Reading Andrew Sullivan this morning makes me wonder if he is having a bit of the dreaded buyers remorse with regards to his endorsement of John Kerry. I think that he is falling into the "anyone but Bush" trap and projecting his beliefs on to Kerry.

I'm not that big of fan of Dick Morris, but he does make an interesting point in today's NY Post

Oddly, his absence of biography confirms the impression I formed of him during my White House years: He's a back-bencher. I never can recall a single time that his name came up in any discussion of White House strategy on anything. He was the man who wasn't there. We were always figuring out how to deal with Ted Kennedy or Pat Moynihan or Tom Daschle or Phil Gramm, or Al D'Amato or Bob Dole or Jesse Helms or Orin Hatch or Joe Biden. But nobody every asked about John Kerry.

He wasn't much there then, and he's not much there now. Only now he wants us to trust him to be president

Read the whole thing for an interesting take on the speech...

From A Small Victory . No more words are necessary.

Barack Obama from last night at the DNC

When we send our young men and women into harm's way, we have a solemn obligation not to fudge the numbers or shade the truth about why they're going, to care for their families while they're gone, to tend to the soldiers upon their return, and to never– ever– go to war without enough troops to win the war, secure the peace, and earn the respect of the world. Now let me be clear. We have real enemies in the world. These enemies must be found. They must be pursued – and they must be defeated. John Kerry knows this.

If John Kerry knows this why did he vote against the funding bill for the war? If Barack Obama gets elected to the Senate would he vote for the same type of funding? His voting record in Illinois points to someone who’s “voting record is likely to be indistinguishable from that of the Congressional Black Caucus” according to an National Review article. Are we supposed to believe that he would actually vote to fund those same troops given his record to date?

Maybe it’s me but how is it possible to separate the war on terror from the economy? I found this nugget today in a report on the upcoming election.

While Bush says the economy is strong and getting stronger, Kerry points to the net job loss under this administration and says Bush has the worst jobs record since Herbert Hoover in the Great Depression.
Unfortunately for Bush, job losses and economic problems persist in states like Ohio, Michigan and Pennsylvania, all battlegrounds crucial to the election.

Of course there were net job losses in the last 3 years. At the start of his term the economy was already headed into a recession. Throw in the events of 9/11 and it is not hard to see how it would deepen the recession. NYC alone lost a lot more than just the 3 buildings that collapsed. Several more are still vacant almost 3 years after the attack. I can’t tell you how many small businesses never reopened in the area. Plus I remember reading how many businesses much further away that supplied the towers were affected as well. I read that “Bush was president for the largest stock market drop since the depression”. Again how much of that drop was a result of 9/11? In the 90s I remember reading a story on the hypothetic effects on the economy of nuclear Iraq. It wasn’t pretty and it didn’t even factor in an attack on the states. Does anyone think that the present recovery will continue if there is another major attack? I really wonder what it will take to get the majority of the country to realize that we are at war and that the separation between the economy and the war on terror is a lot smaller than thought.

Has anyone seen or heard from Jen?

I finally remembered to bring my camera to work with me. This is the new WTC 7 tower. It is currently quite a bit taller than my building, which tops out at 23 stories. I remember reading that it is going to be 57 stories tall by the time it is completed. It's hard to keep track but I would say that they are probably doing at least a floor per week. As you can see they have already started putting the on the glass. The corner of my building is on the right. Te lower 4 floors or so are not visible in this picture but they contain a sub station that will provide power to the entire site.

Continue reading "Last Down, First Up"

Congratulations to Lance Armstrong on winning his unprecedented 6th straight tour de France, all this after beating testicular cancer. Having said that I do have a question as to why the US postal service deems it necessary to spend all that money to field a team. It’s not like they need the advertising to combat all of the competition they currently face. Does anyone know the reason for this waste of money?

Work has been crazed for the last several days. Hopefully I'll be able to dig myself out by the end of today. Thanks for you patience.

I see that Linda Ronstadt was booed at a Vegas concert for praising Michael Moore and was escorted off the premises afterwards. How long before we see her making the rounds claiming that her rights were trampled and she was censored by the evil right wing?

I heard on the radio this morning that VH1 is planning a new version of the Partridge family. Then I come home and I hear "I think I love you" from the original show on some "lite FM" station that my wife has playing. Has it really come to this? Is Hollywood so desperate that they have to recycle the Partridge family?

Can someone please explain to me why Secretary of Transportation Norman Mineta still has a job?

From the NY Post

July 19, 2004 -- Daniel Libeskind is a genius. He says so himself.

And not only that, the shameless self-promoter — who's already making a bundle on his redevelopment plan for Ground Zero — is demanding that he actually be paid just for being, well, a genius.

No kidding.

Libeskind has sued developer Larry Silverstein for $843,753 to which he says he's entitled for his "master plan" for the World Trade Center site.

He calls it a "genius fee."

This shows the power of political connections. Anyone else who tried to pull something this stupid would be laughed out of town.

If you can't stand behind a line like this, what can you stand behind?

Schwarzenegger Stands by 'Girlie Men' Line LOS ANGELES - Democrats aren't amused by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger (news - web sites)'s use of the mocking term "girlie men" to describe some lawmakers, although a spokesman for the governor said no apology would be forthcoming.

The full story is at Yahoo news

It's nice to see someone stand up, speak his mind and not roll over at the first sign of trouble.

Front Page Magazine has a disturbing report

Jewish liberals received a shock last week. The liberal Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) declared war on Israel at is annual General Assembly meeting, approving a divestment campaign from Israel with 87 percent of the vote, casting the Holy Land as the new South Africa. The shock was doubly painful since liberal Jews believe that liberal churches are supposed to be their allies in all kinds of common fights.

I guess that being a liberal democracy isn’t enough anymore…

Steven Den Beste has a good commentary on the gay marriage issue that concludes with the line

"Let's be very clear on the real point I am trying to make: the issue of gay marriage should not be slipped through using arcane legal arguments before a court. It is fundamentally a political question, and it should be decided using political processes, taking into account the attitudes and opinions of the collective citizenry"

Read the whole thing Here

While I agree with him that it should be solved using the political process I think that he is overlooking the fact that nothing much seems to get solved politically these days, at least nothing remotely controversial. Hell the NY state legislature hasn’t been able to agree on a timely budget for 19 of the last 20 years and he expects them to take on Gay marriage? Say what you want about activist courts but I think that the courts have been somewhat forced into that role by the lack of backbone displayed by our elected representatives.

Other reason not to smoke in the bathroom

Smoker Ignites Portable Toilet Explosion

BLACKSVILLE, W.Va. - Warning: smoking in the toilet can be dangerous. A portable toilet exploded Tuesday after a man who was inside it lit a cigarette.

Emergency workers said the man was not severely injured and drove himself to Clay-Battelle Community Health Center. He was later transferred to Ruby Memorial Hospital. His name and condition were not available Wednesday.

The explosion, which occurred in Blacksville, resulted from a buildup of methane gas inside the portable toilet. The methane did not "take too kindly" to the lit cigarette, said a spokeswoman for Monongalia Emergency Medical Services.

Makes you wonder what injuries he suffered...

Friends and lovers you've shared previous lives with are soulmates. When you meet a soulmate, you feel an immediate connection and rapport with them, coupled with a sense of familiarity. You feel very comfortable with them, and the relationship you share is on a positive level. While you may experience some friction and a few problems, the negativity is easily resolved and, once understood, serves to help both of you learn an identical lesson.

You only have one true soulmate who is your perfect counterpart, and together you create a special kind of magic between you and you dont experience with anyone else in your life.

Hmph.

Pete changed his password.

And I had a whole impersonation of him I was going to do under his login.

Now I'm bored with the whole thing.

(/pouting)

Lookey here, another blog...that foolish Pete never changed his password from when I originally set him up.

Bwah-ha-ha-ha!!!!

Oh, yeah...

Testing one, two, three...is this thing on?