Based on an old classic;
“Take your 65,000 jobs and shove it…”
Offensive Driving
DNC “Politburo”
Brokaw, on the DNC network coverage;
“Any entrepreneurship that we show on booking guests or unilaterally calling up people and trying to get them to come to our booth, we get a call 15 minutes later from the Kerry operation saying ‘No, no, that’s not part of our booking procedure,’ ” Mr. Brokaw said. “There is a politburo running this convention.” (Stephanie Cutter, a spokeswoman for Mr. Kerry, said the campaign’s booking operation was set up to facilitate interviews, not restrict them.)
The campaign went so far as to try to limit the kind of questions Mr. Brokaw and Mr. Rather were to ask Mr. Kerry here on Wednesday afternoon. The staff wanted the questions to concern Mr. Kerry’s expectations for the convention, nothing more, according to people at both networks. It was the sort of terms-setting that few have dared to ask of network anchors. The request was swiftly denied.
Mr. Kerry did not help matters when he failed to appear until nearly an hour before the evening newscasts, leaving the anchors to wait at Faneuil Hall with increasing anxiety. (Mr. Kerry was not running late in returning from a campaign stop but rather from his vacation home in Nantucket.)
“What that said to me was that either they don’t have their stuff together, or he’s ultimately responsible, or he just took it lightly,” Mr. Rather complained.
All that, and a Jennings-Brokaw pissing match, too.
Heh.
Be Sure To Wash Your Hands
The most disturbing aspect of this latestrevelation is the possibility that there are articles in the National Archives that may have spent time in Sandy Berger’s pants.
Progress In Afghanistan
More good news that the mainstream media deems unfit to print. Aussie blogger Arthur Chrenkoff in the WSJ Opinion Journal;
For all the fashionable talk about Iraq distracting the Bush Administration from the war on terror, it’s largely been the media that have ignored Afghanistan except for the occasional story about another skirmish with the Taliban remnants or the explosion in opium cultivation.
CBS’s veteran journalist Tom Fenton recently had this to say about the work of his media colleagues: “You know the old saying: No news is good news. But in the news business, it is just the opposite: Good news is no news–which is why you have been hearing so little from Afghanistan recently.”
Some of that good news: the status of women has improved dramatically, with 2.1 million now registered to vote. Afghan refugees continue to return. Polls indicate that the US is favoured over the Taliban by a margin of six to one. Two thirds of the population believe the country is moving in the right direction, and the interim government enjoys solid support. 81% intend to vote in the elections in October.
“And for the first time, female athletes will represent Afghanistan at the Olympic Games in Athens. Robina Muqimyar will run in the 100 meters, and Friba Rezihi will compete in judo. “
The full article is worth a read.
While they Afghans will continue to be dogged by setbacks, and certainly face the prospect of opposition attacks as they near their elections. it is hard to believe that this much progress has been achieved in only two years time – and at such a low cost in human life.
No word yet of a rebuttal from Noam Chomsky.
hat tip – the excellent Pejmanesque
Joe Who?
Ed Morrisey charts the media coverage of the Joe Wilson before (Bush lied about Iraq seeking uranium in the SOTU address) and the Joe Wilson after (Joe Wilson lied about what he found in Niger and who recommended him for the job) media coverage;
Outlet………Wilson Before….Wilson After
CBS………………..30……………0
NBC………………..40……………1
ABC………………..18……………1
Washington Post…..96………….2
New York Times……70………….3
Los Angeles Times…48………….2
Using “uranium niger” and “Joe Wilson” as search terms:
CBC.ca…………………..7……………0
CTV.ca……………………1……………0
(It appears that CTV preserves stories for a shorter period of time)
“Off A Tich”
Reuters:
Three weeks of imaging data by the agency’s satellites from early 2001 showed more than 10 individual giant waves around the globe of more than 25 metres in height. Previously, scientists believed that such large waves occurred only once every 10,000 years.
Coming Clean
Former New York Times Executive Editor, Howell Raines, February 20, 2003:
“Our greatest accomplishment as a profession is the development since World War II of a news reporting craft that is truly non-partisan, and non-ideological, and that strives to be independent of undue commercial or governmental influence….But we don’t wear the political collar of our owners or the government or any political party. It is that legacy we must protect with our diligent stewardship. To do so means we must be aware of the energetic effort that is now underway to convince our readers that we are ideologues. It is an exercise of, in disinformation, of alarming proportions, this attempt to convince the audience of the world’s most ideology-free newspapers that they’re being subjected to agenda-driven news reflecting a liberal bias.”
New York Times Public Editor Daniel Okrent, July 25, 2004:
Is The New York Times a Liberal Newspaper?
Of course it is.
Ed Driscoll asks, “What does that do to the folks who claim that because Fox sometimes tilts to the right (don’t tell Geraldo and Greta, though) that they shouldn’t be using “fair and balanced”? Read the rest of his post.
I agree with the critics, though. Until there are about a dozen more networks and media outlets like Fox, media fairness and balance is still just a idealistic fantasy. But the success of Fox vs the declining share values and circulation figures for organizations like the Times, does bring some hope that the marketplace may eventually force change where basic journalistic integrity has failed.
via Instapundit
The Incredible Shrinking Website
Bring Our Terrorists Home!
Bill Graham has been out combing the world to repatriate stranded Canadian terrorists citizens. National Post –
A Foreign Affairs official and an immigration officer visited the MEK’s massive complex on May 31 and June 1. Thirteen of the detainees said they were Canadian citizens, while 24 said they were permanent residents and 44 said they had relatives in Canada.
Some of the landed immigrants may no longer be eligible to return to Canada since they have been out of the country for so long. Those with status in Canada are free to return, an official said.
“They have been told that they are totally at liberty to come back to Canada if it is their wish,” said Reynald Doiron, a Foreign Affairs spokesman.
The MEK is designated a terrorist organization by both the US and Britain, though the Liberals haven’t been as judgemental. (Marxism x Islamism, how can you lose?)
The Iranians are none too happy.
Tehran Times – Canada on the Wrong Track
Recent reports indicate that two Canadian officials met with members of the terrorist Mujahedin Khalq Organization (MKO) in Iraq from May 31 to June 1.
The Canadian daily the National Post recently confirmed the news in an official report.
Over the past year, the Canadian government, which enjoyed an appropriate relationship with Iran during the years after the Islamic Revolution due to its reasonable and balanced policies, was influenced by the media propaganda about the death of Zahra Kazemi. Canada immediately abandoned its logical and realistic approach in favor of impulsive reactions.
It seems that Canada’s diplomacy toward Iran is currently moving swiftly downhill and has also influenced the country’s internal affairs and has caused certain changes in the cabinet. This has led the Canadian government to choose the wrong course of action, namely playing with dead pieces like the MKO. Due to the two countries’ good relationship in the past, the Canadian government should take the following issues into consideration:
Perhaps now that Iran is crying foul, they’ll review the MEK status…
Attention Protestors:
Please make your way to one of the officially designated Free Speech Zones. Security will be searching bags. Alcoholic bevarages, weapons and wirecutters expressly forbidden.
Courtesy: Democratic National Convention
hat tip = Drudgereport
Swoon
Well, this explains that tingly feeling.
The Right Balance
Sometimes, one has to stand back in awe at the eloquence that defines statesmanship.
Yes, I think there should be less violence and less sex. And when I talked about the heart and soul, I’m talking about the artistic expression. I’m talking about sort of the, I mean, I believe in the arts. I think that there’s a great expression in it, and there’s always this struggle. You know, does life imitate art or art imitate life? Which comes first? It’s a little of both.
I do think we have a responsibility, as leaders, to stand up. I think there were people at that, at that concert we had in New York who stepped over the line. I’ve said that. They don’t speak for me. They speak for themselves. I will stand up and struggle, as others have, to try to get that right balance between violence, and sex, and things.
Crossposted at Shotgun
Garfield Unleashed
Hey lady, what are you complaining about? You bought the kid the Horny Garfield Humping Inanimate Object Toy [tm].
(Added to today’s traffic jam)
Trolls: The Final Solution
Damned By Faint Praise
12 years, four Sea King crashes and 10 deaths after Chretien cancelled the Mulroney government contract for 50 EH-101 military helicopters,
… the Martin government has announced they have approved the purchase of 27 twin engined S-92’s. By all accounts, this is a magnificent piece of aviation engineering.
 |
For an air taxi. |
Response has been enthusiastic. David Rudd, Canadian Institute of Strategic Studies – “glad to get anything.”
Frankie
The Iranian Threat
Further to this, David Warren at the Ottawa Citizen:
With the sort of arrogance made visible even to Canadians in the recent “trial” of suspects in the murder of Zahra Kazemi, the regime’s officials from Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei down have been making bellicose declarations against America, Israel, and the West generally.
“Today we have in our possession long-range smart missiles which can reach many of the interests and vital resources of the Americans and of the Zionist regime in our region,” writes Yadollah Javani, political head of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards in the daily Kayhan, which has become the Iranian “Pravda”.
General Javani was echoing remarks made by Ayatollah Khamenei in Hamadan a week earlier, in more Koranic language. “The entire Islamic Middle East is now a volatile and tangled trap, and will be set off by the smallest bit of silliness,” Javani declares. “Indeed, the White House’s 80 years of exclusive rule are likely to become 80 seconds of Hell.”
Translations on the excellent MEMRI website (see Internet) flesh out such threats. Recent announcements include: the recruitment and training of thousands of Iranian volunteers for suicide attacks against U.S. and other targets in Iraq; the resumption of work on Iran’s long-range Shihab 4 and 5 missiles, capable of reaching targets in Europe and the U.S.; and references to a “master plan” to eliminate “Anglo-Saxon civilization” with missiles and martyrdom, mentioning “29 sensitive targets”.
These threats are not uttered from a cave in the Hindu Kush. They are official Iranian state announcements. The ability of the Western media to ignore them is astounding.
Just a question… how much airtime over the past 6 months do you suppose has been devoted in the national news airwaves to the current NHL player-owner stalemate by CTV and CBC? To Todd Bertuzzi? How many man hours spent bringing us stories about former figureskaters turned boxers? To stupid pet tricks and the threats of sun exposure and uncooked meat?
What are we going to say about the seriousness of our press, when the day comes that a major metropolitan area is laid waste, and we know more about obese film makers than we do the formally sworn enemies of our civilization?
Hat tip – Occam’s Toothbrush
Viacom, Clarke and The 9/11 Report
Republican commissioner John Lehman on the circus that overtook the 9/11 commission hearings when Richard Clarke was testifying;
“I think we were mugged by Viacom,” Lehman told NRO in a phone interview on Thursday afternoon. “Because they changed the release date of the book and geared up 60 Minutes to launch his book to time them with his testimony and they edited his book to take out all of the criticisms of Clinton from his [original private] testimony. Because they wanted to make it a jihad against Bush.”
Lehman says that Clarke’s original testimony included “a searing indictment of some Clinton officials and Clinton policies.” That was the Clarke, evenhanded in his criticisms of both the Bush and Clinton administrations, who Lehman and other Republican commissioners expected to show up at the public hearings. It was a surprise “that he would come out against Bush that way.” Republicans were taken aback: “It caught us flat-footed, but not the Democrats.”
Clarke’s performance poisoned the public hearings, leading to weeks of a partisan slugfest. Lehman says Republican commissioners felt they had to fight back, adding to the partisan atmosphere. “What triggered it was Dick Clarke,” says Lehman. “We couldn’t sit back and let him get away with what he wanted to get away with.” He adds, “We were hijacked by a combination of Viacom and the Kerry campaign in the handling of Clarke’s testimony.”
Gwynne Dyer Moves His Lips
Gwynne Dyer explains the root causes of poverty and female illiteracy in the Arab world;
“… President George W. Bush … West … Western nations … the West … France … U.S. troops … Britain … the CIA … It was Britain that carved … joint Anglo-U.S. project. The British Foreign Office … conspired with France and Israel … West … Washington … U.S. foreign aid … Britain …the West’s purposes. The United States and France … The West … the West … the West…”
(I told you so.)
There’s no mention of literacy rates in Israel.
Odd, that.
hat tip- Pol:Spy