AMAZING LITTLE CREATURES

 

Kerry Says Iraq to Become Another Lebanon?

Let's have a history lesson

 

During a press conference this afternoon in Colorado, John Kerry said that because of Bush policies in Iraq, he anticipated having to deal with a “Lebanon” if he takes office in January. Lebanon of course has been embroiled in strife for well over 20 years now. Though what Kerry may have failed to mention is that Lebanon’s democratic Christian government collapsed when Israelis pulled out under UN pressure in the 1980’s, leaving only Syrian troops, Syrian- and Iranian-sponsored terrorist groups in charge. The result has been decades of bloodshed, chaos and poverty in what was once a prosperous and developing democracy.

 

"I don’t know what I'm going to find on January 20 the way the president's going”, Kerry told reporters. “If the president just does more of the same every day and it continues to deteriorate, I may be handed Lebanon, figuratively speaking."

 

The irony is that if the US were to follow Kerry’s lead- which is essentially to follow the lead of the UN (i.e. France, Germany, Russia, China and other Oil-For-Fooders), we would be pulling out of Iraq without completing the most fundamental anti-terrorist part of our mission, instead leaving the country in the hands of Syrian and Iranian terrorists invading from all points. That is, essentially another Lebanon.

 

Later in his speech Mr. Kerry argued he would support US generals in whatever decisions they needed to make with regard to troops in Iraq, but in an interview with Chris Matthews just last January 06 of this year, Kerry answered when asked if he was “one of the anti-war candidates” - “I am, yeah.”

 

I don't really think Kerry is a flip-flopper. I think he thinks he is a master of dialectics. Nevertheless I'm sure most thinking people would agree delusions of clever deceit are not the same as flip-flopping even if the latter makes for great airplay. Kerry has always been anti-war, anti-American military (adjectival specification needed), essentially a genuine “carpe diem” anti-American. The only times he has pretended otherwise were when the public was watching and the spin-profit ratio had been diminished significantly such as during the first iteration of the Gulf War back in 1991 (to some extent), 9/11 and of course Mr. Saddam Part deux (to a greater extent). But trying to be a good politician by sounding hawkish isn't even really one of his strong suits. To me, that is far worse than being a confused Senator from Massachusetts whose claim to fame is flip-flopping.

 

Relatively recently in its long history, Lebanon became the hotbed of terrorist activity sponsored by Syria and Iran precisely because the democracies of the world had pulled out when pressured by the agenda-driven UN. What happened next was the result of those Western democracies giving heed to the “global test”.

 

And what about the UN applying any pressure to Syria to leave the region? Well, it’s been 20-plus years and counting, and we're still waiting. Yet, Spaceman-Spiff Kerry thinks that, by reason, this is not the fault of the terrorists who maim and kill and tear things up. Rather, Senator Kerry seems to say a strong, long-term stabilizing presence by the Free World creates Lebanons, not the retreat of such democracies or their failure to show up altogether.

 

If this is a war on terrorism, it would certainly seem judging by the participating players that Iraq is one of the places to be, Mr. Kerry.

 

 

Related:

Kerry Quotarama

 

Related Humor courtesy of CadetHappy.com:

Please check out this blog. He has many, many more where this came from

 

 

 

UPDATE:

 

John Kerry in a replayed interview from late 2003 on Sean Hannity's syndicated radio broadcast was rebroadcast tonight on Hannity & Colmes criticized then Democrat front-runner Howard the Dean for flip-flopping.

 

SH: You probably would be closer to the president’s position than Howard dean…

 

JK: Extraordinarily enough, Howard dean could not even bring himself to say we were better off without Saddam Hussein- I find that quite incredible.

 

SH: Why don’t you think you are doing better. You’re from Massachusetts, you’ve always done very well…why do you think you’re not doing better in the polls in NH…?

 

JK: Because I think the war was very confusing and very difficult for a lot of people. It was a very divisive issue for our party. And I think that uh made it very difficult.

 

SH: Do you think he’s gone just too far to the left is that the reason?

 

JK: I think his positions are unclear. I mean uh you know you can’t have multiple positions on Iraq and on the war.

 

JK: At the time that we voted, Howard Dean said that he supported a resolution that gave authority to go to war. He also said that there were weapons of mass destruction, and he said that uh that Saddam ought to be disarmed. And then a few months later he had a totally different position. If you’re gonna be president of the United States you have to have a clear position and you have to lead. I believe my position is clear and I led and I think it is the right position which is to disarm and stand up to Saddam Hussein but to do it the right way.

 

 

Thank you, Senator Kettle.

 

Note by the way, his admission of the Democrat party's strong anti-war leanings. Those leanings, I'm sure would have no influence on the nomination of a war-time presidential candidate.

 

 

 

 

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AMAZING LITTLE CREATURES

CAMPAIGN VIOLENCE REFORM

 

Brown Shirted Thugs Seem to Support Dictatorship in America

Ransack GOP Headquarters, assault and vandalize across the country

 

As it seems, this segment (Planet Moronia) has begun the tradition of being a two-parter. This time however, we are leaving the debate of the debate in favor of the debate over whether the US should have free elections or only nominate and support candidates the most violent party approves of (like a quasi-dictatorship). I must preface this and say that I am willing to bet that most Democrats are horrified by these acts of violence aimed specifically against the volunteers of the Republican or any other political party in the United States. However, the Democrat leadership has thus far shown little interest in joining with other Americans in condemning it. 

 

 

Here’s the rundown:

 

Protestors whom we saw earlier this year protesting against Bush and against the Republicans’ right to speak "in public” in New York weren’t finished after Bush’s nomination.

 

Since then we have seen campaign volunteer intimidation, violence and theft across the country using a level of thuggery heretofore unprecedented in a land that depends on free elections between at least two parties to survive.

 

Just today and yesterday protesters stormed Republican Party campaign headquarters in West Allis, WI, Orlando and Miami FL and Westmorland County, PA.

 

I e-mailed Chris Lato, the communications director of the Wisconsin Republican Party about today’s break-in at their West Allis headquarters, where protesters belligerently stormed the offices with bullhorns, intimidating campaign operatives and committing acts of petty vandalism along the way. While he declined to say if charges had been pressed or were planned, he did say that charges had been filed and protesters were arrested in both the Orlando and Pennsylvania incidents. “It is my understanding that protestors were arrested after things turned violent in Florida and Pennsylvania.”

 

No news reports of the Pennsylvania headquarter assault could be found, however I did find a statement at the Republican State Committee of Pennsylvania official website by Republican State Committee Chairman Alan Novak who called it “an outrage of the highest order. There is no place for violence, threats or disorderly conduct in campaigns," exclaimed Novak. “With similar events happening across the nation, it is clear that some think this kind of action is condoned. I demand that Chairman Rooney (of the Pennsylvania DNC) call to a halt any and all threatening protests and that he urge affiliated third party groups to do the same."

 

The statement also indicated that another assault had occurred in Tennessee when the local Bush-Cheney campaign office was fired upon, shattering several windows and causing property damage. It was too late in the evening to call contacts in the Davidson County Young Republicans for comment. Nor was there any word yet on their website about the incident.  

 

Firing weapons into Republican campaign headquarters is no laughing matter. It takes the threshold beyond petty vandalism and caustic fisticuffs. (And it’s not too smart a thing to begin since most NRA members are Republicans). All joking aside, this is serious business and we must defend our right to freely support the candidate of our choice. Democrats should be standing with Republicans on our side on this one. Instead, the only public statement I could find was in the Seattle Post-Intelligencer dated last Saturday by Washington State Democratic Chairman Paul Berendt over the three laptops that were taken earlier this month from Republican campaign offices in Bellevue Washington. The laptops were the only things taken in the offices, which belonged to top staff members. Unrelated businesses and offices in the same building were unmolested. In his comments, Berendt made light of the thefts and said his party was being falsly fingered in the fiasco, “I think Chris is mistaken. I think the Republican National Committee just packed up and left the state in the middle of the night and took all their equipment with them. They seem to have given up on having any chance of carrying this state." The laptops may have contained highly confidential campaign and possibly volunteer and donor information. Information which could be used to commit fraud or even blackmail against RNC supporters.  

 

 

Here are just a few of the Ransacked Republican Regulars in the past month:

 

Huntington, WV – 1.September Shots fired into headquarters

And Again – Same location vandalized one week later

Medford, OR – September, October Vandalism and theft of personal signs, vehicles with bumper stickers etc.

Bellevue, WA – 1.October Three Laptops known to likely contain sensitive information stolen during Watergate-style break-in. Campaign rep says it happened in 2000 as well.

Orlando & Miami, FL – 5.October Protesters Storm campaign headquarters, threatening volunteers and committing vandalism

West Allis, WI – 6.October More of what happened in Florida

Westmorland County, PA – 6.October “a Democrat protest in Greensburg, Westmoreland County, turned threatening and potentially violent when a protestor stormed the Republican Victory Center shouting obscenities and intimidating young female volunteers,” according to the Pennsylvania Republican State Committee website.

Tennessee – 6.October More of what happened in West Virginia- shots fired through GOP office windows

 

Some of the more ridiculous: Saybrook Point, CT – 25 November 2003 "The GOP, they lie and cheat! The GOP, they steal our heat!" was chanted as protestors stormed a GOP fundraiser.

 

– 9.September 2000 Fire breaks out at the headquarters of the Monroe County Republican Party Committee in Bloomington, Indiana

 

Not to say Democrat hopeful John Kerry wants to be a dictator. But it would help if his campaign weren’t being so reticent to condemn the 1^st Amendment-suppressing activities of those Kerry supporters actively involved in these attacks. Similar to the Nazi brown shirts in the German 1920’s who rioted and crashed the political offices of their opposition during election years, the radical left Kerry-Gestapo has deployed their storm troopers to silence their constitutionally-protected legitimate major political opposition (and we know they only got worse once they actually gained power in the 1930's). The only possible intended result of such a strategy of intimidation is to create a situation where one party runs unopposed, its opposition too afraid for life and limb to oppose it.

 

So where is Jimmy Carter on this one, folks? My bet is that just like the idiologically obsessed ACLU, he's a bit selective.

 

 

Related:

 

Vigil Turns Hostile Toward Family Of Killed Soldier

 

A Gentle Tug of the Conscience: Pigtails of Justice and One Anti-Bush Heckler

 

They Hate Competition: Peaceful Conservative Protest Warrior Site Hacked

 

RNC Convention ’04: Terrorists, Traitors and Tea Toddlers

The Truth about Teresa’s Pet-Snake Protesters

 

 

 

UPDATE:

Freepers Have Posted a "Compilation of Dem Attacks" along with Photos Here:

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1237215/posts

 

UPDATE:

Blogger Aft_Lizard Has Now Posted Some More Links to Related Stories along with Photos.  Here:

http://aftlizard.blogspot.com/2004/10/original-site-brown-shirts-rearise.html

 

 

 

Aft_Lizard's blog also found a local TV report about the shots fired at the Tennessee HQ, which occured in Knoxville:

http://www.wbir.com/news/news.aspx?storyid=20241

 

Related Freeper Thread on the Knoxville Shooting:

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1235838/posts

 

More reading:

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/1237534/posts?page=65

 

 

(MINI-)UPDATE:

 

Freeper  (post # 106) Says Ann Coulter Took a Top Dem to Task Earlier Tonight about the Attacks

According to one freeper, “Ann Coulter confronted the Democrat on Scarborough about it tonight and he snickered while he tried to deny any connection to the Democratic party -- he did a terrible job of trying to deny complicity and you could tell Ann and Pat Buchanan both didn't believe him.” Did anyone else see this exchange? No mention either who that "top dem" might have been. If indeed it did occur, it would be encouraging to see Coulter go after them, while also disturbing if the dems reacted as described in the Freeper post. Pubs need to pull out all the stops to give this trend of violence visibility in the press. According to the Scarborough site for the deeply curious, a transcript should be available later today here: http://msnbc.msn.com/id/3719710/

 

USEFUL UPDATE:

 

Reports of violence at Republican offices can be made by contacting the Department of Justice. This is, I understand where pressure may also be applied for any possible RICO investigation that would look into DNC, AFL-CIO and other group collaboration in interference with the process of an election via voter and political suppression.

U.S. Department of Justice
950 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20530-0001

E-mails to the Department of Justice, including the Attorney General, may be sent to AskDOJ@usdoj.gov.

 

 

MAJOR UPDATE:

 

Republicans taking charge: Click here to see my post 11. October 2004

 

 

 

 

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CAMPAIGN VIOLENCE REFORM

PLANET MORONIA

 

Tint-Bias at the Veep Debate?

Who’s Lookin’ at Hue, Kid?

 

 

  

Unaltered VP Debate Stills from Last Night C/O MSNBC

 

I noticed this last night during the VP debate: something er, rather, peculiar in paradise. During the split-screen shots when it was most noticable, it appeared to me the tint on the Silk Pony (John Redwards) was red and youthful, while the tint on Cheney's plump visage was well quite, ill and a ralphy green in its presentation. At first I thought it was me being Rather-shy until I saw the yellow timer lights side-by-side light up- and only one of them was yellow. While the middle light for Cheney unmistakably was yellow, the one before Edwards was as red as Christmas. So too, their skin hues. As I watched further I noticed that when Cheney was included in an Edwards wide-shot, he suddenly regained his health and vigor. Cheney's chair also seemed to bear a grey chromatic warmer than that of the chair assigned the unfortunate task of holding Redwards' derrière.

 

While there is no doubt the excuse might be it was that the shots were simply by different camaras that they happend to rush out and buy at Wal-Mart because the really expensive ones they normally use broke before the flight to Cleveland during an illegal profiling incident by airline security, I personally am left asking what the video guys were smoking in the control room. Aren't they supposed to be "professionals", able to wow us with their visual flutter?  

 

There are so many jokes here, I can hardly contain myself. I was going to lead with “Some off-color remarks, if you will about a visible difference between the candidates’ camera shots,” or “Truly in this show, the “Silk Pony” was a horse of a different color.” But I think it best to get right to the matter that may in fact be a bit more serious, albeit not altogether shocking considering the MSM.

 

Anyone know who ran the camera pool for this debate?

 

 

UPDATE

 

A couple excellent bloggers today kinda ribbed me a little and perhaps poked some fun about this post (see comments). In summary, Mishlei wonders where my observations on the content of the debate are. And Jeff of Beautiful Atrocities suggests all the bad air provided by Xanga servers has caused me to start chasing conspiracy theories similar to a certain Lefty blogger the rest of the sphere loves to hate. Naa. 

 

So I'm going to have a little bit more fun with this three-legged red-headed step-child :p. Now this was almost a serious endeavor- to find out why exactly there seemed to be an almost ubiquitous prattle about Cheney looking sick or tired or even near-death etc. -as I believe Brit Hume also commented last night, along with other pundits on Fox after the debate. One radio commentator today, Dallas KLIF's Greg Knapp even went so far as to open his radio show with, "I was worried Cheney was going to drop dead last night". Of course, there are many reasons why Greg Knapp is a local radio commentator aside from his looking like a gecko whether in Cheney's or Redwards' lighting. 

 

Here is how the ornithoid pursuit went down: Cheney sounded engaged and alive on the radio. Later however I was surprised to hear anything otherwise until I actually watched it. I must admit I began to draw the same conclusion as the above-mentioned TV commentators after seeing the debate myself later that night. That of course is when I saw how sickly pale the Vice President appeared. I thought it was perhaps that he was sickly pale until I noticed those discommodious timer-lights during a split-screen candidate shot. Silliness aside, these differences in appearance seem to have made a powerful impression on some level with the pundits (and perhaps the public's) perception of the constitution of each of the debaters.

 

Now that said, we know it's all academic since this debate is about a 3.2 on an importance scale of 10 and you probably will be admitting to yourselves this is the most interesting thing to have come out of the whole debate, aside from Cheney's putting the "silk pony" back in its stall. All theories aside, this is the type of thing about which I rarely if ever post, but for the record I believe it's worth noting, even for its 3.2 point value. Now if I said I knew with any certainty of fact that some libs decided to tweak Cheney's hue to make it more like that of Chirac's without having any insider information to that effect - that, would be almost to the level of leftwing lapblogs Andrew or Wonkette. I still maintain it is sloppy camera work and production work to have such dramatic differences in color that people would think the person on one camera looked sick- particularly during a political debate. But then I'm pretty type-A. In today's climate I think it's careless. 

 

Maybe it's my own little pet jihad, but we all get at least one, don't we?    

 

 

 

 

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PLANET MORONIA

BLOGSITE UPDATE

 

Blogbat Announces Move to New Cyber Digs

New Look, More to Come

 

I decided to make some minor changes to this blog, as those of you who are frequent flyers have noticed - though Xanga seems to have trouble with it, which to any of you should come as no surprise. The above new banner was obviously put through the Xanga blender when I uploaded it.

 

I don’t plan to spend much time trying to fix it however. The other news is that I will hopefully soon be departing from Xanga and its poor service and limited features and moving the fun and excitement to my own domain and a respected host, both of which have already been introduced to each other. I’m getting everything all ready to move in, in fact, which is where most of my “blog time” is going right now. There will also be a completely new look. More to come on that, along with the domain name and other good stuff as the date approaches.

 

 

 

UPDATE: Fixed the banner. It should show up properly now and suffice as a very modest teaser...

 

 

 

 

 

 

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BLOGSITE UPDATE

 

NOTES FROM THE GARDEN JOURNAL

 

Horse-Drawn Carriage-Makers of the World Unite…After Tea, Of Course

 

Truly elitism and out-moded haberdashery come in all shapes and sizes and usually come when a person or a group think they have whatever it is they do all wrapped up and figured out and as such have finally earned the right to be lazy and self-indulgent. And traditionally this balance is eventually upset when somebody comes along whom the old guard accuses of going off as half-cocked amatures, and shakes things up by outdoing and beating their elders at their own game. First comes denial of the upstart’s very existence, followed by a denial of the upstart's credentials. After that we can usually witness the general denial of the upstart’s right to exist, ending with a denial the old guard was bested by that upstart, which usually happens as the former is being carried out the door.

 

So what do Burt Rutan’s SpaceShipOne and the Blogosphere have in common?

Well first off, both are upstarts doing something which only before had been the exclusive right of the most elite of “professionals” in their business. Yet both also have managed to show their sneering predecessors a thing or two about how things should be done, by doing it right.

 

When Dan Rather assumed he could pass off a story of questionable accuracy with forged documents coming from Texas anti-Bush partisans to boot, he thought he was safe as he had always been. So even today goes the hope of Peter Jennings and Tom Brokaw. Then along comes this young pup of an outlet, its members doing their homework and getting it right and we find the old guard, the king as it were, all this time really did have no clothes.

 

So what did those media elites have to say when this upstart they had previously tried to ignore bested them? Nothing factual of course, just some drivel about some ambiguous cloud of legions of people using common sense out there gathering facts and doing their homework and that the American viewing public should for some reason fear them. But the only reason the American people would fear such a thing is by the fact they have become unused to fact-gathering and quite used to spin, which they fear by virtue of saturation.

 

And then you have today the historic event that won the Ansari X prize for the team at Scaled Composites, which created SpaceShipOne. When those in the know at NASA and the big aerospace industry assumed they could pass off creative mediocrity and pat each other on the back for it, they thought they were, well, as safe as they had always been. Then along comes this young pup of a group, its members doing their homework and getting it right and we find the old guard, the king as it were, all this time really did have no clothes.

 

And once again, it’s déjà vu all over again!

 

So just what on earth did those space-elites have to say when this, another fine example of an upstart which they had desperately tried to ignore bested them? Not a whole lot publicly. But when Mike Fincke, who is sharing a space station with fellow orbiter, cosmonaut Gennady Padalka found out about today’s crowning flight of SpaceShipOne, which took place on the forty seventh anniversary of the launch of Sputnik, he offered something that left some room for interpretation. According the Associated Press account, Fincke is quoted as saying, “’Fantastic’…adding that it was great to learn that for a while he and Padalka were not ‘the only ones off the planet.’" A seeming jab at the perceived amateurishness of Rutan’s space project? If so, it would seem to mirror perhaps that now waging war currently underway between the Old and New Media. This sense was further hinted at in the post-flight statement by Rutan during his news conference shortly before formally being awarded the Dallas-based Ansari family’s Ansari X Prize: “The big guys, the Boeings, the Lockheeds and the nay-saying people at Houston ... I think they are looking at each other now and saying, `We're screwed.’"

 

 

There is little doubt those “nay-sayers” will try to scare the American people with some drivel about some ambiguous cloud of forward-thinking pioneers using common sense and doing their homework and why Americans should hold doubts. But clearly in light of the past forty years, the only reason the American people would even be presently doubtful of such a thing as space travel is because they have become unused to anything else.

 

So what do Burt Rutan’s SpaceShipOne and the Blogosphere have in common? Both are upstarts, trading blows over something big in Texas with that famous “old guard”, both are taking their medium to its next leg in its journey and both show that the individual, free to think, free to dream and willing to work hard to make it all happen, always beats the fat cats, the ne'er-do-well’s who populate the slow-moving behemoths we call in this instance Big Media and Government Aerospace. And both have managed to show their sneering predecessors a thing or two about how things should be done, by doing it right. And of course the sneering predecessors still aren’t getting it. But I think there comes a point where some of the nay-sayers will look at each other and say, "we're screwed". At least they will have the credit for being smart enough to know when a gig is over and perhaps try to join their competition. The others - well some will always rather live out their days in delusion.

 

 

 

 

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NOTES FROM THE GARDEN JOURNAL

TALKING POINT LEMONS

 

Malfunctioning Liberalism

 

 

Kerry to Sawyer on The $87US Billion: Articulation Malfunction

Democrap Candidate John Freak Kerry today during his interview with Diane Sawyer on ABC’s Good Morning America blamed his most famous gaffe made last spring  about "voting for the 87 billion before (he) voted against it" on an “inarticulate moment”, saying it was late at night and he was “very tired”. Today's sound bite was played on the Rush Limbaugh Show which swiftly (if I dare mention "swift" in the same sentence with "Kerry") pointed out that the Democrat presidential hopeful also had actually made the claim about “the 87 billion” during an early day speech to veterans on 16 March and not late at night, as Mr. Kerry claimed he had to Sawyer. Mr. Limbaugh of course quipped that it appeared the real “inarticulate moment” was more likely made this morning in the Good Morning Viet-nam America interview. You can read more about it care of a Washington Post article. Meanwhile the DNC official website is comparing rather somewhat strangely “The Bush Record vs. the Kerry Plan”. Wouldn’t an "apples & apples" comparison be between the Bush Record and the Kerry Record? It must surely be just another articulation malfunction, this time on the part of the DNC web master.

 

This just weeks after CBS News and Dan Rather said they had suffered a “memo malfunction” which Rather blamed on partisans and Republican political operatives (and bloggers in bedclothes) Never mind the Rather ties to the DNC via his daughter, his own involvement and participation in the DNC and its fundraising events or the involvement of his producer, Ms. Mapes (aka Miss Prism), about whom her own father went forward to denounce as a radical, agenda-driven partisan. And let us not forget the partisanship of the "source", about whom Rather felt it unnecessary to share those details of the years-old, politically-driven feud Burkett had running with the Bush administration. And then there was Lt Col. Jerry Killian's secretary who was an outspoken Kerry supporter – a partisan in the eyes of normal people. I guess Dan’s definition of “partisan” only applies to non-Democrat conservatives, moderates or anybody else who points out the fact those Microsoft Word-produced documents with the Times New Roman font were forgeries. I'm certainly glad that unlike the Pajamahadeen, CBS "always" shows due diligence. Dan Rather, give us a break. Better to type in stylish pajamas than be caught in the kings new clothes.

 

A year for CBS indeed. Of course last week CBS was fined $550,000US by the FCC for the Janet Jackson “wardrobe malfunction” that started it all for the sinking network.

 

You can also read how DNC-Tool, the Pro-Abortion National Education Association is having a serious education malfunction at Beautiful Atrocities today. 

 

And now Republicans couldn’t have asked for a better early Christmas gift: The collapse of the Kerry campaign and total loss of credibility with the Democrat Party and the demise of one of the DNC chief talking point war machines: CBS News.

 

 

 

 

ROCKETS RED GLARE

 

 

 

SpaceShipOne Makes History: First Private Manned Mission to Space

Today’s 29 September flight marked a watershed in history, as SpaceShipOne breached the barrier of space and then glided back to earth in a flight costing astronomically less than missions by the US Government agency NASA. The historic flight has been compared by some in importance to the first flight of an airplane by Orville and Wilber Wright in 1903.

The second flight is scheduled for 4 October where they plan to claim the coveted Ansari X Prize, which will be awarded to the first team to launch a manned vehicle into space and turn around and re-launch it within two weeks. More info can be found on Space.com.

 

 

In related news, earlier this week, Virgin Group announced a partnership with Scaled Composites- group behind SpaceShipOne- to build a commercial tourist space vehicle. The new venture under the name of Virgin Galactic will officially begin taking its premium passengers into space in 2005. Virgin’s flamboyant CEO Sir Richard Branson was excited about the deal, telling the press in a statement, ”We’ve always had a dream of developing a space tourism business and Paul Allen’s (a major funder) vision, combined with Burt Rutan’s (creator of SpaceShipOne) technological brilliance, have brought that dream a step closer to reality.”

 

But many are asking why shoot a space vehicle up into space? How does it benefit the future of the human race and what is the significance of this day. The answer of course being quite simple for those who know, however. It is my birthday.

 

More:

21 June: SpaceShipOne Makes History: Test Mission a Success

 

 

 

 

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Blogbats Newseye Updated 16:47 (22:47 UTC)- Latest Blog 27.September.2004

 

SHOCKING VIDEO: Storm troopers' Rape of Human Rights in China

- Read related piece by Blogbat

-The Chinese people yearn for Freedom

 

 

Russian Oil is Fast Creating a Slippery Slope

 

Russian Oil company Yukos, now for sale, is facing bankruptcy and economic collapse.

The company, somehow unable to turn a profit as oil on the world market surges to historic highs and China, now the worlds second leading oil consumer living right next door to Russia is practically begging for more oil. So what’s the problem? Just last Saturday Chinese Foreign Minister Li Zhaoxing said things with Russia couldn’t be more peachy. Yet Yukos falters, It’s former CEO in prison under dubious circumstances and China can’t get any of the black, greasy stuff.

 

So is Putin cutting off his nose to spite his face? Or the faces of his own people, who have suffered the ravages of economic weakness for nearly a century- I can’t help to wonder about the endgame.

 

So I am left with a gaggle of questions.

 

First, can we expect a sudden dump into the market of Russian oil after the US elections are concluded and if so, what will that tell us since we know that Putin controls Russian trade (not to mention everything else these days). Maybe Putin is one of Kerry’s “world leaders” or maybe he just wants to be “in” even more so with France,  but clearly US-Politik has been a factor in many of Russian, French and German policy decisions, even to their own hurt.

 

Will a more-stable Iraq increase production and cause the prices to soften?

 

And what exactly were Russia’s interests in Iraq and its oil prior to and during the war and with the UN Oil-for-Food scandal, beyond the short term? Perhaps it is because Russia has been more than happy to take advantage of cheap, under-the-table Iraqi oil provided by Saddam Hussein rather than investing in the infrastructure necessary to enjoy the huge oil reserves which lay under the soil of Russia’s vast territory, that Russia had its military advisors and weapons systems in place around Baghdad when the US invaded. But why would Russia go after Yukos, which had been successfully investing its own money in Russian oil? It would seem logical that now, more than ever the Russian economy needs Yukos.

 

So, who benefits from the sale of Yukos. Better yet, who will buy Yukos? And what will Russia do to satiate the world market- not to mention its own- if anything in what would seem to be a win-win strategy, with exception to the case of Middle Eastern OPEC members.

 

 

Resources:

 

Russian Deputy Minister Says Sale of Yukos Assets Should Bring US$15B

Russian chief oil giant faces bankruptcy, sale expected to help relieve debts

 

Yukos Accounting Division Raided

 

Oil Prices at All-Time High: US$49.64/barrel

 

Russian Oil Tycoon Indicted in What Some Say Is a Political Move

Former Yukos CEO Mikhail Khodorkovsky was arrested in December 2003

 

Khodorkovsky Denounces Reports of Yukos Mafia Ties

 

Khodorkovsky Complains His Lawyer Can’t Hear Him

 

Yukos-linked Fund Investigated

 

Khodorkovsky Calls for Solidarity Against Terror

 

Human Rights Court to Study YUKOS Case

 

BBC: Will Khodorkovsky Get a Fair Trial?

 

OpenRussia.info: U.S. State Department Views Khodorkovsky’s Case as Politically Motivated

View Official State Department Report Here

 

International Bar Association to Putin: Confidential Case Documents

Taken from Khodorkovsky’s Attorney by Prison Guards make IBA “Extremely Concerned”

 

 

 

China: Won’t You Be My Neighbor?

 

ChinaDaily.cn: Premier's Visit To Russia Strengthens Relations

But will it help China get the pipeline from Russia it is asking for

 

China Now Number 2 Largest Oil Consumer

 

China Wants to Buy More Oil from Russia

But Russia may lay pipeline to Japan instead

 

 

More Putin Politics:

Candidate Against Putin Disappears Before Election

It’s not just about Party, but power:

Ivan Rybkin, who was the chief candidate running against Russian President Vladimir Putin last year, who like Putin is a Leftist, disappeared shortly before elections were held. He later resurfaced. Socialists were not very happy. Radio Free Europe now describes Rybkin as a has-been.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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OPINION & REVIEWS

 

BLOGBAT ORIGINALS

 

The Panama Canal, American Sovereignty and Self-Defense

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

 

Related:

Terrorists Plotting Against Panama Canal?

 

 

Under Secretary Refuses to Comment on Border Security

 

Big News, Relevant Thoughts

Will the CIA get much needed housecleaning or will the changing of the guard keep the status quo ante bellum

 

Related:

Congressional Joint Inquiry into the CIA Post 9/11 Echoes Blogbat

 

How Bad Are Human Rights in CCP-Controlled Red China?

Related:

The Pot Begins to Boil

The past month has seen more demonstrations against the Tyrants of Tiananmen Square than any time since the horror we all witnessed against civilians back in 1989

 

 

MORE BLOGBATATIONS...

 

18.SEPTEMBER.2004 Notes from the Garden Journal - Intelligent Eden: Top 10 Most Intelligent Animals

 

24.AUGUST.2004  ISSUES REPORT - Anatomy of a Political Meltdown:

The Day the Day the Music Died for the Kerry Campaign

 

05.AUGUST.2004  ISSUES REPORT - What is Subway’s Beef with America?

And Why Do They Support the Terrorists?

 

02.AUGUST.2004  ISSUES REPORT - Fall’s Hippest Trends Already Upon Us in Washington

But Some Disagree if Poor Border-Control and Terrorism go together

 

11.JULY.2004  ISSUES REPORT - “F” Is For France AND Faint of Heart…Or Is It?

What is the state of anti-Semitism in France and everywhere else? Are we asleep?

 

07.JULY.2004  ISSUES REPORT - Police Politics and Runaway Crime in Dallas

 

 

Rewind: 

01 September 2003 RUSSIA: Do Pensions Prove a Penchant for Local Manipulation?

 

30 August 2003 North Korea Sticks to Script But Bad Actor

Performances still enjoyed by children

Related:

North Korea later confirmed in the 08 September WorldNet Daily Article, "New Axis of Evil?" and the 10 September Reuters headline about Russian military support 

 

07 August 2003 First Amendment and Do-Not-Call – It’s All About Who Owns the Presses

 

06 August 2003 The Paine’s of American Society

20.09.04 Funnies- A BLOGBAT EXCLUSIVE: Rather-Mapes “CYA” Memos Unearthed

04.04.04 Funnies- Humour Blogbat style 
06.02.04 More Funnies
04.04.04 More Funnies...Again!

14.05.04 Et more les funnies!

16.07.04 Et more les funnies!
16.07.04 Et even more les funnies!

Blogbat Reviews 

 

Past BlogBreak^® Stories

Some highlighted stories which Blogbat was among the first to mention...

 

OTHER PREVIOUS STORIES

 

 

EXTRAS!

 

 

 

 

Election Mania!

Check out Blogbat's Democrat Candidate Demystifier Tool

 

»HAPPY MAY DAY, COMMIES!

 

 

 

Dedicated to Michael Moore-Ons Everywhere! Click here to find out more- on this...

 

 

OUTSIDE COMMENTARY

 

15 Things I Don't Understand about the Mideast Peace Process

by Rabbi Ephraim Shore, Aish.com (props to Mishlei who first posted this)

 

Related:  

France Pledges Support to “Palestinian” Arab Cause

 

 

Bush's Victory Over Terror

Interesting, though incomplete perspective by Henry Lamb on the war waging since before the fall of the Shah of Iran, it is nonetheless an informative piece 

 

 

 

Sponsor a Child through 

COMPASSION INTERNATIONAL Today

 

 

 

 

 

Blogbatopia! Blogbat Article Archives & More

Now includes Archives of Notes from the Garden Journal, a "There's More-ism" section, Philosophical Notes and New Word of the Day sections and some other splendorosities! Old Articles never die, they just go to heaven: Blogbatopia. You will also find the occasional article at Blogbatopia that you won't find here.

 

REMEMBER KIDS: IT'S BETTER THAN LOG,

 

IT'S BLOG!

 

 

http://www.pro-life.net/sanger/woman_in.htm

 

Blogbat’s Useful Stuff Department

 

 

 

That slogan is catching on where I live. Here someone proudly tells it like it is, on a bumper sticker this owner happily and giddily obtained from Blogbat.

 

A locally popular item that has been making its rounds since the famed Zell Miller speech at the Republican National Convention earlier this month in which Zell listed all of the vital military programs currently in use today in the War on Islamofascism - military programs that Kerry has been voting against since he was elected to the U.S. Senate in 1984.

 

In Zell’s colorful and passionate speech, he posited, “This is the man who wants to be the Commander in Chief of our U.S. Armed Forces? U.S. forces armed with what? Spitballs?”

 

Because of their popularity I’ve decided to make them available to my online visitors as well, through Pay Pal. Orders will be processed and sent the next business day after the transaction is complete. These are a great statement of vitally important truth, especially vital in their timeliness so close to Election Day.

 

 

 

 

 

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A BLOGBAT EXCLUSIVE*

 

UPDATE 19:18: Some of you mentioned there was some trouble with the below-document's PDF link, so I moved it. It should be working for everybody now.

-Blogbat

 

A Document was found today indicating some collusion between CBS, Dan Rather and the Democrat National Committee.

 

The document seems to mention by name the primary actors (and I do mean “actors“) in the Bush National Guard Document Forgery Scandal, in which CBS has long contended their innocence maintaining they were in the right and that, as Dan Rather put it, "it's about the Bush administration, stupid". CBS is set today to admit it wasn’t (right or “unimpeachable“) and may face a flurry of federal investigations by the FCC, FTC, FEC, SEC, AARP and the S.O.L.

 

Below is a copy of the document in JPEG format.

 

To download in PDF format click here

 

 

 

 

 

Related:

Little Green Footballs has a Telling CBS Photo. You don’t believe there is a Liberal leaning media? Even the Satan doll in this one leans to the left...

 

Rather Bushed

Rather statue falls, bloggers joyfully assail it with their shoes

 

Smoking Gun

Kerry Aide Talked to Retired Guard Officer

 

Raise Your Hand if You’re Sure

 

 

  

 

 

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*exclusive parody