So Much for the Dems Changing the Culture

I thought the Dems were supposed to reform the earmark process??? Now it seems that they are just going to hide them so there is no way to see what they are doing or how much of our money they are wasting. They handle earmarks like everything else. They lie about what they are going to do and accuse the Republicans of being corrupt to deflect attention. What kills me is that voters fall for it and actually believe what the Dems say to get elected. Kevin

WASHINGTON (AP) - After promising unprecedented openness regarding Congress' pork barrel practices, House Democrats are moving in the opposite direction as they draw up spending bills for the upcoming budget year.
Democrats are sidestepping rules approved their first day in power in January to clearly identify "earmarks" - lawmakers' requests for specific projects and contracts for their states.
Rather than including specific pet projects, grants and contracts in legislation as it is being written, Democrats are following an order by the House Appropriations Committee chairman to keep the bills free of such earmarks until it is too late for critics to effectively challenge them.
Rep. David Obey, D-Wis., says those requests for dams, community grants and research contracts for favored universities or hospitals will be added to spending measures in the fall. That is when House and Senate negotiators assemble final bills.
Such requests total billions of dollars.
As a result, most lawmakers will not get a chance to oppose specific projects as wasteful or questionable when the spending bills for various agencies get their first votes in the full House in June.
The House-Senate compromise bills due for final action in September cannot be amended and are subject to only one hour of debate, precluding challenges to individual projects.
Obey insists he is reluctantly taking the step because Appropriations Committee members and staff have not had enough time to fully review the 36,000 earmark requests that have flooded the committee.
What Obey is doing runs counter to new rules that Democrats promised would make such spending decisions more open.

Al Quaida Praises Dems Efforts

This went basically unnoticed in the "Mainstrea Media", but a new tape from their #2 man praised the Dems efforts to withdraw troops; seeing it as a victory. He even mentioned Haliburton. This goes to show that the Dems attacks have consequences. The terrorists parrot what the Dems say to embolden themselves and convince themselves that if they just wait us out they will win. The Dems are damaging our country in the name of politics and don't care about the consequences as log as they win power. Its despicable! Kevin


"Al-Qaida's second-in-command Ayman al-Zawahri said a U.S. congressional bill calling for a troop withdrawal from Iraq was proof of Washington's defeat, according to a Web video posted Saturday.
"This bill reflects American failure and frustration," Zawahri said. "But this bill will deprive us of the opportunity to destroy the American forces which we have caught in a historic trap." "

"The success is only for his pocket and Halliburton," he said, referring to the company once headed by Vice President Dick Cheney.

Random Thoughts

A few thoughts on items in the news as of late...
Paul Begala and James Carville have just signed on to consult the Kerry campaign, as unpaid advisors. CNN is still keeping them on the air. Can you imagine the outrage in the media if two conservative TV guys, from say Fox News, signed on to advise Bush??? The hellstorm would make Frances look like a wind gust. But, no mention of this conflict in the "mainstream media" about CNN keeping these guys on the air.
Today the media will revert back to focusing on Bush's National Guard service...for the 43rd time. Dan "I am a liberal hack" Rather will interview the former Dem Lt Governor of TX who claims he helped get W in the guard. I am sure this guy will appear on all the networks and get write ups in the papers. Unlike the Kerry critics, the slant won't be to discredit him, but to promote his charges and make Bush refute them. There will also be no demand from the press that Kerry condemn these baseless attacks.
In the same light, there is a new group Texans for Truth releasing an anti Bush ad today. It will say that Bush was AWOL from the guard. As above, don't expect the media firestorm about baseless charges, negativity and ties to the Dems to be discussed. Only the claim and forcing Bush to prove he was not AWOL. Don't look for the media to demand Kerry denounce this ad as they did with the Swift Boat Vets for Truth. Don't look for the media to look into who is financing the 527 and do they have ties to Dems.
There is a new anti Bush screed coming out this week that says Bush did coke at Camp David during the 80s. This publisher has been thoroughly discredited in the past for writing lies and falsehoods. The media is already chomping at the bit to book her. NBC will have her on the Today show next Mon, Tues and Wed, CNN on 2 shows. MSNBC with Imus and Hardball. Once again, the media shows its blatant bias in book covering. They book every anti Bush author and play the hell out of the charges...Paul O Neil, Joe Wilson, Richard Clarke, Bob Woodward, Maureen Dowd, Michael Moore etc etc. None of these shows have interviewed Jon O Neil the author of the anti Kerry book. None of them have interviewed Tommy Franks when his book came out. Imus and Mathews interviewed Zell Miller when he wrote his book, but not the networks. They totally ignore any anti Dem or pro Bush book, but play the hell out of anti Bush books.
Now that Bush is up in the polls, look for the media to completely focus on bad news and anti Bush crap to help Kerry turn things around.
I was discussing the Time and Newsweek polls over the weekend. I was curious about how Bush was showing such a large lead so soon. I figured they over sampled Rs to make it appear Bush had a large lead to make Rs over confident and suppress turnout. My fears turned out to be real when it was discovered that the Newsweek poll did, in fact, over sample Rs. The poll should have shown Bush with a 5-6 point edge if the samples were accurately skewed. Rush had a different take on the polls. He says that they did it so they could then reskew the polls and show Bush falling and make it look like Kerry was fighting back and gaining momentum. I tend to think he is right. As they use the correct skewing it will make Bush's lead drop and make it look like his bounce was temporary and that he is losing momentum, when the 11 point lead in the poll was phony in the first place. Kevin

Classless Kerry

In typical fashion, Kerry and the Ds showed themselves to be classless and disregarded tradition. When The Ds had their convention, Bush went to his ranch in TX and wasn't heard from all week. He pulled all his advertising and the RNC wasn't even on the air withads yet. Contrast that to this week. Kerry spoke at a rally in TN Tuesday night. He spoke to the American Legion Wednesday. Edwards was on ABC, CBS, NBS, CNN and MSNBC on Thursday and Kerry and Edwards were giving a hate filled speech before the confetti stopped dropping in MSG. Cheney gave no national interviews during the D convention and neither did Bush. The DNC and all their 527 groups came out with new ad blitzs this week again in contrast to the Rs pulling all ads. Once again, the Ds showed they have no class or regard for tradition. No opponent has even spoken on the same night as his opponent's acceptance speech ! Shame on Kerry for being such a petty, classless man.
Kerry's big speech accused, again, Bush and Cheney of attacking his service and patriotism. BIG LIE. Bush and Cheney and nobody on the campaign has ever said anything but positive things about his service in Vietnam. Meanwhile, Kerry and the Ds repeatadly decry attacks against Kerry's service that never happened and then attack Bush and Cheney for "not serving". What a crock of #$%^. These guys are unbelievable and the media continues to let them get away with it. Below is a history of Kerry questioning Bush's service during Vietnam. He is the only one in the race that has questioned the other's service !!!!! (this does not include the attacks from last night) The R convention attacked Kerry's senate record and he comes back by attacking Bush and Cheney over Vietnam. He has made his whole campaign on his 4 months over there. That is his reply to everything...he can't defend his senate record so he attacks his opponents over Vietnam. Kevin

Kerry Personally, Repeatedly Questioned Bush's Guard Service

President Bush has never questioned John Kerry's Vietnam War service - saying instead on multiple occasions that it was noble and something the Democratic nominee should be proud of.

Sen. Kerry, on the other hand, has repeatedly - in person, during on-the-record interviews - charged that Bush conducted himself dishonorably during the Vietnam War. The distinction is an important one, since Kerry - now in full damage control mode over charges he fabricated parts of his war record - continues to maintain that the White House is behind the criticism and is demanding that Bush personally call off the dogs.
But if any apologies are in order they should start with Kerry, who has tried to smear Bush in a way that neither Bush, nor anyone else associated with the Bush Cheney campaign, has dared to even try.
Here's Kerry during an April 26, 2004 appearance on ABC's "Good Morning America" complaining about a report questioning which medals he threw away during a 1971 anti-war demonstration:
"This comes from a president and a Republican party that can't even answer whether or not he showed up for duty in the National Guard. I'm not going to stand for it," the top Democrat told GMA's Charlie Gibson.
In case anybody missed his Bush smear, Kerry repeated it two more times during the same interview:
"The Republicans are running $10 million this week to attack my credentials on defense. This comes from a president who can't even show or prove that he showed up for duty in the National Guard. . . ."
Here's Kerry's third attempt to slime Bush's Guard service in less than ten minutes:
"George Bush has yet to explain to America whether or not, and tell the truth, about whether he showed up for duty. I'm not going to get attacked on something that I did, that is a matter of record, that the press saw, that I did in front of the entire nation, and everyone then understood."
And it's not as if Kerry was having a bad day and simply flew off the handle without thinking. Instead, Kerry's April 26 attack on Bush's Guard service echoed similar smears by the candidate only weeks earlier.
Here's Kerry on Feb. 8, arguing that the fact that Bush received an honorable discharge doesn't get him off the hook on suspicions he was a no-show during his time with the Guard:
"The issue here, as I have heard it raised, is was he present and active on duty in Alabama at the times he was supposed to be," Kerry declared. "Just because you get an honorable discharge does not in fact answer that question."
Five days earlier during an appearance on Fox News Channel's "Hannity & Colmes," Kerry compared Bush's Guard service to those who fled to Canada during the Vietnam War.
"There is a question that's been raised about whether -- about what [Bush's] service was. And I don't know the answers to those questions," he told Sean Hannity.
"I've never made any judgments about any choice somebody made about avoiding the draft, about going to Canada, going to jail, being a conscientious objector [or] going into the National Guard. Those are choices people make."