It has really got to suck to be Joe Wilson this week. The not only have Wilson’s lies been re-exposed this week, it appears that he’ll never see Karl Rove “frog marched” (leave a note if you happen to know what frog marching is) out of the White House.
But Wilson is only the number one of at least three losers. What about Special Prosecutor Fitzgerald? If you believe the timeline in all of this, Fitz knew who leaked Valerie Plame’s name a couple of days after he found the bathroom in his new office. But Fitz wouldn’t take yes for answer. He drove on for two-and-a-half years, spending millions of someone’s hard-earned tax dollars, looking under every liberal conspiracy in DC before nailing Scooter Libby on some dopey process charge. Fitz has some splanin’ to do.
The other loser is Richard Armitage. How anyone with a scintilla of honor could allow this to go on wrapping up one innocent person after another can only be explained by the fact that that person lacks even one scintilla of honor.
Wednesday, August 30, 2006
Tuesday, August 29, 2006
Dean, again, proves Democrats are clueless on defense
And here’s another reason why Democrats cannot be trusted with the nation’s defense. They simply do not understand it. Another case in point is the loud-mouthed “leader” of the Democrat Party saying, if in control, the Democrats will double the size of the our Special Forces. Howard Dean said the doubling was necessary to get Osama bin Laden.
Dean’s cavalier statement about doubling the number of Special Forces would be like the guy who runs the Professional Golf Association claiming he’s going to find four more Tiger Woods to make Sundays on the tour interesting. Our Special Forces are the best of the best. They are rare blend of intelligence, strength, toughness and out door survival. Most of the men in field show up to the job as hearty survivalists and as their regular unit’s most accomplished marksmen, fastest runner, best swimmer and quickest learner all rolled into one guy. Given this dynamic Dean’s promise to double the number of Special Forces would be like the Cleveland Browns owner saying he’s going to get two Jim Browns or the Chicago Bulls saying if elected owner, he’ll double the number of Michael Jordans.
Any attempt to double the number of “special” guys is going to end in the dilution of the final product, a weakening of regular units as all of the best guys are diverted into “special” fields were only a couple are actually qualified and skyrocketing costs while forces weed out large numbers of unsuitable candidates.
A more realistic proposal for Democrats who wish to sound tough until after the election when they will sell, no scratch that, give away the farm would be to say something like, I will commit all available resources to finding Osama bin Laden. This is a dopey idea but at least it could be accomplished if you were as foolish as a Democrat. What Dean and other Democrats cannot say is that given what we know about bin Laden’s where-abouts and his relative danger to us as he hides continuously in the hills of Pakistan, we should be using our most valuable assets to meet the most immediate threat.
Dean’s cavalier statement about doubling the number of Special Forces would be like the guy who runs the Professional Golf Association claiming he’s going to find four more Tiger Woods to make Sundays on the tour interesting. Our Special Forces are the best of the best. They are rare blend of intelligence, strength, toughness and out door survival. Most of the men in field show up to the job as hearty survivalists and as their regular unit’s most accomplished marksmen, fastest runner, best swimmer and quickest learner all rolled into one guy. Given this dynamic Dean’s promise to double the number of Special Forces would be like the Cleveland Browns owner saying he’s going to get two Jim Browns or the Chicago Bulls saying if elected owner, he’ll double the number of Michael Jordans.
Any attempt to double the number of “special” guys is going to end in the dilution of the final product, a weakening of regular units as all of the best guys are diverted into “special” fields were only a couple are actually qualified and skyrocketing costs while forces weed out large numbers of unsuitable candidates.
A more realistic proposal for Democrats who wish to sound tough until after the election when they will sell, no scratch that, give away the farm would be to say something like, I will commit all available resources to finding Osama bin Laden. This is a dopey idea but at least it could be accomplished if you were as foolish as a Democrat. What Dean and other Democrats cannot say is that given what we know about bin Laden’s where-abouts and his relative danger to us as he hides continuously in the hills of Pakistan, we should be using our most valuable assets to meet the most immediate threat.
Monday, August 28, 2006
News Sentinel provides balance. Lex answers Harper.
The Ft. Wayne News Sentinel came through and published my response to David Gunter on Friday last. That letter is just below. The bit that follows is my response to B. J. Harper’s direct question to me. I asked the News Sentinel to allow me to respond to that question. Barring any further ad hominid attacks, this is about as much time as I’m willing to spend on this subject.
David Gunter wrote a column in last Friday’s News Sentinel responding to my views on global warming. Gunter is a chemical engineer and environmental scientist trained at MIT. He's also a lawyer. Gunter totally distorted what I wrote. For such a lettered man, you'd think Gunter could have made a better, or at least more honest argument.
If Gunter can re-read my article and point out to me where I claim the Earth is not in a warming cycle, I’ll buy him a steak dinner. I never made any such claim. But Gunter is right about one thing, I have about as much chance of passing a high school science class that uses the truth acording to Al Gore's foolish movie as I do of passing a high school history class that uses Oliver Stone and Michael Moore movies as references for world events.
The point of my letter was simply to call attention to the fact that the Earth has cooled and warmed in cycles since the beginning of time. A number of climate experts have noted that the Earth experienced both a widely recognized Medieval Warm Period from about A.D. 800 to 1400, as well as the Little Ice Age from 1600 to 1850. My school days included hysteria about another ice age. Now there is hysteria that we’re all doomed by a warming spell.
The Earth has warmed between one-half and one degree over the last century. But the Earth has always cooled and warmed. We should not rely on political foolishness from Al Gore to predict the world’s end in ten years based on events that have occured naturally since the begining of time.
Gunter made several other equally glaring mischaraterizations of what I wrote, but this was the most fundamental.
Lex Answers Harper’s question:
In a recent letter to the editor Ms. B. J. Harper asked me, “What contributions are you making [to conserve energy and help save the planet], Mr.Schumick?”
Well apparently a whole lot more than her hero Al Gore whose ridiculous movie started this whole brouhaha. Would you like “An Inconvenient Truth”? Al Gore has two homes totaling 14,000 square feet. He receives no environmental credits for use of alternative fuels in his homes or fleet of gas guzzling cars. Gore has controlled hundreds of thousands of dollars in Occidental Petroleum stock. Oxy has been mired in controversy over oil drilling in ecologically sensitive areas. Gore gets $20,000 a year from an environmentally unfriendly zinc mine located on one of his properties. He jets around the world on a private plane like we walk to the frig to get a cold one. If people like Al Gore would stay home for a year and stop burning tons upon tons of fuel day in and day out, in a hypocritical effort to get the rest of us to stop driving our cars to work, who knows, the Earth’s temperature might just cool a bit.
David Gunter wrote a column in last Friday’s News Sentinel responding to my views on global warming. Gunter is a chemical engineer and environmental scientist trained at MIT. He's also a lawyer. Gunter totally distorted what I wrote. For such a lettered man, you'd think Gunter could have made a better, or at least more honest argument.
If Gunter can re-read my article and point out to me where I claim the Earth is not in a warming cycle, I’ll buy him a steak dinner. I never made any such claim. But Gunter is right about one thing, I have about as much chance of passing a high school science class that uses the truth acording to Al Gore's foolish movie as I do of passing a high school history class that uses Oliver Stone and Michael Moore movies as references for world events.
The point of my letter was simply to call attention to the fact that the Earth has cooled and warmed in cycles since the beginning of time. A number of climate experts have noted that the Earth experienced both a widely recognized Medieval Warm Period from about A.D. 800 to 1400, as well as the Little Ice Age from 1600 to 1850. My school days included hysteria about another ice age. Now there is hysteria that we’re all doomed by a warming spell.
The Earth has warmed between one-half and one degree over the last century. But the Earth has always cooled and warmed. We should not rely on political foolishness from Al Gore to predict the world’s end in ten years based on events that have occured naturally since the begining of time.
Gunter made several other equally glaring mischaraterizations of what I wrote, but this was the most fundamental.
Lex Answers Harper’s question:
In a recent letter to the editor Ms. B. J. Harper asked me, “What contributions are you making [to conserve energy and help save the planet], Mr.Schumick?”
Well apparently a whole lot more than her hero Al Gore whose ridiculous movie started this whole brouhaha. Would you like “An Inconvenient Truth”? Al Gore has two homes totaling 14,000 square feet. He receives no environmental credits for use of alternative fuels in his homes or fleet of gas guzzling cars. Gore has controlled hundreds of thousands of dollars in Occidental Petroleum stock. Oxy has been mired in controversy over oil drilling in ecologically sensitive areas. Gore gets $20,000 a year from an environmentally unfriendly zinc mine located on one of his properties. He jets around the world on a private plane like we walk to the frig to get a cold one. If people like Al Gore would stay home for a year and stop burning tons upon tons of fuel day in and day out, in a hypocritical effort to get the rest of us to stop driving our cars to work, who knows, the Earth’s temperature might just cool a bit.
Friday, August 25, 2006
Harper piles on. News Sentinel prints one side.
Lex has made quite a splash in his new Ft. Wayne, IN home. B J Harper wrote a letter to the editor supporting Al Gore’s pathetic attempt at filmmaking. Lex wrote a rebuttal pointing out what seemed to be obvious errors in MS. Harper’s logic. Then MIT grad David Gunter chimed in with a nasty letter attacking Lex, but not refuting much of anything in my letter. Now, in an attempt to get the last word in, Ms. Harper has returned with one more shout, but alas it misses the mark as well. Below is a fisking of that piece.
Check Scientific American, too
Doug Schumick, who wrote a guest column rebutting my guest column about global warming, should purchase a copy of the special issue of Scientific American for September that is on newsstands now. The whole magazine supports the science of global warming – and this is peer-reviewed material – that you so haughtily dismissed in response to my article on the topic that appeared a couple of weeks ago in this paper.
Schumick: First, I’ll make Haprer the same deal I made Gunter, if she can put her finger on one line in my letter where I contend that the Earth is not in a warming cycle, I’ll buy her a steak dinner. I never contended any such thing. The Earth has warmed between one-half and one degree over the last century. A number of climate experts have noted that the Earth experienced both a widely recognized Medieval Warm Period from about A.D. 800 to 1400, as well as the Little Ice Age from 1600 to 1850. My school days included hysteria about another ice age. Now there is hysteria that we’re all doomed by a warming spell. The point of my letter was that the Earth has always warmed and cooled and that we should not rely on political foolishness from Al Gore to predict the world’s end in ten years.
Next, what Harper and Gunter seem unwilling to admit or understand is that there is a great deal of “peer reviewed” science on the other side of this question which Harper and Gunter… what, “haughtily” dismiss.
My daughter-in-law’s father is a marine biologist with one of the Atlantic coastal states. He told me he wrote his first research paper while attending DePauw University here in Indiana in 1959, and the topic was “rising sea levels.” He has personally followed that research for himself, for the state that employs him and as an advisory committee member of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
Schumick: Yes and there was recently a “peer reviewed” scientific piece that claimed that polar ice has been melting for 100 years, and if it continues at its present rate the Maldives Islands will disappear sometime in the year 2500. Damn, better start packing your stuff.
He has been recognized with numerous awards over the years for his contributions, especially in the area of habitat balance and various organisms that live in coastal estuaries. That balance and its populations are directly affected by the global warming of our planet. He drives a hybrid car and recycles in an attempt to be a good steward of Planet Earth.
Schumick: Good. I’m quite happy that there is at least one person on the other side of this question acting on their convictions unlike so many hypocrites running in circles shouting for an end to the US economy for us mere peons while they continue to enjoy its largess. I applaud Ms. Harper’s daughter-in-law’s father. I’d be more impressed if Ms. Harper were taking such steps.
What contributions are you making, Mr. Schumick?
Schumick: Well a lot more than her hero Al Gore whose movie started this whole brouhaha. You want “An Inconvenient Truth”? Al Gore, has two homes totaling 14,000 square feet. He receives no environmental credits for use of alternative fuels in his homes or fleet of gas guzzling cars. Gore has controlled hundreds of thousands of dollars in Occidental Petroleum stock. Oxy has been mired in controversy over oil drilling in ecologically sensitive areas. Gore gets $20,000 a year from an environmentally unfriendly zinc mine located on one of his properties. He jets around the world on a private plane like we walk to the frig to get a cold one. If people like Al Gore would stay home for a year and stop burning tons upon tons of fule day in and day out, in a hypocritical effort to get the rest of us to stop driving our cars to work, who knows, the Earth’s temperatue might just cool a bit.
On a different note, I’ve sent my responses to the News Sentinel. I’ll keep you posted if they see fit to print one, which to date they have not.
Check Scientific American, too
Doug Schumick, who wrote a guest column rebutting my guest column about global warming, should purchase a copy of the special issue of Scientific American for September that is on newsstands now. The whole magazine supports the science of global warming – and this is peer-reviewed material – that you so haughtily dismissed in response to my article on the topic that appeared a couple of weeks ago in this paper.
Schumick: First, I’ll make Haprer the same deal I made Gunter, if she can put her finger on one line in my letter where I contend that the Earth is not in a warming cycle, I’ll buy her a steak dinner. I never contended any such thing. The Earth has warmed between one-half and one degree over the last century. A number of climate experts have noted that the Earth experienced both a widely recognized Medieval Warm Period from about A.D. 800 to 1400, as well as the Little Ice Age from 1600 to 1850. My school days included hysteria about another ice age. Now there is hysteria that we’re all doomed by a warming spell. The point of my letter was that the Earth has always warmed and cooled and that we should not rely on political foolishness from Al Gore to predict the world’s end in ten years.
Next, what Harper and Gunter seem unwilling to admit or understand is that there is a great deal of “peer reviewed” science on the other side of this question which Harper and Gunter… what, “haughtily” dismiss.
My daughter-in-law’s father is a marine biologist with one of the Atlantic coastal states. He told me he wrote his first research paper while attending DePauw University here in Indiana in 1959, and the topic was “rising sea levels.” He has personally followed that research for himself, for the state that employs him and as an advisory committee member of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
Schumick: Yes and there was recently a “peer reviewed” scientific piece that claimed that polar ice has been melting for 100 years, and if it continues at its present rate the Maldives Islands will disappear sometime in the year 2500. Damn, better start packing your stuff.
He has been recognized with numerous awards over the years for his contributions, especially in the area of habitat balance and various organisms that live in coastal estuaries. That balance and its populations are directly affected by the global warming of our planet. He drives a hybrid car and recycles in an attempt to be a good steward of Planet Earth.
Schumick: Good. I’m quite happy that there is at least one person on the other side of this question acting on their convictions unlike so many hypocrites running in circles shouting for an end to the US economy for us mere peons while they continue to enjoy its largess. I applaud Ms. Harper’s daughter-in-law’s father. I’d be more impressed if Ms. Harper were taking such steps.
What contributions are you making, Mr. Schumick?
Schumick: Well a lot more than her hero Al Gore whose movie started this whole brouhaha. You want “An Inconvenient Truth”? Al Gore, has two homes totaling 14,000 square feet. He receives no environmental credits for use of alternative fuels in his homes or fleet of gas guzzling cars. Gore has controlled hundreds of thousands of dollars in Occidental Petroleum stock. Oxy has been mired in controversy over oil drilling in ecologically sensitive areas. Gore gets $20,000 a year from an environmentally unfriendly zinc mine located on one of his properties. He jets around the world on a private plane like we walk to the frig to get a cold one. If people like Al Gore would stay home for a year and stop burning tons upon tons of fule day in and day out, in a hypocritical effort to get the rest of us to stop driving our cars to work, who knows, the Earth’s temperatue might just cool a bit.
On a different note, I’ve sent my responses to the News Sentinel. I’ll keep you posted if they see fit to print one, which to date they have not.
Thursday, August 24, 2006
Columbus, Ohio paper wrong on NSA program
What follows is a letter submitted to the Columbus Dispatch after the paper ran an editorial praising Judge Taylor's decision on the NSA eavesdropping program.
The Dispatch made several mischaracterizations of America’s eavesdropping program on terrorist calls coming into and leaving the country. The word “wiretap” conjures up visions of Joe Friday placing a bug on the phone wires leading into old lady Johnson’s house and then sitting in van outside listening to Johnson talk about cookie recipes and who wore what to church on Sunday. The Dispatch knows better. America’s eavesdropping program probably uses a sophisticated computer program to track satellite and other wireless international communications that is activated only when certain key words or phrases are used.
Next, the Dispatch saying, “…all the Bush administration had to do was seek a warrant from the expedient, confidential court that was set up specifically for that purpose” is sort of like saying “ten years in prison.” It’s easy to say but tough to do. Given the scope and nature of the program, all such warrants would have to be issued after the fact. Has anyone at the Dispatch investigated the process by which such warrants are obtained?
Last the Dispatch argues against itself by saying that president ought to limit the program now so that congress won’t write a law that severely restricts the NSA’s powers in the future. Isn’t that sort of like the fire chief refusing to dispatch the fire trucks to a fire because another fire might break out. We’re in danger now. I think the president recognizes the danger even if Judge Taylor and the Dispatch do not.
Note to editor:
The words “international” and “only” in the last sentence of the third graph should be in italics if you chose to use the letter.
First 3 graphs are 247 words which about fits your letter length but other mischaracterization of the program in the Dispatch’s piece follow.
Then the Dispatch claims, “The Bush administration couldn’t be bothered with such trivialities” referring to what the Dispatch claims are expedient and confidential warrants from the FISA court. First, the Dispatch is just wrong. The Bush administration regularly uses the FISA process for domestic cases. Second, if the process is as confidential as the Dispatch claims, how do they know that the administration is not making use of it for some international calls associated with the NSA program as well?
Then the Dispatch makes an error of omission when it labels the NSA program a “Power Grab” but fails to remind readers that congressional leaders of both parties were fully and frequently briefed.
The Dispatch made several mischaracterizations of America’s eavesdropping program on terrorist calls coming into and leaving the country. The word “wiretap” conjures up visions of Joe Friday placing a bug on the phone wires leading into old lady Johnson’s house and then sitting in van outside listening to Johnson talk about cookie recipes and who wore what to church on Sunday. The Dispatch knows better. America’s eavesdropping program probably uses a sophisticated computer program to track satellite and other wireless international communications that is activated only when certain key words or phrases are used.
Next, the Dispatch saying, “…all the Bush administration had to do was seek a warrant from the expedient, confidential court that was set up specifically for that purpose” is sort of like saying “ten years in prison.” It’s easy to say but tough to do. Given the scope and nature of the program, all such warrants would have to be issued after the fact. Has anyone at the Dispatch investigated the process by which such warrants are obtained?
Last the Dispatch argues against itself by saying that president ought to limit the program now so that congress won’t write a law that severely restricts the NSA’s powers in the future. Isn’t that sort of like the fire chief refusing to dispatch the fire trucks to a fire because another fire might break out. We’re in danger now. I think the president recognizes the danger even if Judge Taylor and the Dispatch do not.
Note to editor:
The words “international” and “only” in the last sentence of the third graph should be in italics if you chose to use the letter.
First 3 graphs are 247 words which about fits your letter length but other mischaracterization of the program in the Dispatch’s piece follow.
Then the Dispatch claims, “The Bush administration couldn’t be bothered with such trivialities” referring to what the Dispatch claims are expedient and confidential warrants from the FISA court. First, the Dispatch is just wrong. The Bush administration regularly uses the FISA process for domestic cases. Second, if the process is as confidential as the Dispatch claims, how do they know that the administration is not making use of it for some international calls associated with the NSA program as well?
Then the Dispatch makes an error of omission when it labels the NSA program a “Power Grab” but fails to remind readers that congressional leaders of both parties were fully and frequently briefed.
Tuesday, August 22, 2006
Democrats and rights caught in Catch 22
Democrats will do anything to get George W. Bush. Look at the bizarre ruling handed down by a Carter appointed judge dismantling the NSA eavesdropping program. Democrats cheer a ruling which makes Americans less safe and charge to the airways to proclaim Bush a criminal for, get this, protecting the American people. This is just too strange. Democrats are some of the biggest anti-rights people in American history.
FDR interned US citizens of Japanese descent. Ronald Reagan offered a public apology and reparations to those interned or the next of kin. FDR also had four German saboteurs tried in military courts and hung in about the time it takes to get Chinese carry out. Republicans in both houses voted in greater percentages for the Kennedy/LBJ Civil Rights Act of 1964 than did Democrats. Yet blacks have voted in increasing percentages for Democrat candidates ever since. Al Gore was happy to cherry pick four heavily Democrat Florida districts for a re-count ignoring the rest of the state in the 2000 presidential election. Could have sworn there was something about equal protection in our constitution somewhere.
So, what’s behind the Democrats latest Machiavellian howls against the president and what if they get their way? They’d better be careful for what they ask for. When the Democrats get what they “want” and America is laid bare to terrorists, the terrorists will strike. When America is hit again the NSA program and financial profiling will appear to be tame measures compared to those that Americans are likely to demand.
Ever the hypocrites, Democrats will say Bush didn’t do enough to protect us. If in power, you can bet that they will enact all manner of rights restricting, infringing and denial all in the name of keeping us safe. When confronted with their hypocrisy, Democrats, as always, will excuse their own excesses as necessary in difficult times.
Civil Rights seem to be caught in a Catch 22. We want maximum freedom. That very freedom gives the terrorists access to plot and plan. Then when terrorists' acts occur, we clamp down hard on our freedoms. Inconveniencing everyone in the process except the terrorist.
NOTE: Out until Monday. Been reading a bit on America's Indian wars and think there are some parallels there for our war on terror.
FDR interned US citizens of Japanese descent. Ronald Reagan offered a public apology and reparations to those interned or the next of kin. FDR also had four German saboteurs tried in military courts and hung in about the time it takes to get Chinese carry out. Republicans in both houses voted in greater percentages for the Kennedy/LBJ Civil Rights Act of 1964 than did Democrats. Yet blacks have voted in increasing percentages for Democrat candidates ever since. Al Gore was happy to cherry pick four heavily Democrat Florida districts for a re-count ignoring the rest of the state in the 2000 presidential election. Could have sworn there was something about equal protection in our constitution somewhere.
So, what’s behind the Democrats latest Machiavellian howls against the president and what if they get their way? They’d better be careful for what they ask for. When the Democrats get what they “want” and America is laid bare to terrorists, the terrorists will strike. When America is hit again the NSA program and financial profiling will appear to be tame measures compared to those that Americans are likely to demand.
Ever the hypocrites, Democrats will say Bush didn’t do enough to protect us. If in power, you can bet that they will enact all manner of rights restricting, infringing and denial all in the name of keeping us safe. When confronted with their hypocrisy, Democrats, as always, will excuse their own excesses as necessary in difficult times.
Civil Rights seem to be caught in a Catch 22. We want maximum freedom. That very freedom gives the terrorists access to plot and plan. Then when terrorists' acts occur, we clamp down hard on our freedoms. Inconveniencing everyone in the process except the terrorist.
NOTE: Out until Monday. Been reading a bit on America's Indian wars and think there are some parallels there for our war on terror.
Saturday, August 19, 2006
Lex takes on MIT
David Gunter wrote a column in yeasterday's Ft. Wayne News Sentinal taking on Lex's view on global warming. Gunter is a chemical engineer and environmental scientist trained at MIT. He's also a lawyer. Gunter totally distorted what I wrote. Below is a fisking of Gunter's letter. For such a lettered man, you'd think Gunter could have made a better, no wait more honest argument. This was sent to the editor at the News Sentinel to send along to Mr. Gunter.
Gunter: I was both appalled and amused at the recent guest column by Doug Schumick, in which he offered a rebuttal to another recent guest column by B.J. Harper, an award-winning high school science teacher who expressed her concerns about global warming and endorsed the movie “An Inconvenient Truth.”For the record I spent much more time debunking Al Gore’s movie than making personal attacks on B.J. Harper whom I never mentioned by name in my original letter. Schumick noted, “I am not a scientist,” then proceeded to prove this fact through an incredible display of ignorance.
Schumick: Nice. We’ll see. And you're what...?
Gunter: Yes, the rapid decline of glaciers from Glacier National Park is a scientifically significant climatological event that can be observed by anyone who cares to visit that magnificent national park.
Schumick: This point was never disputed. What was questioned was using a single visit or even a series of casual visits to anywhere as a scientific method.
Gunter: Comparing that significant scientific event, which validly demonstrates the warming of our planet, to the temperatures that he encountered on a brief visit to San Francisco in the summer proves that Schumick does not have even the slightest understanding of science.
Schumick: Gunter has got be kidding. This proves that either he did not read my letter or made no effort to understand what was written. He makes my point. From my letter, “I once visited San Francisco in the summer and nearly froze at Coit Tower. However, I didn’t use my visit as a scientific method for concluding that we were headed toward another ice age - although I do recall a know-it-all public schoolteacher in the early 70s telling us that we were.”
Gunter: With reasoning like that, he would not have been able to successfully complete one of Harper’s courses in astronomy or meteorology at Northrop High School.
Schumick: Again, nice. Nor would I be able to pass a High School history class that uses Oliver Stone and Michael Moore movies as references. But I wouldn’t have to worry, because a science class that would give serious consideration to Al Gore’s foolish movie would not include me or my children. Given his inability or unwillingness to honestly state the points made in my letter, I’d conclude that Gunter could not pass a simple reading comprehension test.
Gunter: After demonstrating his ignorance of scientific principles and methodology, Schumick then attempts to support his opinion by citing a single source, found while searching the Internet, that echoes his biased viewpoint.
Schumick: Again, very nice. This is a complete and irresponsible mischaracterization of my letter. First, as stated in my letter, I could have pulled hundreds of quotes. Would the News Sentinel print a hundred pages of quotes? I used one quote noting that it was one of hundreds, including a couple of sources from MIT.
Gunter: In doing so, he has discounted and failed to give credit to the hundreds or thousands of articles and opinions of scientists who disagree with his position. I can no doubt find sources on the Internet who believe that the world is flat, that man has never stepped foot on the moon and that the moon is made of Swiss cheese. The freedom of expression found on the Internet hardly constitutes a valid basis for scientific proof of a fact.
Schumick: This confirms one of my central points, that it is the “we’re all going to be fried” people that refuse to consider any point of view but their own. Anyone who might dare disagree with this mob has to be vilified and lampooned.
Gunter: Fortunately, real scientific dialogue does not take place in the general news media, which is where Schumick looks for support in his attempts to manipulate truth.
Schumick: Al Gore’s “An Inconvenient Truth” is what is trying to manipulate the science and the truth. Fortunately, there are boat loads upon boat loads of “real” scientist who respectfully (a word not in Gunter’s vocabulary) disagree and are simply ignored or shouted down by the mob.
Gunter: Real scientific debate or dialogue occurs in peer-reviewed scientific journals that attempt to filter out pseudoscience, invalid studies and poorly reasoned conclusions.
Schumick: While Gunter is filtering out his pseudo science, there are thousands of other scientists filtering out theirs. And that’s why there is debate. A debate Gunter and his crowd want no part of - Just trust us, after all we have a movie you know.
Gunter: Global warming is a scientific fact, not subject to any serious scientific dispute.
Schumick: THIS IS KEY. If Gunter can put his finger on one line in my letter where I contend that the Earth is not warming, I’ll buy him a steak dinner. I never contended any such thing. Gunter is again proving his inability to read and understand anything that does not conform to his preconceived notion. The Earth has warmed between one-half and one degree over the last century. That was not the point of my letter. The point was that the Earth has always warmed and cooled and that we should not rely on political foolishness from Al Gore to predict the world’s end in ten years.
Gunter: The real issue for debate is whether the global warming that is occurring right now is purely part of a natural cycle of climate change or whether man contributes to this cycle through the release of heat and chemical compounds from combustion and industrial processes.
Schumick: In all of his hysteria, Gunter, unintentionally I’m sure, swerves into the truth. But he can’t leave it alone, as we’ll see later.
Gunter: The Bush administration has attempted to stifle this legitimate scientific debate by censoring the results of governmental studies of the issue and by threatening scientists with a loss of funding. If I were on the federal payroll, like Max Mayfield, I would likely avoid directly participating in that debate, too. It should be noted that Mayfield did not rule out possible contributions due to global warming.
Schumick: See? Max Mayfield’s quote was used precisely because it noted the cyclical nature of the Earth’s cooling and warming. That is a position that Gunter seems to agree with in the note above, but now feels obligated to trash because the source is a Bush Administration official. Any political agenda there?
Gunter: The real issue that we should be addressing is whether we can afford to wait for indisputable proof of man’s destruction of his own environment and the habitability of our planet before we begin to take actions aimed at reducing those impacts. We are a very selfish society. We want to be able to waste enormous amounts of nonrenewable energy resources and enjoy a gluttonous lifestyle without any restrictions imposed by our government or by our fellow inhabitants of the planet. Any responsible citizen should consider for at least a few minutes that there is a very real possibility we are destroying the habitability of our planet and contributing to the eventual elimination of the human race. If people like Schumick would consider for a moment the consequences of being wrong in this debate, then perhaps we could begin addressing the issue in a more rational and appropriate manner. (My emphasis)
Schumick: Yeah right. You have got to be kidding. You want an Inconvenient Truth? Gunter’s hero, Al Gore, has two homes totaling 14,000 square feet. He receives no credits for use of alternative fuels in his homes or fleet of gas guzzling cars. Gore has controlled hundreds of thousands of dollars in Occidental Petroleum stock. Oxy has been mired in controversy over oil drilling in ecologically sensitive areas. Gore gets $20,000 a year from an environmentally unfriendly zinc mine located on one of his properties. He jets around the world on a private plane like we walk to the frig to get a cold one. If people like Al Gore would stay home for a year, stop burning tons upon tons of fule, and leave people like Schumick alone, who knows, the Earth’s temp might just cool a bit.
Gunter: I was both appalled and amused at the recent guest column by Doug Schumick, in which he offered a rebuttal to another recent guest column by B.J. Harper, an award-winning high school science teacher who expressed her concerns about global warming and endorsed the movie “An Inconvenient Truth.”For the record I spent much more time debunking Al Gore’s movie than making personal attacks on B.J. Harper whom I never mentioned by name in my original letter. Schumick noted, “I am not a scientist,” then proceeded to prove this fact through an incredible display of ignorance.
Schumick: Nice. We’ll see. And you're what...?
Gunter: Yes, the rapid decline of glaciers from Glacier National Park is a scientifically significant climatological event that can be observed by anyone who cares to visit that magnificent national park.
Schumick: This point was never disputed. What was questioned was using a single visit or even a series of casual visits to anywhere as a scientific method.
Gunter: Comparing that significant scientific event, which validly demonstrates the warming of our planet, to the temperatures that he encountered on a brief visit to San Francisco in the summer proves that Schumick does not have even the slightest understanding of science.
Schumick: Gunter has got be kidding. This proves that either he did not read my letter or made no effort to understand what was written. He makes my point. From my letter, “I once visited San Francisco in the summer and nearly froze at Coit Tower. However, I didn’t use my visit as a scientific method for concluding that we were headed toward another ice age - although I do recall a know-it-all public schoolteacher in the early 70s telling us that we were.”
Gunter: With reasoning like that, he would not have been able to successfully complete one of Harper’s courses in astronomy or meteorology at Northrop High School.
Schumick: Again, nice. Nor would I be able to pass a High School history class that uses Oliver Stone and Michael Moore movies as references. But I wouldn’t have to worry, because a science class that would give serious consideration to Al Gore’s foolish movie would not include me or my children. Given his inability or unwillingness to honestly state the points made in my letter, I’d conclude that Gunter could not pass a simple reading comprehension test.
Gunter: After demonstrating his ignorance of scientific principles and methodology, Schumick then attempts to support his opinion by citing a single source, found while searching the Internet, that echoes his biased viewpoint.
Schumick: Again, very nice. This is a complete and irresponsible mischaracterization of my letter. First, as stated in my letter, I could have pulled hundreds of quotes. Would the News Sentinel print a hundred pages of quotes? I used one quote noting that it was one of hundreds, including a couple of sources from MIT.
Gunter: In doing so, he has discounted and failed to give credit to the hundreds or thousands of articles and opinions of scientists who disagree with his position. I can no doubt find sources on the Internet who believe that the world is flat, that man has never stepped foot on the moon and that the moon is made of Swiss cheese. The freedom of expression found on the Internet hardly constitutes a valid basis for scientific proof of a fact.
Schumick: This confirms one of my central points, that it is the “we’re all going to be fried” people that refuse to consider any point of view but their own. Anyone who might dare disagree with this mob has to be vilified and lampooned.
Gunter: Fortunately, real scientific dialogue does not take place in the general news media, which is where Schumick looks for support in his attempts to manipulate truth.
Schumick: Al Gore’s “An Inconvenient Truth” is what is trying to manipulate the science and the truth. Fortunately, there are boat loads upon boat loads of “real” scientist who respectfully (a word not in Gunter’s vocabulary) disagree and are simply ignored or shouted down by the mob.
Gunter: Real scientific debate or dialogue occurs in peer-reviewed scientific journals that attempt to filter out pseudoscience, invalid studies and poorly reasoned conclusions.
Schumick: While Gunter is filtering out his pseudo science, there are thousands of other scientists filtering out theirs. And that’s why there is debate. A debate Gunter and his crowd want no part of - Just trust us, after all we have a movie you know.
Gunter: Global warming is a scientific fact, not subject to any serious scientific dispute.
Schumick: THIS IS KEY. If Gunter can put his finger on one line in my letter where I contend that the Earth is not warming, I’ll buy him a steak dinner. I never contended any such thing. Gunter is again proving his inability to read and understand anything that does not conform to his preconceived notion. The Earth has warmed between one-half and one degree over the last century. That was not the point of my letter. The point was that the Earth has always warmed and cooled and that we should not rely on political foolishness from Al Gore to predict the world’s end in ten years.
Gunter: The real issue for debate is whether the global warming that is occurring right now is purely part of a natural cycle of climate change or whether man contributes to this cycle through the release of heat and chemical compounds from combustion and industrial processes.
Schumick: In all of his hysteria, Gunter, unintentionally I’m sure, swerves into the truth. But he can’t leave it alone, as we’ll see later.
Gunter: The Bush administration has attempted to stifle this legitimate scientific debate by censoring the results of governmental studies of the issue and by threatening scientists with a loss of funding. If I were on the federal payroll, like Max Mayfield, I would likely avoid directly participating in that debate, too. It should be noted that Mayfield did not rule out possible contributions due to global warming.
Schumick: See? Max Mayfield’s quote was used precisely because it noted the cyclical nature of the Earth’s cooling and warming. That is a position that Gunter seems to agree with in the note above, but now feels obligated to trash because the source is a Bush Administration official. Any political agenda there?
Gunter: The real issue that we should be addressing is whether we can afford to wait for indisputable proof of man’s destruction of his own environment and the habitability of our planet before we begin to take actions aimed at reducing those impacts. We are a very selfish society. We want to be able to waste enormous amounts of nonrenewable energy resources and enjoy a gluttonous lifestyle without any restrictions imposed by our government or by our fellow inhabitants of the planet. Any responsible citizen should consider for at least a few minutes that there is a very real possibility we are destroying the habitability of our planet and contributing to the eventual elimination of the human race. If people like Schumick would consider for a moment the consequences of being wrong in this debate, then perhaps we could begin addressing the issue in a more rational and appropriate manner. (My emphasis)
Schumick: Yeah right. You have got to be kidding. You want an Inconvenient Truth? Gunter’s hero, Al Gore, has two homes totaling 14,000 square feet. He receives no credits for use of alternative fuels in his homes or fleet of gas guzzling cars. Gore has controlled hundreds of thousands of dollars in Occidental Petroleum stock. Oxy has been mired in controversy over oil drilling in ecologically sensitive areas. Gore gets $20,000 a year from an environmentally unfriendly zinc mine located on one of his properties. He jets around the world on a private plane like we walk to the frig to get a cold one. If people like Al Gore would stay home for a year, stop burning tons upon tons of fule, and leave people like Schumick alone, who knows, the Earth’s temp might just cool a bit.
Thursday, August 17, 2006
Joe Nice Guy takes on Slugo
FNC’s Steve Duecey asked retired Army LTC turned print columnist Ralph Peters if the West could fight a war against the East using Western values and morals. The plain spoken and to the point Peters replied, “No.”
Israel’s kinder and gentler war against Hezbollah is a case in point. Israel went out of its way to minimize civilian suffering to the point of alerting Hezbollah that the F-16s were inbound by first dropping leaflets warning the civilians to get out because the area was about to be bombed. The law of land warfare dictates that the blood of any innocents killed when combatants hide among them is on the hands of the hiding combatants, not the force rooting them out.
But it’s a topsy-turvy world. Hezbollah claims victory in a ruined Beirut with a fireworks display so pathetic that Lex Jr. has set off better in his back yard. Meanwhile Israel is pilloried for its “disproportional” use of force. And the event that set the whole thing off – Hezbollah’s kidnapping of two Israeli soldiers – has been forgotten. Israel will probably learn from its conduct of this battle. I doubt that the Israeli Air Force will be ever given the mission to win the war al la Kosovo again.
Will the US learn the lessons of waging an Eastern war with Western values and morals? Federal District Judge Ann Digs Taylor – surprise a Carter appointee – struck down the NSA eavesdropping on terrorists’ international calls into or out of the states. Great. No doubt the administration will appeal this by asking the Supreme Court for an expedited ruling. But that’s always a roll of the dice as well. Sadly, it may take another 9-11to wake us up to the fact that Joe Nice Guy will usually get pummeled by Slugo.
Israel’s kinder and gentler war against Hezbollah is a case in point. Israel went out of its way to minimize civilian suffering to the point of alerting Hezbollah that the F-16s were inbound by first dropping leaflets warning the civilians to get out because the area was about to be bombed. The law of land warfare dictates that the blood of any innocents killed when combatants hide among them is on the hands of the hiding combatants, not the force rooting them out.
But it’s a topsy-turvy world. Hezbollah claims victory in a ruined Beirut with a fireworks display so pathetic that Lex Jr. has set off better in his back yard. Meanwhile Israel is pilloried for its “disproportional” use of force. And the event that set the whole thing off – Hezbollah’s kidnapping of two Israeli soldiers – has been forgotten. Israel will probably learn from its conduct of this battle. I doubt that the Israeli Air Force will be ever given the mission to win the war al la Kosovo again.
Will the US learn the lessons of waging an Eastern war with Western values and morals? Federal District Judge Ann Digs Taylor – surprise a Carter appointee – struck down the NSA eavesdropping on terrorists’ international calls into or out of the states. Great. No doubt the administration will appeal this by asking the Supreme Court for an expedited ruling. But that’s always a roll of the dice as well. Sadly, it may take another 9-11to wake us up to the fact that Joe Nice Guy will usually get pummeled by Slugo.
Wednesday, August 16, 2006
Real Democrat sloganeering
In the post below Lex notes how the Democrats do not really offer any solutions to today’s problem only sloganeering. As evidence, I note a recent trip to my hometown where I saw the following Democrat bumper stickers.
Peace is patriotic.
Enough is enough. Vote Democrat.
War hurts the earth.
Impeach Bush.
Wow, that tells me what Democrats stand for. But wait, it actually tells me nothing. So I began to think of bumper stickers that would actually give the voters a sense of what Democrats might do if they are returned to power. Lex’s top 10 Democrat bumper stickers:
Help create a world-wide Muslim state. Vote Democrat.
Israel is the problem.
Burkas are cool.
Kill, oops I mean, Tax the rich.
Keep Guantanamo open. We’ll need it for Bush and Rumsfeld
Democrats: The Sharia law and order party.
Open the borders. We need the votes.
America sucks.
End American aggression. Vote Democrat.
9-11 was 5 years ago. Get over it.
Flash on the anniversary of Elvis’ passing:
Elvis was, is and always will be the King of Rock ‘n Roll.
Peace is patriotic.
Enough is enough. Vote Democrat.
War hurts the earth.
Impeach Bush.
Wow, that tells me what Democrats stand for. But wait, it actually tells me nothing. So I began to think of bumper stickers that would actually give the voters a sense of what Democrats might do if they are returned to power. Lex’s top 10 Democrat bumper stickers:
Help create a world-wide Muslim state. Vote Democrat.
Israel is the problem.
Burkas are cool.
Kill, oops I mean, Tax the rich.
Keep Guantanamo open. We’ll need it for Bush and Rumsfeld
Democrats: The Sharia law and order party.
Open the borders. We need the votes.
America sucks.
End American aggression. Vote Democrat.
9-11 was 5 years ago. Get over it.
Flash on the anniversary of Elvis’ passing:
Elvis was, is and always will be the King of Rock ‘n Roll.
Tuesday, August 15, 2006
Dem dynamics
There are a lot of interesting dynamics going on within the Democrat party. The anyone who doesn’t agree with the whacko wing 100% is to be scorned – ask Joe Lieberman – dynamic. The we can run against Bush, even though Bush’s name will never appear on another ballot, dynamic. The warmed over John Kerry, “we’ll do it smarter and better” without ever say what “it” is, dynamic.
Then there’s this. Democrats are saying that the war in Iraq has been a diversion away from catching Osama bin Laden. Some high placed Democrats say that they would use the resources expended in Iraq on catching OBL. Then the same Democrats, when confronted with the demise of Saddam, al Zarqawi, and dozens of other top terror leaders in Iraq, pooh pooh those successes as irrelevant because the violence in Iraq continues.
Well, it seems to me, that catching or killing terrorist leaders either matters or it doesn’t. If it doesn’t matter that we have captured or killed Saddam and dozens of other terrorists leaders in Iraq, why will it make a difference if we kill OBL? Which leads to this dynamic, the no matter what happens in the world, if it’s good, Bush policies made no difference, if it’s bad, it’s all Bush’s fault dynamic.
So it would appear that the Democrats are challenging the “you can’t beat something with nothing” dynamic by offering nothing on a sliver platter to the electorate while scores waiters (Democrat candidates) tell the customers (electorate) that the kitchen is closed, but it will reopen if the customer will just leave a generous tip (vote).
Then there’s this. Democrats are saying that the war in Iraq has been a diversion away from catching Osama bin Laden. Some high placed Democrats say that they would use the resources expended in Iraq on catching OBL. Then the same Democrats, when confronted with the demise of Saddam, al Zarqawi, and dozens of other top terror leaders in Iraq, pooh pooh those successes as irrelevant because the violence in Iraq continues.
Well, it seems to me, that catching or killing terrorist leaders either matters or it doesn’t. If it doesn’t matter that we have captured or killed Saddam and dozens of other terrorists leaders in Iraq, why will it make a difference if we kill OBL? Which leads to this dynamic, the no matter what happens in the world, if it’s good, Bush policies made no difference, if it’s bad, it’s all Bush’s fault dynamic.
So it would appear that the Democrats are challenging the “you can’t beat something with nothing” dynamic by offering nothing on a sliver platter to the electorate while scores waiters (Democrat candidates) tell the customers (electorate) that the kitchen is closed, but it will reopen if the customer will just leave a generous tip (vote).
Monday, August 14, 2006
Pan-Islamo-terror-fascists are the enemy
President Bush recently called the British terrorists plotting to blow up ten or more airliners over the Atlantic "Islamic fascists". That’s pretty tame stuff given the scope and down right evil nature of what was being contemplated by the plotters. But Islamic apologists who want a new world-wide Islamic caliphate are offended. The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), wrote in a letter to the president: "You have on many occasions said Islam is a `religion of peace.' Today you equated the religion of peace with the ugliness of fascism." CAIR whined that use of the term "feeds the perception that the war on terror is actually a war on Islam." CAIR took on the president but never spoke out against the terrorists or their perverted understanding of Islam.
Fascism is a social and political ideology with the primary guiding principle that the state or nation is the highest priority, rather than personal or individual freedoms. Hopefully we will realize that the pan-Islamo-terror-fascists are actually stateless terror-fascists who want to create a world-wide Islamic theocracy.
AF Bro gets it right in this missive to the president:
"Dear Mr. President:
We will never overcome our enemy, if we do not know who our enemy is. You were exactly correct when you named "Islamic terrorists" as our enemy. We must get away from political correctness and fight like we are in a war for our very existence, which we are. Why do I only hear from Islamic apologists when they feel offended by our "insensitivities" towards Muslims? Why do they not speak loudly and often against the terrorists who wrap themselves in Islamic righteousness and, thereby, taint all Muslims who remain silent?
It is up to the masses of silent, peaceful Muslims, that I continually hear about but never from, to weed out the malignant few among them that perpetrate murder and mayhem in the name of Islam.
It is up to you to name our enemy, hunt them down and kill them. The alternative is death, destruction and sharia law for all of us.
DO NOT FALTER!
Sincerely,”
Fascism is a social and political ideology with the primary guiding principle that the state or nation is the highest priority, rather than personal or individual freedoms. Hopefully we will realize that the pan-Islamo-terror-fascists are actually stateless terror-fascists who want to create a world-wide Islamic theocracy.
AF Bro gets it right in this missive to the president:
"Dear Mr. President:
We will never overcome our enemy, if we do not know who our enemy is. You were exactly correct when you named "Islamic terrorists" as our enemy. We must get away from political correctness and fight like we are in a war for our very existence, which we are. Why do I only hear from Islamic apologists when they feel offended by our "insensitivities" towards Muslims? Why do they not speak loudly and often against the terrorists who wrap themselves in Islamic righteousness and, thereby, taint all Muslims who remain silent?
It is up to the masses of silent, peaceful Muslims, that I continually hear about but never from, to weed out the malignant few among them that perpetrate murder and mayhem in the name of Islam.
It is up to you to name our enemy, hunt them down and kill them. The alternative is death, destruction and sharia law for all of us.
DO NOT FALTER!
Sincerely,”
Thursday, August 10, 2006
We are still at war
It’ll be interesting to hear from the surrender wing of the Democrat party today. Wing? Ooops, now that Joe Lieberman has been ex-communicated, surrender IS the party. No doubt Ned Lamont, Jack(ass) Murtha, and other surrender now so that we can begin to collaborate with the Islamo-Terror-Fascists, will use the occasion of the “thwarted” airline hijackings to blame Bush. You know the dopey, “if we weren’t in Iraq they’d just leave us alone” crowd. And no, it doesn’t matter how many times you tell the Bush haters that we weren’t in Iraq on 9-11, they will persist in blaming everything that goes wrong in the world on the Iraq war. And these are the sane Democrats. The real whack jobs will be populating the cable news shows today saying, “Bush always raises the security level when his poll numbers go down.”
This page has used the “rats in the basement” analogy a couple of times. When you have rats in the basement, you cannot simply board up the basement door. The rats will soon be in the kitchen, and then in the baby’s bedroom. As unpleasant a task as it is, you must go down into the basement and root the rats out. Find out where they nest and kill the rats. Find out where they get in and seal the hole. Democrats want to create “Fortress America” - have Homeland Security guard every Wal-Mart and pizza joint in every little town across America, while John Kerry plies the terrorists to his will using his best diplomatic skills, which in this case would mean the US buying the terrorists their bombs and all in French of course.
This page has used the “rats in the basement” analogy a couple of times. When you have rats in the basement, you cannot simply board up the basement door. The rats will soon be in the kitchen, and then in the baby’s bedroom. As unpleasant a task as it is, you must go down into the basement and root the rats out. Find out where they nest and kill the rats. Find out where they get in and seal the hole. Democrats want to create “Fortress America” - have Homeland Security guard every Wal-Mart and pizza joint in every little town across America, while John Kerry plies the terrorists to his will using his best diplomatic skills, which in this case would mean the US buying the terrorists their bombs and all in French of course.
Wednesday, August 09, 2006
Why the MSM can't be trusted
The MSM continues its long slow slide into oblivion and irrelevance. The MSM, totally ill equipped to deal with the instant information age, has relied on fabricated stories (Bush National Guard, exploding pick-up trucks, 10,000 dead after Katrina etc.) fabricated pictures and unabashed anti-conservative editorial comment throughout, to stem the bleeding. As circulation numbers fall, cabal news continues to rise as the Jurassic 6:00pm news of the big three plummets and is forced to rely on Geritol, Depends, Denture Cream ads to stay afloat, we get this, "I believe people really want perspective, and I think there's a way to do that by explaining not just what's happened, but what it means to you," says soon-to-be CBS anchorette Katie Couric. Yeah, as if Katie has the slightest idea of what a $1,000 tax relief package, or tuition vouchers, means to Joe six pack who has a family of four and degreases machinery at the local factory on the mid-night shift. Katie would walk three blocks out of her way in stilleto heels in the pouring rain in white cotton blouse just to avoid crossing the path of such a man.
Well, no surprise, Katie is exactly wrong. The news is supposed to be an eyewittnes to events vewiers cannot see. Vewiers rely on you to to tell them what happened – NOT WHAT IT MEANS TO THEM. They should be quite capable of determining that for themselves. With the “what it means to you” tag Ms. Couric has given herself a license to editorialize throughtout the news cast. This is how we know that the evening news is now the sole domain of the over-the-hill, liberal, Geritol set. Who else would watch news that is 12 hours old and have Katie Couric tell them what to think about what they just saw? Liberal dopes, that’s who.
Well, no surprise, Katie is exactly wrong. The news is supposed to be an eyewittnes to events vewiers cannot see. Vewiers rely on you to to tell them what happened – NOT WHAT IT MEANS TO THEM. They should be quite capable of determining that for themselves. With the “what it means to you” tag Ms. Couric has given herself a license to editorialize throughtout the news cast. This is how we know that the evening news is now the sole domain of the over-the-hill, liberal, Geritol set. Who else would watch news that is 12 hours old and have Katie Couric tell them what to think about what they just saw? Liberal dopes, that’s who.
Tuesday, August 08, 2006
Remember
They are adult volunteers
I was watching a panel of “experts” on a cable show the other day. A panel of experts these day consists of three or four MSM people media sitting around talking to one another, nodding knowingly, while a crawl at the bottom of the screen identifies them as experts. Well these “experts” were having a discussion about the Iraq war. One “expert” asked the other “expert” if she’d send her children to Iraq. After an excruciatingly long answer the woman, a conservative “expert”, said yes. The man, a liberal “expert” blabbed on incredulously about, “How could you?”
What was lost among the “experts” and the “expert” moderator is that it’s not really a parent’s decision. Parents are excluded early on from important things in their children’s lives, high school birth control, abortion, school grades, and health care decisions. But by the time little Johnny reaches the age of 18, he can decide on his own weather he will join the U.S. military. Then it is the Commander and Chief’s decision to wage war. Then it’s the regional commander’s decision what number and type of troops are required to wage that war. Then it’s the Service Chief’s responsibility to provide the number and type of trained and equipped troops to execute the Regional Commander’s plan. Mom and Dad are rarely consulted. Hey, your kids have to grow up sometime.
What started it
The whole reason for the current conflagration between Israel and Hamas and Hezbollah was the kidnapping of three Israeli soldiers and murder of several others. That fact seems to be slipping from memory as the conflict drags on. Even the US ambassador to the UN, John Bolton, rarely speaks of this fact. Seems to me Kofi Anna and other diplomats speaking on this subject ought to begin every statement every day with something like, “The first thing that needs to occur in this mess, and it should occur immediately, is the unconditional release of the three Israeli soldiers.”
How we got into this mess
After WWI the great and powerful League of Nations broke up the Ottoman Empire and ceded a portion of that area to Great Britain. Britain drew some lines on a map of the region and Iraq along with some other Middle Eastern countries were born. So what if we draw some new lines in 2006, 7 or 8?
Also, remember this when some Arab “diplomat” begins his rant by saying the Israel is nothing but a figment of the UN’s imagination. Well change UN to League of Nations and the same holds true for most of the Middle East.
I was watching a panel of “experts” on a cable show the other day. A panel of experts these day consists of three or four MSM people media sitting around talking to one another, nodding knowingly, while a crawl at the bottom of the screen identifies them as experts. Well these “experts” were having a discussion about the Iraq war. One “expert” asked the other “expert” if she’d send her children to Iraq. After an excruciatingly long answer the woman, a conservative “expert”, said yes. The man, a liberal “expert” blabbed on incredulously about, “How could you?”
What was lost among the “experts” and the “expert” moderator is that it’s not really a parent’s decision. Parents are excluded early on from important things in their children’s lives, high school birth control, abortion, school grades, and health care decisions. But by the time little Johnny reaches the age of 18, he can decide on his own weather he will join the U.S. military. Then it is the Commander and Chief’s decision to wage war. Then it’s the regional commander’s decision what number and type of troops are required to wage that war. Then it’s the Service Chief’s responsibility to provide the number and type of trained and equipped troops to execute the Regional Commander’s plan. Mom and Dad are rarely consulted. Hey, your kids have to grow up sometime.
What started it
The whole reason for the current conflagration between Israel and Hamas and Hezbollah was the kidnapping of three Israeli soldiers and murder of several others. That fact seems to be slipping from memory as the conflict drags on. Even the US ambassador to the UN, John Bolton, rarely speaks of this fact. Seems to me Kofi Anna and other diplomats speaking on this subject ought to begin every statement every day with something like, “The first thing that needs to occur in this mess, and it should occur immediately, is the unconditional release of the three Israeli soldiers.”
How we got into this mess
After WWI the great and powerful League of Nations broke up the Ottoman Empire and ceded a portion of that area to Great Britain. Britain drew some lines on a map of the region and Iraq along with some other Middle Eastern countries were born. So what if we draw some new lines in 2006, 7 or 8?
Also, remember this when some Arab “diplomat” begins his rant by saying the Israel is nothing but a figment of the UN’s imagination. Well change UN to League of Nations and the same holds true for most of the Middle East.
Sunday, August 06, 2006
Saturday, August 05, 2006
Mel should seek the Democrat nomination
A hundred years ago Mel Gibson got a DUI and made some dopey statements about Jews. He’s been in the news every night since. OK I get it. If I were Mel, I’d have waited ten days before I said anything. Then I’d take the podium and announce my candidacy for the Democrat presidential nomination.
“Ladies and gentlemen, as you know ten days ago I was arrested for DUI. During that arrest I made some anti-Semitic remarks. I think the confluence of these two facts, along with the fact that there are photos being circulated of me with two women, neither of whom is my wife, makes me uniquely qualified to seek the Democrat nomination for president.
“First, if you recall, Teddy Kennedy, in a drunken stupor, drown a young woman in the backseat of his car in 1969. He apologized, and went on to seek the Democrat nomination against a sitting president of his own party. Not a peep since from the MSM. So being a drunk doesn’t necessarily disqualify one from seeking the biggest prize in Democrat politics.
“Then there are the Jew remarks. Perennial candidate Jessie Jackson made his famous ‘hymie-town’ remark and fathered an illegitimate child while still being considered a serious Democrat candidate. That is until Al Sharpton took his place in 2004. Sharpton is perhaps the most qualified candidate in Democrat politics. Here’s a quick look at his resume from Jeff Jacoby:
“Last, well the women who are not my wife. The greatest hero in Democrat politics today is a serial womanizer, an accused rapist and groper. So these phot0s have to be a plus in Democrat circles.
“Ladies and gentlemen, I have scored the trifecta in Democrat politics, drunk, anti-semite, caught in the company of women not my wife. Now as a conservative, or at least what passes for a conservative in these parts, I know that I have absolutely no chance of apologizing and moving on – ask Trent Lott. But as a Democrat presidential candidate I know the whole thing will swept under the rug. So get ready media – start sweeping, because I’m running. Thank you.”
“Ladies and gentlemen, as you know ten days ago I was arrested for DUI. During that arrest I made some anti-Semitic remarks. I think the confluence of these two facts, along with the fact that there are photos being circulated of me with two women, neither of whom is my wife, makes me uniquely qualified to seek the Democrat nomination for president.
“First, if you recall, Teddy Kennedy, in a drunken stupor, drown a young woman in the backseat of his car in 1969. He apologized, and went on to seek the Democrat nomination against a sitting president of his own party. Not a peep since from the MSM. So being a drunk doesn’t necessarily disqualify one from seeking the biggest prize in Democrat politics.
“Then there are the Jew remarks. Perennial candidate Jessie Jackson made his famous ‘hymie-town’ remark and fathered an illegitimate child while still being considered a serious Democrat candidate. That is until Al Sharpton took his place in 2004. Sharpton is perhaps the most qualified candidate in Democrat politics. Here’s a quick look at his resume from Jeff Jacoby:
“1987: Sharpton spreads the incendiary Tawana Brawley hoax, insisting heatedly
that a 15-year-old black girl was abducted, raped, and smeared with feces by a
group of white men. He singles out Steve Pagones, a young
prosecutor. Pagones is wholly innocent -- the crime never occurred -- but
Sharpton taunts him: ‘If we're lying, sue us, so we can . . . prove you did
it.’ Pagones does sue, and eventually wins a $345,000 verdict for
defamation. To this day, Sharpton refuses to recant his unspeakable
slander or to apologize for his role in the odious affair.
“1991: A
Hasidic Jewish driver in Brooklyn's Crown Heights section accidentally kills
Gavin Cato, a 7-year-old black child, and anti-Semitic riots erupt.
Sharpton races to pour gasoline on the fire. At Gavin's funeral he rails
against the ‘diamond merchants’ -- code for Jews -- with ‘the blood of innocent
babies’ on their hands. He mobilizes hundreds of demonstrators to march
through the Jewish neighborhood, chanting, ‘No justice, no peace.’ A
rabbinical student, Yankel Rosenbaum, is surrounded by a mob shouting ‘Kill the
Jews!’ and stabbed to death.
‘1995: When the United House of Prayer, a large black landlord in Harlem, raises the rent on Freddy's Fashion Mart, Freddy's white Jewish owner is forced to raise the rent on his subtenant,
a black-owned music store. A landlord-tenant dispute ensues; Sharpton uses it to incite racial hatred. ‘We will not stand by,’ he warns malignantly, ‘and allow them to move this brother so that some white interloper can expand his business.’ Sharpton's National Action Network sets up picket lines; customers going into Freddy's are spat on and cursed as ‘traitors’ and ‘Uncle
Toms.’ Some protesters shout, ‘Burn down the Jew store!’ and simulate striking a match. ‘We're going to see that this cracker suffers,’ says Sharpton's colleague Morris Powell. On Dec. 8, one of the protesters bursts into Freddy's, shoots four employees point-blank, then sets the store on
fire. Seven employees die in the inferno.
“Last, well the women who are not my wife. The greatest hero in Democrat politics today is a serial womanizer, an accused rapist and groper. So these phot0s have to be a plus in Democrat circles.
“Ladies and gentlemen, I have scored the trifecta in Democrat politics, drunk, anti-semite, caught in the company of women not my wife. Now as a conservative, or at least what passes for a conservative in these parts, I know that I have absolutely no chance of apologizing and moving on – ask Trent Lott. But as a Democrat presidential candidate I know the whole thing will swept under the rug. So get ready media – start sweeping, because I’m running. Thank you.”
Friday, August 04, 2006
How far we've come
DATELINE Baghdad:
At least 19 people have died so far in the arson, looting and shootings. Several hundred have also been injured and about 3,000 people have been arrested. Curfews are in place in many areas of the country and National Guard soldiers have been mobilized to help quell the violence, which is threatening to engulf the country.
Twelve thousand troops in the nation's capital were called on to help protect fire fighters tackling at least eight blazes. Other fires were started and were accompanied by looting and sniping, and at least 20 buildings have been completely destroyed.
There have also been 38 arson attacks, shootings reported and a four-hour gun battle at a State University.
DATELINE Fallujah:
Estimates of the number of lives lost during the unrest vary between 50 and 60, with as many as 2,000 persons injured. Estimates of the material damage done vary between about $800 million and $1 billion. Approximately 3,600 fires were set, destroying 1,100 buildings, with fire calls coming once every minute at some points. About 10,000 people were arrested.
Yes with news like this it’s easy to se why the MSM and weak-kneed Democrats are all but hoping for open civil war as pretext for pulling the plug in Iraq. But Wait! The dateline in the first story is not Baghdad. The article actually describes the state of affairs in the US two days after Martin Luther King was assassinated in April 1968. The action described in the story actually occurred in Washington D.C., Chicago, Detroit and a Tennessee State University. The action in the second dateline occurred not in Fallujah but ratheer in Los Angeles, CA in April 1992 after the Rodney King verdict.
As the world’s oldest Democracy, we may at times lose sight of our own rocky road to becoming the world’s only hyper power. We have a long history of committing violence against one another for every reason, race, religion, political persuasion and reaction to what we believe to be an onerous government.
Then there was our all out, no-kidding civil war. And if ever there was a war to end all wars, our civil war would be very near the top when measured in human and monetary cost. But the American Civil War is absolutely second to none when one considers what was at stake in that war. This page has never been overly concerned about civil war and/or the potential partitioning of Iraq. A whole, free and democratic Iraq would be nice, but what is essential is that it not be a haven for terrorists. So when we consider what is at stake in Iraq, we need to be a bit more Lincolnesque and a bit less McClellanesque.
NEWSFLASH: John McCain actually makes sense on the current Middle East crisis. Now if he'd only make sense on immigration, taxes, first amendment rights, judicial appontments etc. etc., he may have a chance for the '08 nomination.
At least 19 people have died so far in the arson, looting and shootings. Several hundred have also been injured and about 3,000 people have been arrested. Curfews are in place in many areas of the country and National Guard soldiers have been mobilized to help quell the violence, which is threatening to engulf the country.
Twelve thousand troops in the nation's capital were called on to help protect fire fighters tackling at least eight blazes. Other fires were started and were accompanied by looting and sniping, and at least 20 buildings have been completely destroyed.
There have also been 38 arson attacks, shootings reported and a four-hour gun battle at a State University.
DATELINE Fallujah:
Estimates of the number of lives lost during the unrest vary between 50 and 60, with as many as 2,000 persons injured. Estimates of the material damage done vary between about $800 million and $1 billion. Approximately 3,600 fires were set, destroying 1,100 buildings, with fire calls coming once every minute at some points. About 10,000 people were arrested.
Yes with news like this it’s easy to se why the MSM and weak-kneed Democrats are all but hoping for open civil war as pretext for pulling the plug in Iraq. But Wait! The dateline in the first story is not Baghdad. The article actually describes the state of affairs in the US two days after Martin Luther King was assassinated in April 1968. The action described in the story actually occurred in Washington D.C., Chicago, Detroit and a Tennessee State University. The action in the second dateline occurred not in Fallujah but ratheer in Los Angeles, CA in April 1992 after the Rodney King verdict.
As the world’s oldest Democracy, we may at times lose sight of our own rocky road to becoming the world’s only hyper power. We have a long history of committing violence against one another for every reason, race, religion, political persuasion and reaction to what we believe to be an onerous government.
Then there was our all out, no-kidding civil war. And if ever there was a war to end all wars, our civil war would be very near the top when measured in human and monetary cost. But the American Civil War is absolutely second to none when one considers what was at stake in that war. This page has never been overly concerned about civil war and/or the potential partitioning of Iraq. A whole, free and democratic Iraq would be nice, but what is essential is that it not be a haven for terrorists. So when we consider what is at stake in Iraq, we need to be a bit more Lincolnesque and a bit less McClellanesque.
NEWSFLASH: John McCain actually makes sense on the current Middle East crisis. Now if he'd only make sense on immigration, taxes, first amendment rights, judicial appontments etc. etc., he may have a chance for the '08 nomination.
Wednesday, August 02, 2006
Dang it's Summer, uh, er, I mean hot
Dang it’s hot! But it’s summer, so it’s supposed to be that way right? But Ho No, I ran across the bit of propaganda posted below on the AP wire. We’re all going to die right? Well, yes we are. Nobody has ever gotten out of the game alive. We may even die from the summer heat, but probably not from Al Gore like global warming.
Why is the article posted below propaganda? The headline screams Record-Breaking Heat and the article goes on to tell us how hot it is across the eastern part of the US. The author weaves in deaths and other unfortunate happenings but never bothers to mention what records are being broken. So I went to http://ggweather.com/climate/extremes_us.htm, which lists record temperatures for each state and guess what? No records are being broken. And if that’s not enough, go to http://www.junkscience.com/Greenhouse/. Scan down to “Why is the earth warming catastrophically?” and read among other things this:
Record-Breaking Heat Staggers EastAug 02 5:59 PM US/EasternEmail this story
By DERRILL HOLLYAssociated Press Writer
WASHINGTON
Record-breaking heat and oppressive humidity made people across the eastern half of the country miserable Wednesday and sent tourists in the nation's capital scrambling for relief in the cool marble halls of Capitol Hill.
Others forced to work outdoors guzzled icy drinks to cope with the heat wave that has sent temperatures soaring over 100 across the East and parts of the Midwest.
"This is unbelievable," said Bob Garner, a tourist from Atlanta who retreated with his family into the air-conditioned comfort of the Capitol. "They get the hottest days of the year while we're here."
A high of 100 was forecast in Washington. With the humidity, it was expected to feel like 113. By midafternoon, the mercury had climbed to 97. It was even hotter on the steaming pavement downtown.
In New York, the temperature rose to 101 at LaGuardia Airport and 96 in Central Park. Baltimore, Boston and Philadelphia also expected to hit at least 100, and the heat could linger through much of Thursday.
At the Capitol, tourists filled water bottles at drinking fountains and doused themselves. Others drenched their baseball caps before putting them on.
At the Library of Congress daycare center, children stayed inside because it was deemed too hot to swim. Washington Redskins coach Joe Gibbs cut his players a break by ending afternoon practice early and then pushing back the 4 p.m. session to 7 p.m.
"It's unbearable, it's oppressive," said Joy Haber, 44, who canceled a trip from Long Island into Manhattan because of the stifling weather. Her 13-year-old son, Sean, skipped day camp when his bus arrived with a malfunctioning air conditioner.
The Dixie Chicks postponed their Wednesday night show at the outdoor Jones Beach Theater on Long Island because of the scorching heat. [Lex NOTE: At least Global Warming is good for something.]
In Philadelphia, concrete worker Bob Ferguson was building walls 32 feet below street level. "Down in that hole, there's no air," said Ferguson, who wore the mandatory hard hat, long sleeves, long pants and work boots.
Bicycle messenger Gravett Dhuja tried to look at the bright side as he rested near a Capitol Hill office building: "It's been hot, but rain is a lot worse for us."
The same heat wave was blamed for as many as 164 deaths last week in California.
In Boston, authorities awaited autopsy results on a pregnant woman who died Saturday after collapsing at a sweltering Red Sox game. Denise Quickenton, 29, suffered an apparent heart attack after sitting in sunny bleacher seats where the temperatures was at least 90 degrees, authorities said. She was seven months pregnant, but a medical team was able to deliver her 4-pound infant at a hospital.
Some Washington tourists pressed on with their plans, gulping bottled water and fanning themselves with brochures outside such landmarks such as Union Station and the Washington Monument.
"The humidity is so bad _ not like in Spain," said Carlos Mulas, 56, of Madrid, before boarding a tour bus. "But Washington is so beautiful. We expect to enjoy it."
Several members of tourist Gregg Selewski's extended family spent their nights in a recreational vehicle parked at a campground in Greenbelt, Md. They vowed to see everything, despite the heat.
"This is what we came to do," said Selewski, 13, of Canton, Mich.
Why is the article posted below propaganda? The headline screams Record-Breaking Heat and the article goes on to tell us how hot it is across the eastern part of the US. The author weaves in deaths and other unfortunate happenings but never bothers to mention what records are being broken. So I went to http://ggweather.com/climate/extremes_us.htm, which lists record temperatures for each state and guess what? No records are being broken. And if that’s not enough, go to http://www.junkscience.com/Greenhouse/. Scan down to “Why is the earth warming catastrophically?” and read among other things this:
Hey, it's hot. It's summer. It's supposed to be hot. Get used to it until winter when we'll all be complaining about the cold.Who says it is warming catastrophically? Humans have only been trying to measure
the temperature fairly consistently since about 1880, during which time we think
the world may have warmed by about +0.6 °C ± 0.2 °C. As we've already pointed
out, the estimate of warming is less than the error margin on our ability to
take the Earth's temperature, generally given as 14 °C ± 0.7 °C for the average
1961-1990 while the National Climatic Data Center (NCDC) suggest 13.9 °C for their
average 1880-2004. We are pretty sure it was cold before the 1880
commencement of record and we would probably not handle the situation too well
if such conditions returned but there has been no demonstrable catastrophic
warming while people have been trying to measure the planet's temperature. If we
have really been measuring a warming episode as we think we have, then setting
new records for "hottest ever in recorded history" should happen just about
every year -- although half a degree over a century is hardly something to write
home about -- so there's really nothing exciting about scoring the highest
number when looking at such a short history.
Record-Breaking Heat Staggers EastAug 02 5:59 PM US/EasternEmail this story
By DERRILL HOLLYAssociated Press Writer
WASHINGTON
Record-breaking heat and oppressive humidity made people across the eastern half of the country miserable Wednesday and sent tourists in the nation's capital scrambling for relief in the cool marble halls of Capitol Hill.
Others forced to work outdoors guzzled icy drinks to cope with the heat wave that has sent temperatures soaring over 100 across the East and parts of the Midwest.
"This is unbelievable," said Bob Garner, a tourist from Atlanta who retreated with his family into the air-conditioned comfort of the Capitol. "They get the hottest days of the year while we're here."
A high of 100 was forecast in Washington. With the humidity, it was expected to feel like 113. By midafternoon, the mercury had climbed to 97. It was even hotter on the steaming pavement downtown.
In New York, the temperature rose to 101 at LaGuardia Airport and 96 in Central Park. Baltimore, Boston and Philadelphia also expected to hit at least 100, and the heat could linger through much of Thursday.
At the Capitol, tourists filled water bottles at drinking fountains and doused themselves. Others drenched their baseball caps before putting them on.
At the Library of Congress daycare center, children stayed inside because it was deemed too hot to swim. Washington Redskins coach Joe Gibbs cut his players a break by ending afternoon practice early and then pushing back the 4 p.m. session to 7 p.m.
"It's unbearable, it's oppressive," said Joy Haber, 44, who canceled a trip from Long Island into Manhattan because of the stifling weather. Her 13-year-old son, Sean, skipped day camp when his bus arrived with a malfunctioning air conditioner.
The Dixie Chicks postponed their Wednesday night show at the outdoor Jones Beach Theater on Long Island because of the scorching heat. [Lex NOTE: At least Global Warming is good for something.]
In Philadelphia, concrete worker Bob Ferguson was building walls 32 feet below street level. "Down in that hole, there's no air," said Ferguson, who wore the mandatory hard hat, long sleeves, long pants and work boots.
Bicycle messenger Gravett Dhuja tried to look at the bright side as he rested near a Capitol Hill office building: "It's been hot, but rain is a lot worse for us."
The same heat wave was blamed for as many as 164 deaths last week in California.
In Boston, authorities awaited autopsy results on a pregnant woman who died Saturday after collapsing at a sweltering Red Sox game. Denise Quickenton, 29, suffered an apparent heart attack after sitting in sunny bleacher seats where the temperatures was at least 90 degrees, authorities said. She was seven months pregnant, but a medical team was able to deliver her 4-pound infant at a hospital.
Some Washington tourists pressed on with their plans, gulping bottled water and fanning themselves with brochures outside such landmarks such as Union Station and the Washington Monument.
"The humidity is so bad _ not like in Spain," said Carlos Mulas, 56, of Madrid, before boarding a tour bus. "But Washington is so beautiful. We expect to enjoy it."
Several members of tourist Gregg Selewski's extended family spent their nights in a recreational vehicle parked at a campground in Greenbelt, Md. They vowed to see everything, despite the heat.
"This is what we came to do," said Selewski, 13, of Canton, Mich.
Dingell trolls for terrorist's votes
While the IDF does a bit of Uncle Sam’s dirty work ridding the Middle East of Islamo-Terror-Fascists, a US representative from Michigan has taken moral equivalency to the next level. Here's what John Dingell had to say to a reporter in Detroit the other day during a television program: "I don't take sides for or against Hezbollah; I don't take sides for or against Israel." When asked if he really wasn't "against Hezbollah," Mr. Dingell replied, "No." What the…?
Hezbollah is like a crazy man that shows up in the mall and begins indiscriminately firing into the crowd. The police show up and fire on the madman and Rep Dingbat refuses to take sides because the madman may have voted for him. Dingbat is walking the line because there is a large Shiite Muslim population in Dearborn. Now that’s real leadership. Getting a few terrorist's votes is more important for Dingbat than taking a stand against the terrorists.
Dingell’s statement came at about the same time screaming Howard Dean was using the occasion of Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al Maliki's visit to Washington last week to blast Maliki for his unwillingness to condemn Hezbollah. So Maliki says both sides need to stop the blood shed and Rep. Dingbat refuses to take sides. Yet Howie the nobel blasts the Iraqi head of state while giving the Dingbat in his party a total pass. How does that make sense to anyone?
If Americans return return this self-serving, hypocritical, terror supporting bunch of weazels to a majority in the fall, we will deserve whatever insanity they visit upon our nation.
Hezbollah is like a crazy man that shows up in the mall and begins indiscriminately firing into the crowd. The police show up and fire on the madman and Rep Dingbat refuses to take sides because the madman may have voted for him. Dingbat is walking the line because there is a large Shiite Muslim population in Dearborn. Now that’s real leadership. Getting a few terrorist's votes is more important for Dingbat than taking a stand against the terrorists.
Dingell’s statement came at about the same time screaming Howard Dean was using the occasion of Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al Maliki's visit to Washington last week to blast Maliki for his unwillingness to condemn Hezbollah. So Maliki says both sides need to stop the blood shed and Rep. Dingbat refuses to take sides. Yet Howie the nobel blasts the Iraqi head of state while giving the Dingbat in his party a total pass. How does that make sense to anyone?
If Americans return return this self-serving, hypocritical, terror supporting bunch of weazels to a majority in the fall, we will deserve whatever insanity they visit upon our nation.
Tuesday, August 01, 2006
Stupid people are alway offended by something
Stupid people are easily offended look at this item from the Washington Times’ Inside Politics section.
But this is the life of a politician constantly apoligizing in the hope of never ofending anyone, no matter how richly they deserve to be offended or how ignorant they are.
Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney has apologized for referring to the troubled BigThis reminds of when the Washington DC bueracrats whent ballistic over a supervisor using the term niggardly, a word meaning stingy, to describe his control over a certain District fund. Well after severl days the whole thing became a tar baby and the supervisor had to rush to the microphone and apologize for offending people who, were they not so ignorant, never would have never been offended in the first place.
Dig construction project as a "tar baby" during a fundraiser with Iowa
Republicans, saying he didn't know anyone would be offended by the term.
In a speech Saturday, Mr. Romney, a Republican considering a run for president in 2008, acknowledged he took a big political risk in assuming control of the project after a fatal tunnel ceiling collapse but said inaction would have been worse.
"The best thing politically would be to stay as far away from that tar baby as I can," he told a
crowd of about 100 supporters in Ames, Iowa.
The term originated with Atlanta author Joel Chandler Harris' 19th-century "Uncle Remus"
stories, referring to a doll made of tar that traps Br'er Rabbit. It has come to
be known as a way of describing a sticky mess, but it also has been used as a
derogatory term for a black person, according to the Associated Press.
Romney spokesman Eric Fehrnstrom said the governor "was
unaware that some people find the term objectionable, and he's sorry if anyone's
offended."
But this is the life of a politician constantly apoligizing in the hope of never ofending anyone, no matter how richly they deserve to be offended or how ignorant they are.
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