This woman is just plain classy?

The transcript of Laura Bush on Jay Leno's Tonight Show. Damn, Bush is a lucky man.

Good Stories from Iraq.

These are a few stories written by Omar, an Iraqi living in Baghdad. He and his brothers are medical professionals that have been writing on the Blog, Iraq The Model.


Wednesday, August 25, 2004

Boring stories.
Yesterday, one of Ali’s friends came by and suggested that we go out to have dinner somewhere just to break the circle of boring routine daily life. “Do you know a good place?” I asked, “there’s a nice restaurant that’s getting very popular these days” Ali’s friend replied.

It was already 9 pm and I thought that we will find them preparing to close. I know that many places stay open until 11 or 12 but the majority close at around 10 pm but this place was amazing; the parking place was full that we had to park the car on the opposite side of the street.

The place was so neat and natural-looking and the tables were placed outdoors in a big garden with lots of tall palm trees. The restaurant lies in Jadiriyah which is so close to the Tigris river and it’s also rich in date palms and other trees which makes the weather a little bit colder in the night when compared with other areas in Baghdad.

It was 9:30 and new visitors and families were still arriving at the restaurant. At the beginning we ordered fruit flavored narghiles and soft drinks. The narghile there is quite long-lasting and one can keep smoking a single one for more than an hour.

Later the waiter flooded our table with various dishes of appetizers even before we made our orders; frankly speaking, if you eat all the appetizers you won’t have a space left in your stomach for the main dish.

Maskoof is one of the main dishes served in this rest. It’s basically river fish barbequed in a special way that gives fish a superb taste that cannot be matched and the smell of the barbeque was enough to make my saliva run.

One of things I noticed was that most of the visitors there were apparently middle class families and this is different from what it used to be years ago as only rich families could afford to have dinner in restaurants like this one. Dinner for a 6 person family costs approximately 60 000 ID (40$) while two years ago a similar meal would cost a little bit less (35 - 45 thousands) but the huge raise in incomes made it affordable once a month or once every fortnight when there are more than one working member in the family.

We had dinner but we couldn’t finish the dishes because the dish they serve is extraordinarily big and can be enough for two hungry people.
We left at about 11:30 but a lot of people were still there.

You sit in a restaurant like this one and see families relaxing with their children playing and having fun late at night and you feel that there’s ‘something’ wrong in the way MSM is dealing with the Iraqi issue. I watch TV and I see hell breaking around me then I go outside and see enough normalcy AND progress to make me believe that the people in the media are not here to report how’s life going but rather they are here reporting pre-prepared stories and to be faced with something that contradicts the picture they have in their minds would be really annoying and will mean more hard work to try to find the truth or something close to it.

So let me see, I’m a reporter in Iraq and I’m here to tell stories that sell from a land that has been invaded, as everyone is saying it was invaded and not liberated. God, that must be awful! Ok so I need destruction, death, fear, clashes in the streets, angry mob...etc. Where do families having dinner in a place they couldn’t afford before the war, or a father buying a new car for his son which he also couldn’t afford before, or a man renewing his house which was falling apart, or free speech and flourishing business, where does all this fit in such a frame?! It doesn’t! Besides, where's the action in such boring stories!? Moreover, there are pictures of death and destruction and they only need some ‘further clarification’, and that’s easier than making a whole new story. So why bother! I already have frames for good stories and I’ve worked hard in that and it would be a shame to waste all that effort and start all over again. So let’s get the story we worked on and get the hell out of here.

- posted by Omar @ 20:25
Comments (286)

Do you remember the post I made about my uncle and his son Ibrahim?
See Below for Ibrahim and the dark future, Wednesday, May 12, 2004
If you don’t, please read it now and you’ll understand why I’m posting this:
My uncle had just visited us with his son and this time they came in his new car that he bought recently. It’s a used 1992 Opel and it cost him 2450 $ which he managed to pay without being in debt.

The last car my uncle had was (Nasr) the Egyptian version of the Italian 1978 Fiat. He had to sell it in 1993 to cover some of the needs of his family’s daily life. He never bought a car after that because he simply couldn’t afford it with a maximum salary of 10 $ a month.

My uncle said ”on my last visit to Hilla in an inspection tour my heart was wormed when I saw that most of the teachers in all schools I visited have bought cars”.
Here’s Ibrahim standing beside his car and here’s he practicing his driving skills in our garage.

He doesn’t believe anymore that they came to destroy Islam instead he thinks that they’re here to protect their interests and when I asked him how did they do that he said “by removing Saddam because he was threatening their interests” and when I asked him about our interests he said “prosperity”.
I asked him if our interests could be in conflict with America's interests and he said "I don't think so".

They're still here at our house and I showed them the comments from the readers in responce to the post I wrote about him, he was delighted and surprised to see the support and warm wishes but he said that the Americans have a bad impression about the clerics as he said that most clerics do nor interfer in politics at all.

Ibrahim's perception of events has changed a little. He sees that things have improved but he’s still not sure about the future.


- posted by Omar @ 17:48




Wednesday, May 12, 2004

Ibrahim and the dark future.
Last Friday my oldest uncle, along with his 16-year-old son, visited us, as he used to do this once every month. My uncle is a high school manager and a history teacher at the same time in the same school. I saw that he was wearing a nice suit that I had not seen him wearing before. I said "Nice suit uncle. Is it new?" He said "Yes, I bought it about a month ago". "It must be expensive" I asked and he replied, "Yes it is, but your uncle now can afford it".

Some of the readers may remember me saying something about my uncle. Before the war he was in the same job and he was paid about 15 thousands Iraqi Dinars that was equal to about 7 US$ a month. His wife, who is also a teacher, was paid a little less than that. He has 5 children; one in primary school three in high school and a girl in college. Of course that salary couldn’t help him support his family, yet he didn’t quit it. He always hoped that things would change for the better. In order to meet life's requirements and offer his kids a proper education, he had to work after school. He worked in every kind of business; a taxi driver, a grocer and opened a small shop for a while, but things didn’t go quite well.

He had to sell his car first, then his ‘extra’ refrigerator, then the only refrigerator, then the TV and then and then…. The last time we visited him, I had to hold my tears when I entered his house. There was virtually no furniture there, no chairs, no TV no tables, as they had sold them all, but what shocked me more is that there were no inside doors. He had to sell those too. I mean his house was literally bare. His kids were ashamed of showing because they had nothing proper to wear. It was amazing how he kept honest and didn’t accept bribery from his rich students’ families.

Back to where I started, I asked my uncle: "How much do they pay you now? I’ve heard you got a raise" He answered "Yes I did, I get paid 550 thousands Dinars now" (that’s about 400$ a month). "And what about aunt?" I asked, meaning his wife "She gets 450 thousands, as she has less years of service". I said "Good for you! What does it look like now, your life?" He said, "Uncle, (the word serves both sides) it’s unbelievable. I’ve refurnished my house fully and I’m looking for a car, but I’m not in a hurry as I can’t drive now and I want it for Ibrahim (his son) as soon as he can get a driving license". His sons and daughters were always very polite and never asked for anything, they were very understanding of their father’s financial difficulties (the right word here should be EXTREME poverty) they were smart and well educated and never asked for anything their father couldn’t afford.

I said "You must’ve saved quite a good sum of money by now" He answered "Not that much, I’m trying to give my sons all that they were deprived of for all those years. Still they don’t ask much and I still end up every month with extra money even though I don’t touch my wife’s salary". I must say here that life in Iraq is very cheap compared to most of the world, but that has become a common knowledge I suppose.

My young cousin is a religious Sunni who goes to the mosque and listens to the cleric there every Friday and believes whatever he says, as he’s still young. My uncle always teased his son about this but never prohibited him from doing that. We were talking about different stuff; the kids’ needs, clerics, Americans and the increase in the average income of most Iraqis. My uncle has a somewhat unusual sense of humor that doesn't fit quite well in his somewhat religious family. He winked at me and turned to his son and asked him "What do you think of the Americans?" His son answered, "They are occupiers". "So you think we should fight them?" his father asked. Ibrahim said "No, but I don’t like them". My uncle said, pretending to change the subject "Do you like your new computer that no one shares with you?" "Yes of course dad". "Ok, are you satisfied with the satellite dish receiver we have or do you need a better one?" "This one is fine but I heard there’s a better one that gets more channels" "ok I’ll get you that next week". Then he said, "Is there anything else you’d like to have son?" "No dad I have all that I need". "Ok but how about a car?" Ibrahim was astounded and said "Really? a..a CAR.. for me!?". "Of course for you! I’m too old to drive now and my eyes are not that well and you are the older son. So whom else would it be for!?" "Oh, dad that will be great! When will that happen?" "Just finish your exams and you’ll have it". "I will dad". "Are you happy now son?" "Yes dad, sure I am!" "Then why do you hate the Americans you son of a b***h!? I couldn’t get you a bicycle a year ago, I could hardly feed you and your brothers and sisters. You didn’t know what an apple or a banana tasted like, I couldn’t buy you a damned Pepsi bottle except in occasions, and now you can have all that you wish, and a car of your own! Who do you think made that possible!?" My cousin’s face turned red and didn’t answer as we laughed and I said "What do you think Ibrahim?" He said, "Well it’s true but it’s our money. They are not giving us a charity" and I said "Of course it’s our money, so let’s forget the Billions of dollars they are giving to rebuild Iraq and the efforts they are making to cut down our debts and lets talk about our money. Why didn’t your father, I, my brothers and all the Iraqis have anything worth mentioning before the Americans came?" He said, "Because Saddam used it to buy weapons and build palaces". "There you have it Ibrahim, but Americans are not touching our money. Can you tell me who’s better; the ‘occupiers’ who are helping us or the ‘patriot’ who did all that you know to us?" He said in a faint voice "They are better than Saddam but still they are not Muslims". "So do you want them to be Muslims?" "I wish they were." "Will you fight them to that?" he said, "No, of course not. I don’t like fighting." We didn’t want to pressure and embarrass him further and didn’t go further, as he’s still young but he’s smart and good-natured and will get it soon.

But this is not what I’m talking about today. I’m talking about a strange phenomenon that is related to this conversation I shared with you; it’s the Iraqi Dinar.

Before the war, the Iraqi Dinar was a pathetic piece of paper that could be easily counterfeited , and during Saddam’s times its exchange value dropped from 1 Dinar for 3.33 US$ before the Iraq-Iran war to about 2000 Iraqi Dinar for each single US$ at 2003 with variable changes in between. We never trusted that Dinar, and the tiniest political change or even rumor, used to cause a huge swing in the exchange price of the Iraqi Dinar that sometimes reached 20% of its value in a single day up or down. On one occasion it dropped from 3000 Dinar for each US$ to about 600 Dinar for each US$ in few weeks and then back into 2000 after 2 months, and part of that was sometimes planned. Saddam’s regime used to sell dollars at half the market price, for about one week or so, in small amounts and spread rumors that the sanctions were going to be lifted as part of a secret agreement, and when the price goes below even that of the bank, as many people change their dollars into dinars in the hope that it will rise more, the Mukhabarat, through their men in the market, would buy back more than what the banks had sold, striking two birds in one stone; giving Iraqis a false hope to keep them busy and stimulate the greed of rapid fortune that occurs at such circumstances, and getting extra profit to keep his regime alive (this was not just a guess, I knew this from many Mukhabarat’s men with big mouths). The results were as expected disastrous; few people get rich and thousands get bankrupt, which led in many times to furious disputes between people about unsettled businesses or debts in Iraqi Dinars that mounted to murder in some cases. Those were the peaceful and stable times.

Let’s take a look at the chaos we are living now. Iraq is certainly not what one can call a stable country compared to the rest of the world but is it really as messy and desperate as the media want us to believe?

There are violent attacks that happen on a daily basis and most of the major media are trying to show that these will last forever and that there are street fights going all over Iraq, there’s the Sadr revolt and the unstable so-called Sunni triangle that the media shows as a place that refuses American presence totally, there was the alleged unity between Sunni and She'at against Americans that never happened and there is the somewhat mysterious political future that most of the world try to show as a dark one, and finally the polls that show that most Iraqis want Americans out and added to that the Abu Gharib scandal which seems to be the only violation to human rights on this planet!! I’m not going to argue any of these because each one approaches these in a subjective way and it’s hard to remain objective while discussing them. I’m going to agree with this dark picture and will not, for this time, show my opinion on them. Instead I’m going to focus on this one tiny detail that do not fit in this picture; that is the Iraqi economy.

I think that most people agree that the exchange price of a country’s currency is one of the indicators of the state of that country’s economy and one that when combined with the average income would help in giving a prediction of the future of this economy and the political future of that country as well, as economy and politics are so connected to each other. Now the Iraqi Dinar was never trusted before the war, and my family was one of the hundreds of thousands of families that changed all the Iraqi currency they had into US Dollars just before the war which caused the exchange price for the Iraqi Dinar against the US Dollar and other foreign currencies to drop uncontrollably from 2000 for each dollar to about 4000 in a period of a month that proceeded the war. After the war the Iraqi Dinar returned to the previous figure and with the introduction of the new Iraqi Dinar, the exchange price improved to around 1500 by the beginning of 2004 with few wobbles during the early period. Since January 2004 and till now and despite all the given factors of instability, the exchange price remained almost constant with a marginal variation from 1430 to 1460 and never dropped below 1400 nor did it ever rise above 1500!! What should that tell us?

Is it possible that Iraqis are that dumb enough to believe in their currency and that their economy is stable and rising!? Are they really stupid enough to buy all this crap about a prosperous Iraq in the future? Or are there solid economic changes that make it so hard to shake despite all the efforts the friends and brothers of the Iraqi people are putting? Don’t they ever think of revolting against the Americans? Note that I’m talking about the majority here.

Back to the average income issue. Some readers may remember that I said my salary was about 17 US$ before the war. Shortly after the war it was raised to 120 US$. Three months after that, they made it 150 US$. Two months later it became 200$(although the truth should be said that they promised that it was going to be 250$) and when I went with one of my colloquies (who gets an exact payment) to receive his salary this month (I still haven’t been paid for 6 months due to some bureaucratic problems that have just been solved), the accountant said to my friend "congratulations! You are getting a new raise starting from the next month and your salary will be around 300 US$!"
Now I know this is still a very low figure compared to what doctors get in other countries, but look at the pace of the raises; 120, 150, 200, 300 all in one year! I mean it’s spooky. What will it be the next year, 500$? And what about 3 or 4 years from now? A thousand or can I dare say a few thousand dollars? Will we get more than what the Syrian, Egyptian Iranian and even Saudi doctors!? What a disaster will it be to the mullahs of Iran, Bashar Al-Assad and the king of Saudi Arabia?

Some people, including some Iraqis, are fooled by the media as they tells them that the prices are higher than before. This is not true, as the prices of ALL the imported goods have lowered especially with only 5% import tax and with no Uday or Qusay to take their share of the merchants’ profits. The only prices that have risen are those the of the local goods and the wages of laborers and services provided by private businesses, but that was only by 2 to 3 folds increase at maximum compared to the unbelievably high rise in the income of the government employees who represent most of the working Iraqis which should explain the former fact as a healthy sign of economical growth, not the opposite.

Others are fooled by what the media keeps screaming about the unemployment. And this is the most stupid lie I’ve ever heard to which I have only one question: Who are those unemployed people?? I dare anyone to answer this!

Everyone who knows enough about Iraq should know that millions of Iraqis were employed by the government, but most of them had second jobs (I used to run a small shop with my brothers beside my job as a doctor, and of course I gave it up soon after the war) except for those who took illegal advantages from their original jobs. The rest were involved in private businesses that paid more but were very risky with all the shakes in economy and all the restrictions from the old regime. After the war some of those who were employed by the government were expelled, but most of them are back now. For God’s sake even most of the Ba’athists and the security agents are back to their jobs now! The only people who are out of job now are Saddam’s special security agents and higher ranked Ba’athists who sucked the Iraqi people’s blood for decades. May I ask how many are those, and should we really sympathieze with them this much? Besides, most of them made fortunes and fled out of the country or are using it to start their own businesses and no one is preventing them from doin that. But wait a minute! Maybe they are talking about the hundreds of thousands of soldiers in the old army who were paid no more than 10 thousand Iraqi Dinars (5 US$)! Now that is something really bad, to deprive a soldier of a job that paid him 5 $ and cost him 10 times that in transport and bribing the officers besides his DIGNITY!

The bottom line, and to talk more seriously, is that the picture the media are giving us about Iraq is almost convincing, even to me, if it wasn’t for this insignificant detail, and something must be done to make it right before most Iraqis start to realize that! But to be fair our Arab and Muslim brothers, supported by the legitimate Arab leaders and cheered by most of the major media are aware of that, and of the dangers of the vicious cycle of (prosperity-stability-more prosperity-more stability) that the Americans and the Iraqi traitors (like myself) are trying to establish. They (our brothers) are doing all that they can; bombing oil pipelines and ports, beheading foreigners in the name of Iraqis and Allah, attacking electricity stations, creating chaos that allows thieves to loot everything they can, yet it’s still not working!! The Iraqi Dinar stands stable despite the fact that some Arab governments formally warned their citizens from dealing with it, the oil production is increasing, the markets are full of goods, most Iraqis are busy working, studying selling and buying and the average income is rising!
Please, all those who care about the poor Iraqis and want to save them from the brutality of the American invaders and who want to prevent the Americans from stealing our fortune; meaning Bin laden, Zagrawi and their followers, Arab and Muslim tyrants, our good friend monsieur Dominique de Villepin, all the pacifists of the world, the major media, and in short, all those who hate America and obviously love Iraq: Get your s**t together and DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT or else one or two years from now Iraq will be…a prosperous country, and then we will never forgive you for letting us down when we needed you!
Besides, how would you face us if my cousin got a car and had an accident?!

-By Ali.

- posted by Omar @ 17:00

SwiftVets

These guys have every right to be angry. They are as much as Kerry is, heroes. But these heroes were spit on, vilified and then forgotten. Who did this to them? America. John Kerry and his anti-war Band of Brothers were the worst, to the Vets, because they felt betrayed by Kerry and the rest of the VVAW.

There has been enough mud slinging to get everyone dirty. The SV's and Kerry have both been caught in lies, which why it all should end. War is not a boardroom where everything is recorded exactly how it happened. It is confusing and messy place, where two widely different acounts of events can both be right. Weapons firing can be both heard and not heard. Those boats were not exactly quite. Thirty years of embellished storytelling may have made falsehoods into truthes, without anyone having forethought or intent to defraud.

What I believe;
-John Kerry was in Vietnam glory hunting for political capital.
-John Kerry was already anti-war before he went, because of the death of his good freind, Richard Pershing. See this!
-John Kerry was heroic and at times foolhardy once engaged with the enemy.
-John Kerry emellished his exploits, like so many others.
-John Kerry used very minor wounds to collect the medals necessary to exit Vietnam ASAP.
-John Kerry used his Vietnam service to lend weight to his anti-war activities, which were an advancement of his political career.
-John Kerry's 1971 testimony had an immeasurably bad impact on uncountable Vietnam Veterans, who are just as much of heroes as Kerry is.

It is really time to examine his Senate Record and show the world he is not a moderate like his supporters say. He is not the man to lead our Armed Forces during this crucial point in the war on terror.

Our lying Democrat heroes!

Seems there are many Democrats that claim false combat experience. Kerry, Tom Harkin, Al "The Whore" Gore and LBJ have all made false claims. All of this is detailed in this Ann Coulter's column, http://www.anncoulter.org/columns/2004/081104.htm.

Of course there are many that will say she is a Republican attack dog, but you know everyone seems to be an attack dog these days. Many many people hate what Ann says, but I have not heard anyone say she lies.

Seems lying about combat experience is one of the Democrat's favorite pastimes. I picture a poker game held in a mahogany office filled with cigar smoke. John says to Tom, "How was it, that you were able to lie to the press and get away with it?". Tom says, "Well, you know Kerry, that was almost 40 years ago and they didn't have computers, and well, the press is either on our side or too lazy to do any real investigating." Tom continues, "Especially if it means reading through mounds of paper, like they used to. I just wish I had been savvy enough to have brought along still and movie cameras like you and Al did." John says, "I got the idea after spending time with President Kennedy and hearing about LBJ's medals, isn't that one a hoot". Tom responds, "Well, you and Al, you more so than Al, sure took chances to get your Vietnam Photo-Ops". Al pipes in, "Yeah, we can always count on the media to turn our lies into to truths!". Everyone laughs heartily.

You know, John Kerry could have avoided all of the scrutiny about his war record, and even his traitorous anti-war activities, if he had run on his Senate record. Instead he chose to play up events from 40 years ago, which have seemed to have had a life of their own. Though he really couldn't use his Senate record, there is nothing there!

Bush came and conquered.

If last night is any indication, Bush is going to win this state. Us Bushies will save America and the DEMons from themselves. The speeches and the free use of the word "God" were just wonderful.

As an employee of the City of Saint Paul, I have always disliked the Carpetbagger Coleman. Sure he changed to Republican, but I still could not vote for a New Yorker. New York Mayors and Senators are OK in New York, not in Minnesota. Besides he did things as Mayor that hurt the employees and many believe the City. They sure the hell cheered for him at the rally. It appears that he might be a better Senator than a Mayor. Two years in the Senate and he(+1) has already authored more bills than Kerry(0) has in his 20 years, so he must be a better Senator than John Kerry.

Mayor Kelly was very careful to not alienate himself from the DEMons. He said something like, this is not a DEMon issue and not a Patriot, eerrr I mean Republican issue it is an issue for choosing the right man for the next four years. I can't agree more. America can not afford to have a President that is going to ask the UN and France whether America can defend itself. To the idiot liberals, the UN's and France's approvals are required before America can do anything. I don't think so!

President Bush was great. He didn't let his brilliant mind race ahead of his mouth, so he stayed out of trouble. For all of you dumb fools that think Bush is dumb, you major in business at Harvard. Very few degrees are harder to get in America, there is also the special bonus that he is NOT a lawyer. He spoke for about 45 minutes and finally disclosed his long term goal for the Middle East. Encouraging democracy through example, diplomacy and as a last resort military action. He made a very good point that democracies do not export terrorism. Though it seems all of the media was in the bathroom, because I looked and looked for any mention of these comments on the TV and in the paper, but there was not a word.

Oh and the women, classy sophisticated women. Not a dusty brown or olive drab t-shirt in the whole crowd. I didn't do any inspections, but I am sure they had shaved their armpits and used deodorant too. I have attempted to discerned the average DEMonic woman by observing the greasy haired DEMonic shills accosting people on the streets of Saint Paul with telling words, "Do you want to help us beat Bush?". Such a lack of class, such a lack of intellect, do they even know who Kerry is? There were female DEMons that crashed the rally to spread their filthy lies and hate. They must have cleaned up a bit to avoid notice. I am surprised that they didn't vomit when us Republicans said the Pledge of allegiance or sang God Bless America. Isn't God to a DEMon like a silver cross to a vampire. Oh well, at least Bush's visit got a couple of the DEMons to take baths.

The media coverage was truly ridicules and biased. Under-estimating the size of the rally crowd, they said 15,000, I think about 20,000. And giving more coverage to the pathetic DEMons, they say 200, I say about 100, outside protesting. One DEMon even complained that it was not open to the public, a lie.

Warning! The following quote is so dangerously pathetic and stupid it is harmful to your own intelligence while you try to figure how anybody can be so stupid as to utter it. Here it is, Bob Miller, St. Paul, " For them to discredit him by smearing his military record is, in effect, smearing the records of all military veterans who served in Vietnam or any other war." First of all BOB, you are entitled to your stupid illogical opinions, after all you support Kerry, which says enough about your intelligence. Second, Kerry's military record is being used by him to blatantly self-promote himself for public office, as such is open to intense and critical scrutiny. His campaign also attacked Bush's record, another Vietnam War era veteran, BOB you seem to be OK with those attacks. Thirdly BOB you support a lying sack of shit, you CANNOT read anything Kerry has said or written without tripping over at least one lie on every page. The only way Kerry can keep from lying is to never open his mouth. Fourthly BOB, for every front line soldier or airman there ever was there were 10 soldiers or airmen supporting him, so were the one or one of the ten. Not that it makes much difference, but to preempt the blathering idiots, like so many heralded war veterans before him Bush was one of the ten. Fifthly BOB, as a Cold War Vet, I resent your feeling that us veteran's want your silly ass to speak for any of us. If there weren't 50 Robert Millers in the phone book, I would call you up and tell you so.

The local rag did reveal one bright light for us conservatives. Gore only won Minnesota by 60,000 votes in 2000. That's only 2%. Also J"H"K is 45% and Bush is 46% in the latest polls.

The President is coming!!!!!

The President is coming to Saint Paul. I have tickets and I am going. I got four tickets, one for each of my kids and I. Becky is in boot camp in South Carolina and James has to work at his brand new job, so two are going to waste. They are non-transferable tickets, so I am going to keep James' for a souvenir and I will send Becky's to her. Little stuff like that gives them contact with the real world. I got my camera and binoculars ready to go. The best news is that my fiance's daughter, who voted for Gore in 2000, wants to go too. She has awakened to the deceit and lies of the DEMons and has repented her wayward ways. Katie has been saved!

The self-described "enlightened" have been riding me all day, but you know what? I don't care. I am voting for a true American Patriot. Not a fake one, that is a traitor to boot. Phil is a liberal for reasons beyond my comprehension, but he tried to take a dig about the tickets being free and not costing a $1,000. It seems that he is under the impression that the DEMons do not have $1000 a plate fundraisers. Where else does he think they get their money to spread their lies?

Seems the DEMons are also applying a full court press to upstage the President. They flew in a former Senator from Georgia(Wooohooo) and have enlisted the Mayor of the neighboring Homosexual Haven formerly known as Minneapolis. Oh my God, the big guns. I hope for their sake, the DEMons have a bigger surprise up their sleeve and it is not National Security Documents related to 9/11.

Bush is making great strides in Minnesota and in Wisconsin. As EVERYONE knows, Minnesota is the only state that went to Mondale in Reagan's historic landslide. In this state we used to have the Humphreyites, now we have the Wellstonians. Don't the DEMons know these two are dead and hopefully resting in peace. It is time to slay the myth of the DEMons caring about the poor, the unions and (sic) the commonman. To Kerry the Commonman is the guy who waits in line while Kerry's entourage butts in front of him. Or he is the guy that cuts his lawn, cooks his meals or drives his limo. The Commonman is anybody dumb enough to fall for his self-promotion and lies and actually votes for him. How can a rich guy that was born with a silver spoon in his ass, ever know how it feels to be or empathize with the commonman?

I am hoping to hear the City of Saint Paul Mayor Kelly as a sort of warm up band, with Bush being the main event. My boss the Honorable Mayor Randy Kelly has been vilified and attacked by the DEMons and the media(same thing) relentlessly, since he decided to endorse the only good horse in the stable. A local liberal rag with a small circulation and a, in my mind, poor journalistic reputation, took a humourless and tasteless stab at Kelly and Bush. It seems that it is OK to draw a cartoon of Kelly kissing Bush's ass, but it is not OK to question Kerry's Vietnam or voting record. Or at least, one is OK to print and one is not. Seems DEMons and the media are OK with you being a traitor to the country, but not a traitor to their Party. Go figure.

With Patriots like this, America doesn't need any more enemies.

The idea that Kerry and his cohorts helped lengthen the war in Vietnam has been advanced a number of times in interviews as summarized, for example, by Victor Davis Hanson (a respected historian) in this excerpt from the September 2003 American Legion Magazine:

Gen. Giap, in a series of postbellum interviews, confessed that the North Vietnamese were ready to cease aggression under the weight of the 1972 and 1973 bombing campaigns. He then directly associated the reprieve with the welcome efforts of the radical antiwar movement.

Indeed he told French television that his most important guerrilla ally during the war was the American press.

The Vietnam News Agency as early as 1966 wrote "We praise the American peace champions. The movement of the American people to protest the war of aggression has really become the second front against the U.S. imperialists."

Another communist official, Bui Tinh, claimed that Fonda's Hanoi visits, press releases and much-publicized photo-ops in enemy batteries had helped the communists "to hold on in the face of battlefield reverses."

John Kerry’s Senate testimony was used during torture sessions by North Vietnam of American POW’s to extract confessions and undermined the prisoner’s will to resist.


Democracy is a form of government by the people. That doesn’t give a minority of people of that country the right to undermine the will of the people, government and soldiers during a war, even if they believe that the war is unjust. Such illogical nonsense would allow the transfer of ideas to a country with which your country is at war.

The radical anti-war protests which John Kerry led and is associated with, provided aid and comfort to the enemy during a time of war. By allowing his actions to do so, his lack of common sense and reason is self-evident. The 1966 article was known in America, so Kerry knew what he was doing and did it anyway.

John "Hanoi" Kerry is unfit the office of the President of the United States of America.

The Outrage over the Swiftboat Vets Commercial.

I sat there listening to the "unbiased media", using Democrat and McCain comments to attack the SwiftVets and their statements.

1) They were not on the same boat!
2) They are renouncing their statement!
3) They are lying!

1) The SwiftVets were on other boats that had to rely on Kerry's boat. They were unhappy about his reliability, his Glory hunting and his lies upon his return to America.
2) One Vet has toned down his statement. The remaining 11 have not changed their story.
3) Were any of these leftist attackers there?

Why is it OK for Kerry to lie in the 70's? But it is not OK for these SwiftVets to speak out against those lies now? Kerry has said that he regrets his words, but I have never heard of him apologizing. Not that it would make any difference. I have seen stories written by VA doctors and therapists detailing to trauma that Kerry's words have inflicted on thousands of Vietnam Vets. Do a web search; they are not hard to find.

For those of you that just can't see the left biased media for what it is, just look at the attacks on the SwiftVets and the reaction to F 9/11. SwiftVets are speaking the truth as they see it and call it their opinion. Moore cut and paste the truth into lies and called it "facts". The media has attacked the SwiftVets with a vengeance and lauded Moore's lies with free publicity and constant positive media coverage.

For those of you that still think free speech is for everyone, open your eyes. Moore threatened to sue anyone that prevented his film from being shown. The Democrats are threatening to sue anyone that shows the SwiftVet commercial. Again the media reported these things to us, but defended Moore's and the Democrat's right to sue. The media see no conflict in this and neither does anyone else. So free speech is for liberals only.

Why is John Kerry a war hero for his service in Vietnam, while every other Vietnam Vet is a rapist and baby killer?

Why did America give John Kerry medals for his service in Vietnam and Vietnam gave him medals for his service in America? Because John Kerry glory hunted in Vietnam to further his political career and then came home lied and actively sought to undermined the will of America to again, further his political career. How much of this Kerry career building can this country take?

John "Hanoi" Kerry is a traitor.

Democrats want to ignore the damage that John Kerry has done to this country, it's veterans and it's defense.

I NEVER WILL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Vote Kerry/Edwards/Al Zarqawi/Bin Laden in '04

It is amazing that no one who is going to vote for Kerry can see the truth of this statement.

How stupid is America?

A Fitting Cicero Quote

A nation can survive its fools, even the ambitious. But it cannot survive treason from within. An enemy at the gates is less formidable for he’s known and carries his banner openly. But the traitor moves amongst those within the gate freely. His sly whispers rustling through all the allies heard in the very halls of government itself.

For the traitor appears not a traitor. He speaks in accents familiar to his victims and he wears their face and their arguments. He appeals to the baseness that lies deep in the hearts of all men. He rots the soul of a nation. He works secretly and unknown in the night to undermine the pillars of the city. He infects the body politic so that it can no longer resist. A murderer is less feared.

Kerry Unfit for Duty?

Kerry's fellow sailors from Vietnam have very many things to say about him, none of them is flattering.

You can view these comments at the sites linked to the right under "Defeat Kerry/Edwards" or "Swiftboat Vets against John Kerry".

The comments question;
-Whether the Purple Hearts were earned.
-His ability and desire to lead.
-His claims that all of his fellow vets support him.
-His testimony in speeches and to the Senate upon his return from Vietnam.

After reading them, you will wonder why he has not already crawled back under the rock he came from.

Hurray for Mayor Kelly.

The City of Saint Paul's Mayor is a Democrat that has endorsed and will campaign for Bush. As the second largest city in Minnesota, this is huge. This state has not gone to a Republican presidential candidate in years. Mr. Kelly has just opened the door to all of those historically Democratic voters who also see John "Hanoi" Kerry as an empty shell, but were going to vote for him anyway.

There are Minnesota voters that vote Democratic just because they always have. They don't watch the news, discuss the issues or judge the candidates. They just show up at the polls and vote Democrat all the way down. Mr. Kelly's brave announcement slaps these people upside the head and makes them examine the situation to see if they can see what he sees. It opens the door for them to follow Kelly in voting for the candidate that really does hold the same values that they do. The radical liberals of today's Democratic Party have guided it away from the centrist's path a long time ago. Minnesota's conservative Democrats just have not figured it out yet.

I have predicted that this state will finally vote the way it lives, conservatively. Mayor Kelly's dissent against the leftist direction of the Democratic Party is a giant leap to make that happen.

The Diversity Party?

With all of the blow hard claims of the left in this regard, you would think that the lefties would be the first to nominate and elect a woman and/or a person of color to the White House.

I am willing to lay down money, that the first woman and the first racial minority person to become a US President will be Republicans. They may even be the same person. The left will never present a credible minority candidate to the electorate. Hell, they can't even find a credible white man to run. The only reason Gore or Kerry even had/have a chance is because of the selfishness, stupidity and ignorance of their supporters. Any swing voter would run away from a lefty minority candidate and the Republicans are too smart to switch just to favor a sex or race. However the stupid lefties would jump on the Republican band wagon to elect a woman or another minority. This is not to say voting for a minority is stupid, but that casting a vote for a candidate just because they are a minority is!

The Republicans have many viable candidates like Mrs. Dole, Ms. Rice, Mr. Powell and others. Who do the Demons have Mrs. Pelosi or Mr. Sharpton? Yea right!

I will bet ten bucks to the first five strangers that send me their names and addresses. I say the Reps and you say the Dems will elect the first woman or racial minority.

Confirmation! Liberals are assholes.

I, until recently, played cards with a group of co-workers during our breaks.

With the Hatred and Liars Party Convention in the news, my card partner gave us his opinion of Foxnews and said it should be banned. I said the libs have every other news outlet biased towards liberals, what is wrong with a conservative biased news station? He looked at me with this evil look in his eye and called Foxnews, "Pornography" several times. By attacking Foxnews as Pornographic, he was attacking my conservative veiws and values, since he was defending CNN and MSNBC as nuetral.

Now as the lone conservative at the table, any attempt to defend myself would have offended the other two, so I bit my tongue. I did notice that not one of the other two told him he was out of line. Liberals giving liberals free passes is the norm.

Since my continued playing might end up with blows being exchanged, I decided that it was no longer worth it and told the leader of the group that I was no longer going to play. Now granted there is an order of seniority within the group owing to the length of time you have been playing and the rabid liberal has many years as a I may have months. But you would think that peer pressure would be applied to the RL, to at least make some apologetic overtures, but again there are all of those free passes liberals give each other.

Let us just say they have proven every bad thing I have to say about them. Liberals are stupid and blind assholes.

Kerry's 3 Purple Hearts, I said 3 for anyone that has not heard that yet!

Kerry did go to Vietnam and he did get shot at by the enemy, then he came home and became the enemy, but that is a different story.

The fact the Kerry served in Vietnam is not in question, but why he served is. Before volunteering he was already leaning anti-war because of the death in Vietnam of a close friend of his. So why did he go? Did he already know the 3 Purple Heart deferment for officers? I think he did. Was he already padding his resume for a future in politics? Judging from the amount of films and pictures showcasing him in Vietnam, it seems likely. As one veteran said, he had 100s of pictures of Nam and he was only in 2 or 3 of them. Kerry seems to have had a personal photographer along during his tour he has so many pictures of himself. Kerry keeps claiming that he served his country in Vietnam, I think he was serving himself and his ambitions.

I spent more time in the Hospital getting my tonsil out, than Kerry spent recovering from his wounds. As a result of the three wounds Kerry received the Purple Heart for, he spent zero days in the hospital, but did get a 2-day rack pass for one of them. He missed no time on duty for the other two wounds. Only Kerry knows for sure, but it sounds like less than ten stitches for the three wounds all together. Oh, and guess who put himself in for all three Purple Hearts, that’s right John Kerry.

Now being an Officer, he was allowed to put in a transfer once he had the required three Purple Hearts. That transfer meant that he would only have to spend 5 months in Vietnam. The enlisted "Commonman" Kerry claims to represent was not eligible for the deferment transfer, so he was still over there getting shot at long after Kerry was safely back in the States.

Anyone that votes for John "Hanoi" Kerry on the Commonman theme is a fool and and idiot. Kerry has never understood and will never understand the problems and life of a common American, only fools and idiot believe he does.