Peter_Puget

Jim – Here is the money quote from your link: The National Intelligence Council looked at the political, economic and security situation in the war-torn country and determined -- at best -- the situation would be tenuous in terms of stability, a U.S. official said late Wednesday, speaking on the condition of anonymity. At worst, the official said, were "trend lines that would point to a civil war." The official said it "would be fair" to call the document "pessimistic." I hate to break it to you but any armchair analyst could make the same general claim. Here is a more interesting exercise – (Watch out you may actually have to do some work!) Deaths in selected months in 2004: March 52, April 147 (Fallujah and Al Sadr uprising), May 88, June 44 (Transitional Government), July 61 August 71 (Operations against Sadr in Najaf) Sources: April August I am sure you can figure out how to get the other months. I note that consistently the deaths are centered in the Sunni Triangle specifically Fallujah and in certain neighborhoods of Baghdad. Is there an increase in sophistication evident when the deaths are analyzed? Mike’s input would be interesting to here regarding this. An example of increasing sophistication would be the cessation of suicide bombers and instead the use of volley-fired RPGs supported by automatic weapons to cover their flanks and withdrawal routes. I am not saying things are rosy in Iraq but vague open ended statements like in the CNN report are simply bullshit. The key to “winning” in Iraq is to try to see things how they are and not via political lenses. To be honest I think that Bush’s team hasn’t been very good. Reading things like this At a briefing earlier this month, a high-ranking US officer in charge of the zone's perimeter said he had insufficient soldiers to prevent intruders penetrating the compound's defences. Drives me crazy. Again Mike's input on this is to mind far more interesting than some vague analysis. The deaths do seem to remain localized. Partially this is due to where people live but does that explain all the distribution? Have the insurgent's actions been growing in sophistication?

...F#$% OFF! ..hope this is internet BS

Oops sorry it was a link off the Sims website! link Before a lower income oerson thinks they will automatically benefit from this proosed change they should consider the economic impact of the changes and the certain return of the sales tax

Per your link there ChucK Sims new structure will cost me over $5k in aditional taxes! I do not need to research any further! I'm voting Republican!

More exciting? link

Gosh Darn It! Stop this thread drift now!

You are all putting your heads in the sand... Stanley Kurtz puts into words a good point thought of by many (Emphasis added).: "The divisions in the country are too strong. What's more, the cycle of division is self-reinforcing. First came the of the movements of the 60s. Then the media was captured by the Left. Then the conservatives started to exit, building up alternative outlets as they went. As the fundamental cultural and political issues dividing the country sharpened, more and more people started flooding to the alternative media. This self-selection process began to turn the mainstream audience into a self-consciously liberal audience. So even as complaints about liberal media bias escalated, the mainstream media was bound to become more liberal, not less liberal -- because that's what was happening to its audience. What all this means is that, given its audience, CBS News is no longer concerned about preserving it reputation for fairness. On the contrary, CBS now wants and needs to preserve its reputation for liberalism." This partially explains the Liberals' failures: By ignoring quality and distributing bad information (liberal) consumers are destined to make poor choices. Conservatives have been shielded form this by the overwhelming bias of the mainstream media. The irony here is that the by developing and utilizing alternative media the conservatives have benefited from the mainstream media bais and proven to be less conservative than the progressives! (ie adapting to new technologies)

read this! What did I just say about "imploding"

It seems as though you liberals ought to be searching you souls. How could you have put forth such a crappy candidate - one who will get beaten by an idiot! You claim moral superiority yet you accomplish nothing against "idiots" How can that be? Why have you let the country down? Why are you complaining about Bush when your "Liberal" leadership has let you - has let the Nation down?

Exactly my point regarding the Dems...a few well worn talking points do not a campaign make. What can explain such incompetence? McGovern...Dukakis...a switch right to Clinton who in many ways learned to be a Republican (Triangulation) then a hard left to Kerry. Could it be a plot by the Clintonistas to have the Dems loose in '04 only so they could return in '08 as saviors? Given theperformance of the Dems so far perhaps that is the most charitable assumption. It's a plan.

link Well will the media now turn on the Dems? Possibly despite their obvious bias towards the dems they expect that their dance partners are at least competent and dont make them look like fools. Kerry and the Dems have proven themselves incapable of even running a campaign – do they think the “war” on terror will be easier? Kerry’s own reports describing his combat experiences have now been found and they do not support his recent version of events. They do however bear a close resemblance to what the Swift Boaters have been saying. Are we about to see a campaign implode?

What is a trad crag?

Seems as tho CBS is starting to backtrack a bit.....it's fun watching this develop no matter how it turns out. 1 if it is fraud it's another media bias story and Kerr is screwed 2 No matter how it turns out the big media will have to "tighten" up in response to the blogosphere.

Hmm interesting thread. Wonder where it will end up.. link

Teresa Heinz Kerry says "only an idiot" would fail to support her husband's health care plan. But Heinz Kerry, the wife of Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry, told the (Lancaster) Intelligencer Journal that "of course, there are idiots." link

Stop your messin' around Better think of your future Time you straightened right out Creatin' problems in town Rudy a message to you Rudy Stop your foolin' around Time you straightened right out Better think of your future Or else you'll wind up in jail Rudy a message to you Rudy

The page is broken - it should be the boys practicing!

????

Bust at work today so... First I'll put you lefties in your place: Blah Blah Blah Secondly: Listen..and that means your Klenke/Alpinek! and last: Layton - Hyperspace is way over hyped. The majority of the route is simply not enjoyable both in terms of rock quality and in body movement. A much better choice is to tick routes at Midnight. PP

Malcolm left the left quite decisively: Liberals and Stalin Liberal minds flocked to the USSR in an unending procession, from the great ones like Shaw and Gide and Barbusse and Julian Huxley and Harold Laski and Sidney and Beatrice Webb, down to poor little teachers, crazed clergymen and millionaires, drivelling dons, all utterly convinced that, under the aegis of the great Stalin, a new dawn is breaking in the world, so that the human race may at last be united in liberty, equality and fraternity forevermore . . . These Liberal minds are prepared to believe anything, however preposterous, to overlook anything, however villainous, to approve anything, however obscurantist and brutally authoritarian, in order to be able to preserve intact the confident expectation that one of the most thoroughgoing, ruthless and bloody tyrannies ever to exist on earth can be relied on to champion human freedom, the brotherhood of man, and all the other good Liberal causes to which they had dedicated their lives . . . They are unquestionably one of the marvels of the age . . . all chanting the praises of the Dictatorship of the Proletariat, and of Stalin as its most gracious and beloved figurehead. It was as though a Salvation Army contingent had turned out with bands and banners in honour of some ferocious tribal deity, or as though a vegetarian society had issued a passionate plea for cannibalism. Alexander Solzhenitsyn The pack [i.e., the media and the "intelligentsia"] is after him and because what he says is unbearable: that the answer to dictatorship is not liberalism, but Christianity. I mean, that is an unbearable proposition from their point of view, and it is where he stands . . . It has been something wonderful to watch and, to more people than you might think, enormously heartening: that that is what this man should have to say instead of a lot of claptrap . . . They started off by never mentioning that he was a Christian. I mean, for a long time, he was made a hero of the cause for freedom, but it was never mentioned that an integral and essential part of it was his Christian belief.

J_B - Finally you let your sense of humor show! I have an old book of IF stone editorials I'll send you!

Ah avoiding the whole intelectual honesty crock now are we? I have started a series of thread indicating what I consider to be liberal bias of the mainstream media. You are free to search the site. As the series continues you are free to make your own opinion as to whether or not the case is made. Where did Rambo come from? Please stop these personal attacks! yours patrioticaly, Peter

Two views: “Russian power structures followed president Putin’s direct orders and stormed the school with a huge number of hostages.” According to Zakaev, “there was a real chance to solve the dreadful crisis without victims or blood,” had the Russian authorities fulfilled the terrorists’ requirements. link Zakeaz is a chechan "rebel" A total of over 200 people were killed over the course of the hostage situation in Beslan, sources in the North Ossetian Health Ministry told Interfax. “Over 200 people were shot by militants or died of injury received when explosive devices were set off by the militants,” a source said. link Are they other sides of the coin? I think for the most part not. I would say that despite bias the new aggencies of the west have no equivalent conterparts in the Arab world. .

You asked: Why don't we see more right-wing bias complaints? I responded obviously because the media is biased to the left. You are free to prove me wrong. But you seem to leave that argument behind and again attack my behavior. (AKA changing the subject) Your assertion regarding "intelectual honesty" is simply bogus. For example, I might consider all bias to be bad but that the current lack of symmetry of that bias to the left is so great as to be a threat to our democracy! My one sided rants in this case are not the actions of an intelectual hypocrite but rather that that of a dedicated patriot!