The entire basis of Prince John's campaign:

I'm disinclined to keep slamming John Kerry just for sport. But there are points to be made, so I'm not doing this for sport. I'm making points. In fact, I don't think I've ever slammed him just for sport, in stark contrast to the left which exudes simple hatred for Bush. They avoid coherent discussion of policy differences, they simply hate. They get a primal fix from their hatred. It's gut level and has nothing to do with intellect.

Anyway, I came across a news item the other day that really fixed an idea in my mind. It was there, anyway, but this cemented it.

Kerry has provided lots of photo opportunities of his "sporting" life. But they're all solitary sorts of pursuits. He rides his motorcycle, he goes jet skiing, he snowboards (he doesn't just ski--he's way too hip for that--he snowboards. He's down with it, Daddy-O). But he doesn't play softball, he doesn't go out in a johnboat with his buddies Red and Stump for a morning of fishing (probably doesn't have any buddies who want to spend a morning with him anyway, but...). Doesn't even take his wife Moneybags--oops, I meant Theresa--snowboarding with him. Total loner.

But back to the original thought. Remember when he fell whilst snowboarding last winter? Classy guy would have said "I fell". I've never been on a snowboard, but I've eaten a pickup truck load of snow in my skiing career. I've probably fallen 10,000 times. I've gone end-over-end, once pulled off a glove to find it filled with blood, all that stuff. It happens. But when Prince John fell, he immediately blamed it on a Secret Service guy who was there to protect him, and would have protected him with his own life even though the very thought of President Kerry probably gives him a case of the trots. Not one to leave well enough alone, Kerry had to continue to call the Secret Service agent a "son of a bitch". You remember the quote: "I don't fall". Everybody falls, John. Even you. Then he called his sworn protector a "son of a bitch". A real class act you are, Prince John.

Well the news item that got me going tonight is here

Seems Kerry threw a wild pitch as the guest of honor at a baseball game and basically blamed the wild pitch on the catcher: He was really nervous, so I held back, Prince John says.

Is Prince John ever going to just say "I fell", or "My throw sucked", or is it always going to be someone else's fault? And if that's the case (and we all know it is...), do we want this guy in the White House? Bush may not be everyone's dream president, but a guy who blames bad throws and caught edges on everyone else??? Wake up, guys.

My second post of the day. How like me--don't post at all for two months, then post twice in an hour's time.

Anyway, more required reading. Amidst the incredible hate, shrillness, accusations and lies (and that's just from the Democrats) accompanying this election, how about a well-written, well-researched, dispassionate evaluation of the controversy surrounding Bush's National Guard service as well as a bit of dispassionate commentary on Kerry's service.

Keep reading. The link to the article will come...

There's so much crap out there that it's refreshing to read something that lays out the facts. Good and bad.

There's another web site that cites a "desperate need for F-102 pilots to fly the dangerous reconnaissance missions so vital to troops [in Vietnam]", inferring that Bush avoided that duty. That shit doesn't fly (so to speak). It's a bald-faced lie perpetrated by someone who simply hates, but doesn't think. If you want to make an argument against the man, fine, but make it factual. The F-102 was developed to make radar guided missile intercepts of Soviet bombers. We had a limited number of F-102s in Vietnam which were mainly used to escort B-52s until we realized there was almost no threat to them from enemy aircraft. A few F-102s were used in a ground attack role, but the results didn't justify their use. There was NEVER a reconnaissance version of the F-102. It was built to perform radar intercepts and that's the only thing it ever did well. And even that's a matter of opinion. The F-102 was well known for being every bit as lethal to its pilots as it would have been to Soviet bombers. Its accident rate was fully three times that of anything currently flying with the exception of the AV-8. And while the AV-8 is acknowledged to be an extremely dangerous aircraft, the F-102 still exceeded the AV-8's accident rate by a number of points.

So let us celebrate the season of pure, unfounded hate by looking at some facts:
http://www.aerospaceweb.org/question/history/q0185.shtml

Wrote the following as an email reply to a friend who sent me a film clip of a US aircraft deploying a smart bomb over Falujah. His email identified the sircraft as an F-16. I've seen the same clip identified as coming from an FA-18 also. I suppose someone could look at the heads up display and identify the aircraft, but it's not that important. Whatever it was, it dropped a bomb right into the drawers of a bunch of bad guys running down the street.

Got to thinking about my reply and I like it more and more, so here it is for your amusement. And if it offends you, and it undoubtedly will offend someone, too bad.

Here goes:
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Good stuff. I like to know my tax dollars are going to good use.

There are also films floating around that purport to be gun camera films from an Apache and an AC-130. Both supposedly filmed in Afghanistan. The Apache one was verified by one of the news networks. It caused some controversy because they hit someone and he was still moving, so they hit him again. Fuck it. I was a combat soldier and I know that if you want to see your family for Christmas you don't turn your back on a wounded man. There are also web sites whining about the Apache gunning down farmers, but the news people reported that the "farmers" were growing rocket propelled grenades and were loading them on a truck when the helicopters hit them.

The AC-130 film is great. It's a huge file--the kind you download while you go to bed, but what a film. They hit some cars--lot's of secondary explosions. The cars are obviously loaded with munitions. These guys weren't headed to the mosque for a night of bingo. Next they hit a hole in the ground and guys spill out of it like ants. And they literally follow guys and hunt them down with the aircraft. It's an awesome demonstration of our combat technology.

As far as us swatting down 13th century fanatics with 21st century hardware, fuck them. Their culture and religion kept them 800 years behind us and then they decided to fuck with us anyway. Too bad. They could have been content with beating their women and screwing their camels, but they had to stick their dicks in a wringer.

I wasn't always for the invasion of Iraq, but with what we've seen now (especially the "childrens' prison") I think it was due. Our invasion of Iraq was hardly "unilateral", with some 65 other countries joining us. Of course now they're bailing out one by one as terrorists catch people and threaten to saw their heads off. Once again the US is going to do the heavy lifting and keep the rest of the world safe so that they can hold us in contempt.
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That's it, boys and girls. And like I said, if you're offended--tough shit.