Archive for January 10, 2009

one vote Arthur, no Carter no Arthur no Carter, no…

Posted: January 10, 2009 by datechguy in arthur vs carter
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Well despite firing an aide over Hamas contacts during the campaign it looks like the president elect will be talking to Hamas, according to the Guardian:

The incoming Obama administration is prepared to abandon George Bush’s ­doctrine of isolating Hamas by establishing a channel to the Islamist organisation, sources close to the transition team say.

The move to open contacts with Hamas, which could be initiated through the US intelligence services, would represent a definitive break with the Bush ­presidency’s ostracising of the group. The state department has designated Hamas a terrorist organisation, and in 2006 ­Congress passed a law banning US financial aid to the group

Well that’s one vote for Carter, but wait a moment…That’s not what Fox says:

“The President-elect has repeatedly stated that he believes that Hamas is a terrorist organization dedicated to Israel’s destruction, and that we should not deal with them until they recognize Israel, renounce violence, and abide by past agreements,” transition spokeswoman Brooke Anderson said in a written statement.

Well in that case that one vote for Arthur instead but wait…The Age says they are, a vote for Carter.

But the Austin News says they will not, a vote for Arthur.

But the Jerusalem Post says they will, a vote for Carter.

But then it says he won’t a vote for Arthur…

But CBS says he will.

Well Newspost says maybe, lets stick with that for now. No votes awarded

I should point out that articles dated today have reported on both sides ARRUGH.

USS George Herbert Walker Bush launches today; the left objects

Posted: January 10, 2009 by datechguy in Uncategorized
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When I saw this story I was very surprised:

To President George W. Bush, today’s ceremony commissioning a battleship named for his father is the emotional culmination of a turbulent eight years in office.

Not so much at an ex president was being honored with a warship named after him, but that a new Battleship had been launched. To my knowledge there hadn’t been a new battlewagon in over 60 years and I couldn’t see where a new one would be useful today.

Well the Houston Chronicle is half right it was being commissioned today but its an aircraft carrier.

President George W. Bush landed Saturday on the USS George H.W. Bush, a new aircraft carrier named after his father — the ultimate honor for a decorated Navy pilot from World War II.

With just days left in his presidency, Bush and first lady Laura Bush joined his father, now 84 years old, and other Bush family members at Naval Station Norfolk in Virginia for the commissioning of the nuclear-powered carrier.

I know the media doesn’t know much about the military these days but C’mon.

Naturally the Huffington Post objects:

The public Bush 41 was a genial patrician who got along with everybody. The private Bush 41 was deeply connected to operations that damaged, removed or destroyed several American presidents. Bush 41, who has famously claimed not to recall where he was on November 22, 1963, the day JFK was shot, was a longtime friend of the man who mentored Lee Harvey Oswald. That Bush 41 placed a suspicious call to the FBI at the time of JFK’s death to establish himself as being outside Dallas. He was connected to many figures surrounding Kennedy’s motorcade and the events of that tragic day.

Gotta love ’em. The site for the ship is here.

Steyn’s Documents it

Posted: January 10, 2009 by datechguy in opinion/news
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I’m still waiting for that explaination concerning the left and Israel and the Jews meanwhile Mark Steyn makes a list:

In Paris, the state-owned TV network France-2 broadcasts film of dozens of dead Palestinians killed in an Israeli air raid on New Year’s Day. The channel subsequently admits that, in fact, the footage is not from January 1st 2009 but from 2005, and, while the corpses are certainly Palestinian, they were killed when a truck loaded with Hamas explosives detonated prematurely while leaving the Jabaliya refugee camp in another of those unfortunate work-related accidents to which Gaza is sadly prone. Conceding that the Palestinians supposedly killed by Israel were, alas, killed by Hamas, France-2 says the footage was broadcast “accidentally.”

In Toulouse, a synagogue is firebombed; in Bordeaux, two kosher butchers are attacked; at the Auber RER train station, a Jewish man is savagely assaulted by 20 youths taunting, “Palestine will kill the Jews;” in Villiers-le-Bel, a Jewish schoolgirl is brutally beaten by a gang jeering, “Jews must die.”

In Helsingborg, the congregation at a Swedish synagogue takes shelter as a window is broken and burning cloths thrown in; in Odense, principal Olav Nielsen announces that he will no longer admit Jewish children to the local school after a Dane of Lebanese extraction goes to the shopping mall and shoots two men working at the Dead Sea Products store; in Brussels, a Molotov cocktail is hurled at a Belgian synagogue; in Antwerp, lit rags are pushed through the mail flap of a Jewish home; and, across the Channel, “youths” attempt to burn the Brondesbury Park Synagogue.

In London, the police advise British Jews to review their security procedures because of potential revenge attacks. The Sun reports “fears” that “Islamic extremists” are drawing up a “hit list” of prominent Jews, including the Foreign Secretary, Amy Winehouse’s record producer, and the late Princess of Wales’s divorce lawyer. Meanwhile, The Guardian reports that Islamic non-extremists from the British Muslim Forum, the Islamic Foundation and other impeccably respectable “moderate” groups have warned the government that the Israelis’ “disproportionate force” in Gaza risks inflaming British Muslims, “reviving extremist groups,” and provoking “UK terrorist attacks” — not against Amy Winehouse’s record producer and other sinister members of the International Jewish Conspiracy but against targets of, ah, more general interest.

Still waiting for the protests from the left on this stuff.

Not so fast says CNN. What a Crock says I

Posted: January 10, 2009 by datechguy in opinion/news, war
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Cnn now insists that the footage from Gaza mentioned here is genuine:

There’s no truth to accusations by bloggers that a Palestinian camera crew staged a video showing the death of the videographer’s brother after an Israeli rocket attack, said the team’s employer.

and has re-posted it.

Ed Morrissey isn’t buying it. His evaluation of the video:

It’s not only a fake, it’s an absurd fake. It’s not even done well, and Gilbert’s dramatic headshake at the end of the supposed CPR — in which Doctor #2’s hands keep coming off the body — is only the cheesy coup de grace. Why did CNN republish this?

His evaluation of CNN’s Explanation:

Maybe Martin can explain how a missile hits a roof and kills two boys but does no more damage to the roof than what a pickaxe could do in five minutes — and how the furniture didn’t get disturbed.

The Confederate Yankee isn’t buying it either:

Premium clients can commission the writing filming, and broadcast of specific stories. Commissioned news, sold at a premium. Isn’t that another name for mercenary propaganda?

If so, I wonder who commissioned these… or if they were done pro bono.

HAMAS ALLIES PREPARE FOR RENEWED CONFLICT

ROCKET MEN OF GAZA

DYING TO SMASH ISRAEL WALL SAYS HAMAS

RESIST, SAYS HAMAS ARMED WING

Martin is trusted by Hamas on at least a professional level, and has a financial stake in the credibility of his employee’s story. Neither of these conflicts of interest were disclosed by CNN, for the rather obvious reasons it undermines their claim of the story’s credibility.

Charles Johnson not only isn’t buying it but does some the basic research that CNN might do if it decided to bother:

The company that provided this video story to CNN and several other news outlets is World News & Features, as we pointed out yesterday after CNN published their defense of the piece.

At the lower right of the World News & Features front page, we find a link to Nepras.net as the designer of the site.

A WHOIS lookup for worldnf.tv reveals that the domain is hosted by Nepras.net:

(who is info follows)

…And the primary contact and general manager for Nepras.net is none other than the “freelance photographer” who filmed that staged hospital scene, Ashraf Mashharawi.

How about that.

I’ve interviewed Ed Morrissey, for the HiWired podcast a couple of years ago. He is a very good guy. I’ve been reading Charles Johnson for almost 8 years. He has a record of exposing fake news and its a good record. Neither pretend to not have the biases they have.

Meanwhile we have CNN the network that didn’t report on the Eason Jordan scandal until he resigned. And who can forget the famous article in the New York Times The News we kept to ourselves? If you don’t remember it read Bill Hobbs rundown on it an excerpt:

By keeping its bureau open and its mouth shut, CNN sent Saddam a powerful message: do what you want, we won’t tell anyone.

What should CNN have done? Stopped hiring locals, for one. And if that wasn’t possible, CNN should have closed its Baghdad bureau and stopped putting Iraqis at risk by being there. But mostly, CNN should have told the world what is going on. CNN Iraqi staffers were tortured while CNN stayed silent. It’s ludicrous after-the-fact corporate ass-covering to suggest the speaking out would have put its Iraqi staffers in danger. They already were in danger. Reporting that to the world might well have pressured the regime to change its ways. But we’ll never know because CNN was more interested in keeping its prestigious Baghdad bureau open than in fully reporting the horrors of the regime that hosted them there.

Given that history the choice between believing Ed and Charles (and Bob who I’m not as familiar) or CNN it is no contest. In fact what evidence do we have that CNN hasn’t changed its ways. Remember it wasn’t until 2 years after Jordan’s admission that he had to resign over false statements that Barney Frank and Chris Dodd called him on.

I’d say they are full of it.

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