Another socialist blog

In an interview with NPR, Al Gore makes clear that the Democratic Party doesn’t stand for anything, something Socialists have been saying for decades. About 6 minutes 17 seconds into the interview, he is asked “What does it mean to be a Democrat?” His answer:

Well, I can tell you what I think it means to be a Democrat, but in the Presidential election of 2004, we will pick a nominee, and that person will define, for many, what it means to be a Democrat.

There you have it. The standard-bearer of the Democratic Party says there’s nothing that defines what the Democratic Party is all about, except whatever their next candidate says the party is about.

I commute a long way to work (about 50 miles), so I’ve been waiting for a chance to get a car with great mileage. When the maintenance on my Olds Calais started getting too high (at 185,000 miles), I bought a Honda Insight, and it’s a great car.

Except for one thing: the seat belts don’t fit large-size passengers, such as for instance my beautiful wife. I figured I could solve that problem by just going out and buying a seat belt extender for the car. The Honda sales guy told me I could do that. How hard could that be?

Turns out it could be impossible. There are no seat belt extenders for Honda cars available anywhere in the United States. And Honda, as a matter of corporate policy, refuses to manufacture them. If you call Honda they will tell you—I am not making this up—that if you can’t fasten their safety belts you should drive one of their competitors’ products instead.

It turns out federal regulations only require the auto makers to provide a belt to fit people ranging from a 102-lb woman to a 215-lb man. That’s supposed to cover 90% of the population, but in fact the standard is so out of date that it may exclude a quarter of all adult women And it ignores the needs of the people who fall outside the standard. All of whom are subject to seat belt laws.

There are links on Elizabeth Fisher’s fine site that will allow you to file an online comment with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, which is considering a more sensible regulation. Let them hear from you.

It is Election Day in the United States, a day reserved for the peaceful resolution of conflicts by democratic means.

Today NPR reports that the CIA has assassinated a suspected terrorist using a missile fired from an unmanned aircraft. Assassinations are illegal under U.S. law, but the Bush Administrations claims that law doesn’t apply in wartime, and of course we’re in a state of permanent war, so the White House is asserting the right to assassinate anyone, anywhere, at any time.

There is celebration in Redmond as the anti-trust settlement written by Microsoft has now been approved by a judge. There’s to be no breakup of the company, no forced disclosure of source code, certainly no multi-billion-dollar fine levied at the company, which is still guilty of violating antitrust law.

Looks like Microsoft’s $1 million bribe to the Republican Party has paid off big. The Ashcroft Justice Department has been their shameless ally in getting this sweetheart deal.