Musings - The Deficit, Hayden and Other Stuff
Yesterday, Thursday, May 11, Sen. Kent Conrad (D) took to the floor of the United States Senate and with a huge chart, depicting either the annual deficit or the national debt (I just couldn't tell), said something very close to (and I'm doing my best with my recollection . . . from C-SPAN . . . since I can't find a written record of his comments on-line), "The Bush Administration was handed a budget surplus by President Clinton and in one year turned it into a deficit." Well, I run into these kinds of idiots all the time, I shut them up by saying, "In case you forgot, on September 11, 2001, 19 anti-American terrorists hijacked 4 American airliners and used them as missiles to kill almost 3,000 innocent people, about 2,700 of them Americans; again, just in case you forgot, and it sounds like you have, the United States of America is at war." Say this to the next dolt that doesn't understand that we're at war and watch them go apoplectic.
Can someone please let Mr. Sean Penn know that there is still poverty in New Orleans.
No word yet from the Great Equivocator, Sen. John F. Kerry, on the nomination of Gen. Michael Hayden to be CIA Director. Recall, about a week ago, Sen. Kerry was making headlines with his "it's OK to dissent" speeches. Well, here we have a General famed for his vocal opposition to SecDef Rumsfeld and SecDef Rumsfeld's ideas of the alignment of certain intelligence agencies and Sen. Kerry is nowhere to be found. General Hayden (there are 4 stars on his epaulets) had the courage to speak out while he was still an active officer. Is this not what the Great Equivocator meant?
Can someone please let Ms. Cindy Sheehan know that on or about May 7, 2006, the United States Senate authorized $65.7 billion more in war funding. The vote was 77 - 21 and 43 of the 44 Democrats in the Senate voted "yes" to the spending. For emphasis, Sens. John F. Kerry, Edward Kennedy and Hillary Clinton voted for this funding. Those darn inconvenient facts; how do the Democrats deal with them?
Finally, and this is an parochial issue, Boston College has extended an invitation to Sec. of State Dr. Condoleezza Rice to deliver this year's commencement address and the invitation is being greeted with some opposition. Apparently, she's previously voiced some pro-choice positions so this has the pro-life crowd (the damx radicals) exercised. But, more prominently, the al Fedaban Americans are protesting her complicity in the war on terror. An English professor at the College resigned in an open letter to the Boston Globe today. This was my letter in response:
Editor,
As a time-worn, University of Notre Dame grad that had to endure the stench of Governor Bill Clinton (September 11, 1992, the "New Covenant") and Governor Mario Cuomo (September 13, 1984; defending abortion of all things!) speak at my university, I believe I'm somewhat qualified to be the first person to publicly laugh at the open letter of Mr. Steve Almond announcing his resignation as an adjunct professor of English at Boston College (Condoleezza Rice at Boston College? I quit, May 12, A17).
First, congratulations to Boston College. As Catholics know from dogmatic teaching, an informed mind will make an informed decision, the right decision. How better to obtain knowledge than to hear all sides of an argument? As distasteful as it was to have Govs. Clinton and Cuomo, and who knows who since, speak at Notre Dame, I know that Notre Dame is a better school for having them there. Teasingly, is that Boston College I see coming on fast in the rear view mirror?
Second, when I say "no" to one of my kids, I hardly ever relent to non-logical pushback or emotional pushback. I challenge them to make an argument. I say "no" to ice cream for breakfast; they convince me, when moms not home (Boston College '85, by the way) that ice cream has milk in it. OK, maybe I'm not fully informed but sometimes I prepare the ice cream. It's the start of building their argument-making skills. And, yes, I'm open to the possibility that their BC genes are simply dominating my ND genes. Anyway, I simply cannot show my kids Mr. Almond's "resignation" letter unless I was going to teach a "what not to do" lesson. Quitting is not making an argument. Though, Boston College will be stronger once the school replaces Mr. Almond with someone that is not a quitter.
Next, I don't cancel my Boston Globe subscription because of its hate-Bush slant. Instead, I try to advance my ideas by submitting letters that make my argument. It's up to the Boston Globe editorial page editor to decide if all sides of an argument are presented or just the liberal or anti-Bush ones. It is absolutely worth noting that Mr. Almond did not share that in December, 1998, President Clinton, in a speech where he mentioned Saddam Hussein's weapons of mass destruction seven times, said of military strikes he was authorizing, "They (the strikes) are designed to degrade Saddam's capacity to develop and deliver weapons of mass destruction . . . so we will pursue a long-term strategy to contain Iraq and its weapons of mass destruction and work toward the day when Iraq has a government worthy of its people."
And, recalling President Clinton's finger-in-the-chest-of-America lie, "I did not have sexual relations with that woman", suppose every member of every institution that had the President speak subsequently applied the Almond Doctrine of Quitting. They'd all be shuttered! No, I prefer spirited debate. (End of Letter.)
Yesterday, Thursday, May 11, Sen. Kent Conrad (D) took to the floor of the United States Senate and with a huge chart, depicting either the annual deficit or the national debt (I just couldn't tell), said something very close to (and I'm doing my best with my recollection . . . from C-SPAN . . . since I can't find a written record of his comments on-line), "The Bush Administration was handed a budget surplus by President Clinton and in one year turned it into a deficit." Well, I run into these kinds of idiots all the time, I shut them up by saying, "In case you forgot, on September 11, 2001, 19 anti-American terrorists hijacked 4 American airliners and used them as missiles to kill almost 3,000 innocent people, about 2,700 of them Americans; again, just in case you forgot, and it sounds like you have, the United States of America is at war." Say this to the next dolt that doesn't understand that we're at war and watch them go apoplectic.
Can someone please let Mr. Sean Penn know that there is still poverty in New Orleans.
No word yet from the Great Equivocator, Sen. John F. Kerry, on the nomination of Gen. Michael Hayden to be CIA Director. Recall, about a week ago, Sen. Kerry was making headlines with his "it's OK to dissent" speeches. Well, here we have a General famed for his vocal opposition to SecDef Rumsfeld and SecDef Rumsfeld's ideas of the alignment of certain intelligence agencies and Sen. Kerry is nowhere to be found. General Hayden (there are 4 stars on his epaulets) had the courage to speak out while he was still an active officer. Is this not what the Great Equivocator meant?
Can someone please let Ms. Cindy Sheehan know that on or about May 7, 2006, the United States Senate authorized $65.7 billion more in war funding. The vote was 77 - 21 and 43 of the 44 Democrats in the Senate voted "yes" to the spending. For emphasis, Sens. John F. Kerry, Edward Kennedy and Hillary Clinton voted for this funding. Those darn inconvenient facts; how do the Democrats deal with them?
Finally, and this is an parochial issue, Boston College has extended an invitation to Sec. of State Dr. Condoleezza Rice to deliver this year's commencement address and the invitation is being greeted with some opposition. Apparently, she's previously voiced some pro-choice positions so this has the pro-life crowd (the damx radicals) exercised. But, more prominently, the al Fedaban Americans are protesting her complicity in the war on terror. An English professor at the College resigned in an open letter to the Boston Globe today. This was my letter in response:
Editor,
As a time-worn, University of Notre Dame grad that had to endure the stench of Governor Bill Clinton (September 11, 1992, the "New Covenant") and Governor Mario Cuomo (September 13, 1984; defending abortion of all things!) speak at my university, I believe I'm somewhat qualified to be the first person to publicly laugh at the open letter of Mr. Steve Almond announcing his resignation as an adjunct professor of English at Boston College (Condoleezza Rice at Boston College? I quit, May 12, A17).
First, congratulations to Boston College. As Catholics know from dogmatic teaching, an informed mind will make an informed decision, the right decision. How better to obtain knowledge than to hear all sides of an argument? As distasteful as it was to have Govs. Clinton and Cuomo, and who knows who since, speak at Notre Dame, I know that Notre Dame is a better school for having them there. Teasingly, is that Boston College I see coming on fast in the rear view mirror?
Second, when I say "no" to one of my kids, I hardly ever relent to non-logical pushback or emotional pushback. I challenge them to make an argument. I say "no" to ice cream for breakfast; they convince me, when moms not home (Boston College '85, by the way) that ice cream has milk in it. OK, maybe I'm not fully informed but sometimes I prepare the ice cream. It's the start of building their argument-making skills. And, yes, I'm open to the possibility that their BC genes are simply dominating my ND genes. Anyway, I simply cannot show my kids Mr. Almond's "resignation" letter unless I was going to teach a "what not to do" lesson. Quitting is not making an argument. Though, Boston College will be stronger once the school replaces Mr. Almond with someone that is not a quitter.
Next, I don't cancel my Boston Globe subscription because of its hate-Bush slant. Instead, I try to advance my ideas by submitting letters that make my argument. It's up to the Boston Globe editorial page editor to decide if all sides of an argument are presented or just the liberal or anti-Bush ones. It is absolutely worth noting that Mr. Almond did not share that in December, 1998, President Clinton, in a speech where he mentioned Saddam Hussein's weapons of mass destruction seven times, said of military strikes he was authorizing, "They (the strikes) are designed to degrade Saddam's capacity to develop and deliver weapons of mass destruction . . . so we will pursue a long-term strategy to contain Iraq and its weapons of mass destruction and work toward the day when Iraq has a government worthy of its people."
And, recalling President Clinton's finger-in-the-chest-of-America lie, "I did not have sexual relations with that woman", suppose every member of every institution that had the President speak subsequently applied the Almond Doctrine of Quitting. They'd all be shuttered! No, I prefer spirited debate. (End of Letter.)
posted by Zack at 4:42 PM
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