Saturday, October 29, 2005

It was Barzini all along...



DON CORLEONE
"Tattaglia is a pimp. He could never have outfought Santino. But I wasn't sure until this day. No, it was Barzini all along."


Unlike The Godfather, the truth beneath the Libby/Plame mystery only deepens. What are we hearing from our friends, day in and day out? Libby was too smart to have left notes in his file and then perjure himself with Fitzgerald... there's a deeper game here... It goes up the food chain.

Everyone believes that it was a hit job. An assassination from on high. Cheney did it. He leaked her name, and Libby is taking the blame. For the life of me, I can't understand how you jump to this conclusion.

One thing I've learned is that speculation is a game. It sells papers, ads and make people look smart. But, speculation is short term. Let's see how this plays out. I have all the conjecture, I just don't have all the facts.

Neither do you.

What I'm watching on TV...


Not a day goes by that I do not pass a billboard for Larry David's HBO show, Curb Your Enthusiasm. I'm sure you've seen one, too. His show is perhaps the wildest comedic recording of truth in motion that's been on television in years. Maybe a little close to The Honeymooners, but, exposing the true heart of a brilliant mind excuses any overlap.

Victor Davis Hanson: Sleepwalking Through the Revolution


You can see the list of dead soldiers as compiled by The New York Times here. Not one of us can escape the heavy heart brought on by our brave fallen soldiers and their ultimate sacrifice for our country. In our deliberations on President Bush's call for Democracy in the Middle East, we can all bow our heads, respecting our fallen children... no matter where we stand in our Great Debate...

Victor Davis Hanson has written a passionate and thoughtful piece outlining his belief that now is the time for President Bush to assert himself and refresh the perception of what is being accomplished by our military in this harsh region of the world:


"...We have been sleepwalking through the greatest revolutionary movement in the history of the Middle East, as the U.S. military is quietly empowering the once-despised Kurds and Shiites - and along with them women and the other formerly dispossessed of Iraq. In short, the U.S. Marine Corps has done more for global freedom and social justice in two years than has every U.N. peacekeeping mission since the inception of that now-corrupt organization..."

"...The odd thing is that so far the conventional advice to the president - keep the discussion on Iraq only to U.S. national security, not the upheaval of the existing corrupt order; reach out to the Democratic Senate; curb your idealistic rhetoric with Syria or Iran; ignore shrill enemies; nominate someone that the opposition will not seriously object to - has only emboldened critics here and abroad. It is time to go back on the offensive, both for the idealistic legacy of the Bush presidency and the immediate future of his ideas in the upcoming 2006 elections. The American people, both pro and con, are more than ready for a great debate to settle these issues one way or another."

Powerful, thoughtful and passionate. Read the whole thing.

Monday, October 24, 2005

Hey, I'm sane, again... No, wait, I'm insane...


I get mail...

Anonymous said... "I just read your 'I seem sane' post, and find it fascinating how you fall into the same traps that you state your respondant fell into..."

Thanks for your comment... While I don't really want to respond to your remarks point by point I can't keep myself from jotting down a few off the cuff reactions...

I will say that the Left does a fine job of defining the Right as the FAR RIGHT. I don't think I have to regurgitate those differences for your benefit. By the way, my entire point is about imbalance in perception. My remarks regarding the Right were basically a couple or 3 examples of what Conservatives would like... de-fund the Left, impose balance on union political spending, and reduce Pork [at the word "PORK" I hyperlinked to this: http://truthlaidbear.com/porkbusters.php ]. They take on everybody there equally for PORK.

Conservatives dislike the bizarre spending of the Bush White House and Congress as you'll see if you take this next link to the National Review online blog... VERY annoyed with Bush over MANY things...some I agree with, others, I don't...just like a real person... http://corner.nationalreview.com/ READ them regularly for balance... I read plenty of so-called LEFT leaning sites...
I similarly hyperlink to this: http://www.slate.com/?id=2126913&nav=tap2/ which I mention in passing since as you seem to have ignored my "not every Lefty is a LEFTIST" introduction, you may have skipped this link as well...

We all seem to know who the bogeymen from the RIGHT are... you need to see a few from the other neighborhood.

Finally, I think you are way too anxious to find fault with my remarks and have failed to review them as thoughtfully as you think you did. For example you quote me as saying that the Left is "spend, spend, spend... etc." when I say no such thing. Other than mentioning the Leftist penchant for supporting extremist groups without checking their backgrounds see this link again: http://www.slate.com/?id=2126913&nav=tap2/, my only specific remark about the Left is regarding the reaction to Katrina and the lack of horror at the 35,000 deaths [see this link: http://www.earth-policy.org/Updates/Update29.htm] in one month from a European heatwave. I was in Europe at the time and recall the complete lack of concern for those deaths on either side of the Atlantic.

Which DO you remember, by the way, the hurricane hysteria or the genocidal heatwave?

Look again, check out the links and remember, it's my opinion of what I experience and that's all I'm writing about.
Clearly, the extremes of all political stripes get way too much attention.

Finally, exactly what do you think of Barbecue? Some folks think it's just Pork. Others include Beef, Poultry, Game and Vegetables. Where do you come out?