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.

Take Off To The Great White (Flag) North

2004-12-06T18:56:00.004-08:00

This is interesting:

TORONTO (AFP) - A US soldier who walked out on the 82nd Airborne Division and his country after learning he was being sent to Iraq, launched a long-shot bid for political refuge in Canada. Jeremy Hinzman, 26, a veteran of the US-led war in Afghanistan, appeared before Canada's Immigration and Refugee Board (IRB) to formally plead that he would face persecution if sent home to the United States. "I was in a culture that looked upon the army as a good thing to do. The missions that they carried out were with the aim of (doing) good and spreading democracy," South Dakota-born Hinzman said. "To me that was more meaningful than just working in the workaday world," said Hinzman, who admitted he also enlisted for four years in January 2001 to take advantage of a US army college sponsorship fund.

Despite all that, he doesn't give a single reason as to why he decided to punk out on the military and run to the loft-apartment-over-a-great-party called Canada.

Outside, a knot of anti-war supporters, some waving banners reading "Let him stay" braved a blizzard to cheer as he entered the building.

Unbelievable. He defects to Canada, and people cheer him. Wait till they hear he doesn't like hockey.

Hinzman was later expected to explain why he quit the US army, and a US Marine Corps sergeant was due to be called by his lawyer to detail alleged war crimes by US soldiers in Iraq to back up the plea.

OK. He's a veteran of Afghanistan, and doesn't want to go to Iraq beacuse of... alleged war crimes? Did he think that "doing good" only meant handing out milk and cookies to children? You know, Pat Tillman gave up a football career to go and fight in Afghanistan. He knew what he was getting into, mainly because I think he had something that Hinzman lacks... common sense.

When are these geniuses going to realize that if you join the military, you may actually have to enter a combat zone?

Set In Stone

2004-12-01T14:37:00.000-08:00

Oliver Stone apparently doesn't like DVD's. Yet, he's recorded commentary for nearly every film he's made.

Now, he decides to sound off on the format, nearly eight years after its debut:

From VIDEO STORE Magazine:
"It's the end of movie-movies the way we know them. ... If you walk into a room with 5,000 DVDs, how are you going to respect movies? How do you know the good ones?," Stone asked. "It's going to the LCD -- the lowest common denominator. It's making movies into supermarket-shelf items, which is probably the best you can get at Wal-Mart. ... It's hopeless."

First off, what the hell is a "movie-movie"? How do people generally know movies? The phrases "I saw it on video", "I'll wait for the video", "I'd rather watch it at home" have been common since the early eighties. And I don't blame people for waiting, choosing to watch movies at home. Aside from the theaters themselves, the movie-going experience can be fairly annoying.

Second, his questions about how to respect and know the "good ones" are two of the dumbest questions I've ever heard. "Respect" a movie? How about just enjoying the damn thing? And he completely misses the point about DVD's. People don't go to see every movie released, for many different reasons: no time, theater is too far, etc. So when these films come to DVD, they have a much better chance of watching them, along with finding some jems in the process. And while browsing for a movie, something may catch your eye, you may rent or buy it, and find a new favorite. How exactly is that going to the "lowest common denominator"?

I'm so glad ALEXANDER is tanking.

I Heard The News Today.... Oh, Boy

2004-11-26T14:57:00.000-08:00

I saw a report of shoppers lining up at 2 A.M. at a toy store in Van Nuys, so they could be the first ones in the stores on the busiest shopping day of the year, the day after Thanksgiving.

Another report showed people lined up, hundreds deep, at a Best Buy. They started lining up at 10 P.M. Thanksgiving day.

From the L.A. Times:
Jack Kyser, chief economist of the Los Angeles Economic Development Corp., spent the morning monitoring shoppers at the Lakewood Center mall, and concluded that it's going to be a merry Christmas for merchants.

Analysts have projected sales will rise almost 4 percent nationwide from last year. But in the Southland, Kyser said, sales will probably jump by 8 percent.

But didn't the Democrats say the economy was bad? That everyone was so downbeat and pessimistic?

I wonder what changed...

I'm Goin' Back Someday, Come What May

2004-11-18T18:15:00.000-08:00

Linda Ronstadt spoke out again, this time to USA Today. You remember Linda, the idiot who praised Michael Moore through the Eagles song Desperado without first reading the damn lyrics?

Don't get her started on the recent presidential election. "People don't realize that by voting Republican, they voted against themselves," she says.

Please tell us, Linda, in words the common man can understand, what the hell you just said?

Of Iraq in particular, she adds, "I worry that some people are entertained by the idea of this war. They don't know anything about the Iraqis, but they're angry and frustrated in their own lives. It's like Germany, before Hitler took over. The economy was bad and people felt kicked around. They looked for a scapegoat. Now we've got a new bunch of Hitlers."

I honestly don't know where to start with this. I don't know one person, not a single one, who is "angry and frustrated" about their lives. Sure, some may want better jobs, others may have relationship difficulties. Plus, the economy is not bad. I constantly see new cars and SUV's on the road, theaters and malls packed, not only on weekdays but during the week. Plus, the fact that the new Xbox game Halo 2, at $50 a pop, sold about $125 million on its first day of release, shows that the economy is doing well. Why would people throw away money that they can't afford to throw away on a worthless videogame?

A "new bunch of Hitlers?" God, I wish this woman whould just once, try to explain herself. But I won't hold my breath. I'm to busy entertaining myself with the "idea" of war. This "idea" that Iraq could have become a threat. The "idea" that removing Saddam and liberating 25 million people is a good thing.

I really dislike liberals.

O.D.B. Is D.O.A.

2004-11-13T20:57:00.000-08:00

Rapper Ol' Dirty Bastard collapsed and died in a recording studio today. He was 35.

Nobody really cares. I just wanted to use that title.

A Quick Note On Voter Fraud

2004-11-11T10:45:00.000-08:00

Voter fraud theories abound. The funniest one I read was this:

...claims that a suspicious number of Florida counties ended up with Bush vote totals that were far larger than the number of registered Republican voters.

I love the fact that it doesn't even enter the tiny mind of the left that Democrats may have VOTED FOR GEORGE W. BUSH!

And I'd like to think that people responding in the exit polls told whoever was asking that they voted for Kerry, just to shut the pollsters up.

Of course, I have no proof...

The Insanity Continues...

2004-11-11T09:30:00.000-08:00

From the NEW YORK POST:

November 11, 2004 -- VINCENT D'Onofrio, the star of "Law & Order: Criminal Intent," passed out while shooting the hit TV series yesterday morning — prompting insiders to gossip that the actor is "losing it."

"Ever since John Kerry lost the election, [D'Onofrio] has lost his [bleep,]" said our on-set insider.

"He is so hard to work with — a total freak. He constantly complains about the scripts and has held up production a lot."

D'Onofrio, a big Kerry supporter, was said to be devastated over President Bush's re-election. "When PAGE SIX [last week] wrote about 'Law & Order' putting up signs forbidding political discussions on set, it was funny," our source said. "Those signs were put up because of [D'Onofrio]."

About a month before the election, D'Onofrio "insisted" on putting up anti-Bush posters and fliers, "and would attack anyone who disagreed with him," the spy added.

There it is, the key word, "attack." It seems that no one on the left can have a decent debate on issues. They attack, complain, and whine. Many people are leaving the country, and I say, "Don't let the door hit you on the ass." Plus I'm getting really sick of these f*cking idiots telling me that I'm a moron, I'm ignorant, etc., for having religious values and voting for President Bush. I don't take it personally, and I wish these people would just say it to my face.... so I can better ignore them.

And since he's the biggest loser, here' what Michael Moore wants to do:

Michael Moore met with Harvey Weinstein and Moore says they plan to start working -- now -- on "Fahrenheit 9/11½." "We want to get cameras rolling now and have it ready in two-three years," Moore says. "We want to document and commercialize it. Fifty-one percent of the American people lacked information (in this election) and we want to educate and enlighten them. They weren't told the truth. We're communicators and it's up to us to start doing it now. The official mourning period is over today and there is a silver lining -- George W. Bush is prohibited by law from running again."

Since only half the country voted, doesn't he mean that one-quarter of the American people lacked info? Just a thought...

Moore a communicator? He communicates great when asking for his speaking fee and how many hamburgers he wants on his pizza.

And as for those who claim that Hollywood was an albatross on the Democrats' neck, Moore says, "America loves Hollywood. When given a chance to vote for someone from Hollywood, they jump in." He cited the history of successful Republican actor-politicians from George Murphy to Ronnie Reagan to Arnold. "Who is the Democrats' Arnold? We have a number of them. What American wouldn't vote for Tom Hanks (news)? Hollywood is full of people like that."

America does not love Hollywood. America likes what Hollywood produces: movies that entertain. Does Moore actually think Americans are in "awe" of the actor-politician's star status? Reagan and Schwarzenegger have different values than the average moron actor. The average actor does what they've been "trained" to do: they hear bullshit, then recite it. And regarding who wouldn't vote for Tom Hanks? Me. I own one Tom Hanks movie, Forrest Gump.

Moore and Harvey are going ahead on the Oscar campaign for "Fahrenheit 9/11" in best picture and other applicable categories. Harvey told him, "Let's do it. And I said 'whatever Harvey wants, I'm ready.'"

It's interesting. Fahrenheit 9/11 would win the Oscar for Best Documentary easily in ultra-liberal Hollywood, even though it's not a documentary but a comedy/fantasy. But... if he tries to campaign the film in the Best Picture category, that automatically negates the fact that the film is a documentary, and he's acknowledging that the film is FICTION.

I do love it so...

Still Blamin' Bush

2004-11-08T01:34:00.000-08:00

Amazing. Even with something that has not a goddamned thing to do with politics or the election, Paramount Pictures has managed to blame Bush for the box-office failure of their movie remake Alfie.

Paramount's Alfie, a remake of a romantic comedy about a roguish womanizer starring Jude Law, opened to a dismal $6.5 million in more than 2,000 theaters, far below expectations. The tepid response was the latest blow to Sherry Lansing, the chairwoman of Paramount who last week announced her plans to leave the job when her contract expires in 2005, and whose movies have performed poorly this summer and fall.

Wayne Llewellyn, the president of distribution at Paramount, said that the conservative ethos reflected in last week's election results might have hurt the film.

"It could be the mood of the country right now," he said. "It seems to be the result of the election. Maybe they didn't want to see a guy that slept around."

Maybe, just maybe, could it be the fact that the movie just doesn't seem that interesting?

Just a thought.

Subject To Negotiations

2004-11-07T19:10:00.000-08:00

From NewsMax.Com:

In a bombshell development that could have turned President Bush's victory into a landslide had it come out before the election, John Kerry wrote in his Vietnam War diary that he met with "terrorists" in Paris - a revelation that "flabbergasted" his running mate, John Edwards.
All during the campaign, Kerry had adamantly refused to release his diary, claiming that he'd given exclusive rights to use the document to his biographer, Douglas Brinkely. But when Brinkley told reporters that wasn't true, Kerry still declined to make the diary public.

Now we know why.

According to Newsweek magazine, "Kerry's diary included mention of a meeting with some North Vietnamese terrorists in Paris." Though Kerry's sit-down with North Vietnamese representatives had been reported late in the campaign, his description of them as "terrorists" would have set off smoke alarms. The prospect that the top Democrat was willing to negotiate with "terrorists" 35 years ago would undoubtedly have cemented the Bush campaign's central message on Kerry: Anyone who would negotiate with terrorists can't be trusted with U.S. national security in a post-9/11 world.

John Edwards was "flabbergasted" by the news, Newsweek said. He recognized immediately how important it was to keep Kerry's terrorist confab secret. "Let me get this straight," he told campaign staffers who delivered the shocker. "He met with terrorists? Oh, that's good."

Nice.

The Ultimate Partisan

2004-11-06T20:15:00.000-08:00

From Fox News.Com:

NEW YORK — Andrew Veal, a 25-year-old university worker from Georgia, shot and killed himself at ground zero Saturday morning, authorities said.

Veal apparently was distraught over President Bush's re-election, Newsday reported Saturday on its Web site edition, citing an unnamed police source. The newspaper also said the man was a registered Democrat who opposed the war in Iraq.

A spokesman for the Port Authority could not confirm Newsday's account.

Suicidal over the election? Apparently, a country with lower taxes, less government, and a strong leader is enough to kill yourself over.

But it wouldn't be a story without some inane commentary from the left:

Visitors there yesterday reacted in different ways to news of Veal's suicide. Bobbie Jensen, 54, a Republican from Phoenix, said that while she understood how Bush's victory disturbed those who dislike him, Ground Zero is not the place to act on those emotions.

"You can be upset about the war, about Bush, but this is a sacred place," she said. "You got to accept what happened and not kill yourself." But Frank Franca, an East Village artist and registered Democrat, suggested the suicide was symbolic.

"I'm very moved by it," he said. "Obviously, this person was devastated. I can see why he would come here."
"Moved"? By a suicide?

Franca's friend, Jeffim Kuznetsov, a 25-year-old student from Russia who lives in Atlanta, said the suicide is evidence of how deeply many Americans were affected by Kerry's defeat.

"It's a national tragedy," he said. "This election is devastating to all who believe in democracy."

No, you moron, it was NOT a national tragedy. September 11th was a national tragedy. Kerry's losing is due to the people of America.

I have no sympathy for people who decide to check themselves out of life early. Life is tough. Get used to it. We all have our ways to relax and deal with the day-to-day machinations of life. Killing yourself because things don't go your way is the ultimate form of narcissism.

And a quick note to the gays and lesbians out there, who are pissed that Bush was re-elected: Get over it. If any of these people stopped and listened for a change, they'd realize that marriage is defined as the union between a man and a woman. That's all. Gay marriage, that is, the wording, is an oxymoron. Like jumbo shrimp, uninvited guest, or Biggie Smalls.

It Is Accomplished

2004-11-03T17:22:00.000-08:00

President George W. Bush has been re-elected for another four years. The American people have shown what this race is all about: values, morals, and our desire to not have our decisions made by other countries. I breathe a huge sigh of relief now, knowing that John Fitzgerald-Forbes-Heinz Kerry is out of the picture. And I respect the man for graciously conceding the race, calling the President at the Oval Office to congratulate him.

Not so for John Edwards. A lawyer till the end, he opened Kerry's concession speech with not a single word about President Bush. But...

This campaign may end today. But the battle for you and the hark-working Americans who built this country rages on.

What battle is he talking about?

The battle rages for the factory worker and the mill worker who says, "I want to work. I just want a job."

Then go look for one. The problem seems to me that people want the jobs to come to them, instead of the other way around.

The battle rages on for the mother who sits in the emergency room with her daughter and wonders how she is going to pay the bill.

The fact is, she is in the emergency room to begin with. Everyone in America has access to health care. But not every American has health insurance. There is a difference.

The battle rages on for the young person who's worked hard and wants to go to collect but doesn't have the money to pay for it.

Um... what?

It goes on for the young child who doesn't understand why they are treated differently just because of the color of their skin.

Okay, where the hell did THAT come from? The Dems keep saying Republicans are racists, but who keeps bringing up the subject of race?

And it rages on for the mother who wants to know why her son was sent over there and will not come home.

Her son died to protect our freedom and ensure everyone's right to vote. It's a simple battle.

This fight will continue in our homes and in our union halls, in our churches, and in our schools, in our offices and over the Internet.

You know, all this talk of fight and battles... I thought they were the anti-war candidates.

We will keep marching toward that one America and we're not going to stop until we get there.

There already is just one America. So stop marching, and start living in it.

You've just heard.... the word.

Terrorists: The New Comedians

2004-10-29T14:40:00.000-07:00

Just in time for the election, Osama Bin Laden has decided to put out a new videotape. The difference between this one and previous tapes is that he now fully admits to the 9/11 terrorist attacks.

"God knows that it had not occurred to our mind to attack the towers, but after our patience ran out and we saw the injustice and inflexibility of the American-Israeli alliance toward our people in Palestine and Lebanon, this came to my mind," he said.

He accused Bush of misleading the public after 9/11, just like the Democrats. Gee, I wonder who Osama wants elected?

"To the U.S. people, my talk is to you about the best way to avoid another disaster," he said. "I tell you: security is an important element of human life and free people do not give up their security."

First of all, 9/11 was NOT a disaster. A disaster would be the combined forces of the many hurricanes that struck Florida, the earthquakes in Japan, tornadoes in the midwest.

Which brings me to another point about these terrorist video and audio threats. They make me laugh. When you have them say the "streets will run with blood" and there will be "countless dead", do these geniuses think they've scared us? First of all, they don't. Secondly, I live in California, home of many earthquakes, including another possibly MAJOR one in the near future. Hurricanes pound the east coast. Traffic accidents happen all the time. And these people, who are naive to think they know precisely what our daily lives are like, think a few "tough-guy" words can scare us? It's laughable.

"If Bush says we hate freedom, let him tell us why we didn't attack Sweden, for example. It is known that those who hate freedom do not have dignified souls, like those of the 19 blessed ones," he said, referring to the 19 hijackers. "We fought you because we are free… and want to regain freedom for our nation. As you undermine our security we undermine yours."

You didn't attack Sweden because all your money is there, Osama. What stupidity. Let's see: Americans love freedom, so we have dignified souls, but the "19 blessed ones", who killed 3000 freedom-loving Americans, also have dignified souls? And OBL, just what is your nation? Afghanistan? Iraq? Iran? Is it Islam, the religion of "peace"?

High comedy.

The Man Who Should NOT Be President

2004-10-28T20:40:00.000-07:00

One of the things I truly admire about President Bush is the fact that he stands by his principals, and has the courage of his convictions. He doesn't waver based on public opinion. If his decision is unpopular, so be it. It's his decision.

Let me give a ridiculous example. Millions of people loved the movie ARMAGEDDON. I didn't. Am I wrong for not liking it? No. It's my opinion that the movie sucked. Are those millions wrong? No. It's their opinion the movie was entertaining. Did I waver, and follow everyone else just because the number liking the film outweighed me? No.

And now we come to Kerry, who recently spoke to Tom Brokaw. Brokaw may have, at times, asked a few hardball questions... he just failed to do follow ups:

Brokaw: This week you've been very critical of the president because of the missing explosives in Iraq. The fact is, senator, we still don't know what happened to those explosives. How many for sure that were there. Who might have gotten away with them? Is it unfair to the president, just as you believe he's been unfair to you, to blame him for that?

Kerry: No. It's not unfair. Because what we do know, from the commanders on the ground, is that they went there, as they marched to Baghdad. We even read stories today that they broke locks off of the doors, took photographs of materials in there. There were materials. And they left.

Where the hell is he getting these "stories"? And they left? Left what? Who left? What the hell is he talking about?

Brokaw: The flip side of that is that if you had been president, Saddam Hussein would still be in power. Because you...

Kerry: Not necessarily at all.

Brokaw: But you have said you wouldn't go to war against him...

Kerry: That's not true. Because under the inspection process, Saddam Hussein was required to destroy those kinds of materials and weapons.

Brokaw: But he wasn't destroying them...

Kerry: But that's what you have inspectors for. And that's why I voted for the threat of force. Because he only does things when you have a legitimate threat of force. It's absolutely impossible and irresponsible to suggest that if I were president, he wouldn't necessarily be gone. He might be gone. Because if he hadn't complied, we might have had to go to war. And we might have gone to war. But if we did, I'll tell you this, Tom. We'd have gone to war with allies in a way that the American people weren't carrying the burden. And the entire world would have understood why we were doing it.

When you vote for the threat of force, you can't be surprised when force is actually used. And once again, Kerry can't take a stance ( he wouldn't necessarily be gone. He might be gone --- dammit, make up your mind!! ). And why des he still think every country on Earth is going to line up behind him? The entire world knew why we were going in. Daily fire from no-fly zones, a threat after 9/11, non-compliance with 17 UN resolutions.

A few months back he was asked if he thought the war in Iraq was a mistake. What was his answer? "It depends on what the outcome is." Genius. Now, this:

Brokaw: Let me ask you about social and domestic issues. Your colleague from Massachusetts, Senator Ted Kennedy, says that he's proud to be a liberal. Are you proud to be a liberal?

Kerry: That depends on what the issue is, Tom.

No courage, no convictions.

Equal Opportunity Offender

2004-10-28T19:00:00.000-07:00

I caught TEAM AMERICA the other day... very funny. The Lefty celebs are nicely skewered, but surprisingly, Sean Penn, who fired off a badly-written and ultimately stupid letter to Trey Parker and Matt Stone and him being offended by the movie, was barely in it long enough to even have any offense taken. So now, Penn tries to explain his letter:

He explains, "I just saw a guy who told people not to vote and I thought it was stupid."

If you're not informed, don't vote. Simple. Don't vote just because you can. Know what the hell you're doing first.

Simplicity. The enemy of the Left.

The Man Who Would Be Veep

2004-10-28T18:45:00.000-07:00

Following like the lemming he is, John Edwards decided to weigh in on the whole "missing weapons" story, where some 377 tons of munitions has apparently gone missing. They were gone before our troops got there, so we couldn't secure them. And as far as looters go, 377 tons is not something they could just stick in their pockets. Add to this the fact that the actual number is more like three tons, and you've got something that should be taken for what it is: there WERE dangerous weapons in Iraq. Kerry and Edwards now seem surprised. And if they were stolen, where did they go? If the Dems are so ready to believe that, why can't they wrap their minds around the possibility that WMD could have been shipped to Syria before the war?

From MSNBC.Com:
Sen. John Edwards: We know that these explosives were there. We know that the Bush administration was notified they were there … they needed to be secured. We know that they weren't secured and we know that they're now missing. So, those are the facts and the facts are pretty powerful in this case.

Campbell Brown: But they could have disappeared before coalition forces got to that location.

Sen. Edwards: But the answer is … we knew about it. We knew we were supposed to do something about it. We didn't do it. But there's a chance they were gone before we got there? I mean, that's basically what they're saying. They had a responsibility to secure this material. It was important for securing Iraq. It was important for the safety of our troops. It was important to keep that material out of the hands of terrorists and what we know is they didn't do it. We know that.

So, since the answer is, "We knew about it", is Edwards now saying we didn't go into Iraq soon enough? Why is it so hard for this idiot to get it through his head that they may have been gone before we got there?

Brown: Over the weekend, you warned a crowd in Florida that President Bush is considering raising the retirement age on Social Security. The president never said that.

Sen. Edwards: What I said specifically was, according to an article in Fortune magazine that just came out, there are members of the Social Security Administration, part of the Bush Administration, who have actually been working on a plan that would include raising the retirement age to 76.

Brown: That article, though, did not name President Bush.

Sen. Edwards: But President Bush is also quoted in another story — I believe in the New York Times — as having said to a private gathering, that he wants to privatize Social Security. Now he says he doesn't want to privatize Social Security. When the President says something and there are news reports to verify that it's happened, it’s fair game. It's information the American people deserve to know and he can respond in whatever way he thinks is right — that's what campaigns are about.

Amazing. He ignores Brown's comment that the Forbes article did not mention Bush, and goes right into another article... this by the N.Y. Times, the same people who "broke" the missing munitions story. And Bush does want some privatize some Social Security.... for kids now, so they'll have something later.

Brown: Let me ask you about another statement you made, that some people say was a little bit over the top, in relation to the issue of stem-cell research. You said, “If we do the work we can do in this country, the work we will do when John Kerry is president, people like Christopher Reeve are going to walk. Get up out of that wheelchair, and walk again.” How can you say that?

Sen. Edwards: Well, what I was saying is, Chris Reeve represents hope for a lot of Americans.
If you listen to his own doctor, he said in the beginning he didn't talk about a cure for Chris Reeve's problem, but now he does. The point of all this is, there's a dramatic difference between my position and John Kerry's position, and George Bush's position on stem-cell research.

So, because Christopher ( not Chris, jackass ) Reeve's doctor now mentions a possible cure, that's all the reason in the world? Give me a break. He still won't own up to his "I am God" statement that not only will wheelchair-bound people walk again, but apparently they're also going to ressurect Reeve from the grave.

Delusions of grandeur.

Stern Warning

2004-10-27T20:21:00.000-07:00

What exactly, please, is the appeal of Howard Stern? He's always been just not funny. The times I had seen him, when his radio program is shown on E!, he had a few morons tell women, who were, by all accounts, very attractive, that their hips were too big, they could use some implants, they could lose a few pounds. And the point of this is...? I have no sympathy for the women, since they're stupid enough to take what these idiots say to heart.

Now Stern tries to be the anti-establishment hero:

WASHINGTON - Foul-mouthed radio personality Howard Stern has another Powell to reckon with: Secretary of State Colin Powell. The nation's top diplomat came to the defense of his son, Federal Communications Commission Chairman Michael Powell, after Stern said the younger Powell only got the job because of his family name.

Colin Powell labeled the accusation "just so much nonsense." "My son is an enormously qualified individual, and I think he has served — if I may so as a father and as a not so distant observer — with great distinction," Powell said Wednesday in an interview with CNBC.

Stern's raunchy radio show has brought repeated fines by the FCC (news - web sites) and the shock jock routinely rails against what he says is the Bush administration's desire to use the FCC to stifle free speech on radio and TV.

Stern made a surprise call to KGO-AM radio in San Francisco while Michael Powell was a studio guest Tuesday.

"How did you get your job?" Stern asked. "It is apparent to most of us in broadcasting that your father got you your job, and you kind of sit there and you're the judge, you're the arbiter, you're the one who tells us what we can and can't say on the air."

Stern added, "I really don't even think you're qualified to be the head of the commission."

And what evidence does Stern have that the Bush Administration is stifling free speech? None. He throws a few choice words about male and female anatomy, words that can't really be repeated, or phrases that describe certain sexual acts, then acts suprised and indignant when he gets fined.

It'll be interesting to see if people really want to shell out $12 a month to here more of the same when Stern goes to Sirius satellite radio in 2006.

I Still Have A Plan

2004-10-22T10:08:00.000-07:00

Common sense rules my life. And I also follow the conservative/Republican viewpoint a vast majority of the time. Do I follow blindly? No. No one should. You need to think for yourself. That goes for the liberal/Democrat side as well.

But this was just priceless. A 16-year-old girl, Larina Corbell, who attends Valley Christian High School in Cerritos, is one of the very few endorsing Kerry at her school. Steve Lopez, in the L.A. Times California scetion, writes a little article on her and her poilitical views and aspirations, since she's been having dreams of living in the White House since she was 6 or 7.

On the principal that it's never too early to start grilling politicians, I asked Larina to explain why she prefers Kerry to Bush. She and her family describe themselves as devout Christians, and, as her mom puts it, "God is first in our lives."

Okay, so why do you prefer Kerry?

"One of the things that scares me about Bush," Larina says, "is the idea that he is, quote-unquote, ordained by God to do good things…. He's a human; we're all imperfect."

Okay, so why do you prefer Kerry?

She has problems with the war in Iraq and Bush foreign policy in general, and although she respects the president's religious beliefs and his right to express them, faith-based politics make her nervous.

Once again: why your preference for Kerry?

Not only will Kerry be stronger on foreign relations, she argued, but she likes his take on abortion rights. "I personally don't agree with abortion," Larina said. "I think life begins at conception … and I know I would never have or consider an abortion." But she doesn't think a president should "dictate to the country whether it's right or wrong" based on his religious beliefs.

How will Kerry be stronger? And what is his take? This is the same guy who voted against the ban on partial-birth abortions. And there's a difference between dictating and stating your beliefs.

Larina answered without saying anything.

That's politics.

I Didn't Want To Do It...

2004-10-21T20:00:00.000-07:00

I've been trying not to say anything about idiot celebs mouthing off their opinion on President Bush and Iraq, but now comes the philosopher of our time, Mr. Marshall Mathers III, aka Eminem.

His new "song" called "Mosh" contains these lyrics:

Let the President answer on higher anarchy/Strap him with an AK-47, let him go fight his own war/Let him impress daddy that way," Eminem raps, adding, "No more blood for oil."

He also says, in an upcoming Rolling Stone:

"[President Bush]'s got our troops over there dying for no reason," says Eminem. "He jumped the gun, and he f---ed up so bad he doesn't know what to do right now." The rapper says he has registered to vote for the first time but didn't go as far as endorsing a candidate. "Whatever my decision is, I would like to see Bush out of office," Eminem says. "I don't wanna see my little brother get drafted--he just turned eighteen. People think their votes don't count, but people need to get out and vote."

I've always thought Eminem was clever. Not talented, just clever. Here, he's spoon-feeding the leftist lines: No blood for oil, Bush out of office, the draft, etc. It would be more interesting if he had something new to say, but this statement actually says a lot about the rapper.

None of his material is fresh anymore.

Losing Hearts And Minds

2004-10-14T20:50:00.000-07:00

Not long ago I watched PLATOON again. I remember really liking the film when it first came out, and although I bought the special edition DVD a few years back, I hadn't sat down to watch it. I watched it a few months ago, then traded it in. It just wasn't as good.

What may have influenced my decision was hearing Oliver Stone rant about how Bush was a bad president and how Kerry would be better. That, along with finding a website dedicated to debunking JFK consipracy theories, have tarnished my view of Oliver (and the movie JFK), in a basic sense. He's still a wonderful filmmaker, with WALL STREET and TALK RADIO among his best. And of course, I'm looking forward to ALEXANDAR. C'mon, Colin, Angelina, Val, and Hannibal Lector? Why not?

But it's getting harder, on a daily basis, to want to see films with celebrities who give us their Bush-bashing opinions, seemingly out of thin air. I know people didn't ask to hear Linda Rondstat spout off about Bush and Michael Moore at her concert, so they became angry. I don't mind political views, but when they repeat the same vitriol that the left has been spewing, the same falsehoods and baseless accusations, it becomes less tolerable.

Now Stone has spoken out again (from a PLAYBOY interview):

On the rumors that Warner Bros. is delaying Stone's "Alexander" because of homosexual love scenes:

"Alexander lived in a more honest time," Stone tells Playboy. "We go into his bisexuality. It may offend some people, but sexuality in those days was a different thing. Pre-Christian morality. Young boys were with boys when they wanted to be."

"Pre-Christian morality?" How about common f*ckin' decency?

On who will win the presidential election:

"I worry that the Republicans will do anything to win. For a long time I've worried that Bush will start another war before the election to get people fearful. Voters are nervous about changing leadership in the middle of a war. He bills himself as Mr. Security, which of course he's not. He's Mr. Insecurity. Every decision he has made has led to a worse military conclusion and a less secure nation. He has generated enormous hatred and hatred begets violence."

Is FEAR the reason I am voting for Bush? No. Bush has moral clarity. He's done good, and will continue to do good. "He's Mr. Insecurity." Clever, Oliver. I guess that's why you're a writer. But Oliver's last line is telling: Since Bush has generated hatred, that hatred will lead to violence. Does Stone not realize that the violence will come FROM HIS OWN LEFTIE FRIENDS?!?!?!

On Michael Moore's "Fahrenheit 9/11" influencing the election:

"It's hard to know, but I think a movie can make a huge difference. 'JFK' helped Clinton win. It came out right before the election. 'Salvador' and 'Platoon' may have had an impact on Reagan's downturn in popularity."

JFK helped Clinton win? A movie about paranoid conspiracy theories? So what does that say about Clinton? And by the way, JFK came out in December of 1991, almost a year before the elections. By then, it had been nominated for 8 Oscars and won 2, rightfully for cinematography and editing. But I highly doubt it helped, or even made ANY impact whatsoever, on Clinton's election. And what kind of arrogance does it show when you believe your films had impact on a President's popularity? Stone and Michael Moore should do a film together. That way I can guarantee I won't see it.

On Bush's style:

"In the 1950's, he would have been considered distasteful. He's worse than Nixon in his vulgarity. He looks like he shops at Wal-Mart. That's not what the president is supposed to be. He has no intellectual curiosity and is proud of it."

Oh, I'm so sorry, Mr. Stone. I'm afraid my interests lie in 3 distinct flavors: Xbox games, movies, and things PC-related. But I'm not sorry I have no interest in quantum physics, Shakespeare, Bob Dylan, architecture, or, God forbid, sports. Those things don't interest me. When those things interact with my family and friends, THEN I'll be interested. But I guess I'm just an idiot for not having intellectual curiosity. I am absolutely Goddammed proud of that fact. And how exactly is Bush distasteful and vulgar.

On Kerry's run for the White House:

"There's a fundamental decency about him. I think he'd make a good president. He's a public servant in the Brahmin sense of the word. The guy knows his A's, B's and C's."

Kerry may be decent, but his wife is the most indecent and dispicable woman on the planet. And his "public servant in the Brahmin sense of the word" is a contradiction unto itself. Let me explain: In India, a Brahmin is "a member of the highest or priestly caste among the Hindus," according to the Oxford English Dictionary. So how could the elitist Kerry EVER hope to be a public servant? He has a personal chef for his peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, for Christ's sake! By the way, here are Kerry's ABC's: Another plan, a Better plan, a Comprehensive plan.

On those tributes to Ronald Reagan after his death:

"It was theater. It was television. Parades with people in baseball caps and shorts and ugly T-shirts. A hollowness. It's what Reagan was all about. He was a scary man. I used to have nightmares about him, literally. Smile, head of hair. He was a stage prop, an actor. That's what Americans want. They want the shell. Look at Arnold."

Wow. The sheer hatred for Reagan. If the American people really want a stage prop, they'll elect Kerry.

Screw it. I'm trading in J.F.K.

No Moore, No Less

2004-10-13T09:47:00.000-07:00

Michael Moore has decided to give a $5000 scholarship to students at San Marcos university, where he was scheduled to speak, if they "stand up to the administration" at the school.

What arrogance. They weren't going to pay his $37,500 speaking fee, so he got mad. Then the genius students decided to raise the money for him to speak. What are these kids doing spending over $35 grand to hear some moron say Bush has to go? And hey, Mike, what about the rest of the $32,500 that you have left? Why don't you try investing in your hometown of Flint, Michigan?

I doubt he has the courage.

Robert Davi For Vice President!

2004-10-12T22:25:00.000-07:00

Robert Davi, who played the villain Franz Sanchez in the bond film Licence To Kill, speaks out about being a conservative actor in Hollywood, and how he feels about the current election:

As for Kerry, nobody’s questioning his love for America. But he was the one who put Vietnam in the public eye. I have enormous respect for anyone who served in Vietnam. My hat’s off to all the veterans. I can’t talk because my draft number was 308 and I was sweating over the draft the same as everyone else back then. But the way I see it, if I’m in battle with someone and come home with the troops still there and I behave as he did, it’s not right. From what I understand, those weren’t his medals that he threw away. They were surrogate medals. He kept his medals and threw away his ribbons. What’s the difference? It goes right to the character of the man trying to have it both ways. If you’re really saying something, then throw the whole thing away. What he did coming back, put a big question in my mind about Kerry.

You can’t equate what Bush did or didn’t do 30 years ago with what’s happening now. Bush didn’t put Kerry’s service on the table. Bush didn’t go around bragging about his National Guard service. It’s irrelevant. Instead of 30 years ago, we need to discuss today. I’d like Kerry to say where he is today. I’d like him to discuss his Senate record. I don’t want him to answer me by attacking Bush.

That last line is priceless.

The full article is here.

Up Is Down, Black Is White

2004-10-12T19:45:00.000-07:00

The Rock The Vote campaign, the mostly liberal organization trying to get kids to vote "Kerry", sent out over half a million e-mails that stated:

YOU HAVE BEEN DRAFTED. You are hereby ordered for induction into the Armed Forces of the United States, and to report to a polling place near you on November 2, 2004 at 7:00 a.m.

Due to rumors about reinstating the draft, many people, ages 18-29, actually BELIEVE this letter. A National Annenberg Election Survey showed that 51% of people in that age group believe Bush wants to bring back a conscripted armed forces. Even though President Bush said at the debate last Friday, "We're not going to have a draft so long as I'm the President."

Typical is Nick Young, a 19-year-old USC student. Nick told the L.A. Times he received the e-mail but still remains unclear on the issue. "That's why I haven't regeisterd to vote," he said, "because they (Bush & Kerry) say the same thing, but it's not believable to me."

Why? Too much Fahrenheit 9/11 in your diet? Despite the fact that he seems to be a one-issue voter, why would he still think there might be a draft when not only did Bush AND Kerry say no, but the House Of Representatives voted 402-2 against reinstating the draft?

His mindset is the same as the other lefties that say there's a secret plan to bring back the draft. Oooh, such intrigue. Apparently they've used their decoder rings on Bush's statement and came to the conclusion that Bush is (shock!) lying. Just like Raquel Chavez, another 19-year-old USC student:

But she thinks Bush could reinstate the draft, despite his comments to the contrary. "Sure," she said, "people lie."

It scares me to think how college students are taught these days. Not only do they believe what is spoon-fed to them from Rock The Vote and their teachers, but they don't seem to have the capacity to do any actual research on their own. Hey kids, try doing a little research from the place you received your e-mail!

And Jay Strell, spokesman for Rock The Vote, said that an e-mail about a hypothetical draft is "not gossip."

Can't argue with that logic.

Rudy In '08

2004-10-11T19:50:00.000-07:00

Rudy Giuliani is someone who I respect and admire. Watching him on September 11, 2001, reminded me of a parent calming a child during a thunderstorm. Calm, reasurring, letting us know that no matter how bad it got, things will get better.

Giuliani had one of the best speeches at the Republican Convention, and here again, he speaks with perfect clarity. John Kerry's ridiculous statements to the New York Times about terrorism being a "nuisance" are addressed:

The National Review

It's required reading.

He Will Always Be A Super Man

2004-10-11T01:00:00.000-07:00

My heartfelt condolences go out to Christoper Reeve's family over the loss of their Superman.

The tagline for the movie was "You will belive a man can fly." It wasn't the character. It wasn't the wires. It was the man under the cape, the wonderful Christopher Reeve. He was able, with the greatest of ease, to move from the nebbish Clark Kent, to the heroic Superman, sometimes faster than a speeding bullet. He will be greatly missed.

A moment from Superman sums up Mr. Reeve better than my words can:

Lois: Any more at home like you?

Clark: Uh, not really, no...

People Are Just Stupid

2004-10-10T17:15:00.000-07:00

Like Matt Stone said the other day, if you let a film like Fahrenheit 9/11 or Stone and Trey Parker's own Team America influence how you vote, you shouldn't vote in the first place. Now, more whiners who feel they've been embarrased and ridiculed for the past 11 years, from a movie that came out in 1993.

From the Associated Press:
SANTA FE, N.M. - Three former high school classmates of “Dazed and Confused” director Richard Linklater have filed a lawsuit claiming they have suffered embarrassment and ridicule because of characters based on them in the movie.

The men — Bobby Wooderson, Andy Slater and Richard “Pink” Floyd — say Linklater did not get their permission before creating three characters in the 1993 cult classic sharing their surnames and likenesses.

“We had fun in high school, but there is nothing true about that movie. Yet, I am having to deal with it all the time,” said Floyd, who works at a car dealership in Huntsville, Texas, where the men went to high school.

Please. Mr. "Pink" Floyd works as a car dealer. And he feels he's been emarrased and ridiculed? And where have these guys been for 11 years? Are the going to say they didn't mind it at first, but it got out of hand?

Dudes, just put the joints down and walk away.

We Agree To Disagree

2004-10-10T16:45:00.000-07:00

John Edwards, talking with Chris Wallace today, tried to explain what the hell he and Kerry have been talking about.

WALLACE: Let's look at the map of the Kerry-Edwards budget plan. The highly respected and independent Concord Coalition came out with an analysis this week. Let's take a look at it. Your repeal of tax cuts for the rich and reform of the estate tax would bring in an extra $286 billion over 10 years. But your health- care plan would cost $476 billion. More education funding would cost $155 billion. Adding 40,000 troops would mean another $60 billion. The total increase, according to the independent Concord Coalition, in deficit: $1.27 trillion over 10 years. Senator, the numbers don't add up.

EDWARDS: Well, I would respectfully disagree with that. And I have to say first, we have enormous respect for the Concord Coalition. They do a lot of important and good work about fiscal responsibility. But there are some things left out, first of all, and the way they calculate some of those things we would certainly disagree with. But, in terms of the things that are left out, I mean, we would also close down some corporate welfare and some corporate loopholes, and John McCain has said that would save $300 billion. On top of that, we would also reduce some bureaucratic spending in Washington and some overlap between some bureaucratic agencies in Washington, which would also save many billions of dollars.

Respectfully disagree? Here is the opening statement from the Concord Coalition, founded in 1992, from its own website:

The Concord Coalition is a nonpartisan, grassroots organization advocating fiscal responsibility while ensuring Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid are secure for all generations.

The Coalition determined the numbers don't add up. Edwards, having no way out, finds one by saying "there are some things left out." In other words, stuff Kerry and Edwards forgot to mention.

I do belive Kerry and Edwards have a plan. It's just that when they try to describe it, it nullifies their previous statements.

It's called bullsh*t.

Down Under But Not Over

2004-10-09T22:47:00.000-07:00

The Austrailian Prime Minister, conservative and U.S. ally John Howard, was re-elected to a fouth term. Although I searched, I did not see one mention on MSNBC's web site. Oh, Fox News had it. Drudge (through My Way news) had it. But MSNBC didn't. Hmmm. Neither did their local affiliate, NBC4.TV. This is as of 10:30pm. Will it change in the morning? Maybe. But it just shows that the liberal media can't dump on Bush.

Just think if Howard had lost. Front page headlines everywhere.

Score one more for our team.

Don't Take Route 66

2004-10-08T17:45:00.000-07:00

Here are the facts:

A two-time felon convicted of beating, stabbing and ultimately beheading a dog he had named for his girlfriend was sentenced Friday to 25 years in life in prison under the state's "Three Strikes" law. Had he not had two previous criminal strikes, James Andrew Abernathy, 43, of La Habra would have faced no more than six years in prison for the Jan. 27, 2002, attack on the German shepherd mix Marie. However, should a state proposition be passed reducing terms for three-strike defendants, Abernathy could be out of prison far sooner than that, according to his attorney and the prosecutor.

Abernathy, a large man who claimed to have been insane at the time of the crime, was convicted in June of beating his dog with a golf club, trying to pierce her heart with a wooden stake and ultimately using garden shears to take off the head. It was found wrapped in a towel in a closet.

Now, to begin with, it's quite obvious this moron, if released, would kill at the drop of a hat. And his sister knows his history. Says Deputy DA Heather Brown:

"His sister wrote a letter begging us, basically, to lock him up, and talked about how she knows his history, believes he's violent, talked about what he used to do when he was younger, skinning animals, leaving them in the refrigerator for his mother to find, how he forced her to play Russian roulette after drinking a bottle of Jack Daniel's, (how she) found pet boa constrictors' heads chopped off in the toilet. I mean, he's a sick man and he needs to be locked up."

But the case for his release, according to his attorney, is this:

Defense attorney William Morrissey said his client, when properly medicated, is not a threat.
"In the two years I've known him, he's been on anti-psychotic medication and he's probably one of the calmest, more rational, pleasant people I've ever dealt with in the system," Morrissey said. "There's no doubt that he has a mental history going back to when he found his mentally ill mother dead, and he began experiencing severe psychiatric problems after that. "He went into the military at age 16. He was released from the military as a paranoid-schizophrenic. He has gone untreated for years and years and years. I have no doubt that he is a very sick person, but he has done well on anti-psychotic medication."

Wow. "Calm", "rational", "pleasant." Stabbing a dog named after his girlfriend, then beheading it. The B.S. continues:

Morrissey had tried to get Abernathy's sentence postponed until after the election, in light of Proposition 66, which if passed, would require that the third strike be a serious or violent felony. He said animal cruelty does not qualify for that designation. "Hopefully, in a month, this won't be a three-strikes case," Morrissey said. "I think if he can stay on his medication, that he can achieve something in his life."

"Animal cruelty" does not qualify? Give me a break. And the only thing this guy is going to achieve in life is killing a human being.

Vote NO on Prop. 66.

No more reason needed.

You Can't Handle The Truth.... No, Really, You Can't

2004-10-07T19:20:00.000-07:00

John Edwards, in keeping with his absenteeism in the Senate, made a stop on Live With Regis & Kelly this morning. Kelly Ripa told him Tom Cruise should play him in a movie. And Edwards reponded that someone thought the same way, albeit in a liberal-tinged movie from 1992:

Edwards responded that someone recently said they had a mental image of him in the movie, "A Few Good Men," starring Tom Cruise and Jack Nicholson, "me as Tom Cruise and Dick Cheney as the Nicholson character." "Can you see it now, Cheney: 'You need me on that wall, you want me on that wall' … and me saying, 'You can't handle the truth!'"

Apparently Edwards forgot it was Jack Nicholson that said "You can't handle the truth." And of course, with Nicholson playing a right-wing military guy, he's automatically evil.

Humble does not seem to be a trait Edwards is familiar with.

We Don't Need No Stinkin' Reason!

2004-10-07T18:10:00.000-07:00

Okay. One more time, for the cheap seats.

Clinton said, in 1998, "Earlier today, I ordered America's armed forces to strike military and security targets in Iraq. They are joined by British forces. Their mission is to attack Iraq's nuclear, chemical, and biological weapons programs and its military capacity to threaten its neighbors."

The intelligence on Iraq's WMD program was supported by CIA, MI6, and Russian intelligence. The bottom line is, after 12 years, 17 resolutions, and 9/11, it was no longer wise to wait until Saddam became a threat.

So now we hear, at a particular time (only 20-some days till the election), that Iraq had no WMD. Since 1991. If that's true, why didn't anyone speak up when Clinton bombed? If he had none, why didn't Saddam say that, and why did it take 17 resolutions to solve this? What did he have to hide?

It has always seemed to me that Democrats continued to harp that Saddam was a threat, that he needed to be deposed and taken care of, but no one took any action. Clinton bombing a supposed aspirin factory and a camel? Fine, but do a follow-up. He didn't. But since Bush had all of his top advisors saying the same thing, and he took real action, it is now convenient for the Dems to say this was was all about lies, oil, Halliburton, etc., now that things are not going well.

Actually, there's tons of good. We just don't see it. Schools back up, internet access, women free to vote, the list goes on. Edwards tipped his hand the other night during the debate, when he said the American public only needs to turn on their TV to see how badly Iraq is going. Since the media is mostly liberal, it fits into Edwards "vision." Good news does badly in ratings. Show more deaths, more bad news. Good news is depressing.

Ann Coulter said something to the effect of, even if you believe all the liberal and Democratic lines: no WMD, no threat, no Al-Qaida ties, we still liberated 25 million people. Stopped a mini-Stalin. Gave people a freedom they have not known for decades. But none of that matters. It only matters that over 1000 troops are dead, never mind that 750 of those are combat-related, and the rest are accidents or sickness. It only matters that the war is costing $200 billion. Never mind that is almost half of that, and the rest is for rebuiling and for Afghanistan.. Kerry wanted that money for health care and schools. Never mind that he had also wanted more resources to get Bin Laden.

The Dems are following the Michael Moore logic, which is "truthful, but not factual." And example: I'm Native American, and I know people in the entertainment industry. That's the truth. The Facts: I am about a quarter Quechan Indian, and there are a few customers where I work that are actors.

To paraphrase Ron Silver, with that logic, I could make Michael Moore look like an anorexic right-winger.

Words Of Wisdom From South Park

2004-10-07T01:39:00.000-07:00

Matt Stone, half of the duo (with Trey Parker) who created South Park and the new marionette-acted Team America: World Police, had this to say about their film, along with Fahrenheit 9/11:

"If anyone walks out of this movie, or a Michael Moore movie, thinking about voting a certain way, then they're f**king stupid and shouldn't be voting. If this movie makes you think that much, then you're too weak-kneed to vote."

Amen, brother.

Flashback: Bill Clinton On The Late Show, 9-11-2002

2004-10-04T17:45:00.000-07:00

These are excerpts from the transcript of when former President Bill Clinton chatted with David Letterman, on the one-year anniversary of the September 11th attacks.

BC: Then they called me back as the second plane was hitting and I just blurted out Bin Laden did this. I just knew.

DL: Now when you say that you knew that it was Bin Laden, you knew this as more than a hunch? You had intelligence to suggest this?

BC: No, I didn't have any intelligence to suggest this. Of course, I had been out of office for nine months so I hadn't really seen any intelligence or eight months I guess. But I knew that it would require a sophisticated operation and I didn't think anybody but Bin Laden and perhaps the Iranians could do it and I didn't think the Iranians would do it because they have a country and targets and he lived in caves in Afghanistan.

DL: And when you were president, what did this man represent to you in your administration then? What did you know about him? And you actually planned - there were two attempts maybe or strategies to go looking for the guy?

BC: Oh yes. Well, we thought he was responsible for the African embassy bombings. And we had only once really good intelligence about where he was at a meeting of his lieutenants at one of his training camps and we took the camp out but unfortunately he had left a couple of hours apparently before the missiles arrived. I thought he was a very serious threat always and we tried very hard to get him.... We spent time working on this everyday. I must have talked, the last three years I was president several times a week we talked about Bin Laden in our security meetings.

DL: Are we going into Iraq? Do you want to go into Iraq? Should we go into Iraq? I'd like to go in. I'd like to get the guy, I don't like the way the guy looks.

BC: Short answer is he is a threat. He is a murderer and a thug. When he's felt his existence threatened twice he used chemical weapons. He has chemical and biological stocks and he kicked the inspectors out and America and Britain were almost alone in fighting it when I was in.... But if he's got these stocks of chemical and biological weapons and if he knows he's toast, don't you think he'll use what he can and give away what he can't to people who'll be using them on us for years to come so he can have the last laugh.

Amazing. Talking almost daily about getting Bin Laden? So explain how he attacked us if he was under such scrutiny.

So Clinton says Saddam is a threat, and has WMD. Plus he mentions the possibility of Saddam giving away weapons to other countries. The Bush administration has said the exact same thing, so why is Bush a liar and Clinton isn't? We know for a fact Clinton lied. Show me proof Bush made this WMD stuff up, and we'll talk. Then you'll have to show me proof Britain, Russia, Australia, Kerry, Dean, Clark, Michael Moore, Edwards, Hillary, Kennedy, and every other leftist moron lied.

I won't hold my breath.

When YOU Become President, Then We'll Talk

2004-10-04T10:15:00.000-07:00

Every day. Every damn day we hear some ridiculous crap about how bad this administration is and how John Kerry, the man who has no solid position on anything except for the fact he was in Vietnam, would be a better president. No indication on how, just... "better".

So this is what it's coming to:

Parents expressing outrage after a teacher is kicked out of her public school for hanging a picture of President Bush next to pictures of other presidents in her classroom.

Shiba Pillai-Diaz, Teacher: "It happened on a small bulletin board near the American flag and also with a poster of the Declaration of Independence."

This is Crossroads South Middle School in Monmouth Junction, New Jersey. On Thursday, there was a back-to-school night for parents of students. Veteran English teacher Shiba Pillai-Diaz says she was shocked when three parents confronted her. The three, insisting the teacher either add John Kerry's photo to the montage of presidents or remove the Bush photo. When Pillai-Diaz refused, she says the school's vice-principal threatened her job which is an act that has parents here fuming.

Pillai-Diaz ultimately removed the entire bulletin board and says School Principal Jim Warfel told her she disrupted the school with her "inflammatory politics".

Putting a photo of John Kerry next to other presidents? First of all, he's not president, and will probably not be, if people realize that he's full of it. Secondly, Bush IS the president. And third, how can a picture of the current president next to former presidents be "inflammatory politics?" How about explaining to the kids what Clinton's definition of "is" is?

Shut Up And Sing!

2004-10-02T09:20:00.000-07:00

Bruce babbles, and the Dixie Chunks whine:

PHILADELPHIA, Oct. 1 - Bruce Springsteen began stumping the swing states here tonight to support Senator John Kerry. "We're here tonight to fight for a government that is open, rational, forward-looking and humane, and we plan to rock the joint while doing so," he said at the beginning of the concert he was headlining at the Wachovia Center.

"These are people who are the best experts at connecting with the American public, people who have had an emotional connection with millions of people for years,'' said Eli Pariser, the executive director of MoveOn PAC. "Politics is a part of that, and I think it just extends what they do, their art.''

"It does take some courage in this climate to stand up and do what they're doing,'' he continued. "A lot of them have been galvanized by the kind of extremist repressive response that they've seen. They're not going to be silenced.''

Ms. Maines said by telephone this week, "We definitely want a regime change, and now that we're getting down to the wire I'm even less afraid to speak out... Free speech is not free: we paid dearly. But we're more determined and stronger now. And from this point on, what fans we have will be our true fans.''

So, according to Bruce, we have a government that is closed, irrational, backward-thinking, and inhumane. Now, if he could explain that, without resorting to the the same crap we hear from Democrats, maybe I'll listen. Or, perhaps not.

And apparently an expert in audience connections, Eli Pariser thinks these "artists", including John Mellencamp, James Taylor, and Bonnie Raitt, are the ones who connect with their audiences best. But it's interesting that only now has politics entered their concerts.

In regards to the "extremist repressive response", what the hell is he talking about? All we hear from these clowns is how they're being "silenced" and how they can't speak their mind. Their problem is that they won't shut the freak up.

Natalie Maines said "We paid dearly." Yeah. Sales went down when she opened her big white-trash country mouth. Sure, she's being repressed. How can you even bother to listen to these idiots and take them seriously?

People didn't like what they said or did, and shut them out. Why do "celebrities" complain about people not seeing their movies or TV shows, not buying their music, or not going to their concerts when they say something the people don't like, and call it a violation of their "free speech?"

They do connect with the people. The lemmings, the uninformed masses, and the people who read the NY Times.

It's Not A Remake, It's A Re-Imagining

2004-10-01T17:50:00.000-07:00

Hugh Hewitt's blog brought up a point about something John Fitzgerald Kerr-edy said during the debate last night. Kerry said:

I mean, we can remember when President Kennedy in the Cuban missile crisis sent his secretary of state to Paris to meet with DeGaulle. And in the middle of the discussion, to tell them about the missiles in Cuba, he said, "Here, let me show you the photos." And DeGaulle waved them off and said, "No, no, no, no. The word of the president of the United States is good enough for me."

I knew this sounded familiar, yet suspicious, and then remembered Adlai Stevenson showing photos of missiles in Cuba to the United Nations in the movie Thirteen Days ( and here props must be given to Steven Culp, who is not only great as Bobby Kennedy, but is also a customer where I work ).

Kerry, for that moment, became like Michael Moore... truthful, but not factual. As Hewitt states:

First, Kennedy sent Dean Acheson, not Dean Rusk to see DeGaulle. Acheson was a former Secretary of State, Rusk the then sitting Secretary of State.

Second, that's not what DeGualle said to Acheson. One source, almost certainly Acheson, reported DeGualle's comment to have been "A great government such as yours does not act without evidence." And DeGualle, no matter what he said, sat through the briefing in which the evidence was displayed for him.

Finally, and most important, the Cuban Missile Crisis, from start to finish, was all about preemptive action, and had nothing to do with passing "global tests." Kennedy never sought the approval of any ally much less the United nations. The U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, Adlai Steveson, made a presentation to the U.N. on October 25, 1962, three days after the blockade had been imposed.

Isn't truth a beautiful thing?

A Top Ten List That Matters

2004-10-01T14:14:00.000-07:00

The GOP has put up the top ten Kerry flip-flops. Enjoy.

Does Anybody Really Know What Time It Is?

2004-09-29T23:07:00.000-07:00

From the Fox News website:

Kerry accuses the president of flip-flopping on the reasons for war and lacking a plan for its aftermath. But Kerry's been accused of flip-flopping for opposing the war that he originally voted to authorize. He said on ABC's Good Morning America his position is clear.

“Knowing there was no imminent threat to America, knowing there were no weapons of mass destruction, knowing there was no connection of Saddam Hussein to Al Qaeda, I would not have gone to war. That's plain and simple,” Kerry said.

But before and after Kerry voted in favor of war authorization, he repeatedly called Saddam a threat based on intelligence. Later, he opposed $87 billion for Iraqi reconstruction. Kerry knows he must better explain this gaffe.

“I actually did vote for the $87 billion before I voted against it,” Kerry said in Huntington, W.Va., on March 16.

To GMA, he said: “I had one of those inarticulate moments late in the evening when I was dead tired in the primaries and I didn't say something very clearly.”

Except it wasn't a late-night rally, it was 1:20 in the afternoon.

Hey, Kerry! Time for a new career!

Never Green

2004-09-28T21:00:00.000-07:00

It always perplexes me that "celebrities" read leftist talking points in either the L.A. Times, the New York Times, or hear them from leading Deomcrats, without taking time to do any actual research, reading just one article and believing it to be gospel.

Such is the case with Barbra Streisand on her website. Here are some of her nuggets of "fact":

#1 ...if you choose to air a story about George Bush's military service, or lack thereof, like CBS did last week, you and your award winning news anchor, get investigated by the FCC.

#2 Never mind that CBS's story included substantive and uncontested evidence that Bush didn't show up for duty when he was supposed to, that he skipped a required physical that grounded him from flying, and that he mysteriously received an honorable discharge.

#3 Ben Barnes, former lieutenant governor of Texas, admitted that he pulled strings to get Bush into the National Air Guard.

#4 And in contrast to Senator John Kerry, who said "send me" when given the option to go to Vietnam, according to the LA Times, when asked the same question, Bush checked the box stating "do not volunteer for overseas."

#5 Bush... continued his fishing vacation on the day he received a briefing about the impending attack, and was completely inactive and indecisive for a full 7 minutes the morning of 9/11 when informed of the attack on the World Trade Center.

#6 It is difficult for the country to stay properly informed when we are constantly being fed half truths and lies of omission by the current administration. Every time they send a representative out to speak to the public, he is armed with the same set of message points and catch phrases creating an echo effect. After hearing the same message over and over again, the public begins to believe their words, whether they are true or not.

Let's address these:

#1: The documents are forgeries. Get over it.

#2: Bush showed up, earned 942 points out of a needed 300 for his six-year run; didn't need a physical since he wasn't going to be flying; mysteriously received an honorable discharge? Oliver Stone would be proud.

#3: Barnes later recanted, and told his family the exact opposite.

#4: According to the book Unfit For Command, Kerry asked for 4 deferrments.

#5: The briefing was just that, a Presidential Daily Brief, not a Threat Assessment. And what did Kerry do? According to him, he was "unable to think" for 40 minutes.

#6: Sound like she just described the Democrats.

Screw celebrities. And the liberals they rode in on.

Soros Spelled Backwards is Soros

2004-09-28T13:30:00.000-07:00

Wow. It's amazing what George Soros has done. A billionaire with nothing to do but bash Bush. His full "speech" is here, but I'd like to respond to some highlights:

September 11 led to a suspension of the critical process so essential to a democracy - a full and fair discussion of the issues. President Bush silenced all criticism by calling it unpatriotic. When he said that "either you are with us, or you are with the terrorists," I heard alarm bells ringing. I am afraid that he is leading us in a very dangerous direction.

If people would actually take the time and check, Bush said that to other countries, not to the people of America.

But the President committed a fundamental error in thinking: the fact that the terrorists are manifestly evil does not make whatever counter-actions we take automatically good. What we do to combat terrorism may also be wrong. Recognizing that we may be wrong is the foundation of an open society.

Um, yes it does. What are we supposed to use, harsh language? This is not about offering the other cheek. This is about showing that if you push, we push back.

There is a widespread belief that President Bush is making us safe. The opposite is true. President Bush failed to finish off bin Laden when he was cornered in Afghanistan because he was gearing up to attack Iraq.

I'd like Soros, along with the other lefties, to explain why we haven't been hit in 3 years. It does not seem possible to them that, maybe, just maybe, our Homeland Security is working, that alleged al-Qaida cells in the U.S. may have disbanded. And I'll keep repeating this until it sticks: after 9/11, we could not afford the chance that another country would hit us.

President Bush likes to insist that the terrorists hate us for what we are - a freedom loving people - not what we do. Well, he is wrong on that. He also claims that the torture scenes at Abu Graib prison were the work of a few bad apples. He is wrong on that too. They were part of a system of dealing with detainees put in place by Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and our troops in Iraq are paying the price.

And how, exactly, does Soros think we achieved our freedom? We're free, they're not, end of story. Soros believes that it's policy to torture prisoners. First of all, there was no torture. Underwear on the head is different than cutting off heads. It's psychological. God forbid we should actually make the terrorists feel bad.

(Bush's) campaign is based on the assumption that people do not really care about the truth and they will believe practically anything if it is repeated often enough, particularly by a President at a time of war.

Well, look at the Democrats. They continuously repeat false allegations, and the public, hearing it day in and day out from the media, begin to regurgitate it. How else to explain letters to the L.A. Times with every other anti-war individual calling Iraq a "quagmire", a word they've maybe used once before in their lives, probably when they first read it and were trying to pronounce it.

The war in Iraq was misconceived from start to finish -- if it has a finish. ... The arms inspections and sanctions were working.

Unbelievable. "Sanctions were working?" After 12 years?

We went to war on false pretences. The real reasons for going into Iraq have not been revealed to this day. The weapons of mass destruction could not be found, and the connection with al Qaeda could not be established.

The reasons, then and now, were clear. Give up what you've got, or we're coming in. No stockpiles found, but evidence of manufacturing. There's ample proof of Al Qaida-Iraq connections.

By invading Iraq without a second UN resolution, we violated international law.

A "second" UN resolution? Try 14.

Many of our troops return from Iraq with severe trauma and other psychological disorders. Sadly, many are also physically injured. After Iraq, it will be difficult to recruit people for the armed forces and we may have to resort to conscription.

It's called war, genius. It's not pretty. These troops are there to protect us. They've dedicated their life to protecting this country. They volunteered. Many are even re-enlisting. Yet, it seems, the Democrats keep saying Bush will re-instate the draft. So who just brought it up?

President Bush has been taunting John Kerry to explain how he would do things differently in Iraq. John Kerry has responded that he would have done everything differently and he would be in a better position to extricate us than the man who got us in there.

Amazing. That's your explanation? "Differently?" There's a man with a plan.

Troops are dying, Iraq is unstable. There's no question there. But as much as Soros and his ilk like to say Bush is using 9/11 for his own gain, they seem to forget EXACTLY what happened on September 11, 2001. We were attacked on our own turf. We were vulnerable. We could be hit again. So let's take out the bad guys before they take us out.

It's a simple plan.

The Last Word On Star Wars

2004-09-27T19:30:00.000-07:00

For the past few weeks, I've been hearing numerous complaints about the Star Wars Trilogy changes. When George Lucas tweaked them back in 1997, people complained. Star Wars geeks, of which, I must confess, I am in the lower end, complained about the Han/Greedo confrontation. In 1977, Han shoots Greedo first. Dead. In 1997, Greedo shoots, Han ducks, then shoots Greedo. Dead. What's wrong? Aside from a bad effect of digitally moving Han's head a few inches to the side, it went against Han's character. He's a pirate.

There were plenty of other tweaks to Empire and Jedi, some minor, some major, some improvements, some just plain stupid. But that's Lucas' perogative, to change things to make them, in his mind, better. People seem to forget Lucas started tweaking in 1978, when he re-released the film to theaters and changed the title of Star Wars to Star Wars: Episode IV: A New Hope.

Some have complained that these are not the films we grew up with, that Lucas has an "obligation" to release the originals in their original form. Well, I have one thing to say to that: WHO CARES?

Here are some examples of why I say that: When Lawrence Of Arabia was released in 1962, an entire reel was printed backwards, so that Lawrence and his guide are going the wrong way across the desert. In 1989, it was re-released, with the film flipped the correct way, and with added scenes re-dubbed by the actors. When Jaws was released on DVD a few years ago, the sound was remixed to Dolby Digital, and some sound effects were changed. Same thing with Superman. Longer cut, improved sound effects. And again, a few months ago, with the Indiana Jones Trilogy. Better prints, improved sound, and a snake's reflection in glass removed.

With Jaws, Superman, and the Indy Trilogy, these were not the same films I grew up with. But does it matter? NO! They were improved to match the the technology that's available today. Same with Lawrence. I was not around in 1962, but the film won Best Picture. Does the "tweaking" of a revered favorite and classic diminish our remembrance of the "untweaked" version? I think not. It made the film better. How many times have people said, "I wish such-and-such film would be released with improved sound and a better picture?"

Obviously, people can argue the merits of Lucas' changes, whether they made the films better or worse. But, imagine if Lucas did release the Star Wars Trilogy in it's original form. They would still not be the films I grew up with. They would have cleaner prints. They would have improved sound, better than what was available in 1977, 1980, and 1983. They would be different than what we saw and heard in the theaters!

Bottom line: I like 98% of the changes. A few are too digital, but that's what Lucas depends on now. I see them as the Ultimate Editions. Rumor has it he might want to tweak them again in another 5 years, for a different technology. Other than making them available as a chip we can plant in our head, can he really change the essence of the films, where the fight is the basic good vs. evil, and the films are just pure fun? No. They're still fun, and they'll always be fun.

And regardless of how crappy we feel Phantom Menace and Attack Of The Clones are, we'll all be there, May 15, 2005, waiting to see Anakin become Vader.

And we'll be as excited as ten-year-olds. Again.

The Geniuses Upstairs

2004-09-27T18:45:00.000-07:00

So Canada decides to build a monument to draft dodgers. What's next? NAMBLA giving the Molester Of The Millenium Award to Michael Jackson? John Lee Malvo on the cover of Guns & Ammo? Michael Moore as the new spokesman for SlimFast? War Vet John Kerry as a Vietnam sympathizer? Oh, wait.......

Isn't It Ironic? Don't Ja Think?

2004-09-24T09:46:00.000-07:00

From the Washington Times:

During a 1997 debate on CNN's "Crossfire," Sen. John Kerry, now the Democratic presidential nominee, made the case for launching a pre-emptive attack against Iraq.

"We know we can't count on the French. We know we can't count on the Russians," said Mr. Kerry. "We know that Iraq is a danger to the United States, and we reserve the right to take pre-emptive action whenever we feel it's in our national interest."

No comment necessary.

Normally, I Don't Like Blondes, But...

2004-09-22T19:11:00.000-07:00

I do like Ann Coulter. Generally, there aren't a lot of Republicans that rant and rave like Al Gore, Ted Kennedy, or Howard Dean, but Coulter could be the equivalent. The thing is, she's usually right:

Regarding Bad Rather's Memogate master, Bill Burkett: According to USA Today, an interview with Burkett ended when he "suffered a violent seizure and collapsed in his chair" – an exit strategy Dan Rather has been eyeing hungrily all week, I'm sure.

What's not to like?

Waiter, There's a Fly In My Ketchup

2004-09-20T14:20:00.000-07:00

From MSNBC:

NEW YORK - Sen. John Kerry said Monday that mistakes by President Bush in invading Iraq could lead to unending war and that no responsible commander in chief would have waged the war knowing Saddam Hussein didn’t possess weapons of mass destruction and wasn’t an imminent threat to the United States.

“Yet today, President Bush tells us that he would do everything all over again, the same way. How can he possibly be serious?” Kerry said at New York University.

At the fear of repeating myself: we've found EVIDENCE of WMD, there are no STOCKPILES. Saddam would not tell us what he had and where it was. 12 years and 14 resolutions later, still nothing. There's the possiblity he moved the stuff during the build-up to war. There is absolute fact he gassed Kurds. 300,000 in mass graves. He sees Al-Qaida attack America, probably thinks he can do the same. We, in a post-9/11 world, could not take that chance. Nevermind the fact that regime change in Iraq began with Clinton, nevermind that the rest of the world, along with Kerry himself, believed Saddam had WMD. And, of course, since when do we let a threat go until it becomes "imminent"?

Thank God, President Bush responded:

“Today my opponent continued his pattern of twisting in the wind,” Bush said at a rally in Derry, N.H. “He apparently woke up this morning and has now decided, no, we should not have invaded Iraq, after just last month saying he would have voted for force even knowing everything we know today.”

Kerry said Monday, “Is he really saying that if we knew there were no imminent threat, no weapons of mass destruction, no ties to al-Qaida, the United States should have invaded Iraq? My answer is no because a commander in chief’s first responsibility is to make a wise and responsible decision to keep America safe.”

There's plenty of evidence of Iraq ties to Al-Qaida, but let's ignore that, shall we, Mr. Kerry?

Once again, President Bush:

“Incredibly, he now believes our national security would be stronger with Saddam Hussein in power and not in prison,” Bush said. “He’s saying he prefers the stability of a dictatorship to the hope and security of democracy.

“I couldn’t disagree more, and not so long ago, so did my opponent,” Bush told an audience of supporters. Bush quoted Kerry as saying recently, “Those who believe we are not safer with his capture don’t have the judgment to be president or the credibility to be elected president.”

By the way, here's a little "oops" from MSNBC: Kerry said Bush’s two main rationales — weapons of mass destruction and a connection between al-Qaida and the Sept. 11 attacks — have been proven false by weapons inspectors and the bipartisan commission investigating the attacks.

First, Al-Qaida WAS behind 9/11. Second, If they meant Iraq and 9/11, the president NEVER SAID there was a connection, and neither did the commission. The connection was between Iraq and Al-Qaida.

To top all this, Teresa Heinz Kerry calls her critics "scumbags," and the New Yorker APOLOGIZES for her by saying "I doubt that she knows the literal meaning of 'scumbag,' but perhaps, after forty years in America, nearly thirty of them as a political wife, observing how the flaws and contradictions of a personality as complex as hers are melted down for ammunition by the other side, she should have learned it."

And these people want to run the U.S. A ketchup bottle in every cupboard.

Pizza Delivered Late? Blame Bush! Milk Go Sour? Blame Bush!

2004-09-19T10:54:00.000-07:00

From a L.A. Times reader:

How can you print a story on the horrific rapes of women in Sudan and not mention the damage done by George Bush reinstating the gag rule? These poor women and girls cannot receive information about abortion from any clinic that recevies U.S. funds. How many Sudanese girls and women are forced to go through with a pregnancy resulting from rape? They can thank Bush and his mythical quest to promote women's rights in the Mideast.

Oh, I see. Sudanese women can't have abortions, so blame Bush. Okay.

And David Shaw, in Media Matters, L.A. Times, tries to sound neutral and say that he's sick of the Vietnam talk about Bush and Kerry, and how they should talk about what they're going to do about our future. While I agree with Shaw that we should drop the Vietnam stuff, it's hard to when Kerry won't stop talking about it.

Shaw says he doesn't care about Bush's "preferential" Guard treatment. He also doesn't care what Kerry said about throwing his ribbons/medals, or "what he said about the atrocities committed by other U.S. troops in Vietnam." He hope's the stories are not about revealing the individual's "character." He says "...a public official's official behavior is far more revealing, and far more relevant, that his sexual behavior", referring, of course, to dress-stainer Clinton. But here's the fact, Mr. Shaw: Clinton lied under oath, trying to define what "is" is. And if Kerry lied about atrocities, making it seem as if every squadron had its My Lai massacre, then that absolutely reveals something about Kerry's Kerracter.

Plus, I love the fact that Shaw tries to pass himself off as an independent, almost as if he's "looking out for you" in his coverage of the media's coverage. But every time, he let's his bias show:

"Nor do any of Bush's or Kerry's words or deeds in the days before either held public office tell me anything useful about how they will end the war in Iraq, pursue a reasonable foreign policy elsewhere (elsewhere? well, duh) or try to improve the nation's troubled economy, it's health-care crisis..."

First, Kerry coninued to vote against anything helping our military for years. Bush had 9/11, and could not take the chance of anyone buliding to a threat. Second, aren't the policy, economy (which is doing well, thank you) and the health-care comments the talking point of the Victicrats... I mean, Democrats?

Just asking....

Less Moore = Moore Lessons

2004-09-17T16:40:00.000-07:00

CSU San Marcos has called off Michael Moore's speaking engagement. University Pres. Karen Haynes said she didn't want to spend money on partisan politics, so the students are raising the $35,000 fee for Moore to show up. She also said there was not enough time to find a balancing viewpoint. Moore feels the "balancing" viewpoint is a smokescreen, because he's offered to help CSU San Marcos find a conservative. He now plans to sue if they don't let him speak.

First off, what is Michael Moore-pancakes doing charging $35 grand to speak to a bunch of students who are probably leaning his way to begin with (and I don't mean to gravitational pull, either)? I thought he was a man of the people. I guess only when the people pay him.

Go Jump A Clift

2004-09-17T15:25:00.000-07:00

Eleanor Clift distorts again.

George W. Bush's proven failure to fulfill his National Guard duties was widely reported, but because of CBS's flawed journalism, the GOP was able to shift the story away from Bush's credibility to Dan Rather's.

Proven failure? Is this based on falsified documents, Terry Macullife (forgive spelling, I just don't care) saying Bush was AWOL, or Michael Moore calling Bush a deserter? He was honorably discharged.

Dan Rather is not God. He does make mistakes. And he made a HUGE one in not completely verifying his sources and story. But what gets me is Rather crying and whining about people getting their news from sources other than himself and NBC or ABC. God forbid people should use the internet for something other than Amazon orders or porn. Yes, Dan, there are other informed people in America.

"It really scares me when members of Congress begin to publicly talk about holding an investigation into how a journalist does his job," says Bill Kovach, veteran newsman and founder of the Committee of Concerned Journalists. The First Amendment begins with the words "Congress shall make no law" when it comes to abridging freedom of religion or expression, or freedom of the press. "What if Congress began an investigation into what the Catholic church does," Kovach says to make his point on how wildly inappropriate Cox's action is.

The word, boys and girls, is context. Is Congress in the process of making a law? No. The rantings of the left continue:

The controversy over the memos overshadowed what is known about Bush's Guard service, or lack thereof. First, Bush needed political pull to land a coveted spot in the Texas Guard. Former Texas House speaker Ben Barnes, a Democrat, told Rather that he helped Bush at the request of a Bush family friend, that he did it for countless other well-connected young men and that he regretted it.

He then later recanted.... but of course, that doesn't fit with what she wants to say.

Secondly, we know Bush didn't show up in Alabama when he was supposed to. There's a $50,000 reward for anybody who can vouch for him, and nobody has stepped forward. Third, The Boston Globe revealed that Bush never reported for Guard duty in Boston as promised when he attended Harvard Business School. Lastly, Killian's secretary, Marian Carr Knox, says the content of the disputed memos is true even if the memos were forged.

OK. The 50 grand is from Garry Trudeau. You know, that ultra-conservative writer (joke). Marian Knox is older than Yoda, but not as smart. She remembers exactly what the memos said 30 years ago? Bush has said he served honorably, the same thing he said about Kerry. What else is necessary? Kerry continues to screw himself up by remembering things that are seared - seared - into his memory, then changing his story as he sees fit.

But that's just my opinion.

Not A Memetic Poly-Alloy

2004-09-17T11:37:00.000-07:00

Little John Connor, aka Eddie Furlong (T-2, American History X) was arrested in Kentucky Wednesday for trying to free some lobsters from a supermarket lobster tank. The citation said that Furlong, an animal-rights acitivist and vegetarian, was "unsteady on his feet, his speech was slurred and his breath smelled of alcohol."

Lobsters have a right to be dipped in clarified butter. We all know that. And I thought being a vegetarian was a fad.

George Carlin used to say that if lobsters looked like puppies, we'd have a hard time dropping them in the boiling water. I disagree. If it looked like puppy, and tasted like lobster, bon appetito!

The Tolerant, Compassionate Party

2004-09-16T22:42:00.000-07:00

A 3-year-old girl was made to cry by those loving, caring Kerry/Edwards supporters. It warms the heart to know that the left loves free speech, but can't tolerate a sign that has names they don't like.

The old saying, "A conservative is a liberal who's been mugged" should also add, "and grew up."

Welcome

2004-09-16T00:58:00.000-07:00

The new home of the O-Pine Zone. Those who know me, welcome back. Those who don't, welcome.

Given that this is an election year, I will try to do my best to bring you the rants of the left, the Janus mask called John Kerry, the good, bad, and ugly of this race, and the missteps of the Republicans. Yes, I am a Republican, and a conservative.

I believe in small government and personal responsiblity. I listen to Laura Ingraham, Dennis Prager, Bill O' Reilly, Sean Hannity, Larry Elder, Tammy Bruce, and Capt. Dale Dye, and time permitting, Al Rantel and Hugh Hewitt.

I will also bring attention to the absurd of the day, the lack of common sense, the occasional musings on life, a possible DVD review on Fridays, and also Movie reviews, if they're worth reviewing.

Anyone is free to agree or disagree with me. I will never say I have all the answers, because I never will.

Facts rule the day. Truth is a wonderful thing. And my opinion matters, because it belongs to me.

That's why this is the O-Pine Zone. Because, at the end of the day, that's all I'm doing. I'm not trying to change the world, I'm just giving it a little tweak.

~S