Don't expect a debate analysis here. I can never be objective. I honestly can't see past what I KNOW to be right. So far of what I have read Right Wing News has it about right. Although they should have me on their blogroll!
I think it is telling to hear what the other side says when they don't think we are listening.
I did listen to some polls that polled on different questions to regular folk. It seemed most think that Kerry won the debate as a whole by a small margin, but when asked about specifics like who seemed better defining the war on terror or having a plan, Bush won. On who was more likable, Bush won. So, if that is the case then it means Kerry was smoother, easy to listen to. But that Bush made his points well.
Lets face it, there was nothing new here. We all know what each candidate stands for. The media was hoping for a "gotcha" moment from either candidate and they didn't get it.
I have to admit I even got bored and ending up not watching the end, but putting my boys to bed.

I will be gone this weekend camping. I have the steaks marinated, the chili, potatoe salad, and cakes made. Packing up the fishing gear and tents and can't wait!! No TV, radio, computer or phone. Just fine weather, my family, my dog , and my friends. It doesn't get any better than that.

Wizbang catches it! If you can't win any other way then cheat- PART 2.

EXCLUSIVE! When practicing for the debate tonight this fell out of Kerry's pocket.  

Monsters and the draft.

These monsters kill their own. If we pulled out of the middle east now is there anyone out there that believes the violence will stop? Or that we wouldn't continue to be targeted? These monsters can't be reasoned with, we know that. They remind me of horror movies where the aliens look like us, talk like us, but they are not human. They have no soul. There is no reasoning with them. I know it is tiring to keep hearing references to the holocaust whenever we want to measure evil, but it is the one thing we all can agree on. One group of people CANNOT decide that another group has no right to live. This is the cornerstone of the terrorists belief. We are not muslim therefore we must die. And they don't care who dies with us, their own children, their own people. Why can't liberals get this?
There is no alternative. We must eliminate them.

I just finished reading some of MTV's 'rock the vote' stuff on the candidates and the issues. I was pleasantly surprised by the fairness and accuracy of the issues and the candidates stand on them. I had heard on the Glenn Beck program this morning about a audio MTV had that implied the draft could be re-instituted, but I couldn't find it. Seems an e-mail has been going around saying that the draft would happen if Bush was re-elected. A total lie of course. But in case you are worried, only the democrats have sponsored 2 bills in congress to re-instate it, Congressman Charles Rangel says he did it to "protest the war." Yeah, riiiight. Maybe Mr. Rangel did it to have it out there as a scare tactic thinking that no one really pays attention to who is sponsoring a bill. Hmmmm...?
The Pentagon says a draft wouldn't work anyway because the 2 yr requirement is barely enough time to train a soldier in today's specialized high tech force. Besides as mentioned before here, the military is having no problems with volunteers.
UPDATE: Bill over at INDC Journal has a interview with a CBS reporter regarding the e-mail draft hoax.

Lets disagree but lets not lower ourselves in this debate.

Wonder whats on TV tonight, anybody know?.....;-)

On the lighter side: I promised more Boudreaux jokes. Here goes:

Boudreaux died, and his wife Clotill, went to the newspaper to put his name in the obituary. Clotill was a very frugal woman and asked the editor how much was the obituary going to cost. He explained that the cost was per word.
She thought for a second and replied, "Just put in 'Boudreaux died." The editor was appalled and insisted "Madame, you must put in a little bit more than that!"
She thought about his request for a moment and responded, "Ok, then put in this.....'Boudreaux died, Boat for sale'

I am woman, hear me roar.

In this week's U.S. News and World Report there is a article on the female vote this year. The "security moms" who lean to Bush and the unmarried women who lean toward Kerry. People who don't pay attention to what our leaders believe and want for our country just drive me insane. One woman in the article, Elizabeth Holland who is a nurse and is 55, says she likes Bush but felt he was "too wishy washy" on renewing the assault weapon ban. (Bush had nothing to do with the expiration of the ban, congress did) But she says about Kerry that she is "not impressed with him at all." OK, if you don't have enough information on these 2 candidates regarding the VAST differences between them and you are gonna decide on who your voting for by the way you "feel," then please stay home and watch Oprah on election day.
This whole article made me embarrassed for my gender. It made us look like idiots. Take 50 yr old Kaysee Clark. She is offended by Bush's "cowboy testosterone." but she says Kerry seems distant, lacking a "personal touch," and vague or vacillating on the issues. Are these any reasons to vote for a president??? Maybe its a way of deciding who to DATE, but NOT THE LEADER OF THE FREAKING FREE WORLD!!!
I don't expect all women to be a politcal junkie like I am, but I do expect a reasonable knowledge of the issues in order to make a informed decision. This is important stuff here. We didn't fight to win the vote to stumble through our lives not understanding how these leaders affect our future and the future of our children.

I just like imagining those guys are terrorists...sweet. 

Random notes.

This is kinda cool. Naima is a Iraqi cartoonist who couldn't do much under Saddam. Now he mocks the terrorists.-- "One of his recent cartoons depicts a militant measuring the neck of a bound victim and choosing from an array of numbered knives with which to behead him."
"It shows that killing is the only concern of these people," Naima said. "When you mock the people who are undertaking these acts, you are making others aware that these acts are illegal and immoral."
As with cartoonist in the U.S. they now lampoon America as well, and that's ok, because, hey.... They are free.

Did you know Republicans are punk? Put that in your stereotyping bong and smoke it.

Washington --- Former President Jimmy Carter, who has policed elections around the world, on Monday harshly accused Florida officials of not doing enough to fix their election system following the 2000 presidential election debacle. Carter called Florida election officials "highly partisan" in favor of Republican President Bush and charged them with "brazenly violating" basic tenets of fair, unbiased and trustworthy elections.Florida officials said they were stunned by the tone and sweep of carters criticisms but said that the former president had erred in his characterization of the state's election process.

I am ashamed to admit that I cast my first vote for Carter. My father was a democrat senator in Mississippi, so what could I do? I have done penance by voting Republican ever since. One has got to have his head in the sand to not recognize the fraud that has occurred with "I see dead people voting." And those zombies always vote democrat. Don't get me started on the convict vote. If your deceased or detained your democrat.
Carter did well in crafting a better legacy by volunteering for Habitat for Humanity. He needs to keep building and start shutting his partisan mouth.

I have a full day after staying out too late last night. Color me tired. I will try and blog later.

Funny t-shirt of the day-"Life is a journey. Go on without me"

The Reality of this war.

I think with the reality of war, we sort of become numb to the incidents we hear of beheadings and bombings. We think they are horrible, but it is away from us.... distant, in a land we never knew and will never know. Americans live in a prosperous free nation of relative safety. Aside from the brutality of war I want you to imagine for a moment this: You are driving through your town and a up head you see men with machine guns and grenades. They point their guns at you to stop. Imagine your fear, your stunned disbelief. Then when you stop they demand you give them your "evil" music CD's. Doesn't matter if its classical or hard rock, just hand it over. Then they give you a CD of scripture from the Bible and send you on your merry way. And there is no police to call. No charges to be filed. If your gonna live, your gonna be Christian. Period. Its impossible to imagine, isn't it? But that is exactly what is happening in Fallujah now, except of course it is recitations from the Quran, not the Bible. And it is Muslim you must be to live. Unlike Christianity these men don't feel that Islam needs to be freely chosen. This is the reality of what the terrorists want for the U.S. Make no mistake about it. The killings are their way of terrorizing us into submission. But luckily they underestimate us and our military. You see, they don't know us either.
The good news is that American forces bombed a hide out of the terrorist leader Abdu Masab Al-Zarwi Tuesday in Fallujah. American's frequent strikes have taken its toll on the leader's terrorist group. Read about it and what I just described in the AP story.
It seems to me that it was a mistake to leave Fallujah when we did. I know President Bush thought it was too dangerous at the time and wanted to train Iraqi forces. I am not a military strategist, so I don't know. Its easy for us to sit in front of our computers and say "bomb the hell out of them." Its all too different a story to have the information and decide if the risk is worth it.
The Prime minister of Iraq Allawi says elections will move forward in January. Others doubt that Iraq can be secure enough by then. I don't know either. But I do know that the terrorists CANNOT dictate when the elections are held. The government cannot allow these evil men's hate, violence and brutality to override free elections.
President Bush said yesterday that we will stand with the Iraq govt. Strategy "to surround and isolate enemy militias, reach out to the local population and negotiate from a position of strength."
This is a terrible place, a terrible time. Lets help them move forward to freedom. For too many years we have allowed that distant land to fester and ooze its infected hate. Maybe you don't agree that Iraq was the place to go after Afghanistan, but there is no doubt the terrorists are there NOW. They didn't just become terrorists when we went into Iraq. They were and are and will continue to be if we don't stop them.
And we must stop them.

"If you want a wrap up of the good news out of Iraq, and there is alot, check out Chrenkoff. It is excellent. He says " There are two Iraqs at the moment; both equally real and consequential. The Iraq of never ending strife- the insurgency, terrorism, crime, and all too slow pace of recronstuction makes for interesting news stories and exciting footage. The Iraq of steady recovery, returning normalcy and a dash of hope rarely does." Hat tip to Mudville.

Can Kerry Accomplish the Mission of shutting up?

Since Kerry insists ( even said it today) that "Since President Bush said 'mission accomplished'....blah blah blah has happened."
Lets set the record straight. BUSH NEVER SAID THOSE WORDS. First Gen. Tommy Franks has said in his book that the banner saying 'Mission Accomplished" was his idea alone. And as well he should have, it was true that Operation Iraqi Freedom was accomplished. We had freed the Iraqi's from a brutal dictator.
But Bush made clear in his speech that day on the US Abraham Lincoln- "We have difficult work to do in Iraq. We are bringing order to parts of that country that remain dangerous. We're pursing and finding leaders of the old regime, who will be held to account for their crimes." Bush went on to say "The transition from dictatorship to democracy will take time." And he goes on to emphasis "Our mission continues. Al Queda is wounded, not destroyed."
It is nice to note that we have mostly destoyed Al Queda since then with a few pockets still existing. Bush also said "The war on terror is not over, yet it is not endless." ...."The proliferation of deadly weapons remain a serious danger. The enemies of freedom are not idle."......"We will continue to hunt down the enemy before he can strike."
I think it is clear from the very speech Bush made that day that although the mission of toppling Saddam was accomplished, we had alot of dangerous work to do.
so once again to Kerry...Shut up.

GOOD NEWS!!! Allah is saying that it is being reported that Bin Laden's #2 man may have been captured by Pakistan. Lets all pray its true.

Daniel Pearl's killer shot and killed in gun battle.

Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf has announced that they have killed a Al Qaeda lead militant, Amjad, Farooqi. The one who was involved in the killing of WSJ journalist Daniel Pearl. This part of the story may have gotten lost in Musharraf's also claiming that that intelligence is telling him that Osama Bin Laden is still alive.
The killing of this demented piece of trash that killed Pearl is a victory and a good sign that Pakistan is on the job.
I hope and pray that if Musharraf is correct, they find Bin Laden and send him off to his 72 virgin goats.

If you can't win any other way, just cheat.

The worse thing is there is no shame involved.
Hat tip to LGF.

The Memo is a gift that just keeps on giving.

The Weekly Standard puts the characters surrounding the memogate story in a timeline worth noting.

Among many things the story asks why Barnes was willing to tell his story now after years of being silent. The answer is easy. The Killian memos "primed the pump"
This is the interepting quote to me from Barnes--"If the document the network were hunting for were found, the election is over."

It is obvious the glee these guys were containing over this whole story. From the DNC, to McAuliffe, to Bob Tuke, to Bob Smith, to Ben Barnes, to Bill Burkett, to Mary Mape, and to finally Dan Rather himself.
The story itself was swirling and growing to orgasmic proportions as they all were breathlessly awaiting the memos and the Dan Rather story to bring them to the climax that I am sure had them all practically passed out with a lit cigarette hanging from each mouth.
Did they really think that the "election would be over" if these documents would have been true? Have they really no clue to how little all this means to the American public?
I can only imagine how they feel now. Its like finding out your Latin lover is a gigolo. It was good while it lasted, but geeze, you feel all dirty now.
And in Dan Rather's case he has to keep seeing and hearing about who screwed him over and over on the news every day.
Which is what they call poetic justic. And you gotta love that



Military.com throws cold water on the democrats scare tactic of implying that we will have to have a draft soon. Even Kerry was spewing this garbage. This from Military.com:
"The war is not only not having a negative effect, but it is helping to reinforce the number of people who want to join," said Cmdr. John Kirby, a spokesman for the Navy's Bureau of Personnel.Even the Army National Guard, which has had 150,000 citizen soldiers mobilized for up to a year, has seen retention rates "going through the roof," said Guard spokesman Maj. Robert Howell.The Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine Corps and Coast Guard all met or exceeded their year-end recruiting goals for fiscal year 2003, which ended Sept. 30. The figures continued to climb in the first half of fiscal year 2004, which was reached March 31.
The fear might have started back in January 2003 when Rep. Charles Rangle, D-NY and Sen. Ernest Hollings, D-SC, introduced a bill calling for the draft. Interstingly the only hints of draft reinstatement come from Democrats and the Democrats want to continue the scare tactic that President Bush is the threat for "draft reinstatement".
This is so ridiculous! No one in their right mind would suggest a draft, which does explain Rangle and Hollings doing so. But what about Former Kerry rival Howard Dean, now traveling the country to drum up support for Kerry and raise money for Democratic candidates, said last week at Brown University in Providence, R.I., "I think that George Bush is certainly going to have a draft if he goes into a second term, and any young person that doesn't want to go to Iraq might think twice about voting for him."
If that isn't a scare tactic of the hightest order? They really do scare people with things now that are not going to happen .


ON THE LIGHTER SIDE:

Scientists in Britain unveiled the world's funniest joke today at the end of the largest study of humor ever. via news.com.au
And this is it. But since I have heard it before as Beaudreax and Thibideaux joke I will tell it that way. Anyone from the south knows these 2 guys. So here goes--
Beaudreax and Thibideaux are out hunting in the woods when Thibideaux collapses. He doesn't seem to be breathing and his eyes are glazed. Beaudreax whips out his cellphone and calls the emergency services. He gasps: "My friend is dead! What can I do?" The operator says: "Calm down, I can help. First, let's make sure he's dead."
There is a silence, Beaudreaux drops the phone, then a shot is heard. Back on the phone, Beaudreaux says: "OK, now what?"

*moment of silence for all the laughter* I tell that better in real life. I will be inserting Beaudreax and Thibideaus jokes from now on. I had forgotton how good they were.

stealing from grouchyoldcripple again.
Click on pic for bigger version.