January 11, 2011
Tucson Massacre
(via Palm Treo)
My family and I pray for those who were murdered and injured by the completely senseless shootings that happened in Tucson, Arizona recently.
It was a tragedy that might have been stopped before it happened if the suspect had been committed for a psych evaluation as some had recommended; maybe it might stop the next incident.
As for the Pima County Sheriff: STFU you fracking moron.
Pima County Sheriff Clarence Dupnik needs to stop spouting his 'personal opinion' in regards as to what the underlying cause(s) might be for as long as necessary.....at least until the crime(s) have been tried in a court of law.
Blaming Rush Limbaugh, Sarah Palin, or anyone right-of-center for this is about as intelligent as blaming heavy metal rock music for the moron teenagers responsible for Columbine or teenager suicides.
Posted by Mad Mikey at 06:36 PM | Comments (2) | TrackBack
October 15, 2009
Little Willy?
Why am I not surprised?
Obama loosens missile technology controls to ChinaIs Obama now looking to follow in Bill Clinton's footsteps?
President Obama recently shifted authority for approving sales to China of missile and space technology from the White House to the Commerce Department -- a move critics say will loosen export controls and potentially benefit Chinese missile development.The president issued a little-noticed "presidential determination" Sept. 29 that delegated authority for determining whether missile and space exports should be approved for China to Commerce Secretary Gary Locke.
Yeah.....that's it Barack.....keep going.
Posted by Mad Mikey at 05:26 PM | Comments (2) | TrackBack
May 16, 2009
Pop Goes the Weasel Heads
It seems that President Obama is finding that while the promises he made on the campaign trail 'looked good on paper' as the saying goes aren't actually good overall to actually pull off:
Obama seeks to block release of abuse photos
Obama revives tribunals for Gitmo detainees
Those faint popping noises are the sounds of leftist heads exploding.
Heh!
(Hat tip to LGF)
Posted by Mad Mikey at 12:17 PM | Comments (3) | TrackBack
November 04, 2008
What Do You Know!?
Well what do you know - Barack Obama won the election.
I knew there was a chance he'd win, but I figured that McCain would come from behind and narrowly win. Not this time. Bummer.
Even though I wasn't charmed as many were by Obama, I'll attempt to be fair and give him a chance. Let's give him a chance to fall on his face by his own doing and hopefully - hopefully - he doesn't hurt America in the process.
Oh and by the way: I DO hope that we'll be hearing about those darned electronic voting machines in Ohio and elsewhere that need to be replaced after this election. (or does that only matter when a Republican wins?)
Posted by Mad Mikey at 10:19 PM | Comments (8) | TrackBack
June 02, 2008
No Boundaires
I'm not a big 'fan' of Senagtor Ted Kennedy, but getting this introduced into your life just sucks ass....big-time ass.
Whether you agree with his politics or not, don't go around cheering at his illness. It's stupid, it's classless, and it makes the rest of us who normally oppose his politics look like morons. Cancer doesn't know political boundaries.
Take him into your thoughts & prayers.
(via PDA)
UPDATE: Sen. Kennedy underwent a three hour operation yesterday to remove the tumor that was discovered recently.
Wow...that's fast & aggressive. The reports say that the surgery went 'well' and I'm certain that there a lot of people besides myself that are saying "quick recovery Ted"!
Posted by Mad Mikey at 09:20 AM | Comments (7) | TrackBack
March 11, 2008
You Got Caught Dumbass
I didn't initially comment on this frackus because I know that there would be a lot more to it once the smoke & debris cleared the air.
Governor Caught Paying for Nookie, Realizes He F*cked UpSigh....NEW YORK (CBS) - If Gov. Eliot Spitzer opts to roll the dice and not resign, state Republican leadership will force him to go all-in and call for his impeachment from office, according to a state Assemblyman, who admitted he asked the governor to step down.
Sources told CBS 2 HD shortly after it was reported that the Democratic governor was linked to a prostitution ring that he would likely hand in his resignation, which could happen within the next 36 hours.
They guy royally screwed-the-pooch on this (he might have paid extra for it though) and that is that. Eliot, you freakin moron: resign. Quit already. There isn't any sort of 'positive' spin that can be put on this and have you stay in office.
Does it effect me here in California? Not a bit, but it sure does brighten up that neon HYPOCRITE sign right next to the D for Democrat next to his name.
UPDATE: Okay, he finally did it. Now maybe the news won't be featuring his ugly mug every five minutes.
Posted by Mad Mikey at 11:12 AM | Comments (2) | TrackBack
February 05, 2008
2008 Primary
(via PDA)
Just a quick post to remind everyone to get out & vote today - that is if your state is having a primary today.
If you don't vote, you can't bitch about who ends up in the White House.
UPDATE: Well, I voted for Mitt Romney in the Primary....and then he drops out two days later. Ugh.
Now I have to see whether or not I like what John McCain has to offer i.e., can I believe what he's saying now versus what his track record shows.
Posted by Mad Mikey at 11:25 AM | Comments (1) | TrackBack
September 26, 2007
Holy Freakin Crap
Okay, I'm thinking that the Obama story just below was the 'doozy' that would make everyone just shake their heads.
I was wrong.
Here's something that will make Obama look just goofy....I'm thinking that there might be a necessity to test all members of Congress for narcotics use and/or the need for 'happy pills'.
Posted by Mad Mikey at 07:15 PM | Comments (5) | TrackBack
September 20, 2007
Returning Fire
It's about time they did something:
Senate Votes to Condemn MoveOn for Ad Attacking General PetraeusAnd of course the numb nuts at MoveOn.org are fighting back at this.WASHINGTON — The Senate on Thursday overwhelmingly passed a measure condemning MoveOn.org for a newspaper ad it ran last week attacking Gen. David Petraeus. The move came as President Bush accused Democrats of cowering to the liberal political action group.
The measure passed in a 72-25 vote, with none of the Democratic presidential candidates supporting it. Sponsored by Texas Republican Sen. John Cornyn, never one to shy away from forcing Democrats to go on record on politically sticky issues, the amendment to the defense authorization bill did win the backing of 23 Democrats.
Sens. Joe Biden and Barack Obama were absent from the vote, though Obama had voted 20 minutes earlier on a Democratic effort to circumvent the amendment. Sens. Hillary Clinton and Chris Dodd voted against the measure.
The amendment did not specifically name MoveOn.org, but expressed "the sense of the Senate that General David H. Petraeus, commanding general, Multi-National Force-Iraq, deserves the full support of the Senate and strongly condemn(s) personal attacks on the honor and integrity of General Petraeus and all members of the United States Armed Forces."
Here's the banner that's up on their site:
The U.S. Senate just told you to sid down and be quiet.Hmmm....I initially missed that intimidation part.They passed a resolution condemning MoveOn.org and it has one purpose: to intimidate all of us who care about responsibility ending this war. They wanted to send a message that anyone who speaks unpleasant truths about this war will pay. Can you sign on to this statement?
Yes, indeed - a non-binding resolution is INTIMIDATING, isn't it?
And only those opposed to MoveOn.org would use intimidation to 'get back', wouldn't they:
(from further on in the news article above)Oh yes....only 'mean Republicans' use intimidation.....right. [/sarcasm]
In response, MoveOn officials said the group was going to buy TV ad time to attack McConnell, R-Ky., and other senators who voted against a measure offered a day earlier by Democratic Sen. Jim Webb to require troops to have equal down time at home as they have deployed in war zones. The measure failed.
I decided to send these folks a little message for all the good it will do:
Hey MoveOn.org,You too can send them a message with your thoughts - their feedback page can be found here.Just saw that the Senate voted to condemn you folks for that wonderful full-page ad you bought in the New York Times.
I also saw that you're pissed off about it and are trying to not only get members to sign a petition to the Senate saying you're pissed, but immediately after that sign-up screen is done, you're immediately pan-handling for donations.
Are you guys serious?
You're free to do what you want with the money that you receive, but it's hysterical that you'd spend $65,000 for a character attack ad in the NYT and then start asking for donations.
I'm sorry, but if you want to attack people and their characters for simply doing their job(s), then you deserve all of the negative publicity that the attack garners.
Sure - I do not agree with you politically, but 'shooting the messenger' as you did last week is IMHO not only stupid, but mean-spirited also and IMHO you deserve to be condemned.
Sincerely,
Mad Mikey
http://madmikey.mu.nu
It's fun to see that when 'counter-battery fire' is thrown back at them that the pussies of MoveOn will whine like little girls.....and then ask for a donation.
UPDATE: Uh-oh.....now one of the ass-hatted clowns over at The Daily Kos is chiming in about the Senate vote:
Do the Democrats even know who votes for them anymore?I'm thinking that the 'question' that needs to be asked is "Does this clown really think that the kooks at Kos really have a major stake in the upcoming election?"....The Democrats just passed a Republican resolution condemning the MoveOn ad that called General Petraeus a biased figurehead 72-25.
Do the Democrats even know who votes for them anymore? Don’t they understand that if they continue to piss off the die-hard Democrats, the MoveOn Democrats, they are going to continue to lose elections?
The Republicans have won for 20 years by rallying and paying off their base. The Democrats absolutely refuse to do the same. Small wonder they haven’t won big in a while.
I’m a MoveOn Democrat. I approved that message. And it’s becoming clear that the Democrats in Congress don’t speak for me. Let the primary challenges roll.
Oh well....let this kook live in his/her dream world where the Democrats win an election and start making those 'needed changes' immediately....and then wake up to realize they're actually a bio-electrical battery for machines of the future.
Posted by Mad Mikey at 01:37 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
September 14, 2007
Come Together?
Unbelieveable. Simply unbelieveable.
On the 6th anniversary of the attack of 9/11, the College Democrats and College Republicans up at San Francisco State University put politics aside and tried to come together to commemorate the day. It's events like this that honestly give me hope for Americans and their ability to overcome differences to get to the heart of something. It would have been something to see - especially up in San Francisco.
But it didn't happen. Why? Because there's always someone or a group of someone's that will come along and take a whiz in the party punchbowl.
What a bunch of snot-nosed punks.
Posted by Mad Mikey at 04:59 PM | Comments (2) | TrackBack
August 19, 2007
Edwards Using WMD
John Edwards will stoop lower than anyone ever thought.
Here he is flinging out an Iraqi Death Bunny™ to make up for his lack of anything substantial in his speech. So far, there aren't any reports of deaths in the crowd upon which he unleashed this weapon of mass destruction.
Damn him - damn him to Hell!!
Posted by Mad Mikey at 07:48 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
August 15, 2007
Gunning for the Military Vote in 2008
What a complete moron:
Fact Check: Obama on AfghanistanOh yeah....what a way to gain favor and support from the military block of voters.....idiot.WASHINGTON - Democrat Barack Obama said it, the Republican Party pointed out in a screaming headline Tuesday that highlighted the presidential candidate's comments on Afghanistan and the killing of civilians.
Behind the scenes, Obama's rival campaigns buzzed about his statement uttered Monday during a campaign stop in New Hampshire when he was asked about his plan to move troops into Afghanistan.
"We've got to get the job done there and that requires us to have enough troops so that we're not just air-raiding villages and killing civilians, which is causing enormous problems there," Obama said.
I haven't really thought much about Obama, nor have I thought that he'd make it though the Democratic primaries let alone getting in the the White House - the guy is too young and from what I've read, he doesn't have much of any experience. But with 'Butt Monkey' launching statements like this, at least people will recognize his name immediately.
Posted by Mad Mikey at 02:06 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
July 22, 2007
Who the Hell....
....gives this man advice?
I've been a backer of the President since 9/11 and I'm not afraid to repeat that at anytime. However, I repeat it while kind of shrugging my shoulders; hey, I'm not afraid to admit along with the first statement that I'm a little.....stymied for giving that support in light of recent events where President Bush is concerned.
The pushing of the Amnesty Bill a few weeks ago in the U.S. Senate was one of them.
And then there's this:
Bush won't promise to pardon border agentsAs with his almost maniacal pushing of theSays 'dear friend' who prosecuted Ramos, Compean 'even-handed,' 'fair guy'
Questioned by an audience member at a forum, President Bush said he could not promise to pardon former U.S. Border Patrol agents Ignacio Ramos and Jose Compean.
"I'm not going to make that kind of promise in a forum like this," Bush said at the Nashville event yesterday, which focused on his budget.
Bush referred to the U.S. attorney responsible for the case, Johnny Sutton, as "a dear friend of mine" and called him a "fair guy" and "even-handed," according to a White House transcript.
The president elicited laughter when he told the questioner, "You've got a nice smile, but you can't entice me into making a public statement."
"I know this is an emotional issue, but people need to look at the facts," Bush said. "These men were convicted by a jury of their peers after listening to the facts as my friend, Johnny Sutton, presented them. But anyway, no, I won't make you that promise."
Ramos and Compean are serving 11- and 12-year prison sentences, respectively, after a jury convicted them last year of violating federal gun laws and covering up the shooting of a drug smuggler as he fled back to Mexico after driving across the border with 742 pounds of marijuana. Sutton's office gave the smuggler, Osbaldo Aldrete-Davila, immunity to serve as the government's star witness and testify against the border agents.
- President Bush has some sort of 'plan' for his recent behavior, or
- President Bush is off his rocker.
I'll still support President Bush in the War on Terror, but unless he's really working hard to make a legacy for himself in the remaining time of his presidency and he doesn't want the war in Iraq to be the only comment about him in the history books, I'm thinking that he might want to get a new consultant on this matter.
While his behavior on these two matters not to mention his stance(s) on undocumented workers illegal aliens and sealing the border have motivated me to UN-enroll in the Republican Party, I still will not embrace the Dark side of the Force and go marching in front of the Federal Building with the Barking Moonbats here in San Diego at the drop of a hat.
No sir....no way. Uh-uuh. Just re-label me an Independent with no specific political affiliation cause there is a reason I'm called Mad Mikey.
Grrrrr......
Posted by Mad Mikey at 04:47 AM | Comments (1) | TrackBack
July 10, 2007
Right Said Fred
Normally I'm not one to cruise over to read Wonkette, but somehow I stumbled upon this and laughed:
Fred Who?What almost caused me to 'Asner' all over the laptop was this last bit:
Has the whole gang of lousy presidential candidates bummed you out? Bored with Barry? Hate Hillary? Concerned about the nonstop forced sodomy that is sure to ensure should Rudy become president? Are Ron Paul and Dennis Kucinich just too… mainstream for you?
Then have we got good news for you! Throw out your “Re-elect Gore” buttons, because America’s true savior is on the way: Cynthia McKinney is going to run for president. Maybe.
Rather than talk about what other candidates don’t do, what I could probably rather talk about is what I could do as a potential candidate. So, you know, 2008 has not been ruled out, some kind of effort.
In these dark times, America, we need true leadership. Vote McKinney, or she’ll fuck your shit up.Profound words for such a profound woman. Beware Georgia!
Actually, her entering the race would complete the transformation of the election process into a bona fide three-ring circus.
And if you're wondering if I've 'chosen' anyone specific to promote/like/back for the 2008 election, no I have not. It's still too early to tell...
[NOTE: The Cynthia McKinney cartoon/caricature above was politely glommed from Cox & Forkum.]
Posted by Mad Mikey at 12:09 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
July 05, 2007
Clinton - Hypocrisy Party of Many?
Well, the barking moonbats are foaming-at-the-mouth over the commutation of Scooter Libby's prison sentence. Why aren't we surprised? We aren't.
However, the amusing part is watching the 'hissy fits' that some people are having over it, specifically a certain Senator that's running for President of the United States of America.
And the better portion of it is that there's an opportunity for education in it.
Here's another lesson in the meaning of the word hypocrisy:
Clinton Slams Bush Over Libby ManeuverNow here's where the distinction of the definition comes into play:KEOKUK, Iowa (AP) - Democratic presidential contender Hillary Rodham Clinton drew a distinction between President Bush's decision to commute the sentence of White House aide I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby—which she has harshly criticized—and her husband's 140 pardons in his closing hours in office.
"I believe that presidential pardon authority is available to any president, and almost all presidents have exercised it," Clinton said in a telephone interview with The Associated Press. "This (the Libby decision) was clearly an effort to protect the White House. ... There isn't any doubt now, what we know is that Libby was carrying out the implicit or explicit wishes of the vice president, or maybe the president as well, in the further effort to stifle dissent."
Pardons Granted by President Clinton (1993 - 2001)
Take a look at the sheer quantity of pardons....especially on Clinton's last day in office - all 140 of them. Does Mark Rich ring any familiar bells...? Hmmmm?
Are we seeing the educational benefits from such a public display of hissiness?
Class dismissed.
UPDATE: Well, it's nice to hear some good stuff coming out of the White House:
White House Criticizes ClintonsWTF is this, another way of defining what the definition of the word is is....?WASHINGTON (AP) - The White House on Thursday made fun of former President Clinton and his wife, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, for criticizing President Bush's decision to erase the prison sentence of former aide I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby.
"I don't know what Arkansan is for chutzpah, but this is a gigantic case of it," presidential spokesman Tony Snow said.
Rep. John Conyers, D-Mich., has scheduled hearings on Bush's commutation of Libby's 2 1/2-year sentence.
"Well, fine, knock himself out," Snow said of Conyers. "I mean, perfectly happy. And while he's at it, why doesn't he look at January 20th, 2001?"
In the closing hours of his presidency, Clinton pardoned 140 people, including fugitive financier Marc Rich.
The former president tried to draw a distinction between the pardons he granted, and Bush's decision to commute Libby's 30-month sentence in the CIA leak case.
"I think there are guidelines for what happens when somebody is convicted," Clinton told a radio interviewer Tuesday. "You've got to understand, this is consistent with their philosophy; they believe that they should be able to do what they want to do, and that the law is a minor obstacle."
Face it Slick Willy - you've been called to the carpet....again for your 'innocent deeds' in the final hours of your presidency. You will, in fact, never ever live your deeds and actions down....not for years or decades. In fact, they will be talking about you in high school civics classes well into the 22nd century.
And do you know the funny thing about it? ('Funny' meaning 'weird' or 'obvious', not 'ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha' funny) My kid is only 12-years old and she sees your hypocrisy plain as day....
UPDATE II: There's some sort of glich with the commenting component of my blog, so I'll 'hard code' this response to a troll who left some droppings in the comment box a few days ago.
Clinton commited adultery. Libby committed treason.Mr. Troll, if you have trouble leaving more nuggets of wisdom then feel free to e-mail them to me.....if you're brave enough to actually allow me to see your e-mail address.Wrong - BOTH lied under oath during a federal investigation. And as far as I know, Libby lied as to whether he knew something versus NOT knowing something and got tripped up in it. To wit: he got caught lying about nothing specific....he broke the law in a non-specific technicality.
Consider what you are backing up for a minute. Are you one of those magical 30% - the fanatical few who ignore facts in order to further the men who represent you the least?
Nope - I'm one of those 'magical' I-don't-believe-squat people.
You are not rich.
This is irrelevant, but you're right....I'm not rich.
You don't know anyone who is rich.
Very presumptuous of you to say that - for all you know, I might have *several* stinking rich friends....
You are protecting the wealth of less than 5% of this country to help you preserve the dream that someday, you will be one of them.
Huh?
These people hold themselves above the law.
So do MOST politicians - just look at the Kennedy family....
Why are you cheering?
Dear Mr. Simpleton - if you actually read the post, you'll see I'm not cheering anything - just pointing out the blatant hypocrisy of what Hillary was saying about the communing of Libby's sentence as compared to the 140 last-minute pardons - yes, PARDONS - executed by her *cough* husband on his last day in office.
You are one of those people being ground into poverty. Is this the life you want for yourself or for your family?
Thanks for your concern - it's obvious to see in your string of polite back-handed insults....
These people shit on the military.
Opinion on your part. Now the opinion on my part is that people like YOU shit on the military.
Where is your tax breaks?
Got my $400 check really quickly when they were cut & sent out.
Your healthcare?
Paid for out of my pocket because the last time I checked, the government wasn't responsible for it; IMHO, you're thinking of a dreamworld where the government is supposed to pay for this crap...Your security guaranteed for service?
Huh? What?!? Did I miss something here? Oh, you're thinking that I should be sucking the government for everything it's worth out of the Veteran's Administration? Oh, well in that case.....I'm not. I believe that the VA has more than enough people to take care of without my leeching off of them. You should go right ahead and suck some money out of them and feel good about doing it because you feel 'entitled'....
You're quick to shout out "barking moonbat", but the person you're punishing is yourself and your own.
You're right - I *am* quick to shout 'barking moonbat' because all that you've attempted to say here is 100% inline with that 'group-think' mentality they love to exhibit. As for punishing myself and my family, you don't know WTF you're talking about and if you did know, you'd probably assert that it's someone else's fault for your not knowing and for the reason you had to be clued in by someone else.
So okay - you're now free to comeback with an Easter basket full of non-related rebuttals and weak-minded charges from years ago that I should immediately refute and/or disprove.
Come on.....let's have it Might Mouse.
And why not put a REAL name and e-mail address instead of garbage....what's the matter - afraid to put a person with the amusing bile you like to leave everywhere? My dear sir - THAT is the true mark of a troll.
Posted by Mad Mikey at 04:15 PM | Comments (4) | TrackBack
March 29, 2007
Cancer Returns
Recently, White House spokesman Tony Snow announced that the cancer that he had beaten had returned.
Regardless of what you think of Tony and his work for the White House, this just plain sucks ass.
Click here and send Tony a supportive message; the e-mail link is in the upper right-hand corner that will fire up your preferred e-mail system.
(H/T to Michelle Malkin for jogging my memory about this today.)
Posted by Mad Mikey at 09:41 AM | Comments (1) | TrackBack
February 06, 2007
Bozos
You're joking....right?
Washington initiative would require married couples to have kidsAnother move to make gay-marriage proponents look like complete morons. It's silly crap like this that makes me wonder how the human race survived for this long.OLYMPIA, Wash. - An initiative filed by proponents of same-sex marriage would require heterosexual couples to have kids within three years or else have their marriage annulled.
Initiative 957 was filed by the Washington Defense of Marriage Alliance. That group was formed last summer after the state Supreme Court upheld Washington's ban on same-sex marriage.
Under the initiative, marriage would be limited to men and women who are able to have children. Couples would be required to prove they can have children in order to get a marriage license, and if they did not have children within three years, their marriage would be subject to annulment.
All other marriages would be defined as "unrecognized" and people in those marriages would be ineligible to receive any marriage benefits.
Posted by Mad Mikey at 09:57 AM | Comments (2) | TrackBack
January 23, 2007
First 100 Hypocritical Hours
Hyp-O-crites
Senate's wage bill still exempts Samoa(For those that cannot understand the opening line in this post.)
The Democrat-controlled Senate took up a bill yesterday that would raise the minimum wage across the United States and its territories but exempt American Samoa, where tuna canneries pay workers $3.26 an hour.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi told reporters less than two weeks ago that she would close the loophole after coming under criticism from Republicans for what they termed a "fishy favor" to StarKist Tuna. StarKist has lobbied for years against raising the minimum wage in American Samoa, and its parent, Del Monte Corp., is based in Mrs. Pelosi's San Francisco district.
"I have asked the education and labor committee as they go forward with the legislation to make sure that all of the territories have to comply with U.S. law on the minimum wage," Mrs. Pelosi said earlier this month.
The House, however, passed the minimum-wage bill with the American Samoa exemption. And yesterday, Senate Democrats were moving ahead with the original legislation, which for the first time would enforce the minimum wage on the Northern Mariana Islands, another territory in the Pacific with a similarly low minimum wage.
That bill is co-sponsored by several dozen Democrats, including Sens. Dianne Feinstein and Barbara Boxer of California.
In addition to San Francisco-based StarKist, San Diego-based Chicken of the Sea also has a cannery in American Samoa. Together, the California companies employ about 75 percent of the Samoan work force.
When I told my wife about this a few days ago (as it was being reported on the CBS Evening News), I was actually surprised when she didn't even blink; and my wife doesn't follow political garbage like this as I do. Even though my wife is more liberal than I am, she's not surprised - not one-little-bit - at the sheer hypocrisy of the Democrats and their vaunted First 100 Hours in Power.
Let's wait and see what else becomes of the First 100 Hypocritical Hours in power....
(Hat tip to Right Wing News)
Posted by Mad Mikey at 09:15 AM | Comments (3) | TrackBack
November 09, 2006
Just a Thought....
I wasn't really surprised when the Democratic Party became the majority party in the House of Representatives.
I mean.....jeez - I purposefully switched parties a few months back because of my personal disgust with the GOP. Apparently, there was a lot more of that going around the nation last Tuesday. But hey.....you reap what you sow.
However, the one thing that caught me off guard today was when Michelle Malkin posted something that never crossed my mind:
Ugh.
That's gonna take time to get used to....
Posted by Mad Mikey at 12:10 PM | Comments (6) | TrackBack
November 06, 2006
Vote Tomorrow!
I never did get around to giving my opinion(s) on the assorted propositions on California's ballot for tomorrow.
I know.....I suck.
Here's the basic thought though: if it's a bond looking for money to do something "good", vote NO.
But here's the really important thing I wanted to say: at least get out there and VOTE!
Posted by Mad Mikey at 10:06 AM | Comments (7) | TrackBack
August 16, 2006
Electronic Voting Machines Good This Time?
McKinney Criticizes Electronic VotingI haven't heard anyone foaming-at-the-mouth about the electronic voting machines in Connecticut. I guess elections are only stolen by evil Republicans when they win.Rep. Cynthia McKinney, in her first public appearance since losing her re-election bid last week, said Tuesday that the black community needs to oppose electronic voting machines, which she warned can be used to steal elections.
McKinney also said the state of Georgia should prohibit crossover voting among political parties in primary elections and end its system of runoff elections.
Posted by Mad Mikey at 11:45 AM | Comments (1) | TrackBack
June 13, 2006
Slick Willy is Off His Medication
Clinton Links GOP Policies to More StormsThat's it Bill......the GOP is responsible for hundreds of years of increased warming on a global scale. Hmm....you might want to see if there's a guarentee on that Oxford education you got cause it would seem that you're quoting a phone book.As Tropical Storm Alberto threatened to strengthen into the ninth hurricane in 22 months to affect Florida, former President Clinton predicted Monday that Republican environmental policies will lead to more severe storms.
"It is now generally recognized that while Al Gore and I were ridiculed, we were right about global warming," Clinton said at a fundraiser for the Florida Democratic Party. "It's a serious problem. It's going to lead to more hurricanes."
Gore's documentary, "An Inconvenient Truth," chronicles the former vice president's efforts to educate the public about global warming. It's in limited release around the country.
In his critique of the GOP, Clinton also touched on the war in Iraq, the rising federal deficit and high health care costs. The crowd of about 500 greeted him with loud applause and shouts of "We love you, Bill!" and "Four more years!"
Jeff Sadosky, spokesman for the state Republican Party, decried Clinton's rhetoric. "Bill Clinton's class warfare and race-baiting message gets us no closer to solutions for the issues he brings up," he said.
But the interesting part of this article is this:
Sadosky referred in part to Clinton's comments earlier this month in Arizona. At that event, Clinton characterized Republican Party leaders as right-wing, white Southerners.Wouldn't that be considered 'hate speech' by Clinton's standards?
Posted by Mad Mikey at 10:31 AM | Comments (4) | TrackBack
June 09, 2006
Democratic Crap
I know that 'stereotyping' is a B-A-D thing to do, but incidents like this seem to keep occuring more and more. And more and more they're perpetrated by the 'prograssive-thinking' people that work for Democrats:
Dog Feces Left at Congresswoman's OfficeMichelle Malkin has a lot more on this.....progressive woman that delivered the letter.Republican U.S. Rep. Marilyn Musgrave's re-election campaign was already heated, and it just got smelly as well: Her staff accused a Democratic activist Thursday of leaving an envelope full of dog feces at Musgrave's Greeley office.
Musgrave spokesman Shaun Kenney said someone stuffed the envelope through the mail slot in the door on May 31 and then sped away in a car. Kenney said most of the preprinted return address was blacked out, but staffers used the nine-digit ZIP code to trace it to Kathleen Ensz, a Weld County Democratic volunteer.
Ensz told The Associated Press she left the envelope at Musgrave's office but said it "wasn't in the office doors, it was in the foyer." Asked what she meant by the act, she declined comment.
Posted by Mad Mikey at 11:46 AM | Comments (4) | TrackBack
May 25, 2006
Cause & Effect
This is a late entry.
Last weekend, I received the voter registration card I requested from the San Diego Registrar of Voters.
As I said I would do, I changed my party affiliation from 'Republican' to 'Decline to State' and mailed it.
It is done - the GOP has lost another member of their party due to....well, them all being asshatted clowns.
Will others follow my example? I dunno, but I'll bet that while others might not change their party affiliation, they'll be taking a serious look at all of the candidates in the June 2006 primary and in the General election in November.
Will mine (and others) actions make any impact on how the Republicans in Congress vote? Again, I dunno but I know that my vote will not be wasted on policial hacks that operate merely to maintain their powerbase.
This is a shot-across-the-bow of the GOP; get your ducks in a row or you'll be looking for a job soon....
ADDENDUM: I've also removed the 'Blogs for Bush' button on the left side.
Posted by Mad Mikey at 10:39 AM | Comments (2) | TrackBack
May 21, 2006
Natalie Needs a Clue
You'd think that the Dixie Chicks would have learned their lesson the first and second times around:
Dixie Chick: Bush owed â€no respect whatsoever’I guess no one clued Natalie in on the reality of her opening her pie-hole.NEW YORK - The Dixie Chicks' Natalie Maines apologized for disrespecting President Bush during a London concert in 2003. But now, she's taking it back.
"I don't feel that way anymore," she told Time magazine for its issue hitting newsstands Monday. "I don't feel he is owed any respect whatsoever."
As war in Iraq loomed, Maines told the London audience: "Just so you know, we're ashamed that the President of the United States is from Texas."
The remarks led to death threats and a backlash from other country stars, including a high-profile spat with Toby Keith. It also stalled what until then had been the group's smashingly successful career.
Bandmate Emily Robinson said she knew right away the remark wouldn't be taken lightly and got "hot from my head to my toes."
"It wasn't that I didn't agree with her 100 percent; it was just, 'Oh, this is going to stir something up,'" she told Time.
I'm still predicting that the two sisters will ask Natalie Maines to leave and will assign the blame on her 140% with possible quotes like "She was a loose cannon....she didn't speak for us at all."
Just wait for it.....
Posted by Mad Mikey at 03:19 PM | Comments (5) | TrackBack
December 20, 2005
Weasel Time
H.RES.579
Title: Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives that the symbols and traditions of Christmas should be protected for those who celebrate Christmas.
RESOLUTION
Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives that the symbols and traditions of Christmas should be protected.
Whereas Christmas is a national holiday celebrated on December 25; and
Whereas the Framers intended that the First Amendment to the Constitution of the United States would prohibit the establishment of religion, not prohibit any mention of religion or reference to God in civic dialog: Now, therefore, be it
Resolved, That the House of Representatives --
- recognizes the importance of the symbols and traditions of Christmas ;
- strongly disapproves of attempts to ban references to Christmas ; and
- expresses support for the use of these symbols and traditions.
The roll call vote was as follows:
228 out of 230 Republicans voted along with 172 out of 202 Democrats and one Independent - YEA
22 Democrats voted NAY
They were:
Two Republicans with three Democrats NOT VOTING.
They were:
- Davis (FL)
- Diaz-Balart, M.
- Emanuel
- Hyde
- Waters
They were:
- Holt
- Israel
- Lowey
- Owens
- Schwartz (PA)
Weasels.
Posted by Mad Mikey at 03:15 PM | Comments (2) | TrackBack
December 06, 2005
Dean's Message of Doom
Dean: US Won't Win in IraqAnd the Dems keep scratching their heads as to why they're always loosing elections....
(SAN ANTONIO) -- Saying the "idea that we're going to win the war in Iraq is an idea which is just plain wrong," Democratic National Chairman Howard Dean predicted today that the Democratic Party will come together on a proposal to withdraw National Guard and Reserve troops immediately, and all US forces within two years.
"I've seen this before in my life. This is the same situation we had in Vietnam. Everybody then kept saying, 'just another year, just stay the course, we'll have a victory.' Well, we didn't have a victory, and this policy cost the lives of an additional 25,000 troops because we were too stubborn to recognize what was happening."
UPDATE: Thought I'd drop a message to Dean on the DNC website. Here's what I said:
Just wanted to clue Dr. Dean in on something: saying that there's no way for the U.S. to win in Iraq is a SURE way for the Democratic Party to lose more elections.UPDATE II: Citizen Smash has declared a jihad against Howard Dean:Maybe Dr. Dean should consult the phamacist before mixing over-the-counter medications before talking on the radio....
THE PRESIDENT has labeled Iraq "the Central Front in the War on Terror."We stand ready Smash.Bush is wrong. The Central Front in the War on Terror is now Washington, D.C.
Howard Dean, the chairman of the Democratic Party, has publicly declared that we can't win in Iraq, and is calling for a phased withdrawal. House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi has also jumped on the "cut and run" bandwagon.
I'm fighting mad about this. Dean's remarks amount to a betrayal of all the military personnel who have toiled, bled, and sacrificed to liberate Iraq from the shadow of tyranny and terror. I can understand and accept that some politicians opposed the decision to go to war. I can take on board constructive criticism about how the war is being conducted. But once we're in, we're in to win. Dean's defeatist talk is not only counter-productive and demoralizing, it's downright dangerous.
It is now abundantly clear that this war will be won or lost on Capitol Hill. If the Democrats fall in line behind their leadership, their next move will be an attempt to force a cut in funding for Iraq. The U.S. military can take on and defeat any armed foe, but we can't beat Congress. If we lose this battle, it's over.
Until recently, I considered Dean, Pelosi, and company to be loyal opposition: politicians with whom I could respectfully disagree. I now consider them to be my enemy. I will do everything legally within my power to see that their agenda is defeated.
I'm calling on all like-minded, loyal Americans to join me in this fight. Our weapons will be every form of mass communication that we can muster: the telephone, the Internet, the postal system, radio, and television. It is time to stand up and be heard.
WARNING ORDER Upon my order, we will bombard our elected representatives with a concerted volley of counter-battery fire against the "cut and run" agenda of Dean, Pelosi & Co. The enemy is making similar preparations.
Grab your talking points, and Stand By to Execute.
Posted by Mad Mikey at 07:04 PM | Comments (3) | TrackBack
December 05, 2005
Filner is Squeaky Clean?
Got wind of this just this morning and thought I'd take 10 minutes out of my cramming for finals to showcase this South Bay scumbag:
Lawmaker keeps wife on payrollOkay, one question that pops into my mind: WTF!?!
U.S. Rep. Bob Filner has paid at least $505,000 in campaign funds to his wife for political consulting services since 1995. For the past five years she has run her unregistered business out of their condominium in Washington, D.C.
Filner has properly reported the payments to his wife's business, called Campaign Resources, on his campaign statements. He also has filed annual financial disclosure reports stating that his wife earns an undisclosed salary as a "self-employed consultant."
However, the District of Columbia government has no record of Campaign Resources existing as a business, and directory assistance has no phone listing for that name.
With no public records linking Jane Filner to her company, Bob Filner's constituents have no way of knowing that some of his campaign contributions are finding their way into his household's income.
Asked to prove the existence of his wife's business, Filner's campaign provided faxed copies of a blank check from an account at SunTrust bank and a sheet of Campaign Resources letterhead with an outdated address and phone number.
It is illegal to spend campaign funds for personal use, but it is not illegal to use them to pay family members who provide "bona fide services" at fair-market value. Still, election watchdogs question the way the Filners set up their arrangement.
This is the kind of crap that initially steered prosecutors to Randy 'Duke' Cunningham and his taking of bribes; not so much this 'mystery' consulting firm, but the whole stink of the situation.
Filner has got a metric ton of explaining to do and quite possibly be brought up on charges of improper campaign financial dealings, especially since he's the type of jerk to jump up and down if this were pinned to a Republican representative.
Posted by Mad Mikey at 09:39 AM | Comments (2) | TrackBack
November 21, 2005
Sheepdog Politics
This was from last Thursday evening and I'm just now getting around to commenting on it:
House votes to reject withdrawal resolutionFollowing three hours of intense debate, the House voted this evening 403-3 to reject a non-binding resolution to immediately withdraw U.S. troops from Iraq.
Responding to a call yesterday by Democratic Rep. Jack Murtha of Pennsylvania to withdraw troops from Iraq, House Republicans had scheduled a quick vote this evening to settle the issue and put lawmakers on the record.
The Republican alternative read: "It is the sense of the House of Representatives that the deployment of United States forces in Iraq be terminated immediately." It was proposed by Rep. Duncan Hunter of California.
Democrats accused Republicans of changing the meaning of Murtha's proposal. The Democrat hawk has said a smooth withdrawal would take six months.
House GOP leaders expected a swift rejection and that, indeed did occur.
Democrats argued the vote was a political stunt but rallied to vote against it to diminish its significance.
This particular event has a dicotomy: on one hand, it was about time that someone - anyone - put this to a open, public vote. Those certain members of Congress would have the opportunity to openly vote to show that they meant all that vile crap they were spewing were really their intention.
On the other hand, this was a non-binding resolution which meant that the House of Representatives could have been voting on a declaration that Lindsay Lohan is actually an English Sheepdog.....it carried that little weight. Had it been passed by a majority in the House, it still wouldn't make that much of an impact although those anti-war folks would be touting it as though it were a message delivered directly from God himself (even if they don't want God being included in any sort of government function).
So, here is what you got: a useless resolution that enabled anti-war House members to actually put on a 'brave face' and reject it.
Posted by Mad Mikey at 09:44 AM | Comments (1) | TrackBack
November 02, 2005
Food Fight?
Well this is so.....stupid:
'Party trumps race' for Steele foesSince Democrats also tout being 'liberal and equality minded', does this mean that if anyone opposes a Japanese-American that's Republican that it would be okay to throw 'Cheese Nips'? Or maybe fling a box of 'Spic-N-Span' at a hispanic Republican? Or how about marshmellows at white Republicans?
Black Democratic leaders in Maryland say that racially tinged attacks against Lt. Gov. Michael S. Steele in his bid for the U.S. Senate are fair because he is a conservative Republican.
Such attacks against the first black man to win a statewide election in Maryland include pelting him with Oreo cookies during a campaign appearance, calling him an "Uncle Tom" and depicting him as a black-faced minstrel on a liberal Web log.
Operatives for the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee (DSCC) also obtained a copy of his credit report -- the only Republican candidate so targeted.
But black Democrats say there is nothing wrong with "pointing out the obvious."
Just curious...
Posted by Mad Mikey at 11:47 AM | Comments (3) | TrackBack
October 25, 2005
ACLU Continues to Scare Towns
Talk about the school yard bully aiming for the little kid in a wheelchair:
ACLU targets tiny cross on sealThe ACLU should be focusing on more important things instead of trying to scare a town into capitulaiton....freakin morons.
Proving it does not discriminate against the size of the municipality it will take to court, the American Civil Liberties Union is locked in a legal battle with a small New Mexico town over a tiny cross on its seal – this after last year forcing the County of Los Angeles to remove a cross from its seal.
After being threatened with a lawsuit should it continue to use the seal, the city of Tijeras, N.M., – with a population of less than 500 – decided to place itself in a David and Goliath conflict with the ACLU to defend the presence of the cross.
In 1973, Tijeras adopted the seal, which was designed to symbolize the history of the town. It includes a conquistador's helmet and sword, a scroll, a desert plant, a fairly large religious symbol (the Native American zia) and a small Christian cross.
"Tiny cross inspectors are not permitted to fret about large non-Christian religious symbols, only undersized Christian ones," commented columnist John Leo about the case.
Since it is such a small town, Tijeras did not have the financial resources to battle the ACLU, so the Alliance Defense Fund, a pro-religious-liberty organization, has agreed to represent the municipality.
"The ACLU is once more specifically targeting a cross while it ignores Native American religious symbols," commented ADF senior counsel Gary McCaleb. "It reveals their desire to target all things Christian, regardless of the fact that the cross in the Tijeras seal is clearly an historic symbol and not an attempt to endorse any particular faith."
Posted by Mad Mikey at 10:41 AM | Comments (1) | TrackBack
September 29, 2005
Kinky Photos Demanded by ACLU
Well, we knew this was going to happen sooner or later:
Judge Orders Release of Abu Ghraib PhotosI know that this was some uncalled for actions on the part of the prison guards. But is there any reason to publish the rest of the photos - other than to provide more PhotoShop material(s) for the anti-war/anti-everything, foaming-at-the-mouth psychos?
NEW YORK - Saying the United States "does not surrender to blackmail," a judge ruled Thursday that pictures of detainee abuse at Iraq's Abu Ghraib prison must be released over government claims that they could damage America's image.
U.S. District Judge Alvin K. Hellerstein ordered the release of certain pictures in a 50-page decision that said terrorists in Iraq and Afghanistan have proven they "do not need pretexts for their barbarism."
The ACLU has sought the release of 87 photographs and four videotapes taken at the prison as part of an October 2003 lawsuit demanding information on the treatment of detainees in U.S. custody and the transfer of prisoners to countries known to use torture. The ACLU contends that prisoner abuse is systemic.
The judge said: "Our nation does not surrender to blackmail, and fear of blackmail is not a legally sufficient argument to prevent us from performing a statutory command. Indeed, the freedoms that we champion are as important to our success in Iraq and Afghanistan as the guns and missiles with which our troops are armed."
Seriously - will making the rest of the photos available do any good? The people responsible have (or are will be soon) gotten smacked around and are paying for what they did....at least, in my opinion they have/will. But other than those left-leaning 'fifth-chromosone' candidates who are just jonesing for something else to whine about since Katrina and Rita have been beat-to-death as the outrage de jour, is there any justifiable reason?
I don't really see any and IMO it's just more fodder to throw at any & all non-psychotic political candidates running in the November 2006 elections next year. Just wait for it: lots of 'attack ads' that feature those 'poor souls' being 'abused' at Abu Ghraib prison and how those 'evil Republicans caused it' or 'those evil conservatives aren't crying enough over them'....
Other than political fodder for the Barking Moonbat Brigade™, there can be only one reason that the ACLU wants these photos published: they're into S&M and they want more ideas for their annual ACLU convention and those naughty parties that they have at the Best Western in the evenings.
Posted by Mad Mikey at 04:26 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Roberts Confirmed
Roberts Confirmed to be Supreme Court JusticeHere's the breakdown of the vote:
WASHINGTON — John Glover Roberts Jr., (search) has been confirmed as the 17th chief justice of the United States.
The Senate voted 78 to 22 in favor of sending Roberts to be the top judge of the land Thursday as President Bush's selection to replace the late William H. Rehnquist (search). It was the first vote for a Supreme Court justice in 11 years.
| Alexander (R-TN) Allard (R-CO) Allen (R-VA) Baucus (D-MT) Bennett (R-UT) Bingaman (D-NM) Bond (R-MO) Brownback (R-KS) Bunning (R-KY) Burns (R-MT) Burr (R-NC) Byrd (D-WV) Carper (D-DE) Chafee (R-RI) Chambliss (R-GA) Coburn (R-OK) Cochran (R-MS) Coleman (R-MN) Collins (R-ME) Conrad (D-ND) Cornyn (R-TX) Craig (R-ID) Crapo (R-ID) DeMint (R-SC) DeWine (R-OH) Dodd (D-CT) | Dole (R-NC) Domenici (R-NM) Dorgan (D-ND) Ensign (R-NV) Enzi (R-WY) Feingold (D-WI) Frist (R-TN) Graham (R-SC) Grassley (R-IA) Gregg (R-NH) Hagel (R-NE) Hatch (R-UT) Hutchison (R-TX) Inhofe (R-OK) Isakson (R-GA) Jeffords (I-VT) Johnson (D-SD) Kohl (D-WI) Kyl (R-AZ) Landrieu (D-LA) Leahy (D-VT) Levin (D-MI) Lieberman (D-CT) Lincoln (D-AR) Lott (R-MS) Lugar (R-IN) | Martinez (R-FL) McCain (R-AZ) McConnell (R-KY) Murkowski (R-AK) Murray (D-WA) Nelson (D-FL) Nelson (D-NE) Pryor (D-AR) Roberts (R-KS) Rockefeller (D-WV) Salazar (D-CO) Santorum (R-PA) Sessions (R-AL) Shelby (R-AL) Smith (R-OR) Snowe (R-ME) Specter (R-PA) Stevens (R-AK) Sununu (R-NH) Talent (R-MO) Thomas (R-WY) Thune (R-SD) Vitter (R-LA) Voinovich (R-OH) Warner (R-VA) Wyden (D-OR) |
| Akaka (D-HI) Bayh (D-IN) Biden (D-DE) Boxer (D-CA) Cantwell (D-WA) Clinton (D-NY) Corzine (D-NJ) Dayton (D-MN) | Durbin (D-IL) Feinstein (D-CA) Harkin (D-IA) Inouye (D-HI) Kennedy (D-MA) Kerry (D-MA) Lautenberg (D-NJ) Mikulski (D-MD) | Obama (D-IL) Reed (D-RI) Reid (D-NV) Sarbanes (D-MD) Schumer (D-NY) Stabenow (D-MI) |
Now that wasn't so hard, was it?
(This is the first time I've used tables so if it looks funny.....well, blame Bush. Special thanks to my friend Elly for hanging over my shoulder and guiding me through the set up!!)
Posted by Mad Mikey at 10:11 AM | Comments (2) | TrackBack
September 22, 2005
Confirmed but Not Completely
Judiciary Panel Approves RobertsIt's great that they did their jobs and got the vote done. Now...if only the whole Senate will allow an UP or DOWN vote.WASHINGTON — The Senate Judiciary Committee voted 13-5 Thursday to confirm John Roberts to be the 17th chief justice of the United States Supreme Court. The full Senate will vote on the nomination on Monday.
Roberts won the support of all 10 Republicans on the committee and three Democrats — Ranking Minority Member Patrick Leahy of Vermont, Herb Kohl and Russ Feingold, both of Wisconsin.
What really pisses me off is this:
Earlier, Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., said that while she respected the positions of her colleagues on the panel, she too could not "in good conscience" cast a vote for Roberts.So, being the politically motivated person that I am, I sent this e-mail to the dear Senator from California this afternoon:Feinstein, an abortion rights supporter and only female member of the committee, said she felt Roberts did not adequately answer her questions during 17 hours of questions and answers.
"I knew as little about what Judge Roberts really thought about issues after the hearings as I did before the hearing. This makes it very hard for me," she said.
Feinstein was joined by Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., another Judiciary Committee member, who urged senators to oppose Roberts' confirmation.
Senator Feinstein,(And no I didn't sign it 'Mad Mikey'...)This will be a short message to you.
I just read that you voted NO to confirm Judge John Roberts on his nomination to the Supremem Court of the United States.
I am extremely disappointed in you and for your laughable 'reasons' for voting NO. You - along with Senator Barbara Boxer - make the rest of us Californians look like complete idiots. You were OBVIOUSLY 'playing to the C-SPAN cameras' in preperation for your bid to be re-elected to the Senate by the people of California. How trite.
While I haven't really care much for you winning re-election here in California before, now I will. I will be throwing my support into whomever is nominated to run against you in 2006.
Seriously - I will be helping whoever it is that can defeat you in the election....even if it's a Barney the Purple Dinosaur. HE certainly has better political sense than you do.
DISrespectfully (since you do not rate any in my book any longer),
"Mad Mikey"
La Jolla, CA
Seriously - this political HACK needs to be removed from office next fall....and I'm really going to help any way I can.
Posted by Mad Mikey at 04:26 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
September 16, 2005
Seeking Validation & Relavance
SWWNBN seeks validity in a post-Katrina world:
TRANSLATION: I'm still here and now I'm a PAID tool of the left. I'm seeking to regain the spotlight that was stolen - STOLEN!! - from me by Bush and his super-secret weather machine that he used because he wouldn't meet with me again to hear my sorry-ass story.I don't care if a human being is black, brown, white, yellow or pink. I don't care if a human being is Christian, Muslim, Jew, Buddhist, or pagan. I don't care what flag a person salutes: if a human being is hungry, then it is up to another human being to feed him/her. George Bush needs to stop talking, admit the mistakes of his all around failed administration, pull our troops out of occupied New Orleans [WTF?!] and Iraq, and excuse his self from power. The only way America will become more secure is if we have a new administration that cares about Americans even if they don't fall into the top two percent of the wealthiest.
Talk about trying to drum up business...
Posted by Mad Mikey at 05:39 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack
September 13, 2005
Invocation of Stupidity
That didn't take long:
Contentious start to Roberts hearingsThese two gentlemen must be really desparate to make ANY political hay out of SCOTUS nominee John Roberts to invoke hurricane damage. Is there some obscure Senate Confirmation Hearing rule about invoking one's rights to stupidity??
In their opening remarks, the two top Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee invoked the tragedy as a reminder of the gap between rich and poor and the need for a Supreme Court that wants to close that gap.
- "Today, the devastation, despair facing millions of our fellow Americans in the Gulf region is a tragic reminder of why we have a federal government, why it's critical that our government be responsive," said Sen. Patrick J. Leahy, Vermont Democrat and ranking minority member of the panel.
- "We need the federal government for our protection and security, to cast a lifeline to those in distress, to mobilize better resources beyond the ability of any state and local government -- all of this for the common good."
Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, the Massachusetts Democrat, said lessons should be learned from the hurricane.
Within moments, the office of Sen. John Cornyn, Texas Republican and member of the committee, issued a statement accusing Mr. Leahy and Mr. Kennedy of using the victims of the hurricane "in an attempt to score political points."
- "The powerful winds and flood waters of Katrina tore away the mask that has hidden from public view the many Americans who are left out and left behind," he said. "As one nation under God, we cannot continue to ignore the injustice, the inequality and the gross disparities that exist in our society."
"I believe the American people will see this for what it is," said Mr. Cornyn, according to the statement. "We ought not to appropriate a national tragedy in a misguided effort to further a political interest of any sort."
Wendy Long, counsel for the conservative Judicial Confirmation Network, accused the Democrats of "exploiting the national tragedy."
"Reasonable, fair-minded Democrats should prevail on their more extremist Senate colleagues to back off these inappropriate tactics," she said. "Grandstanding, deception and cavalierly playing politics with the human tragedy wrought by the hurricane will not endear Senate Democrats to the American people."
The Cornyn statement went on to predict: "Others likely will make similar attempts in a bizarre effort to link Judge Roberts to the tragedies in the Gulf of Mexico. But Katrina victims should not be used to score political points."
What do you want to bet that the Katrina 'racist' issue (really a NON-issue to me) makes it into someone's political campaign ads for the 2006 Congressional elections? Place your bets ladies and gentlemen....
Posted by Mad Mikey at 08:26 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
September 05, 2005
Rehnquist Dead, Roberts Bumped Up
Held off a few days to comment on this and unless you've been in 'deep freeze' or doing hard time then you're also aware of this:
Chief Justice Rehnquist has diedI'm not really capable of commenting on the pros or cons of Rehnquist's duration as Cheif Justice, but I do know this: if you thought that the 'fur was flying' with the nomimation of John Roberts to replace Sandra Day O'Connor on the Supreme Court then you ain't seen nothing yet.
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Chief Justice William Rehnquist, who quietly advanced the conservative ideology of the Supreme Court under his leadership, died Saturday evening. He was 80.
The justice, diagnosed with thyroid cancer, had a tracheotomy and received chemotherapy and radiation as part of his treatment.
Supreme Court spokeswoman Kathy Arberg said Rehnquist had "continued to perform his duties on the Court until a precipitous decline in his health the last couple of days."
Then with his three children beside him, the justice died at his suburban Virginia home, a court spokeswoman said.
Citizen Smash reports on something I had initially heard of on Saturday night:
With this slight change in Roberts nomination to the Court itself, this is what I'm referring to when I say you ain't seen nothing yet. The 'fur' will indeed fly considering that the two nominees to replace Rehnquist and O'Connor will possible shape the legal landscape of this nation for the next 30 years.UPDATE: President Bush has nominated John Roberts to be Chief Justice. Sandra Day O'Connor will remain on the court until her replacement, who has yet to be named, has been confirmed.
And I will comment on one aspect that seems to make a lot of people quake in their boots: if - IF - the matter of Roe vs. Wade is brought back to the Court for reconsideration and it's overturned, it IMHO will not outlaw women from getting an abortion.
Will NOT force American women to seek the 'back alley' treatment.
IMHO if this matter were to be brought before the Court with the aim of overturning Roe vs. Wade, the matter will revert back to the state it was back in 1973 - it will be up to the STATES to determine if abortion on demand will be legal withing their realm of authority.
For the moment, I don't care one way or another as to the rights of women versus the rights of the fetus; I've always been of the mindset that it's up to the woman to determine if she wants to consider the fetus within her to be a child to be born, raised, & nurtured or a parasite to be eliminated from their bodies. I'm not 'gung-ho' religious, but I've always thought that it's between a woman and the possible judgement she'll face while standing in front of the Pearly Gates.
But then again, what do I know.....I'm a man.
Posted by Mad Mikey at 11:54 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
August 29, 2005
A Touching Moment in the Life of Cindy
This is laugh riot from Little Green Footballs.
Here's an image that's supposed to make you burst into tears over the pain and suffering that Cindy Sheehan has endured. Al Sharpton - Reverend Al - is there to give comfort (and talking points) to Cindy in her hour of need.
And here's what the situation really is: a huge media orgy that's about as 'sincere' as a shark attack.
Can you say 'Crock of shit'?
What do you bet that the 'string pullers' in Camp Cindy start attempting to limit/control the access of media to prevent the facade from slipping again like this?
UPDATE/ADDED CLARIFICATION: Citizen Smash has something that's pure gold - an infiltration report from Camp Cindy. And it's everything that's being said about this whole three-ring circus: almost 100% scripted.
I arrived at the original Camp Casey at 2:30 in the afternoon. It was hot and dry and the assembled demonstrators were in a melancholy state. I quickly made friends, stressing "cocktail" conversation, not political discussion. My goal was not confrontation, but a desire to understand what was actually happening here in Crawford...and being incognito was the only way this would happen.Now wait for the shrill screams of 'dishonesty' in how this anecdotal information was obtained, followed by the declarations of 'pay no mind to that man behind the curtain'.After bonding with several nice ladies from the central coast of California, I drove with these new buddies to the larger, tented camp where Ms. Sheehan and Company was to be found. There I found a well funded, well orchestrated public relations campaign, run by media professionals complete with the highest quality electronic equipment available. From Satellite trucks and cell phone to wireless computer access, every modern convenience to enhance the "message" was there...and being used by left wing, socialist and Marxist (self-described) media representatives and Bloggers.
The environment was collegial, and everyone had a purpose. There were rules such as no drinking, no bad behavior and the like that were ruthlessly enforced. Everyone had to be on message, and the message was the point of everything...stray from the message and you are out. Even the protesters’ signs were monitored less they distract from the message.
Most of the Sheehan protesters were either professional (paid staff of Fenton Communications or the radical organization Code Pink or the like), or were long time protesters, some admitting to beginning vigils against the government as early as 1965. I had conversations with approximately 50 of these people over 48 hours, and all seemed like interesting and engaging people. We talked sports, and cars and how wonderful California is, and just about everything that could be discussed without my divulging that I am a conservative. But when "scratched" just a little with some mild political talk, they all responded the same way..."it is Americas fault". No matter what the issue, each and every one of them had the same default..."bad things are America’s fault".
Toward the end of my time there, I decided to innocently toss into the conversation different issues just too illicit a response. One issue I politely deposited into our talks was of the peasant unrest in rural China, and the brutality shown to the peasants by the government and their hired thugs. There response to this problem was..."well, look how we treated the blacks in America", or, "gays are being beaten everyday in America".
So the cliché of the "hate America" crowd is indeed true. It is as if the protesters were intellectually bulimic, and having ingested all of the hate America bile, they looked forward to regurgitating it as a show of their steadfastness to their cause of peace and love.
Cindy Sheehan spent most of her time huddled with VIPS in and air-conditioned trailer. When she ventured out it was for a scripted and often televised moment. She was always trailed by her media people, and they were quick to keep her on point. During one conversation I had with her I tried to ask her a pointed question about how much time she would actually be on the bus tour to Washington (I had discovered she would only be on the tour for two days, and would be away giving speeches during the rest of the trip...and I wondered if she were being paid for these speeches) Her media person grabbed her arm and led her back to the trailer, and away from me. The message was protected. I was left standing there...alone, and feeling a little less secure about my status at Camp Casey.
But just a few minutes later, she emerged from the trailer, smiling, and performing for the cameras. Like the chicken at the local carnival that plays tic tac toe, she eagerly performs for any microphone. She is relentless, and professional, well financed and on message.
And the message is "All things bad are America’s fault".
I know that there are some that grow weary of hearing about Cindy Sheehan - I'm partially there myself - but it is interesting to see this facade falling apart thread by thread; like most *cough* arguments from the Barking Moonbat Brigade™, it falls apart upon closer inspection....
ADDENDUM: San Diego blogger Neptunus Lex no longer calls this woman by her name. I'm guessing that he's taken a cue from all the Harry Potter books. In those books, most of the Wizarding community do not call the bad guy - Lord Voldemort - by his name; they refer to him as He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named. Lex now refers to Cindy Sheehan as She-Who-Will-Not-Be-Named or simply SWWNBN.
Posted by Mad Mikey at 11:31 AM | Comments (3) | TrackBack
August 20, 2005
Getting Personal?
Roberts's Rules of DecorumAnd the problem is......what again?Last week, researchers found several memos from the summer and fall of 1984 in which future Supreme Court nominee John Roberts, working as a Reagan White House lawyer, argued against sending presidential thank-you notes to Michael Jackson for his charitable works. But it turns out this was just the beginning of what appears to be the young lawyer's concerns about the star. Three new memos uncovered by Post reporters show Roberts described Jackson as "androgynous," "mono-gloved" and a balladeer of illegitimacy.
So the guy thought Jackson was a freak 20 years ago. Recent child molestation trials of a certain un-named celebrity in Santa Maria, California would tend to give credence to this notion that Jackson is a freak.....cause he is.
The funny part of this article from that bastion of legitimacy called The Washington Post is the initial sentence:
Now it's getting personal.
This isn't personal moron - the New York Times digging into adoption records to find something - anything on Roberts is personal. This is just a snippet from what - 20 years ago? This is supposed to bring some sort of nefarious behavior of John Roberts into the light?
Face it Dems: there's 'nothing' on Roberts that will allow you to exploit it. The guy - for all basic purposes - is clean; he's so clean, he's almost boring.
Dig back into your Bag of Tricks Felix and try again....
Posted by Mad Mikey at 10:15 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
August 19, 2005
What a Noble Cause....
Just gotta love those 'defenders of public interest' over at the American Civil Liberties Union:
ACLU Defending Woman Accused Of Using Drugs While PregnantBut if the kid had been born all kinds of f**ked up, the ACLU would be singing a different tune.EASTON, Md. -- Lawyers for the American Civil Liberties Union are appealing the conviction of an Easton woman who was accused of endangering a child by using cocaine while she was pregnant.
Kelly Cruz, 30, was found guilty of a reckless endangerment charge Aug. 5 after waiving her right to a jury trial. She was ordered to serve 2 1/2 years in prison.
Cruz was charged in February, about a month after giving birth to a premature baby boy who tested positive for cocaine.
Defense attorneys had sought an acquittal, arguing there was never a risk of harm to another person -- because a fetus doesn't meet the definition of a person under state law. But a Talbot County judge ruled that the person who suffered the risk was the baby after it was born.
ACLU attorneys said prosecuting women for their actions during pregnancy is unprecedented elsewhere in Maryland and claim it is an attempt to create a new crime by charging pregnant women for harming their fetuses.
I think that the only way the ACLU will change their (collective) minds about some of the crap they defend will be when some of their results start to hit 'home', i.e., some of their family members start to feel the effects of their actions.
Posted by Mad Mikey at 12:10 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
August 10, 2005
Something to Ponder
La Shawn Barber takes notice of 'white flight' in a Texas school district and notes the following:
If racism is holding blacks down, as Jesse Jackson would argue, shouldn’t the absence of “racist” whites in a school district (no white students or staff) improve the performance of black students? Research a few predominantly black school districts and let me know what you find.Geez almighty: when is this 'racism!!!' crap gonna stop!?!Start with the predominantly black, heavily-funded government school system in our nation’s capital. [subliminal message: Homeschool your kids!]
To me, it seems like those that scream 'racism!!!' and demand more and more concessions in the name of 'equality' are showing that they themselves are the impediment and not the victims.
Posted by Mad Mikey at 10:14 AM | Comments (4) | TrackBack
August 04, 2005
Cutting Edge Journalism
Just when you thought that the Barking Moonbat Brigade™ couldn't make themselves any more useless, along comes The New York Times to up the ante:
NY TIMES INVESTIGATES ADOPTION RECORDS OF SUPREME COURT NOMINEE'S CHILDRENThis is seriously the type of stuff that explains why lions eat their young.....**Exclusive**
The NEW YORK TIMES is looking into the adoption records of the children of Supreme Court Nominee John G. Roberts, the DRUDGE REPORT has learned.
The TIMES has investigative reporter Glen Justice hot on the case to investigate the status of adoption records of Judge Roberts’ two young children, Josie age 5 and Jack age 4, a top source reveals.
Judge Roberts and his wife Jane adopted the children when they each were infants.
Both children were adopted from Latin America.
A TIMES insider claims the look into the adoption papers are part of the paper's "standard background check."
Bill Borders, NYT senior editor, explains: "Our reporters made initial inquiries about the adoptions, as they did about many other aspects of his background. They did so with great care, understanding the sensitivity of the issue."
Posted by Mad Mikey at 05:43 PM | Comments (3) | TrackBack
August 01, 2005
Bluff Called
Bush Appoints Bolton to U.N. JobWhat's funny about this is that for all the stalling, all the rhetoric from the Dems, all the screeching about what a 'monster' he is that President Bush waited only one hour after the Congressional recess started to exercise his authority to name Bolton to the post of Ambassador to the United Nations.
WASHINGTON — President Bush bypassed Congress Monday and appointed John Bolton to be the next U.S. ambassador to the United Nations.
"This post is too important to leave vacant any longer, especially during a war and a vital debate about U.N. reform. So today I've used my constitutional authority to appoint John Bolton to serve as America's ambassador to the United Nations," Bush said, with Bolton at his side, during an announcement in the Roosevelt Room of the White House.
"I am sending John to the U.N. with my complete confidence ... His mission now is to speak for me on critical issues facing the international community. And he'll make it clear that America values the potential of the United Nations to be a source of hope and dignity and peace," Bush said.
The Dems excercised their 'powers' to block the confirmation of John Bolton and the President upped the ante.
Message to the Dems: Don't bluff unless you're ready to have your hand called...
Posted by Mad Mikey at 10:33 AM | Comments (1) | TrackBack
July 22, 2005
One-Two-Three...One-Two-Three...
Can't remember where I saw/heard this (maybe Dick Morris?), but the Democrats are playing the part as expected:
Democrats Demand Legal PapersIt's almost like watching a mouse run through a maze.
Democrats said yesterday they will demand that the Bush administration hand over internal legal memorandums written by Supreme Court nominee John G. Roberts Jr. while he was a government lawyer -- something the White House has refused to do in the past.
Sen. Charles E. Schumer, New York Democrat, said he broached the topic during a meeting yesterday with Judge Roberts, who replied that any decision about his writings as deputy solicitor general would be made by the White House.
Republicans on Capitol Hill said the request is not likely to be granted.
Demands for those same documents -- deemed legally privileged by this and previous administrations -- led to the rejection of Miguel Estrada, an earlier Bush nominee to a lower court.
Democrats have used this tactic to stall the nomination of John R. Bolton, Mr. Bush's nominee for ambassador to the United Nations.
Some Republicans said yesterday that the demands may be early signs of a stealth campaign by Democrats to kill the Supreme Court nomination by demanding documents they know they won't get -- a strategy one Republican termed "Estradification."
Now the next stage of this will be the shrill cries of 'Extremism' that will echo through the halls of Congress followed by someone in the House of Representatives (probably Nancy Pelosi (D-Moonbat)) announcing that 'democracy is in danger of being exterminated'.
While I haven't really thought much about John Roberts being nominated to the Supreme Court, this type of knee-jerk reaction is sad - expected, predicted, and sad.
ADDENDUM: Writer Keith Thompson is thinking along the same lines as I am about this....
Posted by Mad Mikey at 12:12 PM | Comments (3) | TrackBack
July 13, 2005
Karl Rove - Blabbermouth?
Bush Won't Comment on Rove During ProbeI've held off commenting about this for two reasons:
WASHINGTON (AP) - President Bush said Wednesday that he will withhold judgment about top aide Karl Rove's involvement in leaking the identity of a CIA agent until a federal criminal investigation into the matter is complete.
"This is a serious investigation," Bush said at the end of a meeting with his Cabinet, with Rove sitting just behind him. "I will be more than happy to comment on this matter once this investigation is complete.
"I also will not prejudge the investigation based on media reports," he said, when asked whether Rove acted improperly in discussing CIA officer Valerie Plame with a reporter.
Rove talked about Plame - without using her name - in a July 11, 2003, conversation with Time magazine reporter Matthew Cooper. Cooper wrote an article that identified her.
- The investigation is still chugging along, and
- I nor anyone else for all practical purposes aren't in possession of all of the facts.
Like I said - it's just an observation that I made this morning. And in my opinion, Rove isn't some third- or fourth-rate White House slacker - he's quite the player in the political arena and as such, isn't going to do something as stupid as confide in the freaking media about such a sensitive item.
Opinion not valid in some states. See website for complete rules. Offer void where prohibited.
UPDATE: As I said before, the investigation is still on-going, but here is something to ponder since all of this information is in the public record.
YES I realize it is from the GOP, but the quotes are legitimate.
Posted by Mad Mikey at 09:42 AM | Comments (7) | TrackBack
July 08, 2005
Tea for Two?
By way of Drudge:
REPORT: REHNQUIST RETIRES; TO BE ANNOUNCED TONIGHT
IF this is true, what was going to be a spirited battle of ideologies has now become a protracted campaign for the future of the Court.
And I'm not gonna touch this until a/the candidiate(s) are announced.
Posted by Mad Mikey at 01:29 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack
July 06, 2005
Bailing
Davey is laying it down:
Conservative IndependenceDavey, I don't blame you - not ONE-LITTLE-BIT.I am leaving the GOP.
You heard me right, I am giving up my status as a Republicans and registering as an Independent.
Why?
Well, I have toyed with the idea in the past, but decided against it. But I decided that it wouldn’t be wise to leave. But the Republicans have proven time and time again that they don’t have what it takes to stand up for what the party is supposed to believe in, or even stand up for themselves.
I too have been toying with the idea of changing my party affiliation or just abandoning all parties in general.
Just as I 'unregistered' as a Democrat a few years back, I can do it again with the GOP.
I'm tired of the GOP following through with the same crap - time and again. In My Opinion, they're just a slightly different version of the DNC and they aren't worth the powder to blow them to Hell.
I'm with you Davey - sooner or later I'll be changing my affiliation(s).
Do you hear what's happening President Bush? Keep up this crap and the GOP is sure to loose seats in Congress in 2006 and that prime chunk of real estate at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue in 2008.
Davey and I are but two individuals that are just fed up with this situation. Now: multiply that by about several hundred THOUSAND people and you're got a situation on your hands.
Final Word to the GOP: Get your shit wired!
Posted by Mad Mikey at 02:18 PM | Comments (4) | TrackBack
June 25, 2005
Pataki Nads Up
Boo-YAH!
Nutty 9/11 art nixedI like that last part - 'Or else'....
Gov. Pataki drew a line in the sand yesterday, declaring he will tolerate no America-bashing on the sacred soil of Ground Zero.
Hours after the Daily News disclosed that a museum set to rise on the site had displayed kooky and anti-American art, the governor said there can be no place where nearly 3,000 innocents died for an institution that attacks the United States and the heroes of 9/11.
His voice rising and his resolve steely as he compared the World Trade Center tract to the bloody beaches of Normandy and the black waters of Pearl Harbor, Pataki vowed:
"We will not tolerate anything on that site that denigrates America, denigrates New York or freedom or denigrates the sacrifice and courage that the heroes showed on Sept. 11."
He added, "The Daily News did a good service by pointing out some of these things. We do not want that at Ground Zero; I do not want that at Ground Zero and to the extent that I have the power, it's not going to happen."
At issue are two controversial cultural groups that were picked to occupy a major building at the heart of the site - and have enraged 9/11 family members who say their murdered loved ones are being disrespected.
The larger museum, the International Freedom Center, has sparked fears it will focus on acts of U.S. wrongdoing, like slavery and treatment of American Indians, while the Drawing Center, now based in SoHo, was exposed in The News as displaying graphic and vulgar art attacking America's war on terror.
"Sure, there can be debate," Pataki said when asked if his tough stance jeopardized free-speech rights. "But I don't want that debate to be occurring at Ground Zero."
Acting after a protest from family members - and word the Drawing Center had displayed art linking President Bush to Osama Bin Laden and portraying terror suspects as victims of American torture - the governor laid down the law to the Lower Manhattan Development Corp.: "Contact the cultural institutions on the memorial site. . . and get from them an absolute guarantee that as they proceed, it will be with total respect for the sanctity of that site." This was followed by a simple, stark threat: "I'm hopeful they are able to do that, and if not, then they shouldn't be there."
Pataki twice repeated his threat, saying the Freedom and Drawing Centers must respect sacred ground - or else.
"Period. Otherwise they won't be there," he said.
(Politely gommed from Little Green Footbals)
Posted by Mad Mikey at 04:55 PM | Comments (4)
June 24, 2005
Verbage
A new term is appearing in the blogsphere:
To Durbinize(Politely glommed from Michelle Malkin who glommed from Bill Yates at From Where I Sit)Durbinize, verb.
- To make, either explicitly or implicitly, a moral, political, or factual equivalence between two situations which in reality have little or nothing in common. (After U. S. Senator Richard Durbin (D, ILL) who compared the alleged abusive treatment of a terrorist detainee held at Guantanamo Bay with the depraved horrors of the Nazis, Soviet gulags, and Pol Pot’s mass murders, thereby equating the U. S. personnel with these murderous despots.)
- To apparently apologize without actually doing so by subtly placing the blame for legitimate objections to the actions of definition 1 on the objectors. This may be accomplished by expressing disappointment that the objectors have “misunderstood” the speaker’s remarks or by stating the speaker’s sorrow that feelings were hurt. In reality, the speaker is implying that the objectors are too stupid to understand plain English or are insufficiently educated or mature to accept the speaker’s remarks as truth.
Posted by Mad Mikey at 02:09 PM | Comments (0)
June 21, 2005
Off His Rocker - Part IV
Durbin Apologizes for Nazi, Gulag, Pol Pot RemarksI'm betting that he's sorry for receiving such a tsunami of criticism over his mouth leading his brain in official Senate comments.
WASHINGTON -- Sen. Dick Durbin went to the Senate floor late Tuesday to offer his apologies to anyone who may have been offended by his comparison of treatment of detainees at the U.S. military base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, to Nazis, Soviet gulags and Cambodia's Pol Pot.
"More than most people, a senator lives by his words ... occasionally words fail us, occasionally we will fail words," Durbin, D-Ill., said.
"I am sorry if anything I said caused any offense or pain to those who have such bitter memories of the Holocaust, the greatest moral tragedy of our time. Nothing, nothing should ever be said to demean or diminish that moral tragedy.
"I am also sorry if anything I said cast a negative light on our fine men and women in the military ... I never ever intended any disrespect for them. Some may believe that my remarks crossed the line to them I extend my heartfelt apology," Durbin said, choking on his words.
You know what Dick? I was (and still am) offended and you can take your apology and jam it.
My guess is that the only reason that you're apologizing now is that you're seeing the poll numbers in your own state drop and you're scrambling to cover your ass.
I don't think that for one minute you're sincere in this apology since you've had at least two differnt times to retract your asinine statements and failed to act. You're probably only doing so because of pressure from the DNC to STFU.
Sorry my ass Dick....you're still an ass-hatted clown and you got busted for talking smack about America's military.
Good luck in getting re-elected in Illinois and I hear that the position of Dog Catcher is open...
Posted by Mad Mikey at 04:49 PM | Comments (3)
June 19, 2005
Off His Rocker - Part III
From someone who knows the meaning of 'torture' comes a letter that is short, sweet, and to-the-point about Senator Dick Durbin's assinine comments on the floor of the United States Senate.
By way of Citizen Smash:
POW Blasts DurbinI'm not one to really wish ill-will upon someone for stupid remarks, but I'm hoping that Dick Durbin gets his ass thrown out of the Senate when he's up for re-election...
THE FOLLOWING LETTER was sent from retired Navy Commander Paul Galanti to Senator Dick Durbin. Galanti is one of my father's Annapolis classmates, who spent seven years as a prisoner-of-war in the infamous Hanoi Hilton.
Senator Durbin,When I was a midshipman at Annapolis, I would often go to the Class of '62 tailgaters after the football games with my father. I spoke with Galanti several times.As one who was held in a North Vietnamese Prison for nearly seven years and whose definition of torture and bad treatment is somewhat at variance with yours, I deplore your senseless comments about alleged "barbaric treatment" at our terrorist detention facility at Guantanamo.
Your remarks comparing Guantanamo to the regimes of Stalin, Hitler and Pol Pot are outrageous. I tried to think of why a rational human being could make such an outlandish statement but I keep coming up short. I thought I'd seen it all when Howard Dean performed his infamous scream in Iowa but your diatribe yesterday eclipsed Dean's moment of Hannibal Lecter lunacy. And your moment of pique will be infinitely more damaging to members of our Armed Forces serving in harm's way.
I noted, when searching for your contact information, that the first item Google came up with was al Jazeera's joy at your comments. You, sir, for having aided and abetted the enemy in time of war, have been relegated in my mind to the status of Jane Fonda and your colleague, John Kerry as contemptible traitors.
I hope not too many of our valiant members of the Armed Forces have to suffer for your stupid comments. Shame on you.
Sincerely,
Paul E. Galanti
Commander, U.S. Navy (Ret.)He never once mentioned his experience in the Hanoi Hilton.
Posted by Mad Mikey at 05:21 PM | Comments (2)
June 16, 2005
Liberalism: Mental Disorder?
Geoff at Dog Snot Diaries points out the latest 'bashing' technique:
Howard Dean Disease is ContagiousCan you be both elated and sympathetic at the same time? Probably not. I guess I'm just elated and faking sympathy. Why, you ask? It appears the mental illness that Howard Dean apparently suffers from is contagious. It's sweeping through the Democratic party. At the current rate of spread, the Democrats will lose even more seats in the upcoming 2006 and 2008 elections. Now THAT is cause for elation.
What am I talking about? Why, the latest Democratic hand-wringing topic. Sure, Congress should apologize. They did, too, with an un-opposed voice vote. You know what that means, don't you? Un-opposed? No opposition? Everyone voting supported it? That's pretty good, right? Fuck no. Not if you suffer from HowardDeanYaaaaarghia. Then if you don't sponsor the bill, you're all of a sudden pro lynching. Are you fucking retarded? It's amazing the kind of shit Democrats will whine about.
Now read the MSNBC article closely. "Southern Conservatives" filibustered anti-lynching legislation. They're to blame. It's all the racist KKK Conservatives. Like Robert Byrd. Wait, he's a Democrat. I mean like Hugo Black. Ooops. He Was a Democrat as well. Ernest Hollings? Big D. J. William Fulbright? D. Al Gore Sr? D. Hmmm. It looks like MSNBC might need to do a little more fact checking.
This reminds me of when I was down at Southwestern College a few years back. The Gay-Bisexual-Transgender-What-the-Fuck-am-I? club was 'selling' pink ribbons (I think they were pink...) to show concern for AIDS.
I was walking by the table in the middle of the quad and one of the minions there asked 'Want to donate to fight AIDS?'. I replied 'No, sorry. I don't have any money on me'.
The twit looked at me and replied with disdain: 'You have money for cigarettes' (I was smoking at that moment).
Trying to maintain my composure at that moment, I looked at this stupid broad (and she was a 'Large Marge' type) and told her point-blank: I don't really care one way or another. I'm not gay, don't plan on being gay. And since I'm married, I don't plan on sleeping around and I'm fairly confident that my wife won't sleep around either. If you want to fight AIDS, stop fucking around and sharing needles. Period. and walked away.
The sputtering and choking from this broad was loud enough that I could still hear her whining about my 'homophobia' to the other chicks/he-shes at the table from a good 100 meters away.
Anyway - the point I'm getting at is this new if-you-don't-go-overboard-with-compassion-you-are-a-RACIST attitude. It's almost like back in January 2005 when I got blown incredible amounts of crap for posting something that Moxie had said about the humanitarian relief for the tsunami in Southeast Asia and someone (a troll) said that since I didn't have a link to donate to relief efforts that I was a dickhead:
Leave it up to a dickhead like you to turn this into a politcal debate. If you were any kind of human and humane - you would have spent the time and energy positing a link to a relief effort rather than post some snide assed conservative response to a devistaing tragedy.To some, it's simply black or white - you're either gushing with compassion and you're in touch with your feminine side or your an asshole.
What's hard to believe is that this is my thinking on a great many subjects.....with a little wiggle room for updating of my opinion(s) on the given subject. But if I do this, I'm out of line.
I'm not a huge fan of Michael Savage, but I'm beginning to think he's right: Liberalism is a mental disorder....
Posted by Mad Mikey at 10:00 AM | Comments (2)
Off His Rocker - Part Deux
Durbin refuses to apologize for Guantanamo Bay commentsExactly what part of the Geneva Conventions does Durbin think we're not adhering to?CHICAGO -- Illinois Senator Dick Durbin says he won't apologize for comments comparing American interrogators at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, to Nazis and Soviet gulags.
News of the Democrat's comparison created a buzz around the Internet today, fueled by sound bites of yesterday's Senate floor speech on radio talk shows. By this afternoon, Illinois Republican Party Chairman Andy McKenna asked Durbin to apologize.
Durbin says the Bush administration should apologize for abandoning the Geneva Conventions.
- Housing? Check.
- Food that's religiously specific, i.e. 'kosher'? Check.
- Not blowing their brains out with a .45? Check.
- Not beating them with a lead pipe? Check.
- Not making them eat fried pork rinds? Check.
So if you're inclined to think that the Gitmo facility is a 'gulag' or that we're 'torturing' them, then I suggest you take a closer look at the definition of 'gulag' and then take another closer look at the World Trade Center towers before they collapsed.
And if that doens't sink in, take a hard look at the list of people murdered on 9/11.
The people that were murdered on 9/11 isn't justification for wanton killing of just anyone - just the people that would attempt it again. And you can bet that those scumbags in Gitmo aren't there cause they were on their way to get ice cream for blind children when they accidently stumbled onto the battlefield and accidently picked up an assualt rifle which accidently discharged - multiple times - in the direction of American troops.
I've said this before: if anyone in the government wanted these prisoners to 'disappear', they could easily 'accidently' fall out of a chopper about a hundred miles from land over the ocean.....Ooops!! Damnit Ralph - there goes another one!!.
Quite honestly, I think the idea I had for returning illegal aliens using a trebuchet would work nicely for the Marines in Gitmo: live skeet/prisoner target practice.
Posted by Mad Mikey at 08:48 AM | Comments (3)
June 15, 2005
Off His Rocker
It's always refreshing how people equate one thing with another. We've seen the 'Bush = Hitler' blurbs from the Tin-Foil Hat Brigade. Now we get to see the same technique applied to those 'insidious' military guards at Gitmo.
James Taranto has the appropriate words for this....insightful comparison of Senator Dick Durbin's (Tin-Foil - IL) on the floor of the United States Senate:
Durbin Supports the TroopsCan the Left-wing moonbats - who are now closer and closer to being synonymous with Democrats - can they get any more absurd? Can we get any more reasons to just consider them so 'out there' that they should no longer be considered rationale?
Sen. Dick Durbin, an Illinois Democrat, took the Senate floor yesterday and likened American servicemen to Nazis (link in PDF):We are fighting an enemy that murdered 3,000 innocent people on American soil 3 1/2 years ago and would murder millions more if given the chance--and according to Dick Durbin, our soldiers are the Nazis.On a couple of occasions, I entered interview rooms to find a detainee chained hand and foot in a fetal position to the floor, with no chair, food or water. Most times they urinated or defecated on themselves, and had been left there for 18-24 hours or more. On one occasion, the air conditioning had been turned down so far and the temperature was so cold in the room, that the barefooted detainee was shaking with cold. . . . On another occasion, the [air conditioner] had been turned off, making the temperature in the unventilated room well over 100 degrees. The detainee was almost unconscious on the floor, with a pile of hair next to him. He had apparently been literally pulling his hair out throughout the night. On another occasion, not only was the temperature unbearably hot, but extremely loud rap music was being played in the room, and had been since the day before, with the detainee chained hand and foot in the fetal position on the tile floor.
If I read this to you and did not tell you that it was an FBI agent describing what Americans had done to prisoners in their control, you would most certainly believe this must have been done by Nazis, Soviets in their gulags, or some mad regime--Pol Pot or others--that had no concern for human beings. Sadly, that is not the case. This was the action of Americans in the treatment of their prisoners.
I doubt it.
What Senator Durbin doesn't see is that these are the techniques that are considered 'humane' as opposed to the really worthwhile techniques like breaking fingers, smashing that toe that goes wee-wee-wee all the way home with a hammer, or (my personal favorite) how about putting these prisoners in a pressure tank and taking them down one-half of an atmosphere? Nothing makes cooperation happen between people better than bursting blood vessels and exploding eyeballs....
Geez....it's going to get to the point where interviews will be conducted only using slightly harsh language and possibly the threat of withholding ice cream after dinner.
It's obvious that Durbin is off his rocker, that his elevator no longers goes all the way up, that he's a sandwich or two short of a picnic basket, that he's not shuffling a full deck....well, you get the picture. (The flash works, but there is no film in the camera?)
Posted by Mad Mikey at 10:21 PM | Comments (6)
Dean's Goal - Infinite Nothingness
This kind of sums up Dean's quest to shoot himself in the foot on daily basis or anytime there's a microphone shoved in his face.
Keep it up Howie - there's nothing funnier than when you make up stuff for us to talk about and we don't really have to work at it.
Yeeeaaaagggghhhhh!!!
(Nicely glommed from Rodger Shultz at Curmudgeonly & Skeptical)
Posted by Mad Mikey at 04:48 PM | Comments (1)
June 13, 2005
More Folly
Just what the world needs: another proposal to level the field by taxing air travel:
G8 wants tax on airline tickets to help world poorThis is indeed a 1-lb bag of Cricket Crap from Dicker & Dicker of Beaverly Hills.Airline groups have condemned plans by the world's richest countries to impose a tax on airline tickets to fund extra money for poor African countries - and make a gesture towards fighting climate change.
Finance ministers from the G8 agreed at the weekend to look at using income from airline traffic to boost aid.
Although the tax might only amount to a few extra pence on a ticket, experts believe the move would be a major blow to cut-price airlines that sell tickets for as little as ÂŁ1.
The move, which could add a pound on to air fares, was greeted with delight by environmental groups who said it was a first step towards making people pay the true cost of plane travel.
It's not much of a added tax, but it's the principle behind it: tax everyone who has money to pay for Africa's problems.
I'm all for helping people and nations get on their feet - not for making them take responsibility for their actions and/or inactions that put them there in the first place.
I get a chuckle out of these plans that propose to tax everyone who's responsible to pay for those that are not. Socialism in action....
Posted by Mad Mikey at 02:17 PM | Comments (2)
June 10, 2005
Pointed Question to Dean
This is one of the reasons that I love to watch FoxNews and listen to reporters like Brian Wilson:
Dean's Appearance Has Media in a Sweat
After several seconds, a booming voice cut through the noise. It belonged to Brian Wilson, a Fox News correspondent who was standing in the middle of the crowd. He asked Dean "if people are focused on the other things that you've said about hating Republicans, about Republicans being dishonest and then this latest comment about the Republican Party is full of white Christians. You say you hate Republicans -- does that mean you also'' hate white Christians?
Dean didn't respond and Reid talked about having a "positive agenda." Wilson was so insistent that at one point, Durbin asked, "Does he run the press conference?" After Reid took the one question of the morning that was not about Dean (it was about Iraq) there were a host of disjointed and semi-decipherable follow-ups (none of which was about Iraq).
The people at FoxNews IMHO aren't afraid to ask pointed questions and that's what all of the media needs more of - hold people's (all across the political spectrum) feet to the fire and get in their faces.
And Brian Wilson had a point: if Republicans are just a bunch of 'white Christians' and Dean 'hates Republicans', does he indeed hate white Christians?
Just another example of why people (read: Dean) should fire some neurons before shooting their mouths off....
Posted by Mad Mikey at 09:33 AM | Comments (2)
May 25, 2005
It's About Time
Senate Confirms OwenNow, was that so hard?
WASHINGTON — The Senate on Wednesday confirmed Priscilla Owen as a federal judge, ending a four-year effort by Democrats to derail one of President Bush's prime judicial nominees.
The vote was 56-43 in favor of sending Owen to the federal bench. Rhode Island Republican Sen. Lincoln Chafee opposed her confirmation. Democratic Sens. Robert Byrd of West Virginia and Mary Landrieu of Louisiana voted for Owen. Sen. Daniel Inouye, D-Hawaii, one of the 14 negotiators who sought to allow Owen's vote and Democrats' to maintain the filibuster option, did not vote.
"This is a long time coming," Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, R-Texas, told reporters after the vote. "I think she has shown absolute integrity, commitment, patience and above all, judicial demeanor through this process. I commend her for it. This is her day and it is well deserved."
Posted by Mad Mikey at 02:09 PM | Comments (0)
May 23, 2005
Filibuster Whining
I haven't really addressed this situation much because I'm quite ambiguous about this 'nuclear option'. I understand the frustration that Republican senators have over trying to get a simple YES-NO vote; I've always thought that the Democrats would be excercising their 'voice' in a Senate vote.
And while I'm not certain about who is bending/breaking what Senate rules concerning judicial nominees, I do know that from my perspective that the Democrats are pulling the well-throw-a-sh*t-fit-if-we-dont-get-our-way ploy.
(Hat tip to Michelle Malkin even if she never replies to my e-mail)
Cots brought in a Senate gears up for all-nighter
CAPITOL HILL -- The Senate is gearing up for an all-night debate ahead of a critical vote on the fate of the judicial filibuster.
Custodians rolled cots into the Strom Thurmond room as the Senate convened for what will be a lengthy session.
A dozen moderates are running out of time in their effort to hammer out a compromise to avoid a vote on triggering the so-called nuclear option -- given that name because of the sweeping impact it will have on how the Senate does its work.
The Senate Republican leadership says the president's judicial nominees shouldn't be filibustered, but deserve an up-or-down vote.
Democrats say the filibuster is the only tool the minority has.
Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist's timetable calls for critical votes on one nominee, Texas Supreme Court Justice Priscilla Owen, to be cast tomorrow and Wednesday.
Owen's nominated to the Fifth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans.
And Michelle points out that those mental midgets over at The Daily *cough* Kos are ramping up to do...something stupid:
All Hands on Deck!This makes me wonder exactly what they're gonna do once they get gathered. Whine? Protest? Riot?The battle to preserve the rights of minority political factions - and the public interests those factions represent - is about to be fully joined. Here are the simple steps you need to take to gear up for the fight to save the filibuster:
We don't know exactly when Frist will try to go nuclear, but people need to plan to drop everything and get in front of a computer. The process of breaking the rules to end the filibuster won't take that much time. We need instant mobilization and widespread distribution. With everyone's help, we can win this in the Senate - and on the local level.
- Sign up for text message alerts on your cell phone with People for the American Way. This way, you'll know instantly when we need to take action and what you need to do.
- Regionalization is becoming increasingly important - elected officials always respond more eagerly to their constituents, and good local media coverage is key. BlogPAC is helping to organize state-by-state efforts, so if you haven't yet signed up there, do so by clicking here. If you have a blog of your own, be sure to input that in the appropriate field. (Non-bloggers should sign up as well.)
- MoveOn PAC is organizing citizen filibusters - along the lines of the tremendously successful Princeton filibuster - tomorrow at noon. Click on over to their site to find a location near you. If you go, be sure to take a digital camera or a camcorder and post pics or videos online when you get home. Thanks to inflation, pictures are worth even more than 1,000 words these days.
All hands on deck!
I'm half tempted to sign up for the event being pushed by those gems of civility at MoveON at Horton Plaze just to see what would/could happen. But as with most organized whining events, it is in the middle of the day when most people work; I'm guessing that these protesters can just work the late shift at Wendy's or the Thrifty Gas Station.
Then again, I've got better things to do like give my cats a bath.
Posted by Mad Mikey at 03:36 PM | Comments (0)
Rats from the Sinking Ship
Here's an article that an associate pointed out to me about how the left is starting to fracture. At least, here is one man's perspective of why he bailed on the 'progressive' movement:
Leaving the left
A turning point came at a dinner party on the day Ronald Reagan famously described the Soviet Union as the pre-eminent source of evil in the modern world. The general tenor of the evening was that Reagan's use of the word "evil" had moved the world closer to annihilation. There was a palpable sense that we might not make it to dessert.
When I casually offered that the surviving relatives of the more than 20 million people murdered on orders of Joseph Stalin might not find "evil'" too strong a word, the room took on a collective bemused smile of the sort you might expect if someone had casually mentioned taking up child molestation for sport.
My progressive companions had a point. It was rude to bring a word like "gulag" to the dinner table.
Growing up with a radical liberal mother in the 80s, I remember hearing - constantly - about how President Reagan was going to start a war in Central America. And I believed it, so much that at one point I wrote a letter to President Reagan asking him to not start a war cause my older brother - who was in George Mason University at the time - would be drafted. I didn't want him drafted and killed Vietnam-style - yet another instance of CURRENT HOT-SPOT ON THE GLOBE vs. Vietnam argument that constantly fails to make sense.
I remember being bombarded by a constant stream of crap that Reagan would initiate World War III and I started planning on where to go when the CIA headquarters at Langely (two miles from my house in Virginia) was hit by the first salvo of ICBMs from the Soviet Union. I even joked to friends that if I had enough time that I'd go up on the roof of my building and slather up with tanning lotion so that I'd get a great tan.....for about 0.0034 seconds.
I even remember watching the CBS News with my mom and her constantly making comments about how Reagan was 'out for blood' when the air-traffic controllers went on strike. He's gonna get them all thrown in jail! she would say...and when I expressed a different opinion in her presence that she'd immediately (like most liberals) declare that this wasn't my opinion, but rather someone else's and I was mearly parroting it (in this case; it was my father's opinion which was held in contempt in my mother's house. This was my early exposure to an almost fanatical intolerance of differing ideas & thoughts when confronted with those on the left.
To this day my mother is convinced that the Patriot Act will get her thrown in jail because he talks smack about President Bush and those evil Republicans. And my being a Republican?? She asserts that is cause of the medications I take to control my blood pressure.....25 years later and she is still in denial that I have any notions of my own.
And of course it would take years of independent analysis to un-learn all of that crap, not to mention that as of this afternoon there haven't been any exchanges of ICBMs between the United States and Russia.
Yeah....the serious lack of bomb craters and radiation suits proved those theories wrong.
It's nice to see more and more people realizing that the typical anti-war/anti-Bush/Bushitler!! crowd is loosing people cause they're actually thinking about what's happening and giving it serious thought.
Posted by Mad Mikey at 02:47 PM | Comments (10)
May 15, 2005
Political Leanings
Your Political Profile |
| Overall: 90% Conservative, 10% Liberal |
| Social Issues: 100% Conservative, 0% Liberal |
| Personal Responsibility: 75% Conservative, 25% Liberal |
| Fiscal Issues: 100% Conservative, 0% Liberal |
| Ethics: 75% Conservative, 25% Liberal |
| Defense and Crime: 100% Conservative, 0% Liberal |
(Hat tip to Beth at Yeah Right Whatever)
Posted by Mad Mikey at 10:04 AM | Comments (13)
April 26, 2005
Real ID to become law
Democrats won't stop drivers license verification bill, Reid saysI love that little jab in there about how this bill is the so-called Real ID Act. As opposed to the so-called 'party of the people'??
WASHINGTON — A controversial bill that would require states to verify the citizenship or legal status of anyone applying for a drivers license will likely become law because Senate Democrats don't have the votes to stop it, Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid said Monday.
Aimed at illegal immigrants, the so-called Real ID Act is expected to be included in a final version of an $81 billion spending bill to fund the war in Iraq, according to Reid, D-Nev. House and Senate lawmakers begin negotiating a final version of the spending bill this week.
Reid and most Democrats had fought for months against the Real ID measure and succeeded in keeping it out of the Senate version of the spending bill. But Reid said Democrats have decided they would not hold up passage of the Iraq war spending bill solely because it includes the Real ID Act.
In any case, it's nice to know that since the various states cannot seem to get their sh!t together on who should or shouldn't have a drivers license that (for once) the federal government steps in to take the matter to a conclusion.
(Brain neurons to John Hawkins at Right Wing News for the lead)
Posted by Mad Mikey at 07:47 AM | Comments (1)
April 25, 2005
Attempting to Get Tough Legal-like
I can just hear the whining from New York now:
White House May Go to U.N. Over North Korean ShipmentsBut of course it'll meet a ton of opposition in the *cough* United Nations and will be labeled as 'antagonistic' by many.WASHINGTON, April 24 - The Bush administration, facing a series of recent provocations from North Korea, is debating a plan to seek a United Nations resolution empowering all nations to intercept shipments in or out of the country that may contain nuclear materials or components, say senior administration officials and diplomats who have been briefed on the proposal.
The resolution envisioned by a growing number of senior administration officials would amount to a quarantine of North Korea, though, so far at least, President Bush's aides are not using that word. It would enable the United States and other nations to intercept shipments in international waters off the Korean Peninsula and to force down aircraft for inspection.
But if the United States was to just take matters into their own hands, that's wrong too.
I'm guessing it'll take North Korea popping a nuke somewhere in the region to get the UN's attention (HINT-HINT: Iran).
President Bush is trying to do things the 'nice' way - the way that the UN would *cough* like, but the United States will still be labeled as a 'cowboy nation' for trying to do things that other nations would like us to do.
Posted by Mad Mikey at 10:11 AM | Comments (0)
April 23, 2005
Embrace Your Fears Dude
Cheney Weighs in on Judicial FilibustersTo me, this isn't the 'interfering with the Senate to reduce checks and balances' - it's more like a scorched-earth policy. Looked at in a more simplistic manner, it's the Senate Dems throwing a hissy fit.
WASHINGTON (AP) - Vice President Dick Cheney warned Democrats Friday that he will cast the tie-breaking vote to ban filibusters of President Bush's judicial nominees if the Senate deadlocks on the question.
Republicans are moving the Senate toward a final confrontation with Democrats over judicial nominations. Internal GOP polling shows that most Americans don't support Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist's plan to ban judicial filibusters - a tactic in which opponents can prevent a vote on a nomination with just 41 votes in the 100-member Senate.
"There is no justification for allowing the blocking of nominees who are well qualified and broadly supported," Cheney told the Republican National Lawyers Association. "The tactics of the last few years, I believe, are inexcusable."
"Let me emphasize, the decision about how to proceed will be made by the Republican leadership in the Senate," Cheney said. "But if the Senate majority decides to move forward and if the issue is presented to me in my elected office as president of the Senate and presiding officer, I will support bringing those nominations to the floor for an up or down vote."
Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., said the White House "has stepped over the line by interfering with the Senate to reduce checks and balances."
While I'm not too keen on the Republicans using a 'nuclear policy' to get rid of this road-block - it could easily come back and bite the GOP in the ass down the road - I can understand their getting irritated enough to utilize such tactics.
But while the decision rests with the Republican leadership in the Senate as to whether to 'kick ass & take names', it will also rest squarely on the shoulders of the Democrats on the Judiciary Committee since they don't appear to be moving at all on this and as such will prompt the Republicans to do something - anything - to get an UP or DOWN vote on those remaining nominees.
In all honesty, I can understand why the Dems are pulling these childish tricks - they're trying to wage a war of attrition on the Republicans.
Pragmatism - in any form, big or small - would dictate that eventually the Dems would realize that they've got a snowball's chance in Hell and will capitulate and give an up or down vote. I'm guessing that they're afraid to face the reality of the situation and that by 'holding the fort' for a long enough time that Al Gore or John Kerry will come riding in in the nick of time to save them.
Maybe someone should perform an intervention on the Senate Dems and make them face their fears...? Just a thought.
Posted by Mad Mikey at 10:24 AM | Comments (6)
April 13, 2005
Hi Pot! Wadda Ya Know Kettle?
Sanders paid wife, stepdaughter for campaign effortsTom Delay does it - a 'messed up' situation IMO - and he's practically the Anti-Christ. But dollars-to-donuts that you won't see even a blip on the radar screen from anyone left-of-center on this.
WASHINGTON -- Rep. Bernard Sanders used campaign donations to pay his wife and stepdaughter more than $150,000 for campaign-related work since 2000, according to records filed with the Federal Election Commission.
Jane O'Meara Sanders, his wife, received $91,020 between 2002 and 2004 for "consultation" and for negotiating the purchase of television and radio time-slots for Sanders' advertisements, according to records and interviews.
[...]
Jim Barrett, chairman of the Vermont Republican Party, used Sanders' family payments to highlight what he said is Democratic "hypocrisy" for fiercely attacking DeLay. "It's the standard hypocrisy from the left," Barrett said. "When a Republican does it, it's inappropriate and front page news. But now it turns out, our own Bernie Sanders has been doing it for a long time."
He added: "If it's corruption when Tom DeLay does it, then it's corruption when Bernie Sanders does it."
I'm not going to defend Delay for this - IMO it's bad politics and it smacks of Jesse Jackson putting his entire family on the dole of the Rainbow Coalition (I think that's the group), but before anyone starts to froath-at-the-mouth and sputter inconsistent sentences about the 'evil that is Tom Delay', they'd better take a serious look at their own houses and make sure they're in order.
Make issue of significant instantances of crappy politics, but for the love of Mikey, stop slinging crap just for the ripple-effect in the pond, huh?
Posted by Mad Mikey at 08:38 AM | Comments (3)
April 11, 2005
Voter *cough* Intimidation?
Here's a man that cannot let somethings go:
Kerry cites voter intimidation examplesThere's 'voter intimidation' only when Republicans win - if Dems win any specific election, everything is hunky-dory.
BOSTON, Massachusetts (AP) -- Many voters in last year's presidential election were denied access to the polls through trickery and intimidation, former Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry told a voters' group Sunday.
"Last year too many people were denied their right to vote, too many who tried to vote were intimidated," the Massachusetts senator said at an event sponsored by the state League of Women Voters.
Puh-leaze.....I loose IQ points readin drivel like this.
Posted by Mad Mikey at 11:03 AM | Comments (2)
March 31, 2005
Sandy Berger Pleads Guilty
Berger to Plead Guilty to Taking Classified MaterialYeah....honest mistake when you jam multiple pages down your pants.
WASHINGTON — Former national security adviser Sandy Berger will plead guilty to taking classified material from the National Archives, a misdemeanor, the Justice Department said Thursday.
Berger is expected to appear in federal court in Washington on Friday, said Justice spokesman Bryan Sierra.
Posted by Mad Mikey at 03:40 PM | Comments (3)
March 25, 2005
Yeah....?
Anyone wanna take a crack at this....?
(Glommed from Chris Muir's ever-lasting 'Day by Day' cartoon)
Posted by Mad Mikey at 11:26 AM | Comments (3)
March 23, 2005
Newton Wins Again
Newton's Third Law of Motion meets small-town politics...
ACTION: Not standing for the Pledge of Allegiance and making a stink over it.
REACTION: Getting your butt voted out of office.
Colo. Town Official Who Refused Pledge RecalledWell duh.
ESTES PARK, Colo. — A town trustee who refused to stand up and recite the Pledge of Allegiance during board meetings was voted out of office.
David Habecker lost the recall election Tuesday by a 3-2 margin, with 903 votes in favor of removing him from office to 605 in favor of keeping him.
Habecker is a 12-year member of the Estes Park governing board. The mountain community, located about 60 miles northwest of Denver, has about 5,500 residents.
This clown says he's a free thinker and that the phrase "under God" violates his religious beliefs. Well, that's okay David - the voters have removed that bothersom obstacle to your free thinking.
Why do people think that if they make a stink that it won't stick to them?? Newton wins again dork.
Posted by Mad Mikey at 01:01 PM | Comments (1)
The Numbers Please?
I've said this before and I guess I'll say it again: what numbers are the real thing?
Social Security Said to Go Broke in 2041So once again - which numbers or sets of numbers should you look at to get a 'decent' picture of the situation?WASHINGTON (AP) - The trust fund for Social Security will go broke in 2041 - a year earlier than previously estimated - the trustees reported Wednesday. Trustees also said that Medicare, the giant health care program for the elderly and disabled, faces insolvency in 2020.
The new projections made in the trustees annual report were certain to be cited by both sides in the massive battle to overhaul Social Security, which President Bush has made the top domestic priority of his second term.
The go-broke date for Medicare was delayed by one year, compared to the estimate that trustees gave a year ago.
The insolvency dates represent when both trust funds will have exhausted the government bonds that have been building up to take care of the pending retirement of 78 million baby boomers.
I will admit that I'm a little troubled that I cannot get anyone to say what is a good indicator of the social security solvency problem(s); I'm even a little doubtful of the numbers that the pro-privitization folks utilize. (Ummm, even I know that some cases are slanted to favor those that utilize them).
So, anyone wanna take a crack at it? I've purposefully stayed away from chatting about this cause quite frankly no one has proposed anything concrete as far as serious changes - all it's been has been 'theories'.....
Posted by Mad Mikey at 11:01 AM | Comments (5)
March 09, 2005
It's Not A Tumor!
Bill Clinton to Have Scar Tissue RemovedYour *cough* legacy leaves much to be desired Mr. President, but here's hoping you'll do okay with this procedure.
NEW YORK (AP) - Six months after undergoing heart bypass surgery, former President Clinton will return to the hospital this week to have a rare buildup of fluid and scar tissue removed from his chest.
"I feel fine," Clinton said Tuesday in Washington, adding that he plans to play golf in Florida a day before the operation.
Doctors at New York-Presbyterian Hospital/Columbia University Medical Center, where Clinton is scheduled to have the procedure on Thursday, said the surgery is low-risk.
During the procedure, known as a decortication, doctors will remove scar tissue that is pressing down on his left lung. The surgery will be done either through a small incision or with a video-assisted thorascope inserted between his ribs.
The former president said doctors discovered the condition during a recent X-ray, and he called the surgery a "routine sort of deal."
Posted by Mad Mikey at 06:34 AM | Comments (4)
March 07, 2005
Show Me the Numbers!
Okay, does anyone have a source for raw numbers concerning the Social Security sovency issue??
I've looked around and found a couple of sites: one for the Economic Policy Institute that says one thing and then there's the Social Security Administration's Trustee Report that says another and quite frankly, they both put me to sleep.
I'm trying to get a handle on this issue and it's hard to know what numbers to refer to....
Posted by Mad Mikey at 08:12 AM | Comments (0)
February 13, 2005
Dr. Dean is on the Case
Big change is on the wind at DNC headquarters:
Dean Vows to Revamp PartyDean promises to make the Democratic National Committee less sucky, less obtuse, and more relavant. He'll be coming to your town soon to cater to your every whim - mowing the lawn, washing the family pets, cleaning out the rain gutters - you know, everything that you wish the GOP would do except that Howie will be actuating on those desires.
WASHINGTON — New Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean promised Saturday to rebuild the party in the most conservative regions of the country, help develop state and local organizations and let congressional Democrats set the tone on policy.
Electing Dean on a voice vote during their winter meeting, Democrats put the party's leadership in the hands of the skilled fund-raiser and organizer whose sometimes caustic, blunt comments have lead to controversy. The physician now must contend with a state-by-state political map in which Republican red overwhelms Democratic blue.
"I'll pretty much be living in red states in the South and West for quite a while," Dean told reporters. "The way to get people not to be skeptical about you is to show up and say what you think."
In other news, Dean's infamous scream from the Democratic primaries is now the most popular substitute for the default 'Exclamation' sound in most personal computers.
Posted by Mad Mikey at 12:12 PM | Comments (1)
February 09, 2005
Budget?
I attempted to look over the proposed 2006 budget - I got lost just trying to find where to start.....
Posted by Mad Mikey at 07:39 AM | Comments (0)
February 07, 2005
Indignation Minus the Real Reason
HERE COMES ANOTHER DECEPTIVE DEMOCRAT TALKING POINTI heard about this on the radio in the last few days (can't remember exactly when or what show it was), but my first thought was Oh crap - here's more ammo for those Bush is screwing the vets!!! arguments.....The New York Times reports today that the Bush Administration wants to raise veterans' co-payments for prescription drugs to $15 from a ridiculously low $7 and impose an annual enrollment fee of $250. Does anyone doubt that Democrats are going to talk incessantly about these "cuts"? But here's one thing I bet they won't mention: the Bush proposal is targeted at middle- and upper-income veterans whose disabilities aren't service-related. And here's another: Bush is asking for a total of $71 billion for the Department of Veterans Affairs in the next fiscal year, up nearly 50 percent (from $48 billion) when he took office.
The specifics of this proposed 'cut' are the same as to why I shell out money for private insurance instead of relying on the VA to help me out: there are criteria for the amount of 'free' care a vet can receive, i.e., if you make decent money, you'll be asked to help out with your care.
Believe me, I'd love nothing more than to get the VA to kick down some help, especially since I'm spending $30 three times a week for dialysis. But I don't - partially since there's IMHO too much hassle/paperwork involved to get the VA to kick down some assistance, but mostly because there are veterans that are more FUBARed than I am that require the VA's undivided attention.
Anyway....watch the headlines and the anti-Bush cabal's talking points for this nugget of indignation and also take notice that this caviot of why there are 'cuts' is specifically overlooked.
Posted by Mad Mikey at 01:56 PM | Comments (1)
January 30, 2005
It Doesn't Count!!
I haven't really kept up with the Iraqi elections happening over the last two days, but I do know one thing: no matter what the outcome in these historic elections, the Barking Moonbat Brigade™ will declare that they were illegitimate elections because of any of the following *cough* reasons:
- the U.S. is an occupying force,
- the war in Iraq was illegal and as such, anything that follows is illegal by default,
- Bush = Hitler,
- the war and this election were all for O-I-L,
- it was the United States backing of those darn Joooozzzzz in Israel,
- solar flare activity on the Sun is a direct result of Bush not signing the Kyoto Accords and global warming is causing the Iraqis that are voting to be swayed by U.S. special interests,
- ....Abu Ghraib!, Abu Ghraib!, Abu Ghraib!,
- Gore really won Florida in 2000 and as such, everything since then is just plain fraud,
- because dolphins are actually liberals and those evil GOP minons are suppressing their opinions on the war
UPDATE: The only thing to follow up this post with is explained perfectly by Chris Muir's strip Day by Day:
Posted by Mad Mikey at 10:32 AM | Comments (10)
January 26, 2005
Rice Confirmed, Dems Seethe
Dispite the blatant 'bitter pill' swallowing that the Senate Democrats were forced to do in public, Condoleezza Rice was confirmed today in the U.S. Senate by a vote of 85 to 13.
She'll be sworn in this evening and Senate Dems will still be choking on their own bile....
Posted by Mad Mikey at 12:23 PM | Comments (1)
January 20, 2005
Spoiled Brats
(Glommed from Cox & Forkum)
Posted by Mad Mikey at 08:00 AM | Comments (3)
January 19, 2005
Common Sense - 2, Newdow - 0
The United States Supreme Court has spoken: Newdow - Go Pound Sand!
Supreme Court Rejects Atheist's Inauguration Prayer BidNow I expect we'll be hearing from the Barking Moonbat Brigade about the 'collusion' between Rehnquist and Bushitler and how it's all part & parcel of the VRWC and its plot to impose a theocratic regime here in North America.
WASHINGTON — An atheist lost his bid Wednesday to have the Supreme Court bar the saying of a prayer at President Bush's inauguration.
Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist denied Michael Newdow's claim that a prayer at Thursday's ceremony would violate the Constitution by forcing him to accept unwanted religious beliefs.
In so doing, Rehnquist also rejected Newdow's request to recuse himself from the case because he is scheduled to swear in Bush. Newdow had argued that Rehnquist had become a willing fixture in a government ceremony "infused with sectarian Christian religion" and thus had a conflict of interest.
Rehnquist's order came without comment.
Posted by Mad Mikey at 09:18 AM | Comments (4)
Barbara Boxer - Representing!
I just love being represented by such a howling moonbat such as Senator Barbara Boxer (Moonbat-CA).
I mean, I can't understand why people think that everyone in California is a stark-raving mad, wheat germ munching, tofu frying, lemon-scented water sipping esoteric jerk when we've got Barbara sitting in D.C. representing [/hip hop slang].
Case in point: yesterday, she's cited as saying the following during the Senate Hearings for the confirmation of Secretary of State nominee Condoleezza Rice:
Well, you should read what we voted on when we voted to support the war, which I did not, but most of my colleagues did. It was WMD, period. That was the reason and the causation for that, you know, particular vote.while holding up a piece of paper in a very Neville Chamberlain-like manner.
And as with then-Prime Minister Chamberlain who was simply holding up a folded piece of paper for the cameras, Boxer was probably holding up her assistant's 'To Do' list for that day because unless Barbara was high on helium, the resolution she's referring to - the 'Authorization for Use of Military Force Against Iraq Resolution of 2002' says a LOT more about why we were citing the reason(s) to go into Iraq.
Among the reasons:
- Non-compliance with the 1991 Gulf War cease-fire agreement,
- Iraq repeatedly showing hostile intent towards the United States,
- Iraq was harboring members of Al Qaida,
- Iraq was also harboring & aiding international terrorists,
- Whereas it is in the national security interests of the United States to restore international peace and security to the Persian Gulf region
And what was the reason for getting off our asses back in September 2001? Oh yeah - to fight terrorism you ditzy broad.
There was a reason for getting extremely concerned about weapons of mass destruction: we were about to crap our pants over the thought of those Al Qaida psychos getting a gallon of Sarin or a beer cooler full of antrax and letting loose with that crap in New York, Los Angeles, or Washington, D.C.
So with these facts firmly in mind I'd like to make a suggestion to Barbara:
STFU.
Now please - you're giving us anti-Idiotarians here in California a bad name.
Posted by Mad Mikey at 07:28 AM | Comments (1)
January 07, 2005
Expanding Horizons
Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld demostrates his version of 'Trapped in a Box' for reporters at the Pentagon this week.
Posted by Mad Mikey at 08:01 AM | Comments (0)
December 29, 2004
Ohio Recount Finished - Bush Still Won
For those that thought there might be a slim chance that the Ohio recount would yield a different result for the November 2, 2004 election - get used to disappointment.
Posted by Mad Mikey at 09:04 AM | Comments (1)
December 13, 2004
'Economy in the Toilet'?
I'm no expert on economics, but wouldn't this be a sign of a expanding economy?
Fed Expected to Deliver Fifth Quarter-Point Rate HikeNow, I'm certain that there will be people who will split hairs (?) over the exact definition of 'economy' and of what specific numbers comprise the analysis that the Federal Reserve uses to determine when the economy is in need of economic retardation.WASHINGTON (AP) - With a fall in oil prices easing inflation concerns, the Federal Reserve is expected to continue its easy-does-it approach to raising interest rates, boosting a key rate by a moderate quarter-point at its final meeting of the year Tuesday.
Many analysts believe this pattern of gradual quarter-point rate increases will continue well into the new year. Solid economic growth and an absence of inflation pressures mean Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan and his colleagues can take their time in moving away from exceptionally low interest rates.
But what I have wondered about for the last year or so - especially during the election - was if the economy was in the 'crapper' (as was claimed by most Kerry supporters), then why would the Fed keep raising the interest rates?
Wouldn't raising the prime lending rate in a 'crappy economy' just make it worse?
It just doesn't make sense if one is to believe the *cough* claims made by John Kerry as to why he would have been better for America over President Bush.
Maybe some anti-Bush/pro-Kerry supporter could enlighten me as to this dichotomy.....
Posted by Mad Mikey at 01:51 PM | Comments (1)
November 05, 2004
'Give You the Pentagon!'
There are some 'revealing' facts coming to light with the end of the election that make me thankful that Senator Kerry did not win.
It would seem that Kerry was so desparate to get Arizona Senator John McCain on the ticket as Vice President, that Kerry was willing to change the structure of the Department of Defense:
Now - some Democrats are practically wetting themselves over the prospect of President Bush imposing some sort of theocratic state, but I'd say this is something to be worried about too: Kerry shifting the authority of the Commander-in-Chief.Mr McCain told him he was out of his mind, and went on to embrace Mr Bush. “Goddammit,” a furious Mr Kerry said to an aide. “Don’t you know what I offered him? Why the f*** didn’t he take it?”
Bad pool Mr. Kerry - very bad pool. And I'm thankful that you lost.
Posted by Mad Mikey at 03:57 PM | Comments (6)
November 03, 2004
That Settles That
Bush Wins Re-Election As Kerry Concedes
WASHINGTON (AP) - President Bush won four more years in the White House on Wednesday, pocketing a public concession from Democrat John Kerry that closed out a loud and long campaign fought over the war on terror and the economy.
"We cannot win this election," the Massachusetts senator said in an emotional campaign farewell.
In an appearance in Faneuil Hall in Boston, where he launched his quest for the White House more than a year ago, Kerry said he had telephoned Bush to congratulate him on his victory.
Dispite being elated that President Bush was re-elected - decisively - I am going to really attempt to not gloat or rub it in the noses of those who were convinced that Kerry would win the election.
Really attempt....but I might slip and on occasion do my 'Bush WON' dance.
I haven't heard Kerry's concession speech, but I heard it was remarkably sincere, that he hoped that the division that was dividing most Americans into a 'Us' vs. 'Them' attitude would dissipate. I hope it does too, although from the random viewings around the blogsphere, there are some Dems that are just about to choke on their own bile.
I was prepared to 'suck it up' and concede defeat if Kerry had won and I was prepared to support Kerry as the next President - but that's not the case. Now - can those who supported Kerry & dreamed of Bush's campaign dying a horrible death reconcile and get on with life?
That will be the $64 question to be answered in the next few days....the American people have spoken as to whom they want to be the Commander-in-Chief - let's all be proud that this didn't have to come down to civil unrest like a Third-World banana republic.
Posted by Mad Mikey at 11:51 AM | Comments (8)
October 31, 2004
The Aftermath of Tueday
Robert over at Let's Try Freedom makes an interesting point about the election on Tuesday:
Here's what it boils down to, folks:Regardless of how much I consider John Kerry not qualified to be the next President of the United States, Robert is right: if he wins, he's our President.If John Kerry wins the election, reasonably fair, reasonably square, then he becomes my President and your President.
If George Bush wins the election, reasonably fair, reasonably square, then he remains my President and your President.
This is my pledge, my promise, my what-have-you. It's written down, in black and white. Call me on it if I renege.
This is one aspect of this election that has really caused me concern - the divisiveness that has emerged from the us versus them attitudes.
I had thought long & hard about what would happen after the election was over - would Americans continue to look upon their political 'rivals' as anthing more than that: rivals?
Whether we voted for him or not - whether we consider him the cat's meow as elected officials go - whether we think he's not the sharpest tool in the shed, whoever wins the election on Tuesday will be the President and it should be recognized that it is the will of the American people that the results be honored.
If Kerry is elected, I'll support him as President - even if I don't think he's fit to be dog catcher in Reno, Nevada. I won't bad-mouth him as many have trashed and talked smack about President Bush since 2000.
I'll do what Robert did and ask that you do two things after reading both his and my posts on this:
- Support the winner of the election, whether you like the guy or not, and
- Pass this along to others - either on your blog or through e-mail.
We must remember that while we're conservative, liberal, Republican, Democrat, Libertarian, whatever - we're Americans first.
Posted by Mad Mikey at 08:56 PM | Comments (11)
October 30, 2004
Cronkite: Losing His Marbles
Walter Cronkite needs to check the label on his meds:
CRONKITE: KARL ROVE BEHIND BIN LADEN TAPE
Former CBSNEWS anchorman Walter Cronkite believes Bush adviser Karl Rove is possibly behind the new Bin Laden tape.
Cronkite made the startling comments late Friday during an interview on CNN.
Cronkite said he is "inclined to think that Karl Rove, the political manager at the White House, who is a very clever man, he probably set up bin Laden to this thing."
Interviewer Larry King did not ask Cronkite to elaborate on the provocative election eve accusation.
Developing...
Is this man insane? With crackpot statements like this, the next thing out of Walter's mouth will be about endorsing the use of tin-foil hats to keep your brain safe from mind-controlling beams sent from Department of Suppression satellites in geosynchronous orbit.
I'm serious.....wait for it.
Posted by Mad Mikey at 01:58 PM | Comments (5)
October 25, 2004
No Myth Here
Here are some of those 'lies' that say Kerry is weak on defense:
Kerry's Liberal Record on Defense(The citations for each point can be found on the source page).
- During his 20-year Senate career, John Kerry has voted to cut the Pentagon’s budget 38 times.1
- Kerry has voted 12 times against providing a pay increase to our military men and women.2
- In 2003, Kerry voted against providing $87 billion in funding for our troops in Iraq.3
- In 2002, Kerry voted six times against President Bush’s proposal to establish a Department of Homeland Security in the aftermath of 9/11.4
- In 1996, Kerry introduced legislation to cut the defense budget by $6.5 billion.5
- In 1995, Kerry voted to cut the defense budget by $34 billion.6
- In 1995, Kerry voted to cut the FBI’s budget by $80 million.7
- In 1994, one year after the first terrorist attack on the World Trade Center, Kerry proposed cutting the Intelligence budget by $7.5 billion.8
- In 1984, at the one of the most critical stages of the Cold War, John Kerry ran for the Senate on a platform of eliminating several of President Reagan’s weapons systems that proved critical to defeating the Soviet Union. Among these programs Kerry wanted to eliminate were: The MX Missile, B-1 Bomber, National Missile Defense System, Patriot Air Defense System, and the F-14 Fight Jets. 9
Food for thought come next Tuesday....
Posted by Mad Mikey at 02:38 PM | Comments (2)
October 22, 2004
'Stolen Honor'
It would appear that since the broadcast of the documentary 'Stolen Honor' by the Sinclair Broadcasting Corp is causing such a collection of wrinkled noses by the Kerry campaign, the producers of the film found a solution:
It's a low resolution, but it's still there. I'm watching it now and it's chilling.
(Hat tip to Smash for the link)
Posted by Mad Mikey at 06:28 PM | Comments (1)
Another Kerry Endorsement
Dispite some recent news, John Kerry has picked up another endorsement for his campaign:
(Kerry Slogonator fourd at Wizbang)
Posted by Mad Mikey at 02:45 PM | Comments (5)
UN Dragged in Sunlight, Burning Up Fast
This comes as no surprise:
U.N. hurt by scandal, Annan saysKofi, it's more like what little validity the United Nations possibly at one time commanded is bursting into flames and you're standing around discussing whether to roast weenies or marshmellows.U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan said yesterday the world body's reputation had been damaged by a furor over its oil-for-food program in Iraq, as investigators released the fullest accounting to date of the scandal-plagued program.
Russian and French companies were the most active buyers and sellers under the program, according to figures released yesterday by an independent U.N. investigating panel headed by former Federal Reserve Chairman Paul Volcker.
"There is no doubt that the constant campaign and discussions [over the scandal] have hurt the U.N.," said Mr. Annan, who was given a private briefing in New York by Mr. Volcker. "That's why we want to get to the bottom of it and clear it as quickly as possible. It has done damage, yes."
But that's okay in the eyes of some - there's a nuance to it that makes it all better....
Posted by Mad Mikey at 11:37 AM | Comments (0)
Pinch Hitter
Stellar idea. Out-of-the-box thinking - the kind normally associated with bending spoons with your mind.
Gore to Stump for Kerry in FloridaFirst impression: the scene from M*A*S*H where Frank Burns gets a 40mm anti-aircraft gun installed at the hospital to deal with the menace of 5 O'clock Charley:As if the Florida recount of 2000 didn't loom large enough in the minds of voters and politicians, ABC News has learned that former Vice President Al Gore will campaign for Sen. John Kerry this weekend in Florida.
Kerry made the request of Gore, the 2000 Democratic presidential nominee, over the weekend in a telephone conversation, Democratic sources told ABC News.
Frank: 'He who controls the skies controls the war'. Herman Goering said that!I'm wondering if anyone at the Kerry campaign toyed with the idea of informing Kerry that Gore lost Florida......nah.Hawkeye: Great - we're taking lessons from the losers.
Al is going down Florida way to help explain the nuances of voting for Kerry instead of President Bush.
Posted by Mad Mikey at 06:19 AM | Comments (1)
October 20, 2004
Say What!?
I love how this clown dismisses Gen. Tommy Franks knowledge:
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The former commander of U.S. forces in Iraq and Afghanistan on Tuesday disputed Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry's charge that the Bush administration let Osama bin Laden escape Afghanistan in 2001.Get in the way of facts?! He was the freaking COMMANDER of the military forces in the fight you stupid hack!"I was responsible for the operation at Tora Bora, and I can tell you that the senator's understanding of events doesn't square with reality," retired Army Gen. Tommy Franks wrote in a commentary published by The New York Times.
The Kerry campaign took issue with the retired general's comments. "Franks is a patriot. But in his attempt to campaign for President (George W.) Bush, he's letting political spin get in the way of the facts," said campaign spokeswoman Brooke Anderson.
Who are you gonna believe: someone being briefed with second- or third-hand information or the guy who was updated hourly and was 'in the know'?
That's the beauty of listening to Democrats: they never let little things like facts muddle their thinking....
Posted by Mad Mikey at 10:41 AM | Comments (1)
October 15, 2004
Subtle Hint?
I'm wonder if this is a subtle hint for those that are still undecided about who to vote for on November 2nd....
Posted by Mad Mikey at 03:54 PM | Comments (5)
October 14, 2004
D'oh!
When you know your Democratic candidate just plain sucks ass and the election doesn't look good, there is always the 'tried & true' tactic of stealing signs.
Just hope you're not caught.
Posted by Mad Mikey at 05:12 PM | Comments (1)
October 13, 2004
New Swift Boats Ad
Swift Boat Veterans and POWs for Truth have TWO new advertisements that will make the hair on your neck stand up: They Served.
(Hat tip to Charles at LGF)
Posted by Mad Mikey at 05:36 PM | Comments (0)
October 04, 2004
Four Points of John
Watching the debate last week, I was starting to get a little curious about Kerry's 'Four Point Plan' that he talked about, but didn't elaborate on. So I decided to check it out:
New alliances? With whom? Fiji? Lichtenstein? France and Germany have said that they'd tell Kerry to stick it if he won in November and asked for troops in Iraq, so there's one point that's shot to Hell.
The threat of terrorism demands alliances on a global scale - to utilize every available resource to get the terrorists before they can strike at us. As president, John Kerry will lead a coalition of the able - because no force on earth is more able than the United States and its allies.
We're already in the process of doing this - re-configuring the military to deal with new threats. Besides, Kerry isn't known for promoting military spending during his 20+ years in the Senate. Quite the contrary, he's done all he could to gut the military. Another one heads south....
John Kerry and John Edwards have a plan to transform the world's most powerful military to better address the modern threats of terrorism and proliferation, while ensuring that we have enough properly trained and equipped troops to meet our enduring strategic and regional missions.
Another idea that's already being done. Nice try John. Maybe you could use some of those 'human shields' that went to Iraq right before the war?? Three down....
The war on terror cannot be won by military might alone. As president, John Kerry will deploy all the forces in America's arsenal - our diplomacy, our intelligence system, our economic power, and the appeal of our values and ideas - to make America more secure and prevent a new generation of terrorists from emerging.
Now this would be something, if only he could pull it off. But how.....Oh! I know - we could start drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. But - ooooohhhhh, those darn environmentalists would be screaching about all the moose that would be 'displaced'.
To secure our full independence and freedom, we must free America from its dangerous dependence on Mideast oil. By tapping American ingenuity, we can achieve that goal while growing our economy and protecting our environment.
That's a clean sweep John: ALL of your ideas are crap.
Posted by Mad Mikey at 01:44 PM | Comments (1)
Tolerance? Part II
Can't stand the thought of someone else having an opinion different from your own? Burn a swastika:
Swastika Burned Into Grass On Bush-Cheney Supporter's LawnYou realize that if this had happened to a Kerry/Edwards supporter (and I wouldn't be surprised if it didn't), there would be people screaming repression from coast to coast.Homeowner: 'My Signs Are Going Right Back In The Yard'
MADISON, Wis. -- Madison homeowners are livid after vandals defaced their homes.
Someone burned an 8-foot-by-8-foot Nazi swastika on a home's lawn near where Bush-Cheney signs were posted. The vandals used grass killer to spray the symbol.
Several nearby homes were vandalized -- all were within a two-block radius on the West Side, near Ice Age Trail, News 3 reported.
State Republican Party officials claim it's the latest in a series of desperate acts by Democrats.
Homeowners are angry, but resolute in what they plan to do next.
"I just cannot believe that someone would take the liberty to do this," said homeowner Rob Schaeffer. "We're appalled that someone would choose to destroy our property because they don't believe in our political views. My signs are going right back in the yard. This is my property. We live here. We have rights."
Police are investigating the criminal damage and told the homeowner it will be investigated as a hate crime, which carries stiffer penalties.
Posted by Mad Mikey at 12:01 PM | Comments (6)
In Need of Coffee
I heard about this on the radio this morning while driving into work and just about drove off the road:
(by way of La Shawn Barber and fellow Munuvian Michael King)
I honestly cannot think of anything to say to something as inane and just plain stoopid as this except that this woman needs to drink some really strong coffee and wake up cause this is the 21st century.Black Voters 'Afraid' of Electronic Voting Machines, Activist Says
Miami (CNSNews.com) - An African-American civil rights spokeswoman said on Wednesday that the new computerized voting machines "terrify" her, and that blacks are "afraid of machines like that."
Joanne Bland, the director and co-founder of the National Voting Rights Museum and Institute in Selma, Ala., told CNSNews.com on Wednesday that the new computerized voting machines are going to intimidate black voters in Florida and elsewhere and suppress their vote in the November presidential election because many blacks are not "technologically savvy."
"The computers really terrify me. The electronic voting -- the new machines -- I think it will turn off a segment in my community, particularly the elderly. We are not as technically savvy, and we are afraid of machines like that, and they (African-Americans) probably won't go [to the polls] and they probably won't ask for assistance, said Bland, who spent the last week in Florida.
"It is going to turn them off totally and I want that to stop," said Bland, who also serves as a spokeswoman for the Washington, D.C.-based Institute for Public Accuracy, which predicts that "several million voters" may be "deprived of voting rights again" in 2004.
When asked if she preferred low-tech punch-card ballots that produced the controversial hanging chads in Florida in 2000, Bland responded, "Now that was low technology to who? People that have been privileged to learn technology? There have been lots of changes in the United States, but if you look at the statistics, our biggest block of voters would be between 40 and 80, so when did those people have access to any kind of technology?"
As an 11-year-old in 1965, Bland took part in the Selma-to-Montgomery voting rights march with Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. She has just concluded a speaking tour on the history of the civil rights movement in the Miami area.
"I got the hell out of there Saturday, and I would suggest you do, too. Until we get rid of those Bushes (President George W. Bush and his brother, Florida Governor Jeb Bush), we're going to have a problem in Florida," Bland said.
GOP political operatives were quick to denounce Bland's comments.
African-American GOP consultant Tara Setmayer, who has worked on Florida congressional campaigns, called Bland's remarks "insulting" to black Americans.
"I think it's insulting to imply that African-Americans are unable to comprehend or assimilate modern-day technology," Setmayer said.
"As a registered voter in Florida, I am familiar with these touch screen voting machines,and they're very easy to understand, very voter-friendly," Setmayer told CNSNews.com. "Her claim is absurd," she added.
Syd Dinerstein, the chairman of Republican Party of Palm Beach County, also denounced Bland's comments.
"If there was ever proof positive that the black community needs a different set of leaders, statements like [Bland's] are exactly it," Dinerstein told CNSNews.com .
"I wish the Democrats thought as highly of the black community as Republicans do. We trust black parents to pick the right schools for their children, the Democrats don't. We trust black people to make informed electoral choices, the Democrats don't," Dinerstein said.
"It is sad that the soft bigotry of low expectations is at the core of the fundamental principles of the Democratic Party," he added.
Republican consultant and former political and government affairs director of the African American Republican Leadership Council Kevin Martin also rejected the idea that blacks can't grasp computerized voting.
"What Bland is trying to say is voters down there [in Florida] are dumb, they are not educating themselves. She is saying that African-Americans-- when it comes to voting -- are intellectually inferior," Martin told CNSNews.com.
"You have touch screens in grocery stores, at [state run motor vehicle offices] and African-Americans seem to have no problem using those," he added.
Posted by Mad Mikey at 10:36 AM | Comments (4)
Cause & Effect I
Another demonstration of 'Cause & Effect':
Businesses Protest Hometown Bush PaperI'm not very knowledgeable about newspaper circulations, but wouldn't having several advertisers pull their ads from such a small paper really hurt?CRAWFORD, Texas — The editor of the Crawford, Texas, weekly that bills itself as President Bush's hometown newspaper says he has no regrets about endorsing John Kerry, even after a dozen businesses pulled their advertising from the publication.
"I'd do it again," Leon Smith, publisher of the Lone Star Iconoclast, told the Waco Tribune-Herald in Sunday's editions.
The Iconoclast, which endorsed Bush in 2000, said it now supports the Democrat because of disillusionment with the war and Bush's actions on Social Security, the economy and other issues. An editorial dated Sept. 29 accuses the president of having a "smoke-screened agenda" and leading the United States into a "quagmire" in Iraq on flimsy pretenses.
The newspaper, with a circulation of 425, has become scarce, and copies have shown up on the eBay online auction site.
Business leaders in Bush's adopted hometown of 705 residents about 20 miles west of Waco say they support the president and are critical of the upstart newspaper.
"I think what's his name, Leon Smith, is entitled to his own opinion," said Vicki Martin, an employee at the Coffee Station convenience store and cafe, where Bush sometimes stops during stays at his ranch. "Unfortunately, his opinion hurt a lot of feelings around here. Bush is our neighbor."
Maybe it will - maybe it won't, but I do know that you cannot use your pride to pay your employees.....
Posted by Mad Mikey at 06:41 AM | Comments (7)
October 03, 2004
Brussel Sprouts for Kerry
Is this the mark of a great leader?
At the Senator's Side, a 'Nag' for Good HealthIs Kerry gunning for the vegan vote?"He always did eat salad, but he wouldn't cooked greens," she said. "Now he always has broccoli and loves Brussels sprouts." He also eats more salads and tomatoes, green peas, lentils, beans and other vegetables, she said.
Does anyone really care about inane crap like this?
Is The New York Times hard up for material?
Posted by Mad Mikey at 03:07 PM | Comments (2)
September 29, 2004
Hinder or Help?
Grim news for Kerry or is this the cavalry coming over the hill??
Jackson Joins Kerry Campaign As AdviserWASHINGTON - Civil rights activist Jesse Jackson joined the campaign of Sen. John Kerry on Wednesday as a poll showed support for the presidential candidate slipping among black Americans, a critical Democratic constituency.
The Pew Research Center said Tuesday its latest poll showed 73 percent of blacks supporting Kerry compared to 12 percent supporting President Bush. In 2000, Al Gore won 90 percent of the black vote.
Democratic groups have aired campaign ads criticizing Republican efforts to woo black voters.
The Kerry campaign said Jackson, who will serve as a senior adviser, will travel to battleground states to energize Democratic support for Kerry and running mate John Edwards.
Posted by Mad Mikey at 02:28 PM | Comments (2)
Details - Smeetails
I attempted to have discussion with several non-conservative people in the blogsphere about the 'disenfranchised' voters in Florida during the 2000 election.
In each discussion, I ask "What proof do you have that these voters were genuinely disenfranchised?" and the only source that has been cited has been a lawsuit that was settled OUT OF COURT as the basis for these myths.
Of course, I tried to point out to this individual (who by the way works in a law firm) that when a case is settled 'out of court', neither party is admitting to guilt and no court of law would assume that when one party 'settles' or seeks to settle that they're guilty; they just want to get it over and done with.
This person just told me that 'if I couldn't figure it out then they couldn't help me' - which I took to mean if I conked myself in the head with a ball-peen hammer, then I'd be able to 'connect-the-dots' and see the VRWC in all its beauty.
NOTE: I won't say who this person was cause I don't want to cause them to get ridiculed, but I am displaying this 'arrogance' in substantiating their claim as being typical of left-of-center folks that see boogie-men in all their closets.
I came across something over at National Review Online that (IMHO) smashes the myths of Florida into fine powder.
I realize that some might roll their eyes at the 'legitimacy' of this news organization, but from my experience, NRO - while not admitting to being unbiased - is known for being reputible. I realize that I won't be able to convince anyone that's already convinced, but it helps me get the straight facts about the story - or at least clarifies the situation a bit more to my liking.
Enjoy.
Florida ForeverThings make a bit more sense when you look at the fine print, no?Several pundits have predicted that there will be a huge turnout for the Florida Democratic primary Tuesday, particularly among black voters. This, despite the fact that John Kerry has effectively secured the nomination.
The reasons are twofold: (1) Democrats will make every effort to get out the vote to demonstrate that Florida will be in play during the general election; and (2) black voters, incensed that they were systematically harassed, intimidated and prevented from voting in the 2000 presidential election -- the "stolen" election -- will stream to the polls in droves.
The second reason is a political myth repeated ad nauseum during the Democratic presidential primary. But political myths can overcome facts through sheer repetition: The New Deal ended the Depression; tax cuts caused budget deficits in the eighties, etc. These myths serve vital partisan imperatives -- especially when the policy cupboards of the partisans are bare or vermin-infested.
Even before the last vote had been cast in the 2000 presidential election, activists had descended upon Florida, claiming a widespread conspiracy to disenfranchise black voters. Allegations that state troopers put up roadblocks and checkpoints to prevent blacks from voting were rampant. Dogs and hoses were allegedly used to drive black voters from the polls. Bull Connor's heirs had been unleashed -- all at the direction of Governor Bush and his sidekick, Secretary of State Katherine Harris.
The U.S. Commission on Civil Rights investigated over a six-month period beginning in January of 2001. Its 200-page majority report, "Voting Irregularities in Florida During the 2000 Presidential Election," excoriates Florida's election officials for various acts of misfeasance. But the conclusions drawn by the report often bore little relationship to the facts contained therein. And media descriptions of the report did little to dispel the widespread belief among the black electorate that blacks had been systematically targeted for harassment, intimidation and disenfranchisement.
Of course, very few actually read the report. But the handful that did (especially the incisive dissent authored by Commissioners Abigail Thernstrom and Russell Redenbaugh) discovered the astonishing mendacity underlying the myth.
There's absolutely no evidence that a single person was intimidated, harassed, or prevented from voting by Florida law enforcement. Despite claims of rampant police intimidation and harassment, the only evidence of law-enforcement "misconduct" consisted of just two witnesses who described their perceptions regarding the actions of the Florida Highway Patrol. One of these witnesses testified that he thought it was "unusual" to see an empty patrol car parked outside a polling place. There was no evidence that sight of the vehicle somehow intimidated the witness or any other voters from casting ballots. There was no evidence that the erstwhile occupant of the vehicle harassed voters. There was no evidence that the empty vehicle was there for the purpose of somehow disenfranchising anyone assigned to vote at that location.
The second witness had filed a highly publicized complaint with the NAACP regarding a police motor-vehicle checkpoint. In the hysterical recount period following the election the complaint took on a life of its own and apparently became part of the basis for the legend that legions of cops were harassing thousands of black voters throughout Florida.
The evidence, however, shows that the checkpoint in question was two miles from the polling place. Moreover, it was not even on the same road as the polling facility. During the checkpoint's approximately ninety minutes of operation, citations for faulty equipment were issued to 16 individuals, 12 of whom were white. The uncontroverted evidence shows that no one was delayed or prohibited from voting due to the lone checkpoint.
There's no evidence of systematic disenfranchisement of black voters. The myth of a nefarious plot to thwart black voters from casting ballots is wholly unsupported by the evidence. Inconvenience, bureaucratic errors and inefficiencies were indeed pervasive. But these problems don't rise to the level of invidious discrimination. (There was one case in which a black woman alleged that she was turned away from a poll at closing time whereas a white man wasn't.)
Much has been made of the "felon purge list", i.e., a list of those individuals who, under Florida law, were to be barred from voting due to felony convictions (see the Felon Franchise). The list had been prepared to prevent the kind of fraud that had occurred in the infamous Miami mayoral election in which a number of ineligible felons voted.
The list was inaccurate; it included people who shouldn't have been on it. Thus, the myth holds that the purge list was somehow a tool to deny blacks the right to vote.
But facts are stubborn things. Whites were actually twice as likely as blacks to be erroneously placed on the list. In fact, an exhaustive study by the Miami Herald concluded that "the biggest problem with the felon list was not that it prevented eligible voters from casting ballots, but that it ended up allowing ineligible voters to cast a ballot" (This quote, as well as many of the facts contained herein, come from Commissioners Abigail Thernstrom's and Russell Redenbaugh's dissent to the Commission report.). According to the Palm Beach Post more than 6,500 ineligible felons voted.
State officials were not at fault for widespread voter "disenfranchisement". The myth holds that Governor Bush, in league with Secretary of State Katherine Harris, either by design or incompetence, failed to fulfill their electoral responsibilities, resulting in the discriminatory disenfranchisement of thousands of black voters. This was purportedly a key to the overarching Republican plot to steal the election from Al Gore.
Again, reality intrudes. The uncontroverted evidence shows that by statute the responsibility for the conduct of elections is in the hands of county supervisors, not the governor or secretary of state. County supervisors are independent officers answerable to county commissioners, not the governor or secretary of state. And in 24 of the 25 counties that had the highest ballot-spoilage rates, the county supervisor was a Democrat. (In the remaining county the supervisor was not a Republican, but an independent.)
Moreover, as is simply put by Commissioner Thernstrom, voter error is not the same thing as "disenfranchisement." Even if more black than white voters spoiled their ballots by mistake, that's not evidence of a scheme to discriminate on the basis of race, and it certainly doesn't evoke images of dogs and fire hoses.
After issuance of the commission's report some diehards, perhaps realizing that history frowns on demagoguery, desperately sought any facts that might support the myth. The Justice Department was pressed for action.
The Justice Department conducted a thorough investigation. The result:
The Civil Rights Division found no credible evidence in our investigation that Floridians were intentionally denied their right to vote during the November 2000 election.The Justice Department did find violations of the Voting Rights Act in three counties. The infractions were that some poll workers had been hostile to Hispanic voters, bilingual assistance hadn't been provided to two Haitian voters and some Hispanic voters had been denied bilingual assistance. None of the offending counties was controlled by Republicans.Of course, there's a reason why charges of disenfranchisement have great traction among the black electorate. After all, the Voting Rights Act wasn't simply a piece of feel-good legislation. Poll taxes, literacy tests, and worse remain vivid memories for far too many.
That's precisely why baseless claims of voter harassment on the basis of race are particularly odious. They inflame racial tensions by perpetuating a belief that the shameful practices from two generations past continue unabated; that a virulently racist hegemony is forever poised to subjugate minorities.
The consequences of generating suspicion of the electoral process for the sake of partisan advantage are at once insidious and profound. They dangerously undermine the legitimacy of government and encourage rejection of its authority.
The myth is poisonous to society and democracy. Its antidote is a relentless, adamant repetition of the truth.
Posted by Mad Mikey at 01:26 PM | Comments (6)
Scare Tactics, Part Deux
From Cox & Forkum
Posted by Mad Mikey at 10:08 AM | Comments (1)
September 24, 2004
Child Psychology
So....Ter-RAY-zaa said 'I wouldn't be surprised if he appeared in the next month'. Wow - she's psychic. Or more like psycho.
Let's look at this: if the U.S. forces in Afghanistan were to capture Osama bin Laden, then everyone left-of-center would instantly scream 'Ahhh-HAAAA!!' and (falsely) assert that the Bush campaign planned it to get a boost in the polls. Yet if he is not not captured, then those same people would be screaming 'FAILURE!!' much like John Kerry said yesterday.
There is a saying (maybe it's old - I dunno exactly) that's appropriate: they'd bitch if you hung them with a new rope.
IMO the Kerry campaign - and those that just flat-out loathe President Bush in general - act & react to any news much like a spoiled child throwing a temper-tantrum: nothing will get them to shut up and/or be happy.
And do you know what the scary thing is? That in the early hours of Wednesday, November 3rd, when President Bush is declared the winner, that there will be foaming-at-the-mouth and possible riots in some cities because these 'children' can't handle the reality of the election.
Why do I say this?
Cause if for some screwball reason Kerry wins the election, you're not going to see Republicans/Conservatives getting worked up into a frenzy. Yes, they'll be pissed that Bush didn't win but they won't resort to childish tactics to vent their spleens; Dems can almost be counted on to react like spoiled children that are denied their lollipops....
Posted by Mad Mikey at 12:26 PM | Comments (5)
I Hate It When This Happens
The AnalogKid at Random Nuclear Strikes relates an e-mail he got concerning some 'disappearing' Bush/Cheney yard signs:
Last Thursday I put out one of my Bush/Cheney signs in my front yard. Between midnight and 3:00 a.m. someone stole it. On Friday night I put out sign No. 2. Since I didn't have to get up early, I thought my dog and I would "stake out" our sign. This time I put the sign a little closer to the gate leading to my backyard. With my dog on an extra long leash, I planted myself on a lawn chair and read "Unfit for Command" by flashlight until about 1:00 a.m. Here comes the fun part . . . I noticed that the car coming down the street was slowing down and pulling over to the curb right next to my yard. Sure enough, he gets out of his car and heads right for my sign. Just as he was about to uproot and desecrate it, I opened my gate and let my dog make the initial introduction! As he ran to hide behind the rear end of his car, I promptly moved to the driver-side door, which was still open. It was a fairly nice car with power everything and still running. While my dog continued to "introduce" herself, I rolled up the window and hit the power door lock button. With that, I slammed the door, grabbed my Bush sign and headed into the back yard.Is it Karma? Maybe, but I'm leaning more toward 'barking moonbat' that's about as smart as a bag of hammers....And now for the "rest of the story." About 40 minutes later, I heard a knock at the door. I opened the door to one of our city's finest . . . the Vancouver Police Department. The officer asked me what was going on and when I told him, he could not stop laughing! I followed him out to the perp's car and stood there while he asked the guy a few more questions. Upon learning that the guy lived a couple of streets down, I -- knowing what was about to happen -- asked him, "Why do you have Oregon plates on your car if you live just down the street (here in Vancouver, Wash.)?" Larry, Oregon has no sales tax, so often Washington residents will buy and register cars in Oregon to avoid paying sales tax . . . it's a crime and the fine is pretty stiff. Here comes the best part. . . . The look on this guy's face told me he knew he was about to get busted. When the officer asked for his license and registration, the "Democrat" mumbled that (his license) was suspended. Just for kicks and giggles I asked the officer if he smelled any alcohol coming from the guy! The officer looked at me, smiled and promptly gave him a field breathalyzer test. Guess what? You got it, he blew a .10, legally drunk in the state of Washington.
DUI, illegal registration and the brand of "MORON," all 'cause he hates Bush!
Posted by Mad Mikey at 10:37 AM | Comments (1)
September 22, 2004
'Scare Tactics' hosted by Kerry
Oh give me a break:
Kerry Says Draft May Return Under Bush
WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. - Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry , citing the war in Iraq and other trouble spots in the world, raised the possibility Wednesday that a military draft could be reinstated if voters re-elect President Bush .It took the U.S. military years to recover from the effects of having draftees serve and with the exception of two-headed aliens attacking the entire planet, there's no way that a new draft would ever get the okay - from Congress nor the Department of Defense.Kerry said he would not bring back the draft and questioned how fairly it was administered in the past.
Answering a question about the draft that had been posed at a forum with voters, Kerry said: "If George Bush were to be re-elected, given the way he has gone about this war and given his avoidance of responsibility in North Korea and Iran and other places, is it possible? I can't tell you."
Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld and other Pentagon officials have been asked numerous times whether they thought a draft would be necessary to maintain force levels in Iraq. They have said consistently that they think it is neither necessary nor desirable, since today's military is built on volunteer service and professionalism.
Is Kerry that desparate that he has to try and scare voters with this crap? If it were realistic, yes, I could see him raising concerns about it. Hell, there's even a small cause for this - there currently is (or was - I cannot locate H.R. 163) a bill in Congress to re-instate the draft. The things that aren't mentioned is that:
- It was initiated by Democratic representatives, and
- it has about a snowball's chance in Hell of ever getting out of committee and onto the floor of the House for a vote.
Posted by Mad Mikey at 02:27 PM | Comments (6)
September 21, 2004
Myths Debunked, Part Deux
Although this is a re-print of an article from the Dallas Morning News, it does (at least to me) 'fill in some of the blanks' about all of the foaming-at-the-mouth questions concerning President Bush's service in the Texas Air National Guard.
Go give it a read.
You'll either have your thinking confirmed or you'll be thrown into the Pit of Dispair™ over the agony of having what you thought was the 'truth' being smashed to little pieces.
(Via Beldarblog)
Posted by Mad Mikey at 09:12 AM | Comments (1)
September 20, 2004
Bloggers 1, Rather 0
Dan Rather has issued a statement concerning the Killian Memos (via Drudge Report):
Last week, amid increasing questions about the authenticity of documents used in support of a 60 MINUTES WEDNESDAY story about President Bush's time in the Texas Air National Guard, CBS News vowed to re-examine the documents in question—and their source—vigorously. And we promised that we would let the American public know what this examination turned up, whatever the outcome.Actually, nothing is more important that you appearing to eat your hat to regain some of your lost viewers.Now, after extensive additional interviews, I no longer have the confidence in these documents that would allow us to continue vouching for them journalistically. I find we have been misled on the key question of how our source for the documents came into possession of these papers. That, combined with some of the questions that have been raised in public and in the press, leads me to a point where—if I knew then what I know now—I would not have gone ahead with the story as it was aired, and I certainly would not have used the documents in question.
But we did use the documents. We made a mistake in judgment, and for that I am sorry. It was an error that was made, however, in good faith and in the spirit of trying to carry on a CBS News tradition of investigative reporting without fear or favoritism.
Please know that nothing is more important to us than people's trust in our ability and our commitment to report fairly and truthfully.
In related news, Bill Burkett is identified as the source of the bogus memos:
Rather this weekend interviewed Bill Burkett, a retired Texas National Guard officials who has been mentioned as a possible source for the documents. His interview will be on "CBS Evening News" on Monday.Does the trail end here with Burkett?CBS said Burkett acknowledged he provided the documents and said he deliberately misled a CBS producer, giving her a false account of their origin to protect a promise of confidentiality to a source.
We'll have to wait and see what pops up on the scope....
Posted by Mad Mikey at 10:04 AM | Comments (1)
September 17, 2004
Threatened by a 3-Year Old?
This is messed up:
Democrats accused of ripping Bush signs
A West Virginia man said yesterday that Democrats stole his family's Bush-Cheney campaign signs at an event featuring Democratic vice presidential candidate Sen. John Edwards.I can't say that supporters of President Bush are all 'peaches-N-cream', but to get rough with a 3-year old that's holding a sign her Daddy gave her just speaks VOLUMES about what Kerry supporters feel threatened about. Honestly, this little girl was probably just happy to be participating in something with her father and sitting on his shoulders."They just pounced on us," said Phil Parlock, who took his 11-year-old son, Alex, and 3-year-old daughter, Sophia, to the Democratic rally at Tri-State Airport in Huntington, W.Va.
Sophia became briefly famous yesterday when an Associated Press photo showing her in tears after Democrats tore her sign to pieces was posted on Matt Drudge's Web site, www.drudgereport.com.
Sophia is the youngest of 10 children in a proudly patriotic family. The oldest two Parlock children, a 22-year-old daughter and a 21-year-old son, are members of the West Virginia Army National Guard, and a third Parlock - who recently turned 18 - will be sworn into the guard tomorrow, Mr. Parlock said.
The Parlocks went to Mr. Edwards' airport rally yesterday "to support the president," Mr. Parlock said, and brought nine Bush-Cheney signs with them.
"We stood there quietly while Senator Edwards went through the receiving line," he said. Then, as the North Carolina Democrat prepared to leave, Mr. Parlock said, "I took out a few Bush-Cheney signs, gave one to Alex, and Sophia and I held up one jointly."
Immediately, he said, the family was set upon by supporters of Mr. Edwards and Democratic presidential nominee Sen. John Kerry - "mostly the painters union guys" - who "started stealing my signs." Soon, "old women and college students joined in the fracas," said Mr. Parlock, describing himself as "strictly a volunteer, grass-roots supporter" of the president. Mr. Parlock ran unsuccessfully for his local school board this year.
After the family returned home from the rally yesterday, he said, a friend called to tell him about the AP photo on the Drudge site. "In the picture, you can see one of the painters union guys has a piece of one of my signs in his hand."
A call to the Kerry-Edwards campaign last night was not returned.
Anti-war demonstrators have complained in recent weeks that they have been manhandled by security agents at Bush-Cheney campaign events.
Geez, it kind of makes me wonder just how much foaming-at-the-mouth will occur when President Bush is re-elected. Maybe I should get some hip waders on order?
(Michelle sees the overflowing love too.)
UPDATE: The International Union Painters & Allied Trades attempts some damage control:
The International Union of Painters and Allied Trades believes in the fundamental right for civil discourse, freedom of speech and activism to support our candidates and issues.You're gonna take that one guy with bits of sign in his hand and kick his ass? Cause I tell you: if that happened to my kid, I'd be getting medieval on his carcass....What happened in Huntington, West Virginia yesterday is an affront to everything we, as a union, pride ourselves to represent. We extend our apologies to the Parlock family, especially Sophia, for the distress one of our overzealous members caused them.
I have personally taken steps to address this issue internally, and will take immediate disciplinary action to the full extent allowed under U.S. Department of Labor regulations and the constitution of the International Union of Painters and Allied Trades.
It is my hope that this incident reminds all of our members that every last citizen in this country has the right to express his or herself freely. Not one single one of us has the right to tell them otherwise.
General President James A. Williams
The International Union of Painters and Allied Trades
Posted by Mad Mikey at 06:04 AM | Comments (10)
September 15, 2004
High Standard
Michelle Malkin has a new column out where she takes Dan (What's the frequency?) Rather and CBS to task:
I know I said I wouldn't be posting anything else about the Killian memos, but I liked what Michelle said about the standards to which CBS has sunk and the standards by which bloggers (such as myself) try to attain: the truth and the facts cause each of us has multiple critics to ping on bad information.The death cry of snob journalism
Dan Rather, Professional Journalist, and CBS News, Professional News Network, want us to keep believing they are the ordained purveyors of truth. They are the mature and responsible mavens of media ethics. They are the information gatekeepers with unparalleled judgment, dedicated to the high principles of The Craft of Journalism, unwavering in their crusade for the public interest.
As the saying goes in the blogosphere: Bwah-hah-hah.
Posted by Mad Mikey at 07:21 AM | Comments (4)
September 14, 2004
Is that a Train....?
Unless there's something really interesting that pops up soon, I think I am done with the CBS/Killian memo fiasco - or as many are calling it: Fraudgate™ or Memogate™.
It's interesting to watch this unfold - especially since I know that modern news reporting will be changed as a result of all of the blogsphere letting loose on CBS News and Dan Rather.
But it's like watching an boa constrictor swallow a rabbit - disgusting when thought of yet many watch it anyway. But after the initial euphoria has worn off you start thinking 'Get on with it darnit - I got stuff to do'.
I'll keep one eye on it and I might post something about the (hopefully) final outcome, but the play-by-play I'll leave to the heavy-hitter bloggers like LGF, Allah, or Wizbang. Trying to keep up with the constantly unfolding of events is starting to evolve into the 'light at the end of the tunnel' resolving into an on-coming freight train.
Posted by Mad Mikey at 06:41 AM | Comments (2)
September 13, 2004
Yeah....What She Said
Michelle at A Small Victory appears to have summerized all of this Killian memo crap:
Had Rather stood up and feigned shock that the memos might be false, and then hired another expert or at least addressed the possibility that he and CBS might have been duped, we would not be sitting here talking about typesetting. But Rather has been outed, so to speak, as a braying, defensive, partisan hack who has no more integrity than Jayson Blair. Perhaps he should be shaking his fist at his source - or himself - instead of bloggers.
Posted by Mad Mikey at 10:58 AM | Comments (0)
Information Overload
There's just too much information breaking out on the web about the Killian memos on President Bush's service in the Texas ANG. So much that I'm starting to get cross-eyed from it.
The place to keep up with it is over at Allah's house.
I think now would be a good time for CBS to come 'clean' and admit they got suckered and for Dan Rather to consider retiring....
Posted by Mad Mikey at 08:22 AM | Comments (0)
September 10, 2004
A Question to Ponder
From The Politburo Diktat:
Wizbang asks an interesting question.Ya know, this wouldn't surprise me a bit....
So does Spacetown.Who is "a Democratic Party strategist known as a master of the black art of "oppo," or opposition research, used to discredit detractors?"
Who is "such a shrewd practitioner of what one admiring strategist called 'the political black arts' that lately, when a negative story appears, rivals point to him?"
Whose "fingerprints were all over the revelation of GW Bush’s DUI arrest on election-eve?"
Who is now working for Michael Moore?
UPDATE:
It would seem that Mikey Moore is banking on this 'damning information' to sway many, many voters:
Later today (Wed.), the Boston Globe, the A.P. and Dan Rather all present new and damning information about how George W. Bush got moved to the front of the line to get in the Texas Air National Guard, and how he then went AWOL. I am putting every ounce of trust I have in my fellow Americans that a majority of them get this, get the injustice of it all, and get the sad, sick twisted irony of how it relates very, very much to our precious Election 2004.Interesting....
Me personally - I would have zipped my mouth shut and let the public 'get it' on their own if I were gunning to get President Bush out of office in case they were discovered to be fakes. But then again, Moore is known for calling lots of attention to himself....to putting the spotlight on his 'keen intellect'.
Now, if you were in the 'know' on possible 'smoking gun' memos and wanted to make sure that everyone knew about them, would you quietly slip them to Dan Rather or would you trumpet the fact that you're the one nailing Bush's coffin shut and do a hideous fat-man dance?
Like I said - it wouldn't surprise me....
Posted by Mad Mikey at 09:36 AM | Comments (1)
Ruh-Roh!
As my good friend Stevie would sometimes say:
Now, the producer says, there is growing concern inside the building on 57th Street that they may have been suckered by the Kerry campaign.
If this gets any bigger like it has in the last 24 hours, someone is gonna get a serious ass kicking over at Kerry HQ.
Posted by Mad Mikey at 06:31 AM | Comments (3)
September 09, 2004
Busted!
You know those memos that just surfaced from President Bush's former commanding officer? The ones that 'show' Lt. Bush was a problem? They're probably forgeries.
From Power Line: The Sixty-First Minute
Today's big Boston Globe story on President Bush's Air National Guard service is based on memos to file from the personal records of the late Lieutenant Colonel Jerry B. Killian: "Bid cited to boost Bush in Guard."The Globe story is itself based on last night's 60 Minutes report: "New questions on Bush Guard duty." The online version of the 60 Minutes story has links to the memos. Killian died in 1984; CBS states that it "consulted a handwriting analyst and document expert who believes the material is authentic." Readers Tom Mortensen and Liz MacDougald direct us to a FreeRepublic thread post no. 47 to this effect:
Every single one of the memos to file regarding Bush's failure to attend a physical and meet other requirements is in a proportionally spaced font, probably Palatino or Times New Roman. In 1972 people used typewriters for this sort of thing (especially in the military), and typewriters used mono-spaced fonts.There's a couple of updates that add 'fuel to the fire'.I was a clerk/typist for the US Navy at the Naval Underwater Systems Center (NUSC) in Newport RI for my summer job in 1971 when I was in college. I note the following with regard to the Killian memos:
- Tom Mortensen is absolutely correct. Variable type was used only for special printing jobs, like official pamphlets. These documents are forgeries, and not even good ones. Someone could have at least found an old pre-Selectric IBM (introduced around 1962). Actually, I believe we were using IBM Model C's at the time, which was the precursor to the Selectric.
- I also used a Variype machine in 1971. I fooled around with it in my spare time. It was incredibly difficult to set up and use. It was also extremely hard to correct mistakes on the machine. Most small letters used two spaces. Capital letters generally used three spaces. I think letters like "i" may have used one space. Anyway, you can see that this type of machine was piloted by an expert, and it would NEVER be used for a routine memo. A Lt. Colonel would not be able to identify a Varitype machine, let alone use it.
- US Navy paper at the time was not 8 1/2 x 11. It was 8 x 10 1/2. I believe this was the same throughout the military, but someone will have to check on that. This should show up in the Xeroxing, which should have lines running along the sides of the Xerox copy.
- I am amused by the way "147 th Ftr.Intrcp Gp." appears in the August 1, 1972 document. It may have been written that way in non-forged documents, but as somone who worked for ComCruDesLant, I know the military liked to bunch things together. I find "147 th" suspicious looking. 147th looks better to me, but the problem with Microsoft Word is that it keeps turning the "th" tiny if it is connected to a number like 147. And finally......
- MORE DEFINITIVE PROOF OF FORGERY: I had neglected even to look at the August 18, 1973 memo to file. This forger was a fool. This fake document actually does have the tiny "th" in "187th" and there is simply no way this could have occurred in 1973. There are no keys on any typewriter in common use in 1973 which could produce a tiny "th." The forger got careless after creating the August 1, 1972 document and slipped up big-time.
In summary, the variable type reveals the Killian memos to be crude forgeries, the tiny "th" confirms it in the 8/18/73 memo, and I offer my other points as icing on the cake.
Memo for May 4, 1972 (PDF format)
Memo for May 19, 1972 (PDF format)
Memo for August 1, 1972 (PDF format)
Memo for August 18, 1973 (PDF format)
The odd thing is that when I was looking at them they didn't seem 'right', but I couldn't figure out what it was about these 'memos' that was strange. Now it makes sense.
Are people that desperate to get President Bush out of office? At least get some people who know what they're doing fools....
UPDATE: The Drudge Report has picked this up so it'll get even MORE exposure.
Posted by Mad Mikey at 10:39 AM | Comments (3)
September 08, 2004
Registered to Vote?
It's a good thing that the 'world' isn't eligible to vote here in November.
From the International Herald Tribune: Global poll shows a Kerry landslide
If the world could cast a vote in the United States presidential election, John Kerry would beat George W. Bush by a landslide, according to a poll released on Wednesday that is described as the largest sample of global opinion on the race.The part I laughed at was this:"It is absolutely clear that John Kerry would win handily if the people of the world could vote," said Steve Kull, director of The Program on International Policy Attitudes of the University of Maryland, a co-sponsor of the survey. "It is rather striking that just one in five people surveyed around the world support the re-election of President Bush.
The most negative attitude toward the U.S. came from France, Germany and Mexico, where roughly 80 percent of those surveyed thought that the foreign policies of President Bush had made them feel worse about the United States.Huh....France wasn't singing this tune back in 1944 when it was liberated from the Germans, who likewise weren't saying jack during the Cold War when the United States & NATO kept them from being taught Russian with a cattle prod. And Mexico? What a bunch of tools: 'We hate the Americans and what they do, but we want to live in Denver.In addition to presidential preferences, the poll also inquired about people's views on U.S. foreign policy.
It's so nice to know that some cultures have the moral center-of-gravity to make such judgmental calls like these....
Posted by Mad Mikey at 01:14 PM | Comments (4)
September 06, 2004
The Fifth One
I only briefly skimmed over them, but the 16 different propositions on the November 2004 ballot are sure to bring out just the very best in people.
I'll have to read them over and then read them over once more to get an idea of where I stand on some of the more virulent ones.
Short snap-judgment: Anything the ACLU objects to must be a good thing.
When I first settled here in California, I thought that initiatives and propositions were a good thing - a way to enable the people to directly have their will manifested in public law. It's called 'direct democracy' and it seemed to be the way to step on the necks of those in Sacramento in order to get stuff done.
But with each new election cycle and each new batch of initiatives & propositions that appear to be written by Charles Manson on a good day, I'm beginning to think that the Fifth Horseman of the Apocalypse will be the Secretary of State of California weilding a fistful of petitions.
Posted by Mad Mikey at 12:01 PM | Comments (1)
September 03, 2004
Two Peas in a Pod
Thinking that John Edwards as Vice President would be a good thing? Think that only Kerry is capable of talking out one side of his face and blabbing something different out the other? Think again:
Now I know that this is from FrontPageMag, so some might not consider it as even slightly credible. Pluse, the quote mentions that the HEROES Act passed the House and not the Senate; it's a little weird that Edwards would try to doink around with legislation in the House of Representatives when he's a Senator. Maybe he put a 'secret hold' on the Senate's version of the HEROES Act before the two versions were hooked up in committee?And this is the same John Edwards who had the audacity, in his speech at the Democratic Convention, to paint a picture of a military wife struggling to pay the bills while her husband is stuck on extended duty in Iraq. Last year, Edwards personally put a “secret hold” on a bill called the HEROES Act that would waive student-loan payments for soldiers fighting overseas, so he could attach an amendment to it and take the credit. Edward’s staff initially denied, then admitted, that he had put a hold on the popular legislation, which passed the house 421-1.
Actually, this doesn't surprise me considering that Kerry had to search for the 'perfect' candidate to run on his ticket. He/she had to be a hypocrite just like Kerry.
To paraphrase Forrest Gump: They go together like peas and carrots.
(Nicely glommed from Brent at The Ville
Posted by Mad Mikey at 10:00 AM | Comments (0)
Excused Absence?
As much as I wanted to see it - and I specifically AFFIRMED my ownership of the television with the rest of the household beforehand - I didn't watch President Bush speaking at the RNC.
As my inverse Irish luck would dictate, I was recovering from minor surgery and was zonked out on H-bomb strength medication.
From the quick look at the blogsphere, the reactions were mostly positive.
Posted by Mad Mikey at 06:25 AM | Comments (7)
September 01, 2004
Credibility
Something I noted on the sidebar over at Croooow Blog:
I actually plan to vote for John Kerry before I vote against him.I have a feeling this 'I voted for the $87 billion before I voted against it' will go down in history as the quote that destroyed Kerry's credibility.Posted by Mad Mikey at 09:47 AM | Comments (2)
August 31, 2004
RNC - Day One
Thanks for C-SPAN, I was able to watch some of the Republican National Convention Speeches after getting home from school last night. Even though I was dog-tired, I stayed up to catch the end of John McCain's speech and to listen to former New York City Mayor Rudy Guliani talk.
I liked what McCain had to say even if he said it in his soft spoken voice and especially when he slammed Michael Moore and the crowd roared with approval.
And I loved Rudy's speech - he really sounded like he was just 'talking' to you instead of pontificating in front of an audience. I'm really hoping he considers a run for the White House in 2008 - that would be something.
Posted by Mad Mikey at 06:35 AM | Comments (2)
August 30, 2004
Doh!
I hate it when this happens:
Posting of Delegate Data InvestigatedWASHINGTON - The Secret Service is investigating the posting on the Internet of names and personal information about thousands of delegates to the Republication National Convention in New York, officials said Monday.Well, now Indy Media can radically, accurately, and passionately cooperate with the nice government agents.The probe focuses on anonymous postings on a Web site operated by the Independent Media Center, which describes itself as "a network of collectively run media outlets for the creation of radical, accurate and passionate tellings of the truth."
SIDENOTE: Can you imagine the sheer volume of the screams of anguish had this been a list of Democratic delegates? Published on an anti-idiotarian website??
Wine glasses around the world would shatter....
Posted by Mad Mikey at 01:52 PM | Comments (0)
August 25, 2004
Sage Words
I'm not a huge fan of his music, but I like his style:
Alice Cooper: Anti-Bush acts treasonous moronsW00t!
Shock-rock legend Alice Cooper calls rock stars campaigning for Democrat John Kerry treasonous morons.
The 56-year-old Cooper says he was disgusted to learn the likes of Bruce Springsteen, John Mellencamp, R.E.M., Sheryl Crow, James Taylor and Dave Matthews were hitting the road for a series of concerts designed to help defeat President Bush.
"To me, that's treason," Cooper told the Canadian Press. "I call it treason against rock-n-roll because rock is the antithesis of politics. Rock should never be in bed with politics."
"When I was a kid and my parents started talking about politics, I'd run to my room and put on the Rolling Stones as loud as I could. So when I see all these rock stars up there talking politics, it makes me sick.
"If you're listening to a rock star in order to get your information on who to vote for, you're a bigger moron than they are. Why are we rock stars? Because we're morons. We sleep all day, we play music at night and very rarely do we sit around reading the Washington Journal."
"Besides," he continued, "when I read the list of people who are supporting Kerry, if I wasn't already a Bush supporter, I would have immediately switched. Linda Ronstadt? Don Henley? Geez, that's a good reason right there to vote for Bush."
As WorldNetDaily previously reported, Linda Ronstadt was escorted off the property of a Las Vegas casino after publicly supporting Bush-bashing film director Michael Moore, and singer Don Henley was subsequently booed on stage in Orange County, Calif., for expressing support for Linda Ronstadt during one of his own concerts.
Cooper, whose real name is Vincent Damon Furnier, is reportedly a strong Republican who joins Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., at NBA games in Phoenix.
He continues his own summer rock tour, with upcoming dates in the Northeast, Canada, California and Las Vegas.
Posted by Mad Mikey at 07:08 AM | Comments (5)
August 24, 2004
Open Mouth, Insert Foot
From Drudge: KERRY PHONES SWIFT BOAT FOES
**Exclsuive**
Dem presidential hopeful John Kerry personally phoned anti-Kerry swift boat vets, the DRUDGE REPORT has learned.
Kerry reached out to Robert "Friar Tuck" Brant Cdr., USN (RET) Sunday night, just hours after former Sen. Bob Dole publicly challenged Kerry to apologize to veterans.
Brant was skipper of the #96 and # 36 boat and spent time with Kerry in An Thoi. Kerry and Brant slept in the same quarters, and Brant used to put Kerry back to bed at night when Kerry was sleepwalking.
Brant received a call from Kerry at his home in Virginia while he was watching the Olympics on TV.
The call lasted 10 minutes, sources tell DRUDGE.
KERRY: "Why are all these swift boat guys opposed to me?"
BRANT: "You should know what you said when you came back, the impact it had on the young sailors and how it was disrespectful of our guys that were killed over there.
[Brant had two men killed in battle.]
KERRY: "When we dedicated swift boat one in '92, I said to all the swift guys that I wasn't talking about the swifties, I was talking about all the rest of the veterans." [Emphasis mine - ed]
Kerry then asked if he could meet Brant ["You were one of the best"] -- man to man -- face to face.
Brant declined the invite, explaining that Kerry was obviously not prepared to correct the record on exactly what happened during Vietnam and what happened when Kerry came back.
Developing...
So the Swifties aren't 'baby killers', but the rest of the Vietnam Vets are?
Wow....way to pander for the veteran vote you moron.
Posted by Mad Mikey at 08:49 AM | Comments (2)
August 20, 2004
The Impending Book Burning
The Drudge Report is reporting that the Kerry campaign is calling on the publishing company that put out the book 'Unfit for Command' to 'withdraw the book'.
I think it's a bit too late for that.
What do you bet that there will be some sort of book burning event really soon??
Maybe John Kerry should issue a fatwa on John O'Neill.....
Posted by Mad Mikey at 08:24 AM | Comments (1)
Operation Liberty Rising
And here I thought that New York City would be overrun with barking moonbats like ants on a popcicle with no one voicing a different opinion. I stand corrected.
(Hat tip to Brent at The Ville)
Well it was fun while ProtestWarrior was underground, a secret to discover, and we wouldn't have had it any other way, but the world is waking up to this new kid on the block, as PW is becoming a force. In our year and a half of existence, we've gone from a couple of guys holding handmade signs into a bona fide movement of people who are tired of a world where up is down, left is right, and black is white.
Two weeks from today we commence Operation Liberty Rising. An estimated one million people are descending onto New York City to denounce America and stand up for their 'principles.' They would have you think that they are humanitarians who love peace and have come to denounce war and aggression.
If that were so, then you have to ask yourself why these 'progressives' have for the last hundred years done nothing but support the most illiberal, war-mongering, imperialist fascist movements that are the constant instigators behind the state of war they so decry. We wish they would just be honest and admit that they hate freedom, but most of them aren't brave enough. Instead, we're supposed to become enlightened to their truth: America is no better than anyone else.
For most of this century their weapon of choice was Communism/Marxism/Socialism take your pick, which would have enslaved the entire world in totalitarianism but not for a vigilant America armed to the teeth, a policy they denounced every step of the way. Now we face a new threat, Islamo-fascism, a movement that will not stop so long as any outpost of Judeo-Christianity remains. It doesn't matter that Islamo-fascist countries have no freedom, no civil liberties, no women's rights, no science, no art, and are controlled by billionaire oligarchs who pay the clerics to keep their people under control; that they are part of the revolutionary struggle against America is all that is required to receive the moral approval of the 'pacifists.'
The best foreign policy would be for America to stand as a beacon to the power of liberty, and not involve itself in foreign entanglements. Every nation deserves their government, and we detest that one American soldier should have to die to fix the problems that another nation created. But as much as we wish this weren't the case, the unfortunate situation is that we have enemies that will not be placated from destroying us, and either we take the fight to them, or they bring it to us.
Throughout the 90's our foreign policy was all about being nice, even obsequious to our enemies. Yasser Arafat was the most frequent visitor to the Clinton White House, and America bestowed $100 million dollars a year to his despotic thugocracy, while we goaded Israel to give up what little land they have and stop contributing to the "cycle of violence." We responded to the '93 attempted destruction of the Twin Towers with lawsuits. We turned down an offer to hand Bin Laden over to us because that might have upset the Arab street. We intervened in a civil war in Kosovo, carpet-bombing Serbian population centers on behalf of Muslims, and because of our efforts, most churches in Kosovo have now been destroyed and replaced with mosques. (Of course no one can fight back as there is a U.N. 'peacekeeping force' there.) We fought Somalian warlords in an attempt to feed starving Muslim children. We went to the dead tyrant Assad's funeral, and lent our diplomatic prestige to that Asian Hitler Kim Jong, who was happy to show off his military toys before our fawning Secretary of State. To show how magnanimous we were, we gave him hundreds of millions of dollars to construct an underground nuclear reactor, taking him at his word it would only be used for peaceful purposes. We lent no moral support to the youth in Iran who are desperate to throw off their chains, we lent no moral support to Taiwan which is faced with extinction or enslavement, we lent no moral support to Christians in China who are being herded into prison camps. And we lent no moral support to the Iraqis wallowing under dictatorship and sanctions, and instead consigned them to a decade of torture chambers and rape rooms and acid baths while the U.N. made billions off 'Oil for Food'.
In sum, we did everything the Left would like for us to do. And in return, we got September 11.
The reason for this war is because a free Iraq is the ultimate and last chance of bringing sanity and freedom to that region. We made one big mistake though. That mistake was underestimating how much the enemy recognized this as well. The mullahs, the sultans, the clerics, they know what a danger a free Iraq would be to their control. Ponder the irony of Islamo-fascist groups pouring in from Iran and Syria decrying American 'occupation', knowing full well that we would like nothing better to do than pull out, and it's their actions which necessitate our remaining.
While leftists worldwide mobilize against America's spending of blood and treasure to try to establish a free, democratic country, here's a snapshot of life in Sudan, a country with no American occupation or imperialism or colonialism, and a proud member of the U.N. Human Rights Commission, a seat denied to us:
"In Sudan in 1989, a coup installed the present military dictator Omar al Bashir, who declared Sudan to be an Islamic republic and imposed sharia (Islamic law). The Arab Islamist government intensified the long-standing conflict with the south by backing raids against the Christian and animist civilian populations. The raiders killed men and animals, burned villagers, and abducted women and children. Since 1983 when the Sudan People's Liberation Army started the warfare that preceded Bashir's coup, an estimated 2 million people have been killed and 4.5 million people have become refugees and internally displaced persons. Two hundred thousand women and children have been captured for labor and sexual slavery. Some of the victims were trafficked into slavery and sexual servitude beyond northern Sudan to Middle Eastern countries.Once in the north, the slaves are subjected to forced Islamization and Arabization. In Sudan, the ritualistic cutting of girls' genitals, often called female genital mutilation, is widely practiced among all religions and ethnicities, although Christians have discouraged the practice. A survey conducted by Christian Solidarity International's Slavery Research Unit on slaves liberated from the north found that 40 percent of the women and girls had been subjected to female genital mutilation while in captivity.
As part of the campaign of ethnic cleansing, rapes are carried out in public, in front of family and community members. Those who resist or intervene are beaten and killed. Victims' arms and legs are broken to prevent escape. The intent is to impose terror on a village, and destroy the victims' and communities' integrity and identity. One rape victim was told by her attacker: 'You, the black women, we will exterminate you, you have no God.' Additionally horrifying is the participation of Arab women in the atrocities. According to Amnesty International, Hakama -- female traditional singers who praise male fighters -- accompany the raiders and rapists. By singing and ululating, they provide encouragement and a song track to rape and pillage."
--Donna Hughes, "The Rape of Sudan" National Review Online
Now, do you think these type of people want to destroy us because we're bad, or do they want to destroy us because we're good. This is the fundamental question that determines how we deal with the threat we face.
Our one advantage is that evil is impotent on its own. The world works by an amazing principle, the more people embrace freedom and morality, the stronger they are. Israel can hold its own against enemies a hundred times her size, population, and natural resources, because Israel is free and her enemies are not. Taiwan is a small island rock, yet because they have embraced that most rarest and precious of resources, liberty, they have a per-capita income almost equal to the U.S. and are therefore an ideological thorn in the sides of the gangsters that run mainland China. And most of all, the United States of America, despite being only 5% of the world's population, and we are powerful because we are good, because we are just, because of our principles. Right makes Might.
The Muslim world could decide tomorrow to stop the war against the West. The Arabs have six million square miles of land with an ocean of oil beneath it. They have their two holiest cities, Mecca and Medina. They could give their Palestinian brothers a state tomorrow (in addition to Jordan, which is 70% Palestinian), give every one of them a bar of gold and beach front property in the Sinai, or vast tracts of land in the Fertile Crescent that would dwarf the West Bank and Gaza. Between the Arabs' oil wealth and Israel's scientific skill, the entire Middle East could be a thriving hub of culture, commerce, and life, not death. My God, how the desert would bloom.
This could happen tomorrow, but it won't. The tragic unfortunate fact is that the Muslim world is massively insecure, and they over-compensate for this insecurity by lashing out with bellicosity. It's simply easier to hate than to think. It's easier to embrace the dark side than to see the light.
As long as America is free and just, we can't be defeated. But it's those very principles which are under assault by the Left which has enshrined that our Constitution is a 'living, breathing document', and then have the nerve to claim to be defenders of civil liberties. They are the ones who have grown our government into the Leviathan that it is today, that are paralyzing us in an amber coating of taxes, rules, regulations that destroy wealth and do nothing but raise the bar for success. Every election politicians provide a new justification for why we need them, so it's always new programs, new departments, new controls, that will fix all our problems. How about if we didn't have to work half the year to pay the bill for all this generosity, would that perhaps solve any problems?
They are the ones who with their schemes create all the social problems and racial balkanization and government dependency and people being sued for anything and everything, and then stand back and denigrate America for the problems they create. The money we spend on social welfare programs, we could give every family below the poverty line a check for $40,000, but that will never happen because of the 90% that goes to feed the bureaucracy beast that maintains its monopoly on charity. And it's a funny coincidence that it's only the areas the government is involved with that never work, never help, never improve, where no one is accountable, where merit is not only irrelevant, it's a conflict of interest.
They are the ones who will not stop until we have socialized health care, despite the fact that it's been an unmitigated failure everywhere it's tried, with people dropping dead in waiting lines. Look at what an unconscionable disaster our Veterans hospitals have been, and yet Hillary Clinton and her ilk would have us turn over our entire health care to that type of system. Doctors have to practice defensive medicine and perform unnecessary procedures to protect themselves from John Edwards. And since private practices can't afford all the costs government and lawyers saddle them with, they are closing en masse and in their place rise the behemoth HMOs. Textbook example of why big corporations and big government have such a symbiotic relationship.
They are the ones fighting to preserve a government monopoly on education that is dumbing us down and corrupting our spirit. Don't you see there is a trillion dollar market for education out there? If we had free-enterprise education, businessmen would be funding schools all over the place, each one competing to offer the best services, the highest standards. Parents would take an active role, shopping for the best schools for their children. They would be clients, not voters. What a renaissance of education we would have.
Will there ever be enough government, enough programs, enough rules, and we can stop fighting and start living? It's too bad we never study the Founders in our schools, because we would have learned what effort they devoted to writing a Constitution that would hold the line for freedom. As Jefferson famously wrote, "It is the natural tendency for government to grow and liberty to yield." How his warning rings true now more than ever.
Do you realize it would be illegal for PW to run a television ad criticizing a political candidate sixty days before an election? This and so much more brought to you by the 'civil libertarians' and 'consumer advocates' and 'maverick, independent Senators.' You see the Left wants an all-powerful state run by saints, and thinks cutting off all influence we the people have over our leaders is the way to this fantasy. And a pox on both parties for moving us towards computerized voting with no paper records, a scheme so foolhardy it's flat-out criminal.
What a testament to the power of liberty that despite all these yokes we have put around our necks, we are still the beacon that people from all over the world look to, who know that a world without America would be a much darker place. What a blessing it is to live in this great country.
OPERATION LIBERTY RISING
Two weeks from now, the freedom haters will descend upon New York to spit at our Statue of Liberty and burn our President in effigy for daring to suggest that liberty is a universal principle.PW is mobilizing to the Republican National Convention for perimeter defense, to say to these people that while you can protest America, we can protest you. We will not stop or interfere with their right to protest, nor should we. But we will fire a hailstorm of truth on them that is guaranteed to blow up their moral house of cards. We expect to have hundreds of Protest Warriors this time around, and we've got a nice stack of new signs, straight out of R&D. We'd show them to you now but sorry, you're not cleared for that.
We're calling this mission Liberty Rising because we still have hope that humanity will pick truth over lies, will pick right over wrong. The crooked path the world is on may be beyond what we mortals can straighten. Perhaps the die has been cast and we're casting pearls to swine. But if our enemies think we're going to go down like sheep, they made a big miscalculation.
We hate having to fight like this. We hate the constant sniping and bitterness and arguing and acrimony. We want nothing more than the day when ProtestWarrior is no longer needed, when the ugly things we must speak of are a bad memory. The day that people will stop using force against others. The day that swords will turn to plowshares.
John Adams in a letter to his wife Abigail wrote: "I must study politics and war that my sons may have liberty to study mathematics and philosophy. My sons ought to study mathematics and philosophy, geography, natural history, naval architecture, navigation, commerce, and agriculture, in order to give their children a right to study painting, poetry, music, architecture, statuary, tapestry, and porcelain."
It's sad that we must still study politics and war. But it's a war we either win, or we lose. There is no in-between.
Click here to access Operation Liberty Rising battle plan, and we'll see you on the front lines.
-Alan & Kfir
Posted by Mad Mikey at 08:07 AM | Comments (2)
August 18, 2004
Paybacks Are a Bitch, Huh?
Well what the hell did you expect - an increase in troop strength?
German Town Wary of U.S. Troop PulloutI guess screaming Bush is Hitler (auf Deutch) is another way of saying 'Sure, take your troops out!! See if we really care!!'KITZINGEN, Germany - Hans Seitz has sold engraved pewter plates and cuckoo clocks to U.S. soldiers for years. Now he fears some of his best customers may be going if two U.S. divisions pull out of Germany.
Seitz was one of many Germans — all the way up to Defense Minister Peter Struck — who expressed regret Tuesday at the prospect that the United States will withdraw a large share of its 70,000 troops from Germany under plans announced by President Bush.
[...]
Seitz is not alone. Across southern Germany, about two dozen towns and cities with major U.S. military bases face similar economic fears, though the Americans will leave only gradually.
Payback sucks and you're getting a big, steaming bowl of it Germany, so eat up.
UPDATE
Cox & Forkum's take on all of this.Posted by Mad Mikey at 08:14 AM | Comments (6)
The Way She Talks
I love how Michelle Malkin surmizes the screams of 'jack-booted thugs!!':
Oh, give me a break. Getting shocked with cattle prods for practicing one's faith is the "stuff of totalitarian regimes." Getting locked up in an iron maiden for losing a soccer match is the "stuff of totalitarian regimes." Answering a few questions about possible domestic terrorism is the stuff of responsible citizenship...Posted by Mad Mikey at 07:56 AM | Comments (0)
August 17, 2004
Another Piece of the Puzzle
Here is someone that has quite a plausible explanation that says Kerry was lying through his teeth about using his Swift Boat on clandestine missions. Check it out.
Posted by Mad Mikey at 12:08 PM | Comments (3)
August 12, 2004
More *cricket-cricket-cricket*
Ann Coulter has a new column out. Here's one portion that cannot be said any simplier:
Kerry is demanding to be made president on the basis of spending four months in Vietnam 35 years ago. And yet the men who know what he did during those four months don't think he's fit to be dogcatcher. That seems newsworthy to me, but I must be wrong since the media have engineered a total blackout of the Swift Boat Veterans.
[...]
With their commitment to free speech and a robust exchange of ideas (i.e., "child pornography" and "sedition"), the Democratic National Committee is threatening to sue TV stations that run the Swift Boat Veterans' paid ads. Sue? Can you tell already that there are two lawyers at the top of the Democratic ticket? These are the same people who accuse John Ashcroft of shredding the Bill of Rights. WHY ISN'T THE PRESS COVERING THIS??? Wait, now I remember. OK, never mind. (Contribute to the Swift Boat Veterans here.)
Posted by Mad Mikey at 03:57 PM | Comments (6)
*cricket-cricket-cricket*
Charles over at Little Green Footballs notes the deafening silence about a certain story:
A New York Times search for Cambodia: zero results related to John F. Kerry.Cheerleader Network News is also strangely silent about this.A Washington Post search for Cambodia: zero results.
Mainstream media are doing their best to consign the story of Kerry’s false Christmas in Cambodia to the memory hole. It's incredibly brazen and more than a little scary, as the press unites to ignore history.
The silence is about as deafening screams of anguish that came from the Islamic community here in the U.S. after 9/11.
Posted by Mad Mikey at 12:51 PM | Comments (1)
Court Confirms the Obvious
Gee, this came out of nowhere:
Calif. Court Voids S.F. Same-Sex MarriagesWell of course the mayor overstepped his authority. I mean, what idiot would think that the laws passed by the California Legislature and a YES vote on a proposition do not apply to their little slice of Earth?
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - The California Supreme Court on Thursday voided the nearly 4,000 same-sex marriages sanctioned in San Francisco this year and ruled unanimously that the mayor overstepped his authority by issuing marriage licenses to gay and lesbian couples.It's not a question of whether or not gay marriage should be allowed - it's whether one public official has the legal and moral authority to usurp the wishes of the people of California and their elected officials.
The wishes of the citizens of California have spoken, both through an approval of Proposition 22 and through the continued electing & re-electing of their representatives to Sacramento.
Now the only problem is someone clueing Gavin Newsom in on this concept....
Posted by Mad Mikey at 12:38 PM | Comments (1)
August 09, 2004
Equal Protest Time
Citizen Smash and the local San Diego Protest Warriors had some fun yesterday at Balboa Park.
Posted by Mad Mikey at 08:43 AM | Comments (3)
August 05, 2004
Great Blunders in the World of Politics
Newest entry:
Senator, I've got a great idea: let's tell the voters to ask your Navy buddies about what a great war hero you are!!I think that before the week is out, there will be
UPDATE
- Some serious ass-kicking over at Kerry HQ
- Some new employment opportunities for Democratic campaign strategists, and
- A buttload of Maalox delivered to Terry McAuliffe's office.
Just a quick note to 'splain why I posted this.My initial reaction to this was 'whoa....someone is gonna get their asses kicked' and I've gotten a few readers upset about my quickness to post such accusations from the Swift Boat Veterans.
Maybe I should have explained my position on this a little better - I guess I was anxious to post about this.
*Ahem*
Is any of this true? I dunno, but given that there are more than just one guy saying this adds just a bit more credence to the accuracy of their assertions about Kerry's character.
Should we all believe this? Again, I dunno. My gut feeling on this is that while some/most/all of these Swift Boat Vets weren't in Kerry's crew, they were operating in groups of 2 or 3 boats and I have to believe that they'd be able to verify/condemn the actions of a component of their unit; I mean, their lives depended on the actions of other members of the boat unit - wouldn't they have a bit more knowledge of them?
Another aspect of this is that the DNC and Kerry's campaign have already released the packs of lawyers threatening any and all television stations that air this commercial with lawsuits. The puzzling thought that creeps into my mind about the legal aspect is that if these are all blatant lies, why get lawyers all over the case? Yes, I realize that this commercial could be grounds for a 'defemation of character' civil suit, but the reaction makes me believe that there might be validity to the SBVT claims about Kerry....
And lastly, the entire 'I was a Vietnam Veteran' aspect of Kerry's campaign isn't really a factor in my consideration of his abilities. Yes - I actually DO think about voting for Kerry (I keep ALL options open ya know). He would rely upon his time in the Senate more to be POTUS than his time in Vietnam and quite frankly, I'm not really impressed with his stance on many issues, especially where the defense of this great nation is concerned.
If his time in Vietnam isn't a factor, then why bring up all this SBVT crap??
Simply because Kerry made it a factor in his campaign. Hell, he made it the primary focus of his acceptance speech at the Democratic Convention in Boston.Posted by Mad Mikey at 06:05 AM | Comments (18)
