If you are wondering where the Blog Awards results are, I have not tallied them because I have only received 35 submissions. When I get to a decent number, worth the effort, I will post the results. OF the 20 people who linked to the blog awards, approximately TWO of the bloggers submitted their votes. So, one more time, the categories are listed below. Get on it or the Blog Awards will R.I.P. You have until 25 August before I give up.
Archives for 2003
Poor, Underfunded Democrats
Remember all those poor, unfunded Democrats who just can’t seem to raise enough money to get their message out that we exposed as sheer nonsense? They have launched a new website and PAC to ‘recall Bush’:
Republicans in California have initiated a recall against the governor, giving three reasons for their effort:
1. The state’s budget has gone from a sizeable surplus to a substantial deficit in a few short years.
2. Gov. Davis did not tell the truth to voters about the state’s budget and economic situation.
3. The state’s economy remains in dismal shape, and the chief executive of the state is ultimately responsible for it’s welfare.
If we apply these standards to a governor, then they must also be applicable to a president. The next recall effort is long overdue: a Bush recall campaign.
Yawn. Yet another high profile fundraising scheme to add to the list of the others we have already discussed– the Recall Bush PAC was formed by the leaders of the Bushwhacker Pack and the Progressive Majority.
Another One Bites the Dust
Say hello to your cellmate, Bubba:
Ali Hassan al-Majid, a cousin and trusted advisor of Saddam Hussein who earned a reputation for ruthlessness by using poison gas to supress a Kurdish uprising in 1988, has been captured, the American military said today.
The United States Central Command in Tampa, Fla., announced the capture of Mr. Majid but gave no details on where he was detained or how. Mr. Majid was No. 5 on the allied forces’ list of the 55 most wanted Iraqis.
The capture of Mr. Majid represents another step in the military’s effort to wipe out any lingering influence of the fragmented remnants of Mr. Hussein’s government.
That would be “Chemical Ali” to you and me.
*** Update ***
Via Instapundit, I find out that Ali has a new nickname:
The Iraqi general formerly known as ‘Chemical Ali’ was captured this morning by Coalition troops.
However, Ali Hassan al-Majid is now officially known as ‘Conventional Ali,’ since it is common knowledge that Iraq had no chemical weapons program.
Scott Ott, genius.
Truth Black-out
Remember how Hillary immediately began to blame Bush when the blackout occurred in the Northeast? If you don;t, here is a sample of her statements:
King: Governor Richardson and Governor Davis have said that this kind of thing should be preventable. Do you agree?
CLINTON: Absolutely. And of course both of them have firsthand experience over the last several years. And I believe that one of questions that we should answer, because of this, is not only how did it happen, but how is it going to be prevented in the future?
There were a couple of times during the past two and a half years in the Senate when a number of us tried to vote for taking action that would increase reliability within the system to try to protect the transmission systems that move energy from one part of our country to another. To have some more backup. We’ve not been successful up until now, but perhaps now because perhaps we will now be…
King:Senator Clinton, is the federal government on top of this or not?
CLINTON: Well, Larry, I agree with Governor Davis and I know Governor Richardson is very knowledgeable about this as well, that we just haven’t made the kind of national investments that we need, particularly in the transmission system. I happen to think that making sure we have a reliable, affordable system of energy is a national priority. And I don’t think that this administration sees it that way. They have continued to try to push deregulation and privatization, and to try to undo a lot of the systems in changes that many of us thought were important and necessary that we tried to work on during the Clinton administration under Secretary Richardson’s leadership. And frankly to throw in a lot of roadblocks in the way of Governor Davis, when he tried to clean up some of the problems that he had with the manipulation of the energy markets by Enron and others. So, no, I don’t think the federal administration under this president is really focused on making sure we don’t have these problems in the future.
Hillary Clinton, during the blackout doing a live interview with Larry King, 14 August 2003.
The conventional wisdom (from the Democrats in the media and the left flank of the blogosphere) has been that the arrogant Bush team (forget he is President, it is his enrgy bill, and the Senate and the House are Republican) and the evils of the deregulation bogeyman are holding back an upgrade of the power grid- but is that really true? Bill Hobbs checks the lies:
Did President Bush really try to upgrade the national power grid two years ago, in order to prevent massive blackouts like the one that hit much of the northeastern quadrant of the nation last week? And did Democrats and environmentalists prevent him from doing so? Yes, absolutely, yes, says the New York Times. [Hat tip: Kevin Patrick]
Ambitious Bush Plan Undone by Energy Politics
By ELISABETH BUMILLER and JEFF GERTH
WASHINGTON, Aug. 19 – President Bush stood at a gasoline station near his ranch in Texas today and said he had been calling for an energy bill to modernize the nation’s electricity grid “for a long time.”Mr. Bush is quite right. A comprehensive energy policy was part of his platform as a candidate for president and seemed prescient from his very first week in office, when he was forced to ensure there was enough power in California to ease the state’s rolling blackouts. By May 2001, largely because of the California crisis, Mr. Bush had released his energy plan.
But the president’s ambitious policy quickly became a casualty of energy politics and, notably, harsh criticism from Democrats enraged by the way the White House had created the plan. Although the policy included recommendations to improve the nation’s electric grid that everyone agreed on, they were lost in the shouting and have been dormant in Congress for the past two years.
Methinks this really ought to be pointed out in Bush campaign ads running in the blackout zone.
Me too, Bill. Before I finish this post, I can’t pass up pointing out Hillary’s latest whopper:
U.S. Sen. Hillary Clinton told ABC’s “World News Tonight” last Thursday that the lights at her Chappaqua, N.Y., mansion went out along with everyone else’s when the big blackout hit.
But moments later during the same interview, Clinton contradicted herself and admitted that she was “one of the fortunate ones” who still had power, thanks to a Secret Service generator on her property.
“No, the lights aren’t on,” Clinton initially told ABC’s Ted Koppel, who asked during their telephone chat if she still had power “up there.”
After listening to the top Democrat expound for a few minutes on the vagaries of nuclear power and why she thought the collapse of Enron should have been a warning sign, Koppel revisited the question, asking, “Well, has the Secret Service got a nice generator for backup power? Or are you handling it on candles tonight?”
With that Sen. Clinton came clean and admitted she was enjoying full power.
“Well, no, they do. I’m one of the fortunate ones,” she offered, without skipping a beat. “Because of all of the equipment and the communications, that is something that they can count on to keep essential services going.”
Koppel pretended not to notice Hillary’s earlier fib about being left without lights, noting only, “Well, the neighbors will be coming over for that cup of sugar later on.”
How can you tell when Hillary Clinton is lying…
NaziMedia’s Greatest Hits
It’s still all about the oil to the International A.N.S.W.E.R. crowd and the tinfoil hat conspiracy theorist losers at Indymedia. Even the tragic explosion at the UN compound is a ripe target for some of their ‘humor’:
At least the Kucinich campaign still has a few supporters left.
Even more irritating thanb the cartoon is this gem of a story from the DC NaziMedia. Hold on to your seats, it’s gonna be a wild ride:
What do Reuter’s photographer Mazen Dana and UN advisor Vieria de Mello (who was due to be UN Human Rights Commissioner, armed with a thick dossier on US abuses in Iraq) have in common? Both were seen as threats to the Pentagon. Both are dead…
Now, days after Dana’s death, we are asked to believe that the attack on the UN that claimed the life of senior UN advisor Sergio Vieria de Mello was not a targeted assassination. Yet the cement truck carrying the bomb aimed at and struck the section of building directly below de Mello’s office. De Mello was preparing, within the month, to leave Iraq and assume his position as new head of the UN Human Rights Commission. De Mello most assuredly was going to that new post well-armed with documentation of rights abuses perpetrated by US troops in Iraq since the start of the war and through the occupation. He has made it plain from day one that his top concern was insure that Iraqis were treated fairly. Now, conveniently for the Pentagon, de Mello is dead and his offices and files destroyed. While the US is of course blaming the attack on Iraqi “rebels” (the vague term used for all attackers under all circumstances), the Iraqi Islamic National Resistance Movement, released a statement condemning the attack and saying no Iraqis would have attacked the United Nations.
UN chief Kofi Annan, usually almost too conciliatory toward the US, has come right out and said he holds the US responsible for the bombing. There is ample evidence that the US wants the UN out of Iraq. Last week, the “New York Times” reported that Bush no longer wants the UN to have a major role in the occupation and instead wants to enlist the help of other (more readily controllable?) countries to help the US in its bloody struggle. The “Times” report said the US government had very specifically refused to grant the UN any authority over security in Iraq. How convenient for the bombers, eh? In addition, Donald Rumsfeld has stated that he thinks the UN and its concern with human rights standards would be a hindrance to the Pentagon’s efforts to control Iraq (as in using despotic, brutal tactics that rob citizens of their rights).
Fortunately, the ranks of honest, patriotic FBI and CIA agents are stronger than the handful of Bush-operative rogues who aid and abet the Pentagon in its criminal activities. FBI agents on the scene of the tragedy are already reporting that the US had been warned of such an attack at least a week ago – but did nothing to stop it. More suspicious still, while the US mainstream media is describing the perpetrator as a desperate suicide bomber from a rebel group, the FBI says the bomb was highly sophisticated -something that might be created by a CIA-trained expert.
I bolded the extra doubly stupid parts. The rest is just garden variety stupid.
Virus, Part 2
Via the Instapundit I see that Matt Welch is getting hammered by the same virus that has nuked my morning. I think I am handling it a touch better:
I’m Getting Bombarded With Virus E-mails: If you’ve received any suspicious-looking e-mail from me, please let me know in the comments. Thanks! UPDATE: OK, this is now driving me batshit. Hundreds of infected e-mails an hour, all “re: Thanks!” and “Wicked screensaver!” Is there a machete for this worm? If I have another day like today I am bound to leap over the backyard fence like a bearded, raccoon-eyed zombie and brain the neighbor’s horrendous yapping dogs, just for reasons of Closure. Please prevent caninicide today, and help me find the “patch” or whatever you kids are calling it nowadays.
In Matt’s comments section, a reader pointed to this MSNBC story explaining what is happening:
SoBig and its variants have been taunting computer users all year, starting with the original virus released in January. The sixth variant was released early Tuesday, kick-started by a mass spam mailing and quickly rising to the top of many virus threat lists.
The worm uses random subject lines and attachment names, making it hard to spot. Network Associates Inc. has seen hundreds of affected customers, said spokesman Craig Schmugar. The firm rates the virus a medium risk. Symantec Corp. has received 300 submissions from customers, most from home users, said Weafer, and rates the virus a 3 on a scale of 1 to 5.
But even those who weren
The Name Game
I have noticed lately that in all discussions of Arnold’s race in California, someone pops up and claims Arnold is not fiscally conservative. I am not going to debate the merits of whether he is or isn’t (I have no earthly idea- criticisms about his not outlining his positions are entirely legitimate and accurate). What is curious is that there appears to be a new definition of ‘fiscally conservative’ that some people are peddling, and that is worthy of a discussion.
At least in my mind, ‘fiscally conservative’ does not mean ‘against all taxes.’ Fiscal conservatism, in my understanding, is not spending more than needs to be spent, avoiding deficits, and keeping tax rates as low as possible while not wasting taxpayer money.
Simply cutting taxes and spending boatloads (as the current administration is doing), is not fiscally conservative, but it is fiscally irresponsible, as I have stated over and over and over and over and over and over again. You do not need to engage in a debate of the relative merits of the spending to understand that spending 500 billion a year more than you take in to the treasury is fiscally irresponsible- and there is absolutely nothing conservative about it.
Fiscal conservatives believe, generally, that the idea is to keep government spending down- eliminating waste, fraud, and abuse. Fiscal conservatives believe tax cuts are good when the public is paying too much in taxes. Fiscal conservatives believe in balanced budgets.
Fiscal conservatives do not, IMHO, simply believe that all taxes should be repealed and the government should have no role in society- only absolutist, Big L, libertarians believe in that, and they should receive the teasing they richly deserve. In other words, while fiscal conservatism may incorporate certain attitudes about the level of taxation, it also includes a number of other beliefs, as well.
That’s about all I have to say about that.
*** Update ***
I guess I have more to say- this Scrappleface post about Arnold is genius (as always):
2003-08-18) — California gubernatorial candidate Arnold Schwarzenegger today announced plans for a televised debate in which he will match wits and words against members of his own campaign team.
“My staff and advisors are all over the map politically and ideologically,” said Mr. Schwarzenegger. “We want to use this TV debate to develop some major ideas that I can stand for. Because whatever those ideas are, I’m going to lead people to accept them. Because I am a leader with leadership qualities, and a destiny to lead and of course a leaders’ vision.”