Finrod's blog
Posted at 2:40pm on Jun. 5, 2008 Are you lying now, Senator Rockefeller, or were you lying in 2004?
By Finrod
This hatchet job came out today:
WASHINGTON— A long-awaited Senate Select Intelligence Committee report made public Thursday concludes that President Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney made public statements to promote an invasion of Iraq that they knew at the time were not supported by available intelligence.
A companion report found that a special office set up by then Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld undertook "sensitive intelligence activities" that were inappropriate "without the knowledge of the Intelligence Community or the State Department."
“Before taking the country to war, this administration owed it to the American people to give them a 100 percent accurate picture of the threat we faced. Unfortunately, our Committee has concluded that the administration made significant claims that were not supported by the intelligence,” said committee Chairman John D. Rockefeller IV, D- W. Va.
Oh really, Sen. Rockefeller? Then how do you explain this, from the very same Senate committee, back in 2004, that you put your name to?
83. The committee did not find any evidence that administration officials attempted to coerce, influence or pressure analysts to change their judgments related to Iraq's weapons of mass destruction capabilities.
84. The committee found no evidence that the vice president's visits to the Central Intelligence Agency were attempts to pressure analysts, were perceived as intended to pressure analysts by those who participated in the briefings on Iraq's weapons of mass destruction programs, or did pressure analysts to change their assessments.
Posted in Congress — Comments (9) / Email this page » / Read More »
Posted at 10:16am on May 6, 2008 John McCain gets it right: opposing ethanol
By Finrod
Since I've been one that's been quick to criticize John McCain, I figured I'd point out something that he (and other Senate Republicans) have gotten right-- opposing expansion of ethanol subsidies:
Posted in Archived — Comments (26) / Email this page » / Read More »
Posted at 6:24pm on Mar. 18, 2008 RIP Arthur C. Clarke, 90
By Finrod
From Fox News's article:
COLOMBO, Sri Lanka — Arthur C. Clarke, a visionary science fiction writer who won worldwide acclaim with more than 100 books on space, science and the future, died Wednesday in his adopted home of Sri Lanka, an aide said. He was 90.
Co-author with Stanley Kubrick of Kubrick's film "2001: A Space Odyssey," Clarke was regarded as far more than a science fiction writer.
He was credited with the concept of communications satellites in 1945, decades before they became a reality. Geosynchronous orbits, which keep satellites in a fixed position relative to the ground, are called Clarke orbits.
Posted in Breaking News — Comments (51) / Email this page » / Read More »
Posted at 12:09pm on Feb. 6, 2008 Happy Birthday, Ronald Reagan
By Finrod
One thing I was taught growing up was "if you can't say anything nice, don't say anything at all." Hence instead of commenting on the election last night, I'll just note that today is Ronald Reagan's 97th birthday. Raise a toast to our 40th President, the man that made conservatism and the Republican Party into winners again.
Posted in History — Comments (1) / Email this page » / Read More »
Posted at 4:52pm on Jan. 30, 2008 Return of Finrod's Non-Scientific Redstate Presidential Candidate Poll [Update 6]
By Finrod
Some of you may remember my straw poll from about 2.5 months ago. Fred Thompson won that one handily, with Mitt Romney eking out a narrow second place over John McCain. Now that the primaries have winnowed our choices, I think it's time to see where Redstate stands now.
Your choices:
Mike Huckabee
John McCain
Mitt Romney
Posted in 2008 — Comments (51) / Email this page » / Read More »
Posted at 1:52pm on Jan. 29, 2008 I will never vote for John McCain. Ever.
By Finrod
I will never vote for John McCain. Ever.
I'm not going to rehash all the reasons I do not trust John McCain; there have been plenty enough blogs posted on that subject just in the last two weeks here. Suffice it to say that I do not trust him in any way to reliably advance conservative positions, and I fear for the future of the Republican Party should he become the party nominee this year.
Posted in 2008 — Comments (124) / Email this page » / Read More »
Posted at 1:50pm on Jan. 24, 2008 Could immigration bring African-Americans to the GOP?
By Finrod
Hat tip to Neal Boortz, who linked to this article this morning:
Terry Anderson is angry. From his KRLA-AM radio perch in Los Angeles, the black talk-show host thunders, “I have gone on the streets and talked to people at random here in the black community, and they all ask me the same question: ‘Why are our politicians and leaders letting this happen?’ ” What’s got Anderson—motto: “If You Ain’t Mad, You Ain’t Payin’ Attention”—so worked up isn’t the Jena Six or nooses on Columbia University doorknobs; it’s the illegal immigrants who allegedly murdered three Newark college students last August. And when he excoriates politicians for “letting this happen,” he’s directing his fire at Congressional Black Caucus members who support open borders and amnesty for illegal aliens. “Massive illegal immigration has been devastating to my community,” Anderson, a former auto mechanic and longtime South Central Los Angeles resident, tells listeners. “Black Americans are hit the hardest.”
Though blacks have long worried that the country’s growing foreign-born population, especially its swelling rolls of illegal immigrants, harmed their economic prospects, they have also followed their political leadership in backing liberal immigration policies. Now, however, as new waves of immigration inundate historically African-American neighborhoods, black opinion is hardening against the influx. “We will not lay down and take this any longer,” says Anderson. If he’s right, it could upend the political calculus on immigration.
Posted in 2008 — Comments (3) / Email this page » / Read More »
Posted at 12:16pm on Jan. 22, 2008 Interesting candidate money map off cnn.com
By Finrod
Here's an interesting page on cnn.com, and a break from the knife fight-- it shows how much money each of the R and D candidates have raised, and breaks it down by state and county. By selecting parties or candidates, you can see exactly where the candidates/parties are raising their money.
One of the conclusions I've drawn already: Mike Huckabee's campaign is doomed. He's raised a total of $2M, which puts him sixth among Republicans, behind Ron Paul with $8M even, and barely ahead of Dennis Kucinich. The top three for Republicans are Romney, $62M; Giuliani, $47M; McCain, $32M.
Posted in 2008 — Comments (13) / Email this page » / Read More »
Posted at 3:41am on Jan. 19, 2008 Snow in South Carolina on Election Day
By Finrod
I'm following this storm from Atlanta, which is predicted to get 1-3 inches of snow on Saturday, but this storm is also predicted to hit South Carolina on Election Day. The forecasts I'm seeing are rain/snow mix in the morning changing to snow in the afternoon accumulating 1-3 inches in the Greenville-Spartanburg corridor, 1 inch or so in Columbia, and further southeast, Charleston etc., are predicted to only get rain.
Posted in 2008 — Comments (9) / Email this page » / Read More »
Posted at 4:13pm on Jan. 14, 2008 Fox News: McCain proxy attacking Romney
By Finrod
Fox News's lead article at present is about a proxy for John McCain, the former governor of Massachusetts Jane Swift, attacking Mitt Romney:
Mitt Romney’s “major economic address” to the Detroit Economic Club was barely out of his mouth Monday before John McCain’s surrogates began slamming the Republican presidential candidate as all talk, little substance.
Posted in 2008 — Comments (4) / Email this page » / Read More »
Posted at 1:56pm on Jan. 14, 2008 Fred, Rudy, and Mitt fans need to band together
By Finrod
Fans of Fred Thompson, Rudy Giuliani, and Mitt Romney often don't like the other two candidates much (yes, sometimes I am prone to understatement), but like it or lump it, we all need to pull for each other right now, because otherwise the Republican race is going to quickly devolve into a Frontrunner (McCain) and a Contender (Huckabee), leaving all of us out in the cold.
It begins in Michigan tomorrow. Rudy and Fred may be on the ballot there, but they're not really seriously contending; Mitt is the only one of the three that is. If you've seen John McCain's meteoric rise in the polls lately, then you can probably understand what a boon winning Michigan would be to his campaign. Such a win would be a direct threat to Fred in SC and Rudy in FL. What with Mitt pushing MI strongly, even currently being 3rd in SC, he's not likely to gain any more support there even if he wins MI, whereas with John taking the lead in recent SC polls, if John wins MI, he's likely to take that momentum into SC, dooming any hopes of Fred winning SC.
Posted in 2008 — Comments (61) / Email this page » / Read More »
Posted at 11:50am on Jan. 9, 2008 Two important lessons from New Hampshire
By Finrod
There are two important lessons that I think we can take from New Hampshire that will be important for Republicans to remember in the general election:
No poll lead is safe against Hillary Clinton
Obama not only had a lead in the polls in New Hampshire, it was a solid lead-- averaging 8 points, with polls showing anywhere from a 5 to an 11 point lead. It didn't matter, Hillary won by two. We all need to remember this come November, presuming that Hillary will be the opposing nominee; nothing short of a Reaganesque 20+-point lead is going to be enough to be safe.
Posted in 2008 — Comments (5) / Email this page » / Read More »
Posted at 10:52pm on Dec. 19, 2007 Fox News reporting that Tancredo to drop out of presidential race
By Finrod
I doubt this surprises anyone, really-- the question now is how long before Duncan Hunter hangs it up as well, since, well, they're both polling behind 'Voldemort' himself:
Posted in 2008 — Comments (4) / Email this page » / Read More »
Posted at 3:41pm on Dec. 6, 2007 Obama closing on Hillary in Rasmussen daily numbers
By Finrod
While everyone else is looking at the Rise Of Huckabee in the Republican Rasmussen numbers, something interesting is happening on the other side of the aisle. Look at the daily numbers since Thanksgiving for Hillary and Obama:
Hillary -- 41, 40, 38, 37, 36, 37, 37, 35, 34, 33 Obama -- 17, 18, 24, 27, 27, 24, 24, 23, 24, 26
A 24-point lead has shrunk to an almost-within-the-MOE 7 points.
Posted in Democrats — Comments (8) / Email this page » / Read More »
Posted at 1:30pm on Dec. 5, 2007 "Any topic but Huckabee" Open Thread
By Finrod
Okay, I think we really need this. Open Thread about anything and everything, EXCEPT Mike Huckabee. 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 words.
Posted in Miscellanea — Comments (70) / Email this page » / Read More »
