The Rant

How Many Embedded Reporters Cover the Iraq War? (A Pajamas News Special Item) PJM in Seattle http://pajamasmedia.com/2006/09/how_many_embedded_reporters_co.php September 22, 2006 4:09 PM Given the tsunami of news coming out of Iraq in the papers and on television, it wouldn’t be surprising to learn that the media organizations of the world must have a battalion or more of reporters assigned to cover the war. But if you guessed “one or two battalions,” you’d be far off the mark. If you guessed “several squads” you’d still be wrong. Pajamas Media, in the course of a casual conversation with a Marine Corps information officer who tracks the number of embedded reporters in Iraq, learned the real number of embedded reporters covering the Iraq story on September 19, 2006. It was, according to the officer, a fairly typical day. To illustrate his point, he provided Pajamas Media with the illustration he uses to brief with on the state of media embedding in Iraq. What was that number? Take a g...

by Charles Krauthammer ___________________________ Friday, September 22, 2006; Page A17 Religious fanatics, regardless of what name they give their jealous god, invariably have one thing in common: no sense of humor. Particularly about themselves. It's hard to imagine Torquemada taking a joke well. Today's Islamists seem to have not even a sense of irony. They fail to see the richness of the following sequence. The pope makes a reference to a 14th-century Byzantine emperor's remark about Islam imposing itself by the sword, and to protest this linking of Islam and violence: · In the West Bank and Gaza, Muslims attack seven churches. · In London, the ever-dependable radical Anjem Choudary tells demonstrators at Westminster Cathedral that the pope is now condemned to death. · In Mogadishu, Somali religious leader Abubukar Hassan Malin calls on Muslims to "hunt down" the pope. The pope not being quite at hand, they do the next best thing: shoot dead, execution-style, ...

Oakland Raiders football practice was delayed nearly two hours today after a player reported finding an unknown white powdery substance on the practice field. Head coach Art Shell immediately suspended practice and called the police and federal investigators. After a complete analysis, FBI forensic experts determined that the white substance unknown to players was the GOAL LINE. Practice resumed after special agents decided the team was unlikely to encounter the substance again!

__________________________________ Bob Clasen Here is what Ahmadinejad said, according to the UN translator speaking as the speech was delivered, at the end of the speech: "I emphatically declare that today's world more than ever before longs for just and righteous people with love for all humanity, and above all longs for the perfect, righteous human being and the real savior who has been promised to all peoples and who will establish justice, peace and brotherhood on the planet. Oh Almighty God, all men and women are your creatures and you have ordained their guidance and salvation. Bestow upon humanity that thirst for justice, the perfect human being promised to all by you, and make us among his followers among those who strive for his return and his cause." Ahmadinejad is referring to the 12th Iman, the messiah in Shiite theology. Here is an interesting article from the Washington Post about what Ahmadinejad believes about how these are the Last Times. . . The articl...

I listened to Ahmadinejad's speech last night and it seem to be in two parts. The first part seemed to be calling for Africa, Asia and the Muslim world to demand a reform of the UN to throw out the hegemony of the WW II allied powers. Fat chance. The second part seem to be almost evangilical, and I assume was supposed to play in Muslim countries because there were numerous references to Allah, the prophets, spirtuality, justice etc. No long on substance. However, unless we want the entire world of diplomacy to disintegrate into clubs and spears, we don't arrest foreign leaders, even dispicable ones when they come to the United Nations. He obviously has diplomatic immunity and he is a head of state. If we want to snatch him after he is back in Iran....well...even that is probably not Kosher. He is a head of state. If his regime were toppled by his own people or in a war, then arresting him might be considered OK. I quite frankly was shocked at what happened to Pinochet....

I listened to Ahmadinejad's speech last night and it seem to be in two parts. The first part seemed to be calling for Africa, Asia and the Muslim world to demand a reform of the UN to throw out the hegemony of the WW II allied powers. Fat chance. The second part seem to be almost evangilical, and I assume was supposed to play in Muslim countries because there were numerous references to Allah, the prophets, spirtuality, justice etc. No long on substance. However, unless we want the entire world of diplomacy to disintegrate into clubs and spears, we don't arrest foreign leaders, even dispicable ones when they come to the United Nations. He obviously has diplomatic immunity and he is a head of state. If we want to snatch him after he is back in Iran....well...even that is probably not Kosher. He is a head of state. If his regime were toppled by his own people or in a war, then arresting him might be considered OK. I quite frankly was shocked at what happened to Pinochet....

____________________________________ New York Sun Editorial September 19, 2006 Hardliners in the war on Islamic extremist terrorism have long called for it to be treated as a war rather than a law-enforcement issue. Yet by allowing, in Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the president of an Axis regime to come to New York and stay on Park Avenue at the Intercontinental Hotel The Barclay, President Bush is signaling that he's less than serious in his approach to a regime he marked, at the outset of his presidency, as evil. Those who recognize the Iranian threat are left with the law-enforcement option. Police Commissioner Kelly, District Attorney Morgenthau, or any enterprising federal prosecutor or G-Man has a perfect opportunity at hand to seize Mr. Ahmadinejad and to hold him as a material witness or even as a suspect. Years ago the Jewish Forward newspaper made a similar argument in respect of the Hafez al-Assad of Syria. It didn't happen, of course, and the Syrian occupation of Lebanon gr...

For those of you who believe that the biggest danger facing the country today is the governement wiretapping calls from terrorist groups outside the country, consider this alternative opinion. . . _______________________ By Thomas Sowell When you enter a boxing ring, you agree to abide by the rules of boxing. But when you are attacked from behind in a dark alley, you would be a fool to abide by the Marquis of Queensbury rules. If you do, you can end up being a dead fool. Even with a nuclear Iran looming on the horizon and the prospect that its nuclear weapons will end up in the hands of international terrorists that it has been sponsoring for years, many in the media and in the government that is supposed to protect us have been preoccupied with whether we are being nice enough to the terrorists in our custody. The issue has been brought to a head by the efforts of Senators John McCain, John Warner, and Lindsey Graham to get us to apply the rules of the Geneva convention to cutthroats...

by Bob Clasen The reasons given for the Iraq war were erroneous. It appears to me that everyone was equally mistaken in believing that Hussein had WMD. There are plenty of quotes from Kerry and Clinton and Gore saying so, not to mention other world leaders. BUt if you want to believe that Bush was lying and more mistaken, okay, fine. We can continue pour over the data about the beginning of the Iraq war forever, but that does not anwer the question, what do we do now. What would the Democrats do if they were in charge? What would they do about Iraq, as the situation stands? What would they do about Iran? NOW. IF the Democrats want to be elected now, tell us what they want to do now. About Terrorism. Abotu Iraq. About Iran. It is a difficult situation. Do you allow Iran to obtain nuclear weapons, or not? How do you stop Iran? What do you think Iran will do if it obtains nuclear weapons. That Bush was at the very least mistaken about WMD when the war started is pretty clear....

Bob: I don't mean become Republicans.. I mean they never forget. The Republicans have controlled both houses and all the oversight committees for years. And as a result have engaging in a white-wash of all the Bush mistakes, by just not investigating the BS coming from this administration. Here's an example of the misuse of intelligence that the Republicans don't want discussed. posted on Truthout.org Atta in Prague By Mark Hosenball Newsweek Wednesday 13 September 2006 The story that the "intelligence community" doesn't want you to hear. The claim that terrorist leader Mohamed Atta met in Prague with an Iraqi spy a few months before 9/11 was never substantiated, but that didn't stop the White House from trying to insert the allegation in presidential speeches, according to classified documents. Cryptic references to the White House efforts are contained in a new Senate Intelligence Committee report released last Friday that debunke...