While it's nice to have Dems to pick on again in the Senate, one mustn't forget what happens when the left has a majority; what they can inflict upon unsuspecting Americans. Besides ticky-tacky things like raising taxes, in 1992 they passed the law limiting new toilets to 1.6 gallons of water per flush. This low-flow nonsense has clogged more toilets in America than every toddler who feels it's cool to flush Barbie.
Raise your hand if you believe PLO leader Yasser Arafat will honor a cease-fire with Israel (you, with the turban and burning U.S. flag, don't count). We're talking about a "leader" whose only method of ruling involves starting a war while blaming the other side, hoping for martyrs to emerge to keep his people angry. How does he do that? In part, by firing weapons "from sites near Muslim mosques, hospitals and schools so that when Israel retaliates, Europeans watching CNN and BBC will be shocked." (William Safire)
As Safire notes, though, the human missile is much more terrifying.
If men like Hassan Hotary continue to be proud of his son and other suicide bombers who kill innocent citizens, then this war may never end. Hassan said of his son, Saeed, who killed 20 and injured scores more at the disco in Tel Aviv last week, "''I am very happy and proud of what my son did, and I hope all the men of Palestine and Jordan would do the same."
It was inevitable. The Left is now upset that the tax refund checks being sent this summer won't be given to millions of Americans. Key word: "given." Why? Because these people didn't pay income taxes in the first place, yet Dems want the IRS to mail handouts anyway! These guys are running the Senate now! Be afraid, be very afraid.
I'm sure by now y'all heard on the news that the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights issued a blistering rebuke of Florida governor Jeb Bush and Sec. of State Katherine Harris for the election problems last November. What you haven't heard is that the commission's report is incredibly biased to the left, with nary a shred of evidence that anyone conspired to keep minorities from voting.
First, the report was leaked to the press by the head of the commission, Mary Frances Berry -- a liberal Democrat and a donor to Democratic candidates and causes -- days before the commission is to vote on it Friday and before the two Republicans on the commission had even read it!
One, Abigail Thernstrom, didn't receive her copy of the report until Tuesday morning -- several hours, even days, after the media got to look at it. She learned about the report's findings from a newspaper. And no one ever consulted her about its contents as it was being written. The outrage doesn't end there. The other Republican member is a man named Russell Redenbaugh. He's blind. He's the only disabled member of the commission. He, too, didn't get his copy of the report until yesterday morning. Redenbaugh's assistant will have to read the report to him.
Democrats. Leaders of bipartisan harmony. <--extreme sarcasm
As for the report itself, while it harshly criticizes Bush, Harris and county officials for "wide-ranging errors" and "inadequate resources," even the most liberal of commissioners had to admit that there were no systematic efforts to discriminate, and most of the problems with minority ballots can be traced to Democratic county officials who were responsible on election day.
The report and the press also neglected to mention that the number of black voters increased in Florida by 50% over 1996 levels. Blacks make up 10% of the population of the state, but made up 15% of the electorate on election day.
The report fails to mention that while Florida attempted to purge convicted felons off voter rolls, 5,000 still managed to cast a vote, 68% of them Democrats.
The commission blames Bush and Harris for confusion by minority voters in the voting box. Yet this is a county issue, and has nothing to do with the governor or secretary of state. Why exclude this fact? Because these counties are headed by Democrats.
Still in Florida: Former U.S. Attorney General Janet Reno said she will decide shortly on running for governor in her home state, where President Bush's brother, Jeb, occupies the governor's mansion. Oh, please run Janet! I'm sure the Cuban-American contingent would have a blast! "Remember Elian" would be a rallying cry resounding across the Everglades!
Your day can always get better: An Australian man fired from his job at a ferry-building company learned hours later that he had won the $4.5 million jackpot in a nationwide lottery.
Jim Jeffords isn't a Republican. He's not a Democrat, either. He's just another member of a growing breed popularized by Bill Clinton, the Opportunist Party. Members of this group have few set beliefs; they follow where the wind blows, the wind being popular opinion. Clinton showed how successful this can be, and those like Benedict Arnold Jeffords see the power and attention within Opportunism.
Eventually though, opportunists will be twisted every which way, and will blow away with a breeze, powerless and out of control. See: Al Gore, who couldn't keep up with his lies and half-truths, and even the gullible American people stopped falling for it.
How crazy has the exodus of high school seniors and college underclassmen to the NBA draft gotten? Regarded by many to be the best college hoopster last season, Duke senior Shane Battier nonetheless may go late in the first round simply because of the idea that if he were that good, Battier would've left college sooner.
Japanese rookie Ichiro Suzuki is in second place in American League All-Star voting, in large part due to Major League Baseball sending some two million ballots to Japan. Ichiro is a very good player so far, and no doubt can make a case to be an All-Star, but my concern is with the ballots themselves. There are only a few players from Japan in the major or minor leagues in the States, so why hasn't MLB sent millions of ballots to other nations with more players, such as the Dominican Republic or Venezuela? Why not send some to the Netherlands, or Australia where a player or two originates?
A vast left-wing conspiracy? Is it time to claim one exists? No, that'd be as silly as Hitlary's claim. But that doesn't mean that many are out to get the Bush family. Details are revealing that some Dems are behind Jenna and Barbara Bush's citation for trying to buy margaritas last week.
It turns out that the only reason the police were involved is that the restaurant called them using 911!
The cops requested that the restaurant simply refuse service and confiscate the IDs, but the manager insisted that the police come...and that was just the first phone call.
The Houston Chronicle's John Williams reports that the second was to the local paper, the Austin American-Statesman, to make sure the incident was publicized.
The NY Post learned that Mia Lawrence, manager of Chuy's bar and grill in Austin, told a friend that she doesn't like the president, so she didn't cut his daughter any slack.
"To make Bush's life more difficult because of what he's doing on taxes, the environment, energy, judicial appointments and a slew of other matters is honorable. To make his daughters' lives more difficult is not." (E.J. Dionne, NY Post)
The New York chapter of the Gold Star Mothers, an organization of women whose sons were killed in military combat during service in the United States armed forces, recently made a trip to D.C. According to NewsMax.com, only one politician refused to meet with them.
You already knew which one I was going to mention, didn't you? If not, then I'll fill you in. Hillary Rodham Clinton.
The Rev. Al Sharpton supposedly began a hunger strike behind bars in New York to protest Navy bombing exercises on the Puerto Rican island of Vieques and his arrest protesting them, his lawyer said. At first I didn't worry about Al, he has enough stored in that belly to keep him full for years.
Now it turns out that as usual, Al's full of hot air. The liar isn't on a hunger strike. He's been eating soup since the day he entered the jail.
California Gov. Gray Davis pounds out that California is entitled, entitled, entitled. Hey Gray, you know what you're really entitled to? Finding solutions and stop blaming Bush for your problems out of political expediency, and stop threatening to sue everyone who doesn't want to power your cappuccino maker before you preside over a welfare energy state.
This week's collection of Vents from the AJC:
So, Disney is going to edit "Pearl Harbor" before it goes to Japan and Germany. Since when did war become politically correct?
Adults who don't buckle up suffer more injuries and deaths than those who do, which in turn makes my premiums go up. It is NOT a decision which "only affects the individual."
That big sigh of relief you hear is from the Republican Party. They finally have someone to blame again.
Around here the value of the contents of one's gas tank is often higher than the value of the car itself.
People want Bush to solve the energy crisis, but they don't want him to build power plants or disturb the environment to do it. Looks like he is going to have to invent cold fusion to make the Democrats happy.
Only a Democrat would gloat about securing the Senate while still being outnumbered in the White House, the House of Representatives and the Supreme Court.
I challenge everyone opposed to Bush's recent tax cut to return their $300 tax refund to the treasury when it arrives later this summer.
I propose a trade: Give California more energy as soon as they start producing some watchable movies and TV shows.
It is a good thing we have a conservative Supreme Court. A liberal court would have also given Casey Martin two shots a side.
I am white and my black co-worker took offense when I said that I was an African-American and she was not, even after I explained that I was born in Rhodesia and she was born in Alabama.
Robert Blake said a gang member killed his wife. I bet it was Spanky or Buckwheat. I never trusted them.
Remember the hubbub from the Left when David Horowitz attempted to debunk the idea of reparations for slavery in campus newspapers? It's happening again, this time over an ad placed by the Independent Women's Forum, NOW's greatest nemesis. In it, they state that: "Campus feminism is a kind of cult: as early as freshman orientation, professors begin spinning theories about how American women are oppressed under 'patriarchy.'" The ad lists the most common feminist myths and the real facts behind them.
Homer quote: "Dear Lord, thank You for this microwave bounty, even though we don't deserve it. I mean... our kids are uncontrollable hellions! Pardon my French... but they act like savages! Did You see them at the picnic? Oh, of course You did... You're everywhere, You're omnivorous. Oh Lord! Why did You spite me with this family?"
Bart's chalkboard: "I will not get very far with this attitude."
Random site: Dumb Laws -- Big Government. Small brains. Dumb Laws.