Third - Alas Babylon! #447 Now Morgan, rest assured it's not like that. The military survived the Clinton era. Very few of the retired generals are on the left anyway. Very, very few. Say the country is split 35% right, 35% left, and 30% don't care. Well, the military, and the officer corps especially, is probably 70% right; 20% left, and 10% don't care. The reason for this is they know their lives are at stake when it comes to those who dictate power (politicians) and can easily see that the Left is anti-America and anti-military, which puts them in greater danger when the balloon finally goes up. There will always be, however, the few who are just power hungry and will climb over folks for the chance to lead. These are generally weeded out of the system by the majority who care. Some still slip through, and the Clintons saw they got placed highly, but even so, the Clintons hate/hated the military and only focused on it when the polls showed they had to. Mostly the military was ignored during their reign. We suffered greatly because of this on Sept 11, 2001
#527 The Clinton's may have ignored the military in many ways but they were active in putting like-minded generals in place who shared their worldview of how the military should be used, and to do their bidding when called upon. Really, Morgan, it may have seemed that way but this is not at all true. Most promotions, even to Admiral/General, at least at the 1-3 star level, are made by the military Admiral/Generals already there. 4 stars, since they are normally major command commanders, have political sponsors, but mostly the president doesn't say much one way or the other. I retired in 1998, and most of the Generals I knew who were promoted to general in the 90s where on track to be generals long before Clinton got the presidency (late 70s early 80s). Throughout the 90s there was a very strongly held dislike of the Clintons by most I knew. Subordination and disrespect was absolutely forbidden, but you must understand a certain mindset that goes through the ranks. This mindset says wait. In a few years these knuckleheads will be gone. An example of this is high ranking commanders rarely stay on one job for more than 2, 3 years top. So when we got a bad commander, it was always with the understanding that they'd be gone by and by. I witnessed this attitude a lot during the Clinton admin. As an example, Clinton came to Europe during the early days of the Bosnian crisis, when we first sent troops there. I was stationed at Ramstein AB, Germany. Clinton was going to speak in one of the big hangers at the flight line to all the base personnel who wanted to attend. Well, they didn't want anyone parking down at the flight line so they said folks could park at our Northside post office (big parking lot here) and they would have big blue school buses (ubiquitous in the USAF--Blue Goose) to take us down to the hangers. Clinton was supposed to speak around 2:00 pm or so. I sure didn't want to attend! I went to check my mail around 3:15 and 8 of the 10 blue goose's (geese?) where still there, so I asked one of the drivers who where standing around outside smoking if Clinton had postponed or opted out of his speech. "Nope,", they said, "All who wanted to go had gone, but they were only able to get a bus and a half who wanted too!" Ha! Little things like that show what the military thought of him. Thinking he was able to handpick all the flag officers because they were craven or dastardly like him assumes that the rest of the military would work with these "leaders". It just didn't happen. A lot of factors lead to the making of a general officer. One of these is having a similar mindset to all the rest. Billy Mitchell is an Air Force version of what happens to a maverick (in a negative way). Wesly Clark is an example of what happens to a pro-Clintonoid pos in a positive way. The system won in each case. Oh BTW, I talked to one of my troops who stayed at Ramstein until a few years ago. Dubya came there and made a speech in the same hanger. Standing room only! A lot of folks had to wait outside as there was not enough room for them. And they wildly cheered and showed honest enthusiasm. It's still proud talk of them to have got in to see President Bush. Speaks volumes to how they saw his predecessor, no?
#636 Seriously. Send this to Russert. Maybe he's to stupid to realize he been pwned! mtp@nbc.com Also, 3,8,43,62,89,185,246,282,379,384,428,771.
Second - Miss Marple
We are only posting one comment by Miss Marple because MNJohnnie did not want to dilute it impact. She is right. We have started copying the worst tactics of our political foes. #749.
The only one who didn't bash him was Tony Snow, although he was critical a couple of times, although in a policy-oriented and non-bloviating way. I have quit listening to all of them unless it's by accident (like when Rush comes on my car radio before I can switch to the Catholic station). I just can't put up with their emotional rants. I distinctly remember Rush bragging about how conservatives weren't ruled by emotion, yet it seems he spends a lot of time doing emotinally-charged rants.And he is the best of the lot. The rest are worse, and are not helping the situation at all.
Also, 760, 749, 450, 441, 439, 417, 415, 411, 407, 404, 398, 390, 387, 382, 296, 163, 145, 135, 130, 126, 122, 114, 108, 101, 94, 88, 79, 68, 64, 58, 32, 29, 28, 23, 19 and 14.
Here is the Sunday Top 10 list. 10.
10. Chuck54. #71Watching Condi on FOX now. It is a crying shame that most "people of color" voters are not even watching and if they were they are thinking of Condi as a Bush "shill" or worse an "Aunt Tommie". It is such a pity that they cannot look on this wonderful ambassador of goodwill and think, "This is what I can grow up to be, or this is what my kids could grow up to be." Many will follow the mantra of their "black leaders" and live their lives blaming the Republicans for all their ills and troubles. Not 10%, probably not even 5% know without majority Republican support, the Civil Rights gains of the 60's would not have been possible. LBJ was right. The black voting public think just because he was President when the Civil Rights Act was passed, it just had to be Democrats casting all the votes.
Also, 64, 71, 82, 107, 125, 215, 258, 280 and 299.
9. Rodguy911 #489. Excellent post here phsstpok, exposing the left for what they really and truly are:traitors in time of war. It's a sad commentary on the media and the left that the day has come when the rat/media will ally with terrorists to make potential political points at the expense of our troops. The rat media and the left are now willing to side with terrorists against our fighting men and women all for the sake of pure power. Power for a political party that admittedly stands for nothing except the destruction of our President and our leaders. Shameful at the very least. It's well know that Haditha has been a hell hole for some time. Daily be-headings have been held at a local bridge where five year olds cheered the fact that more were to come. Terror types have been in control of the city for months and the entire population and govt. has been compromised. The(terrorists) send out kids to count how many soldiers are on the way. There is absolutely no way to recognize who is the enemy, friend or foe, in such an environment. What kind of US political party would ally themselves with such a group solely for the potential to take over political power, and beyond that what are their motives for that power? Surely not to benefit the nation but themselves.
8. Maica. #791 Biden officially jumping the shark, from the MTP transcript --- Cliff notes: Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan go to hell and Biden comes to the rescue by calling for a regional conference. Democrats are dangerous, when they are this stupid! http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/13085904/page/4/ MR. RUSSERT: Before we go, let me hook back around to Iraq and conclude our interview. If things are the way they are today a month from now, two months from now, three months from now, when, when and where do you draw the line? How much time? SEN. BIDEN: I draw the line at the point where there is no reasonable prospect of me believing you can keep the country together. And that’s when this sectarian violence is so far out of hand that there is no possibility of keeping the country together. MR. RUSSERT: And how close are we? SEN. BIDEN: I think we’re perilously close. I think we... MR. RUSSERT: Months? SEN. BIDEN: Well, as I said to you last time I was on the show, I think the time that that’s going to be determined is whether or not they amend the Constitution, which is four more months after they, in fact, get in power, which has just begun now. And so I suspect that’s by the fall. We’re going to know whether there’s been any progress made or not. If there’s no progress made—and by the way, Tim, the other thing, pulling the troops out. My proposal calls for no troops there after the year 2007, other than an over-horizon force, and that is, that’s going to practically take that long for the military to do it. MR. RUSSERT: But if you do get out, and the country just disintegrates... SEN. BIDEN: It will. MR. RUSSERT: ...and you have a haven for terrorism... SEN. BIDEN: You do. MR. RUSSERT: ...and for al-Qaeda. SEN. BIDEN: You do. MR. RUSSERT: What have you... SEN. BIDEN: That’s why we... MR. RUSSERT: What have you achieved? SEN. BIDEN: Well, you—what you’ve done is you have put us in the position—this administration has—where you lose Iraq, you lose Afghanistan. Watch Afghanistan. Watch Afghanistan, and watch Musharraf after Afghanistan falls if we don’t get smart here. And what you end up with is you end up with trying to contain the policy. That’s what I’ve called for for over a year and a half, a regional conference. Get the permanent five of the United Nations to call for a regional conference of all the parties, set up a contact group, agree on a hands-off policy internally in Iraq so this doesn’t develop into a regional war. Nothing’s been done on any of this. There’s no forward thinking here. MR. RUSSERT: Do you feel partially responsible? SEN. BIDEN: No, I don’t. I, I’ve been laying out in detail, on your show and others, for three years how to approach this. And every single recommendation has been rejected. And I would respectfully suggest in almost every instance what I’ve said has turned out to be—end up being the case. MR. RUSSERT: Senator Joe Biden, as always we thank you for your views. SEN. BIDEN: Thank you, Tim. MR. RUSSERT: Coming next, the man who led the pre-war inspections in Iraq has a new report on weapons of mass destruction worldwide.
Also, 116, 133, 155, 180, 200, 204, 240, 267, 536., 542, 553, 558, 566, 586, 632, 644, 754, 793. 794, 799 and 804.
7.Peach. #35 Good morning. When Hans Blix and others start talking about how the administration lied and there were no WMD in Iraq, remember this: Last month Moshe Yaalon, who was Israel's top general at the time, said Iraq transported WMD to Syria six weeks before Operation Iraqi Freedom began. Last March, John A. Shaw, a former U.S. deputy undersecretary of defense for international technology security, said Russian Spetsnaz units moved WMD to Syria and Lebanon's Bekaa Valley. "While in Iraq I received information from several sources naming the exact Russian units, what they took and where they took both WMD materials and conventional explosives," Mr. Shaw told NewsMax reporter Charles Smith. Retired Marine Lt. Gen. Michael DeLong was deputy commander of Central Command during Operation Iraqi Freedom. In September 2004, he told WABC radio that "I do know for a fact that some of those weapons went into Syria, Lebanon and Iran." In January 2004, David Kay, the first head of the Iraq Survey Group which conducted the search for Saddam's WMD, told a British newspaper there was evidence unspecified materials had been moved to Syria from Iraq shortly before the war. "We know from some of the interrogations of former Iraqi officials that a lot of material went to Syria before the war, including some components of Saddam's WMD program," Mr. Kay told the Sunday Telegraph. Also that month, Nizar Nayuf, a Syrian journalist who defected to an undisclosed European country, told a Dutch newspaper he knew of three sites where Iraq's WMD was being kept. They were the town of al Baida near the city of Hama in northern Syria; the Syrian air force base near the village of Tal Snan, and the city of Sjinsar on the border with Lebanon. In an addendum to his final report last April, Charles Duelfer, who succeeded David Kay as head of the Iraq Survey Group, said he couldn't rule out a transfer of WMD from Iraq to Syria. "There was evidence of a discussion of possible WMD collaboration initiated by a Syrian security officer, and ISG received information about movement of material out of Iraq, including the possibility that WMD was involved. In the judgment of the working group, these reports were sufficiently credible to merit further investigation," Mr. Duelfer said. In a briefing for reporters in October 2003, retired Air Force Lt. Gen. James Clapper Jr., who was head of the National Geospatial Intelligence Agency when the Iraq war began, said satellite imagery showed a heavy flow of traffic from Iraq into Syria just before the American invasion. "I think the people below Saddam Hussein and his sons' level saw what was coming and decided the best thing to do was to destroy and disperse," Lt. Gen. Clapper said. You haven't heard much about these reports, because they contradict the meme that Saddam either had no WMD, or destroyed it well before the Iraq war began. A man who had been deputy chief of Saddam Hussein's air force claimed Iraq moved weapons of mass destruction into Syria before the war began. Special Republican Guard brigades loaded yellow barrels with the skull and crossbones sign on each barrel onto two airliners from which the seats had been removed, Georges Sada said. There were 56 flights in all. The captured files of the Iraqi intelligence service, still mostly untranslated, could shed light on what did happen to Saddam's WMD.
Also 45, 142, 660 and 62.
6. Anita. #22 Russert comes into this sunday's Media Nuggets###### Tim Russert gave a telephonic interview to Deborah Soloman for NYTimes Magazine on Mother's day - Saying nothing about his mother (inspite of pressing repeatedly), complaining about Fox on Air Force One & whining about Bushies dissing MTP - Russert's image didn't come up well. MTP boss was angry, ran to Wash.Post & whining that the interview was "misleading, callous and hurtful" to him. ###### Paper of Fiction - "Mr. Paulson and other executives expressed little interest in taking the post. ... They couldn't get someone from Wall Street because nobody wanted the job" -> per NYT-WH Reporter granting anonymity to secret sources inside WH. Within 2 days Mr. Paulson resigns as chairman of Goldman Sachs & stands with the Prez. accepting nomination as Treasury Sec. :-) The same reporter is still covers WH. ###### When unemployment is 6-year low(4.6%) with booming economy, Wash.Post is in doom and gloom -> 70 reporters, editors, photographers, newsroom employees & 100 employees outside the newsroom will be out of their jobs. Wash.Post acknowledges that Circulation has decreased in recent years. As misery loves company, Wash.Post points out they aren't alone & NYTimes, Tribune and other dailies face the same burden as them. Experts say that Wash.Post's biased reporting is the reason for it's sinking circulation & earnings. ###### Associated Press's chief political writer, Ron Fournier was famous for predicting the wrong results since Bush elected. He is not in AP anymore and quitting political reporting for good. ###### Ketchup Queen Heinz' 4Q Profit Fall, Plans to cut 2,700 jobs & exit 15 plants this year. ###### Da Vinci Code backlash? -> Films from MGM will no longer be distributed on video and DVD by Sony instead chose 20th Century Fox. Sony will lose $25 million to $30 million by this decision. ###### Profits are plummeting at Time Inc. Sports Illustrated and Fortune are suffering steep declines in advertising pages, while namesake title Time is seen as in danger of becoming obsolete. ###### New Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke WAS sympathetic to journos. Not anymore. After his private conversation with Maria Bartiromo was deliberately leaked, taking cue from his WH experience he CANCELLED the Fed Fourth of July party with Washington's A-list reporters permanently. ###### Fox News Business Channel could launch as soon as this month. [Who will take-over Cavuto's time now?]. ###### Media shareholders alert! - Associated Press , NYTimes, LATimes, Wash.Post, and ABC News are paying $750,000 to Wen Ho Lee as settlement fees for not revealing the name of Clinton admn. official who slandered the scientist. NYTimes faces another big libel suit from Stephen Hatfill in anthrax slur.
#47 Journalists Core Values Innocent until accused.How to use the word "alleged" and still get your point across. Finding a quotable Congressman to say what you mean. Top-notch news analysis in a word: Vietnam.
#81 I'm watching FNS. I'm liking Wallace less and less each week. He's trying to hard to imitate Russert. Agreed. I saw a Drudge item posted yesterday in that ABC was gaining over MTP & FNS lost 14% of it's audience.
Also,18, 35, 55, 60, 67, 73, 98, 150, 169, 178, 199, 211, 231, 264, 286, 314, 3374 and 405.
5. rockrr #809.
How does anything the folks of SouthPark do not qualify as criticism or ridicule? Fair enough question. I could go on for hours offering highly detailed criticisms of algore's claims, methods, and agenda, but Southpark captured it better than I ever could have ("a thousand words"). The amazing thing (at least to me) is that algore performed the equivalent of a political kamikaze run - he unequivocally stated his (scientifically unproven, more than slightly lunatic) prognostications about global warming in the goofy "Earth in the Balance". Now it's OK to hold an eccentric viewpoint or two, but algore essentially predicted that the world would end unless we made drastic alterations to our habits by 1995 (we didn't and last time I checked, it didn't either ;'} Most folks would point and laugh at someone who so totally blew any chance at credibility after a stunt like that, but this certifiable moonbat actually ran for the Presidency of the United States and came within a breath of achieving it! Now he's back out on the street peddling the same old hash and people are buying it! I have to hand it to the fellow who wrote "Chicken Little" - he had an uncanny insight into the Lemming-like nature of some people! algore did a skit on SNL a little while back, pretending to be giving a State of the Union speech. It was supposed to be funny, but it raised the hair on my scalp. I thought to myself "Thank God that's the closest he will ever get to the Oval Office!" Also, 42, 373, 391, 535 and 561.
4. Johnny7 #661 It's a tax on carbon-producing products... think energy. Past examples/implementations: On January 1, 1991, Sweden enacted a carbon tax, placing a tax of .25 SEK/kg ($100 per ton) on the use of oil, coal, natural gas, liquefied petroleum gas, petrol, and aviation fuel used in domestic travel. Industrial users paid half the rate (between 1993 and 1997, 25% of the rate), and certain high-energy industries such as commercial horticulture, mining, manufacturing and the pulp and paper industry were fully exempted from these new taxes. In 1997 the rate was raised to .365 SEK/kg ($150 per ton) of CO2 released. Finland, the Netherlands, and Norway also introduced carbon taxes in the 1990s. In 2005 New Zealand proposed a carbon tax, setting an emissions price of NZ$15 per tonne of CO2-equivalent. The planned tax was scheduled to take effect from April 2007, and applied across most economic sectors but allowed a standing exemption for methane emissions from farming and provisions for special exemptions from carbon intensive businesses if they agree to adopt world's-best-practice standards of emissions. After the 2005 election, the minor parties supporting the Government opposed the proposed tax, and it was abandoned in December 2005. The Government said the tax would not be effective at reducing carbon emissions.As President of the United States, Bill Clinton proposed a BTU tax that was not adopted. In April 2005, Paul Anderson, CEO and Chairman of Duke Energy, called for the introduction of a carbon tax.
Also 11, 57, 183, 294, 311, 399 and 460.