Delaware’s favorite son speaks his mind and shows his partisan ass.
Biden: Kerry would 'defuse dangers'By JOHN MACHACEK
Gannett News Service
07/30/2004
BOSTON -- Sen. Joe Biden told thousands of cheering delegates at the Democratic National Convention Thursday night that a John Kerry presidency would make America stronger and safer and would "defuse dangers long before the only choice is war."
Um… Mr. Biden, what exactly do you think happened on a bright September morning in 2001? We did not choose war. Osama bin Laden, his ilk and those who supported him, choose war. And by the way, what exactly did you, Senator Kerry and the rest of Congress do to “defuse the dangers long before” 9/11?
On a night designed to contrast Kerry with President Bush on national security issues, Biden said Kerry would work harder than Bush to build international coalitions before going to war but would reserve the right to strike unilaterally against a "genuine, imminent threat."
How about this - Does this sound like the "genuine, imminent threat." you are talking about? "[W]ithout question, we need to disarm Saddam Hussein. He is a brutal, murderous dictator, leading an oppressive regime ... He presents a particularly grievous threat because he is so consistently prone to miscalculation ... And now he is miscalculating America's response to his contin ued deceit and his consistent grasp for weapons of mass destruction ... So the threat of Saddam Hussein with weapons of mass destruction is real ..." Sounds pretty imminent to me. Your boy John Kerry uttered those words in a speech he made in Jan 23, 2003. I’d post a link, but unfortunately the link was to Senator Kerry’s own campaign website and low and behold it doesn’t work anymore. I wonder why?
"He will not hesitate to unleash the unparalleled power of our military - on any nation or group that does us harm - without asking anyone's permission," said the senator from Delaware, who advises Kerry on foreign policy.
Umm, McFly!? That’s exactly what the Democrats have been criticizing President Bush for doing!. And now you say Kerry will do this himself? So where is the key difference here? Why would I want to vote for Kerry then? Because he says he’ll do what Bush has done? Excuse me if I’d rather have a President who has actually DONE what he said he’d do, than one who only says he’ll do what you say he will. Besides we all know John Kerry never waffled on anything.
Biden, the top Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said he does not question the motives of the Bush administration in prosecuting the war against Iraq, but "profoundly disagrees with their judgments."
Mr. Biden “does not question the motives” but "profoundly disagrees with their judgments." ? WTF does that mean? Really. I’ve read that sentence 100 times and I still don’t understand it. Their motives were sound but their judgment were flawed. How exactly does that work? Motives are formed based on judgements, no? How can flawed judgments lead to sound motives?
"History will judge them harshly not for the mistakes made - we all make mistakes - but for the opportunities squandered," Biden said, referring to Bush's failure to build a broader international alliance before going to war.
The ONLY counties missing from our “international alliance” were France and Germany. And they matter because? OK, that’s not fair. I’d admit I have a major issue with the french. But mark my words. When history is done with this issue it will be widely regarded that France’s reluctance to become involve with Iraq was due to her own financial interests and backroom deals with a certain “brutal, murderous dictator.” Germany I don’t understand. And quite frankly I’m embarrassed by their lack of spinal stiffness.
"And for all of America's great might, we are more alone in the world than ever before," Biden told convention delegates. "As a result, we are less secure than we could or we should be."
“We were told by this administration we would pay no price going it alone. That was wrong," Biden continued. "Because we waged the war in Iraq virtually alone, we are responsible for its aftermath, virtually alone."
Biden's remarks mirrored his speech last Sunday to several hundred foreign leaders and diplomats at the National Democratic Institute, a foreign policy group headed by former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright.
In making the case for Kerry's election, Biden told convention delegates Thursday, "America and the world deserve a president whose judgment they can trust."
“Instead of dividing the world, we must unite it," Biden said. "Instead of bullying it, we must build. Instead of walking alone, we must lead. It's only leadership if someone follows, and no one is following."
Those are all nice words Mr. Senator. Real nice words. They sound good in context of getting your partisan buddy elected. But they don’t quite line up with the facts of the time.
Here’s some more nice words. It sounds similar to something someone you know said before:
Saddam Hussein is relentlessly pursuing weapons of mass destruction, abusing his own people and making a mockery of the United Nations. With or without a second U.N. resolution, and barring a coup or last-minute conversion by Hussein, the United States will act to disarm him. …
Wow. That sounds exactly like what happened Mr. Senator. Pretty cool since this quote came merely weeks before we invaded Iraq. But anyway, let’s finish this quote. I wouldn’t want to mischaracterize the statement…
But we will be infinitely better off if we act with the United Nations and with as many friends as possible -- not in spite of them. We can succeed if we show real leadership -- the kind of leadership that inspires others to follow.
Yes. It would have been nice. And with the exception of France and Germany, there is and was an international coalition. (Besides, what would the French really have contributed to this effort. I’m sure our Marines would have loved some fresh baked pastries when they came back from fighting, but aside from that I can’t imagine any other positive contributions of French soldiers on the ground in Iraq.)
There is and was leadership. What has been squandered has been squandered due to partisan in-fighting and bickering. For a short time after 9/11 there was unity. Real unity in Congress. Where we were all Americans – not just Democrats and Republicans. Just Americans.
But since this is an election year, and since Kerry’s only platform is “get rid of Bush” then you have to discredit the President and show what John Kerry would do that different in the future. But when I go back and read what you and Senator Kerry were saying before the war, I don’t see where you or Senator Kerry would have done anything different.
So this is what it means to be "nuanced"…
Romney looks like conventional hero...
At the end of June, Kerry cut a deal with the police union, refusing to cross its picket line and thereby missing a planned speech before the U.S. Conference of Mayors. In exchange, he thought, he bought some peace at the upcoming Democratic National Convention.It turned out Kerry was played for a fool. The union's deal was that it wouldn't picket Kerry personally, but it still would picket and shut down anything else it wanted. Even as this became clear, Kerry could do nothing. Back channel pleas and phone calls from party elders were of little help.
Then Romney stepped in. And by doing so, he provided a clear and concrete contrast to Kerry, an object lesson to the nation: This is how Republicans solve a problem. Here's how the GOP might frame it: Romney directly addressed a crisis; Kerry let it fester and grow. Romney defended the mayor; Kerry abandoned him. Romney stuck up for the residents of a city; Kerry sold them out in exchange for his self interest. Romney refused to toady to the tactics of a bully; Kerry let himself be pushed around.
...
(via The Common Sense Chronicles)
Because she asked. And then called me a wimp.
It's not just this blog I've been neglecting in recent weeks. Ever since GF and I bought our home, we have been working on it like maniacs. In the month between closing and moving in there were two nights we didn't work on the house. Every other night we worked until at least 8:30 PM, often later. And that month included 4 days off from work (including some vacation time). It's been tough…
Anyway, as I was saying, it's not just this blog that has been neglected. Prior to the home purchase I was spinning at least twice, sometime as much as 4 times a week at lunch. Often GF and I would go to the gym after work too. But for me, it was all about spinning. I got serious, bought a heart rate monitor, and gave everything I had in the spinning sessions. My evening workouts more often than not were recovery workouts with only a little resistance training. And toward the end I had even promoted myself to Bunkie's class. Bunkie is something of a drill sergeant when it comes to spinning. He's apt to get off his bike, walk right up to you, check your heart rate monitor and then yell at you demanding either a higher cadence or a 1/2 turn on the resistance (or both). He also has "the face." He constantly scans the room as he barks his orders over the headset mic and his face alone is capable of telling you that he doesn't think you're working hard enough. It’s a normal occurrence for the class to fog the wall mirrors and completely drench the floor in nasty sweat after 45 minutes of a certified Bunkie spinning session (with a/c on, fans blowing and doors open).
Alas, the house put an end to my spinning. Until today. My ever present (although often malfunctioning) preservation instincts told me that I did not want to spin with Bunkie. It's been too long and I didn't feel that good. So I spun with the earlier "beginner" class. (Beginner is a misnomer - it's all between you and that resistance knob.) Alas, my poor overworked heart actually attained 92% of max today. And it stayed over 80% for the greatest majority of the workout. Nevertheless, I was pathetic. Bunkie would have been disappointed.
And to top it all off, Bunkie's class starts at the end of the beginner class. And I felt awful sheepish when they came in the room to see one of their former (although briefly) classmates working out in the beginner class again...
As I mentioned below, GF and I finally moved last week. But our unpacking and settling in progress has been seriously stunted by the United States Postal Service. The USPS, and one “letter carrier” in particular, have totally monopolized our attention. GF has become completely involved as well – perhaps even more than I - as she even comes home at lunch in time to watch “the post man” and his daily progress. Thankfully, this weekend he brought home the mail. (If you haven’t figured it out yet – I’m talking about Lance and the Tour de France).
Happily, the postman is firmly in control now. He was 9:35 down Thursday, but in both the mountain stages Friday and Saturday he managed to make up all but 22 seconds of that deficit. And yesterday he took the lead. All the other contenders (except for perhaps one - Ivan Basso) have fallen far enough behind to no longer seriously pose a threat.
The most amazing thing about the tour this year has been the *gasp* french hero that emerged to wear the yellow for 10 days. Who would have ever thought that *I* would be sitting on the edge of my couch Saturday morning cheering on a french guy? Thomas Voeckler got involved in a break-away in Stage 5 and found himself in the yellow jersey leading the tour. He admitted after the race the he knew Lance wasn’t worried about him – he was simply overjoyed to be in yellow. On Saturday’s stage with a scant 5:04 advantage over Lance it seemed that he was destined to be wearing yellow for the last time. And on each of the serious climbs, he was dropped and seemed to lose a lot of time. But incredibly he was able to make up time and on the last climb of the day he worked his heart out and crossed the line 4:43 after Lance and 22 seconds still in yellow. (Lance, and 6 other riders put an end to his streak yesterday.)
Today is the L'Alpe d'Huez, a 9.3 mile mountain time-trial, and Lance is expected to put an exclamation point on the tour this year - Barring any accidents or catastrophes tomorrow (the last real mountain stage), Lance will be wearing yellow in Paris on Sunday.
Unfortunately for my employer, I just discovered this site: http://ww2.olntv.com/tdf04/listenlive.html Maybe I'll get something done AFTER lunch…
UPDATE: The smackdown has been laid. 39:41. Faster than Jan Ullrich's 2nd place finish by 1:01.
GF and I finally moved into our new home on Thursday. Friday afternoon I managed to get “the data center” online for a while only to discover that my router was acting flakey and Comcast had changed their setup program and now they need to “do something” to my cable modem to make it cooperate with their system (instead of just registering it’s mac address & serial number).
Saturday morning GF informs me that our bedroom would work better if it was where the office is and the office would work better where the bedroom is. Unfortunately, I agreed. So last night we swapped out the furniture, I ran another cable outlet and again assembled our little “data center” (four computers, an 8 port router, a print server, 2 monitors, a KVM switch, cable modem and extra lan cable for GF’s work laptop). Mission control would be jealous.
The router’s flakey-ness turned out to be the technician’s (me) stupidity, but the cable modem was still wasn’t holding an IP for more than an hour. I called Comcast back so they could “do something” but the technician I talked to said everything appeared to be set up properly and she could tell my modem was getting a good signal. 30 seconds after hanging up, I lost my signal. After 10 minutes on hold I finally got another technician on the line and he said that he could see my modem dropping out all weekend long and he said it was due to a week signal. (Why didn’t the first tech see the same thing?!?!?) Cycling the modem & router restores the connection until it drops out again.
Long story short – I have been “unplugged” since Wednesday so I apologize for the lack of postage. And I have a pile of work so it’s gonna take some time to get caught up on my blog-reading too…
This is absolute bullshit.
Beer habit gets license recalled Pa. man's doctor told state officials about his daily six-packHARRISBURG -- A man who told doctors at a hospital that he drinks more than a six-pack of beer per day is now fighting to get his driver's license back because the physicians apparently reported him to the state.
Keith Emerich, 44, said Tuesday he disclosed his drinking habit in February to doctors who were treating him for an irregular heartbeat.
"I told them it was over a six-pack a day. It wasn't good for me -- I'm not gonna lie," Emerich said in a telephone interview from his home in Lebanon, about 30 miles east of Harrisburg.
Emerich received a notice from the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation in April that his license was being recalled effective May 6 for medical reasons related to substance abuse. He has petitioned a judge to restore the license, and a hearing has been set for July 29.
…
Pennsylvania is one of six states that require doctors to report motorists with medical conditions that could affect their driving ability, according to the American Association of Motor Vehicle Administrators.The other states are Delaware, California, Oregon, Nevada, and New Jersey. All other states and the District of Columbia allow physicians to submit reports on a voluntary basis.
This is the kind of shit that makes my blood boil. There are so many things wrong with this that I don’t know where to begin. Sure, driving is a privilege, not a right – I understand that – but this man has not even been accused of driving under the influence. He simply confessed to his doctor, based on his concern for his health, that he drank more than 6 beers a day. The doctor interprets this as substance abuse and is therefore obligated by law to report it to PennDot. Fortunately for me, I live in one (at the moment 2) of the states that requires this crap. Doctor-Patient confidentiality apparently doesn’t apply to the state.
May God have mercy on the soul of the doctor who ever does something responsible like this for me, because I won’t.
OK, I've been beating this subject to death. And frankly, I'm over Mikey. He's a pompus windbag who plays fast and loose with the truth and he's found adoring fans in our biased mainstream media (birds of a feather). But he's making money - lots of it. And most of his money is coming from the moonbat left, which in a way, makes him my hero.
Anyway, before this actually stops being sporting, go read Lileks. He skewers Mikey pretty good in today's bleat.
This isn't news...
U.S. Removes Iraqi Nuclear and Radiological Materials; Joint Operation Conducted with U.S. Departments of Energy and Defense...
Twenty experts from DOE's national laboratory complex packaged 1.77 metric tons of low-enriched uranium and roughly 1000 highly radioactive sources from the former Iraq nuclear research facility. The DOD airlifted the material to the United States on June 23 and provided security, coordination, planning, ground transportation, and funding for the mission.
Yeah, I know. Iraq's nuclear research program was for electrical power generation...
Jim links to Jenny Turpish's 20 Questions to a Better Personality quiz and laments the fact that he was labeled as a "hippie." As part of Jim's defense to being a hippie he alleges that he doesn't even own a pair of birkenstocks. I however, will freely admit to owning and even wearing birkenstocks. (And I have been to more than 10 Dead shows - really!) But I am not a hippie. And I was concerned that perhaps this quiz would expose me as one. Alas, I am vindicated.
You are an SEDF--Sober Emotional Destructive Follower. This makes you an evil genius. You are extremely focused and difficult to distract from your tasks. With luck, you have learned to channel your energies into improving your intellect, rather than destroying the weak and unsuspecting.Your friends may find you remote and a hard nut to crack. Few of your peers know you very well--even those you have known a long time--because you have expert control of the face you put forth to the world. You prefer to observe, calculate, discern and decide. Your decisions are final, and your desire to be right is impenetrable.
You are not to be messed with. You may explode.
Don't mess with me!
Muh ha ha ha ha!!!!