The O-Pine Zone

War Is Hell ( ...Or So I've Read )

2005-04-25T06:44:00.000-07:00

Nothing pisses me off like some half-assed soldier wannabe who's shocked and awed when he realizes that not only do people shoot at each other in war zones, but that sometimes people get hit.

"My life has not been about being safe," says actor-turned-Marine-turned-activist Sean Huze. "As long as we on the left are talking about anything other than Iraq, the right is winning."

That's because we are right. This guy came to L.A. from Louisiana, became an actor with an agent in early 2001. On September 12, 2001, he went into the local Marine recruiting station after returning from an all-night poker binge on Sept. 11 and learning about the attacks.

"Like probably most Americans, I experienced the entire range of emotions: despair, fear, powerlessness, rage."

A month later, he went to basic training and went through cities like Nasriyah, Kut, Baghdad, and Tikrit, seeing fighting firsthand.

"When you're in combat,"... OK, let's stop right there. He's trying to sound like a seasoned veteran. Other than his grandfather in WWII and his father in the Army from '68 to '74, he's had no association with the armed forces. But, he continues: "all you have time to think about is getting home and making sure that the man to your left, to your right, they get home too. You don't think about the dead child you see, or the dead man and wonder if he had children of his own."

No, jackass, you don't. If you do, you don't belong in the Forces to begin with. Think if regular cops were that emotional. Shit wouldn't get done. Cops are there to do a job: protect us from the real assholes of the world. The troops are there to perform a similar service: protect us from the MAJOR assholes of the world.

While in Nasriyah, Huze was injured and was sent back to Camp Lejeune. There, he heard President Bush's now-famous challenge to the Iraqi insurgets: "Bring them on." "I was outraged. It started me thinking critically about the war for the first time."

Let's stop there again. Outraged? President Bush made that statement because HE BELIEVES IN OUR TROOP'S ABILITY TO DESTROY THE TERRORISTS. I'm not fucking calling them "insurgents." That's a pussy media phrase. He knows what are boys are capable of. And thinking critically? Let him explain:

He began surfing the internet, and a new anger built. "Being in Iraq didn't mean that suddenly I understood policy. But, as I watched the justifications for the invasion dissipate, no weapons of mass destructions, no ties to Al Qaeda..." Huze interrupts himself. "Well, Iraq's got ties to Al Qaeda now (emphasis added)."

We've been over this, so I won't repeat. But Iraq's ALWAYS had ties to Al Qaeda. And why do we have to justify removing a madman who killed over 300,000 people?

The rationale for going to war was not, he says, "the rationale that the administration gave to the American people. To realize it wasn't true left me empty, with nothing but a lot of pain."

Like a bottle of drain cleaner. It'll clean you out... but leave you hollow inside. 12 years, 14 resolutions, he's used weapons before... THAT was the rationale.

Gradually, Huze began sharing his pain. His acting coach --

Fuck this, I'm stopping right there. Acting coach? I hate seeing these little imitation soldiers get all weepy because war wasn't holding sticks and saying "Bang Bang". That's why REAL soldiers do what they do.

Because they can.

Voices Of Protest

2005-03-20T02:29:00.000-08:00

A few protest rallys were held on both the east and west coasts, commemorating the 2-year anniversary of the start of the Iraq war. Here are some protester thoughts:

"I am a patriot and I want my troops back."

You would think being a patriot means being behind the troops and what they are there for. We take the fight to them, before it gets here.

"I'm here to chastise the government for putting us in the middle of a bloody and disgusting war. Things are looking worse and there's no foreseeable end to this."

At least for the insurgents.

Regarding the police presence at the rallys:
"They don't want to show the size of the opposition. It's a free country if you agree with the government."

Okay. So if you disagree, what exactly do you have to pay? A fine? Please, Mr. Liberal, tell me.

"You've got to devote yourself to the struggle and find people who feel the same way. If I was opposing this alone it would be more disheartening."

But you'd still look as stupid as everyone else.

"If you're not active, and if you don't fight, it makes things much worse."

If you're not active, and don't fight, how the hell are you making things worse?

Hollywood. It Just Doesn't Know How

2005-03-12T12:32:00.000-08:00

There are many things I don't like about Hollywood and the entertainment industry. The constant back-slapping, the self-aggrandizement, the sycophants.
That fact that Hollywood considers itself so in the "now" has been burned into our collective psyche's so well that even today's youth forget Hollywood actually put out some good films. Kind of an oxymoron, isn't it? For every Memento, we get a Catwoman, Elektra, and a Fat Albert.

The worst examples are from the film reviewers, and particularly those reviewing Bruce Willis' new film Hostage. Apparently, Willis has a "fading" career and a "flagging" career, according to the New York Times' Stephen Holden and the New York Post's Lou Lumenick, respectively. It's interesting, though, that a multi-million dollar action film can get made with an actor whose career is fading. How can this be possible?

If this film is a major hit (and it doesn't look too good; early returns show only a $10 to $15 million opening), critics will be talking about Bruce Willis' comeback, just like they're doing with Kevin Costner's role in The Upside of Anger.

Comeback from where? Willis and Costner didn't retire from acting. But in the critic's world view, if you hadn't had a hit in more than two years, you have retired, not from acting, but from hit films.

Take a look at Robert De Niro. According to these critics, he's not doing what he used to, which is make good films, and I agree. But, they think the opposite here than they do of Willis and Costner. They think De Niro should go back to the "solid acting" films. But those films, like Taxi Driver, Raging Bull, etc., were not box office hits. So, although the Meet the Parents films are box office hits, De Niro's career is not doing well. The other films, well-made with good acting, weren't commercial hits. You need a damn instruction booklet to keep up with these critics.

No actor's career is ever one long hit streak. When an actor retires, THEN it's over. Like Paul Newman. He recently announced he wants to make one last film, then retire. At 80, he's had a distinguished career. He was a top box-office draw in the early seventies, but after that, he continued to make... good movies. His career didn't "fade" or "flag".

Critics are hired to review films and give their opinions. People can take them at face value, or use them as guidelines. But they need to refrain from voicing their opinion on whether an actor's career is over. It's over when the actor says it is. Or the fat lady sings, whichever comes first.

The Liberal Two-Step

2005-03-11T15:45:00.000-08:00

It's always fun watching the left make excuses for their most ridiculous members. In her weekly Newsweek article, Eleanor Clift tries to make some valid arguments against the Republicans and the right:

And this week, (Hillary Clinton) stood shoulder to shoulder with two of the Senate’s most right-wing members, Rick Santorum and Sam Brownback, to introduce a bill to examine the impact of the dreaded evil media on children, the kind of legislation that normally sends shivers down every liberal spine.

Nowhere else in this article does Clift refer to Hillary as a liberal or a left-winger. It's the liberal two-step. Make sure you identify the right, but go out of your way to avoid mentioning the left. And if you do, be sure it makes no sense whatsoever.

Keeping company with Hillary is frustrating for the right because she’s proving to be something different from the caricature they made of her.

If calling someone who curses and yells "fucking jew bastard" a curser and racist, how is that a caricature?

Her recent comments on wanting to find common ground on abortion and her appearance at a press conference with such avatars of the right as Santorum and Brownback show she has absorbed the lesson of the ’04 election more systematically than anyone else.

She hasn't absorbed jack. She's parroting the conservative lines because she knows none of her own lines will make it with voters. Does Clift really believe a few words and appearances with Republicans will erase eight-years of her "It Takes A Village" mentality?

And in regards to Hillary's possible election to the White House in '08:

Imagine Bill Clinton once again rattling around the White House “doing God knows what” in the words of one of the dinner attendees. But Clinton himself has become more of a beloved figure. His role in tsunami relief combined with his illness allows the American people to see him in a different light.

Bill Clinton... beloved figure. I don't know whether to laugh or laugh really hard. So now the ruddy-faced frat boy is a ruddy-faced teddy bear? Give me a break. I think the most shocking thing about Clinton going to the hopsital for heart surgery was the fact that he actually had one. He could bite his trembling lower lip like the best of them, but he never really felt your pain.

Seeing him in a different light is right. We're used to seeing him as a lying, adulterous, "Let's-bomb-a-camel's-ass" criminal.

The question for any woman seeking the presidency in the post-9/11 era is whether she can be a credible commander in chief. Rice has the resume, but can she stare down the North Koreans and the mullahs in Iran? Clinton gets rave reviews from Republicans for her work on the Senate Armed Services Committee. She is confounding them on a daily basis by defying the caricature they created. The lamp-throwing, cursing, calculating Lady Macbeth is gone, if she ever really existed.

So four years away from the Presidency is enough to not only forgive Hillary, but to absolve her from all wrongdoing? If it were just that easy. I only hope it doesn't take that long to show how great a President George W. Bush is.

Oh, wait...

This Tiger Can't Golf

2005-02-25T09:28:00.000-08:00

So a tiger from someone's private collection went roaming around the Ronald Reagan library this past week. Wildlife officials shot and killed th 425-pound tiger, and then airlifted the animal in a large net. No surprise there. I don't think the tiger would have been as humane (pun intended) if someone were trespassing on its native soil. Yet, the bleeding-hearts came out for a look-see:

The park has become a gathering place for people mourning the tiger's death. Many expressed varied opinions about the event.

"I thought it was sad that they shot the tiger, but I think they did the right thing," said Arthur Sanders. "I thought that was mean," said another. One visitor said he was concerned about the tiger's presence near schools.

"It was a very tame tiger, from what I understand," another man told NBC4. "It was declawed. It was cowering in a ravine, which further kept it isolated. The net that they used to carry it out of here after they shot it, they could have used to drop over it and held it down that way."

Monday-morning quarterbacking. They coulda, they shoulda. It was a tiger. What the hell was it doing loose in the first place?

Moorpark resident Mike Lillis followed the tiger's last paw prints. He cast one of the prints in plaster. "Having him get shot, that bothered me and it bothered a lot of people," Lillis said. "In a way, I felt this was my way of honoring him."

Honoring... a tiger. For braveness in combat? Please. Ask these morons what they thought the wildlife officials should have done after it bit the head off a loved one.

Timing Is Everything

2005-02-16T22:10:00.000-08:00

Jennifer Beals, one of the stars of Showtime's lesbian drama The L Word, has decided, since her show is about to have its second-season premiere this Sunday, to speak out in favor of gay marriage:

"I'm always shocked that gay marriage is such a big deal. You have to realize how precious human life is, when there are tsunamis and mudslides, when there are armies and terrorists - at any moment, you could be gone, and potentially in the most brutal fashion. And then you have to realize that love is truly one of the most extraordinary things you can experience in your life. To begrudge someone else their love of another person because of gender seems to be absolutely absurd. It's based in fear, fear of the other, fear of what is not like you.

OK, hang on there, Jenn. We've gone over this. The phrase "gay marriage" is an oxymoron. Marriage, by definition for thousands of years, is the joining of a man and a woman. Not a man and a man, or a woman and a woman. It's the word, not the joining.

Fear? There are gay couples that are out there, and I have no fear of them. What two men or two women decide to do in the privacy of their own home, car, or hotel room, is none of my business, just as my privacy is my own. Everyone should be different from everyone else. That's what makes us unique.

But when you are able to see lives on a day-to-day basis, rather than reducing it to politics, then it humanizes a whole community of people that were otherwise invisible."

Invisible? Will & Grace, The L Word, countless characters on countless shows.... what is this invisible crap?

Yale-educated Beals credits popular culture, such as her TV show, with breaking down homosexual stereotypes as it enables "people to see another side of life".

Oh, so her comments mean something because she's from Yale. Well, excuse the hell out of me.

I guess she felt her show needed that extra boost of publicity.

Smart as a Rock

2005-02-14T23:28:00.000-08:00

OK. Chris Rock needs to stop. And I don't just mean with the following stupid comments:

"What straight black man sits there and watches the Oscars? Show me one. And they don't recognize comedy, and you don't see a lot of black people nominated, so why should I watch it?"

Here's a partial list of the nominees:
Jamie Foxx, Actor
Don Cheadle, Actor
Sophie Okonedo, Supporting Actress
Morgan Freeman, Supporting Actor

Um, last time I checked, all four of the actors listed were black.

And this, right before the "black man" comments:
"I never watched the Oscars, except the Halle Berry / Denzel Washington year. ..... Come on, it's a fashion show. No one performs, it's not like a music show. Nothing against people who aren't straight, but what straight guy that you know really cares?"

Right, Chris. Like you absolutely knew Denzel and Halle would win. And his typical comments that show his homophobia. Just like racists. "I'm not racist, but... " What moron thought he would be "edgy" enough to be the host of the Oscars? Actors and other crew are there to show off gowns and praise fellow actors and crew. That's it.

The left is just losing it. And I love my front-row ticket to the insanity.

Always Bet On Black

2005-02-14T13:24:00.000-08:00

I've been holding back on this subject for a week, waiting to see how it plays out. And it played out as predictably as I thought it would.

After a 13-year-old boy went joyriding in a stolen car with a friend last week, at 3:30 in the morning, cops spotted them and gave chase. The car crashed into a fence, the friend got out and ran, then the 13-year-old backed-up and hit the patrol car. The officer got out, fired 10 shots, and killed the boy.

At this point, the question becomes, "Did the officer over-react?" In my opinion, no. They are in South Central Los Angeles, where crime is a major problem. But of course, the citizens never blame themselves:

Community activists blamed racism. "There seems to be a complete disregard for black life," said Danny Bakewell, head of the Brotherhood Crusade.

How are these people certain the cops were 100% certain themselves that the occupants were black? At 4 in the morning? Do these people think the cops were actively hunting for blacks? They were looking for people breaking the law. The fact that they were in South Los Angeles gave them a high probability the law breakers were black.

Fault in the Brown incident wasn't entirely clear-cut. Officer Garcia shot Brown after the boy apparently backed the car directly into the side of the police cruiser; Garcia was crouched behind the door. LAPD policy allows officers to shoot into moving cars, but only if the vehicle threatens the life of a cop or bystander.

And many citizens, black and white, wondered why the cops were shouldering all the blame for an incident that started because a 13-year-old was driving illegally, in a stolen car, at 4 in the morning. "We see young, innocent kids killed by gangbangers, and we don't see [this much] outrage," says white City Councilman Dennis Zine.

Councilman Zine makes my point. I've even read an article that states that joyriding is a rite of passase for young men. They see beer and car ads and want to drink and drive as early as they can. To me, that's a bunch of horseshit. The first time I tried beer, I was 12. I took one sip, spit it right back out. Never tried it again until I was 30. As for driving, none of my friends ever took a car in the middle or the night, or even the day, and went joyriding. We knew the value of patience.

13-years-old, driving a stolen car, 4 in the morning. And when the cops spotted them, they chased him for three miles. That's almost the length of 53 football fields.

Cops in L.A. are constantly chasing idiots driving 90 miles an hour on our multitude of freeways. When these people stop, there is no telling whether they will try and attack the police with their cars until they are completely out of their vehicle.

Bottom line in the blame game: try the parents.

Return Of The Pup-i

2005-02-05T15:07:00.000-08:00

I knew he wouldn't keep silent for long. John Edwards, Kerry's ex-running mate and puppy dog, made a thinly veiled bid for the Presidency of 2008 while promoting his new Center on Poverty, Work, and Opportunity in New Hampshire.

While saying he has not decided whether to seek the presidency, Edwards sounded like a man who is putting a lot of thought into what makes voters tick.

"People are looking for strength and conviction, a core set of beliefs that we stand behind," he said in an interview previewing his speech to Democratic activists.

"I just believe that what the American people need in their leaders is to know where they stand. They may not know the nuance of the policy, but they know where that person wants to take the country," Edwards said.
Asked if President Bush passed that gut-check test with voters, Edwards paused before answering. "I don't think that's true, but there are a lot of people who do," he said.

Um, does Edwards know Bush won?

Edwards did not want to say why his former running mate, Sen. John Kerry of Massachusetts, is faulted for lacking conviction and vision. "I think that's a complicated question," Edwards said. "Others can respond to that. I actually think John Kerry was a very good man and would have made a very good president."

Was a good man and would have made a good president. Nice. Notice he didn't disagree. But a complicated question? This man was Kerry's running mate, for Christ's sake. How could he not know?

Actually, the answer lies in Edwards' previous statements. "...what the American people need in their leaders is to know where they stand... they know where that person wants to take the country." That is something that Kerry failed in doing. He never had the courage of any convictions. As Edwards said, people are looking for "a core set of beliefs that we stand behind."

And guess what? We found them. In the year 2000.

We're The Kids In America

2005-02-05T13:56:00.000-08:00

I had not declared any politial affiliation for about 18 years, ever since I could vote. I had an extremely basic knowledge of politics, but I knew enough about world events and other things that would affect me. Liberal or conservative, Republican, Democrat or Independent, it did not matter. I've always lived by the rules of common sense.

Which is why it frustrates me to read about college students who so lack common sense that they parrot the liberal bylines without hesitation.

Newsweek Magazine's online version had a twenty-something guest columnist from Michigan State University, Traci Carpenter, write an article on what her fellow college students thought of Social Security, if they even thought about it at all.

...but we never think for a moment that when we get that age, we won't be able to retire in style—or at all.

But this is the picture President Bush painted for us in his assault on our Social Security system at a White House forum last Tuesday and in his State of the Union Address on Wednesday.

"Assault." Didn't waste any time giving us her point of view, did she?

"If you're 20 years old, in your mid-20s, and you're beginning to work, I want you to think about a Social Security system that will be flat bust, bankrupt, unless the United States Congress has got the willingness to act now," Bush told the forum, using his usual rhetoric of impending doom.

"Usual rhetoric of impending doom." Wow. So scientists who predict a volcanic eruption, or an earthquake, or even forecasters who predict a hurricane, and warn people about the possible dangers, are just using their usual rhetoric of impending doom? Curious...

And as an inherent cynic about all politicians, I can't help but wonder if Bush truly has the best interest of my generation in mind. Through four years of his administration, he has barely acknowledged our needs and now he wants to save us from a threat looming a half century away? I can't help but be a little skeptical.

I'm sorry, I didn't realize your generation HAD needs, aside from going to school and getting a decent job that may turn into a great career.

Megan Connor, 21, a self-proclaimed Kerry supporter way back when, takes a more optimistic approach. She's happy Bush has taken notice of what she feels is an important issue, even though the shortfall isn't set to kick in for at least a decade after Bush leaves office.

THIS is what I like to hear. Although a Kerry supporter, Connor has the capacity to see things from the other side, and not just dismiss them outright.

However, she is concerned that our generation isn't prepared for what Bush has proposed. For those of us not financially savvy and clueless when it comes to investing, "it's going to be guesswork," she says.

Andrew Bell, 21, shares the same anxiety. "People in general have a pretty Short-term outlook," he said, adding he would be willing to pay more now to keep the current system because it would be "one less thing I have to worry about."

Well, we wouldn't want Mr. Bell to worry too much, would we? I mean, it's only LIFE we're talking about here.

Speech? What Speech?

2005-02-03T17:00:00.000-08:00

On Wednesday, President Bush gave a clear and concise State Of The Union address, which laid out his specific plans for Iraq, health care, and the reform of Social Security.

But apparently Democratic House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi and Senate Minority leader Harry Reid heard about five or six words and then drew their own conclusions.

(The Democratic responses came after the speech)

Pres. Bush: The United States has no right, no desire, and no intention to impose our form of government on anyone else. ..... We will succeed in Iraq because Iraqis are determined to fight for their own freedom, and to write their own history. As Prime Minister Allawi said in his speech to Congress last September, "Ordinary Iraqis are anxious … to shoulder all the security burdens of our country as quickly as possible." This is the natural desire of an independent nation, and it also is the stated mission of our coalition in Iraq. ..... In the end, Iraqis must be able to defend their own country — and we will help that proud, new nation secure its liberty.

“We all know that the United States cannot stay in Iraq indefinitely and continue to be viewed as an occupying force,” ..... “Neither should we slip out the back door, falsely declaring victory but leaving chaos,” Pelosi said. “We have never heard a clear plan from this administration for ending our presence in Iraq.”

Pres. Bush: We will help an additional 200,000 workers to get training for a better career, by reforming our job training system and strengthening America's community colleges.
..... Under the No Child Left Behind Act, standards are higher, test scores are on the rise, and we are closing the achievement gap for minority students. Now we must demand better results from our high schools, so every high school diploma is a ticket to success. And we will make it easier for Americans to afford a college education, by increasing the size of Pell Grants.
..... I ask Congress to move forward on a comprehensive health care agenda — with tax credits to help low-income workers buy insurance, a community health center in every poor county, improved information technology to prevent medical errors and needless costs, association health plans for small businesses and their employees, expanded health savings accounts, and medical liability reform that will reduce health care costs, and make sure patients have the doctors and care they need.

Reid said Bush should join Democrats in fighting for better job training, improved education and more affordable health care. Instead, he said, Bush offered “the same old ideology.”

Did their TiVO record the wrong program?

Pres. Bush: We will not set an artificial timetable for leaving Iraq, because that would embolden the terrorists and make them believe they can wait us out. We are in Iraq to achieve a result: A country that is democratic, representative of all its people, at peace with its neighbors, and able to defend itself. And when that result is achieved, our men and women serving in Iraq will return home with the honor they have earned.

Rep. Charles Rangel, D-N.Y., said Bush “did not mention how many more lives will be lost because we still have no timetable for leaving Iraq. And he did not mention how his plans for Social Security dramatically cut benefits across the board and make the challenge worse.”

President Bush said this:
As we fix Social Security, we also have the responsibility to make the system a better deal for younger workers. And the best way to reach that goal is through voluntary personal retirement accounts. ..... Right now, a set portion of the money you earn is taken out of your paycheck to pay for the Social Security benefits of today's retirees. If you are a younger worker, I believe you should be able to set aside part of that money in your own retirement account, so you can build a nest egg for your own future.

Why is personal responsibility such a hard concept for Democrats to understand?

Pres. Bush: But we have to move ahead with courage and honesty, because our children's retirement security is more important than partisan politics. I will work with members of Congress to find the most effective combination of reforms. I will listen to anyone who has a good idea to offer.

Even so, Democrats were volunteering few detailed alternatives to Bush’s proposals. Reid told reporters that without a specific White House blueprint for overhauling Social Security, he saw no need for Democrats to offer “a counterplan to nothing.”

Pres. Bush: In the three and a half years since September 11^th, 2001, we have taken unprecedented actions to protect Americans. We have created a new department of government to defend our homeland, focused the FBI on preventing terrorism, begun to reform our intelligence agencies, broken up terror cells across the country, expanded research on defenses against biological and chemical attack, improved border security, and trained more than a half million first responders. Police and firefighters, air marshals, researchers, and so many others are working every day to make our homeland safer, and we thank them all.

Reid and Pelosi also accused Bush of failing to develop a plan for protecting the country from terrorism and said Democrats wanted more health, education and job training benefits for veterans.

Brought to you by The Insanity Of The Left.

War Is Poetry

2005-01-31T09:58:00.000-08:00

David Shaw (Media Matters, L.A. Times Calendar) reviews a film called Voices In Wartime, which "examines the pain of war through the words of poets since 2300BC." It's a very liberal, anti-war screed, just like Shaw himself.

Near the end of the article are these two paragraphs:

Although there are hints in the movie that there were legitimate reasons to fight World Wars I and II, the writers argue that such legitimacty no longer obtains, and that since World War II, civilians, rather than soldiers, have been "the primary victims of war."

The film suggests that the United States is a major contributor to this sad fact. The U.S., it says, "exports more arms than the rest of the world combined" and is thus responsible for much of the violence and unrest in the world today.

I don't know where to start, or even if I should. Our country wouldn't be where it is today without WWI & WWII. We know that there are always victims in war. We don't do the old Spartacus and Braveheart battles of meeting on an open field and duking it out until one side is the victor. And in the case of Iraq, maybe there would be less civilian casualties if the "fearless" terrorists would stop hiding behind mosques and schools.

As for the second paragraph, it's more of the same "Blame America" mentality. If I give a gun to someone, does that automatically mean they're going to run out and shoot someone? Depends. It depends on the disposition of the person. Is he prone to violence, or will he just have it until needed for self-defense? Either way, it does not matter that I gave the gun to this person. The blame and responsibility ultimately lies with the person committing the crime. The argument that America is responsible for the world's violence is like hearing someone suing a bullet manufacturer for making the bullet that killed their child.

Committing Hari-Kerry

2005-01-30T13:35:00.000-08:00

I am very relieved that John Kerry is not our president, but he can't go away... he's too damn entertaining:

SEN. KERRY: We raised more money than any Democratic campaign in history. We involved more volunteers than any campaign in history. I won more votes than any candidate on the Democratic side has ever won in history... and if you add up the popular vote in the battleground states, I won the popular vote in the battleground states by two percentage points. ..... I won the youth vote. I won the independent vote. I won the moderate vote.

BUT YOU DIDN'T WIN THE ELECTION, GENIUS!

That's like saying you scored the only four touchdowns in the SuperBowl but the other team won by a field goal.

YOU STILL LOST!!!!

And how about this:

SEN. KERRY: Well, Tim, if you ask me about polls today, you're going to get one of the sort of quick and easy dismissals of all politics, because I'm a poll expert. And if you'll recall, every poll in the country eliminated me from the race in December prior to Iowa, and I turned around and won. And every poll eliminated me two or three times from even making the race close. So I think polls today are almost irrelevant, and I just don't pay any attention to them.

Plus, every exit poll said he won. And that's why he doesn't like them anymore.

Kerry On, Kerry Over

2005-01-30T13:27:00.000-08:00

So John Kerry makes his views known again by telling Tim Russert on today's Meet The Press that the Iraqi election is not legitimate "when a whole portion of the country can't vote and doesn't vote." Hmm. A portion of our own country couldn't vote for various reasons (and I'm not talking the famed "voter fraud") and didn't vote. I wonder if Kerry thinks our own Presidential election was not legitimate...

Kerry had a plan. I know that's redundant, but this particular plan was a 4-pointer:

SEN. KERRY: The four steps were, number one, massive rapid training.

Do you want them trained well, or trained quickly?

SEN. KERRY: Number two, you've got to do reconstruction, and you've got to get the services to the Iraqis.

Hey Lurch, we've been doing that.

SEN. KERRY: Number three, you've got to bring the international community in the effort.

You can't. They don't care. Unless it affects them or it was a major natural disaster.... THEN they'll help.

SEN. KERRY: Number four, you've got to have the elections.

Guess what?

MR. RUSSERT: What specifically must President Bush do in your mind?

SEN. KERRY: Well, you have to behave as if you really are at war.

WHAT?!! What the fuck does he think is going on? Training exercises?

MR. RUSSERT: Do you believe that Iraq is less a terrorist threat to the United States now than it was two years ago?

SEN. KERRY: No, it's more.

Then...

MR. RUSSERT: Is the United States safer with the newly elected Iraqi government than we would have been with Saddam Hussein?

SEN. KERRY: Sure.

You all know what he is... I'm not going to repeat... oh, hell. FLIP-FLOPPER!

Ted (hiccup) Kennedy said that after the elections, Bush should start getting troops out of Iraq. Surprisingly, Kerry disagreed. Yet...

SEN. KERRY: I understand exactly (emphasis added) what Senator Kennedy is saying, and I agree with Senator Kennedy's perceptions of the problem and of how you deal with it.

Then, one sentence later:

SEN. KERRY: I think (emphasis added) what Senator Kennedy is saying--and here I do agree with him--is that it is vital for the United States to make it clear that we are not there with long-term goals and intentions of our presence in the region.

Putting aside Kerry's reversal of certainty, just the other day President Bush said that if the Iraqi government wanted us to leave, we would. It's known everywhere that we're not there for the "long-term". It's up to the Iraqi's to take their country back.

There's more from Mr. Kerry, but you get the idea.

Boxer Down For The Count

2005-01-24T09:34:00.000-08:00

After realizing she sounded like a whining, caustic idiot in questioning Condoleeza Rice during the recent Senate confirmation hearings, Senator Barbara Boxer now claims that she's a victim, that she was the one attacked:

Sen. Barbara Boxer says she is the real victim of last week's confirmation hearing for Secretary of State-designate Condoleezza Rice, yet continued yesterday to question the national security adviser's honesty.

"She turned and attacked me," the California Democrat told CNN's "Late Edition" in describing the confrontation during the Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing.

"I personally believe — this is my personal view — that your loyalty to the mission you were given, to sell this war, overwhelmed your respect for the truth," Mrs. Boxer told Miss Rice, who has been President Bush's national security adviser since 2001.

OK. Boxer just said Rice's loyalty to the "mission" of selling the war overshadowed the truth. Simply because she "sold" the war from faulty intel that the CIA has not apologized for and which Boxer herself, and her party, believed?

Miss Rice responded that she "never, ever lost respect for the truth in the service of anything. It is not my nature. It is not my character."

"And I would hope that we can have this conversation and discuss what happened before and what went on before and what I said without impugning my credibility or my integrity," Miss Rice said.

Mrs. Boxer yesterday called that response a "good debating technique."

"When you really don't know what to say about a specific, you just attack the person who is asking the questions," Mrs. Boxer told CNN.

Now, can Boxer please explain how she was attacked? Boxer, in essense, called Rice a liar. Attack. Rice asked Boxer, in essence, not to call her a liar. Respect.

This is a perfect example of the left, in losing an argument or being presented with the facts, twisting words out of proportion and explaining what people "really" mean.

This Boxer got knocked the f*ck out.

Long Live The King Of Late Night

2005-01-23T13:13:00.000-08:00

I started watching Johnny Carson almost religiously during the start of my senior year in late 1984. I had watched him off and on before that, but it became a ritual to at least watch his opening monologue before I went to sleep.

He was able to connect with his audience in a way no one else has before or since. He had an infectious laugh that rarely failed to get you laughing. And you knew when he genuinely liked a comedian, especially when he would invite them to sit with him after their 8-minute set.

Johnny was a master of the reaction shot. And he was at his best when his jokes were bad.

He was a great interviewer because he was actually interested in his guests, even more so when they were average people with unusual talents.

There is no equivalent to Johnny today. Jay Leno couldn't interview to save his life, and hasn't been funny since the late 80's. David Letterman is good, but he doesn't have the warmth to connect with his audience. Conan O'Brien is too goofy on all accounts. And no one else mattered.

I feel honored that I was able to attend five tapings of The Tonight Show, including ones with Arnold Schwarzenegger promoting Raw Deal and Madonna's first-ever talk show appearence in 1987.

There is no way I could do him justice by mentioning his characters and skits, so I would highly recommened renting or buying the Ultimate Carson Collection.

I'll miss Johnny, and I wish his family all the best.

N.Y.P.D. Bull

2005-01-22T13:20:00.000-08:00

Steven Bochco, the man who, through his show N.Y.P.D. Blue, brought us the "groundbreaking" bare-ass shots and liberal uses of the words "asshole" and "prick", now says TV, at least network TV, is too "conservative."

"I don't think today we could launch or sell a show like 'NYPD Blue,"' Bochco said.

We all know that theatrical films or direct-to-cable movies can show or do pretty much anything. You generally pay for those. But N.Y.P.D. Blue was a gimmick show. Sure, it had good drama, but the titillation factor was high, since you knew you were going to see Amy Brenneman or Kim Delany's ass, or in the first season, David Caruso's.

But now, basic cable is the place for good shows that carry generous portions of violence, nudity, and language. Like The Shield. Michael Chiklis plays a bad cop, who kills, sleeps around, and does other bad things. Or Nip/Tuck, where the plastic-surgeon lead sleeps with his patients, and the gore factor is high from the operations they show.

I love The Shield, and I think Nip/Tuck is a fine show. But these programs have their "R" rated content for a reason: it's intregal to the show. N.Y.P.D. Blue is a cop drama that seems to throw in the above-mentioned words just for effect.

All three C.S.I. shows, Third Watch, 24, and a number of others are violent shows, or at least explicit in their descriptions of violent acts. And Bochco calls TV too conservative? Give me a break. His show is ending on it's 10th year, and he's got nowhere to go, so he complains about the state of TV today.

Ultimately, he said, TV will go back to allowing more adult drama. "You're never going to put the genie back in the bottle," Bochco said. "We're never going to see television go back to what it was 20 years ago."

20 years ago, TV had Hill Street Blues (another Bochco show.... what a coincidence) and the Cosby Show. There were NO shows like the ones I have mentioned. Although we did have Miami Vice, which showed the possiblity of TV giving us a mini-movie every week.

It was a simpler time.

...And Things Of That Nature

2005-01-14T17:41:00.000-08:00

Am I to understand that Channel 4's Conan Nolan is questioning Governor Schwarzenegger's use of funds to help the people hit by the mudslide in La Conchita?

From NBC4.TV:
At the same time he says the state needs to save money, Schwarzenegger seemed to be pledging state funds -- potentially millions -- to rebuild the mudslide-ravaged community of La Conchita, even though geologists say the community is destined for another disaster and should be condemned.

The governor told Nolan that he did not offer to buy residents' homes, just to help them rebuild.

"And if that means money, so be it?" Nolan asked.

"Yes, that is what money should be for -- emergencies like that -- and, of course, to help the children in this state," Schwarzenegger said.

You've really got to be kidding on this. Nolan is a local reporter. These people could have been his neighbors. But it only seems to matter when it's MASS of deaths as opposed to a few locals.

You know, I don't seem to remember the huge global outporing of food and money and shelter after the 1987 Whitter quake, or the 1989 Loma Prieta Quake, or the 1992 rains, or the string of Florida hurricanes, or the Okalhoma City Bombing, The World Trade Center bombing, or the 9/11 attacks. Oh sure, the world expressed sympathy. But I ask, because, I honestly can't remember, what foreign nation pledged the kind of support that we've given to the entire world at one time or another to the United States when we've experienced disaster?

None. We take care of our own. And unfortunately, the more the world sees us help anybody and everybody in need, the more they feel they can just brush us off.

So yes, Mr. Nolan, the Governor is using funds to help people in need.

It's called the lamentation of the people.

There's No Business Like Show Business

2005-01-12T10:53:00.000-08:00

Since the people could vote this year for the People's Choice Awards, instead of the usual Gallop poll, it means something to Mel Gibson, having his amazing film The Passion Of The Christ win for best drama. The people have spoken. But when you beg the people to vote, it becomes a ridiculous political campaign. Michael Moore asked people to vote for Fahrenheit 9/11 as the best film, then acted surprised when he won:

Moore dedicated his win to the U.S. troops fighting overseas and said he was "amazed" that people voted his film their favorite.

"I love making movies and I'll take this as an invitation to make more 'Fahrenheit 9/11s,'" Moore said.

It's amazing to be that big and that transparent.

I have a sneaking suspicion Hollywood will not give any awards, let alone nominations, to The Passion, not only because Hollywood never knows what to do with a good film, but because the film scares them. And further proof emerged yesterday when the film was nominated by the American Society of Cinematographers. Yes, it is a beautiful film. But the Director's Guild, Procducer's Guild, and the Screen Actor's Guild have all shut out The Passion. The award is a technical award.

No emotion there.

With A Name Like Tutu...

2004-12-30T20:30:00.000-08:00

Unbelievable. Now we've got ANOTHER expert sounding off on his uncalled-for opinion of President Bush and the war in Iraq. Tutu, the floor is yours:

NEWSWEEK: You said recently that if forgiveness and dialogue were possible in post-apartheid South Africa, the same could be true for Iraq. What impact do you expect the Jan. 30 elections to have there?
BISHOP TUTU: Any normal human being ought to be feeling considerable outrage and deep, deep, deep hurt for so-called ordinary [Iraqi] people. We hardly ever hear about what the casualties have been on that side. How I wish that politicians could have the courage and the humility to admit that they have made mistakes. President Bush and Prime Minister [Tony] Blair and whoever supported the invasion ought at least to have the decency to say [they] went into this war because [they] were given the wrong reasons for going to war.

Removing Saddam was not a mistake. I'm still waiting for the CIA's apologies for bad intel. And Tutu wants to hear them say "We went to war for the wrong reasons"? Um... no. The wrong reasons? What are the wrong reasons? Freedom? Democracy? A viable threat? Tell me, oh Bishop of all Tutu's.

You said George Bush should admit that he made a mistake. Were you surprised at his re-election?
[Laughs] I still can't believe that it really could have happened. Just look at the facts on the table: He’d gone into a war having misled people—whether deliberately or not—about why he went to war. You would think that would have knocked him out [of the race.] It didn’t. Look at the number of American soldiers who have died since he claimed that the war had ended . I was teaching in Jacksonville, Fla., [during the election campaign] and I was shocked, because I had naively believed all these many years that Americans genuinely believed in freedom of speech. [But I] discovered there that when you made an utterance that was remotely contrary to what the White House was saying, then they attacked you. For a South African the déjà vu was frightening. They behaved exactly the same way that used to happen here [during apartheid]—vilifying those who are putting forward a slightly different view.

First, and for the thousandth time, HE DID NOT MISLEAD THE PUBLIC. Second, he never claimed the war had ended. He said it was the end of major operations. Third, we do believe in freedom of speech. You're naive if you don't think we do. Fourth, there's a difference between putting forward a "slightly different view", and ignoring the facts.

So have the attacks of September 11 and the so-called war on terror given America and its allies another focal point?
Yes. There's no question at all. It appears as if we need enemies for our self identification.

We "need" enemies? We already HAVE enemies. They've been attacking us in different forms since 1979. And we don't need self-identification. We know who we are. The greatest country on the planet.

I've never claimed to know everything. But I can do some things most liberals cannot: I can read. I can research. I can think logically about something, without having my emotions runneth over.

And that makes all the difference.

At Least He's Working

2004-12-30T17:35:00.000-08:00

Once again, Jesse Jackson concludes, without actual evidence, that the election was rigged in Ohio. Apparently taking a break from his annual Kwanzaa ceremonies, he spoke to Newsweek:

NEWSWEEK:What’s the matter with Ohio?
Rev. Jesse Jackson: In Columbus, Cincinnati, Akron, Youngstown, Cleveland, where I was, you had blacks standing in line for six hours in the rain. That’s a form of voter suppression.

Voter suppression? He should be happy that so many people actually turned out. Regardless of voting for Bush or Kerry, it was a record turnout. I have a feeling that there were some Asian, Mexican, and even some white people that waited in long lines to vote. Voting may take 5 to 10 minutes, but there's no suppression by standing in line. If that's the case, Disneyland has been suppressing people for decades.

So you think (Ohio Secretary Of State Kenneth) Blackwell stole the election for Bush?
It was under his domain to have enough machines; the machine calibration, tabulation issue. You could rig the machines. We have reason to believe it was rigged.

What is your evidence?
Based on distrusting the system, lack of paper trails, the anomaly of the exit polls. In Ukraine, there’s an exit poll gap, they say, “Let’s have another election.”

OK. So a basic distrust of "the system", no paper trails, and shoddy exit polls are his "evidence" that the voting machines were rigged. Just pure genius.

He wants to get Kerry and his lawyers involved, wants a "forensic investigation" of the machines, a "random recount", etc. He won't stop until 2008.

Is it possible that election will be overturned?
I don’t know. All we want is a fair count and a transparent election. We can live with the result. We’re fighting the odds but we will not faint in the face of the odds.

JJ, if you could live with the result, you wouldn't be doing all this. You would give it a rest and realize you lost.

Happy Kwanzaa!

I Am Sam

2004-12-28T21:17:00.000-08:00

Sean Penn speaks again. I'll just let his words tell the story:

From AP:
Set in 1974, the film ( The Assassination Of Richard Nixon ) stars Penn as the real-life Samuel Byck, a business failure who blamed his shortcomings on societal corruption and attempted to kill President Nixon by hijacking a plane to crash it into the White House.

Penn, 44, who had been developing the project for two years before Sept. 11, said he never viewed the similarities between the Byck incident and the World Trade Center and Pentagon attacks as impediments to the film.

"Not at all. If anything, it might have encouraged it," Penn said in an interview.

Encouraged. Yes, let's take 9/11 and reduce it to some footnote in history about a moron and played by a moron.

AP: Has corruption in government grown worse since Nixon?

Penn: No question about it. The arrogance with which it's played out. I think you'd have a very difficult time Watergating George Bush. The spin and the manipulation of media, the distraction of planned emergencies, is on a whole new level. And there's a kind of general lack of diversity of principle within the Congress. So I think when you can get something like the Patriot Act passed, it would be kind of like child's play to pull off a Watergate ...

First off, what an incredibly stupid question to ask a leftist like Penn. But let's break it down:

Arrogance? Because we actually ARE the dominating country on the planet? And this piece of shit better start explaining what he means by "distraction of planned emergencies." Is he trying to say Sept. 11th was staged? Or that other incidents have been staged? If so, what are we being distracted from? You want to talk about arrogance, you need not look any further than Hollywood. Please read Dennis Prager's article this week. Especially Wish #3. He says it better than I can.

AP: What did you think of Michael Moore's "Fahrenheit 9/11"?

Penn: All of that footage — how long was it, seven plus minutes (when Bush sat in the classroom)? ... That's who George Bush is. I think it speaks very specifically to something that not everybody has. Forget politics, forget Republican, right, left. But it speaks to his unfitness to lead anything.

OK. He's still harping on the 7 minutes Bush spent in the classroom. This same asshole would be bitching and moaning that the President acted like a cowboy if he had jumped up and ran out of the classroom. And let's see.... Bush has been a leader for... four years? Going on eight? But he can't lead anything, according to Sean "Around Iraq In 72 Hours" Penn. Bush just doesn't lead like Penn would like... by kissing the ass of the United Nations.

And I'll give Penn credit on one thing: President Bush sitting there DOES speak about something not everyone has: the ability to understand what had just happened... and to take the fight to the terrorists.

Bush tries, Penn lies.

Damned If You Do...

2004-12-28T20:46:00.000-08:00

Jiminy Christmas. You just can't please people. If President Bush had come out within minutes or hours of the tsunami disaster in Asia, he would have been criticized for having false sensitivity. We all know it's tragic. We all feel bad for the many thousands who lost their lives. But dammit, we live on an unstable planet that will occasionally throw some force of nature at us. Is every disaster a tragedy? No. Shakespeare wrote tragedies.

If this sounds insensitive, so be it. Apparently, since President Bush didn't do what Clinton always does, which is find the cameras, bite his lower lip, and say, "I feel your pain", like he did today with the BBC, he's insensitive.

Let's be realistic about this. If you want to send aid and comfort, you can. It's not mandatory, nor is it an obligation. But if you're going to weep with every single disaster that occours, you're never going to enjoy the happiness that life can bring. Friends of mine are having a baby in May. My career change is starting to happen. I have an Xbox.

I'm not going to allow, and I doubt the President will allow, the media and the rest of the world to dictate how we're "supposed" to feel about this disaster. I know how to grieve. I've experienced it before.

"There is no normal life. There's just life. You live it." - Val Kilmer as Doc Holiday, TOMBSTONE

There Is No Sanity Clause

2004-12-20T13:06:00.000-08:00

What is a military family? I have a 2nd cousin who's shipping to Iraq soon. Does that make mine a military family?

So why do families get outraged at the president when their son or daughter is killed in action? Oh, that's right, they think the president started a "revenge" war. Did they feel that way to begin with? I'd like to know...

I've lost count at how many different reasons people have come up with to hate the Iraq war. The latest is the fact that Donald Rumsfeld uses a stamping machine to sign the letters of condolence to famlies who've lost loved ones. One mother claimed "It personally shows me how callous and unfeeling he is and our government is."

How insanely stupid. If you had a choice between writing out the return address section of an envelope or placing a sticker, which would you choose? It seems that the arguments against the war are failing, so they come up with the charge that Rumsfeld doesn't "personally" sign the letters.

Quick, Robin, to the Bat-Pen!

Take Off, Part II

2004-12-08T10:11:00.000-08:00

Jeremy Hinzman has finally said his piece. In an update to Monday's blog, Hinzman laid the case for his defection to Canada:

TORONTO -- An American seeking to become the first U.S. soldier granted refugee status in Canada after refusing to serve in Iraq told immigration officials Tuesday that the Army was drilling its soldiers to think of all Arabs and Muslims as potential terrorists.

"We were being told that it was a new kind of war, that these were evil people and they had to be dealt with," said Pfc. Jeremy Hinzman, 26, who fled from Fort Bragg, N.C., on Jan. 2.

The reason for that? We don't see a lot of Mexican terrorists blowing up buses, or Italian terrorists blowing up nightclubs, or Swiss terrorists flying planes into buildings. And it IS a new kind of war. The Geneva Convention has rules of war, for combatants that wear actual uniforms. Terrorists do not, routinely hiding behind and using mosques and civilians.

"We were told that we would be going to Iraq to jack up some terrorists," Hinzman told the Immigration and Refugee Board on the second of his three-day hearing for political asylum.

What does he think we're gonna do, praise them for their accomplishments?

He said U.S. military training since Sept. 11 is designed to "foster an attitude of hatred. It gets your blood boiling to carry out the mission."

An "attitude of hatred"? Those cowardly bastards killed 3000 innocent civilians of many different races and religions. Is this jackass trying to say there were just "misunderstood?"

Hinzman is arguing that the war in Iraq is illegal and fighting in it would have made him a war criminal. He also said he would face persecution if forced to return to the United States because he likely would be court-marshaled and sentenced to an Army jail.

Once again, another U.N. punk. If he believes the Iraq war is illegal, by the same token he should have believed that about the war in Afghanistan. But I don't expect consistency from this idiot.

"Serving one day in prison for refusing to comply with an illegal order is one day too long," Hinzman told the tribunal, which likely will take several weeks to reach its decision.

Hinzman said he enlisted for four years in 2000 to experience the army, believing it would give him guidance and maturity. But he fled the 82nd Airborne Division about two weeks after learning his outfit would be sent to Iraq.

"The military is to fight justified wars," said his lawyer Jeffrey House, an American who first came to Canada as a draft dodger during the Vietnam War. "I don't think he joined the military to invade other countries who had done nothing to the United States, just at the pleasure of the United States president."

Sheer genius. His lawyer is a former draft-dodger. Yes, Mr. House, Iraq was never a threat, just ask President Clinton. I'm getting really damn tired repeating myself as to the reasons for this war. If he's too stupid to know them, I won't repeat them.

Hinzman is among several young American soldiers seeking refugee status in Canada, hoping to capitalize on the country's opposition to U.S. President George W. Bush's foreign policy.

Key word: capitalize.

Jimmy Massey, a staff sergeant who served in Iraq before being honorably discharged after 12 years in the Marines, was called by House to testify that American soldiers were routinely committing atrocities against innocent Iraqis.

"The code of silence you take in the Marines is much like the one in organized crime," he said, noting it was not uncommon for Marines to fire on wounded Iraqi combatants, a violation of the Geneva Conventions.

First off, you do realize that Massey is the Iraq war's John Kerry. He's going to undermine the troops STILL SERVING overseas. And it's interesting that the war has been going on for nearly two years, and he's just now coming forward with reports of atrocities.

And, to be a completist, he brings up the Geneva Conventions, which the terrorists ignore, because, well, they're terrorists. They have no army. They have no combat uniforms. The cut off heads, hands, and anything else they can think of. They are not human.

"I have witnessed Marines putting rounds into enemy combatants who are expiring," Massey told the tribunal.

If a terrorist is "expiring", why not help him along on his journey to meet the 72 virgins in paradise?

Blame Canada.