From Roger L. Simon (via Hugh Hewitt)
Apparently Mr. Edwards, the man I voted for in the California Democratic Primary, is telling us, according to Reuters that
If elected U.S. president, Sen. John Kerry would offer Iran a deal allowing it to keep its nuclear power plants if it gave up the right to retain bomb-making nuclear fuel, said Kerry's vice presidential running mate in an interview published on Monday.
Well, for all you 911 Democrats sitting on the fence, that's about as good a reason as I could think of not to vote for Kerry and Edwards. In fact, I'll go further. The idea that Iranian mullahs would tell the truth to the US government or anybody else in the West is an absurd joke. Edwards, I would imagine, is an historical illiterate when it comes to Iran. Somebody in the press should ask him a few questions. [Not that most of them know.-ed. No they don't.] It's an absolute affront to the Iranian students who dearly seek freedom that they would propose such a thing. Shame, shame on Kerry and Edwards. This is a country where there are public hangings of sixteen-year old girls yet they act as if their leaders can be trusted. Huh?
Some people really DO get it!
DKK
August 31, 2004 -- Secret Service agents last night hauled away a man who got too close to Vice President Dick Cheney in a VIP area at Madison Square Garden.Police sources said the 21-year-old man, who had a pass allowing him into the Garden, had either a knife or some kind of tool on him when he was nabbed as he tried to flee.
A second man, who also had a building pass, was taken into custody for carrying a balloon with fluid inside. Authorities were testing the liquid.
DKK
Vanessa Kerry, daughter of Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry, says she was "scared" by a round of boos Sunday night at the MTV Music Video Awards, but is glad she pushed her father's cause.
<>"I was scared out of my mind," she told CNN after appearing on stage. "I mean, I grabbed my sister, and I thought, what is happening? And – but it doesn't matter, because we're fighting for something that I believe in so strongly. I will go up there and hear the whole arena boo if it means connecting with one person"In the depths of the Depression, Franklin Roosevelt inspired the nation when he said, "The only thingSling and Arrows on a roll tonight!
we have to fear is fear itself." Today, we say the only thing we have to fear is four more years of George Bush.It's more than appropriate, it's necessary that even in times of crisis we have these contests and engage in spirited disagreement over the shape and course of our government.The Republicans who spoke tonight were clear about who they view as their enemy. Earlier this month, the Democrats were equally clear. Unfortunately, they did not agree on who that enemy is.We have nothing to fear from each other. We are arguing over the means to better secure our freedom and support the general welfare.
But it should remain an argument among friends who share an unshaken belief in our great cause and in the goodness of each other.
We are Americans first, Americans last, and Americans always.
Iraq to France: Take a Stand, Already! (Slings and Arrows)
Iraq's PM has made it plain what it would like to see from the French and the French are not impressed:
In comments reported in Le Monde daily, Mr Allawi said: "The French, like all democratic countries, cannot let themselves be satisfied with adopting a passive position.The French are supposed to be intelligent, educated, and perceptive. Yet the Foreign Minister could not see that casting doubt on France's determination in the fight against terrorism was not only exactly what the Iraqi PM was doing, but that they should perhaps begin to question their own position on that fight."Governments that decide to stay on the defensive will be the next terrorist targets.
"Let me tell you that the French, despite all the noise they are making, [such as] 'We don't want war', will soon have to fight against terrorists," he said, adding that future attacks could happen in French cities as well as in the United States.
The French government, which led the opposition to the US-led war in Iraq, called his comments unacceptable.
"These declarations seem, in effect, to cast doubt on France's determination in the fight against terrorism," the Foreign Ministry said in a statement, adding that France had called for a political solution in Iraq since the start of the crisis.
Mr Prodi turned the Athens games into a political football, boasting that our bag of 30 medals helped the EU trounce America and China.
He said: “The Games were a huge success thanks to their unique spirit and smooth organisation but also because EU athletes did so well
“In 2008 I hope to see the teams in Beijing carry the flag of the European Union alongside their own national flag as a symbol of our unity. The European Union’s sportsmen and women performed outstandingly at Athens, winning 82 gold medals and more than 280 medals in total.”
Then there is this from Cox and Forkum:
This hits the nail right on the head - repeatedly - but maybe a 2 by 4 upside the head is what it will take to open their eyes!From The New York Times: Hostages Urge France to Repeal Its Scarf Ban.
[Hostage] Georges Malbrunot, who writes for the daily newspapers Le Figaro and Ouest-France, said, "I appeal to the French people and every Frenchman who appreciates the meaning of life to stage demonstrations demanding that the law banning the Islamic veil be revoked, because our lives are in danger and we might die any minute if this law, which I urge President Chirac to revoke, is not abrogated." [...]The law bans conspicuous religious symbols from public elementary and high schools. It is scheduled to go into effect when schools open on Thursday. [...]
... Iraq's prime minister, Ayad Allawi, said the kidnapping proved that France's position on Iraq -- presumably its opposition to the war and the absence of a troop presence -- offered no protection from terrorism.
"Neutrality doesn't exist, as the kidnapping of the French journalists has shown," Mr. Allawi said in an interview with several European and American newspapers. "The French are deluding themselves if they think they can remain outside of this. Today the extremists are targeting them, too."
That realization, that opposition to the American-led war in Iraq has not provided immunity from Iraq-related terrorism, appears to have sunk in here [in France] as well.
"Nobody is safe," said an editorial in Le Monde on Monday. "No diplomacy can claim to be any kind of Maginot line that would protect us better than our Spanish or Italian neighbors from the death wish that has been at work since the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001."
More accurately, a policy of appeasement with terrorists and dictators is a Maginot line, i.e., an ineffective line of defense. Worse still, appeasement acts as a lure to evil, inviting more and more blackmail because it rewards blackmail. That is why diplomatic compromise with Islamists -- whether in France or Najaf -- only furthers their cause and, ultimately, threatens western liberty. As the Times article notes:
[I]n an audiotape broadcast by a Dubai-based television channel in February, Ayman Zawahiri, the No. 2 figure in the terrorist network Al Qaeda, condemned France for defending the freedom of nudity and depravity and fighting chastity and decency with the scarf ban, adding that such anti-Muslim acts by the West should be dealt with by tank shells and antiaircraft missiles.Robert Tracinski summed up the issue in today's TIA Daily:
The Europeans have long clung to the fantasy that certain specific "grievances" -- treatment of Israel and the Palestinians, US "Imperialism," and so on -- are the cause of terrorism. In reality, as French President Jacques Chirac is discovering, Islamic terrorists hate the West because of what we are -- and because we stand in the way of the global Islamic theocracy they long to impose.
BUSH: I don't know about whether they're OK or not. The one I'm interested in is if they go forward with what John Kerry said when he came back from Vietnam, because I remember that. And I think that's fair game.
I don't know about these. If it's proved that it's untrue, then it's not right...
Look, we have been victimized by this moveon.org, this slobby Michael Moore and all of these people for months. And for months before the president started campaigning, he was attacked by all kinds of people.
So, you know, you can't have it both ways. And I don't know enough about the Swift Boat Veterans. I think Kerry served honorably, but I don't know enough about them to say they're all liars.
ON THE NEW YORK TIMES
BUSH: It's consistently liberal. It consistently opposes the president on almost everything editorial. Most of their editorial comment on the op-ed page is extraordinarily liberal.
The thing that troubles me is in my opinion their news columns are getting to show a certain bias. There is a new way you do it now -- Reporter's notebook. And then that gives you a little chance to be an advocate in the news column. Or Washington Whispers or something like that, and that relieves the reporter of objectivity, objective reporting.
And so, you know, I expect we'll get a big argument about this, but I'm absolutely certain of it. I've given up on them.
ZAHN: Has the president given up on them?
BUSH: I don't know. He might be like his mother; she won't read it anymore.
Only have a minute, but I wanted to check in and say hi. Reading your blog keeps me motivated to fight the good fight when I'm feeling tired, lazy or just discourged. Its so easy to get cynnical with all the negative politics, corporate owned press, and a public too lazy to look up foot notes and find out the real story.
I do, of course, have some criticisms though. Being a card carrying liberal, I always wonder what attracts people about the current Republican party. I mean real people, not the Enron, Oil Industry, billionaire club. If you are rich, the benifits of a Bush America is obvious.
But you don't sound rich. In fact, you can't work because of illness or injury. And it sounds like you want to take your ex-employer to court and make him pay for your disability. Now I know next to nothing about the details of your case, but I do know Dubya isn't on your side. Dubya is for tort reform, that does not bode well for your law suit. He is for reducing medicare/medicaid. Not good for you. He is for taking the "savings" and giving it back (to the rich, not you). Still not good. So, if you don't mind me asking, why are you on the wrong side?
Okay, you spend a lot of time on medication, and you have a thing for ufo's and conspiracy theories. Still doesn't quite explain it. So, what gives?
Your friend as always,
MM
DKK
