John 'Both Ways' Kerry from the mind of Unknown.

Has anyone noticed that many of Kerry's key issues here at home are completely disregarded as progress in Iraq? It seems that he wishes to have it both ways, yet again.

On Kerry's website (warning, enter at your own risk) National Security, Economy & Jobs, Health Care, Energy Independence, Homeland Security, Education, and Environment are the key issues on the sidebar leading to main pages highlighting his 'vision for America'. Well, I must say, when you look at these things point by point, if the issues are to be considered measures of success in a country, Iraq is being quite successful. Yet, his current position on the situation in Iraq seem to put blinders up for all of these issues.

National Security: For decades, Iraq had been on the receiving end of National Security Measures. After years of invasions and sanctions, Iraq can now become a part of the international community and work with allies to better protect both the Iraqi people and the world as a whole. Iraq's weapons programs are no longer a threat to other countries, which will do nothing but improve relations with peaceful neighbors and world military powers. Relations with the members of the world community have never been better... (unless you were one of the countries that was selling proscribed weapons to Saddam and Co.)

Economy and Jobs: This is a no brainer. Iraq is now a free market country. No longer does a person have to bribe government officials to get a business license. New businesses are popping up left and right, and people are finding jobs at an alarming rate. Government employees are getting paid regularly and sufficiently. The new currency is much more stable than Saddam's currency. And, now, the nation's oil revenues are going back to projects to help the citizens of Iraq rather than to fund new palaces and retreats for a dictator. Things are looking good in this area. Really good.

Health Care: This is a no brainer. Before the fall of Saddam, the spending per capita on health care in Iraq was less than one dollar. Now, more hospitals are open, proper medical equipment and training are available to the people, and doctors are actually getting paid. Visit Iraq the Model to see Iraq through the eyes of an Iraqi doctor, who has worked for both Saddam and now the new government. It is not debatable that Iraq's healthcare serves the citizens of Iraq much better than it has ever done under Saddam.

Energy Independence: Iraq is sitting above one of the largest energy stores on earth. So, being independent on energy is not really that big of an issue... Unless you can't get that energy to meet the needs of your people. The electrical output of Iraq is now well above the pre-war level, and it continues to grow. Sabotage has been a setback at many points in the recent past, yet the power output still grows. Even more important, perhaps, is the modernization of the electricity production and transmission systems. New generators are being installed, older generators are being updated and are getting maintenance that has been needed for years. Iraq's energy independence is well on track.

Homeland Security: Iraq has homeland security problems. That is obvious. But, in the first time in several decades, the government isn't the terrorist, the military's duty is to protect a free people rather than crush any opposing views, and very soon the military will be lead by publicly elected officials. As far as Iraq's homeland security goes, they are making steps toward being a self sufficient, terrorist free country like they have never done before. They have a way to go yet, but they are making great progress.

Education: Iraq now has a school system that is geared toward progress rather than the glorification of the dictator. Iraqi schools have been updated and rebuilt at a rate that Iraq has never seen. New textbooks are being used that offer a non-Saddam-filtered view of the world. University professors no longer must worry about teaching 'the wrong thing' and getting punished by a peeved dictator. Iraqi Students can now participate in international youth exchange programs and university students can now study abroad if they wish. Education is becoming accessible to all of the Iraqi youth. Teachers are getting paid regularly and sufficiently. Education in Iraq is not comparable to the abysmal state that existed under Saddam. This is a HUGE accomplishment.

Environment: Iraq has suffered decades of neglect and maltreatment on the environmental front. From the draining of one of the oldest civilized wetland areas in the world to the use of burning oil wells and oil pits as a national defense strategy, Iraq desperately needed some environmental help. Now, the wetlands are being restored and a people dependent on this wetland are returning to their normal lifestyle. Sewer systems are being updated from a general state of disrepair. Proper refuse collection sites are being created instead of using sports fields to fit that bill. New electrical appliances are being sold in Iraq which will run more efficiently than the old outdated appliances that currently exist. And, most importantly, there is no longer the environmental risk of a dictator striving to develop nuclear and chemical weapons. We no longer need to worry about the damage and clean-up required because of an Iraqi WMD attack.


So, I have shown that under each of Kerry's main points for success in the United States, Iraq is becoming quite successful. Yet, he claims that it is a pure quagmire with no hope of success. I want to know how someone can say that an issue has extreme importance in the United States, yet has absolutely no merit in another country that is emerging as a new democracy. We would not expect most people to make such claims, but we are beginning to expect it from Senator Kerry. He likes to have things both ways.

Give it up, Sen. Kerry. Why don't you quit emboldening the terrorists with the hope that you will be elected and immediately withdraw the troops. Why don't you tell your sister to stop preaching the same thing in Australia. Why don't you promote democracy instead of doubt its usefulness in the War on Terror. Why don't you strive for a higher standard of living all around the world, rather than just strive for a higher standard of living at home. Don't you realize that they are one in the same?

The ARR-GEE Strikes Back from the mind of Unknown.

The birthtown of the LXCG (League of eXtraordinarily Conservative Gentlemen) is Eugene, Oregon. Normally, this town can be seen as a hippy-haven, a leftist-love-fest, a moonbat-metropolis... whatever you wish to call it, it is one of the 'bluest' parts of this normally blue voting states. It is so liberal that the Democratic party oftentimes isn't liberal enough for the local people's tastes. Normally, one would think that the local newspaper, the Register Guard (the 'Arr-Gee' in Eugene-ben), would have to cater to the local group-think that is so prevalent.

Contrary to many newspapers, I've had two experiences that actually show journalism at work, rather than the typical 'editorializing disguised as journalis' that is practiced by the NYTimes and all of it's wanna-bes. The second experience was this article from the Arr-Gee. They interviewed a soldier in Iraq whose parents live in Florence, a coastal town in the same county as Eugene. Lance Varney in currently serving in Baghdad. This is some of what he had to say.

"I think we're already seeing a turning point in most of the communities, despite what may be prevalent in the news," he said during a telephone interview following a long Friday on the job. "The markets are full of people shopping, driving. The open-air markets are completely full, the streets are packed with people driving up and down selling all kinds of stuff. Kids are back at school. Soccer fields are being used that used to be trash heaps."

He comes across as being much less 'nuanced' than Senator Kerry. Please read the whole article. Notice that it is not an AP or al-Reuters news feed, but an actual article by an actual reporter from the Arr-Gee.

The first experience I personally had with the Arr-Gee that led me to believe that they actually care about reporting the news rather than promoting an agenda was their coverage of the protest that was held in Downtown Eugene on the 2^nd anniversary of the September 11^th attacks. It would have been very easy for a reporter to just wade through the crowd of protestors, snap a few pics of them, and get some nice and bold quotes from either anarchists or lawyers or schoolteachers who were all holding signs with slogans like 'no blood for oil' and 'impeach Bush' and other creative signs. Jeff Wright (the reporter) went the extra mile to show that there were 4 guys holding signs that didn't represent the rest of the people there today. He even quoted me in the story. As far as the coverage was concerned, he did a very good job in reporting that not everyone at the protest had the same views as the mob of tie-dye wearing liberals. Unfortunately, the article in no longer in the free section of the Register Guard. You'll have to take my word on the matter or go here to search for the article titled "A day to remember" from Sep 12, 2003. Then, you'll have to shell out some cash to see it.

Anyway... you should not give up on all of the media that exists in today's world. The blogosphere can work together nicely with some of the dignified outlets that already exist.

Roundup from the mind of Unknown.

Bush's Wings: If George W. Bush were really a bad pilot who skirted service and just goofed off, why would there be so many people vouching that he was a real asset to our nations defenses way back when. Powerline has an article that just doesn't make sense if the AWOL and all of the service skirting was true.

Sanity and Intellegence are not the same thing: This Fox News Report looks at the mess that was called the UN Food for Oil Program. That name completely fits the definition of a misnomer. It would be too simplistic to think that the ties between Saddam and Osama were only one or two degrees of separation. This report looks at the possible network used to tie the two parties together. If the UN cares about its own reputation, it should be divulging all of this information as speedily as possible. We need to get to the bottom of this. Anyway, Saddam was not sane, but neither was he stupid.

And Finally: Ted Koppel ran a two part piece showing footage from a soldier who had recently returned from Iraq. He captured a wide array of video footage over in Iraq and offered it to ABC to show. They also ran a continuous interview/commentary between clips. Originally, the soldier had furnished over 20 hours of footage to the network, and I think that much less than 5% of that was shown. Of the footage shown, it seemed to be a wide array of situations.

One of the troubling parts to me was the footage of the 'torture' positions in which one of the captives was seated during an interrogation. The position was knees on the floor sitting on your heels. It was on a hard floor, and yes, it's uncomfortable for many westerners to sit that way. Ted Koppel said something on the lines of 'try sitting like that for 30 minutes or more. It's extremely painful'. (I have no exact quotes. ABC doesn't offer free transcripts of their programs. I refuse to pay for something that should be part of public record.)

The reason I say 'westerners' is because right now, I am a westerner in a country that heavily utilizes that exact seating position. In Japan, the traditional seating style is called 'seiza', and at first, was extremely uncomfortable to me. I was astonished to see children and adults sitting on hard surfaces for well over an hour. After first trying it, I though I was pretty tough to get by with 2 minutes. Now, after living in an area where I am frequently exposed to that position, I can stand much longer times without much pain at all. It's just something that takes getting used to. I can sit that way without considering it torture.

Now, one might say "but the people in the prisions aren't used to that position! It's Torture!" Now, I recall hearing somewhere that muslims pray several times a day. I also recall that they sit in a very similar position for their prayers. In fact, I'm sure if one were to dig through the archives at ABC, they could find countless clips of people praying in Mosques from all around the world. It only took a quick google search to find this picture:

This boils down to a news channel taking a story that doesn't fit their goal and editorializing it (incorrectly) to fit their point of view. From my recollection, the soldier did a very good job of countering loaded questions from Koppel. Perhaps the next story should be about the widespread 'torture' that happens all over the country of Japan. All those poor kids on the hardwood floors. Oh! The Horror!!!

CBS is Not a Victim... from the mind of Unknown.

Ra^ther than appologize, Ra^ther just lawyers his way through the whole issue of responsibility in journalism and blames the whole thing on a source. If there were ever a 'source' of information that would seem suspicious, whether looking at the documents themselves or looking at the person giving the documents, this would be it. By the new standard that CBS has implemented, they could now run a story that firmly accuses John Kerry of hitting an old french lady while driving in france, and running from the police.



What really needs to happen is an appology. Mr. Rather and CBS need to appologize to the American people for not doing the research necessary for this story. They need to appologize to the President for any damage that has been done to his name or campaign. They need to say to the public that they fully retract all of the accusations made and implied by that story. Rather needs to retire, even though journalistic integrity should force CBS to fire the people responsible for the story.

None of this will happen, though. Instead, CBS will play the victim. They will claim that some mean spirited person, who they had no idea about, played a prank on them.

I hope people aren't so stupid to believe it.

Added: The words "I'm sorry" may have been said, but they just say that they are sorry for the mistake. They never acknowledge that they may have damaged anyone's name or reputation at all. They need very powerful language to say "without these documents, we could not have made the following claims...." and "We at CBS are very sorry for causing the following due to our severe errors in judgement..." The lists following such statements would need to be quite long. The Killian Family seems to agree with me....

Roundup from the mind of Unknown.

Bush Vs. Kerry: This NRO article highlights a big difference between Bush and Kerry. With Bush, we get a slate of 33 allies to help us defend the free world. With Kerry, we get France and Germany, and perhaps the now socialist Spain.

Nader on Florida Ballot: The Democrats have failed to keep Nader off of the Florida Ballot this November. This is good news for all people who believe in a multiparty system. Basically, the Democrats are failing in their attempt to disenfranchize about 3% of the vote.

MSNBC Still Pulling for Kerry: With headlines like "Will draft fears sway voters?" is a direct attempt to bring up the "Draft" issue to sway voters. I think that the headline writers could come up with more informative and neutral headlines.

United States not Polling for Kerry: Recent polls have shown our President increasing his lead on The Senators Kedwards. We have a good few weeks till election day, but if the trend does anything but reverses sharply, we will see another 4 years of good leadership. Even more importantly, a strong defeat in the election may force the Democratic Party to abandon the angry left contingent and get back closer to reality. If that happens, we can expect a 'happy-left" Democratic Party to be much more productive in congress and we can expect many wonderful things to happen in the next four years. Let's all hope for 6 more weeks of good campaigning and a landslide defeat on November 2^nd.

President Bush talks about Ra^thergate: Though his comments were limited, he has made statements about CBS's claims about his own National Guard Service in a recent interview. It is good to see some action from the White House on this issue.

Japan Keeps an Eye on China: If this report turns out to be true, it could be the first step in the next 'cold war'. Various sources have said that the next 10 years will be very telling for China's relationship with the rest of the world. We are already in a battle of resource allocation with China, as they gobble up more resources every day. Who knows what China will do as their hunger for more outside resources grows, as it will certainly do in the coming years.

Evan's Mental Rodeo II from the mind of Unknown.

Ra^thergete, Memogate, Forgerygate, whatever you want to call it... is starting to get a little more interesting. Over at Blogs for Bush, they've got a good roundup on where those memos came from and what that might mean. Like Drudge says.... Developing. Who knows if this will ever be solved.

Quote of the day:

You deserve a president who will not play politics with national security-John Kerry.

It is not very often that a candidate highlights the precise reasons for voting for the other guy. I guess that his campaign is in such disarray that he is trying a new strategy of using reverse psychology. Pretty soon, he is going to be standing at lecterns across the country shouting: Don't vote for me! I dare you!

Some thoughts on Robert Jenkins: Robert Jenkins is reportedly back 'on duty' at a military facility here in Japan. I have read on some blogs that they feel this outcome is very ridiculous. Well... it may be, but I must remind such people that this was an event that the Japanese media was trying to use as propaganda against the US military's presence in Japan. The US played their cards correctly in this one, saving face for people all around. Do I think he should be getting off as easy as he is? No. Do I think that the military is showing weakness? No. The US military was basically given no good way out of this situation, and they managed to make things as good for the rest of the troops in Japan as they possibly could. Court Marshaling an elderly person in a country that has a relatively short statute of limitations for murder could have disastrous public opinion implications.

The most disgusting part of the whole episode for me was the difference between the Mr. Jenkins that I saw getting off the plane in the meeting in Jakarta compared to the Mr. Jenkins that I saw getting off the plane in Tokyo. In Jakarta, he had no problems walking down stairs on his own and looked as healthy as one could expect after living under the DPRK for decades. But, just a few days later in Tokyo, his health was so bad that he required canes, wheelchairs, and needed help at almost every corner of his little journey. I can't help to think that this was an act to paint him as an 'old frail man' who shouldn't be punished at all. For those of you who have never spent time in Japan, being old and frail seems to be a free pass for just about anything.

I'm not sure what all of the details are, but supposedly he is going to give the military information about the DPRK and in exchange will have his 'punishment' reduced to a dishonorable discharge. I am assuming that he will keep his status as a US citizen. I really hope that he has no ability to collect on social security or go back to the US and benefit from medicare or any other government programs.

What do I think is a reasonable punishment? Well, I have a slight problem with someone who promises to defend our country defecting to the enemy. I believe that if Japan will take him in as a permanent resident, he should give up his citizenship. This whole episode is costing the US taxpayers enough, I think that he should never be able to benefit from US taxpayer funded programs again. Whether or not this will happen, only time will tell.

But, there is a silver lining. Two more young people (his daughters) will be able to live in a free society where freedoms are fairly abundant. I hope that their status will allow them to vote. I just have one piece of advice for them: Don't go swimming in the Sea of Japan. The Pacific Ocean beaches of Tokushima and Kochi Prefectures are really nice, and a long, long distance away from North Korea.


Update: Please read the comments, they offer a well informed viewpoint different from the original post.

Kerry thinks 9/11 is an 'Excuse'... from the mind of Unknown.

In this AP report, we can see just how out of touch Kerry is becoming in this final stage of the election. Interestingly, Kerry thinks that the recession is Bush's fault, and gives him no credit for the expanding economy that we are currently seeing.

Kerry said that of the last eleven presidents, Bush was the only one to oversee a national job loss, and he said Iraq and the war on terror were no excuse. "Many of them faced more severe recessions, many of them faced bigger wars with bigger expenses," Kerry said.

COME ON! This is absolutely rediculous. He probably also thinks that the Tech Bubble Burst, the Enron scandals, and the economy starting to go sour in 2000 (yes, before our current President took office) are all directly the fault of the president and should be claimed as his doing.

As far as I'm concerned, the economy couldn't have had a tougher time over the last 4 years. Wait, I take that back. The economy would have had a MUCH tougher time if there had been an increase in taxes rather than the wonderful tax cuts that put us in the strong economic position that we're in today.

Kerry continually uses only a handful of economic indicators that happen to be bad at the current moment to make his 'economic policy changes needed' rucus. Buyer, or in this case 'voter', beware. What Kerry is selling is a bagfull of crap. As a good analogy, he would take a football team that has won every game in the season and is headed to the play-offs, has averaged 800 yards of offense while allowing only 250 yards from the other team, and broken several longstanding records as a failure because they failed to make a fieldgoal from more than 40 yards during the season. His bashing of the good economy is that rediculous.

A Most Beautiful Sunset from the mind of Zeke_Wilkins.

I think it is wonderful that the Assault Weapons Ban has sunset.

There have been falsehoods circulated by both the media and law enforcement organizations; so let me set the record straight. The sunset of the AWB will not bring back machineguns (they've been regulated since 1934), and it does not end background checks or waiting periods or anything like that (the AWB is not the Brady Bill, there has been some confusion on that).

What the AWB did do was to outlaw the manufacture, transferral or possession of 19 specific firearms after 1994 (existing weapons were grandfathered in). It also banned high-capacity magazines (defined as more that 10 rounds) for non-law enforcement officers. The bill also put restrictions on the number of fancy gadgets you could have on a weapon: for example, you could not have more than two of the following on the same weapon: flash suppressor, pistol grip, bayonet lug, and telescoping stock. The 19 firearms banned were chosen based on appearance: Diane Feinstein actually combed a catalog of weapons and chose the scariest looking ones.

The problems with the bill were numerous:

1) Although specific models were outlawed, the same rifle was still legally available from another manufacturer. For example the Colt AR-15 and the Bushmaster XM-15 are basically the same rifle, but one was legal and one was not.

2) Otherwise outlawed weapons could easily be modifed to make them legal (like removing bayonet lugs from pre-1986 AK-47s).

3) While the weapons look scary, they are generally in the low to medium power range. The cosmetic appearance of a firearms tells almost nothing about how it operates, and is a laughable criterion for which rifles are dangerous. A rifle meant for hunting large game is far more powerful and deadly (and legal!).

4) The AWB has not reduced gun crime. Even the Center for Disease Control (notoriously anti-gun) had to admit that there was insufficient evidence to show that any combination of gun control laws was effective at reducing gun crime (go here: http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/rr5214a2.htm ).

In the end, this was a horrible piece of legislation: it trampled over the rights of law-abiding citizens, it did not achieve its stated goal, it effectively created a "second-class citizenry" who didn't have the same rights as the police, the law was easy get around by making superficial changes to otherwise banned weapons, and the law was effectively unenforceable. So what happens now? Well, people get to put fun (but mostly cosmetic) gadgets on their guns, have a 20 round magazine instead of two 10 round magazines, and buy brands of rifles that were previously banned. Other than that, not much. Automatic weapons continue to be regulated and the really powerful rifles weren't banned in the first place.

The AWB was a perfect example of how to write bad legislation, let's hope it doesn't happen again.

For more info the BATF has some Q&A docs at: www.atf.gov

The actual AWB can be found at:> http://www4.law.cornell.edu/uscode/18/922.html (sec. v)

And a cool AWB quiz is at: http://www.ont.com/users/kolya/AR15/aw94.htm (at the bottom)

Cyclists and 'Not-Cyclists' from the mind of Unknown.

As I have been an avid cyclist for approximately 53% of my life, I have had ample time to discover the differences between people who love cycling and people other than people who love cycling. For several years now, I have been distributing my theory that there are 'Cyclists' and there are 'People on Bikes'. Cyclists are people who use bicycles for recreation or utility (commuting, work or running errands) who truly enjoy riding the thing and take pride in being a responsible user of the road or the bike path. Typically, these people also take care to have a properly adjusted machine, which is an essential element for safety. This category makes up a fairly small percentage of the total number of people who ride the human-powered, two wheeled vehicles. The rest of the people out there who swing their leg over a two wheeled steed fit into the category of 'People on Bikes'. Basically, they don't worry about any of the things that we cyclists worry about. They will rarely view a bicycle as anything but a toy.

But Wait! There is now a new category. I must update my theory. Now, I must include 'Terrorists on Bikes'. That's right, a Palestinian suicide bomber, otherwise known as a terrorist, used a bicycle to approach a security checkpoint and blew himself up while wounding four people. The troubling thing about the article is that he is referred to as a 'cyclist'.

The attacker set off the charge he was carrying near an army jeep as it was passing through a gap in Israel’s separation barrier which enables Palestinians to gain access to their fields. The cyclist had been asked by soldiers to identify himself. He then dismounted, ran towards the soldiers and blew himself up, the sources and witnesses said.

I can assure you that he has nothing in common with the people you see out on the road who are dressed in their colorful clothing enjoying an 80 or 90 mile ride on a nice crisp Sunday morning. He has nothing in common with Lance Armstrong, Tinker Juarez, Marla Streb, George W. Bush and me. We all really enjoy riding our bicycles and would never think of using them to cause harm on others.

hat tip: LGF

RIP AWB from the mind of Unknown.

The Assault Weapons Ban is officially a piece of history rather than part of current law. Unless something serious happens in Congress, we can expect no such legislation to be back in effect any time soon.

On September 9th, the Jim Lehrer News Hour ran a piece on the impending sunset of the AWB. In this piece, they invited Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein of California and Republican Sen. Larry Craig of Idaho on the show to debate the effectiveness of the AWB and the need to extend the AWB.

In a debate, one of the most effective things that a participant can present is a good portfolio of statistics. Sen. Craig showed that the AWB was anything but effective in reducing crime:

Well, you only pass laws or bring existing laws and extend their effectiveness or their legality if they work. Less than 3 percent of crimes in this country where firearms were used involved a semi-auto before the ban went in, in '94; less than 3 percent today. It was a political placebo at the time. It has shown its ineffectiveness. It has a sunset clause. And we're going to allow it to pass away.

This is a fairly bold statement, saying that the ban on Assault Weapons had no effect on the percentage of semi-automatic weapons used in crimes. If you looked at 100 crimes before the AWB, you would expect to find 3 of them using semi-automatic weapons. Note that this does not say that 30 of 1000 would use assault weapons or non-assault style semi-automatic weapons. It merely states that 30 in 1000 would use a weapon that automatically loads the next round in the chamber after it fires the previous round. It is a very simple statistic.

Now, consider the fact that the AWB had no effect on the percentage of these crimes committed. Pre-AWB was 3%, after 10 years of the AWB we are still at 3%. This is a prime example of inneffectiveness.

Sen. Feinstein responded by saying:

Well, Sen. Craig can get me very upset sometimes, and I think his view on this is diametrically opposed to mine. There is no question that the people want this bill extended.

There is no question that gun traces to crimes committed with assault weapons have declined, and there is no question that the number of assault weapons available in gun stores, in gun shows, on street corners, have also declined. Coincidentally, but I'm not saying it's attributable to this, crime has also declined.

Now, her arguement is completely trivial. She makes no case for the assault weapons ban being effective in the reduction of crime, only in the reduction of crimes using assault style weapons. Out of the 30 semi-automatic crimes that I used as an example above, Sen. Feinstein claims that it is progress that more of those 30 crimes are committed with weapons that look more traditional rather with weapons that look more like military weapons. The same amount of crimes are being committed. I wonder if she would also make the difference between crimes committed by people with black trench coats and leather boots compared to those committed by people in everyday clothing. That is basically the difference here.

Sen. Feinstein goes on to say

Now, I just appeal to the common sense of Americans all across this great country. Do military-style assault weapons belong on the streets of our cities? Do they belong in a place where they can be bought by terrorists, by gang-bangers, by grievance killers and by criminals?

Of course these weapons don't belong in the hands of such people. That's why there are lots of protections in place to keep these weapons out of the hands of such people. Gang-bangers and criminals will not be likely to pass the background check that is required to make a purchase. And, I'm not sure how many terrorists want the FBI to have a reason to check into their personal history. That would be a surefire way to get caught, especially with the new powers provided by the patriot act.

Basically, Sen. Feinstein, your appeal to the 'common sense' is not an appeal to common sense at all. What you really appeal to is the emotions of the American People. Using scare tactics saying that the demise of the AWB will put machine guns in the hands of terrorists is a purely baseless claim. You act as though the AWB was the only safeguard between these guns and anyone with bad intentions or a questionable history. That is a very false claim.

What is really needed here, instead of an emotion based plea to the American people, is some sort statistical evidence that states that limiting a certain type of weapon to the entire population has a desired effect on the crime rate dealing with all similar weapons. If such a statistic existed in some form, no doubt that Sen. Feinstein would have used it in this situation. She offered no such statistic.

So, in order to make the emotion based attack on assault weapons even more powerful, she pulls this one out of her bag of tricks:

Now, let me tell you what I think is going to happen: There is a shipment of AK-47s that was picked up in Italy by customs that was on its way from a port in Romania of 8,000 AK-47s due to go into the port of New York into a gun store in Georgia. It was a $7 million shipment. You can multiply that tenfold. And you will see these weapons begin to spring up all over and the big clips which add the firepower and the ability to kill substantial numbers of people before you can get to the gunner to disarm him.

Needless to say, Sen. Craig had a good rebuttal waiting.

Well, she speaks in very dramatic and impassioned language. There are 30 million semiautomatic weapons owned by law-abiding citizens in this country today -- 30 million; not 8,000, not 7,000, 30 million. They are owned and operated lawfully and legally by citizens who owned them prior to the ban. They are not in the traffic of crime today. Less than 3 percent of them ever appear there. Those are the facts.

Well, I think we know who won this debate. When one debator brings wit, and the other debator just brings a deep down hatred for the 2nd ammendment, we can see who will win the battle of wits. A sugguestion for Sen. Feinstein: Let's have legislation that actually works, instead of just placing more restrictions on the Everyday Joe. Everyday Joe is your boss, Sen. Feinstein. Why don't you work for him.

RIP AWB. Now, let's get on with our lives.

Chrenkoff from the mind of Unknown.

Chrenkoff has a 'Good News from Iraq' update. It is a must read if you think of Iraq when you hear the word 'Quagmire'. If you are an enlightened person, you will instead think of a wonderful animated TV show when you hear that word. Quagmire is a character on the Family Guy

A Second Term Wishlist from the mind of Zeke_Wilkins.

I've named this post "A Second Term Wishlist" but it could have as easily been titled "My beefs with Bush". Please don't misunderstand; I support the president, but as a mental exercise and to sharpen our own beliefs I think it is healthy to compile a list of things we wish President Bush had done, or will do in his second term. So I invite everyone to post comments to this topic and keep the list growing! I'll start off:

1) Pres. Bush should not have said he'd sign a renewal of the so-called "Assault Weapons Ban" if it reached his desk, and he should not sign or support any legislation which attempts to repeal gun rights.

2) Pres. Bush should feel free to start using his veto powers.

3) Currently the MOAB remains (to my knowledge) untested in combat. Let's rectify that.

4) Hopefully in this second term we can appoint some Supreme Court Justices that are strict constitutional constructionists. None of this "living document" crap.

Well, I'm depending on you to remind me of others...

Father of Electronic Typesetting Speaks from the mind of Cowgirl Up.

Oh, this is good.

I am truly enjoying watching the blogosphere shoot this one down. Do the bigwigs at CBS realize they are proving Bernie Goldberg's point in a very big way?

Mwaaahahahaha...

Happy 9/11? from the mind of Unknown.

When most people think about 9/11, they recall images of mass murder and mass destruction being carried out on some of the most prolific symbols and some of the most successful businesses in these great United States of America. Shortly after the attacks, everyone but those living in a cave began to refer to the whole episode as just 9/11, not 'the September 11th attacks', not '9/11/2001... just 9/11. A day with such notoriety will always be remembered. In fact, it is now a holiday, formally Patriot Day. Though it does have this name, time will probably see it suffer the same fate as Independence Day and just be referred to as '9/11' just as commonly as people say 'Happy 4th of July!'

But, what to say? Is it proper to say 'Happy 9/11' or 'Happy Patriot Day'? Some would say that it is in poor taste to do such a thing. Of course, it is difficult to celebrate such a horrible event in a 'happy' way, as it was an event that took so many innocent lives from our nation's families and friends. But, as is with almost anything, there is a silver lining. And, it is that silver lining for which our nation can be happy.

We can be happy that our enemy is no longer unknown and hiding but rather under full attack and under truncated leadership.

We can be happy that our nation’s real allies are now known. Our leaders fully realize which 'old allies' have a profit driven foreign policy and which have a safety and security driven foreign policy.

We can be happy that our agencies who have been under budget cuts for years and years are now getting the funding they need to rise out of their anemic state.

We can be happy that our law enforcement now has the legal ability to investigate and prosecute terrorists as firmly as they can drug-dealers.

We can be happy that the women of Afghanistan can now work, educate, be educated and vote. We can be happy that all Afghanis can vote.

We can be happy that the corrupt, deceptive, and malicious regime of Saddam Hussein is no longer in power.

We can be happy that Libya has voluntarily abandoned their programs for Weapons of Mass Destruction.

We can be happy that democracy now has a foothold in a new area of our world.

We can be happy for the Afghanis and Iraqis who can freely participate in the Press and can freely view the internet as they please.

We can be happy for all of the Iraqis who now get orders of magnitude more than 60 cents per year of health care of days past.

We can be happy that our great nation has shown unbelievable strength after entering a recession, being constantly beaten down by terrorist attacks and corporate scandals, can recover to be the same robust economic machine that we all remember.

We can be happy that another terrorist attack has not happened within our great land.

Though we will never forget the lives that were lost or ruined and will always feel a heavy heart for our unfortunate friends, we can look to the brighter future. Though we will never forgive those who aided, funded, conjured and carried out the attacks that horrible day, we can look to new solutions for peace and prosperity. The images I saw that horrible day will forever be seared- seared in my memory. We give this day to you, wonderful patriots...


...Happy 9/11!

Saddam Hussein Interview from the mind of Unknown.

Also, I'm not sure if you all remember this. He will give this guy a very fair interview, yet he tries to smear our (and his) president with false documents. This is utterly asinine.

It's good enough for Dan... from the mind of Unknown.

This is one of those priceless posts.

The Politburo Diktat: Authentic Document Proves Kerry in Cambodia

obviously, this is the document that CBS uses to discredit the SBV4T guys. Maybe they will someday admit that the bloggers and a group of old vets do better research than they do. There is a new world order brewing in the media world. My bet is that in 10 years, we will be watching the "CBS Evening News, with Glenn Reynolds"...

Liberal Media Attacks the Truth on Assault Weapons from the mind of Unknown.

On ABC News last night, the intro montage showed several scenes of gunfire. The first scene was of a firefight in Iraq shown in night-vision green, with the loud rap of automatic fire echoing loudly. The next scene was from an unidentified movie, showing an action star firing a compact machine gun and spraying the room with automatic fire. Several other scenes were shown that contained automatic weapon fire. (This is all from memory, so I may be slightly off on the details.)

So, what story was this leading into? Nothing other than the looming 'sunset' of the assault weapons ban. One of the news clips of the story showed a representative of an anti-gun group standing at a lecturn saying: The American people need to know, the assault weapon ban ends soon. There will be assault weapons on the streets once again.

(Again, I refrain from quoting her, as I don't have a transcript from the story and ABC News only offers transcripts for a fee. I want TIVO!)
Now, is it responsible journalism to show automatic weapons, then have someone saying that assault weapons will be back on the street? We must remember that Ichiro Suzuki is a baseball player, but just because you play baseball doesn't make you Ichiro.
The truth of the matter is that automatic weapons have been under legislation since 1934, and the assault weapons ban of 1994 did nothing to change that. When the assault weapons ban expires, the 1934 legislation will still stand. Some people will aruge that you can just 'file down the firing pin' of a semi-automatic rifle to make it fully automatic. Now, this is mostly a boy-scout rifle range myth. The skill and resources required to do such a thing would be immense. The chances are much, much greater that a rifle will never fire again, or jam to the point of uselessness rather than be machined into an automatic firing machine. Also, it is very illegal to do so. If a gunsmith was caught doing something like this, the he would get a very unpleasant visit from ATF agents.


What the assault weapons ban covers is mostly cosmetic and superficial details. This page at the Brady Campaign Site talks about how a 'pistol grip' facilitates firing a gun from the hip. I'm not sure what you've all heard, but that is an unbelievably inaccurate way to shoot. Not only do you not have a horizontal guide to control your left to right aim, you lose your vertical aim as well. I have yet to see any trained military or police member ever fire from the hip. I have seen it in movies, though. And we all know that movies are a great barometer of reality. ( ed.--As noted by a comment, I've corrected the word 'inaccurate', which was originally typed as 'accurate'. My intentions are correctly shown now. I am not wealthy enough to employ an editor... so the current process will have to do.)

This page does a good job of explaining exactly what the assault weapons ban accomplished any why it is so inconsequential. Very few people are set on purchasing a certain type or certain model of rifle or handgun other than collectors and gun enthusiasts. Criminals will take any weapon that suits their purpose. I'm sure that some criminals are vain, and want a cooler looking weapon, but the reality is that the assault weapon ban will not reduce crime, it will only be a headache for collectors and enthusiasts.

Maybe we need legislation against certain types of golf clubs, or certain stamps, or baseball cards. If we had laws in those areas, the gun collectors wouldn't feel so singled out.

As a side note, first we had the CBS 60minutes thing to deal with, and now we have this blatant anti-gun 'news' story by ABC. We are running out of options here folks. It won't be long before people are using their parental control blocking on the television to block CBS, ABC, and NBC, just so their children aren't exposed to the dangerous politicized stories that these 'media' outlets are showing.

Perhaps Zeke will chime in on this one. He seems to be an expert on the issue.

Kerry's tax policies are, well, taxing. from the mind of Unknown.

If you look at John Kerry's website, and base your vote on that information alone, you would come to no conclusion other than casting your vote for Kedwards. So... here is my official warning. Don't bet your country's future on what this guy's website says. Better yet, as most of you reading this will probably already agree with me, make sure that you are informed on the differences between what the mass media allows Kerry to claim to the public and what Kerry is actually saying he will do. For example:

If you go to the Kerry Website, you can find this page outlining his 'plans' and 'goals' for the economy. (Warning, this is in fact a link to johnkerry.com. You may be scarred for life by the content!) One of the more striking claims that he makes about taxes is:

Cut Middle-Class Taxes To Raise Middle-Class Incomes
When John Kerry is president, middle-class taxes will go down. Ninety-eight percent of all Americans and 99 percent of American businesses will get a tax cut under the Kerry-Edwards plan.

Well, isn't that just great! Almost everyone you know will get a tax cut! Who wouldn't vote for this guy!

But, wait! Hasn't he claimed that he will also cut the national deficit? Why, yes, he has. On the exact same page, he states:

Make Washington Live Within A Budget
John Kerry will cut the deficit in half during his first four years in office. He will end corporate welfare as we know it, roll back the Bush tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans, and impose a real cap to keep spending in check. And when John Kerry puts forward a new idea, he'll tell you how he's going to pay for it.

Well, I really wish that he would tell us how he is going pay for reducing the deficit while giving almost all businesses and taxpayers a tax cut. I can assure you that he won't reduce spending. That is sacrilege in the Democratic Party, unless it's a cut in the DOD. From what I can tell, he is going to have to really, really, really raise taxes on the top two percent of taxpayers and the top percent of businesses. If he is to meet his goals, he would have to impose a crippling tax on those top taxpayers. That's just not a good idea. But, that is what he claims to want to do by 'rolling back the Bush tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans'. To me, this seems like an attempt to gain popularity from the masses by acting like Robin Hood. Why doesn't he just just run around the forest in green tights and practice his archery. But, we all know that can't happen. First, John Edwards is way too obsessed with his hair to be anything like Friar Tuck, and Ta-ray-za is the farthest (and richest) thing from a damsel-in-distress.

So, what can we expect from Mr. Kerry if gains control over our country's tax policy? Well, the Americans for Tax Relief have a Press Release that effectively shows what is likely to happen. The biggest piece of evidence against the claims on his website is probably this statement:

WASHINGTON - After campaigning for over a year on a promise to raise taxes on only the "rich," John Kerry has finally made his plans crystal clear yesterday; he wants to stick middle class Americans with a huge tax hike.

In a speech yesterday, Kerry told his audience that he plans to follow Bill Clinton's model and do, "the same thing that we set out to do in 1993, and I was there and I voted for it,I know how we did it." They "did it"with the largest tax increase in American history.

Perhaps the reason why Bill Clinton was able to implement a huge tax hike and get away with it was because our economy was just entering the tech boom that would be an unstoppable force for the next 6 or 7 years. Though we do still have some amazing technologies that are emerging, the tech industry of today will not be able to keep us from tax increase induced economic stagnation as it did in the early nineties.

So, yet another case of 'nuanced' position on policy. Kerry needs a little bit of straight shooting practice. With how much wobbling he does, I'd be surprised if he could shoot the broad side of a barn if he were standing inside it. My question is: Where's the 'Media' on this??? Like always, they are too busy digging through the trash bins in Crawford and behind the White House to provide the American people with actual useful information. Shame on them...

A Daniel Pipes Article from the mind of Zeke_Wilkins.

A recent Daniel Pipes article (here) describes semi-credible evidence that the crash of American Airlines flight 587 in November of 2001 might have been an Al-Qaeda attack. The theory is it was a Richard Reid style attack that was successful. It is interesting, and warrants further investigation.

Blogs for Bush: Memo To Kerry: The Budget is NOT the Economy from the mind of Unknown.

The guys over at Blogs for Bush have a good comentary on why Kerry's ranting about Bush's budget is not as it seems. This gives some basic facts about our current economic situation and where things might be headed. It's worth a peek if you need a some simple ways to rebut people's claims that Bush is driving the economy down. He's helping, not hurting...

Discrimination in the Energy Sector from the mind of Unknown.

Since Zeke gave us an interesting reason to think about different kinds of discrimination, This MSNBC article looks at new ways to basically have a zero net energy usage house. People looking at this will probably think: Gee that's really neat! But, there is a hidden disaster waiting in this kind of energy reduction. Please, follow my thinking.

I will initially make the claim that this kind of 'eco-friendly' practice will eventually make lower income families and smaller businesses suffer disproportionately high energy prices compared to today. First, let's assume that these upgrades to a home are expensive, and only really feasible on new homes. That will equal expensive new homes. So, as a result of these reduction in energy costs for 'the wealthiest' Americans, will be very similar to a tax break for only the wealthy. Also, if homes and businesses are producing their own energy, the volume of energy used will go down and we can assume that the price of oil will go up in the future as well, so with these two factors combined, we can see that energy prices will go up drastically for those who purchase energy through the normal channels. So, while you have the wealthiest people reaping the benefits of this technology, you have the lower income people having to pay out more of their income just to heat their homes....

Am I serious about this? No. I am all for technologies that put more money back into the economy to float around. It's good for everyone. I guess the point I'm trying to make has something to do with Kedward's long forgotten 'Two Americas'. Maybe they are referring to 'One America' where people have solar powered homes and 'The Other America' where people still have to send a little check each month to the utility company. (I wonder how many solar panels would be needed to power all of the Kerry Family houses????) I'm surprised that they haven't outlined a plan to provide solar power to those who are having a tough time getting ahead of... whatever they need to get ahead.

One point I should make... We already have a great way to reduce our dependency on foreign fuels that burns cleanly and is very safe. It's called NUCLEAR POWER. People need to get past all of the liberal scare-hype about this wonderful energy source. We need to be using this energy source that alloy's us to completely contain the pollution rather than put unnecessary matter into the air. It really is a win-win situation.

Solar energy being viable and cost effective is a long way off. Just think about the fossil fuels that would need to be burnt in order to produce the solar panels for all of those households out there. And... how long do the panels last? Do they wear out? Do they diminish output with poor maintenance? There are lots of questions that people need to think about...

The Discrimination Never Ends from the mind of Zeke_Wilkins.

I called the Lane County Sheriff's Concealed Handgun License Center today to dutifully report that I had moved out of state, and to try and switch over to a non-resident permit. After all, I had passed all their tests and spent sixty-five dollars for the permit in the first place. After telling the secretary that I have moved out of state, she told me that I was required to mail the original permit back! Not cut up the permit and promise not to use it, not have my information removed from the computer system; no, I was to mail it back. Not only was I to mail the permit back at my own expense; when I asked if there was a way to switch it over to non-resident status, she replied "No, because it's only good for Oregon, you see." I decided that the conversation was deteriorating as rapidly as my blood pressure was rising, so I terminated the call.

Normally I probably would have not even bothered to notify the government of the change, but I for some silly reason still try to follow the letter of the law, and since my permit in Oregon is connected to an address I no longer live at (the possible bureaucratic screw-ups are endless...) I decided that I should notify the powers that be in order to cover my posterior. But the lesson in all this is clear: those who try to follow the letter of the law are the most likely to be discriminated against by the government. You could be a left-handed, lesbian, islamic fundamentalist, midget cannibal and still not be discriminated against as much as a lawful handgun owner.

That reminds me, it's time to clean all the guns.

Evan's Mental Rodeo from the mind of Unknown.

Natural Disasters: Florida has been getting hammered, no doubt. I think that the loss of property in that state is truly staggering. Much of the same has been happening over here in Japan. As I enter into my last few weeks here, Ma Nature is sure giving me a splendid show. For the past month, we have had one typhoon per week... and more are in the works. But, assault from the sky is not all that's been happening. About a week ago, Mt. Asama began erupting. It didn't really cause much damage to the surrounding areas other than ash coating everything in sight. But... I should have connected the dots in my head and realized that earthquakes would follow the red-hot magma. So, in between the third and fourth typhoons were a series of three earthquakes. The first and last quakes were not much to speak of, but the second one really shook for a long time. It shook for so long that I had time to take all of our wine bottles down from the shelf and place them safely on the floor. That job took roughly a minute.

Having so many natural disasters around me has prompted me to think about loss of property and life. The damage in Florida is said to be many billions of dollars. It really is sad to see so much money have to be spent to get things back to normal rather than be spent on capital improvements and recreation. I realize that insurance money and FEMA money will help with the recovery, but money will still come from people's private pockets and businesses are having to deal with lost revenues. But... our economy is going quite well even though we've been constantly recovering from disasters. I just hope that once the disasters are over, people will be civil and not participate in scams to make the loss of money in the area even worse. I hope our men in blue can be heroes once again by restoring order and preventing people from being leeches to the recovery effort.

The Media and Kedwards Imitate 'The Party': I was watching 'This Week with George Stephanapolous' on Monday (Japan is the better part of one day ahead, so it is shown Monday afternoon) when representatives from both the Bush-Cheney and the Kedwards campaigns appeared to talk about the effectiveness of the RNC and the status of the campaigns. A defining moment of the debate was when both representatives presented a 'prop' for people to see. First, the Bush guy showed the President's plan for the the economy, a document widely available to the public outlining what steps he will take in the next four years to keep the economy going strong. As the rebuttal, the Kedwards guy showed his 'prop' which was a document outlining some 144 lies, misrepresentations, and half-truths from the RNC. I was intrigued by each article, and found both later that day. The Bush document was a good read, but the Kedwards document was laughable. It was merely 144 quotes from the convention that the Kedwards camp claims to be a lie or a misrepresentation. They didn't give any proof of the lie, they didn't explain how the context was wrongly placed, they didn't do anything but say to the public These quotes are lies... trust us! Now, I didn't have time to tear things apart at that moment, and I figured that the document would be available today for a roughing up, but the Kedwards camp had to go and get Orwellian on us. They employed their speakwrite staff to remove this embarrasing document from their official campaign website, just as 'the Party' would have done in the story described by 1984. But, such activities are really on par for today's media. When the print media was the main source of news, a media outlet would be forced to produce a final version of the story every time they printed. Once delivered to the public, there would be no way to take back what they say other than a correction or retraction. Even if one of these were printed in a later edition, the earlier edition was still in existence. Now, since so much news is electronic and non-permanent, rather than having to own up to an error, whether by mistake or by malice, a media outlet can just change the article and let it set as though there were never any errors, regardless of how many people viewed an incorrect version. This is extremely unethical. I firmly believe that there should be the same permanence in the electronic media as there is in the print media. One thing that helps with this a little is Google.com's wonderful casche. But, I believe that our media owes us more. They owe it to the readers to mark an article that has been corrected or edited after the initial publication. Either a link to the original document or a note showing the changes made should be available. Failure to do this should result in the minimum punishment of losing readers and letters being sent to advertisers associated with the media outlet. Lost revenue should be able to speak to these editors who are not doing their job. Power Line has good commentary on the media's use of the speakwrite to fix their blunders without a trace. Perhaps 'blunders' is too innocent of a word...

Flip-Flop³ How many times has Mr. Kerry changed his mind on the Iraq War? I've lost track, but I think he's accomplished at least 1080° so far. I'm sure that the Guinness book will now have Kerry's name under the 'Most Indecisive Man Alive' record.

Stoke the Fire: Now that the President has a good lead in all of the reputable polls, many conservatives might feel victorious already. That is a very dangerous feeling as there is still almost two months until the polls close. First, we must keep the eye on the ball and be sure to win this thing. There is always the chance that someone has a trick or two up their sleeve just waiting for a chance to pounce. The chances of this are not probable, but they are possible. The other reason why it is dangerous to have the feeling that 'we've won, so now we can relax' is that this election will be much more meaningful if it is a landslide victory for the Conservatives. One of the most amazing things that could happen in addition to having W in office for another four years is to have the angry left become disinfranchized from a viable party. Now, I'm not saying that the Democratic Party should crumble, but if a landslide victory by GWB were to happen, then perhaps they would reassess their political position and abandon the angry-left platform that they've been pushing. If this were to happen, there would be a lot less stonewalling and fillibustering in congress and we could make some real progress in this country. So... Stoke the Fire. Voulenteer and Donate. Spread the word... make GWB a landslide victor... Oh, there would also be a fringe benefit. It would muffle all of the idiots who say that Bush is a false president.... I find nothing more annoying than that claim.

Reality Hits Moore from the mind of Unknown.

This MSNBC article shows that our unfavorite movie maker has at least conceded one point. He admits that his film belongs among other works of fiction, allowing real documentaries to battle for the award intended for documentaries. But, don't hold your breath on a truthful production coming out on top this year. We still have moore-ish productions in the running with pieces like 'Supersize Me'...

Kids for Kerry? from the mind of Zeke_Wilkins.

As has already been commented upon, Bush seems to have received a healthy post-RNC bounce; and the Kerry folks are running scared. Drudge reports that Bill Clinton is counseling Kerry from his sickbed, advising Kerry to drop the mention of Vietnam. Ah, if every progressive would take that advice! There is talk of a restructuring of Kerry's campaign team, and leftists everywhere are noticing that sinking feeling in their stomachs.

One of the more entertaining outworkings of this post-convention anxiety (albeit a local one) was that Saturday morning I found all the major intersections in my town manned by Kerry groupies with signs. In most cities this would be considered par for the course, but my town is slightly more conservative and I was genuinely surprised. I have to admit it was entertaining for me, when stopped at a red light, to chant "four more years!" or "flip-flop!" from my car window.

However, I did make one observation that I found unsettling: half of the sign holders were not yet of voting age. In fact most of those who weren't of voting age weren't even close. Is this what progressives have come to? Using their own children as political props? I don't know of any conservative that would stoop to using their children to hold Bush signs. That's not to say it doesn't happen; just that it happens with frightening regularity by progressives. These are children who have neither the information nor the wisdom to make an educated choice. The only thing these kids know about the candidates is what they learn from their parents (which is itself a scary thought).

I believe the predilection for progressives to use children to campaign is due to the fact that many don't have rational reasons for choosing a candidate to begin with. To many progressives it is enough to simply display an emotional response, or show a child holding a sign, to get their point across. This can also be evidenced by the one or two word answers they give on why they like Kerry and dislike Bush: "the environment", "Halliburton", "Iraq", "education" and "the economy". One word answers cover a lot of ground and most progressives don't want to talk details and will respond angrily if pressed for specifics.

Having kids hold signs for Kerry might work on adults who believe twelve-year-olds know enough to help choose a president, but it will not work on those of us who take the government of our republic seriously.

MSNBC - Bush opens lead in electoral vote race from the mind of Unknown.

MSNBC - Bush opens lead in electoral vote race>

This article speaks the truth... but some of the things that they say are just ridiculous. I mean... seriously, what are they thinking. This paragraph just smells of bias.

While the Swift boat flap turned the debate away from the ailing economy and the Iraq war, the political landscape shifted just enough in Missouri, West Virginia, Wisconsin and Nevada to nudge those states from the "tossup" category to "lean-Bush."

What proof do they have that the economy is 'ailing'? Really, our economy is doing amazing things, especially if people consider what it's been through. Also, by calling the SBV4T advertisement a 'flap' they make is sound like a baseless assertion. From what I've seen, it isn't baseless at all. In fact, the reason the SBV4T have so much traction is that Kerry admitted that one of their main claims was in fact true and he had been exaggerating for the past few decades about the Christmas in Cambodia.

Anyway, put on your liberal fog goggles if you are going to read the article. You'll need them. But, the headline isn't too bad.....

Let's get this thing started... from the mind of Unknown.

We are spread out along the Pacific Coast, we don't like liberal ideals. We like to keep the money we earn, we like to spend it on fun things like bikes, firearms, computers, and nice wine. We are all young and conservative... Check back often to hear what we have to say...