Bob's Place

MONTPELIER — Relatives of at least three Vermonters serving in the war in Iraq urged the governor Monday to stop the deployment of the Vermont Army National Guard and to bring home the troops already stationed in the Middle East.

"Vermonters should not be forced to kill or be killed in a war for oil or power," said Nancy Brown of Rochester, whose 22-year-son Ryan has served in Iraq since last March.

# posted by Bob Taylor @ 6:39 PM |

There’s another possibility; one that seems crazy on the surface, but does provide an explanation for the silence, and is also in keeping with the political climate in Hollywood. Is it just possible that there are those who are reluctant to criticize an act of terror because that might somehow align them with President Bush, who stubbornly clings to the notion that these are evil people who need to be defeated? Could the level of hatred for this President be so great that some people are against anything he is for, and for anything he is against?

As nutty as it sounds, how else can you explain such a muted reaction to an act that so directly impacts creative people everywhere? Can you conceive of a filmmaker being assassinated because of any other subject matter without seeing a resulting explosion of reaction from his fellow artists in America and around the world?

As I said, it’s a nutty-sounding explanation, but we live in nutty times.

# posted by Bob Taylor @ 5:00 PM |

...............To the Left, people behave in ways that are infoirmed by their race and gender and class – if they are “authentic.” When people go against that – do whatever they want to do based on who they are as individuals - they’re “selfish” and they violate their membership and status in their group(s); they are inauthentic traitors.

Most people who believe in Natural Law believe in God, are pro-Life, and are for small government - and are on the Right. Most people who believe in the French concept of the Social Contract (as first described by Rousseau) are on the Left; they are pro-choice, and they want big government.

This - IMHO - is the core dichotomy which divides our electorate.

On this - and on everything else that flows from it - the Left is wrong, and the Right is right.

# posted by Bob Taylor @ 9:41 PM |

And if Gregoire wins this second recount, will I consider her win
illegitimate? Almost certainly yes. Not because of the glitches
in the recounts, which at times almost seemed intended to create Republican suspicions, but because of what I have begun to call "distributed vote fraud", the vote fraud committed by individuals, and made easier by our lax election laws. (I described the problem here and here.)Here is my guesstimate again. If a Democrat wins a statewide election in Washington by fewer than 100 votes, then their margin almost certainly came from fraudulent votes. If they win by fewer than 1,000 votes, then their margin probably came from fraudulent votes. I can't prove those numbers are correct, of course, but neither can anyone who disagrees prove that they are incorrect. We simply don't know how many fraudulent votes are cast in our elections, but we can be almost certain that they benefit Democrats, net.

# posted by Bob Taylor @ 3:13 PM |

........At a time when the White House has portrayed Mr. Bush's 3.5-million-vote victory as a mandate, the poll found that Americans are at best ambivalent about Mr. Bush's plans to reshape Social Security, rewrite the tax code, cut taxes and appoint conservative judges to the bench. There is continuing disapproval of Mr. Bush's handling of the war in Iraq, with a plurality now saying it was a mistake to invade Baghdad the first place.........

# posted by Bob Taylor @ 8:24 PM |

Sly issues apology TCT

In the face of furious pressure from across the county, talk radio host John Sylvester has begun to apologize for racial insults he used against members of the Bush administration last week. After he called Secretary of State nominee Condoleezza Rice “an Aunt Jemima” and outgoing Secretary of State Colin Powell “an Uncle Tom,” Sylvester’s initial response was to apologize only to Aunt Jemima. But now, Sylvester has broken from his initial stance, and issued a letter to newspapers today that apologizes to blacks, but continues to deride Rice.

# posted by Bob Taylor @ 1:13 PM |

Mitofsky, the veteran pollster who co-directed this year's exit surveys, fears that Republican voters refused to be interviewed in disproportionately higher numbers, thus skewing the results. Perhaps they were busier than Democrats and didn't have time to be interviewed. Perhaps they disliked the media's coverage of Bush, and showed it by snubbing poll interviewers. Whatever the reason, Mitofsky warned the networks about the apparent Democratic bias mid-afternoon on Election Day -- a caution "they chose to ignore," he told Terence Smith on PBS.

# posted by Bob Taylor @ 6:46 AM |

.................what the U.N. is doing to promote, er, fight anti-Semitism. The U.N. concludes, if it weren't for those pesky Jews, anti-Semitism wouldn't be a problem.

# posted by Bob Taylor @ 5:04 PM |

You want to get down to the nub of how this democracy is going to defend itself,'' Cronkite said. ``We've got to have an intelligent electorate and we're not going to have it because our education system is in a shambles right now.''

The most immediate problem, Cronkite warned, is Iraq.

''We have a war that is tearing us apart,'' he said. But, he added, the administration's deficit spending is a close second, creating ``a debt that will have to be paid by our great-grandchildren, and maybe beyond that.

''In the meantime, we do not have the money to do the things that we ought to -- have to -- do here at home,'' Cronkite said.

# posted by Bob Taylor @ 10:25 AM |

Expert Warns of 'Bickering Deficit' in New Bush Cabinet
by Scott Ott

(2004-11-17) -- The Bush administration faces the "grave and growing threat of a bickering deficit" which will jeopardize U.S. foreign policy during the president's second term, according to an unnamed future former senior administration official.

"We've gone from feast to famine when it comes to the intra-Cabinet squabbling which is essential to formulating a globally-respected foreign policy," said the official. "It is crucial that the president appoint department secretaries who not only disagree with his philosophy and strategy, but also personally dislike each other, envy the president and don't mind talking about it with reporters."

Many long-time employees in the departments of state and defense have also privately expressed alarm at the president's nomination of Condoleezza Rice as secretary of state.

"I hope the Senate will do something to head off this train wreck at Foggy Bottom," said the anonymous source. "Otherwise, America will be represented abroad by a competent, hard working woman who understands the president's objectives, shares his philosophy and has earned his trust. How can anything good come from that?"

Shockwaves have also rippled through news organizations, as editors and producers scramble to retool their foreign policy coverage strategies in the face of what one called "the leak drought which could result from a cabinet focused on accomplishment rather than individual self-aggrandizement."

# posted by Bob Taylor @ 4:56 PM |

................ Sydney and his cohorts need to get a grip. President Bush hasn't suddenly acquired a newfound disrespect for the limitations of his office. The Bush-bashers would be well to remember that we're still in the United States, and the president is operating and will continue to, under lawful authority.

If he exceeds his authority, there are proper checks in place to deal with that. But merely exerting his authority, which is all he is doing, is not abusing it. If these poison penners don't quit crying wolf over nothing every other minute, they'll lose what little credibility they have left.

# posted by Bob Taylor @ 6:50 AM |

Will race pimps like Jesse Jackson defend Condoleezza Rice? How about Al "The Liar" Sharpton? Will the useless NAACP come to her defense? Will other so-called "civil rights" groups and race warlords hail the importance of her appointment as the first black female secretary of state? What about the National Organization for Women? Will NOW be celebrating this appointment? You know the answer to all of these questions ... and that answer is not only "no," but "hell no." Of course not, and the reason is simple: these groups were never about protecting anyone's rights except those of liberal Democrats.

Never forget...there are two sets of rules not only for the media, but for the civil rights hacks out there. One set for the Democrats and one for Republicans.

# posted by Bob Taylor @ 9:26 PM |

........The only thing more amazing than the racism emanating from the left is their inability to handle people questioning them on it. On Hannity and Colmes tonight, one of the discussion topics was the political cartoon I linked above. Ann Coulter pointed out this was a racist cartoon, and that anyone who supported it was a racist - Bob Beckle completely lost it. He proceeded to list his credentials for civil rights in a very agitated and angry tone..................

...........I think the reason why most liberals react in such a way to this word, is they realize they fit the description, and yet don't like being labeled with it. They can't react rationally, so they simply lose control. I see it happen frequently in public debate, and I have first person experiences like the one I just spoke about.

Liberals are racists, and they don't want to admit it.

# posted by Bob Taylor @ 9:08 PM |

"They still don't get it. Adam Cohen writes today in the New York Times about goofball professor George Lakoff's ideas that the republicans have succeeded because they use magic words. He calls it
"framing". But really, he is saying that it doesn't matter what the Democrats say, it's how they say it that matters.
As I said yesterday, Cohen and Lakoff are essentially saying, "Let's put more lipstick on this pig."This indicates a deep sense of irrationality. These Democrats simply find it absolutely incomprehensible that Republicans could have won because of their ideas. It must be the way they say it."

# posted by Bob Taylor @ 1:00 PM |

"President Bush won in the face of the most intense opposition an incumbent has ever faced, and in the face of a huge, super-funded 527 effort against. He won with nearly all of the MSM arrayed against him, and as had been been coming to light in the past week, with a rogue CIA leaking whatever it could to defeat him.

So it stands to reason that the Republican majority is even larger than Bush's margin of victory, and the Republican realignment even deeper. In 2008 a new GOP leader will emerge to run free of the anti-Bush handicap, and that realignment will be on even greater display."

# posted by Bob Taylor @ 2:11 PM |

A blogging Black Hawk pilot asks "are these reporters in the now-infamous MSM really that determined to see us fail in Iraq?"

His answer comes by way of an email from NBC "award winning" reporter, John Hockenberry.

# posted by Bob Taylor @ 7:00 PM |

We've been reading about and made a couple of postings of our own on the situation in the Netherlands, including one on the murder of filmmaker Van Gogh by an Islamic thug. We have seen numerous press reports and blog commentaries on the spate of communal violence in that once very tolerant country. Reuters (via Drudge) tells us that some Muslims are feeling uncomfortable and report genuinely "horrible" incidents of Dutch bigotry, e.g., somebody cut in line and said a few nasty things (Oh Horrors! That certainly justifies at least a couple of murders.)

# posted by Bob Taylor @ 11:33 AM |

More shocked John Kerry supporters on Wednesday sought psychological help with “post-election selection trauma” in South Florida, prompting the American Health Association to officially release symptoms of the disorder and open its doors for free counseling.

“When someone commits suicide in New York and Kerry’s loss is even slightly connected, it’s serious,” Rob Gordon, executive director of the AHA, told the Boca Raton News. “There’s a lot of older Democrats here and they outnumber Republicans and you don’t want an epidemic of suicides with the elderly. So our counseling center is now open free to those with post-election selection depression, PEST, who need to exercise their demons.”

# posted by Bob Taylor @ 1:36 PM |

The condescension and elitism expressed by the left displays intolerance at its worst. The left is again exposed as hypocritical, preaching tolerance and inclusion, but practicing intolerance and exclusion of all ideas not in conformity with their own. Has it never occurred to liberals that they might be objectively wrong?

# posted by Bob Taylor @ 11:55 AM |

............It wasn't the economy, stupid. It was the stupidity, stupid. No man is an island, but the Democrats expect voters to act as if they are. Don't think about national security and war and Iraq and Iran and North Korea - that's all way beyond a loser like you. You're too "terrified" about your job to be bothered with the foreign pages. It's practically the Depression out there.

OK, it's not. But it's a recession. OK, it's not. But there aren't any jobs out there. OK, there are. But they're not like the jobs you used to have, when you could go to the mill and do the same job day in day out for 45 years, and it made it so much easier for us come election time because there were large numbers of you all in the same place when we flew in for the campaign stop. But the point is: you are an island, stick to "pocketbook issues", think about yourself.

The Left always used to accuse the Right of appealing to the voters' selfishness, but this year the Dems did and it got them nowhere...................

# posted by Bob Taylor @ 6:58 PM |

After the East German people's uprising against Soviet occupation on June 17, 1953, the Communist Writers Union distributed leaflets throughout the Soviet zone saying the people had forfeited the confidence of the government and could win it back only by redoubled efforts. Would it not be easier in that case, asked the sardonic German communist playwright Berthold Brecht, for the government to dissolve the people and elect another people in their stead?

# posted by Bob Taylor @ 7:35 AM |

How does gloating like a 10-year-old help your government in any way?

You're putting down your fellow man, not solving the problem.
Puzzled Non American

# posted by Bob Taylor @ 6:49 AM |

Thanks to the Internet, the conspiracy between the Democrats and the news media operated only at half speed. Never had the media pursued a partisan agenda more rigorously. It should have been enough, would have been enough just a few short years ago, even with the advent of talk radio and Fox News. But the ability of conservatives, Republicans and just good old regular folks to communicate around the edges of the news media filter made a huge difference.

The Left used it just as vigorously as we did, but unlike the traditional media, they couldn't control it. The campaign as fought on the Internet was, in other words, a fair fight. And in a fair fight, the Republicans usually win.

# posted by Bob Taylor @ 6:37 AM |

A Message To Liberals and Supporters of John "Crushed" Kerry Just so you know, we are still laughing at you. We are still taking joy in your anger, misery, heartache and tears. We are still mocking you, both in your face and behind your back. We think it's great that the very left-wing, socialist ideals you hold sacred and dear have been overwhelmingly repudiated. And we still think you are all losers who don't get it, and judging from your vitriol and hate over the last few days, you never will. That is all.

# posted by Bob Taylor @ 9:35 PM |

....................What I'm hearing from the Democrats is that middle America voted on moral values, which I take to be code for "they are a bunch of ignorant, bible thumping sheep". There seems to be a lot of hand wringing over how they could have better conveyed their message to the Midwest, and an arrogance that if they had, Kerry would have won in a landslide. What the Democrats don't understand is that yes, we do understand your message, and we reject it.....................

# posted by Bob Taylor @ 5:31 PM |

Ladies and gentlement of the BBC, CNN, CBS, etc., listen up: The Republicans WON this election, that means more people picked the Republican choice than picked the Democratic choice. That means they liked the Republican option; they want the Republicans to govern. If they had wanted the Democrats to govern they would have picked the Democrats.

George Bush is a Republican; he should be loyal to the people who elected him and carry out the programs and policies he promised in order to get their support. He does not have to carry out the Kerry agenda. If the people had wanted that agenda, they would have picked it.

Why is this so hard to understand?

# posted by Bob Taylor @ 8:48 PM |

Who exactly is parochial here? Times columnist Thomas Friedman offers this observation:

This was not an election. This was station identification. I'd bet anything that if the election ballots hadn't had the names Bush and Kerry on them but simply asked instead, "Do you watch Fox TV or read The New York Times?" the Electoral College would have broken the exact same way.

We're guessing he's wrong about this; despite the Times' pretensions to being a national newspaper, it seems likely that Kerry states outside the Northeast have more Fox viewers than Times readers. But even so, Bush supporters are hardly lacking exposure to the liberal media: the broadcast networks, stories from news wires and syndicates (including the Times') in their local newspapers, Hollywood movies, etc. Red-state residents may disdain Kerry as much as blue-staters do Bush, but we'd venture to say the former have a better-informed view of the opposition.

Bush voters tend to see big-city liberals as arrogant elitists, and the above quotes make clear that they are substantially correct. If those liberals were as sophisticated and open-minded as they fancy themselves to be, they would make an effort to understand why most Americans disagree with them rather than simply dismissing them as idiots.

# posted by Bob Taylor @ 7:03 PM |

The Democratic party have got themselves out of step with a huge chunk of the population. They’d probably do well in Belgium and much of southern England, but unfortunately neither of those jurisdictions is a US state. And, in the places which are, the party is increasingly uncompetitive. None of its issues resonates with rural America, and most of them — abortion and race-baiting — just sound stale: Selma, Alabam’ is 40 years old, Roe vs Wade is 30 years old, and the scare talk about Bush’s Supreme Court appointees just doesn’t work. The party is intellectually exhausted and short of talent, which is how a vain, mediocre senator ended up with the nomination. There are still enough tribal Democrats to make it impossible for even the worst candidate to fall below 40 per cent, but they’re so concentrated in New England, New York and California that the party can’t break beyond that. Hence, the White House, Senate and House in Republican hands.

# posted by Bob Taylor @ 9:14 AM |

Democrats confront a grim future. Bush's 3.5-million-vote edge in the popular vote reflects a party out of touch with the country on social issues, the role of government and the war against terrorism. Democrats face the bitter reality of minority party status and what to do about it.

Facing reality is difficult because of unjustified confidence among high-level Democrats. All year long I was told by them that Kerry would win comfortably. They dismissed Republican inroads on normal Democratic voters by the same-sex marriage issue. They laughed off warnings from defecting Democratic Sen. Zell Miller of Georgia that the party had lost rural America.

# posted by Bob Taylor @ 6:16 AM |

...........Sure, it's easy for me to say those things while I'm sitting in the victor's chair at the moment. But I believe in my heart that if Kerry were today making a victory speech, I would feel the same way.

I certainly wouldn't be calling for violent action. I would not be threatening total strangers with death or wishing ill will on them.

But this is a left that is buttressed by people who have more bile than good will, more venom than virtue. They are fronted by circus sideshow acts like Michael Moore, who turn up the flames underneath their followers until the kettle is whistling like mad. That is the shrill sound you hear coming from the left today. And I fear no one is going to turn the flame down.

<>We are living out the proverbial Chinese curse of living in interesting times. I do hope with all my heart that we can turn down the hate at some point and make the next four years a little less interesting.

# posted by Bob Taylor @ 11:48 AM |

..............Races in Ohio get automatically reviewed under two scenarios. First, by statute, if the margin of victory does not exceed 0.25% of the overall votes cast for that race, a recount is automatically undertaken. The gap for President is much broader than that -- 2.44%, making a recount unnecessary. The second regulatory threshold is if the margin fails to exceed the number of provisional ballots cast, the provisional ballots must be reviewed and qualified ballots counted before the results are final. It looks like the latter case will automatically be invoked at this stage.

It doesn't matter anyway. The Kerry/Edwards campaign wanted to make the case that 250,000 provisional ballots remained, which was clearly an exaggeration. Assuming that absentee ballots, including those from the military, broke exactly even between the two candidates (and that would be a hell of an assumption for military ballots), the remaining provos would all have to be legal and almost every one of them would have to vote for John Kerry..............

# posted by Bob Taylor @ 6:31 AM |

No word yet on what Monsieur Kerry's polls are telling him to say about this, but if he's not blowing smoke at us, Osama is saying that Massachusetts, loyally blue, is safe, but Tennessee, faithfully red, isn't. This worked in Madrid, and it might work in Massachusetts. It probably won't work in Memphis.

# posted by Bob Taylor @ 8:52 AM |

.............It is hard to see why Mr. Kerry had to file an "extremely late" application since he lost the congressional race in Lowell, Mass., the first week of November 1972 and was basically doing nothing until he entered law school the following September of 1973.A member of the Harvard Law School admissions committee recalled that the real reason Mr. Kerry was not admitted was because the committee was concerned that because Mr. Kerry had received a less than honorable discharge they were not sure he could be admitted to any state bar...................

# posted by Bob Taylor @ 7:14 AM |