September 2005 Archives
Hey Kids! Have you heard the new jazz?
It's here. And here. And here. And here. It's called "Culture of Corruption". And it's coming to a speech, interview, or campaign ad near you.
Bonus quiz!! See how many times you can hear the phrase in this video!!!!
Seriously, though, I think this will be remembered as the first real volley of shots fired in the 2006 campaign. Expect lots of ads slinging this broad-stroke smear at every single republican. Even if Tom Delay and Bill Frist are cleared, it won't matter. Just as "innocent until proven guilty" has no meaning to Pelosi, Reid, and the moveon.org crowd now, "cleared" and "not guilty" will be equally meaningless in the future.
Ever watch the TV show "Cops"? So many of the bad guys are shirtless that it's become common to assume that someone without a shirt is up to no good.
The Democrats are are nothing if not predictable. Watch over the next year as they attempt to paint Frist, Delay, and by association, the entire Republican party as shirtless.
And lets pray that they fail.
I really hadn't meant to spend so much time on this subject.
But I posted previously about the apparent glee Cindy Sheehan displayed while getting arrested Monday, so I can't let this go without a followup.
Cindy posts in her blog (hosted on Huffington Post) about the scores of comments made about her smile:
I had a huge grin on my face when I was getting arrested yesterday. I have received a lot of flak for smiling. Apparently I am not supposed to smile, but I had some really good reasons for doing so.
At least she didn't claim it was gas. And the reasons?
First of all, I was having fun. I was with a group of good-humored, cheerful, happy people. We were singing old protest songs and old Sunday school songs and clapping. I felt I had to be cheerful to set the tone. We didn't want any trouble or to do anything non-peaceful. Secondly, when I got arrested and the officers lifted me out I was afraid that America would see my underwear and that tickled me.
Having fun - more about that in a minute. If she didn't want any trouble, she could have cooperated with the police when they told her to move on. Failing that, she could have cooperated when she was arrested. I'm sure the D.C. cops would have been all too happy to let her walk to the awaiting paddy wagon. Resisting arrest, in ANY form, is trouble. Especially when the intent is to do so. And she intends to continue by not paying the fine.
Cindy continues:
There is another and more important reason that I was smiling. I had not genuinely smiled since Casey was killed in Iraq.
I suppose that this not a genuine smile. Or this. Or this.
The fact is, she's had a pretty good time with all the media coverage. So much so, it was rumored that she had made comments lamenting the shifting of coverage away from her in favor of hurricanes Rita and Katrina - rumors she confirms in this same post:
Now about Hurricane Rita: I woke up on Saturday morning filled with excitement. I knew that the rally and march were going to be amazing events and I was thrilled to be a part of them. I switched on the TV and turned on CNN and for 2 hours, I watched one of their reporters in front of the same downed tree and it wasn't even raining. I knew that there was a hurricane and it was damaging. At the point of the news cycle though, I thought CNN could be covering other news. 40 soldiers have been killed this month so far in Iraq and countless Iraqis have been killed. The war is still going on and the news has been dominated by hurricanes and the terrible aftermaths. I actually think the mainstream media has been doing a good job of pointing out the dropped balls in the Gulf States. However, CNN and other mainstream news outlets ALWAYS report other news besides the illegal occupation of Iraq.
I can only imagine her dissapointment in discovering that she was no longer the center of attention. Side note: The "countless Iraqis" were killed by the very same group of folks that killed her son.
She does offer a typical leftist non-apology, though:
I am sorry for what seemed to be an insensitive remark about the people who were affected by Rita, but that was not my intention. I am very aware that the failed policies of the Bush administration have all put us in the same boat, so to speak, and we need to take responsibility for righting the wrongs here in our country and in Iraq.
"I'm very aware that the failed policies of the Bush administration have put us in the same boat" - nice nod to all those whose homes have been flooded. Or does that only seem insensitive? Since she can't take the limelight away from the "affected", she tries to share it by suggesting that the hurricane victims' woes and hers have a common source. If this kind of thinking becomes mianstream, Bush is likely to replace the family dog as the antagonist in every "eaten homework" story.
Amusing in her post was this line:
There were hundreds of thousands of regular Americans who came out to protest the war and Bush's policies this past Saturday.
I watched most of the C-Span coverage, and didn't see very many "regular" folks. I did see communists, socialists, terrorist supporters, antisemites, racists, etc. - in other words, the non-mainstream left of left fringe. Cindy, please look around you - these are absolutely, definitely not "regular" folks.
I really don't know if Ms. Sheehan would benefit from therapy. Or perhaps she just needs to wake up and look around at the damage she is doing to herself and others. I would gladly pay for a venti drip if that's all it would take.
The Times (UK) has an article today about the effects of religion entitled Societies worse off 'when they have God on their side':
RELIGIOUS belief can cause damage to a society, contributing towards high murder rates, abortion, sexual promiscuity and suicide, according to research published today.
According to the study, belief in and worship of God are not only unnecessary for a healthy society but may actually contribute to social problems.
The study referenced in the article can be found here. The theme for the study runs along the lines of:
European countries are by and large more secular than the US.
European countries have lower rates of crime, STDs, teen pregnancy, etc.
High rates in the belief of a higher being, combined with low rates of acceptance for Darwinism causes our high rates of crime, STDs, teen pregnancy, etc.
I disagree completely with this premise, indeed I suggest that our rates of crime and other social ills are built on more complex foundations than "more bible thumpers = more murderers". If I graphed data on toy inventories at Wal-Mart or the rise in popularity of bowling leagues I might find a similar correlation. But I would be wrong to suggest that bowling causes murder and AIDS.
The author of the study is Gregory S. Paul, who the Times calls a "social scientist". I wonder if this is the same Mr. Paul who wrote this book, and this article for the Council for Secular Humanism's Free Inquiry magazine? If so, shouldn't the times have mentioned it?
On a side note, I would love to see a debate between this guy and Bill Bennett.
Update - My dyslexia is getting in the way. Son of Sam killed because his dog told him to. Sorry.
Via AP/Yahoo:
Cindy is smiling because she successfully managed to get arrested in a carefully staged stunt in front of dozens of the media cameras she craves.
Sheesh. She just can't seem to stop embarrassing herself. If she really wanted to look like the grieving Mom she claims to be, she at least could have put on her game face.
Update 1: I just saw some video of the arrest on a cable news channel, the crowd was clapping and cheering as Sheehan was carried off. Either they were all happy that the arrest went as planned, or they were happy to see her go.
Update 2: Michelle Malkin has more photos of the arrest.
Don't Go Into The Light is a blog offering commentary on politics and current events. I'm LB, one of two co-hosts for the site. TB is the other host, and you'll be hearing from her soon (knock on wood).
Right now this site is a place holder as I'm still setting up Movable Type and waiting for our domain to get registered. Then we plan to be posting regularly. I hope you'll find us interesting and will visit often.
