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.