September 02, 2004

Our 21st Century Jeremiah Sen. Zell Miller
"I'm as mad as hell and I'm not gonna take it anymore!"
Zell, you ROCKED the hall and the republic!

Jeremiah & the Veep
Once again, NRO's Peter Robinson (President Reagan's speechwriter) sums up Sen. Zell Miller's outrageously wonderful jeremiad best:

[...]
Zell Miller? What a speech. Genuine emotion is rare enough in politics, but anger? Righteous anger? Zell Miller stands in a line that runs all the way back to Jeremiah — but of which we see almost nothing in today’s Oprahfied context. And once again, the contrast with the Democratic convention could hardly have proven any sharper: Whereas the Democrats suppressed any display of anger in Boston, in the Republicans, the milquetoasts of American politics, went right ahead and cut loose in New York, cheering Miller with gorgeous abandon. And take a look at Miller’s text. Political prose just don’t get any hotter — or more memorable — than this:

[I]t is the soldier, not the reporter, who has given us the freedom of the press. It is the soldier, not the poet, who has given us freedom of speech. It is the soldier, not the agitator, who has given us the freedom to protest.

It is the soldier who salutes the flag, serves beneath the flag, whose coffin is draped by the flag who gives that protester the freedom to abuse and burn that flag.

No one should dare to even think about being the Commander in Chief of this country if he doesn't believe with all his heart that our soldiers are liberators abroad and defenders of freedom at home.

But don't waste your breath telling that to the leaders of my party today. In their warped way of thinking America is the problem, not the solution.

I suppose I’d have to grant that at least Dick Cheney did his job, conveying a sobriety and maturity that contrast with the boyishness and, well, lightness of John Edwards. But Zell Miller? Mine eyes have seen the glory.

Mine, too, Peter. Mine, too.
Tell the choir and the orchestra to prepare to play the "Battle Hymn of the Republic again.
I know I cheered with gorgeous abandon!
I cheered, I screamed, I woo-hooed and I yee-hawed at home in my living room!
What a night! What a week!
In fact, I'm still coming down from the high of hearing Zell speak truth to power hours later...honesty is energizing and living history is too exciting!
It's the first time we Conservatives have had the chance to tell the Dimocrats and the country what we really think about their anti-war, anti-Bush, anti-America "crusade" since this damn war started!
God Bless you, Sen. Miller and your children, your grandchildren and your great-grandchildren.
You've probably not only played a major role in making this country and her future safe and secure for them but you may have been the Lord's instrument in helping save the Republic.

Postscript: As if giving an American History text-book-making historic speech wasn't enough, Sen. Miller then went on to give "Spitball's" Chris Matthews his comeuppance, first telling him to get out of his face, to shut up and then by challenging him to an actual Aaron Burr duel. Michelle Malkin was avenged in the bargain.--What a night to be an American!!!
The Reclycler has streaming video of both the already famous barn-burner speech and the Whiffleball showdown here: Zell's barnburner

 

 

September 01, 2004

UN poised to condemn Russia attacks

The U.N. Security Council has called an emergency meeting, at the request of Russian Ambassador Andrei Denisov, to discuss a wave of deadly terrorist attacks in Russia.

The 15-nation council planned to convene at 5 p.m. (10:00 p.m. British time) on Wednesday and was expected to issue a statement at the meeting's close condemning the attacks as a threat to international peace and security, council diplomats said.
[...]
The call for a special session came after a heavily armed gang seized a school in southern Russia and took hostage up to 400 people, including many children, in what appeared to be a Chechen rebel operation.
[...]
The request for a special Security Council meeting appeared unusual given Moscow's dogged insistence for years that its war in Chechnya was an internal problem which Russia would solve by itself.

Putin is about to experience the limits of the UNSC in confronting Islamist terrorism, just like we did.
Even if they vote to "condemn" the attack(s), that won't stop the killers or rescue those children.
The latest reports say that 8 civilians have been killed.
And Russia's so concerned, they've moved to protect their nuclear sites:
Russia Sends Troops to Guard Nuclear Sites
This sounds pretty serious...
The thing that bothers me (other than the obvious) is the realization that the nuke sites have been unguarded all this time!
Good Lord, save us!
Did you ever think you'd see the day when Russia would ask the rest of the world for help?

Only a man who's had to deal with the business end of Hillary Clinton can really appreciate First Lady Laura Bush; Dick Morris tells you all you need to know about Mrs. Bush's speech last night:
FIRST LADY: FIRST PRIZE
[ Speech Transcipt link.]
Lady Laura is such a national treasure: she's lovely, gracious and articulate!
I thank her for being such a source of love and support to our President, but I also adore her for showing us all that the First Lady can be so beautiful, ladylike and caring as well as well-read, intelligent and engaged on the pressing issues of our time.
God Bless you, Laura--you are "simply the best!"
Here's a link to videos of all of Tuesday's night speeches, including Laura's, her Twins, Rod Paige's, Lt. Gov. Steele's and the Governator's:
Video: Major Convention Speeches
Yes, before the First Lady, there was Ahnold.
The man just goes from strength to strength politically and he looks so happy and fulfilled personally doing it, too!
(BTW, I think his little son is adorable!)
This was one of my favorite parts of his terrific speech [Transcript]:

He [Schwartzenhegger] also said that despite the Kerry-Edwards campaign theme of "two Americas," when it comes to the nation's defense, "I can tell you this: Our young men and women in uniform do not believe there are two Americas."

"They believe we are one America — and they are fighting for it. We are one America, and President Bush is defending it with all his heart and soul," he added.

Vielen Danke, Arnold! (That "2 Americas" thing the Dims are so fond of makes me retch!)
And he worked in the "girly-men" deal again, which I hoped he would!:

But people can tell if they are Republican another way too, he said.

"You have faith in free enterprise, faith in the resourcefulness of the American people ... and faith in the U.S. economy. To those critics who are so pessimistic about our economy, I say: Don't be economic girlie men!"

And then he invoked his "I'll be back" in a touching and powerful way by proclaiming that "America is back prefaced by a soldier's story:"

"Let me tell you about the sacrifice and commitment I've seen firsthand. In one of the military hospitals I visited, I met a young guy who was in bad shape. He'd lost a leg — had a hole in his stomach ... his shoulder had been shot through.

I could tell there was no way he could ever return to combat. But when I asked him, "When do you think you'll get out of the hospital?" He said, "Sir, in three weeks." And do you know what he said to me then? He said he was going to get a new leg ... and get some therapy ... and then he was going back to Iraq to serve alongside his buddies! He grinned at me and said, "Arnold ... I'll be back!"

Ladies and gentlemen, America is back! — back from the attack on our homeland- back from the attack on our economy — back from the attack on our way of life. We're back because of the perseverance, character and leadership of the 43rd President of the United States — George W. Bush.

My fellow Americans ... I want you to know that I believe with all my heart that America remains "the great idea" that inspires the world. It's a privilege to be born here. It's an honor to become a citizen here. It's a gift to raise your family here — to vote here — and to live here.

Our president George W. Bush has worked hard to protect and preserve the American dream for all of us. That's why I say ... send - him - back to Washington for four more years!

Thank you, America — and God bless you all!

What a wonderful man!
Thank God Arnold came here and became an American--he's an inspiration to immigrants and to those of us born in American, too!
He's doing great things in California as Governor of "Colli-fornia" as I knew he would and I know that Presidents Ronald Reagan and Richard Nixon(!), whom the Terminator also mentioned favorably, were both smiling in Heaven.

Hundreds Held Hostage in Russia School

Attackers wearing suicide-bomb belts seized a school in a Russian region bordering Chechnya on Wednesday and were holding hundreds of hostages, including 200 children. The assault came a day after a suicide bomber killed 10 people in Moscow.
[Another subway bomb, like Madrid. Heads up, New Yorkers!--Jen]

The seizure began after a ceremony marking the first day of the Russian school year, reports said, when it was likely that many parents had accompanied their children to class. The attackers warned they would blow up the school if police tried to storm it and forced children to stand at the windows, said Alexei Polyansky, a police spokesman for southern Russia.

Both the school attack and the Moscow bombing appeared to be the work of Chechen rebels or their sympathizers, but there was no evidence of any direct link. The two strikes came just a week after two Russian planes carrying 90 people crashed almost simultaneously in what officials also say were terrorist bombings.
[The "Black Widows" of Chechnya claimed responsibility and this is the same group that took part in the Moscow theater siege of Fall 2002.]

"In essence, war has been declared on us, where the enemy is unseen and there is no front," Russian Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov said, according to the Interfax-Military News Agency. He spoke before the seizure.
[Sounds only too familiar, doesn't it?--J.T.]

The latest violence also appears to be timed around Sunday's presidential elections in Chechnya, a Kremlin-backed move aimed at undermining support for the insurgents by establishing a modicum of civil order in the war-shattered republic. The previous Chechen president, Akhmad Kadyrov, was killed along with more than 20 others in a bombing on May 9.
[...]
The attackers demanded talks with regional officials and a well-known pediatrician, Leonid Roshal, who had aided hostages during the seizure of a Moscow theater in 2002, news reports said.
[Told you there was a connection!]
[...]
A militant Muslim web site published a statement claiming responsibility for the bombing on behalf of the "Islambouli Brigades," a group that also claimed responsibility for the airliner crashes. The veracity of the statements could not immediately be confirmed.

The statement said Tuesday's bombing was a blow against Putin, "who slaughtered Muslims time and again." Putin has refused to negotiate with rebels in predominantly Muslim Chechnya who have fought Russian forces for most of the past decade, saying they must be wiped out.
[...]
Moscow Mayor Yuri Luzhkov told reporters near the Rizhskaya subway stop in northern Moscow that the female bomber was walking toward the station but saw two police officers stationed there, turned around "and decided to destroy herself in a crowd of people."

The blast tore through a heavily trafficked area between the subway station and a nearby department store. Doctors worked through the night to save the lives of others who were severely wounded by the bomb that officials said was packed with bolts to maximize casualties.

This, of course, is killer "technology" that the Chechen jihadis have picked up from their Paleostinian "brothers" in arms.
Revolting.
My prayers are with the parents, teachers and children trapped with these murderers in the school and with the victims' families and loved ones from the plane explosions last week and the subway bombing yesterday.
Putin needs to swallow some of his considerable pride that he can "crush the rebels" and put his head together with Bush and Blair, together with the recognition that he is fighting the same enemy in Chechnya that we're fighting in the Middle East and at home.
It won't work for Putin to fight Islamist terrorism only within Russia's borders while supporting, trading with and allying one's country with the state sponsors of IslamoFacisct murder like Saddam's Iraq and the mullahs' Iran.
Putin's contrarian and unsuccessful approach to his plague of Chechen terrorism illustrates the rightness of the Bush Doctrine and the meaningfulness of Monday night's speeches by Rudy, Sen. McCain and actor Ron Silver.
The war is global. The enemy is radical Islam and the Enemy must be defeated, not excused, forgiven, forgotten or treated as "freedom fighters" (which I think is where Putin is making his biggest mistake).

Palestinians celebrate Beersheba attacks

While hundreds of Palestinians took to the streets in major cities in the West Bank and Gaza Strip to celebrate the double suicide bombings in Beersheba, Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat reiterated his call for sacrificing millions of martyrs to "liberate Jerusalem."
[Sneer quotes, mine. Don't know why the JPost left them off, because Arafat wants to liberate Jerusalem from whom or what exactly?--Jen]

Women in Nablus ululated in joy as Arab satellite TV stations interrupted their normal programs to break the news of the bombings. Scores of gunmen opened fire into the air, shouting "Allahu Akbar!" or God is Great.

Similar expressions of joy were reported in Tulkarm and Jenin.

In Gaza City, hundreds of Palestinians marched in the streets carrying pictures of slain Hamas leaders Ahmed Yassin and Abdel Aziz Rantisi. The protesters hailed the suicide bombers as heroes and urged Hamas to launch more attacks inside Israel. Some of the demonstrators handed out sweets to the crowd as a sign of their jubilation.
[Just like they did when they heard we were attacked and had had 3,000 citizens murdered by Islamist henchmen on 9/11.
I hate this creepy death cult!--J.T.]

The attacks in Beersheba took place as Arafat was meeting with hundreds of supporters from the West Bank town of Salfit. Arafat told the crowd that the Palestinians were determined to sacrifice millions of people to liberate Jerusalem.

"We will march towards Jerusalem, we will sacrifice millions of martyrs," Arafat said in his famous battle cry. "Jerusalem is the capital of the state of Palestine."

PA officials said the visit was in solidarity with the Palestinian prisoners' hunger strike. As Arafat flashed V-for-victory signs at the crowd, many chanted, "With our blood, with our soul, we will redeem Abu Amar [Arafat] and Palestine."

Then, in English, for the benefit of the Western, Leftist media who enable and support his group of murderers, Arafat turns around and does this:

Arafat later issued a statement condemning the twin suicide bombings in Beersheba and calling for keeping Israeli and Palestinian civilians outside the cycle of violence.

"The position of the Palestinian Authority is clear," said the statement issued by Arafat's office in Ramallah. "We are against any aggression against Palestinian and Israeli civilians."

It's become more than clear over the last 4 years of the Intifada that the "Palestinians" will never pursue anything but the slaughter of Jews and the eradication of the state of Israel as long as Arafat is in charge.
Whether they can change after he's gone remains to be seen.
Apparently, the suicide bombers were able to hit the buses in Beersheba because it's a place in Israel where the security fence isn't in place yet.
What a tragedy--16 dead and over 100 wounded.
Aren't you glad that President Bush has recognized Arafat for the thug that he is and doesn't receive him at the White House, like Clintoon?
Arafat and his death squads from Hamas, Hizbollah or wherever are IslamoFacist killers to be pitilessly defeated and not appeased or accomodated and thank God both Ariel Sharon and our President know this and act accordingly.
God rest the victims of the bombings.
Israel, fight on and build the rest of the fence!

August 31, 2004

Peter Robinson on Republican Convention on National Review Online

Well, I’ll be: Whereas the Democratic delegates seem to have been permitted only professionally printed signs and placards, the Republicans waved a profusion of crudely hand painted signs; whereas the Democratic delegates behaved with an obedient passivity, applauding and cheering only and precisely as they were expected to applaud and cheer, the Republican delegates hooted and hollered and booed — what richness, what sonority, what a sense of release, in the booing directed at Michael Moore! — even when the speakers would clearly have preferred them to stop; and whereas the Democratic delegates found themselves participating in a convention that ran precisely on time, the Republican delegates found themselves in the middle of an event that had careened off schedule, with the final major speaker, Rudy Hizzelf, failing to wrap it up until almost half an hour after primetime had come to an end. In a word: glorious.

About the two headliners, Rudy and John McCain, the first observation is the most important: They were something that the two headliners on the first night of the Democratic convention, Bill and Hillary, simply were not: authentic.

McCain’s speech was beautiful — simply, truly, beautiful — and, by way of tribute to the rhetorical arts, tomorrow morning everyone ought to reread just as much of the text as the New York Times can bring itself to print. The diction was exquisite, the use of parallelism fine, the pacing flawless. And the case: John McCain, a man more thoroughly acquainted with the horrors of war than all but a few now alive, argued soberly, calmly, and in detail, that the present war was not only justified but unavoidable. McCain, as all the world knows, has argued that we committed too few troops to the task. And as he himself said tonight, he honors, and counts as his friends, many Democrats. But on the essential point, the vote that we must cast on November 2, he insisted on unity. I’ve never seen him so selfless, or so good.

Rudy? He went on too long, but who cares? He was tough, funny, and — a peculiar trick — abrasive in a completely charming way. In other words, he personified New York. And the crack about Kerry and John Edwards — that Edwards needs two Americas so Kerry can vote for a measure in one America and then against the very same measure in the other — was a stroke of political genius.

I repeat: Glorious.

It was indeed a glorious evening and 6 hours later, I'm still basking in the warmth and wonder of it all!
McCain's speech was rousing (as was Ron Silver's with his challenge to Hollywood's phony facade of caring about human rights!)--it was truly Sen. McCain's finest hour.
I thought he was going to cry at the end, he seemed to feel what he was saying about supporting President Bush and winning this war so intensely.
His speech even moved the Dims, if WaPo articles like this one by the poisonous Richard Cohen are any example:
Needed: Straight Talk From Kerry
Where's our McCain, the Libs wanna know?
Well, you're looking in the wrong party, my friends!
And McCain's dig at Michael Moore's fraudulent movie was just too delicious, made all the sweeter by the fact that Moore was there "covering" the convention for USAToday.
The lady family members of 9/11 victims--Debra Burlingame (whose brother was the pilot of the plane that hit the Pentagon), Deanna Burnett (whose husband was one of the Flight 93 heroes) and Tara Stackpole (whose husband was one of the 343 firefighters who died in the Towers)-- moved me to tears again with their stories and their call to support Bush as a way to honor the sacrifice of their loved ones.
I was also touched by the words of Zainab Al-Suwaij, the Iraqi woman living in this country now who got quite upset when she stated that "Saddam was a murderer." and who seemed to speak from the heart when she thanked President Bush and all of us for liberating the country of her birth.
Rudy's speech was very powerful...funny, emphatic, persuasive, cogent; you could see how he would have been a formidable prosecutor and for the first time, I saw he could be an awesome president (2008, perhaps?).
Rudy's best point, IMHO, was that he stressed that President Bush has stayed the course with his plan to take the fight to the terrorists, even though it has cost him popularity and brought so much criticism on his head.
Rudy knows that Bush will do the right thing for this country and our security, not the popular thing or the thing the polls say to do, like a Clinton or a Kerry.
All in all, it was an unforgettable night of stirring speeches and I can only hope you saw it, too, even though the major networks didn't carry it (as powerful as it was, you can easily see why! They're just plain afraid of the power of the GOP message.).
If you didn't or if you'd like to hear the speeches again, here's a link to the video:
Video: Major Convention Speeches