Target Centermass

Category: Politics

  • Rough Week for Remaining Reaganites

    Two key members of the administration of President Ronald Reagan have died in the last two days.

    Lyn Nofziger, Reagan spokesman and adviser, dead at 81

    Franklyn “Lyn” Nofziger, the rumpled and irreverent conservative who served Ronald Reagan as press secretary and political adviser, died of cancer Monday. He was 81.

    Nofziger died at his home in Falls Church, Va., said Eldin Girdner, a family friend.

    Former first lady Nancy Reagan said in a statement Monday: “I was deeply saddened this afternoon when I heard of Lyn Nofziger’s death. Lyn was with us from the gubernatorial campaign in 1965 through the early White House days, and Ronnie valued his advice — and good humor — as much as anyone’s. I spoke with him just days ago and even though he knew the end was near, Lyn was hopeful and still in good spirits.”

    Nofziger, who joined Reagan’s ranks early in the political career of the actor-turned-politician, headed the White House political office during the first year of the Reagan presidency and then quit to form a political consulting and lobbying firm.

    […]

    Conservative columnist George F. Will once described the nonconformist, cigar-chomping Nofziger as “Sancho Panza” to Reagan’s Don Quixote.

    Asked why he was leaving the White House, Nofziger replied, “I don’t like government, it’s just that simple.” He denied as “99 percent untrue” a report he’d quit because of his exclusion from the president’s innermost circle.

    His determined irreverence extended to the Reagans.

    “I’m not a social friend of the Reagans,” he told an interviewer. “That’s by their choice and by mine. They don’t drink enough.”

    Former defense chief Caspar Weinberger dies at 88

    Caspar Weinberger, who as Ronald Reagan’s defense secretary oversaw a massive U.S. military buildup, died on Tuesday at age 88.

    Caspar Weinberger Jr. said his father had been suffering from pneumonia and high fever for about a week and died at 5 a.m. EST in the intensive-care unit of Eastern Maine Medical Center in Bangor, about 40 miles from his home in Mount Desert.

    Weingberger’s wife of 63 years, Jane, his son and daughter, Arlin, were at his bedside when he died.

    “He was just a worn-out guy,” his son, Caspar Weinberger Jr., told Reuters.

    As head of the Pentagon, Weinberger strongly opposed concessions to Moscow in arms control negotiations and pushed hard for increased defense spending, such as Reagan’s Strategic Defense Initiative, a program to develop a land-and space-based missile shield commonly known as “Star Wars.”

    “He should be remembered as a world statesman, a great American patriot,” the son said. “What he did with Reagan really brought down the Soviet Union. They stuck to their plan and simply outspent the Soviets despite all sorts of doubts here.”

    […]

    Weinberger performed with gusto the task of persuading the U.S. Congress to spend more than $1 trillion on arms in Reagan’s first term and billions more after that.

    He also steadfastly opposed concessions to Moscow in arms control negotiations advocated by Secretary of State George Shultz and other more moderate members of the Cabinet.

    He made himself unpopular with many lawmakers by his unbending, often contentious push for funds for arms and for Reagan’s Strategic Defense Initiative — a program, commonly known as “Star Wars,” to develop a land- and space-based shield against incoming ballistic missiles.

    A longtime member of Reagan’s inner circle of California friends, Weinberger was one of the president’s strongest supporters in the Cabinet.

    “He was just a great American,” the son said. “He was a respected world diplomat, a member of ‘the greatest generation,’ as Tom Brokaw called it.”

    The younger Weinberger said his father was “first and foremost a Californian” but had moved to Maine for the benefit of his wife, a native of the state. The Weinbergers first bought a summer home in Maine in the mid-1970s and had lived their full time for the past few years.

    Weinberger was a Harvard-educated lawyer and serve on Gen. Douglas MacArthur’s intelligence staff during World War Two, his family said.

    His funeral will be held at Arlington National Cemetery.

    I would like to think these two men for their years of dedication and service. For those so inclined, this may be a good moment to consider a donation to the Ronald Reagan Memorial Fund.

  • Carnival of Liberty XXXVIII

    This week’s installment of the Life, Liberty, Property community’s Carnival of Liberty is up over at Searchlight Crusade. Go read another fine collection of posts from a libertarian slant.

  • Texas Arresting People in Bars for Being Drunk

    Damn. I can just imagine what morons we Texans must look like to the Brit who reads this Reuters piece in a London pub while working his way through a pint.

    Texas has begun sending undercover agents into bars to arrest drinkers for being drunk, a spokeswoman for the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission said on Wednesday.

    The first sting operation was conducted recently in a Dallas suburb where agents infiltrated 36 bars and arrested 30 people for public intoxication, said the commission’s Carolyn Beck.

    Being in a bar does not exempt one from the state laws against public drunkenness, Beck said.

    The goal, she said, was to detain drunks before they leave a bar and go do something dangerous like drive a car.

    “We feel that the only way we’re going to get at the drunk driving problem and the problem of people hurting each other while drunk is by crackdowns like this,” she said.

    “There are a lot of dangerous and stupid things people do when they’re intoxicated, other than get behind the wheel of a car,” Beck said. “People walk out into traffic and get run over, people jump off of balconies trying to reach a swimming pool and miss.”

    Damn again. Drunks … in a bar … drinking. That is now a crime subject to arrest? Does the fact that bars are privately-owned establishments matter naught? Well, given the ballooning case of municipal smoking restrictions, apparently and unfortunately not. Also, it seems this is part of a state-wide effort. Still, people are being busted on the pretense of their current condition in hopes of preventing potential future-but-as-yet-uncommitted crimes. Good end, horrid means that lay waste to years of campaigns advocating designated-driver programs.

    I thought I’d throw out the thoughts of a few Texas bloggers on the matter.

    The Swanky Conservative [emphasis in original]:

    Those people could have driven somewhere. They could have done something harmful to themselves or others.

    Innocent until proven guilty means exactly jack-squat to those opposed to people doing things others don’t like. And the guys with the power – the cops – are running right along with with ‘em. All too happy to arrest those who could have committed a crime.

    Life follows art, eh?

    Methinks Swanky goes to far in calling Minority Report art, but the validity of his point remains the same.

    Boots and Sabers:

    All it will do is encourage people to stay home and get smashed or throw drunk parties. Drunks in bars may be annoying, but as long as they aren’t harming anyone, why not let them drink?

    Quite right, and it goes back to my point about public intoxication enforcement on what should be deemed private property.

    Finally, The Fat Guy [On the argument about stupid and dangerous drunk acts presented in the above article by the TABC’s Ms. Beck] :

    They make drunken bootie calls, too. They write drunken blog posts, too. They fall asleep with the lights and teevee on and run up the light bill, too. They put frozen pizza in the oven and wake up to a stinky kitchen and a carbonized disc, too. They stumble and bark their shins on the coffee table that someone mysteriously moved while they were out, too. Somehow, as a society, we have managed to hold it all together in the face of all the mayhem stemming from freedom of choice.

    Reading that, I feel I’m the guest of honor on an episode of This Is Your Life.

    Cheers, TABC, I’m at home right now so you can get screwed. However, please be so kind as to let me know if, in the next couple of months, you plan on raiding wedding receptions.

  • Carnival of Liberty XXXVII

    This week’s installment of the Life, Liberty, Property community’s Carnival of Liberty is up over at Forward Biased. Go read another fine collection of posts from a libertarian slant.

  • Senators Seek Smoother Military Voting

    Through all of the recent moves on election reform, it does seem as though the military has been overlooked. There may soon come a remedy to ease the balloting process for troops abroad.

    Twelve senators are asking Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld to make it easier for troops abroad to vote, saying the current system is outdated.

    Seven Republicans and five Democrats wrote to Rumsfeld this month, asking the department to create a new voting system that would allow members of the military to easily “request, receive, download and print” absentee ballots regardless of their location.

    Under the current system, members of the military must contact local officials by regular mail and request a ballot, which is then mailed to them. The voter then must fill out the ballot by hand and send it back to his or her state, again by regular mail.

    “Military absentee voting is still conducted in the same way it was conducted during World War II and the Korean War,” the senators wrote.

    A Pentagon spokeswoman would not comment on the letter, saying it is Pentagon policy not to comment on correspondence between the secretary and members of Congress.

    Samuel Wright of the National Defense Committee, a group that advocates for electing more veterans to Congress, said he has counted 7,838 different state and local election offices that administer federal elections and communicate with troops overseas.

    Wright said it would be ideal if military abroad could receive ballots by e-mail, fill them out and send them to their local election offices by regular mail.

    “The military voter is a moving target,” said Wright. “The current system requires that they have to find the voter.”

    Sen. Conrad Burns, R-Mont., prepared the letter and is planning legislation that would make the process easier.

    I don’t know about printing out email ballots, but certainly something can be done to improve an obviously antiquated system. Here in Texas, I now have several weeks prior to election day to cast my vote at any balloting location in my home county; certainly there is a way to facilitate the electoral voice of our uniformed citizens serving away from the homeland.

  • On Sheehans and Headstones

    Despite my willingness to blog about the foolish shenanigans of Gold Star mom Cindy Sheehan, I thought it wise to completely refrain when Gateway Pundit questioned the lack of headstone at the gravesite of her son, the fallen Army SPC Casey Sheehan.

    I decided the matter was far too personal for my taste, this despite the fact that Gold Star mom Cindy Sheehan had already decided to use young Casey’s grave site for a magazine photo-op.

    Now, there is a video by Michelle Malkin of the demonstrations in D.C. marking the third anniversary of the Iraq invasion (hat tip to Ace). In the video, which I recommend for a good look at the utter silliness and idiocy of the hardcore anti-war movement, I was dismayed that Ms. Malkin asked Gold Star mom Cindy Sheehan about the lack of headstone at Gold Star mom Cindy Sheehan’s son’s grave. I found it in bad taste, but thankfully the matter was not pressed.

    Still, as bad as the moment was, it was an open opportunity for Gold Star mom Cindy Sheehan to silence or rise above what should rightly be a personal and family issue. Instead, as the video continues, Gold Star mom Cindy Sheehan decided to utilize the headstone issue during her address to the “crowd,” blatantly stating that she had been too busy serving a calling that her son did not stand for to honor his death in one of the simplest and typically fundamental manners of American society. She could have ignored the matter or given a differing justification. Instead, Gold Star mom Cindy Sheehan once again chose to try to use her son’s grave for political advantage.

    Disgusting.

    Simply … disgusting.

    I feel dirty even writing about this matter. As an “Out, out, damn spot” hope for cleansing, I will link again to a true tribute to the soldier and hero that was and will always be Casey Sheehan.

  • Senator Puts Forward Motion to Censure Bush

    One man with courage is a majority.

    —Thomas Jefferson

    I’m pretty certain that when Jefferson came up with those words, he was hoping for some sort of righteousness in the majority-of-one’s endeavors. And then, sometimes, there’s the likes of Sen. Feingold and his one-man political assault on President Bush.

    A U.S. senator has put forward a resolution to censure President George W. Bush for ordering the wiretapping of some American phone conversations without a court warrant.

    Senator Russell Feingold, a Democrat from Wisconsin, accused Bush on Monday of breaking the law and misleading the American public.

    The resolution calls on the Senate to condemn Bush’s “unlawful authorization of wiretaps of Americans within the United States without obtaining the court orders required.”

    […]

    The five-page resolution accuses the president of violating the U.S. Constitution and the country’s Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act.

    The only U.S. president ever censured by the Senate was Andrew Jackson in 1834.

    […]

    Last December, Americans learned of a secret domestic surveillance program conducted by the U.S. National Security Agency.

    The revelation caused an uproar and triggered questions about limiting Bush’s broad scope to govern.

    Bush defended the program as a “vital tool” and said the spying was only on known operatives of al-Qaeda and its affiliates and only on communications going in and out of the U.S., not within the country.

    “I re-authorized this program 30 times since 9/11 and I intend to do so as long as the nation faces the continuing threat of an enemy that wants to kill American citizens, Bush said.

    Feingold is considered a possible for the Democratic presidential nomination in 2008.

    Can this one man become the bedrock of a majority? Well, it seems highly unlikely as his fellow Democratic senators are rushing to not stand by his side.

    Feingold has responded by expressing dismay at the response, accusing his fellow Dems of reacting out of fear.

    Sen. Russell Feingold on Tuesday blamed fellow Democrats for inaction on his stalled resolution to censure President Bush for his authorizing the National Security Agency’s electronic terrorist surveillance program.

    “I’m amazed at Democrats … cowering with this president’s numbers so low,” said Feingold, D-Wis. “The administration … just has to raise the specter of the War on Terror, and Democrats run and hide.”

    Well, that should rally the troops.

    It is my view that, rather than acting with righteousness, Feingold’s maneuver is one of erroneous self-righteous grandstanding. His own words make it clear — attack the president now, not for the sake of the nation or our security but rather because his numbers are low and it’s an opportunistic time.

    That doth not a majority make, nor should it.

  • Carnival of Liberty XXXVI

    This week’s installment of the Life, Liberty, Property community’s Carnival of Liberty is up over at The Unrepentant Individual. Go read another fine collection of posts from a libertarian slant.

  • Quietly, Controversially, Work Begins on WTC Memorial

    While seemingly slipping in under the scope of most American media, work on the memorial honoring the Twin Towers is beginning, despite the reservations of the families of several victims of the 9/11 terrorist devastation.

    Without political ceremony, construction began [today] on the memorial to the thousands of people who died in the 9/11 World Trade Centre attacks – even as relatives of some of the victims headed to court to fight plans to build at the site.

    Lorries [Edit: lorries? Hey, it’s the Scotsman, a damn fine paper that can call trucks lorries if it chooses] laden with timber and other equipment rolled down a ramp as construction workers began cleaning the memorial area of debris and installing protective wooden coverings over parts of the original foundations of the twin towers.

    After six to eight weeks of preliminary work, concrete will be poured to create supports for the “Reflecting Absence” design.

    George Pataki, the New York state governor, last week called the event “a very important milestone,” but no ground-breaking ceremony is planned for several weeks.

    Officials said they wanted to meet a schedule to build the memorial by 2009.

    Some families of 11 September victims who oppose the underground memorial design are trying to stop the construction before the memorial is set in concrete.

    The Coalition of 9/11 Families last week filed a lawsuit charging that the memorial would damage the historic “footprints” – the foundations of the two towers. Preservation groups have made similar arguments in letters to rebuilding officials. An initial court hearing was scheduled for yesterday.

    The Reflecting Absence design, by the architect Michael Arad, was chosen two years ago out of more than 5,200 competition entries.

    It marks the fallen towers with two stone reflecting pools at street level, surrounded by trees.

    The pools drop 70ft below ground, where visitors find surrounding each pool the names of the nearly 3,000 people killed in the 2001 attacks and the 1993 World Trade Centre bombing.

    Families have said the memorial would dishonour the dead by placing their names below street level and might be difficult to evacuate quickly.

    And what about those concerns of the families, both in terms of dignity and public safety?

    Stefan Pryor, the president of the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation, the agency in charge of rebuilding at Ground Zero, said the design would “fulfill the highest standards of both safety and beauty”.

    He said the agency would continue to listen to family members’ concerns.

    Apparently, Mr. Pryor’s definition of listening equals my definition of ignoring. At least that damned freedom center idea still appears to be dead.

  • Sheehan Bails on Protesting at American Post in Europe

    And now, the much ballyhooed appearance by Gold Star mom Cindy Sheehan at the gates of an American military base apparently has been axed.

    Cindy Sheehan says she will not be near Ramstein Air Base or participate in a protest march from Landstuhl to Ramstein on Saturday if she goes through with a planned trip to Europe.

    Sheehan, the mother of a soldier killed in Iraq and the woman who protested the war last summer outside President Bush’s ranch in Texas, said in an e-mail Wednesday to Stars and Stripes that “everything is up in the air at this point.”

    Sheehan is due to arrive in Frankfurt on Thursday. Despite uncertainty clouding Sheehan’s visit, protesters and counterprotesters still plan to gather outside Ramstein Air Base on Saturday afternoon.

    Sheehan was arrested Monday in New York City outside the U.S. mission to the United Nations when she and other protesters attempted to deliver a petition calling for the withdrawal of troops from Iraq. Her condition raises doubts as to whether she will make the trip to Germany and France.

    “If I am there, I won’t be anywhere near the air force base … or participate in the march,” wrote Sheehan on Wednesday. “I was brutalized in New York the other day by the NYPD (New York Police Department) and I need to go to the doctor today (Wednesday).”

    When asked why she would not protest near the air base, Sheehan replied: “I don’t want the soldiers to feel we don’t support them, and soldiers can’t redeploy themselves.”

    So, which is it, Gold Star mom Cindy Sheehan? The brutality you suffered through at the unmerciful hands of the NYPD or your support of the American military personnel who, surprisingly, are not at liberty to write their own orders?

    I think that this is a case where Gold Star mom Cindy Sheehan’s handlers — and that is what they are — have decided that it is best to continue to use her notoriety and name but not her presence.

    After all, Confederate Yankee‘s Bob Owens visually and clearly demonstrates that any police brutality accusations are a complete crock.

    Methinks instead that Gold Star mom Cindy Sheehan’s handlers think it’s best that her image not come up in blatant contrast with the military Gold Star mom Cindy Sheehan claims she supports — as will be the case in Germany.

    Please, Gold Star mom Cindy Sheehan, I beg and plead that you press charges of brutality against the NYPD. Please speak truth to power, Gold Star mom Cindy Sheehan, about how the New York coppers kept ya from standing up to the Man in Germany.