When I asked Kerry what it would take for Americans to feel safe again, he displayed a much less apocalyptic worldview. ''We have to get back to the place we were, where terrorists are not the focus of our lives, but they're a nuisance,'' Kerry said. ''As a former law-enforcement person, I know we're never going to end prostitution. We're never going to end illegal gambling. But we're going to reduce it, organized crime, to a level where it isn't on the rise. It isn't threatening people's lives every day, and fundamentally, it's something that you continue to fight, but it's not threatening the fabric of your life.''
--John Kerry in a New York Times Magazine article, by Matt Bai, October 10, 2004
"Can we win the war on terrorism? Yes, I think we can, in the sense that we can win the war on organized crime. There is going to be no peace treaty on the battleship Missouri in the war on terrorism, but we can break its back so that it is only a horrible nuisance and not a paralyzing influence on our societies."
--General Brent Scowcroft, Bush 41 National Security Advisor and Bush 43 appointee to the Forum for International Security at the "9/11 a Year On" conference, Sept. 2002
"Now, just this weekend, Senator Kerry talked of reducing terrorism to 'nuisance,' and compared it to prostitution and illegal gambling. I couldn't disagree more. Our goal is not to reduce terror to some acceptable level of nuisance. Our goal is to defeat terror by staying on the offensive, destroying terrorist networks and spreading freedom and liberty around the world."
--George Bush, October 12, 2004
Wednesday, October 13, 2004
Tuesday, October 05, 2004
Listen to Dick
It's not fair, really, to throw out facts in a debate that aren't accurate. So Dick Cheney advised us in the VP debate tonight - and darnitall, I AGREE with him on this one - to go visit FactCheck.Com to get the real story.
Go! Now! Get the facts. Dick wouldn't lie, would he?
(NB: I'm pretty sure Cheney meant FactCheck.org. So give the VP the benefit of the doubt and check that one out too, while you're at it. )
Go! Now! Get the facts. Dick wouldn't lie, would he?
(NB: I'm pretty sure Cheney meant FactCheck.org. So give the VP the benefit of the doubt and check that one out too, while you're at it. )
Saturday, October 02, 2004
Adios, Edgar
Oh good lord. Thankfully we were at the ballpark last night instead of tonight. I was teary enough as it was yesterday with Ichiro's achievement and it being the last game we'll see this season. But tonight was Edgar Martinez' retirement ceremony and I would have been sobbing, utterly sobbing, as the city said goodbye to the best designated hitter in the history of baseball. He spent his whole career - 18 years - in Seattle, and he deserves every bit of the love that is lavished on him. I'm not sure what we'll do without him.
No big fan of the designated hitter in baseball, still I'm thrilled that the Designated Hitter of the Year award will now be known as the Edgar Martinez Award. And I hope he makes it into the Hall of Fame. If he doesn't, it would be a great injustice to the man and the game.
This tells me two things:
1) I'm starting to become a bona fide Mariners fan. Not that it diminishes my love for the Tigers, and it never could (!), but I'm no longer just rooting for them because I happen to live here.
2) I probably need some kind of psychiatric help.
No big fan of the designated hitter in baseball, still I'm thrilled that the Designated Hitter of the Year award will now be known as the Edgar Martinez Award. And I hope he makes it into the Hall of Fame. If he doesn't, it would be a great injustice to the man and the game.
This tells me two things:
1) I'm starting to become a bona fide Mariners fan. Not that it diminishes my love for the Tigers, and it never could (!), but I'm no longer just rooting for them because I happen to live here.
2) I probably need some kind of psychiatric help.
Friday, October 01, 2004
A Day to Remember
Mt. St. Helens vented some steam and ash this morning, after a week of unrest. The seismic activity settled down for several hours, but the earthquakes have started again, increasing in magnitude much quicker than they did last week. It doesn't sound like we've heard the last of her. I was working from home with Sophie so she and I got to see the footage of it live after getting a phone call from my mom... "Um... how close are you to Mt. St. Helens?"
Sophie's excited comment: "It's erufting!"
***
Ichiro Suzuki got hit number 258, breaking the 84-year-old record set by George Sisler (a fellow Michigan alumnus, and the player once called by Ty Cobb "the nearest thing to a perfect ballplayer." Of course, Ty never saw Ichiro play.). And we were there for the excitement! I bought the tickets for this game back in March and though I would love to say it was with fantastic prescience, in truth I did so not knowing how significant the night would be.
It was amazing; the stadium was full (probably the first time we'd seen anywhere near a capacity crowd all year) and the fans were hungry for it, cheering Ichiro the moment he was announced, chanting his name when he approached the plate. He didn't make us wait, tying the record on his first at-bat, breaking it on the second. Of course, the game came to a full stop while the fireworks went off, the crowd went wild, and his teammates came out to congratulate him. Five members of Sisler's family were there including his daughter and grandson; Ichiro went over to them and received their congratulations, then tipped his hat to a crowd that hadn't stopped standing or cheering the whole time.
No player deserves it more, no player is more focused and dedicated to the game and his team than Ichiro. He's got all that talent - hitting, fielding, throwing, running - and none of the attitude that often accompanies it. I'm SO glad he broke the record it in front of the home-town crowd that adores him. The Mariners won, to boot, beating the Texas Rangers 8-3. It was a magical, wonderful night that took a lot of the sting out of a miserable season.
Sophie's excited comment: "It's erufting!"
***
Ichiro Suzuki got hit number 258, breaking the 84-year-old record set by George Sisler (a fellow Michigan alumnus, and the player once called by Ty Cobb "the nearest thing to a perfect ballplayer." Of course, Ty never saw Ichiro play.). And we were there for the excitement! I bought the tickets for this game back in March and though I would love to say it was with fantastic prescience, in truth I did so not knowing how significant the night would be.
It was amazing; the stadium was full (probably the first time we'd seen anywhere near a capacity crowd all year) and the fans were hungry for it, cheering Ichiro the moment he was announced, chanting his name when he approached the plate. He didn't make us wait, tying the record on his first at-bat, breaking it on the second. Of course, the game came to a full stop while the fireworks went off, the crowd went wild, and his teammates came out to congratulate him. Five members of Sisler's family were there including his daughter and grandson; Ichiro went over to them and received their congratulations, then tipped his hat to a crowd that hadn't stopped standing or cheering the whole time.
No player deserves it more, no player is more focused and dedicated to the game and his team than Ichiro. He's got all that talent - hitting, fielding, throwing, running - and none of the attitude that often accompanies it. I'm SO glad he broke the record it in front of the home-town crowd that adores him. The Mariners won, to boot, beating the Texas Rangers 8-3. It was a magical, wonderful night that took a lot of the sting out of a miserable season.
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