Saturday, December 04, 2004
Ivory Coast insanity
Saw a film clip on the teevee of french speaking natives of Cote d'Ivoire [Ivory Coast] last night. Several of the protesters in Abidjan were holding signs denouncing "CHIENRAC." For my non-French speaking friends that's a play on the spelling of Jacques Chirac, the current rabid anti-American president of France. Chien = dog.Note the location of the Ivory Coast, the ham in a sandwich between U.S.-inspired Liberia and Ghana, the home of Kofi Annan. ‹arghhh›
Kansas City
West Side condos draw opposition
Hayes and Cofran said their project would be built without any tax incentives or city assistance. As a result, property taxes on the six units would yield the city and school district an estimated $110,000 annually.
That's appealing to Mayor Kay Barnes, according to her top downtown aide, Donovan Mouton.
“She liked the design and feels it's an exciting testament about what's going on in the central business district,” he said.
Kansas City Councilman Jim Rowland, however, opposes the plan and has introduced legislation to downzone the property to bring it in line with the recommendations of the West Side Plan.
“I'm not trying to kill the development, but at the same time I don't want developers trying to roll over the neighborhood,” Rowland said. “We're trying to ensure the character of the community and the livability of the community.”
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Hayes and Cofran said their project would be built without any tax incentives or city assistance. As a result, property taxes on the six units would yield the city and school district an estimated $110,000 annually.That's appealing to Mayor Kay Barnes, according to her top downtown aide, Donovan Mouton.
“She liked the design and feels it's an exciting testament about what's going on in the central business district,” he said.
Kansas City Councilman Jim Rowland, however, opposes the plan and has introduced legislation to downzone the property to bring it in line with the recommendations of the West Side Plan.
“I'm not trying to kill the development, but at the same time I don't want developers trying to roll over the neighborhood,” Rowland said. “We're trying to ensure the character of the community and the livability of the community.”
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Spitzer's dubious tactics
Jerry Heaster again tells it as it is:
"Spitzer may create checks, but his method ignores balances. He has become prosecutor, judge and jury — never having to worry about proving his cases in court. The court of public opinion, thanks to the media, says his heart is pure and his cause is just.More»
It shouldn't matter, though, whether Spitzer's cause is righteous — any more than it matters that history has proved Sen. Joseph McCarthy was onto something valid a half century ago when he used his high office to ruin people and reputations during his communist witch hunts. In America we should look with suspicion on public officials who abuse their power to torment the guilty and innocent alike without due process.
Make no mistake about it. Spitzer may have gratified our desire to see the high and mighty dethroned, but lots of blameless little folk also have suffered irreparable harm from Spitzer's assaults. These have included workers, for instance, who saw much of their retirement nest egg obliterated when the stock of their company tanked as a result of questionable prosecutorial zeal.
The rest of the story, still largely untold, is that Spitzer's forced reforms may not leave the investing and insurance-buying public any better off than they were before he initiated his inquisition. Such questions still are being explored by scholarly analysts who have received little media attention so far.
Which is a good thing, given Spitzer's apparent political aspirations, which are a possible motivating force for his crusade that his media fans choose mostly to ignore."
Friday, December 03, 2004
Danforth quits as U.N. pimp
USATODAY reports:
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Ah yes, his pandering on the Waco massacre was certainly moral and fair ‹/sarcasm›."Danforth plans to leave around the time of the Jan. 20 inauguration, according to an aide to Danforth who asked not to be named because the resignation had not yet been announced by the White House. He said Danforth had told the president when he took the U.N. job in June that he would serve only for a short while.
A three-term Republican senator from Missouri and an ordained Episcopalian minister, Danforth, 68, was nicknamed 'St. Jack' because of his reputation for high moral standards and fairness."
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Thursday, December 02, 2004
Bush calls for new world order
The Washington Times reports:
Sieg Hiel, mein Führer!
"HALIFAX, Nova Scotia -- President Bush yesterday challenged international leaders to create a new world order…"More»
Sieg Hiel, mein Führer!
Wednesday, December 01, 2004
Kofi's gotta go...
Sen. Norm Coleman writes on the op-ed page of the Wall Street Journal:
"Mr. Annan was at the helm of the U.N. for all but a few days of the Oil-for-Food program, and he must, therefore, be held accountable for the U.N.'s utter failure to detect or stop Saddam's abuses. The consequences of the U.N.'s ineptitude cannot be overstated: Saddam was empowered to withstand the sanctions regime, remain in power, and even rebuild his military. Needless to say, he made the Iraqi people suffer even more by importing substandard food and medicine under the Oil-for-Food program and pawning it off as first-rate humanitarian aid.
Since it was never likely that the U.N. Security Council, some of whose permanent members were awash in Saddam's favors, would ever call for Saddam's removal, the U.S. and its coalition partners were forced to put troops in harm's way to oust him by force. Today, money swindled from Oil-for-Food may be funding the insurgency against coalition troops in Iraq and other terrorist activities against U.S. interests. Simply put, the troops would probably not have been placed in such danger if the U.N. had done its job in administering sanctions and Oil-for-Food.
This systemic failure of the U.N. and Oil-for-Food is exacerbated by evidence that at least one senior U.N. official--Benon Sevan, Mr. Annan's hand-picked director of the U.N.'s Oil-for-Food oversight agency--reportedly received bribes from Saddam. According to documents from the Iraqi oil ministry that were obtained by us, Mr. Sevan received several allotments of oil under Oil-for-Food, each of which was worth hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of dollars."
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But then the following day (12/02) the White House proclaimed support of Annan, "a valued interlocutor..."
"Mr. Annan was at the helm of the U.N. for all but a few days of the Oil-for-Food program, and he must, therefore, be held accountable for the U.N.'s utter failure to detect or stop Saddam's abuses. The consequences of the U.N.'s ineptitude cannot be overstated: Saddam was empowered to withstand the sanctions regime, remain in power, and even rebuild his military. Needless to say, he made the Iraqi people suffer even more by importing substandard food and medicine under the Oil-for-Food program and pawning it off as first-rate humanitarian aid.Since it was never likely that the U.N. Security Council, some of whose permanent members were awash in Saddam's favors, would ever call for Saddam's removal, the U.S. and its coalition partners were forced to put troops in harm's way to oust him by force. Today, money swindled from Oil-for-Food may be funding the insurgency against coalition troops in Iraq and other terrorist activities against U.S. interests. Simply put, the troops would probably not have been placed in such danger if the U.N. had done its job in administering sanctions and Oil-for-Food.
This systemic failure of the U.N. and Oil-for-Food is exacerbated by evidence that at least one senior U.N. official--Benon Sevan, Mr. Annan's hand-picked director of the U.N.'s Oil-for-Food oversight agency--reportedly received bribes from Saddam. According to documents from the Iraqi oil ministry that were obtained by us, Mr. Sevan received several allotments of oil under Oil-for-Food, each of which was worth hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of dollars."
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But then the following day (12/02) the White House proclaimed support of Annan, "a valued interlocutor..."
US Foreign Policy
Karen Kwiatkowski reviews Ivan Eland's The Empire Has No Clothes: U.S. Foreign Policy Exposed:
"Eland portrays our modern foreign policy in a useful and eye-opening way, allowing us to understand what otherwise would remain a confusing enigma. Our foreign policy is, in a sense, a uniquely American golem bearing democracy and good works at the point of a gun, martial in leaning, without conscience, judgment, ethics or humanity. Brought forth to do good and helpful things, the military-industrial complex and the foreign policy infrastructure have developed lives and untenable desires of their own."More»
Tuesday, November 30, 2004
Alberto Gonzales Nomination Deserves Rejection
Opponents of Gonzales find his affiliation with these groups troubling and encourage people to read the web sites of organizations like La Raza and the Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund (MALDEF). They charge that these organizations are demanding national holidays based on Mexican cultural figures, public school instruction and all state and federal government services in Spanish as well as Spanish being recognized as at least 'co-equal' with English - except in predominately Hispanic areas where they want Spanish to be the official language as well as 'taking back the border states.'"
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Monday, November 29, 2004
THE DEER HUNTER MASSACRE
News From The Sight M1911 has rational thought out opinion: 
Syd
"By now, I'm sure everyone has heard of the incident in Wisconsin in which six hunters were killed and two wounded by another hunter armed with an SKS rifle. Since I wasn't there and have no inside channels to the law enforcement agencies investigating the case, I will forgo speculation on what happened and what went wrong.
An incident such as this makes me think about the struggle for freedom that has been a hallmark of the American experiment since the beginning. Freedom has two dimensions: the individual and the collective. Our individual freedom does not operate in a vacuum; it operates and defines itself in relation to the freedom of every other free individual. We are responsible to and for our fellow free citizens because we cannot be truly free if everyone around us is enslaved. I am free to own a powerful rifle, but I am not free to go out into my front yard and fire it into the other houses on my street. I am free to carry a pistol, but I'm not free to shoot someone who cuts in front of me in line at the post office. Why? Because I don't want other people acting that way and so I accept some conditions on my absolute personal freedom for the common good. I accept the responsibility of a free man to structure my life in ways that do not needlessly endanger others or deny the individual freedom of others. When we all subscribe to the ideal of individual freedom and mutual respect for the rights of others, we get along, enjoy a great deal of personal freedom, and live in a fairly civil and peaceful society. As soon as we forget the responsibility of personal freedom, it is diminished for everyone.
The issue of gun rights puts this into sharp focus. When a man in Wisconsin abuses his right to own a firearm, six people are denied the right to live their lives, hundreds of thousands of hunters are denied the right to hunt without looking over their shoulders, and my right to own a military-style rifle is threatened. Freedom is diminished for everyone.
Historical Note: The Hmong were our friends in Vietnam and Laos. They fought valiantly under the direction of our special forces and suffered horrendous casualties and persecution because of it. Most of the first wave of Hmong people who were allowed to immigrate to this country were brought in to spare them of the genocidal slaughter that they would have received at the hands of their communist overlords. Their transition to this country has not been altogether smooth. You can’t transplant a mountain tribe from Southeast Asia to St. Paul, Minnesota and not expect some difficulties along the way. They are a noble and courageous people who are deserving of our respect and gratitude. This is not meant in any way to excuse the actions of Mr. Vang. It is to say, let’s not pillory a whole people for the misdeeds of one individual.
The upshot of all of this may be that we need to do a better job of teaching the concept of freedom in its fullness to our citizens. New citizens need to be taught and those who have been here all along may need a refresher course. Freedom may be promised by the Constitution, but it can’t be assured without the active participation of every member of our society."
SydThe Anti-War Movement
Henry Lamb describes the Marxist Movement:
"...Turn Your Back on Bush is planning another tactic to protest the President on January 20. Concerned that the security surrounding the inauguration will keep their protests off camera, this group is advising their protesters to avoid signs and banners and move through security gates to get as close as possible to the podium. Then, on a signal, when the President speaks, everyone is to turn their back to the President in a silent protest, sure to be seen by TV cameras.More»
In much of the world, the antics of these protesters would result in jail - or worse. Cuba, China, and many socialist countries routinely eliminate protests - and protesters - against the government and its leaders. It seems ironic that the ultimate goal of these protesters is to transform America into the kind of government that tolerates no dissent. The Communist Party USA says:
'We Communists believe that socialism is the very best replacement for a capitalist system that has served its purpose, but no longer meets the needs and requirements of the great majority of our people.'"
Sunday, November 28, 2004
Being robbed?!
Book Review
Ron Brown's Body by Jack Cashill:
"Considering the highly disturbing implications of his explosive book's title, investigative reporter Jack Cashill's work deserves a better fate than the silent treatment it has thus far received in the establishment media.Much more»
Ron Brown's Body has reached the heights of Amazon.com's non-fiction best-seller list, outpacing such heralded tomes as Bob Woodward's Plan of Attack, but other than an early July C-SPAN appearance, the major dailies and network news outlets have ignored Cashill."
