Please read this.

Also take a few moments tomorrow to thank those who are out there serving and sacrificing, including our own who have been there and done that.

Thanks RW.

A lovely turn of phrase about a dodderring writer. Enjoy

If, y'know, John Cleese were a gin-soaked armadillo in puffy yellow MC Hammer pants.

Can you top that one?

Well I'm glad you're willing to engage in such a nice calm reasoned debate on the subject.

It's really sad to see another victim of Bush Derangement Syndrome but I guess we'll just try to talk you down gently.

Let's see. Disaster response is first and foremost the responsibility of the local and state governments. Considering that the mayor is on TV bitching for busses don't you think he should have bothered using the 500+ he had on hand instead of leaving them parked in a place that flooded? I suppose using them for the 48 hours of the mandatory evacuation order (which btw was only made on the urging of President Bush) to get people out of the city might have helped.

Finally, before you shift to the Corps of Engineers budget and levee failures I'll point out that first off the levee in question was fully repaired and was, SUPRISE!, only designed to withstand a category 3 hurricane.

Take a deep breath. Settle down and try to be constructive instead of a FSoF'ed idiot spouting nonsense.

This just in, Bush meets with Cindy Sheehan.

Comments from Sheehan:

""I now know he's sincere about wanting freedom for the Iraqis," Cindy said after their meeting. "I know he's sorry and feels some pain for our loss. And I know he's a man of faith."

The meeting didn't last long, but in their time with Bush, Cindy spoke about Casey and asked the president to make her son's sacrifice count for something. They also spoke of their faith.

Oh, I'm sorry, that was from the PREVIOUS meeting.

From the pages of VodkaPundit

Last week, there was some hubbub in Congress demanding President Bush announce a firm date for pulling out of Iraq. Announcing an exit date would be dumber than using a taffy puller to epilate your scrotum.

I'll give you all a moment to form that mental picture and cringe accordingly. Any better/equal simile's that you can think of?

Well thanks to the mind expanding mecha that is the local public library I got my hands on the two Kill Bill DVD's. I figured hey, a little carnage, it'll be a lark.

Well, I've finished volume 1 and I hate to say it but it was a damn good movie. It almost scares me to think that the greasy little guy that is Tarantino could write such a movie. If you haven't seen it and don't mind some rather gruesome violence (swords, jetting blood, flying limbs, that kind of thing) then I guess I'm recommending it.

Those who have seen it, what did you think?

Aside from totally rocking, the season finale of Battle Star Galactica should have had the following tag line:
"You bastards! You killed Sharon!" (This of course being like the third time they did it...)

* New Journal Entry by ellem, "Bad Political Joke" Sat February 12, 11:26 AM
* New Journal Entry by Planesdragon, "Dean elected DNC Chair!" Sat February 12, 01:20 PM
* New Journal Entry by gmhowell, "Which sideshow member are you?" Sat February 12, 03:33 PM

Tell me that's not too close to the truth.

So, tell me if you think it's wrong that an ex-Kleagle of the Klu Klux Klan should lecture a black woman on responsibility?

So this is what you wind up with when you try to appease the radicals.

Story

Summary: Artist paints mural with dove and the words "Thou Shalt Not Kill" as a protest over the murder of film maker Van Gogh. A complaint was lodged that this was "offensive" and "racist". Cops came and painted over it, arrested a news person, and demanded that a cameraman erase footage of the whole incident.

And everyone's busy worrying about Ashcroft?!?

I guess we have to use our own JE's since Sam didn't want comments in his.

First off, I'm incredibly insulted by the "don't know how rational people can support Bush" line. That is no way to promote reconciliation.

I'm supporting Bush. To the point that I actually bothered to register and will be voting today. This is actually significant becuase I'm in a pretty solidly Democratic state. (So much so that we've been spared most ads.)

What Bush has done:
1) Realized that the policy for dealing with terrorism was a complete failure and changed it.

This required vision and guts. Why? Because he tackled Afghanistan which thanks to some brilliant military commanders now seems like another example of the US picking on a 98-pound weakling. This or course ignores the fact that the might Soviet Union failed to control the country despite years of efforts. Elections were recently held there. This is an accomplishment of monumental proportions.

2) He tackled Iraq.
You may bemoan the lack of WMD in Iraq but go back and look at the contemporaneous reports and the only thing you see that all sides agreed on was that Saddam had WMD and would probably use them to devestating effect on our troops.

Why I'm not voting for Kerry:
1) I have no idea what he'll do in Iraq.
He's already de-emphasized Democracy as a goal instead aiming for "stability". He and his campaign people insulted all the current allies fighting there and called the current Prime Minister a liar and a puppet.

2) I don't have all the information on him. John Kerry ran as the "I served in Viet Nam" president and never released his war records. Suspicions around some of his medals have been flying for months and the press continues to give him a free ride.

Right now the big question is whether Kerry got an honorable discharge or not (or whether it was "cleaned up" under Carter's amnesty). You may argue about whether this is relevant or not, but the fact that we don't have the information to make our own decision is damning enough.

3) KerryCare. Kerry's proposed health care plan would cover people up to 300% of the poverty level. That number is higher than the median income level in the US. This would mean a huge increase in government spending and control over health care. Go here and then search for TennCare to see what happens when a state exerts too much control.

4) Crass opportunism.
Kerry's carping over the "missing explosives" was just the final in a long list of political manuevers that reeked of opportunism. Worse yet, it insulted the troops and was based on faulty information. (This from the man complaining that Bush "got it wrong" on the WMD intelligence.) Kerry has been both for and against far too many things during his candidacy. He was the war candidate before he was the peace candidate. He routinely bashes Bush on not providing our soldiers with the equipment they need while he is 87 billion times wrong on the issue.

5) Diplomacy
Kerry's idea of diplomacy is to restart bilateral talks with North Korea and send nuclear fuel to Iran to "call their bluff". Does anyone see anything wrong with this?

So, there you go. That's my list of reasons for Bush and against Kerry.

Actually, they went missing before they were reported missing. According to ABC News:

But the confidential IAEA documents obtained by ABC News show that on Jan. 14, 2003, the agency's inspectors recorded that just over 3 tons of RDX was stored at the facility -- a considerable discrepancy from what the Iraqis reported.

The Iraqis reported that 141 tons of RDX was at the facility. This is an overstatement of 138 tons.

The documents show IAEA inspectors looked at nine bunkers containing more than 194 tons of HMX at the facility. Although these bunkers were still under IAEA seal, the inspectors said the seals may be potentially ineffective because they had ventilation slats on the sides. These slats could be easily removed to remove the materials inside the bunkers without breaking the seals, the inspectors noted.

So, they "sealed" the bunkers by putting some stuff on the front door while leaving the windows wide open.

Even more damning is that the weapons inspectors had requested that the IAEA destroy the explosives in question back in 1995.

James Lileks brings us the following imagined scenario:

I admit. I have a fantasy. Kerry wins. He's having a summit with Tony Blair. In the middle of the conversation, Chirac calls up; Kerry excuses himself and has a brief chat about a new resolution to let French oil companies bid on reconstruction projects, and they have an amiable conversation in French. Kerry hangs up.

"Your predecessor," Blair says, "spoke to him in English."

"I know," says President Kerry. "He couldn't speak French."

"He didn't have to," Blair notes. He gives a tight smile. And sighs. And gets down to explaining what now must be done.

If Tony B. ran against Kerry in this country, I wonder who'd win? I'd vote for him. Everything else aside, he gets it. He always has.

Read it all here.

Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry has still refused to release all of his military records despite claims to have done so. Further investigation into what is available shines a light onto questions about Kerry's discharge.

Read more here

Hatchet job? Item of relevance? Who knows. The issue is that we don't have the information necessary to evaluate because of his refusal.