Wednesday, September 26, 2007

French Fried, and Fun with Fred


First, I want to thank the folks who wrote in to voice their disagreement
over my views on "the Coop". It would be a very boring site indeed
if the only people who wrote in simply sang my praises, or told
me how wonderful I am in bed, or how incredible it is that I
can stuff 50 Cheetos in my mouth without suffocating (most
of the time). If you're commenting, then your taking the time to
read my blog, and I appreciate your patronage enormously
(although I still think Anderson Cooper is a pod person) .

Despite his late start, ignoring Iowa, and bucking all the usual
conventions followed by aspiring presidential candidates, former
Senator Fred Thompson has closed the gap behind front runner
Rudy Giuliani by 4 percentage points in a sampling of national polls.
Senator Thompson has thus far not lived up to the hype his entry
into the race generated, and his public appearances have been well attended,
but lack the folksy energy he is famous for. Perhaps he is still toying
with the media, but eventually, playing too many games in the race
may cost him dearly, unless he comes out swinging in his first debate.

On another note, after almost a century of anti-American schmaltz
coming from those cheese eating surrender monkeys in the land
of 2 hour lunch breaks and baguettes for all, France's new President
Nicolas Sarkozy seems to be turning a new page. During a recent
speech to the UN, Sarkozy broke with his predecessors' long standing
love affair with rogue states, condemning Iran and issuing the following
scathing warning; "There will be no world peace if the international
community shows weakness in the face of proliferation of nuclear
weapons". Happy to see the French coming to their senses. Next
step-daily bathing.

Going to the cottage again this weekend. Claire and I have a long
weekend, and we are celebrating 6 months together. She has been
the most wonderful gift I have ever received. I love her dearly, and
feel privileged to call myself her boyfriend. Love you dear!

Have a wonderful weekend to all, keep reading, and for those of you
who write in, for the love of God, please don't electrocute yourselves
typing emails in the bathtub.

Cordially

Joe

Tuesday, September 25, 2007

The Last Word on The Coop


It seems that there is nothing I can say to change the minds of
the pseudo-intellectual sycophants that worship at the alter
of the sainted Mr. Cooper.

They find it "laughable" that I don't consider the anchor of
the lowest rated news show in its time slot to be a serious journalist.

They seem unfazed that he would have the audacity to
tell the public that babies were being raped in the Superdome,
without checking his sources. They seem to think
he still has credibility after repeatedly telling the nation
On Jan 3rd, 2006, that all 12 miners trapped in the Sago
mine had survived based solely on the testimony of a
crazed lady, playing with the emotions of millions of
viewers who were watching. He didn't bother to verify
the information with a single official source.

I hold myself to higher standard of journalism, and
I hardly think that spending a week in Iraq posing
in designer cargo shorts, asking inane and simplistic
questions, and one point, being unable to tell
the difference between a Sunni and a Shiite, as
hard hitting journalism.
Perhaps his fan club could explain his exemption
from basic journalistic standards without pointing
the finger at CNN or other networks, but I doubt
they have intellectual fire power to do so. Their
choice in nightly news is proof enough.

It's probably the reason why they never comment
when something is posted on the economy, Korea,
the Libby trial, the border dispute, or the Iowa
straw poll. However when I write about a vapid
anchorman with very important hair, they break
out into a mad frenzy on their laptops. Maybe they'll
comment on something substantive eventually. I'm
sure Anderson will tell them what to think.

Cordially
Joe

Monday, September 24, 2007

Super Cooper


Apparently I upset the apple cart of a few Anderson Cooper fans who
feel that I am somewhat unfair to CNN's golden boy. Perhaps there is
somewhat of a point to be made in the belief that Anderson is just a puppet
of the brain-sucking Trotskytes at CNN, and this is what is holding the
intrepid journalist from covering the real issues that he claims to champion
as though he were Christ off the cross.

Anderson was quick to point out the failures of the Bush Administration,
FEMA, the state of Louisiana, and Mayor Ray Nagen in his Katrina "Keeping
Them Honest" retrospective, but he certainly neglected to hold himself to
the same standard.

During the turbulent days after Katrina hit, Cooper caused no end
of hysteria and sensationalism by making the following claims;

A-Cooper claimed that there were "bands of rapists going block to block"

B-That snipers were shooting at rescue crews.

C-There were "10,000 dead", and "even little babies are being raped"

D- That "Gangs of Rapists were trolling the Superdome", and "bodies
were stacked like cord wood"

These are just a few of the exaggerations, and flat out lies that Cooper
told during the Katrina debacle. ABC alone had over 200 journalists
in the Superdome, and the stories of a Mad Max, post-apocalyptic, hell zone
were completely false.

So did Mr. Cooper address the media's disastrous reporting? Where was
CNN's accountability, and honesty that Anderson purports to uphold?

It seems it was forgotten as Cooper and company engaged in hour after
hour of nauseating back slapping, and self-congratulating.

Anderson Cooper certainly isn't the only one guilty of Katrina mania,
but he seems to stand alone in pompous self absorption, packaged
as objective journalism.
Cordially
Joe

Sunday, September 23, 2007

CRAZY WEEKEND UPDATE/ANDERSON COOPER POOPER SCOOPER 2!!


What a week! Anderson Cooper who cares so much about the suffering
of those in New Orleans and Iraq has decided to show his dedication to
"keeping them honest", by devoting his inane, nightly fluff-cast to the latest
OJ Simpson fiasco. It appears the Juice flipped out in a Las Vegas motel
room, under the belief that his one time associates, were trying to rip off
his sports memorabilia. Now, I'm not the sharpest nail in the box, but
I think it's generally a good life strategy not to piss off a double murderer,
while in the confines of a small hotel room. I'm sure the poor people
still reeling from the effects of Katrina are happy that Mr Cooper is
is on top of OJ's legal battles.

In other news,
the armless man from Georgia who head-butted a man to
death during a fight over a lady friend, will not be charged with manslaughter.
Perhaps the issue of how they would handcuff him, may have played
a roll in their decision.

Anyway, spent a great weekend at the cottage sleeping, eating, reading
and doing crossword puzzles with the love of my life Claire. Best weekend
ever! Hope your own was as fantastic as mine!

Cordially

Joe

Wednesday, September 19, 2007

My Old Pal Al


Former Federal Reserve Chairman, and economic policy wonk, Alan Greenspan has a lot to say lately. So much so, that he has written a book entitled "The Age of Turbulence". In the book, he claims the President's Economic and Budget policies have been "irresponsible".

Not so, says long time friend, Vice President Dick Cheney. In an Op Ed piece
in the Wall Street Journal, VP Cheney, whose fondness for Greenspan is apparent
in the article, remembers a breakfast meeting with then President Elect Bush, in
which Greenspan accurately predicted the burst of the so-called "dot com" bubble,
warning then President Clinton, of the economic slow down that was to come in
the technology sector. President Clinton ignored Greenspan's warnings and the
slow down led to a massive recession.

So is Greenspan's assessment of President Bush's fiscal policies on the mark, or
is Mr Greenspan losing his Midas touch?

In his book, Greenspan makes the case that President Bush lacks discipline
and hasn't been aggressive enough in reigning in spending and reducing tax cuts.
True, the President is far from being the second coming of Reagan, but the
600 pound elephant in the room Mr. Greenspan seems to have completely
ignored, is 9/11.

The economic fall out from 9/11 was unprecedented. Within the proceeding 3
months, one million Americans were jobless. Trading was suspended, vacations
cancelled, retail sales slumped, and thousand of flights were cancelled. The economic
impact was swift, and merciless.

Despite these challenges, Cheney asserts that Bush was prudent, but far from
timid, and certainly not irresponsible. Despite the seemingly insurmountable challenges,
President Bush pushed ahead with his tax cuts, prodding the sagging economy forward,
with income to the treasury at 12 to 15% annual increases, and a six year, unprecedented
economic growth spurt.

To be sure, even before 9/11 there was a chorus of conservative voices accusing the
President of not being aggressive enough on the subject of tax cuts, mine being one of them.
But given the challenges of juggling a budget in the midst of a costly war, President Bush
has succeeded where any other President would have failed.

Mr Greenspan may indeed be the Guru of the Federal Reserve, but as for his recent tome,
he has come in a penny short, and a pound shy.
Cordially
Joe

Sunday, September 09, 2007

Our Day of Infamy


On Sept 11th, 2001, there was not a computer, television screen, or radio station that was not broadcasting the images of two commercial
airlines crashing into the Word Trade Center. Before that day, 9/11 was only known as the number you dialed in an emergency. That night, as Mark Styne noted in National Review, many Americans went to bed
wondering if they would wake up the next morning. At the time, I was a dealer support liaison for a major telecom company. That night, filled with neither fear of rage, just an empty, surreal desolation, I wrote the following column.


Sipping strong coffee in the breakfast nook of his downtown apartment on 14th and Union, National Review's rookie Editor Rich Lowry hears the low roar of a plane. It is a quarter of nine, and though he has learned to tune out the noisy bustle of the city that is New York, the sound seems out of place. It's too loud, louder than what he ever heard living in Manhattan.

"That's the sound people talk about when they report seeing plane crashes."

Lowry quickly tucks the thought away; New York is by nature a noisy animal. His thoughts return to work and the business of editing one of the largest and most respected magazines in the United States. Lowry is wrapping his brain around a possible follow up to his article advocating the decriminalization of marijuana, when the phone rings. The disembodied voice dispenses with conventional pleasantries:

"Turn on the TV."

What blazes across the screen is one of the most surreal and horrifying images the 30-year-old editor had ever witnessed. A live video feed from 5th avenue, just a quarter block from his apartment gives him a front row seat to the destruction that is unfolding. The North Tower of 2the World Trade Center is engulfed in a cloud of gray smoke. Just moments earlier, American Airlines Flight 11, hijacked by a group of unknown terrorists, pilot the doomed commercial airliner into the upper floors of the behemoth structure. In another 20 minutes, United Airlines Flight 175 will collide with the South Tower - within an hour, both structures, straining under the pressure caused by the massive structural damage will be flattened into a pile of twisted steel and shattered concrete.

The South Tower is the first to collapse. As it crumbles towards earth, it rains down a path of deadly debris destroying surrounding New York landmarks. The Marriott, the Commodities Exchange Building, the Dean Witter Building, and the US Customs house, all are destroyed within seconds. Over 300 police, firefighters, and rescue crews working to evacuate the doomed towers would be crushed beneath the falling rubble.

Back at his apartment, Lowry scans the chaos on Union Street below. He describes an almost carnival like atmosphere as hoards of people hurry out to 5th Avenue to get a better view of the unfolding disaster. Ghoulish spectators rush to snap photographs of themselves, grinning like imbeciles against the backdrop of the falling towers. Lowry describes the scene:

"The street was clogged, because cars, including a bunch of cabs, were pulled off along the side of the street, their drivers standing next to their cars, with the doors open, sometimes with their radios turned up high. One moron had pulled his pick-up truck over and sat up near the cab so a friend could snap an Instamatic picture of him with the worst terrorist attack ever on the American homeland burning in the background."

As the South Tower of the Trade Center Collapses, the FAA makes a dramatic decision to close all air traffic across the nation, an unprecedented step never before taken. Hundreds of flights are rerouted to Toronto and Halifax, leaving local emergency workers scrambling to find makeshift accommodations for the stranded travellers. 40 minutes later, Flight 77, a Boeing 757 en route from Washington's Dulles International

Airport to Los Angeles, carrying 58 passengers and six crew members aboard, slams into the Pentagon. The Pentagon was on Alpha security alert at the time. While the administration commences the evacuation of all federal office buildings in Washington, United Airlines' officials report that that United Flight 93, en route from Newark, New Jersey to San Francisco is missing. The smoldering wreckage of the plane would be found in a field southeast of Pittsburgh.
Back in New York, Rich Lowry sits in his office scanning the latest cover art for National Review's October 1st issue. In bold imposing letters set against a black background read the words "AT WAR". 24 hours has passed since his Nation was attacked by faceless cowards. CNN is reporting that the death toll will exceed 10,000 souls, more than the Revolutionary War, Pearl Harbor, and the war of 1812 combined. There are no words to describe the deep sense of loss and anger we at the Rant feel at this time. Platitudes about defending the shinning City on the Hill feel hollow as one watches footage of rescue crews sifting through the shattered remains of our cherished symbols of freedom.

Our day of infamy was a perfect September day in New York.

Joseph Leger

Saturday, September 01, 2007

Breaking News


OK, well maybe not in the anchor interrupting fashion, with that fancy graphic, and specially composed orchestra music that informs us that
Senator A, or B was caught in the back seat of a car doing unspeakable
things to his pet dog Sparky, or when Paris Hilton gets pulled over for
taking her SUV out for a 100 mile per hour Sunday drive hopped up
on Xanax and Crown Royal-but to me this is breaking news. You see, my girlfriend Claire is coming home from Toronto after 2 months, and I missed her and love her so much.

I know, my readers expect more from me, than the idle ramblings about
my personal life that they could care less about. They want today's salient
issues dissected with a conservative-libertarian take, filled with wit, and
humor. So as my readers (all 3, they have fan club meetings in a phone booth),
are the life-blood of this organ , I shall not disappoint!

After much anticipation, speculation, and a war chest that hardly seems adequate
to enter into a hotly contested Republican field, the Thompson campaign has
officially announced that Claire is coming home today...oops, sorry.

Anyway, the media's castration of Senator Craig, though his actions are disgraceful,
seem somewhat hypocritical. Senator Craig was arrested and convicted of
trying to solicit an undercover male officer for a little slap in tickle in the
men's bathroom of an airport. Craig was never sentenced to jail time, but
infuriated his colleagues by suggesting he was entrapped, and was actually
only trying to pick up toilet paper. (I'm not kidding). Craig remained steadfast
in his refusals to resign, despite pressure from colleagues, but has finally
caved under pressure, and will announce later today that Claire is coming
home. Oh crap I did it again.

OK. Today, after two years of increasingly cold-war style actions by
ex-KGB thug, and current Russian President, Vladimir Putin, a Russian
spokesperson has announced that Claire is coming home today.

Oh forget it. I'm too pumped.
Cordially
Joe