October 31, 2004

Brinkley/O'Neill on CSPAN (by Demosophist)

Well, it was billed as a show featuring Douglas Brinkley, the author of Tour of Duty, and John O'Neill, the author of Unfit for Command. I figured it'd be great to see the two of them get together and debate the facts so that I could make a more informed judgment from their presentations in a point/counterpoint format. But alas, it wasn't a point/counterpoint, but a 75 minute interview with Douglas Brinkley followed by a 15 minute speech by O'Neill given not in rebuttal, but taped some months earlier. I felt suckered. more...

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October 30, 2004

Swiftvets Will Announce 'October Surprise' at Rally in Washington on Sunday, All Invited

Yesterday I reported that theSwifties were going to make a major announcement, and hinted at what it might be. A fellow blogger e-mailed me privately and confirmed, from an independent source, what that news would be. The Swifities now say they will make the announcement at this rally. Since a number of readers have asked me to pass the word along, here is the flyer from Pajama bin Bloggin's site. Scroll through it and see which piece of new information the Swifties now say they have confirmation of. Another hint: they claim a former Secretary of the Navy has confirmed what until now has been only speculation:

STOP THE MADNESS- LEARN THE TRUTH

MARCH ON WASHINGTON
TO STOP JOHN KERRY

SUNDAY, OCTOBER 31, 2004
1 PM * Naval Archives
2 PM STEPS OF THE UNITED STATES CAPITOL

Join the thousands of veterans, active duty
and every day warriors in a

MARCH FOR TRUTH
more...

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October 29, 2004

Swiftvets about to reveal something BIG....

Apparently, the Swiftvets have an October surprise of their own, and it's going to be big. This should break before the evening news cycle, but I'll give you this hint---John Kerry, about that 'honarable discharge'............If what I'm hearing is true, then be prepared to watch the Sunday talking heads be very uncomfortable.

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Interview with Swiftvet Troy Jenkins

Chad at In the Bullpen interviews Swiftvet Troy Jenkins on the circumstances surrounding his discovery of documents at Texas Tech University linking John Kerry's Vietnam Vetrans Against the War to the governments of North Vietnam and the Provisional Government of South Vietnam (Viet Cong). Here's a teaser: Jenkins claims to have 175 documents which also connect Kerry to the Viet Cong.

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October 28, 2004

New Corroboration of Kerry "Caca" Claims (posted by Demosophist)[Humor]

Ironically, reported by Right Wing News:

ANALYSIS: IRAQ EXPLOSIVES EASILY MOVED BY 'WORLD'S STRONGEST MAN' CONTESTANTS

A new scientific study by the French Ministry of Sport and Jejune Ennui reported today that the 380 tons of high explosives missing from an Iraqi site "could have easily been looted by a team of specially trained burly Scandanavian strongmen with 'roid rage.'"

more...

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More Documents Reveal John Kerry-Viet Cong Links

A third document has surfaced linking John Kerry's anti-war activities to the North Vietnamese and Vietcong. The documents were found in the Virtual Vietnam Archive at Texas Tech University and reveal some amount of coordination between John Kerry's Vietnam Vetrans Against the War, Ho Chi Minh's North Vietnamese government and the Provisional Government of South Vietnam--better known as the Viet Cong.

The latest document can be found online at a website set up to handle inquiries at the Virtual Vietnam Archive. The website was set up after Chad Evans of In the Bullpen contacted the director of the archive questioning the authenticity of the documents. Chad's analysis of the current document can be found here.

World Net Daily claims that the new document provides context for why John Kerry would adapt the Seven Point Plan of Viet Cong leader Madame Nguyen Thi Binh. Kerry has denied any coordination with the North Vietnamese or Viet Cong.

Chad at In the Bullpen is following this closely and will have updates.

Let me just state, for the record once again, that these documents show that the North Vietnamese and the Viet Cong believed they were influencing John Kerry's group. They also show that John Kerry and the Viet Cong had the same goals and the same solution to the problem of how to bring peace to Vietnam. What they do not show is that John Kerry took marching orders from Ho Chi Minh. As I said in my post on this subject yesterday:

I do not believe [John Kerry] was directed by [the Viet Cong]. They didn't have to. John Kery was on board the ship regardless of who was steering. If the North Vietnamese told John Kerry to jump, yet he was going to jump anyway that says nothing about control or power.
Why would John Kerry need to take orders from people who were working out of the same playbook?

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October 27, 2004

Bottom Line on Al Qaqaa (Posted by Demosophist)

Although neither the 3rd ID nor the 101st Airborne found evidence that the 308 tons of explosives were intact when they conducted their searches of al Qaqaa, it is also a fact that they weren't looking for it. It's not entirely clear, either, that all of the material was there when the IAEA made its final inspection before the war, because they didn't actually check the containers, and just assumed that the seals they had placed earlier were sufficient evidence that the material had not been tampered with. I don't know how "safe" this assumption was, but for the purpose of analyzing the credibility of the Kerry attack, that doesn't matter. more...

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D'Souza's Advice to John Edwards: Vote for Bush

Great group interview with Dinesh D'Souza in the Washington Post. He gets the prize for most compassionate campaign advice:

Florida: What advice would you give the Bush-Cheney campaign in the waning days of the election?

Dinesh D'Souza: The Democrats think the terrorist threat is confined to Al Qaeda and "the guys who did 9/11." Reminder to John Edwards: the guys who did 9/11 are dead. If you understand that the battle is much broader, if you understand that the problem of terrorism is partly in the bad regimes (Syria, Iran, Saddam's Iraq) that dominate the Muslim world, if you understand that terrorism arises out of the dysfunctional societies of the Middle East, if you see the importance of establishing a democratic example in the Arab world--then vote for Bush.

OK, so he probably didn't hear the question, and I'm taking a few liberties interpreting the response. It's still a good answer. Read the whole thing.

(Simultaneously beamed by Demosophist to Demosophia, Anticipatory Retaliation and The Jawa Report)

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October 26, 2004

Newly Uncovered Documents Link John Kerry to North Vietnamese/Vietcong (UPDATED)

Via Paul at Wizbang a World Net Daily article reports that recent documents have been uncovered which show that John Kerry's Vietnam Veterans Against the War were being directly directed by the North Vietnamese Communists. The documents were said to be found in archives at Texas Tech Univiersity as part of that university's Vietnam-era archive which holds more than 2 million documents. Some of the documents are translations of intercepted NV/VC communiques.

The first document can be found here. The Winter Soldier Website describes the document as "a 1971 "Circular" distributed by the Vietnamese communists within Vietnam." From the document:

The spontaneous antiwar movements in the US have received assistance and guidance from the friendly ((VC/NVN)) delegations at the Paris Peace Talks.
John Kerry has admitted to meeting with the Vietcong shadow government during the Paris Peace Talks, though he insists the meeting was simply part of his effort to end the war and that he met with both sides. What was it that Jesse Jackson said when asked if he would go to Afghanistan and negotiate with the Taliban? Oh yeah, that that would be "tantamount to treason."

The second document is described as "a communist Directive designed to motivate discussions within Vietnam about promoting the ongoing antiwar activities in the United States." It can be found here. In the document NV sympathizers are urged to step up propaganda activities that demoralize US troops. The document cites John Kerry's denunciation of 'war crimes' and the staged event where he 'gave back' his medals as examples that would help demoralize the troops.

Kevin follows up that post with a NY Sun article which claims that the NV simply looked favorably on Kerry's activities. Paul also muses that the document "smacks of Bill Burkett written all over it" and that the left will cry foul and forgery.

Let me start off by saying the documents appear real to me. But having said that, do we really learn anything new? I'm just not so sure this is the smoking gun that it is alleged to be. In 1995 I attended a May Day rally in Moscow's Red Square. At that rally I heard the head of the Communist Party USA as he denounced Yankee Imperialism, mourned over the loss of the Soviet Union, and lied about how Soviets once had a greater standard of living than Americans. Did the CPUSA have direct links to the Soviet Union? Of course. Did this guy actually believe the vile garbage spewing from his mouth? As far as I could tell, yes.

The phrase Stalin used for people like this was 'useful idiots'. These were people who thought they were doing what was in the best interests of their own country by betraying that country. It always fascinates me when I hear or read what traitors write. Very rarely does a traitor think of what he is doing as treason. Rather, the common thread among traitors is that they believe that they are smarter than officials in government. They believe that their acts of betrayal are in fact acts of patriotism. So when traitors gave away nuclear secrets to the Soviets at the start of the Cold War, they rationalized it as a higher form of patriotism. If the people in the State Department were only as smart as me they would realize that the only way to gaurantee our nation's safety is if the Soviets also have a bomb.

I look at John Kerry's anti-Vietnam War activities in much the same way. The fact that he adopted line for line the policy prescriptions of the Vietcong is enough for me. I do not believe he was directed by them. They didn't have to. John Kery was on board the ship regardless of who was steering. If the North Vietnamese told John Kerry to jump, yet he was going to jump anyway that says nothing about control or power.

Most members of the CPUSA probably did not know that they were being funded and directed by the Soviets. Most members of the German Bund did not know they were being funded and directed by the Nazis. That's besides the point. The point is not who directs you but who you sympathize with. If you go to a football game and route for the visiting team expect a few glares. When your country is in a war and you route for the enemy, expect to be called a traitor. Not because we want to demean you and call you names, but because that is exactly what you are--a traitor. If the shoe fits, wear it.

Critical Update: Chad at In the Bullpen just e-mailed with this, and he has posted it at his site here. Here's a tidbit, there's more that you should read, and from what he says you should expect an update later in the day:

I just got off the phone with a worker at the Vietnam archive. She informed me of the following. There were two people from the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth at the Texas Tech University archive within the last two to three weeks specifically looking for documents pertaining to John Kerry's anti-war movmement Vietnam Veterans Against the War. She told me there has been a bit of a buzz around there as of late after these two individuals claimed they found something huge. She would not give me any more information and was pretty nervous concerning the questioning.

Critical Update II: Chad at In the Bullpen has his INDC moment. He picked up the phone and called the head of the archive. The documents are real. The head of the archive vouches for them, and he and several of the employees at the archives saw the Swifties looking for them.

Further, the archive has the documents online. Rob at Say Anything has the links so that you can see the original documents yourselves.

Critical Update III: The director of the Virtual Vietnam Archive has set up a webpage where you can download the documents here. As I just told Chad in an e-mail, it looks like the blogosphere is doing some real journalism again. You'll take note that the director of the archive told Chad that not a single journalist has yet talked to him about the authenticity of the documents yet.

Critiical Update IV: As you can probably tell, Chad at In the Bullpen has been keeping me in the loop so to speak, but I'm just a sideline to his main show--a show I should add started with an e-mail I got from Paul at Wizbang. Well Chad has this critical update, and all of you need to spread the word on this--the director of the archive has actually found one of the original captured Vietnamese documents in their microfilm collection. What we saw earlier was the military translation of the document, now we have the original. The authenticity of the document should no longer be in question. However, I would still be cautious about jumping to the conclusion that John Kerry knowingly worked for the North Vietnamese/Vietcong.

Critical Update V: Mark at Tempus Fugit also does some real journalism and has also communicated with the archives and received this e-mail further verifying the authenticity of the documents: "Adding to the authenticity of these documents, they are also available as part of the Combined Document Exploitation Center Collection at the National Archives and Records Administration in College Park, MD...These documents are also part of the CDEC Collection on Microfilm " Although the archive director notes it might take some time to locate them at either of those locations, the rest of the e-mail seems to add further evidence that these are real.

UPDATES: I'm surfing around, trying to get a feel for what other bloggers are saying and thinking. Here's some of the reaction: more...

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October 25, 2004

Watch 'Stolen Honor' Online--yes cheapskates, it's free!!!

Washington Times:

The controversial documentary on Sen. John Kerry's anti-Vietnam War activities will be made available free to the public, it's producer said Friday.
The New Soldier blog provides the following links. I recommend right-clicking then downloading the entire video by clicking "save as". I downloaded the entire 42 minute documentary in about two minutes!!

Stolen Honor Video Download Here
Or Here
Larger, better quality version here (slower download)

HT: AIR

Spread the word.

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Voter Fraud Update: 60,000 registered to vote in 2 states

Via Jeff Quinton: As many as 60,000 people may be registered to vote in both North and South Carolina, according to an investigation by The Charlotte Observer and WCNC-TV.

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Kerry Lied, Jawas Died!!!

Wait, so the "big news" was that Kerry lied about meeting with the UN Security Council? I thought news, by definition, had to be--you know--sort of "new" or something, or at least something out of the ordinary. The video over at Daily Recycler is good for a few chuckles. Bill at INDC has some pretty interesting thoughts.

As for me, I'm not so troubled by Kerry's alleged meeting. Far more troubling to me is his naive belief that if only we had a different President, the UN Security Council would have acted different. This personality theory of foreign policy is unprecedented and dangerous. Instead of assuming that nations act out of their own national interests, it assumes that nations do each other favors based on personal relationships. Yeah, the French may be John Kerry's homies, but they aint gonna do him no props. Cause when it gets down to it they gots to get paid and national interest is thicker than malt liquor.

PS-my prediction on the left blogosphere reaction: Yeah, Kerry lied, but the TRUTH writ large is more important than the truth of the details. Oh, and at least when Kerry lied no jawas died!! (that and a week of scrambling showing how Kerry didn't really lie because, you know, he was in New York and did have beers with the ambassador from Zimbabwe).

Double-PS: Best photoshop ever!!

At what point does it stop being a PS?? Aylward and Spoons equally underwhelmed, but Bill and Kevin both pointed me to NZ Bear's reaction which is making me rethink this.

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October 22, 2004

O'Donnell vs. O'Neill

MSNBC's Scarborough Country was co-hosted tonight by Pat Buchanan and Larry O'Donnell, and their guest was Swiftvet John O'Neill. I just came in toward the latter part of the interview, but was treated to quite a show. Instead of allowing O'Neill to make a point O'Donnell deliberately yelled over him: "Don't let him talk! He's a liar. Everything in his book is a lie, and it's all been disproved! Liar, liar, liar, liar, etc., etc." It was quite awe-inspiring to see someone who supposedly has press legitimacy, and whose face most people identify as at least superficially objective simply doing his best to prevent a guest from making a point by drowning him out. During the exchange O'Neill calmly, and politely, asked if he was going to be allowed to finish his statement, and finally, after an intervention by Buchanan, made his point about evidence that Kerry was the author of his own (unsigned) "after action reports."
more...

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October 20, 2004

Zogby speaks on the 'Armageddon' election in Hong Kong

Simon was there and reports:

Blogs: Zogby saw these as important, with each having its own constituency. However they are unlikely to change minds; instead "they serve to stoke the fires of anger." In other words, blogs are preaching to the converted.
Using my Sith mind powers, I command you to go read this!!

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October 19, 2004

Muslim Cleric Abu Hamza al-Masri Charged With Incitement to Murder in UK

Hallalujah!!!! ABC News:

British authorities pre-empted a U.S. bid to extradite radical Muslim cleric Abu Hamza al-Masri, charging the fiery preacher Tuesday with urging followers to kill non-Muslims, in some case specifically targeting Jews.

On what was scheduled to have been the first day of his extradition hearing, al-Masri, 46, sat in court to face 10 charges of soliciting or encouraging the murder of others, "namely a person or persons who did not believe in the Islamic faith." Four of the charges added: "in particular Jewish people."

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Yes dhimmis, they KILL YOU for for blasphemy

Every day I get e-mail from readers who say pretty much the same thing, "Yeah, but aren't all religions just basically the same?"

The answer, of course, is NO. Ever hear of a fundamentalist Amish ordering the death of a wayward soul because they became one of those blesphemous Mennonites? Under Islamic law blasphemy is punishable by death.

Asia News:

Hamid Pourmand is a Protestant minister of the Assemblies of God Church. He converted from Islam several years ago. Since September he has been held in prison at an undisclosed location and under Iranian law he can be put to death for “apostasy against Islam”. He was arrested on September 9 in Karaj, a town 30 km west of the capital Tehran during a police raid against the annual General Council of the Assemblies of God Church.
BBC News:
A Pakistani man has been sentenced to life imprisonment for burning a copy of the Koran. A court in Lahore found Mehdi Hassan, 36, guilty under Pakistani laws covering offences against Islam, the prophet Mohammed or the Koran.
Let me just throw this one in for good measure--Aus. Bahai Faith:
The Australian Baha'i Community has spoken out against the destruction of sacred and historic sites in Iran. In a statement released today, the Baha'i Community describes a series of demolitions that point to a campaign of "cultural cleansing" by Iran's ruling authorities, who are determined to remove all traces of the Baha'i Faith, the country's largest religious minority.
Hat tip: Robert Spencer

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Dear Limey assholes

That's the actual title of this Guardian article which has responses to the Guardian's efforts to meddle in the Presidential election:

Have you not noticed that Americans don't give two shits what Europeans think of us? Each email someone gets from some arrogant Brit telling us why to NOT vote for George Bush is going to backfire, you stupid, yellow-toothed pansies ... I don't give a rat's ass if our election is going to have an effect on your worthless little life. I really don't. If you want to have a meaningful election in your crappy little island full of shitty food and yellow teeth, then maybe you should try not to sell your sovereignty out to Brussels and Berlin, dipshit. Oh, yeah - and brush your goddamned teeth, you filthy animals.
Read the rest. Not funny, funnay! Hat tip: Mr. K

Editorial note: This and the other letters printed here were responses to something the Guardian was doing. The online version of the Guardian had started an online campaign to get British citizens to write voters in Ohio urging them to vote for John Kerry. This explains the tone of some of the responses. Also, notice the title of the article? A ploy by the Guardian to explain how we 'tards and rednecks could actually vote for that mean and stupid Bush-Hitler.

PS-Now I know why the Guardian is so pro-Kerry.

Double-lizzle PS-Bill say's the Guardian got "Not exactly the results that they expected." Nope, not exactly. And Kevin is wringing his hands in anticipation of Ohio districts to start voting. Yeah, I can't wait either!

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October 18, 2004

Electoral Vote Predictions

(Post by Bravo Romeo Delta)

So far, you've probably are already familiar with some of the more popular electoral vote predictors and election guesstimation sites. Two of the bigger ones are Election Projection (pro-Bush), and Electoral Vote (pro-Kerry). While both these sites seem to be making a solid effort to be, like, fair and stuff, they aren't bastions of statistical accuracy.

But there are some places to get much more accurate and thoroughly reasoned analysis of the elections with some links and current predictions, based on current polling data.
more...

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I Just Voted, early but not often

My state allows 'early voting' which started today. This is where you mosy on down to the County Courthouse and vote in the two weeks prior to the actual election. I'm not so sure if this is good news or bad news for Bush, but I had to wait in line to get my ballot. If there is an easy way to distinguish between Bush and Kerry voters, I don't know it. However, I will say that most of the people there were older--whatever that might mean. Also, the ballot had Bush's name on top and the Senate race also had the Republican on top. Which might seem insignificant until you remember the 'tards who voted for Buchanan in 2000 because they were confused.

Who did I vote for? Kodos.

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Democrats Disenfranchising Soldiers?

James Joyner:

So, to recap, the Democratic Party is:

1. Trying to disenfranchise Nader supporters
2. Effectively disenfranchising American soldiers in harm's way

It makes you wonder why they call themselves the "Democratic" Party, no?

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