RW-(the original) Dancing Madly Backwards Through A Liberal Minefield

Suppose someone left you an inheritance of a million dollars -- with the proviso that every cent of it had to be spent on tickets for you to go watch professional wrestling matches. If you happened to be a professional wrestling fan, you would be in hog heaven.
But what if you were not? How much would that million dollars be worth to you? Certainly a lot less than a million dollars.

What if there was a clause in the will which said that you could forfeit the million dollars and instead receive a cash amount of $100,000 to spend as you pleased? Many of us would take the hundred grand without strings, even if that was only ten cents on the dollar compared to the million for watching wrestling.

In short, money with strings is worth less than money without strings -- sometimes a lot less.

**UPDATE**
As is usually the case, Dr. Sowell writes multi part articles this is part II.
And now Part III

Ralph Peters reports from Baghdad on the civil war that isn't. That doesn't mean Al Qaeda boss in Iraq, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, won't keep trying to stir one up and it definitely doesn't mean that moonbats suffering from BDS (Bush derangement syndrome) here at home won't keep hoping for one, but it is good news from on site.

BAGHDAD
I FLEW over the streets of this city on Sunday. The calm made a striking contrast to the media hysteria. No mosques burned. No demonstrations seethed. The closest thing I saw to violence was a children's soccer game played in a suburb.

Baghdad isn't Candyland, of course. We skimmed the city at 300 feet — combat altitude — with the Blackhawk's guns up.

But it sure wasn't civil war. For now, at least, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi and his blood-cult terrorists haven't succeeded in pitting Sunni against Shia.

Our effort to help Iraqis build a rule-of-law democracy may yet fail. But it remains a better bet that Iraq will become the most equitably governed major Arab state and that a democracy, however imperfect, will stand where a monstrous regime fell.

Last week, the terrorists scored a temporary win by bombing the Golden Mosque in Samarra. Retaliatory attacks pocked Iraq's urban landscapes, providing striking TV images. Starved for headlines, the global media declared a civil war.

But the Iraqis didn't sign up. Yes, there was "unrest." And a daytime curfew was imposed. But after an initial spate of bickering, Iraq's key leaders came together — as they could not have done under Saddam — to calm the situation.

I got this via e-mail and I don't know first hand that this is true, but it sounds plausible and fairly easy to fall for:


WARNING...New Credit Card Scam.
Note, the callers do not ask for your card number; they already have
it. This information is worth reading. By understanding how the VISA &
MasterCard Telephone Credit Card Scam works, you'll be better prepared to
protect yourself. One of our employees was called on Wednesday from "VISA",
and I was called on Thursday from "MasterCard".
The scam works like this:
Person calling says, "This is (name), and I'm calling from the
Security and Fraud Department at VISA. My Badge number is 12460. Your card
has been flagged for an unusual purchase pattern, and I'm calling to verify.
This would be on your VISA card which was issued by (name of bank). Did you
purchase an Anti-Telemarketing Device for $497.99 from a Marketing company
based in Arizona?"
When you say "No", the caller continues with, "Then we will be
issuing a credit to your account. This is a company we have been watching
and the charges range from $297 to $497, just under the $500 purchase
pattern that flags most cards. Before your next statement, the credit will
be sent to (gives you your address), is that correct?" "You say yes".
The caller continues - "I will be starting a Fraud investigation. If
you have any questions, you should call the 1- 800 number listed on the back
of your card (1-800-VISA) and ask for Security. You will need to refer to
this Control Number. The caller then gives you a 6 digit number.
"Do you need me to read it again?"
Here's the IMPORTANT part on how the scam works. The caller then
says, "I need to verify that you are actually in possession of your card".
He'll ask you to "turn your card over and look for some numbers".
There are 7 numbers; the first 4 are part of your card number, the next 3
are the security Numbers' that verify you are the possessor of the card.
These are the numbers you sometimes use to make Internet purchases to
prove you have the card. The caller will ask you to read the 3 numbers to
him.
After you tell the caller the 3 numbers, he'll say, "That is correct,
I just needed to verify that the card has not been lost or stolen, and that
you still have your card. Do you have any other questions?"
After you say No, the caller then thanks you and states, "Don't
hesitate to call back if you do", and hangs up.
You actually say very little, and they never ask for your Card
number. But after we were called on Wednesday, we called back within 20
minutes to ask a question. Are we glad we did! The actual VISA Security
Department told us it was a scam and in the last 15 minutes a new purchase
of $497.99 was charged to our card
Long story made short - we made a real fraud report and closed the
VISA account. VISA is reissuing us a new number.
What the scammers want is the 3-digit PIN number on the back of the
card. Don't give it to them. Instead, tell them you'll call VISA or Master
card directly for verification of their conversation. VISA told us that they
will never ask for anything on the card as they already know the information
since they issued the card! If you give the scammers your 3 Digit PIN
Number, you think you're receiving a credit. However, by the time you get
your statement you'll see charges
for purchases you didn't make, and by then it's almost too late
and/or more difficult to actually file a fraud report.
What makes this more remarkable is that on Thursday, I got a call
from a "Jason Richardson of MasterCard" with a word-for-word repeat of the
VISA scam. This time I didn't let him finish. I hung up! We filed a police
report, as instructed by VISA. The police said they are taking several of
these reports daily!
They also urged us to tell everybody we know that this scam is
happening.
Please pass this on to all your family and friends. By informing each
other, we protect each other.

A sample, click the title to read it all.

VARGAS: Let's move to Iraq. This has been a rough few days in Iraq since the bombing of the mosque in Samarra. There's been a lot of sectarian violence. What is the policy if, in fact, a civil war should break out or the sectarian violence continues? Are you willing to sacrifice American lives to get the Sunnis and the Shiites to stop killing each other?


BUSH: I don't buy your premise that there's going to be a civil war. There's no question that the bomber of the mosque is trying to create sectarian violence, and there's no question there was reaction to it. On the other hand, I had the duty, which I did, to call these leaders, Shi'a and Sunni leaders, as well as Kurdish leaders.

And the response was that we understand this is a moment that we've got to make a choice if we're going to have sectarian strife or whether or not we're going to unify. And I heard loud and clear that they understand that they're going to choose unification, and we're going to help them do so.


VARGAS: But what is the plan if the sectarian violence continues? I mean, do the U.S. troops take a larger role? Do they step in more actively to stop the violence?


BUSH: No. The troops are chasing down terrorists. They're protecting themselves and protecting the people, and — but a major function is to train the Iraqis so they can do the work. I mean the ultimate success in Iraq —

That newsbusters story linked in the title sheds a little light on the hideous campaign finance laws we live under as well as how Air(head) America stays on the air. At least I've heard they are on the air, that could be a sham too.

The athletes are finally having fun and the air of celebration is unique. The host city feels an intense pride and breathes a huge sigh of relief.

All you want to know about the Torino games is here complete with photos, slide shows, and results.

This turned out to be the USA's second most successful Winter Games ever, but for all the good things there is always someBode that doesn't get it.

RENO, Nev. (AP) - Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid said Friday that if midterm elections were held today Democrats would win the five seats they need to draw even in the Senate, due largely to the Bush administration's "general incompetence" at home and abroad.

Isn't it funny how Democrats always claim they would win the next election if only they could change it's date? Now it's possible that Senator Reid has a point, not likely but possible. The problem with his theory is that the elections will still be held November 7th and the candidates will have real names by then. See in you in the Fall, Harry!

The World of Cheese has built The Shrine to Don Knotts.

Don Knotts' official website.

Wikipedia bio.

The Don Knotts credit page on IMDB.

Generation Why? has all the details that we know so far.

Now ABC says more tests are needed.

**UPDATE**The substance is not Ricin. You've got to admire the sense of humor displayed by the students at the basketball game, though.
(hat tip-getalife)

Now if I were an investigator I would be collecting every powder these girls had access to.

OK so once upon a time I would have liked to have had this affair. That should be enough for the Atlanta Journal Constitution to write a headline confirming it.

For example, an AJC Headline today says:

BOMBERS HIT SAUDI OIL PROCESSOR

I guess the sensationalism came from the fact that it was so hard to figure out from the story under that headline what had really happened. For instance here is the first paragraph:

Abqaiq, Saudi Arabia --- Suicide bombers carried out a bold attack on the world's largest oil processing facility Friday but were stopped from breaking in by guards who fired on their cars, exploding both vehicles and killing the attackers.

(hat tip-Andy)

Greeting, fellow Americans. I have some serious news for you about the war against the terrorists, the war we are fighting to protect our liberties and our Constitution against Islamic totalitarianism. We're losing, big time. I don't mean we're losing in Iraq, where our brave men and women are fighting well in difficult conditions and with the home grown doubters at their heels. Nor in Afghanistan, where our men and women in uniform are also fighting brilliantly.

No, we are losing our freedom here at home, and in a particularly nasty way. It has to do with those cartoons mocking Mohammed that were published in a Danish publication and have excited riots and burnings across the Moslem world and fear and terror in Europe.

Click the title to read the rest.

See the cartoons here.

Let's agree that the White House might have handled the accidental shooting by Dick Cheney in a different fashion. They could have put out a press release, even with sketchy details, with more information to follow.

The vice president, of course, followed a different course. After the accidental shooting of his friend of 30 years, Harry Whittington, Cheney allowed the ranch owner -- a witness to the incident -- to give an interview to a local newspaper, the Corpus Christi Caller-Times.

This incident became a perfect storm for all that the mainstream media dislikes about the Bush administration -- tax cuts, the war, his alleged secrecy, tax cuts, Abu Ghraib, Gitmo, the Katrina response, tax cuts, Justices Alito and Roberts, his home state of Texas (where they have the death penalty), tax cuts, his walk, his pronunciation of the word "nuclear," and tax cuts.

When Cheney broke his silence, he elected to do so on Fox News, with former ABC White House correspondent Brit Hume conducting the interview. Hume, as usual, competently interviewed Vice President Cheney, asking him all the questions any fair-minded -- pardon the expression -- person might want to know.

Uh-oh. CNN's Jack Cafferty said, "It didn't exactly represent a profile in courage for the vice president to wander over there to the 'f-word' network for a sit down with Brit Hume. I mean that's a little like Bonnie interviewing Clyde, ain't it? I mean, where was the news conference? Where was the access to all of the members of the media? Whatever.

. . . I mean, you talk about facing a safe haven. He's not going to get any high hard ones from anybody at the 'f-word' network, I think we know that."

Read the rest as Larry Elder explains, although I refuse to agree that the White House should have issued a press release.

...I am appalled by this, but I have been tagged by my good and nekkid friend Sonia-Belle in some bizarre chain letter version of blog pimping. I am supposed to answer these questions and force four of my friends to endure this. Forget Gitmo, Sonia is the menace we all must fear.

1: Black and White or Color; how do you prefer your movies?

I like my movies in color when there are intimate scenes, black and white participants aren't an issue for me.

2: What is the one single subject that bores you to near-death?

Other than this list of questions I would say...no it's this list.

3: MP3s, CDs, Tapes or Records: what is your favorite medium for prerecorded music?

I have...click,click...always been ...click,click...partial to...click,click...eight track

4: You are handed one first class trip plane ticket to anywhere in the world and ten million dollars cash. All of this is yours provided that you leave and not tell anyone where you are going … Ever. This includes family, friends, everyone. Would you take the money and ticket and run?

OK, how the hell did you find me? I thought this was anonymous until that one...

5: Seriously, what do you consider the world’s most pressing issue now?

Sure now you get serious, all right I'll bite it's the fascination with multi-culturalism.

6: How would you rectify the world’s most pressing issue?

Obviously I would be tolerant of other cultures in their world and demand that they assimilate into mine at my place.

7: You are given the chance to go back and change one thing in your life; what would that be?

I would have met Sonia before we were both married, barring that I would pretend to be a woman when I meet her.

8: You are given the chance to go back and change one event in world history, what would that be?

I would have given Ross Perot a new hobby in 1992

9: A night at the opera, or a night at the Grand Ole’ Opry –Which do you choose?

How dare anyone question the allure of the Ryman Auditorium? Martina McBride sings at one, the other has a reputation of finishing with a fat lady.

10: What is the one great unsolved crime of all time you’d like to solve?

The OJ case...wait did you mean solved or convicted

11: One famous author can come to dinner with you. Who would that be, and what would you serve for the meal?

J.D. Salinger (and ignoring the fact that you just asked an extra question) I would serve red beans and rice, but only if it was Monday.

12: You discover that John Lennon was right, that there is no hell below us, and above us there is only sky — what’s the first immoral thing you might do to celebrate this fact?

I need no assistance from John Lennon to know that this shameless blog pimping is wrong on so many levels.

OK, so it's time to tag 4 other people. ERRRR:

getalife a vicious liberal that I happen to love like a brother.

China Daily an International model that I don't know. but suspect will hate me for this.

living101 a blog that I suspect would be liberal if it was political, but maybe it is just quirky. Added because we are neighbors.

You said four I grabbed this one out of the ether.

If you want to perpetuate this the questions are here without answers to strip out.

My apologies in advance to everyone but "getalife" because this is right up his alley.

Islamophobia, not national security, is at the heart of the raging controversy on Capitol Hill over a United Arab Emirates-based company, Dubai Ports World, assuming ownership and management responsibilities at six major seaports in the United States. U.S. lawmakers might bristle at the thought of letting the UAE own and operate U.S. ports. After all, it was a citizen of the UAE, Marwan al Shehhi, who piloted United Airlines Flight 175 into the second World Trade Center tower, and it was through the banks of this country that the 9/11 attacks were partially financed. But their fiery rhetoric and threats of congressional action mask an increasingly patronizing racism fueled by illogical paranoia rooted in past events. Let's deal with what the UAE is now.

Simply put, the reaction to the Dubai deal is un-American.

President Bush has therefore rightly threatened to veto any attempts to block the Dubai deal, although Congress, eager to insure the burden of responsibility falls squarely on his shoulders if another terrorist attack takes place on American soil, is sure to force him to pull out the presidential ink pen next week.

Congressional moves to reverse the administration's support for an Arab company to run American ports exposes dangerous prejudices in America's dealings with important Muslim countries at the time when they are needed most as front-line allies to fight terrorism. In Dubai's case, this reality is reflected by deep suspicions that the sheikdom's cordial relations with leading state sponsors of terrorism, like Iran, might somehow become the basis for DP World's port operations allowing nuclear, chemical, or biological weapons to be smuggled into the U.S. in ship containers from unregulated ports.

Dubai, known for innovative investing in antiterrorist technology, should be encouraged to fund and deploy a revolutionary array of security initiatives, such as neutron pulse scanners and smart container-tracking chips that can track and detect illicit materials in cargo containers. U.S. technology is already being developed in prototype form to create CAT-scan-like reports identifying nuclear and chemical materials inside containers in less than two minutes, without opening them or materially affecting port management economics. Rather than penalize Dubai for suspicions no one can prove, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security should find a common investment and implementation basis with DP World for moving such technology development forward at a more rapid pace.

Read the rest.

Other related posts on this blog here and here.

THE execution of a Californian man was postponed at the last minute yesterday after two court-appointed doctors refused to help to administer the lethal injection, a move that reignited America’s death penalty debate.

Michael Morales, who has been on death row since 1983 for the rape and murder of a teenage girl, was scheduled to die at 12.01am. But the execution was suddenly put off after the two anaesthetists withdrew, claiming their involvement would violate their medical oath to preserve life.

The involvement of the doctors, which had been ordered by a judge, was the first such case in the US and stemmed directly from research in The Lancet, the British medical journal, last year. The article, published in April, has shaken up advocates on both sides of the death penalty issue in the US because it suggested that some prisoners executed by lethal injection suffered agonising deaths.

The death penalty opponents have found a new trick. Find a few medical people that don't believe in it and make an absurd claim about pain and suffering. A third trimester baby should be so lucky to have someone step in and not allow the forceps to be plunged into their skull and have their brain collapsed.

In any case I'm not sure we should have executions anyway. I like the idea of telling these brutal killers that showed no mercy for their victims that it's time for them to meet their maker. When you get them strapped in and ready to ride the needle, just say something came up and drop them back in their cell with a "maybe next week." A few trips down the hall like this might find them begging for Old Sparky and the Ted Bundy treatment.

For the punch line of this whole story read the next paragraph after my excerpts, I thought that guy was supposed to be the devil!

Well at least according to Pravda.

It brings up the idea that the talks with Russia were included in a certain plan of actions, which the Islamic state has been taking to avoid a military attack from the USA. Russian diplomats pursue the same goal. A military conflict on the territory of a strategically important partner is highly unprofitable to Russia. If there is no chance to find a mutually acceptable decision in the talks, one can create an appearance of a fruitful dialogue,

It just wouldn't be profitable!

The outrage over the UAE port transfer is making laughingstocks of both Houses of Congress. The faux outrage by the Democrats is especially delicious. In speech after speech lately we have been hearing that President Bush is just playing the fear card. There is nothing to be concerned with and suddenly we are told that an entire country can't be trusted. The third largest port operator in the world must be kept away from America. It's not like this country is Iran or North Korea, but let's go ahead and piss off one of our best allies in the region, the United Arab Emirates.

Let's look at some of the positive things that the debate or the deal itself will bring about.

• We should easily be able to start some sensible profiling now.
  
  
• The Democrats will have a tough time scooting back behind their "no threat" curtain.
  
  
• Dubai Ports World is State owned, so any funny business and there is no ambiguous target.
  
  
• The original outrage pretending that this is about port security will make it easier to actually implement some strong security measures.
  
  
• It makes it that much harder for the Muslim clerics to fan the flames of hatred.
  
  
• Strengthens our ties with a strong Arab ally.
  

More in this category complete with multiple updates.

...is what you get from the Washington press corps according to Senator Alan Simpson.

Captain's Quarters has some logo ideas.

The knee-jerk reaction, mine included, is that this is just a horrible idea. The problem is this seems to be a story that starts with the conclusion and steamrolls backward. Michelle Malkin has opened the topic up for comments and provides many links to statements coming down strongly against the purchase of "Peninsular and Oriental Steam", a British company that currently runs the major operations at these ports, by "Dubai Ports World". Most of our cargo containers are inspected at the shipping end now anyway and it isn't like these operations were under any more American control before this deal than they will be after.

One of the biggest challenges to getting the full story is the secrecy of the panel that approved this transaction, but the panel isn't just a bunch of business men looking for a cheap way to handle shipments. CFIUS is a fairly serious group, at least as far as Government groups are. DHS, FBI, and the Coast Guard all apparently were involved in this decision. So I would like to know why this really is a bad thing. We have told the Muslim world that we want to have them join us in a global economy and we've told them that we want to help bring democracy and freedom to their lands. If we reject, out of hand, allowing the UAE to invest in American business simply because they are a Muslim country, how are we supposed to convince them of our sincerity? Granted, it might have been better to start with a few franchise businesses.

**Update 2/20** Strange bedfellows

**Updates 2/21** This New York Times article seems to show that this story is being presented as something very different than what it really is. Go figure, politicians playing politics.

People involved in the approval process said that, like all acquisitions of domestic businesses by foreign-owned companies, the Dubai Ports World acquisition was reviewed by the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States, representing 12 federal agencies.

Officials of Dubai Ports World's North American subsidiary, speaking on condition of anonymity because of the political delicacy of the situation, said the critics' fears were misdirected because the Coast Guard and the United States customs authorities, not the terminal operators, are responsible for checking incoming cargo, passengers and crews as well as for planning and maintaining port security.

This is a little more troubling.

The Bush administration got support Monday from former President Carter, a Democrat and frequent critic of the administration.

"My presumption is, and my belief is, that the president and his secretary of state and the Defense Department and others have adequately cleared the Dubai government organization to manage these ports," Carter told CNN. "I don't think there's any particular threat to our security."

Add Jimmy and me to Michelle's strange bedfellows list.

Expose the left has a post here also wondering where the details are. Maybe someone will provide some reason that this isn't a rush to judgment over there.

President Bush issues veto threat over blocking the ports deal. The President better get some non stop explanations going if he thinks he will be able to make that stick. According to Rush it's too late.

Another entry in the strange bedfellows category, Kos and LGF. Although, it seems that the LGF comment section is starting to sound more like my position.

Fred Frey says this is a non-issue and takes you on a tour of the management team. I was a little taken aback to see that Michael Moore is a Senior VP, however.

**Updates 2/22**

The Wall Street Journal follows some of the motives behind the concern. As well as one of the most glaring problems politicians are bringing to us with their rhetoric.

As for the Democrats, we suppose this is a two-fer: They have a rare opportunity to get to the right of the GOP on national security, and they can play to their union, anti-foreign investment base as well. At a news conference in front of New York harbor, Senator Chuck Schumer said allowing the Arab company to manage ports "is a homeland security accident waiting to happen." Hillary Clinton is also along for this political ride.
So the same Democrats who lecture that the war on terror is really a battle for "hearts and minds" now apparently favor bald discrimination against even friendly Arabs investing in the U.S.? Guantanamo must be closed because it's terrible PR, wiretapping al Qaeda in the U.S. is illegal, and the U.S. needs to withdraw from Iraq, but these Democratic superhawks simply will not allow Arabs to be put in charge of American longshoremen. That's all sure to play well on al Jazeera.

Washington Post Port Security Humbug

The LA Times calls this a "bipartisan hissy fit."

Dubai Ports World, like the foreign companies that already run the majority of key U.S. ports — including 80% of the terminals in Los Angeles — does not own the points of entry. It is a contractor that coordinates logistics. And most important, it's not in charge of security. Port operators work with U.S. security officials (port police, the Coast Guard, the Department of Homeland Security) in charge of preventing terrorism.

Ann Coulter might be called undecided. Well that probably isn't the best description, read it yourself.

**Updates 2/23**

Glenn Reynolds at Instapundit has come around and also links to several other opinions on this.

The UAE has opened the door for the White House to allow Congress more time to make fools of themselves.

Bush administration officials and some conservative thinkers hope that health savings accounts can change health care finance in a way similar to the way Section 401(k) changed pensions. Health savings accounts allow holders of health insurance policies to retain monies they do not spend. Typically, such policies have high deductibles. Policyholders pay for routine and predictable medical expenses out of their own pockets, but they are insured against catastrophic expenses.

The Medicare/prescription drug law of 2003 contained provisions allowing health savings accounts -- one reason the Bush administration and most congressional Republicans supported it. Now the administration wants to strengthen HSAs by making premiums on these policies tax-deductible.

This is an attempt to reverse the effect of the World War II decision to make health insurance policies deductible to employers and tax-free to employees. This tended to tie health insurance to employment and has made individuals dependent on large organizations. Since third parties pick up the tab for most health care spending, consumers tend not to be cost-conscious, and the result has been above-inflation cost increases for health care.

Earlier this week U.S. Secretary of State fired another salvo of harsh criticisms at Iran. She also criticized Syria for inciting the “war of cartoons.” Well, such statements by the head of U.S. diplomacy have long ceased being a surprise to anyone. Making statements like that is one of her duties. In the meantime, we can assume that Ms. Rice is also pursuing some other goals apart from doing her regular job.

Many experts, especially those who are critical of the U.S. administration, regard Condoleezza Rice a generator of ideas for President George W. Bush at least in terms of designing n a foreign policy. We are not going to make an unambiguous statement regarding strong influence exerted by the state secretary on the president. At the same time, it is easy to see that Secretary Rice’s stance on most issues is tougher than that of the President Bush. Earlier this week, she said that the president was still considering all options for resolving the Iranian issue including the possibility of launching an attack on Iran. The first question that pops up: Why did not the president himself say about it? An explanation probably lies in a clear-cut division of labor inside the U.S. administration. Compared to Bush, Rice delivers more radical statements as if to trigger a certain reaction of the international public opinion. The president then takes the reaction into account and does as he thinks fit.

Rice/? 2008! Where do I sign up? Something tells me Hugo won't be happy.

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez launched a new verbal attack against US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, bluntly warning her "don't mess with me, girl."

Responding to remarks before the US Congress last week in which Rice called Chavez a "challenge to democracy" in Latin America, Chavez warned the top US diplomat to back off.

"She messed with me again," he said in his weekly "Hello President" television show, deliberately mangling her name as "Condolences." "Don't mess with me, girl."

Last week, after her US Congress testimony, Chavez dismissed Rice as "the imperial lady."

He vowed Sunday that Washington would fail in its bid to arouse international opinion against Caracas, and accused the George W. Bush administration of fomenting transit strikes and other unrest to destabilize his country.

Via Yahoo Singapore

No word on whether next weeks "Hello President" will have Jimmy, Harry, or Cindy as guests.

''Our primary reason," the editors confessed, is ''fear of retaliation from . . . bloodthirsty Islamists who seek to impose their will on those who do not believe as they do . . . Simply stated, we are being terrorized, and . . . could not in good conscience place the men and women who work at the Phoenix and its related companies in physical jeopardy. As we feel forced, literally, to bend to maniacal pressure, this may be the darkest moment in our 40-year-publishing history."

The vast majority of US media outlets have shied away from reproducing the drawings, but to my knowledge only the Phoenix has been honest enough to admit that it is capitulating to fear. Many of the others have published high-minded editorials and columns about the importance of ''restraint" and ''sensitivity" and not giving ''offense" to Muslims. Several have claimed they wouldn't print the Danish cartoons for the same reason they wouldn't print overtly racist or anti-Semitic material. The managing editor for news of The Oregonian, for example, told her paper's ombudsman that not running the images is like avoiding the N-word -- readers don't need to see a racial slur spelled out to understand its impact. Yet a Nexis search turns up at least 14 occasions since 1999 when The Oregonian has published the N-word unfiltered. So there are times when it is appropriate to run material that some may find offensive.

Even if the press wants to surrender, let's hope the rest of us don't. Here is an updated list of news outlets that have run the cartoons.

Sonia-Belle has a very interesting blog that isn't always safe for browsing in some areas. It's a shame sometimes because it is a very thought provoking site. The post linked here is an example. And if you are open minded and not in a puritanical work environment I encourage you to explore.

**UPDATE** The link in the title takes you to the bottom of the comments, scroll up for the post.

Alec Baldwin, an action video. Enjoy!

The story linked above says 40% of British Muslims want Sharia law. I could look at what they said and why they said it, but I don't want to risk blowing my first impression.

I am becoming more of a modern day journalist with every passing moment! Next thing you know I'll be thundering out, "If it bleeds it leads".

Bert Prelutsky and his wife have the entire staff of RW-(the original) on their side.

My wife would like to see us kick the United Nations out of the United States. I, for one, think it’s a swell idea. What’s more, I’m certain that most New Yorkers feel the same. After all, for the past 58 years, the gang of scofflaws have taken advantage of their diplomatic immunity to be the worst kind of guests. Double-parking is the least of it.
Probably the only people who would miss these expense account spongers are the waiters and maitre ‘d’s at the more expensive Manhattan eateries.

My own reason for wanting the U.N. padlocked is because I object to corruption and hypocrisy being passed off as high mindedness. I understand that Kofi Annan, which sounds like a 12-step program for caffeine addicts, collected a nice piece of change out of Iraq’s phony oil-for-food program. But my problem with the organization is more basic than that, although it does explain how it is that Mr. Annan seems to have a more extensive, more expensive, wardrobe than Donald Trump.

People such as John Kerry are always eager to get the U.N.’s good housekeeping seal of approval before America makes a foreign policy decision. Or at least Kerry and company do when there’s a Republican in the White House. I don’t seem to recall it’s having been quite so imperative when Clinton and Lewinsky were holding down the Oval Office.

From Alec Baldwin in the the Huff and Puff social club news we get this.

So, I suppose the question is...what kind of civil trial will we see, or not see, between Cheney and Whittington? Whittington is certainly no stranger to a court room and to civil litigation. Will Cheney pay him off, preemptively? Will they go to court? I would imagine if a guy with a few beers in him shoots you in the face on a hunting trip, how could you turn down that opportunity?

What would Cheney do about the whole secrecy thing then? I mean, this is the guy that sicced Enron on Gray Davis and the state of California to embarrass Davis, trigger the recall and then watched Arnold Schwarzenegger become governor of California. (To this day, perhaps, still the low point in American political life.) Then Cheney covered it up.

Cheney's the guy who told Libby to out Valerie Plame. The rumor I heard is that someone yelled, "Look out! Shooter!" and Cheney thought he said Scooter and fired in that general direction.

Cheney is a terrorist. He terrorizes our enemies abroad and innocent citizens here at home indiscriminately. Who ever thought Harry Whittington would be the answer to America's prayers. Finally, someone who might get that lying, thieving Cheney into a courtroom to answer some direct questions.

Does it get any better than that? Baldwin even exonerates Gray "out" Davis. Being a Democrat politician must be the easiest job in the world, aside from moonbat actor. One might think that would be enough for one day, but alas
they would be wrong. Richard Dreyfus weighs in with the Don Quiote version of impeachment.

"There are causes worth fighting for even if you know that you will lose," Dreyfuss said during a speech at the National Press Club. "Unless you are willing to accept torture as part of a normal American political lexicon, unless you are willing to accept that leaving the Geneva Convention is fine and dandy, if you accept the expansion of wiretapping as business as usual, the only way to express this now is to embrace the difficult and perhaps embarrassing process of impeachment."

Definitely time for Volume II.

With TV shows like these in the Middle East, how could a few cartoons bother them?

Which Cheerleader is the natural blonde?
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...to turn any audience into their political playpen. As the conspiracy theory goes, no left wing voices are allowed anywhere in the United States so they must step up at any occasion where a microphone might appear or attempt to get their words printed in obscure media publications in the hopes that someday someone will notice.

Former Georgia State Representative E. Wycliff Orr found just such a brave outlet. A little known daily, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, stood up to the censorship squads and printed Orr's whiny little rant. [linked in the title] So what was it that made Orr take pen in hand to stand up for?

Well, it's happened again. Same song, different verse. Progressive voices manage to garner a modicum of national attention, and the right wing unleashes its customary salvo attempting to silence that message.

At the Coretta Scott King funeral service, former President Jimmy Carter, the Rev. Joseph Lowery and others used that microphone to call attention to the Bush administration's various failures. No sooner had they done so than the customary retaliation began: How dare those eulogizers use that somber occasion to inject politics into such a sacred moment, especially in the presence of President Bush himself?

Ah yes, the unalienable right to make an ass out of yourself at a funeral of an American citizen whose life was considered so important to the nation that every living President healthy enough to attend was there.

Orr has a tiny bit of a point here. Everybody has the right to prove they are totally without class. Where he goes wrong is believing we have to quietly accept his boorishness.

... that liberal cover-up theories are wrong once again. I'm shocked, shocked I say!

It seems the local police decided to wait until Sunday morning. How's Fitzmas coming along?

So what does Richard (better known as Dick) Cheney do when he isn’t sending his legions across the borders of sovereign nations against international law to commit acts of torture, rape, sodomy and mass murder? He shoots birds...and to spice up the weekend, peppers his friends with buckshot.

But how utterly predictable. Predicatable that Richard Cheney should spend his free time shooting. Predictable that in the event what he shoots in perhaps the most defenceless animal on God’s Earth – the bird. Predictable that the bird he chooses is perhaps the most defenceless feathered creature of all – the quaint little quail which not even a peck can offer in self defence. Predictable that the shooting incident was confirmed only after a day’s silence and after the local press got hold of it and predictable that Cheney did not have his documentation in order.

Read it all, there is no end to the crimes Maureen Timothy BANCROFT-HINCHEY accuses Vice President Cheney of. One is even true and I'm glad Maureen Bancroft-Hinchey stayed true to her feminist roots on the last name.

Last Sunday, former Vice President Al Gore spoke before the Jiddah Economic Forum. He told the mostly Saudi audience that the United States had committed "terrible atrocities" against Arabs after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. He stated that Arabs had been "indiscriminately rounded up" and detained in "unforgivable conditions." He criticized America's new immigration policy, which more carefully scrutinizes Saudi visas, explaining, "The thoughtless way in which visas are now handled, that is a mistake." Finally, he concluded, "There have been terrible abuses, and it's wrong. … I want you to know that it does not represent the desires or wishes or feelings of the majority of the citizens of my country."

These are outrageous statements. And the silence from the left is deafening. The Democratic National Committee told me that they had not released a statement regarding Gore's speech and had no plans to do so. The New York Times editorial board, the official outlet of the American left, wrote nary a word about the speech.

It is now considered bad form to criticize those who commit seditious acts against the United States. Challenging the patriotism of a traitor draws more ire than engaging in treasonable activities. Calling out those who undermine our nation creates more of a backlash than actually undermining our nation.

Click the title and read the rest!

The mainstream media is hiding what may be the story of the century. In this report from Newsbusters we learn that Chris Matthews just isn't going to stand for a blackout of this story.

MSNBC’s Chris Matthews seriously asked on the 5pm EST edition of Tuesday’s Hardball, about media coverage of the Cheney hunting accident: “Has the press been playing this down?” Matthews exclaimed that he was “shocked” at how “this was bottom of the fold in the New York Times and the Washington Post yesterday.” He went on to claim: “I've talked to experts, they can't believe that the papers treated this as such a light issue.” Turning to guest Dee Dee Myers, Matthews contended: “I was kind of surprised, to put it lightly, to see that the major newspapers on the East coast had buried this story below the fold and it was only today that they brought it up above the fold." Matthews’ thesis was too ludicrous even for an astounded Myers, President Clinton’s one-time Press Secretary, who countered with common sense: "I don't think putting it on the front page is burying it, Chris, I think that was an appropriate placement for the story.”

When Dee Dee Myers isn't playing along it might be time buy a clue. This reminds me of the MSM's obsession that if only people knew that John Kerry had served in Vietnam he would be a shoe-in. Laughably the only person that bought their story that time was Kerry himself. I swear I think people lied to pollsters just to get John to remind us one more time.

Accident my eye. Or rather, Harry Whittington's eye.
If you believe it was just an accident that Vice President Dick Cheney shot his hunting companion last weekend, you obviously have never seen "The Godfather" movies.

Just as surely as a fish wrapped in a bulletproof vest means "Luca Brasi sleeps with the fishes," that shotgun blast to Whittington's face was meant to convey that I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby had better bite his tongue and forget about testifying against Cheney, his former boss, in the Valerie Plame spy case.

This column by Barry Saunders in the Raleigh News&Observer might be an attempt at satire, but the problem is that it sounds just like things written all over left wing blogs and an ever increasing segment of the so-called main stream media.

...have been moved here.

This post was born out of a search for "turkeygate" stories from Dana Milbank in the midst of a completely unserious discussion of the subject. It became interesting when we noticed the disappearing stories. If anyone knows where to find to find stories other than those or this one, please leave a link. Thanks!

Reporters are figuratively foaming at the mouth that they didn't know sooner about Vice President Cheney's hunting incident. They're acting like somebody put a box of billing records in a closet and didn't "find" them until the statute of limitations ran out on their worth. Well at least they're acting like they would have acted if that scenario had happened under a Republican administration.

The problem that many seem to have is that since the Vice President was involved it was incumbent on the administration to notify them immediately. The reporters should be thankful that wasn't the case considering their miserable record of finding facts in a breaking news story. Remember the hundreds of murder victims inside the Superdome? How about all the sharks swimming down Canal Street?

But what about the Whittington family. Harry Whittington is a 78 year old millionaire lawyer that probably has considerable extended family. That family deserved a chance to be notified of his true condition before the press started up the rumor mill.

Chris Matthews and David Gregory kept insisting tonight on Hardball that had Cheney been the victim we would have known immediately. Okay that's true, but they take that a step further and insist that means that people aren't treated equally in this country since there was a delay in finding out about Whittington.

That is a ridiculous comparison. Dick Cheney is the elected Vice President of our nation and his condition is in our vital interest. Harry Whittington and his family are private citizens that deserve some deference from the self-important voyeuristic vultures that pose as reporters these days.

In the Name of God the Compassionate and Merciful

To the Courageous Men and Women of the 3d Armored Cavalry Regiment, who have changed the city of Tall’ Afar from a ghost town, in which terrorists spread death and destruction, to a secure city flourishing with life.

To the lion-hearts who liberated our city from the grasp of terrorists who were beheading men, women and children in the streets for many months.

To those who spread smiles on the faces of our children, and gave us restored hope, through their personal sacrifice and brave fighting, and gave new life to the city after hopelessness darkened our days, and stole our confidence in our ability to reestablish our city.

Read the rest at
Mudville Gazette.

Although best known for the book that was made into the movie Jaws he had a book that was even scarier. The Beast was a made for TV movie that didn't translate as well to the screen, but the book is an absolute page turner that will make you think twice before even approaching your bath tub! The movie is worth a look too. The two books are bundled here.

Rest In Peace Mr. Benchley, you have scared the hell out of us in a most entertaining fashion.

Click the post title for a great OP-Ed by Robert C.J. Parry, a first lieutenant in the California Army National Guard's 1-184 Infantry, that ran in Sunday's Los Angeles Times.

What??? Me add something?

Chairman Governor Howard "Crazy Howie" Dean M.D. is calling for some method of removing Vice President Cheney from office. There is a word for that, but the leader of the Democrats doesn't seem to know what it is.
Expose the left has the video.

Maybe he could go on a quail hunting trip with Mr. Cheney and discuss their differences.

From Little Green Footballs we find Al Gore over in the Middle East acting like quite the statesman jackass. Thanks Al, and thank God you never made it to the Oval Office.

JIDDAH, Saudi Arabia - Former Vice President Al Gore told a mainly Saudi audience on Sunday that the U.S. government committed “terrible abuses” against Arabs after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, and that most Americans did not support such treatment.

Gore said Arabs had been “indiscriminately rounded up” and held in “unforgivable” conditions. The former vice president said the Bush administration was playing into al-Qaida’s hands by routinely blocking Saudi visa applications.

“The thoughtless way in which visas are now handled, that is a mistake,” Gore said during the Jiddah Economic Forum. “The worst thing we can possibly do is to cut off the channels of friendship and mutual understanding between Saudi Arabia and the United States.”

Gore told the largely Saudi audience, many of them educated at U.S. universities, that Arabs in the United States had been “indiscriminately rounded up, often on minor charges of overstaying a visa or not having a green card in proper order, and held in conditions that were just unforgivable.”

“Unfortunately there have been terrible abuses and it’s wrong,” Gore said. “I do want you to know that it does not represent the desires or wishes or feelings of the majority of the citizens of my country.”

OK this story is a howler on a few levels. On the one hand you wonder if they're going to play the old children's game of "you're getting warmer/you're getting colder" as the inquiry proceeds. The part that jumps out at me is this insightful observation by the Times.

The government's increasing unwillingness to honor confidentiality pledges between journalists and their sources in national security cases has been evident in another case, involving the disclosure in 2003 of the identity of an undercover C.I.A. officer, Valerie Wilson. The special counsel in the case, Patrick J. Fitzgerald, demanded that several journalists disclose their conversations with their sources.

Judith Miller, at the time a reporter for The Times, went to jail for 85 days before agreeing to comply with a subpoena to testify about her conversations with I. Lewis Libby Jr., who was chief of staff to Vice President Dick Cheney. Mr. Libby has been indicted on charges of making false statements and obstruction of justice and has pleaded not guilty.

Gosh do you think some of that unwillingness may have started here in the New York Times? It's entirely possible that Judith Miller was being subpoenaed based on pressure from the New York Times. In that editorial titled "The Journalist & The Whistleblower" Geneva Overholser advocates that in the name of keeping anonymous sources from spreading information that should be illegal to give out, reporters need to get over the absolutist concept of always protecting their sources.

A week later, Mr. Novak wrote a column in which he named Mr. Wilson's wife as a C.I.A. "operative on weapons of mass destruction" and cited "two senior administration officials" saying she had suggested her husband for the Niger job. Revealing the name of an undercover C.I.A. employee is a felony, and the leak is now being investigated by a grand jury.

As a piece of journalism, the Novak column raises disturbing ethical questions. He apparently turned a time-honored use of confidentiality — protecting a whistleblower from government retribution — on its head, delivering government retribution to the whistleblower instead. Worse, he enabled his sources to illegally divulge intelligence information.

Now Mr. Novak may be called to testify before the grand jury. To most in the press, this signals an immediate duty: stand shoulder to shoulder beside a colleague. But before we all jump to his defense, there are two questions journalists should consider: one about what should not happen in the courtroom, the other about what should not happen in the newspaper.

Yes, it is in the public interest to protect journalists from being required to name their sources in the courtroom. But it is also in the public interest for journalists to speak out against ethical lapses in their craft. Far from undermining the principle of confidentiality, our acknowledgment that protecting sources can be used for ill as well as for good can bolster it, reassuring a public that often wonders who is watching the watchdog.

Now it's possible that the Times editorial board will come out with a scathing column demanding that reporters not protect sources that illegally leaked details of the NSA wiretap program, but I won't hold my breath. It certainly seems that this sudden burst of conscience from Ms.Overholser was born in the belief that it might be a good way to cut into a high ranking official in the Bush Whitehouse.

I had an anonymous source on this story, I feel so reporter-like! Oh wait, I'm also semi-anonymous...never mind.

In other posts here and here I have linked to several sites showing the fear our press has of retaliation by militant Islam, should they show a few innocuous cartoons. They claim to be doing this out of respect for the "peaceful religion of Islam". What they are really doing is leading us down the path to dhimmitude. In the article linked in the title of this post, Diana West gives us the road map. Multicultural political correctness will be the end of life as we know it if we don't wake up, and soon. An excerpt from Diana's article:

This is the lesson of Cartoon Rage 2006, a cultural nuke set off by an Islamic chain reaction to those 12 cartoons of Muhammad appearing in a Danish newspaper. We have watched the Muslim meltdown with shocked attention, but there is little recognition that its poisonous fallout is fear. Fear in the State Department, which, like Islam, called the cartoons unacceptable. Fear in Whitehall, which did the same. Fear in the Vatican, which did the same. And fear in the media, which have failed, with few, few exceptions, to reprint or show the images. With only a small roll of brave journals, mainly in Europe, to salute, we have seen the proud Western tradition of a free press bow its head and submit to an Islamic law against depictions of Muhammad. That's dhimmitude.

Medal Tracker

Olympic.org

NBC Olympics

Hey! There are other things going on.

Pajamas Media Olympic blog

In an AP story by Toni Locy, which is basically just another speculative puff piece about Fitzmas, we find this little gem:

In the summer of 2003, White House officials — including Libby — were frustrated that the media were incorrectly reporting that Cheney had sent Wilson to Niger and had received a report of his findings in Africa before the war in Iraq had begun.

It appears that the frustration is somewhat wasted on Locy. Look what the story says three paragraphs earlier and makes as a factual statement:

Wilson's revelations cast doubt on President Bush's claim in his 2003 State of the Union address that Niger had sold uranium to Iraq to develop a nuclear weapon as one of the administration's key justifications for going to war in Iraq.

The transcript is pretty easy to find, unless I just have better sources than the Associated Press. These sixteen words may be the most misrepresented and misreported in journalism history, but Locy takes poor reporting to a new low. The Presidents real claim:

The British government has learned that Saddam Hussein recently sought significant quantities of uranium from Africa.

Remember this chart from an earlier post?

Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid wrote at least four letters helpful to Indian tribes represented by Jack Abramoff, and the senator's staff regularly had contact with the disgraced lobbyist's team about legislation affecting other clients.

The activities _ detailed in billing records and correspondence obtained by The Associated Press _ are far more extensive than previously disclosed. They occurred over three years as Reid collected nearly $68,000 in donations from Abramoff's firm, lobbying partners and clients.

Reid's office acknowledged Thursday having "routine contacts" with Abramoff's lobbying partners and intervening on some government matters _ such as blocking some tribal casinos _ in ways Abramoff's clients might have deemed helpful. But it said none of his actions were affected by donations or done for Abramoff.

"All the actions that Senator Reid took were consistent with his long- held beliefs, such as not letting tribal casinos expand beyond reservations, and were taken to defend the interests of Nevada constituents," spokesman Jim Manley said.

Harry should have learned from Gary not to challenge people to find something.

Several bloggers have put together some suggestions for helping Denmark overcome the Arab boycott of their products. I will put a few resources here and update them as I find them.



One of the most comprehensive I've seen is called, oddly enough,
Buy Danish. This site also has a list of other sites with a campaign of support.

China Daily, scroll up for a product list.

Little Green Footballs. The main link takes you to Buy Danish above, but you will find several links within the comments. Comment #25 has an interesting twist.

Michelle Malkin has news on the progress of the Buy Danish campaign.

This editorial isn't much different than most lame US newspaper excuses with this exception.

The Sydney Morning Herald argued that "just as we do not need to publish pornographic images to debate pornography, we do not need to amplify the offence by publishing the cartoons". But anyone who wishes to contribute to the pornography debate should at least have seen it, even if not in the pages of the SMH.

If we extend that argument, it was open to newspapers to adopt an unctuous approach, resisting the temptation to publish, in favour of alerting readers to website links. Few here did. One site, www.zombietime.com/mohammed-image-archive, displays umpteen images of Mohammed over the ages that have not caused riots, including one on the frieze on the US Supreme Court building.

Zombietime. When you get finished with the "Mohammed can't be pictured" retrospective, be sure to return to the Zombieime home page and look around. You may be shocked, but you won't be disappointed.

Travel news sometimes has a real purpose.

OK, this had to at least be searched for, but it was the first result.

Who doesn't need a French barn restoration resource?

Not exactly the tortoise and the hare we know and love.

Running in a circle doesn't neccasarily make you evil.

Some are so worried about suicide barriers that they want to build them even before they can spend $2,000,000.00 to study them. Here you go San Fran, if people are killing themselves and you can stop it with a barrier, build them. Please send the remaining study funds to RW-(the original).


...to be continued!

This is a great daily roundup of all sorts of interesting stories on the web. Today Taranto takes you from a Presidential cheap shot, on to the Democrats giving a concession speech 272 days before they lose, the discovery that in Washington people rent apartments from landlords, proves that the whole Muslim cartoon kerfuffle was ...drumroll please... Bush's fault, tells the lurid tales of a six year old sex offender, and finishes with a gay drag queen ski weekend.

Egyptian Sandmonkey has a scan of these cartoons that ran in the Egyptian newspaper Al Fagr back in October 2005. So smack dab in the middle of Ramadan these cartoons didn't cause a ripple of protest. (Hat tip-LGF)

I guess it could be a completely phony excuse for a riot. It could be because of these fakes.

If the goal was to have the American media unilaterally surrender or quiver in fear, it seems to be working.

Well, Ann Coulter isn't too quiet.

Making the rash assumption for purposes of discussion that Islam is a religion and not a car-burning cult, even a real religion can't go bossing around other people like this.

Catholics aren't short on rules, but they couldn't care less if non-Catholics use birth control. Conservative Jews have no interest in forbidding other people from mixing meat and dairy. Protestants don't make a peep about other people eating food off one another's plates. (Just stay away from our plates -- that's disgusting.)

But Muslims think they can issue decrees about what images can appear in newspaper cartoons. Who do they think they are, liberals?

Do people have a right to medical treatment whether or not they can pay? What about a right to food or decent housing? Would a U.S. Supreme Court justice hold that these are rights just like those enumerated in our Bill of Rights? In order to have any hope of coherently answering these questions, we have to decide what is a right. The way our Constitution's framers used the term, a right is something that exists simultaneously among people and imposes no obligation on another. For example, the right to free speech, or freedom to travel, is something we all simultaneously possess. My right to free speech or freedom to travel imposes no obligation upon another except that of non-interference. In other words, my exercising my right to speech or travel requires absolutely nothing from you and in no way diminishes any of your rights.

Click the title to read the rest, it's worth your time.

Just to show how far Democrats would go to defend slavery, it's worth remembering what happened to Sen. Charles Sumner, Republican of Massachusetts. After giving a speech denouncing slavery in 1856, he was viciously beaten by Rep. Preston Brooks, Democrat of South Carolina, for daring to question the right to own slaves. Being a coward, Brooks waited until the elderly Sumner was seated alone at his desk in the Senate and, without warning, struck him repeatedly with a cane. It took months for Sumner to recover.

In 1858, Sen. Stephen A. Douglas, Democrat of Illinois, debated Republican Abraham Lincoln on the question of slavery. Said Douglas during one of those debates: "For one, I am opposed to negro citizenship in any and every form. I believe this government was made on the white basis. I believe it was made by white men for the benefit of white men and their posterity forever, and I am in favor of confining citizenship to white men, men of European birth and descent, instead of conferring it upon negroes, Indians and other inferior races."

Anytime you want some comic relief, the small town newspapers in Western Massachusetts will come through for you. Deborah's letter is evidence, but to my friends in Atlanta the proof is that Jay Bookman got his start at the North Adams Transcript.

The affidavit is an eye-opener in other respects, for it reveals that the investigation was, as I have always claimed, utterly one-sided, that Fitzgerald is at a minimum a gullible fool who fell hook, line and sinker for the notion that Kerry partisan and serial liar Joseph Wilson IV was a “whistleblower” who deserved special protection by his office.

Here are a few of the gems in this affidavit by Fitzgerald, an affidavit without which Judith Miller would never have been jailed. Paragraph 9:

“Wilson, who was not a government employee at the time of the trip and [REDACTED] spoke to several reporters including Nicholas Kristof of the New York Times and Walter Pincus of the Washington Post….”

Since Kristof’s first meeting was with Wilson and his wife, and because Pincus has long been believed to have known the Wilson’s socially, I’d bet money that in both cases that redacted name person who shopped the tale with Wilson was none other than Valerie Plame herself. Paragraph 94 should, however, prove the death knell for the case. That’s because it establishes beyond doubt the prosecution’s predisposition and the one-sided nature of this “investigation.”

Here’s what Fitzgerald says:

“One key factor in deciding whether to issue a subpoena has been whether the ‘source’ to be identified appears to have leaked to discredit the early source (Wilson) as opposed to a leak who revealed information as a whistleblower’....The First Amendment interests are clearly different when the ‘source’ being sought may have committed a crime in order to attack a person such as Wilson who, correctly or incorrectly, sought to expose what he perceived as misconduct by the White House.”

Fox News, no cartoons here!

CNN, no cartoons here!

MSNBC must have them ok, I guess not.

ABC? no.

Surely CBS can at least fake a few cartoons, but they didn't.

NBC doesn't even care much for the riot story, but they will sell you several pages of "Islam cartoons". I had no idea Punky Brewster was a story about the daily life of a young Muslim girl.

For the record here's one.

Face of Muhammed has an interesting discussion going on about the levels of support different countries are showing for freedom of speech.

Certainly the New York Times has decided to show what the controversy is all about. Well no, I guess they just want to take a cheap shot at Afghanistan.


**UPDATE**
Michelle Malkin has a roundup of the hundreds of three brave American newspapers that have actually shown their readers what they are talking about.

The full series of cartoons were finally shown on TV.



Of course they didn't mean to show them. Michelle Malkin appearing on Hannity & Colmes held them up. FNC has been one of the most disheartening of the networks that refuse to show these drawings. Special Report did a roundtable discussion talking about how various outlets that refused to publish the pictures were either being cowed or respectful by not showing them. They never showed them on the segment, nor did they say which excuse they were using.

Since our press is so timid it is going to have to be a grassroots effort to support Denmark. China Daily has a list of Danish products we can enjoy. Don't worry, China Daily isn't a site for buying Scandinavian tableware.

**UPDATE** 2/12/06 Fox News Sunday has shown the cartoons. They also make reference to other times FNC has shown them. It's only an honorable mention because all they did was hold up a copy of the Weekly Standard, but the Fox host, Chris Wallace, personally showed them rather then making a guest do it.

In a world where terrorists are trying to use chemical, biological and radiological weapons against us — weapons capable of destroying large areas of cities or infecting massive numbers of people with a deadly virus — shouldn't Congress be more concerned about protecting a program that can stop them, not fighting over who gets to control it?

Some in Congress argue that the 1978 Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) is the sole operating authority for any secret eavesdropping. But under FISA, enacted back in the days of 8-track tapes and rotary phones, the procedure for getting a warrant isn't fast enough to catch terrorists using multiple throwaway cellphones and DSL Web connections. Even FISA's 72-hour "emergency bypass" requires a written opinion by NSA lawyers and certification from the attorney general before the intercept can be initiated.

Gen. Hayden and those familiar with the FISA process contend that it is simply too slow for the "hot pursuit" of terrorist communications.

Since even the most "outraged" members of Congress haven't actually called for the president to stop the eavesdropping program, one suspects that it is every bit as vital and effective as Gen. Hayden says it is. Those crying foul in the wake of the program's disclosure haven't offered a workable alternative, other than including more people on the briefing list or rewriting the law itself — which means fully disclosing a highly-classified program to 535 members of Congress and their staffs. Is there anyone in America who believes that 1,000 people on Capitol Hill can keep these operational details quiet?

Captain's Quarters decided to dial the number to see what reasons were given for impeachment. These folks probably won't be too happy having their phone number used this way. The protesters may, however, be using the products as they don't seem to need the massive row of outhouses. (It's probably because they always overestimate their crowds, but they are so touchy when you point that out.)

The last picture, courtesy of Free Republic shows just how sick some of these people are.

Jobless rate lowest since '01
Wall Street fears report will lead to more rate hikes
By James P. Miller, Chicago Tribune | February 4, 2006

That was the head and sub-head of the Tribune story as it appeared in the
Boston Globe.

Falling Jobless Rate Boosts Wages but Fuels Concern on Prices and Profits is the LA Times spin on the story.

CARACAS, Venezuela (Reuters) - Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez told a rally of thousands of supporters on Saturday that U.S. President George W. Bush was worse than Hitler and vowed to buy more arms to defend his nation as their diplomatic relations deteriorated.

"The imperialist, genocidal, fascist attitude of the U.S. president has no limits. I think Hitler would be like a suckling baby next to George W. Bush," Chavez said from a stage decorated with a huge red image of himself as a young soldier.

If the American left didn't bend over backward to fawn over any madman dictator perhaps they wouldn't have these delusional thoughts. Maybe if President Bush started really doing the things the moonbats accuse him of, they would suddenly love him.

I caught this post at LGF that excerpts a piece by Charles Moore in the Telegraph, asking where all the Danish flags came from for the spontaneous protest over these cartoons. Interesting question, I know if I suddenly break out in impromptu outrage I am going to be severely limited in which countries flags I have handy for burning.

It’s some time since I visited Palestine, so I may be out of date, but I don’t remember seeing many Danish flags on sale there. Not much demand, I suppose. I raise the question because, as soon as the row about the cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed in Jyllands-Posten broke, angry Muslims popped up in Gaza City, and many other places, well supplied with Danish flags ready to burn. (In doing so, by the way, they offered a mortal insult to the most sacred symbol of my own religion, Christianity, since the Danish flag has a cross on it, but let that pass.)

Why were those Danish flags to hand? Who built up the stockpile so that they could be quickly dragged out right across the Muslim world and burnt where television cameras would come and look? The more you study this story of “spontaneous” Muslim rage, the odder it seems.

The complained-of cartoons first appeared in October; they have provoked such fury only now. As reported in this newspaper yesterday, it turns out that a group of Danish imams circulated the images to brethren in Muslim countries. When they did so, they included in their package three other, much more offensive cartoons which had not appeared in Jyllands-Posten but were lumped together so that many thought they had.

It rather looks as if the anger with which all Muslims are said to be burning needed some pretty determined stoking. Peter Mandelson, who seems to think that his job as European Trade Commissioner entitles him to pronounce on matters of faith and morals, accuses the papers that republished the cartoons of “adding fuel to the flames”; but those flames were lit (literally, as well as figuratively) by well-organised, radical Muslims who wanted other Muslims to get furious. How this network has operated would make a cracking piece of investigative journalism.

**UPDATE**Mark Steyn has an article along the same lines and written in purest Steyn form!

I long ago lost count of the number of times I've switched on the TV and seen crazy guys jumping up and down in the street, torching the Stars and Stripes and yelling ''Death to the Great Satan!'' Or torching the Union Jack and yelling ''Death to the Original If Now Somewhat Arthritic And Semi-Retired Satan!'' But I never thought I'd switch on the TV and see the excitable young lads jumping up and down in Jakarta, Lahore, Aden, Hebron, etc., etc., torching the flag of Denmark.



Denmark! Even if you were overcome with a sudden urge to burn the Danish flag, where do you get one in a hurry in Gaza? Well, OK, that's easy: the nearest European Union Humanitarian Aid and Intifada-Funding Branch Office. But where do you get one in an obscure town on the Punjabi plain on a Thursday afternoon? If I had a sudden yen to burn the Yemeni or Sudanese flag on my village green, I haven't a clue how I'd get hold of one in this part of New Hampshire. Say what you like about the Islamic world, but they show tremendous initiative and energy and inventiveness, at least when it comes to threatening death to the infidels every 48 hours for one perceived offense or another. If only it could be channeled into, say, a small software company, what an economy they'd have,

Harry Reid loves to tell us how he has always worked with and taken donations from various Indian tribes and these had nothing to do with Jack Abramoff. This chart from NoAgenda.org shows what I'm sure the Senator will blow off as some machination of the vast right wing conspiracy.

The overflowing anger over a few cartoons run in a Danish newspaper back in September has reached "theater of the absurd" proportions. I am simply going to link to several sites that have wide coverage of the cartoons and their responses. What I find most appalling is the American media outlets that have decided to mention the story, but decline to show the cartoons. These cartoons are far less offensive than things the "enlightened ones" in the media try to cram down our throats on a daily basis and are most assuredly less offensive than watching our fellow citizens jumping to their death to escape burning alive after having a plane flown into their office or having their heads sawed off with the background chants of "Allah Akbar".

Michelle Mal kin with pictures of the outrage and the cartoons.

Little green footballs has a slideshow of the cartoons. After seeing this you can go back to the lgf home page and scroll down to see several entries on this topic.

Cox & Fork um has a great link roundup of the controversy and, as always, an excellent cartoon of their own.

Newsbusters gives the information on our very own media and their selective outrage.

On a very interesting blog that is not safe for work sonia-belle has more. The cartoon on this site has been taken down out of disgust with the position of the U.S. State Department.

**UPDATE** LGF points out that three different wire service stories referencing the State Department position all list a different source. They have updated that link with a transcript of the daily briefing at State. Maybe we don't have need an official ambassador of cartoons.

Civil rights activist and NAACP Chairman Julian Bond delivered a blistering partisan speech at Fayetteville State University in North Carolina last night, equating the Republican Party with the Nazi Party and characterizing Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and her predecessor, Colin Powell, as "tokens."

"The Republican Party would have the American flag and the swastika flying side by side," he charged.

Calling President Bush a liar, Bond told the audience at the historically black institution that this White House's lies are more serious than the lies of his predecessor's because Clinton's lies didn't kill people.

The story goes on to say the speech got to be just a little too much for some in the audience.

(Story via the Drudge Report)

**UPDATE** Expose the Left has video and rough transcripts of Lawrence Guyot appearing on Hannity & Colmes to back up Bond's claim that Bush is indeed Hitler. Amazing and quite sad.

(CNN) -- Hamas deserves to be recognized by the international community, and despite the group's militant history, there is a chance the soon-to-be Palestinian leaders could turn away from violence, former President Jimmy Carter said Wednesday.

There is also a chance that I could move to Plains and win a "Fiskie" award. I would prefer that adults handle our foreign policy, though. Mr. Carter, I've met you and I like you, but you are an embarrassment when you meddle in this country's foreign affairs.

A version of the rabbit story, I'll save the UFO stories until Jimmy heads back down to see his buddy Hugo.

With all the dueling prognostications, I'm going out on a limb and predicting that Spring will begin in about 47 days.


What a shocker of a prediction General Beauregard Lee from the South, and pictured left, predicts an early Spring while Punxsutawney Phil, above and from up North, saw his shadow and with it six more weeks of winter.