Your Weekly Rush

"The most important thing to the Democrats is the reacquisition of power. The worst things that can possibly happen to them are a revived economy and a successful Iraq liberation."

"They think they lost the election because they didn't get their message out. They don't understand that they did get their message out, and the fact that they did - and that the voters saw them for who they really are - is why they were so shellacked in November."

"These appeasers will do anything to stop the war, simply because they think it will be a political success."

Just when you thought it was safe to go into a cloak room.

Well Rush makes it clear that the only way Democrats can win is to abandon all the things the believe (that they don't really believe in anyway, but just pretend to believe to get votes) and become good Republicans. In that way they could win elections, but they are too stupid to do it, and so stick to that evil Liberalism. Voters saw who the Liberals were and so the Republicans won a couple of tight races.

It's nice to let the Republicans set the terms of debate because that way the Democrats can't win. Because they are assumed to have the basest most selfish motives for everything they do, well, they are damned if they stick to their principles and they are damned if they give up those principles.

I personally would stick to my principles anyway--but that's not been recent Democratic party history.

Oh No! Commercials! Fast Food! Run awayyyy!!!!

It turns out that the modern world is bad for us. Commercials according to Brent Bozell are now too sexually suggestive. In particular he finds fault with commercials I haven't seen, and one that I have. The Nike ad with the streaker. He comments, "Unfortunately, it's chosen to make a streaker the star of its commercial, albeit with his private parts pixillated. The streaker disrupts a very realistic-looking soccer game broadcast, outrunning security guards and then suggestively twirling his hips around a flag in the corner of the field. If you streak in public, you get arrested for indecent exposure. If you streak on TV, you can be the star of a commercial. To be sure, there are creative flashes to make the viewer laugh, but they would be utterly lost on many 12-year-olds watching a football game."

Oh no! What if the Nike ad sets of a new wave of middle aged guys streaking at Soccar games? Think of the scars that could be inflicted on America's Legions . . . er, Dozens of Soccar Fans. Oh, the humanity! And please Mr. Bozell, can't we do something about Ray Stevens? He's been corrupting America's youth for a long time now.

Plus I hate to say this, but Mr. Bozell has a particularly low opinion of 12 year olders if he thinks they can't get the joke.

Not only do we have to worry about Commercials, but it turns out McDonalds is fascist. They make the place uncomfortable and different from the quiet pleasures of a sit down restaurant, not because they want people to eat and get out, but because they want to impose a fascistic system on their customers. There's danger everywhere. I'm going home to get back in bed. I've tried hiding under my bed, but it's just to hard and uncomfortable down there.

Joking aside, both articles do have some good points mixed in with their fear mongering (from both the left and the right), but I'm tired of being afraid. I was afraid all day yesterday, and it's just too tiring.

Our Apologies

We'd like to apologize for inadvertantly posting Brandys comments twice. We're not going to apologize of course, we'd just like to.

Into Battle With the Art of Noise



The Art Of Noise suddenly realized . . . that he who seeks
to mediate between two thinkers stamps himself as
mediocre; he has not the eyes to see uniqueness to
perceive resemblance everywhere; making everything
alike, is a sign of weak eyesight.

Sometimes its good to remember.

Edited to add, I don't want to imply I had anything to do with the Art of Noise--just a fan of their music in my younger days.

A Time For Fear (Who's Afraid?)

Yes it's time for fear. If you are not afraid you should be. There's a bad moon rising. Old Man Trouble's walking the land. The Grey Squirrel of Doom is gathering its nuts.

Still there are bright spots. Salon has gone back to providing its content for free. The catch is that you have to click through some ads to get to the story. I heartily support Salon (the rest of this article not withstanding), and so I'm happy to see that. I can now link to their site as I see fit.

However, they chose to inagurate this new service yesterday with news of fear. The charmingly titled Worst Case Scenarios lay out all the terrible things that will happen in The Middle East, the Fiscal Crisis, Iraq, The Economy, The Environment and Abortion Rights. Essentially, there's a possibly that if Bush is not stopped, the Economy will crumble, State and Local agencies will turn away deserving poor, Iraq will be recipient of a nucular bomb, the Middle East will become even angrier at the US and will send more terrorists, the entire planet will become uninhabitable and woman will not be able to have abortions.

Oh no! Why this Bush fellow must be stopped before he destroys us all. Let's Get Him! Unless, you know, Salon writers have some sort of political motive for painting such a dark picture.

The Wisdom of Brandy

Sorry for the light posting yesterday, for those who follow this site closely. In response to yesterdays posting on the Peace Movement we have comment by the entirely unreticent Brandy.

Ok, I MUST comment on the topic of these ignorant 'peace people':

First off, YES some people are hurt. Talk to any Vietnam vet who was spit on after arriving home or couldn't get a job because they fought. Whether or not one agrees with the war, these boys go and put their life on the lines and then because so many of these ignorant protestors can't separate the two, the military boys do get injured.

Second, did you LISTEN to what any of the peace ralliers said? I heard ONE thing on WHY we shouldn't fight. Everything else was on blacks, bush and bullshit. I have yet to hear why we shouldn't fight. (And believe me, as the love of my life is sent to Iraq, I would LOVE to hear a reason to not have our military over there.)

Third, does nobody study history? In the mid 90's Saddam was putting together nuclear weapons...if you watched the History channels program on 'After Desert Storm' they SHOWED the evidence. Do people REALLY think that once Saddam kicked the UN out he got rid of all that stuff...oh, I'm sorry, I'm sure he kicked them out and hasn't let them in till now because he wanted to clean house without anyone watching...yes, he IS a good, man. (sorry for the sarcasm, but nothing gets me going more than ignorance).

And last...This is why we are going to war...Saddam is close, or does have nuclear capability. Is he going to hit American soil? Of course not. Is he going to hit Israeli soil. YES (by evidence of him bombing Tel Aviv in Israel in 1991. Well let me tell you something about the Israeli army -they are FIERCE. They will NOT allow this to happen. Saddam just has to aim his weapons at Israel and they will DESTROY Iraq...then the rest of the Arab nations will turn on Israel...BLOODBATH!, both sides fight dirty. Now then, whose side will the US be on? How about other world powers? This is NOT a war ANYONE wants to be involved in. Therefore, by ousting Saddam we SAVE so many people.

PLEASE PEOPLE, pick up some history books, don't be so naive, and LEARN for yourselves what's going on, really LISTEN to what people are saying...most of those talking were SO ignorant it was frightening.

Brandy

A few responses from yours truly, Resident to a Friend.

1) Some protestors are stupid, and equate the soldiers fighting the war with those within the Bush administration and Congress who are pushing for war. That being said, I don't see widespread attacks on our soldiers. And it's not right to equate the entire peace movement with those few morons who choose to attack Soldiers.
2) I didn't actually attend the rally so can't comment. It's true that Bush is a rallying figure for the anti-war movement--his arrogance in pushing for war unilaterally is very polarizing. And any political movement is hip deep in bull****.
3) Although it is often said on both the left and the right that Saddam kicked the inspectors out--but that is not actually accurate. The truth is that President Clinton was planning on bombing Saddam, and so the head of the UN inspector team pulled his team out for safetys sake.

Changed the Quote on Top

Should have done this before--but in honor of Joe Strummer who recently died we present a new quote at the top of the page. We'll get to Rousseau eventually.

The Peace Movement

Due to scheduling conflicts I was unable to investigate the peace movement this last weekend here in Tallahassee. However as well all know there were massive demonstrations in Washington D.C., San Francisco and many other places around the world.

David Horowitz took a moment this week to give his view of the situation. Horowitz was, once upon a time, a far left liberal. And now he's a pretty staunch conservative who runs a website which focuses, last time I looked at it, on black racial violence against whites. He's pretty dull most of the time, unless he's being attacked. Then he really gets interested and engaged and writes a lot better.

Well his take on the peace movement is interesting. "During the Cold War, the radical "peace" movement bullied right-thinking Americans into silence. Our government lost the ability to stay the course in the anti-Communist war. The result was the Communist slaughter of two-and-a-half million peasants in Indo-China after the divisions at home forced America to leave.

"Once again, the hate America left is attempting to silence right-thinking citizens. It is attempting to divide the home front in the face of the enemy. Even as we go to war. It is stabbing our young men and women in the back even as they step into harm's way to defend us."

The standard canard from the right. The only reason we lost in Vietnam was because of the peace movement. If people had supported the war wholeheartedly and not been swayed by evil protesters, we would have won. Of course this ignores the very real concerns about China possibly getting into the war. It also assumes that the United States could have convinced the Vietnamese people to support an out of touch elitist dictator. It also assumes that if it had not been for the protesters the Kennedy, Johnson and Nixon administrations would have prosecuted the war to its fullest. It assumes a lot of things. But it's a pleasant fiction for the right, so let it go.

But let me ask you this question; how is the peace movement attempting to silence right thinking citizens (a phrase so poisonous I could spend an hour on it)? Do supporters of the war run the risk of losing their jobs? Of being thrown in jail? Of being publicly ridiculed? No. The most you can say is that they might have to occasionally deal with someone who disagrees with them. That's part of life. And perhaps David Horowitz still has a little growing up to do.

The Wall Street Journal Makes News

Here's a front page story on Monday's Wall Street Journal.



So the X-men and other super humans are no longer human. This will make it easier for us normal humans to enslave them. Soon super people will be cleaning our rain gutters, and making our Cherry Pies. But some humans resist this glorious future. The Wall Street Journal goes on to print;



In case you are wondering the story is really about how Marvel got it's action figures reclassified as non-human so as to get cheaper tarrifs. Apparently the judge concluded that the Mole Man--Foe of the Fantastic Four--was the most human. And perhaps Brian Wilkinson needs a little firmer grasp of reality.

Last Weeks Weekly Rush for You

Well, I didn't post on this last week, but should have. Rush repeated it today. Al Sharpton is seeking the Democratic nomination for President and many other Democrats (including your humble commentator) don't want him to get it. So that makes the Democratic party, all of the other Democratic nominees, and yours truely, hypocrites. See if we really believed in racial justice and in upholding the black man, we would immediately nominate Al Sharpton, and all other democratic nominees would drop out of the race.

That's because all black people are functionally identical. The only important characteristic of Al Sharpton is his skin color. For the Democratic party to look past his skin colors to his stance on the issues is hypocritical at the least and possibly racist.

At least according to Rush Limbaugh, who also took time today to proclaim himself America's Leading Citizen.

A Coup

Well there's a new plan being put forward, primarily by Saudi Arabia and Egypt. In it, Saddam Hussein leaves Iraq for sunny Tripoli or someplace else, for an extended vacation. The US has supported the plan, seeing as it fulfills their request for a regime change without the expense of a war.

Frank J. Gaffney, Jr. opposes this plan. Calling it a coup, he says that it will just bring the next man to the top of the list. And anybody who's served in Saddam's Iraq is tainted, and probably evil. He basically assumes that if we put someone new in, we are going to do it sight unseen. While surely the Saudi's might like such a plan, the US isn't going to do that. Anybody who takes over will have to follow a more peaceful line, and accept the continued presence of UN inspectors.

He argues that accepting a coup will have betray the Iraqi people. ". . . we would lose not only the opportunity to free one of the most industrious and capable populations in the Middle East, perhaps transforming Iraq into a prosperous and peace-loving nation. We would also squander the chance to create a model for bringing real democracy and economic opportunity to a region desperately in need of both."

Oh how I wish I could believe that the long term goals of the United States involved helping the Iraqi People. I would be one hundred percent behind this war if that were the case. But we know that that's not true. President Bush has made his feelings on nation building clear, during the Presidential debates. ". . . .we can’t be all things to all people in the world. I am worried about over-committing our military around the world. I want to be judicious in its use. I don’t think nation-building missions are worthwhile."

I'm Disenchanted

I go out to walk the dogs--and what do I see by the Mailboxes? A copy of that special letter that they prayed over specially to me. And on a hunch, I look in the trash can there--and see two more. So I guess i'm not as special as i thought.

One More Thing

As you can see from the bottom card, this letter was scent to "Resident to a Friend." So here's my question, how did they know my name?

I Get Mail

Well, here's some more mail--but this mail came into my mail box instead of into my e-mail box. Lets take a look at it.





So here's my image--some guy at a printing press--reading out the addresses and saying a quick prayer over each one. Why do Iget the impression that's not what happens? Inside there is a card you can fill out.



Hmmmmm. Do I want better blood pressure? Or maybe a continuous money blessing? It's so hard to decide.

I'm not irreligious myself, but I'm not really into people who are using Christ to make a quick buck.