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Carolinian - Opinions Issue: 9/14/04 OUT OF MY HEAD: Everything to Live For '04 By Joe Killian I have friends who refused to watch, listen to or even read Bush's speech to the RNC last week -but I just had to see it. I was working that night, so I set my VCR and came home to the tape at around 1 a.m. It's hard to describe the mixture of nausea and fear that gripped me as I watched this speech. I was offended at the use of the tragedy of 9/11 as political leverage - but, in a strange...

The late, great columnist Murray Kempton said editorial writers were like partisan fighters who come down out of the hills after the battle and shoot the wounded. There is some truth to that, but I have a kinder, gentler simile in mind. J.M. Barrie, the author of Peter Pan, used to ask children to sit with him in his box during performances of his famous play. After the curtain came down one night Barrie turned to the little boy he had invited and asked: "So what part did you like best?" The little boy said, "The part I liked best...

I think it is absolutely hilarious how you people get so upset by what others have to say about you. Are you really THAT insecure about being a republican that you have to bash down anyone else's views. REPUBLICAN IS NOT the only party out there. Deal with it. Bush is a moron. The war on terrorism is stupid. I think Ani Difranco summarized it best in her poem. So how about you quit your whinning and deal with the fact that the whole worlds population IS NOT REPUBLICAN. If I remember correctly, freedom of speech is one of our...

Mayor Bloomberg says the city "acted appropriately" while arresting and holding thousands of people during the Republican convention. I beg to differ. I wasn't even a demonstrator - I was going for a drink with a friend when I was arrested - and my experience tells a different story. It was Tuesday, Aug. 31, about 8:30 p.m. when my friend and I saw a lot of cops running on 26th St., then up Park Ave. South. I saw a man being handcuffed who said he had done nothing. The cop was using a lot of force, and I asked him...

BISMARCK -- First, a series of heterosexual couples kiss. Then, two men are shown about to lock lips. All are dressed for a wedding. That is followed by three people, depicting a wedding of two men and a woman. The campaign commercial's message: Sen. Byron Dorgan supports gay marriage and unless North Dakotans vote for Republican Mike Liffrig for the U.S. Senate, they can "kiss their morals goodbye." Democrats demanded Tuesday that Liffrig pull the plug on that ad and another commercial that claims Dorgan supports human cloning, saying the allegations are lies. The ads began running statewide Monday and...

Bush Twins Get a Little Payback in Prime TimeBy JODI WILGORENPublished: September 1, 2004 aybe girls do just want to have fun. The Bush girls, at least.Forget four years of shunning the spotlight. President Bush's twin 22-year-olds, Jenna and Barbara, strutted into it last night with a sassy, sexy serenade to their parents at the Republican National Convention, every wisecracking word broadcast live on national television. They spared no one."She thinks 'Sex in the City' is something married people do, but never talk about," Jenna, the blonde, razzed her grandmother, Barbara Bush. Jenna was referring to the HBO program "Sex...

WAY TO GO JENNA AND BARBERA!

THE GIRLS: But Jenna and Barbara really did steal the show. The word "sex" emanated from the stage. No, this wasn't an ad lib. The marketers who are promoting the policies of James Dobson and Rick Santorum were making jokes mocking the prudery of people who think "Sex and the City" is something only married people do and never talk about. Like the president's gaffe about not winning the war on terror, this could never have been uttered at a Democratic convention without the Dems being described as out-of-touch metrosexuals. But the delegates, knowing that this kind of front is...

STOP THE WAR ON HEROISM As an American, I am very upset about how people are attacking Sen. John Kerry's (USN '66-'70) war record. I can't help but think about how these attacks will effect soldiers serving so bravely today. I am writing to show my support to ALL soldiers that server during a time of war, regardless of your service length, location or level of danger you are in. When critics refer to Kerry's service as "only 4 months," they are completely dismissing his first tour of duty on the USS Gridley. What message does this send to soldiers...

NEW YORK - A GOP delegate handed out more than 200 bandages with purple hearts on them Monday night at the Republican National Convention in a swipe at Democratic nominee John Kerry's war record, but national GOP officials have asked him to stop. The bandages were handed out by Morton Blackwell, a longtime GOP activist from Virginia, with the message: "It was just a self-inflicted scratch, but you see I got a Purple Heart for it." Kerry won three Purple Hearts, a Silver Star and a bronze star for his service in the Vietnam War. Democratic Chairman Terry McAuliffe said...

Can we all please just agree to end the cribbed letters to the editor? About 70 times a week we get fake letters, unoriginal, recycled “thoughts” fobbed off as real by some advocacy campaign. Some arrive with the signature “your name here.” Election season brings out the worst, a blizzard of ersatz letters from both major political parties trying to feed the nation's newspapers. How? Their Web sites provide everything a plagiarist could want. Talking points. Letter contacts. Forms. The canned spiels are known in the journalism trade as “AstroTurf” or simply “turf” for their look-like-the-real-deal letter qualities. The election...

When Republican delegates nominate their presidential candidate this week, they will be doing it in a city where residents who support George Bush have, for all practical purposes, already been disenfranchised. Barring a tsunami of a sweep, heavily Democratic New York will send its electoral votes to John Kerry and both parties have already written New York off as a surefire blue state. The Electoral College makes Republicans in New York, and Democrats in Utah, superfluous. It also makes members of the majority party in those states feel less than crucial. It's hard to tell New York City children that...

EAST HAMPTON, N.Y. (AP) -- Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry on Saturday night urged President Bush to "stand up and stop" what he called personal attacks on him over his combat record in Vietnam. At a fund-raiser attended by about 750 people, Kerry said the attacks by a group of Vietnam veterans and former Swift Boat commanders have intensified "because in the last months they have seen me climbing in America's understanding that I know how to fight a smarter and more effective war" against terrorists. "That's why they're attacking my credibility. That's why they've personally gone after me. The...

Like 'Pushy' mother, like daughter By REBECCA ENGLISH, Daily Mail 08:30am 20th August 2004 Tall, Blonde and statuesque, Lady Gabriella Windsor has clearly inherited her mother's looks. In addition, Princess Michael of Kent appears to have passed on her tendency to rub the Americans up the wrong way. Months after graduating from university and starting work as a writer, 23-year-old Gabriella has already run into a spot of bother. In an article on food for the Spectator magazine, she describes British fare as 'bland' and consisting of 'warm beer, grey curries and unidentifiable soup'. Her real venom, however, is saved...

Stephanie S. Cordle/Associated Press Jenna Bush, campaigning for her father last week, makes an unintended splash. WASHINGTON — Well, that was a fine how-do-you do. This was supposed to be the new Jenna Bush. Fresh out of college, ready to shed the "Jenna and Tonic'' image she earned as a partying undergraduate, she posed for Vogue in a couture gown and declared an interest in working with charter schools. It was all a prelude to becoming a public figure at 22 and heading out on the campaign trail for Dear Old Dad. Then last week she stuck out her...

Bostonians' sweeping concerns over gridlock and other Democratic National Convention week headaches have been overblown by a ``mean-spirited'' media, Sen. John Kerry's daughter Alexandra said. ``I think it's sad that that's something that's been perpetuated in the press,'' Kerry's daughter told reporters during a conference call yesterday. ``I think sometimes the press likes to perpetuate controversy. Some of it has been mean-spirited.'' Kerry said she's heard her father talk about the massive road closures and other security woes. Still, the tight-knit clan is looking forward to the July 26-29 Democratic shindig at the FleetCenter. ``I think it is a positive...

By TIM MOLLOY, Associated Press Writer LOS ANGELES - A spokesman for Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger (news - web sites) said Sunday that the governor would not apologize for calling lawmakers "girlie men," despite criticisms from Democrats that the remark was sexist and homophobic. Schwarzenegger dished out the insult at a rally Saturday as he claimed Democrats were delaying the budget by catering to special interests. "If they don't have the guts to come up here in front of you and say, 'I don't want to represent you, I want to represent those special interests, the unions, the trial lawyers ......

i am not a democrat or republican. i am saying right now that Bush will lose in November. i'll be back after the election to say i told you so.

WASHINGTON (AP) — A Texas Democrat who is losing his House seat because of redistricting engineered by House Majority Leader Tom DeLay is filing ethics complaints against the Republican leader. Rep. Chris Bell is charging that DeLay, R-Texas, provided legislative favors to a company that made campaign contributions to DeLay and other Republicans, laundered other corporate donations to illegally help Texas GOP candidates and improperly used his office in asking the Federal Aviation Administration to track down a private plane used by Texas Democrats. "The charges are very serious and well documented," said Bell's spokesman, Eric Burns. DeLay's press secretary,...

Ronald Reagan did some fine things, but the economic theory that bears his name was not one of them. Reaganomics made the world safe for today's reckless tax-cutting. And the public hardly understands the social upheaval these policies will soon unleash. Reaganomics held that cutting taxes and reducing the size of government would let loose the nation's entrepreneurial juices and lead to economic growth. Note that the theory comes in two parts. The fun part is cutting taxes. The not-so-fun part is reducing government. Do the first part without the second, and you end up with budget deficits and an...