Monday, April 12, 2004

WE START THE WEEK WITH A GREAT QUOTATION

"War is an ugly thing, but not the ugliest of things.  The decayed and degraded state of moral and patriotic feeling that thinks that nothing is worth war is much worse.  The person who has nothing for which he is willing to fight, nothing which is more important than his own personal safety, is a miserable creature and has no chance of being free unless made and kept so by the exertions of better men than himself."   .... John Stuart Mill.

It occurs to me that there are quite a lot of people in this country who fit that description.  Most of them will vote for John Kerry in November.

WHAT ABOUT THAT MEMO?

The Bush administration caved to the 9/11 Blame Committee on Saturday and declassified that August 6, 2001 Presidential Daily Briefing.  Immediately, the Democrats and their buddies in the media jumped on this as some sort of smoking gun... some indication that Bush knew that the Islamic terrorists were going to hijack airliners and slam them into buildings.  Truth is, the memo is nothing of the sort. As much as Richard Ben-Veniste would like the memo to be a warning, it's not. There was no warning before the attacks of 9/11.  Had there been, we could have stopped it. There wasn't, so we didn't. 

As the president correctly pointed out yesterday, the memo contained no actionable intelligence that would have prevented an attack. All it contained was historical information related to a possible attack.  It also was entitled 'Bin Laden Determined to Strike in US.'  Unfortunately, it said nothing about when, where or how. Absent that crucial information, there was nothing the United States government could have done to prevent what happened. Nothing. 

Besides, what do these people propose President Bush should have done, anyway?  People are reading history in the wrong direction here.  Go back to before 9/11...and imagine this:  on August 6, 2001, President Bush gives an address to the nation in which he announces that he just received a Presidential Daily Briefing that said Osama Bin Laden was determined to strike in the U.S.  In response, he will be shutting down all commercial air traffic and attempting to root out all potential Al-Qaeda operatives.  Can you just imagine the outrage?  If you remember, the economy was in somewhat of a funk at that time.  Think what a shutdown in air travel would have done, and think about the damnation that would be directed toward Bush.  What if Bush had only called for drastic increases in airport security?  The airline infrastructure wasn't prepared to handle such a thing in 2001.  The delays would have been horrendous and the calls for Bush's hide just as large.

There was a completely different public mindset prior to 9/11.  Most Americans didn't recognize Islamic terrorism as the threat that it was.  If Bush had taken some grave measures prior to 9/11 just because a memo said that Osama bin Laden might try to hijack an airliner, the public simply wouldn't have stood for it.  Simply put, there was no public will to fight the war on terrorism before 9/11.  That political environment did not exist.  

Yes, there were intelligence failures.  There were legal and logistical reasons why the CIA and the FBI and other law enforcement agencies couldn't or didn't share information.  If you want to place blame for these failures you're going to have to go back quite a few presidents.   When, for instance, are we really going to look at the weakening of our intelligence structure under Jimmy Carter? 

The truly important thing here is what has been done after 9/11.  There's a problem here though.  Virtually all of the polls show very high marks for Bush's actions post-9/11.  So, what's the point in highlighting the successes of the war on terror? It will only boost Bush's popularity.  If your goal is to swing voter sentiment against Bush, you focus on what happened before 9/11, not after.

Lost in all this is how the Clinton administration, which did virtually nothing to fight terrorism for 8 years, is getting a complete pass.  Clinton turned down a direct offer to hand over Osama Bin Laden and yet Bush is the one that is being raked over the coals for somehow not doing enough.  The reason is we are in an election year, and the Bush-hating Democrats want to politicize the tragedies of September 11th. Where's the outrage about that?  The Republicans wouldn't be able to get away with that for a second.

These 9/11 Commission hearings are becoming a partisan waste of time.  Nothing is going to bring back the 3,000 people that died that day.  All we can do is what we are doing now, which is to keep it from happening again.  

RIGHT NOW WE ARE BEING TESTED

As the mainstream media, spineless liberals and various anti-American countries sit around and wait for the United States to cut and run in Iraq, Coalition troops are waging an epic battle in the war on terror in Iraq.  If you watch the news, you may wonder just whose side some of these journalists are rooting for.  The Bush-haters want to declare victory for the terrorists already. What a bunch of idiots. 

It's interesting to read the quotes from all the armchair Generals in Congress who insist that the war is failing, that more troops are needed, and that (as the very ignorant buffoon Teddy Kennedy put it) Iraq is now Vietnam.  How about they keep their mouths shut, let the military prosecute the war, and let those doing the fighting determine what they need?  War is hell...people fight, they die, they take casualties. This is not a cakewalk, and no one ever said it would be. Things are heating up, but all indications are the situation is under control and we'll be throwing a few thousand more dead Islamic terrorists on the pile shortly.  

Right now, things are getting ugly...there are hostages being taken and people are dying.  The war in Iraq had been relatively easy...the past few weeks have been the test. Our military will succeed if people would just shut up and let them.  

JOHN KERRY'S MISERY INDEX

A bit later today a breathless media will be standing by to report on John Kerry's latest campaign gambit ... the "Misery Index."  He's going to try to tell Americans just how horrible things are for them.

Well, let's see ....

• Inflation is low
• Interest rates are low
• Unemployment is low and new claims for jobless benefits are going down
• Jobs are being created at the greatest rate in years, and a greater proportion of these jobs are high-paid managerial positions.
• Family income is at an all-time high, and yes ... that's adjusted for inflation.
• Almost one-half of wage-earners pay no federal income taxes at all
• Home ownership levels are also at an all-time high.
• Fewer people are on welfare
• Illegitimate birth rates are down
• Record amounts are being spent on entertainment like movies, theme parks and vacations
• More and more people are rediscovering their religious faith

Yeah .. it's a miserable time to live in America, isn't it?  Well, John Kerry is sure going to try to convince you that it is.  Remember, good news for you is usually bad news for Democrats.  Bad news for you is good news for Democrats.  Democrats in general, and John Kerry in particular, thrive when you suffer.  Kerry will do his best today to convince you that you are far more miserable than you really feel.  Do you really want to lend your political support to a candidate and to a party that thrives on misery?

Now we know why John Kerry has such a long face.  He can't help it, he's just miserable.

9/11 FAMILY MEMBERS

Isn't it about time for the media to start identifying these professional 9/11 widows for what they are?  They're Democratic partisans.  No, not all of them, but a good number of them who are appearing on television news shows are.  They're members of a left-wing anti-war group called "September 11th Families for Peaceful Tomorrows."  Click here to review their website.  If you happen to visit their website the first thing you will see is a disclaimer stating that they have not received any funding from Teresa Heinz.  Then, in that same disclaimer, you will see that Peaceful Tomorrows is a project of the Tides Center.  What they don't tell you is that Teresa Heinz, who did not serve in Vietnam but who happens to be married to someone who did, funds the Tides Center with millions of dollars in donations. 

Now .. read a bit more of the Peaceful Tomorrows website.  You'll find a story about some 9/11 family member who visited Afghanistan to "meet with Afghan families who lost loved ones to the US-led bombing."  Yeah .. that evil George Bush is at it again.  It was this group that was in the starting blocks ready to hit the pavement as soon as Bush dared to use an image from 9/11 in a campaign ad. 

OK ... this small group of 9/11 widows and family members is certainly free to form an advocacy group if they like.  It's the American way.  And they're free to accept funding channeled by John Kerry's wife through a foundation.  And they're free to get their faces on as many television shows as possible to carry on their anti-Bush campaign.  But wouldn't it be nice if the networks would identify these widows as members of a partisan, left-wing, anti-war, pro-Kerry organization when they appear on the air?

GAS PRICES CLIMB TO RECORD HIGH......NOT

The gas price demagogues are at it again...back to trumpeting the fallacy that gas prices have reached a record high.  Since the media will never call them on it, I'll repeat it for you here. In 2004 dollars, gas cost $2.40 a gallon in 1980. The national average for a gallon of regular unleaded gasoline right now is a $1.79.  Not a record, and hardly enough to make people trade in their precious SUVs for a bicycle. The current federal gas tax is 18.4 cents a gallon, and the states average about 22 cents a gallon more. Why not cut the taxes?

So fill 'er up.  After all, what are you going to do? Quit driving? I didn't think so. Keep this in mind: a gallon of gas costs about five bucks in Europe. $1.79 doesn't sound so bad anymore, now does it?  We now return you to your regularly scheduled leftist economic whining.  

ONCE UPON A TIME THERE WAS A WASHINGTON BUREAUCRAT...

...And his name was Richard Clarke.  Dick worked in the U.S. government for 30 years until he decided to retire and do something else.  Then one day, he decided to write a book.  After securing himself a big fat book deal, he started to write it, and he made it as sensational as possible, since that was what would sell books. Dick also decided to break with tradition and write his little tell-all effort for publication during the term of the president he served, rather than waiting as others before him have done.  Dick was an angry Democrat...he sure hated that President Bush....so he was determined to stir the puddin' as much as possible. 

The book came out, and it sold a lot of copies. Now, Dick is rich!  People are paying attention to him.  "People aren't ignoring me anymore," he thought.  "I'm the King of the Hill!"  And then Dick got himself an agent to sell the movie rights to his book. 

Sony pictures has picked up the film rights for Richard Clarke's fiction best-seller "Against All Enemies: Inside America's War on Terror."  It's going to be made into a movie. 

I wonder who'll play Dick?  How about Alec Baldwin?  Maybe Tim Robbins.  And I wonder if that movie will show the contradictory statements Dick has made about Bush and his awareness of bin Laden and Al Qaeda.  I won't hold my breath.

DISPLACING THE VOICE OF THE MINORITY

Air America .. the liberal talk radio network, is picking up affiliate radio stations by displacing minority language programming.

OOPS, MY BAD

There's this ad featuring St. Louis Cardinal sensation Albert Pujols running on television.  Here's the dialogue:  "My bat speaks for me.  I'm looking for this pitch.  And if I get it, I'm going to do some damage.  My bat is always talking."  At first I thought this was another professional athlete endorsing Viagra or Cialis.  Not so.  It was an ad for Major League Baseball.  Could have fooled me.

FIVE-SECOND DELAYS FOR SPORTS BROADCASTS COMING?

Shaquille O'Neal did it again.  He was being interviewed after a bad Laker's loss yesterday.  He was asked about the Laker's play during the

loss and said "Not impressed.  Not (f-ing) impressed, you know what I mean?"

Uh-Oh.  That interview was being carried live by at least one television station.  We can now expect the Federal Censorship Commission to swoop down on that station and hit them with a huge fine.  I think about $100,000 would do, don't you?  Hey!  We can wipe out the entire federal deficit if the FCC would just listen carefully to sports broadcasts and levy $100,000 fines for every "f-word" and about $250,000 for every "m-f" word. 

May we had better start delaying all NBA games and all athlete interviews.

READING ASSIGNMENTS

Here is the full transcript of the August 6, 2001 Presidential Daily Briefing. Read it for yourself.

Jeff Jacoby says everybody got it wrong before 9/11...good column.

The crown prince of Spain throws a hissy fit at Miami International.  I guess he thinks he's just a head better than the average American who has to go through those security checks.

Another Vietnam?  Only in the mind of that slug Ted Kennedy.  Bob Bennett thinks otherwise.

The mainstream media just doesn't seem to want you to understand how really well our economy is doing.  I wonder just why that would be?  It couldn't have anything to do with the fact that fully 90% of these people want to see Bush lose in November, could it?

For the umpteenth time, Senator John McCain has ruled out being on the Kerry ticket.  Will the media finally shut up about it? Of course not.

The media is doing their best to find as many anti-Bush, anti-war families of fallen soldiers as they can.  Here's an idea!  How about respecting our fallen heroes' decision to join the military and fight for their country?

Mike Adams wonders who will storm the beaches of Normandy?  Would we be able to fight another war like World War II today?

John Leo notes the Canadian government's attempts to restrict free speech.

Suzanne Fields brings to light a new trend: America-bashing in school textbooks.

Paul Greenberg nails an angle on the whole Condi Rice vs. Dick Clarke saga no one seems to be talking about. He calls it office politics. Read on.

Diana West tries to figure out just what Teddy Kennedy's Bush-bashing motivations are these days.

Joel Mowbray looks at Yasser Arafat's courtship of Hamas, the PLO's ties to terrorists and wonders how he gets away with it.

William F. Buckley doesn't think we should hand over control to the Iraqis on June 30th..this year, anyway.

British Prime Minister Tony Blair explains why we must never abandon Iraq.

Senator Jon Kyl states that the war for liberty in Iraq must continue.

This should set off the bed-wetting environmentalists...new research indicates that the atmosphere is not warming as fast as predicted.  So much for global warming. But take note, because you're unlikely to see this on the nightly news.

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