Decision ‘08 » 2004

Archive for December, 2004

Monday, December 13th, 2004

Miscellanea - They Really Hate Us Edition

Grab a seat, because I have shocking news - are you ready? The French and the Germans don’t much care for us. You would never have guessed it, right? Even more amazing is the fact that they hate President Bush even more. Thank God for polls…
JustOneMinute has been exploring the Social Security Reform issue with […]

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Monday, December 13th, 2004

A Must Read on the US, the Devil, and Iraq

Excellent, excellent Fareed Zakaria article on the Iraqi Elections. After noting the muted and/or downright hostile response of the Radical Left to the events in Afghanistan, Zakaria warns them to brace for the even worse news of a democratic Iraq. The article contains a most damning anecdote concerning the America-Haters:
The current issue of Foreign Affairs […]

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Sunday, December 12th, 2004

E-mail Updates Now Available

Thanks to the good folks at Bloglet, I’ve added e-mail subscriptions to the site. Basically, you just get a preview of what I post by e-mail once a day, simple as that (it’s about midway down on the right, amidst the barrage of links). Blogger also includes a RSS feed option, and I have that […]

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Sunday, December 12th, 2004

Quote of the Day

‘Socialism’ and ‘Communism’ draw towards them with magnetic force every fruit-juice drinker, nudist, sandal-wearer, sex-maniac, Quaker, ‘Nature Cure’ quack, pacifist, and feminist in England…George Orwell, Road to Wigan Pier, 1937(hat tip to Mickey Kaus)

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Sunday, December 12th, 2004

Miscellanea - Where Did the Weekend Go Edition

Two good links on the lefties today…the Washington Times notes that Harry Reid was taken to task by the New York Times for all the wrong reasons..meanwhile, George Will has more thoughts on that Peter Beinart piece, and wonders what Michael Moore was doing in Jimmy Carter’s convention box (a couple of tips of the […]

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Sunday, December 12th, 2004

More on Chomsky: Blame America First

In awarding my second Weekly Jackass award to Noam Chomsky, I mentioned his contemptable response to the tragedy of 9/11. For those of you who missed it and are too lazy to hit the link above, here is the sum total of Chomsky’s grieving: ‘The terrorist attacks were major atrocities’. That’s it - finis. […]

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Sunday, December 12th, 2004

Miscellanea - Snarky Humor Edition

If you’re not familiar with ScrappleFace and Scott Ott, you should really rectify that right away. Ott is a great satirist because his humor is both outrageous and strangely plausible. Here is a prime example…
On the more just plain silly side of things, I always get a kick out of Andy Borowitz. Here’s a good […]

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Sunday, December 12th, 2004

Nausea Alert - A Public Service Announcement

Today’s column from professional Bush hater Maureen Dowd is bad…I mean embarrassingly bad, I mean, really, really, really…bad…don’t say I didn’t warn you…

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Saturday, December 11th, 2004

Affirmative Action: An Alternative to Race-Based Preferences

One of the most stirring examples of oratory in our national heritage is Martin Luther King’s ‘I Have a Dream Speech’. It is a fact that the Democratic administration of Lyndon Baines Johnson championed the Civil Rights Act, but it is a myth that Republicans formed the opposition to its passage. A significantly higher percentage […]

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Saturday, December 11th, 2004

Miscellanea: Triumph the Insult Comic Dog Edition

You know, Barbra Streisand has one of the most intelligent, thoughtful sites on the Internet - FOR ME TO POOP ON! This time, Babs writes on the ’so-called’ liberal media (a surefire sign that something is true is when liberals precede it with the phrase ’so-called’). I find the whole thing amusing, but her […]

No Comments » - Posted in Uncategorized by Mark

Saturday, December 11th, 2004

Colin Powell - Candidate Profile Five

A recent Gallup Poll shows Colin Powell is the early choice of 7% of Republicans for the 2008 nomination. The outgoing Secretary of State has long been one of the more admired politicians for his grace, intellect, and moderation. Some desperate Democrats even want to claim him. Powell would be a formidable candidate, but not […]

13 Comments » - Posted in Colin Powell, Republican Candidates by Mark

Saturday, December 11th, 2004

Miscellanea - Breaking News Edition

To date, I have not posted one word about the outrages in the Ukraine - for which oversight I should be flogged in the public square at high noon. The confirmation of Viktor Yushchenko’s poisoning provides a convenient excuse to rectify that. Look for a Unkrainian-themed essay soon…
Lorie Byrd at PoliPundit is worried that […]

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Friday, December 10th, 2004

‘Progressive’? Not by a Long Shot…

Self-definitions are often delusional. Human nature dictates that we see ourselves as we would like to be. Consider this definition from hyperdictionary:

Progressive:[n] a person who favors a political philosophy of progress and reform and the protection of civil liberties.

Now who would have a problem with that? Hold on a minute, though - here is the […]

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Friday, December 10th, 2004

Miscellanea - TGIF Edition

Lord, did work suck today! Let’s see what’s going on around this crazy ol’ place we call the Internet…
Armstrong Williams in USA Today (hat tip: RealClearPolitics) writes about a subject that I’ve touched on several times: the intolerance of the ‘progressive’ community to those that don’t think the same…
Charles Krauthammer wonders why the Afghanistan Miracle […]

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Thursday, December 9th, 2004

Miscellanea - Al Sharpton Edition

It isn’t just the Village Voice wagging their tongues about the Reverend Al these days…
Captain Ed asks, ‘Sharpton: Shakedown or Sellout?’…
Anybody else got the sneaking suspicion this guy might be a rip-off artist? (hat tip to Pejmanesque)…
Can this article be true? It shows Marjorie Fields-Harris gaining support (a fisking of Marjorie here)….
On the other hand, […]

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Thursday, December 9th, 2004

Privatization in Action: Reform in Chile

In a meeting with Social Security trustees, President Bush declared that an increase in payroll taxes is off the table as a funding source for Social Security reform. That’s too bad, because it would seem to effectively kill Senator Lindsey Graham’s plan, which I thought had a lot of merit. So where does that leave […]

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Thursday, December 9th, 2004

No Social Security Crisis? You Could Have Fooled Me

The Radical Left just loves to have their cake and eat it, too. The ability to believe in two opposing ideas simultaneously is no problem for those wearing ideological blinders (War is Peace, Love is Hate, Ignorance is Strength) . We were told in the campaign that President Bush wrongly outsourced the Afghanistan War, but […]

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Thursday, December 9th, 2004

Miscellanea - It’s Nearly Friday Edition

Peter Beinart follows up his influential TNR article with a Washington Post piece again calling for a more muscular liberal response to terrorism (via RealClearPolitics)…
Jonathan Franzen and I have something in common - a love of Peanuts…
Dick Morris joins in the post-election elite bashing (again, thanks to RealClearPolitics)…
Via Instapundit, the Unpopulist 2004 Weblog Awards…
More on […]

No Comments » - Posted in Uncategorized by Mark

Wednesday, December 8th, 2004

Miscellanea - Ayn Rand Edition

So you’ve devoured Atlas Shrugged, The Fountainhead, We the Living, and even The Romantic Manifesto, and you don’t know where to get your Ayn Rand fix? Don’t worry, I’m here to help…
Actually, a Google search for Ayn Rand results in 428,000 hits, so let’s narrow it down just a tad. What follows is just […]