April 24, 2004
SOUP BEATS WAFFLES
Kerry rocks! Well, let’s be accurate; perhaps it’s only his family that rocks. We’re yet to hear John Kerry’s nuanced explanation of his rockness. On SUVs, however, Kerry sets the record straight:
Does John Kerry, who supports higher automobile fuel economy standards, own a gas-guzzling SUV? He does, but says it belongs to the family, not to him.
Kerry thought for a second when asked whether his wife, Teresa Heinz Kerry, had a Suburban at their Ketchum, Idaho, home. Kerry said he owns and drives a Dodge 600 and recently bought a Chrysler 300M. He said his wife owns the Chevrolet SUV.
"The family has it. I don't have it," he said.
Maybe Mrs. Heinz Kerry should be the Democratic candidate. Compare John Kerry’s blathering answers to an Iranian activist’s questions in this report to Teresa’s direct, waffle-free response:
I think the only engagement will be to end the regime, to collapse the regime.
Well said, soup lady!
Posted by Tim Blair at April 24, 2004 02:31 AMBig John owns a Dodge 600? Really? I'm searching for a better word to use than "pathetic."
Posted by: bob at April 24, 2004 at 03:32 AMThe Kerry's own a Suburban, Land Rover, a
Jeep Cherokee and a Lexus SUV.
My wife's uncle was a longtime Mass congressman and I've met Kerry a number of times. His wienerishness is exceptional even in those circles.
Posted by: Jack Tanner at April 24, 2004 at 05:11 AMKetchup lady. Heinz is Ketchup and Pickles. Soup is Campbells. mmmkay?
Posted by: one who should know at April 24, 2004 at 06:24 PM"i bought the car but i don't own it"
How about:
"I have a brain but I don't use it"
Posted by: JeffS at April 25, 2004 at 01:57 AM"well, y'know, it wandered into the driveway, and the kids made the mistake of feeding it and now it won't leave..."
Posted by: richard mcenroe at April 25, 2004 at 04:08 AMThirty seconds to midnight…. a world turned upside down.
The United States has 95,000 miles of open shoreline, 361 ports, and a 3.5-million square mile Exclusive Economic Zone. Ninety-five percent of cargo tonnage moving in and out of the country is by shipboard container. Each year, more than 7,500 commercial vessels make approximately 51,000 port calls, unloading over 6 million marine containers each of which may contain a nuclear device or chemical or biological weapons of mass destruction. The vast majority of these vessels sail under flags of convenience, registered in Tonga, Panama, Liberia, Cyprus, or the Bahamas, which means that they are not subject to control by any international authority. How then can Americans begin to protect them selves from the inevitable attempt by al-Qaeda to smuggle some kind of weapon of mass destruction into their land?
"This hatred has no limits. It is inspired by an ideology that claims to be from God. It is backed by a billion or more people. No one is safe. Anyone could become the target of this hate. We may be at the threshold of another war that could eclipse the horrors of the preceding wars.
Unlike the previous wars the enemy in this war is invisible and our guns, tanks and our fighter jets are powerless. This is not a war between the East and the West. It is not a war between the haves and the have-nots. It is not even a war between Muslims and non-Muslims. It is a war between the civilised world and barbarity."....Anon
It should read 30 seconds to midnight on any doomsday clock, as a nuclear holocaust could be unleashed at any time, anywhere in the world and we wouldn't even know who was responsible.
When terrorist groups find a ready source for the supply of WMD, as they surely will, how could any nation survive attacks from thermonuclear devices or bio or chemical weapons agents released into heavily populated areas? Even if countries closed all their shipping ports and their airports, devastating their economies, terrorists could and would still strike in an endless multitude of ways, and time will always be on their side.
With the entire world under constant siege and the flow of world trade and travel ended, the world would soon be in to the darkest of depressions.
The already shaky economies of Indonesia and the Philippines would soon collapse and the Muslim extremist organisation Jemaah Islamiah (J.I.) and Abu syyeff will be free to create their dream Islamic state from Indonesia and the Philippines, then Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand and Myanmar. This would create a "Superstate" of around 450 million people ruled by mad mullahs with all the freedoms and humanity of the Taliban. So not only will we Australians be under constant threat from WMD but also from attacks from an Islamic army that could recruit from a population of 450 million that would have territory (West New Guinea ) just over 100 n. miles from our shores. As our army can hardly field even two battalions, without help from the left's Great Satan the United States, any conflict would soon be all over.
Unlike Latham and the coalition of the Un-willing, Prime Ministers John Howard, Tony Blair and President George Bush realise the drastic consequences of the loss of this war on terrorism. Meanwhile the politically correct letter writers to the newspapers, catholic bishops and priests, radio talkback jocks, leftist columnists, the Greens, Democrats and Mark Latham and his Labor Party delude themselves while constantly whining "It has nothing to do with us". They agonise over the fate of that trained killer for the murderous Taliban, David Hicks. Or those "terrible humiliating pictures" of the "sad looking" captured Butcher of Baghdad, Saddam Hussein "a man stripped of his dignity" while their own world is facing nuclear Armageddon, before then plunging into the black hole of Islamic fundamentalism.
The allies so far have made some tremendous strides with at least 70 percent of al Qaeda's senior leadership detained or killed since Sept. 11, 2001. The remaining 30 percent is largely on the run, The movement has been badly hurt by the elimination or arrest of more than 3,400 lower-level members and allies, their training camps and communications networks destroyed in Afghanistan and their money supply badly disrupted. Libya has gotten the message and has come in from the cold and turned over its WMD. Pakistan is now co-operating and their army is now hunting al-Qaeda in their mountain strongholds. Iran is also co-operating with the Atomic Energy Commission and Syria has signalled it may be willing to remove itself from the nations that sponsor terror.
This all happened only because the United States and the "Coalition of the Willing" ignored the "Peacenicks" and the "It has nothing to do with us" or the moronic "It's all about oil" crowd and took the war to the terrorists. Faulty intelligence or not, the US firmly believed that Iraq had WMD and the fact was, Iraq was not complying with UN demands to let the weapons inspectors in to do their work. And keeping in mind that the Labor party, Australian Richard Butler, the UN and every intelligence agency in the world, even Saddam's generals believed he had WMD because he had them in 1991, after 9/11 the US had no choice but to invade Iraq.
If the spineless UN had enforced it's own demands for inspections in Iraq the present chaotic situation there would have never developed, because the war there without the UN is perceived erroneously in the Islamic world, as an "American war against Islam."
One chance for our civilisation
The coalitions progress made so far though is not nearly enough, because the only possible scenario where the civilised world could get some breathing space (but will probably never win) is for the nations that realise that there may not be many more tomorrows. That these fundamentalists will do anything to return the entire world to the dark ages is to immediately make a concerted effort to forge a new alliance along the lines of a "Super NATO".
This new Last Chance Coalition will have to do absolutely anything and everything it takes, including invading any country that will not co-operate immediately with weapons inspections or is even suspected of developing or supplying terrorists with WMD or training camps. We cannot sit by for eleven years as in the case of Iraq and the UN, playing games while terrorists build up stockpiles of WMD . As for those who expect just the US to "go in" after these weapons have been developed, well how many of those wishful thinkers will volunteer to "go in" with US troops and help relieve these weapons?
This new Last Chance Coalition would be comprised only of nations absolutely resolute to the cause. And nobody even suggest that corrupt money machine, the pathetic United Nations with all its baggage of western hostility. Boutros Ghali described the third world majority "As just a den of thieves" and the U.N. Human Rights Commission itself described it as "A rogues gallery of human right abusers. It would be a group of nations where "You are with us or you are against us" would have to apply, and political correctness is an idea that a free world fighting for it's very survival can not afford.
Russia and China also have everything to lose and would have to come on board. Russia would have to eliminate the greatest threat of the supply of WMD to terrorists from it's former union states and to end hostilities with Chechnya. China would have to handle it's nuclear equipped protege, North Korea.
Pakistan and India would have to give up their nuclear weapons because when the weak Pakistani government falls, these weapons will immediately be in the hands of Islamic fundamentalists, bin Laden's al Queda. The Pakistanis will not give theirs up unless India also complies.
A 38th parallel style DMZ separation between Israel and Palestine must be implemented and guarded by non-coalition forces. Israel could then withdraw to its pre-war borders without fear of attack. This should halt the endless procession of new attacks between Israel and Palestine and would at least cool off a lot of the Middle East and maybe end the spiral of new terrorists joining the fold from that particular region.
Even without WMD the civilised world will probably always continue to be attacked by terrorists and Europe will continue to be a very soft target, but there must be no Spanish style surrenders. Spain has now set a dangerous precedent of appeasement and is still being attacked. So much for pledging to bring the troops home.
The complacency of much of the Australian public is amazing, they live in a fools paradise, and seem be taking the threat of Islamic terrorism as some kind of vague annoying threat relating only to bombs in Israeli restaurants and Americans and their so called "Imperialistic world domination". This is primarily the result of the constant America bashing by the Fairfax Press and the ABC network with it's pathological anti-Americanism, and where the ABC,s incredible fixation with this war is spearheaded by Kerry O'Brien and Tony Jones. These two positively drool over any US setbacks in Afghanistan or Iraq while the ABC's cameras linger over every image that can possibly show the US in the worst possible light. Then on every ABC talkback program, there is the inevitable grilling of government ministers with the same idiotic questions on the same idiotic subject ad nauseam. A parade of John Pilgers and fellow Stalinists are constantly being paraded to give their take on the war.
Are these presenters and the ABC really that stupid or is the aim just to push their Leftist agendas even at the cost of dividing and distracting the Australian public, providing it with a misleading and biased view on the war on terror?
All these leftists have done immeasurable harm to our country whereby the Australian public somehow think we are the victims of an Islamic backlash against America instead of the real reason, that the whole world is the target for a conversion to Islam.
The Labor Party the Greens and Democrats have fought John Howard tooth and nail at every turn relating to this war of civilisation. Unable to see past their failed myopic Leftist utopian vision of a storybook world where everybody gets everything thing for nothing and the hated United States is responsible for all the world's ills and the UN is the ultimate answer. Yet if their UN had backed the US coalition in Iraq, the present upheaval where now it's just an "American war against Islam" would never have developed. This very soon could backfire on all those who opposed the UN intervention, because if America loses it's will under a new President, then what country will step up to the plate to defend the free world? France, Germany? Japan?..the UN? "Good luck Australia!
The hacks from Labor, the Greens and Democrats want parliamentary inquiries on subjects such as "Did the government lie about WMD? (Even though Labor itself, Richard Butler, the UN and every intelligence agency in the world and even Saddam's generals believed he had WMD) and "Are we more at risk because of Iraq" or "Why is David Hicks the trained Taliban killer not here at home with us?" They want these ridiculous parliamentary inquiries at 30 seconds to midnight, just when we are on the very verge of this world returning to the dark ages. So the Greens, Labor and the Democrats want to placate and kowtow to these barbarians at the gate who are ready to blow that gate of it's hinges and if they survive to impose a barbaric religious regime on them and their families.
The fact that Labor may win the next election, if there is another election ought to scare the pants off anyone. The last thing we need is another 1938 Chamberlain government that will deny reality until it's too late. There will not be "peace in our time".
Right now instead of wasting precious time with these utterly useless and diversionary parliamentary inquiries. These political parties should be united in forming a war cabinet with their government and planning our reserves of oil, coal and food and other essential items that will help us in a full blown depression and our fight for survival.
The Labor party instead of creating a division between Australians with their obvious threat denial and insane policy of curtailing the Australian US Alliance should be advising the Australian people that it's actually the Americans who are the good guys. That the PM was, and is right to say that our alliance with them is absolutely the most important thing we have going for us. In fact it's absolutely the only thing.
Australia was named as a target by bin Laden himself as a target for terrorism because of our involvement in East Timor. Has our support for the US made us more of a target? Well Canada our sister dominion, did not support the war and has sent no troops to Iraq is right there with Australia on the hit list. Why? Because it's an Anglo-Saxon predominantly "Christian Crusader country". And that makes it as Australia, a target for terrorism and conversion to Islam.
The truly misguided and those not so misguided buffoon's who blame John Howard or President Bush and who oppose this war for their own political or personal agendas. And for those who rejoice at every American death and snigger at any setbacks in Iraq, had better pray that we and our friends, the British, Americans and other stalwart allies can somehow hold these religious maniacs at bay. And that we can secure most of the world's WMD and stop further production from rogue states or countries that will pass them on to our enemies enabling them to kill tens of thousands of people at a time. If Australia is attacked with WMD and thousands killed we would probably have to capitulate immediately because we would not even know where to retaliate or even what terrorist group was responsible. So we have a choice. Follow Mark Latham's agenda of holding endless parliamentary inquires and hide in a Fortress Australia behind the guns of the American fleet. Or we can listen to Prime Minister Howard and get out there with America and Britain and take the fight to the enemy, because to lose this war on terrorism will be the end of western civilisation as we know it.
Ken Murray
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On a personal note.....
What really pisses me off is when I see the pictures on American TV of all those young Americans killed in Iraq having given their lives to help keep Australia and the rest of world free from terrorism. While at home here that little Red weasel John Pilger states on ABC (where else?) that it's OK by him that these young GI's are killed, in fact they deserve it.
Pilger and his Stalinist friends (politicians, academics and media) remind me of the leftist Australian and New Zealand wharfies who during WWII refused to load supply ships for the Australian or American troops in their desperate defence of New Guinea. The same for the US Marines leaving for Tarawa. The young Leathernecks had to loaded their own ships before they sailed off to defend the lives of these stupid ungrateful bastards.
Pilger and his comrades hate America so much that they would unbelievably support Australia's enemies who would rule the world with terror .
"You can't say America threatens peace in the world without a certain hatred that makes you blind to reality," wrote Bernard-Henri Levy, a well-known French philosopher.
"This kind of anti-Americanism is a grave danger. It is a warning signal of something deeper — a hatred of the very idea of America."
So for their invaluable and unequivocal moral support and their opposition for Americas allies to fight the war waged by Islamic fundamentalists in their quest for world domination. And for the mis-information, outright lies and pure unadulterated vitriol poured into all those hate American articles in attempt to destroy our governments participation in this war and end the Australian, US coalition. I am sure victorious Jemmah Islamiah and Taliban fundamentalists would reward that scary little Red duo of Margo Kingston and Bob Brown with the "Croix de al-Qaeda with hand grenade and body part clusters".
Included would be Robert Manne, Mike Carlton, Alan Ramsey, Phillip Adams, Leo "It's all about oil" Schoefield and John "Lenin" Pilger, Terry "I hope we lose Lane" Guy Rundle, Judy Davis, plus their cohorts. Plus The Medical Association for the Prevention of War (the geniuses who want to shut down our intelligence facility at Pine Gap) along with the rental ratbags from "Books not Bombs" the "Socialist Alliance." and the "Peace and Justice Committee".
The special "Order of Osama" with many thanks goes to the terrorists most valuable players. . Andrew Wilkie who betrayed his colleagues and government, and the most dangerous and biggest hypocrite of all... glory hunter and former chief UN weapons inspector and now new governor of Tasmania...Richard (Yes they do have WMD,s) Butler.
These cheer leaders for the causes that help our country's enemies will probably be allowed to form some kind of Vichy/Islamic government providing of course that they convert to Islam.
Oh! And by the way, I might remind the fore-mentioned there would be absolutely no criticism of Islam or the government under pain of death. Not that they will have that much time to write or protest anything much anyway as they be too busy scratching out a bare existence living while having to attend mandatory prayers in the mosque five times a day.
"Michael Kelly, the newspaperman who was the first reporter to die in Iraq, was among the best and the most thoughtful. He knew the danger that Saddam Hussein posed for his own people and the rest of us. He saw the last Gulf War up close and recalled the tortured bodies of corpses he had seen in Kuwait City where skins were left black and blue from beatings, where men had been burnt alive, where eyes were ripped from their sockets.
"After that," he writes, " I never could stand the arguments of those who sat in the luxury of safety - 'advocating non resistance behind the guns of the American Fleet' as George Orwell wrote of World War II pacifists."
UPDATE ...
Mark Latham says "The Tories have a shocking record on national security," "It is only ever Labor that gets it right in the defence of Australia.
This is from the party that under Defence Minister Kim Beasley trashed our amphibious capability just when we needed it most for East Timor. He also bought billion dollar plus submarines from a country that had never actually built one and we are still paying and paying for in cost over runs, repairs and modifications while the subs. spend half their time dockside.
As for Labor "getting it right"
Labor isn't even aware of the crisis that's about to explode on our doorstep, a crisis that will change all of our lives forever. And the fact that they want to distance us from our alliance with the United States confirms that Labor does not have a single clue about our country's defence which makes them one hell of a liability in our forthcoming fight for survival.
Latham wants equal partnership in any US alliance: America has 286,000 troops based overseas in more than 20 countries. 1.5 million active troops. 1.8 million reserves. 15,000 heavy tanks. 14,000 airplanes. 9,000 helicopters. 250 major warships. A military of awesome size and overwhelming firepower and Latham wants equality. Yet he also want's to bring the "troops' a few hundred air traffic controllers and bodyguards home by Christmas. Believe me the Americans are going to remember that.
As for the Islamic countries that rail against the US and blame America for persecuting Islam.
The fact that the US has given more aid and feeds more people in the Islamic world than all the filthy petro dollar rich Arab states combined .In fact these Isalmic nations have give almost nothing to their destitute brothers especially those in Afghanistan.
The US has pledged US $156 million to improve education in Muslim Indonesian schools alone.
Americans have welcomed over six million Islamic people to settle in the United States.
The US was driving force for saving the Muslims being slaughtered in Bosnia. Not to mention their ongoing attempts to install an Islamic democracy in Iraq where the parents or siblings would not be dragged away in the middle of the night to be hung up on a butchers hook or fed through a mincing machine. Hardle sounds like Islamic persecution, but then again the US will never win world opinion ratings no matter what it does.
Jesus...
Ken, thanks for the post, but -- I would appreciate it in the future if you did not put such a long comment here. That's what websites are for -- then you can post an excerpt, offer the url for the rest... It's just that server space is limited, as is bandwidth. (Also: shorter paragraphs separated by spaces make it easier for people to read long blocks of text on the web.)
Posted by: Andrea Harris at April 26, 2004 at 04:39 AMAnd also: please only post on-topic comments. This entry was about John Kerry's SUV, not Australian politics. There are other posts on those subjects here -- that is where your offering belonged.
Posted by: Andrea Harris at April 26, 2004 at 04:40 AMAndrea,Yeah it went into the wrong topic but No problemo,just delete it.
Ken Murray
Andrea,Yeah it went into the wrong topic but No problemo,just delete it.
Ken Murray
Well, since you went to so much effort I would feel bad simply deleting it now. But let this be a warning, etc.
Posted by: Andrea Harris at April 26, 2004 at 11:03 AMKen,
Long article. But very well written. Do you think we could get it published in a major newspaper? Nah! Sorry for asking.....
Posted by: Huddo at April 27, 2004 at 04:40 PMHuddo.
Dunno if any newspaper would print it. If you know of any, go for it cause I am tired of reading the likes of margo kingston and the rest of those little Red losers!
Will email you the original format.look a hell of a lot better.
Thanks for the comments. km