Blog @ MoreWhat.com

Since the Democrats and Republicans can’t seem to stop
abusing each other and otherwise engaging in behavior
conducive only to campaign misdirection rather than a
productive approach to solving national problems, just
a little history might help.

Today’s blogosphere presented two repetitive themes on
left and right rants. From the right, the President’s
stay the course posture for Iraq was supported by the
right and opposed by the left. In addition, a movie is
being talked about that involves a fictional account of
the assassination of the President. If any American was
involved in the production of this film they should be
ashamed. But that’s another story for later.

The first parallel offered from American history is the
administration of Woodrow Wilson, who ran on a platform
of no war for America. He proposed a New World Order.
He sought economic reforms in banking, trade and ending
corporate abuses. His administration used more military
intervention than his predecessors. The US entered World
War I on April 2, 1917 a month after his re-election.
His Freedom platform was aggressive and domestic policy
was set aside after entering the war. Sound familiar.
One more thing, he was a Democrat. Party doesn’t matter.

Americans have never wanted war. The two best reasons
for going to war were World War I and II. And yet in
both cases there was no initial public support for such
an endeavor.

Isolation, anti-war sentiment and a military weakened by
national policies plagued the United States before the
World Wars and others. How many of these scenarios do
we get to repeat before disaster?

During a war is a bad time to ask if another solution is
available. Whining that we were misled by the President
will not allow us to rewind the tape and start over. As
an equal absurdity, supporting the decision to go to war
based on false pretense. Neither position is valid. The
time for this debate is after not during a war.

Beltway Traffic Jam

C. Harris
MoreWhat.com staff

Democrats Edge Closer to Becoming French

Making Light: Further instances of astroturf in blogs

The link above is a post we found interesting. A little poking
around and we found an interesting connection.

from the Asia Times

If the allegations are true, it wouldn’t be the first such incident.
In 1991, prior to the first Gulf War, president George H W Bush
signed an executive order directing the Central Intelligence
Agency to create the conditions for Saddam Hussein’s removal.
So the CIA hired a PR firm called the Rendon Group to run an
anti-Saddam propaganda campaign.

As part of that campaign, the group founded the Iraqi National
Congress headed by Iraqi exile Ahmad Chalabi. Writing in The
New Yorker magazine, investigative journalist Seymour Hersh
said the Rendon Group paid “close to a hundred million dollars”
of CIA money to the INC.

MoreWhat.com staff comment: Okay, Seymour, that’s a lotta
bucks. We’re a little more interested in the other parts. We’re
not real surprised about the money. That fine folks telling us
they want freedom from tyranny and to build a strong and
free country should have a little nest egg. Regime change is
tough work. What did Ahmad Chalabi do to provoke the wrath
of his friends in Washington, D.C.?

Back to the orginal point regarding the Rendon Group. Why are
they included in the discussion of astroturfing in blogs? Does
someone have something approaching the definition of evidence?
Seems as though they have the resume for it.

A discussion of interest rates and inflation awaits at Outside the Beltway.
One of our favorite blogs Outside the Beltway is. Starting to sound like
Yoda.

Here is the link

Here is our comment regarding this post and the economy:

The Fed regularly links control of inflation as one concern in regulating
money supply. Investment gurus like Marting Zweig and Peter Lynch
place significant emphasis on both interest rates and inflation. The impact
of the bad boys from Enron, WorldCom and investment banking on Wall
Street have more impact on this subject than people would like to believe.

What I can’t understand in all the discussions of the state of the economy,
even discounting political rhetoric, is why no one focuses on the leading
market indexes or indices as being historically flat for the past five years.
11000 on the Dow was reached five years ago or so and we’re still dang-
ling around that number. Even though a market index is merely an adjusted
representation of the health of a selected number of stocks and the index
components change, there is still a psychological effect on the market that
is very real. If not a trigger for market movement up or down than why do
we obsess about its value so much?

I contend that we never surfaced from the last economic dive and are
floundering to find a true course and as such will probably continue to
wander aimlessly until resolution on some matters is sufficient to cause
some serious sustained economic growth.

Posted by Stanford Matthews at August 30, 2006 18:58

Checking the blogroll is something we try to do from time to time.
It may even cause us to make adjustments. So, right down the list
then. Ok, we’ll skip the first one mostly. 2nd MoreWhat Blog is
just what it says. We opened a blog at LiveUrinal LiveJournal to
post to a blog — needed to register. Someone thought it would be
handy but we keep passing the note with the username & pwd but
no one wants to take care of it. We’ll try later.

Allas Schrugs is some sort of anomaly. The super hero thing was
a nice touch. But the from the beach VLOG just shows how bad
the VLOG trend is getting. We also appreciate the reminder that
the best seller The Shadow Party is out there. Our first thought is
the book is a treatment of sinister politics which in itself is totally
redundant, but is this just one agenda working up a bad rap for the
other agenda while making a tidy profit at the best seller list? So
are question is the super girl pic on Atlas Schrugs a real girl and is
that supposed to be who is generating the content. Really, how big
of a staff. Her name is what? Geller? Whatever. Next blog.

Blog for America is a misnomer if you didn’t notice. What should
it really be, Blog for Dean or Blog for Dems or Blogging for $$$
or Blogging for Votes? Aw, we picked on ‘em enough this week.

Crooks & Liars seems left enough. Merely by the theme and logo
one would draw that conclusion. An open thread and what appears
a tribute to Free of Alright Now fame graces the top of the page. A
reference to a reference on macaca and Sen Allan is filed under, you
guessed it, racism. Whatever happened to Lefties slamming Righties
of being blindly loyal to big business and Righties slamming Lefties
for being tax and spend?

The Daily Kos with the long anticpated dedication to the Hurricane
anniversary for Katrina. Along with everyone else that has written
about it, Kos contributors lament the passing of things and an early
epitaph flavored account for New Orleans and other topics laden
with depressing rapidity. Only a visitor recently, may be it will get
better for us.

The Daily Pundit serves up a food post, a vague Tancredo reference
to a presidential bid and mention of Stone’s 9/11 movie. Well that’s
better than more Katrina babble. Essays and reports broadcast this
day have New Orleans residents (some) expressing their avoidance
of commemoreations today. Probably cuz the next day it’s just like
it was for them the day before.

Dems are next up and that’s reason enough to interrupt this elctrifying
review of blogs on our blogroll. If you see the page listed near the
top with Hurricane in the title, take a look. We try to keep it low key
but nonetheless wish to continue pressing to remind people not all the
ones responsible for letting New Orleans get submerged have been
help accountable yet. You may consider easing up on those whom
you beat to gaze at the other suspects.

Stanford Matthews

We managed a few stories not related to politics. This way we do not feel
too bad for heading back there so soon. Yes, checked the Blog for America
stuff and here we go.

The link for the DFA post & comment is here

And our comment somehow was printed below.
It is written by Stanford Matthews

watch Plan B report / Real broadband - download
watch Plan B report / Real broadband
watch Plan B report / Real dialup - download
watch Plan B report / Real dialup

American women over the age of 18 can now buy a controversial drug that acts as a contraceptive after unprotected sex. The drug is called “Plan B” and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has approved its sale with without a prescription. As VOA’s Melinda Smith reports, Plan B is still the focus of strong debate.

The Plan B package

If the Plan B pill is taken within 72 hours of unprotected sex, it blocks ovulation and reduces the odds of implantation of a fertilized egg. It is considered to be an effective type of birth control. Some say it is another form of abortion. It took three years for the pill to win approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. One government official resigned in protest over the delay.

Wendy Wright, of the conservative group Concerned Women for America, opposed the pill’s approval for over the counter sale: “Making this drug non-prescription gives a false sense of security.”

Pharmacies have been selling the drug by prescription since 1999. Young women under the age of 18 must still obtain permission to use the pill from a doctor. Gynecologist Robin Kalish of Cornell University’s medical center says the Plan B’s availability will most affect young women:

“Often women who are 18 to 22 don’t have an obstetrician-gynecologist, and therefore don’t have somebody to call if they need this medication,” said the doctor.

Young women on college campuses are divided about the availability of Plan B:

“I think it should be available for a woman to make that choice whether or not they want to take it,” said one student.

“First of all, I wouldn’t get myself in that situation and second of all, if I did, I mean…I’d take responsibility for it. I wouldn’t take a pill for it and kill whatever is in there,” countered another.

The Plan B pill will range in price from $25 to $40 per box. Other forms of contraception, which require some advance planning, are much cheaper.

We have a little comment at Tongue Tied dealing with
the title post. Feel free to take a look with link below.

Tongue Tied Post / Comments Link

Our comment deals with current conflict and the three
religions most involved in them. Please, no bombs.

We like the question of the day at the link below simply because
after posing it Al Gore’s name and the 2000 election are mentioned
(again and again and again)

Shakespeare’s Sister

Immigration Stories From Around the World:

Immigration kicks out 797 aliens
By Rio N. Araja

More and more foreigners have been refused entry as the
immigration bureau stays on alert against human traffickers,
terrorists, and other undesirable aliens. (more)

Feds Bust 25 Illegal Alien Sexual
Predators in Los Angeles
A Mexican national who attempted to kidnap a seven-
year-old girl from a local Laundromat is one of 25
persons arrested by US Immigration
By Jim Kouri, CPP, 8/26/2006 (more)

Suspect in Mexican killings underscores
revolving door at U.S.-Mexico border
Man has long history of convictions,
deportations in United States.

By Jay Root
McCLATCHY NEWSPAPERS
Sunday, August 27, 2006 (more)

A Long Flight of No Return: Illegal
Immigrants Deported to Native Countries

Wednesday, July 26, 2006
By N.C. Aizenman
The Washington Post

Jose de Jesus Galea, 37, heading to El
Salvador for the first time in 21 years,
was convicted of assaulting two police
officers in Virginia. “I will miss
everything about the United States,”
he said. “I had my whole life here.”
(more)

HIDING IN PLAIN SIGHT
Money transfers mounting
U.S. encourages cash flow across border
as tool to deter illegal immigration
BINYAMIN APPELBAUM, RICK ROTHACKER
AND FRANCO ORDOÑEZ
Staff Writers

To curb illegal immigration, the federal
government has posted soldiers on the
Mexican border, arrested workers at job
sites, and talked about making it a felony
to enter the U.S. without permission.

But it puts greater hope in a relatively
unknown and unlikely strategy: increasing
the amount of money immigrants send back
to Mexico.

The Bush administration says the billions
sent south each year can be used to build
the Mexican economy, thereby reducing
immigration. For the past five years, the
government has worked with Mexico and money
senders to reduce the cost of remittances,
and increase the volume. (more)

With the exception of the topic of immigration, we have been trying
to divert our attention from politics and present other noteworthy
current events. But some politically related stories you just can not
ignore.

From the man who brought you the internet and election mysteries,
a call for shifting the content of television from broadcast, cable and
satellite providers to the public.

It seems silly to us to convert television to a public forum since the
internet is already a public forum. Not to mention the advertising
dollars that cover the costs of production and generation of profit
would likely disappear if TV was merely a public forum.

Gore wants this for the public to challenge politicisns campaign ads
and is characterized as the “need for citizens to rejoin the democratic
process” Process? Or rejoin the Democratic party?

We think Mr. Gore is still lamenting the 2000 election. For other
reasons Al, so are we.

This is a helluva thing to see with your morning coffee.
Possibly the most talked about Defense Secretary in US
history has suggested replacing nuclear warheads on
ICBMs with conventional warheads for use against the
terrorists.

Aside from the citizens of the US, it is reasonable to think
those in the rest of the world might get a little jumpy if the
US military launches an ICBM against “terrorists” even if
Rummy says they have NO warhead.

Almost could cause one to miss the Cold War. (almost)

Dems should feel better now. Not because they did anything to be
proud about, but the GOP news releases are as lame as yours. How
could that hapen? We keep telling you. Party politics are for the
self-serve community. Here’s some more self-serving releases from
the GOP to accompany same from the Dems.

NO 1:
A promo for a Republican candidate. Hey, GOP, heard it before.
Might even be the exact same words with a different name inserted.
Stop telling us how wonderful your candidates are. Issue a press
release when they do something worthwhile. And only then if the
worthiness of the act has been confirmed by at least three people
not affiliated with any political organization.

NO 2:
Same fodder, different candidate. Our same concern and answer.

NO:3
The GOP and the Dems lose on this one. The Dems fired the first
volley by allowing Howard Dean to speak. And the GOP equalled
their stupidity by replying. A bipartisan effort to waste time.
Congratulations.

Okay, there was MoreWhat.com’s version of fair and balanced. We
only hope now that Fox News won’t sue us for using their part of
the English language. Actually, we’re a bit lazy on that point. Can’t
remember if the suit was laughed out of court, but we think so.

from the staff:
MoreWhat.com
Blog @ MoreWhat.com
Forum @ MoreWhat.com

Another reason to post about the Democratic Party. People, we
keep trying to find things to applaud but it’s not working out. This
would be the press release section of democrats.org.

NO 1:
Does not require a great deal of imagination to guess what the Dems
first release concerns. Yup, Hurricane Katrina, they will keep on
pounding this until everyone stops feeling sympathy for victims. It
is another excuse to criticize President Bush under the guise of the
compassion they should have for victims. It serves nicely as well to
bring out the race card and pander to their imported base.

NO 2:
Nothin’ like followin’ up with a 2nd dose by certifiable Dean.

NO 3:
Sure, let’s talk about how Iran is not a threat. Like you would know
anyway. How about trying to find fact on Iran rather than fault with
your opponent. You know, serve the public rather than your own
selfish ambitions.

NO 4:
There will be no number four. The rest of these releases are not any
better than the first three.

Fear not, we will soon come back with the GOP stuff. If we ever get
lucky, we’ll come back with some intelligent press releases. But don’t
hold your breath, that’s not likely to be found.

Nice to see someone else be critical of the bias of partisan politics. The danger is when its influence clouds the judgment of those in positions of authority. Bad enough when it weakens the reasoning of mere mortals. Affecting law and policy is when that influence contributes to society’s decay.

Here’s a link to Power Line Blog. Read on.