1/19/2005
Condelizza Rice received the nod of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee today by a 16-2 vote. A full vote of the Senate is expected by Thursday. Who were the two votes against? Huh — like it’s any surprise; John (Christmas in Cambodia) Kerry and Barbara Boxer.
UPDATE: Just heard on 710 KNUS that the Democrats are hoping to delay the full Senate vote until next week. (Developing)
UPDATE II: Story confirmed
This story is from Fox News. Ted Chappaquittick Kennedy as decided to hold up the confimation vote for Alberto Gonzales stating that he has not sufficiently answered questions asked by the Democrats.
Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee decided Wednesday to ask for a one-week hold on Gonzales’ nomination.
Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., said the committee should not vote on Gonzales yet because the nominee has not yet answered all of the Democrats’ questions. Democrats have complained that Gonzales has been evasive with his answers to their questions and they want him delayed until they are satisfied.
“If we are to meet our constitutional responsibility in the confirmation process, we must insist that Mr. Gonzales provide responsive answers to these fundamental questions,” Kennedy said. “He should not be listed on the agenda for a committee vote on his nomination until he does so.”
More of a linker than thinker today. I don’t have a lot of time or energy to blog today either. Check this one out, courtesy of Kestrel.
1/18/2005
I recieved this today by email. I don’t know if it’s true or not, but I applaud the spirit in which it was written.
This is from a parent whose son is currently serving in our military…..I Love This Comeback! As some of you may know, one of my sons serves in the military. He is still stateside, here in California. He called me yesterday to let me know how warm and welcoming people were to him, and his troops, everywhere he goes, telling me how people shake their hands, and thank them for being willing to serve, and fight, for not only our own freedoms but so that others may have them also.
But he also told me about an incident in the grocery store he stopped at yesterday, on his way home from the base. He said that ahead of several people in front of him stood a woman dressed in a burkha. He said when she got to the cashier she loudly remarked about the US flag lapel pin the cashier wore on her smock.
The cashier reached up and touched the pin, and said proudly, “yes, I always wear it and I probably always will.”
The woman in the burkha then asked the cashier when she was going to stop bombing her countrymen, explaining that she was Iraqi.
A gentleman standing behind my son stepped forward, putting his arm around my son’s shoulders, and nodding towards my son, said in a calm and gentle voice to the Iraqi woman: “Lady, hundreds of thousands of men and women like this young man have fought and died so that YOU could stand here, in MY country and accuse a check-out cashier of bombing YOUR countrymen. It is my belief that had you been this outspoken in YOUR own country, we wouldn’t need to be there today. But, hey, if you have now learned how to speak out so loudly and clearly, I’ll gladly buy you a ticket and pay your way back to Iraq so you can straighten out the mess in YOUR country that you are obviously here in MY country to avoid.”
Everyone within hearing distance cheered.
God bless our men and women in uniform who fight so we can remain free!!
Captain Ed points out that Kerry isn’t as much of a good looser as we thought.
The Massachusetts Democrat, Bush’s challenger in November, spoke at Boston’s annual Martin Luther King Jr. Day Breakfast. He reiterated that he decided not to challenge the election results, but said “thousands of people were suppressed in the effort to vote.”
“Voting machines were distributed in uneven ways. In Democratic districts, it took people four, five, 11 hours to vote, while Republicans [went] through in 10 minutes — same voting machines, same process, our America,” he said.
Hugh pointed to an article about a bunch of sore losers yesterday. These guys are fashioning blue bracelets similar to Armstrong’s yellow bracelets for cancer research, only these bracelets are to protest the results of the election.
I pointed out an interview on Hannity and Colmes last night where a young lady from counterinaugural.org refused to condemn planned violence at the inauguration of the President.
The sad thing is, it seems that this loonyness is spreading. The left is truly off there meds.
1/17/2005
Liberals, you want to know what went wrong on November 2nd? This group refused to condemn violence at the inauguration of George Bush. They are a perfect example of why John Kerry lost the election.
1/16/2005
It’s difficult to explain, this feeling of being trapped in your own body. I guess the best way to describe it would be to imagine wanting to do something real bad, but nit being able to do it. Only for you that something might be playing professional football. For me it consists of many things you do every day.
I remember being able to go where ever I wanted to in the lower 48 states. If I wanted to go to Seattle or LA or Houston I could. I would request a load going there, get in my truck and go. Now, I can hardly stand a car ride to the other side of town without getting tired.
I remember being able to climb up on the tires of the truck to clean the windshield or to add oil to the engine. Now, I know there is no way I could do this. I simply don’t have the leg strength, and it’s not a matter of strengthening the muscles either. Because of the way that the nerves were injured, a lot of the muscles that need to be strengthened aren’t even being supplied by the nerves. The muscles simply won’t work.
This all results in feeling trapped. Trapped in the house, trapped in my body. What’s the answer? I don’t know, this is still something I’m working on.
1/15/2005
Michelle Malkin has a post about five Arab men who suddenly disappeared after razor blades were found on-board the plane they were boarding. If this is true it’s more evidence that these animals haven’t given up, and are still determined to kill us. As Michelle points out, this story brings up a couple of good questions:
1. What kind of security measures are being undertaken with regard to clean-up crews and other ground personnel with access to airplanes?
2. Why does FAMS director Tom Quinn continue to enforce idiotic pre-boarding policies that expose marshals’ identities to observant passengers?
Little Green Footballs went back through the Daily Kos archives and found his so called disclosure about his role with the Dean campaign. Hugh was right when he said that it wasn’t good enough. Mainly because he denies doing exactly what he ended up doing; being a paid mouthpiece for the campaign. Here are a few quotes from the disclosure [sic].
1/14/2005
I’d like to take a moment to welcome A Youth Pastor to the Friends of the Alliance. Welcome aboard.
Uncalled For Attacks From The Left
The Rocky Mountain Progressive Network, otherwise known as the RMPN, has issued a response and critique of the Governors speech yesterday which includes uncalled for attacks on the Governors guests. One of these attacks was leveled at an Iraq war veteran.
When the Governor gave his State of the State address yesterday, the first row of chairs in front of him was populated by people he had handpicked to use as props for his speech. There was one Fort Collins superintendent, one Gulf and Iraqi war veteran, one good Samaritan, and a pair of adoptive parents. The Governor used each one of these people to make points about legislation he was pushing or accomplishments he said he had already made in Colorado.
…. And instead of the wounded war veteran who despite the shrapnel he had caught in the throat in Iraq, still looked in robust health — I would’ve liked to have seen one of the thousands of Iraqi veterans who now must cope without the luxury of one, two or three of their limbs. You know, the ones who had their benefits cuts at almost precisely the same time they were being torn apart by one of the gleefully liberated Iraqis — who just wanted to say thank you with a car bomb.
Even though they gave the good samaritan a backhanded complement, they still proceeded to lay in to the Governor for picking him to be seated in the front row.
One of Governor Owens’ choices for the front row I would’ve kept — but for different reasons. The good Samaritan, Matt Casias, who had intervened in a mugging and was shot through the chest as he did so, received the Governor’s Medal of Valor. And that’s why he was there. But he should’ve been there anyway, because what he really needed wasn’t a pompous neck trinket. What he really needed was a roll of thousand dollar bills so he could start paying off some of his medical bills. See, he had no health insurance. He was everything the conservatives say you should be: an entrepreneur, hardworking, father, religious. But he had no health insurance. He was also a single father, which means his daughter had no health insurance either. The Governor was delighted that Casias’ daughter was named Faith. Well, Mr. Governor, Faith has no health insurance. Does anyone see the irony here?
They support the troops…… yeah right.
1/13/2005
It seems that the RMA has drawn the attention of the folks at ProgressNow which is a Colorado leftist organization. Wow all of this attention over one little visit with the Governor. You can bet that this debate will heat up over the next few days. The following comment is from Alan with ProgressNow and taken from American Kestrel’s comment section.
H**l, if I hadn’t seen the picture on another RMA blog, I’d swear you were all the same person.
Tell you what. Since not a one of you can comment about any actual points made in the actual speech, head over to your buddies’ blog:
http://www.jsharf.com/view/archives/000146.html
So we can keep it all nice and tidy-like. And enjoy that parallel universe you live in, where Owens’ ‘facts’ have some basis in any.
Alan
Well Alan, a well thought out, and researched response to Governor Owen’s speech takes time especially if you have a life and job outside of blogging or being an activist.
State of the State and the RMA
What can I say but WOW what an honor! Sean, Michelle and the rest of the Governors staff took very good care of us. The Governor came across as, poised and very confident. The biggest thing that stuck in my mind was what a genuinely nice guys Sean the Governor are. I hope to have something more extensive up later about the speech and the Democratic response (which was very snarky by the way). but in the mean time here is a picture of the Governor and I. I know I know, I’m not much to look at. I’ve got a face made for blogging though.
1/12/2005
I am looking forward to the RMA’s first Q and A with Governor Owens tomorrow. This is also the first time any blogger or group of bloggers has met with a sitting Governor. It will take place after his press conference with the MSM. We hope to have some tough questions for Gov. Owens. My first one will be “Why can’t the Longhorns win against Oklahoma?”. The Governor is a transplanted Texan.
One of my hobbies is photography and I hope to have some pictures to post tomorrow evening. Stay tuned.
For the last four years the Democrats have been obstructing the Presidents policies, and judicial nominees. The President has asked for their help and support, but so far there has been none. This from his welcome address to new members of the House and Senate:
You know, I’ve learned about Washington in four years. This town is sometimes too partisan and too political. People sometimes say what’s more important than the country is my politics. And my hope is, is that we can show the nation that we can come together to achieve big things for the good of the country.
I guess it is normal to be partisan. After all, that’s why we vote for a particular candidate and send him or her to Washington (or the state house); to get our point of view heard and our values and ideas written as laws. But, last year an unheard of precedent was set. The Democrats decided to obstruct every judicial nominee sent before them. Since they didn’t hold a majority in either the House or Senate they used a procedure called the filibuster. What’s troubling is that it seems that nothing is going to change. The Moore wing of the party is in charge. The good news for Republicans is that as long as they are they can’t win.
1/10/2005
The Thornburgh report stops just short of saying that the 60 minutes story was a result of political bias. The evidence they marshall could only lead to one conclusion though; it was political bias. The only problem is the American public isn’t going to read the whole report and all CBS will report is that the commission found there was no bias. We should all be outraged at this ridiculous shirking of responsibility by the commission. More later.
New reports are coming out regarding the corrupt UN oil for food program and they’re pretty damning. These reports, audits of the program really, were written over the several years that the program was running. Basically, what the reports show is that at a minimum the UN oversight of the program was inept. That’s no big surprise anyway.
The audits showed that there were problems not only in the office of the Iraq program, but in some of the companies assigned to make sure the money and aid went to the people.
The reports cite many accounting and operational lapses within the Office of the Iraq Program, which was headed by Benon V. Sevan, one of Mr. Annan’s close aides. The auditors write, for instance, that Mr. Sevan’s office permitted its own employees to lose money and thousands of dollars worth of equipment in the field and allowed its contractors to overcharge the United Nations and to understaff critical inspection posts where Iraqi oil and imported humanitarian goods were supposed to be inspected.
Of course, the UN spin machine is already hard at work.
The United Nations, however, denied allegations that the audits showed that the United Nations did not adequately monitor the program. Stephane Dujarric, a spokesman for the United Nations, said the audits showed that “this was a highly audited and supervised program.”
Ok, so it was a highly audited program. All this means is that the UN knew there were problems with the program and didn’t do anything about it. Obviously Volcker and those in Congress will have their work cut out for them sorting through all the spin. It seems the easiest thing to do is for the US to back out of the UN until Kofi Annan is replaced and the UN can police it’s own mess.
1/9/2005
La Shawn Lets Armstrong Have It
One of my favorite stops in the blogosphere is La Shawn Barbers Corner. One of the things I like most about La Shawn’s commentary is her simple honesty. In her latest post she takes conservative commentator Armstrong Williams to task for not disclosing the fact that he was payed by the Bush camp to push NCLB on his talk show and in his column. Go read the whole thing, and make La Shawn a regular read.
Also, please take a moment to donate to World Vision’s Tsunami Relief fund
Mismatched Game and Why Old Media Is Dead
What a day. The chronic pain that I deal with on a daily basis seems to be repaying me for all the work I got done this week. My home team, the Broncos are severely mismatched against the Colts today. To make matters worse, the NFL managed to bias the officials against one of our best players. John Lynch put a nasty but legal hit on a Colt last week and the league fined Lynch and warned todays officials to watch him. Now I’m reading Dowd’s column in todays Times and I see that she’s still using the tired old line of ‘He lied about Iraq’.
It is a lesson never learned: Matters of state and the heart that start with a lie rarely end well.
Message to Dowd: The President didn’t lie about Iraq. The American people are getting tired of your way left rants.
This is why the Old Media is failing, and why the New Media –Blogs such as this one, Hugh Hewitt, Powerline, Captains Quarters and others– are big and getting better when it comes to news and opinion.
Hugh, in his new book Blog, compares this to the reformation, and he’s right. This is the information reformation. I’m honored to be a part of it.
1/7/2005
Michael, one of the RMA’s finest, points to an essay that explains that an end to Israel wouldn’t necessarily be an end to the Palestinian conflict.
Just on a gut level this essay strikes me as correct. If Israel didn’t have the land someone else would and the only difference in the game would be the players. Here’s the key though. Egypt and Syria wouldn’t be nearly as giving and forgiving as Israel has been. Josef Joffe points to this fact in the essay:
Let us imagine Israel had disappeared in 1967, instead of occupying the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, which were held, respectively, by Jordan’s King Hussein and Egypt’s President Gamal Abdel Nasser. Would they have relinquished their possessions to Palestinian leader Yasir Arafat and thrown in Haifa and Tel Aviv for good measure? Not likely.
1/6/2005
Embarassing Display of Sour Grapes
Please take some time to donate to World Vision for the tsunami relief.
Stephanie Tubbs-Jones and Barbara Boxer made an embarrassing display of sour grapes today when they stood up in the middle of the joint session of congress and challenged the results of Ohio’s election. No one, not even John Kerry’s team of lawyers, which he had set up to challenge the election, believe that there were voting irregularities. During the counting of Ohio’s ballots, there was both a Republican and a Democrat involved in counting.
This country is facing issues such as illegal immigration, the war on terror, Tax rates that are out of control, a Social Security system that is failing, and many others. Instead of valuable input on these issues, today the Democratic party decided to debate conspiracy theories. Democrats such as Boxer and Tubbs-Jones should be ashamed of themselves for wasting the time and money of the American people.
1/5/2005
Got Blog? I’m about half way through the book. So far it’s great. A comprehensive look at the history and impact of blogs on our world.
So far the RMA has raised a little over $300 for World Vision. A good start for sure, but there’s still a lot more to be done. I am calling on my regular readers to spread the word about this. Tell your internet savvy friends and family about the page and ask them to give as well. Even a gift of $10 or $20 dollars helps a lot.
The death toll in South Asia has now risen to over 150,000. I cannot begin to imagine the horror of what these people experienced. Remember, this money goes not only for food necessities, but for counseling as well. Every little bit helps.
We have nearly reached $300 dollars in donations. This is a safe easy donation, there is no middle man. All the money will go straight from Justgiving.com to World Vision. A big thanks to all of you who have donated. The rest of you please go to the sidebar and click on the Donate to World Vision button and give what you can. I know after Christmas money can be tight, but even $10 or $20 dollars would be a big help.
1/4/2005
My fellow RMA bloggers have joined the relief effort. A big thanks for their help. Thanks also goes out to Hugh and La Shawn for the publicity. We have met a little more than 10% of our goal of $2,000. Thank you to all who have given. The rest of you, please go give now.
If memory serves it was not even three years ago that Democrats were screaming about what a mess Social Security was. I heard “the republicans are robbing the [Social Security] lock box”. Now this from moderate rabid liberal columnist Paul Krugman:
In the next few weeks, I’ll explain why privatization will fatally undermine Social Security, and suggest steps to strengthen the program. I’ll also talk about the much more urgent fiscal problems the administration hopes you won’t notice while it scares you about Social Security.
Today let’s focus on one piece of those scare tactics: the claim that Social Security faces an imminent crisis.
That claim is simply false. Yet much of the press has reported the falsehood as a fact. For example, The Washington Post recently described 2018, when benefit payments are projected to exceed payroll tax revenues, as a “day of reckoning.”
Ok, I’m confused now. I wish the Democrats would make up their mind. Is Social Security in crisis or is it not?
One thing I am not confused about is the need in South Asia. Please, once again, go donate to World Vision and help me meet the goal of $2,000 in the next month for the tsunami victims. We have already reached $175 mark and I appreciate it, we’ve got a ways to go yet though.
1/3/2005
Wow, what a pleasure to talk to Hugh tonight on air. As promised, I will be setting up a permanent link to my World Vision donation page. But, in the mean time, I will add a link to the page in every post. Please, please, please go and donate something to World Vision to help these poor people out in Asia. America rose to the call on 9-11-01, lets rise to the call again and show Jan Egeland at the UN just what America is made of. I have set a very modest goal of $2000 in the next month from this blog alone. I know between my readers and I we can meet and surpass that goal.
Marine “X” was sent a female care package by accident, and in a moment reminiscent of a McGyver episode he was able to save a fellow Marines life. Black Five has the story. Here’s the meat of the story:
Then of course, they had the tampons. When he brought this up my imagination was just running wild, but I let him continue. My son said they had to go on a mission and Marine X wanted the chapstick and lotion for the trip. He grabbed a bunch of the items out of his care package and got in the humvee. As luck would have it he grabbed the tampons, and My son said everyone was teasing him about “not forgetting his feminine hygiene products”. My son said things were going well, and then the convoy was ambushed. He said a Marine in the convoy was shot. He said the wound was pretty clean, but it was deep. He said they were administering first aid but couldn’t get the bleeding to slow down, and someone said, “Hey use Marine X’s tampons”. My son said they put the tampon in the wound. At this point my son profoundly told me, “Mom did you know that tampons expand?” ) “Well, yeah!”. They successfully slowed the bleeding and got the guy medical attention. When they went to check on him later the surgeon told them, “You guys saved his life”. If you hadn’t stopped that bleeding he would have bled to death.
Hat Tip: Michelle Malkin
World Vision Asia Tsunami Relief
I have set up a donation page for World Vision Tsunami Relief. I know I don’t have the readership of Captains Quarters, so I doubt I can reach his goal. But, I have set a goal of $2,000.00. Please give what you can. The page will be up and running for one month.
1/2/2005
This is the second installment in my commentary on the bill of rights.
Amendment II A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.
Radical gun opponents will tell you that the Constitution doesn’t say we can keep and bear arms. It clearly does. The “less rabid” ones will tell you that the Constitution says that only a well regulated Militia can keep and bear arms.
The Second Amendment states: “A well-regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.” The NRA tends to omit the first, crucial, half of the Second Amendment - the words referring to a “well-regulated militia.”
When the U.S. Constitution was adopted, each of the states had its own “militia” - a military force comprised of ordinary citizens serving as part-time soldiers. The militia was “well-regulated” in the sense that its members were subject to various requirements such as training, supplying their own firearms, and engaging in military exercises away from home. It was a form of compulsory military service intended to protect the fledgling nation from outside forces and from internal rebellions.
The “militia” was not, as the gun lobby will often claim, simply another word for the populace at large. Indeed, membership in the 18th century militia was generally limited to able-bodied white males between the ages of 18 and 45 - hardly encompassing the entire population of the nation.
2nd Amendment proponents have a different view though.
I found a great milblog this weekend. Red Six at Armor Geddon gives you the E ticket ride in a tank in Iraq. Go check him out.