OK, pointing out that John Kerry is pompous, arrogant, chickensh@#, windbag living high off of a dead man’s money ain’t exactly akin to decoding the Rosetta Stone. But given this comment to college students, I thought I’d remind you. Kerry said:
“You know education, if you make the most of it and you study hard and do your homework and make an effort to be smart, you can do well. If you don’t, you get stuck in Iraq.”
So what fearless John, the man who chickened out of Vietnam after getting enough 8mm home movies and putting himself in for enough medals for wounding himself to start a political career is telling us is that the troops, whom he claims to support, are too stupid or lazy to get through college. That’s right, according Kerry instead of the best and brightest, selfless patriots, doing tough duty in a faraway land; our troops are nothing more than hapless dopes doing the work illegal immigrants - who liberals ironically praise as the “backbone of the country” - won’t. Very odd.
Kerry’s contempt for the men and women of our armed forces is well documented. He called them murderers and rapists during Viet Nam. He claimed that our troops were terrorizing women and children in Iraq and now this. I know from experience that the enlisted men of 20 years ago were as smart as anyone. In an era before calculators, they flew and tracked weather balloons with a theodolite and then manually calculated the affects that the shifting winds aloft would have on artillery rounds over a seven mile trajectory. They calculated the fall of thousands upon thousands of artillery rounds by interpolating data from stacks of tables with a slide rule in one hand and a cigarette in the other – and they could consistently do it in less than a minute or two – quickly, safely and accurately. In an era before GPS, they could accurately determine location and direction by the stars. They could fix anything with anything. They shared everything. In the process, they kept thousands of men safe and made their “educated” college boy lieutenants – like me – look good
If someone wants to do something worthwhile, they ought to do a documentary contrasting the day in the life of a 20 something year old Marine in Iraq with some worthless 20 year old know nothing, do nothing, be nothing college punk on MTV’s Room Raiders or My World loser. The same goes for “reality tv” like The Apprentice. That show consists of a bunch of “educated” weasels spending week after week trying to figure out how to sabotage each other’s efforts. The prize for being the best cheat is becoming the head peon for Donald Trump. Why would Trump even want one of these backstabbing morons in his organization? I’d take one Marine sergeant over the whole lot.
But I digress – Kerry is treasonous buffoon, an educated treasonous buffoon, but a treasonous buffoon none the less. And yes Mr. & Mrs. America this is yet another reason why it not safe to vote Democrat.
Tuesday, October 31, 2006
Monday, October 30, 2006
The Weekly Punctilio: Scrap the Constitution
This week’s Punctilio Award goes to the Journal Gazette for wasting ink and newsprint to publish this tripe by Sanford Levinson. If you want to waste your time, read the whole thing. The point of Levinson piece is that our US Constitution is so flawed that it should be thrown out and rewritten to meet today’s world rather the world as it existed 200 years ago.
First, if I were allowed to pick “today’s framers”, I suppose that Levinson’s idea would be a good one. But the gathering of modern day framers would no doubt be a hodgepodge of the usual suspects that get throw into the mix whenever elected officials want to duck tough issues. Look at the 9-11 Commission. Half of that commission was more interested in keeping Bill Clinton’s legacy one of a president that diddled the help rather than THE president who helped the terrorists diddle America. So from the gitgo Levinson’s idea is dead in the water. There are no modern day politicians with the statesmanship, the intellect and foresight of the original framers capable of doing the necessary hard work.
Another indicator that Levinson is an idiot is his idea that because President Bush is at about 40% approval rating in the polls that equates to 60% wanting him removed from office as an incompetent. That is utter foolishness. First, if asked if the president should be removed in favor of Vice President Cheney, the president’s approval would probably exceed 80% (I'd be in the 20% favoring Cheney). So unless Levinson is in favor of removing the president for some unnamed, unelected Jed Bartlett type, his entire premise falls flat on its face. If his premise is that house Republicans would then pick one of their own, we’d be looking at Dennis Hastert and again the president’s approval goes up to about 80%. Last, is Levinson so obtuse as to have forgotten when our government was divided and Bill Clinton was president with a Republican House? What would Levinson have happen there? The house, given a half way step to avoid impeachment would certainly have chosen it. Would Levinson have accepted a President Gingrich?
Levinson, who happens to be bilking unsuspecting parents who send their youngsters off to college to be “educated” (in Levinson’s classroom re-educated is probably a better word) out of cash in his job as a “professor” of law at Texas University, makes equally insane arguments about the structure of the senate. Why does Wyoming have as much power as California in senate? Well Sanford (I hear the Sanford and son theme song in my head now) it’s because there is this other little know body in Washington called the House of Representatives. In the house states are given proportional representation in accordance to their population – 1 representative per about every 640,000 people. And that is why we do a census every ten years.
Another thing Fred, uh er, Sanford takes on is the Electoral College. Why not just go with the popular vote. Because Fred, the original framers wanted a two party system to prevent some nut job law professor from fooling enough of the voters on a ballot with 25 other candidates to win an election with a plurality of about 15% of the vote - which ironically would immediately make him eligible for removal from office under Fred’s first idiotic point. Besides, Democrats have proven that they are incapable of figuring out a ballot with only three names. Imagine the nightmare scenario for Democrats trying to find Pat Buchanan’s name on a ballot with 20-30 other names.
First, if I were allowed to pick “today’s framers”, I suppose that Levinson’s idea would be a good one. But the gathering of modern day framers would no doubt be a hodgepodge of the usual suspects that get throw into the mix whenever elected officials want to duck tough issues. Look at the 9-11 Commission. Half of that commission was more interested in keeping Bill Clinton’s legacy one of a president that diddled the help rather than THE president who helped the terrorists diddle America. So from the gitgo Levinson’s idea is dead in the water. There are no modern day politicians with the statesmanship, the intellect and foresight of the original framers capable of doing the necessary hard work.
Another indicator that Levinson is an idiot is his idea that because President Bush is at about 40% approval rating in the polls that equates to 60% wanting him removed from office as an incompetent. That is utter foolishness. First, if asked if the president should be removed in favor of Vice President Cheney, the president’s approval would probably exceed 80% (I'd be in the 20% favoring Cheney). So unless Levinson is in favor of removing the president for some unnamed, unelected Jed Bartlett type, his entire premise falls flat on its face. If his premise is that house Republicans would then pick one of their own, we’d be looking at Dennis Hastert and again the president’s approval goes up to about 80%. Last, is Levinson so obtuse as to have forgotten when our government was divided and Bill Clinton was president with a Republican House? What would Levinson have happen there? The house, given a half way step to avoid impeachment would certainly have chosen it. Would Levinson have accepted a President Gingrich?
Levinson, who happens to be bilking unsuspecting parents who send their youngsters off to college to be “educated” (in Levinson’s classroom re-educated is probably a better word) out of cash in his job as a “professor” of law at Texas University, makes equally insane arguments about the structure of the senate. Why does Wyoming have as much power as California in senate? Well Sanford (I hear the Sanford and son theme song in my head now) it’s because there is this other little know body in Washington called the House of Representatives. In the house states are given proportional representation in accordance to their population – 1 representative per about every 640,000 people. And that is why we do a census every ten years.
Another thing Fred, uh er, Sanford takes on is the Electoral College. Why not just go with the popular vote. Because Fred, the original framers wanted a two party system to prevent some nut job law professor from fooling enough of the voters on a ballot with 25 other candidates to win an election with a plurality of about 15% of the vote - which ironically would immediately make him eligible for removal from office under Fred’s first idiotic point. Besides, Democrats have proven that they are incapable of figuring out a ballot with only three names. Imagine the nightmare scenario for Democrats trying to find Pat Buchanan’s name on a ballot with 20-30 other names.
Friday, October 27, 2006
Democrats may end up looking like the Stanford marching band
Uh oh! Democrats who started their victory dance five yards from the end zone can now hear Karl Rove’s footsteps closing fast. Polls which had Democrats leaping for joy two weeks ago are now too close to call. Expectations of gaining up to 40 seats in the House have been revised downward to 17-20. Once safe senatorial Democrat candidates in Maryland and New Jersey are now ducking debates with their Republican challengers. Democrats Cardin and Menendez were last seen frantically banging on obnoxious Chucky Schumer’s door begging for more money to protect their heretofore “safe” Democrat seats. Even Conrad Burn, the Montana Republican left for dead on the side of the road months ago, had the nerve to keep campaigning is now within striking distance.
Democrats are now stumbling around field in disbelief like the Stanford marching band watching Karl Rove zigzag his way down the field for the last second score. Fat Ted Kennedy sobered up long enough to write the DNC a check for half a million dollars from his own campaign fund. Pompous John F. Kerry snitched a check out Terezzzzzzzze’s checkbook to do the same. “Yes, yes, we’re so confident of victory we’ll just pony up a million more dollars for the cause” goes the logic. Hmm, seems to me if you’re that confident of victory, you might just save that million for the next big fight.
The bad news is that it is still too close to call. Democrats could still win both houses by slim margins. The good news is that the Republicans are – as predicted - back in the hunt. Whoever wins is likely to do so by razor thin margins. So as trite as it may sound, EVERY VOTE COUNTS.
Democrats are now stumbling around field in disbelief like the Stanford marching band watching Karl Rove zigzag his way down the field for the last second score. Fat Ted Kennedy sobered up long enough to write the DNC a check for half a million dollars from his own campaign fund. Pompous John F. Kerry snitched a check out Terezzzzzzzze’s checkbook to do the same. “Yes, yes, we’re so confident of victory we’ll just pony up a million more dollars for the cause” goes the logic. Hmm, seems to me if you’re that confident of victory, you might just save that million for the next big fight.
The bad news is that it is still too close to call. Democrats could still win both houses by slim margins. The good news is that the Republicans are – as predicted - back in the hunt. Whoever wins is likely to do so by razor thin margins. So as trite as it may sound, EVERY VOTE COUNTS.
Thursday, October 26, 2006
It's still not safe to vote Democrat
President Bush had a pretty good presser yesterday. I say pretty good, because while he laid out clearly what was at stake in Iraq, he then went on equivocate about our commitment there. He seemed to say a couple of times that Iraq was the central front in the war on terror and then say things like “we don’t have unlimited patience” or “we’re not there to be caught in the crossfire of sectarian violence.” Well it seems to me that the president just gave the Islamo-terror-fascists a roadmap. Keep up the sectarian violence and the patience will, at some point, run out.
I’d have delivered the patience message to the Iraqi government in secret. During the presser, I’d have given the terrorists no room for hope. I’d have said something along lines of, “As long as we can kill the enemy in the streets of Baghdad and elsewhere in Iraq, we will stay.” A statement like that would have would-be terrorists scratching their heads thinking, “Well, maybe there is a political way out of this after all.”
The other thing giving the jihadis hope and is probably as responsible as anything for the step up in violence in Iraq is the American election. These guys seem to think that all they have to do to get America to cut and run is get Democrats elected. That flawed thinking is similar to conservatives believing that if you want smaller government and less spending, all you have to do is elect Republicans.
There are probably enough Democrats that understand “redeploying to Okinawa” is idiocy of the highest order to block any such move. There are probably enough Democrats that understand ceding Iraq and its oil revenue to the jihadis would be a strategic mistake 10,000 times worse than letting the Taliban run amok in Afghanistan to block any such move. But then again, given what passes for leadership in the Democrat party at this point in history, maybe there aren’t enough Democrats that appreciate the long-term strategic importance of Iraq. Which is why Mr. & Mrs. America, it is still not safe to vote Democrat.
I’d have delivered the patience message to the Iraqi government in secret. During the presser, I’d have given the terrorists no room for hope. I’d have said something along lines of, “As long as we can kill the enemy in the streets of Baghdad and elsewhere in Iraq, we will stay.” A statement like that would have would-be terrorists scratching their heads thinking, “Well, maybe there is a political way out of this after all.”
The other thing giving the jihadis hope and is probably as responsible as anything for the step up in violence in Iraq is the American election. These guys seem to think that all they have to do to get America to cut and run is get Democrats elected. That flawed thinking is similar to conservatives believing that if you want smaller government and less spending, all you have to do is elect Republicans.
There are probably enough Democrats that understand “redeploying to Okinawa” is idiocy of the highest order to block any such move. There are probably enough Democrats that understand ceding Iraq and its oil revenue to the jihadis would be a strategic mistake 10,000 times worse than letting the Taliban run amok in Afghanistan to block any such move. But then again, given what passes for leadership in the Democrat party at this point in history, maybe there aren’t enough Democrats that appreciate the long-term strategic importance of Iraq. Which is why Mr. & Mrs. America, it is still not safe to vote Democrat.
Wednesday, October 25, 2006
Mike’s biennial disease
Michael Fox has taken to the airwaves in support of, surprise, surprise, Democrats. How odd that another Hollywood know nothing would line up to shill for Democrats. But Mike is a one issue shill. Shaking like one of the chicks on a pole at the Boom Boom room, Mike shows up and shows off the ravages of Parkinson’s. Mike has stated publicly that he goes off his meds when testifying before congress and elsewhere to better demonstrate the effects of his disease.
OK fair enough. If I had a debilitating disease, I’d probably take every advantage to call attention to it as well. But I doubt that I’d place so high a value on my own comfort or life that I’d call for the wholesale destruction of others so that I might have their cells – stem or otherwise. And even if I did support the destruction of others for my personal benefit, I cannot imagine that I’d advocate that position as policy for the Federal government. I think I’d kind of want to hide that side of my personality. But then I think I’d kind of want to hide my infirmities as well rather than foregoing my meds to accentuate them.
But Mike, never one to learn from the past, has taken a page from the 2004 presidential race where faith-healer and snake oil salesman John Edwards claimed Christopher Reeves would walk again if only we’d elect John Kerry president. Fox shills for Democrats only, even one who once who voted against the very legislation he proposes. He says stem cell research is being thwarted by Republicans even though many Republicans like Orin Hatch support governemt sponsored stem cell research, and stem cell research is legal in the very states in which he is now campaigning - MO and MD.
We’ve been down this road before. Stem cell research is not illegal. Mike can give as many of his considerable millions as wants to that research. President Bush is the FIRST president to allocate government resources to that research. Stem cell research is NOT the most promising research being conducted today with regard to paralyses and disease.
The stem cell question when raised in this fashion becomes more political than medical which is the whole point of Mike's coming out every two years to stump for only Democrats - even ones who vote against his stem cell proposals.
OK fair enough. If I had a debilitating disease, I’d probably take every advantage to call attention to it as well. But I doubt that I’d place so high a value on my own comfort or life that I’d call for the wholesale destruction of others so that I might have their cells – stem or otherwise. And even if I did support the destruction of others for my personal benefit, I cannot imagine that I’d advocate that position as policy for the Federal government. I think I’d kind of want to hide that side of my personality. But then I think I’d kind of want to hide my infirmities as well rather than foregoing my meds to accentuate them.
But Mike, never one to learn from the past, has taken a page from the 2004 presidential race where faith-healer and snake oil salesman John Edwards claimed Christopher Reeves would walk again if only we’d elect John Kerry president. Fox shills for Democrats only, even one who once who voted against the very legislation he proposes. He says stem cell research is being thwarted by Republicans even though many Republicans like Orin Hatch support governemt sponsored stem cell research, and stem cell research is legal in the very states in which he is now campaigning - MO and MD.
We’ve been down this road before. Stem cell research is not illegal. Mike can give as many of his considerable millions as wants to that research. President Bush is the FIRST president to allocate government resources to that research. Stem cell research is NOT the most promising research being conducted today with regard to paralyses and disease.
The stem cell question when raised in this fashion becomes more political than medical which is the whole point of Mike's coming out every two years to stump for only Democrats - even ones who vote against his stem cell proposals.
Tuesday, October 24, 2006
bin Laden's vote
Well Lex has defied liberal logic. Yes, I regularly add two plus two and get four, not bad for a public school grad, but what will really stun liberals is that I cast my ballot today. Yep an absentee ballot supporting conservative candidates has been placed in the mail today. Barring some foul-up with the mail, conservative candidates and causes are already one vote to the good, and it’s still two weeks until Election Day.
Am I delighted with weak-keened republicans led by the likes of John McCain, Lindsey Graham and Chuck Hagle? No. But the alternative to a bunch sissified Republicans is a bunch of near treasonous Democrats. So I voted for the sissies in a party that includes a group of senators that can only find their manhood in a “gang of 14”.
The alternative was much worse. I imagined (and I think this would be a good ad for the RNC) a long election line. In the line is tall bearded man wearing a turbine. The camera zooms in and it’s bin Laden. The camera pans down and in bin Laden’s hand is Democrat voter guide. The voice over comes up, “Who will you be voting for?”
It seems pretty clear to me who Islamo-terror-fascists will be supporting in this election.
Am I delighted with weak-keened republicans led by the likes of John McCain, Lindsey Graham and Chuck Hagle? No. But the alternative to a bunch sissified Republicans is a bunch of near treasonous Democrats. So I voted for the sissies in a party that includes a group of senators that can only find their manhood in a “gang of 14”.
The alternative was much worse. I imagined (and I think this would be a good ad for the RNC) a long election line. In the line is tall bearded man wearing a turbine. The camera zooms in and it’s bin Laden. The camera pans down and in bin Laden’s hand is Democrat voter guide. The voice over comes up, “Who will you be voting for?”
It seems pretty clear to me who Islamo-terror-fascists will be supporting in this election.
Monday, October 23, 2006
Prison locks and houshold locks are not the same
This week’s J-G Punctilio Award goes to this little gem from Scripts Howard:
Mikhail Gorbachev knows his walls. He presided over two of the most infamous, the 4,500-mile Iron Curtain that imprisoned half of Europe and the Berlin Wall that doubly imprisoned the people of East Berlin.
And he was president of the Soviet Union when both of them fell. So he knows whereof he speaks when he speaks of walls.
He was speaking in Midland, Texas, when he gently chided the United States for its plans to build a 700-mile barrier, in places remarkably similar to the Iron Curtain, along the border with Mexico, a nation, he noted, with whom the United States has shared long-standing "cooperation and interaction."
"I don't think the U.S. is so weak and so much lacks confidence as not to be able to find a different solution," said the 1990 Nobel Prize winner, according to an account in the Midland Reporter-Telegram.
The former Soviet leader recalled in 1987 when President Reagan visited Berlin and taunted the Kremlin with the demand, "Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!"
This is so mortifying.
No, what is so mortifying is that supposed educated people who work in America’s newsrooms and a communist statesman can confuse a wall designed to keep people in so that they cannot escape totalitarian, communist rule with a fence designed to keep terrorists and illegals out. It’s truly sad when 9 year old Lex jr. can distinguish between the locks on prison doors, designed to keep people in, and the locks on the doors of our house, designed to keep people out, but dopes in the MSM and communists can not or will not make that very basic distinction when writing or talking about our border fence.
Mikhail Gorbachev knows his walls. He presided over two of the most infamous, the 4,500-mile Iron Curtain that imprisoned half of Europe and the Berlin Wall that doubly imprisoned the people of East Berlin.
And he was president of the Soviet Union when both of them fell. So he knows whereof he speaks when he speaks of walls.
He was speaking in Midland, Texas, when he gently chided the United States for its plans to build a 700-mile barrier, in places remarkably similar to the Iron Curtain, along the border with Mexico, a nation, he noted, with whom the United States has shared long-standing "cooperation and interaction."
"I don't think the U.S. is so weak and so much lacks confidence as not to be able to find a different solution," said the 1990 Nobel Prize winner, according to an account in the Midland Reporter-Telegram.
The former Soviet leader recalled in 1987 when President Reagan visited Berlin and taunted the Kremlin with the demand, "Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!"
This is so mortifying.
No, what is so mortifying is that supposed educated people who work in America’s newsrooms and a communist statesman can confuse a wall designed to keep people in so that they cannot escape totalitarian, communist rule with a fence designed to keep terrorists and illegals out. It’s truly sad when 9 year old Lex jr. can distinguish between the locks on prison doors, designed to keep people in, and the locks on the doors of our house, designed to keep people out, but dopes in the MSM and communists can not or will not make that very basic distinction when writing or talking about our border fence.
Friday, October 20, 2006
Comparisons to Tet encouraging
It’s even better than we thought. ABC, asked President Bush if what was going on in Baghdad right now is comparable to the Viet Cong’s Tet Offensive in Viet Nam in 1968. The president said yeah, it might be.
The Tet Offensive, for dopes in the MSM, was the turning point for the North in the Viet Nam war. Never mind that US troops won every battle. Never mind that the Viet Cong lost between 43-58,000 fighters. Never mind that the Viet Cong were never able to reconstitute themselves as an effective fighting force. It was a loss for the US pure and simple. Why was it a loss? Because know nothings like Wally Cronkite said so. That’s why.
Now we’re in another struggle were the MSM and ¾ of Americans have no idea what’s at stake. George Stephanopolis is trying to be the next Wally C. The MSM wants to create an atmosphere of fear and despair. Better to just to quit and go home than slug it out in Iraq with the Islamo-terror-fascists that are flocking to that country to be killed in droves. Give up the oil revenue to al Qaida, give up the Middle East to Islamic radicals, give up Israel to some Iranian nut job. Retreat back to the US where Liberals can sleep under the bed sheets until Mohamed shows up with his knife in their bedroom. Then soil themselves and die a coward’s death begging for mercy from pigs that have none.
When the MSM and Democrats forced the US to quit Viet Nam, two million Cambodians were slaughtered along with 100,000s of Vietnamese. The stakes are 10,000 times higher in Iraq.
The Tet Offensive, for dopes in the MSM, was the turning point for the North in the Viet Nam war. Never mind that US troops won every battle. Never mind that the Viet Cong lost between 43-58,000 fighters. Never mind that the Viet Cong were never able to reconstitute themselves as an effective fighting force. It was a loss for the US pure and simple. Why was it a loss? Because know nothings like Wally Cronkite said so. That’s why.
Now we’re in another struggle were the MSM and ¾ of Americans have no idea what’s at stake. George Stephanopolis is trying to be the next Wally C. The MSM wants to create an atmosphere of fear and despair. Better to just to quit and go home than slug it out in Iraq with the Islamo-terror-fascists that are flocking to that country to be killed in droves. Give up the oil revenue to al Qaida, give up the Middle East to Islamic radicals, give up Israel to some Iranian nut job. Retreat back to the US where Liberals can sleep under the bed sheets until Mohamed shows up with his knife in their bedroom. Then soil themselves and die a coward’s death begging for mercy from pigs that have none.
When the MSM and Democrats forced the US to quit Viet Nam, two million Cambodians were slaughtered along with 100,000s of Vietnamese. The stakes are 10,000 times higher in Iraq.
Thursday, October 19, 2006
Will conservatives teach America a lesson
“Conservatives, disappointed with an over spending congress, little progress on controlling illegal immigration and scandals, will stay home in droves on Nov 7th to teach the Republican Party a lesson.” If I’ve heard it once, I’ve heard it every MSM news broadcast for the last month.
Who knows, maybe the pundits are right in this case. Maybe a large portion of the conservative electorate will sit this election out to teach the Republican Party a lesson. That would be disappointing because the lesson being taught, while hurting the party for an election cycle or two, could do harm to the country for decades.
Take court appointments, for example. If the senate is flipped, what kind of judges will be confirmed over the next two years? Only judges like Clinton appointee John Koeltl will get confirmed in a Democrat controlled senate. Koeltl recently let jihadi co-conspirator Lynn Stewart off with a slap on the wrist in the form of a 28 month sentence, instead of the 30 years prosecutors had asked for. Stewart acted as a mule passing notes calling for chaos from her client Sheikh Omar Abdel-Rahman to his followers in Egypt. In addition to her work defending Islamo-terror-fascists who tried to blow up the World Trade Center 1993, Judge Koeltl sited Stewart’s work with the poor, the Black Panthers, and the Weathermen, to justify the light sentence. Sounds more like justification for a treason trial to me.
So conservatives can stay home to teach the Republican Party a lesson if they think that’s wise. Unfortunately, it’s the country that’s ultimately being given the lesson. And like a kid trapped in a failing inner city school, I just don’t know how much more schooling the nation can take. Politics is the art of the possible. Nobody gets everything they want. You have vote for the candidate that most closely approximates your views on the important issues of the day. Hold your nose if you must, but go vote.
UPDATE: Oh yeah, the time to throw an unresponsive member of your party overboard is during THE PRIMARY ELECTION not the general election where such an action is only sure to elect an even more unresponsive representative.
Who knows, maybe the pundits are right in this case. Maybe a large portion of the conservative electorate will sit this election out to teach the Republican Party a lesson. That would be disappointing because the lesson being taught, while hurting the party for an election cycle or two, could do harm to the country for decades.
Take court appointments, for example. If the senate is flipped, what kind of judges will be confirmed over the next two years? Only judges like Clinton appointee John Koeltl will get confirmed in a Democrat controlled senate. Koeltl recently let jihadi co-conspirator Lynn Stewart off with a slap on the wrist in the form of a 28 month sentence, instead of the 30 years prosecutors had asked for. Stewart acted as a mule passing notes calling for chaos from her client Sheikh Omar Abdel-Rahman to his followers in Egypt. In addition to her work defending Islamo-terror-fascists who tried to blow up the World Trade Center 1993, Judge Koeltl sited Stewart’s work with the poor, the Black Panthers, and the Weathermen, to justify the light sentence. Sounds more like justification for a treason trial to me.
So conservatives can stay home to teach the Republican Party a lesson if they think that’s wise. Unfortunately, it’s the country that’s ultimately being given the lesson. And like a kid trapped in a failing inner city school, I just don’t know how much more schooling the nation can take. Politics is the art of the possible. Nobody gets everything they want. You have vote for the candidate that most closely approximates your views on the important issues of the day. Hold your nose if you must, but go vote.
UPDATE: Oh yeah, the time to throw an unresponsive member of your party overboard is during THE PRIMARY ELECTION not the general election where such an action is only sure to elect an even more unresponsive representative.
Wednesday, October 18, 2006
BCS poll is out, but games go on
Well the first BCS college football poll came out Sunday. My old school, Ohio State was overwhelmingly ranked #1. But a funny thing has happened since Sunday. Not a single game has been canceled. Michigan coach Lloyd Carr has not told that university’s faithful to expect to be blown out by 30 points in Ohio stadium on 18 Nov. The holiday bowl commissions across the country continue to plan to have games after the regular season. Even an unranked and undermanned Indiana football team is expected to show up in Ohio this Saturday for a noon kick-off against the #1 Buckeyes.
What the heck is the point of being ranked #1 in October if you have to finish your schedule? It’s a cruel trick. A conspiracy if you will against Ohio State. Everyone knows that OSU has the best team so they get ranked #1. But by making them play the rest of their games, the pollsters have placed a huge bull’s eye squarely between the Buckeye’s shoulder blades. Now everyone is just going to try that much harder to beat OSU.
Well on a different front the pollsters have predicted a victory so monumental for Democrats that Nancy Pelosi has already been seen measuring the curtains in Denny Hastert’s office. Can all of these polls be wrong? Well, historically, at this point in the election cycle, they have been. They always show the Republican down by double digits a few weeks out. Then as the election draws closer and with the pollsters’ reputations on the line, the races suddenly tighten. What was a safe Democrat lead is now suddenly within the margin of error. Oddly, Republican leads remain pretty consistent throughout the race.
So what to do? Well just like the Indiana football team is going to show up Saturday against all the odds, I’m going to show up on Nov 7th. And like the Hoosiers, I’ll have a bit more intensity. I’m going to make sure my wife shows up. I’m going to drive my wife’s father and his wife to the polls if they need ride. I’m going to baby-sit a friend’s kids so they can vote, if they need a hand. I’m going to do what I can and see where the chips fall. And like all Hoosier fans, I’ll be ecstatic if we win. But if we don’t, I’ll be happy if we can just cover the point spread. If the worst happens and we get blown out, I’m still not going to cancel next year’s season.
What the heck is the point of being ranked #1 in October if you have to finish your schedule? It’s a cruel trick. A conspiracy if you will against Ohio State. Everyone knows that OSU has the best team so they get ranked #1. But by making them play the rest of their games, the pollsters have placed a huge bull’s eye squarely between the Buckeye’s shoulder blades. Now everyone is just going to try that much harder to beat OSU.
Well on a different front the pollsters have predicted a victory so monumental for Democrats that Nancy Pelosi has already been seen measuring the curtains in Denny Hastert’s office. Can all of these polls be wrong? Well, historically, at this point in the election cycle, they have been. They always show the Republican down by double digits a few weeks out. Then as the election draws closer and with the pollsters’ reputations on the line, the races suddenly tighten. What was a safe Democrat lead is now suddenly within the margin of error. Oddly, Republican leads remain pretty consistent throughout the race.
So what to do? Well just like the Indiana football team is going to show up Saturday against all the odds, I’m going to show up on Nov 7th. And like the Hoosiers, I’ll have a bit more intensity. I’m going to make sure my wife shows up. I’m going to drive my wife’s father and his wife to the polls if they need ride. I’m going to baby-sit a friend’s kids so they can vote, if they need a hand. I’m going to do what I can and see where the chips fall. And like all Hoosier fans, I’ll be ecstatic if we win. But if we don’t, I’ll be happy if we can just cover the point spread. If the worst happens and we get blown out, I’m still not going to cancel next year’s season.
Tuesday, October 17, 2006
The First Weekly Punctilio Award - ever
Like most of us, I get the morning fish wrap and I’m disappointed in the news coverage, save the sports page. But if the news coverage is disappointing, the editorial section is infuriating. Well, the Ft. Wayne, Journal Gazette is the worst of the worse when it comes to its editorial section. It willfully ignores or misstates facts that do not support its editorial position rather than explain or argue against those facts.
The J-G is so wrong so often on its editorial page that I’ve come to refer to it as The Daily Punctilio (DP) the paper of record in Lemony Snicket’s clever, creative, funny, exciting etc. etc. Series of Unfortunate Events. The DP gets every fact, from the most mundane – names, dates and locations – to the most important – who killed who - wrong. The story reader, as an outside observer, can see how misleading and dopey the DP is, but the players in the story unwittingly believe what’s in the DP – even though every bit of it is wrong. The consequences in the story are the exact same as they are in real life, lives are ruined, heroes are vilified, villains are glorified and the public is ill served.
So I’ve decided that I’d do a Weekly Punctilio award for the J-G where I’d take one of the dopiest things appearing in the paper and comment on it.
This is the first Weekly Punctilio Award for the Ft. Wayne, Journal-Gazette. On Saturday in its “Weekly Scorecard” section under the sub-head of “Losers” the J-G aka the D-P printed this about our Republican Congressman Mark Souder:
“Even fellow Republicans are talking about how mean, spiteful and just plain weird his radio commercials have become.”
Lex fired off the following e-mail to the Punctilio:
Does anyone at the J-G find it ironic that this fish wrap would run a “Weekly Scorecard” where it places public figures in a category called “Losers” then in that very section refers to a person as “mean and spiteful”? I’m sure the alert staff of top-notch “journalists” employed by the J-G considered conventions such as rising and falling; peaks and valleys, after rejecting the more pedantic up and down but settled on winners and losers for this section while slugging down a cup of Joe and chewing the fat with the sports guy.
The reason Mark Souder’s ads sound “weird” to you is that he plainly states his position on the issues of the day and contrasts his position with that of his opponent. Phew that is weird! Plain talk from a politician? That’s weirder than a visit from the Easter Bunny.
By contrast a visit to the Hayhurst web site finds the following “issues” listed: Affordable health care (i.e. public health care), Veterans, Jobs and the economy, energy (see below), and immigration (i.e. amnesty). What about that little thing going on in Iraq, the war on terror and taxes? Aren’t those “issues”? What’s Hayhurst’s position? Hayhurst’s site doesn’t say. But, he’s a Democrat. So, we can assume the answers are as follows and in order: Cut and run. What war? And, they’re going up.
If you can scare up a real journalist somewhere around there, send him out to talk to Hayhurst about his energy plan which calls for a light rail system in northeast Indiana. Questions:
Q: What population and/or industrial centers will the rail system connect?
A: We plan to spend several million dollars and three years studying that.
Q: What supporting public transportation systems (buses, taxis, metro systems etc.) are in place or will be required at those centers to move light rail riders to their final destinations?
A: Supporting public transportation? Hmm, I never thought of that. We’ll add $20 million and throw that question into the study.
Q: How much will it cost to build a system to connect those centers?
A: We’ll add another $50 million to the study and I’ll get back to you on that in ten years.
Q: How will the fare rate be structured so the line can turn a profit?
A: Well, like all public transportation it’ll be free to those who are already on the public dole and unaffordable to everyone else. The free riders will tear the system up in three years so that no respectable person will ride it. Then we’ll fund a study to fix the project. But, like most public transportation, my vision of our light rail system is one where it will definitely be cheaper and more convenient to just drive yourself.
Q: How many profitable light rail systems are there in the US today serving areas with populations of less than, say, 3 million?
A: Oh, nearly one.
Q: Have you ever heard of AMTRAK?
A: Huh?
The J-G is so wrong so often on its editorial page that I’ve come to refer to it as The Daily Punctilio (DP) the paper of record in Lemony Snicket’s clever, creative, funny, exciting etc. etc. Series of Unfortunate Events. The DP gets every fact, from the most mundane – names, dates and locations – to the most important – who killed who - wrong. The story reader, as an outside observer, can see how misleading and dopey the DP is, but the players in the story unwittingly believe what’s in the DP – even though every bit of it is wrong. The consequences in the story are the exact same as they are in real life, lives are ruined, heroes are vilified, villains are glorified and the public is ill served.
So I’ve decided that I’d do a Weekly Punctilio award for the J-G where I’d take one of the dopiest things appearing in the paper and comment on it.
This is the first Weekly Punctilio Award for the Ft. Wayne, Journal-Gazette. On Saturday in its “Weekly Scorecard” section under the sub-head of “Losers” the J-G aka the D-P printed this about our Republican Congressman Mark Souder:
“Even fellow Republicans are talking about how mean, spiteful and just plain weird his radio commercials have become.”
Lex fired off the following e-mail to the Punctilio:
Does anyone at the J-G find it ironic that this fish wrap would run a “Weekly Scorecard” where it places public figures in a category called “Losers” then in that very section refers to a person as “mean and spiteful”? I’m sure the alert staff of top-notch “journalists” employed by the J-G considered conventions such as rising and falling; peaks and valleys, after rejecting the more pedantic up and down but settled on winners and losers for this section while slugging down a cup of Joe and chewing the fat with the sports guy.
The reason Mark Souder’s ads sound “weird” to you is that he plainly states his position on the issues of the day and contrasts his position with that of his opponent. Phew that is weird! Plain talk from a politician? That’s weirder than a visit from the Easter Bunny.
By contrast a visit to the Hayhurst web site finds the following “issues” listed: Affordable health care (i.e. public health care), Veterans, Jobs and the economy, energy (see below), and immigration (i.e. amnesty). What about that little thing going on in Iraq, the war on terror and taxes? Aren’t those “issues”? What’s Hayhurst’s position? Hayhurst’s site doesn’t say. But, he’s a Democrat. So, we can assume the answers are as follows and in order: Cut and run. What war? And, they’re going up.
If you can scare up a real journalist somewhere around there, send him out to talk to Hayhurst about his energy plan which calls for a light rail system in northeast Indiana. Questions:
Q: What population and/or industrial centers will the rail system connect?
A: We plan to spend several million dollars and three years studying that.
Q: What supporting public transportation systems (buses, taxis, metro systems etc.) are in place or will be required at those centers to move light rail riders to their final destinations?
A: Supporting public transportation? Hmm, I never thought of that. We’ll add $20 million and throw that question into the study.
Q: How much will it cost to build a system to connect those centers?
A: We’ll add another $50 million to the study and I’ll get back to you on that in ten years.
Q: How will the fare rate be structured so the line can turn a profit?
A: Well, like all public transportation it’ll be free to those who are already on the public dole and unaffordable to everyone else. The free riders will tear the system up in three years so that no respectable person will ride it. Then we’ll fund a study to fix the project. But, like most public transportation, my vision of our light rail system is one where it will definitely be cheaper and more convenient to just drive yourself.
Q: How many profitable light rail systems are there in the US today serving areas with populations of less than, say, 3 million?
A: Oh, nearly one.
Q: Have you ever heard of AMTRAK?
A: Huh?
Monday, October 16, 2006
Figures lie; liars figure
Lex responds to misinformation in the Ft. Wayne Journal Gazette aka The Daily Punctilio (From Lemony Snicket’s Series of Unfortunate Events) :
Not that the editor of this page would care but, there was a significant error in a letter submitted by Yecenia Tostado in Sunday’s letters section. Ms. Tostado wrote “The American Cancer Society states that ‘secondhand smoke is the third leading preventable cause of death in the U.S. killing 38,000 to 65,000 non-smokers every year.”
The following comes directly from the ACS web page: (http://www.cancer.org/docroot/PED/content/PED_10_2X_Secondhand_Smoke-Clean_Indoor_Air.asp):
“Secondhand smoke can be harmful in many ways. In the United States alone, each year it is responsible for:
- an estimated 35,000 to 40,000 deaths from heart disease in people who are not current smokers (Emphasis added)
- about 3,000 lung cancer deaths in nonsmoking adults”
In the first bullet, one might conclude that the 35,000 to 40,000 deaths in people who “are not current smokers” at one time were smokers. If that’s the case, wouldn’t it make more sense to blame the death on firsthand rather than secondhand smoke? Also notice the deaths are attributed to heart disease.
So if I’m a 68 year old who weighs 600 pounds and smoked a couple of packs cigarettes a day up until 2 years ago, and am married to a smoker, when I die of a heart attack, because I'm a "current non-smoker" married to a smoker, the ACS will attribute my death to secondhand smoke, rather than the proximate cause of my death - my obesity, cigarette smoking and relative longevity.
The figure in the second bullet looks familiar. Oh Yeah, that’s the figure I used in my letter, which is the accepted high figure of deaths attributable to secondhand smoke from an EPA study on the subject.
The Surgeon General’s figure (50,000) quoted in Ms. Tostado's letter is equally misleading. But hey, it’s easy to throw big numbers out there – 650,000 deaths in Iraq. It’s much harder to do the work required to get it right in 300 words or less. END OF LETTER
The point of my letter was not that smoking is a wonderful thing. The point was that the county government has no business telling people how to run their business with regard to cigarette smoking, which the last time I looked is a legal product.
Not that the editor of this page would care but, there was a significant error in a letter submitted by Yecenia Tostado in Sunday’s letters section. Ms. Tostado wrote “The American Cancer Society states that ‘secondhand smoke is the third leading preventable cause of death in the U.S. killing 38,000 to 65,000 non-smokers every year.”
The following comes directly from the ACS web page: (http://www.cancer.org/docroot/PED/content/PED_10_2X_Secondhand_Smoke-Clean_Indoor_Air.asp):
“Secondhand smoke can be harmful in many ways. In the United States alone, each year it is responsible for:
- an estimated 35,000 to 40,000 deaths from heart disease in people who are not current smokers (Emphasis added)
- about 3,000 lung cancer deaths in nonsmoking adults”
In the first bullet, one might conclude that the 35,000 to 40,000 deaths in people who “are not current smokers” at one time were smokers. If that’s the case, wouldn’t it make more sense to blame the death on firsthand rather than secondhand smoke? Also notice the deaths are attributed to heart disease.
So if I’m a 68 year old who weighs 600 pounds and smoked a couple of packs cigarettes a day up until 2 years ago, and am married to a smoker, when I die of a heart attack, because I'm a "current non-smoker" married to a smoker, the ACS will attribute my death to secondhand smoke, rather than the proximate cause of my death - my obesity, cigarette smoking and relative longevity.
The figure in the second bullet looks familiar. Oh Yeah, that’s the figure I used in my letter, which is the accepted high figure of deaths attributable to secondhand smoke from an EPA study on the subject.
The Surgeon General’s figure (50,000) quoted in Ms. Tostado's letter is equally misleading. But hey, it’s easy to throw big numbers out there – 650,000 deaths in Iraq. It’s much harder to do the work required to get it right in 300 words or less. END OF LETTER
The point of my letter was not that smoking is a wonderful thing. The point was that the county government has no business telling people how to run their business with regard to cigarette smoking, which the last time I looked is a legal product.
Friday, October 13, 2006
It's not over until the votes are counted
Well I guess conservatives won’t have anything pressing to do on November 7th. Might as well sleep late, put on a second pot of coffee, double up on Prozac and phone in sick, because conservatives are going to get creamed. That’s right. You heard it here for 50 millionth time. Disgusted conservatives, fed up with over spending, gangs of 14, Mark Foley and a deadbeat Republican congress are just going to stay home. It's over before the first vote is even counted. We know because the polls, MSM and pundits tell us.
According to the pundits, in addition to all of our disappointment with Republicans , we’d prefer higher taxes, endless investigation and impeachment hearings, retreat in the war on terror, guaranteed civil rights for Islamo-terror-fascists and an idiot like Nancy Pelosi standing third in line to succession to the presidency. So we’ll just stay home and not vote. Who needs the Supreme Court, congress or the presidency if this is all we’re going to get for our trouble.
Well politics is the art of the possible. And yes it is possible for things to get much worse if we just throw up our hands and quit. So vote. Write a letter to the editor. Send $100 to the RNC. I’d send $10,000 if it’d guarantee that I’d not be faced with a caterwauling nit-wit like Nancy Pelosi as Speaker of the House.
According to the pundits, in addition to all of our disappointment with Republicans , we’d prefer higher taxes, endless investigation and impeachment hearings, retreat in the war on terror, guaranteed civil rights for Islamo-terror-fascists and an idiot like Nancy Pelosi standing third in line to succession to the presidency. So we’ll just stay home and not vote. Who needs the Supreme Court, congress or the presidency if this is all we’re going to get for our trouble.
Well politics is the art of the possible. And yes it is possible for things to get much worse if we just throw up our hands and quit. So vote. Write a letter to the editor. Send $100 to the RNC. I’d send $10,000 if it’d guarantee that I’d not be faced with a caterwauling nit-wit like Nancy Pelosi as Speaker of the House.
Thursday, October 12, 2006
Scrawny Harry's dirty deal
OK it’s pretty clear that some Americans and the MSM would rather talk about an Internet no-sex sex scandal than the war on Islamo–terror-fascists (unless it’s about the US torturing the ITF), a raging economy (unless it’s about the unwed mother of 8 – all with different fathers – and her heroic struggle to get by on the public dole), illegal immigration (unless it’s about it’s about a hapless, kind-hearted illegal who sends his whole paycheck home to his disabled mother in Mexico while being exploited by some Republican businessman). OK we get it, scandal sells.
Let’s see how our heroes in the MSM cover Scrawny Harry Reid’s sweet heart land deal in Nevada. It seems that Scrawny Harry and couple of guys with big money and big plans entered into a land deal. They bought up some of the otherwise worthless Nevada desert. The land was worthless because of zoning restriction, EPA problems with everything from urban sprawl, light, water, garbage and ground pollution to encroaching on the habitat of the endangered desert tortoise.
But as it turns out, the land was not worthless at all. Once Scrawny Harry got on board with the deal, zoning laws were changed and the raft of EPA objections were simply waived or explained away. Now what was worthless has become PRIME real estate.
But poor Scrawny sold his portion of the land back to his partner at the original buying price his partners before the land increased in value. Too bad right? Well no, as it turns out, Scrawny made a cool $1.1 million on land that he’d not “technically” owned for three years. Then Scrawny failed to report his wind fall on his senate financial disclosure form.
Now poor Scrawny has been caught with his hand in the cookie jar. So what is Scrawny to do? Well, claim the failure to report $1.1 million was an oversight. You know like, “Look we do these transactions all the time. We simply forgot about this $1.1 million dollar transaction, because you know, we do them all time and we just forgot this one. Happens all the time. We’ll just amend our disclosure form.” Let you or I try that with the IRS.
Let me put this into terms we can all understand. What has happened here is that Scrawny and his partners bought a mule and entered it in the Kentucky derby. Scrawny made it legal to give the mule performance enhancing drugs and hobble the rest of the field. Before the race, Scrawny sold back his share of the mule so as not raise suspicion and/or cover his bet if the mule lost. On race day the mule goes of at 1,000 to 1 and wins the race. At that point, Scrawny’s partners pay him a fair share of the winnings on a mule he owned no part of.
I’m all for this type of arrangement. Where do you get in line to buy speculative real estate; get reimbursed in full for your investment and then get a $1.1 million dollar pay off three years later? It seems to me that if we could all make a deal like that, we could end poverty in US in about three years.
Let’s see how our heroes in the MSM cover Scrawny Harry Reid’s sweet heart land deal in Nevada. It seems that Scrawny Harry and couple of guys with big money and big plans entered into a land deal. They bought up some of the otherwise worthless Nevada desert. The land was worthless because of zoning restriction, EPA problems with everything from urban sprawl, light, water, garbage and ground pollution to encroaching on the habitat of the endangered desert tortoise.
But as it turns out, the land was not worthless at all. Once Scrawny Harry got on board with the deal, zoning laws were changed and the raft of EPA objections were simply waived or explained away. Now what was worthless has become PRIME real estate.
But poor Scrawny sold his portion of the land back to his partner at the original buying price his partners before the land increased in value. Too bad right? Well no, as it turns out, Scrawny made a cool $1.1 million on land that he’d not “technically” owned for three years. Then Scrawny failed to report his wind fall on his senate financial disclosure form.
Now poor Scrawny has been caught with his hand in the cookie jar. So what is Scrawny to do? Well, claim the failure to report $1.1 million was an oversight. You know like, “Look we do these transactions all the time. We simply forgot about this $1.1 million dollar transaction, because you know, we do them all time and we just forgot this one. Happens all the time. We’ll just amend our disclosure form.” Let you or I try that with the IRS.
Let me put this into terms we can all understand. What has happened here is that Scrawny and his partners bought a mule and entered it in the Kentucky derby. Scrawny made it legal to give the mule performance enhancing drugs and hobble the rest of the field. Before the race, Scrawny sold back his share of the mule so as not raise suspicion and/or cover his bet if the mule lost. On race day the mule goes of at 1,000 to 1 and wins the race. At that point, Scrawny’s partners pay him a fair share of the winnings on a mule he owned no part of.
I’m all for this type of arrangement. Where do you get in line to buy speculative real estate; get reimbursed in full for your investment and then get a $1.1 million dollar pay off three years later? It seems to me that if we could all make a deal like that, we could end poverty in US in about three years.
Wednesday, October 11, 2006
One kid's anxiety is another's walk in the park
There is an interesting debate occurring on the north side of Ft. Wayne. Our local High School is too small. Two plans have emerged to rectify the situation. One calls for building an additional high school at the cost of $94 million dollars and an additional $20 million to refurbish the old school – total $114 million – other estimates run in the $120 million plus range. The second plan calls for renovating and expanding the old school at a cost of $64 million. The less expensive second plan will result in an incredible 130% increase in property taxes for schools.
Well, a lady found me working in the garage one Saturday morning. She asked me to sign her petition supporting the building of a second school. I told her I was not inclined to do so. She told me heart breaking stories of over crowding and narrow hallways. I still declined to support her position. She told how supporters of the less expensive plan were lying about how much the two school option was going to cost. I asked if the two school option was less expensive than renovation. She said no. I declined to sign her petition for the third time.
Then she told me her daughter was a freshman at the high school. She said her daughter was having anxiety attacks in the hallways because of the conditions at the school. I’d had it. I told her that she should tell her daughter to grow up and get over it. I told her that there were young men and women not much older than her daughter engaged in combat operations in Afghanistan and Iraq. I told her to tell her daughter the next time she was experiencing anxiety, because of close quarters at her high school, to think about some 18 year old kid toting 100 pounds of equipment in 100 degree heat while patrolling the streets of Baghdad or mountains of Afghanistan, at night, with a bunch of people trying to kill him - THAT'S ANXIETY!
At that very point, the conversation came to an abrupt end. The lady gave a nervous laugh, turned and walked away.
Well, a lady found me working in the garage one Saturday morning. She asked me to sign her petition supporting the building of a second school. I told her I was not inclined to do so. She told me heart breaking stories of over crowding and narrow hallways. I still declined to support her position. She told how supporters of the less expensive plan were lying about how much the two school option was going to cost. I asked if the two school option was less expensive than renovation. She said no. I declined to sign her petition for the third time.
Then she told me her daughter was a freshman at the high school. She said her daughter was having anxiety attacks in the hallways because of the conditions at the school. I’d had it. I told her that she should tell her daughter to grow up and get over it. I told her that there were young men and women not much older than her daughter engaged in combat operations in Afghanistan and Iraq. I told her to tell her daughter the next time she was experiencing anxiety, because of close quarters at her high school, to think about some 18 year old kid toting 100 pounds of equipment in 100 degree heat while patrolling the streets of Baghdad or mountains of Afghanistan, at night, with a bunch of people trying to kill him - THAT'S ANXIETY!
At that very point, the conversation came to an abrupt end. The lady gave a nervous laugh, turned and walked away.
Tuesday, October 10, 2006
Dems parrot enemy talking points
North Korea’s nuke test is evidence of an unstable North Korean leader, an ineffective UN, a weak-kneed regional ally - South Korea, a double-dealing antagonist trying to play both sides - China and an American administration that insists on playing its hand from a position of strength while refusing to be blackmailed by any of the penny ante bit players in the region. The Democrat response to the North Korean nuke test was swift, harsh – even shrill in some cases – and totally directed at President Bush.
Democrats stopped just short parroting North Korea’s UN diplomat who, like Democrats, blamed America for the test but went on to say that North Korea should be congratulated rather than condemned. But it’s a new day. Maybe the last line of the North Korean talking points fax was garbled and Dems will get it right today.
It won’t be the first time that Dems took their talking points from America’s sworn enemies. Hugo Chaves came to the UN and, except for the translator, sounded just like Howard Dean, Ted Kennedy, John Kerry, Shill Clinton et al. During the 2004 election, Osama bin Laden released a tape that made many of the same points as John Kerry.
Iran makes its case for nukes by saying the US is the world’s bad guy and oh by the way the nukes are only for peaceful purposes – like blowing Israel off the face of the Earth. Dems say Bush’s multilateral approach in Korea and Iran is the problem. They make this absurd claim with a straight face after they hammered Bush for a so-called unilateral approach with Iraq. Multilateral is Dem code talk for taking the French, Russian and Chinese positions on world issues. To hell with American security interests.
Democrats cannot bring themselves to blame the perpetrators. That would take some courage. To side with America against enemies that would have us destroyed when they can make political hay against Republicans? Yagotta be kidding. They’ll side with the nit wits railing against America for now. When they get their power back, they’ll find out what the nut jobs want and give it to them, nukes, money, food - whatever. Just don't rock the boat while Dems go about turning America into a weaker version of the socialist states in Europe.
Democrats stopped just short parroting North Korea’s UN diplomat who, like Democrats, blamed America for the test but went on to say that North Korea should be congratulated rather than condemned. But it’s a new day. Maybe the last line of the North Korean talking points fax was garbled and Dems will get it right today.
It won’t be the first time that Dems took their talking points from America’s sworn enemies. Hugo Chaves came to the UN and, except for the translator, sounded just like Howard Dean, Ted Kennedy, John Kerry, Shill Clinton et al. During the 2004 election, Osama bin Laden released a tape that made many of the same points as John Kerry.
Iran makes its case for nukes by saying the US is the world’s bad guy and oh by the way the nukes are only for peaceful purposes – like blowing Israel off the face of the Earth. Dems say Bush’s multilateral approach in Korea and Iran is the problem. They make this absurd claim with a straight face after they hammered Bush for a so-called unilateral approach with Iraq. Multilateral is Dem code talk for taking the French, Russian and Chinese positions on world issues. To hell with American security interests.
Democrats cannot bring themselves to blame the perpetrators. That would take some courage. To side with America against enemies that would have us destroyed when they can make political hay against Republicans? Yagotta be kidding. They’ll side with the nit wits railing against America for now. When they get their power back, they’ll find out what the nut jobs want and give it to them, nukes, money, food - whatever. Just don't rock the boat while Dems go about turning America into a weaker version of the socialist states in Europe.
Monday, October 09, 2006
Sunday Talk: Just skip it - You'll live longer
I broke my promise to myself yesterday and flippeded around the 6 pm repeats of the Sunday talk shows. Why watch something that just makes your blood boil. Skip it. Have a good a day and live longer. I won’t do it again any time soon.
Well predictably, Tim was firing off softballs to Democrat candidate for the senate in MO Clair McCaskill, “You were voted most likely to succeed in by you third grade class. How did that make you feel?” And below the belt shots at Republican Jim Talent, “Isn’t it true that you once had your 18 year old family dog put down after he was hit by a car. How can the American people ever trust a man that would kill his own dog?”
So I flipped over to Fox where host Chris Wallace asked, “is TN prepared to elect a black senator” referring to Democrat candidate Harold Ford who had a slight lead in the Fox poll over Republican Bob Corker. No one on the panel, including the usually quick witted Bill Kristol, asked Chris, “well is MD ready to elect a black senator (Republican Michael Steele)? Is OH ready to elect a black Governor (Republican Ken Blackwell)? Is VA ready to elect a Jew (Republican George Allen)?” The MSM wanks have to think that it’s only Republicans who will ignore qualifications and turn their backs on qualified minorities.
There are none so prejudiced as liberals. Liberals pelt Michael Steele with Oreo cookies, steal his financial records and call him Uncle Tom. Liberals question Ken Blackwell’s integrity and refer to Sen. Allen as maccawitz. Liberals attack any successful minority with whom they disagree (Rice, Powell, Thomas etc.) in the worst possible manner, all while calling for diversity.
While Liberals disparage successful conservative minorities of substance, they flock to know nothing, do nothing dopes like Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton, whose only accomplishments other than leading congregationless churches, is participating in organized race baiting, and shaking down of corporate America.
If only Kim Jong Mentally Ill would have fired off his nuke before the talk shows, we could have heard Tim ignore the world-wide ramifications of the event and ask, “Sen. Elect McCaskill, we all know that this is all President Bush’s fault, but how will this affect the Foley scandal?”
Well predictably, Tim was firing off softballs to Democrat candidate for the senate in MO Clair McCaskill, “You were voted most likely to succeed in by you third grade class. How did that make you feel?” And below the belt shots at Republican Jim Talent, “Isn’t it true that you once had your 18 year old family dog put down after he was hit by a car. How can the American people ever trust a man that would kill his own dog?”
So I flipped over to Fox where host Chris Wallace asked, “is TN prepared to elect a black senator” referring to Democrat candidate Harold Ford who had a slight lead in the Fox poll over Republican Bob Corker. No one on the panel, including the usually quick witted Bill Kristol, asked Chris, “well is MD ready to elect a black senator (Republican Michael Steele)? Is OH ready to elect a black Governor (Republican Ken Blackwell)? Is VA ready to elect a Jew (Republican George Allen)?” The MSM wanks have to think that it’s only Republicans who will ignore qualifications and turn their backs on qualified minorities.
There are none so prejudiced as liberals. Liberals pelt Michael Steele with Oreo cookies, steal his financial records and call him Uncle Tom. Liberals question Ken Blackwell’s integrity and refer to Sen. Allen as maccawitz. Liberals attack any successful minority with whom they disagree (Rice, Powell, Thomas etc.) in the worst possible manner, all while calling for diversity.
While Liberals disparage successful conservative minorities of substance, they flock to know nothing, do nothing dopes like Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton, whose only accomplishments other than leading congregationless churches, is participating in organized race baiting, and shaking down of corporate America.
If only Kim Jong Mentally Ill would have fired off his nuke before the talk shows, we could have heard Tim ignore the world-wide ramifications of the event and ask, “Sen. Elect McCaskill, we all know that this is all President Bush’s fault, but how will this affect the Foley scandal?”
Friday, October 06, 2006
While the world burned...
Let me see:
- There is genocide in Darfur.
- AIDS continues to ravage Africa.
- Europe is turning into Eur-Arabia before our eyes.
- Hugo Chaves is intent on spreading anti-US Marxism throughout South America.
- North Korean nut job and Dear Leader Kim Jung Il, or is Il Jung - who really knows or cares - says he’s ready to test a nuke.
- Iranian nut job Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is seeking nukes to blast Israel off the face of the earth.
- If they get them, both are certain to provide nukes to terrorists to attack America.
- We are actively engaged in a war on terror on two fronts - Afghanistan and Iraq.
Which of those stories do you suppose is the lead in most newspapers today? Well it turns out that none of those stories with dire consequences for the world in general and the US in particular are interesting or compelling enough to knock the Mark Foley scandal off the front page just 33 days before an election. Now were it early spring, this thing would have died down after a day or two and our alert media would have turned its attention to the other big story that has captured the nation's attention - who is the real father of Anna Nichol Smith’s baby.
But what can we expect? Public schools have turned out a couple of generations of students who couldn’t find the Korean peninsula, Iran, Iraq or Afghanistan, any of the continents – hell even the state that they live in - on map let alone much care about the geopolitics of those regions and how they might affect life in the US. We pretty much get we what deserve.
So, the house has convened its ethics panel to look into the Foley situation. Remember the house also had Foley sitting on the panel for missing and exploited children. Having a house panel on ethics is like a whore house having a panel on virtue.
Speaker Hastert saw the irony. He proposed appointing former Clinton FBI director Louis Fhree as an independent council to look into the matter. Nance Pelosi nixed the idea because Fhree exposed Democrat hero, terror fighter extraordinaire, and protector of women - when he isn't groping or raping them, Bill Clinton as the feckless craven politico that he is in Fhree’s book My FBI.
So for now we’re stuck with a house panel on ethics looking into the rules that led to the misconduct of one of their own. In what political experts have called a stroke of genius, Nance Pelosi has recommended that Jack Kavorkian head up the house panel on suicide prevention.
- There is genocide in Darfur.
- AIDS continues to ravage Africa.
- Europe is turning into Eur-Arabia before our eyes.
- Hugo Chaves is intent on spreading anti-US Marxism throughout South America.
- North Korean nut job and Dear Leader Kim Jung Il, or is Il Jung - who really knows or cares - says he’s ready to test a nuke.
- Iranian nut job Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is seeking nukes to blast Israel off the face of the earth.
- If they get them, both are certain to provide nukes to terrorists to attack America.
- We are actively engaged in a war on terror on two fronts - Afghanistan and Iraq.
Which of those stories do you suppose is the lead in most newspapers today? Well it turns out that none of those stories with dire consequences for the world in general and the US in particular are interesting or compelling enough to knock the Mark Foley scandal off the front page just 33 days before an election. Now were it early spring, this thing would have died down after a day or two and our alert media would have turned its attention to the other big story that has captured the nation's attention - who is the real father of Anna Nichol Smith’s baby.
But what can we expect? Public schools have turned out a couple of generations of students who couldn’t find the Korean peninsula, Iran, Iraq or Afghanistan, any of the continents – hell even the state that they live in - on map let alone much care about the geopolitics of those regions and how they might affect life in the US. We pretty much get we what deserve.
So, the house has convened its ethics panel to look into the Foley situation. Remember the house also had Foley sitting on the panel for missing and exploited children. Having a house panel on ethics is like a whore house having a panel on virtue.
Speaker Hastert saw the irony. He proposed appointing former Clinton FBI director Louis Fhree as an independent council to look into the matter. Nance Pelosi nixed the idea because Fhree exposed Democrat hero, terror fighter extraordinaire, and protector of women - when he isn't groping or raping them, Bill Clinton as the feckless craven politico that he is in Fhree’s book My FBI.
So for now we’re stuck with a house panel on ethics looking into the rules that led to the misconduct of one of their own. In what political experts have called a stroke of genius, Nance Pelosi has recommended that Jack Kavorkian head up the house panel on suicide prevention.
Thursday, October 05, 2006
Foley scandal II
Were I Speaker Hastert, I’d call a news conference at noon today and say this:
“Good afternoon. I’m here to make my last statement on the scandal of disgraced Congressman Mark Foley. First, unlike Democrats Studds, Kennedy and Clinton to name but three of a very long list of Democrats caught in scandal, Mark Foley had the good sense to resign.
“He’s gone. So the Democrats and the MSM have turned their sights on me. Fine as you can see, I’m a big boy. I will not resign, because I’ve done nothing wrong. I thought that telling Foley to knock it off and having the FBI investigate the situation was sufficient action for a sitting member of congress. The FBI and several newspapers found that there was insufficient reason, based on the ‘overly friendly’ e-mails, to suspect that Foley was as demented as he turned out to be. Only Democrats in hindsight have pointed out that a gay man can't be trusted with e-mail to a page and that that alone should have set off warning bells. That said, if I’d know what a pervert Foley was, I’d certainly have done more. I didn’t and I regret that.
“But somebody did know more. Somebody saved the three year old instant messages and provided them to the media. I’d like to know who that was. I’d like to know how long that individual knew we had a pervert in our midst and did nothing. Now I’ll take some questions, but that is all I have to say about Foley until the investigation is completed.”
Reporter: When did you first find out about Foley?
Hastert: That’s a very good question. The biggest difference between us and Democrats is that we take the war on terror seriously. Seriously enough to give the president and our troops the tools they need to keep America safe. A majority of Democrat in the House opposed every piece of anti-terror legislation that came up this session, from opposing eavesdropping on terrorists calling into the country, to allowing the CIA to question al Qaeda operatives, the Democrats sided with the terrorists against America. Harry Reid bragged that he’d killed the Patriot Act – the most important legislative tool in our war on terror.
Reporter: Huh? I asked about Foley.
Hastert: That’s an excellent point. Democrats are sure to raise your taxes. We are sure to make current tax cuts permanent and seek additional ways to lower the onerous tax burden the federal government has placed on the American worker.
Reporter: Hello! We want to know about Foley.
Hastert: Well of course we supported closing America’s borders to illegal immigration – a move House Democrats opposed. If elected to the majority, Democrats will certainly introduce amnesty legislation for the 12 million people who have entered our country illegally. Thank you and have a nice day.
“Good afternoon. I’m here to make my last statement on the scandal of disgraced Congressman Mark Foley. First, unlike Democrats Studds, Kennedy and Clinton to name but three of a very long list of Democrats caught in scandal, Mark Foley had the good sense to resign.
“He’s gone. So the Democrats and the MSM have turned their sights on me. Fine as you can see, I’m a big boy. I will not resign, because I’ve done nothing wrong. I thought that telling Foley to knock it off and having the FBI investigate the situation was sufficient action for a sitting member of congress. The FBI and several newspapers found that there was insufficient reason, based on the ‘overly friendly’ e-mails, to suspect that Foley was as demented as he turned out to be. Only Democrats in hindsight have pointed out that a gay man can't be trusted with e-mail to a page and that that alone should have set off warning bells. That said, if I’d know what a pervert Foley was, I’d certainly have done more. I didn’t and I regret that.
“But somebody did know more. Somebody saved the three year old instant messages and provided them to the media. I’d like to know who that was. I’d like to know how long that individual knew we had a pervert in our midst and did nothing. Now I’ll take some questions, but that is all I have to say about Foley until the investigation is completed.”
Reporter: When did you first find out about Foley?
Hastert: That’s a very good question. The biggest difference between us and Democrats is that we take the war on terror seriously. Seriously enough to give the president and our troops the tools they need to keep America safe. A majority of Democrat in the House opposed every piece of anti-terror legislation that came up this session, from opposing eavesdropping on terrorists calling into the country, to allowing the CIA to question al Qaeda operatives, the Democrats sided with the terrorists against America. Harry Reid bragged that he’d killed the Patriot Act – the most important legislative tool in our war on terror.
Reporter: Huh? I asked about Foley.
Hastert: That’s an excellent point. Democrats are sure to raise your taxes. We are sure to make current tax cuts permanent and seek additional ways to lower the onerous tax burden the federal government has placed on the American worker.
Reporter: Hello! We want to know about Foley.
Hastert: Well of course we supported closing America’s borders to illegal immigration – a move House Democrats opposed. If elected to the majority, Democrats will certainly introduce amnesty legislation for the 12 million people who have entered our country illegally. Thank you and have a nice day.
Wednesday, October 04, 2006
We are not like them
While Democrats locked in close election battles supported the Military Commissions Act of 2006, those in safe states and districts voted against it and claimed the act makes America like the enemy we are fighting.
Oh really? I’ve done a quick web search and can’t find where in the act it calls for American children to blow themselves up in a crowded restaurant or bus. I’ve also word searched the act and the word “beheading” got a big “not found.” Not even once. I looked through the bill and can’t find where it calls for President Bush to establish a world-wide caliphate and the killing of everyone who does not believe as he does. Stunningly, for an act that makes us like them, there is not single reference to jihad, 72 virgins or flying airplanes into tall buildings.
While the act makes us no more like them than installing fog lights on a Ford makes it a Chevy, the act does contrast us (conservatives) with them (liberals). Liberals believe that protecting the republic makes America like a terrorist. Liberals believe that a Republican president who was elected by a four million vote margin by their fellow citizens is un-American because he takes the threat posed by Islamo-terror-fascists seriously. Liberals believe that the military cannot be trusted and would gleefully violate the law. Liberals believe America is the biggest problem in the world. Liberals believe the MSM. Conservatives don’t believe any of that.
Oh really? I’ve done a quick web search and can’t find where in the act it calls for American children to blow themselves up in a crowded restaurant or bus. I’ve also word searched the act and the word “beheading” got a big “not found.” Not even once. I looked through the bill and can’t find where it calls for President Bush to establish a world-wide caliphate and the killing of everyone who does not believe as he does. Stunningly, for an act that makes us like them, there is not single reference to jihad, 72 virgins or flying airplanes into tall buildings.
While the act makes us no more like them than installing fog lights on a Ford makes it a Chevy, the act does contrast us (conservatives) with them (liberals). Liberals believe that protecting the republic makes America like a terrorist. Liberals believe that a Republican president who was elected by a four million vote margin by their fellow citizens is un-American because he takes the threat posed by Islamo-terror-fascists seriously. Liberals believe that the military cannot be trusted and would gleefully violate the law. Liberals believe America is the biggest problem in the world. Liberals believe the MSM. Conservatives don’t believe any of that.
Tuesday, October 03, 2006
Foley, Hastert & Democrat hypocrisy
In another case of stunning hypocrisy, Democrats are wetting themselves in mock outrage at Congressman Mark Foley’s indiscretions and Speaker Hastert’s handling of the situation.
First Foley: Any political party that claims Studds (homosexual statutory rape with a 17 year old page inside the Capitol Building), Kennedy (philandering drunk who lets a woman die in the back seat of his car, waits hours before notifying the police), Frank (ticket fixing partner in a homosexual prostitution business run from his apartment), Clinton (philandering, lying, groping, accused rapist) as honored members of the party, ought to have the good sense to just shut the hell up.
Foley has resigned and is under investigation by the Justice department. It turns out that he’s been under investigation for some time by the FBI and several newspapers based on some “overly friendly” e-mails turned to over to the House leadership. Only after the salacious instant messaging bombshell hit did they and we discover what a pervert Foley really is.
Now Hastert: Does anyone else see any irony in the fact that the party that wants to confer all manner of civil rights and US Constitutional protections to terrorists trying to destroy us, is now demanding Hastert’s head before even a rudimentary investigation is completed? Does anyone else see any hypocrisy in the fact that the supposed party homosexual right and gay marriage is now saying that Hastert should have done something about Foley based on the odd e-mail messages, because after all everyone knew Foley was gay and that should have set off red lights? No pun Mr. Frank. Does anyone else see any double standard for Democrats arguing on the one hand that the Republicans “were trying to undo an election” when Democrat moral icon Bill Clinton got caught with trousers down in the oval office and on the other hand Democrats wanting Hastert to undo Florida’s 16th Congressional District election based on some odd e-mails, because after all, Foley’s gay?
Liberal: We shall know ye by your hypocrisy
First Foley: Any political party that claims Studds (homosexual statutory rape with a 17 year old page inside the Capitol Building), Kennedy (philandering drunk who lets a woman die in the back seat of his car, waits hours before notifying the police), Frank (ticket fixing partner in a homosexual prostitution business run from his apartment), Clinton (philandering, lying, groping, accused rapist) as honored members of the party, ought to have the good sense to just shut the hell up.
Foley has resigned and is under investigation by the Justice department. It turns out that he’s been under investigation for some time by the FBI and several newspapers based on some “overly friendly” e-mails turned to over to the House leadership. Only after the salacious instant messaging bombshell hit did they and we discover what a pervert Foley really is.
Now Hastert: Does anyone else see any irony in the fact that the party that wants to confer all manner of civil rights and US Constitutional protections to terrorists trying to destroy us, is now demanding Hastert’s head before even a rudimentary investigation is completed? Does anyone else see any hypocrisy in the fact that the supposed party homosexual right and gay marriage is now saying that Hastert should have done something about Foley based on the odd e-mail messages, because after all everyone knew Foley was gay and that should have set off red lights? No pun Mr. Frank. Does anyone else see any double standard for Democrats arguing on the one hand that the Republicans “were trying to undo an election” when Democrat moral icon Bill Clinton got caught with trousers down in the oval office and on the other hand Democrats wanting Hastert to undo Florida’s 16th Congressional District election based on some odd e-mails, because after all, Foley’s gay?
Liberal: We shall know ye by your hypocrisy
Monday, October 02, 2006
First your cigarettes, then your guns, then your...
On September 26, 2006, the house passed H. R. 5092 to modernize the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (BATFE). The bill passed 277-131. As a public school grad, I know that that is nearly a two to one margin. I also know, Republicans hold about a 30 seat majority of the 435 member of the house. So, I know that at least 1 Democrat must have voted for the bill. The actual break down is:
213 Reps, 63 Dems, 1 Ind voting yea
8 Reps, 123 Dems voting nay
24 pillars of integrity and courage of their convictions were caught in the bathroom and tight elections during the vote and so took the high road and abstained. 9 were Reps, 15 were Dems.
On the whole and given the division between the two parties these days, one might say that H.R. 5092 enjoyed fairly wide bipartisan support. That is unless you happen to be a left leaning buffoon who happens to draw his meager pay check from a liberal fish wrap like the Ft. Wayne Journal-Gazette. Then you consult the “ban all firearms immediately” Brady web site to see what you ought to think about the bill. After seeing Brady opposed the bill, you reflexively lift a few of the most idiotic arguments from their web page, add in a few new invectives of your own, predict chaos in the streets and publish it as an editorial.
Since Ft. Wayne is already after your smokes, I figure our guns, beers and Big Macs can’t be far behind – so Lex weighed-in (If you’re starved for time cut to the last paragraph):
Dear Editor,
Whoever wrote the tripe on H.R. 5092 should be fired. They so misstated what the bill will accomplish, it’s obvious they pulled a release from the Brady web page rather than actually read the bill. Your OpEd is 180 degrees out of phase.
Rather than hamper the BATFE, the main point of H.R. 5092 was to give the BATFE additional tools to deal with Federal Firearms Licensees (FFLs) that violate the law. Before H.R. 5092 the BATFE could only issue a warning or revoke the license. This bill allows for fines and/or license suspensions for less serious violations, while allowing license revocation for more serious violations that would put illegal guns in the hands of criminals. H.R. 5092 also clarifies the standard for violations. It allows penalties for intentional, purposeful violations of the law, but not for simple paperwork mistakes which was the all or nothing approach of the previous law. The law also allows for FFLs to appeal BATFE judgments to a judge rather than the BATFE. That ought to seem reasonable enough to anyone interested in justice.
All of this demonstrates why the Brady study, the flimsy hook upon which your error heavy editorial hangs, has been determined to be a shame. Among other things, it never took into account the 90% of violators who never challenged – due lack of money – the BATFE findings. The study also compares an onerous federal government more interested in stopping legal gun purchases than terrorists under President Clinton to a more constitutionally restrained BATFE under President Bush. Surprise, surprise, the BATFE under Clinton found more paper work violations and put otherwise honest FFLs out business.
Of course the whole point of the Brady study could be made moot if the congress would pass the NRA supported instant firearms checks using technology similar to credit card transactions. Where do Brady and J-G stand on that? Brady has never been for simplifying the legal purchase of firearms or even preventing illegal firearms purchases. Brady is interested in just one thing - banning firearms.
Also, it would be nice to be able to believe what is printed in the J-G. But as part of the MSM that brought us rigged exploding pickups, fake (forged is too elegant a word) National Guard papers, photo shopped war pictures and terrorists propaganda pictures, unfortunately you have placed the burden of proof on your readers rather than your reporters. To turn a phrase of a great American, people can’t trust, they must verify what is in the MSM these days.
I’d like to believe that the Federal Law Enforcement Officers Association came out against the bill, but a search of their web site using H.R. 5092 as search criteria produced a whopping 0 documents found. Even the Brady site has no letter of support from FLEOA. So while FLEOA may have opposed the bill, their opposition wasn’t vigorous enough to share on their own or even the Brady web site. Meanwhile, what is found on the Brady web site is eerily similar to your OpEd.
Oh yeah, in the off chance that you’re right about H.R. 5092, I guess there is only one thing left to do. Go buy a gun to protect yourself from all of those illegal guns that are going to be out there.
Regards,
Doug Schumick
213 Reps, 63 Dems, 1 Ind voting yea
8 Reps, 123 Dems voting nay
24 pillars of integrity and courage of their convictions were caught in the bathroom and tight elections during the vote and so took the high road and abstained. 9 were Reps, 15 were Dems.
On the whole and given the division between the two parties these days, one might say that H.R. 5092 enjoyed fairly wide bipartisan support. That is unless you happen to be a left leaning buffoon who happens to draw his meager pay check from a liberal fish wrap like the Ft. Wayne Journal-Gazette. Then you consult the “ban all firearms immediately” Brady web site to see what you ought to think about the bill. After seeing Brady opposed the bill, you reflexively lift a few of the most idiotic arguments from their web page, add in a few new invectives of your own, predict chaos in the streets and publish it as an editorial.
Since Ft. Wayne is already after your smokes, I figure our guns, beers and Big Macs can’t be far behind – so Lex weighed-in (If you’re starved for time cut to the last paragraph):
Dear Editor,
Whoever wrote the tripe on H.R. 5092 should be fired. They so misstated what the bill will accomplish, it’s obvious they pulled a release from the Brady web page rather than actually read the bill. Your OpEd is 180 degrees out of phase.
Rather than hamper the BATFE, the main point of H.R. 5092 was to give the BATFE additional tools to deal with Federal Firearms Licensees (FFLs) that violate the law. Before H.R. 5092 the BATFE could only issue a warning or revoke the license. This bill allows for fines and/or license suspensions for less serious violations, while allowing license revocation for more serious violations that would put illegal guns in the hands of criminals. H.R. 5092 also clarifies the standard for violations. It allows penalties for intentional, purposeful violations of the law, but not for simple paperwork mistakes which was the all or nothing approach of the previous law. The law also allows for FFLs to appeal BATFE judgments to a judge rather than the BATFE. That ought to seem reasonable enough to anyone interested in justice.
All of this demonstrates why the Brady study, the flimsy hook upon which your error heavy editorial hangs, has been determined to be a shame. Among other things, it never took into account the 90% of violators who never challenged – due lack of money – the BATFE findings. The study also compares an onerous federal government more interested in stopping legal gun purchases than terrorists under President Clinton to a more constitutionally restrained BATFE under President Bush. Surprise, surprise, the BATFE under Clinton found more paper work violations and put otherwise honest FFLs out business.
Of course the whole point of the Brady study could be made moot if the congress would pass the NRA supported instant firearms checks using technology similar to credit card transactions. Where do Brady and J-G stand on that? Brady has never been for simplifying the legal purchase of firearms or even preventing illegal firearms purchases. Brady is interested in just one thing - banning firearms.
Also, it would be nice to be able to believe what is printed in the J-G. But as part of the MSM that brought us rigged exploding pickups, fake (forged is too elegant a word) National Guard papers, photo shopped war pictures and terrorists propaganda pictures, unfortunately you have placed the burden of proof on your readers rather than your reporters. To turn a phrase of a great American, people can’t trust, they must verify what is in the MSM these days.
I’d like to believe that the Federal Law Enforcement Officers Association came out against the bill, but a search of their web site using H.R. 5092 as search criteria produced a whopping 0 documents found. Even the Brady site has no letter of support from FLEOA. So while FLEOA may have opposed the bill, their opposition wasn’t vigorous enough to share on their own or even the Brady web site. Meanwhile, what is found on the Brady web site is eerily similar to your OpEd.
Oh yeah, in the off chance that you’re right about H.R. 5092, I guess there is only one thing left to do. Go buy a gun to protect yourself from all of those illegal guns that are going to be out there.
Regards,
Doug Schumick
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