Woody's Things

Ramblings and Opinons of an old man!

Simple site to log thoughts on current events and activity. Please feel free to give your comments.

and The Democratic Nominee Is

Sen. Hillary Clinton: Rep. John Murtha's Iraq Exit Plan a 'Mistake'
Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton said Monday that an immediate U.S. withdrawal from Iraq would be 'a big mistake.'
The New York Democrat said she respects Rep. Jack Murtha, D-Pa., the Vietnam veteran and hawkish ex-Marine who last week called for an immediate troop pullout. But she added: 'I think that would cause more problems for us in America.'
'It will matter to us if Iraq totally collapses into civil war, if it becomes a failed state the way Afghanistan was, where terrorists are free to basically set up camp and launch attacks against us,' she said.
The loony left has got to be "up in arms" -- what are they to do?

Hmm -- John Kerry on Iraq

From Kerry's Website
On March 20, 2003, Senator John Kerry issued the following statement in response to the commencement of military strikes in Iraq:
"It appears that with the deadline for exile come and gone, Saddam Hussein has chosen to make military force the ultimate weapons inspections enforcement mechanism. If so, the only exit strategy is victory, this is our common mission and the world's cause. We're in this together. We want to complete the mission while safeguarding our troops, avoiding innocent civilian casualties, disarming Saddam Hussein and engaging the community of nations to rebuild Iraq."

Malkin Responds

I second it -- Cowards leave her family out of it!
Michelle Malkin: JUST A YELLOW WOMAN DOING A WHITE MAN'S JOB
If you have a problem with my work and what I stand for, go ahead and take me on. Keep calling me whatever four-letter-word makes you feel better when you can't win your arguments. But leave my family alone.
On a personal note, being married to an Asian woman and from the deep south, those I know from the left are the most curious about the differences in our races, cultures, and how it affects our relationship. My deep south "red state" relatives welcomed her with open arms -- heck most of the time I think my parents love her most:-) The hateful comments about conservatives like Michelle Malkin, Justice Thomas, Condoleezza Rice, to name a few -- demonstrate who is intolerant, filled with hate, and down right racist.

and The VP Sounds Off!

Just as the President had something the say about Democrats revising history -- the Vice President spoke up Wednesday. I have to admit I like his wording better and I am not sure many had a "backbone" to loose.
Link to speech: Vice President's Remarks at the Frontiers of Freedom Institute 2005 Ronald Reagan Gala
Some of the most irresponsible comments have, of course, come from politicians who actually voted in favor of authorizing the use of force against Saddam Hussein. These are elected officials who had access to the intelligence, and were free to draw their own conclusions. They arrived at the same judgment about Iraq?s capabilities and intentions that -- made by this Administration and by the previous administration. There was broad-based, bipartisan agreement that Saddam Hussein was a threat, that he had violated U.N. Security Council Resolutions, and that, in a post-9/11 world, we could not afford to take the word of a dictator who had a history of weapons of mass destruction programs, who had excluded weapons inspectors, who had defied the demands of the international community, whose nation had been designated an official state sponsor of terror, and who had committed mass murder. Those are the facts. (Applause.)
What we?re hearing now is some politicians contradicting their own statements and making a play for political advantage in the middle of a war. The saddest part is that our people in uniform have been subjected to these cynical and pernicious falsehoods day in and day out. American soldiers and Marines are out there every day in dangerous conditions and desert temperatures ?- conducting raids, training Iraqi forces, countering attacks, seizing weapons, and capturing killers ?- and back home a few opportunists are suggesting they were sent into battle for a lie.
The President and I cannot prevent certain politicians from losing their memory, or their backbone -? but we?re not going to sit by and let them rewrite history. (Applause.)

Notable

Not good news for the Hillary camp -- if the 2008 election was held today it would be Giuliani over Clinton. I personally have not decided where I stand on the topic of Giuliani but I definitely don't want McCain. Some excerpts:
Newswise - If the 2008 presidential election were held today, Republican Rudy Giuliani would beat Democrat Hillary Rodham Clinton according to a nationwide poll conducted by Canisius College. Of the 455 respondents who volunteered an answer regarding the 2008 match-up, Giuliani received 54 percent of the vote to Clinton's 38 percent.

I have made my view about polls known, don't trust them, but it is interesting -- in addition to being bad news for Clinton it ain't good for President Bush (if you trust polls).

"Stay in The Fight"

Pay particular attention to the quote from Major-General William Webster -- now I am sure the left will treat this General like an idiot, he disagrees with them after all.
Bush vows to "stay in the fight"
OSAN, South Korea (Reuters) - U.S. President George W. Bush vowed on Saturday 'we will stay in the fight' until victory in Iraq, rejected critics' calls for a troop pullout timetable and insisted progress is being made in Baghdad.
[...]
Bush quoted a top U.S. commander in Iraq, Major-General William Webster, as saying that setting a deadline for withdrawal would be "a recipe for disaster," and said that as long as he was president, "our strategy in Iraq will be driven by the sober judgment of our military commanders on the ground.

The following is a major point that for some reason escapes the left.
"We will fight the terrorists in Iraq, we will stay in the fight until we have achieved the victory that our brave troops have fought for," he [President Bush] said.

House rejects Iraq pullout - Yahoo! News

An interesting tactic by the Republicans -- attempting to get the Democrats to "put up or shut-up".
House rejects Iraq pullout - Yahoo! News

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - In a maneuver to strike at Iraq war critics, the Republican-led House of Representatives engineered a vote on Friday on a resolution to pull U.S. troops immediately from Iraq, which was defeated nearly unanimously.
[...]
Democrats said no one advocated an immediate pull-out without ensuring the safety of troops, and that it was a meaningless resolution that ducked serious debate on the situation in Iraq. It was defeated 403-3.

Guess Allah Wants his Worshipers Killed

Well that is how it appears since the "solders of Allah" have no problem blowing up their houses of worship -- or is it they only care that you toe "their" line, no matter your nationality... Yep, I don't see a problem with this logic whatsoever, we should withdraw - NOT! Anyone willing to kill their own out of hatred certainly will have no problem hitting us again and again on our own soil.
Attacks on Iraq Mosques, Hotel Kill 82 - Yahoo! News
BAGHDAD, Iraq - Suicide bombers struck in eastern Iraq and the capital on Friday, killing at least 74 Shiite worshippers...

Where the WMDs Went

This article is interesting and a must read.
FrontPage magazine.com :: Where the WMDs Went by Jamie Glazov
Frontpage Interview's guest today is Bill Tierney, a former military intelligence officer and Arabic speaker who worked at Guantanamo Bay in 2002 and as a counter-infiltration operator in Baghdad in 2004. He was also an inspector (1996-1998) for the United Nations Special Commission (UNSCOM) for overseeing the elimination of weapons of mass destruction and ballistic missiles in Iraq. He worked on the most intrusive inspections during this period and either participated in or planned inspections that led to four of the seventeen resolutions against Iraq.

Not Weakness - In Your Face Honesty

The President's speech Friday was not one of weakness -- responding to the left is exactly what I wanted, no what I expected, and in so doing does not demonstrate weakness -- no matter how much as the MSM wants you it does.

The left and MSM would have you believe that speaking the truth is weakness while lying and providing the ENEMY with propaganda is strength -- and to think they call those of us that live in 'red states' dumb.

Here is a link to the President's speech: President Commemorates Veterans Day, Discusses War on Terror -- with excerpts:
And our debate at home must also be fair-minded. One of the hallmarks of a free society and what makes our country strong is that our political leaders can discuss their differences openly, even in times of war. When I made the decision to remove Saddam Hussein from power, Congress approved it with strong bipartisan support. I also recognize that some of our fellow citizens and elected officials didn't support the liberation of Iraq. And that is their right, and I respect it. As President and Commander-in-Chief, I accept the responsibilities, and the criticisms, and the consequences that come with such a solemn decision.

While it's perfectly legitimate to criticize my decision or the conduct of the war, it is deeply irresponsible to rewrite the history of how that war began. (Applause.) Some Democrats and anti-war critics are now claiming we manipulated the intelligence and misled the American people about why we went to war. These critics are fully aware that a bipartisan Senate investigation found no evidence of political pressure to change the intelligence community's judgments related to Iraq's weapons programs.

They also know that intelligence agencies from around the world agreed with our assessment of Saddam Hussein. They know the United Nations passed more than a dozen resolutions citing his development and possession of weapons of mass destruction. And many of these critics supported my opponent during the last election, who explained his position to support the resolution in the Congress this way: "When I vote to give the President of the United States the authority to use force, if necessary, to disarm Saddam Hussein, it is because I believe that a deadly arsenal of weapons of mass destruction in his hands is a threat, and a grave threat, to our security." That's why more than a hundred Democrats in the House and the Senate -- who had access to the same intelligence -- voted to support removing Saddam Hussein from power. (Applause.)

The stakes in the global war on terror are too high, and the national interest is too important, for politicians to throw out false charges. (Applause.) These baseless attacks send the wrong signal to our troops and to an enemy that is questioning America's will. As our troops fight a ruthless enemy determined to destroy our way of life, they deserve to know that their elected leaders who voted to send them to war continue to stand behind them. (Applause.) Our troops deserve to know that this support will remain firm when the going gets tough. (Applause.) And our troops deserve to know that whatever our differences in Washington, our will is strong, our nation is united, and we will settle for nothing less than victory. (Applause.)

Hmm -- Recruiting Up

Even with the media and other "anti-war" group's attempts to hurt if not destroy military recruitment, the military hits October recruiting targets. Speaks volumes towards actual support of the war and lack of media influence!
WASHINGTON (AP) - The Army, which missed its recruiting goal for 2005 by a wide margin, got off to a strong start in the new budget year by exceeding its October targets for the active-duty Army as well as the National Guard and Reserve.
The other military services also met their goals for active-duty enlistments in October, the first month of the budget year. The Air National Guard got barely half the recruits it wanted and the Navy Reserve met 89% of its goal.

Sour Grapes

I guess Dan would rather we trust forged document then the "new media" or better defined -- Americans using their right to challenge the MSM (Mainstream Media)... Yep, it makes sense to me, Dan has proven to be trustworthy -- hasn't he?
Dan Rather: Beware of 'New Media'
Rather called for a return to what he termed 'independent journalism', warning his listeners to cast a wary eye of the plethora of 'new media' outlets that he said feign objectivity while working to advance their own - or another's - agenda, according to the Bangor Daily News.

Parents Don't Have the Right to...

Can you believe this? Basically the court, out of San Francisco -- of course, said that parents don't have the right to choose how or what their children are taught about sex! What's next? Yep, I guess the courts are working just fine -- NOT!
U.S. court allows survey of children on sex topics
SAN FRANCISCO, Nov 2 (Reuters) - Parents have no constitutional right to prevent public schools from exposing children to sexual topics, a U.S. appeals court ruled on Wednesday.
The San Francisco-based 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed a lower court's decision that found the rights of parents were not violated by a California public school district that allowed a psychological survey of its elementary school children.

Not as Diligent -- But is There a Need

To the regulars I have to apologize yet again... I have not been as diligent in keeping current with either tech news or general news... However, as far as the general news goes, has anything changed?

Still they use the "Bush lied" or "Republicans lied" argument -- totally disregarding the fact Democratic leaders "trumpeted" the same claims after seeing the same intelligence. Heck, before Bush was even in the running for President, President Clinton and her husband were making even bolder claims -- yet the coPresidents never thought about "defending us" from what they said was a threat.

The issue I think is the need for "children of the sixties" to have their last gasp and the media's attempt to regain "Watergate" fame... The problem with now and Watergate is that Nixon had actually done unethical and illegal things making his own party come out against him something the Democrats would never do with their "win at all cost" attitude -- we witnessed this in their rigid defense of their demigod Clinton.

Well anyway I DO plan to begin posting regularly or semi-regularly at a minimum.

Learn More by What they Leave Out!

Michelle Malkin receives information from Corporal Starr's uncle -- and we find what the New York Times left out in their musings. Corporal Starr, who paid the ultimate sacrifice in Iraq, wrote the below and the New York Times does not want to you to know it-
"I don't regret going, everybody dies but few get to do it for something as important as freedom. It may seem confusing why we are in Iraq, it's not to me. I'm here helping these people, so that they can live the way we live. Not have to worry about tyrants or vicious dictators. To do what they want with their lives. To me that is why I died. Others have died for my freedom, now this is my mark."