Snapped Shot

The saga continues...



"HAND OVER RUSHDEI TO PAKISTAN FOR TRAIL IN SHARIAT" (Bad Protest English-to-Regular English translation: "Hand Over Rushdie to Pakistan for Trial in Sharia!")

That's The Religion of Peace for ya, folks. Death is an appropriate punishment for writing a dreadfully boring book.

If this keeps up, I think we might have yet another DAY OF RAGE on our hands, and if it's going to rise to Day of Rage levels, it's bound to happen this Friday. Keep your eyes peeled for some Grade-A entertainment, folks!

Update: Eagle-eyed reader AMDScooter spotted a familiar face in the crowds! How'd I miss that??

See-Also:

Day Four, Day Three, Love Letter from Londonistan, "Sir" Salman Rushdie, Day 1

Continue reading »

Fox News is reporting that a "bomb-sniffing dog" has reported "something" of interest, leading to the evacuation of the White House. No word on whether the guard in question will be receiving his steak sandwich back when this all clears up.

Cuba's blogger in chief speaks again:



To the first: Drat! Our plans of annexing Cuba as a 51st state are foiled for good!

To the second: By "make more sacrifices," do you by any chance mean that "Cuba's economy is in a state of collapse?"

Who would have thunk it?

Here is a round-up of the calm, collected, and very in-depth, well-considered Pakistani Islamist response to the knighting of Salman Rushdie (h/t lgf):



Of course, some will say that this will inflame the anger of the Middle East... but then again, when is their anger not ablaze?

Updates:

Day Four, Day Three, Day Two

Continue reading »

Yet another case of premature jihadulation in Pakistan, where a terrorist seems to have had some difficulty with planting a bomb at a woman's school.

Er, wait a minute... make that Tony Blair's England:

A council is to hide a camera in a bin bag to catch residents who do not follow new rules about putting out the rubbish.

Householders in a seaside town have been told to put their bins out at the front of their homes and not in an alleyway to the rear.

They must also leave their rubbish out between set times to ensure it does not attract pests or miss the dust cart.

To enforce the new rules, a camera will be placed in a rubbish bag and left in an alleyway to blend in with the surroundings to catch offenders. Those filmed breaking the rules will be given a ticking off.

Ah, the joys of living in a surveillance society. Here's a little hint to the town in question: Tell the public that you're putting the camera out to catch non-recyclers, and the usual suspects will fall all over themselves to protect your absolute right to spy on your residents.

It seems that Hamas has issued a decree that its fighters may no longer wear masks... unless they're attacking The Racist, Aparthed, Ziiiiionist State.

My heart-strings are just aching after reading this one:

From: Al Walid Khalid <xxxxxxx@latinmail.com>
To: undisclosed-recipients
Subject: From Saudi Arabia

Hello Friend,

Do accept my sincere apologies if my mail does not meet your personal ethics although, I wish to use this medium to get in touch with you first because it's fastest means. I believe it will be a surprise to you as we have never met before, and I am deeply sorry if I have in any manner disturbed your privacy. Please forgive this unusual manner of contacting you. My name is Al Walid khalid, A Saudi Arabia national. I have been diagnosed with Oesophageal cancer . It has defied all forms of medical treatment, and right now I have only about a few months to live, according to medical experts. I have not particularly lived my life so well, as I never really cared for anyone (not even myself) but my business. Though I am very rich, I was never generous, I was always hostile to people and only focused on my business as that was the only thing I cared for. But now I regret all this as I now know that there is more to life than just wanting to have or make all the money in the world. I believe when God gives me a second chance to come to this world I would live my life a different way from how I have lived it. Now that God has called me, I have willed and given most of my property and assets to my immediate and extended family members as well as a few close friends .I want God to be merciful to me and accept my soul so, I have decided to give alms to charity organizations, as I want this to be one of the last good deeds I do on earth. So far, I have distributed money to some charity organizations in the U.A.E, Somalia and Malaysia. Now that my health has deteriorated so badly, I cannot do this myself anymore. I once asked members of my family to close one of my accounts and distribute the money which I have there to charity organization in Bulgaria and Pakistan; they refused and kept the money to themselves. Hence, I do not trust them anymore, as they seem not to be contended with what I have left for them. The last of my money which no one knows of is the huge cash deposit of Six Million dollars ($6,000,000.00) that I have with financial institution abroad. I will want you to help me collect this deposit and dispatch it to charity organizations.
N/B: KINDLY NOTE THAT 80% of these funds must go to victims of recent disasters and another 20% for your effort and time. Upon receipt of your response, I shall communicate with you, and let you know the details of the transfer. Whatever your actions and your decision, I thank you for taking the time to read this email

Regards,
Al Walid khalid

Sure thing, Mr. Khalid. In fact, I'd be delighted to donate 100% of the funds to charity: I trust the Zionist Organization of America should be expecting payment shortly?

P.S.: Since when did rich Saudi citizens convalesce in Latin America for medical treatment?

See the response from REUTERS at the bottom of this article.

Eagle-eyed reader Universalgeni has sent in via e-mail this amazing story from Aftenposten. It seems that a reporter at that newspaper has analysed two photographs sent across the newswire by Mohammed Salem, who is frequently featured here at Snapped Shot.

What's curious about these photographs is, according to Aftenposten, the background. Pay particular attention to the pictures on the wall--you can click on the photograph on the right to view an enlarged copy. What is significant about this is that a wire photographer has potentially participated in the correction of a scene, inserting a more sympathetic picture into the background where previously was only a picture of a known and admitted terrorist. At the very least, there is a possibility that Mohammed was aware of the change, and elected not to take notice of it.

It's interesting to see that Aftenposten takes its role as investigative journalists seriously, instead of immediately rushing to the defence of a wire photographer who may have taken part in something which is against the very ethics of photojournalism. And alas, it is something which seems to have completely escaped the notice of the Reuters editor's desk, yet again.

Here's a translation of the article, courtesy Universalgeni, whose English is far better than my Norwegian.

Tampering with the back ground: Hamas altered Reuters photo from bomb attack
By KURT HAUGLI

First published: 12.06.07 | Updated: 12.06.07 kl. 14:01

On the first photo that the Reuters photographer took after a shell hit the home of Hamas Prime Minister Ismail Hanieyh, it is Hamas' founder Sheikh Ahmed Yassin that is hanging in a frame on the wall.

But when one of Hamas' cleaning guys was showing the shrapnel to the photographer from Reuters in an arranged photo in the same place in the house, the picture of Ahmed Yassin was suddenly gone.

Instead there was a picture on the wall, where the Palestinian Prime Minister has a prominent role.

Smiling and waving

The Hamas founder Yassin is still in the picture, but less prominent. On this picture Ismail Haniyeh is pushing the wheelchair of the strongly disabled leader who was killed in an Israeli air strike on march 22. 2004.

It is very clear, that the Hamas leadership found it more correct to have a picture of their current leader as back ground for the photo - smiling and waving with the green Hamas cap on his head.

The attack this morning

It was this morning that a shell hit Haniyeh's home. Most likely it was Fatah who attacked the Prime Ministers house. The fighting between the heavily armed groups of the two government parties Fatah and Hamas resumed in Gaza this week.

Scores have been killed in increasingly severe fighting

So, yet again, we see a situation wherein a terrorist entity is using the Western press service to disseminate propaganda which suits its message. How much evidence of this propaganda do we need, before we've had enough? If our western news services really do have a problem with being used as a propagandistic tool, why do we continue to accept the lies and propaganda which these enemy-affiliated stringers send in?

Sadly, I suspect I already know the answer to that question.

My hat is off to Aftenposten, for refusing to blindly accept the propaganda at face value.

Update: Reuters has responded:

Photographers from Reuters and other news organizations were at the house taking pictures when one of Haniyeh’s sons decided he wanted a picture of his father on the wall, so he put it up in place of the one of Sheikh Yassin, in mid-photo shoot. We did not censor our shots by, for example, only using the pictures with Haniyeh’s photo in them, and we can’t very well stop people from rearranging their homes as they see fit. Indeed, both of those photos went out, side by side, to our photo clients: GBU Editor

In my opinion, once a newswire has been informed or notices that a scene of interest is being manipulated, no matter by which party, they should remove the photographs in question from their feed, as there is no longer any way to validate that the information being presented is factual.

Unless, of course, Reuters is not in the "fact" business.

... something about tunnels and trains, but this is a family-friendly blog. Still, this is a really nifty feat of engineering!

Switzerland has opened the world's longest rail tunnel on land - the 34-kilometre (21-mile) Loetschberg tunnel under the Alps.

It will cut the journey time between Germany and Italy by at least a third.

It is set to be fully operational in December, and will eventually handle about 42 passenger trains and up to 80 freight trains daily.

A prior record-holder should be familiar to those of us in Northern Virginia--The Paw Paw tunnel, located on the historic Chesapeake & Ohio Canal weighs in at roughly 1/24th the size of the Swiss marvel.

... via bureaucracy.^* This is what Hillary!care has in mind for the United States, should Her High!ness ascend to the throne.

What could possibly go wrong?

From the "I wish I would've thought of this" department:

I really hate getting beaten to this stuff, but admit that Sweetness & Light has done a good job of pointing out the Hamas version of a diplomatic summit.



Be sure to hop over to S&L for the rest of the jihadi diplomacy goodness.

So says The Elder of Ziyon, who I endeavour to serve as faithfully as I can, always.

Kidding, of course.

The long and short of Elder's commentary is that Bush's concessions and tendency to look the other way immediately following the 2006 Hamas electoral landslide gave them something of a "veil" of legitimacy from which they're launching their current attacks. Or something to that effect.

Personally, I'm not sure I'd go so far as to blame W. personally for this current war. After all, the scorpion's nature has been predetermined for generations, so it's not like we should be surprised that it is what it is. But alas, I'd definitely be willing to argue that there are some misguided souls in the State Department who have enabled Islamic extremism to become as strong throughout the world as it is.

If you want to solve the modern problem of terrorism, we need to take our gloves off, and use The Fred! Approach to Diplomacy and take the battle back to the insurgents, on their horrific terms.

A bloodthirsty people, when confronted with extinction, are certain to reconsider their insanity.

Update: Here are some brilliant words of wisdom from Ed Morrissey:

We've seen some of the same nonsense in comments here, and that's exactly what it is -- nonsense. People have been pushing for a two-state solution since at least Oslo, but no one wanted to confront the reality of the Palestinian condition. Holding elections and withdrawing from Gaza proved what many had tried to tell the world: that the Palestinians weren't interested in two-state solutions.

In a free and fair election, the people get the government they choose. The Palestinians chose the worst of two terrorist groups to govern them. That finally forced the US and the EU to quit pretending that the Palestinians as a whole were a peace-loving people who just wanted their own piece of land. The Palestinians want to destroy Israel, and they voted for the faction that most clearly expressed that desire as policy.

Update: The State Department needs to read A Blog For All on this... or as I like to call it, Condi's Must-Read List.