Watch the first Presidential Debate of 2004 tonight at 9:00EST. Topics: War On Terror, Homeland Security, Foreign Policy.

Posted by Ryan S. at 1:45 PM | Permalink | |

ArabicNews.com, among others, is reporting that the yesterday, the IMF is loaning iraq $436 million dollars in urgent aid.

You really know you're a government when someone loans you money.

Posted by Ryan S. at 1:23 PM | Permalink | |

"'Did John Kerry teach you how to flip-flop, or did you learn that yourself?' one student asked Gore, seeking an explanation for Gore's agreeing that Saddam Hussein was a threat, but saying that the war in Iraq was a mistake." at a Dole-Gore speech at Southern Methodist University

Posted by Ryan S. at 11:15 PM | Permalink | |

Click the title above to send your thanks to Tony Blair, the UK Prime Minister, for supporting the US in Iraq.

Posted by Ryan S. at 10:46 PM | Permalink | |

FOXNews.com - U.S. & World - SpaceShipOne Reaches Space Again, Lands

SpaceShipOne, a creative name, made an 81-minute flight earlier today. To claim the $10 million X-Prize, it has to do the same within 14 days. I wish them luck in opening the final frontier.

Posted by Ryan S. at 2:00 PM | Permalink | |

If this doesn't exemplify the current conservative grassroots movement, I don't know what does. As "Hindrocket" over at The Power Line wrote, "I can imagine "Ladies for Lurch," but not "Babes for Kerry." Looks like more young people besides college Repubs like myself are flocking to the President and the Party.

Posted by Ryan S. at 10:29 AM | Permalink | |

This has been floating around through literature and e-mail:

Over 30 years ago they put away their uniforms.They buried their anger and
bitterness and moved on with their lives until....
Revisionists are trying to change history,claiming the returning Vietnam vets
didn't suffer all that much when they returned home. All that talk of being labeled
animals has been exaggerated over the years. But the vets know better, they were
there...

On the radio last week, one man related how he had unpacked the uniform that he
wore home from Vietnam over 30 years ago. He showed it to his children and gran children
for the first time and spoke of the day when he came home from war and was spat on,
cursed at and had to run away from protesters who threw garbage and human waste on
him and his fellow vets.
With the words 'baby killers' ringing in his ears, he was warned by laughing policemen not
to do anything or he would be arrested. So he ran and the able bodied helped those in
wheelchairs and on crutches so they could be spared the wrath of the protesters.

This now middle aged vet went on to tell his family that he had his in the bathroom
airport bewildered and stunned and wonderded if he had landed in some foreign land
where Americans were hated. Finally, he cleaned up his uniform and proudly boarded
his plane where he was met with more insults.
When he got home, he packed away his uniform and medals as dirty as it was and knew
that one day he would take it out again and have his say...that day has come.

One POW said that he had never put a face to the name until he heard the words 'Genghis Khan'
pronounced as only as John Kerry does and he suffered his first flashback to the time when he was
being tormented by Kerry's wordds in a North Vietnam prison camp.

On July 29,2004, it happened. The day had come. John Forbes Kerry came to the podium at the
Democratic National Convention and utter"

Posted by Ryan S. at 10:26 AM | Permalink | |

Here is the both funny and accurate John Kerry Debate Briefing Book (as prepared by Bush-Cheney '04). A slight warning: it is a .pdf file, so you need Adobe Reader to see it.

Posted by Ryan S. at 10:20 AM | Permalink | |

There is no one person who has access to a presidential candidate like his wife. She knows things about her husband the press would kill for. So, when the wife of a presidential candidate speaks, one is inclined to listen, to try and discern if her position reveals something about him. This is why Tereaa Heinz Kerry is such a liability. She is a loose cannon, bent to the will of Hollywood gossip. Yesterday, at an Arizona fundraiser, she said that she suspets that President Bush will stage a coup by having Osama bin Laden caught right before the election. Her suggestion that the President would in fact use Osama's capture as a political pawn is ludicrous. She also was critical of Iraq. Besides being born in Mozambique, what is her foreign policy experiece?

Posted by Ryan S. at 10:03 AM | Permalink | |

Karl Rove, in an interview with The Washington Times, bragged about chasing Kerry out of "purple" states, a label he has for battleground states. Rove also promoted Kerry's debating ability, saying that debating is "where he shines." As one his final points he pointed to Michael Moore as an argument that "Bush hatred" will not propel Kerry to victory (but we knew that when Howard Dean lost), saying that "even he is disaparaging of Kerry."

Posted by Ryan S. at 4:25 PM | Permalink | |

I appeared today on "The Tony Snow Show," which is syndicated and on FOXNews Radio on satellite. Tony's show was live today from my college, the University of Delaware, and so, I went. During the hour spent discussing Dan Rather, I asked the first audience question relating to the matter, which was, "If it weren't for cable news, and the internet acting as checks on broadcast news, would we have ever known that the memos were bogus?" Tony answered "No, probably not," and then went on to praise bloggers, like myself, and Free Republic. He said the blogs are changing the face of media, "for the first time we have free-market media." I got a Fox News sweatshirt out of it (Yes!). right after me was RNC Chair Ed Gillespie, who commented on Rathergate and the recent poll putting his home state of New Jersey in play this election. I was also interviewed by WVUD, the campus radio station. Very cool.

Posted by Ryan S. at 4:01 PM | Permalink | |

• Iran is defying the EU's Big Three and IAEA (the UN's nuclear watchdog arm) by enriching uranium, which could lead to them having 5 nuclear warheads. Iran defends by saying their nuclear material is for peaceful purposes.
• President Bush called on Israel to pull back some of it's "unauthorized" settlements, and freeze the others on the West Bank and the Gaza strip.
• Powell called those being critical of the situation in Iraq "defeatist." Condoleeza Rice also says, "the Kurds, Shunnis, and Shia, are working together to build a new Iraq."
• The Secret Service is searching New York's midtown for Lawrence Ward, who is said to be plotting to assasinate President Bush and John Kerry, or possibly suicide. More
• The Senate panel approved Rep. Portor Goss for the position of CIA Director. It now goes before the whole Senate, as early as this week.
  

Posted by Ryan S. at 11:36 AM | Permalink | |

The Washington Times is reporting that al Qaeda is planning an attack at or above the damage level of September 11th for near the election or closer to Inauguration Day on Jan 20. Potential targets include the White House, Pentagon, Capitol building, as well as New York landmarks. Intelligence officials are also saying that Adnan Shukrijumah, is a key figure in al Qaeda's North American operations, and his last known whereabouts are northeastern Mexico.

Posted by Ryan S. at 11:26 AM | Permalink | |

Canada, which welcomed draft dodgers avoiding jail during Vietnam, is again minimizing the importance of the men and women who serve and have served in America's armed forces. Many of the draft dodgers settled in the town of Nelson, British Columbia, and 30 years later, the town is planning to have a two day festival to honor the dishonorable, as well as dedicate a statue those who deserted their country in its time of need. The statue is slated to depict a Canadian helping two scared Americans. Needless to say, the Veterans of Foreign Wars see it as a slap in the face.
This raises the question: Can we export Kerry to Canada? He can finally get the health plan he wants, while disrespecting veterans too.

Posted by Ryan S. at 1:06 AM | Permalink | |

Mark Steyn, of the Chicago Sun-Times, wrote a very interesting piece on how one could hold Lt. John F. Kerry resposible for the negative sentiment most Americans have of the Vietnam, and how John Kerry is the first ever self-admitted war criminal ever nominated for the Presidency. Check it out.

Posted by Ryan S. at 8:39 PM | Permalink | |

Iyad Allawi, the interim Prime Minister of Iraq, is warning that outside forces are attempting to
sabotage the situation in Iraq.

"Terrorists are coming and pouring in from various countries into Iraq to try and undermine the situation in Iraq. They're coming from Afghanistan, Pakistan, from Europe, from Morocco, from Syria and so on.
"Iraq is on the front line of fighting these terrorists. And, God forbid, if Iraq is broken or the will of Iraq is broken, then London would be a target, Washington will be a target, Paris will be a target, Cairo will be a target, as we have seen in the past."

This backs up what I and many others have thought for some time: Iraq is the front line in the War On Terror.

Posted by Ryan S. at 10:21 AM | Permalink | |

The Washington Post is reporting that President Bush and John Kerry have settled on three debates. This is all tentative, but it is a start.
The debate schedule looks like this:
Sept. 30: Bush-Kerry , University of Miami
Oct. 5: Cheney-Edwards, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland
Oct. 8: Bush-Kerry, Washington University, St. Louis
Oct. 13: Arizona State University, Tempe

Each debate will start at 9:00PM Eastern Time, and last for 90 minutes.

Posted by Ryan S. at 1:04 AM | Permalink | |

CNN.com is reporting that US is going to lift the final commercial sanctions against Libya soon, becuase Libya has met all of the requirements by eliminating it's WMD programs. Already, 1032 metric tons of WMD material has been removed from Libya by the US and UK. Lifting the sanctions will restore air service between the US and Libya, and will unfreeze 1.2 Billion in Libyan assets. This will also come on the deadline for the Libyans to pay the second of three payments the Libyans agreed to make to the families of the victims of the 1998 bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland. These payments will total $2.7 billion dollars, or $10 million per family. The world hopes that Libya will become a model for reducing and eliminating WMD programs. It will still be some time before Libya is removed from the State Department's list of "State Sponsors of Terrorism."

Posted by Ryan S. at 8:04 PM | Permalink | |

In a report due out "soon," the top US Weapons Inspector in Iraq is going to say that Saddam Hussein had no stockpiled WMD's, but was importing banned materials, working on unmanned aerial vehicles, all in violation of the UN agreements. WMD programs were also in place, but idle, waiting to be restarted after international heat on Iraq died down. Still under investigation? Wether or not Saddam sent chemical weapons and several billion dollars over the boarder to Syria. We'll see how this plays out, but since even John Kerry has said that he would voted for the war even if he knew there were no WMD's in Iraq, it may not be that big of an issue. And, if Saddam was getting banned/illegal materials for building WMD's or increasing the range of his ballistic missiles, then all the better for a regime change in Iraq in 2003 than Iraq attacking Israel in 2010. There is now no doubt in my mind that going to war in Iraq was perfectly justifiable and worth it, but also that it is part of the War On Terror. Why? Because what is more terrifying than a rogue nation with WMD's? Also, we now don't have to worry about disposing of WMD's.

Posted by Ryan S. at 7:34 PM | Permalink | |

Reports are now coming in that the documents were produced or copied at a Kinko's in Abeline, Texas. Also, here are the actual documents, in a pdf file, courtesy of FOXNews.

Posted by Ryan S. at 2:59 PM | Permalink | |

In the latest poll by the Gallup Organization, for CNN/USAToday, Bush now has a decisive lead over John Kerry, now leading 55-42 among likely voters, well outside the margin of error. The biggest group of support Bush picked up was in the 18-49 age group, where he picked up 14 percentage points between polls. Also on the icrease is Bush's approval rating, which again matched post-convention numbers. John Kerry's disapproval numbers have increased steadily over the past month, jumping up to 44%.

Posted by Ryan S. at 10:27 AM | Permalink | |

Here's an imagining by a fellow blogger that I found quite interesting. What if Dick Gephardt had won Iowa ad become the DNC's nominee? Here's what the "BoiFromTroy" thinks.

Posted by Ryan S. at 4:07 PM | Permalink | |

The College Republicans of Delaware, of which I am a member at the University of Delaware chapter, webiste is finally up. Visit at: This Link

Posted by Ryan S. at 2:23 AM | Permalink | |

"If my forgeries looked as bad as the CBS documents, it would have been, 'Catch Me In Two Days'" -- ex-forger and con man Frank Abagnale, made famous by Leonardo DiCaprio in the film Catch Me If You Can.

Posted by Ryan S. at 2:57 PM | Permalink | |

This story is from CBS, but I'd sure like to believe they authenticated this interview, but here goes. Tony Coelho is characterizing the Kerry Campaign as "in chaos." You have Ted Kennedy's former staff, working with Bob "The Curse" Shrum (Shrum is 0 for 7 when he has worked on presidential cmpaigns), are at odds with the newcomers from the former Clinton Administration. It seems to Coelho that the Kerry insiders are playing "Machiavellian games," and not really wanting to win. Coelho says, "I'm looking for our Karl Rove, and I don't know where our Karl Rove is." Coehlo also thinks that ignoring the attacks by Swift Boat Veterans For Truth early on is urting Kerry now. He also says, "If someone can't control a message in a presidential campaign, how are you going to be a good president?"

Posted by Ryan S. at 1:58 PM | Permalink | |

Here is an extremely detailed explination as to why the CBS Bush Memos are fake. It was written by a man who actaully worked with typesets in the 70's. Enjoy.

Posted by Ryan S. at 2:35 PM | Permalink | |

Only 36% of registered voters held a favorable opinion of John Kerry, in a WashingtonPostABCNews poll last week. When matched up against similar polls over the years, Michael Dukakis, in 1988, had a 47% percent approval rating, and Herbert Hoover in 1944 had 43%. One person who does score lower than Kerry? Senator Joe McCarthy received 35% in 1954. No word, however, on wether or not the Dukakis number was before or after this.

Posted by Ryan S. at 1:31 PM | Permalink | |

Condoleeza Rice, on CBS' "Face the Nation," said that Osama bin Laden's whereabouts are unknown at this time, but his world (and al Qaeda's) is getting smaller. No longer is he operating out in the open, with training camps across the Arab world. Now, the coward has been revealed, and he is operating in the shadows and from caves, his network is in shambles, and his allies in Pakistan are cold to him. Powell, on "Fox News Sunday," said that Pakistanis are now patrolling the Pakistani-Afghan border for bin Laden and Taliban.

"I fear all we have done is to awaken a sleeping giant, and fill him with a terrible resolve." -Isoroku Yamamoto, Tora! Tora! Tora! (1970)

Posted by Ryan S. at 2:38 PM | Permalink | |

Colin Powell and Tom Ridge, at a Senate Governmental Affairs Committee hearing this morning, both endorsed the creation of a National Intelligence Director (NID), to oversee and coordinate America's various intelligence agencies, including the CIA, FBI, NSA, and 12 other agencies. When asked if an NID would improve the quality of intelligence received, Powell replid with a resounding, 'Yes,' saying, "We need a stronger empowered quarterback." Planning for a reorganization of the 15 intelligence organizations is slated to begin next week in the Senate, while the House looks at the legislative recomendations of the 9/11 Commision. The only organization slated not to be shaken up? The State Department's Bureau of Intelligence and Reasearch, which works directly with the Secretary of State.

The US has needed an NID as far back as the Cold War, but know, with the War On Terror, it is a must. The idea makes too much sense to ignore. It only really adds to the size of government in a minimalist way, but the lives saved by the position are pricess. An NID can insure that the FBI, CIA and NSA are coordinated, so that things like the "Iraq WMD Fumble" do not occur. Now if only the Pentagon would get some more Arabic translators.

Posted by Ryan S. at 2:22 PM | Permalink | |

The man who "used to be the next President," is now, almost uncharacteristically, raising hell for the DNC and John Kerry. He's more vehemently against Bush then he was in his own campaign. Gore, besides teaching at three colleges and seeking various business oppurtunities, is making speeches at a fevered pace. He has become almost Dean-esque, to the point where GOP strategist Keith Appell likens him to, "a cheerleader on acid." This approach, as you most likely know, backfired for Dean becuase it alienated moderate Democrats, and Gore may do the same thing for Kerry.

Posted by Ryan S. at 10:07 AM | Permalink | |

It never ceases to amaze me how President Bush repeatedly gets slammed on the enviroment. The Congress Democrats and the media are very good at keeping Bush's Clear Skies initiative quiet. Clear Skies "cleans up" the Clean Air Act by allowing the EPA to work with companies to fix the problem of emissions, rather than allowing companies to pay insignificant fines year after year. The bill has stalled in Congress because the Democratic leadership refuses to allow a good enviromental bill pass unless they take credit for it. Partisan politics at its worst.

Posted by Ryan S. at 10:05 PM | Permalink | |

I really feel that this is all I need to say. My heart goes out to all who were directly affected by the attacks, and all those like myself, who were changed forever that Tuesday morning.

God Bless America.

Posted by Ryan S. at 1:41 AM | Permalink | |

According to the Drudge Report, the "memos" about President George W. Bush's Texas Air National Guard duty are a hoax. To sum it up briefly, the documents alleged to be made in 1972-3, are actually current, according to typefase/font experts. The font used in the memo was not availible readily in 1972, and almost assuredly not in the military circa that period. The font, is however, easily found on Microsoft Word. Go figure. If you ever needed further proof of the liberal media bias, that was it.

UPDATE (12:15AM): The Drudge Report is now saying that CBS News is going to launch an internal investigation on this matter, and Dan Rather may personally apologize on the air. This is going to be very interesting. So far only MSNBC of the big Three online has picked this story up online, but as I type they are talking about it FOX News, Brit Hume is on, and they are mentioning them as a possible hoax, but only under the headline of the memos themselves. Hume is saying that a FOX News producer typed out a copy of the memo on Microsoft Word, and it came out pretty much identical. More on the in the morning.

UPDATE2: (12:37AM): Apparently, this is going to be on page A1 of the Washington Post tomorrow.

Posted by Ryan S. at 9:39 PM | Permalink | |

Memos relating to Bush's Texas Air National Guard service surfaced today, showing he may have not quite met standards while he was a pilot there. John Kerry is attacking him on this point, but meanwhile, Kerry refuses to file Standard Form 180 with the Department of the Navy releasing the records of his Vietnam service that he is constantly using to promote himself and his campaign. Sorry, Kerry, but you may have home movies proving you were there, but if I haven't seen them, I cannot verify that.

Posted by Ryan S. at 1:12 PM | Permalink | |

I just finished listening to President Bush's acceptance speech from 9/2 at the RNC. He began with an excellent recap of the past four years, summing up the aftermath of September 11th, and other domestic and foreign issues. He said that America, in the past four years, "made the hard journey...up the mountain...and now the valley is in view," and that there is "greatness in the future." He then moved on to thoroughly endorse Cheney as his one and only Vice President. He showed more confidence in Cheney than anyone else has in the past 10 months. Needless to say, I now share this confidence. He then moved on to acknowledge the late, great Ronald Reagan, who will "always define our party."
Bush then proceeded to move into the body of his speech and the domestic policies. It revolved around the theme of letting people pursue their own choices and dreams, and not those of the government. Bush also reaffirmed his belief as a Compassionate Conservative, wanting "the government to improve, not run" people's lives. He seeks to do this by making tax relief permanent, protecting small businesses from frivolous lawsuits, and seeking to give those small businesses the same discounts on health care that large corporations do. Tort reform showed up to protect small businesses, as well as those in medical fields from frivolous lawsuits. Tax code reform was also suggested, as well as creating personal Social Security "nest eggs" using an individual's own tax dollars, invested the way they wished, and untouchable by the government. All these would make "America...the best place to do business" in the global economy. The President promised to appoint less activist judges, those who "know the difference between personal opinion and a strict interpretation of the law" of the land, the Constitution.
Much of the foreign policy was recap of what we have been hearing for the past year, but only if you avoid the liberal media bias (very difficult to do). That does not make it a bad thing, rather, it demonstrates the President's unwavering position on the War On Terror. He also said that three quarters of al Queda's key operatives have been "detained or killed." He also spoke about the very nature of the extremist terrorists, saying, "Freedom is their greatest fear...[and] Freedom is on the March."

"If America shows uncertainty or weakness in this decade, the world will drift toward tragedy. This will not happen on my watch." -President George W. Bush, September 2, 2004

Posted by Ryan S. at 9:40 PM | Permalink | |

I saw many convention speeches, but ironically not the President's (although I have downloaded it through Apple's iTunes; Damn marching band/football game) . One speech that really stuck out in my mind was Arnold Schwarzeneggar's. I was very surprised, becuase as an actor, he is known more for his one-liners than for his long inspiring speeches. Not that thee weren't one-liners in his speech ("The Democrats should have called their convention "Ture Lies"), but it was surprisingly emotional and very inspiring. It showed the world what it an mean for someone to become an American. Schwarzeneggar also posseses that "self-made man" quality. And his delivery was suprisingly poingnant. It makes me to wave the American flag and set of fireworks, as well as be thankful for being born an American, and not having to go through the ordeal of immigration. This brings me back to the reason I dislike Michael Moore.
As I am fond of saying, "Michael Moore loves cheeseburgers but hates America." It is one thing to disagree with a person or group of people who share an ideology that severely disagrees with your own, but it is another to commit slander and libel against them. It seems that Mr. Moore disagrees with what America stands for: Freedom. He exercises his Freedom of Speech in a way that would not be possible if Freedom of Speech were not granted by the people to the government. He uses his freedom of speech to condemn his homeland, to denouce patriotism and debate. Needless to say, I enjoyed Guliani's quip.

Posted by Ryan S. at 5:27 PM | Permalink | |

I am currently reading Unfit For Command, in which is the book endorsed by the group Swift Boat Veterans for Truth. I had to order this book through Amazon.com becuase none of my local book stores had it either because they were sold out (understandable, since it is #1 on the New York Times Bestseller List) or because they weren't carrying it. If that does not point to a liberal bias in the mass media, I don't know what does, becuase I could have easily purchased every Michael Moore book ever published. I also like that John Kerry has tried to blame this on President Bush and the RNC. Swift Boat Verterans For Truth are a politically independent group, that unlike MoveOn.org, has no political aspirations. John E. O'Neill (the author of Unfit for Cammand), has nothing to gain politically from discrediting John Kerry. O'Neill is not Karl Rove, whose future relies on the re-election of Bush. He just feels Americans have the right to know the truth about the man who is running for the Presidency. Unfit For Command paints John Kerry as a glory hound, and relates the fact that Kerry took to Swift Boat duty to try to emulate JFK's experiece on PT 109. Kerry may be a decorated war hero, but that doesn't mean that he deserved the medals. I have nothing but respect for Mr. Kerry's choice to serve in Vietnam, but the way he conducted himselves to his peers during that time, and especially to the entire Armed Forces afterwards makes me sick to my stomach. To think that one man would manipulate the Navy into giving a man with a self-inflicted wound not one, but three Purple Hearts is mind-boggling. More on this after I finish the book. Will also post thoughts about convention.

Posted by Ryan S. at 7:44 PM | Permalink | |

I'm a Freshman Political Science major at University of Delaware, and am a Republican through this blog I will share my musings and observations.

Posted by Ryan S. at 7:39 PM | Permalink | |