Putting the Boot In: NYT's Front-Page Mockery of Bush

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The New York Times and the rest of the media can't get enough of the Iraqi journalist who threw his shoes at President Bush during a press conference in Baghdad, with a front-page story calling the potentially dangerous action a "defiant act" and a "mythic moment" and commenting on shoe-hurling Muntader al-Zaidi's "hero status" in the Arab world.

The Times's editorial board blog joined in on the irresponsible fun with a lame headline, "If the (Thrown) Shoe Fits...." [snip]

Yet the Times, casting its own rhetorical shoe in its eagerness to draw a picture of Bush's unpopularity and the "glee" felt in the Arab world, sailed right by an idea raised by columnist Ralph Peters in the New York Post; THE SHOE 'NUF TRUTH - AN IRAQI FREEDOM MILESTONE:

"Bush won. Even if shoe-thrower Muntadar al-Zaidi (who works for an Egypt -based media outfit) walks out in his stocking feet and becomes a hero to dead-enders, he unwittingly showed what a great thing has been accomplished in Iraq.

"Other than Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, what Arab head of government holds free-wheeling press conferences? President" Mubarak of Egypt? Assad of Syria? The Saudi king? Qaddafi? If an Arab reporter had "shoed" any other leading Arab ruler during one of their staged events, he would've been fortunate to escape with his life."

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Newsweek Still Dancing for Joy Over Anti-Bush Shoe-throwing Incident

Yesterday, Newsweek's daily Conventional Wisdom feature assigned a down-arrow to President Bush over Sunday's now-infamous shoe-throwing incident,

Today Newsweek continued to try to milk the incident for maximum Bush-bashing potential by assigning an up-arrow - to al-Zaidi:


Shoe-thrower: Iraqis rally to support Bush's assailant, Libyan first daughter awards him a medal.


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Face of Defense: Refugee Becomes Marine to Repay Debt to Nation

When Bosnia erupted into civil war in the early 1990s, Buzaljko’s mixed Muslim-Catholic family’s life in Stolac was shattered. The Croatian military placed his father and uncle into a concentration camp, leaving his mother alone to care for Buzaljko and his baby brother [snip]

Despite the hardships Buzaljko’s family endured to leave their war-torn home, they remain supportive of their son and his service to their new country.

“I am very proud; you can’t even imagine,” his mother, Vesna Buzaljko, said. “He joined to say ‘thank you’ to the [United States] for welcoming us with open arms. It was a tough time when we left, but America took us in and saved our family. Now he has a purpose to help others like we were helped when we needed it, and we are so proud.”

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A Christmas Letter From the Front Lines in Iraq

There's no better feeling for American military personnel in faraway lands than the one they get when they receive letters from loved ones. But this is close competition. It's an "insider" letter to you, me and all Americans from a senior officer in our armed forces on the front lines in Mosul -- his third tour in Iraq.

... This aforementioned success was obviously not something that happened overnight. This success is the result of many man-hours and sacrifices made by not only our coalition force soldiers but also all Iraqi security forces. We have spent countless hours helping them and have developed relationships with not only the ISF leaders but also the local leaders and civilians. They have our trust and know that the ISF will prevail in the overall mission, even after coalition forces pull out of Iraq.

This success is what I wish that everyone could see. It is not nearly as enticing as violence, which leads in the media, but it is the real story here in Iraq. I just hope that you spread the word of what the real story is here in Iraq, and that is that the Iraqi army and police are doing a tremendous job, and it is not without the hard work and dedication of our soldiers. Our soldiers are dedicated to the mission and their duty. They understand that the harder they work now the more likely they will not have to come back to Iraq in years to come...

God bless you, Capt. Bowers, and all who serve this Christmas season!

[there more - Recommended >]

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[then, our turn...]

Dear Patriotic American,

Thousands of our financially struggling wounded troops will have to make an agonizing decision this Christmas: Should I pay for groceries and utilities OR provide my children with presents from Santa Claus?

I don't want our disabled heroes to have to make that choice, and I know you don't either. That's why the Coalition to Salute America's Heroes has just kicked off its 4th annual Emergency Secret Santa Project.

Brigadier Gen. Arthur F. "Chip" Diehl III
U.S. Air Force (Ret.)




Please click here to make your tax-deductible donation, which will help provide a $500 Christmas gift check to a disabled serviceman or woman.

And click here to send a Christmas THANK YOU and GET WELL card to a severely wounded young Marine



[and as always, strength in numbers: please pass on...]
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CBS: Gitmo Ruling ‘A Big Legal Setback for the President's War on Terror’

At the top of Thursday’s CBS Evening News, anchor Katie Couric referred to a recent court ruling to release five Guantanamo Bay detainees as: "A big legal setback for the president's war on terror."

Couric later introduced a report on the ruling and reiterated the idea of the ruling being a defeat solely for President Bush: "...a federal judge ruled today that five suspects held at Guantanamo Bay must be released...it's a major defeat for the Bush administration in its final days."

In the report, correspondent Wyatt Andrews described how: "...the ruling starts a nightmare for the Pentagon. The military now faces an oncoming rush of 200 Guantanamo appeals, not to mention an incoming president who wants to close the camp altogether."

One wonders if CBS will be using the phrase "president’s war on terror" with President Obama...

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Gitmo Lawyers Are the Latest in Radical Chic

How about some pro bono work for the government?

Within the ranks of our leading law schools, law firms and legal centers, it would be hard to find a cause more popular than the detainees of Guantanamo Bay. Every lawyer wants his own detainee or detainee group. The result is that dozens of the world's most dangerous men now have their own legal Dream Teams.

In this context, wouldn't it be refreshing to hear the dean of some Ivy League law school, or a partner in a white-shoe law firm, stand up and say these words: "As part of our pro bono commitments, we hereby offer our services to the overworked men and women trying to keep our nation safe from terrorist attack."

You can imagine the reaction. Back in 2007, we had a taste when a Defense Department official suggested that corporate America might look askance at the high-priced law firms devoting their time and talents to those held at Gitmo. In accord with long-established Beltway rituals of public penance, this official soon published "An Apology to Detainees' Attorneys" in the Washington Post -- and soon after resigned.

[what do you call 200 lawyers at the bottom of the ocean?

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a good start.]

'Iran rocket arsenal tripled in 2008'

In a sign that Iran is taking military measures to ward off the threat of an attack on its nuclear facilities, the country has tripled the number of long-range rockets in its arsenal, Channel 10 reported on Monday.

According to the report, Iran possessed 30 Shihab-3 missiles at the beginning of 2008. Currently, the country claims to have over 100 over long-range missiles capable of hitting Israel.

[so how are those China-Russia-vetoed UN sanctions working? {tic-tok, tic-tok...}]

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Iran's growing influence at the UN

[HT:GP]
The Obama administration has promised to give the United Nations a far bigger role in American policy, Claudia Rosett reminds us in her superb new column in Forbes magazine.

We can see this from campaign statements he has made, his lineup of foreign policy advisers, his article in Foreign Affairs magazine (America needs to "rededicate itself to the United Nations"), his Global Poverty Act that would lead to higher taxes on Americans to feed UN programs, his elevation of the US Ambassador to the United Nations to be a Cabinet position, and myriad of other steps he intends to take when he assumes office.

Rossett lays out the perils of becoming to intertwined with the United Nations. Iran has all but infiltrated the UN; its emissaries occupy key roles in a raft of subgroups within the UN. The Iranians will be able to exert outsized influence on what the UN agenda is, how money is spent, and what actions will be taken. America gives the United Nations over 20 billion dollars a year (Iran's contribution is paltry) and Iran will play an important role in how our money is spent.

Rossett's recommendation: try to kick Iran out of the United Nations or bypass the organization entirely when American interests are at stake. She provides the details...

[Highly Recommended {good shooting GP} > ]

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The EU-constitution & Lisbon Treaty

[meanwhile, at the other one-world-government...]

Under EU laws, if one of its member states rejects a treaty, the EU is mandated to scrap the bill. But the European Union's contempt for direct democracy is likely to lead them to ignore the Irish referendum and pursue the implementation of the Lisbon Treaty anyway - underscoring the fact that the EU is nothing more than an illegitimate autocracy of manufactured consent.

75% of people in the EU want a referendum on any new treaty which gives more powers to the EU. In the UK, 83% would want a vote to be held. A majority in all 27 countries would want a referendum.

"If a new treaty is drawn up which gives more powers to the EU do you think that people should be given a say on this in a referendum or citizen consultation or do you think that it should just be up to the national parliament to ratify this treaty? "

http://www.openeurope.org.uk/research/mainfindings.pdf

Across the EU as a whole, 28% think the EU should have more powers than it has now and that more decisions should be taken at the European level. 23% think the EU should keep the powers it has now, but should not be given any more. 41% think the EU should have less powers than it has now and that more decisions should be taken at a national or local level. In the UK the equivalent figures were 11%, 27%, and 58% - a clear majority for taking powers back. [snip]

EU Constitution Kingpin: We Will Ignore Referendums

"If the Eurocrats continue to ignore the will of the people
as expressed in the NO-votes in three referenda in a row,
the EU looses all legitimacy and eurocrats therby underscore
that the EU is nothing more than an illegitimate
autocracy of manufactured consent."

[How 'manufactured'? Simple-summary: The people don't want an EU constitution, so, call it a 'treaty' instead which moves its acceptance into the realm of bureaucrats, then load up said treaty with employment-for-life provisions for those same bureaucrats and voila: 'governments' vote for it in direct opposition to the will of their constituents.

Actually not much different from our so-called 'representatives', except in scope: passage of this 'treaty' will permanently strip Europeans of self determined government.

Object lesson: You'd think there would be rioting in the streets - but their dependence on their governments for their social programs have stripped them of all independence, and so the loss of liberty marches forward...]

Good luck cousins, and pay attention Americans - this is how government tyrannies start: 'for our own good' ]


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Ice Skating Down the Bayou

The President-elect is unable to join the 11,000 politicians, business big-wigs, and environmentalists meeting in Poznan, Poland right now for the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). But at least some politicians in the southern states are free to catch up on the proceedings via TV, radio, and Internet - seeing as government offices in parts of Louisiana and Mississippi have been closed due to crippling snowstorms.

The snow is expected to reach about 8 inches later in the day, which should be right around the time some statesman in Poznan gets behind a podium to decry America’s indifference to the earth’s certain infernal demise. Oops, that happened already:

“We are looking to the United States to step out of the dark ages of inaction and become a leading light on climate change,” said Apilsai Ielemia, the prime minister of Tuvalu, a small island-state.

“For years, people have been saying that the United States of America has to lead. They soon will,” said President Bharrat Jagdeo of Guyana.

Sure - as soon as we dig ourselves out from under the Dixie blizzard. I know, I know: Extreme winters are a sign of “climate change.” Except mild winters are also a sign of climate change. Whatever truth there is to global warming, it isn’t inconvenient. It’s the most easily adaptable “crisis” ever discovered.

Not only is it supported by the only scientific theory to be confirmed by contradictory data, but its adherents don’t have to worry about defending themselves, because as Barack Obama recently said, “The science is beyond dispute.” And the solution fits into a wildly popular pre-existing paradigm: blame America, then ask it for things...

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Realizing Reality

In Europe, the financial turmoil has broken the stride of the EU’s lockstep approach to climate issues. Those with greater economic vulnerability — Italy, Poland, and much of Eastern Europe — refuse to accept a new climate deal, crafted by French president Nicolas Sarkozy, on the grounds that it will further damage their already fragile economies. German Chancellor Angela Merkel seeks exemptions for her country’s heavy industries. Italian environment minister Stefania Presciagiacomo pooh-poohs the idea that “green jobs” will transform advanced economies, scoffing, “Some people claim environmental measures are a way to re-launch industry. But let’s be realistic: Resources are limited, and they will be even more so because of the economic crisis.”

Meanwhile, developing countries remain adamant that they will not accept any new limits on their emissions in Kyoto II. This is a fact of no little salience, given that China is today the world’s No. 1 emitter of greenhouse gases, followed by the United States, Indonesia, and India.

(It’s worth keeping in mind what the U.S. gives the world along with those emissions: the United States is the best performer by a very wide margin, producing $2,000 in economic value per ton of greenhouse emissions to China’s $450, India’s $497, and Indonesia’s $679. A ton of emissions from the United States brings the world 4.5 times as much economic good as a ton of emissions from China.) [and that not factoring the North American CO2 Sink which literally absorbs emissions to below zero {.2%} - but the UN 'doesn't count' that][snip]

For eight years, the United States has been the object of criticism, harsh and unfair, for its unwillingness to be afflicted with sweeping emissions limits and the punitive economic consequences that will go along with them. And now, the very same international parties that censured the United States for looking to its own interests have themselves become the agents of delay...

[ Recommended > ]

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Majority of Public Opposes Auto Rescue

Most Americans continue to oppose a government-backed rescue plan for Detroit's Big Three automakers as majorities blame the industry for its own problems and are unconvinced failure would hurt the economy, according to a new Washington Post-ABC News poll. [snip]

Opposition to the automaker bailout is fueled by the widespread perception that the companies themselves are responsible for their predicament, not the faltering economy. In the new poll, three-quarters of Americans said Detroit's woes are mainly the fault of its own management decisions, and a sizable majority of those who blame the front office object to government help. [snip]

Union households are no more apt than those without a union member to favor the plan, 44 percent compared with 42 percent. However, the union householders who support the plan are more likely to be strongly behind the bailout.

[that's it: 13 paragraph article that makes repeated references to management failures - but the above three 'unions' are the only references to unions - and "UAW" isn't mentioned once.

our 'professional' media]

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[NNBrief FLASHBACKs:

081216: UAW Gave $1 Million+ to Pro-Bailout Congressmen; Media Focus on Anti-Bailout Interests

"It's the unions that have brought them to the brink. So definitely, I think the reason they want a political solution and a car czar is because a car czar can protect the unions through this whole process at the expense of the taxpayer."

081117: AP's Auto Bailout coverage journalistically negligent

"The Big 3 has a cancer that needs to be removed. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to understand why they cannot compete profitability (sic). They have parity on supply costs, materials, and energy with Honda and Toyota. So why can’t they compete? It is clearly the cost of unions."

080612: CBS Blames Gas Prices In GM Closures, Disregards Expensive Union Labor

"But Bowers omitted one detail: GM (NYSE:GM), Ford (NYSE:F) and Chrysler all have ties to the United Auto Workers (UAW) union, which forces those manufacturers into collective bargaining agreements with very expensive labor costs."

more...]

Who Really Runs Washington And Why Americans Lose on Every Issue

We all know that money is power in politics. But most Americans are of the opinion that it is big corporate money that is currently controlling Washington DC and they believe this because this is what they have been told by Democrats, the labor unions who fund them and the press who does their public propaganda bidding.

From 1998 thru 2008, the top twenty political donor organizations gave over $558,963,408. $326,504,578 of that money came from twelve of the top twenty donors, all of which are labor unions, and of course 95.7% of those funds were given to Democrat politicians. Of the top twenty totals, 77% was given to Democrats, with only 21.8% being given to Republicans.

The 12th largest political donor in America is an organization called Communications Workers of America. Communications Workers of America represents 740,000 workers in telecommunications, broadcasting, journalism and other fields. The union’s members work for many of the nation’s top newspapers and broadcast stations. (Reported by the Center for Responsive Politics)

In other words, the American press is represented by the Communications Workers of America Union, which has invested $25,785,989 in American politics over the last ten years, 99% of it given to Democrats... [snip]

In short, America’s Silence is its Consent

It is never the biggest, strongest, smartest man in the battle who wins the fright. It is the man most committed to winning who wins, every time.

At present, 30% of Americans are winning by outspending the other 70% five to one...

[surprising stats galore - Highly Recommended > ]

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OUTLAWING BOYHOOD

BOYS WILL BE BOYS - EXCEPT IF SCHOOLS HAVE THEIR WAY

Girls have not just surpassed boys in the education system. They have trounced them. So what if 57% of undergraduates are women? There's no rule that everything between the sexes is always going to come out fifty-fifty. [funny; that argument doesn't work re: Title IX][snip]

... investigates an education system in which women principals oversee women teachers who treat girl behavior as standard. All the way down this gynocracy, normal male behavior (squirming in preschool, being more interested in war stories than relationships, pretending to shoot each other) is redefined as antisocial, threatening, or (most sinister of all) indicative of "special needs" that gets boys disappeared to the Gitmo of Special Ed. (Boys are diagnosed with attention disorders at four times the rate of girls). [snip]

"What do you see in a reading circle? A teacher reading and the girls sitting and the teacher stopping to say, 'Stop moving around, Matt. Pay attention, Jules.' Boys who need to move around attract lots of negative attention. They get beat down early. They lose their spark."

... his son's third grade teacher frowned upon a picture of a battle scene the boy had drawn. "Did any of the students have a negative reaction?" Johnson asked. The teacher said no, but added, "I'm a parent. And if my son brought home work like this, I would tell him that it didn't represent our family values."

Ralph Fletcher, who teaches elementary school teachers how to teach writing, says he handed out a questionnaire to boys asking them to complete this sentence: "When we write at school, I wish we were able to . . ." The majority responded with some variation of "Write what I want." That's a beatdown. It isn't boys vs. girls but boys vs. their women teachers.

"Too often," says boys' psychologist Michael Thompson, "Boys are simply treated as defective girls."

[ Recommended > ]

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Calif panel: cut chemicals in state products

CALIFORNIA
SACRAMENTO -- A panel appointed by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger says California should immediately start reducing toxic chemicals in the state's products and manufacturing.

A report by the panel Tuesday said the state should expand pollution prevention, introduce school science classes that focus on protecting the environment, and give consumers easy access to information about the chemicals in the products they buy.

The report is part of a plan by the California Environmental Protection Agency to eventually eliminate many toxic materials.

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Google Wants Its Own Fast Track on the Web

The celebrated openness of the Internet -- network providers are not supposed to give preferential treatment to any traffic -- is quietly losing powerful defenders.Google Inc. has approached major cable and phone companies that carry Internet traffic with a proposal to create a fast lane for its own content,

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Court orders 'scareware' shut down

A Baltimore federal court judge ordered six absent defendants yesterday - including one from Maryland - to shut down Internet businesses that the Federal Trade Commission claims are part of a vast $100 million "scareware" scheme that tricked more than a million people into purchasing useless security software by making them think their computers were under attack. "The evidence in this case is quite overwhelming," said U.S. District Judge Richard D. Bennett.

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Gay penguins expelled from zoo colony for stealing eggs are given their own to look after

A pair of gay penguins thrown out of their zoo colony for repeatedly stealing eggs have been given some of their own to look after following a protest by animal rights groups. Last month the birds were segregated after they were caught placing stones at the feet of parents before waddling away with their eggs. But angry visitors to Polar Land in Harbin, northern China, complained it wasn't fair to stop the couple from becoming surrogate fathers

[you can't make this stuff up]

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[HT:GC]