"The absence of a single Arab president or king at the funeral of Hariri, a man whom every Arab leader knew personally, is telling."

Hallucinations and (The Wrong Kind Of) Paranoia Italian Style

Sgrena via "Pravda". You won't be surprised. (Hat tip Roger)

AND: No wonder we're losing the war -- part deux.

Hateful Idiots Devastated

Check this out from Eugene:

Anti-Semite Forum Posting Pictures of Allegedly Jewish UCLA Faculty Members:

So far here, here, here, and here. I must admit that I was the proximate cause of this: I was quoted (though somewhat incompletely) in an article about white supremacist groups and free speech in the wake of the murders of Judge Lefkow's husband and mother; a white supremacist e-mailed me, and let's just say that I wasn't overly friendly to him. I regret that this has gotten my colleagues involved in all this, but this is America and I'm not going to be nice to Nazis to try to get them to go away.

So, yeah, we're Jews. Yeah, we're overrepresented on university faculties, in law and medicine, in the Senate, on the Supreme Court. Speaking of Nazis, we were overrepresented on the Manhattan Project, too.

The most powerful country in the world, America, is one of the ones that has been most open to Jews. Look at the most anti-Semitic countries in recent history: Nazi Germany, the Soviet Union, the Arab world. Right up there at the forefront of civilization and power, aren't they? Is it all the workings of The Conspiracy? Or is it just that the sorts of idiots who hate Jews do other idiotic things, too?

Perfect.

I just finished reading Prager and Telushkin's "Why The Jews?" so this just hit me in the solar plexus.

Get the book and read it. It's integral to the apocalypse...

Glenn on "anti-American protest that was allowed by the Americans."

McCarthyism for thee but not for me -- Betsy Hoffman...

And not an SUV in sight.

"Michael Moore could not withstand Michael Moore's scrutiny for more than 15 seconds."

Clinton cuckoo about the moolahs? Sure looks that way to me. Is there something in the water that Southern Dhimmicrats drink?

Klux Little Byrdie

And even if you avert your eyes from the Klan, any serious Byrd watcher isn't really looking if they don't see this:

However, Steven Taylor has done some research which indicates that I shouldn't feel quite so sorry for those poor, oppressed Democrats. As it turns out, Senator "Not in the Senate, you don't!" Byrd was the Majority Whip in 1975, when a bill was introduced to reduce "the number of votes required for cloture from two-thirds (67) to three-fifths (60) of the 100-member Senate". A fact that he left unmentioned when he took the floor of the Senate to rail against "men with motives and a majority [who] can manipulate law to cruel and unjust ends".

Oh, and while he was speaking out against "pernicious, procedural maneuver to serve immediate partisan goals", he also neglected to mention that he'd previously been of the opinion that "Congress is not obliged to be bound by the dead hand of the past", and—approvingly—that "rules have been changed from time to time".

What's more, he also neglected to mention that the originator of the 1975 bill to amend the cloture rules was.....er, Senator Robert Byrd.

I'm sorry folks but I've about had enough of this horsepucky twice over...

Nazi Israelis?

They're getting quite good with their disguises don't you think?

Frenchies Encore

Heure de choisir le côté de gain?

Et seulement six heures?

Recherche!

With a tag line like this blog's, how could I not point to this post? Roger is rollin' today...

Ummm -- That Would Be The Strategy Behind The Strategery...

Roger points out this analysis of Friedman:

The most important mystery about the war concerns the Bush administration. In some ways, we find the other players much easier to understand than Bush. The administration has been portrayed as strategically simplistic and politically adroit and opportunistic. In fact, the exact opposite seems to be the case, from our point of view.

Strategically, the United States appears to have a well thought-out approach that makes the most of a very weak hand. The trend lines are satisfactory, particularly considering where they started. We suspect that very few people on September 12, 2001, would have thought that the situation would be as well contained today as it is. Apart from a low but tolerable level of violence in Iraq, the broader war has evolved very much in favor of the United States. This is partly due to the nature of the war and partly due to the strategic and operational choices made by the administration.

Politically, the administration has acted with massive incompetence. Its failure to give a plausible defense to a policy that can certainly be defended is amazing. Instead, the administration has stumbled through a series of untenable and incoherent justifications for its actions until the political foundations of its war plans have been undermined. From WMD to democratizing Iraq, the administration has constantly undermined its own credibility.

GO. READ. NOW!

What's that? You think I'd point you to the NYeT's Friedman with this pointy an arrow.

That would be a NYeT of course...

Some Brownish Sarcasm

Don't they understand that they are under the thumb of Karl Rove??? This is of course why the libs didn't want to liberate all those stupid brown skinned people in the Middle East -- why they'd be so stupid as to not wash the libs feet!

And just look at this for heaven's sake! The oh so haughty libs are cheering for the nutball mutilating himself with a knife and his buddies . I'm cheering for everyone else you see pictured.

But I'm the ogre and don't you forget it!

And then I have the misfortune to catch some of the Black Summit on CSPAN recently. No Thomas Sowell. No Condi. No Colin. No Thomas. No Walter Williams. No, no, no, no ... grey matter in the room whatsoever!

The libs have enslaved the blacks in this country through a vile and hateful brainwashing campaign. And they fully support what has been done by the oil ticks / Islamofascists to enslave their folks.

Is there any wonder for all the sputtering, hateful expletives hurled at the diverse leadership of Lincoln's party for working to free MORE slaves?

And Bobby "Ku Klux" Byrd is their rotweiler. Why should THAT be a surprise? After all, anyone can be rehabilitated according to the libs.

Just not me, of course...

No wonder we're "losing" -- being such lousy shots and all...

It would appear that the ambulance chasers in England are part of the Tory coalition???

Today's Scare Quotes

Notice that "free-slave" is in scare quotes. The BBC makes me want to puke a river.

It's where NorKorCom dhimmi Demick cribbed her trade from...

Strategy Page: The Price Is Right

Strategy Page strikes again:

March 5, 2005: American troops often get the feeling they are in the middle of the ultimate gang war. Most of the Iraqi gangs are strictly about crime. Often, the crime is extortion and kidnapping, two techniques also used by the terrorists trying to bring the government down. The terrorists demand that people not work for the government (including providing information), or else. The gangsters demand money, and not to call the police, or else. When foreigners are kidnapped, the first thing you have to figure out is whether the victim was grabbed for ransom, or for political reasons. Increasingly, it's always for money, with politics often used in an effort to throw off the police investigation. The criminal and political gangs frequently work together, and the gangsters will help out with the terrorism, if the price is right.

...

In the past, Americans would pick up everyone in the vicinity of a raid. But Iraqi cops conduct, or are along, on most raids now, and they are able to spot the innocents, and leave them alone. Arrested Iraqis are in despair if Americans haul them off to prison, because the American guards cannot be bribed, although there are constant attempts. American prison officials are wondering how long it will be until Iraqi corruption taints American soldiers.

Of course, it's well known that prison guards in the U.S. often develop myriad behavior problems if not corruption. The left would think you dim enough to use that as justification to free the thugs -- in both Iraq and the U.S. of course.

You, on the other hand, know you don't want your son or daughter killed and are willing to spend the money on the prison guards. And both you and the prison guards are willing to make the deal.

Nuff said.

Hugh has the definitive diss of dhimmi Demick. Definitely deserved.

Help the Captain! I will be later today. Time for Tea Party II, I'm afraid.

"After all, how do we know for sure this blog isn't written on a typewriter?" Ra^ther to Pyongyang -- I'll pay for the ticket.

Do not watch that hand!

Salamabit!

Imagine a 1938 Los Angeles Times piece, "Germany, Without the Rancor": "There is love among the Nazis. There is hate. There is fighting. There is charity....People marry. They divorce. They make blond children..." Yes. Definitely time to institute the Duranty prize. And no question as to the first recipient either...

UPDATE: And don't miss Power Line's fisk!

OK, HOW COULD I FORGET THIS?

"Duane,

Following up on our conversation earlier this afternoon, here's our position regarding today's North Korea article:

Today's article was not intended to be a comprehensive look at life in North Korea today, or a broad report on the history of the country. As the article said, it was the view of one person close to the government of North Korea -- a "rare insight into the view from the other side of the geopolitical divide." The man had been a diplomat. He was trying to solicit foreign investment, although he said it was his personal view.

The Times has published as well the perspectives on the history, the living conditions, the point of view of the U.S. government and general Western view of North Korea. However, for obvious reasons, reporters cannot get to North Korea and rarely speak with official or elite North Koreans. That's why today's story sought to capture a point of view for readers that The Times is not normally able to present in regular coverage.

Regards,
David

Director, Media Relations
Los Angeles Times "

This astonishing bit of clap-trap does not even attempt to answer why the paper would carry this piece without any context about the regime --context that is not debatable. It is as though Murrow or Shirer were reporting on German repression of the Jews in 1938, but only parroting Goebbels' line.

Here's Why Should Just Go To Glenn's Today

Nuttier than a Ku Klux Clock.

And did you know I'm headed for prison?

McCain and Feingold have managed to foster real bipartisanship -- they've gotten liberal and conservative bloggers alike to detest them. Jerome Armstrong at MyDD, Atrios, and DailyKos all agree -- this legislation has become a serious threat to political speech, and John McCain and Russ Feingold have become two of the most dangerous politicians to American liberty since Huey Long. Jerome makes the point that the problem at the moment are the three Democratic FEC commissioners who appear intent on enforcing the law as McCain and Feingold insist, but both parties had a hand in creating this fiasco.

And Kos and I will be cellmates in the new gulag? Who'd a thunk it???

"All right, but apart from the sanitation, the medicine, education, wine, public order, irrigation, roads, a fresh water system, and public health, what have the Romans ever done for us?" (Hat tip Glenn)

Hold that missile bacon, eh?

Ever Wonder?

Have you ever wondered why libs are still frothing at the mouth about how Saddam was "getting better" and was "no threat" to the world? Never mind gassing the Kurds and the Iranians. [Oops -- flush that reference to the Iranians down the memory hole pronto! Evil. Mullahs. Good. There. All gone.]

As I was saying, those Kurds were some nasty people and had it coming!



Anyway, since the libs don't believe in either grace or actually exerting themselves to achieve good works, they roll up a synthetic substitute of effortless rehabilitation.

Anyone can get better they tell you.



After all, they will need their own doctrine to forgive themselves for what they have been doing to the world lately...

This Could Be Unbelievable!

It's scary for Democrats, I have to say.

And then be absolutely sure to scroll down to read about Ted Kennedy's Klansman soulmate in the memory (hole) department. Makes me want to change my first name...

Never mind the Ten Commandments. Holy. Freakin. Sh*t.

Apocalypse MSM: NYeT.

Why The Left Hates The Military: A Comment

Found on MJT's blog:

The left hates the military because it is made up of young people, many of whom are women and minorites, that for the most part come from lower income families. That's their demographic! But these people are different. They have the nerve to take responsibility for their lives, rather than rail against "the man", wrap themselves in vicim-hood status and sue for equality through watever legislation that can be packaged as "levelling the playing field" or "giving a leg up".

What's even more perplexing to the left is that many in the military really love their country. I'm talking about real pride here, not the "I support the troops, but" category that is the best most on the left can do. Benjamin from yesterday illustrates this. MJT posts some nice pictures from PR, and all Ben can do is run off to dig up whatever dirt he thinks casts America in a bad light. Typical and disgusting.

Yessum massa lefties...

W's trust is working...

Sleeping Too Many Times

Just caught Richard Miniter on Hannity and Colmes saying a congress-critter had told him the FBI said it had broken up / interrupted 106(!!!) sleeper terror cells in the U.S. in the last 3 years!!!

Can you say nearly one a week?

I thought you couldn't.

Wait. I have an idea! Let's spend all our energy making sure that we don't introduce any uncertainty in terrorists about whether we'll be nice to them. Why hasn't anyone thought of that yet?

I love the ACLU. Not.

199 Cuckoo clocks on the wall...

A Comment On "Democracy At The Point Of A Gun"

Comment caught on CQ:

Those same people that made "democracy at the point of a gun" statement always overlooked the fact that the dictators were keeping democracy out at gunpoint. I doubt they didn't realize it, they just didn't want to mention it because it showed how much they truly hate the freedom we have. They know that free people will never willingly give in to the socialism they crave and firmly believe that they will be part of the ruling elite of if they can ever force it on us. It has to really bother them when they realize the only way they'll ever impose it on us is at that proverbial gunpoint., not that it will ever stop them if they think they have a chance of getting by with it.

Well, yeah.

Preview: The Paranoid Roots Of The Apocalypse

Deacon and Dr. Sanity (see here also) have some comments on paranoia today. Sound familiar?

Dr. Sanity has the better of the scrimmage:

The Paranoid solution to unacceptable thoughts or feelings is to say, "If I am having these bad thoughts or feeling or behaviors, then someone else must be to blame and is making me do it." The Paranoid person does not take responsibility for his own thoughts or feelings or behaviors.

The healthy individual's solution is to take responsibility for his or her thoughts,feelings, and behaviors. Even if it is painful to acknowledge. But by owning his or her feelings, the healthy individual is able to exert control over inappropriate behavior that might spring from those feelings.

Another way of saying this is that you cannot choose the feelings that you experience- emotions are not generally under conscious control; but you can choose how to act on those feelings, because behavior is under conscious control.

Paranoia strikes deep. It will creep into your heart when you are afraid of your own feelings and try to disown them by blaming the "Jews", the "Blacks", or "Gays" or even President Bush. History has been littered with millions of dead bodies resulting from the denial, distortion and projection of paranoid leaders like Hitler,Stalin, Hussein, and Bin Laden. But those people had followers who believed just as they did, and did most of their dirty work.

You have to stop, look and see what's going down in your own heart if you want to understand how such evil can exist.

[My emphasis in red, bolding in the original by Dr. Sanity.]

Here my friends is food for thought that strikes at the heart of the apocalypse. Ponder it for I will have more to say -- but you should be able to put the pieces together for yourself in advance now...

Leo Circles Ward ...

... like this:

For a stark vision of what cultural liberalism has come to, consider the breakdown of the universities, the fortresses of the 1960s cultural liberals and their progeny. Students are taught that objective judgments are impossible. All knowledge is compromised by issues of power and bias. Therefore, there is no way to come to judgment about anything, since judgment itself rests on quicksand. This principle, however, is suspended when the United States and western culture are discussed, because the West is essentially evil and guilty of endless crimes. Better to declare a vague transnational identity and admiration for the United Nations.

Churchill would not be the least but surprising to me if not for the long list of "bonus" atrocities like outright incitement to violence caught on tape, bogus claims to minority status, and blatant copyright theft of artwork.

But now that I think of it I'm amazed this isn't more pervasive.

For I believe that large parts of our university system have become the replacement for our now-dismantled mental hospitals.

That Karl Rove is one smart dude I tell you...

Comment Of The Day

Goes to LizardAbroad on the Austin Bay blog re the Steyn / Bay debate on the Eurabian (lack of) future:

A couple points from an American who lives in Germany:

1. The politicians here don’t have any silent plans to deal with problems either. They’re not that bright. Education here has very little to do with the development of critical thinking skills and everything to do with reinforcing the dominant ideas. It is a rationalist intellectual tradition….empiricism takes too much time and effort. Furthermore, the paternalist Staat ensures that citizens are shielded from the vicissitudes of the real world (with the help of the American military shield). The result is a nation of whose adults think as do college sophomores. They don’t have so much to learn as to unlearn.

2. Independent thought and action required considerably more moral courage here than in the States. There is just simply not the same individualism here. Don’t forget also, that the government here is party-based and within the parties they play for keeps. Vicious. Mavericks are dealt with, and so the only real chance would be a new party. The Greens were the last to really bridge the gap from fringe to influential, and there is no Reaganite party on the horizon.

3. Fischer is just as teflon-coated as before. He is in insufferable ass, but that falls under “he says what I wish I could bring myself to say” here. There is alternative.

4. Let’s not forget our basic economics here, shall we? Why has this massive influx of Moslem immigrants occured? Political persecution at home and economic opportunities in Europe. Thanks to W and friends, persecution is heading for a serious decline, and economic opportunities in the Middle East will improve. As Europe declines, the difference won’t be worth packing the U-Haul and filling out the paperwork. In fact, expect a goodly number to head back.

5. Radical Islam never developed the “vale of tears” idea of this world that Christianity did. Islamicism is supposed to be a recipe for earthly happiness as well. So who’s doing more for the earthly happiness of the Moslem world that all the venom-spewing imams put together? Expect that as information becomes freer that disinformation will be easier to spot.

6. With the birthrates I can’t help much, or at least not much that wouldn’t get me in a great deal of trouble with the wife. They must have a basic idea here of how it’s done, because it’s on TV constantly. The problem is, what you see there makes you want to yell “No, no, no, that’s not right! That isn’t how it’s done! I’ve seen it done better in a kennel!". Seriously, what they show has all the romance of a dog humping a chair leg.

Actually, refer back to my college sophomores point. One’s not ready to be a parent until one is ready to stop being a child. Another strike against paternalism. But I imagine that they’ll manage to figure out some sort of financial incentive.

All these need development, but it’s late and I’ve got to work to support those who can’t or won’t.

Comment by LizardAbroad — 2/27/2005 @ 6:31 pm

I refer back to Spock's thesis on residue. Europe is America's residue and the Middle East is theirs.

Bush has realized that the only hope is an end run around Europe directly at their residue. It may not work of course. But at least we'll be able to sleep at night when things get really ugly knowing that we tried.

I couldn't support the effort more.

But I still suspect things are going to get really ugly despite our best efforts. How I wish it weren't so...

"Hotel journalists" struggle to invoke the memory hole to avoid the circular firing squad.

Lost In The KGB MSM Paranoia Time Warp

Roger has a stunning catch on Putin via Newsweek:

When Bush confronted his Russian counterpart about the freedom of the press in Russia, Putin shot back with an attack of his own: "We didn't criticize you when you fired those reporters at CBS."

It's not clear how well Putin understands the controversy that led to the dismissal of four CBS journalists over the discredited report on Bush's National Guard service. Yet it's all too clear how Putin sees the relationship between Bush and the American media-just like his own. Bush's aides have long feared that former KGB officers in Putin's inner circle are painting a twisted picture of U.S. policy. So Bush explained how he had no power to fire American journalists. It made little difference. When the two presidents emerged for their joint press conference, one Russian reporter repeated Putin's language about journalists getting fired. Bush (already hot after an earlier question about his spying on U.S. citizens) asked the reporter if he felt free. "They obviously planted the question," said one of Bush's senior aides.

No doubt they did. This squares with my experiences in Russia pre and post Soviet Union. Paranoia, alas, is buried deep in the Russian soul, probably from the time of the Tsars or even before. It destroys their society. At least there's a funny part in this case. We all know something those "crafty" KGB-types would never believe - that Charles Johnson had more to do with the "firing" of Dan Rather and company than George Bush.

Now we know why Putin baldly claimed recently that Iran is not trying to build nukes! Mentally wrenched by paranoia or cynical equivocation designed to manipulate -- will it matter to the end result?

We do know that the Soviets were just rational enough to refrain from pressing the button in the MADness of WWIII. The question is whether it was from a morose, resigned, defeated paranoia or from one that has not actually surrendered -- and in fact only declared a hudna.

Unfortunately, my money is on BOTH.

The Primary Victims ...

will continue to be Muslim women, as Captain's Quarters notes:

The Germans have hate-speech regulations that deter criticism of Muslim practices, although not as strict as those in Sweden, but the political correctness has taken its toll on the protection of Muslim women. The Germans have allowed moral relativism to supplant the one-law construct that Western societies have gradually adopted since the sealing of the Magna Carta, creating a substructure of de facto shari'a to develop in its Muslim community with little pushback from the German government.

That PC instinct spells trouble for Germany in dealing with its Muslim population, and for any country that does not enforce its laws equally among its population -- as American history demonstrates more than adequately in its civil-rights struggles. Germany needs to decide whether it wants to remain a united social construct or allow itself to become balkanized internally, with various minority groups conducting their own law enforcement, legislative, and judicial functions independent of the elected German government. If they do not have the will to enforce German law in Muslim communities, they will have begun the process by which civil wars start. In the meantime, the primary victims of German PCism will continue to be Muslim women, at the hands of their own families.

Very sad yet very true...

Can we remember who we are?

Quote Of The Day

Tolstoy: "Everyone thinks of changing humanity but no one thinks of changing himself." (via Doug Wead, author of "The Raising of a President")

Wiki whacked?

And the cavalry arrives to rescue Larry...

INDC strikes hard with the last half of this post.

Power Islam.

Another Bush failure!

All The Linkagery You Need Today

Wretchard is on fire and flying upside-down...

On Rehabilitating Chamberlain

This Powerline post on Sharon's strategy covers lots of ground including:

And it's not true, pace Steve Mytkyn, that "British politicians, including Chamberlain, that had favored appeasement changed their position after Poland and were strong supporters of defeating Hitler whatever the cost." As the Cabinet minutes show, both Chamberlain and Halifax tried to force Churchill to negotiate with Hitler after the fall of France. After one grim session, Churchill marched out of the war Cabinet, called a meeting of the rest of his ministers, and insisted on carrying on the fight. He was given a standing ovation and used this display of resolve to put down Halifax. I think it was this confrontation that led to Halifax's subsequent dismissal and appointment as ambassador to the U.S.

What a surprise.

What the Kos-sacks have left...

But don't worry: Syria is not at war with the Iraqi/American coalition. Nada. Zip. Absolutely not!

The fake but accurate face of Eurabian mental illness.

This one's for the LLLunatics... (Hat tip Charles)

The 911 of the Middle East? ... but the Pali-monsters think not.

Steyn takes on the obvious fruits of the Eurabian calamity...

A message for Eindhoven, Eurabia from Mr. Gordon...

"How will the aging men without books fare against the youthful adherents of the book which is the Koran? Will it still be possible for them to link arthritic arms and totter around in a parody of militancy?"

"[F]acts cannot be allowed to interfere with a "reporter's" preconceived and uninvestigated story-line." Nice use of "scare quotes" Hugh -- I quite agree.

Yes, that would be totalitarian. Period.

Found: The Lost Apocalyptic Speeches Of Ward Churchill

Look what I found:

America speaks of war in order to expand its domination and influence in the world. This is arrogance. Any nation and any government that is intimidated with this literature and this way of treatment and surrenders to it, is digging its own grave and acting against itself.

The longer they [the US] stay [in Iraq], the worse it will become. This region does not tolerate occupation. They say [they] want to turn the Middle East into a region of democracy. This is a shameless lie. They are opposed to democracy. They know that if they turn to the people's votes in Iraq at this very moment, the decisive majority of the people will take a decision, will take the step, will elect those people who would not allow the Americans to stay in Iraq for a single day.

In Afghanistan, in the poor and wronged country of Afghanistan, they [the US] entered the arena under the guise of combating a group or even a few individuals. They did not get their hands on those individuals, but they massacred many innocent people, bombarded them, and killed them. They are violent, but this imposition of violence or expression of violence cannot help America achieve its aims and succeed.

The American values became a principle for them to justify their warmongering policies and even the application of atom bombs. During the same period George Bush threatened to drop bombs on several countries. See how committed they are to their values.

Brothers and sisters, today the Palestinian people's struggle has fallen into place; it revolves around the axis around which the hope of victory lies. In other words, the nation has come onto the stage. Israel is a contrived regime. It is an illegal regime. It is a usurper regime. They have taken a country from its people by force, through injustice and with ploys. Hence, any kind of negotiations that is based on the acknowledgement of this regime is an illegitimate negotiation and it is a negotiation that will not endure.

The Zionists imagine that they have managed to gain mastery over Palestine and that Palestine is theirs forever. No, this is not true. The destiny of Palestine is that the country of Palestine will definitely become Palestinian one day.

No, wait! I got confused again!

These are actually some of the rantings of Iran's Ayatollah Khomeini. Go read them.

But I had you going didn't I?

Stark raving mad.

The Fascifists won't call them fascists. It's perfectly OK for the "ambulance drivers" to blow up Mosques -- didn't you know?

A Single Knife

I have been negligent lately in pointing out Wretchard's batting streak:

The Left will wake up one day, on the morning it is led down a dark corridor to a cell floored with rubber mats, sloping curiously down to a corner where a single drain waits to carry fluid away. The walls will be bare but for a banner with the words 'Allah is Great' opposite a video camera whose tripod legs are protected with a drop cloth. On a table will be a single knife. And then they will know. Then they will see.

Luckily for them the men and women who shout "Hoooah!" have forgiven them and are already shedding their blood so these miserable ingrates -- or is that invertibrates? -- won't have to....

Free men cannot hate.

Did the cold war really end? (Hat tip Roger)

Un avertissement à notre allié...

Wretchard wonders if the Iraqi campaign is now strategically over...

Persuasion bunches!

That confusing roulette wheel.

Garbage

That's my one-word summary of Kurtz' CNN story tonight on bloggers and the downing of Eason Jordan.

Why? That would be because he ends with puffing some sexual scandal out in Maryland supposed to have been spoon fed to gullible bloggers (who? this story wasn't even on the the blogosphere's radar unless it was Kos -- oh, never mind...) by some aide to the (evil) Republican governor. Why again? Oh yeah, because it's the MSM's job to "fact check" the looney bloggers! LOL

Of course, that's actually true if you mean Kos and Atrios. But that's an epic misdirection if you're gullible enough to think that the MSM is going to fact check the leftie blogosphere.

So Kurtz is missing in action and covering up for his boss. Then he writes a vacuous story that doesn't even mention the pattern that Jordan had with his meme.

I was listening to Hugh on my drive home this afternoon when a caller suggested "The blogosphere is to the media what internal affairs is to any law enforcement agency. Nobody likes them, and they are absolutely necessary."

Unfortunately, this "law enforcement agency" is corrupt to the core.

If Kurtz' lousy hit piece is the best the MSM can do then it's time to take the corrupt MSM down. I'm patient...

And did I mention the corrupt absurdity of CNN not reporting on this story until after Jordan had resigned?

On the same side -- but that pretty much goes without saying doesn't it?

Whose side are the Dean Dhimmicrats on?

Cuckoo, Shameless or Both?

That would be the latter as noticed by James:

Glug, Glug, Glug . . . Blogger Joseph Tranfo picks up this comment from Ted Kennedy in an interview with PBS's Charlie Rose:

Kennedy: I think we have to understand now that we're facing a very different challenge, and that is the issue of globalization, and we're either going to get run out of town with the rush towards lower wages and outsourcing, or we're going to embrace it and say, we are going to equip every citizen in this nation with the ability to be able to deal with the problems of globalization, and in that way ensure we're going to have the strongest economy in the next 20 and 30 years, and we will have a national security that will be second to none. And we, I think, are pretty much dead in the water.

What does he mean, "we"? Some of us can swim.

As James noted earlier in the column, "Mary Jo Kopechne could not be reached for comment."

And of course they weren't working on it before Bush 2000... (And wacky G/Q/whatever didn't throw in the towel either...)

The law of the blogger. (Hat tip Glenn)

Eurabians: Nuttier Than A Cuckoo Clock

From the invaluable Strategy Page:

IRAQ: The Surreal European Version of Events

February 12, 2005:
When gunmen kidnapped Italian journalist Giuliana Sgrena last week, it set off a flurry of paranoia against the pro-Sunni Arab foreign media. Sgrena was not the first such foreign journalist. Two French reporters were grabbed last year, and only released after several months of negotiations. Ransom was rumored, but denied. European journalists tend to portray the Sunni Arab and al Qaeda terrorism as the brave efforts of a broad based Iraqi effort to free the country of hated American occupiers. These fantasies get more bizarre, with accusations that coalition forces are behind the kidnappings, or, at worst, it is common criminals looking to score a large ransom. The journalists deal mainly with Sunni Arabs, as that's where they are going to find Iraqis who prospered under Saddam, but are now doing less well with the dictatorship out of business, and are willing to provide lurid and heartfelt complaints. Reality is contorted in truly amazing ways by these writers, as they try to make Saddam's tyranny into the "good old days", and a better place than a democratic Iraq. The recent elections are portrayed as a clever fraud, and any Iraqi fighting against the terrorists are deemed traitorous collaborators. Most of this reporting goes unread by Americans, as the most surreal stories are in French and Italian newspapers. You can find some of it in the English sections of French and Italian newspapers. Media throughout Europe takes a similar tone, although not with the verve and conviction of French and Italians.

Yes. It's part and parcel of the Apocalypse. Note the "Last Jaw Dropper" over right...

Here and There Interlude

The long, slow suicide.

Barney Frank, conservative lapdog.

They managed it anyway.

Le Français encore: Nous sommes vos allies. (Bout Glenn de chapeau)

And there is a real Churchill you know...

And context...

Foreshadowing...

Eason FINIS. On to the Apocalypse...

Posner on our ineffective response. (Hat tip Keith)

My Unlucky Apocalypse

Did I mention that I was born on the 13th anniversary of the horrific fruit of the greatest intelligence failure in history?

And reigning inspiration for our nemesis?

... some are determined never to hear.

MORE: And check out this comment:

(4) Thus there is a kind of viscous symbiosis between terrorist and bourgeois leftist: the terrorist wants to kill and the leftist wants to be killed. And both are agreed that the people who want to defend themselves and kill the terrorist instead are the true vessels of evil.

One unaskable--because possibly unanswerable--question arises from this analysis: is it going to be possible to kill the terrorists without sooner or later having to kill the western leftists who are the terrorists' secret ally?

The nihilists aren't at home on this planet and want to leave us. And take us with them...

The new ambassador to Cambodia will clear things up I'm sure...

Introduction To The Tinfoil Apocalype: Eason And The MSM Gloom Of Ignorance

You may have already caught this piece by a Task Force Commander in Iraq. It gets very high marks for being a relatively short piece -- if you haven't you need to read it now! Here are some samples -- first on bad new sells:

What if domestic news outlets continually fed American readers headlines like: "Bloody Week on U.S. Highways: Some 700 Killed," or "More Than 900 Americans Die Weekly from Obesity-Related Diseases"? Both of these headlines might be true statistically, but do they really represent accurate pictures of the situations? What if you combined all of the negatives to be found in the state of Texas and used them as an indicator of the quality of life for all Texans? Imagine the headlines: "Anti-law Enforcement Elements Spread Robbery, Rape and Murder through Texas Cities." For all intents and purposes, this statement is true for any day of any year in any state. True -- yes, accurate -- yes, but in context with the greater good taking place -- no! After a year or two of headlines like these, more than a few folks back in Texas and the rest of the U.S. probably would be ready to jump off of a building and end it all. So, imagine being an American in Iraq right now.

I just read yet another distorted and grossly exaggerated story from a major news organization about the "failures" in the war in Iraq. Print and video journalists are covering only a small fraction of the events in Iraq and more often than not, the events they cover are only the bad ones. Many of the journalists making public assessments about the progress of the war in Iraq are unqualified to do so, given their training and experience. The inaccurate picture they paint has distorted the world view of the daily realities in Iraq. The result is a further erosion of international public support for the United States' efforts there, and a strengthening of the insurgents' resolve and recruiting efforts while weakening our own. Through their incomplete, uninformed and unbalanced reporting, many members of the media covering the war in Iraq are aiding and abetting the enemy.

The fact is the Coalition is making steady progress in Iraq, but not without ups and downs. War is a terrible thing and terrible things happen during wars, even when you are winning. In war, as in any contest of wills with capable opponents, things do not always go as planned; the guys with the white hats don't always come out on top in each engagement. That doesn't mean you are losing. Sure, there are some high profile and very spectacular enemy attacks taking place in Iraq these days, but the great majority of what is happening in Iraq is positive. So why is it that no matter what events unfold, good or bad, the media highlight mostly the negative aspects of the event? The journalistic adage, "If it bleeds, it leads," still applies in Iraq, but why only when it's American blood?

There's an insight here the more you think about it. The media DOES follow the principle of "bad news sells" in pretty much everything it does. But since they're true propagandists, the only bad news that appears is that which reflects badly on their enemies -- the military and conservatives and their sympathizers. Remember CNN's Eason Jordan refusing to report the bad news from Iraq for fear their local staff would be killed?

Next he takes on what he calls perspective:

As a recent example, the operation in Fallujah delivered an absolutely devastating blow to the insurgency. Though much smaller in scope, clearing Fallujah of insurgents arguably could equate to the Allies' breakout from the hedgerows in France during World War II. In both cases, our troops overcame a well-prepared and solidly entrenched enemy and began what could be the latter's last stand. In Fallujah, the enemy death toll has already exceeded 1,500 and still is climbing. Put one in the win column for the good guys, right? Wrong. As soon as there was nothing negative to report about Fallujah, the media shifted its focus to other parts of the country. Just yesterday, a major news agency's website lead read: "Suicide Bomber Kills Six in Baghdad" and "Seven Marines Die in Iraq Clashes." True, yes. Comprehensive, no. Did the author of this article bother to mention that Coalition troops killed 50 or so terrorists while incurring those seven losses? Of course not. Nor was there any mention about the substantial progress these offensive operations continue to achieve in defeating the insurgents. Unfortunately, this sort of incomplete reporting has become the norm for the media, whose poor job of presenting a complete picture of what is going on in Iraq borders on being criminal.

Here he's wrong. It IS criminal -- no "bordering" about it! Want evidence of what the Iraqi's new government thinks is criminal? Check this out:

What about the media's portrayal of the enemy? Why do these ruthless murderers, kidnappers and thieves get a pass when it comes to their actions? What did the media not show or tell us about Margaret Hassoon, the director of C.A.R.E. in Iraq and an Iraqi citizen, who was kidnapped, brutally tortured and left disemboweled in streets of Fallujah? Did anyone in the press show these images over and over to emphasize the moral failings of the enemy as they did with the soldiers at Abu Ghuraib? Did anyone show the world how this enemy had huge stockpiles of weapons in schools and mosques, or how he used these protected places as sanctuaries for planning and fighting in Fallujah and the rest of Iraq? Are people of the world getting the complete story? The answer again is no! What the world got instead were repeated images of a battle-weary Marine who made a quick decision to use lethal force and who now is being tried in the world press. Is this one act really illustrative of the overall action in Fallujah? No, but the Marine video clip was shown an average of four times each hour on just about every major TV news channel for a week. This is how the world views our efforts over here and stories like this without a counter continually serve as propaganda victories for the enemy. Al Jazeera isn't showing the film of the CARE worker, but is showing the clip of the Marine. Earlier this year, the Iraqi government banned Al Jazeera from the country for its inaccurate reporting. Wonder where they get their information now? Well, if you go to the Internet, you'll find a web link from the Al Jazeera home page to CNN's home page. Very interesting.

Yes -- VERY interesting. There's that Eason Jordan sneaking in there again. And then this:

Those on the outside saw the Coalition portrayed as invaders or oppressors, killing hapless Iraqis who, one was given to believe, simply were trying to defend their homes and their Muslim way of life.

Reality couldn't have been farther from the truth. What noticeably was missing were accounts of the atrocities committed by the Mehdi Militia -- Muqtada Al Sadr's band of henchmen. While the media was busy bashing the Coalition, Muqtada's boys were kidnapping policemen, city council members and anyone else accused of supporting the Coalition or the new government, trying them in a kangaroo court based on Islamic Shari'a law, then brutally torturing and executing them for their "crimes." What the media didn't show or write about were the two hundred-plus headless bodies found in the main mosque there, or the body that was put into a bread oven and baked. Nor did they show the world the hundreds of thousands of mortar, artillery and small arms rounds found within the "sacred" walls of the mosque. Also missing from the coverage was the huge cache of weapons found in Muqtada's "political" headquarters nearby. No, none of this made it to the screen or to print. All anyone showed were the few chipped tiles on the dome of the mosque and discussion centered on how we, the Coalition, had somehow done wrong. Score another one for the enemy's propaganda machine.

What's just amazing to me is the complete lack of outcry -- nay, a coverup of the bad news -- at the whole beheading thing. There is no clearer indication of a psychopathic killer than an act like beheading. In fact, if you think about it there is nothing that makes us more distinctly human than our heads and our VERY ABILITY TO THINK! These killers are in some sense trying to remove reason itself from the earth. And of course that's what Sharia law is all about: no need to think, just follow Allah's wishes. Which in practice means of course that the mullahs get to be dictators -- how convenient. And then:

CNN and others say they were duped by the military in this and other cases. Yet, they never seem to be upset by the undeniable fact that the enemy manipulates them with a cunning that is almost worthy of envy. You can bet that terrorist leader Abu Musab Al Zarqarwi has his own version of a public affairs officer and it is evident that he uses him to great effect. Each time Zarquari's group executes a terrorist act such as a beheading or a car bomb, they have a prepared statement ready to post on their website and feed to the press. Over-eager reporters take the bait, hook, line and sinker, and report it just as they got it.

Did it ever occur to the media that this type of notoriety is just what the terrorists want and need? Every headline they grab is a victory for them. Those who have read the ancient Chinese military theorist and army general Sun Tsu will recall the philosophy of "Kill one, scare ten thousand" as the basic theory behind the strategy of terrorism. Through fear, the terrorist can then manipulate the behavior of the masses. The media allows the terrorist to use relatively small but spectacular events that directly affect very few, and spread them around the world to scare millions. What about the thousands of things that go right every day and are never reported? Complete a multi-million-dollar sewer project and no one wants to cover it, but let one car bomb go off and it makes headlines. With each headline, the enemy scores another point and the good-guys lose one. This method of scoring slowly is eroding domestic and international support while fueling the enemy's cause.

Here is one area where I give the MSM some stupidity credits -- they're not smart enough to ever have heard of Sun Tzu. Too busy reading the collected volumes of Ward Churchill. (Did I forget to mention that Churchill trained the Weather Underground in bomb making? With the requisite "work accidents" that you might expect apparently. Kaplis and Silverman dropped that bombshell on Governor Owens tonight. But I digress.) And Ryan goes on to explain a different angle on it:

So what are the credentials of these self proclaimed "experts"? The fact is that most of those on whom we rely for complete and factual accounts have little or no experience or education in counter-insurgency operations or in nation-building to support their assessments. How would they really know if things are going well or not? War is an ugly thing with many unexpected twists and turns. Who among them is qualified to say if this one is worse than any other at this point? What would they have said in early 1942 about our chances of winning World War II? Was it a lost cause too? How much have these "experts" studied warfare and counter-insurgencies in particular? Have they ever read Roger Trinquier's treatise Modern Warfare: A French View on Counter-insurgency (1956)? He is one of the few French military guys who got it right. The Algerian insurgency of the 1950s and the Iraq insurgency have many similarities. What about Napoleon's campaigns in Sardinia in 1805-07? Again, there are a lot of similarities to this campaign. Have they studied that and contrasted the strategies? Or, have they even read Mao Zedung's theories on insurgencies, or Nygen Giap's, or maybe Che' Gueverra's? Have they seen any of Sun Zsu's work lately? Who are these guys? It's time to start studying, folks. If a journalist doesn't recognize the names on this list, he or she probably isn't qualified to assess the state of this or any other campaign's progress.

Game over. But he continues with some even more common-sensical information that you're never see in the MSM:

Also bothersome are references by "experts" on how "long" this war is taking. I've read that in the world of manufacturing, you can have only two of the following three qualities when developing a product -- cheap, fast or good. You can produce something cheap and fast, but it won't be good; good and fast, but it won't be cheap; good and cheap, but it won't be fast. In this case, we want the result to be good and we want it at the lowest cost in human lives. Given this set of conditions, one can expect this war is to take a while, and rightfully so. Creating a democracy in Iraq not only will require a change in the political system, but the economic system as well. Study of examples of similar socio-economic changes that took place in countries like Chile, Bulgaria, Serbia, Russia and other countries with oppressive Socialist dictatorships shows that it took seven to ten years to move those countries to where they are now. There are many lessons to be learned from these transformations, the most important of which is that change doesn't come easily, even without an insurgency going on. Maybe the experts should take a look at all of the work that has gone into stabilizing Bosnia-Herzegovina over the last 10 years. We are just at the eighteen-month mark in Iraq, a place far more oppressive than Bosnia ever was. If previous examples are any comparison, there will be no quick solutions here, but that should be no surprise to an analyst who has done his or her homework.

So W's come out and set the country a "generational challenge" on the spread of democracy -- it's not just for the highbrow any more. That's what this is ALL ABOUT. Repeating the formula from the last wars to avert the Tinfoil Apocalypse. And Ryan closes with one of the key issues we must address:

Ironically, the press freedom that we have brought to this part of the world is providing support for the enemy we fight. I obviously think it's a disgrace when many on whom the world relies for news paint such an incomplete picture of what actually has happened. Much too much is ignored or omitted. I am confident that history will prove our cause right in this war, but by the time that happens, the world might be so steeped in the gloom of ignorance we won't recognize victory when we achieve it.

So there it is. Tinfoil Apocalypse? We are in a race between technology and sanity -- and insanity is winning. The MSM is using technology as one of the ropes to hang us with. And make no mistake, printing presses and satellite television are technology in the hands of the MSM enemy. They leverage it to deploy their million liliputian ropes.

Unfortunately, weapons of mass destruction have matured before the wisdom of Star Trek's "prime directive" has been recognized. 911 was the event that finally precipitated our first however-dim understanding of this brutal truth.

And now we have Eason Jordon in his latest tinfoil hat appearance on the theme of the brutal U.S. military targeting journalists.

So what are the options here?

1. He didn't say what Frank and Dodd, etc think he did. Given the other incidents this is unlikely in the extreme given that he trots this garbage out periodically.
2. He did say it and walked it back because he realized that if he didn't then more of his staff would get killed by our nasty military. If this is true he's just an intellectual midget because as just noted he brings it up entirely too often to credibly be in hiding about it. In this case he's just playing checkers on a 3-D Vulcan chess set.
3. He did say it and knows that it's not true and does it to curry favor with the Eurabians and to cut the U.S. down to size in any way he can. Probably consciously. But he's also probably an intellectual midget in this scenario.
4. He's just plain nuttier than a cuckoo clock on this and many other subjects but he appears even to many rational people to be sane since he remembers to groom each morning. And with bosses like Ted Turner who on earth do you expect to be hired?

And of course, the answer is most likely to be 2 through 4 inclusive. And while the details differ, the tenor smells just like Ra^thergate: Cover-up ho!

But the blogosphere won't let it go.

But this is all just a distraction from the Tinfoil Apocalypse. Austin Bay has a bead on it with what he calls "technological compression". And Wretchard dances around it all the time including yesterday.

I won't be distracted -- will you?

Stay tuned -- and buckle your seatbelts. Christians and non-believers alike may be surprised to hear what I have to say next about the Tinfoil Apocalypse...

OH BROTHER BILL: "In other words, Moyers says the quote was fake but accurate, and in any event, Watt is a lousy Christian."

The latest view of moronic convergence from Michelle. And I score a double.

The Gift That Keeps On Giving

Would of course be Ward Churchill via Sensing and Cooper: "He is incarnated impossibility of his own analysis." This is quite impressive and you absolutely must read it. Though of course Burke proves his humanity with fairly cheap shots at Glenn and Ann...

OK, so the Colorado roots keep bumping the excreble Mr. Jordan from the top of the blog. I'm working on reforming, OK? Sheesh, it's not like a near majority of my posts aren't about the CNN nutball...

Back To The Top

"Now, one might imagine a scenario in which I might find this story fascinating. Perhaps if it involved, say, someone other than a top news executive whose decisions affect my career." We're rockin' now kids. MUST. READ. NOW. (Hat tip Kaus and Michelle)

Chutch!

AGREED: It is a test case.

QUOTE OF THE DAY: "Nature is too thin a screen; the glory of the omnipresent God bursts through everywhere" -- Ralph Waldo Emerson

The NYeT accidentally burps out a da. I'm sure it will be rewritten by morning to extoll the virtues of Ward Churchill instead...

And Then Jordan Was Back On Top

How could he not be with C&F on such a roll:



Gotta just love the MSM, eh? Well, no, actually.

To me they're the personification of insular corruption.

But Being A Colorado Resident ...

Glenn and Eugene and Wretchard and Campos all have good takes on the Ward Churchill ugliness.

But they haven't caught up to Kaplis and Silverman.

Listen to this. And the interview with Governor Owens.

I would suggest that we need to change the rules to say it's OK to shout "fire" in a crowded theatre if this sort of incitement to violence isn't even a firing offense -- never mind an impressive immitation of treason.

That's the real nub of the issue. I don't care what he calls me -- and make no mistake that by his definition I am an Eichmann. But I have more than a bit of trouble with his incitement of his followers to kill me and -- and make no mistake -- you.

UPDATE: Powerline is catching up! I knew they would...

Eason's A Top Of The Blog Bloke

Just like I promised. How could he not be with work like this from Cox & Forkum:



(Hat tip CQ)