Criticism of the media’s coverage in Iraq is nothing new.
There isn’t much to criticize these days. You don’t hear much about Iraq lately.
Arthur Chernkoff’s indespensible roundup of the past two weeks’ good news from Iraq is back and worth checking out.
Here is another Iraq resource that seems reasonable to me,
Which is not to say that everything is going spectacularly in Iraq and the
news media is ignoring it. Taking a country from a totalitarian system to a
democracy is a tricky business. It is easy not to get it right, especially not
quickly. Germany didn’t have elections until four years after WW II ended.But for every tragic car bomb that kills a dozen Iraqis (and every death is a
horrible tragedy), there are 24,999,995 Iraqis who are having a relatively good
day – getting married, starting new, higher paying jobs, getting information
from outside their country for the first time, buying appliances they could not
afford previously, traveling to visit relatives outside their hometown for the
first time, practicing their religion as they chose rather than how Saddam
decrees.
All is not lost. Leave it to Bob Schieffer ,
On Thursday’s CBS Evening News, Schieffer highlighted how “this was another
fairly quiet day in Iraq: No American casualties reported again. Since January’s
elections, the rate of U.S. fatalities has fallen dramatically to half what it
was during the previous three months.
Not again! Has another sloppy network news staff jumped at the first incriminating document they could get their hands on? It can’t really be falling apart this quickly, can it? When will they learn?
The way these stories are debunked by the bloggers is absolutely fascinating. One thing that runs through every example is that it all starts with the most basic question, “This doesn’t seem right?”
Here’s how it started…..
ABC News and the Washington Post have described–but not actually produced–a memorandum relating to the Terri Schiavo case which they have described as “GOP talking points” that were “distributed only to Republican Senators.” Many other news outlets have picked up on ABC’s and the Post’s reporting, such as this Houston Chronicle article, which relies in part on the memo to support a bitter attack on the Republican Party:
Most interesting is a talking-points memo from the Senate side of the Capitol
that spells it right out in stark electoral terms: “the pro-life base will be
excited” and “this is a great political issue, this is a tough issue for
Democrats.”
Blogger Josh Clayborn has been talking to ABC representatives, both on and
off the record, and they are now telling him that they never meant to imply that
the “talking points” memo originated with the Republicans–only that it was
given to some Republican Senators.
Another terrific column from one of our favorite columnists, Charles Krauthammer,
What’s Left? Shame.
Until now. Now that the real Arab street has risen to claim rights that the West
takes for granted, the left takes note. It is forced to acknowledge that those
brutish Americans led by their simpleton cowboy might have been right. It has no
choice. It is shamed. A Lebanese, amid a sea of a million other Lebanese, raises
a placard reading “Thank you, George W. Bush,” and all that Euro-pretense, moral
and intellectual, collapses.
Al Gore’s new bag: Investment adviser
Nov, 2004
Al Gore has a new title to add to those of former vice president and former
presidential contender: chairman of an investment firm that seeks out
companies taking a responsible stance on big global issues like climate change.
Clinton lends name to retail hedge fund
March 9 2005
Bill Clinton is lending his name to efforts by an Austrian company to bring
â??hedge fundsâ? to the US retail investor. One of the former president’s
first public appearances following his planned chest operation this week will be
at the launch of a retail investment centre on New York’s Fifth Avenue by
Superfund Asset Management.
What else can one conclude after looking at this photo?
Giuliana Sgrena has claimed her car was hit by 300 to 400 bullets from an armored vehicle and that she was picking up handfuls of spent rounds from the seats.
If your first instinct is to believe that our troops would delibertly fire on civilians, or target her specifically, then read people like Danny Schechter. These are the same people that complain about the lack of armored Humvees because they”care about the troops” yet their natural inclination is to believe the worst about them.
If you find that attitude disgusting then Charles Johnson and Little Green Footballs is the place to go. He had this photo and several others.
This sorry bunch look even worse as news comes out about the conduct of our troops and the truthfulness of this reporter. Things like this are not helping their cause,
A U.S. official said that of all the cars that passed through the checkpoint
that night, the reporterâ??s vehicle was the only one fired upon. â??Something
that car did caused the soldiers to fire,â? said the official, who asked not
to be named. The shooting occurred at night at a checkpoint on a notoriously
dangerous road that links Baghdad to the international airport.
UPDATE
Instapundit posted a letter from Joseph Fulvio that sums up my feelings,
Europeans have long been conditioned to assume the worst about Americans. No
surprise there. But itâ??s interesting how quickly the American Left accepted,
with little reservation, the word of a politically-blinkered writer who openly
crusaded against this war (no bias there!). Yet, it refused to give benefit of
doubt, much less a full hearing, to its fellow citizens, members of the most
highly trained and disciplined military organization in the world. But donâ??t
question their patriotism â?? they support the troopsâ?¢.
Thanks for helping us in Iraq. We do appreciate that. While we are sorry for the death of your ONE GUY, we have to ask that you understand that we have lost HUNDREDS of young men and women from from road side or car bombs. Hundreds more have been maimed. Go to the Fisher House and talk to wounded troops who had their bodies blown to bits in similar incidents. When you barrel towards our Marines without warning or caution, they will defend themselves.
With 1500 young heroes making the ultimate sacrifice for this monumental undertaking, we cannot listen to another word about this being a deliberate, targeted attack. The communist reporter claims 400 shots into her car? And she lived? Please, enough is enough with the America bashing.
Sorry for your loss, now drop it.
Sincerely,
A Half Italian, Half Irish American
What is it with the stuffed shirts at Boeing? The second CEO in a row has been fired in a scandal involving inappropriate relationships with women who work for them.
Phil Condit, former CEO, resigned in disgrace. Luckily for him, his private life was not the main reason, just one of many,
- He oversaw a manufacturing crisis that took Wall Street — and the board — by surprise and ultimately caused the company to take a $2.6 billion write-down.
- The CFO during his tenure is now serving prison time for illegally recruiting a top Air Force official to the company
- Boeing’s stock fell 6.5% under Condit — while the Standard & Poor’s 500-stock index rose 61.8%.
While proving to be a terrible manager, Condit also proved that he had quite a shady private life, including marrying his first cousin (ewwww). This Business Week profile is devastating,
Condit’s personal life was similarly prone to excess, and it began to raise eyebrows within the company and among directors.
After his second marriage, to a Boeing secretary, broke up in 1990, Condit
embarked on a relationship with a Boeing receptionist, Laverne Hawthorne. They
dated for about six months — until Condit got promoted to president in 1992.
About the same time, the company’s customer relations department downsized, and
Hawthorne was issued a pink slip. She told BusinessWeek that she immediately
went to see him in his office and reminded him of promises he had made to her.
As Hawthorne recalls it, she looked him in the eye and said: “One of us in this
room has balls, and it certainly isn’t you.” Then she stormed out. Hawthorne
declines to say whether she filed a wrongful-termination suit against Condit or
received a settlement from the company, but several Boeing executives say both
happened. “Former Boeing director Charles M. Piggott, retired chairman of Paccar Inc.,
had expressed concern to several senior Boeing executives about Condit’s
behavior. Piggott did not return calls seeking comment. Said one Boeing lawyer
to a senior Boeing executive: “We have another Bill Clinton on our hands.”
The man that replaced Condit, Harry Stonecipher, was a well respected aersopace executive who was CEO of Northrup Grumman until it was acquired by Boeing. He is pushing 70, gruff, opinionated and known as a good manager. He had done a respectable job of turning Boeing around and helping them get past some of these ethical lapses.
That was until the shocking news this morning that he too could not keep his pants on, at least around the hotties who apparently work within the Boeing coprorate offices,
Boeing Fires CEO for Improper Relationship
CHICAGO, Mar. 7, 2005
(AP) Boeing Co. abruptly forced out its president and chief executive officer, Harry Stonecipher, for what the company said Monday was a violation of the company’s code of business conduct stemming from a relationship the married, 68-year-old Stonecipher had with a female Boeing executive. The stunning ouster makes Stonecipher the second CEO to depart the Chicago-based airplane maker and defense contractor in disgrace in the past 15 months.
Speaking of Bill Clinton, how long before he tosees his hat into the ring as the next CEO?