Kitty Litter

 
'Tractor-trailer overturns; no serious injuries reported
Painted Post -- A tractor-trailer carrying a load of PVC piping toppled over Friday evening on Interstate Highway 86, tying up traffic in both directions through early today.
According to New York state police at the scene, a rig driven by Earl D. Bogan, 44, of Columbus, Ohio, was loaded with large bundles of white PVC pipes, each about 15 feet long. The load was unsafely secured, according to police.
As Bogan rounded a curve on I-86 west, between the Riverside and Gang Mills exits, the cargo shifted, and the rig lost control and toppled over. During the crash, piping spilled into both the eastbound and westbound lanes along a quarter-mile stretch of the highway.
Three vehicles were struck by flying debris, but no one was injured.’

Besides being my home (and a tourist mecca for yuppie scum & their evil spawn), the greater metropolitan area of Corning/Painted Post, in bucolic Upstate NY, is also home to one of the most liberal Republicans in Congress who also is one of the richest, Rep. Amo Houghton (R).

Amo was CEO of Corning Inc. before it incorporated, when it was still known as Corning Glass Works. Amo is a nice enough gentleman, but he has been a thorn in the conservatives’ sides for most of his 18 years in Congress. Over the years there have been attempts to vote him out of office, but incumbents enjoy something akin to tenure. He has been far too cozy with the Clintons. In fact, Amo was one of four Republicans who voted against Clinton’s impeachment, and Hillary has visited our little area numerous times, all of which kinda makes one go hmmmmm?

Amo has decided to retire … thank you JEEEEEE-zus! … and that left-wing publication, The Nation, was not pleased. After all:
‘When George W. Bush asked Congress for the authority to attack Iraq, New York Congressman Amo Houghton voted no. He voted against several of Bush's tax cut schemes, too, and against the Administration's proposal to drill for oil in the Alaska National Wildlife Refuge. Houghton has long argued that the United States must make a greater commitment to work with the United Nations and has been an enthusiastic supporter of the International Criminal Court and other multilateral initiatives. He supports abortion rights, gay rights, consumer protections and expansion of federal funding for the arts.’

All the more reason to rejoice. Seriously, as much as I cringe that a Democrat might replace him, what would be the difference? With Republicans like that, who needs Dems?

Don’t forget Pat’s Kerry Haters for all the latest on The Façade.

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AND NOW FOR SOMETHING PLEASANT

Rush interviewed Karen Hughes yesterday. Transcript is available here.
Karen: ‘I'm asked all the time why it is that liberal Democrats so dislike the president, and the only thing I can think of is because he's effective. …
Notice the big question that was missing from the president's press conference the other night, no one asked about the economy, surprise surprise. That's because there's such good news. The president's policies are working. We've seen, you know, the retail spending up, jobs up, 308,000 last month alone, factory jobs on the rise, new housing starts at record high levels, interest rates and inflation remaining low. And so the economic news is very good despite the recession that President Bush inherited and despite the attacks of September 11th.’

Spirit of America
Here's a way you can help the cause in Iraq.
Over the past year, a successful technology entrepreneur named Jim Hake has been working with the Marine Corps to help their reconstruction projects in Iraq. The Marines identify local equipment needs, and Mr. Hake's organization, Spirit of America, after raising the money, acquires the stuff, typically for schools and medical clinics. It flies directly out of Camp Pendleton in California. Jim Hake and the Marines are a coalition of the can-do, bypassing the slow U.S. procurement bureaucracy. More on that effort in a moment. Here's where you come in:
The First Marine Expeditionary Force and U.S. Army in Iraq want to equip and upgrade seven defunct Iraqi-owned TV stations in Al Anbar province--west of Baghdad--so that average Iraqis have better televised information than the propaganda they get from the notorious Al-Jazeera. If Jim Hake can raise $100,000, his Spirit of America will buy the equipment in the U.S., ship it to the Marines in Iraq and get Iraqi-run TV on the air before the June 30 handover. …
Want a piece of the action? Spirit of America's project with the First Marine Division, and how to donate, is at www.spiritofamerica.net, or directly at www.spiritofamerica.net/req_12/request.html or 800-691-2209. It's brand extension of the Marines' now-famous saying: "No better friend, no worse enemy."

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A FACE MADE FOR RADIO

Dead Air Space: ‘US liberal radio flames out in LA, Chicago over billing dispute.
"To shut off a broadcast that listeners rely on without warning and in the middle of discussions is the height of irresponsibility and a slap in the face of the media industry."' How many listeners could they have had in two weeks’ time?


BYE-BYE L.A.?

Quake to hit LA 'by Sept 5': Might as well forget about restoring Air America Radio in L.A.
‘A US geophysicist has set the scientific world ablaze by claiming to have cracked a holy grail: accurate earthquake prediction, and warning that a big one will hit southern California by September 5. …
And he has made a chilling prediction that a quake measuring at least 6.4 magnitude on the Richter scale will hit a 19,300-square-kilometre area of southern California by September 5.’

9/11 INQUISITION UPDATE

Deeper CIA Link By 9/11 Panelist: Clinton may have only met with Tenet only a couple of times (face-time with Monica), but Gorelick kept in touch.
‘Records obtained by The Post show that Gorelick, while serving in a top job at the Justice Department, met every two weeks with George Tenet, then the No. 2 official at the CIA, and headed then-Attorney General Janet Reno's national-security team.’

Kean Interest: ‘It isn't just Gorelick who is now in hot water. Based on their remarks on Wednesday and Thursday, both Kean and fellow commissioner, former Sen. Slade Gorton are taking heat from 9/11 families for telling critics during TV interviews to stay "out of our business."’

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ROPE-A-DOPE

R. Emmett Tyrrell wrote an interesting analysis for The American Spectator yesterday entitled Keeping to Himself.
‘There has from the beginning been a troubling ebb and flow to the administration of George W. Bush. Periods of energy and policy dominance come and then they evanesce. For a while all is quiet. We saw this ebb and flow in the administration's progress towards tax reduction. We see it now in the execution of the war on terror. Over the last few weeks there has been ebb, encouraging the president's domestic critics to go into full howl.’

TAS’s readers have a different interpretation of Bush:
The pressure this guy is under must be immense. We should all thank God he actually keeps regular hours for family time, otherwise he like most other people would not be able to take the unfolding strain .
-- Joe Cambria
I have another analogy for the President's seemingly cyclic engagement in the week to week political dog fight. And if you look at his track history one could conclude he uses the Rope-a-dope strategy. I think the President is a keen observer of the opposition's offense and after he reads their playbook he formulates his strategy.
--unsigned
I, also think he knows what is happening in these quiet times, he avoids the turmoil because it is unlikely he can change any of the ranting and raving of the media. He is aware of the things that are happening, but knows that Mr. Ashcroft has a memo that is going to blow the boats out of the water.
-- Carole Graham


If you scroll down through the readers’ letters you’ll notice a letter from moi under the heading CLEAN LITTER. This told me that TAS has noticed Kitty Litter! I immediately told DogMan. Without skipping a beat, nor a syllable of his crossword puzzle, he replied, “They probably had to go.” The glory of it all.

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THIS IS HIS LEGACY

Just a reminder of why Osama bin Laden is still on the loose. Sudan offered OBL’s head on a platter to Clinton, but Clinton’s heads … both of ‘em … were preoccupied.

Bin Laden Arrest Offer Spurned as Clinton Met Lewinsky: ‘At least two offers from the government of Sudan to arrest Osama bin Laden and turn him over to the U.S. were rebuffed by the Clinton administration in February and March of 1996, a period of time when the former president's attention was distracted by his intensifying relationship with White House intern Monica Lewinsky.
One of the offers took place during a secret meeting in Washington, the same day Clinton was meeting with Lewinsky in the White House just miles away.’


Clinton Spent More Time with Lewinsky than Tenet: ‘I'll bet if you look at the records, they'll show that Bill Clinton spent more time with Monica Lewinsky than he did the CIA director.’

WE’RE SLIMED WITH HIS LEGACY

Gorelicks Her Wounds: ‘That memo, written by Gorelick when she was at DOJ, had not been requested by the 9/11 commission, because they didn't know about it.
"When we did our initial interviews with all of the commissioners, we asked if they had any knowledge, background information or potential insights into areas we might cover," says a commission staffer. "We asked Gorelick point blank about this kind of stuff and she said nothing about it. No one saw it coming. Even she seemed surprised. I don't know what she was thinking."’

Jamie's Gotta Go: ‘The 9/11 Commission can go along and play whatever games it may choose. But the serious people on it cannot hope for any credible result if Gorelick remains a member. She should be forced to resign, and called to testify under oath about both the 1995 Memo and the bad legal judgment that blocked the use of special ops against bin Laden. If the Commissioners are serious about finding what went wrong before 9/11, they should look to their left.’

For all things Kerry: Kerry Haters. Pat is constantly updating his blog with info and pictures.

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JOHN FAÇADE KERRY & CO.

John Kerry, WAR HERO?: “It” is beginning to hit the fan.
‘Kerry did leave Vietnam six months ahead of schedule - thanks to those Purple Hearts.
And he refuses to make public the detailed medical-treatment records relating to his wound - none of which, significantly, took him out of service for more than a day or two. …
Kerry has forged a war-hero persona of particular relevance as he seeks to become a war-time president - in the here and now. ...
While other young Americans are earning Purple Hearts of their own, in Iraq and elsewhere around the world.
So it is time for Kerry to come clean.
He needs to authorize the release of all relevant medical records for each of his three Purple Hearts.
If Kerry's medals were deserved, he has nothing to fear.
If not - well, it's time to find that out.’


The Dashing Couple: ‘"[Kerry and Hillary] get along great," says the Kerry source. "The problem is she just is so big in personality compared to him. You worry that he can't compete with that kind of star wattage."’


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MONEY MONEY MONEY MONEY, MONEEEEEEY

‘Some people got to have it
Some people really need it
Listen to me y'all, do things, do things, do bad things with it
You wanna do things, do things, do things, good things with it
Talk about cash money, money
Talk about cash money- dollar bills, yall
For the love of money’

Gittin' down with the O’Jays. Why not; it’s Tax Day, and here in New York State we have the privileged distinction of paying the highest percentage tax rate per capita in the nation. Combined tax bite for us is 12.9% with D.C. following a close second. The national average is 10.0%. Alaska is the “luckiest” paying 6.3%.

Winning Is Easy; NY Taxes Are The Challenge: ‘The latest reality-TV hit, Donald Trump's "The Apprentice," concludes tonight. The applicant who manages to avoid the now-famous "You're fired!" wins a job as an executive at one of Trump's businesses, with a $250,000 annual salary.
For New York, the NBC show represents the kind of publicity money can't buy. Its 20 million viewers include would-be Trumps who will resolve that they, too, can make it in the Big Apple. They'll bring energy and brains - exactly what we need to create economic activity and jobs.
That's always been the story of New York, city and state. The question now is, do we help those entrepreneurs thrive and create wealth here - or drive them away to more welcoming locations?’

One For You, Nineteen For Me: The writer, David Hogberg, wanted to learn just how much he pays in taxes. ‘To get a better idea just how much an individual pays in taxes, I conducted an experiment during 2003. I collected everything that listed a tax on it. This included my paycheck stubs, sales receipts, and phone, utility and cable bills. Keep in mind that I'm in my early thirties, earned just under $40,000 last year, am not married, and have no children. I rent an apartment, so I do not pay property taxes directly.’

You’re FIRED!: I’m talkin’ ‘bout Al Franken. Well, maybe not fired, just out of his Air America Radio job for now. They need money money money money moneeeeey, and I don’t see The Donald offering any. The story just gets curiouser and curiouser :)
‘All-liberal "Air America" was abruptly yanked off the air in Los Angeles and Chicago yesterday amid claims of "shakedowns" and downright thievery.'

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WHA-HAPPEN'D?


WHO'S THE BIG FAT IDIOT NOW!

Drudge Report:

After just two weeks on the air, Air America Radio, the fledgling liberal talk-radio network featuring Al Franken and Janeane Garofalo, appears to have encountered serious cash-flow problems.

The CHICAGO TRIBUNE is developing a story, insiders tell DRUDGE, on how the network was pulled off the air this morning in Chicago and Los Angeles, the network's second- and third-largest markets, because, the owner of both stations said, the network bounced a check and owes him more than $1 million! A charge the network strongly denies...

A Chicago source familiar with the situation said a Multicultural representative showed up at WNTD's offices Wednesday morning, kicked out Air America's lone staffer overseeing the network's feed to the station from New York, switched over to a Spanish-language feed, and changed the locks on the doors...

Air America filed a complaint Wednesday in New York state Supreme Court charging Multicultural with breaching their contract and seeking an injunction to force Multicultural to restore the Air America broadcast on both stations, the TRIBUNE has learned...

Developing...

 

 
I always like to point out like-minded, interesting sites. Try baldilocks: 'My name is Juliette Ochieng (it's my maiden name and it's Kenyan). I’m a happily divorced, happily childless American woman, who’s about to retire from the Air Force Reserve in October 2003.'

She posted Bush's best line from last night (which I had forgotten to post):
“Freedom isn’t our gift to the world. It’s the Almighty’s gift to the world."

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MORE MENDACITY



The 9/11 Widows: ‘Americans are beginning to tire of them.
Yesterday's session of the 9/11 Commission brought an appearance by Attorney General John Ashcroft--a reminder, among other things, of various intriguing questions posed by some of Ms. Breitweiser's analyses (delivered in her testimony before the 2002 congressional committee) of the ways the Sept. 11 attack might have been foiled. If the Federal Aviation Administration had properly alerted passengers to the dangers they faced, she asked, how many victims might have thought twice before boarding an aircraft? And "how many victims would have taken notice of these Middle Eastern men while they were boarding their plane? Could these men have been stopped?"

A good question. One can only imagine how a broadcast of the warning, "Watch out for Middle Eastern men in line near you, as you board your flight," would have gone down in those quarters of the culture daily worried to death about the alleged threat to civil rights posed by profiling and similar steps designed to weed out terrorists. Consider, a veteran political aide mordantly asks, what the response would have been if John Ashcroft had issued a statement calling for such a precaution, prior to Sept. 11.’


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MENDACITY

"You said it yourself, Big Daddy, mendacity is the system we live in."--Brick to Big Daddy in Tennessee Williams’ play, “Cat on a Hot Tin Roof.” The play was about truth; the characters were family members who lived their lives pirouetting around the truth, afraid of voicing the obvious. Kinda like the Dems these days. It’s sad in the play; it’s vile in politics.




Scandal of Dems: When President Bush talks about winning these days, he’s probably referring to the war on terror, not re-election. For the Dems, on the other hand, the November elections are everything.
‘Now there is no doubt that the Democratic attack dogs on the national 9/11 commission are embarked on a partisan mission: To defeat George W. Bush in November. They want this more than they want the United States to win the war on terror.
And John F. Kerry, the Democrat who presumes to the presidency, is just fine with all this.’

Gorelick Licked: Rush refers to “it” as rope-a-dope … be careful what you wish for. “It” being the uncanny way the Dems’ demands seem to eventually bite them in their collective butt. You’d think they learn after a while to NOT request anything of the Bush administration. You’d think they’d catch on to the routine of him stringing them along until they scream, then he “caves.” Except it doesn’t seem to really hurt him when the dust settles; it hurts them, instead. Such was the case yesterday.
‘Not only did [Attorney General John] Ashcroft add to the growing pressure on Gorelick to testify before the commission rather than serve on it, specifically about what she and the administration she served failed to do about terrorism. Above all, he discredited her in the eyes of her fellow commissioners. Clearly she had never informed them of this memorandum. Now they were caught by surprise and made to look foolish.’


Titanic Irresponsibility Pt. II: ‘For much of the American media, their role in turning public opinion against the Vietnam war was among their proudest achievements. For our enemies, Vietnam provided a formula for defeating Americans politically at home when they could not be defeated militarily on the battlefield. Iraqi terrorists are already saying that they will create another Vietnam.’

Kerry’s Affluent Wife: A very long and detailed expose of Teraaaaaaza’s vast wealth and how she uses it. Worth the time. Here’s its conclusion:
‘The United States has never had a wealthy spouse overshadow its president. But Teresa Heinz Kerry leads and funds philanthropic foundations, and she sits on the board of directors of highly political nonprofit groups that receive her foundations' support and that can advance or frustrate the policies of her husband, should he become President. That's an unprecedented form of political power. More public scrutiny of Heinz Kerry's public role is in order. While there is still time.’

The Façade has had pirouetting lessons:
"I was a good leader, a strong leader. I had strong awareness and perception of the things around me. I listened. I took things in. I was decisive."
-John Kerry remembering his four months in Vietnam (USA Today)


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JOHN FAÇADE KERRY JOKES:

BOSTON BOY
A boy was present when a pitt bull attacked his friend. The boy quickly reacted by grabbing a board, jamming it under the dog's collar and twisting the board, breaking the dog's neck, and saving his friend.

A Boston Globe reporter happened to witness the incident and was so struck by the boy's quick heroic action that he began to write the story with the boy looking on. When the reporter was finished, he went to the top of the document and started trying various headlines. He settled on "Celtics Fan Saves Friend from Certain Death."

The boy politely corrected the reporter by saying "Sir, I'm not a Celtics fan."

The reporter was shocked, but began hitting his backspace key to correct the headline to read ""Kerry Fan Saves Friend from Certain Death."

Again, the boy politely corrected the reporter by saying "Sir, I'm not a Kerry fan."

Now the reporter is truly stunned, begins backspacing again to rewrite the headline, and he replies, "You live in Boston, but you're not a Celtics fan or a Kerry Fan?"

The boy replied, "No, sir. I'm actually a Houston Rockets fan and a great supporter of George Bush."

The reporter wrote his final headline: "Ignorant Redneck Kid Viciously Kills Family Pet."

POPE VISITS WASHINGTON
The Pope is visiting Washington, D.C., and President Bush takes him out for an afternoon on the Potomac, sailing on the Presidential yacht, the Sequoia.

They're admiring the sights when, all of a sudden, the Pope's hat (zucchetto) blows off his head and out into the water.

Secret Service guys start to launch a boat, but president Bush waves them off, saying, "Wait, wait. I'll take care of this. Don't worry." Bush then steps off the yacht onto the surface of the water and walks out to the Holy Father's little hat, bends over picks it up, then walks back to the yacht and climbs aboard.

He hands the hat to the Pope amid stunned silence.

The next morning, the headlines in New York Times, Boston Globe, Boston Herald, Buffalo News, Milwaukee Sentinel-Journal, Minneapolis Tribune, Denver Post, Albuquerque Journal, Los Angeles Times and San Francisco Chronicle and on ABCNBCCNNCBSMSNBC proclaim:

"Bush Can't Swim."


Thanks dot66!
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CALLING ALL KERRY JOKES!

A Litter reader sent several great Kerry jokes, which I'll post tomorrow. If any of you have one (or several), pass them along to me at Myerskatt@aol.com and I'll post them. We can never have enough Kerry jokes, now can we :)

Another fellow blogspotter's blog: La Shawn Barber's Corner. 'Commentary from a politically conservative and Christian point of view.'

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Posted on Drudge:

'The simple fact of September 11 is this, we did not know an attack was coming because for nearly a decade, our government had blinded itself to its enemies,' the Attorney General told the 9/11 commission, in an implicit attack on the previous administration of president Bill Clinton.


'The old national intelligence system in place on September 11 was destined to fail...'


Thanks Pat at Kerry Haters blog for teaching me to post pictures!
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In case this Drudge link is timed out, I'm posting the entire piece with links:

XXXXX DRUDGE REPORT XXXXX TUE APRIL 13, 2004 12:12:05 ET XXXXX

CAMPAIGN RAGE: FLORIDA DEMOCRATS PLACE NEWSPAPER AD CALLING FOR RUMSFELD HIT; FUNDRAISING FOR KERRY

Campaign 2004 turns extreme in Florida with the placement of a newspaper ad calling for physical retribution against Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld!

"We should put this S.O.B. up against a wall and say 'This is one of our bad days,' and pull the trigger," the ad reads.

MORE

The call-to-arms fundraising ad, placed by the St. Petersburg Democratic Club in the current issue of the GABBER, a local St. Petersburg paper, asks readers to make an urgent donation to the John Kerry campaign.

Club Vice President Edna McCall told the DRUDGE REPORT Tuesday morning: "We want to get our country back. In Iraq, we're in deep trouble. If we don't try to get this situation cleared up, we are finished."

When asked if the ad was a challenge to inflict violence on Rumsfeld, McCall explained: "'Pull the trigger' means let Rumsfeld know where we stand, not to shoot him!"

"We are getting raped, and they are planning to steal the election again."

McCall said her club is in direct contact with John Kerry campaign.

"We're all working together."

The publisher of the GABBER says running the ad with the passage "pull the trigger" was a mistake that "slipped through" during the editing of this week's edition.

Developing...

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Gary O., a fellow blogspotter has two blogs: Kerry Haters and Brainster.

By the way, Gary, do you know what John Carradine's politics were?

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YEE-HAW! Welcome to all my fellow Ldotters!

Lucianne added Litter to her Must Reads today! I might be bumped from the line-up as the day progresses, but I was there :) This is my second time on the list; the first was back on December 8th, about a week after I launched Litter. Lucianne generously lists blogs to help give them exposure. Yesterday, she highlighted a fabulous one called Belmont Club. Check it out because they offer a provocative analysis concerning the kidnappings/hostages in Iraq.

The recent polls show President Bush and John Façade Kerry about even, which got me thinking that Bush must be doing something right. There seems to be little pretense any more that the media are unbiased, and they’re not wasting their collective breath denying it, either. So, with this full court press to elect the Façade, you’d think his poll numbers would be stratospheric, but they’re not. His numbers are as bland as he is, and they know it. Yet media are spinning themselves like twirling dervishes to keep him afloat.

Through it all, Bush is calm, confident and resolute. He forges ahead with his vision pinned to his eyelids. He may glance at polls but he doesn’t live by them, so his agenda is not what’s necessarily in his best political viability. The loony left absolutely HATE those qualities about Bush. They hate every fiber of Bush, and it shows in every fiber of their reporting. We are a country at war; our soldiers’ lives are at risk. This is not the time for political skullduggery. And the media wonder why the public views them through jaundiced eyes.

Speaking Of Which: Dr. Thomas Sowell is a voice of sanity in the media.
‘All this political grandstanding is taking place in the shadow of the greatest danger our nation has ever faced. North Korea is not only rebuilding its nuclear capacity, it is a threat to sell nuclear weapons to terrorist organizations, including those who planned the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. …

We already know that our enemies are following American political bickering. Senator John Kerry's political statements are being reported extensively in North Korea's government-controlled press. The North Korean regime is no doubt among the foreign supporters who want him to win this year's election.’


JOHN FAÇADE KERRY & CO.

In Communion With Kerry: It seems that the Façade did take communion. I know I’ll sleep better just knowing that. The American Spectator offers some background info on his usual church of choice:
‘As one might expect from an elitist, when home in Boston, Kerry does not attend a traditional Roman Catholic parish church. Rather, he attends Mass at the Paulist Center, a pseudo-theological institute and home for wayward Catholics that operates on Beacon Hill, near Kerry's home. …
The Paulist Center features a number of adherents of the liberation philosophy, which played a pivotal role in the Marxist uprisings in El Salvador and Nicaragua back in the late 1970s and 1980s. A number of far-left Jesuits are regular speakers at the Center, which lately has featured classes on "Tapas Acupuncture" techniques and a series of lectures of how best to remove the Church hierarchy in order to evolve the Catholic Church into a nontraditional democracy.’

John Kerry’s Newt Gingrich Problem?: ‘After Newt Gingrich hit the national spotlight in 1994 by becoming the first Republican speaker of the House in 40 years, he was skewered by reports that he had served his first wife divorce papers as she lay in a hospital bed battling cancer.
But the press has been far kinder to Democratic presidential front-runner John Kerry, who, according to published accounts going back more than a decade, began extricating himself from his first marriage to Philadelphia heiress Julia Thorne at the same time she was battling a case of depression so debilitating that it drove her to the brink of suicide.
In an attempt to explain why he decided not to let his wife's precarious mental state derail his 1982 bid to become Michael Dukakis' lieutenant governor, Kerry told the New Yorker magazine last December, "When I get focused and set out to do something, I'm pretty good at staying focused."
"You don't want to let yourself down, you know what I'm saying?" added the ambitious Democrat without a hint of irony.’ (Thanks Gayle!)

Clinton at Cornell: Cornell University may be an excellent education, but I wouldn’t send my kids there. The place is a commie-pinko hothouse. So naturally Clinton (a.k.a. The Sink Emperor ) has been asked to give this year’s Senior Convocation address. If you ship your young skull-full-of-mush off to Cornell, he, too, could talk like this:
‘David Jackson, chair of the 2004 senior class convocation committee, said, "The senior class officers are excited about former President Clinton's visit to Cornell as the Convocation keynote speaker. This year, we sought a speaker who enjoys a position of political significance, international renown, prestige and attentiveness to global and domestic issues.
"President Clinton embodies these traits in the perfect blend of charismatic leadership and intellectual achievement. Clinton has made remarkable progress for our country economically and culturally. He has had significant relevance in our lives," he added.’ (Thanks Blue!)

The Rich Get Richer: A bit of gossip about one of the Sink Emperor’s “friends.”
‘Denise Rich's house was the most expensive one for rent in Southampton this year, $475,000 from Memorial Day to Labor Day - but she's getting $530,000 for it, iHamptons.com reports. Rich already had a full-ask bid of $475,000 when a wealthy Russian came along and wanted so badly to live on her estate that he upped the ante to $530,000 and "gazumpt" the lower bidder, as it's known in the real estate business. The Russian will get two houses: a main house with seven bedrooms, a guest house with four bedrooms, swimming pool and tennis courts - plus bragging rights for spending the summer in the bed of Denise Rich.’ (Wash those sheets first!)

How To Shush the Loony Left: This book is worth mentioning again. Why Mark Smith wrote it: "All I want is to keep as much of the money I earn as possible, and keep my guns."
‘Author Mark W. Smith has come out with all guns blazing against the "liberal media bias" in his frothy new tome, "The Official Handbook of the Vast Right-Wing Conspiracy."
A primer to provide Republicans with the arguments they need "to defeat the Loony Left," it claims to overturn "the 100 biggest myths spread by the ACLU, NOW, Greenpeace, Handgun Control and a host of other Birkenstock-wearing, Brie-eating weenies."
Here's a selection of Smith's strident opinions and "conversation stoppers":

* "If you were Osama bin Laden, who would you want in the White House: George W. Bush and Donald Rumsfeld, or an anti-war, United Nations-loving Democrat?"

* "The United Nations: Let's tear it down and put up a Starbucks."

* "Remember when Bill Clinton took tax deductions for donating his used underwear? Remember when Al Gore, a Tennessee landlord, threatened to evict a tenant who complained that her home's plumbing wasn't working?"

* "In reality it was Al Gore who tried to steal the election."’ (For future reference, Mark, Algore is one word.)


ON TO THE SOBERING ISSUES

It Takes Courage To Change A Deadline: By Jack Welch, who is the former chairman and CEO of General Electric.
‘Will Iraq be ready by June 30? If not, here's what to do.
It appears that despite all the progress in Iraq, stability there appears elusive--elusive enough that a reassessment makes sense. And perhaps a deadline change will too.
If it does, I hope people remember that changing a deadline is not a sign of weakness. It is not even a sign that a mistake was made in the first place. The world changes. Good leaders have the courage to do the same.’

Iraq Could Doom Bush: According to Dick Morris, ‘ … 10 days ago Bush was three points ahead of Kerry. His attack ads had the Democrat reeling. Then, from April 3-7, Bush fell by nine points and ended his crash trailing Kerry by six.
Only Condeleezza Rice's testimony stopped the bleeding. …
Bush is leading America in a crucial crusade to rid the world of terrorism. He needs an energetic, committed and largely united nation behind him. He must not squander those priceless assets in a dead-end pursuit of an ideal Iraq. A Saddam-less one is enough for one administration to achieve and to be thankful for.’


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No sooner do I post today's blog than I read the following:

FRANK BURNS KERRY

Something to make you go hmmmmm?: 'Democratic presidential nominee in waiting Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.) frequently speaks of courage, brotherhood and responsibility when he mentions his brief service in Vietnam. He took Super-8 home movies there in which he staged heroics in full-battle dress, so that later he might use them for campaign ads. Kerry has made so much of his Vietnam medals which he once pretended to throw away that critics have begun to wonder why he has been so cagey about the dubious circumstances surrounding the Purple Hearts that got him out of Vietnam after only four months of combat service. Under the rules, a serviceman had to be awarded three Purple Hearts to apply to go home. Not one or two, but three. And, say critics, there's the rub. '

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I hope your Easter was as nice as ours. In years past we’ve had as many as 19 gathered for holiday dinners, with half of the 19 being young children. We enjoyed the get-togethers but came away thankful that that only happened a couple of times each year, if y’know whadda mean. One single marital separation pared our holiday dinner gatherings down considerably, and this year another “family in flux” situation reduced our ranks even more. Enjoying our Easter dinner yesterday were 6 adults and 2 male toddlers, who got along exceptionally well. We had lasagna, because everyone loves it, along with intensely green veggies and chocolate cake. The Sopranos topped off my evening, so all in all it was a good day.

JOHN FAÇADE KERRY & CO.

Thanks to the partisan 9/11 hearings and a very sympathetic press, the Façade is being allowed to glide through under the radar so as not to displace his recent Botox injections. He did receive communion yesterday, but really, who cares? (And why must politicians attend religious services with photographers in tow? Clinton was fond of these photo-ops; he had a Bible at the ready for just such occasions.) The Façade did take time out to rant at God and Church. With that one recycled exception, there’s nothing really new to report on Botox Boy.

Revenge of the Nerds: ‘Richard Clarke is a consummate bureaucrat, but he doesn't understand a politican's job. … In contrast, Ms. Rice, in visibly angry testimony before the 9/11 commission last week, insisted that she and President Bush had to manage competing threats. Just as Mr. Clarke named al Qaeda the top foreign threat, NSC Korea experts thought that North Korea, which murdered two million people and threatened to spread nuclear weapons, deserved the title of global enemy No. 1. Still others saw China, with a billion people, hundreds of nukes, and threats to incinerate Los Angeles, as America's biggest nightmare.

‘Most notably, Kenneth Pollack, the Clinton administration NSC Iraq expert, assured both Clinton and Bush officials (and later the public, in his bestselling "The Threatening Storm") that Iraq required immediate attention. After all, until 9/11 al Qaeda had killed only dozens and lacked sophisticated weaponry. In contrast, Saddam Hussein used Iraq's oil money to murder at least 1.1 million people, start two wars, threaten neighbors with invasion seven times, develop a nuclear "research" program (at least through 1996), and attempt to assassinate one U.S. president.’

Jamie Gorelick in the Hot Seat: Does the name Gorelick make you wretch or laugh or both?
‘"[Gorelick] knows better than anyone about what was going on at Justice in the later days of the Clinton Administration. She had close ties there," says the staffer. "In closed-door meetings she has defended the Clinton people. How can they claim that Ashcroft and his people could do much of anything six weeks into moving into the building?"

"Gorelick should be testifying during these hearings; she should not be up there creating the appearance she played no role in what happened on 9-11, because she definitely did," says the staffer. "The Clinton folks had eight years to do something about Bin Laden. They did nothing. The Bush people had eight months. You'd think judging by the hearings that it was the other way around. We have to hit back."’

Here’s the REAL Scandal: ‘Even as the elite media and other Bush- bashers fruitlessly scour musty memos for hints of White House culpability in the 9/11 attacks, more incriminating details are coming to light on the multibillion-dollar corruption of the United Nation's Iraq Oil-for-Food program - the biggest scandal in the world body's history.

'And hardly anybody's paying any attention - a shame, because the U.N. and its backers are pushing for a major role in the administration of post-war Iraq.

'Oil-for-Food's official purpose, of course, was to let Iraq sell oil and use the funds to buy food and humanitarian goods like medicine.

'Instead, and with the knowledge of U.N. officials, the money went for all kinds of non-humanitarian purchases, including building palaces, buying arms and bribing foreign politicians and opinion-makers.

'Note that France and Russia were the biggest recipients of Oil-for-Food largesse.’


Teddy bin Laden: This is a reader’s letter in The American Spectator. I couldn’t have said it better myself.
‘TEDDY BIN LADEN
Re: R. Emmett Tyrrell, Jr.'s Daddy's Boy:
It seems alcohol has killed all of Osama Kennedy's brain cells. His pathological hatred of President Bush has unmasked his anti-Americanism. His recent comments have served the purposes of our terrorist enemies in Iraq and throughout the world while undermining the mission of our soldiers and Marines. His comments go far beyond criticism/dissent. He is aiding and abetting the enemy in time of war. Is that not a violation of his senatorial oath? Why hasn't he been formerly censured by the Senate? He is a traitor, an embarrassment, and a disgrace to the Senate, this country, and all freedom loving people.
-- George Markovitch’

NOW FOR SOME GOOD NEWS

From the Insider Report from NewsMax.com today:
‘Jewish Leaders Turning to GOP
With the Democratic Party increasingly perceived as more pro-Palestinian than supportive of Israel, several leaders in the Jewish community are backing Republicans. …
Though Jews comprise little more than 2 percent of Americans, they are concentrated in areas such as Florida and Ohio, which are battleground states.
Before Mc-Cain-Feingold, the mother of all campaign legislation fiascoes, as much as 70 percent of the Democratic Party's donations came from Jewish contributors.
Since the 2000 election - and Sept. 11 - Jewish support for Republicans has been climbing.
And Sen. John Kerry has not done his party any favors with antagonistic remarks about Israel's security fence protecting it from West Bank suicide bombers’

We Should Hang Tough: Poll: ‘A new poll says the majority of Americans think the latest spike in Iraq violence means the United States should get tougher militarily - not retreat.’

Our Military is the BEST: The writer, Jed Babbin, spent 28 hours aboard the four-acre deck of the USS Harry S. Truman and Captain Mike Groothousen.
‘In the middle of this controlled chaos swarms a horde of sailors moving and fueling aircraft, recovering the arresting wires, loading bombs and bullets, hooking the catapults to the aircraft, and checking things over and over to make sure they're good to go. The average age of these people is about twenty. Would you trust your life -- and the safety of a multi-billion dollar ship -- to a bunch of teenagers? Before Friday, I never could have. Now, having spent about 28 hours in Grootland, it seems the natural thing to do.’


Your daily chuckle: ‘KABBALAH disciple Madonna is starting to think she's really Jewish. For the first time in her career, the songstress will no longer perform on Friday nights. "She is observing Shabbat on Friday evenings," her longtime publicist Liz Rosenberg tells New York magazine. Madonna was raised as a Catholic but has spent the last several years studying the Kabbalah, which has about as much to do with mainstream Judaism as voodoo has to do with Christianity.’


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HAPPY EASTER!

I’d like to thank everyone who replied, by “comments” and by e-mail, about the font size of Litter. With the help of a couple of you, I discovered that the problem was in my computer. I was able to fix it and I learned something new in the process. The problem was in my browser. Who knew? “Browser” is a techie term to me, that is it was until yesterday. Somehow, and I have NO idea how!, the “text size” in my browser was reset to “smallest.” I am not exaggerating when I say I just about needed a magnifying glass to read my own blog!

I’ve been coming down with a cold, and my latest computer glitch sapped me of the rest of any energy I had at that point. After I fixed it, I crashed on the couch. Wearing a couple of layers of sweats under a couple of layers of blankets, with a heated bean bag in-between and my cat Princess lying on top holding it all down (and I was still freezing), I baked the fever out of me. I sneezed my way through a box of tissues, I drank quarts of ginger ale (the only thing which appealed to me), and I watched TV. I flipped over to Fox News and heard that egomaniacal Geraldo Rivera give his version of “I have a dream,” a crackpot idea that voters should disregard the war when deciding for whom to vote because, according to Geraldo, both John Façade Kerry and President Bush will follow identical plans dealing with the war. I may have been sick, but that was SICK! So I flipped the channels and caught portions of “Oh Brother, Where Art Thou?” and “Get Shorty,” and I watched “Weekend At Bernie’s” all the way through. Those are three of the funniest films.

I’m feeling better this morning. I didn’t think I’d be doing anything with Litter but I found lots to post. So here goes.

WE CAN’T ESCAPE THE WAR

Not even on Easter. I’m noticing a trend in the Dems’ response to Dr. Rice’s testimony and, especially, about that August 6th PDB. The Dems are spinning that President Bush was “incurious” (David Broder’s word) concerning the memo. Even Jim Pinkerton (Newsday) wrote about “ouch” this and “ouch” that in the memo. My question to these Monday morning quarterbacks: What would you have done? And don’t frame your answer in terms of what Bush didn’t do. No, “I wouldn’t have done what Bush did …” In fact, don’t even use his name in your answer. Simply tell us what you would have done to prevent the 9/11 attacks. Do they truly believe that Bush knew, or at the very least suspected, that the terrorists were going to commandeer commercial flights and fly the planes into the Towers and the Pentagon? And did nothing? One Lucianne.com site pest defined Bush’s attitude as “What, me worry?”

Everyone got it wrong before 9/11: I had a difficult time deciding upon a pull-quote, as this is such an excellent article. I urge you to read it in its entirety if for no other reason than for this gem: ‘Which US senator admitted on 9/11, "We have always known this could happen. . . . I regret to say -- I served on the Intelligence Committee up until last year. I can remember after the bombings of the embassies, after TWA 800, we went through this flurry of activity, talking about it -- but not really doing the hard work of responding."’

‘Imagine the backlash the administration would have faced, for example, if it had reacted aggressively to the CIA briefing in August 2001 that warned of possible terrorist hijackings -- the one ominously titled "Bin Laden Determined to Attack Inside the United States." If the Transportation Department, on the strength of that warning alone, had ordered air travelers to arrive at least two hours before their flights, banned a long list of common household objects -- knives, knitting needles, scissors -- from airplanes, and authorized pilots to eject "Middle Eastern" ticketholders they deemed suspicious, the public would have reacted with fury.’

Failures come home to roost: ‘If the 9/11 commission really wants to develop strategies for our future protection and not content itself with directing a witch-hunt, it should commence by reviewing the activities of the late U.S. Sen. Frank Church and the parallel hearings orchestrated by U.S. Rep. Otis Pike. These men, together with the active assistance of Sens. Teddy Kennedy and Birch Bayh and Reps. Peter Rodino and Edward Boland, implemented a plan to blindfold America. …

‘The 9/11 commission can investigate whatever it will, but no reasoning body can afford to ignore damage completed 30 years ago and never repaired. This damage is irreversible. America must learn the truth and take action to prevent such criminal indifference to our safety from ever happening again.’

The Iraqi Passion: Ralph Peters writes that nearly 20 years ago in the little town of Halabja, Iraq, ‘At 20 minutes to 12, a massive bombardment began - with conventional artillery rounds, with napalm and with chemical weapons delivered by aircraft. The Iraqi forces used both mustard gas, which scorches human flesh, and sarin, a nerve agent that kills swiftly and with no chance of survival. Saddam's men knew what they were doing: The combination of munitions was the deadliest possible mix. Five thousand men, women and children died in the time it takes a busy man to eat lunch. …

‘All those who take delight in telling the world that our liberation of Iraq was unjustified because we didn't find weapons of mass destruction should go to Halabja.’

A Novel View: All Evil’s Alike: ‘WITH his latest book, "Down Here," best-selling crime novelist Andrew Vachss makes the case that rapists, pedophiles and al Qaeda are one and the same.
"I promise you, there are people in America whose only problem with the Taliban is that they did it for the wrong god," Vachss tells PAGE SIX's Ian Spiegelman. "Whether it's incest, rape, terrorism or Nazism, it's all the same thing - accumulating and abusing power."’


AND NOW FOR SOMETHING NICE

There’s no escaping the war, not even on Easter. Still, I feel like I must end on a positive note. CLPCLP sent the following uplifting story to me:

‘Story by Spc. Benjamin R. Kibbey, 367th Mobile Public Affairs Detachment
Dec. 10, 2003
FORWARD OPERATING BASE, Tikrit, Iraq – When he was forced to fashion statues of Saddam Hussein on horseback, the Iraqi sculptor had no idea that someday he would melt them down to create a memorial for American soldiers.’



Have a wonderful family day!
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