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I'll have more information as details become available to me.
Move America Forward sends care packages overseas. Everywhere I went, I saw tons of care packages sent by groups like Move America Forward and Operation Gratitude. Both of these are great charities and worthy of your donations.
Funny how cards work. A spade is still a spade, even if you turn it upside down.
Meet Father Michael Pfleger, a Roman Catholic Priest and "social activist". Father Pfleger runs a ministry in Chicago and is also a staunch supporter of Senator Barack Obama. Unfortunately, for the senator, Father Pfleger made the following comments.
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Father Pfleger released the following statement, following his sermon and the exposure it INSTANTLY got on the Internet.
"I regret the words I chose Sunday. These words are inconsistent with Sen. Obama's life and message, and I am deeply sorry if they offended Sen. Clinton or anyone else who saw them," he said in statement released by his church, St. Sabina.
Senator Obama distanced himself from the comments Pfleger made.
I've been on the French language program Kiosque several times now and the reason why I get invited back (and paid, I love how the Europeans pick up the tab) is because I provide a different point of view. Like the comment below.
Coming next: Me in a debate with Chilean, Indian, Russian and Chinese journalists on Iraq. I'll put it up as soon as I get my hands on it.
After some eerily familiar initial controversy, the American Gladiator revival has moved on and will be competing in the normally slow summer months, when most scripted shows shut down.
Will Gladiator entertain a new generation of Americans? Only the ratings will tell.
CNN is reporting that teenage boys were forced to learn how to become suicide bombers in the Northern city of Mosul.
All six boys were taught how to carry out suicide attacks with explosive belts and a date was fixed for each one of them, Hussein said, adding that Iraqi soldiers had questioned the boys.
When the politics surrounding the situation in Iraq have settled down, the atrocities of what terrorists have done in the country will be told. In the meantime, Iraqis work hard to secure their nation. The news is reporting that Iraqis soldiers have pressed into Sadr City, and are holding their positions without any great trouble.
The media is warming up to the idea that things are, indeed, improving in Iraq.
Here's the reaction I got from the kids in Sadr City.
Canada is an exporter of oil, but that doesn't do much for what motorists pay to fill up their tanks.
On a trip to Canada, from New York, I stopped for gas twice, the difference in price was an astounding 20% more in Canada than in the United States. Canadians themselves will jump the border for cheaper gas--and that's saying a lot.
I'm amazed how much the Brits pay to drive on the wrong side of the road. Living in New York, I'm not going to complain too much about the price of gas, I only tank up when I travel out of the city, but if you think the price of gas is going to stop at 4 bucks keep your fingers crossed, Europeans are paying way past $6, and the Dutch win out with over $7/gallon
I had no intention of seeing the Indiana Jones movie this Memorial Day weekend and apparently I wasn't alone. In what seemed like a manufactured attempt to create buzz, this Mother of Jones flicks was being equated with actual proof that cows passing air was contributing to global warming.
Everywhere I turned all the wrong people were giving the thumbs up to a movie that seems curiously out of step with the current trend in blockbusters.
A silly writer at Salon.com wondered if Indian Jones could teach kids History, while USA Today was so desperate for something positive to say, they interviewed French kids who saw the film at Cannes, (as if the mainstream media cared about anything the French said, when they're not criticizing the War in Iraq.) Let's face it, the Europeans will watch everything that comes from the USA, Baywatch is still a prime time draw in Great Britain--I mean Pakistan.
I ate at the Waverly Inn, earlier this week, and was blinded by the flashes coming through the front window, as I sipped my organically grown and locally harvested naturally green pea soup. I asked the waiter if the triple osmosis water filter was on the fritz, but the wannabe Wilhelmina actor replied that the photographers were outside stalking for the senior citizens a couple of tables over. He was referring to none other than Harrison Ford, who was looking a bit bored surrounded by the business types and flanked by the post-feminist Ally McBeal star, Calista Flockhart.
"Experts" claimed, Indiana Jones was in the running to shatter all records, but that hasn't been the case. According to early receipts, the Spielberg action thriller brought in 25 million on the Friday opening as opposed to the 50 million projected. That's pretty far off the mark, but not according to some of the early non-Brie consuming buzz.
QUEERLY BELOVED
Obama's 'gay' problem
Exclusive: Matt Sanchez sees senator's appeal to LGBT crowd as sudden liability
Posted: May 24, 2008
1:00 am Eastern
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The California decision against the same-sex marriage ban has the candidates for the presidency declaring their dedication to the traditional definition of marriage. Even the faux conservative, John McCain, meekly defended a "difference of opinion" on marriage during an appearance on lesbian bride-to-be Ellen Degeneres' national talk show.
Suddenly, it's back to basics since only a small minority of Americans are interested in allowing woman and woman to become wife and wife. Even liberal California, a state that's not sure which flag to salute, rejected gay marriage by 60 percent. In 2004, the debate over marriage may have ruined the John Kerry candidacy, but my bet is that Americans were more offended by the amount of hairspray running mate John Edwards applied to his coif.
From sea to shinning sea, Americans have defined marriage as between man and woman; whether in Alabama or Alaska, it's safe to say transsexual nuptials are politically toxic. Although every candidate quickly came out against gay marriage, Democrats are the most vulnerable to the accusations of being closeted activist. When it comes to the "marriage equality" agenda, the man who calls himself "the most consistent advocate on LGBT issues" is particularly suspect.
Like a staph infection resistant to aggressive antibiotics, Barack Obama has a gay problem that will keep returning if only the American media will recognize and examine the symptoms.
Today, with chatrooms, IM's and text messages, "to socialize" means to hang out, so when a dolt like Democrat Congresswoman Maxine Waters flubs the multisyllabic verb and threatens "to take over" oil companies, it really doesn't raise too many plucked eyebrows.
“And guess what this member would be all about? This member would be all about socializing — er, uh. [Pauses for several moments] …. would be about … [pause] … basically … taking over, and the government running all of your companies.”
It's fascinating to see Congress complain about the oil companies. Exxon, Mobile, BP, at the very least, provide a product. I'm really not sure what the representative from Southern California does when her fingers are not tracing the words in a Hooked on Phonics lesson, but I doubt Ms. Waters could run a hotdog stand, much less pump gas.
Rush Limbaugh explains the levity of the threat, while giving a recommendation.
What is the Ted Kennedy legacy? I was a bit confused after all the flattering comments on the recently diagnosed brain tumor victim.
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Last month, the media was reporting just how powerful the young cleric Moqtda al-Sadr had become. You should always distrust the media when the powers that be suddenly go on a blitz. The stories of an out of control Sadr City were everywhere. Shortly thereafter, the media went dark on Sadr city, Iraqi civil war and pretty much everything having to do with Mesopotamia.
There are several stories that show a much different Sadr City than what was previously advertised.
Last month, Basra, in Southern Iraq, was supposed to be falling apart. In a much publicized event, Iraqi soldiers did not rid the city of all resistance fighters, in the first major operation led by Iraqi forces. Today, Basra has quieted and is completely under Iraqi control.
Bottom line, if you read about a sudden flurry of activity in Iraq or Afghanistan and there is no follow up, you should really ask yourself why.
Update: Time Magazine article cont...
The original version of this Spanish article by Matt Sanchez can be read by subscription only where it was published. But here's a copy you can view. Click on the image at left to enlarge or RIGHT-CLICK HERE to download as a PDF file.
(Mac users: Control+Mouse Click, then choose Save Link As)
I'll be periodically contributing in Spanish as there are many people who want to learn more about the American elections. The piece below asks the question "Will She Stay or Will she Go?"
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CONTRAPUNTOS ¿Se queda o se va? |
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18 May. 08
Normalmente, en mayo, los candidatos tanto demócratas como republicanos hacen una pausa, mientras que el gran público, distraído por las vacaciones, disfruta del poco tiempo libre que el trabajo le concede.
Lo normal es evitar la política durante el verano, pero en 2008, la carrera para la Casa Blanca y el más poderoso puesto en el mundo es todo menos normal.
Although both my parents spoke Spanish as their mother tongue, I learned the language much later, as an adult in Madrid. I'm glad the response to the article has been well received. Gracias por haberme escrito.
If you want to translate the article, use the translator on the right. -->
This comedy routine was slightly more than funny, it was sadly true.
Thanks Barcepundit
I found this image and thought it spoke for itself.
Note: No airbrushing or photoshop has been used to alter these photos--unfortunately.
I don't always get to read the comments left on my blog, but I was really especially proud and grateful for this comment here:
Cpl Sanchez,
Was forwarded one of your articles on the media in Iraq. It had your e-mail attached. Would have posted this note on your blog, but thanks to the new NMCI BS it's blocked. Am currently stationed in the sandbox myself right now......again. Wanted to let you know that it's nice to see, first, an enlisted individual who is able to articulate what the rest of us are seeing (I'm so sick of reading stuff from Generals who only know what their advisers tell them). Second, it's nice to see it coming out of Columbia University! As a native New Yorker I'm all too familiar with their liberal views and poor treatment of the military. It's very frustrating to see the kind of stuff that I do out here, work with the media, taxi around Generals, etc and to then be asked questions from people back home like "what do you think about what's going on over there?". I find more and more that I'm just too angry to answer intelligently and there is just so much to it all. Particularly when asked about the media or the contractors that are over here ie blackwater. When I was home between my last deployment and this one I found that I couldn't watch the news, couldn't watch the political debates, or many of the political discussion shows that I used to find interesting. The total disconnect between what the media puts out to the American populace there in by shaping the opinion of the populace is infuriating. Seriously I couldn't watch the TV. So I guess what I'm trying to get at in a very round about way is Thank you. Please keep up the good work. Those of us that have become too bitter and angry to find the words need those like you who can to tell the story of what is really going on here to maintain the integrity of our names and the honor of our work. Thank you for holding them accountable.
Semper Fi,
Cpl Condello
USMC
The article Cpl. Condello responded to was this one here;
In Ramadi, personality sometimes 'more useful than body armor' 
© 2007 WorldNetDaily.com
HURRICANE POINT, Ramadi – If you head west from this small forward
operating base located on Route Michigan, you'll reach a bridge that
crosses a peaceful river. It would be easy to spend an afternoon
walking along the riverbank, and many Iraqis do.
But
the 3rd Battalion 7th Marines out of 29 Palms know complacency kills.
In fact, that adage is written on the walls near the exit as a warning
to Marines about to go outside the wire and into town. Speaking
to any member of the 3/7 Marines is like talking to a history book. For
those who were here last deployment, the chapters on Ramadi are written
into their memory. And when asked to recall the last deployment, the
Marines of the 3/7 all seem to pause, as if staring at a photo of the
past, trying to match up the old image in their minds with the reality
right before them. cont...
Despite a vote to define marriage as a union between a man and a woman, gay/lesbian/homosexual marriage has been approved in my home state of California. Despite the fact that all candidates have come out against gay marriage, there are degrees to just how much a candidate is against same-sex nuptials.
By now, it should be obvious that civil unions are trojan horses, a way of advancing the same-sex marriage agenda by giving an inch, before taking the final mile.
In 2006, McCain appeared in this commercials.
The media has a tendency to cast the military in Iraq as either villains or victims, but they are rarely viewed as humorous. At a checkpoint, this Marine shows both levity and bravado in a situation that can quickly turn from droll to dire.
Note:
It's a mistake to compare the situation in Iraq with any type of situation we could have in the United States. Not all countries are the same, and security issue in Iraq make the average Iraqi prefer American military over there very own.
Written (and spoken) in almost every conceivable language, Wikipedia is billed as the world's largest encyclopedia, but is it also the world's largest propaganda tool for smearing conservatives and promoting leftist views?
With the presidential elections looming, Americans will query the Internet to make a decision on the candidates. Now more than ever, accurate information is key. For almost any query, the chances are that the search engine will turn up a Wikipedia article — and that’s where the problems begin.
In 2001, Bernard Goldberg wrote his groundbreaking book Bias
to confirm what we already knew: the media colored the news according
to a liberal ideology. Today, Wikipedia, the “world’s largest
encyclopedia,” has the potential of becoming the liberal left’s largest
propaganda machine.
Volunteer editors scour
the Internet for “reliable sources” (RS in Wiki-speak) and the typical
Wikipedia article is better sourced than most subscription-based
encyclopedias, according to several studies. But it’s the choice of how
to source an article that really shades the news. Drawing from a mostly
liberal media, a controversial figure like Senator Obama’s “spiritual
guide,” the Reverend Jeremiah Wright, becomes almost a scholarly man presaging the woes of our time.
Most editors take their work very seriously, and are meticulous in
following the Wikipedia rule book. But many editors pursue childish
agendas with a perverted glee. Control, influence, and prestige — which
escape many Wikipedia editors in the mundane brick and mortar world —
are what some Wiki-addicts can establish in the virtual realm, except
here they mostly remain anonymous and irresponsible.
Editors Gone Wild
“Every year a couple of editors go crazy and deface the Wikipedia main page,” says Lise Broer, a Wikipedian with over two years of experience in the Wikipedia project.
“Wikipedia has redundant systems for eliminating much of the vandalism, but the more subtle stuff can get through,” said Lise in a phone interview. “That’s where I come in.” Broer has adopted the screen name Durova, the first female Russian officer.
An historic female military figure is a fitting name because Lise
Broer has involved herself with the toughest and most contentious
articles on Wikipedia. Ms. Broer/Durova worked to ban an editor who
claimed to be the descendant of Joan of Arc and was intent on
inscribing his shoddily sourced lineage on the saint’s Wikipedia page.
“Wiki-drama” is as subtle as using “sock puppets” to pretend you’re
more than one editor, to outright stalking. Through hours of incessant
emails, text messages, and chats, Broer has dealt with these headaches
with great professionalism — and she does it all for free.
Liberal Bias?
Conservative figures are subject to both outright vandalism
and the subtle hostility of activist editors with an enormous
ideological agenda and no scruples. If several editors collaborate to
block or stonewall an article, they can stall well-sourced information
or just entirely skew the presentation. For some reason conservatives
are an especially appealing target.
“Is he best known as a (political) ‘commentator’ or as a ‘TV presenter’ or a ‘lying sack of sh*t?’” asks one irate editor of the Wikipedia Bill O’Reilly article.
Conservative radio personality and activist Melanie Morgan has had her Wikipedia article defaced for several years by editors who have lobbied to have false information included in her Wikipedia article, including changing her name.
Michelle Malkin’s article is typically peppered with racial epithets.
Ann Coulter’s article is on a permanent lockdown status, where only the most trustworthy editors preside over the smallest of changes that have to reach some type of peer consensus. I can’t even reproduce much of the comments and criticisms on the Coulter article.
My article, Matt Sanchez, is one of the most hotly contested articles on Wikipedia and has been shielded from editing for the better part of a year.
There are hundreds of thousands of blogs and articles on the Internet, so what makes Wikipedia any different from much of the dubious information one can find on the World Wide Web?
“Take the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, the Los Angeles Times, CNN, and Fox News. Put them together and the traffic going to Wikipedia is easily 10 times that amount and growing,” Durova said. If you do a search, any search, there’s bound to be a Wikipedia article among the top three results. The culture wars have found a new battlefield; it’s named Wikipedia.org.
Matt Sanchez is an international journalist and war correspondent. After a year of cooperating with Wiki-editors he is currently banned from contributing to an article based on him at Wikipedia, due to protests of bias.
Americans generally couldn't care less about what goes on outside the country, hell, we barely care what goes on in a neighboring county or city much less something that happens a continent away. Curiously, non-Americans are VERY interested in what happens in the United States. The Way They See Us scans the news for points of views and lets you, the disinterested, learn what they are saying about us.
In today's segment of "The Way They See Us", we examine how the CBC, the Canadian version of PBS, reported on the actions of the Marine in Khandahar.
The earthquake that struck China has taken a toll, according to some estimates, as high as 12,000 victim. This disaster could not come at a worse time for China, a country that is attempting to show the world how much progress they have made as a result of their revolution. The Beijing games themselves are supposed to be a show case of modernity and dynamic.
The "Bird's Nest" is the main Olympic Stadium for the 2008 Summer Beijing games.
But after seeing so many building--as much as 80% in some areas--destroyed in the Chinese heartland, it becomes apparent that China is not so far behind a third world nation, where building standards are a chaotic compromise between utility and expediency.
The earthquake itself was somewhere near 7.9 on the Richter scale, a powerful quake, but not unprecedented. In 1906, the San Francisco quake was estimated to be between 7-8 and 8.3 on the Richter scale. Although the death toll of the San Francisco Quake is disputed, the official number was just under 500 victims of the disaster.
The hustle and bustle of the City by the Bay was brought to a halt one early morning in 1906.
The sad truth is that the more underdeveloped a country is, the greater the loss of life. China is heavily populated and I'm not sure what the density of the region effected was, but a death toll of 12,000 sounds like China has some way to go before making it into the modern world.
I completely missed this story on CNN talking head, Richard Quest, arrest in Central Park at 3 am with some drugs in his pocket, a rope around his neck that was tied to his genitals, and a sex toy in his boot--according to the police report. He was accompanied by an unidentified male.
I have to ask myself if Quest's personal habits have an effect on his business travel reporting. Will there be some kind of backlash against Quest, or will everything be ok once he reveals whether or not he was playing "safe" with his midnight male park escort?
According to the New York Post article quest is "one of the most popular faces on CNN". I'm not sure we will see Quest on CNN again after this bust, or is this a new type of travel reporting the Ted Turner news station will soon be rolling out. One thing is for sure, Quest is in demand. The post reported that:
Quest was once offered a position for the English-language version of the controversial Al Jazeera network, but said he turned it down because being gay and Jewish, he didn't think it would be a good fit.
Sounds like a pretty sober assessment Dick.
Iron Man the movie is a great thrill, inspired by a comic book series that began in the 60's. Tony Stark, a weapons manufacturer, visits Afghanistan to test a new weapon system code named Jericho. Stark is kidnapped by an international group whose members look suspiciously like terrorists. This group has a compound and plenty of armament that, as fate would have it, comes from Stark's company--Stark Enterprises.
Seeing that the fruit of his labors actually causes destruction for so many innocents, Stark escapes and dedicates himself to a pacifist way of life swearing off the production of weapons. Nevertheless, Iron Man is brought into one fight after another and decides that he alone can protect the unprotected. In other words, he'd like everyone to disarm, while he (a child prodigy and MIT graduate) remains the only one with any fire power, because he has the best of intentions.
I've reads thousands of comics as a kid, but as an adult I see just how left-wing comic books have always been, and now that they are made into movies it's that much harder to avoid the simplistic cliches. A reporter chides Tony Stark for being a "merchant of death", but Stark is quick to give his pedigree as a patriot--his father was key in the construction of the atomic bomb used to end the War in the Pacific. As the movie continues, Stark's conscious even relativizes the roll his father played and wonders if the bomb was justified--as if the Japanese were going to surrender if you asked them politely enough.
Throughout the movie Iron Man, the characters are categorically skeptical of the government's motives, but are not terribly curious about what motivated the terrorists in Afghanistan. In fact, the whole conflict in Afghanistan is sanitized to exclude religion or responsibility--none of the Afghan women are shown in the socially mandatory burkha. We learn that the head honcho of the terrorists, a shaved head Arabic-speaking tyrant, wants to "rule the world" like any other generic evil dude.
I always enjoyed comics as a kid, maybe it was the storytelling, where my imagination filled in the gaps between the panels. In the movies the artistic team has more control over the presentation, so things like ideology have a much more prominent role.
Going all the way back to 1938, one of Superman's first crusades was against "war profiteers", arms manufacturers, fueling a fictional conflict in Latin America. The two youngmen who created the Man of Steel were social progressives projecting their frustrations and solutions through a superhuman character. Despite seventy years later and leap to the big screen, not much has changed.
Periodically, reporters will put out requests to help gather information. Just the other day, I got this one.
I'm looking to speak with medical and military personnel who can share their experience with (or knowledge of) soldiers that have self-inflicted injuries. I'm particularly interested in intentional injuries -- or other creative methods -- that have successfully gotten reluctant soldiers shipped back home or prevented them from being shipped to the frontlines. I understand the sensitivity of this inquiry and am committed to protecting the confidentiality of each source -- and each soldier -- on a case-by-case basis. Contact: ****
D***** T***.****l@newsweek.com
If you ever wondered how a news outlet creates controversy, look no further than the request above. Personally, I never met someone who tried to injure himself in order to return home from Iraq or Afghanistan, but I did stumble upon a few women who got pregnant in a warzone to achieve that same goal.
The problem with the above request is that it starts off with a foregone conclusion--some soldiers overseas want to injure themselves in order to go home--and sets out to find proof, through a mass e-mail. To be fair, I don't know how many incidents or persons this Newsweek reporter has found to fit the description above, nor do I really know if records are kept on this sort of thing. Unfortunately, this looks like another attempt at pandering to sensationalism.
Redeye just held a party for the 300th episode of the little show that could. Beside the free red and white sangria was the consensus that the city of New York has officially been child proofed. Case in point, I mistakenly walked toward Alphabet City and to my surprise, the former seedy part of town looked pretty much like any other Starbucks studded section of the Lower East Side.
In this gentler ghetto I saw trendy types hanging in and out of bars. Even the sidewalks were clean, as the cigarette smokers dutifully discarded the trash they had in their mouths in rightly designated bins. In the recent past, a trip to Alpahbet City was a walk on the wildside, where sticky sidewalks hinted at an edgy neighborhood. Now, soles clinging to Avenue A through D means the dogwalkers are neglecting their duty.
Today, I was at Columbia University to take care of some paper work for the upcoming semester. At the home of the Pulitizer Prize, I stopped by to do an interview with members of the Columbia Journalism School.
Mainstream journalism has a reluctant relationship with bloggers, but the situation becomes even more ambiguous when military bloggers or milbloggers give the depictions and details that the mainstream either misses or neglects. At the Columbia Journalism School, this afternoon, we covered life as an embed, censure, bias, freedom of speech, perception and objectivity. As both a war correspondent and a military blogger, I straddled the line between two worlds. Journalism students have much theory, but there really is no substitute for actually reporting from the frontlines.
interviewers on the spot with some questions of my own. I found myself eyeing the roof tops for snipers, while talking to the subject of my interview.
I just got off the phone with Michael Yon and I'm glad to hear that the first run of his book has sold out. If you want to know what Iraq is really like, nobody knows better than Yon. He spent 15 months in the country at different stages of the conflict. More books have been ordered.
Mark Skousen is hardly the typical economics professor. In one of his books, this former Ivy League professor detailed the unorthodox lives of the world's leading economists. From Marx to Friedman, we learned about failed careers, quirky habits and frustrated love affairs.
Today Skousen's new love is the Freedom Fest, "Where Free Minds Meet". This year's Freedom Fest promises to be an event, and I'm happy to be one of the speakers.
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