RatherBiased remains interested in this curiosity, even if the "independent" Panel showed no curiosity whatsoever.

On August 18, 2004, Burkett wrote the following -- now deleted, but archived by bloggers who bagged and tagged the evidence before it was destroyed:

I have found no documentation from LTC KillianÂ’s hand or staff that indicate that this unit was involved in any complicit way to either cover for the failures of 1LT Bush, or to provide him pay or certification for training not completed. On the contrary, LTC KilliansÂ’ remarks are rare, indeed, especially considering that 1LT Bush was known clearly as a congress-manÂ’s son and had utilized his position as such, to gain a favor of his failure to train while in Alabama. I have to believe that earning that favor was completed by false pretenses also due to LTC KillianÂ’s officer evaluation comment.

Of course, thirteen days later Burkett claims to have "reassembled" Bush's files.

What precisely caused Burkett to change positions? Could it have been CBS News' suggestions about a possible book deal for "information that could potentially change the momentum of an election?

There's more at the Dinocrat link, including a non-mealy-mouthed conclusion about the identity of the actual forger.

Including, for those of you interested in this nugget, a discussion of the OER/OETR mistake.

Posted by: Ace at 09:16 AM | Comments (2)
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You can tell because she just endorsed transforming our republic into a right-wing fascist theocracy:

On the eve of the presidential inauguration, US Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton last night embraced an issue some pundits say helped seal a second term for George W. Bush: acceptance of the role of faith in addressing social ills.

In a speech at a fund-raising dinner for a Boston-based organization that promotes faith-based solutions to social problems, Clinton said there has been a "false division" between faith-based approaches to social problems and respect for the separation of church of state.

"There is no contradiction between support for faith-based initiatives and upholding our constitutional principles," said Clinton, a New York Democrat who often is mentioned as a possible presidential candidate in 2008.

Addressing a crowd of more than 500, including many religious leaders, at Boston's Fairmont Copley Plaza, Clinton invoked God more than half a dozen times, at one point declaring, "I've always been a praying person."

She said there must be room for religious people to "live out their faith in the public square."

...

In her speech, Clinton praised the efforts of Rivers and others working to curb youth violence, saying those of faith are often most willing to walk the streets of the country's most dangerous neighborhoods to try to reach young people. Where others "see trouble," she said, Rivers and faith-based soldiers "see God's work right in front of them."

I eagerly await Frank Rich and Paul Krugman essays denouncing Hillary as attempting to impose her religion on the nation.

Posted by: Ace at 09:03 AM | Comments (3)
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Bush is, as the media never tires of instructing us, and evangelist Christian, but his most telling characteristic is evangelizing for freedom:

"All who live in tyranny and hopelessness can know: the United States will not ignore your oppress, or excuse your oppressors. When you stand for your liberty, we will stand with you."

...

"We go forward with complete confidence in the eventual triumph of freedom."

...

"Liberty for all does not mean independence from each other."

...

"Our country must abandon all habits of racism, for we cannot carry the promise of freedom while burdened with the baggage of bigotry."

..

"Some, I know, have questioned the global appeal of liberty, though this time in history, four decades defined by the swiftest advance of freedom ever seen, is an odd time for doubt."

This fall our nation was confronted with a choice: a choice between an imperfect leader whose strengths and weaknesses we had come to well know and a would-be leader who could never clearly articulate his vision for our future and whose aloofness and lack of passion at times seemed to suggest he wasn't particularly interested in the job at all, but merely going through the motions.

We chose. Only the ensuing years will inform us if our choice was the right one. But let us all hope we chose well.

Posted by: Ace at 08:49 AM | Comments (2)
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As the Boston Herald site seems to be down most of the time due to the Drudgalanche, I hope they won't mind me reprinting most of this article:

Boston terror threat probed
By Tom Farmer and Michele McPhee
Wednesday, January 19, 2005

Federal and state authorities are investigating a nuclear terrorist threat against Boston after a man calling from Mexico told California police that he smuggled two Iraqis and four Chinese over the border, the Boston Herald has learned.

``They got a call from across the border in Mexico to the California Highway Patrol and he said he brought two Iraqis and four Chinese (individuals) across the border and according to him, they stated soon to follow behind them would be some sort of material,'' said a law enforcement source familiar with the investigation.

``He refers to some sort of nuclear material that will follow them through New York up into Boston.''

According to the source, the caller has not identified himself and did not show up for a meeting with federal investigators in California but he did leave pictures of four Chinese men and some names at a ``drop'' site at the Mexico-California border.

``They were dropped by the source at a location. He literally threw them over a fence from Mexico to the U.S. side,'' said the source. ``There are pictures of the four Chinese and some names but just how accurate they are remains a question''

Massachusetts law enforcement officials were notified of the threat at 5:30 a.m. today through the FBI and Boston Police Joint Terrorist Task Force.

The threat was serious enough that Mayor Menino ordered the Fire Commissioner and the state's Homeland Security Chief into his office at City Hall, where they met with officials from the CIA, FBI, and Homeland Security Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency, a high-ranking city official told the Herald.

``They are desperately trying to piece it together,'' said the offial, who added that if the threat is real it is ``very scary.''
...

The Massachusetts investigator said much of the man's information sounds far-fetched and investigators have some doubts about the caller's validity because he has not identified himself.

``A lot of it doesn't make sense and some of it does,'' said the source. ``It's totally uncorroborated. This all began several days ago as a series of phone calls and they don't know who the caller is. There are some parts of it that just don't make sense and other little pieces of it that fall into place. The information is these people that came into the country are going to New York into Boston and the (nuclear) material will follow them.''

The source said there is speculation the caller may have been ripped off by illegal immigrants he helped over the border and is now trying to exact revenge.

``It's very weird. Even if (the Iraqis and Chinese) were going to do something why would they be blabbing to the yahoo smuggling them across the border? You have to wonder if they screwed him on a deal but you have to treat it seriously and the issue is how do you put it out to the public and not get everybody (in a panic)?''

Emphasis added, obviously.

So, it could be all nothing but bullshit. Let's hope for bullshit.

Thanks so much to Soxblog.

Posted by: Ace at 01:46 PM | Comments (18)
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Just the headline and a link to a story that doesn't say nearly as much as Drudge's headline.

Reports of a suspicious person; Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency on standby.

Posted by: Ace at 12:18 PM | Comments (79)
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Great stuff. Not really new, but always good to be reminded.

They're all good, but here's number 10:

We're all going to die of global warming. We are all going to die; that part is true. But Diplomads are not too worried about global warming. We can find articles in the media 20, 30 years ago that warned of a sooner-than-expected new ice age. OK, we can be persuaded that too many cars with bad exhaust pipes can pollute the air, but not nearly as much as when a volcano erupts. It's freezing cold all over the United States this winter, with horrible snow and ice storms. Our countrymen in places like Nebraska or North Dakota are probably thinking "Boy, I sure wish those scientists were right and we could get some global warming real soon."

Sort of like Dennis Miller said: "The temperature is going to rise 3.6 degrees Fahrenheit over the next fifty years? Well, okay. I always was a little chilly anyway. And then in another 50 years it's going to rise another 3.6 degrees? No problem; I'll just tell my grandkids that we moved to Scottsdale."

Thanks to NickS.

Posted by: Ace at 11:57 AM | Comments (7)
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These assholes, in the guise of either being "funny" or instructing you how not to disrupt Bush's inauguration, are actually oh-so-cutely telling anarchists and assorted other dipshits how to spoof air controllers into thinking DC might be under attack by unknown aircraft.

Consider the time when you transport your balloons. For instance, if the wind speed is 15mph and you are 30 miles upwind from Washington, make sure you don't accidentally release any balloons 2 hours before the Ceremony. Keep in mind that winds aloft are stronger than on the surface, so this may not be a perfect formula for determining the worse time to lose a balloon, it may be sooner. Whatever you do, don't lose them at 15 minute intervals, because if all of them were lost this way, at least one would most certainly be overhead during the Inauguration which would be a real disaster.

Don't tie long strips of aluminum foil on your balloons. This is very dangerous, because if one of your balloons was accidentally blown from your hands, these bits of foil would make the balloon have a radar cross section of a 747. You wouldn't want the Air Force to think the skies over Washington were filled with commercial airliners, especially in the no fly zone.

Always wear gloves when handling your Mylar balloons. The sharp edges can cause cuts on your hand if not handled properly, and besides, who wants those smudgy fingerprints, that ruin the shiny surface, for all to see.

...

Hopefully, enough people in the Washington area will take this advice and there will be no problems in the skies over the Inauguration. After all, you wouldn't want the President's speech drown out by the sounds of interceptor jets, would you?

You know what else we wouldn't want to happen? We wouldn't want the Secret Service to raid this asshole's house and then, mistakenly believing him to be armed, beat him repeatedly about the face until his teeth fly out of his mouth like popcorn.

We definitely would not want that to happen, and I advise the Secret Service against doing so most strenuously.

Thanks to See-Dubya.

Posted by: Ace at 11:19 AM | Comments (13)
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Slicin' like a hammer:

I listened to some of the Dr. Rice hearings today. Listening to Sen. Boxer is like having someone pump six gallons of lukewarm tea up a catheter tube. Slowly. It’s like being beaten to death by a moth. The rest of the questions were a bit more adept, inasmuch as they postured and preened with greater skill – but I kept wondering, who’s their audience? Who are they talking to? Who is this supposed to impress? I suppose if you believe that Abu Ghraib is the defining crime of the 21st century, you’re impressed that they’re still gnawing the bone; if you still believe that the solution to Iraqnam is the addition of Russian forces (!) (as Kerry suggested) (!) then this was heartening: truth to power, man. But to someone who is not on the moveon.org mailing list, it’s more of the same. More about WMD, for example. I too deplore the Bush administration’s decision in 2002 to go back to 1998 and plant all those false stories about Iraqi WMD and Saddam’s Al Qaeda connections in the mainstream media, for example, but I’m more interested in what comes next. (And I still, stubbornly, support the decision to go in.

He's also annoyed at the Boondocks cartoon. He says "It's funny 'cause it's true!", but I think that's just sarcasm.

Thanks to NickS.

Not Very Surprising Update: Barbara Boxer had a very different opinion on Iraqi WMD's when Clinton was president.

Posted by: Ace at 11:12 AM | Comments (11)
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...that really seems worthy of more common mentions by the liberal legacy media.

Jim sends me this must-read Rich Lowry piece:

You probably don't know Rafael Peralta's name. If we lived in a country that more fully celebrated the heroics of its men in uniform, you would.

...

he Marines entered a house [in Fallujah] and kicked in the doors of two rooms that proved empty. But there was another closed door to an adjoining room. It was unlocked, and Peralta, in the lead, opened it. He was immediately hit with AK-47 fire in his face and upper torso by three insurgents. He fell out of the way into one of the cleared rooms to give his fellow Marines a clear shot at the enemy. During the firefight, a yellow fragmentation grenade flew out of the room, landing near Peralta and several fellow Marines. The uninjured Marines tried to scatter out of the way, two of them trying to escape the room, but were blocked by a locked door. At that point, barely alive, Peralta grabbed the grenade and cradled it to his body.

His body took most of the blast. One Marine was seriously injured, but the rest sustained only minor shrapnel wounds. Cpl. Brannon Dyer told a reporter from the Army Times, "He saved half my fire team."

...

Peralta's sacrifice should be a legend in the making. But somehow heroism doesn't get the same traction in our media environment as being a victim or villain, categories that encompass the truly famous Jessica Lynch and Lynndie England respectively. Peralta's story has been covered in military publications, a smattering of papers including the Seattle Times and the San Diego Union-Tribune, ABC News, and some military blogs. But the Washington Post and the New York Times only mentioned Peralta's name in their lists of the dead. Scandalously, the "heroism" of Spc. Thomas Wilson — the national guardsman who asked a tough question of Secretary of Defense Don Rumsfeld that had been planted with him by a reporter — has been more celebrated in the press than that of Peralta.

The media dwells on the deaths of soldiers and Marines murdered in Iraq without being afforded the chance to fight back. Killed by a roadside bomb. Laid dead by a mortar shell that came without warning.

The media spends a great deal of time reporting these deaths, they say, because it's important to inform the American people of the costs of war, and the real-world impact of our policies on our soldiers and Marines. And that is, I suppose, true as far as it goes.

But there are deaths like the death of Rafael Peralta they seem decidedly less interested in. Why? Isn't his death also part of the factual record the American people need to be made aware of?

In the eyes of the liberal legacy media, the answer is no. Because Peralta's death is, for them, an inconvenient one. His death is a noble one, a heroic one, a selfless one; a death of his own chosing, a choice to exchange his life for those of his fellow soldiers.

And that runs contrary to the liberal legacy media's chosen narrative of senseless slaughter leaves American boys dead, and for what?

Peralta's death can't be used to advance their agenda. And hence the media silence.

The media does indeed have an obligation to report on those soldiers killed and maimed without even being afforded the chance to fight back. That is war, after all, especially this war, fought chiefly against animals.

But it would be nice if they could acknowledge their duty to report on men like Rafael Peralta, too.

Posted by: Ace at 10:50 PM | Comments (15)
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The Unpopulist makes a good catch -- for free -- that CBS' million-dollar "independent" panel missed:

he weekend that 1st Lt. Bush was supposedly ordered to report for his physical, May 13-14, 1972, the Ellington Air Guard Base was closed. It was Mother's Day. Except for emergencies, Air Guard units never drilled on Mother's Day; the divorce lawyers would be waiting at the gate...

And he says a survey of the pay records demonstrate this fact.

If you were playing your ten-year-old nephew in basketball, this would be the point at which you deliberately began missing shots and "accidentally" rebounding his shots into the basket in order to let the kid come within a respectable distance of winning.

But it's not b-ball against a ten year old, so keep piling on the points.

Cry.

Posted by: Ace at 10:03 PM | Comments (9)
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