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Sunday, February 1st, 2004

Mark my words
Posted by: Joe on February 1st, 2004 @ 7:33PM
It will take 50 years for the US to undo the damage to our reputation that the Super Bowl half-time show did.
Comments | GENERAL BLOGGING

God's Will or Idiocy?
Posted by: Joe on February 1st, 2004 @ 3:58PM
Stampede Kills 244 at Hajj Pilgrimage


Safety measures were in place at the site - one where fatal stampedes have been frequent - but "caution isn't stronger than fate," said Saudi Hajj Minister Iyad Madani. "All precautions were taken to prevent such an incident, but this is God's will."


Uh... no?
This isn't God's will. This is stupidity. It isn't like this was a freak incident. People die EVERY YEAR at this thing. Don't you think maybe efforts to prevent it should be stepped up?


Comments | GENERAL BLOGGING


Saturday, January 31st, 2004

My internet hurts.
Posted by: Joe on January 31st, 2004 @ 10:39PM
ConservaBabes.com

Good idea: Registering 'ConservaBabes.com' to showcase hot conservatives and try to change the stereotype of geeky conservatives.

Bad Idea: The actual ConservaBabes.com




Comments | GENERAL BLOGGING

Review of Anti-Flag Concert
Posted by: Joe on January 31st, 2004 @ 2:03AM
This from the Washington Post:

Anti-Flag's Banner Performance
Saturday, January 31, 2004; Page C03

The aged and the cynical may be excused for writing off as so much idealistic hoo-ha the "What's so funny about peace, love and understanding?" sentiments of the "peace punks" in Anti-Flag. Or for turning up their noses at Anti-Flag's old-school punk sound, which is long past its freshness date.

But then again, not too many cynics showed up Thursday at the 9:30 club to see Anti-Flag demonstrate that, whatever it lacks in world-weary sophistication and originality, this Pittsburgh band makes up for with passionate idealism. The audience was made up mostly of kids, some of them young enough to have a parent in tow as a chaperon. The vibe was definitely middle school dance.

As for Anti-Flag, the band played a hyperkinetic set composed of political fist-pumpers bearing such titles as "Angry, Young and Poor," "Post-War Breakout" and, as the opener, a rousing "[Expletive deleted] Police Brutality." They preceded "Death of a Nation" with a call to arms, exhorting their fans to help rid America of those who "make a killing off of killing." It's all part of what they call, in song, their "Underground Network."

"The Blood of Militarism Is the Death of a Nation" read the banner behind the band, and there's not much arguing with the sentiment. One can only hope it's a message Anti-Flag's fans will remember when they're old enough to vote.

-- Michael Little


Fun Fact: Facist regimes focus their indoctrination attempts at the angry youth.

I can understand the feeling though; I WAS one of those middle school kids, parents in tow, at an Anti-Flag. I was just starting to be conservative at the time, but I still beleived in their message and their views. Now I'm older (and wiser, I think?). I can't just write those kids off as stupid; I was one of them!

If you interact with an Anti-Flag kid, don't insult them. The right won't win any hearts or minds through attacks.


Comments (1) | AF ISSUES

The War in Iraq: Was it Justified?
Posted by: Joe on January 31st, 2004 @ 1:56AM
I've been a pretty vocal hawk, so I have a responsibility to defend the war.

First, I thought there were WMDs. It just didn't add up that Saddam didn't have them. He kicked the UN out for years, to what? Make cupcakes? Most intelligence (really, all, including the bribed France and Russia) thought Saddam had weapons of mass destruction. Looks like he didn't. It should be important to note that Kay DID also say that there was evidence of programs, as well as documented transfers of WMDs, supplies, and intelligence (in limited quanities) to Syria. Saddam had something; perhaps not the arsenal we thought, but he had enough means to distribute trace amounts to anti-American forces, as well as the intent. While that alone does not justify a war, it builds the case for one.

What were the other justifications? There was also concrete evidence of Saddam's intent to restart his nuclear programs. Scientists revealed nuclear components he had been instructed to hide with the express intent of restarting the program with the same equipment and knowledge as before. Saddam was going to wait until the world thought he had reformed before suprising them with a nuclear weapon. Sound familar? It should. The same situation happened in North Korea. The War in Iraq prevented another North Korea situation 10 years down the road. That remains, in my mind, the primary justification for the war.

Now, also consider the humanitarian effects and the greater effects on combating terrorism. The United States has freed a people from tyranny and is attempting to install democracy, always a good thing. It will be a long and difficult road, but with dedication, the Iraqi people will be free and prosperous, and a model to others suffering under totalitarian regimes. The significance of this comes in combating the intellectual arguments of terrorism. Islamic Facism has support because people beleive it is a superior form of government to a Liberal Capitalist Democracy. To destroy terrorism at its roots, the allure of Islamic Facism must be destroyed. To do so, we must PROVE that our way of life is superior. This is not done by hoisting the US up on a pillar; rather, it is accomplished by rising part of a people to the same standard and showing them how much better their lives our under our social system.

The war was worth it, for these 3 reasons. That is not to say that Bush and Co are absolved from their sins.There are other, more nefarious aspects to consider.

First, there is no doubt Bush planned war first and shaped the facts to justify it. He set up a special office in the CIA to forward the most tantalizing bits of intelligence, regardless of their reliability. It is important to keep in mind that even the most conservative estimates still had Saddam posessing WMDS. 'Bush Lied People Died' isn't applicable; I am not absolving him from this intelligene debacle though.

There is also the 'War for Oil!' school that seeks to undermind the justificaton of the war. This premise falls apart rather quickly. If oil were the single goal, Bush could have lifted sanctions, saving money and lives. Even if Bush wanted to get his oil buddies in on the action, going to war wouldn't have helped. US is keeping Iraq's oil feilds nationalized, giving contracts out only to repair and improve the oil infastructure of Iraq, NOT to control the oil itself. I am not naive enough to say oil had never crossed their minds, but to implicate it as the ONLY reasons (or even a major reason) is foolish.

Clearly, the War in Iraq has raised many questions. First and foremost should be our intelligence. We cannot allow such disasterous intelligence failures in our government. That is unacceptable. We also should wonder what safegaurds must be implemented to prevent the President from cherry-picking reports for his own benefits. The question we should certainly not ask is 'Was it worth it?" WMDs or not, the War in Iraq was neccesary and worthwhile.
Comments | OTHER ISSUES

Again...
Posted by: Joe on January 31st, 2004 @ 1:29AM
Bush Seeks Big Jump in Missile Defense Spending

NO.


First of all... who is threatening us with missles? I'm not saying that we don't need a defense system, but I don't really think that it is a priority right now, especially when the country is bankrupt. I can understand spending for Iraq and the military, but a superfluous 'pet-program?' Has Bush totally lost his mind?

Bush seeks $18 million budget increase for arts

YES

This is total and complete bullshit. I'm all for funding the arts with public money, but this is...

Oh wait. I don't think the arts should be funded with public money. In fact, it is a wholly unconservative idea to have the government fund a program like this. It is stupid? WHY is Bush doing this? Votes. Plain simple. Bush already has his base in his pocket (provided a Reagan doesn't become magically cured and loses 20 years off his age). Bush can afford to waste money to shape a new image to swing voters. Look! He's funding the arts! He isn't some stupid Texan after all.

Total crap. Utter and total crap. :-/

Bush in '04: It isn't like there is a better choice.
Comments (1) | GENERAL BLOGGING


Thursday, January 29th, 2004

ConservativePunk.com Launches
Posted by: Joe on January 29th, 2004 @ 11:46PM
ConservativePunk.com

Hardcore.
Comments (1) | GENERAL BLOGGING


Wednesday, January 28th, 2004

Uhhh...
Posted by: Joe on January 28th, 2004 @ 12:31AM

what the fuck are you talking about ........ Anti-Flag rox
I hate people like U.,,,who judge just by a bands name....................................Anti-Flag even says "were not Anti-the american Flag were Anti-war,,,and thats just fuckin fine ...... I for one
also am Anti-war so hhhhhhaaaaa hhhhhaaaaaa.................................


What?
Comments (1) | HATE MAIL


Monday, January 26th, 2004

CYBER ALERT!!!1
Posted by: Joe on January 26th, 2004 @ 8:27PM
New Worm Spreading Rapidly Across Internet -Experts


SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Security experts warned on Monday about a new virus outbreak that was spreading quickly across the Internet.
The new virus, dubbed MyDoom or Novarg, is a mass-mailing worm that arrives as an attachment with an .exe, .scr, .zip or .pif extension and can have a subject line of "test" or "status."

It mails itself out to addresses in the victim's computer and is clogging mail servers and degrading network performance at companies, experts said.

"Mailboxes at large corporations are infected and reporting multiple infections throughout their entire organizations," said David Perry, global education director at Trend Micro.

The worm was discovered on Monday afternoon and spread so quickly that Trend Micro, Network Associates, Symantec and other anti-virus companies were rating it a "high" outbreak.

Security experts said they were still analyzing the virus to discover what it does to the victim computers.


File this one under "No shit."
Comments | GENERAL BLOGGING

No WMDs in Iraq
Posted by: Joe on January 26th, 2004 @ 12:10AM
In an interview, Dr. David Kay said the majority of evidence pointed to a strong network of capitbilties, but no actual weapons, admitting most were probably destroyed before the war.

I like Scrappleface's opinion on this:
Report: WMD Gone Before War, Rumsfeld Says 'My Bad'


"Other than WMD, there was no good reason to interrupt Mr. Hussein's 25-year benevolent reign, which by all accounts had stabilized the region and served as a beacon of peace and freedom for the Arab world," said Mr. Rumsfeld. "I have done a great disservice to the Iraqi people and the entire region. I'm sorry."


Theres more of that in the link.

UPDATE
The Daily Telegraph of London is reporting Kay says Syria recieved Iraq's WMDs


"We are not talking about a large stockpile of weapons," he said. "But we know from some of the interrogations of former Iraqi officials that a lot of material went to Syria before the war, including some components of Saddam's WMD programme. Precisely what went to Syria, and what has happened to it, is a major issue that needs to be resolved."


Perhaps our intelligence wasn't as bad as it looked.

Comments (4) | GENERAL BLOGGING


Sunday, January 25th, 2004

Andrew Sullivan in Time
Posted by: Joe on January 25th, 2004 @ 9:16PM
Bush's Nanny State

I'm getting more and more displeased with Bush with each day. Andrew Sullivan is my favorite blogger (at his site AndrewSullivan.com) and he sums up my feelings on Bush perfectly.

Bush is no longer conservative. He has become a moderate with all the wrong ratios. He borrows the nanny state and outrageous spending from the Democrats but keeps the social restrictions of Republicans. That isn't cool.

Unfortunately, Conservatives don't really have a choice in the coming election. Bush or someone worse. I wish there was a strong Conservative, Republican canidate to challange Bush and take the Republican nomination, but last time that happened, Democrats took the White House (Perot challanged Bush Sr. in 1992 before going the 3rd party route. The split actually cost Bush the election.)

Bush in '04: Its not like theres a better choice.
Comments (1) | GENERAL BLOGGING

PunxForDean.org
Posted by: Joe on January 25th, 2004 @ 12:54PM
Wow... just wow.


skatanikman wrote: - 2004-01-25 12:54:26
Punx For Dean

Comments (3) | GENERAL BLOGGING


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Mark my words
2004-02-01 19:33:05
God's Will or Idiocy?
2004-02-01 15:58:19
My internet hurts.
2004-01-31 22:39:42
Review of Anti-Flag Concert
2004-01-31 02:03:17
The War in Iraq: Was it Justified?
2004-01-31 01:56:02

"I kill hobos while listening to Anti-Flag!" - Glenn Renyolds


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