Open Threads

Typical From Tapped:

No mention of the appeasement and poor policy decisions that got us here, just the usual crap from a bunch of Democrat toadies. The real problem is how the Bush administration handled the information. They sat on it for a whole 12 days!:

How completely unprepared was the Bush administration to deal with news of a North Korean nuclear weapons program? According to most of the press accounts, the administration has been sitting on the news for 12 days while it decided what to do about it, suggesting the Bushies weren’t exactly proactive on the matter. But now a Japanese official tells &c. that not only did the administration not have a game plan, it basically told Tokyo to handle the problem.

Tapped’s source? The same NY Times newsitorial I cited earlier today showing the deficits in the previous administration’s foreign policy.

The real issue, you simian oafs, is how the Bush administration handles the issue from here on out, and the fact that their intelligence gathering techniques actually uncovered the failed policy. Besides, who here does not think that Clinton would have delayed this for 12 days or longer. At least long enough for Dick Morris to poll the popular solution.

Typical From Tapped: No mentionPost + Comments

Forgive and Forget- The Democrat Foreign Policy

The DailyKos quotes Hesiod-iot’s comments on North Korea:

1) Why did this news “stun” the administration? Massive intelligence failure there.

Indeed, and as the DailyKos points out, he is willing to overlook it. Of course he is, because the intelligence failure belongs to the PREVIOUS ADMINISTRATION, run by Clinton/Gore. The NY Times even points out that it is the current administration that DISCOVERED that Clinton, Albright, and Annan were duped, and that it is the BUSH administration who discovered the plot:

Confronted by new American intelligence, North Korea has admitted that it has been conducting a major clandestine nuclear-weapons development program for the past several years, the Bush administration said tonight. Officials added that North Korea had also informed them that it has now “nullified” its 1994 agreement with the United States to freeze all nuclear weapons development activity.

DailyKos apparently is willing to forgive and forget this, as he then states:

However, if the US resorts to intense diplomacy to resolve the situation (as it should), it would beg the question why Iraq is facing a loaded gun instead.

Except he frames the debate BACKWARDS. This is precisely why Saddam is under the gun, rather than appeasing him like Clinton et al. did with North Korea.

But then again, the left has never met a dictator they don’t like, and the headline “Saddam Successfully Develops Nuclear Arsenal” would probably be met with much hand-wringing and similar apologetics for intelligence failures (provided they occur during a Democrat administration).

Forgive and Forget- The DemocratPost + Comments

I am Now the Proud Father

Of an 8-month old cat/kitten whom I have named Tunch (after Tunch Ilkin, a former Steeler lineman). I had played with him for an hour last week while I was at the pound, because I wanted to make sure I got an ornery fellow. I also have to have ‘the look’ (pet owners know what I mean) from an animal, to know we are gonna be a good fit. At any rate, Tunch is now tear-assing around my house like he is hopped up on something. I guess the first time out of a cage is kind of liberating. If you would like to see a picture of Tunch, you can go here. He is the third cat down.

And he is ornery. I never knew I had so many fun things in my house until I brought him home.

*** Update ***

This cat owns. He tore around my house for five hours, ignored every toy I bought him, and then attacked a coca cola lid for 20 minutes. He then raced around the house for another hour, and collapsed on top of a heap of clothes. Dig it.

I am Now the ProudPost + Comments

Missing In Action?

William Quick notices that there is one tip to help ensure safety versus the D.C. Sniper that is conspicuous in its absence:

“Carry your firearm with you at all times, and if you spot a sniper shooting at somebody, use your weapon to kill him immediately.”

Like Tim Blair wrote yesterday:

HEARD anything from Italy’s Red Brigades lately? What about Germany’s Baader-Meinhof gang? Where has Japan’s Red Army been hiding? Whatever happened to the Weather Underground?

All of these terrorist organisations have more or less vanished. According to the anti-war lobby, which holds that a violent reaction to terrorism only breeds more terrorism, they should be thriving. Andreas Baader’s suicide in Stammheim Prison in 1977 should have inspired an army of followers.

Instead, they’re gone. Killing and jailing terrorists wipes out terror. The only major European terrorist group from that era to survive in any significant way is the IRA, which tells us something: attacking terrorists doesn’t breed terror. Negotiating with them does.

Missing In Action? William QuickPost + Comments

I foget where I read it or who it was about, but I really like the insult ‘so-and-so is a sucking carp-weasel.’

Kudos to whoever came up with that.

I foget where I readPost + Comments

Look into my eyes. You are getting very sleepy. You want to give me your wallet. You want to smoke marijuana. You feel your brains seeping out of your ears as you look into my eyes. You are getting weaker, weaker, weaker….

Look into my eyes. YouPost + Comments

All These Important Issues

And the Ny Times is carping on its editorial page about giving the franchise back to felons:

A criminal released from prison has paid his debt and we hope to integrate him back into society. Yet in most states, released felons are deprived of the right to vote, in some cases for the rest of their lives. In the past five years, five states have rescinded or modified their laws, restoring the vote to more than 450,000 people. Other states, and the federal government, should join this trend. Disenfranchising felons is an archaic practice, at odds with basic American values about both punishment and democracy.

Why do they care? Is there anyone left in NY proper that Bill Clinton did not pardon to shore up Hillary’s base?

All These Important Issues AndPost + Comments