"Soldiers dying in Iraq are dying to defend the US against terrorism as a victory in Iraq is a victory in the war on terror. They are dying to defend freedom and democracy in the US and to spread freedom and democracy to Iraq. They are dying for the interests of the US, her allies, and by extension, all Americans (whether they understand it or not). They are not dying for Haliburton, oil, or any other ridiculous shit / slant the anti-war types or conspiracy theorists want to spin. Haliburton is a company (among many others, both US and foreign) that seized a chance to profit in REBUILDING Iraq. There is a big difference between that and war-profiteering. Haliburton did not start the war, terrorists and those that support them did. Putting the chicken before the egg just won’t fly."
-polymath
"[B]efore you [Europeans] write us off as just a bunch of sweaty, hairy-chested, Bible-thumping morons who are more likely to break their fast by dipping a Krispy Kreme into a diet cola than a biscotti into an espresso - and who inexplicably have won more Nobel prizes than all other countries combined,
host 25 or 30 of the world's finest universities and five or six of the world's best symphonies, produce wines that win prizes at your own tasting competitions, have built the world's most vibrant economy, are the world's only military superpower and, so to speak in our spare time, have landed on
the moon and sent our robots to Mars - may I suggest you stop frothing at
the mouth long enough to consider just what are these ideas we hold that you find so silly and repugnant?"
- LynnKramer
"Democracy may have been invented in Greece, but cowardess was invented in France where it lives and thrives to this very day."
- RedTigress
"I'm referring to the Iraqi terrorist bastard fighters. The ones liberals insist are either not in Iraq, or are there by the thousands, depending on which liberal you listen to."
- noguru
"How is it that the Left can believe absolute crazy shit, like the Bush-Saudi Arabian money connection, or the even worse and totally false Bush-bin Laden connection (based on 100% lies) and look at you straight and say there was absolutely no way that Saddam Hussein and Al Qaeda had ties?"
- reducto
I would visit democrats.com more often, but their page really doesn't offer a lot. So I decided to check the blog out as I'm sure I've done before, and only one thing about it catches my eye, the title.
Is it really appropriate for them to even use the word "ass"? I don't care if they do, but I thought ass was on the "List of Words Politicians Shouldn' t Use". So you'd think they wouldn't use the word as a title for what I guess is the official democratic blog.
But to the main issue, I'm assuming they're using ass to mean donkey, the symbol of the Democratic Party. I had to google that to make sure they really were the donkey and I wasn't losing my mind. So why would they be kicking it? Shouldn't the republican slogan be "Kicking Ass"? If the blog were titled "Giving Republicans an Ass Kicking" that would make more sense. If you're kicking the ass, then it sounds like the donkey is on the bad end of the deal there.
Maybe I'm looking at it wrong and as soon as I post this it will come to me, but that just seems all wrong.
WASHINGTON — President Bush's push to transform Social Security is in trouble, despite intense salesmanship designed to build support in Congress and with the public.
Democrats are united against the president on the issue. A new national poll shows the idea is losing ground with taxpayers. Many Republicans in Congress remain hesitant to promote letting workers under 55 privately invest a portion of their Social Security payroll taxes.
And Thursday, Bush's political challenge became more daunting as one of his key constituencies — economic conservatives — fumed at his new willingness to consider a tax increase to pay for the changes.
The president has called for a broad overhaul of Social Security, contending it will be bankrupt by mid-century. But the private accounts at the center of the overhaul come with a high transition cost — estimated at $1 trillion or more.
During the transition, less money would be paid into the system even as it paid out at current benefit levels. Bush said earlier this week that he would not rule out paying those transition costs by raising the current wage cap of $90,000 that can be taxed for retirement.
On Thursday, a number of conservatives said that directly contradicts Bush's earlier promise that he would refuse to raise taxes.
So I leave for a few days and Bush goes and starts "Kerrying" it up. I realize he's just putting it on the table, but that's bad enough. Everything was looking up. Conservatives were on top of the world, but Bush is thinking about sacrificing all that. Of course our little democrat friends are on board, which is hardly ever a good sign, so to quote Family Guy: "Come on, come on."
I'd complain more, but the Simpsons is on, the more political than ever Simpsons.
When you think about it, all the Deaniacs that were pissed off about Dean losing to Kerry got the last laugh. Did Dean have a shot against Bush? Of course not, but he got his name out there and is now in control of the democratic party. What did the democratic nominee for president get? Half a year of rigorous campaigning followed by a couple months of akward public appearances.
I guess this means I can start posting pictures like this one again:
WASHINGTON — New Democratic National Committee (search) Chairman Howard Dean (search) promised Saturday to rebuild the party in the most conservative regions of the country, help develop state and local organizations and let congressional Democrats set the tone on policy.
I can't say I think that's the smartest thing in the world. It wouldn't be that stupid if the most conservative regions of the country didn't happen to go to Bush by often 20+ percentage points or if the most conservative regions of the country didn't constitute 70% of the land area of the U.S. (rough estimate, don't hold me to it). I have a little Bush Country map to the right there.
Oh well, he's probably got something up his sleeve.
When I see Dean I think democrat. When I saw McAullife, I thought Tony Blair's evil twin. I can't quite put my finger on why I like Dean more than McAullife, but I do. Maybe it's just the way the two present themselves. Everything McAullife said pissed me off, not just because of the message but how he said it. Moore doesn't even do that to me.
Lets just hope Dean doesn't actually know what he's doing.
If I've Learned One Thing This Football Season, It's that McNabb Sucks
I haven't blogged in a while, so what better way to start off than with the Superbowl.
Every single team I rooted for lost. I'm a Broncos fan. For whatever reason, I wasn't paying attention for the first few games of the season, probably because they rarely air Broncos games here. Sure enough, the Broncos started off great. The second they started airing their games and I started watching, they went down in a blazing glory. Just when I had given up hope and stopped paying attention again, they somehow pull off a wildcard spot.
So I am sitting on the edge of my seat the entire game hoping the Broncos can pull it off against the Colts. Sure enough they lose by like 28 points or something. After seeing that beating, Manning seemed like a god. There was no way he was losing to the Patriots, and I didn't want him to. Anyone that beat my Broncos better go on to win the Superbowl. Along with the Colts I picked the Rams over Falcons, Vikings over the Eagles, and I never really chose between the Steelers and Jets (and it went into overtime, imagine that).
Everyone of my picks lost. So who did I choose the next round? Falcons over Eagles and Steelers over Patriots. Once again, all my picks lost. Who did I pick in the Superbowl? Eagles over Patriots, and ya'll know who won that one.
The football gods officially hate me.
Now, to the actual game.
I had always assumed McNabb was a good quarterback, although I never really watched many of the Eagles' games. I come into the game assuming he'd put up a good amount of rushing yards, and sure enough, my predictions were way off. I can give him credit for avoiding the sack, he's a big, agile guy and capable of throwing a guy off his back, but I didn't see him break out for more than a couple yards once. Then his throws, and what throws they were. High, low, straight into the hands of defenders, it was horrible. I'm a Jake Plummer fan, so I'm not usually one to talk when it comes to stupid throws, but these were STUPID throws! Even that second touchdown pass should've been knocked down, and it was an excellent catch by whats-his-name.
Last but certainly not least, the thing that had every single Eagles fan across America screaming at their TV, HIS CLOCK MANAGEMENT!!! I'm no quarterback, but something tells me that when you have 30 something seconds left on the clock and you're 3 points away from tying the game, YOU GO INTO A HURRY-UP OFFENSE!! What was that huddle and then walking to the line crap?!? Even when it was 2 minutes something, they were taking their time. No rush, it's only the Superbowl. Then when they finally do get a play off, he throws it straight down the middle of the field! TWICE!! You've got a better shot at winning by throwing it straight to a defender than you do up the middle of the field with no time outs.
At least TO came through. That superbowl loss rests squarely on the shoulders of Donnovan McNabb. The pathetic running game hurt the Eagles, but in the end, there is no doubt in my mind that any other quarterback that made it to the post season would've done a better job than McNabb.
Then the commercials. The eagerly awaited Superbowl commercials. I didn't really like em. The cat one was pretty funny, and the one where the guy throws the beer out of the plane and the pilot jumps after it was funny. Those were the only 2 I liked.
I might as well keep going. The Simpsons episode sucked. I like the Simpsons, but lately it seems to be getting less and less funny. Coincidentally it's happening in proportion to the amount of liberal messages being worked into them.
Fortunately I stayed up to watch the premier of American Dad. It started off slow but ended with the classic Family Guy humor that I can't get enough of.
Overall I'd rate this Superbowl Sunday a C- for lack of teams I liked, the loss of the team I was rooting for, no awe-inspiring plays, mediocre commercials, decent half-time show, although I'll take McCartney's Live and Let Die to Jackson's wardrobe malfunctions anyday, poor Simpsons performance, but a good episode of American Dad to save it from a D. It was still a good season, thanks to Roethlisberger's super-rookie year, Manning's record breaking, and the Patriots' annihilation of anyone who dared threaten their dynasty.
