I have great respect for Patti Smith. She recently released a new album called "Twelve" which is comprised of cover versions of various artists music including Jimi Hendrix. Now, which Jimi Hendrix song would Patti Smith cover? Click here to find out.
In honor of the defeat of the Immigration Bill:
I've had enough of reading things
By neurotic, psychotic, pig-headed politicians
All I want is the truth
- "Just Gimme Some Truth" by John Lennon
And if you want to hear a really interesting version of this song by Jakob Dylan and Dhani Harrison, the sons of Bob and George, go here.
And perhaps a garland of garlic too. The Comprehensive Immigration Reform Bill is officially dead - again. Cry'n George changed his vote and came out against cloture this time but it's too little too late from my standpoint. Senator Sherrod Brown also voted against cloture - go figure.
Not one damn thing about this entire fiasco has made any sense whatsoever.
It's official - Senator George Voinovich's career is over. Below is my latest and last letter to the soon to be former Senator from the Great State of Ohio:
Senator Voinovich,
I can not begin to tell you how disappointed I am at your seeming reluctance to communicate with a concerned, registered, Ohio Republican voter about the Comprehensive Immigration Reform Bill. I sent you two previous e-mails on this issue dated June 15th and June 23rd – neither of which has been acknowledged in any fashion. I know your website has a disclaimer saying “the quantity of e-mails my office receives does not always allow for the kind of speedy response users of e-mail may anticipate”. That sir, I must tell you, is a significant understatement. Even a quick “immigration” search of your website turns up only references to the Visa Waiver Program and Passport Delays – hardly what I am interested in. I would also venture a guess that all of those constituents calling your office did not want to talk about Passport Delays either.
I heard you on Sean Hannity’s radio show this afternoon and not because I listen to Hannity but only because I knew you were going to be on. I can assure you I am not part of the rabble Hannity and others have stirred up regarding this issue. Unfortunately, your appearance only confirmed some of my worst suspicions. I do not understand why the Senate feels the need to address this issue in such haste and with so little public discussion. I can not help but feel as if I have been dismissed by my patrician betters.
In addition, I must express my total objection to the letter you sent to President Bush yesterday. The War on Terror is the most important and defining issue of our time. Anyone who thinks that “A policy of responsible military disengagement with a corresponding increase in non-military support is the best way to advance our nation’s interests in Iraq” is seriously mistaken or, at the very least, naive.
I have voted for you on many occasions in the past but now find that since we have parted ways on these two important issues, I will no longer be able to support you in the future. Not only that, but I will actively support any conservative candidate that runs against you. Also, since no one in your office has felt the need to respond to me, please do not bother since it will not only be a waste of your time, but more importantly, mine.
From NRO The Corner:
Bad Vibe [Stanley Kurtz]
"Something about this immigration battle doesn’t sit well. For all the bitterness of our political battles, there’s at least the sense that the government responds to the drift of public opinion. The Republicans in Congress turned into big spenders and the war in Iraq went poorly. As a result the Democrats prospered in 2006, if narrowly. That’s how democracy works. Our politics are often angry and ugly (and that’s a problem), but this is because the public is deeply divided on issues of great importance. Deep down, we understand that our political problems reflect our own divisions.
Somehow this immigration battle feels different. The bill is wildly unpopular, yet it’s close to passing. The contrast with the high-school textbook version of democracy is not only glaring and maddening, it’s downright embarrassing. Usually, even when we’re at each others’ throats, there’s still an underlying pride in the democratic process. This immigration battle strips us of even that pride.
I’m still stuck on the way this bill was going to be pushed through without a public airing of crucial provisions, in the two or three days before Memorial Day recess. But I should be stuck even further back–on the way this bill was cooked up in a backroom deal that bypassed the ordinary process of public hearings. We take them for granted, but those civics textbook fundamentals are there for a reason. We’re going to pay a steep price for setting the fundamentals aside.
Senators who believe that by passing this bill they will at least be getting a divisive issue out of the way are making a serious mistake. This is not 1986. The immigration issue is far more prominent now, and it will only grow in importance. Demographics, and the problems of assimilation in a globalized world of satellite dishes and easy travel will see to that. Look at how votes on the war have come back to haunt Democratic politicians. Votes by legislators of both parties on this bill will be haunting them–and all of us–for years to come.
Supporters of this bill sell it as a compromise that will heal America’s divisions. I fear it’s quite the reverse. This bill is infuriating the public and undermining faith in government itself. You can see it in the polling on confidence in Congress and the President. If this bill passes, it’s going to aggravate and embitter politics for years to come. Passing a measure over such overwhelming opposition is like slapping the public in the face.
You can’t solve an argument by imposing a "compromise" on parties who don’t actually view it as a compromise. You can’t heal social divisions by forcing your version of a "solution" down the public’s throats. Real healing comes only when two sides reach what they themselves consider a valid compromise, or when one side wins the argument by persuading a clear majority of the validity of its case. Democracy does work, but first the Senate has got to give it a try."
06/26 10:52 AM
Here is my recent correspondence with United States Senator George Voinovich. As you can see, our correspondence is a trifle one sided as I am the one doing all of the writing:
June 15, 2007
Senator Voinovich,
I am writing to you in the hope that you will vote against the Immigration Bill which seems to be making its way back into the Senate. I firmly believe that if we had built the fence, voters would be much more agreeable to this legislation. As it now stands it appears that the government is not prepared to take appropriate action to secure our boarders and to discourage further illegal immigration.
Please do not underestimate the unpopularity of this legislation with your constituents.
June 23, 2007
Senator Voinovich,
I e-mailed you over a week ago about the return of the Immigration Bill to the Senate and you have not seen fit to correspond with me in any manner.
As a constituent, I would appreciate it if you would let me know where you stand on this issue and why.
I know Senator Voinovich voted for cloture the first time around which would seem to indicate that he favors this legislation. However I am perplexed by his reluctance to discuss/vindicate his position with an obviously concerned, registered Republican voter. I looked everywhere on his website for any information about his position on this issue, but to no avail. For what its worth, I requested a response each time I e-mailed Senator Voinovich and still have yet to receive one to either e-mail.
The really sad part of this is that I signed an on-line Immigration Bill petition circulated by United States Senator Jame Inhofe yesterday and received a thank you and an update today.
Want to really piss me off? Ignore me.
And then we'll see how that works out for you.
Juilian Beever is in a class by himself. The raft picture below was completed Thursday in Charleston, WV for a festival. I have included my favorite pictures from his web site. Not bad for chalk on a sidewalk.
Well, what do you know? Just when you thought it was impossible for Microsoft to come up with something really cool - they do! This program reminds me of the photo enhancement software Deckard uses in Blade Runner.
Victor Davis Hansen has a great article for NRO titled "Honesty About Iraq" (emphasis added):
"Our soldiers are fighting brilliantly, and history will record they are defeating the enemy while suffering historically low casualties. But if the sacrifice of American youth is not tied — daily, hourly — to larger strategic and humanitarian goals by eloquent statesmen who believe in the mission, then cynicism follows and, with it, despair.
The establishment of consensual government in Iraq, with the concomitant defeat of jihadists, will have positive ripples that will undermine Islamism and help to cleanse the miasma in which al Qaeda thrives. But again, unless explained, most Americans will not see a connection between the ideology of the head-drillers and head-loppers we are fighting in Iraq and those who try to do even worse at Fort Dix and the Kennedy airport. The war to remove Saddam was won and is over; the subsequent and very different war in Iraq that followed is for nothing less than the future of the Middle East — and now involves everything from global terrorism and nuclear proliferation to the world’s oil supply and the future of Islam in the modern world.
We need to confess that the jihadists are not only keen students of insurgency warfare, but good observers of the American psyche. We think their kidnapping, childish infomercials, gruesome tactics, and horrific websites are primordial and counterproductive; but they are more likely horrifically simple in inciting the most basic fears and self-preservation instincts of ordinary people. Precisely because decapitation belongs to a different century makes it more gruesome now, not less. Because the al Qaedists steal many of their talking points from the Western Left does not make them unimaginative as much as eerily familiar. And because we can daily predict the serial barbarity of the jihadists makes it not so much unimaginative as savagely inevitable."
M'Lady and I were returning with our dinner this evening when we happened onto something I have not seen since we moved to the country. Two young ladies were sitting on the lawn of their home with a sign which announced they had "Lemonade For Sale". Now, I must admit that I am a sucker for little kids selling lemonade/Kool-aid and frequently buy all of it from them, thereby reinforcing an early favorable capitalistic experience.
However, these two young ones were is a particularly tough area to even make a sale, positioned as they were on a lightly traveled, 50 MPH country road. So we were a ways down the road by the time we fully comprehended what we had actually seen. We turned around and headed back, pulled into the driveway and parked. I talked with their father, who seemed to be relieved that someone had actually stopped. I commented on the difficulties inherent in their location and said that anyone one that stuck it out in the face of those odds deserved to be rewarded. He told me the girls set up the stand on every really hot summer day (it was close to 100 F today) and really enjoyed doing it.
While I chatted with Dad, M’Lady found out that the lemonade had been marked down from the original price of 25 cents and was now on sale for 10 cents a glass. What a deal! So we bought three glasses to drink on the way home.
And, of course, M’Lady gave them $5.00.
Did I mention that I’m a sucker for little kids selling lemonade?
This is very cool. It is a map of the United States with the names of other countries with similar GDP's to that individual state! Click the map to enlarge it.
"I make up my opinions from facts and reasoning, and not to suit any body but myself. If people don't like my opinions, it makes little difference as I don't solicit their opinions or votes."
- General William Tecumseh Sherman
Reading Harry Reid
"Well, you've heard by now that Senate leader Harry Reid insulted one of this country's brightest military minds, Marine Corps General Peter Pace -- calling him "incompetent." Let me take a few moments to put this in context.
First, Harry Reid voted for the war, like a majority of our legislators. America decided as a nation to free Iraq and the region from Saddam Hussein's tyranny. I have friends, both Democrat and Republican, who questioned the decision at the time, but the Republic made a commitment based on constitutional and democratic procedures. So they are now a hundred percent committed to moving forward in a way that’s best for our country. None of them, by the way, believe surrendering to the forces of terror in Iraq is what's best for our country.
Harry Reid, though, has taken a different route. He made his statement about General Pace on a conference call with fringe elements of the blogosphere who think we're the bad guys. This is a place where even those who think the 9/11 attacks were an inside job find a home.
And why shouldn't they think that? Reid has led the attack on the administration, with Nancy Pelosi, charging it lied and tricked America into supporting the war. Ignoring multiple hearings and investigations into pre-war intelligence findings that have debunked this paranoid myth, they accuse an entire administration of conspiracy to trick us into a war.
I suppose that's easier for some than admitting that they've flip flopped -- but the fact that Reid says this sinister Republican plot is going to help him elect more Democrats ought to be raising a few flags. Saying General Pace is incompetent doesn't even rank near the top of his bizarre statements.
How could anyone possibly believe, as Reid charges, that our commanding general in Iraq, David Petraeus, is out of touch with what's going on. Surely someone in Reid's position would know that Petraeus is briefed daily on all aspects of Iraq -- from civil to military. Surely he has to know that Petraeus is a true warrior scholar who literally wrote the Army's book on counterinsurgency warfare.
But Reid's comments are not meant for logical analysis. He proclaimed the war lost some time ago, and the surge as a failure even before the additional troops were on the ground. The problem is that every one of Reid's comments I've noted here has also been reported gleefully by Al Jazeera and other anti-American media. Whether he means to or not, he’s encouraging our enemies to believe that they are winning the critical war of will."
Years ago our young miss was given a tee shirt with all of the animals you would find in a small zoo arranged in a group portrait with the title "The Peaceable Kingdom". I have always been amused by people that function under the illusion that animals treat each other better than humans treat each other. Watch this video and then tell me it's not a jungle out there!
Rasmussen is reporting some interesting polling data regarding the defeat of the immigration bill in the Senate (emphasis added):
"The immigration bill failed because a broad cross-section of the American people are opposed to it. Republicans, Democrats, and unaffiliated voters are opposed. Men are opposed. So are women. The young don’t like it; neither do the no-longer-young. White Americans are opposed. Americans of color are opposed.
The last Rasmussen Reports national telephone poll found that just 23% of Americans supported the legislation. "
"There is no mystery to why the public opposed the bill. In the minds of most Americans, immigration means reducing illegal immigration and enforcing the border."
The article goes on to point out that it is quite unusual for Washington politicians to be this out of touch with their constituents since they purchase quite a bit of polling data themselves.
"...the same politicians who were stunned by their misreading of the public on this bill will probably be stunned to learn something else—most Americans actually do favor a welcoming and open immigration policy.
The United States is a nation of immigrants. It is also a nation of laws. Voters want to honor both aspects of the national heritage. And, like good parents trying to instill values in their children, voters want their elected representatives to do the same."
The AP is reporting:
"A broad immigration bill to legalize millions of people in the U.S. unlawfully failed a crucial test vote in the Senate Thursday, a stunning setback that could spell its defeat for the year.
The vote was 45-50 against limiting debate on the bill, 15 short of the 60 that the bill's supporters needed to prevail. Most Republicans voted to block Democrats' efforts to bring the bill to a final vote."
Do you think that the Senate heard from their constituents on this issue? One can only hope. And while they were at it, I imagine that more than one taxpayer might have pointed out that there was an election coming up next year too.
As if I needed more proof that Senator Harry Reid is terribly misguided, he recently referred to illegal aliens as "undocumented Americans" on the Senate floor. "UNDOCUMENTED AMERICANS"?
... are today's blooming idiots. The comments by former hippies turned gentrified home owners in Haight-Ashbury about an invasion of young, dirty, smelly street people are truly priceless.
"Barbara Libasci's home sits near a rock 'n' roll landmark: the house at 710 Ashbury St. where Jerry Garcia and the Grateful Dead once lived.
She has a front-row seat at a daily alternative music event she'd rather not attend. She often finds homeless kids sleeping on the lawn of the former Dead house. They climb the picket fence to peer inside the front windows and pick flowers from the garden.
"They camp right in the driveway," said the retired nurse, who lives in the former Haight-Ashbury headquarters of the Hells Angels. "I have to tell them to move so the owners don't back out over them. They're degrading the property."
Even some of those who try to help are getting fed up.
John Grima, a program director at the Haight Ashbury Free Clinic, founded in the 1960s, says his agency provides "nonjudgmental" services for homeless youths. "Still, there's this assumption of a free ride," he said.
Grima said a teen asked him for change on Haight Street. Grima offered him slices of pepperoni pizza. The young man refused, saying he was vegetarian.
"I said, 'OK, then don't eat it,' then I got mad," Grima said. "I said, 'Wait a minute, I don't owe you anything. I'm happy to help you, but I don't owe you a thing.'
"Recently, the stance against the homeless has hardened. Residents last year resurrected the Haight Ashbury Improvement Assn. to push the city to crack down on loitering. They have started a "court watch" program to monitor cases and push judges to sentence offenders to community service and order them into treatment.
Police have also cracked down. The department has sent teens home on its own dime and maintains two full-time outreach officers to coax youths into seeking help. But now officers ticket for "quality of life" offenses, including illegal camping and drinking in public.
At a recent public meeting, Homeless Youth Alliance director Mary Howe's plan for a center with beds and showers was greeted with anger.
"We're setting ourselves up as the last stop on the help train," fumed Carolyn McKenna, 54, a substitute teacher who moved to the area in 2003.
"Like, if we don't help these kids, they're going to be forever subjected to a life of misery and agony," she added.
McKenna said she was tired of being criticized for the "crime" of owning a home. "Haight-Ashbury is not synonymous with anarchy," she said. "It's not fair to homeowners with their entire net worth tied up here. I'd be disingenuous if I said I wasn't worried about property values."
More brilliance from Mark Steyn.
Walking the walk
Rod Dreher, Captain Crunchy, has been musing on Peggy Noonan's break with Bush:
I've got no strong objection to Noonan's analysis, and indeed I'm thrilled to see it. But it seems to me that we conservatives need to avoid falling into a historical revisionism that allows us to portray ourselves as passive victims of a feckless president. Not saying she does this, but I think as the last wheel comes off this presidency, and the GOP comes to grips with what this presidency has meant for the Republican Party and the conservative movement, there will be a strong temptation to resist owning up to our own complicity.
Just to clarify my own position, I disagree with the President on illegal immigration but I can't honestly say that he "betrayed" me. Most of the stuff the base is mad about are things he openly championed in the 2000 race. He ran the most pro-Mexican, pro-federalization-of-education, pro-prescription-drugs-for-seniors campaign of any Republican Presidential candidate ever. The convention in Philadelphia was a non-stop riot of mariachi bands playing the Cucaracha alternating with cucaracha bands playing the Mariachi. I bumped into my own Senator, Bob Smith of New Hampshire, in downtown Philly and asked him how he was enjoying it. He said he'd tried to get in but he'd been denied entry. That's how multicultural and diversity-celebrating it was: guys with suspicious names like "Bob Smith" couldn't even get past security.
President Bush has, broadly speaking, governed as he said he would seven years ago. Unfortunately, a big bunch of sophisticated types in the Republican base told themselves, "Hey, don't worry. This 'compassionate conservative' mumbo-jumbo is just a cunning feint to sucker the media and the swing voters." Au contraire, he meant it.
There's a lesson there for Republicans.
On the other hand, I had to go to a toy store today to get something for my kid. Next to the cash register were "Impeachmints" bearing Bush's visage and "Axis of Evil" finger puppets of Bush, Cheney and Rice. I parked next to a guy with an "American Terrorist" bumper sticker showing guess-who. As I said a year or two back, it requires a kind of perverse genius to get damned as a right-wing madman when 90% of the time you're Tony Blair with a ranch.
06/02 04:43 PM
Here is a reasonable update on what we know and don't know about CCD (Colony Collapse Disorder) provided by Straight Dope:
"... it's never a good idea to trust what the media are telling you. At least once in the present case the media got something completely wrong and created a huge mess: The story about cell phones was basically a misrepresentation of what one pair of reporters wrote about a study that they misinterpreted. In a nutshell, the original research didn't involve cell phones, and the researchers never said their research was related to honey bee colony die-offs. Even details like the alleged Einstein quote are dubious. No one has yet found proof that Einstein said anything about bees dying off – the earliest documented appearance of the "quote" is 1994 and, yes, Albert was dead at the time.
The bottom line? No one is certain what's going on, but a lot of the theories can't – by themselves – explain everything we're seeing. More important, the situation hasn't yet risen to the level of a catastrophe (except, sadly, for some of the affected beekeepers). If the same thing keeps happening every winter for another decade or so, then we might really start worrying. But for now, classifying this as a "problem with potentially severe economic impact should it persist" would be a more realistic assessment."
CWCID: Glenn Reynolds
Peggy Noonan has an interesting article in the Wall Street Journal today about how the Conservative movement is being destroyed by the Bush Administrations stand on the immigration bill. Noonan’s article prompted Ed Morrissey to add:
“I'm a little surprised by Noonan with this piece. I see nothing all that unusual with the way the Bush administration has attacked its critics over immigration. If she was to honestly look at the last six years, she will see that this is the normal mode of operation for the White House -- to always stay on the attack. In fact, they've followed the James Carville model from their first days in the White House.
What's the difference? They've not had to answer substantial conservative criticism very often. When they have, though, they've been consistent. When the Right objected to the poor choice of Harriet Miers as a Supreme Court nominee, they were accused of being sexist. When the Dubai Ports deal came to light -- which the administration failed to properly support -- they accused critics of bigotry and xenophobia. Those same accusations have arisen from Bush himself in this debate, with his accusation that opponents of the compromise bill "do not want what's right for America".
Welcome to the hardball of the Bush administration. We loved it when they used it on Democrats and the war, and it seems just a little hypocritical to start whining about it now that we're getting a taste of it ourselves.
However, Noonan does get the main point correct, which is that the GOP needs to start working on defining itself for the post-Bush era. We support him on the war and on taxes, but on most other domestic issues, we have a lot of daylight between Bush and the party. Discretionary spending went out of control on his watch, and the government grew faster than during the Clinton administration. That's not just Bush, either, but also the Congressional Republican leadership prior to the last mid-terms. We allowed lobbyist influence to increase, and we exploded the use of earmarks.
Republicans used to stand for smaller government, federalism, and strong national defense. Not all of that conflicts with the Bush legacy, but enough of it does that we need to start publicly demanding a return to those core concepts. Rather than repudiating Bush over his insulting attacks on the base, the better path is to generate a positive agenda that demonstrates our dissatisfaction with the previous six years -- and give Republicans something to vote for, rather than something to vote against.”
I might add that the base got its way with regards to Harriet Miers and the Dubai Ports deal; and we will get our way with amnesty too. I also think that Conservatives stand for “for smaller government, federalism, and strong national defense” not necessarily Republicans. Where some of the “movement” disaffection with Bush comes from is they thought he was one of them. Bush is not a conservative and never was, so none of this should come as a huge surprise. But the point of both writers is accurate – the conservative base needs to re-organize, re-energize and re-take the Republican Party.
