COLUMBIA PROF. NOT FIT FOR NYC KIDS
Middle East Studies: The New York City Department of Education will prohibit a professor of Arab studies at Columbia University from appearing in an occasional training program for secondary-school teachers, citing the professor's criticism of Israel. Rashid Khalidi, director of Columbia's Middle East Institute, had spoken this month at one of a series of teacher-development workshops, paid for by the university, about Middle Eastern culture and politics. But last week, after The New York Sun published an article assailing Mr. Khalidi's involvement in the program, Joel I. Klein, the city's schools chancellor, announced that the professor would no longer be allowed to participate.
History News Network
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SAUDI CONNECTIONS TO ALLEGED ASSASSINATION PLOTTER
Mainstream media identified Ahmed Omar Abu Ali, the US citizen charged with conspiring to assassinate President Bush, as “a former Virginia high school valedictorian.” Sounds pretty respectable, eh?
What they didn’t tell you: he was valedictorian of the American madrassa known as the Islamic Saudi Academy, and his father worked at the Royal Saudi Arabian Embassy in Washington, DC. Rusty Shackleford has details: Terrorist Son of Saudi Embassy Worker Attended Saudi Run School.
Here are some previous LGF entries about the Islamic Saudi Academy.
HINCHEY: I HAVE NO PROOF, BUT I'M RIGHT
Congressman Maurice Hinchey has broken his silence on his bizarre conspiracy rant—and in the tradition of the pugnacious, logic-deprived modern Democratic party, he refuses to apologize and digs the hole even deeper: Hinchey: Rove may be behind fake documents. (Hat tip: Confederate Yankee.)
U.S. Rep. Maurice D. Hinchey, D-Hurley, has accused the Bush administration of manipulating and intimidating the media, and believes presidential political adviser Karl Rove planted fake documents with CBS News.
“I have no proof,” Hinchey said Monday night. “But if the documents originated at the White House, then it would fit the pattern of the White House manipulating the media. And if it did originate in the White House, then it must have come from the most brilliant, most Machiavellian of all of them, Karl Rove.”
Hinchey reaffirmed what he said Saturday in Ithaca during a community forum on Social Security. An audio clip of Hinchey’s comments has been circulating across the Internet.
HIZBALLAH: "DEATH TO AMERICA"
Earlier today, top House Democrat Charles Rangel said it was bigotry to use the term “Islamic terrorism” to refer to groups like Hizballah, and questioned whether a worldwide Islamic terrorist movement even existed.
Hizballah leader Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah would beg to differ, in speeches broadcast on Al Manar TV February 18 and 19: Death to America.
Hassan Nasrallah:
Israel is our enemy. This is an aggressive, illegal, and illegitimate entity, which has no future in our land. its destiny is manifested in our motto: “Death to Israel.”
Crowd:
Death to Israel
Death to Israel
Death to Israel
Death to Israel
Death to Israel
Hassan Nasrallah:
The American administration is behind Israel. I must clarify that when I say ‘America’ I do not mean the American people, most of whom are distant and ignorant of what is going on in the world, and of what its government and army are doing in the world. Nevertheless, we consider the current administration an enemy of our [Islamic] nation and of the peoples of our nation, because it has always taken a position of aggression, of occupation, and of supporting Israel with weapons, airplanes, tanks, money, as well as political support, and unlimited protection.
We consider it to be an enemy because it wants to humiliate our governments, our regimes, and our peoples. Because it is the greatest plunderer our treasures, our oil, and our resources, while millions in our nation suffer unemployment, poverty, hunger, unmarriagability, ignorance, darkness, and so on. America... This American administration is an enemy. Our motto, which we are not afraid to repeat year after year, is: “Death to America.”
Crowd:
Death to America
Death to America
Death to America
Death to America
Death to America
Death to America
Hassan Nasrallah:
Some people may wonder and say: “Is there no end to this hostility?” Yes, there is an an end. If the Zionists leave our lands and holy places and give them back to their owners, this conflict will come to an end. If America stops interfering in our countries’ and nation’s affairs, stops its aggression, stops its occupation, stops its plundering of our resources and treasures, we will have no problem with it. We don’t want to go to Washington to fight America. We are defending our countries and our existence.
Any rift, civil strife, disintegration, or dispersion in any Arab or Islamic country, or in the entire nation, serves our Zionist enemy and its plan of hegemony, and serves the Great Satan — the American administration, whose main concern is to control our oil, our treasures, our resources, and our markets. [They want us] to become millions of slaves who eat and drink but are living dead, devoid of honor, respect, and existence.
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How can death become joyous? How can death become happiness? When Al-Hussein asked his nephew Al-Qassem, when he had not yet reached puberty: “How do you like the taste of death, son?” He answered that it was sweeter than honey. How can the foul taste of death become sweeter than honey? Only through conviction, ideology, and faith, through belief, and devotion. We do not want to live merely in order to eat, drink, and enjoy life’s pleasures, and leave our homeland to Israel so it will slaughter it upon the alter of its aspirations, desires, hate, and historic vendettas. Therefore, we are not interested in our own personal security. On the contrary, each of us lives his days and nights hoping more than anything to be killed for the sake of Allah. The most honorable death is to be killed, as the Leader Imam Al-Khamenei said when ‘Abbas [Musawi] was martyred. He said: “Congratulations to ‘Abbas, congratulations to ‘Abbas.” The most honorable death is death by killing, and the most honorable killing and the most glorious martyrdom is when a man is killed for the sake of Allah, by the enemies of Allah, the murderers of the prophets [i.e. the Jews].
Be sure to watch the video (available on this page) to see thousands of Hizballah supporters chanting “Death to Israel” and “Death to America.”
And then ask yourself, “Why is Charles Rangel trying to tell us these people don’t exist?”
SOROS UNDERMINES DOLLAR OVERSEAS
Anti-American billionaire George Soros, having failed in his attempt to buy the election for John Kerry, is taking revenge by undermining the dollar overseas: Dollar falls amid fears central banks diversifying. (Hat tip: Eric Cartman’s Conscience.)
George Soros, the US investor, kept the pressure on the dollar by claiming that oil exporters, including Russia, were continuing to switch out of dollars, moving mainly into euros. OPEC nations have reduced the proportion of their reserves held in dollars during the past three years.
UPDATE: The paragraph quoted above has been removed from the Financial Times article as it currently exists online. Hmm. Tuesday, February 22, 2005
http://littlegreenfootballs.com/weblog
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THE U.N. HIRES HELP FROM JOHN KERRY
By Michelle Malkin
Didja hear about the U.N.'s new blog, run by former Kerry aides Peter Daou and Debra DeShong? Among the blog's initial entries are an attack on FOX News's Oil for Food investigative report and links to pro-Kyoto Treaty propaganda.
Yeah, that'll solve Kofi Annan's problems.
Interestingly, in a mass e-mail I received frou Daou yesterday he writes:
You can see from the UN Dispatch blogroll - which will continue to expand - that this is not about "discrediting conservative critics," as the above-mentioned sources allege, but about engaging in a wide-ranging and productive debate. The blog was launched earlier this month and will soon be open for reader comments.
Any bets on how long that will last?
And when do you think the U.N. Dispatch blog will get around to covering this or this? Hmmm?
Update: Kofi Annan's puffery in the Wall Street Journal is here. Perhaps on the advice of his trusty Kerry spinners, he did not use the word "kerfuffle" once. Tuesday, February 22, 2005
www.michellemalkin.com
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SPINNING AFGHANISTAN
From your mainstream media: how to report on the Afghan disaster - and have a free kick at the United States - in one easy step:
"Three years after the United States drove the Taliban out and vowed to rebuild Afghanistan, the war-shattered country ranked 173rd of 178 countries in the U.N. 2004 Human Development Index, according to a new report from the United Nations.
"It is trailed only by five countries in sub-Saharan Africa: Burundi, Mali, Burkina Faso, Niger and Sierra Leone."
Pity the people who only glance at the opening paragraphs of news stories, because we have to wait until the sixth para to get a fuller context:
"While there has been rapid progress, said Zphirin Diabr, associate administrator of the U.N. Development Program, the country has a long way to go just to get back to where it was 20 years ago."
Yep, 20 years ago. Damn the America for not being able to reverse in three years the legacy of (over) two decades consisting of 11 years of brutal occupation, followed by another few years of equally brutal civil war, and a few more years of stone age Islamofascist government. How about: "America cannot achieve miracles"?
But paragraph five is even more intriguing:
"Despite the problems, Afghanistan has shown remarkable progress in the three years since the U.S.-led war in 2001, the report said. More than 54 percent of school-age children are enrolled in school, including 4 million high school students. The economy is making great strides, with growth of 16 percent in nondrug gross domestic product in 2003 and predicted growth of 10 to 12 percent annually for the next decade."
OK, if a country that over the past three years has shown "remarkable progress" now still lingers at number 173 out of 178, then where the hell did it start off? 208 out of 178? Whatever the questions about methodology, however, the study tells you something about the challenges facing Afghanistan (you can access the complete study here).
I know that these things are notoriously difficult to measure and quantify, but sadly the Human Development Report ranking, which takes into account anything from mortality and literacy rates to GDP and number of parliamentary seats being held by women, does not consider the rather important political dimension: is country a democracy? Do people enjoy freedoms of speech, of association, of conscience? Can they expect a night-time visit from the secret police or indeed to end their life in a mass grave? All important considerations when thinking about "human development", I would have thought (you can read all the stats and rankings, in PDF, here). Wednesday, February 23, 2005
www.chrenkoff.blogspot.com
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THE SUNNIS' CARDS
As reported yesterday, the Sunnis are frightened over the prospects of being frozen out of the new Iraqi government, and now wish to participate in drafting the new Iraqi Constitution, which is one of the main tasks of the newly elected Iraqi Assembly. Control of the Assembly and the passage of the Constitution requires a supermajority of two-thirds of the available votes. The Shiite factions (which should not be looked at as a homogenous voting block) took about 50% of the vote, and the Kurdish factions about 25% of the vote, with the rest distributed amongst various independent groups. If a united block of Sunnis, which makes up about 20% of the population, was represented in the January election, they would have wielded some influence in the Assembly and could have steered the Constitution to favor their interests.
Boycotting the election and the support or indifference to insurgents and terrorists has marginalized the Sunnis; however they still do have the power to influence the future of Iraq. The card they hold is their ability to cripple the insurgency and turn in known terrorists operating in their regions. As Iraq is a tribal society, the tribal leaders exercise great power in their local areas, and the insurgency would not last long without their support. The meeting of 70 Sunni tribal leaders demonstrates they are weighing their options. No doubt some are now viewing the insurgency as a liability.
The newly elected Assembly should not consider setting aside seats for the Sunnis, as this would undermine the legitimacy of the elections, punish Iraqis who braved election-day violence to vote, and reward the cowardice and non-participation of segments of the population. However, the Iraqi Assembly does have options to include the Sunnis in the process. A Sunni can be appointed as a Vice President, Sunnis can be included in the Prime Minister’s cabinet, and the political parties of the Assembly can enter into active consultations with Sunni representatives to gauge the issues most important to the Sunni minority. As an election for the permanent Iraqi Parliment will be held in December, the Sunnis should receive the needed assistance to participate, including a promise of security.
The Iraqi government must be willing to negotiate with the tribal leaders to bring them into the political process, but results should be required prior to making any concessions. Foreign terrorists should be killed, handed over or driven out and the worst of the violent offenders should be turned over to the Iraqi government. The most wanted Baathists must be surrendered as well.
The potential for all Sunni tribal leaders to cooperate with the government is small, however even a few defections could have an enormous impact on the insurgency. Defections would sow the seeds of distrust. Insurgents and terrorists would distrust the tribal leaders (as well as each other) and worry about their phyiscal security, and may be willing to cut deals to protect themselves and their interests. Any intelligence gained from defections will have a cascading effect on the insurgency - exposing cells, organization, supply lines and financial support.
The impact of the January election cannot be underestimated. The insurgency has been dealt a blow to its morale, and a deft Iraqi government can exploit the inherent weaknesses of the insurgency: a lack of popular support; the recognition of the legitimacy of the Iraqi government by the people; and the desire of Sunni tribal leaders and politicians to enter the political process. It is far too soon to declare victory in the rebuilding of Iraq, but it is difficult to argue that the election has not had a significant effect on marginalizing the insurgents and moving Iraq closer to a democratic society. Constant pressure, both military and diplomatic, must be maintained by the Iraqi government and the Coalition to move Iraq closer to a stable and secure nation.
Also Read: Captain's Quarters reports the Taliban appears to be giving up the fight in Afghanistan after successful elections last fall. Legitimate elections are a powerful tool against terrorist insurgencies. Tuesday, February 22, 2005
http://billroggio.com
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THE UN'S UNFINISHED BUSINESS
Former Defense Secretary Frank Carlucci reminds us at the New York Times why we eschewed United Nations leadership in Afghanistan and Iraq. Carlucci warns that Kosovo, a UN protectorate for six years now and no closer to a final resolution on its status than when the West first intervened, may soon explode into violence again:
The world reacted in horror six years ago when the Serbian regime of Slobodan Milosevic embarked on an ethnic cleansing operation against Kosovo's Albanians, forcing 700,000 people, nearly half the population, to flee the province. Reports of massacres and images of mileslong lines of refugees fleeing into neighboring Albania and Macedonia compelled the world to act. The NATO air campaign against Serbia that followed convinced Belgrade to give up its brutal assault, and Kosovo was put under United Nations administration.
And so it remains to this day: an international protectorate, legally part of Serbia, but with a 90 percent ethnic Albanian population that would sooner go to war than submit to Belgrade's rule. Kosovars seek an independent state, and the seemingly endless delays over final-status talks are only causing deep frustration and resentment.
Their discontent is not simply a matter of hurt pride over national sovereignty; Kosovo's unsettled international status has serious repercussions for daily life. Because it is under United Nations administration, Kosovo is in economic limbo: it cannot be part of the international bank transfer system, it is ineligible for sovereign lending from development banks, and it can attract few foreign investors. With 70 percent unemployment, the province is being starved of the commerce it badly needs.
Perhaps most important, the continuing uncertainty creates widespread insecurity among Kosovo's ethnic Albanians, who live with a constant sense of dread that they could return to Serb rule. It is essentially a siege mentality, and it could explode into violence at any time.
Carlucci notes politely in his conclusion that he finds it "understandable" that Kosovo has dropped off of the international diplomatic radar over the past four years, a reference to 9/11 and the war on terror. I completely disagree, and I would hope that Carlucci just means to avoid finger-pointing in order to get his message heard. However, that approach, which seeks to engage the UN, will find itself victim to the same forces of ennui that have so far doomed Kosovo to limbo.
The Europeans and the Clinton Administration handed the Kosovars over to UN control out of the same impulse that drove the Left nuts about Afghanistan and Iraq; they want every nation to reach a consensus on the province's status. While that Utopianism might sound reasonable, the problem is that not every nation has the same goals in mind. The UN is filled with dictatorships and oppressive governments, and even excepting these, some of the free nations don't exactly care for the idea of self-determination on the basis of ethnicity, even in (or especially in) the Balkans. More than a couple have their own ethnic minority agitators (the Basques come to mind), and don't want to see an uncomfortable precedent being set.
The result has been the stagnation and the stalemate we've seen for the past six years, and that has been the direct result of turning he matter over to Turtle Bay. Contrast that result with the Afghanistan and Iraq conflicts. Instead of waiting for a consensus that will never be reached, the Americans and British set up elections and allowed ethnic rivalries to play out in the formation of political parties under a federal structure -- and then held elections for their expression. We started off both conflicts with a plan for the postwar political phases, unlike Kosovo and the rest of the Balkans, where the West and the UN have mostly just sat around and waited for events to play themselves out in any direction.
People used to claim that Bush had no plan to win the peace in either Afghanistan or Iraq, but that simply was never the case. He envisioned political processes replacing sectarian violence, not on a single day but as an evolution in the thinking for the populations of both countries. It may have been bloody at first, especially in Iraq, but it will eventually get bloody in Kosovo as well. The Serbs will not give up Kosovo willingly, not after six years or sixty, and Carlucci's solution will result in violence. Like Iraq, it will be predictable, containable, and as long as the West remains vigilant, short-lived until free elections help establish legitimate self-rule instead of imposed independence for the Kosovars.
Had we had this objective in mind from the first and stuck to it, we could have been out of Kosovo three or four years ago. Instead, all we have done is postpone the inevitable while holding the Kosovars and the entire region hostage to UN Utopianism. If anyone wants to know why we don't put Turtle Bay in charge, Kosovo provides the most direct example.
SICK HOAX ARTIST TARGETS MILITARY FAMILIES
CNN reports tonight that a sicko has targeted military families in a cruel hoax. An unidentified man has dressed up as an Army officer on at least one occasion to notify a military wife of her husband's death in Iraq, but she was smart enough to see through the ruse:
Military police are investigating a cruel hoax in which a man wearing an Army dress uniform falsely told the wife of a soldier that her husband had been killed in Iraq.
Investigators are trying to determine why the man delivered the false death notice and whether he was a soldier or a civilian wearing a military uniform. ...
"Right off the bat, she noticed some things were not right," Whetstone said. "The individual's uniform wasn't correct -- there were no markings or name tags. Plus, the person was alone, and she knew one person does not make (death) notifications."
Whetstone said no similar hoaxes have been reported.
This hoax reminds us, and CNN, of the series of phone calls received by Fort Stewart families from unidentified callers doing much the same thing. Since then, the military briefs the families of those who get posted overseas to make sure they can distinguish the hoaxers. That briefing allowed the unidentified family to realize the man was a phony.
It's hard to imagine the depravity that could cause people to perpetrate such a disgusting fraud. Those who get some sort of thrill from causing grief and misery of those who serve our nation through a spouse or child stationed overseas represent the lowest of the low, a moral devolution so profound that decent people simply cannot grasp the boundaries of its stench. We certainly hope that this incident represents the soullessness of a single deranged individual and not the concerted effort of radical leftists dedicated to undermining the morale of the American military. Tuesday, February 22, 2005
www.captainsquartersblog.com
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EVERYBODY'S HOUR
What do these signals indicate? (Hat tip: The Freerepublic)
Paul Martin to announce that Canada sending 30 soldiers to train Iraqis
Canada will contribute up to 30 soldiers to a NATO-led force that will help train the new Iraqi army, senior federal officials confirmed Friday. The formal announcement will be made when Prime Minister Paul Martin gathers with other leaders of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization meeting Tuesday in Brussels.
EU to Open Baghdad Training Office; Officials Hail Unprecedented Unity Over Iraq
The European Union agreed Monday to open an office in Baghdad to coordinate the training of Iraqi judges, prosecutors and prison guards in a step hailed as a sign of unprecedented unity over Iraq within the 25-nation bloc. ... "We are for the first time really united on Iraq," said EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana. "That without any doubt is going to be very important to the meetings we are going to have ... with President Bush."
Bush, Chirac Call for Withdrawal of Syrian Troops From Lebanon
U.S. President George W. Bush and French President Jacques Chirac, meeting in Brussels before European Union and NATO summit talks tomorrow, called for Syria to pull its troops out of Lebanon. "We urge full and immediate implementation" of a United Nations Security Council resolution calling for withdrawal of all foreign troops from Lebanon, the two leaders said in a statement. "We have the same approach to the situation which is prevailing in Lebanon," Chirac said before a dinner with Bush. ...
Bush Suggests Chirac Is 'Good Cowboy' (Hat tip: The Vodkapundit)
Only months after he criticized countries "like France," President Bush was lavish in his praise of French President Jacques Chirac, one of the sharpest critics of the U.S.-led war in Iraq. "I'm looking for a good cowboy," Bush said Monday when a French reporter asked him whether relations had improved to the point where the U.S. president would be inviting Chirac to the U.S. president's ranch in Texas.
If there is something a little unseemly about the sudden cooperativeness of recently truculent friends, President Bush is making light of it. He has grown, in the best way, beyond the need to gloat. The dangers facing the world have not yet abated, but are starting to be recognized by allies who were hitherto too fearful or uncertain to look upon them. "This is not victory of a party or of any class." It is everyone's hour. Tuesday, February 22, 2005
http://belmontclub.blogspot.com
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www.coxandforkum.com
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The incomparable Mark Steyn has the right line on President Bush's "charm offensive" in Europe:
International relations are like ex-girlfriends: if you're still deluding yourself you can get her back, every encounter will perforce be fraught and turbulent; once you realise that's never gonna happen, you can meet for a quick decaf latte every six – make that 10 – months and do the whole hey-isn't-it-terrific-the-way-we're-able-to-be-such-great-friends routine because you couldn't care less. You can even make a few pleasant noises about her new romance (the so-called European Constitution) secure in the knowledge he's a total loser.
However, even the best analogies break down if pushed too hard. Europe will be far more annoying going forward than any ex-girlfriend one meets once every ten months could be. Europe's 20-year (30-year in the case of France) strategy of cozying up to anti-American Middle East dictators for economic gain and to strengthen its hand against the U.S. lies pretty much in ruins with the demise of two key players -- Saddam and Arafat -- and the apparent conversion of a third -- Qadhafi. The Middle East is looking more like a European sphere of impotence than a sphere of influence, right now. Meanwhile, Europe is reeling from the main consequence of its cozying strategy, the mass Arab immigration into Europe. But the Europeans are ready to move past these setback and to cast China in something like the role the Middle East was gong to (and to some extent did) play.
Several readers have pointed out to us the Daily Standard column on the Belgian anti-Bush urinal: "Piss off." Let us recall that in December 1944 Belgium was the object of Hitler's last major offensive. Thousands of American heroes served and died to repel the offensive and to liberate Belgium. Click here for an excellent site devoted to the battle. Hitler's last gasp came shortly afterward in the lesser-known Operation Nordwind.
Stephen Ambrose's terrific book Band of Brothers tells the story through the eyes of E Company, 506th Regiment, 101st Airborne Division -- a unit that served "from Normandy to Hitler's Eagle's Nest" (as the book's subtitle states). The men of E Company served on the front lines in ferocious, almost unimaginably arduous and brutal combat for the last twelve months of WW II. Many died, many were horribly injured, some survived. God bless Stephen Ambrose for capturing their story before even those who had survived died natural deaths. May he rest in peace.
At the very end of the book Ambrose briefly summarizes the postwar lives of those who survived. One of those who overcame a paralyzing injury suffered at Bastogne and survived was Corporal Walter Gordon. He went to law school and struck it rich through the exercise of great acumen in the oil business.
In December 1991, Mr. Gordon read that the mayor of Eindhoven, Holland had refused to meet with General Schwarzkopf because as general of the forces that served in the Gulf War General Schwarzkopf "had too much blood on his hands." Ambrose recounts that Gordon wrote to the mayor of Eindhoven as follows:
On September 17, 1944 I participated in the large airborne operation which was conducted to liberate your country. As a member of company E, 506th PIR [parachute infantry regiment], I landed near the small town of Son. The following day we moved south and liberated Eindhoven. While carrying out our assignment, we suffered casualties. That is war talk for bleeding. We occupied various defense positions for over two months. Like animals, we lived in holes, barns, and as best we could. The weather was cold and wet. In spite of the adverse conditions, we held the ground we had fought so hard to capture.
The citizens of Holland at that time did not share your aversion to bloodshed when the blood being shed was that of the German ocupiers of your city. How soon we forget. History has proven more than once that Holland could again be conquered if your neighbor, the Germans, are having a dull weekend and the golf links are crowded.
Please don't allow your country to be swallowed up by Liechtenstein or the Vatican as I don't plan to return. As of now, you are on your own.
This is a message that badly needs to be delivered to our former Belgian friends. Tuesday, February 22, 2005
Bill Keller, the executive editor of the New York Times, has engaged in an interesting email exchange with Jeff Jarvis, who is a Democrat and a liberal but is also a genuinely nice, smart guy. Today Keller was the keynote speaker at Friday night’s Blue Pencil Dinner, held annually to benefit the Columbia Spectator. The Spectator reports on Keller's somewhat benighted views on the MSM and the blogosphere:
Keller’s speech focused on the struggle of print journalism to maintain its relevance in the face of constant cable news updates, increased blogging, and failures in credibility.
He noted that, according to a recent opinion poll, the public’s trust in journalists is at its lowest point in decades. He attributed this in part to the increasingly polarized nature of the American public, who look to the press for support of their viewpoints.
“At the moment,” he said, “the major press is under attack from ideologues on the right and left.”
Keller also sees “blogging,” or online writing that blurs news and commentary, as a mixed blessing. While he celebrated the blogger’s ability to uncover breaking news, he noted that a blog’s inherent bias might be detrimental to the reader. “A blog is still a view of the world through a pinhole,” he said, noting that it can sometimes fall as low as being a “one man circle jerk.”
Let's just note a few blind spots here: First, Keller is right to note the challenge to print journalism, but the big problem is not competition, it is what Keller called "failures in credibility." The print media can't beat us and other bloggers when it comes to speed. Ultimately, news organs like the Times can only survive if people believe that their slow, ponderous pace generates better accuracy and thoughtfulness. So "failures in credibility" are crucial and must be addressed; but the Spectator's report discloses no further discussion of how to avoid such "failures." Like, for example: no more pawning off of forged documents, and no more claims that Republican crowds booed when they didn't.
Second: I'm not surprised that public confidence in the MSM is at a low ebb. But I don't think it makes sense to blame the public for this; certainly not until the MSM gets its act together. The suggestion that the Times is "under attack from ideologues on the right and left" is a familiar dodge: we're attacked from both sides, so we must be neutral. Suffice it to say that the New York Times is not in trouble because it has lost the confidence of the liberal 25% of the American population.
Third: Blogs' "inherent bias" is a problem, culminating in some extreme but unidentified case as a "one man circle jerk"? Puhleeze. I would never use such a term in polite company, but if we're going to talk about onanism, how about Frank Rich? Or Paul Krugman, the ultimate partisan hack? Is that not "inherent bias"? If not, why not? The Times is noted for its monolithic, Democratic orientation, which reflects the views of its owners. Its Democratic orientation is so blatant that hardly anyone reads its editorials, and few people read its columnists.
If Keller really believes that blogs are biased but his own newspaper is not--which I doubt--the Times is even farther gone than I realized. Monday, February 21, 2005
www.powerlineblog.com
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BILL BURKETT RETURNS, SAYS HE WAS MALIGNED BY CBS
By RatherBiased.com |
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| Bill Burkett, the former Texas national guardsman who provided CBS with the bogus documents it used to allege that President Bush evaded the draft and used family connections to cover up his shoddy military service, spoke out against the network in a 2,600-word letter addressed to the quasi-independent panel which CBS had appointed to investigate the whole Memogate affair.
In the letter, which the panel's legal representative confirmed receiving, Burkett says that CBS blamed him for its own failures in order to minimize the damage to its own reputation. He also continues to stand by his revised explanation of how he obtained the documents, which allegedly came from the personal files of Bush's commanding officer, now deceased. Burkett says he obtained the documents from an anonymous man at a Texas livestock show who was apparently acting on behalf of an unknown woman who identified herself as Lucy Ramirez.
"As I openly stated, backgrounded in excruciating detail to Mapes, Rather and CBS, the documents had to be able to be 'free standing' before I would release them. I had to be satisfied that CBS had the capability and intent to fully authenticate the documents," Burkett wrote in the letter, a copy of which was obtained by the ezine Salon.com. "CBS, through its employees, had to make a critical decision as to whether they were willing to take that risk. There were no expressed or implied warranties about the documents. Yet I believed them to be authentic."
In his message, Burkett implies that he is considering legal recourse for being maligned by CBS, the panel, and Dan Rather's "Evening News."
Is it possible that the much-maligned ex-guardsman really is telling the truth about how he got the documents? Was he used as a patsy by Democratic Party operatives at the state or national level (or someone else) who knew he had some established contacts with CBS? Why would Burkett stake his reputation giving papers to CBS he knew to be third-rate forgeries? Why would Burkett come up with such a ridiculous-sounding scenario of how he got the documents (even if it was his third one) and continue to stick with it? Would Burkett really follow through and sue CBS? Or is this just the rantings of a disturbed man who wants to be bribed to keep silent?
At this point, we do know that Burkett had been used as a source in other CBS stories prior to the document one. The "CBS Evening News" ran a story on February 12, 2004 which gave prominent play to a letter that he had written to Texas legislators saying that then-governor Bush had directed staffers to "scrub" his military records for incriminating information.
Burkett's speaking out and the actions of the three CBS News executives who are refusing to quit after being asked to resign are ensuring that the story of Memogate remains fully in play. To get the full truth, however, will require subpoena power. When will we get to see the trial of this young century? Tuesday, February 22, 2005 |
http://ratherbiased.com
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GLORIFYING THE DRUG TRADE
By Michelle Malkin
Mexican school libraries are stocking up on copies of a book that glamorizes violent drug traffickers. From AP:
MEXICO CITY – Mexico's school libraries are stocking a book that includes the lyrics of "narcocorridos" – folk songs that glorify drug traffickers – causing a storm of criticism in a country where the drug market and its violence have become part of life in thousands of communities.
Opposition activists are livid that the administration of President Vicente Fox, which has declared a "war on all fronts" against drug gangs, ordered tens of thousands of copies of the book "Cien Corridos: Alma de la Cancion Mexicana" (100 Corridos: The Soul of Mexican Song) for grade-school libraries.
The book, printed by a private publishing company but bought in bulk by the government, contains lyrics for songs like "The Red Car Gang," which describes Mexican cocaine smugglers shooting it out with Texas Rangers:
"They say they came from the south/In a red car/Carrying 100 kilos of cocaine/bound for Chicago ... "
Another song describes female drug traffickers who poisoned police with opium to protect a drug shipment, then praises "The Lord of the Skies," the nickname for the deceased drug lord Amado Carrillo Fuentes:
"They caught him alive/but they couldn't pin anything on him/ now they can display him dead/on trumped-up charges ... "
Outraged Mexican legislators are demanding hearings on Fox's endorsement of the books.
Meanwhile, here in the States, Chronic Candy--the hot new goodies that taste like marijuana--is a big, uh, hit among young celebrities. Youth reporter Becky Boyer has more. Tuesday, February 22, 2005
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USS IRONIC
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