The Party of Black and White

Ref (a): Peretz, Martin. "Losing our Delusions", The New Republic, 2005/02/17

Embarrassing, but I watch the History Channel, C-Span, PBS, and Faux News rather than half-hour, laugh track, sitcoms. I can not tell you which vampire Buffy slayed (yuk, spelling please on that) today…

But I can tell you this: On my remote control travels through the dankest slums of thought (from PBS, with a good NOVA program to C-SPAN with the Perle/Dean ‘debate’) I passed an ITV presentation of ‘Famous American Political Speeches’.

One Note – and Don’t Laugh:

The Democratic Party is really the Party of Black and White (TV that is)…

Kennedy, Truman, FDR… All on Black and White TV

To the Liberals: Get some GOOD ideas presented on Color TV. That would be a good first step out of the wilderness.

Hint to Liberals: You might try NEW ideas

Bush Lied, Children Died... Or Maybe Not...

Re (a): David D. Kirkpatrick, “In Secretly Taped Conversations, Glimpses of the Future President”, New York Times, 2005/02/20

There is no bias in the press. An example:

From Eason Jordan’s CNN (note: Eason Jordan resigned recently as a result of a blogstorm from mendacious right wingers – so in reality he is a former employee of CNN - but his influence lives on):

Some talking head, whom I don’t care to identify because her future is already bleak, pulled the following quotes out of the reasonably fair NYT article (at least as fair as the vast right wing NYT can be when reporting on secretly taped conversations by one person in two person personal discussions)

Bush: "I wouldn't answer the marijuana questions. You know why? Because I don't want some little kid doing what I tried."

To which the right wing idiologs in the NYT added:

NYT: “He (now President Bush) refused to answer reporters' questions about this past behavior, he said, even though it might cost him the election.”

So to bolster the already weak commentary she brilliantly uses the following 26 words:

Bush: "Baby boomers have got to grow up and say, yeah, I may have done drugs, but instead of admitting it, say to kids, don't do them,"

Folks, that is the end of the ‘pro drug use’ commentary on the secretly secreted taped conversations between two friends in personal, off-the-record (yuk, yuk) conversations…

Eason Jordan – Let’s view the Davos video!!! Ah, that's right, one should not report on obviously personal off-the-record conversations...

Now let us look at the Vast Right Wing conspiracy (NYT) in action:

NYT: “The private Mr. Bush sounds remarkably similar in many ways to the public President Bush. Many of the taped comments foreshadow aspects of his presidency, including his opposition to both anti-gay language and recognizing same-sex marriage, his skepticism about the United Nations, his sense of moral purpose and his focus on cultivating conservative Christian voters.”

Remember, “Bush Lied, Babies Died…” Whoops, let’s not use this quote – it seems to illustrate that what you see is what you get, and what you hear might just be the truth. Is there any duplicitousness in evidence in these secretly taped salacious conversations:

NYT: “Preparing to meet with influential Christian conservatives, Mr. Bush tested his lines with Mr. Wead. "I'm going to tell them the five turning points in my life," he said. ‘Accepting Christ. Marrying my wife. Having children. Running for governor. And listening to my mother.’"

Uuummm, nothing there – let’s look again, maybe Bush in those secretly generated tapes will demonstrate irrational hatred of some minority group (say, gays):

“But Mr. Bush said he did not intend to change his position. He said he told Mr. Robison: ‘Look, James, I got to tell you two things right off the bat. One, I'm not going to kick gays, because I'm a sinner. How can I differentiate sin?’”

Let’s leave that for a moment and key on President Bush’s secret belief in the now bankrupt concept of RealPolitic (albeit on a national, not international, level):

“Recalling the bruising primary fight Mr. Forbes waged against Bob Dole in 1996, Mr. Bush told Mr. Wead, “Steve Forbes is going to hear this message from me. I will do nothing for him if he does to me what he did to Dole. Period. There is going to be a consequence. He is not dealing with the average, you know, 'Oh gosh, let's all get together after it's over.' I will promise you, I will not help him. I don't care."

We found it!!! President Bush will use electorial power to guide future events – and, by the way, not just kick the can down the road. He believes that the CEO of the most influential nation on earth was elected to resolve problems and promote a ‘pro-American’ (hey lefties: WARNING: Corporate Branding) future course in world politics.

Folks, this chap doesn't lie and he play politics using the Clinton method - even in personal conversations that are, by definition, "Off The Record".

To Lefties: Stop Looking For Naked Pictures of the President!!!

Blogs Mandate Legislation

To All,

We know the powerful are frightened. But we have to do something, something now, about the scandalous abuse of mother earth's dwindling resources. I’m speaking of the indiscriminant exploitation of silicon. Stand by the bloggers, and other important geeks, and petition your legislatures to outlaw the use of silicon in breast implants – that silicon must be set aside for future computer chips…

Left and Right - UNITE!!!

UPDATE: Maybe we should look toward the activist courts to resolve this issue...

Sod Off, Swampy!!!

Sod off, Swampy!!!
The new battle cry of freedom...

This From TNR:

Ref (a): Peretz, Martin. "Losing our Delusions", The New Republic, 2005/02/17
Ref (b): Beinart, Peter. "A Fighting Faith", The New Republic, 2005/12/13

From the Wilderness, voices of reason are heard:

This patronizing attitude is proof positive that, as deep as the social and economic gains have been among African Americans, many liberals prefer to maintain their own time-honored patronizing position vis-à-vis "the other," the needy. This is, frankly, in sharp contrast to President Bush, who seems not to be impeded by race difference (and gender difference) in his appointments and among his friends. Maybe it is just a generational thing, and, if it is that, it is also a good thing. But he may be the first president who apparently does not see individual people in racial categories or sex categories. White or black, woman or man, just as long as you're a conservative. That is also an expression of liberation from bias. This patronizing attitude is proof positive that, as deep as the social and economic gains have been among African Americans, many liberals prefer to maintain their own time-honored patronizing position vis-à-vis "the other," the needy. This is, frankly, in sharp contrast to President Bush, who seems not to be impeded by race difference (and gender difference) in his appointments and among his friends. Maybe it is just a generational thing, and, if it is that, it is also a good thing. But he may be the first president who apparently does not see individual people in racial categories or sex categories. White or black, woman or man, just as long as you're a conservative. That is also an expression of liberation from bias.

Perhaps something is worth fighting for:

Peter Beinart has argued, also in these pages ("A Fighting Faith," December 13, 2004), the case for a vast national and Iinternational mobilization against Islamic fanaticism and Arab terrorism. It is typologically the same people who wanted the United States to let communism triumph--in postwar Italy and Greece, in mid-cold war France and late-cold war Portugal--who object to U.S. efforts right now in the Middle East. You hear the schadenfreude in their voices--you read it in their words--at our troubles in Iraq. For months, liberals have been peddling one disaster scenario after another, one contradictory fact somehow reinforcing another, hoping now against hope that their gloomy visions will come true.

And perhaps there is a chance that a modern liberalism can establish itself:

I happen to believe that they won't. This will not curb the liberal complaint. That complaint is not a matter of circumstance. It is a permanent affliction of the liberal mind. It is not a symptom; it is a condition. And it is a condition related to the desperate hopes liberals have vested in the United Nations. That is their lodestone. But the lodestone does not perform. It is not a magnet for the good. It performs the magic of the wicked. It is corrupt, it is pompous, it is shackled to tyrants and cynics. It does not recognize a genocide when the genocide is seen and understood by all. Liberalism now needs to be liberated from many of its own illusions and delusions. Let's hope we still have the strength.

All good consensual polities require a clash of contemporary ideas. In the United States, the Left is reactionary and therefore reaching back a half century to a golden era. There are very few new concepts stemming from modern American Liberalism. In Europe, the Left succeeded in forming socialist democracies but wears the blinders of moral relativism concerning the emergence of a destructive 'counter culture' immigrating from far off lands. Now Europe must deal with masses of unassimilated 'citizens' who do not fundamentally believe in, and thus challenge, the very fabric on which the social democracy is built.

Total War...

Ref (a), Wretchard. "Testimony Before Congress", Belmont Club
Ref (b), Wretchard. "Testimony Before Congress 2", Belmont Club
Ref (c), Dr. Demarche. "So Happy Together", Daily Demarche
Ref (d), Thomas Friedman, "Hama Rules", New York Times

Wretchard ties together recent events in Syria, Iraq, Iran, North Korea, and the Philippines to demonstrate the walk-up toward Total War...

Regretfully, there is a chance that the 'Sunni Jihad' movement has enough fanatic adherents to their cause to determine the direction of their civilization. And this movement is not tolerant of other intrinsic, and viable, belief structures. We cannot play at defending our basic social structure and mores like this. Fanatics do not listen to alternative viewpoints - they kill them...

If, or when, the conflict is escalated we will know it by the consistent use of 'Hama Rules'. We have already seen beheadings, conflagration, assassinations, executions, and indiscriminate terror. We have already seen Total War waged on our society – on our symbols of freedom, strength, and capitalism. We have already witnessed Hama Rules in action.

President Bush chose to use our shining city on a hill, a moderate and targeted use of force, the freezing of jihadi assets, and a diplomatic attempt to isolate the enemy to preclude the advent of Total War… If President Bush is not successful at de-legitimizing the use of Hama Rules in the Islamic culture than we are in Total War – whether we want to be or not.

In Total War there is a winner and there is a loser...