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Monday, March 31, 2003Van Would Not Stop as Ordered, Seven Women and Children Killed U.S. troops killed seven Iraqi women and children at a checkpoint Monday when the Iraqis' van would not stop as ordered, a military official said. That's what happens during wartime unfortunately. If the van was packed with women, children, and explosives it would have been much more tragic. Moral of the story: when you see a checkpoint, STOP. Father Buckner on EWTN! Yet I know it's a bit late in coming, but on 26 March Father Buckner was on EWTN Live. For those of you who are not familiar with him, Fr. Buckner was the former rector of St. Mary Catholic Church in Fredericksburg, Virginia. One of his most notable achievements here in the area was his biannual trips to the Holy Land, taking anywhere from twenty to forty people/children at a time. You can take a look at the press release by clicking here, and until 05 April click on the RealPlayer webcast at the EWTN website. Geraldo Rivera gets kicked out by US military Matt Drudge is reporting that Geraldo is getting kicked out of Iraq for giving prospective military plans live on the air last night. If I watched the segment that the military is complaining about, he was literally drawing a map of the region in the sand and giving a series of details as to how the 3rd Infantry would cope given certain scenarios. Developing. . . UPDATE: Yep, I was right: DISHONORABLE DISCHARGE?: U.S. military to expel FOX NEWS CHANNEL's Geraldo Rivera from Iraq after violating rule, rival CNN claimed Monday morning, for giving away 'crucial details of future military operations during live broadcast'... Rivera drew a map in the sand indicating the position where the unit which he was embedded was located, where they were going... Members of the 101st Airborne Division will escort Rivera to the border with Kuwait, CNN said, quoting a Pentagon official... Geraldo Rivera said live on FOX this morning that he had not been expelled, and rival media outlets were spreading rumors... Developing... OPENING DAY! Ah yes. . . though the snow fell yesterday and the temperatures dropped, it means nothing at all. Because today my friends is opening day for Major League Baseball. Cleveland at Baltimore, 3:05pm. Sunday, March 30, 2003Iraqi civilians feed hungry US marines Nah, they aren't happy to see us. As troops munched on their feast, one medic warned the food could have been deliberately contaminated. Saturday, March 29, 2003No matter how bad it is, we will not all die If you want to read a good story on what the Iraqi people are living from day to day, here is a story from Assyrian Christian Ken Joseph Jr. with UPI that will definitely hit home: I wept with relatives whose son just screamed all day long. I cried with a relative who had lost his wife. Yet another left home every day for a "job" where he had nothing to do. Still another had lost a son Loooooong day folks Sorry there isn't much to post today. My trip down to Richmond to attend the State Central Committee was interesting to say the least. We approved the goals of the new State Strategic Plan without any details as to how they should be acheived, but this is more of a good thing rather than a bad one. The details get to be hammered out at a later meeting, and the lethargy that I was presented with at State Central was simply uninspiring. With any luck the implementation of the goals will be a more Unit Committee oriented adventure rather than a topheavy, fundraising mechanism to be imposed upon local units. Of course afterwards, there was a bad wreck going northbound on I-95, followed by freak rainstorms near Bowling Green. Seems as if the forecast for tommorow calls for 1 - 3 inches of snow with an additional inch by Monday. If I were a milleniarianist, I would wager that the end of the world is nigh. . . either way, we need to get back to regular seasons and away from freak snowstorms. Friday, March 28, 2003The cause of freedom is being well-served in Iraq Like most Fredericksburgers, I read the Letters to the Editor section as a matter of habit. Today, Lt. Colonel Bruce Gubser became my new hero: I am an American soldier. I swore to defend my country against all enemies, foreign and domestic. Roberts has the right to disagree with the things that I am ordered to do, but remember that he has that right because of people like me. EXACTLY. Thank you Lt. Col. Gubser, it's about time someone with rank said something like this. Who's the brains of this outfit anyhow? In one more piece that continues to show how right I was about Blair being the real mastermind behind the coalition of the willing, the New York Times has this article on the demeanor of yesterday's press conference at Camp David: Side by side, American presidents and British prime ministers can seem divided by a common language. But perhaps because of the import of the moment, the two leaders' televised news conference presented more than just a contrast in styles. Mr. Blair, usually cast as the stalwart junior partner, took over like Cyrano de Bergerac, embellishing Mr. Bush's brusque utterances to woo a skeptical world. How the Pentagon's promise of a quick war ran into the desert sand The UK Guardian reports on the internal struggles the Defense Department is having between 3rd Generational Warfare and the newer, more modern 4th Generational Warfare. For a little bit of background, 3rd Gen warfare is a concept built on having the most guys with the biggest guns and relentless firepower. General Grant could probably be outlined as one of the first field commanders to fully use 3rd Gen warfare to its fullest extent. In today's military where information is key and guerilla warfare is prevalent, speed and finesse are seen as the essential keys to victory, following in the footsteps of Forrest and Patton. American victory in Afghanistan seemed to vindicate the theories of 4th Gen warfare where "shock and awe" and disorientation were seen as key. What is happening in Iraq now is a contrast between the older theories that were employed during the First Persian Gulf War and the newer theories being applied today. Our lines are overextended to the point where guerrilla tactics are having an effect, and in a political situation where American or civilian casualities are unacceptable, 4th Gen warfare is being exposed to its first true firefight. The fear now is that supporters of 4th Gen warfare such as Rumsfeld will push forward to Baghdad and overextend the lines even further. If the risk of wearing out the US 3rd Infantry becomes tangible, and an Iraqi counteroffensive near Baghdad materializes without the US 4th Mech Inf to mop up what we left behind during this first week, there are fears that it could get bloody. American forces would turn to heavier weaponry from the air, and in a choice between Iraqi civilians and American soldiers, guess who gets the MOAB? Thursday, March 27, 20031 Corinthians 13:4-7 A reading from the Book of Street. Jonathan Street that is, as he ponders the meaning of the love discourse in 1 Corinthians. For those of you who are wondering, no I could not keep my trap shut, and yes I did toss in my two cents. It's good stuff! How could you not participate? ACPA Call for Papers on "Philosophy and Intercultural Understanding" Yes yes, the deadline for submission is 01 April 2003. Then again, what a great topic to write on! Get the Kids Involved U.S. and British forces are reporting back to their commanders that the Iraqis are impressing children into the army and threatening men with execution if they don't fight for Saddam. Where will the protest be for the children? Nah, I didn't expect the peacemongers to hold one either. Even Liberation Theology Supports the War! I'm no liberation theologian, but I couldn't help but laugh as I read this: While liberation theology does not encourage violence, it acknowledges the right of people to defend themselves against murderous repression. Uprisings by Kurds and Shi'ites in 1987-89 and in 1991 were put down in large-scale massacres, sometimes with chemical weapons. If they were to rise again, they would have the world's sympathy. Liberation theology would say that the Lord, who breaks the rod of the oppressor, was with them. But unaided rebellion would have no prospect of success, and our bystander sympathy, our distant indignation (if we even noticed) would not prevent it being crushed with great slaughter.... So what have we won in the Second Battle of Chancellorsville? The planned development on Mullins Farm was voted down 6 - 0 last night by the Spotsylvania Board of Supervisors, but now the real question comes as to whether or not Mullins will build on the land by-right or whether he will sell the land to the National Trust for Historic Preservation. In short, have anti-sprawl supporters only won a phyrric victory? Give Dogwood Development the credit its due, they tried hard to compromise. Unfortunately when you are building on a battlefield, there really isn't much to compromise on. Given the bitter nature of the fight, it wouldn't surprise me in the least if Mr. Mullins decided to simply build. I hope that isn't the case, because it would be a great and honorable thing if the farm could be bought in its entirety by the Trust. Time will tell the tale. Why the left loves Osama (and Saddam) The New York Post's Daniel Pipes has this to say about why the left loves Osama bin Laden, and for that matter Saddam. Never thought of it this way before: For vindication of this claim, Marxists impatiently await the Third World's rising up against the West. Sadly for them, the only true revolution since the 1950s was Iran's in 1978-79. It ended with militant Islam in power and the Left in hiding. As odd as it sounds, this makes a lot of sense. For those of us who can tell little difference between the IMF protesters of late last year and today's anti-war protesters, it seems to be the same patchwork alliance of brainwashed undergraduate students, ageing hippies, Green party adherents, left-behind environmentalists, and those who just think that the protests are a way to show their 'independence'. I don't want to sound cruel or petty towards the anti-war left. They are probably some of the nicest folks in the world (so long as you keep your contrary political views to yourself). But really, is there any other way to describe the hodgepodge IMF/anti-war left? And let's not leave out the anti-war right. . . I'm sure there are plenty of them out there as well who see the IMF as harmful and our efforts in Iraq contravening everything George Washington ever warned against. Unfortunately in the 21st century world of global terrorism and global economy, an economic depression in one part of the world or a terrorist state in another must draw our attention. So it is with foreign aid and the IMF, so it must be with Iraq. It would take a radical altering of the political landscape - isolationism for lack of a better term - to resolve either one to the tastes of the anti-war left (and right). Sure one could argue that we cause our own problems overseas, but for the life of me I can't sympathize with the argument that the world is a worse place because of America. Not unless you enjoy goose-stepping. If it's good for the goose, it's good for the matzah ball UK Foreign Minister Jack Straw made an interesting comment yesterday: "There is a real concern too that the West has been guilty of double standards, on the one hand saying the United Nations Security Council resolutions on Iraq must be implemented; on the other hand, sometimes appearing rather quixotic over the implementation of resolutions about Israel and Palestine," Straw said. The Israelis responded to the comments as being "very upsetting" that there could be any comparison between Saddam's dictatorship and the Israeli democracy, which misses the point entirely, but I surmise that's exactly what it is intended to do. Even with the current war in Iraq, the Israelis seem content to continue to uproot Palestinian Authority infrastructure under the guise of counterterrorism measures. I suppose the war provides good cover to do what only weeks ago would have been seen as heavy-handed. For anyone really interested in a good article on Jewish concepts of forgiveness and "hate as a virtue," read Meir Soloveichik's article printed in First Things in February 2003. Interesting stuff. The Protestant theologian Harvey Cox, who is married to a Jew, wrote a book on his impressions of Jewish ritual. Cox describes the Jewish holiday of Purim, on which the defeat of Haman is celebrated by the reading of the book of Esther. Enamored with the biblical story, Cox enjoys the tale until the end, where, as noted above, Esther wreaks vengeance upon her enemies. Like Sister Johanna, he is disturbed by Jewish hatred. It cannot be a coincidence, he argues, that precisely on Purim a Jew by the name of Baruch Goldstein murdered twenty innocent Muslims engaged in prayer in Hebron. Wednesday, March 26, 2003Can Coalition Forces Avoid a New 'Battle of Berlin'? Now here is an unusually refreshing article concerning Iraqi troops strengths and strategies from Christopher Bellamy of the UK Independent, vicariously through Arab News. Of course, what the United States could do in places like Moghadishu in 1993 concerning urban warfare has considerably improved over the past ten years, not to mention the variety of capabilities we have on the books that could be deployed. Don't be surprised if the urban warfare part goes much easier than what we are being prepared for. I don't think we've seen the real "shock and awe" part of this campaign yet. By the way, "shock and awe" isn't another cliche just developed by the Defense Department in order to sell the war, in fact its a codified military doctrine. Check it out. The British and US plan is to encircle and cut off the city before launching any assault in the urban area. Sooner or later they may have to mix it with Iraqi infantry in the streets. As an experienced commander said on Tuesday, there is a "density problem". In other words, not enough allied troops. Cities with millions of people absorb soldiers like sponges with millions of holes. The allies had hoped to avoid a Battle of Berlin in Baghdad. Although the Republican Guard largely escaped from the Kuwait theater of operations in 1991, the mauling that their less well trained, equipped and supplied Iraqi Army colleagues suffered at the hands of British and American forces will not have been lost on them. Gorbachev: Saddam needs to step down Former Soviet Premier Mikhail Gorbachev says that the time has come for "Hussein to become a peacemaker and step down." Gorbachev further states that the war in Iraq is "a huge political mistake. It is a blow to the United Nations, primarily its Security Council and to international law as a whole." You mean that by our actions in Iraq we are taking a swipe at notions of international law that promote state-sponsored abortion, are completely inept at preventing WMD proliferation, and simply have no authority unless backed by the United States itself? Boo hoo. I never signed the Geneva Conventions, and looking at the way our POWs are being treated, neither did Saddam. They tried to surrender. One report reaching the U.S. military said that some of the 12 soldiers whose supply convoy was ambushed near Nassiriya in southern Iraq on Sunday were killed by their captors although they tried to surrender, a U.S. defense official said on Wednesday. If this is true, then it exemplifies everything we have been stating about Saddam's regime. Of course, I wonder whether the peacemongers will say anything about these executions contravening "international law". Send in the monkeys! The Moroccan government has made the unusual offer of 2,000 monkeys to help detonate mines in Iraq. It it works for the Wicked Witch of the East, why not? Bring it on. . . The Washington Post is reporting that elements of the Iraqi Republican Guard are moving out to attack US soldiers near Najaf. A huge column of elite Republican Guard units streamed out of Baghdad Wednesday evening heading toward U.S. forces massed near the southern Iraqi city of Najaf, CNN television reported. Tear 'em up guys. May God be with you all. Spotsy Board of Supervisors Vote 6 - 0 Against Chancellorsville Project Hip hip hooray guys. Now the alternative comes into play, and Mullins is going to max out that development according to the zoning he already has. "We thought we brought a good project to the county. That's all I can say right now," he said. Chancellorsville was a great project in a very bad location. If it were located towards Spotsylvania Courthouse or in some other non-historic location, I really believe that it could have passed. If I were Mr. Mullins, I'd be the first one out there with a bulldozer to start plowing the 38 acres of historic land. It's a tough call to make. Do you allow the 2,000+ development to be built and preserve the park land, or do you vote it down for a 255 home development that will not only destroy the historic property, but may even be specifically designed to make traffic worse along the Rt. 3 corridor? What a tough call to make - I can understand why Gary Jackson wanted to abstain. Then again, Dogwood Development had quite some time to get its ducks in a row and chose not to. C'est la vie. . . The storm is from God! "The storm is from God," he said, looking out his trembling window. "Until the aggression started, never in my life did I see a storm like this. We all believe in God, we all have faith in God. And God is setting obstacles against the Americans." Or just maybe the storm is a gift from from God because it gives coalition forces time to rest up before they go in and kick some Iraqi butt. Tuesday, March 25, 2003Al-Jazeera Web Site Enduring Hack Attack Gee Mr. Hegazi, maybe the reason why your traffic is four times what you expected is because your servers are experiencing a denial of service attack? The newly launched English-language page, which went live Monday and posted images of the corpses of U.S. soldiers killed in Iraq, was hardest hit in a bombardment of data packets known as a denial-of-service attack. For those of you who do not know what a DoS attack is, imagine the technological equivelant to a four year old tugging at her mother's leg. Now complicate that image by having several thousand nagging four year olds demanding attention from the same mommy. . . that's a denial of service attack. Hackers send packets (viruses that are essentially non-malignant to the host) to other computers on the web which at the hacker's command simultaneously ping the al-Jazeera web server. It has a simple and devastating effect, and for very good hackers its nearly impossible to trace. Iraqi Idol? Yep, that's right. Iraqi Idol. From my quasi-Republican, semi-conservative, the Diet-Coke-of-common-sense brother Jason, to whom I will remind that if you are under thirty and a conservative you have no soul, and if you are over thirty and a liberal you have no brain. :-) Don't worry. . . the two of us will get the joke, and you can too if you scroll down to #88 and 89 on his "100 Things About Jay" post. He's just been taking too many pics of those anti-war demonstrators - he'll sober up with time. L'audace, l'audace, toujours l'audace! Frederick the Great. General Patton. General Franks. What do they all share in common? The principles of 4th Generation Warfare. Sgt. Stryker has the right idea concerning some criticism of Coalition forces bypassing fixed Iraqi troop locations for secondary units to clean up. Take a look at the PDF presentation on 4thGen warfare and John Boyd on OODA loops. It's heavy stuff, but once you get the idea you really understand what a genius John Boyd really was. So just how are the pics of American POW's affecting our troops? The Washington Post has a great article on our advance, and towards the bottom was the ringer: Troops advancing toward Baghdad said they were prepared for the fight ahead, despite news of fallen comrades. At least 20 U.S. troops have been killed and 14 captured or missing since the operation began. HUAH! Iraqi army proving stubborn in the north You gotta love it when the criteria for stubbornness rests on whether or not you actually put up a fight. Raise the bar a bit guys! Six weeks ago, a top Kurdish rebel commander boasted that the roar of just one American warplane would be enough to make the Iraqi army on the hill come stumbling down with their hands in the air. Twenty-four hours and they haven't surrendered yet?! What's wrong with these people?! What's wrong with our guys?! OH NO! Maybe we should pack up and go home! Oh the bittersweet irony! Northern Iraq folks. No tanks, no field artillery, just remote air support. We have three corps outside of Baghdad, complete control of Umm Qasar, and we are reporting on how some guys holed up in a mountain in Northern Iraq haven't given up after twenty-four hours? O'Reilly et al. were commenting earlier last night on how we tend to focus on the negative no matter how many positives we get. My dad used to tell me that one "awwshit" takes away twenty "attaboys". Same for war coverage, and believe it or not folks, war is a terrible thing. I just can't help but think that with all of this coverage concerining Northern Iraq, Nassyria, Umm Qasar, and Basra being viewed as setbacks, its no wonder that at one moment we think we are stalled on the Euphrates, but two hours later Hannibal is knocking on the gates of Baghdad. 60,000 infantry, 450 tanks, 100 Apaches, ONE TARGET! You gotta love the British tabloids. The UK Sun is drumming up Coalition forces just 50mi outside of Baghdad. And you know something - they're right. This is the largest aggregation of force directed at one goal in the history of mankind. That's pretty damn impressive. Go git 'em fellas! Around 60,000 infantry, 450 tanks and 100 Apache attack helicopters will line up against 36,000 Iraqis with 500 ageing tanks. Republicans and Democrats Unite Behind Our Troops! About sixty people in all showed up for the pro-liberation rally at the Religious Freedom Monument yesterday according to the Free Lance-Star. Thanks to everyone who made the effort to come out and show their support. It was a blast, with patriotic songs, flags, signs, and everything. If you missed this one don't worry, so long as the anti-war crowd is content to tie up traffic and cost our public servants real taxpayer dollars that could be better spent fighting bad guys, we'll make sure our voices are heard. At the Washington Avenue monument, about five dozen people turned out. Carrying signs and U.S. flags, they wore yellow ribbons to indicate their support for American troops in the Middle East and to rally behind President Bush. Of course, what the FLS article doesn't tell you is that I bungled that line badly. It came out ". . . they must understand that there are worse things in life than peace. . . (laughter). . .er, um. . . I meant war, but there are worse things than peace too, and the suffering under Saddam's regime just one example." That could have printed very badly. But thank God for good natured reporters! Monday, March 24, 2003Nuclear Blackmail and the Politics of Peacemongering Here is the full text of the article I printed in yesterday's Free Lance-Star. Enjoy! Pro-Liberation Rally Picking Up Steam. . . Today's local pro-liberation rally is beginning to pick up steam if FredTalk is any indication of success. Of course, you know you're getting somewhere if the peacemongers have decided to hold a rally to protest your rally. Should be a lot of fun guys! Sunday, March 23, 2003Tired of war yet? Visit FlyGuy, courtesy of J's Notes. GREAT STUFF! If you haven't been to Protest Warrior yet, there is some great pro-liberation gear there. Some good stuff at 9-11justice.org too. And in case you're wondering, yes - I am getting mean about it. But in a good, competitive, oneupmanship sort of way! Can't let the peacemongers control the entire debate, now can I?
Not for the weak of stomach. . . Pictures of the US soldiers taken prisoner and killed in Southern Iraq. This is exactly what I was talking about in today's op-ed in the FLS guys. . . enduring the tragedies of war in order to prevent the carnage of WMD. http://194.8.231.7:8888/vboard/showthread.php?threadid=62620 http://194.8.231.7:8888/vboard/showthread.php?threadid=62624 Suspected Chemical Weapons Plant Found Another one of these non-existant banned weapons sites has been found. This one appears rather impressive - sprawled out over 100 acres and booby-trapped. The Politics of Nuclear Blackmail My op-ed in the Free Lance-Star was published today. Being a member of the nuclear club clearly has its privileges. In today's post-9/11 world, every threat made by Pyongyang must be taken seriously. North Korea can manipulate and intimidate American diplomacy with threats of nuclear holocaust. Saturday, March 22, 2003American soldier detained as a suspect in Kuwaiti grenade attack . . . Troops in a tent at the 101st Airborne Division camp in Kuwait were attacked early Sunday with grenades, and 13 soldiers were wounded, six seriously, military officials said. An American soldier was detained as a suspect, the Army said. What the hell? UPDATE: The soldier in question was Muslim American. And there seem to be more troubling developments as to whom he was working with, and there is some comparison to the grenade throwing technique to the same one that Beltway sniper John Lee Malvo used during the first Gulf War in 1991. You don't freakin' say. . . Now here's a good one on DC IndyMedia. This article is a sort of re-awakening of one of the liberal activists in the D.C. area. He writes: Fairly recently after an overwhelming Green defeat in our local and congressional elections, I exchanged an email or two with one of the leaders of the Green party in the New York City area and was saddened but not surprised to find little had changed. The agenda for the coming year was as expansive and unattainable as ever. I again pleaded the case of building a constituency and urged the practical application of the Green motto "think globally, act locally" providing a collection of suggestions for implementing such an initiative. I promoted ideas like holding a neighborhood trash and graffiti cleanup, help to provide job or vocational training, volunteer with the elderly, sponsor local sports teams or youth organizations, or plant trees or gardens all the while modestly but consistently promoting who was behind it. I felt and feel these types of things will show the community that the Green party not only cares, but is willing to tangibly help improve the lives of our families and our neighbors families. Perhaps then the next time someone is handed a flyer on the street or solicited for a donation, a foundation will have been established to motivate them to listen and support broader Green initiatives. My email went unanswered. Now if that isn't something novel!!! Haven't I been saying this for oh. . . ten or eleven years now? That has always been the problem when talking to the average rank-and-file liberal. You can't win an argument with them because they have no arguments to make! It's always hyperbole, it's all knee-jerk emotion, it's all self-justification without thought. Personally, I'd blame it for the gutter politics we currently suffer with today. Unfortunately the emotion first, thought second routine probably speaks very poorly towards Americans as a body politic, because it sure as hell wins campaigns. Keep thinking my good man. . . who knows, it could turn him into a conservative yet! WE SUPPORT THE PRESIDENT RALLY 24 MARCH! On March 18th, our country went to war against Saddam Hussein. The day after the war began, anti-war radicals went to war against our president. Local anti-war protesters are railing against President Bush. Using the press, letters to the editor, and every means at theri disposal, this small but vocal minority of peacemongers are continuing their attacks on our president and our men and women in uniform - both at home and abroad. It's time we showed our support. The Mary Washington College Republicans and the Fredericksburg Republican Committee are holding a "We Support the President" rally on President's Day, March 24th at 6pm in front of the Religious Freedom Monument on Washington Avenue in Downtown Fredericksburg. We need your support! Please mark your schedules for this event! It's time we showed folks that America supports President Bush. GOD BLESS THE USA!!! Kill for Peace! Moltov cocktails folks. That's exactly what the San Francisco demonstrators were packing during Friday's protest. San Francisco arson investigators removed 12 Molotov-type cocktails on Friday from a backpack discovered by a groundskeeper cleaning up debris left by anti-war protesters in a downtown alley way. Information courtesy of the Volkoh Conspiracy. Where is Mathews County, Virginia? I travelled to the Mathews County Courthouse on Friday for a Virginia 1st District Republican Meeting. Mathews County (spelled correctly) is one of the first counties settled by the early Virginia colonists in the 1600's, and it has a great history. With the earliest English settlement in 1650, Mathews County is rich in historical landmarks--buildings, churches, estates, cemeteries--including a Courthouse, circa 1795, still in use today. An unassuming cottage--home to the first woman commissioned an officer in the American military; centuries-old gravesites, a haunted house, and the Tabernacle, one of the last remaining outdoor pavilions for religious use. Besides the county seat of Mathews, Virginia's First District unanimously issued a vote of no-confidence in the new RPV Strategic Plan. The five-point plan essential parts are rather strong-handed, centralized to Richmond, and employ such tactics as minority outreach and the certification of chairmen. Not to mention a substantial investment in IT centralized to RPV headquarters. The general feeling was that the Strategic Plan was too centralized and lacked a certain investment/trust in our local committees. Certainly I would like to see a better organized RPV, but not at the expense of unit committees. For instance, 72 hour tasks forces are great ideas, but not if the unit chairs have to come up with the money for voter lists, phone banks, headquarters, volunteer efforts, etc. Come on now. . . we've been doing efforts like this for years without the direction of RPV. Now we have to be required to do it, report to Richmond, and actively involve some uber-wonk to make sure we are doing it effectively? Does someone in Richmond think that we can't fight the good fight effectively? Sure seems like we did a good job before RPV decided to come forth and reap the benefits of our labor. Things I want to see out of the Republican Party of Virginia: 1 - Voter lists. Accurate voter lists that I don't have to pay for. 2 - A visit every once in awhile. Sure sure, it's patting us on the back, but that kind of egoboosting works on the local level, especially when rank-and-file can point to someone in RPV and say "I know that person!" 3 - IT support. I want a website that I don't have to pay for. And it's not too hard to set up a template that non-HTML literate people can simply fill in the blanks for. 4 - Money! Give each committee $250. Multiply that by 130 committees and that's roughly $32,500 dollars. Eliminate the top 30 GOP committees (Fairfax et al. where that wouldn't make a difference) and it's $25,000. Make it twice as much and it would make a world of difference to smaller committees. It would do more and cost half as much as the current proposals. 5 - Party Calls in Newspapers. Guess what? RPV wants 'em, RPV can pay for them. 6 - Grassroots Training Seminars. And guess who hands out the free (or substantially reduced cost) tickets? RPV - for the chairmen to hand out as they please. 7 - REAL campaign finance help. I don't want a phone number. I want a training seminar to come to my area. . . and not Northern Virginia, here in Fredericksburg. 8 - Substantial direction during campaign season. Contrary to public opinion in amongst the politico world, volunteers are human beings who believe in the cause, and would like to be treated as such. So when a volunteer offers to help, don't send her out with signs and a map and say "see ya" as you push her out the door. Go with her, big shot! 9 - A statement of beliefs that means something. Not one of these squishy "fiscal responsibility" tracts. "NO TAX INCREASES" would be a good start, as well as mentioning God and a strong pro-life stance . The Spotsylvania GOP Creed is a good start. As you can see, I have several issues with folks my age running roughshod over folks twice their age. Sure, most political consultants get conditioned to think of people as sheep. But you have to fight that. Quite frankly, that's what gets most starry-eyed volunteers so jaded so quickly; winning first and principles second. Run on the principles rather than working on "outreach". People are tired of the GOP and Dems just going after voters because they are black, Hispanic, Catholic, soccer moms, or whatever label seems popular. Gimme an issue that matters to me as a Catholic, and I'll vote. Same with every other minority target group. I'll never understand this instinctive need to find the token Catholic, or the token black guy, or the token soccer mom. It just shows how hollow political consultants really are. As a unit chairman, I want to know that we are fighting for issues that matter, not another monkier so I can call myself an Irish-Lebanese-Catholic-Republican. Issues dammit, ISSUES! And tools! I don't need Richmond climbing all over my back to get the job done - General Assembly is quite enough. Friday, March 21, 2003Photoblogging from Washington D.C. Exclusive photos from Washington on today's anti-war protest from my brother Jason:
Believe it or not, Jason does have a job. Unfortunately he works a mere block from the White House, so Jason's penchant for neat things combined with weekly protests makes Kodak very wealthy. You can't knock him too hard though, Jason was one of the first people in the free world to have pictures of the IMF protests last year and got quite a bit of credit for it. A peacemongers worse nightmare - success In the town of Safwan, Iraqi civilians eagerly greeted the 1st Marine Division. Damn fellas. Looks as if success is the word of the week. U.S. 3rd Infantry engaged at Euphrates River Resistance from Iraqi troops halted U.S. forces advancing through southern Iraq on Friday near Nassiriya, a main crossing point over the Euphrates river. UPDATE: There *was* some resistance near Nassiriya. . . and coalition forces have taken Umm Qasar just south of Basra. Still keeping an eye on Where is Raed for what is happening on the ground, and this article from Guardian UK on how the Iraqis are expected to fight. If they were anything like they were in 1991, they are not expected to fight well. French Canadians boo the National Anthem? They sure did. But no matter. . . the New York Islanders still beat the Montreal Canadiens 6 - 3 last Thursday night. You can't play hockey with white flags guys. Teammate Mark Parrish, a native of Bloomington, Minn., was upset hearing the boos. Thursday, March 20, 2003Two Bottles of Ricin found in Paris subway Break out the white flags. Still wondering about Catholic Just War Doctrine? Apparently a Romanian Catholic bishop made the statement that no Catholic under his jurisdiction could support the war in Iraq under pain of mortal sin. Unfortunately for the bishop in question, the National Council of Catholic Bishops disagrees with him, as does Archbishop Edwin O'Brien of the Military Archdiocese. You can read the Archbishop's response here. Just for starters, the bishop crossed a line that he had no business crossing, as he does not have the authority to formally pronounce this type of statement and hold it as binding on Catholics. Secondly, just as the NCCB has announced that people of good will can disagree on the moral rightness of war in Iraq, the case for war can be plausibly made - and is. There are worse things than war folks. If you have not heard already there is a bishop in Ohio that has stated the war is intrinsically evil and (at least in his Romanian rite diocese) Catholics can not participate in this war under pain of sin. He states that participation in this war is as if you were participating in an abortion. The authority upon which he states this is beyond his scope as a bishop. This bishop states, "I hereby authoritatively state that such direct participation (in this war) is intrinsically and gravely evil and therefore absolutely forbidden." He is not stating his opinion or even using this as public opportunity to challenge or educate. On the contrary he says he is not speaking "as a theologian or as a private Christian voicing his opinion, nor by any means am I speaking to you as a political partisan. I am speaking to you solely as your bishop with the authority and responsibility I... have been given as a successor to the apostles on your behalf." Iraqi Body Count When I first saw this site I discarded it as more anti-war propoganda. But after taking a good look at its methodology section, this really isn't such a bad idea after all. The rationale really isn't all that bad, and the deaths being tallied are deaths that are directly caused by military action. The unfortunate downside is that Saddam is deliberately using civilians as human shields for Iraqi military personnel. No word as to whether or not they will be added to the ultimate count. Here's a report from the front. . . Saddam fired a couple of those Scuds that he doesn't have at me this afternoon. He missed. The head of the snake? Gone. From the AP: U.S. intelligence picked up early signs the Iraqi leadership might be incapacitated or out of communication with military field commanders who failed to muster a coordinated response after a dawn Thursday strike on a suspected Saddam Hussein hideout, government officials said. This is in addition to reports that either Uday Hussein is suffering from a brain hemmorage after yesterday's attacks, or that Saddam's younger son Qussay is dead. UPDATE: Matt Drudge is reporting that senior US military officials believe that Thursday's bombing may have in fact killed Saddam. UPDATE x2: Fox News is reporting that the White House believes otherwise. Voice comparison on known tapes of Saddam are being compared now. . . UPDATE x3: Central Intelligence is saying that the video of Saddam Hussein is authentic, but's when it was taped may be an issue for debate. Still developing. MORON WATCH! Here's an idea. . . for every idiotic, moronic action the anti-war activists perform in order to relive the glory days of Vietnam, we'll point it out. For instance, in order to stop war, let's snarl traffic for hours and hours. As many as 150 demonstrators temporarily shut down the inbound travel lanes of one of the Potomac River crossings, snarling rush-hour traffic. Some 50 demonstrators bicycled through downtown Washington carrying signs that said, ``Bikes not Bombs.'' Three people were arrested. Yeah. . . all 150 of ya. The best comment I've seen so far: "You suck. Why don't you all go to North Korea and do this," yelled Larry Chu, who had driven into the city from San Rafael and had been stuck for several minutes in his car. I couldn't agree more! The long-term strategy in Iraq? This is an analysis of America's long term strategy in Iraq, courtesy of StratFor. Yesterday's stike a rare moment The Washington Post reported that yesterday's strike - while pre-emptive in light of the "shock and awe" campaign - was a very rare chance to kill Saddam. From the Post article, it looks as if we came awful close, and even the response by Saddam is being scrutinized carefully. There are several body doubles of Saddam and this may have been one of them. Two birds, one stone Even with the massive 300,000 juggernaut staring down Saddam in the Middle East, U.S. forces today conducted what is being labeled as the largest military operation against al-Qaeda in a year. If it takes a war to stop this evil, then it must be done. 15-year old Hayley Orcutt from James Monroe High School in Fredericksburg, Virginia has this excellent justification on taking out Saddam: The United States and its allies are not going into this war for selfish reasons. We are not going to war with Iraq because we want their land or their natural resources. The United States gets only about 18 percent of its oil from the Middle East and, prior to the Gulf War, only about 4 percent from Iraq. This reaction is much better than the muted response that most of the local college students gave their president last night. The anti-war gathering at Hurkamp Park at noon today and Friday is still on schedule. . . Wednesday, March 19, 2003The New American Ambassador to France  Courtesy of the Blogs of War, I wonder how many wars this guy would start? Imagine how different the U.N. deliberations would have been if Ambassador R. Lee Ermey had been in charge!
de Villepin: Peace! Peace! Amb. Ermey: WHAT?! The only peace you're going to get is a piece of this MARINE!!! This would of course be followed by an eloquent yet understandable argument which would render all speechless. Count me in! In the meantime, get more cool R. Lee Ermey sounds and clips here! British press reporting that fighting has erupted near Basra This is London is reporting that heavy fighting has erupted near the port city of Basra, while coalition aircraft have just pounded Iraqi artillery positions near the Kuwaiti border. Meanwhile, as the situation is evolving in the Gulf, Hezbollah rebels in southern Lebanon are moving Katushya rockets towards the border with Israel. TARIQ AZIZ DEFECTED? There are conflicting reports that Tariq Aziz, Saddam's second in command, has either been killed or has been shot in an attempt to defect. Developing. . . UPDATE: Not true at all. . . Tariq Aziz just appeared on Iraqi state television with a pistol in hand claiming that he is ready to use it against "American mercenaries." Not as smart as we thought he was, is he? Larry Evans: Prophet of Sprawl? Opinion page editor Paul Akers of the FLS writes his eulogy to the stewardship of Larry Evans: We've found a number of areas of agreement (outside of short-sighted laws governing the disposition of cartoonists), but, agree or not, I also know this about Larry--he has integrity. He writes as honestly as anyone I've read, and as tenaciously. Much of his commentary of the last 15 years has been a vital Long Argument against the multifaceted detriments to land, community, and soul of rapid, random growth. Bah. . . the partisan Republican in me still says that Larry articles were always smugly prefaced with the joke "what's black and white and red all over." Still, you have to appreciate the parting words - its a very cool thing to see. As much as you could disagree with Evans, he was never as bad as Amrhine. Godspeed. The Freedom Pastry Shop? Jonathan Hunley of the Free Lance-Star comments on the new urge to rename everything French: I cover politics. I like to read about politics. But I don't want to think about politics every time I turn around. If all they've got at the coffee shop is French Roast, I'm going to have that. I dunno. . . I perfectly understand the willingness to change some things to the "freedom" label, but other items just seem appropriate to keep the way they are. Like French toast, French roast, and yes even French fries. . . those all sound rather appropriate to me. We can be happy underground. . . Instead of standing and duking it out with the Zionist Oppressor Infidels, it is highly likely that Saddam will go into hiding, if he has not done so already. "When the bombs start, he will do one thing: try to survive," said retired Air Force Col. John Warden, an air planner in the 1991 war. "I don't think there is much else he will be able to do. We're going to be able to put a real paralysis on Iraq in an operational and strategic level." That a shame really. So much for being the Air Force pilot or Marine platoon to take Saddam. Imagine if the credit for taking out Saddam ends up going to a machine? Welcome to the future of warfare. Tuesday, March 18, 2003Kuwaiti army is given the date for war, asks for NBC support for the Ukraine The Kuwaiti army has been put on war footing and has specifically asked the Ukraine to send its crack 19th Battalion to assist in the event of a nonconventional attack. The Ukrainian 19th Battalion was the unit that responded to the Chernobyl disaster in 1986. British police arrest three men near London Gatwick Airport Three terror suspects have been arrested and explosive devices recovered near Gatwick airport, police have said. The devices were found in a flat in Langley Green, Crawley, West Sussex, on Tuesday. Three men were held under the Terrorism Act 2000. British Parliament Backs Tony Blair 412 - 149 British Parliament just voted in favor of war by a rather decisive margin after voting down a resolution opposing miltary action. After the opposition vote came in at 217 - 396, it seems as if any real opposition in the British House of Commons simply dissapated. What did it? If you watched Foreign Minister Jack Straw's speech on the floor of the House of Commons last night, you would have been impressed: Sadly, one country then ensured that the Security Council could not act. President Chirac's unequivocal announcement last Monday that France would veto a second Resolution "whatever the circumstances," inevitably created a sense of futility in our negotiations. I deeply regret that France has put Security Council consensus beyond reach. Links between al-Qaeda and Iraq? Here's another one that I am tired of hearing about. Peacemongers saying that there is no evidence that al-Qaeda and Iraq are in collusion, specifically citing that the Ba'athist Party is a socialist regime and Osama bin Laden is an Islamic extremist, with neither side agreeing with the other. Except, of course, when it comes to the United States. Here is an excellent article from the UK Observer that offers a background into Saddam support of terrorism: The Iraqi connection: The Secrets of Saddam's Terror Training Camp http://www.observer.co.uk/Print/0,3858,4296646,00.html In the early period after the attacks, Western intelligence agencies said they knew of nothing to suggest an Iraqi connection. That position has now changed. A top US analyst - a serving intelligence official with no connection to the 'hawks' around Wolfowitz - told The Observer: 'You should think of this thing as a spectrum: with zero Iraqi involvement at one end, and 100 per cent Iraqi direction and control at the other. The scenario we now find most plausible is somewhere in the middle range - significant Iraqi assistance and some involvement.' The facts of the matter are as follows. (1) There is much that we do not know about the Iraq - al Qaeda connection because they consist of communications links that - if divulged - they disappear, (2) divulging such information would be detrimental to our efforts on the war on terrorism, (3) many of the provable links already exist as common knowledge. Ansar al-Islam is just one example of Iraqi collusion with terror organizations. Al-Qaeda isn't the only terror organization that has benefited from Iraqi training facilities. Abu Nidal, and the Palestinian Liberation Front Here's a little bit of ammo for the next time a peacemonger decides to question going after Saddam based on a "dubious" al-Qaeda link: Rice: Iraq trained al Qaeda in chemical weapons http://www.cnn.com/2002/US/09/25/us.iraq.alqaeda/ Ansar Al-Islam: Iraq's Al-Qaeda Connection http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/824263/posts Al Qaeda's Opening Shot in Iraq War http://www.debka.com/article.php?aid=257 Report Cites Al Qaeda Deal For Iraqi Gas http://www.weeklystandard.com/Content/Public/Articles/000/000/002/014odbgq.asp Mohammed Atta met Saddam prior to September 11: US official http://www.intellnet.org/news/2002/09/08/11503-1.html Iraq's Support of Terror Organizations http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/864618/posts CIA Director: Iraq Has Had Contacts with al-Qaeda, Tactical Cooperation Possible http://www.intelmessages.org/Messages/National_Security/Archives/Archive_05/wwwboard/messages/215.html This is what anti-war activism supports There was a machine designed for shredding plastic. Men were dropped into it and we were again made to watch. Sometimes they went in head first and died quickly. Sometimes they went in feet first and died screaming. It was horrible. I saw 30 people die like this. Their remains would be placed in plastic bags and we were told they would be used as fish food . . . on one occasion, I saw Qusay [President Saddam Hussein's youngest son] personally supervise these murders. Too aggressive a claim to make? Some might say that anti-war activists don't support the actions of Saddam Hussein and his regime. Everyone has a right to express their hope for peace. But there is no excuse for the moral free pass peacemongers offer to dictators like Saddam. Peace is fine, but turning a blind eye to injustice for the sake of peace is a whole other matter. Monday, March 17, 2003OUTSTANDING! President Bush said exactly what needed to be said. Forty-eight hours Saddam, and the clock is ticking. . . a deadline that should please all but the truly cynical. Baghdad prepares for the worst The people of Baghdad seem to be preparing for the worst in terms of guns and butter. Just who they will turn their guns on is a different question altogether. Meanwhile, the mouthpiece of the Ba'athist government, the Iraq Daily, has some words for the United States and her Zionist entity: The President criticised the US sponsoring to the Zionist entity and increasing their weaponry. For more laughs, visit the Iraq Daily. We'll support our troops when they SHOOT THEIR OFFICERS  Say again?! It seems as if anti-war peacemongering is taking a new and vicious turn in places such as San Francisco.
Unfortunately, it has been my experience that this type of Vietnam-era thinking concerning our troops seems to be a fairly substantial undercurrent when talking to anti-war supporters. This my friends is not excercising one's patriotic right to protest - it is treason. Sunday, March 16, 2003The price of disobedience Now I wonder why Saddam would have done this: Al-Tikriti, an engineer, had supervised an operation to bury a significant quantity of Saddam's chemical weapons before United Nations weapons inspectors arrived last November. Some weapons were buried near the river Tigris in the Baji area north of Baghdad during the operation, which was carried out by a specially formed group in the SSO. er. . . lets geev zem a few more days, oui? AHA! Now it seems as if Jacques Chirac is willing to submit to a 30-day timetable if deemed necessary by the weapons inspectors. So much for the "timetable to war" argument. . . Pope gives Tony Blair the Eucharist? Apparently, in the United Kingdom you can offer non-Catholics the Eucharist under extraordinary circumstances according to a 1998 agreement between the Anglican Church and the Catholic Church. This is precisely what happened at the Vatican during PM Tony Blair's visit to Rome. Blair, who is Anglican, received the Eucharist along with his wife and three children who are Catholic. For those of us not Catholic, for the Eucharist to be dispensed to non-Catholics is a serious matter. Catholics believe the Eucharist to be the literal Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity of Jesus Christ. To accept the Eucharist during Communion means several very profound things, that (1) you believe that the Eucharist is literally the wholeness of Jesus Christ, and (2) you believe this and all of the teachings of the Catholic Faith with everyone else who is receiving the Eucharist, hence the notion of Communion (both with God and with the Church). I'm not saying that Tony Blair believed this or otherwise, but for a non-Catholic to take the Eucharist and not believe these things is a great scandal to the Church. Quit Iraq in a week. . . or else The Drudge Report says that Blair and Bush "are to issue a stark ultimatum to Saddam Hussein - get out of Iraq or face war within a week," an ultimatum that is remarkably similar to the one the Vatican denied it was brokering some days before. Developing. . . Saturday, March 15, 200326 + 6 = 1! A brief history of the Irish Republican Army. As a matter of principle, I do support the re-unification of the Six Counties with Ireland proper. After reading a number of books such as Tim Pat Coogan's IRA and knowing a good number of folks from Northern Ireland, I can unhesitatingly support the cause regardless of their socialist affiliations - especially now that the IRA is disavowing violence as a means to its end (unlike the Protestant paramilitaries and the RUC). Irish Republican Jail Song In Ireland's fight for freedom boys, the north has played its part Though freedom's day has yet to dawn, we've never yet lost heart! We'll fight it out until the end - we'll fight for we cannot fail, We know we'll win, although they have our lads in Crumlin jail. We gave to Erin Eoin Row, we gave her Shane O'Neill, And Tone and Cavehill made a vow that England still can fail. Joe McKelvey did not die in vain; he was our northern gale, And that's another reason why they keep our lads in Crumlin jail. So keep on the fight, you volunteers, for God is on our side. No jail can break our brave young men, no prison clamp their pride. For England knows, and England fears, our fearless northern gales; And that's another reason why we'll free our lads from Crumlin jail. For England knows, and England fears, the famous northern gales; And that's another reason why we'll free our lads from Crumlin jail. Hair trigger alert in Kuwait We're getting close folks. Coalition armed forces are on high alert in Kuwait. We'll see what comes out of the war council in the Azores, but with the full moon on 18 March we could be at war within days. Friday, March 14, 2003The comments update. . . Well, Jason tried to get enetation to work on the ol' site, but to no avail. So now I am playing with a little program called Blogcomments that should do the trick. We'll see. . . UPDATE: Here goes nothing! UPDATE x2: Did you know that the Greek root for the word patience (hypomone) means suffering? Moral of the story: Never ask God for patience, because He will surely give it to you. . . UPDATE x3: This comments ordeal is one way of teaching me patience. UPDATE x4: BTW, we are bombing Iraq with B-1 bombers. That's cool. UPDATE (final): And here is what we are telling our troops in Iraq. Four options guys: Vietnam veteran Gen Conway told them Saddam was facing four options. HUAH! Want to know the truth about Pope Pius XII and the Nazis? Good ammo to use against anti-Catholics who are jumping on the "Catholics are Nazi-sympathizers" bandwagon. This is an excellent archive on what we do know about Pius XII and details on the 1933 Concordat signed with Nazi Germany, the pre-war struggle against Nazism, and the wartime efforts of Pius XII. Not only does this website present a large number of facts without hyperbole, it also compares the contemporary writings of Gary Willis and Daniel Goldhagen with the factual information provided by the Vatican et al. You know, I've been thinking. . . if Saddam attacks first, will he go to the UN first? Or do you think that he'll wait for international law to kick in? Ten bucks say that if Saddam has the testicular fortitude to attack us first, the peacemongers will say that we deserved it for warmongering next door. Which would be completely incomparable to what Saddam has been doing for say, the past 12 years. Just a thought while I'm testing the code for comments. . . again. . . Why did the Mayans disappear? New evidence suggests that a 200 year dry spell punctuated by three severe droughts did the trick in the 8th century A.D. And to think that all this time I thought it was global warming. Tsk, tsk. To investigate the Mayan decline, scientists studied the ancient build-up of sediment on the sea floor just off the northern coast of Venezuela. Halle Berry to be the new Catwoman Cool! Berry, who became the first African American to win a Best Actress Oscar last year for her emotionally unsettling performance in the interracial drama Monster's Ball, would become the second black woman to take on Catwoman, following in the paw prints of Eartha Kitt (news), who was one of three actresses to play the part on the 1960s Batman TV series. What if Netscape had won? Charles Cooper argues the world would be a better place if Netscape had been successful in its bid to outperform Microsoft's Internet Explorer. Or at the very least, the Net would have been a cooler place. What's a bit troubling to my mind is that he discards Netscape as completely irrelevant to the Net today. I wholeheartedly disagree. True, Netscape is currently nothing more than a front for AOL nowadays, but the browser is so much more versatile than IE 6.0 ever was. Not to mention the alterable skins, the conveinient tabs, the password memory settings, etc. It's perfect for Bloggers, WinAmp enthusiasts, and anyone who has used AOL IM. The only downside is that Blogger supports IE a bit more than Netscape, which is a fair trade considering that IE 6 consistenly crashes on my computer. I can't be the only one who believes that Netscape 7.0 is a better browser that reflects current trends among serious web surfers. But I could be wrong. War Council To Meet in the Azores The leaders of Spain, the UK, and the US are meeting in the Azores to discuss the best way to kick Saddam's butt. I like it! The new United Nations logo First we wrangle over Iraq, now we wrangle over the new UN logo. . . I dunno, I kinda like the new one. Le Worm sold out his nation British Sun commentator Trevor Kavanaugh's thoughts on what Chirac's manhandling of the UN Security Council has done to relations to the United States: CHARLATAN Jacques Chirac is basking in cheap applause for his “Save Saddam” campaign — but his treachery will cost his people dear. Thursday, March 13, 2003Bin Laden captured? Or not? Definitely not yet. The UK Daily Telegraph's Alex Spillius decries both the lack of journalistic integrity concerning the story and the current environment: The swift chain of events behind Mr Pooya's revelation says much about falling media standards, the understandable thirst for news of the most wanted man in the world and dire lack of hard information on his whereabouts, 16 months after he escaped from the Tora Bora mountains. U.S. White Paper on Iraq Just in case you haven't, this white paper published on 12 September 2002 and delivered to the UN details just a few of the issues the United States has with Saddam. 23 pages long. Just a few. . . Geev zem eenough r-r-rope, Jacques It appears as if the French are softening their hard-line stance against vetoing the British compromise after all, at least according to de Villepin. Of course, after the massive brow-beating heaped upon them in the British House of Commons yesterday plus the US State Department's virtual announcement that we would go it alone in the event of an inevitable French veto, I'd suspect this to be the case. It could be that de Villepin and the French government want this to come down to a UN vote so that the French veto would make any war seem dubious in the eyes of "international law." Naturally, as an American I have a problem subscribing to any set of governing laws that operate on the basis of positivism. To put it bluntly, my forefathers didn't fight and die to preserve the UN. The Empire Strikes First? Could Saddam attack our soldiers in Kuwait first as a pre-emptive strike before we move first? That seems to be the worry at the Pentagon: This new level of concern about Iraq is caused by an accumulation of intelligence including troubling new details that focus on three areas: Imagine that!  Republican - You believe that the free market will take care of most things, but that the government should be there with moderate taxation to provide for national defense and enforcing morality. Your historical role model is Ronald Reagan. Which political sterotype are you? brought to you by Quizilla Time to show France we're serious. Couretesy of the Chicago Boyz: Our problem with France is similar to our problem with the Arabs: they don't think we're serious. Neither the Arabs nor the French think that we have the resolve, the bloody mindedness needed to see this war through to victory and to punish countries that impede us. After all, we quit without finishing the job in 1991 and, with the minor exception of Afghanistan, we've been bluffing and pulling punches ever since. If we want to deal successfully with the Arabs now, we are going to have to defeat Saddam Hussein and remove him from power--and preferably kill him or put him in a cell with Manuel Noriega. And if we want to deal successfully with the French, we should embark on a long-term effort to marginalize France politically until it changes its anti-American tune. We should also make a point to retaliate personally against Chirac and his political associates. (I'm not sure how much we can do in this regard, but both Bush's father and Clinton interfered, with some success, in Israeli elections, and we've done similar things in other countries, so maybe we should do the same in France. I doubt that Chirac would have any compunction about aiding Bush's opponent in 2004 if he could do so.)
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JEFFERSONIAD POLL: Whom do you support for Virginia Attorney General?1) John Brownlee2) Ken Cuccinelli AboutShaunKenney.com is one of Virginia's oldest political blogs, focusing on the role of religion and politics in public life. Shaun Kenney, 30, lives in Fluvanna County, Virginia.ContactThe Jeffersoniad
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heya, folks, fancying myself a photojournalist, I went on out and once again got pictures of a protest in an effort to give my mother a heart attack yet again. She worries too much. Anyways, here's the best of the bunch.
