Who can you trust?
In the last few days I completely missed this classic photographic analysis of a news story by Zombietime. It describes possible fraud in depicting an ambulance allegedly struck during the Israeli-Lebanon conflict. Michelle Malkin is on target when she says, "If there were Pulitzers for Internet posts, this one would win hands down." (Hat tip: Tim Blair)
"The Israeli missiles had pierced the very centre of the red cross painted on the roof of each vehicle. Did the pious use the cross as their aiming point?" -- Robert Fisk
One poster at Samizdata had some thoughts on the ambulance picture which bear thinking about.
(1) There is no air-to-ground missile small enough that it could strike an unarmored vehicle and not destroy it through shear mass alone. If the missile detonated it would have destroyed the vehicle utterly. If it did not, remains of the missile should be easily visible inside the vehicle. Heat from the missile's rocket should have set the vehicle ablaze. An actual missile did not strike this vehicle.
(2) The supposed entry hole for the missile is normal i.e. at a 90% angle to the roof. The missile would have had to strike straight down. Only armor piercing anti-rockets fly such trajectories. We know that can't be the type of missile used because (a) they're to big and (b) they do not carry a fragmentation warhead.
(3) The large hole in the roof has an obvious flange around it. It is clearly a manufactured hole and not the result of a missile strike. Only the smaller rusted holes could have come from a fragmentation warhead.
(4) The windshield glass bends inward indicating that any blast occurred outside the vehicle. However, the front of the vehicle shows no holes or scratches. Likewise, if a fragmentation warhead detonated within the vehicle we should see a spherical hole pattern with exit holes in the sides and bottom of the vehicle. There should be visible scorching everywhere inside.
(5) The only possible scenario is that a fragmentation round detonated directly above the vehicle and at some height. In that case, there should large numbers of through-and-through holes traveling from the roof, through the seats and out through the bottom. The tires should be flat. The side door should be intact etc. The witness testimony directly contradicts this scenario.
I think someone ripped off the ventilation unit or siren from the top of the ambulance. Then stood on the roof and shot holes in it. Then they went inside and pulled down the other materials.
posted by wretchardthecat at 8/25/2006 03:15:00 PM
112 Comments:
Wretchard, very good!
The first time I saw that picture I commneted on the windshield being blown IN which is contrary to an explosion occuring inside the vehicle. You are the only person as far as I know to point that out. Also, rust does not form instantly on all the other areas where the roof is pierced; these are old holes!
Tweren't me who noticed this but the commenter at Samizdata. What's really amazing is how this story spread, like the plastic turkey myth, until it became truth. I think the important thing is to know what media outlets want to believe. Once you know that, you are 99% there. Unfortunately, there is the 1%.
"1) There is no air-to-ground missile small enough that it could strike an unarmored vehicle and not destroy it through shear mass alone."
This is an excellent point, and should be considered with point (4). A warhead of the size indicated by the entry hole would have created a blast so large that even if the vehicle remained largely intact, the windshield would be totally gone.
Even at a glance, this is an obvious frame-up.
Doublecrossers.
Hizbollah (and the Palestinians and the Iraqi "insurgents") literally make up this stuff, and feed it to a naive but ravenous press known for its affinity to the motto "if it bleeds it leads".
Said press asks absolutely no questions, but immediately splashes whatever the made-up lie is on the front pages of newspapers and news-programs around the world.
"Normal" people flinch and think bad thoughts about who-ever is supposed to have done whatever lie is being depicted. And Arabs get wrought up and ululate and claim victimhood and humiliation, and - most importantly - swear vengeance.
A short while later (and the time is becoming shorter and shorter as we begin to know what the look for) the scientific debunking process starts. Knowledgeable people know pretty much NOT to believe anything printed by our mainstream media any more, especially after their performance in the last Presidential election, in Iraq, and during Hurricane Kathrina.
But "normal people" don't follow the news that closely any way, and don't have the time to watch the internet for the latest scam debunked so they will never know about it.
And certainly the vengeful Arabs will never know that, for example, this ambulance was NOT bombed, the little girl being carried by the man in the white t-shirt did NOT die as a result of being bombed by Israel, Mohammad Dura was NOT shot by Israeli's, and the Palestinian family on the beach was NOT shelled. And 9/11 was NOT a Mossad/CIA/Republican plot.
Used to be there was a Voice of America broadcast to correct things like this. We need a new Voice of America both within America, but certainly also broadcasting to the same places that al-Jazeera is busily sending all these lies.
And it would be nice if someone could convince the networks and newspapers not to broadcast it in the first place. Perhaps Israel could file a series of HUGELY expensive libel and defamation lawsuits until "professional" journalists actually stopped and started to act ... professional.
I've been thinking about you writing something starting with Haifa street and then everything that's followed, Wretchard.
American's are becoming more savy about distrusting what they see, but are they also, like the frog, gradually coming to the conclusion that "nothing is real?"
Cynicism can blind as well as ignorance.
The MSM cultures the best of both.
You'd better!
What I found most convincing was the close-ups which showed that the rust around the hole in the roof. Well-established rust, which had clearly been there for weeks or months before the supposed attack occurred. They pulled this wreck off a dump somewhere.
opossum potato:
LMAO
"Who can you trust?"
Good title. Better still that Robert Fisk is cited as Exhibit A in the bill of particulars.
No one has more street cred in leftist precincts than Fisk. Yet he's a brazen liar. Not as brazen as George Galloway, perhaps, but only by a matter of degree.
Here he is, reporting from Baghdad in April 2003:
And the signs were clear long ago. Take the article in The New York Times by Larry Collins – joint author with Dominique Lapierre of O Jerusalem! – which last month announced that the Syrian-supported Hizbollah resistance in Lebanon had 10,000 missiles that could fly to Tel Aviv and "leave in their wake devastation more terrible than anything Israel has ever known". The missiles are a myth – I travel the roads of southern Lebanon every two weeks and there are no such missiles, as the UN force there will confirm – but this doesn't matter. And then it will be Libya who has the most sophisticated C-B weapons. Or Saudi Arabia. Or anyone else Israel wants attacked.
The Myth of the Missiles. You bet. Three years on, he continues to have great difficulty distinguishing real missiles from fake ones.
whit said:
Let this be a black-eye on the dupes that are the western press. Maybe some good will come of this failed Arab propaganda and the press will cast a skeptical eye on their claims.
The MSM believes any picture photoshopped or faked by anyone named Hassan Chop or something, but when Colin Powell or Donald Rumsfeld unveil satellite imagery of dangerous things all of a sudden the press can't see the training camp or chemical tanks or missile launchers to save their lives.
rufus said:
Guys, we don't need to fight the barbarians for whatever they can grub out of the ground; at least, we don't for more than 5 or 6 years if we're serious.
One word, my son: Coal liquefaction. Well that's two words, but the point I'm making is that the US has 2 percent of the world's oil but 27 percent of the world's coal.
teresita:
Back in the 70's the gas companies & DOE built lignite gasification plants out west. One of them was in Rapid City, SD just a block south of where I used to work.
Don't know the particulars but when they were satisfied with the results they just closed it down. I imagine the cost hasn't reached the required threshold & don't know where that lies, but the amount of coal in Eastern Wy & Western ND is staggering.
Not to mention shale oil deposits in Wy & CO.
nahncee said:
And it would be nice if someone could convince the networks and newspapers not to broadcast it in the first place.
The market grinds slowly but it grinds finely. Look at the stock price history of outlets such as the New York Times.
Perhaps Israel could file a series of HUGELY expensive libel and defamation lawsuits until "professional" journalists actually stopped and started to act ... professional.
Well it is possible for a person to state a claim in court for libel and defamation, and a corporation can take another corporation to court for Lanham Act violations, but we have never heard of a whole country stating such claims.
epictetus said:
The commenters have become more intelligent too. Not because it's different people now, but because the people themselves are different. They have been changed by this blog process.
That wasn't the impression I got two topics ago, when argumentum ad femina was the order of the day, and I shan't forget. But things have improved today, admittedly.
In the interest of accuracy, a couple of comments to the samizdata poster:
re (1): The AGM-114 Hellfire missile, which would be the most likely air-launched weapon to be used by Israel on something like an ambulance, only weighs ~100 lbs. Assuming a dud warhead, that wouldn't obliterate the vehicle, and the missile almost certainly would have had enough residual kinetic energy to exit the vehicle. At anything more than ~2 km range (max range is ~7 km) the rocket would have burned out before impact, largely obviating the fire scenario. I agree that this was not a missile strike, but not for the reasons he gives in point (1).
re (2): An AGM-114 fired from long range might well come down nearly vertically. At only 7 inches in diameter, it could plausibly have made a hole of the proper size if the warhead failed.
This is not to say that I think it was a real attack. As zombietime demonstrates so well, it was a rather obvious fake.
The Medium is the Message.
Old News from Marshall McLuhan.
Once you see what makes a dent in the new media, you throw it out there and it sticks, for at least fifteen minutes. Similar to poison ivy, gallstones and, rarely, Truth.
It's a shame, it's going to make us doubt our medium, the path to True promised by Pajamas. But we've all learned to notice liars in the real world, shouldn't be any harder out here in ASCII.
How gorgeous the World Wide Web seemed when we imagined it to be the Eyes Wide Open sharing of Truth.
I mean, we DID imagine that, didn't we?
ALL YOUR FAKES ARE BELONG TO US
E&P Editor's Soft Spot for News Stagers
Confederate Yankee makes an interesting find that might explain this
Tony:
Google won't run ads on Mike Savage's web page.
Chicoms yes Savage Nyet!
What's the failure rate of Hellfire warheads?
Doug,
Just a guess, I'd say the failure rate of a Hellfire warhead is about ten to fifteen orders of magnitude less than the failure rate of a Google ad.
bobal,
Very funny, until a 777 is driven into the Whitehouse by an Attaclone wielding a prickly thistle stalk, perhaps backed up with a stinging nettle.
At least for now we're safe from
"Snow Globes"
Steyn bought one for his son and couldn't bring it back from New Zealand!
Doug ---
Failure rates are heavily influenced by the quality and quantity of maintenance available, but with proper care and handling, the warhead should work more than 90% of the time.
doug,
You were all up for searching backpacks on NYC subways, now you seem all riled by the authorities stopping "Snow Globes" from flying in planes.
Gotta check the Snow Globes
Could be that authorities were afraid that it may explode or, perhaps, it had a Christmas theme.
Not sure which would be considered worse, by the PC police.
So, I've been away, has Desert Rat's DR Jr. come home and taken DR off the addiction of posting here?
Fwiw, I got to ride in a new Cadillac STS-V, a giant destroyer of an evil American car with 470 horsepower, four doors, and plenty of room for everyone's golf clubs in the trunk. Got the GPS display in the dash of course, but the damn thing still makes you turn the steering wheel and step on the gas and brakes.
Is this car an example of why the world supposedly hates America? If so, you know they're all lying to themselves - everybody wanna come here and get one of these cars, too!
Friday night at the Belmont Club rules still in effect?
tony,
Yes he's home
Cut way back in the quantity of input, the quality of which is still open debate.
trangbang68 said:
Teresita said this century will see less destruction than the last.For a possibly alternative view read Revelation 14:14-20;the fierce winepress of the wrath of God.
God already did that whole schtick in the Second Thirty Year's War (1914-1945), with a timeout in the middle for a global depression and a holocaust. I missed it by twenty years.
Did you guys look at
"All Your Fakes" yet?
Rat,
I think I was for searching backpacks of suspicious looking dudes, but not sure. ("Asians")
ACLU would consider Xmas more of a threat than 8oz/nitro.
PC = Political Cowardice
- Savage
That must be why you missed the Rape of Nanking! ;-)
An agreeable Latin Speaking Marsupial is what this World Needs!
Yeah, you were for profiling and the Courts supported your position.
Spanish speaking, ex-pat Gringos w/Italian blood are first on the list.
The Ambulance is in
"All your fakes"
...for those too jaded to click!
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
tony said:
Is this car an example of why the world supposedly hates America? If so, you know they're all lying to themselves - everybody wanna come here and get one of these cars, too!
Yeah, right, park that car on your driveway in Sasebo, Japan and the concrete will collapse and crush the next house down the mountain slope.
The Senior Army Advisor to the Air Command and Staff College summarizes the state of the Army and says we need a selective service call-up.
Turning the tight corners in Tokyo, my Caddilac STS-V crushes Japanese cars against the curb like Godzilla crushes subway trains. (God-jirra!)
Gamera the rocket powered Japanese turtle is the ultimate weapon.
"Gamera is really neat,
he's all filled with Turtle Meat,
We all love you Gam er a!"
re: Two threads:
That and argumentum ad revisionism!
That was not 100% agreeable, Mr. Marsupial, not to mention, ENGLISH.
Ten Four
Should we spread Democracy to Canada?
Screw you Rufus and the Palm Oil you drove in on!
Hope you have nightmares.
"Common" knowledge has negative connotations.
(TV Ad)
Be the first in your group of oppressed dictators to own the Testosterossa, the Only SUV MASSIVE ENOUGH TO BE SEEN FROM OUTER SPACE! ! ! ! !
• Comes complete with its own petroleum cracking refinery
• Basement recreation complex with concierge staff
• Rooftop greenhouse, greenway, gardeners and fully-staffed spa
• Has a vote at the UN (pending payment of dues)
• Comes complete with its own portfolio of oil futures (UAE/ Kuwait/ Venezuela/ North Sea spread)
• Engineering staff guaranteed to be thoroughly background-checked
• Imaginative staff of “journalists” pre-credentialed as an internationally-accredited news organization
Easy Terms — especially if you have a captive population of oppressed serfs or religious minorities. Hey, dude! You OWN the banks!
The Picture of the Ambulance is No More of a Lie Than What The Bush Administration is Doing to our Military
..."The U.S. Army is at war, the Marines are at war and other elements of our armed forces are at war. But are you at war? Do you feel like you are in a war? Is this war having any tangible effect on your day to day life?
As a nation that claims to be at war we are in a grave position in it. America is strategically fixed:
• America faces a range of threats from a resurgent Islamic jihad movement to rogue and messianic states acquiring weapons of mass destruction.
• The "landpower" of the United States is strategically vulnerable, fixed and committed to Iraq. The war in Iraq has cost billions in every piece of army hardware to the result that 70 of the Army is supporting the 30% deployed. Two thirds of the Army Total Force--active, guard, and reserve are rated as not ready due to low equipment readiness.
• The Army end-strength is too small for the missions it has been given.
• America is not united in this war; not even close. No war of any kind can be prosecuted, much less won under this condition.
• Osama bin Ladin knows more about some Americans than we care to admit.
What does this mean? It means units like the 172d Stryker Brigade are extended in their war time deployment only weeks before departing Iraq. It means units are recalled to combat after just being returned home.
It means the Army is beginning to suffer an exodus of junior officers. It means divorce rates are going to 60% in deploying units. It means the guard and reserve is changing from a strategic reserve to an operational reserve. It means the man-days of the Guard and Reserve have been used up under current authorizations becoming politically unsustainable for more deployments. Unit and institutional training is on the decline."...
http://www.realclearpolitics.com/
articles/2006/08/
americas_strategic_fix_and_our.html
Like I've said before, the commentary here is representative of an advanced life form, available to all only thru the advances of moving bits and bytes in great amounts thru time and space. Something that is truly amazing to me, because I have worked within the computer industry for most of my adult life and seen it evolve from where 512 bytes was considered a lot of memory.
I'm concerned that the masses in this Republic won't ever understand the real truth until it blows up in their neighborhood.
I'm convinced that computers and the web in the U.S. and other places of advanced civilization are mainly used for pulling recipes, looking at porn, checking the weather, doing homework and playing games on line.
Then again, the ownership of computers, which is some number I don't know, and am too lazy to look up is not nearly high enough to be reprehensive of the world's population.
Then you have the lack of reliable and fast internet connections that have to be overcome in areas vast in territory, but with significant population, for a reasonable cost.
On top of all that, the language of poor to middle class people tends to be only their own, and unless we can come up with reliable, intuitive on-line translators that can carry nuance and slang, the majority of the population is limited to web spaces of only their language.
Even here in the U.S. supposedly the most advanced civilization ever on this planet, I can walk out my door and find person after person that has never used a computer and would have no idea how to, and many that would not care to.
The wonderous time that we are hoping for the internet, is not yet here, but if we don't destroy ourselves and can defeat the cult of Islam before it defeats us, the young people among us, may see that time.
I won't be around to see it, but my buds and I will be looking down (up?) to admire and exclaim it.
The Marines will indeed, be guarding those gates, but us Doggies will be right there beside them.
Papa Ray
West Texas
USA
This is the same link as terista at 8:26 with the addition of my editorial swipe at GWB.
That kind of stuff only counted when Clinton was in Office.
I bet old -tater had something to do with that Coonskin Cap that Estes wore on the cover of Time Mag.
Heartless -tater.
Who Can You Trust?
China and Venezuela strike oil deal
by Claire Cavanagh, Radio Netherlands
25-08-2006
"Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez is returning from his six-day tour of China after wrapping up billions of dollars in trade agreements with his Chinese counterpart Hu Jintao. Among the measures, Venezuela has promised to triple exports of oil to China within three years and double that figure again within a decade.
Not only will the deals increase diplomatic and political ties with China, they're also likely to rile the United States, currently a major recipient of Venezuelan oil. President Chavez has already indicated that he wants to reduce his country's dependence on the profits made from exporting oil to the US. Twelve percent of US oil comes from Venezuela and recent price hikes due to the Middle East crisis have benefited the Venezuelan economy hugely.
But Hugo Chavez does not hide his hatred of the Bush administration and his visit to Fidel Castro during his recent illness, the mass-purchase of Kalashnikovs from Russia and the ever-cosier relationship with China have left no one in any doubt about who's side he's on.
Response
So, will these latest provocations from Mr Chavez bring a response from the US? For now, Washington is staying quiet, says Latin America analyst Jan van der Putten:
"[The] US is obsessed by the anti-terror battle, and hasn't so much time to spend on Latin American things. It is heavily neglecting continents like Africa and Latin America. That's one thing, but the most important aspect of this is, of course, the political, the ideological aspect. It is a stunt by Venezuela and China against the United States."
I'm not convinced Possum Tater is speaking the truth...
On the other hand...
Does anyone believe anything * I * say?
By the way, possumtater, do you have any personal knowledge of the "plastic turkey myth" to which Wretchard refers early in this comment stream?
Is that in any way related to the "Plastic Ono Band?"
And is that the band astronomers recently discovered circling Uranus?
Gotta go. I just heard the bathtub ring...
Could the Tar Baby be pressed into Beatle Vinyl?
Is "Tar Baby" PC-OK?
"Dummy" is an expression of negativity.
PossumTater said...
I agree.
8/25/2006 10:09:04 PM
Why are you so argumentative? :) :) :)
Trish,
SOMETHING has to be done with the excess of passivity and political apathy on College Campi.
Wouldn't
"Operation Infinite Overtime"
have a more muscular sound than
Endless Overtime?
The ultimate objective being
"Infinite Democracy in Our Time"
the strategery in flux as the situation warrants.
Teresita said Well it is possible for a person to state a claim in court for libel and defamation, and a corporation can take another corporation to court for Lanham Act violations, but we have never heard of a whole country stating such claims.
THE one thing that got the Saudi's attention (finally) after 9/11 was when the families of the dead 3,000 filed their lawsuits against a whole bunch of Princely Saudi's and, if I remember correctly, the country itself. Up until that lawsuit was filed, they were in deep deep ululating denial.
But the prospect of being hauled in front of a Court of Law *not* controlled by their country or their Koran or their Law made them sit up and take notice. The prospect, too, of having their bank accounts rifled through and/or shut down likewise made them take notice.
In fact, after they finally bought their way out of the conundrum and had the lawsuits for the most part dismissed, they thought *so* highly of it as a tactic that now they are attempting to use it against us.
Various Saudis are filing various lawsuits against Cheney and Rumsfeld and anyone else they think they can embarrass or pry money out of. Being from Saudi Arabia, of course, they have no idea how courts of law work or that there is any such thing as evidence or testimony or even a jury. But it's fun watching them discover the process.
It seems to me that if Israel, for example, were to file a lawsuit against CBS, al-Jazeera, the BBC or anyone else who broadcast that ambulance story (OR against France for the Mohammad Dura story) that there would be a preponderance of evidence already dug up that prove the stories were lies and that would indicate that those in charge knew in advance they were lies and published them any way in an attempt to harm Israel.
And as such, that premeditated attempt to cause harm should be worth some fired heads as well as enough money to make them not do it again. As we've seen with the LAPD, the Catholic Church and Big Tobacco, the system will not change until you get its attention and make it hurt to continue doing what it has been doing -- and HUGE monetary judgments have a tendency to both get attention *and* to make it hurt.
Just because it's never been done before doesn't mean it shouldn't be tried now. And there are a LOT of Jewish lawyers!
nanhcee said,
"It seems to me that if Israel, for example, were to file a lawsuit against CBS, al-Jazeera, the BBC or anyone else who broadcast that ambulance story..."
*******
Israel might try filing suit against the entire Muslim world for holocaust denial, via the German Court system.
OT but it provides some farm-related comic relief regarding France's choice of a rooster as its mascot:
Each morning, the rooster proudly sings out its presence to the world, which it seems to rule at that moment. Yet a rooster does not have much for itself: it's not particularly clever, pretty or feared; it's not even much of a bird, as it can't even really fly. And it definitely doesn't rule the world; expect maybe for a few other female chickens and the pile of manure on which it stands for its morning performance.
Several of you have written of a moving post by Wretchard about what his mother suffered in the Philippines during WWII. I have tried to find it in his archives, but it is taking a very long time.
Can anyone direct me to the post?
Thanks.
" And it definitely doesn't rule the world; except maybe for a few other female chickens and the pile of manure on which it stands for its morning performance ."
---
Must be a Muslim Frog.
Cedarford said...
"Not covered in the news was a big piece of news. The British withdrew from a major base they held 200 miles south of Baghdad. An Iraqi Army force, trained by the US and then Britain took over in a change of command ceremony where the Iraqis were commended for their training and dedication.
Errr...actually...that isn't the big story.
After the dignitaries left and the last British troops went off by truck closer to the Iran border to interdict "weapons to Shiites", the first of the noble purple-fingered showed up at the base demanding to be let in to loot it. The troops said go away. They did, but were back the next day with weapons and the terrified soldiers just stood back as the whole base was ripped apart, building after building demolished for it's piping, wood, metal roofing."
You sure do not get much for a $350 billion investment and a division of dead and wounded these days. Contemptuously, Iran is opening a new nuclear facility. Chavez is so in the US face that he is pushing us backwards. China and Russia are blatantly making a fool out of the fool that leads us, sort of. If Bush had an ounce of decency left in him, he would follow the lead of another liberal Texan and resign. LBJ realized the damage he did. He had to quit for the good of the nation. He recognized what had to be fixed, and was savvy enough to know the direction had to come from another man.
I have been accused of being a Bush hater, as if that mattered, and in fact it does not. There are more than enough posters in the BC, who have seen into GWB's soul and see things I and others have missed. So they balance my underwhelment with the man. But it is long past that moment. Perhaps it is past an LBJ moment, because Johnson merely chose not to run for a second term. The US ship of state in in a Captain William Bligh moment. It is time for the father of George Walker Bush to have a talk with his son.For the good of the Nation, it is past time for GWB to leave.
2164th said,
"It is time for the father of George Walker Bush to have a talk with his son. For the good of the Nation, it is past time for GWB to leave."
I would agree, if that were what it would take to unleash the dogs on Iran's nuke program, with Cheney calling the shots.
However, if Iran is to be attacked, GWB won't back away from doing it hisself.
If he doesn't, it will be up to the GOP machinery and the voters to name the next guy. My problem with Newt, in spite of his tough talk, is that it took only minimalist heat to get him resign from Congress. And there's that bizarre coalition he contrived with Hillary.
2164th:
Once again You disappoint!
You fail to see the masterplan, which none of us can see, not being the master, but the more enlightened among us divine "dots" from "bits."
These dots are then cast on the ground, I-Ching Style, and a *portion* of the masterplan is revealed:
In this case, it's really quite obvious, my dear Watson:
The full creativity and entrepreneurial zeal has been unleashed among the previously huddled masses by democratizing the tribes, Warlords, and Overlords alike.
Had you gone to Yale, and got an MBA at Harvard, this might have been obvious to your thick skull and weary bones also.
Had you more closely studied the process of raising the quality of life in America for our children through mass de facto amnesty for hordes of criminals serial sex offenders and illiterates, accompanied by the collapse of local health, safety, and welfare infrastructure throughout the Southwest, perhaps your mind would have been better prepared to apprehend this miraculous transformation.
Try Harder.
---
---
---
Hezbollah launches boy band to stardom
'Hawk of Lebanon,' about Hassan Nasrallah, becomes hit
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
I forgot the collapse of public education in "impacted areas" in the Southwest.
Nobody's perfect.
It's really not that different than having emergency room personnel and administration beat a hasty retreat in the face of the hordes, but some how this escapes your differently-abled brain, 2164th.
Probably suffering from BDS.
Ask Jamie about medication.
You're Welcome.
See you in the morning.
Thanks for the explanation Doug. I feel as if I am watching a version of those "Holiday Inn" commercials, except it is Bush saying, "Oh I'm not the president, man, but I did stay at the White House last night."
"You're not the President dude?"
Whit,
Whatever "hidden forces" are at work, Clinton did a better job at keeping them at bay, except for a period prior to the elections, when they wanted to speed up the process of citizenship for new democrat voters.
Bush has not tried to resist, he has done his best to assist, from abandonment of workplace enforcement, to not signing funding for border security that was passed with his approval two weeks earlier, to numerous wink and nod tells to the Mexican Govt and their shock troops, to calling out Patriotic Americans with vile names like "Vigilantes."
Only Kool Aid drinkers believe uneducated, welfare seeking citizens, favorably inclined to non-citizen fellow Mexicans become Republican voters.
The clear facts on the ground say otherwise.
---
For those who want to paint me as prejudiced, or nativist, I say simply that I grew up with Mexicans, prior to the basterdization of our health, education, and welfare systems, and had none of the complaints about them then that I do now.
As Sowell says, say what you will, these forces are manifest everywhere, and to ignore them in an attempt to be more noble so you can cast aspersions on fellow citizens as GWB does is less than admirable, to say the least.
possumtater said:
"Ah, Mr. Senator sir I don't know. All I know is I
agree with all things in the known universe"
"Thank you Mr. Possumtater"
"Thank you Senator"
Senator #2: Mr. Possumtater, were you a member of the Belmont Club family? Did you serve under under Capo de tutti capi Wretchard -- also known as "The Blogfather?"
Possumtater: I never know no Blogfather. I have my own website, Senator.
Senator #2: Mr. Possumtater, you are contradicting a sworn statement you've previously made to me and signed. I ask you again. sir -- you are now under oath. Were you at any time a member of a web log headed by Mr. Wretchard?
Possumtater: I don't know nothin' about that.. Oh! I was in the Olive Oil business with his father but that was a long time ago. That's all.
Senator #2: We have a sworn affidavit -- we have it -- your sworn affidavit that you commented at the instigation of Wretchard. Do you deny that confession, and do you realize what will happen as a result of your denial?
Possumtater: Look, the Homeland Security guys, they promised me a deal. So I made up a lot of stuff about Wretchard 'cause that's what they wanted. But it was all lies. Uh, everything. And I kept saying Wretchard said this and Wretchard said that. So, I said yeah sure -- why not?
whit said:
It's not your criticism of Bush that bothers me, it's the call for his resignation. Hopefully, it was only rhetorical but still, to me, it's not only counterproductive but empowers and emboldens the left. They love to see dissension on the other side because it increases their chances for retaking power. I don't think you want that but then, maybe I've mistakenly read you.
No, Bush ignoring his base and kowtowing to illegal immigrants out of the Rovian fear of alienating the Hispanics minority (now larger than the black minority) increases the Left's chances of retaking power by discouraging the Right and tempting them to stay home on November 7. Rolling out the Defense of Marriage Act every election season to secure their base isn't going to cut it this time, especially since that issue is being disposed of at the state level anyway. Meanwhile those of us in the center are going, "A pox on both your houses." Existing immigration laws should be obeyed so we know who is coming here and why, but there shouldn't be immigration caps because labor is a commodity with a "buyer" and a "seller" and restrictions on immigration amount to a tariff on labor.
Teresita,
But there should be immigration *requirements* just like the old days:
Good health, education, motivation, track record:
Here in Hawaii we see highly qualified aspirants from the East turned down regularly and sometimes spectactularly, as in the cases of those that have established highly successful businesses here.
Meanwhile, with unemployment low, and the govt begining to follow the mainland model of welfare and preferences for those from South of the Border, we see a new influx of illegals, ready to undermine the labor market as their families undermine the health, education, and welfare systems.
Whata deal one-sided accounting is.
And Corruption, of course.
Honest George Indeed.
Whit,
Regarding immigration, almost anyone but McCain would do better:
Bush has been the most activist promoter of illegal immigration in the USA, in history, bar none.
POST 9-11 !
The Kefaufer-Tater Hearings!
Sure hope Possum Caps don't become the rage.
I guess Mr. Aspirin was right.
possumtater
Other than the posts that are submitted does anyone know Wretchard other than through the ether? Do we know he writes the posts? All of them? Has anybody here ever laid eyes on him, shook his hand or had a face to face conversation with him? It seems reasonable that if a group of intelligent people are going to anoint him with never ending accolades then there must be more than a daily post motivating hoi polloi?
Silly possum, that's how God got his reputation, you know, by being a man of few, but momentous, words.
cedarford wrote:
In 1-2 days the base was stipped of anything of value and the "ready to stand up" troops are wondering where they will stay next.
Yes, I head that on Air America yesterday morning. That's it for me. Iraq is not worth one more drop of American blood.
db2m said:
Israel might try filing suit against the entire Muslim world for holocaust denial, via the German Court system.
That would be about as smart as contracting a Munich company to provide security for the athletes in the 2024 Tel Aviv Summer Olympics.
Whit,
In your Nukular Co-generation scheme, you left out waste heat for the Brewery Mash-Tuns.
For the decadent, Stills.
We know who you are, Larsen!
Appreciate that Whit but here is the problem. Most of us, BC and like-minded people are informed, conservative, libertarian, historic-minded and ardent unpologetic believers and defenders of Western Civilisation. There is a common recognition of the threat from Islam. I drop the adjectives, it is all about Islam and every insane flaw within it. It is no more a religion than Communism or Nazism. The US is facing challenges not seen since the Cuban Missile Crisis. Any reasonable chief executive would have one goal in mind and that would be to do what had to be done for the Nation. He would consult and hire the best, and fire those that did not perform. He would use diplomacy and military power wisely.
GWB has dissipated US diplomacy, the military, immigration control, non-defense spending, energy policy, all while there is a growing alarming massing of threats to US vital interests. No serious person believes he would have the job, had it not been for his father. It is time to pay attention to the thunder on the right. Forget the Democratic Party and the midgets on the Left. They have right of authorship for all the multi-culture nonsense, moral-equivalency, diversity, do your own thing intellectual and spiritual corrosion that has devastated the superstructure of the West. Damn them to hell, but we on the Right have an obligation to the truth. George Bush has been passed by events. He made the pay grade, and looks good in uniform but he is not the man for the times.
". Iraq is not worth one more drop of American blood. "
---
A slur on Iraqis imo.
Nowhere is worth a drop of American Blood with our current approach to "War."
When Enemies are coddled, only...
blah blah.
(the rest has yet to be worked out by the I-Ching dot-Matrix.)
Not so fast teresita:
C-4 is not quoting Air America. This is from The London Telegraph:
"Army base stripped bare days after handover
By Oliver Poole in Basra
(Filed: 23/08/2006)
The first British camp to be handed to the Iraqis was looted almost bare within days of the Army's departure.
The transfer last month was widely heralded as a signal that Iraq would soon be ready to run itself.
A British soldier said that as the last men drove away, they saw pick-up trucks being filled with equipment worth tens of thousands of pounds.
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Most items that could be removed were taken, including air conditioning units, water filtration systems, chairs, bedding and kitchen utensils. When the commander of British forces in south-east Iraq, Brig James Everard, discussed the matter with the province's governor he was told that the camp had "largely gone".
Military sources believe much of the looting was done by off-duty Iraqi soldiers and government officials.
British officers privately say they blame the governor for much of the looting and believe some of the air conditioning units are now in his private office."
"we on the Right have an obligation to the truth. "
---
Amen.
"But he's better than the Democrats"
Simply occludes the shining need to pay attention to the truth, not the play of politics.
If we do that, someone will rise to lead,
again.
"the camp had "largely gone""
---
Let's see YOU disappear an entire Camp, Mr. 2164th!
Neither are all the lies supporting him humped along by the Belmont Cheerleaders.
Butt ugly. Split the country. Had a certifiable wife who skimmed the grocery bills. Appointed the worst generals ever. Muddled through 30,000 KIA days. Jailed political opponents. Tried 14,000 Americans in military tribunals, more than a few of which went to the firing squad. And saved the nation.
When you find Mr. Perfect let me know.
They may run, but they won't win.
Was also nearly certifiable himself.
GWB once pretended to be,
to cover the milquetoast.
Where once I was alone, now I stand amongst the multitudes.
It's a shame, really.
What once took foresight is now plain as the nose on Wretchard's face. Visible in a photo from the Pajama Media convention, along with his lovely bride.
It's now about 70 days to the Election in November & Shah Jr has but 5 days left for his proposed August coup.
Either not enough tupperware cash or the Iranians are not all that ill disposed to the Mullahs and Abracadbra. Maybe Shah Jr just got the scheduling wrong.
we must of course acknowledge Mickey Mouse, which has become a slang term for something that is easy, insignificant, small-time, worthless, or petty.
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language: Fourth Edition. 2000.
Rat,
Did you see my Anderson Cooper link in a previous thread?
Evidently the College Educated are quite disillusioned, but not the blue collar.
Kind of a Mirror image of the Belmont Club.
Well, whit, there is one candidate running for President that is a combat survivor of the Mohammedan Wars. One that has lost friends and loved ones, a man that took action when action was called for.
A man on a quest for justice.
If winning the Mohammedan Wars is the issue of '08 than there is only one choice on the horizon.
Rudy.
If other, social, issues are considered premier, he won't win the nomination. If winning the Wars is paramount, there is no other alternative.
Desert Rat wrote:
Bride? Do you mean this photo of Wretchard, Tim Blair, and a yummy blogtrix? (Teresita eats her heart out)
jeffrey
Your research confirms my belief that the Germans and the French are still the Old Assholes.
"No one has more street cred in leftist precincts than Fisk. Yet he's a brazen liar. Not as brazen as George Galloway, perhaps, but only by a matter of degree."
He is evil. They are evil. It is no surprise that they coo and fuss over evil ones who are expressly opposed to liberties Fisk and the Left supposedly value; for a start, the freedom of women. Their cooing and fussing is the clear manifestation of their evil.
I used to ask what "signal" could we send to Islam, to get them to quit. Then, how destructive is the signal going to have to be?
Now I ask what will it take to COW Islam into surrendering? And, how will we know it's not hudna?
So, if any actions against Iran incites a pan-Islamic uprising, across the EU, will it even be possible to assist our allies, without further inflaming the Muslim street?
I will soon have to ask "how the Iranians here in the US will respond."
Ergo, we will need to network and empower the large and loyal (I think/hope) Iranian community here at home, proxies if you will, to enable us to discriminate (IFF).
They'd better step up faster than our general Muslim population, or risk appearing to be part of the problem (see CAIR).
We need a lot of pro-democracy Muslim faces on this deal, to destroy the notion that Sharia is a viable system, and to openly spurn the actions of jihadis, worldwide. Being an optimist, I'm assuming there are some.
Get our media in gear. Every channel- PSAs, 24/7/365 - relentlessness costs almost nothing.
Going forward, the MSM storyline must be in our defense, touting our advantages; if they know what's good for themselves, and for humanity in general. If they refuse, they won't be allowed on the net. Economic warfare.
Unleash netwar now. Create DoS attacks, launched from millions of desktops on-demand. Distribute worms, virsuses, crack their sites, let our tech citizens into the game. Perhaps, we should ask McAfee et al to create trap doors for special bugs. And of course, Microsoft could be useful.
We should digitally swarm the enemy; in this case, any site/server/network deemed to be against our interests is a legitmate, published target. Their maintenance/security staffs can never keep up. Force them off the net (after we get the list of vistors and advertisers).
Gosh, this retired systems-test (now QA) guy can think of hundreds of ways to be downright digitally mean spirited, and enjoy it. Remember those early computer bombs, timed to go off and wreack havoc, wiping your drive? I hear the newer versions get worse. Attack the bits and the atoms.
Open-source-cracking competitions are a truly powerful weapons, if the prize is worthwhile. Sometimes patriotism is enough reward. Digital privateers? Realtime Letters of Marque? Even at my age, I wanna play.
cedarford,
How fortunate to hear again from a friend of Blondie.
Hey, I am still waiting for those names of “ex-Stalinists” you claim went to work as propagandists for the Israeli government.
This is my third request for this same information. Indeed, I had begun to think you had gone into hiding from embarrassment.
You made the claim; surely, you would not have your fellows come to think you just another lonely, loony, hysterical neo-Nazi.
Come on; do not let PC hold you back. Cough up the names, sport.
ash; 7:19 PM
My complaint against cedarford is his propensity to regurgitate Nazi propaganda and then rush into his burrow when asked to provide specific reference.
For instance, cedarford made the claim sometime ago that “ex-Stalinists” had gone to work for Israel as propagandists. Now, if this is delusional babbling, OK. If, on the other hand, cedarford has at hand material validation, then, he should be willing to share that information with his fellow Belmonters. That he has not suggests the hysterical sobbing of a teenage girl, having found a pimple on prom night.
As to you, a feeling is not a thought, and an opinion is not a fact. My complaint on this thread is quite simply understood by those capable of making the above distinctions. Teresita’s opinions are fair game, her personal appearance is not. Desert Rats’ opinions are fair game, his son’s service as a United States Marine is not. That this needs saying shows the sad state of commentary here. That no apology has been forthcoming shows the state of the commentators.
I agree with P-Tater, everything posted here is true and good.
Except for those things posted by that meretricious, lying reprobate, "Jamie Irons."
(Take that, Eubulides!)
Jamie Irons
"Ergo, we will need to network and empower the large and loyal (I think/hope) Iranian community here at home, proxies if you will, to enable us to discriminate (IFF)."
---
Geoff,
My knowledge is meager, but I have read, and heard commentary on Hewitt show that the LA Area has just such a subpopulation.
Support Radio stations, and etc.
I think Frontpage Mag has had articles about it.
---
All this matches our family's limited, but fairly substantive experience.
Whit:
Hillary vs Rudy and you would not vote for him?
(not that I think that will happen, but we certainly could do worse:
McCain for example.
More "conservative" and far more corrupt in a multitude of ways.)
Sorry for calling a spade a spade,
Dr. Freuhd!
A meuth fleuh into my compuhter, and now it's Freuhd!
jeffrey,
Mr. Burns once had some respect here.
Hard to maintain in the face of that.
Cedarford,
I am still waiting for those names. Hell, anyone can puke up Wike. Come on man, prove yourself.
trangbang68:
Don't forget Vladimir Ilyich Lenin!
Bourgeois ennui (dig the Francophile) can be toxic!
Are you the famous Barry Meislin?
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