LEAVWORLD: GRAFFITI POLITTI

I want to acknowledge a cool site I came across while surfing blogs. Gamma Ray Window is by a guy named Edmond, and while politics isn't the focus of his blog, he has some good comments on Iraq and Social Security reform, two of my favorite issues. On Soc Sec, here's an excerpt: "Why is it that all of the public attacks on President Bush's proposal to reform Social Security must first falsify what he is proposing before attacking it? Let's get a some things straight. First, participation in the new program would be voluntary. In other words, you could choose to stay in the current program if the changes seem too risky for you. Aren't most of us in favor of choice"? Good stuff, I say! There's a link in the title, and I'm still checking on setting up a permanent link on my page. Write on, Ed!

From the first reports after the polls closed, the Iraqi elections were a success. People turned out in good numbers, and terror killings were restricted to a few suicide bombers who didn't even chase away the voters they were attacking. All in all, a good day for democracy. If this can translate into motivation for the Iraqis to stand up and fight as part of the new Iraqi armed forces and police, it bodes well for the whole region, and the world at large. Look for disappointment from Rather and Jennings when they report on Monday night. They went over there to cover the Iraqi version of the "tet" offensive, or so it seemed to this viewer. Brian Williams was a bright spot, seeming to follow my advice about not being afraid to report positive news as well. No-one knows how this will all turn out, but it just keeps striking me how the Bush people set a goal, and then they accomplish it, even with the myriad setbacks that Iraq has provided. I feel the momentum turning in fav...

THE FRAUDULENCE OF USING RELIGION TO PROMOTE HIGHER TAXES LIKE IT IS, an ABC network show about "African American" affairs, broadcast a half hour Bill Moyers' rant from the pulpit of a church. Moyers took the occasion to bash the Bush administration, and conservatives in general. Among the things he condemned them for was cutting taxes on "the rich", and not helping the poor enough. He further accused the Bush administration with collaborating with the "Religious Right" to further his agenda. He almost came to tears as he bemoaned this as some unholy link between capitalism and religious fascism. As I watched this, it looked to me like nothing more than a hypocritical blowhard setting himself up like a rack of bowling pins. This guy Moyers has made millions off of the public largesse, through deals that sometimes have a bad smell themselves. As if that's not hypocritical enough, I take issue with his equating paying taxes with helping the poor as t...

PRE-ELECTION PREDICTIONS! 11/24/04 email to friends first published on WWW.NEXTLEAV.BLOGSPOT.COM I HAD TO STEP IN IT AGAIN...Friday, September 24, 2004 Iraq's Prime Minister Allawi addressed the U.N. and did a round of interviews with the U.S. media over the last few days. Much has been said about how he parrots Pres. Bush, of how they could have had the same speech writers. This is only true insomuch as they both are aligned against the terrorists, not trying to "understand" them. PM Allawi is focused on Iraq, while Pres. Bush has a wider focus, but anyone who doesn't see that the enemy is the same is a fool! Sen. Kerry still believes that Communism wasn't a threat to southeast Asia, after 2 MILLION people died following his advice back then. How many will die if Kerry is elected President? Kerry has the nerve to try to discredit PM Allawi, and to disconnect the terrorists in Iraq from the rest of the world. If he can't see that the links between these...

IRAQ IS NOT VIETNAM! Is it just me, or are there any other people out there that realize that IRAQ IS NOT VIETNAM, no matter how many red-faced idiots in the liberal mainstream media say it is! Let's count the differences. Vietnam was divided into North and South, each with a different government. Iraq is one nation with one government forming through national elections. The "insurgent" terrorists have no government, and hold no signifigant territory. The North Vietnamese regime was being sponsored by the Soviet Union, and politics kept the military from bombing Hanoi. The terrorists in Iraq are sponsored by the rogue nations Syria and Iran, as well as our main foe in the war on terror, Al Queda. While Al Queda is pervasive worldwide, Syria and Iran pose nowhere near the threat that the Soviet Union did in the Vietnam era. They should be worried about how long they will stay politically "out-of-bounds" for US or allied bombing. The French had their asses kicked ...

Are Songebob and Lincoln Gay? Another "Tinky Winky" story! Both liberal and conservative groups have tried to tie the "gay" label to cultural figures, for different reasons. Personally, a person's sexual orientation should not make a difference one way or another. The crucial factor in the equation is the reaction to the "outing", or declaration of gayness. The more sensitive the figure is to conservative or traditional values, the more publicity it gets. This explains why cultural icons like Pres. Lincoln get grouped with cartoon characters that are popular with children. Traditional families do not want their children to be taught that "gay is OK", nor do they want them to be taught that Pres. Lincoln was gay. This is the cultural divide. Adults should be free to debate these things, but children should be taught their parents' culture and value system, and the schools should be wary of treading over that right. My parents taught me th...

Dems still don't get it. On Pres. Bush's second inauguration, they are still plotting petty ways of attacking him. Did they learn nothing from their previous losses? They seem to be the party of the past, replaying the Republicans' treatment of Pres. Clinton in his 2nd term. This is a different time. The economy, while growing, is nowhere near the boom that was starting then, and any party (Democrats) that looks like it's trying to hamper a sincere effort to help the economy by the other party (Republicans) is going to have a problem. The same goes with Judicial confirmations. Democrats must not realize how badly the court system is regarded by the general public. They may not realize that by calling the President's court appointees "extreme", the appointees may be seen as just what is called for to fix the out of control court system. Finally, and most importantly, is national security and the war on terror. Are the Dems going to take John Kerry's app...

A few thoughts for those of you who don't know what a Ponzi scheme is. Also called a Pyramid scheme, the dictionary definition is: "an investment swindle in which some early investors are paid off with money put up by later ones in order to encourage more and bigger risks". I use this phrase "Ponzi scheme" because it accurately describes how Social Security has always run. The money paid in is not invested or even noted as a debt owed to any taxpayer anywhere. Don't even ask how such a tax payment could generate a "surplus" when it all gets spent every year. There may be a statistic somewhere saying how much has been stolen over the years, but nobody in government will actually tell you this "magic number", much less say it's anything more than a "complex accounting method", or some other meaningless or deceptive phrase. The new phrases to watch out for are "there is no Social Security crisis", and "it will p...

As the debate over Social Security reform gets started, many media types will be misrepresenting some of the basic facts. Soc Sec is basically run as the hugest Ponzi scheme in history. Any time you hear someone call it a pension or retirement benefit, they are spinning the program as something it is not. The progressive view that conservatives take is to actually turn Soc Sec into a true retirement benefit, while paying off the last generation of scamees. This may take some borrowing in the short term, but is the only logical course to fix the system in the long run. Also watch for talk of "giving money to Wall St. fat cats". One can only reply "as opposed to overpaid/underperforming government bureaucrats"? These are the very people watching the current system run into the ground without a peep. The facts are not in dispute. The differences in how the facts are reported in the big lib media will possibly shape the debate. Social Security was a progressive idea ...

Read Tony Blankley's explanation of why the "memogate" report absolved Rather and CBS of political bias, and refused to say definitively if the memos were forgeries. His upshot is that Thornburgh and his law firm were ethically bound not to reveal any information that could open CBS to civil or criminal liability. I like when someone with better sources and more info backs up my point of view. There should be a link in the title, but I'll post the URL at the bottom. I also read something that sounded familiar in Jay Bryant's colomn (01/12): "Dan Rather, who having retired as CBS Evening News anchorman continues at the scene of the crime, 60 Minutes II". This echoes my line from the previous post (01/10): "He was due to retire from the nightly news this year anyway, and he still is on the show that he committed his journalistic sin on in the first place". Notice how the same idea is phrased differently, indicating a lack of "talking points...

My first question regards Dan Rather's "memogate" punishment: Where is it? He was due to retire from the nightly news this year anyway, and he still is on the show that he committed his journalistic sin on in the first place! I want to compare a line from my piece "the Bush Haters" with a report on the review. I wrote on 9/17/04: "Will he last until his scheduled retirement next year? Has he succeeded, where Nixon failed, at 'circling the wagons?'". From the AP 01/10/05: "The review said CBS compounded the damage with a circle-the-wagons mentality once the report came under fire. The independent investigators added, however, that they found no evidence of a political bias against Bush". It's a pretty obvious whitewash for Rather. This brings into question the overall integrity of the review. I hate to question Mr. Thornburgh, but to see this story as anything other than a political hit piece timed to influence the electio...

CONSERVATIVES ARE THE NEW PROGRESSIVES! 01/06/05 It is obvious to any objective observer that conservatives are the new progressive movement in U.S. politics. It apparently cuts across party lines, though the Democrat leadership is having trouble seeing it, as do some liberal Republicans. The facts are the same, regardless of ideology. Let's start with education: liberal "progressive" reforms started around 40 years ago, leading to a federal Department of Education being established in 1980. Education in the U.S. has been on a downward spiral through this whole period. As the "progressive" (welfare state supporting) Democrats encouraged parents in housing projects not to pay for private schools, but to let the state educate their children, the results have proven worse than the disasters that the housing projects have become. Wasn't the idea of subsidized housing so that parents can afford to send their kids to better than public schools? It was in my nei...

I want to take issue with all the "gloom and doom" about Iraq. While I can't predict an outcome, I can say that some of the same news outlets were "doom and gloom" predictors after WW II. Some examples from the NY Times: Germans Reveal Hate of Americans. Oct. 31, 1945. Loss of Victory in Germany Through U.S. Policy Feared, November 18th. Germans Declare Americans Hated, December 3rd, 1945. German Election Set In Towns of U.S. Zone. Does any of this sound familliar? So I take all this reporting with a grain of salt. However, people like Bill O'reilly have a much more balanced approach covering this war. The reports of thousands of Iraqi policemen deserting is worrisome, but not surprising. Look at what their strategy was in the first place, when they were working for Saddam: run away, and regroup as terror cells (or desert). The real question is will enough Iraqis stand up for their right to govern themselves, risking terror attacks to vote? I think they will...

This is lifted from another website, speculating on a tidal wave hitting the East Coast, and how it could happen. READ ON! Here, the wave would reach heights of 130ft to 164ft - higher than Nelson's column - and travel four or five miles inland flattening everything in its path. Previous research by Dr Day predicted that a future eruption of the Cumbre Vieja volcano was likely to cause the western flank of the mountain to slide into the sea. The energy released by the collapse would be equal to the electricity consumption of the entire US in six months. Working with Dr Steven Ward, from the University of California, Dr Day has now produced a new model which predicts more accurately how big the tsunami will be and where it will strike. http://www.rense.com/general13/tidal.htm

Things I look forward to in 2005: Personally and Politically. Making the lovely Anna Zarbano engaged to be my wife! Private retirement accounts-I can't stand commentators who say this idea is dead. Same for medical savings accounts, though those are tied to health care reform, so I don't have as high hopes. Hanging out with old friends more often--socializing (that's not a dirty word, except politically) Judicial nominees who will adhere to the constitution, not interpret it in new ways. I hope the Republicans stop the Dems from filibustering judicial appointments. The hope that charter schools and voucher programs flourish, and public schools rise in quality through competition. Getting Anna's daughter into a good local college. Rising resentment against the NY political "system" continuing to shake things up, hopefully with good results.

2004 was a year of success and failure. For Republicans, it was a success. For Democrats, it was a failure. In Iraq, the verdict is still out. Afghanistan was a success, so far. Israel was never happier now that Arafat is dead, but success or failure of PEACE over there depends on whether the terrorism died with him, and we all know the answer to that one. For all the failures in our intelligence services, we were not attacked again, though Spain was attacked twice, before and after they left the coalition force in Iraq. The 9/11 commission was a big thing this year. Political force wielded like a baseball bat is what it looked like to me. The high point was when AG Ashcroft brought out the memo by Jamie Gorelick, a 9/11 commission member, that instituted a "heightening" of the wall between branches of the government, or making it HARDER to share information, from her time as assistant AG under Pres. Clinton. Another big scandal was Abu Graib prison. Compared to what went o...