Area417

John Kerry, October Surprise?

John Kerry, ever the elitist prick, degrades our troops in front of an audience of university students:

You know, education, if you make the most of it, you study hard, you do your homework and you make an effort to be smart, you can do well. If you don't, you get stuck in Iraq," he said, eliciting chuckles from the students.

Kerry makes no apologies for what he said, declaring that “I apologize to no one for my criticism of the president and of his broken policy.”

Really? Telling students to "make an effort to be smart" is criticizing  President Bush? He goes on to offer a new translation:

...those who didn't study it properly, those who made the decisions, they got us into Iraq, very simple. And the fact is they know that. The administration knows that. And they're simply trying to distort this. They're trying to play a game, and again, I'm not going to stand for it. This is the kind of thing that makes Americans sick. People know. (Link: The New York Times)

So is Kerry admitting that he would've been a worse president, since his grades were worse (slightly)  than Bush's?

Message for John Kerry: my son's I.Q. is at least 30 points higher than yours--hell, mine's higher than yours. Having served in Iraq, he is now finishing college. I couldn't be prouder of him.

I think Kerry just managed to kick fence sitters and the Republican base into hyper-drive. 

Update: Troops respond to Kerry

I Vote NO On The Missouri "Stem Cell" Amendment

After doing some reading and listening on the subject, I'll be voting NO on Amendment 2 (the Stem Cell Initiative) for the following reasons:

• It involves the destruction of a human embryo. You can disagree with me all you want about when life begins. We'll have to agree to disagree.
• We have no business amending Missouri's constitution for the purpose of funding research. Even the News-Leader calls it economic blackmail. (I find it strange that some of the very same people who scream about corporate welfare have no problem with this.)
• To date adult stem cells have shown more promise, though Harvard University did find that embryonic stem cells can help repair heart tissue.

There are some, such as Hands Off Our Ovaries,  that are worried about the exploitation of women:

Biotechnological research and development often affects women more directly than men. In the case of human embryonic cloning, women’s health and safety have already been affected—adversely. Sadly, there have been too many instances of coercion and deception, and violations of informed consent. Left uncontrolled, research demands will place undue burdens on young, poor women. Read the Entire Manifesto

For more on this issue, check out the following links: The Truth About Stem Cells, A Bad Amendment,The Coalition of Americans for Research Ethics, Adult stem cells affect a cure, Natl. Institutes of Health: Stem Cell Information. Missouri blogger Ask The Pastor has compiled lots more useful links.
 

Missouri Senate Race

Perusing the National Political Awareness Test, I find it disturbing that there is NO area where Jim Talent would reduce spending--NOT ONE!

Equally disturbing is the fact that Claire McCaskill refused to provide voters with any answers at all. Libertarian candidate Frank Gilmore  couldn't be bothered either.

Though I couldn't possibly vote for her, Progressive candidate Lydia Lewis stepped up to let Missouri voters know where she stands.

My "choices" depress me.

FactCheck.org Finds Talent Ads Deceptive

*FactCheck examined several ads that Senator Jim Talent is running against Claire McCaskill:

In four separate TV spots Republican Sen. Jim Talent of Missouri falsely attributes several unflattering quotes about his opponent to the Kansas City Star. Our examination reveals that the quotes actually come from rival Claire McCaskill's political opponents and critics, not from the Star's reporters or editors.

In another case, where a Talent ad uses a phrase that actually did come from a
newspaper, it is out of context and misleading. The negative remark was
in a St. Louis Post-Dispatch editorial that was endorsing McCaskill for election.

You can find their analysis here.

*FactCheck.org bills itself as "a nonpartisan, nonprofit, consumer advocate for voters that aims to reduce the level of deception and confusion in U. S. politics."

My Hero, Judge Daniel Kellogg

Twenty-six-year-old Mandy Nelson was shocked, SHOCKED, when Judge Daniel Kellogg enumerated the conditions of her probation: community service, restitution, getting her high school diploma (or the equivalent GED) and the instruction to have no more children out of wedlock while on probation.

Nelson said that "he made it seem like I was just having kids, kids, kids." Nelson's mother is of the opinion that "Mandy has always taken care of her kids. It made her look like a welfare bum." (Nelson has three kids and apparently no father(s) in sight.)

Welfare bum, skank--you decide. You see, the reason Nelson was in court is because she provides for the kiddies by FORGING CHECKS.

Aside from her enabling mother, Nelson had another bed-wetter in her corner:

The judge's order angered Constance Monroe, who founded Women of Vision Ministries Inc. of St. Joseph. It's a non-profit organization that assists women who are either coming out of the correctional system or who are dealing with drug addiction or teen pregnancy.

"We're in what century?" asked Monroe. "That, to me, is a moral statement, not a judicial statement."

Would that we had more judges like Judge Kellogg.

Link: St. Louis Today MO judge tells woman: no more pregnancies

Border Agents Get 10 Years For Shooting Drug Dealer

Border agents Ramos and Compean said they shot the fleeing Aldrete (an admitted drug dealer) as he fled back across the border. Aldrete was shot in the butt.

The agents say the shot in self-defense, but Aldrete claims that he was unarmed (seeing as how he was a drug dealer and illegal, who could possibly doubt his word? Drug dealers are never armed, right?)

Apparently Judge Kathleen Cardone bought the story and sentenced Ramos to 11 years and a day. Compean got 12 years.

Since their convictions, support for the agents has swelled. Several prominent lawmakers have even called for a congressional investigation into the prosecutions.

The union representing most rank-and-file Border Patrol agents established a legal defense fund. And civilian border watch groups have asked the U.S. Attorney General's office to review the case and throw out the jury's guilty verdicts.

Link: Former Border Patrol agents get prison in shooting.

Quick Take On Oct. 16th McCaskill/Talent Debate

Quick observations:

• Most times (way) off topic  goes to Talent.
• Dumbest line goes to McCaskill for saying something to the effect that "some people wonder why gas prices have gone down right before the elections." (I'll have to check for a direct quote once the debate is posted). Must be the same people that wondered about those black people on the roofs.
• Saw some very interesting body language from McCaskill. Once again, will have to watch a rerun when posted before I elaborate.
• Mostly more of the same blah, blah, blah. Would've been so much more interesting if the Libertarian and Progressive candidates had been included.

Finally, did anyone see an irate chicken hanging around KY3?

Allegations Of Illegal Campaigning On Behalf Of McCaskill

From KMOV (St. Louis):

The Missouri Republican Party has asked federal election regulators to investigate whether a group that registers voters illegally campaigned for Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Claire McCaskill.

The allegations stem from a video (seen here) produced by the St. Louis political blog, Pub Def, which shows ACORN workers complaining that they hadn't been paid for the work they performed. Some workers said that they had been instructed to tell people to vote for Claire McCaskill.

ACORN was working in tandem with Give Missourians A Raise to register voters and drum up support for an increase in the minimum wage.

Gateway Pundit  notes that ACORN "is now in trouble for turning in 1,492 fraudulent voter cards of dead people and teens." And that's just so far, as all the registration cards hadn't been processed at that point.

This isn't the first time that ACORN has been involved in fraudulent voter registrations--Macsmind has more. 

 

David Zucker Ad

If you haven't seen the political ad the GOP is too chicken to air, check it out!

Straight-Ticket Voting

Horror! Missouri voters will no longer be able to mindlessly vote by checking off the option to vote a straight-party ticket.

Voters will now have the almost unbearable burden of going down through each race to choose their candidate.

Predictably, Democrats like Secretary of State Robin Carnahan are whining:

Secretary of State Robin Carnahan called it an inconvenience to voters that could mean longer lines at the polls. The Republican-led legislature added that to the bill to punish Senate Democrats who tried to block the ID requirement from coming to a vote this spring. (see article Straight-ticket voting eliminated in new election)

As bad as the Republicans have been, I don't know if I can endure having whiney-ass Democrats take over.