Delusions of Grandeur
Get a load of this exchange between the nauseating clown Katie Couric and her candidate from this past Sunday. Do note the rare burst of actual incredulity expressed by the unguarded Couric:

Kerry: [...] Do you know that the president just the other day, do you know what he said? He said he doesn't know if American will ever be safe. Well I do know that America will be safe, under my leadership -"

Couric: "But can you really, Senator, make the guarantee in all honesty -"

Kerry: "You bet, because we can win -"

Couric: "-- that America will be safe under all circumstances?"

Kerry: "Katie let me say this to you. We won World War II, we won the Cold War. We know we can do it if we put our minds to it. We haven't done a third of the things we need to do to win the war on terror."

Did you hear all of that, my Leftist buddies? That Lurch ---he's a real go-getter. He's gonna do all the things that Bush hasn't done because he knows that diplomacy and bending over for Jacques Chiraq and other Euro-wankers is the way to go. It is with their help alone that we will win the war against Islamofascist terror. And don't you know that they're all up for the challenge?

Most of all, though, John Kerry is going to bring us a new age of absolute safety from all terrorism. He can do it just like he can make the lame walk and medals reappear after he's thrown them away. The man has supernatural powers, which may come in handy in tough times like these.

I don't know where I read it recently, but you can be sure of this: asshole regimes like France's and Germany's may want to see Bushitler go down in flames, but they also know that his defeat would be the new hole in their infantile safety net. Because if John Kerry is as serious as he claims to be about recruiting them to our side in Iraq, they will no longer have the comfort of their excuses, but will be obligated to at least pretend to come to some understanding. It's the last fucking thing on Earth they want to have to do. Their populations are full of degenerates who will have nothing to do with Iraq ---and they won't tolerate any moves from their leaders to engage us. Then, all of the asshole anti-Bush/anti-war types here in Amerikkka will have to face the reality that their man was full of shit all along ---although I doubt they'd care because their only object was to be rid of the Chimperor, anyway.

Fuck 'em all.

An Important Observation
As Wretchard at the Belmont Club observes of the missing explosives (emphases mine):

The loss of the RDX is serious, but in the overall scheme of things, one of the least worries. But it provides indirect confirmation of the preemptive dispersal of war materiel by the Saddam regime while the US was trying to negotiate UN permission to topple him for six months, compounded by Turkey's refusal to allow the 4ID to attack south into the Sunni Triangle.

Damn straight. Don't forget that our friendly NATO ally Turkey used the run-up to the War for Iraq as an opportunity to see if they could extort some money and goods out of us in return for a northern front. They'll always be bastards in my book for this.

Although one may retrospectively find some fault with OIF order of battle, most of the damage had already been inflicted by the dilatory tactics of America's allies which allowed Saddam the time and space -- nearly half a year and undisturbed access to Syria -- necessary to prepare his resistance, transfer money abroad and disperse explosives (as confirmed first hand by reporters).

When it comes to acting in America's best interests, we do not have time to play games with and be obstructed by losers like France, Germany, Turkey, et al. They were the best friends Saddam ever had because they resisted our plans to liberate Iraq and begin the process of making over the Muslim Middle East. Why? Because they are, at bottom, parasites on the military protection and economic largesse we have long provided. These are ingrate cultures. And too many Frenchmen, Germans, and Russians were in league with Saddam because of the blood money getting handed out under the aegis of the UN.

No more global tests.

No "internationalists" in the White House.

Getting Deeper by the Hour
Mood:  don't ask
Here's what CNN.com is reporting at this hour (emphases mine):

The mystery surrounding the disappearance of 380 tons of powerful explosives from a storage depot in Iraq has taken a new twist, after a network embedded with the U.S. military during the invasion of Iraq reported that the material had already vanished by the time American troops arrived.

NBC News reported that on April 10, 2003, its crew was embedded with the U.S. Army's 101st Airborne Division when troops arrived at the Al Qaqaa storage facility south of Baghdad.

While the troops found large stockpiles of conventional explosives, they did not find HMX or RDX, the types of powerful explosives that reportedly went missing, according to NBC.

Now, keep in mind that Saddam wasn't supposed to be much of a threat and had no interest in working on nuclear weapons. Right? But the pansy-asses at the International Atomic Energy Agency must have thought the potential for an Iraqi nuclear capability was there because, well...keep reading.

Baghdad fell on April 9, 2003. According to NBC, troops from the 101st Airborne arrived the next day to find that the material was already gone.

Prior to the Iraq war, the high-grade explosives at Al Qaqaa had been under the control of IAEA inspectors because the material could be used as a component in a nuclear weapon, IAEA spokeswoman Melissa Fleming said. IAEA and other U.N. inspectors left the country in March 2003 before the fighting began on March 19.

Okay, so the IAEA and the UNiks had already taken off when we began Operation Iraqi Freedom. But before they did ---and as everyone knew--- Saddam was in possession of special explosives that were intended for use in nuclear bombs. Got that? There was at least a month for the Saddamites to break the seals on those caches at al-Qaqaa and abscond with the goods ---long before we could get there.

I very much need to kick someone's ass. Just anyone's will do. These pricks at the New York Times and their glory hole-tenders at the UN and IAEA want to be done with this Administration ---and they're pulling out all the stops.

This needs to be played right from my side and then this election will be wrapped up. Because no real American is going to put up with a bunch of fraudulent shit from these corrupt bastards. Their game will be exposed today.

Fuck you, Joe Lockhart.

Fuck you, John Kerry.

Fuck you, John Edwards.

Round These Parts, Neighbor, That's Called Steppin' on Your Own Dick
Via a commenter over at Little Green Footballs named Reggie, here's something about John Edwards' typically ill-informed comments made on Larry King Live last night, with respect to the 380 tons of high explosives that disappeared some 18 months ago from the Iraqi site of al-Qaqqa:

But even better in [Edwards'] appearance was the mind-boggling accusations that Saddam intended these stockpiles for terrorists (I thought there weren't any Iraq/terrorist connections) and that Bush passed on an opportunity to [get] Zarqawi out of northern Iraq before the invasion (I thought there weren't any terrorists there before we attracted them?)

Just so.

It is absurd enough that the New York Times should breathlessly rush this horseshit story of American military incompetence to its front page before it had the basic facts nailed down, but it's even worse that these clowns running on the Dhimmicratic ticket are so anxious to get elected that they would jump on the bandwagon, too, without vetting their accusations.

Are either of these jackasses going to apologize tomorrow for having accused the President and his military commanders of incompetence when they simply assumed that these 380 tons of explosives were taken on our watch?

Don't hold your breath.

Bill Clinton's Influence
Big Media's sure been talking up Bill Clinton's appearance at a Kerry rally in Philadelphia today. The idea is that his mere presence will be enough to move the Democratic base there and everywhere to go out and vote for Kerry. But isn't that condescending?

I was pleased to see that old Bill is up and around again. He looks great and I wish him the best of health. But how is his personal popularity transferrable to Kerry? I don't see that at all. All I saw was a political genius (and that's what Clinton is, notwithstanding my disrespect for his personal character and poor judgement in foreign policy) making a personal appearance at which John Kerry was incidental.

Bill Clinton certainly doesn't want to see Kerry win. His greatest desire is to see Hillary take her shot at the title in 2008. Who doubts that her candidacy would be a major part of Clinton's legacy?

Clinton cannot magically make people forget what a lame ass candidate Kerry really is, but I'll give Kerry political credit for using Clinton when Gore refused to. Of course, that's slightly hypocritical of me since it was Gore's refusal to disavow Clinton during the Impeachment that figured greatly into my own refusal to vote for him in 2000 but, as a political move, it's the smartest thing he can do.

So long as Clinton doesn't overshadow the poor bastard along the way.

Freelancing Lurch
If you'll recall from earlier this year, John Kerry claimed to have met with foreign leaders who were secretly pulling for his election. But he would not name them. Reports at the time cast great doubt on his claims, although that didn't keep the fucking liars who support Kerry from making excuses for him.

But it now appears that Kerry has also been lying about a meeting he claims he had with the members of the UN Security Council. Joel Mowbray of the Washington Times is reporting that

U.N. ambassadors from several nations are disputing assertions by Democratic presidential candidate Sen. John Kerry that he met for hours with all members of the U.N. Security Council just a week before voting in October 2002 to authorize the use of force in Iraq.

An investigation by The Washington Times reveals that while the candidate did talk for an unspecified period to at least a few members of the panel, no such meeting, as described by Mr. Kerry on a number of occasions over the past year, ever occurred.

At the second presidential debate earlier this month, Mr. Kerry said he was more attuned to international concerns on Iraq than President Bush, citing his meeting with the entire Security Council.

Why does Kerry have to lie all the time? I don't want a liar in the White House. Mowbray also cites another occasion when Kerry lied:

Speaking before the Council on Foreign Relations in New York in December 2003, Mr. Kerry explained that he understood the "real readiness" of the United Nations to "take this seriously" because he met "with the entire Security Council, and we spent a couple of hours talking about what they saw as the path to a united front in order to be able to deal with Saddam Hussein."

But of the five ambassadors on the Security Council in 2002 who were reached directly for comment, four said they had never met Mr. Kerry. The four also said that no one who worked for their countries' U.N. missions had met with Mr. Kerry either.

It couldn't be more obvious that not only is John Kerry a compulsive liar, but he values the opinion of foreign governments and diplomats more than the authority of this President.

It is also important to note, as Captain Ed at Captain's Quarters has, that

[...] the reality of his paltry and meaningless diplomacy also shows what a lightweight Kerry is on the world stage. He went to the UN to meet with diplomats about Iraq, and who did he choose? Singapore, Cameroon, and France: two countries that could have no earthly effect on enforcing the UN resolutions, and one that Saddam had bribed into submission. He didn't bother with Bulgaria, one of the nations that Bush convinced to support the liberation of Iraq and one with troops on the ground helping to support its democratization.

Sucking on old Jacques' pipe again, eh? What a surprise. Kerry's about as American as Dominique de Villepin.

(All emphases mine.)

A Surprise (to Me) Endorsement
The Austin American-Statesman endorsed the President's re-election today, which has to be something of a surprise to any local who's made it a habit to read that thing. I really haven't paid much attention to its editorials in a while, but I'm pleased to know that many thousands of liberal moonbats all over this town were at least momentarily pissed off this morning over their organic coffee and vegan muffins. Maybe my favorite line in their endorsement?

Though Kerry is an honorable man who knows firsthand the horrors of war, he is deluding himself if he thinks a different administration will change the outlook of a foe that doesn't make war on an individual administration, but on the West in general and the United States in particular.

An eminently shrewd rebuff to all of Kerry's inanities about fighting a "smarter" war with "real" allies.

Proxies (Cont'd)
I entitled a post from yesterday "Proxies" with the intention of following through with an observation at the back end of the linkage to the Slate article, but forgot to, I guess.

I meant to say, as I have seen mentioned in more than a few places now, that the prevalence of magnetic yellow ribbons and red, white & blue ribbons urging support of our troops that one sees on the backs of cars are, in a great many cases, actually proxies for stickers in support of President Bush. But with so much petty (and sometimes considerable) violence and vandalism being committed against Republicans and supporters of the Bush-Cheney ticket, it has been the wiser course to not bring undue attention to their property and vehicles. That is certainly the case here in Austin, Texas.

I don't doubt that the vandalism and violence has been going both ways, but the ratio of such incidents between the two parties clearly indicates that the Democratic Party and the Kerrion, in general, have become a bunch of thugs and brownshirts. They are very obviously the greater offenders in this. There's no question.

Thanks to the Gorebot for reintroducing that term into our nation's political discourse; it was needed.

What?! I Have to Follow the Rules?!
In another blow by the white power structure against the forlorn hopes of the Untermenschen, the 6th US Circuit Court of Appeals has overturned a lower court's ruling, saying that Dhimmicratic gristleheads do, in fact, have to vote in their own precincts. The court

ruled that a provisional ballot cast outside a voter's home precinct isn't valid, agreeing with Ohio Secretary of State Kenneth Blackwell. Federal law allows people to get provisional ballots if they are in the right jurisdiction. Blackwell, a Republican, defines that as a precinct, while Democrats say it's the voter's county.

Why would someone have trouble knowing where they're supposed to vote? It sounds to me like the Democrats just wanted to introduce the greater chance for fraud on the (correct) assumption that a Democrat is more likely to be a semi-literate mouth-breather who can be bused around the county, trying to cast a provisional ballot or two ---either out of ignorance or for a six-pack.

There've been several such stories in the past week or so, and it has jogged a small fact in the back of my mind that I picked up in college.

Most of us know that democracy is a Greek term, meaning the "rule of the people" or somesuch. But that isn't precisely right ---at least not as our Hellenophile Founding Fathers meant it. The demos (or deme) to which that term originally applied is not so much "people" as it is one's own home district. That would be your barrio, ward, or neighborhood, in modern terms.

The deme was the basic unit of political identity in Ancient Greece. It superseded old tribal identities and fostered a kind of local control and involvement in the politics of the city-state that had never really existed before. America's Founding Fathers recognized that this sort of thing was very conducive to the Federal structure that would emerge. That is why we have precincts and "places" in our local jurisdictions that guarantee that distinct entities like old neighborhoods are able to act or speak with unity in the rough and tumble of the larger scale political divisions, such as counties and states, to which they belong.

This is also why dumbasses who want to end the Electoral College in favor of pure numerical majorities should be ignored. Local entities must continue to exist with some kind of autonomy if minority rights are to be preserved.

Thus, it is important that state laws requiring that voters vote in the precincts in which they are registered be upheld. In ancient Greece, men would have to return to their own demes if they wanted to exercise their voting rights. How much simpler it is today with early and absentee voting. The very least we can do is respect the logic of voting where your stakes are claimed and where you expect to be represented at the local level.

Proxies
Mood:  happy
Here's a fun little "travelogue" thang by Richard Rushfield that I got from Slate. It is a day in the life of a guy wearing enemy colors on the other gang's turf. Good stuff.

I enter the faux-rustic Brentwood Country Mart, a collection of shops intended to look like an olde-time barnyard. On the central patio, I pass a woman who looks up from her gaggle of children to see me passing and exclaims, "Ick! God!" A group of teen skater boys waiting on line to buy the Mart's famed "Chicken Basket" discuss whether Bush will be removed from office by the time they turn 18, thus saving them from the draft. I sit down to eat. Dining nearby is a young girl who looks to be about 6-years-old; she gazes at my shirt with a look so forlorn, I expect to learn that Dick Cheney just stole her crayons. Her mother arrives and gives her a hug of consolation. The girl starts to talk, but I can only make out "Bush shirt," which she says to her mother as she points my way. The mother turns and glares, shaking her head at me. I start to wonder what sort of person I am to inflict this on a poor child.

Heh, heh. Rich liberals. Is there anything funnier?

Freak, Out
I'm glad I wasn't the only one who was disgusted and appalled at Lawrence O'Donnell's insane meltdown on Joe Scarborough's MSNBC program last night. O'Donnell was enraged at John O'Neill, spokesman for the Swift Boat Veterans, literally screaming "LIAR!" at him 20 or 30 times. What a fucking nutjob. Of course, old Patrick Buchanan, who was subbing for Scarborough, had no control over O'Donnell, but neither did O'Donnell have it over himself.

I don't know much about this "senior political analyst" for MSNBC except that he was a consultant to the Clintonistas' must-see wet dream known as The West Wing and that he appears sometimes with John McLaughlin on the latter's weekly shout-fest on PBS. But I do know that he should be removed from his job if he has that little civility and self-control. What's this fucking bastard going to do Election Night when his man is losing in a landslide? He'll probably pull his clothes off and shit on Tom Brokaw's desk.

Not at all incidentally, O'Donnell is just one of the many Big Media hacks who now routinely assert that the claims of the Swift Boat Veterans have been debunked. It is as inarguable with them as any fact of their lives. But the truth is that very little of what O'Neill and the others have said has even been addressed by Kerry, let alone disproven. And it is the lingering doubts about Kerry's truthfulness on this score that so enrages pieces of shit like Lawrence O'Donnell. They know that the Swifties have hurt Kerry and all they can think to do is lash out with the kind of emotional violence that was to be seen last night on the Scarborough show.

MSNBC needs to keep O'Donnell away from their studios until after the election. Lawrence O'Donnell, that is. Kelly O'Donnell can stay. In fact, I'd like to see her do a lot more reports, preferably in a muslin chemise on the floor before my fireplace.

Spitting on a Veteran?
Mood:  on fire
Courtesy of Professor Reynolds, here's a story at Milwaukee talk radio host Charlie Sykes' blog about Jerry Boyle, a local Republican candidate for Congress who was spit on at a recent debate appearance at Alverno College by, I would assume, a Kerry supporter. It seems that the man didn't like Boyle's answers and spit on him because, in addition to being a candidate for Congress, Boyle is also a major in the United States Marines who served his country in the War for Iraq. The following is part of a narrative provided to Sykes by a listener, Matt Lambert, who received it from one of Boyle's campaign aides (emphasis mine):

As Boyle was walking from the stage to the reception, a graduate student from UWM spit on Boyle as he passed by.

Boyle, restraining himself, went to the restroom to clean up let this incident go.

I, however, did not.

After seeing Jerry wipe the spit from his jacket, I asked him what was going on and asked the young man why he spit on him.

Although it was witnessed by several people (at least five) he denied it and approached me looking for a confrontation. He walked up to me and got right in my face.

I asked him why he spit on Jerry and he said he didn't but should have because Jerry didn't answer his question to his satisfaction.

He called me an imperialistic pig and said that I was a puppet for an imperialistic regime. I asked him if that was a new term he had just learned in school and that I was very proud of him for using it in a complete sentence.

There's no mention of this lousy pussy's name in Sykes' report (although the aide knew that he was a graduate student at UWM, which I guess is the Milwaukee campus of the University of Wisconsin), but that may be the only blessing this thing is likely to know, so long as it may.

I'd really like to know who this graduate student is so that I can help share his identity with everyone.

The thing about it is that deliberate acts like this really can't go unanswered.

You spit on a veteran in my presence and I'll fucking drop you. Doubt that? Find out. You'll get my knee bearing down on your sternum and as many punches as it takes to shatter your jaw and destroy your nose.

I'm through with bullshit, friends. If these degenerate commie assholes want to vandalize and steal from Republican campaign offices and commit fraud to steal this election and spit on men who served in war, then they ought to at least stand up and acknowledge what they've done. But this "graduate student"? He wouldn't even admit that he had spit on a man with whom he disagreed.

Cowards.

Catch I Am August Tomorrow Night
Be sure to check out the new Austin-based band I Am August at Antone's tomorrow night, Saturday, 23 October 2004.

As best I can tell, things start happening around 9 PM, but don't quote me on that. Go to the link for Antone's number to get the best info.

Oh, Well
As a Texan, I'm disappointed that the Astros couldn't get to the World Series, but I'm still very pleased for them that they were able to finally win a divisional playoff after 43 years on the job. They had a great run this year and should be proud of themselves.

I don't know who to root for now, though... If the Red Sox win the Series, people will take it as a good sign for Kerry.

So, GO CARDS!!!

(Boy, that was easy.)

Why Did Francona Put Pedro In?
What the hell is going on here? Derek Lowe was doing great. Why pull him and put Pedro Martinez in?! What a dumb move. An 8-1 lead is shrinking for no good reason.

A Quick Note Before I Go to Lunch
Say, Hanoi John, get a clue: the War for Iraq IS the War against Islamofascist Terrorism. Why do you not understand that? Did you happen to catch Zarqawi's latest message? He's down with Osama. And he's in Iraq. Get it? There are al-Qaedists fighting us in Iraq.

Those subhuman Submitters aren't fighting us here in America; they're fighting us in Iraq.

The only "profound diversion" facing America is the stupidity of your candidacy.

Dumbass.

Listen Up, Red Sox!
Mood:  energetic
Because of my weird work schedule, y'all have cost me a lot of sleep lately. It's not that I mind because coming back from an 0-3 start in the ALCS to tie it up has never happened before ---and I've been enjoying watching you do it and make history.

But you guys've gotta seal the deal tonight. You gotta beat those bums and break their spirits.

I'll be pulling for you because I hate the Yankees with a white-hot passion.

Just get it done.

Learn Or Be Burned
Mood:  on fire
As I read in the Kerry Spot at NRO, it looks like the advocates of voter dumbassery have lost their cases in Floriduh and Colorado. Jim Geraghty quotes a story in the Washington Times:

In a unanimous ruling in Florida, the seven justices of the state Supreme Court said the votes of residents who cast ballots at the wrong precincts do not have to be counted, upholding a state law that labor unions argued unconstitutionally deprived residents of the right to vote if they did not know their polling place.

In Colorado, a Denver district judge yesterday upheld a new state law requiring voters to show identification before they cast their ballots and also said residents' can vote only at their predetermined precinct.

Is there any fathoming these sorts of joke lawsuits? There's a Constitutional protection of not knowing what goddamned precinct you vote in?! What, you can't read the precinct number on your registration card? You don't know how to get to the polling site? THEN FUCKING ASK, JACKASS!!!

And then what was the objection to having to show identification to vote in Colorado? Who the fuck is opposed to that?! Is it even possible to have a legitimate reason to be opposed to that?

These fucking moron Democrats want to make Election Day as fucked up as they can imagine so as to lay a foundation ---if not in law, then in public opinion--- for all sorts of sorry tales of disenfranchisement and minority voter suppression. Just fuck off. If you can't figure out where you're supposed to go to cast your ballot, then you don't deserve the privilege. And unless you're an illegal fucking alien, what possible reason could you have for not showing your identification at the polls when you come and represent to your local jurisdiction that you are who you say you are?

Just fuck off.

Stop It Or I'll Tell Dad!
The paper tigers of Europe and the IAEA are sharpening their claws and pencils for some more of that productive diplomacy with Iran. As Reuters reports:

Senior diplomats from France, Britain and Germany will meet top Iranian officials in Vienna on Thursday to offer Tehran a final chance to halt uranium enrichment plans or face possible U.N. sanctions.

"What will be sought Thursday will be discussions about Iran's compliance -- not with any conditions laid down by the three of us but by the (International Atomic Energy Agency) board of governors," said British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw.

Why do these people think Iran is going to cooperate? Iran's government is a psychoto-Islamic theocracy that hates Jews, Americans, and all the other little satans. To get a nuke is high on their agenda because they see us at their doorstep and know that, if we don't act to stop them, the Israelis will.

But, while you consider that, enjoy this observation of Uncle Sam's role in this drama later on in the Reuters piece:

The United States has accused Iran of having a secret nuclear weapons program and has threatened to press for U.N. sanctions. Tehran says its nuclear efforts are only for power generation.

Very interesting. See how that works? The Europeans are negotiating with the mullahs based on some charge that the Great Satan has leveled ---and not because they themselves can see that Iran is up to no good. That's very trusting of them, considering how wrong we were about the whole weapons of mass murder thing in Iraq.

Oh, but France and Germany were wrong about it, too. It's just that we and the British were the ones who went in and made sure. And we're sure. Right?

Don't trust. Verify.

(Image courtesy of Eyeranian.net)

The UN's Girlfriend
Mood:  don't ask
Courtesy of the BeldarBlog, who writes about it here, have a look at this article in today's Washington Post. (Emphasis taken from Beldar.)

Kerry's belief in working with allies runs so deep that he has maintained that the loss of American life can be better justified if it occurs in the course of a mission with international support. In 1994, discussing the possibility of U.S. troops being killed in Bosnia, he said, "If you mean dying in the course of the United Nations effort, yes, it is worth that. If you mean dying American troops unilaterally going in with some false presumption that we can affect the outcome, the answer is unequivocally no."

What the fuck does this even mean? As Beldar puts it:

The simplest reading of this weird statement is that the cause an American soldier fights and dies for is worthwhile if -- but only if -- it's been duly blessed by the United Nations.

I'll say it again, ladies: if the President can't hang this sort of shit around Kerry's neck and watch him go to the bottom, he deserves to lose.

John Kerry puts more value on the United Nations and assholes governments like Chiraq's than he does on his own. He is a sell-out and a danger. His election would unquestionably be a victory for Islamofascism.

Don't let it happen.