UK Airline Terror Plot: More Details Emerge

ABC News provides additional clarity around the UK Airline Terror Plot:

...The suspected terror plotters arrested in Britain had planned to conceal their liquid or gel explosives inside a modified sports beverage drink container and trigger the device with the flash from a disposable camera. ABC News has learned exclusively that the plotters planned to leave the top of the bottle sealed and filled with the original beverage but add a false bottom, filled with a liquid or gel explosive. The terrorists planned to dye the explosive mixture red to match the sports drink sealed in the top half of the container. This, they thought, would ensure that they would be able to pass through security -- even if they were asked to unseal and drink the beverage. The flash in a disposable camera has enough electrical power, they apparently believed, to set off the homemade explosive. There are any number of homemade or modified commercial liquids that would have made effective explosives, with enough energy to damage or destroy a plane.

Wade Miller's Branded Woman

Book Review:

Tough, jaded, and smart, Cay Morgan is like any other jewel smugger except for one thing: she's a female. And a remarkably attractive female at that. In fact, her only physical flaw is a brand on her forehead, which left a permanent scar in the shape of the letter T. A brand inflicted as a permanent warning by "The Trader," a criminal kingpin standing at the top of the smuggling pyramid.

Five years later, Morgan is determined to exact vengeance for the painful imprint. She is in Mazatlan, shadowing a man called Valdes, a known associate of the Trader. A private detective has accompanied her, ostensibly to watch her back and perform some legwork while she hunts for her nemesis. Things go bad, though, when Valdes turns up dead, cutting off her last link to the Trader. And then things go from bad to worse when she stumbles across the body of her private detective.

Stunning plot twists and an utterly unpredictable conclusion are hallmarks of Branded Woman. Further, Morgan is fleshed out as a full-fledged person, not a cardboard cutout the way that many female protagonists are portrayed. All in all, while it's not the finest in the Hard Case Series ("Touch of Death" and "Bust" are two I consider superior), it's certainly high quality work that's helping to resurrect the Pulp genre.

UK threat level increased to critical

Pplease note the following message from the Home Secretary:

Overnight the police, with the full knowledge of Ministers, have carried out a major counter-terrorism operation to disrupt what we believe to be a major threat to the UK and international partners. The police, acting with the Security Service MI5, are investigating an alleged plot to bring down a number of aircraft through mid-flight explosions, causing a considerable loss of life. The police believe the alleged plot was a very significant one indeed. At 2am this morning the Joint Terrorism Analysis Centre raised the UK threat state to its highest level – "Critical" This is now being publicly announced, as I promised to Parliament last month. This is a precautionary measure. We are doing everything possible to disrupt any further terrorist activity. This will mean major disruption at all UK airports from today. But as far as is possible we want people to go about their business as normal. The police will provide an update on the operation later this morning and Ministers will keep the public regularly informed.'

Advice to travellers - increased security measures

Editor's note: emphasis mine.

10 August 2006 Due to the increased security measures currently in place at UK airports, the following advice to anyone travelling today has been issued by the Department of Transport. With immediate effect, the following arrangements apply to all passengers starting their journey at a UK airport and to those transferring between flights at a UK airport.  Flying today contact the airline you're flying with to check your flight is still going ahead arrive as early as possible for your flight to ensure that, other than the few permitted items listed below, all your belongings are placed in your hold baggage and checked in expect long delays Hand luggage All cabin baggage must be processed as hold baggage and carried in the hold of passenger aircraft departing UK airports.  The only items that may be taken through airport security search points and in to the cabin, in a single (ideally transparent) plastic carrier bag, are the following:  pocket-size wallets and pocket-size purses plus contents (for example money, credit cards, identity cards, etc - handbags are not allowed. travel documents essential for the journey (eg, passports and travel tickets) prescription medicines and medical items sufficient and essential for the flight (eg, diabetic kit), except in liquid form unless verified as authentic spectacles and sunglasses, without cases contact lens holders, without bottles of solution for those travelling with an infant: baby food, milk (the contents of each bottle must be tasted by the accompanying passenger) and sanitary items sufficient and essential for the flight (nappies, wipes, creams and nappy disposal bags) female sanitary items sufficient and essential for the flight, if unboxed (eg, tampons, pads, towels and wipes) tissues (unboxed) and/or handkerchiefs keys (but not with electrical key fobs) Nothing may be carried in pockets. Searches and x-ray screening All passengers must be hand searched, and their footwear and all the items they are carrying must be x-ray screened. Pushchairs and walking aids must be x-ray screened, and only airport-provided wheelchairs may pass through the screening point. Flying to the USA The US has raised its threat level to 'red' for flights coming in from the UK. This means passengers are likely to encounter additional security measures once they land at an American airport. In addition to the  security measures listed above, all passengers boarding flights to the US and all the items they are carrying, including those acquired after the central screening point, must be subjected to secondary search at the boarding gate.  Any liquids discovered will be removed from the passenger.  There are no changes to current hold baggage security measures.   Delays are inevitable Regrettably, these additional security measures will mean significant delays at airports are inevitable.  The measures will make travel more difficult for passengers, particularly at such a busy time of the year. But they are necessary and will continue to keep flights from UK airports properly secure.  We hope that these measures, which are being kept under review by the government, will need to be in place for a limited period only.  In light of the threat to aviation and the need to respond to it, we are asking the traveling public to be patient and understanding and to cooperate fully with airport security staff and the police.  If passengers have any questions on their travel arrangements or security in place at airports they should contact their airline or carrier. Heathrow closed to incoming flights Due to increased security measures that have caused considerable congestion at Heathrow Airport - London's main airport and the busiest airport in Europe - it has been closed to all incoming flights that are not already in the air. Advice from Heathrow's operator BAA is that passengers should not come to Heathrow Airport today unless there journey is absolutely necessary. If passengers must come to the airport today, BAA advise: travel to the airport by public transport arrive as early as possible for your flight expect very long delays Heathrow - BA short-haul flights cancelled All incoming and outgoing British Airways short-haul flights, scheduled for departure until 2.00pm have now been cancelled.  Stansted - Ryanair flights cancelled Ryanair flights leaving London Stansted airport between 9.35am and 12.05pm have been cancelled. Disruption to flights into Britain Some flights into Britain have also been cancelled: Brussels to London airports Lufthansa to all UK airports Olympic airlines to UK airports Air France, Paris to London

The four types of Reuters Fraudtography

Zombie posts an exceptional overview of the four types of fraudtography engaged in by Reuters. Better still, an analysis of why Reuters has continued to participate in a such scandalous, wide-ranging behavior is in order. Zombie is more than happy to oblige.

Sometimes I think it's the gryoscopic energy of Paul Julius Reuter spinning in his grave that keeps the Earth aligned on its axis.

Mike gets a new office

Geek Invasion features a pretty good prank on Mike. My favorite decorating style: Early American Cardboard.

In addition, the YouTube video of the Microsoft Quarter-Mode Office Project (reducing a fellow worker's office to one-quarter its normal size one evening) is also entertaining.

But both pale in comparison to the final HVAC escapade I described here.

I'm not dead yet, I'm feeling much better

In 2002, a much-publicized funeral in Jenin -- a Palestinian town -- featured the following bit of unintentional comedy. The video of the event, staged for the press to highlight civilian deaths ostensibly caused by Israeli aggression, included an odd incident (hat tip: Taranto):

...IDF field intelligence chief, Colonel Miri Eisen, told reporters that the film shows someone who is supposedly dead--and on the way to burial -- falling off his stretcher and then running away...

Fast-forward to 2006. Adnan Hajj, Reuters' infamous and discredited fraudtographer, was fortunate to have his work featured on the Saturday New York Times' front-page.

The Times could not spare any column-inches to clue readers in to the fact that Hajj had been utterly humiliated over the weekend. That is, until Tuesday the 8th, in an article entitled, "Bloggers drive inquiry into altered images."

In what may be the understatement of the year, the Times noted:

...many bloggers see an anti-Israel bias in Hajj's manipulations, which made the damage from Israeli strikes into Beirut appear worse than the original pictures had. One intensified and replicated plumes of smoke from smoldering debris. In another, he changed an image of an Israeli plane to make it look as if it had dropped three flares instead of one...

In keeping with their history of Pravda-esque censorship, the Times fails to note The Jawa Report's more relevant observation:

...Hajj is also an editor at as Safir... [which] is an openly anti-Israel Arabic news outlet in Lebanon...

More detail on Safir can be found here (warning: highly disturbing and graphic photos). Suffice it to say that Safir appears geared towards one goal: inciting hatred of Israel.

Thus, not only does Hajj make up the news, he also gets to edit it for a virulent propaganda rag!

And if you think Hajj has been busy, you haven't seen anything yet. Hajj repeatedly uses the same human props, including "the unluckiest home-owner in Beirut."

But Hajj isn't done yet! Adnan seems to have an alter-ego named Issam Kobeisi. The photos by Kobeisi and Hajj seem oddly familiar, almost... dare I say it... identical. In fact, it almost appears that Hajj has created an alternative identity to double-dip on his paychecks. A profitable venture to be sure, but not one that would endear him to his employers.

Of course, the Times doesn't mention any of this, but does include some choice quotes about how hard it is to police photographers in the digital age:

...Mick Cochran, the director of photography for USA Today, said the paper screens about 4,000 photos every day, looking for more than digital manipulation, especially in war zones where many American outlets hire local photographers because they can travel more easily than Americans...

I shudder to think what would have happened had Hajj actually been proficient at using Photoshop's stamping tool. The Times would still be featuring his egregious forgeries to drive their bizarre, Pravda-esque agenda.

Net Neutrality: McCurry hits bottom, digs new sub-basement

As if Mike McCurry isn't already going to hell for his egregious Clinton-era dealings, he's definitely ensured himself a belly-full of wasps, hornets and live coals at Lucifer's drive-in restaurant with his latest excretions. Okay, that last sentence was a joke aimed at my progressive friends, who think the entire Republican Party is controlled by the Christian Coalition. Only partially, Gary. Only partially.

Anyhow, McCurry -- whose resume includes a role as press secretary for both Abscam-disgraced former Senator Harrison Williams and our beloved Lincoln-bedroom-landlord, Account-exec-to-the-Chinese-Military, and Chief-Oval-Office-Philanderer -- has really told a whopper this time.

Try this one on for size: McCurry is claiming that Google advocates net neutrality so that it can get bandwidth for free! Yep... here's the statement from his egregious Baltimore Sun op-ed, which strangely omits to mention who his financial backers are (uhm, it starts with A, ends with a T, and has a T in the middle).

...The "neutral" proposal that companies like Google are touting will ensure that they never have to pay a dime no matter how much bandwidth they use...

BWHHHAHHUUUUUAHAHHAHAHHHHHAUUAUAHAHHAHHUUUUAHHHHAUAUAUAUAUUHAH * sputter *

Whhooooooooooeee. Whoa. Ouch. Hold on a sec and let me catch my breath.

This outrageous fabrication so incensed blogger Mike over at TechDirt that he issued a challenge to McCurry (emphasis mine):

That's a flat out lie. Google pays tremendously large bandwidth bills, and the more they use the more they pay. However, if McCurry is going to pretend Google "never [has] to pay a dime no matter how much bandwidth they use," let's see him put up or shut up. If McCurry really believes that, will he agree to pay Google's bandwidth bills for the rest of this year?

I think we'll see Bed, Bath & Beyond selling firearms before McCurry antes up on this one. Although, with the telcos' lobbying budgets, I guess one never knows.

It is crystal clear that a more liberal reading of the leash laws would keep dogs like McCurry's piece out of the press. But I guess, given examples like Reuters and CBS, quality-control issues at the major media outlets are rampant.

The carriers point to Christopher Yoo

A little background is in order. The carriers and their apologists point to Christopher Yoo's paper, held up as academia's answer to Tim Berners-Lee, Bob Kahn, Lawrence Lessig, Vint Cerf, et. al., all of whom favor net neutrality. Yoo's paper, a howler all on its lonesome, points to cable television (and pay-per-view specifically) as an aspirational example. Hmmm. Pay-per-View. Don King. Mike Tyson. Innovation?

A few (very, very few) parties -- most consisting of the carriers' lobbyists, an astroturf-funded Flash programmer, and a handful of misguided engineers -- have been battling incessantly for QoS, which on its face does sound good. Unfortunately, tiering traffic didn't work for Internet2 and there's no agreement as how to make it work on the public Internet. As NetworkWorld reports:

...Andy Malis, chairman of the MFA Forum, which is defining specifications to resolve the MPLS interconnect issue between carriers. "And at this point, the interconnections that are happening are basically for best effort [service] only..."

In other words, there's no general agreement yet how on even how to implement QoS hand-offs between carriers. And, without it, the whole structure is suspect (for reasons of prioritization tarriffs, taxation, and a whole boatload of other real-world financial concerns). Without handoffs, imagine NetFlix trying to run fiber from its data-center to each and every cable company and telco directly. Because, without handoffs, that's exactly what they'll need to do to guarantee QoS all the way to the consumer.

Sounds practical to me!

Furthermore, as many others have pointed out, a duopoly is hardly enough to ensure competition at the last-mile. And that's what the carriers have spent nine-figures-and-counting on lobbying for. And that's nine-figures-and-counting they haven't spent innovating. Truth be told, they're frightened by innovation. They've never had to survive in the real world. They've lived in a tiny, regulatory bubble insulated from fiscal concerns and protected from marketplace interdiction by lobbyists.

QoS is fine. Provided there's real competition at the last mile. And an FCC capable of enforcing it.

Go ye therefore hence, and suckle at the teat of wisdom. Take action. Today. Nothing less than America's technological leadership position hangs in the balance.

BlackHat: In Defense of Net Neutrality

BlackHat, the popular security conference hosted in Vegas, saw the debut of a tool that can be used to defend net neutrality. The concept behind net neutrality is that telcos and cable companies -- the duopoly that controls roughly 98% of all consumer broadband connections -- should not be able to speed up or slow down content providers based upon kickbacks.

That's the way things operate today, as mandated by the FCC. But the carriers have watched with ill-disguised envy as content-providers such as Google, Digg and Skype have succeeded beyond their wildest dreams. And they ask themselves, "Why can't that be us?" But, rather than competing at layers 5 through 7 by creating new applications, they have instead spent tens of millions of dollars to lobby Congress to change the ground rules.

I'd call the carriers' scheme hare-brained, but that would be an unforgivable insult to hares. Anyhow, BlackHat saw the introduction of a tool to help ensure the carriers are following the rules by treating all packets neutrally:

...Dan Kaminsky will share details of this technique, which will eventually be rolled into a free software tool, on Wednesday at the Black Hat USA security conference in Las Vegas. The software can tell if computers are treating some types of TCP/IP traffic better than others -- dropping data that is being used in VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) calls, for example, or treating encrypted data as second class. Congress is presently debating whether to enact "Net neutrality" laws that would prevent this from happening... Advocates of these laws say they are essential to preserving the openness that has made the Internet a success. Broadband providers say that such laws could prevent them from developing a new generation of services. Kaminsky calls his technique "TCP-based Active Probing for Faults." He says that the software he's developing will be similar to the Traceroute Internet utility that is used to track what path Internet traffic takes as it hops between two machines on different ends of the network. But unlike Traceroute, Kaminsky's software will be able to make traffic appear as if it is coming from a particular carrier, or being used for a certain type of application, like VoIP... ...He talked about how Comcast is already non-neutral, selling a premium service to allow customers to pass video or encrypted traffic without interference, and how the state of Washington had to move thousands of its employees off of Comcast because of their interference with the state's VPN. He also talked about various ways non-neutral networks could be detected, and ways to route traffic around them...

Read ComputerWorld's "Black Hat net neutrality test" - and if you're ready to take action, visit Save the Internet to find out what you can do to help preserve net neutrality. Nothing less than the future of America's technological leadership position hangs in the balance.

Reuters Fraud-tographer Wanted

Amusing comment at Digg regarding fired Reuters fraud-tographer Adnan "Leni Riefenstahl" Hajj:

I just saw this on a Hezbollah site: Wanted: Artist with REAL experience in photoshop including at least two years experience in the stamping tool and blending layers.

Watching the Red Sox play Andre Agassi

It's routine, of course, but Mark Steyn knocks another one out of the park. Read it all.

...when an army goes to war against a terrorist organization, it's like watching the Red Sox play Andre Agassi: Each side is being held to its own set of rules. When Hezbollah launches rockets into Israeli residential neighborhoods with the intention of killing random civilians, that's fine because, after all, they're terrorists and that's what terrorists do. But when, in the course of trying to resist the terrorists, Israel unintentionally kills civilians, that's an appalling act of savagery. Speaking at West Point in 2002, President Bush observed: "Deterrence -- the promise of massive retaliation against nations -- means nothing against shadowy terrorist networks with no nation or citizens to defend." Actually, it's worse than that. In Hezbollahstan, the deaths of its citizens works to its strategic advantage: Dead Israelis are good news but dead Lebanese are even better, at least on the important battlefield of world opinion...

Now consider nuclear weapons in the hands of terrorists. If there are no deterrents to use, methinks we have a very, very big problem.

Axis of Equivalence: CBS, CNN & Reuters' Adnan Riefenstahl

The J-Post is reporting that journalists from CBS and CNN allow themselves to be used as props in Lebanon (hat tip: RWNH):

...former Sunday Telegraph correspondent Tom Gross revealed that Hizbullah officers supervise CNN reports, that a CBS reporter admitted Hizbullah overseers determine what’s filmed, that repeated shots of several downed buildings lend Beirut the erroneous image of devastated WWII Dresden, that journalists are threatened, that Hizbullah holds their passports for ransom, that their analyses are skewed to curry favor, and so on...

Think about that for a moment, because it's almost unbelievable. The words and pictures carried by CBS and CNN are orchestrated by Hezbollah "public relations commandoes."

And CBS and CNN appear to be willing co-conspirators in these elaborate hoaxes. Why? Because they don't apprise viewers that their reporters operate under duress, their stories framed by terrorists and their backers.

Viewers believe they are seeing the unadulterated truth of the situation on the ground. Instead, they are fed the Al-Manar version of the truth, skewed to present Israelis in the worst possible light. Thus, in the information war, Israel is losing badly.

Eason Jordan and Saddam Hussein's Propaganda Machine

This isn't the first time CNN has been involved with weaving fables that would have done Brezhnev's Pravda proud. Recall that CNN, under the leadership of Eason Jordan, refrained from reporting Saddam Hussein's atrocities in order to "get the story." In 2003, Honest Reporting wrote:

In a shocking New York Times opinion piece, CNN's chief news executive Eason Jordan has admitted that for the past decade the network has systematically covered up stories of Iraqi atrocities. Reports of murder, torture, and planned assassinations were suppressed in order to maintain CNN's Baghdad bureau... ...Jordan has not always been so candid -- nor honest. Just six months ago on public radio, when challenged regarding the veracity of CNN's Baghdad reports, Jordan stated, "CNN has demonstrated again and again that it has a spine; that it's prepared to be forthright... we work very hard to report forthrightly, to report fairly and to report accurately and if we ever determine we cannot do that, then we would not want to be there [in Iraq]." CNN has [now] turned sincere, admitting it buried stories that would smear Mideast dictators, perhaps the time has come for more comprehensive, honest reporting in the region...

Dare to dream. That was three years ago. It's now 2006 and CNN appears to be following the same script from the same tired teleprompter. They parrot Al-Manar's fabrications while failing to inform viewers that stories are spinning faster than a Barry Zito curveball.

What lies beyond the horse blinders affixed to the camera lens? If CBS and CNN had real reporters, we'd know.

Meanwhile, J-Post complains that Israel is losing the information war:

...Supply routes from Syria to Lebanon are often hit in Israeli air force raids. The inevitable claim from Hizbullah and Lebanese sources is that food-ferrying trucks are being bombed. The IDF rarely comments. That's plainly no way to do business...

Unfortunately, that's the way of war. The IDF can't reveal information that would lead to the disclosure of sources and methods. It's just blocking and tackling. And it's hard to compete with Reuters' methods.

Reuters Photoshop Express

Reuters issues a "picture kill"

While it's clear that Western media has been operating with a casual disregard for the truth, out-and-out fabrications appear to be rare. Or perhaps not.

Within the last few hours, the blogosphere seems to have caught a Reuters photographer using image-editing software (the ubiquitous Adobe Photoshop, perhaps?) to make Beirut look like Tokyo after the fire-bombing. HotAir, LGF, Left & Right, and others were front-runners in detecting and exposing the fraud. Photographer Adnan Hajj has created a unique gallery of Hezbollah-approved™ images that make Beirut look like Dresden. But Hajj never seems to catch a glimpse of those pesky rocket-launchers operating in civilian areas.

Reuters has pulled the picture and replaced it with its ostensible original.

The Axis of Equivalence just doesn't seem to care. CBS, CNN, and Reuters all have a long history of moral equivalence. CNN's Eason Jordan didn't hesitate to protect Saddam Hussein's image during the important run-up to war:

...A 31-year-old Kuwaiti woman, Asrar Qabandi, was captured by Iraqi secret police occupying her country in 1990 for "crimes," one of which included speaking with CNN on the phone. They beat her daily for two months, forcing her father to watch. In January 1991, on the eve of the American-led offensive, they smashed her skull and tore her body apart limb by limb. A plastic bag containing her body parts was left on the doorstep of her family's home... I felt awful having these stories bottled up inside me...

In Jordan's defense, he did feel absolutely awful about this and other atrocities. Not awful enough to report them, mind you, but pretty awful nonetheless.

Now it's 2006 and it feels, for some historians, like Europe in 1938. Perhaps they're caught up in the spirit of the day, because from all appearances, the Axis of Equivalence seems to be employing their own Leni Riefenstahls.

For viewers here in the States, though, it would be helpful if media outlets could at least close-caption their Hezbollah propaganda clips as such. And if he were around today, I'm pretty sure Eason Jordan would approve.

Related:
EU Referendum: Qana: the Director's Cut
HotAir: The worst Photoshop I've ever seen
Left & Right: Reuters faking photos
LGF: Reuters Doctoring Photos from Beirut?
Publius Pundit: More enemy media hijinks?
RWN: Spinning Israel's Defeat

Today's Quiz

Today's quiz comes to us courtesy of EIB. Now don't cheat by clicking on the link! Here's the question: which of the following statements was uttered by Hezbollah leader Sheikh Nasrallah? And which was Democratic consultant Paul Begala's?

A: ...There's no peace. There's no stability, and there's no democracy. Things are getting worse... for Condoleezza Rice... to say... this is just the birth pangs of a new Middle East, [it's] one of the most... harmful statements...

B: ...Lebanon is the responsibility of Bush, Condoleezza Rice and Rumsfeld... Lebanon will [never] be Israeli, Lebanon will [never] be American. It will not be... Rice's new Middle East...

For the answer, position your mouse over Sheikh Nasrallah's helpful visage.

Main Event: Rumsfeld v. Clinton

It's a pity -- but entirely predictable -- that Thursday's network sound-bites from the Senate Armed Services Committee didn't include Donald Rumsfeld's point-by-point rebuttal of Hillary Clinton's carefully scripted statements.

The showdown between Clinton, a potential presidential candidate in 2008, and Rumsfeld, the public face of the Bush administration's war effort, included the strongest criticism of the Iraq war she has made to date... He rejected some of her specific criticisms as simply wrong and said the war against terror will be a drawn-out process. "Are there setbacks? Yes," said Rumsfeld. "Is this problem going to get solved in the near term? I think it's going to take some time." ...Rumsfeld also vigorously defended the performance of American troops, who have come under fire recently for alleged atrocities against Iraqi civilians. "Americans didn't cross oceans and settle a wilderness and build history's greatest democracy only to run away from a bunch of murderers and extremists who try to kill everyone that they cannot convert and tear down what they could never build," Rumsfeld said. "We can persevere in Iraq or we can withdraw prematurely until they force us to make a stand nearer home. But make no mistake, [extremists] are not going to give up whether we acquiesce to their immediate demands or not," he said, adding, "Ultimately the sectarian violence is going to be dealt with by Iraqis."

Clinton's careful, GPS-guided triangulations now include an exquisitely balanced call for the SecDef to resign. EIB's response:

Why in the world should Donald Rumsfeld resign? Has anybody caught him with his pants down in the office with an intern? Has he been selling military secrets to the ChiComs for campaign donations to President Bush? Has Rumsfeld lied before a Senate committee while under oath or to a grand jury? Was he called in the Valerie Plame investigation by Patrick Fitzgerald? Did he lie to that grand jury? Has he been coaching other people in his office to lie at press briefings or what have you? Has he been selling Pentagon paraphernalia, memorabilia, even rooms to campaign contributors so people can spend the night in the Pentagon and see what that's like? Has he been doing any of that? Has somebody accused him of rape? Did I miss that? Has somebody accused him of sexual harassment? Will somebody tell me why Donald Rumsfeld should resign, because I must have missed a lot.

Howard Fineman, interviewed by Matt Lauer, called Hillary Clinton, "the exquisitely balanced center of gravity of the Democratic Party."

That's one way to put it.

Just look around

If there's a Pulitzer Prize for straight-talk, Victor Davis Hanson is an odds-on favorite this year (hat tip: Powerline):

These past few days the inability of millions of Westerners, both here and in Europe, to condemn fascist terrorists who start wars, spread racial hatred, and despise Western democracies is the real story, not the “quarter-ton” Israeli bombs that inadvertently hit civilians in Lebanon who live among rocket launchers that send missiles into Israeli cities and suburbs. Yes, perhaps Israel should have hit more quickly, harder, and on the ground; yes, it has run an inept public relations campaign; yes, to these criticisms and more. But what is lost sight of is the central moral issue of our times: a humane democracy mired in an asymmetrical war is trying to protect itself against terrorists from the 7th century, while under the scrutiny of a corrupt world that needs oil, is largely anti-Semitic and deathly afraid of Islamic terrorists, and finds psychic enjoyment in seeing successful Western societies under duress. In short, if we wish to learn what was going on in Europe in 1938, just look around...

Victor Davis Hanson: Brink of Madness

Hewitt: So this is how the Thirties Felt

Hugh Hewitt has been doing yeoman's work sounding the alarm on the delusionary and messianic visons of Iran's leadership. Their startling statements -- promising the destruction of the West -- including the U.S., the U.K. and Israel -- echo Hitler's exhortations in Mein Kampf.

I am going to apologize in advance for cutting-and-pasting most of his post, but I think it is important enough to boldly emphasize Hugh's critical questions for the surrender-and-appeasement crowd to contemplate. Not that the New York Times will answer these questions - we all know they have more important things to do.

On Monday, President Ahmadinejad of Iran said, among other things: "They have no boundaries, limits, or taboos when it comes to killing human beings. Who are they? Where did they come from? Are they human beings? 'They are like cattle, nay, more misguided.' A bunch of bloodthirsty barbarians. Next to them, all the criminals of the world seem righteous." "I hereby declare: The world must know that America and England are accomplices to each and every one of the crimes of the regime that has occupied Jerusalem. They must be held accountable." "Today, the Iranian people is the owner of nuclear technology. Those who want to talk with our people should know what people they are talking to. If some believe they can keep talking to the Iranian people in the language of threats and aggressiveness, they should know that they are making a bitter mistake. If they have not realized this by now, they soon will, but then it will be too late. Then they will realize that they are facing a vigilant, proud people." On Tuesday, The Supreme Leader of Iran, the Ayatollah Khamenei said, among other things: "Bush and his American cohorts share the same degree of guilt in the disasters brought upon Lebanon as the evil and wicked Zionist regime.Yesterday, President Ahmadinejad. The aggressive behavior of American and Israel will revitalize more than ever the spirit of resistance in the Islamic world and will make clearer the value of Jihad. "The Islamic world and the Muslim youth in all Islamic nations should also realize that the only way to stand against the savage Wolf of Zionism and the aggressions of the Great Satan is by dedicated resistance. Yesterday, Ahmadinejad was in Malaysia, and said the following: "Although the main solution is for the elimination of the Zionist regime, at this stage an immediate cease-fire must be implemented...[Israel] is an illegitimate regime, there is no legal basis for its existence." Commentators urging cut-and-run in Iraq have to tell us what the impact of such a retreat on the... extremists in Iran. They have to tell us what they would do about the nuclear ambitions of these people, and of their obvious desire to destroy Israel and wage war on the west. They have to tell us how Democratic majorities in either the House or the Senate, committed as they are to rapid retreat from Iraq, would not empower Iran in its war on Israel and the West. (For an example of the paralysis confrontation with these facts produces in long time, strong supporter of Israel as well as committed partisan Democrat, find the transcript of my interview with The New Republic's editor-in-chief Martin Peretz when it is posted later tongiht.) At least Hitler pretended to be appeasable. There is nothing of that farce that seduced Baldwin and Chamberlain in the raw hatred, clear speech and unlimited ambitions of the... leaders of Iran and their proxies in Hezbollah.

We are on the cusp of historical changes as terrorists bent on controlling and dispensing nuclear weapons further their messianic and apocalyptic delusions.

And the Axis of Ignorance (Maureen Dowd, Bob Herbert, and Frank Rich). Couldn't. Care. Less.

One final thought for the Party of Weakness. Were the U.S. not in Iraq, blocking Iran's direct access to resupply Syria and Hezbollah, would the Middle East have already erupted into a catastrophic and nuclear conflagration?

Hugh Hewitt: So this is how the Thirties felt

The Modern Slave Trade isn't Dowd-Worthy News

If you strip away the Microsoft Word-generated Air National Guard memos, Hillary Clinton arguing with Donald Rumsfeld, Al Qaqaa, John Murtha tarring U.S. troops, staged photos of Hezbollah's human shields, Newsweek's fake but accurate Quran-flushing reports... if you strip away almost all of what passes for news over the past few years, what are we left with?

The real stories. The important stories. The stories that CBS, Newsweek, and the Gray Lady should be covering. But don't.

No, it's left up to the Bush State Department, vilified for lo these many years, to continue to expose the vast scope of the modern slave trade. Perhaps the mainstream media hasn't had enough time to research this "real news". After all, this is only the sixth annual Trafficking In Persons Report.

Hey, only about 800,000 people are bought and sold each year, so I suppose Abu Graib, Haditha, Halliburton, and the occasional, TV-friendly car bomb detonation should have top priority. Surely you can't expect the likes of Maureen Dowd to winch themselves off their ample derrieres, do some real investigation, and write about true evil and injustice?

After all, it only involves sexual slavery, child beggars, forced domestication, starvation, unreported rapes, beatings, and deaths, so I suppose these miserable souls -- numbering well under a million -- don't deserve any investigative reporting. Leave it up to the State Department! The mainstream media has fake but accurate stories to cover!

Do me a favor. Click on any of the following search links for 'modern slave trade' at the LA Times, the New York Times, CBS News, or ABC News, just as a little test. See if the Axis of Ignorance -- Dowd, Herbert, and Rich -- has called timeout on pillorying the Administration and the U.S. Military for a day to highlight what can only be called the inner rings of hell.

I'll sit here and whistle for a while as you go and peruse those links.

* * *
You see, the modern slave trade really isn't worth covering.

Because investigating this scourge on humanity would require scape-goating parties other than the Bush Administration and the U.S. Military. It would require delving into the true nature of evil. It would require reporting. And, heaven knows, the mainstream media doesn't have any time for that.

Related:
Fox News: U.S. Warns Germany to Do More to Stop Human Trafficking
Hugh Hewitt: So this is how the Thirties felt
State Department's 2006 Trafficking In Persons Report

Is the Media the Enemy?

In the case of the New York Times, the answer is almost assuredly yes

The New York Times suffered a major setback this week in its fight to keep reporters' phone records under wraps. A federal appeals court permitted the government access to the phone records. The government is investigating how two Islamic charities were tipped off to impending raids by the FBI.

The case began in 2004, after the Times discovered that the 2001 phone records of reporters Judith Miller and Philip Shenon were sought by prosecutors. During that time, the pair had authored stories on the Holy Land Foundation and the Global Relief Foundation, two organizations with suspected ties to terrorists.

Prosecutors claimed that the two reporters alerted the groups to FBI raids and a forthcoming freezing of assets. According to prosecutors, the phone records are central to the grand jury investigation.

Cooperative Research reports:

On December 3, 2001, New York Times reporter Judith Miller telephones officials with the Holy Land Foundation charity in Texas and asks them to comment about what she says is a government raid on the charity planned for the next day. Then in a December 4, 2001, New York Times article, Miller writes that President Bush is about to announce that the US is freezing the assets of Holy Land and two other financial groups, all for supporting Hamas. US officials will later argue that Miller’s phone call and article “increased the likelihood that the foundation destroyed or hid records before a hastily organized raid by agents that day...” ...Later in the month, a similar incident occurs. On December 13, New York Times reporter Philip Shenon telephones officials at the Global Relief Foundation in Illinois and asks them to comment about an imminent government crackdown on that charity. The FBI learns that some Global Relief employees may be destroying documents.

And just what are these Foundations?

Holy Land Foundation

In 2004, the U.S. Justice Department delivered a 42-count indictment against the Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development, which was long suspected of raising funds for Hamas. The Foundation and its leaders were named as co-conspirators in their efforts to provide funding to a terrorist organization and the families of suicide terrorists. The group reportedly funneled more than $12 million to Hamas affilliates (interestingly, the indictment also states the HLF raised $57 million since its incorporation, but only reported $36 million to the IRS).

Global Relief Foundation

The Treasury Department reports that the GRF has provided support for Usama bin Landen (UBL), al Qaeda, and other known terrorist groups. The GRF is accused of providing financial aid to individual associated with Al Qaeda and the UBL-directed 1998 bombings of the US Embassies in Kenya and Tanzania.

These are the groups that Miller and Shenon allegedly tipped off.

The 2-1 decision reverses a lower court ruling and upholds the subpoenas for the phone records from late 2001 of two reporters, Ms. Miller and Philip Shenon... In the current case, the Times had argued that the First Amendment freedom of the press should prevent the government from examining the phone records of its reporters. The disclosure of those records would reveal the identity of dozens of confidential sources, both reporters say in affidavits... The ruling, written by Judge Ralph Winter of the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, holds that because the case involves an alleged tip-off, the reporters are not entitled to the extra protection often afforded to the press under the First Amendment... The case is New York Times v. Gonzales. The Times initiated the case in New York, in what some thought was an attempt to get a friendlier set of judges than it might get in Illinois.

Is the media the enemy? In the case of the New York Times, you can judge for yourself.

New York Sun: Court Hands New York Times a Setback in Miller Case

Kingdom of Nouns

For aficionados of programming languages, Steve Yegge explains why times are tough in Java-land: Kingdom of Nouns.

Don't wait in line: use SMS!

Now restaurants can let their most valued customers skip the line. Mobo provides priority access by allowing customers to order and pay for meals using SMS. So how does it work?

...Customers create an account, which includes their credit card details. After signing up for the service, they can order online... or by text message/sms. The order appears on the restaurant's in-store Mobo system, and is automatically billed to the customer's credit card. The restaurant confirms the order, and the customer receives a text message stating when the order will be ready for pick up. Every Mobo restaurant has a separate Mobo Pick Up counter, so when their order is ready, Mobo users can walk straight to the counter, state their name and last four digits of their phone number, and pick up their food. For those customers that can't leave the office, Mobo also delivers...

If the service makes it any easier, expect to get a bib tied around your neck and spoon-fed when you show up.

Don't wait in line: use SMS

Representative Dingell (D-MI) is "not against Hezbollah"

Scott at Powerline notes the following snippet of interview highlighting the vast gulf that exists between the two parties:

Yesterday John posted a link to video clip of Democratic Rep. John Dingell on YouTube and posted the audio of the clip here. John accurately quoted Dingell as follows: "I don't take sides for or against Hezbollah; I don't take sides for or against Israel." Asked, "You're not against Hezbollah?" Dingell answers, "No..." ...The exchange occurs in the context of questioning on Dingell's vote against House Resolution 921 supporting Israel and condemning Hezbollah that I commented on here; Dingell was one of the seven Democratic "no" votes on the resolution...

Lest we forget, Hezbollah has been responsible for the deaths of hundreds of U.S. servicemen.

Of course, you won't be reading about Dingell's outrageous statements in the Old York Times. True to form, they've decided to censor this news, too (along with the 500 WMDs found in Iraq since 2003, the Project HARMONY database disclosures tying Al Qaeda to Saddam Hussein, and the Al Qaqaa stories that mysteriously exited stage left the day after the President's reelection).

I wonder how close rocket explosions would have to get to the offices of the New York Times before they: (a) recognize the gravity of the global war on terror; and (b) begin to back the U.S. military. One would have thought the gaping hole a couple of blocks away would have done the trick.

In the mean time, the Axis of Ignorance (Dowd, Rich, and Herbert) will continue its attempts to earn Pulitzer Prizes in the always competitive categories of cognitive dissonance and moral equivalence.