Mark A. Kilmer (the weblog)

YouTube is nifty. Here’s audio of Congressman John Dingell (D-Michigan) telling a Detroit TV host, Sunday, that he supports Hezbollah.

Anti-Semitism is a plague.

We all agree that what happened at Qana was tragic. Wouldn’t it be nice if we could avoid all hatred and war.

It seems that our reporters and photographers at the scene, however, told us the story as dramatically staged by the terror group Hezbollah. Read here and . There is the recurring role of the Hezbollah freak in the green helmet.

We are being spoon fed the party line from a group which wants to destroy Israel and exterminate the Jews. This is serious evil, folks. Do you sacrifice your humanity for a photograph you think might win some meaningless prize?

Australia’s 67-year-old Prime Minister John Howard is shooting for term no. five. Treasurer Peter Costello, 47, is almost certain to continue whining, as he wants to be the man in charge, but he’s publicly saying only that he’s relieved that his personal nightmare has ended: “I’m glad that this issue has now been settled.”

John Howard is a good ally, and this is good news.

Good morning.

Who’s at war? Who signs a cease fire, the one every little government in Europe demands as an anti-Israeli matter of course?

The AP seems to think that there is a “conflict between Lebanon and Israel”, and that Siniora and Olmert can sign a few docs and end the damned thing. This war is between the civilized world and the terrorist mutants; more specifically, between Israel and Hezbollah. If Hezbollah does not stop shelling Israel and disarm permanently, then the causus bellum remains and a cease fire would be globally suicidal.

Will the French urge surrender?

This quote is from a Karl Rove speech delivered Saturday to a group of future political ops as they graduated from the George Washington University Graduate School of Political Management.

“There are some in politics who hold that voters are dumb, ill informed and easily misled, that voters can be manipulated by a clever ad or a smart line,” said Rove, who is credited with President Bush’s victories in the 2000 and 2004 elections. “I’ve seen this cynicism over the years from political professionals and journalists. American people are not policy wonks, but they have great instincts and try to do the right thing.”

To the greater extent, I believe Rove is right; however, and I recently saw conclusive evidence that this is not the case, at least in certain pockets. Primary voters can be dumb, ill-informed, and easily manipulated by a smart line. The idea of replacing a politician gone bad can become so trendy and consuming that they can defile themselves with the replacement. And because they were stupid enough to do it in the first place, they cannot learn.

Then again, this can apply only to an energized minority. How many Frenchmen chopped off heads at their revolution? How many became drunk with the mob-mentality which drives people to act rashly?

Not that this instance deserves my analysis. Karl Rove brought it up!

This morning, Tim Russert talked to Israeli UN Ambassador Dan Gillerman then with Lebanese special envoy Nouhad Mahmoud. I won’t fault Russert for anything, as today was a lot bigger than him, but he was a belligerent questioner with both. I don’t think he got a lot of pertinent information out of the Lebanese fellow, except that he admires Hassan Nasrallah, who’s mutant.

Read my show notes below the fold:

(more…)

This week’s review was particularly difficult, what with hearing different people read from the same centuries old cue cards. Make an effort to read the show-by-show review, linked at the bottom of this intro piece:

Sunday, July 30, 2006

The deaths at Qana were a big part of this morning’s shows, but the most important concept to the hosts seemed to be that Lebanese Prime Minister Fouad Siniora had told Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice to go away, she was not welcome in Beirut.

On MTP, Israeli Ambassador to the UN Dan Gillerman said that Hezbollah had probably planned to sucker Israel into striking civilians in Qana to thwart any chance of peace. Russert’s next guest on MTP, Lebanese special envoy Nouhad Mahmoud, glibly told Russert that he respects Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah; while the two disagree on whether or not Israel should exist, he said, this was unimportant as it was not an issue in this conflict.

Special advisor to Siniora, Mohamad Chatah, basically told George Stephanopoulos on TW that human shields were a legitimate means of warding off attacks on military installations, as there can be no reason whatsoever for killing women and children. Undersecretary of State Nick Burns told Brit Hume on FNS that the battle between Israel and Hezbollah is about Iran. On TW, he told Steph that the DMZ in the south of Lebanon would be from the Israeli border to the Litani River. No setback entered his tone.

Responding to a new anti-Bushie novel by a WashPost reporter, Paul Bremer again explained debathification and the dissolution of the Iraqi army.

On FTN, Lebanese Prime Minister Siniora said that the Israeli strike on Qana ten years ago was called, by the Israelis, “The Grapes of Wrath.” His name for this incident is: “The Grapes of Hatred.” On the same show, Israeli Deputy Prime Minister Shimon Peres asked of Hezbollah: “What do they want?” The question was rhetorical, no doubt.

On LE, Lebanese Justice Minister Charles Rizk posited that the Israelis had struck Qana because they did not want Secretary Rice to negotiate a cease fire. Nick Burns explained to Blitzer that Secretary Rice had told Siniora that she didn’t think now was a good time for her to go to Lebanon, rather than him telling her to get lost.

(But remember that if John Kerry were President… yadda, yadda, yadda.)

Read the show-by-show review at Redstate.com.

Thirty days hath September, and it is not September. And it’s not February in a leap year.

I’ve to do the Sunday Shows this morning.

As I prepare to capture the essence of the Sunday talkshows — btw, I wrote that only because I liked how it looks — a thought has crossed my mind. The thought, which is mine, is this:

None of this would be happening if we had elected John Kerry (”reporting for duty”) in ‘04, and we’d all be discussing Alan Alda, Simonon and Garfunkle, and floral prints.

All’s well.

A British analytical social psychologist at the University of Leicester has surveyed 170 countries and determined that Denmark is the happiest country in the whole wide worldl, while Burundi is the saddest.

Following behind Denmark came Switzerland, Austria, Iceland and the Bahamas.

At the bottom came the Democratic Republic of Congo, Zimbabwe and Burundi. The United States came in at 23rd, Britain was in 41st place, Germany 35th and France 62nd.

Countries involved in conflicts, such as Iraq, were not included.

‘Scuse me, but the United States is involved in a conflict. And we’re still happier than France.

For Sunday, June 30, 2006

Meet the Press (NBC): Host Tim Russert talks to the Israeli ambassador to the U.N., Dan Gillerman, then to the Lebanese special envoy, Nouhad Mahmoud. Dipolmats.

FOX News Sunday (FNS): Host Chris Wallace Undersecretary of State Nick Burns about the battle between Israel and Hezbollah, and Paul Bremer (remember him) about the new plans to rid Baghdad of terrorists.

Face the Nation (CBS): Host Bob Schieffer has a nice set of guests: Lebanese Prime Minister Fuad Siniora and Israeli Deputy Prime Minister Shimon Peres.

This Week (ABC): Host George Stephanopoulos is back with Burns, Israeli Ambassador to the U.S. Daniel Ayalon, and eventually, Lance Armstrong.

Late Edition (CNN): Host Wolf Blitzer is in Jersusalem to chat with Burns, Syrian cabinet minister Bouthaina Shaaban (Minister of Expatriates); Senators Mitch McConnell and Chuckie Schumer. None of these guests will, to my knowledge, join him in Jerusalem.
—–

Personally, I’d like to someone from Hezbollah appear and explain their policy of destroying what they call the “Zionist entity,” for all to hear, but there’s always a certain amount of cowardice all around. We’ll hear from diplomats, not generals. They’ll talk about it. You know, there is always a lot of that on these shows.

As always, I’ll have the review up at Redstate.com.

According to the Frenchies (AFP), who want to believe that all Americans are dope freaks, Floyd Landis has gone missing, and no one knows where to find him.

The Yankees are going to beat Tampa Bay tonight. Their right fielder (Gary Sheffield) is hurt. Their left fielder (Hideki Matsui) is hurt. Their second basebman (Robbie Cano) is hurt. And all three have been hurt for a long time, as in not playing.

The Yankees do not have a stable pitching rotation beyond Mike Mussina, Randy Johnson, and Chien-Ming Wang.

After tonight, the Yankees will trade Boston by one game. They will have a record as good or better than any team in the major leagues save the Sox, who will be just one game better, and the bionic Detroit Tigers, whom the Yankes have beat something like three out of four this year.

“Start spreading the news…”

No one has the whole of the missing WMD story covered like Ed Morrissey over at Captian’s Quarters.

Post-Invasion Intel Showed WMD Went To Syria.

The opposition source told the Kurds that the trucks [w/ the WMD] arrived in Dayr az Zawr, a Syrian city on the Euphrates in the expansive eastern section of Syria. A look at a map shows Dayr az Zawr in the middle of nowhere, with plenty of space to hide stockpiles from 50 trucks.

After unloading the trucks — taking care to separate the Iraqi drivers from their vehicles while doing so — the Syrians returned the trucks to the drivers and paid each of them $200, a rather princely sum for an Iraqi in 2003. And that was the second such convoy that IIS officers conducted into Syria; the first had been on Mohorram 1, or March 5th.

While this is not quite a smoking gun, it provides yet another piece of evidence pointing to a massive operation to hide Iraq’s WMDs. Saddam Hussein must have thought that if the Coalition could not find the WMDs, they would have to withdraw and allow him to assume power once more.

That’s precisely how Saddam would have thought. His plan had always been to wait the enemy out, wait for the will to break, and waltz back into power. Years of worship made him believe that he was a god.

There is little doubt in my mind that Saddam possessed WMD at the time of the 2003 invasion.

Michael Scherer, in just the first paragraph of his piece at Salon.com, was able to do what Democrats on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee failed so miserably to do yesterday. Michael Scherer made a convincing case in that paragraph as to why John Bolton’s nomination to serve as United States ambassador to the United Nations should be rejected by the U.S. Senate.

Witness Scherer at his finest:

After a year as U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, John Bolton has still not gone to get a decent haircut. He showed up Thursday at the Senate Foreign Relations Committee looking as shabby as the last time he testified, with an unruly cushion of graying locks flopped across his forehead and bunched over the nape of his neck. Combined with a walrus mustache and glasses that kept falling down his nose, he looked like “The Muppet Show’s” Swedish Chef applying for a job in the Foreign Service.

Typically, fashion and grooming are not grounds for criticism in politics. If they were, then dozens of leaders — from Dennis Hastert to Dennis Kucinich — would never have made it to Washington. But with Bolton, it is different: His style is a major part of his act.

Next to Joe Biden’s implants, Bolton was embarrassing.

Scherer’s point is that the United States needs a compliant ambassador who stops in to O Salon for a do every now and again. He should also have his nails done.

Bolton’s style seems to be “no subterfuge.” He is at the U.N. to represent the interests of the United States, not to be photographed with Hollywood actresses. Your lines are showing, Mike.

Something called Insight on the News had has asserted that “Newt Gingrich, Richard Perle and leading current and former members of the Pentagon and National Security Council” are trying to have the President fire Condoleezza Rice from the State Department. According to Robert Bluey from Human Events Online, Gingrich has denied this:

Not true, said [Newtie spokesperson Rick] Tyler. “Newt is supporting Rice,” he told HUMAN EVENTS. “So far she is saying and doing the right things.”

My question is, who cares? Newt should be yesterday’s news, and to a many conservatives, he is.

Now, he hangs out with some very smart people; he hears and adopts their ideas without thinking them through, but he can mouth them. It withers under precise questioning, but he’s a useful mouthpiece amongst a substantial portion of the conservative populace.

Then again, so is Ann Coulter.

John Bolton’s hearings before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee aired yesterday evening on C-SPAN, and I’m watching a re-air on C-SPAN2 as I type. The man is good. The “man amongst boys” analogy is appropriate, especially with John Kerry, who was utterly confused by Bolton. He wasn’t up to the task.

I am so grateful that he is not President.

You know, the House Republican Conference met this AM, the majority leader, the honorable John Boehner, presiding. Word is, he ELECTION YEAR caved on minimum wage and the increase will come to an ELECTION YEAR vote. Attached to something or other. The federal minimum wage laws are Unconstitutional. They harm business. They harm low-wage workers. They decrease federal tax receipts.

But they look good to voters making well above the minimum wage who’d sooner note donate money to an organization willing to help families buy food and pay their bills.

Smarmy politicians, Mr. Boehner. are fit neither to lick the late President’s boots or dance on his grave. But if it will help you keep the majority — and you had better — I won’t scream.

Hugo Chavez is happenin’. He and Belarus (former Soviet republic) have teamed up, tied in a knot, into what he calls his “Axis of Good.” Hugo’s now working on Russia (former Soviet republic). (President Alexander Lukashenko of Belarus is quoted as telling Hugo that he’s big and muscular and knows a lot about military affairs.)

According to the linked editorial from the Khaleej Times:

But more importantly, Venezuela is keen to work out some kind of defence pact with Russia — a new version of Warsaw pact or Eastern bloc alliance.

We need Al Haig.

Australia’s The Australian — and the paper could be from where else? – tells us that our old friend Dick Armitage, Colin Powell’s old no 2 at State, has told them that the violence in Lebanon must end unilaterally. He declared that “the best way to be a friend of Israel is to tell when we think the present course is not working.”

He did not mention how he would have the President ending the Hezbollah shelling of Israel, and it was unclear whether he told the Australian paper that Joe Wilson’s wife, Valerie Plame, worked for the CIA and has pushed her husband to go on that Bush-bashing mission to Niger. It wouldn’t have been a scoop, anyway.

The man running Mitt Romney’s Boston “Big Dig” project, Massachusetts Turnpike Authority chairman Matthew Amorello, has stepped down hours before Mitt planned to score political points by blaming him and calling for his removal. Instead, Romney announced the resignation.

Romney has expressed concern about memoranda. He has said in the past that sometimes he “feel[s] a little ill” about the whole thing.

Yesterday, I received my order of five dozen Earthwrite pencils, by Paper Mate, from an outfit called Business Supplies Inc. I had ordered them on Tuesday.

Made from 100% pre-consumer waste materials.

Environmentally-friendly pencils made from re-claimed wood.

That’s nice and everything, but I try not to think about these things beng manufactured from recycled toilet paper. These are just fantastic pencils.

I’m turning Greeenie!

Anyway, President Ford is out of the hospital. He’s 93, which is quote a long time. When Ford was born, Charlie Chaplin has not yet appeared in his first Keystone short.