October 29, 2004

Sorry for light posts

Sorry for the light posts these past few days. A family member is seriously ill, and I probably will be away from any major blogging for at least a week. Sadly, occasionally things occur that are more important than the election. I'll try to post when I can, but expect posting to be spotty at best for a while.

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October 28, 2004

Dying?

Who says Arafat is dying? I think he just has a cold.

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October 27, 2004

A conundrum for me

French finance minister wants state funding for mosques

State funding for mosques to counter attempts by extremists to indoctrinate young people on Muslim-dominated areas is urged today by France's most talked-about politician, the finance minister Nicolas Sarkozy.

In a new book, The Republic, Religions and Hope, Mr Sarkozy reinforces his image as an instinctive reformer by calling for a review of a 100-year-old French law forbidding subsidies for religious groups as well as guaranteeing freedom to worship.

"It is seen as completely natural for the state to finance a football pitch, a library, a theatre or a crèche," he writes. "But when the needs are spiritual, the state mustn't contribute a centime."

I have to admit, I'm torn on this one. First of all, the idea of paying Islamofascists to spew their filth sickens me.

But then, I thought a little more deeply about it. Maybe state sponsored mosques aren't a bad thing. Considering what state-sponsorship has done for health care, maybe we need a state-sponsored mosque. Suicide bombers will be on a six month wait for their 18 virgins(government cutbacks and rationing). Frankly, if we are to succeed against the terrorists, we should emulate France's example. In one year, socialized Islam will do more damage to Islamofascism than our entire military has been able to accomplish since 9/11. Not to slam our military, but nothing is more damaging to an infrastructure than a little dab of socialism. So, when will Congress enact Islamocare?

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October 26, 2004

If I can get the time

This week, I'm going to compile a little analysis of when the polls for each state close on the East Coast. Basically, the idea is that if certain states go for Bush or Kerry, then you can safely go to bed knowing who won. For example, if either Connecticut or Rhode Island vote Bush, you can go to bed early, because Kerry is echoing Dukakis. If, on the other hand, South Carolina goes for Kerry, go to bed(and buy a chemical suit), because Kerry is going to be Capitulator in Chief.

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October 25, 2004

Remember, John Kerry trusts these guys

SKorean military units on highest alert over possible border breach

SEOUL (AFP) - South Korea (news - web sites)'s frontline military units have been put on their highest state of alert over fears that North Korean commandos may have entered the South through the heavily fortified border, defense officials said.

Remember something. John Kerry wants to talk to Kim Jong Il, the guy who murders his own people wholesale, has threatened South Korea, Japan, and the US, and has now launched an attack across the DMZ. John Kerry expects a man who is responsible for the death of millions to keep his word--and he thinks that is the "nuanced" position.

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Sorry for the light posting

The last three weeks have been very difficult for my family and me. I'm going to make a couple of posts tonight, and hopefully I'll be able to post some this week. It may be rather touch and go, however. There is a phrase I've always used when bad things might happen: "Don't bid the Devil 'Good Morning' until you meet him." It means that when you get bad news, speculating on the bad things that might happen doesn't solve anything. It just burns you up inside with stress and worry, and it is better for one's own sanity to deal with bad news as it happens. Right now, I'm hoping that we won't have to do that, but I'm also praying that we won't have to as well.

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Quick hits

OK, some quick hits before I run to the hospital:

1) John Kerry didn't talk to foreign ambassadors like he said he did during the debate. Did he lie? Yes. Am I angry that he lied? Yes. Am I shocked that he lied? No. Will a single member of the MSM bother to follow up on this story? What do you think?

2) The Guardian posts an article that openly calls for the President to be assassinated. Was it disgusting? Yes. Am I angered by it? Yes. Am I shocked that the Guardian has no problem about calling for the deaths of those it disagrees with? No. Will the Guardian claim afterwards that they were "just joking"? What do you think?

3)New Noseholding numbers--Kerry's reached an all time high with 9670, Bush has also jumped to an all time high with 200+ I was going to stop posting updates, as HMN is a leading indicator, but I'll keep it going until the weekend. Also, I'll be posting to the Command Post with my updates on election night. I'm going to conduct a Hold My Nose exit poll at some of the districts around here.

4)Election violence--The dems do it, then complain that the GOP does it worse. I've seen a grand total of one story in the past month about any pro-kerry signs being defaced. I've seen at least a dozen stories about Dem intimidation of republican voters in the same time frame. And I've seen virtually no mention of it by any of the major MSM organizations. Are they carrying Kerry's water? What do you think?

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October 22, 2004

Paul Kersey speaks

George W. Bush for President

George Bush is my choice for president. "Why?" you might ask. Well, like you, I was once a liberal weenie, and hung out with all my architect friends at all the trendy spots in Manhattan. But then a bunch of hoods killed my wife and raped my teenage daughter. At first I tried to make sense of what happened. But then I visited a friend of mine out west, and he turned me on to the wonders of firearms. With the blessings of such wondrous things, I was able to single-handedly stop a crime wave, by acting preemptively to stop the sacks of rat shit muggers by killing them.

George Bush thinks the same way I do. When he encounters pieces of decaying whale shit terrorists, he just sends the military in and kills them. I can really appreciate that.

John Kerry, on the other hand, reminds me of my naive days when I was a bleeding heart liberal pacifist. All nuance, and no gunplay. He wants to understand, and get along, and all that other pinko shit I believed in before my wife was murdered and my daughter was raped. Unlike John Kerry, though, I got smart. I got myself a revolver, and started wasting the bad guys. What would John Kerry do when faced with a crazed Jeff Goldblum? Nuance him to death?

So, from one reformed bleeding heart liberal to another, take my advice. Vote for George W. Bush for President.

(Again, part of the TTLB blog burst)

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Sargeant Schultz Speaks

For President: John Kerry

I have heard how you Americans respond to interference in your elections, but please, allow me a moment to be heard.

As you know, in my position as guard here at Stalag 13, I must keep a watchful eye on everything that goes on, much as your president needs to be a watchful eye out for terrorists. In fact, yesterday, my watchful eyes spotted LeBeau making a Crepes Suzette for Colonel Klink. I told him that he would have to allow me to make certain that the Crepes Suzette was properly made, or the Colonel would send me to the Russian Front, and him to the cooler. Actually, the real reason was that I really like LeBeau's Crepe Suzette, so I outwitted LeBeau, and the Crepe Suzette tasted wonderful. Colonel Klink and General Burkhalter were talking about some new secret rocket plane--oops. Forget I said that. I KNOW NOTHING! Anyway, the resistance blew up the plane just yesterday, and I can't for the life of me figure out how that happened--but like John Kerry says, it's just a nuisance anyway.

Anyway, LeBeau's Crepes Suzette got me thinking about this year's presidential election. John Kerry is nuanced and French, like LeBeau's Crepes Suzette. And since I like LeBeau's Crepes Suzette, I will probably like John Kerry too.

So, because of Kerry's nuanced, french foreign policy, I heartily endorse him for President, because he will be as good for your nation as LeBeau's crepe Suzette is for my stomach.

Thank you, and good night.

Part of the TTLB's blogburst.

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October 18, 2004

French Bullfighting

German Bulls

From The Corner

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Brave Senator Dayton

Dayton: An extreme but necessary precaution

Senator Dayton ran away.
Bravely ran away, away!
When Osama reared his ugly head,
Dayton turned his tail and fled.
Mister Dayton took a glance
And gallantly he pissed his pants.
Bravely taking to his feet
He bravely fled his Senate Seat,
Bravest of the brave, Dem Dayton!

(With apologies to Gallant Sir Robin)

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October 15, 2004

John Hinderaker goes to Pennsylvania

His job is to be the voice of sanity in between the slut and the loon.

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For those of you who are poll junkies

Let me give you the latest status on the MoTGS HMN/HYN Poll: John Kerry is still leading George Bush by a wide margin in the HMN tallies. Kerry currently has 9320 mentions of "Hold My Nose" while Bush only has 180 mentions. Also, currently, Kerry is leading Bush in the "H0ld Y0ur N0se" by a total of 226 to 43. The prediction I made two months ago still stands:

So what is the upshot of all this? Frankly, I think Kerry is toast, and Bush is on his way to winning a 45 state victory. As a candidate, Kerry stinks, not only in the colloquial opposite of good sense of the word, but in the literal experience of olfactory sense. If Democrats are walking into the voting booth with the same expression one finds when encountering three day old roadkill, why should independents vote for the guy?

So here are the latest incarnation of the HMN and HYN graphs:

So Kerry voters, don't lose heart. Though your candidate will get beaten like a red-headed stepchild in two weeks, you can rest assured, that at least in my poll, your candidate led every step of the way.

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October 13, 2004

Kerry's Debate Performance in a nutshell

John Kerry talks about his wife:

Teresa let me tell you something. I lived with Rosemary Kerry. Rosemary Kerry was a mother of mine. Teresa, you are no Rosemary Kerry.

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How to tell the New A-Team Movie is going to suck

"A-Team" Movie Ramping Up

According to Cannell, the A-Team flick will be updated to reflect current political issues. The film will also forego the cartoonish nature of the tube version in favor of more serious action ? la Die Hard and Lethal Weapon.

That's right. The movie will have officially Jumped the Shark at the opening credits. Even worse, all that political "relevance" will turn it into a "Very special episode" as well. Thanks guys. There is nothing worse than watching my high school show of mindless escape get turned into something deep and relevant. Just don't touch my VHS collection of Riptide.

"Not to denigrate the TV show, but nobody ever died," the producer says in Variety. "We drove cars off cliffs and people got out and walked away. We're not going to do that [in the movie]. In this the tone is more dangerous-you can really die. It's very tense and exciting."

I don't get it. Why do producers try to take the one thing that made the show fun the schlocky unreality of the thing, and try to get all gritty and realistic, especially since it makes the show less realistic? Watch the original Adam West Batman: the Movie vs. any of the "Dark Knight" pieces of dreck. The original--funny, witty, and enjoyable. The remakes--dull, ponderous and groan inducing. I never felt the need to deeply investigate why Bruce Wayne kept a teenage boy around the house on the original movie and series-- but the later movies, with rubber suits with nipples on them, made you wonder exactly why Batman went hunting criminals in S&M gear.

That is how I know the new A-Team is going to suck, without having seen a single frame. You don't mess with schlock.

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From the letters of St. Opie to the Moonbats

"We will stop juvenile diabetes, Parkinson's, Alzheimer's and other debilitating diseases... When John Kerry is president, people like Christopher Reeve are going get up out of that wheelchair and walk again."

John Kerry uses his gift of liberalism to raise the dead, as witnessed by St. Opie, patron saint of Trial Lawyers.

---

Here is the problem. I've come up with a photoshop which is so horrible, so tasteless, yet so damned funny, that I'm really torn about putting it on the site or not. Actually I'm not really torn. But here is my one and only warning--if you are easily offended, don't read below this line.

This was what I originally planned to write at the beginning of the post. But then I thought about it. If John Edwards tried to claim that electing John Kerry would heal the sick and raise the dead, exactly how is my satirizing Kerry and Edwards demogoguery worse than the demogoguery itself? So I decided to just post the picture, and let the chips fall where they may.

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October 12, 2004

The New York Times bests the Swiftvets

Not intentionally, of course, but ironically, they did. In Matt Bai's article in the NYTimes Magazine, Bai managed to get Kerry to a)say that he would prosecute the War on Al Qaeda little differently than a call-girl service, and b)that Kerry did not believe that it was possible to liberalize the politics in the middle east. Take a look at this paragraph:

When I asked Kerry what it would take for Americans to feel safe again, he displayed a much less apocalyptic worldview. ''We have to get back to the place we were, where terrorists are not the focus of our lives, but they're a nuisance,'' Kerry said. ''As a former law-enforcement person, I know we're never going to end prostitution. We're never going to end illegal gambling. But we're going to reduce it, organized crime, to a level where it isn't on the rise. It isn't threatening people's lives every day, and fundamentally, it's something that you continue to fight, but it's not threatening the fabric of your life.''

It is pretty obvious that Kerry doesn't really believe that we are at war. In fact, I doubt Matt Bai believes we are at war either, nor do the entire NYT editorial board. Not only do none of the above believe we are at war, but neither do they think that the American public as a whole believes that we are at war. Otherwise, I doubt that the NYT would have printed this paragraph. As we have seen, the mainstream media will obscure stories that are bad for Kerry, and promote stories that are bad for Bush.(Witness the two week blackout of the Swiftvets story vs the immediate acceptance of the premise behind Ra^thergate--only to be forced to retract the story later.

But that isn't the only foot that Kerry inserts into his mouth, with the unintentional help of the New York Times:

Kerry, too, envisions a freer and more democratic Middle East. But he flatly rejects the premise of viral democracy, particularly when the virus is introduced at gunpoint. ''In this administration, the approach is that democracy is the automatic, easily embraced alternative to every ill in the region,'' he told me. Kerry disagreed. ''You can't impose it on people,'' he said. ''You have to bring them to it. You have to invite them to it. You have to nurture the process.''

Of course, this brings to mind how FDR and Truman "nurtured" Nazi Germany and Imperial Japan's nascent democracy in the early forties. Such nurturing, of course, brought by such instruments of caring as the M4 Sherman Rubber Nipple Dispenser and the B-17 Flying WetNurse. It is an amazingly pacifist worldview, and one that has been proven false by repeated successes that the US has had in introducing liberty at gunpoint, directly and indirectly, in nearly all of Europe, Panama, Grenada, and most recently, now in Afghanistan.

However, the remarkable thing about this article is that I seriously doubt anyone at the New York Times seriously considered how damaging Kerry's remarks would have been to his candidacy. They simply thought that Kerry was stating a basic truth. "Of course, we can't introduce democracy at gunpoint. Of course the War on Terror isn't a war. Why should anyone debate this? Only that moronic chimp in the White House doesn't understand it."

That is the real irony of the thing. The New York Times published this article to give Kerry a platform to make him look good. However, because the New York Times is so liberal, they themselves didn't even realize how poorly his own remarks would make him look to the world outside West 43rd Street. Yet, this fawning article has helped hammer the nails shut on Kerry's electoral coffin, and they did it in a way that is far more effective than any of the ads the Swiftvets have placed on the air.

Mark Steyn put it best--the press loves John Kerry, and because if it, they are giving George W. Bush the election.

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October 11, 2004

Different views of Terrorism

George Bush's view of terrorism:

John Kerry's view of terrorism:

Which do you think is more credible?

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October 10, 2004

How Environmentalists see the rest of us

I occasionally surf over to Daryl Cagle's Cartoon weblog to see some of the more recent editorial cartoons. I go there today, and I see this cartoon by Eric Lewis

Take a look at the cartoon. In Eric Lewis' eyes, mankind is an infestation, and to the modern environmental movement, his view is hardly out of the mainstream. The problem isn't the environment. It never was about the environment. The problem is humanity. To the modern environmentalist, Soylent Green is always just 10 years away, and if all you ugly people, with your dreams of a house, a car, and comfortable life would all just die off, then everything would be fine, and Gaia would be free of your consuming pestilence. Of course, if you are so poor that you are at risk of death by starvation, then you are an indigenous people, worthy of preservation. Be warned, however. The moment you think about something made by Nike or Starbucks, you immediately turn into one of the pestilential people infesting the planet.

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Self Fisking

Iraq war decision lacked vital missing ingredient

Check out the excerpts from these two adjacent paragraphs from USA Today:

Sanctions and inspections work. Saddam saw United Nations (news - web sites) sanctions as "an economic stranglehold" that halted his weapons programs. As long as they were in place, those programs were contained.

OK, Sanctions work. Got it.

They require international unity and a credible military threat. Aided by France and Russia, Saddam eluded the sanctions. He siphoned money from a U.N. program under which oil revenue was to go only for food and medicine, smuggled oil out of Iraq and bribed foreign officials.

Sanctions work, of course, except when they don't.

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Yes, we have it bad

But the Australians have it worse. To our north, we have our colder terrorist-coddling cousin Canada. To their south, they have their colder, sheep-inbred terrorist-coddling cousin New Zealand.

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October 09, 2004

For the Record

On the next debate, I will be liveblogging Russ' Liveblogging of the Livebloggers. Seeing as how I'll probably be liveblogging as well, then I will be liveblogging Russ liveblogging me liveblogging the debate. I don't think I'll be liveblogging my liveblogging of Russ' liveblogging of the livebloggers(which will include my liveblogging as well) If anyone wants to liveblog me liveblogging Russ liveblogging me, please contact me. I may also deadblog myself liveblogging myself liveblogging Russ liveblogging me, as soon as someone tells me exactly how to deadblog. Or something like that.

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October 08, 2004

And the debate is on

Update--9:03: First thought--town hall format stinks.

Update--9:04: From Cheryl Otis--"Are you too wishy-washy?" Ugh. Softball. Gibson used a softball as the first question. Also, Kerry called Bush a liar to his face. Bush won this round, amazingly enough.

Update--9:09: from Robin Dall--About WMD Kerry had a good comeback, but Bush was fairly strong

Update--9:14: This is a much more of a bruising debate than either the first debate, or the Bush/Gore town hall in 2000.

Update--9:19: A Question about anti-Americanism. Bush is talking about how Reagan had principle, and how unpopular Reagan was because he had that principle. Nice tie in. He is talking about how he being president should not be about being popular in Europe.

Update--9:34: Iraq and the WoT is the issue for this campaign. I know, no duh.

Update--9:37: Healthcare--zzzzzzzzz.....

Update--9:47: Chutzpah: talking about tort reform while having a running mate that made tens of millions suing OB/GYNs into the poorhouse

Update--9:51: Kerry is revisiting an old question--not good. Overall, his presentation is OK, but he

Update--9:53: Charlie Gibson should STFU. It ain't about you, Charlie.

Update--9:56: The pledge, the infamous pledge. All we need is for Kerry to tell us to "read his lips."

Update--9:59: I think Bush dislikes Kerry a lot more than Gore.

Update--10:00: Environment--zzzzzzzzz.....All of a sudden, I have a real urge to go out and buy a Ford Excursion, Hummer H2, and Gulfstream IV. Add in a bit of sanctimonious hypocrisy, and I could pass for John Kerry.

Update--10:02: Kerry feels the need to defend being labeled a liberal. Score a body blow for Bush.

Update--10:03: Kyoto--Zzzzzzzzzz......

Update--10:08: "Need some wood?" Kerry got the verbal equivalent of the Gore nod.

Update--10:10: "must safeguard your rights." Fine and Dandy Mr. President--then why'd you pass the McCain Feingold New York Times Empowerment Act?

Update--10:26: Kerry's saying he is willing to use government money for funding abortions. That will go over well in flyover country. I don't even have to listen to what Bush says--Bush wins this point by default.

Update--10:32: Bush finished with the $87 billion--that hurts Kerry.

Update--10:37: Overall, a Bush win. Bush did a much better job of taking on Kerry, and the last moment of the debate, the $87 billion vote was a killer.

Update: (and I promise, this is the last one. The win wasn't a solid one. But at the end of the debate, you knew where Bush stood, both on domestic issues and on foreign policy. Kerry was a wee bit too devoted to "nuance."

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Semi Liveblogging

I'll be semi-liveblogging here. Semi in that I'm not updating every time I have a thought. I'll just post every half hour or so.

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All time HMN high

We've reached two all-time highs in the HMN survey. Bush has an HMN number of 183, and Kerry has an HMN number of 9510. I am going to repeat myself--Bush is still on track to win by a nice healthy margin.

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About the Fox News Sunday thing

I still don't have any info. I've been at the hospital all day this week, away from the computer, and haven't been able to get the scoop. Next week, I'm going to try and track down exactly what happened, and try to develop a chain of custody for the picture. I'll see if I can get forwarded emails, etc. Basically, I'm doing a "Six Degrees of the Minion of the Great Satan".

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My apologies

As I said earlier, I've been going to the hospital for the past week to attend to a sick friend. I've also been nursing a cold, so I've been in no mood to blog. As the verdict on the Cheney/Edwards debate is over and done(Cheney played with Edwards with as much ease and enjoyment as my dog plays with a dead squirrel), I'll just blog about tonight's debate.

Update: Oh, and welcome Puppy Blender readers!

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October 06, 2004

Short answer on debates

John Edwards was Gerry Cooney to Cheney's Larry Holmes. Most boneheaded moment for Edwards was repeating that the US suffered 90% of all casualties in Iraq after Cheney brought up that 50% of all casualties in Iraq were by Iraqi security forces. Edwards tried to beat a horse that Cheney had already sent to the Glue factory. I'll have something longer and more coherent tomorrow. I was at the hospital today, and didn't have much time to keep up with other news.

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October 05, 2004

I don't get it

NBC News picks two bloggers to talk about the debate. On the right, John Hinderaker who is part of Powerline, who brought down Dan Rather. On the left, Wonkette, who aspires to be the less coherent Maureen Dowd.

Update: Having heard Wonkette, let me repeat myself--I have no idea why anyone reads that her blog, for any reason whatsoever. I would rather read the collected works Barbara Striesand than read a single post on Wonkette. Having just spent five minutes reading wonkette, I had to call my neurologist to find out if I had inadvertantly lost brain cells by being exposed to such monumental idiocy. Really, John, I feel sorry for you. Now, sadly, when I think of John Hinderaker, I'll think of the split screen he shared with Ana Marie Cox. Then I'll think about how incoherent Ana Marie Cox is, and from now until the end of time, sadly, when I think of those who are stupendously incoherent, I'll think of Wonkette. And, sadly, I'll remember that John Hinderaker shared a split screen with her.

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October 04, 2004

Sorry for the late post

I had to take a member of the family to the hospital for surgery, so I'm about three millenia behind everyone in in blog years. I'm going to call the congressman's office tomorrow if I can swing it.

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October 03, 2004

Post-Debate HMN

Well, I've now done the first post debate HMN surveys and guess what? Kerry has picked up another 100 HMNs, and Bush picked up another 6. If we were measuring logarithmically, you could call that a good thing for Kerry. But we don't measure logarithmically:

And for those who want to know the numbers, it now stands at 9400 Kerry HMNs to 177 Bush HMNs, which, of course, means that Bush is still poised to win in a landslide. Also, note something else. Bush's HMN number, even after the debate, barely budged. That means that virtually no Bush voters were swayed by Kerry into being "H0ld my n0se" voters. Bush is still in great shape to win the election.

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One last bleg

I have one last bleg--if anyone captured this week's Fox News Sunday, please email me at Beelzebub at motgs.com. I'm especially interested if you have the segment with the picture of Dan Rather in it.

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I just have to repeat myself

I am supremely jazzed that Fox News Sunday put my picture on the air. Granted, they didn't credit me, but still, it is a real hoot to see my picture up on television. I am right now waiting for it to come on now, so I can find out exactly how it got on the air, and contacting the person who published it. While I am again, supremely jazzed about having my picture on the air, I would like to get a wee bit of credit for it. Again, I am really psyched that my picture went on the air.

Update: I watched it again, and I still don't know the name of the flyer or anything beyond that my picture was on the air. I called Fox News office in New York(all the DC fox news numbers were faxes) and got shunted into voice mail. Whose voice mail? I have no idea. Will they contact me? Again, I have no idea. So, I'm making a bleg--if anyone can remember the congressman who created the flyer, please email me at beelzebub at motgs dot com.

Update: OK, I found out who did it. It was from the "Friends of Jack Kingston" campaign organization. Tomorrow, I'll be making some calls and trying to find out how they got it. I think it would be kind of neat to do a "chain of custody" thing, and see exactly the chain of events that lead to it being displayed on Fox News Sunday. BTW, I still haven't heard back from Fox about how they got it. In any event, I plan to trace the exact steps of how it went from my blog, to the Congressman's campaign office, to Fox News.

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I made the big time!

And this time, it's for real!

I flip to Fox News Sunday, and guess what picture they displayed prominently their show:

I'm so proud, I could just burst.

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The most loved programmer in America

Being an IT guy, I can completely sympathize with what this guy has to say:

Being a maintenance programmer is such a privileged joy and honor. I get to spend anywhere from eight to twelve, sometimes as many as sixteen straight hours a day locked in an eight by eight cube grinding my ass out writing code that you freaks don't appreciate. Did I mention you can suck me? What I love best is you forum jockeys lamenting the game code while you most likely work in a porn theater as a janitor or mooch off my tax dollars as an unemployed turd, sitting on a couch with no cushion with Chef Boyardee stains all over your wife beater. If you think you can write better netcode I invite you to come down and have a go, after you suck me of course....freak.

I understand this guy's plight, completely utterly, and without reservation. I spent the better part of year having to do maintenance code on an abortion of application that was, ironically, part of a very large multinational's([cough]--Jack Welch) quality initiative. I should have known I was in trouble when the program team's "powerbuilder ace" asked me a Powerbuilder question that was a complete non-sequitur. I forget what the precise question was, but the rough equivalent in layman-speak was "Do you get a sudden urge to urinate when starting your car?"

The day I showed up to work on the project, the entire project team had quit. This was actually the good part. They also had promised that the application would be fixed, debugged, and ready to run in 6 weeks, and when I showed up, the app would crash simply by breathing hard on it. They also had developed the app to work in a manner that I could only describe as user-homocidal. The most mild example of what they did was build a registration system that required a social security number to proceed.

This would have been fine, except for one problem--half of our users were in a foreign country and didn't have social security numbers. I had to deal with complaints for the next three months because social security numbers were embedded everywhere on the application, and I couldn't do a damn thing about fixing it(because having to enter 9 extra characters was a mild inconvenience compared to an application that would randomly barf a lung, eat data, etc.)

However, because of this, I had to listen to people with foreign accents complain every week about how they shouldn't have to enter a social security number, because they didn't have social security numbers in country X. Every time I heard it, I balled my hands into fists, and thought to myself:

Listen, moron. I didn't write this abortion of an application. I am just the poor schmuck who has to clean up the stain left by a bunch of utter incompetents. A bunch of incompetents, I might add, who speak with the same funny accent you do, and put the SSN in there anyway. So please, leave me the *&^$ alone!

So yes, I got these(and worse) complaints from the 2000 users who were using this app, complaining about all the stuff on the app that didn't work, and swearing at me, even though all the developers of the app had flown the coop the day I showed up.

So, when this guy says the following, let me say, from the bottom of my heart, I hear ya, pal:

Seriously, let's listen to what you have to say! Here's some gems from the forums that you guys wrote. Names withheld to protect the retarded.

I worked hard by afking 16 profassions to beacoming a Jedi (I had to learn auto-cliker lol!) I should beable to kill ne1 who atatcks me in one hit from my sabar and ne1 I kill should lose XP 2. What do u think?

Aye, you sure "worked hard"! Hard work is coding for 48 hours straight so some guy who spends $15 can call you an asshole. I'll get right on this one.

Posted by John Bono at 12:55 AM | Link Cosmos | Comments (0) | TrackBack
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October 02, 2004

Busted!

It looks like Terry McAuliffe has caught the same bug that infected the Independent Commie two years ago:

To Our Readers (and Writers)

WE RECEIVED THE following letter from a woman in Yonkers, N.Y.: "Dear editor: This debate made it clear: John Kerry is a leader we can trust to tell us the truth when it comes to our nation's security. George Bush has had his chance; I'm ready for a new direction."

Cogent, succinct, personal -- everything we look for in a letter. So why are we writing about it here, instead of publishing it in the columns to the right? Unfortunately, the letter, perfect in every other way, arrived in our electronic in-box Thursday afternoon, four hours and 14 minutes before debate moderator Jim Lehrer posed his first question.

It is kind of hard to say your guy won when he hadn't even taken the podium, now, wasn't it? Of course, the punditocracy made up their minds about a week before--they just left one paragraph blank to be filled in later.

Posted by John Bono at 01:06 PM | Link Cosmos | Comments (0) | TrackBack
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October 01, 2004

Responding to an email

I received this email from a friend, and when I thought about it, I thought my response would make a good blog post. So here's the email:

He lost. Our boy needs to do a lot better next time. He needs to smile more remain calm, and not look so ticked off.

When Kerry said he'd get global approval - Bush jumped on it, but if that was his best moment - he didn't hammer that home enough.

Here's my response:

If he won the debate, how come Kerry hasn't picked up any votes?

According to ABC News:

As is customary, the debate did not immediately change many minds. Bush's support was 50 percent among viewers before the debate, and 51 percent after it; Kerry's, 46 percent before, 47 percent after. Ralph Nader had 1 percent before and a tad less than that after.

Also, remember these two words: "global test". Here is Kerry's quote:

No president, through all of American history, has ever ceded, and nor would I, the right to preempt in any way necessary to protect the United States of America.

But if and when you do it, Jim, you have to do it in a way that passes the test, that passes the global test where your countrymen, your people understand fully why you're doing what you're doing and you can prove to the world that you did it for legitimate reasons.

So Kerry is admitting that he would subject US military action to a "global test" on the use of military force. In other words, Kerry during the debate admitted that he would give the French, the Germans and the UN veto power over the use of military force. Exactly how many people in the US would trust any of those three to protect the country? Besides Michael Moore, Howard Dean, and Jimmy Carter?

Secondly, note also that during the debate, Kerry also discussed our developing of bunker-busting nukes is causing nuclear proliferation:

And part of that leadership is sending the right message to places like North Korea.
Right now the president is spending hundreds of millions of dollars to research bunker-busting nuclear weapons. The United States is pursuing a new set of nuclear weapons. It doesn't make sense.

You talk about mixed messages. We're telling other people, "You can't have nuclear weapons," but we're pursuing a new nuclear weapon that we might even contemplate using.

By stating that, Kerry in essence stated that the United states is on the same plane morally as North Korea and Iran. How popular a stance do you think that will be?

Third, during the debate, Kerry stated that he would provide nuclear fuel to Iran:

I think the United States should have offered the opportunity to provide the nuclear fuel, test them, see whether or not they were actually looking for it for peaceful purposes.

Exactly what peaceful purposes would an energy independent nation like Iran need a nuclear reactor for? Kerry stated that providing Iran with more nuclear capability is somehow going to cause them to stop building a nuke. And I only thought Jimmy Carter was that naive.

Don't be worried. Kerry made a nice speech with big words, but Kerry made some major blunders in this debate, and all his high-falutin' words ain't gonna save him from getting beaten like a red-headed stepchild come November 2.

Posted by John Bono at 11:58 PM | Link Cosmos | Comments (0) | TrackBack
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