Thinkin’bout Stuff

There appears to be no end to this man’s arrogance.  He not only refuses to apologize for his remarks, he says they are being misrepresented… ummm, senator… there’s a video. From the AP:

“The members of the United States military are plenty smart and they are plenty brave and the senator from Massachusetts owes them an apology,” Bush said

Yep.. that would be some good advice to the senator.  Instead we get:

“I apologize to no one for my criticism of the president and of his broken policy.”

Whoa.. whoa… whoa… hold on.. whoa.. whoa.. spinning, spinning… dizzy.. ok.. ok.. I’m alright.  That was one heck of a spin through the mind of a self-serving, arrogant, pompous, left-wing radical in a suit and tie.  Here’s Kerry’s idea of what constitutes criticizing Bush policy in Iraq:

“You know, education, if you make the most of it, you study hard, you do your homework and you make an effort to be smart, you can do well. If you don’t, you get stuck in Iraq.”

Ouch.. stinging criticism of Bush there.. except.. no.. wait.. he never mentioned the president. He … was … he was talking about the troops in Iraq.  Hmmm…

Tony Snow said Kerry’s comments are “an absolute insult”.  Kerry’s response?

“I’m not going to be lectured by a stuffed-suit White House mouthpiece standing behind a podium or doughy (talk-show host) Rush Limbaugh.”

Its easy senator…  even the Fonz said it once… come on.. I’m s..s..so.. I’m s..s..sorry.

But he did later offer up this apology:

“I’m sick and tired of a bunch of despicable Republicans who will not debate real policy, who won’t take responsibility for their own mistakes, standing up and trying to make other people the butt of those mistakes,” he said. “It disgusts me that a bunch of these Republican hacks who’ve never worn the uniform of our country are willing to lie about those who did.”

Oops.. my mistake (see how easy that was.. I admitted a mistake).  So.. it was the wascaly Wepubwicans who made him say those nasty words.

This man was almost president… what the heck were we thinking.

Update: Let’s assume for a moment this was an unintentional slip of the tongue and Kerry actually meant to insult President Bush and not the troops.  First, that’s still a pretty lame thing to do, a personal attack while insulting someone’s intelligence and education.  But let’s say that we’re OK with that, even if it wasn’t funny, why is it so hard to just say: “I apologize. That didn’t come out the way I meant it, what I meant to say was… and here’s the written text of my speech to back up what I’m saying”.  Trouble is.. you really can’t react in a humble, apologetic way when you are an arrogant windbag, with all due respect.  The Captain has some good insight (as always), but it’s some of the trackbacks that are spinning for Kerry that had me laughing.  This whole thing is a right-wing conspiracy :-)  Gotta love the loons.

Update II: I visited Expose The Left based upon a tip that there was another incident where Senator Kerry called our troops stupid.  I watched the video about the trucks & IEDs and I think, when viewed in the context of his statement, he was saying that US troops shouldn’t be driving trucks, Iraqis should be.  In this quote:

But there is no excuse three and a half years later for American troops to be driving by IEDs and getting blown up. Are you telling me that they can’t drive a truck?

I’m not interested in making something out of nothing to score points; I gotta be fair. I believe the “they” he is referring to are the Iraqis, not US troops.  He is saying why can’t Iraqis drive trucks through dangerous territory instead of US troops, and I actually think his question has merit. In my opinion, this is not another example of Kerry trashing the troops.  There’s enough real stuff about Kerry without providing evidence to the loons that conservative bloggers make stuff up.

Does John Kerry, presidential nominee for 2004, represent the Democrat party’s view of our armed forces when he says the following:

Or should we expect to see & hear outrage at such an insult coming from the patriotic left-wing?

He was perhaps trying to be funny (not a strong suit for him), but quite often our true feelings come through when we are just kidding…  we’ve all seen it, someone sharing an opinion in the form of a joke that they would never feel comfortable offering as a serious. 

This man still wants to be president and commander in chief of the armed forces… what a disaster that would be. 

Visit Michelle Malkin’s blog for some responses from folks in the military.

Here’s an opportunity to support our troops through a program called Project Valour-IT:

Project Valour-IT, in memory of SFC William V. Ziegenfuss, provides voice-controlled laptop computers to wounded Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen and Marines recovering from hand and arm injuries or amputations at home or in military hospitals. Operating laptops by speaking into a microphone, our wounded heroes are able to send and receive messages from friends and loved ones, surf the ‘Net, and communicate with buddies still in the field without having to press a key or move a mouse. The experience of CPT Charles “Chuck” Ziegenfuss, a partner in the project who suffered severe hand wounds while serving in Iraq, illustrates how important this voice-controlled software can be to a wounded servicemember’s recovery.

All funds received go directly to our wounded troops; 100% of your donation to Project Valour-IT will be used to purchase the laptop that will provide independence and freedom to wounded Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen and Marines.

Every cent raised for Project Valour-IT goes directly to the purchase and shipment of voice-activated laptops for wounded servicemembers. As of October 2006, Valour-IT has distributed nearly 600 laptops to severely wounded Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen and Marines across the country.

Division among military teams is purely for the purpose of friendly competition. Any blogger may join any team and all money raised supports the wounded as needed, regardless of branch of service.

I’ve joined team Marines… a donation button has been added to the side-bar (on the right of this page) for your convenience should you wish to donate. (If viewing a single post, the button is at the bottom of the page.)

Update: Old War Dogs posted an illustration (which is up for auction to raise funds for Project Valour-IT) that captures what this program is all about.

How soon we forget.  Just about 2 years ago, Spain voted their president out of office in what many believe was a capitulation in the war on terrorism.  The Madrid train bombings shook their nation in much the same way as 9/11 shook ours. We spoke then of how we would never retreat in such a cowardly manner; we rallied around our president after 9/11, they voted theirs out of office. Yet here we sit, with a major mid-term election one week away, ready to follow a similar path.

Not true you say? Then why are polls showing Democrats on the verge of a significant victory?

Is it the economy? 

• Record high stock market
• Low unemployment rate
• Home ownership at record highs
• Low interest rates
• Low inflation rate

Is it fear of terrorist attacks here at home?

• We are in the longest period of time without an attack on US soil, including embassies and ships at sea, since the first World Trade Center attack in 1993
• Several potential attacks have been prevented through the use of the very anti-terror programs the Democrats would eliminate
• For the first time the US has responded to one of these attacks in a way that has had a meaningful impact on our enemies ability to strike again

Is it the situation in Iraq? That seems to be the prevailing opinion in the media these days.

So… why is the situation in Iraq causing many of us to look towards a change in our government as a solution? Do the Democrats offer a plan that we prefer over the current administration’s strategy?  If you know the Democrats’ plan, please send me a copy.  All I’ve heard is either we pull out now, pull out in a few months, pull out on a timetable… essentially, the plan is to leave.  But then what?  Will the terrorists just go away? Or will we have proved them right yet again.  Osama bin Ladan has said in the past that all they need to do to win is make the soft Americans feel some pain and we’ll turn tail and run. Is he right?

Several bin Ladan interviews and quotes can be found here if you’re interested.

From an interview in 1999 (speaking of Saudi Arabia):

For the future, Bin Ladin told me his first priority is to get the American military out of Saudi Arabia, the holiest of lands in Islam. “Every day the Americans delay their departure, they will receive a new corpse.” 

“It does not make a difference if the government wants you to stay or leave. You will leave when the youth send you in wooden boxes and coffins. And you will carry in them the bodies of American troops and civilians. This is when you will leave.”

“We do not differentiate between those dressed in military uniforms and civilians; they are all targets in this fatwa.”

“So we tell the Americans as people,” Bin Ladin said softly, “and we tell the mothers of soldiers and American mothers in general that if they value their lives and the lives of their children, to find a nationalistic government that will look after their interests and not the interests of the Jews. The continuation of tyranny will bring the fight to America, as Ramzi yourself (sic) and others did. This is my message to the American people: to look for a serious government that looks out for their interests and does not attack others, their lands, or their honor.”

In 2001:

Despite if they try or not, we have seen in the last decade the decline of the American government and the weakness of the American soldier. America is prepared to wage easy wars but not prepared to fight long and bitter wars.

This was proven in Beirut when the Marines fled after two explosions. It also proves they can run in less than 24 hours. This was repeated in Somalia.

So…  do you really think the increased violence in Iraq is a coincidence?  If they could attack us here, as they did in Madrid just before Spain’s election, they would.  Since they can’t they are ramping up the attacks in Iraq for one reason, to influence the outcome of our election.

And why not? If something works, you keep running the same play until the other team figures it out and stops it. But we were so smart two years ago. We would never let that happen here as it did in Spain; yet here we are potentially doing the exact same thing.

Don’t think we are? Ask yourself, if you are voting for “change”, what are you looking to change from and where are you hoping the change will leads us?  I know I wish we could just bring everyone home, leave the mess in the Middle East to those who have been building it for hundreds of years, and live in peace comfortable in the knowledge that our enemy will be content to just leave us alone. But we live in the real world.

If you’ve never visited The Fourth Rail, you should. Bill Roggio provides another insightful assessment today, this time with interesting analysis of the recent airstrike in Pakistan.

OK.. Mother Hubbard’s Cupboard is a great place to get the scoop on the whole stem cell/cloning issue.  Well written, well thought out.  Here’s a sample:

But Aren’t Embryonic Stem Cells the Best Stem Cells to Use?:
Theoretically yes in some ways. They can become any cell! But in other ways, it may not be so good theoretically. If the embryo is destroyed in the process of collecting its stem cells, then no matter what cell type you make that stem cell into, it won’t have the same genes as the person you are giving them to. In other words, there is a chance for rejection of the stem cells by a person you are donating them to. If the person’s own adult stem cells were used, that wouldn’t be so much of a problem. If someone needs a hormone, an organ, etc. and you are using embryonic stem cells, you stand the chance of killing them outright because of a biological rejection of the material!

In another way, embryonic stem cells are too undifferentiated. What do I mean? If it can become any cell, you need to make SURE you have the right signalers in the patient you are giving them to so that it becomes the RIGHT type of cell. Once again, if you use adult stem cells, there is less of a range of cells they can become….and less of a chance for undesirable cells to develop.

Thanks to The Strata-Sphere for pointing the way to this post.

Oct 30: Updated with full version of the interview from YouTube. 

Already wrote about this from one perspective, but seeing the video is much more fun.  If you go to YouTube and read some of the comments, you can see for yourself the kind of mindless loons that make up some of the liberal base… but to spare you the annoyance, here’s the video from YouTube without the vulgar distraction in the commentary:

More at Gina Cobb (where I found this YouTube link).