Captain Ed Morrisey of Captain’s Quarters will be our, er, my guest tonight.
Gregg spent the weekend down in Washington at the Conservative Political Action Committee conference promoting his soon to be released book, Conservative Comebacks to Liberal Lies. Because of the awful weather along the east coast, he’s stuck there.
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RightWinged.com has the video evidence. This is great, check it out.
More nonsense from the west coast’s leading newspaper, the LA Times. This time, they are going after Michael Yon. Reader DR Tucker alerted us to this profile of Yon,
Lone Gun in War Reporting
Michael Yon’s blog made him a hero among backers of the effort in Iraq. As his profile grew, so did debate on the quality of his work.
While a New York Times reporter found Iraqi security forces struggling with dishonesty and internecine rivalries, for instance, Yon described the same forces as having great promise.
“Amazingly, these Iraqis continue to load up in those little trucks and go to work, knowing the odds are that they will, sooner or later, get shot or blown up,” Yon reported of the Iraqi police in October.
“The only true martyrs I’ve seen in Iraq are these men, ordinary in most respects, who step forward and put everything on the line for the idea of Iraq.”
As Yon’s profile grew, so did disagreements on the Internet about his work.
Oh dear, he disagreed with a New York Times reporter? Off with his head! He must not know what he is talking about!
Read the whole thing here.
If you are so moved, let the reporter know what you think of his story by emailing him at james.rainey@latimes.com.
I’ve read enough Patterico to know that this type of story is in-line with the LA Times coverage of the entire war on terrorism.
Do you recall from last spring that Italian communist journalist who was released by the throat cutters after the Italian government paid a bribe, er, ransom. After her release, on the way to the airport, she claimed the US soldiers unjustafiably fired at her car, killing one of its passengers.
So how did the LA Times cover that story? By omitting key details that exonerated US troops and and including every bit of anti-US information they could find.
Here’s Patterico,
L.A. Times editors have doubled down. They have yet again suppressed evidence that U.S. soldiers were justified in shooting at the car carrying Giuliana Sgrena to a Baghdad airport.
A Reuters story filed Saturday morning states on page two:
“CBS news has reported that a U.S. satellite had filmed the shooting and that it had been established the car carrying Calipari was traveling at more than 60 miles per hour as it approached the U.S. checkpoint in Baghdad.”
Todayâ??s L.A. Times reprint of the article edits out that passage, which suggests that there is definitive proof that the car was speeding â?? a critical issue in the controversy.
Anyone else feeling that sense of déjàvu?
The LA Times agenda driven coverage is not confined to Iraq alone. They continue to deceive and report half-truths in their coverage of the NSA wiretap scandal, in coverage of domestic oppoenents of the war, and in the debate over pre-war intelligence.
And who can forget that this is the same paper that proudly published a recent column by the ultra-obnoxious Joel Stein in which he proudly declared “I don’t support the military.”
Warriors and wusses; Column by Joel Stein
I DONâ??T SUPPORT our troops. This is a particularly difficult opinion to have, especially if you are the kind of person who likes to put bumper stickers on his car. Supporting the troops is a position that even Calvin is unwilling to urinate on.
Iâ??m sure Iâ??d like the troops. They seem gutsy, young and up for anything. If youâ??re wandering into a recruiterâ??s office and signing up for eight years of unknown danger, I want to hang with you in Vegas.
Like most agenda driven old-media dinasours, the LA Times circulation is tanking. Here is their ‘plan’ to fix things, according to CEO Dennis J. FitzSimons,
While net paid circulation and revenue still declined, editorial innovations and marketing programs are making a positive difference.
I have a suggestion, stop insulting your readers intelligence, stop editorializing in news columns, stop publishing columns that proudly proclaim their disdain for the US military. That would truly be an innovation for an American big city newspaper.
Are the Olympics a great example of the world coming together for one special occasion, as my wife says. Or are they a complete waste of time and money, a diversion from the only issue that the world should be rallying around?
Are the Olympics the International Space Station of the sporting world? If the world community was really serious about putting on a show of unity and ‘passion'(this year’s marketing buzz word), it would be to fight terrorists who claim to work in the name of religion, instead of playing pretend sports in a fancy resort town.
Personally, I can’t sit back and watch the opening ceremonies and not be nagged by a feeling that the civilized world doesn’t take this threat seriously enough.
I am reminded of some recent commentary on the cartoon controversy, but I think they apply here.
Andrew Sullivan, Blackmail
People keep talking about avoiding conflict. They are in denial. The conflict is already here. It is outrageous to be informed by a crowd of hundreds of thousands that the West must give up its freedoms in order to avoid violence. I’m relieved to see that this moment has forced some very hard thinking on the left.
Krauthammer says there can be no moderates,
What passes for moderation in the Islamic community — “I share your rage but don’t torch that embassy” — is nothing of the sort. It is simply a cynical way to endorse the goals of the mob without endorsing its means. It is fraudulent because, while pretending to uphold the principle of religious sensitivity, it is interested only in this instance of religious insensitivity.
Have any of these “moderates” ever protested the grotesque caricatures of Christians and, most especially, Jews that are broadcast throughout the Middle East on a daily basis?
Rossputin, speaking for the optimists,
I believe that the Cartoon Uprising of Muslims worldwide, but especially in Europe, is an unqualified blessing for the Western World.
I am reminded of baseball managers who argue with the umpire. Reversing the call is not the issue. The issue is creating an impression for the future. The Islamists want to make the West â??march to their tune.â? And, sadly, these cooked-up, falsely-premised, government-instigated riots are having just that effect. Already the EU is considering restrictions on freedom of the press, to appease the Muslims. And other European countries seek to dissociate themselves from the Danes.
What do you think, are the Olympics a positive for the world community or a diversion?
This is cool.
Dirty windows
This week I had a chance to meet Michael Yon. He’s the blogger who was embedded with troops in northern Iraq for most of last year and whose reports, and photos, have deservedly won wide acclaim. One of his photos has been nominated for a Pulitzer Prize. Here’s his blog. If you haven’t read his “Gates of Fire” story, you really should.
Media bias isn’t just about how the MSM covers the news. It is often found in what they choose to cover. If a story doesn’t fit their agenda, they blow right past it or relegate it to the back pages. The Dick ‘The Turbin’ Durbin Analaogy kerfuffle comes to mind. That was almost exclusively a blog story for a week until finally, after much pressure, the MSM picked up on it. More recently, this week in fact, new developments in the hunt for Saddam’s WMD’s have been largely ignored by the MSM.
This is another textbook example, the disgraceful performances at Coretta Scott King’s pep rally, er, funeral.
King-Sized Mistake
By Washington Post media critic Howard Kurtz
Much of the MSM missed the boat.
Too many wrote predictable leads about the Coretta Scott King funeral, all but ignoring, or at least burying, the Bush-bashing that was going on. Whether you think it was appropriate or galling for Jimmy Carter and Rev. Joseph Lowery to use a funeral to take partisan shots at a president who was sitting behind them, this was news.
Kurtz provides a good round up of blogger reaction and does a little compare and contrast with that of the AP, Washington Post, New York Times and the rest of the usual suspects. The good news is, the MSM ability to determine what is and is not news has been shattered. They are the gatekeepers no longer. People will learn about this disgraceful performance, just not from them. And in doing so, people will learn a little more about the MSM, their priorities and agendas. Good night, and good luck to them!
How did I miss this article today? Well, I didn’t end up missing it all because I read Danny Glover’s Beltway Blogroll.
By Jim Geraghty
Unfortunately for the Democrats, these bloggers are pushing them relentlessly to take a more combative stance, even when the odds are not in their favor, and failure has serious consequences. The Kossacks believe it’s better to lose fighting for principle than compromising to avoid defeat.
Republicans can find strength and success by listening to their like-minded bloggers; Democrats can find strength and success by ignoring theirs.
As usual, Danny links to critics of the piece as well, this time the always charming John Aravosis of Americablog who says,
If the Moonie paper is suggesting the Democrats run from the blogs, then it’s because the Moonie paper thinks the blogs are an incredible asset to the Democratic Party and pose an incredible danger to the Republicans.
What flavor Kool-Aid is he drinking? The only word I agree with is ‘incredible’.