Pop

I was going to write this yesterday, but we had an ice storm and we lost power for 24 hours. Better late than never.

Yesterday was the fourth anniversary of my father's death. I could go on with the usual "he was a great man" or something along those lines. Basically putting a halo over his head, but I'm not going to do that.

My father was a good man who provided well for his family. He had an unhappy childhood, he was put into an orphanage twice by my grandmother. He served in WWII even though underage at the time. He was an uneducated man, but he read with a voracious appetite.

He worked in an industry where he bettered himself with his sharp mind and great ambition for success. He embodied the american dream.

When I was a child, I barely saw my father. He would often work late, and so we kids would have dinner on our own and then mom and pop would eat later. I looked forward to the weekends when we would all eat together.

My father worked hard and made a name for himself in the industry that he chose. By the time of his early retirement he was one of the most sought after in his field.

Later in life my father would tell me that he spent too much time on his career, and not enough on us. This was well before he got sick. I of course, as seemed to be my lot in life, disagreed with him. After all, by this time I was a father myself and working hard to provide for my family. It is amazing the things you pick up from your parents without even thinking about it, but I was busy working my 70 hour work weeks to make a name for myself in the industry that I chose.

Now that I am a little bit older and my kids are basically living on their own, I can understand more of what my father tried to teach me, and ultimately what he did teach me. My career, while still important, is so much less important than my family. I know that I am somewhat dense, but it actually took my father's death to teach me that.

This summer, my beautiful daughter is getting married. I am so proud of her, as I am of both of my daughters. I only hope that I can pass along the lessons that were passed on to me, no matter how late my father thought those lessons were.

In closing, my father was a great man. He gave me purpose in life. He gave me drive. He gave me a lust for life. He, along with my mother gave me everything that I am.

Pop, I miss you. I love you. And I pray daily that God is looking over you, and that you are looking over me.

The Speech

Unfortunately, I didn't get a chance to watch President Bush give his inaugural speech yesterday, so I can't comment on his delivery. I did, however go to the white house web site and download a copy of it, link here. There has been a lot said about this speech already, some flattering, some not so flattering.

Most of the negative comments had to do with either how far reaching his goals were ("ending tyranny in our world") or the references to God (see Peggy Noonan's column here).

Let's tackle Peggy's first. I am a big fan of Peggy's as regular readers know, but I disagree with her from time to time. This is one of those times. First off, there were fewer than a half dozen references to God, that's if you include his signing off with "May God bless you and may he watch over the United States of America". In my opinion that is not over doing it for a 21 minute speech delivered by a deeply religious man.

My advice for people who have a hard time with the presidents faith is to get over it. I am so tired of hearing about the separation of church and state, especially when it isn't taken in the context with which it was written. This country was founded by religious men and I have no problem having a president with deep faith. As a matter of fact, it is refreshing after the last inhabitant of the white house.

As for President Bush's high reaching goals, would you rather he lowered the bar and demanded only mediocrity of himself and his administration? I for one would not. We had enough of that during the 90's with President Clinton. I appreciate an administration that reaches for the stars. It shows positive vision and leadership. I look forward to the next four years with President Bush leading the way for all the free countries now, and the new found free countries to come.

CBS Execs

The three CBS executives who were told by Les Moonves to resign, still haven't done so more than a week later according to an AP story.

The three CBS News executives asked to resign for their roles in the network's discredited story about President Bush's National Guard service had not done so by Wednesday, more than a week later.

It was unclear whether their lack of action foreshadows a legal battle between CBS and Josh Howard, executive producer of "60 Minutes Wednesday"; his top deputy, Mary Murphy; and CBS senior vice president Betsy West.

"There are discussions going on with them," CBS chairman Leslie Moonves said.
Moonves would not elaborate further, and network spokesman Gil Schwartz declined to say whether CBS had been contacted by lawyers representing the three executives.
The producer of last September's story, Mary Mapes, was fired outright Jan. 10 after an independent panel found CBS rushed the story critical of Bush's military service on the air without ever proving that documents upon which it was based were real.

Howard and Murphy were asked to resign for failing to fulfill their supervisory roles and letting the story air. The panel said Murphy did not follow an order from CBS News President Andrew Heyward to quickly investigate when questions were raised about the documents.

West did not immediately return a telephone call Wednesday, and Howard declined comment. Attempts to find a telephone number for Murphy were unsuccessful.

If they don't leave voluntarily, then Moonves should fire them immediately.

Boxer vs Rice

I don't have a lot to say about the confirmation hearings for Dr. Rice that hasn't been said better by others. She is probably the most qualified nominee for Secretary of State since Henry Kissinger. I will leave it to radioblogger to set the qualifications between Senator Boxer of California and Condoleezza Rice, currently National Security Advisor of the USA.

It is the night before the latest chapter of Barbara Boxer, embarrassment, takes place. Tuesday marks the beginning of the confirmation hearings of Condoleezza Rice, current National Security Advisor and soon-to-be Secretary of State.

Barbara Boxer is pouring over her people's notes, e-mails, and tin foil hat transmissions, ready to go to the mat to take Dr. Rice down once and for all.

I did this once before with Barbra Streisand when she criticized Dr. Rice on foreign policy, but it bears repeating with the delusional junior Senator from my state of California as well. Here is Dr. Rice's biography from the White House website:

Dr. Condoleezza Rice became the Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs, commonly referred to as the National Security Advisor, on January 22, 2001.

In June 1999, she completed a six year tenure as Stanford University 's Provost, during which she was the institution's chief budget and academic officer. As Provost she was responsible for a $1.5 billion annual budget and the academic program involving 1,400 faculty members and 14,000 students.

As professor of political science, Dr. Rice has been on the Stanford faculty since 1981 and has won two of the highest teaching honors -- the 1984 Walter J. Gores Award for Excellence in Teaching and the 1993 School of Humanities and Sciences Dean's Award for Distinguished Teaching.

At Stanford, she has been a member of the Center for International Security and Arms Control, a Senior Fellow of the Institute for International Studies, and a Fellow (by courtesy) of the Hoover Institution. Her books include Germany Unified and Europe Transformed (1995) with Philip Zelikow, The Gorbachev Era (1986) with Alexander Dallin, and Uncertain Allegiance: The Soviet Union and the Czechoslovak Army (1984). She also has written numerous articles on Soviet and East European foreign and defense policy, and has addressed audiences in settings ranging from the U.S. Ambassador's Residence in Moscow to the Commonwealth Club to the 1992 and 2000 Republican National Conventions.

From 1989 through March 1991, the period of German reunification and the final days of the Soviet Union, she served in the Bush Administration as Director, and then Senior Director, of Soviet and East European Affairs in the National Security Council, and a Special Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs. In 1986, while an international affairs fellow of the Council on Foreign Relations, she served as Special Assistant to the Director of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. In 1997, she served on the Federal Advisory Committee on Gender -- Integrated Training in the Military.

She was a member of the boards of directors for the Chevron Corporation, the Charles Schwab Corporation, the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, the University of Notre Dame, the International Advisory Council of J.P. Morgan and the San Francisco Symphony Board of Governors. She was a Founding Board member of the Center for a New Generation, an educational support fund for schools in East Palo Alto and East Menlo Park, California and was Vice President of the Boys and Girls Club of the Peninsula . In addition, her past board service has encompassed such organizations as Transamerica Corporation, Hewlett Packard, the Carnegie Corporation, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, The Rand Corporation, the National Council for Soviet and East European Studies, the Mid-Peninsula Urban Coalition and KQED, public broadcasting for San Francisco.

Born November 14, 1954 in Birmingham, Alabama, she earned her bachelor's degree in political science, cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa, from the University of Denver in 1974; her master's from the University of Notre Dame in 1975; and her Ph.D. from the Graduate School of International Studies at the University of Denver in 1981. She is a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and has been awarded honorary doctorates from Morehouse College in 1991, the University of Alabama in 1994, the University of Notre Dame in 1995, the National Defense University in 2002, the Mississippi College School of Law in 2003, the University of Louisville and Michigan State University in 2004. She resides in Washington, D.C.

Here is Barbara Boxer's educational and professional experience, outside of government.

Born Barbara Levy in Brooklyn, New York, she graduated from Brooklyn College in 1962 with a degree in economics and then worked as a journalist and a stockbroker.

She's going to tell off Dr. Rice on foreign policy? Please. Senator Boxer wins the dumbest senator still able to vote hands down. Yes, Patty Murray is far from intelligent. I realize that Mark Dayton from Minnesota runs away like a scared cat when a loud noise happens, but Barbara Boxer is frightfully stupid when it comes to common sense, especially when it is applied to policy.

I for one will be putting my money on Dr. Condoleezza Rice.

He's Back

Not content to stand by his concession speech the day after the election, John "did you know I'm a war hero" Kerry is back in the news today in the NYTimes. On a day when it would have been more prudent to praise MLK and the civil rights movement that he led, Kerry decided it would be better to bash the president and to whine about voter irregularities.

The Massachusetts Democrat, Bush's challenger in November, spoke at Boston's annual Martin Luther King Day Breakfast. He reiterated that he decided not to challenge the election results, but ``thousands of people were suppressed in the effort to vote.''

"Voting machines were distributed in uneven ways. In Democratic districts, it took people four, five, eleven hours to vote, while Republicans (went) through in 10 minutes -- same voting machines, same process, our America,'' he said.

I don't remember being able to get through the lines in 10 minutes, and yes I'm a republican. Once again Kerry is satisfied listening to the MSM echo every crackpot theory out there on voter fraud and accept it as fact. Hang on, there's more.

"In a nation which is willing to spend several hundred million dollars in Iraq to bring them democracy, we cannot tolerate that here in America too many people were denied that democracy,'' Kerry said.

I was pleasantly surprised when the Times actually quoted an opposing point of view from Mitt Romney.

Republican Gov. Mitt Romney cautioned that there are also GOP concerns about voter fraud on the Democratic side.

"I think it's helpful if elected officials and leaders look at both sides of the issues, and that we take action to make sure that citizens qualified to vote do vote, and that people do not defraud the system,'' Romney said after the breakfast.

Last but certainly not least, the senator has not learned from his mistakes. If you recall, during the campaign Kerry said that he had been speaking to foreign leaders who were "secretly" pulling for his victory. Well today he had this to say:

"Throughout Europe, as I met with European leaders, it's clear that they're prepared to do more, but the (Bush) administration has not put the structure together for people to be able to do it,'' he said.

Kerry declined to specify which leaders expressed a desire to help more with Iraq, or how (emphasis mine). He met separately last week with French President Jacques Chirac and German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder. Both leaders have been critical of the U.S.-led invasion.

Does any of this sound familiar? With every word that escapes from his mouth, he shows that the majority of the country made the right choice. I have never thought that he stood a chance in the 2008 race, and he is proving that fact every day. My friends on the left need to understand that 40% of the votes that went for Kerry in November were actually votes against Dubya. That won't be an issue in 2008.

Beware the French Revolution

Senator John Kerry will be meeting tomorrow with French President Jacques Chirac the Boston Globe reported today. My first response was big deal....loser meet loser.

Then it hit me. Isn't the senate in session right now? Shouldn't Senator Kerry be working? It seems to me that Mr. Kerry has taken about the last 2 years off in his failed bid to be president. Being the junior senator from Mass. is in fact his day job. The job that he has been getting paid for without him actually doing his job. This has to be about the sweetest job in the world. Get elected to congress, then take the next 4 years off while running for president.....and still get paid!! Not only am I a little jealous, I'm starting to feel a little bit ripped off.

There should be a new law passed that if you are a congressman or senator and you decide to run for president, or other elected office you should waive your pay for the time you take off. I don't get paid if I decide to run for president and I feel the playing field should be equal.

Problems at CBS?

Well, according to Van Gordon Sauter, who ran the news organization at CBS in the early 1980's, there could possibly be an oh so slight problem.

What's the big problem at CBS News?Well, for one thing, it has no credibility. And no audience, no morale, no long-term emblematic anchorperson and no cohesive management structure. Outside of those annoyances, it shouldn't be that hard to fix.

Personally, I have a great affection for CBS News, even though I was unceremoniously shown to the door there nearly 20 years ago in a tumultuous change of corporate management.

But I stopped watching it some time ago. The unremitting liberal orientation finally became too much for me. I still check in, but less and less frequently. I increasingly drift to NBC News and Fox and MSNBC.

It seems that Sauter thinks that CBS had better find a way to get back to the center (politically speaking) and stop playing partisan politics. He sites too many alternatives to television news sources, ranging from cable to internet news to blogs. The article ran today in the LA Times (registration required).

This Just in From The Home Office...

Hugh Hewitt has what he hopes (as do I) is the top 10 list from David Letterman's show last night:

Top Ten Proposed Changes At CBS News

10. Stories must be corroborated by at least two really strong hunches.

9. "Evening News" pre-show staff cocktail hour is cancelled until further notice.

8. Reduce "60 Minutes" to more manageable 15-20 minutes.

7. Change division name from "CBS News" to "CBS News-ish"

6. If anchor says anything inaccurate, earpiece delivers an electric shock.

5. Conclude each story with comical "Boing" sound effect.

4. Instead of boring Middle East reports, more powerball drawings.

3. To play it safe, every "exclusive" story will be about how tasty pecan pie is.

2. Not sure how, but make CBS News more like "C.S.I."

1. Use beer, cash and hookers to lure Tom Brokaw out of retirement."

It's About Time

The 2004 presidential election is finally over. The 37 cry-baby democrat wacko's who had asked the courts to examine supposed voting irregularities in Ohio have decided to drop the case. The AP story is here.

The previously mentioned 37 cry-baby democrat wacko's were backed by the Rev. Jesse Jackson, who apparently was between fathering children out of wedlock. On the other hand, maybe he thought this was a good way to pick up chicks.

Happy Birthday

Today is my little brother's 42nd birthday. Happy Birthday Jimmy Scar!

It is also the 87th birthday of my father-in-law, so happy birthday to you too, Ed.

The Dan-Man Speaks

Dan Rather has been heard from via a memo he wrote his colleagues (hmmm, more memo's) as reported by Drudge.

The panel report is part of a process -- a necessary process to deal with a difficult issue -- at the end of which four good people have lost their jobs. My strongest reaction is one of sadness and concern for those individuals whom I know and with whom I have worked. It would be a shame if we let this matter, troubling as it is, obscure their dedication and good work over the years.

Yet good can come from this process if CBS News, and the hundreds of able professionals who labor every day to fill an essential public service in an open society, emerge with a renewed dedication to journalism of the highest quality. We should take seriously the admonition of the report's authors to do our job well and carefully, but also their parallel admonition not to be afraid to cover important and controversial issues.

CBS News is a great institution with a distinct and precious legacy. I have been here through good times, and not so good times. I have seen us overcome adversity before. I am convinced we can do so again. That must be our focus and priority. And we can fulfill that objective by getting back to business and doing our jobs better than ever.

Lest anyone have any doubt, I have read the report, I take it seriously, and I shall keep its lessons well in mind.

Dan Rather

Dan Rather returned to his anchor desk tonight, and what do you know. This subject didn't come up, not once.

From the report to this memo to the lack of reporting of this entire episode is, as Hugh Hewitt has written, a complete whitewash. I don't know if there is any (credible) person who can say with a straight face that there was no political bias during this report. What about Mary Mapes hanging out with the Kerry campaign?

Then there is the issue of the documents themselves. No mention of them being complete (and quite poor) forgeries. For more on the report itself there is a good article over at the Captain's Corner.

Four months have passed and this is the best they can do? 224 pages of nothing. I do believe our collective intelligence has been insulted.

This is Thanking the Troops?

Our favorite failed democratic presidential candidate has made the news while on his tour through the mideast "thanking" our troops. Here is the link, but I will paste the whole article below. The story appeared in Newsmax.com but was first reported in the San Francisco Chronicle.

Thursday, Jan. 6, 2005 11:40 a.m. EST

Kerry Trashes Bush in Baghdad

Visiting with U.S. troops in Baghdad on Thursday, failed presidential candidate John Kerry trashed Commander-in-chief George Bush for making "horrendous judgments" and "unbelievable blunders" that have undermined the war effort. In a series of demoralizing comments first reported by the San Francisco Chronicle, the defeated Democrat griped, "What is sad about what's happening here now is that so much of it is a process of catching up from the enormous miscalculations and wrong judgments made in the beginning."

Kerry said that because of the Bush administration's mistakes, "the job has been made enormously harder."

Among the errors cited by the disgruntled Democrat: the decision by former U.S. occupation leader Paul Bremer's to disband the Iraqi army and purge the government of former members of Hussein's Baath Party.

Both moves were have fueled the Sunni insurgency, he claimed, lamenting, "Mistakes have been made."

Then, perhaps sensing he'd gone too far, the 2008 White House hopeful cut short the Bush-bashing, saying, "Now, it's a different time and different set of judgments that have to be made. I'm here to make judgments about what moves are available to us."

This is the person that left-wing wacko's like Michael Moore wanted to become the commander in chief? This is a total discrace, that a senator of 20 years and a presidential candidate would go to foreign soil where we are fighting a war, supposedly to thank our troops for their service, and slander their commanding officer, basically calling him a bungling idiot.

How would this total scumbag-blame America first-communist piece of filth know if mistakes have been made? Surely not by that total sham of a stint in Vietnam, where our hero bails out after 4 months because of self inflicted scratches. What a pathetic human being he is. He should be forced to resign his position(s) on any committees he currently serves (although they have probably forgotten what he looks like anyway) if not his senate seat itself.

Way to build morale in a combat situation senator. Oh that's right, you wouldn't know anything about that.

Lack of Blogging Part II

Sorry for the lack of blogging over the Christmas holiday season. Things should be back to normal now that I am somewhat settled down and rested. There is of course the fact that Mrs. Scar and I are moving (again). Time to get back to Atlanta. We are looking forward to our new adventure, even though we hate leaving our beautiful house. The house just went on the market (I will post a link to the web page when it is available) so I will keep you posted on the sale and the move. Wish me luck....I'm going to need it!

Kerry's Mideast Trip...Where To Start

Former presidential candidate (thank God) John Kerry has decided to show himself again after his failed presidential bid in a two week trip through the countries of the mideast. This, in my opinion, is a strange place for the Senator of multiple stances on every issue of the region to have a coming out party. But leave it to the Boston Globe to clear things up for me here. Lets have a little peek, shall we?

Kerry is the only elected official on his trip, and he is making an unusual number of stops in the Middle East, suggesting that he wants to go beyond the sometimes-scripted events planned by the Bush administration. Foreign trips are fairly typical for members of Congress -- a large number of House and Senate members are making trips to Iraq in the run-up to the Jan. 30 elections there -- but Kerry insisted on charting his own course for his trip. He is making stops in Israel and its occupied territories, as well as other Middle Eastern nations.

Note the "somewhat scripted events planned by the Bush administration" bit. So, Rick Klein (author of the article) would have us believe that Senator Kerry is flying by the seat of his pants on the Heinz corporate jet (no, I'm sure that you and I are footing the bill for this boondoggle) with no flight plan. He hasn't called ahead and made arrangements with the leaders he is planning on meeting. He'll just walk up, ring the doorbell and say "Hi, I'm John Kerry, Vietnam veteran of 4 months, just got creamed in the presidential race, and I'd like to have a couple minutes of your time and of course a photo op.....I brought my own movie camera just for the occasion!

But wait, there's more.

Kerry has made foreign policy a cornerstone of his 20-year Senate career, and he has been a member of the Foreign Relations Committee since he entered the Senate.

Now, correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't this the same committee that he missed almost all of the meetings for?

This is just a pitiful attempt to try and keep his name in front of the American people and keep his dwindling hopes alive to run again in 2008. After all, he has been running for president for the last 35 years or so. What's another 4 years. Integrity, integrity, integrity.

Put a fork in him, he's done.

Flooding the Flooded

New CNN President Jonathan Klein has said about how his news organization will cover the tsunami disaster, and I quote, we are "able to flood the zone immediately". Also, "We plan to keep our foot on the accelerator — but be very sensitive to when enough is enough."

Am I the only one who thinks "flood the zone" is not being real sensitive.

Zarqawi Arrested?

According to the chinese, Zarqawi has been arrested. You can view the article here. I will believe it when I see it in the newspapers here.

UPDATE: I haven't seen this report anywhere else, so I would take it with a grain of salt.

UPDATE: As suspected, this from Drudge.