The “I come in praise of” series started with this post,I come in praise of Danny Bonaduce.
Shakira, a pop singer that I cared little for before today, knocked my socks off when I saw this,
Shakira announces $40 million in aid for Latam
NEW YORK (Reuters) – Colombian pop star Shakira announced a $40 million donation on Thursday to repair damage caused by an earthquake in Peru and a hurricane in Nicaragua…
…The two-time Grammy Award winner, who started another foundation to help poor children in Colombia when she was only 18, said 40 million infants do not go to school and 51 million people don’t have access to clean water in Latin America.
“These are challenging problems that no one person can address, but working together everyone can help make a difference,” she added.
I don’t know which is more surprising, that Shakira has $40 million, or that she’s donating that much to charity? It doesn’t matter, she’s doing it and good for her. That is an impressive number, $40 million.
Katie Couric abandons the charade and throws in the towel at the National Press Club,
“Everyone in this room would agree that people in this country were misled in terms of the rationale of this war,†said Couric, adding that it is “pretty much accepted†that the war in Iraq was a mistake.
“I’ve never understood why [invading Iraq] was so high on the administration’s agenda when terrorism was going on in Afghanistan and Pakistan and that [Iraq] had no true connection with al Qaeda.â€
“The whole culture of wearing flags on our lapel and saying ‘we’ when referring to the United States and, even the ‘shock and awe’ of the initial stages, it was just too jubilant and just a little uncomfortable. And I remember feeling, when I was anchoring the ‘Today’ show, this inevitable march towards war and kind of feeling like, ‘Will anybody put the brakes on this?’ And is this really being properly challenged by the right people? And I think, at the time, anyone who questioned the administration was considered unpatriotic and it was a very difficult position to be in.â€
“…said she actually agreed with Ahmadinejad on one point. “Oftentimes Westerners don’t really understand fully the values of this particular culture,†said Couric. “And I think the jury is still out as to whether democracy can really thrive in Iraq.â€
The writing is on the wall for Katie Couric. Frustration has led to sloppiness. Her credibility as an honest broker of information is shot. Not that it was exactly soaring before…but this is pretty damning.
Congratulations to one of our favorite financially focused bloggers, Tom Blumer of BizzyBlog. Here’s the news,
Today the Ohio blogosphere and the traditional media come together in a new, more collaborative relationship through WIDE OPEN, a new blog hosted by cleveland.com and The Plain Dealer.
Written by four of the state’s leading political bloggers — Jill Miller Zimon, Tom Blumer, Jeff Coryell and Dave — WIDE OPEN will be a no-holds-barred discussion of Ohio politics we hope to continue through the 2008 election and beyond. Our hope is that you, too, will participate through the comments.
Tom had this to say,
The other thing that fires me up is the opportunity to compete in the arena of ideas, and to expose people throughout the state, and perhaps even the nation, to what I believe are superior free-market and freedom-oriented ideas and perspectives they haven’t seen, or seen enough of. Of course, as always, that’s a two-way street. I believe all four of us arrive well-equipped for the exchanges that will occur between ourselves and with commenters. So let the games begin.
Sounds like a great idea by the paper and I am looking forward to reading it. I know Tom is a guy who loves a good debate, and maybe the MSM hosting is a way to bring out the best in the blogs to a wider audience in a format that elevates the discussion.
Tom went on to say,
Given how I’ve “occasionally†taken my rips at Old Media from time to time to time to time …..
Well, here is one of those times.
Tom discussing the Kelo decision, click here.
“A lie can travel half way around the world while the truth is putting on its shoes.”
–Mark Twain
And so it did this morning,
‘No homosexuals in Iran’: Ahmadinejad
NEW YORK (AFP) — Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad skirted a question about the treatment of homosexuals in Iran on Monday, saying in a speech at a top US university that there were no gays in Iran.
“In Iran we don’t have homosexuals like in your country,” Ahmadinejad said to howls and boos among the Columbia University audience.
“In Iran we do not have this phenomenon, I don’t know who has told you that we have it,” he said.
Inside Iran’s Secret Gay World
Ahmadinejad’s Answer
Guilty of being gay
Jim at Gateway Pundit has the story behind this photo
This is no joke
See for yourself
All of this happened on Ahmadinejad’s watch. The fact that Columbia University president Lee Bollinger made some strong comments before he spoke does not make up for the bad decision to legitimize and give him a platform.
It’s not that complicated. The guy is a liar, not to mention an enemy of the United States responsible for killing and maiming our soldiers in Iraq. The fact that Ahmadinejad bombed today, excuse the pun, doesn’t make Columbia look good for inviting him. If anything, it makes them look worse, they should have known they were dealing with a fraud and a liar.
UPDATE: Here’s the President’s statement,
“He’s the head of a state sponsor of terror, and yet, an institution in our country gives him the chance to express his point of view, which really speaks to the freedoms of the country,” Bush told FOX News on Monday ahead of the Columbia event. “I’m not so sure I’d offer the same invitation, but nevertheless, it speaks volumes about the greatness, really, of America. We’re confident enough to let a person express his views. I just really hope he tells everybody the truth.”
12 Questions for Hillary and Her Fellow Democrat-Socialists who Support “Universal Health Care” (aka Socialist Health Care)
GrassTopsUSA Guest Commentary
By Gregg Jackson
09-21-071. Our quasi-socialist health-care system in which the government pays almost half of all health-care costs (verses 12% of health-care costs paid out of pocket by individuals) is already killing and injuring Americans. Putting government in exclusive control of any service increases the costs and decreases the quality of the service provided. Why then would we want to put government in exclusive control of health-care as Hillary and the Democrats are proposing?
2. To those who say, “no American should go without health-care….” The U.S. Congress passed the Emergency Medical Treatment and Active Labor Act in 1986 which requires emergency rooms to treat any person who shows up seeking medical treatment, regardless of their ability to pay or whether they are a legal US citizen or an illegal alien. So, which citizens are you referring to that “go without” health-care?
Democrat congressman Jack Murtha was confronted and pressed on whether or not he would apologize to the innocent Haditha Marines he accused of “murdering innocent women and children”.
Incredibly, Murtha is the congressman of one of the Haditha Marines, Lance Cpl. Justin Sharratt. Justin’s father Darryl called Murtha’s office 52 times before he was able to talk with him. The conversation was a disappointment, to say the least. We had the honor of speaking with Darryl Sharratt on Pundit Review Radio on multiple occassions. Listen to Mr. Sharratt describe his frustration and disappointment with his congressman here.
In a seperate visit with Pundit Review Radio, we spent an hour looking at all aspects of the case, from the impact on the soldiers and their families, to the investigation and trials. You can listen to this interview here.
Hat Tip: Hot Air
10 More “Inconvenient” Questions for Al Gore and His Fellow Man Made Global Warming Believers
GrassTopsUSA Guest Commentary
By Gregg Jackson
09-14-071. Al, you asserted in your movie “An Inconvenient Truth” that 9 of the 10 hottest years on record occurred after 1995. According to NASA’s most recent data, the ten hottest years on record in the U.S., beginning with the hottest year, are: 1934, 1998, 1921, 2006, 1931, 1999, 1953, 1990, 1938 and 1939. Not only is 1998 not the “hottest on record” as you claim in your “documentary,” but only 4 of the “hottest years on record” occurred after 1995 — quite a stretch from “9 out of 10.” We also know that according to the U.S. National Climate Data Center, the world in 2006 was only .03 degrees Celsius warmer than it was in 2001 — which is in the range of temperature error and not statistically significant. We now know that Michael Mann’s infamous “hockey stick” theory purporting to demonstrate a sharp increase in “warming” in the 1990s has been debunked and discredited by the National Academy of Sciences and the U.N.’s IPCC. Why then do you still continue to cite the incorrect “9 out of 10” figure and debunked “hockey stick” figure?
2. Al, you claim in your movie, “A survey of more than 928 scientific papers in respected journals show 100 percent agreement (that man is responsible for global warming).” Is it not true however that this information that you cite in your movie was originally published in a non-peer reviewed essay section of Science Magazine by a social scientist from UCSD named Nancy Oreskes which was highly flawed and has been subsequently discredited in that only 13 (or 2%) of the 928 articles she cited as supporting the consensus view of anthropogenic global warming explicitly endorsed the “consensus view” and that several of the studies actually opposed it?