Saturday, March 27, 2004

Was Bush Fiddling While Terrorism Burned?

With the way the media has spun in the last week, you'd think that the Bush administration totally ignored terrorism while the Clinton administration, led by cyber-hero Dick Clarke, were knocking threats out of the sky left and right on a daily basis. Of course, nothing could be further from the truth. In fact, an article from Insight Magazine in June 2001 (yes, June 2001!) proves that the Bush administration wasn't sitting on it's hands. The article is called Preparing for The Next Pearl Harbor, and provides some interesting context to the recent partisan hearings investigating 9/11:

Pearl Harbor probably will happen again. Only this time the attacks won't be in far-off Hawaii but against the American mainland. That's what some of the nation's top experts are saying as the national-security community scrambles to ward off attempts to attack the U.S. homeland with terrorist weapons of mass destruction and crippling raids on public- and private-sector information systems on which the entire economy -- and the American way of life -- depend.
...
For the first time since the Japanese fleet bombed Pearl Harbor nearly 60 years ago, the United States is fully vulnerable to attacks it cannot deter or easily prevent, Pentagon experts tell Insight.
...
President George W. Bush underscored his concern in a May 8[, 2001] statement: "The threat of chemical, biological, or nuclear weapons being used against the United States -- while not immediate -- is very real."
...
With Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld ripping apart obsolete defense doctrines to keep the United States on the cutting edge of world leadership, others, with a much lower profile, are working on a more fundamental issue: homeland security.

After years of dithering under Clinton, say defense specialists, the Bush White House taking the matter seriously. "Virtually every vital service: water supplies, transportation, energy, banking and finance, telecommunications, public health -- all of these rely on computer and fiber-optic lines, the switches and routers that come from them," notes National Security Adviser Condoleeza Rice. These are vulnerable. In the short time since his inauguration in January, Bush has instructed government offices to coordinate for homeland security and defense, and assigned Vice President Richard Cheney to head a group to draft a national terrorism-response plan by October 1.
...
Despite Clarke's efforts, the Clinton/Gore White House made little follow-through until the last months of the administration, according to a recent review by federal inspectors general.
...
The Bush administration has seized the problem aggressively with a range of initiatives to have a working system in place to defend the country against attacks on its critical infrastructure. Pentagon insiders tell Insight that Rumsfeld's reviews pay close attention to homeland defense and that the administration is weighing creation of a special office for that purpose.
...
Meanwhile, say insiders, the administration is trying to clean up the mess left by its predecessor Clarke, Clinton's former national infrastructure chief whom Bush kept on, now admits that his first attempt under the Clinton administration to deal with infrastructure defense was a set of policies "written by bureaucrats" and that they were wholly inadequate. He attacked a 1999 Clinton/Gore infrastructure-protection plan as one that "could not be translated into business terms that corporate boards and senior management could understand."

Don't believe the crap you read in the media. Liars.


Tuesday, March 23, 2004

Blair Circles the Wagons

Although he's a liberal, Tony Blair has been a great friend to the United States and George Bush since 9/11. Admittedly, I couldn't stand him when Clinton and his cronies cozied up to him, but I have to give it to the guy, he's been a stand up leader in support of freedom and democracy, especially in England which is full of loons and nutjobs. Even now, Blair is getting tough on his own party by not allowing a Labour Party delegation to fly to the convention for Kerry's nomination.

Here, here. Harrump.

Wednesday, March 17, 2004

Terrorists for Bush?

Earlier today, I read an article on Reuters that discussed a letter from al Qaeda telling the Spanish authorities that they would halt attacks if they actually pulled out of Iraq. Then about two hours later, the article had an additional section in it. Here it is verbatim:

WE WANT BUSH TO WIN

The statement said it supported President Bush (news - web sites) in his reelection campaign, and would prefer him to win in November rather than the Democratic candidate John Kerry (news - web sites), as it was not possible to find a leader "more foolish than you (Bush), who deals with matters by force rather than with wisdom."

In comments addressed to Bush, the group said:

"Kerry will kill our nation while it sleeps because he and the Democrats have the cunning to embellish blasphemy and present it to the Arab and Muslim nation as civilization."

"Because of this we desire you (Bush) to be elected."

The group said its cells were ready for another attack and time was running out for allies of the United States.

"Whose turn is it next? Will it be Japan or America, or Italy, Britain or Oslo or Australia?" the statement said, adding Pakistan and Saudi Arabia were also targets.

The group is named after Muhammed Atef, also known as Abu Hafs, a close bin Laden aide killed in the U.S.-led war in Afghanistan (news - web sites).


Huh? This has got to be a joke.
Negative Ads Work

I guess the attacks in Spain are an extreme form of negative advertising. Another editorial on the attacks.
France, You're Next

It looks like the Islamofascists have been emboldened by their electoral sucees in Spain and are now aiming for France.


"With this head scarf law, you have participated in an unjust aggression,'' said the letter, which was written in French under an Arabic-language letterhead. "You have decided on your own to put yourself on the list of Islam's worst enemies.''

If France caves, I can only imagine that the terrorists will next be telling the French when and where to wave the white flags.

Tuesday, March 16, 2004

The Left is Winning?

I don't think so. Imagine a protest and no one comes. Apparently, CNN believes 100 people makes a legitimate story. Anything to bash Bush.

Friday, March 12, 2004

Spin, Spin, Spin...

I guess I shouldn't be surprised that the dems are spinning the story of a democrat staffer spying on the US into one against Bush.

The odd thing is Andrew Card turned her in, while the dems were the ones that welcomed her into the fold. Jerks.
French a la Suck

Charles Krauthammer has a great opinion piece in the Washington Post concerning an article that the editor of La Monde wrote for the Wall Street Journal. Money quote:

We loved you on Sept. 11. We were all with you in Afghanistan. But, oh, what have you done in Iraq?

This requires some parsing. We loved you on Sept. 11 means: We like Americans when they are victims, on their knees and bleeding. We just don't like it when they get off the floor -- without checking with us first.

Colombani glories in Europe's post-Sept. 11 "solidarity" with America: "Let us remember here the involvement of French and German soldiers, among other European nationalities, in the operations launched in Afghanistan to . . . free the Afghans."

Come again? The French arrived in Mazar-e Sharif after it fell, or as military analyst Jay Leno put it, "to serve as advisers to the Taliban on how to surrender properly." Afghanistan was liberated by America acting practically unilaterally, with an even smaller coalition than it had in Iraq -- Britain and Australia, with the rest of the world holding America's coat.

Read the whole thing.

Thursday, March 11, 2004

French Jackasses

I guess Jackass has finally reached French audiences. For his stunt he was going to bathe but chose something safer like jumping off a parking garage. Why does tv take 4 years to make it to these places? Are they that backward? I can't imagine their tv is any good.

Wednesday, March 10, 2004

Crass and Kerry:

John Kerry found an open mike to stick his foot in.


"Tell it like it is," a man at the Hill Mechanical Group told him. "Keep smiling."

"Oh yeah, don't worry, man," the senator from Massachusetts responded. "We're going to keep pounding, let me tell you. We're just beginning to fight here.

"These guys are the most crooked, you know, lying group I've ever seen," Kerry added. "It's scary."

You'd think he'd drop this stuff because now is the time to move away from the "Hate Bush" crowd and get into the middle . He can't win without them, but he's not going to get them with this crap.
Kerry Wanted to Gut Intelligence

In 1994, Kerry filed an amendment that would have cut the defense budget by $4 billion, but he was opposed by his own party, including Senator Inouye who said this on the Senate floor:


Madam President, if I may, I would like to say a few words about amendment No. 1452, an amendment submitted by the distinguished Senator from Massachusetts [Mr. Kerry].
The amendment offered by Senator Kerry would reduce the 1994 appropriations for national defense by about $4 billion. I believe the Members of this body should recall that Congress has already reduced DOD's budget in 1994 by more than $18 billion. Moreover, in each and every year of the past 10 years, Congress has cut the funds provided for defense. We have already cut defense spending drastically. ...

Kerry's amendment not only tried to cut defense, but to slash intelligence funding -- and the implications of this were clear at the time:

Now if I may comment on another section that reduces funding for intelligence programs, and this amendment would reduce such funding by about $1 billion. Madam President, the intelligence budget has already been cut by almost 18 percent over the past 2 years. An additional reduction of $1 billion would severely hamper the intelligence community's ability to provide decisionmakers and policymakers with information on matters of vital concern to this country.

These issues include nuclear proliferation by North Korea--this has been on the front pages for the past 3 or 4 months--peacekeeping efforts in Bosnia and Somalia, as well as terrorist threats against American citizens and property. ...

At a time like this, is it prudent to reduce funds for the very intelligence programs which we need to identify these targets? This amendment would do that. It would blind our pilots. Is this the time to cut the satellite programs that give our forces warning of attacks? I hope that we will keep this in mind... If we do and this amendment passes, then we are putting blindfolds over our pilots' eyes. ...

I urge all Members to vote against this amendment.

Citzen Smash has a lot more.

Friday, March 05, 2004

North Korea, Iran, Syria Leaning Towards Kerry

It looks like North Korea likes Kerry. If our enemies want him then we shouldn't. He already has Hillary, Ramsey Clark, and Teddy Kennedy. Who's next? Syria, Iran, Cuba, Al Gore?

Thursday, March 04, 2004

The Media Two Step

MSNBC is reporting that the Bush administration had a chance to get a suspected terrorist mastermind, in the Summer of 2002, the same terrorist that's suspected in the recent bombings in Iraq.

Two things stand out in this article: (1) They are complaining that Bush wasn't sufficiently pre-emptive and unilateral and (2) this guy had ricin and cyanide. So the liberals were complaining that Bush jumped the gun on Iraq because there were no wmds, and now they're complaining that he didn't attack Iraq sooner because there were wmds? Plus, I thought there were no terrorists in Iraq!!!

What is wrong with this picture?
This Could Threaten PSI

Some of you may already know this, but for those who don't the US has been instrumental in organizing an international interdiction effort on the world's oceans called the Proliferation Security Initiative, or PSI. This effort has been credited with the interception of nuclear material to Libya and the uncovering of Pakistan's involvement in nuclear proliferation through Dr. Khan. (It's rumored that the current US push in Pakistan may have come out of the Khan disclosure, making it even a bigger deal than previously thought.) However, there is something called the Law of the Sea Treaty. Apparently, LOST died during the Reagan era but was resurrected under Clinton and now is getting new life under Bush with the help of Richard Lugar. If Gaffney's take is true, then LOST is something we should lose and fast.
The World Loves Kerry

If that's true then he should not be president. Pravda has jumped on the Kerry bandwagon, but still after 13 years of freedom, Pravda still has difficulty with "truth". The British rags have also stepped into
the election. Here's the kicker:


If the human race as a whole, rather than 50 states plus the District of Colombia, could cast a ballot this coming November, John Kerry would surely win the presidency by a landslide.

Yes, let's all hug. The human race? Who are they kidding. They're just dying for that "world government" crap.

Wednesday, March 03, 2004

Clouseau!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The French are getting blackmailed. When do the surrender talks begin?


French rail in bomb blackmail: mystery terrorists demand cash

PARIS, March 3 (AFP) - The French government is being blackmailed by a previously unknown group which has planted at least one bomb on the country's railway system and is demanding a ransom of more than USD 5 million, the interior ministry said Wednesday.

Since December a group calling itself AZF has sent six letters to President Jacques Chirac and Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy, condemning France's political and economic establishment and threatening to explode 10 bombs on the railways unless the money is paid.

The government said it is taking the threat seriously and has activated the anti terrorist section of the police as well as the domestic intelligence agency DST. A judicial investigation has been set up under the country's top anti terrorist judge Jean Louis Bruguiere.



Twinkie Defense II

Rush Limbaugh just mentioned the "oral defense" case on his radio show. Pretty funny.
The Twinkie Defense

In my neck of the woods, the death of local businessman 5 years ago has spawned a criminal case involving the girl he was driving with on the night of the accident. At the time of the accident, I remember all kinds of rumors swirling about the circumstances behind the crash. Well, now those rumors have spawned fruit in the girl's defense with, "I couldn't have been driving the car, I was giving him a blow-job." (I'm posting the entire article because the Hartford Courant (an LA Times piece of trash) makes you register.)


Judge Allows Argument Crash Involved Sex Act
March 3, 2004
By ALAINE GRIFFIN, Courant Staff Writer

MIDDLETOWN -- A Superior Court judge ruled Tuesday that a Vernon woman can use the defense that she was engaged in a sex act to fight charges that she caused a 1999 crash that killed Hartford-area businessman Neil Esposito.

"A defendant has a right to offer a defense no matter how outlandish, silly or unbelievable one might think it will be," Judge Robert L. Holzberg said.

And in a further wrinkle in a case that may involve political influence, the defense attorney told the judge that state police gave key pieces of evidence to the Esposito family.

Jeremiah Donovan, the attorney representing Heather Specyalski, 33, who faces charges of second-degree manslaughter and second-degree manslaughter with a motor vehicle, has said his client was not driving because she was performing oral sex on Esposito at the time of the October 1999 crash. He contends Esposito was the driver.

Assistant State's Attorney Maureen Platt fought to bar testimony about possible sex acts unless the defense established "a good-faith basis for such an inquiry."

The motions were argued Tuesday between sessions of jury selection. The issue behind the hearing led to some awkward moments in the nearly empty courtroom. Specyalski sometimes fidgeted in her seat at the table next to her attorney. Platt at one point apologized for any "crude" language she used in making her arguments.

Holzberg was more frank.

"No one ever told me in law school that we'd be having these kinds of conversations in open court," he said.

Donovan referred to witnesses at the scene who, upon seeing Esposito's pants unbuckled and pulled down, suggested that Specyalski "may have been performing" a sex act. He told the judge he planned to ask a witness, an emergency medical technician, his opinion of who was driving the car.

But Platt argued that such statements are "clearly opinion evidence," and noted that in prior statements Specyalski never said she was engaged in oral sex at the time of the crash and rather told authorities she couldn't recall much of what happened.

"No one saw it," Platt said. "His pants could have been down because he was mooning a car he was drag racing. His pants could have been down because he was urinating out of a window. His pants could have been down because he wasn't feeling well. ... I could go on."

The prosecution has also suggested that Esposito's pants may have been pulled down as he was ejected from the vehicle. The defense has countered that point by saying a gash on Esposito's buttocks did not match any rip in the pants and could not have occurred while the pants were on.

Jurors will likely not see the pants, but only photos of them taken shortly after the crash. Donovan told the judge that state police investigators involved in the initial investigation gave the pants to the Esposito family.

The initial probe concluded that Esposito, 42, a wealthy trash-hauler from Rocky Hill and a frequent charitable donor, was driving his leased Mercedes-Benz convertible when it crashed on Route 9 in Cromwell. The couple had attended a party at a Middletown restaurant, and tests showed they had been drinking.

"Who knows what the Espositos may have done with the pants?" Donovan said.

Donovan says in a motion to dismiss all charges against his client that the Espositos hired a state police scientist to investigate the crash on the family's behalf. He says Gov. John G. Rowland was behind the state's decision to prosecute Specyalski. Both Neil Esposito and his father, Raymond Esposito, contributed to the governor's 1998 gubernatorial campaign, and a bridge over I-91 in Wethersfield was named after Neil Esposito in 2000.

Raymond Esposito pushed state police to reopen the case. Specyalski was arrested in November 2000, two weeks after she sued Neil Esposito's estate, claiming his negligence caused her life-altering injuries.

The judge on Tuesday ruled against a motion by Donovan to use gender as grounds to eliminate jurors. Donovan argued women would be biased against his client and more likely to convict her. Platt said she was personally "insulted" by the suggestion, and said it was "startling" to hear such a claim in 2004. She said jurors could not be discriminated against because of their gender. The judge agreed.

Jury selection resumes today.


I have a feeling she may get off, but it could be hard. Haha.

Tuesday, March 02, 2004

It's the Economy, Stupid

The media is doing its best to blur Bush's economic record, despite the fact that they touted Clinton's economic record in 1996 when he ran against Bob Dole. The National Review has a great article comparing Clinton and Bush's first 3 years. This chart explains it all:




And despite having to deal with an attack on the US, two wars, and pesky unemployment, the press and the democrats will not give Bush a fair shake.

Monday, March 01, 2004

Credit to Halliburton?

Not in today's New York Times article called A Revival for Iraq's Oil Industry as Output Nears Prewar Levels. But in the International Herald Tribune, a company that is owned by the New York Times, they do give passing credit to Halliburton with this:

On Sunday, coalition officials turned the spotlight on the oil industry, where problems have often seemed emblematic of the wider deterioration of conditions in Iraq under the U.S. occupation. In December, Iraqis fumed as they waited in lines for gasoline at stations across the country, a problem that American officials now say had more to do with a lack of electricity to pump oil through pipelines and operate gas stations than with a shortage of supplies.

American efforts to restore Iraqi oil have been led by the Army Corps of Engineers and its principal contractor Halliburton, along with advisers to the Oil Ministry drawn from the top echelons of the international oil industry. Chief among these is McKee, a former executive vice president of worldwide operations for the old Conoco.

His main job here has been oil adviser to Bremer.

Still, Americans give much of the credit for the restoration of the oil industry to the Iraqis themselves, saying that the removal of a corrupt elite who led the industry under Saddam left a work force of 35,000 well-trained Iraqis.


The New York Times, however, deleted any credit to Halliburton:
On Sunday, coalition officials turned the spotlight on the oil industry, where problems have often seemed emblematic of the wider deterioration of conditions in Iraq under the American occupation. In December, Iraqis fumed as they waited in lines for gasoline at stations across the country, a problem that American officials now say had more to do with a lack of electricity to pump oil through pipelines and operate gas stations than with a shortage of supplies.

Americans give much of the credit for the restoration of the oil industry to the Iraqis, saying that the removal of a corrupt elite who led the industry under Mr. Hussein left a work force of 35,000 well-trained highly qualified Iraqis.


Nope, you don't ever want to give credit to Halliburton, the company where Dick Cheney was CEO, in case you forgot.
Moore Squished

I watched the opening Billy Crystal crapfest at the Academy Awards last night. They inserted him into various movies from 2003 including Return of the King and Finding Nemo. The only good part was seeing Michael Moore get crushed by one of those big elephant thingies from the Return of the King. The crowd cheered. I then turned off the tv.

P.S. Is Billy Crystal looking really plump? He's starting to look like Jerry Lewis.