I have been following the blogging and cooking adventures of Steve over at Hog on Ice for a couple of months. In addition to being a good cook, Steve is hilarious.
Currently working on his second cookbook, his first book Eat What You Want and Die Like a Man is even making him a little cash to pay for his blogging and eating habits.
Steve says: “Live Fat, die young, and leave a really big corpse.” I LIKE IT! Steve and I are men of the same (clogged) vein when it comes to cooking.
Then there is this news story: Southern Food Frustrates Health Officials.
“DECATUR, Ga. Feb 13, 2005 — When Becky Cleaveland is out with her girlfriends, they all pick at salads except for the petite Atlanta woman. She tackles "The Hamdog."
The dish, a specialty of Mulligan's, a suburban bar, is a hot dog wrapped by a beef patty that's deep fried, covered with chili, cheese and onions and served on a hoagie bun. Oh yeah, it's also topped with a fried egg and two fistfuls of fries.”
I love it, a hot dog weiner wrapped in a beef patty, etc., etc.
I am happy as hell that Southern food still frustrates the bed-wetting liberal know-it-alls over at the Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta.
If I listened to them, when it comes to cooking, I would have to leave out a very important ingredient…
Flavor!
And I just can’t do that, no matter what my waist size expands to... Sorry Y'all
Monday, February 14, 2005
It's Not My Job
(For me to be forced to pay taxes to help you keep your job)
Just so that we are clear from the start, let me repeat my title here again: "It's not my job for me to be forced to pay taxes to help you keep your job."
GET IT?
No you don't, because, unfortunately, I have to break something else to you:
"It's not YOUR job unless you are self employed or otherwise own the company you work for."
With these horrible revelations in mind, let's look at this story about Michigan unemployment.
"Michigan's jobless rate climbed to 7.3 percent in December, a new high for the year that could leave the state with the worst unemployment rate in the nation.
More than 369,000 state residents were out of work in December, reducing the number of people working in Michigan to a 2004 low of 4.6 million."
The numbers should tell you something about the kind of jobs available in the State of Michigan, and the kinds of workers that Michigan has produced or attracts. Read more:
"For 21 of the past 28 years, Michigan's unemployment rate has been higher than the national rate. I know everyone likes to the point to the Clinton boom times when we had one of the lowest jobless rates in the nation.
"But," she concluded, "we aren't in Clinton boom times."
Michigan State University economics professor Charles Ballard said he thinks it's likely the state's jobless numbers will begin to recede in 2005.
"It is still true that if the U.S. economy has a good year in 2005, Michigan's economy will probably slowly improve," Ballard said.
He added, however, that Michigan is going to continue to lag until its workers get better educated. "We rank 39th among the 50 states in terms of percentage of our adult population that has a college degree," he said. (emphasis mine,VRR)
That last little detail...39th among the 50 states (in college degrees)--says it all, as far as I am concerned.
Michigan residents have to face the tough reality that their historic love affair with big fat overpaid union manufacturing jobs has caused their state to be populated with tax-paying citizens that at best graduate from high school before they go to work on the local "widget" assembly line.
But you know what? Manufacturers are no longer willing and able to pay $35 per hour in union wages to employ a bunch of arrogant, undereducated, "worker-bees" that now spend their days lamenting "their" jobs being sent to China or Mexico.
Remember what I said? THEY WERE NOT "THEIR" JOBS IN THE FIRST PLACE.
"In July, Pete Noel became one of the thousands of Michigan factory workers who lost work to overseas competition. Noel was turned out of his machinist job of 36 years when the Keeler Die Cast. Co. plant in Grand Rapids closed, its work transferred to China.
"The only offers I get are $8 an hour with no benefits," said Noel, who was among 120 who lost their jobs when Keeler closed.
In April, welder Jim Downey lost his job making trailer hitches at the Veltri Metal Products plant in New Baltimore after the company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.
Now potential employers tell him he's no longer qualified for the job he held for more than two decades.
"The job I used to do, now they suddenly want a college degree," Downey said.
In September, Downey became a part-time custodian at Warren public schools.
Former factory workers are the least likely of all workers to find new full-time jobs. A third of them will eventually accept work for lower pay, often 20 percent less with reduced benefits, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics."
Imagine the uproar among buggy whip and horse shoe manufacturers in the early 1900's as 15 million of Henry Ford's Model T automobiles poured off of the assembly lines. Don't you suppose that the advent of readily available, affordable cars put a minor dent in their income and employment base (not to mention putting about 30 million horses out of work?)
The workers stopped making buggy whips, sold their hammers and anvils, and went to work bolting cars together. People across the country feverishly bought train and bus tickets (or walked and rode horses) by the thousands to move to Michigan or other cities like Atlanta where Ford plants were located in order to take on the new auto manufacturing jobs.
The new autoworkers probably had to learn new work skills since Model T's didn't have a lot of braided leather in their austere interiors and cars rolled down the road on four rubber tires rather than clomping along on four hand forged horseshoes. Even so, times changed and so did the employee base of our country.
Not so today. People want the Government to take care of their employment problems. They don't want to change.
And leave it to the rocket scientist Democratic Governor Jennifer Granholm of Michigan to come up with a brainstorm solution. She wants to INCREASE the taxes on successful non-manufacturing businesses in order to support cutting the taxes on the struggling manufacturers.
Typical Liberal BS. "YOU make too much money and YOU don't NEED all of it so the GOVERNMENT is going to step in and confiscate YOUR MONEY under force of law and give it to some lazy, under-educated, unemployed voters that supposedly do NEED IT."
"Gov. Jennifer Granholm's proposed Michigan Jobs & Investment Act is a ray of sunshine for Michigan businesses struggling through the worst economic times in decades.
It's a gutsy move to remake the way the state taxes businesses.
It's not an overall tax cut."
Imagine that. "WELL OF COURSE IT'S NOT AN OVERALL TAX CUT, BECAUSE YOU CAN'T TAX A LOSS." Also notice the use of the word "investment" in the name of Ms. Granholm's new government program rather than the word "tax." Just like I recently wrote about the meaning of the words "budget cut", the liberals and the government have changed the meaning of the word "investment" from "putting your money into something expecting a return on your investment" to that of "redistribution of other people's income through taxation."
Read further with me and get angrier:
"Nor does it increase the money that Michigan gets from businesses.
It's a shift.
Now, the Single Business Tax formula concentrates on manufacturers' payrolls.
In general, the more people on the payroll, the more tax a company pays.
It's punishing businesses big and small for employing people."
Aaah...excuse me...but Michigan did this to themselves by passing the law in 1975...
Just so that we are clear from the start, let me repeat my title here again: "It's not my job for me to be forced to pay taxes to help you keep your job."
GET IT?
No you don't, because, unfortunately, I have to break something else to you:
"It's not YOUR job unless you are self employed or otherwise own the company you work for."
With these horrible revelations in mind, let's look at this story about Michigan unemployment.
"Michigan's jobless rate climbed to 7.3 percent in December, a new high for the year that could leave the state with the worst unemployment rate in the nation.
More than 369,000 state residents were out of work in December, reducing the number of people working in Michigan to a 2004 low of 4.6 million."
The numbers should tell you something about the kind of jobs available in the State of Michigan, and the kinds of workers that Michigan has produced or attracts. Read more:
"For 21 of the past 28 years, Michigan's unemployment rate has been higher than the national rate. I know everyone likes to the point to the Clinton boom times when we had one of the lowest jobless rates in the nation.
"But," she concluded, "we aren't in Clinton boom times."
Michigan State University economics professor Charles Ballard said he thinks it's likely the state's jobless numbers will begin to recede in 2005.
"It is still true that if the U.S. economy has a good year in 2005, Michigan's economy will probably slowly improve," Ballard said.
He added, however, that Michigan is going to continue to lag until its workers get better educated. "We rank 39th among the 50 states in terms of percentage of our adult population that has a college degree," he said. (emphasis mine,VRR)
That last little detail...39th among the 50 states (in college degrees)--says it all, as far as I am concerned.
Michigan residents have to face the tough reality that their historic love affair with big fat overpaid union manufacturing jobs has caused their state to be populated with tax-paying citizens that at best graduate from high school before they go to work on the local "widget" assembly line.
But you know what? Manufacturers are no longer willing and able to pay $35 per hour in union wages to employ a bunch of arrogant, undereducated, "worker-bees" that now spend their days lamenting "their" jobs being sent to China or Mexico.
Remember what I said? THEY WERE NOT "THEIR" JOBS IN THE FIRST PLACE.
"In July, Pete Noel became one of the thousands of Michigan factory workers who lost work to overseas competition. Noel was turned out of his machinist job of 36 years when the Keeler Die Cast. Co. plant in Grand Rapids closed, its work transferred to China.
"The only offers I get are $8 an hour with no benefits," said Noel, who was among 120 who lost their jobs when Keeler closed.
In April, welder Jim Downey lost his job making trailer hitches at the Veltri Metal Products plant in New Baltimore after the company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.
Now potential employers tell him he's no longer qualified for the job he held for more than two decades.
"The job I used to do, now they suddenly want a college degree," Downey said.
In September, Downey became a part-time custodian at Warren public schools.
Former factory workers are the least likely of all workers to find new full-time jobs. A third of them will eventually accept work for lower pay, often 20 percent less with reduced benefits, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics."
Imagine the uproar among buggy whip and horse shoe manufacturers in the early 1900's as 15 million of Henry Ford's Model T automobiles poured off of the assembly lines. Don't you suppose that the advent of readily available, affordable cars put a minor dent in their income and employment base (not to mention putting about 30 million horses out of work?)
The workers stopped making buggy whips, sold their hammers and anvils, and went to work bolting cars together. People across the country feverishly bought train and bus tickets (or walked and rode horses) by the thousands to move to Michigan or other cities like Atlanta where Ford plants were located in order to take on the new auto manufacturing jobs.
The new autoworkers probably had to learn new work skills since Model T's didn't have a lot of braided leather in their austere interiors and cars rolled down the road on four rubber tires rather than clomping along on four hand forged horseshoes. Even so, times changed and so did the employee base of our country.
Not so today. People want the Government to take care of their employment problems. They don't want to change.
And leave it to the rocket scientist Democratic Governor Jennifer Granholm of Michigan to come up with a brainstorm solution. She wants to INCREASE the taxes on successful non-manufacturing businesses in order to support cutting the taxes on the struggling manufacturers.
Typical Liberal BS. "YOU make too much money and YOU don't NEED all of it so the GOVERNMENT is going to step in and confiscate YOUR MONEY under force of law and give it to some lazy, under-educated, unemployed voters that supposedly do NEED IT."
"Gov. Jennifer Granholm's proposed Michigan Jobs & Investment Act is a ray of sunshine for Michigan businesses struggling through the worst economic times in decades.
It's a gutsy move to remake the way the state taxes businesses.
It's not an overall tax cut."
Imagine that. "WELL OF COURSE IT'S NOT AN OVERALL TAX CUT, BECAUSE YOU CAN'T TAX A LOSS." Also notice the use of the word "investment" in the name of Ms. Granholm's new government program rather than the word "tax." Just like I recently wrote about the meaning of the words "budget cut", the liberals and the government have changed the meaning of the word "investment" from "putting your money into something expecting a return on your investment" to that of "redistribution of other people's income through taxation."
Read further with me and get angrier:
"Nor does it increase the money that Michigan gets from businesses.
It's a shift.
Now, the Single Business Tax formula concentrates on manufacturers' payrolls.
In general, the more people on the payroll, the more tax a company pays.
It's punishing businesses big and small for employing people."
Aaah...excuse me...but Michigan did this to themselves by passing the law in 1975...
"That could be at least one of the reasons why Michigan's unemployment rate is the highest in the nation - 7.3 percent.
Instead, Granholm wants to turn the formula around, and base the Single Business Tax more on profits.
Those companies that are making money would pay more in taxes."
Everyone...give me a big old collective Duuuuuuhhhhh here on the relevation that companies making more money pay more taxes...
"The result would be a tax cut of 37-40 percent for 72,000 Michigan businesses. That includes most small businesses, manufacturers and retailers.
The tax would rise for 22,000 businesses, mostly consulting-type operations with low overhead, few employees and high profits.
This just might work."
I'm sorry, I don't want children to go hungry and I'm not supporting causing Michigan families to be forced to live in their mini vans, but this is typical liberal CRAP.
Rather than the government encouraging the employees to modify their employment skills to suit the needs of the current workplace (or even relocate to where the jobs are to be found,) they want to attempt to somehow modify the state's business climate to suit the abilities of the workers.
And the idea will not work--not for very long. You know why?
BECAUSE I DON'T NEED A BUGGY WHIP OR ANY HORSESHOES, I DRIVE A CHEVY SURBURBAN BUILT IN CANADA.
Any further questions?
Sunday, February 13, 2005
Breaking News...
I just visited Howard Dean’s Website and boy was I surprised.
Based on the map on the Dean Website, it seems that as the newly elected Chairman of the DNC, Dean has plans to move the states of Alaska and Hawaii from their present far flung, inconvienant locations in the Pacific Ocean to of all places--Mexico.
That’s right, Mexico… No more long airline trips and and time zone changes.
Also, in the process of relocation, Alaska will shrink to a size smaller than Texas and Hawaii will grow larger than Delaware, New Jersey, or Massachussets.
I’m E-mailing AAA and getting my free map in anticipation of a road trip driving south of the border to our 49th and 50th states later this spring. Anyone with me?
Cómo se dice en español…Aloha? Eerrrrrraaaaaaahhhhh?
Based on the map on the Dean Website, it seems that as the newly elected Chairman of the DNC, Dean has plans to move the states of Alaska and Hawaii from their present far flung, inconvienant locations in the Pacific Ocean to of all places--Mexico.
That’s right, Mexico… No more long airline trips and and time zone changes.
Also, in the process of relocation, Alaska will shrink to a size smaller than Texas and Hawaii will grow larger than Delaware, New Jersey, or Massachussets.
I’m E-mailing AAA and getting my free map in anticipation of a road trip driving south of the border to our 49th and 50th states later this spring. Anyone with me?
Cómo se dice en español…Aloha? Eerrrrrraaaaaaahhhhh?
Good Employment Opportunity
(For Washed-Up TV Reporters)
You know, there is something that really bothers me about the recent blogger lead victories over main stream media journalists. In spite of the clear successes of the blogosphere in revealing conscious, factual, often time’s malicious inaccuracies in stories recounted by high profile, influential members of the traditional media outlets, there still isn’t any closure. The guilty parties have been allowed to quietly slip out the side door of public attention.
There are no public admissions of guilt and no apologies from the guilty parties. They are not sorry they attempted to spread lies, they are sorry that they got caught spreading lies. They are cowards, and their Main Stream Media peers allow them to get away without fully acknowledging the total scope of their transgressions. They are somehow made to appear as martyrs who are victims of circumstance.
Dan Rather was allowed to retire, six months in advance, while still propping his sullen scowl onto our TV screens each night. To this day he still has the audacity to say that he believes that the allegations he made against President Bush on behalf of CBS were true, even though the supporting documents have been totally discredited.
In my opinion, Dan Rather is a partisan hack and a liar.
And then there is Eason Jordan. You know, the scumbag that was running around the world making allegations that US troops were intentionally targeting journalists because they didn’t like the news coverage that they were getting. He tried to say that his comments were taken out of context, but bloggers found documentation of similar allegations dating back to 2002. Jordan resigned Friday.
I just did a Google search for Eason Jordan and found that the only one of the top ten links was to a main stream media outlet—CNN. Everything else was internet based Blog sites and The National Review Online which had a story dated Friday preceding Jordan’s resignation. The main stream media (ABC, CBS, NBC) are simply avoiding it. CNN is covering it because it has to—but they certainly wish the story would go away.
Well, I have some good news about an employment opportunity for Mr. Rather and Mr. Jordan. There seems to be a recent job opening in Somalia since the BBC reporter, Kate Peyton, was shot in the back and killed within hours of arriving in the country.
Hey Mr. Jordan, it’s not American troops that are targeting journalists, it’s TERORISTS!
You MORON…
You know, there is something that really bothers me about the recent blogger lead victories over main stream media journalists. In spite of the clear successes of the blogosphere in revealing conscious, factual, often time’s malicious inaccuracies in stories recounted by high profile, influential members of the traditional media outlets, there still isn’t any closure. The guilty parties have been allowed to quietly slip out the side door of public attention.
There are no public admissions of guilt and no apologies from the guilty parties. They are not sorry they attempted to spread lies, they are sorry that they got caught spreading lies. They are cowards, and their Main Stream Media peers allow them to get away without fully acknowledging the total scope of their transgressions. They are somehow made to appear as martyrs who are victims of circumstance.
Dan Rather was allowed to retire, six months in advance, while still propping his sullen scowl onto our TV screens each night. To this day he still has the audacity to say that he believes that the allegations he made against President Bush on behalf of CBS were true, even though the supporting documents have been totally discredited.
In my opinion, Dan Rather is a partisan hack and a liar.
And then there is Eason Jordan. You know, the scumbag that was running around the world making allegations that US troops were intentionally targeting journalists because they didn’t like the news coverage that they were getting. He tried to say that his comments were taken out of context, but bloggers found documentation of similar allegations dating back to 2002. Jordan resigned Friday.
I just did a Google search for Eason Jordan and found that the only one of the top ten links was to a main stream media outlet—CNN. Everything else was internet based Blog sites and The National Review Online which had a story dated Friday preceding Jordan’s resignation. The main stream media (ABC, CBS, NBC) are simply avoiding it. CNN is covering it because it has to—but they certainly wish the story would go away.
Well, I have some good news about an employment opportunity for Mr. Rather and Mr. Jordan. There seems to be a recent job opening in Somalia since the BBC reporter, Kate Peyton, was shot in the back and killed within hours of arriving in the country.
Hey Mr. Jordan, it’s not American troops that are targeting journalists, it’s TERORISTS!
You MORON…
Spanish Surrender Monkeys Suffer the Consequences
I am watching FOX news this morning while writing and there is a huge skyscraper totaly ablaze in downtown Madrid. While I fear for the potential loss of life and take no satisfaction in same, I hope the world is watching and learning from the example of the Spanish people’s caving to Islamic Terrorist demands in their national elections last year.
Every time something happens in Spain, the world’s population is going to hold their collective breath until the cause is proven to not be terrorism.
I hope voters everywhere are learning that you cannot vote your way out of the way of EVIL.
Every time something happens in Spain, the world’s population is going to hold their collective breath until the cause is proven to not be terrorism.
I hope voters everywhere are learning that you cannot vote your way out of the way of EVIL.
Friday, February 11, 2005
Another One Bites The Dust
I take no credit for the outcome, yet I take great satisfaction in the end result.
CNN announced the resignation of news "executive" Eason Jordan this evening.
Congratulations to Captain Ed over at Captains Quarters for his diligent efforts.
On behalf of the Blogosphere, I have a question...
"Hey Main Stream media (and Ward Churchill,) you want some more of this???"
CNN announced the resignation of news "executive" Eason Jordan this evening.
Congratulations to Captain Ed over at Captains Quarters for his diligent efforts.
On behalf of the Blogosphere, I have a question...
"Hey Main Stream media (and Ward Churchill,) you want some more of this???"
Thursday, February 10, 2005
What a Ultra-Maroon
Just in case you have been on vacation, living in a cave, or limiting your news gathering to watching the Clinton News Network and reading the local newspaper for the past two weeks, I have a little Blogosphere news tidbit that might be finally making it out into daylight in the next few days/weeks.
There is this man (and I use the term “man” with great trepidation,) Eason Jordan, who currently holds the title of Executive Vice President and Chief News Executive of CNN.
You might remember Mr. Jordan's illustrious work since he was in charge of CNN’s Iraqi bureau when it was turning it’s collective numbskull head to Saddam’s barbarisms in an effort to keep a presence in Iraq before the US invasion. "They did what they had to do to keep their news operation open," he said
Now it has been revealed that, in an effort to pander to the US loathing international community that pays a good portion of CNN’s bills (and Jordan's salary), comrade Jordan is running around in public saying that US troops are intentionally targeting and killing reporters in Iraq:
"The head of CNN's news division, Eason Jordan, ignited an Internet firestorm last week when he told a panel at a World Economic Forum gathering in Davos, Switzerland, that the American military had targeted journalists during operations in Iraq.
Mr. Jordan, speaking in a panel discussion titled "Will Democracy Survive the Media?" said "he knew of about 12 journalists who had not only been killed by American troops, but had been targeted as a matter of policy," said Rep. Barney Frank, a Democrat of Massachusetts who was on the panel with Mr. Jordan.
In an interview with The New York Sun, Mr. Frank said Mr. Jordan discussed in detail the plight of an Al-Jazeera reporter who had been detained by American forces, was made to eat his shoes while incarcerated in the Abu Ghraib prison, and was repeatedly mocked by his interrogators as "Al-Jazeera boy."
A man who said he was a producer with Al-Jazeera at the network's headquarters in Doha, Qatar, said he was unaware of any such incident, "although we have had problems with American troops in and out of Iraq." The Al-Jazeera producer refused to give his name."
My buddy Captain Ed over at Captains Quarters has been losing a good deal of sleep over this issue over the past week or so and is one of the best sources of breaking info on the subject.
There is also a dedicated Easongate web page with an online petition asking CNN to release the videotape and answer the question of what comrade Jordan is saying once and for all. I signed it.
All I know is that this is complete crap. How can anyone believe anything coming out of CNN when they have a person at comrade Jordan’s level of responsibility telling lies like this? If his allegations are true, I want the offenders prosecuted.
If the allegations are not true, I believe that CNN should fire Jordan...NOW.
There is this man (and I use the term “man” with great trepidation,) Eason Jordan, who currently holds the title of Executive Vice President and Chief News Executive of CNN.
You might remember Mr. Jordan's illustrious work since he was in charge of CNN’s Iraqi bureau when it was turning it’s collective numbskull head to Saddam’s barbarisms in an effort to keep a presence in Iraq before the US invasion. "They did what they had to do to keep their news operation open," he said
Now it has been revealed that, in an effort to pander to the US loathing international community that pays a good portion of CNN’s bills (and Jordan's salary), comrade Jordan is running around in public saying that US troops are intentionally targeting and killing reporters in Iraq:
"The head of CNN's news division, Eason Jordan, ignited an Internet firestorm last week when he told a panel at a World Economic Forum gathering in Davos, Switzerland, that the American military had targeted journalists during operations in Iraq.
Mr. Jordan, speaking in a panel discussion titled "Will Democracy Survive the Media?" said "he knew of about 12 journalists who had not only been killed by American troops, but had been targeted as a matter of policy," said Rep. Barney Frank, a Democrat of Massachusetts who was on the panel with Mr. Jordan.
In an interview with The New York Sun, Mr. Frank said Mr. Jordan discussed in detail the plight of an Al-Jazeera reporter who had been detained by American forces, was made to eat his shoes while incarcerated in the Abu Ghraib prison, and was repeatedly mocked by his interrogators as "Al-Jazeera boy."
A man who said he was a producer with Al-Jazeera at the network's headquarters in Doha, Qatar, said he was unaware of any such incident, "although we have had problems with American troops in and out of Iraq." The Al-Jazeera producer refused to give his name."
My buddy Captain Ed over at Captains Quarters has been losing a good deal of sleep over this issue over the past week or so and is one of the best sources of breaking info on the subject.
There is also a dedicated Easongate web page with an online petition asking CNN to release the videotape and answer the question of what comrade Jordan is saying once and for all. I signed it.
All I know is that this is complete crap. How can anyone believe anything coming out of CNN when they have a person at comrade Jordan’s level of responsibility telling lies like this? If his allegations are true, I want the offenders prosecuted.
If the allegations are not true, I believe that CNN should fire Jordan...NOW.
Breaking 1000
Well folks, I’ve just reached yet another milestone in my blogging career.
In addition to rising from “Insignificant Microbe” to “Large Mammal” in the span of a little more than a month, this little ole' blog is now number 969 in the TTLB Ecosystem.
I’m all lathered up...
And to top it all off, over 190 folks stopped by yesterday to take a gander at my rantings.
For this, I offer a humble South Alabama/Coastal Georgia Thank You and I sincerely hope that you will stop back by again.
Now what was I about to gripe about??? Oh yeah--Eason Jordan--ever heard of him?
Well you are about to...
In addition to rising from “Insignificant Microbe” to “Large Mammal” in the span of a little more than a month, this little ole' blog is now number 969 in the TTLB Ecosystem.
I’m all lathered up...
And to top it all off, over 190 folks stopped by yesterday to take a gander at my rantings.
For this, I offer a humble South Alabama/Coastal Georgia Thank You and I sincerely hope that you will stop back by again.
Now what was I about to gripe about??? Oh yeah--Eason Jordan--ever heard of him?
Well you are about to...
Drowning In Cambodia
Thomas Lispcomb writes about Senator Kerry Drowning In Cambodia
I can't say it any better, but I'm not letting this topic go. Kerry is going to crack in the next few months, and I'm going to love every minute.
Hope you do too...
I can't say it any better, but I'm not letting this topic go. Kerry is going to crack in the next few months, and I'm going to love every minute.
Hope you do too...
Wednesday, February 09, 2005
Eight Hours Bottle To Throttle
(More boring aviation stuff…indulge me here please)
When driving an automobile, you put your foot on the “gas” pedal or the “accelerator” to make forward progress. The engine revs according to the whim of your foot.
In an airplane they call the accelerator “doohickey” the “throttle” and it is mounted on the instrument panel on single engine airplanes and usually located between the seats on an upper or lower console in multi-engine aircraft.
You pull it out to go up and you push it in to go down. My right hand hasn’t had the pleasure of operating more than one throttle at a time thus far in my truncated flying career.
It is sort of a weird experience when you first start learning to fly an airplane because you sit really low in the seat with your legs extended outward and your feet resting on the left and right rudder pedals. The steering wheel, which you hold in your hands, has no effect on your direction of travel when the plane is rolling down the runway—you use the rudder pedals to turn so you actually steer with your feet for taxi, takeoff, and landing.
The plane’s steering wheel (or stick) controls surfaces on the wings called ailerons that cause the airplane to bank left or right into a turn in the air. The pedals that your have under your feet turn the rudder to “coordinate” the turn, making the airplane follow a smooth curve rather than slipping through the turn.
To complicate matters further, while taxiing or landing, you must engage the wheel brakes by pressing on brake pedals mounted on top of the rudder pedals. It takes a bit of getting used to, but you can actually steer the airplane by applying differential braking i.e. stopping the left wheel while letting the right wheel freely rotate. An adept pilot can make an airplane virtually pivot in place over a spot on the runway.
Having said all of that, I wonder what the hell this guy was thinking when he climbed into the cockpit of a Boeing 747 yesterday?
The guy was going to haul a load of human freight in one of the largest passenger airplanes in the world with a snoot full of liquor?
Pilots have a saying…”eight hours bottle to throttle.” I always used to go at least 24 hours myself. Flying is a pleasure, but it is also a miracle—every damn time you land a group of 200,000 parts that just spent two hours flying in formation and decided to all stay together this trip—you thank God or Jesus or Aunt Jemima or whoever that your ass has gotten back onto the ground in one undamaged piece.
I like my Jack Daniels, but there is no way in hell that I would get near the front three seats of an airplane (unless it was the first class seating section) having smelled alcohol in the past day.
I hope they put this guy under the jail…
When driving an automobile, you put your foot on the “gas” pedal or the “accelerator” to make forward progress. The engine revs according to the whim of your foot.
In an airplane they call the accelerator “doohickey” the “throttle” and it is mounted on the instrument panel on single engine airplanes and usually located between the seats on an upper or lower console in multi-engine aircraft.
You pull it out to go up and you push it in to go down. My right hand hasn’t had the pleasure of operating more than one throttle at a time thus far in my truncated flying career.
It is sort of a weird experience when you first start learning to fly an airplane because you sit really low in the seat with your legs extended outward and your feet resting on the left and right rudder pedals. The steering wheel, which you hold in your hands, has no effect on your direction of travel when the plane is rolling down the runway—you use the rudder pedals to turn so you actually steer with your feet for taxi, takeoff, and landing.
The plane’s steering wheel (or stick) controls surfaces on the wings called ailerons that cause the airplane to bank left or right into a turn in the air. The pedals that your have under your feet turn the rudder to “coordinate” the turn, making the airplane follow a smooth curve rather than slipping through the turn.
To complicate matters further, while taxiing or landing, you must engage the wheel brakes by pressing on brake pedals mounted on top of the rudder pedals. It takes a bit of getting used to, but you can actually steer the airplane by applying differential braking i.e. stopping the left wheel while letting the right wheel freely rotate. An adept pilot can make an airplane virtually pivot in place over a spot on the runway.
Having said all of that, I wonder what the hell this guy was thinking when he climbed into the cockpit of a Boeing 747 yesterday?
The guy was going to haul a load of human freight in one of the largest passenger airplanes in the world with a snoot full of liquor?
Pilots have a saying…”eight hours bottle to throttle.” I always used to go at least 24 hours myself. Flying is a pleasure, but it is also a miracle—every damn time you land a group of 200,000 parts that just spent two hours flying in formation and decided to all stay together this trip—you thank God or Jesus or Aunt Jemima or whoever that your ass has gotten back onto the ground in one undamaged piece.
I like my Jack Daniels, but there is no way in hell that I would get near the front three seats of an airplane (unless it was the first class seating section) having smelled alcohol in the past day.
I hope they put this guy under the jail…
Tuesday, February 08, 2005
Powerful Women
I have previously mentioned my admiration of our new US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. The White House web site I reference has not yet updated her web page from National Security Adviser but you know that she just got the promotion.
World class scholar, Stanford University Provost, Exxon Oil company Director (they named an oil tanker after her--then were forced to change the ship's name when she became national security adviser,) Miss Rice had accomplished more by the time she was thirty years old than I will probably ever do in my entire life. Alabama girl done good...
Well folks, my eyes have been diverted. My attention has been drawn to the Ukraine's new prime minister, Yulia Tymoshenko, who win's my new Government Babe of the Week Award (so sorry Condi.)
Check her out guys...she looks like a movie star...
Hat tip to the Bloggers over at Strange Women Lying In Ponds for the reference.
World class scholar, Stanford University Provost, Exxon Oil company Director (they named an oil tanker after her--then were forced to change the ship's name when she became national security adviser,) Miss Rice had accomplished more by the time she was thirty years old than I will probably ever do in my entire life. Alabama girl done good...
Well folks, my eyes have been diverted. My attention has been drawn to the Ukraine's new prime minister, Yulia Tymoshenko, who win's my new Government Babe of the Week Award (so sorry Condi.)
Check her out guys...she looks like a movie star...
Hat tip to the Bloggers over at Strange Women Lying In Ponds for the reference.
Art Linkletter--Still Rocking at 93
What I Would Tell Myself If I Were 18 Again
Read what Nathan has to say over at Brain Fertilizer.
I couldn't have said it better myself...so I'll stop writing...
I couldn't have said it better myself...so I'll stop writing...
When Words Have No Meaning
(Meaning Has No Words)
Imagine if you were unable to read the written word or understand the spoken word--in any known language.
Understand? No, you don’t quite yet…
Imagine that you could see the physical gestures made by those around you, that you could hear the sounds produced by their mouths, but that you couldn’t intelligently comprehend what was being said.
Sort of a life long game of “Charades”—I guess.
The prospect of not understanding physical and verbal communication would be very limiting when doing things like conducting personal relationships or business transactions.
Under these circumstances, you might understand why cavemen are typically depicted wielding a big wooden club and dragging “their” women around by the hair. A cave man’s language apparently consisted of a bunch of grunts and shrugs. John Kerry’s “Verbal nuances” would be lost on a real life pre-historic Fred Flintstone or Barney Rubble.
Any way, hang in there with me for a minute and let me develop this concept.
When learning to read, you learn to look at the constants and vowels and phonetically “sound out” the words. You put words together to form sentences. You go from “See Dick run” to “See Jane clean Spot’s pee off of Dick’s carpet” in the matter of a few months.
By the twelfth year, you learn to read “See Jane bash Dick in the head with the empty beer bottle because he watched MTV all morning rather than cleaning the house while she was away attending her Saturday real estate class.”
As you progress in your education, you expand your vocabulary by learning to correctly spell more difficult words, understand their meaning, and connect them to other words in increasingly complex sentence structures.
Some words, as we all know, have more than one meaning. The more letters and syllables a word has, the more complex the word’s meaning as a general rule. People say that I like to throw around too many of them “thousand dollar” words like “feckless” and “obtuse” and so on in my day to day conversations.
I SAY THAT HAVING A LARGE VOCABULARY IS NOT MY PROBLEM—IT’S YOURS!
(If you really want an example of a master of million dollar words see Buckley, William F.)
What is a problem for me these days is how left and right wing politicians and the liberal media have taken to conveniently changing the conventional meaning of common words in an effort to skew the US (and even the world) population’s perception of the hard realities of the times we live in. Right somehow means left, up is actually down, bad is really good, and blaa is happy?
Case in point--the public gnashing of teeth over President Bush’s proposed “Budget Cuts” contained in the new Federal budget. The problem is the government’s concept of Baseline Budgeting. What a total dumptruck load of crappola this concept is.
Let’s look at the dictionary meaning of the hated words—"Budget Cut"
First, there is the word ”Budget” (from the Merriam Webster Dictionary):
1 chiefly dialect : a usually leather pouch, wallet, or pack; also : its contents
2 : STOCK, SUPPLY
3 : a quantity (as of energy or water) involved in, available for, or assignable to a particular situation; also : an account of gains and losses of such a quantity
4 a : a statement of the financial position of an administration for a definite period of time based on estimates of expenditures during the period and proposals for financing them b : a plan for the coordination of resources and expenditures c : the amount of money that is available for, required for, or assigned to a particular purpose.
The second word is “Cut”:
1 a : to penetrate with or as if with an edged instrument b : to hurt the feelings of c : to strike sharply with a cutting effect d : to strike (a ball) with a glancing blow that imparts a reverse spin e : to experience the growth of (a tooth) through the gum
2 a : TRIM, PAREb : to shorten by omissions c : DISSOLVE, DILUTE, ADULTERATE d : to reduce in amount
3 a : MOW, REAP b (1) : to divide into parts with an edged tool(2) : FELL, HEW c (1) : to separate or discharge from an organization : DETACH (2) : to single out and isolate d : to change the direction of sharply e : to go or pass around or about
4 a : to divide into segments b : INTERSECT, CROSS c : BREAK, INTERRUPTd (1) : to divide (a deck of cards) into two portions (2) : to draw (a card) from the deck e : to divide into shares : SPLIT
5 a : to make by or as if by cutting: as (1) : CARVE(2) : to shape by grinding (3) : ENGRAVE (4) : to shear or hollow out b : to record sounds (as speech or music) on c : to type on a stencil
6 a : STOP, CEASEb : to refuse to recognize (an acquaintance) : OSTRACIZE c : to absent oneself from (as a class) d : to stop (a motor) by opening a switch e : to stop the filming of (a motion-picture scene)
7 a : to engage in (a frolicsome or mischievous action)b : to give the appearance or impression of
8 : to be able to manage or handle -- usually used in negative constructionsintransitive senses1 a : to function as or as if as an edged tool b : to undergo incision or severance c : to perform the operation of dividing, severing, incising, or intersecting d : to make a stroke with a whip, sword, or other weapon e : to wound feelings or sensibilities f : to cause constriction or chafing g : to be of effect, influence, or significance 2 a (1) : to divide a pack of cards especially in order to decide the deal or settle a bet (2) : to draw a card from the pack b : to divide spoils : SPLIT3 a : to proceed obliquely from a straight course b : to move swiftly c : to describe an oblique or diagonal line d : to change sharply in direction : SWERVE e : to make an abrupt transition from one sound or image to another in motion pictures, radio, or television4 : to stop photographing motion pictures- cut a deal : to negotiate an agreement-
cut both ways : to have both favorable and unfavorable results or implications-
cut corners : to perform some action in the quickest, easiest, or cheapest way-
cut ice : to be of importance -- usually used in negative constructions-
cut it : to cut the mustard-
cut the mustard : to achieve the standard of performance necessary for success
I think that you would agree that the word “budget” has a very straight forward meaning. The meaning of the word “cut” takes significantly more space, but essentially, no matter what the context, if you endure a “cut” you have less than you started out with.
Are you with me so far?
So, in light of these two definitions, when it comes to talking about a “budget cut,” what would you expect the “budget cut” process to involve?
On a personal basis, a “Budget Cut,” would mean having less money this week than I had last week. Less money this month than I had last month. I hate it, but I have less money to spend this year than I had to spend last year. Right?
Not so with the politicians which exist at the Federal and State levels of Government of the United States of America. A “budget cut,” to the politicians, means having a lesser INCREASE in the amount of money you will have available to spend next year than you had to spend this year.
SAY WHAT???
In other words, if last year you got a pay raise and as a result you had an extra $5,000 of take home cash to spend in 2004, but your boss just announced that this year you were only getting a $4,000 take home raise, as a government employee you would run home to your Mama and your wife and your dog and your bird and yell at the top of your lungs:
“OUR COMPANY IS HAVING A BUDGET CUT!”
You will still have $4,000 more cash to waste at Blockbuster Video and to spend on Quarter Pounder's with Cheese in 2005 than you had in 2004, but the HOMELESS are more HOMELESS and the POOR are more POOR and the FARMERS can do less FARMING and everything is GOING TO HELL IN A HANDBASKET because the government is REDUCING THE AMOUNT OF THE INCREASED SPENDING.
THEY’RE HAVING BUDGET CUTS!!! AAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!!!
Well in the words of Jerry Garcia of The Grateful Dead, “I might be going to hell in a basket, but at least I’m enjoying the ride…”
This is so stupid…Are you?
Imagine if you were unable to read the written word or understand the spoken word--in any known language.
Understand? No, you don’t quite yet…
Imagine that you could see the physical gestures made by those around you, that you could hear the sounds produced by their mouths, but that you couldn’t intelligently comprehend what was being said.
Sort of a life long game of “Charades”—I guess.
The prospect of not understanding physical and verbal communication would be very limiting when doing things like conducting personal relationships or business transactions.
Under these circumstances, you might understand why cavemen are typically depicted wielding a big wooden club and dragging “their” women around by the hair. A cave man’s language apparently consisted of a bunch of grunts and shrugs. John Kerry’s “Verbal nuances” would be lost on a real life pre-historic Fred Flintstone or Barney Rubble.
Any way, hang in there with me for a minute and let me develop this concept.
When learning to read, you learn to look at the constants and vowels and phonetically “sound out” the words. You put words together to form sentences. You go from “See Dick run” to “See Jane clean Spot’s pee off of Dick’s carpet” in the matter of a few months.
By the twelfth year, you learn to read “See Jane bash Dick in the head with the empty beer bottle because he watched MTV all morning rather than cleaning the house while she was away attending her Saturday real estate class.”
As you progress in your education, you expand your vocabulary by learning to correctly spell more difficult words, understand their meaning, and connect them to other words in increasingly complex sentence structures.
Some words, as we all know, have more than one meaning. The more letters and syllables a word has, the more complex the word’s meaning as a general rule. People say that I like to throw around too many of them “thousand dollar” words like “feckless” and “obtuse” and so on in my day to day conversations.
I SAY THAT HAVING A LARGE VOCABULARY IS NOT MY PROBLEM—IT’S YOURS!
(If you really want an example of a master of million dollar words see Buckley, William F.)
What is a problem for me these days is how left and right wing politicians and the liberal media have taken to conveniently changing the conventional meaning of common words in an effort to skew the US (and even the world) population’s perception of the hard realities of the times we live in. Right somehow means left, up is actually down, bad is really good, and blaa is happy?
Case in point--the public gnashing of teeth over President Bush’s proposed “Budget Cuts” contained in the new Federal budget. The problem is the government’s concept of Baseline Budgeting. What a total dumptruck load of crappola this concept is.
Let’s look at the dictionary meaning of the hated words—"Budget Cut"
First, there is the word ”Budget” (from the Merriam Webster Dictionary):
1 chiefly dialect : a usually leather pouch, wallet, or pack; also : its contents
2 : STOCK, SUPPLY
3 : a quantity (as of energy or water) involved in, available for, or assignable to a particular situation; also : an account of gains and losses of such a quantity
4 a : a statement of the financial position of an administration for a definite period of time based on estimates of expenditures during the period and proposals for financing them b : a plan for the coordination of resources and expenditures c : the amount of money that is available for, required for, or assigned to a particular purpose.
The second word is “Cut”:
1 a : to penetrate with or as if with an edged instrument b : to hurt the feelings of c : to strike sharply with a cutting effect d : to strike (a ball) with a glancing blow that imparts a reverse spin e : to experience the growth of (a tooth) through the gum
2 a : TRIM, PARE
3 a : MOW, REAP b (1) : to divide into parts with an edged tool
4 a : to divide into segments b : INTERSECT, CROSS c : BREAK, INTERRUPT
5 a : to make by or as if by cutting: as (1) : CARVE
6 a : STOP, CEASE
7 a : to engage in (a frolicsome or mischievous action)
8 : to be able to manage or handle -- usually used in negative constructions
cut both ways : to have both favorable and unfavorable results or implications-
cut corners : to perform some action in the quickest, easiest, or cheapest way-
cut ice : to be of importance -- usually used in negative constructions-
cut it : to cut the mustard-
cut the mustard : to achieve the standard of performance necessary for success
I think that you would agree that the word “budget” has a very straight forward meaning. The meaning of the word “cut” takes significantly more space, but essentially, no matter what the context, if you endure a “cut” you have less than you started out with.
Are you with me so far?
So, in light of these two definitions, when it comes to talking about a “budget cut,” what would you expect the “budget cut” process to involve?
On a personal basis, a “Budget Cut,” would mean having less money this week than I had last week. Less money this month than I had last month. I hate it, but I have less money to spend this year than I had to spend last year. Right?
Not so with the politicians which exist at the Federal and State levels of Government of the United States of America. A “budget cut,” to the politicians, means having a lesser INCREASE in the amount of money you will have available to spend next year than you had to spend this year.
SAY WHAT???
In other words, if last year you got a pay raise and as a result you had an extra $5,000 of take home cash to spend in 2004, but your boss just announced that this year you were only getting a $4,000 take home raise, as a government employee you would run home to your Mama and your wife and your dog and your bird and yell at the top of your lungs:
“OUR COMPANY IS HAVING A BUDGET CUT!”
You will still have $4,000 more cash to waste at Blockbuster Video and to spend on Quarter Pounder's with Cheese in 2005 than you had in 2004, but the HOMELESS are more HOMELESS and the POOR are more POOR and the FARMERS can do less FARMING and everything is GOING TO HELL IN A HANDBASKET because the government is REDUCING THE AMOUNT OF THE INCREASED SPENDING.
THEY’RE HAVING BUDGET CUTS!!! AAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!!!
Well in the words of Jerry Garcia of The Grateful Dead, “I might be going to hell in a basket, but at least I’m enjoying the ride…”
This is so stupid…Are you?
Monday, February 07, 2005
You Have To Read This
My friends and idols over at Powerline have an interesting article about more crap delivered in the form of a newspaper editorial, emanating from the warped, evil, desperate, stupid brain of former Public Broadcaster Bill Moyers. You just have to read it.
I tilt my head back and laugh out loud as the stupid-assed main stream media continues to thrash about uselessly, suffering denial of the power of fact checking that the bloggosphere possesses.
My own personal problem is trying to not feel inferior in the shadow of the work of John Hinderaker, Scott Johnson, and Paul Mirengoff over at Powerline.
I tilt my head back and laugh out loud as the stupid-assed main stream media continues to thrash about uselessly, suffering denial of the power of fact checking that the bloggosphere possesses.
My own personal problem is trying to not feel inferior in the shadow of the work of John Hinderaker, Scott Johnson, and Paul Mirengoff over at Powerline.
Six Days of Silence
Sorry folks, but I've been distracted this past week and the words have been few and far between. Well, actually the words fit for public publication have been few and far between. Progress on the new book has been suffering also.
As mothers the world over have admonished, if you can't say something nice, better to say nothing at all.
WELL NOW...I'm about to forget that advice entirely. I have a whole load of stuff saved up and I feel a few world class rants are about to erupt...
EVERYBODY (please) return your tray tables and seatbacks to the upright and locked positions and get ready to read some new "stuff" I've been worrying about later today.
As mothers the world over have admonished, if you can't say something nice, better to say nothing at all.
WELL NOW...I'm about to forget that advice entirely. I have a whole load of stuff saved up and I feel a few world class rants are about to erupt...
EVERYBODY (please) return your tray tables and seatbacks to the upright and locked positions and get ready to read some new "stuff" I've been worrying about later today.
Tuesday, February 01, 2005
Democratic Rebuttal Scorecard
Years ago, when I was still a young, uninformed moron that spent most of my time working and my free time smoking a bong and watching the evening network news, I used to consider the President’s State of The Union Address a fairly boring exercise
Not any more—I’m going to relish every single word President Bush utters tomorrow night. Then, somewhat reluctantly, I’m going to sit back and cringe my way through the “Democratic Rebuttal.” .
You know, “The Democratic Rebuttal?” Yes, THAT part of the TV broadcast. That’s right, the part following the slanted, biased media analysis when the Democrats trod out some supposedly moderate member of their party (what, you thought that they’d let Ted Kennedy do it himself?) to drone on endlessly about the errors in the President’s statements while they punctuate their standard list of half-truths and leftist talking points.
The only thing positive about enduring the State of the Union Rebuttal phase is the possibility of getting a few good belly laughs and obtaining a potential goldmine of blog topics.
Since some of my readers may still be inclined to partake of smokeable herbs and continue to insist on getting their news from the networks rather (but not Dan Rather) than Fox News, I’ve decided to offer some assistance in understanding how to intelligently view the President’s State of the Union Address.
Just like the newspaper articles published before the Olympics where they tell you about how each sporting event is conducted and outline the scoring of each event, I would like to offer the following scorecard for your use in scoring the content of president’s speech and the obligatory Democratic rebuttal.
First things first. Like the gymnastic, figure skating, or high diving events at the Olympics, there are different degrees of difficulty for each topic addressed that will yield greater points if they intelligently address the issue in a believable manner. There are also points awarded for quality of execution and/or artistic interpretation. You simply write down the points associated with a given issue’s difficulty and then score the execution based on how well it is developed. There are also mandatory topics that must be addressed else you deduct the associated points from the total score as a penalty for the omission.
With that said, let’s get started…
____________ State Of The Union Broadcast Scorecard ______________
PRELIMINARY EVENTS--Domestic Issues (all mandatory)
5 points each
1. The Economy in General--The president will likely say that the economy is booming.
The democrats will flap their arms and cry in their soup. People are starving, you know?
2. Job Creation—The President will brag about the millions of jobs created in the past year.
The Democrats will cry further in their soup over the replacement of high paying rust belt union jobs with herds of four foot tall telecommuting Indian chicks with red dots on their foreheads.
3. Minimum Wages—The President will brag that millions of entrepreneurs have started their own businesses after leaving minimum wage “crutch” jobs they worked after being "downsized" or "outsourced.".
The Democrats will complain that it is impossible to raise a family of five working at McDonalds or as a maid at the Econolodge while at the same time saving enough money to retire to the eastern shore of Jersey.
4. Taxes—The President will point to recent Congressional Budget Office projections of increased tax revenues and projected reductions in the deficit.
The Democrats will lament that, in spite of virtually half of the population being exempt from paying income taxes, "working families" still have to pay sales taxes, property taxes, and gas taxes.
Even worse, the “working poor” are still forced to pay social security taxes, unemployment taxes, and Medicare taxes. It just ain’t fair that the people that consume 99% of these services still have to pay for them--when and if they are employed.
5. Social Security—The President will tout the new Prescription Drug "entitlement" Plan and propose a bold new plan to privatize a part of Social Security and to allow our youngest citizens to eventually opt out entirely.
The Democrats will ask: “Problems with Social Security…what problems…there are no problems with Social Security…well, not at least until a loooonggg time after we are out of office—let them worry about it. (And by the way, HEY GRANDMA—BUSH WANTS TO TAKE AWAY YOUR CHECK SO YOU HAD BETTER VOTE FOR US NEXT TIME…)
6. Welfare—The President will say that fewer and fewer people are spending a lifetime on the Welfare rolls because the economy is booming (see #1 above.)
The Democrats will say that people are out there feeding themselves and their kids dirt and that they can’t afford their daily 64 oz bottles of Schlitz malt liquer while wearing the $200 Nikes and sporting the latest new gold tooth…Oh the Humanity!
7. Education vis a vis “No Child Left Behind”—The President will say that we just need to spend more money on education and everything will be OK.
The Democrats, while vehemently disagreeing with the President, will say that if we just spend more money on education that everything will be OK.
8. Illegal Immigration—The president will offer to tattoo a small likeness of his brother Jeb on the forehead of every illegal worker in the US in an effort to set “guest worker” documentation standards for employers.
The Democrats will offer to buy every illegal immigrant family a lowered F-150 pickup with 20” spinner rims and their name in shiny fancy letters on the back window.
As an option, for those "undocumented workers" with families larger than 8, they can get a low mileage van or SUV if they will promise to immediately drive their friends and family back to where ever they came from and not come back until it's time to help get a Democrat elected president.
EXTRA CREDIT—World Issues (10 Points Each)
I. The War in Iraq
A. Reasons for the war—Since the President has covered this ground so many times previously that he is walking in a hip-deep ditch when he goes over it again, he intentionally omits the topic. (Automatic 10 point deduct)
The Democrats utter their classic Ted Kennedy hit: Lies, lies, and more lies. (Al Gore makes a special guest appearance to sing his hit tune “They Betrayed Us…)
B. The recent Iraqi election—The President will extol the 60% voter turnout and low levels of terror attacks.
The Democrats will demand a hand recount (what, they counted by hand already?) and Jessie Jackson will lament the disenfranchisement of Black Muslim voters.
C. Exit Strategy—The President will insist that we are in Iraq to finish what we started.
The Democrats, declaring the “War on Terror” as being over with, will insist on an immediate invasion of Jamaica in an unprecedented ramping up of the “War on Drugs.” Ted Kennedy will demonstrate evidence examination by smoking a water pipe.
II. Iran—The President will sing his new hit song “Ayatollah” which sounds surprisingly like the tune to the Knacks’ 1979 hit song My Sharona. British Prime Minister Tony Blair will make a guest appearance to lip sync the words on the second verse.
The Democrats won’t be able to resist singing the backup vocals to the Presidents song. Hey, at least they all agreed on something…what we call a "bi-partisan" effort at last.
III. Syria—The second verse of the President’s "Ayatollah" song will cover this topic.
The Democrats will state emphatically that there are no WMD’s in Syria because Germany and France told them so
IV. Korea—The third verse of "Ayatollah" will address the President's fantasy of covering Kim Jong Il (and Fidel Castro) with Crisco (can you say Crisco Castro five times real fast?) and throwing them buck-naked into the Gorilla habitat at the Atlanta Zoo. A new form of détente, perhaps?
The Democrats will place an emergency call to Jimmy Carter and tattle…
V. China—The President omits this topic because the network censors refused to allow him to lip-sync the Vapors’ song I’m Turning Japanese (and besides, the topic was China, not Japan--and no, all Orientals do NOT look the same to Texans.)
VI. Israel/Palistine—The president places a checkered table cloth on his head and does his best Yasser Arafat impression. The Secrete Service arrests Howard Dean for wrestling President Bush to the ground in an effort to obtain what he believes to be Arafat’s autograph.
The Democrats then send Senator Robert “pretty pretty” Byrd running through the room in his grand dragon costume screaming “THERE WAS NO HOLOCAUST” at the top of his lungs. The Secret Service has to re-restrain a howling, salivating Howard Dean.
VII. The EU and the United Nations were intentionally omitted from the president's speech. (Deduct 20 points)
The Democrats send John Kerry and Ted Kennedy tap dancing through the room offering to kiss the ass of anyone from any country other than the US.
____________________________________________________________
Well, that about covers it, ladies and gentlemen—my State of The Union Broadcast Scorecard.
A veritable consumers guide to the President’s State of the Union Address. Let’s all go watch it and then check back later and tell me how it did.
This should be fun…
Not any more—I’m going to relish every single word President Bush utters tomorrow night. Then, somewhat reluctantly, I’m going to sit back and cringe my way through the “Democratic Rebuttal.” .
You know, “The Democratic Rebuttal?” Yes, THAT part of the TV broadcast. That’s right, the part following the slanted, biased media analysis when the Democrats trod out some supposedly moderate member of their party (what, you thought that they’d let Ted Kennedy do it himself?) to drone on endlessly about the errors in the President’s statements while they punctuate their standard list of half-truths and leftist talking points.
The only thing positive about enduring the State of the Union Rebuttal phase is the possibility of getting a few good belly laughs and obtaining a potential goldmine of blog topics.
Since some of my readers may still be inclined to partake of smokeable herbs and continue to insist on getting their news from the networks rather (but not Dan Rather) than Fox News, I’ve decided to offer some assistance in understanding how to intelligently view the President’s State of the Union Address.
Just like the newspaper articles published before the Olympics where they tell you about how each sporting event is conducted and outline the scoring of each event, I would like to offer the following scorecard for your use in scoring the content of president’s speech and the obligatory Democratic rebuttal.
First things first. Like the gymnastic, figure skating, or high diving events at the Olympics, there are different degrees of difficulty for each topic addressed that will yield greater points if they intelligently address the issue in a believable manner. There are also points awarded for quality of execution and/or artistic interpretation. You simply write down the points associated with a given issue’s difficulty and then score the execution based on how well it is developed. There are also mandatory topics that must be addressed else you deduct the associated points from the total score as a penalty for the omission.
With that said, let’s get started…
____________ State Of The Union Broadcast Scorecard ______________
PRELIMINARY EVENTS--Domestic Issues (all mandatory)
5 points each
1. The Economy in General--The president will likely say that the economy is booming.
The democrats will flap their arms and cry in their soup. People are starving, you know?
2. Job Creation—The President will brag about the millions of jobs created in the past year.
The Democrats will cry further in their soup over the replacement of high paying rust belt union jobs with herds of four foot tall telecommuting Indian chicks with red dots on their foreheads.
3. Minimum Wages—The President will brag that millions of entrepreneurs have started their own businesses after leaving minimum wage “crutch” jobs they worked after being "downsized" or "outsourced.".
The Democrats will complain that it is impossible to raise a family of five working at McDonalds or as a maid at the Econolodge while at the same time saving enough money to retire to the eastern shore of Jersey.
4. Taxes—The President will point to recent Congressional Budget Office projections of increased tax revenues and projected reductions in the deficit.
The Democrats will lament that, in spite of virtually half of the population being exempt from paying income taxes, "working families" still have to pay sales taxes, property taxes, and gas taxes.
Even worse, the “working poor” are still forced to pay social security taxes, unemployment taxes, and Medicare taxes. It just ain’t fair that the people that consume 99% of these services still have to pay for them--when and if they are employed.
5. Social Security—The President will tout the new Prescription Drug "entitlement" Plan and propose a bold new plan to privatize a part of Social Security and to allow our youngest citizens to eventually opt out entirely.
The Democrats will ask: “Problems with Social Security…what problems…there are no problems with Social Security…well, not at least until a loooonggg time after we are out of office—let them worry about it. (And by the way, HEY GRANDMA—BUSH WANTS TO TAKE AWAY YOUR CHECK SO YOU HAD BETTER VOTE FOR US NEXT TIME…)
6. Welfare—The President will say that fewer and fewer people are spending a lifetime on the Welfare rolls because the economy is booming (see #1 above.)
The Democrats will say that people are out there feeding themselves and their kids dirt and that they can’t afford their daily 64 oz bottles of Schlitz malt liquer while wearing the $200 Nikes and sporting the latest new gold tooth…Oh the Humanity!
7. Education vis a vis “No Child Left Behind”—The President will say that we just need to spend more money on education and everything will be OK.
The Democrats, while vehemently disagreeing with the President, will say that if we just spend more money on education that everything will be OK.
8. Illegal Immigration—The president will offer to tattoo a small likeness of his brother Jeb on the forehead of every illegal worker in the US in an effort to set “guest worker” documentation standards for employers.
The Democrats will offer to buy every illegal immigrant family a lowered F-150 pickup with 20” spinner rims and their name in shiny fancy letters on the back window.
As an option, for those "undocumented workers" with families larger than 8, they can get a low mileage van or SUV if they will promise to immediately drive their friends and family back to where ever they came from and not come back until it's time to help get a Democrat elected president.
EXTRA CREDIT—World Issues (10 Points Each)
I. The War in Iraq
A. Reasons for the war—Since the President has covered this ground so many times previously that he is walking in a hip-deep ditch when he goes over it again, he intentionally omits the topic. (Automatic 10 point deduct)
The Democrats utter their classic Ted Kennedy hit: Lies, lies, and more lies. (Al Gore makes a special guest appearance to sing his hit tune “They Betrayed Us…)
B. The recent Iraqi election—The President will extol the 60% voter turnout and low levels of terror attacks.
The Democrats will demand a hand recount (what, they counted by hand already?) and Jessie Jackson will lament the disenfranchisement of Black Muslim voters.
C. Exit Strategy—The President will insist that we are in Iraq to finish what we started.
The Democrats, declaring the “War on Terror” as being over with, will insist on an immediate invasion of Jamaica in an unprecedented ramping up of the “War on Drugs.” Ted Kennedy will demonstrate evidence examination by smoking a water pipe.
II. Iran—The President will sing his new hit song “Ayatollah” which sounds surprisingly like the tune to the Knacks’ 1979 hit song My Sharona. British Prime Minister Tony Blair will make a guest appearance to lip sync the words on the second verse.
The Democrats won’t be able to resist singing the backup vocals to the Presidents song. Hey, at least they all agreed on something…what we call a "bi-partisan" effort at last.
III. Syria—The second verse of the President’s "Ayatollah" song will cover this topic.
The Democrats will state emphatically that there are no WMD’s in Syria because Germany and France told them so
IV. Korea—The third verse of "Ayatollah" will address the President's fantasy of covering Kim Jong Il (and Fidel Castro) with Crisco (can you say Crisco Castro five times real fast?) and throwing them buck-naked into the Gorilla habitat at the Atlanta Zoo. A new form of détente, perhaps?
The Democrats will place an emergency call to Jimmy Carter and tattle…
V. China—The President omits this topic because the network censors refused to allow him to lip-sync the Vapors’ song I’m Turning Japanese (and besides, the topic was China, not Japan--and no, all Orientals do NOT look the same to Texans.)
VI. Israel/Palistine—The president places a checkered table cloth on his head and does his best Yasser Arafat impression. The Secrete Service arrests Howard Dean for wrestling President Bush to the ground in an effort to obtain what he believes to be Arafat’s autograph.
The Democrats then send Senator Robert “pretty pretty” Byrd running through the room in his grand dragon costume screaming “THERE WAS NO HOLOCAUST” at the top of his lungs. The Secret Service has to re-restrain a howling, salivating Howard Dean.
VII. The EU and the United Nations were intentionally omitted from the president's speech. (Deduct 20 points)
The Democrats send John Kerry and Ted Kennedy tap dancing through the room offering to kiss the ass of anyone from any country other than the US.
____________________________________________________________
Well, that about covers it, ladies and gentlemen—my State of The Union Broadcast Scorecard.
A veritable consumers guide to the President’s State of the Union Address. Let’s all go watch it and then check back later and tell me how it did.
This should be fun…
I Told You So
Back on January 4th in my posting United We Stand I talked about President Bush appointing his father, George H.W. Bush, and Bill Clinton to lead the Tsunami fundraising effort. It seemed a good idea to me.
At that time I also opined:
“I will even give the president credit for including the pantyhose-commander-in-chief Bill Clinton in a bipartisan effort to raise money. Actually, I don’t mind seeing Clinton’s gigantic mouth and ego brought to bear to publicly ask all of the compassionate left wing liberal elite and the Hollywood misfits like Barbara Streisand to put their money where their mouths typically are.
I also expect Clinton to not pass up the opportunity to get a few digs in against his Bush/Republican benefactors and inevitably make the process all about him. He just can’t help himself.
And then there is the UN and Kofi Annan. What a waste of oxygen.”
Well, it took less than one month, but Kofi and Bill have finally gotten together to make my prediction come true and it really is all about Kofi and Bill.
And guess what-- George Bush Sr. isn't invited to their party...
It would seem that Kofi has appointed Bill Clinton to be the "UN point man" for tsunami reconstruction and ensure that the world doesn't forget the immense needs of the countries devastated by the Dec. 26 disaster, a well-informed U.N. diplomat said Tuesday.”
Well isn’t that special.
And aren't I good??? I told you something like this would happen a month ago...
At that time I also opined:
“I will even give the president credit for including the pantyhose-commander-in-chief Bill Clinton in a bipartisan effort to raise money. Actually, I don’t mind seeing Clinton’s gigantic mouth and ego brought to bear to publicly ask all of the compassionate left wing liberal elite and the Hollywood misfits like Barbara Streisand to put their money where their mouths typically are.
I also expect Clinton to not pass up the opportunity to get a few digs in against his Bush/Republican benefactors and inevitably make the process all about him. He just can’t help himself.
And then there is the UN and Kofi Annan. What a waste of oxygen.”
Well, it took less than one month, but Kofi and Bill have finally gotten together to make my prediction come true and it really is all about Kofi and Bill.
And guess what-- George Bush Sr. isn't invited to their party...
It would seem that Kofi has appointed Bill Clinton to be the "UN point man" for tsunami reconstruction and ensure that the world doesn't forget the immense needs of the countries devastated by the Dec. 26 disaster, a well-informed U.N. diplomat said Tuesday.”
Well isn’t that special.
And aren't I good??? I told you something like this would happen a month ago...
Cough It Up
It really pissed me off last year that our tax dollars were used to pay a bunch of United States Senators and other Congressmen that were chronically absent from their high paying jobs while running political campaigns for President.
I have previously complained about this issue and I wondered if there wasn’t something that could be done about it. Remember that Senator Bob Dole resigned his seat prior to the 1996 campaign and, when he lost the presidential election, he was out of a job?
Not so with the jackass-war-hero-commander-in-chief-want-a-be Senator John Kerry. He is still looming over the lives of the citizens of Massachusetts that elected him and intruding into all of our lives on a national basis as a result of staying in office durring the campaign. He was virtually invisible for most of 2004 on the floor of the US Senate (although that might be considered by most in a positive light.)
Well, good news people...there is hope after all.
According to The Washington Times Insider edition, there is a law that can and should be used to make Kerry and others pay back their unearned government income.
"Several lawmakers on Capitol Hill, including Massachusetts Sen. John Kerry and his vice presidential running mate, former North Carolina Sen. John Edwards, have broken a federal statute by pocketing thousands of dollars in salary while being away from their jobs during 2003 and 2004."
" An obscure federal statute requires congressional absentees to forfeit pay unless they or a family member are ill, but some lawmakers seem reluctant to comply, says the National Taxpayers Union."
"The NTU says "chronically absent" members of the 108th Congress, besides Mr. Kerry and Mr. Edwards, include Democratic presidential candidates Bob Graham, former senator of Florida; Sen. Joe Lieberman of Connecticut; former House Minority Leader Richard A. Gephardt of Missouri; and Rep. Dennis J. Kucinich of Ohio."
"And there's numerous other sitting senators and congressmen -- too many to list here -- who improperly accepted salaries while off stumping for votes."
"The NTU says compliance with 2 U.S. Code 39 (Title 2, Chapter 3, section 39--VRR), requiring the secretary of the Senate and the chief administrative officer of the House of Representatives to deduct congressional salary for days of unexcused absences, has been sparse, but not nonexistent. "
"In 1971, Representative Edwin Edwards abided by the no-work, no-pay law while running for Louisiana governor," says the nonpartisan union."
" And while federal law does not require presidents to forfeit their pay while seeking re-election, the NTU notes that George W. Bush relinquished his governor's salary for days spent outside Texas campaigning for president in 2000."
I, personally, am contacting Emily Reynolds, the Secretary of the Senate, and Clerk of the House of Representatives and asking that this law be enforced.
What are you going to do?
I have previously complained about this issue and I wondered if there wasn’t something that could be done about it. Remember that Senator Bob Dole resigned his seat prior to the 1996 campaign and, when he lost the presidential election, he was out of a job?
Not so with the jackass-war-hero-commander-in-chief-want-a-be Senator John Kerry. He is still looming over the lives of the citizens of Massachusetts that elected him and intruding into all of our lives on a national basis as a result of staying in office durring the campaign. He was virtually invisible for most of 2004 on the floor of the US Senate (although that might be considered by most in a positive light.)
Well, good news people...there is hope after all.
According to The Washington Times Insider edition, there is a law that can and should be used to make Kerry and others pay back their unearned government income.
"Several lawmakers on Capitol Hill, including Massachusetts Sen. John Kerry and his vice presidential running mate, former North Carolina Sen. John Edwards, have broken a federal statute by pocketing thousands of dollars in salary while being away from their jobs during 2003 and 2004."
" An obscure federal statute requires congressional absentees to forfeit pay unless they or a family member are ill, but some lawmakers seem reluctant to comply, says the National Taxpayers Union."
"The NTU says "chronically absent" members of the 108th Congress, besides Mr. Kerry and Mr. Edwards, include Democratic presidential candidates Bob Graham, former senator of Florida; Sen. Joe Lieberman of Connecticut; former House Minority Leader Richard A. Gephardt of Missouri; and Rep. Dennis J. Kucinich of Ohio."
"And there's numerous other sitting senators and congressmen -- too many to list here -- who improperly accepted salaries while off stumping for votes."
"The NTU says compliance with 2 U.S. Code 39 (Title 2, Chapter 3, section 39--VRR), requiring the secretary of the Senate and the chief administrative officer of the House of Representatives to deduct congressional salary for days of unexcused absences, has been sparse, but not nonexistent. "
"In 1971, Representative Edwin Edwards abided by the no-work, no-pay law while running for Louisiana governor," says the nonpartisan union."
" And while federal law does not require presidents to forfeit their pay while seeking re-election, the NTU notes that George W. Bush relinquished his governor's salary for days spent outside Texas campaigning for president in 2000."
I, personally, am contacting Emily Reynolds, the Secretary of the Senate, and Clerk of the House of Representatives and asking that this law be enforced.
What are you going to do?
Monday, January 31, 2005
Meanwhile, back in the USA
(Anyone got a form 180?)
The Iraqis have just survived their first election in over a half century. I’m really proud for them and wish them good luck in completing the upcoming development of a written constitution and secondary elections scheduled for later this year.
It is a crying shame that we here in the good ole’ USA have nearly perfected the art of taking our own Constitution, Bill of Rights, and Republican form of government for granted. You do know that the US is not a Democracy, but rather (but not Dan Rather) it is a Representative Republic?
Democracy is equal to mob rule and our founding fathers were careful to try to help us avoid that horrible fate. Yet, according to the leftists and socialists in our midst, there is still hope to fully accomplish the transition to Democracy. That is why they want to abolish the Electoral College. I hope they fail in this effort.
And speaking of leftists losers in the Electoral College, John Kerry was sitting on the hot seat this morning on the NBC News program ”Meet The Press”. The moderator, Tim Russert, was actually asking some serious questions (where was he last summer), like the ones in this exchange about Kerry’s failure to release all of his military records:
MR. RUSSERT: Many people who've been criticizing you have said: Senator, if you would just do one thing and that is sign Form 180, which would allow historians and journalists complete access to all your military records. Thus far, you have gotten the records, released them through your campaign. They say you should not be the filter. Sign Form 180 and let the historians...
SEN. KERRY: I'd be happy to put the records out. We put all the records out that I had been sent by the military. Then at the last moment, they sent some more stuff, which had some things that weren't even relevant to the record. (emphasis mine—VR) So when we get--I'm going to sit down with them and make sure that they are clear and I am clear as to what is in the record and what isn't in the record and we'll put it out. I have no problem with that.
MR. RUSSERT: Would you sign Form 180?
SEN. KERRY: But everything, Tim...
MR. RUSSERT: Would you sign Form 180?
SEN. KERRY: Yes, I will. But everything that we put in it, Tim--everything we put in--I mean, everything that was out was a full documentation of all of the medical records, all of the fitness reports. And I'd call on those who have challenged me, let's see their records. I want to see the records of each of those people who have put up a challenge, because some of them have some serious questions in them, and it hasn't been appropriate...
MR. RUSSERT: So they should sign Form 180s for themselves as well?
SEN. KERRY: You bet.
MR. RUSSERT: Jerome Corsi, the co-author of this book, says he's moving to Massachusetts and will run against you for the U.S. Senate in 2008.
SEN. KERRY: Well, that's terrific. I'm not thinking about 2008 right now, but he can do whatever he wants.
MR. RUSSERT: Will you run for re-election in the Senate in 2008?
SEN. KERRY: Tim, I'm not thinking about 2008 right now. I'm really focused on what we're doing now. I'm excited about what I'm doing now. There are any number of potential things that I may wind up doing, and I'm going to keep all my options open.
MR. RUSSERT: Including running for president?
SEN. KERRY: I'll keep all my options open.
You’re damn right you better keep all of your options open, Senator Kerry.
As I wrote back on October 25, 2004 in my post A Fundamental Test of Leadership, I believe that enough questions have been raised about Kerry’s military service and overall truthfulness to seriously jeopardize his ability to be re-elected to the Senate in Massachusetts in 2008.
Kerry should be frightened to death of any Senate campaign conducted by the Swift Vets, individually or collectively. Jerome Corsi is qualified to serve in the senate and is quite capable of making things very difficult and embarrassing for Kerry, particularly if the media will get off of their butts and seriously look into the allegations that are floating around out there.
Kerry has always previously answered questions about his service records with the statement that his campaign had “…put all the records out that I had been sent by the military.” He apparently only requested that his fitness reports and his medical records be released, through his campaign.
By signing Form 180, like President Bush did last spring during the Texas Air National Guard media witch hunt, Kerry could allow the military to make his all of his records available directly to any specific news agencies that he designates. He has not to date done so.
And now he suddenly adds a new twist to the old theme. “Then at the last moment, they sent some more stuff, which had some things that weren't even relevant to the record. (emphasis mine—VRR) So when we get--I'm going to sit down with them and make sure that they are clear and I am clear as to what is in the record and what isn't in the record and we'll put it out. I have no problem with that.”
So let me get this straight Mr. Kerry, are you saying that you don’t know what information is in your military records, or are you implying that they are somehow “contaminated” with inaccurate or irrelevant information? And what do you mean by new information being released at the last minute before the November election? Was it hours, days, weeks, or months?
Horse hockey… Let me cut to the chase here, folks.
KERRY MOST DEFINITELY HAS SOMETHING TO HIDE. There is no other explanation for his failure to fully release his military service records.
I believe, based on rumors that have been bouncing around the internet for at least a year, that it is possible that Kerry received a less than honorable discharge from the Navy in 1972. He might have actually received a dishonorable discharge for his anti-war activities conducted while still serving in the Navy Reserve.
IF, and it is a big if, his discharge was dishonorable, it would have caused him to be stripped of his right to wear his uniform, the loss of all of his ribbons and medals (you know…the ribbons and metals that he threw over the fence at the white house?) and it would have resulted in the loss of all of his post discharge benefits like retirement benefits, VA medical services, PX privileges, etc.
Why else would Kerry have received an Honorable Discharge on March 12, 2001 from the administration of the pantyhose-raider-in-chief Bill Clinton? As a result of the “sanitized” discharge, Kerry would have had his medals and benefits reinstated.
I have no proof of the accuracy of the scenario causing the 29 year gap between Kerry actually leaving the service in 1972 and receiving the discharge in 2001, but it will be interesting to follow the Kerry saga over the next few years. This should be fun…
Of course, Kerry could eliminate all questions and lingering doubt by signing form 180, but he won’t.
I’ll gladly eat crow if I’m wrong, but I’m going to scream “I TOLD YOU SO” at the top of my lungs if I’m right.
I’m right…
The Iraqis have just survived their first election in over a half century. I’m really proud for them and wish them good luck in completing the upcoming development of a written constitution and secondary elections scheduled for later this year.
It is a crying shame that we here in the good ole’ USA have nearly perfected the art of taking our own Constitution, Bill of Rights, and Republican form of government for granted. You do know that the US is not a Democracy, but rather (but not Dan Rather) it is a Representative Republic?
Democracy is equal to mob rule and our founding fathers were careful to try to help us avoid that horrible fate. Yet, according to the leftists and socialists in our midst, there is still hope to fully accomplish the transition to Democracy. That is why they want to abolish the Electoral College. I hope they fail in this effort.
And speaking of leftists losers in the Electoral College, John Kerry was sitting on the hot seat this morning on the NBC News program ”Meet The Press”. The moderator, Tim Russert, was actually asking some serious questions (where was he last summer), like the ones in this exchange about Kerry’s failure to release all of his military records:
MR. RUSSERT: Many people who've been criticizing you have said: Senator, if you would just do one thing and that is sign Form 180, which would allow historians and journalists complete access to all your military records. Thus far, you have gotten the records, released them through your campaign. They say you should not be the filter. Sign Form 180 and let the historians...
SEN. KERRY: I'd be happy to put the records out. We put all the records out that I had been sent by the military. Then at the last moment, they sent some more stuff, which had some things that weren't even relevant to the record. (emphasis mine—VR) So when we get--I'm going to sit down with them and make sure that they are clear and I am clear as to what is in the record and what isn't in the record and we'll put it out. I have no problem with that.
MR. RUSSERT: Would you sign Form 180?
SEN. KERRY: But everything, Tim...
MR. RUSSERT: Would you sign Form 180?
SEN. KERRY: Yes, I will. But everything that we put in it, Tim--everything we put in--I mean, everything that was out was a full documentation of all of the medical records, all of the fitness reports. And I'd call on those who have challenged me, let's see their records. I want to see the records of each of those people who have put up a challenge, because some of them have some serious questions in them, and it hasn't been appropriate...
MR. RUSSERT: So they should sign Form 180s for themselves as well?
SEN. KERRY: You bet.
MR. RUSSERT: Jerome Corsi, the co-author of this book, says he's moving to Massachusetts and will run against you for the U.S. Senate in 2008.
SEN. KERRY: Well, that's terrific. I'm not thinking about 2008 right now, but he can do whatever he wants.
MR. RUSSERT: Will you run for re-election in the Senate in 2008?
SEN. KERRY: Tim, I'm not thinking about 2008 right now. I'm really focused on what we're doing now. I'm excited about what I'm doing now. There are any number of potential things that I may wind up doing, and I'm going to keep all my options open.
MR. RUSSERT: Including running for president?
SEN. KERRY: I'll keep all my options open.
You’re damn right you better keep all of your options open, Senator Kerry.
As I wrote back on October 25, 2004 in my post A Fundamental Test of Leadership, I believe that enough questions have been raised about Kerry’s military service and overall truthfulness to seriously jeopardize his ability to be re-elected to the Senate in Massachusetts in 2008.
Kerry should be frightened to death of any Senate campaign conducted by the Swift Vets, individually or collectively. Jerome Corsi is qualified to serve in the senate and is quite capable of making things very difficult and embarrassing for Kerry, particularly if the media will get off of their butts and seriously look into the allegations that are floating around out there.
Kerry has always previously answered questions about his service records with the statement that his campaign had “…put all the records out that I had been sent by the military.” He apparently only requested that his fitness reports and his medical records be released, through his campaign.
By signing Form 180, like President Bush did last spring during the Texas Air National Guard media witch hunt, Kerry could allow the military to make his all of his records available directly to any specific news agencies that he designates. He has not to date done so.
And now he suddenly adds a new twist to the old theme. “Then at the last moment, they sent some more stuff, which had some things that weren't even relevant to the record. (emphasis mine—VRR) So when we get--I'm going to sit down with them and make sure that they are clear and I am clear as to what is in the record and what isn't in the record and we'll put it out. I have no problem with that.”
So let me get this straight Mr. Kerry, are you saying that you don’t know what information is in your military records, or are you implying that they are somehow “contaminated” with inaccurate or irrelevant information? And what do you mean by new information being released at the last minute before the November election? Was it hours, days, weeks, or months?
Horse hockey… Let me cut to the chase here, folks.
KERRY MOST DEFINITELY HAS SOMETHING TO HIDE. There is no other explanation for his failure to fully release his military service records.
I believe, based on rumors that have been bouncing around the internet for at least a year, that it is possible that Kerry received a less than honorable discharge from the Navy in 1972. He might have actually received a dishonorable discharge for his anti-war activities conducted while still serving in the Navy Reserve.
IF, and it is a big if, his discharge was dishonorable, it would have caused him to be stripped of his right to wear his uniform, the loss of all of his ribbons and medals (you know…the ribbons and metals that he threw over the fence at the white house?) and it would have resulted in the loss of all of his post discharge benefits like retirement benefits, VA medical services, PX privileges, etc.
Why else would Kerry have received an Honorable Discharge on March 12, 2001 from the administration of the pantyhose-raider-in-chief Bill Clinton? As a result of the “sanitized” discharge, Kerry would have had his medals and benefits reinstated.
I have no proof of the accuracy of the scenario causing the 29 year gap between Kerry actually leaving the service in 1972 and receiving the discharge in 2001, but it will be interesting to follow the Kerry saga over the next few years. This should be fun…
Of course, Kerry could eliminate all questions and lingering doubt by signing form 180, but he won’t.
I’ll gladly eat crow if I’m wrong, but I’m going to scream “I TOLD YOU SO” at the top of my lungs if I’m right.
I’m right…
