January 30, 2012

Long War Journal:

A member of the newly elected Egyptian parliament has called for al Qaeda's emir to return to the country "with his head held high and safely."

Aboud al Zomor, who served as the first emir of the Egyptian Islamic Jihad and was later imprisoned for his role in President Anwar Sadat's assassination, said that he welcomes Ayman al Zawahiri's return to Egypt and that he would be given safe haven, according to a report published yesterday in Al-Sharq Al-Awsat. The report was translated from Arabic by the Foundation For Defense of Democracies.

"When asked if he saw any danger in al Zawahiri's return, al Zomor said that 'he was not a threat to Egypt, the likes of al Zawahiri differed with the previous regime and they were only a danger for this regime and not for Egypt, and now he is liberating Afghanistan and Iraq...'" the report stated. Zomor also lamented that the US would be opposed to Zawahiri's return to Egypt.

Zomor denied having direct contact with members of al Qaeda, and claims to have renounced violence.

"I've distanced myself from that currently because I took the political line and closed the page on the past, as a result of which doors to peaceful action opened for us," he told Al-Sharq Al-Awsat.

Zomor is one of the primary founders of the Egyptian Islamic Jihad, the terrorist group that merged with al Qaeda. Zawahiri succeeded Zomor as the group's emir and presided over its merger with bin Laden's terror group in the 1990s.

January 16, 2012

In which the #OWSers take over a home in the midst of foreclosre proceedings from the evil corporations, and then proceed to trash it.

CORPORATIONS!!

October 19, 2011

I'm not going for the "dry run" hypothesis that so many jump to in cases like this. What one needs to consider is that crazy is not culturally determined. Which means there are a lot of Muslims who, like every other group, are crazy.

But what Muslims should understand is that the rest of us are neither bigoted nor crazy ourselves for fearing a guy yelling Allahu Akbar on a plane more than a crazy guy yelling Jesus saves on that same plane:

“You’re all going to die,” a man dressed in black screamed at passengers Tuesday afternoon. “You’re all going to hell. Allahu Akbar,” translated as God is great in Arabic.

Federal authorities arrested Ali Reza Shahsavari, 29, of Indialantic, Fla., onboard the Boeing 737 after pilots made an emergency landing at Rick Husband Amarillo International Airport at 3:30 p.m. He is being held in the Randall County jail on a federal charge of interfering with a flight crew.

September 15, 2011

This hit piece by Spencer Ackerman over at Wired is just another indication of one of the problems of the intellectually lazy: despite all evidence that apples are not oranges, they are unable to make meaningful distinctions because such distinctions are offensive to conventional wisdom.

As you know, I do not think Islam is inherently violent. I do not think we are at war with Islam.

But, one of the sure signs of laziness is generalized equivocation.

Such equivocation is apparent in Ackerman's piece.

Christianity is a religion. Islam is a religion. They are the same. Therefore, any suggestion that one has more violent adherents than another must be motivated by bigotry.

Which is not just lazy, it's a lie. We have reams and reams of data that show that Muslims are far more likely to support terrorism than Christians.

Now, I wonder why that is? Um, maybe it's because mainstream Islam is much more tolerant of violence than is mainstream Christianity?

The problem with people like Ackerman is that they define 'mainstream' in a convenient way: the mainstream is simply what I like.

While this might be good for propaganda purposes, it is not an intellectually honest definition.

A lot of Muslims reject traditional notions of violence and oppression that have been part of mainstream Sunni and Shia Islam for as far back as historical records have been kept.

A majority of Muslims in the US reject these traditions. They are innovators. Many of them left their countries of origin because of they hated these very traditions. I'd love to see more Muslims like them.

But in my view, outsiders must treat religions as if there is no right or wrong way to believe. A religion is what its believers say it is. Anything more than this is theological inside baseball.

So, when outsiders claim that one version of a religions is the correct one and that another version is a perversion, we are imposing our own values on something that is not our own. Let Muslims duke this out. It's their fight, not ours.

It's like Buddhists picking Lutheranism as "true" Christianity and rejecting Catholicism as "deviance from the mainstream".

At best we can only say that this is what the majority believes or this is what has traditionally been taught or this is what has been accepted as orthodoxy.

To say that Islam as it has been practiced for over a thousand years isn't mainstream is a statement in the absurd.

Now, I expect politicians to say such absurdities. We pay politicians to lie. And, in this case, it's a useful lie. The more Muslims that are convinced that Islam has always been peaceful and supported basic human rights the better every one will be.

Is speculation on the possibility of reforming Islam of value to FBI agents in counter-terror training? Um, no.

But adherence to many versions of traditional Islam is a predictor of Islamism and support for terrorism. There's just no way around that fact. It's not a convenient fact and it doesn't mean that Islam causes terrorism.

As I've said many times before: there is no one thing called Islam, there are only Islams. Just as there is no one Christianity, there are Christianities.

But if you want to stop Islamist terrorism I suggest not looking into Anabaptist fundamentalism.

Perhaps a paper such as was presented at Quantico wasn't appropriate to helping train our CT agents, but neither is it an outrage.

Somewhere between those who equivocate all religions as equal, therefore denying that certain traditional Islamic beliefs are at the root of Islamist terror, and those that claim that only the terrorists and Islamists represent "true" Islam lies the truth.

Both sides are in denial about the complicated and ever changing nature of religious beliefs. Until they can reconcile their oversimplified preconceived notions with reality then we are stuck in a place where there can be no real conversations about policy choices, only accusations and name calling.

March 22, 2011

Did I mention there is a Neo-Commie in the White House?

Protein Wisdom:

What we’re witnessing is an organized attempt at initiating a soft coup in the United States by way of a socialist cabal. Michael Medved might not like to hear this; Bill O’Reilly and Bernie Goldberg likely won’t, either — concerned, as they both are, about the “rightwing” “bash Obama” industry (which isn’t helping “the folks”); Jeb Bush surely doesn’t, if such a revelation means that his standing on stage with Obama in the swing state of FL to burnish his “pragmatic centrist” bona fides then looks like either betrayal of conservative principles, or a real lack of discernment and judgment; and of course, the establishment GOP, who has built its entire political strategy on the idea that Washington is and always will be business as usual (and it is — for them) probably want to skip this as well.

But those of us who met the election of Barack Obama with cries of opposition knew what was coming — all one had to do was bother to look — and we reluctantly pushed the GOP back to power in November to fight the attempt by the left to finish its takeover of our country.

November 16, 2010

I've got this assmagot sitting here with two strikes.

Please flag the holy f*ck out of this video in support of the specially designated terrorist group Ansar al-Sunnah aka Ansar al-Islam.

Ansar As Sunnah

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WXtDKnZQAkU

Thanks.

November 15, 2010

Fred Phelps' clan has a two flats and nary a Mechanic to fix it.

Westboro Baptist Protesters Get Tires Slashed Following Protest Saturday. To top it off, police say that they were unable to find anyone in town who would repair their vehicle

Sweet!

Hat Tip: Michelle Malkin.

October 07, 2010

Blackfive and Mr. Wolf are asking VFW members to protest the leaderships political support of non-vets and liberal politicians.

When liberal politicians say they "support" vets, I believe them. Not because they are especially pro-military or pro-veteran, but because they see the VA as an extension of the welfare state.

They "support" vets like they support unwed teenage mothers. The two groups are pretty much the same in their eyes. One victimized by male patriarchy and an unjust society; and the other victimized by the military-industrial complex.

UPDATE: Oops, the main point here is that local VFW members should be up in arms against the national organization in Washington. There are call in numbers at the link above.

September 08, 2010

Helps Allah's Little Soldier Stand at Attention up to 36 hours!

Obviously the Zionists are behind this somehow.

June 22, 2010

By an army of Patriot Guard riders.

PLATTSMOUTH - Hundreds of Patriot Guard riders from across the region appeared in Plattsmouth Tuesday morning for the funeral of Sgt. Blaine Redding.

Motorcycles and American flags lined the driveway of St. John the Baptist Church as the funeral procession for the Plattsmouth native passed down 18th Street and onto church property. Family members, friends and hundreds of community members joined the Patriot Guard riders along 18th Street and up to the church entrance.

Phelps and his ilk aren't even shocking anymore. They're a stinking laughingstock whereever they choose to raise their idiot heads. At any rate, check the slideshow at the link, the images are nothing short of awesome.

Remember, Phelps is a registered Democrat!

April 20, 2010

April 02, 2010

I hope there is a hell for people like this. NYPost:

Twenty-seven people were arrested Thursday on outstanding warrants at a New Jersey apartment complex where officials say a 7-year-old girl was gang raped....

Police say the child's 15-year-old stepsister sold her to have sex with as many as seven men and boys at a party Sunday in a vacant apartment. The stepsister was arrested and charged with aggravated sexual assault, promoting prostitution and other crimes.

February 19, 2010

Dude, this is unfreakingbelievable.

No, actually, it's quite believable. This is the Obama Administration. Which ran on a platform of: let's shut down Guantanamo within year and give all of these guys lawyers, rights, and civilian trials.

How's that working out for ya Sparky?

It's not just that these are lawyers who worked to free terrorists -- even terrorists need lawyers -- but that some of them filed amicus curiae briefs on behalf of Guantanamo detainees. That means that they weren't the lawyers for the terrorists, but were so outraged (outgrage!) by what Bush-Hitler was doing that they felt compelled (compelled!) to try and intervene in the cases even though they had no direct relationship with them.

I can't believe you morons voted for this guy. He's giving you exactly what he promised.

January 24, 2010

The Brangelina Breakup.

Go for it, Shackleford. Rush to Angelina's side and comfort her in her time of turmoil.

December 02, 2009

...Frum is a RAAAACIST!!!

David tries to woo Charles (Johnson, of Little Green Footballs, who has gone over to the dark side) back with a bit of poetry:

If you can bear to hear the truth you’ve spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,
And stoop and build ‘em up with worn-out tools;

The same Rudyard Kipling who wrote this:

Take up the White Man's burden--
Send forth the best ye breed--
Go, bind your sons to exile
To serve your captives' need;
To wait, in heavy harness,
On fluttered folk and wild--
Your new-caught sullen peoples,
Half devil and half child.

* All kidding aside, there are hordes of imbeciles who refuse to take Kipling as a talented product of his time and place and insist upon injecting twenty-first century values into critiques of his work.

November 24, 2009

The guys who captured the mastermind behind this:

Are about to be court martialed for maybe giving that guy a fat lip.

This would be the same incident in which Americans were murdered in Fallujah over which Markos "Kos" Moulitsas said, "Screw them."

Now Kos' candidate is in the White House and the military is more interested in punishing heroes who may have barely stepped over some imaginary ethical line than in rewarding them for a job well done.

Imagine: Hey guys, thanks for putting your life on the line and in a job well done capturing Osama bin Laden, but now I'm going to bust you down to private because one of you might have kicked him once while he was down and the rest of you covered it up.

Screw them, indeed.

I think I'm going to be sick.

FoxNews:

Navy SEALs have secretly captured one of the most wanted terrorists in Iraq — the alleged mastermind of the murder and mutilation of four Blackwater USA security guards in Fallujah in 2004. And three of the SEALs who captured him are now facing criminal charges, sources told FoxNews.com....

Ahmed Hashim Abed, whom the military code-named "Objective Amber," told investigators he was punched by his captors — and he had the bloody lip to prove it.

Now, instead of being lauded for bringing to justice a high-value target, three of the SEAL commandos, all enlisted, face assault charges and have retained lawyers.

Matthew McCabe, a Special Operations Petty Officer Second Class (SO-2), is facing three charges: dereliction of performance of duty for willfully failing to safeguard a detainee, making a false official statement, and assault.

Petty Officer Jonathan Keefe, SO-2, is facing charges of dereliction of performance of duty and making a false official statement.

Petty Officer Julio Huertas, SO-1, faces those same charges and an additional charge of impediment of an investigation.

Apparently military lawyers are just as idiotic as their civilian counterparts. My confidence level in the lawyerly profession has just about reached the limits of tolerance for the absurd.

UPDATE: 100% agree with Don Surber who titles his post "They should have just shot him.":

The message is getting clearer to the American military on how to handle people like KSM: Better dead than alive. Less paperwork.

You know, the last two thrillers I've read -- the latest from Vince Flynn and Brad Thor -- have been variations on the theme of counterintel types being fed up with all the BS that comes with working for the government. And you know I've just assumed that this was pretty much the world of fantasy. That in the real world when push came to shove that we would defend those that put their lives on the line. Maybe I was wrong?

There is always a lot of BS that comes along with working for government. That's the nature of the beast. But at some level won't it be tempting for people like these Navy SEAL's just to up and quit?

When the Atlas that is shrugging is involved in front line of counterterror operations then our nation's security is at risk.

And for what? So that a couple of pencil necked lawyers can say that the letter of the law was followed.

Thank a lawyer for the next time we are attacked.

Another update: Jack Murtha emails DrewM to say:

This guys are cold blooded smackers and I won't rest until they are given the death penalty. Coincidentally, the executions will take place in my district after we build a prison and death chamber with a 7 billion dollar earmark I am inserting in next year's budget.

And just a reminder: one of the men who was murdered was a former SEAL.

September 28, 2009

Color me shocked. What's next, the Two Minutes Hate?

"Now, I know longer school days and school years are not wildly popular ideas," the president said earlier this year. "Not with Malia and Sasha, not in my family, and probably not in yours. But the challenges of a new century demand more time in the classroom."

Funny, before the left took over education in this country, the country was educated just fine. Compare the tests you took in 8th grade to this one from 1895.

President Zero isn't interested in helping our kids get more intelligent, he just wants to do something along these lines:

August 08, 2009

From my personal list of the top ten things I'd rather not hear about:

Woman Sets Fire to Man's Genitals:

A Greek woman set fire to a British man's genitals at a club after he allegedly made sexual advances on her.

The man is currently at in a Heraklion, Crete, clinic being treated for second-degree burns to his testicles and penis.

June 11, 2009

Heh, pretty funny.

Personally I prefer Tropical Punch over Obama-Berry myself.

Oh Yeah!!!!

Hat Tip: Radio Equalizer.

June 03, 2009

Williams' defenders say that he wasn't really bowing while boiling in his pants, but rather was suddenly overcome by a tingle in his leg.

December 17, 2008

Tin foil hat may be required.

With Obama, Israel and less than 2% of the American population is now in full control of the American government

Rlusty, point that thing back at Vinnie would you?

Down with BoooshMcObamahellibacon!

Dammit Rsluty, I said stop it!

November 30, 2008

America sends money to Pakistan.

Stuff blows up.

America sends less money to Pakistan because stuff keeps blowing up.

Stuff blows up anyway.

Kos Kidz, "Its because of the the oppression maaaan." Their solution? "Send more oppressive imperialist dollars to Pakistan."

?

??

Wait a minute? I thought it was our oppressive imperial credits that started all this?

My head hurts.

November 28, 2008

Rosie O'Donnell gave NBC a real turkey.

The network's attempt to revive the primetime variety show failed to draw an audience Wednesday night, tying for the evening's lowest-rated program.

November 19, 2008

But for a centimeter to the left, millions would still be alive: One of Hitler's balls shot off in WWI.

October 07, 2008

Woe unto you, O Christphor Wills, AP Staff writer.

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. - As a state senator, Democrat Barack Obama awarded $75,000 in government grants to a Chicago social service organization led by a rabbi who is also his wife's cousin, records show.

In 1999, Obama arranged for $50,000 for adult literacy and counseling services offered on Chicago's South Side by a group called Blue Gargoyle. A $25,000 grant for the group's youth services followed the next year.

May God protect you from Teh Messiah's wrath, Christopher, for:

A. Exposing Teh Messiah for the scumbag that he is

B. Writing for the AP while exposing said scumbag

C. Not being in Alaska digging up non-existent dirt on Sarah Palin

3. I still suck at counting. And semantics.

September 03, 2008

This is apparently what journalists "get rabid" over in their shrinking newsrooms. They went to the leftwing blogs after the Palin pick because they desperately wanted help destroying her. In the process, they've destroyed themselves.

F-ing hilarious, guys! High five!

Post capped above down the memory hole in 3...2...1...

UPDATE: Click the link now. Lulz. We see you, O!bots.

Here's the NYT two days ago: U.S. Hands Off Pacified Anbar, Once Heart of Iraq Insurgency

Barack Obama could not be reached for comment, but did release a statement saying that making such foreign policy decisions like that required for the surge to be implemented was "above his pay grade."

Noted foreign policy strategists and military experts Maureen Down, Frank Rich, Paul Krugman, Nick Kristof and the all-knowing ed board itself have plenty of crow to eat. Good job by Eric Posner at the Volokh Conspiracy for rounding these gems up:

The only real question about the planned "surge" in Iraq — which is better described as a Vietnam-style escalation — is whether its proponents are cynical or delusional. -- Paul Krugman, NYT, 1/8/07

There is nothing ahead but even greater disaster in Iraq. -- NYT Editorial, 1/11/07

What anyone in Congress with half a brain knows is that the surge was sabotaged before it began. -- Frank Rich, NYT, 2/11/07

Keeping troops in Iraq has steadily increased the risk of a bloodbath. The best way to reduce that risk is, I think, to announce a timetable for withdrawal and to begin a different kind of surge: of diplomacy. -- Nicholas Kristof, NYT, 2/13/07

W. could have applied that to Iraq, where he has always done only enough to fail, including with the Surge -- Maureen Dowd, NYT, 2/17/07

The senator supported a war that didn't need to be fought and is a cheerleader for a surge that won't work. -- Maureen Dowd, NYT, 2/24/07

Now the ''surge'' that was supposed to show results by summer is creeping inexorably into an open-ended escalation, even as Moktada al-Sadr's militia ominously melts away, just as Iraq's army did after the invasion in 2003, lying in wait to spring a Tet-like surprise. -- Frank Rich, NYT, 3/11/07

Victory is no longer an option in Iraq, if it ever was. The only rational objective left is to responsibly organize America’s inevitable exit. That is exactly what Mr. Bush is not doing and what the House and Senate bills try to do. -- NYT Editorial, 3/29/07

We tried to warn these partisan liberal Democrat hacks that history has a strange way of making fools of such pinheads and their "commentary" during wartime. We were right. The NYT was wrong, along with their candidate Barack Obama and Joe Biden. McCain was right when Bush was wrong, and that's the bottom line.

Farking morons. Will these incorrect opinions and disinformation be corrected en masse on the corrections blotter, NYT? Pinch? Keller? Hoyt? Anybody listening over there?

Let this be the evidence you trot out when people tell you the NYT is the "paper of record." It sure is - a record of EPIC FAIL.

ht: Insty

August 25, 2008

When Joe starts letting loose some information about McCain that rubs noted objective newscaster and Edward R. Murrow protege Keith Olbermann the wrong way (and coincidentally, would rub Barack Obama the wrong way politically, natch), the line of where the coverage ends and the FAIL begins becomes blurred.

Enjoy a little indigestion within the personal propaganda organ of the Democrat Party and Barack Obama campaign - MSNBC. Olberdouche's microphone is supposed to be off, but like the dumbass he is, he just ignores it and lets it all hang out. Good move, slatch. Real professional.

August 20, 2008

Via CNN:

More than 200,000 children were spanked or paddled in U.S. schools during the past school year, human rights groups reported Wednesday.

Every public school needs effective methods of discipline, but beating kids teaches violence, and it doesn't stop bad behavior," wrote Alice Farmer, the author of a joint report from Human Rights Watch and the American Civil Liberties Union. "Corporal punishment discourages learning, fails to deter future misbehavior and at times even provokes it."

True, spanking does not work for all children, for those where it does not there is an alternative, expulsion.

July 30, 2008

Via Pat Dollard:

Well, Louie and I decided to do a little digging.

Louie’s Uncle Louie got involved as well.

We wanted to ID this classy broad.

This is what we know:

Her name is Anni Telfer. She is originally from Bakersfield, California, Bakersfield High School Class of 2004...

Definition "Bad Gay"; Any two males engaged in homosexual behavior or any two females engaged in homosexual behavior where either one or both is unattractive.

Since Anni Telfer is a rude unattractive America hating commie lesbo, she has forever earned a place in the TJR category Genital Puppets.

Oh and by the way her myspace page is here in case you would like to go by and exercise your right to express your opinion.

Also some bisexual ho on this board using the same name. Not sure if its the same person, if anyone wants to research that.

July 21, 2008

Though probably not any time soon. Via NPR

A generation ago, the livelihood of Gloria Nunez's family was built on cars.

Her father worked...

Nunez's van broke down last fall. Now, her 19-year-old daughter has no reliable transportation out of their subsidized housing complex in Fostoria, 40 miles south of Toledo, to look for a job.

Nunez, 40, has never worked and has no high school degree...

...Even if she could, she says it's particularly hard to imagine how she'll keep it. She says she needs someone to give her a lift just to get to an interview. And with gas prices so high, she's not sure she could afford to pay someone to drive her to work every day.

People tell Nunez her daughter could get more money in public assistance if she had a child.

"A lot of people have told me, 'Why don't your daughter have a kid?'"

Anyone out there willing to help? All you have to do is lift up that lower roll and ....

I think I just threw up in my mouth, a little bit.

Hat Tip :Irony finder See Dubya.

June 18, 2008

But not by land or sea, from within!

Via Hot Air:

This makes two congressional Democrats on record within the past month as supporting an overtly socialist “solution” to gas prices.

Well might as well start learning our new Commiecrat national anthem.

I'm not sure how it is that Vinnie knew ahead of time we'd need to be learning this tune, but he did. How prescient of him.

Also see Stop the ALCU, Protein Wisdom and Michelle Malkin.

It's like 1984 all over again! Which was probably before this stupid beotch was born.

June 17, 2008

The spirit of Adolf Hitler lives on* [emphasis added]:

Weyers, owner of a health care benefits administrator in Lansing, Mich., gave his 200 employees an ultimatum in 2004: Quit smoking in 15 months or lose your job. He refused to hire smokers. Ultimately, he extended his smoking ban to employees' spouses and monitored compliance through mandatory random blood testing.

Let's hope someone in Howard Weyers family can get him to seek psychiatric treatment.

*Adolf Hitler was the most famous anti-smoker in history.

June 08, 2008

Rupert Everett - A Real Man's Man

"The whole point of being in the Army is wanting to get killed, wanting to test yourself to the limits. Now you have to fly 15,000ft above the war zone to avoid getting hit.

“I don't think there is any point in having wars if that's how you're going to behave. It's pathetic. All this whining!"

And risking further fury from veterans, the actor who once worked as a rent boy after running away from boarding school at age 15, told the Sunday Telegraph: “The whole point of being in the Army is going to war and getting yourself blown up.

“That and p***ing on prisoners. Yet we all get shocked by Abu Ghraib.

"But that's war. If you don't like that side of it, don't do it. Of course soldiers are going to p*** on the first prisoners they take. It goes with the territory."

I think perhaps General George Patton would have disagreed, and suggested the point of joining the Army is to kill the other guys while keeping yourself alive.
Clearly Mr. Everett has got a sick fascination with urine, perhaps a byproduct of his "alternative lifestyle".

And speaking about Americans, he said: "I'm totally off the States now. The reaction to 9/11 and then George Bush - really, they've got very blobby as a nation.

"Now they are whiny victims whose language is entirely taken from two TV shows - Friends and Sex And The City - and there's nothing sexy about them any more.

“And that kind of semi-blindness about the rest of the world, which was attractive when America was exciting, is really unattractive now."

I find it somewhat amusing that such a fraction of a man has the audacity (and stupidity) to not only disparage those who defend the freedoms which allow his "alternative lifestyle", but also to simultaneously insult the American audiences who have financed it.

I find it equally amusing that he states one of his reasons for disliking today's military is that "everyone hates you when you get back"... while he does his very best to elicit and enhance this sentiment.

Perhaps Everett would have preferred to serve in Sir Richard Burton's time , a convenient excuse for his lack of service now, but it is certain the British armed forces of yesteryear would not have wanted him OR his lifestyle.

I, for one, am glad that he has spoken his mind.
As an American citizen, and one who supports the coalition forces, it will be my great pleasure to boycott any future projects which include this spectacularly insignificant excuse for a man.

Filed under "Genital Puppets".

Hat-Tip: HotAir

Note to men who do not wish to be labeled 'pathetic, whining wimps':

Be sure to use words like "blobby" when describing nations, and talk about urine a great deal.
It also helps to pose nude, while skull-f***ing a severed head.

June 03, 2008

Oh, the symbolism.

May 29, 2008

Where the Good Lord split ya, Beotch!

And by beotch I mean Susan Sarandon.

It's a good thing she didn't threaten to leave the US back in the 1970s. NSFW!!!!!

Why does it seem that most every sordid, underhanded attempt to humble America before the world and encourage her enemies to kill more Americans leads back to George Soros?

UPDATE by Rusty: Just to be clear, I don't really think the connection is important. As you know, CJ over at LGF has no bigger supporter or fan than me. I just don't see why the owner of the publishing company has any sort of bearing on the content of the book? It could have motivated the company to publish McClellan's book, but if the implication is that somehow McClellan decided to criticize the Bush administration because Soros owns his publishing company or because its Board of Directors are a bunch of liberals, then I'm not on board. Smacks too much of the Chomsky and Hermann's Manufacturing Dissent thesis about corporate media power.

I think it's interesting to note the relationship, but that's it. Just an interesting fact, nothing more. Charles doesn't note anything more than the relationship, and neither should readers somehow read into it anything more than just that. Please don't read into this some sort of Soros funded conspiracy.

It may say something about the company's motivations, but not McClellan's.

May 14, 2008

Wow I never realized that people would willingly subject themselves to torture just to get on the TEE VEE.

Via NPR:

Research shows that sleep deprivation makes people emotionally volatile and temperamental — a fact that hasn't escaped the notice of some reality TV producers. In fact, though it's not always obvious to the audience, many reality shows feature contestants who could use a little more sleep....

...Lincoln Hiatt, executive producer of the reality show Solitary on the Fox Reality Channel, calls sleep deprivation "a producer's ally on almost any show."

But sleep researcher Carskadon isn't so sure. She notes, "I don't want to say that it's unethical, but maybe it is. There's documentation that sleep deprivation has been used as torture in prisoner of war settings."

Hurry call Code Pink! Call the ALCU! Call OSHA! Call the Hague! And Hurry. The Man and I have a settlement to make.

May 06, 2008

Stephen King's novels have suffered over the past few years from his earlier wild success. King has never been noted for diligent research, but more than made up the lack with imaginative plot twists and characters. Unfortunately, it seems that King became so successful that editors were afraid to point out to the author his more extravagant and stupid personal indulgences; for instance, including himself as a character in his disappointing Dark tower series.

While King's early research faux pas were relatively minor (in The Shining: a magneto from a snowmobile described as looking like an "octopus" when only high-end racing snowmobiles had more than two cylinders), now King's disdain for mental rigor has led him to slander America's armed forces, echoing John Kerry's idiotic gaffe.

From NewsBusters:

I don't want to sound like an ad, a public service ad on TV, but the fact is if you can read, you can walk into a job later on. If you don't, then you've got, the Army, Iraq, I don't know, something like that. It's, it's not as bright. So, that's my little commercial for that.

Or maybe it's just the bitterness that many physically weak and dorky men feel toward the people who protect them from harm. It's a sort of defense mechanism, I suppose, a revenge of the nerds rejection of those more capable.

Update: (below the fold)

King responds to NewsBusters' Noel Shepard piece with whiny misdirection:

A message from Stephen
That a right-wing-blog would impugn my patriotism because I said children should learn to read, and could get better jobs by doing so, is beneath contempt. Noel Sheppard says, “Nice sentiment when the nation is at war, Stephen.” I guess he feels ignorance and illiteracy are OK when the country needs cannon-fodder. I guess he also feels that the war in Iraq has nationwide approval. Well, it doesn’t have mine. It is a waste of national resources. . . and that includes the youth and blood of the 4,000 American troops who have lost their lives there and for the tens of thousands who have been wounded. I live in a national guard town, and I support our troops, but I don’t support either the war or educational policies that limit the options of young men and women to any one career—military or otherwise. If you agree, find Sheppard on the internet, and send him an email:

“Hi, Noel—Stephen King says to shut up and I agree.”

Steve

Noel Shepard takes note of King's continued hole-digging here. Shepard also notes that Stephen has shut down his own discussion boards.

For the record, I don't impugn King's patriotism because he wants tiny, cute little children to learn to read. On the contrary, since the American military doesn't accept illiterates, patriotic youth hoping to serve their country should get the best education they can. The also-rans can always read Stephen King novels while waiting for their Welfare checks.

I'm impugning King's patriotism 1) because he's become such a douche, and douchehood precludes patriotism, 2) because he has no clue about qualifications for military service and no interest in learning about them, 3) Stephen King is clearly a self-admitted defeatist and defeatists are, pretty much be definition, not patriots, 4) King thinks the First Amendment applies only to himself and people who think like him, and 5) because he's become such an effeminate, whining douche.

And finally, it's been suggested to me that the photo I posted, allegedly of Stephen King, may actually be former Attorney General Janet Reno. I'll look into it.

May 02, 2008

Is Richardson's trip to meet with Hugo Chaves similar to Jimmy Carter's trip to meet Hamas? To telegraph the attitudes and policies of a still theoretical Omaba presidency?

Via The American Spectator:s Bill Richardson campaigning for Secretary of State? Investor's Business Daily wondered as much as the New Mexico governor jetted off for a tete-a-tete with Hugo Chavez.

The New Mexico governor thought he could talk Chavez into pressuring Colombia's FARC into releasing its hostages, including three U.S. contractors they've held since 2003. Given his catastrophic negotiations with the Taliban, however, you'd think he'd know better.

In April 1998, Richardson was new to the role of U.N. Ambassador, and he set out to make peace in Afghanistan. The Taliban and the Northern Alliance were locked in a bloody battle. And Osama bin Laden was hiding out in Taliban territory as their honored "guest." Richardson had a South Asian junket planned, and in a press briefing an unnamed "senior State Department official" told reporters that "if it is possible to deliver a message to the Afghan parties to think peace as opposed to war, this is the time to do it before they resume their spring offensives."

An "ebullient" Richardson bragged on April 17th about getting the Northern Alliance and the Taliban to agree to face-to-face-talks, and then sidestepped his failure to secure the extradition of Osama bin Laden, one of the goals of his trip....

...Naturally, the Taliban walked out of the peace talks with the Northern Alliance within days, the talks fell apart, and the war's spring offensives resumed. I don't have statistics at hand for the number of female college graduates from Taliban U after 1998, but I feel safe in doubting that there was a drastic jump. In fact, the lot of women under Taliban oppression improved not a bit.

Still, the Taliban kept one of their promises to Richardson: they kept bin Laden comfortably "under wraps" -- while he and Al Qaeda planned the African embassy bombings for that August, and even worse in 2001.