Diary Of A Hollywood Refugee

Sunday, July 31, 2005

Jihad Jane: On Vegetable Oil and Tours of Duty

Vegetable Oil and Tours of Duty is Oliver North's kick in the ass to Jihad Jane.

Hanoi Jane" Fonda seems to have tired of her moniker. The wilted flower child who firmly established her place in American history when she mounted a North Vietnamese anti-aircraft gun has decided it's time to teach a whole new generation to blame America first.

He offers up great suggestions as to which morons from the MSM and which "A" List Left Wing Politicians should join the tour, and mentions a few places that should absolutely be included in her tour itinerary:

..... swing by a few sites in Texas to tell soldiers they're "fighting and dying for lies." Fort Hood -- home of the 4th Infantry Division -- might work. These soldiers that I covered for FOX News have already spent a year in Iraq -- and they are getting ready to go again! They clearly need your help because they are reenlisting at a phenomenal pace -- the unit has already exceeded its retention goals for the entire year.

Be sure to visit the graves of America's heroes at Arlington Cemetery before making your final stop at a polished granite wall on the National Mall. There, you will find inscribed the names of 58,249 heroes you spat upon when perched atop that VC gun.

And then he makes mention of something dear to my heart....sadly I was unable to make it to DC to meet up with Chris....but I've been in touch with him via cellphone....and its been wonderful to hear him speak so excitedly about meeting the" heart" of America.

Hopefully at some point during your Jihadist journey, you will bump into Sgt. Christopher Missick of the 319th Signal Battalion. While in Iraq, Missick met hundreds of good Americans through his blog, "A Line in the Sand." Home now, he and a fellow veteran are driving around the country -- fueled by conventional gasoline -- to meet some of the patriots -- his "Web of Support" -- who sent letters, packages and prayers. He wants to personally thank them and "meet the heart of America."

That's the kind of support the troops appreciate, not your caravan of craven critics.

Are you listening Jihad Jane? The person lying to the American public is YOU!!! ...you can't act, you weren't sincere about regretting your actions during VietNam, and being alone is too painful so you run back into the spotlite to get your fix of attention........

Go To Hell Jihad Jane. There will be a place waiting for you next to Dick Durbin, Ted Kennedy,Katherine Baker Knoll, not to far down from Pol Pot, Hitler, "Uncle" Joe Stalin, and all those homicide bombers who have taken not only their lives, but also those of innocent children, men, and women, on planes trains and subways, in London, Madrid, New York City, and DC!

I wonder...is there a group discount for eternal housing in Hell?

*thanx David for noticing a major faux pas.....I, of all people, should better than to confuse Oliver North with Oliver Stone!*

Saturday, July 30, 2005

The Blogs of War

For all you fans of Thunder 6 - he is featured in an article on Milblogs and the men who write them in WIRED Magazine. There is a GREAT pic of him in Iraq, which opens the article on the title page.

Quoting from the Wired Article "He(Blackfive) describes Prakesh as borderline Einstein and Danjel Bout as "A real rock star"

(no argument from me)

Quoting " When he is not chasing down supplies or on patrol.............Bout is posting about the details of Army life in Language evocative of literrary warbloggers of yore like Thucydides, Homer, Thomas Paine and John Donne!


...later on Hockenberry writes" Bout's blog is one of the most genuine accounts anywhere of what life is like for a soldier in Iraq"

Several other very popular Milbloggers are also featured!

The article rawks!

*T6 - Can I negotiate your book deal?*

Friday, July 29, 2005

Yet Again!

The past 24 hours have served to remind me yet again of why I not only distrust but intensely distain the media. The story either fits their agenda or its twisted to do so.

Based on my experience during the past 48 hours, it's become clear that in covering the story about George Smith's mysterious disappearance during his honeymoon while on a Mediterrean cruise, the msm and cable news media's appetite, desire, and need for sensationalism, lies, innuendos, rumours, and speculative theories based on twisted facts, is far more important than integrity and truth.

I wonder what price selling out goes for these days!

Related:
Cruising The Med: Murder Mystery Mayhem
Cruising The Med: Setting The Record Straight
Cruising The Med: The Final Word
Desperate Lies
Cruising The Med: Honeymoon Murder Mystery

Tuesday, July 26, 2005

Boots On The Ground

"We are a value based military" said Lt Col Robert Kelley on MSNBC last nite and he explained that its those values that guide our actions " but our enemy doesn't have that restriction, they are not bound by values"

Are you LISTENING Hussein Jane!!!! WE are a value based military!!!!!!!

I am very vocal about my distain of the MSM...but once in a while....the MSM gets it right.

Kudos to Chris Mathews for "Boots From The Ground". A show that gave voice to the truth, which he and other MSM elites have failed to do, about what's going on in Iraq; about our successes and the reality of who this insurgency is, where they come from, and how they operate, and about the challenges that our brave deployed men and women have had to deal with and continue to face, and the way in which our values based military have dealt with and continue to deal with those challenges.

The show featured some heartfelt honest stories and valuable honest insights from:
Lt. Col. Kelley, 5th Special Forces Group (Airborne), Ft. Campbell, KY
Col. Donald Jackson, U.S. Army War College at Carlisle Barracks, PA
Lt. Col. James, Rainey, 1st Cavalry Division, Ft. Hood, TX( served two tours of duty)

When asked if he felt the American people are behind us, Col. Donald Jackson said MOST DEFINATELY- it's obvious from the way people react to them and treat them..he commented on how well the crew of Hardball had treated them..how the audience and the VietNam Vets in the audience had expressed their support,and that by and large this reflects what MOST Americans truly feel.

ARE YOU LISTENING TRAITOR JANE??

All three of them concurred that we are most definately better off with an all volunteer force...its a choice to serve and that makes for a quality military!

Post 9/11 anyone that joined the services KNEW they were going to serve! They are joining for the right reason and we are getting GREAT people enlisting now..they are talented...committed and want to serve..to protect their familes and their country from the evil that we are facing........ they know with every fibre in their being that they are doing something vital to national security! Chris concurred with that...he said when he visited the wounded troups in the hospital nearby they all expressed a desire to return to their deployed units!

These group of wives that volunteer to run the family support groups were mentioned for their unwavering support and inner strength.

When Chris asked "Are we winning their hearts and minds?" The answer was a resounding YES!
Day by day we are winning the hearts and mind: the way young kids react to our troups when they come into town is very telling..when the kids come out to talk to the troups..that's a sign that we have won the hearts and minds of their parents...its a good sign...and the best indicator for how the population is feeling.

Ambiguity is a challenging issue - as it was in Nam - one Vet asked: " you want to protect your forces...you want to win hearts and minds.. how do we solve that problem? Col.R.Kelley insisted that our men are discriminating in their use of force.

And then Col.Jackson gave a great example of one way in which we deal with the ambiguity.
A Civil affairs unit goes in after the troups have entered someones home in the middle of the nite when they are trying to capture insurgents(oh and Jane this raid on a home happens after much information is obtained by various sources in order to ascertain where these madmen are holed up and planning more mass murders) ...and the civil affairs unit helps the occupants of the house to deal with what's happened..IF there was a mistake made and no terrorists were found, then, WE, via the Civil affairs unit repair the damages, help bring order back to the house and work to make amends in various ways. IF insurgents have been caught..the message is clear..."you harbour these guys...YOU will be held accountable". This is what our values based military does.We help to get the family back to normal WHEN we make a mistake!!!!!!

THIS IS WHO THAT FUCKWIT HUSSEIN JANE IS PROTESTING AGAINST!

APPARENTLY TRAITOR JANE BELIEVES OUR VALUES BASED MILITARY IS EVIL WHILE SADDAM HUSSEIN IS A KINDLY MISUNDERSTOOD OLD MAN,WHO BESIDES HARBOURING AND INVESTING RESOURCES IN TERRORISTS WHO ARE PART OF A GROUP OF MADMEN HELLBENT ON KILLING ANYONE INCLUDING AMERICANS THAT THEY CANNOT SUBJUCATE, WOULD HAVE HIS MILITARY HENCHMENT BREAK INTO IRAQI'S HOMES, HAUL THEM OUT OF BED, RAPE, TORTURE AND SOMETIMES KILL THEM FOR NO DAMN REASONOTHER THAN HE COULD!

Let me assure Traitor Jane, that Shitdam's civil affairs unit didnt stick around to help get the remaining family members back to normal...or to make amends for destroying their lives, subjucating them to fear, torture, and depriving them of basic human rights.

But I digress......the show was a much need breath of fresh air in the generally polluted left wing media.

Hussein Jane

There is a saying in French that goes like this:
"Plus ca change, plus ca reste le meme"
The More Things Change, The More They Remain The Same....


As most of you all know, who either watch Fox or Read Blackfive's blog, the poster child for Traitors, Inc, Hussein Jane, aka The Former Ms.Hanoi Jane, in a desperate attempt to satisfy her insatiable need for publicity..( lets face it ...she is an actress...and being in the spotlite is what she craves) is set to go on the road in a vegetable oil fueled bus, to protest the war in Iraq.

There are no words that can adequately express (actually THERE ARE A FEW!!) the disgust, contempt, and vile I feel towards this publicity seeking terrorist supporting Saddam Hussein loving traitor bitch DUMOCRAT who must obviously reside on the corner of Drunk and Delusional.

This is America, the land of freedom and democracy that Jane enjoys and allows her the opportunity to mount this ridiculous charade, so why on earth should Hussein Jane SUPPORT the newly established Democracy in Iraq, show support to the brave Iraqi men and women who are endeavoring against the evil that is Al Zarquawi to nurture, and sustain a fledgling democracy in Iraq....why should Iraqi women be allowed to be educated, free to work, free to dress as they choose, free to marry whom they choose, free to vote in the officials they choose, free to mount protests against their gov't. Why should she? Better to support terrorist regime that subjucated the same freedoms that Women's Lib movement of the 1970's found to sustain for American women. If that bitch thinks that Saddam offered Iraqi's , especially Iraqi' women a BETTER option to the democracy that is now being made available to ALL Iraqi's, and if she doesnt understand that democratic countries to not attack other democracies, then she is stupid, naive, and delusional!

This "anti war tour" isn't about her "love " for the troups, isnt' about her concern for Iraqi's, isn't about her "love of America" and isn't about wanting to ensure democracy and freedom for the women and men of Iraq is nurtured, and sustained, it isn't about wanting her fellow sisters in Iraq to have the same freedoms as she has been blessed to have, this is about an old actress craving the spotlite and using any opportunity she can to stay in it.

Saturday, July 23, 2005

The World IS Flat

Martin, in my comments section, recently asked me what I was reading.

I've almost completed Tom Friedman's latest book " The World Is Flat: A Brief History of the 21st Century"

In the book, he "demystifies the brave new world" we now find ourselves in, and picks up where Lexus and The Olive Tree left off.

"I had come to Bangalore, India's Silicon Valley, on my own Columbus like journey of exploration......."
"Columbus set out search for hardware - precious metals, spices, silk - I was searching for software, brainpower and complex algorithms, knowledg eworkers, call centers, and transmission protocals - the sources of wealth in our day. Columbus was happy to make the Indians he met, slaves. I just wanted to understand why the Indians I met were taking our work, why they had become such an important pool for outsourcing of service and information technology work from America and other industrialized countries."

Long ago, Columbus discovered the world was round; today Friedman discovered the world is flat!

He describes ten forces of flatness in great detail. Here's a summary:

1. The Walls Came Down ....and Windows went up!
The Berlin Wall fell, everyone was now talking to everyone through a common platform: computers and software.

2.Netscape Went Public: Internet Browsers allowed everyone to browse the WorldWide Web.

3.Workflow Software: Common software apps meant that your app could now talk to my app!

4.Open-Source: Self organizing, collaborative communities alter the landscape and traditional business model preferred by Microsoft

5.Outsourcing Y2K: The rise of outside specialists, part timers and homeworkers.

6.Off shoring: Running with Gazelles, Eating with Lions. Manufacturing could be done anywhere, fast, cheaply and well! More imporantly, KNOWLEDGE work can be delivered to and from anywhere FAST thanks to worldwide high speed communication.

7.Supply chaining : Eating Sushi in Arkansas. Think of a fast efficient and effective supply chain and WALMART comes to mind. This is why Walmart is fast becoming the largest company in the world!

8. Insourcing: What the guys in the funny brown shorts are really doing: UPS doesn't just deliver packages anymore, they provide logisitics!

9. Informing: Google Google Google.....oh yeah and MSN and Yahoo! They deliver information to everyone everywhere! This gave birth to and facilitated the rise of BLOGS...which can also be considered an offspring of collaborative communities.

10. The Steroids: Digital, Mobile, Personal and Virtual. The world is now shaped not simply by geological forces but also by technological forces - computers, fibre optics, and instant communications!

These ten forces resulted in what he calls a "triple convergence" that changed our world.

1) Creation of the global web enabled the playing field that allows for multiple forms of collaboration
2) Global companies expanded their bounderies by losing their walls, their floors, hell even their buildings. Companies now employ an ever changing global pool of specialists, according to their needs.
3) Now more than ever individuals can compete against anyone EVERYWHERE in the world using the new "flat" rules.

Welcome to the 21st Century. The World IS Flat!

Friday, July 22, 2005

Only My Soul Knows Why

You walk at midnight under an orange moon
Big as the sun, shadows dancing under the wind blow trees.
You know in your soul that deep meaning can be found here,
If you look a little harder, stay a little longer.
Jack Neary

I have no idea why I am drawn to the full orange moon tonite, but I am.
I've spent the past two hours sitting on my balcony, with several candles lit and scattered among the plants, and I just stared at the moon.

It's the first time in a long time that I didn't think about a damn thing.

I just watch the orange moon rise higher into the star lit skye, and watched as she cast an eerie glow on the lake.

I didn't want to come back in.
I just wanted to look a little harder, and stay a little longer.
Only my soul knows why.

Sunday, July 17, 2005

Editor Sets Off A Firestorm

Its no secret that I heart Stephen Spruill at Media Blog!

I was reading his latest post, Editor Sets Off A Firestorm, which in turn led me to this by Jeff Jarvis.

Steven and Jeff both link to a Mark Yost column that ignited this firestorm. You may need to register to read it,but do so! It; s worth the one minute it will take!

In case you can't find the time to read ALL the comments that this generated on Jeff Jarvis's blog, I have decided to post a few that reasonated with me.

This first one from EverKarl was in response to a comment made by Steve Lovelady about how Mark Yost's opinion and honest assesment of MSM bias in reporting on Iraq was invalid because the hard on he has for Hanna Allam led him to decide that ONLY someone IN Iraq like Hanna is capable of reporting whats really happening in Iraq, and therefore ANYTHING Hanna writes is the WHOLE TRUTH AND NOTHING BUT THE TRUTH, and someone like Mark Yost who has never set foot in Iraq is NOT allowed to have any opinion that differs from the MSM Party Line and that *shudder* critisizes the MSM bias that is so prevlant to just about everyone but left wing liberals!

I've never set foot in Iraq, but this military medic says the Iraqi Army has made strides in the 9 months he has been there, adding that last Saturday in Quyarrah, over a thousand citizens and police held the first "march against terrorism," led by sheiks, mukhtars, and imams.

I've never set foot in Iraq, but Hurl is there now. He has some unkind words about the media coverage of Iraq. As I type this, his most recent post states in part: "The involvement of Iraqi army and police has increased significantly over the past few months. I have also read many reports about the lack of electricity, but from my observations there are lights on all over Iraq as far as I can see. Any power outages are due to terrorist activity, not a lack of infrastructure. Two nights ago I flew over a new powerplant under construction...."

I've never set foot in Iraq, but SPC Alex Barnes is there, writing that: "This is our war to lose, and war opponents (I'm hesitant to use the term 'liberal' because it just doesn't seem to fit the bill) are doing their best to lose it in the only way possible: on the battlefield of the media and public opinion."

I've never set foot in Iraq, but Massachusetts Army National Guard soldiers living at FOB Summerall are blogging, even photoblogging. The most recent post as I type this states in part: "It’s amazing how much the Iraqi Army and Iraqi Police have accomplished thus far. These guys are just as much hero's as we are. They are why we’re here. These guys will eventually take over for us. More and more often the Iraqi Security Forces are being targeted and under the same pressures that we're under, but without nearly the level of international recognition that they deserve."

I've never set foot in Iraq, but Noah Shachtman just arrived in Camp Victory: "Who knew being a vegetarian in a war zone could be this easy? Not that I’m exactly in in the thick of battle, yet. Camp Victory, adjacent to the Baghdad Airport, is a sprawling military command center of 15,000 troops. And, despite the occasional helicopter grunting overhead, the conflict feels very far away. Yesterday, I was worried about facing bullets and bombs. Today, I’m wondering whether to have a slushie or a cookie for desert."

I've never set foot in Iraq, but Michael Yon just finished a tour from Mosul to Baghdad to a Navy ship in the North Arabian Gulf, back to Kuwait and Baghdad, to other places in the region and then to Kalsu. Some reports have been downbeat, others uplifting.

Thus, while I respect the courage of those major media journos to risk life and limb in Iraq, I do not grant them a monopoly of knowledge of the situation in Iraq. I've never set foot in Iraq, but I think that Steve Lovelady or the KR Baghdad bureau would be hard put to claim that the FOB troops I've quoted above are somehow blinded to the reality of Iraq. Heaping invective on Yost does not refute his central point, which is that there are many people reporting from Iraq other than the major media and they not only paint a different picture than the major media, they often criticize the coverage of the major media.

The Loveladys of the world can ignore them and continue to scratch their heads as newspaper circulation and network news ratings continue their erosion into oblivion. Or they can realize that their journo skills might be put to good use by reading and weighing (note I am not saying "and uncritically accepting") this substantial body of reportage and opinion from people in Iraq. Thus stated, I would suggest that the argument is about more than Iraq -- it's another version of an ongoing theme of Jeff's blog, i.e., that there is a segment of the major media that is implacably hostile to anything that is seen as challenging their now-broken monoply on reportage and public commentary.

Posted by EverKarl at July 14, 2005 01:50 AM


And this comment from Maureen reminds us how some things never change!

Ah yes--"freedom of speech" as really practiced by the pseudo-liberal press. Freedom to say whatever you want--as long as you say exactly what the powers-that-be want you to say. And if you dare to be critical, why then you immediately threaten their job &/or make comments that you're "ashamed to be in the same building with" the individual. Nope, wouldn't want to allow actual free speech & exchange of ideas. Can't have that. Much too dangerous.

Reminds me of my father's days as a Penn State professor (universities also being bastions of free speech for those dissenting with pseudo-liberals). At a discussion formally sponsored by the university on the Sandinistas in Nicaragua (back when they held power), naturally the professors (none of whom had ever lived in Nicaragua under the Sandinistas) thought they were just swell peachy-keen guys. When an actual Nicaraguan pointed out that living under their brutality wasn't all it was cracked up to be, he was immediately denounced by all the all-wise professors. When my father (who consulted for US AID & worked in Latin America for decades & was thus very familiar with life in Nicaragua) came to his defense, the predictable response from the other professors was that he had no business being a professor & should be stripped of his position. Yup, free speech at its finest--& as practiced by the MSM.

We are not afraid? Actually, there is a tremendous amount of fear. It's coming from the MSM, & the people like Lovelady & those who support him. They're terrified that they can no longer hijack the national agenda to their means. The Post & the Times & CBS & other organizations can no longer make up claims (I'll swap you one Koran in the toilet for my faked documents from Kinkos) & dominate the landscape. The rest of us have gotten wise to them & their agenda--& have plenty of other alternate means of discussing issues. You can smell the fear--& the only way for them to try to stop the wave is to attack anyone who disagrees with them. Forget discourse, they're too afraid.

Posted by Maureen at July 14, 2005 01:37 PM


And here is another comment from EverKarl that serves to put the facts into context..something the MSM seems strangely incapable of doing:

Lovelady's e-mails refer to a number of rebuttals of Yost by KR colleagues, including "Clark Hoyt, KR Washington bureau chief (who addresses his remarks not only to Yost but to the editors of all 33 KR papers, which tells you something about Mr. Yost's future)."

Hoyt's rebuttal is currently available through Yahoo! News, so I thought it might be worth looking at it in a little bit of detail. For example, Hoyt writes:

"Yost asks why you don't read about progress being made in the power grid, which the colonel oversaw. Maybe it's because there is no progress. Iraqis currently have electricity for an average of nine hours a day. A year ago, they averaged 10 hours of electricity.

Just for giggles, I checked the Brookings Institution's current Iraq Index, which was updated this very day.

The estimated prewar level of the average amount of electricity generated nationwide is 3,598 megawatts. The average amount of electricity generated nationwide is estimated at 4,153 megawatts for June 2005 and 4,583 for July 2005. Indeed, for the prior year for which there are actual fgures, generation exceeded the prewar level in 8 of 12 months. The figures are consistently below the prewar level in Baghdad, where most of the major media are.

Hoyt writes:

"Iraq's oil production is still below pre-war levels. The unemployment rate is between 30 percent and 40 percent. New cases of hepatitis have doubled over the rate of 2002, largely because of problems with getting clean drinking water and disposing of sewage."

Iraqi oil production is only 80 percent of the peak prewar levels (though as another commenter noted, this is due to insurgent attacks). Hoyt doesn't mention that production has been very near the prewar peak level in a number of months prior to this one. Hoyt also fails to mention that the goals for other fuel supplies, such as diesel, kerosene and gasoline, are being exceeded and that overall fuel supplies are running at about 94-97 percent of the goal figure.

New cases of hepatitis have doubled from 2002-04, largely due to probalems with the water and sewer systems; Hoyt is correct on that score. On the other hand, Hoyt does not mention that the water and sewer systems were falling apart due to neglect under Saddam and that the coalition is fixing them. For example, in October 2004, Baghdad got a new water-pumping station. Iraq's Health Ministry and UNICEF officials distributed water-purification tablets and health-education literature; only a few cases of hepatitis E were reported since, according to Nima Abid, director of the Health Ministry's Public Health division. Hoyt must be unaware that we are upgrading the knowledge base of the entire Iraqi healthcare system, as he doesn't mention it. Arthur Chrenkoff's April 25, 2005 round-up of good news from Iraq quotes an article from the NJ Star-Ledger in part as follows: "Iraq's health care industry has access to far more funds and better supplies than it did under the last dozen years of Saddam's rule. Doctors no longer have to smuggle under the radar of United Nations sanctions black-market cancer drugs or the latest equipment."

Indeed, that's one of many things Hoyt's rebuttal doesn't mention. For example, telephone subscribers in Iraq have gone from 833,000 to over 3.8 million.

Internet subscribers have gone from an estimated 4,500 to almost 150,000.

Commercial TV stations went from 13 to 23.

Independent newspapers and magazines went from 8 to 170. You would think that the DC bureau chief for a newspaper chain would be interested in those figures, but you would be wrong, apparently.

Wheat production went from 1.9 million tons pre war to 2.6 million tons in 2003 (the most recent figure) -- a 37 percent increase. Hoyt didn't mention it.

Primary school enrollment was 3.6 million in 2000; for 2003-04, it went up to 4.3 million. All that unsexy reconstruction of and building of schools appears to have added up over time, not that Hoyt has noticed.

The relative amount of car traffic has quint upled from prewar levels. Hoyt didn't mention it.

Two-thirds of Iraqis think their country is headed in the right direction, including 40 percent of the Sunnis. Eighty-two percent of Iraqis think their life will be better next year.

I wonder what Clark "Sadly, there is little good news to report from Iraq" Hoyt's explanation for those figures is.

Posted by EverKarl at July 14, 2005 11:06 P


And this comment by The Pontiff:

.....one of my best friends, Alex Barnes, was quoted in a comment by EverKarl. I'm here in Iraq with Alex, we are both in the same Signal Company out of Minnesota.

I just wanted to comment about something that Barnes and I have noticed while being here. It appears to us that in today's generation there lacks a certain stomach for tough work. Barnes refered to it as a type of inflation, what he called Social Inflation.

While I've been in Iraq I've been studying the History of the Civil War as a class offered by the University of Minnesota. Now before some of you begin to say "Don't compare the Civil War to Operation Iraqi Freedom!!" Let me point out that people's civil liberties have been stifled here countless times. I'm not saying that its like the antibellum South here, but I will say that many Iraqis could identify with the tortures that slaves were subjected to, as well as the conflict that they found themselves in when the Union came to put down an insurrection. You see, the slaves saw it as their chance to put an end to that peculiar institution even when whites on both sides wanted nothing to do with the slave question.

By 1864, most Union soldiers had changed their opinion on the freedom of the black race. By the end of the bloodiest conflict in American history, over 300,000 had died for the cause of Union and Liberty (over 600,000 had died if you count the losses on both sides, but it cannot be said that the Confederates fought for liberty of the black man).

What is my point? My point is, since when did we lose the stomach to see things through to the end? When Peace Democrats called for the end of hostilities and nominated George McClellan for President in the '64 elections and called for the restoration of blacks to slavery, President Lincoln said he could not, in any form of good conscience, break that promise to the black warrior. Yet today, nearly 150 years later, I wonder if he would be disappointed to see that people of his own country still call for the forsaking of friendships. And don't say that the Iraqi people are not friends of ours, or the other way around, because although you can freely speak for yourself, you cannot speak for me and my friends. My friends and I are here, and we have made new friends thousands of miles from our homes, ones that we will not forget even if the American public wants to.

Posted by The Pontiff at July 15, 2005 09:51 AM

And this one by Greyhawk:


...and I find Yost's claim rather silly, in fact, because soldiers are, after all, too busy being soldiers and establishing security to constantly be worrying about checking up on human interest stories around Baghdad."

Actually they're just as busy rebuilding Iraq - schools, power, water, local government - in other words, living the human interest stories you thought (because those stories aren't often reported) they were too busy to worry about.

And yes, that's precisely the point most soldiers are making when they say the media isn't getting half the real story. Thanks for demonstrating the extent of the impact of the failure.

Posted by Greyhawk at July 15, 2005 10:23 AM



Here comes my rant:

The MSM has lost any sense of why they exist: HINT- it is to provide the entire picture on all issues be it abortion, war, homelessness, social security - not a biased left wing POV.

Yost critisism and frustration with his MSM collegues and their biased reporting was greeted with the same vitriol that met Bernie Goldberg when, as an insider at CBS, he too had the "audacity" to openly question and point out the NUMEROUS OBVIOUS EXAMPLES of Bias at CBS. I suggest all Lovelady's supporters read both his books..if you can actually stomach the truth!

As for his obvious infatuation with "Hannah Allam, KR's brave and brilliant Baghdad bureau chief, who daily lives a life that would turn Mark Yost into a sniveling worm hiding under his bed" I have to wonder if he simply has a hard-on for this woman!

He spews out his vitriol at Mark Yost from the comfort of his own office and then uses his infatuation with Hanna as a means to prove that Mark Yost is in no position to openly critisize the general left leaning agenda of the majority of the MSM. Yet Hanna herself is hardly in a position to offer the complete and unbiased picture of daily life in Iraq.

I suggest Lovelady read Michael Yon's blog. Michael was the ONLY reporter who had the balls to travel through Iraq in a humvee with CSM Mellinger. So who do you think offers us a more balanced picture of Iraq -an independent voice like Michael Yon who has actually been out on missions and travelled the countryor Hanna sitting in the green zone planning how to access water?

Let me put this into perspective:

In 1994 when the LA quake struck I was unable to secure water or food in my neighborhood which had been hit bad. Had I been blogging or reporting from my crumbling apt, in the same manner as Hanna and most of the MSM, this is what I would have put forth:

I'm holed up in a fast decaying apt building, no air conditioning, what little water I have from the taps appears unsafe to drink or wash in, I have no electricity, the walls are creaking, there are cracks in the floor, I have to move about carefully as I'm not sure how safe the floor is, I might fall through. I am slowly and lightly crawling over to the window. I see nothing but darkness, the clock has stopped, I have no idea what time it is, its quiet very quiet. I think I am the only one alive...I hear no other sounds..no one crying out for help. This must be the BIG ONE...dear gawd.....I may be the only one alive....I m in the hall...I have to walk carefully...I'm blinded because it's so dark and no lights are working.... where are the BACK UP GENERATORS??? They aren't working...I wonder what failure of the gov't has occured that our back up generators don't work???....I have to a get out of here...but where will I go....I am sure there is no place with power, food, water after all if I am experiencing this surely I'm not alone...everywhere else must be the same. I smell gas leaking....and I smell smoke...there must be a fire nearby....I'm out on the streets now..it still very dark and I smell more smoke...I smell more gas leaking....I see no one on the street...dear gawd I am alone...wait...I see someone now..limping.... This is HORRENDOUS...I have to believe that the "Big One" has struck!

Imagine someone reading that and ONLY that description of my experience of the 1994 Northridge earthquake and now imagine that description multiplied thousands of time by other people in my neighborhood, with no other reporting from anywhere ELSE in California.

Readers living elsewhere in the world, would begin to believe this represented the conditions across all of California.

Then imagine finding out that only a small radius near me had in fact been affected and that 20 blocks in either direction and life was normal; people were cooking, people were talking on cell phones, and most people were oblivious to the extent of the damage that had occured in my neighborhood.

By now you all get the point I've made and hopefully Lovelady, Hanna and the rest of the MSM will be able to grasp what Mark Yost, Jeff,Bernnie Goldberg, myself, and a good majority of Americans already know:

The MSM doesnt just lean left - IT IS LEFT - and it continues to skew and frame the majority of it's stories on our most important social issues, especially on Iraq, the military and this President, from its biased, arrogant, myopic, self serving, left wing, unbalanced, POV.


It's elitist members do not welcome honest critisism from outside and even less so from within, and they attack with vitriol anyone who dares NOT to tow the party line.

These self appointed guardians of liberal values are anything but openminded and diversified in their POV(standard hallmarks of any true liberal) instead they are closed minded, arrogant, and suffer from a group think that permeates all that they write and report.

As print circulation drops, as viewership shifts away from the MSM towards talk radio and Fox News, as advertising revenues drop, they still hold onto their delusional belief that they alone represent all that is good, right, fair, honest, and American. Denial is a river in Egypt! They should be careful as they continue to wade in it because it's filled with crocodiles that take no prisoners!

Friday, July 15, 2005

WE ARE NOT AFRAID!!!!!!

Check out the message by the Brits and most other peoples of world to Al Zarquawi and his band of merry madmen!

We Are Not Afraid

Just like the Iraqi's who raised a blue finger in defiance of terrorism and in support of democracy and freedom, people from ALL AROUND THE WORLD have raised a finger, the middle one, to these mass murderers, these terrorists, these cowards, these hijackers of Islam!

We will not run out of Iraq, we will not run out of Afghanistan, we will not run away from terrorism, we will face it head on, for as long as it takes, and we will PREVAIL.

WE ARE NOT AFRAID!

Wednesday, July 13, 2005

"Hell is empty and all the devils are here."

One soldier and several children were killed as troops were handing out candy this morning in Baghdad!

These mass murderers deliberately targeted Iraqi children and families. They are no words to describe how dispicable Al Zarquawi and his madmen are.

Hell is empty!

I Heart Steven Spruiell

Steven Spruiell from NRO's Media Blog feels the same way I do about Frank Rich!

Rich represents everything that’s wrong with the news media in America today


Indeed he does!

Steve also skewers that POS Rich in Fire Breathing Frank.
Frank Rich is the worst columnist in America, but his latest effort indicates that his Bush-hatred has left him bereft of the ability to reason.


Me likey this guy!