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« Friday, May 9, 2008

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Saturday, May 10, 2008

Q: What Did Obama Know About Rev. Wright? A: Everything.

Sat, May 10, 2008 at 1:03:54 pm PDT

Stanley Kurtz has a devastating piece in the Weekly Standard, analyzing a year’s worth of the news magazine published by Reverend Jeremiah Wright: Jeremiah Wright’s ‘Trumpet’.

To the question of the moment—What did Barack Obama know and when did he know it?—I answer, Obama knew everything, and he’s known it for ages. Far from succumbing to surprise and shock after Jeremiah Wright’s disastrous performance at the National Press Club, Barack Obama must have long been aware of his pastor’s political radicalism. A careful reading of nearly a year’s worth of Trumpet Newsmagazine, Wright’s glossy national “lifestyle magazine for the socially conscious,” makes it next to impossible to conclude otherwise.

Tags: LGF, Election 2008, Barack Obama, Rev. Wright, Wright, Racism, Hate Speech

Obama Changes His 'Unconditional' Position - Update: Video Added

Sat, May 10, 2008 at 12:02:40 pm PDT

In yet another New York Times advocacy piece for Barack Obama, we discover that the Obama campaign is trying to rewrite history again.

Susan E. Rice, a former State Department and National Security Council official who is a foreign policy adviser to the Democratic candidate, said that “for political purposes, Senator Obama’s opponents on the right have distorted and reframed” his views. Mr. McCain and his surrogates have repeatedly stated that Mr. Obama would be willing to meet “unconditionally” with Mr. Ahmadinejad. But Dr. Rice said that this was not the case for Iran or any other so-called “rogue” state. Mr. Obama believes “that engagement at the presidential level, at the appropriate time and with the appropriate preparation, can be used to leverage the change we need,” Dr. Rice said. “But nobody said he would initiate contacts at the presidential level; that requires due preparation and advance work.”

The problem is, Barack Obama did say he’d meet with Iran unconditionally, in front of a lot of people, at the CNN/YouTube Democratic debate last July.

He was specifically and directly asked if he would meet with the leader of Iran without preconditions, in the first year of his presidency, and his answer was, “I would.”

Democratic Debate Transcript, CNN/YouTube - Council on Foreign Relations.

QUESTION: In 1982, Anwar Sadat traveled to Israel, a trip that resulted in a peace agreement that has lasted ever since.

In the spirit of that type of bold leadership, would you be willing to meet separately, without precondition, during the first year of your administration, in Washington or anywhere else, with the leaders of Iran, Syria, Venezuela, Cuba and North Korea, in order to bridge the gap that divides our countries?

OBAMA: I would. And the reason is this, that the notion that somehow not talking to countries is punishment to them — which has been the guiding diplomatic principle of this administration — is ridiculous.

There’s some “reframing” going on here, all right.

Also see:
Hot Air - History re-written: Obama never said he would meet personally with Iran without precondition, says advisor

UPDATE at 5/10/08 1:44:39 pm:

Here’s the video:

(Video player requires Flash Player.)

Tags: LGF, Election 2008, Barack Obama, Israel, Iran, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad

Saturday Morning Papaya

Sat, May 10, 2008 at 10:11:31 am PDT

Tags: LGF, Photograph, Papaya, Breakfast

Christian Science Monitor Shills for 'Nakba'

Sat, May 10, 2008 at 9:04:12 am PDT

The amount of anti-Israel propaganda being churned out by mainstream media as Israel celebrates her 60th anniversary is absolutely appalling. There is one story after another on the wires about how much the Palestinians suffered when Israel was born, and not a single one of them provides the necessary context — that the surrounding Arab states launched a war in 1948 with the expressly stated purpose of killing every Jew in Israel and destroying the new state.

Here’s one of several such articles at the Christian Science Monitor, in an article commiserating with an Arab who whines bitterly that his Syrian training didn’t allow him to wipe out the Jews: An Arab veteran of 1948 recalls Palestinian ‘catastrophe’.

There’s something seriously wrong with our mainstream media.

Tags: LGF, Christian science monitor, Anti-Israel, Nakba, Propaganda

Friday, May 09, 2008

Friday Night Open

Fri, May 9, 2008 at 10:16:17 pm PDT

An open thread for the lizards of the night...

Tags: LGF, Open Thread

And Now for Some Finger Picking

Fri, May 9, 2008 at 6:20:29 pm PDT

Here’s Andy McKee with Ebon Coast from his album The Gates of Gnomeria.

(Video player requires Flash Player.)

Tags: LGF, Music, Video, Andy McKee, Acoustic Guitar

McCain on O'Reilly 2

Fri, May 9, 2008 at 5:20:39 pm PDT

The second part of Bill O’Reilly’s interview with John McCain is airing shortly; last night’s first installment wasn’t exactly our most popular political thread ever, so why not double down?

Tags: LGF, Election 2008, John McCain, O'Reilly

Mosque Refuses to Bury Cop Killer

Fri, May 9, 2008 at 3:15:09 pm PDT

This is interesting; a mosque where Philadelphia cop killer Howard Cain might have developed that “prayer bump” on his forehead (by grinding it into the ground five times a day—it’s considered a mark of devotion) is now refusing to give him a funeral.

The leadership of the Germantown Masjid has refused to conduct funeral services for Howard Cain, the bank robber who killed Sgt. Stephen Liczbinski with a Chinese-made semi-automatic rifle.

“No, we will not bury him at Germantown Masjid,” said Tariq El Shabazz, managing director of the mosque. “We don’t want one slight scintilla hinting that we condone his behavior.”

On Sunday evening, a friend of Cain’s family asked if Cain’s burial could take place at the mosque on Germantown Avenue near Logan Street, El Shabazz said. El Shabazz declined to conduct the service after researching Islamic law and meeting with Saadiq Abdul Jabbar, chief executive of the mosque; Imam Talib Abdullah, and others.

“We don’t tolerate that kind of behavior,” El Shabazz said. “Their actions are not from Islam. You don’t dress like a woman, you don’t rob people or transgress against them or commit murder. On all three grounds, they are dead wrong.

”We are not saying that Muslims should not bury him, or that he should not have Janaza [funeral prayers],“ he added. ”He is a Muslim and he has that right, but we don’t want that here."

Previously at LGF:
Burqa Bandit in Philly?

Tags: LGF, Philadelphia, Burqa, bank robbery, Crime

Obama Adviser Held Talks with Hamas

Fri, May 9, 2008 at 1:35:23 pm PDT

Another Obama adviser quietly tossed under the bus for holding talks with Hamas.

Reached for comment, Barack Obama said, “Can’t I just eat my waffle?”

Tags: LGF, Election 2008, Barack Obama, Hamas, Robert Malley

Citizens Trapped by Clashes in Beirut

Fri, May 9, 2008 at 1:09:48 pm PDT

A first person account from Beirut by Charles Chuman: Pajamas Media: Beirut Clashes Trap Citizens.

Tags: LGF, Lebanon, Hizballah, Hesbollah, Hezbollah, Civil War, Beirut

Mark Steyn vs. Muslim Critics

Fri, May 9, 2008 at 1:07:18 pm PDT

Several people emailed to recommend this video of Mark Steyn confronting some of his Islamist critics; I couldn’t get it to play, but maybe you’ll have better luck: The Agenda - Video - May 6: What is Wrong with Mark Steyn’s View of the World?

Tags: LGF, Mark Steyn, Islam, Canada, Human Rights

False Alarm: Not Al-Masri

Fri, May 9, 2008 at 11:34:21 am PDT

I wrote yesterday that it wasn’t confirmed, and today the military announced that it was indeed a false alarm: US says Qaeda chief in Iraq not captured.

BAGHDAD (AFP) - The US military denied on Friday that Al-Qaeda in Iraq chief Abu Hamza al-Muhajir, who carries a US bounty of five million dollars, had been captured by security forces.

State television Al-Iraqiya reported on Thursday that a man calling himself as Muhajir was captured by Iraqi forces in the northern province of Nineveh.

US military spokeswoman Major Peggy Kageleiry said the detained individual was not Muhajir, whose real name according to the military is Abu Ayyub al-Masri. “They did not catch Abu Hamza al-Muhajir. Somebody with same name but not connected with him. It is not him,” Kageleiry told AFP.

Tags: LGF, Iraq, Al Qaeda, al-masri

Jimmy Carter: Hamas PR Agent

Fri, May 9, 2008 at 10:56:24 am PDT

Here’s Jimmy Carter shilling for Hamas again, with an article in the Guardian that lets his mask slip a little more than usual: Jimmy Carter: A human rights crime.

The world is witnessing a terrible human rights crime in Gaza, where a million and a half human beings are being imprisoned with almost no access to the outside world. An entire population is being brutally punished.

This gross mistreatment of the Palestinians in Gaza was escalated dramatically by Israel, with United States backing, after political candidates representing Hamas won a majority of seats in the Palestinian Authority parliament in 2006. The election was unanimously judged to be honest and fair by all international observers.

Israel and the US refused to accept the right of Palestinians to form a unity government with Hamas and Fatah and now, after internal strife, Hamas alone controls Gaza. Forty-one of the 43 victorious Hamas candidates who lived in the West Bank have been imprisoned by Israel, plus an additional 10 who assumed positions in the short-lived coalition cabinet.

Tags: LGF, Jimmy Carter, Hamas, Antisemitism

AP Discovers Terrorism

Fri, May 9, 2008 at 10:14:24 am PDT

How do you get the Associated Press to use the word “terrorism” in an article without scare quotes?

Simple. Just distort the meaning of the word so badly that it’s unrecognizable. Bam! No scare quotes! Vietnam to try American for terrorism.

HANOI, Vietnam - A Vietnamese-American and two Vietnamese nationals will be put on trial on charges of terrorism for allegedly planning to distribute anti-government pamphlets in Vietnam, an official said Thursday.

Tags: LGF, Associated Press, Media Bias, Terrorism, Political Correctness

Obama's Negotiating Partner in Peace: Israel is a 'Stinking Corpse'

Fri, May 9, 2008 at 10:08:14 am PDT

Maybe when Barack Obama sits down for tea with Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in Tehran, he can ask the mini-dictator about this little faux pas: Ahmadinejad: Israel is a ‘stinking corpse’ doomed to disappear.

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on Thursday called Israel a “stinking corpse” which is doomed to disappear, as the state celebrated 60 years of independence.

“Those who think they can revive the stinking corpse of the usurping and fake Israeli regime by throwing a birthday party are seriously mistaken,” Ahmadinejad was quoted as saying by the official IRNA news agency.

Tags: LGF, Election 2008, Barack Obama, Israel, Iran, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Hate Speech

Video: Islam Will Conquer Rome and Spain, America Will End

Fri, May 9, 2008 at 10:00:44 am PDT

Here’s former Jordanian “minister of religious endowment” Sheik Ali Al-Faqir appearing on Al Aqsa TV May 2, 2008, with an Islamic supremacist rant about taking over the world.

This isn’t happening on some street corner in Amman. It’s being broadcast to millions of people on Arab television. (Courtesy of MEMRI TV.)

Click picture to play video. Requires Windows Media Player; Mac users should install Flip4Mac.

Sheik Ali Al-Faqir: We must declare that Palestine, from the [Jordan] River to the [Mediterranean] Sea, is an Islamic land, and that Spain – Andalusia – is also the land of Islam. Islamic lands that were occupied by the enemies will once again become Islamic. Furthermore, we will reach beyond these countries, which are lost at one point. We proclaim that we will conquer Rome, like Constantinople was conquered once, and as it will be conquered again.

Interviewer: Allah willing.

Sheik Ali Al-Faqir: We will rule the world, as has been said by the Prophet Muhammad.

[...]

We will face a battlefront that is broader and stronger. Its beginnings were in Palestine, in Iraq, in Afghanistan, and in Chechnya. What has begun will be completed. It will not stop.

[...]

The Zionist entity reached completion, and it is beginning to decline, until it will wane and come to its end. Similarly, America has occupied, thundered, and foamed with rage, and proclaimed, like Pharoah, “I am your supreme God,” but it will come to its end, and they have begun to realize that their end is near. We have begun to read in American and European newspapers that “our glory is on the wane, and there is nothing we can do about it.” This morning on Al-Jazeera TV, I saw American scientists and strategic theoreticians, who said that America would soon come to its end. They said it before about the USSR, and, indeed, it has come to its end, and we say now that America and the EU will come to an end, and only the rising force of Islam will prevail.

Tags: LGF, MEMRI TV, Al Aqsa TV, Jordan, al-faqir, Islamic Supremacism, Islam

Hizballah Takes Over Beirut

Fri, May 9, 2008 at 9:28:44 am PDT

The media don’t want to use the words “civil war,” but there’s very little doubt that Lebanon is in the midst of one: Hezbollah imposes control on Beirut.

BEIRUT (Reuters) - Lebanon’s Iranian-backed Hezbollah group took control of the Muslim half of Beirut on Friday, tightening its grip on the city in a major blow to the U.S.-backed government.

Security sources said at least 11 people had been killed and 30 wounded in three days of battles between pro-government gunmen and fighters loyal to Hezbollah, a Shi’ite political movement with a powerful guerrilla army.

The fighting, the worst internal strife since the 1975-90 civil war, was triggered this week after the government took decisions targeting Hezbollah’s military communications network. The group said the government had declared war.

In scenes reminiscent of the darkest days of the civil war, young men armed with assault rifles roamed the streets amid smashed cars and smoldering buildings. Fighting died down by mid-morning and Hezbollah and allied fighters were in control as government supporters put down their weapons.

And Reuters has cameramen embedded with the enemy again: Mideast Conflict Photos.

Also see:
Embedded with the Enemy? - snapped shot
Michael J. Totten has a lot of coverage.
A Blog For All: How Is Reuters Getting This Photo?

Tags: LGF, Lebanon, Hizballah, Hesbollah, Hezbollah, Civil War

Friday Early Morning Open

Fri, May 9, 2008 at 3:24:43 am PDT

The last thing one knows is what to put first.

— Pascal

Tags: LGF, Open Thread

Thursday, May 08, 2008

Exposing the Distortions in 'Expelled'

Thu, May 8, 2008 at 6:51:24 pm PDT

Six Things in Expelled That Ben Stein Doesn’t Want You to Know...

In the film Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed, narrator Ben Stein poses as a “rebel” willing to stand up to the scientific establishment in defense of freedom and honest, open discussion of controversial ideas like intelligent design (ID). But Expelled has some problems of its own with honest, open presentations of the facts about evolution, ID—and with its own agenda. Here are a few examples—add your own with a comment, and we may add it to another draft of this story. For our complete coverage, see Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed—Scientific American’s Take.

Read the whole thing...

Tags: LGF, Ben Stein, Evolution, Expelled, Creationism, Intelligent Design

The Door Closes

Thu, May 8, 2008 at 6:45:00 pm PDT

Well, I left registration open all day, 8+ hours, but since I didn’t announce it there are only 51 hatchlings on the delousing deck tonight. Welcome, hatchlings, and fear my unblinking eye.

Unannounced openings evidently result in fewer hatchlings.

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