Un-Reserved

I was wrong, I’m sorry to say. Senator Kerry gave a speech that, when decoded, was consistant with his record. He is running left with a thin coat of centrist rhetorical varnish. He all but said “Bush lied” in the opening minute or so when he referred to Bush taking the nation to war on an assertion of weapons of mass destruction. And the talk of “taking back our democracy itself” plays staight into the Gore-Moore narrative.

I note that the AP radio news made sure to include sound bites of Kerry saying we are going to be one country “red white and blue” and saying that people of faith are included. Not that the AP o¬

Michael Moore basks in the lime light at the Democratic Party Convention. Conservative pundits and operatives salivate over turning Kerry and Moore into siamese twins, joined at the hip. After recovering a bit from thatimage, consider the possibility that Kerry and his campaign are crazy like a fox.

What if Kerry stands up tomorrow night and makes Michael Moore his Sista Soulja? Doesn’t he get 100% credit from the media and most Americans? The base knew that Clinton had to do what he did and will understand if Kerry fronts up on Moore — completely wrong-footing the Republicans. The Democratic Party activists have already swallowed a watered-down platform to get back into power, why not a ritual sacrifice on the altar of political necessity?

So will it happen?

There is a one word answer to the Kerry campaign’s “I Served in Vietnam” mantra: “McGovern.” The one sentence answer is “McGovern was a World War Two hero.” Kerry served four months in combat as a swift boat commander, while McGovern served the maximum allowed missions as a bomber pilot over Europe. Both men were horribly, tragically wrong about dealing with communism. The American people were right to reject a WWII war hero (McGovern) for a WWII REMF (Nixon), and they would now be right to reject a Vietnam war veteran for a Vietnam era state-side Air Guard pilot if the Guard pilot has a better record and vision for national security and domestic progress. Oh by the way, what of Marshal Petan? A great French WWI hero, but wrong about the proper handling of the Nazis.

Scouting jetliners for new attacks - The Washington Times: Nation/Politics - July 22, 2004
FAQ on Predicted California Earthquake “The prediction is for a magnitude 6.4 or greater earthquake to occur between January 5 and September 5, 2004, within a 12,440 sq. miles area of southern California . . . It’s notable because of the group’s apparent success in predicting the magnitude 8.1 earthquake in Hokkaido, Japan in September 2003 and last December’s magnitude 6.5 San Simeon quake. . . . The work of the Keilis-Borok team is a legitimate approach to earthquake prediction research.”

Governor Schwarzenegger can significantly improve both state and national readiness and can avoid a crisis in public confidence by calling no-notice emergency response drills immediately. His personal attention would ensure every state and local official was not in business-as-usual mode, would give him first hand knowledge of the state of the state in emergency readiness, and so would give him ammunition to demand specific internal improvements and specific federal assistance. The end results would be improved readiness in our largest state, increased public attention and confidence, and deterrance to terrorists who see major targets hardened against them.

No-notice drills are essential because they give you a true picture of actual readiness, unlike planned drills. Local, state and federal officials have conducted planned drills all over the country and surely have learned a lot. Now it is time to put an edge on with surprise drills.

If Gov. Schwarzenegger and other governors personally call and personally observe no-notice drills, they will get a clear grasp of what is and is not working. The drills should end with a verbal after-action review capturing how emergency response plans actually played out and identifying fixes in both planning and execution at the local, state, and federal level. The governor should leave each drill with a short list of actions and resources required at the state and federal level and should be on the phone with Secretary Ridge and President Bush about needs for federal improvements.

In the GWOT, the U.S. continues to botch the information campaign on both the domestic and foreign fronts, reacting and giving muddled messages that do not translate into American living rooms, lunch rooms, coffee houses and bars.

Here is an oportunity to do the right thing and get on the information offensive at the same time. The day after Kerry’s acceptance speech, President Bush needs to be in El Salvador standing beside the newly elected Salvadoran president to praise real political courage and clear-sightedness, to plainly and repeatedly state that El Salvador is only a real democracy today, instead of a “peoples republic,” because of a handful of Democrats joining the Republican Party in rejecting the Kerry/Kennedy wing’s tragicly flawed view of capitalist democracy and the U.S. military as bad and Marxist movements as genuinely interested in liberating people from corrupt regimes.

Kerry/Kennedy prevailed in Southwest Asia and the people there are still struggling to gain freedom under socialist regimes after horrific repression, systematic torture and mass murder. Kerry/Kennedy lost in Central and South American and the liberty trees are already yielding enough fruit to export to other lands yearning to be free. Kerry/Kennedy have learned nothing from their own experience and advocate continuing the same failed strategy with assurances that the results will be different — indicating ideological insanity.

You may vaguely remember
a story about a heroic Salvadoran corporal defending his wounded comrades against a rabble of Iraqi hard boyz — charging them with his knife when he and his comrades ran out of ammo. The rabble broke and fled from this fiery warrior wielding cold steel (actually the steel is quite hot in the desert sun). Additionally, the Salvadorans refused to cut and run with the Spanish in April and now have the praise of real freedom-loving people:
Salvadoran Army Cited for Heroism in Iraq. Following the Salvadoran presidential election, the president resisted interal opposition (perhaps from the old Marxists?) and got the legislature to approve a year’s EXTENSION of the mission in Iraq with a third rotation to start soon.

SO . . . President Bush should immediately reinforce our allies, make the ugly truth of our Left’s history in the last global ideological struggle plain, challenge the American people with the consequences of our presidental election for the current global ideological struggle, and personally pin the highest medal he can give to Corporal Samuel Toloza standing before the Salvadoran people.