Krauthammer nails it: Bad Choice for an Antiwar Voice

I've made no secret of my distaste for all things Sheehan. She's such a leftist whackjob that she sees no problem from personally profiting from the honorable death of her own child. She's such a buffoon that her husband has kicked her to the curb to get rid of her.

Charles Krauthammer's devastating indictment explains it all in detail.

You leftist neo-comms wanted her... you're welcome to her.



Bad Choice for an Antiwar Voice
By Charles KrauthammerFriday, September 30, 2005; Page A19

" 'Harry, what the hell are you doing campaigning for that crippled son-of-a-bitch that killed my son Joe?' [Joseph P.] Kennedy said, referring to his oldest son, who had died in the war. Kennedy went on, saying Roosevelt had caused the war. Truman, by his later account, stood all he could, then told Kennedy to keep quiet or he would throw him out the window." -- "Truman," by David McCullough, Page 328

A large number of Americans feel deep and understandable unease about the war in Iraq and want nothing more than to pull out. But the antiwar movement is singularly disserved by its leadership, such as it is. Its de facto leader is Cindy Sheehan, who catapulted herself into that role by quite brilliantly exploiting the media's hunger for political news during the August recess and by wrapping herself in the courage of her son Casey, who died in Iraq.

Her loss and grief deserve sympathy and respect. However, Sheehan believes that they entitle her to special standing in opposing a war in which her son served, about which he (as far as we know) expressed no misgivings, and for which he indeed reenlisted.

Maureen Dowd of the New York Times claims that Sheehan's "moral authority" on the war is "absolute." This is obtuse. Sheehan's diatribes against George Bush -- "lying bastard"; "filth-spewer and warmonger"; "biggest terrorist in the world" -- have no more moral standing than Joseph Kennedy's vilification of Franklin Roosevelt. And if Sheehan speaks with absolute moral authority, then so does Diane Ibbotson -- and the other mothers who have lost sons in Iraq yet continue to support the mission their sons died for and bitterly oppose Sheehan for discrediting it.

The antiwar movement has found itself ill served by endowing absolute moral authority on a political radical who demanded that American troops leave not just Iraq but "occupied New Orleans." Who blames Israel for her son's death. Who complained that the news media went "100 percent rita" -- "a little wind and a little rain" -- rather than covering other things in the world, meaning her.

Most tellingly, Sheehan demands withdrawal not just from Iraq but also from Afghanistan, a war that is not only just by every possible measure but also remarkably successful. The mainstream opposition view of Iraq is that, while deposing the murderous Saddam Hussein was a moral and even worthy cause, the enterprise was misconceived and/or bungled, too ambitious and unwinnable, and therefore not worth expending more American lives. That is not Sheehan's view. Like the hard left in the Vietnam War, she declares the mission itself corrupt and evil: The good guys are the "freedom fighters" -- the very ones who, besides killing thousands of Iraqi innocents, killed her son, too.

You don't build a mass movement on that. Nor on antiwar rallies like the one last weekend in Washington, organized and run by a front group for the Workers World Party. The WWP is descended from Cold War Stalinists who found other communists insufficiently rigorous for refusing to support the Soviet invasion of Hungary. Thus a rally ostensibly against war is run by a group that supported the Soviet invasions of Hungary, Czechoslovakia and Afghanistan, the massacre in Tiananmen Square, and a litany of the very worst mass murderers of our time, including Slobodan Milosevic, Hussein and Kim Jong Il. You don't seize the moral high ground in America with fellow travelers such as these.

For all the Vietnam nostalgia at the Washington march, things are different today. In Vietnam it could never be plausibly argued that Ho Chi Minh was training commandos to bring down skyscrapers in New York. Today, however, Americans know that this is precisely what our jihadist enemies have pledged to do.

Moreover, Vietnam offered a seeming middle way between immediate withdrawal on the one hand and staying the course on the other: negotiations, which in the end did take place. Today there is no one to negotiate with, no middle ground, not even an apparent plausible compromise. The only choices are to succeed in establishing a self-sufficient, democratic Iraq or to call an abject retreat that not only gives Iraq over to the tender mercies of people who specialize in blowing up innocents but also makes it a base of operations for worldwide jihad.

The very fact that Cindy Sheehan and her WWP comrades are so enthusiastic for the latter outcome tells you how difficult it will be to turn widespread discontent about the war into a mainstream antiwar movement.

letters@charleskrauthammer.com

For those wondering what I am politically (stereotypes aside)

You are a Social Liberal (60% permissive) and an... Economic Conservative (85% permissive) You are best described as a: Capitalist Link: The Politics Test on Ok Cupid Also: The OkCupid Dating Persona Test

The editorial the Seattle PI SHOULD have written.

Thursday, September 29, 2005

Initiative 912: The “Yes” Newspaper.

It's enlightening to see that the Seattle PI has formally come out in opposition to Initiative 912, which would repeal the gas-tax increase the Legislature approved earlier this year.

.

It's enlightening in that it's more evidence of the growing rift in the PI’s traditional relationship with the people. The people have been outspoken in their insistence that the state's economic future depends on getting their permission to jack up their taxes through the roof, by imposing taxes that will actually accomplish something and that the will of the people be the primary consideration of the Legislature when it’s in session.

.

Disregarding the clear and manifest ripoff to the taxpayers, ignoring the costs of full union prevailing wage, disregarding the votes of respected Republican legislators, ignoring the outrageously expensive costs for King County boondoggles, rejecting long-needed elimination of prevailing wage, taking local government, ferries, and the sales tax shift to the general fund scam out of the mix, failing to demand a better package reflective of the concern of the people, -- that's the PI transportation agenda.

.

The official opposition means the PI will repeatedly present their one-sided, biased and unrealistic perspectives on I-912. One wonders if they, to, will be required to report their in-kind contributions to the “No” campaign… but one doubts it.

.

So now the Seattle PI is forthrightly in support of irresponsibly ripping off the tax payers by piling the highest gas tax in the Nation on top of the highest gas prices we’ve ever known, the PI is the party of "yes." Yes to any and every possible tax increase. Yes to whatever makes government bigger, less efficient and more expensive.

.

Good of them to set the record straight.

The rarified air of King County: how someone so intelligent could be so ignorant.

Thursday, September 29, 2005

For the tax and spend crowd, the word “no” is akin to acceptance of the anti-Christ. For some reason, the PI decided to waste ink on this person’s perspective, which I will now ginzu with the delicacy of a brain surgeon.

Someone somewhere should just say yes
By CHI-DOOH LISPECIAL TO THE POST-INTELLIGENCER
The once ubiquitous "Just Say No" posters and bumper stickers designed to coax children away from drugs now serve aptly to describe the current political mind-set, locally and statewide. The politics of naysaying sweeps through our region like a fearsome Gulf Coast hurricane, leaving behind a swath of destroyed plans, programs and taxing schemes.

Like hurricanes Katrina and Rita, the politics of naysaying builds nothing. It only destroys.

OK… so in this guy’s world, holding the government accountable and requiring responsible spending is not only something we should not do, it is, in fact, a destructive force, equal to that of Katrina.

Riiiight.

Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels, having established himself as a formidable political force in our city and region, last week turned his thumbs down on the monorail. Gutsy leadership, some say.

How low the bar has dropped on gauging leadership, I say.

With the kind of political muscle he has built up in his first term, Nickels is in perfect position to broker a creative solution to the monorail mess.

A merger with Sound Transit or Metro, so we can get better coordinated regional transportation planning? Other possibilities? Do we need enabling legislation? Then why not get it drafted and start lobbying for support?

Why aren't we being offered ideas culled from successful rapid transit systems elsewhere in this country and around the world, in cities and regions the size of Seattle and Puget Sound?

Examples abound that could give us hope, and a vision of the possibilities here.

“Examples abound?” Try listing a few. If there were all that many, we already would have stolen those ideas and put them into place here.

Instead, the mayor just says no.

So, let me get this straight: You’re complaining because the mayor is trying to kill what he believes to be an out of control project… yet you, personally, offer zero in the way of alternatives.

GREAT job of coat-holding, there.

Statewide, Initiative 912 threatens to dismantle the funding for highway projects in just about every county.

Proponents, led by former gubernatorial candidate John Carlson, claim that Olympia got it all wrong and that added gas tax revenues will not solve congestion in major urban areas.

They are… and it won’t.

They're right in this respect: We long ago reached the point of diminishing returns with highways.

That is nonsense, of course. What we need to do is keep highway growth on the same level as population growth.

During the time our population has grown by 1/3’d, our highway miles have grown by less then 50. Not percent… 50 miles.

Diminishing returns are, of course, a direct function of diminishing capacity.

Building new and improving existing highways no longer even qualify as short-term fixes for traffic congestion in major urban corridors.

Only in your mind. Care to back this up with some facts, instead of your entirely unsupported opinion?

The Legislature and Gov. Christine Gregoire may be faulted for some sloppy patchwork but do Carlson & Co. offer any sensible alternatives?

Just the tiniest bit of hypocrisy here:

First, there is no excuse for the gas tax as they attempted to ram it down our throats. As I laid it out here, the Legislature should be faulted because, at BEST, only 44% of the billions collected will be put into concrete. There are many reasons why this turd won’t float in the governor’s punchbowl, and naturally, the suggestions resulting from this piss-poor effort to ignore the will of the people under the guise of what the left calls “leadership” but which everyone else calls “arrogance” are many and widely available… if one would care to look.

Second, isn’t it odd that Mr. Li demands “sensible alternatives” to this gas tax, but provides none himself for the monorail debacle?

Have they even begun to offer thoughtful ideas on rail alternatives?

Since there aren’t any, how could they?

“Rail” accomplishes nothing but huge bills and huge subsidies. Light rail junkies have no success stories that do not involve massive public subsidies, far beyond that of roads.

Do they shed any light on how to fund and build a system beyond Sound Transit's first 14 miles, so we can really take care of the congestion problem plaguing the Puget Sound region?

Unfortunately for Mr. Li, even Sound Transit has admitted that a fully built and running light rail system will have exactly NO impact on congestion.

Extending an idiotic program beyond it’s current boundaries will only extend the idiocy… it will have no impact on congestion.

Dream on. It's so much easier to just say no.

And for loot rail fans, it’s just so much easier to waste our money.




Then there's Tim Eyman -- the king of naysaying.

Man… you people on the left DO hate him, don’t you?

Eyman's mantra is a variation on Annie "Get Your Gun" Oakley's song, sung fortissimo to cowering Frank Butlers in the Legislature and governor's office: "Anything you can do, I can undo better."

Odd that those on the left are so confused about what the phrase “will of the people” actually means.

If the Legislature of this state actually LISTENED to the people and actually DID our will, there wouldn’t BE any Tim Eyman. The Legislature of this state created him. They have it within their power to take him off the local scene.

But to do that is to move away from that bizarre, arrogant concept of the “leadership” label, and to actually do that which they’ve been elected to do.

You have to hand it to the guy. He found a lucrative and high-profile second career in taking on any and all taxing schemes by appealing to our most selfish instincts.

So, you on the far left now think we’re stupid because we want government accountability?

I’ve got to tell you, if people like you were as concerned about running an efficient, RESPONSIVE government as you are attacking those of us who disagree with you, this state would be Utopia.

Have you ever heard one constructive idea come out of his royal mouth?

Dozens. Repeatedly. Thanks for asking.

If your doctor told you that you're seriously ill but never bothered to prescribe for you a remedy for getting better, you'd be looking for a new physician pronto.

Yeah. That’s as succinct a description of the Legislature as I’ve ever seen. Well done!

How long do you think an engineer would last in the profession who tells clients only what they cannot build, and never offers any ideas on how best to design and build a structure?

Kind of like you, here, telling us that we CAN’T cut our taxes without telling us how to make the Legislature LISTEN and ACT on what we want, you mean?

So why do we accept King Eyman and others of his ilk telling us what we can't do and never demand that they come up with a better plan?

But… didn’t you do precisely the same thing at the start of this column? Where is YOUR “better plan” for the monorail?

As one of “Eyman’s Ilk,” I have a dozen ideas for better plans. But you on the left throw a fit whenever anyone comes after your sacred cows, such as prevailing wage, the sales tax shift, the ½% art requirement, taking ferries out of the transportation mix, getting rid of light rail, building a few hundred more miles of roads… those things are ALL “better plans.” And to people of YOUR “ilk,” they’re ALL DOA.

Instead, otherwise intelligent voters are suckered into a chorus of Just Say No while the king cashes in on the money people are throwing at him.

As opposed to the unions cashing in on the money you would have government throw at them, right?

This guy has saved the people of this state billions of dollars. If you and your ilk don’t believe you’re taxed enough, then feel free to start writing our state government extra checks. They’ll take the money.

What’s stopping you?

We're dying around here for lack of visionaries.

You include yourself in that description, do you?

Almost 50 years ago, attorney Jim Ellis and a handful of others dared to dream into existence the creation of a bold regional effort that successfully cleaned up a badly polluted Lake Washington.

In 1968, Ellis spearheaded an effort to get voters to approve a 47-mile rail transit system, at a local cost of only $385 million. An earlier generation of naysayers killed that one, and today we're paying an incredibly high cost for that myopic, tightwad decision.

See, in the mind of the far left, it’s “only” $385 million. Well $385 million back then was as much a waste of money as the $4 billion you people want to spend now.

We can play the “back then” game all day, including the part where state taxes, “back then” were dramatically less, both as an amount and a percentage of our incomes, than they are now.

Is there any hope that in our lifetime some politician(s) will have enough guts and backbone to challenge the Just Say No mentality?

Let me rephrase your desire.

Is there any hope that in our lifetime some politician(s) will have enough guts and backbone to ignore the people, their will, what they want in a huge way for Mr. Li’s fantasy kingdom?

Until then, we're consigned to borrow (loosely) from another Annie Oakley song and hum along with "Doin' Nothin' Natur'lly," while we stew in our beloved cars, stuck in gridlock.

Chi-Dooh Li is a Seattle attorney. E-mail: cli@elmlaw.com.

For Mr. Li, I offer this bit of advice:

Earlier in your screed, you mentioned “successful rapid transit systems elsewhere in this country and around the world, in cities and regions the size of Seattle and Puget Sound.”

Perhaps you would consider moving to one of those paradise locations, where the voters are far smarter, where government is the be all to end all, where taxes are at, say, 70%, and you, as one of the people, have no say.

No lie they won't tell, no twist in the truth they won't take. the moveoff.org generation in action.

TODH to Generation Why?

Tuesday, September 27, 2005
The Truth Behind the Protests - What Liberals and the MSM Don't Want You to Know



This picture got the liberals all excited over the weekend. Afterall, here's a "Republican" publicly denouncing "his party" in the midst of a liberal protest. Just one problem. The guy is a Democrat... and has been for a while. (hat tip: Wizbang) He also did this back in February.

His wife is Executive Director of Compton Foundation. They fund all kinds of leftist causes (including the "September 11th Families for a Peaceful Tomorrow")

Then there's this picture, plastered on the front page of the San Francisco Chronicle. (hat tip: Zombie) The "hoped to convey a positive message about the rally -- perhaps that even politically aware teenagers were inspired." But look at the "anatomy of a photograph" for the truth behind the girl, the photo and the cause.





The group is dressed like terrorists, waving Palestinian flags and signs with vulgarities... and being led by a handler wearing a shirt depicting the flag of communist Vietnam.The truth ain't so pretty.They can't tell people the truth about their positions, their causes or their beliefs. So they have to alter the perception of reality to get people to buy their bullshit. Only the ignorant are buying, and fortunately they're outnumbered.

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Leftist hero, Ronnie Earle: "I am not a crook?"

This speaks for itself.



September 29, 2005, 8:11 a.m.
DeLay’s Prosecutor Offered “Dollars for Dismissals”
How Ronnie Earle works.

EDITOR'S NOTE: Travis County, Texas prosecutor Ronnie Earle, the man behind Wednesday's indictment of House Majority Leader Tom DeLay on state campaign-finance charges, has also indicted several corporations in the probe. But last June, National Review's Byron York learned that Earle offered some of those companies deals in which the charges would be dismissed — if the corporations came up with big donations to one of Earle's favorite causes. Here is that report, from June 20, 2005:

Ronnie Earle, the Texas prosecutor who has indicted associates of House Majority Leader Tom DeLay in an ongoing campaign-finance investigation, dropped felony charges against several corporations indicted in the probe in return for the corporations' agreement to make five- and six-figure contributions to one of Earle's pet causes.

A grand jury in Travis County, Texas, last September indicted eight corporations in connection with the DeLay investigation. All were charged with making illegal contributions (Texas law forbids corporate giving to political campaigns). Since then, however, Earle has agreed to dismiss charges against four of the companies — retail giant Sears, the restaurant chain Cracker Barrel, the Internet company Questerra, and the collection company Diversified Collection Services — after the companies pledged to contribute to a program designed to publicize Earle's belief that corporate involvement in politics is harmful to American democracy.

Some legal observers called the arrangement an unusual resolution to a criminal case, at least in Texas, where the matter is being prosecuted. "I don't think you're going to find anybody who will say it's a common practice," says Jack Strickland, a Fort Worth lawyer who serves as vice-chairman of the criminal-justice section of the Texas State Bar. Earle himself told National Review Online that he has never settled a case in a similar fashion during his years as Travis County district attorney. And allies of DeLay, who has accused Earle of conducting a politically motivated investigation, called Earle's actions "dollars for dismissals."

YOU'VE BEEN A BAD, BAD CORPORATION
On September 21, 2004, a grand jury in Travis County indicted three associates of DeLay — John Colyandro, the head of DeLay's political-action committee, Texans for a Republican Majority (TRMPAC), Jim Ellis, a DeLay aide and officer of the committee, and Warren Rebold, a Washington fundraiser. The indictments received front-page coverage, with a number of commentators suggesting that Earle was moving toward ultimately indicting DeLay.

Receiving less attention was the grand jury's decision to indict the eight companies for making allegedly illegal contributions to TRMPAC. In addition to Sears, Cracker Barrel, Questerra, and Diversified Collection Services, the group of indicted companies included Bacardi USA, Westar Energy, Williams Companies, and the trade group Alliance for Quality Nursing Home Care. Under Texas law, corporations are not allowed to contribute directly to political campaigns, but are allowed to fund the administrative expenses of a political committee.

More...

A liberal look at the DeLay indictment.

Leftists are positively giddy over the DeLay indictment. Our local CCD tools certainly are.

But the Washington POST, hardly a bastion of conservative thought, has taken a somewhat more sober view.



The DeLay Indictment
Thursday, September 29, 2005; Page A22

YESTERDAY'S indictment of House Majority Leader Tom DeLay on charges of conspiring to violate Texas campaign finance laws won't come as a surprise to anyone who's watched the Texas Republican operate over the years. In his drive to consolidate Republican power, Mr. DeLay has consistently pushed, and at times stepped over, ethical boundaries.

He is, as we said last year, an ethical recidivist -- unabashed about using his legislative and political power to reward supporters and punish opponents, and brazen in how he links campaign contributions and political actions. Among the DeLay activities that have drawn disapproval from the House ethics committee: threatening a trade association for daring to hire a Democrat; enlisting federal aviation officials to hunt for Democratic state legislators trying to foil his Texas redistricting plan; and holding a golf fundraiser for energy companies just as the House was to consider energy legislation.

Nonetheless, at least on the evidence presented so far, the indictment of Mr. DeLay by a state prosecutor in Texas gives us pause. The charge concerns the activities of Texans for a Republican Majority (TRMPAC), a political action committee created by Mr. DeLay and his aides to orchestrate the GOP's takeover of the Texas legislature in 2002. The issue is whether Mr. DeLay and his political aides illegally used the group to evade the state's ban on corporate contributions to candidates. The indictment alleges that TRMPAC took $155,000 in corporate contributions and then sent a check for $190,000 to the national Republican Party's "soft money" arm. The national committee then wrote $190,000 in checks from its noncorporate accounts to seven Texas candidates. Perhaps most damning, TRMPAC dictated the precise amount and recipients of those donations.

This was an obvious end run around the corporate contribution rule. The more difficult question is whether it was an illegal end run -- or, to be more precise, one so blatantly illegal that it amounts to a criminal felony rather than a civil violation. For Mr. DeLay to be convicted, prosecutors will have to show not only that he took part in the dodge but also that he knew it amounted to a violation of state law -- rather than the kind of clever money-trade that election lawyers engineer all the time.

Mr. DeLay's spokesman said this month that "to his knowledge all activities were properly reviewed and approved by lawyers" for TRMPAC. If so, the criminal law seems like an awfully blunt instrument to wield against Mr. DeLay. If not, we look forward to seeing the evidence. In the meantime, as required by party rules, Mr. DeLay has stepped aside as majority leader. Whatever happens in the criminal case, perhaps this latest controversy will cause his colleagues to rethink whether he is, in fact, the person they really want as their leader.

VICTORY AT GROUND ZERO By Michelle Malkin

September 28, 2005 08:13 PM

By Michelle Malkin

After a valiant, hard-fought battle, 9/11 family member Debra Burlingame and countless other Americans who joined her have won the battle to protect Ground Zero from the Blame America crowd. For now. Kudos to everyone who wrote, called, and blogged their outrage since Burlingame blew the whistle in June and refused to relent. Via Bloomberg News:

Governor George Pataki said today he will direct development officials to drop plans for a museum of freedom at the World Trade Center site, saying it has stirred ``too much opposition, too much controversy.''

The International Freedom Center would have been put in a cultural center adjacent to a memorial for the Sept. 11 victims, and was part of the master plan for redeveloping the devastated 16-acre site of the nation's worst terrorist attack.

In the last several months, some victims' families, groups of firefighters and police officers and public officials said the center, which would feature historical exhibits expressing the worldwide struggle for freedom, would detract from the Sept. 11 themes and provide a possible forum for anti-U.S. messages.

``Today there remains too much opposition, too much controversy, over the programming of the IFC and we must move forward with our first priority, the creation of an inspiring memorial to pay tribute to our lost loved ones and tell their stories to the world,'' Pataki said in a prepared statement.

``I am directing the Lower Manhattan Development Corp. to work with the IFC to explore other locations for the center,'' the governor said.

Reaction from Take Back The Memorial, started by blogger Robert Shurbet, who was inspired by Burlingame, is here.

Reaction from 9/11 Families for a Safe and Secure America will be here.

What's more than a bit disturbing to me is that it took Hillary Clinton's announced opposition to the IFC before Rudy Giuliani and Gov Pataki finally drove the final (we hope) nail into the Ground Zero guilt complex. But better late than never.

Biggest losers: Tom Bernstein, Rich Tofel, and the shameless editorial writers at the NYTimes who had the gall to call critics of the IFC "un-American."

A quick primer on the Katrina Debacle.

Things I have learned from watching the news on TV
during the last eight days:


> The hurricane only hit black families' property.
>
> New Orleans was devastated and no other city was
> affected by the hurricane.
>
>
> Mississippi is reported to have a tree blown down.
>
> New Orleans has no white people.
>
> The hurricane blew a limb off a tree in the yard of
> an Alabama resident.
>
> When you are hungry after a hurricane, steal a big
> screen TV.
>
> The hurricane did 23 billion dollars in improvements
> to New Orleans: now the city is welfare, looters and
> gang free and they are in your city.
>
> White folks don't make good news stories.
>
>
> Don't give thanks to the thousands that came to help
> rescue you, instead, bitch because the government
> hasn't given you a debit card yet.
>
> Only black family members got separated in the
> hurricane rescue efforts.
>
> Ignore warnings to evacuate and the white folks
> will come get you and give you money for being
> stupid.
>
> I feel so sorry for all those black folks. The
> only way it could have been worse was to be white.

You know, I’ve had some time to think about it…

And the C-Trans tax gerrymander was still a RINO thing to do. It was dishonest, underhanded, and immoral... a crime against the people of Clark County. It set a terrible example of government arrogance and avarice, and we will all rue the day this happened.

Clearly, some people CLAIM to be Republicans. Some at the very top of that campaign claim to be Republicans… But at least one of them was a scum-sucking Kerry supporter.

Interesting how that can work… isn’t it?

And I think that scum-sucking fake Republican Kerry supporter should stop commenting in my blog.

Just a quick b-slap to the new meat over at the ccd website.

Well, the CCD website has struck out again, utilizing yet another uninformed "blogger" to spin their BS.

Among other things, this rookie tells us:

"Besides our president being a below par student himself..."

I guess he didn't know this:

Yale grades portray Kerry as a lackluster student
His 4-year average on par with Bush's

By Michael Kranish, Globe Staff June 7, 2005

WASHINGTON -- During last year's presidential campaign, John F. Kerry was the candidate often portrayed as intellectual and complex, while George W. Bush was the populist who mangled his sentences.

But newly released records show that Bush and Kerry had a virtually identical grade average at Yale University four decades ago.

In 1999, The New Yorker published a transcript indicating that Bush had received a cumulative score of 77 for his first three years at Yale and a roughly similar average under a non-numerical rating system during his senior year.

Kerry authorizes release of his full military and medical records. A7.

Kerry, who graduated two years before Bush, got a cumulative 76 for his four years, according to a transcript that Kerry sent to the Navy when he was applying for officer training school. He received four D's in his freshman year out of 10 courses, but improved his average in later years.

The grade transcript, which Kerry has always declined to release, was included in his Navy record. During the campaign the Globe sought Kerry's naval records, but he refused to waive privacy restrictions for the full file. Late last month, Kerry gave the Navy permission to send the documents to the Globe.

More...

Democrats have always had a problem with reality... and this observation is no different. They've always taken shots at Bush's scholastic performance, while completely ignoring either Al Gore's or Kerry's.

In fact, here's a taste of Gore's sorry school record:

Gore's undergraduate transcript from Harvardis riddled with C's, including a C-minus in introductory economics, a D in one science course, and a C-plus in another. "In his sophomore year at Harvard," the Post reported, "Gore's grades were lower than any semester recorded on Bush's transcript from Yale." Moreover, Gore's graduate school record - consistently glossed over by the press - is
nothing short of shameful. In 1971, Gore enrolled in Vanderbilt Divinity School where, according to Bill Turque, author of "Inventing Al Gore," he received F's in five of the eight classes he took over the course of three semesters. Not surprisingly, Gore did not receive a degree from the divinity school. Nor did Gore graduate from Vanderbilt Law School, where he enrolled for a brief time and received his fair share of C's. (Bush went on to earn an MBA from Harvard).

Yup, sheer genious. Much like the hypocrisy of supporting draft-dodger Bill Clinton while condemning Bush's alleged AWOL service.... these idjits don't care that, in fact, Bush was roughly the same as Kerry and superior to Gore. Sheer hypocrisy.

Opposition is good: hatred is bad. Please, get over it... and soon.

Welcome to the bigs. But here's some advice: you'll have to do much, much better than this.

More hypocrisy from the CCD website

Local democrats have not missed the opportunity to play the blame game in their despicable efforts to politicize the handling of Katrina in Louisiana.

Because they seem genetically incapable of accepting responsibility for their actions, they conveniently leave out the inaction and incompetence of their democrat governor and mayor. Landrieu, who should be arrested for shooting off her hair-trigger mouth, even went so far as to threaten to punch the President if he blamed these louts for their myriad mistakes.

There is no doubt that the federal response COULD have been better… Just like there is no doubt that the state’s response COULD have been better… and the mayor of New Orleans, whose first action concerning the hurricane was to buy property in Houston, DEFINITELY could have responded better. But, when has the CCD ever admited that?

To local democrats, there is only one person to blame. One person, according to many on the left, is responsible for the hurricane, the levies, the flood, the lack of effective evacuation, the damage the area suffered. And that person is President Bush.

Bush, perhaps wrongly, picked Brown for the FEMA job. Local democrats are too stupid to understand that Brown’s continued involvement in the post-disaster examination should result in a more improved ability to respond, as Brown relates his actions as part of the investigative process.

So, in their efforts to hypocritically engage in that which local democrats called “outrageous,” what do they do? Why, they take yet ANOTHER opportunity to condemn Bush and Brown… who they would be much happier had he been reduced to homelessness while living out of a shopping cart.

Mike Brown engages in blame game, still on FEMA payroll
admin – Tue, 09/27/2005 – 9:16am

CNN

"My biggest mistake was not recognizing by Saturday that Louisiana was dysfunctional," Brown told a special congressional panel set up by House Republican leaders to investigate the catastrophe....

"I've overseen over 150 presidentially declared disasters. I know what I'm doing, and I think I do a pretty darn good job of it," Brown said.

Is he enaging in the Blame Game?? I think so, and better yet, he's paid to do it:

CNN

A congressional panel on Tuesday is expected to scrutinize the decision to keep ousted Federal Emergency Management
Agency chief Michael Brown on the federal payroll.

Brown told congressional investigators Monday that he is being paid as a consultant to help FEMA assess what went wrong in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, according to a senior official familiar with the meeting.

Last time I checked, when you resigned your federal position in disgrace, that was it, no cozy contract to cushion the blow. But this administration is "different", choosing to protect political patronage above all.

admin's blog

Last time *I* checked, it was more important that the problems get fixed then it is to destroy someone financially.

And odd, isn't it, that democrat disgraces such as Durbin and Kennedy don't get this same scrutiny from the neo-comms.

Unfortunately, the stalking behavior of a democrat scumbag has caused me to require registration to leave comments on this blog.

There is an individual out there who needs a life. He is engaging in what HE thinks is anonymous stalking behavior on my blog... As a result of his psychotic behavior, I'm requiring registration to post comments until this clown either backs off... or ups his dosage.

Unlike this buttwipe, I saw anon comments as a way to engage in constructive conversation without fear or reprisal. This idiot only wants it his way... and that ain't happening.

Only a cowardly scum-sucking dick would engage in the kind of behavior requiring these steps... but, I AM considering the source.

First of all, we get rid of mail-in only ballots.

Greg Kimsey quickly jumped onto Sam Reed’s mail-in only ballot scheme as a rather bizarre way to “restore citizen confidence in the integrity of the election process.”

That was then and is now, a crock. I sat through one of Gregoire/Reed’s bogus dog-and-pony shows here in Vancouver, knowing that they were not going to do anything about what they heard… knowing that they would deliberately attempt to confuse us with a “motion vs action approach.”

But in sitting there… not ONCE did I hear ANYONE say that an “all mail ballot” would accomplish that which Kimsey indicated it would; specifically, the “restoration of citizen confidence”in the system.

Even Mark Trahant, editor of a rag even more leftist then our own version of Pravda, the Columbian, has seen the light.

He was a staunch supporter of this system, designed primarily, it would seem, to ease the burden and costs on our county auditor’s office, while easing efforts for democrats to get out their fraud vote.

Trahant makes a variety of observations, many of which I agree with… and many I don’t. But it’s certainly a starting area for the discussion, a discussion we must have before it’s too late for the complete removal of the patina of honesty that our elections are SUPPOSED TO HAVE, but sadly, no longer do.

Getting rid of mail-only ballots, however is a place to start.

Other observations I have: We must end the mantra of “increase voter participation at all costs.”

That mantra must be changed to “increase LEGAL voter participation is our GOAL.”

The idea that “more is better” is not the case when “more” equates to “illegal.” The democrats want everyone to vote, of course, including convicted felons and illegal aliens. Motor voter exacerbated one of the biggest problems our system has, where people who couldn’t speak English (and how likely is it that NON-English speakers are American citizens?) were, and are, allowed to register to vote without providing proof of citizenship.

Stop and ask yourself for a moment: why do we need foreign language ballots?

If someone is motivated enough to become an American citizen and to legally vote, then they certainly should want to learn enough English to figure our how to vote.

All who vote should prove who they are.

Democrats hate this, of course, for obvious reasons. Mark tells us he “…fears this will be one more reason for people not to vote."

I’ll risk it.

I wore this country’s uniform for over a decade. People, I am not about to beg you to vote. Voting is a RIGHT and even a DUTY, but NOT a requirement. If you’re too damned lazy, if you’re illegal, if you’ve failed to take the time to educate yourself on the issues and the candidates, then I DON’T WANT YOU TO VOTE.

Voting is not ABOUT your convenience. It’s about you exercising the Right paid for by the deaths of thousands who’ve gone on before… Thousands who died for, among other things, YOUR right to put down your beer or your Cosmo and get off your asses and vote.

Society today is caught between two polar opposites: doing everything we can to get everyone alive to vote (a system that begs for fraud and abuse) to clamping down on illegal votes, duplicate votes, ineligible votes and the like, which MAY make it a little more difficult to vote.

Tough. I’ll pay that price. Mark also tells us:

“America needs to figure out how to increase participation by all citizens; we need a renewed ethic, a zeal for democracy.”

Every time our government ignores us, our “zeal” is reduced. Every time our government games us, like when the democrats in the legislature slapped an “emergency clause” on everything that could move… including their gas tax increase; or when they cut the opposition out of an election to get a tax increase to pass, our “zeal” is reduced.

Every time our courts overturn a voter initiative, our “zeal” is reduced.

Every time the idiots running both parties trash us by killing our primary, our “zeal” is reduced.

Every time our government SUES us to KEEP us from voting on an issue, our “zeal” is reduced.

Every time those in government treat us like we’re STUPID, our “zeal” is reduced.

Every time someone in government says anything to the people except: “We hear and obey,” our “zeal” is reduced.

Every time newspapers confuse the Legislature’s desire to ignore the will of the people for “courage,” as in, “voting for the gas tax took a lot of courage” instead of the monumental, we-know-better-then-the-people arrogance that it is, our “zeal” is reduced.

Every time fraud is disguised as incompetence and the gift of the fraud is allowed to “win” an election, our “zeal” is reduced.

Cure these symptoms, symptoms where we, the voter, feel belittled, ignored, and marginalized… and we’ll be on our way to the goal that Trahant describes.

Sunday, September 25, 2005

Vote by mail? OK, so I was wrong ...

By MARK TRAHANT
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER EDITORIAL PAGE EDITOR

I make mistakes from time to time. I've misspelled names, gotten a key fact wrong or made a prediction (either in print or in conversations with friends) that turned out to be extraordinarily wrong. I hate every misstep, but at least journalism has a process for this sort of thing. We write a correction, a one-sentence mea culpa that (in theory) sets the record straight.

But we don't have the same sort of process when we get something big wrong, such as an idea we've promoted, a philosophy or a major public policy initiative.

So here goes: I am wrong about voting by mail.

I thought voting by mail was the ideal way to increase voter participation. I loved the idea of taking my time to sort through a ballot (especially complicated initiatives), ticking my choices and then mailing it off for an efficient count. I also liked the notion that making voting easier would increase participation. When it comes to democracy, the more, the better.

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The Columbian nails it: In our view, disputed homeland.

I have frequently thought that David Barnett is his own, and correspondingly, his Tribe's own worst enemy.

Well, that giant thudding sound you all heard yesterday was the sound of feet hitting the ground as folks jumped off the fence against the development of the Cowlitz Megacasino outside La Center.

Not everyone opposed to the Megacasino/massive retail center is racist. The trouble is that the knee-jerk, default position of the Tribe has ALWAYS been the cry of "racism" whenever anyone expresses concerns over this issue.

Ed Lynch fits the very definition of the phrase "Pillar of the Community." Barnett is a punk relative to Lynch, a beloved figure of many years in the local community.

In the end, when this development is denied by the Department of the Interior, the blame for the denial should begin and end with David Barnett, whose hair-trigger mouth and rampant bigotry turned so very many people off.



In Our View: Disputed Homeland

Friday, September 23, 2005
Columbian editorial writers

Is the Cowlitz Tribe engaging in "reservation shopping"? If so, and if it can be proved and then used to block a proposed tribal casino near La Center, then good for Clark County. But even if not, there are plenty of other reasons to oppose this project.

The reservation-shopping accusation is embodied in the very name of the local group opposing the casino: Citizens Against Reservation Shopping. Ed Lynch is chairman of the group that includes Columbian Publisher Scott Campbell.

The Cowlitz are claiming parts of Clark County as aboriginal territory. They don't have a reservation but clearly want to establish a historical presence here to enhance the tribe's application for reservation status, and then pursue an initial casino at a prime intersection on Interstate 5 in north Clark County.

The latest argument against the Cowlitz claim of a homelands in Clark County was made by Lynch at Tuesday's meeting of the Greater Vancouver Chamber of Commerce. He said his group found a Department of Interior map from 1876 that places the Cowlitz Tribe in northern Cowlitz and Skamania counties, but not here in Clark County

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When democrats run the place 13: Groups sue to stop N.O. arbitrary gun seizures.

Sorry... I missed the subsection of the 2nd Amendment that indicates it's suspended in the event of a hurricane.

TODH to Drudge.

Groups call arms seizures 'arbitrary'

By Joyce Howard Price
THE WASHINGTON TIMES
September 23, 2005

Two national gun rights groups yesterday joined individual Louisiana gun owners in a federal lawsuit to stop authorities from confiscating firearms from private citizens in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.

The National Rifle Association (NRA) and the Second Amendment Foundation (SAF) filed a motion in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana, seeking a temporary restraining order to halt the seizures of guns from law-abiding citizens. They described the confiscations as "arbitrary," "without warrant or probable cause" and thus "illegal."

New Orleans Police Superintendent P. Edwin Compass III "completely overstepped his bounds ... when he announced two weeks ago in the New York Times that only law-enforcement personnel are allowed to have weapons," Wayne LaPierre, executive vice president of the 3-million member NRA said in an interview yesterday.

The police superintendent's comments were echoed by the city's Deputy Police Chief Warren Riley, who told ABC News: "No one will be able to be armed. We are going to take all the weapons."

SAF founder Alan Gottlieb called the gun seizures "outrageous" and "illegal." He said New Orleans officials have refused to tell gun rights groups why they are now leaving citizens, already devastated by the Category 4 hurricane, "defenseless against lingering bands of looters and thugs."

They "left us with no recourse" but litigation, Mr. Gottlieb said.

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Is racism the last refuge of a scoundrel?

It was only a matter of time until David Barnett, The Mouth That Roared for the Cowlitz Tribe, aimed his racism gun at Ed Lynch.

You see, in the world of the Cowlitz Tribe, anyone opposed to the Megacasino-economic black hole they want to build next to La Center is, by definition, a racist. The Cowlitz generally and Dave Barnett in particular could care less about the negative impacts their little development will have on Clark County… The massive social costs, reductions in revenue to local government, the stresses on our transportation infrastructure, the huge hit the taxpayers will have to absorb with the massive influx of third-world children with their multiple foreign languages in our schools…

So, Ed Lynch, an octogenarian philanthropist who has given at least $1 million dollars to Sheldon Jackson College in Sitka, Alaska, whose primary student body is made up of Tlingit Indians, is no more a racist then David Barnett is reasonable.

Here’s a bulletin for the Cowlitz Tribe: Ed Lynch is no racist and your insistence on calling him one has just proven what we already know about you: You’re led by bigots.



Map fuels debate between anti-casino group, Cowlitz

Thursday, September 22, 2005
By JEFFREY MIZE, Columbian staff writer

A group fighting the Cowlitz Tribe's proposed casino west of La Center says it has uncovered a 19th-century map that shows the tribe has no historic ties to Clark County.

The map has fueled tensions and led to charges that a leading casino opponent made a "racist" comment during a Greater Vancouver Chamber of Commerce meeting Tuesday.

The U.S. Department of Interior map, dated 1876, shows the historic distribution of different tribes. The map places the Cowlitz Indians, spelled "Kowlitz" on the document, in northern Cowlitz and Skamania counties, with their range stretching south to what is today Kelso.

Ed Lynch, chairman of Citizens Against Reservation Shopping, said the map represents another piece of evidence indicating that a Cowlitz reservation should be established farther up the Interstate 5 corridor.

Lynch charged that Dave Barnett, spokesman for the Cowlitz Tribe, is using his money and influence to "buy" his way into Clark County.

"He doesn't have any other basis to be here," Lynch said. "I know Mr. Barnett will say we (Cowlitz Indians) were all over, but he has to say this map was wrong."

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The Columbian blows it: Theories for success.

The recent C-Tran effort, yet another government arrogance we’ll be stuck with for decades, has exactly zero “theories for success.”

There is no theory to apply here… only fact. The fact is that the people behind this thing gerrymandered the map to exclude opposition. The end result? We weren’t allowed to vote, but by golly, we’re gonna be “allowed” to pay.

How nice for C-Trans. How nice for the geniuses behind this. They actually think they accomplished something when clearly, they removed so much opposition with their exacto knife approach that this turd would have passed without ANY campaign.

Of course… that’s just MY theory.





In Our View: Theories for Success

Thursday, September 22, 2005Columbian editorial writers There are plenty of theories including even one with a Katrina connection as to why voters on Tuesday overwhelmingly approved a sales tax increase to keep buses operating at a respectable level after a C-Tran proposal was trounced in 2004.

The various theories for success speak well of Clark County voters and those who worked on the "Save C-Tran" campaign, as well as being testimony to standard tax-increase political strategy.

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Koenninger blows it again: Opinion - Vancouver steps out of shadow

All too frequently in the political world, the “ends-justify-the-means” crowd finds itself in positions of authority. They run the gamut from, well, newspaper editors to campaign managers to dictators.

There can be no greater example, save the C-trans campaign, of manipulating, denigrating and ignoring the will of the people then the downtown redevelopment.

Millions of taxpayer dollars have been spent, directly or indirectly, on the downtown boondoggle. Sweetheart deals abound, everything from giving a port commissioner’s daughters free rent for their restaurant for a year, through millions in bribes (otherwise known as tax breaks) through suing to exclude the will of the voters.

And how do these “ends-justify-the-means” types characterize the opposition?

“When $15 million or so was proposed to save historic Officers Row homes from demolition, critics cried, "white elephant." Then-Mayor Hagensen and the council persisted (in ignoring the will of the people - ed), and now the "Row" is the pride of the city.

Then along came a push for a downtown convention center. Naysayers were apoplectic. (That can happen when your government ignores you. - ed) They dismissed the proposal as a waste of money on a "hockey rink." (Which, of course, it was - ed) They also clamored for a public vote, acting as if the entire city population should be sworn in as an ad hoc council to pass judgment on such items as new sewers and roads and a no-new-taxes convention center. Opponents conveniently forgot an elected city council and mayor already have that responsibility.”

That’s the same “Row” where a grateful city has given a free year’s rent to Arch Miller’s daughters because they screwed up their income predictions on the Grant House? THAT “pride of the City?” The same Row where rents are getting so high that people have to move out, to be replaced by businesses? Have we forgotten what it was SUPPOSED to be?

Koenninger conveniently (and frequently, when the political agenda happens to mesh with his) forgets that, in this state, "all political power is inherent in the people, and governments derive their just powers from the consent of the governed, and are established to protect and maintain individual rights.“

People with grand schemes frequently forget this minor detail. They frequently overlook it as an impediment to what THEY see.

The “conveniently” forget that, while the people have “an elected city council and a mayor,” those people must ALWAYS sublimate their actions, their judgment, their agenda to the people from whom they derive their political power.

Koenninger has never been big on the rights of the people taking priority over the agenda of government. Here, of course, the Columbian has, and will, benefit directly from the City’s shenanigans.

And while Koenninger may think that Vancouver has “stepped out of the shadow,” we must never forget the deals that put this together, the misprioritization of revenue, the egos, the efforts to suppress the will of the people, all under the veneer of respectability wrought by the fact that, as Koenninger puts it, “…an elected city council and mayor already have that responsibility,” all took place in the very shadow Koenninger suggests Vancouver has left.




Opinion - Vancouver steps out of shadow

Wednesday, September 21, 2005
TOM KOENNINGER editor emeritus of The Columbian

Vancouver has found its heart and maybe its soul. They reside in the spirit that reinvigorated Esther Short Park.

It all came together in a historic moment Saturday night with the elegant grand opening of the new Vancouver Hilton Hotel and Vancouver Convention Center. The coming together was a long and difficult public process.

Roots of Vancouver's coming of age may have started with former Vancouver Mayor Bryce Seidl and the Nihonga exhibit on Officers Row, and the survival of Officers Row itself in the mid-1980s. That effort was led by another former mayor, Bruce Hagensen. In the past decade, Mayor Royce Pollard has been the driving force in a team effort that involved most members of the city council and staff.

The goal was to re-energize the heart of the city Esther Short Park and environs. Thanks to guts, energy, brains and no small amount of sweat, the objective has largely been met. What a change.

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Jim Johnson, democrat, hammers Steve Stuart.

In yesterday's Columbian, Jim Johnson, well-known democrat activist, let Steve Stuart have it with a rhetorical blast right between the eyes. If Johnson is reading the writing on the wall... was does that mean for Stuart?

Demotions are suspect

Reported in a Sept. 12 story, "Demotion shakes county engineers," the Clark County commissioners' demotion of engineer Richard Drinkwater is appalling. The engineering staff he headed met department goals for timely review, and he recently received a promotion and raise.

County Commissioner Betty Sue Morris thought she recalled a complaint years ago, but can provide no examples. I believe she is simply following Marc Boldt on this issue. For them to admit they hadn't read available documents, then to hide their act by delaying the information from July until September is shameful. This purely political move made without regard to performance makes me positive these commissioners are firmly in the developers' pockets.

Other examples include planner Pat Lee's reassignment because his report stated the infrastructure would be inadequate to handle additional development. Also, the recently developed 20-year growth plan has now been rejected and a much more expansive growth plan is under consideration less than one year after the last one was approved.

There is a remedy for elected officials performing such stunts don't re-elect them. Steve Stuart is up for election this November, and I have supported him. However, I am disappointed that he has shown no backbone in this travesty.

Recalls, anyone?

Jim Johnson

Vancouver

See what effective gerrymandering can do? "C-Tran measure rolls."

Yesterday was a sad day for Clark County.

Yup... the "C-Tran measure rolled" all right... right over the people of Clark County.

I was looking at the measure map again, yesterday. Those behind this measure effectively cut away any serious resistance to the C-Trans measure with an exacto-knife approach that would have made the Klan blush with envy during the Jim Crow days of Alabama.

So... what has happened here?

A small minority of people in this county, allowed to vote because of the exacto-knife approach, have decided that tens of thousands of us who weren't even allowed to vote have to pay their tax.

Oddly, the phrase "Taxation without representation" comes to mind.

The fly in their C-Tran ointment is that, while we weren't allowed to vote, almost every single location within the county that can charge this tax by virtue of being in the taxing area just happened to contain the vast majority of places we use to shop.

Look at the map. Was there a single Safeway, WalMart or Fred Meyers, for example, where those of us who shop can go to without paying the increased sales tax?

Of course not.

Whenever the will of the people is avoided... Whenever a government agency gets cute, like C-Tran got "cute" here... the natural reaction is resentment.

The fact is that much of the resentment will be expressed by an even greater number of people heading to the other side of the river to shop.

Hopefully, C-Tran and other agencies that want to game the people of Clark County will learn a lesson from all of this. Sadly, I find it unlikely as they continue along their road of ever-higher pinnacles of arrogance such as this one.

And with equal clarity, this precedent will result in an ever-increasing number of efforts on the part of our government to erase opposition to their tax and fee increases where thousands will have to pay without getting the opportunity to vote on the matter... just another example of those in government that hold us in the highest contempt taking us all for granted.

I hope they're proud of it... and I hope they choke on it.

Primary Elections 2005: C-Tran measure rolls

Wednesday, September 21, 2005
By THOMAS RYLL, Columbian staff writer

A slimmed-down sales tax increase to maintain bus service in much of Clark County was the biggest winner Tuesday as voters handed C-Tran a victory by a 2-1 ratio.

The heavy support was a huge turnabout from November, when a sales tax proposal failed after it was rejected by 54 percent of voters countywide. A smaller tax-boost request 2 cents on a $10 purchase instead of November's 3-cent proposal was at least part of the trick Tuesday.

"What a win for Clark County," said a relieved Bill Ganley, C-Tran board chairman and a Battle Ground City Council member. "I think this is a big, big statement about people coming out together in support of something."

Ganley said he initially misheard the yes vote as 57 percent when results were released just after 8 p.m. Tuesday. "I was happy with that, but then somebody said, 'no, 67 percent,' and I said, '67 percent? That's a landslide!'"

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Democrats politicize Katrina every chance they get and John Kerry is no exception.

The whiney little local democrat web site sniveled first, about Karl Rove getting overall responsibility for the Gulf Coast rebuild, before one nail had been driven; and please, OMG, DON'T POLITICIZE IT!

So... what does every leftist neo-comm democrat walking upright do without complaint from our local CCD weberette?

Politicize it.

But of course, when the d's do it... that's "different."

In this case, it's Loser John Kerry who's attempting to make money off the agaony of New Orleans. Yesterday, it was Bill "Can I get that off your dress?" Clinton.

Man... the whiners DO reek of hypocrisy... don't they?

John.... you lost. Get over it.

TODH to Drudge

The Hill

Kerry blasts Bush on federal response to Hurricane Katrina
By Jonathan Allen

Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.) unleashed a furious attack on the Bush administration at a Brown University speech yesterday, upbraiding the president’s response to the hurricane that recently devastated the Gulf Coast and tying it to what he sees as other flaws at the White House.

“This is the Katrina administration,” read prepared remarks posted on 2004 Democratic presidential nominee’s website, www.johnkerry.com. “Katrina is a symbol of all this administration does and doesn't do,” read Kerry’s script, portions of which were included in an e-mail to supporters that ended with a fundraising appeal.

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CCD hypocrites are at it again! Was it just a few days ago that our local democrats were whining about politicizing the Recovery effort?

Why yes.... I think it was!

"Take the politics out of the reconstruction effort," they sniveled.

Well, how long did our OWN democrats "take the politics out?"

Why, 4 whole days! In fact, it's almost like they want people to connect Tom with the whole disaster! But they COULDN'T want THAT.... could they?

Are they so desperate they have to make up crap like this? Are they so sure that Stuart is going to lose that they have to sink to this level?

What am I saying? OF COURSE THEY ARE!

If the Davis-Bacon act did NOT allow for this Executive Order, then the democrats and the unions could easily judge-shop and find a federal judge to rule against the President. That it DOES allow for PRECISELY this situation is obviously the case, or otherwise these neo-comms already would have been in court.

And what's the message of THIS little snit?

The message is that the democrats want the unions TO PROFIT OFF THIS DISASTER.

The message is that the democrats want to STICK IT TO THE TAXPAYERS.

And that clown calls President Bush "immoral?"

Please.

The Gulf Coast Pay Cut and Tom Mielke

Tom Mielke has always opposed prevailing wage laws. Looks like the party of Tom Mielke is getting its wish in pushing forward a massive pay cut to residents of the Gulf Coast now that Katrina has wrecked the area:

(Look's like the party of the Ass is getting desperate in the Commissioner's Race)

Bush allows contractors to pay lower wages
WASHINGTON, Sept 8 (Reuters) - U.S. President George W. Bush issued an executive order on Thursday allowing federal contractors rebuilding in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina to pay below the prevailing wage.
In a notice to Congress, Bush said the hurricane had caused "a national emergency" that permits him to take such action under the 1931 Davis-Bacon Act in ravaged areas of Alabama, Florida, Louisiana and Mississippi.

Let's call the prevailing wage exemption what it really is, a pay cut. Why does Tom Mielke want to cut your pay?? How does paying people less help the rebuilding effort?

(Can anyone be this stupid? It "helps the rebuilding effort" by having 20 to 30% more money available for construction materials and labor! Really, now, the question wasn't all THAT hard, and you would think he'd be able to figure it out himself!)

Meanwhile, Congressman George Miller (D-CA) calls Bush out:

The President suspended wage standards for workers on the Gulf Coast before he declared a national emergency. That means he was so focused on cutting the wages of people who'd be returning to the Gulf Coast to rebuild their lives and their communities that, in order to hasten the suspension, he failed to follow the law. And at the same time the White House was cutting workers' wages, it was busy awarding no-bid contracts. The President has proven once again that he's more interested in governing for the few than in governing for all of us.

(No.... no.... you people don't understand. (Like THAT'S a surprise!) What the President has done is shown he's much more interested in action than he is talk. You people, on the other hand...)

The President's pay cut affects tens of thousands, or even hundreds of thousands, of Americans who desperately need a decent income to rebuild their lives.

(Actually, that's simply not true. Union membetrship has plummeted. I would be surprised if this had an effect on 10,000 people total, while the taxpayers of this country, already on the hook for billions of dollars in this effort, will save billions more. But you know, when it comes to prevailing wage, unions and ultra-leftist democrats have rarely shown any concern over those of us actually PAYING THE FRICKING BILLS.)

People working construction jobs in the Gulf Coast might only have earned $7 or $8 in the first place; now, the only protection left for them is the federal minimum wage, which is a disgraceful $5.15 an hour because Republicans repeatedly refuse to increase it.

(What... a... crock. A union construction job paying "$7 or $8" an hour? Like that's even POSSIBLE with a prevailing wage requirement?)

What the President has done is immoral.

(And what you people are demanding is sweat off the brows of the survivors and those actually paying the bills. If you scum bags don't like what we pay, then go work somewhere else.)