Remind me again.....

about the Exempt Media's supposed non-alignment in the world of politics. According to William Tate who published in The American Thinker, their supposed neautrality hides a deep and dangerous partisanship. Tate recently published an article exposing the New York Times' hypocrisy regarding the current brouhaha over George Bush's attempts to gather intelligence on terrorists.

According to Tate, under the Clinton Administration, there was a far more invasive intelligence program (code-named Echelon) and according to at least one official, the Clinton Administration sold the information gained from that program to the Democratic National Committee for purely partisan political use against their opponents.

At the time, the New York Times (and the rest of the Exempt Media) had a much more sympathetic approach to Clinton's (far more invasive) program, stating that "...few dispute the necessity of a system like Echelon to apprehend foreign spies, drug traffickers and terrorists...". So what has changed since that time? Apparently, only the political affiliation of occupant of the White House. That and the fact that we are actually at war with a radical terrorost group that has already proven their willingness to kill all of us without compunction.

On is amused at how the professional partisans (certainly not real journalists) at the New York Times so blatantly fail to keep their stories straight. Or maybe the Exempt Media has merely forgotten that they can be fact-checked now by people like us.

Hat tips to the Duke of DeLand and Glenn Reynolds.

国際貴社とアメリカ (International Press and the US)

It is very interesting to view the disconnect between the way the international press corps views the United States and the way that most of the world's population views the same country. The international (and US) press has absolutely no compunctions about publishing derogatory and insulting articles and issues such as the infamous Newsweek Japan highlighted so clearly here. Although Newsweek apparently was afraid to publish that story in the U.S. Interesting how they are so courageous- especially when no Americans are likely to be listening/reading!

However, it is even more interesting how the majority of the world's population clearly disagree with the self-elected elites of the Press. In fact, the US is still the number-one destination for both legal and illegal imigration. While the international press sneers, ordinary people- those who, unlike the majority of the Press actually work for a living- are voting with their feet. You think the Press might notice?

It is my sincere hope that someday the Press' contempt and dislike for their own country, and their despicable tactics in constantly denigrating it, will come home to roost. I only hope I am here to see it.

Hat tip to Gaijin Biker and Michelle Malkin.

So Hamas Wants Our Money

It appears that Hamas, like many of our of the prominent members of own media and the Democratic Party, has not yet realized that elections do have consequences. I see that despite the Palestinian voters' deciding that they want war and not peace, Hamas still wants the West (against whom it has waged a years-long campaign of hateful propaganda) to continue paying its bills.

Captain Ed Morissey put it best, commenting,

Elections have consequences, as I noted in another context. Part of those consequences is a clear understanding of what the Palestinians want as a people. They voted for the radical terrorists, and more importantly, never bothered to form a separate political party based on peaceful coexistence with Israel. They left themselves a choice between Fatah and Hamas. Had they been serious about peace, the voters would have formed a third party based on that goal and overwhelmingly supported it.

I agree. Hamas can whistle for my money until they actually realize that their election victory means that their hateful rhetoric has come home to roost. The West is not obligated to give them money. they are now reaping what they have for so long sown. They will earn our help or our enmity by their future actions. At present however, they have earned nothing but our disdain.

Hat tip to Captain's Quarters.

Japan Trip, Part 2

I was in the electronic mecca of Akihabara this weekend. I remember my previous trip as one where the streets were filled with foreigners and foreign-worshipping Japanese, all of whom were milling around the elecronic goodies prominently displayed. However, I was surprised to find that Akihabara has changed rather drastically.

In the streets, were legions of the sub-group known as 'cosplay', folks who dress up in anime- or manga-inspired costumes and who seem to have become more intense about their hobby with each passing day. The amount of money and detail contained within many of these costumes was startling. Then it also appears that the 'companions' who hawk various merchandise and/or services become younger as well. I could have sworn that this trip they appeared to be around high-school age!

Finally, there is a dearth of low-price options. Japan was never known as a bargain-hunter's paradise, but I did not notice any deals that particularly caught my eye. However, I shall be taking another trip this week, and this time I shall take my camera to provide some documentary evidence. In the menatime. Japan has definitely changed- I am not yet sure if that is for the better or not

Hillary's Hopes...

...have been struck a major blow. In a new CNN/Gallup poll, only 16 percent of voters firmly support her, while an astonsihing 51 percent say there is no way they would vote for her in 2008. This is despite the last five years of Hillary-boosting performed by the 'objective' Mainstream Media. Perhaps this is finally the evidence we have been waiting for that will convince the media how out of touch they are with most Americans, and hopefully this will put the death blow on Hillary's Presidential ambitions. President Hillary would be about as good for this country as Jimmy Carter was.

In related news, ABC's 'Commander-In-Chief' series, which is basically an MSM propaganda device to prepare the country for President Hillary, has been sinking in the ratings. Hopefully this is a corollary sign that Hillary's Presidential aspirations are based in fantasy rather than reality.

Japan trip, Part I

I am in Japan for the next two weeks on a business trip, and I will be blogging on the changes since my last trip. The main thing that is dominating the newspapers is the Livedoor scandal. It appears that wunderkid Horie Takafumi, the erstwhiel founder/president of Livedoor, cooked his accounting books to make it appear that Livedoor was doing better than it actually was. This scandal has mostly flown under the US media's radar, but it is dominating the media here in Japan. I have been amused at the feeding frenzy as every move by police and prosecurotrs is followed by a swarm of media members. It reinforces my opinion of most media members as fatuous, slavish followers who rarely if ever have the knowledge or professionalism to actually do their own homework.

In other news, it appeare that Japan is finally starting to come out from the post-bubble blues that have affected its economy for so long. I am noticing that there are fewer stories in the news about the bad economics, although that may have something to do with the approaching Olympics, which the J-media usually follows obsessively- at least as long as there are Japanese medal hopes.....

NY Times' WhistleBlower Standards

The New York Times appears to have a double standard for whistle-blowers. If you are a Democrat who releases information damaging (or potentially damaging) to the Bush Administratiojn and to the United States security, you are a 'patriotic hero'. However, if you release information that is damaging (or potentially damaging) to the Clintons, particularly hillary's 2008 Presidential run, you are "someone sympathetic to the Barrett investigation who wanted his criticism of the Clinton administration to be known."

Apparently the Times cannot see past their blind partisanship long enough to recognize real abuses of power- especially when said abuses are committed by their golden children, the Clintons. The complete article is HERE. Read the whole thing and compare it with their coverage of previous leaks- for example Joe Wilson's infamous op-ed.

Hat tip to Matt Drudge.

Nuclear Iran

I have been somewhat lax in posting of late, due to personal and professional conflicts which made it difficult to keep my blog current. Hwoever, I happened to notice that the European Union apprently has actually pulled its head out of the sand, recognizing the futility of further diplomatic efforts vis-a-vis Iran.

This is probably not particularly news-worthy save for the fact that it marks the first time in recent memory that the EU has abandoned its selfish and possibly suicidal attempts to undermine the United Statest at every step of the way. Perhaps with a nuclear Iran looming around the corner, and with a mad dictator in North Korea possibly already having nuclear weapons, the Euros will come to their senses and assist the U.S in dealing with a reality that even the delusional Left must recognize can have no good ends.

Hat tip to Captain Ed.

Teddy Kennedy, Historian

We have known for some time that Senator Edward Kennedy (D-Massachusetts) is a drunken buffoon. However, Teddy's distance from reality has become ever more marked since the election of President George W. Bush. The latest example came when the Hero of Chappaquiddick either deliberately re-wrote or (more likely, considering his mental capacity) forgot history, claiming that Barry Goldwater won the 1964 election.

Since 1964 was the only time since World War II that a Democratic presidential candidate has won in a landslide (sorry, Clintonistas, your boy never got close to winning fifty percent of the vote), this is a fairly amusing historical re-write, in my opinion. But then Teddy-boy never was much on either responsibility or reality. Too many cocktails, I guess.

Hat tip to Glenn Reynolds.

Barbra Sightings

There has been a Barbra Streisand sighting! Apparently content with her embarrassing screeds against our elected Adminstration, Ms Streisand has kept herself in a fairly low profile after her atrocious grammar and even less sightly logic were exposed by the blogosphere during our last election cycle. However, she seems to think that the voting public (most of whom have intellectual achievements that far surpass hers) might want to hear what she opines on current events. Not that she has any expertise or even real knowledge on said events. So she has published yet another amusing example of her lack of comprehension of said process. Among her comments is the following:

The result of the December election has plunged Iraq into political turmoil. Preliminary results showed the advancement of the United Iraqi Coalition, supported by the Shiite religious figure Ayatullah Ali al-Seistani. Days after the election, Sunni Arab leaders had angrily rejected early election results, saying that the vote has been fixed to favor the Shiite majority party.

Ms. Streisand ought to have graduated high school at least. Had she accomplished that much, she would understand that elections do usually tend to favor the majority in a country with elected officials. It certainly does in this country (despite Democratic wishes to the contrary). And that the process of creating a representative government is not always neat and pretty. Our own certainly was not. Does Ms Streisand not remember the Articles of Confederation? Therefore, to claim that Iraq is 'plunged into political turmoil' is an asinine analysis of the actual situation. Furthermore, the cry of 'Rigged' is a long-stnding favorite of would-be autocrats (see the Bolsheviks, the Democrats, and any other group who has not received the results they wish from an election).

If Ms. Streisand really believes the elections were a mistake, perhaps she would offer a realistic alternative, as opposed to merely repeating the tired old 'Bush Failed' and Bush Lied' slogans so loved by comrades on the Left. If we are no safer than we were in 2001, then why, Ms. Streisand, are the al Quaeda poeople hiding in caves, while you and your friends are able to continue your anti-American screeds with little fear? But that would require actual understanding of the strategic and political situation- something Ms. Streisand, for all her undoubted musical talent, sadly lacks.

And in Japan...

The new year 2006 brings new predictions of what's hot and what's not from the Asahi Geino, courtesy of the Daily Mainichi's Wai-Wai. Among the predictions- butts replace breasts as a focus in pin-ups, ramen noodles are going to be at the forefront of a price war and Japan's safety is not as sure as it once was.

While these predictions can be taken with a large grain of salt, every once in a while they do stand the test of time. Read the whole thing. Now if only Oprah could do that for the United States. I would love to know what is going to be hot next year in advance. It would greatly simplify my investment strategy!

VDH on Europe

In the wake of Mark Steyn's take-no-prisoners approach to the future of what we think of as 'The West', which equates mostly to Western Europe (and the United States) that I highlighted earlier this week, Victor Davis Hanson has weighed in as well on the potentially suicidal results of Europe's increasingly asinine attempts to have their cake and eat it too. Professor Hanson concludes with this gem:

Either your economy will reform, your populace multiply, and your citizenry defend itself, or not. And if not, then Europe as we have known it will pass away — to the great joy of the Islamists but to the terrible sorrow of America.

Read the whole thing. Courtesy of National Review Online.

Border Wars, episode xx...

The Mexican government has been belly-aching recently about the United States' increasing desires to do something about the lack of border security between ourselves and the great state of Mexico. Of course the Mexican government's real motive is to ensure that the illegal flow of immigration north can continue, thus allowing the corrupt status quo in Mexico to also continue.

However, according to Reuters, Mexicans are shooting at US Border Patrol agents on the US side of the border. Some of these shots are reported to be originating in Mexico. This seems to indicate that 1) Mexicans don't appear to regard the sovereignty of the United States with any respect and 2) that Americans who are proposing more substantial barriers and patrols along the US/Mexican border may have a point.

I would strongly advise the United States of America to stop pussy-footing and send in the United States Army to patrol the border, since it is clear that law enforcement is out-gunned by the Mexican smugglers. And in a related note, can we PLEASE cease being worried about how the Mexicans will view our actions. Polls consistently show that a majority of Americans, and a huge majority in the border states, support stronger barriers and enforcement of the borders. It's time to think about our own sovereignty, without being concerned about what Mexico will think. Maybe they might even clean up their own economy if we can close off their illegal trade. We hope....

Jihad Commentary, Part One

The United States, together with the majority of Western and Eastern European countries, is a non-Muslim country. I certainly have no qualms speaking frankly about the prophet Muhammad, who by all accounts was a failed business man living on his wife's money while he enjoyed hashish-induced dreams. So why are we so concerned about Muslims' feelings? They seem to have absolutely no compunction about mistreating or insulting peoples of other faiths/cultures, yet we in the West can't even publish humourous cartoons of Mohammed? Muslims have no problems making statements calling for the death of Christians. but we non-Muslims somehow cannot speak out in defense of our faiths without being labelled 'racist'? Something has gone very wrong when non-Muslims can be slaughtered in the streets of their home (non-Islamic) countries merely for producing what Miuslims see as unacceptable but non-Muslims in those same countries cannot even speak out against the excesses of so many Muslim rites without fear of reprisal.

I was listening to Robert Spencer of Jihad Watch this morning on KSFO 560 AM, and he made the (true) point that Islam is unique among the world's religions in demanding that its adherents make war and forcibly take over (and convert or kill) the rest of the world. Jihad, or holy war, long pre-dates any modern explanation, and is in fact responsible for the Crusades, which were, after all, an attempt to retake Jerusalem and the Holy Land from the bloodthirsty hordes that had sacked it.

Organized Christian sects such as Catholicism, for all their (Inquisition, etc) excesses, have never gone to the extent of calling for forcible conversion and conquest of the whole whorld. Nor is Christiasnity known as a top-down religion, Historically, it flowers among those on the bottom of society. Islam, on the other hand, is a top-down religion, and one that has tried on several separate occasions to take over Europe, beginning with the conquest of most of the Iberian peninsula in 715. These assaults intensified after the Ottoman Turks took the Christian kingdom of Constantinople in 1453. These assaults captured what is today Eastern Europe, and came very close to conquering all of Europe. The last of these continual attacks finally was defeated in 1683 before the gates of Vienna

Storm Warnings

From Mark Steyn, courtesy of the National Review Online. Mr. Steyn has written a new article about the impending decline and fall of what we think of as the West. This is not pleasant stuff, but no matter what your political persuasion, you might want to read this and give it some serious thought. Steyn pulls no punches, and I think he has a very strong argument. Demographics don't lie. Pour yourself a strong cup of java and read the whole thing.

Media Falsehoods Ring in New Year

And it seems that despite all the evidence that 'professional' reporters are not performing their jobs with any degree of professionalism, the media still can't seem to correct its propensity for error on a grand scale.

The West Virginia mine tragedy that has been on most front pages of late was exacerbated by the Exempt Media as they reported the wrong news without any confirmation, then failed to change their reports even as doubt set in. Yet they had the arrogance to blame the mine company for the wrong reports, without even admitting their own culpability.

I don't know how, but it seems to me that we need some way of punishing the media when they fall into these traps. After all, this is at least the third major example of false reporting from the MSM in less than a year. The true picture of the war in Iraq, the Bush 'fake-but-true' memos, the New Orleans hurricane and now this. All caused be media hubris and their herd mentality. Something needs to change. Soon.

Hat tip to Matt Drudge.

Happy New Year...

and Merry Christmas to all. In any event, after taking the passt few days off from blogging, I have returned and hope that everyone had a happy, healthy and joyous New Year. May 2006 be a better year than 2005