third world county

at least it hides some of the ugliness…

I searched the web for an up-to-date picture of Tom Shales (the one on the Washington Post website was obviously out of date). Took a while, but I finally got a good shot of his best side. You know, the one he uses to say the kinds of things found in his Wapo article dated today.

Oops. Forgot to mention, h.t. to Betsy Newmark for the link to the Shales article.

And another thing… surely someone would have told Shales by now that a blue suit with a red “power” tie might offset some of his homliness, eh? After all, it’s all about perception, Tommy baby.. Right?

Is it spreading? Time will tell

I have no idea if this represents a sea change in MMPA “thinking” or not, yet. For one thing, I only “watch” Fox, among the MMP “news” channels (too strong a word, really, since I mostly leave it on in another room when I’m working on something else). But the strange turn of events I’ve noticed is this: since Sunday, the word “terrorists” seems much more common in replacement of the disingenuous “insurgents” that was de rigeur before. Now, when thugs attack civilians or non-combatants in Iraq, one is as likely—at least on Fox, it seems—to hear them referred to as terrorists as insurgents.

Interesting. Of course, this could just be my ear picking up on a word that seems out of place in a MMPA account, but I hope the nomenclature is undergoing a change toward reality.

…but healthy ones, finally

Believe it or don’t [heh]. In today’s Chicago Sun-Times, dted-in-the-wool leftist Mark Brown asks fellow lefties the tortured question, “Was Bush right?” He closes the article with

If it turns out Bush was right all along, this is going to require some serious penance.

Maybe I’d have to vote Republican in 2008.

Maybe? Hedging his bets all the way, but finally asking some serious questions. Just read the whole thing.

(h.t. Drudge)

John Podhoretz zings the Jean Fraud sKerrys of the so-called “Democratic” Party

… the junior Eeyore from Massachusetts, John Forbes Kerry, who had the distinct misfortune of being booked onto “Meet the Press” yesterday only 90 minutes after the polls closed in Iraq — and couldn’t think of a thing to say that didn’t sound negative.

“No one in the United States should try to overhype this election,” said the man who actually came within 3 million votes of becoming the leader of the Free World back in November.

No? How about “underhyping”? How about belittling it? How about acting as though it doesn’t matter all that much? That’s what Kerry did, and in so doing, revealed yet again that he has the emotional intelligence of a pet rock and the political judgment of a . . . well, of a John Kerry.

Just read the whole thing.

Life According to Frank J

Frank J, proprietor of IMAO, has another one of his, ummm, pieces of fiction up on life in the Bush administration. A sample:

The phone rang at her desk. “What?” Condi demanded.

“It’s your auto mechanic, Dr. Rice. It’s going to take longer to get out those dents than I thought. What exactly did you hit?”

“A California Senator. What of it?”

“Well, there’s dents in the front and back…”

“And there is a little thing called the reverse gear. Now get it done!”

[heh]

More at the link. Go thou and read.

an audiovisual montage

Adam Keiper has set images of the Iraq election to Aaron Copland’s “Fanfare for the Common Man” in two resolutions, one for dialup and one for broadband, here.

Just go download it. Watch it. Again. If you aren’t moved, you have no heart at all. Just check right on in to your local mortuary.

Now, the next time some LLM or MMP starts whining about “disinfranchisement” in an American election because some cheat had their ID checked to eliminate fraud, think on this and try to refrain from bloodying their nose.

Just give them the Iraqi election finger.

A Charitable Explanation for the Words/Deeds of the Loony Left Moonbat Brigade and the Mass Media Podpeople’s Army

OK, here’s the deal. Understanding the LLMB and the MMPA entails twisting your mind around one singloe solitary fact: nothing, absolutely nothing, is true, factual or in any way connected with reality in their minds or words or deeds if it contradicts their preconcieved, deliberately chosen delusions.

It’s why they could field Joh nKerry as a “serious” presidential candidate. Since nothing he said was connected to facts, truth or committment to any course of action save for personal “validation,” his changing positions from one day to the next, from one minute to the next, from one portion of a sentence to the next convoluted portion of the same sentence, he was entirely consistent as viewed through the warped lenses of the LLMB and the MMPA.

Listing other disconnects from reality such as Barbara Boxer’s delusions, Ted Kennedy’s well, existence, would serve little to expand the case for my assertion. Little could expand beyond the example of Jean Fraud sKerry.

But one example from current events might serve to illustrate the model. The LLMB and MMPA statements leading up to and even continuing beyond the Iraq elections are a perfect illustration of this complete disconnect from fact, honesty, or, indeed, any semblance of actual events.

(This is the charitable construction. Any other explanation for the LLMB and MMPA involves a discussion of Scott Peck’s book, People of the Lie, an interesting exploration of the phenomenon of human evil.)

Witness this fair paraphrase of the progression of positions taken by the LLMB and MMPA leading up to and continuing through and beyond the election:

1.) The U.S. is embarking on empire and will not allow self-government by the Iraqis.
(Demonstrably false)
2.) The promised elections are not/will not be possible. (Demonstrably false)
3.) The promised election will not take place on time.(Demonstrably false)
4.) The elections will be a failure, a bloodbath. (Demonstrably false)
5.) The election will be illegitimate (because of non-participation). (Demonstrably false)

Now, the LLMB and MMPA voices still clinging to the hope that the adventure to build a free and democratic Iraq will fail and the Iraqi people will be worse off than ever are arguing that the election (which they have formerly insiste would not happen, could not happen, woulf be an utter failure, etc.) was the easy part, that the dangers still posed by the reactionary mass murderers the LLMB and MMPA still insist are “insurgents” will topple this fragile nascent democracy.

To which the Iraqi people say:

Michael Moore who?

In a move that by now is a big yawn, the Directors Guild averted their eyes from Michael Moore yesterday when handing out pre-Oscar awards. Clint Eastwood garnered a Best Director for “Million Dollar Baby” but Moore was, well, let’s let the irony of *Reuters* reporting the event sweeten the pot:

In the DGA’s other major film award for the evening, the prize for best documentary went to Byambasuren Davaa and Luigi Falorni for their tale of nomadic life in Gobi desert, “The Story of the Weeping Camel.” Among the documentaries it beat for the award was Michael Moore’s controversial anti-Iraq (news – web sites) war film “Fahrenheit 9/11,” which has fared poorly this awards season. It received no Oscar nominations.

What was that? Moore-on’s Fake-umentary was spurned in favor of “The Story of the Weeping Camel”? How sweet. Sweeter still that *Reuters*—al-Jazeera west—swallowed the bitter pill of reporting this slap in the face to its partner-in-lies.

LLMB and MMPA get their knickers in a twist

From AP reports–

The Good:

The polls closed on a surprisingly peaceful election in Iraq, today. Esimates of participation of eligible voters range upwards of 70%. This compares favorably with our own most recent election, of course. In November, 2004, a turnout in the low 60% range was cause for celebration among those who tout democracy as a Good Thing (of course, that excludes most elites among the Democratic Party). Here, charges of “voter intimidation” were leveled by “Democrats” against people who had an eagle eye out to defend against vote fraud. In Iraq, women carried children to vote. Men carried the elderly to vote. Despite threats (and actual attacks), people stood in line for hours to exercise their franchise.

The polls closed at 5:00 Iraq time, but anyone still in line was allowed to vote.

Even Reuters (Also known as “Al-Jazeera West”) had to admit the good news, as these comments from Reuters’ Luke Baker demonstrate:

Even in Falluja, the Sunni city west of Baghdad that was a militant stronghold until a U.S. assault in November, a steady stream of people turned out, confounding expectations. Lines of veiled women clutching their papers waited to vote.

“We want to be like other Iraqis, we don’t want to always be in opposition,” said Ahmed Jassim, smiling after he voted.

In Baquba, a rebellious city northeast of Baghdad, spirited crowds clapped and cheered at one voting station. In Mosul, scene of some of the worst insurgent attacks in recent months, U.S. and local officials said turnout was surprisingly high.

The Bad:

36 people were killed by mass murderers who feared the elections. That’s a bad day in “the hood” in the U.S. It’s also (proportionally) about three times the number of deaths from auto accidents in one day that we would expect in a similar population number here in the U.S. (Roughly 125 die on our roads from auto accidents, daily. Since U.S. population is roughly 10 times that of Iraq, you do the math.)

The Ugly:

All-in-all, though there were some vicous attacks by thugs who fear the People, Iraq has taken a major step toward a level freedom unknown—ever!—in that country before now. The courage and determination of the Iraqi people really put the whining by our own Democrats about “vote suppression” into perspective. The comparison is hardly flattering to the Loony Left Moonbat Brigade and their co-conspirators in the Mass Media Podpeople’s Army who are apparently running the Democratic Party. Both wings of the Stupid Envious and Evil Party (SEEP) have spent a lot of time denegrating the Iraqi election, today. No surprise. Over and over again they trumpeted that it would be a failure, illegitimate, yadayada, in the lead-up to the election. Now, with the obvious success of this election, they have to exaggerate the negatives, eliminate the possitive, hold on to the injurous and not mess with Mr. in between… (With apologies to Johnny Mercer .)

Yeh, the LLMB and the MMPA are the Ugly, all right.

This is only a test (but if you get your info from the Mass Media Podpeople’s Army, you’ll likely fail it).

Enviro-weenies blame US for global warming, but I’d bet they’d all (well, 99%) fail this test found on Jerry Pournelle’s “Current Mail”.

1. What gas is responsible for approximately 95% of the “greenhouse effect” on planet Earth?

2. Are the United States a net A) Emitter, or B) Absorber of carbon dioxide?

3. Is the global climate now A) Warmer, or B) Cooler than it was approximately 1,000 to 1,100 years ago?

Answers:

…
…
…

1. Water vapor is responsible for about 95% of the Earth’s greenhouse effect. Carbon dioxide is less than 2% of the total effect, with methane taking up most of the balance, and other gasses responsible for the remainder. But all we EVER hear about is CO2.

2. The U.S., with it’s vast forests (more now than in pre-Columbian times) and farmlands is a net ABSORBER of CO2…as opposed to Europe and Japan, which are net emitters.

3. Let’s see…they were raising crops of oats in Greenland, and the Icelandic/Viking explorers were calling what is now the chilly area of Newfoundland “Vinland” because of the grapes which grew there. It’s an era referred to as the “Medieval Climate Optimum” in old climate textbooks, and was followed by the spread of Black Plague (the fleas of the rats taking advantage of the warmer climate to spread to northern Europe). That period was followed by what used to be referred to as the “Little Ice Age”, in which England saw snow in areas never before seen, and the River Thames froze quite solidly on a regular basis. That period ended in the early/middle 1700’s, and we’ve been in a warming trend ever since.

There’s much more at the link.