Politics. Business. Law. Culture. Rather, a portal into the thoughts of a young thinker with aspirations in all of the above. (The author is an ex-Air Force Intel, current struggling law student, family man of faith. And a Conservative, sired by Conservatives.)
Although I would personally prefer an article on why everyone should vote to reelect our President, this negative article on why not to vote for John Kerry will do. Joseph Farah discusses the wannabe's history of goldigging, as well as Kerry's inability to find work outside of government at any point in his life. The article is just as amusing as it is informative -- a brief, worthwhile read.
The New York Times has essentially admitted that they were duped on WMD and anyone else could have been just as easily duped. They admit much information came from the best intelligence the civilized world has to offer. They also admit poor reporting and investigation. It is a big step in the right direction, but they omit other sorts of poor reporting, such as the many stories poorly reflecting on President Bush with no basis in fact. Maybe that apology/explanation will come next.
Since we entered Iraq, the media and the Left have endlessly criticized the President for: 1) Not making the case for going to Iraq; and 2) Not having an exit strategy. What the President did last night at the Army War College was: 1) make the case; and 2) outline the exit strategy. What do his critics now say? "He didn't tell us anything" and "It was really boring". What did everyone expect? A John Wu flick? It was full of detail -- the President outlined everything that anyone could ever want to know about what we are doing in Iraq, why we remain there and how we are going to get out. The opposition's weak criticism only demonstrates the weakness of their position. This blogger is quite concerned, however, that most Americans tuned out because it was indeed boring and will thus only know the contents of that speech based on distorted synopses by the media. The Left is also demonstrating the inherent dishonesty in their position -- they did indeed know the reason we were there and the difficulty of our position. The Left was simply taking advantage of that difficulty to confuse Americans in order to make political gains. Let us hope the average voter is smarter than the Left thinks they are.
I never really liked Chalabi. Now, I know our intelligence services shouldn't have either. It really is bad news -- that he was passing sensitive information to the Iranians. The Newsday story linked above speaks of the Iranians using Chalabi and his ICP to provoke us into ousting Saddam.
Walter Williams, truly out of character, writes a pointed piece on the so-called torture in Iraq. He puts it into a context the media has failed to do so far, explaining what Koreans and Vietnamese inflicted on our boys in bygone wars.
In the investigation into the 3/11 Madrid bombings, fingerprints from an Oregon attorney have shown up. These prints are the first link to any American -- wonderful.
It is time to pull out of Germany. Germany enjoys billions of US dollars propping up their lagging economy, money received through the presence of our bases. But they despise our military activities and envy our world power. They now seek to absolve themselves of their guard duty at our military bases. They have long since traded military effectiveness for increased social services; Germany is no longer a threat. Let us pull up all our stakes, demolish the buildings, and plant trees in their place (satisfying Kyoto environmental standards, to be sure). I'm sure Bulgaria and Hungary would like 100 US bases in their midst.
Two days ago, this soft-toothed blogger was wondering when replacement teeth would be invented. Well, the Brits will be marketing stem-cell teeth as soon as possible. Priced at around $2500/tooth, it will be a steal. (Hattip: Slashdot.) Now heroin addicts will no longer permanently suffer one of the more visible side-effects of heroin abuse (i.e., being so comfortable they forget to brush their teech for 30-40 months at a stretch, so they all fall out.) Guess the AIDS thing will have to stand as a lone deterrent.
Problems in the Kerry camp [again]. Finally, Pat Buchanon writes reasonably -- something largely absent from his work over the last couple years. He writes about his first encounters with Kerry's antiwar group while he (Buchanon) was working for the Nixon Administration. As it says in the linked article, the group's meeting allegedly discussed assassinating Senators John Stennis, Strom Thurmond and others. Kerry claims to have resigned before that meeting, but some thick-skinned veterans who were in attendance vehemently contend he was there. I'm starting to wonder if a significant percentage of Americans, even as much as 30%, will be willing to vote for a man who once consorted with potential assassins. Maybe he'll pick up an "intrigue" vote.
A final note regarding the train explosion in Youngchon. See this link for before and after shots of the city. There's no better visual than that. (Make sure to follow the instructions and click on the arrow at the bottom or you won't see the "after" shot.) Looks like a nuclear bomb went off. Maybe we should act against North Korea before we're looking at such before and after shots of, say, Chicago.
