January 14, 2005

First Entry in 2005 List of Biggest Stories Suppressed by MSM: The Deficit’s Shrinking

And the reason for it is that the Bush tax cuts are powering the economy and increasing actual dollars collected in income tax.

From NRO Economics Editor Larry Kudlow:

Heres one story you wont find on tomorrows front pages: The U.S. Budget Deficit Is Shrinking Rapidly. The headline would be accurate, but the mainstream media is much more interested in talking down this booming economy than telling it like it is.

This weeks Treasury report on the nations finances for December shows a year-to-date fiscal 2005 deficit that is already $11 billion less than last years. In the first three months of the fiscal year that began last October, cash outlays by the federal government increased by 6.1 percent while tax collections grew by 10.5 percent. When more money comes in than goes out, the deficit shrinks.

...Wire reports are loaded these days with accounts of an expanded trade gap (driven mostly by slower exports to stagnant European and Japanese economies, along with higher oil imports from the peak in energy prices). But theres not a single report I can find that mentions the sizable narrowing in U.S. fiscal accounts. Behind this really big budget story is the even-bigger story: The explosion in tax revenues has been prompted by the tax-cut-led economic growth of the past eighteen months.

With 50 percent cash-bonus expensing for the purchase of plant and equipment, productivity-driven corporate profits ranging around 20 percent have generated a 45 percent rise in business taxes. At lower income-tax rates, employment gains of roughly 2.5 million are throwing off more than 6 percent in payroll-tax receipts. Personal tax revenues are rising at a near 9 percent pace.

Report: Famous September, 2000 Footage of the Shooting of a Palestinian Boy Was Fake

You may remember the famous pictures from September, 2000, allegedly showing a small boy, supposedly shot by Israeli soldiers:

The video from the TV channel France 2 has become famous around the world as a symbol for the current Palestinian intifada (uprising) and shows a boy trying to take shelter behind a man during a gun battle in September 2000 between Palestinians and Israeli soldiers at the Netzarim junction in the Gaza Strip.

Evidence is now being presented that they were faked:

Independent media analysts in France and Israel have provided what they call conclusive evidence that the video of the incident was staged and at least one member of the French Assembly has called for an official investigation of the episode, but France 2 has so far refused to undertake a comprehensive inquiry.

France 2 Television did not respond to numerous requests for interviews by Cybercast News Service in Paris, choosing instead to provide copies of articles reporting it was filing a libel suit against un-named individuals for defamation.

But Stephane Juffa, editor in chief of the Metula News Agency based in Israel, said he and two other colleagues carried out a thorough investigation, which included scores of interviews and scene-by-scene analysis of the video and other material filmed in 2000.

“The child we see during the shooting is not the same child that we see in the morgue in other footage, who has bullet wounds and is identified as Mohammed al-Durra by hospital staff,” said Juffa.

Juffa said he had no information about how the child in the morgue was killed, but doctors there said the boy arrived hours before the actual Netzarim gun battle described in the video took place.

According to France 2 Television reporter Charles Enderlin, the boy, 12-year old Mohammed al-Durra, was killed in the end by Israeli bullets and the father was severely wounded.

Enderlin was not present during the incident, but his Palestinian cameraman, Talal Abu Rahma, was the only cameraman to record the images of what Enderlin described as the killing of the child by Israeli bullets.

...Philippe Karsenty, who runs a French media watchdog agency called Media-Ratings, has also examined the video and come to the conclusion that the report was fabricated.

“The report is false. I’ve seen the elements of France 2’s report and it is clear that it is a fake,” said Karsenty. “It is clear that it was staged.”

Among the elements Karsenty has found that he says reveal the forgery are a director ordering retakes of scenes, ambulances appearing within two seconds in an unedited shot after a Palestinian is said to be wounded, the child hoisting himself on his elbows after he is said to be dead and no blood or bullet wounds on any of the victims.

...In 2000, when France 2 Television made international headlines with its exclusive video, Enderlin claimed to have 27 minutes of raw footage, most of which was withheld because France 2 insisted it wanted to spare viewers the images of the dying child’s agony.

Juffa claimed France 2 has recently unofficially admitted to three journalists meeting with the station’s news director and other television officials that the cameraman, the sole eyewitness to the shooting despite the presence of many other cameramen, had changed his story. The cameraman, according to Juffa, retracted his sworn testimony about the child being killed by Israeli soldiers and about the raw footage showing the child in agony before death.

Is there a cover-up on the part of French media?

Juffa said he was surprised to find that instead of investigating the video, France 2 responded by attacking him. According to Juffa, France 2 has responded to his investigation by accusing him of being a negationist, a revisionist, an extremist and a member of Israel’s ultra right wing.

“I am not part of the extreme right wing, but that accusation does not answer or excuse the forgery,” said Juffa.

Both Juffa and Karsenty said French media have united in refusing to publicize the evidence by pressuring journalists who fear for their careers in a country where most television and radio journalism jobs are in the state media.

The Media-Ratings site (in French) is here.

Smart Guns are On the Way

These guns can figure out if the person trying to fire them is their owner. If not—no dice.

Sixty people crowded last week into a small room at the Bayonne police firing range to witness smart gun technology. Donald H. Sebastian, senior vice president of research and development at New Jersey Institute of Technology (NJIT), stood near an oversized screen displaying a real-time video of an NJIT policeman shooting an experimental handgun in an adjacent indoor range. Although there was no applause as shots rang out, the action demonstrated that smart gun knew friend from foe.

Sixteen electronic computerized sensors embedded in the gun’s grip distinguished known from unknown users. “We’ve only just begun and we’re pleased to say that we’re getting 90 percent reliability when scanning users,” said Sebastian.

Since 1999, Sebastian has led the project based upon Dynamic Grip Recognition, a technology invented by Michael Recce, PhD, associate professor of information systems at NJIT. Since June of 2004, five members of the NJIT police force have been trained to use the test gun and be recognized. Ultimately computerized sensors in each gun will record data on dozens of known users while also blocking unauthorized users.

Sounds good to me.