Christopher Hitchens bags on Mel Gibson in Slate. Since he hates Christianity, I guess Gibson's the Fascist of Malibu now.
He says it's important to read the Reader's Digest article, then he puts words in Gibson's (and Peggy Noonan's) mouth, while leaving out others. And he just lies like a dog in general. For a brilliant guy, he made a poor factual argument and instead tried to sway by emotion (the word "Fascist" in the title is a big clue).
Anyways, here's a link I found to the Digest article and also to the Diane Sawyer interview.
Hugo Chavez needs a nap
"Let's bet on who will last longer, George W. Bush, you in the White House or me in Miraflores Palace."
Mugabe-lovin', dictatorin' POS. The Venezuelans will have your head on a stick some day.
Uh-oh. I wouldn't do that if I were you, buddy
Mad about the articles she wrote on Max Cleland, Joseph Galloway, Knight Ridder's senior military correspondent (who never served) has taken a swing at Ann Coulter in the paper. The fur is gonna fly and I want ringside seats.
Kerry goes all unilateral on Haiti:
"He's late, as usual," Kerry said of Bush. "I never would have allowed it to get out of control the way it did."
He would have motored his swift boat on over and solved the whole deal. That's the kind of guy he is. He's not the least bit indecisive...
Despite constant Democratic attacks and drooping nationwide ratings, President Bush fares well in Florida, the pivotal state that just barely put him in the White House three years ago.
Aristide fled to avoid bloodshed, alright. His own. They were going to have his head on a pointy stick. He had his chance and he blew it. He became just another power junkie. Now there'll be an interim government per the constitution while things calm down. We'll get some troops in there, get the food going again, and hopefully there are some decent men left in Haiti to run the government.
Within hours, Haitian Chief Justice Boniface Alexandre was named as his replacement as laid out in the constitution. But turmoil continued in the streets, with armed gangs looting the capital and rebels poised to advance from other towns.
Prime Minister Yvon Neptune read a statement by Aristide in which he said he resigned "to avoid bloodshed." With the rebels closing in on the sprawling capital, Port-au-Prince, many had feared a bloody battle for control between them and Aristide's militant supporters.
Speaking at a ceremony at Neptune's home, U.S. Ambassador James Foley said international military forces would "rapidly be in Haiti" and urged the rebels to lay down their arms.
Foley said Aristide departed at 6:15 a.m.. The Haitian consul in neighboring Dominican Republic said Aristide was probably traveling to Morocco, but Morocco said it would not grant him political asylum.
Unconfirmed media reports from Haiti said Aristide had been escorted to a private plane by U.S. military personnel. Some said he may be taken to Panama.
Robert Mugabe was feted by Hugo Chavez down in Venezuela the other day. Calling him a "true warrior of freedom", Chavez presented Mugabe with a replica of the sword of Simon Bolivar. Bolivar must have turned in his grave.
Country Store has more.
There's a good article on UNC-Chapel Hill and how conservative students are speaking out.
Student activists are working to expose examples of professors, students and a campus atmosphere that they say is intolerant of conservative thought. Increasingly, the conservatives' message is getting through.
Don't let the door hit ya where the Good Lord split ya.
The crisis has been brewing since Aristide's party swept flawed legislative elections in 2000 and international donors froze millions of dollars in aid.
Opponents also accused him of breaking promises to help the poor, allowing corruption fueled by drug-trafficking and masterminding attacks on opponents by armed gangs - charges the president denied.
Even on National Pinko Radio today they had a guy on talking about how Kerry betrayed the men. Edwards should hang in there. It might pay off.
US Vets, Vietnamese demonstrate against Kerry
Around 200 U.S. Army veterans and Vietnamese people demonstrated outside Democratic presidential front-runner John Kerry's New York headquarters on Saturday to protest his opposition decades ago to the Vietnam War.
Waving American and South Vietnamese flags and singing the U.S. national anthem, they held up signs saying "Hanoi John," and "Kerry Betrayed Vietnam Vets."
"We won't sit by and let the American people think that we are going to stand by somebody who stabbed us in the back," said Jerry Kiley, a veteran and one of the protest organizers.
An Arab can appreciate democracy no more than an ape can appreciate a diamond.
So says this UPI article.
Sorry Zeyad, Firas, Sam, Omar, Ays, Mohammed, and all you other Iraqi bloggers. No democracy for you.
One more Naomi Wolf article, just because they're fun.
There is no shortage of cause for righteous feminist outrage in the world: child prostitution in South Asia, women being stoned to death under sharia law in Africa.
Were Wolf to bother looking, she would no doubt find a fair portion of genuine female oppression in her own home town of Washington DC. Instead, she has chosen to expend her considerable clout detailing the terror she suffered two decades ago, when a man touched her thigh.
Perhaps the professor had it right, after all: that Wolf is "deeply troubled" may be the kindest conclusion one can draw from her freakish self-absorption.
The Independent speculates as to what Naomi Wolf is up to with her attack on Harold Bloom.
(Via Lucianne.)
I'm going to be rooting for all these guys. They can compete with all their heart and with no fear. Odai is gone and nobody misses him.
Iraq to compete in Olympics
"It's a great moment for the Iraqi athletes and Iraqi people," said Ahmed al-Sammarai, the Iraqi committee's chief. "This helps to prove the Iraqis can rule themselves. Just give them the chance."
"We are starting from zero," he said. "This is the first step. It's a hard job but we will do our best to prepare in the short period before the games."
Al-Sammarai, elected on Jan. 29, is a former general and athlete who returned to Iraq last year after 20 years in exile.
...
As many as two dozen Iraqi athletes are expected to compete at the Athens Games in wrestling, track and field, swimming, boxing, weightlifting and taekwondo. The Iraqi soccer team is also attempting to qualify.
The reinstatement of Iraq brings the number of national Olympic committees recognized by the IOC to a record 202.
The IOC and a number of countries are helping to fund, train and outfit the Iraqis. Four Iraqi wrestlers have been invited to train at a U.S. Olympic Committee facility in Colorado Springs, Colo.
"Most of our athletes that have a chance to be in Athens will train outside," said Tiras Odisho, the committee's director general.
The former Iraqi committee had been headed by Saddam's son Odai, who reportedly jailed and tortured athletes who fell out of his favor. Odai was killed in a shootout with U.S. troops in July.
Al-Sammarai said women feared abuse from Odai and did not compete in sports.
"Now we encourage the families and we are starting organizing women's sports through the federations," al-Sammarai said.
Female coaches will be trained in hopes of gathering more women athletes. In Athens at least one woman will participate in track and field.
The minimum budget presented to the Coalition Provisional Authority was $25 million, but "money in cash is not important. What is important is for our friends to sit down and help us," Odisho said.
John Zuccarini has learned the high price of misspelling Disneyland.
The Internet ''mouse-trapper,'' who registered websites like www.dinseyland.com and www.teltubbies.com and redirected unsuspecting children and others to porn, was sentenced Thursday to 30 months in federal prison by a judge in Manhattan, where the investigation originated.
....
Zuccarini admitted in court documents that one reason he preyed on websites popular among children was ''because children are more likely than adults to make spelling errors and to mis-type website addresses,'' prosecutors said.
Mohammed of Iraq the Model has a terrific post on how democracy in Iraq is making the neighboring despots quake in their boots.
I wish you were here with me in Iraq to see the real change in people's thinking and more exciting is how fast this change is taking place. They're talking now about the future, about building, about hope. The old, sick regime has become history, and we should quickly get rid of its residues to catch up with the advanced, free world.
It's become clear to everyone what bad role these dictatorships are playing to delay and interrupt the change here. Having their countries infected with democracy is their worst nightmare, and they'll never save an effort to delay that infection, just to delay it, and nothing more.
They know well that the (story) is not over yet, and there's still a missing chapter until all people are freed from tyranny, oppression and blind fanaticism.
They do not want their oppressed people to see a bright model in Iraq. That's what they fear.
This model must be disfigured, and let the media work hard to report every single tiny mistake in this experiment and forget about all the good results that were achieved.
The neighboring nations' people should prefer to stay under the whip of their jailors and must not look forward to something like what Iraq is becoming.
That's what those dictators are saying to their people "look, do you see what happened to Iraqis after their leadership was toppled? Do you wish the same for yourselves?..so be satisfied with your existing leadership. We're the best you can have"�.
It's just a matter of time until it becomes clear to everyone that what happened in Iraq was for the good of the whole world, not only for Iraqis. The case here is not a pink dream. It is a conviction that the right, the fair and the logical will win in the end.
I salute all the brave men and women who took upon themselves to bear all the risks and stand at the frontline to defend freedom.
Instapundit's on the late show. By two weeks. Heh.
Getting to know you, getting to know all about you...
I love it when Teresa Heinz Kerry talks. Every time she opens her mouth she hurts her husband's chances of being elected.
So Rep. Corrine Brown gives one of those apologies that isn't really an apology for her tirade. That's when you say the same thing you said before, but this time you add why what you said is, in fact, true and you throw in your emotional state at the time you first said it. So, in righteous anger, she was just saying the God's honest truth, but did not mean that truth to offend anyone. She's also sorry if saying that the president's representatives are racist white men who all look alike can be construed as a personal affront to Noriega.
First off, Corrine Brown, like Maxine Walters, gives women in politics a bad name. It's unacceptable in the workplace to say you are unaccountable for your words or actions because of emotion. There are thousands of issues that provoke emotion. Business is business. Brown needs to get a grip and conduct herself like a professional.
Secondly, I haven't seen any apology from Noriega. He doesn't want to be "branded" as white. You can only be branded as something bad- someone's branded a coward, or a traitor. I want Noriega to explain why being white is bad. I couldn't care less if he's Republican. That doesn't give him a pass.
As far as I'm concerned, both of them should be branded as racist.
I really feel for this guy. He lost his wife and children due to this air traffic controller's error. "Sorry" doesn't cut it when your family's dead.
Frankly, I don't see how this type of thing doesn't happen more often. For instance, a drunk driver kills your kid and serves his time and that's it? You don't wait until he gets out of prison and then run your car over him fifty or sixty times? I don't get it.
He's no better than she is. They both should resign. Their meeting of the minds was in their hatred of whites.
U.S. Rep. Corrine Brown verbally attacked a top Bush administration official during a briefing on the Haiti crisis Wednesday, calling the President's policy on the beleaguered nation "racist" and his representatives "a bunch of white men."
Her outburst was directed at Assistant Secretary of State Roger Noriega during a closed-door meeting on Capitol Hill. Noriega, a Mexican-American, is the State Department's top official for Latin America.
"I think it was an emotional response of her frustration with the administration," said David Simon, a spokesman for the Jacksonville Democrat. He noted that Brown, who is black, is "very passionate about Haiti."
Brown sat directly across the table from Noriega and yelled into a microphone. Her comments sent a hush over the hourlong meeting, which was attended by about 30 people, including several members of Congress and Bush administration officials.
Noriega later told Brown: "As a Mexican-American, I deeply resent being called a racist and branded a white man," according to three participants.
Brown then told him "you all look alike to me," the participants said.
Bartman today
Four months later, Cubs fan trying to lead a normal life
It hasn't been easy for this guy being the human embodiment of the Curse of the Goat, but he's got some character.
He's just a tiny bit hypocritical.
'Benedict Arnolds' aided Kerry coffers
Senator John Kerry of Massachusetts, the front-runner for the Democratic presidential nomination, frequently calls companies and chief executives "Benedict Arnolds" if they move jobs and operations overseas to avoid paying US taxes
But Kerry has accepted money and fund-raising assistance from top executives at companies that fit the candidate's description of a notorious traitor.
Executives and employees at such companies have contributed more than $140,000 to Kerry's presidential campaign, a review of his donor records show. Additionally, two of Kerry's biggest fund-raisers, who together have raised more than $400,000 for the candidate, are top executives at investment firms that helped set up companies in the world's best-known offshore tax havens, federal records show. Kerry has raised nearly $30 million overall for his White House run.
Kerry has taken aim at "Benedict Arnold" companies as part of a much broader political and policy debate over stemming the flow of well-paying US jobs overseas, a chief cause of unemployment, especially in the hardest-hit manufacturing sector. Kerry's solution, detailed in a speech yesterday in Toledo, Ohio, is to enforce trade agreements, track and slow the outsourcing of US jobs, and stop providing government contracts and tax incentives to companies that move operations or jobs offshore.
Kerry has come under attack from President Bush, as well as some Democrats, for criticizing laws he voted for and lambasting special interests after accepting more money from paid lobbyists than any other senator over the past 15 years. Some Democrats worry that Kerry is opening himself for similar attacks on the latest issue.
(Via Lucianne.com)
O, Canada. Move out of your mom's basement and get a job.
Canada's military forces almost bankrupt
The military sources, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the reports foresee a situation so dire that they recommend curtailing operations, dry-docking ships and mothballing vehicles or aircraft and closing at least four Canadian Forces bases.
Unless additional funding is awarded by the government, the air force is suggesting closing bases at Goose Bay, Nfld., Bagotville, Que., North Bay and Winnipeg, the sources said.
Further, the air force report says that unless its fleet of ageing CC-130 Hercules transport planes is replaced or modernized, the main transport base at Trenton should be closed within 10 years. "There won't be enough Hercs flying by then to justify keeping that base open," one air force source said.
The navy predicts it will not be able to live up to treaty obligations to NATO and other alliances and cannot carry out enough patrols of Canadian waters to comply with agreements with other government departments such as Immigration Canada or Fisheries and Oceans.
"We will not be able to meet our domestic defence obligations," one naval officer said.
The army is said to be in the worst financial state of all three branches of the Canadian Forces. "Everyone knows that the army's broke and has been for a couple of years," said one military source familiar with the reports.
Colonel Howard Marsh, a former senior army staff officer now working as an analyst for the Conference of Defence Associations, said he was not surprised by the size of the shortfall.
"This is a look forward ... at what they need in order to keep the army going," he said. "Nobody has ever seen a bankrupt military in a developed country.... This year I predict we will see that in Canada."
Col. Marsh said the military is saddled with ageing bases and increasingly dilapidated buildings that are fast reaching the point of collapse. "What they've been doing, year in and year out ... is not replace or repair those buildings, or buy new equipment," he said.
"The average age of the equipment in the Canadian Forces is over 20 years and it hasn't been well-maintained."
The Liberal government reduced defence spending by 23% and cut the number of regular military personnel to approximately 60,000 from 80,000 between 1993 and 2000. There were 120,000 people in the Canadian military in 1958.
(Thanks, James.)
When Salk developed the polio vaccine, we flew a batch of it over to the Soviet Union, our worst enemy, as a gift. Even though those people despised us, they had enough common sense to use the vaccine. These people, however, don't have the sense that God gave a goat. It's sad that there will be kids dragging themselves around in the dust because of these ignorant fools.
The repercussions of binge-drinking: a lesson in pictures from the Daily Diatribe.
Time for the Wednesday Duane Allman pic. Wail on, Skydog!
Like Andrew Sullivan, the Ace of Spades is getting letters from 'Republicans' outraged that President Bush would back the FMA.
Oh, boy! Al Sharpton is going to Haiti to settle the conflict. This oughta be good. Go get yourself some popcorn and have a read.
Lena Horne was always a classy lady. She never had to show her breast to get attention. She just opened her mouth and sang. I'm not surprised she doesn't want Janet Jackson portraying her.
Here's a great pic of Lena with the white-hatted dudes. Lovely, lovely.
JANET JACKSON FALLOUT: Singer Lena Horne, reportedly angry about Janet Jackson's breast-baring stunt at the Super Bowl, has pressured ABC to find someone other than Jackson to play Horne in a planned television movie, "Stormy Weather," the trade newspaper Variety reports.
Producers Craig Zadan and Neil Meron quit the project in solidarity with Jackson, Variety added.
ABC executives resisted Horne's demand, but Jackson representatives told the newspaper that she left willingly after Horne and her daughter, Gail Lumet Buckley, asked that she not take part. The network wouldn't comment.
A nice article on Florida boy SSG Dustin Tuller. Despite being at death's door time and again, Dustin pulled through and they held his retirement ceremony today.
Army officials expedited his medical retirement when doctors feared he wouldn't survive his injuries. "I was in a coma when I got my retirement papers," Tuller said. "I wanted to have a retirement ceremony because I've been in the Army for 10 years. I always wanted to be a soldier.
"If they hadn't retired me, I'd still wear the uniform, even with no legs."
Those dastardly Freepers are up to no good again with their new Winter Soldier section. This thing needs its own website as it's bound to be a hit.
(Thanks to lucianne.com)
Major returning to Iraq--to join his son
A 20-year-career military man makes a major sacrifice. He volunteers to return to Iraq to be near his only son, a Marine who is headed there today.
Those of us who went to Vietnam quickly discovered that you learn from the other guy's mistakes; that, or die - and someone will be learning from your mistakes.
I keep waiting to see what John Kerry learned, and it seems the only thing is how to get re-elected.
Having read the five page essay wherein fragile flower feminist Naomi Wolf details the trauma she endured at having a professor put his hand on her thigh, I've decided to cheer her up with a gift.
Tamarac movie theater sued for not hiring security to control unruly retirees
The signs on the box office window of the Tamarac Cinema 5 implored customers not to bang on the glass or make crude comments to employees about ticket prices.
The discount movie theater's manager has described its patrons as the worst she's ever dealt with, saying their filthy remarks leave employees in tears.
But the offending moviegoers aren't the teenagers typically found milling outside theaters across the country. They are senior citizens from the retirement communities surrounding the theater on McNab Road. That volatile combination of retirees and unruly behavior recently thrust the theater into the middle of a nationally televised manslaughter case.
Some good commentary from CK Rairden. It's hard not to quote the whole thing, he sums it up so nicely.
John Kerry: From "Bring it on" to Victim
"Now, George Bush and Karl Rove say that they intend to make national security the central issue of this campaign. Well, I know something about aircraft carriers for real. And if George Bush wants to make national security the central issue of this campaign, we have three words for him we know he understands: Bring it on!" - John Kerry, 2004 on the stump.
In an almost surreal moment leading democratic presidential contender John F. Kerry seemed legitimately shocked and outraged that the Bush campaign did exactly what they said they would do. Begin to make national security a central issue of this 2004 presidential campaign. At Kerry's "bring it on" invitation the Bush camp began pointing out his historically poor voting record in the Senate on matters of defense and national security over the weekend.
With what will likely be one of the lightest volleys Kerry will face on his voting record for the next eight months Georgia Senator Saxby Chambliss first acknowledged Kerry's Viet Nam service in a conference call to reporters. Chambliss then commented on Kerry's voting record on military issues by pointing out, he [Kerry] has a long history, particularly in the last decade, of not only voting to cut intelligence spending, but introducing bills to cut intelligence spending.
Kerry immediately cried foul.
Predictably, Kerry played the patriotism card complaining he was a victim and that the Bush political team was challenging his patriotism by pointing out his voting record. So much so that he drafted a letter, handed copies out to the press and then sent it off to President George W. Bush challenging him to a debate on the Viet Nam War.
Huh?
In this failing Afro-centric charter school, the students can't pass a reading or math test, but they have lots of self-esteem and that's important.
Happy Birthday to George Washington. He had everything to lose, but put it all on the line anyways.
Also, thanks to his mom for forbidding him to join the Royal Navy.
And Happy Birthday to my dad, who picked his own birthday and chose George Washington's.
In my hometown we have a parade every year in honor of Thomas Edison, called the Edison Pageant of Light. Here's some pictures from this year's wingding.
The cloggers. I took clogging as a kid. Nice to see it's still around:
Moon over Edisonia. Girls with another of Mr. Edison's inventions:
Lots more pics here.
Kerry wrote a letter of complaint to President Bush. Now that is just wienified. Time to grow up and mature like a good wine, John. Remember what Mr. Truman said about heat and kitchens? There's no crying in Presidential races. Ask Ed Muskie.
In the letter to Bush Saturday, Kerry wrote: "As you well know, Vietnam was a very difficult and painful period in our nation's history, and the struggle for our veterans continues. So, it has been hard to believe that you would choose to reopen these wounds for your personal political gain. But, that is what you have chosen to do."
Kerry has used Vietnam for his personal political gain at every turn and now it's going to turn around and bite him. Not fair!
Well, goodness gracious. John Kerry has the Boston Globe climbing up his Vietnam butt
VIETNAM has been the defining issue for John Kerry. His status as a decorated war hero has helped to propel him to the front of the pack of Democrat candidates seeking to evict George W.Bush from the White House. Conservative critics believe he has been given a free ride for too long on his war record, however, and are planning a fightback.
Support for their case is expected to come from a book to be published next month by reporters from The Boston Globe in Kerry's home state of Massachusetts. The book, JF Kerry, the Complete Biography, will question the extent of his injuries in Vietnam and whether he was entitled to an early release from the war.
Vietnam, The Washington Post opined at the weekend, "is a double-edged issue" for the 60-year-old Democratic frontrunner. Kerry has not authorised the release of his war records - a strange omission, say his political foes, given the ferocity with which his supporters have demanded to see every last document of Bush's military service in the Texas Air National Guard.
"Vietnam is such a crucial part of his background and his campaign, you would think he would want people to see them," said Rich Lowry, editor of National Review, a conservative journal. "There is going to be pressure on him to release them."
Yeah, buddy, let's have a look at those records.
Hillary paid us a visit. She's all about John Kerry now. Sorry that Clark thing didn't work out, Hill.
Did y'all know that John Kerry is like a good wine that takes time to mature, but then it gets really good and you can sip it?
He sounds lip-smackin' good, Teresa. Get on the TV and talk. Folks want to hear from a maybe future First Lady.
Over my dead body, Arnold. I could kick the snot out of Orrin Hatch for even thinking such a thing.
The Republican governor said anyone who has been in America more than 20 years -- as he has -- should "absolutely" be able to seek the presidency. A constitutional amendment proposed by Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, would make that possible.
Now that you mention it...
The purpose of my remarks tonight is to focus your attention on this little group of men who not only enjoy a right of instant rebuttal to every Presidential address, but, more importantly, wield a free hand in selecting, presenting, and interpreting the great issues in our nation. First, let's define that power.
At least 40 million Americans every night, it's estimated, watch the network news. Seven million of them view A.B.C., the remainder being divided between N.B.C. and C.B.S. According to Harris polls and other studies, for millions of Americans the networks are the sole source of national and world news. In Will Roger's observation, what you knew was what you read in the newspaper. Today for growing millions of Americans, it's what they see and hear on their television sets.
Now how is this network news determined? A small group of men, numbering perhaps no more than a dozen anchormen, commentators, and executive producers, settle upon the 20 minutes or so of film and commentary that's to reach the public. This selection is made from the 90 to 180 minutes that may be available. Their powers of choice are broad.
They decide what 40 to 50 million Americans will learn of the day's events in the nation and in the world. We cannot measure this power and influence by the traditional democratic standards, for these men can create national issues overnight. They can make or break by their coverage and commentary a moratorium on the war. They can elevate men from obscurity to national prominence within a week. They can reward some politicians with national exposure and ignore others.
The Sun-Sentinel does an in-depth report on the lives of Carlie Brucia and Joseph P. Smith.
I'm glad the Sunday Express knows where Osama is. I think he's a smear on a wall in a cave in Tora Bora, myself.
When I was a kid, because we didn't have his body, some people thought Hitler was living in Argentina. There was even a bumpersticker for it.
No body= living in Argentina, Iran, wherever. The only time there's no speculation is when they're hung up on meathooks.
Spot Bush- the only second-generation Presidential pet.
Born and died in the White House. A good dog.
Finally, Governor Arnie makes a move. 'Bout damn time.
I love Dead Man Eating's audio entries for death row prisoners' last meals. They just crack me up.
Joseph P. Smith has been indicted. Carlie Brucia died of ligature strangulation, and as we all presumed, was sexually assaulted.
I wish I could send him to the Husseins and let them work their special brand of magic on him. A plastic shredder is looking pretty good right now.
I've noticed people starting to bag on Mel Gibson because his dad's an idiot. Good idea. Let's all judge each other by our fathers. I know I'll make out quite well, but some of y'all won't come off so good. Tough luck.
Kerry's past to star in Bush's ads
"The beauty of John Kerry is 32 years of votes and public pronouncements," said Mark McKinnon, the chief media adviser. McKinnon suggested a possible tag line: "He's been wrong for 32 years, he's wrong now."
Good. Staple Jane Fonda to his ass.
Tim Blair reports on the PC hijinx up at Syracuse University. A burglar camouflages his face so's to better burgle and is seen and reported as wearing 'blackface'. Now the guy's having to swear on a stack of Bibles that he's just an innocent burglar.
Heartbroken and in seclusion over Wesley Clark's withdrawl from the Presidential race, Ted Danson refused comment.
This is like the feminist version of the Janet Jackson Superbowl stunt. Desperate for attention, Naomi Wolf wants the whole world to know that 20 years ago Professor Harold Bloom supposedly made a pass at her. She even went over to Yale in December to try to press charges. They told her the statute of limitations is two years, not twenty.
Camille Paglia knows dumb when she sees it and she's got this woman pegged:
"How many books, how many articles, Naomi, are you going to impose on us so we have to be dragged back to your teenage heartbreak years?"
She added:"This is regressive. It's childish. Move on! Get on to menopause next!"
If Edwards sticks with stuff like this, he might get somewhere.
At an appearance at Columbia University in New York, one of 10 states holding "Super Tuesday" contests on March 2, Edwards vowed to "cut off the low road" for companies that move jobs overseas.
"This is about more than fair trade, this is a moral issue," said Edwards, a North Carolina senator who finished a surprisingly strong second to Kerry in Wisconsin with a focus on creating jobs and criticizing U.S. trade policy.
Aristide ready to die for Haiti
Anything but give up power. Guys like this either flee at the last moment, leaving their country in flames, or get beheaded by a mob, leaving their country in chaos.
I think that if Kerry is going to get credit for Vietnam, then he also needs to be held accountable for what he did when he came home.
According to a June 22, 1995 article in the Tampa Tribune entitled "Evil follows fools on the bench", Judge Rapkin did not sentence Richard Lee Walker to four weekends in jail instead of going to prison for 15 years. He sentenced him to work four weekends on the road gang, but he was not required to sleep at the jail. That would have been too harsh, so let's get real.
By the way, in the article they said Judge Rapkin's name was one to remember come election time. Guess people forgot to remember.
I love it when guys fixing to get executed say stuff like this:
"From God's dust I came and to dust I will return, so the Earth shall become my throne. I gotta go, Road Dog."
The guy was big on inhalants, so that might have something to do with it.
That's not good for you, Duane.
Wail on, Skydog!
They're having a nice funeral for the crewmen of the Hunley.
As many as 50,000 people are expected to come to Charleston in April for what organizers are calling the last Confederate funeral - the burial of the crew of the submarine H.L. Hunley.
The Hunley was the first submarine in history to sink an enemy warship and Tuesday was the 140th anniversary of the Hunley mission.
The vessel with its crew of eight sank on Feb. 17, 1864, after sinking the Union blockade ship Housatonic off Charleston. The sub was raised in 2000 and brought to a conservation lab at the old Charleston Naval Base.
About 2,000 people, many of them Confederate re-enactors, have signed up to make the almost 5-mile funeral march on April 17 from Charleston's Battery to Magnolia Cemetery.
There the crew will be buried next to the remains of two other crews who died in earlier sinkings.
Boy, these Toughman competitions are getting banned all over the place. Too many people are getting killed in the ring.
My oldest nephew won one, but he said he'd never do it again.
For those of you unfamiliar with the competition, participants are ineligible for Toughman if they have won five amateur bouts in the past five years. They pay a $50 entry fee, sign a waiver releasing promoters from liability and have their heart rate, blood pressure and breath tests checked by a doctor. They can't have been drinking. Then they beat the crap out of each other. Winners of the two-day competition receive embroidered trophy jackets proclaiming them "Toughman Champion".
From an article in the Fort Myers News Press:
The mental health expert speaks:
This prize doesn't seem like an awful lot to risk getting your brain
bludgeoned, said Ann Duffala, a Fort Myers psychologist and licensed mental
health counselor.
"I don't know why you'd put yourself in that position," she said. "It doesn't
seem like this is too smart."
Duffala said there could be a variety of factors influencing why someone would
want to participate in a Toughman competition.
"They could be impulsive people. They could be angry people or have a somewhat
inflated ego," Duffala said. "It could be just a chance to be in the spotlight."
My nephew speaks:
"Jumpin'" Jesse C., a 27-year-old welder from North Fort Myers, couldn't
explain why he entered the Toughman.
"I just do crazy stuff all the time," he said.
No stranger to getting into the occasional bar fight, C. said he isn't
concerned about winning or losing. "Every fight you're in, you lose some because
you're hurting for days after."
C. doesn't have different strategies for different fighters.
"I just go for the head," he said.
Arnold needs to do something about this anarchy. I'm surprised he didn't act the first day. A mayor is collecting a salary to issue false documents?
One morning back in February of '84 when me and Mr. Cracker were heading from Miami back over to Fort Myers, we came across something unusual: a line of about a hundred people walking shoulder to shoulder from the highway, heading out to the 'Glades. They were looking for Rosario Gonzales. Soon after, the news was all about Christopher Wilder.
Fulfilling the pact we made long ago with Henry Flagler, we have now begun the nightly feeding of his trains.
The Ledger has an in-depth look at Judge Rapkin.
In the case of the first dead girl, he admits it was a mistake to sentence sex-offender Richard Lee Walker to four weekends in jail when the prosecutor asked for fifteen years in prison. When Walker's girlfriend's daughter turned up in a shallow grave a few weeks later, the criticism the Judge received put him off his feed.
Although he won't say if he'll run for re-election next year, he does say his life is over. He's sad about Carlie, but still thinks he did nothing wrong.
Reader Jerry Nodeen gets a write-up in the story too. Thanks for taking the time to go down to the courthouse and picket, Jerry.
Ace of Spades has John Kerry's top ten euphemisms for adulterous sex. Your ears should perk up the next time Kerry talks about taking his swift boat up the Mekong Delta.
[scroll down a bit].
Happy Birthday, Susan B. Anthony
Bet you didn't know she was a big right-to-lifer.
This story will get a lot of press. Cheeky campus Republicans.
New scholarship created for whites only
A student group at Roger Williams University is offering a new scholarship for which only white students are eligible, a move they say is designed to protest affirmative action.
More overlooked nastiness from Joseph P. Smith
The man accused of kidnapping and killing an 11-year-old girl tried to lure a woman outside a grocery store in 1997 while he carried a knife and pepper spray, according to a police report.
Joseph P. Smith had a knife tucked in his shorts and pepper spray in his car when he approached a 32-year-old woman outside a Kash N' Karry and lied about having car trouble, the July 1, 1997, Sarasota police report said.
Even though she tried to be cautious, I can't understand why she tried to help him at all. I would have been thinking "Why isn't he asking another guy?" She was lucky somebody thought he was suspicious and took the time to call the police.
Firas of Iraq and Iraqis has his first cell phone (they were forbidden under Saddam) and a new TV station. His business is going well, his family are all in good health, and life is normal.
Civilization is a stream with banks. The stream is sometimes filled with blood from people killing, stealing, shouting and doing the things historians usually record, while on the banks, unnoticed, people build homes, make love, raise children, sing songs, write poetry and even whittle statues. The story of civilization is the story of what happened on the banks. Historians are pessimists because they ignore the banks for the river.
-Will Durant
So many Kerry/Fonda articles, it's hard to pick.
She should really start doing stump speeches for him and lots of meet and greets with the Vets.
A Hippie Prez?
The NY Post has reflections on the book "The New Soldier".
Now the Vietnam Special Forces guys have a website and are after Kerry's butt.
Breaking news from CBS. Dubya's in big trouble now. If only he'd had some dental problem that would have stuck out in the dentist's mind, because records and charts just aren't good enough -the dentist must personally recall him.
On Wednesday, the White House released the record of a dental examination in January 1973 at an Alabama base.
But the dentist who treated Mr. Bush has no specific recollection of seeing the future president, saying that at that time he would have been "just another pilot."
How do you fight against this kind of reporting?
Some cute stuff on the Scripps Howard News Service site:
First lady Laura Bush went to Ford's Theatre on Abe Lincoln's birthday to see a one-man show based on the life of Alonzo Fields, a black man who was chief butler to four presidents, from Herbert Hoover to Harry Truman.
Also attending were scores of high-school students from around the country who excitedly lined up next to Bush's seat to talk with her during intermission.
"Mom, I'm looking at her right now!" said one teen with a cell phone, while another student reported that the first lady smiled and waved as her picture was taken by the youths. "Yay, Republicans," the student cheered.
X...X...X
QUOTABLE:
"He's awful pretty." - Crusty former baseball great Sen. Jim Bunning, R-Ky., on the boyishly handsome John Edwards, the Democratic presidential wannabe.
"It's acceptable practice to socialize with executive branch officials when there are not personal claims against them. That's all I'm going to say for now. Quack, quack." - Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia, on the propriety of sitting on the bench for a case involving Dick Cheney's energy task force after going duck hunting with the vice president recently.
From O'Reilly's site:
Talking Points:
The Justice System Fails Another Child
The brutal murder of 11-year-old Carlie Brucia is the subject of this evening's Talking Points Memo.
Carlie is dead because the criminal justice system would not protect her.
Her alleged killer - who apparently told police where her body was - is 37-year-old Joseph Smith, a drug addict, who had been arrested at least 13 times in Florida since 1993.
In 1997, Smith was tried in Manatee County on kidnapping charges. 20-year-old Terry Stinson testified that Smith grabbed her on the street, knocked her down, and threatened to cut her with a knife.
Ms. Stinson escaped, and stopped a passing car for help. Smith ran and hid - finally, a police dog found him.
Despite Ms. Stinson's vivid testimony, a judge acquitted Smith after he told him he had grabbed the woman because he thought she was going to jump into traffic.
The death of Carlie Brucia is directly on the shoulders of the jurors who acquitted Joseph Smith - you people have much to answer for.
And so does Florida Judge Harry Rapkin.
Despite the fact that Smith had convictions for aggravted battery, and multiple conictions for drug crimes, Rapkin refused to imprison him last year after he violated his probation.
The judge issued a statement today blaming the probation department for not giving him more information, but that's bull. Rapkin had to know this guy was a serial offender.
Smith got out of prison on New Year's Day in 2003. Ten days later, he was re-arrested for possessing cocaine. Since that time, he has had two other probation violations - yet Judge Rapkin would not send him back to jail.
So I believe that Judge Harry Rapkin is, in part, responsible for the death on 11 year-old Carlie.
If you see Rapkin on the streets of Florida, you tell him from me, he should immediately resign his position.
On the radio today, I got callers asking if Carlie's parents bore any responsibility in this case.
I say no. An 11-year-old should be able to walk a public street in this country at 6 pm, without parental supervision. I did it, and so did millions of other Americans.
I believe this Smith thug did the same thing to Carlie that he did six years ago to Terry Stinson. He grabbed her and threatened to cut her.
America is now a much different place than it was 40 years ago, when I was walking around as a kid.
Now, judges give the benefit of the doubt to career criminals. Juries are too stupid to convict obvious predators. And drug addicts are seen as victims, rather than as people who are operating in a criminal world.
There is no way on this earth that Carlie Brucia should be dead. But a jury, a judge and a society would not protect her.
And that's the Memo.
Top Story:
Dangerous Judge
Judge Harry Rapkin could have sent Carlie's alleged killer back to prison for violating probation - but did not, citing a lack of information.
So what kind of judge is this?
Well, in 1996, he let a convicted arsonist walk free on three years probation - instead of sentencing him to 17 months in prison. A few years later, on New Year's Eve, that arsonist, James Drayton, broke into his ex-girlfriend's apartment armed with a shotgun. He wounded a 19-year-old woman, and held his girlfriend hostage during a four-hour standoff with the SWAT team.
A year before that, Rapkin denied the state's request that convicted child sex offender Richard Lee Walker be sentenced to prison for violating parole. Rapkin gave him four weekends in a county jail. Walker is now a suspect in the disappearance of a 14-year-old girl.
Also, in the Tampa Tribune special report section on Carlie is the video of Rapkin calling O'Reilly scum.
A consolidation of Carlie and Judge Harry Rapkin posts:
Al Qaeda-loving National Guardsman Amir Talhah, The Idiot Formerly Known As Ryan Anderson, gets DejaNewsed by Michelle Malkin.
Some of Judge Rapkin's prior great calls:
Rapkin's decisions on the bench have previously brought criticism.
In 1995, Rapkin refused to sentence a convicted sex offender to the 15 years in prison prosecutors wanted for a probation violation. Instead, the judge ordered him to to four weekends in jail.
Within weeks, the sex offender became the prime suspect in the killing of a 14-year-old girl. The man was never charged with the crime.
And in 1996, a man faced 19 months in prison for setting his ex-girlfriend's car on fire. After the woman told Rapkin she didn't want the man to go to prison, Rapkin sentenced him to probation.
Rapkin's words to the defendant might be considered prophetic.
"You know what the judge's worst nightmare is?" Rapkin said in court, according to a 1996 story by the Sarasota Herald-Tribune. "If I were to take a chance on you and put you on some type of control release, and I pick up the paper and I find that you've gone and done something stupid, you know who gets the hot seat? Not you, me."
The man was later accused of firing a shot at the ex-girlfriend with a shotgun.
According to reader Rabidfox, the murdered girl was the daughter of the sex-offender parolee's girlfriend.
Shockingly enough, the National Guardsman who tried to give secret info to Al Qaeda is a Muslim convert.
This CNN article on Kerry and Fonda is a tad misleading. I'm sure it wasn't intentional.
But the president of the Vietnam Veterans of America Foundation, Bobby Muller, said Kerry has strong support among Vietnam vets.
"We have been contacted by veterans across the country [asking], 'How do I connect to the Kerry campaign?'" he said. "I have not seen in the 26 years that I've been in Washington, ever, the kind of dynamic and energizing of a Vietnam veteran community in this country as I am right now."
At first I thought this was the organization Vietnam Veterans of America, but it's not. The purpose of the VVA is what you'd expect:
The purpose of Vietnam Veterans of America's national organization, the state councils, and chapters is:
* To help foster, encourage, and promote the improvement of the condition of the Vietnam veteran.
* To promote physical and cultural improvement, growth and development, self-respect, self-confidence, and usefulness of Vietnam-era veterans and others.
* To eliminate discrimination suffered by Vietnam veterans and to develop channels of communications which will assist Vietnam veterans to maximize self-realization and enrichment of their lives and enhance life-fulfillment.
* To study, on a non-partisan basis, proposed legislation, rules, or regulations introduced in any federal, state, or local legislative or administrative body which may affect the social, economic, educational, or physical welfare of the Vietnam-era veteran or others; and to develop public-policy proposals designed to improve the quality of life of the Vietnam-era veteran and others especially in the areas of employment, education, training, and health.
* To conduct and publish research, on a non-partisan basis, pertaining to the relationship between Vietnam-era veterans and the American society, the Vietnam War experience, the role of the United States in securing peaceful co-existence for the world community, and other matters which affect the social, economic, educational, or physical welfare of the Vietnam-era veteran or others.
* To assist disabled and needy war veterans including, but not limited to, Vietnam veterans and their dependents, and the widows and orphans of deceased veterans.
The organization mentioned in the article, however, is the Vietnam Veterans for America Foundation, who describe themselves thusly:
Vietnam Veterans of America Foundation (VVAF) is an international humanitarian organization that addresses the causes, conduct and consequences of war through programs of advocacy and service for victims of conflict around the world.
VVAF has been at the forefront of organizations committed to international peace and justice for more than two decades.
I can see why an organization such as the VVAF would support Kerry. What I don't understand is why this memberless, chapterless organization was contacted for comment as opposed to the large regular Vietnam Veterans group.
Well, here's a handsome young fellow. I'm a lady voter and I like handsome.
A gal in Alabama liked handsome too, and she's speaking up for Dubya.
Oops.
General Turnipseed says he caused a lot of hullaballoo for nothing.
That's OK. What was good for the goose is good for the gander. Let's talk about what Kerry was up to during that same time.
Hanging out with Jane Fonda, testifying that our soldiers were baby killers and all manner of savage beasts even when he had zero proof, and all while we had troops fighting in the field and POWs locked up in the Hanoi Hilton.
Aw, Country Store plays it once more, with feeling: Wesley Clark and his precious bodily fluids.
Time for Wednesday's Duane Allman pic. Wail on, Skydog!
They're moving on the investigation as to why Joseph P. Smith was out on the streets.
Circuit Judge Harry Rapkin, who presided over Joseph P. Smith's probation case, said he is ready to defend his actions.
"If he wants to investigate me, go ahead. I did nothing wrong," Rapkin said.
Just forward the Smith file to the Florida Legislature with a little yellow sticky note on it that says "I did nothing wrong." That'll work.
Here's a pretty picture. It's Hanoi Jane, John Kerry, and friends.
Clark's dropping out. Darn, no more jokes from Country Store about precious bodily fluids.
Y'all should never miss Scrappleface. He's just too good.
Kerry Ignores Reports That He Is 'Aloof'
(2004-02-09) -- Democrat presidential frontrunner Sen. John F. Kerry today ignored reports that he is 'aloof' and dismissed charges that he is 'patrician' or 'aristocratic', calling the the latter "lies promulgated by provincial proletarians -- the ignorant hoi polloi."
As reporters pressed Mr. Kerry about his alleged aloofness, the junior senator from Massachusetts casually waved his hand, as if brushing off crumbs from his necktie. He then continued to talk about his service in Vietnam in contrast with President George Bush's "on again, off again stint in the National Guard."
During a campaign stop at a restaurant, Mr. Kerry carefully carved a pizza slice with a knife and nibbled small morsels of it from a fork as he told some local people about his service in Vietnam.
He used the occasion to again refute claims that his noble lineage sets him apart from most Americans.
"Just because I was born into wealth, attended an Ivy League school, married two wealthy women and live in a multimillion dollar home in Boston's finest neighborhood, doesn't mean that I can't identify with the common man," said Mr. Kerry. "I can relate to the average Joe Sixpack. He loves to hear about my service in Vietnam and I enjoy talking about it. So we have something in common."
Judge Rapkin on TV:
His mail is blunt and stinging.
"Carlie's blood is on Judge Rapkin's hands," reads Judge Harry Rapkin. "I just don't understand that. Carlie's blood is on that killer's hands."
Judge Rapkin oversaw probation last year of the man now accused in the kidnapping and murder of 11-year-old Carlie Brucia.
"I know I didn't do anything wrong. I followed the law and it's ruined my life. I'm getting threats, hate mail," says Rapkin.
I don't know. Why are the villagers so angry with you, Judge? Perhaps because they were counting on you to stand between them and the likes of Joseph P. Smith?
"If you like what Bill Clinton gave you in those eight years," the senator said, "you're going to love what John Kerry gives you in the first four years."
I figured an opponent had said that, but it was Kerry.
Sounds like a nightmare to me.
Well, well. Guess which judge Carlie's killer is set to appear before? The best friend a career criminal could have: his old pal Judge Rapkin.
Recuse yourself, fool. Better yet, just resign right now.
I found a really great site on the USS Indianapolis.
Bless those guys for fighting for 55 years to get their skipper's name cleared.
Can voting Democrat ruin your crops? Stoney over at Rebel Yell swears it happened to his very own daddy.
Tim Blair gets the inside scoop on the former "Queen of Nice", Rosie O'Donnell.
A neat article on Sam Asano, the man who invented the fax machine. He was insparred.
He's also very grateful to this nation.
Southern Appeal is advertising the new Autoblogger. I've adjusted my blogroll accordingly.
Heh.
From Bob Morris of the Fort Myers News Press (if he didn't plagiarize them from somewhere else)
You're a TRUE FLORIDIAN IF . . .
* You won't pull off the road just to look at an alligator.
* You realize that the only reason for Georgia's existence is to provide extra billboard space for advertising Florida.
* You understand the utter futility of exterminating cockroaches.
* You understand the only escape from mosquitoes is death.
* You wear a sweater when it gets below 70 degrees.
* You don't even consider Miami a nice place to visit.
* You can remember when there was no good reason to go to Orlando.
* You don't yell "SHARK" when you see a group of porpoise playing in the surf.
* Your definition of "waterfront property" doesn't include condominium apartments on man-made canals 20 miles from the ocean.
* You laugh when Northerners say that Florida doesn't have a change of seasons, because you know the rates are much lower after Labor Day.
He has a second list that I'll find some day.
I was looking at the Yahoo directory of websites about the Skull and Bones:
* Bear Left!: This is a Charity? - April 2001 report on the organization's finances. By Tim Francis-Wright.
* Boodle Boys - photographs, articles, links, and membership lists.
* Freedom Domain: Skull and Bones - examines selected members of the secret society, and the roles these people have played in history, economics, and politics. Also provides an article archive.
* George Bush, Skull & Bones and the New World Order - examines selected members of the secret society, as well as the question of whether or not the group has been involved in international conspiracies.
* George W., Knight of Eulogia - Atlantic Monthly article by Alexandra Robbins examining the secret society which meets regularly on the Yale University campus.
* Jeremiah Project: The Skull & Bones Society - brief background of the secretive organization.
* Journalist's Introduction to Skull and Bones, A - by Eric Samuelson, J.D.
* Salon Books: Skulls in the closet - January 2000 article by Stephen Prothero.
* Secrets of the Tomb: Skull and Bones, The Ivy League, and the Hidden Paths of Power - by Alexandra Robbins. Exposes secrets of the seruptitious, elitist organization based at Yale University.
* Skull & Bones Society - brief discussion of the society reportedly known to its members as The Order.
* Skull & Bones Society: How the Order Controls Education - excerpt from Antony C. Sutton's book America's Secret Establishment: An Introduction to the Order of Skull and Bones.
* Skull and Bones: A Casule History and An Intimate Peak At the US Ruling Class - presents a brief history of the elite Yale society whose members reportedly include George Bush, George W. Bush, Averill Harriman, William F. Buckley, and John Kerry.
* Skull and Bones: The Racist Nightmare at Yale - excerpt from George Bush: The Unauthorized Biography by Webster G. Tarpley and Anton Chaitkin.
* Those Who Dismantled Our Constitution - by Brian Downing Quig. Examines the Yale secret society called Skull and Bones.
* Unmajestic: Bones of a Conspiracy - 1994 article by Claire Messud.
* Yale's Skull and Bones Society Members - offers a list of people who are purported to be or have been members of the secret elite group.
What are people going to say now that they know that John Kerry is also a member of this supposedly elitist, racist, conspiratorial, constitution-dismantling group?
Cary Grant movies are still good. I wonder how many of today's movies
people will be enjoying 50 years from now.
"Everyone wants to be Cary Grant. Even I want to be Cary Grant."
-Cary Grant
The jury deadlocked in our local ticket-line manslaughter case.
If you cry enough, maybe you can get away with punching a guy dead.
My granddad served 11 years for killing a guy in a fist-fight. Guess he didn't cry enough. Probably would have helped if he hadn't have been dirt-poor too. Good lawyers come in handy and they don't work cheap.
That was at the turn of the century, and with prison conditions the way they were, was basically a death sentence. His cellmate had TB and granddad would have him spit his bloody spit into granddad's cup so he could show it to the guard to get a lighter work detail. He had a long life though, and ended up surviving all his siblings, so let's hear it for having a robust immune system.
One of the witnesses tells of the second attack Smith was arrested for.
Judge Rapkin can't get his ZZZ's.
Sarasota Circuit Judge Harry Rapkin, who has been handling Smith's recent probation case, said he's getting hate calls.
"People want to shoot me. Kill me," said Rapkin, who maintained he did nothing wrong. "I haven't slept all night."
Judge Rapkin speaks:
Judge in case of suspected child killer defends himself
(Sarasota, Florida-AP) -- A judge says he did nothing wrong in handling the case of the man suspected of killing eleven-year-old Carlie Brucia.
Many people, including the victim's father, are asking why Joseph P. Smith, who has a lengthy criminal past, was allowed to walk the streets.
Smith was being supervised by a probation officer, who since August had sent Judge Harry Rapkin two notices of probation violations by Smith. One was for a failed drug test, the other for failure to make court payments on time.
Rapkin says he couldn't jail Smith for falling behind in payments. And Rapkin says a probation officer didn't provide information to show it was willful.
But Florida Department of Corrections Secretary James Crosby Junior says the judge never even called for a hearing in which the officer would have presented evidence against Smith.
Rapkin insists he did his job and says he'd quit if he thought not signing a warrant caused the girl's death. He says he couldn't live with himself.
[emphasis added]
Judge Rapkin is an elected official of Manatee County. He isn't going to have to quit, he's going to be voted out.
Carlie's killer had tried this twice before, that we know of.
Dean hints he would accept the Vice Presidential slot, but hey, nobody's offering.
Acknowledging that his bid for the Democratic presidential nomination is "a longer shot than it was," Howard Dean suggested today that he would accept the No. 2 spot on a national ticket if it were offered.
"I would, to the extent, do anything I could to get rid of President Bush," Dr. Dean said on a morning radio program in Milwaukee. `I'll do whatever is best for the party. Obviously, I'm running for president, but whatever's best is what I'll do. Anything. We've just got to change presidents. We're really hurting right now.`
He mentioned states he would be campaigning in and said he'd sure like to spend a day out in Hawaii, but he didn't mention (points at the monitor) MICHIGAN.
Tim Blair fills us in on Wesley Clark's position on abortion. Apparently he's for it, against it, doesn't know whether he's for it, and doesn't know whether he's against it.
Too bad he doesn't have the talent to combine all that doubletalk into a speech like Mississippi Rep. N.S. "Soggy" Sweat did back in 1952 on the topic of whiskey:
"My friends,
"I had not intended to discuss this controversial subject at this particular time. However, I want you to know that I do not shun controversy. On the contrary, I will take a stand on any issue at any time, regardless of how fraught with controversy it might be. You have asked me how I feel about whiskey. All right, here is how I feel about whiskey.
"If when you say whiskey you mean the devil's brew, the poison scourge, the bloody monster, that defiles innocence, dethrones reason, destroys the home, creates misery and poverty, yea, literally takes the bread from the mouths of little children; if you mean the evil drink that topples the Christian man and woman from the pinnacle of righteous, gracious living into the bottomless pit of degradation, and despair, and shame and helplessness, and hopelessness, then certainly I am against it.
"But;
"If when you say whiskey you mean the oil of conversation, the philosophic wine, the ale that is consumed when good fellows get together, that puts a song in their hearts and laughter on their lips, and the warm glow of contentment in their eyes; if you mean Christmas cheer; if you mean the stimulating drink that puts the spring in the old gentleman's step on a frosty, crispy morning; if you mean the drink which enables a man to magnify his joy, and his happiness, and to forget, if only for a little while, life's great tragedies, and heartaches, and sorrows; if you mean that drink, the sale of which pours into our treasuries untold millions of dollars, which are used to provide tender care for our little crippled children, our blind, our deaf, our dumb, our pitiful aged and infirm; to build highways and hospitals and schools, then certainly I am for it.
"This is my stand. I will not retreat from it. I will not compromise."
System gave suspect many second chances
That December 30th second chance is the worst of the lot. Thanks a bunch, Judge Rapkin.
It's so funny how at trials simple incidents are turned into high drama.
An old man is at the box office buying movie tickets. He gets the math wrong, and is taking too long. An old lady behind him opens up her yap and gives him a math tip. He tells her to shut up. The old lady's husband punches the guy in the mouth. The guy falls, hits his head, goes into a coma, and dies.
What a nasty bunch, all of them: the woman for getting smart with a stranger, the man for telling a woman to shut up, and the woman's husband for landing a sucker punch instead of giving a warning. This is the God's Waiting Room crowd. Thankfully we're losing our appeal for retiring ill-bred Yankees and their law of the jungle.
RIP Carlie Brucia
I'd like to hear from the judge who last month refused the parole officer's request to send this guy back to prison for violating the terms of his parole.
Oh, Lordy. Check out the "Kerry Gone Wild" page on the Southerners for Kerry site.
KERRY GONE WILD!
Not too many 60-year-olds are courageous enough to take on the activities that John Kerry enjoys! In fact, he shows more athleticism than men much younger!
Alpha male. X-treme Kerry. Whatever you choose to call it, we just call it Kerry Gone Wild!
Our future President is an avid hunter who also has a passion for water sports, plays ice hockey for charity, and loves his Harley. No doubt about it, Senator Kerry rocks!
Lieberman, the one guy worth a vote, has dropped out. Kucinich needs to call it a day, as does Spanky.
Clark's supporters were braced for a bad night. "I think the general is about to meet Sitting Bull," said Senate Minority Leader David Patterson, of the New York legislature and a Clark backer.
Aw, Garryowen, General, Garryowen.
Go, Ken doll! You got SC and hopefully Oklahoma too. I'm a lady voter and you're awful purdy!
AZ Kerry 46, Clark 24, Dean 13.
MO Kerry 52, Edwards 23, Dean 10
SC Edwards 44, Kerry 30, Sharpton 10
OK Edwards 31, Kerry 29, Clark 28
DE Kerry 47, Dean 14, Lieberman 11, Edwards 11
Weirdness abounds at the Stephen Hawking home.
The innuendo has grown to a police inquiry but disabled physicist Stephen Hawking denies his injuries are from abuse.
There's no fool like an old fool.
I read how when he told his wife of 26 years that he was dumping her for the nurse, the wife wheeled him out into a flower bed and walked off and left him there.
I'm gonna miss ol' Howie. Such a goofball, and so out of his league.
Too bad you're hemorrhaging money, you lovable oaf.
A cute article on Clark and Edwards. Edwards comes off looking way better of the two. Clark just looks nuttified.
A Pakistani Christian got jailed for commenting on a Muslim's beard.
The French had better start practicing their kowtowing. This is their future and their new masters sure aren't going to put up with any of the famous French haughtiness.
244 killed while stoning the Devil
Calling America "the greatest Satan," Egyptian pilgrim Youssef Omar threw pebbles at one pillar on which someone had scrawled "USA."
Maybe another one of those pillars said "Jew".
``Oh God, give victory to the mujahedeen (holy warriors) everywhere,'' al-Taleb said Friday as 500,000 people filled the mosque and nearby streets. ``Give them victory in Palestine. Oh God, make the Muslims triumphant and destroy their enemies, and make this country and other Muslim countries safe. Oh God, inflict your wrath on the criminal Zionists.''
The Democratic Party still loves us and wants to help us, even though we're bad
According to a St. Petersburg Times columnist:
But the South's tendency toward overt religiosity handicaps Democrats. The Democratic Party's tolerance for individual choices will probably never be attractive to the South. The region is obsessed with (outward) moral conformity. But maybe there's a chance at getting through by going beyond abortion and gays. Sen. John Edwards, to his credit, has been taking a shot at speaking in moral terms of the common values Democrats hold.
Edwards waxes over the virtue in honest labor and contrasts that with the craven actions of CEOs "who give themselves massive raises while cutting jobs." He reminds voters of how this president benefits the wealthy to the detriment of workers: "President Bush has a war on work. You see it in everything he does. He wants to eliminate every penny of tax on wealth, and shift the whole burden to people who work for a living. . . . It's wrong to tax millionaires less for playing the market than we tax soldiers for keeping America safe."
How can this not resonate with middle- and working-class Southern white voters? How can they continue to throw their support behind a party that represents their peripheral issues - as Dean says, "race, guns, God and gays" - but allows the undermining of our national tax system? This is the demographic group that has slipped furthest behind economically over the last 25 years. These are the people most likely to depend upon Social Security and Medicare - the very programs that will need strong federal revenues in the future to survive.
If Southern white voters don't see through the Southern Strategy scam, wealthy Republicans who are indifferent to the plight of daily-grind wage earners, will once again successfully use appeals to racial fears and religiously grounded intolerance to pit people with common economic interests against one another. And they will be laughing all the way to the bank.
Yeah, they're poor old Hosea, saddled by God with the faithless wife who sells herself into slavery.
I wonder, though, what's the reason so many of the rest of the country's middle class has left the Democratic party?
"Among middle-class voters, the Democratic Party is a shadow of its former self. Half a century ago, a near majority of voters identified themselves as part of the Democratic Party. Today, that number has declined to roughly one-third of all voters."
Looks like they've aggravated a whole lot of folks.
