Young Americans

There's an interesting article at the Times today on the difference between America and Europe. By far the most interesting part of the article are the pictures, which you can look at there on the right.

The article itself is a comparison of the nobility of Europe and the Nobility of America and how they aren't the same. What interesting about the article is the not-so-latent assumption that the European and American Upper Classes are the ones that matter. You can tell that by the way the author starts her fourth paragraph. "It may be a truism to say that Americans and Europeans regard each other with deep ambivalence."

But the pictures are well worth looking at.

The Latest Iteration

Apparently Senator Kerry not only ran away from combat, he also shot himself in order to a) get an extra medal or b) run away from combat faster. This is the theory being reported by Michelle Malkin yesterday on Hardball. To his credit Chris Matthews clamped down pretty hard on her. But there the accusation is; Kerry shot himself to fake an injury.

Once again I am compelled to ask exactly how stupid do they think we are?

And the answer comes back, "just stupid enough."

And in a nice bit of serendipity, the spell checker here at Blogspot suggested "malign" as the correct spelling of Malkin.

Round the Horn Part 999.49 Baseball!!!

It's time for Round the Horn, our weekly round up of articles by other members of the Liberal Coalition.

First up is a powerhouse of a hitter, Happy Furry Puppy Story Time with a great post on two deservedly celebrated composers. Also, last week, I inadvertently missed the link when I was doing my round up, so here is the link to that great story on Terrorists influencing Elections.

Batting second, Gamer's Nook has a very interesting piece on a scientific experiment in Austria involving Teleportation.

Third to the plate we have All Facts and Opinion with thoughts of the late and missed Jerry Garcia.

And batting clean up we have mighty Left is Right, putting the ball in the bleachers with a great story on one of many over-the-top attacks on Senator Kerry.

Now stepping to the plate in the fifth position on the line up is Chris "Lefty" Brown's Corner telling the sad, but true, story of Fresno, a town that could use a hand.

Batting at the number six position is Mercury X23's Fantabulous Blog, who belts a story to deep left field on the ever popular subject of Nazi Comparisons.

Heading the plate is . . . And Then with an interesting read on the recent rulings on File Sharing. I don't 100% agree with her analysis, but it is worth thinking about.

Standing in the Batters box in position eight is Kick the Leftist, and with a mighty remembrance of conventions past, he paints the ball into the bleachers.

Finally in the ninth position we have Sooner Thought with a good post on Zell Miller, a Republican's favorite Democrat.

Oh, and you probably already know this, but my use of baseball terminology shouldn't be assumed to add or diminish from any of these stories; in my mind they are all great, just used the baseball terminology because I like to mix things up a little.

John Kerry Speaks

This is from remarks he made on August 19, 2004.

Thirty years ago, official Navy reports documented my service in Vietnam and awarded me the Silver Star, the Bronze Star and three Purple Hearts. Thirty years ago, this was the plain truth. It still is. And I still carry the shrapnel in my leg from a wound in Vietnam ... Of course, the President keeps telling people he would never question my service to our country. Instead, he watches as a Republican-funded attack group does just that. Well, if he wants to have a debate about our service in Vietnam, here is my answer: 'Bring it on.'

“I'm not going to let anyone question my commitment to defending America-then, now, or ever. And I'm not going to let anyone attack the sacrifice and courage of the men who saw battle with me. And let me make this commitment today: their lies about my record will not stop me from fighting for jobs, health care, and our security - the issues that really matter to the American people.

Mr. Kerry does put his finger right on one of President Bush's strengths. President Bush can let his supporters make the most vicious attacks on John Kerry and appear above the fray. Of course that hasn't stopped him from running a very negative campaign of his own, but he does benefit from attacks made by "independent" groups like the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth.

Our Brave President

I'm assuming most of you have heard of the speech Vice President Cheney gave in New Mexico at which all attendees were required to sign a pledge to vote for President Bush? Well it turns out that story might be more representative than I originally thought.

Around the country, Bush is campaigning at events billed as "Ask President Bush." Only supporters are allowed entrance. Talking points are distributed to questioners. In Traverse City, Mich., a 55-year-old social studies teacher who wore a small Kerry sticker on her blouse had her ticket torn up at the door. "How can anyone in the United States deny someone entry?" she asked. "Isn't this a democracy?"

At every "Ask President Bush" rally, Bush repeats the same speech, touting a "vibrant economy" and his leadership in a war where "you cannot show weakness."

So says Sidney Blumenthal of President Bush's campaign.

Not a very encouraging picture. Isn't a campaign about convincing people that you have the right vision to lead America forward? How can you convince people if you only allow people who already agree with you to attend? I suppose it does play better on TV if everybody agrees with everything you say. And I'll bet it makes President Bush feel good to see how many people agree with him.

For the record, Senator Kerry isn't using the same sort of ideological litmus test on his visitors; seems like he can handle a few questions from people that don't agree with him.

The Anarchist Vote

According to the Village Voice, some Anarchists are going to vote against President Bush in the fall election. Other Anarchists are saying that voting is the same as selling out, and that those who are voting are not really anarchists at all. But that fails to deter the voting anarchists.

Howard Ehrlich, of Baltimore, also embraces his right to "engage the political system."

"I will certainly vote against George Bush because he is leading the nation to further violence and eroding civil liberties," said Ehrlich, who is editor of Social Anarchism, a 3,000-circulation magazine.

"I guess," said Bryant about to repeat a line that millions of commentators, including himself, had said millions of times before, "President Bush really is a uniter and not a divider."

Flip Flops

The charge is often more important than the proof. In 2000 Al Gore was a serial liar who didn't know who he was. That of course wasn't exactly a fair representation of Al Gore but it stuck long enough to let President Bush nearly win.

This time around it's the Flip-Flop Mantra. Future President Kerry is a flip-flopper. We can't trust him with our kids futures because he constantly changes his mind. Of course President Bush's supporters are having a hard time coming up with actually flip flops to trumpet so they are often reduced to a little bit of Make Believe. Take the following example, pointed out by E. J. Dionne, Jr.

When John Kerry said he still would have voted to give the president the authority to wage war in Iraq, the Bushies accused Kerry of being a flip-flopper.

How can sticking with a past vote make you a flip-flopper? Well, Kerry -- like many Americans -- is now critical of how Bush waged this war and how he failed to plan for its aftermath. The Bushies seem to be saying that Kerry should have known better than to give Bush the benefit of the doubt.

President Bush and Senator Kerry will debate three times before we vote. I hope that Kerry has the sense to ask some tough questions about President Bush's own flip flops. How he opposed the creation of the Department of Homeland Security then supported it. Or how he opposed the formation of an independent 9/11 commission and then supported it. And so on and so forth.

Of course I also think it would be nice of Kerry to put President Bush on the spot regarding some of the statements his allies in the Conservative Media make. But I know that's a pipe dream.

The World Is Full of Crashing Bores

The world sure is a scary place for Conservatives. I mean look at this commentary by good old Ben Shapiro, Boy Prognosticator.

"Let's be honest for just a moment. This isn't about friendly competition. The only reason many of us care about the Olympics is because we want to watch American athletes beat the snot out of everyone else. The idea that the Olympics revolves around some phantom "family of nations" ideal is purely delusional.

. . . If there is a family of nations, it's a vicious, homicidal, perverted, degraded, dysfunctional, inbred group of mongrels. But more likely, the "family of nations" is a myth. And if even the Olympics can't hide the fact that the "family of nations" is a naively feverish, phantasmagorical vision, how can John Kerry and his followers stand behind such a patently false idea?"

Good use of the word "mongrels" there; that's sure not to offend anybody.

Here are the three positions on other nations.

The Supposed Conservative View, expressed by young Ben above. All the other nations are backstabbing dog, we live in a Hobbes state of nature where we have to expect all the other nations to stab us in the back constantly. Of course the upshot of this theory is that if the United States (and, of course, Israel) are the only decent nations on the face of the earth, why do we allow the other nations any illusions? This view of course negates the need for a State Department; other nations should damn well fall in line or get the crap beat out of them.

The Supposed Liberal View, also expressed by Young Ben. All the other nations are our friends. It's our duty to get along no matter what other nations or individuals do. Other nations probably know better than we do what we should do; so we should listen to them. Very few liberals actually have this view, of course, but it's a convenient caricature.

The Realistic View, shared by most liberals and conservatives. Some nations are our friends, some nations are our enemies. Our diplomacy and our military power are both essential to our safety. Other nations attitudes to the United States vary widely, from outright hatred to warm hearted friendship. It's realistic to work with those nations who can work with, and to take appropriate actions against those nations we don't get along with.

It's also worth noting that no nation on Earth likes the idea of being treated like a "mongrel" any more than we would.

Something to Consider

I don't think there's anybody who finds it easy to write about race, but sometimes doing the easy thing isn't an option.

In this country we have, with shameful regularity, tried to restrict the vote to whites as much as possible. Some of you might be thinking that this is a Southern thing; but while a lot of the most open and obvious examples of voter discrimination are from the Southern States, the north did their fair share to keep Blacks, Hispanics and other immigrants from voting. It would be nice to believe that those techniques are in the past.

Sadly this appears not to be the case. Bob Herbert has a editorial at the New York Times this week which reports that voter intimidation might be alive and well and funded with tax payer money.

State police officers have gone into the homes of elderly black voters in Orlando and interrogated them as part of an odd "investigation" that has frightened many voters, intimidated elderly volunteers and thrown a chill over efforts to get out the black vote in November.

The officers, from the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, which reports to Gov. Jeb Bush, say they are investigating allegations of voter fraud that came up during the Orlando mayoral election in March.

Officials refused to discuss details of the investigation, other than to say that absentee ballots are involved.

The trouble with this case, in my mind, isn't the investigation; it's the secrecy. We are supposed to be the Sunshine State; it's probable that a little bit of sunshine would reveal what fraud they are looking for and how interrogating elderly black women plays a role in stopping those who committed voter fraud.

I mean I'm sure that Florida's governor and it's law enforcement agencies want a high voter turnout. A little clarification of their position might reassure these voter registration organizers, so that their valuable efforts can continue.

Some of you might argue that revealing the parameters of an investigation might make it easier for the guilty parties to cover their tracks. Under normal conditions I would agree. If it is a choice, however, between ensuring the sanctity of our voting system and catching some alleged crooks, well I chose the former.

Sensitivity Training

This weeks Top Ten Conservative Idiots over at Democratic Underground has a story on Sensitive Wars.

John Kerry recently commented that "I believe I can fight a more effective, more thoughtful, more strategic, more proactive, more sensitive war on terror that reaches out to other nations and brings them to our side and lives up to American values in history."

Well not only President Cheney, but also Rush Limbaugh and others immediately hopped on that usage of the word "Sensitive" there. Of course what Kerry means is that he wants our soldiers to be "in touch with their feelings" which is why he will be appointing Dr. Phil as Secretary of Defense. Job one, apparently, is making sure our soldiers understand that it's alright to cry.

Oh wait a second, here on planet earth, the word Sensitive also means aware. He's really saying that he feels he can make our security apparatus more aware of threats from our enemies. I guess that's not as crazy as I thought it was.

Plus, if you check out the post at Democratic Underground, you'll see a nice instance of President Bush using the same language.

The Axis of Nuance

Once thing about the Axis of Evil is the complete lack of nuance. As we are learning from the campaign, nuance is bad. It's evil, really. Only monsters like Democrats and John Kerry understand nuance. I mean we have wars on Drugs and Terrorism; when are we going to get the desperately needed War on Nuance?

Take Iran for example. If ever there was a hotbed of nuance. For example, did you know that many Iranians are happy that we took over Iraq? After all there was a long war between Iran and Iraq and the Iraqis killed thousands of Iranians. So Iranians hope that we can exercise some kind of control over the Iraqis. Isn't that confusing? Evil Nuance.

Also it turns out that there are large groups of Iranians who would like to see a more Democratic system of government. And yet these very same Iranians would not like to see the United States invade and impose Democracy. They would rather see Iran evolve away from theocracy, which is less likely with America standing over the Ayatollah's shoulder saying, "Change or Die!"

It's almost like many Iranians don't much care for their leaders and yet don't like the idea of their leaders being pushed around by us. The fiendish nuance appears in every corner of Iran.

Anyway if you want to read an article just filled with this diabolical nuance, check out this one in today's New York Times. I look forward to a day when we can rid the world of nuance.

Photo Log

As previously mentioned, I spent Friday Night in an Orlando hotel (embassy Suites) and so was able to witness Charley First hand. Well, as near hand as I could from my hotel room. My room had two rooms in it; a bedroom and a living room, with the bathroom in between. Well the Bedroom had a big window to the outside of the building, so I decided to sleep in the living room (which had a window open to a big open space in the middle of the hotel (kind of like an atrium). Here's a picture of my bedding arrangements.



They passed around a note to let us all know what to do in preparation of the hurricane (from whence I got the idea to sleep away from the window). It also suggested filling the bathtub so we could still use the toilets. As you can see I followed that advice too, although it was not needed.



Here was the view from my window at about 4:30 or so? Not to exciting, although you can see the rain sort of.



On the road the next day I ended up taking I-4 in the direction of Tampa, which proved a less effective strategy for leaving Orlando (since all the Tampa Evacuees were also using that road). On the way, however, I did see some evidence that Charley was an anarchist hurricane, hating signs that told people what to do.





As you can see by this picture, some creative people, frustrated at the stop and go traffic on the I-4 decided they would create an additional lane. As if the situation weren't dangerous enough.



Eventually I got off of the I-4 and traveled up Apopka Vineland and some other surface streets until I could get to the Florida Turnpike. This gave me the opportunity (The Chinese, as you know, use the same character for crisis that they do for opportunity. Usually that's kind of use as a motivational image, but I can sort of see it going the other way.) to see Charley's damage from a somewhat closer vantage point.



This next one might be hard to decipher, but half the road was covered by a fallen tree which we had to drive around.





Anyway, my own experience was pretty mild, but there are plenty of people who have had tough times. I'm sure there will be plenty of opportunities to lend a hand, but one organization who always gets called into these situations is the Red Cross. So you might consider dropping them a few bucks or finding the time to give blood.

Problems Afoot

There are some problems with Blogger right now that prevent me from putting up my photos. Hopefully I will be able too later on this afternoon / evening.

Edited to add: I think I has the solution.

Quotes

A new quote at the top (I hope, Blogger is acting fiddly), and a new quotes page is coming soon.

And here's your new Quotes page.