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Helen Thomas, Lynne Stewart, a vat of anchovies and me ... indeed!
-Glenn Reynolds
You may have noticed that there haven't been any posts here at TDB for a while. No Friday poetry, no posts over the weekend, nothing. Well, I haven't abandoned The Daily Blitz. We had technical difficulties. Without getting into too many details, a piece of equipment failed and, when it was replaced by an identical part, the internet became inaccessible for some reason that is still not really apparent.
Anyway, everything is up and running again but I fear that people might think that this is another one of the blogs that has packed it in. If you're reading this, please spread the word (especially if you have a blog of your own). The Daily Blitz is back. There will be fresh poetry and politics and punditry up in short order. Come on in and enjoy (the next 50,000 visitors get in free).
Seriously. Now that the Warsaw Pact is dead and gone, what exactly is the point of NATO, other than to make Belgium and Luxembourg and Greece feel much, much more important than they actually are? Why are we in an organization with France, Germany, Spain and other nations that do not share our global interests? NATO is a cold war relic. It's about time we put it behind us. It's time for new alliances based on new global realities.
Fuji, a 34 year old dolphin living in Okinawa Churaumi Aquarium in Japan lost her fin to a disease of some kind and could not swim well or jump. So the aquarium got in touch with Bridgestone Tires and they made the world's first artificial fin for Fuji. As you can see from the picture, she can jump just fine now. It's amazing what people can ... and will ... do. Good for the folks at Okinawa Churaumi Aquarium for not giving up on Fuji and big kudos to the people at Bridgestone who spent a lot of time, money and effort for a good cause.
In recent years, the high profile positions of men and women like Colin Powell and Condoleeza Rice and especially Clarence Thomas have brought the racism of the American Left into the light. Sudenly, it became acceptable and even fashionable to talk of these and other highly educated, highly accomplished black men and women as "uncle toms" and "house slaves" and "aunt jemimas." The most appalling part of this phenomenon is the way that groups like the NAACP have turned a blind eye to it, or even encouraged it. As long as its black people on the right wing of American politics who are hit with racist smears, they just don't give a damn (much like NOW and other leftist "womens' interest organizations" legitimized Bill Clinton's reprehensible behavior by ignoring and even turning on the women who accused him of sexual harrassment ... and worse ... while continuing to laud praise on a man who pushed their political agenda ... compare this to how they treated Republican Senator Bob Packwood). Now comes a completely representative incident out of Milwaukee where leftist radio host John Sylvester called future Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice an "aunt jemima" and current Secretary of State Colin Powell an "Uncle Tom." But that's not the appalling part, if only because these vulgar slurs have become so typical and pedestrian through repetition over recent years. Tha appalling part is the reaction of the NAACP:
Linda Hoskins of the NAACP's Madison branch said she could not comment on Sylvester's remarks until she had heard them in their entirety.
Does anyone, for a second, believe that this would have been the NAACP reaction had Sean Hannity or Rush Limbaugh or Bill O'Reilly used a racial slur (and that's what those comments were, by definition) against Charlie Rangel or Sheila Jackson-Lee or another left-wing black person? The NAACP needs to add a few more letters to its acronym. It has long ago stopped being the "National Association for the Advancement of Colored People" and has become the "National Association for the Advancement of Colored People Who Share a Leftist Agenda but not for Colored People Who Are Right Wingers." Yeah, I know, NAACPWSLACPWRAW is a bit unweildy but sacrifices must be made in the interests of truth. OK, how about the "National Association for the Advancement of Leftist Colored People?" NAALCP is not so bad and at least this way, people like Condi Rice and Colin Powell and Clarence Thomas and J.C. Watts and Alan Keyes and the many, many black voters who cast a ballot for President Bush know that they should look elsewhere for an organization that represents them. Personally, I've always liked CORE.
Update: Oh, and I forgot: NOLW. A little truth in advertising, please.
Another Jew is murdered. Shot in the head for no apparent reason. Well, actually, since it was apparent that the man was an orthodox Jew, I guess that the reason is pretty apparent as well.
On the side of the inurgents, of course. Merely hating Americans isn't good enough for these Muslim Frenchmen. No, they need to try to kill them. Happily, Tarek W, from Paris, Redouane el-Hakim and Abdel Halim Badjoudj are all dead now.
That's three that the French will not have to fight on their own streets. You're welcome, Jacques.
For those who don't know who he is, Adam Shapiro is the hateful little ISM (the anti-Israel "International Solidarity Movement") animal who ran into the Mukata to protect Yasser Arafat from the eeeevil Israelis back in March, 2002. Since then, he has used the notoriety he received from that stunt to push ISM's pro-terrorist and anti-Israel propoganda. Now, with his hero Arafat finally making the worms of the West Bank ill, Adam has decided to give him one last, loving tongue-bath. Shapiro describes "President Arafat" as a kindly and caring man, spreads the myth that ISM hatemonger Rachel Corrie (shown burning an American flag in front of Palestinian children) died trying to save a Palestinian house from an Israeli bulldozer (she was, in fact, protecting a terrorist smuggling tunnel when she died as a result of terminal stupidity) and lauds "Palestinian nonviolent resistance" (no, I'm not kidding). Here's a quote:
Palestinian nonviolent resistance to these measures has also been very real. Palestinians have been resisting the occupation nonviolently every day since it began, in 1967. Despite determined civilian resistance, their homes have been destroyed, their land has been stolen and their lives taken by the overwhelming Israeli military machine. Nonetheless, like President Arafat, the Palestinian people have been too often stereotyped as terrorists.Adam Shapiro. A walking, talking, pungent embarrassment to Jews, New Yorkers and Americans.
Demagogue and propogandist Michael Moore is not satisfied with merely helping George W. Bush win a second term (I think it is fair to say that no one got more Bush voters to the polls than Michael Moore). No, now that he has lost and America has resoundly rejected his message of hate and division, Moore is calling on the deluded ideologues who still follow this putrid piper of the Left to join with the Stalinist International ANSWER (an anti-Semitic front group for the communist Workers World Party) to disrupt the January 20, 2005 inauguration. Moore, on his web site, writes in the "to do" section:
IF YOU'VE SEEN 'FAHRENHEIT 9/11,' YOU KNOW HOW MUCH FUN BUSH'S FIRST INAUGURATION WAS. HELP MAKE THIS ONE EVEN BIGGER AND BETTER.He also includes a link to the International ANSWER site calling for "protests" during the inauguration. However, anybody that did see Moore's "documentary" knows that Moore suggested that tens of thousands of protesters descended upon the inauguration, pelted Bush's limo with eggs and would have likely strung up Bush and his evil minions had they not sped away in terror. Of course, that scenario is, like so much of Moore's work, a fevered Lefty fabrication. But now, he is asking for his followers to make the upcoming inauguration "even bigger and better" than what he portrayed in his film. Whatever could he mean by that?
Iran delenda est.
Hat tip: Little Green Footballs.
Let's be clear. Great Britain is one of the most Jew-friendly nations on earth (I suppose it helps that there are only about 265,000 Jews in the whole country). Miles ahead of France, Germany, the Ukraine, Russia and most other "civilized" nations. And yet, in today's climate, is anyone really very surprised when Jewish tombstones are sprayed with swastikas and SS symbols, even in Britain? Sadly, I know that I'm not. When sides are chosen in this war, it won't be country by country. It will be person by person because the enemy is already living within the borders of every nation on earth. Including in Great Britain. Including in the United States.
Check out Honest Reporting's one minute film that summarizes the Arafat legacy and rejects the media's efforts to make a hero out of a monster.
I just don't get how this happens. This woman is was a mother of seven and she let her two babies starve to death while she drank beer after beer. How on earth does this happen?
When police discovered two young children dead of starvation in an East Hill apartment, they found the floor of the master bedroom where the mother was sleeping littered with empty beer cans, laundry and garbage.Honestly, I don't understand.After she awoke, Marie Genevieve Robinson said nothing. When she rose from her bed, she staggered to a closet and pulled a can of beer from an 18-pack and police placed her under arrest, Kent detectives wrote in their report.
The 36-year-old mother appeared somewhat bewildered Tuesday morning in her initial court appearance as District Judge Robert E. McBeth reviewed the police report describing the conditions officers found when they responded to a request for welfare check Sunday at Robinson's apartment and discovered the dead children.
The King County Medical Examiner's Office concluded that Robinson's 7-week-old son Raiden A. Robinson and his brother, 16-month-old Justice W. Robinson, died of malnutrition and dehydration and may have been dead for several days.
A third son, who is 2½ years old, was found alive in the apartment. He was placed in the care of his paternal grandmother.
...
Robinson, who was receiving public assistance, has been the subject of four complaints or reports to the state Department of Social and Health Services. Child welfare officials who met with the family to investigate reports of possible neglect concluded in three cases that the children were in no physical danger, according to state officials.
Kevin Sites, the embed who filmed the much-discussed mosque shooting video is now claiming that Marines shot three other unarmed men in that Mosque. No, apparently he does not have any proof. Nor does he speculate as to why the man in the video who calmly talks to the Marines is left unharmed.
Man, oh man, the years have not been kind. Don't do drugs, kids.
France blames Israeli arms dealers for helping the Ivory Coast army kill French troops. Sure, why not? French television alleges that Israelis helped the Ivory Coast army use drones to locate the French base, which was then bombed. Two questions: First, did the Ivory Coast army really not know where the French base was located? Second, how on earth would the French know who, specifically, was operating a drone, much less who was helping them operate a drone?
Paging Mr. Dreyfus ...
I just saw on Fox that some of the children who survived the Beslan school massacre are on a three week trip so that they can start to recover from their nightmare experience . Which country invited these children so that they could forget about the the horror of terrorism? Why, Israel, naturally (after Ashkelon Mayor Roni Mahatzari sent a letter of condolences to his fellow mayor in Beslan and invited the children). Go figure.
Oh, Israeli citizens and companies paid for the trip.
When you watch the video of the young marine shooting an insurgent who was faking his own death (not surrendering, mind you, but faking his own death), think about the story of Captain Sean Sims for a little context, and take a moment to keep the families of Captain Sims and Lt. Edward Iwan and their fellow marines in your thoughts.
While Chris Matthews and Dan Rather and the rest of the MSM (mainstream media) go into joyous convulsions as they report on what may or may not have been a war crime by a wounded young marine in Fallujah, dozens of other incidents, which are unambiguous, go unreported. Incidents like the one where U.S. medics treat their wounded enemies who, just minutes before, had been trying to kill them, while a U.S. marine chaplain comforts the insurgents:
On a dusty field outside Fallujah, where wounded American soldiers were rushed off the battlefield, a young Sudanese man lay bleeding and trying to talk his way out of trouble.That's a helluva home life that man must have.
Mohammed Khalid had a small spot in his left shoulder where an American bullet had entered and a large gaping hole on his biceps where it had exited. The identification number "14-5" was written on his chest in black marker. Khalid, a gaunt 19-year-old with a scraggly beard, screamed as a doctor dressed his wounds.
. . .
The conversation focused on how different a wounded American's treatment might have been had he been captured in a city where Western kidnap victims were videotaped having their heads cut off with large knives.
"Undoubtedly if any of them had gotten any of us, the situation wouldn't be the same," said 1st Lt. Gregory McCrum, a battalion medical officer for the Army's 1st Infantry Division. "I don't know what their fellow insurgents tell them or what the Arab media tells them, but certainly we don't rape women and children and torture them."
. . .
An Army chaplain, Capt. Ric Brown, walked around the stretchers and held the insurgents' hands as they writhed.
"We're all human, and there is that initial thought of why would we want to treat these guys," said Brown, 37, from Reno, Nev. "But I've had the opportunity to talk with the average Joe Iraqi, and they say the Quran teaches tolerance, tolerance of others and peace. ... Islam is not what these guys made it out to be."
. . .
An Iraqi soldier peppered him with questions about Omar Hadid, a reputed insurgent leader in Fallujah who reports suggested was killed with dozens of other fighters in an artillery strike.
"He was injured in the shoulder," Yousef said.
The medics cut the conversation short. The four men were carried to an ambulance.
Yousef yelled, "Don't take me to my father's house."
And one good reason why is that they are afraid to take terrorism and Al Qaeda seriously, in spite of the scores upon scores of bodies that recently littered their streets. They just convicted one of the mass murderers. A 16 year old man who transported the explosives. He received six years in juvenile detention. SIX YEARS!! He'll be murdering infidels again before his 23rd birthday ... if he doesn't get out sooner. Six years for a man who should be swinging from the end of a rope.
Spain will be hit again.
More rainbows and flowers and sweet jellybean wishes from our lovable Lefty friends at DU:
AmerDem (1000+ posts) Wed Nov-17-04 02:03 AM Response to Reply #23Emphasis mine. Feel the love!!
24. you best remember something
Your man only won because of the deep fraud he was willing to pull on this once great nation. Take this to the bank and I mean it with everything in me...I am patiently waiting for all hell to break loose to personally hunt down as many of these freeper fascist fucks I can get my hands on. At this point it can't happen soon enough!
Or What Happens in Vegas Stays in Vegas
Nilder Santos and his girlfriend Naoimi Rojas, two of the fifty Cuban performers who are seeking political asylum, celebrate their reunion (Rojas was one of seven members of the performance troupe who just arrived from Germany to join the rest of the troupe). Welcome to America. Hopefully, your families will be able to join you soon.
They have a petition to have the vote "investigated." Ah, nothing like pathetic straw-clutching. What on earth are these people going to do with themselves after President Bush is sworn in for his second term on January 20, 2005? I mean, they had "Anybody But Bush" as a rallying cry for the last four years but "Anybody But Whoever The Republicans Happen To Nominate" just doesn't have the ring of an effective rallying cry. I hope they've squirreled away enough of George Soros' money to get them through the lean years. Anyway, I'm off to sign the petition. There's a comments section and I want to let my congresscritter know that, for the love of God, I don't want them wasting another dime of taxpayer money on this tinfoilhattery.
Um, we mean the insurgents. Yeah, that's right ...
Just another LLL article about how the "insurgents" are like super-ninja ghosts who melt away from confused, bumbling American Marines (never mind the 1,200 or so super-ninjas which are currently decorating the streets of Fallujah).
I think that the LLL press should consolidate. The BBC, NYT, Al Jazeera, CBS, Air America, Slate, MSNBC, The Guardian, The Independent, The Daily Mirror, etc. should just merge, name Dan Rather their CEO, put Markos Zuniga and Michael Moore in charge of the editorial page, and get Robert Fisk, Peter Arnett and Mohammed Saeed al-Sahaf (Baghdad Bob) to be bureau chiefs. It'll be the lefty media juggernaut that Al Gore, Al Franken, Phil Donahue and George Soros have been dreaming of. Imagine! Centralized seething and Bush-hatred. On the plus side, when it tanks in three months they can focus their message of how it's all the fault of Rove and those bloodthirsty Zionist Jesus-Freak homophobe woman hater neocons. Moveon.org will issue the press release. No one will read that either.
Newsweek's Melissa Henneberger does her bit for the Left's post-election autopsy and strives to defend poor, unfairly attacked, Teresa Heinz-Kerry. Her conclusion? Heinz-Kerry wasn't unpopular due to any fault of her own. She was unpopular because Americans hate women. Un. Bee. Lievable. Naturally, the Left embraced THK because she actually embodied some of the characteristics that they so strove to exhibit themselves. She was, in turns, rude, brazen, anti-American, insulting, self-important and, at times, just plain bizarre. None of these things are seen as negativesby Henneberger and her ilk. Instead, Henneberger tells of an incident when THK keeps an audience waiting ninety minutes and, upon arriving in her own time, does not offer a single word of apology or explanation to the people that she inconvenienced. This is positively regarded by Henneberger as some kind of sign of strength or character or individuality. Most of us, I believe, would regard it as a sign of rudeness, self-absorption and a substandard upbringing. It seems a symptom of an individual who doesn't have anyone in their lives with the stature or backbone to tell them when they do something wrong. No, Ms. Henneberger, America does not hate women. We hate spoiled, whiny brats, of any age or gender, and prefer not to have them in our White House, if at all possible. And as for the argument that America is not ready for strong willed or outspoken First Ladies, I'm sorry, Ms. Henneberger, were you in a cave somewhere in 1992 when Bill Clinton was elected and again in 1996 when an America that was quite well acquainted with his spouse re-elected him? I guess that in Ms. Henneberger's world Hillary Clinton is a bland, shy, delicate flower of a woman because she does not tell reporters who ask hard questions to "shove it," does not look down her nose at American culture while her husband is running for President, does not call people who disagree with her husband's health care plan "idiots," etc. Teresa Heinz Kerry wasn't unpopular because she was too much woman. Teresa Heinz Kerry was unpopular because, in spite of her wealth, she had too little class.
For a good fisking of the Henneberger article, check out baldilocks.
The word is that President Bush has given Condi Rice the order that so many of us have been hoping to hear: clean up the State Department, top to bottom. As I've said previously, it will be a bloodbath. There will be outraged resignations and more tell-all books than 60 Minutes will have time to pimp. And, if it's done right, it will all be worth it. Good luck, Secretary Rice. We're behind you.
Yup, Flan. Specifically, pistachio-topped flan. I'm going to attempt it this weekend and let you guys know how it turns out. It's been too long since I tried making anything new (new for me, that is).
In much the same way that the Soviet Union was our enemy during the Cold War. We can call France Russia-Lite. Of course, France doesn't have the driving ideology of the old Soviet Union or the military might, or the global political influence, or even the global economic influence of the old Soviet Union. And it has another major problem. It has already been invaded by a hostile and generally unassimilated Islamist community. It won't be long before the battle that appears to have started in Holland will spread to the streets of Marseilles, Paris, etc. Nevertheless, French President Jacques Chirac sees France as the counterbalance to American ideological, cultural, economic and military influence (well, he sees France and the rest of Europe as a counterbalance, but he doesn't exactly have the rest of Europe on board the Chirac Express). At any rate, Tony Blair is trying hard to bridge the gap between France and her allies and the United States ... and Chirac is merrily sticking sticks in his spokes:
Clearly Chirac wants to pit Europe against the United States and clearly Britain (as well as the rest of Europe) will eventually have to choose sides. As for culture, I don't think that Jacques would like to compare cultural accomplishments over, say, the last century or so. Let's put it this way. It's not the U.S. that's freaking out about French culture cominating the world. Quite to the contrary.M Chirac, speaking to British journalists, including The Times, soon after General Powell’s announcement, revealed that he had urged Mr Blair to demand the relaunch of the Middle East peace process in return for backing the war.
“Well, Britain gave its support but I did not see anything in return. I’m not sure it is in the nature of our American friends at the moment to return favours systematically.”
In other remarks that will sting the Bush Administration, he again outlined his vision of a “multipolar” world in which a united Europe would be equal with the US, and mocked Donald Rumsfeld, the US Defence Secretary, for his division of Europe into old and new.
M Chirac said that there would be no division between Britain and France.
“It is like that nice guy in America — what’s his name again? — who spoke about ‘old Europe’. It has no sense. It’s a lack of culture to imagine that. Imagining that there can be division between the British and French vision of Europe is as absurd as imagining that we are building Europe against the United States.”
I just heard that Condi Rice will be the new Secretary of State. As I discuss in the post below, this is excellent news. Now, who will replace Rice as the National Security Advisor? I have to think about that one. At this point, your guess is as good as mine. Daniel Pipes? Michael Ledeen? OK, I'm just kidding with those two ... but it would be aufully funny to watch the seething and wailing. More realistically, Wolfowitz could be promoted, which would also cause some primo whining fron the Left.
Y'all...I need your support on this. This is Jhekas Girl speaking to you all. Since I'm bad, I've hijacked Jhekas blog to send you this message. He may delete this, so I've got to type real fast
G_d love him, Jheka is a procrastinator. So anyway, he's been talking about going home for the Holidays since I've known him and that's been well over three years now. Still he's pining for his city like a lost pup and doing nothing about it. Since I'm a girl of action, I made him an offer; I'll buy the plane ticket. Go. Enjoy. Soak it up. Come back a new man. And you know what he said!?! He said he needed to check his calendar! Dude! You gotta strike while the iron is hot! Hello! Free ticket to New York! Clear your calendar! You are your own boss! Can't you taste it, smell it, feel it? C'mon, I know you miss that rhythm, the noise, the people. You are aching to go and still you won't when someone offers to send you!?! Grrrr... Here's the deal, or ultimatium if you will. The offer for the plane ticket expires at midnight tonight. The big apple is in your court dude. You decide and let me know because I'm not going to ask again. If I don't answer the phone, you might want to leave me a message. Leave Jheka a comment if you think he should drop everything and go. Or leave me a comment to tell me what a bad girlfriend I am for hijacking his blog. He he. Update by Jheka: Grrrr!!! Must ... change ... password ... Besides, New York is big ... and scary ... I wouldn't know what to do with myself ...Before we can talk about who will replace Secretary Powell as Secretary of State, a couple of thoughts on the departing Secretary of State.
First, while many neocons, like me, see Powell as something of a failure as the SoS, let's keep in mind that he was appointed in a pre-9/11 world and served most of his term in a post 9/11 world. Had there never been a 9/11, had there been no War on Terror and all of the associated issues, Powell, who is generally regarded as a very fine diplomat, may have made a fine SoS. We'll never know, but I believe that he was simply the wrong man at the wrong time. In the 90's, he may well have been brilliant.
Second, let's not forget that, but for Colin Powell, there may never have been a first Bush term, much less a second one. Powell was named as the prospective Secretary of State before the 2000 election. He was certainly worth votes to then Governor Bush. Almost certainly more votes in Florida than President Bush ultimately won by. Whatever you think of Secretary Powell's politics or job performance, let's not forget what could have happened but for Powell:
Now, as for potential replacements, the first name on everyone's lips is Condi Rice. This would be a very fine choice and it is rumored that she is the favorite. A few thoughts on this. First, She would have absolutely no trouble being confirmed. She is articulate, accomplished, and after the drubbing that the Democrats just took, you won't hear too many speaking out against the first black female Secretary of State. Second, a female secretary of state sends just the right message to Arab and Islamist regimes ... and to their women. It is an especially good message to send to the pro-reform forces in Iran. Third, Rice is very, very articulate, extraordinarily knowledgeable, strong willed and shares this administration's ambitious foreign poolicy vision (something that Powell did not do). This separates her from a number of candidates who have name recognition but do not have her knowledge or experience when it comes to foreign policy. Also, the position may be key to getting Rice from resigning and going back to California, as she has discussed doing.
The next name that has been floated is Joe Lieberman. This would also be a great choice. Not only does Lieberman have a firm grasp of foreign policy issues but he also shares this administration's foreign policy goal of democratizing the Middle East. Moreover, a religious Jew as Secretary of State sends the clearest possible message to friends and foes alike as to the strength and nature of our commitments in the Middle East. Forcing Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, etc. to deal with Lieberman would be a step in the right direction. Politically, it would be seen as reaching across the aisle to a man who was on the opposing ticket in 2000 and who ran for President in 2004. Confirmation would not be an issue. Lieberman has a secure and senior seat in the Senate but he has made it clear that he feels somewhat estranged from his party. He may prefer 4 years as Secretary of State rather than serving out his remaining 2 years as a Senator in a minority party and either retiring in 2006 or running for another 6 year term (especially since his Presidential aspirations appear to be dead). Since Connecticut has a Republican governor, getting Lieberman to take the job might be a coup as a Republican could get appointed in his place (though there may be an agreement to appoint a moderate Democrat or an Independent in deference to Lieberman and the Connecticut voters). In any case, the Republicans would have a legitimate shot at a "safe" Democratic seat in 2006.
Other proposed names are John Danforth, who would be a fine choice except for the fact that he just got appointed as the ambassador to the U.N. and is likely to stay at that post, Senator Dick Lugar, who has experience and bipartisan support but who does not strike me as the team player that Bush is looking for (he was critical of the war effort right before the eletion, giving the Kerry team lots of ammunition ... and clearly, Bush is looking to tighten up the team), Rudy Guiliani, who, despite being ideologically spot-on, has never shown himself to be much of a diplomat and does not have extensive foreign policy experience, Paul Wolfowitz, who is simply too divisive, Richard Armitage, who was Powell's number 2 man for the last four years and will not get a look for exactly that reason. Whoever is appointed will have the massive and unenviable job of reforming the State Department and de-trenching the stubborn Arabist elements within the department. Frankly, if the job is to me done right, it will have to be a political bloodbath wiht much wailing and gnashing of teeth, but it has to be done.
Personally, I hope that Condi gets the job abd that she brings her flamethrower and asbsetos jammies to work.
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