Mike's Right

Today is an amazing day, a day that will go down in history. Today the Iraqis have come out in mass to speak against the terrorists and the tyrants. Anywhere from 60% to 70% of the population has voted. This is an amazing number, and very unexpected. This puts the United States to shame, considering this is at or greater than the amount of Americans that voted. Anywhere from 25 to 40 Iraqis died today trying to vote. How glorious it is to die for democracy, exercising your rights. Better to die as a free man than live as a slave. Also as Thomas Jefferson once said "From time to time the tree of liberty must be watered with the blood of Patriots and tyrants" I will admit earlier I was skeptical of how wise it would be hold elections with such poor security. But the Iraqis and the Multinational forces were able to increase security, crack down on the terrorists, and while even one death is horrible, this is a lot less than what most thought. In a land that has known nothing but Kings, dictators, and various tyrants a democracy has been born. "A people in darkness have seen a great light" May freedom spread forth to the rest of the Middle East and to the far parts of the world. Welcome to Freedom Iraq. It's a Brave New World.

In these past few years we have heard the President speak about how the terrorists hate our freedoms and our way of life, and wish to destroy it. At the same time we have heard the left say that the terrorists don't really hate our freedoms, that's too much of a simplistic view, they hate our support of Israel and our placeing of troops in Saudi Arabia, and if we didn't do such things they wouldn't be so mad at us. Well the leader of Al'Qaeda in Iraq, Al'Zarqawi, has made it clear in his latest release,http://www.cnn.com/2005/WORLD/meast/01/23/iraq.main/index.html.
On this audio tape he states that "We have declared a bitter war against democracy and all who wish to enact it." He calls democracy "the big American lie." He then states that "Democracy is also based on the right to choose your own religion(and that) is agains the will of God" He goes on to talk about how he fears the rise of the Shitte in the current elections and that they will spread their beliefs across the muslim world. Ladies and Gentlemen, make no mistake, this is the enemy we're fighting. They do hate our freedoms, they do hate our form of government, and they do want to destroy us. His words provide a clear contrast to the words of President Bush. By the enemy's own admition we are fighting over democracy in Iraq, in the greater middle east, and for the existance of democracy as the best form of government. We shall win, but we must stand firm.

Hey everybody, I just started my internship at my Congressman's office. It looks like it'll be ok, mainly clerical work. Right now they have me updating their directory of elected officals, my first phone call to confirm information was interesting....I got the cleck of court's home! Luckly she was nice about it and gave me another number to call. I then come to find out that every number in the directory is most likely home phone numbers. So I spent most of yesterday searching for the work numbers of the clercks, which I think I found. So it looks to be interesting.

Well the Palestinians have elected Abbas President of the Palestinian Authority. http://www.cnn.com/2005/WORLD/meast/01/10/palestinian.elections/index.html
Are we not surpirsed? Now I'm not completely sure but if this puts him into the exact same posistion as Arafat was in, this means he's President for life. Well at least the people can say they elected their new leviathan. I'd like to think this change will make a diffrence, will cause some break through, but I think the Who said it best "say hi to the new boss, same as the old boss"

I was sitting around today, and I thought to myself, you know our current National Anthem is cool, but it's real hard to sing. I've heard about some people wanting to make America the Beautiful our national anthem instead the Star Spangled Banner because it's easier to sing. But I was thinking that if we need to change National Anthem we should change it to something that represents our times better than America the Beautiful. So I was wondering what type of song would best be our national anthem. Then it hit me, America F*#k Yeah from the movie Team America. The lyics go something like this:

America, f@#k yeah.Comin' again to save the motherf@#king day yeah.America, f@#k yeah.Freedom is the only way yeah.Terrorist your game is through.Now you have to answer to America, f@#k yeah.America, f@#k yeah.

As you can see, I think this really echos the sentaments of the American people, America f@#k yeah! Think about it, at the opening of the world series
"Please rise for the National Anthem"
and the whole stadium goes, "America, f@#k yeah!"
Some naysayers may say that the Star Spangled Banner should stay as the National Anthem because it was first written during a major battle. But America F@#K Yeah helped us win a major battle. During the battle of Falujia the US Psy Ops Troops played America F@#K Yeah, and it helped the terrorist know that "Terrorist you game is through. Now you have to anwer to America, f@#k yeah!" If it's good enough for our troops in Iraq, it's good enough for our schools, baseball parks, and US Congress. Also we know how pop stars love to butcher the Star Spangled Banner at the Super Bowl and other major sporting events. With America F@#K Yeah, any pop star can sing that with pride. I hope all Americans will unite behind my dream, my dream that from New York to LA first graders will one day gather in their classrooms, place their hands over their little hearts, and sing "America, f@#k yeah.Comin' again to save the motherf@#king day yeah.America, f@#k yeah.Freedom is the only way yeah.Terrorist your game is through.Now you have to answer to America, f@#k yeah.America, f@#k yeah."

Good night and America, f@#k ya!

Over at National Review they're celebrating their 50th aniversery, so they are posting some of their best stories from the magazine on their website. Today they have a review of Atlas Shrugged from 1957. Atlas Shrugged has always been a favorate book of mine, but I always had qualms about the lack of morality in it, and its obvious charicatures. The review at National Review http://www.nationalreview.com/flashback/flashback200501050715.asp best displays the full implications of Atlas Shrugged, as a capitalist manafesto where there is no God, and all is centered around a new "super man" who's only moral code is to advance his own self interest. It is a very telling review and I recommend it to any who have read the book. For those of you who have not read the book, I still recomend reading it, for it is still a very good book.

Over in Iraq another high ranking official killed http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/4144511.stm

Expect these attacks to occur against those elected in the January elections coming up. Also expect much violence on election day. We have already seen election workers assassinated over the past few weeks, so I think that this will continue. But interestingly enough it looks like many Iraqis are looking forward to the election, despite the violence http://powerlineblog.com/archives/009103.php
According to this, 78% of Iraqis will come out to vote on election day. These are some brave people out there, willing to give democracy a chance, even if the media isn't reporting it

http://www.cnn.com/2005/US/01/03/tsunami.formerpresidents.ap/index.html
It seems that President Bush has tapped his father and former President Clinton to work on getting private donations for the tsunami disaster. It's a good use of both former Presidents' talents and a good showing of bipartizanship

Some interesting stuff over at daily kos: http://www.dailykos.com/story/2005/1/2/164925/7172
""Values obviously are important," said Terry McAuliffe, the national Democratic party chairman, whose term expires in February. "But clearly, the overriding issue in this election was terrorism and national security. You don't get to those other issues until you have checked the box on national security."
What? Agreeing with McAuiliffe? Blasphemy! Well, not totally agreeing. I think this, coupled with the Iraq Debacle, was the #1 Issue of the Election, and will be again in 2006 and 2008. Shocking to hear that from me I know. However, McAuiliffe does, in my opinion, underestimate the effect of the "values" issue, but not in the conventional sense discussed by say, the DLC. The problem wasn't our message on values - the problem was our failure to properly label the GOP as extremists. What happened was the GOP drove a high turnout of their "values" voters without paying any price whatsoever with socially moderate voters. The differences were blurred by us, instead of highlighted. "

They just don't get it. It doesn't occur to these people that maybe the majority of Americans hold the same values as the GOP, and that for the first time that I can recall more Americans are calling themselves Republicans than Democrats. They just can't understand that they are in the minority right now. By labeling the Republican Party as extremist on social values they risk alienating the value heavy black and Hispanic communities that make up the traditional Democrat base. The author also fails to consider the impact of such figures as John McCain, Rudy Giuliani, Governor Swarzinager, and Governor Pataki. These moderate republicans actively seek to push the Republican party to the center, or slightly left of center. He also fails see that one of these men holds a good chance for getting the 2008 nomination, thus furthering the move towards the center. If the dems don't wake up and smell the Social Values Coffee they'll only decline

Just when you think that with Yasser dead we can make progress, the heir apparent, Abbas, says this.

"We will not use force with Hamas but we will use the way of persuasion and negotiation," he said.
"We consider that fighting among Palestinians is a red line that must not be crossed."
The Associated Press news agency said the presidential front-runner had gone even further and vowed to protect the militants from Israeli attacks.
"When we see them, when we meet them, and when they welcome us, we owe them," AP quoted him as saying.
"This debt always is to protect them from assassination, to protect them from killing, and all these things they are subject to by the Israelis."

Sounds to me like they have a new guy, same agenda.
See the rest of the story from BBC News at http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/4140523.stm

This is an interesting post on powerline about several raids conducted in Iraq by the Iraqi National Guard http://powerlineblog.com/archives/009096.php The Iraqi Security forces are slowly getting better. Remember the Fallujia Brigade, and massive reports of desertions by Iraqi forces? These forces are becoming a cohesive fighting force. They will help bring security to Iraq. The big test for how much things in Iraq have actually improved will be the elections that are supposed to be held later this month. I am not sure that Iraq is ready for elections, it would be amazing if they went as well as the Afghan election, with almost no violence. But that election went so well that it may set us up for unrealistic expectations with the elections in Iraq. It is important to note that in many third world countries where elections take place, these elections are often marked by violence, with various factions attacking polling places, literally stealing votes, and other tactics. I think that we may see similar problems with the election in Iraq. We shall see

In the Beginning God created Michael...and he saw that Michael was good. God further saw Mike was right...even when he was wrong. Now it came to pass that Michael was talking to God about viruses and that it may have not been such a good idea to make them. God rolled his eyes. Then God said "Michael why don't you go forth and spread your rightness through out the world, and away from here?" And so Michael went forth, and there was much rejoicing in the garden as Michael went forth from the garden of eden. And behold the garden became a much quieter place. And behold Michael went forth preaching his rightness to all around him, if they wanted to hear it or not. It came to pass that Michael learned of blogging and said, "Behold Lord, through a blog I can bring my rightness to even more people, they will flock to my sight and see my glorious rightness that you have given me." And there was much rolling of eyes in heaven. So Michael created this blog, Mike's Right, for behold Michael is right, even when he is wrong and will bring this rightness to the world