Man tries to steal gun to 'Rescue Schiavo'

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Friday March 25, 2005 · 1:57 PM PST

2005/03/25 · 13:57

A logical consequence of all the fundamental Christian extremist talk about how important it is to save Terri Schiavo, a 50 year old man tried to steal a gun in Florida to

"take some action and rescue Terri Schiavo" after he visited the Pinellas Park hospice where she lives

I find it quite scary to consider what would happen if the man had gotten a gun, given what he said to the gun shop owner who stopped the robbery:

[I]f I wasn't on Terri's side then I wasn't on God's side, either

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Top performing funds

HippoRider

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Friday March 11, 2005 · 12:07 PM PST

2005/03/11 · 12:07

I was checking out the funds on Vanguard.com and here are the funds that have better than a 5% YTD return:
Energy Fund Investory - 14.45%

Precious Metals and Mining - 8.87%
Emerging Mkts Stock Index - 7.70%
Internatl Explorer Fund - 6.49%

I don't know all the much about investing and the markets, but here is my take on why these four are doing so well:
Read More

Update on the Giuliana Sgrena story

HippoRider

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Wednesday March 09, 2005 · 7:02 PM PST

2005/03/09 · 19:02

Right now, it's basically the word of the US military versus the word of the Italian government on what happened. From CNN:

Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi says the intelligence agent shot dead by the U.S. military told them he would be escorting a newly released hostage to the airport -- contrary to U.S. claims.

Another Italian attache, who was at the Baghdad airport, also told U.S. military personnel the car carrying agent Nicola Calipari and journalist Giuliana Sgrena was on its way to the airport March 4 before the shooting occurred, Berlusconi told the Italian senate on Wednesday.

Gen Casey in his latest press conference:

Q ...[A]re there any preliminary indications that the Italians had communicated with the United States and the U.S. military that she had been freed and was on her way to the airport?
GEN. CASEY: Yeah. I have no preliminary indication that that's true.

We can't even agree on the simplest facts:

Italian military officials said two other agents were wounded, but U.S. officials said it was only one.

HippoRider

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Wednesday March 09, 2005 · 8:47 AM PST

2005/03/09 · 08:47

Yesterday, I listened to KERA in Dallas air excerpts from a round table discussion of Bob Schieffer, Tom Brokaw, Jim Lehrer, Tom Friedman and Bob Woodward. I can't find a transcript and here is the only coverage I could find. The gentleman discussed the WMD's in Iraq. They made it clear that they felt they didn't have the technical savvy to challenge the Administration's "facts", saying something like:

I can remember having Condi Rice on [some Sunday talk show] and her saying "What about the missing 89,000 pounds of [some nasty sounding biological agent]. Just one pound of that stuff sounds scary

Then they made it clear that all resistance to the administration's WMD story collapsed after Powell's UN Presentation:

It wasn't the message, it was the messanger. Powell was the one who was skeptical about the WMD's and when he made his presentation to the UN, we all accepted it as true

HippoRider

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Tuesday February 22, 2005 · 1:22 PM PST

2005/02/22 · 13:22

James Guckert is rapidly becoming the second most famous fake, behind the infamous members of Milli Vanilli, Rob Pilatus and Fabrice Morvan. Guckert was a fake journalist. He didn't write stories, but instead edited Republican spin points. He didn't research his articles, unless you call listening to Rush research. His publisher, Talon News, wasn't a real news organization and he wasn't even an employee of Talon News.

Guckert did enjoy faking his way through life, just as Rob and Fab did. And why not? Guckert got to enjoy all the perks of being a star White House reporter without any of the actual work associated with it. He got to ask questions almost every day of the President's Press Secretary. He got to go to two White House Christmas parties. He got to interview a candidate for Senate and was a major factor in that candidate's winning the race. He got to share his views on Fox News. He even got to ask the President at a Presidential press conference. I would guess he got more public exposure than 99.9% of all journalists. Read More

A rebuttal to a WP editorial on Iraq

HippoRider

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Tuesday February 15, 2005 · 9:17 AM PST

2005/02/15 · 09:17

Fareed Zakaria writes an editorial in the Washington Post that I strongly disagree with. My first disagreement is with

Does anyone really believe that America's leaving Iraq would improve the situation there? It would create a power vacuum, the insurgency would get stronger, the Shiites might retaliate against Sunni violence, setting off a civil war, and the Kurds could be tempted to secede. Iraq would then be exporting terrorism and instability.

HippoRider

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Wednesday January 26, 2005 · 7:49 AM PST

2005/01/26 · 07:49

During Bush's press conference, the reporter said that Gonzales had released written written answers to the Senate's questions that said that it was legal for the CIA to torture in foreign countries. Did Bush approve or disapprove of this loophole?

Bush response: "Gonzales will be a great Attonery General and should be confirmed immediately"

I can't help take away that by that response, Bush approves of Gonzales' loophole and therefore approves of torture by the CIA overseas.

How Democrats should woo Christians

HippoRider

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Thursday December 16, 2004 · 10:45 AM PST

2004/12/16 · 10:45

As a Christian, I have struggled hard with trying to understand why so many other Christians are fervent supporters of the Republican party. (Note: this applies to only Christians who are American citizens. Whenever you read "Christian", think "Christians who are American citizens") After much thinking, I think it comes done to the conflict between the scientific community and Genesis chapters 1-11. Genesis chapters 1-11 have the stories of creation, Adam and Eve, the flood and the tower of Babel. Chapter 12 begins the history of the Jewish people with Abraham. Read More

Cheney jumps to conclusions

HippoRider

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Thursday October 28, 2004 · 11:48 AM PDT

2004/10/28 · 11:48

You probably have heard Bush's statement on the missing explosives:

Now the Senator is making wild charges about missing explosives, when his top foreign policy advisor admits "we don't know the facts."...And a political candidate who jumps to conclusions without knowing the facts is not the person you want as the Commander-in-Chief.

Cheney then opens mouth and inserts foot:

Kerry is "just dead wrong. ... We know ... upwards to 125 tons had been removed" in January 2003 before the invasion, Cheney told supporters at a restaurant coffee session in the battleground state of Wisconsin.

"He's just plain wrong on the facts," Cheney said.

Around the time Cheney was speaking, a United Nations agency called the news report into question, saying that it cited an inspection report of a single day and that most of the explosives were kept at another site that the U.N. agency considered part of the overall storage area.

Well, I guess Bush agrees that Dick is someone we don't want a heartbeat away from being the Commander-in-Chief.

Kerry is in better shape to be President than Clinton or Gore

HippoRider

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Thursday October 21, 2004 · 7:14 AM PDT

2004/10/21 · 07:14

At this point in 1992, Clinton's opponents had convinced the public that Clinton was a draft dodger and a philanderer. Clinton's "I never inhaled" was standard material for late-night comics. The word "Clintonian" had become a part of the national vocabulary for making a misleading but factually true statement. And the Whitewater "scandal" was already all over the media, which would eventually result in the appointment of Kenneth Starr as an Independent Counsel.

At this point in 2000, Gore's opponents had convinced the public that Gore had problems with exaggerations and truthfulness. The accusation that Gore had claimed to have invented the Internet was standard material for late-night comics. And the Buddhist Temple "scandal" was already all over the media and may have eventually resulted in the appointment of an Independent Counsel.

So far, Kerry's opponents have made four major attacks against Kerry - that Kerry is a flip-flopper, that Kerry is "too liberal", that Kerry didn't deserve his medals and that Kerry accused his fellow vets of committing atrocities. The "flip-flopper" and "too liberal" attacks have wilted due to Kerry's rock-solid performance in the debates. The "didn't deserve his medals" attack has melted in the face of massive amounts of evidence supporting that Kerry is indeed a war hero. I don't think the last attack is sticking because (1) it is easy to disprove and (2) people know that atrocities did occur in Vietnam. Drudge's "Kerry had an affair with a reporter" attack was such a massive flop that it should provide Kerry some protection on that front. Nothing Kerry has said has become fodder for late-night comics. There have been no "scandal" charges made against Kerry. Read More

State of the Senate races

HippoRider

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Friday October 15, 2004 · 10:04 AM PDT

2004/10/15 · 10:04

Nation Review has an 9/27 article predicting a two seat gain in the Senate for the Republicans. The author, John Miller, puts the closest races into "Likely", "Leaning" or "Toss Up" categories. Miller, for the most part, stays with calls he made in July, regardless of what the polls are doing. When I rate the races with the latest information, I come up with a one-seat gain for the Democrats, giving them control of the Senate if Edwards is VP.

Here is the state of the Senate races, with both my assessment in bold:
Read More

State of the Senate Races

HippoRider

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Monday September 27, 2004 · 6:06 PM PDT

2004/09/27 · 18:06

Nation Review has an 9/27 article predicting a two seat gain in the Senate for the Republicans. The author, John Miller, puts the closest races into "Likely", "Leaning" or "Toss Up" categories. Miller, for the most part, stays with calls he made in July, regardless of what the polls are doing. Miller also cherry-picks his polls in close races, citing Repbulican-friendly polls and ignoring Democrat-friendly ones. When I rate the races with the latest information, I come up with a one seat gain for the Democrats, giving them control of the Senate if Edwards is VP.

Here is how I will call the races: (1) if an incumbent polls 54% or more, or if the leader in a non-incumbent race has at least an 8 point lead, then it is a likely win. (2) If an incumbent is polling 45% or less, it is a likely loss. (3) If an incumbent is polling 51% to 53% or if the leader in a non-incumbent race has a 4 to 7 point lead, then it is a leaning win. (4) If an incumbent is polling 46% to 48%, then it is a leaning loss. (5) If an incumbent is polling 49% to 50% or if the leader is a non-incumbent race has less than a 4 point lead, then it is a "Toss Up". (6) In Louisiana, it is looking like a close December run off, so it is a "Toss Up"

Here is the state of the Senate races, with both my assessment in bold: Read More

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Man tries to steal gun to 'Rescue Schiavo'

Top performing funds

Update on the Giuliana Sgrena story

Top media on Iraqi WMD's: We believed Powell

Guckert < Milli Vanilli

A rebuttal to a WP editorial on Iraq

Bush tries to dodge question on torture

How Democrats should woo Christians

Cheney jumps to conclusions

Kerry is in better shape to be President than Clinton or Gore

State of the Senate races

State of the Senate Races