I report, you comment
Looks like mayonnnaise isn't the only thing that comes in a jar...

(Does this post have an ulterior motive? Yes and no. I'm not what conclusions, if any, I'd draw from the story. You can use me as a straw-man if you want but any opinion you attribute to me might be wrong if only because I haven't fleshed it out that far yet.)

Speaking of personal apologies from Democrats
On the subject of this ad, somebody needs to be apologizing to someone. Tell me again which party is for sexual tolerance and which one for homophobia?

Quoting from part of an e-mail forward
Dear Senator Kerry,

I was very disappointed to hear of your intention to vote with the president
on the Iraq resolution. Please reconsider. I heard part of the senate
debate yesterday (senators Byrd, Levin) and was heartened to hear some thoughtful
dissent. You and I and everyone else who can think independently knows that
if Iraq were really posing an imminent threat, Israel would act (unilaterally
if need be) as they have done in the past.

Uh, excuse me? You've seen how the world of public opinion reams Israel when it so much as lays a finger on a Palestinian terrorist. Do people seriously think that Israel could pull something off like this and not lose everything?

If nothing else, remember your Gulf War history! There was a whole diplomatic to-do about making sure Israel wouldn't retaliate when scuds were fired at it, for fear of breaking up the anti-Saddam Arab coalition.

The rest of the e-mail was blah blah secure re-election blah oil blah cronys.

Which again is manifest economic bullshit: If you're selling oil, the last thing you want is a competitor to drive the prices down.

"sense of honor"
No, Gray Davis, if you had any "sense of honor," you'd get your sorry, sold-to-the-highest-bidder ass out of my state house.

F*cker.

If this guy ever seeks national office and meets even modest success, I want every Democrat I know to apologize to me personally.

Letter of the day (not sent to me)
(But rather to Glenn Reynolds, aka Instapundit.)

I quoted the whole thing since it's quite eloquent; you can get the primary source here)

As a servicemember, I'm continually amazed by the lengths that some will go to "use me" as a prop for their point of view. To wit, the quote from Rep. Lloyd Doggett, D-Texas, commenting on the President's speech last night:

"If the quality of his evidence matched the quality of his oratory, I'd be 'ready to roll.' But his repeated references to 9/11, despite his advisers' admission that no such link to this terrorism exists, show how very weak the case for war now really is. My concern is that a near-unilateral land invasion of Iraq will endanger thousands of young Americans now while exposing our families to terrorism for years to come in what will be perceived by too many as a new crusade against Islam."

My primary beef, aside from the usual "weak case" rhetoric, is with this rather shameless use of the "young Americans" scare tactic. It pains me to be seen as a pawn in this game, especially since the servicemembers that I know are not really interested in how much danger we might face -- as long as we can go in with the right tools, support and mission, we don't mind danger. After all, isn't that what we're trained for?

However, Rep. Scaremonger has no interest whatsoever in my well-being, or else he'd have complained more vociferously about the last president's little escapades. The rhetoric is not matched by any sign of real concern, such as seeing to it that my ships get the gear they need or my men get the support they need. Guess that wasn't on his "to do" list.

Bottom line: The Armed Forces of the United States are ready, willing and able to take out the targets directed by the President. No amount of armchair QB'ing by the donks will change that, nor will their shameless use of the "danger" that I may face affect my readiness.

The money sentence (to me) from the transcript of the Bush speech
And we know that after September 11, Saddam Hussein's regime gleefully celebrated the terrorist attacks on America.

This! I actually remember noticing at the time. At least other powerful people-who-hate-the-U.S. pretented to feel remorse for the attack rather than congratulating the attackers. I remember thinking that the gloating from Baghdad probably (hopefully!) sealed that regime's doom.

By the way I highly recommend reading transcripts of presidential speeches rather than watching them live. It's the only way to see just how empty (if admittedly well-delivered) Clinton's speeches always were, or to be moved by a Bush speech without being distracted by his awkward speaking persona.

Bill Simon Update
This weekend I saw a Simon commercial and a Gray Davis commercial, both during baseball coverage. Two reactions:

1. Simon won my vote. (Okay, maybe I'm easy-to-please and maybe the warm fuzzy guy-and-his-family campaign ads are trite, but now I do like him.)

2. He's probably going to lose the election though.

Nonetheless I'll vote for him and hope, which is all one can really do.

My charming city
Life in downtown San Francisco. For what it's worth, the homeless are orders of magnitude more visible -- and more belligerent -- here than in Boston. I suspect either the better weather or bigger welfare state lures people here. After all, as long as you have feet or can hitch a ride, you can move around the country and all.

Am I one of these people?
South Park Republicans, that is. I fit the part and I'd wear the label as a badge of honor.

Three nitpicks:
1. Why the columnist spells the show's name with one word is beyond me.

2. "Southpark Republicans are true Republicans, though they do not look or act like Pat Robertson." For pete's sake, how badly does a guy have to get his ass kicked when he runs for president (1988) before people realize that he does not even come close to speaking for his party? I get so sick of hearing about him, mainly because he seems to exist to be a strawman. I can't even think of a Democrat who serves this role the other way; only Hillary Rodham comes close. (Democrats out there, who are you most ashamed to be unfairly associated with?).

3. Before South Park, anyone who read this guy filled a similar niche. Heck, even Dave Barry... well, Barry's probably no Republican but he's certainly a (small-L) libertarian.