Ed Koch, a REAL Liberal, Spanks Cindy Sheehan.

Courtesy of the former Mayor of New York City, a true Liberal:


Speak up America! Sheehan has spent her sympathy, By Ed Koch

Cindy Sheehan, whose son Casey was killed in action in Iraq on April 4, 2004, has become the face of the anti-war movement in the United States. While her grief is understandable, her rhetoric is outrageous.

As the mother of a son killed in battle in Iraq, she originally struck a sympathetic chord, whether you supported the war in Iraq or opposed it. One cannot help but empathize with the agony of a bereaved mother. But that has changed over the months, and I believe that many Americans who viewed her with sympathy no longer do so.

Many Americans, myself included, now see her as a person who has come to enjoy the celebratory status accorded to her by the radicals on the extreme left who see America as the outlaw of the world. These radicals are not content to be constructive critics. They are bent on destroying this country.

Some of them want to turn America into a radical socialist state. Others hope to create a utopia. But regardless of their agendas, how can Cindy Sheehan's supporters defend her shameful statement, "This country is not worth dying for."

While we recognize the U.S. is far from perfect, we are still head and shoulders above most other countries in the world in every respect. We remain the place where almost all others, given the chance, want to come to live. We continue to be the land of opportunity. We are the world's leading economy.

Yes, there is far too great a difference between the incomes of the rich and the poor. Yes, we haven't provided universal medical care as a matter of right for all of our citizens. Yes, minorities still suffer from discrimination socially, in housing, jobs and education. But we have a political system that for more than 200 years has allowed the electorate to work its will through regularly held elections. The government follows the will of the people, or it will no longer stay in power..

Those who rail against the United States have simply failed to sell their message to the public at large. They keep losing elections, local as well as national. Rather than broadening their appeal, they have narrowed it.

I supported and still support the war in Iraq, because our Congress and President had every right to rely on the advice of the CIA that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction. On Sunday, September 25, 2005, Tim Russert of Meet The Press, summed up the situation prevailing before the war, saying, "…post September 11th, there was a fear of terrorism, an inability to know whether there were weapons of mass destruction by the public or by the media. George W. Bush said there were. Bill and Hillary Clinton said there were. The Russians, French and Germans, who opposed the war, said there were. Hans Blix of the UN said there were."

Iraq had fought an eight-year war against Iran resulting in a million casualties, using poison gas against the Kurds, who were citizens of Iraq, and against the Iranian army. Yes, since the 2003 invasion, we have not found any present supplies of WMD. Nevertheless, based on advice from CIA counterparts advising every member nation of the United Nations Security Council, the Security Council, including Syria, adopted Resolution 1441 unanimously, finding Iraq had weapons of mass destruction for which it had not accounted and advising Iraq that failure to account was cause for war. Iraq refused to account for them to the U.N. We and our allies were right to invade, notwithstanding that other countries, terrified by the prospect of terrorism against them and tempted by corruption at the UN masterminded by Saddam Hussein through the Oil-For-Food program and lucrative vendor contracts with Hussein's regime, did not join us.

As I have often stated, we have accomplished our original goal to prevent Iraq from threatening us or its regional neighbors. We should declare victory and get out. Yes, there probably will be a civil war among the Kurds, Sunni and Shia. If the UN — which is still under a cloud because of the "Oil for Food" scandal — decides to take a military role in Iraq to stop the civil war, we can join them at that time. Having accomplished our original mission, we should no longer be fulfilling the obligations of other countries, such as Germany and France which have had a free ride to date. Even in Afghanistan, the latter NATO allies, do not participate in combat duty, leaving that and the ensuing casualties for the U.S. to bear.

President George W. Bush summed up his views on Iraq when he stated, "When the Iraqi army stands up, the American Army will stand down." I have low expectations of that happening in the immediate future. The estimates provided by the Bush administration on our getting out range from two to ten years. I do not believe we should wait that long, because of the casualties that would be involved. We should get out now, leaving the UN in charge. Although I believe that we should leave Iraq, I do not accept Sheehan's outrageous statements.

Sheehan has joined those who rail against Israel, labeling Israel as the culprit with her comment, "You get America out of Iraq, you get Israel out of Palestine and the terrorism will stop." Is that why Sunni and other terrorists have intentionally killed thousands of Shia civilians, labeling them, according to al-Zarkawi, infidels? Is that why Arab fundamentalists have declared war against all Christians and Jews?

According to Wikipedia, on August 15, 2005, on the Chris Matthews Show, Sheehan said, "she would not have responded differently to her son's death had he died in Afghanistan rather than in Iraq. Sheehan argued that the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan was 'almost the same thing as the Iraq war.'" Remember, the UN Security Council authorized the invasion of Afghanistan and the war against the Taliban government.

Sheehan's personal attacks on President Bush include comments in a speech on April 27, 2005, when she said, "We are not waging a war on terror in this country. We're waging a war of terror. The biggest terrorist in the world is George W. Bush." Shameful.

According to Wikipedia, Sheehan wrote, "Casey was killed in the Global War of Terrorism waged on the world and its own citizens by the biggest terrorist outfit in the world: George and his destructive neo-con cabal."

In an interview on CBS, Sheehan referred to the foreign insurgents coming into Iraq, who are condemned as terrorists even by other Arab countries, as well as the U.S. and Great Britain, as "freedom fighters." On September 16, 2005, she said, "Pull our troops out of occupied New Orleans and Iraq." On the one hand, she and her supporters urge that the National Guard be brought back from Iraq to be used in New Orleans, and on the other hand, she condemns their use there now.

In addressing a veterans' group on August 5, 2005, she demeaned herself with the use of truly outrageous remarks hurled at the President, describing him as "a lying bastard," "that jerk," "that filth spewer and war monger," and "that evil maniac."

Sheehan appeared this past weekend in Washington, D.C., leading the parade in a picture captured by the media that included Jesse Jackson, Julian Bond and Al Sharpton.

On Monday of this week, while Sheehan and her supporters were in Washington protesting at the White House against the presence of U.S. military forces in Iraq — those forces there at the request of the democratically elected Iraqi government — according to The New York Times, "Armed men dressed as police officers burst into a primary school in a town south of Baghdad on Monday, rounded up five Shiite teachers and their driver, marched them to an empty classroom and killed them, a police official said." Sheehan believes them to be "freedom fighters."

Of course, Sheehan has the right to state her opinion in a country she believes shouldn't be defended. We who disagree with her statements, we who believe this country deserves our thanks, love and willingness to defend it, also have the right to express our views. Speak up, America.

(posted at: http://www.JewishWorldReview.com)

Former FEMA Director Mike Brown testifying before Congress today. Now, I don't claim to be an expert on FEMA--as I doubt many Americans are--and, I'm not going to say he did a great job during the Katrina Storm--even though it's possible that when the historic record is reviewed he did. No, I'm writing to say GOOD WORK standing up to the blow-hards in Congress and in not letting them stick him like a muzzled pig. They really are a pathetic bunch. Both Democrats and Republicans. They sit back and judge others for what they feel was done wrong, but do you ever hear them criticize themselves? I don't. And, don't you think Congress was in a position to oversee FEMA, the safety of the levees of New Orleans, the inept preparedness of the local authorities on N.O. who are some of the most corrupt in the nation? I do. Since they didn't, they really don't have much right to criticize others in my book.  

Oy Vey! Please Cindy, your 15 minutes are up. Go see if Pravda needs a columnist. 

Why won't this man just go away? No wait, I kind of like to be reminded of another a-s from Massachusetts who ran for President and embarassed the state. Teddy Kenndey, Mike Dukakis, John Kerry...not quite a "slugger's row" if you ask me. I'm so pround to be from the Commonwealth. 

Emory. Four + years old. The greatest dog in the world! We just learned that he has epilepsy. I've witnessed three seizures over the past 6 weeks or so. He seems ok, and on doctor's orders we just began to treat him with medicine: Potassium Bromide. If it helps, it shouldn't harm him, shouldn't shorten his life, should help to lessen the seizures (in both number and duration), and should just add a few more minutes to his daily dining routine--as I squeeze his medicine into his mouth via a syringe. Fingers crossed!! 

Charles Krauthammer is one of my favorite columnists and political analysts. I've mentioned Krauthammer in the blog before, but I thought I'd just take a moment to add a bit more. He is obviously a very bright man, and his medical degree from Harvard is some evidence of that. He worked in the Carter Administration, and was presumably, a strong Democrat. However, like many of us, he came to rethink his politics as time passed, programs failed, thinking on the left atrophied, etc. He has now become a very prominent NeoConservative voice, most often seen on FoxNews and read in the Post and it's syndicated peers. I can't urge anyone enough to read some of his work. It's just plain good! (Here's a link to some columns of his for the Washington Post, that are available on the web: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/linkset/2005/03/24/LI2005032401690.html) 

Blogger Spam is Annoying!

Just a quick thought: immediate and robotic spam posted to MY blog after I add a post is really annoying!

Streaming Radio on your Pocket PC. This screenshot is an image of Resco Radio. (www.resco.net). This is a great product! There are all kinds of radio stations on the internet that "stream" their broadcasts for free. This sweet app lets you access and play those streams really easily and it also lets you record them at a time of your choosing. The only problem I have so far, is that the app doesn't yet support Windows Media streams. (It is coming, but it's not here yet.) So for now, I use Resco whenever I can, but sometimes I need to rely on Windows Media 10 to hear some of my other favorite "talk and news" stations. 

I Hope President Bush appoints another Conservative like Judge Bork to the Supreme Court. He's certainly a bit odd-looking, but the man sure is bright and thoughtful. And, he has the courage to disregard Political Correctness in favor of honest jurisprudence. Sort of what we want in a Justice, don't you think? Now, if you listened to Senator Kennedy, you'd think Bork wanted to return the Nation to the Pre-Civil War Confederacy. But, are you really listening to Kennedy? If so, you are in trouble and are detached from reality. My Senior Sentator's chronograph is stuck in 1969 and he doesn't seem to recognize that most of us are in 2005. 

Mr. President, You Don't Have to Micro-Manage Hurricaine Relief.

Why must President Bush spend so much time working on overseeing the storms raining down upon the Gulf Coast States?

Katrina. Rita. Whatever the next one's name is. These are monster storms that bring mother nature's power down on our communities. The devastation can be, has been, and will likely still be emmense in the future from such natural phenomena. (Is that a word?)

Of course I feel great emphathy with the folks suffering the immediate impact of the storms, but I don't want the President spending too much time HIMSELF working on the government's response.

Local governments, State governments, Federal Agencies (FEMA, et al), and relief organizations like the Red Cross, should be in control and should be able to handle the storms. Immediate action must come from the people closest to the event: i.e., the locals. The Feds can backup, followup and assist. But, the Federal Government is not there to be a first responder for big storms. And, I don't want my President to be First Responder in Chief.

I'd rather he work on issues of governing the Nation.

The Best Hurricane Katrina Summary Yet, IMHO.

From one of my favorite columnists, Charles Krauthammer, via Townhall.com:

Assigning blame
Charles Krauthammer (back to web version) | email to a friend Recommend to a friend

September 9, 2005

WASHINGTON -- In less enlightened times, there was no catastrophe independent of human agency. When the plague or some other natural disaster struck, witches were burned, Jews were massacred and all felt better (except the witches and Jews).

A few centuries later, our progressive thinkers have progressed not an inch. No fall of a sparrow on this planet is not attributed to sin and human perfidy. The three current favorites are: (1) global warming, (2) the war in Iraq and (3) tax cuts. Katrina hits and the unholy trinity is immediately invoked to damn sinner-in-chief George W. Bush.

This kind of stupidity merits no attention whatsoever, but I'll give it a paragraph. There is no relationship between global warming and the frequency and intensity of Atlantic hurricanes. Period. The problem with the evacuation of New Orleans is not that National Guardsmen in Iraq could not get to New Orleans, but that National Guardsmen in Louisiana did not get to New Orleans. As for the Bush tax cuts, administration budget requests for New Orleans flood control during the five Bush years exceed that of the five preceding Clinton years. The notion that the allegedly missing revenues would have been spent wisely by Congress, targeted precisely to the levees of New Orleans, and reconstruction would have been completed in time, is a threefold fallacy. The argument ends when you realize that, as The Washington Post notes, ``the levees that failed were already completed projects."

Let's be clear. The author of this calamity was, first and foremost, Nature (or if you prefer, Nature's God). The suffering was augmented, aided and abetted in descending order of culpability by the following:

1. The mayor of New Orleans. He knows the city. He knows the danger. He knows that during Hurricane Georges in 1998, the use of the Superdome was a disaster and fully two-thirds of the residents never got out of the city. Nothing was done. He declared a mandatory evacuation only 24 hours before Hurricane Katrina hit. He did not even declare a voluntary evacuation until the day before that, at 5 p.m. At that time, he explained that he needed to study his legal authority to call a mandatory evacuation and was hesitating to do so lest the city be sued by hotels and other businesses.

2. The Louisiana governor. It's her job to call up the National Guard and get it to where it has to go. Where the Guard was in the first few days is a mystery. Indeed, she issued an authorization for the National Guard to commandeer school buses to evacuate people on Wednesday afternoon -- more than two days after the hurricane hit and after much of the fleet had already drowned in its parking lots.

3. The head of FEMA. Late, slow and in way over his head. On Thursday he says on national television that he didn't even know there were people in the Convention Center, when anybody watching television could see them there destitute and desperate. Maybe in his vast bureaucracy he can assign three 20-year-olds to watch cable news and give him updates every hour on what in hell is going on.

4. The president. Late, slow and simply out of tune with the urgency and magnitude of the disaster. The second he heard that the levees had been breached in New Orleans, he should have canceled his schedule and addressed the country on national television to mobilize it both emotionally and physically to assist in the disaster. His flyover on the way to Washington was the worst possible symbolism. And his Friday visit was so tone-deaf and politically disastrous that he had to fly back three days later.

5. Congress. Now as always playing holier-than-thou. Perhaps it might ask itself who created the Department of Homeland Security in the first place. The congressional response to all crises is the same -- rearrange the bureaucratic boxes, but be sure to add one extra layer. The last four years of DHS have been spent principally on bureaucratic reorganization (and real estate) instead of, say, a workable plan for as predictable a disaster as a Gulf Coast hurricane.

6. The American people. They have made it impossible for any politician to make any responsible energy policy over the last 30 years -- but that is a column for another day. Now is not the time for constructive suggestions. Now is the time for blame, recriminations and sheer astonishment. Mayor Nagin has announced that, as bodies are still being found and as a public health catastrophe descends upon the city, he is sending 60 percent of his cops on city funds for a little R&R, mostly to Vegas hotels. Asked if it was appropriate to party in these circumstances, he responded: ``New Orleans is a party town. Get over it.''

©2005 Washington Post Writers Group