Free Republic

They'll be serving champagne cocktails and scrambled eggs at the Petroleum Club, offering a 40th-floor view when the Landmark Tower implodes Saturday morning and removes a deteriorating eyesore from the Fort Worth skyline. Courtyard by Marriott, itself a rehabilitated downtown building near the Landmark, has been renting rooms with a view to people -- mainly curious North Texans -- who want a firsthand glimpse of this footnote to urban history on Houston Street between Sixth and Seventh. One hotel guest is an implosion enthusiast who's traveling from Arizona to watch the tallest Texas structure ever demolished. Courtyard guests have booked...

Team Arnold lost his Big Four measures -- Propositions 74 through 77 -- on the California ballot Tuesday because this band of political hired guns deserved to lose. They ran a cynical campaign. After Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's big recall-election win in 2003 and his successful fight in 2004 against some well-funded ballot measures -- like the two Big Casino measures and a three-strikes makeover that rode high in the polls until he opposed it -- the team figured he could sell anything to the California voter. So they didn't do a careful job of lining up initiatives with curb appeal...

SNIP..... While the Democrats and their base now think that finally the elected Democrats have stood up on their hind legs and they're showing some guts and they're showing some backbone, they're now happy. Are they not? The base is happy, and this is another thing that's difficult to comprehend. Unless you realize these people are whacked-out. They are happy over nothing. They are happy over rhetoric. They think shutting down the Senate has changed the momentum. They're as out of touch with what's happening in this country as they are out of touch with the war and the whole...

/begin my translationSankei, "N. Korea to Provide Nuclear Warhead Info to a Mid-East Country" Tokyo, Yonhap News 2005/09/15N. Korean military is dead set against 6-party talks, and is still passing to a friendly Mid-East country (technical) information on (miniaturized) nuclear warhead for ballistic missiles, according to a report by Sankei Shimbun (of Japan,) dispatched from Beijing on Sept. 15 (2005.) Sankei quoted an intelligence source, which said that, for more than a year, a senior figure of N. Korean military has been passing data on their implosion device of nuclear warhead to a military attache at the embassy of the Mid-East country in Pyongyang.  The source claimed, "N. Korea would not (ordinarily) share...

SACRAMENTO (AP) - A Superior Court judge on Thursday kicked Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's redistricting measure off the special election ballot, ruling that supporters violated California's constitution by using two versions of the initiative in the qualifying process. "The differences are not simply typographical errors," Judge Gail Ohanesian said. "They're not merely about the format of the measure. They are not simply technical. Instead they go to the substantive terms of the measure." The proposal, Proposition 77, is one of three initiatives that the Republican governor is supporting in the Nov. 8 special election. It would take the power to draw...

Sometimes The BRAC Process Gets It WrongDr. Daniel Goure, The Lexington Institute6/27/2005 Over the past 12 years there have been five Base Closure and Realignment (BRAC) commissions leading to the elimination of some bases and other military facilities. The process for determining which facilities to close or realign is relatively straightforward. The Department of Defense (DoD) proposes a list of bases that is reviewed by an independent commission that passes the final set of names to Congress which must vote to accept or reject the list as a whole. In general, if a facility is on the Pentagon’s initial list...

John Kerry Reportedly To Present "Downing Street Memo" To Congress June 5, 2005 7:36 a.m. EST Douglas Maher - All Headline News Staff Reporter Washington,D.C. (AHN)- After remaining almost silent since losing the 2004 election by thirty four electoral votes, Sen. John Kerry of Massachusetts is reportedly planning to to present Congress with The Downing Street Memo, reported last month by the London Times. The memo purports to include minutes from a July 2002 meeting with Tony Blair, in which Blair allegedly said that President Bush's administration "fixed" intelligence on Iraq in order to justify the Iraqi war. The Downing...

This is an article by a Democrat who actually "gets it". http://opinionjournal.com/extra/?id=110006284 It's a good read. Love ya'll!

As President Bush prepares for his second term, Democrats in Washington and around the country are organizing for a year of confrontation and resistance, saying they are determined to block Bush's major initiatives and thereby deny him the mandate he has claimed from his reelection victory last November. The Democrats' mood and posture represent a contrast to that of four years ago, after Bush's disputed victory over Al Gore. Then, despite anger and bitterness over how the 2000 election ended, Democrats were tentative and initially open to Bush's calls for bipartisan cooperation. Today, despite Bush's clear win over Sen. John...

The self-centered, egotistical John Kerry obviously wanted to look his best for the debate. That is, after being told that his ship was sinking with the distaff set, Johnny thought he had better skuzzy himself up for the TV cameras. Unfortunately, the instant tan preparation the rich boy used gave him the burnt-orange look of an over-baked pumpkin pie. That's about how most things have been going for Kerry lately. George Bush campaigns before huge, happy crowds. Kerry speaks before "groups" who often look like they might have been paid to be there and resent the imposition. Can Kerry live...

Click on the source, fast forward 20 seconds (it's blank at the start, don't panic) and enjoy. Highlights: Pink ties reporter:"Can you see Kerry in the White House?" answer: "NO!" "She (THK) is not a lady." discouraged dems on the street

From Rasmussen Polling September 14, 2004--Twenty-seven percent (27%) of voters believe that the CBS Memos concerning President Bush's National Guard service are authentic. However a Rasmussen Reports survey also found that 38% believe the memos are forgeries.Among voters who are following the story very closely, 56% believe the memos are forgeries and 27% believe they are authentic. Overall, 38% of voters say they are following the story "very" closely and 34% say they are following it "somewhat" closely.Only 16% of voters think questions about President Bush's National Guard service are "very" important. That view is held by 27% of Democrats,...

Print Article         Close Window     Here We Go Some More By Published 9/13/2004 12:08:06 AM While CBS news anchor Dan Rather can say there is no internal investigation under way over the alleged forged documents used as the foundation for an investigation into President George W. Bush's National Guard service, you wouldn't have been able to tell from the 15 or so 60 Minutes and CBS News" staffers working away feverishly on Friday and Saturday to try to nail down their story. On Friday, according to CBS News sources, Rather spent the day on the phone and dealing...

"'We need someone on the plane who has a relationship with him and is an adult,' said a senior campaign official, who asked for anonymity to talk more freely about strategy. [emphasis added]

From Hugh Hewitt: I interviewed Matthew Dowd today (and that transcript will follow as well.). His key point: There are three signs of a collapsing campaign. First, the candidate who is falling like a rock challenges his opponent to weekly debates. Second, the candidate who is sinking shuffles his senior staff. Third, the candidate who is the walking dead says that the only poll that counts is the poll on election day. Dowd pointed out that Kerry has already scored two of the three. Heh. Yep, were seeing it happen right before our eyes. With 53% approval ratings this will...

You know your in trouble when....you have to defend your ads because they include the leader of the other party (what a friggin suck up this guy is......to what depths has this party fallen!) Daschle defends footage of Bush hug in campaign ad... DKKImplosion 101, um, well, seeing the implosionImplosion 101 Peeking Too SoonImplosion 101 Update - DrudgeImplosion 101

The fact is, even if Kerry was a Republican, these Swift boat guys would be hounding him. In a culture where "ABB" is now media shorthand for "Anyone But Bush", you would think the press would recognise these fellows for what they are: the ABK constituency. Meanwhile, "Bush hatred" - another losing hand the Democrats put too many chips on - has peaked, and any saggy nudists or trust-fund anarchists who succeed in pulling off some camera-worthy stunt in Manhattan this week will only be boosting the President....

From Wizbang: Super Size ItMonday evening there was an argument between Franken and a producer for the Laura Ingraham show regarding whether he had agreed to be on her program, The producer called Franken "a liar," evidentally because Franken (in his opinion) reneged on a promise to appearh on the Ingraham show. Franken called him "an asshole," then tempers flared, and push came to shove. Eventually Ingraham called for security. There are more pictures of the incident coming tomorrow. DKK

For Kerry the arrogance and unending belief in the rightness of his destiny as President didn't carry over to the new media. I don't doubt that if the media had their way the election would be over and they would have won! They oh so want their power back and they see Kerry as a means to this end (see Media Contradictions!) Unfortunately the bottom line is that because of the blogsphere and talk radio the old media was forced to take a peek at Kerry because of the claims he made and the reality of the Swifties! Need some...

I have said before that it isn't what Kerry did in Vietnam - it may actually have been respectable service (though fabricated and exaggerated.) It is about what he did after he returned. I remember the protestors and their anti-American actions. The more I learn about Kerry and his leadership roll in those actions the more it makes me ill and scares the crap out of me. That a political party has become so completely bankrupt as to nominate this man as their candidate for the Presidency is, in my opinion, tantamount to agreeing to shred our nations future before...