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Russia seals off North Ossetia
Today's Headlines
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-Short Attention Span Theater-
When Moths Attack!
'Weird Al' Yankovic attacked by green moths
We just reports 'em, we doesn't make 'em up.
Things got hairy for parody singer "Weird Al" Yankovic as a flock of unwanted fans rushed onstage during his performance at a state fair in southern Illinois. Green moths swarmed Yankovic, some nesting in his trademark long curly locks. "My band asked me if I could find a concert where we would be attacked by insects," Yankovic told his audience Wednesday at the Du Quoin State Fair. "I said I would see what I could do."
Posted by: Angie Schultz || 09/04/2004 12:33:32 AM || Comments || Link || [2 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Illinois fair is frightening in the dark; all the green moths are a flyin' wild. . . .
Posted by: BigEd || 09/04/2004 0:37 Comments || Top||

#2  My, my, these here insect guys
Act like Vader, Riistar's raiders…
Posted by: Korora || 09/04/2004 8:42 Comments || Top||

#3  Weird Al's sweat is a green moth pheromone, whoda' thunkit? I'll bet he turns the experience into a song.
Posted by: Craig || 09/04/2004 9:46 Comments || Top||

#4  Moths: Why do they hate us?
Posted by: Chris W. || 09/04/2004 11:51 Comments || Top||


Nuggets from The Urdu Press Pravda Rense
Skipping Pravda and going straight to the source.

* Charley: Scalar Electromagnetics Used? - Michael Edward; worldvisionportal.org.
...By causing many towers [HAARP, GWEN, etc.] to pulse with the exact ELF frequency of the normal earth pulsation, scientists have learned how to not only create, but also how to maneuver and direct storms. Tesla,s discovery can duplicate almost every single phenomena of nature, from cyclones to tornados; and now, with Solar Power Satellites used in conjunction with land based towers, weather Control is just that simple.

GWEN (Ground Wave Emergency Network) transmitter towers bathe the entire U.S. in an artificial magnetic field which can rise from the ground to 500 ft, but also goes down into the ground as deep as a normal basement. Everyone can be affected and mind-controlled. This entire artificial ground wave spreads out over North America like a spider,s web.

The natural earth ELF waves are identical to the frequency spectrum of our human brainwaves, and it has been proven that the use of an ELF bombardment - at the same frequency as the human brain - can change a person's thoughts or emotions. In the early 1960,s, Dr Andrija Puharich discovered various mental effects of ELF, specifically that 7.83 Hz (the earth's pulse rate) made a person feel good, producing an altered-state; that 10.80 Hz caused riotous behavior; and that 6.6 Hz caused depression. It has since been discovered that 10 Hz puts people into a hypnotic state.

In speaking with everyone I can who survived the direct path of Hurricane Charley, I have begun to see a definite pattern in their stories. At first, it appeared that this was the effect of rapid barometric pressure changes that accompany powerful hurricanes. But people were not just describing the pressure they felt in their ears or the other physical signs of rapid pressure changes. Rather, they were describing extreme mental and mood changes they could not control....

Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Phil Fraering || 09/04/2004 7:33:15 PM || Comments || Link || [4 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Two words....Tin-foil headgear.
Posted by: whitecollar redneck || 09/04/2004 8:47 Comments || Top||

#2  Cuckoo
Posted by: Korora || 09/04/2004 8:47 Comments || Top||

#3  Phil - And people say MY normal day's surfing takes me to strange(r) places, ha! I've been a Tesla "fan" since my pre-teen years. He was a remarkable genius... so it pains me to hear the "truth" - he was also an Evil Genius. Aw Shucks, Another childhood hero tarred and struck down. Sigh. Bet these guys can't make ball lightening on demand, though. *sniff*
Posted by: .com || 09/04/2004 8:55 Comments || Top||

#4  I see little evidence that the tinfoil-hat-crowd's image of Tesla as an evil genius who plumbed the depths of "physics we still don't know because the oil companies have suppressed it" is true.

If you're seriously interested in ball lightning, you might want to look up Paul Koloc.
Posted by: Phil Fraering || 09/04/2004 9:08 Comments || Top||


Loud music causes lung collapse
Blasting music can be hard on the ears and the neighbors, and now researchers say it can also pack enough punch to collapse a lung. Reporting in the medical journal Thorax, they describe the cases of four young men who suffered a lung collapse -- technically called pneumothorax -- that appeared to be triggered by loud music. Three of the men were at a concert or club when the pneumothorax occurred, while the fourth was in his car, which was outfitted with a 1,000-watt bass box because he "liked to listen to loud music."

Noppen said he and his colleagues suspect that loud music may damage the lungs due to its booming bass frequency, which can be felt as a vibration going through the body. The lungs may essentially start to vibrate in the same frequency as the bass, which could cause a lung to rupture. It's probably a good idea, according to Noppen, to stand back from the speakers at concerts and clubs and to ease up on that car-stereo bass. It might also save your hearing, he added.
Posted by: trailing wife || 09/04/2004 12:21:05 AM || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  What? Herring? What does herring have to do with it...
Posted by: Sgt. Mom || 09/04/2004 14:48 Comments || Top||

#2  Lol! Almost an Emily Latella feel to that, Sgt Mom!
Posted by: .com || 09/04/2004 14:58 Comments || Top||

#3  (Snicker!) Glad someone caught the reference!
I think I was behind one of these lung-collapsing doofuses at an intersection last week. The bass on the car stereo ahead of me at the stop light was cranked up so far that my rear-view mirror, winshield and steering wheel were all vibrating visibly.
Posted by: Sgt. Mom || 09/04/2004 15:29 Comments || Top||

#4  Sgt Mom -

You forgot the punch line...*G*

Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski || 09/04/2004 17:43 Comments || Top||

#5  Never mind..
(No I didn't)
Posted by: Sgt. Mom || 09/04/2004 18:22 Comments || Top||

#6  Sgt. Mom -

Oh...never mind.*S*

Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski || 09/04/2004 22:06 Comments || Top||


Britain
Why Bush is America's natural leader, stupid
Translating President Bush for the Brits
What single fact tells you more about George W Bush and American politics than any other? That he converted from his family's Anglicanism and became a Methodist. It is inconceivable that such a thing would happen in Britain. More to the point, the habit in Britain is the other way round. If you start life as a Methodist and then rise in the world socially, you tend to graduate ("convert" is much too strenuous a word) to Anglicanism.
snip. Bush's posh, Anglican background, Queen's cousin, elite schools, etc...
Bush junior's conversion follows that path - a turning away from personal failure (in his case drinking and getting nowhere) through a direct experience of God, a journey away from social grandeur to something that seemed more rugged, a journey from Connecticut to Texas.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: trailing wife || 09/04/2004 12:47:28 AM || Comments || Link || [3 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Very nice piece, TW. Thanks for posting it.

The author does a good job of explaining Bush - and average Americans - to the Brits. Now if he could just get the LLL to understand....
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut || 09/04/2004 2:30 Comments || Top||

#2  It's ironic that the Torygraph broadly supports Bush when many members of the Tory party have rushed like lemmings to express their admiration for John Kerry. I used to wonder why the Tories seemed to act so self-destructively so much of the time. Not I've given up wondering. I just have no f'ing idea...
Posted by: Bulldog || 09/04/2004 4:22 Comments || Top||

#3  "Now if he could just get the LLL to understand..."

Nothing is impossible!

But to make el cubos understand?
Isn't "el cubos" and "understand" a contradiction?
You can't reason someone out of a position they weren't reasoned into in the first place.
Posted by: Zarathustra || 09/04/2004 7:22 Comments || Top||

#4  I find the Bush story reassuring. It shows that Mr Bush is not the half-witted fanatic of the BBC's imagination.

{DIG DIG DIG} HA!
Posted by: BigEd || 09/04/2004 11:24 Comments || Top||


Europe
Latvian Minister: Soros trying to overthrow Cabinet
Posted by: Super Hose || 09/04/2004 02:40 || Comments || Link || [2 views] Top|| File under:

#1  ... George Soros had organized an attempt to overthrow the ruling coalition via nongovernmental organizations ...

Welcome to the club. He's doing that in the U.S. as well.
Posted by: A Jackson || 09/04/2004 10:52 Comments || Top||

#2  Mr. Jekabsons, there is a solution for this.

It's your country. Think hard.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut || 09/04/2004 16:58 Comments || Top||

#3  What was Soros saying about Bush a while back? Wasn't he alleging the President was power-crazed, egomanic, or somesuch? I think Soros said that before he tried to buy himself a 'stan in Central Asia, and before he tried to 'own' this small Baltic nation.

Oh yeah, we should all just MoveOn and overlook the global-sized hypocrisy.

Soros: Hero of the Left. Man of principle.
Posted by: Bulldog || 09/04/2004 17:48 Comments || Top||

#4 
Here is the kind of activity that Soros funds and that many Latvian politicians object to.
.
Posted by: Mike Sylwester || 09/04/2004 22:52 Comments || Top||


Fifth Column
At RNC, Frampton arrest is part of political theater
In case you thought that national political conventions no longer held any import, that they are puffed up, propagandistic, overly scripted acts of meaningless political theater, the events of this past Monday night will restore your faith in government. For one Yale undergraduate sought to stand up to the political establishment and speak truth to power. Or, at least, that's what his lawyer would have you believe.
That's usually what the mouthpiece wants you to believe...
In light of all the trouble I went through just to secure a measly press credential to the Republican National Convention this week in New York, I should have taken a cue from my enterprising Yale classmate Thomas Frampton '06.
Oh. He's a sophomore. I guess that's why he acts sophomoric...
Frampton, not one known for his conservative political sympathies, eluded the convention's organizers by allegedly hatching an elaborate scheme in which he feigned allegiance to President Bush and the Republican Party, attending volunteer training sessions so as to gain access to Madison Square Garden as a uniformed and credentialed usher. It's hard to imagine the radical Frampton keeping a straight face while discussing President Bush's plans for a "Safer and Stronger America," or the RNC's trumpeting of "Armies of Compassion," with the uptight college Republicans and elderly women donning cowboy hats who comprise the corps of convention hall volunteers.
Looking over the faces at the convention, I'd say there was a slightly larger slice of Americana there than the Yale stereotype would have us believe. Thank you for that little bit of condecension...

Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Super Hose || 09/04/2004 03:32 || Comments || Link || [3 views] Top|| File under:

#1  assault of federal officers and impeding the operation of the Secret Service

Boy oh boy, I bet your trust fund is going to take a hit for this one you idiot.
Posted by: JerseyMike || 09/04/2004 9:35 Comments || Top||

#2  I doubt it. If anything, daddy might toss in more.

Thomas Frampton, a Yale student and son of a prominent Washington and New York environmental lawyer, George Frampton...

Graduate of Sidwell Friends, too, one of the serious beautiful people private schools in DC. He's got all the credentials.

Posted by: tu3031 || 09/04/2004 9:52 Comments || Top||

#3  Graduate of Sidwell Friends, too, one of the serious beautiful people private schools in DC. He's got all the credentials.

The proper term is pedigree, dog. ;oD
Posted by: badanov || 09/04/2004 9:55 Comments || Top||


Home Front: Politix
THK Hospitalized, then released
I'm OK John, just nauseated at those mounting negative poll numbersTeresa Heinz Kerry, wife of Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry, was treated and released at Mercy Medical Center-North Iowa Saturday night after becoming ill during a campaign stop here earlier in the day. Heinz Kerry, 65, was talking about health care issues with guests at the home of Steve Musson, 428 First St. S.E., Saturday afternoon when she stopped, put her hands to her head and said, "I don't feel well,"
"Those @#$%^&*()_ poll numbers from Time & Newsweek."
Stress probably and what is on her mind - Not wanting to be cruel, but trying to theorize all the hospital trips, and midnight rides. Geeeeez

according to Globe Gazette photographer Arian Schuessler. She then said something about her medication, Schuessler said.
"Quick, Gilligan! My pills!"
An aide told the media, "cameras off." In less than a minute, Schuessler said, Heinz Kerry regained her composure and resumed talking for about 45 minutes. She and her entourage, including Secret Service agents, then headed for Mason City Municipal Airport for her departure on a twin-engine jet. At the airport, Secret Service requested an ambulance so that her vital signs could be checked. Mrs. Kerry, who had been in the plane, walked to the ambulance unassisted. She was transported to the hospital by the Mason City Fire Department Ambulance at about 6 p.m. She remained at the hospital for about three hours, undergoing routine tests after complaining of an upset stomach, according to a spokesman for the Kerry campaign.
STRESS. Bad poll number corroberated(sp?)
Her plane took off from Mason City Municipal Airport at 9:09 p.m., headed to Heinz Kerry's home in Pittsburgh. Heinz Kerry was visiting her fourth Iowa city in two days. She had earlier stopped in Cedar Rapids, Davenport and Des Moines, talking about rising health care costs and shrinking coverage.
Posted by: BigEd || 09/04/2004 11:37:06 PM || Comments || Link || [2 views] Top|| File under:


Pitiful mewling from TIME's J Klein on sKerry's ouchie
OMG! This is soooooo deserving of a complete fisking. Klein has fully entered the barking phase of moonbatdom.

READ THE LAST TWO SENTENCES. All I can say is, I hope sKerry goes for it. He will go down in flames.

It should be noted that, after a long, lifeless recitation of an illusory domestic policy, George W. Bush's acceptance speech at the Republican Convention came alive when the President gleefully skewered John Kerry's foolish claim to be the candidate of "conservative values." It was the pivotal moment of the speech. From there, Bush went on to his favorite topic—his decisiveness in the war against terrorism, the need to stand firm, the need to be plainspoken. For those who hadn't fallen asleep during the domestic policy trudge, this was a very effective speech—and it followed a very effective, if sometimes sleazy convention.

The message of the week was: You know where Bush stands. You can't be sure about Kerry. But that headline also came with a misleading subhead: Bush is fighting the war against terrorism, and Kerry wouldn't. It was a theme that was pounded from the very start of the convention, and it depended on a sly conflation— the notion that the war in Iraq and the war against the 9/11 terrorists were one and the same. We heard far more about Bush in the World Trade Center rubble than we did about the U.S. in the Iraqi quagmire. And when Iraq was raised, it was done in a deceptive and simpleminded way. Even John McCain, who gave the most serious foreign policy speech of the week, presented a false choice: "Our choice [in Iraq] wasn't between a benign status quo and the bloodshed of war. It was between war and a graver threat."

Actually, there were at least three choices: doing nothing about Saddam, going to war as Bush did or doubling down on the war against al-Qaeda, as Senator Bob Graham and others suggested at the time. Unfortunately, a serious discussion of the best way to fight Islamist radicalism isn't in the cards this election year. In any case, campaign politics isn't about details. It is about impressions: Bush conveys an impression of strength—and the Republicans tried very hard last week to convey the impression that Kerry is Fifi the French poodle. (Fifi debated Barney, the Bush family dog, in an allegedly comic film shown at the convention.)
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Brett_the_Quarkian || 09/04/2004 7:05:03 PM || Comments || Link || [4 views] Top|| File under:

#1  **cough**cough** Loser **cough** Loser...

I cannot believe the drivel that this guy is spewing..."For those who hadn’t fallen asleep during the domestic policy trudge"...The President had more to say than Kerry did and was quite intresting to me. Some good ideas are to be found in that speech.

Posted by: SCpatriot || 09/04/2004 21:36 Comments || Top||

#2  So much for any pretensions that Time might have had about being a news magazine. If this bozo could write more succinctly, he might have a future on the Democrat Underground.
Posted by: RWV || 09/04/2004 21:44 Comments || Top||

#3  I suggest that all articles on this subject be moved to Page 2.
Posted by: Mike Sylwester || 09/04/2004 22:06 Comments || Top||

#4  ....after the G.O.P. assault, Kerry has a right to exaggerate with impunity.
Kerry has made a career out of exaggeration without any provocation from anyone. That's his problem and it's finally catching up to him. The partisan press is full steam ahead at providing cover for THEIR hero.
Posted by: GK || 09/04/2004 22:13 Comments || Top||

#5  Ya'll remember M*A*S*H? the smarmy leftwing pseudo-comedy, which relied in a fevered leftwing visage of a conservative Christian ( Frank Burns )as a characature of everything anti-war people are against, which was the main theme of the show.

Well, guess what? Payback's a bitch, and she's in heat. We have the left's Frank Burns in the person of John Kerry, a man, to paraphrase Hawkeye, whose character we can all vouch for except he doesn't have any.

The left in its infinite reliance of the idea that the wish is father to the thought, nominated a man who:

1) retains strong leftwing views
2) who could lie glibly about those views and
3) who could run through the primary process with zero vetting by either the press or democrats;
If all those condition could be fulfilled, then Kerry could sail through to November.

The only problem is that Kerry lacks two things the lack of which gets him reelected in Massachusett's but wouldn'teven get him to mayor of any 'flyover' city and that is character and honor.

Character and honor, two things that must be earned in every area of life, not just in politics or in the military, both ideals absolutely necessary to having and maintaining trust, neither of which can be provided through a sympathetic press.

The democrat party really screwed up this time, believeing that with a sympathetic press, they could blow this leftist by the electorate. But payday is les than 60 days away and all those who believe that honor and character are real ideals to have in a leader; all ya gotta do is show up to the polls.
Posted by: badanov || 09/04/2004 23:43 Comments || Top||

#6  The only way for Kerry to save his candidacy now would be for him to

1) sister souljah Mikey and Howie about the war

and

2) change the subject, as follows: "I support the president completely on the war. Now let's talk about health care and the economy...."
Posted by: lex || 09/05/2004 0:06 Comments || Top||

#7  I've watched this Burns character for years, I think he may be a sissy.

BTW Badanov is that your real name? Sounds vaguely commie. I'm writting it down in my notebook, in semi-visible, purple ink.
Posted by: Col Flagg || 09/05/2004 7:39 Comments || Top||

#8  :-)
*ahem* is Natasha as hot as she looks?
Posted by: Frank G || 09/05/2004 8:12 Comments || Top||


John Glenn Loses It
Posted by: Kirk || 09/04/2004 17:58 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Hero to zero
Posted by: Capt America || 09/04/2004 23:19 Comments || Top||


Newsweek confirms boiiinnngg Bush +11
Bush/Cheney
Kerry/Edwards
Nader/Camejo
Other (vol.)/
Undecided
% % % %
ALL 52 41 3 4
9/3 only 54 38 4 4
9/2 only 49 43 3 5
Republicans 94 4 1 1
Democrats 14 82 1 3
Independents 45 40 9 6
Men 54 39 4 3
Women 50 43 2 5
18-29 45 45 9 1
30-49 56 37 3 4
50 & older 50 44 1 5
Southern white 66 30 1 3
Non-South, white 51 41 4 4
Non-white 34 56 4 6
Military households 58 36 2 4
Non-military 48 43 4 5
.

Trend:
7/29-30/04 42 49 3 6
7/8-9/04 44 47 3 6
Posted by: BigEd || 09/04/2004 3:29:02 PM || Comments || Link || [5 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Note : Two days.

Before W's Speech +6
After W's speech +16
Average +11

We now understand the midnight rides of the two Johns to Ohio!
Posted by: BigEd || 09/04/2004 15:32 Comments || Top||

#2  I doubt these numbers were generated by the convention. What has changed is that some in the MSM are beginning to understand that if they were caught cooking the books/poll numbers through election day they would basically end their involvement in the American political process for a painful period of time. The big jump in poll numbers was when Fox out pulled any other major network covering the convention. When those numbers appeared, the stockholders and paying sponsors were sure to have paid attention. Lie and destroy your business.
Posted by: Don || 09/04/2004 16:55 Comments || Top||

#3  Interesting angle, Don. I hadn't thought about that.

It's frightening, if it's true.
Posted by: Robert Crawford || 09/04/2004 17:23 Comments || Top||

#4  I wish there really were accurate, highly "grained" polling data capable of telling the long-term effects of Zell Miller's speech.

One thing you have to consider: Bush hasn't really been _running_ before now; he's been spending the last eight or so months taking punches without punching back.
Posted by: Phil Fraering || 09/04/2004 22:09 Comments || Top||

#5  The polls are largely meaningless. Most of the moderates and the fence-sitters will make up their minds during the last two days before the election, and it will come down to one and only one question: Are we at war?

If Kerry were other than a golddigger and actor who plays a presidential candidate on TV, he'd apologize to all the vets and knock the war issue off the table, as follows: "I agree with the president on Iraq, and I renounce Michael Moore and the other conspiracy-mongers in my party. Now let's talk about health care and jobs...."
Posted by: lex || 09/04/2004 23:40 Comments || Top||


Unfit for Cancun: Pleasure Boat Captains for Truth
When George W. Bush talks about his past, he uses the words "reckless" and "irresponsible." He claims that in 1986, after half a lifetime of hard drink and easy women, he finally sobered up-- and he wants us to believe he'll never revert to his hard-partying ways.

But the captains who piloted his pleasure craft during those "wild" years, as well as his fellow pleasure craft revelers, see him in a very different light.

Pleasure Boat Captains for Truth has been formed to counter the deliberate misrepresentation of George W. Bush's drinking record. We seek to portray him as he was, and still is: a "lightweight."

We, the men who were served drinks alongside George W. Bush, have partied with real party animals-- on the shores of Lake Tahoe, up and down the Gulf of Mexico, in the harbors of Kennebunkport. We have seen good men down a dozen kamikazes, and then swim once more onto the beach. We have watched the buzzed and brightest of our generation play beer pong until they were bent double, like beggars under sacks. We have known these party animals, and we have partied with them.

And George W. Bush is no party animal.
Posted by: Mrs. Davis || 09/04/2004 12:00:39 PM || Comments || Link || [3 views] Top|| File under:

#1  ROFLMAO!!! What a picture this paints, lol! Dubya couldn't cut it as a hardcore alky. Susie Estrogen will be seriously pissed - again - when naval "forces" steal her thunder! Lol!
Posted by: .com || 09/04/2004 15:03 Comments || Top||

#2  a dozen Kazis? I did 21 on my 21st birthday in the bar in our SAE fraternity house.... the rest of the evening is...um...unclear
Posted by: Frank G || 09/04/2004 15:19 Comments || Top||

#3  Man I am changing my vote! I WAS LIED TO! I thought W was the man, but now I find is may not be any man. God bless the PBCFT for peeling back the lie and exposing this President for the wussy he is. My vote goes for Nadar/Camejo, I KNOW THEY ARE ON DRUGS!
Posted by: Cyber Sarge || 09/04/2004 16:23 Comments || Top||


Steyn: Kerry's showing he just can't take the heat
Another gem from Steyn- best line on WOT: "If you want passivity and wallowing in victim culture, the Dems will do. If you want to win this thing, Bush is the only guy running."
Both candidates gave speeches late on Thursday night. George W. Bush was more or less expected to. John Kerry didn't have to, but reported for duty even though nobody wanted him to. Unnerved by sagging numbers, he decided to start the post-Labor Day phase of the campaign three days before Labor Day. The way things are going, Democrats seem likely to be launching the post-election catastrophic-defeat vicious-recriminations phase of the campaign round about Sept. 12.

At any rate, less than 60 minutes after President Bush gave a sober, graceful, droll and moving address, Kerry decided to hit back. In the midnight hour, he climbed out of his political coffin, and before his thousands of aides could grab the garlic from Teresa's kitchen and start waving it at him, he found himself in front of an audience and started giving a speech. As in Vietnam, he was in no mood to take prisoners: ''I have five words for Americans,'' he thundered. ''This is your wake up call!''

Is that five words? Or is it six? Well, it's all very nuanced, according to whether you hyphenate the ''wake-up.'' Maybe he should have said, ''I have four words plus a common hyphenated expression for Americans.'' I'd suggest the rewrite to him personally, but I don't want him to stare huffily at me and drone, "How dare you attack my patriotism."
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Frank G || 09/04/2004 11:01:39 AM || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  "Doctor Nuance"
John Kerry is changing his name. . .

{but he still can't count}
Posted by: BigEd || 09/04/2004 11:31 Comments || Top||

#2  C-Span is replaying the key speeches from the convention today -- Giuliani was just on. It's like watching the NBA slam dunk contest.

Kerry's Thursday night speech was really worrying in the sense that I'd like to see John Fng Kerry buy himself a psychiatrist or two before this goes much further. Does he think that the criticism is going to abate if he's elected?
Posted by: Matt || 09/04/2004 11:38 Comments || Top||

#3  We have two months of whining left until the whining over the 'stolen' elections begin. And then four years of whining about: "If only...." If these two can't take a criticism of their Senatorial records, how would they act when they are criticized by an ally or an enemy?
Posted by: Cyber Sarge || 09/04/2004 16:28 Comments || Top||

#4  One line out of this piece struck me:

" If you want passivity and wallowing in victim culture, the Dems will do."

That pretty much describes the Democrats in their entirety; it's all about who THEY perceive to be the victim, and nothing else.
Posted by: Bomb-a-rama || 09/04/2004 17:21 Comments || Top||

#5  We can take 4 years of whining by Kerry. We cannot take 4 years of Kerry.
Posted by: Alaska Paul || 09/04/2004 17:23 Comments || Top||

#6  I was cruising the Euro Press and they are really perprlexed that Kerry isn't running away witht eh election. It's as if they almost want to vote for us (prob for our own good). I saw the same thing inthe Euro press during the 1984 election. They could believe that we wanted another four years of Reagan.
Posted by: Cyber Sarge || 09/04/2004 18:41 Comments || Top||


How to Break the Logjam in Judicial Nominations
This is a vexing problem for the right. Democrats in the drive to retain socialists in judgeships want also to stop conservtaive judge from taking the bench. How to solve this problem?

Oh, and EFL...

Senate Republicans, however, are not exactly powerless, and for more than a year now the central question regarding the confirmation of judges has been whether they would attempt a rule change that would facilitate a simple majority vote on judicial nominees. Not all of them are eager to sign onto that project, and yet it is clear that there is not even a chance of effecting such a rule change unless just about every Republican is willing to get behind the effort.

Susan Collins and Olympia Snowe of Maine, and Lincoln Chafee of Rhode Island are the holdouts. Arlen Specter may be one, too. They've not said much publicly about the issue, yet if the Republican leadership tries to press for a rule change this fall, as one aide to a GOP Senator told me is likely, they'll be the Senators to watch.

Gray, a veteran of the judges' wars who served as White House Counsel to "41," as he typically refers to George W. Bush's father, said during the debate here at the Marriott, which covered well-trodden terrain, that Republican Senators have nothing less than a "duty" to respond to the Democrats' unprecedented filibustering by effecting the rules change. Do Collins, Snowe, Chaffee, and Specter agree with that assessment, or not? Right now, that's the most important question you can put to Senate Republicans about the judges' wars.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: badanov || 09/04/2004 8:01:33 AM || Comments || Link || [5 views] Top|| File under:

#1  A much better solution has been proposed over at NRO. All Bush has to do is fill every vacancy with a recess appointment of a hard core Republican attorney. Given the choice of confirming professional jurists or letting cases get decided by partisan part-timers, well, do the math.
Posted by: Iblis || 09/04/2004 11:06 Comments || Top||


Susie Estrogen - They're Mad as Hell...
via Creators.com - EFL
(h/t Ace of Spades & Allah & Instapundit)

by Susan Estrich - WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 1, 2004, AND THEREAFTER
My Democratic friends are mad as hell, and they aren't going to take it any more.

They are worried, having watched as another August smear campaign, full of lies and half-truths, takes its toll in the polls.

They are frustrated, mostly at the Kerry campaign, for naively believing that just because all the newspapers and news organizations that investigated the charges of the Swift Boat assassins found them to be full of lies and half-truths, they wouldn't take their toll. The word on the street is that Kerry himself was ready to fire back the day the story broke, but that his campaign, believing the charges would blow over if they ignored them, counseled restraint.

But most of all, activists Democrats are angry. As one who lived through an August like this, 16 years ago -- replete with rumors that were lies, which the Bush campaign claimed they had nothing to do with and later admitted they had planted -- I'm angry, too. I've been to this movie. I know how it works. Lies move numbers.

Remember the one about Dukakis suffering from depression after he lost the governorship? (Dukakis not crazy, more at 11.) We lost six points over that lie, planted by George W.'s close friend and colleague in the 1988 campaign, Lee Atwater. Or how about the one about Kitty Dukakis burning a flag at an antiwar demonstration, another out-and-out lie, which the Bush campaign denied having anything to do with, except that it turned out to have come from a United States senator via the Republican National Committee? Lee Atwater later apologized to me for that, too, on his deathbed. Did I mention that Lee's wife is connected to the woman running the Swift Boat campaign?

Never again, we said then.

Not again, Democrats are saying now.

What do you do, Democrats keep asking each other.

The answer is not pretty, but everyone knows what it is.
...more...

Sounds like the little cow & her herd want to Get It On! Lol! Here it comes, AC! After Skeery said, "Bring it On!" you would expect that they would expect people to, well, bring it on! Nope. Musta thought everyone would be all a-skeered and roll over or something. Funny, they keep making the same mistakes, over and over. Must not be a very bright bunch - and they must listen only to each other. Oh well, Dhimmidonks, bring it on, lol! We'll kick your pansy asses in the streets, the polling booth, and any other place you show your f'ugly mugs. See ya, Susie!

The same people who were challenging the Bush campaign to bring it on are now demanding that Bush call it off. Wussies.
Posted by: .com || 09/04/2004 1:42:25 AM || Comments || Link || [5 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Isn't that Susie Needs Estrogen?
Posted by: Sock Puppet of Doom || 09/04/2004 2:36 Comments || Top||

#2  The more Estrich and her ilk get animated, the more I want to see them beaten in Nov, and beaten BADLY.
Posted by: Bomb-a-rama || 09/04/2004 3:53 Comments || Top||

#3  With Jean LeKerry taking what appears to be permanent dive in the polls, the dhimmis will be really, really pissed in November. With the help of Judge Alcee Hastings' lapdog Euro-monitors, they will pull out all the stops to de-legitimize the election. This evil harriden herself alluded to this a couple of nights ago when she claimed that a Bush victory would be illegitimate because of the Swiftboat ads alone. Moonbat rhetoric has heated up again, when Congress-fraud Major "Sharkbait" Owens declared that the Bush administration has initiated a "slide into fascism." I think the post-election disorder will take the form of the media, scumbag politicians, and professional agitators inciting mass demonstrations, quickly sliding into violence and open warfare.
Posted by: Atomic Conspiracy || 09/04/2004 4:28 Comments || Top||

#4  AC, this election will be sufficiently decisive that the Dhimmicrats will have no one to complain about except themselves because no one else will listen.
Posted by: Mrs. Davis || 09/04/2004 7:34 Comments || Top||

#5  Mrs. Davis, that may get nasty, empty heads do tend to explode in a vacuum.

Thinking of it, that is a way they may become actually usefull on Nov.3, as party poppers.
Posted by: Zarathustra || 09/04/2004 7:58 Comments || Top||

#6  The big thing lately in Europe has been the editorials, letters to the editor and general 'chattering classes' blah-blah about how Euroweenies should be able to vote in the US elections!! I am not making this up. Go to today's (Sat-Sun) edition of IHT and read the front page story. Some moonbat Brit professor and historian Timoth Garton Ash (oh, so posh so JF'kingKerry like)opines that in "the world election,non-Americans are not impotent bystanders at the ringside"....He actually believes that like the Olympics "the noise of the crowd" has as much to do with winning as the capabilities of the participant. Oh, yeah! Like I bet Michael Phelps felt as if he was surrounded by the 1st Marine division when he swam. The MSM, the dhimwits, the Mooreons and now the Euroweenies believe that if they wish enough, yell enough, write enough and film enough all their dreams will come true. No they won't - only their nightmares will!
Posted by: Jack is Back || 09/04/2004 7:59 Comments || Top||

#7  The medicine Susan Estrous is prescribing is nothing short of a massive-- and probably fatal-- dose of the same bitter brew that's put her party in the sorry shape it's been in for the last four years. Democrats have been losing precisely because they've been offering nothing but rage throughout George Bush's first term, yet Susan's fix is... more rage.

The rage killed Al Gore in 2000. His psychotic, bug-eyed, bellowing, foaming-at-the-mouth hatred of all Republicans is a large part of why I (still a registered Democrat at the time) didn't vote for him then, although I probably would have still voted for Bush even if Al had projected a far more reasonable persona. Under the circumstances that prevailed in 2000, a non-mental Al Gore could have easily won with over 60% of the vote.

I've long held a theory: that the real purpose of the Clinton impeachment was not to remove Clinton from office; it was to drive Democrats mad so they would fuck up the next presidential election. If that was its purpose, it worked spectacularly; and the Florida debacle magnified the damage and made it permanent.

The Dems are still in the grip of the insanity that cost them the 2000 election, and they will lose this one, too.
Posted by: Dave D. || 09/04/2004 8:05 Comments || Top||

#8  "the world election,non-Americans are not impotent bystanders at the ringside"

Ahem, YES you are. That's why it's an AMERICAN election.
Posted by: Edward Yee || 09/04/2004 9:49 Comments || Top||

#9  Yeah, Dimbos. I'd pay serious attention to the advice of a woman who did such a masterful job in helping to run the Duke's presidential campaign over a cliff.
Come to think of it, the nation should be grateful to her for that.
Posted by: tu3031 || 09/04/2004 9:59 Comments || Top||

#10  What amazes me is that Estrich is proposing digging up "dirt" that everyone already knows about. Heck, it was even mentioned at the Republican Convention!

Equally amazing is her apparent belief that Democrats can't loose, except by dirty tricks and smears. Does she really think Dukakis had a snowball's chance in hell of winning?
Posted by: Robert Crawford || 09/04/2004 10:06 Comments || Top||

#11  A week or so ago, Estrich proposed a fascinating meme. I wonder if it will be used after the election?:
*
"The influence of the swift boat vets means that Bush cannot be legitimately elected."
--Susan Estrich
*
Does this mean that the left is already searching for any flimsy rationalization to proclaim that "It's not OUR fault, the election was STOLEN!", *even* if it is a blowout?
Posted by: Anonymoose || 09/04/2004 10:13 Comments || Top||

#12  JIB: "I am not making this up. Go to today's (Sat-Sun) edition of IHT and read the front page story."

What exactly is the "IHT"? And...uh, how about a URL?
Posted by: CiT || 09/04/2004 10:15 Comments || Top||

#13 
Disregard my last. I figured it out.
Posted by: CiT || 09/04/2004 10:17 Comments || Top||

#14  Ah, Dukakis, the General Patton of the Democratic Party. I was a Dem back then. The Evil Republican Mastermindtm of the day was one Roger Ailes. He successfully smeared Dukakis as a clueless dork. Oh, wait a minute.

This raises another question. If Repubs are as stupid, ignorant, unsophisticated, and backward as Dem trendsetters and media authorities allege, why do they have the market cornered on Evil Mastermindstm like Ailes and the current arch-fiend of GOP propaganda, Karl Rove?
Bush, after all, is universally regarded as a moron among the self-designated intelligentsia, yet these selfsame savants and magi routinely accuse him of turning the world inside out with all sorts of devious plots and devilish conspiracies.
Posted by: Atomic Conspiracy || 09/04/2004 10:18 Comments || Top||

#15  AC, please do not connect too many dots for Susan. She might get a clue.
Posted by: Mrs. Davis || 09/04/2004 10:24 Comments || Top||

#16  Atomic Conspiracy, once you accept the relativism as your philosophical basis, the contradiction would disappear. You would be able to discern quantitative discrete domains, but qualitative judgement does not even enter the... whatever it may be there left between ears.

I suppose that i not necessarily the result of relativism alone, but with a hefty dosage of pot, and misunderstood concept of buddhism about emptying ones mind (it is not meant for good, only as a method of relaxation!), it is an explosive mixture-the process may be ireversible.
Posted by: Zarathustra || 09/04/2004 10:29 Comments || Top||

#17  Susan's been spoon-feeding the DNC post-election talking points that this election was also stolen by the Republikkkan Smear Machine™ using their SWVT tools. De Nile ain't just a river in Egypt, and if the Donks don't face raelity, the Hildabeast won't have chance in '08....hokay by me :-)
Posted by: Frank G || 09/04/2004 10:40 Comments || Top||

#18  The Evil Republican Mastermindtm of the day was one Roger Ailes.

Since Ailes runs Fox News, he's still on the first team. It doesn't seem that the left has figured that one out, however.

If Repubs are as stupid, ignorant, unsophisticated, and backward as Dem trendsetters and media authorities allege, why do they have the market cornered on Evil Masterminds

Clarity of purpose enhanced by self-discipline, efficiency, rational thinking and moral certitude?
Posted by: Classical_Liberal || 09/04/2004 12:08 Comments || Top||

#19  Does this mean that the left is already searching for any flimsy rationalization to proclaim that "It's not OUR fault, the election was STOLEN!", *even* if it is a blowout?

They've been doing that since 2002.
Posted by: Robert Crawford || 09/04/2004 13:44 Comments || Top||

#20  Check out this article on Belmont Club - the bits by Dick Morris (of Clinton Admin fame & infamy) and Hugh Hewitt are, I think, very interesting theories of why the Pubs do so well and are organized - and why the Donks suck Donk. I think it's worthy of a few minutes.
Posted by: .com || 09/04/2004 14:36 Comments || Top||

#21  "Remember the one about Dukakis suffering from depression after he lost the governorship?..."

Oh yeah, I can definitely remember Election Day in '88, thinking how excited I was about getting to vote for the strange little dweeb in the tank, and then changing my mind because of those nasty rumors. He could have been the next Millard Fillmore.
Posted by: Matt || 09/04/2004 14:39 Comments || Top||

#22  If any country wants to vote in US elections I'd happily allow them to give up their soverignty and become US territories. Then, if things work out well they can vote in primaries right away and perhaps become states within 50 years or so, some perhaps quicker (I imagine Canada and UK could go quicker if desired because of the cultural similarities).
Posted by: RJSchwarz || 09/05/2004 10:31 Comments || Top||


Newsmax: Kerry's Secret Ties to China
EFL - most of the aricle was about technology transfer during the Clinton years and current PRC satallite capability.
... The Bush administration has resisted the powerful aerospace lobby to restart space exports to China. The main reason is because of the continuing Chinese proliferation of advanced missile and nuclear weapons technology to Iran, Pakistan and North Korea. Loral CEO Bernard Schwartz backs the Kerry campaign. Since 2000, Schwartz has donated over $4 million to Democrats including Kerry.

Kerry also has a secret relationship with Beijing. During the late 1990s, John Kerry traveled to Beijing on behalf of a firm associated with the Chinese military and today he does not want to talk about it. Yet the Massachusetts-based firm of Boston Capital and Technology openly advertised its connection to Sen. Kerry and also admitted selling advanced U.S. space technology to China. Boston Capital's Web site noted that the firm was "China Advisor to U.S. Senator's commercial agenda for China."

"Advised, assisted, and executed Minister level commercial agenda for U.S. Senator. Advanced Senator in China for all Minister level meetings, coordinated and acted as liaison to: The U.S. State Department, The U.S. Embassy in Beijing, The Department of Commerce, and all relevant Chinese authorities," states the Web site.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Super Hose || 09/04/2004 12:50:18 AM || Comments || Link || [2 views] Top|| File under:

#1  I'm more interested in what he was doing with the North Vietnamese in Paris. If he was in the Naval Reserve at the time, wouldn't meeting with the enemy during a time of war be a court martial offence?
Posted by: Classical_Liberal || 09/04/2004 15:49 Comments || Top||

#2  It sure would, in normal times. However, those were NOT normal times. I assume Nixon made a political decision to ignore this.
Posted by: Brett_the_Quarkian || 09/04/2004 15:55 Comments || Top||


Kerry fit to defend US against non-threatening foes
ScrappleFace
(2004-09-03) -- John Forbes Kerry, buoyed by his growing underdog status in the wake of the Republican convention, today said he is fit to command the nation's military because he has personally taken up arms to defend the United States against a nation that posed no threat.

"As a young man, I defended this country against the North Vietnamese communists who never posed a danger to America," said Mr. Kerry. "And when I'm president, I will defend the United States against all of the countries that do not threaten us--like North Korea, Iran and France."

On a front porch in rural Ohio last night, Mr. Kerry recalled his now famous 1971 Senate Foreign Relations Committee testimony which he began by posing the question: 'How do you ask a man to be the last man to die for a mistake?"

"I now know the answer to that question," said Mr. Kerry last night. "You ask a man to be the last man to die for a mistake by telling him you have been there. As commander-in-chief, I will never ask our military to do what I wouldn't do. But I can sincerely look a man in the eye and say, 'Soldier, I have rushed into combat for no good reason and now I want you to do the same'."

Mr. Kerry remembered testifying in 1971 that "there is nothing in South Vietnam which could happen that realistically threatens the United States of America."

"It's that record of defending America that entitles me to serve as your commander-in-chief," he said. "And as you kneel by the bedside to pray with your children, you'll thank the Almighty for placing President John Kerry as a protective hedge between your family and the many nations and organizations that pose no threat to your safety."
Posted by: Korora || 09/04/2004 12:04:56 AM || Comments || Link || [2 views] Top|| File under:


Bush's real strength
For an explanation of President Bush's enduring popularity, consider the horrible images from North Ossetia. Faced with men who can do such things, voters naturally prefer the President's religious certainties to his critics' sophistry. This is worth pointing out because, for many Britons, Mr Bush's standing must be utterly bewildering. If your chief source of news were the BBC, it would be incomprehensible that such a dolt could command majority support. Should he somehow win in November, the corporation will have a great deal of explaining to do. One thinks of the recent Iraq war, where BBC presenters kept telling us that allied troops were bogged down in a quagmire, that they faced a second Stalingrad and then, without a pause, that they were in Baghdad.

It is perhaps unfair to single out the Beeb. Plenty of other media in Britain, Europe and, indeed, America take the same view of Mr Bush. Yesterday's Independent, for example, did not confine its commentary to a leader and opinion column, but gave over its front page and several news pages to a rant by an American journalist rehearsing all the standard lines of attack on the 43rd president: that he is a Saudi pawn, a draft-dodger, a warmonger, an enemy of the poor, blah blah. Such newspapers are obviously entitled to their views. But how do they, or their readers, explain the opinion polls?

To understand Mr Bush's appeal, consider his keynote speech in New York. It was, we were told, inspired by FDR, but its central theme - "a safer world, a more hopeful America" - owed at least as much to Ronald Reagan. President Reagan, too, was written off by his domestic and foreign critics, portrayed by British cartoonists as a trigger-happy buffoon. Yet he was one of the greatest figures of the post-war era. Where detractors saw a simpleton, keener observers saw a simple patriot who never allowed himself to become distracted from his two big themes: small government at home, military resolve abroad. On both questions, he was right, and he carried his country behind him by the force of his infectious optimism. George W Bush understands this in his bones. Many years ago, when an interviewer put it to him that he was too dim to be president, he replied, with a twinkle in his eye: "That's what they said about Reagan."
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Fred || 09/04/2004 11:46:22 PM || Comments || Link || [3 views] Top|| File under:

#1  As the EuroTurdi Press Association makes an effort to rival Scrappleface in its news coverage, President Bush keeps his nose to the grindstone, and handles problems as they comes along. . .
Posted by: BigEd || 09/04/2004 0:31 Comments || Top||

#2  Connect the dots... I think it all tracks back to Gnat Lileks and Krispy Kreme, but that's just me.

The desperation is palpable... check out the Susie Estrogen story... if it

EVER GETS RELEASED FROM THE MOD HOLDING PEN.
Posted by: .com || 09/04/2004 1:44 Comments || Top||

#3  Yeah, yeah, yeah, I'm on the graveyard shift every night, clearing the pen, posting, commenting, snarking, nuttin' but a low-carb Mike's Lemonade to comfort me, and whaddiyagit for your troubles, hmmmmph, mutter mutter ... natter natter ...
Posted by: Steve White || 09/04/2004 2:22 Comments || Top||

#4  Lol! Work, work, work... Well, I appreciate it, see!
Posted by: .com || 09/04/2004 2:53 Comments || Top||

#5  On-topic, Allah identified this one line from Bush's speech which actually defines the Bush Doctrine in 8 words:

I believe in the transformational power of liberty.

Spot-on.
Posted by: .com || 09/04/2004 3:01 Comments || Top||

#6  And one more Small close tag should clear up that pesky wierdness in the posting window...
Posted by: .com || 09/04/2004 3:02 Comments || Top||

#7  .com tell me where I can get me one of them there laptop stands :p
Posted by: Sock Puppet of Doom || 09/04/2004 3:07 Comments || Top||

#8  It's got a certain charm, no? I just wonder how he can keep his fingers on the keyboard, what with all that bouncing around.

Hmmmm, mebbe I should try it - I'll bet it naturally mellows your posts, heh. I've noticed that I sometimes "blog angry"... prolly just need a break, relax a bit, focus my eyes on the horizon, breathe some fresh air.

SNSFW
Posted by: .com || 09/04/2004 3:24 Comments || Top||

#9  "Work, work, work..."thus spake Zathros(character from B5 tv series).
Posted by: Raptor || 09/04/2004 10:41 Comments || Top||


Africa: Subsaharan
Nigeria: Halliburton Names Officials in Bribery Scandal
What'd they submit? The phone book?
Following continued investigations on the alleged $180 million (about N25.2billion) bribery scandal over the Nigeria Liquefied Natural Gas (NLNG) Project, Halliburton yesterday submitted documents listing the names of Nigeria government officials involved in the scandal to a French judge in Paris. But in Abuja, the House of Representatives yesterday resolved that all companies linked with TSKJ and Halliburton in Nigeria should be excluded from new contracts pending conclusion of investigations on the matter.

In a bid to absolve itself of any criminal liability, Halliburton has submitted documents listing the names of Federal Government officials involved in the scandal to the French Judge presiding over the investigation in Paris yesterday. The documents that are in the form of hand written notes are bound to cause a lot of discomfort for both present and past government officials, as it details out the precise amounts set aside for each government functionary with the intent to bribe. Sources disclosed that the documents were submitted by executives of Halliburton to the French magistrate, Judge Renaud van Ruymbeke at 5 p.m. in Paris as part of efforts by the US oil service firm to cooperate with authorities investigating the bribery scandal. Halliburton has insisted on its innocence since investigations began last year by both the Securities and Exchange Commission of the US and French authorities, and has maintained that the alleged bribing of Nigerian officials occurred before its acquisition of Kellog Brown & Root (KBR). Halliburton has also instructed its representatives in Nigeria to submit the same documents to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFFC), which waded into the investigation in Nigeria last month.
Posted by: Fred || 09/04/2004 1:11:55 PM || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


UN Seeks Funding to Tackle Neglected Crisis of 1.6 Million Displaced in Uganda
Posted by: Fred || 09/04/2004 13:12 || Comments || Link || [2 views] Top|| File under:

#1  We will deal with funding Uganda as soon as we deal with funding the UN move from New York to Paris.
Posted by: badanov || 09/04/2004 13:16 Comments || Top||

#2  Two birds with one stone: Move the UN to Uganda!
Posted by: Robert Crawford || 09/04/2004 17:26 Comments || Top||


Burundi: UN Appeals for Urgent Funding As Refugees Pour Back Home
Posted by: Fred || 09/04/2004 13:06 || Comments || Link || [3 views] Top|| File under:


Home Front: Culture Wars
WND: Reagan film to challenge 'Fahrenheit 9/11'
Posted by: Super Hose || 09/04/2004 02:41 || Comments || Link || [4 views] Top|| File under:

#1  help plese. girlfren4doo is watch fairinhight911 and is believe this crap. is anyone have good links to show her? ima getiing pissed bout this.
Posted by: muck4doo || 09/04/2004 16:17 Comments || Top||

#2  Mucky, you could try this one:

http://www.davekopel.com/Terror/Fiftysix-Deceits-in-Fahrenheit-911.htm
Posted by: Dave D. || 09/04/2004 16:21 Comments || Top||

#3  does girlfren4doo eat meat?
Posted by: Frank G || 09/04/2004 16:24 Comments || Top||

#4  Zell Miller muck4doo to Chris Matthews Frank G: "I wish I was over there, where I could get a little closer up into your face."
Posted by: Zhang Fei || 09/04/2004 16:28 Comments || Top||

#5  girlfren4doo loves meat. i cant change her. im just have to accept what she is.. dave d thank you for em link. im goin have to stockpile these. she was piss me off so bad yesterday with her mike moore coments. we went to blockbuster and i grab em blue collar comedy tour and she was grab bowling for columbine. wasnt happy situation.
Posted by: muck4doo || 09/04/2004 16:38 Comments || Top||

#6  Mucky, Here is something from Northwestern U. http://www.chron.org/tools/viewart.php?artid=687

Poor darling. My husband thinks MM is funny. Sometimes we just have to love them despite whatever-it-is (as they do us. Of course, with us it is despite our perfection, right?) Good luck!
Posted by: trailing wife || 09/04/2004 16:50 Comments || Top||

#7  And a long article, with links, on Spinsanity http://www.spinsanity.org/columns/20040702.html

Girlfriend should like it, the authors are all Democrats who were active in progressive causes, until this work started taking up so much of their time.
Posted by: trailing wife || 09/04/2004 17:00 Comments || Top||

#8  see, ZF it was a valid question :-)

I would LOVE to meet Mucky up close and friendly, I think it would be a kick!
Posted by: Frank G || 09/04/2004 17:16 Comments || Top||

#9  Mucky---I checked out the special forces video put out by National Geographic yesterday at the video store. Would girlfren4doo go for that one?
Posted by: Alaska Paul || 09/04/2004 17:21 Comments || Top||

#10  I suggest that Ronnie Reagan go see the film so he can understand what his dad stood for.
Posted by: Capt America || 09/04/2004 23:17 Comments || Top||


Central Asia
Mighty neighbors press Kazakhs
It is said that President Nursultan Nazarbayev wakes up every day in Astana, his spanking new capital, and hears the growl of a Russian bear to the north and the roar of a Chinese tiger to the East. And these days, he frequently finds Uncle Sam at his front door holding an empty gasoline can. A sprawling expanse of steppes, mountains and deserts, this country extends from the eastern limits of Europe to the western border of China. It is four times the size of Texas but has just 15 million inhabitants, compared with the estimated 22 million in "the Lone Star State." Russia and China are interested in expanding their footholds in this oil-rich country, but Mr. Nazarbayev makes overtures to the United States and Europe to counterbalance his heftier neighbors.

Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Dan Darling || 09/04/2004 1:38:11 AM || Comments || Link || [3 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Good article, Dan (as usual). One nitpicky observation for its author ... the phrase "spanking new capital" implies that Astana is a brand-new city like Putrujaya or Brasilia. Actually, it's one of the oldest cities on the Kazakh steppes, dating back to the old Russian fort of Akmolinsk in the 1820s. Khruschev renamed it Tselinograd, "City of the Virgin Lands," (the name which, I'm told, most of the predominantly Slavic locals still prefer). In the Nineties, the name regressed to its original Kazakh root, Aqmola (White Cemetary). Aqmola became Kazakhstan's new capital city in '97 (replacing the overcrowded and hellishly polluted Almaty) and was renamed Astana ("Capital"). Once Pres. Nazarbayev dies, I'd put my money on it becoming "Nazarbayevabad" or some such thing, but I digress.

Hey, while I'm rambling, the Kazakh Soviet Republic's original capital was the town of Orenburg in the Urals, but the northwestern hinterlands (including Orenburg) were later transferred to Russia, and the capital was moved to a city further south. This city, Ak Mechet (White Mosque), was given the more politically correct name Qyzylorda (something like "Red Nation", I forget). Qyzylorda kept its new name even after the capital was moved again in the late twenties to Kazakhstan's biggest city. Previously called Vernyy (Faithful), its later name Alma-Ata (Father of Apples) was "Kazakhified" into Almaty after the '91 Soviet disunion.
Posted by: Another Dan || 09/04/2004 3:23 Comments || Top||

#2  Another Dan: Aqmola became Kazakhstan's new capital city in '97 (replacing the overcrowded and hellishly polluted Almaty) and was renamed Astana ("Capital").

There's a story that the capital was moved from Almaty (near the Chinese border) to Aqmola after Nazarbayev came back from a visit with his Chinese neighbors. They had apparently proposed significant territorial adjustments in China's favor. Kirghizstan caved in to Chinese territorial demands about a year ago.
Posted by: Zhang Fei || 09/04/2004 4:44 Comments || Top||



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Sat 2004-09-04
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Fri 2004-09-03
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Thu 2004-09-02
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Wed 2004-09-01
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Tue 2004-08-31
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