1,095 days & counting

9-11-2004

I thought on Wednesday that it was scandalous for "60 Minutes" to turn over a good deal of its time on Wednesday night to one Ben Barnes, a one-time Texas political powerhouse who now claims he got George W. Bush into the National Guard.

The problem is not, as some would have it, that Barnes has raised half a million dollars for Kerry. The problem is that Barnes has already lied about this on videotape, and I use the word "lied" without difficulty, where he says he pulled strings for Bush when "I was lieutenant governor of Texas."

The thing is that George W. Bush was sworn into the National Guard in May 1968. Ben Barnes didn't become lieutenant governor until 1969.--John Podhoretz, New York Post, 9-10-2004

Major ouch! Typeface? We don't need no stinkin' typeface to debunk the most inept of the scurrilous operatives the Democratic party has to offer. But it gets worse...

Posted on Fri, Sep. 10, 2004

Man named in Bush memo left Guard before document was written

BY PETE SLOVER

The Dallas Morning News

AUSTIN, Texas - (KRT) - The man named in a disputed memo as exerting pressure to "sugar coat" President Bush's military record left the Texas Air National Guard a year and a half before the memo was supposedly written, his own service record shows.

An order obtained by The Dallas Morning News shows that Col. Walter "Buck" Staudt was honorably discharged on March 1, 1972. CBS News reported this week that a memo in which Staudt was described as interfering with officers' negative evaluations of Bush's service, was dated Aug. 18, 1973.

Ouch squared! Typeface? As if.

Posted: September 10, 2004

By Art Moore

The daughter of former Texas Lt. Gov. Ben Barnes says her father fabricated claims made on "60 Minutes II" that he used his influence to help President Bush avoid going to Vietnam 36 years ago.

Amy Barnes Stites telephoned the Mark Davis radio show on WBAP in Dallas yesterday and described her father as a political opportunist who lied about Bush's National Guard record to help promote his upcoming book, elect John Kerry and "make Bush look like the bad person.

Repeat after me: Ouchola! On with the "show"...

September 11, 2004

ABC News

HODGES SAID HE WAS MISLED BY CBS: Retired Maj. General Hodges, Killian's supervisor at the Grd, tells ABC News that he feels CBS misled him about the documents they uncovered. According to Hodges, CBS told him the documents were "handwritten" and after CBS read him excerpts he said, "well if he wrote them that's what he felt."

Hodges also said he did not see the documents in the 70's and he cannot authenticate the documents or the contents. His personal belief is that the documents have been "computer generated" and are a "fraud.

One...more...time! Ouch! Then there's this:

I know that this story is true. I believe that the witnesses and the documents are authentic. We wouldn't have gone to air if they would not have been. There isn't going to be -- there's no -- what you're saying apology.--Dan Rather, CBS News anchor

Do you get the feeling that when all of this political debauchery is said and done that Dan Rather (a longtime antagonist of Republican presidents) and John Kerry himself will be reduced to manning a mud wrestling pit at the Massachusetts State Fair?

This is what can happen when one political party gets so utterly desperate for the power they crave that they would stupidly attempt to assassinate the character of their opponents with a crudely constructed boomerang. When the mis-guided attack misses the intended target, it can come sailing back at them in a big hurry.

Expect to see Kerry take yet another hit in the polls as this story further unravels. Rightly or wrongly, this will damage his lagging credibility, much like the way some folks mistakenly blame Bush for the Swiftee's relentless attacks on John Kerry.

Instead of addressing the most important issues of the day as we march on toward November 2nd, the Dems seem intent on fighting their silly retro war. And while they continue to bog down deeper in a quagmire that ended thirty years ago, they continue to "frag" their chances of capturing the White House seven weeks from now.

Police up your frags and ammo. Don't leave nothin' for the freakin' Republicans???

Basically...the Democrats are poised and ready to lose Vietnam all over again. They are prisoners of the war they resurrected and their poster boy will come up missing in action on November 3rd.

This is a duty on the muslims (to possess a nuclear bomb).--Osama bin Laden

911. 9/11. September the 11th. Call it what you will, but I had no time to reflect upon that fateful day early this morning. Initally, with a job to do, the date hadn't even occurred to me just yet. On this particular morning, I set about protecting a home in West Nanticoke from the only insects on Earth that can consume cellulose.

On September 11, 2001, I was doing nearly the exact same thing on Broderick Street in Swoyersville. But this morning was not reminiscent at all of that morning as I toiled away on that fog-shrouded hill. Then the dense fog eventually lifted and exposed a beautiful sky. As I was stowing a gas-powered auger in my Chevy S-10, the unmistakable sound of a jet fast approaching Avoca was noticeable even though WILK's Barrie Fisher was wailing away in my headphones. I suddenly looked skyward much like I had done three years ago. And that's when I first remembered today's date.

I remembered. And as I continued to play in the dirt, much like I was forced to do on that day, the anger slowly crept back into me. When I gazed at the abandoned skies three years ago, at first, it was because I was totally awed at the thought that not one aircraft was aloft over this entire country. This was crazy stuff. As I followed the horrific events on WILK that day, I found myself gazing skyward again and again and again. I'm not even entirely sure as to why. Was the fact that we were forced to abandon business as usual the curiousity that kept my head tilting? Or was I watching for the next airborne bomb? As the day progressed and the horror that was that day continued to pour through my headphones, I was sure of less and less.

The one thing I was sure of was that I didn't want to be where I was. I didn't want to work any more that day. I wanted only to go home and be with my family. I wanted to plant myself directly in front of some cable television news and not much else. I wanted to go home. The irony being that even though our home, my home was under attack, home seemed like the safest place to be under the circumstances. Meanwhile, the bloodied folks in New York City already knew that not to be the case.

I finally made it back to the adobe shortly before 5 PM and my entire brood was huddled in front of CNN. My eldest watched yet another video replay of the towers falling and she asked me: "What is wrong with these people?" I told her something to the effect that their leaders have screwed them over for generations now and cleverly shifted the blame towards others. She seemed unimpressed with my answer. We watched CNN until midnight and then retired not knowing what new horrors we would discover in the morning.

We were relieved to have awoken and learn that no further attacks were perpetrated against us. And none have been perpetated against our homeland since that horrible day.

And why is that exactly? Did the terrorists decide they no longer needed frequent flier miles? Was it something Clinton had put in place? Did the United Nations send them an unmistakeable message that caused them to turn tail and run? Or was it "We're gonna smoke 'em out, we're gonna get 'em runnin' and we're gonna kill 'em" as official policy that saw to it that we look back at 9/11 rather than some bloodier day later to follow?

A presidential election in Afghanistan is scheduled for October 9th. A presidential election is scheduled in this country on November 3rd. And a presidential election is due in Iraq in January. What this means is we can expect the crazed Jihadists to let loose with whatever they have left in their arsenal during the next three months. If possible, they'll hit us here at home. They almost have to if they hope to get rid of the one man that has stood directly in front of their evil designs. An attack on American soil between now and the November election would be a last ditch effort to unseat Dubya and put a much less resolute man in charge of the war on terror. The Jihadists watch CNN. They know what's at stake.

We need not a commander-in-chief who's battle plan against the turban wearing fascists would be determined by the latest polling data. We need not a leader who will thrust his moistened finger into the breeze before taking action to defend this country. We need not a leader who will state his position on any given issue and then nuance it and us to death.

We need a true leader who will remain transfixed on his unwavering conviction that protecting America is a priority that rescinds all other distracting priorities. We need a steadfast leader who will address the threats we face head on, despite what it may mean to his political career. We need a bold plan, not a rough draft subject to change. And as the winds of war continue to dominate our forecasts for the foreseeable future, we need a rock solid sentinel, not an ever-shifting weathercock.

I remember September 11, 2001 very clearly. But I sometimes wonder just how many others still do. And in my estimation, now is not the time to allow ourselves to be hoodwinked by nuanced rhetoric that tows the failed U.N. line.

Dubya has taken us this far. And he'll continue to see things through to their logical American conclusion.

Dubya '04!

That's the way I see it.

On a much more local note...Bigtime congrats to Mr. & Mrs. Rob Rae!!!

Gotsta go

P.S.-Is there any way we can get J.P. Meck coaching Coughlin football again? Gosh, winning sure was fun.