JimEd Speaks Out

This is great! We're having a beautiful day -- and a beautiful week.
August is over and we have not had any 100+ days. This is the coolest
August I've seen in Arkansas since I got here in 1987.

Bring it on, John

Oliver North expresses my feelings exactly. This is the point.

One last thing, John. In 1988, Jane Fonda said: "I would like to say something ... to men who were in Vietnam, who I hurt, or whose pain I caused to deepen because of things that I said or did. I was trying to help end the killing and the war, but there were times when I was thoughtless and careless about it and I'm ... very sorry that I hurt them. And I want to apologize to them and their families."

Even Jane Fonda apologized. Will you, John?

The Courage Factor

John McCain, Rudy Giuliani and Arnold Schwarzenegger are the big stars of the first two days of the Republican convention, but they didn't get their prime-time slots because they're moderates. If the Republican Party had wanted to play up the moderate angle, they'd have put together the same sort of multihued and gender-balanced schmaltzfest they did in 2000. McCain, Giuliani and Schwarzenegger are speaking because they are brave.

David Brooks has some interesting observations.

Social Conservatives Wield Influence on Platform

Apparently the NYT was surprised by this.

Republicans approved a platform yesterday that puts the party firmly on the record against legalized abortion, gay marriage and other forms of legal recognition for same-sex couples, reflecting the political clout of social conservatives and setting up a stark contrast with the Democrats for the fall campaign.

And everyone has to be shocked by this response.

Democrats and their allies immediately denounced the platform as extremist and at odds with the moderate image the party is trying to project this week.

Republicans recall 9/11, hail Bush’s leadership

Republicans opened their national convention Monday with an appeal to the moderate and independent voters who are expected to decide the presidential election, sending out two of the party’s most beloved national figures, Sen. John McCain of Arizona and former New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani, to issue ringing defenses of President Bush’s leadership in the war on terrorism.

Sounds like it was a strong first night. I don't watch conventions. You can get the high points the next morning in just a few minutes.

"How would you survive the end of the world?"

My results:

Cunning. Through use of many of life's faculties, you've managed to suceed greatly. It may not seem so to many, but isn't the the point most times? It's only a matter of knowing more then the others, right? I'm scared of people like you, but in the same time, admire the ability to see more then just the big picture; you see yourself in it every time. You survived the end by knowing who to knock down so you got that last spot in the bunker... nicely done.

THE BOOS THAT ROCKED THE VOTE: KERRY DAUGHTERS RECEIVE RUDE AWAKENING AT MTV AWARDS

MTV, ROLLING STONE and the rock and roll establishment -- past and present -- have cast their vote, and their man is John Kerry.

So on Sunday night when John Kerry's daughters were announced to speak at the annual MTV VIDEO MUSIC AWARDS, the MTV youth were expected to welcome his daughters as pop culture princesses.

Instead, in an era of the unexpected, the daughters of the Democratic candidate were met with cheers -- AND JEERS -- during the live broadcast in Miami.

From the moment Alexandra and Vanessa started speaking, the boos outweighed anything close to cheers, and the reaction turned worse when the daughters asked the VIACOM youth to vote for their father. So shocked by the reaction, the taller of the two daughters tried to 'shhhhhh' her peers to no avail.

This had to be a shock to Kerry and his kerryites. That's good. Unfortunately, it had to be humiliating for those young women.

Where's Edwards?

He was always at Kerry's side like the good little lap dog he is. Then came the SBVTs, which Kerry ignored for weeks and Edwards was still tagging along. The came the Dems attacks on the SBVts and, more importantly, on Bush's service and Cheney's deferments and quess what? No Edwards. He completely disappeared. Would it have anything to do with his record? Is he hiding in a "spider hole?"

Just wondering.

Something tells me Bush holds all the aces

An interesting observation from the London Telegraph:

At the beginning of the year, Thomas Lifson, who was at Harvard Business School with George W Bush, made an interesting observation about the President. He notes that young George "was a very avid and skillful poker player" when he was a Business Administration student and that "one of the secrets of a successful poker player is to encourage your opponent to bet a lot of chips on a losing hand. This is a pattern of behavior one sees repeatedly in George W Bush's political career".

BLOGGING THE CONVENTION

Blogging is a good thing, and my advice is for everyone to start a blog. (Just go to Blogger.com and follow the instructions -- it's free, and you can be up and blogging in 20 minutes). In part that's because -- as Robert Samuelson notes in this column on campaign finance "reform" and free speech -- the campaign finance laws have ensured that the only people who have free speech rights in an election are politicians and members of the media. The members of Congress who supported this bill, the journalists who editorialized in favor of it, President Bush, who signed it, and the Supreme Court, which upheld it, all have a lot to answer for.

Wait til they find out. They'll try to regulate blogs. But it won't work. (I hope.)

Chirac Avoids Criticizing U.S. on Iraq; Praises U.N. Role

...lavishing praise on the United Nations for restoring sovereignty to Iraq and portraying France as a participant in the process.

File under you gotta be shittin' me.

PRESIDENTIAL RACE OR CinC RACE?

Has anyone else noticed that we don't have a presidential race going this year? It is a race for the country's Commander-in-Chief.

Don't get me wrong. CinC is an important -- very important --role. In fact, the first one mentioned in Article 2, Section 2 of the Constitution. But it is not the only one a president is responsible to execute.

“The Executive Power shall be vested in a president..” As such, he runs the executive agencies and has the authority, with the advice and consent of the Congress (usually the Senate), to enter treaties, appoint officers and federal judges, etc.

Executive experience has historically been recognized by American voters. Let us look at the record since WWII:

F DR -- governor --executive
Truman -- VP and FDR died --executive
Ike -- CinC, European Theater -- executive
JFK -- senator (exception to rule -- proving it)
LBJ -- VP and JFK died --executive
Nixon -- VP -- executive
Ford -- VP -- executive
Carter -- governor -- executive
Reagan -- governor -- executive
Bush '41 -- VP -- executive
Clinton -- governor -- executive
Bush '43 -- governor -- executive

THE SUMMARY:

Executive experience: 11

Senatorial experience: 1

CONCLUSION:

Executive experience WINS

Senatorial experience LOSES

CURRENT CHOICES:

Bush '43 -- governor -- executive

Kerry -- senatorial experience (believe me, a LT (junior grade) is not an executive)


It's called leadership. Any questions?

And in a continuing series...

Are All Scientists Stupid?
Posted by: bhennessy
or
Why Bush is wrong again

A herd of “scientists” recently gathered in Sweden to announce a new geological era, Anthropocene, which is man's final destruction of the rest of the planet. These assembled idiots, embarrassments to whatever colleges granted them degrees, gave as an example of “catastophic” changes caused by man, sand churned up by SUVs and ATVs. Yes, dust churned up in the Sahara.

Of course, these mice of science lack any actual numbers. Were they to study their own fields, they'd learn that the eruption of Krakatoa in 1883 released approxomately 11 cubic miles of dust into the atmosphere, creating a mini-nuclear winter in New York, some 6,000 miles away. On that eruption:


It has been estimated that at least 21 cubic Km (appr. 11 cubic mile) was ejected from the eruption of Krakatoa and that at least 1 cubic mile of the finer material was blown to a height of about 17 miles (27 Km). The volcanic dust blown into the upper atmosphere was carried several times around the earth by air currents. This volcanic dust veil not only created the spectacular atmospheric effects described previously but acted also as a solar radiation filter, reducing the amount of sunlight reaching the surface of the earth. In the year following the eruption, global temperatures were lowered by as much as 1.2 degree Centigrade on the average. Weather patterns continued to be chaotic for years and there were major climatological changes which affected the entire globe.

Temperatures did not return to normal until five years later, in 1888.***


(It should be noted that environmentalist whackos use the year 1884 as the baseline for “proving” global warming. Why? Because the volcano made that year unusually cool around the world.)

Further, these scientists complain that the Amazon and Sahara could change climatological placs as a result of man's activities. Horse hockey. We learned in high school science class that the Sahara has once a fertile and temperate garden. The millenial rocking of the Earth's axis has shifted it, throughout most of man's existence, closer to the equator, scortching its forests into barren dessert. When the earth rocks back the other way (which began about 3,000 years ago), the Sahara will naturally become fertile, again. I don't remember whether the Amazon valley was once a dessert--but I remember a hell of a lot more science that the crackpots in Stockholm.

I have a recommendation for the scientists: re-read your freshman science books and stop using your phony degrees to advance your unscientific political agenda.

One scientist, physician, and environmentalist agrees, largely, with me. His name is Michael Crichton. You probably know of his work: ER, Jurassic Park, Prey. Last year he lambasted the “religion“ of environmentalism which spews lies as emotional masturbation. Here's just a small piece of his speech: (Click anywhere to go to the complete speech.)


So I can tell you some facts. I know you haven't read any of what I am about to tell you in the newspaper, because newspapers literally don't report them. I can tell you that DDT is not a carcinogen and did not cause birds to die and should never have been banned. I can tell you that the people who banned it knew that it wasn't carcinogenic and banned it anyway. I can tell you that the DDT ban has caused the deaths of tens of millions of poor people, mostly children, whose deaths are directly attributable to a callous, technologically advanced western society that promoted the new cause of environmentalism by pushing a fantasy about a pesticide, and thus irrevocably harmed the third world. Banning DDT is one of the most disgraceful episodes in the twentieth century history of America. We knew better, and we did it anyway, and we let people around the world die and didn't give a damn.

I can tell you that second hand smoke is not a health hazard to anyone and never was, and the EPA has always known it. I can tell you that the evidence for global warming is far weaker than its proponents would ever admit. I can tell you the percentage the US land area that is taken by urbanization, including cities and roads, is 5%. I can tell you that the Sahara desert is shrinking, and the total ice of Antarctica is increasing. I can tell you that a blue-ribbon panel in Science magazine concluded that there is no known technology that will enable us to halt the rise of carbon dioxide in the 21st century. Not wind, not solar, not even nuclear. The panel concluded a totally new technology-like nuclear fusion-was necessary, otherwise nothing could be done and in the meantime all efforts would be a waste of time. They said that when the UN IPCC reports stated alternative technologies existed that could control greenhouse gases, the UN was wrong.


Read the speech. Get your environmental news from serious science journals, not crackpots. Read about the effects of sun spots on Earth temperatures. Try to figure out for yourself how gasses as heavy as freon could possible reach the ozone layer. Try to figure out how many cubic feet of dangerous gasses humans produce in a year, then compare that to the eruptions of volcanoes.

Why do I bother, though. Michael Crichton had little hope that people who believe the lies that enviro-whackjobs put forth would care to learn facts. Crichton offered to list the sources and explain the validity of the scientific methods of the facts stated above, “But such references probably won't impact more than a handful of you, because the beliefs of a religion are not dependant on facts, but rather are matters of faith. Unshakeable belief.”

Read it again. The pseudo-scientists spouting about global warming use 1984, the "mini ice-age" as their baseline year. Sheesh!

Warming to Global Warming

After three years of belittling or suppressing science, the Bush administration appears willing to concede that humans and their industrial activity have been largely responsible for the recent warming of the earth's atmosphere. This tardy acceptance of what mainstream scientists have been saying for years does not mean that the administration is prepared to deal seriously with the problem - by, for instance, supporting mandatory caps on emissions of carbon dioxide. But at least nobody is trying to hide the evidence.

Bush and his administration are losing it. What problem do politicians have with science?

It May Be Hard to Tell a Rally From a Lot of People in the Park

United for Peace and Justice - the group that is organizing what is expected to be the largest demonstration related to the convention, an antiwar march on Sunday - announced an agreement with the city yesterday about a march route. Starting at noon, the group will head up Seventh Avenue past Madison Square Garden, where the convention will begin on Monday, then head east on 34th Street and turn down Fifth Avenue and Broadway to Union Square. But organizers made clear that after the march, supporters would head to Central Park despite the lack of a permit, and seemed to at least tacitly encourage it.

I remember the 1968 Democratic Convention. I hope we don't see a repeat.

Report: Bush admits Iraq ‘miscalculations’

President Bush acknowledged for the first time on Thursday that he had miscalculated post-war conditions in Iraq, the New York Times reported.

This was not a small mistake. This was inexcusable. But it is a mistake that won't be repeated in the future, no matter who is in charge.

Kerry and his Band of Brothers. It's on half the blogs in the world, so it may as well be here. 

Documentary will Expose New Issues with Kerry's Vietnam Record

Even before the Swiftboat Veterans for Truth aired their first commercial, independent journalist Carlton Sherwood's company Red, White and Blue Productions was busy planning a documentary featuring the views of former Vietnam POWs on the presidential candidacy of John Kerry.

As a Vietnam veteran with relationships with many former POWs, Carlton remembers that when John Kerry returned from Vietnam his words and deeds caused severe pain that's never been forgotten.

Now and through the coming weeks, Americans will hear a still yet untold story. The story of men held captive while a former colleague betrays them.

This will focus on what I know really counts. Treason. The title of the Documentary is Stolen Honor.

You Know You're From Arkansas When...

"Vacation" means goin' through Harrison on the way to Branson.

Down South, to you, means Louisiana.

You have no problem spelling or pronouncin' Ouachita or Possum Grape.

You know what Toad Suck and Booger Holler are.

Your idea of a really great tenderloin is when the meat is twice as big as the bun and comes with cole slaw on top.

You say catty-wampus and tumped over.

You know the difference between a deer dog, a duck dog and a coon dog by the way they bark.

Pulaski County is considered a foreign or exotic place.

You consider being a "Beef Queen" an honor.

You faithfully drink Pepsi, Mt. Dew, or Dr. Pepper everyday of your life.

You know what a "cow drop" is.

You have your own secret bbq sauce.

You know how to snipe hunt.

You or your neighbors have more hunting dogs than you have family members.

You visit the Arkansas State Fair mainly to see your neighbor's prize chicken.

You've been invited to or had a bunkin' party.

You abhor homosexuality, but love "Queer Eye for the Straight Guy."

You'd rather be No. 1 in football than No. 1 in education.

You think that recycling means riding your bike down the same old path.

You think orange barrels are really part of the interstate system.

When the forecast calls for an inch of snow, you run out with all the other crazies to stand in line for three hours to buy a month's worth of groceries.

You drink sweet iced tea out of a sports bottle.

Your traditional Thanksgiving dinner is a deep-fried turkey.

You call a shopping cart a buggy.

You see "No Hunting" signs are riddled with bullet holes.

You think "Animal House" is the training film for incoming athletes at the University of Arkansas

The three food groups are Velveeta, pork rinds and a six-pack.

Everyone you think of as a "liberal" is either Methodist or Catholic.

You think that Bill Clinton is a lyin', cheatin' sumbitch, but you'd still vote for him again in a heartbeat because he's OUR lyin' cheatin' sumbitch.

You've "offered" someone an "ass-whoopin'. " (

When you give directions they include "over yonder," "down the road a piece," and "right near."

You're not commitment-phobic: you love God, guns and football.

You'd rather have a Budweiser beer museum than a presidential library.

You think pinto beans are nekkid without hamhocks, cornbread and buttermilk.

Sweet milk and torn up biscuits in a glass is your favorite dessert.

You think bagels are nothing but a cruel doughnut joke invented by some Yankee!

You eat at Senor Tequila's for atmosphere and Lolita's Tex-Mex for salsa.

You say, "I voted for Clinton to get him out of the state."

You own three cars and one license plate.

You actually get these jokes and pass them on to other friends from Arkansas.

Democrats battle to contain Nader effect

"He (Nader) doesn't need to be on the ballot in 15 or 16 of the battleground states. All he needs to do is to be on the ballot in three or four or five of the battleground states to make a difference in the election," said Chris Kofinis, a strategist for a group called theNaderFactor.com, which is trying to persuade would-be Nader voters to re-consider.

Although exit poll data from 2000 is too scanty to prove that Nader cost Al Gore the election, Democrats believe that he did.

And Democrats’ anxiety over Nader reflects Kerry’s weakness as a candidate.

Go, Ralphie, go.

I am John Kerry and I am reporting for duty.

Very good, John, very good!! I am so pleased to welcome you.

Why James Rassmann Is Honestly Mistaken About John Kerry Saving His Life

The Officers-in-Charge of Swift boats PCF-51, PCF-23, PCF-43, and PCF-3 state that they were not receiving enemy fire after the mine explosion.

This is the best reconstruction of the events of 3/13/69 that I have seen. It is by a Marine who appears trained and experienced in military investigations.

Sauce for the Gander: Sharing Lawyers With 527's

No surprise. Of course the Dems went crazy when they thought Reps were "coordinating."

Well, guess what. Mr. Ginsberg isn't the only lawyer who is working for a 527 with another job on the side.

Neil Reiff is listed as the contact person for MoveOn.org's 527 organization, as can be seen on the actual form submitted by MoveOn.org to the IRS here (PDF).

But Mr. Reiff seems to have another job. According to his firm's website, he's also the Deputy General Counsel for the Democratic National Committee:

From June, 1993 until May, 1998, Mr. Reiff served as Deputy General Counsel of the Democratic National Committee, and will retain this title in his new firm. In this capacity, Mr. Reiff has been responsible for assisting the DNC General Counsel in all legal matters affecting the national party. Mr. Reiff's major field of expertise is federal and state campaign finance laws. In that regard, Mr. Reiff advises and represents the DNC in all matters before the Federal Election Commission and state election agencies.

Vast Force Is Deployed for Security at Convention

The New York Police Department and the largest armada of land, air and maritime forces ever assembled to provide security at a national political gathering are being deployed in New York for the Republican convention, according to federal, state and local officials. They said yesterday that they were planning an intentionally huge response to intelligence that Al Qaeda hoped to carry out an attack to disrupt this year's elections.

I'm not sure that Al Qaeda will carry out an attack. I'm sure there will be violence. But it will be perpetrated by liberals -- the American criminal class.

Report takes Rumsfeld down a notch

Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld's leadership of the Pentagon has been weighed by a jury of his peers and found somewhat wanting.

Yep. The top person is always responsible. And should be. (that's what he gets the big bucks for.

Let It Alone

This is one of the best essays I have read. I encourage everyone to read it.

KERRY'S QUAGMIRE

When John Kerry was in Vietnam, I was still wearing pajamas with feet on them. But here we are, talking about Vietnam. And Kerry has no one to blame for that but himself.

Had Kerry not made his four months of Vietnam service the centerpiece of his campaign, stories about what he did when wouldn't have traction.

Roger Franklin argues that Kerry's war record deserves scrutiny:

So why pick on Kerry? Only this: Harkin doesn't want to be President.

While voters will never know -- can never know -- if Kerry deserved those medals and his early ticket home, they can be absolutely sure that he did worse than merely embroider his exploits in the years that followed.

Kerry threw his medals over the White House fence -- except he didn't.

He slept out on the Mall in Washington, D.C., with anti-war protesters -- except he didn't, having actually bunked down in a borrowed townhouse with Newsweek reporter Robert Sam Anson, according to an investigative story in the New York Observer.

And most troubling of all, Kerry has said he spent the last days of 1968 on a secret mission in Cambodia, under fire and listening to President Nixon deny that Kerry or any other U.S. servicemen were operating on the wrong side of the border. In one version, it was the Khmer Rouge doing the shooting. In another, drunken South Vietnamese troops celebrating Christmas, which isn't even a good fable, since Buddhists generally don't get too excited about the birth of the Christians' Messiah.

Yep. Kerry did it to himself.

A 'filthy, obscene memory' or a heroic one?

The new Swift Boat Veterans for Truth television ad assailing Democrat John Kerry features only a few, but powerful, excerpts from his April 22, 1971, testimony before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

Yep. He's not going to be able to lie, or nuance, his way out of this.

The worrisome voter for Kerry is the undecided 55-year-old white male — because exit polls from 2000 indicate that Al Gore lost white male voters by 24 percentage points.

He doesn't have to worry about me. I'm not undecided.

Love Boat Veterans Attack Kerry's Love Record

A new book has hit the stores today, causing a veritable partisan firestorm among the various political factions, especially among the Nick at Night constituency. A new group calling itself Love Boat Veterans Against John Kerry has begun an all-out attack, claiming that Kerry's Love Boat service, which only lasted 1 1/2 episodes, has been grossly misrepresented by the Kerry campaign. Several crew members, along with Charo, a special guest on an episode in question, claim that Kerry did not find love aboard the ship at all. In fact, he was described as "surly", "boring", and as one anonymous source said "a loose cannon."

A clever parody.

Bush calls for halt to Swift Boat vets' ads

President Bush says a veterans’ group should stop television ads criticizing John Kerry’s war record.

The president's criticism of the ads by Swift Boat Veterans for the Truth came as Bush denounced all TV ads by outside groups attacking both Kerry and himself on Monday and called for a halt to all such political efforts.

“I think they’re bad for the system,” he said.

I hope he's making points with Kerry. He's not making any with me. I hope the SBVs ignore him. They better or they will be coordinating. George, don't let the Dems run your campaign.

Thousands Registered to Vote in 2 States-Report

About 46,000 people are registered to vote in two states, New York and Florida, a violation of both states' laws that could affect the outcome of the November presidential election, according to an investigation by the Daily News.

Many New Yorkers spend the winter months in sunny Florida, which played a pivotal role in the 2000 election after George W. Bush narrowly won the state in a contested ballot recount. Florida could be a crucial state in the November presidential election.

Well, isn't this special??

Kerry’s Testimony

If anyone doubts that Kerry is a traitor, read this:

EDITOR'S NOTE: Below is the text of John F. Kerry's testimony before the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations on April 22, 1971.

Over Najaf, Fighting for Des Moines

I'm an average American who grew up watching "Brady Bunch" reruns, playing dodge ball and listening to Van Halen. I love the Longhorns and the Eagles. I'm you; your neighbor; the kid you used to go sledding with but who took a different career path in college. Now, I'm a Marine helicopter pilot who has spent the last two weeks heavily engaged with enemy forces here. I'm writing this between missions, without much time or care to polish, so please look to the heart of these thoughts and not their structure.

QA very thoughtful piece by a Marine major. I recommend you read it.

Neo-Nazis in Paris Vandalize and Burn a Jewish Community Center

Fire swept through a Jewish community center in eastern Paris in the early morning hours on Sunday after arsonists broke into the building and scrawled swastikas and anti-Semitic slogans inside. It was the latest in a wave of neo-Nazi acts across the country.

One more GOOD reason to dislike the French. And some people worry that they don't like us.

Dole calls on Kerry to apologize

Former Republican Sen. Bob Dole suggested Sunday that John Kerry apologize for past testimony before Congress about alleged atrocities during the Vietnam War and joined critics of the Democratic presidential candidate who say he received an early exit from combat for “superficial wounds.”

Finally. A real hero. Let's see Kerry try to attack him.

U.S. starts air surveillance of Canada border

As part of a dramatic boost in surveillance of the Canadian border, federal officials Friday dedicated the first of five planned bases for regular flights to look for drug runners and others crossing illegally by air or land.

A threat I've always feared. Are we nuts? With everything else in the world.

MY OWN STORY OF HEROISM

As long as everyone seems to have their own story – and everyone seems to have critics who want to attack it, I’ve decided to tell my story. But to save anyone interested the time and trouble, I’m going to self-fisk. My story will be in black and the facts will be in blue. OK. Here goes:

I am an American hero. I’m an American. I am a Vietnam Veteran. I am a Vietnam Era Veteran. The closest I got to Vietnam was San Diego. I was a SEAL. At the time I was a pollywog. Years after the war, I became a shellback. As a result of my participation in numerous extremely violent engagement, never saw a bullet fired in anger I was awarded the Medal of Honor, two Silver Stars, four Bronze Stars actually I did get the Navy Achievement Medal for running a very successful Navy Relief Fund Drive and the Distinguished Flying Medal. I don’t do airplanes. I single handedly rescued an Army officer from a raging river. I once bailed a shipmate out of the drunk tank. During Christmas of ’98, I slipped over the border to Cambodia. Cambodia is about the same distance to San Diego. I eventually spent a double tour in Southeast Asia. Yep, two times zero is zero. When I returned to the States I was given a ticker tape parade. I was lucky not have my ass marched to the brig on several occasions. Then the President hung the Medal of Honor about my neck. The only thing likely to have been put around my neck would have been a noose. And there you have it my honest, true story of heroism. I swear by Kerry.

This needs to be adopted by the Highway Department. 

MY OWN STORY OF HEROISM

As long as everyone seems to have their own story – and everyone seems to have critics who want to attack it, I’ve decided to tell my story. But to save anyone interested the time and trouble, I’m going to self-fisk. My story will be in black and the facts will be in blue. OK. Here goes:

I am an American hero. I’m an American. I am a Vietnam Veteran. I am a Vietnam Era Veteran. The closest I got to Vietnam was San Diego. I was a SEAL. At the time I was a pollywog. Years after the war, I became a shellback. As a result of my participation in numerous extremely violent engagement, never saw a bullet fired in anger I was awarded the Medal of Honor, two Silver Stars, four Bronze Stars actually I did get the Navy Achievement Medal for running a very successful Navy Relief Fund Drive and the Distinguished Flying Medal. I don’t do airplanes. I single handedly rescued an Army officer from a raging river. I once bailed a shipmate out of the drunk tank. During Christmas of ’98, I slipped over the border to Cambodia. Cambodia is about the same distance to San Diego. I eventually spent a double tour in Southeast Asia. Yep, two times zero is zero. When I returned to the States I was given a ticker tape parade. I was lucky not have my ass marched to the brig on several occasions. Then the President hung the Medal of Honor about my neck. The only thing likely to have been put around my neck would have been a noose. And there you have it my honest, true story of heroism. I swear by Kerry.

Medal or meddle?

Judicial Watch filed a request yesterday with the U.S. Navy and the Defense Department for an investigation into awards granted to Sen. John Kerry during his service with the U.S. Navy in Vietnam.
The District-based legal group also wants to look into Mr. Kerry's anti-war activities, including "a meeting with North Vietnamese and Viet Cong delegations in Paris, while he was a member of the Naval Reserve."
They note that "unresolved allegations against Kerry include: false official reports and statements; dishonorable conduct; aiding the enemy; dereliction of duty; misuse and abuse of U.S. government equipment and property; war crimes; and multiple violations of U.S. Navy regulations and directives, the Uniform Code of Military Justice and the U.S. Code."

Yep. That should be investigated. The words I highlighted in red constitute the definition of treason. That pretty much explains my rant in an earlier post. But I also learned something new:

Mr. Kerry also amended his discharge papers in March 2001, "burnishing his Vietnam Service medal by adding four bronze service stars," noted another. "Why anyone would go through that effort to make meaningless changes is beyond me."

Kinda hard to earn four bronze stars on a sevice medal for four months service.

15 things a man can do at Wal-Mart By... Anonymous internet e-mail

1. Get 24 boxes of condoms & randomly put them in people's carts when they aren't looking.

2. Set all the alarm clocks in Housewares to go off at 5 minute intervals.

3. Make a trail of tomato juice on the floor leading to the rest-rooms.

4. Walk up to an employee and tell him/her in an official tone: 'Code 3 in Housewares', and see what happens.

5. Go to the Service Desk and ask to put a bag of M&M's on lay-away.

6. Move a 'CAUTION - WET FLOOR' sign to a carpeted area.

7. Set-up a tent in the Camping Department and tell other shoppers you're sleeping over; invite them in, if they bring pillows from the Bedding Department.

8. When a clerk asks if they can help you, begin to cry and ask: "Why can't you people just leave me alone?"

9. Look right into the security camera, use it as a mirror and pick your nose.

10. While handling guns in the Hunting Department, ask the clerk where the anti-depressants are.

11. Dart around the store suspiciously, while loudly humming the theme from "Mission Impossible."

12. In the Auto Department, practice your "Madonna look" using different sized funnels.

13. Hide in a clothing rack . . . and when people browse through, say: "PICK ME!!! PICK ME!!!"

14. When an announcement comes over the loudspeaker, assume the fetal position and scream "NO! ... NO!. It's those voices again!!!"

15. Go into a fitting room, shut the door and wait a while, then yell loudly:

"There's no toilet paper in here!"

Via DANEgerous

'527' groups rewrite campaign rules

Anti-Bush donor George Soros and the “Swift Boat Veterans for Truth,” a group of Navy vets who are critical of Democrat John Kerry’s actions as a Navy lieutenant in Vietnam in 1968, have diametrically opposed ideologies.

But Soros and the Swift Boat Veterans do have something in common: They have channeled their activism into organizations set up under section 527 of the Internal Revenue Code, called “527” groups in campaign finance vernacular.

But with all Kerry's whining, heres the kicker:

Of the top 10 individual donors to 527 committees, all are backing anti-Bush or Democratic-allied groups. Of the 50 largest groups, 34 of them are allied with the Democrats or anti-Bush.

Now let's get real folks.

THE REST OF THE STORY

OK. I’m fed up. John Kerry gave a speech strongly rebuking the 527 organizations (read Swiftboat Veterans for the Truth) supporting Bush. He was indignant that the money supporting them came from rich Texas Republicans. It is funny because the major media has completely ignored reporting on this group. Now they can’t ignore it. Everyone, including NYT have stories. Of course they are negative to the Republicans. Who cares? They are giving the vets exposure and the curious will hunt them out.

(ASIDE: The Swiftboat Vets will start running a new ad today.)

Remarkably not one reporter or opinion maker, including the more conservative ones, have mentioned Move-on.org, Michael Moore or George Soros. The Vets got $200,00 from the “Texas millionaires”, but Soros has given in the tens of millions to the lefty 527s.

This, of course, centers on Kerry’s performance in Vietnam. He centered his entire campaign on this as well as his convention. Maybe he did act heroically. Who knows? I’ll give it to him.

BUT THAT IS HARDLY THE POINT!

Benedict Arnold behaved heroically in the French and Indian Wars and the American Revolution – until he turned TRAITOR. That is a stain that does not ever wash out. Arnold will always be remembered as a traitor. His heroism does not count.

Likewise, Kerry IS a TRAITOR. That can never change. It is his legacy. He earned the title, deserves the title, and will always ware the title: TRAITOR.

File-Sharing Sites Found Not Liable for Infringement

Affirming a lower court decision, a federal appellate court ruled Thursday that the distributors of software used by millions of people to exchange music files over the Internet cannot be held liable for aiding copyright infringement.

Finally, someone is putting the brakes on the RIAA. Good!

Panel Compromises on Soft Money Rules

The Federal Election Commission passed a series of complicated campaign finance rules on Thursday in an effort to make it harder for some independent political groups to spend millions in unrestricted contributions in future elections.

This year, the commission declined to restrict the 527 committees for this year's election. A handful of groups have spent tens of millions in the presidential race and have been particularly helpful to Democrats, earning a place at the center of the debate over what the campaign finance system should allow.

Now isn't that special. And Kerry is having s fit about Texas millionaires giving $200,000 to the Swiftboat Veterans for Truth.

Senator? Terrorist? A Watch List Stops Kennedy at Airport

The meeting had all the hallmarks of an ordinary Congressional hearing. There was Senator Edward M. Kennedy, Democrat of Massachusetts, discussing the problems faced by ordinary citizens mistakenly placed on terrorist watch lists. Then, to the astonishment of the crowd attending a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on Thursday, Mr. Kennedy offered himself up as Exhibit A.

Between March 1 and April 6, airline agents tried to block Mr. Kennedy from boarding airplanes on five occasions because his name resembled an alias used by a suspected terrorist who had been barred from flying on airlines in the United States, his aides and government officials said.

You've gotta love it. He certainly looks and acts like a terrorist.

Oh, the sentence he will serve
A Portland man tries to extort a fortune from Dr. Seuss' widow, but police throw the book at him

Somewhere in Con-ville, Charles Steen hatched his plot. He wanted money, and he wanted a lot.

To the widow of Dr. Seuss, the Portland man e-mailed a threat. "Give me 2.5 million, or I'll do something you'll regret."

He painted a picture, unseemly and lewd, of famous characters in poses no child should view. Horton, Sam, and the Cat in the Hat. And, yes, even little Cindy-Lou Who.

It was extortion! A Grinch-like pinch, you know. This Steen man, this mean man, threatened to put on a show.

But the widow did not bite. She turned the con man in to police, who grimaced at the painting and said, "This just ain't right."

I think you can file this under "dumbass."

So, now I know about the separation of Church and State. 

Programs that may behave differently in Windows XP Service Pack 2

Microsoft Windows XP Service Pack 2 (SP2) introduces a number of new features that help increase the performance and the security of your system. These changes also affect the operations and functionality of some programs.

SOME programs. Well over 200. Microsoft strikes again. (Link is to MS site.)

Abuse Inquiry Faults Officers on Leadership

A high-level Army inquiry has found that senior American commanders created conditions that allowed abuses to occur at Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq by failing to provide leadership and enough resources to run the jail, according to Pentagon and military officials.

But the inquiry found no evidence of direct culpability above the colonel who commanded the military intelligence unit at the prison, these officials said.

No surprises here. Did anyone expect a general officer to take a hit?

Troop movement stirs quick debate

Two days after President Bush told a gathering of veterans that he intends to bring home or redeploy more than 70,000 military personnel stationed abroad over the next decade, Democratic challenger John Kerry on Wednesday will tell the same Cincinnati convention that Bush's plan is a bad idea.

The Kerry and Bush campaigns have worked hard to differentiate their candidates, and Bush's redeployment initiative--and Kerry's objections to it--offer one of the clearest recent examples of how the two differ on ways to resolve current conflicts and crises overseas.

We should have done this a long time ago. I think the American people will side with Bush on this one.

Oops! Was that Kerry or Kerrey?

John Kerry, Bob Kerrey. It’s easy to get confused.

At least that’s how the Kerry campaign is explaining claims that Kerry — the Democratic presidential candidate — served as vice chairman of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence.

Can you say dumbsh*ts? Sure you can.

N.Y. offers perks to 'nice' protesters

Mayor Michael Bloomberg turned down requests to allow an anti-war demonstration in Central Park on the eve of the Republican National Convention, but he offered protesters something else: cheap tickets to a Broadway show.

All they have to do to get discounted tickets, reduced hotel rates and other perks is play nice when they come to town.

This is pretty ill conceived. They act civily for one day, get their tokens, then terrorize the town the rest of the time. All at NYC taxpayers expense.

Guess what, for "jimed" search 'Jimed Speaks Out' is number one for Google and Ask Jeeves.


Pretty cool, huh?

Microsoft delays part of Windows update

Microsoft Corp. has delayed automated distribution of a major security upgrade to its Windows XP operating system, citing a desire to give companies more time to test it.

Apparently someone thinks this is news. If MS ever gets a release out on time, that would be headline worthy.

Bryant criminal case could be dismissed today

With the trial less than two weeks away, speculation is mounting that prosecutors are looking for a way to dismiss the charge after suffering a series of setbacks.

What a pack of screw ups. All they are missing is Marcia.

Bush to announce huge troop realignment

In a speech Monday at the Veterans of Foreign Wars convention in Cincinnati, Bush will announce one of the largest troop realignments since the end of the Cold War.

This iway overdue. We should not have any troops permanently posted outside of the US.

U.N. Demands Justice After Massacre of 150 Refugees in Burundi

The United Nations Security Council on Sunday condemned the massacre of at least 150 Congolese refugees at a United Nations camp in Burundi, and demanded that those responsible be brought to justice "without delay."

Reflecting the seriousness of the killings, the Council met in emergency session at the request of France to denounce the attack on Friday night at the camp in Gatumba.

A statement approved by the 15 Council members and read by the Council president, Russia's ambassador to the United Nations, Andrei Denisov, condemned the massacre "with the utmost firmness."

"...utmost firmness." We have got to get out of that stupid organization. NOW!

It MIGHT work! 

Corpsman Awarded Navy Cross

Secretary of the Navy Gordon R. England presented the Navy Cross to Hospitalman Luis E. Fonseca Jr. in a ceremony held at Naval Hospital Camp Lejeune, N.C., Aug. 11.

Fonseca, a 23-year-old corpsman, was awarded the Navy Cross for his actions in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom March 23, 2003, while serving with Amphibious Assault Vehicle Platoon, Company C, 1st Battalion, 2nd Marines, Task Force Tarawa, II Marine Expeditionary Force.

I'll always be proud of having been a corpsman, because of the brave types of folks in that career field. I'm glad the tradition continues.

How To Foil An Alien Abduction

You're driving along a dark, deserted road when suddenly a UFO appears overhead in front of you. You pull over just as a beam of light radiates from the craft, and you can see five gray-colored aliens descending in the beam. You get out of your car for a closer look. Uh-oh! The aliens are rapidly moving toward you, and you think that you're going to be abducted. What should you do?

Lawyers Follow the Money, and Debate How the Candidates Can Use It

For months now, Mr. Ginsberg on the Republican side and Robert Bauer, a Democratic lawyer, have established themselves at the pinnacle of an elite and wily group of Washington election lawyers who have been testing - critics say weakening - the new McCain-Feingold campaign-finance law, as politicians and parties try to navigate the complex rules to their clients' maximum benefit. Once relegated to the back office, election lawyers are playing increasingly prominent campaign roles, working on cases that have multimillion-dollar consequences and can alter the landscape for the November elections.

Of course. This was a stupid (and unconstitutional) law from the start.

Under Eye of U.N., Billions for Hussein in Oil-for-Food Plan

Toward the end of 2000, when Saddam Hussein's skimming from the oil-for-food program for Iraq kicked into high gear, reports spread quickly to the program's supervisors at the United Nations.

Oil industry experts told Security Council members and Secretary General Kofi Annan's staff that Iraq was demanding under-the-table payoffs from its oil buyers. The British mission distributed a background paper to Council members outlining what it called "the systematic abuse of the program" and described how Iraq was shaking down its oil customers and suppliers of goods for kickbacks.


When the report landed in the United Nations' Iraq sanctions committee, the clearinghouse for all contracts with Iraq, it caused only a few ripples of consternation. There was no action, diplomats said, not even a formal meeting on the allegations.

One more good reason to get out of that organization.

AIN'T IT THE TRUTH?! 

Democrats Don't Plan to Block Confirmation of C.I.A. Nominee

A dozen Senate Democrats suggested Wednesday that they would not oppose President Bush's nomination of Representative Porter J. Goss as director of central intelligence, but they vowed to use his confirmation hearings to amplify their concerns over fatal intelligence failures under this administration.

Senator Pat Roberts, the Kansas Republican who is chairman of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, said he expected to open the confirmation hearings the first week of September. He also predicted that Mr. Goss, a Florida Republican, would be confirmed.

Not like they have much choice. The Republicans would have a field day if the Dems try to block a CIA nomination right before the 9/11 anniversary.

INTERESTING

I did a search on IceRocket for "Jimed" and I was item #1.

It also indicated that I did well on other search engines:

Sources: Yahoo #1, Teoma #4, MSN #1, Altavista #1, AllTheWeb #1, Lycos #1

Pretty darn cool!!

The Hoax of the Food Desert

As one who in his professional life has heard numerous complaints about the alleged "oppression" that
s created by the presence of a Wal-Mart or some other large chain store, it is interesting to see how the academic left shifts gears and now blames these same retailers for not having enough stores in existence. Social activists have worked overtime to keep the Wal-Marts and Safeways from opening in rural and urban areas; now we see that the real problem, according to activists, is that many rural and urban people do not have access to the inexpensive food that these markets sell.

For those not aware of this current "crisis," a "food desert" is an area that is not readily served by a large grocery chain. The AP story tells of people in small rural communities who either must drive long distances to grocery stores or are "forced" (AP’s term) to purchase food from convenience stores where prices are higher and the selection of fresh meat and vegetables is almost nil.

Yep, if you are a Wal-Mart you can't win and you can't break even.

Tensions With Unions and Protesters Build as Convention Approaches

The unions are barred by law from staging strikes or work stoppages, and under state law, their leaders cannot even call for such activity. But their remarks yesterday raised the specter of such labor actions during the convention, even if the unions do not officially sanction strikes or work stoppages.

They might want to consult with former PATCO members first.

U.S. to Give Border Patrol Agents the Power to Deport Illegal Aliens

Citing concerns about terrorists crossing the nation's borders, the Department of Homeland Security said on Tuesday that it planned to give border patrol agents sweeping new powers to deport illegal aliens from the frontiers with Mexico and Canada without providing them the opportunity to make their case before an immigration judge.

The move, which will take effect this month, represents a broad expansion of the authority of the thousands of law enforcement agents who patrol the nation's borders. Until now, border patrol agents typically delivered undocumented immigrants to the custody of the immigration courts, where judges determined whether they should be deported or remain in the United States.

Let's see how long it takes the courts to get involved. I'm betting not long.

Senate confirmation raises political stakes
Edwards in spotlight as panel prepares to consider Goss for CIA

For Democrats, will the Goss nomination end up being a gift-wrapped present or a ticking time bomb?

Yep. That's the big question.

Bush nominates Goss to lead CIA

President Bush on Tuesday nominated Florida Repulbican Rep. Porter Goss to head the embattled CIA, saying the former agency operative “knows the CIA inside and out.”

I'm not sure this is a ggod idea. But Bush is looking for Florida votes. And he may be able to distract Kerry and the Dems. We'll see.

Cuddling new craze for New York's singles

The grab fests are called cuddle parties, and since they started in New York in February, hundreds of people have paid $30 each to touch and embrace others in intimate gatherings.

I don't get it, but I think I'll pass.

Stooges DVD revives colorization debate

The DVD era is resurrecting the great colorization debate of the 1980s, and at the heart of the matter are Curly, Larry and Moe.

Sony’s Columbia TriStar home-video unit is releasing two Three Stooges DVDs that allow viewers to watch the original black-and-white or digitally colorized versions.

Actually, I can think of more important things to get upset about. Big deal.

From Scrappleface

Judges Vie to Overturn MO Gay Marriage Ban

According to an unnamed law professor at the University of Missouri (MU), federal judges in the midwest today are "racing their colleagues for the prize" of overturning the Missouri state constitutional amendment passed this week which defines marriage as a monogamous heterosexual union.

Yep, but then the push for a US Constitutional Amendment will be overwhelming.

You gotta love it!! 

Ben Stein's latest book...

seems pretty good. He documents how hate-filled the contemporary American Left are. God help us if the American Left were ever to get the power that the Left had in Soviet Russia! He explains such Leftism as psychologically juvenile -- an explanation some others give too (see here and here) but, although that is true enough as a description, I think we can go a bit deeper than that and see the juvenility as just one symptom of a broader psychopathic syndrome.

That's what I've always said. Liberalism is an immature philosophy. Glad Ben agrees.

Muffing the Bounce

Charles has it exactly right.

The explanation that respects the intelligence of the American people is that Kerry had nothing to say. Well, one thing: Vietnam. His entire speech, the entire convention, was a celebration of his military service. The salute. The band of brothers. The Swift boat metaphors. The attribution of everything -- from religious values to foreign policy wisdom -- to Kerry's five-month stint in Vietnam 35 years ago

A KERRY MELTDOWN?

Kerry's post-convention week hasn't been very good. An effort at an impromptu photo-op with some Marines he met at a Wendy's went sour, with the Marines complaining that he "imposed on" them and saying that they preferred Bush. Photos of Kerry in a bunny suit at Kennedy Space Center -- undignified, perhaps, but harmless in themselves -- became a liability when Kerry's campaign manager claimed that their release was a "dirty trick," only to have it come out that the Kerry campaign had asked for their expedited release. Oops!

Doesn't look good for Bunny Boy.

. 

Letourneau gets out of prison

Mary Kay Letourneau, the one-time grade school teacher whose seduction of a sixth-grade pupil launched a thousand tabloid covers, has been released from prison, a corrections spokeswoman said early Wednesday.

[Seattle Attorney Anne] Bremner said Letourneau still feels for Fualaau. “She’s always said this love is eternal and endless, and I think she stands by that,” Bremner said.

Well, isn't that special?

Missouri voters approve gay marriage ban

Missouri voters overwhelmingly approved a constitutional amendment Tuesday to ban gay marriage, the first such vote since the historic ruling in Massachusetts last year that legalized same-sex weddings there.

Like I say, I don't have a dog in this fight. But if the folks in MO want to run their state rather than have courts do it, this is the only thing they could do.

Liberty returns

The day has been long in coming, but today, Aug. 3—one month later than expected, and nearly three years after the devastating events of Sept. 11—the Statue of Liberty reopened to the public.

Welcome back, Lady.

Thanks to Cox & Forcum 

Snapping to Attention

So we go through these cycles of contempt and romance. When the military is in ill repute, we ask too little of it. When it is admired, we ask too much. Now, for example, many people seem to think that military experience is the key to foreign policy judgment and national leadership.

My own instinct is that we need an ambitious national service program to demystify the military for the next generation of Americans.

I agree. Aprofessional military is scary. This from a twenty year veteran who served during the Vietnam era.

Eager fans finally get hands on 'Doom 3'

With each release, the visuals, sound and other effects have improved. "Doom 3" is by far the most realistic and looks nearly equal to animated films like "Shrek 2."

This is so cool!!

First union for Wal-Mart is accredited

A Wal-Mart store in Quebec may become the retail giant’s first unionized outlet after the Quebec Labor Relations Board accredited a union there to represent the workers.

Once again, anyone who gains a union has incompetent management. Time for WalMart to do a little firing.