4 Mile Creek

Can You Say Weather Underground?

The Dems lost most of America in '68 when the radical leftists decided that the mainstream candidates weren't far enough to the left. The riots that ensued were televised, and a lot of people were turned off by the display of pure anti-Americanism.
Expect to see more of the same this summer at the two conventions. With the same results.
There is no way that the Left can unmake the bed they are now lying in. They are in with hard-core stalinists and other lunatic fringe folks who will be much more visible in the demonstrations sure to come. For every placard carried calling for the US to pull out of Iraq, there will be several calling for support to the Iraqi terrorists who are killing US soldiers.
For every inocuous Uncle Sam stilt walker, there will be several venomous, swearing trotskyites.
And for every vote these demonstrations swing towards the Left, they will cause a backlash of five to the Right.

Dream On

Michael Moore thinks he's reaching those undecided voters

"I'm not just preaching to the choir. And it's not just the choir giving the ovation. I've got letters from a bunch of Marines who went to see it at a theater near Twentynine Palms, Calif. A church group in Tulsa went to see it and was incredibly moved. There was a Republican woman in Florida unable to get out of her seat, crying."

Mike, maybe she was just completely upset that she wasted part of her meager social security check to see such dreck. If someone made me sit through your entire movie, I'd probably be in tears too.

Kerry's Running Mate, Part 3

Back on 10 May, when the press was wondering aloud why Kerry was taking so long to name a running mate, I predicted that Kerry would hold out on naming names until a few weeks out from the convention to keep his nomination safe.

So for now, Senator Kerry's safest move is to make sure he get the nomination first, and doesn't put anyone else in the shotgun seat at least until it is too late to evaluate them on their performance on the campaign trail, as well as the public's acceptance of them as a major player. At that point in time, a few weeks out from the convention at the most, he can announce anyone, and be safe. At least safe from losing the nomination.

Not a tough prediction, but still, at the time there was a lot of grumbling in the press on why it was taking him so long. My guess as to why the delay then, still stands.

Kerry is such a lackluster candidate, and he enjoys so little real support even within his own party, that he is not likely to name a running mate until much closer to the convention. Any running mate who hits the campaign trail weeks or even months ahead of the convention is likely to look so much better than Senator Kerry by the time the convention rolls around, he (or She) would be in a fairly good position to upset the Senator and steal the nomination.

I didn't predict who would be chosen, because at the time, I didn't have enough access, or time, to evaluate where each of the prospectives stood on the issues. But I did say this about whom he should pick

But if he intends on taking back the White House for the Democrats, he better choose a running mate who is as much anti-Kerry, as Kerry is anti-Bush.

and I still stand by that statement too. And actually, Edwards is a good fit for that requirement. Kerry is the ultimate Washington insider, he even speaks washingtonease every chance he gets, and doesn't understand that he's boring the hell out of anyone listening. Edwards is an outsider, barely one term in office and unlikely to be returned by the voters. Kerry is seen as elitist, and Edwards paints himself as the son of a mill worker, whatever that is supposed to mean (I've grew up with millworker's kids, and with white collar worker's kids. There wasn't any difference.) Edwards worked for his millions, Kerry didn't. Edwards is a southerner, Kerry is a Brahmin Bostonian, and there a pictures of him as a young man sailing out on the Kennedy yacht. Kerry served in Vietnam, Edwards hasn't spent a day in uniform (note the sudden dissapearance of military service as a measuring stick).
But Kerry's folks aren't playing it that way. They are stressing the similarities, rather than the differences. This is going to hurt them, a lot. No one will vote for Kerry/Edwards simply because they view Edwards as a young Kerry. They will be willing to take the very lugubrious Kerry as President in order to have the excitement of Edwards a heartbeat away; only if they know that Edwards is a very strong counter to Kerry. Kerry/Edwards as bosom buddies is a losing proposition. It's not easy to believe, and the Repubs will point out every single mudsling that Kerry and Edwards threw at each other in the primaries. That they now get along like long-lost brothers will make Kerry look more and more like he's willing to do anything, say anything, embrace anything or anyone, in order to fulfill his "destiny" of being the President.
Bill Clinton was a supernova whose explosion propelled Gore into the national limelight, though Gore's own gravity slowed down his pace and cost him the presidency. Unlike Clinton, Kerry is a Black Hole. Edwards can add voters to the ticket, but not if he gets too near the Black Hole that is Kerry's public persona. Right now, the Kerry handlers have him very close to the event horizon. We'll know in time for the convention whether he gets dragged in or not.

Time Reporter Outs Self From Insurgent Closet

Time reporter, Michael Ware, has decided it's okay to become a spokesperson for the insurgents in Iraq who are killing both Coalition soldiers and Iraqi civilians. Not that he doesn't have some misgivings. He thinks it might be a bit too dangerous....for him.

"I certainly go out there and expose myself. I've been to the safe houses. I surrender myself to their control. (yeah, no shit - ed) I've sat in living rooms face-to-face with these men," he said.

But at least he understands that he's lost his objectivity as a journalist, and has instead become a mouthpiece for killers.

"It's like they are embedding combat camera units, who are there on the front line with them, knowing they are going to have propaganda value in time to come." The other purpose for the videotapes, Ware said, is to terrorize Westerners. "They're trying to tell the Western public: 'This is what your boys are dying for, this is what they are up against,' " he said. "They are letting us know that, 'We can kill your boys, and we are not going away.' "
...
"Maybe I am too close to all of this. I've been this close, and it terrifies me. It terrifies me on a personal level and it terrifies me in terms of what we are up against.

Why Time is willing to pay this guy as a reporter when he clearly has become a press secretary for Zarqawi is not fully explained in the article however.
But fear not, there are some things that this "reporter" is not willing to do to help get the terrorists message out to the world and to the terrorized Iraqi people.

He (Ware) said he would not do anything that could be seen as promoting or encouraging kidnappings or attacks. And he said he would not knowingly become an eyewitness to such incidents. "I think if you had forewarning and you went to join them, I think that would be be something very close to crossing the line. He said just getting a hostage videotape brought him close to that line. "Giving some poor fellow three days to live -- that made me a participant," Ware said. "I made it very clear after that: I want nothing more to do with any hostage tapes. Any that you give me will not see the light of day."

This puts him on a slightly higher level of moral standing than the French journalists who accompanied a group of terrorists, filming for them as they tried to shoot down a civilian airliner taking off from the Baghdad Airport. Apparently when the terrorists can't afford a video camera, the French are willing to provide one.
There is no way that either this reporter or Time Magazine could explain this as other than support of the enemy. The entire article is filled with quotes from Ware on how much he admires the terrorists.

"They have reached a level of organization and sophistication that we have not seen previously," Ware said. "They have become incredibly savvy."
...
It terrifies me on a personal level and it terrifies me in terms of what we are up against. This is far more serious, far more organized, committed, than many of us realized."

The line that used to be drawn between support of one's country and support of one's enemy seems to get fuzzier and fuzzier every day in the western world.
That the terrorists themselves understand this, and the western journalists do not, does not speak well of where we are headed in the next few years.
Forget winning the hearts and minds of the Iraqis.
The President, now and for the forseeable future, needs to make the case for taking the fight to the terrorists to ensure he doesn't lose the hearts and minds of the American people.
And he will be in an uphill battle against a media that doesn't see anything wrong in passing along press releases and videotapes for the enemy.

Kentucky On Alert for Elk

There's an elk problem in Kentucky. Since the last time elk roamed the state, about 150 years ago before they were hunted to extinction, there's been a lot of road building in the state. And vehicles have gotten a bit faster, and quieter. So now the elk don't quite know what to do when a car is coming at them.
However, the drivers should.
I was up in Maine a few years back and there are signs all along the hiways warning about getting killed if you hit a moose. There were a few that even had tallies on them where the number of motorists killed by moose could be updated. Most ungulates are of a proper design to kill motorists; spindly legs supporting huge bodies that will crash through a windshield. These Kentucky elk are no exception. But unlike moose, elk and deer have very discernable patterns. They graze in the early morning and in the early evening, and except in rutting season, you need to most worry about them being on the road during these few hours. There will be exceptions always, but if you watch out, you'll be safe.
I don't know about back east, and I don't think Kentucky gets that much snow, but in the Rockies, the deer, elk, moose, and others use the plowed roads and rail lines as a form of trail to get from one area to the other. Energy conservation is what it is all about during the winters there, and moving through deep snow takes a lot of energy. It's not unusual to see thirty or fourty dead antelope by the rail lines where they were caught in a deep snowbanked line as the train came through and couldn't get out in time. Same thing for where the larger deer and elk trails go across roads. It's all part of making the wilder areas our homes. I wouldn't give up that right for anything.
I don't know if they work, but I always put those whistle things on the front of my cars that are supposed to scare off deer. The only time I've ever hit a deer driving is when I was in a car that didn't have those, so my data point set of 1 has me convinced.

Absolutely Without Shame, and I'm Not Talking His 400+ Pound Girth

I've noticed that when you click on some of the featured Yahoo News items that concern setbacks in Iraq, like the claim of another beheading, you get a little advertisement on the side for Fat Mike's mockumentary Fahrenheit 9-11.
I clicked on a couple of other stories, and didn't get his advert. I guess it could be a simple coincidence, but I doubt it.
So Mike is not only willing to openly support and praise the insurgents who are killing Iraqis by the hundreds, and US troops almost daily, but he's also willing to use the bad news about a soldier's beheading as a tie-in to his mockumentary.
I'm clearly not a fan of his, but I've always supported the First Amendment. That includes my right to go piss on his gravestone when he passes away from some health problem in the near future. I know I'll have to stand in line, but it'll be worth it.

Feeling Better

My wife is feeling better, and she's home, so that is an improvement right there. But she still needs some strong meds to get rid of the pain of the menengitis, so going out to celebrate out nation's independence is out of the question for today.
We celebrate every single day, so that's what we'll have to take as a standby for now.
Thanks for all the well wishes.

What Is She Thinking?

BG Janis Karpinski, the ex-commander of several prisons in Iraq including the infamous AG, is now claiming that there were Israelis sent there to interrogate prisoners. It seems so far that she was the only one to talk to them, but still this claim is going to be passed around the arab world as more proof that there is something sinister in our attempts to put Iraq back on the path to some sort of self-government.
It seems to me that she is grasping at straws here, in some sort of self-preservation style along the lines of "If I'm going down, the entire Army is coming with me!" She cannot be that out of things that she doesn't understand the implications of her statement, and quite frankly, I can't think of anything such a statement would be expected to do except bring harm to the Army and our efforts over there so that the Army is forced to come to her with some sort of leniency deal in order to get her to shut up. In the mean time, she's making it harder for every single troop over there, including those she left over there in her old command, as she's toughing it out in London, and along the North Carolina shore.
It's shocking, truly shocking, to see someone who clearly has been successful in her career in the Army (probably less than 1 percent of 2LTs that come in the Army ever make it to BG) take such a no-holes-barred attack on both the Army and the soldiers that served under her.
Every time she opens her mouth I'm less and less willing to give her the benefit of the doubt about what happened at AG prison. She must have been a horrible commander if she's willing to let her troops twist in the wind like this.

I'm Home

I made it back, just in time to take my wife to her place of work, WRAMC, to the ER, where she has been admitted for menengitis.
She was in horrible pain, and hopefully the docs were able to give her something for that, as well as the menengitis.
So for now, I'm getting caught up with the kids. My 21 month old didn't recognize me at first, and wouldn't look at me when I went to pick her up from daycare. She didn't cry, but the reaction was one of complete shyness. Which she doesn't do normally. By the time we went to bed, she was playing fine though, and I'm sure she will be back to normal (vis-a-vis her Dad) very soon.
So postings will still be limited for the next few days as I catch up with the family, and visit with the wife, who is now a patient, rather than a doc, at WRAMC.
And you know, docs make the worst patients.
On the way home I saw a bunch of TVs in the airports (Amsterdam, Detroit, BWI) and all of them had pictures of Saddam talking. I wasn't able to catch any of it, but I assume he's having his day in court.
Good.
Perfect.
He's getting something that he refused to give hundreds of thousands of his own people. A public trial where guilt and innocence is defined in the law, not by one man.
This is the Iraq that most leftists refuse to believe we were working for.
How proper that the man they supported without shame get his day in court.
And may true and fair justice be the final outcome, for all Iraqis, including Saddam.