The Myth of the Bloggers vs. the Journalists

The Myth of the Bloggers vs. the Journalists

Don't put too much stock into that myth. Ask Dave Pell.

Headlines - War and Foreign Policy

Headlines

CONSERVATIVES WHO "GET IT"

Letter to The Ledger (Lakeland, FL):

"Every argument against this war has proved to be a fact. That is why Bush spent the majority of his inauguration speech blathering on about spreading liberty and freedom throughout the world. It is his only excuse left for war with Iraq..The war cost is hundreds of billions more than Bush was willing to admit. Saddam Hussein wasn't even a threat to his neighbors. There was no link between Hussein and al-Qaida..The Arab world hates us more than ever before. Bush has made bin Laden a prophet in the Arab world.. The Republican Party was conservative once, but, now, under the leadership of George W. Bush, it has become neoconservative.
I am out. Just don't call me a liberal or a Democrat. If you did, you owe me an apology."

American Conservative - Hunger for Dictatorship: War to export democracy may wreck our own

"The invasion of Iraq has put the possibility of the end to American democracy on the table and has empowered groups on the Right that would acquiesce to and in some cases welcome the suppression of core American freedoms. That would be the titanic irony of course, the mother of them all—that a war initiated under the pretense of spreading democracy would lead to its destruction in one of its very birthplaces. But as historians know, history is full of ironies."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

IRAQ

UK: "The Ministry of Defence will accept liability for the death of the first British soldier to die in action in Iraq, his widow’s lawyer confirmed today.
Sgt Roberts was shot when trying to quell a riot in Az Zubayr, near Basra, within days of the start of the conflict in March 2003.
An internal MoD report later established that he would have survived if he had been wearing ceramic plates inside his flak jacket. He had been issued with the plates, but gave them to another soldier because his regiment did not have enough for everyone.
Mrs Roberts has already received a personal apology from Defence Secretary Geoff Hoon after she released tapes of her husband voicing his concerns over equipment shortages.

Election Complaints Emerge in Iraq

Seattle Times: Army officer refuses second deployment to Iraq

"He saw a young Iraqi girl with her arm horribly burned and blackened, standing helplessly on a roadside as Benderman's convoy rushed past. He saw dogs feasting on civilian corpses dumped into pits. He saw young American soldiers he believed were treating war like a video game, with few apparent qualms about killing or the effects of the invasion on ordinary Iraqis.
Benderman said he begged an officer to stop and help the girl, but was told the unit couldn't spare its limited medical supplies.
"I had to look at that little girl, look into her eyes, and in her eyes I saw the TRUTH. I cannot kill.."

22 Iraqi Police Officers, Soldiers Killed Near Baghdad; Gunmen Kidnap 4 Egyptians Technicians

Informed Comment: Guest Editorial: Andrew Arato on Constitutional Participation in Iraq ("The election of January 30, 2005 was Sistani’s victory.")

Virtually no punishment or adonishment for this? REALLY?!? This Lt. General makes us look like our troops are guided by a homicidal ethos (in other words: murder-loving assholes)! "Actually, it's a lot of fun to fight. You know, it's a hell of a hoot. ... It's fun to shoot some people."

Iraq/Women's Rights- Election rhetoric is not reality

Deja Vu all over again - Purple-fingered frenzy and Forgotten Journalistic Principles- Hailing the bravery of Iraqi voters last week, and at times gushing over the turnout, the American media seems (as it did two years ago in the hyping of Saddam's WMDs) to have forgotten core journalistic principles in regard to fact-checking and weighing partisan assertions.

A long way to go. A step backward for women? 1400 American lives for this?

"Shiite clerics, who, confident they have a popular mandate from the elections, are advocating for Islam to be recognized as the underpinning of the government.....more conservative leaders are insisting that Shariah, or Islamic law, be the foundation for all legislation. Such a constitution would be a sharp departure from the transitional law that the Americans enacted before appointing the interim Iraqi government led by Prime Minister Ayad Allawi. One focus of the U.S. effort then was to secure equal rights for women and minorities. Under Shariah, for instance, daughters would receive half the inheritances of sons.[..]
[..]..The alliance of Shiite politicians in the national assembly could splinter as its members vie against one another for power and trade favors with rival politicians like the secular Allawi and the Kurds, who are Sunnis. Too strong a push for a Shiite religious state could also prompt violent opposition from Sunni Arabs, the formerly dominant minority that already feels disenfranchised, or from the Kurds, who can exercise veto power over the new constitution.[..]"

Jalal Talabani

"As Iraq's president, [Kurdish leader and candidate] Jalal Talabani said he could play a mediating role between Sunni Arabs and Shiite Muslims, who apparently scored a landslide victory in the Jan. 30 national elections."

_______________________

OSAMA BIN LADEN

While we "spread freedom" in Iraq, Osama Bin Laden runs free to plan his next major attack on the U.S. Taking our focused eye off of Bin Laden may be the costliest mistake a sitting American President could ever have made.

Steve Coll/WP - "September 11 taught us that Chicken Little sometimes gets it right. But the failures to correctly assess Saddam Hussein's weapons of mass destruction showed that he sometimes gets it wrong.[..]President Bush's pledge after 9/11 to make "no distinction between the terrorists who committed these acts and those who harbor them" does not seem likely to intimidate a future jihadi nuclear cell.."

_________________________

IRAN

NY Review of Books- Bush, Iran & the Bomb By Christopher de Bellaigue

"...the November 2004 [NPT Safeguards] agreement will amount to little unless the Americans join the negotiations, offering advantages such as security guarantees, a deal on Iranian assets in the US, and the prospect of normal economic relations. The Americans are wary of committing themselves to such policies unless the Europeans and others, especially Russia and China, consent to taking punitive action if Iran progresses further toward a fuel cycle that could produce nuclear weapons. What is needed to deal with Iran and its nuclear ambitions is the formation of an international coalition including the US, and that is not George Bush's strong point."

`Pre-emptive' study of Iran data started

"The Senate Intelligence Committee has launched what its chairman called a "pre-emptive" examination of U.S. intelligence on Iran as part of an effort to avoid the problems that plagued America's prewar assessments on Iraq."

Directions for Making a Snow Angel

Directions for Making a Snow Angel

I saw this at GirlOnAGlide blog and wanted to share it with my readers.

During inauguration week, I displayed my own snow-angel-making talents for the staff at the hotel where I was staying (near Washington, D.C.). I couldn't help myself! It was on the day of their first big snowfall of the year and the virgin snow was screaming for an angel's impression. I recall instant smiles from strangers when they saw the results of my efforts. Snow angels almost always have that kind of effect on people. That's why I do it!



Directions for Making a Snow Angel:

1. You need snow, the stickier, the better.
2. Flop over backwards.
3. Pretend that you're doing jumping jacks, only while laying down.
4. Never, ever, ever..step into the head of your snow angel when you get up. Ever.


*photo credit: flickr.com

What Is Your Purpose in Life?

"...it is never too late to re-make yourself, and a step off the cliff might save you.
I challenge you to find your safety zone and leave it behind in the pursuit of your life in the sun."

What Is Your Purpose in Life?

Sapere Aude, my Zardozz colleague who blogs at Mystical Wanderer, has written about a subject that is universal to all of us. She bares a part of her inner world, drawing upon painful experience to help us see that we are not alone in our search for meaning in this life.

Excerpts:

"I've asked myself the same question and I think I've found the answer that satisfies me. And it is that I am here to pursue what I am meant to do, which brings contentment in my life, and if I ignore my truth, I will live a life filled with uncertainty and negativity. And so, I know that my purpose in life is to write, and to help people.
But how do we know what to pursue? Ask yourself, at this very point in your life, are you happy? Is there a long-forgotten dream that you cherish? And if such a dream exists, what's stopping you from pursuing it? Bills? Family? Fear of failure?

..[..].. I believe that when one has reached a certain level of discontent, something has to happen, whether good or bad. But if one ignores the signs, then wrong choices or bad decisions are made, leaving one in a quagmire of boggy malcontent."

I hope you'll read the post in its entirety. It's great food for thought.


*photo credit: http://www.punchstock.com

EasonGate Arrives on the Scene

EasonGate Arrives on the Scene

Activists are looking to take down Eason Jordan of CNN. Dan Rather's head is still warm on the stake, and righties are feeling their "Wheaties".

Readers at Little Green Footballs are taking issue with my saying that they are "stalking" CNN and Eason himself.

I only call it as I see it. If the shoe fits, we must learn to wear it without hiding our agendas and acting defensively when we're called on it.

The political downsizing of Trent Lott was a success story for lefties. Was it fair to Senator Lott? Perhaps not. That's life in the fast lane.

My point: Why be ashamed, LGF? If Democrats were nearly as tenacious as you 'mighty righties', FOX News (as we know it) would be history by now. They'd be exposed for the misinformation they spew 24/7. (I'm surprised Brit Hume's head has not yet spun 360 degrees).

I would recommend that blog activists such as those at LGF do not pretend that they're some kind of moral crusaders or that they are the only people who can claim to be on the "side" of America. That's pure, unadulterated horsecrap. We know it. I think most readers at LGF would be surprised once they sat down and listened to what I was saying. I believe they'd be shocked when they came to understand that we shared many of the meaningful values that make us traditionally American - Progressive values such as truth, honesty, respect, openness, empathy, compassion, strong protection, fair and equal treatment, and fulfillment in life.

I would ask such activists, while they go after the journalists, why they fail to call upon our government to be accountable for the many known lies that they have told us. Freedom to do so is a traditional and important American value. Read a bit of Thomas Jefferson's writings and you will not be able to disagree.

When I compare:

1. Eason Jordan's comments that journalists have been targeted by military
and...
2. Myriad public comments by the Bush administration which caused the military to go to war on the wings of lies in the first place..

Well - I can think of far bigger "gates" to pry open. You don't see Bushgate because many of you protect the ones in the secretive, lying, and tremendously inept administration who have breached the Constitutionally-sacred trust of Americans. The breach of that trust has damaged the national interest. While a small majority of voters carried Bush in November's (forever-dubious) Ohio election, half of America and the entirety of the world community has lost trust in the integrity of his administration. Like falling dominos, this will have many unexpected consequential implications for the future of America's strength and respect in world diplomacy. It will remain this way as long as this administration haphazardly wields its messianic foreign policy.

Rightwing activists: In your own nation, open government and democracy are dying, and you are only a part of that destruction when you become fearful to question the ones who tell you that freedom is paramount as they systematically remove your freedoms.

Do any of you care where an unaccounted-for $9 billion of your tax dollars dedicated to Iraq funds have gone? Where is the "$9 Billion Dollargate"? I'll tell you where it is. Nowhere on your particular agenda.

I'll bet the egotistical media will spend more time navel-gazing than reporting the truth about matters material to the most meaningful national interests. When you hear people say that the mainstream media seems as if they are in league with the American right-wing on the issues they choose to report, this is how it happens.

A final message to LGF readers: You are the kind of people I'd love to have on my side of the issues. I don't appreciate your focus, however. If your intent is a healthy and strong America, you should focus, as a group, on why so many Americans are expecting a modicum of truth, honesty, openness, and integrity from our government. Without jumping to false conclusions. Perhaps, after a while, you'll start asking yourselves.

____________________

*UPDATE:

"..Jordan said something in a public on-the-record forum that he clearly regretted saying. There are really two questions here: First, what did he really say? That's going to get cleared up soon enough. The second more interesting question is: what does he really believe? Clearly he is frustrated and angry at the way in which the U.S. military deals with (or fails to protect) non-embedded journalists in Iraq. Why? Does his anger and frustration have any justification? Is the source of his problem the behavior of individual soldiers on the ground who happen to hate MSM because they think it's anti-military? Or is the source of his problem more systemic and part of a policy - spoken or unspoken - coming from the top?.."

-- Rebecca MacKinnon, from an interview with Hugh Hewitt

*Thanks to Powerpundit for posting this interview, which first appeared on Powerline.

UPDATE 2: Jay Rosen weighs in at Press Think.

Best New Blog: Chief Blogging Officer

Best New Blog: Chief Blogging Officer

I highly recommend it. Get there!

MIA in Iraq funds: $9 Billion US Taxpayer dollars!

"Wake up, America!
Your democracy is disappearing!"

--Congressman Dennis Kucinich
see link

MIA in Iraq:
$9 Billion U.S. Taxpayer Dollars

LINK

Jonah Goldberg Embarrasses Himself

"Jonah Goldberg knows absolutely nothing about Iraq."

- Juan Cole

Jonah Goldberg Embarrasses Himself

You may have already seen this, but I didn't want any of you to miss this beauty of a post by Juan Cole. He aptly takes on Jonah Goldberg, who has, (true to form), embarrassed himself once again. As Markos has said, I'm surely glad Juan's on 'our side'!

There's more from Professor Cole HERE, where he quotes a James Wolcott blogpost about the situation. He includes this: Oh my God! He actually said it! (Goldberg replied to this comment from Juan Cole's reader at the National Review website):

"But if you actually do get an oppurtunity [sic] to verbally castrate this weasel, ask him if he truly meant "In the weeks prior to the war to liberate Afghanistan, a good friend of mine would ask me almost every day, "Why aren't we killing people yet?" And I never had a good answer for him. Because one of the most important and vital things the United States could do after 9/11 was to kill people." '

He looks to be of military age. Ask him why his sorry a** isn't in the kill zone."]

Goldberg actually says,

"For the record, I did in fact mean it. I wrote it here. As for why my sorry a** isn't in the kill zone, lots of people think this is a searingly pertinent question. No answer I could give -- I'm 35 years old, my family couldn't afford the lost income, I have a baby daughter, my a** is, er, sorry, are a few -- ever seem to suffice."

Goldberg helped send nearly 1500 brave Americans to their deaths and helped maim over 10,000, not to mention all the innocent Iraqi civilians he helped get killed. He helped dragoon 140,000 US troops in Iraq. And he does not have the courage of his convictions. His excuse is that he couldn't afford to take the pay cut!"

___________________________

Goldberg must feel like a real ass after all this, even if his overblown ego would never allow him to admit it.

The Worship of the Market God

The Worship of the
Market God
How we lose spirit, moral value, tradition, and democracy

Reading Nick Lewis' fantastic blog, I came across an article I could not resist reading in its entirety - even on a sunny Saturday afternoon when the outdoor sky was beckoning. It's called The Market as God, written for The Atlantic in 1999. It's theme is timeless, and deals with a strange theological crossover discussion. It speaks of "the religion of The Market" in contrast and comparison to the traditional religions. One of the most interesting comments made by the author, Harvey Cox, makes an all-important distinction between what I see as the differences between the view of Conservatives and Left-leaning people:

"..for all the religions of the world, however they may differ from one another, the religion of The Market has become the most formidable rival, the more so because it is rarely recognized as a religion. The traditional religions and the religion of the global market, as we have seen, hold radically different views of nature. In Christianity and Judaism, for example, "the earth is the Lord's and the fullness thereof, the world and all that dwell therein." The Creator appoints human beings as stewards and gardeners *(see UPDATE below)* but, as it were, retains title to the earth. Other faiths have similar ideas. In The Market religion, however, human beings, more particularly those with money, own anything they buy and -within certain limits- can dispose of anything as they choose."

I would venture to say that Conservatives, for all their talk about their adherence to God's principles in a traditionally religious sense, are worshipping the gods of The Market before their traditional Gods. (Isn't that a major breach of some Commandment? Yes, I think it is).

In some ways, The Market religion represents values which directly oppose traditionally religious principles.

."In Catholic theology, through what is called "transubstantiation," ordinary bread and wine become vehicles of the holy. In the mass of The Market a reverse process occurs. Things that have been held sacred transmute into interchangeable items for sale."

Sounds incredibly shallow in spirit, doesn't it?

Enter philosophy and economist-theologians who justify The Market's ways to men:

".."process theology," a relatively contemporary trend influenced by the philosophy of Alfred North Whitehead. In this school although God wills to possess the classic attributes, He does not yet possess them in full, but is definitely moving in that direction. This conjecture is of immense help to theologians for obvious reasons. It answers the bothersome puzzle of theodicy: why a lot of bad things happen that an omnipotent, omnipresent, and omniscient God-especially a benevolent one-would not countenance. Process theology also seems to offer considerable comfort to the theologians of The Market. It helps to explain the dislocation, pain, and disorientation that are the result of transitions from economic heterodoxy to free markets."

Jude's Note: Whitehead believed that without God, the cosmic process would not be an orderly, creative process, but only a chaos. Therefore, Cox is telling you that the worshippers of Wall Street are comforted by thinking they are following a "divinely-created" order by their political gods.

Harvey Cox finds at least one major contradiction between the religion of The Market and the traditional religions. It's a contradiction that seems to be insurmountable. He says:

"All of the traditional religions teach that human beings are finite creatures and that there are limits to any earthly enterprise. A Japanese Zen master once said to his disciples as he was dying, "I have learned only one thing in life: how much is enough." He would find no niche in the chapel of The Market, for whom the First Commandment is "There is never enough." Like the proverbial shark that stops moving, The Market that stops expanding dies. That could happen. If it does, then Nietzsche will have been right after all. He will just have had the wrong God in mind."

I asked myself a couple of questions, which were inspired by this article.

What is the value of a human life in the theology of The Market? I worked in the liability insurance industry for many years and, often, I had to calculate the value of a human life. It sounds cold, but it's done every day in The Market. Life is not sacred there. It is simply calculated. If everything is for sale under the rule of The Market, I imagine that nothing can truly be 'sacred' except the monetary units against which we measure life. There's no time for emotion or spiritual venture. At the office, there are only a few things: a calculator, a set of statistics, and bargaining skills, which are required to measure the worth of one human being's entire life.

How do we know The Market's will? Cox says the diviners and seers of The Market's moods are the "high priests of its mysteries". These "high priests" are Wall Street and all who work for its thriving survival. "The Market may work in mysterious ways, "hid from our eyes," but ultimately it knows best."

Because our government so closely relies upon The Market (especially the GOP, but Democrats are also worshippers), much of their work is "hidden from our eyes". They become part of the mystery in a religion of greed. This is Constitutionally anithetical to the right of the American people to an open government and a civic democracy.

In the religion of The Market, the parishioners are lifeless and spiritless. They're easily dissociated with tradition and their extended family in pursuit of the monetary unit that rules over the course of their lives. They are no more than little Red and Blue players on a Checkers board.

When did we sign away our souls in America? Did anyone record the moment when that happened? Did we get a good deal?

Some think Heaven will be their great reward after a devoted life of Market-worship, but that's another religion altogether.

______________________

* UPDATE- I give credit where credit is due. In today's Washington Post, we see that some Christians are speaking out for their religious duty of stewardship of the Earth. Could this be a healthy beginning?

"We affirm that God-given dominion is a sacred responsibility to steward the earth and not a license to abuse the creation of which we are a part," said the statement, which has been distributed to 50,000 member churches. "Because clean air, pure water, and adequate resources are crucial to public health and civic order, government has an obligation to protect its citizens from the effects of environmental degradation."

Signatories included highly visible, opinion-swaying evangelical leaders such as Haggard, James Dobson of Focus on the Family and Chuck Colson of Prison Fellowship Ministries. Some of the signatories are to meet in March in Washington to develop a position on global warming, which could place them at odds with the policies of the Bush administration.."

Lies are spread too easily by media

Lies are spread too easily by media

When I went to the Google News headlines page, this headline was the top (World) story:

"Rice says Europe ready to move beyond difference with U-S"

I went to the article,and found that, for all the hype in the headline, the article was a big "nothing".

This is how Americans get fooled into thinking all is well, when in reality,they are being given bad information.

The article with the 'major-headline' (if you can even call it an article) says:

Rice says she's hearing "a desire to move on to the next chapter."

Relations were strained over the war -- partly because of comments from Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld. He referred to France and Germany -- which opposed the war -- as "old Europe."

What an incomplete piece of shite. An almost total absence of factual investigation. And it's a "top story"...a "big headline".

After reading it, I thought about how Condoleeza Rice has lied through the gap in her teeth about the reasons we went to Iraq. I thought about how she scared Americans about the threat of mushroom clouds coming at Saddam's willing and capable hands (another lie).

I thought about how Condoleeza Rice has betrayed America.

I thought about how she lied for President Bush, who has betrayed America's trust.

I wondered, why the hell would Europeans trust the America that is governed by the Bush administration when most of America no longer trusts them?

We tend to forget that our "national interest" is truly interdependent. The Iraq war has severely damaged our own national interest because a Constitutionally sacred trust has been broken by the Bush administration.

You really have to think about what you're being fed by the media these days. I wonder if they know they are perpetuating lies, or if they are simply in need of far better journalistic training and guidance?

The Emperor's New Hump

The Emperor's New Hump


The New York Times killed a story that could have changed the election—because it could have changed the election. LINK

Following Ted Kennedy's Advice, US Withdrawing 15K Troops from Iraq

Following Ted Kennedy's Advice, US Withdrawing 15K Troops from Iraq


CNN

Right wingnuts can say whatever negative garbage they would like to say about Senator Ted Kennedy. He was right. And 15,000 troops will soon be coming home.

The United States is to pull 15,000 troops out of Iraq, signalling the launch of a new, post-election phase.

Last week, on the FOX News Sunday show, I heard Brit Hume say that Ted Kennedy "would have to be out of his mind" to suggest such a withdrawl so soon. It looks like Brit Hume's hair dye was getting to his brain and affecting his judgement again.

I'm A Hunter Soul

You Are a Hunter Soul

You are driven and ambitious - totally self motiviated to succeed Actively working to acheive what you want, you are skillful in many areas. You are a natural predator with strong instincts ... and more than a little demanding. You are creative, energetic, and an extremely powerful force. An outdoors person, you like animals and relate to them better than people. You tend to have an explosive personality, but also a good sense of humor. People sometimes see you as arrogant or a know it all. You tend to be a bit of a loner, though you hate to be alone. Souls you are most compatible with: Seeker Soul and Peacemaker Soul What Kind of Soul Are You?

Simon Rosenberg, Out of DNC Race, Backs Howard Dean

Howard (with Judy)

Simon Rosenberg, Out of DNC Race, Backs Howard Dean

Activist Simon Rosenberg abandoned his bid for Democratic National Committee chairman on Friday and backed front-runner Howard Dean, moving the former presidential candidate closer to capturing the party title.

This means that Howard Dean is now likely to win the DNC Chair.

YES!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

* UPDATE: Governor Bill Richardson of New Mexico said yesterday that he is supporting Dean for the chairmanship. "The race is essentially over," said Richardson, chairman of the Democratic Governors Association. "He's won fair and square." LINK

U.S. Complicit in Oil For Food Scandal

"This was a bit of a special arrangement here," former U.N. Ambassador John Negroponte explained in an April Senate hearing, to avoid "unnecessarily and unfairly penalizing the people of Jordan [and other countries] from the negative economic consequences of sanctions on Iraq."


U.S. Complicit in Oil For Food Scandal
Moral Perversion and Hyposcrisy Galore

I'd like to know why anyone would be surprised to read this headline.

While the "oh-so-moral" Senator Norm Coleman (who can smile with even more pretty fakery nowadays) publically tries to beat the credibility crap out of Kofi Annan, the newly-appointed ambassador to Iraq, John Negroponte, who was the U.N. ambassador during the Oil-For-food scandal, looked the other way while Jordan and Turkey were granted embargo-breaking oil sales.

I love the way we reward our own scandalous crooks by handing them ambassadorships to countries we choose to occupy, while at the same time we attempt to deligitimize the U.N. for something in which we willingly and knowingly participated.

It's morally perverted.

There are many in the Republican party today (and I'm not saying all of them, but many, especially within in the Bush administration) who are dangerous hypocrites and moral perverts.

Dem Senators Who Voted "Yes" For Gonzales

Dem Senators Who Voted "Yes" For Gonzales

Here are your Democratic senators who voted 'yes' to the confirmation of Alberto Gonzales:

(1) Senator Ken Salazar (Colorado).
(2) Senator Joseph Lieberman (Conn.).
(3) Senator Ben Nelson (Neb.).
(4) Senator Mary Landrieu (La.)
(5) Senator Pryor (Ark).
(6) Senator Bill Nelson (Fla.)

I thought you'd like to know which of your Senators compromised on their party's long-held values of respect for the Rule of Law and Human Rights, when political circumstances were such that they never even had to compromise. If they could have voted for this supporter of torture, they would more than likely sell you out in the blink of an eye.

Strange Journalism:Iraq the Model in the News Again

Strange Journalism:
Iraq the Model in the News Again

A couple of months ago, I passed along some information about some bloggers who were having doubts about the credibility of a couple of brothers (actually, there are three) by the name of Omar and Muhammad, and Ali. Blogger Jeff Jarvis has championed the brothers' blog, known as Iraq, the Model.

Jay Rosen is talking about the blogging brothers at Press Think. A NY Times article by Sarah Boxer, titled "Pro-American Iraqi Blog Provokes Intrigue and Vitriol, has reported about unsupported allegations that the brothers from Iraq are actually C.I.A. agents. It produces no proof whatsoever for such claims.

Whether they are CIA or propagandists, I am disturbed when I read that these brothers are being financed by ideologues. I don't make a single dime as a blogger. I speak my heart and I am politically obligated to no man or woman besides myself and my own conscience. One of these brothers, Ali, has quit. Poof. Cold turkey. He claims he just can't do this anymore. The other two brothers claim to have met with President Bush. I'm sorry, this is just too bizarre, people! Sarah Boxer writes:

As for financing, Ali said that Iraq the Model had received private donations from Americans, Australians, French, British and Iraqi citizens. In addition, the brothers were promised money from Spirit of America. But, he added, "We haven't got it yet."

What Sarah Boxer was trying to tell us in her report, as a mainstream journalist, seems just a litte fuzzy to many people. A theme that runs through many of the comments I see about the article is that the report seemed more like a blog entry than a professional journalist's NY Times report.

Jay says:

The finished report is supposed to reduce the "befuddling complexity" of the online world, not produce a more exquisite sense of it.

Jeff Sharlet of The Revealer (who is teaching a course at NYU this term on religion and journalism) has said that "good reporting is ordinarily the opposite of opaque, and that the situation should be more intelligible when the journalist's labors are completed."

Jay Rosen has concluded that:

Sarah Boxer's article about Iraq the Model was really about the Net and how you can't trust anyone or anything that originated on it. Leaving the situation opaque, at the level of a brouhaha, was part of the point. (And in that context, suggesting a CIA connection served quite well.) It remains, however, a strange assignment.

I have to wonder if Sarah Boxer wasn't trying to mock the blog world with her opaque article. Was she branding us, with crafty poison pen, a band of hooligans with our hands out for bribes; not to be trusted as you'd trust a NY Times journalist? I hope this was not the case. We honest, hard-working bloggers can be sensitive souls.

Here's what I really want to know. I'd love to know the facts, with which Sarah never bothered to satisfy us. The facts. Sarah ends her article by referring to a statement by one of the brothers, the last line reading "Now that seems genuine..", yet she never offers true investigative insight or a promise of investigative follow-up.

I could have written this piece, and I'm a blogger..not a NY Times journalist. If the NY Times would like a blogger who's a real deal, however, I am always willing and ready. ;)

I mean, are Muhammad, Omar, and Ali CIA agents or paid operatives of any kind? Are they simply propagandists? Have they been paid by DoD or any other governmental agency? Are they the Armstrong Williams of Iraq? Has anyone bothered to dig into this and give us a real investigative story? Are they too afraid they'll wind up suffering the fate of Dan Rather if they REALLY try to "dig in"? For Sarah, whose article I found entertaining, it seems as if it was easier just to muddy up the waters and make political bloggers look like most of them on the take.

I have to say that I deeply resent that soft accusation.

Bush Foreign Policy Devoid of Solid Moral Values

"Our generational commitment to the advance of freedom, especially in the Middle East, is now being tested and honoured in Iraq."

--President GW Bush

Bush Foreign Policy Devoid of Solid Moral Values
His actions betray his words

I have a bone to pick with President Bush about his frothing rush to be Reaganesque.

The BBC has an excellent analysis of foreign policy-related statements made by President Bush in his SOTU speech. World Affairs Correspondent Paul Reynolds felt that Bush's use of language was reminiscent of Ronald Reagan and the Cold War.

He says:

where President Reagan called for liberty in the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe, so President Bush declares that he is trying to do the same for the Middle East.

While President Bush may intend to be the NeoReagan and saviour of the Middle East, there are some things he and many Americans are forgetting.

President Bush wants to lead the world to freedom, yet through his actions, most of the world sees him as a threat - especially the people who live in the very part of the world he wishes to change. The way he chooses to deliver freedom to the Middle East has been terribly unsuccessful, in reality.

The world sees directly through the broad and sweeping freedom-speak of George W. Bush and regularly glimpses, with horror, a little bitty mind with a big, big agenda. The most appalling thing about that agenda is the absence of real moral values and an ignorance about the culture and worldview of the part of the world he wishes to change.

Lenten Reflection #2

Lenten Reflection #2

Today's reflection is from a book by Carol Osborn titled "Nothing Left Unsaid". Carol's father, gravely ill, was about to be taken into surgery. She reveals how the language of love is spoken in the simple stories that we tell. Love can grow so large that it can break your heart. There's so much we wish to say when we are fully conscious of the fact that our time here on Earth is limited. There are times when we are not sure how to say what we want to say to a loved one when "the time" comes - and you know that one of you must part with this life. The simplest of words can carry loving messages we wish to relay in those unspeakable moments of sorrow and loss.

Listen to Carol's story.

"Despite his discomfort and the effort it obviously took, Dad wanted to share a story with me about something that had happened to him during World War II. Stationed in the Phillipines, far away from home, he had bonded deeply with his companions. Medics, sent to care for those injured and ailing on the front lines, he and his companions lived through dangerous times together.

Then, for no apparent reason, there was a lull in the fighting. Shortly after, a dispatch arrived, offering the medics much-needed R&R. The boys were free to take the day and go to swim in a lake nearby. Dad readied himself for the celebration, but soon a second dispatch arrived. This one contained orders that Dad, only, was to be shifted later that afternoon from his companions to a new battalion many miles away. He would have to say goodbye to his friends while he awaited transport to arrive to take him to his new assignment. His friends hugged Dad an emotional farewell then boarded the company’s Jeep. Dad stood there a good long time, listening to their laughter and singing fade into silence, feeling alone and abandoned. Every moment he waited for his transport to come felt like an eternity. And of course, the transport was hours late. When the driver finally arrived, he apologized, explaining that there had been an accident and the road had been closed. “A Jeep, carrying a group of medics, careened off the road and over the side of the cliff into the lake below. All had been instantly killed.” Dad paused to take a deep breath, then went on to finish his story quietly.

“I would have been on that Jeep, having nothing more serious on my mind than going swimming with my buddies at the lake.” I know what Dad was saying to me. He did not explicitly use the words “Life is precious” or “Every day has been a gift.” But these words, and more, were in the squeeze of his hand before he drifted off into sleep.



As I stood there beside him, thinking about his story, my mind wandered back to the sunny afternoon over forty years ago when Dad had run beside my wobbly two-wheeler, teaching me to ride. As long as his hand made contact with my arm, the bike stayed upright and I felt like I was riding on my own. But the moment he withdrew his hand, the bike would suddenly careen and crash. Eventually, of course, I pedaled faster than even he could run. Until this moment, I had not remembered the last time I felt his hand on my shoulder; I had only remembered the first time I took off down the road holding strong and steady. I had taken so much for granted in my life. Suddenly, I was overwhelmed with gratitude for it all. There were no words to communicate my feelings, so we just kept on telling stories and sharing memories — until the very last moment they came to get Dad and roll him away to surgery.

The stories and memories we shared were simple and sweet, And yet, just being together — sometimes sharing our thoughts, sometimes sitting in silence, some kind of completion was taking place that went far beyond the words that were being spoken."

Bush tells the truth - Twice!

Bush tells the truth - Twice!

President Bush told the truth at least a couple of times last night during his SOTU speech.

At the beginning of the speech, he averred that it was a great privilege to have been placed in office by the votes of people he serves. That was no lie. He serves his supportive base very well. It's the other 50% of the nation he plans to screw with every ounce of political capital he's gained.

He said he will listen to anyone who has a "good idea" to offer when it comes to Social Security. That was no lie. We know what he thinks of Democrats' ideas. They're all bad. Therefore, he will not be listening to them.