Monthly Archives: November 2008

MSM shy of calling Mumbai Terrorists Terrorists

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American media is having difficulty looking at the taking of hostages and killing them in India as terrorist acts or as terrorists being those behind it.

CNN says “gangs of gunmen launched a murderous rampage. ” Reuters calls them militants. Even in a story Quoting the surviving “militant” saying they “wanted an Indian 9/11″  Reuters could not bring themselves to call them terrorists.

AP through Breitbart calls them “Islamic militants“. Another AP story through MyWay calls them “gunman”. The WAPO says they were “gunmen” or “militants”.  The SF Chronicle headlines them as militants. At Newsweek they are just “gunmen”. Huffingtonheadlines the “massacre”, “attacks” and “asault” but only mentions a “Pakistani group” and”Elements in Pakistan”.

MSNBC called the episode “a 60 hour terror rampage” but those involved are “gunmen”, “militants”and “suspected terrorists” as if the terrorists may have lawyers who will sue for libel because their poor disadvantaged militant gunmen clients who staged a terror rampage were called terrorists – but you are safe at GE owned MSNBC – you weaseled by slipping in “suspected”.

An exception seems to be the NYT. They did not have a problem with the word “terrorist” maybe because they have seen the type close up.

Some over seas media – particularly in India called them terrorists.  The Telegraph.com.uk did.The Times of India had the headline “Terrorists seemed to be sure of Taj hotel terrain“. The Times of Lodon called them terrorists (after the first paragraph only called them militants “Britons were among the militants arrested for the Bombay attacks, a senior Indian official said yesterday. ” A claim that now seems to be false.).

Chavez buying junk Russian weapons – just like Sadam?

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Chavez has been boosting ties with Russia while tensions with the U.S. have grown, and he has bought more than $4 billion in Russian weapons.

My son, a Marine, returned from his first Iraq tour in 2005 with a very interesting tidbit about the tanks Sadam had purchased from Russia.

The Marines had very easily dispatched the tanks – even destroying two side by side with one anti tank round. This was unexpected, they had captured and analyzed similar tanks in 1991. Based on that info – the tanks should have been tougher. They captured some new tanks intact and proceeded to ship one home to the States to study.

The crane operator at the port loading it on a ship went ballistic to the Marine in charge of delivery to the ship. He said that someone would get killed telling him the tank weighed some 40 tons when it weighed considerably less! They had told him the weight based on tanks captured andanalyzed in the first Gulf War.

Turns out the Russians had substituted light weight – cheaper and useless – cast aluminum armour for the expected multilayer composite of steel and Quartz. They now knew why these tanks were so easily killed – the Russians had ripped Sadam off – taking his cash for worthless weapons.

Maybe I shouldn’t be posting this – having Putin & Medvedev gypping Chavez would be just wonderful! But then I can’t be the only one who knows.

Free Bubble Up? The new Marxist Economy

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Sometimes buried in a long lefty post, there is something so manifestly Marxist that it is staggering. I’m sure – considering the quote below – the author of it won’t mind at all if I don’t give him (or her) credit or even provide a link to it. I suppose a Google search might provide that info, but then Google’s search process is proprietary so I cannot know exactly how they do it.

The writer was laying out a blueprint for the new economy:

Every player must have complete information and there can be no trade secrets (read: no government-enforced intellectual property rights).

Just think – in this future, as envisioned by this loon – I will have the absolute right to know the exact recipe for KFC chicken and Coca Cola. But then no one will have any incentive to invent anything or create anything new – they will be prevented from profiting from it.

Something about this reminds me of Merl Haggard’sRainbow Stew (Which by the way would be public domain and could be performed for free with no royalties under the above suggested law change):

There’s a big, brown cloud in the city
And the countryside’s a sin
The price of life is too high to go up
It’s gotta come down again

Wow – Merle was prophet – what he wrote in 1980 sure applies now (those were Carter times weren’t they)

The world wide war is over and done
And the dream of peace comes true
We’ll all be drinking that free Bubble-Up
And eating that rainbow stew

Well that must have been the Iraq war – in which by the way Victory was declared yesterday.

When they find out how to burn water
And the gasoline car is gone
When an airplane flies without any fuel
And the sunlight heats our home

Talk about alternative fuels! Water! Oh wait, bottles of water are over a dollar a pint while gas is down under a dollar fifty a gallon today ($1.49.9 to fill up here today!) That means running on water would be over $8 a gallon.

When a President goes through the White House doors
And does what he says he’ll do
We’ll all be drinking that free Bubble-Up
And eating that rainbow stew

Oh, well there it is, that was the stanza I was thinking of – we obviously will have to wait at least 4 more years for that free BubbleUp ’cause Obama sure isn’t the President Merle was predicting would do what he says he’ll do. He’s already back peddling on every promise I heard him make.

Right to Rent – an end to foreclosures or back door rent control?

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I just came across a Leftist site with a piece about how to stop the foreclosures by creating – through legislation – a “Right to Rent” for people who would be forced out by foreclosure.

Congress can temporarily modify the rules on foreclosure to give families facing foreclosure the right to rent their homes at the market rate for a substantial period of time.

Substantial period is defined in the piece as 20 years. And a quick check locally shows that even with property values being down the monthy rent being asked is generally more than the monthly mortgage on the value of the properties, in most cases by several hundred dollars a month. If the people cannot keep up with the mortgage payments they won’t be able to keep up the rent payments and will actually have less reason to do so. Their credit rating will already be trashed by the foreclosure, the minimum time to be evicted is about 6 months so – they quit paying, get six months free housing – why pay?

The other side of the coin is that having rental units in the neighborhood will drive down the property values of the surrounding homes causing other homeowners to be “upside down” in their mortgages and seeing their neighbors getting six months or more free ride, there may be a downward spiral.

Now, if as some claim, inflation spikes in the near term, the fair market rent will be even higher – that plus the fact most foreclosed “homeowners” will see fair market rent is higher their old mortgage payments – Congress would then be pressured to pass rent control laws to help these people. That of course would be seen as unfair to other renters and here comes across the board national rent control. Having survived the disastrous price controls in the 1970′s and heard the horror stories of rent control from people in places like NYC, I want nothing to do with that.

BBC report blames US for Ghost City of Mogadishu

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 A recent BBC report calls Mogadishu a ghost city. Which is obviously is. But rather than place the blame where it belongs – on the lawlessness of that country and the near total lack of anything resembling a government, the reporter blames the US. Now the US and the UN did abandon that country – or to be more precise – Bill Clinton “cut and ran” after the downing of a US Blackhawk helicopter there.

Since that time there has been chaos and fighting between warlords, imported Islamists, troops from Ethiopia.

From the report:

In 1993 a joint United States/United Nations aid effort descended into war. Somali warlords resisted the international force partly because it reduced their racketeering of food aid.

Years of conflict in Somalia have left large parts of the country in the hands of warlords while its capital, Mogadishu, is contested by Ethiopian-backed government forces and armed insurgents.

The city has been abandoned by at least half of its residents.

The bombed-out buildings are shocking enough.

There are street after ruined street of them in the centre of Mogadishu.

Some have been reduced by shellfire to rubble. Others retain a building-like shape – the rough skeletons of once-ornate Italian colonial apartment blocks or shopping arcades.

But the really eerie side to many parts of Mogadishu is the lack of people.The last 18 months of fighting have seen the population plummet …According to the United Nations, at least half of Mogadishu’s population – perhaps 500,000 people – have fled.

With much of the city reduced to rubble and no coherent government, no protection from the fighters – why would anyone but those fighting want to stay?

Islamist fighters known as al-Shabaab (Somali for “The Lads”), have made much of south and central Somalia a no-go area for the government and the Ethiopians.

Al-Shabaab and related fighters mount hit-and-run attacks aimed at government forces but which often also kill civilians.

Perhaps if the half million who left had considered that they had a stake in their own city they might have stayed but obviously they did not. They, like Bill Clinton feel that when the heat get hot it is best to “cut and run”.  He and the UN were an excellent example to these people – abandoning them to the vicious warlords.

I guess the BBC does have a point – an American is to blame – his name is Clinton.

Unbelievable defense of Somali Pirates

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Sometimes I think maybe I’ve heard it all but this is restoring my belief that there are some truely whacked people out there:

The global corporate media is up in arms about the Somali pirates, in actuality a militia mounted by Somalia’s fishermen to protect their fisheries from international predators.

Yes, that’s right, a loaded oil tanker might be concealing a fishing rod for sneaking an illicit fish from the Somali’s so it is ok to board the ship in international waters with armed men and hold it for ransom? That is the biggest stretch I have seen lately.

So this guy with his RPG is just looking out for the Somali fish. Right?

WE WON THE WAR IN IRAQ

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Victory in Iraq Day

November 22, 2008

We won. The Iraq War is over.

“THE WAR IS OVER AND WE WON:” Michael Yon just phoned from Baghdad, and reports that things are much better than he had expected, and he had expected things to be good. “There’s nothing going on. I’m with the 10th Mountain Division, and about half of the guys I’m with haven’t fired their weapons on this tour and they’ve been here eight months. And the place we’re at, South Baghdad, used to be one of the worst places in Iraq. And now there’s nothing going on. I’ve been walking my feet off and haven’t seen anything. I’ve been asking Iraqis, ‘do you think the violence will kick up again,’ but even the Iraqi journalists are sounding optimistic now and they’re usually dour.” There’s a little bit of violence here and there, but nothing that’s a threat to the general situation. Plus, not only the Iraqi Army, but even the National Police are well thought of by the populace. Training from U.S. toops has paid off, he says, in building a rapport.

Further evidence – Reuters daily report on security in Iraq:

Nov 22 (Reuters) – Following are security developments in Iraq at 1330 GMT on Saturday.

ISKANDARIYA – Police found a mass grave containing at least 10 decomposed bodies, including the bodies of two women, in Iskandariya, 40 km (25 miles) south of Baghdad, police said.

MAHAWEEL – Gunmen killed a man in an attack on his car on Friday in Mahaweel, 60 km (35 miles) south of Baghdad, police said.

That’s it – that is all they found. A grave of unknown origin/age and a drive-by  shooting. Not a war, maybe not yet the safest place on earth but check this grainy “war zone” footage – from Chicago!

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YlGuh-gpYeE[/youtube]

Osama deputy calls Obama “House Negro”

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I fully expect someone to claim this is a racist post and to call me a racist. Far from it – the original remark is from Osama bin Laden’s senior deputy Ayman al-Zawahiri calling Obama:

“the direct opposite of honourable black Americans” such as Malcolm X. “It is true about you and people like you – what Malcolm X said about the house Negro”

Well of course we need to look at what Malcolm X said:

To understand this, you have to go back to what [the] young brother here referred to as the house Negro and the field Negro — back during slavery. There was two kinds of slaves. There was the house Negro and the field Negro. The house Negroes – they lived in the house with master, they dressed pretty good, they ate good ’cause they ate his food — what he left. They lived in the attic or the basement, but still they lived near the master; … That was that house Negro. In those days he was called a “house nigger.” And that’s what we call him today, because we’ve still got some house niggers running around here.

This modern house Negro loves his master. He wants to live near him. He’ll pay three times as much as the house is worth just to live near his master, and then brag about “I’m the only Negro out here.” “I’m the only one on my job.” “I’m the only one in this school.” You’re nothing but a house Negro. …

On that same plantation, there was the field Negro. The field Negro — those were the masses. There were always more Negroes in the field than there was Negroes in the house. …He hated his master. I say he hated his master. He was intelligent. That house Negro loved his master. But that field Negro — remember, they were in the majority, and they hated the master. When the house caught on fire, he didn’t try and put it out; that field Negro prayed for a wind, for a breeze. When the master got sick, the field Negro prayed that he’d die. … When they see this man’s house on fire, you don’t hear these little Negroes talking about “our government is in trouble.” They say, “The government is in trouble.”

 Using Malcolm X’s  definitions I can see that the “house Negro” label might be applied to Obama, after all he did buy a $1.6 million house near Bill Ayers and Tony Resko? And of course he can rightly claim to be the only black holding his current job title.

X’s definition of “field Negro” includes hating the “master” – this makes me think of Mrs. Obama’s comment about never having been proud of America before Barry ran for President. And also of Obama’s preference to not salute the flag or wear a flag pin on his lapel. Is Obama happily standing by as the “master’s house” burns? Consider his actual actions since election regarding the economic crisis. What exactly has he done to try to reassure the markets and bring stability back?

Don’t forget that just last Friday Obama’s pick as chief of staff said “You don’t ever want a crisis to go to waste; it’s an opportunity to do important things that you would otherwise avoid.”  Like maybe nationalize the banks, health care, the auto industry.

 So now remember, it was not I who called Obama a “house negro” nor I who referred to Malcom X in doing so. I am simply using Malcolm X’s words and his definitions to try to determine whether bin Laden’s mouthpiece was applying the definition corrrectly. Send all hate mail to a cave near the Pakistan/Afghanistan border.

 

Obama to reneg on yet another promise – Gays in Military

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The ink is hardly dry on all the ACORN provided ballots electing Obama and his “advisers” are leaking all sorts of info about how Obama will not be keeping another promise – the repeal of Clinton’s “Don’t ask Don’t tell”:

 Repealing the ban was an Obama campaign promise. However, Mr. Obama first wants to confer with the Joint Chiefs of Staff and his new political appointees at the Pentagon to reach a consensus and then present legislation to Congress, the advisers said.

At this rate he will have no fulfilled promises at all.

More on Obama renegging on promises

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Over a month ago I pointed out that Obama would reneg on his promises, it has been less than three weeks since Obama won and already the MSM is trying to manage the expectations of his adoring public. According to CBS:

This might be a long haul,” said Robert Reich, who was President Bill Clinton’s secretary of labor. “2009 is going to be a very hard year. Some economists say we won’t be out of this for two years, others are saying it may be three, or four, maybe five years.”

Now on Obama’s transition team, Reich worries about what happens after the new president is sworn in Jan. 20.

“We all have to be very careful about the expectations that we are putting on this man, our president-elect,” Reich said. “If we all assume it’s going to be the first 100 days, we’re going to be disappointed.”

Fox News on the other hand had this – to say the day after the election:

“He’s made comments on the campaign trail that will have to be reconciled with his policies,” said Republican political analyst Dylan Glenn.

Obama has offered tax cuts for working families, affordable and expanded health care and a speedy withdrawal from Iraq intended to save billions of dollars each month.

“His notion about what he will do in Iraq, his notion about what he will do in terms of fiscal policy for this country will have to be translated into real live policy, and that will be a challenge,” Glenn said.

CBS continues with:

The man who was Obama’s chief campaign strategist is moving to lower expectations, too.

“We are inheriting an array problems unlike any president has faced, maybe since Franklin Roosevelt in 1932,” David Axelrod said. “It’s not going to be easy, not going to be quick.”

Rick Jasculca worked for President Jimmy Carter, President Clinton and Sen. Hillary Clinton. He said Obama will need every bit of his skill as a communicator.

“If people see you reaching across the aisle and they see you making progress – going forward rather than going backward – I think people will give  you the benefit of the doubt,” Jasculca said.

While Fox had pointed out:

Just last month, Obama said he would delay rescinding Bush’s tax cuts on wealthy Americans if there is a recession, suggesting such an increase would further hurt the economy.

“I think we’ve got to take a look and see where the economy is,”[ Obama said ]“I mean, the economy is weak right now.”

Bloomberg is telegraphing to the UAW that any promises they think they have from Obama are renegotiable – unlike the union’s agreements with the automakers:

President-Elect Barack Obama‘s transition team is exploring a swift, prepackaged bankruptcy for automakers…Automakers such as GM could use court protection to reduce debt and reject unfavorable contracts.[emphasis mine]

Although Bloomberg did not specifically mention the union in that clip – they later quote a Republican to do so:

A GM bankruptcy is the “only way” for the biggest U.S. automaker to end union costs that make it uncompetitive, Republican Senator James DeMint of South Carolina

Add to all this Biden’s pre-election warning that their supporters would not like or even understand Obama’s response to a “crisis”. Of course many of us understand that the left relies on crisies to advance their policy aims.