Blog Chez Jacq'

The AP reports:

"Vioxx, launched in the United States in 1999, and a successor drug called Arcoxia, approved in some other countries and awaiting Food and Drug Administration approval here, are part of a class of anti-inflammatory drugs heavily touted by the pharmaceutical industry as being more effective and having less side effects, particularly on the gastrointestinal system, than older drugs.

Pfizer's Celebrex and its successor drug, Bextra, which already is on the market in the United States, also are in that class, called cox-2 inhibitors.

'This has never been the massive innovation which was promoted to be,' Shah said of the drug class. 'In terms of pain relief, these drugs are no better than ibuprofen and they cost 10, 15 times more.'"

The pharmaceutical powers cannot buy off the media apparently. Pay-offs to congresscritters have protected them against the SSRI dangers so far. Money does talk.

Found on page 4 of The American Conservative of October 11, 2004

Thank you Dr. Walter E. Williams for this:

"President John Adams (1797-1801) said, 'The moment the idea is admitted into society, that property is not as sacred as the laws of God, and that there is not a force of law and public justice to protect it, anarchy and tyranny commence.'

Unfortunately, our courts have increasingly become tools for powerful vested interests, and the constitutional protections of private property mean less and less each day. The good news is that we have energetic minds at organizations such as the Institute for Justice (www.ij.org) and the Pacific Legal Foundation (www.pacificlegal.org) who are fighting against the emasculation of our Fifth Amendment rights and other constitutional guarantees.

But they cannot do it alone; we must help them. Remember Benjamin Franklin's admonition: 'Make yourself sheep and the wolves will eat you.'"

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Thomas Sowell flays the liberal hypocricy:

"How did Social Security get into its present mess in the first place? Because politicians made it the 'risky scheme' that they now claim privatization would be.

The same political expediency which caused Social Security to be called 'insurance,' in order to get public support, guaranteed that it would be nothing of the sort. Unlike an insurance company, Social Security has never had enough money to pay for all the pensions it promised.

Instead, Social Security has been run like a pyramid scheme, where the first people to pay in get money back from the second wave of people who pay in, and the second wave get money back from the third wave, etc. This is so risky that pyramid schemes are illegal -- except when the government does it."

Ah yes. How does one spell "Ponzi,", eh?

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Dennis Prager describes a basic cause of the deterioration of our society:

"The Gang of Four -- trial lawyers, handpicked jurors, fortune-seeking litigants and like-minded judges (themselves often former trial lawyers) -- have created an environment of mistrust that blankets our society."

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The best play of the game! HAHAHAHA. The Chiefs about to go ahead 21-6 when Marcus Coleman intercepted in his end zone and ran 102 yards for a touch. The Texans tied it at 14 with a 2 point conversion. Duh.

Steve Benson is a confused Marxist. This is one of his wavering moments similar to the cartoon he drew showing a worker at the wreckage reconstruction of TWA 800 holding a rocket labeled "U S NAVY" saying, "Where does this go?"

There is no text to support the lies and distortions contained in this blatantly Marxist "cartoon" published on page 9 of the 9/27/2004 issue of the U.S.News & World Report.

Oliphant and the editors of the magazine know full well the so-called AWB [assault weapon ban] was only a ban on cosmetic aspects of semi-automatic rifles. Manufacturers omitted the banned aspects [e.g. folding stocks, bayonet lugs, etc.] and sold rifles all during the ban.

Here is George's play toy today...

The old wise one, Jerry Heaster, utters another truism:

"The unwillingness of major candidates to challenge the do-nothing Senate to answer for its disregard of the voters' interests is making a joke of this election campaign."

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Cato policy analysis:

'More than 25 percent of public school teachers in Washington and Baltimore send their children to private schools, a new study reports,' the Washington Times reports.

'Nationwide, public school teachers are almost twice as likely as other parents to choose private schools for their own children, the study by the Thomas B. Fordham Institute found. More than 1 in 5 public school teachers said their children attend private schools.'

In A Lesson in Waste: Where Does All the Federal Education Money Go? Education Policy Analyst Neal McCluskey writes: 'Despite the huge infusion of federal cash and the near tripling of overall per pupil funding since 1965, national academic performance has not improved. Math and reading scores have stagnated, graduation rates have flatlined, and researchers have shown numerous billion-dollar federal programs to be failures.' "

What else can one say?

Disgusting news from the HindustanTimes.com :

"Hostage throat-slitting videos rub shoulders with pornography in the stalls of central Baghdad's infamous 'thieves market', as Islamic radicals immortalise their acts of terror in grisly films like Monday's beheading of a US national.

The latest video, posted on Monday night on an Islamic website, showed five masked gunmen reading out their Islamic verdict against their American captive Eugene 'Jack' Armstrong and then slicing off the victim's head as he cried out in pain."

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WorldNetDaily reports:

"In a federally funded exercise to prepare emergency responders for a terrorist attack, a Michigan county concocted a scenario in which public-school children were threated by a fictitious radical group that believes everyone should be homeschooled.

The made-up group was called Wackos Against Schools and Education."

Just what does FEMA represent?

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You may also wish to read Michelle Malkin's column describing the zealous antics of the education establishment.

John Fund opines in the Wall Street Journal:

"The Bush and Kerry campaigns are spending unprecedented millions on TV ads. But the real battle that could decide this election may be fought by the squadrons of lawyers both sides have hired to prepare Florida-style challenges to the results in any close state. Once again, America's sloppy, fraud-prone voting system could turn Election Day into an Election Month of court challenges."

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Cato reveals the insanity prevalent in our central government:

"'After five years of legal wrangling, the nation's largest cigarette-makers are meeting federal lawyers in court for the trial phase of the government's record $280 billion civil racketeering suit against the tobacco industry,' the Associated Press reports.

In 'What Are They Smoking at the Justice Department?' Cato Senior Fellow Robert A. Levy writes: 'The federal lawsuit is part of an all-out strategy to plunder big tobacco -- while keeping it alive for future plundering, of course.

'... The American public -- voters and jurors -- need to know that our legal system is rapidly becoming a tool for extortion. Sometimes the politicians seek money; sometimes they pursue a policy agenda; often they abuse their power. When Clinton was unable to persuade Congress to enact another tax on smokers, he simply bypassed the legislature and asked a federal court to impose damages in lieu of taxes. Bush can do better. Yes, he's absorbed with establishing the rule of law around the globe, but the president needs to remind his Justice Department that the campaign begins at home. It's time to call off the government's anti-tobacco crusade.'"

Indeed. I haven't smoked in over five years. Nevertheless, this government action is thievery ...

Wired News reports:

"The government's controversial plan to screen passengers before they board a plane is dead -- but it may return in a new form with a new name.

Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge bluntly told a reporter Wednesday that the Computer Assisted Passenger Pre-Screening System II, or CAPPS II, was effectively 'dead' and jokingly pretended to put a stake in its heart. His comment went far beyond Tuesday's statement to members of Congress by the Transportation Security Administration's acting chief, Adm. David Stone, who said the program's main components were being 'reshaped.'

Today's the Day. Homeland Security spokeswoman Suzanne Luber, however, says both were right. 'The name CAPPS II may be dead, but the process of creating an automated passenger pre-screening system to replace the current CAPPS will continue to focus on. Due to operational factors (such) as public comments on CAPPS II proposal, we are now redesigning the program itself."

Does this mean the airlines must turn over credit card numbers used to acquire tickets to the TSA? I'm not sure I care to fly.

Andrew Young, a student at Kentucky Wesleyan, tells of his visit to the "birthplace of Lincoln":

"The State insists on deifying Lincoln because his War to Prevent Southern Independence destroyed the concept of limited government in America. Many of Lincoln's successors have utilized his actions as precedents for their own warmongering and unconstitutional seizures of power, George W. Bush being a prime example, with his crackdown on civil liberties and wars of 'liberation.' Franklin Roosevelt followed Lincoln's example by placing thousands of Japanese-Americans in concentration camps during World War II. In short, Lincoln's actions provide power-hungry presidents with a 'noble' precedent for starting wars and aggrandizing State power. Therefore, the State must uphold Lincoln's reputation as a liberator and great leader, lest Americans realize that the current Imperial Presidency lacks a constitutional basis."

Joseph Sobran:

"The space program is fascinating, all right, but is it really the job of government? Why? Does the government's role now extend to unlocking the ultimate mysteries of life, thereby supplanting centuries of theology and philosophy with samples of rocks and gases from other planets?"

Barbara Simpson in WorldNetDaily:

"The Tiffany network is no more and the ruins are piled deeply around the feet of Dan Rather and the staff who produced the '60 Minutes' segment. Whether he survives is open for debate, but despite his protestations of his personal belief, the reality is that CBS News is seriously damaged and the entire news staff will be tarnished by being part of an operation which allowed such a deception to be aired.

And that's the way it is. See? B.S.!"

Another example of factual reporting by Jerry Heaster, strangely a sensible, logical and intellectually honest member of the Kansas City Star staff:

Those Medicare beneficiaries wishing to make next year's premium increase a political issue should at least be informed about what they're talking about.

A good example of the misuse of the issue by misguided partisans was a recent statement from the Alliance for Retired Americans, an organization purporting to represent 3 million retirees and their families.

Its reaction called the 17 percent Part B premium increase, to $78.20 a month, “further evidence of the Bush administration's callous disregard for the well-being … of older Americans.”

Those who agree, however, should understand one thing: Medicare premium increases are set in accordance with a formula legislated by Congress several years before George W. Bush took office. It was the result of a bipartisan effort to rein in budget deficits and was approved by 85 senators — including Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry, according to a New York Times report.

Therefore, anyone who views this turn of events as a political problem to be solved should turn their attentions to Capitol Hill. Why not make the issue a litmus test for this year's congressional candidates? If they don't promise to change the law to your liking, don't vote for them.

This isn't to downplay the problem. For many older Americans a Medicare premium rise of this magnitude is a huge challenge because it will eat up much of next year's Social Security cost-of-living raise.

Before any Medicare beneficiary gets too upset over paying more for health insurance, though, there is another reality to bear in mind. What Medicare's seniors are confronting is essentially the same problem bedeviling many younger workers with employer-provided health care coverage. Over the past several years, many workers have gotten pay increases only to find their take-home pay unchanged because their share of their health care premium has expanded to the point of wiping out their pay raise. In some cases they're taking home even less because their raise wasn't enough to cover the higher insurance premium co-pay.

In other words, we're all in this together, and it's not a matter of government or employers getting rich off these increases. The Medicare program is inexorably sliding into insolvency, and private employers are finding health care benefits a debilitating drain on their bottom lines despite substantially higher employee contributions to the plans.

Medicare participants no doubt are feeling ill-used, but in fact they are merely coping with the same sort of squeeze as their younger working counterparts – many of whom are having a tougher time dealing with health care costs than retirees.

As for the Medicare beneficiaries who see this is as intolerable, it isn't. When 2006 dawns, they'll face another drain on their pocketbooks when Medicare's prescription drug benefit takes effect. The individual premium for this benefit can be expected to add about $35 a month to each enrollee's monthly lug if they decide to sign up for the coverage.

Anyone who wants to change the system should look to Congress, not the White House. Problem is, any move to lessen the burden for beneficiaries only ensures a quicker demise for Medicare.

This is Heaster's third column this week. You may find the others also interestingly factual, logical and sensible:

Officials shirk solutions: The irony of Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan's lamentations about the daunting challenge of keeping Social Security viable is that he has been a key contributor to the problem. Friday, September 17, 2004

Health-care system has no cure-all: A recent criticism of the consumer-directed health-care insurance concept gets at the heart of why medical economics poses such intractable public policy challenges. Wednesday, September 15, 2004
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The Greatest War Crime: "For more than half a century, every sixth of June, countless patriotic Americans, Britons, Canadians and others gather to pay homage to thousands of young men who 'gave their lives for their country' on the beaches of Normandy. More than 200,000 American fighting men were killed in World War II, together with 375,000 British and millions of other nationalities. Most of these deaths occurred after mid-1943, when it was clear to all concerned that the Axis and Japan had lost. Why did the fighting continue for two years after the issue had been decided?"

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Millions of Christians and conservatives continue to labor under the delusion that G.W. Bush is a conservative. The truth is there is very little difference between his policies and those of his Democratic rival, John Kerry.

In his review of the book The Bush Betrayal by James Bovard, columnist Bob Barr writes, "The fact is, the records of these two presidents, Democrat Bill Clinton and Republican George W. Bush, are much more alike than either man would likely feel comfortable admitting."

(Go here to read Mr. Barr's full review:)

On most matters of substance, there is hardly any difference in the policies of President G.W. Bush and Bill Clinton or John Kerry.

Consider:

• Both Bush and Kerry support "civil unions" for homosexuals.



• Both Bush and Kerry support extending the Clinton Gun Ban.



• Both Bush and Kerry support expanding the size and scope of the federal government. Bush has actually outspent every Democratic president since Lyndon Johnson.



• Both Bush and Kerry support NAFTA, GATT, the WTO, and the FTAA.



• Neither Bush nor Kerry has any intentions of making abortion-on-demand illegal.
  
  And while we are on the subject of abortion, President G.W. Bush signed legislation in 2002 that increased funding for International Family Planning to the tune of $480.5 million making this Republican-led administration the biggest supporter of international baby butchery in U.S. history. That is not to mention the millions of
  dollars that Bush has approved for America's largest abortion provider, Planned Parenthood.
  
  Recently, many "pro-lifers" heaped voluminous praise upon Mr. Bush when he decided to withhold a miniscule (by comparison) $34 million in federal funds from UNFPA (a UN abortion agency in China). What these ignorant (or deluded) "pro-lifers" failed to notice was that Bush redirected that $34 million to USAID Child Survival Health Program Fund. This fund includes money for "forecasting, purchasing, and supplying contraceptive commodities and other materials necessary for reproductive health programs."
  
  In other words, all President Bush did was play the old shell game by taking $34 million from one pro-abortion agency and giving it to another pro-abortion agency. As American Life League President Judy Brown said, "These 'contraceptive commodities' are nothing but abortion-inducing chemicals that kill the very children that the fund claims to help."



• Both Bush and Kerry supported the removal of Alabama Chief Justice Roy Moore for upholding his oath of office to acknowledge God by resisting an unlawful order by federal judge Myron Thompson to remove a monument of the Ten Commandments from the Alabama Judicial Building in Montgomery.



• Both Bush and Kerry are strong supporters of the United Nations.


In fact, when President G.W. Bush addressed the UN last year, he said the reason he ordered U.S. troops to invade Iraq was for the purpose of supporting "the peace and credibility of the United Nations."


• Both Bush and Kerry support granting illegal aliens amnesty.



• Both Bush and Kerry support a "one China" policy.



• Both Bush and Kerry support "outsourcing" American jobs overseas.



• Both Bush and Kerry support the creation of a federal police state with the creation and expansion of the Patriot Acts and the Department of Homeland Security.

The list could go on almost without end.

James Bovard and Bob Barr are correct: America has been betrayed by President George W. Bush! Mr. Bush has proved himself unfaithful to virtually every precept of conservative, constitutional principles. As such, a John Kerry presidency would be no worse. In fact, it might even be better as conservatives would suddenly have their blinders removed and might actually start acting like conservatives again.

Of course, the best alternative would be to elect a true constitutional conservative as President. And the only such candidate for this year's election who meets that criteria is Michael Peroutka of the Constitution Party.

If you choose to vote for G.W. Bush, go ahead, but please don't delude yourself into thinking that by doing so you are voting for something dramatically different from that of the Democratic candidate, because you aren't. You are merely voting to continue the failed and fallacious policies of the liberal establishment which controls both major parties.

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This is an extract from Chuck Baldwin Live.

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God • Family • Republic

Found on the net under the CarpeNoctem label:

…[R]ight-wing or left, suspicions about the New World Order are actually quite rational. The champions of the "NWO" are indeed a cadre of powerful industrialists, bankers, academics, and politicians who for three quarters of a century have been a gray eminence behind the governance of Britain and America. More to the point, perhaps, they are the governors of the Western world. Call them what you will, they are they [sic] "Establishment." Through vastly influential organizations like the Council on Foreign Relations and the Trilateral Commission, these elites formulate tomorrow's public policy today and staff the ship of state with their own.

If this network is something less than the Red devil depicted in many a right-wing conspiracy theory, it is nonetheless a kind of big business cabal that helps the elite of the private sector, if not "rule the world," then at least run it like a business.

The self-appointed historian of this power brokerage was Georgetown University professor Carroll Quigley, a distinguished scholar whom right-wingers regard as a smoking gun personified. In his massive history of the modern era, Tragedy and Hope, the late Professor Quigley wrote that there "does exist, and has existed for a generation, an international Anglophile network which operates, to some extent, in the way that the radical Right believes the Communists act.

Quigley admitted that he "had been close" to this "semisecret organization" of international manipulators - indeed, admired its goals - and had been allowed to examine its "papers and secret records.

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To say that Dan Rather has often shown poor judgment would be an understatement comparable to saying that hurricanes are windy.

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Debbie O'Hara understands the problem:

"Getting real pro-family people on the Republican Ticket is extremely difficult because the top brass in the party don't want them there. We had a great example of that last year in the race for governor here in California. Tom McClintock, a real pro-life, pro-family conservative, had an excellent chance of becoming our new governor, but the top brass in the Republican Party decided to throw their whole-hearted support behind pro-homosexual agenda, pro-abortion liberal, Arnold Schwarzenegger. The leaders of the party even pressured many of McClintock's supporters to switch their votes to Schwarzenegger. What the media didn't seem to want to report to the people was that a CNN poll posed a question about what would happen if Schwarzenegger dropped out of the race. The poll showed that McClintock would have beaten the 'feared' Democrat Bustamante by 56 percent to 37 percent![1] So the reason Republican leadership didn't support McClintock against liberal Schwarzenegger had nothing to do with being afraid of losing the election to the Democrat. They obviously did not want a real pro-family conservative elected to office."

Mrs. O'Hara's closing is a guide to logical thinking:

The only way to be an effective voter is to vote for a man of principle. If he happens to be a member of one of the major parties, fine, but chances of that are very slim because control of both major parties is in the hands of an economic elite whose goal is atheistic socialism. If neither of the major party candidates have a godly moral standard or if they are not willing to uphold the U.S. Constitution, then it is not a wasted vote to go outside of the two parties! Don't fall for the hoax. You are far more likely to waste your vote inside the parties.

America was once a land of peoples who knew how to think independently. As we have become increasingly socialized and become dependent citizens, we have lost that capability. We must work at getting it back! Study the issues. Study the candidates. There is a lot at stake in the coming November elections. Don't be afraid to leave the herd. Make up your own mind. And most importantly don't fall for the two-party hoax!

Read the entire article.

Even Consumer Reports got in the act:

"The number of U.S. children taking antidepressants has more than doubled since the early 1990s. That�s when the SSRI type of antidepressants (such as Celexa, Paxil, Prozac, and Zoloft) began to dominate the market. Yet only one SSRI, fluoxetine (Prozac), has been approved in the U.S. for treating pediatric depression. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration denied manufacturers' applications for approval to prescribe Celexa, Effexor, Paxil, or Zoloft for patients under 18 because studies showed they were not effective.

In the past year, new evidence has emerged suggesting a possible connection between starting antidepressant treatment and an increase in suicide risk."

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The SciFi -- Science Fiction -- genre is being challenged by PoliFi -- Political Fiction -- by Edgar Steele. His current discussion of the Balkanization of America is based on logical extensions of political trends extant today. Considering what may occur subsequent to the destruction of the United States in war, his conclusions are worth pondering. A short extract:

The region which is left, including portions of Canada, is what I think of as "New America." New America will be bounded on the west by the Pacific Ocean, to the north by the far reaches of Canada's Yukon, to the east by New Israel and to the south by Aztlan, New Africa and the Gulf of Mexico along the current Texan coastline.

New America likely will stretch right through the Great Lakes region, incidentally, and encompass much of northern New England, as well, giving it an Atlantic coastline. The people of Maine, New Hampshire and northern Vermont are, for example, much more akin to those in the western United States than those in the Boston - New York - Washington, DC nexus. Eastern Canada could feel compelled to join, as well, simply to ensure its self preservation in a hostile world.

Thus, New America becomes pretty much a White European homeland, with its borders imposed upon it by others, in the main.

One wonders how fuzzy is Mr. Steele's crystal ball.

Join the gang at the Trails West Library on 23rd Street in Independence at 7:00 PM tonight. Darin Rodenberg, the Constitution Party candidate for the 5th congressional district, will speak. You may be able to acquire a campaign button and/or bumper sticker.

See you there.

Darin Rodenberg's Letter to the editor was printed on the opinion pages of the Independence (MO) Examiner on September 1, 2004:

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Make a better choice for president this time

Charles Spurgeon once said, When choosing the lesser of two evils, choose neither. We need to apply that philosophy in the upcoming presidential election.

It's obvious the two major party candidates are not constitutionally sound. I sometimes wonder if they have ever read the document. I would urge my neighbors to take a look at the Constitution Party. The name of the party tells you where we stand. We want to glorify God, build up the American family, and restore the republic.

Both President Bush and Senator Kerry are promising more government programs, more government control of just about every aspect of our lives. Let's send a real message to Washington this year. Don't choose the lessor of two evils. Send Micheal Peroutka, a constitutionally sound candidate, to Washingtion. He will restore our republic and bring God's blessing back to our nation. You can check out the Constitution Party at:

www.constitutionparty.com

www.peroutka2004.com

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Send letters to:
- Readers' Views, The Examiner, P.O. Box 459, Independence, Mo. 64051.
- Readers' Views, The Examiner, P.O. Box 1057, Blue Springs, Mo. 64013.
- E-mail executive editor Dale Brendel at dale.brendel@examiner.net.
- E-mail to editorial page editor Jeff Fox at jeff.fox@examiner.net.
- Fax: (816) 254-0211.

Mary Starrett declares:

"Like the well-oiled machine that it is the media—en masse—have been using the Clinton quadruple bypass to preach the completely fallacious message that cholesterol-lowering statin drugs are necessary to avoid heart attack and stroke. That is a message the drug companies and their co-opted lap dog media sock puppets have managed to drive home very effectively over the last few years. The problem is not only don't the drugs reduce the incidence of heart attack and stroke, but they cause serious side effects."

She goes on to describe continuing SSRI disasters. More»

Paul Rodriguez tells us the way it is:

Today is one of those days. It's a day when a butterfly fluttering high above the gapping wound where once stood the twin towers in New York comes to mind.

It wasn't long after the carnage when I stood in a dusty apartment in a damaged building adjacent to the gaping hole that had become the grave of so many.

I can still see the butterfly and recall how transfixed I was - and at peace - watching this tender creature fly through the smoke and dust-filled air amid the smell of fires still burning and the noise below where hundreds searched the ruble [sic].

Paul does go on to identify a current outrage:

The controversy swirling around the CBS "60 Minutes" report about documents alleging discontent by a commanding officer of then Lt. George W. Bush in 1972 are nothing but a red herring. If genuine documents they only provide a momentary snapshot of events leading to and subsequent to the dates of the writer's thoughts and observations.

By not reporting the documents in context, such as explaining that not all interviewed concurred these were genuine is just appalling to me. As appalling as the failure to point out that young Bush met - at least - his minimum requirements in the Guard necessary to obtain an honorable discharge.

…

When Democrats howl that President Bush has lied, is a liar and far worse, I shudder at the thought that fellow newsmen fail to put such foul comments into context by applying a single standard - one that would co-equally mention controversy about Sen. John Kerry's past military service. In the same news reports so that a reader, listener or viewer can get as full a picture of what the issues are rather than being left with half-truths and half-baked reportage.

Whether Bush or others from so long ago - and today - got preferential treatment in the military is not news to salivate over especially given the rhetoric of political asses whose agenda is not seeking the truth, only advantage and turmoil.

My favorite Afghan with a Latino surname has true "insight."

Read the whole article.

Alex Jones propounds on possible conspiracy and government complicity or most likely just normal bureaucratic incompetence:

"For almost three years since 9/11 independent researchers have stockpiled individual smoking guns which prove that the official version of events was not only a lie but operationally impossible."

Read his article and look for Cheney. How much truth may there be in this theory?



.

60 year old Dennis Farina will be the "senior detective" on the Law & Order teevee show since Jerry Orbach [Lennie Briscoe] has "retired."

Will he have to shave the moustache and trim up the hair-do?

Thomas Sowell again identifies an economic and social dichotomy:

"Our hearts automatically go out to the people of Florida, who are being battered by a series of hurricanes in rapid succession. But we have brains as well as hearts -- and the time is long overdue to start using them.

Hurricanes come through Florida every year about this time. And, every year, politicians get to parade their compassion by showering the taxpayers' money on the places that have been struck.

What would happen if they didn't?"

Yes. Exactly what I've been thinking during the past few and currently impending hurricanes. More»

Wes Pruden reminds us that:

"The shock waves unsettling swing voters in America may be waves from Russia, too, as it dawns on the sleepy and the inattentive that we really are at war and the enemy is brutal, persistent and determined to win by killing, not persuading, the infidels. "Infidels" are defined, naturally, as anyone who is not eager to follow the version of Islam that we are assured over and over is a benighted and counterfeit version of Muhammad's vision of "rules to live by, or else."

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I understand what Joe Farah is saying:

"Now I know many of my friends don't think I should attack George Bush at all in the next two months, but I can't help it. I need to point out some serious problems in the guiding philosophy of the Republican standard-bearer. He is in need of correction. He needs to be held accountable. He needs to be reminded we have a Constitution in this country and not a monarchy. He needs to know not all of us are looking for a Daddy. Some of us just want the government to leave us alone."

I agree. We must recognize that the insane Islamic Fundamentalists want us dead or converted. That is the issue. Dubya must defend and protect the Constitution as he promised God taking the oath of office. Just do it.

Vijay now has the Top Spot in Golf:

"Vijay Singh has been playing the best golf in the world for a long time. Now he has Tiger Woods' No. 1 ranking to prove it. Singh finished his long climb to the top of golf's ultimate leaderboard by beating Woods in a head-to-head matchup, shooting a 69 on Monday to win the Deutsche Bank Championship by three strokes and claim Woods' spot as the top-ranked player in the world."

He's also the top money winner for 2003 and 2004. More than USD 15,000,000 total in just the two years. Amazing.

“It is not true that the legislator has an absolute power over our persons and our property since they pre-exist him, and his task is to surround them with guarantees. It is not true that the function of the law is to regulate our consciences, our ideas, our wills, our education, our opinions, our work, our trade, our talents, our recreation. Its function is to prevent the rights of one person from interfering with rights of another in any of these matters.”

-- Frederic Bastiat, "The Law" [1850]

This election is about life and death, in an age when nuclear weapons can be developed and sold to terrorists.

This election is not even about who will be in the White House for the next four years. It is about a war that must be fought for more years than any given President will occupy the White House.

Just one weak administration can make the job harder for the administrations that follow -- and disastrous for the country.

Sowell hits hard saying:

...which is worse, that some unpleasant facts come out during a campaign or that someone is allowed to lie his way into the White House, with all our lives in his hands, on the basis of image and spin?

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Bush Leaves Out Complex Facts in Speech:

CALVIN WOODWARD, Associated Press

NEW YORK - President Bush's boast of a 30-member-strong coalition in Iraq masked the reality that the United States is bearing the overwhelming share of costs, in lives and troop commitments. And in claiming to have routed most al-Qaida leaders, he did not mention that the big one got away.

Bush's acceptance speech at the Republican National Convention on Thursday night brought the nation a collection of facts that told only part of the story, hardly unusual for this most political of occasions.

He took some license in telling Americans that Democratic opponent John Kerry 'is running on a platform of increasing taxes.'"

This sort of outrageous "reportage" goes on and on and . . .

Paul deParrie:

Americans love a winner. We hear that Lance Armstrong is a six-time winner of the Tour de France annual bicycle race. Good for him — sort of. In the process of all Lance's winning, Lance (and his family) lost the Tour de Life.

We all have heard the story: Lance survived a grueling regimen of chemotherapy to treat testicular cancer only to go on to win six consecutive Tours.

Amazingly, Lance, unmarried at the time, even had the foresight to place some semen in a sperm bank in hopes that he might have children in the future. Shortly after he finished the chemo treatments, he met his future ex-wife, Kristin. They married in May of 1998 and split sheets and announced pending divorce in February of 2003. In the wake are three children, Luke, Isabelle, and Grace.

Barb has been down on Armstrong for his abandoning his family. She is correct. More››

Ol' Zell said much tonight. My favorite snippet is:

"Time after time in our history, in the face of great danger, Democrats and Republicans worked together to ensure that freedom would not falter. But not today.

Motivated more by partisan politics than by national security, today's Democratic leaders see America as an occupier, not a liberator.

And nothing makes this Marine madder than someone calling American troops occupiers rather than liberators."

Miller had the convention rocking. Another great line was:

"...no pair has been more wrong, more loudly, more often than the two Senators from Massachusetts, Ted Kennedy and John Kerry.

Together, Kennedy/Kerry have opposed the very weapons system that won the Cold War and that is now winning the War on Terror.

Listing all the weapon systems that Senator Kerry tried his best to shut down sounds like an auctioneer selling off our national security but Americans need to know the facts."

Twas a powerful speech. You can read the entire transcript here.

As Michael Peirce expounds:

"America is no longer about what happens in the legislatures — it is about a handful of crazed judges, appointed by dictatorial presidents; who act extra-constitutionally, and rule this country by decree. One would think they were immortal and untouchable but in actuality they could be easily impeached and deposed for betraying their positions and the law of the land but neither party really objects. After all these judges serve the purposes of the Democrats by coming down routinely on the side of all that is evil, and the Republicans by allowing them to pretend to have a moral agenda without having to suffer the consequences of actually having one."

More ››

Bartlett clarifies the bias in the NY Times:

I know many New York Times reporters and have always found them to be very good at their jobs, interested only in getting the story and getting it right. One that I don't know is Timothy Egan, who confirms most conservatives' perception of the Times as little more than a conduit for Democratic Party press releases.

Kerry's and Democratic deviousness and lies of omission exposed. More››

Neal greets us this morning:

"Yesterday's best line of the day didn't come from a delegate, a politician or a pundit. It came from my wife. Donna returned home to Atlanta yesterday afternoon. As she got into the cab on the street between our hotel and Ground Zero I told her that there where ghosts across the street. 'Yes there are,' she said. 'But they're not here to to hurt you. They're here to remind you.'

Nobody could have said it better."

Indeed.

Thanks to Frank B. for sending this profound snippet this morning:

Of all the enemies to public liberty war is, perhaps, the most to be dreaded, because it comprises and develops the germ of every other. War is the parent of armies; from these proceed debts and taxes; and armies, and debts, and taxes are the known instruments for bringing the many under the domination of the few. In war, too, the discretionary power of the Executive is extended; its influence in dealing out offices, honors, and emoluments is multiplied; and all the means of seducing the minds, are added to those of subduing the force, of the people.... [There is also an] inequality of fortunes, and the opportunities of fraud, growing out of a state of war, and ... degeneracy of manners and of morals.... No nation could preserve its freedom in the midst of continual warfare....

-- James Madison, "Political Observations" [April 20, 1795]

Semper Fi?

Today Barb and I are recognizing the 53rd anniversary of our marriage.

We'll celebrate at the Sakura Japanese Restaurant tonight. Barb is in the mood for some tasty tempura. I'm looking forward to the teriyaki.