News Roundup

Well its been a long time since I've done this but here are some stories I've seen today that think are worth reading over lunch.

The traditional yule fear factor, James Lileks talks about how the word Christmas is becoming the un-word for the season. Because other holidays are celebrated at this time of year, stores seem to be reluctant to wish people a Merry Christmas so as not to offend anyone.

This falls under the Oops category. One of the electors from Minnesota made a mistake on their ballot and cast an electoral vote for John Edwards instead of John Kerry. None of the electors admitted to the mistake and once the vote is made, it can't be changed. It will become a footnote in history that John Edwards received 1 electoral vote in the 2004 election. But just think if the election was tied at 269 for Bush and 269 for Kerry. This mistake would have cost Kerry the election.

And finally, an interesting article on ethics.

THIS year witnessed the beginning of an ethical revolution. Voters in Australia and the US overwhelmingly endorsed the proposition that doing good is radically different from feeling good. This U-turn away from sentimentality is also taking hold in Britain.

My property taxes are paying for THIS?????

I paid my property taxes Monday night and part of the total was a special assessment to keep the County trauma centers in the South Bay part of Los Angeles open. We were told if the assessment didn't pass a few years ago, the main County trauma center (Harbor UCLA) would likely be closed due to budget cuts. So most folks I know, including homeowners, voted for the assessment. I did not vote for the assessment because I figured the County Board of Supervisors would still close the trauma center once the tax increase was passed by the voters. I'm glad that I've been proven incorrect so far, I hope I will continued to be proven incorrect in the future.

Another large County hospital not too far away from Harbor UCLA is King/Drew Medical Center. The hospital has had a large number of medical and financial problems which has led to the hospital's accreditation as a teaching hospital and as a place that qualifies to treat Medicare and Medical patients has been in jeopardy. I don't know if King/Drew has actually lost their accreditation as of this time, but if they have a large part of their funding has been lost.

The LA Times (yes, I'm quoting the LA Times, a rarity) has a long story on an investigation into King/Drew and some of the problems the hospital has had. It appears that a number of the people who work at King/Drew are treating the hospital as their own private piggy bank and expect the government to keep spending money without question. Now that the trauma Center at King/Drew is scheduled to be closed, and if things don't improve the entire hospital could be closed, some of the mismanagement is coming to light. Its sad that a number of people working at the hospital and/or on the governing body of the hospital have chosen to work towards their own enrichment instead of the good of the community, as was one of the purposes of the hospital being built in the first place.

I hope the County, State and Federal governments will look into the practices of not only King/Drew, but also all County hospitals so the waste and fraud will be minimized so the money the county allocates for public health will be available to treat patients and not pay for workers who don't show up, file false worker's comp claims or are paid for work they are not doing. Since the County workers are paid by our taxes, we the taxpayers need to remind them and us, they work for us and we can and should demand accountability for our money.

Was Terminator based on reality???

Wired News has a story on armed battlefield robots the military will be sending to Iraq in the Spring.

As early as March or April, 18 units of the Talon -- a model armed with automatic weapons -- are scheduled to report for duty in Iraq. Around the same time, the first prototypes of a new, unmanned ambulance should be ready for the Army to start testing.

"Putting something like this into the field, we're about to start something that's never been done before," said Staff Sgt. Santiago Tordillos, waving to the black, 2-foot-six-inch robot rolling around the carpeted floor on twin treads, an M249 machine gun cradled in its mechanical grip.

This would be great for our troops, the robots can check the houses for bad guys and if the bad guys decide to blow themselves up, we lose a robot not a troop. The bad guys facing the robots will be in for a nasty shock, instead of them taking out infidels, they will be taking out machines. Also, the machines that will be hunting the bad guys won't feel fear or pain or get tired or feel compassion for the bad guys. I just hope they work out as planned.

Does this surprise anyone??

Scotsman has an article about Joseph Mengele and how new letters and diaries show he was unrepentant till the end. He was a true believer in the Nazi cause until his death in 1979.

If you are not aware of who Joseph Mengele is, please Google his name, but I wouldn't recommend doing it over lunch, you might lose your appetite.

After the war, he escaped justice by fleeing to South America and ended up in Brazil. Brazil, Argentina and Uruguay do need to look at their pasts and answer to the world why they sheltered Mengele and his ilk for so many decades after the war. Hiding these people makes these countries accomplices in the crimes these men committed.

Hybrids

I saw an entry by Orin Kerr at The Volokh Conspiracy about Hybrid cars and how they are not all they are claimed to be. Kerr said he did not know about Bob Elton, the author, or the website, but that it could be plausible. It could be but I do disagree.

In December 2003, I put an order in for my Toyota Prius and took delivery of it in late June 2004. Having driven it for almost 5 months now, I would like to make some comments about my car and some of the comments made against hybrids.

1. The gas mileage people actually get isn't as good as the EPA mileage.
My answer, no kidding. I have read about ANY car where the general public get the same mileage as the EPA. That means all the SUV's that have an EPA of 18 or 20 MPG are really getting something like 10 to 15 MPG.

So what type of mileage can a hybrid get? Well it depends on the driver. Another Prius owner I know has a (self admitted) heavy foot and only gets 28 - 30 MPG in the city. Think about that for a moment. By driving hard, quick acceleration, hard stops etc. he is able to get better mileage then many cars EPA mileage.

For me, I have a lighter foot and so I normally get 48 to 50 MPG in city driving. This latest tank of gas isn't doing as well and I'm only averaging 46 MPG, time to check tires or something. No, I'm not getting the EPA city driving of 60 MPG but I am definitely not complaining about the mileage I'm getting.

Oh yeah, for the record, I use my AC, radio, navigation system which increases my energy usage. If I didn't use them, my mileage would most likely increase.

2. Hybrid gasoline engines don't have any power or pickup.
Well, compared to a sports car that is true. Compared to our other car, a 98 Toyota Corolla or our previous car a 94 Nissan Altima, the Hybrid has plenty of acceleration and power.

No hybrid will win off the line or in the quarter mile stretch. If its horse power you want, buy a corvette or 300Z or something like that.

I've taken the car on some longer road trips and it can keep up with the traffic on the interstate without trouble, and actually has more power climbing some of the passes that one must go through to get out of the Southern California area.

So from my personal experience, the Prius has as much power with its gasoline engine as most other 4 cylinder engine cars.

3. If one would drive without the AC or better yet walk, one wouldn't need to buy a Hybrid to help the environment.

Well, since I live to far to walk to work that isn't an option. As for turning off the AC, well in city driving that doesn't help much. Before we got the Prius, I was driving the 98 Corolla to work. In the city, I was getting 23 to 25 MPG, no air conditioning and trying to get the best mileage I could. I'm now getting twice the mileage by driving the Prius. My wife is now driving the Corolla and has to drive the freeways to get to her work. The Corolla gets 36 MPG on the highway, much better then the 28 the Altima was getting when we got rid of it.

So by getting a Prius, I've doubled my MPG, or to look at it another way, I've cut my gasoline consumption in half. My wife has cut her gasoline consumption by 22%. Those type of savings don't come from turning off the air conditioning.

As to the disposals of the batteries, they will have to be recycled and not put into the landfill when they need to be replaced. But since these are not lead acid but rather Nickel-Metal Hydride they are not as dangerous and easier to recycle.

So while Hybrids are not the perfect vehicle, they will not by themselves end the US dependence on oil imports and they will not end air pollution, they are a step in the right direction.

As gasoline prices stay over $2.00 a gallon, more and more people will be interested in hybrids. As more and more people become interested and want to purchase them, manufactures will increase production to eliminate the waiting time and it will reduce the premium that dealers are currently able to charge for the cars.

The reason I ordered one a year ago is the same reason I still like the car today. The technology is neat, the car is a lot of fun to drive and I don't have to visit the pump as often as before. I purchased it because of the technology, everything else is just a bonus as far as I'm concerned.

The election - last item

There are two articles about the elections which I think are useful to read.

The first is by Tish Durkin at The New York Observer. As a Kerry supporter she has some wise words for Democrats to win the next election. Its well written and worth reading.

The second article is an open letter to Maureen Dowd, a columnist at the NY Times from J. Matt Barber at Canada Free Press. He tries to help Dowd understand why the red States voted the way they did. Its humorous and well written.

Yesterday I was driving by Home Depot and saw the petition gathers ALREADY at work. I mean the election has only been over for TWO WEEKS and people are already working on the next election. A humble plea . . . . . can't the political battles wait until January? Lets take a short break so we can concentrate on more important things for a few months.

The election

Yes the election is over but I do have one more thing to say about it and two articles to link to it.

Yesterday, Sunday, my Pastor asked the congregation what we are thankful for. One person said he was thankful for the election, that we went through a "spirited" election cycle (if you read American history you will see this was not a dirty or vindictive campaign compared to the 1800's) and the election was peaceful. As I thought about that, I had to agree with him. We have just come through an election and there were not riots in the cities, people were not informed they or their family would be killed or imprisoned if they did not vote a certain way, the party that lost has not been rounded up and herded off to prison or the firing line and there are no creditable allegations of wide scale fraud.

Was the election perfect? Of course not. Some who were registered were not allowed to vote because their registration was lost or not processed properly. In a few cases this was done deliberately, in most it was due to human error. Some people claim they were intimidated from voting because poll monitors rolled their eyes or the voter might be asked to provide identification. In all honesty, those people need to grow up and read what intimidation is. Intimidation is where if you vote, you or your family will be harmed by others who don't want you to vote. Asking John Doe to produce a drivers license or an ID card or a voter registration card isn't too much to ask I personally think. After all we didn't have the Taliban threaten to kill all the women who voted or threaten to attack polling stations. We didn't have the rebels in El Salvador (1984) threaten to kill anyone who dared to vote in the country (over 80% of the people voted in that election inspite of the threats). And we didn't have employers or political operatives watching us AS WE VOTED to see who we voted for (see Austria in 1938 when the Nazi's had an "election to ratify the union between Germany and Austria).

So the election was a success, and even if your candidate didn't not win, Bush is still your President. Well, that is as long as your a US Citizen he is. One does not have to agree with the President and many can and will work against his plans, that is not only legal but is desirable in a democracy. A healthy debate will help us find the best answers to our questions and problems.

Veterans Day

Today is Veterans Day. The original name of the holiday was Armistice Day. To commemorate the ending of World War 1. On the eleventh month, the eleventh day, the eleventh hour (11 am) and the eleventh minute, the guns on the Western Front fell silent to end the War.

It was not the War to end all Wars, as Europe went back to war only 21 years later, just enough time for a new generation to come of age, ready to be killed in an even more bloody war.

I'm not sure of when they changed the name of the holiday from Armistice Day to Veterans Day, but believe it was after World War 2. It was a good move for today many, if not most, people are ignorant of the day and its origin. Originally it was a day to celebrate our victory in war. Now its a day to honor all our veterans and to thank them for protecting us and our freedoms. For without them and their service, our Constitution would only be an interesting piece of paper.

Thank a veteran and thank someone still on active duty today for they will be veterans one day and are still protecting us and our freedoms.

The New York Post has an editorial which is worth reading. They say it better then I could but I wanted to write my own anyway.

We've been sold

We just got the press release today that my company has agreed to be acquired by a UK Telecom company.

So today we got the management announcement (Bloomberg broke the story on Friday) and the usual promise that no jobs will be lost due to the transaction.

My company's firewall is also blocking my IM so I won't be on there too much anymore.

Guess that means I'll have to be blogging more and it won't all be politics. No, I won't treat this place as a Xanga site but it will be more personable then a new link blog like I was primarily doing before.

French Diplomacy

Way to win friends and influence people, Chirac! Dude decides that he wants to dis the Iraqi PM and visit an ailing Arafat, instead.

Awesome. Turn your back on an elected leader to hug the leader of a terrorist organization.

The concession speech

This is probably the worst thing a politician has to do in an election and it is also one of the most important things a politician has to do.

One of the reasons to the stability of the US has been the concession speech by the politician that loses the election. Most elections for president in the US have been close over the years. I’m not talking about electoral college close, but popular vote close. The 1944, 1948, 1952, 1960, 1968, 1976, 1980, 1988, 1992, 1996, 2000 and 2004 were only separated by 3.5 million or less votes. Actually not counting the 2004 election, the number of votes separating the winner and loser drops to 2.5 million or less.

When one thinks about how many people voted in an election, (120 million in 2004 for example), 3.5 million is not a lot of votes for the victor to win by. What if Kerry said “man the barricades” instead of “Bush won” in his speech? Well today we’d be looking at a civil war of words and some hot heads would try to make it a civil war in deeds.

The concession speech where the candidate that looses the election says he lost it and it was not because of fraud does a lot to cool the passions people put into elections and helps to channel their energy and frustration into a productive mode rather then destructive mode. You can bet the Democratic Party is already thinking of 2008 and how to win back the Presidency.

If Kerry had won, this entry would have Kerry and Bush trade places and replace Democratic with Republican and that’s it.

When I was in college, one of my Political Science Professors talked about the importance of the concession speech. Back in 1952 he was a young idealistic democratic campaign worker and was crushed when Stevenson lost to Eisenhower. He was so convinced that Stevenson should have won and was so anti-Ike that he was (he said) ready to man the barricades. And there were other folks who were willing to join him. Then Stevenson came on the air and said Ike won and he lost. It took the steam out of my professors anger and let him think again.

I do not agree with Al Gore on most political issues, and I do not think he did his reputation any service on how he conducted himself after the 2000 election. But he did earn my gratitude when he conceded the election in December.

I do not agree with John Kerry on most political issues, but I have more respect for him now then I did before the election (due to the things he said or his people said) because instead of saying “man the barricades” he said “Bush won”, even though it hurt like crazy to say it. It shows he is a man who loves his country more then his ambition.

Its over - now what to write about?

Hmm, how do I as a Political Science major manage to take a break from blogging in the final 3 weeks or so of a Presidential campaign in a nation that is closely divided?

I did have opinions on the race and on the propositions in California, but never posted them.

I could come up with a number of excuses, but think the truth is I just got burned out too early. By Tuesday night, I wanted Bush to win, but was getting closer to the point where I wanted it to be over more then Bush winning.

Now the election is over and we can move on.

Time to Move On. . .

and concede, Sen. Kerry. Ohio is virtually a done deal. I'm heartened that the American public turned out in greater numbers than ever before to vote. We need that kind of enthusiasm. However, it would be good to be as gracious in victory as defeat.

Vote Dem or Die

Osama wants you to vote Democrat.

Now THAT'S a ringing endorsement if I ever heard one. Kerry is right, he does have the support of foreign nations.

Something different

Are you tired with the presidential campaign? Do you wish you could slap your guy or the opponent silly for the things they said or didn't say?

Well, now you can. Go to http://www.slapthecandidate.com/ and you can slap either Kerry or Bush and Nadar will grade your slap. Warning, he's in a gold bikini (don't ask).

There is sound so if your at work turn it off.

Have fun. At this time, Kerry is getting slapped more then Bush, but I'm sure it goes back and forth.

Enjoy and have a good weekend.

Lileks for US Senate

If you have not read the Bleat by James Lileks, you are missing some wonderful writing, which is often about such controversial items like his daughter, her play dates (she's 3 or 4) and getting the TV to work properly.

Now there is a movement to draft Lileks to run for the US Senate in 2006. Lileks has taken the Sherman view of running (if nominated I will not run and if elected I will not serve), but everyone can be called upon to make sacrifices in this time of war and this may be one of the sacrifices Lileks needs to make.

Already a number of bloggers are supporting his run (even if he is not currently running) and this is another one to join the call. Run James run.

NFL Loses Sight of Reality

Apparently, in American sports, image is more important than honor. The league has reached and agreement with Jake Plummer, QB for the Denver Broncos, for the player to remove a sticker honoring Pat Tillman--an ex-teammate and casualty in Afghanistan. Sen. John McCain wrote a letter to the NFL that has it right:

[the NFL is sending a message that policy is] more important than memorials to those who have sacrificed their lives for us.

[Tillman] died so that we as Americans can enjoy our way of life and express ourselves in the way that Jake Plummer now seeks to express himself. ... " he added. "America is at war, a war that has cost our nation many of our finest citizens. We must celebrate, not ignore, the commitment to duty and sacrifice of our fallen, particularly those who served when they were not called.

Rudy Giuliani explains...

Go to Power Line and read Giuliani's comments and their comments on his speech. Nothing else I can add. (In full disclosure the title is from Power Line as well).

The GOP has announced that former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani delivered the following remarks in a Bush-Cheney '04 conference call today. (Deacon refers to the remarks and provides the link below -- click here for the full text of the press release.) Giuliani's remarks are worth quoting at length:

Mark Steyn on Britain

Mark Steyn's regular column in the Daily Telegraph will not appear. The editors didn't think it was appropriate and chose to not run it. So in the age of the internet, Mark posted it on his blog site.

I can see why the editors would not want to publish it with out changes. I can also see why Steyn would not want to make those changes as the emphases of the article would be lost or diminished.

Bottom line, we are at war. If we cave to the barbarians (yes that word is NOT a typo), there will be more kidnappings and beheadings. If a civilian is to go to Iraq and work, they must make a decision on if or how they will resist if anyone attempts to abduct them. They also have to accept that if they are abducted, they are not likely to live so better to resist at the start. If one is not willing to think these things out, they (civilians) do not belong in Iraq. After all they are there by choice and can leave at any time. This may sound cold, but it is reality on the ground at this time.

Draft verses AVF

Well the draft won't be happening anytime soon, despite the best efforts by some in Congress to bring it back. Surprisingly, most if not all of the people in Congress who have called for the draft to return are Democrats not Republicans. However, on the campaign trail, Kerry is saying Bush has a "secret" plan to bring back the draft after the election.

But is the draft a good idea militarily? Well the military doesn't want a draft. The quality of the soldiers it gets from volunteers verses draftees is much higher and with fewer discipline problems.

Some have said well if not a draft, some sort of "national service" to turn wayward youth into responsible young men and women.

Personally, I think that would be a terrible idea for the US. The problem would be who would control the program? The department of Education? What moral standards would be maintained? The military has a code of conduct that many of us civilians would find different (saluting, etc.). And finally, what would the kids in national service do? Patrol the border? Fight forest fires? Construction? Would it not be better to have professionals do these jobs instead of kids who may or may not want to be there?

I would rather have parents have their kids into organizations like the Scouts or sports or church groups etc. instead of expecting the government to take rebellious youths and turn them into mature adults. After all, does the child belong to the State or the parents? I hope the parents.

Friday Roundup - short version

Its good for thee but not for me????

Everyone wants to reduce our dependency on oil for our energy needs. Back in the 1970s large wind farms went up in both Northern and Southern California and they provide some energy.
Their main benefit was tax credits but since those are now gone, the machines are still producing electricity. No they are not especially pretty but they do provide energy and do not pollute the air, water or land (the view could be considered to be polluted).

Well, now there is the opportunity to allow Cape Cod and the area Islands to get 75% of their electricity needs from a renewable source. This should be an environmentalists dream. The first community to be powered almost entirely by renewable energy. It won't pollute the land, air or sea. It may spoil the view of some so the Democrats in Congress have been trying to ban the building of the wind farm off the Cape. Some of the claims are that birds will be killed by flying into the blades of the wind machines. But shouldn't the loss of birds be offset by the other animals that will be saved due to the reduction of carbon dioxide released to the air (along with other pollutants) as well as lessoning the needs for drilling and the damage that could cause? To me it does sound more like the folks there are suffering from NIMBY rather then having valid reasons to not have the project in the Cape. No, I do not think NIMBY is a valid reason.

Paul Bremer has been in the news a lot. It seems the press decided to take a sentence or two of his speech and show that he and President Bush had major differences about Iraq. But reading his account in the NY Times, and putting his remarks into context one comes out with a very different view of what he said.

The UN Food for Oil scandal is getting worse. Read about it here.

Jonah Goldberg has a great article about those who oppose the war. He is talented and even if one doesn't agree with his views, he still writes well.

Double Standard

Football player, Jamal Lewis, pleads to a lessor charge for being involved in a drug deal and is sentenced to a four month prison term. What is flabbergasting is that Mr. Lewis will serve his sentence AFTER the football season ends. This is sad. If I had been convicted of the same charges, I seriously doubt that the courts would have let me schedule my prison term at my own convenience. American justice: celebrities need not worry.

Thursday Roundup

Its been a quite week. We didn't comment on the debate last week or the Vice Presidential debate this week. With all the comments by the media and the blogs, it was kind of "why bother" since others did a better job then we (or at least I) could have.

If you haven't already checked out the last entry, please do so, SpaceShipOne has won the X Prize. They took a privately funded space ship into space (not orbit but above 60 miles) twice with in a two week period. Incredible.

And finally, before we get to the news, had an interesting lesson in local government last night. I went to the Planning Commission meeting in Torrance (the folks who need to approve before one can add an addition or put up a new house) because of a proposed new development on my street.

I think I surprised some of the members of the commission. The development was proposed and the City staff recommended the plan be approved. They then opened the floor up to any comments by the public. I was the only person who stood up and I'm sure the developer and the commission thought I had come to oppose the project. After all people rarely show up at these meetings unless they either oppose or are presenting a project. I only spoke for 30 seconds, if that, saying I supported the plan and urged the commission to accept it as presented.

The chair of the commission had a look of total surprise (as I'm sure the developer did) by my comments. Afterwards a short recess was called and as my wife and I left, the developer stopped us and thank up for showing up to support the project. So hopefully since Torrance approved the project, the City of Lomita will as well (the project straddles both cities) and the apartment complex will be replaced by a townhouse complex which will help ease the parking situation on the street.

Now on to the news.

George Will has a column on why the Democrats hate Bush so much. If 9-11 had not occurred, they would still hate him because of the Republican try to change the society from Democratic views to Republican ones economically.

The latest report about WMD in Iraq says Saddam did not have a nuclear program at the time of the war nor did he have large stockpiles of chemical or biological shells. The US and UK (and the French and German and Israeli and the Russian) were wrong. All of the above thought Iraq had these weapons.

HOWEVER, the report goes on to say (and it will be interesting to see if this part is even mentioned in the MSM) is that Saddam was trying to get these programs restarted and if 9-11 had not happened he would have been able to circumvent the sanctions to restart projection soon. So Iraq didn't have the weapons YET. They still had the desire and the knowledge to produce them. President Bush said we cannot wait for someone to become an imminent threat but remove them before they can become one. So this report still justifies the war as far as I can tell.

US and Iraqi operations catch a large amount of weapons. Each weapon captured is one less IED and one less RPG the security forces have to worry about.

Thursday Roundup

Its been a quite week. We didn't comment on the debate last week or the Vice Presidential debate this week. With all the comments by the media and the blogs, it was kind of "why bother" since others did a better job then we (or at least I) could have.

If you haven't already checked out the last entry, please do so, SpaceShipOne has won the X Prize. They took a privately funded space ship into space (not orbit but above 60 miles) twice with in a two week period. Incredible.

And finally, before we get to the news, had an interesting lesson in local government last night. I went to the Planning Commission meeting in Torrance (the folks who need to approve before one can add an addition or put up a new house) because of a proposed new development on my street.

I think I surprised some of the members of the commission. The development was proposed and the City staff recommended the plan be approved. They then opened the floor up to any comments by the public. I was the only person who stood up and I'm sure the developer and the commission thought I had come to oppose the project. After all people rarely show up at these meetings unless they either oppose or are presenting a project. I only spoke for 30 seconds, if that, saying I supported the plan and urged the commission to accept it as presented.

The chair of the commission had a look of total surprise (as I'm sure the developer did) by my comments. Afterwards a short recess was called and as my wife and I left, the developer stopped us and thank up for showing up to support the project. So hopefully since Torrance approved the project, the City of Lomita will as well (the project straddles both cities) and the apartment complex will be replaced by a townhouse complex which will help ease the parking situation on the street.

Now on to the news.

George Will has a column on why the Democrats hate Bush so much. If 9-11 had not occurred, they would still hate him because of the Republican try to change the society from Democratic views to Republican ones economically.

The latest report about WMD in Iraq says Saddam did not have a nuclear program at the time of the war nor did he have large stockpiles of chemical or biological shells. The US and UK (and the French and German and Israeli and the Russian) were wrong. All of the above thought Iraq had these weapons.

HOWEVER, the report goes on to say (and it will be interesting to see if this part is even mentioned in the MSM) is that Saddam was trying to get these programs restarted and if 9-11 had not happened he would have been able to circumvent the sanctions to restart projection soon. So Iraq didn't have the weapons YET. They still had the desire and the knowledge to produce them. President Bush said we cannot wait for someone to become an imminent threat but remove them before they can become one. So this report still justifies the war as far as I can tell.

US and Iraqi operations catch a large amount of weapons. Each weapon captured is one less IED and one less RPG the security forces have to worry about.

THEY DID IT!!!!!!!!!!!

SpaceShipOne made its second flight this morning (Monday) and again made it into space and thus claiming the X Prize for being the first privately funded space ship to make it into space twice with in a two week period.

Actually, I don't know of ANY government program that has done that, even NASA back in the early 1960s.

Check out Space.com and Yahoo News.

Great job. Next we need an X Prize for a privately (or heck, let governments try) funded ship to make orbit, land and do it again with in two weeks.

That is what the Space Shuttle was originally sold to us as being able to do. Lets see a real shuttle do it.

THEY DID IT!!!!!!!!!!!

SpaceShipOne made its second flight this morning (Monday) and again made it into space and thus claiming the X Prize for being the first privately funded space ship to make it into space twice with in a two week period.

Actually, I don't know of ANY government program that has done that, even NASA back in the early 1960s.

Check out Space.com and Yahoo News.

Great job. Next we need an X Prize for a privately (or heck, let governments try) funded ship to make orbit, land and do it again with in two weeks.

That is what the Space Shuttle was originally sold to us as being able to do. Lets see a real shuttle do it.

THEY DID IT!!!!!!!!!!!

SpaceShipOne made its second flight this morning (Monday) and again made it into space and thus claiming the X Prize for being the first privately funded space ship to make it into space twice with in a two week period.

Actually, I don't know of ANY government program that has done that, even NASA back in the early 1960s.

Check out Space.com and Yahoo News.

Great job. Next we need an X Prize for a privately (or heck, let governments try) funded ship to make orbit, land and do it again with in two weeks.

That is what the Space Shuttle was originally sold to us as being able to do. Lets see a real shuttle do it.

THEY DID IT!!!!!!!!!!!

SpaceShipOne made its second flight this morning (Monday) and again made it into space and thus claiming the X Prize for being the first privately funded space ship to make it into space twice with in a two week period.

Actually, I don't know of ANY government program that has done that, even NASA back in the early 1960s.

Check out Space.com and Yahoo News.

Great job. Next we need an X Prize for a privately (or heck, let governments try) funded ship to make orbit, land and do it again with in two weeks.

That is what the Space Shuttle was originally sold to us as being able to do. Lets see a real shuttle do it.

THEY DID IT!!!!!!!!!!!

SpaceShipOne made its second flight this morning (Monday) and again made it into space and thus claiming the X Prize for being the first privately funded space ship to make it into space twice with in a two week period.

Actually, I don't know of ANY government program that has done that, even NASA back in the early 1960s.

Check out Space.com and Yahoo News.

Great job. Next we need an X Prize for a privately (or heck, let governments try) funded ship to make orbit, land and do it again with in two weeks.

That is what the Space Shuttle was originally sold to us as being able to do. Lets see a real shuttle do it.

John Derbyshire

John Derbyshire writes a collumn at National Review Online and today's collumn is great.

There are two sections I want to share and encourage you to read the rest.

No-go areas We've been hearing a lot about no-go areas in Iraq. Well, just to put the matter into perspective, here is some data on no-go areas in France. (I'm obliged to Jerry Pournelle for pointing me to this.)

In Le Figaro daily dated Feb 1, 2002, Lucienne Bui Trong, a criminologist working for the French government's Renseignements Generaux (General Intelligence — a mix of FBI and secret service), complains that the survey system she had created for accurately denumbering the Muslim no-go zones was dismantled by the government. She wrote: 'From 106 hot points in 1991, we went to 818 sensitive areas in 1999. That's for the whole country. These data were not politically correct.' Since she comes from a Vietnamese background, Ms. Bui Trong cannot be suspected of racism, of course, otherwise she wouldn't have been able to start this survey in the first place.

The term she uses, 'sensitive area,' is the PC euphemism for these places where anything representing a Western institution (post office truck, firemen, even mail order delivery firms, and of course cops) is routinely ambushed with Molotov cocktails, and where war weapons imported from the Muslim part of Yugoslavia are routinely found. The number 818 is from 2002. I'd go out on a limb and venture that it hasn't decreased in two years.

Kerry vs. the Norks How does John Kerry plan to handle the very knotty problem of North Korea? By reinstating "direct U.S.-North Korea talks." This contrasts with the dogged insistence of the Bush administration that China, Russia, Japan, and South Korea also be at the table, since these are the nations most affected (and, in the case of Japan, most scared) by Kim Jong Il's misbehavior. Kerry, in other words, would prefer to go unilateral. And this, in spite of the obvious and persistent lack of good faith on the part of the Norks, and in spite also of their unbroken track record of cheating or reneging on every agreement they enter into, sometimes before the ink is dry.

Wednesday Roundup

I want to start writing about the propositions on the California ballot this November and hope to do so starting next week. It will help me understand the issues and hopefully amuse and or inform you on what is happening in the land of fruits and nuts.

First thing on the roundup is something I've NEVER written about and could cause the Sports writer and the boss to have a heart attack. BASEBALL.

The Montreal Expos are now owned by the MLB owners and they are moving. It looks like Washington DC is going to get a baseball team of their own for the first time since the Nixon Administration. Of course the citizens of Washington DC (and the rest of us since DC receives a good chunk of their budget from the US Government) will have to build a new stadium for the team but hey, what's a few 10's of millions (or is that 100's of millions). Baseball is coming back to the Capital.

The next two stories are write ups on the flight of SpaceShipOne. It made its first of two flights to claim the X-prize. It will have to make a second flight to an altitude of at least 60 miles in the next two weeks to win the prize. I remember back in the late 1970s when the Space Shuttle was said to make going into space routine. The Shuttle was sold to us (the public) that it would be able to go into space, land and with in two weeks go again. Its never quite worked like that. Now we have a machine that hopefully will be able to do just that.

Of course the difficulty of orbital flight is much greater then sub-orbital. If anyone can figure out how to get a ship from the ground into orbit and back and do it again in two weeks, then manned space exploration suddenly becomes more feasible.

Congrats to the SpaceShipOne team and good luck on the next flight. May it be even more routine then the last one.

Tuesday Roundup

I was taking care of my continuing education requirements for my CPA license yesterday so wasn't able to post anything.

Just a few things of interest today, Tuesday.

The main "problem" I have with space exploration is the time it takes to find out anything. This probe to Pluto sounds interesting but if they launch it in 2006, it won't be in the news again until 2016. Oh well guess it will help me to learn patience. From Space.com

When the National Research Council recommended Solar System exploration goals for 2000-2010, the number one priority was sending a probe to explore Pluto and an area just beyond it known as the Kuiper Belt.
NASA plans to make that goal a reality.

Common Sense in a courtroom. A Florida Judge ruled that Ford does not have to sell cars to a police agency that is suing them for defective cars. Why a police agency would want to buy something from the company they are suing for defective products is a mystery to me. I'm glad that Ford can decide who they are going to do business with.

Dan Rather may not have to resign or apologize for airing a story trying to influence an election with forged documents (instead of saying CBS was duped), however, if his ratings keep going down, CBS will allow him to retire right away to stop the bleeding. After all, the news divisions are profit centers (or were for CBS) and if the views leave, so will the advertisers.

Finally, Kerry seems to know a lot about what George W. Bush will do next year if he is re-elected as well as a few items to insure he will be re-elected. So far Kerry says Bush has a secret plan to:
1. Bring back the Draft
2. Expand the war
3. Suppress Blacks from voting (in the November election)
4. Voter fraud in Florida to insure Bush wins the State (in the November election)

If Kerry had any evidence, wouldn't it be a good idea to show the rest of us so we could see how evil Bush is? But if Kerry is just making all this up, maybe he needs his medication changed so he can live in the real world and not the dream world he is currently residing in.

Congress did something smart

Yes you read that correctly. The Congress did something wise, it only took an election coming up to give them the correct motivation to do it. If they didn't the voters would most likely take revenge on those up for re-election by not returning them to office.

What did Congress do? Well they voted to extend the Bush tax cuts that were set to expire at the end of this year.

The legislation would extend the $1,000-per-child tax credit, rather than letting it slip back to $700 next year. It would extend tax breaks for married couples that otherwise would also have to be trimmed in 2005. And it would prevent the 10 percent income-tax bracket from being applied to smaller amounts of earned income, as was the case in the past.

Congress also modified the AMT so not as many people will be swept into it, but that will only last a year.

The tax bill also contains a number of business tax cuts, some which I think could have expired, but oh well.

John Kerry did vote for the tax bill (the article didn't say how Edwards voted) which is not surprising. If Kerry had voted against this, the Republicans would attack him very severely over this.

A number of Democrats were not happy about voting for the tax cuts for various reasons, but in the end they didn't have much choice but to vote for it as two Democrats said:

"Who would contest these types of things?" asked Rep. Charles B. Rangel (N.Y.), the ranking Democrat on the House Ways and Means Committee.

Ultimately, few would vote against an election-year bill to avert tax increases on middle-class families.

"This is political," House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said. "My advice to my colleagues is, when they are dealing politically on the floor, you deal with it any way you need to deal with it."

Hat tip Hugh Hewitt

UPDATE: Jim Geraghty at National Review Online brought up an interesting point that I didn't catch (that is not really much of a surprise I know). "The Post neglected to mention that Kerry did not return to Capitol Hill to vote on these tax cuts. So he "backed it," in the sense that he "issued a press release about it.""

So Kerry issued a press release to show his support but didn't bother to come back and vote. I expect the Republicans to make that fact known that Kerry couldn't be bothered to come back to vote for the tax cuts.

Bush has the luck of the Irish?

Wesley Pruden at the Washington Times has a semi-humorous article on how Bush (being English) has the luck of the Irish by running against Kerry. Its not a bad article to start the day with.

Media Trust at New Low

No. Really? Go figure.

Thanks, Dan: Gallup Finds Trust in Media at New Low. Less than half of the polled trust the media:

The poll, taken Sept. 13-15 while the CBS report on President Bush's National Guard service was being questioned but before the network issued an apology, found that just 44% of Americans express confidence in the media's ability to report news stories accurately and fairly.

Best thing since sliced bread - non political post

One thing I find annoying about newspaper sites is they want the visitor to register and give them lots of information. That is their right but I don't like the spam that is generated from registering. Yes, I do check DO NOT CONTACT ME and the spam isn't from the paper. However the same mis-spelling of my name I gave to the paper is the name being addressed by the spammer.

I just found out about this site that will help avoid the problem in the future. They have lots of imaginary logins and its free and they don't collect information on the users. :-)

http://www.bugmenot.com/ is the place. Go there, enter in the URL for the paper you want to visit and it will give you a login and password. Sorry, it only works for free papers, not for paid subscription sites.

Monday interest items

Yossi Klein Halevi & Michael B. Oren write in the Jewish World Review an interesting article on how Sharon, through his skills as a leader and politician beat the Palestinians and the lessons that should be learned and applied by the US and the rest of the world in the war on terror. Boy is that a mouthful of a sentence.

Sharon had to unite a divided country and fight the terrorist like one fights a war. Trying to minimize non-combatant casualties but not abandoning the operation because there are some. The other thing he did is ignore France and Germany who would not support his actions regardless and he stayed focused on the security part and let others in his government take care of the economy and relations with other States (except for the US). Its a good article to read.


MSNBC has this headline "'Distraught' Saddam begging for mercy, Iraqi PM says". To which all I can say is aaaaaaawwwwwwwwwwwwwww poor little baby. Saw this over at Lucianne.com and one of the commentators said in his nice air conditioned cell, play videos of all the people he had murdered, especially those who were begging for mercy. Then remind him why the Iraqi government has shown Saddam much more mercy then he showed others.


Finally, this should be filed under "What where they thinking".

ABIDJAN, Sept 20 (Reuters) - Twelve French soldiers have been arrested for stealing some $120,000 from a bank they were supposed to be guarding in a rebel-held town in Ivory Coast, the French army said on Monday.

Are French soldiers so poorly paid that they think its worth jail time to steal $10,000 each? ($120,000 divided by 12 soldiers). How did they expect to get the local currency out of the country and convert it into euros? I'm glad the French military is taking this seriously, and for the soldiers involved, WHAT WERE YOU THINKING????

Hmmmmmmmm. . .

A possible source of the disputed CBS memos regarding President Bush's National Guard service has been located:

"Burkett [the possible source] wrote a long indictment against Bush for a Web site in 2003 in which he said he personally was ordered to 'alter personnel records of George W. Bush.' In that article, Burkett said that when he refused he was sent to Panama as punishment, where he contracted a disabling disease.

But when asked about that charge by the Houston Chronicle in February, Burkett said, 'That statement was not accurate, that is overstated.'"

Makes you wonder what else the man might have 'overstated'.

Making Girls Cry is Not a Campaign Strategy

Memo to Dems: Don't upset babies. . .kiss them.

Leno on the Left?

Leno does an interview in LA Weekly and we find his political leanings--centrist left. It is a fascinating interview for a few reasons.

First, the interviewer, Nikki Finke, is clearly trying to convince Leno that he needs to be more proactive in proclaiming his political viewpoints on The Tonight Show and at "corporate gigs". She even goes so far as to intimate that Leno witholds punches because he is seeking to draw audiences. She asks:

[NF:] Do you think if you were perceived as bashing Bush, you would get as many corporate gigs as you do?

Is is also interesting that Leno has to defend himself that he is an equal opportunity comedian: that both the Dems and GOP get relatively equal treatment. Another line of questioning:

[NF:] But you’ve picked up on the Republicans bashing Teresa.

[JL:] I did one tonight that she went to Wendy’s and tried to order the pheasant. Is that a bashing joke? Or is that a rich person’s joke?
...
[NF:] The billion dollars that Teresa Heinz Kerry has from the tragedy of her husband dying is considered okay, but Laura Bush is untouchable?
...
[NF:] Have you ever told a joke about Laura Bush? I don’t remember one.
...
[NF:] But that’s denigrating Bush. That’s not denigrating her.

Further on in the interview, Leno seems to have a bead on the French:

[NF:] You went totally hog-wild with the French jokes.

[JL:] Well, there’s nothing funnier to me than the French. The French Resistance is probably the biggest mythical joke that ever existed. There were four guys in the French Resistance. They couldn’t hand over the Jewish people fast enough. Oh, please, don’t tell me about the French. The French have all sorts of secret deals with Saddam and everybody else for two cents a liter. It’s an easy target.

Leno also seems to think that Republicans are easier to get along with, as far as being made fun of:

[NF:] The current crew in the White House doesn’t seem to laugh much at themselves.

[JL:] The interesting thing is, I have found that the Republicans respond much more to jokes about themselves than the Democrats do. Democrats take it very, very seriously. You know, when Al Gore was here in 2000, we said we want to do this bit, and then it was, “Can we run it past our people?” “Can we make these changes?” Then the day of the show, “We’re going to pass.” Bush shows up. We had a bit where we’re playing Jeopardy, and he’s going to look kind of stupid. But then, in the end, the joke’s on me. “Yeah, fine, whatever you want.” It couldn’t have been easier.

On Americans:

[NF:] But surely “Jaywalking” [Leno’s man-in-the-street segment] shows you what morons Americans are.

[JL:] You get the government you deserve.

Another hidden gem is his account of a spat and subsequent interview with Michael Moore. The whole interview is worth the read. Certainly, Leno won't be voting GOP this November, but it also seems that Leno understands what his responsibilities are concerning The Tonight Show (entertainment for all sorts of political viewpoints) and even some fair assessments of those he opposses politically. He definately isn't blindly toeing the party line, as it were.

Iraq

If you want to know more about memogate or rathergate, please see Tuesday's entry and visit the blogs listed, they all have a fair amount of commentary.

How is the reconstruction going in Iraq? Well here it or rather read it first hand from Rick Sackett who has spent a year in Iraq working for an NGO (meaning he and his wife were civilians and not making the big bucks more then likely) doing many of the things we don't hear about on the media. Hat tip Winds of Change.

I appreciate his last paragraph of his column and have reprinted it in full. No things are not perfect in Iraq but they do seem to be better then most in the media want to believe.

So what is the truth? Am I telling you the truth when I say the vast majority of Iraqi people are thankful to the United States? Recently I met with a reporter at Applebee’s restaurant. As we started the interview I decided rather than tell her what I was doing, that I would just show her, and so I stood up as I had done many other times in the last month and asked for the diner’s attention. When the people heard that I had been in Iraq the restaurant grew quiet, but forty-five seconds later broke into applause at the brief message I had brought them. As you can imagine the ensuing interview was quite animated and for the next hour diners dropped by with words of appreciation for what I had said. In the course of our conversation something happened that should give us all hope and a little more insight into what is the truth about the situation in Iraq. I told the reporter, “The most interesting thing that I have found is that everywhere I go and speak, people come up and tell me that their cousin in Iraq (or whoever they might know in Iraq) is telling them the very same thing that I am saying.” Two minutes later a woman came over to our table and said, “You know my cousin in Iraq…” The interview appeared on the front page of the paper the next day. Take heart America. The truth will set you free.

Tuesday Update

Well not much going on today.

Yes, there is more terrorist activity in Iraq, Smash has a good summary and commentary on that.

Memogate or Rathergate is still raging on. I'm actually bored by the whole thing. If you believe CBS has a liberal bias, you think they have dug their own grave for political reasons. If you believe CBS is objective or always honorable, then you think the whole thing is part of the VRWC. If you've been on a TV and newspaper free life for the last week and don't have a clue, then its likely you are not reading this blog.

If you find the CBS mess interesting (personally, I think CBS screwed up big time and is being stupid or foolish in not admitting it was lied too and revealing the sources who gave them bogus documents), here are some blogs that are talking about it.
Instapundit
Belmontclub
The Volokh Conspiracy

9-11 Tribute

I didn't write anything on 9-11 because what could I say? Rob did a much better job and there were/are many others in the blog sphere who did make moving tributes to the events on that day.

Cox and Forkum made the graphic (yes it is a political cartoon, but that word does not seem appropriate) Rob listed below which says it all. They also have a list of sites with 9-11 memorials. Look at the bottom of the 10 September 2004 entry.

One entry I found at Cox and Forkum is Black Day 911. Its a slide show with pictures of New York and Washington DC on 9-11. Well worth visiting and viewing. No its not easy to watch and relive, but I do think it is important we do not forget why we are at war - we were attacked and to prevent from being attacked again we must fight and destroy those who started this war.

Update on Iraq

Arthur Cherkoff at OpinionJournal.com has another of his twice monthly round up of good news from Iraq. Long to read but worth it. There is more good news from Iraq then one would imagine reading or watching the US media.

Zell answers his critics

Zell Miller has endured a lot of grief since his speech at the Republican Convention. He has written a reply at OpinionJournal.com.

My critics in the national media are working overtime trying to paint me as an angry nut who got the facts all wrong in my speech to the Republican National Convention. Since there's not enough time to challenge all of these critics to a duel, let me set the record straight here and now.

Its worth reading, even if you think his speech was wrong, just to hear his side of those who are attacking him (well personally I think slander is a more appropriate word).

New stem cell cures in the near term????

No, this isn't about embryonic ones (ES cells) but rather adult stem cells (AS cells) from the patient themselves.

Michael Fumento at TCS has an article on the current HUMAN trials using AS cells and the success rate they are having in repairing hearts, growing new blood vessels and the like. For folks like President Clinton who undergo by-pass surgery, this new research could mean no more need for the by-pass operation.

This could be very exciting news and a big surprise to the country since the media seems to think AS Cell research is not news worthy.

Kerry's new career

Regardless of who wins the election in November, Kerry will have to look for a new job sometime. If he wins, he has at most 8 years before he needs to do something new. If he loses, it might be sooner because he may not want to remain or convince the voters next time to re-elect him to the Senate.

What to do.

He could afford to wind surf and snow board all year given his wife's income, but the Boston Globe has another option for Kerry. Become a stand up comic. Jeff Jacoby gives a good list of Kerry's knee slappers, not only from this year but as far back as 1988.

With a little polish in his delivery, we could be seeing Kerry on HBO or in Vegas as THE stand up comic routine to see.

Remembering 9/11

Three years ago today the radio woke me with grief.

Three years ago today I dressed for a day at work that will not leave my memory anytime soon.

Three years ago today nearly 3,000 men, women and children were mercilessly slaughtered. They were fellow countrymen, neighbor citizens of other countries, parents, husbands, wives, sons, daughters, friends, neighbors, lovers. Countless relationships terminated simply because they were useful fodder unfortunately present in an American symbol.

They did not all possess great talent, goodness or wealth. Some did, but none deserved to be taken early. They each should have lived long enough to reckon their lives by their own will; not by the will of others.

In memoriam.

Cox and Forkum

There is a digital archive of 9/11 material being organized by the Center for History and New Media at George Mason University.

Little Green Footballs has a slide show of the day and aftermath.

A wikipedia entry exists; although it is marred by a left leaning bias, it is useful to get an overview of such a perspective (e.g., there is quite a bit of space devoted to conspiracy theories)

Memos National Guard Memos Forged?

There are questions being raised over the authencity of the memos that state that President Bush lost his pilot status for performance standards.

Independent document examiner Sandra Ramsey Lines said the memos looked like they had been produced on a computer using Microsoft Word software. Lines, a document expert and fellow of the American Academy of Forensic Sciences, pointed to a superscript — a smaller, raised "th" in "111th Fighter Interceptor Squadron" — as evidence indicating forgery.

...

"I'm virtually certain these were computer generated," Lines said after reviewing copies of the documents at her office in Paradise Valley, Ariz. She produced a nearly identical document using her computer's Microsoft Word software.

I've seen images of the document in question and there is no doubt in my mind that there is a superscript. The argument for a forgery is intriguing and reasonable. We will see where this goes, interestingly, the White House has been very quiet. Have they learned something from the Kerry campaign and decided to not even discuss the issue, lest they draw attentiont to it?

UPDATE: Allah has a run down of the forgery issues (including a matching Microsoft Word recreation) and the media reaction, including some conspiracy theories. By the way, does anybody really care?

Bad news for CBS

Well its Friday, Florida is looking at the possibility of a third hurricane hitting them this weekend, Southern California feels like Taiwan or Singapore (warm and humid, we live in a semi-arid place) and CBS may have a problem.

It appears that the documents presented by CBS on its 60 minutes program to show Bush failed his duty in the Air National Guard are forged.

There are lots of Blogs and newspapers that are reporting on the issue. Go to Lucianne for a good set of links to the story. I could list them here but they have already done the work. Check out their links for today. Specifically check out PowerLine blog as they have provided much of the leg work to check out the memos authenticity.

Have a good weekend.

The smear campaign is in full swing

When someone says something one doesn't like, there are several ways to deal with it. In politics, it appears that smearing the opposition is the preferred option these days.

Joshua Sharf talks about Jimmy Carter and his attack on Zell Miller. Carter has attacked Miller for the speech Miller gave at the Republican convention. Carter didn't attack the contents of the speech, he attacked Miller personally. Sharf has some good comments to Carter's letter attacking Miller.

Kitty Kelley is set to release a new book about the Bush family. In the book she will allege that George Bush did use illegal drugs until the late 1980s or early 1990s. Her source is Sharon Bush, former sister-in-law to George W. Bush. Sharon is now estranged from the family. Sharon was married to George's brother Neil, but apparently the divorce was messy (as they usually are). One problem. Sharon is denying she said George W. Bush used illegal drugs. Howard Kurtz at the Washington Post has a good write up on the story. Of course the book will sell well, but the source for the allegations is saying Kelley did not get the information from her.

The Democrats are claiming Bush did not meet the requirements to the Guard and he was AWOL or a deserter. Byron York goes through the Bush's record during his Air National Guard days and shows how Bush did meet his obligation for each of the six years. Even the year he was in Alabama.

And finally, Oliver North wrote an open letter to John Kerry. North and Kerry have a history as it was Kerry who was grilling North over Iran-Contra which ended North's military career and started his current career as a commentator and writer and sometime politician.

Something does not compute

A new story about President Bush getting into the Air National Guard is getting ready to come out on 60 Minutes.

This bomb is an already-taped Dan Rather interview with former Texas Lt. Governor Ben Barnes in which Barnes will hint, and deceptive CBS editing will strongly imply, that during the Vietnam War the Bush family pressured him to use politics to get a young George W. Bush into the Texas Air National Guard.

There is one problem with this story, well there is more then likely one but one that stands out in my mind. Back in 1968, Texas was a Democratic state not a Republican one. Bush senior did not have a very successful political career in Texas (failed to get elected Senator, although he did get into the House for one or more terms). The Bush family was not powerful in the 1960s like they are today or even were in the 1980's. A Democrat would have no reason to give preferential treatment to a Republican because the Republican party was not a factor in Texas politics until the Regan era.

Finally, Kerry keeps demanding Bush and Cheney stop trashing his service record in Vietnam. Can someone, ANYONE, please show me where Bush did trash Kerry's service in Vietnam? Bush has praised Kerry for his service and has not made any comment about his medals or how they were earned. Bush has criticized Kerry for his work in the Senate and for his anti war protests. Or because Bush was not an anti-war protestor nor a Senator he is not allowed to criticize Kerry's actions here either?

Now before anyone says (all three of you who read this blog, I thank you) what about the Swiftboat Vets, well they are independent of Bush just like MoveOn.org is independent from Kerry. And before someone mentions the attorney who worked for both the Swiftboat and the Bush campaign, that is NOT illegal. Also, the Democratic 527's have a number of people who either work on Kerry's campaign or at the DNC.

Bush is not questioning Kerry's service in Vietnam, he is questioning Kerry's actions in the Senate and where he wants to take the country. Just as Kerry has questioned Bush's policies and where he wants to take the country. That is called an election campaign.

Tuesday Roundup

I hope you all had a great Labor day weekend. Those in Florida and parts of the Gulf Coast, our thoughts and prayers are with you. Of course while Florida was looking for relief from Francis, in Southern California, it suddenly decided to become summer with high temperatures.

Lots of stories in the news, none on Russia since Rob already has a good write up of what happened and the likely response of Russia to those who hurt kids or those who supported or gave aid and comfort to those who hurt kids. Look for more blood to be shed.

George Will has a birthday column for ESPN, which is 25 today. I'm not a sports person (my wife watches football, I don't), but it is interesting on how sports salaries have increased over the last 25 years, and on the challenges ESPN can have on some marriages.

Two stories on Islam. The first is a short story, from ABC News, about those who convert from Islam to Christianity are often in fear for their lives. The folks who were interviewed for the story do not live in the Middle East or even Europe, but in VIRGINIA. Even in the US, those whose were Muslim and choose a different path are in danger, from "the religion of peace". The second story from the New York Times is about the Cult of Death that a minority of Islam holds and the carnage the rest of the world has to pay (in blood and treasure) because of the group. We (the rest of the world) need to confront this sub-sect of Islam and put an end to it. All Muslims who are not a member of this "Cult of Death" need to join the effort because they suffer as much if not more then non Muslims for the deeds of this group.

FrontPageMag.com has a good rebuttal to Timothy Noah's Whopper about Arnold speech at the RNC. It does put things into context, which is often missing in the media stories today.

Two stories on Bush today. Mark Steyn about how many in the media are projecting their views into the news and how it is likely to give them a nasty surprise in November (if Bush wins). At OpinionJournal.com, they are saying the election will not be close but "Bush will bury Kerry". As a Bush supporter, I can only hope so.

Finally, there are three stories about Kerry today. I don't hunt for pro-Bush or anti-Kerry stories, but the stories I have to share are not good news for Kerry.

Kerry is denying he is shaking up his campaign staff (always a bad sign this close to an election), but it does look that way. Also Kerry has shifted his focus from his experience in Vietnam and being a war hero to domestic items. He has been hurt by other veterans attacking him and his best bet is now domestic. Of course the August job report showing 144,000 jobs being added is not the news he was looking for. Kerry is also launching attacks about the Iraq war, calling it the wrong war at the wrong place at the wrong time. But just a few weeks ago he was saying he would have done the same thing as Bush (attack Iraq) but do it better. The final story is from The American Thinker and is about "John F. Kerry attended a meeting of his Vietnam Veterans Against the War (VVAW) group in Kansas City in November 1971, where they considered a proposal to murder top governmental leaders". If this story develops legs, it will do more harm to Kerry.

Russian 9/11

340 dead. 155 of them children. Don't think for a second that this is not capable of steeling Russian resolve against the Chechnyans.

"Fathers will bury their children, and after 40 days (the Orthodox Christian mourning period) ... they will take up weapons and seek revenge," said Alan Kargiyev, a 20-year-old university student in the regional capital Vladikavkaz.

Scenes such as this leave you indifferent to the news that all the terrorists have been killed:

Alla Gadieyeva, a 24-year-old hostage who was seized with her son and mother — all three were among the survivors — said the captors laughed when she asked them for water for her mother.

"When children began to faint, they laughed," Gadieyeva said. "They were totally indifferent."

250

250 dead.

531 wounded.

Damn the terrorists who target children. Oh, I forgot, they're calling them "militants".

The Arab presence among the attackers would support Putin's contention that al-Qaida terrorists were deeply involved in the Chechen conflict, where Muslim fighters have been battling Russian forces in a brutal war of independence on and off for more than a decade. ITAR-Tass said Basayev received funding for the attack from alleged al-Qaida operative Abu Omar as-Saif.

Final thoughts on the Convention

Yeah, I didn't comment too much (if at all) on the Democratic convention. To tell the truth, I didn't watch any of it.

I only watched Zell Miller and part of Cheney's speech on Wed. night and only Bush's speech on Thursday night.

I liked Bush's speech and like the fact he is able to laugh at himself. Anyone who wants to run for President has to have a thick skin because of all the cruel things that will be said about them.

My favorite line of the President's speech is

"People sometimes have to correct my English — I knew I had a problem when Arnold Schwarzenegger started doing it. Some folks look at me and see a certain swagger, which in Texas is called 'walking.' Now and then I come across as a little too blunt — and for that we can all thank the white-haired lady sitting right up there."

Its my favorite because Bush used humor to counter what critics (and friends) say about him.

I'm also grateful to the police and everyone else who made sure BOTH conventions came off without the bad guys (that's terrorists not protestors) being able to disrupt or kill people attending the conventions. I'm also grateful for that matter for the security folks who kept the Olympics safe and enjoyable, even if there were a lot of empty seats.

Thank you to the folks who made the conventions safe. Hopefully the folks who were securing the Republican convention will get this weekend off to enjoy time with their families or however else they enjoy spending time off.

This is not how to win for your cause

Well the stand off in Russia is over. Over 100 KIDS appear to have been killed when the Russian army stormed the school. Apparently some kids tried to escape, the terrorists started to shoot at the kids and the soldiers then had to attack to protect the rest of the kids. It sounds like a very messy rescue mission that the government wasn't ready for nor wanted to have happen (at least at this time). But then again, what would the government in any other country do (including here in the US), if bad guys started to shoot kids who tried to escape from their captors.

I can't say the Chechnya rebels did their cause any good by their attack on the school. Deliberately targeting kids might bring pressure on the government to cave to the terrorists demands (one mother I heard heard on the news yesterday said "what ever their (the terrorists) demands are, the government must meet, no price is too high"), but once the killing of kids starts all bets are off. Now it will be debated that the troops should not have stormed the school, but then again, the terrorists should not have been shooting at kids who did manage to escape. They should have tried to make sure there would be no additional escapes. Now there will be weeping in Russia and then the demands for revenge. And it won't just be for revenge against the terrorists. Anyone connected to them by blood, marriage or any other way will now be targeted. The Russian government will now have free reign to do what they want in Chechnya and there won't be any protest from the citizens of Russia. The terrorists have targeted kids, the reprisals will most likely be without mercy.

Zell Miller

Ouch.

The Democratic Convention had Ronald Reagan Jr speak. He is not a politician but has a familiar name.

The Republican Convention had Zell Miller speak. He is a life long Democrats, was Governor and later Senator. He introduced Bill Clinton at the 1992 Democratic Convention and said George Bush (Sr) should be retired. Last night, Miller said he was still a Democrats, but the Democrat Party was not interested in protecting his family and that family is more important then party.

If Sam Nunn or even Lieberman were the Democratic Nominee, Miller would be out stumping for the Democrats and his sharp tongue would be lashing the Republicans. Read his speech, this is an angry man. He is angry because the party he is a member of and has supported all his life has left him and will not take the war on terrorism seriously.

The NY Times has a transcript of Miller's speech. He is not a Republican, but he is a nationalist and is angry the Democrats do not seem to remember they are Americans first and Democrats second.

Two Tiered Justice

One for the rich. One for the rest of us. Kobe rape case dismissed. Apparently, money can buy you freedom.

New York on Protestors: "Whiners, wusses & wimps"

The editors at the New York Daily News tear into the protestors in NYC:

Some protesters these people are. Civil disobedience customarily involves a willingness to suffer some measure of discomfort. Ask Gandhi. But this is the bunch that demanded the city provide them with designer bottled water. Cute, aren't they?

The editors also give the NYPD high marks:

Real police-state abuses, mind you, have been not much in evidence this week. No skulls were cracked Monday night when a detective was pulled from his scooter and pounded unconscious outside Madison Square Garden. The men and women of the NYPD showed similar restraint and professionalism yesterday as self-professed anarchists marched and bellowed around and about the town to celebrate their designated Day of Civil Disobedience.

New York was a good choice for the RNC.

More on the 527's

Over at Vodkapundit, there is a more detail write up on the 527's and the Kerry Campaign. Also included in the comment sections are additional verifications such a FEC filings of people who worked or work on both.

Again, working on a 527 and a campaign is NOT illegal. But if the mainstream media is going to say its bad that people who work on the Swift Boat 527 also have any connection with the Bush campaign, then they SHOULD also document the connections between the 527's and the Kerry campaign and/or Democratic party.

(hat tip Instapundit)

Protesters Disrupt Meeting

Protesters interrupt a Republican youth meeting, resulting in at least one 20 year old delegate injured. Did they do this to convert Republicans? Obviously not, so one could speculate that their motives were intimidation and publicity.

Where does the border between a difference of opinion and suppression of speech start? The actions of the 'protesters' border on repression--a charge that the more liberal members of our society level with regularity at the very people they are attempting to intimidate.

Convention and/or political round up

I can't say I read Dick Morris very often. Usually he is silly, boring or just plain wrong. However, once in a while he hits a home run. Today is a day. His write up of Laura Bush's speech is right on.

The protestors in New York are unhappy with FOX news and especially unhappy that the ratings of FOX during the convention are very high. Especially compared to CNN or MSNBC.

The New York Times is also unhappy that the Republicans would dare to hold their convention in its city and by the NYT actions are making it well known the "paper of record" isn't interested in being the paper of record but rather being a partisan paper as they are in the UK. Well if they want to be a Democratic paper, I think that is fine because if any company wants to drive away a large number of its customers (read moderate and conservatives), they will only be hurting themselves because the advertisers won't purchase as many adds.

And finally, if one repeats a lie often enough, does it make it true? Well that is what the media seems to be trying to do about the Swift Boat adds. The Washington Post has an opinion by Benjamin L. Ginsberg on the double standard about the Swift Boats and the scrutiny it and its donors are receiving verses the liberal 527's. Now Ginsberg is not a disinterested party in the matter, he was a lawyer for both the Swift Boats and for the Bush/Cheney campaign.

Ginsberg also points out that what he was doing is NOT illegal nor is it illegal for the folks working on the liberal 527's and the Kerry campaign. However only the Swift Boat 527 is given the scrutiny.

I do believe the media should treat all 527's the same, either condemn them all or praise them all and investigate all possible conflit of interests or ignore them. But to only scrutinize one 527 and ignore the rest is a double standard.

New bombing in Israel

For the first time in six months, the bad guys won. Tuesday two suicide bombers got through and bombed two buses in Israel. Those fun loving folks at Hamas claimed responsibility. The area where the bombs went off is along a stretch of the boundary between Israel and the West Bank where the security wall has not been completed.

Tell me again why the wall is such a bad idea? It keeps the bad guys and those who support them (the Palestinian populace) away from the Israelis. The Palestinians should be thanking Allah every night the Israelis don't act like those bunch of savages in Hamas, putting bombs on buses or dropping bombs indiscriminately with the idea of killing as many people as possible. Eventually, when the Palestinian people decide they want peace and live more then the promise (so far an empty one) of the destruction of Israel, then peace will win. Until then only more death and defeat will be the Palestinian have to look forward too.

More from the Swift vets

Our actions have consequences, things we say and do in the past can often come back to haunt us. John Kerry is learning this lesson the hard way again. The Swiftboat Vets are releasing a new add and are using Kerry's own words to condemn him. On several occasions Kerry said in interviews he threw away his medals he received from Vietnam. Later he said he only threw away the service ribbons and not the medals themselves.

This is old news and normally wouldn't be a very effective add. However, one block of votes Kerry is targeting is the veteran's vote. In the early 1970s, it wasn't popular to be a veteran and many vets did protest the war once they got back. However, Kerry is trying to run as a war hero and they don't throw away something as precious as their medals. Now the focus of the adds is not whether Kerry threw away his ribbons or medals.

To the vets, if he threw away EITHER, he said what those metals represented was not worth anything. The question of should we have been in Vietnam is still open, but the actions of those who served honorably there is not open. They were asked by their country to go and they went and served to the best of their abilities. Their sacrifices were not in vain and their metals were and are honorable. By replaying Kerry's audio clip where he proudly claimed to throw away his medals, the Swift Vets are reminding Vietnam vets what Kerry thought of their own service back then. Again this normally would not be a big issue. After all, President Clinton didn't go to Vietnam at all. But Kerry is running as a war hero and hero's don't throw away their medals.

Free speech for me but not for thee

That seems to be attitude of some, or rather many, of the protestors in NY to those attending the Republican convention. The protestors demand the right to assemble, march and speak. Rights that are guaranteed by the US Constitution. However, they do not seem to want to allow others who hold views different from themselves to be able to utilize the same rights. At least without massive police protection.

Some of the delegates personal information has been posted on the web and the post urges "protesters should use the information "in whatever way they see fit.""

NY Daily News reporter spent time with some of the protestors before the convention started and all said that today 31 August will be a "big day" of direct action. Expect more confrontations with the police.

And finally, where are the Democrats? Where is the ACLU? Why are they not denouncing the protestors who are trying to prevent the Republicans from peaceably assemble and use their constitutional rights of free expression? Hillary Clinton, who is in charge of the Democratic Truth squad and is representing New York in the Senate hasn't said anything yet about the policeman who was attacked by the protestors, not because of his politics (which is unknown at this time), not because he was attacking the protestors (he wasn't), but because he was there. His crime was breathing and living and doing his job watching folks on the street. Shouldn't Hillary be denouncing those who attack the first responders?

It will be an interesting week.

Not So Loyal Opposition

Just hooligans and anarchists.

When marchers approached the Garden, a police officer was kicked repeatedly in the head by at least one male demonstrator and was listed in serious condition at an unidentified hospital, the police said. There was no immediate word of an arrest in the assault, the police said. As of 9 p.m., the police said there had been eight protest-related arrests.

Apparently, some think that intimidation is an acceptable form of dissent:

. . .delegates to the Republican National Convention were swarmed by protesters dressed in black and swearing at them. Blocks away, delegates engaged in shoving matches with protesters seeking to spoil their night at the theater. And outside "The Lion King" on 42nd Street, a delegate was punched by a protester who ran by.

What a bunch of #$&(@. I suspect that such behavior, odious as it is, will do Sen. Kerry's bid for President no favors.

Like This Ever Works

Sen. Kerry is offering a deal so that Iran will stop making nuclear weapons. Wait a moment, is this the same deal that Clinton offered North Korea? The same North Korea that is building ballistic missiles and nuclear weapons? The same North Korea that is also threatening to export nuclear weapons if the U.S. doesn't negotiate with it?

Four words to Sen. Kerry: Ain't. Going. To. Work.

Iraq Update

Well, OpinionJournal.com has another installment of the good news in Iraq that the news media may have overlooked in the last two weeks. Check it out and remember that the media likes to print the bad news and the blood and guts because it will sell papers and commercials. There is good news as well and while Iraq has lots of problems we should remember things are not as bad as the press would like us to think it is.

How much storage space do you want???

I have a 20 gig hard drive on my 2 year old computer and its still mostly empty.

May 2004 Forbs :

"In a keynote speech to the [recent World Wide Web conference in New York],
Microsoft's head of research Rick Rashid described what consumers might do
with a terabyte of data storage that costs around $1,000, and is capable of
holding more than 1 trillion bytes of computer data.

What's fascinating to note is that we can, just three months later, ALREADY purchase Rashid's terabyte of storage for LESS than his "$1,000." As we recently found out www.theharrowgroup.com/articles/20040510/20040510.htm#_Toc71429047),
a terabyte of storage can already be yours for $840 or less!

So now instead of not filling up much of a 20 gig drive, I'll be able to have 1,000 gigs (terabyte) with the same data or here is what we may be able to expect in 5 years.

Because if patents owned by the president of Colossal Storage Corporation,
Michael E. Thomas, pan out, we may have not one, but 100 terabytes (that's 100
TERAbytes!, or ten-thousand gigabytes!) on a $45 removable 3.5-inch disk! The
drive will cost about $650. In five years.

Ok, who is saying were likely to have so much storage space that even Bill Clinton will finish his speech before he can fill the hard drive (see the 1988 Democratic Convention where Clinton almost sunk his chance to be President before the race even started)? Well Jeff Harrow at the Harrow Report is one. His news letter has been a pretty good heads up on storage and computer power at least for non-science folks. He takes some pretty cutting edge technology stuff and writes it in a way that even for folks with out a hard science degree (like me) can understand what's going on in the lab.

I'm not sure what I would do with all the storage space that is likely to becoming down the pipeline, but with the explosion of phone camera's, PDA camera's and likely camera's in car and everywhere else, we are going to be a very watched world. I can just see it now, we will have cameras recording where we are going, as well as looking out the sides and rear so in an accident, there will be a video recording of what was happening and who is at fault.

The "silly" season or week has started

Well its Monday and now its a contest between the protestors and the Republican Convention to see who will get their message across.

One question though. If the anti-Bush protestors value the 1st Amendment (well the free speech part anyway), why are they so determined to prevent the Republicans from meeting and speaking? I don't seem to remember lots of conservatives protesting the Democratic Convention last month, maybe I missed it.

Shawn Macomber at The American Spectator has a nice write up on the protests from a first person viewpoint (his) and a question.

The catch phrase of the day was, "Dissent is Patriotic." I saw not a hint
of irony on the faces of the mob as they demanded, for hours on end,
"Republicans go home!" and "GOP scum, leave our city!

"Let's think about this for a moment: There are 5,000 Republican delegates in town for the convention. Protest organizers predict the final count will be somewhere around 250,000 and I've no reason to doubt the figure. So protesters will outnumber delegates 50 to one.

At what point exactly, I asked several members of the Question Authority
Brigade, is one group far enough in the minority that they become, well,
dissenters? Sputtering, uncomprehending rage was all I got in response.

Its going to be an interesting week.