This is why Geroge bush will win a second term. It's pretty easy to find pictures like these on the internet. Try finding similar pictures of John Kerry (family and fellow politicos don't count). It's surpisingly difficult.

Say what you want, but I believe President Bush is as sincere as they come - and these pictures prove it.

"Val Kilmer Is Moses"

He Sings, He Dances, He Parts the Red Sea

Oy vey.

I'm John Kerry, and I approve this message.

Kerry Ad Falsely Accuses Cheney on Halliburton

This article goes into excruciating detail to show that you can't even call the information in Kerry's ad misleading - it's totally unfounded.

You have to read the whole thing if you believe we are in Iraq for Cheney and Halliburton. By the way, did you know that Halliburton stock is DOWN since Cheney was sworn in as vice-president? AND they're now trying to sell off their KBR division which is doing most of the work in Iraq.

But in the eyes of some investors, the most damning thing about KBR is that it doesn't make any money.

To my point yesterday about the political environment at my alma mater, there was a "panel" discussion on "George W. Bush as CEO? Why Pennsylvania Will Be Better Off Under John Kerry"

Of course, speakers from all political views need to be heard on campus, but I thought that panel discussions were supposed to be debates between different point of views, not one-note speeches from professors and community members.

This is not to say that I disagree with the theme of the discussion (Bush's leadership qualities) and I actually think some good points against Bush are made in the article.

If I see anything about conservative professors speaking on campus, I'll let you know to be fair.

Here's a headline that has so little to do with the article it leads into that I'm not sure that the editor wasn't dunk - or biased...

Like That 'Fahrenheit' Film, Except Bush Is the Hero

I think think it's worth it to post the whole thing - count (in bold) the number of times the article mentions how the movie is unlike Fahrenheit 9/11, whether it is the opinion of the filmmaker, journalist or viewer.

WASHINGTON, Sept. 29 - The Republicans finally have Hollywood's answer to Michael Moore: "Celsius 41.11 - The Temperature at Which the Brain Begins to Die," a documentary made in six weeks that is billed as "The Truth Behind the Lies of Fahrenheit 9/11!"

After its premiere in Georgetown on Tuesday night, there seemed to be two prevailing sentiments among the solidly Republican crowd of 300. One was that the film is a lot more thoughtful and accurate than "Fahrenheit 9/11." The other was that it is not going to gross $100 million.

But then, that was not the point, as the Hollywood conservatives (yes, there are some) who made it kept insisting.

"We could have gone wall to wall with red meat on this, but we purposely didn't," said Lionel Chetwynd, a writer and producer of the film. His credits include the screenplay for "The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz" and documentaries on D-Day, Vietnam and Sept. 11, and he is billed as a special guest at the Liberty Film Festival, "Hollywood's first conservative film festival," running Friday through Sunday. "The cheap shots may be entertaining in Moore's film," he added, "but we wanted to make the intellectual case and go beyond lecturing to the converted."

Hollywood's version of the presidential campaign seems to be an inverse of the one being waged out of Washington. Democrats have been lamenting that their candidate is too much brain, too little heart, in contrast to the Republicans' emotionally appealing message.

But on the big screen, the Republicans are taking the wonk approach in an attempt to show that their brains have not overheated. "Celsius 41.11" offers a point-by-point defense of President Bush (listed on the screen like a PowerPoint presentation) by politicians, journalists and scholars discoursing on the legality of the Florida recount in 2000, the Clinton administration's record on fighting terrorism and the theory of American exceptionalism.

The film does have a few "Fahrenheit"-style juxtapositions, like an image of the World Trade Center burning as Mr. Moore declares: "This needs to be said on national television. There is no terrorist threat." The discussion of Europe's slow response to Hitler is illustrated with a picture of French antiwar demonstrators in 1938 holding up signs saying "Non" - which inspired a hiss from the Republicans on Tuesday.

Senator John Kerry is serenaded with a new song (written and recorded on deadline last weekend) by Larry Gatlin, the country-music star. Sounding a bit like Pete Seeger, he sings, "John boy, please tell us which way the wind's blowing." But it's not even accompanied by the famous shot of Mr. Kerry windsurfing.

"It would be easy to string together a montage of Kerry footage as the man of athletic leisure, make him out to be a wealthy dilettante, the way that Moore did with Bush," Mr. Chetwynd said, alluding to the recurrent images of Mr. Bush on vacation in "Fahrenheit 9/11." "But we wanted to deconstruct the anybody-but-Bush argument by taking Kerry on his own terms, as a serious man."

The film was financed and produced by Citizens United, a conservative group in Washington. In June it asked the Federal Elections Commission to stop Mr. Moore from running advertisements for his film during the period before the election when political commercials by outside groups are restricted. That complaint was dismissed after Mr. Moore said he would not run the commercials in question.

In a separate ruling this month, the commission refused to allow Citizens United to advertise "Celsius 41.11" or pay to run it on television. David N. Bossie, the group's president, said this week that several distributors were interested in "Celsius 41.11" and that he hoped it would appear in theaters within two weeks.

No one, including its creators, expects the film to have the popular impact of "Fahrenheit 9/11," and the premiere Tuesday lacked the array of Washington celebrities who turned out for Mr. Moore's opening. But those who did show up seemed delighted that someone was finally taking on Mr. Moore.

"This film wins an entry into the debate," said Jerome R. Corsi, an author of "Unfit for Command," the best-selling critique of Mr. Kerry's Vietnam record. "It's going to be talked about."

Debra Burlingame, whose brother was the pilot of the airplane that crashed into the Pentagon on Sept. 11, said she found the film's sober tone a welcome contrast to Mr. Moore's approach.

"Michael Moore actually used footage of the Pentagon in flames as a sight gag," said Ms. Burlingame, a founder of a group of relatives of Sept. 11 victims who are supporting Mr. Bush. "It was really hard to sit there in the theater listening to people laugh at that scene knowing my brother was on that plane. I wish more people would see this film instead."

The one and only positive comparison to fahrenheit 9/11 are stylistic references to a few scenes in the film which are only noteworthy becuase they are indeed "few".

There is also no mention of Bush being protrayed as a "hero" as written in the headline. It just says that he was being defended.

Tonight, Sukkot begins - chag sameach to everyone. For the first time in my life I bought a sukkah and put it up in our backyard (actually the patio). It's one of those metal frame easy-to-put-together jobs and it really was. It only took my dad and I alittle over an hour to put together, and I'm sure we'll do it much faster in the future, G-d willing.

Here's all you need to know about the holiday.

From Chabad
From Aish.com

It was so close to perfect. Nicholas Kristof writes a scathing piece about the disgusting - no inhuman - treatment of women in the third world. The pitch is perfect. The tone was so personal that I myself wanted to protect the Pakistani woman in the story from personal harm.

And then to end the story he spouts his usual line of liberal claptrap on what he thinks we need to do to make sure this type of thing doesn't happen anymore.

We in the West could help chip away at that oppression, with health and literacy programs and by simply speaking out against it, just as we once stood up against slavery and totalitarianism.

Health and literacy programs?!? Speaking out?!? Does he have any freaking clue how many MILLIONS of people died in war fighting to end slavery and totalitarianism??? Also, if he thinks that these things ended because of people who "spoke out" - there were after all strong abolitionist and pro-human rights groups in existence - none of it came about until these people were attacked physically by the forces of darkness, when it was almost too late to salvage their own societies.

How the hell are "we in the West" supposed to fund and manage health and literacy programs to the other 80% of the world's population? And in societies that don't give rights to women (assuming anyone has any rights), how could we ever ensure that these services get to women at all and don't provide even more of an advantage to the men?

If Kristof had any balls, he would tell the men who want to kill Mukhtaran Bibi that while he is building the local library and health clinic, should any harm come to Mukhtaran, or anyone in her family, that he will be sure to bring in the US Marines and kill every single one of them, but not without first having their balls cut off and served to them on a bed of lettuce for breakfast. No, better yet, serve them someone elses balls on a bed of lettuce while having them watch someone else eat their own.

----------------------------------------------------

And if you don't think this kind of thing works in the real world, here is a story about Ronald Reagan (thanks to Zarq for the link to this article - although I'm sure his intent was not for it to be used in this way!)

When running against Jimmy Carter, in 1980, Reagan was asked to name the current President of Iran, which was then holding Americans hostage. "Well, I don't know his name," Reagan replied with a smile. "But let me tell you, if I become President, he's going to get to know mine."

The hostages were freed the moment Reagan was sworn into office.

The Old Grey Mayor takes on the Old Grey Lady. (That's Ed Koch vs. the NYT)

Do Terrorists Prefer One Candidate Over Another?

The Times editorial went on to say that “It is absolutely not all right for anyone on [President Bush’s] team to suggest that Mr. Kerry is the favored candidate of the terrorists.” But shouldn't the real question be, "Do terrorists in fact prefer one candidate over another?"

No one is suggesting that Islamic terrorists approve of any American presidential candidate, all of whom are Christians. According to Bernard Lewis, America's foremost scholar on Islam, “The Wahhabi demand, as far as I know, is not that Christians and Jews convert to Islam, but that they accept the supremacy of Islam and the rule of the Muslim state. On that condition, they may continue in the practice of their religion.”

But just as I and millions of Americans believe Kerry and Bush differ in their approaches to international terrorism, you can be certain that bin Laden, al-Zarqawi and other Islamic terrorists recognize these differences. Surely they know which presidential candidate would be more likely to wage war against them and the countries that harbor them, with or without United Nations support, and pursue them until they are defeated.

I'm pretty tired of my friends and others like Barbara Streisand on the Left telling me that the Right stifles free speech and protest becuase Republicans don't allow liberals to disrupt their private events.

On a related note to prove the opposite, there's an undisputed trend on university campuses, the most influential centers of American teaching and thought, not to prevent free speech per se but by punishing speech they don't like and refusing to punish those who initimidate others.

Critical letter circulates among profs

Richetti sent the letter to express his discontent with statements made by the director of the Annenberg Public Policy Center, Kathleen Hall Jamieson, in an article in the New York Times this past Sunday.

------------------------------
(I have posted the statements here)

"It is possible to be decisive and not sound decisive," said Kathleen Hall Jamieson, the director of the Annenberg Public Policy Center at the University of Pennsylvania. "People who speak in sentences that contain parenthetical phrases, people who begin a sentence and then deflect to add a series of illustrative examples before they end the sentences" do not seem authoritative, she said. "The language of decisiveness is subject, verb, object, end sentence."

Equally important to Mr. Kerry, she said, is to refrain from using words like "gilded" and "panoply" at the lectern, as he has on the stump.

"Words found on the SAT verbal exam," she added, "should not appear in candidate's speeches."

----------------------------------

"The theory of communication she enunciates is in my view nothing less than Hitlerian and [endorses] demagoguery of a pernicious kind with appalling complacency," his letter concluded.

While admitting that "there is some truth in what [Jamieson] is saying," Richetti warned that this type of analysis is "condescending not only to the electorate but to democracy."

Calling himself a "rabid anti-Bush Kerry supporter," Richetti acknowledges that he is hardly non-partisan.

"I think [George W.] Bush is the worst president the U.S. has ever had," he said, "and I've been through a lot of them."

Imagine despising a colleague so much that you felt you needed to send a note to everyone in your department criticizing them as basically Hitler's disciple. How dare she criticize John Kerry's speaking style. I bet she doesn't try that again!

I did not see anything in the article about a response from the University.

This is a cool site if you've ever been, or never been, to Israel. The mix of the modern and the ancient, the sea and the mountains, and the different cultures is really stunning for such a small place.

Israelimages.com

This is pretty sad. Priests brawl over church door

Greek Orthodox and Franciscan priests got into a fist fight Monday at the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, Christianity's holiest shrine, after arguing over whether a door in the basilica should be closed during a procession.

I understand that the fighting only intensified when a visiting nun shouted from the bathroom, "Which one of you guys left the seat up?"

Nice. We should have more of this.

Muslim & Rabbi Sending Message Of Tolerance In Tyler

From their opposing beliefs to the very different languages they speak, to Anwar Khalifa, a Muslim, and Neal Katz, a Rabbi, the season for unity amongst their cultures was long overdue. The unlikely pair is teaming up with Habitat for Humanity of Smith County to build a home for a family in need. It's a project that's unprecedented in East Texas and in some parts of the world.

Let's see - the Russians have their own problems closer to home, and the French and Germans are already saying that Kerry cannot expect any support from them in Iraq.

French and German government officials say they will not significantly increase military assistance in Iraq even if John Kerry, the Democratic presidential challenger, is elected on November 2.

Mr Kerry, who has attacked President George W. Bush for failing to broaden the US-led alliance in Iraq, has pledged to improve relations with European allies and increase international military assistance in Iraq.

"I cannot imagine that there will be any change in our decision not to send troops, whoever becomes president," Gert Weisskirchen, member of parliament and foreign policy expert for Germany's ruling Social Democratic Party, said in an interview.

Time for Kerry to come up with Iraq policy number 23.

Fly me to the moon
Let me sing among those stars
Let me see what spring is like
On Jupiter and Mars....

Sir Richard Branson today announced that he had signed a licensing deal to create a fleet of spacecraft offering commercial flights to space by 2007-8.

I wish I could find an English version of this story, but Argentina is debating whether to institute the use of juries in certain federal cases involving manslaughter (such as deaths resulting from assaults) and crimes committed by public officials. Growing up in the U.S., it's almost hard to believe that juries are not used in every democratic country. The measure is being pushed by a citizen, the father of Alex Blumberg, a young man kidnapped for ransom and killed not too long ago.

El Gobierno presiona por el proyecto de juicio por jurados

Here's something I never thought about before. Even if a few of the "insurgent" provinces in Iraq don't participate in elections, there's precedent for that kind of thing. From Redstate:

The argument that incomplete Iraqi elections are ipso facto fraudulent or illegitimate is itself fraudulent and illegitimate. Wartime is wartime, and extraordinary measures must sometimes be taken to ensure the continuance of civic processes. The clear parallel from American history is the election of 1864, in which only 25 of the 36 states then in the Union participated. (The truant eleven, of course, were doing their best to not be in the Union.) If the Iraqi elections are illegitimate, then so was that; if the January '05 winner is illegitimate, then so was second-term Lincoln. You'll be waiting a long time for Rumsfeld's critics to follow their logic to that inevitable end.

"Another one bites the dust....."

Israel Assassinates Hamas Official in Syria

"And another one gone...."

Pakistan kills al-Qaeda leader

"And another one gone...."

Afghan Officials: Senior Taleban Commander Killed in Attack

I love Queen.

‘This Silent Place’

Seeing the remains of Jewish life in Poland reminds me of visiting the ruins of great Mayan civilizations, except there is no mystery about what happened to the people.

Kerry and the Democrat's strategy of calling President Bush and the Republicans liars and dwellers in fantasyland hasn't made a dent in Bush's poll numbers. In fact...

Since the Republican convention, Bush’s job approval is up, 54 percent among likely voters, and just over half of them approve of his handling of the economy and Iraq. His approval in all three areas is as high as it’s been all year in the polling conducted for the AP by Ipsos-Public Affairs.

Sad but true. Another Triumph for the U.N. Please read it all.

Now go back and read Kristof's article on Pakistan linked to earlier and explain to me how President Kerry will use "international pressure" to stop nuclear proliferation. If the global community of nations is afraid to take action in one of the weakest areas of the world militarily, how would they ever take action against states like Pakistan, Iran or North Korea?

"Never again" rings hollow indeed.

For a few days a while ago, I linked to articles in the New York Times and created my own headlines based on what I thought was really being written about. I think I found the perfect opportunity to perfect my technique.

To Win in November, Bush Willing to Risk Loss of City to Nuclear Blast

By Nicholas Kristof, of course.

So for the last few days, I've been peering into mosques and down village wells, even under mullahs' couches. No luck so far, but I did find something almost as interesting.

I'm talking about the arrangement under which the U.S. cuts Pakistan some slack on nuclear proliferation, in exchange for President Pervez Musharraf's joining aggressively in the hunt for Osama - in the hope of catching him by Nov. 2.

File this next to "Bush conspiring with Saudis on oil prices".

This sounds about right to me. The more I think about Kerry's lack of support for Iraq's interim government (which was endorsed by the U.N. and created despite the left's carping that it couldn't be done in the first place), the more I fail to understand his moral bearing.

He says he wants to win, he wants victory...but only if others help us, otherwise it's not worth our effort and the deaths of our soldiers. Mr. Kerry, whatever your disagreements about the past, you have to decide whether trying to establish a democracy in Iraq in 2005 (not 2001) is the right thing to do. Yes or no. Not yes, but. And what does victory mean to you? What is your vision? I'd rather have someone with a vision who slogs through the tough times, than someone who is a master at details but no vision.

And to be blunt, using a little perspective, the amount of American deaths in Iraq is small compared to what could have been. We invaded a country, toppled their government in a densly populated city and have withstood a well-armed insurrection for over a year. Israelis have lost just as many lives in a relatively low-scale intifiada. Three times as many people died within a few hours on 9/11. And, most importantly, there has been NO terrorism in the U.S. which mean until now the Department of Homeland Security has a perfect record. I think, all things considered, things are going very well.

No wonder Kerry left the cookie business. The guy couldn't sell an Ice cube to a bedouin.

"I laid out a plan which will help America protect our troops," he says. "We need to bring other allies to the table."

Ok. So you want other nation's leaders to expend political capital and treasure and send their lads to risk their lives along with theirs.

So why don't you act like it? Why aren't you trying to sell the deal?

Because right now you are calling the U.S. Government incompetent and arrogant. You're arguing that Iraq is sliding into chaos. You argue that thousands of terrorists are slipping across Iraq's borders and that it's become "a magnet for terrorism."

You dispatch your sister to tell Australia that supporting the United States in the war on terror puts them at greater risk than they were before.

You stand with a straight face and tell nations like the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, and Italy, who have each shed blood for the freedom of Iraq as part of the coalition, that they're members of "a fraudulent coalition."

You can't even be bothered to leave Ohio to speak with Allawi when he comes to the US to say "thank you." But you don't hesitate to all but brand this man--who lives in Iraq every day--a liar, and then have the chutzpah, the gall, the arrogance to tell him from afar that he's out of touch with the reality on the ground.

Apparently, a number of my neighbors are using e-mail and instant messages to ask forgiveness of people prior to Yom Kippur. Since I didn't see anything about blogs, let me be perhaps the first Dallas-area blogger to say the following:

If I have offended you, dear reader, in any way during the course of the last year, I ask you to forgive me as I try to be a more tolerant person in the year to come.

I may post a little before Kol Nidre tomorrow night, but I'll take this opportunity to wish my Jewish friends and relatives and easy fast with a minimal amount of tropical storm or hurricane activity.

Does any one even remember this?

Bush deserves credit for end to China standoff

I think we have collective amnesia regarding Bush's pre-9/11 ability to be diplomatic. This was serious stuff at the time.

Maybe I'll check this out the next time I'm in NY. Any movie that has to do even peripherally with Argentina intrigues me.

On the Road With Young Che

Here's the Yahoo page for "The Motorcycle Diaries"

Will he or won't he? If you're observant, you won't know anyway until it's all over.

Green weighs tough choice on holy day

Don't waffle, Shawn. Don't try to compromise your way out of a choice that is obviously tormenting you.

Either you honor your religion by not playing on the holiest Jewish holiday of the year, or you decide that your job, your team and your Dodgers teammates are more important, and you play both games the weekend of Yom Kippur.

Playing one of the two is not going to get it.

An opinion from someone who has been to George Bush's Fantasyland.

Hope Amid the Rubble

This is a great quote from C3PO of all people(?) which sounds an awful lot like John Kerry...

THREEPIO: We'll be destroyed for sure. This is madness!
We're doomed!
Secret mission? What plans? What are you talking about? I'm not getting in there!
Are you sure this things safe?
How did I get into this mess? I really don't know how.
No more adventures. I'm not going that way.
That malfunctioning little twerp. This is all his fault! He tricked me into going this way, but he'll do no better.
I'm only a droid and not very knowledgeable about such things. Not on this planet, anyways. As a matter of fact, I'm not even sure which planet I'm on.
I told him not to go, but he's faulty, malfunctioning; kept babbling on about his mission.

Best sarcastic question ever asked of a presidential candidate by a reporter.

QUESTION: Prime Minister Allawi told Congress today that democracy was taking hold in Iraq and that the terrorists there were on the defensive. Is he living in the same fantasy land as the president?

Kerry's response was this:

I think the prime minister is, obviously, contradicting his own statement of a few days ago, where he said the terrorists are pouring into the country.

Terrorists pouring into the country and their being on the defensive are separate, not opposing issues. If you listen to Kerry, you would think that we ourselves are on the defensive AND should be sending more troops into Iraq.

And here's the worst question ever asked of a Presidential Candidate by a reporter, just afterwards.

QUESTION: You criticized, to the AP, the president for retreating, I believe was your word, from Fallujah. Given the situation on the ground in Fallujah when there was an offensive there, when there was a rising civilian death toll, rising criticism among Arab media for our actions there, what would you have done differently?

Differently than retreating or differently than going on the offensive?

Prime Minister Allawi of Iraq thanks the United States and says the overall standard of living for Iraqis is improving and there's hope for the future.

I stand here today as the prime minister of a country emerging finally from dark ages of violence, aggression, corruption and greed. Like almost every Iraqi, I have many friends who were murdered, tortured or raped by the regime of Saddam Hussein.

Well over a million Iraqis were murdered or are missing. We estimate at least 300,000 in mass graves, which stands as monuments to the inhumanity of Saddam's regime. Thousands of my Kurdish brothers and sisters were gassed to death by Saddam's chemical weapons.

Millions more like me were driven into exile. Even in exile, as I myself can vouch, we were not safe from Saddam.

And as we lived under tyranny at home, so our neighbors lived in fear of Iraq's aggression and brutality. Reckless wars, use of weapons of mass destruction, the needless loss of hundreds of thousands of lives and the financing and exporting of terrorism, these were Saddam's legacy to the world.

My friends, today we are better off, you are better off and the world is better off without Saddam Hussein.....

Do not allow them to say to Iraqis, to Arabs, to Muslims, that we have only two models of governments, brutal dictatorship and religious extremism. This is wrong.

Like Americans, we Iraqis want to enjoy the fruits of liberty. Half of the world's 1.5 billion Muslims already enjoy democratically elected governments.

As Prime Minister Blair said to you last year when he stood here, anywhere, any time ordinary people are given the chance to choose, the choice is the same: freedom not tyranny, democracy not dictatorship, and the rule of law not the rule of the secret police.

Do not let them convince others that the values of freedom, of tolerance and democracy are for you in the West but not for us.

Full text here.

Kerry, who I don't believe has been to Iraq since the war began, calls "bullshit".

Shortly after Allawi, the interim government's prime minister, gave a rosy portrayal of progress toward peace in Iraq, Kerry said the assessment contradicted reality on the ground.

Their would be a seismic shift in voting patterns in this country if only a third of African-Americans held the opinions of the brave LaShawn Barber. I found her at Carnival of the Vanities. It's not quite as tough to be a conservative Jew, but it's good to see someone speaking truth to the powers that be in their community.

Just remember the following list when you read about Repuiblicans keeping the black man/woman down - Colin Powell, Condoleezza Rice, Rod Paige. These three hold some of the most prominent positions in American government, managing the issues that matter most to our future peace and prosperity - our foreign policy and education of our children. Just think, only 50 years ago we had legally segregated schools and a segregated military.....

See here for more.

The Washington Post exposes the lies used by the Swift Boat Vets in their latest anti-Kerry ad.

Turns out Kerry didn't secretly meet with our enemies as the ads claim - he actually told Congress about it.

Juan Cole, who I imagine many would count among the more serious and popular liberal bloggers, uses his selective memory to imagine what the U.S. would be like if it was suffering through a proportional level of violence as Iraq is going through now.

What if 3,300 Americans had died in car bombings, grenade and rocket attacks, machine gun spray, and aerial bombardment in the last week?

What if the grounds of the White House and the government buildings near the Mall were constantly taking mortar fire?

What if there were private armies totaling 275,000 men, armed with machine guns, assault rifles (legal again!), rocket-propelled grenades, and mortar launchers, hiding out in dangerous urban areas of cities all over the country?

OK - I'll play along...

What if the U.S. had been run by a brutal dictator who murdered millions of Americans and buried them in mass graves. What if millions of others had been imprisoned, tortured and had limbs, ears and tongues cut out on a whim? Wouldn't we be crying out for rescue?

What if 10 million Americans died in a 10-year war that ended in the same place it began?

What if the Everglades had been drained as political revenge against Floridians?

What if 500,000 Mormon men, women and children in Utah were gassed because they disagreed with the government?

What if the U.S. had invaded Mexico and claimed it as the 51st state, at the same time destroying their oil fields, raping their women and lobbing missiles into Canadian cities to incite them to fight?

What if, after the dictator had been overthrown, a mix of the dictator's loyalists, English, Australians, South Africans and English speaking peoples from all over the world came to blow up civilian installations and police stations as we were struggling to get back on our feet again?

And what if France, Germany and Russia denied our calls for help?

You know what - I didn't think it was possible, but now I'm more for the war in Iraq than ever. Thanks, Juan.

I agree with this.

You “Lord of the Rings” types out there will know instantly what I’m talking about here, and if I garble the details please forgive me. There’s a scene where the doddering King resists the advice offered by the noble Aragon by saying, “I’m not going to do what you suggest and risk full out war.” Aragon responds, “Whether you risk full out war or not, you’ve got it.”

Like the doddering King, yesterday John Kerry clarified his weekly inalterable stance on Iraq by proclaiming, “If we do not change course, there is the prospect of a war with no end in sight.” This is what worries me about John Kerry – does he not realize that regardless of who is President, we are in a war with no end in sight?

So, let's say we pull out of Iraq, send 100,000 extra troops to Afghanistan/Pakistan and we find and kill Osama Bin Laden. Then what? Is it supposed to be over? Will all the Islamist leaders in the world stop what they're doing and go back to being harmless teachers and doctors? Is my family supposed to be safer from attack if my community hires a few extra EMS personnel, and we let half the people at Guantanamo go on legal technicalities?

John Kerry continues to pass up serious interviews with the news networks and continues to appear only on entertainment programs like David Letterman and Live with Regis and Kelly.

Since his goal is to appear more human and less robotic, he has given himself over to telling jokes, including a few that belittle President Bush's intelligence.

On Regis and Kelly, he joked that Bush needed a "lifeline" to call on for answers during the debate. I saw a clip from Letterman last night where he quipped that Bush would be sitting in Cheney's lap during the debates, suggesting that he was just a dummy being manipulated by Cheney.

While these comments are certainly funny, I don't think they reflect well on John Kerry at all. It is still possible to make fun of President Bush's policies without jumping on his supposedly weak intellect. However he got in, he did manage to fly jet aircraft and graduate from Yale and Harvard Business School.

A good example of such a joke was Gary Shandling at the Emmys suggesting that he hadn't prepared any jokes about Iraq because he "thought it would be over by now". Regardless of the fact that I don't think Bush ever said this would be a short conflict or that the timeline for establishing a temporary government and elections was obviously long-term, this is totally critical of the President without resorting to an ad hominem attack.

By the way, Kerry's "Top 10" list, linked to above seemed fairer because there were some digs at both Bush and himself - although I'm sure he didn't write them.

Even though Democratic pundits are trying to convince America that the race is still close based on some recent polls, the New York Times is practically begging Kerry to listen to the advice of its contributors.

I don't see much free advice being published for the Bush campaign, so either the Times doesn't believe it's close, or they don't feel that Bush is deserving of the help.

7 Steps to a Better Candidate
Reading Kerry's Mind
Pick a Message, Any Message
Trading Up
Bringing the Battle to the President

I'm still trying to figure out why the New York Times needed three reporters to cover this Kitty Kelley style story on the President's life as a bachelor in his 20s.

He broke lamps!
He stayed out late!
He even worked for a politician who said not nice things about somebody!

And what's worse is he didn't show up for a physical so that he could fly planes that weren't being used anymore in a war that already effectively ended! (Only about 300-400 of the 58,000+ Vietnam-related soldier deaths occured from mid-1973 to the evacuation of Saigon). Where was George W. Bush when his country needed him the most! Going to study business at a "safety" school like Harvard! What a man of little ambition!

New York is in play!

Looks like I have to resort to dirty tricks to keep my sister and brother-in-law away from the polls on election day. :-)

John Kerry's lead in New York is down to single digits. The Empire State, among the bluest of the Blue States from Election 2000, is still in the Kerry column for our Electoral College projections, but the raw numbers are stunning.

Confirming findings found in other recent polls, Rasmussen Reports shows John Kerry leading George Bush by merely five percentage points, 49% to 44%. Four years ago, Al Gore defeated Bush to carry New York by a 25 point margin. Our last New York survey found Kerry up by 19 points.

Sounds like rats deserting a sinking ship, or swift boat, if you prefer.

I'm not sure that John Kerry's speech this morning is supposed to be serious. Let's do a mini-fisking:

Sen. John Kerry said Monday that mistakes by President Bush in invading Iraq could lead to unending war and that no responsible commander in chief would have begun the war knowing Saddam Hussein didn't possess weapons of mass destruction and wasn't an imminent threat to the United States.

"Yet today, President Bush tells us that he would do everything all over again, the same way. How can he possibly be serious?" the Democratic presidential candidate said at New York University.

Has Bush ever actually said anything other than he does not regret the decision he made based on the information he had? Did he ever say that he would fight the war at all if he though there were no WMDS and no threat?

"Saddam Hussein was a brutal dictator who deserves his own special place in hell," Kerry said. "But that was not, in itself, a reason to go to war. The satisfaction we take in his downfall does not hide this fact: We have traded a dictator for a chaos that has left America less secure."

Is the long term objective of no consequence here? Democracy in the middle east? Removing a threat to our allies? Are the Iraqis not to be considered at all? Remember the "reason" for going to war was just a b.s. excuse to try to get other nations involved which was pushed on Bush by the Democrats to begin with. I guess he dug his own hole there.

I have tremendous respect for Tony Blair, after all the political beatdowns he's gone through in his own country, he can still say things like this about Iraq:

"There is only one side for sensible and decent people to be on in this conflict."

This cannot be said about our decision to actually go to war, or our decisions in how we are fighting the war, but to doubt that an end to the war with victory for the coalition would be the best result for the Iraqis is something I don't understand.

If anyone thinks the Iraqis were better off with Saddam Hussein, or that Iraqis will be better off now if we left them in a state of anarchy, they are letting their complaints about the management of the war overwhelm their hope for the future.

There was an interview in yesterday's NY times with a Rosabeth Moss Kanter on the subject of success. She says that "expectation of success is more important to securing it than talent, knowledge or self-confidence". With moveon.org ads featuring defeated American soldiers and columnists crying "Vietnam!" (just like crying "uncle!"), all they are doing is guaranteeing defeat.

And lest you forget how things were under Saddam Hussein, here's a tally:

Along with other human rights organizations, The Documental Centre for Human Rights in Iraq has compiled documentation on over 600,000 civilian executions in Iraq. Human Rights Watch reports that in one operation alone, the Anfal, Saddam killed 100,000 Kurdish Iraqis. Another 500,000 are estimated to have died in Saddam's needless war with Iran. Coldly taken as a daily average for the 24 years of Saddam's reign, these numbers give us a horrifying picture of between 70 and 125 civilian deaths per day for every one of Saddam's 8,000-odd days in power.

Of course this doesn't take into account imprisonment, torture, amputations, general withholding of basic rights, environmental disasters, etc.

Here is a good analysis of what damage has been done to the civilian population while at the same time suggesting that things may not be as bad in the whole of Iraq as is being made out in the press.

No fearmongering here. Keep moving along please.

JOHN Kerry's campaign has warned Australians that the Howard Government's support for the US in Iraq has made them a bigger target for international terrorists.

Diana Kerry, younger sister of the Democrat presidential candidate, told The Weekend Australian that the Bali bombing and the recent attack on the Australian embassy in Jakarta clearly showed the danger to Australians had increased.

"Australia has kept faith with the US and we are endangering the Australians now by this wanton disregard for international law and multilateral channels," she said, referring to the invasion of Iraq.

Asked if she believed the terrorist threat to Australians was now greater because of the support for Republican George W. Bush, Ms Kerry said: "The most recent attack was on the Australian embassy in Jakarta -- I would have to say that."

Ms Kerry, who taught school in Indonesia for 15 years until 2000, is heading a campaign called Americans Overseas for Kerry which aims to secure the votes of Americans abroad -- including the more than 100,000 living in Australia.

I don't want to downplay the grief that this mother must be going through. I can't begin to imagine the pain.

However, since she has publicly blamed the army and President Bush for killing her son, I wanted to find out more about the circumstances about how her son Seth came to join the army in the first place.

I then uncovered this interesting nugget:

Sue Niederer said her son talked about going into the Army right after high school, but his family told him he had to go to college first. She said her son dreamed of a career in the FBI or CIA and was persuaded by an Army recruiter that he would have a better chance of reaching that goal if he were a military veteran.

I'm no psychologist, but is it possible that underneath this woman's rage is a guilt trip? She must be thinking, "what if we let him go into the army a few years earlier"?

Regardless, I honor the family's sacrifice, feel guilty that neither my family nor I take the risks that theirs does in the name of our country. I do hope that in the long run our presence in Iraq will come to some significant good and Seth won't have died in vain.

Even more detailed examination of the forgeries presented by Dan Rather by the Washington Post.

The Paper Trail

The Electoral Vote Predictor is looking redder all the time (331 to 207 for Bush). Even New Jersey (+4) is a red state now and it looks more like their not going to have to worry about hanging chads in Florida (+6).

Come on - tell me you didn't see this coming years ago.

Actor Macaulay Culkin, who gained fame as a child in the smash hit "Home Alone," was arrested in Oklahoma City Friday for possession of marijuana and possession of a controlled substance without a prescription, police said.

I think this says a lot. I will let you, the reader, decide exactly what it says.

From the latest CBS/NYT poll - "ISSUE MOST LIKE TO HEAR CANDIDATES DISCUSS"

Terrorism - Kerry voters 1% , Bush voters 10%

Actually, I take that back. What's the point of having a blog if I don't write what I think?

Since statistically no one voting for Kerry thinks that the two candidates need to put terorrism at the top of their agenda, this means one of two things. Kerry supporters either are ignoring the problem completely, or don't believe there's a problem. The economy is the big issue for them. Which means that they believe that 5.4% (and steadily declining) unemployment rate, under 3% inflation, near record-low interest rates and record homeownership are problems that need to be fixed before we take care of anything else. Kerry voters even think this is more important than the war in Iraq. It really is like we're living in alternate universes.

I was asked by my Rabbi this year to give the congregant d'var torah before the Torah reading for the second day of Rosh Hashana. Subject: The Akedah - the Binding of Isaac. Degree of Difficulty: 10. I hope the Judge upstairs gave me good marks.

On this, the second day of Rosh Hashana, we read the story of the Akedah, the binding of Isaac, which we find in Chapter 22 of Breishit. Most of us are familiar with the story. G-d asks Abraham to make a burnt-offering of his son - “his only son, the one he loves”. As Abrahams’ knife is about to come down to take Isaac’s life, an angel calls out to him. Abraham answers, “Hineni. (Here I am)” and he is told not to harm Isaac, thus preserving G-d’s covenant with Abraham and the Jewish people.

Our sages have suggested that we read this story today because of the connection between the ram’s horn that we use for the shofar and the ram that was offered as a sacrifice by Abraham as a replacement for Isaac. This may be true, but what additional lessons can we take from the story of the Akedah on Rosh Hashana that we may not get when we read the story in parsha Vayera during the general cycle of torah readings?

I think we can find the answer by looking more closely at one of the minor characters in this great drama – the angel that calls on Abraham to stay his hand and preserve the life of Isaac.

When we talk about angels, we often use the phrase “guardian angels” since we believe that they always act to protect us. And what exactly do these angels protect us from? Only the most terrible of dangers. If you’re having dinner and some food falls from your fork onto the napkin on your lap, you don’t thank an angel that you didn’t soil your suit or dress. However, if you were rushing to get home to that particular meal and a car ran a red light that barely missed you, THEN you would think that an angel might have interceded on your behalf. So it’s safe to say that we believe that angels tend to appear in special situations, usually related to life and death.

That is exactly the situation we find ourselves in now. The Yomim Noraim, the Ten Days of Repentance, is a time of intense prayer and introspection when we pray to G-d to forgive us for not always doing what is best and what is right. We do this because we know that on the other side of the New Year lies potential danger and trouble. However, now is the time to reflect on our actions and pray for the strength and wisdom to do better. And with these prayers we hope that G-d will indeed hear us in these last moments before the Gates of Heaven close so that we may be inscribed in the Book of Life.

But how do we know what G-d wants us to do so that we can avoid a decree against us on Yom Kippur? Can even the best of us avoid any sin; any wrongdoing during the course of an entire year? Here is where the lesson of the Akedah gives us hope.

Let’s go back to Abraham. Nowhere is it mentioned that he had an innate ability to determine what was right or wrong in the eyes of G-d – Abraham was just the first person to recognize Him as the unique creator of the universe. He didn’t have the Torah or the Talmud to guide him – and as we all know even these sources have not resolved every argument as to what’s right and wrong. Abraham could only do what he thought G-d wanted him to do. So, Abraham made his decision to sacrifice Isaac with complete confidence that it would by pleasing to G-d. Yet he was mistaken, and before a tragedy could occur the angel appeared, as they often do, to prevent a possible catastrophe and to teach a lesson that comes down to us today.

This lesson is not simply about the evils of child sacrifice as many say. The additional lesson is that as long as we always strive to do what we think is best according to the Torah, we will earn merit when the time of judgment comes. And if we should ever make a wrong decision, one that might affect us negatively at this critical time of the year, a time where life and death hangs in the balance, G-d will send an angel to protect us and ultimately lead us in the right path.

If we only try to make all our decisions based on the love of G-d and his Torah, we have nothing to fear from the New Year and can live our lives with the same sense of enthusiasm, expectation and success as did Avraham Avinu, Abraham our forefather.

Someone please give this man a megaphone for his birthday. We need to hear more voices like his.

A Memo to American Muslims

For those of my Jewish readers who will be davening tonight or eating a hearty meal with family, you may want to set the TIVO/VCR tonight for A Question of God tonight on PBS. Part Two is next week.

This is the funniest story I've read in a long time. Congratulations Dan Rather, your 15 minutes as America's most unbelievable person are up.

Britney's Mom Upset With Media's Image Of Daughter

Britney Spears' mother has had enough with the media trying to paint her daughter as trashy.

Lynne Spears writes on her daughter's Web site she's come across numerous photos trying to paint her daughter that way.

This must be one of those photos (yes it is Britney)....



The full body length photos are linked here.

By the way, for those really uptight conservatives who read my page, MILF stands for "Mothers I'd Like to F***".

Looks like Kerry uses the same fact-checkers as CBS. Since his point has to do specifically with how much money we've spent, almost doubling the amount seems unfair.

Kerry Exaggerates Cost of War in Iraq

There's little question that the Iraq war and its bloody aftermath will cost $200 billion, eventually. But so far, the bill for the war is still under $120 billion, according to the Office of Management and Budget. Kerry runs the figure up to $200 billion by counting money scheduled to be spent next fiscal year, plus additional funds for the future that haven't even been requested yet. He also is counting money projected to be spent for operations in Afghanistan and to protect US cities, not for Iraq.

$200 billion for Iraq, but they tell us we can't afford after-school programs for our children. $200 billion for Iraq, but they tell us we can't afford health care for our veterans. $200 billion for Iraq , but they tell us we can't afford to keep the 100,000 new police we put on the streets during the 1990s.

But isn't Kerry also criticizing Bush for his profligate spending? Shouldn't we just not be spending this money at all if Iraq is unnecessary? If our deficit is $400bn+ and Iraq only cost $120bn, Kerry would still need to cut $280bn in social programs to get to a balanced budget. I'm waiting for the proposals. Raising taxes on the rich isn't going to cover it, even assuming that it wouldn't hurt the economy.

Much respect due to this rabbi.

Running rabbi raises $1m. for Israel

This past spring, Eric Ertel did something no rabbi had done before: he pledged to raise a million dollars for Israel by running in the New York City marathon.

Here's his website

Running For Israel

How can you not read a newly discovered blogger's page when their posts start like this:

I've always aimed to present a level of analysis on this blog higher than that found in the mainstream, and indeed, even in the rest of the blogosphere, but this time, I've outdone myself. Not to blow my own horn or anything, but nobody else has even come close to the penetrating insight I had while sitting on the toilet this morning.

Hey, it's Rosh Hashana and I wouldn't be going anyway, but what about all those Christian, Hindu and other kids who weren't planning to be in shul on Friday?

Great Muslim Adventure Day

Of course, Six Flags can do whatever they want since they're a private organization. And I don't want anyone to think that I don't think it's cool to have a Muslim centered day at the park - Orhtodox Jews do the same, and one can say that gay days at Disney is similar. But Muslims only?

Wonder what the "mailbag" section on 60 Minutes II will look like this week.

The Washington Post lays out as succinctly as anywhere I've seen how we know documents presented by CBS last week were forged.

Expert Cited by CBS Says He Didn't Authenticate Papers

A detailed examination of the CBS documents beside authenticated Killian memos and other documents generated by Bush's 147th Fighter Interceptor Group suggests at least three areas of difference that are difficult to reconcile:

• Word-processing techniques. Of more than 100 records made available by the 147th Group and the Texas Air National Guard, none used the proportional spacing techniques characteristic of the CBS documents. Nor did they use a superscripted "th" in expressions such as "147th Group" and or "111th Fighter Intercept Squadron."

In a CBS News broadcast Friday night rebutting allegations that the documents had been forged, Rather displayed an authenticated Bush document from 1968 that included a small "th" next to the numbers "111" as proof that Guard typewriters were capable of producing superscripts. In fact, say Newcomer and other experts, the document aired by CBS News does not contain a superscript, because the top of the "th" character is at the same level as the rest of the type. Superscripts rise above the level of the type.

• Factual problems. A CBS document purportedly from Killian ordering Bush to report for his annual physical, dated May 4, 1972, gives Bush's address as "5000 Longmont #8, Houston." This address was used for many years by Bush's father, George H.W. Bush. National Guard documents suggest that the younger Bush stopped using that address in 1970 when he moved into an apartment, and did not use it again until late 1973 or 1974, when he moved to Cambridge, Mass., to attend Harvard Business School.

One CBS memo cites pressure allegedly being put on Killian by "Staudt," a reference to Col. Walter B. "Buck" Staudt, one of Bush's early commanders. But the memo is dated Aug. 18, 1973, nearly a year and a half after Staudt retired from the Guard. Questioned about the discrepancy over the weekend, CBS officials said that Staudt was a "mythic figure" in the Guard who exercised influence from behind the scenes even after his retirement.

• Stylistic differences. To outsiders, how an officer wrote his name and rank or referred to his military unit may seem arcane and unimportant. Within the military, however, such details are regulated by rules and tradition, and can be of great significance. The CBS memos contain several stylistic examples at odds with standard Guard procedures, as reflected in authenticated documents.

The "mainstream media" may be liberal, but nothing sets off media companies of any stripe like a chance to devour the competition.

The following stories are about two very young children from Jewish families in my area. As you sit in shul during Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur, put in some thoughts for both of these families and the countless others like them.

Blood donations needed going into holiday weekend

'She's too perfect for this world'

Plano baby loses struggle for life

So the Great White Father, John Kerry, plans to get the Muslim world together so that he can teach the moderates that extremists are bad people and convince them that they should help us even when they are threatened with death.

What I intend to do is to put in play the economic power, the values and principles, the public diplomacy, so we're isolating the radical Islamic extremists and not having the radical extremists isolate the United States. It means bringing religious leaders together, including moderate mullahs, clerics, imams—pulling the world together in a dialogue about who these extremists really are and how they are hijacking the legitimacy of Islam itself. That takes leadership, and that leadership has not been put on the table.

Kerry still doesn't realize that we're at war with a savage enemy. He wants to dialogue with/bribe moderate Muslims (as if there were any that have any power whatsoever) to take on people who have no regard for human life.

Please, please, please, someone create a video parody of John Kerry singing the old Coca-Cola jingle, "I'd like to teach the world to sing" and have him hugging Osama Bin Laden in the end. I'm begging you.

And does he blame the Palestinians for not putting forward legitimate peace partners? Nope. He suggests that it's the U.S. President that needs to push the Israelis to find one. I guess Great White Father Kerry will the tell Israelis to tell the Palestinians what's good for them.

Instead of Limousine Liberlaism, we should call this Patronizing Progressivism. At least until I come up with something better.

How creepy is this from the Mets game yesterday on September 11th...

Mets lose in 13 after spirited rally

No, I don't mean that the Mets who were in first place around the all-star break are now 20 games or so out.

I mean this:

Not only was the final score the reverse of the infamous date, but at the end of nine innings, each team had 9 runs and 11 hits.

I like this point in an essay about the 350th anniversary of Jewish life in the United States.

America...has something uncannily in common with Judaism, a religion that maintains that all Jews stood at Mount Sinai to receive the Torah; even if they are converts, their souls are retroactively invested with a kind of primary authenticity. America does the same for its citizens, whenever they become citizens. Everyone, naturalized or born here, is the inheritor not only of the rights and freedoms of the place, but its responsibilities too - whether or not one's ancestors were here to perpetrate past injustices or fight for greater equality. In this sense America itself is like Mount Sinai, which is hardly surprising, given the biblical inspiration of its founders.

Now the only question is...who planted the memo? Dan Rather has got to be so embarrassed.

Man named in Bush memo left Guard before document was written

The man named in a disputed memo as exerting pressure to "sugar coat" President Bush's military record left the Texas Air National Guard a year and a half before the memo was supposedly written, his own service record shows.

An order obtained by The Dallas Morning News shows that Col. Walter "Buck" Staudt was honorably discharged on March 1, 1972. CBS News reported this week that a memo in which Staudt was described as interfering with officers' negative evaluations of Bush's service, was dated Aug. 18, 1973.

That added to mounting questions about the authenticity of documents that seem to suggest Bush sought special favors and did not fulfill his service.

In the next 7-8 weeks, the economy can't get significantly better or worse, the situation in Iraq is relatively stable and there does not seem to be any analysis that claims that a terrorist attack would benefit Kerry disproportiontely.

Kerry remains behind, 52%-41%, in a three-way race

Michael Moore and the release of Fahrenheit 9/11 on DVD is Kerry's only chance to save him from himself.

SEPTEMBER 11, 2001 - NEVER FORGET



I’ve been meaning to write this for three years – not because my experiences were that traumatic, nor that I suffered even a fraction of what tens of thousands of people suffered that day – those that were killed, injured or lost loved ones. Nevertheless, I feel that I have a duty to history to add my voice to the many others who have recorded the history of 9/11 from different vantage points. So forgive me the display of ego in thinking that someone might read this and care, but maybe my children, and their children might be interested to know.

On September 11, 2001 I arrived at work at 388 Greenwich Street as usual, sometime around 7AM and went upstairs to my office on the 36th floor. The back “wall” of the office was essentially a big window with a clear view about seven blocks south to the World Trade Center. (My building is the one directly above the second "N" of CNN in the photo above).

Around 8:45 that morning as I was sitting at my desk (with my back to the window) I heard what sounded like a plane. I figured it was one of those military show planes or small private planes that occasionally fly up the Hudson River. I turned around and immediately saw American Flight 11 out of the corner of my left eye. As I watched it, I first thought that it was odd that what looked like a passenger jet would be flying there, then thinking that maybe it was going into Newark Airport across the river and then that it didn’t look like it was going to make it….

To me it seemed as if the plane simply disappeared into the building, as if you threw a rock through a curtain of water. Now you see it, now you don’t. I didn’t even realize that there was a massive fireball until I saw the replays later on. Maybe my brain couldn’t process everything that was going on, or maybe I was looking for the plane to come out of the other side of the building.

I didn't think this was a terrorist act right away regardless of the fact that it was as clear a day as you could imagine. Working on “Wall Street” as I do, and having worked in the Twin Towers where the first plane hit, albeit 10 years before, I knew that people in the financial industry tended to work late nights and get it late in the morning so I figured that this is certainly a tragedy, but it could have been much worse.

After a few minutes, I went to call my wife to tell her to turn on CNN, since I was sure that it was on TV already. I didn’t think that watching the crash shook me that much, but I actually had to redial once or twice because my hands were shaking and I hit the wrong numbers. I’m pretty sure I told my wife not to worry, assuming it was just an accident, and that I was just watching it from my office. Afterwards, I called my mom in El Paso to tell her everything was OK (although she still doesn’t understand why I wasn’t already leaving the building).

At that point a number of people had begun to congregate in my boss’ office next door, since it was on a corner and was practically all windows. I saw what I thought was debris falling from the top floors of the burning building, but then realized that it was probably people jumping. I was too far away though to know for sure. I also remember telling people that I saw the plane go in, but not everyone believed me that I saw a "7-something-7" as I told them. How could a plane that big have just disappeared into the building? No one else had actually seen it happen, they just saw a hole in the building. Must have been a private plane like a Cessna they said....

Then, all of sudden, the second plane appeared out of nowhere since United Airlines 175 was coming from behind Tower 2 and the burning Tower 1. This time the explosion seemed immense and came in our direction. Not close enough to threaten us physically, but the shock was indescribable. Without saying a word, without getting our things, we all ran towards the stairwell. By that point people were talking about terrorism on the way down, although I myself still couldn’t believe it. Not that I could think of any other logical reason except some type of radar glitch that was sending planes on autopilot into lower Manhattan.

The descent was extremely orderly and I imagined it took about 15-20 minutes. By that point we had heard that all subways, railways, bridges and tunnels to and from Manhattan had been closed so there was nothing for us to do except to stand in the streets around the building and watch the fires.

At that time, I was commuting into the city by car and parked in an outdoor lot about a block north of my office. At the time I was just starting my photography hobby and always dreamed of being a journalist, so I always kept my camera in the trunk just in case. I walked over to the parking lot, but found that my car was actually on one of the lifts and the line of people trying to get their cars out was in credibly long. I gave up the search for the camera and thought that it wasn’t right to take pictures of the tragedy anyway. I’ve regretted not having pictures of such an important event ever since, especially as photo retrospectives kept popping up across lower Manhattan in the subsequent weeks as a means of remembrance.

I also used to leave my cell phone in the car. The funny thing is I used to keep it in the glove compartment in case of emergencies, and now I couldn’t get to it. (My cell phone is always with me now). However, after another short while just hanging around, I decided to see if I could get to my car. I decided not to just go home since it would have been difficult anyway. I did get to my cell phone, but like everyone else that morning, couldn’t get through to anyone because the lines were jammed. I still had not been able to talk to my wife since just after the first plane hit, so she had no idea where I was or how I was doing.

At that point I decided to walk over to West Street to get a better view of what was going on, while constantly trying to get through to my wife on the cell phone. Just before I got the intersection, I heard a huge boom and simultaneously got a hold of our answering machine at home. I remember saying something to the effect that I thought a third plane just came down in the street by the Twin Towers. I wish my wife had saved that message, but it was erased by the time I had gotten home later that day. I started asking people what happened and they said that Tower 2 had come down, as people started half walking and half running from further down the street. We were extremely lucky in that the winds that day were blowing in the opposite direction, so even though we were much closer to the building than many on the east and south sides, the cloud of debris only came about half way up the street to about Stuyvesant High School and never reached where we were. About half a block away was a taxi parked on the side of the street with its radio on. By that time I had heard that maybe some of the smaller bridges between Manhattan and the South Bronx were open. The radio station said that the Pentagon had been attacked to, which was when it really hit me. Not so much that we were under attack, which was obvious, but that there could be more and nobody knew when or where. That was the first time I thought that I would be just as safe driving home than hanging around – and who knew what would happen if Tower 1 or any of the other buildings fell?

I got my car from the parking lot and raced up the West Side. Needless to say there was no other traffic and the cops just waved me on as emergency vehicles were racing in the other direction. It’s almost embarrassing to write that these heroes were going into the inferno as I was rushing home, but the truth is what it is.

I eventually moved over to Tenth Avenue to drive uptown to Harlem. I consciously tried to stay closer to the West Side thinking that perhaps Times Square or the Empire State Building could be targets of attack. What struck me was that traffic was moving pretty normally and the people in the street seemed to be going about their lives as if nothing was going on! I wanted to get out of my car and scream – “Do you have any idea what I just saw! Do you know what’s going on! Why aren’t you glued to the nearest TV set?!?”

As I did finally get up to the Harlem area, I realized that I might need more gas to get home given all the traffic that I expected. I stopped at a gas station to fill up and I mentioned the attacks to one of the attendants and got some sort of non-memorable response about what was going on. Well, I figured maybe they didn’t have a TV and they couldn’t see what was going on, so it wasn’t such an immediate danger to them.

As I made my way towards one of the bridges into the South Bronx, I heard that the second tower fell, but I did not see it. To the yet to be informed, it was just another beautiful day in Manahttan with a lot of traffic.

This is where the story ends as far as the attacks and their immediate aftermath. I have other 9/11 related images and memories as well:

- The traffic on the way home to Rockland (3 ½ hours)
- The eventual collapse of 7 World Trade, another building where I used to work.
- Wondering whether the nuclear power plant 10 miles away would be attacked
- Working for a couple of weeks, including some overnight shifts at our backup facility in New Jersey as we watched the smoke eerily rise from lower Manhattan, wondering if another attack was coming
- The constant boom-boom-boom as tons of debris from the Trade Center was dumped into barges parked on the river right next to my office.
- The constant fly-bys of officials in helicopters buzzing my office building.
- The seemingly permanent closure of one lane of the West Side Highway for official use only
- And of course, watching the procession as they took the last beam from the Trade Center up the West Side Highway, which I watched from my office window.

God Bless the families and friends of those that died on that horrible day. And God Bless our military men and women, security personnel and first responders that are trying to make sure that a terrorist attack of a similar scale never happens again.

Another subject I almost never touch upon is gun control, which I don't really have a strong stand on. However, given the criticism of the Republican Congress in general, and the President in particular on the expiration of the assault weapons ban, I figured I'd look into it a little bit and comment.

On Guard, America
Kerry Links Assault Weapons to Terrorism

I think the prevailing counter argument seems to be that the ban has done absolutely nothing to change the crime rate or the ability of people to get these guns if they really wanted them. Therefore, it is a non-issue.

Columbine parents differ on assault weapons ban
Curb's end splits cops, gun buffs

The Times is feeding into liberal northeasterners fear of guns (which I admit to having myself). There are no facts in their opinion piece, just the use of scary words like "Uzi", "gunslingers", "battlefield", etc.

Seems to me that the President is doing the smart thing politically regarding an issue that has no significant effect - saying he would extend the ban if it came to him, but not doing anything if it doesn't.

If someone is willing to submit some facts as to how the ban has had a serious effect on crime or our way of life in a significant manner, please let me know. As imple reduction in the number of crimes committed with assault weapons doesn't count as I'd be just as screwed if someone held me up with a pistol as with a semi-automatic.

Hip Hip Hooray for blogging!

CBS'S BIG BLUNDER?

Kevin Drum, the most talented of the left-wing bloggers, wrote: "This story is a perfect demonstration of the difference between the Swift-boat controversy and the National Guard controversy. Both are tales from long ago and both are related to Vietnam, but . . . in the National Guard case, practically every new piece of documentary evidence provides additional confirmation that the charges against Bush are true."

Drum simply assumed that the documents were above-board. So did The New York Times and The Washington Post, both of which put the story on its front page on Thursday.

They were doubtless swayed by the fact that CBS said " '60 Minutes' consulted a handwriting analyst and document expert who believes the material is authentic."

Maybe "60 Minutes" should have tried another expert or two.

It is the conservative blogging community which kept the Swift Boat allegations alive due to it's fact finding efforts, and is now uncovering the smarminess of 60 Minutes coverage of this election. Does the liberal blogging community do anything other than parrot the party line and hacks like Michael Moore? Is there any independent investigating going on?

I'd rather be called a flip-flopper. Read about the DNC personal attack machine at work per an e-mail send out by the Bush-Cheney campaign.

In response to President Bush's Agenda for America's Future and a critique of his policies and Senate record, Senator Kerry's campaign is implementing a strategy of vicious personal attacks against the President and Vice President.

The campaign is bringing in a bevy of former Clinton henchmen, including CNN commentators James Carville and Paul Begala. In August alone, Begala called President Bush a "gutless wonder," said he has a "lack of intelligence," and called Vice President Cheney a "dirt bag." Carville said the President is "ignorant big time" and said "George W. Bush and Dick Cheney are a couple of nobodies."

It's not like Bob Shrum needed encouragement to engage in personal attacks. At a Kerry rally Friday morning in Ohio, campaign surrogate John Glenn compared the Republican Convention to a Nazi rally, and Kerry called the President unfit to lead our nation and once again sought to divide the country by who served and how 35 years ago.

Of course, the President was called a "cheap thug," a "killer" and a "liar" at a Kerry-Edwards campaign event in New York, Mrs. Kerry has called the President's policies "unpatriotic" and "immoral" and DNC Chairman Terry McAuliffe falsely accused the President of being AWOL.

Democratic strategist Susan Estrich outlined the strategy last Wednesday in a column warning Republicans to "watch out." "I'm not promising pretty," she wrote before going on to call President Bush and Vice President Cheney alcoholics, then ask "is any alcoholic ever really cured?"

I can't believe I missed this - Rebbitzen Jungreis - who I think is fantastic - gave the closing benediction on the second day of the Republican Conention. The entire text is posted below. The Rebbetzin packs an awful lot of lessons for us in such a short "sermon".

Almighty G-d - We are living at a most challenging time in our history - one that our Founding fathers could never have envisioned. Global terror and the breakdown of moral values menace our very lives.

Such threats are not foreign to me. I am a survivor of the Holocaust, a survivor of Bergen Belsen Concentration Camp. I have experienced the degradation and the brutality of which man is capable, but I have also experienced the healing balm of faith, the magic of compassion and love which is the bedrock upon which our great Republic was built.

Following a Holocaust memorial address to our armed forces at Ft. Hood Texas, a little girl asked: “Rebbetzin, Ma’am, why didn’t you call the army or the police to help you?”
What an American question!

How could I explain to her that, in those days of darkness, a uniform was the symbol of torture and murder – that it was only when I encountered American soldiers and police that I discovered that these men in uniform could be trusted, that they are guardians of peace, committed to the protection of the innocent.

How different the world might have been if a man like George W. Bush had been at the helm in those days of darkness. Following 9/11, it was President Bush’s valor and commitment to do battle against the forces of terror and evil that has ensured the safety and security of our nation.

Of al the world’s leaders, it was only President Bush who had the courage to raise his voice on behalf of beleaguered Israel and recognize that terror in any part of the world must be eradicated. And just this morning, we were witness to yet another horrific act of terrorism with a bus bombing in Israel. Let us all pause for a moment of silence and prayer in memory of those who were so brutally murdered.

More than HOPE, our president is determined to triumph over evil, and continues to labor, not only for a safe, secure world, but for an America in which timeless values prevail.

The miracle that is America is not only to be found in her might, but in her spirit, in her faith in G-d, and it was with this faith, with the words of the psalmist, that President Bush comforted our nation on that day of infamy.
“Gam kee elech n’getzal movet...” - “Even though I walk through the shadow of the valley of death, I shall fear no evil, for You are with me.”
“Kaveh el HaShem...” “Trust in the L-rd.”
We place our trust in You, Oh G-d. We pray to You to heal those who are sick with hatred; and to sensitize the hearts of those who are indifferent to the cries of their brethren.
Teach us, Oh G-d, to live by Your word in truth, compassion and peace.
G-d bless America, G-d bless our President, and may G-d bless each and every one of you.

I am definitely voting for John Kerry. After all, wasn't it he who said:

"those who doubted whether Iraq or the world would be better off without Saddam Hussein, and those who believe today that we are not safer with his capture, don't have the judgment to be president or the credibility to be elected president."

Or maybe that wasn't him?

JOHN KERRY said yesterday that Iraq was "the wrong war in the wrong place at the wrong time."

Or maybe he meant what he thought he said, only differently...the other time...maybe.

I'm not used to posting sentimental stuff even though I do consider myself, let's just say....sensitive. This is in remembrance of those who died on 9/11. The composition is not mine.

Maybe, just maybe, I'll use the anniversary to post my experiences of that day and the weeks that followed as I've been promising myself to do. For those that don't know, I was just a few blocks away and saw both attacks on the trade center with a direct view from my 36th floor office. And yet my story remains untold to the masses. There were thousands that were closer to Ground Zero and were affected more than I, both physically and emotionally. But hey, it's everyone's responsibility to be a witness for the future.

IF I KNEW

If I knew it would be the last time
That I'd see you fall asleep,
I would tuck you in more tightly
and pray the Lord, your soul to keep.

If I knew it would be the last time
that I see you walk out the door,
I would give you a hug and kiss
and call you back for one more.

If I knew it would be the last time
I'd hear your voice lifted up in praise,
I would video tape each action and word,
so I could play them back day after day.

If I knew it would be the last time,
I could spare an extra minute
to stop and say "I love you,"
instead of assuming you would KNOW I do.

If I knew it would be the last time
I would be there to share your day,
Well I'm sure you'll have so many more,
so I can let just this one slip away.

For surely there's always tomorrow
to make up for an oversight,
and we always get a second chance
to make everything just right.

There will always be another day
to say "I love you,"
And certainly there's another chance
to say our "Anything I can do?"

But just in case I might be wrong,
and today is all I get,
I'd like to say how much I love you
and I hope we never forget.

Tomorrow is not promised to anyone,
young or old alike,
And today may be the last chance
you get to hold your loved one tight.

So if you're waiting for tomorrow,
why not do it today?
For if tomorrow never comes,
you'll surely regret the day,

That you didn't take that extra time
for a smile, a hug, or a kiss
and you were too busy to grant someone,
what turned out to be their one last wish.

So hold your loved ones close today,
and whisper in their ear,
Tell them how much you love them
and that you'll always hold them dear

Take time to say "I'm sorry,"
"Please forgive me," "Thank you," or "It's okay."
And if tomorrow never comes,
you'll have no regrets about today.

Here's a popular link supporting the President's honorable discharge and service in the National Guard.

Nevertheless, Democrats won't stop kicking the dead horse.

Democrats Question Bush's Service, Costs of War

``We know John Kerry was in Vietnam,'' Democratic Party chief Terry McAuliffe said after the Boston Globe reported that Bush failed to complete required training but was never disciplined. ``My question to you, Mr. President, is, where were you, sir? How did you avoid being disciplined?''

Note that this criticism of Bush, which is nothing more than an attack on his personal honor (dare I say patriotism?) comes from the very top of the Democratic party.

And of course, John Kerry personally has some questions he feels need answering.

You'll notice that criticism of Kerry comes from the Swift Boat Vets or other organizations, but not from the Republican Party itself. Even in the Kerry campaign link posted above, Kerry talks only of Bush's "surrogates".

In fact, Ed Gillespie, chairman of the Republican National Committee had this to say a few weeks ago at a press conference:

I encourage you to do a Lexis/Nexis search on Ed Gillespie and Senator Kerry's service in Vietnam. You will find I would wager well over 100 instances of my saying that Senator Kerry served honorably in Vietnam.

Also, until the Democrats and their supporters lean on John Kerry to release all his military records as George Bush did, they are in essence fighting the President and his supporters while they are blindfolded.

Also, Jim Rassman, the man whose life John Kerry saved, had this to say:

"There's no evidence that the president did not serve honestly and well. And until that shows up, if in fact it's true, let's leave it alone,".

Ah, but how refreshing four years of this would be.

Heinz Kerry: Opponents Of Health Care Plan Are 'Idiots'

Not.

I haven't seen this reported in too many places. No wonder we think we're not getting anywhere.

Marines Say Up to 100 Insurgents Killed in Falluja

We all know from the Democrats that our war in Iraq is a diversion from the War on Terror and was an illegal war to begin with.

I'm sure glad John Kerry doesn't feel that way.

"Today marks a tragic milestone in the war in Iraq; more than 1,000 of America's sons and daughters have now given their lives on behalf of their country, on behalf of freedom, the war on terror," Kerry said as he arrived in Cincinnati on a campaign stop.

Here we go again...the Democrats tried to make Bush's National Guard Service an issue during the 2000 campaign and again earlier this year and it didn't seem to hurt him any.

Missing in Action

Bush fell short on duty at Guard

Now, I'll be the first to say that if Kerry's war record is up for scrutiny, so is Bush's guard service. However, as a campaign tactic it won't work for several reasons:

- We already know that Bush comes froma wealthy family that used their connections to help their son.
- He's already been commander in chief for four years, so his fitness to fill that role can't be questioned based on some missing attendance records 30+ years ago. (His performance, yes.)
- No matter how many witnesses you have, it's impossible to prove that a person wasn't somewhere unless someone else claims to know where they actually were. That isn't happenig here.
- Records also released today did show that he flew 300+ hours of piloting time in military aircraft. It's not VietNam, but it's not risk-free either. I imagine more than one pilot died in training.

You see, this is what the republicans mean by the Democrats and their lack of new ideas.

OK, even I'll admit this is a little bit too direct. Especially, when you're up 10 points in the polls.

Cheney Warns Against Vote for Kerry

"It's absolutely essential that eight weeks from today, on Nov. 2, we make the right choice, because if we make the wrong choice then the danger is that we'll get hit again and we'll be hit in a way that will be devastating from the standpoint of the United States," Cheney told about 350 supporters at a town-hall meeting in this Iowa city.

Let's face it though - isn't that what we're betting on in November - whose policies will better protect us while minimizing military and economic losses? Since Kerry suggests that we need to spend the money, only differently, and he believes we need to be in Iraq it seems like it's a toss-up to me. Unless you're not sure that Kerry is telling the truth about what he plans to do, which I think is the whole point.

By the way, the Des Moines Register headline reads - Terrorists will attack if Bush loses