"To what purpose are powers limited, and to what purpose is that limitation committed to writing,
if these limits may, at any time, be passed by those intended to be restrained?"
-- Chief Justice John Marshall, Marbury v. Madison, 1803

Friday, October 31, 2003

The Stalinists over at International ANSWER are calling for an immediate pull-out from Iraq of all US troops, which any thinking person can tell you would lead to a disaster of biblical proportions.  Believe it or not, even the detestable French are finally starting to get it.

A U.S. pullout from Iraq would be “catastrophic,” French Foreign Minister Dominique de Villepin said Thursday, urging countries to take a strong united stance to stabilize Iraq.

De Villepin, whose impassioned speeches at the UN Security Council against U.S. plans to attack Iraq won him international praise, spoke at the close of two days of informal talks among foreign ministers from Europe and North Africa.

When asked whether he could envision the United States pulling out of Iraq, de Villepin responded: “Obviously, a pullout from Iraq today would be catastrophic and would absolutely not correspond to the demands of the situation.”

When a gutless, pantywaist coward like De Villepin can appreciate the situation in Iraq, it shows just how detached from reality the radical left in this country really is.

Cavuto is on FOX right now, and Susan Estrich is one of his guests.  Seriously, does that woman have the most grating, annoying voice in the world, or what?  It’s like nails on a chalkboard.

Dennis Miller is leaving FOXNews to host his own show on CNBC.

Dennis Miller, the sardonic comedian who delivered a fake newscast on “Saturday Night Live” and told jokes in the “Monday Night Football” booth, will host a prime-time political talk show on CNBC.

The network said Thursday it had inked Miller to a multiyear deal for the political chat show, set to begin in January.

Miller said he would work four nights a week at 9 p.m. ET.

Good for him.  This is the type of thing Miller should be doing, not being touted as the next celebrity GOP candidate here in California.

I just got an email that my new 17" iMac will be arriving today from Apple.

Now I have a new toy to play with this weekend!  (Which, coincidentally, is the first Saturday I haven’t had to work in 2 1/2 months.)

Update: Crap.  The delivery didn’t make it today, it’ll get here on Monday.  Double crap.

George Stephanopolous has predicted a Bush victory in 2004.

“It looks like we are coming out of the recession,” Stephanopoulos said. “Wages are starting to go up. Productivity is starting to go up. Generally if you look at polls across the country people respect President Bush even when people don’t agree with his policies. He has an amazingly strong hold on the Republican party. He’s not going to have a primary opponent. I think when you add all that up it puts President Bush in a very strong position going into the next election.”

Stephanopoulos said he expects the campaign will occur during a good economy and that national security will be the biggest campaign issue, something Democrats classically have had a hard time with. He was especially discouraged by front-runner Howard Dean’s campaign based on antiwar outrage, believing Americans will prefer Republican optimism.

“I was meeting with Bush officials today,” Stephanopoulos said, “and they were salivating to run against Howard Dean so they can accuse him of raising taxes.”

As I said yesterday, most of the Democratic candidates are on the record calling for the repeal of most or all of the Bush tax cuts.  Now that the economy is skyrocketing they’re going to have to explain why they want to repeal the very tax cuts that spurred the growth in the economy, or they’re going to have to reverse themselves and admit that they were totally wrong to begin with.  This bodes very well for Bush in 2004.

You will be assimilated.

Google, the highflying Silicon Valley Web search company, recently began holding meetings with bankers in preparation for its highly anticipated initial public offering as it was still engaged in meetings of another kind: exploring a partnership or even a merger with Microsoft.

According to company executives and others briefed on the discussions, Microsoft - desperate to capture a slice of the popular and ad-generating search business - approached Google within the last two months to discuss options, including the possibility of a takeover.

While the overture appears to have gained little traction - Google indicated that it preferred the initial offering route, the executives said - it demonstrates the enormous importance that Google represents as both a competitive threat to Microsoft and as Silicon Valley’s latest hope for a new financial boom.

Though seemingly spurned, Microsoft may still be interested in pursuing Google at a later date, according to an executive briefed on the discussions.

How can you take the world’s most useful website and immediately destroy it?  Sell it to Microsoft.

Diversity:  It’s also a health issue!

Greater diversity on college campuses significantly lowers rates of binge drinking among high-risk students, according to results of a Harvard University study released Thursday.

The research may enable college administrators to fine-tune their admissions and housing policies to cut rates of binge drinking, study authors said.

“If you have younger white males together to the exclusion of other groups, you’re going to have fewer role models for lighter or nondrinking behavior,” Henry Wechsler, the study’s lead author, told Reuters. “That may explain why fraternities have had such a high level of drinking problems.”

I would say that no matter what the levels of “diversity” on campuses the white kids will still hang out with the white kids, the black kids will hang with the black kids, and so on.  This study is nothing but junk science justification for the forced implementation of the far left’s social agenda.  “You will have black friends!  Otherwise you’ll drink yourself to death!”

Yet another victory for Bush.

On a 298-to-121 vote, the House early Friday approved the $87 billion Iraq and Afghanistan spending bill, clearing the way for final Senate approval and a presidential signature in the coming days.

The vote came after senators reversed course midweek and stripped from the bill a controversial provision requiring that half the $18.4 billion for Iraq reconstruction projects be paid back to the United States. The White House fought hard to keep the money as a grant, arguing the Iraqi people could not afford to take on new debt while their country is in such a fragile state.

Most of the remaining funds will support the U.S. military’s activities in Iraq and Afghanistan, although $500 million was added late Wednesday to help victims of the California wildfires.

An aide to Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, R-Tennessee, said the Senate will take up the measure Friday or Monday. With few lawmakers willing to vote against funds to support an ongoing military action, easy passage is expected in both chambers.

Making this money a loan would have been a stupid, petty thing to do.  I’m glad that it has worked out the way it has.  Let’s hope it gets passed by both houses and signed into law as soon as possible.

Odd that this didn’t make more of a splash in the news.

U.S. intelligence officials Wednesday released an assessment that Iraqi weapons of mass destruction have been transferred to neighboring Syria. The officials, in the first assessment of its kind, said the transfer occurred during the weeks prior to the U.S.-led war against the Saddam
Hussein regime. Middle East Newsline reported the U.S. assessment was based on satellite images of convoys of Iraqi trucks that poured into Syria during February and March. U.S. intelligence officials say the trucks contained missiles and WMD components banned by the U.N.’s Security Council.

Now, given the number of times in recent months that our shit-hot intelligence has turned out to be totally incorrect, for now I’m going to take these reports with a grain of salt.  But it does explain away a lot of things, doesn’t it?  I have a great deal of faith in David Kay and his team, and believe that if there is anything to be found he will be the guy to find it.

Syria is in a position now where they could get on our good side virtually immediately by turning all this crap over to us.  If they have it they can get rid of it and score brownie points with us, or they can hang onto it and face a war.  You choose, Assad.

There’s a movement organizing to get President Bush to replace VP Cheney with Condoleeza Rice.  I think she’d make a fine VP, and their site is worth checking out.

Click on the banner, take a peek and see what you think.  I only think that Cheney should be replaced if he decides not to run again due to health reasons.  Essentially “firing” him to bring in Condi might have ramifications all of its own, but I can’t think of a person in the world I would rather see as VP under Bush than Condi.

Thursday, October 30, 2003

From, of all places, today’s San Francisco Chronicle.

MICHAEL MOORE, the polemic filmmaker who likes to wear his “progressive’’ politics on his plaid sleeves, has made a fortune from bashing doyens of corporate greed. But apparently the provocative Moore doesn’t mind the perks of celebrity—even when they bear the label of big-time corporate America.

Moore recently touched down in California as part of his national book tour. He’s traveling in style—in a private jet provided by Time Warner, and in SUVs courtesy of his publisher, Warner Books. The company also threw in some bodyguards—as we know from his movies, America is a pretty darn dangerous place.

For his part, Moore sees no contradiction between his private life and his public image, suggesting that the only reason he’s feeding at the corporate trough is because it’s there. “I would never pay for this,’’ Moore told the Los Angeles Times, adding that the irony is not lost on him.

When you make your living bashing malicious corporate CEOs, it’s best not to remind people that you’re using giant media companies to carry your message.

After all, the bottom line is all about profits, not prophets.

Let’s not forget that, for all his millions, this is a man that charged the families of Columbine victims to see a screening of Bowling for Columbine.  The man is simply despicable.

Michael Moore recently gave a talk in Davis, CA, as part of the ongoing promotional blitz for his latest book.  The local Davis paper covered the event, writing the type of fawning puff-piece that is all too common in Mikey’s media coverage.  One of the audience members wrote a letter to the editor regarding the article.  The paper printed the letter today’s edition, and the author forwarded the text of the letter to me.  It doesn’t appear to be linked on the website anywhere, so I have printed it below.

I was looking forward to reading the Enterprise’s review of Michael Moore’s lecture after I attended the event Monday evening.

While Sharon Stello recounted a number of Moore’s humorous anecdotes, she failed to mention the peals of laughter following Moore’s joke about the fires in Southern California being a result of God getting even with California for electing Arnold Schwarzenegger as Governor.  Maybe it was because there were only a few nervous giggles and I’m sure even those were later regretted.

It was bad enough that he said it, albeit as a joke, but then not to apologize or even recognize the loss and suffering of thousands of innocent people, is unconscionable.  Everyone in California is going to end up paying for this disaster either directly or indirectly and Michael Moore saw fit to make it the butt of a joke.  Shame on him!

I doubt seriously that Bill O’Reilly or Rush Limbaugh, who were frequent targets of Moore’s taunts, would have been treated as kindly if they made the same comments.

I hope Moore was just having a bad night because if the two hours of “stream of consciousness” rambling was the best he has to offer, it left a lot to be desired.

So, the fires in Southern California, which have so far claimed at least 17 lives, are God’s wrath for electing Arnold Schwarzenegger.  Delightful.  Mike can now join Jerry Falwell in the group of blinkered asshats who interpret the actions of the Almighty to advance their agenda. Such a delightful, compassionate man, Michael Moore. He really cares about the average person.

Today in Israel:

An Israeli start-up has developed a processor that uses optics instead of silicon, enabling it to compute at the speed of light, the company said.

Lenslet said its processor will enable new capabilities in homeland security and military, multimedia and communications applications.

�Optical processing is a strategic competitive advantage for nations and companies,� said Avner Halperin, vice president for business development at Lenslet.

�Processing at the speed of light, you can have safer airports, autonomous military systems, high-definition multimedia broadcast systems and advanced next-generation communications systems.� An optical processor is a digital signal processor (DSP) with an optical accelerator attached to it that enables it to perform functions at very high speeds. �It is an acceleration of 20 years in the development of digital hardware,� Lenslet founder and Chief Executive Officer Aviram Sariel told Reuters.

Today in Palestine:

An armed member of the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades takes part in an anti-Israel demonstration. The United States has reduced the size and cut the budget of the team it sent to the Middle East with great fanfare earlier this year to monitor the implementation of the so-called “roadmap” for Israeli-Palestinian peace.

Anyone see a pattern here?

A major western power threatens to use its nuclear arsenal against rogue states.  The United States?  Nope, it’s those warm and fuzzy pacifists over in France.

France is preparing to change its policy on nuclear weapons to include a threat to unleash first strikes against “rogue states”, a newspaper reported yesterday.

The Elys�e palace issued only a partial denial of the article in Lib�ration. It said there had been no shift in “nuclear doctrine” since President Jacques Chirac warned two years ago that the independent deterrent - the force de frappe - could be turned against “regional powers” that threatened to use weapons of mass destruction.

Lib�ration, quoting senior military sources, said this policy was under review and a new position would be expressed - possibly in a speech by President Chirac - by the start of next year. The new doctrine might raise the possibility of a “first strike” if France felt threatened by weapons of mass destruction (WMD).

The shift may seem strange in the light of France’s refusal to approve the US-led invasion of Iraq, which was justified by American and British allegations that Baghdad was developing nuclear, biological and chemical weapons. But Paris said there was no clear proof that Iraq held such weapons and that, in any case, a military invasion would not set a sensible precedent for controlling the proliferation of WMD.

The debate on a shift in policy, also hinted at in a speech this month by Jean-Pierre Raffarin, the Prime Minister, is partly an answer to domestic criticism that M. Chirac has underplayed the dangers of WMD.

What’s sad is that France’s nuclear deterrent is really the only deterrent they have.  They can’t really threaten anyone with military force because they, like every country in Europe except for Great Britain, don’t have much of a military to speak of.  So if they are concerned about attacks from rogue states, the only card they have left in their deck is their nuclear Ace of Spades.

Ah, France.  On the one hand they’re pacifists, models of international diplomacy, always ready to denounce US warmongering; on the other hand they’re threatening to nuke the world.  How typical.

How do I feel about this morning’s economic news?

Ehhhhhhhhhxcellent.