| "Congress shall make no law... abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press..." |
| "Congress shall make no law... abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press..." |
The Los Angeles Times has apologized for a false accusation against P.Diddy. He was not involved in the murder of Tupac Shakur.
So why hasn't CBS apologized to President Bush for the forged "memos from the Texas Air National Guard"?
Oh, right, he's a capitalist white guy who believes in law and order.
Anti-abortion postings ordered removed
Were the postings in question trying to make a rational argument against abortion?
No. Whoops! The Disassociated Press must have been dreaming again.
The postings were advocating murder. (Never mind the facile comparison of murder and abortion.)
How about "Postings threatening life of abortionist ordered removed"?
Kathy Griffin says she was joking at the Emmy Awards.
Either her timing's way off, or it became a joke only after the damage was done.
But look on the bright side: nobody is rioting or calling for her beheading. If she'd said "Allah" instead of "Jesus," I'm sure she'd have round-the-clock police protection right now.
A "nor'easter" over New York City and the Eastern Seaboard (from the southwest, oh well) is dumping lots of snow and cold rain, making life very inconvenient, possibly dangerous, for people there.
Into this mix, CBS meteorologist John Bolaris tried to impress his viewers with this:
As of 11 on Sunday evening, New York City received 6.41 inches of rain, the fourth wettest day of all time, and the heaviest rainfall in 30 years.
Being from the Midwest, the rainfall doesn't impress me nearly as much as Bolaris' access to a time machine. Maybe he can also put to rest the argument about whether or not Babe Ruth actually pointed to where he intended to hit the ball in the 1932 World Series.
What's that? Bolaris doesn't have a time machine?
Ignoramus.
Gentlemen, take your positions.
Ready...
Set...
Seriously, you'd think the yearly ritual of bashing Christ's Resurrection would be getting old after almost 2,000 years. But no, the so-called "post-modern" heretics can find lots of tawdry new ways to express their hatred.
Can we expect the same attitude from James Cameron towards Islam? I'm not holding my breath.
Update 2007-02-26 01:30pm EST: Cameron has exposed his dilettante side:
Archaeologists and clergymen in the Holy Land derided claims in a new documentary produced by James Cameron that contradict major Christian tenets, but the Oscar-winning director said the evidence was based on sound statistics.
Lies, damned lies, and...
A new headline from al-Reuters:
Suspected Greek militants fire rocket at U.S. embassy
"Suspected militants"? Well, if they fired a rocket at non-combatants, doesn't that make them militants by definition?
"Suspected militants"? Or "Suspected Greeks"? In their morally ambiguous universe, I doubt al-Reuters knows.
Apparently, the NYT can't learn any new tricks, so they start 2007 with their favorite old trick: bashing conservatives for imagined transgressions. In this case, the "transgression" is posting the video of Saddam's execution taken by an amateur with a cell phone.
There's just one little catch: Charles Johnson hasn't posted the video, only a link to it. In fact, he has only linked to the feed from Google Video so far.
So, in one fell swoop, Bill Carter's reckless writing manages to screw it up in three different ways:
Here's hoping the New York Times files for bankruptcy in 2007, the sooner, the better.
Human Rights Watch has sunk to a new level of hypocrisy, with their call not to execute the Butcher of Baghdad (and Agence France-Presse's full assistance in spreading such vile excrement). Why they wish to grant him "rights" which his victims never got, I don't understand.
From the article:
Human Rights Watch urged the Iraqi government not to execute Saddam Hussein, describing the trial that convicted the former president for crimes against humanity as "deeply flawed."
Where were they when Saddam Hussein and his sons were running people through plastic shredders, feet first? Where was HRW when Uday Hussein's iron maiden was discovered?
"Imposing the death penalty, indefensible in any case, is especially wrong after such unfair proceedings," said Richard Dicker, director of Human Rights Watch's international justice programme.
It isn't "indefensible in any case." Just ask the families of Clarence Ray Allen's victims. He was already behind bars, but he still presented a danger to society. And HRW would have him still alive, still endangering people.
"That a judicial decision was first announced by Iraq's national security adviser underlines the political interference that marred Saddam Hussein's trial," he added.
No, the announcement was left to the national security adviser, so that he could take measures to prepare security forces for the announcement.
Saddam was sentenced to death in November after a trial lasting more than a year for ordering the deaths of 148 Shiite civilians from the town of Dujail, north of Baghdad, after an assassination attempt in 1982.
Punishing the whole town for the "crime" of a few? This in itself should irritate HRW, but noooo.
A panel of Iraqi judges rejected his appeal and upheld the sentence earlier Tuesday, setting the stage for the ousted dictator to be hanged within 30 days.
Again, this is more than Saddam's victims ever got, but don't expect HRW to notice this inconvenient little fact.
New York-based Human Rights Watch said the Iraqi appeals court should have conducted a thorough legal review of the verdict.
How does HRW know that the case didn't get a proper review? A panel of judges (and their numerous assistants, interns, secretaries, and other staffers) determined that the appeal was without merit.
The rights watchdog last month identified serious flaws in Saddam's trial, describing the trial in a 97-page report as "marred by so many procedural and substantive flaws that the verdict is unsound."
How many "trials" under Saddam had the same flaws? I heard no cries from HRW for "justice" over those cases.
Human Rights Watch routinely opposes the use of the death penalty, describing the punishment as inherently inhumane.
Unless the "criminal" is someone who converted from Islam to Christianity. Or a Muslim-born woman who highlights Islamic misogyny.Or one of the ~5 million Jews in Israel. Or any number of other "infractions" claimed by Muslims, in which cases HRW grants consent with their comparative silence. I would hardly call this opposition "routine."
It's time for Human Rights Watch to get over their selective "tolerance" and face facts: their history is replete with defense of murderous dictators, but no similarly vigorous defense of the victims of these self-declared thugs. Without a serious re-thinking of their core principles, Human Rights Watch risks falling into the dustbin of history.
During a rather "interesting" conversation with my mother about politics in public education, the topic of Sesame Street came up. We both agreed that in the past ten years, the CTW has taken their political correctness a bit too far (Near! Far!), but then she said something that surprised me:
"Even in their early days, I didn't like their attitude about inner city life."
Now, this is my Mom we're talking about. My semi-liberal, pro-life Mom, who practically embodies the "live and let live" approach to life. I asked for an example, but she couldn't give me one. The best she could offer was the people on Sesame Street who seem unnaturally satisfied with life in the concrete jungle.
A couple minutes later, I found the perfect example of what's wrong with Sesame Street: Oscar the Grouch. Think about it:
Worst of all:
These are not things I would want my kids to learn. That is, if I had any kids.
I will place no pink ribbon, pink logo, ping slogan, or any other pink on this website, even if October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month. I will do no such thing until there is an equal media blitz for Lung Cancer Awareness Month.
According to the American Cancer Society's own statistics, breast cancer is expected to claim over 40,000 women's lives in 2006, while lung cancer will take over 72,000 women's lives, making it almost twice as deadly as breast cancer for women.
I'll be blunt: If the Politically Correct crowd were truly worried about women's health, they would have a much stronger sense of proportion. As it is, their fixation on women's breasts undercuts their stated mission.
"His interactions with customers seemed somewhat capricious" may describe the Soup Nazi, but it doesn't really touch the mass media's treatment of Christians and Muslims. The Muslims can expect the Politically Correct speech police to protect them from any potential offense, including factual criticism, but for the Christian George W. Bush, who was just "assassinated" in Death of a President, they have just four words:
"No empathy for you!"
It's not capricious; it's totally predictable. Thankfully, not everybody in Hollywood is saying this.
When JonBenet Ramsey was murdered, the whole nation went into a tizzy. Many talking heads excoriated Patsy Ramsey for turning her daughter into a little showpiece (and the JonBenet pageant videos did leave us looking askance). Others accused the police of incompetence, demanding the immediate arrest, conviction, and execution of both of JonBenet's parents.
The big problem I had with the whole case wasn't with the handling, but rather with the presentation. The JonBenet case became a national shocker, because she was a sweet, compliant, and above all cute little girl. If the victim had instead been an adolescent genius on the verge of schizophrenia, would the mass media have been all over the case? Not bloody likely. Children die every day, and the news producers barely gives them a passing glance.
Unless a pro-Hiz'b'allah propagandist calls their attention to it. Then we get to see the corpses, from several angles, posed like vases at an auction.
Bastards.
The news bias at Reuters has finally been exposed, from the stringers on the ground to the top echelons of the corporation. The evidence is incontrovertible: a bad Photoshop "clone tool" job, trying to make Beirut look both bigger and smokey-er, playing for anti-Zionist sympathies around the world.
The likely culprit is one Adnan Hajj, a "freelancer" who has been caught staging photos, most recently from the massacre in Qana, Lebanon. Even if one can ignore Hiz'b'allah using civilians as cover for their para-military activities, the reporting on the event, including Hajj's photos, was highly suspect.
Big, MONSTER kudos once again to Charles Johnson, the webmaster of Little Green Footballs, for delivering the goods on this story. Thanks to his fearlessness, and lots of backup from other blogs, Reuters has to own up to its own willful negligence. Reuters has pulled all 920 of Adnan Hajj's photos from their portfolio, two days after they blacklisted him. I doubt any major press agency of any political stripe will want to hire him.
But don't expect Reuters to mention Charles or LGF, natch:
Reuters ended its relationship with Hajj on Sunday after it found that a photograph he had taken of the aftermath of an Israeli air strike on suburban Beirut had been manipulated using Photoshop software to show more and darker smoke rising from buildings.
"After it [Reuters] found?" Reuters didn't find this, or if they did, they didn't care until they got caught. Is that just pathetic? Even CNN gets it, and that's saying something!
The damage to Reuters' credibility may be irreversible. I know I won't bother reading any of their stories any more.
(Warning: adult image contained within.)
From Reuters:
American radio hangs up on Madonna
NEW YORK (Billboard) - Madonna is in the midst of a sold-out North American trek that may end up being the top-grossing tour ever by a female artist. But this on-the-road success is not carrying over to American radio, which largely snubbed the first three singles from her latest album....
Naturally, the disconnect has left executives at her Warner Bros. label -- and more than a few fans -- wondering, what gives?
Oh, maybe something like this:
The sad part is, this photo was included with the article.
I gave up hope a long time ago that Reuters could see beyond its nose. This is just another example in a long list of ignoring the obvious.
So Rush Limbaugh takes Viagra(tm). Why does Ass-Press writer Brian Skoloff wait until the sixth paragraph to refer to this as an "alleged violation" of the court deal?
Seriously, the media reports are less about Rush's legal troubles than they are about getting his entire medical history into public view. Whichever lawman leaked this is on par with the New York Times' reckless disregard for reporting integrity.
Also, where is the invocation of HIPAA? The US Customs agents and the Florida sheriff's office became aware of Rush's prescription, only because of their professional duties. Without court action (a judge's order or arrest warrant), this places them within the boundaries established by HIPAA, where medical confidentiality is required. Michelle Malkin is ranting about the lefties' double standard on privacy, but never mentions it. Even the HIPAA-specific HIPAA Blog has nothing on their main page, as of right now (3:28AM EDT).
I hope Roy Black sues these officers of the law into monetary bankruptcy. It would complement their moral bankruptcy well.
Here's a lovely gem from the ignorami who manage the CBSNews.com site:
It appears these dorks can't be bothered to do a simple lookup on Wikipedia.
Charles at LGF posted about this at 12:04 AM EDT. At 5:04 AM, this screenshot still reflects reality. That's five hours they've had to correct this.
If I had to hazard a guess, I'd say ejecting Dan Rather hasn't raised their collective IQ.
This evening's news on NBC had a report on "civility," or the lack of it, in public discourse. For their prime latest example, they used clips of Ann Coulter exposing terror enablers on the Today show opposite Matt Lauer.
Conspicuously absent were clips of Al Franken's earlier appearance, in which he called for the executions of Karl Rove and Lewis Libby for treason. Also absent were the laughter of Matt Lauer and the production staff at such a comment.
Where was NBC when Al Gore made his insulting "extra chromosome" comment? (Or the myriad others from the Sore Loserman.) What about Franken, Margaret Cho, Janeane Garofalo, and the other denizens of Air America spew their hateful bile? Where is the NBC Nightly News report on their lack of civility? The indignation of NBC appears to me hypocritical, selective, and quite tardy.
This doesn't even touch on the insults and character assassination of Jack "ex-Marine" Murtha and Dick "Turban" Durban, the bigotry of Jesse Jackson and Ray Nagin, or the outright hatred displayed by any number of protesters at appearances by Michelle Malkin and Alan Dershowitz.
NBC and their ilk can kiss my pasty blue-collar ass. (Now where's my interview with Matt Lauer?)
Kimberly Dozier's treatment in a military hospital took away resources meant for our soldiers. Will CBS make up the cost? Ha!
I heard Katie Couric admit to the world, on this morning's live TV show "Today," that she has "played grab-ass" with Regis Philbin. If true, this isn't simple sexual harassment; it's sexual assault, and Ms. Couric is the perpetrator.
Was she out there saying "tut-tut" when Dianne Parkinson sued Bob Barker for harassment? Did she cheer for Lorena Bobbitt? Oh, but those were different. Women were the victims, not the perps. It's okay for a woman to touch a man any way she wants, isn't it?
No, it isn't. It's just another case of "do as I say, not as I do" for all the world to see.
The timing couldn't have been better. A suicide attempt prison riot at Gitmo, on the same day the United Nations chided the U.S. for their "maltreatment" of the prisoners.
I'll say it again: The next time some arrogant "human rights" asses (especially from the U.N. or Amnesty International) shows up at Gitmo, arrest them for espionage. Let them get a first-hand experience of life with Taliban supporters. Then, six months later, if they're found "not guilty" in a military tribunal, put them on a plane to Denmark. Before they leave the runway, make sure they understand that there won't be a trial the next time they show up at Gitmo.
(H/T: Michelle Malkin.)
Has the mainstream press given up trying to make hay out of the NSA domestic spying wiretapping call records database? More importantly, have they actually bothered to look up any pertinent case law or actual legislation?
I won't be one of their sheep. I already know what the Constitution says.
First point: Congress has the power to approve or reject dealing with foreign entities (Art. 1, Sect. 10). This authorizes them to investigate international phone records of United States corporations.
Second point: The President, as Commander in Chief, is empowered to make decisions regarding the implementation and execution of our border policies (Art. II, Sect. 2). When a phone call crosses the national border, it automatically enters the jurisdiction of the Executive Branch.
Third point: The NSA is specifically charged with monitoring foreign communication and defending the domestic communication infrastructure. The telephone companies and any Internet-capable transmission (cable TV, satellite, wireless) are required under CALEA to grant a communications interception for any authorized request.
The real problem seems to be who is leading the defense of our nation. The liberals in the USA didn't seem to have a problem when a Democrat-majority Congress passed CALEA and a Democrat president signed it. But let a Republican administration and a Republican-majority Congress use CALEA, and all hell breaks loose in the doom-and-gloom press.
Fourth point: Whoever revealed this terrorist-tracking activity should be charged with high treason. If loose lips sink ships, then someone just torpedoed part of our national defense.
With so much going on in the world, and an uncooperative desktop computer, I feel overwhelmed at all the comments I could have made, but didn't. It's time to do some catching up.
The Communism-Islamofascism Connection: The admiration of Saddam Hussein for Stalin and his purges is well-documented. Now we also see how Hugo Chávez is buddying up to Ahmadinejad. Isn't it interesting how election-stealing thugs of a feather flock together?
End of the World As We Know It? Glenn Beck is now doing an hour of TV every night on CNN Headline News. I'm hearing rants I never thought I'd hear on a CNN channel.
The Coming Mumps Epidemic: Where did it go? I haven't heard any mention of it on the news for over a week now.
Everything New is Old Again: First, The DaVinci Code. Then the Judas "gospel." People just won't learn that their attacks against Christianity will wither in the face of these two promises from the Lord:
Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost:
Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen. (Matt. 28:19-20)
But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you. (John 14:26)
"Unto the end of the world," no matter what attacks we may suffer from the many-lettered among us who consider themselves "above it all." Tertullian knew of the Judas "gospel" and dismissed it out-of-hand because of its inconsistency with the validated historical tradition (later called the "New Testament").
And yet, despite all these attacks, I hear no calls for beheading nor reports of riots. Unlike some other perpetually-offended "victims."
Another idiot journalist tries to defend Mary McCarthy with this twisted thinking:
The firing of CIA intelligence analyst Mary McCarthy this week for allegedly leaking classified information has touched off a red-hot debate about who gets to leak, who doesn't, and what it all means for what Americans know about their government. (emphasis mine)
"Americans"? The question in this case isn't about what Americans know about their government's actions. It's what the WHOLE BLOODY WORLD knows about our process of waging war.
"This a matter of principle," said Ray McGovern, a former fellow CIA analyst, "where she said my oath, my promise not to reveal secrets is superceded by my oath to defend the constitution of the U.S."
Maybe that should be "Ray McGovern, a fellow ex-CIA wuss who thinks he's above the law". If McGovern bothered to read the Constitution, he would have found the following:
Treason against the United States, shall consist only in levying War against them, or in adhering to their Enemies, giving them Aid and Comfort. (Art. III, Section 3)
No stretch of the imagination gives Mary McCarthy, Ray McGovern, or any other CIA employee the permission to take it upon himself or herself to reveal classified material about conduct with foreign nations. ("Unilateral action," anyone?) That authority is reserved strictly for Congress and the President. McCarthy and McGovern are more worried about discrediting George W. Bush than they are about "Freedom of the Press" or their ostensible "Constitutional duties."
Finally, there's this arrogant sub-header on the story:
Some See Media's Watchdog Function at Risk
With Drudge, Little Green Footballs, and Roger L. Simon exposing the anti-freedom biases in the New York Times and the Washington Post, with Michelle Malkin reporting stories that the NYT and WaPo bury in section D or totally spike, I'd say the media's watchdogs are doing just fine.
Just observed on the front page of the Cleveland Plain Dealer, this headline:
Hidden in the Heartland: Immigrants here watch, worry
"Hidden"? On the top headline of the Sunday edition of the second-largest newspaper in the state? That's on par with Juan Cole complaining to Newsweek that his Free Speech is being infringed. Only in the liberal media would such self-contradiction go unnoticed.
I've had too much going on lately, and it's affecting the blogging. So, for a break, tonight I'm going to hang out with my brother, and maybe even watch the South Park "Cartoon Wars" episodes back to back. You know, the ones with the censored Mohammed!
(If you want to see what was censored, check Bareknucklepolitics. Or, it might be what was censored. Even if it's fake, it's very much in keeping with the spirit, animation, and attitude of the episode.)
Update 11:56pm: They still wimped out. A second chance to do the right thing, and they threw it away.
A blogger claiming to have experience in Baghdad (titled, appropriately enough, I WAS THERE) is reporting on the crude attempts at censorship in Iraq:
Khalid Bookshop was the first target for the new insurgents’ strategy; it is the oldest bookshop at Rabi Street, west of Baghdad, it was set on fire around 9 pm on Monday, no casualties but every thing in the book shop was burned. [emphasis added]
That's every thing, including that holiest Islamic book:
The fire ate all the books, many Korans (Muslims Holy Book) were on the floor either burned or half burned, some workers were cleaning the shop, which the fire turned all its walls and roof into black; Khalid was standing in the middle of the shop, sad and scared, "I can not say any thing, I afraid to say any thing that will make every thing worse, thanks God that we are all alive and no one was hurt," Ani said.
Burned Korans. Korans on the floor. Probably also soaked Korans, if the firefighters showed up. Who knows how many times the names "Allah" and "Mohammed" were burned or smeared beyond legibility?
Reports in Newsweek of reckless treatment of Korans were cited as a reason for anti-US riots last year (even though Newsweek quickly recanted the allegations). How long until we see a similar display of anger directed at Syria and Iran, for supporting such blatant anti-Islamic hatred?
I'm waiting.
Waiting...
(H/T: Pajamas Media.)
CBSNews.com takes issue with those turning the tables:
"Well-placed sources," "people close" to the situation, "two sources close" to decision-makers, "sources say," "insiders," and "a person close." Those are the kinds of sourcing phrases you’d expect to see in a big story about, oh, say the rationale for invading Iraq. Today, they’re characterizations reserved for stories about Katie Couric’s seemingly imminent decision to leave NBC News and become the new anchor for CBS News. If this were about weapons of mass destruction, would we believe they exist?
Oh, puh-leez. If I were a betting man, I'd put US$5 on Katie "Miss Perky" Couric herself using at least three of those phrases during her first week at CBS.
Notice the dig at George W. Bush: "If this were about weapons of mass destruction, would we believe they exist?" Well, if someone dropped a VX missile down Vaughn Ververs' trousers, would he still believe there were no WMD's in Iraq?
Borders and Waldenbooks have chosen this day whom they will serve:
Borders and Waldenbooks stores will not stock the April-May issue of Free Inquiry magazine because it contains cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad that provoked deadly protests among Muslims in several countries.
"For us, the safety and security of our customers and employees is a top priority, and we believe that carrying this issue could challenge that priority," Borders Group Inc. spokeswoman Beth Bingham said Wednesday. [emphasis and link added]
Wow. Just... wow. This story is rife with kowtowing.
Borders (a subsidiary of Amazon.com whom I boycott) claims their customers' safety and security as a top priority. Do they realize that they are actually endangering their customers by caving in to threats of violence? Giving the bully what he wants only emboldens him. Breaking the bully's nose (or neck, if necessary) is how you get him to leave you alone.
Of course, if the bully were a network of Christian radicals, Borders would have no second thought about telling them "go to hell."
Borders isn't the only culpable party here. The AP writer, Carolyn Thompson, didn't care to do any research that would endanger the credibility of her Muslim masters, as shown in this simple statement:
Islamic tradition bars depiction of Muhammad to prevent idol worship, which is strictly prohibited.
Ms. Thompson couldn't bother to do a simple Yahoo search for "mohammed depictions" to find the demonstrable falsehood of such a claim. She also conveniently forgets her recent history, with the statement from the earlier quote:
[The cartoons] provoked deadly protests among Muslims in several countries.
No, the cartoons provoked nothing. They had been published for four months before the rioting (not "protests"!) started. It took radical Muslims from Denmark and other European countries that long to get their sheep to take to the streets in a coordinated display of "rage." (Gee, where have we seen that recently? Oh, yeah.)
I propose that AP change their name to "Allah Press," since that seems to be their true allegiance these days.
The AP put out this anonymous bit of stupid fluff about air quality in the three most in-your-face liberal states: California, New York, and Oregon. To put a fine point on it, laws don't clean air. If anything, there appears to be some kind of correlation between clean air laws (including anti-smoking laws) and dirty air!
I will grant that the report is based on data from seven years ago, so things may have changed significantly since then. But 1999 was still the Clinton era, and these states had a near carte-blanche to restrict people's lives in any way their legislatures saw fit. A whole fat lot of good it did, huh?
As a side note, the cancer risk statistics are reported incompletely. A figure like "68 per million" is meaningless without a time frame. Are these 68 people going to develop cancer in a week, a year, or a lifetime? My guess is over a year, but that's only a guess, no thanks to the shoddy reporting from the anonymous coward at the AP.
(H/T: My mother, who hates New York specifically because of their anti-smoking laws.)
Men of peace sleep soundly at night, because rough men stand ready to do violence on their behalf.—probably not George Orwell, but true nonetheless
Ruth Marcus' current WaPo editorial follows another anti-male (and, by inclusion, anti-Bush) line: Only women are allowed to choose strength, or not; manliness should be denigrated and reviled:
No wimpiness worries now. This is an administration headed by a cowboy boot-wearing brush-clearer, backstopped by a quail-shooting fly fisherman comfortable with long stretches of manly silence -- very "Brokeback Mountain," except this crowd considers itself too manly for such PC Hollywood fare.
How veddy droll of Ms. Marcus. Did you notice the anti-gay slur? Too bad her attempts at character assassination don't stop there.
She goes on:
But the manliness of the Bush White House has a darker side that has proved more curse than advantage. The prime example is the war in Iraq: the administration's assertion of the right to engage in preemptive and unilateral war; the resolute avoidance of debate about the "slam-dunk" intelligence on weapons of mass destruction; the determined lack of introspection or self-doubt about the course of the war; and the swaggering dismissal of dissenting views as the carping of those not on the team.
Back to these old canards: unilateral, weapons of mass destruction, swaggering. Point by point:
Finally, she begs permission for her nasal whining:
What this country could use is a little less manliness -- and a little more of what you would describe as womanly qualities: restraint, introspection, a desire for consensus, maybe even a touch of self-doubt.
But that's just my view.
The last line might as well read, "It's the best hope jihadis have."
Ruth Marcus is addicted to comfort, subsumed in comfort—to the point that she can't understand why anyone would choose something different. I doubt it has crossed her mind that some choose short-term discomfort, to assure her comfort in her little ivory tower.
Let her choose comfort. Just don't let her require the same of everyone else, especially our defenders.
A blatantly biased AP headline: Mo. Drama Teacher Resigns in Play Flap. The "flap" resulted when teacher Wendy DeVore decided to say "screw you" to the people providing her paycheck: the parents of her students. It's time for a Fisking! (Typical disclaimers apply.)
A central Missouri high school drama teacher whose spring play was canceled after complaints about tawdry content in one of her previous productions will resign rather than face a possible firing. (Like Frank Sinatra, she did it her way.)
"It became too much to not be able to speak my mind or defend my students without fear or retribution," said Fulton High School teacher Wendy DeVore.
(Stop right there. "Defend my students"? That's their parents' job; DeVore's job is to teach them.)
DeVore's students were to perform Arthur Miller's "The Crucible," a drama set during the 17th Century Salem witch trials.
(I hear the irony dripping onto the keyboard. A play about the evils of religious fundamentalism, thwarted by religious fundamentalism. Why should the AP and Alan Scher Zagier care how shaky the "historical" basis is? It would only weaken their disparaging agenda about Christians.)
But after a handful (a vague, unverifiable quantity) of Callaway Christian Church members complained about scenes in the fall musical "Grease" that showed teens smoking, drinking and kissing, Superintendent Mark Enderle told DeVore to find a more family-friendly substitute.
DeVore chose Shakespeare's "A Midsummer Night's Dream," a classic romantic comedy with its own dicey subject matter, including suicide, rape and losing one's virginity.
(This seems to be an intentional abiguation of "romantic." A Midsummer Night's Dream isn't so much a comedy about love, as a comedy about a bad dream. Besides, if it's such a "romantic comedy," why haven't Billy Crystal and/or Meg Ryan done it yet?)
DeVore, 31, a six-year veteran teacher, said administrators told her that her annual contract might not be renewed. (The annual contract indicates that she doesn't have tenure, which isn't surprising for someone six years in the business. Now she has to start from scratch somewhere else. Still, she did it her way!)
"Maybe I need to find a school that's a better match," she said. (I hear California is looking for some "enlightened" teachers.)
Both Enderle and the high school principal declined to discuss DeVore's resignation, citing privacy concerns. The resignation must still be approved by the school board.
Publicity over the drama debate, including a front-page story in The New York Times, has cast an unflattering light on Fulton as an intolerant small town, several of DeVore's colleagues said.
(Welcome to the club, Fulton! Don't worry about it; the rest of us with brains see the truth: You are guarding your children against a rogue adult who wants to undermine your authority.)
"We have become a laughingstock," teacher Paula Fessler told The Fulton Sun.
(Oh, boo hoo, you arrogant twit! With that attitude, it's no wonder you aren't working in the private sector. No supervisor worth her paycheck would keep you around.)
The Associated Press has issued a "clarification" regarding their reporting on Michael Brown's sniping at President Bush. Note the time on the story:
AP FRIDAY NIGHT CLARIFICATION ON BUSH/KATRINA VIDEO
Fri Mar 03 2006 19:48:29 ETClarification: Katrina-Video story
ASSOCIATED PRESSWASHINGTON (AP) - In a March 1 story, The Associated Press reported that federal disaster officials warned President Bush and his homeland security chief before Hurricane Katrina struck that the storm could breach levees in New Orleans, citing confidential video footage of an Aug. 28 briefing among U.S. officials.
The Army Corps of Engineers considers a breach a hole developing in a levee rather than an overrun. The story should have made clear that Bush was warned about floodwaters overrunning the levees, rather than the levees breaking.
The day before the storm hit, Bush was told there were grave concerns that the levees could be overrun. It wasn't until the next morning, as the storm was hitting, that Michael Brown, then head of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, said Bush had inquired about reports of breaches. Bush did not participate in that briefing.
They "corrected" their error at twelve minutes before eight o'clock in the evening, well into the weekend news cycle. Weekend newspapers were nearly ready to go to press, broadcast network news was in pre-production stages, and nobody was going to make room for this.
I submit to the world that the AP editors knew this, and held the story until Friday evening, when it would get as little exposure as possible.
(H/T: Drudge.)
(Get it? Mardi Gras, Lent, fast. Ha ha. Okay, bad pun.)
The Michael Brown interview hyped on NBC Nightly News has already been discredited, and it hasn't even been broadcast in its entirety. It looks like the blogosphere now moves faster than the speed of light!
Some simple facts:
Conclusions:
The MSM have latched onto the story already, only to find it DOA. It doesn't help when Margaret Ebrahim (Mary Mapes' partner in crime) is banging the wrong drum again. Her BDS runs pretty deep.
(H/T: Drudge, Little Green Footballs)
Q: Can an entire television network wear a Mardi Gras mask?
A: Yes.
Brian Williams of NBC did a sit-down interview for "Dateline NBC" with Michael Brown, the former head of FEMA. Brown is doing no favors for himself or the Bush administration with his comments. Suffice to say that someone with such a poor understanding of FEMA's mission should not be its head, and Bush didn't score any points with Brown's performance.
Here's the rub: NBC Nightly News is running excerpts of the interview at the beginning of each episode this week, essentially raising a commercial for another NBC program to the head of the story list. If the story is so important, why don't they run the whole thing immediately, instead of teasing us with it every night? Maybe because they know the only way they can boost their raitings is to hype the story, rather than base it on facts and credibility.
During this week of Mardi Gras, when people dress up as someone other than their true selves, the NBC staff have exposed themselves as the self-congratulatory anti-Bush cheerleaders they are.
More death and destruction in Islamic nations today, ostensibly over the Jyllands-Posten cartoons. ABC (US) Radio had a sound bite from a Muslim apololgist:
There is a pent-up anger, a pent-up rage, at the West, because we are not in control of our destinies.
Rage at the West? More like pre-fabricated, government-sanctioned "protests," prepared over four months since they were first published on 2005-September-30. How do we know this? Because we also have three cartoons which were not published, one of which has been identified. Omar at Iraq the Model speculates that only a few middle eastern Muslims have seen the cartoons.
Middle eastern Muslims may not be in control of their destinies, but it's obvious who are the manipulators. Shame on ABC Radio for running such a soundbite without response.
Just seen on Drudge without a linked story: ABC won't air the video of Bob Woodruff's roadside bomb attack.
Of course they won't. It would show the world the reality our soldiers and Iraqis face every day, something the MSM has made great effort to hide. I don't think that's the only reason, though.
When the story of the attack first broke, ABC made a point of informing everyone that Bob Woodruff was an experienced combat reporter. They also made the mistake of outlining the series of events leading to his injuries, including some highly questionable choices on Woodruff's part:
If Mr. Woodruff is as "seasoned" as ABC touted, I believe he should have known better. I'll speculate that combat veterans will concur.
ABC has chosen to shield its anchor from such public humiliation. Before the days of the Internet, we probably would not have heard of the decision to scuttle the video.
Postscript: The video is still in the camera:
"It is not first, second, or third on anyone's mind," said the insider.
Are these "news" people totally devoid of human curiosity? Only about their own, I suppose.
Helen Thomas has her tail feathers fluffed out, in a self-important huff, all because President Bush wouldn't take any of her questions today:
"He's a coward... He's supposed to be this macho guy. He'll take on Osama bin Laden, but he won't take me on."
Really? Maybe it's just because every time she asks a question, it's only by way of lecturing him (or his lackey) about his obvious inferiority, his inept defense of the USA, and his total lack of compassion for everyone who isn't named George.
How deluded can one reporter be, to think he owes her even the time of day? Does she think she's so "above it all" that the laws of physics don't apply to her, either?
(H/T: Drudge.)
Cathy Seipp has exposed David Cay Johnston, an ivory-tower journo who thinks he's qualified to order around other reporters. He tried to tell her that she could read his email only if she'd agree to keep its contents a secret.
A reporter trying to silence another reporter? Something is terribly wrong with this picture.
Following is my own comment in the ensuing discussion.
Memo to DCJ, on the outside chance he's still reading this:
Ever heard of the First Amendment, Mr. Johnston? I suspect you have, being a reporter and all. Free Speech and Free Press are usually the very first invocations when someone complains about shoddy reporting.
It goes both ways. "Free speech for me but not for thee" is not how our country works. Unless you have a prior, contractual AGREEMENT to keep silence, nobody is bound to keep any kind of "secret" you pass along. It isn't your so-called "ethics," it's something every high-school civics student learns and every soldier has sworn to defend, even to death.
I'll be damned if I'll say nothing while you enjoy those freedoms, and simultaneously try to deny others those same freedoms.
(H/T: VodkaPundit, in his Pajamas.)
The Jawa Report, Michelle Malkin, Internet Haganah, and the FBI brought down a terror wanna-be. Vigilant citizens at their finest, and the Associated Press picked the story up immediately.
Oh? They didn't? What's their top story?
Oh well.
Side note to the ACLU, CAIR, and other terrorist sympathizers: This was practically in my parents' back yard. Don't you dare suggest that we don't need surveillance of foreign nationals. Our Constitution cannot be construed to defend outsiders who come here to do murder.
H/T: Spotted on Little Green Footballs.
