Wednesday, November 30, 2005

Taxing His Supporters

All I can say is thank God Fernando Ferrer didn’t get elected mayor. In case you missed it Ferrer has reached out to his supporters asking for more contributions to help pay his campaign debts.

How was he expecting to run New York City’s budget when he couldn’t properly manage his campaign finances? Typical New York City democrat for over spending and then counting on taxes, in this case contributions, to get them out of the hole.

Patting Me on the Back

No sooner did I write on this Blog and in my article for the New York Young Republican Record that the government should forget their attacks on the oil industry and instead focus on the cable industry, does the new FCC Chairman, Kevin Martin, recommend that cable companies look toward an “a la carte” format.

I’ve been complaining for sometime about the higher then inflation growth of cable bills and the cable companies constantly forcing the consumer to pay for channels that they don’t want. The argument that a number of cable channels wouldn’t survive if it weren’t for cable companies forcing us to buy them doesn’t hold in our free market society.

Finally there is also the issue that conservatives at the Parents Television Council bring up, that God loving moral people shouldn’t have to subsidize immoral stations that they don’t believe in. Though the cable companies claim parents could block those stations out, those parents are still paying for it, which they don’t want to do. Why should they have to pay for that smut of a station MTV, whether they can block it out or not?

Price each station based on its supply and demand and call it a day!

Tuesday, November 29, 2005

Warner Grants Clemency

VA Governor Warner granted clemency today to Robin Lovitt who was accused of murdering someone with scissors during a pool hall robbery. Warner has gone ahead with 11 other executions before. It just happens to be a coincidence that once his name has been mentioned in running for 2008 president that he does this. I think it is obvious to all of us that he didn't want to be the governor to go ahead with the 1,000th death by capital punishment and be the face of what the left are sure use as more baseless attacks against President Bush and the Republicans. Is this a great case of licking your finger and putting it up in the air to see which way the wind is blowing or what?!?!?!

Smoot Schumer

Is Chuck Schumer kidding? How is this guy the Senator for the financial capital of the world? His call for a 27.5% tariff on goods coming in from China is ridiculous. Somebody needs to inform Schumer that the theory of Mercantilism was proven a failure over a century ago. Schumer’s consistent attempt to get China to revalue its currency to depreciate the dollar in hopes of lowering our trade deficit is a mistake.

First if a weak currency were a good thing, Argentina would be a world super power by now.

Second trade deficits have never been proven bad. Further if trade surpluses were a great thing, Japan would be the world’s greatest economic power and would have not been in a recession for the last decade.

Finally I find it ironic that Schumer as a Democrat is fighting the idea of a strong dollar when his beloved former President, Bill Clinton spent day and night fighting for a strong dollar, because Clinton new a strong dollar leads to cheaper imports and increased consumption for our economy.

Monday, November 28, 2005

How are we even having this conversation about Iraq?

Recently we have all read from various leaders in our Government for the removal of U.S troops from Iraq despite the country not being able to defend itself against the current insurgency.

I ask who will be held responsible if the President listens to these officials who are simply playing to the emotions of the public at the expense of our future security. Pulling out now or even within the next several years will only give Al-Qaeda an opportunity to plot our destruction in a new home like they did in Afghanistan after leaving Sudan.

How has the people of this great nation, who have since its founding recognized, understood and most of all had the stomach to go through with the Revolutionary War, Civil War, War of 1812, Spanish American War, World War I, World War II, the Annexation of Hawaii, the Clod War and so on, allowed themselves to become so docile and naive to think that such difficult events do not need to occur to keep the world and our nation safe. Yes we will take out lumps, all nations do, but to survive and thrive we must continue to recognize that certain actions must be taken if we are to be certain of our safety. We cannot just hope a possible threat won’t materialize as we did during the 1990’s with Bin Laden out of fear of what people might think (thank you George Tenet) if we go on the offensive. We must move forward at all times not taking anything for granted when it comes to a potential threat.

It seems despite the waistlines of the American public getting wider it’s not making their stomachs any stronger.

Wednesday, November 23, 2005

Weld Attends YR General Meeting

11/17/05 William Weld, recent Governor from Massachusetts, attended November's NYYRC's General meeting, shedding light onto his plan to run for New York State Governor in 2006 once Pataki steps down from office.

Throughout his candid talk, Weld was able to engage many YRs into his speech by sharing moments of his campaign experience from when he was volunteering at the age of 23 to battling Senator John Kerry for office.

"I took a lot of punches, but I also gave a lot of punches," Weld said smiling.

The YR crowd, of over the 90 people who attended the meeting, gave Weld a standing ovation as he said his final goodbye for the evening.

"I hope to be the spear point of the spear this coming 2006," Weld said.

Bush: Green Friendly

The Financial Times is reporting that yesterday the chairman of the White House’s Council on Environmental Quality reported that emissions of greenhouse gases from the US has unexpectedly fallen for the first time in more than a decade. The last time greenhouse gas emissions declined this much was during the early 1980’s.

So lets see, 1980’s Ronald Regan, 2000’s President Bush. 1990’s Bill Clinton the country saw a rise in emissions. I wonder what the left thinks of this little fact.

Tuesday, November 22, 2005

GRRRR!

You think with these connections I could get an XBOX 360!

Darn Microsoft!!!! It's all George Bush's fault!!!

New York GOP on the Fast Track

The 62 New York State Republican county chairmen are going to be making endorsements for Governor and U.S. Senate candidates on December 12, according to State Republican Chairman Stephen Minarik.

Seems a bit early out in front of the 2006 race, but there are many among us who have grumbled in the past about how the NYS GOP often finds itself behind the 8-Ball because it brings its candidates to the floor too late. And it's a justifiable grievance.

Just remember, this doesn't seal the winner's envelope for the party nomination. True enough, as an official endorsement from the Republican Party, it will have an impact as to who fights on and who drops out. But let's be honest. It's a bit of an open secret who the 62 state chairmen will line up behind in the end. Not that it makes a good excuse for lesser candidates looking for their shot, but that's the way the cookie bounces. If you have a candidate and you truly believe in him or her, then you stick with them, and you do it with pride. And that's that.

Monday, November 21, 2005

Alito on the Merits

Like with any Supreme Court nominee put forth by a Republican administration, the Democrats would have us believe that Judge Samuel Alito is another in a long line of conservative judges who would approach the Constitution with a paper shredder tucked under his arm. This article from Tech Central Station gives some insight into the true nature of Alito's decisions on some key Fourth Amendment issues. I encourage you to pass this on to anyone you know who opposes Alito's nomination.

Happy Thanksgiving!

I am going home (upstate NY) tomorrow until Sunday. I just wanted to wish everyone a happy & healthy Thanksgiving. I'm sure we will all be thankfull for the Broncos beating the Cowboys so the Giants have a shot at taking 1st place all for themselves.

--Mike--

Abu Musab al-Zarqawi - Dad?

The Elaph Arab media website reported on Sunday that Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the head of the al-Qaida in Iraq terror group, may have been killed in Iraq on Sunday afternoon when eight terrorists blew themselves up in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul.

The unconfirmed report claimed that the explosions occurred while coalition forces surrounded the house in which al-Zarqawi was hiding. American and Iraqi forces are looking into the report.

I found this report at the Jerusalem Post http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1132475588009&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull

Attack of the Celebrity Endorsements!

In case you missed it, actor Chevy Chase has indorsed Elliot Spitzer for Governor. Is Elliot Spitzer serious? Does he think Chevy Chase is someone who commands respect? Anyone who would vote for someone because Chevy Chase said so has some serious IQ issues and needs to be taken off the street before they hurt someone.

Saturday, November 19, 2005

Campaign Against the Critics

In response to John Murtha's press conference, a congresswoman from Ohio quoted a soldier in Iraq that said "Tell John Murtha that cowards cut & run, Marines stay the course".

It seems as if the Dems are going back to their usual "don't know to quit when you're ahead" mentality and are going to be losing any gains that they have been getting from 2000 deaths in Iraq, Hurricane Katrina, Harriet Miers, etc.

As part of his "campaign against the critics", Bush spoke to soliders stationed in South Korea and talked about some of his top generals in Iraq saying that we have to stay until we can competently train Iraqi soldiers.......Do you guys think to ease his criticism it might help if Bush help weekly or monthly press conferences with generals from Iraq so they can speak direcetly to the public?

Thursday, November 17, 2005

Pataki Fever

Who's got the fever?? :)

Check out Ben Smith's Politicker...


http://www.observer.com/thepoliticker/2005/11/pataki-08-fever-spreads.html

My Last Note on Korean Unification

No worries there. I like softball just as much as the next person.

The real X factor in regards to whether South Korea would accept the reintroduction of nuclear weapons on its territory is China. It is China that supposedly is steering North Korea toward the bargaining table with an eye toward nuclear disarmament. It is China's grand economic and strategic ambitions that sends a shudder down the spine of every nation in Asia, and it is China that motivates the strategic maneuvers of every player in that region, particularly the United States.

I believe that in the long term South Korea's acceptance or rejection of the bomb would be based on what position China is to threaten their nation. If the South truly wanted the bomb for themselves, they do have the technical know-how to make it happen. And North Korea has, sad to say, one of the largest natural stockpiles of raw uranium, so getting the ingredients wouldn't be that difficult.

Re: Is a Unified Korea Really in Our Best Interest?

Rick,

Good points. I forgot you wrote a book about North Korea. Which makes me wonder if I unknowingly just threw up a big softball for you.

I do disagree when it comes to the bomb. With it being such a prized asset these days, I don’t think South Korean would just give it up. Instead I think they would attempt to try and convince the world that they would be more responsible with it and keep it in their back pocket as a deterrent to their other Asian neighbors.

Re: Is a Unified Korea Really in Our Best Interest?

Peaceful Korean reunification has been a subject of well-thought debate within North & South Korea for a lot longer than we here in America realize. Since the early 1980s, when North Korean leader Kim Il Sung renounced violence as a method of reuniting with the South, baby steps have been made between the two nations toward that goal. With the death of the elder Kim in 1994, reunification efforts have been a bit topsy-turvy thanks to his son and successor Kim Jung Il, who is by all accounts at least two beers short of a six pack in the leadership department.

While any political move that involves North Korea should be viewed quite closely with a skeptical eye by the United States, I don’t believe we have as much to fear as Nick indicates in his previous entry. Recall if you will the predictions of how a reunited Germany would become an economic powerhouse after East & West came together in 1990. Well, here we are in 2005, and Germany continues to suffer from double-digit unemployment and an economy so stagnant that the German people literally cannot decide who best to lead them out of the doldrums.

Why were those predictions so off base? Because few accounted for the purely wretched conditions that existed in East Germany. Reunification in Germany, and on the Korean peninsula, means inheriting the bad with the good. And North Korea is so, so very bad. Famine is rampant, and we won’t know the full extent of the damage it has caused to the population until the walls come tumbling down, but we can expect the repercussions to the population as a whole to be devastating. Their infrastructure is based on 1960s-era public works projects that weren’t even that good in the 1960s. The North Korean military consumes rations on a rotating basis, which means that not even all of their soldiers eat every day.

When and if the two Koreas reunite, I wouldn’t count on the new Korea to continue its upward mobility in Asia the way that South Korea has on its own these past several years. What is likely to happen is a drag on the South’s economy that will force both the poor North and the moderately successful South to level out somewhere around mediocrity at least for the time being.

As far as the bomb is concerned, I’m not sure of the full context of Huntington’s quote as Nick lays it out but, as it sits here, frankly, I disagree. South Korea, which owes its military prowess and national security almost wholly to the United States, renounced nuclear weapons in their territory years ago. I find it hard to believe that they would accept their northern brethren to continue to possess the bomb on their behalf should reunification occur. And reunification is very unlikely to take place at all until North Korea straightens out its act on the world stage, and that will only happen once they also renounce the bomb.

Let us also not forget that the South would like reunification to ease the burden upon their northern brothers and sisters, but the North needs reunification if it is survive. With that sentiment in mind, I think we are more likely to see a more peaceful, more democratic Korean peninsula than a more militaristic one.

Is a Unified Korea Really in Our Best Interest?

This morning while in South Korea, President Bush supported the idea of a unified Korea but is that really a good idea for the national security of the United States? Do we need another China? A unified Korea would give both countries the missing parts they need to become a world superpower. North Korea currently has the fourth largest military force in the world and the nuclear weapons to go with it. South Korea has the 12th largest economy in the world as well as the 6th largest military force.

Combining these two countries would be a great merger and give both what they need, North Korea a real industry and South Korea, nuclear weapons. If people are wondering why South Korea really hasn’t been as dedicated to ridding the north of its WMD it’s because they don’t want them too.

In Samuel Huntington’s (editor of the Foreign Affairs, the publication of the Council on Foreign Relations) bestseller “The Clash of Civilizations and the Remaking of the World Order” a book I highly recommended and one you will not believe was written in 1995 after reading how relevant it is all today. In his book while discussing Clintons 1994 North Korea confrontation comments how:

“South Korea… viewed the bomb in relation to its regional interest. Many South Koreans saw a North Korean bomb as a Korean bomb, one which would never be used against other Koreans but could be used to defend Korean independence and interest against Japan and other potential threats.”

He goes on to point out:

“South Korean civilian officials and military officers explicitly looked forward to a united Korea having that capability. North Korea would suffer the expense and international obloquy of developing the bomb; South Korea would eventually inherit it; the combination of northern nuclear weapons and southern industrial prowess would enable a unified Korea to assume its appropriate role as a major actor on the East Asian scene.”


Thoughts?

Wednesday, November 16, 2005

Diddy Don't Do Campaign Finance Laws

Our friend Diddy (aka P. Diddy, aka Puff Daddy, aka Puffy akak Sean Combs) is in trouble with the Federal Elections Commission. (http://www.eonline.com/News/Items/0,1,17781,00.html?fdnews) The National Legal and Policy Center filed a complaint ove Diddy's Vote or Die/Citizen Change campaign during the 2004 presidential elections.
The Nov. 3rd complaint to the FEC, states, "Citizen Change purports to have conducted voter mobilization on a 'nonpartisan basis'." But, the complaint further states, Diddy and his group engaged in electioneering--alleging Citizen Change was determined to "get Bush's ass out of office" and vote in John Kerry.

The FEC has decided to review the accusations, althogh an FEC spokesman would not comment until an investigation is conducted and a decision had been reached.
The complaint also cites a Rolling Stone report on Diddy's appearance at the Rock the Vote Awards ceremony in February 2004, where he said, "We're going to get Bush's ass out of that office." It also quotes numerous reports on rallies, during which speakers allegedly "called for the election of Kerry and the defeat of Bush."
Now, I'm no Diddy fan, but this is one more stupid result of campaign finance. Let people spend their money to advocate what they want instead of being "non-partisan" so as to avoid doing the filings.

Here's Pataki's statement on Judge Silberman's Ruling

STATEMENT FROM GOVERNOR GEORGE E. PATAKI
"We are deeply troubled by today's ruling in the case brought by 12 sexual predators who are challenging the State's decision to civilly confine them because they represent a real danger to our children and our communities.

"Today's ruling creates special, new judge-made rights and protections for rapists, predators and pedophiles who are about to be released from prison into our communities. The court is granting convicted sexual predators more rights than law abiding New Yorkers. Without question, if this ruling is allowed to stand it would jeopardize the safety of our children and communities throughout the State. For those reasons, we will be appealing the decision.

"We have been fighting for years to protect our children and families from sexually violent predators because the evidence is clear -- many sexual predators pose a grave danger to society even after they have finished their sentences. For that reason, I have proposed legislation since 1998 -- legislation modeled after the laws of 16 other states and which has been upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court -- that would provide strong and clear-cut authority to confine sexual predators and avoid court challenges like this one. I commend the State Senate for passing this legislation each year.

"This legal quagmire would be avoided if this bill, which has bipartisan support, was put before the Assembly for a vote. With this one simple action the Assembly Majority could avoid these legal challenges and take a tremendous step forward in protecting New Yorkers from sexual predators.

"But make no mistake, if the Assembly Majority continues to refuse to do the right thing, I will do everything in my power to ensure that sexual predators remain off our streets and away from our children."

So let's start calling our state Assembly persons and get this bill passed. http://assembly.state.ny.us/

Judge Orders Governor Pataki to Free Sex Offenders

There's an article in the New York Daily News today - http://www.nydailynews.com (Judge to Gov: Spring Sickos) setting forth that Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Jacqueline Silbermann has ordered the Governor to release a dozen convicted sex fiends who were confined to mental hospitals by Gov. Pataki's Executive Order, even though they had finished serving their prison sentences.
The judge "ruled yesterday that Pataki broke the law, reasoning that although the perverts may be menaces to society, it doesn't necessarily make them crazy." Judge Silberman whet further: "the Court takes no issue with the State's belief that each of these men poses a danger to society." "However, even persons acquitted of violent crimes by reason of insanity may not be civilly committed to a mental hospital solely because they pose a danger to society," she added.

Now am I the only one who thinkks that sex offenders are "crazy" by definition? The article sets out what two of these guys did:
Johnny Torres -- brutally assaulted his ex-girlfriend in Brooklyn in 2004
Charles Brooks -- broke into an apartment in the Bronx in 1997 and sexually assaulted a 13-year-old girl
Predictably the NYCLU was overjoyed: "It's appropriate for the courts to step in to prevent politicians, including the governor, from seeking to circumvent the law," said Donna Lieberman, the executive director of the New York Civil Liberties Union.
Now we need to move on the Assembly to strengthen our laws and allow for this punishment for sexual predators.

Why It’s So Important Not To Ignore The City Council

With the election come and gone us on the Board of the NYYRC were perplexed and disappointed with the election losses of Pat Murphy, Joel Zinberg and Pat Russo.

Today we are about to feel the pain of a City Council completely run by Democrats even more as they are prepared to pass a bill that will allow unions to donate even more money to elections. Talk about securing your own seat! This is a city council that has no checks or balances and continues to pass the agenda of a few dozen people than the several million it represents.

This is a bill that nobody from the Mayor to the Campaign Finance Board agrees with and is fighting. I urge everyone to find and call your city council members office and voice your concern about conflict of interest this bill creates not to mention that there are those teachers, bus drivers and so on who might not want their hard earned dues going to that candidate.

Tuesday, November 15, 2005

Adam Smith’s Theory of Labor and Wages at Work

For those that don’t believe free markets work and that if it wasn’t for minimum wage the bottom half would never get a pay raise (Ted Kennedy) they should take a look at the phenomenon that is taking place in India and China.

It has just been announced that average pay rates in India have risen 11.5% and in China by 7.5%. Could it be that as more companies have moved into these countries they have been forced to raise their wages in order to attract workers?

This isn’t the first time we have seen this take place, it was only a little over a decade ago that people were crying about the exploitation of Hong Gong, Taiwan and South Korea. We don’t hear it anymore because those countries have moved on and are now considered developed nations thanks to free market capitalism.

It will only be a matter of time before India and China will become like South Korea and companies will be on the move for another destination to setup shop and make cheap goods leaving India and China richer and a new member of the developed club.

Monday, November 14, 2005

Poll #'s

In response to Bush's new "all time low" poll numbers, Ken Mehleman said "If those were my poll numbers, I would fire my pollster".

Sounds good to me!

Re: Something to Think About

I share some of Nick's concerns. I think the root of the problem can be found in a culture of instant gratification that is growing in America, brought on in part by technological advances. The result is that people grow less and less patient with wanting to see results. The media feeds into and off of this lack of patience and need for instant gratification and it needs to stop. We see the by-products of our impatience in our litigious society, elections incorrectly called on exit polls, and wars that people imagine are to be fought and won like a tv drama in an hour. The war in Iraq and the war on terrorism require a great deal of patience and we cannot begin to judge what the results will be after only a few years. If WWI and WWII and all the other struggles of past generations have taught us anything it is that patience and perseverance are virtues and they pay off. Despite the difficulties, I hope that we as Americans can learn to be more patient. I believe we will.

Re: Something to Think About

Nick, you bring up some interesting points upon reflection of the American public’s intestinal fortitude in these rocky modern times. However, I’m more optimistic in my view of what our country can handle. I don’t think what we are witnessing in the falloff of public support for the war in Iraq is a failure of the American people to “handle it,” so to speak. Ours is a nation made of people who possess a moral strength and character unlike any ever seen in history, and that strength has been demonstrated time and again under circumstances that have driven lesser societies into the ground.

No, if there can be one agent at fault for the perception, whether real or imagined, that we are spinning our wheels in Iraq, it is the media. Forgive me for being predictable and throwing another shot to the jaw of the Fourth Estate, but I believe that the reporting of this war is what is driving people’s opinions against it. Every story that comes out of Iraq, even if it starts off with good news, like the recent constitutional elections, generally ends with a “by the way” epilogue that details how many more Americans were killed in the desert today. Pundits from the left, the midleft, and the far left, scream louder than those of us with common sense, and have dominated the war argument for longer than I care to contemplate. And in this era of split-second soundbites, instant replays, and 500-channel televisions that fire off a relentless imagery barrage to anyone and everyone, those who scream loudest tend to get the most notice.

Which brings me to another point. The Bush administration does not have the best communications apparatus out there. With the war in Iraq being a central pivot point to the wider war against radical Islamic fundamentalism, you’d think that the president and his team could do a more consistent and credible job of communicating the reality of what is going on, rather than playing defense. Of course, the job also falls upon those of us who believe that America is doing the right thing to communicate the message as best we can. Even if it is just to one other person at a cocktail party.

Fundamentally, the America of today is not much different than the America that whole-heartedly supported the Normandy invasion or the soldiers who stormed Iwo Jima and Guadalcanal, two Pacific battles of World War II that made the American casualties sustained on D-Day look like a bad flu season. But at that time the message that the newsreels sent was broadcast with a mind toward victory. Now, the message is broadcast with a completely different and clearly less principled motive: if it bleeds, it leads.

If the majority of Americans that we are being told no longer support the war truly knew the progress that is being made in Iraq, if they could see through that prism of agenda-driven TV stars that purport to be journalists, then you would see attitudes change here at home very quickly. What needs to happen is that we need to seize control of the message. The truth, as always, is there. It just needs to be told.

Something to think about

Last night during a debate on the Iraq war and its justification I posed a question that I thought I would bring to this forum.

Taking into consideration how quickly the American publics stomach has turned on the Iraq War because of some short-term difficulties, does anyone think that American society today could handle a world war as it did during WWI and WWII? Could the American public handle a military operation like the invasion of Normandy, where we know thousands of lives will be lost in one day compared to the 2000 after two and a half years that has been lost in Iraq?

My take is they can’t which is the reason our government continues to struggle when it comes to making the difficult but necessary decisions needed to protect and grow our nation. Some of the most important political operations in U.S. history would have never been able to take place today based on the current publics sentiment. Operations like the annexation of Hawaii in 1917, which pretty much saved our buts in WWII and the Spanish American War, which paid the U.S. huge dividends during the Cold War I think would have never made it past the halls of Congress not to mention the UN if proposed today.

With today’s American public it’s know wonder we had inaction with Clinton on Bin Laden and massaging of information like we did with President Bush on Iraq.

I think people have to start realizing that though it’s 2005 and we would like to think that times have changed when it come to running a nation, in truth they haven’t and every nation has to still make the same types of decisions today as they did 100, 200 or 2000 years ago.

Cry Me A River

Doug Forrester is now blaming President Bush's recent low popularity for his loss to Jon Corzine last week for NJ gov. "If Bush's numbers were where they were a year ago, or even six months ago, I think we would have won on Tuesday," Forrester told the New Jersey Star-Ledger.

This strikes me as a bit infantile. Doug ran probably the best campaign he could, but it just wasn't good enough. Them's the breaks. Trying to slough off his loss by heaping blame on the president doesn't make him look better, and it surely won't curry any favor with Forrester's friends in the GOP.

I can't say what Forrester's future political plans are. Frankly, after losing a Senate race and a gubernatorial race, the people of New Jersey might have a few ideas of their own what Forrester's political future should be. But if he does want to continue his quest for public office, then he should do what we all must do when faced with defeat. Take your loss, take it like a man, and live to fight another day.

And don't blame the president. Everyone blames the president. Be original for Pete's sake.

Friday, November 11, 2005

Million Dollar Terrorists

Since Rita Cosby left Fox for MSNBC, I haven't caught her show. It goes up against Hannity & Colmes and if I'm going to be watching the news at 9pm, it's going to be Sean and that liberal guy married to Monica Crowley's sister. I'm sorry I missed it because she had Bruce Willis on, who is offering $1mm to any civilian who turns in bin Laden, al-Zawahiri or al-Zarqawi. K-Lo, on The Corner, has posted the transcribed interview and the photo of a soldier with a bloody little Iraqi girl they referenced.

Take a page from that script Warren Beatty, Michael Moore, George Clooney, Ben Affleck, etc., etc., etc. If Hollywood wants to stick its nose in politics, THIS is how they should be doing it.

So Tim, forget whatever disturbing performance art nonsense you're viewing. When is Bruce coming to speak to us????

Sure, I'm Horny-but does that make it Art?

Last night my friend Kimberly and I, on the urging of a loopy art-school friend of ours,reluctantly went to the Guggenheim museum to take in some performance art. Now that rather justly maligned term is to me another way to refer to the act of conning someone into underwriting bad pretentious entertainment or one's excuse for inappropiate behavior that I wish I hadn't been too drunk to employ in College. But hey, what the hell, oftentimes it's good for a laugh. And yes, you artsy types, I get it, I get the metaphors and I even think there is often a need for your nuttiness and God bless ya, keep it up!
Anyway, last night's performance (beware: nudity on link)- Seedbed was part of a seven night series where each night the ahem, artist "reenacts and interprets seminal performance works from her peers dating from the 60s and '70s." Seven Easy Pieces is dedicated to Susan Sontag. Perfect.

I can't do it justice: (from the program) My aids are the visitors to the gallery-in my seclusion, I can have private images of them, talk to myself about them: my fantasies about them can excite me, enthuse me to sustain-to resume- my private sexual activity. [For six hours!]

My impressions? Well, going in wasn't anticipating much, then became curious, curious,heard her voice, couldn't make out what she was saying, got closer, could hear clearly, became intrigued, interested, interested, interested, compelled, then a bit bored, had a cigarette, thought there would be nothing else, nothing new, got closer, curious, piqued, focused, interested, interested. Finished only marginally satisfied and mostly wanting more.

Our Party

To be honest, these people can say whatever they want about the current state of the GOP. One of our biggets assets in the 2006 elections could turn out to be the GOP being underestimated and the Dems getting complacent and continuing to let Dean run around with a bullhorn...........We've long been the party of plans & solutions instead of the party of complaints. As long as that stays true, there is nothing to worry about.

I read that Warner in VA rejected the offers to let Dean, Hillary (although her because its his future rival), and John Kerry come and campaign for him because he knew that they would just be an achilles heal rather than help. Hopefully those 3 show their true blue colors next fall and will turn off the centrists that they are trying to court.

Re: Pat Buchanan

An interesting point on the VA race, made by fellow "McLaughlin Group" alumnus, Fred Barnes, in yesterday's OpinionJournal:

"Democrats are heralding the Kaine victory as predictive of Democratic triumphs nationally in 2006 and 2008. This is nonsense. What's actually predictive are presidential races. They tell us what to expect in Virginia. In the last eight statewide campaigns, the party that won the White House lost the gubernatorial election in Virginia a year later.

President Bush's election in 2000 was followed by Democrat Mark Warner's victory for governor in 2001. And Mr. Kaine's election in 2005 came on the heels of Mr. Bush's re-election in 2004. What happened after Gov. Warner won? Republicans, not Democrats, prevailed in the 2002 midterm election. There's a pattern here, but it's not a partisan one."
He goes on to discuss that VA still wasn't a huge loss for the party since LG and AG went Republican. Just found this interesting b/c we all knew if the Dems won, they'd be out there saying it was all over for the Republicans, when in fact, it's just status quo. No pickups for us, but no real losses either.

Next November will be the big test and I don't think the Dems will be so triumphant as long as candidates remember -- as Rush always says -- when Conservatives run as Conservatives, they win.

btw, Dennis, what about a butterfly flapping its wings in Europe? (sorry, bad Monty Python reference)

RE: Pat Buchanan

Dennis I have to somewhat disagree with your comment that “people do not vote against someone because of party affiliation”. Patrick, Joel and Russo’s losses were a direct result of people not voting for someone because of party affiliation. I would bet that if you swapped the party for each candidate in those races the results would have been different and Patrick, Joel and Russo would have won as Democrats.

Yes in certain cases like Bloomberg people will vote for the person but overall they vote for the party. As my grandmother always says, “In my day we always voted Democrat, that’s just what we do”.

Pat Buchanan

I read the Buchanan article. A couple of points:

First, the commentary after the recent election on how the 2006 elections will be all Democrat and how the GOP is in a free fall is nothing short of bunk. Quick quiz: in 1993, after Bill Clinton entered office, who was voted in a Govcernor of VA and NJ - yep Republicans. How about in 1997? - If you said Republicans. you'd be right.

Now, surely in 2001, after Bush was elected and was in the midst of historic poll numbers the Republicans held on to the VA and NJ state houses, right? Nope, lost 'em both. And, predictably we lost them this year.

What does this mean for 2006? Not a darned thing. While in 1994, there was a revolution of sorts, in 1998, Dems picked up seats in Congress (despite Republican wins in 1997). Then, in 2002, after 2001 Demcratic victories in NJ and VA, the Republicans won big.

What does this mean? That the NJ ad VA elections mean slightly less to the election results next year than a butterfly flapping its wings in Africa does.

Moving on, do President's poll numbers spell doom, as Mr. Buchanan predicts? The answer again is, no. One, as I've said here before, in light of his poll numbers I woudl not advise the President to seek a third term. Other then that, I am unconcerned by the President's numbers, good or bad. Redistricting has made it very difficult to remove incumbants from office. Further, demographic shifts have basically solidified each party's hold on its base areas. Losing seats next year will be tough for either party.

As for the Senate, while there are some close races (PA, MT, OH & RI), even if we lose them all, we still have the majority. I don't, however, expect that we will lose all of the close races. In any event, the role fo the President and the GOP on these races shoudl not be overstated. people typically vote for their candidate. People do not vote against someone because of party affiliation.

Lastly, the GOP is in the process of cutting $54 billion of pork from the budget and has time to work to improve its image. The GOP is not dead as Buchanan suggests, and it should not advocate the anti-trade policies he advocates for in the article.

Honor Our Veterans


Today is Veteran's Day. If you know someone who has served in America's armed forces, be sure to thank them for their commitment to our great nation. And please take a moment to remember those who are serving now around the world, the men and women who have put themselves in harm's way so that we may continue to live free here at home.

To read the President's Veteran's Day Proclamation, click here.

Thursday, November 10, 2005

Any thoughts?

Has anyone read this article by Pat Buchanan? http://www.humaneventsonline.com/article.php?id=10210 Any thoughts?

Tax Cuts Work

In case anyone missed it the Treasury Department today announced that the budget deficit for October shrank to $47.2B from $57.3B a year ago due to strong receipts. The budget deficit for all of fiscal 2005 came in at a $318.5B, down from $412.8B the year before.

For you Democrats that means that by giving people back their hard earned money the IRS took in more money then they had before the tax cuts. I know it’s hard to believe and you just don’t have enough fingers and toes to figure out how the math works but Democrats just have to start trusting those that came to class on the day they were teaching Economics.

Happy Birthday

I think we should all take a moment to reflect and Thank God that the United States Marine Corps was founded 230 years ago today.

oohrah!

https://www.godaddy.com/gdshop/holiday/usmc/2005_playmovie.asp?isc=gdg1110&se=%2B

(thanks Rick for the link - good footage of some real heroes and lots of stuff getting blown up.)

Barbra Streisand is wrong

I am a firm believer in free speech, but I can't help but wish that some people would self censor and be quiet. For instance, Barbra Streisand. Here she goes again calling for the President to be impeached. She claims that this administration will go down as the worst in history and that they ignored the threats before 9/11. I beg to differ. Wasn't it her beloved Clinton administration that allowed Bin Laden to become so powerful? The 9/11 attacks were planned during his presidency. I think that this current administration may just be judged one of the best in history. We are at a turning point in this nation and in the world now. As we embark on the difficult battle against terrorism and radical islam, we need leaders that will stand up for democracy and freedom and not only defend it but prevent those that threaten it from ever mustering enough strength to challenge it. I think those, like Ms. Streisand, who would prefer to appease terrorists and only react to their attacks are naive. Did we learn nothing from European appeasement of Hitler? Are those that think democracy can never be a reality in the Middle East not patronising its people and underestimating them? I believe that all people when faced with a real option want to be free and self-govern. Is it not our duty as those who are free to lend a helping hand?

For those who want to read Barbra Streisand's latest misinformed rant: http://barbrastreisand.com/statements.html#ifnotnowwhen

Bush is Keeping Us Safe

Another Al-Qaeda attack and again in a country other than the US. I don’t want to bite my tongue (I’m knocking on any piece of wood I can find right now) but when is the media, anti-patriot act and just about everyone else going to give President Bush some credit for keeping us safe? It’s been four plus years now since 9/11 and we still have not been attacked. I have to believe it’s not because Al-Qaeda is holding back. From the looks of all their other bombings over the last four years, they’re taking their shots when they can.

Does sheetrock count as wood?

Governor Weld

So I see Governor Weld is stopping by our next General Meeting. What can we do to give him a big YR welcome?

Wednesday, November 09, 2005

Bloomberg for Gov??

A lot of people wonder why Bloomberg spent so much extra money on the election than he needed.......Sure he wanted to win by such a huge margin, but with an accident waiting to happen such as Ferrer running he could have won by a solid lead (i.e. 10-15pts) without spending nearly that much. Now Joe Bruno and others around the state haven't endorsed gubernatorial candidates because they are wondering what Bloomberg will do next....

Could Mayor Mike have just spent so much to flex his muscles and say "if I spent all this on a mayor race, imagine what I could spend on a statewide race!"

A Little Pick Me Up

"Hey [insert winning Democrat candidate's name], you just won the election! What are you going to do now?"

Perhaps plan a trip here.

Good fun for the whole family (and the donkey.)

I am shocked

I really thought Pat Russo, Pat Murphy and Joel Zinberg had a really good chance yesterday. I was out all day for Pat Russo and Mayor Bloomberg in Bay Ridge (6:30 am - 9:30 pm) and, by a margin of 2-1, everyone I talked to was voting for Pat. I really wish I could explain the results.
My gues is that it was a Bloomberg rout drag -- that his then-likley and eventual trouncing of Fereer depressed turnout from Republicans and hurt us on our down the line races. It really appears to have been a curse that Bloomberg was anticipated to win by so large a margin, becuase our voters thus stayed home and weren't there for the down the ticket races. Had it been close, our folks would have come for Bloomberg and stayed for the rest of the ticket.
Even still, I am shocked. The reactions I got while out for Pat and Pat (I made calls for Joel but didn't get out in the field) were pretty positive.
It's been tough, because I am so happy Mayor Bloomberg won, but I really wanted a city council seat or two extra to help the Mayor's agenda get through.

First off, congrats to our candidates

Today is an important day for our party. We have achieved an historic victory for Mayor Mike Bloomberg, one that is as much a vindication of the last four years as it is for the Republican values that have been so key to our Mayor's success: emphasis on personal responsibility, economic development, lowering crime and reforming our broken school system to better educate the future of the City. We should be proud of what we've accomplished and look forward to the hard work of governing this great City for the next four years -- four years in what will be, at least, a 16-year reign for our great party.

We should also be proud of our re-elected Republican City Councilman, James Oddo, Andrew Lanza, and my Councilman, Dennis Gallagher. Together they stand as a bulwark to liberalism and the impulses to fiscal recklessness. Staten Island's great Borough President Jim Molinaro also won an impressive victory, on the basis of his impressive record of accomplishment in the borough.

Lastly, we should hold our heads high in light of the City Council returns. While they may not have been everything we hoped for, our men and women fought the good fight and stood up for Republican values. I know that in this time of Thanksgiving, everyone joins me in thanking them for their service.

"And the dream lives on." These words, my friends, first said by Ronald Reagan on his first and only electoral loss, were echoed yesterday by Pat Russo, the Republican candidate for City Council in the 43rd District. While we fought the good fight yesterday, winning an historic victory for our Mayor, and made a lot of noise in the City Council races, we have work. Our Republican vision for this City is as important today as yesterday, and we must fight to make it a reality. Our hope for better schools, fiscally-sound and responsible government and a City Council that focuses on the economic development and growth did not die last night. We will build on what happened last night in the years to come, winning our fair share of seats on the Council and making Democratic Party victories all that more difficult in the process.

At the risk of excluding people, I wish to list the Candidates to which the club most associated, whether because they are from Manhattan, or because they reached out to us for the outer-boroughs and saw us as a vehicle to drive the Republican message of hope and prosperity home. If you see them on the street, thank them. They have fought the good fight, should stand proud no matter the ultimate outcome, and our party is better off for claiming them as members.
Sincerely,
Dennis Cariello
President

Michael R. Bloomberg for Mayor
Barry Popik for Manhattan Borough President
Phil Sica for Queens Borough President
John Carlino for New York City Council-2nd District, Manhattan
Patrick Murphy for New York City Council-4th District, Manhattan
Dr. Joel Zinberg for New York City Council-5th District, Manhattan
Josh Yablon for New York City Council-6th District, Manhattan
Michael Petelka for New York City Council-7th District, Manhattan
Will Brown for New York City Council-9th District, Manhattan
Raquel Lacomba Walker for New York City Council-20th District, Queens

Since lastnight, I've been interested in hearing your thoughts...

Now I say all this being a relative novice compared to you all in NYC politics...

The one thing the Russo, Zinberg, and Murphy campaigns all said was that they didn't have enough money to afford polling. Now with everyone of us seeming to think those races would be decided by a few points, they ended up losing 10 pts, 30pts, and 30pts respectively, do you think more emphasis and a real effort should have been made on polling?

I'm also saying this with no idea on how much it would actually cost. What I'm getting at is maybe sometime in August/September if they could have done just a basic poll to get a feel for how deep the water actually was than they would have been much more prepared for the home stretch. Intstead of spending money on all this extra campaign literature that most people throw in the garbage, maybe they could have gotten a clue where it would be more effective to hand out the already printed literature?? What does everyone think here??????

Tuesday, November 08, 2005

Re:Predictions II

Item: 2005 Elections spell bad news for Bush, Right-Wing Republicans
Think of all potential combinations of results and this will be the gist of tomorrow headlines and "analyses." They (today's elections) in fact mean...practically nothing for the national picture.

Virginia may mean something to George Allen's national ambitions, however. A Kilgore loss comes with a diminishment of the junior senator's prestige. Then again, a Kaine win along with an exiting Democrat governor with high approval ratings makes Allen's past victories all the more impressive.
(See, Professor Sabato? I can do this too.)

Re:Predictions

Item: Bloomberg Wins by 30%
Decides to govern as a conservative.

(I post this so when folks deride my contributions as inane, unfunny, and out of touch I'll assume they meant this one, and emerge with my feelings intact.)

Did he say don't Pardon.

Charlie Brown Schumer just held a press conference calling on President Bush not to pardon Libby. Hey Chuck where were you when your buddy Hillary’s husband Bubba pardoned pretty much every known felon. Lets take a look back. Some of the more controversial were drug trafficker Carlos Vignali, Susan McDougal and Marc Rich (a man that was listed on the Department of Justice Web Site as an international fugitive).

Here’s the full list.

ALLEN, VERLA JEAN, ALTIERE, NICHOLAS M., ALTSCHUL, BERNICE RUTH, ANDERSON, JOE, JR., ANDERSON, WILLIAM STERLING, AZIZKHANI, MANSOUR T., BABIN, CLEVELAND VICTOR, JR., BAGLEY, CHRIS HARMON, BANE, SCOTT LYNN, BARBER, THOMAS CLEVELAND, BARGON, PETTY ANN
BLAMPIED, DAVID ROSCOE, BORDERS, WILLIAM ARTHUR, JR., BOREL, ARTHUR DAVID, BOREL, DOUGLAS CHARLES, BRABHAM, GEORGE THOMAS, BRASWELL, ALMON GLENN, BROWDER, LEONARD, BROWN, DAVID STEVEN, BURLESON, DELORES CORYLENE, aka DELORES COX BURLESON, BUSTAMATE, JOHN H., CAMPBELL, MARY LOUISE, CANDELARIA, ELOIDA, CAPILI, DENNIS SOBREVINAS, CHAMBERS, DONNA DENISE, CHAPMAN, DOUBLAS EUGENE, CHAPMAN, RONALD KEITH, CHAVEZ, FRANCISCO LARIOS, CISNEROS, HENRY G., CLINTON, ROGER, COHN, STUART HARRIS, COOPER, DAVID MARC, COX, ERNEST HARLEY, JR., CROSS, JOHN F., JR., CUNNINGHAM, RICKEY LEE, DE LABIO, RICHARD ANTHONY, DEUTCH, JOHN, DOUGLAS, RICHARD, DOWNE, EDWARD REYNOLDS, DUDLEY, MARVIN DEAN, DUNCAN, LARRY LEE, FAIN, ROBERT CLINTON, FERNANDEZ, MARCOS ARCENIO, FERROUILLET, ALVAREZ, FUGAZY, WILLIAM DENIS, GEORGE, LLOYD REID, GOLDSTEIN, LOUIS, GORDON, RUBYE LEE, GREEN, PINCUS, HAMNDR, ROBERT IVEY, HANDLEY, SAMUEL PRICE, HANDLEY WOODIE RANDOLPH, HARMON, JAY HOUSTON, HEMMINGSON, JOHN, HERDLINGER, DAVID S., HUCKLEBERRY, DEBI RAE, JAMES, DONALD RAY, JOBE, STANELY PRUET JOHNSON, RUBEN H., JONES, LINDA, LAKE, JAMES HOWARD, LEWIS, JUNE LOUISE, LEWIS, SALIM BONNOR, LODWICK, JOHN LEIGHTON, LOPEZ, HILDEBRANDO, LUACES, JOSE JULIO, MANESS, JAMES TIMOTHY, MANNING, JAMES LOWELL, MARTIN, JOHN ROBERT, MARTINEZ, FRANK AYALA, MARTINEZ, SILVIA LETICIA BELTRAN, McCORMICK, JOHN FRANCIS, McDOUGAL, SUSAN H. MECHANIC, HOWARD LAWRENCE, MITCHELL, BROOK K., SR., MORISON, SAMUEL LORING, MORGAN, CHARLES WILFRED, II, NAZZARO, RICHARD ANTHONY, NOSENKO, CHARLENE ANN, OBERMEIER,, VERMON RAYMOND, OGALDE, MIGUELINA, OWEN, DAVID C., PALMER, ROBERT W.ROSS, ANNA LOUISE PERHOSKY, KELLI ANNE, PEZZOPANE, RICHARD H., PHILLIPS, ORVILLE REX, POLING, VINSON STEWART, JR., PROUSE, NORMAN LYLE, PRUITT, WILLIE H. H., JR., PURSLEY, DANNY MARTIN, SR., RAVENEL, CHARLES D., RAY, WILLIAM CLYDE, REGALADO, ALFREDO LUNA, RICAFORT, ILDEFONSO REYNES, RICH, MARC, RIDDLE HOWARD WINFIELD, RILEY, RICHARD WILSON, JR. ROBBINS, SAMUEL LEE, RODRIGUEZ, JOEL GONZALES, ROGERS, MICHAEL JAMES, RUST, GERALD GLEN, RUST, JERRI ANN, RUTHERFORD, BIETTYE JUNE, SANDS, GREGORY LEE, SCHWIMMER, ADOLPH, SERETTI, ALBERT A., JR., SHAW, PATRICIA CAMPBELL HEARST, SMITH, DENNIS JOSEPH SMITH, GERALD OWEN, SMITH, STEPHEN A., SPEAKE, JIMMIE LEE, STEWART, CHARLES BERNARD STEWART-ROLLINS, MARLENA FRANCISCA, SYMINGTON, JOHN FIFE, III, TANNEHILL, RICHARD LEE TENGALIA, NICHOLAS C., THOMAS, GARY ALLEN, TODD, LARRY WELDON, TREVINO, OLGA C. VAMVOUKLIS, IGNATIOUS, VAN DE WEERD, PATRICIA A., WADE, CHRISTOPHER V., WARMATH, BILL WAYNE, WATSON, JACK KENNETH, WEBB, DONNA LYNN, WELLS, DONALD WILLIAM, WENDT, ROBERT H., WILLIAMS, JACK L., WILLIAMS, KEVIN ARTHUR, WILLIAMS, ROBERT MICHAEL, WILSON, JIMMIE LEE, WINGATE, THELMA LOUISE, WOOD, MITCHELL, COUEY, WOOD, WARREN STANNARD, WORTHEY, DEWEY, YALE, RICK ALLEN, YASAK, JOSEPH A., YINGLING, WILLIAM STANLEY, YOUNG, PHILLIP DAVID, BERGER, BENJAMIN, BLACKLEY, RONALD HENDERSON BOLAN, BERT WAYNE, CAMARGO, GLORIA LIBIA, CAMPBELL, CHARLES F., CHANDLER, DAVID RONALD, CHIN, LAU CHING, CLARK, DONALD R., COFFMAN, LORETA DE-ANN, CURRY, DERRICK DESALUS, VELINDA, ELBAUM, JACOB, EANS, LINDA SUE, FISH, LORETTA SHARON, FRINK, ANTOINETTE M., GOLDSTEIN, DAVID, GREENFIELD, GERARD A., ISRAEL, JODIE E., JOHNSON, KIMBERLY, D. LANGSTON, BILLY THORNTON, JR., LUMPKIN, BELINDA LYNN, MACDONALD, PETER MANN, KELLIE ANN, NINEMIRE, PETER, PADMORE, HUGH RICARDO, PROSPERI, ARNOLD PAUL REYNOLDS, MELVIN J., RIVEIRO, PEDRO MIGUEL, RIVERS, DOROTHY, ROSENBERG, SUSAN STERN, KALMEN, STRINGFELLOW, CORY, VIGNALI, CARLOS ANIBEL, JR., WADDELL, III, THOMAS WILSON, WEINIG, HARVEY, WILLIS, KIM ALLEN

Man I'm exhausted!

TV and the VA Gov Race

I’ve been watching MSNBC all day and I’m starting to get the impression that they would just love to have Democrats win the VA race. You can feel them getting the scripts ready on how there is a backlash in America and Republicans are doomed in 2006. I really hope Kilgore pulls it out and kills their lead story tomorrow.

NJ/VA Gov Races

In NJ I think Corzine will win easily. I have family in NJ and I can tell you those people just can’t vote Republican. The old people in the state like my grandmother are still grateful for the New Deal and as she’s told me in the past. "I always voted Democrat, that’s just what we did in my day". Great granny, keep cashing that SS check. And the rest of the people in that state hate Bush, which means they’ll vote Corzine.

In VA it’s going to be close. I think it will go back to what I said last week. It will come down to whether or no the hard right come out and vote. If the hard right treat the election like they did in 2000 when they stayed home, then it won’t look good for Kilgore. If they treat it like 2004 and come out and vote (the reason Bush showed up at the last minute) then Republicans will pull it out. We’re just going to have to sit back and see if the hard right, with the Supreme Court picks decided, are still motivated to come out and vote.

Predictions, Part II

This is the way the Rickster's handicapping it for no other reason than gut feeling.

Kilgore in VA.
Corzine in NJ.
In California - Schwarzenegger will be moderately redeemed after 2 of his 4 proposals make it through. I'm thinking either Prop 74, the teacher tenure proposition, makes it, or Prop 75, the union political campaign funding proposition, but not both. After the states' unions spent krillions of dollars against the props, I find it virtually impossible to believe that union power would be so cleanly repudiated. I think Prop 76 on state spending restrictions is a winner, but the redistricting Proposition #77 is a toss-up.

In New York State - Prop 1 fails
Prop 2 fails

In NYC - Bloomberg wins by 20%
Charter revision 1 wins
Charter revision 2 fails

Mind you, these predictions do not reflect my personal views on these ballot initiatives, it's just the way I see it unfolding after several moments of reckless pondering.

Enjoy!

Predictions....

Exit polls aside, anyone want to put their thoughts/predictions out there for NJ/VA? I think we all know how the mayoral race will end up, but any news from the city council front? (yes, it's early still, but I know we'll be talking about this all day.)

Not to be a downer, but Messrs. 10 & 17, 7-8am is still too early for the buses to mobilize, the dead to vote, or for people to vote mulitple times...we've got good weather today too.....

My Early Morning Election Day Thoughts

Well as I always do on Election Day I went to my local polling station and voted early in the morning before I headed to work. The most shocking thing was that as I checked in at 8:00 am I was the 10th person in my district (58th) to vote. 10th!! An hour and a half into voting and I was only number 10!

If what appears to be happening in my station takes place across the rest of the city, Republicans have a good chance of stealing some seats in the council particularly Patrick, Joel and Russo. There is no doubt that both Democrats and Republicans will both stay home thinking Bloomberg has it in the bag but I think Democrats will stay home more. I will venture to guess in these situations when the result is basically known Republicans will come out more to vote for the sake of knowing it’s our patriotic duty giving us an edge in all the other races.

I still can’t believe I was only number 10!

Monday, November 07, 2005

Dumb

My one-word summary of last night's live West Wing debate.

Honestly, last night was the first "episode" I've ever watched in its entirety. I've tried to watch it once or twice before but just couldn't get into it.

I thought the concept was interesting but it was so FAKE, so contrived, overrehearsed, amateurish...I mean, who was the genius writer who took the script from the John Kerry Handbook of Debate and just changed a few words to fit the issue? I voted for it before I voted against it. Did anyone buy that in 2004? Give me a break!

What was with the "impromptu" walking away from the podium and Forrest Sawyer pretending to be surprised? And the audience shouting? Fake, fake, fake. I think last night was the first time in my life my eyes had rolled so far back in my head they were in danger of sticking.

Teri Hatcher crying in the middle of the street at the end of Desperate Housewives last night was more convincing.

Thoughts?

Election Eve - What's At Stake

Tomorrow New Yorkers march to the polls to choose who will be governing this town for the next four years. Mayor Michael Bloomberg stands to be solidly reelected in what could be the most stunning upset this town has seen in years. Consequently, our first duty is to make sure that happens by pulling the lever for Mayor Mike.

In the various city council districts, there are a number of Republicans looking to break the lock that the Democrats have with their 48-seat majority. Three city council races that are of pivotal consequence are:



All Young Republicans far and wide are urged to reach out to these campaigns and help push them over the top as we approach the final hours of this race. All are solid candidates and can bring a voice of reason and responsibility so sorely lacking in the New York City Council.

See you on the campaign trail!
And Vote REPUBLICAN on November 8th.

Paris is Burning, and even the French don't care

The characteristic aloofness of the French is on traumatic display after nearly two straight weeks of rioting by Muslim youths in scattered areas around the country. Thousands of automobiles have been burned, police have been attacked, and now someone has died. Yet it wasn't until yesterday that President Jacques Chirac made any public comment on the situation, promising stern punishments. Surely that doesn't mean a thing to France's Muslim population, which is Europe's largest. Now other European Muslims are becoming emboldened by France's complete lack of action, and unrest is starting to break out in other cities.

The French, and the Europeans in general, have no one to blame but themselves for allowing the radical Muslim problem to fester like an open sore for so many years. The signs of unrest among the Muslims have been obvious even from all the way across the Atlantic - a total refusal to assimilate into the indigenous European cultures, rejection of authority, threats, and, oh yes, those dozens of pesky terrorist attacks that keep waking all those placid Europeans from their afternoon siestas.

The question now is how willing are the French to clamp down on the rioters before they end up burning down half the country. If history is any guide, they'll have an answer to that just a couple of days after it is too late.

Friday, November 04, 2005

Happy Anniversary!!



November 4, 1980 was election day. Today is the 25th anniversary of the day Ronald Reagan sent Jimmy Carter into the ash heap of history.

RE: Bush Poll Numbers

This Tuesday will tell allot, as Virginians will be going to the polls to elect a new governor. Considering Virginia is one those clef states where north leans one way and the south the other, we’ll just see how motivated conservatives are to come out and vote.

First the NBA and now North Korea

Fox has an (unintentionally) hysterical piece on North Korea's suggestion (read: edict back up on pain of death) that women wear the traditional dresses and not pants. (http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,174552,00.html)

As the Joson Yeosung (Woman) magazine (whatever that is) stated "Keeping alive our dress style is a very important political issue to adhere to specific national cultural traditions at a time when the U.S. imperialists are maneuvering to spread the rotten bourgeois lifestyle inside North Korea."

Yes, those American dogs are spreading insurrection with their Dockers. Inciting rebellion one leg at a time.

The article also notes that "Early this year, the North also launched a social campaign against men with long hair, calling them unhygienic, anti-socialist fools." Funny, I thought we called the people with unhygenic people with long hair "Democrats"? You would think if Kim Jong Il woudl just sit down with them he'd realize they had a lot in common.

RE: Bush's Poll Numbers

While I agree with Nick in that the party could ill afford to do anything to make its voters want to stay home, the fact is that the new presidential candidate - be it Allen, Giuliani, or whomever - will be what attracts people to the polls. Conservative Christians stayed home in 2000 not because they were upset with the government, but because there was not outreach. If the Republican nominee reaches out to these folks and shows them he (or she) shares their concerns, they will come out.

In any event, none of this has anything to do with Bush's approval ratings.

"Che" Chavez

Standing in front of a six-story banner of revolutionary Ernesto "Che" Guevara, Hugo Chavez proclaimed:

"Only united can we defeat imperialism and bring our people a better life!”

Uh, Hugo isn’t putting your slimy socialist hands all over Cuba and throwing oil money around the rest of Lain America to influence it imperialism also?

Doh!

RE: Bush Poll Numbers

Dennis,

The problem for the party with the Presidents approval ratings, is that as we seen during the 2000 election, you don’t want to give the hard right (those 5 million evangelical Christians) an excuse to stay home. The reason Bush almost lost to Gore was because those conservatives felt disappointed in government after Clinton and decided not to vote putting a Bush Presidency in jeopardy. The 2004 landslide victory is because we were able to motivate those individuals to vote, mainly based on the fact that the next President would shape the next Supreme Court.

Going forward the Supreme Court is no longer an issue and based on the current issues facing the President and party it could be just the thing to make them stay home again.

Bush's Poll Numbers

Is anyone concerned about the President's poll numbers? Why are people making a big deal of this? It would be nice if they were higher, but is he running for a third term? Did the Constitution get amended last night or something? I have no doubt that a Democrat would be a third term attemtp from Bush. Thankfully, we'll be fielding Allen, McCain, Guiliani, Romney, Rice or Brownback.

On that note, who do you guys think will get the nod? What is the ticket for both sides next year. I personally am pulling for Cindy Sheehan's candidacy for the Dems . . .

Why did the White House Help Arlen Specter again?

The White House asked that Alito be confirmed before Congress goes home and so what does Sen. Specter (R-PA) do, but schedule the committee hearings in January. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/11/04/AR2005110400229.html?referrer=email

Why is it that the President fought so hard for him last year? I hope it wasn't because they thought Specter would return a favor.

Poor Mama Alito

Mama Alito is getting the treatment of Newt Gingrich's mom now. http://www.drudgereport.com/flash7.htm It's sad to see the press hound a a 90-year old woman because they think she's naïve enough to say things about her son that will get him into trouble.

I am reminded of the Saturday Night Live sketch with Chris Farley as Newt Gingrich pleading with his mom to "stop talking to the press."

Thursday, November 03, 2005

Shhh.....Can You Keep a Secret?

First off -- Nick, kudos to you on your response to George Packer. I started reading the article on that in the FT this morning but my eyes glazed over by the second paragraph. I was still grumbling over the article on the front page - "Evidence CIA has secret jails in Europe".

Oooh, "secret" jails. But not so secret that Human Rights Watch, a US lobby group, has found out about it. Well, thank goodness they have blown the lid off this big cover-up because I thought all al Qaida suspects and other assorted terrorists get to go to Club Gitmo to be tortured and demeaned in their cells with big arrows pointing to Mecca, eating their orange chicken and rice pilaf, reading library books and watching movies.

The supposed "strong evidence" to support this is "flight records of CIA aircraft transporting prisoners out of Afghanistan," reportedly to Poland and Romania. So? Where's the human rights violation here? Being taken to jail on a plane?? I don't know, because the article doesn't discuss that. It only speculates that if this is all being done in secret, then there's room for torture. You want torture? Tell me how many American servicemen some of these 'suspects' have killed or injured and tell me what the families of those Americans are going through. I don't think you need to speculate on that. But if you really want to speculate, why not think of how many American families we've spared from that torture because of all the captures we've made.

And if these jails have been kept secret, then maybe that's why it's been such a secret that one of bin Laden's top lieutenants escaped from the detention facility in Bagram. And why ABC reported on it yesterday (11/2), when the escape took place in July and has been public since July.

Somehow, that missed the front pages....sshhhh....

Why we went to War

Since New Yorker writer George Packer seems to be having trouble understanding the point of the Iraq War, I thought I would take a moment to help explain.

First lets be clear, the Iraq War was not about finding WMD but preventing it. Our current problem with North Korea and Iran and the handcuffs that those countries WMD programs have around our wrists shows the importance of eliminating Saddam before he could join the WMD club. Saddam with his invasion of Iran and Kuwait and financial support to terrorist bombers in Israel showed that he could no longer be given the benefit of the doubt and had to be eliminated while we still had the chance to set the battle field in our favor. Lets all be honest somebody was going to have to deal with either Saddam or his crazy sons sooner or later.

The second reason is the connection between Saddam and Al-Qaida that the left continues to ignore. It is safe to say by eliminating Saddam President Bush had cut off an almost certain destination for Al-Qaida as they fled Afghanistan. Even the 9-11 report (the pages the left somehow skipped) reported that Saddam had offered Iraq to Bin Laden when he was being kicked out of Sudan. Obviously Bin Laden passed on the offer ending up in Afghanistan instead where the Taliban would have been less obtrusive to his efforts. However that doesn’t mean under desperate times like being kicked out of Afghanistan, Bin Laden wouldn’t have ran to Iraq. President Bush’s immediate saber rattling on Iraq made Bin Laden think twice and the invasion of Iraq sealed off the country and left Bin Laden and his cronies to die or stay trapped in the mountains.

Further as we seen in Poland and Hungary during the cold war, destabilizing a country in a hostile region is a great way to spread democracy and put pressure on hostile neighbors. Because of such moves in Iraq and Lebanon, Syria is trapped and is starting to feel the walls caving in around them.

Finally, since the Roman Empire civilizations have had to deal with doing what is necessary to secure their fate and security. The left hates to study this important historical fact, which is why only the tuff has what it takes to run a country and secure a nation. Even if that means going to war against a hostile axis that is looking to rule the world – remember it was Bin Laden’s fatwa in 1998 where he said in order for them to stop their attacks on the west we must renounce our Christian ways and convert to Islam.

Mr. Packer we didn’t start this war as you and the left like to claim but recent history has shown when you ignore obvious threats as we did with Hitler all you are doing is giving them more time to put the battle field in their favor. President Bush has learned from the mistakes the world had made with Hitler and was not about to do another Munich or Yalta. That and more is what this war is about!

Libby pleads not guilty

No suprise here. http://apnews.myway.com/article/20051103/D8DL35785.html

It's Morning In America!


In response to last night's conversation at The Parlour, I just wanted to be the first to post this morning. I see Rick was not awake and coherent at 5am again today....

Wednesday, November 02, 2005

Here we go again....

5 Muslims were detained for praying at a Giants football game. The FBI took them in as a precautionary measure although the fantastic 5 turned out to not actually know that former Presidnet George H.W. Bush was in the stands (which is fair).

The quote from one of the guys named Sami Shaban is as follows: "I'm as American as apple pie and I'm sitting there and now I'm made to feel like I'm an outsider, for no reason other than I have a long beard or that I prayed,".

Buh-Bye

Aaron Brown, that greatest of prime time news stuffed shirts, is leaving CNN. Now all they have to do is get rid of Paul Begala, Jack Cafferty, James Carville, Anderson Cooper, Soledad O'Brien, Kyra Phillips, Carlos Watson, Dana Bash, Bob Franken, Jamie McIntyre, Jeanne Meserve, and Larry King, and you have yourself a network.

Governor William Weld to Address New York Young Republican Club at November 17, 2005 Meeting

As part of our forum for 2006 candidates, Governor Weld will be addressing the NYYRC at the 11/17/05 meeting (at the Harvard Club) and discussing his upcoming camapign for Governor of NY.

Note, the NYYRC does not take a stance in party primaries. We will be hosting the other Republican candidates for Governor, US Senate and for other state-wide and local offices in the coming months.

Dennis

Ronnie Earle and the Slippery Slope

One of the often used argument technique is the "slippery slope," raising the specter of doom and gloom if we start down a particular road. Ronnie Earle gets the award for the most imaginative project of horrible out comes. In his closing argument in the hearing on a motion to remove the appointed judge in Rep. Tom Delay's (R-TX) conspiracy case, because of his donations to Democrat causes, Earle said:

"Danger is that the argument being made by the defendant’s counsel … will turn us into the Shiites and the Kurds and the Sunnis — and will turn us into sectarian mobs — opposing each other because of our political affiliation … there’s no basis for that in the history of our country and we don’t need to start that history today."

"Judge Removed from Delay Case," Fox News, 11/02/05 (http://www.foxnews.com/printer_friendly_story/0,3566,174129,00.html)

I don't know where to begin - is he on drugs because he thinks that we will become "Shiites and the Kurds and the Sunnis" (presumably meaning that that the nation will split up along ethnic and religious lines) if a judge gets removed form a case because of perceived bias -- a case, by the way, in which the judge in question did not even bother to testify about his bias, presumably because he is biased - or is he being unintentionally hysterical when he suggests, without the hint of irony, that we shouldn't be "opposing each other because of our political affiliation"? Isn't that what this prosecution is all about anyway?

Dennis

This guy's still around!?

Just like that man in the H.P. Lovecraft story who keeps showing up at family gatherings because he doesn't know that he's dead, John Edwards continues to dazzle us with his complete lack of political acumen despite having been reduced to footnote status in American politics. Now he's calling out to his fans (yes, both of them) from his blog about the Alito Supreme Court nomination. "President Bush is making yet another divisive choice, nominating Judge Samuel Alito to the highest court in the land," Edwards has sanctimoniously noted.

Would you trust the opinion of a man who gave up his Senate seat in the midst of his first term to run for the White House with John Kerry? I didn't think so. Although, Edwards was sharp enough to note that Alito was a judge "in the mold of Justice Antonin Scalia."

We're countin' on it, John-Boy. Thanks for stoppin' by.

Liberals Come out Against Blacks


This may be old news, but I felt a post was necessary. Has anyone seen this quote from an article from the Washington Times today (Drudge has it):

Black Democratic leaders in Maryland say that racially tinged attacks against Lt. Gov. Michael S. Steele in his bid for the U.S. Senate are fair because he is a conservative Republican.

Such attacks against the first black man to win a statewide election in Maryland include pelting him with Oreo cookies during a campaign appearance, calling him an "Uncle Tom" and depicting him as a black-faced minstrel on a liberal Web log.


Operatives for the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee (DSCC) also obtained a copy of his credit report -- the only Republican candidate so targeted. But black Democrats say there is nothing wrong with "pointing out the obvious."

S.A. Miller, "Party Trumps Race for Steele Foes," Washington Times, 11/2/05 (http://washingtontimes.com/metro/20051101-104932-4054r.htm)

And then there's this gem from Milwaukee Journal Sentinal:

In losing a woman, the court with Alito would feature seven white men, one white woman and a black man, who deserves an asterisk because he arguably does not represent the views of mainstream black America

Editorial, "A Nomination that Will Divide," Milwaukee Jounral Sentinal, 10/31/05 (http://www.jsonline.com/news/editorials/oct05/367053.asp)

Then Michelle Malkin (at http://www.michellemalikin.com/) posts the "despicable photo that left-wing bigot blogger Steve Gilliard (proving that blacks can be vicious racists, too) published and only removed after conservative bloggers blew the whistle" (see photo above).

Now why is this acceptable behavior? Why hasn't the Democratic Black Caucus, the NAACP or anoyone else that purports to represent blacks said something about this? And why doesn't BIGMEDIA (networks, NY Times, Washington Post) cover it?

Dennis

Green Crash!

How ironic that the flagship of Greenpeace, The Rainbow Warrior, ran aground and struck a coral reef in a national marine park in the Philippines at a world heritage site.

I think the lesson that Greenpeace and the American public can take away from this unfortunate incident is that accidents happen. Whether it is running into protected coral reef or spilling oil it is generally not done maliciously and companies should be allowed to just simply financially pay to clean up their environmental accidents like Greenpeace is getting to do without having to be racked over the coals.

The Night Before Fitzmas

THE NIGHT BEFORE FITZMAS
By Dennis Cariello, With Apologies to Clement Clarke Moore

Twas the night before Fitzmas, and in light of the rumor,
Not a liberal was worried, not even Chuck Schumer.

The media was set, their stories all written,
In hope that our President would end up like Clinton.

The bloggers were happy, and they squealed with delight,
As visions of indictments danced through the night.

Pelosi in her 'kerchief, and Reid in his cap,
Were assured that he never could beat this rap.

When out from Justice there arose such a clatter,
The nation woke up to see what was the matter.

Away from their soaps the public did go,
No Montel, no Jerry, no cross-dressing hoes,

When what with my wondering eyes did I see,
But a prosecutor from the windy city.

With his mountains of paper, indictments and writs,
I knew in a flash that it must be St. Fitz.

More rapid he was, then the left thought he'd be,
Indicting just one, poor Scooter Libby.

Shocked was the left, by omissions that came,
They wanted blood, and shouted out names:

"Where's, Cheney? where's Condi? where's frog-marching Rove?
No Bush? no Bremer? No '06 treasure trove?

Not a top level charge? Not one big time score?
Who cares about Plame, Bush lied about the war!"

Then sad and upset, the left went to their work,
Still harboring feelings that St. Fitz was a jerk.

"This is a big deal, Libby's crime you see,"
Dean said "Dems won't stand to not punish perjury"

And so he moved on, the Prez left unharmed,
With votes on Alito and a left that's disarmed,

And the media exclaimed, as they wrote through the night,
"THIS FITZMAS SURE STUNK, AND ST. FITZ SURE DID BITE!

Tilting at Windmills Again

You have to give those wily Democrats credit for their resilience. Well, maybe you don't, but their craftiness is recognizable just the same. Consider their latest move to shut down the Senate in an attempt to spur completion of the investigation into the intelligence that underwrote our invasion of Iraq in 2003. They want to get this done in time for the 2006 midterm elections because they are banking on the results to be politically embarrassing to the President and the Republicans.

This procedural move was unnecessary at its best and downright infantile at its worst. The investigation has been moving forward diligently under the guidance of Intelligence Committee Chairman Pat Roberts of Kansas, and it will be completed in due course. Whether it contains the smoking gun that Dems are praying for each dawn before they climb back into their crypt, well, we'll just have to wait and see.

And don't be caught off guard by all this. It's no mistake that Harry Reid & Co. did this now. Look at what an absolute non-starter the Lewis Libby indictment has been. They hoped they were looking at the next Watergate here, but this case is shaping up to be a whole lot o' nothin'. The general public is really rather ambivalent over the whole affair, and the Dems have smashed their thumb with the hammer they were using to drive the final nail into Bush's political coffin.

They just have to try something...again...and again....ad nauseum.

Tuesday, November 01, 2005

Ferrer's Ad Campaign

I find it hysterical how Ferrer’s latest ad campaign is an attempt to get people to dislike Bloomberg for being connected to President Bush when my only problem with Bloomberg is that he spends his time separating his time from the President.

I guess for the New York City clueless the ad will work I just don’t believe there is that many people who don’t pay attention. Bloomberg is the only one not to go to the inauguration and has on countless times attacked the President on gun control and most recently John Roberts.

Ferrer is starting to show signs of desperation. Can we say worst defeat in political history?

New Pictures on the NYYRC Website

Check out the latest batch of photos from two recent Young Republican events: The October James Bond 007 Social and our second annual Halloween Party.

Both parties were well attended and are further proof that Young Republicans pretty much do have all the fun there is to be had.

Cheers!

You Know Your Pick Is a REALLY Good One When....

...the Demos not only resort to their childish name-calling tactics, but since they really can't come up with anything significantly substantial to complain about, they attempt to draw far-reaching similarities to hot topic issues of the day. (Which only makes them look really desperate and stupid.)

For example: Chuckie Schumer questioning whether Judge Alito would use his seat on the bench like Rosa Parks used her seat on the bus, or CNN's Kyra Phillips' interview yesterday with Reverend Joseph Lowery of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference and a friend of Rosa Parks, where the following exchange takes place:

PHILLIPS: Can you imagine Rosa Parks on the U.S. Supreme Court? Wouldn't that have been amazing?

LOWERY: It would have been amazing.


Me: I can't wait for the Bird Flu analogies.

Those Democrats Just Don't Get It!

I personally hope the Democrats decide to breakout the filibuster and prove they have learned nothing during the last election. The country is shifting along with a number of electoral votes every ten years to reflect a more conservative God and family loving country. Bush’s runaway victory in 04 was not a referendum on the Iraq War but a referendum on the Supreme Court, which is why 5 million extra Evangelical Christians came out to vote. If the Democrats want to make sure they don’t gain any ground in 06’ then they should continue to spit in the face of the right with their filibuster nonsense.

For a further look at my insight into this phenomenon check out my latest article in the Record “The Coming Fall of the Democrat Establishment.

http://www.nyyrc.com/record/NYYR_Record_October_2005.pdf