Commentary (and rants) on national and local politics.

Maureen O’Keefe Aptowicz: Mother

Some of the best political commentary online, from an admitted conservative no less, is coming from one Maureen O'Keefe Aptowicz's zeitgeist column at aptowicz.com. Funny, honest and intelligent, she skewers Kerry with the best of them but generally offers equal-time in her critiques, able to admit that her guy isn't exactly the brightest bulb in the house. Anyway, while I don't think Bush won over any of the 'undecideds' (who are these dolts? Should they even be allowed to vote?), he didn't screw up royally and cost himself support. I suspect Kerry will pick up 3% in the polls, since…

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Democratic Scare Tactics

I'm always discouraged to see friends suckered into things because of their good intentions so when one of them forwarded me the latest email "virus" going around, I was both annoyed and disappointed. The email in question is from Kerry-Edwards 2004, Inc. in the form of their latest plea for money: "To keep the Democratic Party's essential October activities on track, we have to raise $2 million in less than 36 hours." Post-9/11, most non-profits saw their donations drop dramatically as people redirected their philanthropy towards the Red Cross and other relief organizations. That was understandable. Today, the same thing…

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"Freedom" in America is like living in a really nice zoo, where the walls are spread far enough apart to allow you to lie to yourself, but close enough to quell the desire to maul your inattentive captors, knowing a bullet with your name on it waits on the other side. As much as I wish we could leave the country when if Bush wins the election in November, I know it's an unrealistic fantasy. For us, at least. Especially with two kids. A drunk kid accosted Matt and I last Friday after the Jets game, asking us if we…

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Cannibalism is nutritious

“War is good for the economy…like cannibalism is nutritious.”

In related news:

U.S. stocks rally as oil drops to two-week lows

Wednesday August 25, 1:35 pm ET

By Mark Cotton

NEW YORK (CBS.MW) — U.S. stocks gained ground in afternoon trading Wednesday, buoyed by fresh drop in oil prices to two-week lows.

Crude for October delivery fell as low as $44.08 per barrel intraday on the New York Mercantile Exchange after the latest industry data showed motor-fuel stocks either unchanged or higher on the previous week, confounding analyst estimates of a decline.

A two-week low is cause for investor enthusiasm? Cannibalism, indeed.

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Kerry Weak; Kucinich Dissed

"I'm John Kerry and I'm reporting for duty." That's the best intro they could come up with for this clown? The biggest speech of his life and he goes with not just a bad pun, but one that is basically a slap in the face to every anti-war Democrat that's being asked to hold their nose and pull the lever for him in November, as an icebreaker? I really, really, REALLY despise this guy. So much so, he's even tainted my opinion of John Edwards. If he keeps doing that dorky little thumbs-up thing he does I'm going to reach…

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Democratic Party’s Identity Crisis

My issues with the Democratic Party Platform: Strong at Home, Respected in the World, aka Identity Crisis.

from the PREAMBLE

That is the America we believe in. That is the America we are fighting for. That is the America we will build together – one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

Boilerplate, I know, but still annoying for it’s pandering to the south.

from A STRONG, RESPECTED AMERICA

Time and again, this Administration confuses leadership with going it alone and engagement with compromise of principle. They do not understand that real leadership means standing by your principles and rallying others to join you.

“Standing by your principles??!” How did that get in there when Prince Flip-Flop is at the top of the ticket?

Today, we face three great challenges above all others – first, to win the global war against terror; second, to stop the spread of nuclear, biological and chemical weapons; and third, to promote democracy and freedom around the world, starting with a peaceful and stable Iraq.

Did anybody proofread this thing?  How did George Bush’s platform sneak in here?!?!

To meet these challenges, we need a new national security policy guided by four new imperatives:… Second, we must modernize the world’s most powerful military to meet the new threats.

That’s not a new imperative.  That’s business as usual!

from DEFEATING TERRORISM

With John Kerry as Commander-in-Chief, we will never wait for a green light from abroad when our safety is at stake, but we must enlist those whose support we need for ultimate victory… Democracy will not blossom overnight, but America should speed its growth by sustaining the forces of democracy against repressive regimes and by rewarding governments that work toward this end.

And this is different from Bush’s stance how?

We will attack the exploding opium trade ignored by the Bush Administration by doubling our counter-narcotics assistance to the Karzai Government and reinvigorating the regional drug control program.

Ah, the return of the war on drugs! What next? “Just say no!”

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So Dubya and company are now looking into a way to postpone the Presidential election in case there's a terrorist attack the day before or day of that might sway those on the fence against him like he believes happened in Spain create the need for an unprecedented delay. And the comparison to the 9/11 delay of NYC's mayoral Democratic primary is way off base. Most reports I've read on this don't bother to fully identify the guy putting forth the proposal, DeForest Soaries Jr., chairman of the Election Assistance Commission, or even point out the origin of his Commission:…

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