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2009-05-11T16:46:00.001-04:00

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The Palin Factor

2008-09-08T21:13:00.001-04:00

It is absolutely stunning how quickly Sarah Palin has altered the political landscape. What remains to be seen, however, is if this truly is a landmark change or simply exuberance at a new, unfamiliar face.

Iranian Outrages

2007-04-01T20:16:00.000-04:00

Its hard to believe that -- 28 years later -- we are once again talking about an Iranian "Hostage Crisis".

I'm going to sum it up in just a few sentences: the Iranians are the ones who started this whole Islamic fanatic movement. They have been the ones who have done more to foment strife between the Islamic world and the West. They are responsible for most of the problems we have faced in post-Saddam Iraq. Now they are on the verge of attaining a nuclear weapon.

Read my lips: WE ..... NEED....A.....REGIME.... CHANGE....IN....TEHRAN!!!!!!!!!!!!!

OK, its time to get back to work.

2007-04-01T20:14:00.000-04:00

I've largely dropped out of the blogging game over the past 2 years or so, mostly due to job and commute constraints. However, I think its time to get back in this, as world events seem to demand comment.

More posts to come!

The Greatest Diplomatic Retort in U.S. History

2006-07-15T22:02:00.000-04:00

This has to be one of the greatest diplomatic retorts -- ever!!

The U.N. Security Council unanimously adopted a resolution on Saturday imposing sanctions on North Korea's dangerous weapons and condemning Pyongyang's recent missile tests.

North Korea immediately 'totally rejected' the resolution. Its U.N. Ambassador Pak Gil Yon said Pyongyang's missile development served 'to keep the balance of force and preserving peace and stability in Northeast Asia.'

In response, U.S. Ambassador John Bolton told the council that Pak 'set a world record in rejecting it within 45 minutes after its adoption.'

He added: 'I could exercise the right of reply on behalf of the United States -- but on the other hand, why bother?'"

Reuters Looks for the Silver Lining in Zarqawi's Death...

2006-06-08T10:00:00.000-04:00

In typical fashion, Reuters is looking for its own "silver lining" relating to the death of Abu Mussab al Zarqawi.

"Arab and Western security analysts were agreed on Thursday that Zarqawi's death in a U.S. air raid would not end the insurgency, even if it represents a rare triumph in Iraq for the Bush administration.

'There will be people that will be mobilized to join the caravan of martyrs, to emulate his example and to honor him,' said Magnus Ranstorp, an al Qaeda expert at the Swedish National Defense College."

UPDATE:

More blathering from Reuters, again citing "experts" no one has ever heard of:

CAIRO (Reuters) - The death of Al Qaeda leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi in
Iraq showed deep splits on Thursday between Arabs who see the Iraqi insurgency as resistance to occupation and those who say al Qaeda gives Arabs and Muslims a bad name.

But few ordinary Arabs or analysts expected that the killing of the Jordanian-born militant would have much effect in reducing the level of violence in Iraq.

Some Arab citizens hailed Zarqawi as a hero for his role in the insurgency but others welcomed his death as a form of justice for the civilians killed in bombings by his group, which calls itself al Qaeda in Iraq.

Another view was that the United States, anxious to find a scapegoat for its troubles in Iraq, deliberately demonized him and exaggerated his significance as a militant leader.

Zarqawi was killed on Wednesday night in a U.S. air raid in Baquba, 65 km (40 miles) north of Baghdad.

"He died for the sake of God. After giving so much and having such incredible courage, Abu Musab the lion left us after humiliating the Americans. Pray for his soul," Khaled al-Saleh wrote on the Web site Montada.

"Thank God this wayward infidel is dead," wrote a chatter identified as Azizi on another Web site. "All true believers have been relieved of his evil."

Abdullah, a 29-year-old Saudi secretary, put the third point of view: "I consider Zarqawi as nothing more than propaganda for the Americans. He's just a name, a rumor so that they have somebody to blame everything on."

Arab analysts were also skeptical about some of the high hopes expressed by western leaders including President Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair.

Bush said the killing of Zarqawi was a severe blow to al Qaeda and offered a chance for the Iraqi government to "turn the tide" in the struggle against the insurgency.

Mustafa Alani of the Gulf Research Center in Dubai said: "Maybe the bloodshed will decrease in Iraq now. But the problem is that whenever an extremist leader dies, he is replaced by a more radical leader. Zarqawi is a central figure but I believe that the organization will survive."

EXAGGERATION

"It will have some impact on the security situation but it won't be enough. Let's not exaggerate the impact," he added.

Diaa Rashwan, an expert on Islamist groups at the al-Ahram Center for Political and Strategic Studies in Cairo, said the United States had repeatedly exaggerated the probable effect of their occasional successes in Iraq and would do so again.

"Zarqawi in recent times did not represent an important element in violent operations on the ground in Iraq. Other groups which are not extreme, resistance groups not terrorist groups, have grown in strength," he told Reuters.

Several ordinary Arabs expressed strong hostility toward Zarqawi and welcomed his killing. But just as many others said he was a martyr who died fighting for the noble cause of ending the U.S. occupation of a leading Arab and Muslim country.

"We should have no regrets over the killing of a terrorist like him. He was mutilating the image of Islam. Hopefully bin Laden is next," said Lebanese Shi'ite student Sana Abdul-Nabi, referring to al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden.

What's the Admax Over-Under?

2006-05-05T00:59:00.000-04:00

Zacarius Moussaoui is heading to the Alcatraz of the Rockies to serve his life sentence for his involvement in 9-11.

So what are the odds in neighboring Vegas that a lawsuit will soon be filed claiming that the solitary confinement that he will soon be experiencing is a violation of his constitutional protections against cruel and unusual punishment.

Already, the ever-vigilant folks at Human Rights Watch have voiced their concerns that such confinement is "problematic" and "not humane".

Yup, not only have we spared the life of a criminal who gleefully admitted his role in facilitating the attacks of September 11th, but I'd bet my house that we will soon be treated to a suit asserting that Mr. Moussaoui deserves better than is his new lot in life at the Admax Detention Facility.

I hate to give the left any pointers on how to win elections, but if they were ever to temper their politics with even the smallest dose of common sense (i.e., don't rock the boat when it comes to an admitted terrorist whose life very well should have been forfeit), they would reclaim control of our elected branches of government in a heartbeat. That's right Democrats... don't place all your political capital on admitted terrorists, partial-birth abortions, protests against the Pledge of Allegiance, and racial charlatans such as Al Sharpton and Cynthia McKinney, and you will blaze your way back to power in an instant. I'd also bet my house that the Democrats won't be applying common sense anytime soon...

Military Tribunals Anyone???

2006-05-03T17:40:00.000-04:00

Over five years of court hijinx, expenditures of millions of dollars, and a soapbox for an admitted terrorist results in a sentence of life in prison for Zacarias Moussaoui. Military tribunals sound a tad more attractive right about now...

McCain Has a Train to Catch

2006-05-02T17:05:00.000-04:00

So if forced to choose, Senator John McCain (R-AZ) would prefer a clean government over one where 1st Amendment rights of free speech are respected. Apparently, he would also be happiest if the trains ran on time.

It must never have occurred to the good Senator that the 1st Amendment is our best buffer against corrupt government. The 1st Amendment does more than merely remind us of the rights that we, as free men and women, enjoy; it also serves a therapeutic function that imposes a check against those who would arrogate power to themselves by allowing the electorate to hold even the most powerful of our leaders to account for their actions.

Senator McCain would rather have us believe that money is the root of all that is evil in government. Money, however, is neither good nor evil. Indeed, the true source of corruption is not the huge sums available to our political office seekers, but the increased lack of accountability of our elected representatives. Lack of political accountability necessarily leads to absolute political power. And Lord Acton had it right over a century ago: "Power tends to corrupt and absolute power corrupts absolutely."

Tragically, Senator McCain's campaign finance law, by substantially infringing on our right of free speech, especially political speech, only confers greater power upon the already powerful who are firmly entrenched in their seats of power. All this at the expense of one of our most cherished rights.

Because of McCain-Feingold, an incumbent no longer need be worried about political broadsides from a concerned citizen in the run-up to an election. No, those days are long gone. And the citizen who dares raise his or her voice to influence the outcome of an election during the waning days of a campaign risks more than just humiliation at the polls, facing instead the real prospect of criminal sanctions for having the temerity to weigh in on an election.

Senator McCain foolishly supposes that restrictions on political speech will lead to cleaner government. The opposite is assuredly true as valid political opposition will be snuffed out in the name of finance reform. And left unchecked, our elected leaders will edge ever more closely to absolute power and succumb to absolute corruption.

And as certainly as the night follows the day, the restrictions on speech that have begun with such supposedly benign intentions will become ever more onerous as the politically entrenched find even more cases of corruption to be cured by even greater restrictions on speech. In fact, after reflecting on the enormous impact that virtually unregulated 527 Groups such as Moveon.Org and Swiftboat Veterans for Truth had on the 2004 presidential election, Congress has already begun murmuring about the need for additional regulations to curb the influence of these political advocacy groups.

Significantly, John McCain has not lobbied so heavily for these speech regulations because he can point to any particular scandal involving fundraising (though it is a delicious irony that he was a founding member of the Keating 5) or other evidence of corruption. Indeed, there have been no allegations of clandestine payoffs or backroom payoffs. Rather, we are constantly informed of the climate of corruption that envelops Washington because of the enormous sums of money contributed for political campaigns. And somehow this is supposed to be remedied by imposing restrictions on speech...

Judging from the reaction to groups such as Moveon.Org an Swiftboat Veterans for Truth, the real crime according to Senator McCain is not the corruption caused by these groups, but their unregulated message. Of course, in this age of hyper-partisanship, isn't it just a bit odd that Democrats and Republicans can agree on at least this one issue? John Kerry's campaign was devastated by the message of Swiftboat Veterans for Truth while Republicans recognize that Moveon.Org will be a thorn in their side for years to come. Is there any wonder that the two parties are in a race to see which can pass the most comprehensive restrictions on political speech?

In his supreme arrogance, Senator McCain seemingly is blinded to the impact these these speech restrictions have on the liberty of Americans. While Senator McCain and his like-minded cohorts on the Supreme Court invent increasingly new rights that lack any foundation in our Constitution, they are ready in an instant to abandon those rights clearly delineated in our Bill of Rights. In their upside-down world, the right to engage in sodomy is afforded greater protection than the right to voice one's opinion on a presidential campaign.

And our liberties continue to be eroded as a result. Senator McCain would do well to remember another quote from Lord Acton: "Liberty is not a means to a higher political end. It is itself the highest political end." Unfortunately for all Americans, Senator McCain is more concerned that the trains run on time.

Do You Feel the Urge to Convert?

2006-04-30T00:34:00.000-04:00

The ACLU is going to court.

The organization has brought a lawsuit on behalf of a resident of Haskell County, Oklahoma demanding that the large stone tablet setting forth the Ten Commandments which was placed in front of the County Courthouse be removed. As usual, the ACLU claims this display violates the 1st Amendment which prohibits Congress from making any "law respecting an establishment of religion...."

And if the past is any guide, the ACLU will likely win.

But why is that? What religion exactly does this display purport to establish? We all know that that the 10 Commandments were given to Moses following the Israelites exodus from Egypt. Does this mean that Haskell County is attempting to convert its populace to Judaism? I suspect not.

We also know that Jesus was a Jewish rabbi who deferred to Jewish teachings, adding the Golden Rule to the 10 Commandments. Does the ACLU conclude that because Jesus was a Rabbi that somehow the display of 10 Commandments represents an effort to convert the citizens of Haskell County to Christianity since Jesus certainly approved of and taught the 10 Commandments to his disciples? Doubtful.

For that matter, because Muslims claim that Mohammed can claim kinship to Ismael, Abraham's second-born son, is this display some underhanded effort by the leaders of Haskell County to promote Islam in America's heartland? Hmmm...

In all seriousness, what religion is alleged to have been established by this monument to the 10 Commandments? As a Catholic, I certainly do not feel compelled to convert to Judaism after viewing a monument to the 10 Commandments, nor do I feel any strange urge to become a Baptist, a Methodist, or a Muslim. If the Constitution is going to be called upon to overturn an otherwise valid legislative enactment, shouldn't the constitutional harm that would otherwise result be detailed with particularity? Is it too much to ask for the ACLU to at least identify the religion that is supposedly being established by the good folks of Haskell County?

I suspect the ACLU is once again simply demonstrating its opposition to all things religious. That no reasonable person would perceive this display as an effort to establish a religion is apparently of no importance. Instead, the mere fact that these Commandments are rooted in religion is enough to prohibit them from public display. And of course, we must also conveniently forget the critical role that these Commandments had in the development of Western Civilization and the foundation of the very laws that the ACLU now seeks to use to remove them from the public discourse. Apparently, the ACLU is of the opinion that respect for individual rights first came to the fore with the adoption of the Bill of Rights. Who would guess that they owe their existence to the 10 Commandments that are now sought to be banned....

Al Qaeda suspect objects to Guantanamo treatment - Yahoo! News

2006-04-26T16:54:00.000-04:00

Reuters reports on the sad case of an al-Qaeda terrorist who doesn't like his new housing arrangements at Gitmo.

"An al Qaeda suspect who earned top privileges for good behavior in the U.S. prison camp at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, asked a military judge on Wednesday to overturn a camp rule that detainees who face trial be held in maximum security.

Sufyian Barhoumi, a 32-year-old Algerian charged with training two other al Qaeda militants to build remote detonators for car bombs, had been granted communal living, up to 14 hours a day outside his cell and family-style meals in an area reserved for detainees considered "highly compliant."

But weeks before his pretrial military tribunal hearing on Tuesday, Barhoumi was suddenly transferred without explanation to a maximum-security facility where prisoners spend 22 hours a day locked inside cement cells and have little contact with fellow detainees."

Aaawww, poor guy. How 'bout we place him and all of his friends in a building, say about 110 stories tall, then douse the floor, walls, ceiling, furniture, even them, with jet fuel, set it on fire and challenge them to find a way out? Anyone who can escape before their prison collapses can have their freedom!

Judge: Moussaoui death penalty trial still on - Yahoo! News

2006-03-14T16:17:00.000-05:00

This story is Exhibit A-1 as to why the criminal justice system is NOT the way to handle terrorism. Moussaoui should have been brought before a Military Tribunal, convicted of war crimes and executed.

Its that simple.

Wishful Thinking

2006-03-04T23:36:00.000-05:00

Headline: Music phones to slice into iPod growth - Yahoo! News

Uh huh...and buggy whip sales are still strong, too.

Just Wondering...

2006-02-21T12:58:00.000-05:00

From news about the Dubai-based company selected by the Bush Administration to run certain U.S. ports:

"U.S. lawmakers will seek quick action in Congress to block a deal under which a state-owned Dubai company would manage major U.S. seaports, they said on Tuesday."

I wonder how many of these same lawmakers are absolutely opposed to profiling?

Does anyone else see the hypocrisy here?

Insulting Infidels

2006-02-11T17:40:00.000-05:00

"In Indonesia, about 400 protesters from the radical Hizbut Tahrir group held a noisy but peaceful rally at a Jakarta intersection, demanding that Denmark apologize for what they said was an insult to Islam.

They unfurled anti-Western banners that read 'Western infidels never can stop insulting' and 'Regret is not enough to pay for the insult to the Prophet.'"

Ah, so we're "infidels".

And, of course, that's not an insult.

What a Great Idea!

2006-02-05T16:00:00.000-05:00

From CNET:

"The National Football League is giving fans of Super Bowl commercials a way to see all the new ads without sitting through the entire game. The league announced Monday that after the game ends on Feb. 5, it would re-air the commercials shown during ABC's broadcast of Super Bowl XL."

al-Qaeda Prison Break

2006-02-05T15:55:00.000-05:00

"Interpol has issued a global security alert for 23 dangerous convicts, at least 13 of them al-Qaeda linked, who broke out of a Yemeni jail on Friday.

The group includes a man said to be a mastermind of the 2000 attack on the destroyer USS Cole."

Wonderful...

(from the Beeb)

The Diplomad

2006-02-05T14:48:00.000-05:00

Just a passing note: Its been one year since our friend(s), The Diplomad, signed off. We miss his/her/their wry insight into the diplomatic passing scene.

Someday, I hope he/she/they will return from exile. For now, be thankful that The Diplomad's posts are still available for perusal.

More on the Cartoons

2006-02-05T14:44:00.000-05:00

I think Hugh Hewitt and Jim Geraghty hit the nail on the head: the Danish cartoons lampooning Mohammed were idiotic, but that is no excuse for violence directed against the Danes and Norwegians by the Islamists.

World War III?

2006-02-04T14:42:00.000-05:00

Please tell me that this is not going to be how World War III starts, over a stupid (and I mean that) cartoon:

"Furious Syrians set fire to the Danish and Norwegian embassies on Saturday as protests over cartoons of the Prophet Mohammad showed no signs of abating despite calls for calm."

Seriously, I think the Muslims need to check their emotions on this. Depicting a religious person is NOT blasphemy. However, Kanye West's Rolling Stone cover is. Christians are not torching anyone's embassy and would have a lot more reason to do so.

Muslims: get over it.

UPDATE: It looks like this furor is not dying down at all. One of Michelle Malkin's "trackbacker", UrbanRepublican, has picked up on my thoughts on this being the start of WWIII. I honestly don't know how it is that we extend any tolerance to Muslims. They are so blasted intolerant of EVERYTHING else...

Finally, please note all the protest signs in English in the photos on Michelle Malkin's various posts on this subject. Aside from Palestine (now Israela and Jordan), Pakistan and Iraq (the latter two, a long time ago), I don't think English was the official language of any Muslim nation. This is, then, obviously being done for American consumption.

Grasping at Straws

2006-02-02T06:16:00.000-05:00

Reuters gleefully reports this morning that Samuel Alito might be a liberal! Or at least that's how I take the following:

"New Supreme Court JusticeSamuel Alito broke ranks (emphasis supplied) with the court's conservatives late on Wednesday, refusing to allow Missouri to execute a man convicted of kidnapping and killing a Kansas City teenager 17 years ago, CNN reported.

Alito sided with the majority in a 6-3 vote rejecting a last minute request to allow Missouri to carry out the execution of Michael Taylor, 39, by lethal injection at midnight, CNN said."

Come on. Now, I don't know the details of the case, but this decision can hardly be seen as "breaking ranks" with the conservative justices. My impression is that Justice Alito probably took the prudent course here for someone who also doesn't know the full details of the case. You can always lift the stay of execution later if the merits of the case so warrant. However, you cannot undo an execution. My gut tells me that Justice Alito probably preferred to evaluate the case on the merits, when he had the benefit of time to study it, along with a full complement of law clerks to assist him, neither of which I'm sure he has had after 1 full day on the Court.

In other words: I'm going to cut him a little slack on this one.

Nice try, Reuters and CNN.

Byrd Does the Right Thing

2006-01-30T22:32:00.000-05:00

I never thought I'd see the day when I believed Robert Byrd to be correct about anything:

"Last week, Byrd decried the highly partisan tone of Alito's confirmation hearing, held three weeks ago, saying 'something is wrong with our judicial nominations process, and we in the Senate have the power to fix it.'

The West Virginia lawmaker admonished his colleagues from the Senate floor, telling them their votes should be based on Alito's qualifications not their party affiliation."

Lakers' Kobe Bryant not chasing 100-mark - Yahoo! News

2006-01-30T22:21:00.000-05:00

"Kobe Bryant feels a bit sheepish about his sensational 81-point performance and says he is not caught up in a chase after Wilt Chamberlain's magical record mark of 100."

Uh....right.

Iran Gets a Timeout

2006-01-30T22:16:00.000-05:00

Well, its a start...

"The permanent five members of the U.N. Security Council agreed on Tuesday that this week's meeting of the U.N.'s nuclear watchdog should report Iran to the Council over its nuclear programs ***. "

Mighty Sporting of Iran!

2006-01-30T12:30:00.000-05:00

It sure is a big concession from Iran to let UN "inspectors" view a former atomic site:

"VIENNA (Reuters) -Iran has allowed U.N. nuclear inspectors to check equipment from a former military site in an apparent effort to avert a crackdown by the U.N. atomic watchdog (IAEA) this week, a senior diplomat said on Monday."

It's just like: "Don't look at the man behind the curtain!"

Health Care Costs: Whose Fault Are They?

2006-01-29T21:44:00.000-05:00

Rick Wagoner, Chairman of General Motors, stated recently that something needs to be done about health care costs in this country:

"HOUSTON (AP) -- American industry and the government will need to address how rising health care costs are hurting companies and the economy, General Motors Corp.'s chairman Rick Wagoner said on Friday.

'I want to be clear I'm not saying we expect the government to pick these expenses up,' Wagoner said at the Houston Auto Show a day after the world's No. 1 carmaker reported it lost $4.8 billion in the fourth quarter, one of the its most dismal showings ever, and $8.6 billion for 2005. 'I think they've made it very clear they don't intend to do that, at least the current administration.'

The 'health care burden' affects every business as well as government and affects the ability to grow jobs and the economy, said Wagoner."

I agree that the Bush Administration is not going to jump in with a bail out plan. However, the Administration would do well to take heed of the fact that it is largely the Federal Government's doing (together with a ridiculous tort environment) that health care costs are what they are. The Medicare / Medicaid systems have created a rationing of health care costs leading to higher prices. Sure, that not the Bush Administration's fault, but let's also not simply blame the automakers for all their problems, either.

Eeewwww!!!!

2006-01-29T19:36:00.000-05:00

"President George W. Bush says Bill Clinton has become so close to his father that the Democratic former president is like a member of the family."

Hugo Chavez and Cindy Sheehan meet

2006-01-29T17:32:00.000-05:00

I'm not sure which of these two bozos this says the worst about:

"CARACAS, Venezuela (Reuters) - Venezuela's left-wing president, Hugo Chavez, joined U.S. anti-war activist Cindy Sheehan on Sunday to attack
President George W. Bush and the Iraq war at the close of the World Social Forum."

Office 12 Christened Office 2007

2006-01-25T22:11:00.000-05:00

And now for stunning news from Microsoft:

"Microsoft is now referring to the next version of its desktop office suite, code-named 'Office 12,' as 'Office 2007.' Microsoft watcher Steven Bink is reporting that Microsoft officials used the Office 2007 name at IT Forum. He also points to an Office Online page that uses the same terminology. Microsoft officials have held fast to the company line that Office 12 will ship towards the end of calendar 2006. But one member of the Office family, Exchange 12, already is on its way to becoming a 2007 deliverable. Will Office 12 slip into 2007? We'll keep you posted."

Kerkorian ups GM stake to 9.9 percent; shares rise - Yahoo! News

2006-01-25T21:13:00.000-05:00

We can only ponder what this means...

"Billionaire investor Kirk Kerkorian has increased his stake in General Motors Corp. (NYSE:GM - news) to 9.9 percent from 7.8 percent, according to a regulatory filing on Wednesday.

News of the move helped send GM's shares higher in after-hours electronic trading.

Kerkorian's Tracinda Corp., over which he has effective control, acquired 5 million shares on the open market on January 23 at an average price of $21.40 a share and an additional 7 million shares in a private transaction expected to settle on January 27, according to the filing with the U.S.
Securities and Exchange Commission."

Mickey buys Woody and Buzz

2006-01-24T22:33:00.000-05:00

The oldest name in animation bought one of the newest on Tuesday:

"Walt Disney announced Tuesday that it's paying $7.4 billion in stock to acquire Pixar Animation Studios--a deal that puts Apple Computer CEO Steve Jobs on Disney's board of directors."

Personally, I am still skeptical of the new-fangled 3-D animation techniques. They have their place, but I don't think they will catch on as the only means of animating.

Can you imagine the Disney classics in that format?

Canada's New Prime Minister

2006-01-24T14:59:00.000-05:00

Lest any of us think that Reuter's left-wing leanings stop at our northern border, I have this little sample from a "news" story about the election of Canada's first Conservative prime minister in 12 years:

"Harper, who also wants to calm fractious ties with Washington, has nowhere near the 155 seats he needs to control a 308-seat Parliament where his party has no natural allies.

***
'Canadians did not endorse neoconservatism when they elected him last night,' the Globe and Mail said in an editorial. 'They voted against a Liberal Party that had become smug and arrogant.'

Harper, the first prime minister from the powerful oil-rich western province of Alberta in 25 years, was due to return to Ottawa on Tuesday and to meet Martin soon to decide when power would formally change hands -- a date Conservative officials said was likely to be in two or three weeks' time."

Ronald Reagan's First Inaugural Address

2006-01-22T22:06:00.000-05:00

On this, the weekend of the 25th anniversary of the inauguaration of Ronald Reagan as the 40th President of the United States, I thought it would be fitting to reproduce his first Inaugural Address. It has as much pertinence now as it did on January 20, 1981, when it was given.

Senator Hatfield, Mr. Chief Justice, Mr. President, Vice President Bush, Vice President Mondale, Senator Baker, Speaker O'Neill, Reverend Moomaw, and my fellow citizens: To a few of us here today, this is a solemn and most momentous occasion; and yet, in the history of our Nation, it is a commonplace occurrence. The orderly transfer of authority as called for in the Constitution routinely takes place as it has for almost two centuries and few of us stop to think how unique we really are. In the eyes of many in the world, this every-4-year ceremony we accept as normal is nothing less than a miracle.
Mr. President, I want our fellow citizens to know how much you did to carry on this tradition. By your gracious cooperation in the transition process, you have shown a watching world that we are a united people pledged to maintaining a political system which guarantees individual liberty to a greater degree than any other, and I thank you and your people for all your help in maintaining the continuity which is the bulwark of our Republic.

The business of our nation goes forward. These United States are confronted with an economic affliction of great proportions. We suffer from the longest and one of the worst sustained inflations in our national history. It distorts our economic decisions, penalizes thrift, and crushes the struggling young and the fixed-income elderly alike. It threatens to shatter the lives of millions of our people.

Idle industries have cast workers into unemployment, causing human misery and personal indignity. Those who do work are denied a fair return for their labor by a tax system which penalizes successful achievement and keeps us from maintaining full productivity.

But great as our tax burden is, it has not kept pace with public spending. For decades, we have piled deficit upon deficit, mortgaging our future and our children's future for the temporary convenience of the present. To continue this long trend is to guarantee tremendous social, cultural, political, and economic upheavals.

You and I, as individuals, can, by borrowing, live beyond our means, but for only a limited period of time. Why, then, should we think that collectively, as a nation, we are not bound by that same limitation?

We must act today in order to preserve tomorrow. And let there be no misunderstanding—we are going to begin to act, beginning today.

The economic ills we suffer have come upon us over several decades. They will not go away in days, weeks, or months, but they will go away. They will go away because we, as Americans, have the capacity now, as we have had in the past, to do whatever needs to be done to preserve this last and greatest bastion of freedom.

In this present crisis, government is not the solution to our problem.

From time to time, we have been tempted to believe that society has become too complex to be managed by self-rule, that government by an elite group is superior to government for, by, and of the people. But if no one among us is capable of governing himself, then who among us has the capacity to govern someone else? All of us together, in and out of government, must bear the burden. The solutions we seek must be equitable, with no one group singled out to pay a higher price.

We hear much of special interest groups. Our concern must be for a special interest group that has been too long neglected. It knows no sectional boundaries or ethnic and racial divisions, and it crosses political party lines. It is made up of men and women who raise our food, patrol our streets, man our mines and our factories, teach our children, keep our homes, and heal us when we are sick—professionals, industrialists, shopkeepers, clerks, cabbies, and truckdrivers. They are, in short, "We the people," this breed called Americans.

Well, this administration's objective will be a healthy, vigorous, growing economy that provides equal opportunity for all Americans, with no barriers born of bigotry or discrimination. Putting America back to work means putting all Americans back to work. Ending inflation means freeing all Americans from the terror of runaway living costs. All must share in the productive work of this "new beginning" and all must share in the bounty of a revived economy. With the idealism and fair play which are the core of our system and our strength, we can have a strong and prosperous America at peace with itself and the world.

So, as we begin, let us take inventory. We are a nation that has a government—not the other way around. And this makes us special among the nations of the Earth. Our Government has no power except that granted it by the people. It is time to check and reverse the growth of government which shows signs of having grown beyond the consent of the governed.

It is my intention to curb the size and influence of the Federal establishment and to demand recognition of the distinction between the powers granted to the Federal Government and those reserved to the States or to the people. All of us need to be reminded that the Federal Government did not create the States; the States created the Federal Government.

Now, so there will be no misunderstanding, it is not my intention to do away with government. It is, rather, to make it work—work with us, not over us; to stand by our side, not ride on our back. Government can and must provide opportunity, not smother it; foster productivity, not stifle it.

If we look to the answer as to why, for so many years, we achieved so much, prospered as no other people on Earth, it was because here, in this land, we unleashed the energy and individual genius of man to a greater extent than has ever been done before. Freedom and the dignity of the individual have been more available and assured here than in any other place on Earth. The price for this freedom at times has been high, but we have never been unwilling to pay that price.

It is no coincidence that our present troubles parallel and are proportionate to the intervention and intrusion in our lives that result from unnecessary and excessive growth of government. It is time for us to realize that we are too great a nation to limit ourselves to small dreams. We are not, as some would have us believe, doomed to an inevitable decline. I do not believe in a fate that will fall on us no matter what we do. I do believe in a fate that will fall on us if we do nothing. So, with all the creative energy at our command, let us begin an era of national renewal. Let us renew our determination, our courage, and our strength. And let us renew our faith and our hope.

We have every right to dream heroic dreams. Those who say that we are in a time when there are no heroes just don't know where to look. You can see heroes every day going in and out of factory gates. Others, a handful in number, produce enough food to feed all of us and then the world beyond. You meet heroes across a counter—and they are on both sides of that counter. There are entrepreneurs with faith in themselves and faith in an idea who create new jobs, new wealth and opportunity. They are individuals and families whose taxes support the Government and whose voluntary gifts support church, charity, culture, art, and education. Their patriotism is quiet but deep. Their values sustain our national life.

I have used the words "they" and "their" in speaking of these heroes. I could say "you" and "your" because I am addressing the heroes of whom I speak—you, the citizens of this blessed land. Your dreams, your hopes, your goals are going to be the dreams, the hopes, and the goals of this administration, so help me God.

We shall reflect the compassion that is so much a part of your makeup. How can we love our country and not love our countrymen, and loving them, reach out a hand when they fall, heal them when they are sick, and provide opportunities to make them self-sufficient so they will be equal in fact and not just in theory?

Can we solve the problems confronting us? Well, the answer is an unequivocal and emphatic "yes." To paraphrase Winston Churchill, I did not take the oath I have just taken with the intention of presiding over the dissolution of the world's strongest economy.

In the days ahead I will propose removing the roadblocks that have slowed our economy and reduced productivity. Steps will be taken aimed at restoring the balance between the various levels of government. Progress may be slow—measured in inches and feet, not miles—but we will progress. Is it time to reawaken this industrial giant, to get government back within its means, and to lighten our punitive tax burden. And these will be our first priorities, and on these principles, there will be no compromise.

On the eve of our struggle for independence a man who might have been one of the greatest among the Founding Fathers, Dr. Joseph Warren, President of the Massachusetts Congress, said to his fellow Americans, "Our country is in danger, but not to be despaired of.... On you depend the fortunes of America. You are to decide the important questions upon which rests the happiness and the liberty of millions yet unborn. Act worthy of yourselves."

Well, I believe we, the Americans of today, are ready to act worthy of ourselves, ready to do what must be done to ensure happiness and liberty for ourselves, our children and our children's children.

And as we renew ourselves here in our own land, we will be seen as having greater strength throughout the world. We will again be the exemplar of freedom and a beacon of hope for those who do not now have freedom.

To those neighbors and allies who share our freedom, we will strengthen our historic ties and assure them of our support and firm commitment. We will match loyalty with loyalty. We will strive for mutually beneficial relations. We will not use our friendship to impose on their sovereignty, for our own sovereignty is not for sale.

As for the enemies of freedom, those who are potential adversaries, they will be reminded that peace is the highest aspiration of the American people. We will negotiate for it, sacrifice for it; we will not surrender for it—now or ever.

Our forbearance should never be misunderstood. Our reluctance for conflict should not be misjudged as a failure of will. When action is required to preserve our national security, we will act. We will maintain sufficient strength to prevail if need be, knowing that if we do so we have the best chance of never having to use that strength.

Above all, we must realize that no arsenal, or no weapon in the arsenals of the world, is so formidable as the will and moral courage of free men and women. It is a weapon our adversaries in today's world do not have. It is a weapon that we as Americans do have. Let that be understood by those who practice terrorism and prey upon their neighbors.
I am told that tens of thousands of prayer meetings are being held on this day, and for that I am deeply grateful. We are a nation under God, and I believe God intended for us to be free. It would be fitting and good, I think, if on each Inauguration Day in future years it should be declared a day of prayer.

This is the first time in history that this ceremony has been held, as you have been told, on this West Front of the Capitol. Standing here, one faces a magnificent vista, opening up on this city's special beauty and history. At the end of this open mall are those shrines to the giants on whose shoulders we stand.

Directly in front of me, the monument to a monumental man: George Washington, Father of our country. A man of humility who came to greatness reluctantly. He led America out of revolutionary victory into infant nationhood. Off to one side, the stately memorial to Thomas Jefferson. The Declaration of Independence flames with his eloquence.

And then beyond the Reflecting Pool the dignified columns of the Lincoln Memorial. Whoever would understand in his heart the meaning of America will find it in the life of Abraham Lincoln.

Beyond those monuments to heroism is the Potomac River, and on the far shore the sloping hills of Arlington National Cemetery with its row on row of simple white markers bearing crosses or Stars of David. They add up to only a tiny fraction of the price that has been paid for our freedom.

Each one of those markers is a monument to the kinds of hero I spoke of earlier. Their lives ended in places called Belleau Wood, The Argonne, Omaha Beach, Salerno and halfway around the world on Guadalcanal, Tarawa, Pork Chop Hill, the Chosin Reservoir, and in a hundred rice paddies and jungles of a place called Vietnam.

Under one such marker lies a young man—Martin Treptow—who left his job in a small town barber shop in 1917 to go to France with the famed Rainbow Division. There, on the western front, he was killed trying to carry a message between battalions under heavy artillery fire.

We are told that on his body was found a diary. On the flyleaf under the heading, "My Pledge," he had written these words: "America must win this war. Therefore, I will work, I will save, I will sacrifice, I will endure, I will fight cheerfully and do my utmost, as if the issue of the whole struggle depended on me alone."

The crisis we are facing today does not require of us the kind of sacrifice that Martin Treptow and so many thousands of others were called upon to make. It does require, however, our best effort, and our willingness to believe in ourselves and to believe in our capacity to perform great deeds; to believe that together, with God's help, we can and will resolve the problems which now confront us.

And, after all, why shouldn't we believe that? We are Americans. God bless you, and thank you.

Frist calls Alito Democrats' "nightmare" - Yahoo! News

2006-01-20T21:02:00.000-05:00

This is probably NOT the thing to say BEFORE the confirmation vote:

"Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist told Republican Party activists on Friday night that U.S. Supreme Court nominee
Samuel Alito was the 'worst nightmare of liberal Democrats.'"

Slow News Day for Reuters

2005-12-27T16:31:00.000-05:00

Reuters has the remarkable ability to present the obvious as news....

The EU as Sherlock Holmes

2005-12-13T14:33:00.000-05:00

The EU is investigating the "scandalous" CIA secret prisons for al-Qaeda baddies. Is anyone really surprised that such prisons exist? Should anyone be scandalized that we (the US) don't want other baddies to know where their cohorts are?

To the EU: Why don't you guys find something else to worry your sanctimonious heads about?

Back Again...

2005-12-13T14:31:00.000-05:00

You've probably noticed I've been gone (or maybe you haven't). Its been 8 weeks of medical problems, work and a death in the family. Needless to say, I haven't been in the best mood to post (or, frequently, even in a position to do so).

Things should start to get back to normal now and I'll try to get going again. I'll be starting with a post right now.

The Inevitable Death of a City - Blogging the Detroit Mayor Election

2005-11-09T01:38:00.000-05:00

I've been checking in from time to time this evening to watch the Detroit mayoral election returns slowly filter in (its now 1:39 a.m. est). All signs are now pointing to an upset win by Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick over challenger Freeman Hendrix who had a commanding double digit lead in the polls as recently as this past weekend.

First thought: never trust pollsters when it comes to local elections. Whether its their incompetence or fickleness of Detroit voters, these polls seem to be as accurate as the answers I gave on geometry exams in high school.

Do They Even Read What They Write?

2005-11-04T21:07:00.000-05:00

Take a look at these fantastic U.S. economic figures:

Retail sales rose .2% for the month ended September, 2005 (such sales were off 1.9% for the month ended September, 2004);
The GDP increased at a 3.8% gallop for the 3rd Quarter of 2005 (compared to an as nearly as impressive clip of 3.3% for the 3rd Quarter 2004);
Factory orders were up 2.5% for 3rd Quarter of 2005 (in contrast to a 2.5% decline in the 3rd Quarter of 2004);
56,000 new jobs were added in October, 2005, dropping the unemployment rate to 5%, the level it was before Katrina and Rita ravaged the Gulf Coast (what is considered full employment by the way?);
Despite pressures caused by increasing oil costs, inflation dropped in October, 2005 from 2.1% to 2.0 %; and
Average hourly wages rose .5% in October, 2005, the biggest monthly increase in 2 years.

So, in light of these dazzling figures, MSNBC of course chose the obvious headline to extol the virtues of the U.S. economic juggernaut for its piece on the economy today. Yep, you guessed it... the headline for the report is: "Employment Grew Weakly in October."

Is there any wonder that consumer confidence is falling? By any measure the U.S. economy is firing on all cylinders and yet the media repeatedly hypes its supposed failings. Keep in mind that the unemployment rate actually dropped last month. And it dropped despite the lingering impact of the worst natural disaster ever to afflict the United States.

Of course what do we find buried deep in the article? This little nugget:

While the employment figures were slightly disappointing, other data in the
report showed surprisingly strong wage gains for workers who do have jobs.

I can only imagine the euphoric headlines that would have been published had these same figures been released during the Clinton years..."The U.S. Economy: Unstoppable!" or "Mother Nature No Match For Clinton Economic Policies!"

Frankly, its amazing that Bush's anemic poll numbers are as strong as they are given the negative spin given by the media to even the most positive of economic reports.

Devil's Night Finds a New Home

2005-11-04T14:20:00.000-05:00

Detroit has long suffered from an image as a brutally violent city, its very name evoking images of widespread murder, robbery, and arson. Perhaps nothing cemented this picture Detroit more than the wave of "Devil's Night" fires that plagued the city in the early 1990s.

For those unfamiliar with this ritual, starting in the early 1980s, minor pranks performed on the night before Halloween ranging from ding-dong ditch to the tping of a local curmudgeon's house escalated into widespread arson as Detroit's gangs torched the city's many abandoned (and some un-abandoned) properties. The number of arson incidents rose to such an alarming level that Detroit itself was seemingly set ablaze each year on the night preceding Halloween. The annual Devil's Night conflagration became so notorious that journalists from as far away as Japan travelled to the Motor City to view for themselves the inevitable flames that set the city on fire.

Fortunately for Detroit, patience for these acts of violence wore thin. Renamed "Angel's Night", the City of Detroit dramatically increased its police presence on the nights leading up to Halloween. More importantly, regular citizens readily volunteered their time to serve in citizen patrols that roamed the city looking for n'er do-wells. These "angels" (along with a muscular police presence) dramatically reduced the number of arsons that once afflicted Detroit in the run-up to Halloween, and they continue to serve as a beacon for the good that can be accomplished by an active citizenry that is motivated to make a positive impact on society.

Unfortunately, another city with French ties is now experiencing its own wave of Devil's Nights. The suburbs of Paris have now burned for 9 days as the mostly Muslim residents of the impovershed suburban areas ringing Paris have taken to widespread arson, vandalism, and rioting.

Can Chirac become the "angel" necessary to stop this violence. I doubt it.

On the plus side, perhaps now that the world's most civilized city has experienced its own Devil's Night, others may soon start recognizing the tremendous strides made by Detroit in bringing civility to its streets through a combination of good policing and citizen involvement. I doubt that too since Detroit seems destined to be everyone's convenient whipping post.

Ford cracks down on rest room breaks

2005-10-27T11:40:00.000-04:00

Ford cracks down on rest room breaks - 10/27/05: "In a memo that was distributed Tuesday to workers at Ford's Michigan Truck plant in Wayne, plant managers said too many of the factory's 3,500 hourly workers are spending more than the 48 minutes allotted per shift to use the bathroom. "

Who needs 48 minutes over 8 hours to use the bathroom, anyway?

Miers withdraws as Supreme Court Nominee

2005-10-27T09:08:00.000-04:00

This is probably for the best. More to come, I'm sure.

Delphi's Steve Miller and the UAW

2005-10-13T22:35:00.000-04:00

In a display of straight talking possibly never before seen in Detroit, Delphi CEO Steve Miller responded strongly following criticism from the UAW and the Governor of the State of Michigan to the Delphi bankruptcy. Labor's day of reckoning with Delphi was going to come eventually and Miller decided that Wednesday, October 12, 2005 was going to be the day.

(The Detroit News, Thursday, October 12, 2005) TROY -- Delphi Corp. Chairman Robert S. "Steve" Miller made a fiery defense Wednesday of his decision to take the auto-parts giant into bankruptcy and warned the company's 33,000 union workers to expect huge pay cuts by early next year.

In a tense press conference, Miller acknowledged for the first time the angry reaction from the United Auto Workers and other unions to his demands of 60 percent wage cuts at dozens of factories across the United States.

But the 63-year-old Miller bluntly repeated that he expected the UAW to agree to dramatic reductions in wages and benefits by mid-December, or he may ask the U.S. Bankruptcy Court to reject the current union contracts.

"Paying $65 an hour for someone mowing the lawn at one of our plants is just not going to cut it anywhere in industrial America for very long," Miller said, referring to the average combined wages, benefits and pensions of an hourly Delphi worker.

He also lashed out at a wave of criticism -- led by UAW President Ron Gettelfinger and Gov. Jennifer Granholm -- of Delphi's move to sweeten executive severance agreements just before Saturday's bankruptcy filing.

"Some people insist that fairness requires that we slash wages across the board," Miller said. "Well, I'm sorry. ... There are large disparities in this country and around the world in what people can expect for mowing a lawn versus managing a huge business."

Miller said he believed Granholm "did not fully understand" that the severance deals were necessary to prevent executives and top managers from quitting for other jobs.

"We are in a market for human capital," he said. "If you pay too much for a particular class of employee, you go broke. You pay too little, and you won't have anyone left to do the work."

Granholm spokeswoman Liz Boyd said Wednesday that the "governor stands behind her comments. I think the governor was very clear."

Miller also defended his $3 million signing bonus to join Delphi, "to replace all the other stream of income I was asked to give up." He said he expected to take a cut in his $1.5 million annual salary as part of the restructuring.

With extraordinary candor for a Fortune 500 chief executive, Miller said he did not fear a potential strike by the UAW because it would only make the restructuring of Delphi's U.S. operations harsher.

"I believe the United Auto Workers has competent, adult, honest leadership," he said. "Absolutely nothing can be gained from a strike at any Delphi facility other than to hasten and expand the number of plants that might have to be closed."

There was no immediate comment from the UAW on Miller's remarks.

What will be interesting to see is how Miller's tone affects GM's relations with the UAW. That day of reckoning is not far over the horizon, either.

Hey, Noah, can I get a lift?

2005-10-13T16:38:00.000-04:00

Lucky me! I live in the area shaded in yellow!

It IS a Video iPod!!!!

2005-10-12T20:51:00.000-04:00

(But what the heck is that near the woman's face?)

The Left's Foul Mouth

2005-10-09T19:49:00.000-04:00

Following my post yesterday about Delphi's bankruptcy filing, I set up a news and blog search for article and posts on that topic. My search came up with a bunch of hits, including this one. Thinking that the post might be an interesting piece about one blogger's perspective on the Delphi bankruptcy, I clicked on the link. What do I get? Bush-bashing from yet another angle, replete with diatribes against rich corporations, references to homosexuality and sodomy (you know, for a group that has "endorsed" gay rights to the extent the left-wingers have, they sure use it as an epithet often enough) and the word "b***sh**" (I am not a prude, but I am not going print this word, even as an example of someone else's bad behavior).

What is it about left-wing bloggers, that they cannot engage in dialogue about any topic they don't like without dropping into the gutter? I know that Rush Limbaugh would say its because they lack any ideas and so they resort to extremism to make up for this. I don't buy this. I am coming to the conclusion (actually, I reached this conclusion a long time ago) that this is who these people are: gutter-dwellers. I think that's why they have the principles (or lack thereof) that they do and I think that's why they act the way they do. The two are inseparable; its just that when left-wingers are "winning" they are able to present a better front; the gutter-dragon, however, lurks just below the surface (see, e.g., the Clarence Thomas confirmation hearings).

al-Qaeda and Iraq

2005-10-08T22:59:00.000-04:00

Somewhat lost over the past couple of days with the NYC subway terror threat, has been much discussion of the letter from al-Qaeda number 2 Ayman al-Zawahiri to al-Qaeda in Iraq number 1 Abu Musab al-Zarqawi. That letter was, according to the Counterterrorism Blog, captured in a counterterrorism operation in Iraq.

Daveed Gartenstein-Ross, of the Counterterroism blog, notes 2 significant aspects of the letter:

"First, the letter shows the al-Qaeda leadership's increasing sensitivity to public opinion. Zawahiri writes of the importance of popular support for al-Qaeda, and rebukes Zawahiri for the Iraq insurgency's "brutal tactics -- noting that hostages can just as effectively be killed with bullets rather than by beheading." I've written before (most recently in the Weekly Standard) of al-Qaeda's increased efforts to tailor their message to appeasement-minded Westerners. Apparently, Zawahiri has also given some thought to how he can bolster al-Qaeda's image in the Muslim world.

"Second, the letter shows Iraq's current importance to al-Qaeda's jihad. Officials have said that Zawahiri's letter outlines al-Qaeda's four stage plan:

The letter of instructions and requests outlines a four-stage plan, according to officials: First, expel American forces from Iraq. Second, establish a caliphate over as much of Iraq as possible. Third, extend the jihad to neighboring countries, with specific reference to Egypt and the Levant -- a term that describes Syria and Lebanon. And finally, war against Israel. US officials say they were struck by the letter's emphasis on the centrality of Iraq to Al Qaeda's long-term mission.

This letter further confirms that we shouldn't withdraw from Iraq prematurely. If we were to do so, the country could collapse into a state of chaos that would allow al-Qaeda to gain a foothold and perhaps establish something similar to pre-9/11 Afghanistan: a geographic area where the group could train terrorists and plan attacks against the West."

I agree.

Google's New Feed Reader

2005-10-08T22:37:00.000-04:00

Google (which hosts this blog) has a new RSS/Atom reader out. It is definitely worth a look see if you read more than a couple of blogs per day. Try it out at:

http://reader.google.com/

Use the Atom feed for this blog:

http://softreset.blogspot.com/atom.xml

as your test feed.

Let me know what you think.

Avian Flu

2005-10-08T18:30:00.000-04:00

There has been a lot of press the last few days about the Avian flu. Now, as Powerpundit points out, Avian flu may have surfaced in the Danube delta region of Rumania. Hopefully, this is the more benign version of that influenza strain.

Video IPod???

2005-10-08T16:11:00.000-04:00

SAN FRANCISCO - A new video-enabled iPod is expected to be unveiled by Apple Computer Inc. during a press conference next week — though the maverick company is masterful at foiling such predictions.

This would definitely be a cool device -- but it's probably something else. But, hey, that could be interesting too!

Delphi Automotive Systems Bankruptcy

2005-10-08T15:53:00.000-04:00

Delphi Automotive Systems has filed for bankruptcy. This just might be the opening salvo in the most momentous shift in labor relations since the 1930s. Or it might just be the beginning of the end for one or more iconic American corporations. Those of you who know for whom I work know which way I hope it goes. I will be posting on this quite a bit, I think, esp. as it relates to the labor aspects.

UPDATE: The Delphi bankruptcy petition and related filings can be found here.

Nobel "Peace" Prize

2005-10-07T05:56:00.000-04:00

OSLO (Reuters) - The U.N. nuclear watchdog and its head, Mohamed ElBaradei, won the 2005 Nobel Peace Prize on Friday for their efforts to limit the spread of atomic weapons.

Well, another ridiculous choice for the Nobel Peace Prize. Rather than award the prize to President Bush who arguably has done more to secure peace (in a real sense) in the world than anyone else alive at the moment, the Nobel Committee has again picked someone who promotes "peace", meaning the absence of war. El Baradei joins such notables as:

Jimmy Carter: The man who may be more responsible than any other for the rise of Islamic terrorism for his abject failure to respond to Iran Hostage Crisis in 1979

Yasser Arafat: What more do I need say here?

Mikhail Gorbachev: The final leader of the most murderous regime in history; a regime that set in place the climate for today's Islamism with its invasion of Afghanistan in 1980.

Kofi Annan: the man who oversaw the watering down and ineffectual enforcement (and fraudulent use of) the United Nations Oil for Food Program.

It is only surprising (and I am not being tongue in cheek here), given that list, that Adolph Hitler and Neville Chamberlain were not awarded the prize in 1939 for the Munich Accords, which preserved "peace" at the expense of dismembering Czechoslovakia. Perhaps they would have won the award if Hitler had just held off invading Poland until October 1939.

Who don't you see on the list:

Pope John Paul II
Winston Churchill
Ronald Reagan
G.H.W. Bush

The little fingers of each one of these men were far more deserving of the award than el Baradei and his group of inept weapons inspectors.

Taiwan Tells Google Off

2005-10-04T11:24:00.000-04:00

Taiwan apparently has had enough of Google's political correctness:

"Taiwan's government has asked Web search company Google Inc. to stop calling the self-ruled island a 'province of China' on its Google Maps service, the foreign ministry said on Tuesday."

I don't think its likely that Google will change its description, at least not if it wants to do business with mainland China.

Harriet Miers and the Missed Opportunities

2005-10-04T09:45:00.000-04:00

I am going to weigh in here and say that I don't know enough about Harriet Miers to know whether this was a good selection or not. However, I do agree with several points made on the Wall Street Journal editorial page today:

"We've always thought Mr. Bush should welcome an ideological Court fight, both because it would educate the public about the Constitutional issues at stake, and because he ultimately would have prevailed in putting another conservative jurist on the bench. In choosing Ms. Miers, Mr. Bush missed an opportunity for that kind of debate.

"He also missed a chance to send a message that taking firm sides in our judicial debates is not politically disqualifying. The President could have selected from numerous qualified men and women--minority and white--who have spent their lives arguing for conservative principles on the bench or off. We're referring to the Michael Luttigs, the J. Harvie Wilkinsons, the Edith Joneses.

"Is the President sending a message that these distinguished conservatives are too controversial to be nominated for the High Court, even with a Senate containing 55 Republicans? The lesson this nomination in particular will send to younger lawyers is to keep your opinions to yourself, don't join the Federalist Society, and, heaven forbid, never write an op-ed piece. This isn't healthy in a democracy, and in this sense a Supreme Court fight over legal philosophy that ended in a conservative victory would have demonstrated to the left that Borking no longer works."

DDoS???

2005-10-03T15:13:00.000-04:00

Is it me or has there been a web problem today? Blogger was down for a very long time this morning and now I cannot log on to check my Amazon.com order.

Hmmmm.

Mystery Photo

2005-10-02T23:24:00.000-04:00

Could this be Trajan???

Is Nothing Sacred?

2005-10-02T23:01:00.000-04:00

Now they are going after the New Car Smell.

TOKYO - Anyone who's pulled away from the dealer's lot in a shiny, new sedan knows the seductive scent of fresh plastic, paint and upholstery that evokes a rush of pride and consumer satisfaction.

But that unmistakable new-car smell may soon be heading the way of the rumble seat: recent research linking it to a toxic cocktail of harmful chemicals is spurring efforts by Japanese automakers to tone down the fumes.

The End must be near.

More on Double Standards, Part 2

2005-10-02T08:32:00.000-04:00

Try to imagine this one with Mohammed and the nineteen 9/11 hijackers:

DUBLIN (Reuters) - Irish bookmaker Paddy Power was fending off the wrath of Christians in overwhelmingly Roman Catholic Ireland on Friday over an advert depicting Jesus and the Apostles gambling at the Last Supper.

The billboard posters, on display in the Irish capital, adapt Leonardo da Vinci's famous painting of the event to show Jesus with a stack of poker chips, Judas with 30 pieces of silver and other apostles clutching hands of cards.

"There's a place for fun and games," says the caption.

Father Micheal MacGreil, Jesuit priest at St Francis Xavier's Church in central Dublin, branded the advert "grossly inappropriate and vulgar."

"This is an insult to the religious sensitivities of a lot of people and should be withdrawn immediately," he told Reuters.

I didn't go out looking for all these examples; I came across them over the last 2 days when I was doing other web surfing. I am trying to make 2 points here: first, that it seems to be fair game to make fun of Christ and images central to His time on earth and secondly, ANY images or concepts making fun of Islam are strictly off limits.

I am not advocating making fun of Islam (or any other religion, for that matter). My point is that it seems to be too easy these days to take liberties with Christians, while grossly politically incorrect to poke fun at practitioners of Islam.

Draw your own conclusions.

More on Double Standards, Part 1

2005-10-02T08:24:00.000-04:00

Can you imagine this movie being called "The Koran"? Neither can I.

Definite Double Standards

2005-09-30T19:33:00.000-04:00

ROME (Reuters) - Sony (6758.T) has apologized for an advertising campaign for its PlayStation game console which featured a young man wearing a crown of thorns with the slogan "Ten years of passion."

Some Catholics were outraged by the adverts, which ran in newspapers and magazines to celebrate the product's tenth anniversary. "This time they've gone too far," said Antonio Sciortino, editor of Famiglia Cristiana (Christian Family), a mass-circulation Catholic weekly. "If this had concerned Islam there would have been a really strong reaction," Sciortino was quoted as saying in the Corriere della Sera
newspaper.

Mr. Sciortino is actually wrong about really strong reaction if the ad had used Islamic references. Why? Because Sony never would have done it.

However, Sciortino is correct in noting the double standard. Can you just imagine the hue and cry if the person in the picture had been Mohammed? I am quite sure the Sony executives would have been marked for death and a fatwah issued against Sony (a typical over reaction by the Islamists who seem to revere Mohammed, a human, as some sort of deity). Christians, on the other hand, have to suffer the indignity of watching Jesus, who we hold to be God, held up to ridicule in some idiotic ad campaign for a video game.

BIG Government

2005-09-29T16:27:00.000-04:00

Peggy Noonan has a good piece today discussing the implications of expecting Big Government to rescue us from every mishap.

"Government has real duties in disaster. Maintaining the peace is a primary one. But if we demand that our government protect us from all the weather all the time, if we demand that it protect us from rain and hail, if we make government and politicians pay a terrible price for not getting us out of every flood zone and rescuing us from every wave, we're going to lose a lot more than we gain. If we give government all authority then we are giving them all power."

Why Not... Everyone Else Does!

2005-09-25T00:52:00.000-04:00

The Michigan Wolverines took another one on the chin today, losing the lead to the Wisconsin Badgers in the waning moments of the game.

I blame Bush!

I Hate College Football!

2005-09-10T18:49:00.000-04:00

We are in week 2 of the college football season and already my Michigan Wolverines are likely out of the national championship hunt after suffering yet another humiliating defeat to the upstart Irish of Notre Dame. Grrrr... why do I continue to follow a sport that is just way too frustrating?!? Did I say grrrr yet???

At least with the Detroit Lions we won't know that they are officially out of the playoffs until about the 9th or 10th week of the NFL season.

Sinking Poll Numbers

2005-09-09T21:32:00.000-04:00

The folks at Powerline have analyzed the sinking poll numbers for President Bush following Hurricane Katrina... and they aren't pretty.

But could anyone think the poll numbers would be otherwise? For nearly 2 weeks the floodgates have been open (forgive the pun) with the Mainstream Media unleashing damning story after damning story (again, forgive the near pun), brazenly criticizing the President's performance from their anchor chairs, interviewing angry survivors, and airing unchallenged interviews from political opponents, all while failing to analyze the responsibility and failures of the local and state governments to minimize Katrina's harmful effects.

In fact, the arrival of Katrina signalled the opening of hunting season for the Mainstream Media, which perceived a weakness that it could finally hammer the President on with impunity. Finding that their efforts to derail the Bush presidency failed to gain traction on the issues of the Iraq War, the economy, or the President's service in the military, the media has seized on the federal response to Hurricane Katrina as its issue to bring down the Bush presidency. Of course it helps that the role of the federal government in bringing aid to New Orleans is complicated and not easily communicated on television. Most certainly, an explanation of the federal government's subordinate role in bringing succor to New Orleans is easily dismissed when the footage flashed into our living room so vividly brings home the horrible conditions that arose in the Hurricane's aftermath.

Indeed, the raw video of the disaster of New Orleans now serves as the ammunition for the media's relentless assault on the Bush presidency. And no matter how strongly charges of mismanagement or malfeasance are rebutted, Bush still loses in the end simply because terrible events were caught on video, and in this day and age, bad things, even the destruction wrought by a category 5 hurricane, should not happen if only a responsible federal government were in place.

Add to that mix the fact that the President has been unable to respond to the charges without appearing insensitive or un-presidential.

Afterall, President Bush couldn't publicly rebut the outlandish charges of a weeping family struggling for its survival in flooded New Orleans since that would certainly be unseemly. Nor, for that matter, could the President take to the television airwaves to counter the hysterical charges of New Orleans' mayor since that would of course be un-presidential.

No, President Bush was forced to take all of the attacks, some valid, most scurrilous, without the luxury of being able to respond. Instead, the President's only hope is that the media, perhaps eventually prompted by the blogosphere, finally begins to provide fair coverage to the actual events that transpired after Katrina made land fall over the Mississippi coast.

So yes, President Bush's poll numbers have fallen dramatically... as would the popularity of any president who had to withstand the blistering and baseless charges that have been leveled the past two weeks.

If You Can't Say Anything Nice....

2005-09-09T21:02:00.000-04:00

Karen Hughes has a formidable task ahead of her in countering negative myths about the USA... one that would be made much, much easier if folks here at home such as Ted Kennedy, Howard Dean, et. al. toned down their persistent anti-American rhetoric.

Then again, I guess that presupposes that Ted, Howard, and their ilk actually want to promote America's reputation abroad....

Count One for the Good Guys

2005-09-09T11:21:00.000-04:00

This is good news on one front in the Global War on Terrorism.

Guarding the Hen House

2005-09-08T00:11:00.000-04:00

Ouch! This should leave a mark... and hopefully John Bolton will see that it does!

A New Homestead Act - A Tale of Two Cities

2005-09-06T22:15:00.000-04:00

Detroit and New Orleans. Two cities alike in so many ways. Both owe their origins to the French who settled the two locations because of their control of their respective waterways, and the trade that flowed through them. Both cities have more recently experienced "white flight" leaving behind an impoverished underclass and a political class who have excelled only in the art of corruption.

Now the two cities share an additional distinction. The massive depopulation of their citizenry.

One was sudden. Estimates suggest that up to 80% of the home in New Orleans have been destroyed or have otherwise become uninhabitable because of Hurricane Katrina, leaving one million residents of the Big Easy displaced and homeless.

The other decline was more gradual. Detroit has lost more than half its population since its heyday in the 1950's. The people who remain are mostly black -- 83 percent -- and mostly working class, with 30 percent of the population living below the poverty line according to the US Census Bureau In fact, the flight from Detroit has resulted in a greater population decline than was experienced by 14th century Europe during the height of the Black Death when as many as 25% of all villages were depopulated.

While the two cities share so much in common, a crucial difference in their respective plights may offer hope for both the displaced populace of New Orleans and the depressed economic fortunes of the Motor City. According to the blog "Turn":

"Detroit's fleeing businesses and homeowners have left behind about 36 square miles (58 square kilometers) of vacant land. That's roughly the size of San Francisco and about a quarter of Detroit's total land mass. Professor Stephen Vogel at the University of Detroit-Mercy has proposed turning these swaths of abandoned land in Detroit into farmland. Others disagree, noting that many of the abandoned homes have solid foundations which could be repaired with proper attention."

Regardless, the availability of large tracts of abandoned homes and land in Detroit offers a permanent solution for the diaspora from New Orleans. As an immediate remedy for the homeless displaced by Hurricane Katrina, Detroit should enact its own Homestead Ordinance patterned after the Federal Homestead Act of 1862, which provided 160 acres of public land free of charge (except for a small filing fee) to anyone either 21 years of age or head of a family, a citizen or person who had filed for citizenship, who had lived on and cultivated the land for at least five years. By the turn of the Twentieth Century, more than 80 million acres had been claimed by homesteaders.

Likewise, a Motor City Homestead Act of 2005 could make vast areas of currently abandoned land in Detroit available to those persons who can demonstrate they were residents of New Orleans displaced by Hurricane Katrina. If after five years, the new residents of Detroit were able to demonstrate they had made improvements to their property by bringing the property up to code, the residents would be granted title at no additional cost.

The new residents of Detroit would find a city much like the one they left (weather excepted) and Detroit would have the benefits of an influx of new residents, a substantial addition to its tax rolls, and perhaps even a much needed attitude adjustment reflecting the easy going New Orleans spirit.

Sticky Wickets

2005-09-06T11:51:00.000-04:00

"Oil falls below $66 as industry recovers" screams the headline. I am sure that tomorrow the gas I pay for at the pump will return to the mid-$2 range it was in prior to Katrina, when the per barrel price of oil was in the mid $60s.

And pigs can fly….

Too Much!

2005-09-05T19:23:00.000-04:00

One red dixie cup.... 5 cents

Designer sunglasses and flakjacket.... $250

Forgetting to plug the hole in the buttom of your boat before embarking on a rescue mission with your hollywood entourage... Priceless!

Please Sean, tell us again about the incompetence of President Bush!

Mr. Chief Justice Roberts?

2005-09-05T08:57:00.000-04:00

President Bush has acted swiftly to replace Chief Justice Rehnquist, who died late Saturday. The President announced this morning that he would nominate Judge John Roberts to the position of Chief Justice of the United States and nominate someone else for the position now held by Sandra Day O'Connor, for which Judge Roberts was initially nominated.

I certainly hope the President is confident as to how a Chief Justice Roberts will act jurisprudentially. Chief Justice Warren (brrrr!!!!) comes to mind...

Bush Selects Roberts for Chief Justice

2005-09-05T08:33:00.000-04:00

President Bush has nominated John Roberts as the President's choice to replace William Rehnquist as Chief Justice of the Supreme Court.

I am disappointed. I had hoped that Clarence Thomas would get the nod. Not only does Justice Thomas write the most cogent and clear opinions of all the Justices of the Supreme Court, he seems well liked by his fellow Justices, therefore being well suited to bring together the necessary consensus to restore judicial restraint to the Court.

Of course, Justice Thomas' selection would also have the added benefit of perhaps minimizing some of the racial incriminations hurled at President Bush in the week following the devastation of Hurricane Katrina. Then again, perhaps not. President Bush's selection of Colin Powell, Condoleza Rice, and other minorities to positions of true leadership in this nation have routinely been dismissed by the usual suspects in the race racket as being the selections of persons who are insufficiently "of color" given their failure to buy into the race agenda that dominates the Democratic party.

Nevertheless, my largest concern is that John Roberts becomes the next David Souter writ large. From Brennan to Souter, Conservatives have been promised the appointment of Justices in accord with our judicial philosophy (and in accord with the outcomes of the many presidential elections during that period), only to be sorely disappointed by stealth nominees after they take the bench.

Like Souter, we know so little about Roberts which is all the more surprising given his involvement in the government from such a young age. I cross my fingers that President Bush has sufficiently screened his nominee to ensure that he will adhere to the Scalia and Thomas philosophy while fulfilling his duties to the Court.

The Death of Decency

2005-09-04T10:24:00.000-04:00

Perhaps reports of the death of common decency have been greatly unexaggerated but events of the last week now confirm that decency now lies dead in the grave.

First, within hours of Hurricane Katrina making landfall over Louisanna, Mississippi, and Alabama, President Bush's opponents were out in force calling for his head for either causing the hurricane (see Robert F. Kennedy) or for having failed to have instantaneously provided relief for the survivors of the largest natural disaster ever to befall the USA (see Congressional Black Caucus). Rather than lend a hand in this hour of need, these folks instead chose to point fingers for political gain.

Then the City of New Orleans descended into anarchy as the Mayor of New Orleans (after having made arrangements to evacuate his cronies) handed the devastated city over to looters, murderers, rapists, and other subhumans (I am reluctant to call them animals lest the animal kingdom be justifiably offended at being associated with these sickening people).

Now, within hours of the death of Chief Justice Rehnquist, Harvard Law Professor Alan Dershowitz takes to the Fox News airwaves to call Rehnquist nothing more than a "right wing thug" while trashing his legacy and disparaging his character and values.

I would be curious to see if Prof. Dershowitz openly publicized his vitriolic view of Justice Rehnquist before Justice Rehnquist's death. Was Prof. Dershowitz courageous enough to so fiercely attack the Justice during Rehnquist's lifetime, knowing that it could be harmful to his continued advocacy of cases before the Supreme Court?

Or, as I suspect, did Prof. Dershowitz wait until Justice Rehnquist had passed, and could no longer defend himself, to unleash the full torrent of his scurrilous attacks on the deceased Justice's character and values? Simply cowardly.

In any event, for all of his supposed intellect, apparently Prof. Dershowitz lacks even the slightest sense of common decency. Just as it was once understood that criticisms of US foreign policy during war time stopped at the water's edge, it was also understood that common decency prevented politicians from using the death of their political adversaries to make political points (i.e., see John Ashcroft's refusal to campaign or contest the Missouri Senate election results of 2000). No more.

And some wonder why the political divide is so great in this Country. One need only look at the events of the past week to realize that while this divide may be growing smaller (as the Democrats alienate more and more of mainstream America with their outlandish behavior) it is growing more intense as the Democrats desperately attempt to cling to their last redoubts of power.

The Wheels on the Bus(es) Did Not Go Round and Round

2005-09-04T00:53:00.000-04:00

Junkyard Blog has a fascinating post (with updates and pictures) showing LOTS of New Orleans buses sitting right where they were on Monday morning, August 29 -- in their holding yards.

Chief Justice Rehnquist Dies at Age 80

2005-09-03T23:19:00.000-04:00

CNN and the AP are reporting that Chief Justice Rehnquist passed away on Saturday at age 80.

This promises to be a VERY interesting political month or so ahead.

Good News from the Big Easy

2005-09-03T15:01:00.000-04:00

Michelle Malkin's got a round-up of good news from New Orleans. Let's hope the good news now will overshadow the bad!

Responsibility

2005-09-03T11:16:00.000-04:00

Murder and mayhem in New Orleans' miserable shelter - Yahoo! News

"NEW ORLEANS (Reuters) - With the rotors of President George W. Bush's helicopter sounding overhead, New Orleans' poor and downtrodden recounted tales of murder, rape, death threats and near starvation since Hurricane Katrina wrecked this city."

So begins Reuters' depiction of the horrors that have unfolded in the hours following New Orleans confrontation with Hurricane Katrina. After making sure to establish that President Bush was living the life of luxury safely removed from the devastation below him, the article then proceeds to interview survivors who hurled invective after invective at the President for seemingly ignoring their plight.

The anger and dismay of these folks is certainly understandable. But I have to ask... what the heck where they still doing in New Orleans facing a Category 5 Hurricane!!!

Reuters interviewed a 37 year old mother who was forced to take shelter in the infamous Convention Center. Why was she even in New Orleans on Monday defying the mandatory evactuation order, risking the life of her young child? Perhaps a "news" service such as Reuters could ask these questions... but I doubt it will. Indeed, on the Sunday before landfall, Fox News was continuously reporting projections that the loss of life in New Orleans from a Cat 5 Hurricane such as Katrina (at that point in time) could exceed 50,000 people! 50,000! And yet, this mother and daughter remained in New Orleans despite the risks of death and mayhem. Why?!?

Likewise, Richard Dunbar, 60, another survivor at the Convention Center also apparently defied the mandatory evacuation order (first requested by President Bush) and instead weathered the storm in a city most of which is below sea level. I have questions for you Richard. Richard, you seem to be relatively young and in good health... why did you stay in this city when all levels of government were telling you to run for your very life in the days before the storm struck? And now that you defied those orders and have seen the absolute destruction wrought by Katrina, what makes you so certain that the Federal government could so quickly alleviate the suffering that you chose to endure despite its warnings?

I understand that there were obviously some residents who were too infirm, too young or otherwise physically incapable of making it out of the city in time. And for them, words cannot describe their grief and the pain all Americans feel for their horrific plight.

But footage after footage shows young, seemingly healthy survivors who obviously made a choice whether to evacuate... and then made the worst decision possible by remaining in the city. Frankly, I am simply not buying into the theme making the airwaves that all of the poor and downtrodden lacked the means to escape. I see some survivors ingeniously crafting the means to float big screen televisions down flooded streets and yet these same folks are now claimed to have lacked the wherewithall to evacuate the city?

Their choice has landed them in the terrible plight they are now experiencing. That is not to say the federal government shouldn't do everything in its power to save and care for them. But there should be some balance in the media treatment of the federal government's role in providing relief for the largest natural disaster to afflict the United States.

There are limits to what anyone could do to alleviate the suffering in the Gulf region... communications were down, roads impassable... and yet, President Bush is accused of indifference or even down right hostility to the plight of blacks and the poor although the federal government was able to reach the area in force within only 3 days of the breaching of the levies this past Tuesday.

Perhaps Reuters could do us a service (and again I am not holding my breathe) and either detail for us how the National Guard and the feds could have either bypassed these obstacles and reached the survivors faster or explain to its readers what conditions existed that prevented aid from reaching any faster. Without that information, all we can react to is the raw emotion of the survivors who decided to take their chances against a Category 5 Hurricane and are boiling mad that the predictions of devastation came true.

Weird Blogs #1

2005-09-02T23:00:00.000-04:00

I am going to start a new feature here on alt-ctrl-del -- Weird Blogs. The first entrant is the WW Club, a blog apparently devoted to the consumption of Burger King Whoppers on Wednesdays. That, in my book, qualifies as a Weird Blog!

Lest We Forget Iran

2005-09-02T22:19:00.000-04:00

With everything else (justifiably) occupying us at the moment, we should not forget that there are non-natural forces out there that wish the United States ill. One of those forces is the Islamic Republic of Iran. After much dithering and hand-wringing, it appears that the inestimable International Atomic Energy Agency has reached a conclusive non-conclusion about Iran's nuclear activities:

"The confidential report of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), obtained by Reuters, said the agency was 'still not in a position to conclude that there are no undeclared nuclear materials or activities in Iran.'

The report, penned by IAEA chief Mohamed ElBaradei, said: 'In view of the fact that the agency is not yet in a position to clarify some of the important outstanding issues after 2-1/2 years of intensive inspections and investigation, Iran's full transparency is indispensable and overdue.'"

Reading between the lines of this double-negative laden diplo-speak, one must conclude that the IAEA is saying that the Mullahs are up to no good.

Really?

Only a fool would believe that a country sitting on top of one of the largest proven petroleum reserves in the world has any need whatsoever for peaceful nuclear power. The ayatollahs want the Bomb in the worst way and are willing to lie, cheat and steal in order to get it.

Now -- what do we do about it?

Hopefully something -- while we have the chance.

Another Reuters Gaffe

2005-09-02T20:47:00.000-04:00

Reuters makes another gaffe. In an article this evening, Reuters make the following ridiculous statement:

"The disaster has highlighted the racial and class divides in a city and a
country where the gap between rich and poor is vast. "

Why is this ridiculous? Because, as poor as the New Orleans victims might be, they are incomparably wealthy when compared to the truly poor in Third World nations. New Orleans residents have a per capita (not a per family) income of $17,258. Contrast that with the African nation of Ghana, which hopes to achieve a $1,000 per capita income by 2010.

The Blame Game and the Father of Cool - Willis Haviland Carrier

2005-09-02T20:39:00.000-04:00

The Father of Cool - Willis Haviland Carrier and Air Conditioning

Well the pundits have blamed George W. Bush, Ronald Reagan, and every other Republican they could think of in spewing out fault for the natural disaster that descended on New Orleans this week while the true culprit remains unnamed.

Yep... Willis Haviland Carrier certainly bears the blame for this tragedy as much as Presidents Reagan or Bush. Would the deadly Gulf regions of the USA have been as heavily populated were it not for this nefarious man's invention of that hellish device, the air conditioner? Certainly not! Would the now-ravaged coastal areas have been as seduced by development were it not for the artificially cool breezes manufacturered by Mr. Carrier's machine? Certainly not!

The pundits may claim that this hurricane could have been avoided had Jimmy Carter defeated Mr. Reagan's bid for the presidency in 1980 and had the all-powerful George W. Bush only adhered to the Kyoto treaty (instead of seeking to further enrich the rich), but we know who is really to blame... the man who had the temerity to manufacture the air conditioner.

Race Baiting the Wind - An Open Message to Congressman Elijah Cummings

2005-09-02T17:12:00.000-04:00

The Congressional Black Caucus hit a new low today. During a press conference, Rep. Elijah Cumming (D-MD) stated:

"The overwhelming proportion of black people among the refugees, made clear to Americans by television coverage of huge black crowds pleading for water and food in New Orleans, has raised questions about the role of class and race in the response."

I don't know what the television coverage has made clear, other than a tragic event caused by nature. However, Congressman Cumming's implication is clear -- the plight of the New Orleans victims of Hurricane Katrina is a result of racial animus on the part of the "white" Bush Administration and its "failure" to do anything to help.

Perhaps a few words of explanation are in order, Congressman Cumming.

First, the reason there has been an "overwhelming proportion of black people among the refugees" is because New Orleans (or at least Orleans Parish, Louisiana, of which New Orleans is a major part) is 67.3% black (U.S. Census Bureau, Louisiana Quick Facts [Orleans Parish]). Thus, it stands to reason that the majority of those affected would be black, and not those of other racial groups.

Second, there is a very simple explanation for why the relief effort is not farther along -- there just has not been time to execute a relief plan for such an unprecendented disaster. Today is Friday, September 2. While it is true that Hurricane Katrina struck New Orleans on the morning of Monday, August 29, the City of New Orleans escaped the direct wrath of Katrina. It was not until the morning of Tuesday, August 30 that the 17th Street Canal Levee broke. Even after the levee broke, it was not clear at the outset that the resultant flooding would be as severe as it turned out to be. We, thus, are only about 72 hours removed from the first realization that the flooding was going to be a serious problem. (Incidentally, this is far short of the 140 hours that Congressman Jesse Jackson, Jr. claimed in his companion speech to that of Congressman Cummings' speech this morning (140 hours before Congressman Jackson gave his speech was Sunday morning, August 28 -- a full 48 hours or so before the levees broke.))

72 hours.

In such a short period of time, the Black Caucus (and other black leaders who have jumped on the bandwagon), apparently expect miracles beyond the capability of any human organization to perform. This is a crisis of the first magnitude of the sort rarely seen in a Western nation. And yet in such a short period of time, the Black Caucus clearly expects that all of the victims of the New Orleans flood to have been evacuated elsewhere. Never mind that many of the victims are scattered all over New Orleans, which has been virtually inaccesible to automotive traffic and accessed only with difficulty by boats (due to the debris in the water and the danger of fouled propellers). Heliocopters have essentially been the only means to rescue many of the unfortunates.

Never mind that the hurricane itself made the land routes to New Orleans difficult to traverse, particularly from the north and east. Never mind that much of the infrastructure in the vicinity has been destroyed or seriously damaged, making coordination all the more difficult. That anything is happening at all at this early date is a testament to the logistical abilities of our great nation.

Never mind that efforts to rescue and evacuate and provide medical treatment for the victims have been hindered by the actions of animals scarcely deserving of the title "human being" brandishing AK-47s, who are murdering, raping and pillaging all over the City of New Orleans. At the risk of being labelled a "racist" or of "generalizing", I am nonetheless quite certain that these individuals are mostly, if not all, black. They are the product of the failed "promise" of modern liberalism and feminism, to which the Congressional Black Caucus succombs hook line and sinker. The thugs roaming the city streets of New Orleans and inside the Superdome and the New Orleans Convention Center are, in most cases I am sure, the children of single-parent, frequently drug-addicted mothers who have been told over and over again that its okay to have children out of wedlock; it's your reproductive right to do so. (See Michelle Malkin's post earlier today for the argument that the thugs themselves are drug addicts) We are now reaping the whirlwind of those foolish, self-indulgent policies. Who are paying the ultimate price for these policies? The good people of New Orleans who are not being rescued by the police and National Guardsmen who have had to engage in urban warfare rather than search and rescue.

Had this tragedy occured during the Clinton Administration would there be such recrimination from the black "elite"? I don't think so. This is clearly just another effort to "bash Bush".

Shame on you Congressman.

P.S. I took great pleasure in watching your diatribe on Fox News Channel this morning in a split screen. What was on the other screen, you ask? Merely images of the convoy of several thousand vehicles -- fire trucks, buses, Chevrolet Suburbans towing boats, and the like -- making their way across the Mississippi River into New Orleans.

I guess you criticized a little too soon, eh Congressman?

The Rueters Manifesto

2005-08-31T22:26:00.000-04:00

Reuters is once again trying to stoke the burning embers of class warfare in the United States. In this shameless piece, Reuters is journatorializing (and I claim a copyright on that word if no one has claimed it already!) that the poor (er, financially-challenged?) residents of coastal Mississippi were left to die by their wealthier neighbors who fled the approach of Hurricane Katrina.

Says Reuters:

"Many of [Biloxi's] well-off heeded authorities' warnings to flee north, joining thousands of others who traveled from the Gulf Coast into northern Mississippi and Alabama, Georgia and other nearby states. *** But others could not afford to join them, either because they didn't own a car or couldn't raise funds for even the cheapest motel. 'No way we could do that," said Willie Rhetta, a bus driver, who remained in his home to await Katrina.'"

Now I certainly don't want to sound insensitive, but I find it hard to believe that gainfully employed individuals, like Mr. Rhetta, are unable to afford a bus ticket from Biloxi to Jackson, Memphis or Nashville, even if they could not afford accomodations (which I also find incredible). When a Category 5 hurricane is bearing down on you, you can't be too fussy about where you are going to be staying when you leave town; you just get out. Moreover, weren't there shelters inland for those who had no where else to go? This is, of course, not the first hurricane to hit Mississippi.

Reuters just loves these little opportunities to jab its biggest enemy -- the United States.

Roundup of Katrina related efforts

2005-08-31T22:04:00.000-04:00

Michelle Malkin's got a good roundup of Katrina blog and general internet related relief efforts. Scroll ALL the way!

Hello, Hello....Anyone there?

2005-08-31T21:50:00.000-04:00

I seem to recall that there was a tsunami somewhere in the world late last year. Which nation was it that responded from half a world away and provided the assistance no other nation could even begin to hope to furnish? The Great Satan, ahem, I mean the United States, of course! As a result of our compassionate efforts, the loss of life from disease in the aftermath of the Indonesian Tsunami was dramatically reduced.

I think by now it is relatively safe to assume that Hurricane Katrina is going to go down as one of the United States' worst natural disasters, right up there with the Galveston Hurricane of 1900 and the Great San Francisco Earthquake of 1906. Where, then, is the rest of the world? I have heard of no airlifts of aid, or of sailors, airmen and troops rushing to our assistance. What's worse is that Germany's environment minister, Jurgen Trittin, stated that the whole thing was really the United States' fault for failing to ratify the Kyoto Treaty(fortunately, at least one of Herr Trittin's fellow Germans have taken him to task for his outrageous statement).

All of this brings to mind a speech given by a Canadian broadcaster some thirty years ago in reaction to all the liberal-left America bashing then taking place during the Viet Nam War. Gordon Sinclair, who was fed up with all of the snarkiness of the liberal elite journalists, had the following to say:

This Canadian thinks it is time to speak up for the Americans as most generous and possibly the least appreciated people on all the earth. Germany, Japan and, to a lesser extent, Britain and Italy were lifted out of the debris of war by the Americans who poured in billions of dollars and forgave other billions in debts. None of these countries is today paying even the interest on its remaining debts to the United States. When the franc was in danger of collapsing in 1956, it was the Americans who propped it up, and their reward was to be insulted and swindled on the streets of Paris. I was there. I saw it. When distant cities are hit by earthquakes, it is the United States that hurries in to help. This spring, 59 American communities were flattened by tornadoes. Nobody helped. The Marshall Plan and the Truman Policy pumped billions of dollars into discouraged countries. Now newspapers in those countries are writing about the decadent, warmongering Americans. I'd like to see just one of those countries that is gloating over the erosion of the United States Dollar build its own airplane. Does any other country in the world have a plane to equal the Boeing Jumbo Jet, the Lockheed Tristar, or the Douglas DC-10? If so,why don't they fly them? Why do all the International lines except Russia fly American planes? Why does no other land on earth even consider putting a man or woman on the moon? You talk about Japanese technocracy, and you get radios. You talk about German technocracy, and you get automobiles. You talk about American technocracy, and you find men on the moon — not once, but several times — and safely home again. You talk about scandals, and the Americans put theirs right
in the store window for everybody to look at. Even their draft-dodgers are not
pursued and hounded. They are here on our streets, and most of them, unless they
are breaking Canadian laws, are getting American dollars from ma and pa at home
to spend here. When the railways of France, Germany and India were breaking down through age, it was the American who rebuilt them. When the Pennsylvania
Railroad and the New York Central went broke, nobody loaned them an old caboose.
Both are still broke. I can name you 5,000 times when the Americans raced to the
help of other people in trouble. Can you name me even one time when someone else
raced to the Americans in trouble? I don't think there was outside help even
during the San Francisco earthquake. Our neighbors have faced it alone, and I'm
one Canadian who is damned tired of hearing them get kicked around. They will
come out of this thing with their flag high. And when they do, they are entitled
to thumb their nose at the lands that are gloating over their present troubles.
I hope Canada is not one of those. (Ed. note: That's a forlorn hope, as it turns out)

Well, the world has changed a lot in the three decades since Gordon Sinclair gave that little speech, but one thing has remained constant -- the United States of America still gives and gives and gives, asks nothing in return, and, for its efforts, still gets kicked in the mouth.

That's ok. I wouldn't have it any other way.

Katirna Update (8-29-05 @11 am)

2005-08-29T11:14:00.000-04:00

This is the 11 am update from the National Hurricane Center. You have to like the last sentence (really!)

“The eye of Hurricane Katrina is making its second northern Gulf Coast landfall...near the Louisiana-Mississippi border. WSR-88Dradar data show that the northern eyewall is very intense and Doppler velocities are near 120 kt at an altitude of about 5000 ft over extreme southern Mississippi. This...along with observations from Air Force Reserve unit hurricane hunter aircraft...supports the current intensity estimate of 110 kt. Steady weakening will occur as the center moves over land. However Katrina has such alarge and powerful circulation that it will probably retain hurricane intensity for about 12 hours...bringing damaging winds well inland. The potential loss of life due to falling trees is a major concern...as is freshwater flooding. The forward speed has increased slightly and initial motion is now360/14.

The track forecast reasoning is basically unchanged. Katrina should accelerate north-northeastward in the flow between a cyclone north of the Great Lakes and an anticyclone near the southeastern United States coast over the next few days. Katrina s expected to lose tropical characteristics...and its identity...later in the forecast period as it merges with a mid-latitude cyclone. Special thanks are extended to the United States Air Force Reserve hurricane hunter crews stationed at Keesler Air Force Base in Biloxi Mississippi...who have been flying continuous missions through Katrina even as their families and homes are being seriously impacted by this hurricane.”

Our prayers go out to the Hurricane Hunters, their families and all those affected by this tremendous natural calamity.

Katrina

2005-08-28T14:28:00.000-04:00

This is a good Katrina blog. This is a VERY scary hurricane and will likely result in tremendous damage and loss of life (most of which will be needless).

[Posted with hblogger 2.0 http://www.normsoft.com/hblogger/]

Go Blue at Quarterback U!

2005-08-23T18:35:00.000-04:00

So, the University of Michigan is being touted as the new “Quarterback U”. I think we all knew that already.

Pat Robertson

2005-08-23T16:25:00.000-04:00

This is certainly an interesting story alleging that Pat Roberstson is advocating the assassination of Hugo Chavez, the Venezuelan Castroesque dictator. One has to wonder what the context was here and whether Robertson is being quoted accurately.

Web News Mapping -- Yawn!

2005-08-18T14:22:00.000-04:00

This falls in the category of "Did we really need a new web-based tool to tell us this?":

"A news mapping service introduced on Thursday by Akamai Technologies Inc. promises to give unprecedented insight into the relative hunger that millions of Internet users have to learn of breaking events minute-by-minute.

* * *

"In two-and-a-half months of testing before the index introduction, Akamai found the biggest Internet news events were the London bombings on July 7, Hurricane Emily July 15, the combined effects of the Space Shuttle launch and monsoon in India on July 26. The fourth most popular recent Web news event was the June 13 Michael Jackson verdict, Akamai data showed."

March of the Penguins

2005-08-08T17:18:00.000-04:00

I thoroughly enjoyed March of the Penguins. If you like animals (or are at least mildly fond of them), you will be amazed by the seemingly impossible feats accomplished by these birds.

My kids, however, were somewhat dismayed that it was a documentary and the lack of a "plot".

More On Peter Jennings' Passing

2005-08-08T14:13:00.000-04:00

I wholeheartedly agree with the GWhizKids... I too mourn Peter Jennings' passing this morning at the all-too young age of 67.

Peter Jennings, along with Frank Reynolds, were the faces of the news for me growing up.

Frank, the joe-lunchbucket anchor who was wrongly overshadowed by his competitors at CBS and NBC, was never afraid to allow us to share his emotions at the news events of the day. I will never forget Frank exhorting the shuttle Columbia to lift up to the heavens at the maiden liftoff of America's shuttle program. Nor will I ever forget Frank sternly chastising his staff while on the air to get their facts straight as rumors filtered about that President Reagan had been mortally wounded in the 1981 assassination attempt. Frank humanized the news, becoming one with his viewers as the great events of the days unfurled before our eyes.

Peter, on the other hand, was the dashing and urbane news anchor who was able to calm us during our darkest days. Yes, he was prone to partisanship, but he was also a professional who, for the most part, was able to lure in a staunch conservative such as myself. Perhaps it was the Canadian in him but I think Peter Jennings of all the big names in media was able to bridge the political gap among his viewers.

I miss Peter and Frank.

The Death of Peter Jennings

2005-08-08T07:34:00.000-04:00

Peter Jennings died on Sunday in New York. Although I frequently disagreed with Mr. Jennings and the way he injected his political views into his broadcasts, nevertheless I mourn his passing. He was one of the last of the breed of superanchors, who felt as though they were almost part of the family. Each night at 7 p.m. (in Detroit), Mr. Jennings entered our home and told us what was going on in the world. Day in, day out he was there.

As I mentioned, I (and my family) frequently disagreed with him, but we watched because, in those days (the earlier part of the 80s, primarily), people could still disagree about politics without being disagreeable (the Bork confirmation changed all of that, I am afraid).

Much as I am cheered by the ascendancy of the Fox News Channel, I still miss the days when we were not assaulted by 24 hour a day, 7 day a week news-blaring. Thus, I remember fondly the days when I relied on a newspaper (for those of you who are unfamiliar with that medium: in its classic form, a daily publication with detailed news reporting and a separate editorial page; now, a publication of editorial comments, posing as news, reflecting the primarily left-wing views of the "journalists") and the nightly newscast. Mr. Jennings was that newscast and I am , therefore, saddened by his passing.

Blair cracks down on Islamist radicals

2005-08-05T13:04:00.000-04:00

"Saying the landscape had changed since last month's London bombings,[Tony Blair] announced plans to ban two Islamist groups and bring in new powers to expel or exclude foreign nationals who incite violence or glorify terrorism."

Bravo for Prime Minister Blair. He actually gets it. We can stand on our rights, but all of the rights in the world are meaningless to those who are killed in the name of Islamo-fascism.

Oldest former major leaguer dies at 100 in Texas

2005-08-01T21:17:00.000-04:00

"HOUSTON (Reuters): - Raymond Cunningham, believed to be the oldest living former Major League Baseball player, has died aged 100, a newspaper reported Monday."

Doesn't this mean he is no longer the "oldest living former Major League Baseball player"?

Can't Reuters get anything right?

McDonald's Worker Accused Of Spitting In Officer's Pop (That's soda for us East Coasters)

2005-08-01T21:15:00.000-04:00

Yuck!

The accused certainly is a nominee for Stupid Criminal of the Year!

Astronomers claim discovery of 10th planet, beyond Pluto

2005-07-30T16:49:00.000-04:00

Apparently, a new planet has been found, No. 10! My suggestion for a name is Planet Goofy.

NASA grounds shuttle fleet - Yahoo! News

2005-07-27T19:43:00.000-04:00

It looks like NASA is going to ground the space shuttle fleet, following revelations that pieces of fuel-tank insulation broke off again. This is a good-news / bad-news story. The bad news, of course, is that the insulation did not perform as expected. It had been hoped, apparently, that only small flakes of insulation would come off -- not enough to damage the shuttle. The good news is that NASA is taking this seriously this time. Let's all pray that no damage has been done to Discovery and that the 7 astronauts can get home safely.

British police arrest suspected train bomber

2005-07-27T18:15:00.000-04:00

This is good news. Let's hope it leads to unraveling the whole cell of baddies. On a related note, I rode the commuter trains and subways in New York today. I have to admit, I thought a little bit about the London bombings while doing so. However, I am not at all deterred from continuing to ride. As a matter of fact, I am taking the whole family into NYC tomorrow on the train to celebrate my son's birthday.

U.S. aims to sharply cut Iraq force within a year - Yahoo! News

2005-07-27T18:07:00.000-04:00

U.S. aims to sharply cut Iraq force within a year - Yahoo! News

"Insurgents plan to wait out year and attempt to seize power upon U.S. forces' departure" - al-Qaeda in Iraq News

Well -- they didn't actually say that; but do they have to? If I were the "insurgents" that's what I'd do.