Sign your 180’s, Monsieur Kerry

By William Teach April 12, 2005 – 8:01 am

It’s that time again. Day 72 since Kerry promised to sign his 180’s.

John Kerry has flip flopped multiple times on releasing his 180’s. See this previous post for the back and forth waffleing by big weenie. He has stated unequivically that he will sign his Form 180 without conditions. Lets help him with this. It’s been 72 days since he said he would sign his 180’s. Time for him to keep his word for once.

The furor over military credentials hasn’t ended with the campaign. Kerry pledged to sign Form 180, releasing all of his military records, but challenged his critics, including Bush, to do the same.

”I want them to sign it, I want [swift boat veterans] John O’Neill, Roy Hoffmann, and what’s their names, the guys on the other boat," Kerry said. ”I want their records out there. They have made specific allegations about my record, I know things about their records, I want them out there. I’m willing to sign it, to put all my records out there. I’m willing to sign it, but I want them to sign it, too."

Kerry later confirmed that his decision to sign the form is not conditional on any others signing, but he expressed lingering bitterness over double standards on military service.

The folks at Conservative Friends have recommended a Tuesday blogburst. I have sent mine in. Send yours in by going here for the Form 180. Then, email the link to Kerry at this address. Cass at Villainous Company has an excellent insert for the email:

On the April 18th, 2004 taping of Meet the Press you promised to make all your records public but then reneged. In January of 2005, you again appeared on Meet the Press and promised to sign Form 180. We would like you to keep your word – please sign Form 180 immediately and release the missing thirty-one pages of medical records, your DD Form 256N, and any other military records still unreleased.

Some have asked why this matters. It is called accountability. The Left was all up in arms about President Bush signing his, yet Kerry was not held to the same standard. Time to hold him to his word.

Cao’s Blog is hosting the Blogburst. Here is the link to Cao’s 4/12 post. Head over, and let her know if you want to be included. Spread the word. Others blogging:

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Who’s outing who now?

By William Teach April 12, 2005 – 7:52 am

Amazingly, this story is buried deep into Yahoo News in the Whitehouse section.

Mr. Smith came to Washington again Monday, as an alias for a Central Intelligence Agency officer who works covertly. Senators, however, may have blown his cover.

Committee Chairman Richard Lugar, R-Ind., and Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., both mentioned a name, Fulton Armstrong, that had not previously come up in public accounts of the intelligence flap.

It is not clear whether Armstrong is the undercover officer, but an exchange between Kerry and Bolton suggests that he may be.

The Left, including the MSM’s, would have us believe that Valerie Plame was purposely outed by the Bush admin, at least by innuendo. Yet here we have 2 Senators, one from each Party, saying the name of a CIA officer.

And, to be clear, despite the story giving no mention of the actual quote, Senator Lugar did mention Armstrongs name, and clearly indicated that he was "a national intelligence officer for Latin America at the NIC at the time."

Of course, not many in the media are carrying this story, at least that is easily findable. Not CNN, nor MSNBC and not the New York Times. Anyhow, why was the Committee stupid enough to have his name in the transcript? You could see it coming a mile away. I have to give it to the Washington Post: they edited Armstrong’s name out of the story.

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A Book Meme

By William Teach April 11, 2005 – 4:23 pm

A book lover’s meme:

Sadie at Fistful of Fortnights tagged me with this meme, very interesting.

You’re stuck inside Fahrenheit 451, which book do you want to be?

Just about any Robert Heinlein book, but, particularly To Sail Beyond the Sunset, Stranger in a Strange Land, or Time Enough for Love. Guaranteed to get me burned to a cinder. While I truly love Heinlein’s books (being a huge science fiction fan), some of his material is decidedly questionable, with overtones of promiscuous and lascivious sex, to put it mildly, in his latter books, including these.

Aleister Crowley’s Book 4 and Book of Toth would be fire hogs, as well. Witchcraft and the occult.

Have you ever had a crush on a fictional character?

Oh, goodness. I wouldn’t say a crush, but there are certainly a few female characters I would like to meet, if it was possible. Mara Jade from the Star Wars series comes to mind. A strong minded, beautiful woman with a dark side, who doesn’t mind admitting to that dark side, unlike most women (did I just go there? :D)) Mara would be a Republican, I’m sure.

The last book you bought:

The Witches of Chiswick by Robert Rankin and Crown of Slaves by David Webber

What are you currently reading?

Witches of Chiswick

Execution, the Discipline of Getting Things Done by Larry Bossidy and Ram Charon. It’s a business book, very slooowwwllly working my way through. I am pretty much a one book person, and prefer fiction for relaxation, preferably sci fi.

Five books you would take to a deserted island:

  • Starship Troopers by Robert Heinlein
  • Tomorrow and Tomorrow by Charles Sheffield
  • The Boy Scout Manual
  • One of Us by Michael Marshall Smith
  • Golf for Dummies

I hope that tells ye all a bit about me, at least inadvertently. Now, what 3 victims am I going to pass this on too?

I randomized my blogroll, and the first 3 were Janette at Common Sense Runs Wild, Little Miss Attila and DC of Daisy Cutter. Let’s see if they will play along, shall we?

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AP making stories up. Again.

By William Teach April 11, 2005 – 8:04 am

This is the lead paragraph from an AP story on John Bolton:

Undersecretary of State John R. Bolton faced tough questioning Monday from Senate Democrats on his nomination to be the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations. Republicans were looking for swift approval from the Foreign Relations Committee.

Image hosting by Photobucket Notice the past tense. Notice the time that I posted this. The AP story was posted to Yahoo at approximately 7am EST Monday morning. That’s funny, eh? Yes, because the Senate Foreign Relations Committee doesn’t meet till 9:30am Monday, April 11th.

So, I guess he hasn’t already faced tough questions. What do you have to say Senator Bill Nelson?

“That’s not the kind of representative of America that we want in the United Nations, a Bush nominee.” Nelson said.

On television talk shows Sunday, committee Democrats Christopher Dodd of Connecticut, Joe Biden of Delaware and Jay Rockefeller of West Virginia cited the alleged pressure and other alleged incidents as among reasons they will oppose Bolton’s nomination, plus that Bolton is a Republican and Bush nominated him.

See, I can make it up, too.

And the headline needs some editorial input, as well. Perhaps they were hedging their bets?

Image hosting by Photobucket Quick update within same time fram of this post: the White House Yahoo news page now says “Democrats Grill UN Nominee John Bolton”, at 8am EST. Still in the past tense, though the hearing hasn’t occurred yet.

Linked to Basil’s Breakfast

11:15am: well, I am glad that I took some screenshots, since the story at that link is rather different then pre-9:30am today.

Linked to the OBW Traffic Jam

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Pelosi Loves Texas

By William Teach April 10, 2005 – 5:45 pm

Image hosting by Photobucket Yes, that is Nancy Pelosi wearing a Texas flag swim suit. She thought that those old photos wouldn’t ever be found. Bwahahahahahaha!

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The Tarheel Tavern

By William Teach April 10, 2005 – 3:57 pm

This weeks Tarheel Tavern is up at 2sides2ron. Ye go visit.

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Sorta Blogless Sunday

By William Teach April 10, 2005 – 9:57 am

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The Grey Lady is Still Blue

By William Teach April 10, 2005 – 9:52 am

Yes, it is sorta blogless Sunday. For me, that means nothing serious. However, I could not let an obvious misrepresentation, and, realistically, outright lie, that the New York Times editorial staff go. In an editorial regarding the Patriot Act, they have made several errors. I would like to think that they are errors of omission, but, I am not that gullible as the Grey Lady would like to think.

One of the provisions of the Patriot Act which has given the Left fits is the "sneak and peak" provision, or more properly termed "delayed notification." The Times writes:

Secret Searches Section 213, the "sneak and peek" provision, lets the government search a person’s home and delay telling him about it. These delayed-notification searches fly in the face of the strong American tradition that the government must announce when it is entering a home. Delayed-notification searches were of questionable legality before the Patriot Act, and Section 213 – which does not expire this year, but is still generating considerable debate – clearly goes too far. At the very least, it should apply only to terrorism cases, and not, as it now does, to all investigations. It should also have clear guidelines for how long notice can be delayed.

The article fails to mention that a warrant is required for a delayed notification search. It fails to mention the the burden to prove that one is needed is much stronger then with a standard warrant. It fails to mention that delayed notification has been around since the late 1970’s.

There was never a statute regarding delayed notification, but it was used starting in the late 1970’s, particularly against drug dealers, as the law permitted. In order for one to be granted, a federal judge must make an extra finding, which is in writing, putting his own ass on the line when issuing it. The subject of said warrant will be notified. The average delay time has been 7 days since the Act was passed in 2001. The point of delayed notification is that, if the subject is told at the time of the search, it could lead to injury or death, the subject may be a flight risk, the investigation could be harmed, and/or witnesses could be intimidated. Nowhere in the Bill of Rights does it say that this is un-Constitutional. Don’t believe me? Check it out. Amendment IV.

The editorial also misrepresents what a delayed notification warrant may be used for. It does not apply to all investigations, as the Times specifies, but specific ones. It cannot be used on the average Joe Smith who did not pay his taxes. It is for use against possible crimes such as terrorism, child pornography, drug dealers, arms smugglers, etc. Is that bad? Not in my humble opinion.

Since it was passed in late 2001 it has been used less then .02% of all federal search warrants issued, a total of 108 times as of April 4, 2005.

See, it wasn’t all that hard to look the information up, was it Times editorial staff? Try it some time. I have said many times that the Left is not internet ready. The Times proves it.

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Wild Horses of Corolla

By William Teach April 9, 2005 – 4:11 pm

One of the truly spectacular places to visit in North Carolina is the Outer Banks. There are many fabulous sites to see, and things to do. And just as spactacular are the wild horses that live on the Outer Banks.

Image hosting by Photobucket Yes, real wild horses. For over 400 years these horses, descendents of Arabian horses, have roamed free along North Carolinas Outer banks. The horses themselves were bred long ago to survive in harsh environments, and are known as Barb horses, for the Barbary Coast where they were bred. Spanish and Portugese explorers brought the Barb’s with them to the shores of America back in the 1500’s.

During the next 2 centuries, other horses of Spanish descent were transported to the New World, breeding with the Barb’s. And, over time, these horses became less and less domestic, to the point where they roam wild and free, or at least as free as they can in the ever populating portions of the Outer Banks.

Image hosting by Photobucket The Outer Banks are a tough environment. Hot sand and sun, along with tropical storms in the summer, cold ocean winds, freezing rain, and the occasional Nor’easter and snow storm in the winter. Salt water all the time. Plus the human population and what we bring. For most, this would be a harsh environment to thrive in. For the horses of Corolla, it is home.

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Kettle calling Pot, Kettle calling Pot

By William Teach April 9, 2005 – 2:43 pm

It just doesn’t get any better then this comment from this Daily Kos post:

How can you tell if the blog you’re reading is right wing or left wing?

It’s easy.

If it’s a liberal oriented blog, you can post public comments and engage in a discussion.

If it’s a conservative/right-wing blog, they’ll either be no comment section, or an elaborate process by which people are meticulously qualified to publicly comment on the web site content.

Why should anybody be surprised that the right wing blogs are full of ridiculous lies and accusations? They refuse to engage in any kind of dialog on issues or allow others to comment on their agenda.

Every blog is going to go wrong sometimes; nobody is infallible, but if you give people the ability to comment and criticize, at least you’re hinting that you care enough about the truth to provide means by which it can be discovered or debated. (emphasis mine)

Very interesting meme the Left has got going now. Off the top of my head, I can think of 3 Right Wing blogs without comments. Powerline, Instapundit, and Everything I Know Is Wrong. Most have comments. Mine are wide open, as are most. And yes, many use systems such as Typekey, which is used verify commenter’s as well as to weed out the trolls who use the same type of language we see on the DU and other Leftist sites, such as, well, Kos, including this same post. How about that? Something such as:

Powerline-was-completely-fucking-wrong-gate was a problem not just because their wild-ass accusations about the Schiavo-Martinez memo were completely wrong, not just because media asses like Howie Kurtz took them seriously, but because they harm the reputation of the entire blogosphere.

And, of course, the reference to John Hinderaker as "assrocket." Of course, the most ironic part is that in order to post on The Daily Kos, one must register. Furthermore, new users must wait 24 hours before they can post. Why, you ask?

You have to register with the site to post comments. New users must then wait 24 hours to post a comment. The clock starts running after the initial login. This is to prevent abuse of the diaries by trolls (people who post inflammatory articles just to get an inflamed response).

Oops. Guess I won’t be able to respond to them directly today in an adult manner, will I?

(ps, while spell checking, I fixed some of the words from the Kos commenter. Not meant to be a slur at the commenter, it just happened during this event.)

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