Fatty Moore...

and his continuing quest to ensure Republican domination by making the Democratic Party irrelevant to most Americans. From the AP comes this story regarding Moore's feelings on Hollywood and politics. Says Moore: "It's actually the opposite. Democrats need to embrace Hollywood because this is where they need to come to learn how to tell a story.""

Well, that's just nice and dandy. Apparently spreading the word that President Bush is going to legalize rape (cough*CameronDiaz*cough) is simply 'telling a story." The problem with this picture is that most Americans like movie stars. We like famous people entertaining us. What we don't like is famous people who are supposed to be entertaining us spending their time lecturing us. If we wanted to be lectured, we would go read a political blog or turn on a talk show. While sometimes the two mix (as in IMAO's case, or someone like Mel Gibson or Ahnold, who practice 'mainstream' politics), Americans, for the most part, prefer to keep them separate. People like Fatty Moore and Cameron Diaz don't understand that. They feel that since we adore them as entertainers, we must also adore them as political activists. It doesn't help when the political views these entertainers take are out of alignment with what most of America believes. It also doesn't help that when these entertainers take these extremist positions on issues, they are quite rightly denounced as elitists, due to their large salary and seeming contempt for the common man. After all, if the common man was actually intelligent, he wouldn't even think of voting Republican, right?

Moore also spouts out this absurdity: " But Moore said he and liberal activists, including show business figures, had helped turn out millions of new voters who backed the Democrats on Election Day."

Let's look at this logically. He's basically talking about Moveon.org and the Rock the Vote tour. Moveon.org didn't do anything other than compare Bush to Hitler, thus energizing the Communist/Anarchist/riot and smash things Wing of the Democratic Party, while otherwise pissing everyone else in the nation off. Real smart. Rock the Vote sent various popular music artists around the country on tours. First of all, I heard of numerous Republicans who were planning on going to these concerts and just 'putting earplugs in' during the politics part. So the sold-out crowds at these shows shouldn't be used to justify comments regarding their political content. Secondly, most of these artists targeted relatively young fans, say, 18-30. In this past election, the 18-25 year old bracket did its usual civic duty and couldn't find time to vote in between partying and playing Counter-Strike.

I'm failing to see the connection here between Moveon.org/Rock the Vote and the prevention "of a Bush landslide."

Moore had this to say regarding the exceptions of Ahnold and Reagan: " Citing California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger (news - web sites) and former President Ronald Reagan (news - web sites), Moore said, "America loves Hollywood. America loves the people in the movies and on TV. And the thing that the Republicans have already figured out is that America likes to vote for Hollywood..."

Both of those men won first and foremost thanks to their relatively mainstream politics. Neither man was or is a hard-core conservative or liberal. Both men's high-profile as movie stars helped (after all, how many times do you get to hear a politician promise to 'terminate' his opponent as he conducts a 'total recall' on him?), but they won primarily thanks to their populist policies and strong charisma. America loves Hollywood, yes, but America will only vote for those who it feels are relatively in line with its values. Most of America views Hollywood with disdain in this regard. Somehow I doubt that Hollywood is going to change, so if the Democratic Party wishes to stay relevant in this nation's affairs (as it must, if we are to have a functioning democracy,) it needs to shed the extremists and focus on mainstream politics. An inclusion of anti-abortion advocates in the party's leadership would be a nice place to start (they appear to be on the road to doing this; Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid is a hardcore Democratic, but he is also pro-life.) Another nice place to start would be to quit giving lip service to supporting the troops while providing tacit support to organizations that view them as baby killers and warmongers.

One last absurdity from Moore: "And I think we need to turn to Hollywood, because who wouldn't vote for Tom Hanks (news) or Paul Newman or Robert Redford or Oprah?"

Democrats, please, for the sake of this nation, GET RID OF THIS MAN!!!! America doesn't vote for celebrities BECAUSE they are celebrities. (Sorry for the unnatural paragraph jump...I had irreconcilable difference with Blogger. In other words, I want to smash my laptop into tiny pieces, like usual. Carry on.)

We vote for them because they have GOOD POLICIES. The folly of putting candidates up for election simply because they are popular will only lead a party down the road of further irrelevancy. This appears to just be another example of cultural and intellectual elitism from Moore. 'Who wouldn't vote for a celebrity because they are a celebrity? After all, we know most of America doesn't follow the issues, because they never vote the 'right' (left) way, so maybe if we run a popular celebrity, they'll vote for them instead.'

In other news, I got Glenn Miller's Greatest Hits, Miles Davis' Greatest Hits, AND How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb ALL for Christmas! Glenn Miller is a musical genius and great bandleader. He made and typified the Big Band sound. 'In the Mood' and 'Moonlight Serenade' never get old, although it is hard to imagine that 'In the Mood' spent numerous weeks at #1 on the Billboard charts, while 'Moonlight Serenade' topped out at #3. Regardless, I'm starting a movement right now to get at least one of these two songs played at Prom in the spring. Miles Davis, besides being the epitome of cool, is one of the greatest trumpet players of all time. His music features intricate harmony, always revolutionary soloing, and a warm, rich trumpet sound. Besides, the man worked and played with both John Coltrane AND Herbie Hancock. Enough said. U-2's new one is one of their best, I think. I never got their release before this, but I heard it wasn't that great; it didn't live up to their olden days. This one does. From the driving rock of 'Vertigo' to the power ballad sound of 'All Because of you' to the quiet reflectivness of 'City of Blinding Lights,' this cd showcases all of U-2's strengths: Bono's powerful singing, with its wide range of emotion and dynamics, always interesting and thought-provoking guitar riffs, and driving percussion. A great cd, and I fully recommend you go out and buy one.

Okay, that music section got a lot longer than I anticipated, but I just had to share my new music with you. A few final thoughts: courtesy of 2slick, get over to the Banty Rooster and check out this moving story regarding the SecDef's visit to Mosul. Also check out this post at this Milblog, again brought to you courtesy of 2slick. Something to consider the next time your hear the MSM moaning and groaning about the 'lack of support' we have among the Iraqi people.

Alright, normally I would have wrapped this up a looong time ago, but here's one last laugh, via Smink from In Iraq for 365, which is another Milblog you should check out. The post is his long, hilarious way of dealing with a persistent troll. Unfortunately, I've had the experience of dealing with a similarly uneducated troll with a lack of intelligence on a message board I frequent. I only wish I had Smink's eloquence in dealing with the problem.

Odds and Ends

I'm currently finishing up Natan Sharansky's "The Case for Democracy." Wow....just...wow. An incredible book written by an incredible man. I'll write an extended essay on it tomorrow or Friday.

In the meantime, here's a rather funny video of an Air Force crew chief 'directing' a plane out of the hangar, brought to you via the Paratrooper formerly reminiscient of Genghis Khan, Blackfive

Edit: quick correction - the original source for the video was at this blog.

Trackbacks

I've added haloscan trackbacks and comments. On the plus side, I now have trackbacks...even though that doesn't really matter. At least not for a while. On the downside, I've decided to keep the comments in a pop-up window, so make sure to disable your pop-up blockers when clicking to add a comment.

Haloscan commenting and trackback have been added to this blog.

My Apologies

My apologies on the lack of updates to the site. I've been quite busy finalizing my AFROTC application and getting my Eagle Board of Review set up, to say nothing of getting school done with and studying for finals. In any case, finals are done tomorrow, the Eagle board is tomorrow evening, and my ROTC interview is Thursday morning, so I should be blogging up a storm possibly on Thursday and/or Friday, and definitely after Christmas. I have a few topics in mind to write an essay over, but I'll take suggestions. Also, a question: for the few of you who read this (I know Adam does, and Andy, Kurt, and Jason will hopefully come back when I update more regularly), would you prefer a blog in the style of the Belmont Club (http://belmontclub.blogspot.com/) with one or two essays every few days, or a blog more in the style of the Instapundit (http://instapundit.com/) or The Corner (http://www.nationalreview.com/thecorner/corner.asp) where I provide regular tidbits about stories and links to other blogs? Your pick. If people will regularly check this throughout the day, I'll try to provide links to other stories/blogs. If not, I'll probably focus on writing essays. Anyway, feel free to leave a comment regarding your prefence.

I leave you with this story out of Japan, courtesy of The Corner. Let's just say it involves a pillow designed to mimic a woman's lap.....andI thought I had seen it all with hentai.

A Day Which Will Live in Infamy

Today (Yesterday by the time anyone reads this...assuming people do read this) is December 7th.

For those of you interested in some history on the day, a very interesting and informative site can be found here. Click on the "Attack Map" in the upper right side of the page.

Never forget.

"Prisoner Abuse"...AGAIN

"Prisoner Abuse"...AGAIN

Yet another story has broken about how the evil military interrogators at Guantanamo Bay have been humiliating detainees and causing 'extreme psychological trauma.' Before we get into the guts of the story, a few things to remember: Contrary to what the MSM tells you, the detainees are not covered under the Geneva Convention. al-Qaida never was a signatory to the Convention, and even if they were, its 'soldiers' are engaging in unlawful combat under the Convention. We are simply using the Convention as a 'guideline' because we are nice and civilized people.

"In the letter obtained by The Associated Press, the FBI official suggested the Pentagon (news - web sites) didn't act on FBI complaints about the incidents, including a female interrogator grabbing a detainee's genitals and bending back his thumbs, another where a prisoner was gagged with duct tape and a third where a dog was used to intimidate a detainee who later was thrown into isolation and showed signs of "extreme psychological trauma.""

A few thoughts about this. First of all, the information that the FBI official is speaking of in the letter was obtained by a FBI interrogation team at Gitmo. One would think that the FBI, of all people, would understand the need for timely and truthful intelligence. Apparently not. Secondly, look at the start of the quotation: "In a letter obtained by the Associated Press". What this says to me is that some FBI official got his panties in a wad over some supposed or real slight by the DoD and decided to leak this document to get back at them. It sounds childish, but you'd be surprised at how things work in Washington.

As for the contents of this letter, make no mistake about it, this 'scandal' is no Abu Ghraib. The interrogators "whispered in the ear of a handcuffed and shackled detainee, caressed him and applied lotion to his arms. This occurred during Ramadan, Islam's holy month when contact with females is considered particularly offensive to a Muslim man."

Sounds awful, doesn't it?

As for the physical abuse, here's the extent of that: " "The Marine said (the interrogator) had grabbed the detainee's thumbs and bent them backward and indicated that she also grabbed his genitals. The Marine also implied that her treatment of that detainee was less harsh than her treatment of others by indicating that he had seen her treatment of other detainees result in detainees curling into a fetal position on the floor and crying in pain"

Do you want good, timely intelligence or not? Sometimes you have to get a little rough with a prisoner in order to convince them you mean business.

I'm sure this will be blown out of proportion by the MSM, and comparisons will be made to Abu Ghraib and how Bush and Rumsfeld are starting a series of concentration camps. In any case, there was one part of the letter that made me chuckle a bit: "About a month later, agents saw the same detainee "after he had been subjected to intense isolation for over three months ... totally isolated in a cell that was always flooded with light. By late November, the detainee was evidencing behavior consistent with extreme psychological trauma ... talking to nonexistent people, reported hearing voices (and) crouching in a corner of the cell covered with a sheet," the letter said."

The idea of a hardened al-Q operative "talking to nonexistent people, hearing voices, and crouching in a corner of a cell covered with a sheet" is enough to make me laugh.

Liberal lawbreaking

Yet another example of a liberal deciding not to follow the law. The left-wing chairwoman of the supposed non-partisan U.S. Commission on Civil Rights has refused to step down, despite a document, signed by President Clinton, that clearly states her term ends December 5, 2004.

More here.

Tillman's death

There was a story from the Post today about how Pat Tillman really died. The reality is far from what the Army initially released. Instead of dying 'heroically' racing to the rescue of the other Humvee convoy, Tillman was shot down by his own comrades after a charlie-foxtrot resulting from a bad decision to split the column made by the remote Company commander. In any case, this takes away nothing from the life of this American hero. However, it does seem to raise questions about his Silver Star, which will no doubt be twisted by the MSM to mean that the Army lies about everything . First off, the army's 'hiding' was simply standard policy: "Army spokesmen said last week that they followed standard policy in delaying and limiting disclosure of fratricide evidence. "All the services do not prematurely disclose any investigation findings until the investigation is complete," said Lt. Col. Hans Bush, chief of public affairs for the Army Special Operations Command at Fort Bragg." Secondly, what you may not realize is that this has happened in every war. Take the case of Colin Kelly, for example. He was a B-17 pilot who was awarded the Medal of Honor posthumously for 'sinking' the Japanese battleship Haruna. In reality, he simply was shot down in flames after dropping his bombs on the battleship, leaving it undamaged. This takes nothing away from his heroism, but this sequence of events was repeated countless times in WWII, especialy in the early years of the war, and was rarely rewarded with a medal, much less a CMH. The reason he was awarded this medal was to boost morale and to provide America with a real hero, rather than a simple pilot doing his duty, sacrificing himself for his country. To those with knowledge of the military, the second reality would be enough. But for most of the country, a morale boost needs to be special, hence the first 'reality.' I believe the Army did something similar to this in the Pat Tillman story. In my eyes, they were justified for doing so.

New blog

Here's my new blog; we'll see if this one lasts longer than the last.