Monkeys and 'Mancrushes'

Newsbimbo Erin Burnett drops her journalistic ethics* mask, referring to the President as a "monkey." What an embarrassment for MSNBC.



*Oxymoron alert

SU Prof to Troops: FU - But Students Disagree

When Marine Major Christian Devine asked Syracuse University's Maxwell School to host a presentation by his DoD outreach program, "Why We Serve," the chair, Mark Rupert , decided to tell him to go pound sand. He felt that allowing serving members of the military to speak would not meet the department's goal to ""foster open and honest discussion."

Rupert apparently based his decision on an article in which Major Devine talked about winning the information war in the mainstream media. Evidently, Rupert prefers that someone else win the information war.

(Farbeit from me to suggest that Professor Rupert decided to suppress the military speakers because he is grossly biased, based on this page from his personal website):

Then Rupert shared his email conversation with Devine with other SU faculty members, and things changed.

From the Syracuse Post-Standard:

After responding to Devine, Rupert made copies of the e-mails available to other faculty members. In that way, the matter came to the attention of Bill Coplin, chair of Maxwell's Public Affairs Program.

Coplin is teaching an honors class focused on ways to improve undergraduate education. One of the topics selected by the class, he said, was whether American universities slant toward left-wing positions. After learning of Rupert's decision about "Why We Serve," Coplin said, he brought the question to his students, who decided to ask Rupert to come in and explain.

Rupert did. The students listened, he said, "but I think they had already made up their minds." He told them he had no objection to the servicemen speaking on campus; he simply did not see this particular offer as appropriate to the mission of his department. In the end, the honors class decided to host "Why We Serve," on behalf of the Public Affairs Program.

Through Devine, the students put together a forum in which three members of the military representing the Air Force, the Marine Corps and the Army will make a presentation Friday at 3 p.m. in the Grant Auditorium at the SU College of Law.

It's a pretty sad state of affairs when students are forced to educate their professors.

"I didn't understand the problem with having the actual troops come and speak," said Katelyn Hancock, a student who helped to organize the event. "We can have Michael Moore come and speak on campus, but the troops can't come?"

Yes, Katelyn, that's what Professor Rupert means by "fostering open and honest discussion."

Help Raise a Wounded Vet's Spirits

My good friend Cookie writes for help in promoting model and UCLA grad Gina Elise's efforts to bring cheer to some of our wounded veterans. She would really like to take at least 100 of her pinup calendars with her when she goes to Walter Reed in January.

You can buy one for any soldier of your choice, or for a vet in Walter Reed, and don't forget to get one for yourself.

The retro cheesecake calendars are more than just eye candy:

Your calendar donation will go towards: eyeglasses for Veterans, the home health program, recreational therapy, spinal cord injury & amputee programs, substance abuse program, women’s Veterans’ program, chapel improvements, homeless program, reading materials and subscriptions for the Veterans, patio improvements, parking lot shuttle, courtesy cart, social relief fund, televisions, wheelchairs, and outreach programs for the visually impaired...

Cookie has some more pics of Gina Elise.

Video: Apache Taking Down IED Team

Yes, do shoot it with the 30!



Hat Tip: Captain S.

Looks like they've been Thunderstruck!



Howie sees your requests for the Thunderstruck reprise. Just have to be patient.

More Terrorists Going Boom

From Multi-National Force Iraq:

An enemy mortar team in Iraq launched an attack against two Coalition bases in June, 2007. Members of the team are tracked following the attack and Apache crews engage.

At the behest of their evil Google overlords, the treasonous assmasters who control YouTube have tried to limit viewing of this video by requiring users to click on a "Confirm Birthdate" button. No such restrictions apply to any of the scores of pro-jihadi propaganda videos on YouTube.

Stephen King: Victim of His Own Success

Just shut up and write your increasingly less scary stories. Stephen King in Time:

So I said something to the Nightline guy about waterboarding, and if the Bush administration didn't think it was torture, they ought to do some personal investigation. Someone in the Bush family should actually be waterboarded so they could report on it to George. I said, I didn't think he would do it, but I suggested Jenna be waterboarded and then she could talk about whether or not she thought it was torture.

Fine Stephen. Since you want US intelligence services to eschew a proven method of interrogation so untorturous that leftist street performers voluntarily undergo it at demonstrations, we suggest that one of your children be placed at a high value terrorist soft target for the duration. Sauce for the goose.

We are more and more disappointed with Mr. King, who used to write nice horror stories, but whose editors are apparently too cowed by his success to point out to the novelist that he slipped, sometime around Gerald's Game, into self-indulgent, feminized pap.

Good news for Dean Koontz, whose work is equally prolific and untainted by King's cynicism and literary affectations.

DePalma's Anti-Troops Film Circling the Bowl

Following in the tradition established by the recent spate of antiwar, anti-troops, anti-America films Hollywood has been trying to foist on the public, Brian DePalma's "Redacted" made just over $25,000 on its opening weekend.

From the New York Post:

Americans won't see their movies. While the public is staying away in droves from “Rendition," “Lions for Lambs" and “In the Valley of Elah," audiences are really avoiding “Redacted," De Palma's picture about US soldiers who rape a 14-year-old Iraqi girl, then kill her and her family. The message movie was produced by NBA Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban, who insisted on deleting grisly images of Iraqi war casualties from the montage at the film's end. Cuban offered to sell the film back to De Palma at cost, but the director was too smart to go for that deal. “Redacted" - which “could be the worst movie I've ever seen," said critic Michael Medved -took in just $25,628 in its opening weekend in 15 theaters, which means roughly 3,000 people saw it in the entire country.

That's Gonna Leave a Mark

F-16s drop two 500 lb. bombs on this suspected al Qaeda staging area; an island in the Euphrates:



Thanks to Multi-National Force Iraq.

Sunday Funny

From the Dry Bones Blog.

Evolution in Action

This enviro-nutcase decided to get sterilized at age 27 to reduce her family's carbon footprint and protect the planet:

"Having children is selfish. It's all about maintaining your genetic line at the expense of the planet," says Toni, 35.

"Every person who is born uses more food, more water, more land, more fossil fuels, more trees and produces more rubbish, more pollution, more greenhouse gases, and adds to the problem of over-population."

Actually, Toni is protecting the planet - just not in the way she thinks. We already have a surplus of imbeciles. Every whackjob who makes this decision is increasing the future average intelligence of mankind.

Let's hope this becomes a trend.

Black Friday

A four-fifteen AM wakeup call. Don't even ask how Mrs. Dread Pundit roped me into this.

Update (6:48 AM): Great Success! The HDTV is mine. Now, I will sleep the sleep of the righteous.

Jawas Give Thanks for Dead Enemy Propagandists

BAGHDAD, Iraq – Coalition forces killed one terrorist and detained 10 suspects Thursday during operations targeting al-Qaeda networks in central and northern Iraq.

Coalition forces targeted al-Qaeda propaganda cells during operations in Samarra. As the ground force approached the targeted building, they called for the building's occupants to come out, but no one complied. One individual took a defensive position by the door and engaged Coalition forces. Responding in self-defense, the ground force returned fire, killing the terrorist. While securing the area, the ground force detained two suspects and found a weapons cache, which was safely destroyed by a Coalition air strike.

During operations in Hawija, Coalition forces captured a wanted individual believed to be the foreign terrorist leader in Arab Jabour, and who is allegedly associated with senior terrorist leaders in the Southern Belt. During the operation, the wanted individual identified himself to the ground force and was subsequently detained, along with one other suspect.

In other operations in Mosul, Coalition forces targeted a northern al-Qaeda in Iraq security leader, believed to be involved in kidnappings and assassinations. Coalition forces detained two suspected individuals during the operations. Coalition forces also detained four suspects during operations targeting associates of a former al-Qaeda media leader near Khan Bani Sad.

"Iraqi and Coalition Forces are continually hitting al-Qaeda, disrupting their networks, diminishing their manpower pool, and limiting their ability to strike innocent Iraqis," said Maj. Winfield Danielson, MNF-I spokesman.

Source: MNF-Iraq.com

The absolute best way to stop al-Qaeda propganda, kill the propagandist!.

So much to be thankful for today. Special thanks to our men and women fighting abroad.

Original Jawas Give Thanks for Dead Enemy Propagandists post here at The Jawa Report.

Happy Thanksgiving

A happy Thanksgiving to all, and especially to those defending us, who can't be with their families.

Boulder's Idea of Property Rights

An absolutely unbelievable tale of legal thievery and judicial corruption:

Despite owning the land, despite living only 200 yards from the property, despite hiking past it every week with their three dogs, despite spraying for weeds and fixing fences, despite paying homeowner association dues and property taxes each year, someone else had taken a shine to it. Someone powerful.

Former Boulder District Judge, Boulder Mayor, RTD board member - among other elected positions - Richard McLean and his wife, attorney Edith Stevens, used an arcane common law called "adverse possession" to claim the land for their own.

I'm not sure I see anything other than a difference in degree between this larcenous ex-judge and his land grab, and Uday and Qusay Hussein's habit of raping any Iraqi women who caught their eye.

Thanks to Emperor Darth Misha I of The Anti-Idiotarian Rottweiler.

CENTCOM Roundup

Three more stories that likely won't see the light of day in the Western mainstream press.

IRAQI SECURITY FORCES DETAIN 81 SUSPECTED EXTREMISTS, CONFISCATE WEAPONS CACHES

CAMP ECHO, Iraq – Iraqi Security Forces, assisted by Coalition Forces, detained 81 suspected extremists and confiscated several weapons caches in Diwaniyah, Iraq, during Operation Lion Pounce Nov. 17 to 19.

SIX KILLED, 10 DETAINED AS COALITION FORCES TARGET AL-QAEDA LEADERSHIP, FOREIGN TERRORIST FACILITATORS

BAGHDAD, Iraq – Coalition forces killed six terrorists and detained 10 suspects Tuesday and Wednesday during operations targeting al-Qaeda in Iraq leaders in central and northern Iraq.

‘AWAKENING’ IN IRAQ SIGNALS CITIZENS’ RISE AGAINST AL-QEADA

KIRKUK, Iraq – Determined to rise up against al-Qaeda terrorists, Concerned Local Citizens, working together with Coalition Forces, have recently started neighborhood watch programs in the area of Kirkuk in northern Iraq.


The citizens are calling the movement, “Sahwa,” an Arabic term that means “awakening.”

Jawa Report May Have Helped Identify Bilal Hussein

It's events like this that make me proud to be a co-blogger at The Jawa Report:

A reader, who wishes to remain anonymous, informs me that The Jawa Report had something to do with Bilal Hussein's prosecution. Apparently Bilal Hussein had been picked up in a raid in which he wasn't the target. That target was a known al Qaeda operative, Hamid Hamad Motib, and bomb making materials were found in the house.

Hussein was arrested and taken to Abu Ghraib, but no one knew who he was. Just another low-level insurgent, I'm guessing.

He had been sitting in Abu Ghraib for a month, and nobody realized that he was the AP photog who had snapped dozens of staged photos with al Qaeda fighters. The reader was in Abu Ghraib as an investigator working on an unrelated case when he saw Bilal Hussein and recognized him from the extensive coverage we had on The Jawa Report.

He reported it up the chain of command and within days Bilal Hussein was transferred to a different facility, NCIS got involved, and eventually a criminal investigation opened on him.

He ends the e-mail with:

THANKS to you guys…you REALLY ARE making an impact on the [the war on terror] ... you can claim credit

Read the whole story.

New York Times' Duelling Dual Personalities

After refusing to acknowledge the signs of success for months, even offering a discounted rate to MoveOn.org to slander Troop Surge architect General David Petraeus, the New York Times has finally been forced to eat some front page crow:

...for the first time in nearly two years, people are moving with freedom around much of this city. In more than 50 interviews across Baghdad, it became clear that while there were still no-go zones, more Iraqis now drive between Sunni and Shiite areas for work, shopping or school, a few even after dark. In the most stable neighborhoods of Baghdad, some secular women are also dressing as they wish. Wedding bands are playing in public again, and at a handful of once shuttered liquor stores customers now line up outside in a collective rebuke to religious vigilantes from the Shiite Mahdi Army.

But the Gray Lady's editorial board can take comfort from this glimmer of hope amid the awful news of Coalition success:

Iraqis are clearly surprised and relieved to see commerce and movement finally increase, five months after an extra 30,000 American troops arrived in the country. But the depth and sustainability of the changes remain open to question.

Am I being too harsh?

Three days ago the NYT ran an unsigned editorial:

It has been two long months since Gen. David Petraeus, the top commander in Iraq, cowed Congressional Democrats into silence, championing President Bush’s misguided course on the war. We’re pleased to see that the effects of his briefing are finally wearing off. The bad news, as ever, is that Mr. Bush and his Republican allies continue to resist reason.

Man Shoots Burglary Suspects

This is the 911 tape of Joe Horn's call to report that men were breaking into his next door neighbor's house. At about -2:20 in the video, Horn has had enough and goes out to confront the men. Gunshots are heard, and two alleged burglars are down.



From the CBS story:

The incident may prove a test for a new law recently passed in Texas which expands the right of citizens to use deadly force.

Under Texas law, people may use deadly force to protect their own property or to stop arson, burglary, robbery, theft or criminal mischief at night.

But the legislator who authored the "castle doctrine" bill told the Chronicle it was never intended to apply to a neighbor's property, to prompt a "'Law West of the Pecos' mentality or action," said Republican Sen. Jeff Wentworth. "You're supposed to be able to defend your own home, your own family, in your house, your place of business or your motor vehicle."

Thanks to LC Brendan at The Anti-Idiotarian Rottweiler.

Sunday Funny

From the Dry Bones Blog.

Gray Whore Does Her Best For Surrendercrats

In an unsigned editorial, the turncoats who make up the editorial board of the New York Times congratulate Congressional Democrats for once again stabbing American troops in the back:

It has been two long months since Gen. David Petraeus, the top commander in Iraq, cowed Congressional Democrats into silence, championing President Bush’s misguided course on the war. We’re pleased to see that the effects of his briefing are finally wearing off. The bad news, as ever, is that Mr. Bush and his Republican allies continue to resist reason.

General Petraeus...where have we heard that name before? Wasn't there something about a profoundly biased New York City Democratic house organ that approved a slanderous full page advertisement for a reduced price? Something about "BetrayUs," or some other fifth grade level pun?

And isn't the NYT the same publication that provided diagrams for Islamist jihadis showing them exactly where to shoot Marines to have the best chance to thwart their body armor? Does it seem like I'm questioning their patriotism? It should, because I am. The cowardly, treasonous assholes who sit on the NY Times' editorial board would like nothing better than to see a "surge" of Americans coming home from Iraq in body bags. That would help their political goals.

That's why they have made a habit of exposing secret programs designed to protect the US from terrorist attacks. That's why they deliberately tried to get more Americans killed by terrorist insurgents by posting .PDF files of body armor weak spots.

But, don't you dare question their patriotism.

Baby Human Shields - They're Not Just For Terrorists Anymore

Why is this baby crying? Because his mother dropped him on his face while using him as a human shield to disrupt shipments of military equipment from the Port of Olympia.

Michelle Malkin has the details, as well as more photos of this astoundingly negligent parent. Hopefully, someone will recognize the woman and contact local child protective services.

Babies: the liberal activist's new tool of choice.

Update: Bit's Blog reminds us that Islamist terrorist groups have been using children as tools this way for some time.

Supporting the Troops Liberal Style

The Cambridge Election Commission has had Boy Scout donation boxes for the troops removed from polling stations because someone called to complain that they were "too pro-war." So much for the oft-repeated leftist lie that they "support the troops, but not their mission."

From Wicked Local Cambridge:

Marsha Weinerman, executive director of the city’s Election Commission, said the boxes were removed after a resident complained to commission workers about their implied “pro-war” message.

“We contacted the law department, and it was determined that the best course of action would be to remove the boxes,” Weinerman said.

In a column that appears in this week’s Chronicle, Troop leader Jamisean Patterson said the commission twice granted the scouts permission to set up the boxes at the polling stations.

“We have never seen anything like this decision in Cambridge before,” Patterson wrote. The city is changing for the worse if decisions like this are allowed to be made.”

Nothing gives a BDS-suffering lefty wood like screwing the troops and the Boy Scouts at the same time.

Hat tip: Jay at Stop the ACLU, who has video of local coverage.

How Did I Miss This First Time Around?

James Taranto reminds us all why Keith Olbermann is properly referred to as a mincing metrosexual milquetoast:

Worst Person in the World: 5-Year-Old Suzie!
From a New York magazine profile of MSNBC's Keith Olbermann:

It probably won't come as much of a surprise that when Keith Olbermann was a kid, he got the tar kicked out of him on a regular basis. And not by the football team. "I got beat up by girls all the time," says Olbermann. "They literally posted a sign-up sheet and would take turns. I think that's why I've always been such a fan of Mencken's line, 'Afflict the comfortable and comfort the afflicted.' I've been afflicted."

Olbermann's affliction began at age 5 . . .

It's been said that a conservative is a liberal who's been mugged by reality. Apparently a liberal is someone who's been mugged by little girls.

Cut a Little Swath and Lead the People on

Hillary Clinton Opposes Licenses for Illegal Immigrants...now that NYS governor Elliot Spitzer has dropped the plan in the face of overwhelming opposition. This is just the kind of firm, decisive leadership that Americans look for in a President.

In another important position statement, Hillary announced that she is confident that FDR's use of force against the Axis Powers was fully justified.


Photo from zombietime's archive of suppressed hideous Hillary photos.

Children Held, Beaten in Yemeni Jails

For the crime of being Shiite. Yemen is the country where the USS Cole was attacked. The Yemeni regime also routinely allows al Qaeda terrorists to escape from "house arrest."

These excerpts are from an exclusive report by one of my co-bloggers, Jane Novak, of The Jawa Report:

Nabil Mohamed Saleh, “I am 12 years old, the soldiers told me that the officer asks me to tell my younger brother to come, and we did come they caught us in their camp in Abs town for 2 weeks. They kept us in under ground floor, I told the soldier that my cousin is about to die, so he said let him die. After two weeks they transferred me to the political security in Al. Hudeida where we were imprisoned for 12 days. Until now we have been arrested since three months, we have been beaten by the soldiers and officers, we have been beaten with sticks while we were handcuffed. They beat us and lay us faces down”.

Hussein Ali Saleh al-Qu’ait, "I am 13 years old and I am imprisoned since three months, first two weeks in Abs then another two weeks in the political security, we have been beaten, handcuffed, they beat us as soon as we arrive before even interrogating us. I saw Qasem Al jahf fainted while his head bleeding. Some of us have been made naked and they took off all our clothes”.

Read the rest.

NYS Gov Spitzer Drops Idiotic Illegal Immigrant Licensing Scheme

From Reuters:

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer is dropping a controversial plan to issue driver's licenses to illegal immigrants because of overwhelming opposition to the policy, The New York Times reported on Tuesday.

I've never been sure just where Spitzer came up with this crack-brained idea, or why he kept pushing it in the face of overwhelming public opposition, but at least it served a valuable purpose.

It helped to expose Hillary as a pandering dolt:

Counterfire Number Five

Terrorist insurgents launch a mortar attack against Balad Air Base and quickly quickly come under counter fire.

A little bit of Mustafa raining down
A little bit of El-Amin by the sound
A little bit of Ra'id with a thump
A little bit of Tamir in greasy lumps
A little bit of Sameer's ankle bone
A little bit of Mahmoud quite well done
A little bit of Jabbar's swarthy hand
A little bit of all go to Shaitaan


Terrorist insurgents planting an IED are targeted by a Predator.

Thanks to Howie of The Jawa Report.

Sac Bee's Public Editor Just as Arrogant and Stupid as His Reporter

Remember Bobby Calvan, The Sacramento Bee reporter who tried to browbeat a US soldier in Iraq, then bragged about it on his blog? Then tried to delete the blog when bloggers and commenters started pointing out what a stupid, arrogant jackass he was?

Evidently, stupid, arrogant jackassery is endemic to the Sacramento Bee. Here's Bobby's Public Editor, behaving like a stupid, arrogant jackass while complaining about the harsh treatment his reporter got for being a stupid, arrogant jackass.

Hat tip to Michelle Malkin, who nominated Bobby for the Jerk of the Year Award.

Veterans Day

Tommy
Rudyard Kipling, 1892

For it's Tommy this, an' Tommy that, an' "Tommy wait outside";
But it's "Special train for Atkins," when the trooper's on the tide-
The troopship's on the tide, my boys, the troopship's on the tide,
O it's "Special train for Atkins," when the trooper's on the tide.

Yes, makin' mock o' uniforms that guard you while you sleep
Is cheaper than them uniforms, an' they're starvation cheap;
An' hustlin' drunken soldiers when they're goin' large a bit
Is five times better business than paradin' in full kit.

Then it's Tommy this, an' Tommy that, an' "Tommy 'ow's yer soul?"
But it's "Thin red line of 'eroes" when the drums begin to roll-
The drums begin to roll, my boys, the drums begin to roll,
O it's " Thin red line of 'eroes," when the drums begin to roll.

We aren't no thin red 'eroes, nor we aren't no blackguards too,
But single men in barricks, most remarkable like you;
An' if sometimes our conduck isn't all your fancy paints,
Why single men in barricks don't grow into plaster saints;

While it's Tommy this, an' Tommy that, an' "Tommy fall be'ind,"
But it's "Please to walk in front, sir," when there's trouble in the wind-
There's trouble in the wind, my boys, there's trouble in the wind,
O it's "Please to walk in front, sir," when there's trouble in the wind.

You talk o' better food for us, an' schools, an' fires, an' all:
We'll wait for extry rations if you treat us rational.
Don't mess about the cook-room slops, but prove it to our face
The Widow's Uniform is not the soldier-man's disgrace.

For it's Tommy this, an' Tommy that, an' "Chuck 'im out, the brute!"
But it's "Saviour of 'is country" when the guns begin to shoot;
An' it's Tommy this, an' Tommy that, an' anything you please;
An' Tommy ain't a bloomin' fool - you bet that Tommy sees!

Saint Crispian's Day Speech
William Shakespeare

This day is called the feast of Crispian:
He that outlives this day, and comes safe home,
Will stand a tip-toe when the day is named,
And rouse him at the name of Crispian.
He that shall live this day, and see old age,
Will yearly on the vigil feast his neighbours,
And say 'To-morrow is Saint Crispian:'
Then will he strip his sleeve and show his scars.
And say 'These wounds I had on Crispin's day.'
Old men forget: yet all shall be forgot,
But he'll remember with advantages
What feats he did that day: then shall our names.
Familiar in his mouth as household words
Harry the king, Bedford and Exeter,
Warwick and Talbot, Salisbury and Gloucester,
Be in their flowing cups freshly remember'd.
This story shall the good man teach his son;
And Crispin Crispian shall ne'er go by,
From this day to the ending of the world,
But we in it shall be remember'd;
We few, we happy few, we band of brothers;
For he to-day that sheds his blood with me
Shall be my brother; be he ne'er so vile,
This day shall gentle his condition:
And gentlemen in England now a-bed
Shall think themselves accursed they were not here,
And hold their manhoods cheap whiles any speaks
That fought with us upon Saint Crispin's day.

[Special thanks to Devil Dog JanZ]

Sunday Funny

From the Dry Bones Blog.

Creatively Irresponsible

Brian Murphy offers a particularly deft eulogy for Norman Mailer at Six Meat Buffet. Certainly Norman's death has received more prominent notice than did the death of Richard Adan in 1981.

Hollywood Anti-American Propaganda Films Dismal Failures

But the so-called "analysts" are so blinded by their anti-American ideology that they don't understand why:

The wave of recent films set against the backdrop of war in Iraq and post-9/11 security has failed to win over film-goers keen to escape grim news headlines when they go to the movies, analysts say...

...Lew Harris, the editor of website Movies.com, said the films have struggled to be successful because the subject matters of Iraq and 9/11 remain too close to home. And in many cases, the films have not been entertaining enough.

"These movies have to be entertaining," Harris told AFP. "You can't just take a movie and make it anti-war or anti-torture and expect to draw people in.

Gee, what if someone in Hollywood were to make a film like, say, oh, I don't know, Blackhawk Down, that celebrates the courage and sacrifice of those Americans on the front lines. Maybe people are just sick and tired of having the infantile world views of Hollywood's "elites" jammed down their throats at nine or ten dollars a serving.

Of course, calling these liberal loyalists "stupid" is putting the best possible face on their actions. The more sinister, and likely, reason for their failure to acknowledge the true cause of these box office disasters is that they don't want to acknowledge that audiences recognize pro-terrorist propaganda when they see it.

Anyone feel like making a pro-Western film? How did "300" do?

Hillary Campaign Caught Planting Questions

From the LA Times blogs:

She [Hillary] called on a young woman. "As a young person," said the well-spoken Muriel Gallo-Chasanoff, "I'm worried about the long-term effects of global warming. How does your plan combat climate change?"

"Well, you should be worried," Clinton replied. "You know, I find as I travel around Iowa that it's usually young people that ask me about global warming."

There's a good reason for that, too. The question was a plant, totally rigged in advance, like a late-night infomercial. Just before the public forum a Clinton staffer had chosen the young woman, a student at Grinnell College, and asked her to ask that specific question.

Trouble is, the young woman told others and today her account showed up on the Grinnell website, including mention that the staffer signaled Clinton who to call on.

It's hard to decide which is more pathetic, the utter dishonesty of planting questions, or the abject incompetence of getting caught.

The Marines: 232 Years Strong Today

Happy birthday to America's first warriors...always faithful.






Semper fi', Dad.

Update: this video is interesting for what the Marine doesn't say. His kids have asked him about his time on Guadalcanal, one of the most desperate battles the Marines have ever been called to make. The Navy was forced to retreat in the face of a superior Japanese fleet, leaving the Marines on the beach short of men, ammunition, and rations, facing the certainty of a Japanese counterattack. Notice that this old Marine barely acknowledges there was a war on, instead, diverting his kids with a funny anecdote. My dad used to do the same thing when I asked him about Okinawa. Even in their old age, they still protect us, and discuss the horrors only with their brothers in arms.



Hat tip to Cookie.

Proposed Iraq War Democrat Memorials

Thanks to Good Lt. of The Jawa Report.

Be Sure to Salute Your CO on Veterans Day

No, not that CO, your local Conscientious Objector. That's the message being presented by a teacher at Bay Haven Elementary in Sarasota.

From George Smiley at In From the Cold:

In case you missed it, El Rushbo had a rather disturbing call just before 2 pm (EST) today, from a woman in Sarasota, Florida. She explained that her son is a fourth-grader at Bay Haven Elementary School in the city, and was pleased to learn that the school will celebrate Veteran's Day tomorrow.

Then, her son asked: "Mommy, what's a conscientious objector?"

Turns out that her son's teacher plans to commemorate the holiday by recognizing those who refused to serve. The woman complained to the school's principal, who said she could not dictate how teachers observed Veteran's Day; however, she did agree to the mother's request that her son be moved to another classroom on Friday, for a more appropriate observation of the holiday.

On Mothers Day, the teacher will honor second cousins twice removed.

A Message From Iraq

Via Michael Yon, independent journalist:

A Muslim man had invited the American soldiers from “Chosen” Company 2-12 Cavalry to the church, where I videotaped as Muslims and Christians worked and rejoiced at the reopening of St John’s, an occasion all viewed as a sign of hope.

The Iraqis asked me to convey a message of thanks to the American people. ” Thank you, thank you,” the people were saying. One man said, “Thank you for peace.” Another man, a Muslim, said “All the people, all the people in Iraq, Muslim and Christian, is brother.” The men and women were holding bells, and for the first time in memory freedom rang over the ravaged land between two rivers.

Yon finances his reporting through the generosity of his readers.

Hat tip: larwyn.

American Jihadi Cornholed, Humiliated...Pwned

The Jawa Report (where I co-blog), having chased American traitor Samir Khan of Charlotte, NC off several blogging platforms by inviting Jawa readers to complain to the hosting companies, has caught the hapless Khan hotlinking copyrighted images for use in his propaganda, and turned Khan's own blog against him.

Khan specializes in posting gruesome photos from around the internet and claiming that they are all American casualties. Some of them are, but many are civilians killed by terrorist acts, and several, which Samir has since removed, were actually "holy martyrs" - the charred and disgusting remains of Islamist suicide bombers. Samir is evidently too stupid to know the difference, and counts on the stupidity of his regular readership.

Khan using hotlinking to save money by conserving bandwidth, an act of electronic parasitism that perfectly reflects his actual everyday life. Howie of The Jawa Report then replaced the images that Khan illegally hotlinked with images meant to be offensive to the offensive Khan and his offensive terrorist wannabe readership, like this one:


You can see more of the images Khan stupidly allowed to run on his blog here. Khan apparently did not notice the changed pictures (probably because of browser caches) until his readers started squealing like little pigs whose slop has turned sour:

11. Nasr - November 7, 2007
Akhi please edit the photos that Jawa pig managed to hack some and replace them with some disgusting ones, may Allaah torment him in Jahannam

10. Walaa Wal Baraa - November 7, 2007
Allahu Akbar! The image with the face blown completely off was disturbing! Yuck!
Salam alaikum. Just to bring to your attention, it appears the images you hotlinked to MyPetJawa.mu.nu have been altered to tease you, but one of them offers to publicize your address and phone number. Is that the one who confronted you? I currently do not have the time to read their site in depth.

I'm not the Jawa who confronted Samir, but I am the one who provided his address and phone number to the Jawas.

Should I call your parents, Samir, and let them know what you're up to in their basement when you're not masturbating to beheading videos?

Update: Samir Khan reveals his perverted faith in his angry response and threatens the owner of The Jawa Report, and his family, with death:

12. inshallahshaheed - November 7, 2007
Assalam Alaikum,

Jazakullah Khair to everyone for informing us of what the enemy of Allah, Rusty Shackleford aka mypetjawa (qatalahumullaah), had done with some of the pictures. We initially had a bad feeling of what he might do if we were to link the pictures from his blog.

So now that this true enemy of Allah has shown his ugly face, we say to him: we pray that Allah does not guide you, makes your whole life miserable, and that you are eradicated from the earth by a Mujaahid. We cannot wait to see your expression on the Day of Judgment when reality hits you in the face and the Angels who don’t know the meaning of Mercy will tear you apart into pieces for eternity. We hope that Allah gives you a severe torment in both worlds for your evil deeds. We pray that you die the way Pharaoh died… at the last minute, when his soul was about to be taken by the Angels, he wanted to become Muslim when he saw the truth (i.e., death)… but Allah rejected it and the Angel threw mud in his mouth so that he couldn’t pronounce the testimony which would take him to Paradise.

So let them laugh now, but we will be the ones laughing in the afterlife.

O Allah kill Rusty Shackleford and terrorize his family.

O Allah kill Rusty Shackleford and terrorize his family.

O Allah kill Rusty Shackleford and terrorize his family.

May this Kaafir rot in this world and be tortured forever in the Hereafter.

Another view of Samir Khan's humiliation:

Hilarious Fake Waterboarding Demonstration

Why is this guy sleeve-sniveling and whining when there is obviously a shield under the towel preventing the water from reaching his face? You can see the shape under the towel throughout the "torture," and the faker's actor's face is dry when the towel is removed after a grueling 9 to 10 seconds.

I'll bet this dude screamed like a little girl when his college buds pulled the old "Atomic Situp" trick on him.



In fact, this demonstration was so poorly staged and acted that one is forced to ask: are these people really waterboarding advocates trying some misdirection?

Thanks to Jay at Stop the ACLU.

Now Beard Trimming is Torture

Ray Robison explains the horror of it all, as whined about by this bleeding heart at the Miami Herald.

Captured terrorists: you are now free to continue flinging feces, urine, semen, vomit or whatever else you choose at your guards without fear of suffering beard decapitation.

Left Coordinates 11th Hour Push Against Mukasey

Two of the signatories (Colleen Rowley and Larry Johnson) of this "urgent" letter to the majority and minority leadership of the Senate Judiciary Committee have posted it at the Huffington Post and No Quarter. The letter asks the committee to prevent Attorney General nominee Michael Mukasey's nomination from moving to the full Senate.

From Larry Johnson's website, No Quarter:

A group of distinguished intelligence and military officers, diplomats, and law enforcement professionals delivered an urgent message this morning to the chairman and the ranking minority member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, calling on them to hold the nomination of Judge Michael Mukasey until he takes a clear position on the legality of waterboarding.

I suppose "distinguished," in the sense of "widely known" is technically correct here, but the list includes too many people who have been "distinguished" by partisan activity and relentless self-promotion for their letter to be taken as anything other than a political stunt. "Notorious" might better describe some, including signatory Mary McCarthy, who was dismissed from the CIA, allegedly for leaking classified information to the Press.

And, of course, when one of the most prominent signatories is a DailyKos diarist, as Larry Johnson is, there can be little doubt that the motivation for making so much noise over a technique that has been used three times is a partisan statement.

Also from Larry Johnson's website:

Musharraf Suspends Paki Constitution, Fires Judges, Jails Opponents...

...and has lawyers beaten with riot sticks [must...resist...obvious...joke]. In other words, our ally in Pakistan is reasserting his 1999 coup d'état, faced with Pakistani supreme court judges who wanted to invalidate his election as president.

Unfortunately, much of Musharraf's opposition is not coming from enlightened democratic idealists.

Jamaat-e-Islami, Pakistan's largest and most influential Islamic group, wants to usher in an era of strict sharia law, and has been linked to bin Laden supporters and terrorist training camps. Pakistani government officials have accused the group of harboring most of the terrorists hiding out in Pakistan. They oppose Musharraf primarily because he has sided with the United States against the Taliban and al Qaeda.

On the other hand, we have the Pakistan Peoples Party, whose tenets are Islam, democracy, and socialism, which is led by Benazir Bhutto, who is the "life chairperson."

And then there's that nuclear arsenal.

Sunday Funny

From the Dry Bones Blog.










Droit de Seigneur
George Bernard Shaw once remarked that, "England and America are two countries separated by a common language."

The caption to this photo from the Daily Mail proves him right.

AQ's Mad Doctor Threatens Libya

From the Associated Press:

CAIRO, Egypt - Al-Qaida's No. 2 figure harshly criticized Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi in a new audio tape Saturday, accusing him of being an enemy of Islam and threatening a wave of attacks against the North African country because it improved relations with the U.S.

In the 28-minute audio tape called "Unity of the Ranks," Ayman al-Zawahri also announced that the Libyan Islamic Fighting Group was joining ranks with al-Qaida.

"The Islamic nation is witnessing a blessed step ... The brothers are escalating the confrontation against the enemies of Islam: Gadhafi and his masters, the Washington crusaders," al-Zawahri said in the audio tape. The recording could not be independently verified, but it appeared on a Web site commonly used by insurgents and carried the logo of al-Qaida's media production house, as-Sahab.

Thanks to Ray Robison.

Crisis For America: Flow of Propaganda Threatened

How are TV networks and moviemakers to maintain their standard of politically correct, progressive scripted comedies and dramas if the writers go on strike? Hollywood may be forced to tap their strategic reserves by dipping into rerun stockpiles.

"It's been a steady stream of crises since the end of the Bartlett presidency," said one producer, "and now this. How can we maintain control of the narrative if we're deprived of characters like Alan Shore and the entire cast of Studio 60, who can parrot liberal talking points without fear of rebuttal?"

Team Edwards Delivers a Smackdown

This is an absolutely brilliant campaign spot:



Thanks to Jim Geraghty, who offers his own rave review:

My hat is off to Team Edwards. This is the toughest, most effective web ad I've seen this campaign so far. Somehow it manages to be simultaneously brutal and fair, contrasting Hillary's own words with herself, often only seconds apart.

Via larwyn.

Update: Related...

Arabic Speakers Are Detained, Miss Flight, Sue American Airlines

And they have a case, if this report from the Detroit Free Press is accurate:

DETROIT (AP) -- Six men of Iraqi descent who were heading home from doing training for the U.S. military have sued American Airlines, saying employees detained and publicly humiliated them after another passenger voiced suspicions.

The men worked for Defense Training Systems, a unit of International Logistics Services Corp. of Anchorage, Alaska. Their work involved teaching Marines about Iraqi culture, customs and etiquette, said their lawyer, Lawrence T. Garcia.

"These are some of the most pro-American people around," Garcia said. "There's no reason to suspect that these people were a threat on this airline. ... This is the face of prejudice and racism that happens today."

Apparently, they were detained merely for looking middle eastern and speaking Arabic. Folks, real burglars don't wear little black masks while carrying sacks with big dollar signs on them. Real terrorists have gotten much more sophisticated since 9/11. We probably won't see them coming, which is why airport security doesn't, and shouldn't, rely on profiling.

Looks like they work for this program:

Cultural Awareness Training: Instructor led classroom training on Iraqi tribes their customs and cultural elements, basic Arabic language skills. Subsequent live simulated training w/ custom scenarios based on recent lessons learned in theatre to reinforce cultural training. Each participant is given a color-laminated language and cultural tips reminder card suitable for carry in theatre.

All the News that Fits the Agenda

From Investor's Business Daily reporting on a Harvard study of the news media:

Just like so many reports before it, a joint survey by the Project for Excellence in Journalism and Harvard's Joan Shorenstein Center on the Press, Politics and Public Policy — hardly a bastion of conservative orthodoxy — found that in covering the current presidential race, the media are sympathetic to Democrats and hostile to Republicans.

Democrats are not only favored in the tone of the coverage. They get more coverage period. This is particularly evident on morning news shows, which "produced almost twice as many stories (51% to 27%) focused on Democratic candidates than on Republicans."

The most flagrant bias, however, was found in newspapers. In reviewing front-page coverage in 11 newspapers, the study found the tone positive in nearly six times as many stories about Democrats as it was negative.

A Very Public Breakdown

Blogger kayinmaine (of the aptly named site "White Noise Insanity") has this to say about Paul Tibbets, commander of the Enola Gay, the plane that dropped the atomic bomb on Hiroshima and ended WWII, who passed away yesterday:

Paul Tibbets died a coward today at the age of 92...I spit on him.

Of course, a search of kay's site reveals that she waited for Tibbets to die before libeling him. Coward.

UPDATE: Bozoer Rebbe remarks on Tibbets in The Jawa Report comments:

The irony of calling Paul Tibbets a "coward" is that Tibbets was assigned the Hiroshima mission in great part because he was considered the finest bomber pilot in the US Army Air Force. He piloted the lead B-17 in the first daylight bombing raid by an American squadron over Nazi occupied Europe in Aug. 1942 and later flew combat in the Mediterranean theater of operations. He personally shuttled Gen. Eisenhower from England to Gibralter prior to Operation Torch, the Allied invasion of North Africa.

Tibbets' commendations:

* Distinguished Service Cross
* Distinguished Flying Cross
* Air Medal
* Purple Heart
* Legion of Merit
* Commendation Medal
* European-African-Middle Eastern Campaign Medal
* Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal
* American Defense Service Medal
* American Campaign Medal
* World War II Victory Medal

Rusty Shackleford: "My grandfather was a Marine killed on a beach in the South Pacific. Tens of thousands--if not hundreds of thousands--of his comrades would have been killed in the invasion of the Japanese home island had we not dropped the Atomic bombs.

My other grandfather, like Tibbetts, was a pilot in WWII. Had the bomb not been dropped, I might have lost him as well."

My father was a Marine on Okinawa. He had already been wounded there at the time of the bombing, but his TBI wasn't recognized at the time (and would have been called a "concussion" then if it had been). He was finally medically evacuated after several months of occupation duty in Japan.

Thanks to Dr. Rusty Shackleford of The Jawa Report.

Why Iraq is Rarely on the Nightly News Now

Because western journalists are reluctant to report success in a campaign they had all but declared lost.

As conservative columnist and blogger Andrew Bolt writes at News.com.au:

The battle is actually over. Iraq has been won.

I know this will seem to many of you an insane claim. Ridiculous!

After all, haven't you read countless stories that Iraq is a "disaster", turned by a "civil war" into a "killing field"?

Didn't Labor leader Kevin Rudd, in one of his few campaign references to Iraq, say it was the "greatest ... national security policy disaster that our country has seen since Vietnam"?

You have. And you have been misled.

Bolt examines the figures and events and makes a compelling argument. Especially telling: Iraq's violent death rate right now is roughly equal to that of South Africa. How many are calling South Africa after apartheid a failed democracy?

A.J. at The Strata-Sphere predicts this column is the beginning of a trend.

At Jules Crittenden's blog commenter RebeccaH, sums things up admirably:

What a sad commentary on our own society that news of the war disappears from the front page because we are winning it.

Via memeorandum.

Quest For Ire: Glenn's Struggle

Eric at Classical Values has a little fun with Glenn Greenwald's recent horrible, horrible ordeal:

I was disappointed that it ended there, as I was just starting to get into the flow. And it's the flow that counts in these things, right? But did it really end there? I have it on good authority that the dialogue actually continued, because, you know, it might as well have. And as of right now, neither Boylan nor Greenwald has denied that the following exchange -- which I am about to quote in a rare Classical Values exclusive scoop -- actually and literally took place:

Has Eric discovered a super top secret continuation of the email conversation? Is it truthy and delicious? Who is Rick Ellensburg? Will Glenn eventually light a fire under his foot-dragging friends in the media and pull off a public lynching of the colonel serving in Iraq?

Silence! I Kill You!

Thanks to The Van Der Galiën Gazette.

Is Al Qaeda in Iraq Defeated?

That's the claim made by a spokesman for the Iraqi Islamic Party, according to this report from Michael Yon:

“Al Qaeda in Iraq is defeated,” according to Sheik Omar Jabouri, spokesman for the Iraqi Islamic Party and a member of the widespread and influential Jabouri Tribe. Speaking through an interpreter at a 31 October meeting at the Iraqi Islamic Party headquarters in downtown Baghdad, Sheik Omar said that al Qaeda had been “defeated mentally, and therefore is defeated physically,” referring to how clear it has become that the terrorist group’s tactics have backfired. Operatives who could once disappear back into the crowd after committing an increasingly atrocious attack no longer find safe haven among the Iraqis who live in the southern part of Baghdad. They are being hunted down and killed. Or, if they are lucky, captured by Americans.

Yon points to evidence supporting the sheik's assertion:

...more and more meetings in Iraq are turning to day-to-day business, and less time is required on military and security topics like targeting and addressing intelligence-type matters, which until recently monopolized most meetings across Iraq.

Read the whole thing, put Yon in your favorites, and throw something into his tip jar, if you can.

Newsweek: Only 7% of Americans Do Not Believe in Supernatural Phenomena

According to Newseek, only 7 percent don't believe in supernatural phenomena? That's, well shocking; how could this be? No, really, here's the quote:

And believe it we do. A Gallup poll found that only 7 percent of Americans do not believe in telepathy, déjà vu, ghosts, past lives or other supernatural phenomena, which may have more than a little to do with the soaring popularity of Halloween.

Déjà vu? Déjà vu is a supernatural phenomenon? Who knew?

Phelps Freaks After Verdict

For a minute it almost seems like Westboro Hate Cult Founder and Chief Steaming Assnugget is going to stroke out, but no such luck. Apparently, God wants to humiliate him a little more before sending him home to Lucifer.



Thanks to Jay at Stop the ACLU.