Saw Bush’s speech, thought it was ok, glad he explained in no uncertain terms that we will not leave Iraq until the overall mission has been completed. I had worried he might be going wobbly. Then, on cue, as if to reeassure me why I should not take Democrats seriously, the nine dwarves responded and reminded me why I am not a Democrat. Bush has done a lot of things to piss me off, but lord help us if the Democrats win in 2004.
Archives for September 2003
Steelers Football
Once again, we start a new season of Steeler football. I was so excited I couldn’t sleep last night. The hated Ravens will be met at 1 o’clock today, and we better kill ’em, or the world will be a dark, ugly place (as it always is when we lose).
The Solution is a Bullet
Saw this coming:
Mahmoud Abbas submitted his resignation as Palestinian prime minister today, and Israel tried to kill the spiritual leader and founder of Hamas with an airstrike in Gaza City, as the Bush administration’s drive for Middle East peace appeared in danger of disintegrating.
Sometimes I just wish the entire middle east would simply disappear. I am sure there are a few American presidents who have felt the same way from time to time.
President Bush had embraced Mr. Abbas, 68, as an alternative leader to Yasir Arafat, one who was willing and able to champion the new peace plan, called the road map. But in the eyes of most Palestinian politicians and analysts, Mr. Arafat emerged from the struggle strengthened, at least temporarily, with a public that, before Mr. Abbas’s elevation, had shown signs of wearying of him.
For the love of everything holy, will someone pleasse just put a bullet in that despicable terrorist Arafat?
In a closed-door session here today with Palestinian legislators, Mr. Abbas, who was described as worn out and sad, blamed Israel, the Bush administration and Mr. Arafat for undermining his government and his efforts for peace.
In a statement, as before the legislators, he lay the blame primarily with Israel, saying, “The fundamental problem was Israel’s unwillingness to implement its commitments in the road map.” He said Washington had not pressed Israel enough.
But, in a clear swipe at Mr. Arafat and the rest of the Palestinian leadership, he also complained about a “lack of support” for his government and “harsh and dangerous domestic incitement against the government.” On Thursday, when Mr. Abbas presented a summary to legislators of his first months in office, masked men spray-painted the walls outside with slogans denouncing his government, and dozens of protesters chanted against him.
Let’s see- the Americans promoted him and did everything they could to legitimize him, Israel showed remarkable restraint while Abu Mazen did nothing to reing in the extremists, yet he manages to blame them and not himself? It would be funny if it were not so sad.
Corporate Malfeasance
Via Atrios, news that is just infuriating:
JUST A MONTH before the next U.S. Army unit is due to deploy in Iraq to relieve the hard-pressed forces already there, the military is confessing to a potential showstopper. The deploying unit
Hypocrites
Michael Kinsley once was a reputable writer (maybe I am being charitable). After Arthur Silber finishes with him, you will prbably never read Kinsley again.
(via the Instapundit)
Apparently Kinsley is being sarcastic. I can never tell- he is normally so pedantic and petulant that I miss any sarcasm. Go read it for yourself.
Policy Vs. Partisanship
Over and over again we read how the blogosphere is polarized between the far-left and the far-right, and that the discussions online seem to be far more fierce than of those in the reral world. While some may view this, I find that the majority of the people in the blogosphere have rather centrist political ideologies (not to mention the over-representation of libertarians in the blogosphere), but what runs deep is the partisanship. I am as guilty as most, and I find myself defending Republicans far more often than they merit, if only because of the nature of their enemies. At any rate, in the last 24 hours, Kevin Drum has some prime examples of this partisanship, and I note this only because from my interpretation of his less snarky posts, Kevin actually has pretty middle of the road politics.
Yesterday, Kevin posted this doozy:
For all those American conservatives who have decided to give Silvio Berlusconi’s egregious corruption a pass just because he supported the Iraq war, maybe you’d better take a second look at your guy:
In a newspaper interview published this week, the health minister in Italy’s right-of-centre administration, Girolamo Sirchia, announced that he would be doing what he could to reinstate Friday as a day of fasting throughout Italy.
“Apart from being an ancient religious tradition, the weekly fast is a useful health measure,” Mr Sirchia told the daily La Stampa. “It has a scientific basis. It helps to purify the system of the effects of an unhealthy diet.”
….”In school and works canteens and in the hospitals, we shall take the path of reduced portions and a day of abstinence,” Mr Sirchia declared.
A day of fasting in hospitals? Enforced by the government?
For the record, I find the idea of government enforced fasting in hospitals to be reckless and stupid- ‘No anti-nausea medicine today, chemo patients- you won’t be needing your appetites!’ Almost as stupid and reckless as this statement:
….For all those American conservatives who have decided to give Silvio Berlusconi’s egregious corruption a pass just because he supported the Iraq war, maybe you’d better take a second look at your guy.
This is just a partisan swipe, a cheapshot, and it has no basis in reality. Conservatives may have hailed Berlusconi for being supportive of the administrations policies, but one of the main reasons many were praising Berlusconi was that he was also simply standing up for the United States at a time when certain of our ‘allies’ were running domestic political campaigns with the sole platform of America bashing. Remember this statement:
Editor’s note: This article is written by Jose Mar
Tonight We Are Serving Justice for Dinner
A federal judge on Thursday threw out a revised lawsuit against McDonald’s Corp . that accused the fast food restaurant of using misleading advertising to lure children into eating unhealthy foods that make them fat.
U.S. District Judge Robert Sweet had previously dismissed the plaintiffs’ original case but allowed them to submit a new filing with information backing up their advertising allegations.
In dismissing the current suit, Sweet said that the plaintiffs had not followed his detailed instructions and he barred them from filing another version, quelling litigation fears the suit had sparked in the food industry, .
“The plaintiffs have made no explicit allegations that they witnessed any particular deceptive advertisement and they have not provided McDonald’s with enough information to determine whether its products are the cause of the alleged injuries,” Sweet said.
“Finally, the one advertisement which plaintiffs implicitly allege to have caused their injuries is objectively non-deceptive,” he said.
The suit has raised fears in the food industry of a new wave of tobacco-like litigation against restaurants and manufacturers. Indeed, the possibility of bringing more suits over fattening foods was the focus of a seminar during the spring in Boston attended by anti-tobacco lawyers.
I am glad this is over, but IMHO, it was McJustice. Real justice would have been a court order proclaiming that these greedy lawyers and their obviously greedy clients be publicly humiliated/flogged and the lawyers disbarred for being a public nuisance.
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