Libercontrarian

Thursday, 30 September 2004

Debate? What debate?

I am going to be the only blogger that has no opinion on the debate. See how easy it is?

posted by: underwhelmed at September 30, 2004 22:03 | link | comments |

Coleman calls us ticks, which ticks me off!

Nick Coleman of Lilek's paper, the Star-Tribune, has some nasty things to say about bloggers in "Blogged Down In Web Fantasy." To paraphrase him, he puts forth the assertion that us bloggers are "ticks" who magically appeared, rendered in flesh (and pajamas) in front of our computers, without another experience in the world to back up our nasty, poorly created, and "instantly Googled" opinions. He says:

"Bloggers are hobby hacks, the Internet version of the sad loners who used to listen to police radios in their bachelor apartments and think they were involved in the world."

I don't know about you folks, but I'm no "hobby hack," and my opinions aren't issued to me by Newsweek, the New York Times, Fox News, CBS, or God Forbid, the Minneapolis Star-Tribune. I'm just a fellow whose opinions came to him as a result of his life experiences - experiences that he had before Nick Coleman ever heard of blogging.

Here's my response in an email to Mr. Coleman:

You said, "So, how is it that nakedly partisan bloggers who make things up left and right are gaining street cred while the mainstream media, which spend a lot of time criticizing themselves, are under attack?"

It's because us bloggers, folks who're apparently "not fit to carry a reporter's notebook," "know stuff" as well. Somehow, Mr. Coleman, I managed to have had personal experiences prior to appearing on the internet, much like yourself. I was a graphic designer during the ascension of desktop publishing in the early 1990s, and instantly understood the "mechanical issues" with the CBS forgeries; it amazes me that an organization whose base business is putting words to paper could not call upon the resources of people competent in the mechanical part of that craft to determine that their information was bogus.

The alternative was that they didn't care. The producers were looking for a scandal to pin on the President, because they had an agenda. It wasn't simply incompetence; they did not want to find the truth, because they knew that they had already found it when they were handed something that they couldn't be troubled to vet.

The public has lost trust in the oligarchies that bring us news. In the ultimate marketplace for ideas that is represented by the internet, the people with the best ideas, not the best friends or the most advertising money, have the capacity to gain readership on matters of opinion. In bringing us facts, the newsroom will always be king as you folks have the capacity to do this; perhaps it is time for editorials to be put to rest, and for news organizations to simply report - the NEWS, in a factual way, without color.

Nick Horianopoulos

http://libercontrarian.motime.com

We'll see how he responds.

posted by: underwhelmed at September 30, 2004 21:00 | link | comments (5) |

Wednesday, 29 September 2004

We're sending liberals to internment camps

Yes, my friends, we're sending liberals to internment camps - places where harsh people will control their every action, and where they will be turned into slaves for the state...

I think I went to one of those places in the 80s; those camps are called BASIC TRAINING for the Armed Forces. Except that we're not really doing this, it's all more fear-mongering from the left. Will we need to bring back the draft?

Of course not! This is yet another brain-impaired attempt by liberals to squeeze out every last paranoia-driven Kerry-vote from a classically apathetic crowd: young men aged 18-25.

posted by: underwhelmed at September 29, 2004 20:28 | link | comments (4) |

You might have a problem...

...if you get stumped by a Diane Sawyer "softball" question. Did you see John Kerry fumble one during the preview of the interview with Diane Sawyer on Good Morning America? Hannity and Colmes ran a short tape of the interview this evening, and Sawyer asks the Presidential Aspirant about what his response would have been in Iraq - he gives a "stump speech" answer, and, in an atypical fit of good journalism, she asks him again, apparently unconvinced by his response. He starts to repeat the same response, then catches himself - this is, after all, his first interview with a journalist since early August, and it's obvious that she smells a little blood in the water...

He bumbles out an answer that sounded a little something like this, "Knowing what we know now, I wouldn't have gone to war in Iraq."

Great, Johnny. I certainly hope that the Presidential Future Knowledge Machine is in better working order for your term than it was for President Bush, his dad, Clinton, or any other President who has had to make tough decisions on less-than-perfect knowledge. I guess it would've saved your hero, Jack Kennedy, a bunch of trouble during that "Bay of Pigs" problem, and may have prevented LBJ from getting too strung out on Vietnam.

You'll notice that when you read the "transcript" from ABC News, it conveniently does not report the Kerry fumble. Shades of CBS, anyone?

posted by: underwhelmed at September 29, 2004 18:59 | link | comments |

What about those terror plans?

In answer to the question I posed about terror incidents stopped on U.S. soil, do you remember the plans to bomb that shopping mall in Ohio that were thwarted this year? How come we haven't heard more about this?

posted by: underwhelmed at September 29, 2004 09:43 | link | comments |

Tuesday, 28 September 2004

Kudos To The Righteous Uncle

Zeinab Abu Salem, an 18-year-old Palestinian woman, became a target for the IslamoFascist al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade's pathological agenda when she blew herself up, killing two and wounding 17 in Jerusalem Wednesday, September 22.

Her panicked family is attempting to move their possessions out of their home, as Israeli forces bulldoze the dwellings of the families of homicide bombers. Her uncle, Mustafa Shinawi, 55, when asked by Reuter's UK Correspondent Atef Sa'ad to comment, responded, "Oppression is everywhere, every Palestinian finds his own suitable way to protest the Israeli oppression."

So let me get this straight - your niece just killed herself, along with 2 other innocent people, wounding 17 others, endangering the home, lives, and prosperity of her family, and you call this a "protest?" You, sir, win the "Non Compus Mentus" award for the week.

posted by: underwhelmed at September 28, 2004 11:07 | link | comments (2) |

I Smell Trouble

An Olympic Airlines flight from Greece to the U.S. was diverted today because of a bomb-threat (Thanks to Macedonian Press Agency via Big News Network.com). This is the second time in a week that this has happened; here's a paragraph from Guardian UK about the first hoax:

"The alert came after the Greek newspaper Ethnos received the anonymous warning call. According to a tape made available to journalists by the newspaper, the caller said: "Flight 411 Olympic for America has a bomb for Iraq."

In a second call, a voice sounding like another person said: "Are you listening? Flight 411 Olympic for America - bomb. America will see. Six o'clock message for you." Authorities immediately notified the pilot, who asked for a military escort."

When you read about the second hoax, you will discover that it was the same flight - Flight 411. What could this mean?

I am wondering now if al-Qaida is testing the waters for a new attack on America to influence the elections. What would happen if, say, they call in bomb threats to two or three hundred inbound international and U.S. domestic flights, causing our rickety security apparatus to overload, then drive a Ryder truck filled with ANFO to the U.N. building, or to the State Department, or to the Sears Tower?

Have we ever considered a scenario in which the enemy simply arms 100 men with commonly available rifles and sends them into shopping malls in 50 states, all at, say, 7:00 EST? They could kill as many people in a few minutes as they did on September 11, 2001...

Here are two questions leaders in government should be able to answer with confidence: Do we have enough overload capacity, communications capability, feet-on-the-ground, and early-response capability in our security apparatus to handle multiple, divergent threats? Have we interdicted any persons attempting to commit acts of terrorism against U.S. citizens on our soil since 9/11?

posted by: underwhelmed at September 28, 2004 10:13 | link | comments (2) |

Monday, 27 September 2004

This could be Kerry's opportunity to trim Bush's lead in the polls

The first of the Presidential debates is scheduled for this Thursday the 30th, at Uof Miami in Coral Gables, Florida. This debate may offer Kerry an opportunity to make up lost ground from the debacle of last week (the Allawi incident, his new anit-war stance, the news from the polls in the battleground states), if he is able to make Bush give the "hurts-when-I-think" look.

Ever seen Bush give an interviewer this look? I'm sure that you know what I am talking about, especially if you have ever taken Trigonometry with a football player in college. It's a haunted, confused glance, coupled with the deadly, mumbled "uhhh..." that I've seen our leader give when asked difficult questions that his campaign staff has not prepped him for, and he has to think of the responses himself. Remember that hit piece during the last campaign, when the "journalist" started quizzing him on world leaders?

That's the look he wants to avoid, if at all possible. Giving that look during the debate (even though we have Bush's terrorism response record to look at), will serve as a reminder to many who are on the edge of voting for Bush why they shouldn't - because he appears like he's just spouting things the handlers tell him, instead of believing in the positive outcome of the war.

posted by: underwhelmed at September 27, 2004 12:14 | link | comments (2) |

Saturday, 25 September 2004

Big Blow Storms Through Libercontrarian Home Town

I come from a little town called Indialantic, Florida. I remember it as a sleepy beachside community, where I grew up in solidly middle-class splendor; most homes have a pool and a nice little yard, and the housing costs were in the late $70k range in the early 1980s. There was one hurricane, David, who had the unmitigated gall to storm through our town in September 1979 like a drunken construction worker, messing things up a little and causing everyone to glance nervously at one another. He left town in a foul-breathed condition, but there were no storms after this in the entire time I lived there.

Now, the 'canes are invading the state like rowdy spring-break frat boys, smashing the trees, knocking over people's homes, swamping their boats. It must suck to be a Floridian right now.

Wife and I were thinking of moving down, so I could be near my family; the recent spate of storms has put the kibosh on such foolhardy thoughts. Who wants to move to a place where the very weather can threaten your life, property, and loved ones? Certainly, there's better job opportunities in Florida (it was recently listed as only having insufficent jobs in a job-growth survey) than in Colorado (there's probably better job growth on Jupiter's moons than in Colorado), but since this appears to be the Message From The Almighty about where NOT to go, I will listen, fer cryin' out loud.

posted by: underwhelmed at September 25, 2004 22:59 | link | comments |

Eric's random musings on Libercontrarian

Another new blog added to the roll: Eric's random musings. From all appearances, Eric is a fellow Libercontrarian - not too left, not too right... just right! He's a great writer, and has posted several excellent questions and essays on the political spectrum. Watch this guy; he's got some bright ideas!

posted by: underwhelmed at September 25, 2004 22:37 | link | comments |

Friday, 24 September 2004

Chrenkoff on Libercontrarian

I add a new member to the blogroll today ; Arthur Chrenkoff, a Polish-Australian man about my age, who discovered that the west's opposition to the communist ideologues in his former home was far lower than what he was expecting. He is well-educated, writes like a man possessed, and his thought-inspiring words on "Post Totalitarian Stress-Disorder" will resonate with any true seeker of wisdom.

Go there, right now, and read; I command you.

posted by: underwhelmed at September 24, 2004 20:28 | link | comments (4) |

This just in - Kerry Attacks Bush!

I'm typing this in my underwear, with my Brother-In-Law's friend's (a drug-addled moron) rescued cat purring in my lap. As far as the stereotype of blogging goes, I've knocked one out-of-the-park today!

As if in answer to my questions posed yesterday, the Kerry team has finally, in between long stretches of attacks on Bush and some spectacular, Hall-of-Fame-level Monday Morning Quarterbacking, managed to put forth a plan for dealing with the challenges faced by America in the 21st Century. Kerry stated a few salient points, issues that the Bush Administration has been church-mouse-quiet about: porous borders, funding early responders for tragedies, addressing aviation and port security via the underfunded and poorly manned Homeland Security Department. He also talked about the need for more Sec-Ops troops to chase down terror around the world, the need to hold the Saudis accountable for the funding of terror networks, the need to get us off the heroin of middle-east energy, and the pitfalls of utilizing Arab warlords in our unsuccessful pursuit of Osama Bin Laden, whom he claimed have their own cultural and power-mad drives which counter those of the U.S.

This, of course, marks the first time I have heard Kerry show such concern, placing the needs of the United States above those of the rest of the world - and he still doesn't get it that with our nation's status as Sole Superpower, we will be reviled and despised by those who would try to steal that title from us, or those who simply wish to kill us as a result of their jealousy over our freedoms.

All in all, this was the most effective speech from Kerry that I have heard yet. If this guy had been on message like this from the word "go" (out of the convention), instead of bringing up his own questionable service in Vietnam and trying to assail Bush's service in the Guard, the Republican Party would have a real mess on its hands. The Bush Administration has left the barn-door open on many policy decisions, and a till-now-incompetent Kerry campaign has not made hay. As it sits, Kerry still can't seem to keep from attacking the Administration and its efforts to quell violence in Iraq and fight the War on Terror, and I suspect that this negativistic preoccupation will cost him mightily come election day.

posted by: underwhelmed at September 24, 2004 10:01 | link | comments (2) |

Thursday, 23 September 2004

Gene Healy Does It Again

Gene Healy has done it again - another clear thinking article from this concise and well-spoken man graces the website of the Cato Institute.

This article is a MUST READ if you are at all concerned about "the right of the People to keep and bear Arms..."

posted by: underwhelmed at September 23, 2004 11:51 | link | comments |

Cato Institute Article Questions War Effort

In my continuing efforts to understand the manifold ramifications of the Iraq-War portion of the War on Terror, I research a wide variety of authors well-qualified to write about this topic. I frequently find (and will read) writings that DO NOT reflect my views, just in case my views are wrong.

This article, written by Gene Healy, a Senior Editor at The Cato Institute, is a well-written piece that asks valid questions (as opposed to the often-slung emotionally-based charges from The American Left) about the ramifications of the war effort: Here's a paragraph:

"A year after the start of the Iraq war, a Pew Research Center Poll revealed that 'large majorities in Jordan (70%) and Morocco (66%) believe suicide bombings carried out against Americans and other Westerners in Iraq are justifiable. Nearly half of those in Pakistan agree (46%).' Sixty-five percent of Pakistanis and 55 percent of Jordanians have a positive view of Bin Laden."

You are encouraged to read it, no matter your political bent, as it raises valid questions about what the mission is, and what the outcome will be. Do we have an exit policy? Should we release that info to the public? Would that information help our enemies? These are but a few of the important questions that are oddly missing from the political debate in the race for President; the only action that seems to be important to the two candidates is impugning each other's reputations. Where are their publically-stated plans for the War on Terror, the economy, and the National Debt?

posted by: underwhelmed at September 23, 2004 11:22 | link | comments |

Wednesday, 22 September 2004

Fall is here!

Here's a nice departure from the rigors of political muck-raking; it recounts a fleeting day of fall brilliance. Don't know the author, but it's worth a read.

posted by: underwhelmed at September 22, 2004 14:15 | link | comments (2) |

Give al-Zarqawi his wimmins

As the poor British prisoner, taken by Jordanian madman Abu-Musab al-Zarqawi, is pleading for his life (courtesy of the internet, Active PR is a vital skillset to have if you are going to survive as a 21st-century terrorist monster), I wonder if we could avoid further terrorist entanglements using a clever approach -

Al-Zarqawi wants the two women, Dr. Germ and Mrs. Anthrax (is that the IslmoFascist version of Betty Crocker and Sara Lee?) released from the custody of the Iraqi Interim Government. Perhaps we should release these women - at first, their heads, then in a couple of days, their torsos, then, perhaps a leg or an arm.

It might give pause to future beheaders...

posted by: underwhelmed at September 22, 2004 12:01 | link | comments |

Law professor to swallow own tounge while frothing at mouth

A law professer at University of Texas, Brian Leiter, has a blog called The Leiter Reports - here's some of his mindless blather: (describing the completely impossible potentiality of the reestablishment of the draft, a popular scare-tactic used by the left to frighten cowardly young men into voting Democrat):

...unless there is a dramatic change in current policy (which won't happen if Bush & his bestiary of madmen are re-elected, and might not happen even if Kerry is elected)...

"Bestiary of madmen?" Are you kidding me? This guy is actually EMPLOYED as a law professor at the University of Texas? Those idiots will hire anybody - Hell, I ought to apply for a job there!

posted by: underwhelmed at September 22, 2004 11:32 | link | comments |

Oil-for-Fraud?

More dope on the U.N. - it's an organization full of criminals! And Kofi Annan has the temerity to call the invasion of Iraq "illegal?" Claudia Rosett, a fellow at the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies and the Hudson Institute, wrote a scorching column today in the Wall Street Journal's OpinionJournal about the Oil-For-Food Scandal that will help tear the cover off of that miserable affair. Here's the concluding paragraph:

"Mr. Annan is due to step down next year. If he wants to leave a legacy more auspicious than having presided over Oil-for-Fraud, he might want to devote his twilight time at the U.N. to mending a system in which a U.N. Secretary-General feels free to describe the overthrow of a murderous tyrant as "illegal," but no one at the top seems particularly bothered to have presided over that tyrant's theft of food from hungry children."

Ms. Rosett has hit this nail straight upon its head!

posted by: underwhelmed at September 22, 2004 11:05 | link | comments |

Tuesday, 21 September 2004

U.N. invited to take part in U.S. Elections

Joeseph Farah of World Net Daily was on Sirius Satellite Radio yesterday, and told of this shocking story. Do you really want U.N. appointed foreign election monitors to watch over your shoulder come November 2nd?

You can send your thanks for this travesty to 13 members of Congress: Julia Carson of Indiana, Jerrold Nadler, Edolphus Towns, Joseph Crowley and Carolyn B. Maloney, all of New York, Raul Grijalva of Arizona, Corrine Brown of Florida, Elijah E. Cummings of Maryland, Danny K. Davis of Illinois, and Michael M. Honda and Barbara Lee of California.

Oh, and don't forget to thank Assistant Secretary of State Paul V. Kelly for inviting them in! Fortunately, it looks like the State of Florida won't allow these U.N. bureaucrats to invade our polling places this Election Day.

posted by: underwhelmed at September 21, 2004 21:18 | link | comments |

Can democracy work in Iraq?

This is an interesting take on the situation in Iraq (from Opinionated Jerks):

"Democracy is never going to happen in the Arab world. The biggest obstacle with the radicals is, the only way to stop them is through authoritarian Governments. Democracy itself can't defeat radicalism on it's home turf.

Similarly good news, though not as great, is the perceived blow this will deal to neo-conservativism, hopefully ending it's invasion on the Republican party."

I can't really see how a failure in Iraq would be good for the Republican Party, or for America in general, but I appreciate Joe Guernsey's insightful analysis of Robert Novak's column. Maybe we WERE wrong in staying after Saddam was deposed... But how could democracy even get a chance to start with the chaos that has existed since Saddam's downfall?

Like Colin Powell was reputed (incorrectly, it turns out) to have said, "you break it, you buy it..."