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Nimroz mosque kaboom kills two dozen
Today's Headlines
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-Short Attention Span Theater-
Putin rumoured to be leaving wife to marry rhythmic gymnast half his age
Posted by: Fred || 04/18/2008 00:00 || Comments || Link || [6 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Looks like VLAD found a NOSTRADAMUS "DIANE/DIANA" of his own - either that, or we just found out what happened to the OCTOBER GUARD's "DIANA" [GI Joe's Soviet counterpart].

In honor of the new GIJ movie [+ NOT "SCARLETT"].
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 04/18/2008 0:20 Comments || Top||

#2  I pre-she ate the effort, butt damn she looks like a spider!
Posted by: Gabby Cussworth || 04/18/2008 0:43 Comments || Top||

#3  ION RUSSIA > TOPIX > MICROCHIPS IMPLANTED IN SKULLS IN RUSSIA.

So-o-o, whaddaya think - TRUE LOVE/CUPID, or was it "THE CHIP"??? See TOPIX SCIENCE/REDDIT > MEN AND SEX/SP *** BECOMING OBSOLETE. The NEW GIRL ORDER shall, mys, and will rule the Earth???
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 04/18/2008 1:45 Comments || Top||

#4  Even better than the previous model of ideal woman: More than one place to put your beer!
Posted by: gorb || 04/18/2008 2:56 Comments || Top||

#5  Too much makeup.
Posted by: Deacon Blues || 04/18/2008 7:04 Comments || Top||

#6  While his muscled and hairless torso were a particular hit among female and gay voters, perhaps he was simply trying to impress his new mistress.

Truly a man of the people.
Posted by: bigjim-ky || 04/18/2008 9:13 Comments || Top||

#7  Power corrupts, absolute power corrupts absolutly.
Posted by: wxjames || 04/18/2008 10:30 Comments || Top||

#8  Poor Vlad. He'll be dead in two years...
Posted by: tu3031 || 04/18/2008 10:51 Comments || Top||

#9  Shouldn't have much trouble working their way through the Kama Sutra.
Posted by: tipper || 04/18/2008 12:12 Comments || Top||

#10  Power corrupts, absolute power is pretty awesome.
Posted by: Goober Sheart1231 || 04/18/2008 13:16 Comments || Top||

#11  Poor Vlad. He'll be dead in two years...

Maybe, but it looks like he'll have died happy. He can share tombstone epitaphs with Nelson Rockefeller: "He said he was coming, but he was going..."
Posted by: Thaimble Scourge of the Pixies4707 || 04/18/2008 17:03 Comments || Top||

#12  WXJames__ "absolutly".

nice pun but Absolut is Swedish
Posted by: Butch Glerelet3449 || 04/18/2008 17:29 Comments || Top||

#13  PRAVDA > now reporting that VLAD is denying any wedding rumors, but affirms that he likes KABAEVA.
Perhaps more importantly, vv NOSTRADAMUS etc., PRAVDA reminds of Vlad's past dinner invitation to MADONNA.

D *** NG IT, "DIANAS/DIANES" EVERYWHERE, AND NO INVITE TO WHITNEY HUSTON FROM VLAD - Perhaps, VIRGINA, the SSSSSSSHHHHHHHH real reason OSAMA is now pointing the ISLAMIST SWORD WHOLLY AND SOLELY AT RUSSIA + FORMER SSR'S???

BTW, VLAD - what is it wid you, and TOM BERENGER + USMC + NICARAGUA, AND MY GUAM SHIRTS??? You do realize, VLAD, there has to be a RECKONING btwn US Army SPECOPS-INTEL + KGB-FSB over ANNA LOGINOVA, don't you!?
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 04/18/2008 20:15 Comments || Top||


Africa Horn
Somalia: Eleven Dead As Diarrhoea Hits Sanaag Region
At least 11 people have died in Dhahar district in the Sanaag region of northern Somalia, after an outbreak of acute watery diarrhoea (AWD), medical sources said. "I can confirm 11 have died in Dhahar hospital since the outbreak," Abdulkadir Isse, a doctor at the hospital, said. At least 750 cases have been recorded since 10 March. "Today [17 April], we have 400 patients in the hospital," he said. "We had 42 cases on 13 April, which was the highest for one day."

Most affected, apart from Dahar itself, were the villages of Barkadaha Qol, Bali Busle, Buran and Boda all in the same district. However, Bashir Mohamed, country director for the NGO Horn Relief, said the situation had stabilised in the past few days. "We have been collecting people from the outlying areas for treatment," he added.

The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA-Somalia) in a report last week said AWD was spreading to rural and pastoral settlements in the district.

Health staff, it added, were not able to deal with increasing cases due to a limited capacity of only one doctor and two nurses.

Isse said the Somaliland administration and Horn Relief had sent medicines and fuel. Eastern Sanaag is claimed by both the self-declared republic of Somaliland and the self-declared autonomous region of Puntland.

The outbreak, according to Isse, started after people used water that had been standing a long time and was probably contaminated. The only borehole in the town had broken down earlier. "The movement of pastoralists looking for water and pasture for their livestock during the current drought may also have contributed to the spread of the AWD," he added.
Posted by: Fred || 04/18/2008 00:00 || Comments || Link || [3 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Hmmm, acute watery diarrhoea sounds like a euphemism for cholera.
Posted by: SteveS || 04/18/2008 9:20 Comments || Top||


Africa Subsaharan
Union refuses to off-load Zim-Bob's guns
Basic story at the South African Times.
Durban - Opposition to a shipment of arms being offloaded in Durban and transported to Zimbabwe increased on Thursday when South Africa's biggest transport workers' union announced that its members would not unload the ship. SA Transport and Allied Workers Union (Satawu) general secretary Randall Howard said: "Satawu does not agree with the position of the South African government not to intervene with this shipment of weapons.

"Our members employed at Durban container terminal will not unload this cargo neither will any of our members in the truck-driving sector move this cargo by road."

He said the ship, the An Yue Jiang, should not dock in Durban and should return to China. "South Africa cannot be seen to be facilitating the flow of weapons into Zimbabwe at a time where there is a political dispute and a volatile situation between the Zanu-PF and the MDC."

"The view of our members is that nobody should ask us to unload these weapons," he said. Satawu said it planned to ask for support from the Congress of SA Trade Unions (Cosatu).
Good man. Hope SA rallies around him.

Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Steve White || 04/18/2008 00:00 || Comments || Link || [3 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Holy Crap!!!!
Somebody showing some balls!!!
I may have to take back some of the things I've said about S.A.
Posted by: bigjim-ky || 04/18/2008 8:29 Comments || Top||

#2  mbeki has made his own enemies in RSA. While the Zimbob thing looks like leftie Bob vs right, in SA the lines are bit different, from what I can gather. SA has had this thing where some of the ANC leaders, including Mbeki, are trying to break with the economic left (which includes WHITE communists) and are trying to shore up support by appealing to black race consciousness. Mbeki has that plus his adherence to Mugabe as a fellow liberation fighter - so the actual SA economic left which resents Mbeki - like the trade unions - may be opposing Mugabe mainly as a way to embarass Mbeki.
Posted by: Albemarle Thravitle4170 || 04/18/2008 9:48 Comments || Top||

#3  Funny you should mention communists, Randall Howard is one of their boys. Google it up, don't take my word for it. He's tight with the reds and this is a good way to stab at Mbeki.
Posted by: bigjim-ky || 04/18/2008 10:05 Comments || Top||

#4  Albemarle Thravitle4170 pretty much nailed it.

Zimbob really doesn't have anything to do with the dispute. It's a convenient excuse.

Satawu is aligned with the Council of South African Trade Unions (COSATU). COSATU is affiliated with the SA communists. Both are ticked off at the current ANC leadership (which isn't hewing to its marxist roots).
Posted by: Pappy || 04/18/2008 13:18 Comments || Top||

#5  Knifing the old left by embracing racial nationalism? Christ, where have I heard that song before?

Godwin spill on aisle 9.
Posted by: Mitch H. || 04/18/2008 16:04 Comments || Top||

#6  WAFF.com [paraph]> STRATEGYPAGE- THE CASE OF THE MYSTERIOUS HALF-MILLION CHINESE AK-47's. All thats known for sure is that theChin AK's weren't for Libya's armed forces nor lawful paramilitaries, and that Italian gangsters were involved.
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 04/18/2008 21:27 Comments || Top||


Bangladesh
Ex-PSC member Prof Mahfuz gets 13yrs
A special court yesterday sentenced former Public Service Commission (PSC) member Prof Mahfuzur Rahman to 13 years imprisonment for amassing wealth illegally and concealing information in wealth statement submitted to the Anti-corruption Commission (ACC).
Posted by: Fred || 04/18/2008 00:00 || Comments || Link || [4 views] Top|| File under:


Review body opposes equal rights for women
The ulema committee formed to review the National Women Development Policy has strongly opposed equal rights to women, recommending deletion of six sections of the policy and amending 15 others as they said these sections "clash" with the provisions of the Quran and Sunnah.
Posted by: Fred || 04/18/2008 00:00 || Comments || Link || [3 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Awww, geez. Sorry, ladies, but it's against the Koran. Ya know how that goes.
Come back next millenium. They might add new stuff...
Posted by: tu3031 || 04/18/2008 11:58 Comments || Top||


Britain
Muslims campaign for Red Ken
With the upcoming mayoral election in London the closest in years, leaders in the Muslim community are hitting the streets to get out the vote for Ken Livingstone, the often-controversial liberal incumbent. Activists from a number of major Muslim organizations said this month that they wanted to see Livingstone defeat Boris Johnson, the rival candidate from the Conservative Party with whom he has been virtually tied in recent polls.

Not only has Livingstone been a staunch friend of the Muslim community, they said, but Johnson has a long record of insensitive and borderline racist remarks and would be a disaster for ethnic relations. "Muslims think a lot more strategically when giving their votes," said Ahmed Al-Rawi, president of the Muslim Association of Britain. "Ken Livingstone has been an outstanding ambassador for London and Britain."

In the weeks leading up to the May 1 election, activists say they have been distributing pamphlets on the street, going door to door in heavily Muslim neighborhoods and working with mosques to get their message out. Muslims are concentrated in some eastern parts of the British capital but also are spread throughout the city, ranging from newly arrived immigrants from all over the world as well as those who have been in England for generations.

While they have been traditionally seen as sitting on the political sidelines, they helped pull off one of the major upsets in the 2005 general election, electing maverick leftwing politician George Galloway to Parliament from the East End neighborhood of Bethnal Green and Bow. Working hand in hand with members of the Socialist Workers Party, Muslim voters unseated Oona King, a prominent supporter of the Iraq war.

With barely a third of Londoners voting in the last mayoral election, Catherine Heseltine, spokeswoman for the Muslim Public Affairs Committee, said on Thursday that large numbers of Muslims going to the polls could be "decisive."

Livingstone, a longtime member of the left-leaning Labor Party and mayor since 2000, has been lauded for speaking out against Islamophobia, as well as helping organize a number of large Muslim-themed events. However, he has also drawn flak for being a highly public supporter of Palestinian causes and for inviting Yusuf al-Qaradawi, an Islamic scholar from Egypt, to speak at city hall in 2005.

On the other side of the political aisle, Johnson has a reputation for being a throwback to the high-handed upper-class Tories of yesteryear, with a long list of inflammatory quotes from his years as a journalist and Member of Parliament. In 2002, when writing about former Prime Minister Tony Blair and Africa, he was forced to apologize for referring to Africans as "picaninnies." After the terrorist attacks on the London subway system in 2005, he wrote that "Islam is the problem" and it was the "most viciously sectarian of all religions."

Adding fuel to an already heated campaign, the London Evening Standard on Wednesday published an investigative article which charged Muslims for Ken, one of the groups organizing voters, as having links to "hardline" Islamic groups. Muslims for Ken spokesman Anas Altikriti immediately hit back, saying that the story was "riddled with lies" and that his group would be contacting the Press Complaints Commission, the independent media commission that deals with concerns over accuracy in newspapers.
Posted by: ryuge || 04/18/2008 07:29 || Comments || Link || [12 views] Top|| File under: Global Jihad

#1  Catherine Heseltine, your typical muslim *snicker*, google her fruitcake ways

Come on Boris !!! Do us all a favour and win
Posted by: Waldemar Chising8707 || 04/18/2008 10:02 Comments || Top||


Europe
Denmark: More non-resident criminals to be expelled
Many of Denmark's most notorious gang members do not have Danish citizenship and a majority in parliament believes those persons should therefore be deported if convicted of a crime, reports B.T. newspaper.

According to the National Police, 53 of the 141 people on its most wanted gang members list are not Danish citizens. Those figures have got the ruling Liberal-Conservative coalition and its governmental ally, the Danish People's Party, to now consider preparing legislation to expel those criminals from the country.

'If you come to this country and commit crimes as grievous as those the National Police has indicated, then you shouldn't be here,' said Liberal MP Søren Pind.

Peter Skaarup of the Danish People's Party agreed, saying deportation was a good solution to the nation's gang problems.

'If you aren't a Danish citizen then you should be able to be deported much easier than is the case today,' said Skaarup.

According to B.T., the opposition Social Democrats are now also ready to support making deportation of non-Danish criminals easier through a law change.

In addition, a poll taken last month by internet news source Altinget indicated that 86 percent of Danes supported deportation as appropriate punishment for non-Danish citizens convicted of serious crimes. In 2005, a European Union survey found that only 43 percent of Danes favoured extradition as an acceptable punishment.

And although figures for how many immigrants have received a deportation sentence over the years are not available, recent attempts at expulsion have had mixed results.

In response to a query from parliament's integration committee, integration minister Birthe Rønn Hornbech stated there were 11 immigrants without a Danish passport who, despite having received a previous deportation sentence by a court of law, are still living in Denmark on 'tolerated residence' status.

In those cases, the person cannot be sent back to their country of origin either because they face the threat of persecution there or because they refuse to co-operate with the deportation process, according to public broadcaster DR.

The National Police have identified 14 groups in its latest report on gang crime. Of the 141 members listed, 39 have been convicted of a violent crime. (RC)
Posted by: mrp || 04/18/2008 11:55 || Comments || Link || [4 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Run 'em. And send their families, too.
Posted by: Thaimble Scourge of the Pixies4707 || 04/18/2008 17:10 Comments || Top||

#2  I guess it doesn't really matter if they refer to them as criminal gangs or as "those whose name we must not speak". The bottom line is that they were given opportunity and they were too stupid to grab ahold of it. The bottom line is that the gig is up and we will see much more of this in the future.
Posted by: Woodrow Slusorong7967 || 04/18/2008 18:22 Comments || Top||


Fifth Column
Time Magazine admits MSM Elite and Biased
“You can’t always just say ‘on the one hand, on the other’ and you decide. People trust us to make decisions. We’re experts in what we do. So I thought, you know what, if we really feel strongly about something let's just say so.”



Iwo Jima Veterans Blast Time's 'Special Environmental Issue' Cover

For only the second time in 85 years, Time magazine abandoned the traditional red border it uses on its cover. The occasion – to push more global warming alarmism.

The cover of the April 21 issue of Time took the famous Iwo Jima photograph by Joe Rosenthal of the Marines raising the American flag and replaced the flag with a tree. The cover story by Bryan Walsh calls green “the new red, white and blue.”

Donald Mates, an Iwo Jima veteran, told the Business & Media Institute on April 17 that using that photograph for that cause was a “disgrace.”

“It’s an absolute disgrace,” Mates said. “Whoever did it is going to hell. That’s a mortal sin. God forbid he runs into a Marine that was an Iwo Jima survivor.”

Mates also said making the comparison of World War II to global warming was erroneous and disrespectful.

“The second world war we knew was there,” Mates said. “There’s a big discussion. Some say there is global warming, some say there isn’t. And to stick a tree in place of a flag on the Iwo Jima picture is just sacrilegious.”

According to the American Veterans Center (AVC), Mates served in the 3rd Marine Division and fought in the battle of Iwo Jima, landing on Feb. 24, 1945.

“A few days later, Mates’ eight-man patrol came under heavy assault from Japanese forces,” Tim Holbert, a spokesman for the AVC, said. “During fierce-hand-to-hand combat, Mates watched as his friend and fellow Marine, Jimmy Trimble, was killed in front of his eyes. Mates was severely wounded, and underwent repeated operations for shrapnel removal for over 30 years.”

Lt. John Keith Wells, the leader of the platoon that raised the flags on Mt. Suribachi and co-author of “Give Me Fifty Marines Not Afraid to Die: Iwo Jima” wasn’t impressed with Time’s efforts.

“That global warming is the biggest joke I’ve ever known,” Wells told the Business & Media Institute. “[W]e’ll stick a dadgum tree up somebody’s rear if they want that and think that’s going to cure something.”

Time managing editor Richard Stengel appeared on MSNBC April 17 and said the United States needed to make a major effort to fight climate change, and that the cover’s purpose was to liken global warming to World War II.

“[O]ne of the things we do in the story is we say there needs to be an effort along the lines of preparing for World War II to combat global warming and climate change,” Stengel said. “It seems to me that this is an issue that is very popular with the voters, makes a lot of sense to them and a candidate who can actually bundle it up in some grand way and say, ‘Look, we need a national and international Manhattan Project to solve this problem and my candidacy involves that.’ I don't understand why they don’t do that.”

Holbert, speaking on behalf of the American Veterans Center, said the editorial decision by Time to use the photograph for the cover trivialized the cause the veterans fought for.

“Global warming may or may not be a significant threat to the United States,” Holbert said. “The Japanese Empire in February of 1945, however, certainly was, and this photo trivializes the most recognizable moment of one of the bloodiest battles in U.S. history. War analogies should be used sparingly by political advocates of all bents.”

Stengel also appeared on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” on April 17 and had no difficulty admitting the magazine needed to have a “point of view.”

“I think since I’ve been back at the magazine, I have felt that one of the things that’s needed in journalism is that you have to have a point of view about things,” Stengel said. “You can’t always just say ‘on the one hand, on the other’ and you decide. People trust us to make decisions. We’re experts in what we do. So I thought, you know what, if we really feel strongly about something let's just say so.”

Time has been banging the global warming drum for some time now. In April 2007, Time offered 51 ways to “save the planet,” which included more taxes and regulation
Posted by: GolfBravoUSMC || 04/18/2008 12:03 || Comments || Link || [4 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Time offered 51 ways to “save the planet,” which included more taxes and regulation

52. Time goes out of business, saving millions of trees.
53. Entire fired staff ground up and converted to ethanol and Soylent Green.
Posted by: tu3031 || 04/18/2008 12:25 Comments || Top||

#2  Save trees by increasing taxes on paper.
Posted by: DoDo || 04/18/2008 12:26 Comments || Top||

#3  Yikes! That bright red is nearly impossible to read through.

At least for us old folks....
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut || 04/18/2008 12:29 Comments || Top||

#4  54. Richard Stengel sells all earthly possesions.
Posted by: tu3031 || 04/18/2008 12:32 Comments || Top||

#5  Time should be sued to pay ze big bucks to the families of the guys on the photo, to the photographer and of course the USMC annd the USN.
Posted by: JFM || 04/18/2008 12:35 Comments || Top||

#6  We’re experts in what we do.

55. Richard Stengel's ego replaces sun as energy source.
Posted by: tu3031 || 04/18/2008 12:47 Comments || Top||

#7  If Richard is related to Casey, that's more sacriledge!
Posted by: Muggsy Gling || 04/18/2008 13:08 Comments || Top||

#8  Who is bright red by the way? It doesn't say on my handy dandy color chart? And it is tough on the eyes...
Posted by: tu3031 || 04/18/2008 14:02 Comments || Top||

#9  Time Mag, the folks who gave us Hitler as Man of the Year.
Posted by: OldSpook || 04/18/2008 14:48 Comments || Top||

#10  My Father in law was on Iwo Jima at the time. He will be happy to supply the tree that is to be anally rendered.
Posted by: ptah || 04/18/2008 14:52 Comments || Top||

#11  We have a new moderator?
Posted by: Abdominal Snowman || 04/18/2008 14:56 Comments || Top||

#12  The idiots of the MSM don't know that the way you plant a tree is to place a seed in the dirt, not a fully branched trunk.
Posted by: wxjames || 04/18/2008 15:21 Comments || Top||

#13  I wondered about that, too, AS but I think Steve White just got tired of being pink so he went to full red.
Posted by: Nimble Spemble || 04/18/2008 15:37 Comments || Top||

#14  It's salmon, he kept saying, and if it's him, he can darn well go back to it, or make it a brick red. This won't do.
Posted by: trailing wife || 04/18/2008 15:49 Comments || Top||

#15  "The cover story by Bryan Walsh calls green “the new red, white and blue.”

Since green is the color of Islam it's like a lefty two-for-one special.
Posted by: rjschwarz || 04/18/2008 15:57 Comments || Top||

#16  Just highlight the text to read it without eye pain.

Green will be the new Yellow, brown and scammed. That all being "green" is. A scam to get money, or get screwed.
Posted by: DarthVader || 04/18/2008 16:04 Comments || Top||

#17  The media-industrial complex is not the free press of the Founding Fathers. It is an unelected, unaccountable shadow government whose actions and policies are determined solely by the greed and the depraved values of its elitist membership.
Posted by: Atomic Conspiracy || 04/18/2008 16:47 Comments || Top||

#18  Headline doesn't follow the comments.
Posted by: Thaimble Scourge of the Pixies4707 || 04/18/2008 16:52 Comments || Top||


Home Front: Politix
Problems from my father
Posted by: tipper || 04/18/2008 06:13 || Comments || Link || [3 views] Top|| File under:

#1  "The question is how are we going to remove the disparities in our country such as the concentration of economic power in Asian and European hands while not destroying what has already been achieved and at the same time assimilating these groups to build one country," Obama Sr. wrote.

He had the word (assimilation), he just had the sequence and application slightly out of order. Unfortunately both elitists and separatists have a difficult time with "assimilation." In fact, they generally accept the concept only as it applies to thier subjects.
Posted by: Besoeker || 04/18/2008 7:41 Comments || Top||

#2  Given that this paper was published when Candidate Obama was two years old, in a relatively obscure African journal, then archived at a university Obama did not attend, I wouldn't expect Mr. Obama to have been aware of its contents before now. Nor, given his single memory of contact with his birth father at the age of five, would I expect his father's politico-economic views to have affected Mr. Obama's own.
Posted by: trailing wife || 04/18/2008 9:59 Comments || Top||

#3  Let's see 15% of the population wants to hold on to all the goodies....

and so does the azlatan crowd....
And that as a whole is 20% eh?

Posted by: anonymous2u || 04/18/2008 11:27 Comments || Top||


Romney's Top 10 reasons why he dropped out
Three months after suspending his Republican presidential bid, Mitt Romney returned to the scene of his political Waterloo and delivered a scoop to the Capitol Hill reporters gathered at an annual awards dinner tonight: The real reasons he dropped out.

The former Massachusetts governor, not particularly known for his sense of humor, made a surprise appearance at the Radio and Television Correspondents' Association dinner and delivered a Top Ten list poking fun at himself and his image -- and threw a few barbs at Hillary Clinton and Al Gore in the bargain.

Romney, who has been rumored to be on presumptive GOP nominee John McCain's short list for vice president, said the reasons he dropped out, in reverse order, were:
No. 10: There weren't as many Osmonds as he thought.
No. 9: Got tired of the corkscrew landings of his campaign plane while under fire
No. 8: As a lifelong hunter, I didn't want to miss the start of varmint season.
No. 7: There wasn't room for two Christian leaders in the presidential race
No. 6: I was upset that no one bothered to search my passport files.
No. 5: I'd rather get fat, grow a beard and try for the Nobel prize.
No. 4: When my wife realized I couldn't win the GOP nomination, my fundraising dried up.
No. 3: Got tired of wearing a dark suit and tie, and I wanted to kick back in a light colored suit and tie.
No. 2: I took a bad fall at a campaign rally and broke my hair.
And the No. 1 reason Romney dropped out: His campaign relied on a flawed campaign strategy that as Utah goes, so goes the nation.
Posted by: Fred || 04/18/2008 00:00 || Comments || Link || [4 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Mitt's audience seemed to like it on FOX.
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 04/18/2008 0:23 Comments || Top||

#2  He delivered it well, it was funny. Cheney's was great as well. The "headline comic", Mo Rocca, (I've never heard of him...) sucked
Posted by: Frank G || 04/18/2008 9:25 Comments || Top||


Byrd's chairmanship seems safe despite age
At the age of 90, Sen. Robert Byrd is increasingly frail. He usually relies on a script. And he's taken to a wheelchair since a recent fall and two stints in the hospital. But the longest-winded -serving senator in history had just two words Wednesday when a reporter asked him what he had to say to colleagues and staff aides whispering that maybe he's not up to chairing the powerful Appropriations Committee: ''Shut up!''
There are still things in West Virginia that haven't been named for Senator Byrd ...
Posted by: Fred || 04/18/2008 00:00 || Comments || Link || [3 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Man, I will miss the 'fire and rancor' Mr Byrd has brought to the Senate. Yep, He's up there with Jesse Helms (yes, Senator "NO")!
Posted by: smn || 04/18/2008 1:59 Comments || Top||

#2  Textbook example of the need for term limits.
Posted by: OldSpook || 04/18/2008 9:56 Comments || Top||

#3  A belated Happy Bithday to the Exalted Cyclops.
Posted by: tu3031 || 04/18/2008 10:13 Comments || Top||

#4  No word from Mumbles Murtha about Byrd being too old to be a Senator however.....
Posted by: USN,Ret. || 04/18/2008 17:12 Comments || Top||

#5  Byrd D-KKK
Posted by: JFM || 04/18/2008 18:09 Comments || Top||


By winning back unhappy GOP voters, McCain makes it a race
Republicans are no longer underdogs in the race for the White House. To pull that off, John McCain has attracted disgruntled GOP voters, independents and even some moderate Democrats who shunned his party last fall.

Partly thanks to an increasingly likable image, the Republican presidential candidate has pulled even with the two Democrats still brawling for their party's nomination, according to an Associated Press-Yahoo! News poll released Thursday. Just five months ago — before either party had winnowed its field — the survey showed people preferred sending an unnamed Democrat over a Republican to the White House by 13 percentage points.

Also helping the Arizona senator close the gap: Peoples' opinions of Hillary Rodham Clinton have soured slightly, while their views of Barack Obama have improved though less impressively than McCain's.

The survey suggests that those switching to McCain are largely attuned to his personal qualities and McCain may be benefiting as the two Democrats snipe at each other during their prolonged nomination fight.
Posted by: Fred || 04/18/2008 00:00 || Comments || Link || [4 views] Top|| File under:

#1  What nonsense. McCain was never an underdog to anyone who understands the political situation and the electoral system. The fainting over the Messiah - one of the least impressive people to run for prez in years, which is saying a lot - was confined to the Dems and their media wing. The Glacier has always been an extreme long-shot - the country does not want the Clintons back (even half of the Dems don't - part of the Messiah's fuel to date is as the "non-Clinton").

Barring unlikely/unforeseen developments, McCain could put several Blue states in play, and win an electoral blowout. Overall his chances are much better than even to win.
Posted by: Verlaine || 04/18/2008 1:16 Comments || Top||

#2  We'd better hope McCain has some coattails and can bring some new Republicans into Congress. Ironically, he'd probably rather have both houses in Dem hands - the better to display his "bipartisanship" by ramming through mass amnesty for illegal aliens and grabbing his ankles compromising on judicial nominees.
Posted by: Ricky bin Ricardo (Abu Babaloo) || 04/18/2008 1:56 Comments || Top||

#3  Issues don't have to matter when you're the alternative to either one of the gruesome twosome of Barry and Hildegard. The media are the only ones who can't see that. We bitter souls out here in the rest of America seem to be the only people who know what the hell is going on.
Posted by: ElvisHasLeftTheBuilding || 04/18/2008 2:21 Comments || Top||

#4  They just now figuring this out?
Give that man a rubber doughnut!
Posted by: bigjim-ky || 04/18/2008 9:01 Comments || Top||

#5  President McCain's views on illegal alien amnesty may not matter much given the active posture taken against that position by not only the border states, but interior states and communities across the country. Not to mention a J-curve trend of increasing deportation by ICE.
Posted by: trailing wife || 04/18/2008 10:02 Comments || Top||

#6  Yep, TW, I hope that trend continues. Here in GA (probably one of the bigger illegal alien States, due to us being the nation's biggest poultry supplier), at least 3 of our "ground zero" Counties have now moved to be included in ICE's "287(g)" Program. Basically, that Program allows local Police/Sherriffs to be "deputized" by taking a little ICE "training", which, in turn allows the locals to gain access to ICE's database. That way, when an illegal is arrested for anything else (e.g. DUI, Driving w/o license, Robbery, Hit-n-run, etc.), the City/County can look up their immigration status, and while holding them in the City/County jail, can kick-start the Deportation process too.

Just as an example, my home County (which just 10 years ago was ultra-conservative WASP land) has just signed up because last year they gathered the following statistic:

* in 2007, 39,000 people were arrested. Of those 39k, 12,000 were "foreign born". Now, I realize that not ALL 12k were illegal aliens, but knowing the changing landscape, I'd bet at least 2/3 of that 12k are illegal aliens. Now, our Sherriff can start deportation proceedings, especially on those arrested for more violent crimes (my County alone has seen a HUGE increase in murder the last 5-10 years, albeit mostly red-on-red).
Posted by: BA || 04/18/2008 13:35 Comments || Top||

#7  (my County alone has seen a HUGE increase in murder the last 5-10 years, albeit mostly red-on-red).

Dekalb or Clayton?
Posted by: Beavis || 04/18/2008 13:49 Comments || Top||

#8  Gwinnett, Beavis. Of course, when I say a HUGE increase, it is in terms of % points, so we still don't hold a candle to Fulton/DeKalb/Clayton.
Posted by: BA || 04/18/2008 15:48 Comments || Top||

#9  Grew up in Gwinnett now in Forsyth. Of course most our aliens are picking onions this time of year.
Posted by: Beavis || 04/18/2008 16:04 Comments || Top||

#10  Maybe next Rantapalooza, we can form an Atlanta chapter and have a video conference in to the goings on at Fred's side!
Posted by: BA || 04/18/2008 19:50 Comments || Top||


Stephanopoulos defends debate performance: 'We asked tough but appropriate questions'
Despite criticism, ABC’s George Stephanopoulos defended his performance in last night’s Democratic debate, which he co-moderated with Charles Gibson. “We asked tough but appropriate questions,” Stephanopoulos told me by phone this afternoon.

When I asked whether questions about flag pins or Bosnia are actually relevant to voters, he replied: “Absolutely.”

“The vote for the president,” Stephanopoulos said, “is one of the most personal” decisions that someone makes. “When people make that choice, they take into account how candidates stand on the issues,” he said, but also are concerned with “experience, character [and] credibility.”

“You can’t find a presidential election where those issues didn’t come into play,” he said.

Stephanopoulos explained that since the candidates are not far apart policy-wise, the “core of the nomination fight” has been about these issues. “They’ve been fighting it out on this turf,” he said, adding that these are things that “came up between this debate and the last one.”

This morning, websites like The Huffington Post provided multiple attacks on the debate moderators (The Gotcha Debate), and I asked Stephanopoulos for his reaction to one specific piece of criticism — that of Washington Post critic Tom Shales calling the moderator’s performances “shoddy” and “despicable.”

“I think it just comes with the territory,” Stephanopoulos replied, adding, “I think you’re going to find a wide range of opinions.”

“This is an election people are really engaged with,” he said. “They’ve participated. They’ve been watching it. They’re speaking their minds.”
Posted by: Fred || 04/18/2008 00:00 || Comments || Link || [3 views] Top|| File under:

#1  A "High Tech Lynching" as Clarence would call it! However I don't blame Stephanopoulos for the 'pitbull' tactics deployed; a former Clinton 'loyalist' and all, a viper like all the other snakes waiting their turn to pounce on the 'Boy Wonder'! I'm surprised Carville didn't make it three...Ooh he's with CNN. Thank goodness 'Stephy' didn't ask him on 'Live' TV if he ever dreamth of white women (ala Carter), or if he thought it was appropriate to tag a black man or woman for the Vice Presidency! I can just imagine ABC asking Nixon THAT question (If he thought it was the right thing to give the nod to a white man [sorry Mr. Ford])!!
The mere fact that Clinton felt at ease with the process, and grinning like a Cheshire Cat showed me, she was most pleased with the 'Bias'. No grilling the burger on both sides that night I guess. Maybe the acceptance of 'this' debate was a tactical strategy to vet certain 'issues' and 'fears' of some before the fall, but to millions of Obama's supporters, that was a 'knife that turned alittle too deep and often in his back, with no blood splatter to boot, on Hillary's side of the podium!! 'Stephy', sorry...You can't fill the 'Wolfman's shoes!
Posted by: smn || 04/18/2008 1:51 Comments || Top||

#2  I think you missed a metaphor...
Posted by: Pappy || 04/18/2008 2:35 Comments || Top||

#3  Tough questions for Democrats = "Gotcha! / politics of personal destruction / despicable", etc.

Tough questions for Republicans = "Why'd you go easy on him?"

Screw 'em. Let 'em bitch.
Posted by: Raj || 04/18/2008 8:02 Comments || Top||

#4  So the donks are pissed off that it wasn't a pep rally?

They really don't have anything to be celebrating anyway.
Posted by: bigjim-ky || 04/18/2008 9:04 Comments || Top||

#5  LOL Pappy....
Posted by: Frank G || 04/18/2008 9:28 Comments || Top||

#6  Jeebus, smn, you visited Joe M's shop in Guam lately?
Posted by: BA || 04/18/2008 13:26 Comments || Top||

#7  Don't I remember FEMA getting roasted for holding a mock news conference? I guess the shoe's on the other foot now and it doesn't fit so well, either.
Posted by: gorb || 04/18/2008 13:46 Comments || Top||

#8  I think I found some:

The Obama camp must realize that it's fourth-down-and-twenty in the ninth inning with only four months left on the clock. They're still in no-man's land with the Hillary Army refusing to give up ground even with the stalwart lions of the Democrat party pushing her to jump into the abdication-wagon. To add another twisted thread to the Democrat presidential candidate tapestry, a high-profile Obama now faces a withering barrage from the MSM archers while wandering around in what was thought as friendly territory so that the Obama-fanboy/girl-yet-scared-of-Hillary-and-wanting-to-appear-disinterested-and-professional media doesn't give the impression that it has already placed the electoral crown on the prince's head.

Of course, it hasn't helped that the fog of Whole Foods Arugula and smoke from his pastor's sermons made it easier for millions of non-decided voters to sniff that something might be rotten in Denmark. After all, the press can't carry Obama's water allllll the way across the Election Desert while simultaneously juggling economy-has-gone-to-hell and we're-going-to-fry-if-we-don't live-in-yurts-and-elect-a-Democrat chainsaws.

Factor in his verbal missteps to San Francisco money-bags whilst wandering through in the swamps of Pennsylvania primary and then his rather hurried attempts to extract his 'Bruno Malis' from the mire, and you have African-origin (with a touch of caucasian) blood in the water that the ABC sharks have to latch on to with dutiful relish and mustard.
Posted by: Pappy || 04/18/2008 14:17 Comments || Top||

#9  heh heh
Posted by: Frank G || 04/18/2008 14:50 Comments || Top||

#10  Yurts followed by Bruno Malis? You've outdone yourself, Pappy dear.
Posted by: trailing wife || 04/18/2008 15:45 Comments || Top||

#11  Pappy,

did you mean to say "fever swamps?" Other than that, I think you pretty much got them all.
Posted by: Thaimble Scourge of the Pixies4707 || 04/18/2008 17:09 Comments || Top||

#12  Pappy, you're like a fountain of metaphors
Posted by: Frank G || 04/18/2008 18:36 Comments || Top||

#13  The pu**y dems complain that the first 40 minutes of the debate were a waste of time. In fact, the first 40 minutes of the debate were the best of the entire season.
Posted by: MarkZ || 04/18/2008 20:22 Comments || Top||


Democrats Block Resolution to Commend Pope
A reliable GOP aide informs Townhall that Senate Democrats are blocking a measure to commend Pope Benedict XVI because of “controversial” religious language used in the text of the resolution.

Update: Democratic Sen. Barbara Boxer (D.-Calif.) was the one who objected to the religious language. Brownback agreed to drop 'human life' from the resolution to appease pro-choice Democrats. Consequently, the Senate adopted the resolution Wednesday afternoon.
Posted by: Fred || 04/18/2008 00:00 || Comments || Link || [8 views] Top|| File under:

#1  "Democrats HATE Catholics"
Posted by: Clem Thrump8835 || 04/18/2008 19:47 Comments || Top||

#2  well, having heard her speak, I can understand the resentment Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Dumb-as-a-box-of-rocks) would have for intelligent human life
Posted by: Frank G || 04/18/2008 19:59 Comments || Top||

#3  Of course, the Senate Democrats who are (nominally) Catholic, and pro-abortion, do not like the Pope's message that Catholics in public life cannot go against Catholic teaching. In other words, they cannot support abortion. This also includes a lot of the leaders in the House, like Nancy Pelosi.
Posted by: Rambler in California || 04/18/2008 21:53 Comments || Top||


International-UN-NGOs
Pope Benedict XVI's address to the UN - Text
First link is to the NYT for clarity's sake.

Second link to the US Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) site. The address text as presented is somewhat convoluted, which means "situation normal" for the USCCB.


Address Text - NYT source

Address Text - Address Text - USCCB source


A couple of thoughts came to mind as I read the address:

1) One could substitute the words "The European Union" for "The United Nations" and hardly miss a thing.

2) The Bush-bashers won't find much to their liking. In fact, Benedict makes a forceful argument for more direct intervention in the affairs of rogue states than I expected. And the call for religious freedom is an unmistakable challenge to certain parts of the world where the persecution of infidels religious minorities is the daily norm.
Posted by: mrp || 04/18/2008 12:40 || Comments || Link || [4 views] Top|| File under:


Hunger in Haiti (and everywhere else) increasing rapidly
Can't be true in Haiti, the U.N. is in charge. The article touches on the hunger problem around the world. A good part of the globe could go up in flames if all the hand-wringing comes true.
PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti: Hunger bashed in the front gate of Haiti's presidential palace. Hunger poured onto the streets, burning tires and taking on soldiers and police. Hunger sent the country's prime minister packing.

Haiti's hunger, that burn in the belly that so many here feel, has become fiercer than ever in recent days as global food prices spiral out of reach, spiking as much as 45 percent since the end of 2006 and turning Haitian staples such as beans, corn and rice into closely guarded treasures.

Saint Louis Meriska's children ate two spoonfuls of rice apiece as their only meal two days ago and then went without any food the following day. His eyes downcast, his own stomach empty, the unemployed father said forlornly, "They look at me and say, 'Papa, I'm hungry,' and I have to look away. It's humiliating and it makes you angry."
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Steve White || 04/18/2008 00:00 || Comments || Link || [5 views] Top|| File under:

#1  NET > in CANADA, the Govt reportedly is paying Canadian farmers big $$$ to destroy their pig stocks, in order to prevent oversaturation of the pork meat market.

Again, what are the Brits-Euros going to do?
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 04/18/2008 0:40 Comments || Top||

#2  RIAN > HUNGER LOOMS OVER THE WORLD.

Interesting - Article blames not only the failure of World Experts-Economists to ACCURATELY PREDICT/FORECAST COMING GLOBAL CHALLENGES + ECONOMIC OVER-OPTIMISM, but also laments that a bad situation was made WORSE by MANY YEARS OF DEVOTING LARGE AMOUNTS OF RESOURCES [e.g. arable land] TO BIOFUEL = ALTERNATIVE FUELS INVESTMENT + PRODUCTION [e.g. CORN-BASED? ETHANOL].
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 04/18/2008 1:16 Comments || Top||

#3  Told ya.
Posted by: Thomas Maltus || 04/18/2008 5:24 Comments || Top||

#4  Haitians have been starving my entire life (and I'm not young), yet there are more and more of them every year. You would think that at some point malnutrition would make a dent in fertility.
Posted by: Menhadden Snogum6713 || 04/18/2008 7:50 Comments || Top||

#5  And even as we see this develop all over the world, the Globalist crowd here tirelessly works to duplicate the effects. What is it about greed, you can never see the train till it's two feet from you.
By their very nature they will not quit until they are carried away to the guillotine.
Posted by: bigjim-ky || 04/18/2008 8:57 Comments || Top||

#6  To put this jeremiad in perspective, compare the birth rates in the countries facing "hunger" to the evil Western food-producing countries: (births per 1000)
USA 14.2; Canada 10.8; Australia 12; Burkino Faso 45.3; Haiti 35.9; Somalia 44.6; Malaysia 22.6; El Salvador 26.1.

See a trend? It is the height of hypocrisy, arrogance, and wishful thinking for these nations to expect the West to pay for their inability to discipline themselves to live within their resources, to subsidize their children at the expense of our own. My sympathy meter broke a long time ago. Most of their agricultural deficiencies come from government meddling (stupidity as in Rhodesia and regulations / subsidies / handouts / rations most other places). We can feed them for awhile, but unless serious efforts are made to fix the underlying problems, it is just wasted effort and prolonging the agony of the foolish.
Posted by: RWV || 04/18/2008 9:40 Comments || Top||

#7  Birth rates have been FALLING throughout the "3rd world" esp in Latin Am and Asia, more unevenly in sub-saharan africa. Birth rates fall AFTER a certain level of socio-economic development is reached, for a whole host of reasons. There has been no sudden surge in birth rates in the last couple of years that has caused this.

Its a combination of a couple of things
1. The increased demand from countries like China, where newly rich folks are eating more meat, which takes more grain. This factor is NOT going away.

2. Bad weather - not global warming related (yet) but just bad luck. This factor should go away soon.

3. Misguided govt intervention in free markets - in particular ethanol mandates. Corn based ethanol, we should all be realizing by now, is NOT a very good idea. If the free market generates it thats one thing - but mandates to force or even subsidize ethanol usage are almost certainly poor public policy. Ethanol will become big when we start using non-food crops,waste, etc in a big way.
Posted by: Albemarle Thravitle4170 || 04/18/2008 9:57 Comments || Top||

#8  AT4170, when a farmer in Australia can earn $2000 per acre for wine grapes versus $240 per acre for rice, do you feel he has an obligation to raise rice? The thrust of the article seemed to be that it was the "price" of food rather than the scarcity of food that was the problem. Are the farmers of the West obligated to devote their resources to providing "cheap" food to countries that cannot or will not grow enough to feed their people? Should the Chinese be told they can't eat meat because it raises the price of grain to beggar nations? Many of these countries are pleased to let foreign aid groups feed their people so they can expend their resources on other things such as luxuries for the kleptocrats and arms for the military. The fact that birth rates are falling in the third world does not change the fact that they are two to four times that of the West. If they are unable or unwilling to accept the social, economic, and political changes required for self sufficiency and prefer to depend on the kindness of strangers, they have no right to complain when the strangers become tired of supporting their lifestyle.
Posted by: RWV || 04/18/2008 13:18 Comments || Top||

#9  PRAVDA > SOUTH AMERICA UNITES AGZ USA'S PREDATORY INSTINCTS. Despite latent, alleged South Amer-specific criticisms and fears of the USA [CHavez], ARTICLE > INDIRECTLY STRONGLY HINTS THAT WOT > among other thingys, OWG-NWO WAR FOR/AGAINST MACKINDER'S WORLD ISLAND BTWN AMERICAS versus EURASIA, NEW WORLD versus OLD WORLD. broadly speaking, in this WAR FOR OWG-NWO its quite possible, even likely, that the MACKINDERIAN IDEAL WILL MANIFEST IN THE AMERICAS, with the latter becoming ONE GIANT UNIFIED ANDOR TRASN-CONTINENTAL COLLECTION OF PAN-AMERICAN FREE TRADE = SPECIAL ECONOMIC ZONES.

You just know the Lefties + Marxists, etc. are gonna go ballistic.
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 04/18/2008 19:57 Comments || Top||


Olde Tyme Religion
The Wonderful World of I-slam
DUBAI — A fatwa has been issued by Dubai Islamic Affairs Department (DIAD) to ban printing of names that include the 99 names of Almighty God such as Abdul Rahman, Abdullah, Abdul Salam as well as names of prophets and saints on the labels of sample bottles provided by hospitals and laboratories to the patients.

A top official at DIAD said the fatwa bans writing or printing the name of Almighty God on stool or urine samples desecrates the glorious names of God.
I think they are taking HIPPA a little too far.
Posted by: Beavis || 04/18/2008 08:36 || Comments || Link || [4 views] Top|| File under:

#1  the 99 attributes are things like

al-rahman = the beneficent
al-salam = the peaceful
al-lah = the god

of course people have names like the ones listed are proper names (servent of the beneficent, etc)whose blood, stool, saliva or urine would be sampled

Probably they all have some digital identity which could be used on the label but it would be a hoot if they didn't.
Posted by: mhw || 04/18/2008 14:01 Comments || Top||

#2  What a bunch of clueless fools these Muzzies are!
Posted by: Thaimble Scourge of the Pixies4707 || 04/18/2008 17:05 Comments || Top||

#3  Am I the only one who thought of "99 bottles of beer on the wall...."? :-D
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut || 04/18/2008 17:37 Comments || Top||

#4  Barbara,
Please do not start singing the song about 99 bottles of beer. There is a fatwa against that. It was not issued because of the drinking of the beer. It was issued to spare people the resulting headaches from such a moronic song. Thank you for your cooperation, and pass the popcorn, please.
Posted by: Al-Aska Paul, Resident Imam || 04/18/2008 19:20 Comments || Top||

#5  Extra butter, or parmesan, my dear Resident Imam? :-D
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut || 04/18/2008 21:13 Comments || Top||


Home Front Economy
New York Times Company Posts Loss (Big-Time)

The New York Times Company, the parent of The New York Times, posted a $335,000 loss in the first quarter — one of the worst periods the company and the newspaper industry have seen — falling far short of both analysts’ expectations and its $23.9 million profit in the quarter a year earlier.
sure, all newspapers have had that bad of decline....stats to back that up?
The company did break even on a per-share basis, compared with the average analyst forecast of earnings of 14 cents, down from 17 cents in the first quarter of 2007.

The company’s main source of revenue, newspaper advertising in print and online, fell 10.6 percent, the sharpest drop in memory, as the industry suffers the twin blows of an economic downturn and the continuing long-term shift of readers and advertisers to the Internet.
economic downturn they've done their damndest to spur for political reasons? Karma, bitch
In a conference call with analysts, Janet L. Robinson, president and chief executive, said it was “a challenging quarter, one that showed the effects of a weaker economy,” compounded by “a marketplace that has been reconfigured technologically, economically and geographically.”
"I'm looking for a golden, not leaden, parachute"
Looking ahead, she said, “We see continued challenges for print advertising in a faltering economy.”
"that we helped cause"
The poor showing stemmed from The Times Company’s core news media group, which includes The Times, The Boston Globe and The International Herald Tribune, as well as several regional newspapers.
"that don't have subscribers"
Excluding the $18.3 million charge, depreciation and amortization, the unit reported an operating profit of $68.5 million for the quarter, down from $99.4 million in the period a year earlier.

The group’s revenue dropped 5.7 percent, driven by the 10.6 percent decline in advertising revenue. But it also recorded a 1.9 percent increase in circulation revenue, after the company raised the prices of newspapers like The Times and The Globe.
see? raising prices, like raising taxes, works! Until the voluntary subscribers drop off, unlike involuntary taxpayers...oops
Posted by: Frank G || 04/18/2008 00:00 || Comments || Link || [4 views] Top|| File under:

#1  At one time, RADIO competed wid something called TV for national-market dominance - despite seemingly losing, it still managed to remain a major and popular part of Americana [albeit
"niche"] up to the present day. CAN "PAPER/PRINT MEDIA" FIND ITS NICHE AND SUCCESSFULLY PREVAIL???
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 04/18/2008 0:31 Comments || Top||

#2  Joe, not with the people who write and publish the American newspapers. They have lost the trust of their erstwhile readers and with that trust they have lost their place in American life. The papers can no longer be trusted to even attempt to be objective. The internet has allowed people to see how political the journalists and publishers are. If the facts don't support the agenda or storyline they are pushing, they just make up whatever facts are convenient. Worse, the internet has allowed people to see that many in that profession are some combination of stupid, lazy, or ignorant with a truly profound lack of understanding of the world in which we live. The papers have no future because the people that write and publish them have no respect for the people who used to read them.
Posted by: RWV || 04/18/2008 1:16 Comments || Top||

#3  I will not be happy until everyone who works at the NYT is on the pavement and totally ruined financially. That is what they wished for this country and they have lied their best to achieve it. Now it looks like that is about to happen, couldn't have happened to a nicer bunch. You all can rot in hell.
Posted by: Sock Puppet of Doom || 04/18/2008 4:05 Comments || Top||

#4  Every cloud has a silver lining.
Posted by: Besoeker || 04/18/2008 7:42 Comments || Top||

#5  The mills of the Gods, etc...
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 04/18/2008 7:45 Comments || Top||

#6  They need a government bailout! They're at least as important to the country as Bear Stearns (or Chrysler, decades ago). I'm sure the Senate delegation from NY would concur.
Posted by: Menhadden Snogum6713 || 04/18/2008 7:46 Comments || Top||

#7  The Grey Lady can't die fast enough.

All major MSM have been liberal cheerleaders and rooting for anything but what has made this country great. Mainly, free market and democracy. Now, I hope they all die off as the free market, what they championed against, brings down their end as people vote with their wallets.
Posted by: DarthVader || 04/18/2008 7:48 Comments || Top||

#8  They still don't get it. They'll never get it. People don't want to read about what a shitty country they think we have. They don't want to lose in Iraq, they don't want to pay $5 a gallon for gas and they don't want the EUnicks to run our country. But the Slimes don't get it, so I say go gentle into that good night.
Posted by: bigjim-ky || 04/18/2008 8:26 Comments || Top||

#9  big jim

some people do like to read anti American stuff;

for example:
the gay playwrites association,
the faculty lounge group at UC Berkeley,and
the editor of Al Jazzera

so there is still a good sized niche for the NYTimes
Posted by: mhw || 04/18/2008 8:43 Comments || Top||

#10  Newspapers are going to have to do what our local paper just did, an all local front page. The national and international news, what little they print, is back near the business section. They just can't compete for that market with the internet. But they can print coupons for my local food store. The savings from these will be sufficient to justify the continuing subscription cost.

The real fun will come when the papers start dropping their AP fees or drop the feed all together. The result is going to be fewer and fewer foreign correspondents and more and more stringers, like the moles who dominate ME reporting. At some point, it will become clear to all that the AP has no better grasp on what is going on in the world than Michael Yon or Iraq the Model.

We will all begin building our own correspondent networks from the bloggers we find credible. News will become much more decentralized, as is truth, and debatable. The final result will be an even more contentious discussion of what is happening in the world based on a far greater variety of sources with a much greater probability of understanding what is actually going on.

Ultimately, the high capital, high cost print media will probably be forced out of the local market as well, as the distinction between pres release and blog becomes further blurred. But that's in my son's lifetime, not mine.
Posted by: Nimble Spemble || 04/18/2008 9:32 Comments || Top||

#11  I have a basic question: How could it lose money in the Quarter, and still earn $.14 a share? Is the NYT trying to pull an Enron?

Al
Posted by: Frozen Al || 04/18/2008 11:42 Comments || Top||

#12  Manolo! My salts!
And bring the limo around. I'll be drinking early today...
Posted by: Pinchy || 04/18/2008 11:46 Comments || Top||

#13  Now if we could just get rid of CBS...
Posted by: Abu Uluque || 04/18/2008 12:20 Comments || Top||

#14  " ... after a few more flashes in the pan, we shall hear very little more of Edison or his electric lamp.Every claim he makes has been tested and proved impracticable."

[New York Times, January 16,1880]
Posted by: OldSpook || 04/18/2008 14:47 Comments || Top||

#15  Re: #10, the stringer thingy is already in work it appears @ CBS with their comment about subbing out the reporting to CNN, so that consolidation ( outsourcing) looks to be already underway. Only bad part about that is that there wil be fewer sets of eyes on any one event so the report(s) will all look the same. but if circulation of the printed media is dropping and it appears that the TV news is also that may not be a bad thing.
Posted by: USN,Ret. || 04/18/2008 14:50 Comments || Top||

#16  CBS announced yesterday they won't be downsizing or outsourcing to CNN. That was an over-excited rumour mill, it seems... or they had to back off when the news got out.
Posted by: trailing wife || 04/18/2008 15:41 Comments || Top||

#17  Maybe, just maybe, when Pinch and the rest of the Sulzberger clan get tossed out on their ear, the NYT might come back to earth-based reality. Problem with that is it might well be too late. As it is, their brand name has been all but fatally tainted by their last 50 years of pure liberal BS. Recovering from that won't be easy.
Posted by: Thaimble Scourge of the Pixies4707 || 04/18/2008 16:56 Comments || Top||

#18  Besoeker: Every cloud has a silver lining

In this case, the silver lining comes with a cloud: The NYT will probably live on in some other form. Hopefully worm food, but at least they should be scattered to the four winds where they won't be able to support each other so much.
Posted by: gorb || 04/18/2008 17:04 Comments || Top||

#19  thanks TW: shows how much time i really spend watching CBS

(person opinion: i still think it will happen, quietly on late friday afternoons, when the rest of the press corps is bellied up to the bar)
Posted by: USN,Ret. || 04/18/2008 17:10 Comments || Top||

#20  so funny how they can't admit the real reason they are failing: they treated their readers like a dog treats a fire hydrant.

They've champion the economic downturn as their excuse. But the economy isn't so bad that people can't afford a $4.00 cups of coffee. So let's be honest, that really isn't the reason no one reads them anymore.

We've all turned to the internet, it is true. But the REASON we turned to the internet was because their paper was nothing more than agenda driven propaganda that made the assumption that we were so stupid we would actually believe the lies they print.

Cost of transportation has gone up and they can also claim credit for that since they worked hard to assure that we can't build power plants or drill in the US for oil.

Adios NYT. You willfully slit your own throat.
Posted by: Woodrow Slusorong7967 || 04/18/2008 18:19 Comments || Top||


Home Front: Culture Wars
Pope visits White House
Pope Benedict has been welcomed at the White House with pomp, pageantry and cheers.

President Bush and the pontiff walked across the South Lawn surrounded by a crowd of more than 9,000 people. An overflow crowd lined the streets outside the White House. The area was decorated with flags of yellow and white for the Vatican and the red, white and blue of America. Bush told the pope that the American people are open to his message of hope. Benedict said, "God bless America." Benedict is the first pope to visit the White House in 29 years.

Today also marks the pontiff's 81st birthday. Songs and anthems that were played at the ceremony -- said to be the White House's largest ever --- included the "Star Spangled Banner," the national anthem of the Holy See, and "Happy Birthday."

Posted by: Fred || 04/18/2008 00:00 || Comments || Link || [3 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Reverend Wright said Benedict said, "God bless America."
Posted by: Besoeker || 04/18/2008 7:23 Comments || Top||



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Two weeks of WOT
Fri 2008-04-18
  Nimroz mosque kaboom kills two dozen
Thu 2008-04-17
  Boomer kills 50 at Iraq funeral
Wed 2008-04-16
  60 die in AQI car booms
Tue 2008-04-15
  Indonesia Jugs Two JI Big Turbans
Mon 2008-04-14
  Tunisia jugs 19 for al Qaeda links
Sun 2008-04-13
  More than 200 dead as battle rages in Baghdad
Sat 2008-04-12
  Iraq military thumps Sadr City
Fri 2008-04-11
  Gunnies Off Senior Sadr Aide in Najaf
Thu 2008-04-10
  Nahal Oz fuel depot closed after attack. Surprise.
Wed 2008-04-09
  Two Israelis killed as terrorists infiltrate Nahal Oz
Tue 2008-04-08
  French Military Police Mobilized After Somalia Hijacking
Mon 2008-04-07
  Sadr City assault strains cease-fire
Sun 2008-04-06
  US troops move into Sadr City
Sat 2008-04-05
  Jalaluddin Haqqani not dead, releases video, still 71
Fri 2008-04-04
  Maliki Vows Crackdown in Baghdad


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