Say Anything Blog

Poor Martha. NEW YORK - Martha Stewart, who built a billion-dollar media empire based on her holiday and home decorating…...

Posting has been slow today as I've been enjoying some holiday time with my little girl and cleaning up the…...

This from Oliver Willis: Anytime someone rolls out the lame "Michael Moore sat in the VIP box at the Democratic…...

$125,000,000 Impressive number, no? Wanna know what it is? Its the amount of money (approximately) donated privately by American citizens…...

This is interesting (via Evil White Guy). WASHINGTON -- While it is an article of faith among gun-control proponents that…...

There's a lot of anger going around right now, mostly on the left, about how much money our government is…...

This is a barrel of laughs. The Scotsman - United States President George Bush was tonight accused of trying to…...

This makes me angry (via ISOU). To The People Of Islam: Just think: If we'd invaded your countries, killed your…...

"among other illegal drugs (via Six Meat Buffet). The Tennessean - Come the new year, the tax man is coming…...

James Wolcott" I root for hurricanes. When, courtesy of the Weather Channel, I see one forming in the ocean off…...

Republican governor candidate Dino Rossi is calling for a recount in the Washington election. OLYMPIA, Wash. - Republican Dino Rossi on Wednesday urged his Democratic rival in the closest governor's race in state history to join him in calling for a revote. "The uncertainty surrounding this election process isn't just bad for you and me --� it is bad for the entire state," Rossi said, reading from a letter he said he sent to Democrat Christine Gregoire. "People need to know for sure that the next governor actually won the election." Regardless of where you stand on the subject of having a new vote, you have to admit that Rossi is going about the process the right way. While noting that he could contest the election, Rossi said Wednesday that a legal challenge could drag on for months. The better way to clear up the mess, he said, would be to ask lawmakers to pass a bill calling for a special election as soon as the Democrat-controlled state Legislature convenes in early January for the 2005 session. Exactly. Of course, the Democrats don't want a recount. They only want those sort of things when they're behind in the voting. The Gregoire camp immediately dismissed the notion that a revote might be feasible. She is scheduled to be certified as Washington's governor-elect Thursday, by a scant 129 votes out of more than 2.8 million cast. "It's irresponsible to spend $4 million in taxpayer money on a new election just because you don't like losing this one," Gregoire's spokesman Morton Brilliant said. In an election where the winner was determined by hundreds of votes that were coincidentally "found" during a recount (and then counted in suspicious circumstances) I think its clear that the outcome of that election is in doubt. If four million dollars is what it takes to have an election that will prove to the citizens of Washington that the correct candidate was chosen then so be it. Update: Republicans were calling for a new vote even before Gregoire got the lead. Seattle Times - Former Secretary of State Ralph Munro, a key supporter of Republican Dino Rossi during the contentious recounts in Washington's race for governor, says it may be time to toss out all of the votes and do the election over. Munro, who oversaw the state's elections system for 20 years before retiring in 2000, said a new vote is probably the only way to restore voter confidence and get a clear winner. His comments came as the state Republican Party prepared to file a lawsuit against King County seeking to stop the county's recount, and votes reported from Snohomish County further tightened the race between Rossi and Democrat Christine Gregoire. "This thing could just degenerate and spiral downward," Munro said yesterday. "Whoever eventually becomes governor is going to have a very hard time governing, and we're going to go through four years of flopping around." He suggested allowing new voter registrations for a few weeks, then holding a new election in February. Democrats scoffed at the proposal, saying Republicans were raising it only because Rossi's whisker-thin lead appears in jeopardy. "Last week the Republicans were saying we need to resolve this as quickly as possible," Democratic Party spokeswoman Kirstin Brost said. "This week they're saying we need another election."...

Here's a photo of Sri Lankan rescue workers removing a body (via LGF). Check out the t-shirt on the guy…...

This is disturbing. CLEVELAND - Authorities are investigating a mysterious laser beam that was directed into the cockpit of a…...

I'm not surprised. Drudge and others are reporting this today, but I pretty much knew it was going to happen…...

Speaking of playing the blame game (via Spoons)" Washington Post - The Bush administration more than doubled its financial commitment yesterday to provide relief to nations suffering from the Indian Ocean tsunami, amid complaints that the vacationing President Bush has been insensitive to a humanitarian catastrophe of epic proportions. . . . Although U.N. Emergency Relief Coordinator Jan Egeland yesterday withdrew his earlier comment, domestic criticism of Bush continued to rise. Skeptics said the initial aid sums --� as well as Bush's decision at first to remain cloistered on his Texas ranch for the Christmas holiday rather than speak in person about the tragedy --� showed scant appreciation for the magnitude of suffering and for the rescue and rebuilding work facing such nations as Sri Lanka, India, Thailand and Indonesia. After a day of repeated inquiries from reporters about his public absence, Bush late yesterday afternoon announced plans to hold a National Security Council meeting by teleconference to discuss several issues, including the tsunami, followed by a short public statement. Bush's deepened public involvement puts him more in line with other world figures. In Germany, Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder cut short his vacation and returned to work in Berlin because of the Indian Ocean crisis, which began with a gigantic underwater earthquake. In Britain, the predominant U.S. voice speaking about the disaster was not Bush but former president Bill Clinton, who in an interview with the BBC said the suffering was like something in a "horror movie," and urged a coordinated international response. After the earthquake American agencies did the best they could to warn the SE Asia region of the coming disaster despite an absence of a warning system in that region (and a desire to use it, apparently). Now that the disaster has occurred America has pledged tens of millions of dollars in relief with the promise of more funding to be forthcoming. On top of that, Americans have privately donated untold millions to the cause. Other than those things"what else can America or its leaders do? Bush was able to express his sorrow and get the ball rolling with foreign aid while remaining on vacation at his ranch. Claiming that he hasn't shown enough empathy because he didn't return to the White House to do these things is a crass display of the media's willingness to use any issue, regardless of how petty or small, to criticize the President....

This would be an ineteresting strategy. The US should immediately pledge a very sizable amount of money to the UN for tsunami relief. (The first three thoughts I had were half a billion, a billion, and to match dollar-for-dollar the amounts three or so leading US charities raise privately for the cause, just to show what the American people can and will do on their own.) Just take the money and give it straight to the UN, then quietly sit back and watch like a hawk just what happens to that money. If virtually every penny goes to helping the victims, that's wonderful. We will have shown the world that we can work with the international community, and taken a huge lead in helping recover from this tragedy. We will have shown that we can rise above our previous disputes with UN officials when the need is there and done what few other nations have both the ability and inclination to do. But if the UN reverts to its kleptocratic nature and healthy portions of the money are skimmed off, disappear into corrupt individuals' pockets, is channeled into favored parties and corporations, is flagrantly wasted, or is in any other way used for anything BUT helping the tsunami victims, we will have been handed a huge moral club to beat the corrupt swine that currently hold the reins of the United Nations. Those who are pushing for reforms at the UN will be strengthened with irrefutable proof that the UN is little more than an effete gang of petty crooks. And those bomb-throwers who want the US out of the UN (and the UN out of the US) --� whom every day I find less and less extremist, and more and more pragmatic --� will be given the political equivalent of a nuclear bomb. Of course, we'd have to make sure that the US politicians who are charged with watching the UN "like a hawk" are trustworthy as well. Perhaps if we used the same US politicians who are heading up the oil-for-food investigation" Regardless, it would definetly put us in a "win-win" situation where the UN is either forced to acknowledge that the US does plenty to help the rest of the world or show us just how corrupt they can be....

This is ridiculous (via Wizbang). Medford, Oregon - Tsunami - Tidal Wave - Indonesia - The USA has the most…...

WASHINGTON - President Bush defended American generosity Wednesday, even as his administration figures out how to pay for more help beyond the $35 million it has already promised to tsunami victims in Asia. In his first remarks since the weekend disaster that so far has killed more than 76,000, Bush --� like some in his administration previously --� took umbrage at a U.N. official's suggestion that the world's richest nations were "stingy," and indicated much more is expected to be spent to help the victims. "Well, I felt like the person who made that statement was very misguided and ill-informed," Bush said from his Texas ranch. "We're a very generous, kindhearted nation, and, you know, what you're beginning to see is a typical response from America." Bush noted that the United States provided $2.4 billion "in food, in cash, in humanitarian relief to cover the disasters for last year. " That's 40 percent of all the relief aid given in the world last year." America leads the world in providing foreign aid to countries in need and we will no doubt lead the world in providing relief to those harmed by this disaster as well. But some on the left have decided to try and make some political hay out of this "stingy" issue by pointing out how much money private donors have provided to Bush's inauguration celebration (around $40 million by most estimates) in contrast with the $35 million (and growing) amount Bush has pledge to tsunami relief. Lets use our heads here. The money being used for Bush's inauguration is privately donated cash from Bush's supporters given to the cause long before this tsunami disaster occurred. It is just plain stupid to criticize Bush for not making his pledge for disaster relief proportionate to the the donations received for his inauguration. What does one have to do with the other? Are we really expecting the President to sit down and consider the price of his inauguration celebration before pledging disaster aid to foreign countries? And I'd also point out that private U.S. donations to tsunami relief are likely to double what the government itself is giving if the rapid fire donations going on at Amazon.com tell us anything. Update: If we're going to accuse people of being stingy how about focusing some attention on France, which has pledged a grand total of $135,000 U.S. to tsunami relief....

Guest Poster - Seth Over the last few weeks I have had the displeasure of moving my wife's Grandmother from…...

Here is a rare common-sense decision of the sort we don't often see out of the 9th Circuit Court of…...

Sigh" Al Bawaba - A 150-member Israeli aid delegation canceled its mission to Sri Lanka on Tuesday, after the country…...

You gotta love Wal-Mart. What other company would slash prices and give you a bargain on a product even if…...

Hmmm" WASHINGTON (AP) - The House ethics committee will investigate Rep. Jim McDermott, D-Wash., to determine whether he violated standards…...

This guy has some kind of nerve. The Washington Times - The Bush administration yesterday pledged $15 million to Asian…...

Could the fact that the anti-depressant Prozac is being found (in trace amounts) in the drinking water of Britons be…...

Here's Robin Williams talking about how the stars in the U.S.O. holiday shows left their politics at home. New York…...

To those of you who are rabidly searching the internet for the Paige Davis sex tape mentioned by Lloyd Grove…...

Previously I had posted on a father who was selling his children's Christmas presents on eBay because they had been…...

This is good news. WASHINGTON --� U.S. retail gasoline prices fell to an average of $1.791 for regular unleaded as motorists took to the roads for the Christmas and New Year's holidays, the Energy Department said Monday. The drop represented a 2.4-cent fall from the previous week and U.S. retail gasoline prices have declined for eight weeks in a row. We've still got a long way to go before gas prices fall back to where they were. The average price across this nation is still over $0.30 higher per gallon than it was a year ago according to the article. The most interesting thing about all of this, I think, is the timing. We hear a lot from the left about the Bush administration being in league with the oil companies, yet the high points and low points for petroleum prices just don't seem to form any sort of beneficial pattern for the President. If the oil companies really were in league with the President you'd think that the oil prices would have dropped steadily most of last year until after the election when they would have begun an upward trend in price. What we're seeing is just the opposite of that....

Osama bin Laden has issued a tape warning Iraqi's who plan on voting in the upcoming election that they will…...

The AP has released a poll claiming that the majority of Americans, 52%, want Donald Rumsfeld out. Here's th key…...

Wordpress is up and running here. Although I've temporarily redirected the old Movable Type feeds to Wordpress, you should probably…...

Update: I've moved this post up to the top of the page. Its about 4:49pm central time. For the next…...

Whooo boy... BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. (Reuters) - Fahrenheit 9/ 11" director Michael Moore on Monday rejected the idea that Hollywood…...

Professional atheletes in this country are suffering. They're not getting paid enough. Don't beleive me? Read this... PORT CHARLOTTE, Fla.…...

This is a problem... WASHINGTON - Despite President Bush's clear margin of victory in the 2004 presidential race, voting and…...

I received an email from reader Chris Ness who pointed out that I haven't posted a thing about Pearl Harbor…...

Here's the big news making the rounds on the left right now: Back in October of this year President Bush…...

Honestly, how childish can one get? ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. - Planning a European vacation and don't want to talk American politics…...

A lot of fass was made in the last election over the alleged looming specter of another military draft in…...