RALSTON HOUSE

Cheney to the left of Obama on SSM?

2009-06-02T08:44:00.000-07:00

Will the media pile accolades on Dick Cheney for his promotion of Same Sex Marriage Rights? In a dramatic rebuke to both of the Presidential nominees in the 2008 election, he has expressed support of gays' rights to marry.

"I think people ought to be free to enter into any kind of union they wish, any kind of arrangement they wish."

Both the maverick John McCain, and President Obama stressed during the campaign that they believe marriage is "between a man and a woman". Notably, Vice President Biden made a point of noting that he, too, is against gay marriage.

It is unclear whether this shift toward less rights for gays in the Vice President's office will gain traction in the National media.

Club Gitmo is FUN!

2009-03-31T12:15:00.000-07:00

claims Miss Universe:

It was a loooot of fun!", Mendoza wrote of her time at the camp, a prison surrounded by barbed-wire fence and minefields. She wrote that she went to a bar on the naval base and visited the "unbelievable" beach, Reuters reported.

Why should we be surprised? It is quite possible it rates very well when compared with life under Hugo Chavez.

Let them fail!

2009-03-23T09:44:00.001-07:00

My local newspaper has an article that seems to go against the armageddon predicted by our government if we don't bailout Wall Street.

"The county investment pool which lost approximately $150 million in September because of its holdings in now-bankrupt Lehman Brothers is currently sound and most securities have high credit ratings, according to a recently released analysis."

FINALLY!

2009-03-17T13:37:00.000-07:00

a tax break I can believe in!

"IRS Commissioner Douglas Shulman, testifying at a Senate Finance Committee hearing, said the new guidelines will apply to victims of all Ponzi schemes, not just Madoff’s."

I can't wait to deduct my FICA taxes from my 2009 return. Even if TurboTax tells me it is wrong, I'll just say I know better, my friend Tim Geithner says its ok.

What GM Should Do...

2009-03-06T15:24:00.001-08:00

75 years is a long time to have a zero percent return on the stock price. But, that is how long it has been since their stock has been as low as it is. Think about that. It means essentially anyone who has bought GM stock in the last 75 years (and still owns it) has lost money. If ever there is a statement by the market of your business model, that is it.

At this point, they need to go bold. Announce they are going BK and reorgnize with a new cost structure. One without unions. The problem isn't the cars they make, and it isn't having American workers. It is American workers in unions and the cost structure they force upon the Big 3. I realize the Detroit workers won't likely agree to now work for a non-union GM. That's where it gets interesting.

GM should do what a truly competitive company would do. Open a plant right where the workers they DO want are. Prime example would be near the Honda plant in Ohio. I bet a bunch of those workers would LOVE to work for an American car company. The problem w/ GM isn't their cars, they are really quite good now. The American worker is also very productive.

I had a Honda Element built in Ohio and it was top notch. If I could buy a GM car made by those same workers, I'd do it in a heartbeat, and I bet a lot of other Americans would also. I was born in Ohio and I'd love to see that happen.

What do you think? I'd love to hear from any worker at a US plant of a non-union foreign automaker and ask if they'd go work for GM if they could. This assumes GM is now reorganized as efficient and well run as the current company they work for.

I'm sorry it would be truly devastating for Detroit, but, I'm afraid their fate is sealed no matter what happens. The issue is will there be a GM going forward at all.

If massive fires ever break out in Australia...

2009-02-09T11:57:00.000-08:00

we'll know we were warned.

This article was from September of 2008.

"AUSTRALIA has been singled out as a target for "forest jihad" by a group of Islamic extremists urging Muslims to deliberately light bushfires as a weapon of terror."

Belmont shows the way!

2007-07-03T11:52:00.000-07:00

The leadership shown by the Belmont, CA City Council is to be commended as we now see that Afghanistan is following its lead to stamp out smoking!

"Afghanistan may be the world's largest producer of heroin, but the government has taken the first step towards to a ban on smoking in public places.

Local media said on Tuesday that the council of ministers had ordered a campaign through the media and mosques to inform the public that smoking in educational institutions, hospitals and government offices has been outlawed.

The ban will be widened later to cover hotels and restaurants."

Greastest example of Karma.....ever..

2007-05-22T11:18:00.000-07:00

"A Californian man who tried to kill his girlfriend by leaving her in a car parked across railway lines was himself killed when an oncoming train hurled the car into him as he fled.

His girlfriend survived, the Associated Press reported."

Biden has Slave-holding Street Cred!

2006-08-28T08:20:00.000-07:00

I guess this is the new strategy for Biden to show he can win in the South in 2008. Seeming to be appealing to the racists in the South he had this in response to the notion he can't win there.

"You don't know my state," he said. "My state was a slave state. My state is a border state. My state has the eighth-largest black population in the country. My state is anything from a Northeast liberal state."

Nice.

Bush ignores safery concerns again!

2006-04-28T11:52:00.000-07:00

When will George Bush wake up and protect us? He is so concerned with bombing other countries in order to make Dick Cheney money that he is endangering Americans at home. Some of whom might be immigrants!

"Investigators in Fremont say several cars are destroyed after a hybrid car started a fire at a gated condo complex carport overnight."

How can he allow these dangers to be legal? They are like mobile Hindenbergs!

Where is Ralph Nader when you need him?!

My new favorite bank

2006-02-27T10:27:00.000-08:00

This is great.

"but BB&T may have just become the first bank in recent memory to withhold money from developers who don't line up with the bank's view of eminent domain law.

The North Carolina-based bank, which employs more than 28,000 people in 1,400 branches in 11 states, announced last month that it would no longer approve loans for developers who want to pursue commercial enterprises on land seized by the government using the power of eminent domain, or taking private property for public use."

Awesome. Where do I sign up to be a customer?

Bad media buy...

2006-01-31T12:32:00.000-08:00

In the awards for "Worst media buy" this one will be tough to top...

"A German newspaper has apologized for accidentally placing a utility company advertisement for "the gas of tomorrow" inside a full-page story on the Nazi killing of Sinti (Gypsy) people in Auschwitz concentration camp."

Note to self:

2005-12-07T12:47:00.000-08:00

Don't "run crazily through the aisle" in an airplane, claiming to have a bomb in my carry-on bag. Also, remember that when air marshals (or any LEO) "asks" you to get on the ground, it really isn't a request in the sense most things are asked. It really is more of an order. If you defy said order, anything that happens after that is...and remember this ...ALL...YOUR...FAULT.

This Darwin award wannabee thought the answer to the "request" was to reach for the carry-on bag that he had claimed had a bomb. Wrong answer. He now has the distinction of sharing his death day with the anniversary of the Pearl Harbor Attack.

I am sorry if it turns out as his wife said, that he simply is "bipolar" and he had not "taken his medication". Too F-in bad. We just can't take those chances...not now. Pre-9/11 I would have supported deadly force...but, after?...well, it is a layup.

I hope the wife is feeling the proper responsibility in this fiasco. She is the loved one most entrusted to care for her husband and she KNOWINGLY let him get on a plane with his untreated bipolar condition.

And some wonder why the UN has no credibility...

2005-11-16T11:32:00.000-08:00

"The United Nations reinstated the only U.N. official who was fired over the Iraq oil-for-food scandal, after an internal appeals body ruled that he had done nothing wrong, according to a letter made public Tuesday."

Sure, let's let them control the Internet.

W. knocks it out of the park...

2005-10-06T13:01:00.000-07:00

To say this speech is terrific is an understatement. This is his best speech in a long time. This is where he is at his best. It is this why I am still in full support of him and prefer him to be our current leader over anyone else. The simple point is, that the War on Terror is #1 on the list of priorities. ALL others are tied for a distant #2. While I might not like things he does on blowing the budget, not stopping pork like 'Bridges to Nowhere', or even making SCOTUS nominations that don't inspire me, he gets what truly matters…. just right. If we don't get #1 priority right, it doesn't matter if we have 9 Scalias on the Bench.

Here is the text. But, people need to feel good about W. today and watching him deliver it is sooo much better...

I think more now that Peggy Noonan was right about 'Dubya's New Deal', even if she doesn't anymore:

"FDR would sacrifice anything, he'd tack left right and center, to win World War II. …..

Mr. Bush is doing the same thing. He is accepting what he thinks he has to accept (pork, a bad trade bill) in order to keep or expand the power balance he has in Washington, and in order to keep from angering or offending your basic, normal, politically nonobsessed citizen."

This plays nicely into an emailer's assertion to Jpod over at NRO that all W. cares about Miers is that she will support the administration's views on the W.O.T.

Bush's speech today is FILLED with great quotes. Such as:

"And Islamic radicalism, like the ideology of communism, contains inherent contradictions that doom it to failure. By fearing freedom -- by distrusting human creativity, and punishing change, and limiting the contributions of half the population -- this ideology undermines the very qualities that make human progress possible, and human societies successful."

And my favorite:

"There's always a temptation, in the middle of a long struggle, to seek the quiet life, to escape the duties and problems of the world, and to hope the enemy grows weary of fanaticism and tired of murder. This would be a pleasant world, but it's not the world we live in. The enemy is never tired, never sated, never content with yesterday's brutality. This enemy considers every retreat of the civilized world as an invitation to greater violence. In Iraq, there is no peace without victory. We will keep our nerve and we will win that victory."

Resist that temptation Mr. President. Please.

I am sure we will see arrests made very soon...

2005-09-22T08:25:00.000-07:00

....oh, that is a good one.

While Chuck Schumer talks a good game about identity theft. Clearly, it is a "do as I say, not do as I do" situation. His staffers have posed as to obtain a credit report. If this was done by a Republican, do you think we would have the same deafening silence form the mainstream media? Of course not. But, this will garner about the same level of non-existent outrage from the Left as did Sandy Berger's thievery.

Where are all the 'privacy champions' we saw on display during the Roberts' confirmation hearing recently?

I'm also not holding my breath for the President to use this case as an example of his new 'get-tough' policy on identity theft.

Tony Blair doesn't like tree people! Blair lies, trees die!

2005-09-16T09:49:00.000-07:00

Tony Blair shows why he has my support, regardless of his too liberal views on many things...Not holding my breath for the Tories over there to get a spine and groom a leader of any value soon...

Blair puts a nail on the coffin on the Kyoto Treaty. Will Bush get any credit for being ahead of the curve on this albatross? No. But, even so, good to see Blair has come to his senses...

"Blair, a longtime supporter of the Kyoto treaty, further prefaced his remarks by noting, "My thinking has changed in the past three or four years." So what does he think now? "No country, he declared, "is going to cut its growth." That is, no country is going to allow the Kyoto treaty, or any other such global-warming treaty, to crimp -- some say cripple -- its economy."

How did Bush allow this to happen!?

2005-09-09T11:54:00.000-07:00

Proof that not only he is racist, he has used his powers of mind-control to make the LOCAL officials in Louisiana do his dirty work. Ha! Karl Rove is at it again! But, we have him this time!

"Police from surrounding jurisdictions shut down several access points to one of the only ways out of New Orleans last week, effectively trapping victims of Hurricane Katrina in the flooded and devastated city."

Kayne West was right! And Bush wants the locals to take the fall...To those of lesser intellect, they might actually think Bush wasn't to blame for this. Yet, we know Hailliburton is behind it and Cheney is pulling the strings from his undisclosed bunker. Cheney and Rove. Cheney and Rove. Che' Neyrove...

...oh lord...how do people keep straight faces...

More Keywords...

2005-08-30T22:05:00.000-07:00

Now, there probably ARE quite a few people from Gulfport, MS that are looking at relocating, but, do they have Internet connections at the moment?

Keywords Gone Bad...

2005-08-30T21:05:00.000-07:00

Sometimes automated things don't work out...

Can you say 'Bitch Slap'?

2005-08-27T19:11:00.000-07:00

Great commentary by Jim Forsyth of WOAI. (via LGF)

"Even if you drink every last drop of the anti war Kool Aid, even if you are convinced that President Bush was ordered by the Chairman of Halliburton to start the Iraq war and that he intentionally lied to the American people about the existence of weapons of mass destruction, the simple fact is that today, there is demonstrably more freedom for the people of Iraq and for the people of Afghanistan, some 50 million brown skinned Muslims. Yes, there is dawdling over the drafting of an Iraqi constitution, but before April of 2003, metal shredders and rape rooms awaited any Iraqi who breathed the word 'constitution.' Yes, a brutal insurgency continues to threaten the Iraqi people, an insurgency which has killed some 25,000 Iraqi civilians since April of 2003. But Saddam Hussein, even by conservative estimates, butchered 1.5 million Iraqis during his 25 years in power (not counting the one million who died in the war he started with Iran). So Saddam and his goons killed an average of 60,000 people a year, while the insurgency has killed 25,000 in two and a half years. Despite the hand-wringing over the insurgency, the devil's arithmetic would indicate that life for the average Iraq is actually safer today than it was under Saddam. But they're brown skimmed Muslims, so not worthy of America's notice, let alone America's sacrifice."

And this isn't even the best part...read it all.

How do these people keep a straight face?!

2005-08-18T20:49:00.000-07:00

When they write stuff like this?

Is it impossible for some writers to hide their bias? Do they HAVE to insert their anti-Bush slant into every breathing moment of their life? I think they need to see a doctor.

This is a story in Newsweek talking about China's slowing economy, which has been signalled by declining demand for oil, etc.

Even though things are cooling off, it is those wonderful Communists who are to be commended:

"Still, the sense is that China is making the right moves. Contrast, for example, China's apparently effective effort to reduce oil demand to the Bush administration's newly passed energy policy, which has done nothing to reduce U.S. demand. Consider, too, the contrasting approach to housing bubbles, which continue to loom in the United States as Washington watches from the laissez-faire sidelines, but are already shrinking in China, as Beijing slaps on rules to restrain lending and speculation. It's conceivable that if these trends end badly for the United States but well for China, other nations will begin looking more closely to Beijing-style state controls as a model."

Damn America, relying on market forces again. If they would only be so elightened as to use those well-proven state-controlled methods that Communism dictates they'd be better off.

I don't know whether to cry or laugh at the absurdity of that paragraph. I could vent about every sentence. Probably, my favorite is the 'lack of results' from Bush's energy policy. It has been a law for almost a whole week! Why aren't there results!?

And they wonder why readership is dropping...

Urban decline...

2005-08-15T17:46:00.000-07:00

Seems that Detroit has become the poster-child for it. I knew it was bad, just not THIS bad.

"Detroit has lost more than half its population since its heyday in the 1950's."

"The fleeing businesses and homeowners left behind about 36 square miles ... of vacant land. That's roughly the size of San Francisco and about a quarter of Detroit's total land mass."

In his state of the city address, embattled mayor Kwame Kilpatrick said even if 10,000 new homes were built every year for the next 15 years "we wouldn't fill up our city."

"And Detroit is still losing about 10,000 people every year."

On the good side...The City of Detroit doesn't believe the hype and is ever optimistic!

See its home page... "Detroit is Growing!" it proclaims...

The difference between us and them...

2005-08-10T08:44:00.000-07:00

Nothing else is needed to see which side is the correct one and which is the morally bankrupt one, teeming with barbarians that deserved to be wiped off this Earth.

How we use dogs: (a.k.a to save lives)

"At a checkpoint leading to the U.S.-protected Green Zone, Gordy stands sentry. The affable Belgian Malinois has a nose finely tuned to detect the nitrates, plastic explosives, gunpowder and detonation cords that suicide bombers use to blow up people."

How the demented followers of the Cult of Death use dogs: (a.k.a. to snuff out lives)

"On a barren stretch of road in northern Iraq, a dog rigged with explosives approaches a group of Iraqi police officers. Detonated by remote control, the bomb tears the dog apart but doesn't harm the cops."

With financial acumen like this...

2005-08-09T12:48:00.000-07:00

it will be no time until the World is dominated by Islam.

Muslims, in their desire to not pay interest, pay more for their homes! Man, why hadn't I thought of that. Us stupid infidels, risk 'debt slavery' in exchange for paying less.

"Solaiman and Metzger were thrilled to find that University Bank in Ann Arbor had begun offering Islamic mortgages locally and they cost only a little more than a regular loan."

Perhaps NOT the best poster to have now...

2005-07-27T09:41:00.000-07:00

Uh, time to get these all down...(and they will probably be up on Ebay a short while later)..

The poster, which first appeared on the tube on July 4, included a line from Justina Robson's review which appeared last year in the Guardian describing The Algebraist as "a perfect place to have your mind blown to smithereens".

Riddle me this Batman....

2005-05-24T13:25:00.000-07:00

If we (the US) suck so badly and are so damn evil, why in the hell does EVERYONE want to come here? And why, when they do arrive, do they almost assuredly, end up doing BETTER than where they came from?

Could it be that the US is actually a GOOD PLACE? Or is our evil just too hard to resist? The lure of material gains pulls people from their poverty to arrive on our shores, only to become new pawns in our ultimate goal of taking over the whole World, spreading Capitalism and prosperity everywhere!...

"The answer, of course, is opportunities and institutions. Arabs in the United States have access to ample opportunities to prosper and can rely on powerful institutions to protect their civil, political, and economic rights to do so."

Read it all.

15+ dead people only a 'blip'

2005-05-24T08:49:00.000-07:00

I am sure all the families of the people killed due to the false Newsweek story about the Koran flushing that Michael Isikoff, who penned the fiction says:

"I think this will end up being a blip."

Wow! What a relief to those familes. For a couple weeks they have been burdened by thoughts of how their life has changed, how they must make the best of this and go on without their loved one. How devastating it is. Many Americans have also fretted about the unfair tarnishing of the image of their country. Such a weight off of everyone's shoulders to know that it will soon be a mere 'blip' in the rearview mirror of our lives.

Bastard.

Europe stands United!

2005-05-17T12:05:00.000-07:00

....in their disdain for the French. A recent survery across Europe finds:

"Why the French are the worst company on the planet, a wry take on France by two of its citizens, dredges up all the usual evidence against them. They are crazy drivers, strangers to customer service, obsessed by sex and food and devoid of a sense of humour."

Newsweek Lied. People Died.

2005-05-15T13:51:00.000-07:00

Saw this noted by Jonah in The Corner, and Michelle Malkin is all over it.

First there is this report of US forces desecrating the Koran:

"Malaysian Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi has denounced alleged incidents of desecration of the Koran by soldiers at a U.S. terrorist detention center.
....
Angry protests about the Koran incidents that allegedly took place at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, broke out in a number of Muslim states last week. In Afghanistan alone, 14 people died and more than 100 were injured."

Too bad it wasn't true.

Newsweek's editor has today issued a 'note' apologizing for the error:

"But we regret that we got any part of our story wrong, and extend our sympathies to victims of the violence and to the U.S. soldiers caught in its midst."

Can anyone even doubt the sh*tstorm that would ensue if FoxNews had done something like this?

Today's Irony Alert: Greenpeace Breaks Enviro Laws!

2005-05-04T11:26:00.000-07:00

ANCHORAGE, Alaska — Lawyers selected a jury Monday that will decide whether Greenpeace and its contract ship were criminally negligent by failing to have the proper oil spill response paperwork during an anti-logging campaign.

Um, this is exactly the problem...Hello?!

2005-05-02T10:11:00.000-07:00

Denver public schools upset that private school "recruit" their students away....

Says the Denver school board member...

"We (DPS) haven't caught up with that," she said. "We will need to give our principals more training and capacity to handle this. Some of them have never been in the business environment where they have to compete."

Nothing to see here, folks....move along...

2005-04-27T17:19:00.000-07:00

This should make us all feel really safe...

"Authorities, however, did not believe they had stumbled onto a terrorist cell, even though the room contained some materials that could be used to fashion pipe bombs, sources said. "

Funny, but, also exactly right...

2005-04-08T08:02:00.000-07:00

Roger Ailes had a great response to being asked if he would start an International version of Fox News (a la CNN International).

"We've decided not to start an anti-American channel," quipped Ailes to the applause of some of the roughly 100 people who attended his speech Thursday night at the Washington Press Club.

It is a great zinger, but, he isn't saying it just to be funny. He understands that to get big play outside the US, you can't actually say anything good about it.

"To get distribution overseas it is helpful if you're not all that friendly to the U.S.," Ailes said during the question-and-answer session..

The Infidel has it spot on...

2005-03-22T07:32:00.000-08:00

Leave it to Rachel to frame the Sciavo case in a way that us dog owners can understand.

It's a must read.

"It will probably only take 7 to 14 days for her heart to give up and stop beating. Her lips and eyes might get kind of dry, but I can slather Vaseline all over her face so she's not too uncomfortable towards the end. You know, while she STARVES TO GODDAMN DEATH LIKE WE COULDN'T EVEN LEGALLY INFLICT UPON SOMEONE LIKE ADOLF FUCKING HITLER."

Best of the worst? Big fish in little pond?

2005-03-10T07:55:00.001-08:00

Not sure what this article is meaning to say. It starts out saying how popular this new "terrorist reality show is in Iraq". Then, when mentioning it is on al-Iraqiya, which is funded by the US, it is on an unpopular station. So, it is a 'television hit', but, only compared to the dismal ratings of the other shows on the same channel?

"Terror in the Grip of Justice has become the most watched show ever on al-Iraqiya, an unpopular channel set up and funded by the Americans.."

Oh this is a recipe for disaster...

2005-03-03T07:37:00.000-08:00

Boy, this guy (the founder of Moveon.org) is projecting a bit...

"We see ourselves as a broad American public," he says. "We assume that things that resonate with our base resonate with America."

Yeah, that always works..assume everyone thinks like you and you will be just fine...not.

His tactic will work about as well as mine when I kept buying up Webvan from its IPO date up until it stopped trading. "I love this service, it HAS to work!!.. NO WAY can it go lower than $5..." "NO way can it go lower than $1"...."NO WAY can it go out of business!!!!".....

What's that noise?

2005-02-24T08:52:00.000-08:00

More alarm clocks?

"Germany loves to criticize US President George W. Bush's Middle East policies -- just like Germany loved to criticize former President Ronald Reagan. But Reagan, when he demanded that Gorbachev remove the Berlin Wall, turned out to be right. Could history repeat itself?"

I love it.

Shocking news!!!

2005-02-16T12:49:00.000-08:00

The World never knew how come nothing was found...

"UN inspectors in Iraq spent their working hours drinking vodka while ignoring a shadowy nocturnal fleet believed to be smuggling goods for Saddam Hussein, a former senior inspector told the US Senate yesterday."

Not.

The Power of IKEA...

2005-02-10T13:15:00.000-08:00

Drives people of all cultures to madness...

This just happened in England:

"Five people are in hospital today after hundreds were crushed as the opening of England's biggest Ikea store turned into a riot."

This was just last year in Saudi Arabia at an IKEA also:

"A stampede of hundreds of shoppers in western Saudi Arabia has left at least three people crushed to death."

Who would have guessed that the desire to be able to assemble your own furniture would be so irresistable?

Scholars and pundits are looking for something that can bring the East and West together? Perhaps we have it.

'If you make them build it, they will come'

Silence of the Lame

2005-02-02T07:51:00.000-08:00

"Billionaire Bush-basher George Soros and left-wing filmmaker Michael Moore were among critics of the administration's Iraq policy who had no comment after millions of Iraqis went to the polls in their nation's first free elections in decades."

But, they'll be back to the blathering the moment something bad happens...

Alarm clocks going off

2005-02-01T08:43:00.000-08:00

all over the Left?

Seems as though at least some are unable to ignore the good signs of this past Sunday. While Ted Kennedy and John Kerry have no problem seeing that elections are a bad thing, this liberal writer is beginning to see the light...

"But after watching Sunday's election in Iraq and seeing the first clear sign that freedom really may mean something to the Iraqi people, you have to be asking yourself: What if it turns out Bush was right, and we were wrong?"

Actual stupidity or a slam at Bush?

2005-01-28T10:35:00.000-08:00

Attempting to blame the Act (promoted by the President) for this?

"The administrators decided to eliminate the spelling bee, because they feel it runs afoul of the mandates of the federal No Child Left Behind Act."

You make the call.

'Europe as Savior' Idea Falls Flat

2005-01-26T11:13:00.000-08:00

Hmm..we needed to have full European help on Iraq to make it a legitimate war. If we had properly used "old Europe" they would have solved it peacefully.

Why are we Americans so blinded by the obvious? See how well Europe is doing dealing with Iran?

"A confidential summary of talks between key European powers and Iran made available to The Associated Press on Tuesday shows there has been no progress in getting Iran to scrap nuclear enrichment — even though Tehran acknowledged it does not need nuclear energy."

"Appeasement through weakness" That should be our motto!

"European Success on the Backs of the Poor"

2005-01-19T15:31:00.000-08:00

THAT would be the headline I'd like to see.

Just yesterday, we had to listen to parade of Euro-self congratulatory circle-jerking about the new Airbus plane.

I love engineering marvels and I am not questioning the engineering behind this thing, but, for the Europeans to be virtually fellating each other over this thing is crazy.

This was Jacques Chirac yesterday:

French President Jacques Chirac praised the A380 as the "crowning achievement of a human and industrial adventure", describing it as a "European success".

And here was German Chancellor Schroeder:

"Good old Europe made this possible," gushed German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder

We all know that Airbus is heavily subsidized by the governments of the consortium, which helps on the 'costs' side. But, now we get to find out that some sleazy, strong-armed tactics by the EU are aiming to help the 'revenue' side as well.

"TSUNAMI-struck Thailand has been told by the European Commission that it must buy six A380 Airbus aircraft if it wants to escape the tariffs against its fishing industry"

Too bad, we 'stingy' Americans can't compete with 'old Europe'

Don't get too excited

2005-01-18T07:49:00.000-08:00

Schroedey...yeah, you may have created a plane that can carry a lot of people, but, this is far from putting you ahead of the USA.

"Good old Europe has made this possible," German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder told a packed hall in Airbus's headquarters in Toulouse, southwest France.

Nice try at a dig at Rumsfeld. Sure, old Europe did it. The kind of government subsidized, money-losing proposition that thankfully, the US chooses (at the moment) to not participate in.

You can have the biggest plane title, and we'll worry about saving the World.

How low can these people go?

2005-01-06T08:37:00.000-08:00

This guy is so far gone it is difficult to comprehend his analogies. He actually thinks Tsunamis are misunderstood, and really aren't bad at all..

"Tsunamis usually kill quickly by drowning and rarely severely injure people."

I am sure the thousands of injured people are feeling comforted by this...

"Earthquakes may have aftershocks, but tsunamis do not return to attack their original victims or to attack rescuers or resisters of their destruction."

As long as you don't count the countless people who were swept away in the second tidal wave, after they had gone out to search for their loved ones after the first one receded...

"Tsunamis do not break in doors in the middle of the night in order to detain, arrest, and confine innocent people for weeks, months or even years. Tsunamis do not detain people for lifetimes as the U.S. military leadership is attempting to do. Tsunamis do not torture people with focused technology in order to "break them" or cause them to divulge information which may not even be in the possession of the victim."

I am sure the people of Asia are soooo glad tsunamis instead attack in the brightness of daylight, while they are out on the beach, so as to die sooner, than perhaps survive if they were sleeping on the 2nd floor of their home...

"Tsunamis can result in physical renewal,"

yeah, all those people who lost their spouses can now go out and find new mates!...woo hoo!, freedom to rejoin the singles scene!...and countless people are now freed from the confines of having to care for children, to say nothing about all the children who, now liberated from the life of having parents are able to 'renew' themselves with their newfound emancipation!

"Tsunamis are unavoidable by human effort."

Maybe so, but, I am sure the people of Asia sure with some 'human effort' had been put into an early-warning system, and would have been OK if technology had saved lives because of it...

At least someone appreciates us

2005-01-04T13:21:00.000-08:00

This is a nice column that comes from our neighbor to the North.

"The supposed unpopularity of the U.S. is often propaganda and rhetoric, and not shared by the people of the world who, even after 9/11, Iraq, Afghanistan and the war against terror, seek to come to America to live in freedom and prosperity.

Those anxious to get in have no doubts about what America is -- the most desirable country on Earth."

Nice timing. I happened to actually just return from the Great White North yesterday. Spent the New Year's in a nice town called Canmore, eating lots of yummy Alberta beef. Mad Cow disease be damned!

Another 'Axis of Evil' member collapsing?

2004-12-23T13:44:00.000-08:00

Don't want to get my hopes up, but, this doesn't sound like a bad thing...

European policymakers have been advised to prepare for "sudden change" in North Korea amid growing speculation among diplomats and observers that Kim Jong Il is losing his grip on power.

and

"I've never seen or heard so many signs of division within the leadership," said a Western observer who has been traveling in and out of Pyongyang for more than five years. "Kim Jong Il seems to be losing control."

"There is a great deal of pressure coming from somewhere," a North Korea-based diplomat said. "We don't know whether it is internal or external, but something is going on."

Beautiful.

Why the UN is useless...

2004-12-17T08:39:00.000-08:00

Read this and you have all you need to know.

UN sponsors ceremony for dedication of new homes for people (displaced by those evil Israelis, of course). Kids all around with flowers, looking oh so peaceful. But, wait, look who's coming to dinner? Could it be a bunch of terrorists? Not to worry, the UN is powerful and can solve anything, they won't let those thugs take over. However, in a shocking twist, right out of an M.N.S. movie, it turns out the UN can't get the terrorists to leave. Why, you ask?

Of course I don't condone it, but it's a fact of life," UNRWA head Peter Hansen told The Associated Press, referring to the violation of the no-arms rule. "Look around the camp. We can't stop it — we don't have guns."

I thought guns weren't needed? It was talks, and discourse, and resolutions, and programs, and ceremonies, and, and, and....

Don't read this one?!!

2004-12-16T14:26:00.000-08:00

Yikes.

How about Don't WRITE This One!? That would have saved us all a turned stomach.

Irony Alert

2004-12-15T18:08:00.000-08:00

This could so be an Onion story.

Best line:

"The Jews are doing all right economically, and their educational institutions function," said Mr. Amir.

Darwin Award tryouts in Mexico?

2004-12-14T14:18:00.000-08:00

Leonel Arias, 47, told police he was playing a practical joke by donning the Bin Laden mask, toting his pellet rifle and jumping out to scare drivers on a narrow street in his hometown, Carrizal de Alajuela, about 20 miles north of San Jose.

This just isn't smart. Too bad the guy lived.

France upset at high rate of ZERO-hour work weeks...

2004-12-09T10:36:00.000-08:00

So they decide to relax the 35 hour a week maximum limit...

PARIS, Dec 9 (AFP) - French Prime Minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin on Thursday announced a major relaxation of the controversial 35-hour working week, the key socialist reform that has come under attack for helping create the country's stubbornly high unemployment.

Did someone there finally take a Econ class?

Again I ask...can we move on to taking out Iran, yet?

2004-12-02T10:13:00.000-08:00

"Some 200 masked young men and women gathered at the cemetery Thursday to pledge their willingness to carry out suicide bomb attacks against Americans in Iraq..."

Here is the link to the full blurb.

On the road to Rhodesia....

2004-12-02T08:13:00.000-08:00

Not too sure about the appeal of this new destination on the tourist map...

“Tourists can provide labour for farms in the hope of shedding weight while enjoying the tourism experience,” it said, adding that Americans spent $6 billion a year on “useless” dieting aids.

The notion that oversized, overpaid Americans could be enticed into paying to spend their holidays working free for those who seized the country’s commercial farms illustrates how far the Mugabe regime has descended into a fantasy world.

This seems to be for real, although it seems as though it could be from the Onion. (via the AIR).

Pat Sajak solves the puzzle...

2004-11-30T11:40:00.000-08:00

Of the deafening silence from the Left on the murder of Theo van Gogh.

"There’s another possibility; one that seems crazy on the surface, but does provide an explanation for the silence, and is also in keeping with the political climate in Hollywood. Is it just possible that there are those who are reluctant to criticize an act of terror because that might somehow align them with President Bush, who stubbornly clings to the notion that these are evil people who need to be defeated? Could the level of hatred for this President be so great that some people are against anything he is for, and for anything he is against?"

Yes, Pat, it could. No 'Free Spin' needed, these people are morally 'Bankrupt'.

Now we know why everyone was upset we went into Iraq w/o the UN...

2004-11-23T10:49:00.000-08:00

There won't be any good sex videos!

Kaboom!

2004-11-15T08:04:00.000-08:00

FALLUJAH, Iraq -- US forces dropped a pair of 2,000-pound bombs early yesterday morning on a bunker complex believed to be an insurgent training facility on the southern edge of this city, where the most dedicated and best trained rebel fighters are making a last stand.

The bombs shook the ground of the former insurgent stronghold and set off secondary explosions that went on for 45 minutes but could not be seen above ground, persuading officers of the Army's First Infantry Division that there were large stockpiles of weapons underground.

Nice!

This gives me the chills....

2004-11-05T16:58:00.000-08:00

from a Marine outside Fallujah...

"Once again, we are being asked by citizens who have fled the city to go in and take the city back. They are willing for us to literally rubble the place in order to kill the terrorists within. Don't get me wrong, there are still many inside the town that support the terrorists and we cannot expect to be thanked publicly if we do take the city. There is a sense of de ja vu with the refugees telling us where their houses are and asking us to bomb them because the muj have taken them over. We heard the same thing in April only to end up letting the people down. Some no doubt have paid with their lives. The "good" people who may ultimately buy into a peaceful and prosperous Iraq are again asking us to do what we know must be done."

Speaking of moving on....

2004-11-03T13:01:00.000-08:00

Can we take out Iran now?....please????

"Chanting "Death to America" and "Death to corrupt Western culture" the crowd of mostly young students given a day off school listened to speeches deriding the "Great Satan," as Iran's clerical leadership routinely calls the United States."

Nice speech

2004-11-03T11:48:00.000-08:00

I am impressed, Mr. Kerry. I am so glad you lost, but, you wisely chose to not drag our country down a "Ohio is the new Florida" path some of your supporters surely wanted. Thanks, really.

Click here for the text of his speech.

Kerry is moving on, and so will I. Edwards sure is looking forward. His speech was the first of his 2008 Presidential campaign. Hillary will have something to say about that, though.

Iraqi Interim Government goes Online!

2004-10-29T09:42:00.000-07:00

Obviously, it isn't finished. But, it is a welcome start. Thanks to Iraq the Model for the tip about it.

Dogs kick ass...

2004-10-29T08:38:00.000-07:00

Finally, a positive story about a Rottweiler.

"Faith, a 4-year-old Rottweiler, phoned 911 when Beasley fell out of her wheelchair and barked urgently into the receiver until a dispatcher sent help. Then the service dog unlocked the front door for the police officer."

I hope this trend keeps up!

2004-10-27T09:41:00.000-07:00

Over at ABC.com:

"Americans almost never choose a sitting legislator as leader of the free world.

We've done it just three times: James A. Garfield in 1880, Warren G. Harding in 1920 and John F. Kennedy in 1960. They all died in office and combined served only five of 216 years of the presidency.

Three out of 43 is no historical fluke."

Now, we just need to happen next Tuesday and then 4 years from now when the 2008 GOP nominee goes up against Hillary.

Boy, that Jon Stewart is a grammar master....

2004-10-19T08:24:00.000-07:00

Saw this blurb on Drudge today and couldn't believe it. Jon Stewart apparently needs to go back to school. He was giving a commencement address a couple months ago and said:

"We declared war on terror. We declared war on terror—it’s not even a noun, so, good luck. After we defeat it, I’m sure we’ll take on that bastard ennui."

Maybe someone needs to tell the American Heritage Dictionary that. Because they must have it wrong then.

5 entries found for terror.
ter·ror Pronunciation Key
n.
1.Intense, overpowering fear. See Synonyms at fear.
2.One that instills intense fear: a rabid dog that became the terror of the neighborhood.
3.The ability to instill intense fear: the terror of jackboots pounding down the street.
4.Violence committed or threatened by a group to intimidate or coerce a population, as for military or political purposes.
5.Informal. An annoying or intolerable pest: that little terror of a child.

Nope, Saddam wasn't a threat...

2004-10-13T13:34:00.000-07:00

at least 'anymore' to these people, as they were dead. No need to rush to war to save them!

"A baby had been shot in the back of its head and was found still being clutched by its mother, who had been shot in the face."

I guess this must have happened after coming back from flying a kite with all the other perfectly happy children in Saddam's Iraq.

The best defense of W. I have seen yet...

2004-10-07T13:37:00.000-07:00

It's long, but, worth it.. it is written by someone who voted for freakin' mondale....it should be forwarded to anyone on the fence..that could be persuaded to vote for Bush if they saw a well-written argument..

Several times it made my eyes well up and lit the anger I feel whenever I think back to 9/11...read it...all

If you are willing to read the whole thing, stop here and go do it. If not, just read the excepts below.

Thanks to Jim Gergahty over at the Kerry Spot for the post about this. First time I had read EjectEjectEject. Won't be the last.

Highlights:

"And we both want to make sure that it – or worse – does not happen again.

We don’t want it to happen again.

We want to deter it from happening again.

And all of this rage and fury and spitting and tearing up of signs, all of these insults and spinmeisters and forgeries and all the rest, seem to come down to the fact that about half the country thinks you deter this sort of thing by being nice, while the other half thinks you deter this by being mean.

It’s really just that simple."

And

"It all comes down to carrots (liberals) or sticks (conservatives). By the way: if you’re in a rush and need to run, here’s the spoiler: You can offer a carrot. Not everybody likes carrots. Some people may hate your carrot. Your carrot may offend people who worship the rutabaga. But no one likes being poked in the eye with a stick. That’s universal.

I’m a stick man. I wish it were different. But part of growing up – in fact, the essential part of growing up – is realizing that wishing does not make it so.

Folks, it’s time to reach down deep and get in touch with our inner adult."

And

"We like to say that the world changed that day. What a ridiculous, self-centered thought. The world didn’t change. Our illusions about the world changed. The scales had (mostly) fallen from my eyes in the years leading up to that morning. But many, many conservatives (as I define myself) were born precisely at 9:17 am EDT, when United 175 flew past the burning North Tower – an accident? – and exploded through the second, on the morning of September the 11th, 2001.

And everything we thought we knew about deterrence changed at 9:17 too – although I am sorry to say it hasn’t fully sunk in on certain people."

And

"What we learned on 9/11 is that there are people out there who are not deterrable. Given the chance – given the weapons – these people will strike without any regard to consequences. The ultimate horror of a world enveloped in nuclear fire is just peachy keen with them if it will bring about the New Caliphate. We love death the way you Americans love life, they say. They are not kidding. They are serious. You can pretend otherwise, but that will not make it change. There are people who are determined to kill us for who we are and what we believe. They can not be deterred.

But they can be defeated. And the people they depend on for survival can be deterred."

And

"And there stood a man I had not seen before – and sadly, have not seen often since – holding the shield of a dead hero in his hand, promising not to tire, or falter, or fail, until this vague and mysterious war was won. And I swore to myself, right then and there, that I would support this President, come what may. And in the intervening years, as the criticisms and hysteria rose in pitch to the point where only dogs can hear, I have stood by him and his policies, and I do so proudly, to this day."

And, finally (that's only PART ONE)

"John Kerry has spoken now in front of the nation. We have, at last, a position that can be analyzed. I could use exerpts from their first debate to show that he is better spoken, or nicer, or taller than President Bush. I care about none of that. I am interested in one thing only from these two men: who will best deter the enemy? Who will best be able to stop a thousand 9/11’s in a millisecond of religious ecstasy? That’s all I care about."

Canada comes to its senses...

2004-10-05T09:14:00.000-07:00

No statue to honor draft-dodgers. Good.

Tony Blair...Orator Extraordinaire...

2004-09-28T13:37:00.000-07:00

Here is the full text of the speech Tony Blair just gave at the Labour Party conference. Now, it is long, and the first 3/4 of it I don't agree with. It is defending the Labour Party vs. the Tories on economic matters, taxes, etc.

But, as I have said before, all that stuff is tied for a distant 2nd. The danger we have in front of us is all that matters. We can sort out economic policy and social policy later...

Here is the best part of the speech:

"There are two views of what is happening in the world today.

One view is that there are isolated individuals, extremists, engaged in essentially isolated acts of terrorism.

That what is happening is not qualitatively different from the terrorism we have always lived with.

If you believe this, we carry on the same path as before 11th September.

We try not to provoke them and hope in time they will wither.

The other view is that this is a wholly new phenomenon, worldwide global terrorism based on a perversion of the true, peaceful and honourable faith of Islam; that's its roots are not superficial but deep, in the madrassehs of Pakistan, in the extreme forms of Wahabi doctrine in Saudi Arabia, in the former training camps of Al Qaeda in Afghanistan; in the cauldron of Chechnya; in parts of the politics of most countries of the Middle East and many in Asia; in the extremist minority that now in every European city preach hatred of the West and our way of life.

If you take this view, you believe September 11th changed the world; that Bali, Beslan, Madrid and scores of other atrocities that never make the news are part of the same threat and the only path to take is to confront this terrorism, remove it root and branch and at all costs stop them acquiring the weapons to kill on a massive scale because these terrorists would not hesitate to use them.

Likewise take the first view, then when you see the terror brought to Iraq you say: there, we told you; look what you have stirred up; now stop provoking them.

But if you take the second view, you don't believe the terrorists are in Iraq to liberate it.

They're not protesting about the rights of women - what, the same people who stopped Afghan girls going to school, made women wear the Burka and beat them in the streets of Kabul, who now assassinate women just for daring to register to vote in Afghanistan's first ever democratic ballot, though four million have done so?

They are not provoked by our actions; but by our existence.

They are in Iraq for the very reason we should be.

They have chosen this battleground because they know success for us in Iraq is not success for America or Britain or even Iraq itself but for the values and way of life that democracy represents.

They know that.

That's why they are there.

That is why we should be there and whatever disagreements we have had, should unite in our determination to stand by the Iraqi people until the job is done.

And, of course, at first the consequence is more fighting.

But Iraq was not a safe country before March 2003.

Few had heard of the Taliban before September 11th 2001.

Afghanistan was not a nation at peace."

And later, on his defense of his support for the US:

"Next year as president of the G8 along with action on climate change, we will try for consensus on a new plan for Africa, that not only on aid and trade but on conflict resolution, on fighting corruption, on the killer diseases Aids, malaria and TB, on education, water, infrastructure.

A plan to lift that continent in hope and lift from ourselves the shame that so many human beings live and die in misery when we know together we could stop it; and when unchecked this misery some time, somewhere in the future will threaten us.

But understand this reality.

Little of it will happen except in alliance with the United States of America.

And here am I, told by the pro-Europeans to give up on America and the Atlanticists to forget about Europe.

And yet I know Britain must be at the centre of a Europe now 25 nations reunited after centuries of conflict the biggest economic market and most powerful political union in the world and I know that to retreat from its counsels would be utter self-defeating folly.

And I know to cast out the transatlantic alliance would be disastrous for Britain."

He also addresses those of his original supporters that are disappointed in him:

"When I hear people say: "I want the old Tony Blair back, the one who cares", I tell you something.

I don't think as a human being, as a family man, I've changed at all.

But I have changed as a leader.

I have come to realise that caring in politics isn't really about "caring".

It's about doing what you think is right and sticking to it.

So I do not minimise whatever differences some of you have with me over Iraq and the only healing can come from understanding that the decision, whether agreed with or not, was taken because I believe, genuinely, Britain's future security depends on it.

There has been no third way, this time.

Believe me, I've looked for it."

Well done, Tony. You'd have my vote if I were a Briton.

Nope....No liberal media bias here...

2004-09-27T18:01:00.000-07:00

The disbelief in the headline writer must be so overwhelming...

"Bush apparently leads Kerry in pre-debate poll"

Apparently leads?...That is funny.

Who the heck are these 'Some' people?...

2004-09-24T17:38:00.000-07:00

And why to they whine so much? Is it just me who has a knee jerk reaction to the term "Some criticized..."? It seems to be so oft-used, but, rarely has any actual data or examples to back it up. It is as if it is thrown out there to put a spin on the story. Most of the time it is a spin that makes the Right look bad, or uncaring.

A quick Google News search of the term "Some criticized" turns up many recent examples..

About the destruction in Haiti:
The U.S. government has said it would provide more than $2 million — an increase from $60,000 that some criticized for its paucity.

On taxes in Texas:
"Some criticized commissioners for not considering a tax-rate increase."

On dealing with teens too harshly:
"Some criticized a scenario in which the mother of a 14-year-old girl wanted to send her daughter's 17-year-old boyfriend to jail after the teens had consensual sex."

On same-sex marriage:
"Some criticized the proposed amendment as an expression of intolerance."

On after-school funding:
"Some criticized the district for not allocating all the money last year."

On new dress codes of businesses:
"But some criticized the new dress code as overly expensive to workers, especially coming just after Target sold off its Marshall Field's stores, where Target employees could get a discount." Got to love the extra bonus dig at the evil capitalists for selling part of their business! Heaven forbid they engage in commerce!

On Bill Cosby:
"Some criticized Cosby for fueling negative racial stereotypes and giving credence to conservative beliefs that the problems facing African Americans are self-imposed."

On using 9/11 images in ads:
"While some criticized the ads, others who lost family in the attacks defended them as an appropriate reminder of how the president responded to the attacks."

On cuts to bus routes:
"Some criticized federal spending priorities, from the war in Iraq to space exploration." Oooh, have to slip in a little anti-Iraq jab!

On funding anti-flood projects in China (Even in China they are afflicted with the 'Some criticized' fad):
"Some criticized the timing of the move as either too early or too late." That is journalism? 'Either too early or too late'? It is like an account of Goldilocks. "While Goldilocks finally offered the bears some porridge, some criticized it as being too hot or too cold."

I could go on, but, I think you get the point. 'Some' is such a vague term, and as such, is easily thrown out to get an emotional reaction from the readers. The authors seems to know that it is almost impossible to be 'proven' inaccurate.

But, 'some' of us know better...

"Combat over Iraq"...

2004-09-24T08:23:00.000-07:00

Very nice pics posted by Rob T. (via Instapundit) Check them out.

Hard work outlawed here in CA?

2004-09-23T17:04:00.000-07:00

Can the 35 hour work week be far behind? Come on, Arnold, don't let us turn into a State of girlie-men!

America is Racist, France is the 'decider' of what is legal..

2004-09-23T13:25:00.000-07:00

Right.

Can you imagine what would happen if an American politician said this? Especially a GOP one?

"Do we want the river of Islam to enter the riverbed of secularism?"

'Blame Canada'...

2004-09-21T08:40:00.000-07:00

Canada is really going to put up a monument to honor the draft-dodgers?

"a larger-than-life monument depicting a Canadian helping two scared American men."

Yikes.

"You are so fired"

2004-09-17T10:51:00.000-07:00

El Pais has (rightfully) apologized for the terrible ad campaign they launched (via Southern Watch). Apology seems legit and you get the sense someone is in deep trouble there.

"Any explanation about the chain of errors which led to the launch of this campaign is insufficient, which some of our readers rightly qualified as repugnant. We share the disgust they have expressed in numerous messages and letters to the management and we are sorry it happened.

The Prisa Group has opened an internal investigation to clarify how it was decided to launch this promotional campaign and to take appropriate measures. Effective inmediately, it has ordered the company used to send out the emails that it mails all recipients of the campaign to apologize."

They might be Socialists at the paper, but, at least they aren't really stupid ones. Maybe CBS should learn how to respond to a mistake.

Omar over at Iraq the Model

2004-09-15T11:58:00.000-07:00

has translated some comments from Iraqis that posted in the BBC board for Arab readers to post after the 3rd anniversary of the 9/11 attacks. Of course, we haven't seen any of this translated anywhere else.

A couple that are really heartwarming and show how great this country really is:

“The problem lies inside us, the Arabs; whether governors or citizens. We’re still living the era of backwardness, ignorance and crying for the past. We don’t understand how decisions are made in America and the defect is within ourselves.
I’m a big admirer of America and the progress that America had achieved in such a short period.
One more thing, those who offend America must not forget that it was America who helped the Muslims in Albania, Bosnia, Kuwait and Sudan. Where is the Arab civilization? We never saw the Arabs offer help but we all saw the food packages and flour sacks carrying the letters USA.
The problem with Arabs is that they always have find someone to put the blame on.”
Fadi-Libya.

“America offers freedom for free. It’s true that I’ve never been there and I don’t have friends living there either but I keep America in my mind and sole. Hatred was brought to us by the extremists; the enemies of mankind.
I and every true Iraqi love America because to us she represents freedom and liberation. America untied us from Saddam’s chains and also liberated Yugoslavia from her dictator and liberated Germany before that. History is full of events that support my feelings”
Hazim Al Shammari-Bafgdad/Iraq.

Read them all.

I only 'mildly' liked "The Mole", but, I do love

2004-09-15T08:51:00.000-07:00

this smackdown by Anderson Cooper of Keith Olbermann: (need to scroll to the end)

"Kind of pathetic, isn't it? Keith Olbermann of MSNBC all but begged viewers to vote for him. He even linked his Web site to "Playgirl's." Keith, baby, get a grip. I know losing on "Jeopardy" was painful for you, but pleading for "Playgirl" votes? Sad. For all I know, Fox's Sean Hannity, who came in second, may have been moved to vote for Olbermann himself out of pity."

CBS needs to up its software budget

2004-09-14T16:20:00.000-07:00

The Curt Jester shows us the new program that could have saved Dan Rather a lot of grief.

Choose or Lose...

2004-09-14T14:17:00.000-07:00

Daniel Pipes, over at Front Page has a nice column outlining the differing responses to recent terrorism by Nepal and France.

The punch line is:

"the abhorrent Nepalese violence reflected an instinct for self-preservation – hit me and I will hit you back. In contrast, the sophisticated French reaction was supine – hit me and I will beg you to stop."

Which would YOU choose?

We have a winner!

2004-09-14T13:55:00.000-07:00

For the Oliver Stone Conspiracy Award in the aim to explain RatherGate.

Shots Across the Bow (via Instapundit) explains all!

I do think Hillary is setting herself up to be a lead player in the 2008 free for all, but, this one seems a tad far fetched. I much prefer that is was Karl Rove and his secret cabal of VRWC members who plotted Dan-O's downfall at the end of the last Halliburton board meeting.

Zell it like it is!

2004-09-14T08:02:00.000-07:00

First MemoGate, now this!?

2004-09-09T14:20:00.000-07:00

George Bush is a fake? He never existed? Oh man, how will Karl Rove spin this?!

This is great...But, too bad the man lived.

2004-09-09T09:50:00.000-07:00

Dog shoots man. This needs to become a trend.

Take that Donald!...

2004-09-08T13:47:00.000-07:00

Mark Cuban partakes in a bit of 'billionaire smack down'. That might actually be a cool new reality show.

Now Playing...

2004-09-08T13:19:00.000-07:00

This is just plain weird. But, also kind of cool.

A movie festival after my own heart...

2004-09-07T08:18:00.000-07:00

Thanks to the wonderful Moxie, I just heard about this festival coming to LA soon. Please, all you SoCal people go and watch as many as you can!

Hard to believe the bounce could be this big...

2004-09-03T13:01:00.000-07:00

But, if it is...the Kerry camp must be getting worried.

52-41? Nice.

From the 'What were they thinking?' file...

2004-08-27T13:58:00.000-07:00

Have these people been living under a rock for the past 3 years?

This can't be good news for Kerry...

2004-08-26T08:50:00.000-07:00

Latest LA Times poll shows Bush leading 49% to 46%

But, what is striking to me is this comment:

"Kerry suffered small but consistent erosion compared with July on questions relating to his Vietnam experience, his honesty and his fitness to serve as commander in chief."

ugh. But, I hope it continues!

Kerry supporter not impressed with "Daily Show" appearance

2004-08-25T13:03:00.000-07:00

I missed the episode, but, this is an interesting account of it. She clearly will vote for Kerry, but, is NOT excited about him at all.

"His lack of vibrancy, his utter dearth of sex appeal made Al Gore look like Charo."

And she sums it up with:

"Luckily for Kerry, the Daily Show audience is not a swing state. It's very likely that most of the demographic that watches this show will grit their teeth and vote for him anyway."

Not exactly a ringing endorsement of their candidate.

Yikes.

First entry in Rick Steves' Iraq?

2004-08-24T10:35:00.000-07:00

Omar has a nice restaurant review. Of course, the best part is the insightful skewering of the media who ignore the many stories of how things are going WELL over there...

"The jig is up"

2004-08-23T13:52:00.000-07:00

Adam Sparks thinks Kerry's campaign is sunk now.

I like this kind of neighborhood watch program!

2004-08-18T14:49:00.000-07:00

They take things seriously! You can't tell me that word of the way this guy was treated won't get around and the dirtbags of the World are going to look elsewhere for their crimes. This "Tom" won't be doing much peeping anytime soon.

"Police said after he was discovered a group of six people, include the girl's mother, aunt and their boyfriends attacked him and brutally beat him for more than an hour."

Can't help but notice one of the people arrested was named Arafat, though!

Send them home...

2004-08-16T11:46:00.000-07:00

Looks like someone else agrees with me.

"In essence, Iran has perjured itself. The penalty for that in any court in the world is jail. So send them to jail. Send them back to Iran, to ponder this grotesque miscarriage of Olympic spirit."

Good to know the RoP can put politics aside for the sake of Sport...not

2004-08-15T09:37:00.000-07:00

But in Tehran, the Iranian National Olympic Committee said in a statement: "This is a general policy of our country to refrain from competing against athletes of the Zionist regime and Arash Miresmaeili has observed this policy."

Send the entire Iranian team home I say. Why were they even allowed to show up in the first place?

Top Notch Rant...Read and Bookmark...

2004-08-06T09:04:00.000-07:00

Mike at Cold Fury has written what so many of us that 'get it' wish someone in the Administration would actually give one day. They won't of course, but, sooooo nice to dream sometimes.

How beautiful would it be to hear this?:

“You bitch about how awful corporate corruption is, and can’t be bothered with reporting on a UN oil-for-bribes scandal that makes the gang at Enron look like a bunch of half-assed pikers, like kids toilet-papering a suburban lawn on Halloween. You talk about how the Bush admin calls its opponents “unAmerican”—not bothering at all with the fact that we’ve never actually done it—but when your choice for future first lady does precisely that, you get pissed off because an actual journalist has the audacity to ask her for a clarification."

Read it all here. via Rachel Lucas.

Oh, you think!?

2004-08-04T16:51:00.000-07:00

"Efforts by journalists to find the truth in this international game of who has kidnapped whom, when and for how much, are easily sidelined."

So sometimes information on the ground in a terrorist-infested area is "unrealiable"? Why doesn't someone tell the media that?

The author seems so surprised that someone involved with terrorists might be less-than-trustworthy.

"Most sources are helpful and want to funnel inside information my way. Parties trying to influence the negotiations through the news media have outright lied to me."

Give me a break. The silence of the cries of "Terrorists Lie, People Die" by the media and the Left is deafening.

I hope he's right...

2004-08-04T16:19:00.000-07:00

Zev Chafets says Bush will win going away.