Tuesday, August 31, 2004
I just heard…
Charles Rangel (D-NY) say to Alan Colmes that (I’m paraphrasing just a bit) “...it bothers me when people use the Purple Heart for political purposes...”
WTF?
You folks will excuse me, I have to go buy a new Irony-Meter (TM). My old one just broke its needle… 
UPDATE: He just scoffed at the concept of the people of Iraq being free.
Asshat comma wotta. Just to remind you folks, this is the dingbat that sponsored legislation to reinstate the military draft, just so he can be upset that kids are being drafted!!!
The new ad is out!
The new ad put out by the Swiftboat Veterans for Truth is now available. Thanks to the kind folks over at Ipse Dixit (which means “Because [he] said so!").
Anyhow, the video can be found here, or if you want your own copy, you can Right-Click here and watch it at your leisure. It’s even got a nice clip of John Kerry saying that he doesn’t even remember how many medals he threw away. I guess his memory was a bit faulty, which is odd, given how precisely he remembers those events more than ten times as many years later.
Maybe he was confused between the medals he earned and those he claimed…
Talk about coincidence
About a week ago, I was listed as “Site Of The Day” by John Hawkins, over at Right Wing News. (Thanks, John!) Yesterday, we had a mini-Instalanche, courtesy of our own John Cross, who pointed out (in an e-mail to the Instapundit) that he had gotten to a story before the esteemed Puppy Blender. Professor Reynolds then kindly updated his entry to include the URL of the story.
The coincidence is that we had exactly the same number of daily hits on those two days. (Link will expire in about three weeks, as the calendar progresses.)
And all the people said, “Heh.” Indeed.
If you need a break from politics
(like so many of us do), then I suggest you head over and check out this little tail, er… tale.
No, on second thought, I was right the first time.
It starts off normally enough, but I urge you in the strongest terms to have nothing drinkable within reach, because you might get tempted to take a sip while you’re reading, and I’m sure you’ll agree (after reading) that having anything in your mouth is a Bad Idea(TM).
Banzai!
Ollie North on Hanoi John
Oliver North (yes, that Oliver North - Marine Colonel, National Security Council Member under President Reagan, talk radio host, former Senatorial candidate from Virginia, and nationally-syndicated columnist and television host) has written an open letter to Senator “Hanoi John” Kerry, the soon-to-be-failed Democratic candidate for President.
It’s got some great lines in it, and is worth the read.
Great last line: “Even Jane Fonda apologized. Will you, John?”
RTWT.
(Tip O’ The Hat to Loyal Reader Darren.)
I am sorry.
I am going to be watching Sullivan’s reactions to the speeches at the RNC this week. I know that his descent into Anti-Bush Land has been documented here several times (possibly ad nauseum), but the fact is that he has played himself as this conservative libertarian, and is now supporting Kerry, drives me to licking wasp tails. I can’t help myself....
Please, friends.....read on.
Monday, August 30, 2004
Does Ron Silver get it?
Speaking at the GOP convention (and no doubt to be ostracized by his fellow Hollywood lefties- Oh the irony!), Ron Silver shows he does indeed get it....
This is a war we did not seek.
This is a war waged against us.
This is a war to which we had to respond.
History shows that we are not imperialists . . .
but we are fighters for freedom and democracy.
First found at the Drudge Report.
Andrew Sullivan’s BACK!
And I have some info on Mr. Sullivan’s Blog.
Read on.
Better relationships
Our latest quiz comes to us courtesy of Manda’s LJ site.
You can take the quiz yourself here.
Sunday, August 29, 2004
Kerry vs. Kerry
The inestimable John Hawkins has collected a number on points on which John Kerry is being his inimitable self - flipping and flopping on many different issues. Those issues are:
- Whether or not Kerry was in Cambodia for Christmas Eve, 1968.
- Whether or not he was under fire for his first (of three) Purple Hearts.
- Whether or not he fraudulently obtained his third Purple Heart.
- Whether or not he fled the scene and left a man behind.
Included in John’s article is a link to this WaTimes article, in which the first Purple Heart was discussed, using Kerry’s own journal. What struck me was the “Meaning of ‘Is’ Mentality” used by Kerry’s spokesman in his statement, trying to explain the December 11th, 1968, journal’s entry which explains this.
Nope, no connections there
For those of you Kerry apologists out there who claim that Bush is tied to the Swift Boats group, while Kerry’s hands are perfectly clean (and that is why the MoveOn.org commercials are okay, while those questioning Kerry’s ability to lead are not), I submit this page.
I know, the first thing you can come up with will be, “But that’s NewsMax, and they are biased to the Republican side.”
To that, I say, “So what?” Did the events they describe - the letters Kerry sent, the e-mail from the DNC to all MoveOn members, and all the rest - actually happen, or not?
Did, as has been alleged by the Swifties, Kerry get his first Purple Heart under false pretenses, or not? His own journal denies being under fire and a retired Admiral who was the other officer on the whaler denies they were under fire, so I’m willing to bet that the Purple Heart - which is only given for injuries sustained under fire - wasn’t actually earned…
Did, as has been described by the Congressional Record and more than 50 other mentions in the media, Kerry claim that he spent Christmas Eve, 1968, “five miles across the Cambodian border, getting shot at by the Khmer Rouge”, or didn’t he? His own campaign has withdrawn the claim, he got it wrong as to who was President, the Khmer Rouge didn’t even exist at that time, and no one - not even the men who were actually on the same boat with him - claims that Kerry was ever in Cambodia.
Did, as has been seen all around the globe, Kerry insult and disparage his fellow veterans, accusing them of war crimes, atrocities, and all manner of perfidy, in front of a Senate Committee, and admit to committing similar atrocities himself, or not?
If he did any of those things, what does the source of the material matter? (This is why ad hominem attacks are not a valid argument.)
Bush is Hitler!!
Um...sorry, but if that is right, why is there a decline in the amount of war?
This has happened since the fall of the Soviet Empire.
My opinion? Three things:
1. This is proof that the democracies have won over the totalitarians. The Communists lost, and the Capitalists won.
2. Economic and social freedoms reduce conflict, and these freedoms are most heavily promoted by the United States.
3. The Leftist Press is consciously trying to oversell the deaths in Iraq to hurt Bush. Through strength, the US has brokered peace (Libya, anyone?).
Let’s see how much play THIS gets in the MSM.
OH...get over to Allahpundit, and see the pretty protesters.
Link Fixed HERE
The New Dynamic Duo!
Black N’ Fat
OR
The Saviors of the Self-Righteous Galaxy
A Flip-Flopper that isn’t John Kerry
Seems the NYSlimes has decided that because Bush might actually win this election by a largish margin, they want to Eliminate the Electoral College (Registration required, unless you want to use BugMeNot).
Money quote:
The Electoral College’s supporters argue that it plays an important role in balancing relations among the states, and protecting the interests of small states. A few years ago, this page was moved by these concerns to support the Electoral College. But we were wrong. The small states are already significantly overrepresented in the Senate, which more than looks out for their interests. And there is no interest higher than making every vote count.
(Emphasis added.)
They want the areas in New York City, Chicago, and Los Angeles (a combined total population greater than the States of Alaska, Arkansas, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Idaho, Iowa, Kansas, Maine, Mississippi, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Mexico, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Oregon, Rhode Island, South Dakota, Utah, Vermont, West Virginia, Wyoming, and the District of Colombia) to decide who wins elections, so that those who are in the urban environments will get to decide the politics of the “fly-over” states.
“We want Democratic strongholds more-populated states to control those hicks in the flatland less-populated states. This is a Democracy even though it’s actually a Federal Republic!”
Thanks, but no, and I doubt that they would be raising this issue if we were bowing to Mecca under President Gore…
Judging at the Olympics
The Olympic Games are drawing to a close, and I’ve been watching the evening coverage, especially the Track & Field events, and then they switched to the Men’s 10-meter Platform Diving, and it struck me that the whole concept of the Olympics - “Citius, Altius, Fortius,” which means “Swifter, Higher, Stronger” - is being defeated when those competing are being judged on “style points”.
The Olympics should be simple.
You put the ball in the net, you score a point (or two or three). The team with the most points wins. You pick up the weight, you clear the bar, you cross the finish line, you hit the target, you jump the farthest, you pin your opponent, or you don’t.
There is no bias, no worry about “style” or any of that bullshit. The high-speed cameras, and thousandths of a second timing splits will guarantee that any dispute will be decided with irrefutable evidence that the event under question either occurred, or it didn’t.
Let’s get it back to the basics, and get rid of the bias. Turn those events into the crowd pleasers they are supposed to have been, and give them “Participant’s Medals” or something. Let’s reserve the Olympic Gold Medals (and Silvers and Bronzes) for those who exemplify “Higher, Stronger, Faster”.
UPDATE: Seems that leading athlete at the final event - the men’s marathon - was assaulted by a spectator, and dropped from the lead to third place because of the delay. I look forward to hearing the International Marathoners Guild demand that the winner give up his Gold Medal in favor of the one who was in the lead when the attack took place.