Friday, December 28, 2007

Terrifying new video from previously unknown terror group

 
I've captured some shots from an ominous video distributed by a previously unknown group (Liberation Army Against Freedom).



















Uhm, as you can probably tell, this isn't a terror group's video. It's a Dutch government fireworks safety clip that has generated a fair amount of buzz (and controversy). My personal take is that it's a brilliant piece of work. Be sure to visit the "official" website of the Liberation Army.

Linked by Dr. Sanity's Carnival of the Insanities - thanks!
Hat tips: Baron Bodissey and Larwyn
.

The pundits on the political fallout of the Bhutto assassination

 
A quick survey of the punditsphere concerning the effects of Pakistani unrest on the primaries...

Don Surber recalls the foreign affairs experience of several candidates:

Actually, Hillary is rather weak on foreign affairs, naively holding the hand of Mrs. Arafat as she delivered an anti-Israeli rant — in Arabic.

Hillary’s husband was weak as well. On his watch, two embassies were destroyed without much of a retaliation and his response to the USS Cole was to ignore it and hope it went away.

Sen. Joe Biden, D-Del., has better foreign policy credentials and even he is weak on that score.

But I will grant Hillary this: unlike Barack Obama, she never called for the bombing of Pakistan.

* * *

Gateway Pundit notes that Hillary Clinton didn't appear to know Bhutto quite as well as she claimed.

Benazir Bhutto's father was hanged... not assassinated... Benazir Bhutto had three children... not two.

Hey, I don't see the problem. What's an extra kid or two?

* * *

Mark Steyn, interviewed by Hugh Hewitt:

MS: ...I would like to think that it renders certain candidacies, for example... the happy face Obama candidacy, or the Mike Huckabee thing... when he apologized for the assassination of Bhutto today. But in a sane world, it would render these men utterly implausible as presidential contenders...

HH: ...I have been making the argument... that this also undermines Fred Thompson and John McCain, because Senators don’t run anything... except their mouths and committees badly, that it’s not about visiting a country, it’s about managing a war... Giuliani and Romney have executive experience... and Hillary can actually be understood to have some executive experience, or at least being close to it for a while. What do you make of the idea that foreign crisis elevates John McCain’s rather sad record of legislative screw-ups because he’s traveled the globe?

MS: ...Well, I would generally agree with you that Senators make bad, not just bad presidents, actually, but bad everything... John Kerry couldn’t even run that donut stand in Boston, which is his only experience in the private sector... they think it’s about flying across the world and meeting other A-list names... I think that is exactly what is not needed at this time... [A]n executive ability, combined... with a grasp of the underlying demographic reality, you know, Pakistan is a young country, it has one of the highest birth rates in the world... it’s only 60 years old... [it exports] all those young men, 18, 19, 20... what Pakistan was like in 1947 is utterly foreign and utterly irrelevant to them. And so the sort of, these kind of people who think it’s just about getting on the phone and speaking to some other A-list name in the rolodex on the other side of the world, I think that’s about the least helpful way to approach this thing.

* * *

Prairie Pundit notes Obama's staff struggling with the basic facts of the assassination:

NY Times: "[Obama] strategist, David Axelrod, said voters should take into consideration that the Iraq war led to the rise of terrorist activity and political instability in Pakistan. Mr. Axelrod said that Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton backed the Iraq war in 2002, while Mr. Obama did not..."

This is idiocy on stilts. This is coming from the let's invade Pakistan instead camp. Is he suggesting that if we went into Pakistan instead of Iraq, there would be no human bomb attacks in Pakistan and no political upheavals there? Axelrod and his candidate need to get a clue about this war. Everything that happens is not President Bush's fault or those who voted to liberate Iraq...

* * *

As for the radio and television pundits...

Michael Savage:

This evening, Michael Savage specifically complimented one candidate's reaction to the assassination: that of Mitt Romney who, in no uncertain terms, laid the blame on radical Jihadists behind this and countless other bloody attacks on civilization.

Mort Kondracke:

Spent plenty of time tonight hammering Romney, which is a great sign for Mitt. Obama and Hillary are attacking each other based upon experience.

Fred Barnes:

It's a GOP toss-up between Romney and Huckabee in Iowa.

Charles Krauthammer:

Each of the candidates is pretending they're the "nice" ones. Obama and Edwards are hammering each other and Clinton is lying low. Edwards is on the rise and Obama is obviously worried about it.

Update: Vanderleun points us to an exceptional piece of analysis on the Pakistan situation from Unqualified Reservations. Whilst not political in nature (whilst?), it provides excellent clarity into the tactical situation in Pakistan.

Texas-sized tip o' the hat: Larwyn

Video of Bhutto assassination emerges

 
The Sun has video images of Benazir Bhutto's assassination. And it appears that more evidence is emerging of Al Qaeda's involvement in the attempt to destabilize Pakistan.

“We have intelligence intercepts indicating that al Qaeda leader Baitullah Mehsud is behind her assassination,” ministry spokesman Javed Iqbal Cheema told a news conference... Mehsud is one of Pakistan’s most wanted militant leaders and is based in the South Waziristan region on the Afghan border.







Update: Hot Air has a longer version of the clip.

Open letter to NBC Sports regarding Keith Olbermann

 
December 28, 2007

To whom it may concern,

The choice of Keith Olbermann as a commentator for NBC Sports is ill-conceived at best.  Olbermann's virulent liberal commentary on MSNBC has received plenty of attention in so-called "red states", which comprise key markets for NFL football.  Rest assured that, in general, these markets do not appreciate Olbermann's sentiments.

Just days ago, Olbermann received a runners-up award for Media Research Center's Worst Reporting for 2007, stating: "Al Qaeda really hurt us, but not as much as Rupert Murdoch has hurt us, particularly in the case of Fox News. Fox News is worse than Al Qaeda - worse for our society. It's as dangerous as the Ku Klux Klan ever was."

He has called the commander-in-chief a fascist, referred to Mike Wallace's son as "monkey", questioned the results of the 2004 elections, used a "Seig Heil" salute to mock another commentator, and sprinkled numerous discussions with talk of impeachment of various administration officials.  Several of Olbermann's actions have been interpreted as beyond the pale (specifically the Wallace and the "Seig Heil" incidents, the latter drawing a reprimand from the Anti-Defamation League).

The list of Olbermann's grievous mistakes and attendant apologies are many.  That you can continue to employ a virulently partisan and unpopular character in a sportscasting role deserves your reflection and, we hope, correction.

Sincerely,

Doug Ross

cc: NFL Management Team

My entry in the Rageman Photoshop Contest

 
Read Snapped Shot's latest for the back-story.

Brian, please contact me so I can email you information as to where to send my winnings. Hehe.

Thursday, December 27, 2007

Ron Paul's severe case of foreign policy retardation

 
A CNN video provides an excellent snapshot into the mindset of Wrong Paul.

In short, Paul believes Al Qaeda is justified in being "annoyed" at the U.S., since we've thus far disrupted hordes of suicidal freaks that are trying to get their hands on nuclear weapons. Said freaks would -- and have promised to -- set fire to our cities in a heartbeat if given the chance.

Just days ago, on Meet the Press, the Ronket Scientist pilloried Abraham Lincoln for fighting the civil war. Furthermore, Paul would pull American forces from every corner of the globe because it just pisses people off when we extend economic aid, project force, and stay on offense against extremist murderers who seek the destruction of the U.S. (and could easily gain access to the war machines needed for such an effort).

Here's a memo to Paul and his nutcase followers: it won't work to pretend that this is 1642 and that tiny weapons, capable of wreaking catastrophic damage, don't exist.

Even Thomas Jefferson, who Paul likes to reference, sent the U.S. Navy and Marines to Tripoli to project force against the Barbary states. Every President since Jefferson has been willing to project power abroad. And the need to do so -- when the technology to torch a city can fit into a suitcase -- is more crucial than ever.

I have been convinced for some time that the vast majority of Paulians are actually far left, antiwar Democrats ('moonbats' is the term they prefer, I believe) running a false-flag operation on the GOP.

Update: CBS describes yet another clusterhuck from the Man from Hope II campaign. First, Huckabee "apologized" for the Bhutto assassination (uh... what??). Then, he misspoke about martial law in Pakistan. Aside from that, his performance was exceptional.

Hat tips: LGF and Astute Bloggers

Iranian Protesters: "Live Free or Die!"

 
Gateway Pundit has startling news of rampant protests in Iran.

Over 240 large protests have been held against the regime in Iran this last month alone. At several of the protests they called for the death of the dictator, etc....

Iraqi-American Haider Ajina sent this news from The Iraqi News Agency...

I vote to make the protesters honorary residents of New Hampshire.

Pity that -- once again -- the mainstream media is AWOL.

Megahed, Mohamed, Moussaoui: what was about to go down?

 
Tampa Bay 10 just broke some intriguing news regarding the third University of South Florida student arrested on alleged terrorism-related charges.

For the third time in months, the University of South Florida is taking a hit for housing three students with alleged terrorist ties... "There [might] be others that may be involved in this thing too, that we don’t even know about today," said retired FBI agent Oscar Westerfield.

Now the recent arrest of Karim Moussaoui is raising eyebrows. According to a USF police report, Moussaoui got a written warning for trespassing at the Embassy Suites on campus, just one day before his arrest by the FBI.

Hotel Security Director Robert Forteau told police he was patrolling the parking lot around 2 a.m. when he saw Moussaoui milling around. When he approached Moussaoui, that's when the situation escalated.

The report goes on to say Moussaoui was verbally abusive, called Forteau the “n-word” and refused to leave the parking lot. By the time USF police intervened, Moussaoui was gone.

They tracked him down on campus, but his name didn't turn up on any watch lists, so they let him go.

Westerfield believes that something may have been about to do down. Moussaoui's attorney, Steve Crawford, denies any knowledge of that incident.

Moussaoui, a Moccoran foreign-national, studied computing engineering on a student visa and was arrested by the FBI on December 13th, just days before his graduation from USF. Moussaoui faces charges for firing weapons at a local shooting range with fellow students Megahed and Mohamed.


That pair had been arrested in July in South Carolina for possession of incendiary devices, thought to be pipe bombs.

Westerfield believes that the arrest so close to the graduation date meant that he was "getting close to leaving the country."

Pity the mainstream media hasn't taken an interest in this story.

The John Edwards Love Child Saga, the NBA and the MSM

 
The blog doing the most heavy lifting on the reputed John Edwards Love Child saga is Death by 1000 Papercuts. While the story has been curiously ignored by the mainstream media, DBKP has continued digging.


The story keeps getting curiouser and curiouser, as reported Edwards love interest Rielle Hunter is allegedly being housed by a retired NBA player.

Question: What former NBA player's latest charity outreach involves providing housing for unwed, pregnant women?

Hint #1: The player and various family members have each contributed the allowable limit each to the John Edwards campaign, for a total of over $15,000.

Hint #2: The unwed, pregnant woman is actually just one: Rielle Hunter, the former producer of videos for the Edwards campaign that traveled around the country last year with the presidential candidate.

DBKP received a tip that Hunter is now living in the house of a former NBA player who is also an Edwards backer.

Again, this caused us to ask questions.

Was Rielle Hunter a professional basketball fan?

What is the connection between Hunter and the NBA player/Edwards contributor?

Will this cause any curiosity in a Mainstream Media that seems determined not to exhibit any?

Okay, so I was curious. Went to OpenSecrets and did a donor lookup.

The only ex-NBA player and heavy Edwards donor I found is Eric Montross, who is listed in Chapel Hill. That's not to say Montross is hosting Rielle, but if the DBKP story is accurate, he's someone for the MSM to check into.

Fittingly, DBKP hammers the mainstream media for its non-coverage of the John Edwards Love Child story.

[The story] doesn't excite Bob Schieffer...

A presidential candidate's alleged mistress moving close to campaign headquarters, driving around in a BMW owned by the campaign's former Director of Operations, living in a house owned by the campaign's backer, having her bills and living expenses paid for--well, who is paying them?

Doesn't matter.

That wouldn't likely excite Bob Schieffer, either.


...Unnamed source, you say?

"...it appears to me that there's absolutely nothing to it"

Good thing Deep Throat had the good sense not to leak to the Enquirer.

Bob Schieffer would have passed on that one.

But DBKP's doesn't mean to be picking on Bob Schieffer. We like Bob and always enjoyed watching "Face the Nation".

Bob's is shorthand for the attitude of the Mainstream Media.

I'm firmly convinced that the blogosphere renders the MSM increasingly irrelevant by the day.

Update: DBKP calls our attention to a curious statement in the December 19th Enquirer article:

...Young placed Rielle in a rental home in the Governor’s Club, the same gated community where he lives in a multimillion-dollar home with his wife Cheri and their young children. That home is owned by an Edwards’ backer and is less than five miles from Edwards’ national campaign headquarters in Chapel Hill, N.C.

A former “Director of Operations” for Edwards’ campaign, Young’s last official position with the campaign was “North Carolina Finance Director.”

He left that job about a month ago – about the same time Rielle settled in Chapel Hill.

A source close to Young vehemently denies that he funneled campaign money to Rielle – who drives a BMW SUV registered in Young’s name.

What an odd denial! Who accused Young of funneling campaign funds to support Rielle in the first place? I wonder if any member of our crack mainstream media will bother to check into this interesting thread.

Update II: Here's something I missed from Newsweek in December of 2006 (hat tip: Luke Ford):

The [Edwards campaign] Webisodes are the brainchild of Rielle Hunter, a filmmaker who met Edwards at a New York bar where Edwards was having a business meeting. "I didn’t think it was John Edwards," Hunter recalls, "because the public persona did not mesh at all with the person who was sitting in front of me." Hunter pitched Edwards on the documentaries as a medium for bringing the "real John Edwards" to the people. Edwards still has a ways to go. In the midst of a short theme sequence that begins each Webisode, the camera lingers over the former senator’s behind as he tucks a starched white shirt into his pants [LF: 1:12 into this video]. Still, Hunter, now under contract with Edwards’s organization, says she sees the untucked John Edwards coming more and more to the fore.

The 'untucked' John Edwards?

Update III: Jezebel certainly doesn't mince words.

Benazir Bhutto assassinated: Al Qaeda to blame?

 
CNN is reporting that Benazir Bhutto, former prime minister of Pakistan, was killed today in a suicide bombing attack.

Pakistani former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto has been killed in a presumed suicide attack, a military spokesman has announced on TV. Earlier reports said Ms Bhutto had only been injured and taken to hospital. Ms Bhutto had just addressed a pre-election rally in the town of Rawalpindi when the bomb went off.

At least 15 other people are reported killed in the attack and several more were injured. Ms Bhutto had twice been the country's prime minister. She was campaigning ahead of elections due in January.

CNN reports that Bhutto's husband stated that she had suffered a bullet wound to the neck.


Getty Images has graphic photos of the event and its bloody aftermath.


Fox News: "Pakistani opposition leader Benazir Bhutto was assassinated Thursday, shot in the neck and chest before a homicide bomber blew himself up at a campaign rally. Twenty others also died."

Stratfor: "Pakistan People's Party workers have set fire to police stations, vehicles and other parties' banners in Rawalpindi, Pakistan, GEO and AAJ television news reported Dec. 27. Rawalpindi's main thoroughfare, Murree Road, which is usually busy with traffic, is completely empty. Arson has also been reported in Karachi and Islamabad."

MSNBC: "Bhutto’s supporters at the hospital began chanting 'Dog, Musharraf, dog…' Some of them smashed the glass door at the main entrance of the emergency unit, others burst into tears."

Reuters adds that police reports indicate a suicide bomber initially fired shots at Bhutto as she left a rally. She ducked and he then detonated.

Sky News speculates that elections will be most likely cancelled or delayed.

Time: "She has been martyred."

Reuters: President Bush will make a statement at 11AM EST.

10:30AM ET: A SkyNews analyst just pinned the attack on Al Qaeda, stating that the modus operandi had all the hallmarks of the group.

Jawa links to Al Qaeda's claim of responsibility:

Via Adnkronos e-news: Karachi, 27 Dec. (AKI) - (by Syed Saleem Shahzad) - A spokesperson for the al-Qaeda terrorist network has claimed responsibility for the death on Thursday of former Pakistani prime minister Benazir Bhutto.

"We terminated the most precious American asset which vowed to defeat [the] mujahadeen," Al-Qaeda’s commander and main spokesperson Mustafa Abu Al-Yazid told Adnkronos International (AKI) in a phone call from an unknown location, speaking in faltering English. Al-Yazid is the main al-Qaeda commander in Afghanistan.

It is believed that the decision to kill Bhutto, who is the leader of the opposition Pakistan People's Party (PPP), was made by al-Qaeda No. 2, the Egyptian doctor, Ayman al-Zawahiri in October.

Death squads were allegedly constituted for the mission and ultimately one cell comprising a defunct Lashkar-i-Jhangvi’s Punjabi volunteer succeeded in killing Bhutto.

Gateway Pundit, Jammie Wearing Fool, Jules Crittenden, Don Surber and Jawa have additional details and insights.

High-resolution or unwatermarked photographs can be ordered from Getty Images.