Wednesday, October 31, 2007

 

The Moment

Hillary! let slip her mask tonight live on MSNBC's Democratic debate. I believe it's going to be one of the pivotal moments of the 2008 campaign. She pushed all the wrong buttons on illegal immigration, endorsing Elliot Spitzer's plan to provide drivers' licences to illegal aliens- before saying that she did not endorse it.

To make mediamatters worse, she then retreated like, well, like a Democrat, and let the others wipe the floor with her. Big, big smackdown.



Sorry, but that ain't Presidential material.

The plot thickens.

Tuesday, October 30, 2007

 

Miller Time

Dennis Miller time, that is. Oooh, how he has angered his lessers.

Monday, October 29, 2007

 

Quote Of The Week

In the context of last week's campaign to muzzle dialogue on campuses nationwide:

Liberals claim to be terrified that the Religious Right is going to take over the culture in a country where more than a million babies are exterminated every year, kindergarteners can be expelled from school for mentioning God, and Islamic fascists are welcomed on college campuses while speakers opposed to Islamic fascism are met with angry protests.

If liberals want to face real fascism, try showing up on a college campus and denouncing fascism.


 

Wow.

Michelle Malkin on the left's campaign to defame Louisiana Governor-Elect Bobby Jindal.

 

Incorrect U

Incorrect University is open for business. Here are the articles today, Monday, October 29, 2007:
First Reid, Now The Mullahs
GW IFAW Attendee: “I want the Sharia law imposed in my country”
More From GW: Jason Mattera Interviews Protesters
Robert Spencer At DePaul
Horowitz Talks About Defending Islam on Cavuto
Islamists Infiltrate-Disrupt IFAW University Events! …Caught on Tape!
Small Columbia Protests This Morning
Protesters Speak Out at University of Washington IFAW Event
CAIR Supporter & Islamist Booted From GW’s IFAW Event
Ann Coulter

Sunday, October 28, 2007

 

Indoctrinate U

Evan Coyne Maloney discusses his film with the eeevil Sean Hannity.


Also read
THEFIRE
Power Line

 

The Liberal Interpretation

Michael Knox Beran on how liberal revisionists vilify all things distinctly American:
In the view of those who subscribe to the liberal interpretation of history, the philosophy of the Declaration[Of Independence] is antiquated. According to the liberal interpretation, all men are created equal, except for blacks, Native Americans, Alaskan natives, Hispanics, and Asian and Pacific Islanders, who are racially challenged and must be classed apart from everyone else. (Native Hawaiians will be added to the list if the Akaka Bill becomes law.) All are entitled to life, except for those whose hearts beat in the womb; to liberty, except for those who require the supervision of the nanny state; to the fruits of their industry, except for those who have made a certain amount of money and are obligated to hand a disproportionate chunk of it over to the government each year.

Central to the liberal interpretation of history is the belief that a country founded on so flawed a philosophy cannot, as a rule, be a force for good in the world. Accordingly, when the United States acts in the world it most often acts not for good, but for evil.

Viewed in the light of such an interpretation of history, Congressman Stark’s comments become comprehensible, even predictable. President Bush adheres to the Freevangelical faith of President Lincoln, who argued that the United States has a decisive role to play in advancing the cause of freedom in the world. President Bush adheres, as well, to the belief that all human beings are entitled to liberty and the fruits of their industry: he therefore opposes the enlargement of nanny-state measures like S-CHIP when alternative measures (such as tax cuts) would promote the general welfare in a better and less intrusive way.

From the point of view of those who subscribe to the liberal interpretation of history, such heterodoxy cannot be explained rationally; the President must be not merely intellectually primitive, but morally depraved, as Congressman Stark suggested when he condemned the president for defending freedom abroad while resisting S-HIP expansion at home.

...The liberal interpretation of history, by contrast, asserts that the belief in a “new beginning” is one of those national “illusions” (in the words of liberal theologian Reinhold Niebuhr) that must be punctured. Americans’ faith in freedom, Niebuhr contended, is rooted in a naïvely self-righteous conception of the country’s pre-eminent virtue.

Niebuhr was wrong. None of the great exponents of America’s faith in freedom had a naïve faith in American virtue. As Niebuhr himself conceded (in a contradiction to his own argument), the founders retained enough of the old Calvinism to know that no human soul is wholly pure. Lincoln agreed: he said that American complicity in slavery must be expiated in suffering. But both Lincoln and the founders rejected the idea that simply because men are imperfect, they are incapable of governing themselves, and must be ruled by paternal guardians.

Those who, like Congressman Stark and his supporters, subscribe to the liberal interpretation of history vilify President Bush for a reason. They are much closer than he is to the paternalist philosophy that America’s greatest champions of freedom have always repudiated.

Thursday, October 25, 2007

 

A Second Chance

While The New Republic digs in and continues to stonewall over the Soldier's Diary fiasco, Michael Yon reports that Scott Beauchamp, the central figure in this mess, is undergoing a rehabilitation. Offered a ticket home after the story blew up along with the respect of his comrades, Beauchamp elected to stay, shut his mouth, pay the price and get back to the business of soldiering. His commander is standing up for him.
Beauchamp is young; under pressure he made a dumb mistake. In fact, he has not always been an ideal soldier. But to his credit, the young soldier decided to stay, and he is serving tonight in a dangerous part of Baghdad. He might well be seriously injured or killed here, and he knows it. He could have quit, but he did not. He faced his peers. I can only imagine the cold shoulders, and worse, he must have gotten. He could have left the unit, but LTC Glaze told me that Beauchamp wanted to stay and make it right. Whatever price he has to pay, he is paying it.

...I’m with LTC Glaze on this: it’s time to let Beauchamp get back to the war. The young soldier learned his lessons. He paid enough to earn his second chance that he must know he will never get a third.

Though Beauchamp is close, I’m not going to spend half a day tracking him down when just this morning I woke to rockets launching from nearby and landing on an American base. Who has time to skin Beauchamp? We need him on his post and focused.

As for The New Republic, some on the staff may feel like they’ve been hounded and treed, but it’s hard to feel the same sympathy for a group of cowards who won’t ’fess up and can’t face the scorn of American combat soldiers who were injured by their collective lapse of judgment. It’s up to their readers to decide the ultimate fate.
Credit LTC Glaze for his wisdom, loyalty and leadership, and Beauchamp with having the guts to admit his mistakes, refocus on his present calling and let the chips fall where they may. If those are the facts, then good on him, and good luck to him.

Allahpundit and James Robbins both make strong cases for not letting Beauchamp off the hook, but I don't hear Yon asking for that. I think Yon is saying that the matter has already been settled between Beauchamp and his CO, that that's where it ends, and that we should respect that. And I most certainly do.

As for TNR, they're on their own, and it ain't looking good for those hacks.

 

"The News For idiots Just Keeps Getting Worse."

MNFI reports the new reality in Iraq- reconciliation between Sunni and Shia:
CAMP TAJI — The Sheiks Conference Center’s grand opening took place Oct. 18 near Taji, with sheiks of many tribes, Iraqi Police, Army, security volunteers, government representatives and troops of the 1st “Ironhorse” Brigade Combat Team, 1st Cavalry Division, gathering with one common goal – reconciliation.

“The gathering is immense,” said Lt. Col. Kevin MacWatters, commander, 1st Squadron 7th Cavalry Regiment, 1st BCT, 1st Cav. Div. “It’s another progressive step.”

During the grand opening ceremony, Sunni and Shia greeted, sat together, conversed and feasted. For many this was the first time they had ever done so. These simple acts symbolized their strong desire for unity.

...Continued reconciliation efforts will allow the Ironhorse Brigade to shift its focus from security to helping Iraqis with essential services, rebuilding and assisting local governments.

The Sheiks Conference Center, in essence, is a monument to all that has been accomplished and a preface to establishing a safe, stable and secure environment, MacWatters said.
Meanwhile, back at the New York Times: "The News Out Of Iraq Just Keeps Getting Worse."

Yeah.

Wednesday, October 24, 2007

 

A Tale Of Two Cult Classics

In honor of Islamic Fascism Awareness Week, I offer Raymond Ibrahim, the author of The Al Qaeda Reader, who addresses the similarities and differences between that book and Hitler's Mein Kampf, both blueprints for fascistic cults based on a vision of world conquest.
Fully aware of their lack of official religious credentials, bin Laden and Zawahiri have made it a point to ground their arguments in Islam’s most authoritative texts. Even the exegeses they rely upon, comes from some of the most renowned Islamic theologians. The result is that the worldview presented in The Al Qaeda Reader is not so much al Qaeda’s idiosyncratic view of things, but rather the traditional worldview of Islam. For example, al Qaeda’s insistence that Islam must one day rule the world is not of their own making: based on several Koranic verses (e.g., 2:193, 2:216, 8:39, 9:5, 9:29) and numerous hadith, which in no uncertain terms preach world conquest, the theologians and articulators of sharia law determined a long time ago that the “Abode of Islam” must always (except when militarily incapable) be at war with the “Abode of War” (e.g., the West) until the former subsumes the latter.

Similarly, al Qaeda’s condemnation of democracy is fully grounded in Islam’s unambiguous requirement that the faithful submit to sharia — that is, Allah’s — law (e.g. Koran: 3:64, 5:50, 17:9, 18:26, 33:36, 42:10), giving credence to Zawahiri’s proclamation that “whoever claims to be a ‘democratic-Muslim’ or a Muslim who calls for democracy, is like one who says about himself ‘I am a Jewish Muslim,’ or ‘I am a Christian Muslim’ — the one worse than the other. He is an apostate infidel.”

As for the Jews, much more unflattering and slanderous accusations are set against them in Islam’s most authoritative texts than in any of the above quotations from al Qaeda (for example, Koran 2:61 and 3:112). While Hitler portrayed Jews as “no lovers of water” who could be detected “with your eyes closed,” the Koran gives an account of rebellious Jews being transformed into apes and swine (see 2:65, 5:60, 7:166) — appellations still popular in parts of the Islamic world. Indeed, anyone who goes through Andrew Bostom’s upcoming tome, The Legacy of Islamic Anti-Semitism, will confront nearly 1,000 pages of anti-Semitism straight from Islam’s most authoritative sources: the Koran, the hadith, and the fatwas and treatises of the theologians.
I know idiots have a problem with the very term Islamofascism. I don't know why, since it clearly describes the mix of Islamic extremism and fascism (I still have to point that out? Really??) that is such a threat to democracy today. Perhaps it's a function of the idiots' insistence to ask why the world can't be the way they want it to be, rather than the way it actually is in fact. And the fact is that Islamofascism under Zawahiri and bin Laden is every bit as real as German fascism was under Hitler, and yet in many ways much more evil.

***
I'll close with a particularly pertinent quote from Nonie Darwish, who spoke to an oppressive and intimidating audience of radical Islamists and their pet useful idiots at UC Berkely last night as part of Islamic Fascism Awareness Week. The scene reminds me of accounts of Nazi thugs shutting down their opposition in 1930s Germany:
The sad thing about this whole event was the feeling that radical Muslims and their far Left supporters would rather never criticize Islamic culture than stand up against the culture that flogs, stones, beheads and amputates limbs. Not offending a religion has become more important to the far Left (unless it is Christianity or Judaism) than human rights of Muslims and victims of terror. Honor killing and female genital mutilation can be tolerated -- but no-one better dare utter the word "Islamo-fascism."

American universities are becoming tyrannical when it comes to Conservative values and to Arab Americans who dare to speak out against the culture of jihad. It does not matter how many people in my early life in Egypt suffered from honor killing, female genital mutilation and oppression of women, I must shut up on American campuses.
And so the latest strain of fascism marches on, aided and abetted by the useful idiots it will slaughter when they are no longer useful, just as it always has.

 

The Plight Of The Baghdad Taxi-Driver

The excellent Belmont Club provides historical perspective:
Imagine that you are in the year 1958. Instead of Baghdad the city is Algiers. Instead of being herded into supervised villages as historically occured, the 2 million villagers themselves have become French allies. They themselves are helping to hunt down the FLN. A dispirited Ahmed Ben Bella has just released a recording, from his hideout in a cave in Pakistan, begging all Muslims to unite against France due [to] his recent reverses. And to top it off the Algerian taxi drivers are beginning to complain that the killings are so few that almost nobody goes to the morgue any more.

Algeria marked the beginning of the modern period of terrorist warfare. It was a form of warfare that many have called unstoppable. The Battle of Algiers purported to show how hopeless it was to face this faceless enemy. So the question is: why are taxi drivers at the Baghdad morgue cooling their heels?

Tuesday, October 23, 2007

 

The Children

Classic Ramirez:


Don Surber on choosing your friends wisely:

Democrats underestimated the strength of our military and the resolve of our commander-in-chief. Democrats bet on defeat. Senate Plurality Leader Harry Reid declared the war lost in April.

Now, 6 months later, Osama bin Laden is admitting defeat in Iraq as he scrambles to make himself relevant again.

Sort of like the Democratic Congress.
That's right: Osama bin Laden chose poorly; he sided with Nancy Pelosi, Harry Reid and the Democratic Congress against George W. Bush and the American people. And where is he now? Begging for a few hundred heavily self-medicated stragglers to buck up and hold the Caliphate party line. But the world has already been there, done that, and it cannot happen again.

In the days before his end, Hitler forced German children to fight for him. Osama and his legion of Islamofascist cowards have always hidden behind children. They're losing.

Violence in Iraq: down 70%. In Anbar, down 80%. Since June. Allah continues to work his divine will through George W. Bush. Praise Allah.

Except when She's in charge:
“Every president should save those powers for limited, critical situations. And when it comes to a regular program of searching for information that touches the privacy of ordinary Americans, those programs need to be monitored and reviewed as set out by Congress in cooperation with the judiciary. That is the essence of the compact we have with each other and with our government, and we cannot ignore it.”
Hard Starboard: "Anybody who’s surprised by the same Hillary Clinton that decries the NSA terrorist surveillance program on 'civil liberties' grounds having overseen an ongoing illegal wiretapping operation as part of her husband’s political machine before and during the first Clinton administration, stand on your head."

The Post woke up barely long enough to notice another Hillary! problem.

What Else Is New Dept.
Daily Cocksuckers are livid with Starkers' apology to the President, Congress and his party. For years they've been demanding that we surrender in Iraq, but when one of their own surrenders to common sense and civility, it's "sickening" and a sign of weakness and degeneracy:

*I am livid right now (see? ~ Ed.).

*Nancy really should wear gloves, this has her fingerprints, DNA and Modus capitulation.. all over this. Sickening.

*i just do not understand it, honestly. what is happening here (Not punctuation. ~ Ed.)?

*What is happening here is that the Democratic party leaders are showing us all they are meek, cowardly corporatecrats. Then stood behind the rethug congress for six years and took abuse after abuse and now are beaten puppies when it comes to things like this and whores for the almighty dollars when it comes to FISA. Harry Reid, I am looking in your direction (Just don't make eye contact, buddy. ~ Ed.).

*When have we ever seen such a failure of courage, or commitment, or selflessness (Well, most recently, 1993-2001.)?

*It's time Americans became brave again. Our government has the people scared and intends to keep them there so they can keep them "safe" and thus remain in power.
Personally, I won't be afraid...terrorists be damned. As soon as "We the People" brave up, we can take our country back (But not before thoroughly understanding the root causes and being ready to dialogue. ~ Ed.).

*For all intents and purposes, there aren't any terrorists. You might as well live in constant fear of flesh-eating bacteria (or global warming. ~ Ed.).

*There ARE terrorists. They work in Washington, DC. We are their targets(**Yawwwwn** ~ Ed.).

*Looks like abused child/spouse syndrome. I am sorry I am alive. Let me please apologize and cry. I have no right to exist and get in your way. Sickening(So surrendering isn't that appealing after all? ~ Ed.)!

*And as Tex. Gov., he used to execute people for his own amusement--and some of those people had been proven innocent before he killed them (...and ate them! Just like Caligula! Don't taze me, bro! ~ Ed.).

*The so called Dem leadership has capitulation fever. They are useless to us. They need to be routed and replaced (I say they should be routered and replaced. Mmmm, routered Democrats. ~ Ed.).

*If we want to save the Constitution, we are going to have to do it ourselves (**Double yawwwwn** ~ Ed.).

And finally, a glimmer of light:
*The Democrats are fully complicit with the Republicans. I don't support Ralph Nader, but I have to admit he was right about there being no difference between the Democrats and Republicans. I won't be voting for any Democrats in 2008.

Thank Heaven for Small Mercies.

 

The Noose

Anne Coulter:
I'll be shocked by a noose appearing on a college campus the day an actual racist does it.
Me:
I'll be shocked by a noose appearing on a college campus the day a leftwing racebaiter doesn't do it.

Monday, October 22, 2007

 

Islamo-Fascism Awareness Week


It's Islamo-Fascism Awareness Week, in which useful-idiot terror-apologists and Muslim Student Associations nationwide hide behind their right to freedom of expression in order to stomp on others' right to freedom of expression, much the same way as their heroes hide behind women and children in armed combat. Say what you want about apocalyptic mass-murderers and their friends; at least they're consistent.

Here's Horowitz:
The purpose of this protest is as simple as it is crucial: to confront the two Big Lies of the political left: that George Bush created the war on terror and that Global Warming is a greater danger to Americans than the terrorist threat. Nothing could be more politically incorrect than to point this out. But nothing could be more important for American students to hear. In the face of the greatest danger Americans have ever confronted, the academic left has mobilized to create sympathy for the enemy and to fight anyone who rallies Americans to defend themselves. According to the academic left, anyone who links Islamic radicalism to the war on terror is an “Islamophobe.” According to the academic left, the Islamo-fascists hate us not because we are tolerant and free, but because we are “oppressors.”
Horowitz on early response to Islamo-Fascism Awareness Week.

Jihad Watch is on Hysteria Watch: CAIR excoriates Islamo-Fascism Awareness Week for daring "unabashedly" to invite "Muslim student associations to support the freedom of Americans from Muslim terrorists"

Iran Notices Islamo-Fascism Week, and They’re Not Happy

Columbia Spectator: Who’s Afraid of Islamo-Fascism Awareness Week?

IMAO - Happy Shiny Muslim Awareness Week

Magic City Morning Star - Islamo-Fascism Awareness Week Mugged

Michelle covers the hysteria on the left.

Who is free under sharia law? Nobody.


 

Things I Like

Che has been exterminated again, this time in Venezuela.



Newsbusters on Algore and his Warm-Mongers. They point out 35 errors in Algore's schlockumentary.



Arab-hater Mark Steyn on Democrats' Tourette's Syndrome. Something to do with "the children".



Carnival Of The Insanities. Insane is as insane does.


U.S. pins Kosovo force on NATO's Afghan commitment. Gates is taking Afghanistan out of State's hands, and it's damned well time NATO Europe gets the message that they shouldn't expect to rely on the U.S. if the U.S. can't rely on them. It doesn't get any simpler than that.


Band Of Brothers, HBO miniseries that chronicles the psychopathic war crimes of Easy Company, 101st Airborne. Nutjobs can buy it here.

Sunday, October 21, 2007

 

Stossel On Al's Racket

"The debate is over." Well, not really. John Stossel's examination of Algore's global warming racket is making the rounds.



And no, the debate is not over. On the other hand, maybe it is.

 

"One Of The Biggest Finds Of Its Kind:" U.S. Forces In Iraq Capture, Destroy Huge Weapons Cache In Sunni Stronghold

According to Reuters:
U.S. forces in Iraq discovered nearly 19 tons of explosives in a weapons cache north of Baghdad this week, one of the biggest finds of its kind, the U.S. military said on Saturday.

The cache was discovered west of Tarmiya, some 30 km (19 miles) northwest of the capital Baghdad, in Salahuddin province where Sunni Arab militants have a strong presence.

The find was made up of 41,000 lbs of ammonium nitrate and 35 mortar bombs. U.S. forces destroyed the cache.

"It's a crippling blow against the enemy, it's really huge," said Peggy Kageleiry, a spokeswoman for U.S. forces in northern Iraq.

Saturday, October 20, 2007

 

Randi Rhodes, Narcissistic Idiot

She still hasn't told us what in fact happened, but she's damned pissed that no-one thought to ask how she feels.

Can you idiots please get some new material?

 

Rush and Friend: $4.2 Million; Harry Reid, Zero

Senate Chairwoman Harry Reid today tried to glom on to Rush Limbaugh's massive takedown of the MediaMatters smear campaign that prompted Reid and forty of his colleagues to sign the Declaration of Incontinence, which Rush just sold on eBay for 2.1 million dollars. It would have been all the Senate Democrats who signed that sumbitch, Dingy Harry tells us, had they simpy had the time. That's right: Reid actually has the gall to claim credit for the generosity of two other people, conservative Republicans, one of whom he brazenly lied about and tried to bully from the safety of the Senate chamber.

Harry Reid is a cowardly shitheel, and I'm stunned that Dennis Miller goes so easy on him.

A CQ commenter says it best:

The conservative thinks of a free-market way of raising private funds to aid a worthwhile cause and backs his commitment with his own money.

The liberal asks other people to donate funds, doesn't donate any of his own money, and tries to take credit for the generosity of others.

Don Surber noticed what Rush reminds Dingy Harry:

That letter was not written to raise money — it was written to get a man fired for broadcasting opinions that 41 Democratic Senators wanted censured. He dares to support a war that a Democratic Senate authorized in 2002.

Now look for Reid to take credit for victory in Iraq without apologizing to the troops for lying about them and undermining their mission, without admitting that he'd done so, and without ever personally lifting more than his middle finger in their direction.


Tuesday, October 16, 2007

 

Bigots On Parade: The Randi Rhodes "Mugging"

Just when I thought I might be approaching the fringe territory of the remote possibility of maybe getting to the point at which it might be suggested that I perhaps use the word "idiot" to describe, well, idiots, a little too often, I see I still have all kinds of room.

The story is about a day old now as the masses pray for Air America's Randi Rhodes, who was the victim of a mugging by one or more rightwing nutjob Nazi Conservative Joggers in much the same way as our servicemen and women were victims of an attack on their patriotism by Rush Limbaugh and both Juan Williams and Real Blacks were insulted by Bill O'Rielly.

Here's the latest bigoted idiot diarizing on Kos:

Apparently, Jon Elliot went on-air and claimed she [Randi Rhodes] had been attacked by a right wing nutjob. The fact that this may not be the case will now unleash the usual hysteria from the right wing noise machine about how dare, DARE, anyone theorize that the peace loving non-racist complex thinking koolaid drinkers on the Rush Limbaugh/Sean Hannity side of the aisle would ever commit actual unhinged violence.

[?]

Well to the nutbags, I have this to say.
Who mailed white powder to Keith Olbermann?
Who shot up and bombed numerous abortion clinics in the 1990s?
Who blew up the Federal building in Oklahoma in 1995?
Who assassinated John Kennedy (D), Robert Kennedy (D) and Martin Luther King?
Was it "liberals"? I think not.

...I wouldn't be shocked for one moment to find out the FoxNews listeners are attacking people. It would be the last, sad end to this entire failed political disaster/media operation that began in the late 80s and is disintegrating in failure before our eyes.

How's that for jackin' off?

Captain's Quarters:
Anyone who thinks that bigotry has no place in the liberal mindset has -- once again -- just received a material lesson to the contrary. Even without knowing anything about the attacker, several bloggers just decided that it had to be a politically motivated assault by a conservative. That's not leaping to conclusions, that's flying at jet speed to Paranoialand.
Never Misunderestimate Idiots. Ever.

Monday, October 15, 2007

 

The Stupid Party

James W. Ceaser is professor of politics at the University of Virginia. His analysis of the modern Democrats, "The Stupid Party", is the cover story of the latest Weekly Standard.
Twice during the past half century, the Democratic party has faced a challenge from its left wing. In the late 1960s, it was the mass movement of the New Left that rose up to defy the party's liberal-progressive core. Following a contest of ideas and of wills, the liberal center collapsed and briefly yielded control to its radical critics. The struggle today is strikingly different in tone, with the party's mainstream being bullied by a network of techno-thugs, spearheaded by MoveOn.org. Nothing remotely resembling an idea or a sustained argument has surfaced in this conflict, and there is no danger that one ever will.

...Today, the Democratic party mainstream has its values, its instincts, and, as usual, more than its share of 10-point programs. It even has its "isms," represented by its leading troika: the pragmatism of Hillary Clinton, the idealism of Barack Obama, and the populism of John Edwards. Yet its intellectual reservoir has shown itself to be lacking in depth and confidence. Today's Democratic mainstream is no more willing or able to stand up to the party's present leftist insurgency than the older mainstream was to stand up to the New Left. The tenor of the current left is best captured by something Lionel Trilling said in 1949 about conservatives: They do not "express themselves in ideas but only in action or in irritable mental gestures which seek to resemble ideas."

Even this description may be overly generous. The journalist Matt Bai, in his recent book The Argument, undertook an anthropological field trip to investigate the natives who inhabit the progressive coalition of billionaires and bloggers. The big money men and women--what the left used to call, back when it framed matters more astutely, the "obscenely wealthy"--are mostly people who have made their fortunes recently. (George Soros, the godfather of the movement, is an exception.) The last thing these newly rich would wish to be called, however, is nouveau riche; they are bobo billionaires who profess to regard their own fortunes with nonchalance. ...All in this progressive money set, which includes some of Hollywood's more modest donors, follow the new progressive formula of buying political influence while decrying the influence of money in politics.

The allies of the wealthy, the bloggers, are the coalition's hit men. Almost all are males in their thirties. ...Their websites not only constantly abuse thought, but show contempt for intellectuals, even while gaining influence among them. The language is often violent and vulgar. The moving spirit of the Daily Kos is one of anger and resentment, which, when not directed at Democrats who dare to stray from the wing line, is directed at the president, the vice president, and the Iraq war.

 

MSM Spikes Sanchez Speech

UPDATED
I love the truth, and so I love this story of MSM perfidy and how they have left themselves exposed as the agenda-driven hacks they are:

General Ricardo Sanchez gave a speech to the Military Reporters and Editors' annual conference blasting them for their agenda-driven reporting on Iraq. So how does the WSJ report it? With this headline: "Former Iraq Commander Faults Bush." It's all you need to know about how the MSM deflects criticizm by demonizing the President; I know: boring. Tedious. Dishonest.

Sanchez never mentions Bush in the speech but he certainly takes a run at both Republicans and Democrats in equal measure. Somehow the Journal misses that and omits the General's absolutely scorching criticism of the MSM. As the Church Lady said, "how conveeeenient." So here is part of General Sanchez's speech for all the folks who missed it:

UPDATE: I've decided to post the entire speech, in which the General calls out the MSM on its perfidy:

Good afternoon ladies and gentlemen.

Some of you may not believe this but I am glad to be here. When Sig [Christensen] asked me if I would consider addressing you there was no doubt that I should come into the lion's den. This was important because I have firmly believed since Desert Shield that it is necessary for the strength of our democracy that the military and the press corps maintain a strong, mutually respectful and enabling relationship. This continues to be problematic for our country, especially during times of war. One of the greatest military correspondents of our time, Joe Galloway, made me a believer when he joined the 24th infantry division during Desert Storm.

Today, I will attempt to do two things -- first I will give you my assessment of the military and press relationship and then I will provide you some thoughts on the current state of our war effort. As all of you know I have a wide range of relationships and experiences with our nations military writers and editors. There are some in your ranks who I consider to be the epitome of journalistic professionalism -- Joe Galloway [McClatchy Newspapers], Thom Shanker [New York Times], Sig Christensen [San Antonio Express-News], and John Burns [New York Times] immediately come to mind. They exemplify what America should demand of our journalists -- tough reporting that relies upon integrity, objectivity and fairness to give accurate and thorough accounts that strengthen our freedom of the press and in turn our democracy. On the other hand, unfortunately, I have issued ultimatums to some of you for unscrupulous reporting that was solely focused on supporting your agenda and preconceived notions of what our military had done. I also refused to talk to the European Stars and Stripes for the last two years of my command in Germany for their extreme bias and single minded focus on Abu Gharaib.

Let me review some of the descriptive phrases that have been used by some of you that have made my personal interfaces with the press corps difficult:

"dictatorial and somewhat dense",

"not a strategic thought",

"liar",

"does not get it", and

"the most inexperienced LTG".

In some cases I have never even met you, yet you feel qualified to make character judgments that are communicated to the world. My experience is not unique and we can find other examples such as the treatment of Secretary Brown during Katrina. This is the worst display of journalism imaginable by those of us that are bound by a strict value system of selfless service, honor and integrity. Almost invariably, my perception is that the sensationalistic value of these assessments is what provided the edge that you seek for self aggrandizement or to advance your individual quest for getting on the front page with your stories! As I understand it, your measure of worth is how many front page stories you have written and unfortunately some of you will compromise your integrity and display questionable ethics as you seek to keep America informed. This is much like the intelligence analysts [sic] whose effectiveness was measured by the number of intelligence reports he produced. For some, it seems that as long as you get a front page story there is little or no regard for the "collateral damage" you will cause. Personal reputations have no value and you report with total impunity and are rarely held accountable for unethical conduct.

Given the near instantaneous ability to report actions on the ground, the responsibility to accurately and truthfully report takes on an unprecedented importance. The speculative and often uninformed initial reporting that characterizes our media appears to be rapidly becoming the standard of the industry. An Arab proverb states -- "Four things come not back: the spoken word, the spent arrow, the past, the neglected opportunity." Once reported, your assessments become conventional wisdom and nearly impossible to change. Other major challenges are your willingness to be manipulated by "high level officials" who leak stories and by lawyers who use hyperbole to strengthen their arguments. Your unwillingness to accurately and prominently correct your mistakes and your agenda driven biases contribute to this corrosive environment. All of these challenges combined create a media environment that does a tremendous disservice to America. Over the course of this war tactically insignificant events have become strategic defeats for America because of the tremendous power and impact of the media and by extension you the journalist. In many cases the media has unjustly destroyed the individual reputations and careers of those involved. We realize that because of the near real time reporting environment that you face it is difficult to report accurately. In my business one of our fundamental truths is that "the first report is always wrong." Unfortunately, in your business "the first report" gives Americans who rely on the snippets of CNN, if you will, their "truths" and perspectives on an issue. As a corollary to this deadline driven need to publish "initial impressions or observations" versus objective facts there is an additional challenge for us who are the subject of your reporting. When you assume that you are correct and on the moral high ground on a story because we have not respond[ed] to questions you provided is the ultimate arrogance and distortion of ethics. One of your highly respected fellow journalists once told me that there are some amongst you who "feed from a pig's trough." If that is who I am dealing with then I will never respond otherwise we will both get dirty and the pig will love it. This does not mean that your story is accurate.

I do not believe that this is what our forefathers intended. The Code of Ethics for the Society of Professional Journalists states:

"[P]ublic enlightenment is the forerunner of justice and the foundation of democracy. The duty of the journalist is to further those ends by seeking truth and providing a fair and comprehensive account of events and issues. Conscientious journalists from all media and specialties strive to serve the public with thoroughness and honesty. Professional integrity is the cornerstone of a journalist's credibility."

The basic ethics of a journalist that calls for:

1. Seeking truth,

2. Providing fair and comprehensive account of events and issues

3. Thoroughness and honesty

All are victims of the massive agenda driven competition for economic or political supremacy. The death knell of your ethics has been enabled by your parent organizations who have chosen to align themselves with political agendas. What is clear to me is that you are perpetuating the corrosive partisan politics that is destroying our country and killing our service-members who are at war.

My assessment is that your profession, to some extent, has strayed from these ethical standards and allowed external agendas to manipulate what the American public sees on TV, what they read in our newspapers and what they see on the web. For some of you, just like some of our politicians, the truth is of little to no value if it does not fit your own preconceived notions, biases and agendas.

It is astounding to me when I hear the vehement disagreement with the military's forays into information operations that seek to disseminate the truth and inform the Iraqi people in order to counter our enemy's blatant propaganda. As I assess various media entities, some are unquestionably engaged in political propaganda that is uncontrolled. There is no question in my mind that the strength our democracy and our freedoms remain linked to your ability to exercise freedom of the press. I adamantly support this basic foundation of our democracy and completely supported the embedding of media into our formations up until my last day in uniform. The issue is one of maintaining professional ethics and standards from within your institution. Military leaders must accept that these injustices will happen and whether they like what you print or not they must deal with you and enable you, if you are an ethical journalist.

Finally, I will leave this subject with a question that we must ask ourselves -- who is responsible for maintaining the ethical standards of the profession in order to ensure that our democracy does not continue to be threatened by this dangerous shift away from your sacred duty of public enlightenment?

Let me now transition to our current national security condition.

As we all know war is an extension of politics and when a nation goes to war it must bring to bear all elements of power in order to win. War-fighting is not solely the responsibility of the military commander unless he has been given the responsibility and resources to synchronize the political, economic and informational power of the nation. So who is responsible for developing the grand strategy that will allow America to emerge victorious from this generational struggle against extremism?

After more than four years of fighting, America continues its desperate struggle in Iraq without any concerted effort to devise a strategy that will achieve "victory" in that war torn country or in the greater conflict against extremism. From a catastrophically flawed, unrealistically optimistic war plan to the administration's latest "surge" strategy, this administration has failed to employ and synchronize its political, economic and military power. The latest "revised strategy" is a desperate attempt by an administration that has not accepted the political and economic realities of this war and they have definitely not communicated that reality to the American people. An even worse and more disturbing assessment is that America can not achieve the political consensus necessary to devise a grand strategy that will synchronize and commit our national power to achieve victory in Iraq. Some of you have heard me talk about our nations crisis in leadership. Let me elaborate.

While the politicians espouse their rhetoric designed to preserve their reputations and their political power -- our soldiers die! Our national leadership ignored the lessons of WWII as we entered into this war and to this day continue to believe that victory can be achieved through the application of military power alone. Our forefathers understood that tremendous economic and political capacity had to be mobilized, synchronized and applied if we were to achieve victory in a global war. That has been and continues to be the key to victory in Iraq. Continued manipulations and adjustments to our military strategy will not achieve victory. The best we can do with this flawed approach is stave off defeat. The administration, Congress and the entire interagency, especially the Department of State, must shoulder the responsibility for this catastrophic failure and the American people must hold them accountable.

There has been a glaring, unfortunate, display of incompetent strategic leadership within our national leaders. As a Japanese proverb says, "Action without vision is a nightmare." There is no question that America is living a nightmare with no end in sight.

Since 2003, the politics of war have been characterized by partisanship as the Republican and Democratic parties struggled for power in Washington. National efforts to date have been corrupted by partisan politics that have prevented us from devising effective, executable, supportable solutions. At times, these partisan struggles have led to political decisions that endangered the lives of our sons and daughters on the battlefield. The unmistakable message was that political power had greater priority than our national security objectives. Overcoming this strategic failure is the first step toward achieving victory in Iraq -- without bipartisan cooperation we are doomed to fail. There is nothing going on today in Washington that would give us hope.

If we succeed in crafting a bipartisan strategy for victory, then America must hold all national agencies accountable for developing and executing the political and economic initiatives that will bring about stability, security, political and economic hope for all Iraqis. That has not been successful to date.

Congress must shoulder a significant responsibility for this failure since there has been no focused oversight of the nation's political and economic initiatives in this war. Exhortations, encouragements, investigations, studies and discussions will not produce success -- this appears to be the nation's only alternative since the transfer of sovereignty. Our continued neglect will only extend the conflict. America's dilemma is that we no longer control the ability to directly influence the Iraqi institutions. The sovereign Iraqi government must be cooperative in these long term efforts. That is not likely at the levels necessary in the near term.

Our commanders on the ground will continue to make progress and provide time for the development of a grand strategy. That will be wasted effort as we have seen repeatedly since 2003. In the mean time our soldiers, sailors, airmen and marines will continue to die.

Since the start of this war, America's leadership has known that our military alone could not achieve victory in Iraq. Starting in july 2003, the message repeatedly communicated to Washington by military commanders on the ground was that the military alone could never achieve "victory" in Iraq. Our soldiers, sailors, airmen and marines were destined to endure decades of fighting and killing people without the focused, synchronized application of all elements of national power. This was a necessary condition to stabilize Iraq. Any sequential solutions would lead to a prolonged conflict and increased resistance.

By neglect and incompetence at the National Security Council level, that is the path our political leaders chose and now America, more precisely the American military, finds itself in an intractable situation. Clearly, mistakes have been made by the American military in its application of power but even its greatest failures in this war can be linked to America's lack of commitment, priority and moral courage in this war effort. Without the sacrifices of our magnificent young men and women in uniform, Iraq would be chaotic well beyond anything experienced to date.

What America must accept as a reality at this point in the war is that our Army and Marine Corps are struggling with the deployment schedules. What is clear is that the deployment cycles of our formations has been totally disrupted, the resourcing and training challenges are significant and America's ability to sustain a force level of 150,000(+) is nonexistent without drastic measures that have been politically unacceptable to date. The drawdown of the surge to pre-surge levels was never a question. America must understand that it will take the Army at least a decade to fix the damage that has been done to its full spectrum readiness. The president's recent statement to America that he will listen to military commanders is a matter of political expediency.

Our Army and Marine Corps will execute as directed, perform magnificently and never complain -- that is the ethic of our warriors and that is what America expects of them. They will not disappoint us. But America must know the pressures that are being placed on our military institutions as we fight this war. All Americans must demand that these deploying formations are properly resourced, properly trained and we must never allow America's support for the soldier to falter. A critical, objective assessment of our nation's ability to execute our national security strategy must be conducted. If we are objective and honest, the results will be surprising to all Americans. There is unacceptable strategic risk.

America has no choice but to continue our efforts in Iraq. A precipitous withdrawal will unquestionably lead to chaos that would endanger the stability of the greater Middle East. If this occurs it would have significant adverse effects on the international community. Coalition and American force presence will be required at some level for the foreseeable future. Given the lack of a grand strategy we must move rapidly to minimize that force presence and allow the Iraqis maximum ability to exercise their sovereignty in achieving a solution.

At no time in America's history has there been a greater need for bipartisan cooperation. The threat of extremism is real and demands unified action at the same levels demonstrated by our forefathers during World War I and World War II. America has failed to date.

This endeavor has further been hampered by a coalition effort that can be characterized as hasty, un-resourced and often uncoordinated and unmanaged. Desperately needed, but essentially ignored, were the political and economic coalitions that were the key to victory and stability in the immediate aftermath of the conventional war. The military coalition which was hastily put together in the summer of 2003 was problematic given the multitude of national caveats, inadequate rules of engagement and other restrictions on the forces deployed. Even so, the military coalition was the most extensive, productive and effective deployment of forces in decades. Today, we continue our inept coalition management efforts and, in fact, we are facing ever decreasing troop commitments by our military coalition partners. America's "revised" strategy does not address coalition initiatives and challenges. We cannot afford to continue this struggle without the support of our coalition partners across all elements of national power. Without the political and economic elements of power complementing the tremendous efforts of our military, America is assured of failure. We continue on that path. America's political leadership must come together and develop a bipartisan grand strategy to achieve victory in this conflict. The simultaneous application of our political, economic, information and military elements of power is the only course of action that will provide a chance of success.

Achieving unity of effort in Iraq has been elusive to date primarily because there is no entity that has the authority to direct action by our interagency. Our National Security Council has been a catastrophic failure. Furthermore, America's ability to hold the interagency accountable for their failures in this war is non-existent. This must change. As a nation we must recognize that the enemy we face is committed to destroying our way of life. This enemy is arguably more dangerous than any threat we faced in the twentieth century. Our political leaders must place national security objectives above partisan politics, demand interagency unity of effort, and never again commit America to war without a grand strategy that embraces the basic tenets of the Powell Doctrine.

It seems that Congress recognizes that the military cannot achieve victory alone in this war. Yet they continue to demand victory from our military. Who will demand accountability for the failure of our national political leaders involved in the management [of] this war? They have unquestionably been derelict in the performance of their duty. In my profession, these type of leaders would immediately be relieved or court-martialed.

America has sent our soldiers off to war and they must be supported at all costs until we achieve victory or until our political leaders decide to bring them home. Our political and military leaders owe the soldier on the battlefield the strategy, the policies and the resources to win once committed to war. America has not been fully committed to win this war. As the military commanders on the ground have stated since the summer of 2003, the U.S. Military alone cannot win this war. America must mobilize the interagency and the political and economic elements of power, which have been abject failures to date, in order to achieve victory. Our nation has not focused on the greatest challenge of our lifetime. The political and economic elements of power must get beyond the politics to ensure the survival of America. Partisan politics have hindered this war effort and America should not accept this. America must demand a unified national strategy that goes well beyond partisan politics and places the common good above all else. Too often our politicians have chosen loyalty to their political party above loyalty to the Constitution because of their lust for power. Our politicians must remember their oath of office and recommit themselves to serving our nation and not their own self-interests or political party. The security of America is at stake and we can accept nothing less. Anything short of this is unquestionably dereliction of duty.

These are fairly harsh assessments of the military and press relationship and the status of our war effort. I remain optimistic and committed to the enabling of media operations under the toughest of conditions in order to keep the world and the American people informed. Our military must embrace you for the sake our democracy but you owe them ethical journalism.

Thank you for this opportunity.

May God bless you and may God bless America.

Praise be to the LORD my rock who trains my fingers for battle and my hands for war.

Thank you.

PowerLine asks:

Why did the Washington Post (and every other news outlet I have seen) not headline their story: "Former Iraq Commander Bitterly Denounces Mainstream Media's Coverage of Iraq War"? Or, perhaps, "Former Iraq Commander Accuses Biased, Unethical, Agenda-driven Press of 'Killing Our Servicemembers Who Are At War'"?

I guess the question answers itself. The Post has an agenda, and those headlines wouldn't have advanced it. The same is true for essentially all newspapers and other news outlets. It's quite a luxury to be able to decide whether criticisms of your own conduct ever see the light of day--a luxury the mainstream media not only enjoy, but abuse.

Captain's Quarters details the media's blatant spiking of the content and context of Sanchez's speech.

This story is a perfect example of how blogs can shed light on the left's endless stream of lies.

The Whole Thing is at Rusty's. Hard stuff.


Sunday, October 14, 2007

 

Rush Limbaugh On eBay

He's got Harry Reid's squawking letter to Mark Mays of Clear Channel Communications. Signed by 41 U.S. Senators.

In a Haliburton briefcase: Love it. Love it.
When "Dingy Harry" Reid and the U.S. Senate turned away from the business of the nation to instead smear a private citizen, forty-one of them sent a letter demanding the "repudiation" of their inaccurate interpretation of Rush Limbaugh's comments about Jesse Al-Zaid (a.k.a. Jesse MacBeth) and other "phony soldiers" who falsify their service. This letter was delivered to Mark Mays of Clear Channel communications, Rush Limbaugh's syndication partner, and widely quoted in the Drive-By Media.

Up for auction is the original letter signed by 41 Democrat senators. This historic document may well represent the first time in the history of America that this large a group of U.S. senators attempted to demonize a private citizen by lying about his views. As such, it is a priceless memento of the folly of Harry Reid and his 40 senatorial co-signers. BID NOW!

The entire proceeds of this auction.. the entire high bid... will be donated to The Marine Corps - Law Enforcement Foundation, a registered charity which provides financial assistance to the children of fallen Marines and federal law enforcement officers. Rush Limbaugh serves on the Board of this organization and has been active on its behalf. All costs of this auction will be paid by the seller... every dollar of your winning bid will go to this charity, which has to date distributed over $29 million.

Rush first publicly displayed this letter on the night of October 11th during a speech in Philadelphia, having a security operative carry it on stage, with the letter itself safely encased in a Halliburton Attache case handcuffed to the agent's right wrist. Included in this auction is that same Haliburton briefcase, as well as a personal letter from Rush Limbaugh, thanking the winning bidder for his donation. The special handcuffs may not be distributed outside of law enforcement and security officers, and thus are not included in this auction.

As winning bidder, you get: - The original and infamous "Harry Reid Smear" letter, signed by 41 Democat senators - The Halliburton briefcase in which this letter is secured 24 hours a day - A personal letter of thanks from the Man Who Runs America, Rush Limbaugh- A photograph of Rush displaying the letter on stage in Philadelphia on October 11th

Who Signed?
Harry Reid
Hillary Rodham Clinton
Blanche Lincoln
Richard Durbin
Kent Conrad
Bob Menendez
Charles Schumer
Christopher Dodd
Barbara Mikulski
Patty Murray
Byron Dorgan
Bill Nelson
Daniel Akaka
Dianne Feinstein
Barack Obama
Max Baucus
Tom Harkin
Jack Reed
Joseph Biden
Daniel Inouye
Jay Rockefeller
Barbara Boxer
Edward M. Kennedy
Ken Salazar
Sherrod Brown
John Kerry
Bernie Sanders
Robert Byrd
Amy Klobuchar
Debbie Stabenow
Benjamin Cardin
Mary Landrieu
Jon Tester
Tom Carper
Frank Lautenberg
Jim Webb
Bob Casey
Patrick Leahy
Sheldon Whitehouse
Carl Levin
Ron Wyden

 

Bad News For Idiots

An AP headline bodes ill for surrender monkeys: "Iraq Sees Dramatically Low Death Toll"

The civilian death toll in Iraq fell to its lowest level in recent memory Saturday, with only four people killed or found dead nationwide, according to reports from police, morgue officials and credible witnesses.

Saturday's decline in deaths was in line with a sharp drop in September of both Iraqi civilian and U.S. military fatalities.

Ouch. Baghdad is safer than Toronto, if you believe the AP.


Friday, October 12, 2007

 

Friday

Don't you mean "at all"? "I have a million ideas. The country can't afford them all."

***

In the spirit of the latest Nobel Peace Prize being awarded to a lying, hypocritical propagandist and a dishonest UN panel rather than say, hundreds or thousands of murdered Burmese monks, I wish to nominate for next year's prize these idiots in Congress.

Since they have been unsuccessful at surrendering in Iraq, they are now going after the one sane Islamic government in the Middle East and a valuable ally in the war on terror. These are the same gutless cowards who've been whining for years about improving America's image in the world. Now the world can see that they are a pack of opportunistic, unprincipled liars.

It's insane, it's dishonest, it's treacherous and they know it's going to kill more of those servicemen and women they daily lie about caring for.

Michael Ledeen: "Another triumph of statecraft over the idiocies of Cowboy W."

***

It takes money to mount a terror campaign in Iraq, hundreds of millions of dollars, in fact. That money has to be managed by someone. And now he's ours. It also takes bodies, of course, and someone to move them to the battlefield. And on September 11, 2007, we killed that son of a bitch and confiscated his records. Then we killed more of his fellow sons of bitches.

That is counterterrorism, Senator.

***

Czeching in on the Nobel Committee's logic.

***

Good. Now he can go to Hell.

***

The United Nations' new, stronger approach to genocide: you die, we'll talk about it more.

***

"The Prophet Of Liberty"
A Muslim speaks for America:

"… As an Arab Muslim, I feel shame and disgrace at this crime [9/11] that befell the United States of America, which is considered the best country on the face of the planet in the service it has done to human civilization. It is America that gave humanity [many] inventions: the telephone, the airplane, cinema and television, electric light, the Internet, and thousands of other inventions and scientific and intellectual discoveries…

"And America is the prophet of liberty that has liberated millions of humans from subjugation and slavery. It brought down Nazism, Communism, and the Taliban and Saddam regimes.

"It is certain that the ignorant, the rabble, and the terrorists do not understand … that Allah has blessed the land of America and has graced it with all its resources - mines, oil, agriculture, land, and aquatic fauna… America is an earthly paradise… by the grace of Allah's blessings.

"The foolish and the criminal never manage to see the sunlight and the hidden good that shines out… One needs a clear conscience and a mind free of criminal mob slogans before one can see America's good, shining face

"Any noble Arab Muslim should be ashamed and should apologize to the American people for this crime [i.e. 9/11]. America deserves great love and recognition for its goodness and grace towards humanity."
Emphasis mine.

***

President Bush is scheduled to meet with the Dalai Lama, a real Nobel Peace prize winner, in a ceremony at the White House - big hitter, the Lama - will Carl Spackler's old buddy burst into flames if Chimpy gets too close?

I wouldn't doubt it for a second!

***

Ace on the evil scourge of Redneck Cooties: Dem geniuses court the "Values Vote". What a bunch of laughable ignoramuses. And bigots.

Thursday, October 11, 2007

 

Islam Throws 'Em Down

This could be the most blatant threat ever declared against Christianity and Western civilization, and I do mean ever. It comes from a large international group of 138 prominent Islamic leaders, who in an unprecedented open letter to Pope Benedict, warn Christians not to do to Muslims what the Koran instructs Muslims to do to Christians and everyone else they feel like murdering or enslaving. In other words, submit to Islam or else:
Prominent Muslim scholars are warning that the "survival of the world" is at stake if Muslims and Christians do not make peace with each other.

In an unprecedented open letter signed by 138 leading Muslim scholars from every sect of Islam, the Muslims plead with Christian leaders "to come together with us on the common essentials of our two religions."

The Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr. Rowan Williams, and Pope Benedict are believed to have been sent copies of the document which calls for greater understanding between the two faiths.

The letter also spells out the similarities between passages of the Bible and the Koran.

The Muslim scholars state: "As Muslims, we say to Christians that we are not against them and that Islam is not against them - so long as they do not wage war against Muslims on account of their religion, oppress them and drive them out of their homes."
For idiots who are unclear on the concept, Palestinian Islamists are always a reliable example of the true state of religious understanding between Islam and Christianity:
The manager of a Christian bookstore in the Gaza Strip who was found dead last weekend was first publicly beaten and tortured by Islamic gunmen accusing him of spreading Christianity, according to witnesses and Palestinian security officials speaking to WND.

The body of Rami Ayyad, who managed the only Christian bookstore in Gaza, reportedly was found Sunday riddled with gunshot and stab wounds. Ayyad had been abducted the previous night as he closed his shop, according to a local Christian group.

Ayyad, a Baptist, was accused by Gaza-based Islamic groups of engaging in missionary activity. His bookstore, owned by the Palestinian Bible Society, was firebombed in April after which he told relatives he received numerous death threats from Islamists.

 

Quotes Of The Day

"True, all Democrats in the military are not phony soldiers, but all phony soldiers seem to be Democrats."

"If Democrats don't want to hear about 'phony soldiers,' maybe they should stop trying to edify us with these bathos-laden hoaxes."

Wednesday, October 10, 2007

 

Another Day, Another Smear

Every time an idiot gets caught purposely writing something offensive or stupid, usually in smearing an innocent, they insult our intelligence by feigning surprise at how they were "misinterpreted". They do this because they don't want to take responsibility for their words and actions.

Now a group of idiots at The George Washington University have faked a Young America's Foundation flier to provoke charges of "Islamophobia" against YAF . The leftist faculty's response was to jump on board the idiot bandwagon, genuflect to the ever-present Islamofascist-apologists, and demand contrition from the absolutely innocent YAF. Unbelievable. You'd think they would have learned from Mike Nifong and Duke's Gang of 88 not to lead the defaming of their own students, but leftist idiots are more concerned with the meta-narrative than with prosaic nuisances like honesty and honor.

Those responsible have admitted their roles in the disgusting frame-up and are again insulting everyone's intelligence by claiming that their defamation of the YAF was "misinterpreted". I don't think so; not when the culprits include Adam Kokesh, the leader of Iraq Veterans Against the War, who discredited themselves by advocating for phony soldier Jesse MacBeth. This was no "subtle message"; this was, as Bryan Preston points out, an intentional slander.

It's no surprise that the culprits are trying to stifle freedom of speech; the flyer is part of a campaign by the unholy alliance of Islamic radicals, far-Left idiot activists and academics to smear the YAF and David Horowitz, who has organized Islamo-Fascism Awareness Week to be held at one hundred and forty-two colleges and universities around the country. Horowitz is under pressure to drop his plans for IFAW by self-proclaimed defenders of civil liberties who don't care for the Inconvenient Truth that freedom of speech is one of the most basic of those liberties.

Idiots and their Islamofascist apologism get more despicable with every passing day. Their favorite device: Blame The Jews.

A different issue here, but the idiots' tactics are the same.

 

Bill Bennett With Clarence Thomas

I appreciate Bill Bennett and I admire Justice Clarence Thomas. Here's why.

Tuesday, October 09, 2007

 

A History Of Dishonesty, And Eleven Inconvenient Truths. UPDATED: Plus Nine Scientific Inaccuracies

UPDATED
In Media Dishonesty Matters, Randall Hoven at American Thinker lists 101 examples of media dishonesty, upon which idiots rely so heavily for their daily bread:

Did you know that Time magazine and other news organizations had a Vietnamese communist on full-time staff in Vietnam during that war? Do you remember that ABC, CBS and NBC have all rigged cars or trucks with explosives or other devices to make them look dangerous on TV, or that Consumer Reports lied about the Suzuki Samurai enough to put it out of business? Do you know that multiple "veterans" of the Viet Nam and Iraq wars who told of atrocities there were never even in the military? Did you realize reputable news organizations such as the Boston Globe and Reuters cannot tell the difference between a real soldier and a toy doll, commercial pornography and soldiers committing rape, a burning tire dump and a bombed building, a fired and an unfired rifle round, or footage of the North Pole and a clip from the movie Titanic?

When it comes to President Bush, the media have lied about his National Guard service, lied about his serving a plastic turkey to troops in Iraq on Thanksgiving and then made a big deal about that phony story, lied about his speeches, quoted him by removing the words he actually used, and admitted they would use a harsher standard with him than his opponent John Kerry. To this day, they criticize his administration's handling of the Katrina crisis, which was actually one of the most successful rescue and recovery efforts in history, but barely mention their own huge and egregious mistakes in reporting on that event.
In a similar vein, Newsbusters reports that a British court found at least eleven inaccuracies in Algore's unfortunately titled propaganda film, "An Inconvenient Troof". "Inaccuracies" is a generous term, given that Algore, with all his "research" and all his resources, must have known these claims were false. That makes Gore a liar, but we already know that:

* The film claims that melting snows on Mount Kilimanjaro evidence global warming. The Government's expert was forced to concede that this is not correct.

* The film suggests that evidence from ice cores proves that rising CO2 causes temperature increases over 650,000 years. The Court found that the film was misleading: over that period the rises in CO2 lagged behind the temperature rises by 800-2000 years.

* The film uses emotive images of Hurricane Katrina and suggests that this has been caused by global warming. The Government's expert had to accept that it was "not possible" to attribute one-off events to global warming.

* The film shows the drying up of Lake Chad and claims that this was caused by global warming. The Government's expert had to accept that this was not the case.

* The film claims that a study showed that polar bears had drowned due to disappearing arctic ice. It turned out that Mr Gore had misread the study: in fact four polar bears drowned and this was because of a particularly violent storm.

* The film threatens that global warming could stop the Gulf Stream throwing Europe into an ice age: the Claimant's evidence was that this was a scientific impossibility.

* The film blames global warming for species losses including coral reef bleaching. The Government could not find any evidence to support this claim.

* The film suggests that the Greenland ice covering could melt causing sea levels to rise dangerously. The evidence is that Greenland will not melt for millennia.

* The film suggests that the Antarctic ice covering is melting; the evidence was that it is in fact increasing.

* The film suggests that sea levels could rise by 7m causing the displacement of millions of people. In fact the evidence is that sea levels are expected to rise by about 40cm over the next hundred years and that there is no such threat of massive migration.

* The film claims that rising sea levels has caused the evacuation of certain Pacific islands to New Zealand. The Government are unable to substantiate this and the Court observed that this appears to be a false claim.

UPDATE
From the Times Online: From "Inconvenient Truth" to, uh, "truthiness".

Tim Blair, for the Troofers:

Al’s Inconvenient Truth has its day in a British court:

A High Court judge who ruled on whether climate change film, An Inconvenient Truth, could be shown in schools said it contains "nine scientific errors".

Here’s something for the Truthers to chew over: by other estimations, the same court found eleven material inaccuracies. Nine ... and eleven ... 9/11! Think about it.


Wednesday, October 03, 2007

 

Ubama Akimbo


Flashes his pre-emptive and interventionist foreign policy stance by parroting a graven image of American arrogance. What a right-wing nutjob fascist pig.

Plus he's skinny. I don't trust skinny, especially aping Superman, for Chrissakes.

Nor do I trust Hillary!'s Monster Ass. Hillary!'s Ass is Monster. The President Of The United States Of America cannot have a Monster Ass.

 

Marine Hero: The 5 Things I Saw That Make Me Support The War

From Townhall.com, a real Marine reaffirms his purpose against the madness of Saddam's Iraq. It's a tale of resolve hardened by daily encounters with the victims of the tyrant's regime:
I still can’t shake the pictures out of my head. We discovered them inside a strange laboratory we found inside a Special Republican Guard barracks that had been plunked down inside an amusement park. When I cracked open the photo album, my jaw dropped. There in front of me were the most horrifying images of experiments being performed on newborn and infant children. Picture after picture, page after page, the binder was filled with the most extreme deformities and experimental mutations one could imagine. One baby had an eye that was shifted toward the middle of its head. We turned the books over to our lieutenant as valuable pieces of intelligence.
The close:
[T]here is a profound moral difference between using violence to destroy lives and using violence to save lives. Terrorists do the former; soldiers, sailors, airmen, and Marines do the latter.

Antimilitary liberals need to learn the difference between the two.
Not a chance, buddy. Not a chance.

Tuesday, October 02, 2007

 

Question Of The Day

Which tactical genius made Tom Harkin point man for the Dem's "phony soldier" hysteria?

 

Bad News For Idiots, MSM

How dare the propagandists at IBD be allowed this to get out?
• On Monday came news that U.S. military deaths in Iraq fell to 64 in September, the fourth straight drop since peaking at 121 in May and driving the toll to a 14-month low.

• Civilian deaths also have plunged, dropping by more than half from August to 884. Remember just six months ago all the talk of an Iraqi "civil war"? That seems to be fading.

• The just-ended holy month of Ramadan in Iraq was accompanied by a 40% drop in violence, even though al-Qaida had vowed to step up attacks.

• Speaking of al-Qaida, the terrorist group appears to be on the run, and possibly on the verge of collapse — despite making Iraq the center of its war for global hegemony and a new world order based on precepts of fundamentalist Islam.

• Military officials say U.S. troops have killed Abu Usama al-Tunisi, a Tunisian senior leader of al-Qaida in Iraq who was responsible for bringing foreign fighters into the country. Not surprisingly, the pace of foreign fighters entering Iraq has been more than halved from the average of 60 to 80 a month.

• Last month, 1,200 Iraqis waited patiently in line in Iraq's searing heat to sign up to fight al-Qaida. They will join an estimated 30,000 volunteers in the past six months — a clear sign the tide has turned in the battle for average Iraqis' hearts and minds.

• Finally, and lest you think it's all death and destruction, there's this: Five million Iraqi children returned to school last week, largely without incident, following their summer vacations.
Read the whole pack of lies here: Iraq's Golden Silence.

Fortunately for the antiwar idiot left, no-one will ever know about this:
If Dems Vote For Defense Funding And The Media Misses It, Will It Make A Noise With The Netroots?

 

Quote Of The Day

"Once again we see the left's pecking order in the heirarchy of protected minorities. No big deal when Hizballah rains missiles onto Jewish cities, but claim there are no gays in Iran and it's on, baby.

And by 'it's on, baby,' they mean Iran has invited a terrible retribution of mockery upon it. Yeah, take it. Stings don't it, bitch?"

 

The Great One On Media Matters

Mark Levin on what Matters to the idiot left.



Nuff said.

 

Hillary On The Record: I Started Media Matters

Hillary Clinton brags to the Kostards about starting and supporting Media Matters, who consistently deny the connection.



Not at all surprising to Discover The Network, who have thoroughly scrutinized the Media Matters network and found a rat's nest of Clinton/Soros lies, misdirection and hidden agendas:
Established in May 2004, Media Matters for America is a "web-based, not-for-profit … progressive research and information center" seeking to "systematically monitor a cross-section of print, broadcast, cable, radio, and Internet media outlets for conservative misinformation." But in addition to "news or commentary that is not accurate, reliable, or credible," the organization's concept of "misinformation" includes anything that "forwards the conservative agenda." Thus political differences of opinion are often portrayed by Media Matters as lies or worse.

Media Matters' founder and CEO is David Brock. A reporter for the conservative magazine The American Spectator in the 1990s, Brock (in the aftermath of his biography of Hillary Clinton that brought disastrous reviews) engaged in a public self-denunciation, characterizing all his past writings critical of liberal figures as a confection of lies and slanders.

***

Standing behind Brock was John Podesta, a former chief of staff in the Clinton administration and the head of the "progressive" Washington, DC think tank, the Center for American Progress. In 2004 Podesta provided Brock with office space for his fledgling enterprise. Soon after, Media Matters received over $2 million in seed donations from a roster of affluent donors including Leo Hindery Jr., a former cable magnate; Susie Tompkins Buell, a co-founder of the fashion company Esprit and a close ally of Senator Hillary Clinton; James Hormel, a[n] (incest- and pedophilia-promoting~ Ed.) San Francisco philanthropist who nearly served as ambassador to Luxembourg during the Clinton administration; Bren Simon, a Democratic activist and the wife of shopping-mall developer Mel Simon; and New York psychologist and philanthropist Gail Furman. Media Matters, which can accept tax-deductible contributions under section 501(c)(3) of the tax code, has also benefited from the patronage of Peter Lewis, chairman of Progressive Corporation and a longtime consort of leftist financier George Soros.

Media Matters has not always been forthcoming about its high-profile backers. In particular, the group has long labored to obscure any financial ties to George Soros. But in March 2003, the Cybercast News Service (CNS) detailed the copious links between Media Matters and several Soros "affiliates"—among them MoveOn.org, the Center for American Progress, and Peter Lewis. Confronted with this story, a spokesman for the organization explained that "Media Matters for America has never received funding directly from George Soros" (emphasis added), a transparent evasion.

Nor were groups cited by CNS the only connection between Media Matters and Soros. As investigative journalist Byron York has noted, another Soros affiliate that bankrolled Media Matters was the New Democratic Network. In addition, Soros is reported to be involved in the newly formed Democracy Alliance, a partnership of some 80 affluent financiers who each have vowed to contribute $1 million or more in order to build up an ideological infrastructure of leftist thinks tanks and advocacy groups. News reports list Media Matters as a main beneficiary of the Alliance's funding. By August of 2004, Media Matters' operating budget had already doubled to $4 million.

To summarize, Soros and his Open Society Institute pour millions of dollars into the coffers of MoveOn, the Center for American Progress, and Democracy Alliance. In turn, these organizations funnel some of that money to Media Matters.

Prior to founding Media Matters, David Brock met with a number of leading Democratic Party figures, including Senator Hillary Clinton, former Senator Tom Daschle of South Dakota, and former Vice President Al Gore. Today, more than a few of the organization's roughly 30 staff members are Democratic operatives. Among these are Media Matters' chief communications strategist Dennis Yedwab, who is also the Director of Strategic Resources at Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee. Brock's personal assistant, Mandy Vlasz, is a Democratic pollster and a veteran consultant to Democratic campaigns, including the 2000 Gore/Lieberman campaign. Katie Barge, the Director of Research at Media Matters, formerly presided over opposition research for Senator John Edwards' unsuccessful 2004 presidential campaign.

In 2004 Media Matters reported that its website had elicited some 150,000 comments in its discussion forums and that over 22,000 subscribers had registered to receive its e-mail alerts. Brock has also become a regular feature on leftist radio stations like Air America.

A notable figure at Media Matters is senior fellow Eric Boehlert, who was among the most passionate defenders of University of South Florida professor Sami Al-Arian after the latter was accused of having been the North American leader of the terrorist organization Palestinian Islamic Jihad. In an article titled "The Prime-time Smearing of Sami Al-Arian," Boehlert charged that: "In the wake of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, all four media giants, eagerly tapping into the country's mood of vengeance and fear, latched onto the Al-Arian story, fudging the facts and ignoring the most rudimentary tenets of journalism in their haste to better tell a sinister story about lurking Middle Eastern dangers here at home."

Media Matters' Senior Advisor Jamison Foser wrote on May 26, 2006: "The defining issue of our time is the media. ... The dominant political force of our time is the media. Time after time, the news media have covered progressives and conservatives in wildly different ways -- and, time after time, they do so to the benefit of conservatives."

Media Matters' Editorial Director is Marcia B. Kuntz, who formerly headed the Judicial Selection Project of Alliance for Justice.

In September 2006, Media Matters became the sponsor of Eric Alterman's media, politics, and culture blog, Altercation.

In June 2007, Media Matters released a report titled The Progressive Majority: Why A Conservative America Is a Myth. According to this study, the "conventional wisdom" which "says that the American public is fundamentally conservative," is "fundamentally false." "Americans are progressive across a wide range of controversial issues, and they're growing more progressive all the time," the researchers conclude. The report examines public attitudes regarding the economy, social issues, national security, the environment, energy, health care, and the proper role of government.

Media Matters (which in 2005 pulled in contributions, gifts and grants totaling approximately $8.5 million) receives financial support from the Tides Foundation, the Arca Foundation, the Peninsula Community Foundation, and the San Francisco
Foundation. (Emphasis mine.)
All this and much more on the sprawling Clinton/Soros leftist network, of which the MediaMatters leftwing smear machine is but one part, are on the public record at the very important Discover The Networks.

Is there a felony investigation brewing?

Meanwhile, the NY Post is reporting on another Hsu-style fraud artist raising funds for the Hillary! campaign:

A purported pyramid-scheme operator who was run out of Arkansas when Bill Clinton was governor has reinvented himself as the head of an upstate group accused of being a "cult" - and his devotees have pumped thousands into Hillary Rodham Clinton's presidential run.

Executives and top associates of the Albany-based NXIVM group - along with their family members - donated $29,900 to Clinton's presidential campaign, according to federal records.

On March 14 and April 13, records show, more than a dozen contributions poured into Clinton's coffers from NXIVM, an executive and group-awareness training organization led by Brooklyn-born Keith Raniere, 47.

They're contributing to Republicans as well to hedge their bets, but there is a clear pro-Hillary! slant with this Raniere weirdo that shines through in both the Post article and follow-up work here.

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