Conspiracies Abound

Unfortunately the conspiracy theory wing of liberalism isn't just confined to my geographical location or my tinfoil hat-wearing Congressman (who has still not answered either of the letters from this constituent, one now a week old). As David Rogers of The New Editor finds out firsthand, the conspiracy theory mindset is spreading among liberals.

This is not good for our republic, and only Democrats can stop it. I hope they can, or they will so self-marginalize themselves as to make this an effective one party government, and that serves none of us well.

Home

Oliver, meet Vladimir

It is pathetic when someone who works for an organization devoted exclusively to promoting liberal media bias says there is no such thing, and deludes himself into believing it. These are the kind of reality-challenged people that think our president controls our entire media.

It is even scarier when someone who is that ignorant and clueless is in a position to have enough nuclear weapons to destroy all life on earth.

It is a frightening world when Vladimir Putin is as clueless about America as Oliver Willis is. Hopefully, Vlad at least can be educated. We've already given up on Oliver.

(Hat tip: Drudge)

Home

When Bias Becomes a Lie

Just over a week ago, my Congressman, Maurice Hinchey, made a claim that Karl Rove was behind the fake documents scandal at CBS News.

Since then, I've been highly critical of the media, particularly with newspapers in Hinchey's 22nd District in their coverage of this on-going story. While watching the papers first ignore story, and then write about it in both news stories and editorials, I've come to the realization of just how damaging political bias can be to a news organization.

Even under this best-case scenario, liberal bias inherent in these organizations is so strong that it affects both news stories and editorials to the point that they severely misrepresent the actual series of events. A simple look at one local news story and one local editorial underscores my point.

Michael Kruse of the Times Herald-Record wrote a story that appeared exactly one week after Hinchey's Rovian conspiracy theory was first recorded. The story, "Hinchey loves the limelight" (free reg. required), slanted his article, by intent or by inherent bias, to the point of eclipsing the real story. Kruse does not once touch upon the key essential element that makes this story newsworthy; that Hinchey has accused Karl Rove of being behind the fake documents scandal with absolutely no solid evidence to support his claim.

Instead, Kruse presents a fawning piece that shows bloggers as faceless aggressors attacking a noble man of the people who is taking his lumps in his fight for the truth. Kruse seeks to turn Hinchey into a sawn-off Erin Brockovich.

Kruse is more than willing to play straightman to Hinchey, and plays along with Hinchey's "the administration is out to get me" fantasy. Doubt my characterization? Read the article. Hinchey's own staff couldn't have written it better.

And Kruse is not alone. In fact, when the story makes the editorial pages, it goes from bad to worse. David Rossie is the associate editor of the Binghamton Press & Sun-Bulletin. His editorial, "Rep. Hinchey has no proof... so let's invade Rove's office" is tinfoil hat league.

Rossie firmly supports the "false, but accurate" claim about the fake documents (while conveniently offering no supporting evidence), and proves more than willing to pass along other dubious claims as proof of a pattern of behavior, even though he fails to provide factual basis for these claims, either. His pure spite and obvious hatred for all things conservative is almost Klannish in intensity as he mockingly refers to Bush as "God's instrument in the White House," and refers to "far right prattlers," in an apparent reference to anyone commenting on this issue who is not as liberal as himself.

Rossie, while cartoonish, is so rabidly anti-conservative that one has to wonder if any article of a political nature could pass through his desk without hopelessly compromising the objectivity of the story. He is not just an opinion writer, he is the associate editor, and his position and biases affirm that the Press & Sun-Bulletin is perhaps incapable of objective reporting. It is one thing to draw your own conclusions based upon your own personal biases, it is something far worse when you aren't provided a true accounting to base your personal opinion on.

I give each man the benefit of the doubt that they were honestly trying to write their stories with what they felt was objectivity, but in each case, their bias is apparent and overwhelming. In the Kruse article, he conveniently misses the main point of outrage of the entire issue. In the Rossie editorial, the issue is not only obfuscated, but the faulty premise is agreed to and furthered.

We all have our biases, but when one is a member of the media, he has a duty to attempt objectivity. Unfortunately, as these two examples show, when bias goes unchecked, it can slant a story far enough that it becomes a lie in its own right.

Update: "Talk on the Street," a section in the Times Herald-Record, shows another example of reporters selectively choosing minor parts of a story while completely missing the two major issues that made up the "meat" of Hinchey's appearance on Hannity's show. "Talk on the Street" said:

"Never one to shy from a fight, Hinchey got Hannity to admit the host made his own mistake recently by allowing someone who turned out to be a fake journalist onto the show. In return, Hannity kept cutting off Hinchey's mike and making fun of him."

New Ward Churchill Art Discovered

(Clueless? Try this)

The World Ted Rall Can't See

Ted Rall, a reputed cartoonist, has a challenge posted on his web site:

"Several Bushist blogger types have written to assert that there are as many violent and threatening remarks and insults coming from liberals online as there are from conservatives against liberals. I've spent many sadly-lost hours online, and I say: no way.

"So here's my challenge: Please email your worst, most vicious examples of liberal/leftie blogger vitriol (with links, natch), and I'll post 'em right here. If they exist, obviously.

"If not, let's take as a given what we already know: that Republicans' first impulse is to punch people whose arguments they can't defeat with logic and to bomb countries whose people know something we don't.

"Come on, righties: my server is standing by at..."

According to his blog (which I will not link to), he claims to be "America's BS Detector." I googled his name and after several eye-widening links, I think I found out what he does with the BS he detects. He wallows in it.

Some of Rall's work appears racist. Some of it appears as a hatred of patriotism. After viewing several of his more controversial strips online, I realized that Rall has to make controversial statements; his talent alone won't sustain a career. And it hasn't.

And so Rall is reduced to making incendiary statements to try to retain his dwindling relevancy. He claims he can't see liberal hatred, threats and insults.

I'd say he sees everything just fine, except his future. Ted sees and generates plenty of liberal bias.

He just can't see how he's going to pay the rent.

Home

Did Congressman Maurice Hinchey Threaten a Radio Talk Show Host?

According to reports from listeners, New York Congressman Maurice Hinchey threatened conservative radio talk show host Sean Hannity during the 5:20 PM (EST) break on Thursday's show, apparently while tape was still rolling and recording.

Hinchey has been under intense and growing media scrutiny since last weekend when he made an unsubstantiated claim that Karl Rove and the White House were responsible for tricking CBS News into running a story based on false documents.

I am currently trying to track down a transcript of Thursday's Sean Hannity Show, and will update this story as events develop.

Update: WuzzaDem has hilarious (and typical) experience with the apparent political bias at Google trying to find out about our unhinged congressman.

Home

When Awards Don't Matter

(Hat tip: LGF)

Wired.com has given combat journalist Kevin Sites the 2005 Wired Rave Awards for Blogs, though apparently "relevancy" was not one of the criteria for judging.

Why? According to Wired, Sites, "pioneered the new new journalism of war-blogging." Really? Someone please tell that to the many milbloggers that came before him, such as Lt. Smash or Argghhh!. Sites was not the first war-blogger, and his writing, though often quite good, rarely held the tension of Armor Geddon, or intelligence of Austin Bay. He was pedestrian, sometimes better, but never near the best of the military and war-bloggers.

Other blogs had far more national and international impact.

Powerline and Little Green Footballs exposed the fake documents scandal at CBS News that brought down Dan Rather and shook professional journalism to the core, and Powerline was named Time Magazine's Blog of the Year, based upon "The Sixty-First Minute," an article that is arguably the most important single post in the history of the blogosphere.

While Sites does not publish his blog's traffic statistics, it probably wouldn't rate in the top 250 for traffic, nor in the top 100 for links, according to a comparison of selected sites in the TTLB Ecosystem rankings against blog search relavancy results at Technorati.com.

Sites doesn't appear to score well for overall relevance, nor impact, nor traffic, nor linkage.

One would be forced to believe that the only reason Sites was chosen for this award was because of a single incident of relevance, when Sites released and blogged about controversial footage of a young Marine killing a wounded terrorist in a Fallujah mosque. Ultimately, even that had little relevance, as the Marine is not likely to face charges. Bad things happen in war.

That news, and the otherwise insignificant blog covering it, hardly seems worthy of an award.

Home

The Commies are Coming

The Commies are coming...

International A.N.S.W.E.R., a Stalinist terrorist-supporting group will be coming to New Paltz, NY on March 19 to protest the anniversary of the liberation of Iraq.

A.N.S.W.E.R.'s last major protest was a February 12 "Day of Outrage" in support of convicted terrorist collaborator Lynn Stewart.

Oh, did I mention Rep. Maurice Hinchey is scheduled as this group's featured speaker?

(hat tips: Slant Point, Free Will)

Home

HincheyWait Continues

So it has now been four days since I sent an email to Congressman Maurice Hinchey, asking him to explain his conspiracy theory that Karl Rove and the White House tricked CBS News into running a story based on false documents. I don't think the congressman plans to answer his constituent.

For those of you who might need a refresher, CBS News jumped at a chance to run a false story they thought would be damaging to President Bush's reelection, even though three of their own experts told them that there were major problems with the documents before the story ran.

The story's sole apparent source was a Bush-hating conspiracy theory-addicted man named Bill Burkett. The blindly partisan story with direct ties to John Kerry's presidential campaign was discredited within 24 hours, leading to the firing of one CBS News producer, the call for resignation of three other CBS News executives, Rather's replacement as the network's anchor, and the destruction of the credibility of CBS News.

This past weekend, in front of a crowd of partisan supporters in the leftmost major city in his district (politically and geographically), Hinchey made claim that Karl Rove was behind this incident.

What makes this story extraordinary is not that a politician played to a partisan crowd.

What makes this story extraordinary is that once caught in this tall tale and pressed for evidence, Hinchey admits that he has no proof for his allegations, but that he plans to continue making the slanderous statements, regardless any evidence supporting his position.

When pressed to defend his statements, Hinchey instead tries to redirect attention elsewhere.

We aren't buying it, Mr. Hinchey.

Nobody else made outrageous unsubstantiated claims here. You did. When offered chances to support your claims with facts, you flatly turned them down.

Mr. Hinchey, you are an embarrassment to New York's 22nd District, and are now the butt of jokes literally halfway around the world. Back up your conspiracy theories with cold hard facts, admit you were wrong, or resign.

Home

"A Host of Political Dirty Tricks"

I think I can understand why my congressman, Maurice Hinchey, hasn't found the time to respond to either of my emails concerning his seemingly slanderous comments about Karl Rove and the Bush administration. He's been too busy on television and the radio trying to spin his version of events and portray himself as an everyman hero.

Well, I'm sorry, Mr. Hinchey, but that dog won't hunt.

On CNN's Inside Politics on Tuesday, Congressman Hinchey said:

"And then the issue of the CBS Dan Rather event came up, and I said that there were false documents or documents which were falsified and presented as being accurate and there was a question as to where those documents came from. And in the context of the discussion I suggested that -- my theory was that I wouldn't be surprised if it came from the White House political operation, headed up by Karl Rove."

I am sure then that Mr. Hinchey can provide us with concrete examples if he has three decades of "factual information." I await his timely release of such information. Surely Congressman Hinchey would never make up such allegations.

According to The Forest for the Trees Hinchey appeared on the Ed Shultz radio show and told their listener, "the forging of these documents and the shopping around of these documents, that was a well executed setup to destroy the issue of Bush's draft evasion."

Again, I'm sure Congressman Hinchey will be forthcoming with the truth in extremely short order. Does Friday sound reasonable to you, Congressman? You have three decades of evidence, according to your claims. It shouldn't be too hard to throw together eight or ten pages of well-sourced, corroborated allegations in that amount of time.

Hinchey apparently stated at one point during his radio interview that, "If we had a Congress that cared about this country we would see something done about this".

Congressman, that is expressly why you are there.

If you can't handle the job, I am certain we find someone who can.

*****
Credit where credit is due. In one of my earlier threads on this topic, I criticized the local newspapers harshly for missing this story, believing they may have been stonewalling. Since then, three of the four papers cited written articles on this topic, and the Times Herald-Record has created a section on its home page specifically dealing with this issue, including blog coverage and a message board. So far, of the four papers mentioned, only the Poughkeepsie Journal has failed to address this story.

Update: Mr. Hinchey was on Hannity & Colmes tonight. I missed most of it, but tuned in just in time to see Hannity ask Hinchey point-blank to provide his evidence against Rove within what I thought was a very generous two weeks, or if he couldn't provide evidence to donate $1,000 to a charity Hannity supports.

At a critical moment where he was quite literally asked to put his money where his mouth is, Hinchey declined. He claims to call for media accountability, but refuses his own. No wonder Hinchey is a punchline as far as half a world away.

Maurice Hinchey is an embarrassment to the Hudson Valley.

Update: Blogs and Media Coverage
Little Green Footballs broke the story over the weekend and has been following it closely.
Michelle Malkin thinks that Hinchey is "unhinged."
Powerline notes that other Democrats rarely criticize this kind of behavior.

Tim Blair goes iowahawk on Hinchey.
GOP and the City has commentary, a roundup, and visual aides.
Carpe Bonum has a take on Hichey's appearance on CNN's Inside politics.
Slant Point is developing a list of additional blog coverage of "Hincheypalooza."
Sounding the Trumpet is another 22nd District blog covering this story.

IMAO rips into Hinchey, among others.
Empire State Conservatives comments on the scene of the crime.
Lance Minnion defends Hinchey.
Musing Minds has comments and another collection of blog links.
Myopic Zeal has a good roundup that highlights selected bits of commentary from the top blogs and provides what is probably the a rundown of a lot of the smaller blogs.
Random Observations makes the observation that the Left is in a self-perpetuating cycle.

phin's blog thinks Hinchey's outburst constitutes abuse of power. My brother might be on to something, at least from the moral side of things.
The Forest for the Trees captured Hichey's appearance on Air America radio and was not impressed.
Wizbang notes that you don't have to be insane to be a Democrat... but it helps.

Technorati, the blog search engine, currently has 207 posts for "Hinchey+Rove."

If I missed your blog (and I know I missed at least a few), and you commented on this topic, please track back to this post.

Media Coverage:
Binghamton's Press & Sun-Journal ran the first web-accessible 22nd District local news story on the subject.
Middletown's Time Herald-Record is giving this story serious attention, with a section on the home page dedicated to the story.
Ithaca's Journal, which blew the original story, finally weighed in.
Kingston's Daily Freeman also has an article.
Poughkeepsie's Journal still has its head in the sand.
CNN's Inside Politics had a segment with Hinchey.
Air America's Ed Shultz did a segment with Hinchey as well.

Home

A Second Letter to Maurice

I have now sent and received confirmation of delivery of my second email to my Congressman, Maurice Hinchey. It reads:

Representative Hinchey,

You have said in the local print news that even though you have no evidence proving a connection between Karl Rove and the CBS News scandal, you will not stop making these allegations. I am issuing a challenge to you: either conduct an investigation to prove your slanderous comments, or quit making them.

I can only assume that the concerns of his conservative constituents are of low priority.

Update: Little Green Footballs, which broke the original story, has this excellent piece on cognitive dissonance from Scylla & Charybdis.

"Yeah, that the ticket..."

Home

Maurice Hinchey: Put Your Money Where Your Mouth Is

Congressman Maurice Hinchey is finally talking to the local media about his charge that Karl Rove masterminded the fake documents scandal at CBS.

Far from issuing a retraction, Hinchey maintains the theory that Rove is behind the story that led to "RatherGate," despite the fact that he has no proof. In addition, Hinchey maintains that he will continue to make these charges against Rove and the White House despite any evidence to support his baseless accusations.

When we elect officials to go to Washington, they represent us and have a certain responsibility to hold their office with a certain degree of maturity, class, and decorum. Maurice Hinchey instead plays to extremists by repeating conspiracy theories that he admits as having no supporting facts.

Congressman Hinchey needs to do one of two things.

Option one is that Congressman Hinchey can shelve his slanderous accusations. Quite frankly, I don't expect the apology this situation warrants. I think that by furthering these accusations when he admits they are groundless, Congressman Hinchey has proven he doesn't have that kind of class. But I think we should expect him to at least stop repeating lies based upon outlandish conspiracy theories.

I actually prefer the second option on the table: Let's give Congressman Hinchey and supporters of this theory a chance to make their case.

I challenge Maurice Hinchey, New York's 22nd District Representative, to launch a Congressional Investigation into the accusations that Karl Rove and the White House were behind the CBS fake documents scandal.

Have both houses of Congress subpoena witnesses, and build your case. Prove to us who was behind this scandal. I'm quite certain that the White House would like to get to the bottom of this story as well, and if you were doing more than just pandering to highly partisan crowds, you would feel the same way.

So put your money where your mouth is, Rep. Hinchey.

Quite frankly, I don't think you have it in you.

Home

Maurice Hinchey: You Can Run...

Congressman Hinchey happens to be my representative, and I sent him an email roughly 24 hours ago asking him to explain his statements. So far, I have received no response.

Congressman Hinchey is now in the middle of what has been dubbed a "blog swarm." At the time I'm writing this, at least 131 blogs have written about Congressman Hinchey's outburst, up from a mere handful the night before. In addition, MSNBC, CNN, and Fox News have already interviewed Charles Johnson of Little Green Footballs who brought the audio and transcript to the Web, and hopefully the efforts of a concerned constituent that were picked up by many other bloggers have helped generate enough email to the print media in New York's 22nd District (Hinchey's district) to get the story treated locally.

You cannot hide, Rep. Hinchey, and this will not blow over. I think you desperately need to get and read this book today, and act upon it. We don't want your job, nor your head on a silver platter, but we do deserve an explanation, and an apology.

I don't think that is too much to ask.

Late Update: The Binghamton Press & Sun Journal appears to be the first 22nd District newspaper to break the press blackout.

"I have no proof," Hinchey said Monday night. "But if the documents originated at the White House, then it would fit the pattern of the White House manipulating the media. And if it did originate in the White House, then it must have come from the most brilliant, most Machiavellian of all of them, Karl Rove."

Partisan NY 22nd District Newspapers Bury Hinchey Outburst

Not surprisingly, no one from Rep. Maurice Hinchey's office has so far replied to my email request to explain his outlandish claim that Dan Rather was duped by operatives of Karl Rove, even though I am a 22nd District constituent. I only mention that because Congressman reputedly like to use the dodge, "Well, you're not in my district so..."

Well Rep. Hinchey, I am in your district, you work for me and the other taxpayers of the 22nd District, and I think we have a right to know why you would make a comment, that if it did not involve a political figure, would likely constitute slander.

Not surprisingly, the local print news media, all with consistent liberal bias, have not felt this story warranted coverage. The Times Herald-Record whiffs, as do the three Gannett-owned papers in the District, the Poughkeepsie Journal, the Ithaca Journal, and the Binghamton Press & Sun-Bulletin.

I am quite certain that if a New York Republican (say, Stephen Minarik) made a controversial statement about a nationally prominent Democrat, (say, Howard Dean) that even the national news media, such as the Associated Press would find it newsworthy, though it would take a blogger to prove the connection.

Should anyone desire to contact executives at these fine news organizations and ask them why they are ignoring this story, their names, titles, and email addresses are provided below.

Times Herald-Record
Mike Levine, Executive Editor: mlevine@th-record.com
Meg McGuire, Managing Editor: mmcguire@th-record.com
Joe Dowd: North Orange/Ulster Editor, jdowd@th-record.com
Bob Gaydos: Editorial Page Editor, rgaydos@th-record.com

Poughkeepsie Journal
Margaretta Downey, Executive Editor, newsroom@poughkee.gannett.com
Richard L.Kleban, Managing Editor, rkleban@poughkee.gannett.com
John Ferro, City Editor, jferro@poughkee.gannett.com
James Konrad, News Editor, jkonrad@poughkee.gannett.com

Ithaca Journal
Jim Fogler, President, jfogler@ithaca.gannett.com
Dave Bohrer, Asst. Managing Editor, dbohrer@ithaca.gannett.com
Bruce Estes, Managing Editor, bestes@ithaca.gannett.com
Joe Swartz, Editorial Page Editor, jschwartz@ithaca.gannett.com

Binghamton Press & Sun-Bulletin

Rick Jensen, Executive Editor, rjensen@binghamt.gannett.com
Christopher Kocher, News Editor, ckocher@binghamt.gannett.com
Frank Roessner, Editorial Page Editor, froessne@binghamt.gannett.com

P.S.--Oliver Willis: Here is your media bias.

Home

Bloggers on C-Span

I'm watching C-Span right now with bloggers Oliver Willis and Patrick Ruffini.

I think Mr. Ruffini looks sharp and polished, wearing a nice suit. Mr. Willis wore an ill-fitting shirt and tie without a jacket.

I know that bloggers are supposed to be worried more about content than packaging, but we should all be media savvy enough to know that when you are in the visual media, you need to be dressed professionally. Fair or not, how you look and comport yourself affects your credibility. By dressing the way he did, Mr. Willis damaged his credibility, and did not help the image of bloggers in general.

Glenn Reynolds was unfortunately wrong: Oliver Willis is not ready for television. But he sure has a face for radio.

*****

Content was to be expected. Mr. Ruffini did well, but didn't say anything profound, which was to be expected. Mr. Willis repeatedly said that, "there is no liberal media," even though he works for a liberal organization called "Media Matters for America." He also said, "I'm just not willing to launch a headhunting campaign against someone based on secondhand reports."

Somehow, I think James Gannon/Jeff Guckert won't buy either of those stories.

*****

Now we have the suspect Willis comments above captured on video, will Brit Hume call for his resignation?

Update: Oliver Willis writes to Glenn Reynolds: "Now, am I willing to launch a campaign based on firsthand knowledge? You bet."

So Oliver, which liberal blogger solicited Jeff Gannon?

Home

My Congressman is an Idiot

I'm too ashamed (and tired) to say more at this point, other than that I didn't vote for this genius.

Listen to the Hinchey in his own words.

Update: I just sent my esteemed Congressman the following letter:

Dear Rep. Hinchey,

I have felt that you have always been a reasonable congressman, despite our differing political viewpoints (I am a conservative). I was highly troubled, however, to listen to your outrageous claims that Karl Rove orchestrated a grand deception to dupe Dan Rather. I think they award tin hats and DNC Chairmanships for that kind of behavior, but I like to think we have higher standards in the 22nd District.

If you have forgotten your exact words, I have both the audio and transcripts of your statements that I downloaded off the internet, ironically enough, from on of the sites that proved the CBS documents fake.

Would you please care to explain your commentary to one of your constituents?

Home

Gonzales Will Set Tone with CNN Gun Story

Alberto Gonzales will now have a chance to set the tone for his term as U.S. Attorney General, thanks to a CNN story that apparently violated several federal gun control laws.

A CNN reporter in the pursuit of a story apparently committed multiple violations of the Gun Control Act of 1968. This act was brought about by the murders of Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr. and Senator Robert Kennedy.

The Smallest Minority is bringing attention to a CNN expose on .50 BMG rifles that may have led the CNN reporter in the segment and a Texas buyer to commit federal felonies (hat tip: Instapundit).

CNN, apparently ran a story trying to show that it was easy for someone to buy a .50 BMG rifle without a permit and suggest it could be used it to bring down a civilian aircraft. We'll leave the disreputable fear-mongering of the "most busted name in news" aside for now, and focus on the apparent felonious acts committed in the story.

Triggerfinger.org describes a clip from the video:

Cut to the reporter in his SUV, taking about how the only paper involved in the transaction will be the cash. He flashes what looks like about 5 bills to the camera. Since the price of the gun was about $3000 new, he's not exactly representing the amount accurately. Cut to the reporter walking into a building, then walking out again with a carrying case. More inane comments in voiceover. Cut to an airport baggage claim, where he picks up the gun case. Voiceover about how it's perfectly legal to transport the gun on an airplane on your baggage (never mind the paperwork).

The CNN reporter based in Atlanta, Georgia finds a .50 BMG rifle for sale from a private owner (not a licensed dealer, this is a crucial detail) in Texas. He then flies to Texas. He is filmed going into a building, and returning with a carrying case which he claims holds the rifle. Let's stop right there.

Two apparent felonies occurred inside this building.

If the private seller in Texas sold the gun to the Georgia-based reporter, he committed a felony, and the reporter likewise commited a felony by illegally purchasing the firearm.

The reporter then compounded the apparent intitial felony by transporting an illegally-obtained weapon across state lines, which is another federal felony on its own. All of these crimes fall afoul of the Gun Control Act of 1968 as covered in specific as it relates to this event here.

There is little the reporter can say to vindicate himself at this point. He not only apparently committed a crime, but videotaped and broadcast it.

The professionalism and fairness applied to this apparent crime captured on film will establish Gonzales' credibility with Americans on both sides of the political aisle, and determine if Gonzales has the courage and conviction to investigate crimes not popular with the press.

The ball is in Gonzales' court. Let's see how he plays it.

Home

Guckert/Rove "Link" From CBS News

I'm afraid I'm going to have to apologize to my liberal friends. They were right about a huge conspiracy by the White House to allow gay men to ask questions. CBS News Senior Political Analyst Dotty Lynch said Friday:

"But Rove's dominance of White House and Republican politics, Gannon's aggressively partisan work and the ease with which he got day passes for the White House press room the past two years make it hard to believe [emphasis added] that he wasn't at least implicitly sanctioned by the 'boy genius."'

Interestingly enough, real members of the White House Press Corps see the Guckert story as far less of an issue than does the dotty Ms. Dotty above (hat tip: Instapundit).

Update: Powerline has come forward to give their opinion on the Gannon/Gucket non-story. It isn't pretty, but then, there isn't anything pretty about this witchhunt.

Home

Such Class

The Party of Hissy Fits seems to be at it again. The damage was repaired within hours, as this kind of behavior, sadly, was expected of liberals and the sign company was ready to make the repairs.

Democrats vandalized the White House in the 2001 transition to the tune of $15,000-$20,000 in damage according to an independent GAO Report, so this far less sacred venue was obviously fair game in what passes for morals on the left.

As no industrial cranes were spotted in the area at the time of the act of liberal vandalism, Michael Moore is not regarded as a primary suspect.

Home

Den of Hypocrisy

From my favorite den of wild accusation and paranoia, the Democratic Underground:

"This week is our first quarter 2005 fund drive. Our goal is to bring in 1000 individual donations before midnight on Sunday, February 20. There is no minimum (or maximum) donation. Whether you can spare $5 or $500, your contribution will bring us one step closer to our goal. So please take a moment to donate right now!"

They only seem to want the evil American dollar-the same currency preferred by Halliburton, BusHilter, and the Evil NeoCon Cabal. These are the exact same dollars and cents used to pay military contractors, defense contractors, and anti-abortion lawyers.

They very Franklins, Lincolns, and Washingtons that they so crave, also go in church offering plates and might be used (gasp!) to bankroll religious holiday events... when they aren't used to buy Ohio voters.

Do you know who else insists on being paid in dollars? Sean Hannity. Anne Coulter. Karl Rove.

I, for one, can't stand the hypocrisy.

Update: If I'm going to tell you about where you shouldn't send your donations, I guess I should probably provide an alternative of where you should. While I'm always greatful, I can think of someone who has given quite a bit more to the blogosphere.

Home

More Crunchy Social Security Goodness

The New Editor looks at the numbers and wonders if today's liberals are trying to make Democrats look foolish on Social Security.

My Answer?

Well, duh... It's all part of that new image they're shooting for.

Home

Boxer/Stewart/Dean Connection Verified

Howard Dean, who garnered 100% of Republican support to become the head of the DNC, has been in office less than a week and as we expected, he is already stepping hip deep in liberal stupidity.

Dean called for New York's Republican chairman Stephen Minarik to apologize or step down for remarks linking Democrats to radical leftist lawyer Lynn Stewart, who was just convicted of aiding terrorists.

Minarik said Monday that:

"the Democrats simply have refused to learn the lessons of the past two election cycles, and now they can be accurately called the party of Barbara Boxer, Lynne Stewart and Howard Dean."

Ritter Joins al-Jezeera

I guess Scott Ritter has finally found the place where he belongs.

The fomer Marine, U.N. Weapons inspector and Time "Person of the Week" must have found the climate there a bit more accepting of his tastes, both political, and personal.

Of course, what probably attracted Ritter as much as the America-hating politics was the swingin' singles scene...

Right?

Update: No, Ritter has not been called as a witness in the Michael Jackson trial... Why do you ask?

Home

The Hivemind Falls Short

It has been alledged that if the liberal side of the blogosphere could learn to gather information from outside of their closed community, that they might indeed become a force. Unfortunately, they have a tendency towards groupthink.

This of course leads to the parroting of ideas not throughly vetted, and so the hivemind runs a risk of propogating a story that may or not be true, based upon fervent belief instead of facts.

The Brit Hume quote of FDR is a wonderful case in point.

Brit Hume, of Fox News quoted part of FDR's January 17, 1935 speech to Congress proposing Social Security. Here is the relevant paragraph of the Hume article:

In a written statement to Congress in 1935, Roosevelt said that any Social Security plans should include, "Voluntary contributory annuities, by which individual initiative can increase the annual amounts received in old age," adding that government funding, "ought to ultimately be supplanted by self-supporting annuity plans."

Keith Olbermann chimed in, along with your expected deluge of liberal parrot blogs, and it was off to the races for the "me, too" crowd on the left to see who could call for Hume's resignation the fastest.

But what, exactly, did Hume actually "rearrange?"

Here is the exact two-line quote from the January 17, 1935 speech address from FDR that Hume abridged:

"Third, voluntary contributory annuities by which individual initiative can increase the annual amounts received in old age. It is proposed that the Federal Government assume one-half of the cost of the old-age pension plan, which ought ultimately to be supplanted by self-supporting annuity plans."

"Voluntary contributory annuities, by which individual initiative can increase the annual amounts received in old age," adding that government funding, "ought to ultimately be supplanted by self-supporting annuity plans."

"Third, voluntary contributory annuities by which individual initiative can increase the annual amounts received in old age. It is proposed that the Federal Government assume one-half of the cost of the old-age pension plan, which ought ultimately to be supplanted by self-supporting annuity plans."

And isn't the fact that FDR spoke of private investment exactly what Hume was referring to in the first place?

Sometimes a little research is more important than simply shouting, "me too!"

Liberals should try it some time.

Update: Cassandra has more in-depth coverage of the "tempest in a teacup."

Update 2: While both the right and the left have been focusing on the text of FDR's speech A Little Reason compares the speech against the context of the actual bill and discovers that if Al Franken should call anyone a "lying liar," it should be Franklin Delano Roosevelt.

Home

WMDs , Or A Bottle Of Stoli?

And we wonder why the much vaunted UN Weapon Inspectors didn't find the WMDs that every major intelligence agency in the world says were in Iraq:

"UN inspectors in Iraq spent their working hours drinking vodka while ignoring a shadowy nocturnal fleet believed to be smuggling goods for Saddam Hussein, a former senior inspector told the US Senate yesterday.

"In a move that provoked fury from officials of the Swiss firm Cotecna, an Australian former inspector detailed a picture of incompetence, indifference and drunkeness among the men acting as the frontline for UN sanctions."

Home

Reality Bites

An Italian Communist anti-war journalist, Giuliana Sgrena, starred in a "Mujahideen Without Borders" video released to the Associated Press today, calling (in French, appropriately enough) for the "end of the occupation of Iraq."

A vigorous anti-war protestor, Sgrena's video was shown just hours before Italy's Senate started voting on extending the nation's 3,000-member military mission in Iraq until June.

I'm a tiny bit skeptical.

A mention in the MSNBC version of the story made it sound like she was not only starring in the video, but directing it:

At one point, her eyes watering as she struggled to recite her message, she waved the camera to stop. [my emphasis]

It is quite possible, however, that Sgrena is experiencing a rude awakening. She very well may have been jarred with the reality that her captors are the occupiers in Iraq, not American troops, and that they are not the nice revolutionaries she may have liked to believe that they were.

Maybe if more armchair leftists got the full hostage experience firsthand, then they would understand that they have been cheering for the wrong side. Education is sometimes a brutal experience that I think Sgrena is unfortunately finding out firsthand.

Note: The BBC seems to share a bit of skepticism as well over the timing of the release of the video. The video, by the way, did not keep the Italian Senate from extending their presence in Iraq.

Home

A Call for Comments On Blogging

I love blogs and blogging. I think you do, too, or you wouldn't be reading this.

Blogging is still in its relative infancy, but is maturing quickly, with thousands of new bloggers starting up every day. A lot more people will be getting into it in the months and years ahead. Unfortunately, growing pains won't be easy on any of us, and so I'm asking you to help me out on a bit of a blogging community project.

After I read of the incident where a 13-year old was verbally savaged over not following good netiquette, I thought it was a good idea to try to compile some blogging-specific netiquette to hopefully cut down on incidents like this. I intend to compile and display what I can here:

http://blognetiquette.blogspot.com/

What I ask of you is to let me know what you consider good form and bad form alike when blogging. From inappropriate trackback to comment spam, to attribution issues and blog promotion, or other thing I may have missed, I'd like to get your input.

I'll be accepting comments for several weeks, and just ask that as you run across something that you think needs to be mentioned, to please drop me a line at confederateyankee-at-hotmail.com.

I hope to take the site live in the first week of March, and hope it could be a resource that we could all use to help new bloggers get started.

Thank you very much for your time, and any input you can provide.

Home

"Leslie Moonves, Meet Howell Raines"

Ra^therGate refuses to die (hat tip: RatherBiased).

The three CBS staffers asked to resign after the airing of the fake Bush Air National Guard story have refused to go. What's more, they have retained counsel and may sue CBS News, alleging that upper management and the investigators did not run a real investigation, but one designed from the outset to protect the CBS News corporate brass, not to ferret out the truth.

Because of this, Josh Howard, the executive producer of "60 Minutes Wednesday" during the Ra^therGate episode, is threatening CBS News with a wrongful termination lawsuit that would require testimony under oath and could subpoena internal documents and email that may not have not appeared as evidence in the official 224-page Thornburgh Report (PDF). The two other CBS News Executives asked to resign, Mary Murphy and Betsy West, have also refused to step down and seem willing to fight CBS brass for what they consider the truth.

CBS News claims that Howard's accusations have "no basis in fact." That seems to be a common complaint around CBS News these days.

So what do we have here?

The last time I heard of such infighting at a news organization was when Howell Raines was forced out at the New York Times over the Jayson Blair scandal. If Howard, Murphy and West are playing it straight, then it seems entirely plausible that Leslie Moonves and Andrew Heyward might be far more interested in protecting their own positions than preserving what remains of the tattered credibility of CBS News.

CBS News cannot handle another scandal.

The brand is severely hobbled at ths point, and if Howard, Murphy, and West can establish any sort of merit with a public already distrustful of CBS, and get the easily ascribed "covering our own asses" defense tarred to Heyward and Moonves, then its effectively "Game Over" for CBS News, regardless of what a judge or jury later determine.

Their effectiveness as executives most likely will be fatally compromised, regardless of any eventual vindication in a court of law. What's more, if Howard does pursue his case and presents evidence damning the structure of the investigation, it could potentially also turn on the two "independent" investigators, former Attorney General Richard Thornburgh and former Associated Press head Louis Boccardi.

Many already have their doubts about the so-called "Thornburgh Report," and if it appears that the report was compromised by design, Thornburgh and Boccardi could end up with their reputations in hot water along with the CBS News brass.

This one is a long way from over, but I don't see how Heyward or Moonves can have much of a future remaining at CBS News.

Home

The Left Comes Out

Thanks to Instapundit, we see that Democrats.com is running a story, "Did George W. Bush Have Sex with That Man, James Guckert?"

Guckert is the real name of a former Talon News reporter who called himself Jeff Gannon, and who was "outed" by ever-tolerant liberals as the owner of several gay-themed web sites. Liberal "news" sites such as Democrat.com, RawStory.com, and Americablog.org have gone on to say that Gannon didn't only own a couple of gay-themed web sites, but that he was also an escort, or something worse.

According to the author of this piece (of what, I'll let you decide), Bob Fertik, gays are apparently sashaying out of the woodwork in Bush's White House. He claims White House spokesman Scott McClellan is gay, that Bush is gay, that Bush's former Yale classmate was gay, that GOP Ken Mehlman is gay... did he leave anyone out?

He uses the word "gay" in each instance like a pointed finger of accusation, with an implied "but there's nothing wrong with that" hanging in the air like a stale fart. Apparently, in Fertik's world "Gay" is the new shorthand for "Republican."

The lefty blogosphere, constantly touting itself as inclusive and accepting of minorities such as gay men, is not only outing Gannon/Guckert, but humiliating him in any way possible, and taking great delight in it.

Is this how the left displays tolerance and acceptance of gays? Posters on the Democratic Underground delighted in bashing Guckert. When Guckert announced he was no longer talking to the press, a liberal poster to the Democratic Underground message boards gleefully asked, "I wonder if he'll 'talk' for $200?" Another said, "Don't slander him by implying he was a cheap prostitute. He was a very expensive one." So much for the myth of a gay-friendly left.

I feel sorry for my gay friends having their sexuality batted around by their so-called "tolerant" liberal party. As more liberals pile on to this story, and gays find out what the liberal wing really feels under their sheets, I'll be at the lumber yard.

We're planning on adding rooms at the Log Cabin.

Update: I'm not the only blogger that seems the think the left is showing their homophobia while bashing Gannon/Guckert.

Weapons of Mass Discussion says that "the liberal blogosphere seems to think this is a story, but all it really is doing is exposing their hatred for a constituency they say they support."

Insulted.org adds: "To the Left, it's great if you're gay. Unless, that is, you're a conservative gay man who works in the White House Press Corps. Then, you're fair game for a public outing, followed by reprisals, harassment, and eventual hounding from your job."

Cynical Nation says that: "This kind of behavior is ugly, no matter which side does it (and both sides do!) Nevertheless, it's worrisome to see how exploiting homophobia has become a standard political weapon in the arsenal of the left these days. And I think if you were to ask Dick Cheney's gay daughter, who's a lesbian homosexual, she'd agree."

Home

A New "World" War

Thanks to fellow New York blogger Scott Sala and his blog Slant Point, I think I know which self-important junior member of the old media is next to be engulfed in a blog swarm.

Tulsa World, of Tulsa Oklahoma, has threatened Tulsa blogger Michael Bates of BatesLine with copyright infringement because BatesLine:

"...has reproduced (in whole or in part) articles and/or editorials from the Tulsa World newspaper or has inappropriately linked your website to Tulsa World content.

"The Tulsa World copyrights its entire newspaper and specifically each of the articles and/or editorials at issue. The reproduction of any articles and/or editorials (in whole or in part) on your website or linking your website to Tulsa World content is without the permission of the Tulsa World and constitutes an intentional infringement of the Tulsa World's copyright and other rights to the exclusive use and distribution of the copyrighted materials.

"Therefore, we hereby demand that you immediately remove any Tulsa World material from your website, to include unauthorized links to our website, and cease and desist from any further use or dissemination of our copyrighted content. If you desire to use (in whole or in part) any of the content of our newspaper, you must first obtain written permission before that use. If you fail to comply with his demand, the Tulsa World will take whatever legal action is necessary to assure compliance, Additionally, we will pursue all other legal remedies, including seeking damages that may have resulted as a result of this infringement."

The Seditious Mr. Jordan

You didn't actually this the Eason Jordan affair was over because he resigned, did you? No, this is just the beginning. Admitting to a act of wrongdoing (or taking steps that look like a confession, as a resignation surely does) does not equate punishment.

If Jordan actually said what he is accused of-namely, that U.S. soldiers purposefully targeted journalists-then his resignation from CNN should be the least of his worries. Mr. Jordan should either provide evidence to support these claims, along with his November claim that U.S. soldiers tortured journalists, or he should face criminal charges. He almost certainly seems a viable candidate for a charge of slander, and possibly for more serious offenses.

The U.S. Sedition Act of 1918 states:

Whoever, when the United States is at war, shall willfully make or convey false reports or false statements with intent to interfere with the operation or success of the military or naval forces of the United States, or to promote the success of its enemies, or shall willfully make or convey false reports, or false statements, . . . or incite insubordination, disloyalty, mutiny, or refusal of duty, in the military or naval forces of the United States, or shall willfully obstruct . . . the recruiting or enlistment service of the United States, or . . . shall willfully utter, print, write, or publish any disloyal, profane, scurrilous, or abusive language about the form of government of the United States, or the Constitution of the United States, or the military or naval forces of the United States . . . or shall willfully display the flag of any foreign enemy, or shall willfully . . . urge, incite, or advocate any curtailment of production . . . or advocate, teach, defend, or suggest the doing of any of the acts or things in this section enumerated and whoever shall by word or act support or favor the cause of any country with which the United States is at war or by word or act oppose the cause of the United States therein, shall be punished by a fine of not more than $10,000 or imprisonment for not more than twenty years, or both....

What exactly did Eason Jordan say, and how did he say it?

Our soldiers defend us with their lives. We should at the minimum seek to preserve their reputations.

Home

Do Local Newspapers Matter Anymore?

The caller on the other end of the phone Saturday afternoon was Ashley, and she wanted to know if I wanted to subscribe to the Record, our local bird-cage liner. No, I said. She asked why, and I told her: it didn't offer anything I was interested in reading.

I still pick it up from time to time on weekends. For finding yard sales and coupon clipping it can't be beat, but as a source of news and commentary, it simply isn't worthwhile.

Like every newspaper, locals suffer an immediacy gap. They cannot compete with the immediacy of television or radio, which can (and often does) report events as they happen. For any major news story they rely on major news organizations. They parrot, but they don't add anything beyond formatting.

What local papers can do is report (obviously) local events. Badly.

The fact of the matter is that local newspapers do not spend top dollar for their stable of reporters, and those that do have talent tend to move on to better opportunities rather quickly. The same goes for the editorial board.

What do most local papers offer?

National news you found out about twelve hours ago on television or radio or the Internet. Classified ads and sales flyers. Local news stories poorly written, and pompous sophomoric editorials. Oh, and sports, which thankfully offers the only local reporting worth reading on a daily basis.

So what do local newspapers have to offer that is not better served by another news medium, better, faster, and cheaper?

I don't know the answer. I don't need to know. But someone in the local news business better figure it out before their advertisers do.

Home

Same Thong, New Verse

Why even run this, Matt?

Drudge seems to have his panties in a bunch over Barbara Boxer's briefer-than-briefs.

Drudge Reports:

Supporters of California Sen. Barbara Boxer have launched an underwear line -- with liberal radio network AIR AMERICA hyping the goods!

The next presidential race may be years away, but the race is already tightening up. Introducing: Boxer Classic Thong 2008!

100% Ultra-fine combed ring spun 1x1 baby rib cotton; Size up for a looser fit.

AIR AMERICA's website has been featuring a link to the Boxer merchandise.

[A staffer to Boxer said the senator had "absolutely" nothing to do with the merchandise. "These are not official."]

"This under-goodie is 'outta sight' in low-rise pants... This product is designed to fit juniors," reads the pitch.

Let the campaign begin!

A liberal supporter does something stupid and unsanctioned, and a liberal media outlet is dumb enough run with it unquestioned.

Since when is this news?

Home

Now Reading: Hugh Hewitt's Blog

I just got my copy of Hugh Hewitt's Blog: Understanding the Information Reformation That's Changing Your World. I'm one chapter in so far, and it is a fascinating read.

Hugh, should you ever come by here: "you done good."

Accountability

Eason Jordan has resigned. I guess CNN decided to duck after all. I'd still like to see the video from Davos, but I feel pretty comfortable that we know what we would see, at this point.

Sooner or later, the "professional" media is going to realize that there is a new accountability for those would would radically reshape the perception of the world we live in.

I just wonder how many more Dan Rathers and Eason Jordans it will take before that message finally sinks in.

Update: Michelle Malkin has an excellent thread titled Easongate: A Retrospective which has links to many of the power players in this episode.

You're living history in the making, folks, and in real-time.

Ain't it a rush?

And You Thought Human Life Was Priceless

Creepy. From a very real insurance company web site.

RE: Things Every Man Should Know

ROTFLMAO

Iran Promises "Burning Hell" Either Way

It seems that Iranian President Mohammad Khatami has promised a "burning hell" for any invaders, obviously referring to the United States and Israel, the two countries most likely to attack Iran and their suspected nuclear weapons production facilities.

Please, Mr. Khatami, tell me how this burning hell is any different than the nuclear attack your top clerics seem intent on unleashing against Israel if we don't act against you?

It seems to me, based upon the words of Iran's mullahcracy, that taking them out now is the only sensible course of action.

Better a little burning Hell now than a purpetual glow later.

What Are You, Nuts?

A Public Service Announcement (sorta) From Confederate Yankee:

Valentine's Day is Monday, and you still haven't ordered her anything. Do you have a death wish?

Get her some flowers, you bum (click the picture).

Normal political blogging returns this afternoon, but I want to make sure my readership survives...

Back in the Sewer: The DU Responds to the Lynn Stewart Conviction

Please, tell me again how liberals are patriotic, and don't sympathize with terrorists.

Liberal lawyer Lynn Stewart was just convicted for smuggling messages of violence from terrorists arrested for the 1993 World Trade Center attack, which, for the record, did have terrorist ties to Saddam's Iraq.

As you might expect, many posters on the Democratic Underground think that Stewart was framed, (despite 85,000 audio and video clips of Stewart and her clients) and that the government must have destroyed evidence exonerating her.

DU poster Just Me claims the Steart conviction, " is worse than jailing political dissidents!"

rooboy calls this, "one of the darkest days in the history of the American legal system."

He was apparently unfamiliar with Dred Scott.

Interestingly enough, DUers were even flaming their own over this one, attacking trail lawyers and law students who actually went to the trial who said the outcome was fair and just.

I really must wonder if these people would have voted to convict the terrorists who carried out the 9/11 attacks.

New DNC Fundraising Book

Daily Kos is fielding questions about donations to the DNC after Dean is officially promoted.

I think you're a little late, Kos.

Fundraising has started on Amazon already. Nothing like a good book sale, especially when the book is so relevant to the future of the party.

(hat tip: an email from the lead guppy at phin's blog)

Conscientious Objector, or War Criminal?

While browsing my blogroll this morning, I noticed an interesting post at The Museum of Left Wing Lunacy about Sgt. Kevin Benderman. Sgt. Benderman is a ten-year veteran of the U.S. Army, where he is a mechanic. He served one tour in Iraq, including the assault on Baghdad. Facing a second tour of duty in Iraq, Sgt. Benderman applied for conscientious objector status in December of 2004. The Army has charged him with desertion, and his commanding officer called him a coward.

I have never been in combat, and am loathe to call a veteran a coward without having been put to the test myself, nor do I feel comfortable commenting on whether or not charging a conscientious objector with desertion is legal or right. I'm simply don't know enough to feel I have an educated opinion to offer.

I do however, have a huge question regarding Sgt. Benderman's claim that his outfit was under orders to open fire on children who were throwing rocks at his unit. Either Sgt. Benderman lied about the event, or someone committed a war crime. We need to get to the bottom of this.

One thing I have learned from reading "mil-blogs" (blogs from military personnel) such as Lt. Smash, Armor Geddon, and Blackfive, is that soldiers have very rigidly defined rules of engagement, which strictly limit the situations where they are authorized to fire a weapon.

I am certain that no unit in any branch of the U.S. military is sanctioned to fire upon rock-throwing children. We aren't French.

If such an order was given, it would be illegally issued and illegal to follow. If so much as a single bullet was fired at these children, a war crime occurred. If Sgt. Benderman fired a shot at these children, he is a war criminal. If anyone else fired, they are also war criminals. The person who issued such an order would also be a war criminal.

Based upon the circumstances described, I would also expect them to be charged with murder as well. Children can't throw rocks very far, perhaps thirty yards at the outside, fifty for a healthy teen. At this ranges the standard M-16s and M-4s will not miss, and children have almost zero chance of surviving a center-mass hit from these weapons at that range.

If Sgt. Benderman is right, his unit is most likely guilty of war crimes. If he is lying, he is guilty of far more serious crimes than desertion.

So which is it, Sgt. Benderman?

My Blogroll Just Got Lighter

I may not be blessed with a lot of class, but there are some lines even I won't cross.

Jordan Leads CNN into No Man's Land

Easongate continues. One must begin to wonder about the basic intelligence and awareness of CNN and Time-Warner executives at this point.

Eason Jordan said American soldiers tortured journalists. Eason Jordan, the top news executive at CNN, a Time-Warner company, claims that American soldiers targeted--murdered--a dozen journalists. And yet somehow CNN and Time-Warner executives apparently think that if they stonewall the incident long enough, that the matter will just go away.

A decade ago, even a few years ago, they may have been able to get away with it. Unfortunately for CNN and Time-Warner executives (and did I mention Time-Warner shareholders?), that was then. They do not comprehend the now.

Media executives remind me of the generals of World War One. They were tangentially aware of new technologies on the field of battle, but were unable to grasp their significance. As a result, they marched troops at a walk across a barren No Man's Land into nests of machine guns firing 600 rounds/minute. The carnage was unbelievable, the casualties catastrophic; and yet the generals, clinging to tactics best suited for the wars of single shot rifles forty years earlier, sent their troops to a grisly, almost certain end, time after time.

We're watched similar slaughters take place in the world of journalism.

CBS News thought they could get away with running a story about George Bush using faked documents. They were mown down mercilessly by the blogosphere within hours, and several prominent journalists with long careers were disgraced. The damage to the integrity of CBS News was immeasurable. It will take years for CBS News to recover their credibility.

CNN is walking across the field into the guns, and doesn't understand the carnage about to ensue. Eason Jordan, CNN's top news executive, essentially accused the U.S. military of the premeditated murder of a dozen journalists. This follows a claim from Jordan months earlier where he stated American soldiers captured and tortured journalists, which follows the 2003 admission that Jordan and CNN turned a blind eye to torture to retain a Baghdad bureau.

The blogosphere has targeted Eason Jordan. 438 blogs with combined daily traffic of over 720,000 visits have placed Jordan and CNN under withering fire. More blogs, as well as elements of the mainstream media, are joining daily. By next week this story will be fodder in every major news outlet. CNN needs to act, and act fast.

CNN must fire Eason Jordan, or forever lose their credibility within the U.S. market.

The old tactic of stonewalling until an issue goes away has passed. CNN and by extension, Time Warner, are walking into the proverbial guns. They can either duck, or be shot to pieces.

New Symbol of the Democratic Party

Barring a minor miracle, it appears Howard Dean will be confirmed as the next chairman of the Democratic National Committee, pulling the DNC even further toward the radical left and away from any chance of striking a chord with mainstream America.

To commemorate this hysteric, err, historic event, I'd like to bestow upon them a new branding image that I feel captures the essence of the future of the Democratic Party, and where it is heading.

You've got to love a party whose platform includes a trapdoor with a quick-release.

"Err" Jordan Still Employed by an Ethics-Challenged CNN

Eason "Err" Jordan seems to be quite the athlete, deftly turning away from dozens if not hundreds of real incidents of torture, rape and murder by tyrants and dictators, only to volunteer that charges of war crimes by U.S. soldiers are a slam-dunk... without the first shred of corroborating evidence. I think Jordan would be very close to fouling out of the game of journalism for good if his masters retained any integrity at all.

Eason Jordan first came to light in October of 2002, when The New Republic accused CNN of collaborating (registration required) with Saddam's Ministry of Information in order to retain access in Baghdad. Jordan denied it-sort of-at the time. When Baghdad fell in April of 2003, Jordan told a much different story, admitting that he hid the truth. He said he did not report the truth because it would have "jeopardized the lives of Iraqis." Jordan turned a blind eye to murder, rape and torture to retain access to get access to Iraqi leaders. How concealing the existence of government-sanctioned rape rooms and torture chambers saved lives, Jordan never adequately explained. For this ethical offense alone, he should have been fired. CNN declined to do so.

Many allege Eason Jordan allowed Saddam to use CNN to broadcast his propaganda, unedited, and uncut.

Jordan claimed U.S. troops tortured and killed journalists in 2004, which is very close to the comments Jordan is alleged to have made at the World Economic Forum, where he claimed U.S. forces have targeted journalists on purpose. He never produced any evidence to support this wild claim. He should have been fired for this offense as well. Again, CNN declined to fire him.

This most recent incident in Davos at the World Economic Forum was not an isolated incident, but one event in an established history of ethically outrageous behavior on the part of Eason Jordan and CNN. A lot of very credible people witnessed this willful and malicious slander of our troops, including Congressman Barney Frank, Senator Christopher Dodd, journalist David Gergen, and Wall Street Journal writer Bret Stephens, among others. And yet, once again, CNN once again refuses to fire Eason Jordan.

Why is that, CNN?

It is one thing to capture a questionable event and report it as Kevin Sites did in Fallujah, but quite another for a dangerous allegation to be made during wartime without a shred of evidence.

Eason Jordan tacitly supported the terrorism of the Iraqi people, turning a blind eye to torture for his (and CNN's) professional gain, and then commits slander against our military on multiple occasions, presumably to further ingratiate himself to the despots of the world and allow CNN even greater access to the dictatorships of the world.

This must not stand.

If CNN retains any sort of moral fiber or journalistic ethics it will fire Eason Jordan.

Unfortunately, CNN and other so-called "professional" news organizations seem to be circling the wagons to protect a man who is treading dangerously outside the lines of what we will morally (and legally?) accept as a society regarding slander and sedition.

Eason "Err" Jordan has erred one time too many to retain his credibility as a news executive for a major news organization. He should be forced to resign from CNN, if not fired outright for his outrageous, unsubstantiated claims against our troops and a history of a dangerous lack of ethical judgement.

Update: This thread has been been Malkinized. I'd suggest my readers check out Michelle's site, as she seems to be the lead investigator into this issue across all forms of media.

ActionFigureGate Continues

SITE Institute currently has a story up about a message board member who takes credit for the "ActionFigureGate" hoax where a G.I.Joe-type doll was used in a particularly lame "hostage" attempt last week.

According the SITE, the hoaxer wrote :

In the name of God, the Most Merciful and Most Compassionate,

Soldier John Adam is [only] a toy.

I am a 20-year old Iraqi young man. I am unarmed, independent and do not belong to any party or group. I apologize to all the parties and everyone, for I meant nothing by that [no harm].

The picture was a scheme that I made up with a toy that I bought with $5.

Today I am announcing that this news was made up, and that the picture was of a toy that I worked on with the help of some children.

I cannot provide any information about me because, as I mentioned earlier, I am unarmed, and any information about me might jeopardize my life and the lives of my family [members].

My apologies to everyone.

The problem is that this picture appears to be a fake as well.

If you look at the wall and floor in the original picture, you'll see what appears to be an unpainted wall and floor, that both appear to be made of rough concrete that is mostly tan in color.

If you look at the SITES photo, you see a floor that is of gray concrete and a wall that has been painted white.

Also, you will note that the size of the two banners are different (the original is almost square, the SITES photo is more rectangular) and that the Arabic writing is significantly shorter on the original.

This admission appears to be as much a hoax as the original story.

Update: Added to OTB's Beltway Traffic Jam.

Update 2: There are also a hint in the text itself that leads me to beleive this was faked, but I only thought about it just now. The poster claimed that he paid for it in dollars ($). The last I checked, the monetary unit of Iraq is the dinar, not the dollar.

Update 3: The imposter claims that he is not part of any group... so how does he have posting rights on a known militant web site?

All Aboard the Crazy Train

(hat tip: Drudge)

Will the last nut out of the tree please turn off the light?

Melanie Redman, 30, assistant director of the Epilepsy Foundation in Seattle, said she had put her Volvo up for sale and hopes to be living in Toronto by the summer. She and her Canadian boyfriend, a Web site designer for Canadian nonprofit companies, had been planning to move to New York, but after Nov.2, they decided on Canada instead.

"I'm doing it," she said. "I don't want to participate in what this administration is doing here and around the world. Under Bush, the U.S. seems to be leading the pack as the world spirals down."

The Democratic Underground Railroad was created just for people like you, Melanie.

Toot. Toot.

Update: I had almost forgotten: I have a picture of this nut in her home. Hardly surprising, is it?

Dear Michelle Malkin

(hat tip, basil's blog)

Dear Michelle,

I also have found the Google News folks to be a bit less than objective in which sites they feel are worthy. To be frank, they expose a severe leftward slant. Despite that, I think they must be forced to play within their own set of rules.

basil has already offered his services as a headline news writer. I would like to offer my services to the editorial board of michelemaklin.com as an editor. I have relevant practical work experience as a technical writer and editor, and have the academic degrees to support such a position.

I have a salary requirement of $0.25/year, and would be quite willing to assist in developing a formal editorial review process.

Thank you very much for your time.

Respectfully,

Confederate Yankee

Garofalo: Republicans and Iraqis are Nazis?

(Hat tip: Kevin McCollough)

Republicans and Iraqis are Nazis?

That seems to be the only thing I can take away from this salute Janeane Garafalo gave on MSNBC the other night while saying:

"The inked fingers and the position of them, which is gonna be a 'Daily Show' photo already, of them signaling in this manner [does the Nazi salute], as if they have solidarity with the Iraqis who braved physical threats against their lives to vote as if somehow these inked-fingered Republicans have something to do with that."

A Republican president directed American troops to dispose a despotic dictator who practiced mass murder upon his own people, and gave oppressed peoples a chance to form their own government, hardly an act that would have been supported by the National Socialists.

That she can equate the celebration of newfound freedoms with fascism is disturbing at best and possibly delusional at worst. Garafalo has become a perfect example of the "reality-based community" drifting further and further away from reality.

Treason at CNN

Read this:
November 19, 2004

Independent journalists operating in Iraq face arrest and even torture at the hands of the US military and the authorities are failing to act on promises to do more to protect them, news organisations have warned.

Eason Jordan, chief news executive at CNN, said there had been only a "limited amount of progress", despite repeated meetings between news organisations and the US authorities.

"Actions speak louder than words. The reality is that at least 10 journalists have been killed by the US military, and according to reports I believe to be true journalists have been arrested and tortured by US forces," Mr Jordan told an audience of news executives at the News Xchange conference in Portugal.

Whoever, owing allegiance to the United States, levies war against them or adheres to their enemies, giving them aid and comfort within the United States or elsewhere, is guilty of treason and shall suffer death, or shall be imprisoned not less than five years and fined under this title but not less than $10,000; and shall be incapable of holding any office under the United States.

CBS News fired one person and asked others to resign when they ran a false story about President Bush's Texas Air National Guard service, so at a bare minimum, Eason Jordan should be fired from CNN.

But backpedalling by Jodan and CNN does not pull the knife out of the back of the American GI, nor does it excuse his latest statement (which as the first quote proves, is hardly isolated, or even a first for him).

If transcripts do indeed prove Jordan's statements were made as alleged (and at least one witness claims that they are), Mr. Jordan not only owes the soldiers he slandered an apology, he owes the American people a term in a federal penitentiary no shorter than five years, and a fine of no less than $10,000.

That is the punishment for treason.

My Thoughts Exactly: NY Post Editorial Cartoon

(Hat tip: GOP in the City)

So Who Stayed Awake Through the Democratic Rebuttal?

I didn't see any real new information in the State of the Union tonight. I do think Bush knocked Social Security out of the park, selling it quite effectively to the public, in terms most can readily digest. On the other hand, I think he underwhelmed his base with his treatment of border security and illegal immigration. All in all, a nice, serviceable address, but nothing we didn't already know.

I wish I could say the same for the Democratic response. I tried, really, really hard to pay attention to Harry Reid, but he delivered his portion with all the excitement of Ben Stein droning, "Bueller... Bueller... Bueller..."

I drifted off. I do recall there was some ten year-old Napoleon Dynamite-type from Searchlight, NV that wants to grow up to be like Harry. Poor kid. Nothing else he said was memorable.

Pelosi started off trying to act like she cared about the troops, and I was suddenly overcome with an intense desire for a long, hot shower.

I missed the rest.

A Victory in the War on Terror

Amid all the jeers and laughter yesterday surrounding the "capture" of a children's action figure, a funny thing happened:

We won the War on Terror.

No, the shooting didn't stop, and more real hostages will likely be taken and face for real the dire possibility of death by beheading. No, the war won yesterday was more symbolic than practical; terrorists, perhaps for the first time, ceased to terrorize us and became a joke.

On 9/11 and in the days that followed, terror really did have the upper hand in the United States. For the first time I can recall in my generation, America was unsure and afraid. Once the immediate danger passed, we were filled with what Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto once described as "a terrible resolve." The Taliban and elements of al Qaeda in Afghanistan were the first to feel our wrath, and from there the physical battle has continued, as it shall until Islamic terrorism is no longer a sustainable threat.

But all this time, even as we were winning the war, and hearts, and minds, the threat of terrorism still hung heavy in our national conscious.

But thanks to the stellar fact-checking of the mainstream media and the apparent desperation of terrorists reduced to threatening toys, the cloud of terrorism threatening us has been lifted, if but for a time.

We laughed at them.

And in that, we can find a special victory.

Update: Thanks to Instapundit for picking up this thread.

Update 2: Tom Elia over at The New Editor makes an excellent point:

... I would stipulate that we won a battle in the War on Terror yesterday with the unmasking of the fraudulent photos depicting a GI Joe as an al Qaeda "hostage" -- it was a mighty big battle, no less -- but just one battle. There will be many more to fight -- a point that Confederate Yankee does make, but I think it should be emphasized that the war that we are winning is a long way from being over.

Zarqawi quits al Qaeda, joins C.O.B.R.A.

Apparently Zarqawi and the Iraqi insurgency are so desperate to capture a U.S. solder to use as a hostage, that they doesn't even care if the soldier in question is only twelve inches tall.

It all started when Drudge cited this story where militants claimed to have captured a U.S solider.

Now, if you had taken the time to really look at the full-size image in the story, you might have developed deep suspicions early on. For starters, the uniform has no insignia. Second, the soldier does not appear to have the first bit of equipment on his vest. Every picture I've seen coming out of Iraq shows U.S. soldiers with wires, cables, hydration tubes, etc, sticking out all over the place, which are horribly absent here. Of course, the overly shiny head, expressionless face and fake gun (what's an oversized AR-10 receiver doing on a M-4, and why is it in camo?) also should have been clues.

I do think it is so funny that the insurgency is so pathetic that they are reduced to kidnapping children's toys. Maybe "Z-Man" isn't getting enough sleep, what with inner circle being picked off or picked up one-by-one, and the proverbial noose getting tighter around his neck.

I can understand him going off the deep end under that kind of pressure--we watch liberals do it every day--but I still don't think his new allies of The Baroness and Cobra Commander will do him much good.

They're too preoccupied with competing against Howard Dean for the chair of the DNC.

Update: Backcountry Conservative is on the case with what is probably the biggest roundup of blogger reaction out there.

Update 2: Thank you again, Glenn. Hello, Instalanche! Folks, please look around, and bookmark the site (CTRL+B) if you like it. Also, please check out some of the sites in my blogroll. You might not have heard of some of them, but they are all great reads. Fellow bloggers, if you like the site, please add me to your blogrolls. Thanks!

Jersey Jihad?

I've read quite a bit of online coverage on this so far, but haven't blogged it until now. The background of the story is that a family of four Egyptian-Americans Christians were murdered in their home, presumably by Jersey City-area followers of "The Religion of Peace."

Michelle Malkin has a lot of links to work from, and agrees that Jihadwatch has the best coverage so far, with the three latest links here, here and here.

The mainstream media has stonewalled this story so far. How unsurprising.

Absolutely Correct

I really like Frank J.'s humor, but every once in a while, he writes serious essays of such obvious brilliance that I have no choice but to agree with them in full.

The Iraq elections had high participation. The people are dancing in the streets. Do you know what that means?

It means I'm right about everything, you stupid pinko!

Even more importantly, it means you're wrong and totally suck!

I know; it's still just hitting you now. "What? They're happy! They're free! They like America! But this would mean Bush was right, and I was ::gasp:: wrong!" Then it makes you think, if you could be wrong on such a big issue, could you be wrong and the right-wingers right on other things such as taxes, Social Security, and abortion? Yes, absolutely!

Now, some of you will not face reality and continue to argue for your views that have been now scientifically proven to be wrong and destructive by this one victory, and your high pitch whines eventually reaching such a frequency that they can no longer be heard by humans (around 23kHz). Little kids will walk by and ask, "Who are those weird people waving signs of gibberish and moving their mouths without noise?"

And their parents will answer, "Those are liberals, people proven by events to be wrong about everything. Now ignore them like everyone else."