King at the Convention: Dumb and Dumber Part 1

King is so wrong so many times it's hard to keep up. He had this gem about the choice of Palin as reported by the Daily News "She will tap in to a lot of the disaffected Hillary Clinton voters who are still angry about how she was treated by the Democratic Party."

WHAT???? Can King be that dumb or is he just shoveling more of his usual BS.
I'm trying to figure out how Hillary voters who are pro-choice, pro-gun control, pro-equal rights, and support just about every Democratic liberal platform would vote for Palin who is anti-choice, pro-guns, anti-gay, and just about every far right position you can take.
Yeah, they'll flock to Palin.
Sheesh.

Got Me Some McCain/Palin Swag

And you can have some too....

Katrina Redux

So Hurricane Gustav is bearing down on the Gulf States the week of the GOP convention. Today was John McCain's 72nd birthday and the anniversary of Bush and McCain sharing birthday cake in Arizona while an American city drowned.
With Gustav poised to make an impact on the GOP convention, King had this to say "If it does work out well, it will probably be a small plus for us," said New York Rep. Peter King, top Republican on the House Homeland Security Committee, which oversees federal disaster response operations. "Obviously, if it doesn't work out well, then the Republicans are going to have a problem."

Here is a post from this site post-Katrina about King and his committee chairmanship "From 9/16/06: What the FEMA is up with Peter King?
We've been going over King wanting to be the Chairman of the Homeland Security Committee during the past few weeks here at King Watch Central and with each passing day, more questions arise about his qualification. Right now, he is Chairman of the Subcommittee on Emergency Preparedness, Science, and Technology.
Notice the words "Emergency Preparedness."
What just recently occured that showed us we are NOT prepared? A devasting hurricane.
Before we go any further though, we have to throw some history in here...
Back in the day - before Bush - FEMA, the Federal Emergency Management Agency was made a Cabinet level position by President Clinton. Clinton appointed James Lee Witt, a man with a decade of Emergency Management experience, as head of FEMA.
After 9/11, the Department of Homeland Security was created and Bush drop-kicked FEMA out of the Cabinet and into DHS. Bush then took a man with no emergency management experience and put him on charge of FEMA. Director Micheal Brown is a political hack with a patronage job
Back to today... DHS and FEMA are answerable to congress. The Homeland Security Committee has oversight of the department. FEMA is now deep in the bowels of a department created to protect us from terrorism.
Do you see the emerging problem?
FEMA which deals with all sorts of crisis from natural to man-made disasters is placed under the control of a department charged dealing with only man-made disasters.
So where are we going with this and what does King have it do with it?
King's sub-commitee over-sees "Emergency Preparedness."
BUT the problem seems to be the focus is only on terrorism. From the sub-commitees website:"Preparedness for and collective response to terrorism, including federal support to first responders; terrorism-related incident management and response; consequence mitigation; Department of Homeland Security-administered homeland security grants to first responders; conduct and coordination of exercises and training relating to mitigating the effects of and responding to terrorist attacks (including nuclear, biological, radiological, and chemical attacks on civilian populations); federal government coordination of terrorism-related emergency preparedness and response with and among state and local governments, the private sector, and the public; research, development and deployment of technology for combating terrorism; adaptation of existing technologies to homeland security prevention priorities; coordination and enhancement of Department of Homeland Security interaction on science and technology matters with the private sector, federally funded research and development centers, educational institutions, the National Laboratories, and other scientific resources; Department of Homeland Security-based science and technology entities and initiatives; conducting relevant oversight; and other matters referred to the Subcommittee by the Chairman."
See the many uses of the words "terrorism" and nothing about "natural disasters?"
That is a big issue.What is the sub-commitees role in over-seeing FEMA and natural disaster preparedness?
Go through the full commitee website and the stated mission for each sub-commitee is all about "terrorism."
Now King's sub-commitee should be dealing with the over-sight of FEMA disaster plans right?
What exactly was the sub-commitee's role in making sure FEMA natural disaster planes were up to snuff?
If King wants to be chairman of the full Homeland Security Commitee he needs to show he was an effective sub-commitee chairman."

Back from Vacation

Much on Peter "Archie Bunker" King coming right up.

The King of Forgetfullness

King spoke to Newsday about declining republican fortunes and says “I think they’re two separate [problems] that came together at the same time,” King said yesterday. “There were local issues, going back to the late 1990s, in Nassau County with its budget problems. And Suffolk has had a disunited Republican party. Even just taking the congressional seats on Long Island, we didn’t lose any of them due to national issues,” he said, as some local losses came in otherwise flush GOP years."

Just in case King forgot, Carolyn McCarthy ran on Gun Control which is a national issue and she won and keeps winning.

And FYI Peter, the Nassau County budget problems existed in the early 1990's when YOU were the County Comptroller.

King Forgets Who He Supported for President, Takes Completely Opposite Position

I think it is because King likes to hear himself talk that most times he just says dumb things. In a comment to the NYSun about Senator Joe Lieberman being picked as McCain's VP, King says Lieberman is the right choice "Rep. Peter King, a Long Island Republican, said social conservatives are making a mistake by opposing Mr. Lieberman, arguing that the 2004 Democratic vice presidential nominee could help deliver Mr. McCain the election in November. While ardent abortion foes have said the "pro-life" principle is too important to give up for the sake of political pragmatism, Mr. King turned the argument on its head, saying that electing an anti-abortion president in Mr. McCain outweighs the risk of a more conservative vice presidential pick that would ultimately lose to Senator Obama in November.
""They would be the ones morally responsible for electing a pro-choice president," Mr. King said of Mr. Lieberman's right-wing critics in an interview with The New York Sun yesterday."

So, King is OPPOSED to elected a pro-choice president.
So why did he support Guiliani for president. Rudy has always been pro-choice.
King wants his party that has very few principles give up on it's remaining principle just like King does just to get elected.

King Supports Off-Shore Oil Drilling.. on Long Island

I knew King supported off-shore drilling but like his support for Nuclear Power plants, I figured he'd be against it here.
Surprise, surprise.
King supports drilling in the waters off Long Island.
He appeared Friday on FOX News' 'Your World with Neil Cavuto.' Here is King in his own words:
"ASMAN: Let me ask you specifically, personally, there's the NIMBY factor here, not in my back yard. Are you even for drilling off the coast of New York?

KING: Absolutely.
And, listen, we can't be saying somebody else always has to do it. I have absolutely no problem at all, because today's drilling is so environmentally sensitive and safe, and what's at stake here is far too important.
We're talking about, really, taking on Islamic terrorism. We can't allow ourselves to be held hostage to countries which could become enemies tomorrow."

Yeah, today's drilling is so "environmentally sensitive and safe." Just ask Norway which had it's second worst spill in history a few months ago; "...the spill was estimated at 3,840 cubic meters of oil, which corresponds to 24,154 barrels of oil."

Happy Fourth of July and 'Why I Do This"

Here's hoping everyone has a safe and enjoyable Independence Day.

I am often attacked and derided by those I post about on my websites. They don't like that I am watching what they are doing and letting others know how their elected officials are doing or not doing the people's work.
To those who believe that Freedom of Speech should not extend to factual criticism of the government, I will continue like The Albany Project and Daily Kos and so many others do and use my voice and my right to speak up.

I offer the poem 'First they came...' written by Pastor Martin Niemöller:

"In Germany, they came first for the Communists, And I didn’t speak up because I wasn’t a Communist;
And then they came for the trade unionists, And I didn’t speak up because I wasn’t a trade unionist;
And then they came for the Jews, And I didn’t speak up because I wasn’t a Jew;
And then . . . they came for me . . . And by that time there was no one left to speak up."

King Gets Hypocritical on Illegal Irish ex-IRA fugitive

King is all about protecting the borders, no amnesty for illegals and taking a hardline on law-breakers... unless of course they are ex-IRA gunmen here in the US.
The Brownsville Texas Herald reports that IRA fugitive from justice Pol Brennan was arrested at the Sarita checkpoint. Border Patrol agents caught him with an expired work permit. He was denied bail and held at a detention facility.
King comes to Brennan's defense "My experience dealing with (Irish) republicans is that they don't jump bail in this country. They honor their commitments. Based on my experience, and also the republican movement's commitment to the peace process, I think he should get bail."

Brennan already proved himself untrustworthy when he BROKE OUT OF PRISON 25 years ago!!!!!
Exactly what "committment" did Brennan "honor" then?????

And what does the peace process in Ireland have to do with a former IRA gunman here on an expired work visa?
Brennan "had been serving a 23-year sentence at the prison after being convicted of possessing a bomb and a firearm." when he broke out of prison 25 years ago.
Just an innocent Irish lad trying to get by in this world right Peter?

Why was Brennan allowed to stay here in the first place? He was a terrorist.
Why is King once again defending a terrorist?

"In April, Texas immigration judge Howard Achtsam rejected Brennan's bail petition because he deemed Brennan a flight risk and a danger to society."

More background from the article "For much of the 1980s and ‘90s, while being pursued by British authorities, Brennan lived quietly under the name Pol Morgan, and worked in the construction industry throughout the United States. He was arrested in 1994, and fought a lengthy battle against extradition. During the fight, he spent three years in Bay Area prisons.
But in 2000, the British government withdrew requests for Brennan and other participants of the 1983 Maze prison break as a part of the Belfast Agreement. The agreement normalized relations between Northern Ireland and the rest of the United Kingdom."

The Belfast Telegraph reports "US authorities have known about Brennan’s whereabouts since the FBI arrested him in Berkley, California in 1993.
Although Britain dropped its seven-year drive to have Brennan extradited in 2000, Department of Homeland Security prosecutors now want him deported because he entered the US using a phony name months after the escape."