The verdict for this debate? A tie. Bush had some good comments but wasn't as on the ball as he could've been. Kerry had a few muddled responses to questions but overall come out looking pretty good.
Powerline posts the contents of an email purporting to be from Terry McAuliffe of the DNC. Terry's urging democrats to take some specific actions immediately following the debate:
Tonight, don't let George Bush's henchmen steal another victory. We need your online help immediately after the debate, so save this email, print it out, and have it ready with you as you watch the first Presidential debate tonight.
We all know what happened in 2000. Al Gore won the first debate on the issues, but Republicans stole the post-debate spin. We are not going to let that happen again, and you will play a big role.
Immediately after the debate, we need you to do three things: vote in online polls, write a letter to the editor, and call in to talk radio programs. Your 10 minutes of activism following the debate can make the difference.
National and local news organizations will be conducting online polls during and after the debate asking for readers' opinions. Look for online polls at these national news websites, and make sure to vote in every one of them:
ABC News: ABC
CBS News: CBS
CNN: CNN
Fox News: Fox
MSNBC: MSNBC
USA Today: USA Today
And be sure to check the websites of your local newspapers and TV stations for online polls. It is crucial that you do this in the minutes immediately following the debate.
Call
Do you listen to national or local call-in shows on the radio? How about on TV? Call them and let them know what you thought of John Kerry's plan to keep America secure and George Bush's continuing refusal to admit the truth about his record.
Here are some national shows to get you started. (All times are Eastern.)
Air America (all day): 646-274-2346
Alan Colmes (10 a.m. to 1 p.m.): 212-301-5900
Ed Shultz (3 p.m. to 6 p.m.): 701-232-1525
Bev Smith (7 p.m. to 10 p.m.): 412-325-4197
Doug Stephen (5 a.m. 10 a.m.): 1-800-510-8255
I want to strongly encourage Bush supporters to take McAuliffe's advice, with a little bit different point of view. To see the email verbatim go visit Powerline. Otherwise, stand by for action immediately following the debate.
Your actions immediately after the debate tonight can help John Kerry win on November 2. Make your voice heard!
You've probably heard Terry McAuliffe of the DNC insinuate that somehow Karl Rove and presumably George W. Bush were behind the CBS document forgeries. (If you buy that then don't read any further. There's nothing I can say here that will remotely resemble what you call "reality")
Now, thanks to Jonah I've found a blog that details all of the secret plans of those despicable Republicans. There's the secret plan to bring back the draft, wage nuclear war, send jobs overseas, heck there's probably a secret plan to cancel christmas. Find out about all of these secret plans by reading, Bush's Secret Plans.
I have a secret plan too. I plan to vote for George W. Bush. What? That's not a secret?
To hear the democrats talk, you'd think that anyone even remotely connected with a union is an ardent supporter of John Kerry. Tonight I met someone who isn't and he's not alone.
It turns out that he's a firefigher from one of the largest fire departments in the state. The union (IAFF) claims that something like 97% of it's members support John Kerry, yet it's interesting to learn that very few firefighters (if any) remember being asked. The discussion here seems to indicate large areas where no polling was done of IAFF's members. I wonder where that 97% number came from?
Firefighers for Bush is a group of, you guessed it, firefighters for Bush. Besides supporting Bush they're pretty vocal about how their union has put it's support behind Kerry in order to benefit the union leadership. One firefigher sums up the views of this group,
The irony here is this; our "International Association" tries to meld us together by using the terms "Brotherhood and brother and sister and family".
Yet when it comes down to the single most important decision we will make as a family for the next four years, the IAFF throws all those terms out.
Then they throw the weight of our large political machine behind a candidate that very few of us support!
They do this without so much as a polling of the membership to see where the majority stood on the issue. I understand that over the years, unions as a whole supported the more liberal democrat party. I feel the reason for this was they were going up against the big businesses that were on the other side of the fence.
This is not the case with us nor has it ever been. Yet every time we have a national election our leaders, whoever they may be, choose without asking us, the members, who we would like to back.
As I hear it, at the recent IAFF convention, Kerry made all kinds of promises to the firefighters who attended. Well it's time for the IAFF to wake up and smell the roses - sure he can make these promises but he will never make good on them!
Get ready Brother Firefighters!
Because right now as a nation we are fighting terror on foreign soil - if Kerry takes office we will be fighting it right here on our own soil!If you're a Bush supporter who'd like a little encouragement I would urge you to visit Firefighters for Bush.
This morning as I was getting ready for work I caught part of a segment on one of the news shows. The words, "legacy" and "dynasty" were being cast about. The host was interviewing someone from the formerly venerable NY Times. It took a while to figure out that they weren't talking about a great leader or statesman. No, all of this hubub was over Jay Leno retiring in 5 years from The Tonight Show.
Jay Leno is okay. I think he's funnier than David Letterman. Still, I don't think that what he does is brain surgery. How hard can it be to sit around and have short interesting conversations with eccentric entertainers? Not only that, but he has a team of writers to pull together his jokes and he gets to read them off cue cards.
For those out in LA, it might be difficult to find a replacement for Jay. I'm guessing there aren't too many regular guys (or girls) that run in those circles. But let's face it - it's not like Jay Leno is curing cancer or anything. Hey, even I could do the job and for considerably less money.
Powerline has become my new favorite blog. (Thank you Dan Rather!) It's a good place to get caught up on all the surreptitious efforts to elect John Kerry. You'd think liberal bias in the mainstream media would be self-evident by now, but there are still some who refuse to see it. Those people probably still believe in the inherent goodness of mankind and the impartiality of Jimmy "never met a leftist he didn't like" Carter. But I digress.
Powerline does some good research on the author of an egregious hit piece put out by the AP. Go read it here. It's quite enlightening.
I blogged about the debates the other night but I read something over at Hugh Hewitt that adds even more to this subject.
Add it all up and there is tremendous pressure on Kerry to break Bush's momentum at the first debate Thursday night. Which means a stunt of some sort...I agree. There will be a stunt. I've heard about similar things in previous John Kerry debates. It's a big risk for Kerry though. Running for Senator as the liberal Democrat in Massachusetts isn't exactly in the same league as running for President of the US.
Ironically, the last thing he should do is some kind of stunt. What potential Kerry supporters want to see is someone with a real plan, someone with the ability to carry that plan to fruition, and who isn't just spouting off but actually believes in the stuff he's saying. Even if his little stunt works, it could make him that much more transparent to the swing voters who aren't looking for a master debater, but a leader.
Don't forget to check out the rest of Hugh Hewitt's thoughts on this topic.
John Kerry served our country, like so many before and since, and he should be honored for that service. However, as a key qualification for becoming President of the United States, it seems prudent to examine Kerry’s stand on the important issues of the present.
From his various statements on the Iraq War, it seems he would seek to withdraw our soldiers from Iraq at the earliest available opportunity, regardless of whether victory has been achieved. From his statements on foreign policy, it seems he would seek the approval of the UN and other countries as a condition of taking a course of action. On domestic issues, he would seek to tax the “highest earners.” He would seek to increase government involvement in health care and in many other areas. He promises a myriad of government programs to solve our problems, all without raising taxes on the “working class." On Abortion, he’s stated that he is personally against it but would not restrict a woman’s right to “reproductive choice.” His positions on these issues mean that I will not be voting for him this November.
Kerry’s course of action in Iraq would undermine the cause of democracy in the Middle East. His craving for the approval of other countries in the pursuit of our foreign policy would prevent him from standing for American interests around the globe.
His desire to tax “the wealthy” will penalize the very people who create and sustain jobs. His proposal for yet more government involvement in our health care will erode the quality of health care we currently enjoy while at the same time creating a bureaucracy that will inevitably increase costs. His indifference toward the life of the unborn is appalling, especially in light of his “personal” belief that abortion is wrong. Furthermore, Kerry’s difficulty in articulating his positions throughout this campaign leads me to wonder if he truly believes in them or is simply saying whatever he needs to say in order to be elected.
George W. Bush stands by his principles. He believes in the power of democracy both at home and around the world. He understands that he represents the United States and not the United Nations. He advocates a compassionate government that seeks to assist its citizens while not needlessly interfering with their lives. He realizes that low taxes increase economic growth and foster innovation. Not only does he believe that abortion is wrong but his policies are consistent with that belief.
George W. Bush is the leader our country needs at this time and that’s who I’m supporting for President of the United States. [Source]
This was my letter to the editor of the Ogle County Life. Now write your own letter to the editor in support of GWB for President.
Since virtually every politcal blog out there will be weighing in on the debates, I thought I'd start off the week with my opinion on the one this thursday.
For at least a year, President Bush has been called every loathsome name available. He's been called a liar, a traitor, a murderer, arrogant, etc. The democrats, as they vied for the democratic nomination, numerous 527 groups, surrogates for the Kerry campaign and even left-wing wackos like Michael Moore have gotten in their verbal punches. The result? The public has grown used to hearing harsh words about the President. The mud slinging has energized the democrats' to vote for "anybody but Bush", has enraged Republicans and generally been ignored by everyone else. As a result, there is really nothing the Democrats can say about the President that hasn't already been said.
On the other hand, John Kerry is considered a very skillful debater. (Some might declare him to be the Master-Debater) But he isn't known as someone who comes off as being very likable and winning a debate based on the actual content isn't as important as appearing presidential. Then there's John Kerry's 20 year record in the Senate and his multiple positions on important issues.
IMHO, If Bush performs respectably in this first debate it won't be the end of the world for him. Time is running out for John Kerry though and he needs to come off as a regular guy, someone with whom people can relate. If Bush does really well, this could be the beginning of the end for Kerry. I think the debates are Kerry's last chance for any substantial movement in polling numbers. When the smoke clears from the three debates, a tie for John Kerry is basically a loss.
I've had an extremely nasty cold since last Friday night. It started in my head then fiendishly wormed it's way into my chest where it has been living ever since. With this cold, most of the time you just want to lay down and die.
So what you say, "Why should I care?"
Well, I saw on TV that John Kerry has a cold too. I hope it's the same one I had, bwahahahahaha! [evil laugh]
I know a lot of useless stuff. Every once in a great while I know enough useless stuff to connect the dots between two totally unrelated things. Unfortunately, I don't connect the dots nearly as often as "wretchard". (I don't know what it means but I think it's an anagram with clues to the author's real name.)
Over at TBC wretchard connects the dots once again to give some incredible insight into the nature of social networks, terror networks and their sponsors. (Pay close attention to the second to last sentence.) It's interesting reading that, I hope, has positive implications for killing OBL and others like him.
The celebration over the death of "old media" is a little premature. The vast majority of people still get their news from the mainstream media, both television and newspapers. It's important to reach those venues with a conservative point of view and that's why I just finished writing a letter to the editor of my local newspaper. Of course, they can still choose not to print it - but at least they've received it.
My letter is in the extended post. You might want to write a letter to the editor of your local paper. It's getting awfully close to the election and this would be a good time to let your community know your views.
To: Tonja Greenfield, Ogle County Life
Dear Editor:
John Kerry served our country, like so many before and since, and he should be honored for that service. However, as a key qualification for becoming President of the United States, it seems prudent to examine Kerry's stand on the important issues of the present. From his various statements on the Iraq War, it seems that he would seek to withdraw our soldiers from Iraq at the earliest available opportunity, regardless of whether victory has been achieved. From his statements on foreign policy, it seems he would seek the approval of the UN and other countries as a condition of taking a course of action. On domestic issues, he would seek to tax the "highest earners". He would seek to increase government involvement in health care and in many other areas. He promises a myriad of government programs to solve our problems, all without raising taxes on the "working class". On Abortion, he's stated that he is personally against it but would not restrict a woman's right to "reproductive choice". His positions on these issues mean that I will not be voting for him this November.
Kerry's course of action in Iraq would undermine the cause of democracy in the Middle East. His craving for the approval of other countries in the pursuit of our foreign policy would prevent him from standing for American interests around the globe. His desire to tax "the wealthy" will penalize the very people who create and sustain jobs. His proposal for yet more government involvement in our health care will erode the quality of health care we currently enjoy while at the same time creating a bureaucracy that will inevitably increase costs. His indifference toward the life of the unborn is appalling, especially in light of his "personal" belief that abortion is wrong. Furthermore, Kerry's difficulty in articulating his positions throughout this campaign leads me to wonder if he truly believes in them or is simply saying whatever he needs to say in order to be elected.
George W. Bush stands by his principles. He believes in the power of democracy both at home and around the world. He understands that he represents the United States and not the United Nations. He advocates a compassionate government that seeks to assist its citizens while not needlessly interfering with their lives. He realizes that low taxes increase economic growth and foster innovation. Not only does he believe that abortion is wrong but his policies are consistent with that belief. George W. Bush is the leader our country needs at this time and that's who I'm supporting for President of the United States.
-JD Mays
Stillman Valley, IL
Thanks to NSF for the word on the latest U2 Album (Do they still call them that?) due for release in November. It will be called, How To Dismantle An Atomic Bomb. Be careful though, the latest recording hasn't been checked yet for preachiness, smug self-righteousness, political correctness, gratuitous blasphemy, demagoguery, or simple answers... most though not all U2 Recordings pass the test. I'm still a little wary from the Pop Album although All That You Can't Leave Behind helped me to recover.
There are two types of bloggers; Linkers and Thinkers. The thinkers write beautiful well thought out posts exploring and illuminating some area of interest. The Belmont Club and Evangelical Outpost are great examples of blogs run by thinkers. The linkers surf along in the blogosphere and cherry pick interesting items. Then they write brief, sometimes painfully brief, passages pointing out the location of the aforementioned interesting things.
I started this blog as a thinker. I would work really hard on a post, researching it and linking to my sources - then I would post it. Usually there was very little reaction to my masterpieces, just a collective ho-hum from the masses. Very disappointing.
Lately, though, I've been a linker. I've been shamelessly linking all over the place. Incredibly, I'm getting more hits than I've ever gotten and I don't understand it. You'd think anything I could post as a link would've already been picked over. Linker mode also has the important benefit of allowing the blogger to stay fully employed and actually working. So I'll still post some thought provoking stuff from time to time, but for now I'm running in deep linker mode.
Which brings me to this next morsel of information,
Clothing is wonderful, but let them go naked for a while, at least the kids. Water is necessary, and then generators, and then food, and then clothes. [Source]
This thing was discovered over at Drudge and should be old news by now, but in the spirit of being a linker I take great pleasure in pointing it out. (In fairness I should point out that there are probably other types of bloggers other than thinkers and linkers but I couldn't think of any other terms that rhyme and still make sense.)
Frankly, I'm getting tired of all the hubbub surrounding "memogate", CBS News' brazen attempt to manipulate the Presidential campaign by passing off fake documents as being authentic. The intellectual gymnastics going on over there are starting to make me a little dizzy and before I let this thing slip away from my fleeting attention span I've decided to fire one last salvo...
But First, a little re-cap, they deny the documents are phony, then they say they might be phony but it doesn't matter because the story is still true. Now they drag out some 86 year old lady who says some contradictory things,
He often called me the name of his father’s secretary, and he was always apologizing because he couldn’t remember my name. He was always very gentlemanly. I felt that his parents must have been wonderful to have produced someone like that.” [Source]That doesn't seem too damning. But with a little coaching from Dan Rather,
Rather: Step back here for a moment and tell me, what do you think the real story is here?I guess that seems a little damaging, but think about it this way. If CBS had simply come out with this story saying "86 Year old woman says Bush didn't think he had to follow the rules" that would hardly be newsworthy. So if the documents are fake, the story is nothing more than one person's impression of someone's attitude 30 something years ago. Incredible. And the media thought the Swift Boat vets were hard to believe? End of re-cap.
Knox: "I think it's simple. Bush didn't think he had to follow the rules everyone else did."
Like I said earlier though, my attention span for this thing is almost gone. I'll wager most people feel the same way. CBS is prepared to wait us out. They're hoping this will all blow over and they can go back to peddling their leftward view of the universe under the guise of "news".
I've read some bloggers who want to boycott CBS. I don't think that will do much good, but contacting the sponsors and letting them know what you think about this whole thing is worthwhile. I also think it would be good to let your local CBS affiliate know your. Here's the text of my letter to WIFR in Rockford,
Dear WIFR:
I'm extremely unhappy about your network's recent attempts to manipulate the Presidential Election by presenting fake documents as fact. Until something is done to address the situation at CBS News, I won't be watching your station - not the local news, not anything. The current state of denial at CBS News is unbelievable for a supposedly professional news organization.
If you happen to live in my area (Blue?, Guy?) and you'd like to let WIFR know how you feel, you can email them at: talkto23@wifr.com
I hope you pass along my comments to CBS and let them know how it's affecting Channel 23's business.
While you're at it, send along your opinion to any of the other CBS affiliates by going here, List of General Managers of CBS Affiliates
Finally, if you haven't already sent some email to sponsors of CBS News you can go here for that information.
That's it. I will blog no more on this subject. I promise. If you need a memogate fix I would suggest you visit RatherGate or Rather Biased.
Powerline gives a nice little refresher course on Bush's time in the Texas Air National Guard. With all of the media mud slinging over this issue it would be understandable that some confusion could set in. Go here to read it.
Once you get done with that, go here and let CBS' sponsors know what you think of their actions.
I wish I would've thought of this first. But, alas, that's why he's The Commisar. Go see it: The Right-Wing Lying Machine
I'd like to welcome a new blogger. His blog is called, The Hunter's Herald. Apparently he's blogging from Iraq. At least until one of his superiors finds out and shuts him down. Hopefully that won't happen, but just in case, get over there before it's too late: The Hunter's Herald.
According to Hugh, it's been 44 days since Kerry answered questions on camera from a major journalist. Since he claimed he was "reporting for duty" in his nomination speech, does that mean he's now AWOL?
No, that comedy show thing he did doesn't count.
I came across a link to a cool article while reading the comments on one of EO's articles.
Sometimes, what people fail to grasp is that a person's blog is their domain. They are the dictator of their own virtual country and in that country there is no such thing as a bill of rights. (evil laugh: bwahahaha!) As such, I'm going to post a link to an article which I find fascinating without any further explanation: The Gods Must Be Tidy.
A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds, adored by little statesmen and philosophers and divines. [source]
Okay, you've been to Powerline, maybe even LGF or INDC. It appears fairly obvious to all but the most diehard liberals that the so-called memo is a fake. Now what?
CBS insists they have their facts straight. Many fairly reasonable people disagree. Big deal. It isn't going to hurt CBS. People will continue to watch their shows on the network. They'll even continue to watch the news with Dan Rather. It's not like they're going to have any legal trouble. The blogosphere can raise all the factual objections they like - it won't make one bit of difference to CBS. They're Big Media. Untouchable.
Don't agree? Okay, prove me wrong. Put on your thinking cap and come up with a way to hold them accountable. If you're thinking boycott, that's great. Boycott their advertisers, boycott them. You have my support but the only problem is, you'll need a whole lot more people. You see, I don't buy that much laundry detergent. I don't buy that much anything. Good luck motivating the masses.
The story here titled, Left At The Gate sounds suspiciously like something the Illinois Republican Party might do. (Hugh, I'm still waiting for that Grand Vision that's going to roll over the Democrats. We really need it in Illinois.)
"Okay, guys this is the strategy. If we let our guy spend too much time with the media, you know, doing interviews and answering questions, they're going to figure out he's a bonehead. From now on we only go with scripted photo-ops and sound bites from major speeches. If that doesn't work we've also got ourselves a little insurance. I've called in a few favors with some people at the networks and they've received some bogus stuff. They're going to start throwing it against the wall and see if any of it sticks. At the very least it will muddy the water and keep this campaign from getting into any real issues. Hopefully enough of this crap will stick to that sob Bush and it will cost him enough votes to help us squeak by."
-Anonymous Source inside the Kerry Campaign.*
*not really but if CBS can get away with it so can I.
This article, Is it a Hoax? ought to give any reasonable person enough information to judge for themselves. If that isn't enough then, The Sixty-First Minute should help.
It makes me wonder, is Kerry really that bad of a candidate that he needs CBS, NBC, et al. throwing around baseless accusations?
Kitty Kelly's new book didn't meet Time magazine's standards of reporting so they passed on it, but that won't stop a major network from prominently featuring it. Of course, this is the same network that refuses to spend time on the Swift Boat Vets.
There's desperation in the air and it becomes more evident when you take a look at some information from one of my favorite sites, The MRC:
Tonight, 60 Minutes will feature a Dan Rather interview with a Texas Democrat named Ben Barnes, who says he helped George W. Bush get a slot in the Texas Air National Guard. (He's also a major fundraiser for John Kerry.) This is only the latest salvo in an undeniable trend of 60 Minutes leading the rest of the liberal media through wave after wave of Bush-bashing bias.It's also important to note that Ben Barnes testified under oath that he didn't help GWB get a slot for the Texas Air National Guard.
Other examples of Bush bashing:
January 11: Lesley Stahl interviewed former Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neill, whom Bush dumped after the 2002 elections, and his
liberal co-author Ron Suskind, creating a media firestorm over O'Neill's sneer that Bush was "a blind man in a room full of deaf people."
> March 21: 60 Minutes devoted two 13-minute segments to former Clinton and Bush anti-terror aide Richard Clarke's charges against Bush. Lesley Stahl didn't mention Clinton until nearly ten minutes
into the first segment, recalling how unlike Bush before 9/11, Clinton boldly led his team into "battle stations" to prevent attacks around the millennium celebrations.
March 28: In their only nod to balance, Condi Rice was given a (smaller) chance to respond to Clarke, but Ed Bradley was much tougher on Rice than Stahl was with Clarke. He asked: "If you look
at the 30 months since 9/11, there have been more attacks by al Qaeda than in the 30 months prior to 9/11. So what effect is this taking out two-thirds of their leadership?"
April 18: CBS's Mike Wallace mocked President Bush's smarts and his odd, even religious belief in freeing people from oppression in an interview with liberal author Bob Woodward. Wallace asked
"how deep" is Bush? Woodward replied he is not a "deep thinker."
April 28, May 5, May 12. 60 Minutes II broke the story of prisoner abuse at Abu Ghraib and fanned the flames for three
weeks, leading the networks to file hundreds of stories pounding on the Pentagon.
May 23. 60 Minutes devoted a segment to the Bush-bashing of retired Gen. Anthony Zinni, who claimed the current course in Iraq "is taking us over Niagara Falls."
June 27. Before a repeat of an older Michael Moore interview, CBS promoted Fahrenheit 9/11 by airing a 55-second excerpt of one of its most disparaging sequences about President Bush, showing him sitting in a Florida classroom on 9/11.
In a dramatic contrast, John Kerry has been helpfully boosted twice this year on 60 Minutes:
January 25. In a soft Kerry interview, Ed Bradley touted Kerry's medals and brushed over Kerry's wild and unsubstantiated 1971 Senate testimony by noting: "It's still emotional after all these years. Vietnam is something that just doesn't leave you." Kerry said: "It's young people dying young for the wrong reasons,
because leaders don't do the things that they should do to protect them." Bradley replied: "Do you see a parallel with Iraq?"
> July 11. Interviewing the Democratic ticket and their wives, CBS's Lesley Stahl giggled about how well everyone was getting along: "How do you think the honeymoon is going?" Stahl asked Kerry about Edwards: "You're looser. Do you think that his energy is rubbing off on you?"The entire text is available from MRC by going here.
There's a sense of desperation in the air over at the liberal strongholds. It's going to be pretty rocky from here until election day. Let's hope the Bush campaign has some pretty good people in place to combat the disinformation.
Lately when I see the hurricane reports from Florida I'm reminded of something that happened, I think, back in 95. Pat Robertson of 700 Club fame invoked some kind of curse against Florida for their support of homosexuals.
At the time I thought it was just plain goofy for Robertson to make such a statement. (I still do.) In fact, Pat Robertson is just a little too wild-eyed for me.
I'm not claiming these hurricanes are God's judgement or the results of some curse. Sometimes I wish God worked that directly but I haven't noticed that He does. Curse or not, I wouldn't want to live in Florida.
I haven't written much lately. It's not that I don't have anything to say, it's just that it seems everything's already been said. I'm tired of pointing to yet more liberal bias in the MSM since anyone who cares knows about it anyway, is in denial, or is just too stupid to even question what they see on CBS et al.
I'm tired of pointing out why I think John Kerry is an unprinicipled liberal who would be a President along the lines of Jimmy Carter - and that's if we're lucky. (By the way, the Jimmy Carter reference isn't a compliment.)
I'm tired of pointing to yet more Kerry flip-flopping and/or inconsistencies.
I'm suffering from blogging angst because I don't have any thoughts right now that would seem to be even vaguely original or compelling to anyone.
You might want to do what I do when I catch blogging angst; visit some of the blogs I have linked over there on the right hand side of the page:
Belief Seeking Understanding covers a wide range of topics. From Religion to Computer Science to whatever he happens to come up with. Douglas keeps it interesting and unpredictable. And whatever you do, don't mention USN & WR's College Ratings - that really sets him off.
Ryan's Head is also somewhat unpredictable. Lately, he's stuck to religion although he sometimes ventures into politics. Quite often he'll mention Mrs. Lovechunk. I don't know how he gets away with that. He's got one of the coolest jobs around but I can't tell you what it is because I'm not sure he'd like that. Anyway, he thinks he's old because he just turned 29. Hah!
True Blue shares my dislike for John Kerry and she's also geographically close to me. (Go Cards!)
Murdoc, besides being a good guy, keeps everyone up to date on the newest hardware coming for the military.
ACOT consistently has the most information involving Special Forces. She's pretty opinionated and I don't think you'd want to get on her bad side. Fortunately, I agree with 99.9% of what she says. Also, if she didn't have such good interpersonal boundaries I suspect she'd have some interesting personal stories to tell. Caution: If you're on a slow dialup connection you might want to move along.
More later on the link reviews. In the meantime, check these guys out.
I'll post again when I have something to say -- not sure when that'll be. Maybe a day, an hour or a week...
It's 8 pm CST and there's a guest on Fox News from accuweather.com. The guy's name is Joe Bastardi - that's right Joe BASTARDi. With an unfortunate last name like that you'd think the guy would use a stage name or something.
From the 'beating a dead horse yet again' dept comes this little bit of information from National Review. It echoes my own observations from this morning and it's fittingly called, Speech, What Speech?
There's a place on my website where I put all of the speeches that I consider great. It's called Great Speeches. I've decided to place Senator Zell Miller's speech from last night in the Great Speeches archive.
It was an intense speech that came a little close to "demagoguery" but I thoroughly enjoyed it and I think it deserves to be alongside the other great speeches of our time. If you didn't hear it, go read it, Zell Miller's Speech at The Republican Convention.
I usually turn on the Today Show on NBC for a few minutes in the morning while I'm getting ready for work. Wednesday the special guests were the 9/11 commission co-chair Bob Kerrey and Michael Moore. This morning the guest was Vice-President Wannabe John Edwards. I don't seem to remember seeing Republicans being interviewed on NBC during the Democrats' convention. In fact, on July 28th the Today Show featured a puff piece on Michael Moore. Somehow that doesn't seem fair.
Frankly I'm tired of hearing about liberal bias in the MSM. Complaints about it seem to fall on deaf ears and it never really gets any better. In fact, there's quite a bit of denial that such liberal bias even exists.
Until conservatives figure out a way to impact the MSM in a financial way it's unlikely that any change will happen. Supposedly Republicans consist of all these rich white people - but if that's the case then why aren't they out buying newspapers and television networks? Yes, Rupert Murdoch owns Fox - but that's one lonely voice in a sea of strident liberal ones.
In the meantime, the Today Show and other similar venues will continue to peddle their view of politics as the gospel truth. Those who are too lazy or misinformed or unable to seek alternate views will buy into them.
I've heard that Truth has a way of percolating to the surface. I hope that's true but I'm not sure I can confirm that based on what I've seen so far.
Bono, star of the music group,U2, was at the RNC Convention. He was interviewed by Bill O'Reilly on The No Spin Zone. Bono has been pretty outspoken in the past and even been pretty sympathetic toward causes considered more liberal. However, Bono admits that President Bush has been good to his word in providing a massive amount of funding for those suffering from AIDS in Africa.
I love U2 but I have to admit that Bono's been a little preachy and self-righteous in the past when he was promoting some of his pet causes. With O'Reilly, Bono was extremely articulate. He talked about his deep love for America and encouraged Americans to get involved in helping out in Africa. He said that America should get involved not just because it's the compassionate thing to do but because it's the smart thing to do. He's right.
I've never been a big fan of Bill O'Reilly. I think he's a bigmouth that enjoys hearing himself talk. When O'Reilly gave Bono a chance to talk he was very impressive. So impressive that I might actually buy the next U2 cd. (I have almost all of them.)
Bono was promoting a website where people can get involved in fighting AIDS in Africa. It's called DATA. Check it out.