8-26-2004

Mr. Ed gone 'Fuji'

I think it's great we live in a country where 260 average guys can go out and put their point of view out there before the public and influence a major presidential race.  I am not one who agrees it is illegitimate for citizens to take a stand on these kind of issues and only the politicians should be able to say what they want about the issues they want to talk about.--Bradley Smith, Chairman of the Federal Election Commission

Well, so much for John Kerry's attempts at squashing the first amendment rights of average Americans when it's suits his purposes. It should be noted here that Mr. Smith was a Clinton appointee. The Swift Vets For Truth are obviously here to stay and John Kerry will just have to slug it out with those "baby-killers" that he so completely defamed 33 years ago.

Kerry claims that Bush is the secret CEO of the Swift Vets only because a lawyer on Bush's reelection committee had previously given the Swiftees some legal advice.

Really? How 'bout this?

1. Former Kerry Campaign Manager Jim Jordan Founded Thunder Road Group, A Consulting Firm Representing America Coming Together, The Media Fund And America Votes. He was fired as Kerry's presidential campaign manager in November. Now he has started his own consulting firm, called Thunder Road Group. The firm is representing America Coming Together, the Media Fund, and America Votes, all pro-Democratic 527 political organizations gearing up for the 2004 election." ("People," National Journal, 2/28/04)

  2. Harold Ickes Is A Member Of DNC's Executive Committee And Head Of The Media Fund And Chief Of Staff To America Coming Together. Ickes "Admits That He Occasionally Tells The Kerry Camp What He's Up To, And He Insists It's Perfectly Legal." (Jim Drinkard, "'Outside' Political Groups Full Of Party Insiders," USA Today, 6/28/04; Paula Dwyer, "Why 527 Is The Dems' Lucky Number," BusinessWeek Online, 7/28/04)

3. MoveOn.org's Zack Exley Joined Kerry Campaign As Director Of Online Communications And Organizing. (Sharon Theimer, "MoveOn Staffer Moves On To Kerry Campaign," The Associated Press, 4/7/04)

4. Bob Bauer Of Perkins Coie Is Legal Counsel To Both Kerry Campaign And America Coming Together (ACT). (Jim Rutenberg And Kate Zernike, "Veteran's Group Had GOP Lawyer," The New York Times, 8/25/04)
Kerry Campaign Paid Bauer's Law Firm, Perkins Coie, $360,244.28 For Legal Services And Other Expenses. (Federal Election Commission Records, www.fec.gov, Accessed 8/5/04)

5. America Coming Together (ACT) Paid Bauer's Law Firm, Perkins Coie, $176,732 For Legal Services And Other Expenses. (Political Money Line Website, www.tray.com, Accessed 8/5/04)

6. Joe Sandler Is General Counsel To DNC While Serving As Legal Counsel To 527s MoveOn.org And Moving America Forward. (Jonathan Groner, "Power Punch," Legal Times, 4/26/04)

7. Erik Smith Is The Media Fund's Executive Director And Worked With Steve Elmendorf, Kerry's Deputy Campaign Manager, On Dick Gephardt's Presidential Campaign. (Jim VandeHei, "Kerry Expected To Emerge From Battle Stronger Than Ever," The Washington Post, 3/3/04)

8. Minyon Moore, A Kerry Campaign Consultant, Serves On Executive Committee Of America Coming Together. (Glen Johnson, "Kerry To Press 'Environmental Justice,'" The Boston Globe, 4/22/03; Lisa Getter, "Kerry Aided By 'Illegal' Soft Money, GOP Claims," Los Angeles Times, 4/1/04)

9. Media Fund Ad Consultant Bill Knapp Hired By Kerry Campaign. (Thomas B. Edsall, "Shifting The Money So The Votes Will Follow," The Washington Post, 5/11/04) Former ACT Employee Rodney Shelton Hired As Kerry's Arkansas State Director. (Michael R. Wickline, "Arkansan To Head Kerry's State Effort," Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, 6/22/04)

10. Kerry's New Mexico Caucus Director, Geri Prado, Is Leading ACT's GOTV Effort In That State. (Michael Finnegan, "Kerry's Low Profile May Cost Crucial Latino Votes," Los Angeles Times, 5/3/04)

OUCH!

And Kerry, again, called on Donald Rumsfeld to resign over the Abu Gharib prison strip Twister abuses. And this is coming from a guy who testified under oath that he committed unspeakble war atrocities. You know, illegal deaths.

And if that's not pathetic enough, he sent Max Cleland to Bush's Crawford, Texas ranch, you know, his fu*king home, to deliver a letter demanding that Bush put an end to the Swift Vet boy's attacks on Kerry.

Can you imagine the abject media hysteria that would erupt if Bush pulled such a complete Mickey Mouse stunt such as sending his surrogates to Kerry's, wait, to Kerry's wifes home?

Very lowbrow, baby. Dems at work.

So Kerry wanted Bush to denounce the Swiftees. And Bush goes and calls on Kerry to join him in denouncing all of the 527 groups. And they say Bush is stupid.

There's no way Kerry can turn his back on his big money (George Soros) attack machines, so Bush has claimed the moral high ground by calling for an end to all 527s, while Kerry is practically married to a few and has been totally out-foxed once again. And they say Bush is stupid.

This election is not going to be nearly as close as the pundits expect it to be.

I was up dark and early yesterday,..

...settled in with a cup of tea and spread open The Times Leader. And, of course that Page 1 picture of the wailing, bleeding chick jumped right of the page at me. I couldn't even think straight at that point and there I was already thinking, "What in the muck?"

So I started reading the story and it didn't take but a few short paragraphs and I was chuckling to myself. I know that police dogs will chew your jewels off if you even think an unpure thought anywhere near their police officer partners, but I had no freakin' idea that police horses were such a violent bunch. Police horses will actually head-butt us if we act up? Jeez-oh-Pete!

I read the story through and I was still chuckling. I read it again and I was still highly amused. I also read that the "victim's" friend suggested that the cops may have over-reacted. Yeah, that's the usual ticket. When the perpetually clueless people break the law and things get a bit too physical, it's always police brutality. Nevermind the fact that you'd never have been in close proximity to the cops had you not broken a law, or laws in the first place. Somebody had their head busted? Why couldn't the cops just....

Right on cue, Kevin Lynn comes on the air and starts speculating about whether this lady really had to be injured during this incident. He launched into his usual anti-horse diatribe and pointed out that three foot officers were present when Mr. Ed went 'wax on, wax off' on his unsuspecting "victim." In other words, this didn't have to happen.

Kev frequently professes his profound love of all police officers everywhere. (How many miles is it from Grotto's Bar back to Pole #8*?) But whenever anyone gets their noggin' cracked, or their feelings hurt by a cop, Kev puts on his ACLU cape and leaps to the rescue of the downtrodden law breakers.

I have nothing against the roughed-up chick in the picture and I'd prefer it if she didn't meet Mr. Ed gone 'Fuji.' Maybe she's just too quick to get emotional. Maybe she never experienced anything such as what went down yesterday and simply made a bad decision. Maybe she's a total goof. I neither know, nor do I care. But her and her sidekicks thought nothing of raising some hell on Public Square and when instructed to back off, she ignored the repeated instructions given to her by police officers during an arrest. And she ended up with a bad headache afterwards. So what?

Maybe she'll choose much more wisely next time. Maybe, after meeting Mr. Ed, there won't be a next time for her. Maybe she'll choose her future friends much more wisely. Maybe she'll study horse tipping online at the University of Phoenix. As if any of that really matters to any of us.

I suppose you're waiting for me to give you some inciteful warning about respecting police officers, or not being shocked if you get thumped while acting up in public. I don't need to. I think our new Chief of Police already delivered the message with his comments to the Times Leader.

I make no apologies. Her actions caused it.

Wow! He could have been like those wishy-washy, politically correct chiefs and said: "I deeply regret what happened and I will launch a full investigation into the matter."

How about these two gems?

Don't go causing problems on Public Square and expect not to get arrested.

I don't encourage warnings on Public Square, I encourage arrests on Public Square.

BANG!!!! No pun intended.

I guess the days of having our top law enforcement officer in this city in effect saying: "Hookers? Oh, come on. We've always had hookers," are long since gone.

You mess with the bull, you get the horns. Right, Tommy? Now...there's a freakin' "community policing" policy for ya'll.

Our image abroad surely took a serious beating during the McCopless era, but Chief Dessoye's comments in yesterday's Leader suggest that a seismic shift in approach has taken place. And if you're a Wilkes-Barre resident, you gotta love it.

We're still understaffed in the police department and we still need a new fleet of cruisers. All is not hunky dory just yet. But to hear our new chief send out a crystal clear warning to those that can barely read better than the average hamster is very encouraging and it is exactly the right message that needs to be sent.

Ya wanna come to town and act up? You're going.

Wanna come to town and ignore the repeated orders of our police officers? You're gonna get thumped into the next life. Or cell.

That is, provided that Mr. Ed doesn't get suspended without pay.

I was very surprised...

...to learn that the Times Leader thought that anything John Cougar (or John Cougar Mellancamp, Or John Mellancamp, or whatever name he fancies after his latest bout) had to say about anything of note could ever be a front page story. Well, he did rip Bush a new one, so, front page it is.

Why a long since faded musician could be so presumptuous as to think that we give a flying f*ck about what he thinks about current politics is obviously well beyond my limited comprehensional prowess, but the "Vote for Change" tour is coming to Wilkes-Barre. So, I offer John Coucaine KerryCamp a spirited rebuttal from a former burn-out.

From WorldNetDaily.com:

HOLLYWOOD VS. AMERICA

Alice Cooper: Anti-Bush acts treasonous morons

Legendary shock artist: 'Rock should never be in bed with politics'

Posted: August 24, 2004

4:15 p.m. Eastern

© 2004 WorldNetDaily.com

Shock-rock legend Alice Cooper calls rock stars campaigning for Democrat John Kerry treasonous morons.
The 56-year-old Cooper says he was disgusted to learn the likes of Bruce Springsteen, John Mellencamp, R.E.M., Sheryl Crow, James Taylor and Dave Matthews were hitting the road for a series of concerts designed to help defeat President Bush.

"To me, that's treason," Cooper told the Canadian Press. "I call it treason against rock 'n' roll because rock is the antithesis of politics. Rock should never be in bed with politics."

"When I was a kid and my parents started talking about politics, I'd run to my room and put on the Rolling Stones as loud as I could. So when I see all these rock stars up there talking politics, it makes me sick.

"If you're listening to a rock star in order to get your information on who to vote for, you're a bigger moron than they are. Why are we rock stars? Because we're morons. We sleep all day, we play music at night and very rarely do we sit around reading the Washington Journal."

"Besides," he continued, "when I read the list of people who are supporting Kerry, if I wasn't already a Bush supporter, I would have immediately switched. Linda Ronstadt? Don Henley? Geez, that's a good reason right there to vote for Bush.

This is freakin' rich. Note: Neal Boortz always refers to John Kerry as "The Poodle."

Here are the words of The Poodle at a gathering in Richmond, Virginia on January 20th, 2003: "I remember well April 1968 -- I was serving in Vietnam, a place of violence -- when the news reports brought home to me and my crewmates the violence back home, and the tragic news that one of the bullets flying that terrible spring took the life of [Dr. King.]"

Oops.  Small problem here.  If you look at John Kerry's website you will see that he didn't report for duty in Vietnam until November 16, 1968 .. more than seven months after Martin Luther King Jr. was murdered.

Oh well.

And Bush is a liar???

Kerry has much in common with Harry Chapin, if you know what I mean.

I had no idea...

...that Billy Owens, the former Wilkes-Barre firefighter, was the very same guy that volunteered his time to the N.E. Little League way back when I was also involved.

After Marque, Ebon, and I graduated from Little League, Ebon played Teener softball with Billy's daughter, Theresa, for a few years and remains friends with her to this day.

Due to Ebon's still tender age, she's never experienced the death of anyone she was close to. When I showed her the obituary in the Voice, she was obviously surprised, but she quickly looked sadder than I can ever remember her looking. She immediately started reminiscing about how "Theresa's Dad" was her bestest buddy and how much he liked her.

I suggested that she should attend the viewing tonight, but being the big kid that she still is, she looked at me with a rather horrified expression. If she fails to pay her last respects tonight, it wouldn't be for a lack of respect. She's still basically a kid, and for her and her invulnerable ilk, this death-and-dying thing probably seemed far, far removed from any of her immediate plans. Sadly, it's all a part of growing up.

Long may you run, Coach.

No!!! He's out!!!

Gotta go. Gage Andrew and Taylor Kate have arrived here in Wilkes-Barre a full day earlier than usual. Gage is wearing a #21, Tiki Barber jersey. Zach is also on hand and he is wearing a #80, Jeremy Shockey (Parcells is a homo) jersey. Ya gotta raise 'em right.

CYA