Via Don Luskin at Poor and Stupid,
In response to criticism about a massive new pork project slipped into the emergency Iraq/Katrina appropriations bills yesterday, Sen. Trent Lott (R-MS) lashed out at anti-pork bloggers and activists. â??I’ll just say this about the so-called porkbusters. I’m getting damn tired of hearing from them,â? Lott said. â??They have been nothing but trouble ever since Katrina.”
Well, that has to be good news, no? Bloggers and their Porkbusters movement driving members of the appropriations committee crazy. B-E-A-U-T-I-F-U-L. Congratulations to all the bloggers behind Porkbusters, Glenn Reynolds, NZ Bear, Mark Tapscott, etc.
To learn more check out Porkbusters: Blogging the waste out of government
If conservative Republicans in Mass are to be heard from again, my suggestion for the “powers that be” is to run a simple but bold state-wide campaign analygous to the 1994 Congressional campaign which nationalized local congressional elections in which the GOP won back control of the House for the first time in over 50 years. Then it was the “Contract with America” which united Republicans nationally around a finite agenda that they committed to focus on if elected. This bold initiative was engineered by Newt Gingrich with help from such visionaries as Grover Norquist and resonated wildly with voters accross the country.
We here in Mass are a virtual one party state where our elected representatives are almost totally disconnected from the average Mass citizen-voter who beleives that they are virtually powerless to change the status quo. I say to the heads of the Mass GOP, start to think boldly and run a campaign in 06′ in which all candidates for state elections run on a “Contract with the Commonwealth.” Don’t focus on party affiliation and irrelevant issues. Focus on the BIG issues that resonate with voters, and promise the disenfranchised voters in our state that they have the power to alter the compositiion of our state government if they unify on election day and vote state-wide.
The Mass GOP should run a state wide campaign promising to protect traditional marriage and amend the state Constitution to define marriage as 40 other states have done as being between one man and one woman, reduce pork barrel spending, and cut rapidly growing property and personal and business income taxes so that we don’t force our citizens to flee the state. Let the liberal Dems oppose a marriage protection amendment and spending and tax cuts. The message should be “if you support a constitutional amendment that defines marriage as between one man and one woman and favor a reduction in state spending, the state income tax, and property taxes, vote Republican! If not, vote Democrat.” Plain and simple. Make the choice simple for voters.
You win elections by clearly articulating your message and focussing on a few important initiatives such as the ones I have suggested. You then make sure that every speech that every candidate gives iterates this platform-message. Finally, you launch a massive ad campaign that promises voters that if they vote on election day for “change” that they have the power to change history and end the liberal monopoly in our state government which has failed to advance the values, ideas, and beleifs of the vast majority of Mass citizens who want traditional marriage protected and who favor lower property and income taxes.
It’s called the “Contract with the Commonwealth.” That I believe is worth some serious consideraton. Time to be bold. Every time conservatives act boldly and clearly articulate their message of traditional family values and lower taxes, spending, and regulation, they win in land-slides every time. Cutting off all state services and govt aid to illegals should also be part of the “Contract.”
Go for it “powers that be!”
‘MEDIA SLANDERS POLITICALLY-MINDED STARS’
This is the latest whine from director Oliver Stoned. He goes on to say,
“We’re Hollywood wackos and all that stuff, left-wing… (It’s) an easy and facile dismissal…We have a right to speak and every time we speak: ‘You’re an actor, a showbusiness director,’ we’re making it up! This is not a way of dealing with people. This is slander.”
Is it really slander or is the media simply reporting what these celebrities are saying?
Joy Behar, “What I think we should do is draw up a petition, everybody sign in crayon, and then he’ll [Bush] understand.”
Harry Belafonte, “In fact and practice … you are serving those who continue to design our oppression,” he said of Powell and Rice. “That is villainy, and I insist you look at it.”
Johnny Depp, “America is dumb, it’s like a dumb puppy that has big teeth that can bite and hurt you, aggressive.”
Jennifer Anniston, “Bush is a f**king idiot.”
John Cusack, “Bush means Dick Cheney, Tom DeLay, and all these f*cking crypto-fascists are gonna get in and start carving up the pie and handing in all their markers to the Republican Party that’s been itching to get back into power.”
Janeane Garofalo, “I say at this point, for different reasons, they [Bush and Hussein] are both very threatening to world peace and to deny that is to be incredibly naive.”
Danny Glover, “One of the main purveyors of violence in this world has been this country, whether itâ??s been against Nicaragua or wherever…Iâ??ve been an advocate for peace my whole life. But one of the main purveyors of violence in this world is this country.”
Woody Harrelson, “The war against terrorism is terrorism. The whole thing is just bullsh*t.”
Jessica Lange, “To my mind the election was stolen by George Bush and we have been suffering ever since under this manâ??s leadership.”
Moby, “[George W. Bush is] a half-wit President who was not legally elected”. He went on to conclude that “maybe we should have a moment’s silence for the fact that we are ruled by evil, evil people.”
Michael Moore, Moore claimed, during an interview on Costas’ show, that the Bush administration “absolutely” knows where Osama bin Laden is located and doesn’t go after him “because he’s funded by their friends in Saudi Arabia!”
Gwenyth Paltrow, “I worry about bringing up a child in America. At the moment there’s a weird, over-patriotic atmosphere over there, like, ‘We’re No. 1 and the rest of the world doesn’t matter.’
Sean Penn, “I think that people like the Howard Sterns, the Bill O’Reillys and to a lesser degree the bin Ladens of the world are making a horrible contribution [to society]. I’d like to trade O’Reilly for bin Laden. [O’Reilly] is a grumpy, self-loathing joke.”
Barbara Streisand, “We have a president who stole the presidency through family ties, arrogance and intimidation, employing Republican operatives to exercise the tactics of voter fraud by disenfranchising thousands of blacks, elderly Jews and other minorities.”
Gore Vidal, “And what this is really about is oil, and itâ??s Central Asian oil, which is what weâ??ve got our eye on. We do have practical motives every now and then. Itâ??s not just for the sheer glory that we get into a war like the Afghanistan. Afghanistan is the entranceway to Central Asia and five republics that used to belong to the Soviet Union that are now the largest suppliers of gas, natural gas, and oil. He who gets his hands on that will really control the world for a while.”
For more quotes from the Celebrity pundit crowd, check out this great sight, Celiberal.
Seems to me that the American people have pretty good taste when they turn against these self-absorbed, pseudo intellectuals. All the media has to do is accurately print what these morons are saying. Yes, they have a right to criticize the administration. But when they do it in such a shrill, vapid manner, they deserve all the derision and backlash they get.
Who’s slandering who?
Today is the first day of the season so I will use a baseball analogy, Greyhawk at Mudville Gazette knocked this one out of the park. He provides the latest evidence in the case against The New York Times. Is this type of mistake a symptom of the environment, sloppy or agenda driven journalism? Greyhawk busts em, you decide.
New York Times, March 27: 30 Beheaded Bodies Found; Iraqi Death Squads Blamed
BAGHDAD, Iraq, March 26 â?? The bodies of 30 beheaded men were found on a main highway near Baquba this evening, providing more evidence that the death squads in Iraq are becoming out of control.
April 2: Press Briefing from Iraq
Q About — on the news that we heard this week of a number of headless bodies being found along a road in Baghdad. I was wondering what more you could tell us about that, what you know about the victims, and who the perpetrators were?
GEN. THURMAN: Okay. I did understand that question, and what I would tell you — we have not confirmed that report. We went to multiple sites to look for the 32 headless bodies that was reported to our headquarters, and we did not find anything; nor did any of the local citizens that were in these areas could verify that anybody had ever been in there. So I look at that report as completely false right now.
No correction from the paper of record, just a mention, buried in paragraph 17,
Earlier reports of 30 beheaded bodies found in that area were wrong, the Interior Ministry official said.
There is a lot more detail in this great post. Check it out.
HT: Instapundit
We had some fun with audio clips provided by the Media Research Center as part of their annual DisHonor Awards, Roasting the Most Outrageously Biased Liberal Reporters of 2005
UPDATE: While we are on the topic, let’s hear from the great Michael Barone
Pundit Review Radio is partnering with the #1 milblog, Blackfive, to bring his series Someone You Should Know to the radio.
We are honored to collaborate with Matt from Blackfive, and we share his belief that the public needs, and wants, to hear the stories of the bravery, courage and dignity of the men and women who fight for us.
We asked Matt, “How do you find these stories?”
Some are from my friends in Iraq or Afghanistan. And, once in awhile, a Commander or soldier or even parents of soldiers will send a valor award citation or report to me. But, in most cases, Someone You Should Know candidates are submitted by Blackfive.net readers who spot the stories in thier small town papers, television and radio stations or from the military journalists who submit them to the MSM but don’t get covered. These stories tend to be overlooked by larger sources like the New York Times or CNN because, I believe, that they don’t fit the template that the war is lost, President Bush is evil, and that America is wrong.
Together, we will bring these incredible stories to you every Sunday at 9pm.
Chris Simcox, President of the Minutemen Civil Defense Corps, joined us on Pundit Review Radio to discuss his groups efforts to secure the borders.
Are they a militia, vigilanties or patriots?
What is Pundit Review Radio?
Pundit Review Radio is where the old media meets the new. Each week Kevin & Gregg give voice to the work of the most influential leaders in the new media/citizen journalist revolution. This unique show brings the best of the blogs to your radio every Sunday evening at 8pm EST on AM680 WRKO, Boston’s Talk Leader.