Demos take note

“National defense is one of the cardinal duties of a statesman.” –John Adams

Demo SOTU Response

The volunteer researchers at The Federalist simply rock. Let’s follow along as they break down the Democrat response to President Bush’s State of the Union address, delivered by Gary Locke, Governor of Washington State:
“Osama bin-Laden is still at large. As we rise to the many challenges around the globe, let us never lose sight of who attacked our people here at home.”

  • And what does this really mean? In other words, Demos deny the President’s claim of a connection between Islamic terrorists and Saddam Hussein’s Iraqi regime.

“Today, the economy is limping along. Some say it’s a recovery, but there’s no recovery in our states and cities. There’s no recovery in our rural communities. There’s no recovery for working Americans and for those searching for jobs to feed and clothe their families. … President Bush has a very different [economic recovery] plan. We think it’s upside down economics: it does too little to stimulate the economy now and does too much to weaken our economic future. It will create huge, permanent deficits that will raise interest rates, stifle growth, hinder homeownership and cut off the avenues of opportunity that have let so many work themselves up from poverty.”
  • And what does the President’s tax cut plan actually do? “This tax relief is for everyone who pays income taxes–and it will help our economy immediately. Ninety-two million Americans will keep–this year–an average of almost $1,100 more of their own money. A family of four with an income of $40,000 would see their federal income taxes fall from $1,178 to $45 per year. And our plan will improve the bottom line for more than 23 million small businesses.”

“Last year Congress authorized $2.5 billion in vital new resources to protect our citizens–for equipment for firefighters and police, to protect ports, to guard against bioterrorism, to secure nuclear power plants, and more. It’s hard to believe, but President Bush actually refused to release the money.”
  • And why did the President refuse to release the money? Because Democrats tacked on billions in spending unrelated to homeland security, and at the same time refused to give the President the authority he needs to combat terrorism by insisting on excessive union prerogatives for homeland security employees–union prerogatives that could potentially undermine national security.

“Our parents shouldn’t be forced to give up their doctor or join an HMO to get the medicine they need. … And it would put too many seniors at too much risk–just when they need the security of Medicare.”
  • And what did the President actually say? “These problems will not be solved with a nationalized health care system that dictates coverage and rations care. Instead, we must work toward a system in which all Americans have a good insurance policy…choose their own doctors…and seniors and low-income Americans receive the help they need. Instead of bureaucrats, and trial lawyers, and HMOs, we must put doctors, and nurses, and patients back in charge of American medicine. Health care reform must begin with Medicare, because Medicare is the binding commitment of a caring society. We must renew that commitment by giving seniors access to the preventive medicine and new drugs that are transforming health care in America. Seniors happy with the current Medicare system should be able to keep their coverage just the way it is.”

So there you have it. The Demos still have nothing of substance to offer the American people, and all they can do is attack those who do.

iLife released

Apple has posted for download iPhoto 2, iMovie 3, and as has been the case, iTunes 3. The full iLife package began shipping earlier this week to those who ordered it to get iDVD 3.

In The Visegrips

Gibson continues to blow me away.

Notable Quotables

MRC’s latest Notable Quotables is available. They pick out the best biased lines from the news talkingheads to show you how skewed broadcast news coverage really is. You can also download a PDF.

Miller on the ACLU

My friends know that in general I detest Dennis Miller, but he made an excellent point regarding the ACLU on the Tonight Show this week:

“The ACLU spent this entire holiday season protesting public displays of the nativity scene. Yeah, that’s the problem with America right now: Public displays of Christ’s birth, that’s the problem. It’s unbelievable to me. The ACLU will no longer fight for your right to put up a nativity scene, but they’ll fight for the right of the local freak who wants to stumble onto the scene and have sex with one of the sheep.”

Hmmm. Maybe I’ve misunderstood Dennis throughout the ’90s, but I always got the feeling he never took a stand on either side of the political aisle.

“Balanced” reporting

If a ban on partial-birth abortion, decidedly a conservative issue, is a “sop to the far right,” why isn’t a campaign finance reform bill, decidedly a leftist issue, a “sop to the far left?”

iLife shipping

MacMinute is reporting that iLife is now shipping from Apple. iPhoto 2 and iMovie 3 downloads have yet to be posted online, however.

Microsoft anti-Safari?

A member of the Cube email list reports that he is unable to log in to his Hotmail account with Safari. He does say this “is limited to the browser login check. If you fire up MSN Messenger and click on the Mail icon with Safari set as your default browser, it will take you right in with no problem.”
Another member reports that once he logged in with this roundabout solution, he was able to log in again directly through Safari.

Knowing Who Your Friends Are

I know several folks out there, even some I call acquaintances and friends, believe that the United States, and specifically President Bush, is acting as a bully against Saddam and that world opinion is not with us. Sorry to say, but France, Russia, China, and far-left peace protestors do not constitute world opinon, no matter what their apologists in the mass media would have you think.

My friend Michael reports that on MSNBC just a while ago, Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi stated, “When I see the American flag, I don’t just see a symbol of the United States, I see a symbol of freedom and democracy.”

Berlusconi gets it; our fight with Saddam isn’t purely about weapons of mass destruction, though that is the most significant reason. It’s not about controlling Iraqi oil reserves, either, despite what some conspiracy-minded leftists would have you believe. Beyond Saddam’s WMD threat, our fight with Saddam is about the freedom from oppression of the Iraqi people.

And if you think I’m wrong, then you need to check out the open letter sent to The Wall Street Journal, the Times of London and other newspapers today, by, respectively, the prime ministers of Spain, Portugal, Italy and Britain, the president of the Czech Republic and the prime ministers of Hungary, Poland and Denmark.

They get it. Each of these countries was touched in some way by oppression in the 20th century, namely Nazism and communism, and they note this. As nations, they speak from experience. As nations, they know what the Iraqi people are suffering; and they are willing to assist in the regime change necessary for Iraqi liberation. They get it. Why do so many Americans not?

Jordan’s King Hussein has apparently stated the U.S. can use his country as a staging area. At a press conference, Spain announced unconditional support for the United States with regard to handling Saddam. Other nations are rallying to America’s call to end Saddam’s tyrannical and threatening regime. I wonder how Jennings, Rather, and Brokaw will spin these developments in “world opinion.”