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July 2007 Stats for The Big Picture.
Evidently the White House, noting the blatant liberal bias of the New York Times, is declining to grant many kinds of access to their reporters. From Drudge today:
Brokaw Astonished Over NYTimes Reporter Being Banned By White House
Tue Nov 30 2004 10:09:36 ET
Outgoing NBC anchorman Tom Brokaw was asked on MSNBC’s HARDBALL Monday if the Bush White House has been tough with the press corps, citing as an example of Dick Cheney stipulating no NEW YORK TIMES reporters on his trips.
Brokaw said, “I think they have been too tough.
“The idea that this White House has not given Tom Friedman a long, in-depth interview is astonishing to me. I have had a very good relationship with them, I have gotten to interview the President a lot. I have had access on the phone and other areas and I have been very vigorous in my discussions with them. But no reporter that I know covering national politics and the international policies that are of such great concern today know as much about them as Tom Friedman does and they have completely shut out the NEW YORK TIMES.”
It’s about time. The NY Times has been suppressing the news that supports conservatives in an effort to control how people vote. They have no right at all to be considered a legitimate news-gathering organization.
George Orwell’s 1984 foretold that the great public organizations would misuse their power in an effort to suppress information and control how people think. Orwell thought it would be the government exerting control over the media to do this; instead, mainstream media has been doing it on its own.
But thanks to new media—bloggers, cable news, and talk radio—we the people have caught on. Jay Rosen cites numerous examples:
Mega bloggers and syndicated columnists said it. College students and ranting professors said it. Bob Dole said it. The real loser, the big loser in ‘04 was The Media—“the famous MSM.” I isolate the maneuver and show it to you 21 times, without comment. Well, not totally without comment.
...I have culled from a far larger file 21 examples of this particular maneuver. I tried to isolate the passage where it happens: Writer Says Media is Election’s Big Loser. By approaching the same “switch” with different trains of thought, we can perhaps understand that substantial body of opinion and what it is really saying—not just about winners and losers but about politics and journalism, party and self, virtue and corruption.
I opted for a mix of voices from big to small, established to upstart, old media and new. At the end I have a few words of commentary. Mostly, I leave interpretation for the comment thread. Here it is, then, the same idea served 21 ways. “Media, you lost big.”
The weakness of MSM is that they depend on their own ability to fool the public. Once that ends, they find themselves thrown out of the White House and increasingly ignored by the public. They have to reform, and I believe they will.
Update 12-02-04. Welcome, Carnival of the Vanities readers! This site is proud to have this article included in the latest Carnival of the Vanities, hosted this week by Ashish’s Niti.
LGF discusses one of the reasons the battle for Fallujah was such a success:
Heres some of the amazing technology that helped us achieve a stunningly rapid, overwhelming victory in the hostile urban environment of Fallujah: Marines Aided by Robotic Airplane in Iraq.
ST. LOUIS – A robotic airplane called ScanEagle has done more than 1,000 hours of intelligence and reconnaissance work for the Marines in Iraq, its developers said.
...It travels above insurgent positions and sends real-time video images to Marines on the ground. The unmanned device can relay facial expressions on enemy soldiers, and can transmit in such detail that it shows steam rising from their coffee.
The 4-foot-long aircraft has a 10-foot wingspan and can fly up to 15 hours at a time on less than two gallons of fuel, Boeing officials said.
I would like to brag, that regular readers heard about this here 3 weeks ago. As soon as I saw this picture of the technology, I expected it to be significant and noted it here.
A Marine releases a “Dragon Eye” spy plane.
POLAR EXPRESS A BOMB – NOT. A lot of reports have stated that the film, The Polar Express, is bombing. This is not correct. Per Variety (no link):
| Title (weeks in release) | 5-day | engag. | $/engag | cume | % change* |
| 1. National Treasure (2) | $46.2m | 3,243 | $14,260 | $87.9m | -6 |
| 2. The Incredibles (4) | $33.2m | 3,453 | $9,622 | $214.7m | -9 |
| 3. Christmas with the Kranks (1) | $32.0m | 3,393 | $9,431 | $32.0m | — |
| 4. The Polar Express (3) | $27.2m | 3,650 | $7,444 | $82.2m | +28 |
| 5. The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie (2) | $23.4m | 3,307 | $7,076 | $58.6m | -44 |
| 6. Alexander (1) | $21.6m | 2,445 | $8,847 | $21.6m | — |
| 7. Bridget Jones: Edge of Reason (3) | $9.1m | 2,473 | $3,680 | $32.5m | -33 |
| 8. Finding Neverland (3) | $6.5m | 513 | $12,749 | $7.8m | +462 |
| 9. Ray (5) | $5.0m | 2,585 | $1,934 | $65.0m | -15 |
| 10. After the Sunset (3) | $4.6m | 2,309 | $1,981 | $24.6m | -35 |
| NOTE: First column reports the full 5-day holiday weekend. The % change column compares 3-day spans, however. |
Polar Express was the only film that increased its box office over the week before, other than Finding Neverland, which did it by adding theaters. It’s quite rare for a film to show a week-to-week increase in box office, other than by adding theaters.
A NATION DIVIDED – NOT. An article in the U.K. paper, The Independent, notes that the film Alexander the Great did not do well over the weekend, and concludes:
...it has brutally exposed the cultural and moral divide which slices America in two.
...Meanwhile, 70 per cent of those who responded to a recent New York Times/CBS poll said they were very or somewhat concerned that television, movies and music were lowering moral standards in the US.
While the sentiment was voiced by both Republicans and Democrats, it appears that the concern about a decline in values is yet another point of polarisation in American politics.
If the great majority of people don’t go to see a movie, that is not evidence of a nation divided in two.
If the great majority of people (70%) agree on something, that is not evidence of a nation divided in two. It is in fact, evidence of the reverse.
Nations Including Iran and Syria Condemn the Terrorist Actions in Iraq, and Support the Iraq Elections. It’s a surprising and very favorable development. One might even wonder, how could this happen?
From the UK’s TimesOnline:
Iran and Syria condemn the insurgency in Iraq
Jack Straw tonight hailed a new mood of international unity on Iraq after a gathering of key foreign ministers endorsed the elections set for January 30.
The conference in the Egyptian resort of Sharm el-Sheikh, which brought together the G8 group of industrialised nations, Iraqs neighbours and the Arab League – issued a final communique condemning terrorist violence and supporting the democratic process.
“It shows that there is a real desire in the Arab world and key countries in the international community to look forward and not back and to see this is now a shared problem,” the Foreign Secretary said.
The conference was attended by many of the leading critics of the US-led war in Iraq, including France, Germany, Russia, Iran and Syria. Present were the representatives of 20 nations, including Iraq’s six neighbors, and bodies such as the Group of Eight, the European Union and the Arab League, who came to this Red Sea resort to discuss Iraq’s future.
The conference rebuffed calls from France and some Arab states to set a deadline for withdrawing the US-led forces. But the final communique, which was approved unanimously, said pointedly that their mandate was “not open-ended.”
The communique condemned “all acts of terrorism in Iraq,” referring particularly to the kidnappings and assassinations of foreign and Iraqi civilians, aid workers, diplomats and journalists. It urged the interim government to deal firmly with terrorists, but also to avoid hurting civilians.
And from the Bloomerg news service, in an article appearing on the web site of the Assyrian International News Agency, which tracks news in the Mid-East:
Iran, Syria Condemn Iraq Insurgency, Support Election
Iran and Syria joined 18 nations in opposing the insurgency in Iraq and pledged to support the first elections since Saddam Hussein was toppled in April 2003.
The draft of a resolution adopted today at a conference on Iraq in the Egyptian Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh backed the Iraqi government’s struggle to halt violence and restore security before elections set for Jan. 30.
Most of Iraq’s neighbors were against the US-led invasion last year. Iran and Syria are under U.S. sanctions on charges of supporting terrorist groups. Now the two countries have agreed to work to stop terrorists and weapons from crossing their borders into Iraq.
The delegates condemn all terror attacks and kidnappings and the use of “excessive force,” according to a draft of the final statement published by the official Egyptian state news agency, MENA, and confirmed by the Egyptian Foreign Ministry.
Here’s my speculation on how this could happen. First of all, George Bush was re-elected. We are not going to cut and run in Iraq. We’re going to stay there and finish the job. And Iran and Syria have to wonder if they are next.
Our armies are on their doorstep. Iran and Syria know that the U.S. justiified the invasion of Iraq in part on the grounds that Hussein was uncooperative and belligerent. If they are cooperative and supportive of the U.S., it will be more difficult for the U.S. to justify a military move into their nations.
Best. Car. Commercial. Ever.
Via Say Anything.
I was out of town yesterday visiting relatives, and in the morning I happened to catch an interview on TV with Eric Metaxas, author of a new book relevant to the holiday.
Eric stated that before the Pilgrims came to America, it was not uncommon for European trade ships to visit. One of these trade ships kidnapped several Indians to sell them into slavery. One of these Indians was purchased by Spanish monks, who treated him well and taught him English. He stayed with the monks for five years. He wanted very much to return to his people, so they sent him back to London to try to catch a ship back to America. As Eric put it, this was like trying get a ship from the Moon back to Earth—they were very infrequent. However, the Indian was eventually able to get aboard another trade ship bound for America. He survived the voyage, ran to his home village—and found that every member of his tribe had been wiped out by disease.
He joined a neighboring Indian tribe. But the tribe had never been friendly with his; it didn’t work out; and he went to live alone in the forest.
About this time the first Pilgrims were arriving in this country. Some of them made a home on the very ground that the Indian had grown up on. Half of these Pilgrims did not survive the first years in the New World due to disease, the cold, lack of food, etc. So one day they see an Indian walking out of the forest to greet them, speaking perfect English. He teaches them the thing about planting a fish with the seed when they plant corn; he knows all about how to raise crops and about where and how to fish in that region; and with his help they become successful in the New World. The Indian was Squanto, and he was one of the original inspirations for the Thanksgiving holiday.
Eric stated that when he first heard this story, he didn’t believe it. He researched it and found original documents from contemporaries of the people involved, showing that the story is accurate. His book, Squanto And The Miracle Of Thanksgiving
, tells the story in the form of an illustrated children’s book, with a religious point of view.
It’s quite an amazing story.
HAPPY THANKSGIVING! Have a great holiday. See you Friday.
COMPUTER-GENERATED MOONBAT. From Sean Gleason comes the Autorantic Virtual Moonbat. Spare me!
Here’s an excerpt from the updated Gilligan’s Island theme song. It sounds pretty good—and it’s funny.
Updated Gilligan’s Island Theme Song.mp3
It’s part of a new reality show. The reality shows seem to be having a lackluster season so far. The contestants on Survivor this time haven’t captured my sympathy; and Trump fired Raj and that guy who gave up his immunity, who seemed to be the two most interesting contestants. Those are the only two reality shows that are on that I’ve been watching. But I’ll Tivo this one and see how it is.
Just yesterday LGF quoted a Washington Post article by Richard Morin, hoping rather pathetically that people would start ignoring the blogosphere:
Heres another mainstream media hit piece on blogs by Richard Morin, once again tarring the entire blogosphere with the irresponsible actions of lefty blogs Daily Kos and Wonkette: Surveying the Damage.
...rather than flog the bloggers for rushing to publish the raw exit poll data on their Web sites, we may owe them a debt of gratitude. A few more presidential elections like this one and the public will learn to do the right thing and simply ignore news of early exit poll data. Then perhaps people will start ignoring the bloggers, who proved once more that their spectacular lack of judgment is matched only by their abundant arrogance.
Or maybe theyll ignore Richard Morin, who clearly doesnt understand the medium hes bashing.
I might add that today, given Rather’s resignation, Morin probably feels embarassed by how unlikely his hopes are to be gratified.
The lyrics to a classic Buddy Holly song come to mind…
A love oughtta last more than one day
A love that’s love’ll not fade away
Well a love that’s love’ll not fade away
I’ve got an update for Richard Morin: we love this country, and we’re not going anywhere.
Dan Rather is stepping down in advance of the report from the CBS independent commission investigating Rathergate. It’s quite possible that he knows what that report will say, and that stepping down in advance is a face-saving measure, so that he can say he left voluntarily rather than as a result of anything contained in the final report.
Can anyone doubt this would have happened without the efforts of the blogosphere to expose the Rathergate memos as forgeries? There’s an old saying, “Who’s watching the watchmen?” Mainstream media now has an efficient watchman—the blogosphere. It may take years, but MSM will improve greatly as a result.
On Furl, I noticed a number of people linking to this gallery of photos of a spectacular location. However, the text of the site is in pictographs (Chinese?), and I have no idea what the location is. Is it real? Is it from a videogame? Here are a couple of sample images.
Update 11-24-04: I ran the gallery’s about page through the automatic translators at WorldLingo.com The Chinese-to-English translator didn’t come up with much, but the Japanese-to-English translator had more luck:
...The people of the town which is the worldwide biggest enormous flood-prevention facility…
...We would like to designate the start-up of this home page as G-CANS PROJECT where anyone can participate in the opportunity. The person who has lived in area and so the person who is not, being this enormous, concerning the charm of minute engineering works structure…
So—unless this is an elaborate hoax to promote a video game— it seems like this is a gigantic flood-prevention facility in Japan.
Today’s Mallard Fillmore cartoon.
Dennis Prager explains to the Democrats why they are viewed as weak on values:
According to The New York Times, Arizona Gov. Janet Napolitano, reflecting on her party’s recent losses in the presidential, Senate and House elections, asked: “How did a party that is filled with people with values—and I am a person with values—get tagged as the party without values?”
As one who was raised a Democrat and became a Republican only 10 years ago, I would like to answer Gov. Napolitano’s question as honestly as she posed it.
Gov. Napolitano, your party does indeed have very many people with values in it. But the Democratic Party is no more representative of the average Democrat’s values than the National Council of Churches is of the average Protestant’s values. Both are far to the left of their membership.
Here is the Democratic Party as most Americans, including this John F. Kennedy liberal—a New York City born and raised, Jewish, Ivy League-educated intellectual who lives in Los Angeles—see it.
To most Americans, Michael Moore is a Marxist who has utter contempt for most of his fellow Americans, who goes abroad and tells huge audiences how stupid and venal his country is, and in his dishonest propaganda film, portrays the American military as callous buffoons. Yet, this radical was given the most honored seat at the Democratic Party convention in Boston, next to former President Jimmy Carter.
To most Americans, Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton are race-baiting demagogues. Yet they are heroes to the Democratic Party. Most Americans do not see their country as the bigoted and racist nation regularly depicted by both black and white Democratic leaders.
To most Americans, a man who wears women’s clothing to work is a pathetic person in need of psychotherapy. To the Democratic Party, he is a man whose cross-dressing is merely another expression of multiculturalism. The California legislature, which is entirely controlled by Democrats, passed a law prohibiting any employer from firing a man who shows up to work wearing women’s clothing.
To most Americans, Eminem is a vulgar nihilist who poisons young Americans’ minds. To John Kerry he was a man whose anti-Bush hate video was worthy of endorsement.
He’s got more. Read the whole thing.
(Hat Tip to Steve Finefrock.)
In my previous post, I mentioned a conversation I had yesterday with my friend, photographer Adam Taylor. We had an excellent discussion about politics, and another subject that came up was Fallujah. He questioned my assertion that our operations there have been successful; his impression was that they were incomplete at best. It appears to me that this shows how well mainstream media have, once again, hidden the facts from the public.
This great article by Jack Kelly discusses the achievements our troops have had there (via PowerLine ):
...the resistance in Iraq has had a bad week. American and Iraqi government troops have killed at least 1,200 fighters in Fallujah, and captured 1,100 more. Those numbers will grow as mop-up operations continue.
These casualties were inflicted at a cost (so far) of 56 Coalition dead (51 Americans), and just over 300 wounded, of whom about a quarter have returned to duty.
“The resistance has suffered a loss of more than 2,000 combatants, out of a total force estimated by U.S. Central Command at about 5,000 (other estimates are higher) as well as its only secure base in the country”
“That kill ratio would be phenomenal in any [kind of] battle, but in an urban environment, it’s revolutionary,” said retired Army Lt. Col. Ralph Peters, perhaps America’s most respected writer on military strategy. “The rule has been that [in urban combat] the attacking force would suffer between a quarter and a third of its strength in casualties.”
The victory in Fallujah was also remarkable for its speed, Peters said. Speed was necessary, he said, “because you are fighting not just the terrorists, but a hostile global media.”
Fallujah ranks up there with Iwo Jima, Inchon and Hue as one of the greatest triumphs of American arms, though you’d have a hard time discerning that from what you read in the newspapers.
The swift capture of Fallujah is taxing the imagination of Arab journalists and—sadly—our own. How does one portray a remarkable American victory as if it were of little consequence, or even a defeat? For CNN’s Walter Rodgers, camped out in front the main U.S. military hospital in Germany, you do this by emphasizing American casualties.
For The New York Times and The Washington Post, you do this by emphasizing conflict elsewhere in Iraq.
But the news organs that liken temporary terrorist success in Mosul (the police stations they overran were recaptured the next day) with what happened to the terrorists in Fallujah is false equivalence of the worst kind. If I find a quarter in the street, it doesn’t make up for having lost $1,000 in a poker game the night before.
The resistance has suffered a loss of more than 2,000 combatants, out of a total force estimated by U.S. Central Command at about 5,000 (other estimates are higher) as well as its only secure base in the country. But both the Arab media and ours emphasize that the attack on Fallujah has made a lot of Arabs mad. By this logic, once we’ve killed all the terrorists, they’ll be invincible.
“The experience of human history has been the more people you kill, the weaker they get,” Thompson noted.
...Journalists quick to judge the Marine are more forgiving when it comes to the terrorists. “They’re not bad guys, especially, just people who disagree with us,” said MSNBC’s Chris Matthews.
And journalists wonder why we are less popular than used car salesmen.
