BREITBART.COM – Iraqis Loot Base After British Leave

Looters ravaged a former British base Friday, a day after the camp was turned over to Iraqi troops, taking everything from doors and window frames to corrugated roofing and metal pipes, authorities said.
[...]
Men, some with their faces covered, ripped corrugated metal from roofs, carried off metal pipes and backed trucks into building entrances to load them with wooden planks.
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When asked by a reporter why he was taking material from the base, one man, who refused to give his name, said: “This is war loot and we are allowed to take it.”

Civilized people cannot understand those who follow rules and lifestyles set out hundreds of years ago by barbarians struggling to survive in barbaric times, but that’s exactly who we’re dealing with in that festering sandtrap often referred to as the “cradle of civilization”. They’re barbarians, they demonstrate it daily, and you can’t just wish that away.

It’ll be generations before that trait can be unlearned, if at all.

I, for one, am not sure the world can stomach the effort it will take. I’m also not sure it’s worth the effort for those few of us willing to make the attempt.

(By the way, koranic law accepts looting as a normal part of war – they just have to give 20% to the church)

The Jawa Report sets it all to a familiar tune…

So good I had to watch it twice.

Mideast Conflict on Yahoo! News Photos


The caption to this picture reads “A Palestinian boy holds a toy gun and wears a mask while pretending to shoot at U.S. tourists on a street in Jerusalem’s old town August 18, 2006. REUTERS/Finbarr O’Reilly”

Kids playing war. We all did that when we were young, no big deal. But how does Mr. O’Reilly determine that these particular kids are pretending to “shoot at U.S. tourists”? Is there the slightest chance that this caption is more of the propaganda that the media is being accused of providing?

I’m both amazed and sickened.

It never ceases to amaze when something good and supportive happens, and it doesn’t make the mainstream news. Ok, so the LA Times is pretty mainstream, but since I don’t read it, I had to find out about it via the Australians…

That being said, this is awesome:

Kidman condemns Hamas, Hezbollah | Herald Sun

The actress, joined by 84 other high-profile Hollywood stars, directors, studio bosses and media moguls, has taken out a powerfully-worded full page advertisement in today’s Los Angeles Times newspaper.

It specifically targets “terrorist organisations” such as Hezbollah in Lebanon and Hamas in Palestine.

“We the undersigned are pained and devastated by the civilian casualties in Israel and Lebanon caused by terrorist actions initiated by terrorist organisations such as Hezbollah and Hamas,” the ad reads.

“If we do not succeed in stopping terrorism around the world, chaos will rule and innocent people will continue to die.

“We need to support democratic societies and stop terrorism at all costs.”

A who’s who of Hollywood heavyweights joined Kidman on the ad.

The actors listed included: Michael Douglas, Dennis Hopper, Sylvester Stallone, Bruce Willis, Danny De Vito, Don Johnson, James Woods, Kelly Preston, Patricia Heaton and William Hurt.

A whole list of leading men and ladies who’s movies I’d actually pay to watch. Excellent!

This morning, as I went through my daily routine getting ready for work, some ideas occurred to me regarding the odd juxtaposition of the former USSR and the United States in regards to dealing with the mad mullahs and their maniacal minions of the Middle East. It made perfect sense, and had all the hallmarks of something I needed to put down in words to present here.

Fast forward to the end of a rather busy day, and I can’t put those ideas back together. I put what little I can remember into a draft post – hopefully I’ll be able to fill in the missing pieces soon.

Until then, I’m open to suggestions on how to keep from losing these little epiphanies (this wasn’t the first time I’ve done this). I’m considering several things, ranging from a grease pencil to write on the shower wall (messy, ugly) to a bathroom-safe voice recorder. Adding more time into the morning schedule to sit and write is not really a good option for me, although it would probably be most effective.

Suggestions…?

There is sanity left in the world, and this proves it.

Georgia Congresswoman Ousted in Runoff

DECATUR, Ga. (AP) — Rep. Cynthia McKinney, known for her conspiracy theories about the Sept. 11 attacks and a scuffle with a U.S. Capitol police officer, conceded the Democratic primary runoff early Wednesday in a speech that blamed the media for her loss and included a song criticizing President Bush.

McKinney, the state’s first black congresswoman, said electronic voting machines are “a threat to our democracy” and lashed out a journalists, accusing them of injuring her mother and failing to “tell the whole story.”

“My mother was hurt by someone in the press in this room tonight,” McKinney said after losing to challenger Hank Johnson Tuesday. “One of my assistants needs stitches because of the press that are in this room tonight.”

And in a perfect definition of “sore loser”, the whacko bitch’s staff members were fighting with reporters…

WXIA-TV said on its Web site that a boom microphone had struck members of McKinney’s entourage: “In the confusion, McKinney staffers struck an 11Alive photographer and knocked his camera equipment to the ground.” Earlier in the day, the station said a McKinney staffer had scuffled with another 11Alive photojournalist.

A thorough study on the effectiveness of Hezbollah’s manipulation of the international media… this is how we’ll lose the war on terror, if we don’t wake up real damned soon to the way we’re being deceived in the papers and on the evening news. Lose is probably not the right word… give up is probably more accurate.

Qana – the director’s cut

I have called this post, “the director’s cut”, as that is what it is. The narrative here is of how the combination of Hezbollah’s media management and modern photo-journalism has turned the recording of a tragic event into theatre, in the best tradition of Michael Moore.

Once again Cox & Forkum hit the nail on the head.

(Title of this cartoon refers to this famous quote: The first casualty when war comes is truth)

This is a hoot. Reuters photographers are photoshopping images and publishing them as news. Bloggers catch them, professional photographers out them, and this is all we get by way of an explanation?

Mideast Conflict on Yahoo! News Photos

PICTURE KILL FOR LBN20 TRANSMITTED AT APPROXIMATELY 1408GMT ON AUGUST 5, 2006. PHOTO EDITING SOFTWARE WAS IMPROPERLY USED ON THIS IMAGE. A CORRECTED VERSION WILL IMMEDIATELY FOLLOW THIS ADVISORY. PLEASE REMOVE THE IMAGE FROM YOUR SYSTEMS. WE ARE SORRY FOR ANY INCONVENIENCE. REUTERS LBN20 Smoke billows from burning buildings destroyed during an overnight Israeli air raid on Beirut’s suburbs August 5, 2006. Many buildings were flattened during the attack. REUTERS/Adnan Hajj (LEBANON) REUTERS NEWS PICTURES

It’s hard to argue that there’s no media bias when the international wire services are publishing blatantly faked work as news. It makes one wonder what “proper” use of photo editing software is in regards to the news… the ones that don’t get caught?

LGF has more.
Michelle Malkin points out this ironic Reuters official policy:

Our policy is to send news to our customers only after scrutiny by a group of production editors who ensure quality standards are maintained across all our news services. When we get something wrong, our policy is to be honest about errors and to correct them promptly and clearly.

This is more a note to myself than anything else, but it may help others as well.

YouTube videos/links are one of the hottest things going on the web today, but like so many other services, they can’t seem to be bothered to provide XHTML valid links for their “post this” data. For instance YouTube provides this to ‘embed’ a video:
Read more »

And now for something completely different…

This is the cutest new comic I’ve seen in a long time. Definitely worth bookmarking to see where they go.
Being Five

IMAO: 2,996

IMAO pointed this out. If you’re a blogger, consider signing up. I am number 1221, so there is a need for 1775 more of us. In retrospect, that’s a rather uncanny numeric coincidence.

Here’s the gist:

The idea is simple, but powerful: have a special tribute for each victim of 9/11, with each tribute being created by a different blogger. We started 2,996 Project to coordinate the creation of the tributes, and that’s what this site is all about. Here you can sign up to make a tribute yourself, on your blog (we’ll randomly assign a victim to you). You can also browse or search through either the victims that have already been assigned, or those that have not — and you can get pointers to more information on all of them.

I cannot think of a more fitting way to remember the nearly 3000 victims of that fateful day, and count myself proud to be among them.

Sign up here.

Looks like Jumpin’ Jack(ass) Murtha will be getting a little reminder that when you attack a Marine, the Marine fights back.

Marine Names Murtha in Defamation Suit

A Marine Corps Staff Sergeant who led the squad accused of killing two dozen civilians in Haditha, Iraq, will file a lawsuit today in federal court in Washington claiming that Rep. John P. Murtha (D-Pa.) defamed him when the congressman made public comments about the incident earlier this year.

Attorneys for Frank D. Wuterich, 26, argue in court papers that Murtha tarnished the Marine’s reputation by telling news organizations in May that the Marine unit cracked after a roadside bomb killed one of its members and that the troops “killed innocent civilians in cold blood.” Murtha also said repeatedly that the incident was covered up.

My guess? It’ll likely settle out of court so as not to publically display Jack(ass) Murtha for the ignoramus he is… he’s still a decorated veteran, afterall. I hope SSgt Wuterich sticks to his guns and rides this sucker all the way into the dirt, though – it’ll do nicely to remind the American People the sort of blatant propaganda that’s being shoved down our throats every day by certain old, senile politicians who deserve nothing more than to be put out to pasture and forgotten.

The other day, after watching a press conference featuring yet another Tony Snow vs. Helen Thomas exchange, I asked rhetorically, “Who is this bitch? Does anyone even publish her anymore?” Oddly enough, the American Thinker brought me some insight on the answers today when they referenced this New Republic article:

Hack journalist Helen Thomas’s strange rise to liberal icon
(Login required… may I suggest BugMeNot?)

Thomas made her name, in other words, simply by staying in the same gruntwork job far longer than any of her colleagues could bear. She started on the beat in 1960; stories describing her as the dean of the White House press corps can be found as early as 1979. At some point, through sheer force of longevity, she became etched into the Washington landscape.
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The odd thing about her awards and citations is that they almost never mention any specific contributions she has made to journalism save for being female and, well, old. The usual path to journalistic fame, other than appearing regularly on television, is to break a major story–Ida Tarbell and Standard Oil, Bob Woodward and Watergate, et cetera. But Thomas has no connection to any such body of work.
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In fact, the behavior of Bush and his spokesmen suggests that they are grateful for her presence. Fox News often broadcasts her exchanges with the press secretary to bolster its claim that the mainstream press has an anti-Bush bias.

So, the bottom line? Helen Thomas is a moronic iconic liberal figure that no one can get rid of, but the administration is happy to keep around for comedy relief. Sounds about right, judging by her obnoxious outbursts at every White House press conference I’ve ever seen.