Howmanyfingers

2009-02-07T09:26:00.002-05:00

That's not good

2008-10-27T15:44:00.001-04:00

How Not To Unload A Car - Watch more Auto Videos

The real one on SNL

2008-10-20T09:04:00.002-04:00

Sarah Palin -- the real one -- brings SNL its largest TV audience in 14 years.

I support John Obama, or Barack McCain, or whazzit...

2008-10-14T10:09:00.001-04:00

Don't really like Howard Stern -- not a fan, don't listen to his show -- but stumbled across this and it's bizarre.

Obama supporters interviewed man-on-the-street-style confirming their support for their candidate, even when the interviewer attributes McCain's views to him.

Yes, they support Obama's decisions to oppose abortion, keep the troops in Iraq and pick Sarah Palin as his running mate.

To be fair, I'm sure there are McCain supporters who are equally confused.

Anderson Cooper on Obama and Ayers

2008-10-07T10:06:00.001-04:00

First the NY Times and now CNN -- finally -- focus on the Obama-Ayers connection.

"But the relationship between Obama and Ayers went much deeper, ran much longer, and was much more political than Obama said."

Bill Ayers and his wife Bernadine Dorhn were founders of the radical group the Weathermen -- which through the late 60s and early 70s bombed public buildings, including the U.S. Capitol, killed police officers and robbed banks.

NPR this morning described Ayers as a "former terrorist." Isn't that sort of like being a "former child molester" or a "former cannibal"?

They shoulda got Queen Latifah for the real one

2008-10-06T09:51:00.001-04:00

She's way hipper than Gwen Ifill.

Sing for Change Obama

2008-09-30T14:31:00.001-04:00

I thought Democrats were hipper than this.

Well, there was that Will.i.am video...

Truly funny

2008-09-29T12:33:00.001-04:00

Equally obnoxious to both candidates -- only SNL has the guts to do this.

David Letterman Reacts to John McCain Suspending Campaign

2008-09-25T12:44:00.001-04:00

Funny as always, but goes on a little long.

Hey, give him a break -- he announced his candidacy on the show.

McCartney Stands up to Terror

2008-09-16T13:50:00.003-04:00

There are many things I may not agree with Paul McCartney about, but I've always thought there was something really principled and decent about him.

The Guardian reports that despite death threats, he plans to go through with a concert in Israel to celebrate the nation's 60th anniversary.

"I do what I think and I have many friends who support Israel," McCartney told Israeli newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth.

I remember in the months after 9/11, when the various political factions in the U.S. and elsewhere started sniping at each other again, McCartney chastised them for not standing with President Bush and Prime Minister Blair as they struggled to confront terrorists -- two men I doubt he shares much with in terms of political and social views.

I think he saw that something more was at stake than petty politics.

Cruise Takes It

2008-09-09T10:38:00.002-04:00

An unidentifiable Tom Cruise stealing the show in Tropic Thunder.

Probably his best dance bit since "Risky Business."

Edit: YouTube pulled down the clip I had posted, so here's a different one.

Tropic Thunder

2008-09-08T12:55:00.003-04:00

Crude, disgusting, profane -- an excruciatingly accurate satire about big-budget Hollywood war movies, and about the movie industry in general.

If you've seen Apocalypse Now, Platoon, Full Metal jacket, etc., you'll get it.

Tom Cruise is the real surprise in this one, and he effectively steals the show.

Stop Outsourcing Roles in Pro-Obama Videos!

2008-08-29T08:10:00.001-04:00

The plight of the American celebrity -- I propose trade sanctions.

Why they call it the music "business"

2008-08-27T11:47:00.001-04:00

Two of my favorite things...

2008-08-26T16:34:00.000-04:00

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Women's beach volleyball and The Office -- things that make TV not suck.

Back to our regularly scheduled programming...

2008-08-25T12:25:00.002-04:00

Olympics are over.

TV sucks again.

Conveniently located....

2008-08-13T13:08:00.006-04:00

I have my 30-year high school reunion this weekend.

Feeling pretty good about it. I've dropped about 12 pounds since January, still have all my hair, have my lies all worked out (yeah, I'm a venture capitalist...yeah, I'm a test pilot for the Navy...yeah, I'm chairman of Disney...yeah, this is my wife -- former Playboy Playmate of the Year AND a brain surgeon...). Hey, I'm from out of town -- nobody checks this stuff.

At least I WAS feeling good, until I got the directions to the Friday night mixer at the American Legion Hall (emphasis added): You'll come down Main Street and turn left at Stewart's. Just go down about a block or so...that's John Street. Look for the Legion on your left, the funeral home on your right.

Yeah, that's right -- some joker booked the reunion into a place RIGHT ACROSS THE STREET FROM A FUNERAL HOME.

I guess that will come in handy if anyone keels over dead while disco dancing to "Boogie Oogie Oogie."

Restraint

2008-08-12T11:36:00.005-04:00

Okay, I'll admit it -- I like women's beach volleyball. It's a great sport that moves fast, the rules are easy to understand, and let's be honest the women are beautiful -- long, lean, tanned and athletic.

Earlier this week, President Bush stopped off to see U.S. gold-medal contenders Misty May-Treanor and Kerri Walsh, who traded a few volleys with the president and offered up a few tips -- along with one more thing.

It's a tradition in beach volleyball, ostensibly, for players to pat one another on the behind for luck. And keeping with that tradition, Misty turned around and offered the president a swat, with a playful "want to?"

As the LA Times observed in recounting the tale, "Want to has nothing to do with it in public life."

The president, choosing propriety and judiciousness over irresistible temptation but not wanting to insult or jinx the athlete, instead brushed his hand across her lower back.

I stand in respect of the man's incredible restraint.

China Gold

2008-08-11T08:47:00.002-04:00

U.S. Olympic swimmers Garret Weber-Gale and Michael Phelps erupt as teammate Jason Lezak clinches the gold in the 4x100 freestyle relay.

Leaving the trash-talking French team to choke on their brie and bordeaux in second place.

Three Movies

2008-08-04T09:29:00.006-04:00

Watched three movies this weekend -- all varied in their style and subject.

First up was the theater debut of Swing Vote -- only the second time this year I've actually gone to the theater to see a movie (the last one was Speed Racer with my eight-year-old).

I won't spoil the plot, but will mention that the theme is particularly timely to this year's presidential election.

Interesting to note, the movie stars Kevin Costner, Kelsey Grammer and Dennis Hopper -- three of the biggest Republican stars in Hollywood. Which makes them quite a rarity.

Next up was Rescue Dawn, starring Christian Bale (the latest Batman), recounting Navy Pilot Dieter Dengler's escape from a Pathet Lao prison camp after being shot down over Laos in 1965. A bit plodding at times, but faithfully rendered and well acted.

And finally, in preparation for the sequel, we watched Hellboy. I had never seen the whole thing before. This one has it all. Story. Action. Special effects. Humor. Romance. Heroes. Villains. Looking forward to seeing Hellboy II: The Golden Army now.

Squirrel!

2008-07-28T09:16:00.003-04:00

Interesting nature story told by a friend over dinner Friday night.

In an attempt to stop the squirrels and chipmunks from raiding the bird feeders in her yard, she erected a squirrel feeder, loaded up with all sorts of nuts and corn.

The thing seemed to be doing the trick, as the feral rodents flocked to it.

All was well, until the other day when she was out walking her dog, heard a loud "scree, scree!" from above and watched as a Red-tailed Hawk streaked from the sky and picked a chipmunk off the feeder.

The hawk, knowing a good thing when he sees it, has returned regularly to dine -- what my friend had intended to be a nut-filled squirrel feeder has in fact become a squirrel-filled hawk feeder.

My friend is okay with the whole survival-of-the-fittest aspect of this thing, although she deeply resents having to wipe blood off the squirrel feeder every time she refills it.

Ladies and gentlemen, I give you the Raptor's Delight All-The-Squirrel-You-Can-Eat Buffet (Now with Chipmunk!).

The perfect nexus of the Circle of Life with the Law of Unintended Consequences.

Santa!

2008-07-23T09:38:00.004-04:00

No, that's Radovan Karazdic -- known as the Butcher of the Balkans for, among other things, exterminating 8,000 Muslim men and boys and holding the city of Sarajevo under siege for more than three years during the Bosnian civil war in the 1990s.

Arrested for war crimes on Monday, he had been living quietly but openly under an assumed name in a Belgrade suburb, where he practiced, lectured and wrote articles on alternative medicine.

How could a monster be so normal?

They've done it again!

2008-03-27T12:57:00.005-04:00

Those guys from Bose -- they've done it again!

Yesterday I received my Bose In-Ear Headphones, and they make my MP3 player absolutely come alive -- high fidelity, full range, pulsing bass, rich mids, crystal highs.

I'm ordering two more sets for my kids.

I want this

2008-03-12T17:58:00.005-04:00

Lists of Useful Tips

2008-03-07T08:59:00.005-05:00

My sister sent around one of those "lists of useful tips" the other day:

1. Good-bye Love Bug goo on windshield: Use a wet dryer sheet to "soap up" the windshield, then rinse off bugs with ease using garden hose.

2. Cupcake papers for gifting cookies: Love to bake and give cookies as a gift? To make the presentation more decorative inside your tin or box, use the cupcake paper liners to stack your cookies in. They stack about three high and keep cookies from slipping and chipping, plus, they are a "serving" to each who dips into the treats.

3. Shortning trick: Crack an egg into a measuring cup when baking, this lines the cup with a slippery glaze. Then put your shortning in the cup and it won't stick!

4. Golf sandwiches: Have old bread, rolls, bits of cheese, deli meats in your frig and hungry kids? Make Golf Sandwiches, invented by Aunt Alice. Lay breads and open faced rolls on a cookie sheet, heat broiler. Melt butter in microwave and brush onto bread/rolls and broil for a quick minute, but not all the way. Then put a layer of ham, salami, pepperoni, bacon, roastbeef, on the breads assorted, and then assorted cheeses, including parmesean or shredded mozzerella.......grill for up to two minutes. Remove "open-faced" sandwiches and serve with chips, pickles, mustard on the side. (One pc of bread saves calories. Also terrific without butter)

5. Panty Hose Pullup: We don't wear them as often, but they still need to feel great when we do. When first putting them on, or after using the restroom, pantyhose don't "feel" all the way up, but picking at them with finger nails can pull and possibly run them. Simply dampen your hands (after washing hands in restroom, they will be), and slide your hands from ankles to upper thigh, and voila, they are up and snug, feeling great!!

6. Want to be faster on the phone and more polite too? When you call someone, ask them if they have "just a few moments" to talk. This lets them know you are calling for quick business, not a lenghty chat. and gives them the opportunity to say yes, no or reschedule. For your benefit, it leaves you open to say that YOU just have a minute, and then when you gotta go, you go. They also won't launch into the long story of the week.....

Now, I mean, other than maybe the first one, is there anything on that list YOU can use? Pantyhose. Cupcake papers for "gifting" cookies? Who does that?

Here was the counter-list I sent back:

-- Use WD40 to remove grease spots and oil stains from your garage floor -- just spray, let sit for a minute, then blot with a paper towel.

-- When changing the oil in your car, use the pizza box from last-night's supper to prevent oil spills. Tear the lid off the box and place a piece of unfolded newspaper on the open box -- the edges of the paper should extend beyond the sides of the box. Set the oil drain pan on the newspaper, and the weight of the pan will push the paper down while the sides of the box will bell up the edges of the paper, creating kind of a newspaper bowl -- that way if any oil misses the pan, it will be contained, instead of running off the edges of the paper.

-- Even if your shotgun is chambered for them, three-and-a-half inch magnum shells kick like a mule, don't put that much more shot on the target, and have a tendency to hang up in the receiver when you cycle the action for a second shot. The three-inch mags are more than ample for taking down a bird at under 40 yards, they pop out of the ejector slot vigorously, and they produce less recoil.

-- Never schedule meetings for longer than they have to be -- work and discussion tend to expand to fill the time allotted. Thirty minutes is normally ample. Fifteen minutes is better.

-- The best time to take your lawnmower in to be serviced and have the blade sharpened is the dead of winter -- you don't need it then, and no one else is doing it. If you wait until mowing season starts, it will be three weeks before you get it back.

-- Always carry a pocketknife. Always.

-- When restringing your guitar or bass, try to get at least three to four turns of the new string on the tuning peg -- this will improve tension across the nut, reduce slippage, and enhance playability and intonation. Also, be careful not to twist any of the new strings as you install them, as this will inhibit their ability to vibrate properly, making them sound dead.

-- When seeding and fertilizing your lawn, cut the feed rate of the spreader in half and go over the whole thing twice -- first in one direction, and then perpendicular. It will take longer but you'll get more even dispersal, meaning a greener, thicker lawn.

-- Boxers or briefs? You decide. I don't care and I don't want to know.

-- If one of your wife's friends calls, and she's not there, let the answering machine get it. Otherwise, the caller will want to fill YOU in on all the details, chewing your ear for 15 minutes and expecting you to give your wife a full report when, in fact, you're going to condense the message down to "call Claire" anyway.

Much better, I think.

Star Wars according to a 3 year old.

2008-02-28T11:52:00.001-05:00

Parking spot

2008-01-22T20:23:00.001-05:00

The Gold Standard

2008-01-21T08:44:00.000-05:00

"I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character."

With those words, Martin Luther King set the gold standard for how a person -- any person -- should be measured.

That this would ring just as true for a middle-aged, middle-class white man like me as it did for a civil rights icon like him is testament to it's truth.

Hatred by the numbers

2008-01-17T10:22:00.000-05:00

Syracuse University Prof. Arthur Brooks analyzes hate on the left and on the right, by the numbers, in the Wall Street Journal.

Anyway You Want It

2008-01-16T17:05:00.001-05:00

Truly, truly awful.

Healthcare reform -- please tell me why this is bad

2008-01-11T16:02:00.000-05:00

In the "I don't get it" department, pharmacy chain CVS wants to open in-store medical clinics in Boston staffed by medical professionals to treat minor ailments -- sore throats, poison ivy -- in an easy, quick and cost-effective fashion.

The nurse practitioners working in these clinics would be trained to spot more serious ailments and refer patients either to physicians or emergency rooms as appropriate. The plan has been approved by the the Massachusetts Public Health Council.

Now we get to the part I don't get -- Boston Mayor Thomas Menino is trying to stop it, reports the Boston Globe.

"Limited service medical clinics run by merchants in for-profit corporations will seriously compromise quality of care and hygiene," he said. "Allowing retailers to make money off of sick people is wrong."

Huh?

For-profit corporations? As opposed to people going to for-profit hospitals and for-profit doctors?

And it's okay for for-profit pharmacies to sell cough drops, prescription drugs and, of all things, cigarettes, but not to provide this level of healthcare?

Compromising quality and hygiene? As opposed to sitting in a doctor's waiting room or emergency room for hours, surrounded by people hacking, wheezing, sneezing, bleeding and oozing?

If we want to improve healthcare in this country and make it more accessible and affordable, the first step has to be, uh, making it more accessible and affordable. And this seems like a modest step in that direction.

Whose pocket is this guy in? Or is he just on crack? You can read the mayor's news release on the topic here.

I humbly pass my crown...

2008-01-10T08:01:00.000-05:00

Proving that I'm not, in fact, the meanest parent in the universe.

This on the AP about an Iowa mom who sold her son's car after finding booze under the front seat.

From the ad: "OLDS 1999 Intrigue. Totally uncool parents who obviously don't love teenage son, selling his car. Only driven for three weeks before snoopy mom who needs to get a life found booze under front seat. $3,700/offer. Call meanest mom on the planet."

When the bought him the car -- so "free car" for the kid -- they gave him two rules: keep it locked and no booze.

What a little dope.

Happy New Year!

2008-01-01T13:09:00.000-05:00

Wow, it's only a little after 1 p.m., and I've already:
-- Been to the gym
-- Updated my resume
-- Laid out my fitness and nutrition regimen for the year
-- Changed the batteries in the CO and smoke detectors.

Modest new year's resolutions for me as usual:
1) Lose 20 pounds -- sensibly, through proper diet and exercise. I figure I'm 10 pounds away from my clothes fitting right, and 20 away from looking the way I'd like to look.

2) Bigger and better things, careerwise.

Blogging Christmas

2007-12-25T12:52:00.001-05:00

THE Christmas gift -- I got the Creative Zen Nano Plus MP3 player -- rated a best buy by Cnet and PC World. One gig of solid state memory, FM tuner and voice recorder. Can record directly from a CD player. Bite me, Apple.

We got one for my daughter too.

Also got some CDs -- new Alterbridge, King's X two-disk live set, and an earlier disk by Pillar. And I got the Eric Clapton Autobio.

Also shirts, calendars and stuff.

Bought my bride a GPS -- Garmin Streetpilot C550 -- TFT screen, points of interest, traffic reports, auto-rerouting, and it speaks street names.

A very Merry Christmas.

Straight No Chaser - 12 Days

2007-12-21T16:06:00.001-05:00

This is really excellent. Merry Christmas.

Fred Thompson: Kill, Protect, Punch

2007-12-20T08:45:00.001-05:00

I love this. Kind of an anti "Obama Girl" video.

Anyone know what song that is and who it's by?

Twisted Sister - Oh Come All Ye Faithful

2007-12-19T08:20:00.001-05:00

You know, I used to think it was a good idea when bands did Christmas records.

Oh well -- at least it ends happily.

Dan Fogelberg

2007-12-17T13:52:00.000-05:00

Media reporting the death of Dan Fogelberg at 56, from prostate cancer.

He was often derided in the 70s and 80s as a soft-rock pioneer, but I thought he was a talented singer-songwriter who successfully melded rock, folk and country styles.

Get your PSA tests every year, boys -- particularly if you're over 45.

New Studwagon Mk IV

2007-12-10T10:57:00.001-05:00

The new car for the kids arrived last week -- 1998 Jeep Grand Cherokee. Only 80,000 miles, two owners.

For those who haven't been following the thriling saga, the Studwagon Mark III (1995 Oldsmobile 88 Royale) is no more -- the Boy Genius totaled it on the way home from school about two months ago. I was sick for a month.

But onward we go. I was originally looking for something like a Camry or an Accord, but was coming up dry.

Then last weekend when the weather got greasy I was thinking how handy it would be to have another four-wheel drive-capable vehicle around the house, and stumbled on this.

Checked it out after church Sunday, pulled the VIN -- ran it through Carfax and it came back clean -- test drove it and said "don't wrap it, I'll eat it here."

The thing is loaded -- power everything, leather seats, cool sound system (back speakers are blown though), moonroof.

Nicer than my first car. Nicer than my second car.

Uh, nicer than my third car.

We had to destroy the environment to save it...

2007-12-05T11:19:00.000-05:00

In the "do as I say, not as I do" department, More Than 10,000 Jet Into Bali For Global Warming Conference.

"Nobody denies this is an important event, but huge numbers of people are going, and their emissions are probably going to be greater than a small African country," said Chris Goodall, author of the book "How to Live a Low-Carbon Life."

The U.N. estimates 47,000 tons of carbon dioxide and other pollutants will be pumped into the atmosphere during the 12-day conference in Bali, mostly from plane flights but also from waste and electricity used by hotel air conditioners.

If correct, Goodall said, that is equivalent to what a Western city of 1.5 million people, such as Marseilles, France, would emit in a day.

Parking place

2007-12-04T20:19:00.001-05:00

for this photo

Loafin'

2007-12-04T15:14:00.001-05:00

New loafers. Rockport Espolitos, in 11W.

Com-fort-a-ble.

Like walking on air.

Overused: Keeping it real

2007-12-03T20:05:00.000-05:00

I don't actually know if that's "overused," because I've never actually heard a real person say it.

So perhaps it should be in NOT to be used.

Saying "keeping it real" isn't.

Dentist today

2007-11-27T10:13:00.001-05:00

My six-month checkup and cleaning today.

Not too bad, but oh, what an uncomfortable experience.

My hygienist is very nice and quite professional, but I swear sometimes if feels like she's gonna crawl inside and work from there.

Things I will never do...

2007-11-26T08:17:00.000-05:00

I will never play Guitar Hero.

Seems like the '00s version of lip syncing and "air guitar" contests, which I never enjoyed.

I just pretended I did.

In honor yesterday's national holiday...

2007-11-23T11:29:00.001-05:00

...a photo of the 17-pounder I bagged a year and a half ago.

This beauty had an 13-and-a-half-inch beard.

Question of the Day

2007-11-15T11:38:00.000-05:00

Why was Sha Na Na at Woodstock?

The New Hate

2007-11-14T09:29:00.000-05:00

Some interesting commentary today in the National Journal and the Wall Street Journal on hate and who is embracing it.

Surprising, because I always thought that hate was the opposite of intelligence and rationality.

Overused: At the end of the day

2007-11-13T15:13:00.001-05:00

Used to punctuate business presentations, sermons, and cocktail discussion, "at the end of the day."

"At the end of the day, we need to ensure revenue growth is balanced with profitable growth."

"At the end of the day, you're all going to hell anyway."

"At the end of the day, I just don't like shoes that are pointy."

At the end of WHAT day? TOday?

Shopworn. Hackneyed. Cliche.

Can't they just say "ultimately" or "finally." I could even stomach "bottom line:".

Blues Traveler tomorrow night

2007-11-09T17:28:00.000-05:00

I won tickets on the radio today. Which is odd, because I rarely call in for that stuff. And when I do, I rarely get through. And when I do, I rarely win anything.

Playing at The Chance in Poughkeepsie, which I haven't been to since college.

Let me put it to you this way -- the last band I saw there was Twisted Sister. Pre-MTV. Had no idea who they were -- they were friends of a college friend. Holey Socks!

Star Bores

2007-11-08T20:16:00.001-05:00

King's X - Dogman

2007-11-02T08:40:00.001-04:00

Do it for the kids

2007-10-30T10:41:00.001-04:00

Overused: Godsend

2007-10-29T12:39:00.000-04:00

Added to my list of overused words -- Godsend.

As in, "my iPod is a Godsend" or "that new gas station is a Godsend."

Penicillin was a Godsend.

Those other things are merely conveniences.

Al Gore -- Climate Change Eye Candy

2007-10-25T09:11:00.000-04:00

Nobel laureate and climate researcher John Christy essentially characterizes Al Gore as the Paris Hilton of climate change.

Nice to read a sober, intelligent, informed discussion of climate change from someone who's dedicated his life to studying it.

You don't win Oscars that way though.

Steve Vai Shreds -- or not

2007-10-15T14:02:00.001-04:00

This one has been around for awhile, is still very funny.

ZZ Top

2007-05-11T09:46:00.000-04:00

Just need a place to park these.

Nancy in Syria -- Messages of Peace and Love

2007-04-04T09:04:00.000-04:00

Again, nothing new here -- we've heard this before.

"We were very pleased with the assurances we received from the (Syrian) president that he was ready to resume the peace process. He's ready to engage in negotiations for peace with Israel,'' Pelosi said.

Sounds very similiar to: "Peace for our time."

Pelosi goes to Syria

2007-04-03T15:10:00.000-04:00

Nothing new here -- we've seen this before.

The Porky Pelosi Swagger

2007-03-28T12:57:00.000-04:00

If it were a musical, I guess they would call it "Nancy, Get Your Gun."

After President Bush said he would veto any war-funding ill calling for an end-date for troops in Iraq, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi swaggered before the CNN cameras to declare "there's a new congress in town."

"When the president says he wants to veto this bill he says, I am vetoing accountability - accountability of my own administration and of the Iraqi government," she added. "He says, I forbid. He told me, I forbid, I forbid accountability. I forbid additional assistance and meeting the health needs of our military and our veterans. I forbid meeting the needs of the people struck by Katrina. I forbid s-chip helping the poorest children in America get healthcare. I forbid disaster agriculture assistance to farmers and cattlemen across the country who need this help."

Health needs of our military and veterans? Katrina? Healthcare for poor children? Agriculture assistance?

What, you may ask, does any of that have to do with the war in Iraq? Nothing.

Nothing, except it represents a portion of the pork Democrats larded into the House and Senate bills to bribe Congressmembers to vote for them.

Ah, that certainly is a cool breeze blowing through the halls of Congress since Nancy and her boys took over. Not.

Business as usual.

Big Nance also noted failed public confidence in Bush and the Iraq War, but she better check her numbers -- current polls how public confidence in Congress declining and rising for the president.

And in the glass houses department...

2007-03-09T09:34:00.000-05:00

So much for the the Democractic revolution...

Current polls show public opinion of Democratically controlled Congress on par or lower than for President Bush, with both hanging in the low 30s for approval.

As one pundit put it: buyer's remorse?

Not surprising considering how the Democrats have failed to live up to the hype that swept them to power last fall. What exactly have they done since taking office?

Lessee, there was the non-binding resolution on the Iraq "surge," which is essentially the legislative equivalent of impotence. Now they're pimping a fall 2008 deadline for complete withdrawal from Iraq (still working out the bugs on that one -- "what's a more positive word for 'retreat?'")

On the issue corruption there was, well, there was some minor legislation about perks from lobbyists, which of course the lobbyists are already working around -- no more sitdown meals, but appetizers are okay. So put that filet mignon on a stick and eat it standing up and you're all good.

Ho hum.

Leaky Prosecution Convicts Libby

2007-03-06T12:33:00.000-05:00

Scooter Libby, former aide to VP Dick Cheney, found guilty of perjury in the Joe Wilson-Valerie Plame leak case.

Not real surprising -- Special Prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald was hellbent to convict someone of SOMETHING in this, and Libby is the fish.

Before the pundits and shriekers spool up, a couple things to keep in mind:

-- Libby was not the one who leaked Plame's identity to columnist Robert Novak, -- former Deputy Defense Secretary Richard Armitage (an opponent of the Iraq war) was. And Fitzgerald knew that from the start.

-- Libby was not charged with leaking Plame's identity.

-- Plame's identify was essentially the most talked about thing in Washington, according to the testimony at the trial, and Libby never denied that he participated in those discussions.

-- The substance of the charges was that Libby's notes indicated he had conversations about Plame's identity earlier that he said he did while testifying. So he was essentially accused of forgetting when he had specific conversations about something everyone was talking about.

-- Whether Libby is a liar or not is not clear. But it's clear that Joe Wilson is-- he wrote in the New York Times that he found no evidence Iraq sought uranium in Niger, but he told the CIA the exact opposite (as documented in the Senate Intelligence Committee report on prewar intelligence).

So while Libby's guilt is shaky at best, the bona fide leaker Armitage and the confirmed liar Wilson remain uncharged.

Libby's conviction will be overturned on appeal.

Preventing a new killing fields

2007-03-05T09:10:00.000-05:00

William Shawcross was a vocal critic of U.S. policy in Southeast Asia and somewhat sympathetic to the Communist "freedom fighters" in Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam.

Until he saw what they did when they took over in 1975.

The following piece by him appeared in the UK Times on Saturday:

Remember: for Cambodia, read Iraq

William Shawcross

The Killing Fields illustrates brilliantly part of the long disaster that has been Cambodia over recent decades. It is a compelling film that follows the story of a young Cambodian, Dith Pran, who worked for the New York Times reporter Sidney Schanberg in Cambodia during the brutal five-year war that resulted in the communist Khmer Rouge victory in April 1975.

At that moment all the foreigners and their Cambodian friends took refuge in the French Embassy, hoping for safe passage out of the country. They had not reckoned with the horrific total revolution that the communists planned to impose. They demanded that all the Cambodians, including Pran, surrender, while the foreigners were trucked out of the country. In tears, the foreigners, including Schanberg, let their friends go. Many were murdered at once as “Western agents”.

For the next three and a half years Pran had to conceal his past as he worked in the fields. The communists under Pol Pot shut Cambodia off and imposed one of the most vicious totalitarian regimes of the 20th century. Up to two million of the seven million people died, either murdered by the Khmer Rouge or from starvation and disease as a result of the draconian agrarian policies they imposed. Pran survived.

At the end of 1975 I went to the Thai-Cambodian border to talk to refugees. Their horrific stories of people with glasses being killed as “intellectuals” and of “bourgeois” babies being beaten to death against trees were being dismissed as CIA propaganda by the antiAmerican Western Left, but it seemed obvious to me that they were true. I wanted to discover how the Khmer Rouge had grown and come to power; I wrote a book called Sideshow, which was very critical of the way in which the United States had brought war to Cambodia while trying to extricate itself from Vietnam.

But horror had engulfed all of Indo-China as a result of the US defeat in 1975. In Vietnam and Laos there was no vast mass murder but the communists created cruel gulags and, from Vietnam in particular, millions of people fled, mostly by boat and mostly to the US. Given the catastrophe of the communist victories, I have always thought that those like myself who were opposed to the American efforts in Indochina should be very humble. I also think it wrong to dismiss the US efforts there as sheer disaster. Lee Kuan Yew, the former longtime Prime Minister of Singapore, has a subtler view. He argues that, although America lost in IndoChina in 1975, the fact that it was there so long meant that other SouthEast Asian countries had time to build up their economies to relieve the poverty of their peasants and thus resist communist encroachment — which they probably could not have done had IndoChina gone communist in the 1960s.

That long view seems to me to be the one that has to be applied to Iraq. I still believe the overthrow of Saddam Hussein was the correct thing to do — and it was something only the United States could have done. For all the horrors that extremist Sunnis and Shias are inflicting on each other today, the US rid the world of the Pol Pot of the Middle East. So long as the vile Saddam family regime remained in power there was no hope of progress in the region. There is still hope — if we do not abandon the Iraqi people.

In Indo-China the majority of Western journalists (including myself) believed that the war could not or should not be won. Similarly today, for too many pundits hatred (and it really is that) of Bush and Blair dominates perceptions. Armchair editorialists love to dismiss the US effort in terms of Abu Ghraib or Haditha. They were not typical moments. Evidence of the courage and commitment of ordinary US soldiers is inadequately covered by many papers, as is the courage of millions of ordinary Iraqis.

There are encouraging signs — the Iraqi military is becoming ever more competent; Sunni tribal leaders seem increasingly angry with al-Qaeda brutalities; parliament is discussing contentious legislation on dividing oil and gas revenues fairly between different parts of the country; the dinar is still strong, indicating confidence; most Iraqis still seem to desire a united country.

Of course huge mistakes have been made. We should lament and criticise them but not dismiss the underlying effort. President Bush’s new strategy (and probably his last throw) is to “surge” thousands of US troops into Baghdad. Rather than abusing him we should all be hoping that it is not too little too late.

The consequences of an American defeat in Iraq would be even worse than in IndoChina. As the al-Qaeda leader in Iraq, Musab al-Zarqawi, said before he was killed by a US air strike: “The shedding of Muslim blood is allowed in order to disrupt the greater evil of disrupting jihad.”

If Iraq collapses, such nihilist killing will spread far wider. As in Cambodia, bloody mass murder is the only alternative to what the US-led coalition is trying to achieve. Thanks to the sacrifice of young American and British soldiers, and to the courage of millions of ordinary Iraqis, the country can still have a better future — if we remain committed. Remember 1975.

William Shawcross is the author of Sideshow: Kissinger, Nixon and the Destruction of Cambodia, and Allies: The US, Britain, Europe and the War in Iraq

The Gore Pool

2007-03-01T08:52:00.000-05:00

Great editorial in the Wall Street Journal today about the woo-ha regarding Al Gore's profligate energy use compared to his moralizing on global warming.

Gore's palatial Tennessee homes uses more electricity in a month as the average American household uses in a year. That he balances this by purchasing "carbon offsets" -- investments that reduce carbon dioxide output, effectively cancelling out his overweight emissions -- misses the point, says the WSJ.

While expects everyone else to suffer the inconveniences that go along with conservation, he has the luxury of buying his way out.

"We don't begrudge Mr. Gore his Tennessee spread or his pool, but his energetic energy use does underscore the complicated nature of modern economic life and the real costs of "doing something" about global warming, "says the WSJ. "The pleasures of affluence take energy, whether they be relaxing in a hot tub after a long day of predicting the end of the Greenland ice sheet, or flying in a private jet to talk political strategy with Leo DiCaprio. You never know where you're going to leave your next carbon footprint.

"Mr. Gore is rich and fortunate enough to be able to afford the "carbon offset" for his energy indulgences. The middle-class parents who need a gas-guzzling SUV to haul the kids to soccer practice might not be so lucky. They might even settle for an unheated pool."

Exactly.

Cruisin' in Iran

2007-02-13T15:24:00.000-05:00

The U.S. displaying weapons it says Iran is supplying to Iraqi insurgents, used to kill coalition soldiers, and the Iranians (of course) denying it.

"We categorically deny that we supplied these weapons to the Iraqi terrorists -- the fact that they are obviously manufactured in Iran and are used by our military is merely a coincidence," said an Iranian embassy spokesman, adding, "Death to America. Uh, oh and Israel too. Yeah death to Israel. And the Holocaust never happened."

The munitions, primarily armor-piercing rounds (marked "Made In Iran -- Death to Infidels") have killed 170 coalition soldiers.

Congress all in a dither over it, as the House of Representatives votes on its Manifesto of Cowardice, condemning the president's plan to increase troops in Iraq.

"If at times like this we can't turn tail and run, taking refuge in the safety provided by hiding under our beds, when can we?" said House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.

"Hold me, I'm scared," added Congressman John Murtha.

Congress is all nervous because they're afraid the unveiling of the Iranian munitions signals a move by the administration toward war with Iran.

But we don't need to invade Iran and get ourselves all messy in another land war to stop the Iranians and Syrians from supporting the bad guys in Iraq. There's a perfectly good alternative.

Here's what we should do: Park a couple of Aegis guided missile cruisers in the Persian Gulf, along with an aircraft carrier to provide fighter cover.

Then, we tell the Iranians and Syrians that for every weapon or fighter we find in Iraq that we can trace directly back to them, they lose a factory, a power plant, a transportation hub, a bridge or a government building.

Heck, we'll even give them 30-minutes warning on which target we're going to hit before we launch the cruise missiles, so they have time to get people out.

I call it "reverse insurgency via cruise missile proxy."

Effective, humane, and I'll bet it will back them down.

But we won't do it.

Hybrid Conservative

2007-02-09T15:19:00.000-05:00

I took delivery of my 2007 Toyota Prius Hybrid this week -- the results of about two years of research/procrastinating.

"But Jblog," you say with astonishment, "Only quiche-eaters, treehuggers, dirt-worshippers and earthmuffins drive hybrids."

Not so, however -- it's actually the PERFECT car for a registered Republican like me. Lemme tell you why:

-- Tax breaks -- The purchase qualifies for a $1,500 federal income tax credit -- that's a credit, not a deduction, so it comes right off the bottom line. (But hurry -- the credit drops to $750 after March 31 and expires later this year. That's why I went for mine now.) Plus in Connecticut you don't have to pay sales tax on new hybrids -- that shaves another $1,500 off the top of the price.

-- Fiscal fitness -- In addition to $3Gs in tax breaks, I qualified for 24 months of 0 percent financing. I estimate that will save me another $2,000 or so over the life of the loan. And I estimate I will save another $1,000 in fuel costs each year. That's $7,000 in savings over the first two years, which well offsets the premium price for purchasing this new technology.

-- Good for America -- I'm currently averaging about 45 mpg, which is about twice what my old car got. America finds itself in direct competition with emerging markets in China and India for the global oil supply, which will push oil prices up over the next decade. Cutting my fuel consumption by half helps take the pressure off. It also means less money in the pockets of terrorists who profit from the oil trade, like Osama Bin Ladin and Hugo Chavez.

-- Rational environmentalism -- Contrary to popular misconception, most conservatives DO care about the environment. We'd just prefer not crater the economy while saving the earth. Adoption of new technologies like hybrid cars is a sane approach to this issue.

-- Intelligent design -- This is an exceptionally well-designed vehicle, inside and out. -- from the gasoline engine/electric motor power plant to the head-up display and touchscreen controls. Purchasing cars like this encourages all the automakers to strive for this kind of innovation and user-centered design.

-- Moral high ground -- "No blood for oil" my ass. How exactly did those hippies get to the antiwar rally, anyway? Next time I'm at the Dairy and Energy Mart giving my hybrid a sip and I see one of those freaks filling up his gas guzzler (with his antiwar, anti-oil bumpersticker proudly displayed), I believe I pretty much have the absolute moral authority to grab the tire iron out the hatch, walk over and bust his windshield.

Catch-up Time: Hillary, Gavin and the rest

2007-02-02T10:10:00.000-05:00

Been a little bored with blogging lately -- so haven't been writing.

But thought I would catch up on a couple things.

Fred Barnes writing about WSJ opinion section yesterday about how Hillary Clinton's caught in a political crack -- sitting to the right of her primary opponents, she's feeling pressure to move to the left to gain her party nomination. But if she does, she runs the risk of offending swing voters in the general election.

I wrote the same thing last June -- nice to see the WSJ taking a cue from me (although to be fair, this is pretty obvious to just about everyone -- surprised it took this long for someone else to write about it).

And then we have San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom, admitting to an affair with the wife of one of his closest advisors.

And already the same lefties who snickered and sneered at Evangelical leader Ted Haggard's indiscretions last fall are falling all over themselves to excuse Newsom.

"Why is this a public matter?" huffs Arianna Huffington, noting that the parties involved weren't doing it on the public's dime.

Could she be that dense? It mattered with Republican Bob Packwood did it. It mattered when Bill Clinton did it. It certainly matter when Jim McGreevy did it. It matters because character matters.

It matters because if the people closest to our elected officials can't trust them, how can we?

And it becomes the public's business the instant an elected official takes the oath of office and swears to serve in an ethical and honest manner.

At least Newsom didn't go all McGreevy and make excuses for his behavior -- he admitted his guilt and apologized. Be curious to see how he follows that up to make amends -- will he resign?

Doubtful.

The most likely outcome? BOOK DEALS.

One for the scumbag major. One for the wife-victim. One for the cuckolded confidant. And one for the floozy.

I'm betting Newsom get a six-figure advance.

In the meantime, Haggard's accuser was welcomed at the former pastor's church this week, with members shaking his hand and thanking him for coming forward with the truth. I wonder what Arianna thinks of that? (Not really -- I don't care what she thinks).

Correction: I didn't follow the time-thread on the Newsom affair properly. Apparently Newsom and his wife divorced before the beginning of the affair. This may not affect her book deal though.

Risky Business for All

2007-01-11T11:22:00.000-05:00

President Bush unveiled his plan to send 21,500 additional troops to Iraq last night, taking a risk he can turn it around.

His platform was clear -- withdrawing from Iraq and allowing it to continue to devolve into disaster would be an unacceptable failure, one that would surely embolden the terrorists.

And his plan is straightforward -- quell the insurgency and hold the Iraqi government accountable for its progress.

Politically speaking, this is his last chance to get it right -- if allied forces don't crush Al Qaida and sectarian militias swiftly and definitively, the GOP will be the losers in the next presidential election.

The Democrats have problems of their own however. They've squawked about the additional troops and made noises about blocking funding, but they don't dare. That would make them look like don't support our troops.

They also failed to provide an alternative plan -- apparently they haven't figured how to run away and abandon our allies without looking like cowards.

"Don't flap your arms so much. And don't run with your knees up so high. And for the love of gravy, stop shrieking!"

So if the president succeeds, the Dems are the losers in 2008.

If they block the extra troops and he fails, everyone gets the stink on them, and 2008 is a foodfight.

The America public may be tired with the war and impatient with the situation. But the one thing they won't tolerate is failure.

Iraq by the numbers

2007-01-02T13:10:00.000-05:00

Reuters noting that the number of American troops killed in Iraq has now passed 3,000.

It won't be long before the anti-war crowd will be pimping this figure as further proof that Iraq is a catastrophe, spiraling out of control and destined to failure.

But it's not necessarily so. The Iraq conflict actually has the lowest casualty rate of any war in U.S. history. And while Reuters says December was the deadliest month in the war, American combat deaths have declined every year since the invasion.

Consider also:
-- During WWII, we lost 3,000 soldiers on D-Day alone;

-- Three times that many were killed at Gettysburg during the Civil War;

-- Ten times as many American troops had been killed by this time in the Vietnam War (the original "quagmire" -- and a Liberal adventure, incidentally) .

I hate to boil it down to a simple comparison of numbers -- it seems so callous and cold. It is a tragedy every time an American soldier is killed. But if the anti-war guys are going to use the numbers for their purposes, someone has to put them in perspective.

There is no question the situation in Iraq is very bad, could get worse, and may ultimately lead to defeat. But the casualty rate is not one of those proof points.

Saddam's End

2006-12-30T12:38:00.000-05:00

Saddam met his end today, at the end of a length of official Iraqi government rope -- it was a far more merciful fate than he doled out to his victims during his dictatorship.

Estimates for the number of people he murdered range from one million to more than seven million. That doesn't count the one million soldiers killed during his war with Iran.

At the low end, those numbers put him in the same category as Pol Pot, Hitler and Stalin.

The atrocities committed by him and his sons are astonishing, including:

-- The rape of girls as young as 12 as a form of recreation;

-- The torture of children, even infants, to extract information and confessions from their parents;

-- The murder of children as part of military training exercises;

-- Extermination of whole villages of Kurds via gas attacks;

-- Torture methods including rape, beatings, gouging out eyes, lopping off hands and feet, electical shocks to the genitals, burning, and cutting;

-- Execution methods ranging from firearms and hangings to stuffing people into shredding machines or tossing them into vats of acid.

For a fuller accounting of his barbarities, you can go review this British report.

Brown, Ford Pass

2006-12-27T08:38:00.000-05:00

Two icons from different spheres passed over the holidays.

James Brown died early Christmas morning and President Gerald Ford passed away this morning.

Brown -- "The Hardest-Working Man in Show Business," "The Godfather of Soul" -- electrified R&B and was widely imitated by soul singers and rockers alike. Tussles with the law over guns and drugs led to time in the jail, but couldn't diminish his legacy.

Ford was a disintinguished statesman known for his integrity who had the dubious distinction of being the first Amerian politician victimized by late-night-comedian character assassination -- notably impressions of him as a bumbling stiff by Chevy Chase on Saturday Night Live. Chase later admitted that he portrayed Ford as a dull-witted fumbler to sway the '75 presidential election.

Frightening to realize that many people still get their information from the likes of Jon Stewart, Stephen Colbert, David Letterman and the other late-night chuckleheads.

Doonesbury cartoonist Garry Trudeau once observed that anyone who gets his political information from the comics deserves he gets at the polls. He was talking about the funny papers, but the principle applies to the midnight yucksters and those who listen to them as well.

Experts say: Send More Troops

2006-12-21T11:50:00.000-05:00

Experts told incoming Defense Secretary Robert Gates that more troops are in needed in Iraq.

"Sir, I think we need to just keep doing what we're doing," Specialist Jason Glenn told Gates, who along with other soliders serving in Iraq had breakfast with the new DS."I really think we need more troops here. With more presence on the ground, more troops might hold them (the insurgents) off long enough to where we can get the Iraqi army trained up."

These are, after all, the REAL experts -- not the armchair kind back in DC writing up reports. These are the people doing the fighting, the bleeding and the dying. They're also the ones most intimately familiar with the strength, tactics and psychology of the enemy.

So maybe someone ought to listen to them.

Ahmadinejadidn't

2006-12-20T09:06:00.000-05:00

Iranian Whackjob President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad -- as in "I-hate-Israel-death-to-America-the-Holocaust-didn't-happen-I-want-nukes" Ahmadinejad -- got a smack in the face this week when his party lost big time in the influential Tehran local elections.

"Relative moderate" and former President Hashemi Rafsanjani -- who lost to Mad Ahmad in the last national election -- polled the most votes, reports AP.

A faint ray of hope that there might be someone rational to deal with in Iran.

Money Talks in Iraq

2006-12-18T13:13:00.000-05:00

Newsweek reporting that Iraq's economy is booming.

"Civil war or not, Iraq has an economy, and—mother of all surprises—it's doing remarkably well. Real estate is booming. Construction, retail and wholesale trade sectors are healthy, too, according to a report by Global Insight in London. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce reports 34,000 registered companies in Iraq, up from 8,000 three years ago. Sales of secondhand cars, televisions and mobile phones have all risen sharply. Estimates vary, but one from Global Insight puts GDP growth at 17 percent last year and projects 13 percent for 2006. The World Bank has it lower: at 4 percent this year. But, given all the attention paid to deteriorating security, the startling fact is that Iraq is growing at all."

Interesting.

Interesting because it flies in the face of conventional wisdom. Interesting because no one else is reporting this. Interesting because it contradicts the conclusions of the Iraq Study Group.

No, it doesn't mean everything is just swell in Iraq. But it is encouraging, because when people are making money they tend to be too busy to kill one another.

All the more reason we should encourage this trend as much as we can.

I think Senator John McCain has it right too -- send additional troops into the Iraq to cripple the insurgents and sectarian militias.

Then follow up with LOTS of economic building.

Obama? Haysbert!

2006-12-13T12:14:00.000-05:00

All this talk about Barack Obama as a presidential candidate in '08? Bah!

My guess is the first black man to be president will be a Republican -- I dunno who it will be, but I think it would be someone like Dennis Haysbert.

Whether he's handling a major crisis as President David Palmer on "24" or firing at terrorists with his trusty M4 as Jonas Blane on "The Unit," Haysbert is everything you'd want in a president -- smart, cool-headed, tough, aggressive, principled, decisive, results oriented.

Heck, you'd even buy insurance from this guy.

Note: I don't know what Haysbert's actual political views are -- I'm referring to the qualities of the characters he plays.

In Denial on Iran

2006-12-12T10:22:00.000-05:00

Iran hosting a conference this week questioning whether the Holocaust occurred, hosting all the leading antisemitic whackjobs and screwballs on the planet.

The goal, of course, is to discredit the legitimacy of the state of Israel -- if the Holocaust didn't occur then the Jews don't need a homeland to protect them, the logic goes.

The event is billed as an open discussion on the subject, but only those who don't believe the Holocaust occurred are speaking.

That's nice.

Hey everybody, these are the people who are gonna help us stop the war in Iraq, with all their levelheadedness, tolerance, and sensitivity and stuff!

Uh huh.

ISG Fantasy and Reality

2006-12-11T15:27:00.000-05:00

Oddly, the Washington Post editorial page agreeing closely with my views on the conclusions of the Iraq Study Group.

The military objectives are realistic, in fact quite close to those that already exist within the Bush administration and the Iraqi government, and should be vigorously pursued.

The diplomatic ones, however, are pure fantasy -- the idea that an Israel-Palestine peace plan is central to success and that Iran and Syria, the biggest troublemakers in the region, could be part of the solution is preposterous.

Read it all.

I printed off my copy of the report today, btw -- only runs about 85 pages. I plan to read it this week. You can find it here.

Reyes Don't Know Shiite

2006-12-10T10:24:00.000-05:00

Okay, not good.

Incoming House Intelligence Committee Chairman Silvestre Reyes couldn't sort out the main players in the Iraq conflict in an interview with Congressional Quarterly.

When asked whether Al Qaeda was Sunni or Shiite, he guessed Shiite.

Wrong.

Al Qaeda is rabidly Sunni -- so much so, opined CQ interviewer Jeff Stein, that"if a Shiite showed up at an al Qaeda club house, they’d slice off his head and use it for a soccer ball."

In fact, it is the stated objective of Al Qaeda in Iraq to spur civil war by conducting and supporting attacks by Sunnis against Shiites.

Pretty basic. Pretty fundamental. For the incoming Intel Committee chair not to know it is pretty bad.

Even I knew the right answer on this one, and I'm just your average, college-educated, mid-level, corporate professional who reads the newspapers -- not a major political leader about to be appointed chair of perhaps the most important House committee.

Remember, Reyes is a member of the party that keeps telling us how much smarter they are than the rest of us and how they're going to fix everything.

I don't feel very well.

One more note -- when President (then candidate) Bush failed a similar pop quiz by a reporter a few years ago, I recall it was the subject of much media attention and chuckling. Yet I see little pickup of this story about Reyes. Interesting.

Spider Webb

2006-12-05T14:20:00.000-05:00

Week four of the Democratic Revolution. Any progress so far?

Nope.

But we do have a freshman senator acting rudely to the president at a White House reception for incoming Congressmen.

Virginia's James Webb first ducked the reception line in an attempt to avoid President Bush.

The President later sought Webb out personally to inquire about his son, a Marine serving in Iraq. Webb, a frequent critic of the war, rebuffed him, saying "I'd like to get them out of Iraq."

The president persisted, somewhat testily, saying "That's not what I asked you -- how's you boy"?

Webb replied, "That's between me and my boy."

Is this the spirit of bipartisanship that the Democratic leadership pledged after the election? I don't think so.

Webb doesn't like the president and his policies? Fine. Doesn't want to speak with him? Okay.

But who goes to a White House reception hosted by the president and then deliberatly tries to avoid the host?

Someone trying to provoke just that kind of encounter.

Bad manners at least. Scheming and hypocrisy at worst.

During the election, I actually thought Webb might be an improvement over incumbent Republican George Allen. I'm beginning to rethink that.

But still no progress on the ambitious Democractic agenda for America.

Tick tock.

Pelosi: In Harman's Way

2006-11-28T14:11:00.000-05:00

Week three of the Democractic Revolution in Congress, and still no signs of any progress.

But we do find Speaker Nancy Pelosi again playing politics, this time backing disgraced former federal judge Alcee Hastings for chairman of the House Intelligence Committee over frenemy Jane Harman.

Harman is a member of the committee and was thought to be the shoo-in for the leadership post, but according to the Washington Post she and Pelosi have an only slightly less skanky Paris Hilton-Nicole Richie thing going on.

Before serving in the House, Hastings was impeached by Congress on corruption charges while serving on the federal bench -- an impeachment Pelosi voted for.

Pelosi apparently didn't learn her lesson after getting trounced on the Murtha/Hoyer majority leader thing. Be shame if she squandered all of her political capital this way, before the new Congress takes office in January.

And what does backing Hastings say about Pelosi's pledge to clean up Congress -- the #1 issue on the minds of voters in the November elections?

Still no progress on saving Iraq, keeping us safe from terrorists, lowering the cost of college, making us energy efficient and environmentally friendly, boosting the economy, reducing the deficit, and all the other things the Democrats said they were gonna do.

Oh well, I'm sure after all the politics they'll get around to it...

Tick tock.

Dem Revolution -- Week 2

2006-11-21T10:33:00.000-05:00

Two weeks since the Democrats took over Congress, and let's see how much progress they've made on their ambitious agenda.

Okay, well, first the majority of the House members flipped new Speaker Nancy Pelosi the bird after she backed resident whack-job Jack Murtha for the majority leader over Steny Hoyer. In secret balloting, Hoyer crushed Murtha for the job.

So much for unity within the party. Although the crazy-old optimist in me says maybe this is good -- maybe it means the Dems won't march in lockstep like automatons behind every nutty idea Pelosi fronts.

But it seems like an awfully big waste of her political capital so early on -- it was a real "in your face" moment for her. She has a reputation for being a dragon lady, and in this case it looks like her own allies slew the dragon.

Next we had Congressman Charles "Big Pimpin'" Rangel once again calling for the resinsitution of the military draft -- a measure expected to get absolutely no support from anyone in Congress or the current administration. Rangel has pulled this stunt before -- apparently trying to make some political point that's lost on everyone.

Unless the point he's trying to make is that he merely likes to make grandstanding plays like this in a pathetic attempt to draw attention to himself.

So, for week two we had domestic squabbling and a hail-mary pass that bounced harmlessly on the 20-yard line.

Or in other words: business as usual for Congress.

No progress on lowering the deficit, keeping us safe from terrorists, finding a solution for Iraq, raising the minium wage, making college more affordable, fixing the healthcare system, making us energy self-sufficient or protecting the environment.

Tick tock, people.

Tick Tock for Dems

2006-11-14T11:54:00.000-05:00

Well, it's been a week since the Democrats regained control of Congress.

So....have they fixed everything yet?

Sorry, was just pretending I was a typical American voter.

Still the Dems have laid out a rather ambitious -- and in many cases, noble -- agenda:

-- End corruption in Congress (I'd suggest they start with Harry Reid, William Jefferson and Alcee Hastings)

-- Keep America safe in the war on terror

-- Create a cleaner, greener, energy policy less dependent on foreign oil

-- Raise the minium wage and lower college tuition

-- Reform healthcare

-- Keep Social Security solvent and protect retirement income.

Pretty lofty goals. Good luck with them. I wish them well.

But the Dems won the election by capitalizing on the short attention span and impatience of the American voters. And that could just as easily come back to bite them if they don't show progress -- fast.

I figure they have maybe six months to show some progress on some of them. Otherwise, it will be back to "throw the bums out," with the Democrats in the starring role.

Well, that didn't take long

2006-11-13T10:15:00.000-05:00

Less than a week after capturing both the House and the Senate, Democratic congressman are sounding the retreat in Iraq, calling for troop drawdowns within months.

''There is no military solution in Iraq,'' said Senator Carl Levin said. ''There is only a political solution.''

"Hold me -- I'm frightened," he added. (no he didn't)

So all this talk about a "new direction" in Iraq was what we suspected all along -- a call for cowardice and abandoning our allies.

Imagine my shock.

Nice Nancy

2006-11-09T08:36:00.000-05:00

Presumuptive House Majority Leader Nancy Pelosi promised more niceness in government yesterday, pledging that a Democratic-controlled Congress would work across party lines, cooperate with the President, and generally behave like ladies and gentlemen.

Her comments followed conciliatory remarks from President Bush yesterday who also pledged to work more closely with the Democrats for the good of the country. He offer up the resignation of Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld as a mark of sincerity.

Uh huh

The White House has often been abrupt and dismissive, but Bush has a record of being to act in a bipartisan fashion while Texas governor, and pledged to act that when when first elected in 2000.

But the Democrats led by Pelosi have set a tone of shrillness in Washington, often referring to the President and his counselors as incompetent.

It could be that circumtstances now force to two parties for work together.

When the Democrats were in the minority, the Republicans could pretty much do whatever they wanted, and that led to complacency. The Democrats, being sidelined could snipe at will, but carried none of the responsibility for what was going on.

Now they both have skin in the game.

Election Aftermath

2006-11-08T08:52:00.000-05:00

Voting results showing that it would appear the Democrats have narrowly won the House of Representatives and may still capture the Senate.

In essence, the Democrats are now the dog that chases cars and finally caught one. Now that they caught it, they need to figure out what to do with it.

But while they're still doing their chicken dance, they want to remember this: it was very close, and it remains very close.

Here's what I mean:

-- Democrats and the media have characterized the election as a referendum on Iraq. But exit polls show that three-quarters of the voters were most concerned about corruption, reports the AP -- an issue the Democrats are hardly exempt from -- see: Reid, Hevesi, Menendez, Jefferson...

-- Voters rejected antiwar extremists like Ned Lamont, who repeatedly attacked the U.S. policy on Iraq but failed to explain how retreat and cowardice will keep us safe. Lamont was essentially crushed by incumbent Joe Lieberman, who won handily by an 8-percent margin.

-- Lieberman says he is unbeholden to the Republicans as he returns to the Senate. But in reality, it is the Democrats who abandoned him that he owes nothing to -- giving him freedom of action to operate as an independent.

-- Even if the Democrats win both houses, what can they do about the President's Iraq policy? Speaking on CBS last evening, Clinton White House Spokesman Mike McCurry summed it up this way: very little. Foreign policy is the domain of the administrative branch of our federal government. By attacking the current policy and promising change, they've essentially written a check they can't cover -- look for some very angry voters in two years.

-- The Democrats will likely put forward legislation on issues like the environment, healthcare and minimum wage. But with only a slight majority in the House and near parity in the Senate (no matter which way the final races turn out), the Democrats will need to work with Republicans to make them stick -- they don't have the voting weight to override a presidential veto.

Saddam: Justice Served

2006-11-06T09:50:00.000-05:00

Saddam Hussein sentenced to death by hanging by an Iraqi court yesterday for the murder of 148 Shiite men and boys.

It is a far more merciful fate than met his victims, and it covers only a tiny fraction of his crimes.

The list of his bestial crimes is long, but I'll try to summarize:

-- Repeated attacks against his neighbors, including a war with Iran that killed one million soldiers.

-- The murder of between one million and eight million of his own countryman -- victims' group continue poring through official Iraqi documents to come up with a final tally. But even the low end of these numbers puts him in the same league as Hitler, Stalin and Pol Pot. Tactics ranged from rounding up and shooting the victims to gassing whole villages of civilians (see photo above);

-- Torture on an incredible level -- eyes gouged out, electric shocks to the genitals, the rape of women and children, infants tortured in front of their parents, hands lopped off, people tossed into shredding machines and vats of acid, and on and on;

-- Repeated violations of the international peace accords ending the first Gulf War, including continuing human rights abuses, failure to comply with U.N. weapons inspectors, and ardent support of global terror;

-- Continuing concealment of WMD programs despite international requirements to fully disarm and prove that he had done so;

-- The wholly corrupt oil-for-food program, which allowed Saddam to continue to collect money to support his murderous regime while lining the pockets of U.N. officials and their associates, including the son of Secretary General Kofi Annan.

One day before the elections, it's important to keep all this in mind as many anti-war candidates question why we're in Iraq.

We know why.

Left Looking Haggard

2006-11-05T08:40:00.000-05:00

Now that we have a little more to go on in the in the Ted Haggard episode, we can intelligently analyze the facts at hand.

Lessee...bought drugs but didn't use them...had an illicit, but non-sexual, relationship with a gay male prostitute...

There's only one conclusion we can draw: Haggard is almost -- but not quite -- qualified to run for higher office as a Democrat.

*sigh* If ONLY he had taken the drugs and had sex with the guy. Maybe put his lover on the payroll in a job he was unqualified for for good measure.

Can't you just see it unfurling like a tableau? The public accusation and the fervent denial: "I did NOT have sex with that man, Mr. Jones."

Then, the evidence would appear -- surreptitious recordings, a garment of some type stained with an incriminating bodily fluid.

There would be weeks or months of media drama, hearings and various events -- accusers and defenders would battle.

And, when the evidence was irrefutable, finally the tearful confession: "I am a gay American Evangelical."

Liberals -- being the caring, accepting, tolerant bunch that they are -- would rush to embrace him. "It's nobody's business but his own," they'd say, as they praised his bravery.

A lucrative book deal would follow. Jake Gyllenhaal would play him in the motion picture adapation -- "Brokeback Pulpit," possibly.

He'd make the rounds of the chat shows -- sitting on Oprah's couch, dancing with Ellen, having tea with the ladies on The View. He'd trade laughs with Letterman, Leno and O'Brien.

He'd be the toast of Hollywood.

And before you know it, it would be 2008 and "Haggard for President" on the Democratic ticket.

If only. If only.

You see kids, this is what happens when you don't plan ahead and follow through.

Dem Vandals

2006-11-03T08:05:00.000-05:00

Vandals defaced the Pawling offices of Republican NY Assembly candidate Greg Ball, spray painting "fascist," "fascist pig" and swastikas on the walls, reports the Journal News.

And the supergeniuses behind this spelled "fascist" wrong -- they left out the first "s."

Haven't we hit our quota for political irony and hypocrisy yet this week?

First, John Kerry appears to insult the intelligence of our troops in Iraq. Then he says he really meant to insult the intelligence of the president, who actually got slightly better grades than he did at Yale.

Now we have local "political activists" labeling a candidate they oppose a fascist, and themselves employing fascist tactics to do it. Almost like a local little version of Kristallnacht.

Ball's opponent Ken Harper immediately denounced the attack, saying "This is deplorable and it doesn't represent my values or my campaign. I personally pledge to hunt down and apprehend the perpetrators, and hand them over to the authorities."

No he didn't, although he should have.

He actually said he hopes the miscreants are caught and punished, but "People get emotional about this stuff," as if this was all just boys-will-be-boys behavior.

He then launched an attack on his opponent.

Democrats -- could they get it less?

You know, I thought these people were all supposed to be so much smarter, sensitive and tolerant than the rest of us. Apparently not.

The Smell of Arrogrance

2006-11-01T13:07:00.000-05:00

In one event, we have a summary of everything people don't like about John Kerry and the Democrats: condescension and arrogance.

It all started Monday, as Kerry was on the hustings for Democractic candidates ahead of next week's mid-term elections. He uttered the following to a group of college students:

"Education, if you make the most of it, you study hard, you do your homework and you make an effort to be smart, you can do well. And if you don't, you get stuck in Iraq.''

The apparent implication was clear -- America's military men and women are stupid. Having viewed the original video of his comments, I can think of no other interpretation of what...he...said.

The point was lost on no one, and the White House and others immediately demanded an apology.

Landing in Seattle Tuesday, Kerry explained that this comment was a "botched joke" aimed at the president-- the punchline was supposed to be "Just ask President Bush."

He declined to apologize to anyone, then launched into a diatribe:

"I'm sick and tired of a bunch of despicable Republicans who will not debate real policy, who won't take responsibility for their own mistakes, standing up and trying to make other people the butt of those mistakes. I'm sick and tired of a whole bunch of Republican attacks, the most of which come from people who never wore the uniform and never had the courage to stand up and go to war themselves."

He goes on to insult the intelligence of the president and his White House advisors, call White House spokesman Tony Snow a stuffed suit and Rush Limbaugh "doughy" -- why he dragged him in we'll never know -- and said anyone who thinks he was talking about the troops is crazy.

In other words, it's not him -- it's everyone else.

A full-blown meltdown. Read it here in the NY Times.

A couple points though:

-- If he didn't mean to insult the troops, why not simply apologize for the misunderstanding? He's responsible for it -- he's the one who muffed the line. We don't know what he meant -- we only know what he said.

-- When the president "botches" a line, people call him an idiot. Does this mean Kerry's an idiot too?

-- If Kerry really was referring to the president's academic record, what does that say about Kerry? As the Boston Globe reported last year, his GPA at Yale was slighltly lower than Bush's. So, who's the imbecile here?

Today, Kerry and the Democrats are reeling -- he finally issued a faint apology and has cancelled further campaign stops. Other Democrats have joined the call for a fuller apology.

But the damage is done and it may have an impact on next Tuesday's elections.

"I'm not offended, but this is why John Kerry lost the election," said Jana Cook, a 43-year-old advertising executive and mother of two in Olathe, Kansas, quoted in a Reuters story. "He was perceived as an elitist and those are the kind of statements an elitist makes."

Exactly.

Most Weapons NOT Missing in Iraq

2006-10-31T09:22:00.000-05:00

Okay, not a really great headline -- certainly not as good as the NPR is running on its story about weapons supplied to the Iraqi government by the U.S.: Thousands of U.S.-Bought Weapons Lost in Iraq.

The story posted on their Web site details that about the "missing" weapons, noting that only about 10,000 of the weapons -- primarily pistols, rifles and machineguns -- were registered by serial number. The U.S. has supplied about $133-million-worth of weapons to the Iraqis.

But what the story doesn't say, but Special Inspector Stuart Bowen (who conducted the audit) DID say in an on-air interview with NPR, was that only about 4 percent of the weapons are actually unaccounted for.

Don't look for that interview on their Web site, btw -- it's not there. I happened to hear it on the ride home from work last night and immediately noted the disparity between what Bowen said and what NPR was reporting.

Hmm, interesting.

You'd think there was an election coming up or something.

NYT: Fewer Dead Trees

2006-10-31T09:09:00.000-05:00

Circulation at daily U.S. newspapers continues to slide, says the NY Times, down another 2.8 percent over the last six months and the steepest decline in 15 years.

The LA Times lost a whopping 8 percent daily and 6 percent on Sundays, the Boston Globe was down 6.7 percent daily and a holey socks! 10 percent Sundays. And the NY Times itself dipped 3.5 percent daily and Sunday.

Why? One word: trust.

People don't buy and read something they don't trust, and trust of the mainstream media continues to erode.

One could make the case that the Internet is eating into the circulation for the deadtree editions, but most newspapers haven't really figured out how to capitalize that and move eyeballs from the hardcopy to the screen copy.

And with the loss of eyeballs go the ad revenues.

Perhaps if these fine papers went back to, oh I don't know, reporting the news instead of attempting to fix elections they trust factor would go up.

ACLU: PAT ACT OK NOW

2006-10-30T16:02:00.000-05:00

The ACLU has dropped its federal lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of the Patriot Act, AP reports.

Okay, okay, here's my imitation of the ACLU:

The Patriot Act is a wholly unconsitutional attempt by the Bush administration to undermine the fundamental liberties of every American. If this is allowed to stand, the rights of everyone will be abridged. No one will be safe, no one will be beyond the reach of the JACK-BOOTED THUGS WHO WILL KICK IN YOUR DOORS, DRAG YOU INTO THE STREET BY YOUR HAIR AND FROGMARCH YOU OFF TO CONCENTRATION CAMPS. MY GOD, THERE'S NO ESCAPE FROM THEM -- THEY'RE EVERYWHERE! BOLT THE DOORS, HIDE CHILDREN, GET THE GUNS ( Oh crap, that's right -- we don't HAVE any guns!), GET THE...wait...oh...um....never mind.

"While the reauthorized Patriot Act is far from perfect, we succeeded in stemming the damage from some of the Bush administration's most reckless policies," Ann Beeson, the New York-based associate legal director of the ACLU, said in a written statement.

"I'm a complete idiot," she added. (Not really)

And the best time for such announcement -- less than a week from the mid-term elections. One less thing for Democratic candidates to whip up hysteria about.

The Danger of High Expectations

2006-10-25T10:58:00.000-04:00

The wave is coming, says the Washington Post -- echoing the numerous stories appearing in the media in recent weeks about how the Democrats are on the verge of sweeping Republican incumbents from office and taking control of a least one house of Congress.

"This is going to be a wave year," said Larry Sabato, a political scientist at the University of Virginia in the Wash Post story. "The only question is whether it will be medium-size wave or a high wave for the Democrats."

So there's the prediction. But here's the question: what if he's wrong?

What if he and all the other political pundits -- as well as the news media -- are wrong and the wave doesn't materialize? They've been wrong before, with some frequency and regularity.

And there is the danger for the Democrats, riding high on the fumes of their own overheated rhetoric, stoked by the predictions of the analysts.

If they win, the best they can hope for is to stalemate the Bush adminstration for the next two years. They won't have the votes to push through anything on their agenda. So they'll go into the 2008 election as the party of obstruction and partisanship.

If they lose, I'd suggest that one of two things could happen.

They could end up losing not only this year's mid-term Congressional elections, but possibly the 2008 presidential election as well -- thrown back into the continuing disarray and denial that has plagued them for the past six years. Held in the thrall of the leftwing extremists who dominate their party.

Or, they could take stock. Suck it up. Fire Howard Dean as party chairman. Move the party back to the center and seek candidates more aligned with most Americans, who stand a little right of center these days. In other words, candidates who actually stand a chance of winning in 2008.

That's what they could do. I've long since given up predicting what they will do, although I'd say scenario #1 is the better bet.

Lamentable Lamont Lags Lieberman

2006-10-21T16:09:00.000-04:00

You can almost smell the desperation.

The current Quinnipiac poll showing Ned Lamont lagging behind incument Joe Lieberman by 17 points, the AP reports.

Despite the desperate spending spree by Lamont -- who has poured more than $10 million of his own money into the race -- it seems most unlikely that he can make up the ground lost to Lieberman.

I don't normally put too much stock in polls until: a. within a month of the election; and b. when spread is more than double the margin of error. Both now apply.

My what a difference a couple months make. When Lamont beat Lieberman in the primary by a scant 4 percent of the vote, it was hailed as the bellwether race for the nation. This was the one to watch -- the antiwar forces were mad as hell and poised to take over Congress.

While incumbent candidates who supported the war and the president -- primarily Republicans -- continue to struggle in many races, it is far from a sure thing that they'll be defeated now.

And if this is the race to watch, well, it doesn't bode well for the challengers. I mean if a 4 percent victory was such a resounding victory, what's a 17-percent margin?

Perhaps Connectcutians are seeing Lamont for what he is -- a one-note candidate who sings off key. A liberal nag who criticizes his opponent, but has no solutions of his own. An antiwar wag who thinks retreat and cowardice will keep us safe.

Ultimately, to borrow a phrase from Doonesbury cartoonist Garry Trudeau, just another dim dilettante trying to buy, marry or luck his way into office.

AP reports in the same story that Lamont has called on Senator John Kerry -- you know, the loser of the last presidential election -- to come stump for him.

Desperation indeed.

More Reid Sleaze

2006-10-13T21:04:00.000-04:00

Sleazy land deals. Free boxing tickets.

Why, it's the kind of thing Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid normally rails against.

But the Atlanta Journal-Consitution notes Reids involvement in a sleazy land deal that scored Reid a pile of money he failed to disclose.

It also says he interceded in another deal for friends to procure a public right-of-way for a land deal they were working on.

And then there were the free boxing tickets he received while considering legislation on the sport.

You know the kind of things he normally chastizes Republicans for.

"Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid would be well advised to stop thundering about corruption in the Republican ranks or crying "cover-up" over the GOP's failure to promptly and appropriately deal with former Rep. Mark Foley (R-Fla.) and his sexually explicit e-mails to congressional pages. Reid faces too many questions about his own behavior to crusade against the misdeeds of others," says the AJC.

Indeed.

Johns Hopkins Doctors Iraq Casualty Report

2006-10-11T11:12:00.000-04:00

Media reporting that British medical publication The Lancet has published a report by Johns Hopkins University claiming that more than 600,000 Iraqis have died since the Allied invasion in 2003 -- a stupefyingly large number far bigger than anything anyone else has suggested.

The report is built largely on estimates and interviews with about 13,000 Iraqis -- they then projected the data over the entire nation to come up with their total.

In other words, they guessed.

This number is so high, it defies gravity. Brookings Institution Scholar Michael O'Hanlon called it "preposterously high."

The decidedly antiwar group Iraq Body Count, for example, puts the figure at closer to 50,000 based on actual counts from morgues and media reports.

Johns Hopkins and the Lancet pulled a similar stunt two years ago, when they reported casualties at about 100,000 -- again, roughly four times what Iraq Body Count was reporting.

The timing on this is certainly interesting -- less than a month before a major U.S. election where the war on terror is a key issue.

I would think if you wanted to hijack an election by telling lies you'd at least want to make the lies believeable.

But then, I don't do stuff like that, so I wouldn't know.

Liars, in context

2006-09-28T16:28:00.001-04:00

Much ado in the media and among liberal pols about part of the National Intelligence Estimate leaked earlier this week that says the war in Iraq has actually increased terrorist recruiting.

Problem is, they only provided part of the statement, in essence lying by stripping the statement of context and completeness. George Bush trumped them by declassifying a more complete text (although not all of it, as that would have revealed the undercover sources).

The whole statement they refer to reads: The Iraq conflict has become the "cause celebre" for jihadists, breeding a deep resentment of U.S. involvement in the Muslim world and cultivating supporters for the global jihadist movement. Should jihadists leaving Iraq perceive themselves, and be perceived, to have failed we judge fewer fighters will be inspired to carry on the fight.

So basically it says engaging jihadists makes them madder, but defeating them will reduce the threat.

As White House Spokesman Tony Snow pointed out yesterday, the same could have been said about WWII -- by entering the conflict, the U.S. substantially widened the war but also hastened its favorable conclusion.

The report also says, among other things:

-- The spread of democracy in Muslim nations will reduce the threat of terrorism;

-- The loss of key leaders al-Zarqawi, al-Zawahiri, and (dare to dream) Usama Bin Laden, will fracture the terrorist movement

-- The strict Sharia law caliphate espoused by Bin Laden and his terrorists is largely unpopular among the majority of Muslims.

So, essentially, the Bush policy of engaging the terrorists and the states that sponsor them and promoting democracy in the Middle East is the right course. And bailing out of Iraq would be a disaster.

Hmm, I wonder why the leakers didn't leak those parts...

Interesting what happens when you read the whole text and don't just pick out the parts you like.

The statement clearly outlines ongoing risks associated with the war on terror, but does not categorically conclude the all is lost and the president is wrong.

But don't take my word for it -- read it for yourself.

Losing your head over opera

2006-09-26T20:24:00.000-04:00

The Times of London reporting that an opera has been cancelled in Germany because of fears it will offend Muslims.

In the opera, Mozart’s Idomeneo, the King of Crete of displays the severed heads of Jesus, Buddha, Mohammed and Poseidon, and declares "the gods are dead."

The decision has unleashed a storm of controversy about free expression in German, but one viewpoint has been missing from the discussion.

Apparently, it's okay to offend Christians, Buddhists and...uh...whatever it is you call people who worship Poseidon.

But not Muslims.

Nice. Neat!

All Apologies

2006-09-18T21:14:00.000-04:00

Muslim extremists threatening continuing violence against the West and non-Muslims alike over the Pope for comments he made last week about Islam and violence last week.

You know, some people just have no sense of irony.

Even moderate Muslims continuing to ask for a "better" apology.

Yeah, we'll get right on that.

As soon as they apologize for 9/11.

And the USS Cole attack.

And the African embassy bombings.

And the Khobar Towers bombing.

And the Marine Barracks truckbombing in Beirut.

And the Iranian hostage crisis.

That would be a good start.

Just once, I'd like to see these so-called moderates express outrage at the way extremists have hijacked their faith, instead of whinging and whining about how picked-on they are.

Just posting a photo for use elsewhere

2006-09-15T16:10:00.000-04:00