A Peaceful Birthday, Mr. Reagan

Reagan’s dusk and dawn – The Washington Times is running an editorial on the Greatest President we’ve ever had; Ronald Reagan. Says the Times:

“Today marks the 93rd birthday of Ronald Reagan. It’s a bittersweet occasion.

Like the birthdays of less extraordinary individuals, this day is an occasion for both reflection and renewal. It is also a day to renew one’s commitment to the ideals Mr. Reagan lived by — a day to resolve to follow his injunction to “act worthy of ourselves.” It is also a day to send Mr. and Mrs. Reagan their memories and their thanks. The Reagan Foundation has set up a Web site for that purpose. Click on www.reaganfoundation.org and follow the instructions.“

Jen, over at The Greatest Jeneration made quick work of Tenant’s speech.

I plan to do a write up on this for a BitsBit this weekend. Hers is the best I’ve seen so far, though…

I’ve activated ATOM, which creates an XML version of the most recent blog entry list. Handy for picking up, say, in your Palm Pilot.

Th url for that feed is:
http://bitheads.blogspot.com/atom.xml

May take a day or so to catch up.

LILEKS makes my day with this one:

“What’s the message here? John Kerry is best suited to lead us in the present war because he was a prominent opponant of the last one, which we lost. John Kerry led the fight to leave South Vietnam to the mercies of the North. John Kerry would rather lose a theater for the right reasons than win it for reasons the critics derided. Dress it up however you like, but that’s what it came down to; college students marched not against the Vietnamese war but the American participation in that conflict. Anyone fill the Mall in DC to protest the reeducation camps? Any Solidarity with the Boat People committees formed on campuses after the fall of the south?”

I’m waiting for an ad that simply puts the matter plainly: who do you think Al Qaeda wants to win the election? Who do you think will make Syria relax? Who do you think Hezbollah worries about more? Who would Iran want to deal with when it comes to its nuclear program – Cowboy Bush or “Send in the bribed French inspectors” Kerry? Which candidate would our enemies prefer?”

Personally, I’d like to see some real news person have the testicular fortitude to ask that question.
None will, however.

The Detroit news is reporting:

LANSING — Michigan’s big dance may turn out to be a slumber party.

The strong showing of Massachusetts Sen. John Kerry in the first nine primaries across the nation and his wide lead in polls here has tamped down the excitement surrounding Saturday’s Michigan Democratic presidential caucus and made it a race for second place in the eyes of some candidates and experts.

It’s looking like at least part of the lack of interest is the lack of union activity. They’re usually out with phone boards and eveything else trying to drum up support for one Democrat or another.

Not so, this time.  Based on this lack, one could easily suggest that the unions aren’t supporting the Democrats this time. Hmmmmmm

Howard Dean has apparently written off the Michagan contest… he was seen on C-span this morning, stumping in washingto State, trying to play the outsider for all it’s worth.

President’s Statement on Massachusetts’ Court Ruling:

“February 4, 2004
STATEMENT BY THE PRESIDENT
Today’s ruling of the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court is deeply troubling. Marriage is a sacred institution between a man and a woman. If activist judges insist on re-defining marriage by court order, the only alternative will be the constitutional process. We must do what is legally necessary to defend the sanctity of marriage. “

Well, that’s it, then.  Ohio would seem the first palce to line up behind him on this.

HipperCritical wrote something on the 28th that frankly blows me away.

“Brain tumors suck, and I have one. I just found out about it back in October. The last few months have been quite the ordeal, but today’s the big day – surgery! I planned to write much more on this topic, but I ran out of time. “

Ummm. Yeah. What the beep do ya say to such a post, except to say a prayer?

Most of the way through, he finally offers the info:

” The most important thing – it’s benign. “

Well, that’s better… more hopeful, I’ll allow… but still… brain surgury?

Hope to see ya bloggin’ again soon.

The Washington Times is running a story today to warm my heart:

Coming-out day …..for conservatives

BOULDER, Colo. — A few years ago, Jeff O’Holleran said he began to realize that he was different from the other boys he knew.
“I started having certain thoughts,” said Mr. O’Holleran, 19, a student at the University of Colorado (CU). “I would go out into my mom’s car, turn it on auxiliary and listen to Rush Limbaugh.”

The Columbia Journalism Review takes on the left on the subject of the budget. The left keeps hamming that this a a recod deficit. In raw numbers? True. However, CJR goes on to point out:

“As a percentage of the gross domestic product — which many economists consider a better measure than simple dollar amounts — the currently projected deficit, at 4.2 percent according to the Congressional Budget Office or 4.5 percent according to the Bush administration, is equal to or smaller than those recorded in six years during the 1980s and 1990s (6.0 percent in 1983, 4.8 percent in 1984, 5.1 percent in 1985, 5.0 percent in 1986, 4.5 percent in 1991, and 4.7 percent in 1992). “

So as usual, Mr. Bush’s critics can’t be depended upon to tell the truth.

Democrat & Chronicle: Troubling crossing turns deadly

Well, here’s some reality:

I’m not only from Rochester, but I’m a railfan, and one of my offices is within sight of the crossing in question.

I will tell you what the investigation will show; Weather conditions caused the gates to respond later than usual to the train’s approach. (Which, by the way is also what caused the problems in Gates… I happen to live by those crossings.)

We had wet snow, and sleet most of the day, here. That kind of weather tends to cause the signals to react strangely; because of their design, they can react too early or too late to a train.. or to no train at all.

That said, the lights were on… and no other cars were hit. I have to wonder, how much a factor was age, here.

The New York Post says:

“It’s quite clear what’s going on here: Sharpton is using the campaign to funnel money to himself.
The irony is that the campaign is broke – with barely $7,000 in the bank – but the Rev will likely see a payday.”

Read the whole article.

Where the heck is the FEC on this one?

FOXNews is reporting::

“WASHINGTON A 7-pound block of cyanide salt (search) was discovered by U.S. troops in Baghdad at the end of January, officials confirmed to Fox News.”

It gets better:

“The potentially lethal compound was located in what was believed to be the safe house of Abu Musab Zarqawi (search), a poisons specialist described by some U.S. intelligence officials as having been a key link between deposed Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein and the Al Qaeda (search) terror network. “

Zarqawi is Palastinian, of course.

Now what will you bet on the chances of this report being investigated, by anyone OTHER than Fox news, eh?

I had a chance to go over the wires, this morning, and look more closely at the returns. I expect I’ll post further about this later in the day, but as I went over it all this morning over coffee, one point became fairly clear; My original thoughts about Dean winning the nimination were of base.

However, my late thought about a Kerry/Edwards ticket seem to have been confirmed, at least insofar as it making sense… Edwards was a lot stronger in Oklahoma than the numbers would suggest… he basicly phone in Oklahoma, whereas Clarkbar’s been out htere for a week and more drumming up support… Clark just barely pulled it off.

On that basis, Edwards would be a reasonable choice as Kerry’s running mate if carrying Oklahoma was a numerical consideration….

Hmmm…..Well, I should qualify that….carrying the state at least among Democrats, I mean, since Kerry still trails Bush in that state by a wide margin. It still all comes down to the idea that no matter who the Democrats prop up, it really doesn’t matter.

Well, apparently so, anyway.
I’ve noticed in the last 24 hours, a huge upswing in the number of hits this site is getting, both the blog and the BitsBits section.

Based on the referral records, the biggest amount of upswing apparently people going through search engines, attempting to find out about John Kerry, his military record, his voting record, and the flight 800 investigation he helped stuf.

The second biggest part of that upswing appears to be related to many people mailing out links to my two send-ups of Kerry the last two weeks on the BitsBits side. Someone in a Yahoo group started the ball rolling there, looks like.

I’ll reserve comment on just what’s driving this, yet.

CBS is calling Clark the winner in Oklahoma.
Kerry won big in North Dakota, New Mexico, Delaware, Arizona and Missouri.
Edwards in South Carolina.

I’ve got to consider this further, but right off the cuff, and in great need of sleep, I’ll say this:

Clark’s win in Oklahoma, coupled with Kerry’s coming in a distant third there, along with Edwards winning big in SC, means tom me that Kerry won’t win in more conservative states in the general election.

No argument that Kerry will win this nomination, barring Hillary leaping in, in an attampt to save the General election for the Democrats. Which may happen if this middle America rejection of him continues.