Media's Worst of 2005

Stephen Spruiell reports. To me, the worst Media Moment of 2005 was the horrendous coverage of Hurricane Katrina. Even conservatives prone to emotionalism (like Michelle Malkin can sometimes be) laid it on thick on FEMA's response to this particular hurricane, and yet the countless hurricanes before and even Rita and Wilma afterward brought nary a peep. To paraphrase Sowell - agencies like FEMA only serve to use our taxpayer funds to subsidize people's decisions to live in hurricane prone areas. Plus, it's a government agency, so why should we, as conservatives, be indignant when it fails? Better to just be rid of it and let the insurance companies do what they are supposed to.

After seeing the ridiculous Katrina coverage, I can't stand Shep "Little Demon" Smith and Geraldo anymore. I REALLY can't stand Anderson "Premature Ejaculation" Cooper. They reported a bunch of sensationalist rumors that caused resources to be diverted that were needed elsewhere. The MSM is populated by a bunch of self-important jackasses who will take any opportunity to engage in moral preening, and I'm happy to say adios and get my news from the new media.

Bush Didn't Lie!

Via the Instapundit, got this great editorial from the Chicago Tribune:

After reassessing the administration's nine arguments for war, we do not see the conspiracy to mislead that many critics allege. Example: The accusation that Bush lied about Saddam Hussein's weapons programs overlooks years of global intelligence warnings that, by February 2003, had convinced even French President Jacques Chirac of "the probable possession of weapons of mass destruction by an uncontrollable country, Iraq." We also know that, as early as 1997, U.S. intel agencies began repeatedly warning the Clinton White House that Iraq, with fissile material from a foreign source, could have a crude nuclear bomb within a year.

And follows it up with this:

Many people of patriotism and integrity disagreed with us and still do. But the totality of what we know now--what this matrix chronicles-- affirms for us our verdict of March 2, 2003. We hope these editorials help Tribune readers assess theirs.

Read it all. Indeed, a cogent "post-game" analysis of the adminstration's case is what we need right now, and this is it. They do a good job in pointing out that Bush probably overplayed the whole WMD point because of its sexiness, which is probably true. I felt Bush's biggest problem in advancing the case for war was that he didn't illustrate well enough (unlike Tony Blair, who was spectacular and vigorous on this point) that the convergence of WMD producing nations and terrorist organizations willing to be the delivery vehicles were what we were trying to prevent.

Of Democracy And Men

David Hanson, posting on NRO, provides one of the best explanations I've yet to come across regarding the Mid-East, advancing my theory that our only shot for winning the GWOT comes from a free Muslim populace.

Couldn't Predict This One...

Europeans missing their CO2 emissions targets from the Save the Icebergs Treaty:

Although the US is portrayed as the ecological villain for refusing to sign up to the agreement, 10 out of the 15 European Union signatories - including Ireland, Italy and Spain - will miss their targets without urgent action, the Institute for Public Policy Research found.

Imagine that. Along this vein, I'm in the midst of reading The Satanic Gases to be better informed on this subject, as well as the global warming chapter in The Skeptical Environmentalist. If I ever get around to it, I might read the actual published papers in Science or Nature just to see what the current research is. It seems Crichton's critique is pretty accurate so far though - predictive alarmist studies usually rely on models, and models always rest on some assumptions. If those assumptions are geared toward producing a particular result, then it should surprise noone that you get that result. I've seen it with molecular dynamics simulations - you can make MD do anything you want.

¡Lo Hizo!

He made it! Wifedido and I went to the re-enactment of Washington's Christmas day crossing, just a few miles up the road here. For the past three years, too much precipitation has raised the river level and increased the current, making it unsafe so the intrepid Founding Father has been stuck in Pennsylvania - leaving the survival of our fledgling democratic experiment in limbo - but he made it across this year to press our cause forward. It was a lot of fun - especially listening to the "real" story of the Betsy Ross flag from the NJ reenactors - and this event is a neat little Christmas tradition if you're stuck here for a long time.

For a good account of Washington's Crossing, read David Hackett Fischer's book. (Aside: Fischer also wrote another of my favorite books, Albion's Seed).

He Won't Be Too Happy About This

if he's still alive that is. And she actually looks pretty good...

Why I Love Ann Coulter Also

I beat Muztan to the punch in posting this gem of a column:

Among the things that war entails are: killing people (sometimes innocent), destroying buildings (sometimes innocent) and spying on people (sometimes innocent).

That is why war is a bad thing. But once a war starts, it is going to be finished one way or another, and I have a preference for it coming out one way rather than the other.

The whole column details how the NY Times did not heed "privacy rights" as it busted up a child porn ring, and relates it to the lame "spying" accusations on the Pres.

Well Said, Mr. Robbins.

Of the NSA wiretap leak...

"So New York Times writer James Risen will sell his book, the Times will increase circulation, politicians will beat their breasts and send out fundraising letters, and who will pay in the end?
You can answer that one."

The TRUTH(.com) About Civil Liberties

You know, it's interesting what targets are picked by folks who claim they fight to protect civil liberties. They want to ban smoking, guns, and arguably any public religious reference across the country, but are hell up in arms when they find out the NSA's been eavesdropping on International conversations of suspicious terrorist activity without warrants. Am I alone in saying that the liberal mindset really wants to create Utopia without acknowledging we have a "human nature" problem?

UPDATE: Hah! The guy who leaked this news (which the NYT delayed publishing for a year - supposedly requested by the White House) forgot to tell everyone he's just releasing a book. Via who else, Drudge.

While We're on the Subject of Race...

Morgan Freeman is on the same page as me:

Freeman notes there is no "white history month," and says the only way to get rid of racism is to "stop talking about it."

Damn straight.

Why I Love Ann Coulter

You know, it's posts like this that make me happy she's on our side...

To Libs & Modern Racial Aggravators, Majority Only Counts When #s Work For Them

Also through Drudge, startling news to the left shows the majority of folks who died in and after Katrina were..., no, can't be,...white?
This is a big piece of news! Course to find it, you have to go to Drudge and other more obscure sites. Perhaps we should email this to Kanye...

Is King Kong Racist?

Drudge has a story up about a column asking the question. Here's the column.
Here's a quote:

Movie reviewer David Edelstein, writing in Slate.com, notes the "implicit racism of 'King Kong' - the implication that Kong stands for the black man brought in chains from a dark island (full of murderous primitive pagans) and with a penchant for skinny white blondes." Indeed, a Google search using the words "King Kong racism" yielded 490,000 hits.

Riiiiight. I see King Kong and I see a big ape. He sees King Kong and he sees a black dude. Who's the racist? See Jonah Goldberg's column for a relevant analysis on criticism of racism in the Lord of the Rings.

Geez, it seems you're supposed to find racial undertones in anything nowadays. I used to find it irritating because the implication was that these elitists thought everybody else was a racist and they were the only ones who could see this undercurrent. Now I find it unsettling because I think the real problem is that these elitists are the racists. They are the ones who ascribe qualities to people based on race so they feel the need to jump through hoops to prove that they don't translate that into action. I've seen it all too much in academia now to think it's just a fluke of one or two people. I'd give examples, but I don't know who would stumble across this blog, as humble as it may be.

To prove this - look no further than multiculturalism. They cannot separate "culture" from "ethnicity". Therefore, they are loathe to criticize cultural traits of different groups (no matter how wrong they may be, such as, I don't know, female genital mutilation) because they believe that it would be tantamount to racism. Gimme a friggin' break.

It's About Time...

..they get one to launch. Verifying with an ex-coworker, the SN# they used for the flight is one I helped build and test. The rest are already installed in silos in Alaska and Vandenburg.

Who says you can't work on anything cool anymore?...

World Ends: Women, Minorities Hit Hardest

See here.

Virgin Galactic

This is pretty durn cool. In our own backyard no less. I'm actually suprised I didn't see any mention of Richardson in the article. Seems like pretty good publicity for his run at president. The governor who helped America get back in the space race.

Great Story

OK, I haven't really been doing too many political posts lately, even though this is a politics-centric blog, but this was too good to pass up. Another sports post, but this one is a good one.

I first took note of this story on a Monday Night game between the Packers and the Eagles. The current Packers running back is a kid named Sam Gado. He's the son of Nigerian immigrants to the United States, who was brought to the US as a result of an evangelical church's desire to reunite a family. He played college ball at Liberty University (for those who don't know, Liberty is Jerry Falwell's university, so to your lib friends it should be the focus of all evil) as a third-string running back, but somehow, through a series of events, ended up on the playing field for the Packers. The rest is history. Read the whole thing here. Here too.

It isn't all roses though - like most rookies, he has a fumbling problem. Most everyone is rooting for him though, so I hope he solves it. I love it whenever a class act like this guy shows up in the NFL. Cheers the spirit.

I should forward this story to libs who think that Christians are the focus of all evil.

WHY????????????

Is there so much buzz over Barack Obama???? My goodness, so WHAT if he's eloquent? Bill Clinton was too and look what happened to this country (if you look past the media prism that is). I swear I am so freakin sick of people that think "youth and eloquence" are the solutions for this country. I'm speaking to people that I know are Republicans yet disenfranchised with Bush and I keep getting the "well, I'll vote Democrat....if that one guy runs....that eloquent gentleman from Illinois...." WHY do people thinks he's a "centrist?" The guy is another flaming left-wing liberal PEOPLE! Just look at the FACTS: he supports a woman's right to choose, supports affirmative action, favors gay rights, is against voluntary prayer in schools, believes government should take over health care, social security, and education; STRONGLY opposes the death penalty (and I'm SURE he thinks Tookie should walk free on the street because he wrote some lousy books saying kids are great while in jail); ban 2nd amendment; opposes tax cuts; worships the UN; wants Kyoto to take over the world for the environment. Granted, he DOES support the military, but blah...so did Clinton in 92 and look what the **** happened. Now tell me how all this is CENTRIST? Whether one agrees or not, these are factually LEFT WING points of view. I am still waiting for morons to tell me HOW this guy is a damn Centrist!

On top of all that, he thinks we live in a Darwinistic socialist state of affairs. Great Obama, since you think the government should track how many times we breath during the day, the last thing I need is having your eye on my life.

I'm so sick of the "he's so young and photogenic" philosophy leading to perhaps maybe an euphoric explosion in harmonious politics. F*** JFK, Clinton, and Obama. Why do we need Obama 08 so bad? Oh that's right, we need a black President...

No Clemency for "Tookie"

Good. I've gone a little soft on the death penalty in the past couple of years (read Mark Fuhrman's book to see why) but justice must be served in this case. "Tookie" may have done much to combat gang violence, but he isn't on death row for being a Crip founding member. He's on death row for the execution-style murder of 4 innocents. He has maintained his innocence all along for this crime - a crime a jury of his peers convicted him of. I don't care what Snoop Dogg or these other 2-bit celebrities think - remorse for the crime you are convicted of should be a necessary (but not sufficient) condition of clemency.

Read here about his crimes. He's scheduled to die tomorrow - may God have mercy on his soul.

Right on the Money

A pretty high profile scolding. Hope US carmakers listen to this. They'll probably just retarget the paradigm of the holistic marketing segment to better uninhibit the synergistic realities of the unpredictable consumers who should be told what they want and like it.
Wonder if Rooney planned this cooincidence?

Bush Approval Ratings

are higher than ever! Ok, it's Reggie, but still...

I'm excited because the Houston Texans are the worst team in the NFL, which means they'll get him in the draft (should he declare himself eligible, which he might). He's the kind of player you want to build a franchise around. Start with drafting him, then some offensive linemen.

Speaking of Soccer

UNM plays Maryland tomorrow for the national title. 12:00 on ESPN2. It would be the Lobos' second championship ever in a team sport. So long as you count skiing as a team sport... Just a little bias in the ESPN article, it starts off talking about how the Terrapins ended three years of frustration with this berth in the final. Then finally mentions the Lobos lack of national titles in anything on the second to last paragraph. I think my favorite thing about this article is that second to last paragraph. Check it out. It's a one sentence paragraph and the sentence is about two totally seperate topics. It looks kinda like Clemson's coach told the reporter about UNM's only other championship in skiing then started badmouthing the Lobos about the semifinal game. The the reporter seems to have misunderstood and written that UNM caused Clemson to loose the 2004 skiing championship by playing dirty.

We're Screwed!

The U.S. draws into a Group of Death - Italy, Czech Republic, and Ghana. Ouch. Most everyone agrees this is one of the top 2 toughest groups (with Argentina, Holland, Serbia, and Ivory Coast being the other). Our prospects for repeating the performance of '02 are pretty grim. Here's Grant Wahl's analysis.

Here's what I think, at first glance:

-We have a very good chance of beating Italy. They're a flagging old soccer power, and I think we've got a knack for playing well against teams that have that historical arrogance. We performed quite well against the Germans in '02 and I think they're a better team than the Italians. Of course, I haven't seen the Italians play in a long time so we'll have to see...
-The Czechs scare me the most. They have been playing extreeeemely well lately. The proximity to the Czech Republic means that they may have a pseudo home-field advantage too. I think we'll be lucky if we tie them.
-Ghana have superb talent in Essien but I think we'll be able to take them out relatively easily if Arena can make sure the guys don't take them too lightly. These uber-athletic African teams always manage to surprise in the big dance.

The most difficult thing in replicating our success of the past Cup, beyond merely advancing, is that we'll play the winner of the Brazil group (assuming we come in 2nd) - so we'll be playing Brazil if we advance. My money's on Brazil to win, so we're pretty much screwed.

Here's hoping we get lucky...

Good stuff

For X-Men 3, I check out this webcomic and I was like no way but then I check IMDB and you know what, it's true.

Yuk Yuk

Pat Oliphant's latest. Isn't the whole Bush=Hitler meme kinda played out and, well, stupid? I mean, is he evil or is he stupid? Wasn't Hitler an evil genius, or was he a likeable dunce?

I swear, liberals are like children sometimes.

Maybe It Is Vietnam 2..

..at least to the extent of news bias. Townhall's take on the AP here. AIM's brevity on Wilkerson's "Cabal," and TCV's note with Murtha and Chris Matthews...

Our tax dollars at work

On a new entitlement, explained by George Will,

``No Couch Potato Left Behind''

I just love this paragraph...

It just seems right to me, especially that last part, from SI.com in regards to the recent publication of the USA Today NCAA football coaches poll:

Ladies and gentlemen, as if you needed proof, the fortunes of the nation's college football teams -- not to mention tens of millions of dollars -- are being determined by the equivalent of a high school student-council election.

I knew that the rep was hard earned...

Looking good, that's all I can say;

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. -- The Highland High School principal is in jail after police say they caught him trying to swallow a small bag of cocaine.

Did you ever

hear the Dane Cook comic routine? The one where he refers to the DMV as "Satan's a**h***"? Yeah, well today I finished a month-long odyssey getting my vehicles registered here in the great state of New Mexico. Not having the title (almost done with that first auto loan) for one and having past documentation for the state I started by calling to figure out what to do. After all the mis-information I finally knew what I needed and took the first last week. It was amazing because it was almost painless, could it be, had the DMV changed?

Of course not, that's what this week was for. So, yesterday I went to get my other truck done and they were closed due to computer failure. Ugh. So today I go and because I need a VIN check the receptionist won't give me a number. I finally convince her that I think I'll still be in line when I get back from pointing at the numbers on my truck. She's still skeptical but gives in. My number: 165, current number: 131, estimated wait on ticket: 41 minutes, number of tellers working: 2 (out of TEN stations). Yeah, I wouldn't miss anything.

When I got back from the VIN check they were on 133, I was on my way. I went to the theatre next Door to see what was playing and to kill some time, 134. Next I decided to be brave, walking to the shopping center next door in search of some type of under-motorcycle-helmet head covering for the frigid weather. I thought I was getting close and taking my time. Nope, 138.

So I decide to wait. And wait. Finally, 1 hour, 12 minutes and 43 seconds after getting my ticket (and 22 minutes after my ticket estimate) 164 is called and is a no show. It is my time! So I get to the window and find a mistake in the VIN check paperwork. The woman called my truck a Chevrolet (it's a GMC), I tell the teller this and he informs me that it must be changed. Well, can he do it? I had brought the Arizona title (I gave it to the VIN checker too, but I guess it was too late in the afternoon to read). He told me that no, he couldn't because he wasn't certified to read a VIN number from a windshield and verify the badge on the front (oh wait, that obviously isn't a qualification, my mistake).

The teller then tells me I have to get back in line to get it filled out again. A little close to livid, I cut in line and the receptionist sends the paper back to the VIN inspector who walks back to my truck to verify that it's a GMC. While waiting, the receptionist walks me back to the teller and lets him know it's ok to start on my paperwork. Twenty more minutes later and the title and registration is in my hand. A hard earned victory.

Let's just say I'm about as enamored with the DMV as I am with man-hating faux feminists.

Hah! - Inuit Reparations

From Monsieur Breitbart. Spokesmen like Tuuluuwaq Ukluk Jackson and Ek Chua Sharpton are taking up the cause.

For eskimo name decoding, check here...

Basic Economics

via Walter Williams. Of course we are all well immersed in such thinking, but it's always good to have a refresher. Good line:

Zero-sum games are transactions mostly initiated by thieves and governments.

Heh.

The American Soldier Unmasked...

If John Kerry would have said this during the election cycle, maybe his base would have been more fired up...

What an a**hole... At least Dean's just a mental case.

Somebody Call Al Gore

Earth in the Balance! Record lows in the US. Must be that there Global Warming.

Link for the day

From Jonah Goldberg's latest at NRO:

Unfortunately, liberals define diversity by skin color and sex, not by ideas, which makes it difficult to have really good arguments.

Soooooo Close!

We missed a top seeding by one miserable point! We ended up right behind Italy, and a few points ahead of the Dutch. This is quite a change from being the whipping boys for North America just 15 years ago. I'm quite impressed with the job Bruce Arena has done, we're up there with pretty elite company. A top seeding may have placed undue stress on them, however, and lately they've been playing pretty terribly (granted, Arena's been playing reserves). Here's hoping they get an easy draw.

In other sporting news, I'm pretty stoked for Torino '06 - in particular I'll be watching the qualifying proceedings for the snowboard events pretty closely, especially the Chevrolet Grand Prix. I'd like to see Shaun White win something in the pipe but he sometimes crumples under pressure. Usually, somebody who either doesn't give a crap about anything (Danny Kass) or has little pressure from being unknown (Steve Fisher) steps it up and wins. I hope Kass takes a gold since he cut his snowboarding teeth at the Creek in Jersey and has such sweet style.

This is the first year they are including snowboardcross - for the uninitiated this is basically a free for all race of 4 snowboarders navigating an obstacle course at high speed. This begs the question: when are they going to add slopestyle to the Olympics? I love that event. That's where you really get to see a snowboarder's style. Pipe's good, but so restricted. Nothing like a terrain park run to see the creativity and technical prowess of a rider.

Couldn't even make this up...

The spokesman for a feminist-based environmental group accused men of being the biggest contributors to human-caused "global warming" and lamented that women are bearing the brunt of the negative climate consequences created by men.

The spokesman continues by demanding

"climate gender justice,"

Sure feels nice to be the root of all evil.

Imagine

If I were to say the following...

We parents of boys have meekly allowed gender warriors ... to treat our sons like unindicted coconspirators in history's gender crimes, while parents of girls permit their daughters to be patronized as helpless victims of a phantom, crippling sex bias in America's schools.

No doubt I would be treated as some type of savage. Without contemplating the words written I would be treated automatically as a monster, as a backward Neanderthal, oblivious to the plight of brave feminists simply because I am male. Thankfully, those words were written by a woman, Kate O'Beirne in NRO.

Reading the article it brings to mind something which troubles me. These days it seems as if there are certain people who can be criticised without question. Treated like garbage and made to feel ashamed of their existence without any reason. If it sounds personal to me, it is because it is. I have been made to feel ashamed of being male in the name of feminism and it was not fair and it's not fair that others have to deal with the same thing.

Feminism is a good thing and women are equal and should be proud of who they are. It is another thing though to hate men and treat them as inconsequential in the name of feminism, that is not true and the true description is not a feminist but sexism and intolerance, the antithesis of what those who act this way preach against. It is sickening and it is nice to read someone who agrees that our society is headed backwards in many regards, led in that direction by false prophets of progress.

Yet another post with no intellectual content

But who cares. Cruise control skiing. It's what all the cool kids are doing.
In the interest of advancing a cool word, I should note that this sort of tomfoolary is known as hoonage. This one was the Hoon of the Day at Jalopnik.

Some truth about oil

Courtesy of George Will...

ExxonMobil, which has more than $50 billion of past profits invested in energy development, made 9.8 cents per dollar of sales, much less than the 21.2 cents made by a company selling another fluid that lubricates American life -- Coca-Cola.

Go on hippies, I dare you to talk some more about evil oil companies. Of course they will, rational thought and reality never deter the mind numb.

Worst...President...Ever

This snide column by Richard Reeves "answers" that question. Keep in mind, they were probably saying the same things about Abraham Lincoln (who was vastly unpopular with the intelligentsia, no doubt, as he led us through the Civil War) during his presidency.

This column made me more disgusted than the first half performance of the Cowboys' offensive line.

They oughta try this in Jersey

FBI plants fake candidate in WV race in vote-buying sting operation. Democrat, of course.

Squirrel Eats Dog

No, really.

Anyone else find this silly?

Ah, the good 'ol AP, always good for added fluff... Anyway I was reading this release about President Bush being summoned for jury duty in Texas and how he was unlikely to serve, hard hitting stuff there. But that's not what I refer to. The last paragraph is as follows:

Although Bush won't serve this time, his Democratic rival in the 2004 election served on a Massachusetts jury last month. Kerry not only served, but was elected foreman of the Suffolk Superior Court jury, which rejected a claim by two men who sued the city of Boston for injuries suffered in a car accident involving a school principal.

Wow, John Kerry won an election in November! I know, silly of me even to bring it up but I can't help but imagine the writer glancing devotingly at a picture of Kerry lit by candlelight next to their desk...

Deion

On defending Terrell Owens;

I feel bad for T.O. It's not right. Just because a guy won't say he's sorry, he's out of the game of football for the season...It's like someone working a job 9 to 5 and they don't apologize to their boss, they're fired.

Uhhhh, yeah, that's exactly what it's like, people that are jerks sometimes get fired. Anyway what this reminded me of are hippy apologists who say stupid things like "yeah, he deserved to get fired but shouldn't have because now he's unemployed". In revealing my political ambitions to someone I mentioned my intention to rid whatever part of the government I was in charge of of excess, of waste and to rid it of people who did nothing and deserved to be dropped. I was refuted, "but then they won't have jobs and their families won't vote for you." Ugh, hippies.

Finally

After first airing the ad, completely and utterly ignorantly, then changing an image on the freaking ad on their website to counter criticism, despite the fact that the changes were completely arrogant and changed nothing, MoveOn has finally pulled their ad misidentifying British soldiers as American. My ugh for the day.