PunditGuy

Col. David H. Hackworth
1930–2005

I watched this guy on Fox News – he had great commentary on the Iraq war. I hadn’t looked into his background much until I read his obituary today. This guy was a soldiers soldier. An American hero.

It’s been easy to forget about everything that’s going on in Iraq. This week, with all the insurgent terrorist attacks, the conflict has been back in the headlines. While the descriptive words of the stories can paint pictures in the mind and bring reality to the struggle our soldiers face, it’s pictures like this that really make an impact.

Picture released by the U.S. Army Tuesday, May 3, 2005 shows a U.S. Army soldier comforting a child fatally wounded in a car bomb blast in Mosul, 360 km (225 miles) northwest of Baghdad, Iraq, Monday, May 2, 2005. 15 Iraqis were wounded in the combined suicide bomb attack.

Find a way to support our troops…they’re being hit head on with horrors most of us will never face in our lifetime.

It was an American tradition, like fathers chasing kids around with power tools.

I hesitate to admit this, but the guy is making sense.

A combative Vladimir Putin tells Mike Wallace he should question his own country’s democratic ways before looking for problems with Russia’s.  The Russian president also says the U.S. shouldn’t try to export its democracy, as it is trying to do in Iraq, in an exclusive interview to be broadcast on 60 MINUTES Sunday May 8 (7:00-8:00 PM, ET/PT) on the CBS Television Network.

Wallace gets quite a reaction from Putin by asking him about a recent change the Russian leader made.  Says Wallace, “There was a time when the regional governors were elected, correct? And all of the sudden, Putin says, ‘No, no, no. I shall appoint the governors.’ That’s democracy? That’s not democracy the way I understand it,” says Wallace.  “The principle of appointing regional leaders is not a sign of a lack of democracy,” Putin retorts. “You’re absolutely wrong.  For instance, India is called the largest world democracy. But their governors have always been appointed by the central government and nobody disputes that India is not a democracy,” says Putin.

The Russian leader then points to what he believes are drawbacks to America’s own brand of democracy, including the Electoral College system.  “In the United States, you first elect the electors and then they vote for the presidential candidates. In Russia, the president is elected through the direct vote of the whole population. That might be even more democratic,” Putin says.  “And you have other problems in your elections,” he tells Wallace.  “Four years ago your presidential election was decided by the court. The judicial system was brought into it. But we’re not going to poke our noses into your democratic system because that’s up to the American people.”

Putin also believes the U.S. democratic system does not travel well and that is precisely why he was against the war in Iraq from the beginning.  “Democracy cannot be exported to some other place. [Democracy] must be a product of internal domestic development in a society,” says the Russian president. 

By the way, isn’t Mike Wallace like, 90 years old now or something?

I’m not the biggest fan of John McCain. I guess there is something about his ‘straight talk’ that is appealing, but after reading this story, I’m wondering if he isn’t just trying to ‘give the hook’ to Kerry in an attempt to pull him off stage.

McCain wants Kerry to stop looking ahead

Sen. John McCain wants his friend Sen. John Kerry to ice his “obvious” desire to run for president again and focus on his day job.

“It’s pretty obvious, the way he’s acting, he’d like to try it again,” the Arizona Republican said of a 2008 Kerry bid.

“I’d advise him to be the best senator he could be and put those ambitions aside for a while.” McCain said he “absolutely” wants to be president himself but will focus on the Senate and “wait a couple years” to decide on a 2008 run.

Uh, I doubt you can wait that long John.

Assessing Kerry’s odds in the June issue of Men’s Journal, McCain said, “I think it would be difficult for John, for the same reason it’s hard for all candidates who don’t succeed.”

Gotta love the direct reference to Al Gore.

He said he spurned Kerry’s overtures last year to become his running mate. While the position “was never officially offered,” McCain said they discussed it during “three chats” despite his being “not interested from the beginning.” Asked why Kerry continued to pursue him, McCain said, “You’ll have to ask him that.”

While you’re at it, ask Kerry why he hasn’t released his full military records.

McCain, who campaigned for President Bush last year, praised GOP efforts but added, “I also don’t think Kerry ran a very good race . . . At the Democratic convention, I can’t tell you anything they did besides say, `Reporting for duty.’ ”

Well, there was also the incessant “I Have A Plan”. Like fingernails on a chalk board…

Kerry spokeswoman Jenny Backus responded, “It’s always fun to watch Sen. McCain quarterback, especially when he was the captain of the Bush/Cheney team.” McCain also predicted Sen. Hillary Clinton has “a good shot” at the Democratic nomination and that “it would be a mistake to underestimate her.”

Dreamer.

Tony Blair has won a historic third term in Britain.

Tony Blair, elected to a historic third term as Britain’s prime minister, acknowledged Friday that the Iraq war was “a deeply divisive issue” that hurt his Labour Party, but he said Britons were ready to “move on” and focus on the future.

Blair weathered a backlash from voters in Thursday’s election, although Labour’s majority in the House of Commons was reduced significantly to about 60 seats instead of the previous 161. That could weaken Blair’s mandate and force him to step down earlier than planned during his five-year term.

“I know that Iraq has been a deeply divisive issue in this country. … But I also know and believe that after this election people want to move on, they want to focus on the future – in Iraq and here,” Blair said outside his office after returning from Buckingham Palace, where Queen Elizabeth II confirmed his victory.

President Bush, who left Friday for a five-day, four-country tour of central and eastern Europe, called Blair from Air Force One to congratulate him on his re-election.

My Mac Mini came this week. I’ve been busy configuring it, tweaking (as much as I can), and understanding it. It’s funny…the first night, I was thinking about all the reasons why I didn’t like the Mac, but dang it…each night I’ve liked it a little more. What does that mean? I’m afraid that underneath this new Tiger OS, something is hypnotizing me.

I’ve got a KVM switch so I can toggle between the Mac and my Windows box seamlessly. That’s a real plus. I couldn’t bear the thought of having to unhook everything just to run the other machine.

So, that’s really it. I’m not drinking the kool-aide yet. But for now, I’m really liking this Mac.

He was as tall as a six-foot-three-inch tree.

That’s gonna leave a mark.

If for some reason you haven’t yet been outraged by anything today, look no further than this site.

Who wouldn’t love to jet to London, stay in a fancy suite, and watch the Wimbledon finals — all for free? That’s the kind of perk enjoyed by many members of the U.S. Congress. Sure, laws prohibit them from accepting gifts worth more than $50. But somehow expensive travel and entertainment aren’t considered “gifts,” so the tobacco and drug industries, trade groups, and everyone else who wants special favors ply Congress with free trips. A public broadcasting team, along with journalism graduate students, researched all the privately sponsored trips taken by members of the House and Senate since 2000. They discovered that lobbyists and other private groups spent over $14 million to fly our congresspersons around the world. Look up your own reps to see who’s paying their airfare. Check out the bipartisan list of top travelers. Don’t you wish your job got you golf trips and spa treatments?

Power Trips, a website by Steve Henn was put up in September 2004. The data is interesting.

I immediately looked up the members of Congress from my state, Washington. My eyes were quickly drawn to Democrat Representative Jim McDermott, or ‘Baghdad Jim’ as we like to call him. Jim has taken 36 trips over the years as a member of Congress, costing $128,726. Average cost per trip? $3,576.

Who’s the ‘King of Travel’? Democratic Sen. John Breaux from Louisiana. The total cost of trips he’s taken is $158,312, averaging $2,683 per trip.

By the way – Republicans are just as guilty.

On Thursday, July 6, 2000, Tom Bliley, a Republican Congressman from Richmond, Virginia, boarded the Concorde with his wife. The supersonic jet touched down in London less than four hours later. The Blileys’ tickets cost nearly $24,000.

The couple spent four nights at the Savoy, a legendary 19th century luxury hotel with breathtaking views of the River Thames.

The Blileys’ suite cost more than $1,000 a night.

That weekend, they attended the Wimbledon finals. Their tickets cost nearly $3,000.

The total bill for Bliley’s four-day trip to England: over $31,000. But Congressman Bliley didn’t pay a dime.

Brown and Williamson Tobacco, the maker of Lucky Strikes, picked up the whole tab.

According to Marketplace, American RadioWorks, It wasn’t supposed to be this way.

Under rules enacted in 1995, members of Congress are banned from accepting any gift worth more than $50. But lawmakers can accept gifts of travel worth tens of thousands of dollars. And when congresspeople hit the road, many ethics restrictions don’t apply.

House and Senate rules allow members to accept work-related travel from private companies, universities and other outside groups as long as legislators limit what they take to what the rules call “reasonable and necessary expenses.”

Entertainment falls outside that line.

These are not games from the industry standpoint. This is very serious business. They only do it because they think they are going to get a payback for it.

Do a quick check of the Top 100 Trip Takers. The list is staggering.

When will activity like this end? Will it ever end? Is this just ‘politics as usual’ or can reform take place?

Unfortunately, I already know the answer to these questions.