Maybe now I can afford a Hummer!

I just love these unintended consequences. If you're a rich business owner, you can deduct the cost of your Humvee from your taxes. Very nice.

Patty Murray, Just Go!

So, which is it? Is Patty Murray above criticism, as she seems to believe. Or is she below criticism, as some merciful conservatives have suggested? Just as the last moral exhibitionists were delivering their final kicks to the dead horse formerly known as Senator Trent Lott, one of his colleagues from the other side of the aisle began running her mouth faster than her plodding brain could keep up with. And so far, she has largely been excused from criticism, even though she paid compliments to a man responsible for thousands of American deaths and also implied that the United States had it coming on September 11, 2001.
Referring to terrorist godfather Osama Bin Laden, Murray asked a class of school children, "We've got to ask, why is this man so popular around the world?" This question is worth pondering. Unfortunately she did not leave it to anyone else in that classroom to answer the question. Surely one of those children could have delivered a more insightful answer. Instead, she chose to answer her own question: "He's been out in these countries for decades, building schools, building roads, building infrastructure, building day care facilities, building health care facilities, and the people are extremely grateful. We haven't done that.”
As the tapes of this wisdom provoked outrage, two tracks of thought that would exempt Murray from criticism have emerged. The first, cultivated by Murray and her supporters, states that she is above criticism. After all, she was just trying to inspire debate. “"Having a challenging and thoughtful discussion about America’s future reflects the best values of a free democracy; to sensationalize and distort in an attempt to divide is not," read a statement from her office.
Since extolling thoughtful discussion, Murray herself has ducked such discussion and has remained in near seclusion - even cancelling her own fundraisers. Representative George Nethercutt offered to debate her on the topic. So far, Murray has pretended not to hear his challenge.
The other line of thought, first articulated by columnist Glenn Reynolds, is that Murray is entirely too dim to be bothered with. Trent Lott was smart enough to know better. Patty Murray clearly is not and should be left alone. This reasoning was largely confirmed by Murray herself when she asked that her statements not be “construed.” That statement was so pitifully ignorant that even the Republican National Committee extended her the mercy of editing her comments so that they made sense.
Patty Murray should not be excused for her statements for at least two reasons. First, by running for political office, she declared herself fit to take decisions on behalf of us little people. If she is not up to the task, as she clearly is not, then the people whom she represents need to know about it so they can make an informed decision on her reelection.
Secondly, her statements reveal a frightening ignorance of the world we must survive in. Osama Bin Laden’s popularity in the Islamic world has nothing to do with building daycares. If that were true, then we would be loved. We’ve given billions to Yasser Arafat and his Palestinian Authority and the Palestinians responded by dancing in the streets when the World Trade Center collapsed. We’ve given billions to Egypt and Egyptians on the street still hate us. Even in Afghanistan, where we’ve been criticized for not providing enough support after the Soviets were kicked out, the United States gave more foreign aid than the rest of the world combined and far more than Osama Bin Laden.
The truth is that Osama Bin Laden is popular in the Islamic world for the same reason that Adolf Hitler remains popular among Nazis. It’s because he kills Jews. And, as an added bonus, he kills Americans. Patty Murray’s view of the world is so obscured by her own insipid clichés that she cannot fathom that Western Civilization is entering a battle for its survival. If it isn’t abundantly clear to her that our enemies will not be bought off with baby sitters, or even midnight basketball, then she has no business voting in the Senate. This is not an issue of ideology. It’s a matter of competency. If Washington must be represented in the Senate by two liberal Democrats, surely the party can find one with more than a couple of IQ points to rub together.

The Axis of Not-So-Nice

I wonder if those who criticized George Bush for citing North Korea as a member the Axis of Evil are willing to defend this.

Now there are two reasons to bomb Baghdad

Anti-war activists volunteer themselves as human shields. Let's hope they stay out in the open.

King David Verified!

Now this is interesting!

Edward Morris, You're no Andrea Yates

I’m pleased to report that, as of yet, no one has established an “Edward Morris Support Coalition.” I have heard nothing about the establishment of an “Edward Morris Defense Fund.” And, as yet, I am aware of nobody speaking up for Edward Morris, or trying to drum up sympathy for him, on any daytime television talk show. The Larry King show and the Phil Donahue Show have not devoted any shows to inspiring sympathy for him.
And why should there be? If Edward Morris committed the crime he is accused of, he should, at the very least, rot in prison. The death penalty might be too kind. Anybody who speaks up for him should be watched very closely indeed.
In what seems to be an emerging Oregon Christmas tradition, another family has been slaughtered and the father is the prime suspect. Last year, it was Christian Longo whose family was found floating in Oregon’s Alsea and Yaquina Bays. He was eventually tracked down and is awaiting trial in an Oregon jail. This year, it was the family of Edward Morris that was killed. Morris’s pregnant wife and three children were discovered slain in the forest near Tillamook, Oregon. Two weeks after hunters stumbled across his family, Edward Morris was captured in Baker, Oregon. He faces five counts of murder and potentially a date with Oregon’s under-worked executioner.
I don’t know the details of how these poor people died, but I don’t doubt that the murders were horrific events.
But, as I followed the search for Edward Morris, I realized that something was missing from this story. No one was trying to drum up sympathy for this accused fugitive.
This is particularly notable as both of these Oregon holiday season murders were preceded by another notorious family mass murder. The big difference is that the murderess in that earlier case evoked a great deal of sympathy and even some tangible support from organizations that wish to be respected in the morning.
On the morning of June 20, 2001 Andrea Pia Yates waited patiently for her husband to leave for work. Then, she methodically killed each of her five children by drowning them in a bathtub.
She had actually formulated her plan the previous evening. She then, knowing full well what she meant to do in just a few hours, monstrously prepared her babies’ meals and tucked them into bed for their last night on earth.
The next morning, she filled a bathtub and held each of her four youngest children’s heads underwater until each died. Once they were dead, she laid their bodies out on a bed, side by side. Her oldest child, a seven-year-old boy, discovered what was happening and ran for his life. Andrea Yates chased him down and dragged him, kicking and screaming, back to the bathroom where she finished her grizzly task. Police found the seven-year old floating face down in the tub.
Immediately the cultural Left took their place alongside Yates and used the event to attack men, marriage, her church and American society. Her insensitive husband was responsible for driving her to commit this crime. The institution of marriage that enslaved her was to blame. A church that encouraged large families was at fault. Former National Organization for Women president Patricia Ireland declared at a national convention that Yates’ actions were a consequence of America’s “patriarchal society.”
The tub was barely drained before the Houston chapter of the National Organization for Women began soliciting donations to the “Andrea Pia Yates Support Coalition.”
Without ever meeting her, Patricia Ireland just knew that society, not Yates, was responsible for those children’s deaths. On the other hand, Edward Morris and Christian Longo are just evil men, who behaved as the National Organization for Women expects all men to behave.
How does one mass murderer ascend to heroic status while others find themselves reviled? The reason that no one is asking us to sympathize with this latest accused mass killer is that Edward Morris, like Christian Longo before him, serves no useful role for the cultural Left. Because they can serve no political agenda, Morris and Longo will simply have to face the charges against them without Oprah Winfrey or Rosie O’Donnell leading cheers for them from the sidelines.

A 500 horsepower, 300 mile per hour motorcycle?

Now this is truly insane!

Oh, Give it up already!!!!!!!

I'm now convinced that Democrats will never get over Al Gore's loss in 2000. If any more evidence is needed, look at this bit of drivel. Just so everyone understands, George W. Bush was elected president according to the Constitution of the United States. You may have heard of it, although probably not from a liberal who views its restrictions upon governmental power as obstructions, not as guideposts.
It's deliciously ironic that Gore won the popular vote, but lost the Electoral College because, conceding the popular vote and concentrating on winning in the Electoral College was his campaign's strategy. And, if it had turned out that way, we would have to read such snide references as is found in this bit of nonsense.