September 30, 2004
CBS Draft Story: "Fake, But True"
Who says that a competitive marketplace encourages the best and brightest to rise to the top? Less than a month after the forged TANG memos blew up in their faces, CBS is defending a story by Richard Schlesinger on "Reviving The Draft".
Nevermind that Schlesinger overlooked telling his audience that his star "mom on the street", Beverly Cocco, heads up an advocacy group called People Against the Draft. To advance his piece, Schlesinger used the content of an email hoax.
Bill at INDC Journal tracked down Schlesinger, CBS spokeswoman Sandra Genelius, and producer Linda Karas, for an interview. The responses must be read to be believed.
INDC: "Probably the main concern with the story is that the e-mails that are shown in the piece are false; they've been debunked on various internet sites long ago ..."Schlesinger: "The fact is, they were going around. I know several people that got them, and it's gotten people all riled up. Whether or not there's any reality to there being a draft, is almost besides the point. Do I think there's going to be a draft? No. But it's an issue that people are talking about."
[...]
Karas: "The truth of the e-mails were absolutely irrelevant to the piece, because all the story said was that people were worried. It's a story about human beings that are afraid of the draft. We did not say that this (e- mail) was true, it's just circulating. We are not verifying the e-mail."
"We are not verifying the e-mail".
What does that mean? They didn't bother going to the trouble of fact checking and didn't know it was a hoax? Or that they knew, and deliberately withheld that information from their audience, even though it was cited as reponsible for the "fear" they are reporting?
Is there a third explanation that I've overlooked, that validates this response as evidence of the thinking of intelligent, professional journalists?
There's a long list of media observers who have accused CBS of pro-Democrat bias. There are websites - rathergate.com and ratherbiased.com - devoted to exposing it. But reading Bill's interview, I'm no longer sure that bias is really at the root of CBS's problems. These responses indicate something quite different is going on, for they are devoid of any cleverness or obfuscation. We saw hints of that in the defense by Dan Rather of the forged memos. "False, but true". They actually believe that a hoax is valid basis for a news story, so long as the response to it is "genuine" or that some people believe it to be true. It's a wonder we don't get monthly updates from CBS based on press releases from the Flat Earth Society.
I realized this morning, that I've seen this sort of "logic" before - in the dog world. Dog breeders usually enter their field as rank novices, without training, accreditation or passing muster with an employer. They buy a dog (or two or three), go to a few shows, start making puppies and learn as they go. As might be expected, a few of these people have trouble getting velcro to work. They approach dog breeding with the intellectual quality of an excited moth sighting a light bulb.
When the puppies that result reflect the mediocrity any reasonably knowledgable breeder would have predicted, they rejoice in their quality. When others beg to differ, they can't see the shortcomings, they can't understand why their results are questioned. With beauty so conveniently located "in the eye of the beholder" they rationalize that it is the beholder who is lacking.
They don't progress, they repeat past mistakes and if they're stubborn enough to stick it out a few years, develop a reputation as serial losers.
This type of dog breeder is so well known, that we even have a name for them.
We call them "stupid people".
The more explanations of this type I read from employees of CBS, the more I realize that they don't sound like crafty politicians or spin doctors at all. They sound like the clueless twits we read on doggie email lists.
It's not bias at all. Someone at CBS is going out of their way to hire stupid people.
September 29, 2004
Najaf - Safer Than Saskatoon?
The Belmont Club puts the data cited in a NYT article on "sweeping" violence in Iraq into perspective. Or more accurately, into a graph. (image below is a partial snapshot - go read the whole thing).
Bush Lied, Holsteins Died
Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry told voters in America's Dairyland on Monday that President Bush had a secret plan that would hurt milk producers after the election.[...]
Kerry said he would fill milk bottles at his uncle's dairy farm as a young boy. "I have a great sense of the land," Kerry said. "I really do. I'm tired of small family farmers getting squeezed."
The details are a little murky, but it seems the "secret Bush plan" is to drive the cows of Wisconsin into a river.
Kerry told the town hall that voters shouldn't be wary of changing horses midstream when the horse is drowning. Kerry also poked fun at reports that the Bush campaign insisted that the debate podiums be set relatively far apart so Kerry's five-inch height advantage won't be so apparent."May I also suggest that we need a taller horse?" he said. "You can get through deeper waters that way."
John "great sense of the land" Kerry - unaware that horses can swim.
hat tip - Canadian Comment.
Sushi And The Case For Beef
CTV News reports on the latest Liberal Nanny State Law.
Ontario gourmands are smacking their lips in protest over a new provincial regulation banning the use of fresh fish in raw dishes.
You voted for them.
Affecting such menu items as tartare, ceviche, cold smoked fish and the popular Japanese delicacy sushi,
I interrupt this post with a disclaimer. I believe the only fresh fish appropriate for human consumption is caught on a red and white spoon and cooked in a pan over a campfire or on propane barbeque. That said, I have eaten at a sushi bar.
...the province has enacted a new regulation that forces chefs to use fish that's been previously frozen.
Once. I had salmon. Cooked salmon.
Ontario Ministry of Health officials are concerned that, otherwise, unwitting patrons could be served with a portion of a parasitic roundworm ...
Unwitting? As opposed to the "witting" patrons paying 5 times what it's worth to be served with a portion of raw fish?
Ottawa sushi chef Hiro Iida told CTV News he has been making sushi for fifteen years -- following centuries-old techniques.
Ahem. And where did centuries of raw fishing eating get you?
Let's see... paper houses?
The non-invention of the fork.
Massive drycleaning bills.
Fancy writing. 
That nobody can read.
I hate to point out the obvious, but the introduction of North American beef to the Japanese diet, and the 20th century emergence of Japanese technology, productivity and industry are not mere coincidence.
When asked whether she's worried about eating raw fish, Ottawa restaurant-goer Kristen Smith laughed. "No," she said, jokingly dismissing concerns of food-borne parasites. "Wasabi kills it, it's strong. And we need to build up our tolerance, too."
Yeah, that's what they all say, 'til they find worms in their poopie.
Then, they want a law.
Barbara Walters: The Dan Rather Interview
"If you were a fish, Dan, what would it be?"
Update: Ratherbiased.com is down, so I've redirected the link to Jeff Goldstein's save of the story
Update2: "Sugarcoat it" Memo surfaces via an uninpeachable source.
September 28, 2004
Me and Mr. Meyers
Editoral director of CBSNews.com, Dick Meyers, was a guest this afternoon on the Murray Wood Show (Rawlco Radio - 650 CKOM), explaining the decision of his network regarding the use (or rather, non-use) of beheading images on television. While explaining his own difficulty struggling with the issue, and propensity to "err in favour" of disclosure, his rationale included the fact that the images were beyond the realm of good taste and they served as propoganda.
?
I called in, and suggested that his explanation would make more sense, had the contraversy over supressing "propoganda" images of Nick Berg's murder not been played out over the backdrop of Abu Graihb and the weeks of tasteless prison photos that amounted to nothing more but different camera angles.
(Sorry, there are no transcripts, so this is from memory).
In addition to making a weak attempt to justify the use of the prison images as part of a "developing story" , Mr. Meyers actually attempted to claim that CBS had "broken the story" on Abu Graihb.
I corrected him. I reminded Mr. Meyers that the story had been actually "broken" by the Pentagon months before it made national news, had been covered in the back pages of print media, and was pretty much ignored until months later - when the photos became available.
I don't think he was expecting that.
He seemed a little rattled. Then, the (extended) segment ended and he had to go.
Heh. Thanks, Murray.
Added to the Beltway Traffic Jam
"Jihad Has Broken"
Stewart Bell, author of Cold Terror, in the National Post;
Yusuf Islam, the British singer formerly known as Cat Stevens, was the guest of honour at a Toronto fundraising dinner hosted by an organization that has since been identified by the Canadian government as a "front" for the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas.In a videotape of the 1998 event obtained by the National Post, Mr. Islam describes Israel as a "so-called new society" created by a "so-called religion" and urges the audience to donate to the Jerusalem Fund for Human Services to "lessen the suffering of our brothers and sisters in Palestine and the Holy Land."
The Jerusalem Fund is one of four "fronts" named in a secret Privy Council Office memo that was sent to Jean Chretien, then prime minister, on May 23, 2000, discussing what it called groups that "have unsavoury links with terrorism.
Via Norm Spector.
[...]
The video opens with a scene of Niagara Falls, overlayed with the Jerusalem Fund logo, which features the al-Aqsa Mosque and the maple leaf. It begins with an unidentified man explaining the activities of the Jerusalem Fund, which he describes as "helping the Muslims in Palestine" by financing hospitals, health clinics, families in need and orphans."Palestine is close to the heart of each and every Muslim. What the Muslims of Palestine have been doing for many years now has been that bright light shining, that hope ... that they are still believers that can raise the banner of jihad in the most difficult of circumstances."
Mr. Islam then begins a 45- minute speech in English in which he says it is "intolerable" for Muslims to "stand and watch" the situation in the Middle East. He describes Jerusalem as the centre of a land that is holy because of its connection to Allah.
"So this city which is blessed because of its religious nature. Therefore, what we see today is the result of the departure of religion from this area, of the uprooting of religion. So many of the people of the faith have been exiled from this region, moved on, to make way for what? Strangely and ironically, they moved on in the name of so-called religion, on behalf of ... the Jews.
"Of course, that would explain what is happening. Because the moment that religion and religious virtues disappear, there for sure follows trouble, tyranny, oppression," he says. "So what do we see then today? The concoction of a so-called new society based on an old society."
He says there could be "no redeemer except Allah. No political concept or construct or treaty or agent except the laws of Allah, which he instructed for this world. Jerusalem is that, the symbol of that. Out of the hands of the righteous then it falls into disrepute and blood.
"Jerusalem, al-Quds, it is a mirror reflecting the reality ... If it is dark, if it is bloody, then so too is the world. Today it reflects injustice of the secular man over the religious man. And how can the secular man be given the control and the sanctuary of the divine place of worship when he doesn't even respect what is holy? How? And how can those of faith allow that to happen? Therefore, peace will not return until we return to the Holy Land."
National Geographic Takes It On The Tusk
French photographer Gilles Nicolet sells National Geographic staged photos. The magazine doesn't notice.
The readers do.
On pages 78-9 (photograph above), the picture caption reads that hunters are carrying "tusks taken from an elephant found dead in the bush." Soon after the article was published, several readers pointed out that there are faint but unmistakable numbers on the tusk on page 78 which we failed to notice before publishing the story. We now know that the tusks belong to the Tanzania Department of Wildlife. When we asked photographer Gilles Nicolet to explain, he admitted that he himself had supplied the tusks to the hunters after borrowing them from local wildlife authorities.This was in direct contrast to what Nicolet had repeatedly assured us when we were preparing the story. As part of our rigorous internal system of checks and balances, we routinely obtain independent verification of the circumstances in which a photograph is made. In very few instances, we are unable to do so. This story was one of those cases, and we published it knowing that we were relying heavily on Nicolet's accounts.
In light of his disturbing admission about the tusks, we immediately launched an investigation into the other photographs in the story and determined that the two on page 85 which the caption identifies as showing a successful hunter removing his spear from an elephant and then removing the tusks were actually made several years earlier and are not of the Barabaig. (See photographs below.)
And National Geographic editor-in-chief William L. Allen does the right thing.
By publishing this story, we failed our readers. We are currently reviewing our internal procedures to do our best to ensure that this type of mistake does not happen again. In addition, we are re-examining Nicolet's only previous story for National Geographic ("Hunting the Mighty Python," May 1997); to date it appears that all of the pictures and accompanying captions are accurate.We apologize to our readers.
Of course, here the stakes weren't as high. The elephant story wasn't written to help get a donkey elected.
Cat Blogging
He wasn't answering my emails, either, and it was really starting to bother me. So, I decided to do something to change that.
 |
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And it's worked. He still doesn't answer my emails, but I no longer lie awake at night wondering why.
September 27, 2004
Hacking Xerox
If the company photocopier suddenly starts pumping out ads for penis enlargement products, there may be a reason...
Using Google hacks -- requests typed into the search engine that bring up cached information on networks -- hackers are discovering and using login details for networked photocopiers so they can watch what is being copied."You don't have to be a genius to do this," said Jason Hart, security director at Whitehat UK. "You can see what people are photocopying on your monitor. You just have to search for online devices on Google."
Something like searching for passwords, I presume?
McFuehrer The Crime Nazi!
You know, with this many recent appearances by der Fuehrer, I'm surprised that little black mustaches aren't making a fashion comeback. Today, rock producer and accused murderer Phil Spector finds himself in the clutches of the Third Reich.
Speaking to reporters outside the courthouse, Spector criticized the prosecutor's decision to seek a grand jury indictment, saying: "The actions of the Hitler-like district attorney and his storm trooper henchmen are reprehensible, unconscionable and despicable."
For those keeping score: President George W. Bush is Hitler, Attorney General John Ashcroft is Hitler, and now Hitler has even trickled down to little ol' Los Angeles County District Attorney Steve Cooley.
At this rate, the late, great Adolph is on the brink of being rehabilitated into Defender Of Justice and Fighter Of Crime.
An American Soldier: "Re-Upping"
If I am able to get out of the Reserves later this year, I am thinking about the idea of re-upping. However not in the Reserves, I am thinking of joining a Special Forces Group that is near me. However that entails joining the National Guard.[...]
I know my resource can be used to help people.
My wife came to me after and asked me if I watched the video. I acknowledged her and she said: "You should just go, why don't you go back and help those people. Make it so people don't have to get killed anymore!" I just looked back at her and felt a sense of peace that I could go again and she would be ok. She would be ok because she knew I was helping people. She knows the consequences but yet she knows that no matter what, I would be helping, even if it was one person from not getting killed like that again.
So folks, with that said. I have placed a call with the person I would need to talk to.
Some people go through their entire life to try and find the reason for their existence. It was in that instance yesterday that I knew what mine was.
Crotch Hounds
That dog who gooses you may just save your life.
Researchers at the Hospital were inspired to train dogs for the cause as they believe that cancer cells release molecules into the urine that have a characteristic smell of the disease, it said.One of the first cases to reach the medical literature reported a woman who had gone to the doctor after her dog started sniffing suspiciously around a skin sore. It turned out to be a malignant tumour, it said.
Trainers worked on the dogs for seven months and trained them to detect the unique odour signature of cancer, compared to those of infections, inflammation or blood, it said.
The trainers also coached the dogs to discriminate between the urine of cancer patients and those with other bladder conditions, it said.
After the training was over, the dogs were asked to choose between laboratory dishes of seven types of urine and lie down in front of the one from a cancer patient, it said.
When the trained dogs were put to the test, they were correct over 40 per cent of the time, says Willis.
Who Is Running This Man's Campaign?
Via Paul, at Wizbang, who has more that are just as good or better. Or worse. Depends on your perspective, I guess.
Football Fans For Truth has much, much more.
September 26, 2004
The Oprah Vote
Michael Totten "gets it".
Kerry fails to understand that women, at least a significant number of those in the center, are more likely than before September 11 to admire toughness and strength. It's not that he's been neglecting "women's issues" and needs to catch up. Rather, "men's issues" are more important to most people now.I hate to put it that way, and I apologize if it seems ridiculous. I don't think of myself as a "man" when I vote. I have never asked myself who's the most manly - and voted accordingly. ("Women's" candidates have always won my vote anyway.) And I seriously doubt the women who moved to the right did so because they think Bush is "girlier" than Kerry. What a laugh! For one thing, hardly anyone actually thinks in those terms. And if they did Kerry would still have his edge among women. George W. Bush is not more "feminine" or "nurturing" or "caring" than John Kerry.
But Kerry seems to believe people do think that way. And that's precisely why he's losing support among women right now. "Women's issues" still matter, and they matter to me. But they are not front and center this year.
I'd go out on a limb and suggest so-called "women's issues" aren't front and center with the majority of women in any year. Not since we got the vote, anyway.
September 25, 2004
September 24, 2004
Monumental Moonbattery
NELSON, British Columbia -- Plans for a bronze monument and festival to honor U.S. draft dodgers in 2006 in this picturesque lakeside town have generated a wave of anger in the United States, local officials say.[...]
In announcing Our Way Home, a celebration set for July 8-9, 2006, director Isaac Romano said the purpose was to honor "the courageous legacy of Vietnam War resisters and the Canadians who helped them resettle in this country during that tumultuous era."
This calls for a photoshop contest - put your creative juices to work, and help the good people of Nelson in their quest to make absolute asses of themselves.
Joining the Beltway Traffic Jam to spread the word and solicit your entries!
Distrust In Media
The Sept. 13-15 poll -- conducted after the CBS News report was questioned but before the network issued a formal apology -- found that just 44% of Americans express confidence in the media's ability to report news stories accurately and fairly (9% say "a great deal" and 35% "a fair amount"). This is a significant drop from one year ago, when 54% of Americans expressed a great deal or fair amount of confidence in the media. The latest result is particularly striking because this figure had previously been very stable -- fluctuating only between 51% and 55% from 1997-2003.Hat Tip - Jeff Jarvis
"Hundreds Of Planes"
Reluctantly, the American prisoners did as they were told, all 150 of them, crawling single file into the dark, poorly ventilated pits. Everyone but Stidham, whose stretcher was conveniently placed beside one of the trench entrances. If the planes came, his buddies would gather his limp form and tuck him into the shelter with everyone else.They waited and waited but heard not a single American plane, let alone a hundred. They huddled in the stifling dankness of their collective body heat, sweat coursing down their bare chests. The air-raid bell continued to peal. A Navy signalman named C.C. Smith refused to go into his pit. Suddenly the Buzzard set upon him. He raised his saber high so that it gleamed in the midday sun, and with all his strength he brought it blade side down. Smith's head was cleaved in two, the sword finally stopping midway down the neck.
Then, peeking out the ends of the trenches, the men saw several soldiers bursting into the compound. They were carrying five-gallon buckets filled with a liquid. The buckets sloshed messily as the soldiers walked. With a quick jerk of the hands, they flung the contents into the openings of the trenches. By the smell of it on their skin, the Americans instantly recognized what it was -- high-octane aviation fuel from the airstrip. Before they could apprehend the full significance of it, other soldiers tossed in lighted bamboo torches. Within seconds the trenches exploded in flames, The men squirmed over each other and clawed at the dirt as they tried desperately to shirnk from the intense heat. They choked back the smoke and the fumes, their nostrils assailed by the smell of singed hair and roasting flesh. They were trapped like termites in their own sealed nest.
Only a few managed to free themselves. Dr.Carl Mango, from Pennsylvania, sprang from his hole, his clothes smoldering. His arms were outstretched as he peaded -- "Show some reason, please God show reason" -- but a machine gunner mowed him down.
Another prisoner crawled from his trench, wrested a rifle from the hands of a soldier, and shot him before receiving a mortal stab in the back. A number of men dashed toward the fence and tried to press through it but were quickly riddled with lead, leaving a row of corpses hung from the barbed stands like dried cuttlefish. A few men managed to slip through the razor ribbon and leap from the high cliff, but more soldiers were waiting on the beach to finish them off. Recognizing the futility of escape but wanting to wreak a parting vengeance, one burning prisoner emerged from his trench, wrapped his arms tightly around the first soldier he saw, and didn't let go -- a death embrace that succeeded in setting the surprised executioner on fire.
All the while, Lieutenant Sato scurried from trench to trench with saber drawn, loudly exhorting his men and occasionally punctuating his commands with a high, nervous laugh. At his order, another wave of troops approached the air-raid shelters, throwing grenades into the flaming entrances and raking them with gunfire. Some of the troops poked their rifle barrels through the entrances of the trenches and fired point-blank at the huddled forms within. James Stidham, the paralytic who had been watching all of this from his stretcher, quietly moaned in terror. A soldier stepped over to him and with a perfunctory glance fired two slugs into his face.
From Ghost Soldiers- an account of the atrocity at Palawan, Dec.14, 1944.
Today, as we witness acts of what seems unprecedented barbarism, we must remind ourselves that others have been down this road before.
But, unlike today's helpless individuals whose names flash around the globe as they plead for mercy, their murders recorded single file -- the American and Filipino prisoners of war who suffered years of unspeakable cruelty, who died of torture, starvation, disembowling, decapitation at the hands of the Japanese, were dumped in nameless thousands in mass graves, or simply left to rot.
Yet, those who survived were witness to the transformation of that society into a peaceful, prosperous democracy in their lifetime. It must still seem miraculous to them.
I'm nearly finished reading Ghost Soldiers. It's a difficult book. As I turn the pages, another contrast becomes evident - that of the steady and courageous resolve of leaders of that time, and a would-be-President of today, whose reaction to the ugly reality of defeating and reforming inhuman ideologies is to publicly proclaim the effort a "mess", and announce that "We need a summit."
The ghosts of Bataan would despair.
September 23, 2004
Green Power: Blowing In The Wind
Saskatchewan's Wide Open Wallet delivers another hit to taxpayers.
News Release: SASKPOWER AND ATCO POWER JOINT VENTURE WILL NOT PROCEEDAfter detailed discussions regarding the project, SaskPower International and ATCO Power have announced their joint venture to build 150 megawatts of wind generation in Saskatchewan will not proceed.
SaskPower remains committed to pursuing wind generation as part of the Green Power Portfolio and will now review options related to the project.
[...]
SaskPower International Inc. is a wholly owned subsidiary of SaskPower and is the corporation's development arm. SaskPower operates three coal-fired power stations, seven hydroelectric stations, four natural gas stations, and nine wind turbines (Cypress Wind Power Facility) with aggregate generating capacity of more than 3,000 MW, and has 449 MW of contracted capacity (Meridian Cogeneration Station, Cory Cogeneration Station and SunBridge Wind Power Project).
SaskPower is a Saskatchewan government corporation, actually - one of around 70 such government-owned entities. (ATCO is Alberta based.)
The news isn't good for SaskTel (another wholly owned subsidiary of the Saskatchewan government), either.
[...]for SaskTel, letting you talk on the phone from your computer -- free of long distance charges or for mere pennies per minute - - won't be as cheap for them as it will be for everyone else, if the CRTC has its way.[...]
Currently the CRTC regulates telephone service but the Internet is largely unregulated. The problem, from SaskTel's perspective, is the CRTC is leaning toward calling the technology a phone service and regulating it as such -- at least for the existing phone companies.
"Certainly, we look at it as an Internet service," said John Meldrum, SaskTel's vice- president for regulatory affairs, in an interview from Ottawa. "We think the CRTC is looking backward, not forward."
The regulations would force the incumbent companies to adhere to similar pricing restrictions based on costs as they do for landline service. They would also force telephone companies to re-file any price changes to the CRTC, and allow them to offer promotions, like free trials, or bundle options.
SaskTel feels it is unfair to force incumbent providers to adhere to these regulations when all other potential VoIP providers will be able to operate free of regulation."They'd cause competitive harm to the incumbent so new competition can flourish," Meldrum said of the CRTC's position.
Cable service providers, like Rogers, Shaw and Regina's Access Communications, feel regulation will help them compete.
Those 'good old' days when it was illegal for private citizens to own their own phone in the province of Saskatchewan seem so quaint and far away.
Patronage at the CBC?
Via Adam Daifallah, Friends of Canadian Broadcasting has released findings about patronage at the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation.
"For too long, appointments to Canada's most important cultural institution - the CBC - have often been made based on political affiliation rather than merit," said FRIENDS' spokesperson Ian Morrison, commenting on a new report that examines government appointments to the CBC.92% of appointees have been affiliated with the governing political party
21% of appointees have been women
3 of 152 appointees have been visible minorities or aboriginal people [...]
The report also examined the 83 appointments made to the CRTC since 1968 and found that, based on available information:
83% of appointees to the CRTC were affiliated with the governing party
25% of appointees to the CRTC have been women
two appointees have been visible minorities and none have been aboriginal
In related news, FRIENDS also reports that the Earth revolves around the sun, that water runs downhill and bears shit in the woods.
"Terrorism Nests Within Us"
Mundir Badr Haloum, for Al-Safir (Lebanon), September 13;
"Twelve Nepalese citizens are slaughtered - Islam. A metro station is bombed - Islam. Civilian aircraft crash - Islam. A school is taken and the souls of 50 children [are lost] for the soul of [each] terrorist - Islam. A bus is bombed here, a railway train there, and before that there were hospitals and theaters, etc - all of them Islamic acts. [Behind] the color green are exposed rivers red with blood, flowing in the streets and public squares. And Muslims everywhere.[...]
"Self-examination - would result in favor of abandoning Islam - yet what gets passed on from one generation to the next is - the latest version of Islam - Algeria, Afghanistan, Moscow, and New York, the version of the planes and the buses, the metro stations, the theaters and the residential complexes. What gets passed on from one generation to the next is the faith of Jihad that takes lightly the spilling of others' blood. How easy it is to shove someone into the category of the enemy. What gets passed on from generation to generation is the belief in legal rulings that forbid thought and permit killing. Religious Muslims prepare an offering to heaven - a fresh bit of human flesh, meant to be evidence of the truth and the proof of Jihad for the absolute truth.
"Indeed, we as Muslims produce terrorism, succor it, and praise it. We condemn it only when forced to. Motivated by considerations of power, interests, and diplomacy, we wear a pained expression on our faces but in our hearts we rejoice at the brilliant success - a large number of casualties. Unfortunately, in this black reality it does not matter if it is an American, Israeli, or Russian mind who is responsible for certain terrorist operations or whether those who kill themselves are poor, ignorant, or destitute."
[...]
"Islam is in need of true reform. Islam's need [for reform] - or, to be precise, our need for Islam's reform - is not less than the need for reform in the Arab political regimes. This is the need for people who are capable of fearlessly acknowledging that terrorism nests within us as Muslims and that we must exorcise it. Unfortunately, the meaning of delay is more death. The reform will take a long time and the price will be high, but it is the only path to our return to history as Muslims and not as terrorists."
Kerry Family Values
According to the Boston Herald, an upcoming piece in the New Yorker includes these heartwarming tidbits about Ter-ay-za Heinz Kerry;
The daughter of a doctor, Heinz loves to dispense medical advice. Friends think she is ``delightful, loving, funny and kindhearted'' but her step-daughters, Vanessa and Alexandra Kerry, did not hit it off with her at first.``I thought, `I love kids, kids love me, I'll be fine.' Baloney,'' Teresa said. ``You have to treat stepchildren like pets. You're nice to them but you don't get too close or they chew you up. Well, I did it the other way.''
In fact, we hear the gals refer to Heinz as their ``step-money.'' As for her hubby, the piece says that Kerry spoke French to Teresa when he was wooing her, as is his wont.
Meanwhile, over at the field, John Forbes steps into the QB role to show the young kids a thing or two about football....
What makes the first half of this clip so great is that the coach called a sweep play that involves a pulling guard. For those of you out there that don't know what that means, the short version is that pulling a guard leaves the quarterback less protected on purpose.
The White House is too small for these people.
What they really need is a sitcom.
Hat tip - Tim Blair and Inoperable Terran.
September 22, 2004
The Dan Rather Mysteries
"I clenched my jaw when I saw a new interrogator enter the filthy room, pulling on a pair of rubber gloves. God, no... it was Goldstein."
Winning By Fighting Back
MIchael Totten on the end of the Intifada.
The doom-mongers were wrong. Period. Just as they were wrong when they predicted disaster in Afghanistan. Just as they were wrong when they predicted disaster in Iraq the first time around. Just as they were wrong when they (although it was mostly Republicans this time) predicted disaster in Kosovo.Those who keep insisting we or one of our democratic allies will actually lose a war have been wrong for a third of a century now. I am thirty four years old. The last time the doom-mongers were right I was three. They have been consistently wrong throughout my entire living memory. (Am I forgetting something? Have we lost a war since Vietnam?)
Wretchard, at The Belmont Club follows up;
The most remarkable thing about Israel's campaign against the Intifada was not it's adoption of new warfighting concepts, like Europe's Human Security Doctrine, but its reversion to the oldest method of all: winning by fighting back. Social historians in the future, should we ever attain it, may endlessly wonder how it was possible for Western European and liberal American intellectuals to forget 5,000 years of military experience in favor of the slogans, some composed facetiously, of the Peace Movement of the 1960s.
For two fellows as observant as Wretchard and Totten, I'm surprised that they overlook the obvious - at their ideological core, the "Peace Movement" and Western European and liberal American intellectuals have far more invested in the notion of losing wars than they do in winning them.
Why would they endorse methods that have a proven track record of success?
Relaunch?
Thanks to Kathy Kinsley of On The Third Hand the site is starting to resemble its old self again. Still some tweaking to do, she tells me, but so far, so good.
Comments are turned off, but be patient. back on.
Looks like my blog vacation is over.
September 21, 2004
malfunction
Something rather odd is going on with MT tonight - it started with error messages on multiple attempts to post, a sudden complaince and now, an inability to edit the repeats, or anything else here.
Argh. I've sent a plea for geek help. Hopefully things will be back to normal tomorrow.
Geek help is working on it. Probably tomorrow, it's a corrupt database. Comments and trackbacks are off to prevent further corruption.
Update. So far, so good. Let's see if we can straighten out the front page.
Geek update: comments and trackbacks are on again.
Road Warriors
I'm home. I did have internet access while I was in Montana, but between the challenge of typing blog posts on a Libretto 70CT (with a keyboard that's 8" wide) and general disconnectness from the news world, I didn't get much blogging done.
We finished up at the show around noon Sunday (successfully) and hit the road right away. It's about 5 hours from Helena to the border crossing north of Malta. On the way through Harlem, I tossed around the idea of heading north for the port of Climax, but the roads on the Saskatchewan side being what they are, chose to go further east to Malta and cross south of Swift Current. There was plenty of time.
What we didn't know was that on Sept.15 the border crossing moved to "winter hours". We fueled up in Malta, and turned north. Then, a few miles along, a sign informed us the border now closed at 6 pm. We had 35 minutes to cover 45 miles. And had the clock in the van not been 3 minutes slow, we'd have made it.
This is what the Port of Monchy looks like at 6:03 pm. From the American side.
And this is the border to the east of the crossing, viewed out the passenger window.... hmmmmm.....
It's probably a good thing we didn't have wire cutters.
September 17, 2004
Moderate Canadian Muslims Denounce "terrorist"
Norm Spector notes outrage by Canadian Muslim groups National Council on Canada- Arab Relations (NCCAR) and the Canadian Arab Federation (CAF);
“This is another troubling example of clear bias by CanWest publications like the National Post and the Ottawa Citizen in applying different standards towards Arabs and Muslims when reporting,” said NCCAR Executive Director Mazen Chouaib.
These two groups are protesting the use of the word "terrorist" to describe the al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades.
Staudt Speaks
About a week ago, I began to wonder why one person mentioned in the discredited Rathergate memos had not commented on the controversy. My suspicion is that he may have been seeking legal advice - as far as I can tell, it looks as though he'd have one hell of a libel suit against CBS.
Today, Powerline says he's broken his silence.
"He didn't use political influence to get into the Air National Guard. I don't know how they would know that, because I was the one who did it and I was the one who was there and I didn't talk to any of them.""He was highly qualified. He passed all the scrutiny and tests he was given."
"No one called me about taking George Bush into the Air National Guard. It was my decision. I swore him in. I never heard anything from anybody."
"He was a well-educated, bright- eyed young man, just the kind of guy we were looking for. He presented himself well. I'd say he was in the upper 10 percent or 5 percent or whatever we ever talked to about going to pilot training. We were pretty particular because when he came back [from trainin.g], we had to fly with him."
Online ABC version here. Reportedly, the interview will air tonight.
One does wonder why Dan Rather didn't go the extra mile to the do that interview himself.
Well, ok. One doesn't wonder.
September 15, 2004
No Pajama Blogging
I've resisted commenting on the pajama meme raging throughout the blogosphere.
But today, James Joyner and Donald Sensing have come clean.
Welcome gentlemen to the League Of Naked Bloggers.
And I thought I was the only one!
September 14, 2004
Imperfect Krime
Wire cutters to cut cable of surveillance camera - $5.95
Gloves to prevent fingerprints from being left on glass case - $18.99
Being apprended in the worlds first Kmart Jewel Heist - priceless
(no link - picked uo on local Great Falls,MT radio news)
Light Posting Ahead
I'll be on the road for the next week, and though I have the laptop, I don't know that I'll be blogging a lot.
Be sure to visit the folks on the blogroll, though - it's almost as good as reading SDA, since I steal most of my stuff from them, anyway.
September 13, 2004
The Finger
a hairsbreadth of the nuclear button.
The Power of Google II
When all of this crap began back in 1999, I was a political consultant for several Democratic candidates, as well as later being a senior consultant for Janet Reno in her run for Governor. I bought the document package from Marty Heldt and we subjected them to the most thorough investigation one could imagine. Why? Because if there was anything there, we damn sure wanted to use it. But guess what? Only two of those documents proved to be authentic and they were not even related to the charge being levelled. Many of them are so blatant in their alterations it is almost funny. Several purport to be signed by real live military personnel, yet they don't even know the proper format for a military date.
This is a newsgroup posting from a writer who identifies himself as Brooks Gregory.
I won't go as far as others in openly speculating the connection between this comment, posted Wed, 28 Jan 2004 16:27:57 GMT, and what it may suggest as to the possible source of the forged CBS memos, or even if they might have been the same ones. Time will tell.
Hat tip - Dean Esmay who rightly cautions about open speculation and naming names. But, the internet is a big place - and a tool available to anyone with a few google search skills. It's not a drawer in someone's bedroom, so I don't know how you keep speculation from occuring - or even argue that it's unethical, when so much of it occurs in the editorial pages of America's most respected newspapers.
Wizbang notices that Marty Heldt has been popping up a lot elsewhere.
Who do Salon and David Brock's Media Matters trot out as their rebuttal witness against the forgery charges? None other than "independent researcher" Marty Heldt.
Plot, thickened.
Scott Taylor Freed
Bruised and battered, Canadian military writer Scott Taylor survived four terror-filled days as a captive in Iraq.
More.
Maybe I was out of the loop, but I heard nothing about him being captured. Taylor is editor of Esprit De Corp, and a fairly frequent guest on talk radio interviews. While his political leanings sometimes colour his analysis, I always had respect for the fact that he wasn't an puffed suit pontificating from the Green Zone in Toronto.
And a huge roundup of more general good news, though unrelated.
Hurricane Blog
As more established media voices add to the criticism of CBS, some are also acknowledging that the world of big journalism has been forever changed - by the blogosphere.
Some of those voices this morning - Peter Worthington at the Toronto Sun is expecting a rather rapid retirement, and has the following observation about the twisted political logic.
The Democrats accuse the Republicans of sponsoring the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth (who now say they've raised $6.7 million from 53,000 donors) when the Swiftie TV ads make it clear the Republican party and president aren't involved.Yet when an anti-Bush forgery boomerangs on Democrats, they blame the Bushies. Kind of convoluted.
The New York Times William Safire:
Alert bloggers who knew the difference between the product of old typewriters and new word processors immediately suspected a hoax: the "documents" presented by CBS News suggesting preferential treatment in Lt. George W. Bush's National Guard service have all the earmarks of forgeries.
John Fund, Wall Street Journal "gets it".
If it turns out that the Killian memos are indeed forgeries, the Internet will have played an invaluable role in exposing the fraud much faster than the 18 months Mr. Camacho had to twist in the wind. Free Republic, a Web bulletin board, raised early warning signals about the memos within hours of last Wednesday's "60 Minutes" broadcast. Powerlineblog.com, a site run by three lawyers, reposted those comments, which were amplified by indcjournal.com. Then design expert Charles Johnson, who blogs at littlegreenfootballs.com, retyped one of the memos using Microsoft Word and showed them to be a perfect typographic match.A defensive Dan Rather went on the air Friday to complain of what he called a "counterattack" from "partisan political operatives." In reality, traditional journalism now has a new set of watchdogs in the "blogosphere." In the words of blogger Mickey Kaus, they can trade information and publicize it "fast enough to have real-world consequences." Sure, blogs can be transmission belts for errors, vicious gossip and last- minute disinformation efforts. But they can also correct themselves almost instantaneously--in sharp contrast with CBS's stonewalling.
Of course, there are plenty of the usual suspects who don't. - the meme of the day from those still wanting to cling desperately to the notion that they "have something" on Bush - "What's the fuss about the memos, anyway? Even if they are fake, we know they were true."
update - INDC Journal has a reprint of a well-done NY Sun article by Roderick Boyd. Read the comments - Roddy shows up to expand on the choice of word "non-journalist", and adds this;
and we are on the cusp of something viz. big change, but what it is, i have no idea.
Sept.13, 2004 - Thus begins the week that the MSM has accepted - some with anger, some with relief - that their all-powerful hold on the "last word" in news and information has officially come to an end.
Welcome to the blogosphere, Roddy.
September 12, 2004
Cox & Forkum
Click on the photo to catch their post, numerous links, and a devastating exerpt from Mark Steyn's Chicago Sun Times piece.
This Instapundit post on more media reaction, too.
"Here, tell these people something they dont know about me."
Julian Sanchez presents Bushy Rabbit.
Language warning. And if you didn't see 8 Mile you're not going to get this. But it's priceless, if you have.
hat tip = Let It Bleed
September 11, 2004
Their Day
No one needs to be reminded of the day. No one needs to say "never forget". Not yet, and not for a very long time. With the battle against Islamic extremism in full swing around the globe, no one needs a jab in the ribs to remember just what it was that happened on a pleasant morning in New York City, in Washington, in the skies over Pennsylvania.
But while we are in no danger of forgetting, discussion has shifted to 9/11's impact on the present, and the implications for the future. Today, the focus is directed to the political and geopolitical fallout. We're obsessed with dissecting, analyzing and second guessing. We argue about how best to guard, prevent, secure.
"Never forget" is evolving into "never again".
As the years pass and the events (if not the consequences) become further removed, the shared anguish for those who lost family, friends, co-workers will begin to dim. It's the natural way of things.
And so, this is why we have memorials. Not to mark historic events, but to honour the personal - the heros, victims, the sacrifice, and those who struggle on without them.
Today is their day.
"We're Sorry"
I saw this piece a couple of days ago, but in light of a private email suggesting I draw attention to it, I think today is an appropriate day.
A welcome sign that moderate Muslims are finally starting to understand, and more importantly - speak out against the qualified outrage and weak disclaimers of the Islamic apologensia.
After numerous admissions of guilt by Bin Laden and numerous corroborating admissions by captured top level Al-Qaida operatives, we wonder, does the Muslim leadership have the dignity and courage to apologize for 9-11?If not 9-11, will we apologize for the murder of school children in Russia?
If not Russia, will we apologize for the train bombings in Madrid, Spain?
If not Spain, will we apologize for suicide bombings in buses, restaurants and other public places?
If not suicide bombings, will we apologize for the barbaric beheadings of human beings?
If not beheadings, will we apologize for the rape and murder of thousands of innocent people in Darfour?
If not Darfour, will we apologize for the blowing up of two Russian planes by Muslim women?
What will we apologize for?
What will it take for Muslims to realize that those who commit mass murder in the name of Islam are not just a few fringe elements?
What will it take for Muslims to realize that we are facing a crisis that is more deadly than the Aids epidemic?
What will it take for Muslims to realize that there is a large evil movement that is turning what was a peaceful religion into a cult?
More of this, please.
September 10, 2004
The Power of Google
Mere minutes after Dan Rather's sketchy rebuttal to the growing evidence that the 60 Minutes II memos were forgeries, Wizbang has been tracking down the background of the " handwriting expert" who CBS states authenticated the signatures on the documents (as though this is the primary issue under dispute).
His name is Marcel Matley - and it appears that he was the same handwriting expert who authenticated the Vince Foster suicide note.
Small world.
Terrorism: A Priority Of Canadian Diplomacy.
Q: What do you get when you cross Pierre Pettigrew with a French Foreign Minister?
A: Would you wait just a minute? They aren't finished banging each other.
(Added to the Beltway Traffic Jam)
Working For The Man
 | Marc Emery, " one of Canada's most media-savvy and provocative potactivists", decided to do the civil disobedience schtick and pass a joint in Saskatoon. |
Well, it's all fun and games, until someone gets their ass thrown in jail.
It gets better.
Alright everyone, I'm back from, oh goodness... six hours of sanding, sanding, sanding big wooden sheds with a 2-inch by 5-inch wire brush, and believe me, I am tired. Boy, I really earned my 50 cents an hour today, I'll tell you.[...]
This is what my fellow Canadians have done to a man who has never done anything (that's me) but be kind to virtually every person I have ever met. Putting me here in this crazy place. It's called a correctional centre. How filthy a lie, from my fellow Canadians who condone these gulags with their implicit consent. There is no Correcting going on here. How am I being corrected? How is
Mus-qua being corrected? We are in a detention facility.There is no Correcting. A detention centre is where we put the illiterate, the alcohol and drug addicted, society's cast-offs, the abandoned, the mentally ill, the stupid, dissidents like myself, and a lot of inevitable product of poor or no parenting in their childhood. You think anyone here is
being Corrected? If they were rational, they would hate and despise the people who have put them here and animalized them. The Canadian people have animalized me. Did you know that if all eighteen spoons, eighteen knives, or eighteen forks are not all returned to a count by the guard sharp at 10:30pm, we are all under 24 hour lockdown? Three times I have gone through
all the day's garbage, looking for a missing spoon. Twice I did find it, at the bottom of the massive, slimy, smoozy food, shit, coffee grinds, all manner of refuse. They have to be found at 10:30pm sharp or we all suffer a lockdown for 24 hours. I always sense the urgency and go to the guard and say 'Can I have the latex gloves, as I have to go through all the garbage to find the missing spoon.' It's always the spoon that's missing because people let it spill off with their food, toss it into the garbage, or they use it as a stirring spoon and take it to their room and forget about it and then that person has headphones on or is asleep etc. at 10:30pm, but it's usually at the bottom of the slimy garbage, and that's where I have to go.
That's right - he's blogging from jail. Poor baby.
There's a rally for Marc in Saskatoon at the Vimy Memorial tomorrow, if you're so inclined.
Dead Men Type New Tales, Day 2
Behold: The Power Of The Blogosphere
CBS NEWS executives have launched an internal investigation into whether its premiere news program 60 MINUTES aired fabricated documents relating to Bush's National Guard service, the DRUDGE REPORT has learned."The reputation and integrity of the entire news division is at stake, if we are in error, it will be corrected," a top CBS source explained late Thursday.
The source, who asked not to be named, described CBSNEWS anchor and 60 MINUTES correspondent Dan Rather as being privately "shell-shocked" by the increasingly likelihood that the documents in question were fraudulent.
ABC News reports the family is disputing the memos legitimacy, as uncharacteristic of the alleged author.
A Drudge link to the Prowler shut down their server, so a cached version is here alleging they were passed to CBS by the Kerry campaign;
More than six weeks ago, an opposition research staffer for the Democratic National Committee received documents purportedly written by President George W. Bush's Texas Air National Guard squadron commander, the late Col. Jerry Killian.The oppo researcher claimed the source was "a retired military officer." According to a DNC staffer, the documents were seen by both senior staff members at the DNC, as well as the Kerry campaign.
"More than a couple people heard about the papers," says the DNC staffer. "I've heard that they ended up with the Kerry campaign, for them to decide to how to proceed, and presumably they were handed over to 60 Minutes, which used them the other night. But I know this much. When there was discussion here, there were doubts raised about their authenticity."
The concerns arose from the sourcing. "It wasn't clear that our source for the documents would have had access to them. Our person couldn't confirm from what file, from what original source they came from."
The documents that CBS News used were not documents from any of Bush's personnel files from his time in the National Guard. Rather, CBS News stated that they were documents uncovered in the personnel files of Killian. That would explain why the White House or the Pentagon had never before released or even seen them.
The Chicago Sun-Times is giving credit where credit is due - to Powerline, Bill, at INDC, (though Little Green Footballs was overlooked. )
The New York Post credits everyone, including the Free Republic commentor who first mentioned the discrepencies.
Instapundit is probably the best central source for continuing updates on this. Glenn is reporting that the Washington Post is going page A1 with this story tomorrow.
Donald Sensing notices that the Air Force Manual cited in one memo seems not to have ever existed. Ouch.
I repeat - is anyone from the Canadian Conservative Party paying attention yet?
September 9, 2004
Always, Check The Transcripts
A radio talk host sent me a comment by private email today, mentioning "Cheney's low, low blow".
As I said in my reply - check the transcripts, guys. Forming on-air opinions based on AP "reporting" or CNN "quotes" is risky business.
Dead Men Type New Tales?
CBS "news" magazine 60 MInutes heeded Terry McAuliffe's call for help last night.
This morning, Powerline is taking a close look at the memos cited in the show (and by others) that purportedly prove that Bush was AWOL from national guard service. (PDF's of the memos are available on the CBS site). A Powerline reader:
I was a clerk/typist for the US Navy at the Naval Underwater Systems Center (NUSC) in Newport RI for my summer job in 1971 when I was in college. I note the following with regard to the Killian memos:1) Tom Mortensen is absolutely correct. Variable type was used only for special printing jobs, like official pamphlets. These documents are forgeries, and not even good ones. Someone could have at least found an old pre-Selectric IBM (introduced around 1962). Actually, I believe we were using IBM Model C's at the time, which was the precursor to the Selectric.
2) I also used a Variype machine in 1971. I fooled around with it in my spare time. It was incredibly difficult to set up and use. It was also extremely hard to correct mistakes on the machine. Most small letters used two spaces. Capital letters generally used three spaces. I think letters like "i" may have used one space. Anyway, you can see that this type of machine was piloted by an expert, and it would NEVER be used for a routine memo. A Lt. Colonel would not be able to identify a Varitype machine, let alone use it.
3) US Navy paper at the time was not 8 1/2 x 11. It was 8 x 10 1/2. I believe this was the same throughout the military, but someone will have to check on that. This should show up in the Xeroxing, which should have lines running along the sides of the Xerox copy.
4) I am amused by the way "147 th Ftr.Intrcp Gp." appears in the August 1, 1972 document. It may have been written that way in non-forged documents, but as somone who worked for ComCruDesLant, I know the military liked to bunch things together. I find "147 th" suspicious looking. 147th looks better to me, but the problem with Microsoft Word is that it keeps turning the "th" tiny if it is connected to a number like 147. And finally......
5) MORE DEFINITIVE PROOF OF FORGERY: I had neglected even to look at the August 18, 1973 memo to file. This forger was a fool. This fake document actually does have the tiny "th" in "187th" and there is simply no way this could have occurred in 1973. There are no keys on any typewriter in common use in 1973 which could produce a tiny "th." The forger got careless after creating the August 1, 1972 document and slipped up big-time.
Now, there's a story for an enterprising young reporter to pick up - exposing dupes at 60 Minutes. It's not like Dan Rather is likely to beat you to it.
update - Documents reconstructed at LGF:
I opened Microsoft Word, set the font to Microsoft's Times New Roman, tabbed over to the default tab stop to enter the date "18 August 1973", then typed the rest of the document purportedly from the personal records of the late Lieutenant Colonel Jerry B. Killian.
And my Microsoft Word version, typed in 2004, is an exact match for the documents trumpeted by CBS News as "authentic."
A screenshot of the "original" document as found at CBS:
The memo produced on Microsoft Word;
The two images, superimposed.
Drudge is now reporting the story, citing "internet sources".
Over Her Head
While Canadian MP's serve up insults to feed their Amerihate voter base, serious adults are examining the emerging nuclear threat from Iran.
AFP: Sep 05, 2004 -- A key component of national missile defense, whose development is receiving priority this year, is likely to strategically tie the United States to Iraq, Afghanistan and some of the authoritarian former Soviet republics, requiring permanent US military bases there, according to officials and scientists involved in the project. "It raises issues of basing it in places like Turkmenistan, Afghanistan, Iraq or the Caspian Sea," the Rhode Island senator (Jack Reed) told AFP. "And that introduces geopolitical considerations."While key variables remain unknown, experts agree that if Iran, as expected, produces an intercontinental ballistic missile sometime within the next decade, the United States will not be able to counter it just from ships patrolling the Gulf. "Discussions are underway with international partners on ways in which they may be able to cooperate," replied a defense official when asked whether the governments of Iraq, Afghanistan and Turkmenistan had already been approached.
Wretchard:
Through much of the Cold War the expected missile trajectory would have followed the Polar Route, arcing over Canada into Continental United States. This is no different. What has changed is that Iranian missiles start out a little further south than their Cold War Soviet counterparts. A published analysis of BPI [boost phase interceptors] systems by the Congressional Budget Office concludes that an effective intercept would have to take place about 1,500 km (1,000 miles) from the launch point, in the first 320 seconds from firing. The physics requires that BPI engagements occur over Central Asia.
Dentyne Frost Bites
Is it just me, or is the Dentyne Frost Bites commercial about the most revolting ad ever created?
A man and woman in the back seat of a cab - he fills his mouth with the chewing gum, turns to ice, she and the driver start screaming and his head falls off in her lap.
Ugh.
The Sea Fox
"I left in the middle of the hurricane season and this year is a terrible year for hurricanes. There were eight scheduled."Rommel's boat capsized five times in all and when he saw that it was letting in water, he decided to use the distress beacons and ask for help.
Crewmen from the Federal Elbe, which was relatively close, plucked Rommel from stormy seas about 600 kilometres east of St. John's, Nfld, last Thursday.
Oh, I should mention that he was in a rowboat, attempting a solo crossing of the North Atlantic.
He said abandoning his boat was out of the question."Rule No. 1 when you're in trouble is "Never leave your boat' even if it's half sunk."
Rommel said travelling alone is a "special thing" and "pretty intense."
"You change psychologically. I think you become a bit nutty as well. You start talking to yourself."
Our plucky oarsman calls himself the "black sheep" of the family, though, apparently, he's not the first.
September 8, 2004
Kerry Declares War On Toronto's Garbage
Jaegar at the Shotgun;
"ACK!!! John Kerry will not allow a lowly Toronto City Councillor who never served in Vietnam to question his patriotism! When he promises to protect the nation from Toronto's garbage he means it!So get with it Toronto - find your own dump or cheer for Bush. Which will it be?"
Heh.
Bursting The Bubble
 | Michael, Michael.... The Oscars are in February, darling - well past your "best by" date, if you know what we mean. |
September 7, 2004
Under The Knife
Jaegar reveals the latest evidence of sinister operations by the Vast Right Wing Conspiracy.
MWWWAAAHHHAAA!!!
Beslan Video
Rusty Shackleford has more video links and photos from the Beslan school massacre than you'll probably care to see.
Postcards
Nice surprise today - a postcard from "LDT", who sent it from Singapore. I mentioned his site a few months ago. Good stuff there, if you have a few minutes to kill. Don't miss the photo blogging links.
"I Can't Take It To The Debate With Me"
Matt Drudge is having great sport with yet another bungled Kerry "he man" photo-op.
KERRY COSPONSORED BILL BANNING GUN HE WAVESWas Dem presidential hopeful John Kerry seen this weekend waving a gun which would have been banned if legislation he co-sponsored became law?
Kerry co-sponsored S. 1431 last year (“The Assault Weapons Ban and Law Enforcement Protection Act of 2003) which would have banned a "semiautomatic shotgun that has a pistol grip."
Opponents of the bill successfully argued how nearly all guns have "pistol grips," inluding millions of Browning Auto-5 shotguns produced since 1903.
Kerry was presented with the gun during a Labor Day stop in Racine, West Virginia."I thank you for the gift, but I can't take it to the debate with me," Kerry told a cheering crowd as he held up the device.
[Kerry's gun bill would also ban any "gift" transaction. Kerry did not submit to a waiting period or background check before he claimed the gun.]
Photos show Kerry's hand resting on the semiautomatic shotgun's "pistol grip."
Kerry's bill would ban millions of semi-automatics, including those with "pistol grips." [Section SEC. 2; (H) (ii)]
Another self-inflicted foot wound.
September 6, 2004
Incautiously Pessimistic
As if the initial botched surgery wasn't bad enough, now the poor jerk is going to have a dick-shaped scar to explain to his drinking buddies.
Mr. Mohammed's Neighborhood
"We share the same biology*
Regardless of ideology
What might save us, me, and you
Is that the Islamists love their children too".
September 5, 2004
Distancing Himself?
Newsmax quotes Sen. John Kerry's campaign biographer Douglas Brinkley;
...if an ongoing Navy investigation into Kerry's military decorations turns up evidence of "purposeful" deception, it could spell doom for the top Democrat's White House bid.Praising reporter Thomas Lipscomb, who broke news of the Navy investigation on Friday, Brinkley told WABC Radio's Steve Malzberg, "Journalists are going to have to see whether there's a discrepancy on [the citations posted to Kerry's] Web site - whether there's something wrong that's said there or not."
[...]
The presidential historian called on Kerry to authorize the release of his full military file, saying, "Clearly some of these military records should be made available to the press."
This could pose some problems. It's been over a month since Kerry has answered a question from a legitimate reporter - maybe Brinkley's tired of playing telephone tag?
Via Instapundit
September 4, 2004
Worms Of Beldar
Never underestimate the moral and intellectual decay of the left.
Flea, on Beldar
"It took less than a day for the vultures at The Guardian to point a finger of blame for the butchery at Beslan. The guilty: Russia, America and Israel."
Wretchard notes the reaction of the EU;
Dateline Europe: the EU seeks Russian explanation for school siege toll:
Valkenburg, Netherlands, Sept 3 (Reuters) - The European Union asked Russia to explain the bloody end to the siege of a school by Chechen gunmen on Friday with huge loss of life. In a statement in the name of the presidency of the 25-nation EU, Dutch Foreign Minister Bernard Bot said all countries should work together to prevent such tragedies. "But we also would like to know from the Russian authorities how this tragedy could have happened," he added.
One presumes Bot can draw on Holland's responsibility for creating the conditions that led to the Nazi occupation to offer the Russians wise counsel.
September 3, 2004
Pillow Fight And Make Up
More gadgets for the loser who has everything.
By leaning against, touching, or hugging one of the two pillows, the pattern on the other one activates and glows dynamically. Changing from one pattern to another, gestures are exchanged remotely.
Invisible to the naked eye, electroluminescent wire is woven directly into the textile pattern of each pillow prototype. Connected via an internet-based communication platform, the individual pillows can potentially be located nearly anywhere and wirelessly.
Are you looking for a memory foam mattress? Is your old bed giving you lower back pain or making you toss and turn at night? A memory foam mattress can drastically change the way you sleep and help alleviate your pains. Check out all the mattress sizes available and today at Dormia.com and start to sleep better!
(advertisement)
Echoes Of Rwanda
"It makes me sick," Dallaire said yesterday in an interview. "It burns inside and the sentiments or the feelings that I had of abandonment in Rwanda are exactly the same that I feel today in regards to the Sudan."
Of course they are.
"I am just disgusted with the lame and obtuse responses coming from Canada and the Western world.."
Same actors, same play.
Kerry: Contrast In Classlessness
John Kerry, for reasons unknown, chose to try to follow Bush's acceptance speech with a live response, carried on MSNBC. Kevin Aylward live blogged it from the convention.
John Kerry (and Edwards) decided to make a completely classless move and start a speech just minutes after Bush was finished speaking. He is cratering.
"And now that the President is Finally finished his speech, I have 5 words for America, 'This is your wake up call.'"
Ain't that six words?[...]
MSNBC cut the feed part way through.
Here, A Nation Rose
James Joyner has a comprehensive roundup of blogosphere commentary about President Bush's acceptance speech. I didn't see it, but skimming through different sites, the reaction seems to be positive towards both the content and the delivery.
I would suggest that Canadian readers who missed it, read the transcript - particularly the final third or so. Exerpts;
America has done this kind of work before and there have always been doubters. In 1946, 18 months after the fall of Berlin to allied forces, a journalist wrote in the New York Times, "Germany is a land in an acute stage of economic, political and moral crisis. [European] capitals are frightened. In every [military] headquarters, one meets alarmed officials doing their utmost to deal with the consequences of the occupation policy that they admit has failed." End quote. Maybe that same person's still around, writing editorials.Fortunately, we had a resolute president named Truman, who with the American people persevered, knowing that a new democracy at the center of Europe would lead to stability and peace. And because that generation of Americans held firm in the cause of liberty, we live in a better and safer world today.
[...]
The world saw that spirit three miles from here, when the people of this city faced peril together, and lifted a flag over the ruins, and defied the enemy with their courage. My fellow Americans, for as long as our country stands, people will look to the resurrection of New York City and they will say: Here buildings fell, and here a nation rose.
(Wizbang has a Transcript. )
September 2, 2004
News From Department Of The Blatantly Obvious
Women have superior colour sense
The scientists speculate that enhanced color perception was important when women were the primary gatherers in the hunter-gatherer phase of human existence. It would have allowed them to better distinguish among fruits, foliage and insects.
And shoes.
Holy Matrimony!
Mark Steyn has accepted Kathy Shaidle's proposal of marriage.
Congratulations to the happy triple!
Meanwhile, Somewhere On The Campaign Trail...
"We, we, we, we," he said, rolling his eyes. "When did he join the Legion? He must have a mouse in his pocket."
RNC Links
MSNBC has the transcript up of the Miller bitch slapping of Chris Matthews interview on Hardball that's getting so much attention on the blogosphere today.
MATTHEWS: Senator, Senator, can I speak softly to you? I would really like you to...
MILLER: What? No, no, no, because you won't give me a chance to answer. You ask these questions and then you just talk over what I am trying to answer, just like you did that woman the other day.
MATTHEWS: Well, Senator...
MILLER: I don‘t know why I even came on this program.
MATTHEWS: Well, I am glad you did.
MATTHEWS: Let me ask you this about John Kerry's war record.
MILLER: Well, are you going to shut up after you ask me?
MILLER: Or are you going to give me a chance to answer it?
MATTHEWS: Yes, sir.
And Wizbang has so much good, and original stuff blogging the RNC, you should just go pay the homepage a visit and read it all.
*sigh*
I'll admit it.
I have Republican envy.
Kerry: No To Spitballs!
"Will Collier fact checks Snopes on Kerry's voting record. It turns out that Zell Miller was unfair: Kerry wouldn't have voted for spitballs, either."
Go read Collier's post.
Winner's Weiner
NBC5.com reporting from the Nevada State Fair:
"The dachshund 50-foot sprint is an annual event. This year, there were so many entries that sponsors held a trial heat before the finals. Once they separated the dogs from the puppies, the real racing began."
"The winner got $250 and a trip for two -- which includes the wiener -- to San Diego to compete in the national finals."
I'd add something here, but sometimes, you just can't improve on the original.
September 1, 2004
Dumb Luck Hypothesis
The Dumb Luck Hypothesis, as it applies to Alberta, is terribly popular with people in Saskatchewan. They love to tell me, personally, how lucky Alberta has been to find itself sitting on top of all that oil. (They are generally unfazed when I explain that my parents and an army of kinfolk took the trouble to move here from Saskatchewan, many years ago, precisely because hardworking people were needed to help locate and extract all that oil.) Now I can simply point out that those who stayed behind have suddenly been revealed to be, almost literally, sitting on an assload of gems that has been left unprobed for decades. Luck ain't something you get: it's something you make.
Required reading for those in this province who think the difference between Aberta's prosperity and Saskatchewan's stagnation is oil.
Sometimes I do wonder how much better off this province would be today, had someone had the good sense to shoot Tommy Douglas.
Fetch, Ubu.
You don't tug on Superman's cape
You don't spit into the wind
You don't roll around naked with a pit bull terrier...
Unless you're really sick of being a "him".
"Uh, I Have No Idea".
Hugh Hewitt has posted a transcript of his interview with Terry McAuliffe, Chairman of the Democratic National Committee. Much hilarity ensues;
HEWITT: Sitting across from me Terry McAuliffe. Strike me dead. It's so good to see you here Mr. Chairman. It's good to have you at the Democratic National Convention and at the Republican National ConventionMCAULIFFE: Who would have thought that I'd be going around with a credential at the Republican Convention.
HEWITT: Can you stay for a couple of hours?
MCAULIFFE: Love to. Love it here. Everybody is being hospitable to me.
HEWITT: I want to start with some very easy questions.
MCAULIFFE: Yeah.
HEWITT: Do you believe that John Kerry took a CIA man into Cambodia and kept his hat?
MCAULIFFE: Uh, I have no idea.
[...]
HEWITT: When was the last time that he took questions on camera from journalists?MCAULIFFE: I have no idea.
HEWITT: It was over a month.
MCAULIFFE: I will tell him that you are very concerned about this . . .
HEWITT: Does that tell you that the campaign is collapsing and he's afraid to meet . . .
MCAULIFFE: Were you like this with Ronald Reagan when you could never get near him for years and he used to bring his car into the back door . .
HEWITT: [laugh] I was his lawyer. I couldn't . . . I was in the White House Counsel's office..
[...]HEWITT: John Edwards yesterday said that he should sell the Iranians nuclear fuel. Do you agree with that, Terry McAuliffe?
MCAULIFFE: What did John Edwards say?
Read the whole thing.
Growing Up In Austria
Dr. James Joyner is giving a history lesson for the benefit of some casting doubt on details in Arnold's speech last night.
You'd think these people would learn to use Google.
"Don't be economic girlie men!'"
Arnold rocks. He just blew me away. I'm probably not alone in saying I'd never heard him speak before, outside a few clips (generally accompanied by snide tv reporter commentary) while he was running in the California recall election. And no hint of following a teleprompter, either. Oddly, his Austrian accent isn't as distracting in a lengthy speech as it is in a short soundbite.
I thought the Bush twins were a little lame, but it didn't bother me. They're kids, venturing onto the national stage for the first time. Laura was very good.
I was working out of the house all day, and caught part of the convention coverage when at a friend's for dinner. Looks like Glenn Reynolds has a good cross section of links, reaction and analysis. Kevin Aylward has been blogging up a storm on the convention floor. (Very cool. Kevin was one of the first established bloggers who gave SDA a "leg up" by inviting me to guest blog at Wizbang a few months ago.)
Al Franken got caught engaging in a little shoving match.
I'm typing this while listening to Jon Stewart's Daily Show in the background. He's sounding a little frantic in his delivery. Shrill, even.
Odd technique, for comedy.