Snapped Shot

...but check it out anyway. Lebanese-American Hezbullah fighter buried in Lebanon (at LGF). The fact that Radwan was buried in Lebanon, by a foreign terrorist entity, says all I need to know about his former loyalties. Of course, the press is expected to lionize him extensively, considering that he's an "American" of the Cindy Sheehan variety. I'll do my best to keep up with the coverage here, so be sure to check back throughout the day!

It's encouraging to see that, so far, only one wire photographer was dispatched to cover this shameless propaganda funeral. It's too bad, though, that the press can't be bothered to cover American military funerals as positively as they cover the funerals of terrorists.

Update 4-Oct 08:59 EST: We've got two photographers on this story now. Perhaps AFP was slow in submitting their photos to the wire? Continue reading »

The media in the United States has a habit of over-reporting the attendance of any given liberal demonstration, and under-reporting the attendance of conservative ones. A good example of that would be the anti-war demonstration outside of the United Nations versus the pro-Israel demonstration. The former got miles of ink in every major left-leaning newspaper, and the latter was a non-event that got zero coverage.

Jeha has e-mailed an interesting link (my French is for nothin') and says that it's quite possible that the press again overestimated the attendance at Hezbullah's little block party, and reported the official figures given to them by Hezbullah without question. Loubnanouna suggests that the actual attendance was more to the order of 50,000 people, roughly equal to the group of Christian Lebanese who gathered a few days later (to a complete absence of press coverage).

Interesting, indeed. Many thanks to Jeha for sending the link!

It seems that now that things in southern Lebanon have started to shake out the way they were predicted to shake out, we're basically left with two groups monitoring the region: The UnTIEd Nations, which couldn't "peacekeep" its way out of a box, and the Israeli Defence Forces, which is doing the best it can to keep missiles away from its civilian populace (and is hamstrung at every step by the previously-mentioned bunch).

So, in light of that, when I saw this shot come across the wires this morning, it brought just a slight hint of a smile to my face. We've seen shots of the United Nations "watching" things down there, and now—the joy!—here we see a shot of the IDF doing some watching of their own.

They're smarter, though. Notice who they're watching?

Yep, that's right. Our "friends," the press.

In light of yesterday's confrontation between the IDF and the French detachment to the UN over a couple of journalists, the hand-wringing was in full force. The press needs to think about this a little harder though—They are electing voluntarily to go into a war zone, and they are actively being supportive of Hezbullah (intentionally or not) by submitting a continuous stream of positive reports about the terror group along with their endless load of anti-Israel reports.

If the press wants to present Hezbullah's side of the story as fact, that's fine. They have the right to do so. They shouldn't be surprised when the IDF recognizes their actions for what they are, and acts accordingly. Continue reading »

...Ok, so the title's a stretch. The UN gets a whammy in any case.

AllahPundit and LGF are way ahead of me on this story, so I'll just recap briefly that the United Nations Peacekeeping Force (In Lebanon) has, to the surprise of nobody in the world, challenged Israeli forces.

Yep, gotta keep those peace-loving missile-lobbers safe from Israel those dastardly Zionists!

All in a day's work for Kofi's Kash-Yoinking Krew. Guys, never forget, I will always be

A new theme park has opened in south Lebanon. I really can't put words to it that would do it justice...

Fortunately, the wire reports of this macabre display are limited to fauxtographs. I'll post actual news articles here, if they ever materialize. (I'm not holding my breath. How does one explain this to the reader, anyway?) Continue reading »

Following up on Yoni's report yesterday of Hezbullah transferring rockets to the Palestinian territories is a notice today that a Kassam rocket has hit a residence in the northern Israeli town of Sderot. The UnTIEd Nations responded with the typical reaction:



Can anyone give a good reason why Israel should not completely level all of south Lebanon at this point, civilians and all? Or so-called "Palestine?" I sure can't.

... to mice!

(Ok, so maybe it's just a cute shot. This one came across amidst reports of animal rescue groups, well... rescuing animals from Lebanon.)

I think I may have finally found a "group of militants" in the Middle East that the media does not like. Or rather, a group other than the IDF, which is still the media's favorite bad-boy.

Meet the Lebanese Christian Forces. They met in Southern Lebanon yesterday, to commemorate "militiamen" killed in Harissa.

Why in quotes? Well, the press has gone out of their way to identify this group as a "militia" (the Left's favorite negative description for this type of group), instead of using the more glowing terms "militants" and "fighters."

But what's really odd is that this group is not a militia! Instead, this group is (correctly) accusing Hezbullah of operating as a "state within a state," and declaring that Hezbullah's weaponry is "destabilizing" the region.

How about our "drive by" media? What do they think?

Well, this event was important enough that two photographers were sent to cover the event. One for AFP, which is understandable, considering that France created Lebanon, and one for Reuters, who are possibly looking for something else to obfuscate.

I haven't seen any big papers publish a story on this event either, even though a wire story or two have been sent out.

So, once again, when Muslims parade around with guns in the Middle East, we're told that they're "political parties" who are working on "debating" their differences. When Christians gather together with signs, they're reduced to the media bogeyman label, "Militia."

Welcome to newspeak, 21^st-Century style. Continue reading »

Hezbullah is having their big "victory" party (ironically located amongst the "bombed out" southern suburbs of Beirut) today, along with the international day of Fluffy Pillows (AND RAGE). I'll be tracking Hezbullah here—and wouldn't be surprised to see them participating in some of the Fluffy Festivities later on in the day!

(Hey, if you have a rent-a-populace around, might as well use them for as many fauxto-ops as possible, right?)

Update 26-SEP 10:09 EST: Reader Steve, who is in Beirut, has provided live coverage of the event. Be sure to check out the rest of Steve's website for excellent insight and analysis from on the ground in Lebanon. Thanks alot for the link, Steve! Stay safe! Continue reading »

Hugo Chavez is now an idol, being openly worshipped by Hezbullah. (h/t FreeRepublic)

And here I thought Muslims were against idolatry. I'm sure plenty of Fauxtos will follow. As usual, you know you'll find 'em here first!

UPDATE 14:10 EST: That didn't take long. Here's the first of what is sure to be thousands of pictures:



I sure hope Israel's poised to carpet-bomb "shower with love" that incredible target-rich environment "victory rally."

Update 22-SEP 11:13 EST: It seems that this might be a popular poster at Hezbullah's victory party. Continue reading »

I'm sure Israel's comforted by the UnTIEd Nations Peacekeeping (And Terrorist-Rearming) Force being in Lebanon. This photograph should be on the front page of EVERY SINGLE NEWSPAPER in Israel, as a reminder of how friendly the United Nations really is with piddling terrorists.

Confederate Yankee has more examples of the crack forces sent to protect Hezbullah from Israel.



Update 22:24 EST: LGF has finally noticed this photograph, but is still behind the game. You still read it here first, folks! (Just joshing ya a bit, Charles! Believe me, I read your site more than I read mine, just like everyone else...)

Lebanese President Emile Lahoud is using a photograph from Qana to illustrate a point in his address to the UnTIed Nations. I'll do my best to pull a transcript of his speech to find out what the context in which he's using it is, but needless to say, I doubt he's saying, "This illustrates the cynical nature of the activist press."

This does appear to be "an historic" moment in the eyes of the press. The wires are flooded with various angles of this exact same pose, sent across by two of the major agencies so far. I can't wait to see the report on this speech, which can be summarized easily by saying:

"It was da jews."

It should be noted that Emile Lahoud has been serving illegitimately beyond the limits imposed by the Constitution of Lebanon. As is the practice with good dictators everywhere, Emile seems to be carrying on a strong tradition.

UPDATE 13:13 EST: The speech is in! Read it here and weep (PDF format)

I have completed the OCR of the speech, and it is posted to the extended article without corrections. Will be highlighting my favorite parts next!

UPDATE 13:31 EST: AS I THOUGHT. He's taking the Talking Points of the Non-Aligned Movement 100%, and is repeating everything said by the other dictators before him.

Emile Lahoud, welcome to the Axis of Evil.

UPDATE 13:44 EST: Jeha points out that nobody really listens to Emile Lahoud in Lebanon. Unfortunately, his successor may be more of a problem than he is. Thanks for pointing that out, Jeha!

UPDATE 13:59 EST: Charles has noticed this story, but hasn't discovered our additional context yet. C'mon over, Charles! We've got more of the story here.

UPDATE 15:07 EST: He's really being given the royal treatment by the Chosen Fauxtographers. Be sure to check out all of the wonderful objective photographs future 8x10 glossies.

UPDATE 15:56 EST: All three agencies have now chimed in with photographs of the, well, fauxtograph, now that the AFP has transmitted the work of one of their photographers. We'll probably see one or two more scattered shots, but it's clear that they all found this to be the defining image of Emile's "Throw the Jews down the Well" speech. Emile's country has a problem, indeed. Continue reading »

Yoni is reporting that another Qassam rocket has landed in the Negev desert, in yet another clear violation of the Israel/Hezbullah ceasefire. I'm not going to hold my breath for the media coverage of this violation, but I can probably summarize it, again, as:



If and when this does get covered (and I promise you, if it's covered at all, it'll be a brief mention in a long, anti-Israel diatribe), you can expect the press to continue following its Cardinal Rule for Hezbullah Attack Coverage, which is basically to "accidentally" neglect to mention Hezbullah.

Expect the captions to look something like this:

A rocket has landed in the Negev desert. No injuries were reported, as Israel the Evil Zionists launch another hegemonic raid into Palestinian schoolyards and playgrounds. Viva Zapata! (AP Photo)

Viva Zapata, indeed.

In an update to our story from earlier today, we see this photograph, sent out by the Israeli Defense Forces. Cash from Iran? We've heard that before! I wonder if the IDF discovered any Korean super-notes amongst the Iranian stash, or if Iran is merely passing along cash from the mullah-ocracy of Saudi Arabia.

From the caption: In this picture made available by the Israeli Defense Forces, an Israeli policman counts banknotes at a Palestinian currency exchange office during an Israeli army raid in the West Bank town of Tulkarem, Wednesday Sept. 20, 2006. Israeli troops raided the homes and offices of 14 money changers in the West Bank early Wednesday, confiscating nearly $1.5 million US (1.2 million euro) the army said came mostly from Iran and was earmarked for terrorism. (AP Photo/Israeli Defense Forces)