it is meant to comment on the state of organized labor in the US. The power that unions once held over state politicians is slowly eroding away and with that erosion will come a new day where unions will be forced to compete on a level playing field or they will die.

THE LEFT LIED AND LONDONERS DIED!

Jeff Goldstein has a great post that must be read right now.

Update: More at LGF. Also, Andy has some words of warning for Red Ken.

5 Things That Really Piss Me Off-A Pictorial

There are people or things that just hearing about, reading about or looking at piss me off and make me want to blog venom. Here's the list in no particular order and in pictures:







Katrina van den Heuvel, Editor of the The Nation and expert (twelfth item) on her local congressional representative and resident of Harlem. Picture via Beautiful Atrocities.







Drew Rosenhaus, super agent and all-around a-hole. Probably the worst thing that's happened to sports with the exception of the Columbus Blue Jackets and steroids.









Ted Rall, "artist" and "writer". Famous for making fun of 9/11 widows with this filth:

















Next, on this dubious list is slow drivers in the fast lane. Fast in the fast lane does not mean the speed limit. If someone is riding your ass and you're in the far left lane, get the hell out of their way. It's probably me and I'm wishing at that point I had a custom made RPG rigged up to my front bumper. Also, if you have to take a phone call, don't slow down to friggin' 30 MPH. Lastly, if you are ten car lengths behind someone and they put their brakes on, don't put your on, just remove your right foot from the gas. This is a public service message that just may save your sorry life some day.











Paul Krugman, partisan hack for the NY Times. The dude writes and looks like an absolute weasel. Would you trust this former Enron advisor with your money?

More to come later.

RINO Roundup

I've read most of the RINO's and have trapped them using the PETA-approved carrot under a box method ala Elmer Fudd.

• Tom Hanna comments on John Roberts and, well...french fries.
• Dan Melson has a roundup of SCOTUS posts
• Steven Couch is getting ready to take the bar exam. Good luck, Bro.
• D.C. Thornton has some thoughts on ebonics.
• DANEgerus spotlights Bill Moyers.

A New Friday Tradition

Instead of catblogging on Fridays, I've decided that I'd go back and cull a post from yesteryear. It saves me time and, hell, most books that columnists put out nowadays are just reprints of their previous ramblings. If it's good enough for Maureen Dowd, by golly, it's good enough for me.

Today I look back at the post-election time in Philly when John Street beat Sam Katz. Click on the link and read some of my superb writing...or not.

Is a Jewish Exodus From the Democrat Party Occurring?

I'm a firm believer that the Democratic party has alienated the very people who once made up their core; Jews, some Catholics, unions and minorities (African-Americans in particular). Weve always heard the drivel that the Republican party is the party of the rich white guy and corporations. That is not exactly true anymore (here's a post from last year).

The drift of the donkeys over to support for Palestinians, their anti-war stance and their incessant railing against Bush, a president who has had a more inclusive cabinet than any yet seen, has pushed the core to the fringes and elevated the likes of Michael Moore and Kos to the representatives of their movement.

Bush gained enough of the minority vote in '04 to win by 3%, which is interesting only because the donks used every racial ploy available to paint Bush in a bad light.

Honestly, Bush has done alot for minorities as a whole and African-Americans in general by offering what the mothers in that community want; a chance to get their children educated in the best schools via vouchers. The donks are so beholden to the teacher's unions that they've missed this simple fact.

The Recovering Democrat has thoughts on the Jewish perspective:

One of the big reasons I switched from Democrat to Republican was that, as a Jew, I felt unwelcome in the Democratic Party. The Democrats affiliate with and tolerate leftists like those that frequent the Daily Kos - i.e., the anti-Israel crowd. I have a hard time understanding how any self-respecting Jew can support a political party that does not unequivocally support Israel's right to exist.

Israel was created after the Holocaust because (a) Israel was the ancestral homeland of the Jewish people (Jewish claims to "Palestine" pre-date any Arab claims by thousands of years), (b) following the Holocaust, none of the European countries wanted to resettle the Jewish people that had just been liberated from the death camps and (c) most importantly, the World recognized that the creation of a Jewish state was the only way to avoid continued persecution and another genocide of the Jews. If there had been an Israel in the 1930's and 1940's, the Holocaust would have never happened. Jews fleeing Hitler's Europe would have had a place to go - rather than being turned away from the U.S., London, etc. If you believe in "Never Again", you believe in Israel. Otherwise, it is only lip service.

Read the whole post of course. The author of those comments is more in the mainstream than any Democrat wants to believe. They ignore this segment of the population at their own peril.

It Is Who We Are

Fred Kaplan has an essay investigating why terrorists as a whole and suicide bombers in particular follow the call to jihad. It is a piece worth reading but I tend to disagree with his assessment. This paragraph in particular is off the mark:

President George W. Bush frequently depicts the foreign Arabs in Iraq as comrades of the 9/11 hijackers, enemies of freedom who might be wreaking havoc here if they weren't fighting over there. Yet if the Arabs in Paz's and Obaid's studies are typical, Bush's portrait is off the mark. Their calls to arms may be drenched in Pan-Islamic rhetoric. Those doing the calling—Osama Bin Laden and Abu Musab al-Zarqawi—may have more cataclysmic ambitions. But the young fanatics on the ground, those streaming across the Iraqi border, seem motivated more by the classic goals of national liberation movements.

Is Kaplan saying that if the jihadi's were not fighting in Iraq, they'd be back home in Saudi Arabia not committing acts of terror? That's highly doubtful. If we did not oust Saddam, the call for jihad would have these would be terrorists infiltrating New York, Miami and LA.

More:

The most vital lesson Americans can draw from this sorry saga, in retrospect, is that we shouldn't initiate foreign adventures unless they involve interests worth considerable sacrifice. But a more immediate—and regrettable—lesson is that, having blundered our way into Iraq, we can't hand these bastards a victory (which is what it would be) by giving in to their demands. It would only embolden them further the next time our interests clash.

The freedom of an oppressed country is not worth considerable sacrifice? As for emboldening them further, didn't we embolden them when we cut and ran from Somalia, allowed the bombing of the Khobar Towers and African embassies and the attack on the USS Cole to go without a response? We bombed a known aspirin factory in the Sudan and a few empty tents in Afghanistan. The empty rhetoric spewed from Clinton loyalists that we were an hour late getting bin-Laden is utter garbage.

Lastly, Kaplan takes it as gospel, as does much of the Kool-aid drinking left, that we blundered into Iraq. Bush said from the beginning that it would take years and that we'd rather fight them there then here. That seems to have been the case.

Update: I would add the above:

In an interview with Reuters, Bakri described Osama bin Laden, leader of the radical Islamist network al Qaeda, as "a sincere man who fights against evil forces."

Bakri said he would like Britain to become an Islamic state but feared he would be deported before his dream was realized.

"I would like to see the Islamic flag fly, not only over number 10 Downing Street, but over the whole world," he said.

Update 2: They also hate homosexuals.

Yeah, they hate us because we invaded Iraq...bullshit!

Chait Makes Waste

Of space that is. Is W's exercise regimen proper filler for the L.A. Times editorial page? This little weasel hates Bush and even seethes at something as insignificant as this:

My guess is that Bush associates exercise with discipline, and associates a lack of discipline with his younger, boozehound days. "The president," said Fleischer, "finds [exercise] very healthy in terms of … keeping in shape. But it's also good for the mind." The notion of a connection between physical and mental potency is, of course, silly. (Consider all the perfectly toned airheads in Hollywood — or, perhaps, the president himself.) But Bush's apparent belief in it explains why he would demand well-conditioned economic advisors and Supreme Court justices.

Bush's insistence that the entire populace follow his example, and that his staff join him on a Long March — er, Long Run — carries about it the faint whiff of a cult of personality. It also shows how out of touch he is. It's nice for Bush that he can take an hour or two out of every day to run, bike or pump iron. Unfortunately, most of us have more demanding jobs than he does.

Emphasis mine. Chait has BDS so incredibly bad that a blood transfusion fromHugo Chavez might not even cure him.

Does Chait mean to insinuate that he has a tougher job than Bush? If it's tough to write inane columns such as this, the guy must have some serious issues.

Update: The very good site Independent Sources has an excellent take on this story:

But to answer Chait’s question — yes, I do find find it creepy that a regular contributor to the Los Angeles Times sees fit (pun intended) to criticize anyone (including the President) for a regimen of physical fitness. Chait says “The notion of a connection between physical and mental potency is, of course, silly.” But according to one of the best hospitals in the country, the Cleveland Clinic, “researchers have found that exercise can decrease depression, increase self-confidence, decrease stress and anxiety, enhance mood and improve overall mental health.” (Do we have a copy of “Google for Dummies” we can send Mr. Chait? — ed.)

Speaking personally, I believe that taking care of one’s well-being is an important sign of character and something I wouldn’t mind seeing in our leaders.

I guess the reason Chait writes such poor columns is simply because it's hard to type with a Krispy Kreme in your hand.

Police in London Shoot Suicide Bomber

Following the attempted attacks of yesterday, London police shot a man they believed was attempting another terrorist act:

"A man was challenged by officers and subsequently shot. London Ambulance Service attended the scene. He was pronounced dead at the scene."

Police are believed to be under orders to shoot to kill if they believe someone is about to detonate a bomb.

Sky News Crime Correspondent Martin Brunt said: "The officer or officers involved in this clearly felt this suspect was about to detonate a bomb."

If you are going to shoot, shoot to kill as I was taught in the military. No word yet if the bag the man carried contained a bomb or not.

The years of appeasing the Muslim community in Britain appears to be hurting them in many, bad ways. They, however are willing to take extreme steps to protect the public. Not so, here in America. The ACLU is up in arms over a NYC plan to check baggage in the subway system.

I guess the ACLU doesn't understand that the right to breath and not be bombed trumps all other rights.

Misplaced Priorities

Today, London nearly faced a repeat of the 7/7 attacks. Over at Arianna's debacle, the "bloggers" don't seem to care.

Hilary Rosen-Rove and Libby

Andy Stern-Organized labor and the AFL-CIO

Laurie David-Global warming (by the way Laurie, it is Summer and temperatures do tend to rise)

Bill Diamond-The death of a Star Trek cast member

Blah, blah blah. The single most important issue facing the world is Islamofascism. Islamist's want to kill me, you and Arianna. They have no qualms about blowing up an SUV or the Toyota Prius' that Arianna and Laurie David drive.

Al-Qaeda doesn't give a damn if they blow up a member of an AFL-CIO local or a manager who has no union affiliation.

The only global warming these terrorists care about is the severe global warming that will occur when a nuke is set off in the heart of Manhattan (sorry Huffington Post "bloggers", your reservations at Elaine's have been postponed for a few millenia). Pity.

Let's fiddle with a hypothesis; let's say that the US pulled out of Afghanistan and Iraq, hell, for that matter, the entire mideast. Do these buffoons (er, really progressive thinkers) think that Islamic terrorists would just stop?

We are dealing with tribal people who have two things in mind:

• Killing the member of the tribe they think slighted them 200-years ago;
• Destroying the US and Europe and extending Islam even farther than they did the last time they attempted to.

Ah, never mind, these people would bring up Rove less than ten minutes after a nuclear strike in the US. Well, maybe twenty minutes if it was L.A, less than a minute if it was in a southern red state.

"There is no freedom of the press here."

Andrea Mitchell gets a first hand view of what squashing freedom of the press really looks and feels like:

Things were not going well from the minute that Secretary Condoleezza Rice arrived in the Sudanese capital of Khartoum. Her motorcade got separated and her personal advisor, Jim Wilkinson, got slammed against a wall while he tried to bull his way into the meeting. They blocked all the other State Department officials from even attending this meeting between Rice and the president of Sudan. In fact, for the first six or seven minutes of this meeting, Rice and President el-Bashir couldn't talk because the Arabic translator was prevented from getting in. None of the other top officials ever got into the meeting, including U.S. Agency for International Development Administrator Andrew Natsios. So already there were apologies from Sudanese officials to U.S. officials. Things were not going well. And at that point, there were already problems over which reporters could go in and whether the American press corps could be part of a Sudanese press pool covering the photo opportunity. The State Department officials were insistent that the Americans be represented, as had previously been agreed to. Sudanese officials wanted to only let a camera in, but not permit any writers from newspapers or television. At one point, Sean McCormack, the assistant secretary for public affairs, said to his Sudanese counterpart, "I'll convey your desires about not permitting reporters to ask questions, but that's all I'll do. We have a free press." And his counterpart said, "There is no freedom of the press here." Which kind of told the whole story.

Perhaps the US media will think the next time when they scream about the regression of media liberties in the US. Alas, they will still slam the Patriot act and report on every perceived civil liberties slight.

Welcome to reality Mrs. Greenspan.

Hypocrisy Unbound

The Kossacks are trying to out John Roberts son:

Did You Catch His Wife (1.75 / 4) When Roberts thanked his family, he mentioned his son, Jack...Roberts’ wife’s face fell. It was like a poker tell. I think we should research Jack.
by mayan on Tue Jul 19th, 2005 at 13:13:01 PDT
...
He’s probably gay (2.50 / 2) Of course, this is how ridiculous rumors get started, but extreme conservatives seem to have a lot of homosexual children...
by Geotpf on Tue Jul 19th, 2005 at 13:19:08 PDT

His son is four-years old. They should be so proud. Why do lefties always want to out people. Aren't they the ideology of live and let live? Apparently not.

Katinula links to a Michelle Malkin post concerning the same story but opts not to slam them for it. K. refuses to slam Kos by linking to the despicable post and doesn't name the Kossacks as the culprits (she says they are whacko's). She instead links to some story about a psycho who killed his kid. I guess that is leftist rationalization.

BTW, K. The dude who killed himself is disgusting, but the attempt by idiot Kossacks to out a four year old is really friigin' sick.

Update: Katinula actually, sorta defends Bush against charges of racism. She can't quite bring herself to fully give the guy his props, but she does defend him. That's one of the reasons I love K. She does her damnest to see all sides of an issue, but the lefty in her still comes out.

BTW, K. this is why I encouraged you to start a blog. Give me a call and let's have a beer or four.

The Kossacks are Going Bonkers

The Kos Kids are in high dudgeon because Bush selected a Conservative. This is my favorite:

...for Justice of the Supreme Court.

John helped me in my glorious fight to stop counting them pesky votes in Florida.

He is a great American and didn't allow convicted felons to choose the President.

We had a difficult fight against democracy in 2000 but we prevailed when the US Supreme Court overturned the Florida Supreme Courts decision to actually count the votes.

But the US Supreme Court saw through the partisan attacks... cause that all it was.

Now we have an opportunity to force women to have babies against their will, and John G Roberts in on the team. We can't have these poor women aborting our young soldiers!

We need a volunteer army, and so far my plan of out-sourcing all the jobs and cutting all the social programs has created a great recruiting situation in the ghetto.

We need more soldiers!

John G Roberts is a good man, got a good heart, wants more soldiers, we agree about a lot of stuff.

The Pres. man

Let's get it on. This oughtta get Rove out of the news for a week or so. At least I hope that the confirmation of a SCOTUS Justice is more important than the fishing expedition the press is currently conducting. That's most likely wishful thinking but one can hope.

A Blast from the Past

I used to work at a building in the middle of this picture at NAS North Island and on the extreme left of this picture, across the harbor at Point Loma Subase.Both are in San Diego.

Pic courtesy of Kevin.

Bush to Announce Nominee Tonight

W is set to announce the nominee for SCOTUS. Early in the day it was all Edith Jones. Later it became a toss-up. Opinions can be found here, here and here.

Update: Everyone now says John Roberts, I guess he won't get Rather's old gig.

Update 2: Uh, wrong John Roberts.

Red Ken Re-emerges

In the immediate aftermath of the London terrorist attacks, Ken Livingston, the Mayor of London, sounded tough and defiant. Less than two weeks after the horrendous attacks, Ken, being the looney lefty he is, reverts to form:

London Mayor Ken Livingstone, whose city was devastated by Islamic suicide bombings earlier in the month, lashed out at Israel Tuesday, comparing the Likud to Hamas and accusing Israel of "crimes against humanity."

At a London press conference, Livingstone, who has a long record of anti-Israeli diatribes, drew a connection between the London blasts and the Middle East. He said Israel had "done horrendous things which border on crimes against humanity in the way they have indiscriminately slaughtered men, women and children in the West Bank and Gaza for decades."

I would like to think that Ken may be just spouting this filth because he thinks it may prevent another attack. Unfortunately he's been saying stupid things like this for years.

Africa Isn't Poor Because of Corruption-A Fisking

Whenever I can't get the creative juices flowing, I just read the Guardian and something always catches my eye as "fiskable". Today is no exception. Let's begin, shall we?

In the month leading up to the G8, Nigeria revealed that its leaders had stolen $390bn (£222bn) over the last 40 years. It was a shocking admission and provided fuel for those critics who say the African problem is irredeemable largely due to corruption.

On the eve of the G8, President Bush declared there would be no more aid for corrupt regimes but the G8 did commit to increasing aid to $50bn. However, only $20bn of this is new money.

Only $20bn is new money, huh? Okay then, I feel immensely better. Listen you begging fool, everyone with any sense of class knows that beggars can't be choosers and other catchy sayings like "don't look a gift horse in the mouth". That $20 billion you are talking about is money that was earned by hard working people who were forced to give up a percentage of their pay so that money grubbing, uncouth a-holes like you can whine that it isn't enough.

The issue hung heavily over the summit but it is too simplistic to argue Africa is poor because of corruption or that all aid efforts are doomed because of it. The economist Jeffrey Sachs, an adviser to the UN secretary general, Kofi Annan, discards the conclusion. The poor are poor, he says, because failing infrastructure, poor energy sources, geographic isolation, disease and natural disasters inevitably conspire to foil progress.

Just a small bit of advice for you, Rudo. Don't use the UN to back up any argument and definitely don't use an economist who is an advisor to Kofi Annan as proof when you're talking about money supposedly destined for the down and out.

As for failing infrastructure, poor energy sources and disease and natural disasters, I say this:
Why do have a failing infrastructure? Weren't previous funds sent to Africa supposed to be used for things such as infrastructure? As for poor energy sources, it appears that there is some oil in Africa. The western nations will not aid you in extracting it because of the rampant corruption throughout the continent.

Disease is one point that sets me off. The most devastating disease on the continent is HIV/AIDS, a 100% preventable disease that can be controlled by a few million condoms. I would be more than willing to send a case of condoms to Africa every few months, as long as I don't have to send anymore money. Lastly, the entire world deals with natural disasters, they do happen and the world would be more than happy to assist the nations who need it. look at the tsunami disaster and the world's response.

Transparency International ranks Mali fairly high in terms of honesty, yet it is still dirt poor, plagued by flash flooding, earthquakes and an ever-expanding desert. Perversely, there are some countries which have achieved economic growth while still having high levels of corruption. China only ranks slightly better than Mali for corruption and the burgeoning Indian economy ranks well below.

Aside from the natural disaster portion, which I covered previously, the "ever-expanding desert" argument just doesn't fly. The Israeli's turned sand into agriculture with alot of hard work and determination. Farmers in the Imperial Valley in California grow numerous crops in the middle of a rocky, hot desert.

As for poor Mali, I'm happy that at least one nation on the continent ranks well, but perhaps China and India are not the best examples.

Tony Blair's Commission for Africa report challenges industrialised countries to take responsibility for their role in promoting corruption, such as giving bribes or ignoring corrupt deals. Industrialised countries must work to repatriate money and state assets stolen from the people of Africa by corrupt leaders.

I get it. It's the fault of the west that Africa has corrupt leaders. Give me a friggin' break. Industrialized nations mustn't do anything. Africa must police its own leaders.

...But African nations must be more accountable for the aid they receive. One significant development has been the progress of the Africa Union in implementing a "peer review" process where countries subject themselves to external audit under the auspices of other African leaders. In Nigeria, the disclosure about corruption only came to the surface because of the government's determination to tackle the issue.

Ghana was among the first to subject itself to this process. Others are set to follow. While the process is voluntary it is the first African initiative of its kind - in the past most such audits have been imposed.

I suggest that Robert Mugabe be the "peer review" leader for Libya. Old Bob can visit Moammar and hang out with his daughter. Then he can get down to the serious business of auditing Libya's books. It should work out just fine. Perhaps Mugabe can assist Mali and other African nations with the agriculture problems they've had.

Countries that have tackled corruption should be rewarded but even in less favourable environments aid and debt cancellation initiatives can still be effective. Such resources should in part be channelled into building the very institutions to combat corruption. James Wolfensohn, the former president of the World Bank, recognised this and strengthening institutions and pursuing good governance now accounts for 20% of the bank's lending.

What the hell would be the barometer?

As for the myriad other issues that are leading Africa into the abyss, the whole of Africa must stand up and say no to genocide in countries such as Rwanda and the Sudan. Until that day, whatever money that is slated for Africa will only go down the hole of corruption.

Hitchens Take on Nada-Gate

Hitch lays it out in plain language:

But the coverage of this non-storm in an un-teacup has gone far beyond the fantasy of a Rovean hidden hand. Supposedly responsible journalists are now writing as if there was never any problem with Saddam's attempt to acquire yellowcake (or his regime's now-proven concealment of a nuclear centrifuge, or his regime's now-proven attempt to buy long-range missiles off the shelf from North Korea as late as March 2003). In the same way, the carefully phrased yet indistinct statement of the 9/11 Commission that Saddam had no proven "operational" relationship with al-Qaida has mutated lazily into the belief that there were no contacts or exchanges at all, which the commission by no means asserts and which in any case by no means possesses the merit of being true. The CIA got everything wrong before 9/11, and thereafter. It was conditioned by its own culture to see no evil. It regularly leaked—see any of Bob Woodward's narratives—against the administration. Now it, and its partisans and publicity-famished husband-and-wife teams, want to imprison or depose people who leak back at it. No, thanks. Many journalists are rightly appalled at Time magazine's collusion with a prosecutor who has proved no crime and identified no victim. Far worse is the willingness of the New York Times to accept the demented premise of a prosecutor who has put one of its own writers behind bars.

Read the entire essay of course.

What has become of the left that a true leftist such as Christopher Hitchens is one of the most read writers by those in the center or on the right? He is a true "reality based" journalist who sees what I and many on the center right see. The opposition party is not one. They have nothing to say in the debate. This whole story is a non-issue that is taking away from the important reporting that the MSM should be doing.

As Hitch says; there is no victim and there is no crime. Perhaps the left will finally come to their collective senses one day, but I highly doubt it.

Carnival of the RINO's Is Up

Andy at World Wide Rant has allowed all of us RINO's into his home. He may need to get a new carpet.

Good News From Iraq

For those who donated during the Spirit of America blogathon, your money was not wasted. More on what SOA is doing can be found here. If you can afford it, give a little money for a good cause.

What You Should Be Reading Tonight

There are so many who write better than I. Here's a sampling:

Mark Steyn

Captain Ed

Spartacus

Greyhawk

Roger L. Simon

Tim Blair

Update: Don't forget Fred Fry.

Tiger Rules St. Andrews

I've always felt that I was lucky to see (arguably) the greatest athletes in their sports. From Wayne Gretzky to Michael Jordan to Jerry Rice, all the best at their chosen sport. Granted, oldtimers may argue these selections and that is the beauty of sports.

That said, In watching Tiger this last decade, I find it hard to believe that anyone can disagree that he is a more dominant player than Nicklaus or Palmer. I guess that Bobby Jones was on a par, but there are so many good players that Tiger has to battle now as opposed to Jones' time.

Tiger dominated the Old Course at St. Andrews in Scotland again today. He's on a roll like he was when he won four straight. I am happy to see an athlete (and yes, golfers are athletes) who is so much better than anyone else play at their peak. BTW, how good must it be to be Steve Williams?

The Inquirer Sinks Deeper

The Philly Inquirer this week "outed" a senior aide to Senator Rick Santorum and to end the week on a bad note, they have this big old wet kiss to Duncan Black. Some excerpts:

Before outing himself, Atrios' identity was a mystery, thought by many to be a suburban Philadelphia educator. He introduced his blog to the world in April 2002 with the question, "Is this thing on?" His readership rocketed into the hundreds of thousands that December when he hammered Trent Lott after the Senate majority leader said of fellow senator and Southerner Strom Thurmond, "If the rest of our country had followed our lead, we wouldn't have had all these problems over all these years, either." Thurmond was a former segregationist.

While the Washington press corps ignored Lott's birthday-party remarks, Atrios feasted. Five days later, the New York Times picked up the story. Lott resigned.

Uh, no. The right side of the Blogosphere kept this story alive and eventually the left caught up. We police our own. Pretty much the entire article goes on in this fashion. Get off your knees, Dan.

Finally, since La Raza is in town for a convention, the Inqy pushes for illegal aliens to be schooled utilizing US taxpayer dollars; some through college.

Aznar Speaks

Former Spanish PM Jose Maria Aznar has an editorial from an Italian newspaper translated to English entitled, THE WAY TO FIGHT TERRORISM IS TO KEEP OUR GUARD UP. LGF has the exclusive.

I'd excerpt it, but the whole thing is a must read.

Iraqi Blog Round-up

A random slice of Iraqi opinion:

Ali answers reader questions at Free Iraqi.

Akba at Iraq Rising writes:
I feel sorry for Americans, I really do. When they liberated Iraq they never expected to find a population as insane and dysfunctional as the Iraqi population is. They never factored in the psychological damage that 30 years living under Saddam Hussain has done to a population of over 25 million people.

Ahmad, writing from London, has a great post on several topics.


Ferid at Iraq4ever has some depressing news, but at least he's posting again.

Sniper Scum Caught

Check out this video of a US Soldier hit in the chest by a terrorist sniper. Luckily he was wearing his Kevlar. Check out how quickly he gets up and looks for a target. They of course caught the Allah praising, jihadi pigs and hopefully they're very uncomfortable in Abu Ghraib.

Hat Tip: Mein Blogovault. A site that is quickly becoming a favorite.

Update: The Soldier who was shot apprehended and rendered medical aid to the sniper. To anyone who wishes to demean our military by saying things such as "Gitmo is a gulag" or other such garbage, I say "kiss my ass"! That especially means you Dick Durbin.

RINO Report

Jim K. rethinks his position on Rove...kind of.

Jeff has thoughts on the Plame issue, also.

At Big Cat Chronicles, the attempts to save an oil platform in the Gulf of Mexico. Hit the link and keep scrolling.

If you don't think this is funny, than either you don't read Jeff Goldstein or have a deep aching hole where your sense of humor is supposed to be.

Update: Speaking of Jeff Goldstein: Read. This. Now.

Jane follows goings on in Yemen.

Update: Dave Justus speaks volumes with a three word post.

Update: A new blog in the RINO family by Chris Battle. By the way Chris, I hate the friggin' Buckeyes with a passion only slightly less that a Wolverine.

Only in Washington State

Washington State, the state that elected Patty Murray, has people who do some strange things:

King County sheriff's detectives are investigating the owners of an Enumclaw-area farm after a Seattle man died from injuries sustained while having sex with a horse boarded on the property.

Investigators first learned of the farm after the man died at Enumclaw Community Hospital July 2. The county Medical Examiner's Office ruled that the death was accidental and the result of having sex with a horse.

...Deputies don't believe a crime occurred because bestiality is not illegal in Washington state and the horse was uninjured, said Urquhart.

But because investigators found chickens, goats and sheep on the property, they are looking into whether animal cruelty — which is a crime — was committed by having sex with these smaller, weaker animals, he said.

Only in liberal Washington do they make it a crime to have sex with "smaller, weaker animals" and give the shaft to larger ones. Er, bad choice of words.

The Donks Trip Themselves Again

Karl Rove appears to be cleared. Those on the left will of course keep this issue going as long as possible.

Glenn Reynolds has myriad links.

Saddam-Osama Link

In 1999, when President Clinton was still in office, ABC News connected Osama bin-Laden to Iraq. Would they stick by that reporting now. Hear it here.

I've always been convinced that Saddam either assisted al-Qaeda with money or weapons. This has not been disproved to my satisfaction.

Via Roger L. Simon.

Picture of the Day

To my old Navy Buddies.

Our Next Enemy

China did some saber rattling today:

China is prepared to use nuclear weapons against the US if it is attacked by Washington during a confrontation over Taiwan, a Chinese general said on Thursday.

“If the Americans draw their missiles and position-guided ammunition on to the target zone on China's territory, I think we will have to respond with nuclear weapons,” said General Zhu Chenghu.

Gen Zhu was speaking at a function for foreign journalists organised, in part, by the Chinese government. He added that China's definition of its territory included warships and aircraft.
“If the Americans are determined to interfere [then] we will be determined to respond,” said Gen Zhu, who is also a professor at China's National Defence University.

“We . . . will prepare ourselves for the destruction of all of the cities east of Xian. Of course the Americans will have to be prepared that hundreds . . . of cities will be destroyed by the Chinese.”

Will the US stick by its decades long policy of defending Taiwan from China? My guess is probably not, even though China will look at us not acting to protect our ally as a serious sign of weakness.

Let's imagine that China moves on the island nation and launches a full-scale assault. In my opinion, we have to respond. Depending on when they do act (my guess is after Bush is out of office), we have several options. First we institute sanctions, which will hurt the US as much as China in the short term. Next we would have to attempt a blockade in the Taiwan Straight, which China would see as an act of war.

If we could persuade Russia to put heat on the Chinese from their northern border, they may have to stop and think of the consequences. They may threaten Japan with a nuke strike or the US.

The scenario's that are possible are endless.

What do we do before this nightmare occurs? We start by scaling back our tremedous trade with China. The cheap goods we receive can easily be made in South America or even Africa. By moving our trade to these areas, we kill two birds with one stone. With South America, we assist struggling economies in our hemisphere. With Africa, we give them something that Live 8 never could, a solid economic base with which to deal with their myriad issues.

American business gets hurt in this scenario, but again, only in the short term. With an American influx of capital into countries such as Peru, Argentina and Brazil, the US could make serious new allies and counter the attempted spread of communism by the likes of Hugo Chavez.
In China however, they lose out on hard American currency (currently a trade surplus of $162-billion) and will have to rely on less stable currencies. This would have to be a scaled drawback as we are into China for the bulk of our trade. Alot of American companies have alot of American dollars tied up in the Peoples Republic.

There has been some talk of this with regard to the CAFTA trade agreement. The Bush administration has been very lenient toward China of late.

I'm not remotely a China expert, but Washington Times columnist Bill Gertz is. He's been screaming this for years now.

Update: Stephen Green wrote a post that extrapolates on some points here.