Friday, July 30, 2004
Thank God the Democratic convention is over...
I watched the whole thing. I'm not really THAT interested in the candidates, but I do like to hear what they are saying. Obviously, Obama did a great job and is an up-and-coming star for the Democrats. Edwards and Kerry... They made a lot of grandiose promises without talking about how they intend to pay for them AND attempting to get rid of the deficit. Bill Clinton... He even brought up the Scriptures in his exhortation to "Be not afraid!" I'm not taking Biblical suggestions from Slick Willy! I'll also watch the Republican convention. I'm sure there will be hours of patriotic breast-beating and "war on terror" braggadocio. Besides, I like to see if the convention was worth the American taxpayer money. I'll always believe that the parties should pay for these events because they are merely taxpayer-funded, four-day long political advertisements. I'm sure that the two parties will never allow themselves to be extricated from the dole list.
Speaking of the "war on terror"... There's been some grumbling that Dubya and Company are pressing Pakistan to capture "high value targets" during the election season. Politicizing the "War on terror"? Say it isn't so...
Several days ago, I spoke about Brandon Mayfield. As always, The Smoking Gun has some excellent supporting material about Mayfield's case.
Speaking of the "war on terror"... There's been some grumbling that Dubya and Company are pressing Pakistan to capture "high value targets" during the election season. Politicizing the "War on terror"? Say it isn't so...
Several days ago, I spoke about Brandon Mayfield. As always, The Smoking Gun has some excellent supporting material about Mayfield's case.
Thursday, July 29, 2004
I received an e-mail the other day...
I receive plenty of e-mail EVERY day (much of it junk), but this one was about politics. The text of this e-mail follows:
"Can You Name This Country?
709,000 REGULAR (ACTIVE DUTY) PERSONNEL.
293,000 RESERVE TROOPS.
EIGHT STANDING ARMY DIVISIONS.
20 AIR FORCE AND NAVY AIR WINGS WITH 2,000 COMBAT AIRCRAFT.
232! STRATEGIC BOMBERS.
19 STRATEGIC BALLISTIC MISSILE SUBMARINES WITH 3,114 NUCLEAR WARHEADS ON 232
MISSILES.
500 ICBMs WITH 1,950 WARHEADS.
FOUR AIRCRAFT CARRIERS AND 121 SURFACE COMBAT SHIPS AND SUBMARINES PLUS ALL
THE SUPPORT BASES, SHIPYARDS, AND LOGISTICAL ASSETS NEEDED TO SUSTAIN SUCH A
NAVAL FORCE.
IS THIS COUNTRY:
RUSSIA? NO
CHINA? NO
GREAT BRITAIN? NO
FRANCE? WRONG AGAIN
MUST BE USA? STILL WRONG
GIVE UP?
THESE ARE THE AMERICAN MILITARY FORCES THAT WERE ELIMINATED DURING THE
ADMINISTRATION OF BILL CLINTON AND AL GORE.
SLEEP WELL!.........
If you can read this, thank a teacher; If you are reading it in English, thank a soldier."
John Kerry on Defense -- I hadn't seen this list printed before. It would make one heck of a mailer if it were sent to voters.
He voted to kill the Bradley Fighting Vehicle
He voted to kill the M-1 Abrams Tank
He voted to kill every aircraft carrier laid down from 1988.
He voted to kill the Aegis anti aircraft system
He voted to Kill the F-15 Strike Eagle
He voted to Kill the Block 60 F-16
He voted to Kill the P-3 Orion upgrade
He voted to Kill the B-1
He voted to Kill the B-2
He voted to Kill the Patriot Anti Missile System
He voted to Kill the FA-18
He voted to Kill the B-2
He voted to Kill the F117
In short, he voted to kill every military appropriation for the development and deployment of every weapons systems since 1988 to include the battle armor for our troops. With Kerry as president our Army will be made up of naked men running around with sticks and clubs.
He also voted to kill all anti terrorism activities of every agency of the U.S. Government and to cut the funding of the FBI by 60%, to cut the funding for the CIA by 80%, and cut the funding for the NSA by 80%.
But then he voted to increase OUR funding for U.N operations by 800%!!!
Is THIS a President YOU want?
Please pass this on, as many people may not know how bad it is. And don't limit your sending to just your Republican friends. Everyone needs to know."
A day or so later, there was a response from someone else who had received this e-mail. In the interest of saving space, I'll point to the article on Slate that was used as a rebuttal.
This brings up interesting points. How do we sort through the BS that is used by both sides? If you watch Fox News exclusively, you'd be unlikely to hear the Kerry side of things. If you listen to the Republican attack machine, you won't see the full story. The conservative machine cries foul when Michael Moore is using the same tactics that they use. Both sides use these methods. Both sides should be ashamed.
One way to sort through the crap is to check out the Annenberg Political Fact Check site. Another (much more difficult and far less likely for "joe swing voter" to do) way is to actually look at the voting records. In the minds of many voters, this election is one of the most important that has been held for a while. Please check the facts before making up your mind... This country went to war on what has proven to be questionable intelligence. More often than not, intelligence is conjecture. Sometimes we are lucky enough to be able to catch someone in the act but that doesn't happen very much. As Americans, we are bombarded from the left and right by snippets of information carefully sculpted to steer us in the direction that the source wants us to go. I've chosen to jump off of the wagon because it's beyond my control. I'd love to see people send a message to the powers-that-be (Democrat and Republican) by voting Libertarian or Constitution or even Nader. My vote may not put someone in office, but it won't be wasted.
"Can You Name This Country?
709,000 REGULAR (ACTIVE DUTY) PERSONNEL.
293,000 RESERVE TROOPS.
EIGHT STANDING ARMY DIVISIONS.
20 AIR FORCE AND NAVY AIR WINGS WITH 2,000 COMBAT AIRCRAFT.
232! STRATEGIC BOMBERS.
19 STRATEGIC BALLISTIC MISSILE SUBMARINES WITH 3,114 NUCLEAR WARHEADS ON 232
MISSILES.
500 ICBMs WITH 1,950 WARHEADS.
FOUR AIRCRAFT CARRIERS AND 121 SURFACE COMBAT SHIPS AND SUBMARINES PLUS ALL
THE SUPPORT BASES, SHIPYARDS, AND LOGISTICAL ASSETS NEEDED TO SUSTAIN SUCH A
NAVAL FORCE.
IS THIS COUNTRY:
RUSSIA? NO
CHINA? NO
GREAT BRITAIN? NO
FRANCE? WRONG AGAIN
MUST BE USA? STILL WRONG
GIVE UP?
THESE ARE THE AMERICAN MILITARY FORCES THAT WERE ELIMINATED DURING THE
ADMINISTRATION OF BILL CLINTON AND AL GORE.
SLEEP WELL!.........
If you can read this, thank a teacher; If you are reading it in English, thank a soldier."
John Kerry on Defense -- I hadn't seen this list printed before. It would make one heck of a mailer if it were sent to voters.
He voted to kill the Bradley Fighting Vehicle
He voted to kill the M-1 Abrams Tank
He voted to kill every aircraft carrier laid down from 1988.
He voted to kill the Aegis anti aircraft system
He voted to Kill the F-15 Strike Eagle
He voted to Kill the Block 60 F-16
He voted to Kill the P-3 Orion upgrade
He voted to Kill the B-1
He voted to Kill the B-2
He voted to Kill the Patriot Anti Missile System
He voted to Kill the FA-18
He voted to Kill the B-2
He voted to Kill the F117
In short, he voted to kill every military appropriation for the development and deployment of every weapons systems since 1988 to include the battle armor for our troops. With Kerry as president our Army will be made up of naked men running around with sticks and clubs.
He also voted to kill all anti terrorism activities of every agency of the U.S. Government and to cut the funding of the FBI by 60%, to cut the funding for the CIA by 80%, and cut the funding for the NSA by 80%.
But then he voted to increase OUR funding for U.N operations by 800%!!!
Is THIS a President YOU want?
Please pass this on, as many people may not know how bad it is. And don't limit your sending to just your Republican friends. Everyone needs to know."
A day or so later, there was a response from someone else who had received this e-mail. In the interest of saving space, I'll point to the article on Slate that was used as a rebuttal.
This brings up interesting points. How do we sort through the BS that is used by both sides? If you watch Fox News exclusively, you'd be unlikely to hear the Kerry side of things. If you listen to the Republican attack machine, you won't see the full story. The conservative machine cries foul when Michael Moore is using the same tactics that they use. Both sides use these methods. Both sides should be ashamed.
One way to sort through the crap is to check out the Annenberg Political Fact Check site. Another (much more difficult and far less likely for "joe swing voter" to do) way is to actually look at the voting records. In the minds of many voters, this election is one of the most important that has been held for a while. Please check the facts before making up your mind... This country went to war on what has proven to be questionable intelligence. More often than not, intelligence is conjecture. Sometimes we are lucky enough to be able to catch someone in the act but that doesn't happen very much. As Americans, we are bombarded from the left and right by snippets of information carefully sculpted to steer us in the direction that the source wants us to go. I've chosen to jump off of the wagon because it's beyond my control. I'd love to see people send a message to the powers-that-be (Democrat and Republican) by voting Libertarian or Constitution or even Nader. My vote may not put someone in office, but it won't be wasted.
Tuesday, July 27, 2004
Bill O'Reilly...
C'mon Bill...
As a "news"man, you should be aware of the news. You wanted a case of someone harmed by the "Patriot" Act? As a "news"man, I would expect that you would have heard about the story of Brandon Mayfield. Brandon Mayfield is an Oregon lawyer whose home was searched surreptitiously under the Patriot Act after "his" fingerprints were discovered on some material related to the Madrid bombings of 3/11. I'm sure the story is FAR MORE complicated but it ended up with the FBI issuing an apology to Mayfield because they realized after a couple of weeks that he didn't have a damn thing to do with Madrid. They have to hate it when that happens. Mayfield was lucky that his innocence was discovered quickly. The detention of Mayfield is a glaring example of what is wrong with the Patriot Act. Two weeks ago, Ashcroft gave a speech talking about how wonderful the Patriot Act is. There's no mention of Brandon Mayfield.
Health news...
A company released a report today saying that an average of about 195,000 people died in hospitals from medical errors in 2000, 2001, and 2002. Remind me to stay out of the hospital...
Speeches from Boston? Get'em here. There's been some pretty good stuff. However, I'll never vote for those in question.
As a "news"man, you should be aware of the news. You wanted a case of someone harmed by the "Patriot" Act? As a "news"man, I would expect that you would have heard about the story of Brandon Mayfield. Brandon Mayfield is an Oregon lawyer whose home was searched surreptitiously under the Patriot Act after "his" fingerprints were discovered on some material related to the Madrid bombings of 3/11. I'm sure the story is FAR MORE complicated but it ended up with the FBI issuing an apology to Mayfield because they realized after a couple of weeks that he didn't have a damn thing to do with Madrid. They have to hate it when that happens. Mayfield was lucky that his innocence was discovered quickly. The detention of Mayfield is a glaring example of what is wrong with the Patriot Act. Two weeks ago, Ashcroft gave a speech talking about how wonderful the Patriot Act is. There's no mention of Brandon Mayfield.
Health news...
A company released a report today saying that an average of about 195,000 people died in hospitals from medical errors in 2000, 2001, and 2002. Remind me to stay out of the hospital...
Speeches from Boston? Get'em here. There's been some pretty good stuff. However, I'll never vote for those in question.
Monday, July 26, 2004
I was listening to the radio on the way home from work this afternoon...
NPR was playing classical but I felt like listening to news/talk. I changed the station to WOC. Oh crap, Hannity was on the radio. A little later in Hannity's broadcast, I heard something mentioned about a "battle for the soul of America" or some other tripe along those lines. I don't want my soul to be anything like Hannity's!
Why? I'll just bring up one example. One of Hannity's books (called Deliver Us From Evil) is credited with (at http://www.townhall.com/bookclub/hannity1.html) "Recounting in particular the strong leadership of Ronald Reagan, Winston Churchill, and more recently George W. Bush, Hannity calls on all of America to recognize the importance of having (a) the moral clarity and discernment to identify evil and call it by its true name, and (b) the strength and conviction to address that evil head-on, regardless of the venue in which it exists."
Moral clarity? Reagan and company KNEW some of the questionable methods that Hussein was using during the Iran-Iraq war and they also knew that Hussein was brutal. So, what did the Reagan government do? Hey, let's give Saddam weapons, bio-weapons related material, and intel with which to kill Iranians. Yeah, that's the ticket... Well, that wasn't good enough. Since we knew that Hussein was a pretty evil character, we couldn't have him winning the war either. Hmmm, what to do? Hey, maybe we'll arm the other side as well. Yeah, that whole "Islamic Revolution" thing and the hostages...no biggie. The whole Iran-Iraq policy just shouts "moral clarity" to me. Well, at least if I was a citizen of Bizarro World.
I think the debate about the means we used to carry on the Cold War (especially in the Reagan era) will be going on for a very long time. Would the "Evil Empire" have collapsed on its own or was the only possible way to win to arm and train individuals who would later become some of the most deadly enemies of the United States?
One final thing... This whole thing about Teresa Heinz Kerry telling a reporter to "shove it" is laughable. It's OK for Dick Cheney to tell a Senator "fuck yourself" on the Senate floor but John Kerry's wife can't tell someone to shove it?
Why? I'll just bring up one example. One of Hannity's books (called Deliver Us From Evil) is credited with (at http://www.townhall.com/bookclub/hannity1.html) "Recounting in particular the strong leadership of Ronald Reagan, Winston Churchill, and more recently George W. Bush, Hannity calls on all of America to recognize the importance of having (a) the moral clarity and discernment to identify evil and call it by its true name, and (b) the strength and conviction to address that evil head-on, regardless of the venue in which it exists."
Moral clarity? Reagan and company KNEW some of the questionable methods that Hussein was using during the Iran-Iraq war and they also knew that Hussein was brutal. So, what did the Reagan government do? Hey, let's give Saddam weapons, bio-weapons related material, and intel with which to kill Iranians. Yeah, that's the ticket... Well, that wasn't good enough. Since we knew that Hussein was a pretty evil character, we couldn't have him winning the war either. Hmmm, what to do? Hey, maybe we'll arm the other side as well. Yeah, that whole "Islamic Revolution" thing and the hostages...no biggie. The whole Iran-Iraq policy just shouts "moral clarity" to me. Well, at least if I was a citizen of Bizarro World.
I think the debate about the means we used to carry on the Cold War (especially in the Reagan era) will be going on for a very long time. Would the "Evil Empire" have collapsed on its own or was the only possible way to win to arm and train individuals who would later become some of the most deadly enemies of the United States?
One final thing... This whole thing about Teresa Heinz Kerry telling a reporter to "shove it" is laughable. It's OK for Dick Cheney to tell a Senator "fuck yourself" on the Senate floor but John Kerry's wife can't tell someone to shove it?
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