Showing posts with label MSM. Show all posts
Showing posts with label MSM. Show all posts

Thursday, August 23, 2007

"...some Americans are going to die"

 
National Intelligence Director Mike McConnell revealed previously classified details of terrorist surveillance programs used to protect the homeland since 9/11.

Such surveillance has been blessed in the past by bipartisan Congressional committees, but was politicized after the New York Times revealed a series of counter-terror programs. Among the revelations:

* AT&T, Verizon and other telecommunications companies aided the surveillance programs and are now being sued for doing so.

* New FISA rulings took effect on May 31st, which require warrants to monitor communications between two foreigners if the conversation travels inside a U.S.-based network. Because millions of international calls transit the U.S. networks daily, this ruling has significantly degraded intelligence-gathering capabilities.

* A single FISA warrant requires 200 hours to assemble, which doesn't precisely fit the 'Internet speeds' at which modern communications operate.

* Fewer than 100 people inside the U.S. are monitored under FISA warrants; this doesn't strengthen the "Bush destroyed our civil rights" meme emanating from the left bank of American politics.

Even as he shed new light on the classified operations, McConnell asserted that the current debate in Congress about whether to update the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act will cost American lives because of all the information it revealed to terrorists.

"Part of this is a classified world. The fact that we're doing it this way means that some Americans are going to die," he said.

I'm sure we'll be hearing supportive statements for McConnell from the mainstream media and leading Democrats like Carl Levin, Harry Reid, and Nancy Pelosi.

Or was that just faux concern for national security that Democrats expressed during their multi-year whinefest called Plamegate?

Wednesday, August 22, 2007

A Small Taste of Liberty

 
Don Surber has the must-read post of the day (hat tip: Larwyn).

President Bush addressed the Veterans of Foreign Wars convention today in Kansas City.

The enemy who attacked us despises freedom, and harbors resentment at the slights he believes America and Western nations have inflicted on his people. He fights to establish his rule over an entire region. And over time, he turns to a strategy of suicide attacks destined to create so much carnage that the American people will tire of the violence and give up the fight.

If this story sounds familiar, it is — except for one thing. The enemy I have just described is not al Qaeda, and the attack is not 9/11, and the empire is not the radical caliphate envisioned by Osama bin Laden. Instead, what I’ve described is the war machine of Imperial Japan in the 1940s, its surprise attack on Pearl Harbor, and its attempt to impose its empire throughout East Asia.

Ultimately, the United States prevailed in World War II, and we have fought two more land wars in Asia. And many in this hall were veterans of those campaigns. Yet even the most optimistic among you probably would not have foreseen that the Japanese would transform themselves into one of America’s strongest and most steadfast allies, or that the South Koreans would recover from enemy invasion to raise up one of the world’s most powerful economies, or that Asia would pull itself out of poverty and hopelessness as it embraced markets and freedom.

The lesson from Asia’s development is that the heart’s desire for liberty will not be denied. Once people even get a small taste of liberty, they’re not going to rest until they’re free. Today’s dynamic and hopeful Asia — a region that brings us countless benefits — would not have been possible without America’s presence and perseverance. It would not have been possible without the veterans in this hall today. And I thank you for your service.


Ouch. That has to hurt his critics. At least the ones who have a conscience.

While the antiwar crowd — our intellectual and moral superiors — focused on his later parallels of Iraq and Vietnam, I found the comparison to Japan and Korea to be more appropriate.

At the outset of World War II there were only two democracies in the Far East — Australia and New Zealand. Today most of the nations in Asia are free, and its democracies reflect the diversity of the region. Some of these nations have constitutional monarchies, some have parliaments, and some have presidents. Some are Christian, some are Muslim, some are Hindu, and some are Buddhist. Yet for all the differences, the free nations of Asia all share one thing in common: Their governments derive their authority from the consent of the governed, and they desire to live in peace with their neighbors.

Along the way to this freer and more hopeful Asia, there were a lot of doubters. Many times in the decades that followed World War II, American policy in Asia was dismissed as hopeless and naive. And when we listen to criticism of the difficult work our generation is undertaking in the Middle East today, we can hear the echoes of the same arguments made about the Far East years ago.

In the aftermath of Japan’s surrender, many thought it naive to help the Japanese transform themselves into a democracy. Then as now, the critics argued that some people were simply not fit for freedom...


It took, what, 10 years to get the Japanese to get on their feet? As a boy in the 1950s, I recall that “made in Japan” meant junk...

The accompanying screen-cap depicts ABC's coverage of the speech (courtesy of Ace). Not that they have an agenda or anything.

Christine Amanpour's exposé on religious killers

 
CNN's Christine Amanpour is hosting a series of exposes on religious warriors. Each show in the series focuses on the aspects of a single religion:

* Yesterday: the Worldwide Jewish Cabal
* Tonight: Misunderstood Muslims
* Thursday: Christian Crusaders
* Friday: Killer Quakers
* Saturday: Antagonistic Amish
* Sunday: Bloodthirsty Buddhists
* Monday: Homicidal Hindus

Amanpour is certain to offer a detailed comparison of the number of terrorist attacks broken down by instigating religion. And the number of deaths associated with those attacks. As well as the number of slaves currently held by each religion.

Tuesday, August 21, 2007

Fission-in-a-Box

 
In October of 2005, the Journal's Richard Miniter asserted that while portable, "suitcase" nukes were technically feasible, there was no evidence that Al Qaeda or its affiliates were close to attaining one.

About ten months ago, there was some speculation that North Korea's detonation represented an ominous development. Namely, that Kim Jong-Il's military was experimenting with just such a nuke: a low-yield fission device designed to be man-portable.

Chester and the Belmont Club have more information, which despite the age in blog-o-years, remains important and, as you might expect, unremarked upon by the mainstream media.

Monday, August 20, 2007

CNN's award-winning storm coverage

 
Gary Tuchman's hysterical reporting on Hurricane Dean reached its apex this afternoon.

Larwyn notes that Tuchman's Breaking News Flash focused on the fact that the Mayan Ruins... will be ruined! Err - never mind that the structures date from 250 AD. This storm is the big one, Wolf! The Mayan ruins will be wiped flatter than Michael Moore's mattress!

Here's the "before" picture of one of the ruins.

And here's the predicted "after". Anyone want to wager?

Mr. Tuchman, I smell a Pulitzer!

Line o' the Day: Edwards' Fortress Foreclosures

 
Does it ring your bell that nobody asked John Edwards about his $16 million dollar investment in Fortress Financial which foreclosed on 34 or 38 New Orleanians -- which is where he announced his campaign, where he had the poverty tour? If Mitt Romney had invested $16 million in a company foreclosing on the homes of Katrina victims, do you think he'd get asked about it? Damn right he would! Stephanopoulos didn't bring it up. Neither did any of the candidates. But we will...

                                                      --EIB (hat tip: Ed Morrissey)

Sunday, August 19, 2007

New York Times learns how to use Wikipedia

 
Chris Muir's cartoon is a great introduction to revelations that various organizations have been caught with their fingers in the Wikipedia jar.

Update: Wired's Reddit page has a list of the most salacious edits.

Edwards asks for end to name-calling, labels Coulter 'She-Devil'

 
ABC has a unique spin on the feud between John Edwards and Ann Coulter:

Former Sen. John Edwards on Friday fired the latest round in his ongoing verbal feud with Ann Coulter, calling her a "she-devil" at a public event before quickly adding that he shouldn't engage in name-calling...

Coulter went on ABC's "Good Morning America" and said she had learned her lesson after being blasted for suggesting in a joke before the Conservative Political Action Conference that Edwards was a "faggot." ..."If I'm gonna say anything about John Edwards in the future, I'll just wish he had been killed in a terrorist assassination plot," Coulter said...

...That prompted Edwards' wife, Elizabeth, to call in to MSNBC's "Hardball" and challenge Coulter directly. "I want to use the opportunity … to ask her politely to stop the personal attacks," Mrs. Edwards said... The call left Coulter uncharacteristically flustered -- and was quickly turned into a fund-raising appeal by the Edwards campaign...

ABC cleverly censored Coulter's complete statement, which -- in the land we like to call 'reality' -- was:

...about the same time, you know, Bill Maher was not joking and saying he wished Dick Cheney had been killed in a terrorist attack. So I've learned my lesson. If I'm gonna say anything about John Edwards in the future, I'll just wish he had been killed in a terrorist assassination plot...

Coulter, of course, was highlighting the outrageous double-standard that exists in today's "reporting." Liberal commentators like Bill Maher can -- without comment or controversy -- get away with wishing for murder.

But let conservative pundits highlight those comments with tongue-in-cheek statements? Never! The mainstream media will both censor and spin to ensure maximum political effect!

As for Coulter being "flustered" by Elizabeth Edwards call during Hardball: read the transcript or listen to the show. Coulter was about as flustered as Patton during the Third Army's final drive into Germany.

By the way, is it name-calling to refer to Edwards as...

..."silky pony"?

Saturday, August 18, 2007

Hurricane Paul threatens to swamp Hillary's Campaign

 
WND has the latest details on one-time Spitzer ally Jim Nesfield's efforts to marshal bloggers to publicize the Clintons' forthcoming testimony in the Peter Paul case:

Wall Street whistleblower Jim Nesfield's Equal Justice Foundation features Peter Franklin Paul's fraud suit against the Clintons and the accompanying allegations against the New York senator.

"It's the No. 1 civil case in the country exposing an unprecedented array of frauds and obstruction of justice by the Clintons that the media refuses to report," Nesfield told WND.

In a year-long effort coinciding with the presidential campaign, Nesfield will try to mobilize a consortium of bloggers to "crash through" what he calls "the information blockade" created by U.S. Media. His aim, he says, is to "help educate the public about the facts of Hillary Clinton's misconduct as presented in Paul v. Clinton."

As WND reported, a California appeals court has set oral arguments for an appeal of Sen. Clinton's dismissal from a $17 million fraud case in which her husband already is a defendant.

Along with ruling whether the New York Democrat should also be a defendant in the case, the court will be asked to decide whether she committed a felony by soliciting campaign contributions of more than $1.2 million...

The Hillary Accountability Project has all of the details.

Friday, August 17, 2007

Bizarro Universe: Media Matters criticizes NY Times

 
One Skyy martini tonight doesn't come close to explaining this:

NY Times' Seelye falsely claimed Clinton favorable ratings "never climbed higher" than 50 percent...

...Katharine Q. Seelye falsely claimed that Hillary Rodham Clinton's "favorable ratings reached a peak of 50 [percent] in 1998 during her husband's impeachment. They have never climbed higher, as measured by The Times and CBS." In fact, a January 1999 CBS News poll found that Clinton had a favorable rating of 55 percent. Additionally, other polls from the same period found Clinton's favorable rating rising as high as 67 percent, and polls from other organizations show her favorable rating has topped 50 percent in 2007...

Whoa. Sounds like fodder for a federal investigation. Or at least, a 60 Minutes expose. Mike Wallace is still alive, isn't he?

Media Matters hammering the NY Times? What next, Sean Penn critiquing Rosie O'Donnell for being too conservative?

Wednesday, August 15, 2007

NPR's Itchy and Scratchy tag-team the GOP

 
Think it's tough for a mainstream media broadcast outlet to continuously bash the GOP? Of course not, that's been table stakes for the MSM since Al Gore was demoted from VP to head global-warming alarmist in 2000.

But how about a broadcast outlet that can seamlessly slam Republicans during a sci-fi book review and a sports segment, respectively? Tall order, eh? Well, not for NPR, my friends.

Itchy and Scratchy, or as I like to call them, James Rollins and Frank Deford, pulled off this magnificent trick in a matter of hours. Deford neatly tied his brand of Bush Derangement Syndrome into his weekly sports segment.

Our two greatest American leaders, Washington and Lincoln, were exceptionally tall, and right up until the end of the American century — the tall century — it was unusual for the shorter presidential candidate ever to win. Indeed, given what a mess of things the shorter choice, George W. Bush, has made of his presidency in the fat century, Hillary Clinton's main obstacle may not be that she's a woman, but that she's shorter than most men.

Not enough of a non-sequiter for you? In a review of the book Invasion of the Body Snatchers, author James Rollins out-bloviated Deford:

Finney has the audacity to suggest that it takes only one person to stand up against an overwhelming tide, whether it's against the invasion of Pod People, the witch-hunts of Joe McCarthy — or the slow dismantling of our civil liberties today... It takes only one person. It was an important message then, and it's just as important now.

Adding this irrelevant political spin into completely unrelated op-eds takes talent -- gen-u-ine, barking moonbat-style talent!

When we also consider NPR hacks Rehm, Schorr, and Pinkwater -- who have never evinced a conservative sentiment in their many decades of service on the public dole -- and you get a real argument for the Fairness Doctrine. After all, we taxpayers foot the bill for NPR. It's only fair both sides of the aisle are represented.

Tuesday, August 14, 2007

The Last 48 Hours of Democratic "Realism"

 
In the last 48 hours...

* Iran's president went on record as saying, "there is no way for salvation of mankind but rule of Islam over mankind... [and] the world is on verge of a great upheaval."

* Hamas' child television star, Saraa Barhoum, helpfully indoctrinated a new generation of homicide bombers, telling kids she hopes to be a "martyr" (code-word for exploding civilian-killer), “It’s something to be proud of. Every Palestinian citizen hopes to be a martyr.”
* Doctors in Scotland have been banned from eating lunch at their desk "in case it offends their Muslim colleagues."
* A would-be homicide bomber prematurely exsplatulated -- blowing himself up -- but fortunately failed to kill a bus full of tourists in Morocco.
* In Gaza, Hamas terrorists beat residents to a bloody pulp. The crime? Chanting "we want freedom."
* Hamas childrens' television taught kids how to have fun by torturing animals.

* In Jakarta, Indonesia, 70,000 members of a Muslim group gathered to call for the establishment of a "global caliphate (Islamic rule) to govern the world" and listened to fiery speeches saying it was "time for the caliphate to reign."

* * *

Now consider:

* Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton's first campaign commercial didn't mention extremism or terrorism. Not one word.
* The CNN/YouTube Democratic debate did not field a single question on extremism or terrorism. Not one question.
* The mainstream media completely ignored these events and blissfully obliged Democrats who can't come to grips with the growing threats to America.

Welcome to the world of Democratic "realism."

Monday, August 13, 2007

What liberal bias?

 
My wife just came downstairs and said, "you've got to check out Google News."

Interesting how this particular headline found its way to the top o' the heap with a paltry 1,525 alternatives available.

Sunday, August 12, 2007

Line o' the Day: Museum of Horrible Explanations

 
"If anyone ever starts a museum of horrible explanations, the one-liner by Newsweek's Evan Thomas about his magazine's dubious reporting on the Duke non-rape case — 'The narrative was right but the facts were wrong' — is destined to become a popular exhibit, right up there with 'we had to destroy the village to save it.'" --John Leo, New York Sun

Wednesday, August 08, 2007

Times de-selects itself, crowd-sources ideas for terrorists

 
The New York Times is soliciting the best ideas for terrorists to wreak havoc in the United States. Seriously. But never -- never -- question their patriotism. After all, the Times might be cooperating with the government by feeding the guvvies all of the IP addresses that are hitting that article. Er - on second thought, maybe not.

In related news, Maureen Dowd's readership just increased, like, infinity-percent, dude.

Tuesday, August 07, 2007

KGB: "The left is abetting America's enemies"

 
Well, that's going to leave a mark.

Take it from this old KGB hand: The left is abetting America's enemies with its intemperate attacks on President Bush...

Sowing the seeds of anti-Americanism by discrediting the American president was one of the main tasks of the Soviet-bloc intelligence community during the years I worked at its top levels. This same strategy is at work today, but it is regarded as bad manners to point out the Soviet parallels...

[A] goal of our anti-American offensive was to discourage the U.S. from protecting the world against communist terrorism and expansion. Sadly, we succeeded. After U.S. forces precipitously pulled out of Vietnam, the victorious communists massacred some two million people in Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia. Another million tried to escape, but many died in the attempt. This tragedy also created a credibility gap between America and the rest of the world, damaged the cohesion of American foreign policy, and poisoned domestic debate in the U.S.

Unfortunately, partisans today have taken a page from the old Soviet playbook. At the 2004 Democratic National Convention, for example, Bush critics continued our mud-slinging at America's commander in chief. One speaker, Martin O'Malley, now governor of Maryland, had earlier in the summer stated he was more worried about the actions of the Bush administration than about al Qaeda. On another occasion, retired four-star general Wesley Clark gave Michael Moore a platform to denounce the American commander in chief as a "deserter." And visitors to the national chairman of the Democratic Party had to step across a doormat depicting the American president surrounded by the words, "Give Bush the Boot..."

Wall Street Journal: Propaganda Redux

Saturday, August 04, 2007

AP: Jamil Hussein is Back... with a Vengeance!

 
The AP's Steven Hurst resurrects a name from the past for a story on Baghdad's water supply. Yep, you guessed it:

Jamil Hussein is back... and this time, he's ticked off!

Jamil Hussein, a 52-year-old retired army officer who lives in northeast Baghdad, said the water that does flow smells and is unclean. Two of his children have severe diarrhea that the doctor attributed to drinking what tap water was available, even after it was boiled...

Who knew? Jamil Hussein? Retired with kids?

My recommendation to The New Republic -- after it's reputation-destroying Scott Thomas Beauchamp debacle -- is to send someone out to northeast Baghdad for an exclusive interview with the Jamil Hussein! Now, dammit, now!

Monday, July 30, 2007

Remember when the mainstream media sided with America?

 
Remember a time when the mainstream media didn't reveal national security secrets until it was absolutely necessary?

I don't.

Sunday, July 29, 2007

Fire up the Tivo for Monday Night's O'Reilly Factor

 
Monday's O'Reilly Factor should be a keeper. O'Reilly has promised to go after hard left rally site Daily Kos, turning over the rocks to expose a plethora of crackpots that harbor virulently anti-American, Communist, and antisemitic leanings.


One of Kos' greatest hits

With Democratic candidates scheduled to pay a visit to his YearlyKos event, Markos appears to have gone on a hurried cleaning binge, attempting to purge the site of offensive material. Too late! Consider the following choice items from the last several months:

- Daily Kos: KILLITARY: Are America's Armed Forces Creating Serial Killers and Mass Murderers?
- Daily Kos: Arkin Was Right - We Do Have a Mercenary Army and They Do Owe Us!
- Daily Kos: "I support our troops - cowards, queers, and all"
- Daily Kos: Hamas brings peace and tranquility to Gaza
- Daily Kos: Neocon Fear of Iran is Worse than Iranian Nukes
- Daily Kos: Stopping Christian Zionism and Hanging with Hamas
- Daily Kos: The Apartheid Phone System of Palestine*
- Daily Kos: Support Hugo Chavez
- Daily Kos: Restoring the Palestinian Voice to Daily Kos
- Daily Kos: "Lieberman should be gassed"

* featuring infamous whackjob author Eileen "The ultimate goal of the Zionists is one-world government under the control of the Zionists and the Zionist-oriented Jewish international bankers" Fleming

Those are just a few of the entries captured since May 15th, 2007.

The Democratic candidates must be so proud to be associated with this fine, upstanding website!

Monday night's "no-spin zone" is going to leave some folks' heads spinning.

Update: Gateway Pundit notes a feeble attempt by MoveOn.org to organize a boycott of O'Reilly. Hmmm. That sounds like a bold strategy. Only they better start altering the A.C. Nielsen database first.

Thursday, July 26, 2007

Fairness Doctrine is Needed... for PBS

 
A recent PBS Frontline featured a retired "whistleblower" who claimed that "secret rooms" at AT&T facilities in cities throughout the U.S. had been tapped by the Government. The EFF filed a lawsuit in 2006, which is currently wending its way through the courts.

Notwithstanding whether anyone did anything illegal, I thought this portion of the interview was telling. I wonder if Mr. Klein has an agenda?

Q: There were terrorists who were living among us prior to 9/11. They were moving around; they were going to flight schools; they were renting apartments; they were traveling around. Doesn't the government need to do something in terms of gathering information to try to prevent the next terrorist attack?

A: ...you're asking this government -- which is full of prevarications and misleading statements and not very truthful and also a large component of simply [sic] incompetence -- handing them the keys to everybody's private information. I don't trust them with that... they're far more interested in just aggrandizing power for power's sake... the so-called war on terror, which is their excuse for everything they do. Everything is aggrandizing power secretly, with no oversight. And I'm against that. It's dangerous.

No oversight, that is, other than the bipartisan committees -- the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence (HPSCI) and the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence (SSCI) -- that vetted and approved the wiretaps.

Hey, I've got an idea. How about the fairness doctrine for PBS, since we foot the damn bill?