The Gift That Keeps On Giving

Attention Americans! Senator John "I served in Vietnam" Kerry has struck again! Once again, just when it appeared his Democratic Party had a legitimate chance to win an election, he has stormed onto the scene, to, once again, prove that Liberals are often the best G.O.P campaigners around. Without further ado, I give you the Senator's most recent wisdom which he shared earlier today:

“You know, education, if you make the most of it, if you study hard and you do your homework, and you make an effort to be smart, uh, you, you can do well. If you don’t, you get stuck in Iraq.”
Ouch! So I guess our troops are all uneducated, lazy morons.....

Already, the good Senator has received a firestorm of criticism for these remarks and thus responded to it. He seems to think the criticisms of his remarks are "despicable Republican attacks" coming "from those who never can be found to serve in war, but love to attack those who did."

Of course, this must have come as a surprise to Sen. John McCain, who has dealt Kerry some of the harshest and most prominent criticism. Because, you see, while Kerry was calling American soldiers who served in Vietnam evil murderers, McCain was sitting on his ass in a Vietnam Prison Cell.

Ooops!

Faux Pas, Monsieur Senator; Faux Pas!

One of the reasons Republicans have been down in the polls recently is because the voters lack the usual confidence they have in Republicans on National Defense. And exactly one week before Election Day, John Kerry may have just restored that confidence. Regardless of what Kerry actually intended to say, this will come off as Republicans standing up for the troops in the face of Democratic troop bashing - and that can only help Republicans at the polls.

Thanks again, Senator!!

Perspective On Victory

The past few evenings I've been listening to parts of an interview (Link Here) that several Conservative newspaper reporters recently conducted with President Bush. In this, very long, conversation they discuss foreign affairs and cover everything from Iraq to North Korea to Syria. If you have the chance I'd definitely recommend listening to some of it - although I wouldn't recommend the whole thing unless you have a lot of time. It's a very good interview, and President Bush does an excellent job. He's obviously more comfortable in this setting than in his usual press conferences. The reason I bring all of this up is, as I was listening to this conversation, I was struck by one of the things the President said and wanted to elaborate on it.

While discussing Iraq and how to achieve victory, Bush pointed out that "if the absence of violence is victory" then we, nor anyone else, has a chance of winning - and he's right. I believe this is true because, simply put, violence isn't going to vanish from the face of the earth. Evil people will always be around, and will always be doing evil things; our job is to minimize the threat that the evil people pose to us. Consequently, our goal in Iraq is not to eliminate every single Islamic fundamentalist or completely end every last bit of violence. At first glance, this may sound strange, but try thinking of it another way. Today, there are several thousand Neo-Nazis in Germany; indeed, there is a Nazi (political) Party in the United States. Yet, one would hardly say that the U.S didn't win World War II or defeat Nazism. This same principle applies in Iraq.

The bottom line? Just because we don't create Utopia in Iraq doesn't mean we have failed. In fact, to attempt to do so would be failure in and of itself. So when you think about Iraq, and the important question of victory, keep some perspective and don't set the goalposts too far away.

Good Evening! And Thanks For Watching al-CNN!

I have completely and utterly lost all respect for CNN. Not that I had a whole lot to begin with, but still; what they did yesterday was utterly disgusting. In case you haven't heard; CNN obtained a video produced by al-Qaeda that showed American soldiers being killed by Islamo-fascist snipers. You may be wondering what, exactly is so unacceptable about this video - well, I'll tell you. Better yet, why don't I simply reprint the letter of complaint I sent to CNN late yesterday/early this morning! Here it is:

"Yesterday, your, normally, reputable news organization severely tarnished its reputation. On your website, you headlined a video in which Iraqi insurgent snipers targeted and killed American Soldiers. This is highly inappropriate content to display on a legitimate news webpage. I would expect to see this kind of content in the dark corners of the internet or the discussion boards frequented by members of al-Qaeda - not on a mainstream website such as CNN.com. Not only is the violent content of this video disconcerting and unworthy of your presentation; but the utter disregard which you have shown for the American Troops in the video and their families is truly disgusting. How many of the producers, anchors, and employees of CNN would like to have the brutal death of their son, husband or father broadcast to the entire world? My guess is a paltry number, if any.

Furthermore, in captioning this video, your organization stated that, despite its content, it was still necessary for this video to be shown. Would you have done the same had this been simply a criminal domestic incident? I highly doubt you would have considered video footage (had there been any) of the DC sniper, from a few years back, ‘headline worthy’ – and for good reason. The way to detail the murder of an individual at the hands of a sniper is simply to write an article in which you note the deceased and their tragic cause of death. Using video footage goes ‘over-the-top’ in delineating this particular type of story. Moreover, when news reports become ‘over-the-top’ this indicates that the objectivity of the news reporters has been lost; and they have attempted to make an additional, subjective, point or argument with their story. That is not the job of a news reporter.

I hope you will reconsider your dissemination of this video. Furthermore, in the future, I sincerely expect that your news organization will utilize better judgment when deciding what content to place on its website.

Thank you for your time."

So there you have it! If you can't tell by now I really thought this was an extremely inconsiderate and stupid thing for them to run. One thing that I didn't mention in the letter, that I think is worth noting here, is that this type of 'news reporting' is what plays directly into the hands of the enemy and gives them better and better odds of winning. Al-Qaeda and the other Islamo-fascists cannot beat us militarily. They just can't. There is no way that insurgents can defeat the Marine Corps. The way that the Jihadists will win is by winning the P.R war. That's how Hezbollah was able to 'defeat' Israel despite getting the shit kicked out of it militarily. They win by breaking our will; not by out-fighting us.

So congratulations to CNN for receiving the most recent edition of the Walter Cronkite "Doing Our Best to help America Lose" Award!

You know, whenever Conservatives point out the terrible Left-Wing media bias, Liberals are always quick to shout "FOX News is Right-Wing;" which to a minor extent is true. But regardless of how biased you think FOX News actually is - at least they're on our side.

My Lawyer Lost!! Negligence!!

While drafting my last post I was struck with, at least in my opinion, a brilliant idea. It seems that these days everyone who screws up at their job gets slapped with a 'negligence lawsuit' by overeager Lawyers. If a Doctor has a patient who doesn't get well - he gets sued. If McDonald's somehow forgets to tell you that your coffee is hot - they get sued. If a politician screws up - we (generally) vote them out of office. Even my summer job comes with a severe risk of 'negligence' litigation.

All of this begs the question - if I go to court, after being promised by my lawyer that he'll win my case for me, and loose, can I sue him for courtroom negligence? He's the one who screwed up! He lost the case thanks to his own ineptitude! Not only that, but he's probably guilty, to some extent, of false advertising - I mean, I swear I saw an advertisement where he offered to get me justice - and loosing isn't justice! I'm the victim here! Surely my other lawyer will be able to sue my primary one for me! If not I'll sue him too! We'll see who opposes capping damages at $250,000 after I finish suing my lawyer for $500,000 because he lost that clearly winnable case!

On a more serious note, I wonder if they really could swallow their own medicine? Somehow, methinks the answer is no.

Even Trial Lawyers Admit - Tort Reform Works!

It seems that in the October issue of the American Bar Association Journal, America's resident legal 'masters' have a bone to pick - with the State of Texas. That's right, it seems that America's most unstoppable industry has finally hit a roadblock; and one with two long steer horns on it at that. Here are some choice quotes I've seen from the ABA Journal's cover story:

- A plaintiff attorney states: "My income has dropped to probably 10 percent of what I made in 2003."
- Another attorney, a former president of the Texas Trial Lawyers Association states: "And it noticeably hit the defense side hardest first. Their practices are drying up."
- On page 33: "The number of medical - malpractice cases filed there in 2005 was down 41 percent from the average number of filings during the six years before 2003." (emphasis added)
- "Texas' net gain of more than 4000 physicians since tort reforms were enacted in 2003..."
- "More significant is the 44 percent increase in physician licensure applications in just the past year..."

Wow! You mean enacting Tort reform will actually help decrease the amount of frivolous lawsuits and aid the healthcare system by increasing the number of available Doctors? No way! Yup folks, that's right, if you simply put the necessary reforms into place, you'll get the positive results. Imagine. Just think, all those patients in Texas now have 4,000 new Doctors to choose from - this means the Docs will have to improve the quality of the services they provide due to the increase in competition for those services. And the patients are the real winners because increased competition means not only better quality but likely cheaper prices too! Ain't Capitalism sumthin'?!?

If you want to find out more about the great success tort and medical liability reform has had in Texas check out the following links:

- An Editorial by Texas Gov. Rick Perry on the success of his proposed reforms.
- An assessment from the Texas Medical Association.
- Rick Perry's webpage on Tort and Liability Reform. (several good links on this page)

So, congrats to Gov. Rick Perry and the Texas Legislature for doing the right thing; and also, kudos to the people of Texas for passing (the damages-capping) Proposition 12 back in 2003.

A Better Man Than Most

May God bless Michael A. Monsoor and his family. Petty Officer 2nd Class Monsoor was buried Thursday - he was only the second Navy SEAL to die in the Iraq War. I mention him because it is not everyday that the United States is blessed with Men who will fall on top of grenades to save the lives of thier fellow soldiers. That is truly heroic. (Story Here)

The English al-Jazeera

In what must be an effort to make it easier for all us infidels to understand how dumb we are the famed al-Jazeera network has now decided to do broadcasts in the English language. So, in case CNN messed up any of the translations, or if you were unsure exactly what their News broadcasts were saying, I've discovered a clip for you on YouTube.

So here it is.

Enjoy! ;-)

Thinking Critically On Iraq

It seems that every day now, more and more people continue to say that "the War in Iraq is going badly." Over and over this gets repeated, not just in media outlets such as CNN but also by normal, everyday people who are opposed to the War. The endless repetition of this phrase has certainly had its intended effect; despite the fact that it really means absolutely nothing. Seriously. So you think the War in Iraq is going badly - compared to what? Other wars? Life under Saddam? Chicken Soup?

You see, when you say that something is 'bad' or 'good' you are referencing some other standard or thing. For example: when you hear a new rap song, you will (assuming you have any intelligence) say that it is 'bad' music. The reason you say this is because comparable to all the other music you've heard, the rap stinks. In other words the song by itself isn't bad or good, it's the comparison with all the other kinds of music you've heard that enables one to make such a judgment. (This explains why people in the 1300's were so enthralled by Gregorian Chant - they had merely never heard anything else, and were thus unaware of how bad it sucked.)

And so that brings us back to Iraq; which, we are told, is going 'badly.' Since the folks saying this generally do so in reference to "the war" let's assume that they mean it's going badly compared to other past wars in American History. Unfortunately, such a statement would not only be inaccurate, but an outright lie. The War in Iraq is the 2nd least expensive war we have ever fought, as a percentage of the GDP, surpassed only by the First Gulf War (which lasted a few months as opposed to 3+ years). The Iraq War has cost the 4th fewest lives of any of the Wars we have fought, surpassed only by the Spanish-American War, the War of 1812, and, again, the short Gulf War I. Indeed, to put this statistic in perspective, if all the American casualties from Iraq were multiplied by 6, that total would still not even be one of the 10 deadliest Battles of the Civil War alone. Every death is terrible, but if you're going to compare it to other Wars, the Iraq casualty numbers are absolutely remarkable. In fact, when placed beside other Wars in American History, almost all aspects of the Iraq War are remarkable by comparison; thus, it hardly seems fair to say that, for a war, Iraq is going 'badly.'

So maybe that's not what anti-war folks mean when they say "the War in Iraq is going badly." Oh, I know - maybe they mean that the state of affairs in Iraq is 'going badly' compared to the state of affairs it had prior to the U.S invasion under Saddam! So let's see, during his time as Iraqi 'president' Saddam Hussein killed an estimated 1 million of his own citizens - in peacetime. That puts Saddam's annual murder average roughly equal to the 3 year total of civilians killed (44,000) since the American invasion. And I'm not even taking into account the number of people killed by Saddam in the Iran-Iraq or Gulf Wars! Simply put, things have gotten much better and much safer in Iraq thanks to the U.S invasion. Even my rudimentary analysis above can prove that - and more detailed analyses make that difference even more drastic. Consequently, I sincerely hope that those opposed to the Iraq War are not arguing that it is 'going badly' in comparison with Saddam's Iraq; because that too would be a lie.

Now, maybe the anti-war crowd feels the "War in Iraq is going badly" because the reality on the ground in Iraq is not as good as the reality on the ground back here in the United States. Finally, a comparison that is true! Yes, Iraq is definitely 'doing badly' comparable to the United States; although, so is the rest of the world. Indeed, compared to the current state of things in the U.S, (be it, infrastructure, economic prosperity, etc.) every Nation in the world could be said to be 'doing badly' except for maybe Great Britain, Japan and Germany. Therefore, while this particular critique of the Iraq War may be valid, it does not particularly mean anything insofar as proving the War to be useless is concerned.

The bottom line is this: most people who flaunt the "War in Iraq is going badly" meme have, honestly, very little idea what they mean by that. Indeed, I'm guessing that if I asked 99% of the Iraq War's opponents "compared to what?" after they had uttered their signature slogan they would have absolutely no response. The other 1% would most likely be intellectually dishonest and try to claim that either (1.) 'The US is killing innocent Iraqi civilians' or (2.) 'The US is not doing a good job fighting the War' - both of which, as I pointed out above, make no logical sense. So next time someone tells you that "the War in Iraq is going badly" be sure and ask them just what exactly they're comparing that to.