Res Publica 2005

A month ago, the standard complaint from Democrats went something like this: Bush has only one adviser but he's an evil genius; Kerry has thousands of advisers and, whether any of them are evil, none is a genius.

Their envy was directed at Karl Rove, the President's longtime adviser or (to quote the title of a biography of him) "Bush's Brain". The slightest misstep by Senator Kerry and the more paranoid Democratic websites are quick to detect the fingerprints of Rove - even though, like most evil geniuses, he doesn't leave any.

Meanwhile, over on the Right, they're happy to feed the Left's paranoia and gleefully credit every disaster on the Kerry side to another cunning move by Rove. Within an hour of The Guardian publishing its pro-Kerry letter from Lady Antonia Fraser to the swing voters of Clark County, Ohio, I received an e-mail from an American howling with laughter and insisting that this "Lady Antonia" figure was an obvious Karl Rove plant

Read the Rest

The Guardian has done it again...said things guaranteed to get a lot of us over here in the US unhappy.

I quote from an editorial by Charlie Brooker:

On November 2, the entire civilised world will be praying, praying Bush loses. And Sod's law dictates he'll probably win, thereby disproving the existence of God once and for all. The world will endure four more years of idiocy, arrogance and unwarranted bloodshed, with no benevolent deity to watch over and save us. John Wilkes Booth, Lee Harvey Oswald, John Hinckley Jr - where are you now that we need you?

Of course, some of us feel like Bush is the tool of a benevolent God, one who put an end to the mass graves in Iraq, who has helped Afghanistan to their first free elections that went on quite nicely, and has so disrupted the terror network that they have only been able to hit a few targets this last six months.

But that's another story.

George Berryman at Alamo Nation says what ought to be said well:

Behold the true face of the Left. The entire article reads as an irrational rant from an overseas leftist - until the chilling ending. This is beyond the pale. You know - I detest Bill Clinton. I loathe him. He makes my skin crawl. However, I do not full-on hate him and would never call for his assassination. If this leftist jackass Charlie Brooker thinks that assassinating President Bush would make the world a better place then he's no better than the terrorist trash we're hunting around the world. So that's the answer, Brooker? Assassinate the leader of the free world at the very height of a War on Terror? Think that would make our terrorist enemies back off, do you? Think they'd call off their Jihad? Or does your weak, irrational leftist brain let you realize that terror would be emboldened by such a thing? Or do you even care?

Imagine, if you would, a world where Planned Parenthood's attitude to sexuality became the law of the land.

Would there be any funding for non-abortion crisis pregancy centers?

What would happen to programs that emphasised abstinence?

There's a lot at stake. Molech must be licking his lips at the potential growth of child sacrifices to "convenience" and "choice."

Catholic Kerry Watch says:


Kerry takes every opportunity to warn liberal voters that a Bush victory will jeopordize the "constitutional right" to abortion, but we should remember that the stakes in this election are more than the nomination of a few Justices to the Supreme Court. Besides Kerry's promise to revoke the Mexico City Policy as his first Executive Order, we should keep in mind that liberals are absolutely furious over the Bush Administration's generous financial support for crisis pregnancy centers, which assist pregnant women in finding alternatives to abortion and provide post-abortion counseling. One can only guess what will happen to federal funding for CPC's under a militantly pro-choice, Planned-Parenthood and NARAL courting Kerry administration


Hat Tip and Thanks to Res Publica Et Cetera

Tactics on the Left:

See how Larry O'Donnell refutes the arguments of John O'Neil with such clarity of thought and evidence . The Daily Recycler has it on Windows Media. My dad watched it and immediately wrote me about it, he was so bothered by the tactics (which is unusual for my dad).

Other people have noticed.

Michelle Malkin quotes people from the Swift Vets counting O'Donnell's use of insults:

I was curious, so I did a count of how many times Lawrence O'Donnell said "lies" "liar" or "lying."

46 total times in 10 min. 45 seconds (much of which he was not talking)

First 5:10 O'Donnell didn't speak
5:10-9:39: 6 times
10:55-12:25: 24 times
00:01-1:38: 7 times (beginning of second MP3 after break)
1:55-3:30: 9 times
(And I may have missed some due to crosstalk)
46 TIMES

The Pink Flamingo thinks its a call to Democratic "Brownshirts" to participate in a Kristallnacht approach to getting their way come November 2:

Exactly when is it that we begin to worry about how far the left is willing to go to win this election. And if they are willing to go that far to win an election what do they plan to do when they win? And exactly what are we willing to do about it? Shall we sit around and watch the left steal this election?

We were warned of their plans when they began using the Nazi imagery early on in the campaign against President Bush. Now that they have begun to use the actual techniques of the Nazis, shouting down opponents, assaults on opponents, destruction of opponents offices, intimidation of opponents volunteers, the question becomes what is our answer to this?

and Blogs for Bush may be thinking something along similar lines.

Lots of complaints about Democratic tactics at early polling places in Florida especially.


How close to the precipice are they willing to go?

There have been people poopoohing the reality of terrorism lately. A special ran on the BBC that said it was a boogie man that was used by politicians.

This is not true. It does tend to reflect the high success of Western authorities in the WOT. But even since 9/11 there have been the attack in Spain, the attacks in Russia, attacks in Saudia Arabia, Egypt, and Southteast Asia.

At the Belmont Club, Wretchard says this about the BBC special:

The most interesting aspect of Curtis' argument is the narrowness of its cast. By limiting his set of terrorist incidents to the developed world, and to Europe in particular, he arrives at the conclusion that terrorism does not exist. He looks around his world and asks, 'where is it?'. Kashmir, Algeria, Saddamite Iraq, Sudan, the Balkans, Indonesia, Timor and the Philippines -- to name a few places -- are ommitted from his account. The wonder is not that he omitted them; the astounding thing would have been if he had included it. The Left has displayed a magnificent indifference to death in the Third World and only slightly more sensitivity to deaths in the Balkans.

In places like Basilan in Mindanao, terrorism is not a nightmare. It is the waking day. The Australian Government, for example, issued a travel advisory warning its citizens from visiting Mindanao not because it feared some Freddy Kreuger intruding upon Aussie dreams as they lay in their beds in the Lantaka Hotel, but to guard against something more substantial, like a hand grenade pitched in at the seaside bar. You go to shrink to defend against nightmares. In places like Jolo a shrink will get you nowhere. But an automatic rifle will, and I have heard fathers lovingly describe a prospective purchase of a Browning Automatic Rifle or an M-1919 machinegun in the anticipatory tones of someone who has bought health insurance for his children. The "Power of Nightmares" should be shown in both the Muslim and non-Muslim parts of Mindanao. It should do well, billed as comedy.

Hiding one's head in the sand, forgetting the reality of screaming death coming unexpected in smoldering fragments and dust will not buy one anything. You can't ignore your way out of it, because the way of life in the West is antithetical to the goals of the terrorists. The seeds are already planted in our cities and watered in our colleges and coffee houses. The more we ignore it and go on our decadent way, the sooner the house will come tumbling down.

There IS no going back to September 10.

From the Sun-Sentinal

As a result, with early voting taking place in busy public places like City Halls and libraries, voters are voicing complaints of being blocked by political mobs, or being singled out for their political views. Others say they have been grabbed, screamed at and cursed by political partisans of all stripes.

Republican Rep. Tom Feeney of Oviedo said the antagonizers are "Kerry thugs" out to harass Bush voters.

"If you ask me whether I believe there is an organized effort to intimidate Republican voters, the answer is absolutely yes," said Feeney.

The Republican Party is calling on the secretary of state's office for help, asking that early voting rules be clarified.

The secretary of state's office has not yet responded.

"Significant numbers of people have already been deterred from voting," wrote Republican Party Chairwoman Carole Jean Jordan to Secretary of State Glenda Hood, "and this will continue until corrective measures are taken."

Democratic Party officials in Tallahassee said they've had some complaints, too.

"We have had incidents as well," said Christine Anderson, spokeswoman for the Kerry campaign. "We've had quite a few."

She said the party hasn't taken affidavits from voters and found it shocking the Republicans were so focused on the issue rather than working to make sure people can vote.

"It's just absurd they would try to accuse us of intimidation efforts," said Anderson.

Permits in Palm Beach County show that the SEIU union and other Democratic groups have been holding rallies at early voting locations, where they have a captive audience of voters standing in line. Elections Supervisor Theresa LePore said the lines are long because voters are brought in by the busload.

"Special interest groups are trying to whip everybody into a frenzy and get everybody upset," she said. "Campaigns and their observers are confronting the workers and the voters. Things have gotten nasty and ugly."

Right Thoughts has this information about the movie on his website:

The producers of the documentary “Stolen Honor” told the Washington Times that they were going to make the film available for free.

And here it is. (WMV, 12.6MB)

So what are you waiting for?

The Jawa Report is carrying this comment by the Army of Ansar al Sunnah

Special congratulations from the Ansar al-Sunnah Army to the Tawhid wal-Jihad Movement, on the occasion of its addition to the list of terrorists.....

Our congratulations should not be a surprise to anyone who understands the true nature of our Islamic religion, which is based n verses from the noble Quran and the words of the noble prophet. We are optimistic that this recent declaration by the evil Bush government [adding Zarqawi's Tawhid and Jihad group to the list of terrorist organizations] will only bring us joy and happiness....

Praise be to Allah, it increased the joy in our hearts that John Kerry, the presidential candidate criticized the Bush governmentfor taking so long in making this declaration. The one who may be president of America [John Kerry] is already struck with terror by our brothers from the Tawheed wal-Jihad Movement [Abu Musab al-Zarqawi's group]. The repeated atacks that have targetted the evil Bush are now echoing on Kerry, even though he is not yet a president. This is what Allah means when he commands us to 'terrorize your enemy and the enemy of Allah."

They don't like this about Bush!

Charlie Sykes at WTMJ writes:

Note: On Thursday night, an antiwar protestor in Milwaukee spit on a returned Iraqi war veteran, Marine Major Jerry Boyle. Boyle is a Republican candidate for Congress in Milwaukee. Boyle served in Operation Iraqi freedom and was posted to Baghdad shortly after the invasion. Although he is an underdog in the race, he has shown up for every campaign forum, where he's won high marks for his civility and willing to face hostile audiences...

On my show this morning, Boyle described himself as "livid" over the incident, but had restrained himself from responding in any way...

Here's the story as relayed to me by one of his campaign aides:

Charlie:

I would like to relay to you a disturbing and unsettling incident which happened tonight at the Alverno College debate between Gwen Moore and Jerry Boyle.

Boyle has attended every debate and forum he has been invited to, even ones where it has not been the friendliest of audiences receptive to his Republican message.

Last night's debate at Alverno College was one attended by mostly people which will not vote for him in next month's election, but was a well run and fair debate none the less.

The questions were pointed and thoughtful and the answers were equally to the point. The topics ranged from foreign policy to the economy. The stark contrast between Moore and Boyle was pretty clear to those in the audience. Boyle was to the point and made it evident that although his was not the most popular opinion in the room, this is what he believed in.

Many people approached him following the debate to discuss the topics and their views and several said although they did not agree with his stance, commended him on making great arguments and being forthright in his presentation.

One man, unfortunately took the opportunity to ruin the evening.

As Boyle was walking from the stage to the reception, a graduate student from UWM spit on Boyle as he passed by.

Boyle, restraining himself, went to the restroom to clean up let this incident go.

I, however, did not.

After seeing Jerry wipe the spit from his jacket, I asked him what was going on and asked the young man why he spit on him.

Although it was witnessed by several people (at least five) he denied it and approached me looking for a confrontation. He walked up to me and got right in my face.

I asked him why he spit on Jerry and he said he didn't but should have because Jerry didn't answer his question to his satisfaction.

He called me an imperialistic pig and said that I was a puppet for an imperialistic regime. I asked him if that was a new term he had just learned in school and that I was very proud of him for using it in a complete sentence.

To make a long story short, after a little more verbal back and forth, he was ushered away by his teacher and escorted from the building.

My point is this. Are we now at a time when, even at a debate with dissenting views have the right to spit on each other?

Legislation cuts the corporate tax rate and removes tariffs on American companies

WASHINGTON, D.C. - Today, President George W. Bush signed the JOBS Act which reduces corporate tax rates for domestic manufacturers, allows American companies to repatriate their foreign profits back into America at a lower tax rate, and most importantly, remove tariffs being placed on American companies by the European Union (EU).

The importance of this legislation to American taxpayers, workers, and economy cannot be underestimated. The legislation signed by President Bush today removes tariffs being placed on American companies, which is the equivalent of a $4 billion tax cut per year for American businesses and workers. The previous Foreign Sales Corporations (FSCs) and the extraterritorial income exclusion (ETI) export subsidies were found to be in violation of World Trade Organization (WTO) agreements. As a result, the EU was imposing tariffs on American companies at 12 percent, which were acting like a tax on American businesses and workers. These tariffs were obviously inflicting damage on the U.S. economy.

"Today, President Bush signed legislation removing discriminatory tariffs being placed on American companies and cutting taxes for American manufacturers to make our economy more competitive globally," said Grover Norquist, president of Americans for Tax Reform. "These provisions will boost jobs and growth in America, but today's signing also leaves Sen. John Kerry with no economic plan."

With just 11 days to go until the presidential election, Democratic presidential candidate Kerry has no economic plan left. The Kerry plan for 10 million jobs relied on cutting the corporate tax rate for domestic manufacturers by 5 percent and allowing companies to repatriate their foreign profits back into America at a 10 percent tax rate. The legislation signed by President Bush today cuts the corporate tax rate by 9 percent and allows companies to repatriate their foreign profits back into America at a 5.25 percent rate. So not only has this legislation removed the Kerry team from having an economic plan, the legislation signed by Bush is superior in economic growth.

"The only two provisions left in the Kerry economic plan are raising taxes on America's small businesses and a 1970's era job tax credit that did not work then and definitely will not work now," continued Norquist. "I find it quite ironic after all of Kerry's complaining about jobs and his "plan" for these jobs, he has absolutely no plan 11 days before election other than to damage the American economy."

Via the Americans for Tax Reform

Americans for Tax Reform is a non-partisan coalition of taxpayers and taxpayer groups who oppose all federal and state tax increases. For more information or to arrange an interview please contact Christopher Butler at (202) 785-0266 or by email at cbutler@atr.org.

Via SFGate.com

WHEN TERRORISTS attacked the United States on Sept. 11, 2001, President Bush had to decide how to respond.

He could have treated the attacks as if they were a crime and appealed to the United Nations to help apprehend and punish al Qaeda operatives in Afghanistan.

Instead, Bush chose to send U.S. troops to hunt down al Qaeda and oust the Taliban regime that protected the terrorist group, even as the anti-war left accused him of killing innocent Afghans in an act of misguided vengeance.

Today, Afghanistan is a democracy. Women participated in the country's first direct presidential election. Iraq is about to hold an election, and Libya has begun disarming its nuclear weapons.

The U.S.-led coalition has not captured Osama bin Laden, but has managed to keep him underground.

Bush could have stopped with Afghanistan, but he believed that Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction and feared that the Iraqi dictator would share those weapons to help al Qaeda or other terrorists make an even deadlier strike on American shores.

The world now knows that Bush, the CIA and other countries' intelligence agencies -- and even Hussein's Iraqi lieutenants until December 2002 -- were wrong about Iraq possessing WMD.

Still, Bush was right in his belief that Hussein was a threat. As intelligence analyst Charles Duelfer found, Hussein had used the Oil for Food program to begin rearming. His top people believed that as the U.N. sanctions against Iraq eroded, Hussein would begin to build a nuclear arsenal.

Bush also understood that Hussein's very survival sent the message that a madman could fight a global giant, lose and still come out on top. Or as bin Laden once told Time magazine, the U.S. withdrawal from Somalia after the brutal 1993 murder of 24 U.S. troops in Somalia on a humanitarian mission made him realize "more than before that the American soldier was a paper tiger and after a few blows ran in defeat."

Frank at Franklog gives us this example:

Fresh from successfully preventing some older people from watching a movie, two free speech loving liberal men have attacked Ann Coulter to teach her a lesson about how seriously leftys take the 1st Amendment. Luckily, the weapon of choice was pies and the guys had bad aim. Ann's shoulder was totally silenced.

Just another "Slacker Uprising", I guess. Way to go, two guys attacking a waify woman.

From the Washington Times:

"Absolutely," most reporters want John Kerry to win the election, declares Newsweek's Evan Thomas, commenting on the media bias he says translates into "maybe" five extra points for the Democratic ticket at the polls. That's down from the 15 points Mr. Thomas first predicted Fourth Estate favor would bestow on Kerry-Edwards, but even five points could tip a race as close as this one.
Which is a chilling thought, but also a golden opportunity. It means that a vote for Bush-Cheney is not only a vote against Kerry-Edwards, but also a vote against Kerry-Edwards-CBS-CNN-New York Times. Are you incensed over Dan Rather's crude attempt to influence the presidential election with a sheaf of pathetic forgeries? Appalled by "Nightline's" Ted Koppel for using dictatorship-vetted sources in communist Vietnam to contradict the testimonies of decorated American veterans? Outraged by ABC's head-office directive to its reporters to go easier on John Kerry than George W. Bush, and not "reflexively and artificially hold both sides 'equally' accountable"? Don't get mad, vote Republican.

There's been a lot of panic talk about voter fraud and disenfranchisment this time around, a lot of lawyers hired, and a lot of noise about this. But what is really happening?


Jonah Goldberg writes on this subject:

A standard line of John F. Kerry's is, "Never again will a million African-Americans be denied their right to exercise the vote in the United States of America."

That's a nice general sentiment, and I would be in total solidarity with Kerry if he were referring to Jim Crow or the days of slavery. But he's talking about the 2000 election. And there is simply no evidence that 1 million African-Americans were denied their right to vote in 2000. Indeed, John Fund, the author of the eminently comprehensive and thoughtful book "Stealing Elections: How Voter Fraud is Threatening Democracy," has implored the NAACP, the ACLU and the Democratic Party to provide him with real life examples of blacks - or anybody else - who were specifically disenfranchised. Alas, like the "real killers" O.J. Simpson is still searching for, Fund's quest has remained unfulfilled.

In 2000, Janet Reno - still the Attorney General - dispatched crack squads to highlight the crimes against democracy the Democrats had been touting. They came up empty, too. Indeed, even Al Gore's lawyers - who saw nothing wrong with trying to squelch the votes of Americans serving in the military - failed to cite a single example of the allegedly "pervasive" disenfranchisement Democrats claimed had taken place. You always know something's fishy when party hacks say one thing in front of cameras and another in front of judges.

Now, obviously, the GOP is hardly pure on such matters. The reports that a firm in Nevada allegedly tore up the registration forms of Democrats and Independents is just one small example of how both sides play games with the rules. And, admittedly, in 2000, Florida Republicans did over-purge the rolls of felons. Yet during the same election, Democrats kept polling places in Missouri open late in Democratic precincts. And in South Dakota they probably stole the Senate election from the GOP by using the Indian vote "creatively." Undeniably, both parties have played fast and loose.

But there's a huge difference between the two sides' tactics. The Republicans' lawyers aren't preemptively declaring the election is fraud if they don't win. Simply put, they aren't trying to undermine the legitimacy of the American political system. The Democrats - who constantly decry Bush's "politics of fear" even as they warn of a draft and tell blacks they'll be disenfranchised - have taken the position that a Bush victory is by its very nature proof of voter fraud. That is the Holder Doctrine. If all the votes are counted, Kerry wins. Period. If Bush wins, the votes must not have been counted.

Already, in state after state, the Democrats have said that voter confusion over how to vote constitutes voter disenfranchisement. But, as George Will recently noted, disenfranchisement is something the government does to you. It's not something you do to yourself. If you can't figure out how to fill in the ovals or punch the chads - and some minority of voters will always botch it - that doesn't mean your right to vote was rescinded. It means that you didn't take your right to vote seriously enough to pay attention to the instructions. Democracy requires two things: an electorate that takes its responsibilities seriously and small-d democrats of all parties who take the process seriously.

Judged on these two criteria, it's hard to see how the Democrats can call themselves democrats.

You have to read all of this piece at the American Digest.

I will give you a bit of it:

These are people consumed by a twisted ideology that has been thriving under the protection of freedom for so long, they do not even realize that what they advocate is the defeat and destruction of that freedom that allows them to live as degenerate a lifestyle as they like. It's not often that the internal self-loathing of millions is expressed in a serious run at the Presidency, but that's what we're seeing now; the therapeutic culture with teeth on fire.

It is not only dangerous, it is also embarrassing, and becoming more so by the day. What can at last be heard is the sotto voce DeanScream in the now panicked posturing of John Kerry and his lunatic wife.

Listen and you will hear the rantings of people so wealthy, and so deep in the bubble of wealth, that they have no hope of seeing how perverted their ideology actually is when compared to the reality of the world around them. Having wealth that they did not earn but obtained by accident and marriage makes them self-denying when it comes to realizing their own net-worth has no bearing on their self-worth. In addition, they will have been careful to surround themselves with sycophants in order that their mellow never be harshed.

Read all of it here.

Thank you, Right on Red for telling us about it!

In the War Remnants Museum, Ho Chi Minh City, Kerry's picture hangs in a place of honor. It can be viewed among the great foreign "heroes of the Vietnamese Resistance."

Source: WinterSoldier

Now that early voting has started in Florida, President Bush's campaign team today sent out an alert about Democrat intimidation of voters and is urging the people to stand up against the thuggery.

"Numerous Bush supporters have contacted our Florida headquarters to report aggressive and hostile activity at and inside polling places by Kerry supporters and their allies," the bulletin notes.

The best way to stop this behavior is to simply report it. So don't let the Democrats get away with this. "We want to bring sunshine to the voting process and we're asking for your help. Don't let the Democrats discourage you. Vote early. It's important. And when you do - if you see or experience this type of conduct - please contact us immediately at 1-866-610-2020 or e-mail FairVote@GeorgeWBush.com."

Source: Newsmax

KERRY SAYS HE IS SECOND-AMENDMENT SUPPORTER, BUT HAS RECEIVED FAILING MARKS FROM NRA, GUN OWNERS OF AMERICA

Kerry Boasts That He Is A Gun Owner, Hunter, And Second Amendment Supporter. "'I'm a gun owner. I've been a hunter since I was about 12 years old,' [Kerry] said. 'My position is very clear. I support the Second Amendment.'" (Mike Glover, "Bush Administration Suggests Kerry Lied About Foreign Leaders' Support," The Associated Press, 3/16/04)

But Kerry Also Said, "I Don't Want To Be The Candidate Of The NRA In This Country." KERRY: "I don't want to be the candidate of the NRA in this country. I don't think the Democratic Party should be the candidacy of the NRA." (CNN's "NewsNight With Aaron Brown," 11/6/03)

ü Kerry Doesn't Believe NRA Is "The Voice Of Responsible Gun Owners Across America." "Let's be honest about what we are facing today. The opposition to this common sense gun safety law is being driven by the powerful NRA special interest leadership and by lobbyists in Washington. I don't believe this is the voice of responsible gun owners across America." (Sen. John Kerry, Congressional Record, 3/2/04, p. S1964)

ü Kerry's Website Touts His "Courage To Stand Up To NRA." "John Kerry has the courage to stand up to the NRA, one of the most powerful special interests in the country, which is fighting tooth and nail against reasonable gun safety protections and against renewal of the assault weapon ban." (John Kerry For President Website, http://www.johnkerry.com/issues/crime/police.html, Accessed 3/29/04)

ü John Kerry Received An "F" On The Most Recent National Rifle Association Report Card. (National Rifle Association, "NRA U.S. Senate Key Votes," 1985-2004)

Kerry Received An "F" Rating With Gun Owners Of America For The 108th Congress. (Gun Owners Of America Website, http://www.gunowners.org/108srat.htm, Accessed 4/1/04)

KERRY SAYS HE'S AN AVID HUNTER, BUT …

Although He Claims To Be An Avid Hunter, Kerry Is Not A Member Of The Congressional Sportsmen's Caucus. (The Congressional Sportsmen's Foundation Website, http://www.sportsmenslink.org/caucus/caucus_members.asp, Accessed 3/31/04)

ü The Caucus Boasts 315 Members: Including Democrats Sen. John Edwards (D-NC), Sen. Ernest Hollings (D-SC), Sen. Zell Miller (D-GA), Sen. John Breaux (D-LA), Sen. Blanche Lincoln (D-AR), Sen. Mark Pryor (D-AR), Sen. Tom Harkin (D-IA), Sen. Mark Dayton (D-MN), Sen. Max Baucus (D-MT), Sen. Kent Conrad (D-ND), Sen. Byron Dorgan (D-ND), Sen. Thomas Daschle (D-SD), Sen. Tim Johnson (D-SD), Sen. Ben Nelson (D-NE), Sen. Debbie Stabenow (D-MI), and Sen. John D. Rockefeller (D-WV). (The Congressional Sportsmen's Foundation Website, http://www.sportsmenslink.org/caucus/caucus_members.asp, Accessed 3/31/04)

Kerry Received A 100 Percent Score From Humane Society For 2003 Session Of 108^th Congress. "The HSUS [Humane Society of the United States] strongly opposes the recreational hunting and killing of wild animals, as the sport is fundamentally at odds with the values of a humane, just, and caring society." ("The Humane Scorecard, Midterm Report On The 108th Congress," The Humane Society And The Fund For Animals, 2004; The Humane Society Of The United States Website, www.hsus.org, Accessed 6/4/04)

KERRY HAS ROUTINELY VOTED AGAINST GUN OWNERS' RIGHTS

Kerry Voted For Mandatory Trigger Locks. (S. 2260, CQ Vote #216: Motion Agreed To 61-39: R 52-3; D 9-36, 7/21/98, Kerry Voted Nay)

ü Kerry Voted To Abolish Civilian Marksmanship Program In 1993 And Its Successor In 1996. (H.R. 3116, CQ Vote # 325: Motion Agreed To 67-30: R 39-2; D 28-28, 10/21/93, Kerry Voted Nay; S. 1745, CQ Vote #178: Motion Agreed To 71-29: R 51-2, D 20-27, 6/27/96, Kerry Voted Nay)

Kerry Voted To Allow Federal Authorities To Conduct Inspections Of Gun Dealers Without Notice. The measure was soundly defeated, with only 17 other Senators joining Kerry. (S. 49, CQ Vote #140: Motion Agreed To 76-18: R 47-4; D 29-14, 7/9/85, Kerry Voted Nay)

Kerry Was One Of 17 Senators To Vote To Ban 12 Additional Assault Style Weapons. Kerry voted to add weapons to those banned in the underlying bill. The measure was defeated, with only 16 other Senators joining Kerry. (S. 1970, CQ Vote #102: Motion Agreed To 82-17: R 42-2; D 40-15, 5/22/90, Kerry Voted Nay)

Kerry Voted Against Destruction Of Records After Background Checks For Purchase Of Handguns. Kerry voted against requiring that "law enforcement agencies to immediately destroy any information on individuals allowed to purchase firearms after the check." (S. 2260, CQ Vote #217: Adopted 69-31: R 55-0; D 14-31, 7/21/98, Kerry Voted Nay)

Kerry Voted To Strip Bankruptcy Protection From Gun Manufacturers From Debts Caused By Fraud, Recklessness Or Negligence. Only 28 Senators joined Kerry in supporting this measure. (S. 625, CQ Vote #4: Rejected 29-68: R 1-51; D 28-17; I 0-0, 2/2/00, Kerry Voted Yea)

In Addition, Kerry Has Repeatedly Voted In Favor Of Various Waiting Periods, Even Up To 14 Days. For example:

ü Kerry Voted For 14 Day Waiting Period. "McClure, R-Idaho, motion to table (kill) the Inouye, D-Hawaii, amendment to require a 14-day waiting period between the purchase of a handgun and its delivery to the buyer." (S. 49, CQ Vote #141: Motion Agreed To 71-23: R 46-5; D 25-18, 7/9/85, Kerry Voted Nay)

ü Kerry Voted For 5 Day Waiting Period. "Passage of the bill to require a five-business-day waiting period before an individual could purchase a handgun, to allow local officials to conduct a background check. A compromise provided that the waiting period would expire four years after enactment unless the attorney general extended the waiting period for a fifth year." (H.R. 1025, CQ Vote #394: Passed 63-36: R 16-28; D 47-8, 11/20/93, Kerry Voted Yea)

KERRY'S HYPOCRISY ON PISTOL GRIP SHOTGUN

Kerry Co-Sponsored "The Assault Weapons Ban And Law Enforcement Protection Act Of 2003" Which Would Have Banned A Semiautomatic Shotgun That Has Pistol Grip. (S.1431, Introduced, 7/17/03)

At West Virginia Campaign Rally, Kerry "Showed Off" Union-Made Shotgun With Pistol Grip, Calling It "Beautiful." "The Democratic presidential nominee showed off a union-made shotgun, given to him by UMWA President Cecil Roberts, to the cheering crowd of several thousand. 'It's a beautiful piece,' Kerry said. 'It's a beautiful gift, Cecil, but I can't take it to the debate with me.'" (Lawrence Messina, "Kerry, Anti-Bush Groups To Rally Labor Day Crowds," The Associated Press, 9/7/04)

Source: GOP.Com

NZ Bear, at the Truth Laid Bear has asked us to announce:

Heroes For Bush October 18, 2004 07:41 PM What: A blogburst where bloggers will channel their favorite characters of TV, movies, and fiction showing their support for President Bush's re-election. When: Friday, October 22 Where: Here at TTLB, and across the blogosphere. Why: Because heroes inspire us, and fantasy shows us what we wish could become reality. And because Joss Whedon started it. And because we can.

Go here for the specifics

Down to the Piraeus discusses the impact of some of Bush's appointments has had, in response to an article by the Village Voice:

[Bush's] appointees to the FDA Reproductive Health Drugs Advisory Committee weren't just religious conservatives, they were among a fringe minority of religious conservatives who object to certain kinds of contraception, insisting they're forms of abortion.

Read it here. Yet another reason for pro-life people to take Bush seriously!

Why Bush? Conviction. Leadership. He's real. And Kerry's a flying catastrophe looking for a place to land.

What's wrong with Kerry? Today I want to focus on Kerry's supporters. I shudder to think what life in America would be like with those people in ascendant positions. Truth would be a very flexible and rare commodity in their hands.

Truth is what we get from Bush. What we get from Kerry and from those who support him is something entirely else. We get elitist interpretations (that's what us common folk used to call "lies"). Distortion, shading, nuance, parsing words, all these have truck with Kerry's flying bandwagon. Media and celebrity pundits specialize in it; they believe the masses are too dumb to figger out these compalakated things fer themselfs.

Ebenezer Stone

This nation, and perhaps much of the world in general is polarizing in two camps, notes Little Red Blog in a piece called "A Divided World| A Divided Nation"

It's worth reading. I give you a sample of it:

President Bush, his supporters, and like-minded people around the world, are the leading proponents for the liberty of man over the limitations of societal whimsy. The President represents a belief that the individual determines his success or failure not the government or the collective view its citizens. He espouses entrepreneurial effort, a disciplined work ethic, self-reliance and a value system that honors rather than limits man’s capacity to succeed. The Senator from Massachusetts offers the more globally prevalent, socialist inspired view which has led to the decline of Western European influence, economic stagnation, moral ambivalence and stirred the more base nature of man to prominence and broad acceptance.

Much of the election this year will determine where, over the next four years, the US will stand on that divide. The US is also quite divided on this issue, and the results of the election will help define, not only by laws passed but by judges and other appointments made, where we are likely to be headed on this breakdown in the near future.

Natural law, American sovereignity, and respect for man's higher nature, or socialistic stagnation of the type that led to the Oil for Food Scandal, where because people had no absolutes, it really didn't matter if they were helping Saddam and taking food out of children's mouths and corrupting the system.

Read it, think about it, decide.

William Jeakle said in the Seattle Times:

Compassion and nuance are blue-state words

Once again, some person who considers the center of the US "fly-over" country, populated by the dense, inbred and ignorant, has shown his true colors.

We, the majority of the US are not bright enough, clever enough, good enough to be able to understand the fine points of political rhetoric, or know much about compassion.

What does a man who tells me I need to turn my back on thousands of years of church teaching because he doesn't like it, next tell me? That I am stupid, and need to be led by my betters.

Because I put the right of the unborn on par with the born, I lack compassion?

I am not the person who advocates killing babies without anesthetic, who advocates dismembering living humans without any concern for the pain and suffering they feel in their too short lives.

I am not the one belittling humans, who use nuance as a term to excuse reprehensible behavior.


Tell me again why your argument is superior to mine.

blogSFERICS covers the following story taking place in Alaska:

ANCHORAGE--A Democrat filed a complaint with the Federal Election Commission over editorials published in the state’s largest newspaper supporting Republican Sen. Lisa Murkowski’s campaign.

Jean Paal, 77, alleges that businessman Bill Allen is making illegal contributions to the Murkowski campaign by publishing pro-Murkowski editorials in the Voice of the Times, an opinion page that appears each day in the Anchorage Daily News. The newspaper has a weekday circulation of more than 71,700.

Go here to read the rest

Right Thoughts is runing a piece abotu Vietnamese Americans and their attitude towards Kerry:

In the teeming markets and cafes of Little Saigon, generational changes and misgivings over his policies have weakened President Bush’s support among Vietnamese-Americans. Still, few are embracing his Democratic challenger, Sen. John Kerry.

Go read it!

The buzz of yesterday was this quote from the WaPo about Kerry and the UN:

"Kerry's belief in working with allies runs so deep that he has maintained that the loss of American life can be better justified if it occurs in the course of a mission with international support. In 1994, discussing the possibility of U.S. troops being killed in Bosnia, he said, 'If you mean dying in the course of the United Nations effort, yes, it is worth that. If you mean dying American troops unilaterally going in with some false presumption that we can affect the outcome, the answer is unequivocally no.' "

A lot of people have commented about this.

Neal Boortz has some of my favorite comments:

Read it again, folks. Then read it again after that. This isn't some ancient yammering from Kerry back in the 1970's. This is contemporary Kerry. This is Kerry after having served a decade in the Senate. This is Kerry saying that it OK for Americans to die fighting for a cause ratified by the United Nations, but not OK for American soldiers to sacrifice their lives just fighting for the United States ... fighting for their country. America is not worth dying for. Dying for the United Nations is.

What I want to know is how a man who hates his country as much as Kerry does, thinks he should be leader of that country.

I know now. The Belmont Club has a great answer:

America should subsume its national interest to a wider set of imperatives. 'America joins the world', 'No longer alone' is the ticket. The argument is based on a rejection of American "exceptionalism", and indeed the exceptionalism of any individual country or culture. If all cultures are equally valid then the US Constitution is nothing special; simply one arrangement among many and in fact perforce subordinate to a Universal Charter, in the way that a subset is necessarily contained in the superset. Any distaste is written off as sentimental attachment; a false ethnocentrism that will eventually join anthrocentrism and geocentrism in the wastebasket of old ideas. To necessity is added the force of inevitability. Iraq becomes a modern day Scopes Trial, the last hurrah of an insupportable conceit.

Nor is there anything to be alarmed at, we are assured. 'One World' may be a goal, but a distant goal, comfortably arrived at in stages. Nothing will be missed. Nothing essential really. It will all happen so gradually as to be imperceptible, except to bigots, who are always noticing something. The process will consist of a slow expansion of international understandings and a gradual diminution of individual action. Nations will habituate themselves to deferring to a Higher Good until it becomes unthinkable to do otherwise. We can take our time -- provided, and this is essential -- provided there are no questions about the eventual destination. It is breathtaking as a concept, and might be described as a second American Revolution; one we are witnessing now.

Kerry is soft on American Sovereignity, the stuff so many of our ancestors have struggled and died to create. That in itself is enough to disqualify him from leading this country. The cost in blood and hope and dreams deserves more than a Quisling for a president.

To our fellow Americans:

We have given much thought to the values and characteristics that make a great athlete. Our lives have been spent trying to run farther, push further, and jump higher than the person beside us, or across the field of our chosen sport. With years of training and exhaustive competition beneath our belts, we have identified the values necessary to compete and win--values like personal strength, determination, a sense of fair play and faith.

The same qualities that make a great athlete make a great President--the determination to do what is right, regardless of the latest polls, the personal strength to bear the weight of the nation on your shoulders, and the faith that a higher power will direct the actions of good people.

We see in President Bush these same qualities.

In 2001, our nation was attacked without cause or provocation. The President's values saw us through those dark days after the terrorist attack. The economy was rocked by the dual blows of the terrorists' cowardly action and the reckless disregard of the rules by a few rogue executives. But President Bush's decisive, principled leadership has moved America forward, and today our nation is safer and our economy is strong and getting stronger.

The fight against terrorism takes decisiveness. It takes continued support for our troops and first responders. But most importantly, it takes courage and inspirational leadership in the White House. In these critical times, our President has had the courage to stand up and do what's right.

For that and for his unwavering character, we choose George W. Bush as our President for the next four years. He is a leader we can depend on to make the tough decisions and the right decisions. Please join us in supporting a candidate of courage, President Bush--a leader who backs our troops defending our nation and shares our values.

Sincerely,

Ernie Banks
MLB Hall of Famer

Daniel Beery
Olympic Gold Medalist, Rowing

Carlos Beltran
MLB Baseball All-Star Centerfielder

Craig Biggio
MLB All-Star Catcher & Second Baseman

Josh Davis
Three-Time Olympic Gold Medalist, Swimming

Adam Dunn
MLB All-Star Left Fielder

John Elway
NFL Hall of Famer

Bob Feller
MLB Hall of Fame Pitcher

Natalie Golda
Olympic Bronze Medalist, Water Polo

Matt Hasselbeck
NFL Quarterback

Bernie Kosar
NFL Quarterback, Ret.

Steve Largent
NFL Hall of Famer

Karl Malone
NBA All-Star & MVP Winner

Anthony Munoz
NFL Hall of Famer

Jack Nicklaus
PGA Tour Most Major Championship Titles

Mary Lou Retton
Olympic Gold Medalist, Gymnastics

Dot Richardson
Two-Time Olympic Gold Medalist, Softball

Nolan Ryan
MLB Hall of Fame Pitcher

Janet Lynn Salomon
Olympic Bronze Medalist, Figure Skating

Chris Spielman
NFL Linebacker, Ret.

Roger Staubach
NFL Hall of Famer

Kerri Strug
Olympic Gold Medalist, Gymnastics

Lynn Swann
NFL Hall of Famer

Todd Walker
MLB Second Baseman

Source: RobBernard.com

OK. I couldn't resist.



Cartridges in the nose, eh?

Kerry and company and his voting record on firearms got my husband to reup with the NRA....

Stephen Green, over at Tech Central Station notes:

Famously -- or perhaps infamously -- ABC's influential political blog The Note (fawning New Yorker magazine profile? Check.) claimed that "we still can't find a single American who voted for Al Gore in 2000 who is planning to vote for George Bush in 2004." That was last August. Since then, I've kept a scorecard of exactly which Gore voters are supporting Bush this year. Some of them, even ABC News may have heard of.

I know a couple right off the bat. My Father. My husband.

But Green goes on to mention some of these bigger name people:

Ed Koch - Zell Miller - Dick Morris

and others.

Of course, with ABC having a publically acknowledged determination to push Kerry and cut Bush whenever possible (all pretense of neutral reporting now cast to the wind), I am not surprised that the Note would say such things.

Green must agree, cause he goes on to say:

They take the Terror War seriously, and know that Bush does, too. They also seem to know that Kerry would rather take us back to the glory days when terrorism was a mere "nuisance."

What else do Sarah Baxter, George McKelvey, Randy Kelly, Zell Miller, Dick Morris, and Ed Koch have in common? They're all Democrats who have publicly endorsed -- and plan to vote for -- George W. Bush. The other thing they have in common is, The Note apparently doesn't know any of these people.

Then again, maybe it's true enough that ABC doesn't actually know know any of them. Maybe they need to get out more.

Or maybe ABC just needs read the news.

The evidence that ACORN members have done much wrong during this campaign cycle has been growing. Every day there are new allegations, evidence, and accusations.

Here is this morning's ACORN story (although it involves a suit by someone who was fairly high up, he also was fired. Still, it is something to watch:)

From the Southern Florida Sun-Sentinel:

An activist group was sued in Miami-Dade Circuit Court this week by a former employee, who has accused top officials of the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now of violating a slew of election laws.

Mac Stuart, of Opa-locka, has accused the organization, known as ACORN, of illegally copying voter registration applications and selling them to labor union groups, allowing people to sign petitions who were not registered voters and suppressing Republican voter registration applications....

(

Matt Goldblatt notices at NRO

Is it credible to argue, as Kerry does, that the diversion of American manpower and materials to oust Saddam in Iraq significantly weakened our ability to pursue al Qaeda in Afghanistan — and also to argue, as Kerry does, that the diversion of al Qaeda manpower and materials to Iraq to combat American forces did not significantly weaken the terrorists' ability to strike the United States?

Isn't Kerry arguing, in effect, that the United States military, with its resources of hundreds of thousands of soldiers and hundreds of billions of dollars, cannot effectively sustain two campaigns, but al Qaeda, with far fewer soldiers and far, far less money, can?

It's a paradox Kerry has yet to explain.


Kerry has clearly spent a life-time insulting the US military, by his votes, his testimony and his actions.

How can a man who is so busy putting down our military ever think he can be commander in chief?

Can a fox be queen of the henhouse?

An Open Letter From Fellow Catholics To John Kerry On Faith & Reason

Dear Senator John Kerry:

America is a place of hope and opportunity for many reasons. Chief among them we are a people of great faith and that is what keeps us strong.

But while Americans have always been a religious people, our faith is tied to reason. We choose goodness and truth not only because faith tells us to, but also because doing otherwise would be inherently wrong.

Disagreements will always exist in the civic arena. How high the minimum wage? How to best provide educational opportunity for all? The appropriate level of taxation? These are decisions that we work out in the political process and upon which the Church has no specialized knowledge. As Catholics and as Americans we are called to discern the truth in public policy and to determine which candidate best addresses our concerns.

There are core truths, however, around which we as Catholics must rally. Not just because it is the word of the Church, but also because of reason. This is where we stand on opposition to abortion.

Innocent human life must always be protected. Senator John Kerry, you have said that “life begins at conception,” but you have persistently supported abortion and oppose all sensible restrictions on the practice.

You have voted six times against banning the barbaric practice of partial birth abortion. You voted to spend taxpayers’ dollars to fund abortion at least 25 times.

You opposed Laci and Conner’s Law, which protects pregnant women and their unborn babies from violent crimes.

In the most recent debate Senator Kerry, you said, "everything you do in public life has to be guided by your faith” and that “everything is a gift from the Almighty.” But apparently, when it comes to the issue of the right to life, you follow neither your own faith nor your own reason.

Senator Kerry, your stand contradicts both your faith and reason.

As Americans and Catholics, both faith and reason lead us to President George W. Bush as the choice for life, compassion and justice for all. For that reason, we are urging fellow Catholics to join us in voting for the President on November 2.

Respectfully,

Rick Santorum, Pennsylvania U.S. Senator	Sam Brownback, Kansas U.S. Senator	John Roth, Florida Major General, US Army (Ret.)
Kenny Hulsof, Missouri U.S. Congressman	Maria Sophia Aguirre, Washington, DC Professor, Catholic University	Donna Sytek, New Hampshire Former Speaker of the State House
Hadley Arkes, Massachusetts Professor, Amherst College	Lou Barletta, Pennsylvania Mayor, Hazelton	Douglas A. Sylva, New Jersey Catholic Family and Human Rights Institute
Bob Atwell, Wisconsin	Bray Barnes, New Jersey	Frank Stella, Michigan FD Stella Products
Linda D. Barrasse, Pennsylvania Cardiologist	MaryBeth Bonacci, Colorado Real Love Inc.	Mark Ryland, Virginia President, AMDG Foundation
James Barry, Wisconsin	Bill Brown, Iowa	Austin Ruse, Washington, DC President, Culture of Life Foundation
Mary Ellen Bork, Virginia Women Affirming Life	Joe Cella, Michigan President, National Catholic Prayer Breakfast	M. Edward Whelan, Washington, DC Ethics & Public Policy Center
Joe Canizaro, Louisiana	Umberto Fedeli, Ohio	Jack Kelly, Florida
Bruce Chapman, Washington Former Ambassador to the U.N.	Teresa Stanton Collett, Minnesota Professor, University of St Thomas Law School	Connie Marshner, Virginia President, American Catholic Council
Bob Destro, Washington, DC Professor, Columbus Law / Catholic University	Bernard Dobranski, Michigan Dean, Ave Maria Law School	Leonard Leo, Virginia Co-Founder, National Catholic Prayer Breakfast
Laura Dolehide, Iowa Homemaker	Nicholas Eberstadt, Washington, DC Economist	Bowie Kuhn, Florida Former Commissioner of Major League Baseball
Michelle Fischbach, Minnesota State Representative	Robert George, New Jersey Professor, Princeton University	Thomas & Margaret Melady, Washington, DC Former US Ambassador to the Holy See
Brian Golden, Massachusetts State Representative	Scott Hahn, Ohio Professor of Theology and Scripture, Franciscan University	Christopher Wolfe Professor, Marquette University

source