The Beijing Olympics

Remember when the Olympic games were about the athletes and the sports? I've been coming across some pretty weird articles and thought I'd share.

The Beijing Olympics in August are about the Chinese gov't's

• human rights abuses---this site is worth a visit just for the display of professionalism
  


• controlling the weather---

  Its cloud-seeding weapons include 6,781 artillery guns and 4,110 rocket launchers, according to the state-run Xinhua news agency. The China Meteorological Administration says 4,231 flights for cloud-seeding were conducted from 1995 to 2003.
  
  The Chinese scientists say it worked — increasing rainfall during those years by 210 billion cubic meters, enough to meet the annual needs of 400 million people. China has a population of about 1.3 billion.

  (more excerpts below)
  


• Beijing pollution,
  


• genocide in Darfur (Spielberg actually had an effect!).
  
  But the biggest crowds in Beijing might turn out to be for an unexpected kind of game - the digital kind.

  Regarding the Olympics deal, I ask him the inevitable question: Isn't video gaming rather non-athletic?
  
  But he unreels a rapid-fire series of comebacks:
  
  * "This involves hand/eye coordination in the extreme. The best guys train eight hours a day."
  * "You burn more calories playing 20 minutes of boxing on the Wii than in a 20-minute jog."
  * "Do you get more obese playing video games or watching football on TV?"

  
  More on their weather control program...
  

  But the history of Chinese science projects has its quirky examples, too — like the one that promises to produce softball-size tomatoes or giant gourds by shooting seeds or seedlings into space and then sowing them back on earth.
  
  Fifty years ago, during the Great Leap Forward, Mao Zedong made extravagant claims about new agricultural techniques that could lift China out of starvation. His plans to beat nature were based mostly on ideology and pseudo-science and caused widespread famine.

  
  ...............................
  

  On the very day Chinese weather modification experts were boasting at a news conference about controlling rain during the Olympics, the country’s midsection was being pummeled by the worst snow storm in 50 years, which Chinese meteorologists failed to predict.

Next Yon Installment

Was reviewing the results of the Watcher's Council over at the Glittering Eye. In an earlier post about msm bias and hysteria, I concentrated on public issues the media was actively trying to influence.

The news talkers suffer from urgency inflation. They must show that the merely problematic is a disaster. Anything unexpected is a "setback." A setback, then, is a "problem." A problem, as stated, has become a disaster. For example, the storm named "Katrina" was a disaster. But, while the response to it was organizationally difficult, there was plenty of heroism to go around. The storm was the disaster, not the response! But a "problem" can draw a bigger audience than a "setback" can. A disaster draws more viewers to the advertising platform than a "problem" does.

The are other kinds of manipulation. One is the media trying to play down or ignore the plain truth, such as with heroism or success in the Iraq war. I was reminded of this in the most recent M. Yon report, Death or Glory Part II of IV: Into the Desert With the Queen’s Royal Lancers Armed with plenty of great pictures, his commentary is just great.

Despite the British press reports that make their own soldiers out to be cowering on bases in Basra, truck after truck of them here were in high spirits. News flash: Those reports are false. Derelict media coverage is another aspect of this war British and American soldiers share, and it rankles here in the southern part of Iraq as deeply as it does everywhere else. Practically no one writes about the Brits down here. Important pages in history remain unwritten, while policy decisions are based on the public perception that all is lost here. That this public perception is based on what I have called “The Green Gator Phenomenon” is an irony that is noted, but not appreciated.

He adds to the subject of bias by acknowledging psychological/emotional baggage, or "truths" we carry around with us. Things we "know" are true, but are not true in fact. His example is of a person, who standing right next to an alligator (all of which are black when wet and gray when dry,) will often say, even insist, that the gator is green, because that is the color popular culture assigns to the animal. Micheal Yon convincingly demonstrates the importance of the phenomenon in understanding the public perception of the Iraq conflict.
As far as "public perception" goes he's correct of course. But the gator did not convince "perception" - the media did.
Mr Yon's article is accompanied with plentiful pictures and deserves not only attention, but our gratitude.

espresso beans tothe glittering eye

What's Wrong With The Media?Tony Blair's Answer

"...it is in all our interests that the public is properly and
accurately informed."
Tony Blair
Prime Minister, Great Britain
12 June, 2007

I'm of the opinion that the most destructive force in America today (besides the
teacher's unions, of course) is the way in which we are informed. The means by which our news is delivered is a disgrace and getting worse.

I find it amazing that Exxon-Mobil is not allowed to comment on the subject
of carbon emissions because they produce the product that results in those
emissions. By that standard, we should not allow the news outlets to comment
on the news! They DO have a motive to lie and exaggerate, you know.

People seem to think that the news is there to present the news. Not so. The companies we earnestly want to trust with informing us on current events is beholden to corporate pressures the same as Walmart and Ford Auto. The business of any information medium is advertising. They present a billboard upon which companies may present their wares to an interested (usually) audience.

A lot's changed since I was in school, but the tangent in the study of Psychology that studied how people are influenced was called "Applied Psychology." You'd be surprised what they think of you in that line of work. You use your emotions to make decisions. You use your intellect to justify your decisions. If one can manipulate your emotions to their advantage, then one can own the decisions you make.

The news talkers suffer from urgency inflation. They must show that the merely problematic is a disaster. Anything unexpected is a "setback." A setback, then, is a "problem." A problem, as stated, has become a disaster. For example, the storm named "Katrina" was a disaster. But, while the response to it was organizationally difficult, there was plenty of heroism to go around. The storm was the disaster, not the response! But a "problem" can draw a bigger audience than a "setback" can. A disaster draws more viewers to the advertising platform than a "problem" does.

They do this for at least two reasons.

• To set you up for the next ad.
An excited viewer will be more manipulatable than a calm one.


• To put you in the mood to stay where you are.
("Don't change that channel!") Our broadcasters don't pay their beautiful people to let you watch someone else's ads.

There are of course, unintended consequences.

They must have anger.
They must have fear.
They will accuse, shame, place blame and instill guilt.
They will use our greed and other desires in their use of celebrity.
They will call good evil, and evil good.
And many, if not most of us, will believe them.
Their most precious assett is their credibility. In the process of throwing all these negative emotions around, they will divide us. We will treat each other with the suspicion that the corrupt deserve. We will believe our neighbors are as vicious as serial killers. Our corporate leaders want to kill their own kids with devastating pollutants, and our political leaders are moronic nimrods so malleable in the mesmerizing will of evil "handlers."

I don't have any answers. All I know is that the media is becoming more and more hysterical over time, trying to keep up their audience numbers so they can charge advertisers the same fees as they did 5 or 10 years ago. It is affecting the way they tell the news.

The potential for harm is staggering. British Prime Minister Tony Blair has been the greatest friend we've had for the last 10 years. He was Clinton's closest ally as well as G Bush's. He's on his way out, and has offered his opinions on how the media has changed. It's a good read. Add this to their
natural leftist bias and it starts to look like a "disaster."

espresso beans to newsbusters

ABC Finally Shows Some Stuffing - (It Was Probably An Accident!)

"A television news outlet makes sense" read the headline.
"Go with it!" shouted the gruff old producer around the wet end of his stogie. He was one of the last who could still remember when telling the truth had at least SOMETHING to do with journalism.

Nah...none of that has anything to do with this Newsbusters find - except that I got jazzed reading it! ABC News Consultant Slams Media Over Video of Va.Tech Killer

Michael Welner, an ABC News consultant and a forensic psychiatrist, appeared on Thursday’s "Good Morning America" to slam the media for gratuitously airing videos sent by deceased mass killer Seung-Hui Cho. Welner even referenced the network frenzy over fired radio host Don Imus by saying, "Just listen, if you can take Imus off the air, you can certainly keep [Cho] from having his own morning show."

Earlier in the segment, Welner gave an impassioned plea for the networks to stop airing the killer’s footage:

Michael Welner: "If anybody cares about the victims in Blacksburg and if anybody cares about their children, stop showing this video now. Take it off the internet. Let it be relegated to YouTube. This is a social catastrophe. Showing the video is a social catastrophe. I promise you the disaffected will watch him the way they watched 'Natural Born Killers.' I know. I examine these people. I've examined mass shooters who have told me they've watched 'Natural Born Killers' 20 times. You cannot saturate the American public with this kind of message."

It may be the murderer's secret why he sent the vids to NBC, but it's certainly no secret why he sent A PACKAGE to a TV NEWS outlet. Assuming he was able to comprehend anything logically, he would have known TV-News doesn't have the self-restraint of a new born puppy!
"everybody else pees on the floor so why can't we?

Liberals Now Link Imus To Conservatism!

"Media Matters " is to conservative radio what The Media Research Center is to liberal bias in the mainstream media. I have placed both in the "info sources" blogroll.
Media Matters thinks the firing of Don Imus ought to be just the beginning of a broader termination of other radio broadcasters. The only problem with that is that Imus was to the left on many more issues than not, and all the other radio personalities listed as "racist" or "sexist" are all suspiciously conservative. That's the sad part of the Imus saga, he thought he was one of the accepted/protected class because he's a liberal and raised a LOT of money, especially for children's cancer charities. Not one of his "friends" or any of the folks he helped to make big bucks stepped up to offer anything resembling a defense. And it didn't take long for them all to abandon him.

It's not just Imus
On April 11, NBC News announced that it was dropping MSNBC's simulcast of Imus in the Morning in the wake of the controversy that erupted over host Don Imus' reference to the Rutgers University women's basketball team as "nappy-headed hos." The following day, CBS president and CEO Leslie Moonves announced that CBS -- which owns both the radio station that broadcast Imus' program and Westwood One, which syndicated the program -- has fired Imus and would cease broadcasting his radio show. But as Media Matters for America has extensively documented, bigotry and hate speech targeting, among other characteristics, race, gender, sexual orientation, religion, and ethnicity continue to permeate the airwaves through personalities such as Glenn Beck, Neal Boortz, Rush Limbaugh, Bill O'Reilly, Michael Savage, Michael Smerconish, and John Gibson.

Keith Olberman or Jesse Jackson could call Rush any name they want (and they do) and no one would lift an eyebrow - because Rush is a public figure. He's in the public eye and it's quite normal for us to form an opinion of him, and our right to express that opinion is not only protected, but EXPECTED. He INVITES one and all to form an opinion about him. Same with Rosie, Anna Nichole, or Al's Franken and Sharpton. The Duke Lacrosse and Rutgers Women's Basketball teams are different stories. They don't do what they do as professionals or to draw attention. They are amateurs in their sports. Criticism is protected under the constitution but so is a company's right to disengage sponsorship.
A corporate sponsor isn't normally obligated to any length of time to continue their relationship with a given program. But if they are going to place ads on a program like Imus in the Morning they know what to expect. So a new standard, of sorts, has been set.
Regardless of any attempt to make Imus's a conservative gaffe, it's ridiculous to go there. Certainly the left is so reliant on the simplistic liberal/good - conservative/bad view of reality that they have no choice but to distance themselves and try to associate Imus with Rush or Neil Boortz. The stunning speed with which the media judged the three Lacrosse players and allowed the Sharpton/Jackson sphere of the "perpetually offended" to take out Imus reaffirms my desire to distance myself from the left in any case. Those folks are crazy. The dangerous kind.

Race Hustling: When Will We Recognize The Manipulation?

I don't get enough time top listen to Rush these days. Just some driving time, usually to work. The other day he spent some time discussing the Rutgers Women's Basketball Teams' insult. He received a call from an African-American woman from Cleveland, I don't have a transcript and I can't remember her name. But she impressed me very much. Very peacefully, yet also assertively, she spoke to how her joy is hers to possess. She eloquently told of raising her children, (whom she would not have allowed to attend that press conference - though I don't know how she would have prevented it!) to understand that they are in control of their own destiny. The line I remember, however imperfectly, was "Don Imus does NOT carry my joy in his pocket, and it is not for him to steal." This was in response to the news conference the team gave in which it was stated that the team's incredible season, struggling against very far-fetched odds - had all come down to "nappy-headed ho's" rather than the celebration of their hard earned and victorious season close. The theme of the conference was, whatever the target of any speaker...Imus, network greed, racism...whatever the target, "it has stolen our joy."
Don Imus gained his reputation by insulting, mocking, and berating targets that "polite" America looks up to. When the Rutger's team beat their vaunted opposition, (also a majority black team) he called them "nappy-headed ho's" because he wanted the other team to win. This is to Imus, what is called his "shtick" - that is, his signature verbal riff - for which his audience seeks him out on their radio dial in the first place. It's why they listen to him. Immaturity has no racial boundaries, and no American, iconic or unfortunate has ever been safe from his belittling attentions. If I knew about him, surely most of America did.
Indianapolis isn't much better. The Bob and Tom Show " started here. If they are syndicated to a station near you, on behalf of central Indiana, I apologize.
We don't have an Imus franchise station, but he has been simulcast for years on MSNBC. Whenever I've been unlucky enough to catch some of his program, he sounded much like any other liberal moron and I kept looking for a more suitable program.
No one defends what Mr Imus said as good or honest or right or true. That's not the point I wish to comment on.
If MSNBC wants to drop his simulcast , that's a business decision for them to make. Same for CBS, who have suspended his show for a couple of weeks, or for good. That's not the point, either.
The point I wish to make is that these were comments made by a man who has found a niche in the media and gets paid to make outrageous statements. As out of line as his comments were, he has apologized profusely. After all, he, and far too many "Euro-Americans" get their cultural education from the drug-sex-violence culture of the rap underground, which has gained acceptance from his audience anyway.
MSNBC and CBS can hire and fire Imus a thousand times and it won't change anything.
The culture that needs changing is the one that gave us words like "nappy-headed" and "ho" and uses with impunity the "n" and "b" word from which people like Don Imus receive their permission to use it in the first place. THAT culture is a sub-culture of the African-American community that too many are still trying to cover up with a "boys will be boys" attitude.
The rest of America has made quite impressive progress in race relations. White racists are no longer immune to the castigation of their peers by race. They still exist, but they speak in whispers, only to select confidantes. They are weak and still losing strength. I firmly believe that Imus had no idea that anyone would actually take his material seriously. Why should they? No one has for thirty years, why start now? Lady Espresso and I have been surprised, not by support for the Rutgers team and their predicament, but by the support we've seen on Shoutlife for people like "Rev" Al Sharpton and "Rev" Jesse Jackson on this issue. It is long past time that Black America see the problem that really exists in their own back yard and stand up to their own promoters of immaturity and race hustling. It is not news that sells the advertising that the various media crave, it is controversy.Where is our Christian moral outrage over "Piss Crist" or the sculpture of Jesus in chocolate, with his genitals exposed. Why are we SO incensed by a shock jock's shock? and not by the cowardly self-exaltation of antagonist atheists?

His Story Is "Too Positive"

I can't help but feel sorry for Great Britain. Actually, this is a story about all of Europe, but this article provides a useful metaphor through the use of one hero that will never be known. There are some tragedies that you can't help but watch, but you don't want to get caught peeking. This spectacle with the BBC canceling a program "because it feared it would alienate members of the audience opposed to the war in Iraq" is a heartbreaking admission that the BBC's audience hasn't anymore a clue than the BBC does about their own dismal, sharia-infected future.

Amid the deaths and the grim daily struggle bravely borne by Britain's forces in southern Iraq, one tale of heroism stands out.
Private Johnson Beharry's courage in rescuing an ambushed foot patrol then, in a second act, saving his vehicle's crew despite his own terrible injuries earned him a Victoria Cross.

"Bush Derangement Syndrome" is now a contagion of global consequence. What Europe doesn't get, though, is that if Iraq falls, they, or their children will live under Islamic sharia law. If the trouble, sacrifice, and guidance of the most prosperous and powerful nation in the history of the planet isn't enough to grant them the chance at freedom, then the only possible conclusion is that Muslims generally simply reject the entire concept of liberty. If that is indeed the fate of Iraq, then the Muslims worldwide will follow that example. No one will step forward to risk anything for Muslims in Egypt, or Indonesia, or even France. And that's the rub.
Muslims - in EUROPE - are conceiving at a rate that is between three to six times the rate of Europeans! In thirty years Europe will have an ethnically ARAB majority.

quote

espresso beans to S H O W N

This Week's Funnies

I've collected a few cultural stories that have a humorous side to them. For instance, I think it's nice to know that some in the U.S. military can still call a politically incorrect spade an "immoral" spade. His apology seems to be directed at the fact that he should have stayed on script, not that he said what he believes.No apology from Gen. Pace for gay stance

After a flurry of condemnation Tuesday, Pace issued a statement acknowledging that the Defense Department's "don't ask, don't tell" policy on gays is a sensitive subject and said: "I should have focused more on my support of the policy and less on my personal moral views."
The military lets gay men and lesbians serve if they keep their sexual orientation private. Commanders may not ask, and service members may not tell. More than 10,000 troops, including more than 50 specialists in Arabic, have been discharged since President Clinton signed it into law in 1994.

It's not a given, but probable that "specialists in Arabic" refers to Muslims. Homosexuality is supposed to be a forbidden act among them, and perhaps that's why they joined the coalition forces. Of course, if you're "lucky" enough to be of some importance or influence in a Muslim country, it's an entirely different scenario.
Left unsaid in this piece is any analysis of timeframe in the numbers it mentions. Or any possible other employment oppurtunities for said "specialists in Arabic." If I spoke Arabic and knew the culture, I might find plenty of incentive to want to leave the Army pay grade and work for Halliburton or Blackwater and perhaps make a killing. Or perhaps as a volunteer Army Arabic specialist in 2001-02, I didn't consider the possibility that I'd go to war against Iraq seriously enough. Perhaps others can think of reasons why someone would WANT to leave the military that also have nothing to do with being gay.
And then, there's every reason for a descendant of the mighty, historically important Persian empire to be embarrassed about the current administration in Iran. That a loosely historical comic book style portrayal of the Greco-Persian wars is thought to be an attack is simply paranoid. I would think that Frank Miller ought to be very proud for the mention, though. Iranian official lashes out at Hollywood movie "300" for insulting Persian civilization

Shamqadri was quoted as saying "following the Islamic Revolution in Iran, Hollywood and cultural authorities in the U.S. initiated studies to figure out how to attack Iranian culture," adding "certainly, the recent movie is a product of such studies."

My bold, obviously, that's the funniest projection of fascist ideology I've ever seen. Living in an oppressed, tightly controlled society, this propaganda rings true to the Iranian reader. If they had any idea at all how unregulated "Hollywood and cultural authorities" are in America, they'd wonder how we've managed to survive.
The best is saved for last. No comment is necessary.Frostbite ends Bancroft-Arnesen trek

MINNEAPOLIS - A North Pole expedition meant to bring attention to global warming was called off after one of the explorers got frostbite. The explorers, Ann Bancroft and Liv Arnesen, on Saturday called off what was intended to be a 530-mile trek across the Arctic Ocean after Arnesen suffered frostbite in three of her toes, and extreme cold temperatures drained the batteries in some of their electronic equipment.

....

Then there was the cold — quite a bit colder, Atwood said, then Bancroft and Arnesen had expected. One night they measured the temperature inside their tent at 58 degrees below zero, and outside temperatures were exceeding 100 below zero at times, Atwood said.

....

Atwood said there was some irony that a trip to call attention to global warming was scuttled in part by extreme cold temperatures.
"They were experiencing temperatures that weren't expected with global warming," Atwood said. "But one of the things we see with global warming is unpredictability."

What Does "Support The Troops" Mean?

If I said "I support the Indianapolis Police Dept.," and meant it the way we hear it said by congressional democrats, what would it mean?
From the "Outside The Wire" blog: Let Them Win

Friday, 16 February 2007
At the gym, running on the treadmill, watching cable news.
It is obvious supporting the troops means whatever you want it to mean.
As John Podhoretz wrote for NRO--
Nobody who actually supports the troops says "I support the troops" any longer. The words "I support the troops" are now solely for those who oppose what the troops are doing.
Of course, when two opposing sides of a debate use the same language, the coopting side usually wins.
Therefore, it is incumbent for one side--the victory caucus--to develop a different message.
I propose something simple, that can fit on a bumper sticker, and is unequivocal in meaning:

Support the Troops:
LET THEM WIN

Well, it didn't take long for it to become a reality.

Why Bush Lost America's Trust -- Accusation Fatigue

Too much lying by activist jerks, some working for the gov't. Some twist and spin in the press like the article below... too little response by the White House. ... (all emphasis mine)

WASHINGTON - Sworn testimony in the perjury trial of I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby has shone a spotlight on White House attempts to sell a gone-wrong war in Iraq to the nation and Vice President Dick Cheney's aggressive role in the effort.

In 2003 there was nothing "gone wrong" about the Iraq war except that it was plain that the Democrats - in disagreement with it - were taking a bath in opinion polls. As important as polls are to politians, that's a call to arms - so they went on their own covert campaign to smear all of America's best efforts. And if the "effort" had to be made, why shouldn't it be an aggresive one?
...

The drama being played out in a Washington courtroom goes back in time to the early summer of 2003. The Bush administration was struggling to overcome growing evidence the mission in Iraq was anything but accomplished.

The "mission" at the time was to depose Saddam and install a democracy and an ally in the gwot. The American military had just accomplished a part of that, and there's no reason the President shouldn't have offered his thanks and encouragement.
...

The claim about weapons of mass destruction that was used to justify the U.S.-led invasion in March 2003 had not been supported. Insurgent attacks were on the rise. Accusations were growing that the White House had distorted intelligence to rationalize the invasion.
Trial testimony so far — including eight hours of Libby's own audio-recorded testimony to a grand jury in 2004 — suggest that a White House known as disciplined was anything but that.

Someone could remind this journalist that "claims" and "accusations" do not constitute evidence. It should go without saying that at some point, a little evidence of what this journalist is reporting is needed. The word of a reporter with a spin for sale is not taken for granted to be truthful. The report's author is as much as admitting that the press has no idea what it's talking about regarding the level of "discipline" present at the White House.
One could go on and on throughout this junk, but it's apparent to me that this is another example of "controversy sells" rather than reporting honestly...which is too boring. The Wilson scandal may prove that Libby had something to hide, or not. The real scandal here is Wilson is an employee of the US State Dept, and a partisan liar.

Dissent at the Times

Snagged this YouTube from milblogs...[Greyhawk](Link in title...)

Via NewsBusters; New York Times Baghdad reporter John Burns talks Iraq with Tim Russert:

He's on dangerous ground - another Times reporter was recently publicly humiliated after committing a lesser thought crime.

Finally, Someone Gets A Grip!!

It's alternatively frightening and hilarious to watch the "global warming" debate. (Don't you love that word - debate? As if two sides have actually been presented!!!) Frightening for two reasons: if the gloomy side is right - we might actually be in for a pretty wild ride!! -- if the gloomers are wrong, we are naked in our own eyes at how pitifully vulnerable we are to repetitious propaganda ... and hilarious because they are so cute in their childish fears ... they are absolutely hysterical!! "Who's On First " bows to their comedic brilliance!!
Meet another target of leftist repudiation, Israeli astrophysicist Nir Shariv. First he describes the steps to becoming a gloomer:

Step One Scientists for decades have postulated that increases in carbon dioxide and other gases could lead to a greenhouse effect.
Step Two As if on cue, the temperature rose over the course of the 20th century while greenhouse gases proliferated due to human activities.
Step Three No other mechanism explains the warming. Without another candidate, greenhouses gases necessarily became the cause.

There are many links called "the deniers" numbered #1 thru #10. All are excellent reading. But one more paragraph...

In another study, directly relevant to today's climate controversy, Dr. Shaviv reconstructed the temperature on Earth over the past 550 million years to find that cosmic ray flux variations explain more than two-thirds of Earth's temperature variance, making it the most dominant climate driver over geological time scales. The study also found that an upper limit can be placed on the relative role of CO2 as a climate driver, meaning that a large fraction of the global warming witnessed over the past century could not be due to CO2 -- instead it is attributable to the increased solar activity.

espresso beans to drudge

Some Micheal Yon - Yes, Iraqis Have Heroes"The Hands of God"

The bomb strapped to his body was studded with ball-bearings so that he could kill more villagers as they gathered for prayer. The detonation would eviscerate and dismember those closest, shattering bones into fragments, but the ball-bearings would ensure lethality beyond the percussive edge of the blast wave, ripping through the flesh of people who might not have been knocked down by the explosion.
There were no soldiers in his path to stop him; no police to alert to the man in women’s clothes. There were only villagers. The man dressed as a woman was to be the agent of their deaths. He kept walking down the alley toward the mosque where more than one hundred people were praying, a mass murderer masquerading in a woman’s garb.

I can't help but wonder how many other great lives there are in Iraq, and how the vaunted American media is missing them all.

The closer a counterfeit comes to the genuine article, the more obvious the deceit. As the murderer dressed in women’s clothes walked purposefully toward his target, there was a village man ahead. But under the guise of a simple villager was a true Martyr, and he, too, had his target in sight. The Martyr had seen through the disguise, but he had no gun. No bomb. No rocket. No stone. No time.
The Martyr walked up to the murderer and lunged into a bear hug, on the spot where we were now standing.

espresso beans to jules crittenden

Why Can't Journalists Learn The Debate?

Anyone who seriously follows the abortion debate knows that Roe v Wade is only one half of the legal tragedy that occurred in Jan of 1973. The other half is Doe V Bolton, which is where the definition of "health" was declared. So, when you see something like this, in the Wash Times (which I'd like to think would know better) you know that you're being taken for a ride.

On Jan. 22, 1973, the court ruled on a Texas case that state abortion laws violated the U.S. Constitution's right to privacy. The court ruling, in effect, protected privacy rights until about the seventh month of pregnancy.

Roe's language demands an exception, to any concern for the human being in the womb, for the life or "health" of the mother. The way it is defined in the Doe decision, if it makes "mother" uncomfortable, the human baby is toast.

espresso beans to drudge

Notable Quotables for 2006 from Media Research Center

Too much great stuff. Just have to see it!

Does Jamil Hussein Exist?

This is a tricky area for mainstream news outlets. American reporters seem to be terrified of the prospect of actually writing about Iraq FROM Iraq ... so they do what they can with local (Arab) reporters. But a reporter with an agenda is useless to those of us who simply want the unspun story. The Associated Press has used a local "stringer" by the name of Jamil Hussein as a source for several stories, relatively unnoticed before now. But he's the center of a firestorm now that sensational allegations of Shiite revenge attacks have surfaced, with Mr Hussein named as a local police captain and one of the sources. He may have remained unnoticed but fore other details of the story, regarding mosques that had been attacked. Unfortunately for the AP, the US military says none of the mosques show ANY damage except for one - of four - that has the almost negligible damage resulting from a molotov cocktail.Confederate Yankee and Michelle Malkin have been following the story at least as closely as anyone, and there are many more fascinating details to the story....From Yankee...

Police Captain Jamil Hussein was then silent for 28 days until November 24, when he was cited five times describing the now familiar series of claims that Shia militamen immolated six Sunni men. Those claims have been disputed by the Iraqi Police, Interior Ministry, Iraqi Army, and even the responding unit of the Baghdad Fire Department which put out the one minor mosque fire that actually existed of the four that the Associated Press claimed were attacked.

....And from MM....

Jamilgate isn't just about Jamil Hussein, I hope Mr. Jordan understands. Hussein is just one piece of the six burning Sunnis puzzle. Allah raises questions about the hospital morgue the AP identified as the one where the bodies were taken and the unidentified workers who appeared and disappeared from AP's accounts. Maybe we'll learn more about this, too.

espresso beans to powerline

Senate Debates Global Warming, CNN Anchor Snoozes

Newsbusters describes what it's like to be on the less alarming side of the Global Warming debate. I still can't get a grip on why things are this way. I guess there's nothing like a good, running, controversial story to sell papers.

Dr. David Deming, a geophysicist from the University of Oklahoma recounted an experience he had with an NPR reporter who hung up on him after he declined to say that he thought global temperature increases were human-caused.

espresso beans to watersblogged!