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."
