Bush encourages debate; not inflexible

The letter to the Boston Globe says it all:

Editor,

Kudos to the New York Times News Service and its affiliate, the Boston Globe, for publishing "US aides fought over data mining (July 29, A4)".

At a time when the liberal print media distorts every President Bush story to reflect negatively on the President, I applaud the objectivity of the Boston Globe.

Specifically, the Globe reported that a "furious legal debate" raged within the Bush Administration over the National Security Agency's terrorist surveillance program and other data mining techniques.

Additionally, the Globe reported that President Bush authorized "modifications to the survellance program" subsequen to the debate.

Contrary to the daily whine of liberal extremists that President Bush is surrounded by "yes" men and women who are either incapable of offering differing opinions or who are presumably admonished not to and that the President is stubborn and inflexible, the New York Times and its affiliates have courageously reported how far these whines are from the truth.

I encourage the New York Times companies to continue to bring us stories of how the President invites debate and opposing opinions. (End of letter.)

Unless, of course, the reporting by the New York Times and its affiliates is wrong?

Executive Privilege

The over-reach on the part of hate-filled Congressional Democrats, more interested in political theater than actually resolving anything, to issue contempt of Congress citations against White House Chief of Staff, Mr. Joshua Bolten, and former Chief White House Counsel, Ms. Harriet Meirs, is so ridiculous that reciprocal ridiculous commentary should satisfactorily rebut.

When will the liberal extremists who control Congress issue a subpoena to First Lady Laura Bush demanding to know what she and the President talk about in bed? And, knowing the First Lady will refuse to appear when issued such a subpoena, when will the Democratically-controlled Congress vote a contempt of Congress citation against the First Lady?

You see, if Executive Privilege does not protect political conversations between a President and his Chief of Staff or his Chief White House Counsel then there is no such privilege. My goodness, these two positions are about as close as you can get to the Office of the President. Is there a closer advisor to the President on political matters than the Chief of Staff? And Congress wants access to these discussions?

Recall, President Clinton invoked Executive Privilege to shield his staff, all the way down to his secretaries, from testifying in a PERSONAL matter. At the time, hate-Bush extremist, Sen. Patrick Leahy (Democrat, VT) defended President Clinton’s use of the privilege in a PERSONAL matter.

Today, the privilege is being invoked exactly as it is intended to be invoked: to protect communications of a POLITICAL matter between the President of the United States and his most senior POLITICAL advisors.

Anyway, the President has offered both witnesses to Sen. Leahy provided there is no transcript and no sworn testimony and the Senator has rejected the offer. Is the Senator more interested in getting answers or generating headlines that the liberal media is all to willing to publish?

If Sen. Hillary Clinton is elected President in 2008 (God help us!), does anyone doubt she’ll be sending President Bush a thank you note for so strenuously defending the Privilege?

And, just quickly on another matter, my (news)paper is claiming that a “memo” contradicts Hispanic-American, U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales’ sworn testimony before Congress earlier this week; the “newspaper” accepting the “memo” is accurate. Strange the headlines weren’t calling into question the accuracy of the “memo”; it was just easier to believe what was necessary to tar General Gonzales. I don’t know the names of the militant, liberal, Hispanic-American organizations but any time they want to make themselves known is fine by me. Where’s their outrage against the spectacle of rich, white men attacking a Latino? Oh, he’s a conservative Latino, now I understand the color-blind treatment. And please, no comments on my playing of the “race” (and, yes, I know Hispanics can be of either race, I use the word figuratively) card; I play admitting the silliness only to point out how silly it is when it’s played against Conservatives (see Charles Pickering for the most recent glaring example).

Cowardly Gov. Michael Dukakis and Lt. Gov. John F. Kerry

I was on vacation last week; I bet you could hardly tell by the quality of last week's posts. I was at a public library kiosk with a 30 minute time limit for all three posts. If you weren't impressed, that's my explanation not my excuse.

But, I did do quite a bit of reading while away. I'm now going to share 20 year-old news because as closely as I follow the sleaze of Democrats and their friends in the liberal media, I never knew the facts of the story I'm about to share until last week.

As a set-up, it's important to know I’m impressed that President Bush met with Ms. Cindy Sheehan once (I know, many of you are surprised to learn that President Bush did once meet privately with Ms. Sheehan). And, naturally, I’m not surprised that Ms. Cindy Sheehan, with the help of the liberal media, has been transformed into a celebrity because of the President's refusal to meet with her a second time. I think a Commander-in-Chief that sends soldiers into combat should meet with parents of soldiers killed . . . those parents supportive of the military action and those unsupportive. I don’t think a parent gets two meetings before all parents who want one get at least one, though.

So, while on vacation I learned that Gov. Michael Dukakis nor his former Lt. Gov., now-Sen. John F. Kerry (1983 – 1985), ever agreed to meet with Mr. Clifford Barnes or Ms. Angela Miller.

Who are they, you ask?

Mr. Cliff Barnes and his then fiancé, Ms. Angela Miller, were the couple that was terrorized and brutalized by furloughed murder Mr. William Horton.

It’s amazing that I never knew these facts. Actually, since liberals control the media, it’s no wonder I didn’t know these facts. This is not ancient history and I need to tell this story for others who thought they were tuned in but didn’t know these facts.

In 1986, Mr. Horton was rotting in a Massachusetts prison for the 1974 murder of a teenage convenience store clerk. The clerk had already emptied the cash register and gave Mr. Horton the contents. This did not prevent Mr. Horton from stabbing the clerk 19 times and then dumping the clerk’s not-quite-lifeless body in a dumpster . . . where he died in filth.

It seems Mr. Dukakis and Mr. Kerry thought this was exactly the kind of prisoner that should be granted unsupervised weekend furloughs. Mr. Horton was furloughed on June 6, 1986.

Well, while on furlough, Mr. Horton skipped off to Maryland. There, he chilled in Mr. Barnes’ house for a few hours waiting for the owner to return. When Mr. Barnes entered his house, he was attacked by Mr. Horton. Mr. Horton tied up Mr. Barnes in the basement of the home and repeatedly beat him. He stabbed Mr. Barnes 22 times.

Not content, he chilled further still until Mr. Barnes’ fiancé arrived. Mr. Barnes was helpless to prevent Mr. Horton from beating and raping (twice) Ms. Miller over the course of several hours.

Mr. Horton was subsequently captured, tried, convicted and sentence to two consecutive life sentences in the Maryland criminal justice system. Even the liberal state of Maryland refused to extradite Mr. Horton back to Massachusetts for fear he could be re-released.

Repeated attempts by Mr. Barnes and Ms. Miller to have an audience with Gov. Dukakis and his former Lt. Gov., Sen. John F. Kerry, a staunch supporter of the furlough program even after the Horton episode, were denied.

Because we will revisit this again, and again, and again, because liberal extremists love playing the race card (See my related posts - the NAACP's disgusting attack ad against President Bush - of October 19 and 29, 2006 ), it’s important to note that the 1988 Presidential ad campaign that depicted Mr. Horton was funded entirely by Mr. Barnes and Ms. Miller. The ad was not the product of the President George H. W. Bush’s campaign.

I didn't know most of this until last week; I thought readers of this space might appreciate knowing as well.

A Rising Tide

I don't know how many trillions of dollars of personal wealth has been created as the Dow, the S&P 500, the Russell 2000, the Wilshire 5000 and every other measure of stock performance has cruised past previous highs, but I'm sure every American is benifitting. Thank you, President Bush.

If you are planning to vote for any national Democrat next year, I suggest you start transitioning your portfolio into cash. If Democrats gain in Congress or take the White House, capital gains tax rates are going to rise as Democrats think your money is their money so as they raise taxes, the market will fall.

And, if it looks like Democrats are going to gain in Congress or take the White House, trust me, professional investors are going to be moving out of stocks before the "little guy", I just hope the personal investor doesn't get left behind.

In other news, there is legislation working its way through Congress (controlled by Democrats, by the way) that will raise the tax on cigarettes by 156%. The proceeds earmarked for health care to uninsured children. If you are against the tax, you guessed it, you hate children.

Well, I'm against the tax increase for a few reasons:

First, what is the logical link between this tax and the beneficiaries? There is none. Simply, there is a mechanism in place to collect the tax so its easy for the gutless in Congress to just boost the rate. That's just silly, but we are talking about Democrats afterall.

Second, I'm not researching it but I'm sure this tax is hugely regressive. Does anyone doubt that the lower socio-economic classes smoke in greater percentage than higher socio-economic classes? Odd how the liberal media isn't coming to the defense of these taxpayers. Oh, the liberal media must love children.

Third, I drink beer. If Congress can so easily bump the Federal tax on a pack of smokes, how soon until they turn to my six pack? Yeah, I'm not to fond of that. Plus, I'm already paying heavy medical premiums to insure kids.

Fourth, if Congress needs $35 Billion (over 5 years) for insuring kids (whose parents in some cases could earn as much as $80,000 per year, boy, talk about sneaking in the backdoor to a National health care program), then how about cutting the National Endowment for the Arts?

Anyway, I smell a third Bush veto.

"We are safer than we were"

I suffered the agony of reading the liberally extreme Philadelphia Inquirer on July 18 (it's something I can do every day if I visited phillynews.com but one liberally extreme newspaper a day is usually enough for me . . . they all say exactly the same thing anyway! . . . whatever the Democratic National Committee tells them to say).

So, one of the letters to the editor was another hate-Bush piece about how all the Bushies are running around the Country telling everyone how much safer we are since 9/11.

Uh, no!

As we convered here about 6 weeks ago, on June 3, 2007, Sen. Hillary Clinton (D, NY) said, "We are safer than we were." The context of her quote implied "before 9/11".

Again, Sen. Clinton is the Senator from New York. She's constantly beating her chest and biting her lip, "I represent the people of New York, I don't need to be lectured to about the trauma and tragedy this Country suffered on 9/11." Yes, if any one Senator would know if we were safer today than we were, I'll concede the Senator's point and say it is she.

The quote was ignored on June 4 and the quote continues to be ignored today . . . by the liberal extremists in the media.

Anytime the liberal media wants to ask the Senator about the quote would be fine by me and all others who are interested in a serious, grown-up discussion about our National security.

We are safer today than we were (don't take my word for it, take Sen. Clinton's). However, we are still very much at risk of another terrorist attack on American soil.

Oh, and I wrote "Dow 14,000" before we hit 14,000. ZACKlyRight again.

Dow 14,000!

Because it was probably under-reported in you local liberal newspaper, the Dow traded as high as 13,932 last week until it closed at 13,907. That's another all-time high. Though the Country is 70 percent white Christians, I'm pretty sure some African-Americans, Asians, and non-Christians are participating in this incredible creation of wealth. I'll thank the President of the United States for his color-blind effort but I doubt anyone in the liberal media will.

The hate-mongers at the NAACP were at it again last week. At their national convention they again made the argument that President Bush caused Hurricane Katrina and he directed the damage to only destroy the lives, homes and businesses of African-Americans (pretty neat trick for a "dumb" guy). All 27 Democratic Party presidential aspirants repeated the same garbage to huge applause. The liberal media also repeated the hate.

Hey, at the same convention, Sen. Barack Obama received the loudest applause of all the candidates introduced. Hmmmm, racism, anyone?

Funny how we don't hear much about how President Bush caused the early May tornado that destroyed 98% of the town of Greensburg, Kansas. I wonder if the fact that Greensburg is a predominantly white town had anything to do with it? I mean, if President Bush is causing a tornado to destroy a "white" town, and the Country is informed about it, then the liberal media and the hate-mongers at the NAACP won't be able to paint Bush a racist (well, without continuing to lie, of course). Or, maybe he just becomes the Color-Blind Natural Disaster Causer (again, pretty neat stuff for a "dumb" guy)?

Another Left-Wing Dig at US Military

I cannot properly produce the link to the cartoon in question (the address is too long and it gets lost in my right margin) so I’m simply asking people to google “Tom Toles”, open the first returned item, click on his archives and click on the July 5, 2007 cartoon.

For those that don’t go to the cartoon, please allow me to briefly describe it. The cartoon is mocking the United States for staying in Iraq to help the Iraqis. The Iraqi Army is sitting on bench completely undressed. The “US Army” is hiding its face toward a tree with the following dialogue cloud, “999,999,999 . . . 1 Billion! Ready or not, here I go! This time I mean it!”

Wow, that’s funny Tom.

Tom cartoons for the Washington Post. His work is picked up by other “news”papers around the country. This hysterical cartoon was in the Boston Globe on July 9.

My unpublished letter to the editor:

Editor,

Your July 9, 2007 editorial cartoon by Mr. Tom Toles was an outrage and only the ill-informed would have thought it was funny.

Someone should inform Mr. Toles and whoever at the Boston Globe assesses cartoons for publication that the United States Army does not set U.S. foreign policy.

The United States Army is commanded by a Republican President and it is funded by legislation produced from a Democratically-controlled Congress. American voters (and presumably the taxpayers who provide the funds) elected the President who commands and the Democrats who fund. Mr. Toles could have chosen to mock all three, the President, the Congress and the American voter/taxpayer or any one of the three. His choice for mockery most definitely did not include the institution of the United States Army; his cartoon was a grotesque insult to the women and men serving.

And, no, I won’t hold my breath waiting for the liberal extremist to apologize to the U.S. military. (End of letter.)

Finally, anyone want to bet that Sen. John F. Kerry’s first reaction to the cartoon would have been different than, “Hey, the US Army isn’t smart enough to count to 1 billion”? Recall, he thinks only the stupid join the military.

Quick-Hitters

I simply don’t have much time to elaborate on each item below so if you don’t know anything about the subject matter I may lose you.

I’m sure I’ll get corrected if I’m wrong but Mr. Fred F. Fielding is Chief White House Counsel; his client is the Presidency not the President. The liberal media will make you think that he’s, oh, I don’t know, Mr. David Kendall, but he’s not. If Mr. Fielding is successful in protecting the candid and honest advice Presidents should get, all Presidents in the future will benefit. A hate-filled, Democratic-controlled Congress would be dismissed as petty (is investigating the firing of 8 of 93 U.S. Attorneys really what the American people elected Democrats to do last November?) by the media if the media was not so liberal.

Barton Gellman and Jo Becker, staff writers of the Washington Post, just completed an exhaustive 4 day series (June 24 – June 27) on Vice President Dick Cheney. And, yes, as it was published in the liberally extreme Washington Post, the slant of the series was negative. But, we do learn that the Vice President is very passionate about his issues portfolio. The Vice President even stooped so low as to call the 18th ranked staff member of the Department of Interior in an effort to get water flowing to farmers and ranchers in Oregon. The scoundrel! So, how is it that the grossly involved Vice President did not know who he sent to Niger in February 2003? Exactly. The Vice President did not send Mr. Joseph Wilson to Niger as Mr. Wilson and his wife, Valerie Plame claim. The Vice President had every right, no, he had an OBLIGATION, to find out who was leaking state secrets to Mr. Nicholas Kristof of the New York Times (Why truth matters; May 6, 2003). And, if the Vice President did send Mr. Wilson, I’m pretty sure that Mr. Wilson should have vetted his “What I didn’t find in Africa (New York Times; July 6, 2003)” article with the Vice President’s office, which he did not.

Mr. Alex Rodriguez hit his 494th home run over the weekend. He’s now in sole possession of 22nd place on the all-time MLB home run list. Yes, the sports shows made mention of the event but ESPN did not cut away to show viewers each of his at-bats prior to the home run. When Mr. Rodriguez hits his 500th career home run, he will be in exactly the same club he is in now yet ESPN will cut away for all his at-bats after 499 but prior to 500. The 500 Club is not more exclusive than the 494 Club or any Club in between. I'm just sayin'.

A while back Mr. John Edwards told a questioner at one of his town meetings that he’d heard rumors about President Bush being involved in bringing down WTC 7 and he told the questioner that he’d look into it. Mr. Edwards was so emphatic about his intent to investigate that he told the questioner to give his name and contact information to a campaign staffer “in the blue shirt” standing in the back of the room. “I’ll let you know what I find out. I promise,” were close to the words of Mr. Edwards. I wonder if anyone in the liberal media will follow-up with Mr. Edwards and ask him what his investigation found.

ZACKlyWrong!

I was ZACKlyWrong this week. It pains me to admit it, but I was wrong.

In my last post I wrote that my only comment on Mr. "Scooter" Libby was contained in my June 6 post. I wrote that because I gave liberal extremists more credit than I should have. I thought the President's commutation of Mr. Libby's sentence was going to be a one day story. But, liberal extremists are more hate-filled and capable of demogoguery than I thought. I won't underestimate their hatred again.

Now, as a quick set-up, please recall only the Gerry Studds / Mark Foley entry from my "Crime and Punishment" post of June 14 and you'll get the gist of my post for today. (If you didn't read my June 14 post . . . go read it now!)

The absence of any shame by any national Democrat, except, of course, Sen. Joseph Lieberman, is exactly why national Democrats are outraged by President Bush commuting the sentence of Mr. Libby.

Oh, I keep forgetting, Sen. Lieberman is an Independent.

I am aware of no national Democrat acquainted, in any manner, with shame.

And, my point is: shameless, national Democrats, or anyone else "outraged" by the commutation, have no appreciation for the fact that President Bush left the guilty verdict intact.

Secondarily, google "kristof May 6, 2003" and read Mr. Kristof's hate-Bush piece chock full of information passed to him by Mr. Joseph Wilson. Yes, the date is correct. Three months after Mr. Wilson's, "CIA-sponsored", trip to Niger, for which his wife recommended him!, he may have leaked classified information to a New York Times reporter. It was not until some time later that Mr. Wilson wrote his own hate-Bush opinion piece. I wonder if the breast-beating, USA-loving, liberal extremists who are so passionate about prosecuting treason would applaud an investigation into whether Mr. Wilson leaked national security secrets to Mr. Kristof?

Libby, Comic Relief II, and Unfit for Editorials

I won’t comment further on Mr. Libby other than directing people to read my June 6, 2007 post. No, I never, ever, tire of being ZACKlyRight.

Playing off my post a few days ago, Mr. Roger Clemens of the New York Yankees became a member of an “exclusive” club this week, so says the idiotic sports media: he joined the 350 game winners club.

I give you the names of the 349 game winners and the 350 game winners without listing Mr. Clemens:

349: Young, Johnson, Alexander, Mathewson, Galvin, Span, Nichols

350: Young, Johnson, Alexander, Mathewson, Galvin, Span, Nichols

Again, I know, we're logical and reasonable and not stupid at ZACKlyRight. I’m having trouble seeing how the club changed, too.

Finally, I apologize to those of you not local to Boston, but the Boston Globe ran an editorial today claiming the former commander of the Massachusetts State Police was “unfit” to be a US Marshall (of which there are 94 and they are regionally based). My letter to the Boston Globe in response:

Editor,

The simmering anger and bitterness of the author(s) of the “Unfit for US marshal (July 3, A10)” editorial was palpable.

Recall, the book by 295 Vietnam veterans who carried a rifle in a swamp halfway around the world, who earned enough medals to armor-plate a Humvee, and who dared to comment on Sen. John F. Kerry’s candidacy for Commander-in-Chief is titled “Unfit for Command”. Recall, also, liberal extremists, including the editorial board of the Boston Globe and many of the Globe’s columnists, continually denigrate the 295 Vietnam veterans who are the Swift Boat Veterans and POWS for Truth.

The invitation to compare extended by the title of the editorial, I stipulate that I don’t know who of the editorial board served in the Massachusetts State Police, but if no one did, then I’m quite sure, by the standards of liberal extremists, the editorial board of the Boston Globe should certainly be denigrated for questioning the “fitness” of the former commander of the Massachusetts State Police, Reed Hillman, for the vacant, regional US Marshall’s position.

But, humoring the editorial board, if it is correct and the former commander of the Massachusetts State Police is “unfit” to be US Marshall then what are Massachusetts residents to think of our state police force? Should not the Boston Globe be covering that story?

And, yes, Sen. John F. Kerry, who, like many others, thought lieutenant junior grade qualified him for Commander-in-Chief, opposes Mr. Hillman’s nomination. The Senator's opposition is laughable. (End of letter.)