This ain't Hell, but you can see it from here

Category: Media

  • Military Times vs VFW

    As I promised last night, the first thing I did this morning was call the VFW about the article in the Military Times that was posted on their website last night in regards to the DHS memo. I talked to Joe Davis, their public affairs guy who was the subject of the interview by Military Times reporter Rick Maze. The first thing I brought up was the line in the article that angered me most, that being;

    VFW officials said the fuss over the new report seems contrived as a political attack on the Obama administration….

    Mr Davis told me he didn’t say that. We talked for another half hour during which I expressed my displeasure – the rock head that I am. When I was finished, I emailed Mr. Maze, the reporter, and asked him where he got the quote since Mr. Davis didn’t admit to the line. Mr. Maze responded;
    (more…)

  • How is this news?

    Can someone tell me what was going through the AP photographer’s head when he took this picture or in the head of the news editor when he decided to release the photograph as news?

    I’m just wondering because I don’t see a damn thing newsworthy about it other than the fact that it’s an Obama T-shirt in a Mexican clothes store for gay men.

  • First test?

    Yesterday, the Washington Post ran this article by the Associated Press about how President Obama has passed his “first national security test” ;

    Yeah, he passed the test in the sense that he didn’t interfere with the same orders that every cop on the street is given before they start their beat. In the same issue of the Post, they ran this AP article; Undeterred Somali pirates hijack 3 more ships. So what national security goal has been accomplished beyond the life of a single man?

    The Wall Street Journal announces this morning that Pakistan created a haven for extremist jihadists in Swat and they seem to be streaming in and creating training bases.

    President Asif Ali Zardari effectively ratified the government’s deal with the Taliban Monday by signing a bill that imposes Islamic law in Swat, a key plank of the accord, hours after legislators overwhelmingly approved a resolution urging it. Pakistani officials have touted the deal, reached in February, as a way to restore peaceful order in the bloodied region — which lies just a few hours’ drive from the capital — and halt the Taliban’s advance.

    Yet a visit to the Taliban-controlled valley here found mounting evidence that the deal already is strengthening the militants as a base for war. U.S. officials contend the pact has given the Taliban and its allies in al Qaeda and other Islamist groups an advantage in their long-running battle against Pakistan’s military.

    The number of militants in the valley swelled in the months before the deal with the Taliban was struck, and they continue to move in, say Pakistani and U.S. officials. They now estimate there are between 6,000 and 8,000 fighters in Swat, nearly double the number at the end of last year.

    So should we say that Obama has failed that portion of his test? But that’s not all – because of the weak and inaudible response to North Korea’s launch of a missile over Japan, Kin Jong Il has found the inner strength to ignore six-party talks to disarm the Norks’ nuclear program (WSJ link);

    North Korea said Tuesday it would rev up its nuclear-weapons development program and pull out of the so-called “six party” diplomatic process where five other countries have tried since 2003 to persuade it to give up its pursuit of those weapons in exchange for economic help.

    The country announced the decision just hours after the U.N. Security Council in New York voted to issue a statement criticizing North Korea’s April 5 launch of a missile-like rocket.

    That penalty was lighter in tone and diplomatic weight than the resolutions that the Security Council passed when North Korea launched a long-range missile and tested a nuclear device in 2006. North Korea responded to those penalties by returning to the six-party bargaining table and forging a deal in early 2007 to dismantle a nuclear power plant that provided fuel for its atomic weapons.

    Oh, and to prove that we’re not Bush anymore, Obama is going to fund the Castro government by lifting remittances barriers (Washington Times);

    “We’re getting the United States out of the business of regulating the relationship between Cuban families,” said Dan Restrepo, the president’s top adviser on Latin American issues at the National Security Council.

    “The Cuban government should get itself out of the way and allow Cuban families to support Cuban families. And that creates the kind of space, in our view, that is necessary to move Cuba forward to a free and democratic Cuba,” he said.

    Yeah, that’ll happen because the Cuban government has a history of leaving Cuban families to their business. Hardly. 20% of the hard currency dollars that enter Cuba will go straight to the Fidel/Raul retirement plan. Can we call that a failure? Zombie Castro “says” Obama’s new Cuba policy doesn’t go far enough.

    I’m glad that Captain Phillips is free, I’m glad Obama didn’t screw that up – but all the rest of this crap should scare the media to death – and they should say so instead of looking for nothing but positives.

  • al Sadr/AP mark anniversary of the fall of Hussein

    I guess Shi’ite cleric Mooky al Sadr is sad that Sadam Hussein’s government fell six years ago today since he and his acolytes were out in force to protest the event by burning George W. Bush in effigy;

    I wonder if Mooky realizes that if Hussein were still in power, he’d be just another Shi’ite Iraqi with bad teeth trying to keep out of the way of Saddam and his sons. I noticed he makes these declarations from the safety of Iran.

    It looks like AP thinks this is news, but not the nationwide tea parties being held to protest the Obama Administration’s economic policies. I guess it takes a long time to get over BDS.

  • Iran agrees with Obama’s no-nukes policy

    On Sunday, President Obama announced plans to unilaterally disarm our nuclear arsenal. He’ll be pleased to know that his cohorts in Iran think we should disarm, too. (Reuters link)

    “We, like the rest of the world community, are awaiting a world free of nuclear arms,” [Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesman Hassan] Qashqavi said.

    “Our expectation from the U.S. and others is to take serious and practical measures toward nuclear disarmament and dismantling of weapons of mass destruction,” he said.

    I guess they figure that Iran will finally get their nuclear arsenal at about the time we dismantle ours. Wouldn’t that be convenient for them? And they finally have an American president that can accommodate them. And of course, Eugene Robinson, Washington Post‘s resident Obama apostle, can’t understand why anyone would criticize Obama for being so naive;

    In 1968, the United States was one of the first nations to sign the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty — the landmark agreement that has been used, with great success, to limit the spread of nuclear weapons. When the NPT went into force, there were five nuclear powers — the U.S., Britain, France, China and the Soviet Union (now Russia). In the four decades since, the world has added four more — India, Pakistan, Israel (not officially, but that’s the consensus) and North Korea, although the Hermit Kingdom’s damp-squib test weapon and its wobbly ballistic missile make me think that Kim Jong-Il’s nuclear program is more of a threat to Pyongyang than to Portland.

    That’s typical of Robinson’s not-so-veiled racism. So what if North Korea can only blow up yellow people? As long as Obama rids this side of the world of nukes, that’s all that matters. That’s probably why Robinson isn’t too worried about Iran either – they’ll only blow up Jews.

    Anne Applebaum of the Washington Post takes the opposite tack on the same page;

    Which is all very nice — but as the central plank in an American president’s foreign policy, a call for universal nuclear disarmament seems rather beside the point. Apparently, Obama’s intention is to lead by example: If the United States cuts its own nuclear arsenal and bans testing, then, allegedly, others will follow.

    Yet there is no evidence that U.S. nuclear arms reductions have ever inspired others to do the same. All of the world’s more recent nuclear powers — Israel, India, Pakistan — acquired their weapons well after such talks began, more than 40 years ago.

    Using the same data and history two people arrive at different conclusions. That only leaves one factor – Robinson longs for the day that Barack Obama will fart in his general direction so Gene can partake in the olfactory joy of The One. And it doesn’t bother Robinson, or Obama, for that matter, that they agree with the Islamic Republic.

    Here’s the thing that Obama and Robinson don’t understand; as long as we’ve had the nuclear capability to retaliate against any nation which decides to use nuclear weapons, nuclear weapons haven’t been used. Why would we want to change that balance? It’s naive and demonstrates a profound misunderstanding of the history of nuclear deterrence.

  • Bush credited with saving 1.1 million lives

    Yeah, you probably won’t read this anywhere else, but two Stanford researchers have credited the former president’s programs to fight AIDS in Africa with reducing by 10% the mortality rate, according to Stephen Dinan in the Washington Times;

    The study by two Stanford University doctors showed the treatment part of PEPFAR, the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, which involves making drug treatment available to about 2 million people, has shown solid success while the prevention efforts under the program have not yet produced the same concrete results.

    “It has averted deaths – a lot of deaths – with about a 10 percent reduction compared with neighboring African countries,” said Dr. Eran Bendavid, a fellow in infectious disease and in health policy and research at Stanford who led the study. “However, we could not see a change in prevalence rates that was associated with PEPFAR.”

    For each life saved, $2,700 was spent on treatment, according to the study in the Annals of Internal Medicine.

    You’d think a successful government program would make the news since a successful government program is fairly rare. But, nuthin’, no where except in the WashTimes.

    Ace of Spades‘ DrewM reports that Bush was cheered yesterday in Texas for unrelated activities.

  • Serious funny

    Whenever I need a chuckle, I head over to Iowahawk and today is no different. Somehow he got a screencap of a discussion at the famous Journo-List. Here’s a sample of One Afternoon in a Secret Corner of the Internet;

    Iowahawk is a genius.

  • DoD: Rules for Dover AFB media circus

    I wrote yesterday that the ban on the media at Dover Air Force Base will officially be lifted on Monday. The Stars and Stripes writes this morning that the Pentagon briefed members of the press on the rules for their anticipated Keystone Kop antics;

    When the military notifies a family that a servicemember has died, they will be asked if they consent to media coverage of the return and “dignified transfer of remains” at Dover. Dover public affairs officers will post notice on their Web site and send an e-mail to journalists with the name, rank, service, hometown and logistics of the inbound remains.

    Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman told reporters to expect logistical challenges — the average time between family notification and the arrival of remains is six to eight hours, he said, and come at all hours of the day, in any weather. Family members and media will have to get into the base and onto the flightline in time for the 15-minute honor guard ceremony as flag-draped coffins are unloaded onto the tarmac.

    Families rarely have come to Dover, he said, so the military recently offered to pay for relatives to make the trip, and military personnel will take photographs and record video of the event should families later wish to obtain those records.

    “The core of the policy is built around the desires of the family members,” said Whitman.

    It had better stay that way, too.

    Reporters raised some concerns about the process.

    Screw ’em. There are enough stories that the media isn’t telling about our troops who are still alive, to Hell with them if they can’t accept a family’s wishes for the ones who aren’t. If this grisly concession is what they need to sell their pathetic little rags to the public, maybe they ought to take a look at what they’ve done to their profession.

    Added: Thunder Run has the entire DoD press release.