Court: Paul Hamm Can Keep Gold Medal
From FOXNews:LAUSANNE, Switzerland — Paul Hamm can keep his Olympic gold medal. Sports' highest court rejected a South Korean appeal Thursday, ruling that Hamm is the rightful champion in the men's all-around gymnastics competition at the Athens Games. [...] There are no more appeals available to Yang. [...] "I feel like I had to win my medal in three ways, really," Hamm said last month in an interview with The Associated Press. "Obviously, in competition. Then with the media. Then in court. It really feels like I've been battling this whole time." [FoxNEWS, "Court: Paul Hamm Can Keep Gold Medal", Thursday, October 21, 2004]Related Article: Olympic Gold All Around Gymnast Paul Hamm: Only Human
Saddam Ties to Terrorism
Deroy Murdock, a Media Fellow at the Hoover Institution at Stanford University has put together a summary of "Saddam Hussein's Philanthropy of Terror."
Re-importing Drugs from Canada
The first time I ever heard of this idea, and the fact that some Canadian politicians were encouraging it, I said "Hurrah!" Nothing could please me more than bankrupting the Canadian government, but I figured the Canadians would back down if American politicians actually allowed re-importation to occur. I am not worried about drug company profits because the Canadian government is picking up the regular bulk price of all the drugs it buys and is then selling them back to Canadians at a subsidized discount under the universal health care plan in Canada. The main reason I am not worried about drug company profits though is because it is readily apparent the Canadian government will not allow America to re-import the drugs en masse, because the Canadian government would in effect have to buy drugs for a population many times their own, an even more untenable situation than the situation already in place.Sure enough, this is already beginning to dawn on Canadians as demonstrated by this article. I wish people would study economics more, but the chances of that are slim. The only reason drugs are "cheap" in Canada is because the government taxes the hell out of its citizens to pay for those drugs and then resells them to Canadians at a loss. Were Canada to engage in this dopey practice for their population and ours then their whole government would run out of money within 10 years at the maximum. Not only that, but as the article suggests, they will end up having massive drug shortages for their own citizens.
Let us see what ingenious idea John Kerry comes up with next to replace this idea when the Canadians recognize reality (for the first time in a long, long while) and tell him it isn't going to happen. Such an eventuality almost makes a Kerry victory worth it.
John Kerry: OK, If U.S. Troops Die for U.N. Missions
From the Washington Post:Kerry's belief in working with allies runs so deep that he has maintained that the loss of American life can be better justified if it occurs in the course of a mission with international support. In 1994, discussing the possibility of U.S. troops being killed in Bosnia, he said, "If you mean dying in the course of the United Nations effort, yes, it is worth that. If you mean dying American troops unilaterally going in with some false presumption that we can affect the outcome, the answer is unequivocally no."Classic Kerry.
Related Article: Thinking it Alone: U.S. Must Reject the Evil Doctrine of "Multilateralism"
Putin: Terrorists for Kerry
From an AP report at NJ News Flash:DUSHANBE, Tajikistan (AP) — Russian President Vladimir Putin said Monday that terrorists are aiming to derail President Bush's chances at re-election through their attacks in Iraq. [...] "International terrorism has as its goal to prevent the election of President Bush to a second term," he said. "If they achieve that goal, then that will give international terrorism a new impulse and extra power." Still, Putin didn't say which candidate he favored in the Nov. 2 election. "We unconditionally respect any choice of the American people," he said. ["Putin: Terrorist aiming to derail Bush bid", October 18, 2004]
Australia’s Howard says he wants to see Bush win
From Yahoo News:Australian Prime Minister John Howard said Tuesday he hopes George W. Bush wins a second term in office, and praised the U.S. president for his "great leadership to the world in the fight against terrorism." Howard, whose conservative government recently won a fourth term in office, is a key regional ally of Washington and contributed 2,000 troops to the invasion of Iraq last year. "I wish him (Bush) well and I hope he gets re-elected," Howard told reporters in Jakarta after meeting with President-elect Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono.[...] Australia lost 88 citizens in the Bali bombings in 2002, and last month Islamic militants attacked the country's embassy in Jakarta, killing nine people, including one suicide bomber. Since the attacks, Howard's anti-terror rhetoric has mirrored that of Bush, and he has spoken of the need for pre-emptive strikes against suspected militants outside of Australia. [...] [AP, "Australia's Howard says he wants to see Bush win"]At least Kerry has Arafat, Chirac, and Saddam's support.
Kerry Supporters Threaten Violence To Block Showing of Soldout Film
From WPVI Philadelphia:
People who came out to see the anti-Kerry film, "Stolen Honor" were already upset that management of the Baederwood Theater cancelled the showing after threats of civil disturbances. Ultimately the anger reached a higher level when Bush supporters clashed with Kerry supporters. [...] Abington police had to move in several times to keep ardent Kerry and Bush supporters from coming to blows. This after the documentary "Stolen Honor" which was to debut to a sellout crowd of 600 people was cancelled."Joanne Dalbey/WARRINGTON, PENNSYLVANIA: "It denied me the right as an American citizen to see a movie that every American should have the right to see." Ryan Sweeney/SOMERTON: "I think it's terrible, I think it's ridiculous that they're gonna shut this down and at the same time they're gonna show Michael Moore the day before the election."The producer of the film blames Kerry operatives for shutting down the showing of the film.Carlton Sherwood/FILM PRODUCER: "The underhanded coercion and intimidation tactics of John Kerry, here's my reaction, what is John Kerry so afraid of with this documentary?"Kerry supporters were pleased the showing of the film had been cancelled. [WPVI Philadelphia, "Anti-Kerry Film Showing Canceled" October 19, 2004]
The Kerry’s “Feel Good” Draft
From Cox and Forkum:
As part of his 100 day plan to change America, John Kerry will propose a comprehensive service plan that includes requiring mandatory service for high school students and four years of college tuition in exchange for two years of national service.Though no longer on Kerry's web site, for while the above quote could be seen on a Kerry page archived online at Way Back Machine. If you click on that link, you'll find that the page is no longer available there either. But since the proposal was part of speeches and at least one press release from Kerry, traces of it are found elsewhere on the Internet. A web site called Bank of Knowledge archives Democrat campaign speeches. In a May 2003 speech on National Service, John Kerry said:
So I propose that all high school students should also be required to do community service before they graduate.A New Hampshire political news web site reported on the speech: Kerry pushes mandatory national public service.
Speaking to veterans and to students at his former high school, Sen. John Kerry proposed a $3.5 billion national effort to involve more Americans in public service building on the framework of other programs and mandating that all high schools incorporate service requirements for graduation.Slate magazine reported in July 2003 that The Agenda of John Kerry includes:
3. Institute mandatory and voluntary national service. Kerry would provide four years' tuition at a public university to any American who performed at least two years of national service. He would make some sort of community service a prerequisite for graduation from any U.S. high school. The high-school programs would be state-designed but federally funded.The online encyclopedia Wikipedia contains this line from their entry on the John Kerry presidential campaign:
Kerry supports supplementing national service in nearly all aspects of American life, including requiring community service for high school students to graduate [...]In Cedar Rapids, Iowa, the Gazette posted a press release from the Kerry campaign dated November 20, 2003: Kerry Presents Vision of 100 Days to Change America. "As part of his Action Plan for the First 100 Days, Kerry vowed to ..."
Make national service a way of life by requiring mandatory service for high school kids and giving Americans the chance to earn four years of college tuition in exchange for two years of service.Using Google, I found a dead link for the above press release at the Kerry web site. But if you look at the first entry in this Google search, you can still see what used to be on Kerry's site: "... national service a way of life by requiring mandatory service for high school kids and ...". John Kerry and some of his supporters continue attempts to scare up votes by saying that Bush will institute a military draft, even though Bush has unequivocally rejected conscription as an option, and even though a recent Democrat draft proposal was overwhelmingly defeated in Congress (2 votes for, 402 against). The truth is that John Kerry has publicly promised a special draft of his own, and it now appears he wants to hide it. The immorality of a draft does not arise from the fact that it is military service. A draft is immoral because it is involuntary service, and involuntary servitude is a violation of individual rights whether it occurs in fox hole or a soup line. And it is exactly involuntary servitude that Kerry has planned for high school students. John Kerry's use of a trumped-up draft scare is sleazy enough as it is. Turns out it's hypocritical, too.
Preempt The Vote: Play Phony Race Card By Charging Vote ‘Intimidation’
From Cox and Forkum:
Republicans ripped into John Kerry yesterday over a stunning new internal manual that advises Democrats to launch "pre-emptive" strikes charging the GOP with voter intimidation -- even if none exists. The "Election Day Manual" -- written for Kerry's Colorado campaign workers -- includes a menu of options Democrats can follow next month to claim Republican intimidation, ranging from issuing press releases to organizing minority leaders to denounce the practice. It was unclear last night whether the manual had been penned by the Kerry campaign or the Democratic National Committee, although questions about it were fielded by the DNC. Democratic leaders dismissed the charge, insisting the manual was aimed at providing guidance for "preventing and combating" voter intimidation from happening in the first place.
John Kerry’s Hail Mary
From Cox and Forkum:
AFP reports: Kerry comment about Cheney daughter may have backfired. (Via Little Green Footballs)John Kerry has come under renewed criticism for raising the case of Mary Cheney, the lesbian daughter of Vice President Dick Cheney, during a presidential debate. Five days after making the comment, Kerry remained at the centre of a media controversy for highlighting Cheney's sexual orientation. Political talk shows, newspaper commentators and an opinion poll have all kept the gay comment in the public. Democrats have bravely called it a storm in a political teacup and Kerry's campaign manager Mary Beth Cahill has said Cheney's daughter is "fair game".This cartoon was inspired by comments today from James Taranto: "Blogger Rodger Morrow suggests that [Kerry] is being forced to resort to a "Hail Mary" approach..." And in today's TIA Daily, Robert Tracinski wrote of the incident (The Washington Conundrum): "Kerry's gratuitous violation of a simple rule of campaign etiquette reveals an unacceptable lust for power."
The motive [for the drafting of Mary Cheney into the Kerry campaign] seems to be the vaguely cynical hope that Kerry could pit Cheney's own daughter against her father's ticket, that the controversy over the coming days would be: what does Mary Cheney think about her father's campaign? How has he treated her? And so on. A group of leftist "gay rights" activists have been trying to do this for a long time, demanding that Mary Cheney state her own views publicly -- demanding, in effect, that she denounce her father in public. Last Wednesday's comment seems to be Kerry's attempt to pick up on that somewhat disreputable far-left campaign.(This is not the first time that Kerry has picked up a loony-left rallying cry and given it a respectable, mainstream spokesman -- from the Winter Soldier smear in 1971, to the Howard Dean anti-American foreign policy, to the more recent claim that Bush secretly wants to bring back the draft.)
The Science of Happiness
Dr. Ellen Kenner's site deals with "The rational basis of happiness and ways to learn about the scientific nature of genuine long term happiness." Best feature: the archives of her past shows.Live Event: Why Businessmen Should Be More Selfish
Monday, October 18thWhy Businessmen Should Be More Selfish by Alex Epstein
In this lecture, Alex Epstein, junior fellow at The Ayn Rand Institute, will argue that Ayn Rand's ethics of rational self-interest is the moral, practical alternative to conventional "business ethics." We invite you to come judge for yourself which alternative leads to business success. 8:00PM-10:00PM (Doors open at 7:30PM), The Kimmel Center - Room 914, 60 Washington Square South, New York, NY 10012 All Non-NYU attendees must make a reservation by emailing their names and the names of any non-NYU guests they plan on bringing to objectivist.club@nyu.edu. In addition, to be admitted to the building on the day of the speech, those non-NYU attendees with reservations must bring government identification (drivers license, passport, etc...). For more information visit: www.nyu.edu/clubs/objectivist
Live Events: The Moral Case for Supporting Israel and Religion vs. Morality
Monday, October 18, 2004"The Moral Case for Supporting Israel"
by Dr. Yaron Brook, president and Executive Director of Ayn Rand Institute
Since its founding in 1948 Israel has been under siege--courageously fending off hostile neighbors while defending itself against Arab terrorists. In a Mideast dominated by Arab monarchies, theocracies and dictatorships--Israel is a free country standing as the lone bastion of Western civilization in that region. Yet for decades Israel has faced growing international pressure--often led by the United States--to compromise with its enemies, and act against its self-interest. In this talk, Dr. Brook argues that the United States should unequivocally support Israel's effort at self-defense; that allowing Israel to rid itself of terrorist and foreign military threats is in America's best interests. Israel is our only true ally in the Mideast, and supporting it is the only moral thing for the United States to do.
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 5:00pm, 150 Animal Sciences Lab. Free of charge and open to the public.
Tuesday, October 19, 2004
"Religion vs. Morality"
by Dr. Andrew Bernstein, professor of philosphy at SUNY Purchase and Concordia College Conventionally, most people believe that morality can only be based in religious faith - that in a world without God no principles of right and wrong could exist. Related to this, philosophers have long held that no objective, fact-based, rational code of values is possible. Regarding both points, Dr. Andrew Bernstein argues that the exact opposite is true. The purpose of morality is to guide human life on earth - and religion is utterly incapable of it. Flourishing life requires a code of secularism, rationality, egoism and freedom. Religious faith clashes with every principle of a proper moral code, and, as such, has led, and can only lead to, hell on earth.
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 7:30pm, 314 Altgeld Hall. Free of charge and open to the public.
Anti-Bushite for Bush
An excerpt from Robert Tracinski's article "How to Be an Anti-Bushite for Bush: Working for a Pro-War Opposition and a Secular Right" is online at TIADaily.Ralph Nader: Party Crasher
From Cox and Forkum:
From yesterday's New York Times: Nader Emerges as the Threat Democrats Feared.With less than three weeks before the election, Ralph Nader is emerging as just the threat that Democrats feared, with a potential to tip the balance in up to nine states where President Bush and Senator John Kerry are running neck and neck. Despite a concerted effort by Democrats to derail his independent candidacy, as well as his being struck off the Pennsylvania ballot on Wednesday, Mr. Nader will be on the ballots in more than 30 states. Polls show that he could influence the outcomes in nine by drawing support from Mr. Kerry. They are Colorado, Florida, Iowa, Maine, Minnesota, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Mexico and Wisconsin.Usually we post cartoons three or four days a week. But in the run up to election day, we've decided to fill in the empty days by reposting cartoons that are still relevant (we'll go back to the old schedule after the election). This cartoon was first posted on February 18, 2004. UPDATE -- October 19: From FoxNews: 'Nader Factor' Still a Concern.
Politicos on both sides of the aisle are pondering just what effect independent candidate Ralph Nader may have on the 2004 presidential election -- a race that could hinge on the number of votes the independent candidate pulls. On Monday, Nader announced a 10-state campaign swing he is embarking on between now and Election Day, which will include Alabama, Connecticut, Louisiana and New York as well as key swing states like Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin. "We're trying to get as many votes as possible, which means we're going into states that are characterized as safe states, battleground states and states that fall in between," he said at a Washington news conference.
Iraq War Has Not Made World Safer–From U.N. Corruption
From Cox and Forkum:
FoxNews reports: Annan: Iraq War Hasn't Made World Safer.The U.S.-led war in Iraq hasn't made the world any safer, U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan said in a British TV interview aired Sunday. "I cannot say the world is safer when you consider the violence around us, when you look around you and see the terrorist attacks around the world and you see what is going on in Iraq," Annan told the ITV network. "We have a lot of work to do as an international community to try and make the world safer," he said. Annan has previously described the U.S.-led war that toppled Saddam Hussein as "illegal."FoxNews also reports: Oil-for-Food Probe Includes Annan's Son.
The Justice Department criminal probe into the U.N. Oil-for-Food program is focusing on several individuals, among them U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan's son, FOX News has learned. Kojo Annan, the secretary-general's son, was employed by a U.N. contractor that monitored food and medicine shipments that were flowing into Iraq as part of the multibillion-dollar program created in late 1996. The Oil-for-Food program is now being probed by the Justice Department and Congress as a boondoggle that enriched Saddam Hussein and others. A report delivered last week by Charles Duelfer found that Saddam was able to "subvert" the $60 billion U.N. Oil-for-Food program to generate an estimated $1.7 billion in revenue outside U.N. control from 1997-2003. [...] FOX News was unable to locate Kojo Annan for comment but his father told reporters at the United Nations earlier this year that there was no connection.UPDATE -- October 20: From Claudia Rosett at The Wall Street Journal: La République des Bananes: Kofi Annan tries to explain away France and Russia's Oil for Food wrongdoing.
In defending Russia, China and France, Mr. Annan further implied that Saddam's traffic went only to companies, not governments, and therefore could not possibly have swayed state policies. Perhaps Mr. Annan has forgotten that all Saddam's contracts were funneled into Oil for Food via the official U.N. missions of the respective countries. Although earlier this year Mr. Annan and some of his aides were busy excusing Mr. Annan's Secretariat from any responsibility for Oil for Fraud, by way of blaming the U.N. member-state missions, especially those on the Security Council. Maybe Mr. Annan also forgot that both China and Russia, however nonbanana their status at the U.N., have yet to enter the era of genuine private property rights. In both these nations, there is a hazy line between state and private sector, no fair and impartial rule of law to define that line, and no press free enough to delve deeply into such matters as when, by whom and at what price it might have been crossed. Maybe Mr. Annan also forgot that large business interests, even when private, can wield a certain amount of lobbying clout, even in France. And maybe he just hasn't had time to read the lists of oil vouchers handed out liberally by Saddam to assorted French former officials and Russian politicians and state entities--alleged bribes now presumably under investigation by the U.N.'s own "independent inquiry" led by former Fed Chairman Paul Volcker. Earlier this year, an aggrieved Mr. Annan warned critics of the Oil for Food program to shut up and wait for Mr. Volcker to wend his way toward a final report. Apparently, when it comes to Saddam's biggest clients, Mr. Annan sees no problem with his own policy of pre-emptive exoneration.
John Kerry’s Heroes
When asked to name his heroes, John Kerry named three people:1) Michael J. Fox (actor afflicted with Parkinson's Disease who has endorsed Kerry so that government money will be thrown into stem cell research, thus guaranteeing that Parkinson's is never cured.)
2) Christopher Reeves (who just died, and who his running mate claimed would have walked again had Kerry been the President.)
3) Former Georgia Senator Max Cleland who lost both legs and one arm in Vietnam.
It's amazing that all of his "heroes" either actively support his campaign, or represent an emotional link to one of his few popular election issues. Also, all of his heroes were/are cripples, people striken with debilitating ailments. Of course if the same question were asked to President Bush, I'm sure one of his answers would be that carpenter from Nazareth. Why can't any of these people pay homage to a real hero once in a while? Has no one ever heard of George Washington????