Thursday, January 25, 2007

Anonymous Anti-Buchanan Feminist Unfazed by Facts

The following is a long, self-indulgent reply to a regular e-mailer/critic, but it's my blog, so here goes.

I received this reply to my comment on some anonymous email regarding Mary Beth Buchanan a few weeks back:


Dear Bob, I do not leave my name because it was not required. As for the posts, you are incorrect. Yes she has held appointed positions; however she has never effectively served in them. Let's look at her record: Sentencing Guideline Commission - On her watch the Supreme Court Ruled the Guidelines Unconstitutional Patriot Act Committee - Yeah, she was a great marketer on this one, it almost failed to get renewed Thompson Memo Committee - Former Governor Thornburgh led revolt against memo. Specter utilized a senate resolution to get the justice department to discontinue the memo Terrorism - Utilized the new laws to protect us from international terrorism to improperly target a domestic organization in an attempt to add 12 yeards onto someone who was serving 24 year. The result was the appeals court threw out the verdict and put the new law in question. What else has she done..hmm lets see: Put a precedent forth of entering perjury into the court room - US vs. Risha and US vs. Rottschaefer - to date both appeals court have called the actions perjury, yet Ms. Buchanan won't go after these people because their lies benefited the government's case Utilized her post to seek criminal prosecutions against two korean war vets lying about their ranks Oh, lets not go into the motives of the Defazio, Wecht, and Murphy cases Please go drink the kool aid and tell us all how great Mary Beth Buchanan is.
Then:


Also Bob, I felt your intellect was shown so clearly when you went out of your way to slander me for daring to point out the absurdity of the Buchanan appointment. No, I am not for porn or violence against women. I am against such crap and that is why I want what so many other want in reference to this position. A Qualified and Competent Director. Sorry, Mary Beth Buchanan has neither qualities.

Well, Anon, let's take this in reverse order. As far as my intellect, I'll leave that to the readers of this blog to judge. We have your opinion. Now how about your intellect?

You call a United States Attorney going after people who publish and/or film/video/distribute pornography that depicts the violent rape of women and children as "fringe porn lawsuits" then write back saying you're against this sort of porn. Which way do you want it, Anon? The argument that this sort of porn should only be stopped by people who see things YOUR way politically, socially, etc., shows a shallow wit indeed. Her actions were within the law, the constitution; your only real beef seems to be that SHE was the one who stopped them. Any signs of great intellect there, Anon?

You have never responded to my past invitation to produce evidence that she has diverted or directed funds earmarked for women's anti-violence programs to another purpose - could this be because not one iota of evidence to support this allegation exists outside of the Huffington Post-Feministing scare fantasies? You ask me to prove a negative--that being, prove that she won't do what you say she will do (improperly divert funds and resources from one program to another), yet you don't produce any evidence that she has ever done this, and then you question my intellect. When you, Anon, accuse someone of wrongdoing, the burden is on you to produce credible evidence; otherwise, you may expect attacks on your integrity.

Now to the citations in your latest harangue:

Sentencing guidelines - The Federal Sentencing Guidelines you refer to were passed in 1987, the same year Buchanan was graduated from law school. You see, Anon, you have to learn to intellectually distinguish between the case or law being argued and who is responsible for it being enacted to begin with. In this case, Congress enacted these guidelines based on recommendations of a committee, one of whose members was a man by the name of Breyer--you may have heard of him from the Supreme Court. What the SCOTUS said, Anon, was that the guidelines had to be used as recommendations and not automatically imposed. Intellectually speaking, Anon, that's a LONG way from being ruled unconstitutional, as you clumsily claim. It took me about 10 minutes to find the facts on that, Anon.

Your comment about her "marketing" of the Patriot Act is bizarre and nonsensical since a) the Patriot Act WAS reauthorized and b) anyone who followed the reauthorization at all knows she was not exactly the administration point person on this. This just seem to fall into anti-Bush hysteria, rather than an argument against Buchanan being appointed to the post.

Thompson Memo: She was one of dozens of US Attorneys utilizing this tool. In the wake of the Enron fiasco government was trying to find new ways to keep giant corporations from hiding illegal misdeeds. I thought you guys were for that, Anon? I guess if Janet Reno had come up with it all would be well. Honest people can debate the merits of the Thompson Memo, but to try to use it as a reason that Buchanan cannot or should not hold her current post is is frankly rather odd-ball.

As far as your really vague reference to terror laws and sentencing, send me a case name/citation and I'll be happy to respond.

As far as Risha and Rottschaefer cases, it is simply not true that the appeals courts have found perjury in either case. Rottschaefer's appeals, wherein his attorney raised allegations of perjury on appeal, were DENIED by the appeals Court, Supreme Court and District Court. In fact, the Third Circuit Court of Appeals determined that the evidence against Rottschaefer was so overwhelming that even if it were believed that the witness lied when she said she traded sex for illegally prescribed Oxycontin, it would not affect the totality of the case since it was undisputed that she did receive illegally prescribed Oxycontin, no matter the barter. The man was guilty as sin and the Court found the evidence against him overwhelming; anyone who has read the rulings knows this.

In Risha the allegation was that prosecutors failed to disclose that their chief witness expected leniency on an unrelated charge (even though, as I understand it, no actual deal had been struck) in exchange for his testimony. NO allegation of perjury was made by any court or governing body. So, Anon, wrong again.

Regarding the Korean war veterans: They did, in fact, misrepresent their rank and were likely turned in by fellow vets offended by this--Buchanan did not go hunting them and when informed of the veterans' misrepresentations, they were charged only with misdemeanors. I do think they should be verbally spanked and sent home and I doubt seriously they ever saw jail time, though I have been unable to confirm this. Many, if not the majority, of veterans themselves consider it a serious offense to misrepresent your service or rank as the men and women of the military must earn their rank, commendations and so on by integrity and difficult service to their country. So they generally take offense to those who lie about such matters. It was certainly not abuse of her office to charge these veterans. By condemning her for charging them, you seem to advocate selective application of the law, something that you claim makes her unfit for office to begin with.

Defazio was a former sheriff who took punitive actions against those under him who failed to support his re-election with checks and promoted those who did. He pled GUILTY to this and his cry that he was singled out for being a democrat was the best defense he could come up with when caught red handed. Intellectually speaking, not a very good example, Anon.

Wecht: a former coroner who is alleged to have used his office for private gain, including trading the bodies of indigent/unidentified persons in exchange for lab space for his private business. A grand jury, after hearing the evidence for a full year, hit him with 84 counts and one of his assistants has plead guilty and turned evidence against him. Motives, Anon? How about robbing the last bit of dignity from indigent persons, perhaps with family out there somewhere wondering where they are, by trading their bodies for personal gain. Is that a good enough reason to prosecute him, Anon? (Intellectually speaking, that is.)

Murphy? A Mayor who traded favors for union endorsements. Wow, I can see why you'd be up in arms about him being prosecuted. (He pled guilty, by the way.)

Yes Anon, I can see why you would say "Let's not go into the motives" regarding those cases.

You see, Anon, when you get your news from the comments section of the Huffington Post and do not verify FACTS yourself, you leave yourself open to attack. If this bothers you, I'm sorry--no, not really, because it's people like you who walk around with half-assed bumper sticker facts in your head that are making this a less sane, rational and intellectual world to live in.

Feel free to write again, Anon, it's nice to hit softballs out of the park now and then.

UPDATE: Received the follow email from Anon this morning:
I see you would not post my response to your comments. Truth hurts doesn't it. So go on beleiving your bull that Ms. Buchanan is some sort of righteous individual. She is just another politician who abuses public trust and her office for her own personal endeavours. Ah, but don't just take my word. Look at what comes up via a web search on Ms. Buchanan http://www.theagitator.com/archives/025837.php
Wow, Anon, wrong again. In fact, I published you comments in the most prominent way possibe, as a post, with my response for all the world to see, including the factually vacuous post you link to, which I have effectively rebuted above before I even read it.

Wednesday, January 10, 2007

Sunday, January 07, 2007

Tornados, Global Warming, Media and Weather Wusses

(The incredible picture to the right is not doctored in any way and was snapped by Eric Nguyen; it is perhaps the most spectacular tornado/funnel cloud picture I've ever seen and I've seen a lot of them.)


The past few weeks have seen a few tornadoes and tornado warnings in the southeast United States. This weekend I started noticing newscasters on CNN, Fox and MSNBC speaking in ominous tones about tornadoes during months "when they are not supposed to happen" and questions about if global warming may have anything to do with it. They are quick to say there is no concrete connection but, as Leo Buscaglia once said, "you never know, so you might as well worry about it."


Hmmm, let's see: Super cold air that produced blizzard conditions in the Rockies and central U.S. warms as it moves on, but it's still cooler than the normally mild climes in the southeastern states. Warm, moist air from the gulf is ever present in this area; the two come together. Let's see what could possibly result?


Global catastrophe? Man-Bear-Pig? New York frozen or underwater? Wait, I know:
Violent thunderstorms that sometimes spawn tornadoes! Oh man my head just hurts from it all sometimes.

What really sits like a boil on my butt is that any one of the "journalist" could spend less than 15 minutes on the Internet and see from historical weather data that October through February tornadoes occurred virtually every year since they have been systematically tracking such thing, usually in the Southeast/gulf coast regions. I need a BC Powder.

Colorado Ranchers Await Federal Global Warming Relief!

Ahmad Terry © News

Snoop on MLK, Streets and Casting Crumbs

One of the most underrated blogs on the net, Political Party Poop talks about a phenom we have all noticed, but only a few talk about.

On Well Hung Dictators and the Porn of Relativism

Well it's been a while since regular posting, had a nice holiday and all that rot, so let's get right to it:

It seems many in America, Europe and the Mid-East thing Saddam's hanging was just not dignified enough; excuse me while I laugh so hard I blow coffee out of my nose. Let me name a some people who have real reason to worry about the undignified hangings of murderous dictators: Kim Jong Il; The Iranian Leadership and, several tin horn dictators on the African Continent, to name a few.

Yes Kim, look at that video again and again, in between your porn screenings and sips of Cristal - this is the fate that awaits dictators throughout history.

When you murder by the city load, you do not get dignity and dewy eyed executioners. Got It?

I suppose if so many had their way, we would have played the Iraqi equivalent of "Hail to the Murdering Thug," offered him a brandy, xanex and cigar before dropping him down and breaking his filthy neck. Dignity. Please, God, someone hit these people over the head with a common sense/humanity bat.

I am just neck deep fed up with people who want to shed tears for this worthless pile of droppings under the guise of being shocked at his undignified death. Rubbish.

He was heckled? SO WHAT? I would have been whispering in his ear, "Everyone you killed, gassed, tortured to death is waiting on the other side for you, Saddam; they will look like you left them and follow you through eternity."

Let's ponder some circumstances less dignified than Saddam's death:

  • Being tortured with electrical current, power drills (Yes the Shiites learned well), sharp, penetrating instruments like nails, awls, etc.;
  • Having the nails on your toes and fingers pulled out, slowly, one by one;
  • your arms tied behind your back and hung by the wrists until your shoulders pull from the socket (the Romans used this to great effect);
  • Being tied up, blindfolded and thrown off a building;
  • Your bones methodically broken with iron bars, hit again and again until they are the consistency of jelly;
  • You children stung by bees and wasps, being tortured and executed, all for just for being your children;
  • Your wife, daughter, sister gang raped or tortured before your eyes;
  • being dipped in acid vats, shredders, gassed, explosives placed on you and blown up - and while all or part of the above is going on you scream, sometimes in front of your family, to Saddam, your tormentors and God for mercy or death.

Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak did not think much of Saddam's hanging and it's little wonder since Egypt is well known for routinely torturing prisoners. One odious blogger compares the hanging of Saddam to the lynching of blacks(!). It simply boggles the mind to hear and read about those who are willing to dismiss the actions of someone who tortured and murdered on scales beyond imagination, yet weep and fawn over the quick, painless execution of the responsible party.

Was it revenge in part? You bet your ass it was and it was justified. Watch the videos or the torture under Saddam's rule, then watch the tape of his hanging again. If you think the two are even close to some sort of moral equivalence, I submit you are a morally bankrupt individual.