Sunday, April 18, 2004

More Red Herrings, More Hypocrisy, Just a Typical Day for Peter Bronson

I should have seen this coming from Bronson. Who else but Peter Bronson would seize upon a chance to blame Bill Clinton for something? It would be refreshing if one Republican would take responsibility for something, instead of blaming someone else for not doing what they could have done.

Bronson needs to rethink what he is saying. He claims the media is not covering the story he wants to hear. Well, guess what Peter, the media is covering it. You are writing about it, and if you listen to talk radio or watch FOX News, that is about all you heard about during the 9/11 hearings. What is funny here is that Peter blames the Media for doing the bidding of the Democrats and he does that by quoting local Republican Congressmen. Peter, did you get their press releases by fax or email? Classic hypocrisy there Pete. Do what I say, not what I do?

Bronson’s attempt to tar Gorelick, pronounced "gor-ell-ick", not "Gore Lick” which is what I hope Bronson was not joking about in his opening, is a classic red herring ploy. She is getting death threats by the way, likely from talk radio type cranks. Everything in politics these days is a red herring ploy, but this is a bit different. Critics have had going on 2 years to bring this up. Ashcroft had the knowledge, as did Bush and his leadership, that Gorelick wrote the memo getting people like Bronson in such a tizzy. WHY didn’t Ashcroft object to her being appointed in the beginning? If she had such a damning conflict of interest, why not mention that before they started things off? Gee, you don’t think he withheld the information and selectively declassify it just so he could gain politically? No, that is just not possible. He would not wait months to do that, just to make a DRAMTIC statement in the hearings, our honest AG is not that shallow is he? When I hear him criticized by Bill Frist, maybe that would support his honesty, until then, we can all bank on the game of blame being the GOP’s only play.


Most laughable from the column is this from Rob Portman:
'What Bush did in eight months was more aggressive than what Clinton did in eight years,'' Portman said.
Mr. Portman, my congressman by the way, what the hell did Bush do during those eight months? Some details? Anything? If he really did more in 8 months than Clinton did in 8 years, why could he not prevent 9/11? Clinton's team prevented LAX from being bombed during the Millennium celebration. I mean, if Bush such a stud, he surely would have done that in 8 months? Right? Oh, sorry, I forgot he had Iraq on his mind.

Friday, April 16, 2004

Silence?

Ok, everyone who reads my blog knows I am a very big supporter of gay rights, but I find this kind of protest to be not very productive. It could be viewed as something of a joke. I respect the person trying to do something for gay rights, but I really think the group that started this "Day of Silence, a national youth movement protesting the silence faced by lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people and their allies," should rethink it. It might work in High Schools or younger, where gays are subject to more pier oppression than college, where at most colleges acceptance is becoming more standard practice.

Clooney's Cash

Nick Clooney has set a record in fundraising for the House district in Kentucky he is trying to win. He is well positioned to win. Will he? The last polls I read about had him up significantly. I think he name might just keep that seat for the Dems.

College Voters

I tend to think that college kids are not any more informed, as a whole, than the general public. This article reports a lot of sides of who might get most of the college kids votes, but it seems to say little but what activists say, or at least what conservative activists say. Quoting a poll and then asking the president of the UC College Republicans is hardly a comparison worth much in the analysis of college voter. Why did this reporter not get a UC Democrat quote?

I was most concerned about this point from the poll:
• Liberal and conservative labels don't apply as much anymore, and the students don't like to be seen as Democratic or Republican. The poll identified two key groups: religious centrists, who believe religion should play a larger role in government and are concerned with the nation's moral direction; and secular centrists, who are more libertarian.
I added the bolding. What kind of person actually wants religion to play a larger role in government? A theocrat maybe? Where do kids get that kind of idea from? I guess from certain Religious Sects that advocate or are working towards a theocracy. What country do sound more and more like? We are starting to sound like Iran.

Thursday, April 15, 2004

Question for Smitherman

Under the First Amendment can a student shout racial slurs at a public school teacher, and face no suspension from class? Council has passed a rule booting anyone who disrupt council meetings for 60 days. From the article:
Charterite Christopher Smitherman voted against the measure, saying the rule violates the free speech rights of people who petition City Council.
Bronson writes and quotes Smitherman in his column today, painting Smitherman's apologist views fairly plainly:
But City Council came through. Everyone voted yes except Chris Smitherman. He seems to think cops who are even accused of using the N-word five years ago should be fired - with a real torch - but people who shout and scream it at council meetings just don't get enough respect.

"We can't arbitrarily say what is disruptive and what's not," he argued, drawing disruptive applause (an almost certain indication that you're on the wrong side of an issue at City Hall). "What policies do we put forward that bring this kind of thing on?" he asked. "We must hear the voice of the people."
Smitherman I guess thinks that '400 years of oppression' makes it OK for a bunch of black racists to shout the "N-word" or the "K-word" at council members.

Bronson is actually right on this point. Smitherman is gutless. He fears taking on the black racists in town. He wants to bring the city together, but he doesn't want to stamp out all the racism. White racism is bad, but black racism must be the fault of white people. It would not surprise me to find out that Damon Lynch would have taken a better stand against black racists if he was on council.

MMMMM, It's so Good.....

I don't know jack shit about visual art. Well, not jack shit, but not much. Luckily I have a friend who does know something about art, and more importantly has a forum to interview and publish information directly from the gallerist. Some modern art is not my style, but I like ideas that challenge me, but that don't mock me. If you check out the M Gallery, give me your impressions.

Wednesday, April 14, 2004

Selfish Council, GOP Scam?

Kotre reports in his column that the district voting Plan would have favored GOP. It would have favored the GOP if we look at what happened in the last election, which is the way he approached it. Since moving around in the city is easy, Damon Lynch III can attest to that, then most sitting council members could cherry pick their districts. The people that would be hurt are those who rely on a specific demographic, like Witte, who would have to stay on the West Side, where Cranley could move East and challenge Ghiz and could do well. That might make for a stormy race on many levels.