"bush's illegal war"
I'm preparing another "Dispel the Bullshit" post
that will debunk all claims that "Bush's War" in Iraq
is illegal. Dispelling the "Bush lied about WMD's"
will be part of it.
I thought I'd give the general public a chance, though, to
scuttle my ship while she's still in dry dock. If you can
provide proof that the war is illegal, put it in the feedback
thread.,
I don't expect to see anything that will hold up to even
brief scrutiny.
Challenge on.
What makes a man?
Acidman
asked a good question recently, and when I left a comment
there I realized I'd just written would would be a passable
update on DTMan.
When does a boy become a man?
Acidman gives several rites of passage
as "milestones," such as getting a driver's license,
getting laid, graduating high school; but he is still left with
a question with no certain answer.
One of his commenters said, "When
you join the military," which I find to be a little closer
to the mark. There are several things that "MARINES
DON'T DO," like wearing ear rings (the men, anyway).
This is a big deal. Even after you leave boot camp you are
regularly inspected, and Allah (pbuh) help you if you are found
with a hole in your earlobe. If you are caught off base in
a club with an ear ring, your Sergeant Major is getting a
call. If you are caught by the MP's in an off-base club
that has been deemed off-limits because it is known as a
gathering spot for homosexuals, you are going to the brig.
This is not a joke (I wonder what they would do if a man was
caught doing two bi chicks at the same time...). But, I
also knew several weasely and immature military personnel, so
apparently Basic Training isn't the all-encompassing Man Factory
one might expect. Conversely, I've heard more than one
hippy claim the military structure is nothing but a homosexual
boys club with guns, no doubt to compensate for small penii.
If these people narrowed their comments to include only Navy
personnel, I'd be forced to agree. But as such; no.
In high school, I had the American Literature teacher, Junior
or Senior year. He didn't like me because I was a smartass
(shocking, I know), and my jokes were always better than
his. He cussed me publicly more than once, and he wasn't
the only teacher to do so... but I digress.
He said something once that I've always remembered. The
question before us was, "When does a boy become a
man?" I know, extremely politically incorrect, but this was
the 80's and we didn't yet know that all the white boys were
going to grow up to be oppressive white men. There was a
lot of floundering for an answer. What do 16 and 17 year
old kids know about what makes a man? It starts out to be
a very simple question, but one to which you can have a hard
time answering.
Mr. Christopher Kanipe, the teacher, said that he first felt
like a man when he had to drive the family at 3am once, during a
bad rainstorm. His wife and small children trusted him enough
that they were all asleep. They needed a man to take care of
things that night, and he was able to do what had to be done.
A boy becomes a man when he is needed as a man.
I can get behind that answer.
Scumbags.
Last July there was a news blip that
some members of congress submitted a request to the United
Nations to monitor America's November election cycle. One
would assume the reason is that they saw fraud, corruption and
malfeasance in the 2000
election, and want to ensure it doesn't happen again.
The request was signed
by a dozen members of Congress.
I never heard of any response to the
request, so today I searched the United
Nations website. I found no record of the request, and
no statement that they will be monitoring the election.
While on the UN page, I saw lots of
places where they are monitoring elections. Lots of
war torn, and 3rd world countries.
I find it offensive that there are
elected members of the federal government who have such a low
opinion of my country. Last I checked there was no armed
coup in 2000. The troops were not called out to protect
the voters. The law was followed to the letter, just as it
should have been. "Nobody ever said there was any
wrongdoing." (Chief Justice Rehnquist, 2000)
None of the butt holes who signed the
letter were from my state, but if you see yours in the list
check them to see if they are your district. These people
are up for reelection this November, too, and they have a very
warped perception of reality... on top of being assholes.
Subtle.
Dig this picture of the damage caused
by hurricane Ivan currently being distributed by the Associated
Press.

History lesson time.
Originally
published in "The Life of Colonel David
Crockett," by Edward Sylvester Ellis.
One day in the House of
Representatives a bill was taken up appropriating money
for the benefit of a widow of a distinguished naval
officer. Several beautiful speeches had been made in its
support. The speaker was just about to put the question
when Crockett arose:
"Mr. Speaker--I have as
much respect for the memory of the deceased, and as much
sympathy for the suffering of the living, if there be,
as any man in this House, but we must not permit our
respect for the dead or our sympathy for part of the
living to lead us into an act of injustice to the
balance of the living. I will not go into an argument to
prove that Congress has not the power to appropriate
this money as an act of charity. Every member on this
floor knows it.
We have the right as
individuals, to give away as much of our own money as we
please in charity; but as members of Congress we have no
right to appropriate a dollar of the public money. Some
eloquent appeals have been made to us upon the ground
that it is a debt due the deceased. Mr. Speaker, the
deceased lived long after the close of the war; he was
in office to the day of his death, and I ever heard that
the government was in arrears to him.
"Every man in this House
knows it is not a debt. We cannot without the grossest
corruption, appropriate this money as the payment of a
debt. We have not the semblance of authority to
appropriate it as charity. Mr. Speaker, I have said we
have the right to give as much money of our own as we
please. I am the poorest man on this floor. I cannot
vote for this bill, but I will give one week's pay to
the object, and if every member of Congress will do the
same, it will amount to more than the bill asks."
He took his seat. Nobody
replied. The bill was put upon its passage, and, instead
of passing unanimously, as was generally supposed, and
as, no doubt, it would, but for that speech, it received
but few votes, and, of course, was lost.
Later, when asked by a friend
why he had opposed the appropriation, Crockett gave this
explanation:
"Several years ago I was
one evening standing on the steps of the Capitol with
some members of Congress, when our attention was
attracted by a great light over in Georgetown. It was
evidently a large fire. We jumped into a hack and drove
over as fast as we could. In spite of all that could be
done, many houses were burned and many families made
houseless, and besides, some of them had lost all but
the clothes they had on. The weather was very cold, and
when I saw so many children suffering, I felt that
something ought to be done for them. The next morning a
bill was introduced appropriating $20,000 for their
relief. We put aside all other business and rushed it
through as soon as it could be done.
"The next summer, when it
began to be time to think about election, I concluded I
would take a scout around among the boys of my district.
I had no opposition there but, as the election was some
time off, I did not know what might turn up. When riding
one day in a part of my district in which I was more of
a stranger than any other, I saw a man in a field
plowing and coming toward the road. I gauged my gait so
that we should meet as he came up, I spoke to the man.
He replied politely, but as I thought, rather coldly.
"I began: 'Well friend, I
am one of those unfortunate beings called candidates
and---
"Yes I know you; you are
Colonel Crockett. I have seen you once before, and voted
for you the last time you were elected. I suppose you
are out electioneering now, but you had better not waste
your time or mine, I shall not vote for you again."
"This was a sockdolger...I
begged him tell me what was the matter.
"Well Colonel, it is
hardly worthwhile to waste time or words upon it. I do
not see how it can be mended, but you gave a vote last
winter which shows that either you have not capacity to
understand the Constitution, or that you are wanting in
the honesty and firmness to be guided by it. In either
case you are not the man to represent me. But I beg your
pardon for expressing it that way. I did not intend to
avail myself of the privilege of the constituent to
speak plainly to a candidate for the purpose of
insulting you or wounding you.'
"I intend by it only to
say that your understanding of the constitution is very
different from mine; and I will say to you what but for
my rudeness, I should not have said, that I believe you
to be honest.
But an understanding of the
constitution different from mine I cannot overlook,
because the Constitution, to be worth anything, must be
held sacred, and rigidly observed in all its provisions.
The man who wields power and misinterprets it is the
more dangerous the honest he is.'
" 'I admit the truth of
all you say, but there must be some mistake. Though I
live in the backwoods and seldom go from home, I take
the papers from Washington and read very carefully all
the proceedings of Congress. My papers say you voted for
a bill to appropriate $20,000 to some sufferers by fire
in Georgetown. Is that true?
"Well my friend; I may as
well own up. You have got me there. But certainly nobody
will complain that a great and rich country like ours
should give the insignificant sum of $20,000 to relieve
its suffering women and children, particularly with a
full and overflowing treasury, and I am sure, if you had
been there, you would have done just the same as I did.'
"It is not the amount,
Colonel, that I complain of; it is the principle. In the
first place, the government ought to have in the
Treasury no more than enough for its legitimate
purposes. But that has nothing with the question. The
power of collecting and disbursing money at pleasure is
the most dangerous power that can be entrusted to man,
particularly under our system of collecting revenue by a
tariff, which reaches every man in the country, no
matter how poor he may be, and the poorer he is the more
he pays in proportion to his means.
What is worse, it presses upon
him without his knowledge where the weight centers, for
there is not a man in the United States who can ever
guess how much he pays to the government. So you see,
that while you are contributing to relieve one, you are
drawing it from thousands who are even worse off than
he.
If you had the right to give
anything, the amount was simply a matter of discretion
with you, and you had as much right to give $20,000,000
as $20,000. If you have the right to give at all; and as
the Constitution neither defines charity nor stipulates
the amount, you are at liberty to give to any and
everything which you may believe, or profess to believe,
is a charity and to any amount you may think proper. You
will very easily perceive what a wide door this would
open for fraud and corruption and favoritism, on the one
hand, and for robbing the people on the other. 'No,
Colonel, Congress has no right to give charity.'
"'Individual members may
give as much of their own money as they please, but they
have no right to touch a dollar of the public money for
that purpose. If twice as many houses had been burned in
this country as in Georgetown, neither you nor any other
member of Congress would have Thought of appropriating a
dollar for our relief. There are about two hundred and
forty members of Congress. If they had shown their
sympathy for the sufferers by contributing each one
week's pay, it would have made over $13,000. There are
plenty of wealthy men around Washington who could have
given $20,000 without depriving themselves of even a
luxury of life.'
"The congressmen chose to
keep their own money, which, if reports be true, some of
them spend not very creditably; and the people about
Washington, no doubt, applauded you for relieving them
from necessity of giving what was not yours to give. The
people have delegated to Congress, by the Constitution,
the power to do certain things. To do these, it is
authorized to collect and pay moneys, and for nothing
else. Everything beyond this is usurpation, and a
violation of the Constitution.'
"'So you see, Colonel, you
have violated the Constitution in what I consider a
vital point. It is a precedent fraught with danger to
the country, for when Congress once begins to stretch
its power beyond the limits of the Constitution, there
is no limit to it, and no security for the people. I
have no doubt you acted honestly, but that does not make
it any better, except as far as you are personally
concerned, and you see that I cannot vote for you.'
"I tell you I felt
streaked. I saw if I should have opposition, and this
man should go to talking and in that district I was a
gone fawn-skin. I could not answer him, and the fact is,
I was so fully convinced that he was right, I did not
want to. But I must satisfy him, and I said to him:
"Well, my friend, you hit
the nail upon the head when you said I had not sense
enough to understand the Constitution. I intended to be
guided by it, and thought I had studied it fully. I have
heard many speeches in Congress about the powers of
Congress, but what you have said here at your plow has
got more hard, sound sense in it than all the fine
speeches I ever heard. If I had ever taken the view of
it that you have, I would have put my head into the fire
before I would have given that vote; and if you will
forgive me and vote for me again, if I ever vote for
another unconstitutional law I wish I may be shot.'
"He laughingly replied;
'Yes, Colonel, you have sworn to that once before, but I
will trust you again upon one condition. You are
convinced that your vote was wrong. Your acknowledgment
of it will do more good than beating you for it. If, as
you go around the district, you will tell people about
this vote, and that you are satisfied it was wrong, I
will not only vote for you, but will do what I can to
keep down opposition, and perhaps, I may exert some
little influence in that way.'
"If I don't, said I, 'I
wish I may be shot; and to convince you that I am in
earnest in what I say I will come back this way in a
week or ten days, and if you will get up a gathering of
people, I will make a speech to them. Get up a barbecue,
and I will pay for it.'
"No, Colonel, we are not
rich people in this section but we have plenty of
provisions to contribute for a barbecue, and some to
spare for those who have none. The push of crops will be
over in a few days, and we can then afford a day for a
barbecue. 'This Thursday; I will see to getting it up on
Saturday week. Come to my house on Friday, and we will
go together, and I promise you a very respectable crowd
to see and hear you.
"'Well I will be here. But
one thing more before I say good-bye. I must know your
name."
"'My name is Bunce.'
"'Not Horatio Bunce?'
"'Yes
"'Well, Mr. Bunce, I never
saw you before, though you say you have seen me, but I
know you very well. I am glad I have met you, and very
proud that I may hope to have you for my friend.'
"It was one of the
luckiest hits of my life that I met him. He mingled but
little with the public, but was widely known for his
remarkable intelligence, and for a heart brim-full and
running over with kindness and benevolence, which showed
themselves not only in words but in acts. He was the
oracle of the whole country around him, and his fame had
extended far beyond the circle of his immediate
acquaintance. Though I had never met him, before, I had
heard much of him, and but for this meeting it is very
likely I should have had opposition, and had been
beaten. One thing is very certain, no man could now
stand up in that district under such a vote.
"At the appointed time I
was at his house, having told our conversation to every
crowd I had met, and to every man I stayed all night
with, and I found that it gave the people an interest
and confidence in me stronger than I had ever seen
manifested before.
"Though I was considerably
fatigued when I reached his house, and, under ordinary
circumstances, should have gone early to bed, I kept him
up until midnight talking about the principles and
affairs of government, and got more real, true knowledge
of them than I had got all my life before."
"I have known and seen
much of him since, for I respect him - no, that is not
the word - I reverence and love him more than any living
man, and I go to see him two or three times every year;
and I will tell you, sir, if every one who professes to
be a Christian lived and acted and enjoyed it as he
does, the religion of Christ would take the world by
storm.
"But to return to my
story. The next morning we went to the barbecue and, to
my surprise, found about a thousand men there. I met a
good many whom I had not known before, and they and my
friend introduced me around until I had got pretty well
acquainted - at least, they all knew me.
"In due time notice was
given that I would speak to them. They gathered up
around a stand that had been erected. I opened my speech
by saying:
"Fellow-citizens - I
present myself before you today feeling like a new man.
My eyes have lately been opened to truths which
ignorance or prejudice or both, had heretofore hidden
from my view. I feel that I can today offer you the
ability to render you more valuable service than I have
ever been able to render before. I am here today more
for the purpose of acknowledging my error than to seek
your votes. That I should make this acknowledgment is
due to myself as well as to you. Whether you will vote
for me is a matter for your consideration only."
"I went on to tell them
about the fire and my vote for the appropriation and
then told them why I was satisfied it was wrong. I
closed by saying:
"And now, fellow-citizens,
it remains only for me to tell you that the most of the
speech you have listened to with so much interest was
simply a repetition of the arguments by which your
neighbor, Mr. Bunce, convinced me of my error.
"It is the best speech I
ever made in my life, but he is entitled to the credit
for it. And now I hope he is satisfied with his convert
and that he will get up here and tell you so.'
"He came up to the stand
and said:
"Fellow-citizens - it
affords me great pleasure to comply with the request of
Colonel Crockett. I have always considered him a
thoroughly honest man, and I am satisfied that he will
faithfully perform all that he has promised you today.'
"He went down, and there
went up from that crowd such a shout for Davy Crockett
as his name never called forth before.'
"I am not much given to
tears, but I was taken with a choking then and felt some
big drops rolling down my cheeks. And I tell you now
that the remembrance of those few words spoken by such a
man, and the honest, hearty shout they produced, is
worth more to me than all the honors I have received and
all the reputation I have ever made, or ever shall make,
as a member of Congress.'
"Now, sir," concluded
Crockett, "you know why I made that speech
yesterday. "There is one thing which I will call
your attention, "you remember that I proposed to
give a week's pay. There are in that House many very
wealthy men - men who think nothing of spending a week's
pay, or a dozen of them, for a dinner or a wine party
when they have something to accomplish by it. Some of
those same men made beautiful speeches upon the great
debt of gratitude which the country owed the deceased--a
debt which could not be paid by money--and the
insignificance and worthlessness of money, particularly
so insignificant a sum as $20,000 when weighed against
the honor of the nation. Yet not one of them responded
to my proposition. Money with them is nothing but trash
when it is to come out of the people. But it is the one
great thing for which most of them are striving, and
many of them sacrifice honor, integrity, and justice to
obtain it." |
Buy stock in clothing manufacturers.
The other day I got my
once-a-year craving for McDonalds, so I went to get some drive
through.
I always "supersize"
at McD's... not because I want the extra fries (that I never
finish), but because I like the huge soft drink. I'm
usually a pretty thirsty guy.
So I order my food, and
the voice from the metal box tells me that they no longer offer
"supersized" food portions.
"Oh yeah," I
thought to myself, "they announced a while back they were
going to eliminate large portions to try to avoid federal
regulation of the fast food industry, due to the so-called
obesity epidemic in America that really has nothing to do with
fast-food joints, and everything to do with personal freedom and
lack of self control." Yes, I really do think in
run-on sentences.
There was a thread about
it in the dtman forums way back when, but it was probably lost
in the server crash earlier this year.
So, I ordered whatever it
was they had available, and drove on.
So, the title of this
thread, why buy stock in textile mills? Isn't it
obvious? Now that McD's will no longer supersize portions,
America is going to slough off fat like Michael Moore on a
desert isle, right? McD's was what made people fat, right?
And all these people will
need to be replacing their wardrobes with hip hugger jeans and
undersized t-shirts...
right?
"Presidential Race Still Squeaky Tight"
is one of the headlines on MSNBC right now. The blurb I read was, "The polls are so close that each
candidate will have to work hard to keep their sides fired up."
The first candidate to say something halfway nice about his opponent will win. "The honorable Mr. X is a good man. He has a lot of good intentions, and I believe he truly wants what he feels is best for America and Americans.
However..."
That will win over the fence sitters.
I think Bush can get away with this.
Kerry, with his broad support of "Anyone but Bush" people,
can't. He may win a few in the middle, but he'll lose the far left if he says anything about Bush beyond that he's the antichrist.
Just a thought.
When the president
actually starts campaigning, I think we'll see this.
One
of these mainstream news sources is doing its own thing...
One
of these mainstream news sources just doesn't belong.
A
few hours ago, 2 passenger airliners leaving the same airport on
the same runway both crashed hundreds of miles away from each
other. At the time of this writing, terrorism is being
suspected.
Current
news site front pages:
Slow
or biased? They aren't slow, because they've got the story
pushed off to the right. CNN just has a different idea of
what's newsworthy. Humiliated terrorists from 6 months ago
are definitely more important that entire families being wiped
out tonight.
God
forbid anyone think there's a global terrorist problem.
Marines.
Went
to see Alien vs. Predator last night, and in the row
behind me was half of a squad of Marines.
They were all chatting to each other, and I was just sitting
there not really paying attention... until they started telling
the "new guy" of their group something that happened
recently in Iraq.
Ooooo, I though. Story time.
Well, it wasn't really a story... but the guys in the middle
were making fun of the guy on the end for walking up to an IED
(Improvised Explosive Device) on the side of the road during a
patrol, and kicking it.
It was a bomb, but it had been wired wrong.
They were laughing and making fun of the guy for, and I quote,
being "the worst... pointman...EVAR."
Kind of cracked me up.
Then during the previews they showed a holiday movie opening up
in November, and one of the guys said, "I'll probably not
be able to see it 'cause I'll be dead by then."
His buddy answered, "Nah, you won't be dead, you'll just be
in the sandbox."
Time.
Why is that almost 10 years later, I still dream
about being in the Marines?
The last few dreams have been that I was
reinstated to my former position, and I was in uniform and on
duty, but that I kept forgetting to shave my beard. I
guess it's sort of the civilian equivalent of dreaming you went
to school naked.
Does this happen to any other vets?
Choices.
I tell you what...
I just registered for a couple classes at the local college. I'm
doing it just for fun, and to learn some things I've always wanted to learn.
With the money I'll receive from the G.I. Bill alone, I'll be making an approximate 300% profit over the costs of classes and books.
If I was in dire financial straits I'd be eligible for even more money with various grants.
If anyone ever says you have to have rich parents to go to college, they're full of shit. It's all about the choices everyone is free to make.
Putting
the shit back in the horse Part 2.
Part 2 of my ongoing debunking of liberal propaganda
positions concerns the line, "Bush acted
unilaterally." People who believe this either
misunderstand what has happened since 9-11, consider the United
Nations to be the true governing authority of the United States,
or know better and just lie to support their positions.
The following is the list
of countries that support Operation Iraqi Freedom, standing
shoulder to shoulder with American troops:
Afghanistan
Albania
Angola
Australia
Azerbaijan
Bulgaria
Colombia
Costa Rica
Czech Republic
Denmark
Dominican Republic
El Salvador
Eritrea
Estonia
Ethiopia
Georgia
Honduras
Hungary
Iceland
Italy
Japan
Kuwait
Latvia
Lithuania
Macedonia
Marshall Islands
Micronesia
Mongolia
Netherlands
Nicaragua
Palau
Panama
Philippines (surrendered)
Poland
Portugal
Romania
Rwanda
Singapore
Slovakia
Solomon Islands
South Korea
Spain (surrendered)
Turkey
Uganda
Ukraine
United Kingdom
United States
Uzbekistan
We've lost Spain and the Philippines due to
cowardice, but at least they tried, unlike our "classical allies"
France and Germany. No one knows for sure their true motivations, so I w
o
n
't
s
p
e
c
u
l
a
t
e
as to why in this article.
But to say that President Bush has done
anything unilaterally is easily proven incorrect.
Parallels.

The Democratic National Convention's
"Free Speech Zone," 2004. Separated for their
own good.

Japanese Internment Camp, ca. 1944.
Separated for their own good.
I hope the Republicans don't pull this shit in
New York City. Let the lefties be right in the cameras in
all their glory.
Integrity.
In the Marines, one of the first things beaten
into you by the drill instructors is the concept of integrity.
You are expected to be honest, forthright, and in all other ways
adhere to a strict moral code. Not a moral code in a
religious sense, but rather the idea that it is better to die as
an honest man than to live as a lying, sniveling worm.
This was even touched on in the most realistic Marine boot camp
movie of all time, Full Metal Jacket. When Private
Joker states that he doesn't "love the Virgin Mary,"
he is beaten and threatened with further beatings that he'd
better "sound off that (he) loves the Virgin Mary," or
else. Private Joker stuck to his guns under the threat of
further physical violence, and he was rewarded for it.
Integrity.
This is the main reason I find that I can't get
behind John Kerry, no matter how hard I try. And I have
tried. I think Bush is on the wrong path with the
anti-gay-marriage amendment. I don't like his abortion
stance, and I hate his ban on stem cell research. I'm not
sure if I like the Patriot Act. I'm not sure about his
environmental ideas.
But, there is one thing I understand about all
the policies: he is doing what he personally feels is
right. He is following his own ethical code, no matter
whether or not Registered Voter Gordo likes it.
I don't like many of his positions on issues,
but I respect him as a Man.
Which brings me back to John Kerry, who will
promise his booty to anybody with money or a vote, and he'll
have a message tailor made for each person. There's been
enough using his own words to prove he is of two-faces on
positions for whichever side will reward him most, so I think I
can just say that as a given. Today's release of the 11
minute "Kerry
Flip Flopping; His Own Words" (Direct
Link) video highlights this in a nicely edited, F911esque
package (that I certainly do question the timing of, considering
the Democratic National Convention is happening
today).
I just don't trust him.
If I were to have a beer with W, I wouldn't
doubt his sincerity (actually, W would be having a Coke,
wouldn't he.). If I was having a beer and Kerry was there
with a Zima, I'd wonder which version of Kerry I was
seeing. I'd wonder where he had me pigeonholed, and to
which demographic he was pandering.
He has no integrity, and for people like me
that's a big deal. It is probably seen as an antiquated
concept bereft of nuance by most, but I'm ok with that. A
lot of people consider calling someone a "cowboy" an
insult, too.
Kerry is worse than a $5 whore... he gives up
the booty to anybody for cheap, but never for free.
Poison.
I mentioned a couple posts ago that the words
most damaging to the Kerry campaign will be coming from Michael
Moore's mouth, and it looks like I may be right: they aren't
letting him speak at the Democratic National Convention:
The Democratic
Party is giving filmmaker Michael Moore what he called
``red carpet treatment'' at the party convention in
Boston, including a box inside the FleetCenter and
credentials to mingle with the delegates and press.
The one thing Moore did not get
from the Democrats was an opportunity to address the
crowd. A self-described independent voter, Moore said
he's satisfied helping Democratic nominee John Kerry
through his movie ``Fahrenheit 9/11,'' which questions
President George W. Bush's handling of the Sept. 11
attacks and the war in Iraq.
Bloomberg.com |
Looks like the DNC organizers agree with
me. They've still given him VIP treatment in a nod to his
convincing the weak minded that the President is a talking
monkey (a bilingual talking monkey with an MBA), but they're
"stifling his freedom of speech" by not letting him
drive the center any more toward Bush than he already has.
Not letting Moore speak at the DNC is actually a
smart move for the Dems.
From the transcripts I've read, the people
speaking at the convention sound more like Republicans than any
Republicans have since Reagan. What's up with that?
Is it just the "say anything you have to in order to get
the votes?" It smacks of insincerity to me.
This is the most liberal ticket since Mondale/Ferraro, and now
they're trying to sell themselves as Reagan/Bush.
Speaking of Reagan, I remember during the
funeral reading some liberal bemoan how the conservatives are
really going to play the dead president up during their election
drive. He mentioned about how ghoulish and opportunistic
it was.
So, which convention is having Reagan's son as a
speaker? Yeah, that's what I thought.
Anything to get elected.
At least with President Bush you know what to
expect; love him or hate him, he's consistent. Kerry and
Edwards? If you don't like their positions... well,
they've never admitted to having any positions, have they, beyond
that Bush is a big meany. You can't piss people off if you
never take a position on anything. I said over 6 months
ago how they come off so pessimistic... the economy sucks, Iraq
is a quagmire, Bush is incompetent. Now they're trying to
sell themselves as the opposite. Style over
substance. Botox-boy over the cowboy.
One last random thought... if I was under
artillery fire, and there was 2 different foxholes to jump in to
with Bush in one, Kerry in the other... which would I
choose? It definitely wouldn't be the shrapnel magnet who
supposedly got hit 3 times in 3 months.
If liberals are allowed to question Bush's
National Guard service, then I'm allowed to question the
validity of John Fonda Kerry's Purple Hearts (or Enemy
Marksmanship Medals, as Dick Marcinko tells it).
Meanwhile,
across town at a NAACP rally....

I am down, blood!
Linkdump.
I had a touch of writer's block recently, and ended up
bookmarking a whole bunch of things while trying to think of a
subject to write about. Here they are. (I don't
remember where I saw any of these, so feel free to hat tip
yourselves in the feedback thread.)
Kingdom
of Loathing - A goofy little web-based multiplayer role
playing game.
Web
Monkey - In the mid-90's when I was an HTML n00b, I used
this website to teach myself how to make web pages. It was
gone for awhile, but now it's back. This is a great
reference for all things web pagey.
Transterrestrial
Musings - A blogesque site mainly about aerospace, but
peppered with random tech bits. I found this page when
that civilian ship went into space recently.
W Ketchup
- It's either right-wing extremism, or left-wing subversive.
I dunno.
Simon
World - a westerner living in Hong Kong.
Public
Agenda Issues - A self-proclaimed "non-partisan"
opinion research organization. I remember hearing that you
get a fairly neutral look at the issues from both sides of the
fence. I can neither vouch for the neutrality nor how
up-to-date the information is. The one issue I looked at
was dated.
Stars
& Strips - Yes, the newspaper they always talked about
on M*A*S*H. They used to highlight soldiers, Marines, and
squids who went above and beyond... the few issues I've read
didn't have any of that.
2002
State of the Union address - I researched this when I had to
tell some anti-Bush peeps why they were full of shit.
Michael
Moore's home page - Some of the most damaging things to the
democrats' efforts in 2004 will be from Moore's
mouth.
France
opposes UN sanctions in Sudan - Because of the oil contracts
the have there. Obviously.
Peeps
against John Kerry - This looks familiar, have I posted it
before?
JJ
Walker's page - he seems to be conservative. Dyno-mite!
Volunteers.
I just finished reading Breakout at Normandy, The 2nd
Armored Division in the Land of the Dead by Mark Bando (MBI
Publishing Company, 1999). This 160 page non-fiction book
mainly covers the period of time between the landing at
Normandy, and Patton's Battle of the Bulge, specifically with
the American breakout that made Patton's famous maneuver
possible.
The book tells a lot of its story from the words of the
actual men through the ranks who were there, and made it happen,
from General "Lightning Joe" Collins who led the
breakout, to Private Charles Rost who drove a medium tank.
A lot of the men quoted from letters and reports didn't
survive the war, but some did. A lot of those who came
home later became dismayed that their sacrifices were being
forgotten. Men named Whittington and Cleveland and Chubby
Williams went into France on D-Day and distinguished themselves valiantly
on the cutting edge of the allied advance.
"In postwar
years, Whittington became known as "Rocky" and
stayed in the Army, receiving a commission. He
served as a career officer in Aberdeen, Maryland, in
Germany, and in Vietnam as early as 1962, where he
suffered a heart attack. He remained on inactive
status as a major until he officially retired in
1967. On 17 January 1969, Whittington was found
dead in a locked room, dead of a gunshot wound. A
.45 automatic was found at his side. No note was
left to explain his actions.
In 1972, John Cleveland...ended
his life in the same manner as Whittington. After
serving out a career in the military, Cleveland was
residing over the Staunton, Virginia, Military Academy
at the time of his death.
Perhaps it is no coincidence
that both these men chose to end their lives during the
Vietnam War. They were no doubt appalled by the
flag burning protestors who could not reconcile the
concept that love of flag and country were not
synonymous with embracing an unpopular war. For a
time, the media made it appear that an entire generation
of Americans would never again respect the flag, nor the
combat veterans who had made their right to protest
possible.
If this nightmare was the
legacy that their sacrifices bought, what meaning did it
all have? What were the priceless valor
decorations worth in a society that had forgotten them?
And so it goes.
Was it just a coincidence that
a few survivors of the Land des Mortes battle chose to
end their own lives? We will never know. But
as recently as 1990, the man who was Chubby William's
companion on Death Night also used a .45 pistol to end
his own life.
With the passing of decades and
a quick victory in the Gulf War with few casualties,
considerable healing has taken place within the American
society. Flag waving has again become acceptable,
although perverted values and the elevation of criminals
to celebrity status, among other things, has World War
II survivors again shaking their heads in
disbelief. Indeed, American societal values have
changed so much that one veteran commented recently,
"The men who died fighting to preserve our way of
life in World War II are rolling over in their
graves." O.B. Hill of the 82nd Airborne
write, "When I think that during the war, we killed
better men than those on our streets today; I wonder how
we have slipped this far."
(Bando, 143) |
Take a look today at the people who have chosen sides, and
tell me whether the generations who have gone before would despair,
or would be proud of, the battles you've chosen to fight.
History is watching, and in 50 years nobody will care what tenth
of a percentage point between 4% and 6% at which American
unemployment was sitting at, but they will definitely see a
different middle east than the one George W. Bush inherited in
2000. It's important to figure out where your priorities
lie.
Things
that bug me.
One of the things that bugs me is when people quote bullshit
as fact.
I was never a huge Al Gore fan, but it always bugged me when
someone would drop the "Al Gore invented the internet"
bomb as proof that Gore is an idiot. Maybe he's an idiot,
maybe he's not (I tend to believe not), but he
never said he invented the internet. Years later I
still see people say it. And it bugs me.
Something more currently relevant, and rarely a day goes by
when I don't see it in print (and rarely a week goes by when
someone doesn't try to say it to me), is that President Bush
wasn't elected, he was selected by the Supreme Court. It
even still makes national news when some partisan dumbass "accidentally"
lets
the allegation slip.
So, right now I am going to state that the Supreme Court did
not "select" Bush as the winner of Florida in the 2000
election, and I'm going to provide evidence. I'm mostly
doing this so I can refer to this post in the future, when
correcting other idiots. I'm not going to state that the
idiots who think Gore won the election are uneducated simps
merely repeating what someone else told them because they lack
the brainpower to do their own research and draw their own
conclusions. That's not the point of this post.
In a nutshell, the Florida Supreme court was going to ignore
their own election laws and allow yet another hand recount of
ballots. One hand recount had already been done (as well
as a machine recount preceding it) in accordance with Florida
law, which Al Gore had every right to request. Al Gore
then petitioned Florida to extend the hand count, extending the
election. The Florida Supreme Court chose to waive their
own requirement that results be posted by a certain date.
Bush petitioned the Supreme Court of the United States, the
SCOTUS ruled that Florida must follow its own laws regarding
recounts, the Florida Supreme Court agreed, and it was all over
but for the Democratic wailing (which we're still hearing four
years later).
The Supreme Court never said, "Bush is now
President." The Supreme Court said, "Florida has
to follow the laws on their books." They never even
said, "They have to follow their laws and if Bush won then
Bush won." No, they said Florida had to obey their
law. How terrible, eh?
The proceedings
leading to the present controversy are discussed
in some detail in our opinion in Bush v. Palm Beach
County Canvassing Bd., ante, p.
____ (per curiam)
(Bush I).
On November 8, 2000, the day following the
Presidential election, the Florida Division of Elections
reported that petitioner, Governor Bush, had received
2,909,135 votes, and respondent, Vice President Gore, had
received 2,907,351 votes, a margin of 1,784 for Governor
Bush. Because Governor Bush’s margin of victory was
less than “one-half of a percent . . . of the votes cast,”
an
automatic machine recount was conducted under
§102.141(4) of the election code, the results of which
showed Governor Bush still winning the race but by a diminished margin. Vice President Gore
then sought
manual recounts in
Volusia, Palm Beach, Broward, and
Miami-Dade Counties, pursuant to Florida’s election
protest provisions. Fla. Stat. §102.166 (2000). A dispute
arose concerning the deadline for local county canvassing
boards to submit their returns to the Secretary of State
(Secretary). The Secretary declined to waive the November
14 deadline imposed by statute. §§102.111, 102.112.
The Florida Supreme Court, however, set the deadline at
November 26. We granted certiorari and vacated the
Florida Supreme Court’s decision, finding considerable uncertainty
as to the grounds on which it was based. Bush
I, ante, at
___–___ (slip. op., at 6–7). On December
11, the Florida Supreme Court issued a decision on remand
reinstating that date. ___ So. 2d ___, ___ (slip op. at 30–31).
On November 26,
the Florida Elections Canvassing
Commission certified the results of the election and declared
Governor Bush the winner of Florida’s 25 electoral
votes. On November 27, Vice President Gore, pursuant to Florida’s
contest provisions, filed a complaint in Leon
Cite as: 531 U. S. ____ (2000) 3 Per
Curiam
County Circuit Court contesting the certification. Fla.
Stat. §102.168 (2000). He sought relief pursuant to
§102.168(3)(c), which provides that “[r]eceipt of a number
of illegal votes or rejection of a number of legal votes
sufficient to change or place in doubt the result of the
election” shall be grounds for a contest. The Circuit Court
denied relief, stating that Vice President Gore failed to
meet his burden of proof. He appealed to the First District
Court of Appeal, which certified the matter to the Florida Supreme Court.
Accepting
jurisdiction, the Florida Supreme Court affirmed in part
and reversed in part. Gore v. Harris, ___
So. 2d. ____ (2000). The court held that the Circuit Court
had been correct to reject Vice President Gore’s challenge
to the results certified in Nassau County and his challenge
to the Palm Beach County Canvassing Board’s determination
that 3,300 ballots cast in that county were not, in the statutory phrase,
“legal votes.”
Florida
Courts.org |
The above links give most of the relevant official text of
the decisions, and what happened overall.
As an aside, for a while I've believed that certain people
with a specific (anti-Bush) political bent were willing to
distort fact and truth to support their own beliefs.
Having just read the above court cases in their entirety, and
having understood most of it, I can say I'm officially scared of
the people who will make web pages like this.
It's pure horse shit, made to look official. He states
"I swear I heard him say it," and all official
documentation says he's lying. I can understand how people
could be misled.
And that's the problem.
+++
Now, I'm not going to argue that Gore won the popular
vote. Nobody contests that. If you have a problem
with the electoral vote process, you need to take that up with
your state government, since every state ratified the
Constitution, which clearly lays out the electoral voting
concept. In my opinion, if you'd rather elect presidents
by popular vote, you might as well admit that only New York and
California matter and the rest of the states can just go fuck
themselves*. In case you didn't know, the electoral vote
process was put into place so that states like Wyoming and
Arkansas would still be relevant in a national election.
But again, just tell them to go hell if that particular jackboot
fits your foot.
*Cheney, 2004