Debate Advice

Al Gore gives debate advice to John Kerry.

One word: Lockbox

California Smog Rules

Every time a new car emissions law is passed, classic car collectors all hold their breath hoping that it doesn't affect them. In the past, it has never been an issue. Most sensible legislators know that antique cars can not and will not pass modern emissions standards and to force them into such restrictions would devalue these pieces of history.

However, nobody has ever said that California has sensible legislators:

Lovers of California's classic cars, celebrated in the Beach Boys song for "fun, fun, fun," worried that a new state law could take their T-birds and little deuce coupes away.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger (news - web sites) has signed a bill requiring that cars 30 years and older be tested under California's strict smog regulations, closing a loophole over the protests of classic car collectors, including "Tonight Show" host Jay Leno.

Read the entire thing.

Jackhammers?

What's wrong with this picture?

Yes...the sounds of jackhammers are harming your unborn child. Can I bum a cigarette?

(ht: Downsize This via the amazing Miss O'Hara)

Klingons for Kerry

"News" from an actual newspaper in Portland.

Even as John Kerry struggles to establish national-security credentials nationally, an exclusive WW straw poll shows his campaign dominating one skeptical, warlike demographic: Klingons.

The poll, conducted when the DVD release of the Star Trek fan documentary Trekkies 2 attracted Portland's Klingon community to Tower Records on Southeast 102nd Avenue, may spell trouble for President George W. Bush.

The incumbent has staked his campaign on the war on terror. But those who speak the language of the Trek warrior race--known to disdain dishonor, or quvHa'ghach--seem alienated by Iraq and other issues.

According to the poll of eight local Klingons, a whopping 75 percent support the Democratic nominee.

Two Klingons polled--or 25 percent--said they planned to write in Satan.

Bush scored an abysmal zero percent in the poll.

Just what do these Klingons have to say about Bush?

"On the home world, if there had been a contested election between Gore and Bush, the honorable thing would be for Gore to kill Bush," explained Khraanik (Earth name: Jason Lewis), a 38-year-old from Southeast Portland. "Or the other way around. And then ascend to the head of the High Council."

And this comes from a guy who calls himself K'tok:

"A good war is based on honor, not deception," says K'tok (Earth name: Clyde Lewis), a 40-year-old Klingon from Lair Hill. "The first warrior, President Bush, deceived us all with this war."

Neqha had this to add:

"Kerry has shown his prowess," says 33-year-old Neqha (Earth name: Eric King) of Tigard. "He saved his fellow warrior under the gun, and has been commended and awarded medals."

Well, that's that...Klingons just don't like Bush.

Oh, and in other news regarding Klingons in Portland:

Portland Klingon speakers are increasingly influential. Last year, Multnomah County's mental-health services opened a search for a Klingon interpreter to work with speakers of the language.* Though the Klingons polled all appeared to be registered voters, they emulate an unfamiliar political system.

I think I need a drink.

A Horse is a Horse

It's official. A horse is not a vehicle.

The state Supreme Court ruled that Pennsylvania's drunken driving law can't be enforced against people on horseback, a decision that inspired the dissenting justice to wax poetic.

The court ruled Wednesday in a case against two men in Mercer County in 2002. Riders Keith Travis, 41, and Richard Noel, 49, were charged with drunken driving along with a man driving a pickup who allegedly rear-ended the horse Travis was riding away from a bar on a dark country road.

All three men failed field sobriety tests, police said, but a judge threw out the charges against Noel and Travis after they argued that the word "vehicles" in the state's drunken-driving law doesn't apply to horses.

The real surprise to this story is that it happened in Pennsylvania and not Tennessee.

Desperation

Yep...he's getting desperate.

Media Beat-Down

It looks like the media is taking a real beating this week. First Dan Rather and CBS are outed and made to look like fools. Now, it turns out that Britney Spears fooled the media into thinking that she got married. That's right; she didn't get married after all. The new scoop is that it was all faked. Of course, that still doesn't mean that she's not a tramp.

What's the whole fixation on celebrities our society has anyway? I honestly don't care. People are just enthralled with a bunch of fake people living lives that more resembles a pack of wild monkeys in heat than anything else....something we should all aspire to, no doubt.

Back to the media...I find it absolutely priceless when the media is played the fool. It tends to cut them down to size. Most media "elites" have an air of superiority surrounding them. They question everyone, they point the fingers, they out what they consider wrong-doing; but when the finger points back at them, they can't stand it.

A good example of this is related by Bernard Goldberg...a former CBS correspondent and author of the book Bias.

On Feb. 12, 1996, I picked up a phone at CBS News in New York and called Dan Rather, who was in Des Moines covering the Iowa caucuses. It was a call that I--then a CBS correspondent--wasn't anxious to make. I'd written an op-ed for this page about liberal bias in the news that was going to run the next day. I knew I had to give Dan a heads up. "I wrote a piece for the Journal, Dan, and my guess is you won't be ecstatic about it." I hadn't given him any details yet, so he had no idea what the op-ed was about. Dan was gracious; he always was when we spoke. "Bernie," he said, "we were friends yesterday, we're friends today, and we'll be friends tomorrow. So tell me about it."

Goldberg said that Rather hasn't talked to him since.

If the media can't be questioned about their fairness or accuracy, then how can they question anyone else? They can't and they know it. The media is now facing their worst fear...death. From the media circuses surrounding celebrities to fake documents to biased reporting...the media is dying and it's showing.

The UPS Man Cometh

What doth the UPS man bringeth today?

Let's see...

A Djemba Drum:

Yes, the bass tone of this baby can be heard all around the office.

And...in celebration of the death of the Assault Weapons Ban, a folding stock for my AK:

Jeanne

Just as Ivan is is slowly fading away, there's yet another hurricane out there heading what looks like the Carolinas (very early estimation...this one could hit Florida for all we know at this point).

Allow me to introduce you to Jeanne.

Was Dan Duped?

Pat Buchanan's column yesterday (Buchanan, who has never been that fond of Bush) provides a nice analysis of the Dan Rather situation:

It should not be difficult to authenticate the memos. If they were written by Killian over an 18-month period, then other memos about unrelated matters, but with the same Times New Roman font, the same spacing, the same signature and the same "superscript" should be there. If, however, none are found, CBS may have placed its credibility behind a criminal forgery to destroy a president.

Indeed, if these memos turn out to be fakes, CBS and Rather will be guilty of, at least, having been played for fools. At worst, they could be convicted in the court of public opinion of collusion in a plot to bring down a president – a plot into which they were lured by a blinding bias against George W. Bush.

The Evidence Crumbles

Ok, the documents are fake, get over it. However, CBS and the left continues to say things like, "Even if they are fake, the story is still accurate." Um, ok...

James Lileks has this to say:

In any case, the whole “fake but accurate” line shows how tone-deaf these people are; it’s like saying a body in a pine box is “dead but lifelike.” It boggles, it really does: the story is true, the evidence is faked, but the evidence reflects the evidence we have not yet presented that proves our conclusion – ergo, we’re telling the truth. They just can’t give it up; they just can’t say the memos were typed by the guy in the “Dude, you’re getting a Dell!” commercial and leave it be, because that that puts the knife in the story regardless of what happened. So they keep going.

The left is continually trying to say that the real issue here is what Bush did during his time in the Texas Air National Guard, but the evidence they are using is crumbling faster than they can pump it out...

1) Former Lt. Gov. of Texas Fred Barnes goes on "60 Minutes II" with Dan Rather and claims that he used his influence to keep Bush from going to Vietnam. This claim has been refuted by his daughter, Amy Barnes Stites.

STITES: I love my father very much, but he's doing this for purely political reasons. He is a big Kerry fund-raiser and he is writing a book also. And [the Bush story] is what he's leading the book off with ... . He denied this to me in 2000 that he did get Bush out [of Vietnam service]. Now he's saying he did.

2) The left says that no one saw Bush while he was supposed to be reporting to the Alabama Air National Guard. Oh really? Well, you have to go to the Decatur Daily News in Alabama for this one as the mainstream press has ignored this good stuff.

Copeland, 65, remembers meeting Bush on two occasions. He does not remember the precise dates. On one occasion, Copeland said, Bush and Lt. Col. John "Bill" Calhoun came to Copeland's office with a question about Bush's pay. Copeland is not sure, but he believes the question had to do with where to mail Bush's checks.

Bush was never a member of the Alabama National Guard, he just did his drills here. For that reason, Copeland thinks he referred the pay question to the paymaster for the Texas National Guard.

The other time Copeland remembers meeting Bush was at the base canteen. Bush was there drinking coffee or a soft drink, Copeland said.

Copeland stressed that Calhoun's account of Bush's service in Montgomery would be accurate because Calhoun was in a position to work with Bush during every drill. Calhoun told The Associated Press last week that he saw Bush every drill time, which was one weekend each month.

3) Memogate. At this point there isn't much doubt that the documents are forgeries. Even Dan Rather himself is doubting it, but his ego still shines through.

"If the documents are not what we were led to believe, I'd like to break that story," Rather said in an interview last night. "Any time I'm wrong, I want to be right out front and say, 'Folks, this is what went wrong and how it went wrong.' "

I've got news for you, Mr. Rather...You're already too late! The story has been breaking and already broken for the past week by everyone else! You'll be the last one to break this story (that is *if* you ever do). (By the way, read about the "first Rathergate" here...there seems to be a pattern).

The final thing the left trots out on this story is the question as to why Bush isn't refuting these claims. It's simple. Don't give credence to such absurdity by acknowledging it. John Kerry has learned that the hard way by acknowledging the Swift Boat Vets in an effort to condemn their message. It backfired, and the Bush campaign is smart enough to not fall into the same trap.

New CA Gun Ban

He's no conservative.

New Orleans

Yeah...what I said.

The worst-case scenario for New Orleans — a direct strike by a full-strength Hurricane Ivan — could submerge much of this historic city treetop-deep in a stew of sewage, industrial chemicals and fire ants, and the inundation could last for weeks, experts say.

If the storm were strong enough, Ivan could drive water over the tops of the levees that protect the city from the Mississippi River and vast Lake Pontchartrain. And with the city sitting in a saucer-shaped depression that dips as much as 9 feet below sea level, there would be nowhere for all that water to drain.

Read the entire article.

Memogate

Bill Hobbs has a nice round-up of links on Rather's Memogate here.

I haven't written anything on it, but I've been doing a lot of reading. It looks like the death of the old media is finally upon us.

Jonah Goldberg does an excellent job (as always) of assessing the situation as well.

I just find the entire spectacle...hilarious.

Big Dan

I saw the below picture of Al Gore this morning, and I knew it reminded me of someone, but I just couldn't put my finger on who it was. This afternoon it hit me. Big Dan Teague (John Goodman's character) from O' Brother Where Art Thou.

Of course, I added the eye-patch to Gore's photo to show the uncanny resemblance.

Not only is Gore looking like Big Dan more and more, he's also sounding like Big Dan more and more. Coincidence?

I'm just waiting for him to take a big stick and hit somebody over the head with it...that and squish frogs with his bare hands. You just wait...it's coming.

Danger to New Orleans?

I remember after a visit to New Orleans a couple of years ago a tour guide mentioned that if a Category 5 hurricane were to ever strike New Orleans, that it could result in the flooding and possible destruction of the historic French Quarter.

I have been watching the computers models of Hurricane Ivan's possible path, and it continues to track westward. Now the most westward track leads directly to New Orleans. Of course, it wouldn't be a direct hit (it would have to cross over the lower Louisiana peninsula and wetlands in that area which would shield New Orleans somewhat), but I still think it would be quite catastrophic.

I did a little digging and found a good six-part story done by American Radio Works on this potential disaster as well as information referencing the effects of a hurricane even if it did come across the natural buffer to the south of New Orleans (as Ivan could do):

And there's another reason why scientists worry more about hurricanes every single year. There's always been a huge natural buffer that helps protect New Orleans from storms. There are miles of wetlands between here and the Gulf of Mexico: they slow hurricanes down as they blow in from the sea. But that buffer is disappearing. Every year, a chunk of wetlands the size of Manhattan crumbles and turns into open water.

Joe Suhayda explains, "So the hurricane can move closer to the city before it starts to decrease. So in effect, the city is moving closer to the Gulf as each year goes by."

And he says, it's partly because of those levees along the Mississippi River. When they stopped the river from flooding, they also prevented the wetlands from getting the regular doses of floodwater and mud that they need to survive. Studies show that if the wetlands keep vanishing over the next few decades, then you won't need a giant storm to devastate New Orleans — a much weaker, more common kind of hurricane could destroy the city too.

You can read the entire story here.

Everybody has been talking about Florida, but New Orleans might be a new possible target the way this thing has been tracking.

Why should I own a gun? pt2

Note: This is a continuation of the debate raging in the comments section of the post below.

Why is there even a Second Amendment? I claim that it's to keep the government's powers in check. Others don't believe that at all and think that such power in the hands of the people could lead to anarchy and threaten the republic itself.

I think it is always best to consider the original intent of the founding fathers when discussing such things. In fact, many of the same arguments that arise today came up then as well.

The idea that an armed citizenry could lead to anarchy was such a far-fetched idea that the founding fathers didn't even give it credence. We need only look to the Federalist Papers on what was thought of it:

[On the claim that the militia itself could threaten liberty] "There is something so far-fetched, and so extravagant in the idea of danger of liberty from the militia that one is at a loss whether to treat it with gravity or raillery." (Federalist Papers, No. 29)

The militia question comes up often as well. Just who are the militia?

George Mason: "I ask you sir, who are the militia? They consist now of the whole people." (Note: George Mason was the primary author of the Second Amendment) (Elliott, Debates at 425-426;)

Richard Henry Lee: "Militias, when properly formed, are in fact the people themselves and include all men capable of bearing arms. To preserve liberty it is essential that the whole body of the people always possess arms and be taught alike, especially when young, how to use them." (Additional Letters from the Federal Farmer, at 169, 1788)

As for my assertion that the original intent of the Second Amendment was to keep the government in check (thereby guaranteeing liberty), we can again (as always) look to the founding fathers' original intent:

Alexander Hamilton: "...but if circumstances should at any time oblige the government to form an army of any magnitude, that army can never be formidable to the liberties of the people, while there is a large body of citizens, little if at all inferior to them in discipline and use of arms, who stand ready to defend their rights..." (Federalist Papers No. 29)

George Mason: "To disarm the people is the most effectual way to enslave them." (3 Elliot, Debates at 380)

Noah Webster: "Good intentions will always be pleaded for every assumption of authority...the Constitution was made to guard against the dangers of good intentions. There are men in all ages who mean to govern well, but they mean to govern. They promise to be good masters, but they mean to be masters."

James Madison: "Americans have the right and advantage of being armed, unlike the citizens of other countries, whose governments are afraid to trust the people with arms." (Federalist Paper No. 46)

Noah Webster: "Before a standing army can rule, the people must be disarmed, as they are in almost every kingdom in Europe. The supreme power in America cannot enforce unjust laws by the sword, because the whole of the people are armed, and constitute a force superior to any band of regular troops." (1787, Pamphlets on the Constitution of the United States)

Patrick Henry: "Guard with jealous attention the public liberty. Suspect everyone who approaches that jewel. Unfortunately, nothing will preserve it but downright force. Whenever you give up that force, you are ruined. The great object is that every man be armed. Everyone who is able may have a gun."

George Washington: "Firearms stand next in importance to the Constitution itself. They are the people's liberty teeth and keystone...the rifle and the pistol are equally indispensable ....more than 99 percent of them (guns) by their silence indicate that they are in safe and sane hands. The very atmosphere of firearms everywhere restrains evil interference (crime). When firearms go, all goes, we need them every hour." (Address to 1st Session of Congress, emphasis added)

I have plenty more where those came from. In fact, I suggest a purchase of the Federalist Papers for anyone wanting to discuss original intent of the Constitution and the Bill of Rights.

You can find copies here at a reasonable price. I think that's a paper-back copy (my copy is hardback), but it's a must read for those who have any interest in the Constitution.

It's Dead

Well, I consider this to be pretty official...

The Assault Weapons Ban is dead as the Senate has adjourned until Monday!

Why should I own a gun?

Many times people ask me, "Why should people be allowed to own guns?" Or they may ask, "Why do people need 'assault weapons' to go hunting?"

First off, when a politician uses the phrase "I support the rights of hunters," run away from them. They are using an old, misguided liberal ideology that somehow the Second Amendment is meant just for hunters.

The Second Amendment was meant to protect the citizenry from the encroachment of their rights by government as well as for personal protection from criminals within our society.

'But Blake, our government would never do such a thing that would require the people to own firearms!'

One just has to look at the 20th Century to see that more than 170 million unarmed people were killed by their own governments. A person has to be pretty naive to believe that their society is too far advanced to allow such a thing. Nazi Germany thought they were the most advanced civilization, but that didn't stop their government from mass genocide. If a citizenry is armed, any government is going to think twice about taking their lives...as well as any basic rights the citizenry may have. Why do you think that gun control started by banning Africans from owning guns? No guns, no rights (read The Racist Roots of Gun Control).

'But Blake, the police are here to protect us from criminals! You will probably just hurt yourself or someone in your family if you have a gun!' Myth after myth.

The police don't have a duty to protect us...in fact, they are not liable if they are unable to protect you. Let's see...I'm being robbed, and I tell the criminal, "Hold on a minute, let me dial 911." Right.

There are estimates that upwards of 1 to 2 million crimes are thwarted every year by citizens with firearms. Most of them are thwarted by a citizen merely brandishing their firearm. A criminal, fearing for their own safety, will normally flee rather than face an armed victim (even if the criminal is armed themselves). Anyone with common sense will realize that an unarmed person is much easier pickings for a criminal.

These answers never satisfy anyone though.

I came across an article written a few years ago by Robert J. Cottrol (found via Walking the Walls). He is a self-professed "Liberal Democrat," but he understands exactly what the Second Amendment stands for.

All of this should force us to reconsider our debate over arms and rights. For too long, it has been framed as a question of the rights of sportsmen. It is far more serious: The Second Amendment has something critical to say about the relationship between the citizen and the state. For most of human history, in most of the nations in the world, the individual has all too often been a helpless dependent of the state, beholden to the state's benevolence and indeed competence for his physical survival.

The notion of a right to arms bespeaks a very different relationship. It says the individual is not simply a helpless bystander in the difficult and dangerous task of ensuring his or her safety. Instead, the citizen is an active participant, an equal partner with the state in ensuring not only his own safety but that of his community.

This is a serious right for serious people. It takes the individual from servile dependency on the state to the status of participating citizen, capable of making intelligent choices in defense of one's life and ultimately one's freedom. This conception of citizenship recognizes that the ultimate civil right is the right to defend one's own life, that without that right all other rights are meaningless, and that without the means of self-defense the right to self-defense is but an empty promise.

Pease go read the entire article - A Liberal Democrat's Lament. It's an excellent read.

With the expiration of the Assault Weapons Ban this coming Monday, we should all consider what the Second Amendment really stands for. If it weren't important, then the framers of the Constitution would have never included it in the Bill of Rights. Without the Second Amendment we wouldn't have the First...or any others for that matter. Think about it.

Tennessee Last in Taxes Paid

Another reason I moved to Tennessee:

New Yorkers pay the highest state and local taxes in the nation, shelling out nearly $131 for every $1,000 of income in 2002, according to a new study.

Tennessee taxed its citizens the least -- they paid just under $84 for every $1,000 of income.

And we still have a revenue surplus. Now if we can just keep our state legislature from screwing it up.

The article goes on:

The study was done by the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation, which assessed states' competitiveness using the most recent data available.

Taxes often play a big role when companies decide where to expand or relocate. For years, New York business groups have argued that high taxes have hurt job growth.

Five states have no personal income tax, and at least two of them, Florida and Nevada, are among the fastest-growing in the nation.

Well, interesting indeed.

Read the entire article.

Flipper

Some people actually think that the accusations of Kerry's flip-flopping are overstated.

Apparently those people haven't seen this video:

In Real Media format.

In Windows Media format.

I rest my case.

It looks like...

It looks like the ban is going to expire, but I won't breathe easy until it actually expires on Monday.

Death Watch

Publicola, Geek With a .45, and TriggerFinger are holding a death watch for the Assault Weapons Ban. They are collaborating on a blog as they keep a constant eye on Congress (via CSPAN) to make sure it isn't brought up for renewal.

Head over and read it, and check back often.

Also...via Instapundit: How George Bush Could Lose

5 more days.

Happy Labor Day

By the way...happy Labor Day. This and the previous post will probably be my only posts of the day. I'm spending my Labor Day laboring...painting my house. Good times.

"Assault" Weapons Ban to Expire

This could be a good week...only 6 days remaining until the so called "Assault" Weapons Ban expires. However, Congress comes back into session this week as well. We need to make sure that they don't renew this thing.

What follows is an email from AWBSunset.com:

This is it! The final week of the ill-conceived "assault weapons" ban. Get on the phone tomorrow (Tuesday) and make your view on this issue known. It's late in the fourth quarter, and we're ahead by 28. But as any New Orleans Saints fan knows, this is no guarantee of victory. We cannot let up right now, especially considering the all-out assault that the anti-gun lobby will unleash this week.

To help ensure a steady flow throughout the day, I suggest that we stagger our calls.

If your last name begins with:

A - F: call between 9:30am - 11:00am eastern time.
G - L: call between 11:00am - 12:30pm eastern time.
M - S: call between 12:30pm - 2:00pm eastern time.
T - Z: call between 2:00pm - 3:30 eastern time.

Of course, this is merely a suggestion... don't fret if you can't call at your "designated" time. Just call at whatever time you can! Make these phone calls Tuesday, and Wednesday too if you can.

You can easily obtain your elected officials' contact info here:

http://www.capwiz.com/nra/dbq/officials/

In addition, call the White House and state your opposition to renewing the ban. 202-456-1111. Though President Bush has expressed support for the ban in the past, he has not pushed Congress to pass a renewal, largely due to US. Take this opportunity to politely remind him of how important this issue is to us.

Forward this to everyone you know, and let us leave no doubt in the minds of our elected officials as to just how unpopular this gun ban is!

http://www.awbansunset.com
http://www.awbansunset.com/forums

Let's get to calling and sending emails ASAP!

Bias?

Well, well, well...somebody over at AP has some explaining to do.

Seems a story went out over the AP saying that when Bush announced that Bill Clinton had been taken to the hospital (as well as offering prayers for him) the crowd booed and Bush didn't do anything to stop it. The thing is, that was a bold-faced lie. The crowd didn't boo at all.

AP since retracted that line in the story, but they did it only after people across the wonderful internet stepped in to call them on it.

Swimming Through the Spin has documented every bit of the controversy quite well.

After going there, you can listen to the audio here.

Then, you can decide for yourself.

The Duel

I know everyone has been talking about the interview of Zell Miller by Chris Matthews.

For those that didn't see it, go here to see the video (ht: MooreThoughts.com).

Then go here to vote in the poll: Which one would win the duel?.

More Pictures

As requested...More pictures from Tuesday night.

Another angle of the van from below

Christians for Kerry?

Congressman Bart Gordon greets supporters

Kerry does his rendetion of the famous
melody 'Feelings.' Glenn and Ford react.

Bredesen's robot stand-in

Insert your own caption

Convention Blather

This is why I've been tuning in to C-SPAN to watch the convention.

As President Bush's acceptance speech tonight closes the Republican convention and sends us full speed into the final electoral push, would it be too much to ask one tiny favor of TV's anchors, analysts and pundits?

In the name of all that's holy, shut up.

L is for Liberal

Might as well post some of the more interesting Kerry pictures that I took at the rally.

L is for Liberal

Inconsistent Insults

Sarah over at MooreThoughts.com points out the inconsistent insults of the left...and she's exactly right.

Head over and read it.

Kerry Rally Infiltrated

Don't worry...I don't have any jokes about the dirty feeling I have after attending the Kerry rally last night.

The gathering took place in a hangar at the airport. I attended with a few students from Maryville College near Knoxville. I know one of them, so they knew what I was up to.

Immediately after arriving, I knew that I was in forbidden territory. Anti-Bushites were everywhere.

I also noticed that capitalists had infiltrated the area peddling their wares. $5 for one button...I like these guys. I made the comment that I should start going to Democrat rallys and selling them buttons at outrageous prices so I can take their money.

This guy was obviously a capitalist
in disguise as he hid his face.

There was a group called "People of Faith for Kerry" attempting to garner support outside of the hangar. They didn't seem to be attracting that many people.

We went through security, got a thorough checking over, and inside we went. As soon as we got inside I noticed that some people had a different color ticket than ours. Apparently a blue ticket meant you got to go to the VIP section. I didn't realize that Democrats were in to creating separate classes of people, but apparently I was wrong.

Thinking quickly, we did some smooth talking and obtained a special blue, VIP ticket (I think that someone thought it was really great that these guys had driven all the way from Maryville to attend and thought they deserved a blue ticket). Our group was quickly ushered to the front. The comment made to me by my liberal friend was, "Don't mess this up for us." No worries...I'm undercover.

A glance back at the white-ticket people
from the blue-ticket section.

The Democrats were not billing last nights gathering as a "rally." This was because they didn't want too seem like they were rallying while the GOP convention is in full swing. However, make no mistake...this was definitely a full-fledged rally. As soon as we got to the front, volunteers started handing out "Veterans for Kerry/Edwards" signs. Considering that 1) I'm not a Veteran, and 2) I don't like Kerry, I choose not to take one.

After waiting for another 30 minutes, Kerry rolled up at the end of the hanger in the "Raw Real Deal" jet. He and John Glenn (who I used to like) got off the jet and they came up on stage along with all the other dignitaries. In attendance was Harold Ford, Gov. Bredesen, Mayor Purcell, etc. etc. etc.

After introductions by Bredesen, Ford, and Glenn, Kerry finally spoke.

What follows is a quick summary of his speech:

-Bush sucks
-Halliburton is evil
-Republicans only cut taxes for the rich
-We are going to give handouts to everyone
-We are going to roll back the tax cuts
-I can win the war on terrorism

That was pretty much all I got out of it. Oh yeah...I think he may have mentioned Vietnam in there somewhere.

I also found out that facts
sometimes don't amuse liberals.

That essentially was it. He shook a few hands at the front of the crowd (I witnessed some people elated over the fact that they got to touch him), and then we headed out.

All in all, it was good fun. The liberals that I was with took my ribbing well and vice versa...No love lost. That's how political interaction should be.

Final thought for the night...
Why was I here again?

Car Blogging

Had to include a new picture of the MGA. I don't think I've really taken any pictures since the inception of the new "British-style" plate on the front.

We've had pretty good MG weather considering it's August (normally one of the hottest months of the year here). Yesterday could have been considered almost perfect.

Either way...just a quick car-blog.