If the shoe fits...

30 Iraqis who were killed in a bus suicide bomb incident

That's 30 more Iraqi hearts and minds Bush won't be able to change (probably more since their freinds and families are also affected) .

Yep. Its a shame Raegan and Bush I didn't contain Bin Laden, since they created him.

"Moreover, both bin Laden and the Taliban mullahs, whom the US accuses of harboring him, were financed and armed by the Reagan-Bush administration to fight pro-Soviet regimes in Afghanistan in the 1980s. If they are involved in Tuesday's operations, then the American CIA and political establishment are guilty of having nurtured the very forces that carried out the bloodiest attack on American civilians in US history." --WSWS, 9?13/01"

http://www.meta-religion.com/Secret_societies/Conspiracies/George_Bush/bush-bin_laden_connection.htm

You forgot to take your medicine again.

Looks very cool.  I'm going to check it out again on the am once I shake the sleep out of my eyes and grab some Joe.  (East coast impaired ... it's nearly bed time for me.)

Lalander Humanitarian Project
A joint MESA/TIE project

Trust in Education, a non-profit group, has been building schools in Afghanistan and was
looking to expand the project.  That's when the MESA (Mathematics, Engineering, Science, and
Achievement) program at Solano Community College stepped in.  Trust in Education adopted the
rural village of Lalander, Afghanistan.  They are dependent on agriculture and have recently
been through a 7 year drought.  A group of students from MESA was selected to design and
build a water pump to deliver water from a nearby stream.  There were also restrictions on
the project as Lalander has no electricity or access to gasoline.  The goal was to create a
pump with no motor that can be easily produced by the locals, with supplies that can be
easily found, and supply water for up to 800 families and their farmland.  Currently the
students have researched and chosen a design and made several models.  The pumps must be
installed downstream because they operate by the vertical fall of the water from the source.
 The pumps and models already created can deliver water five times the vertical fall in
vertical lift.  The students have now entered the build phase and have a few needs that you
might be able to help with.  They need resources such as materials, money, and engineering
approval.  They also need your moral support and publicity.  If you would like to learn more
about the Lalander Humanitarian Project, please visit the links below.

Sincerely,
Sterling A.K.A. Mr. Spock
Lalander Humanitarian Project Team 2 Group Leader
MESA Student

MESA: 
http://www.solano.edu/mesa/

Trust in Education:
http://www.trustineducation.org/

Lalander Humanitarian Project: 
http://www.solano.edu/mesa/MESA_LalanderProject.html

BobCollum replied to a comment on 30 Iraqis who were killed in a bus suicide bomb incident:

This is one telling problem that isn't usually talked about: Is the current rate of death by otherwise healthy Iraqis any lower with Saddam out?
Hardly. If Hussein were working at this rate over his reign, there wouldn't be many left.

1.  BobCollum lies, but what can be expected from idiotic Leftists.

A.  Iraq has some 26,000,000 citizens.  Divide that by 30 per day, Bobby.
B.  Oh, by the way, women are still having babies there. So your pathetic lie is doubly ignorant.

2.  "Saddam Hussein killed five to seven million Iraqis, the majority of them Shiites." - National Geographic magazine,June 2004

Let Freedom Ring by Sean Hannity (excellent read!)

"DISSENT" = Good when the dissenter is a Leftist, but NEVER EVER when the "dissenter" is a "stupid, racist, homophobic, greedy, right-wing, fascist Nazi"

Happy Holidays, you hate-filled bag of pus. - Naraka

You are one dumb motherfucker. - Itt

Fuckboy never sources his bullshit. - Rainmom

Much better than the lowly bunch of rabble below decks here who think you’re a totally useless asshat who would be better served by going and fucking yourself six ways to Sunday. - RedTory

I entered your mother doggie style while she was praying to Jeebus. - CrunchyKnee

LeftistsFearTruth: What do you and your "cousins" do with the white sheets after the lynching? - sgarcia70

Go fuck a turkey carcass - KEvron

chug much _dickspurt cock, fuckboy? -KEvron

no, he asked it of you, fuckboy. that was a question. a sane person would know this by observing the question mark. so you're either stoopid, illiterate, insane or a . probably all of the above. - KEvron

"Go fuck a turkey carcass - KEvron" i love that one! thanks for the highlight, fuckboy. - KEvron
i love that one! thanks for the highlight, fuckboy. - KEvron

i love that one! thanks for the highlight, fuckboy. - KEvron

Honestly, Kool-aid is a beverage, it's not for snorting up your nose because obviously since you snort Kool-aid it's given you brain cancer. - Chris in Sacto

Ass wipe, I have an idea which I will not bracket-- Chris in Sacto

You didn't come here to debate Fuckboy. Go look at your first post. - webgeek

You gotta stop drinking out Crush Limball's coffee pot. He pisses in it. - Factme

You have no class. You continually yell at people online without communicating anything of value. - Chris in Sacto

["Something of value" and full of "class" like this:]
What the Fuck? Are you insane. This bitch switched sides asshole, she wrote this for right-wing nuts like you. Chris in Sacto

 How Clinton Sold Our Children to Islam

A quick review of Clinton’s response (in bold) to terrorist bombings: Feb 1993 World Trade Center bombing
April 1995 Oklahoma City Federal Building bombing
1995 Clinton shut down the investigation of Islamic charities (1)
Nov 1995 Military Training Ctr in Riyadh bombed
Feb 1996 Sudan offered to deliver Osama bin Laden, rejected by Clinton (1)
June 1996 Khobar Towers bombed
July 1996 Atlanta Olympic Games bombing
July 1996 US Military barracks bombed in Saudi Arabia
Aug 1996 Sudan offered detailed info of Osama & al-Qaeda, Clinton rejected it (1)
1996 State Depart Dossier spelled out Osama’s intentions, but Clinton chose not to act (1)
April 1997 Sudan offered detailed info of Osama & al-Qaeda, again Clinton rejected it (1) Feb 1998 Sudan offered detailed info of Osama & al-Qaeda, again Clinton rejected it (1)
Aug 1998 Two American embassies bombed in E. Africa
1998 Clinton finally ordered strikes but the timing and political motives have been highly controversial (I am certain Democrats would rather drop where this is going)
Aug 1999 Clinton pardoned 16 terrorists convicted of executing 130 bombings
Oct 2000 Bombing of the USS Cole
Source:
(1) Let Freedom Ring by Sean Hannity (excellent read!)

Excerpt: "In Feb of 2002, my cohost, Alan Colmes, and I had the opportunity to talk with the man who tried to broker the deal between the Sudanese and the Clinton-Gore White House to deliver bin Laden into U.S. custody. His name is Mansoor Ijaz, and his story is remarkable..." (pg 17)

Al's current guest, Professor Juan Cole, just mentioned the Iraqi torture story and noted it's not known how the US Army knew about the torture, but that the story of searching for a boy is suspect.  Thank you! 

The US Army has known about the torture at the Iraqi Interior Ministry since the summer of 2003 when members of the Oregon National Guard stumbled upon torture at the Iraqi Interior Ministry and were ordered to withdraw and release the prisoners back to their torturers.  The Army was not to meddle in "internal issues". 

The only reason the Army raided the prison recently was to provide some "positive" story for Bush in his claim the US does not support torture.  Of course in addition to our own torture we turned a blind eye to Iraqi torture for 16 months before doing anything.

*COFFEESPIT!*

HAHAHAHA!!!! That's great! 

...vis.

--
Passion is for teens and immigrants. – Marge Simpson
films from heck -- http://www.64mm.com/vlog

New Fronts Opening On The "Holly Jolly Jihad"

From Andrew Sullivan's Blog:

"QUOTE OF THE DAY: "I think it is inappropriate and illegitimate for an international civil servant to second-guess the conduct that we're engaged in in the war on terror, with nothing more as evidence than what she reads in the newspapers." - John Bolton, our U.N. ambassador.

"Bolton is surely aware that the evidence that the U.S. has engaged in torture, and "cruel, inhuman and degrading" treatment of detainees may be found in more than just the newspapers. Has he read his own briefs? He could also read the Schmidt Report, the Jones-Fay Report, the Taguba Report, the Schlesinger Report, the Bybee memo, the Yoo argument, the reports from the International Red Cross, and on and on. His own government has provided ample evidence of its own violation of American law and basic human rights. What you find in Bolton is something democratically repulsive, but one that is very close to the view of Dick Cheney. That view is that the public should never second-guess its own government in the conduct of a war. I wish we didn't have to. But when you have bungled a war this badly, and committed war-crimes in the process, what would Bolton have us do? Trust, sadly, is no longer an option. It no longer became an option the minute looting broke out in Iraq and the secretary of defense, responsible for maintaining order in a country he had just invaded, shrugged his shoulders. From that moment of complete and proud dereliction of duty, we were on notice that these people couldn't be trusted."

So basically, if Rice can say that the U.S. has never authorized or condoned torture ... I can say that I've never watched porn.

Well,there you go
http://www.hetstence.com/blog/vestiblog/
Submitted by vesti on December 8, 2005 - 10:26am

Careful Vesti, your 'pure as the driven snow' Angelic Halo is showing.

AUDIO:Interview with Daniel Hopsicker re:Jack Abramoff and casino murder
Dave Emory-Interview with Daniel Hopsicker About the Gus Boulis Murder

Realplayer-
http://www.wfmu.org/listen.ram?show=16737

"The nationalist not only does not disapprove of atrocities committed by his own side, he has remarkable capacity for not even hearing about them."
-George Orwell

[...]

I first met Delgado in a classroom at Acalanes High School in Lafayette, California, where he presented a slide show on the atrocities that he himself observed in Southern and Northern Iraq. Delgado acknowledged that the U.S. military did some good things in Iraq. “We deposed Saddam, built some schools and hospitals,” he said. But he focused his testimony on the breakdown of moral order within the U.S. military, a pattern of violence and terror that exceeds the bounds of what is legally and morally permissible in time of war. Delgado says he observed mutilation of the dead, trophy photos of dead Iraqis, mass roundups of innocent noncombatants, positioning of prisoners in the line of fire -- all violations of the Geneva conventions. His own buddies -- decent, Christian men, as he describes them -- shot unarmed prisoners

In one government class for seniors, Delgado presented graphic images, his own photos of a soldier playing with a skull, the charred remains of children, kids riddled with bullets, a soldier from his unit scooping out the brains of a prisoner. Some students were squeamish, like myself, and turned their heads. Others rubbed tears from their eyes. But at the end of the question period, many expressed appreciation for opening a subject that is almost taboo. “If you are old enough to go to war,” Delgado said, “you are old enough to know what really goes on.” It is a rare moment when American students, who play video war games more than baseball, are exposed to the realities of occupation.

[...]
http://www.inmotionmagazine.com/global/pr_adelgado.html

"The nationalist not only does not disapprove of atrocities committed by his own side, he has remarkable capacity for not even hearing about them."
-George Orwell

From today's Tom Oliphant column in the Boston Globe:

Part one of [Condoleeza Rice's] spin insists that the United States has never, not once, ''authorized" or ''condoned" the torture of any detainee anywhere. It sounds strong until you simply ask what the United States means by ''torture." It turns out that it is not torture to dunk people's heads in water until they almost drown, to stage fake executions of prisoners, or to come within an hour or so of freezing them to death.

So basically, if Rice can say that the U.S. has never authorized or condoned torture ... I can say that I've never watched porn.

Well,there you go
http://www.hetstence.com/blog/vestiblog/

Hey, what's a little torture among friends, right?

  Condi's Trail of Lies

    By Sidney Blumenthal
    Salon.com     Thursday 08 December 2005

Condoleezza Rice's contradictory, misleading and outright false statements about the US and torture have taken America's moral standing - and her own - to new depths.

now i shall squeal like a pig and then die

I wonder if this searcher found what he/she was looking for?

....to work.

KEvron

"I was jumped"
Submitted by onthetroll on September 27, 2005 - 8:15pm.

I like to serve my soup in a fleur-de-LIS TUREEN.

Well,there you go
http://www.hetstence.com/blog/vestiblog/

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Congressional failures to approve emergency funding for roads, schools and housing construction have stalled Mississippi's efforts to rebuild after Hurricane Katrina, the state's Republican governor testified Wednesday.

Without such help, Mississippi businesses are unable to decide where to relocate and rebuild -- potentially costing the state jobs and chilling its economy, Gov. Haley Barbour told a House panel investigating the government's Katrina preparations and response.

"We are at a point where our recovery and renewal efforts are stalled because of inaction in Washington," said Barbour, a strong ally of House Speaker Dennis Hastert and former Republican National Committee chairman.

The delay "has created uncertainty that is having very negative effects on our recovery and rebuilding," he added. "It is taking the starch out of people who've worked so hard to help themselves and their neighbors."

Can't someone put a DENTYNE these awful puns?

"The US is our trading partner, our neighbour, our ally and our friend... and sometimes we'd like to give them such a smack!" – Rick Mercer  http://redtory.blogspot

I prefer a smaller bottle of mouthwash...

microSCOPE

Bwahahaha! 

@@@@@@@@ Raging Coconuts!

oh! you like really rotten puns, eh?

is lech kaczynski a sLAV, OR IS he polish?

KEvron

"I was jumped"
Submitted by onthetroll on September 27, 2005 - 8:15pm.

imagine there's no heaven
it's easy if you try
no hell below us
above us only sky
imagine all the people
living for today

imagine there's no countries
it isnt hard to do
nothing to kill or die for
no religion too
imagine all the people
living life in peace

imagine no possesions
i wonder if you can
no need for greed or hunger
a brotherhood of man
imagine all the people
sharing all the world

you may say i'm a dreamer
but i'm not the only one
i hope some day you'll join us
and the world will live as one

 - john lennon, oct 10, 1940 - dec 8, 1980

KEvron

"I was jumped"
Submitted by onthetroll on September 27, 2005 - 8:15pm.

Ugh! This conversation isn't going to decay into another punfest, is it?

Sorry, just finished shoveling snow, again, and my brain is frozen.

BITE your TONGUE!

@@@@@@@@ Raging Coconuts!

"poop chute"? you mean his crest hole?

KEvron

"I was jumped"
Submitted by onthetroll on September 27, 2005 - 8:15pm.

The latest and greatest search terms to land people at the Intellectual Comedy Salon:

meaning of cracklin rosie 

now i shall squeal like a pig and then die

it's a wild world...

I AM A LIFEGUARD!
http://www.hetstence.com/blog/vestiblog/

tom sizemore lost the bid, eh?

KEvron

"I was jumped"
Submitted by onthetroll on September 27, 2005 - 8:15pm.

Police said store detectives in a supermarket chased the 37-year-old Uzbek after they saw him stuff the tubes into his pants, and forced him to hand over his booty.
Submitted by 2rarely on December 8, 2005 - 6:41am

"As far as I know, it was back on the shelves soon after," a police spokesman said.

Would that include the one he shoved up his poop chute?

"I never said I had a problem with Kerry's words" - Neocon_Expert: idiot troll

hey, you know how these punfests leave a bad taste in my mouth....

KEvron

"I was jumped"
Submitted by onthetroll on September 27, 2005 - 8:15pm.

Perhaps the most disturbing aspect of the case is that the police officers involved have been ordered to undergo sensitivity training - to be provided by Kirk Reynolds.

I AM A LIFEGUARD!
http://www.hetstence.com/blog/vestiblog/

I see you're giving her the BRUSH-off.

@@@@@@@@ Raging Coconuts!

didn't bother to wait for the punchline. i know there wasn't one....
Submitted by KEvron on December 7, 2005 - 10:39pm

Actually there WAS a punchline.

At the end Laura Bush says "President Bush and I want to wish everyone a very happy HOLIDAY!"

Laura Bush's war on Christmas.

"I never said I had a problem with Kerry's words" - Neocon_Expert: idiot troll

we should kill mohni's leaders and convert him to the religion of our choice....

KEvron

"I was jumped"
Submitted by onthetroll on September 27, 2005 - 8:15pm.

huh? huh?

KEvron

"I was jumped"
Submitted by onthetroll on September 27, 2005 - 8:15pm.

UConn junior Kareem Mohni, 20, said he was disgusted by his peers' reaction to Coulter.
"It really appalled me that we're not able to come together as a group and listen to a different view in a respectful environment," Mohni said.

Yes, a different view that advocates killing those with different views. The hypocrisy is stunning. 

"I never said I had a problem with Kerry's words" - Neocon_Expert: idiot troll

speaking of petulant and vindictive. sheesh!

KEvron

"I was jumped"
Submitted by onthetroll on September 27, 2005 - 8:15pm.

i don't know all the details of the story, but if the videos were made without using city funds, and without interupting job performance, then it seems like a first amendment issue. however, the videos may be in violation of department policy. have to see how it plays out.

it is disturbing, however, that these officers patrol the bayview/hunter's point neighborhoods. these neighboorhoods have primarily black populations, and these videos indicate a disdain and indifference toward these populations that would seem contrary to the mandate of "serve and protect".

and cohen, the producer of the videos, comes off as a petulant and vindictive little shit.

KEvron

"I was jumped"
Submitted by onthetroll on September 27, 2005 - 8:15pm.

Go here and on the right hand side you can watch the video. Unfuckingbelievable!

He tasered her 5 times...and she wasn't even under arrest.

....and I'm beat.

Off to another state.

Later 

Ann Coulter to audience: You're stupider than me

"As far as I know, it was back on the shelves soon after," a police spokesman said.
Submitted by 2rarely on December 8, 2005 - 7:41am.

That is definitely spit worthy.... 

I saw that on CNN this morning.

Shoplifter's brush with the law...

BERLIN (Reuters) - Police in Germany arrested a shoplifter who filled his trousers with 39 tubes of toothpaste, authorities in the western town of Dueren said on Wednesday.

Police said store detectives in a supermarket chased the 37-year-old Uzbek after they saw him stuff the tubes into his pants, and forced him to hand over his booty.

"As far as I know, it was back on the shelves soon after," a police spokesman said.

Video scandal rocks S.F. police
20 officers ordered suspended -- mayor says 'enough,' plans probe of SFPD

Jaxon Van Derbeken, Rachel Gordon and Trapper Byrne, Chronicle Staff Writers

Thursday, December 8, 2005

 About 20 San Francisco police officers will be suspended because of their alleged involvement in what the mayor and police chief describe as videos that mock minorities and treat women as sex objects, the officials said Wednesday night.

"This is a dark day -- an extremely dark day -- in the history of the San Francisco Police Department for me as a chief to have to stand here and share with you such egregious, shameful and despicable acts by members of the San Francisco Police Department,'' Chief Heather Fong said at a City Hall press conference.

**Awaits KEvron's reaction**

Call of nature saves man from garbage crusher

Morning. No worries....we all know it's in its "last throes" dickie told us so.

Dozens Killed By Baghdad Bus Bomb
BAGHDAD, Dec. 8, 2005

(CBS/AP) A suicide bomber who jumped on a bus after security checks had been completed detonated an explosives belt among passengers heading to a Shiite city Thursday, killing up to 30 people and wounding nearly 40, officials said.

This is one telling problem that isn't usually talked about: Is the current rate of death by otherwise healthy Iraqis any lower with Saddam out?

Hardly. If Hussein were working at this rate over his reign, there wouldn't be many left.     

Air America Radio's Randi Rhodes will be on C-Span for a full hour, one-on-one with Brian Lamb.

Channel: C-SPAN 1

Date/Time: Sunday, 12/18 @ 8pm ET / 7pm Central (replay at 11pm ET/ 10pm Central)

Republicans Have Lost High Moral Ground

    By Robert Scheer
    Truthdig.com     Wednesday 07 December 2005

    Call it Tonto's revenge: The outrageous rip-off of Native American tribes by a top Republican lobbyist is leading inexorably to a reckoning for the allegedly morally superior religious and political right.

    "I don't think we have had something of this scope, arrogance and sheer venality in our lifetimes," Norman J. Ornstein, of the conservative American Enterprise Institute, wrote in Roll Call. "It is building to an explosion, one that could create immense collateral damage within Congress and in coming elections."

    Selling firewater to the natives-or in this case charging them $82 million for government breaks on slot machine and other gaming licenses - is not exactly what the high-minded prophets of the Republican revolution promised. And to see behind the scenes as Christian right superstar Ralph Reed, bought off by top Republican lobbyist Jack Abramoff, dupes his grassroots "pro-family" followers into unwittingly supporting casino-rich Indian tribes under the guise of anti-gambling initiatives, is to glimpse moral corruption of biblical proportion.

  The King of Congressional Corruption

    By Thomas Oliphant
    The Boston Globe     Tuesday 06 December 2005

    Those of us who are true fans of hypocrisy and corruption need to pause and salute Randy Cunningham on his way out of town toward the beckoning slammer.

    He was the king, and one can hope the disgraced, now-former California congressman will be the gift that keeps on giving.

    Otherwise mere fans will be left with the improbable assertion that this right-wing buffoon went on a defense contractor's arm for the gigantic sum of $2.4 million all by his lonesome in order to steer scores of millions of dollars in military business the guy's way.

Military Misleads Press, Families, about How 10 Marines Died Last Week in Iraq 

    Editor & Publisher     Tuesday 06 December 2005

    New York - Why did the U.S. military mislead the media and the families of ten Marines killed near the Iraqi city of Falluja while "on patrol" last week about how they were killed? The military announced on Tuesday that it actually happened at a "promotion" ceremony and they were not on foot patrol as initially reported.

The President's Speech on Iraq Reconstruction

    By Rep. Henry A. Waxman
    t r u t h o u t | Statement     Wednesday 07 December 2005

    The President's claims today are mindboggling. Either he doesn't understand the facts or simply doesn't want to face them. The reconstruction of Iraq has been an enormous boondoggle - not an example of "quiet, steady progress." Halliburton has repeatedly overcharged American taxpayers through fraud, waste, and abuse. The U.S. officials in charge of the reconstruction have been incompetent and, in some cases, corrupt. And billions of dollars have been squandered without increasing oil or electricity production.

What were you doing up so late or were you getting up early?

With the steady drum beat of talking head positive spin from Faux News and suspect coverage from CNN, the shrub is actually better off doing nothing and putting up the "We're OUT" sign at 1600 Penn Ave. As long as no news penetrates the boney skulls of many Americans, they think that the schmoe is doing a good job. Recently, his overall popularity has bubbled back up a few points.

NOTHING HAS HAPPENED to make it better. All we see is propoganda about Iraq "TRAINING"

And, elections. Yes, Elections in the Middle East. Shrub, you also own the Egyptian Elections, bud. Isn't that our main torture/rendering spot?

===weed

CHRISTMAS Tripe. Jesus.

Serving the Holiday Tripe a bit early this year, I see.

gack.

didn't bother to wait for the punchline. i know there wasn't one....

KEvron

"I was jumped"
Submitted by onthetroll on September 27, 2005 - 8:15pm.

Fetch a bucket first.

http://www.whitehouse.gov/barney/barneycam2005.wm.v.html

I AM A LIFEGUARD!
http://www.hetstence.com/blog/vestiblog/

Long time, no see, hope things are well! ====The Week Ahead http://attheendoftheboom.blogspot.com/

you've been awol again, soldier....

KEvron

"I was jumped"
Submitted by onthetroll on September 27, 2005 - 8:15pm.

You, sir, get a huge

HOLLA

Gotta love a pilgrim sighting.

I AM A LIFEGUARD!
http://www.hetstence.com/blog/vestiblog/

BillyPilgrim??!!  Welcome, my friend!!

How are things out your way? 

@@@@@@@@ Raging Coconuts!

Propaganda Wrong - Ethically & Strategically Written by Administrator    Wednesday, 07 December 2005

A few days ago, the Pentagon admitted to paying hundred of millions of dollars to print nice things about the US and its aims in Iraq. Actually, by the time everything comes out, we will most likely find that we paid hundreds of millions of dollars to the Lincoln Group, who then paid thousands of dollars to Iraqi papers.  Meanwhile, President Bush, fresh off the Armstrong Williams and Dept of Education scandals, was ‘Shocked! Shocked that gambling, er propagandizing, is going on in here!’ Well, Mr. President, here’s the articles you wanted.

Most people would see this as a bad thing, but today, the Republic ran a piece by syndicated columnist Cal Thomas (does he color his hair with shoe polish?). If you know Cal, you can predict that he was all for the whole propaganda thing. In fact, it was titled ‘Not all propaganda is a lie’. 

Perhaps not coincidentally, my research into ‘ol Kiwi Kopf shows that he wrote many fawning profiles of Bush beginning just before he declared for the 2000 election all the way through the court battle. Cal never wrote about another republican candidate. Ok, could be a coincidence.  But then, the day after Colon Powell’s UN address on Iraq, Thomas’ wrote a piece called ‘Colon Powell’s Slam Dunk’.  Hmmm…It wasn’t known that CIA Director George Tenet called it a ‘slam dunk’ for many months after the speech. Where do you suppose ol’ Cal got that phrase? Could it be that he, like Armstrong Williams and several Iraqi newspapers, was taking a little payola to help 'catapult the propaganda’? That would certainly explain why he’s not critical of the practice.

Whether Cal’s on the take or not, the practice of paying the media to print your spin is not only ethically wrong (ethics being a subject that Mr. Thomas has written about at length), it is also unwise. But not according to Cal. He points out that all wars include propaganda, and equated any statements by politicians to propaganda, and finally said that we must counter the propaganda of al-Jazeera and other Middle-Eastern news outlets.  

The problem is that everybody knew that Lord Haw Haw was working for the Nazis. We all know that when you turn the channel to al-Jazeera, you’re going to see al-Jazeera.  It’s no secret that Voice of America is the voice of America. But planting a story in a newspaper is ethically wrong because the whole point is to fool the reader.

Media payola is not only wrong, it’s also a bad strategy. Once you’ve paid people big bucks to print favorable things, why on earth would they ever do for free?  You’ve made the market! What’s more, now you’ve corrupted the media. If they weren’t taking similar bribes from insurgents before, they certainly will now. This propaganda practice is a mistake that could set the ethical tone for the fledgling Iraqi media for a long time to come.    

Thomas’s Article

 http://www.jewishworldreview.com/cols/thomas1.asp

Hellooooo Doc!

@@@@@@@@ Raging Coconuts!

☼ ☼ ☼ ☼ ☼

"The power of declaring war being with the Legislature, the Executive should do nothing necessarily committing them to decide for war." - Thomas Jefferson