Slow Day

There was just not a lot that caught my eye in the news or my daily blogs today. Hay drop me come comments! Thanks for reading!

Polls are looking up

From USA Today

Among registered voters, Bush is ahead 52%-44%.

The boost Bush received from the Republican convention has increased rather than dissipated, reshaping a race that for months has been nearly tied. Kerry is facing warnings from Democrats that his campaign is seriously off-track.

Now I am sorry but I thought that Kerry has been off his tracks for quite some time. Really this has been in the news for quite some time, but because it is sticking around I am starting to believe it. I am starting to be more hopeful. I still don’t think Bush can win Washington, but I also hope that will not matter.

Dino Rossi is on the march!

From the Seattle PI

"Our own state government doesn't seem to care that jobs and employers are leaving the state," Rossi said at a news conference at Seattle University, his alma mater. He said he will focus on six areas in need of reform in state government and laid out what he called "concrete solutions," although some fell far short of concrete.

As he has done repeatedly, the former state senator from Sammamish made clear that his main campaign target is 20 years of Democratic governors -- and that state Attorney General Christine Gregoire would represent more of "the status quo in Olympia" if she is elected.

"She is the status quo in Olympia," he said of his opponent.

This article is not very nice to Rossi, but I would expect no less from the PI. Dino has some good ideas, a little vague on the details so far, but I hope that will come together soon. If nothing else he will bring a change to this state if he can get in office.

No Draft with Kerry in Charge

From Fox News:

Vice presidential candidate John Edwards promised a West Virginia mother on Wednesday that if the Democratic ticket is elected in November the military draft would not be revived.

So what this means is that ether Kerry is going to reduce troops in Iraq, or be believes that we will need less troops. Why? Because I would put money on it now that if Kerry is the Pres that they will have a hard time keeping people in the military and recruiting people into the military, No one wants to serve a Pres that testified to congress that they are war criminals. I mean how as a soldier could you trust the man to take care of you?

Bush Talks Health Care

From Fox News:

"I don't think you can be pro-doctor, pro-patient, pro-hospital, and pro-trial lawyer at the same time. See, I think you have to choose," Bush said Tuesday in Greenwood Village, Colo. "My opponent made his choice. He put him on the ticket. I made my choice: I'm standing with the docs and patients. I am for medical liability reform now."

Bush's proposals to address the problem include letting small businesses pool resources to buy health insurance at the same discounts available to larger companies. He also favors expanding tax-free health saving accounts for individuals and plans to propose a tax credit to help poor families and individuals buy health coverage. Further, he wants to have health centers in the poorest communities to serve the underprivileged.

In addition, Bush has called for a medical liability overhaul to limit malpractice awards and thus, he argues, drive down rising health care costs.

Kerry wants to help more businesses offer health care by requiring the federal government to pick up 75 percent of catastrophic health care costs, a plan his campaign estimates will lower premiums by an average of 10 percent. The Massachusetts senator also would give small businesses a tax credit to help them bear the cost of health insurance and wants to allow people to buy cheaper-priced drugs from Canada.

I am sorry, but I like it when Bush comes out swinging. It just sounds so…. Like me. My only problem with his plan is the health centers. We are going to have to pay for them. If there was some way that if people went there and had to pay at least something in proportion to what they can afford it would be better.

I am really not sure if limiting the malpractice awards is going to help that much, because what we really need is judges that can be judges. They need common sense. If a doctor, which is human, makes a simple mistake like missing a diagnosis that is not malpractice that is a mistake. On the other hand if the doctor or hospital amputates the wrong foot (yep it happened) then the gloves come off and the skies the limit baby. But we need judges that can look at a case and then have the intestinal fortitude to say sorry but your clam is crap and will not be heard in this court.

Kerry’s plan on the other hand is a step towards socialized medicine. Go ahead and ask Canada how that’s working out for them……..

Rather out of touch with self

From USA TODAY

CBS News anchor Dan Rather on Wednesday strongly defended his 60 Minutes story critical of President Bush's military service, saying that his report is true but that legitimate questions have been raised about the authenticity of documents he used to support it.

No one, Rather said repeatedly in an interview, has yet disputed "the heart" of his report. But, he said, a "thick partisan fogging machine seeks to cloud the core truth of our story by raising questions about the messenger, methods and techniques."

Actually we have been disputing the heart of the report. The documents, because with out those fake documents there is no story. This is just another case of the (D)umbacrats taking, or making an allegation be a true of false, false in this case, and then saying ‘its not if the allegation or how we came to the allegation that matters, but it is the seriousness of the allegation that matters’. Sorry NO it is important how you get from point A to point B, because if the way you got there was through false crap then no one should care about B. Is that clear? Most likely not……

And the thing that Rather wants disputed. Fine. The information in those Fake Documents is false and events did not happen that way. Feel better Dan?

Cops hide under there beds after lifting of gun ban

From Alphecca :

Tonight, the Big Story was that since the sunset of the AWB, Philadelphia cops think they are suddenly out-gunned. And NBC reports the story of a cop rushing to the scene of an abandoned AK-47 in some ally somewhere.

Then, they have some low-level officer saying that he feels like the criminals (since the end of the ban -- that would be yesterday) out-power him.

OK Cops are NOT hiding under there beds, but it seems that NBC would like you to believe that it may happen. Alphecca is great for these stories!

Puyallup City Council does not like fun

From Tribnet.com

Puyallup city leaders say they want to ban motor scooters, a step that apparently would make it the first Washington city to prohibit the vehicles popular among school-age kids.

Until this week, Pierce County's third-largest city had been moving to do what other local governments have done or talked about doing: establish a minimum age, operating hours and other restrictions to rein in the noisy and sometimes-dangerous scooters.

Instead, the Puyallup City Council voted 6-1 Monday night to have its staff draft an ordinance that would force motorized foot scooters into the garage.

"I guess we are ready to take the heat for a total ban," said Councilman Ken Martin.

The decision could trigger a communitywide debate.

Earlier this year, the city posted a draft ordinance on its Web site that mirrored other cities' regulations. Dozens of residents responded online.

"We've got enough government in our lives - just leave us alone, Dave Nichols, one of the online respondents, said in an interview Tuesday. "Parents need to take control, not the city."

But an overwhelming majority of the more than 100 respondents favored regulating motor scooters. Dave Morgan was one of them, though he noted how Puyallup's original plan was flawed because it merely detoured scooters to slow-traffic streets.

"All it does is push them into residential areas," he said Tuesday.

A ban, however, "is common sense working at its best," Morgan said.

The Puyallup council had been poised to vote Monday on an ordinance that would have set the minimum age to operate the scooters at 14, required helmets on operators and prohibited them on "parks, sidewalks, trails, and streets with a maximum speed limit above 25 miles per hour."

This is just so dam silly. Just regulate it dam. Teach the kids to stay off the sidewalks, how to ride with traffic like a bike. Let the parents do what they are suppose to be doing! Then we have this bonehead that says it is common sense? Well if we go down that line of thought, we need to ban bikes, skateboard (I think they might have already done that), roller skates and roller blades. Of if you get silly you can even start banning motorcycles in city limits. I mean just because some people think it is dangerous does that mean that you have to ban it? I think that a lot of people are making Cars dangerous, does that mean that we need to ban cars? NO, what it means is that people need to be taught how to drive, and if they cant do it right they need to be punished (ticketed). Puyallup has had this attitude for the last several years I believe. If they don’t like something they just ban it. Hay I know that (D)umbacrats don’t like businesses and the jobs they provide maybe Puyallup city council should just…………..

Peoples Republic of Washington Election Results

From local news papers

Seems that Washington (D)umbacrats really love a money taker. Christine Gregoire, the lawyer that brought you the massive tobacco settlement, which is just a indirect tax on the people that smoke. Which according to the studies, is mostly the poor in this country. But that apparently doesn’t matter! And yes it is a tax, What you think that the tobacco companies are going to lose a court case like that and pay for it out of there pocket? No way, they just upped the prices of there products! Anyway she is still better than the (D)umbacrat alternative Ron (Tax to the Max) Sims, he very possibly could have turned Washington into a barren waste land of jobless people on unemployment and welfare. I just hope the Republican Dino Rossi and pull off the impossible and win in November. I like him and his message, but this is the peoples republic of Washington……

Early returns showed about 11 percent of tallied voters had either chosen more than one party or none at all, most of them choosing the latter. It's uncertain how many people chose to vote in only nonpartisan races

I found this quote from Tribnet.com funny. So there are some less than 11 percent of the people that just can’t read a ballot and still vote? You can not pick more than one party this year in the primary boneheads!

It looks like in the 8^th district (mine) that we have a choice between a real COP and a talk show host. Sheriff Dave Richert is the COP and a republican. While he was not my first choice, he was a very close second, and I fully intend to support him in November. The talk show host is Dave Ross. I have never even heard of him and I don’t even know what radio station he is on. I just don’t listen to crap like Air America.

Doctors must pay for Translators?

From Fox News:

The Bush administration is threatening to yank federal money from physicians, hospitals and clinics that don't comply with a policy put in place in the prior administration that aims to help immigrants gain access to medical care.

Four years ago, President Clinton signed the executive order requiring doctors who treat Medicare and Medicaid patients to hire translators for those who don't speak English.

"The problem here is that we're required by a presidential order, without funding, to have translation in every single language requested by the patient. So this could be up to 500 languages," said Dr. Clifford Colwell, who is fighting back with thousands of other doctors who are suing the federal government, claiming the rule is unconstitutional.

Ok this is just stupid! One the administration should not just pull the funding unless they are going to also remove the rule requiring the translators. Two the rule should not exist. If you need a translator than you should have to pay for that, not the doctor, unless the doctor can not speak English… I understand that everyone should have access to health care, but that does not mean it should be free, or that I (we) should be paying for it, much less than paying for a translator!

Letter from Australia

A friend of mine emailed me a letter that was written by an Australian. In this letter they clamed that because we, the US, are the sole remaining super power, that we should allow them to vote in our elections, because what we do affects them. Well that might be true enough, but there is at least 2 ways that I can think of for them to vote in our elections. One move here and become a citizen, and two apply for statehood! It could be done I think. Other than that Kiss Off!

Now I like the Australians, despite what Kerry thinks they are GREAT allies. They are with us in Iraq and have always stood by our side, but they have no say in what we do here or how we run our country. If they want a say then they need to take one of the steps above. Then I will welcome them to the party!

Gun Ban Dies, and Kerry still stupid!

From two stories at Fox News

Kerry slams bush over assault weapons ban

Assault-Weapons Ban set to expire

"Let me be very clear. I support the Second Amendment. I've been a hunter all my life," Kerry said. "But I don't think we need to make the job of terrorists any easier."

U.S. Rep. Butch Otter, R-Idaho, trumpeted the end of the federal law.

"President Clinton's so-called 'assault weapons' ban was nothing more than a sop to antigun liberals," Otter said Friday in a written statement. "It provided only the illusion of reducing gun violence, but it did real damage to our liberties."

Idaho State Police spokesman Rick Ohnsman said troopers have had no significant problems with assault-style weapons and his agency has not taken a position for or against the federal legislation.

"Of course, the legitimate owners of guns register them. Unfortunately, whether there is a ban or not, some individuals will find ways to get weapons that are illegal."

WOW. The day if finally here. Its been a long time coming. It seems strange that here in America that we were not able to buy simple things like magazines that carried more than 10 rounds. America has always been looked at by the rest of the world as the gun toting wild west, talked about like we ALL carried guns on our hips. It seems strange when you look back and see that someone said ‘well that gun has a folding stock so it WAY more dangerous, you cant have one.’ That just sounds un-American. Well at least for now those days are over, but we need to be vigilant to prevent it from happening again.

Kerry’s quote really does show how stupid he is. He says he has been a hunter all his life. Eluding to his belief (as well as many other stupid people) that the second amendment was only to allow people to hunt for food with weapons. Anyone that looks into history just a little knows that is not what was intended. The second comment there really shows his IQ. He apparently believes that the terrorists are going to go to the local gun shop and buy these ‘assault weapons’? And that they could not get them before? There is just so much wrong with this statement that I could write pages and pages on it. Well maybe not that much but you get the point.

Damming Documents

From NewsMax

Rather's lone expert, Marcel Matley, "is primarily a handwriting expert whose expertise in document evaluation has been challenged by the head of the American Board of Forensic Document Examiners," reported the New York Post.

What's more, the document in question was a photocopy, not an original, something Matley himself once said precluded any conclusive authentication.

In fact, by the time of Rather's Friday broadcast, an array of document experts had spoken out on his earlier report. So, why didn't the CBS News star cite any of their analysis?

Because almost none of it backed his reporting.

Sandra Ramsey Lines, for instance - a forensic document expert who edits the Journal of the American Society of Questioned Document Examiners - told the Associated Press that she "could testify in court that, beyond a reasonable doubt, her opinion was that the memos were written on a computer."

In a development that could have devastating implications for John Kerry's presidential campaign, CBS News is refusing to say whether the top Democrat, his campaign aides or any other prominent party officials had anything to do with supplying "60 Minutes" with a National Guard memo about President Bush that experts say was forged.

Asked about a Kerry connection to the forged memo, a senior CBS official told the New York Post, "I can't answer that question."

The unnamed CBS executive then promptly hung up.

I know this one must have been bloged to death, but. Does Dan have any more credibility to burn? Did anyone really doubt that Kerry’s people were behind this? You mean in the last four years of hate that they could not find this and bring it to the surface? Sorry I am just not going to swallow that kool-aid.