snapped shot

Have people have had enough of the violence in America's major cities? With the ever increasing crime rates and people voting in even more liberals and liberal policies, it would appear not. However, there may be a light beginning to shine.

...Gov. Rod Blagojevich on Wednesday ... announced he's got a new idea to help combat the violence that Chicago is experiencing: he's talking to the Illinois State Police and the National Guard to see if they could help.

"Violent crime in the city of Chicago is out of control," Blagojevich said at the bill signing ceremony. "I'm offering resources of the state to the city to work in a constructive way with Mayor Daley to do everything we can possibly do to help stop this violence," said the governor.

Oh My! It would seem that someone has had enough with the violence. But, it took the actions of a governor to do something about it. I wonder what the mayor of Chicago has to say about this?

The governor said Chicago Mayor Richard Daley hasn't asked for help... In fact, Daley's office said the mayor did not know anything about Blagojevich's comments and did not know he was going to make them.

Go figure on that one. Elect a liberal democrat and all you hear is silence when people's lives are at stake. Just look at Socialist Party's candidate for president this year: B. Hussein Obama. How bad does violence in a city have to be if it gets the attention of the governor of the state and his proposal is to send in the National Guard?

But then, he is sounding awfully democrat with some of his reasons for researching this plan.
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I had nearly forgotten that it was this time of year once more.

Via Carl in Jerusalem, we get a glimpse of this year's culturally-correct Kindergarten graduation, which I'm sure will warm your heart as much as your own heathen children's graduation:

Shoot, what little tyke doesn't look absolutely adorable in a suicide bomber's costume?

Get yourself beaten to a pulp by Hezbullah goons? Nary a word from the press at large.

Hamas spend a bit of time using you as a soccer ball? Hardly a peep is to be expected for your troubles. (And not even one photograph, apparently!)

Get a tiny scratch from the IDF, however, and it's time for weeping and gnashing of teeth.

Boo fricking hoo, I say.

If Mohammed Abed/AFP would have happened to have been killed by the IDF while filming this Hamas rocket crew in action, how loud do you think the international press would've howled?

My guess is that it'd be a somewhat louder protest than what these guys got.

[Picture]—DayLife link pending

Palestinian militants take position in the early hours on the border between the Gaza Strip and Israel. Three Hamas gunmen were killed by Israeli troops in Gaza as Prime Minister Ehud Olmert was set to meet top ministers to weigh up a possible military offensive on the territory in a bid to stop militant rocket fire. (AFP/Mohammed Abed)

Full series here.

Crud, I saw these photos on the wire earlier today, and it didn't even occur to me to bring them up!

[Photo 1] [Photo 2]

Urban Infidel (via LGF) has identified yet another instance of Associated Press personnel "coincidentally" being on-site to photograph enemy forces (the Taliban, whom we're still ostensively fighting in Afghanistan) transferring their weaponry in the middle of the night.

It's curious to note that the AP didn't feel compelled to identify the stringer who took this picture. Based on what's on the wire, the only named AP stringer in Kandahar at the moment is Allauddin Khan. Could he be our "anonymous" photographer in this series? Or is the AP relying on someone else to gather its Taliban-friendly coverage?

Why not name the photographer? Is the editorial staff afraid that yet another one of their stringers will be arrested for assisting enemy forces?

Previously: AP + Islamic Jihad, AP + Hamas, AP + al Qaeda.

If nothing else, this trend just goes to show that the Associated Press is full of equal opportunity anti-Westerners.

Reports are coming across the wires that a "protestor" has been killed, and another handful injured at the Karni crossing in Israel. Details aren't fully clear yet, but the other protesters were carrying around this body, and I saw a couple of others carried across in a traditional Palestinian "rush." What's interesting, though, is this photograph, which purports to hold someone who was injured by the IDF. Here's a close crop of the injury, from three different shots:



The Associated Press plays the middle of the road, stating merely that, "Palestinians run with a boy after he was wounded during a Hamas demonstration." Agence France-Presse, on the other hand, lays the accusation directly at Israel's feet, stating conclusively that, "Palestinians protestors carry a boy who was wounded by Israeli military gunfire during a demonstration."

But to my untrained eye, that sure looks like more of a cut than it does a bullet wound. Is there anyone out there that knows combat medicine who could definitively say either way? Could something like this be caused by a rubber bullet? A tear-gas grenade? A rock?

Considering that the Palestinians were in the middle of their traditional violent pursuit, it's looking more to me like they fired upon their own, and then trotted the injured and dead in front of the cameras for maximum Israel-blaming effect. I mean, it's not like they haven't done that before, right?

As an aside, I won't contend that the man being carried about at the top of the page is pretty conclusively dead, but I do find it interesting that his shirt's bloody, but there's not much sign of injury.

If you want, you can view the full photo feed here. I'd love to hear what you think about the evidence.

Update: Another question—When carrying the seriously wounded, is it customary in the Palestinian territories to grin like the Cheshire cat?

Update 2: While the caption to this photograph reads:

Palestinians protestors carry a youth who was wounded by Israeli military gunfire during a demonstration against the siege on the Gaza Strip on May 22, 2008 at Karni Crossing, between Israel and Gaza. One Palestinian was killed and 17 injured today when Israeli troops fired at protesters in Gaza who demonstrated against the crippling blockade of the territory, some hurling rocks, medics and witnesses said. AFP PHOTO/MAHMUD HAMS (Photo credit should read MAHMUD HAMS/AFP/Getty Images)

... I think it's far more likely that the injury over his ear was caused by something more like this, frankly.

The AFP is being completely dishonest here, before all of the facts from on the ground have been sorted out. Here's our "IDF-injured" boy in the ambulance.

Update 3: As with most of these events, this protest was carefully coordinated by Hamas. Any chance that Hamas set this up knowing that people would get injured ahead of time? If so, that means that this article's gonna be moving into the "Human Shields" category, and soon.

Palestinian Islamic Hamas movement on Thursday called on its supporters to join a rally in eastern Gaza City near an Israeli commercial crossing in protest against the embargo imposed by Israel one year ago.

Hamas made the call through mosques, saying the people should gather in Gaza City's mosques at Thursday noon prayer before making their way to the Karni crossing.

The mosque-terrorist axis strikes again? The telling quote:

"The people have run out of patience and they have decided to break the siege with any means, even if the cost was their lives," said Ashraf Abu Dayya, a Hamas spokesman.

Yeah, I'm thinking Hamas set this up to be a sacrificial protest way ahead of time. Which means that it can't be discounted that Hamas bullets and stones were responsible for these photos.

"Human Shields" it is.

Update 4: And thus, the crocodile tears are beginning to flow forth.

This is oddly reminiscent of a previous "disaster," in which civilians were killed after answering Hamas' call to serve as human shields in front of a group of terrorists hiding from the IDF inside of a mosque.

Click here, here, if you have a heart.

Please note, the aid given here are by the People's Liberation Army of China. Why do I point this out? Cause the Burmese Junta refuse to help their own citizens! And, despite how bad China is, compared to Burma they are saints. And, John (I hate lobbyists) McCain hired two lobbyists who once toted the water of the Junta while calling President Bush a liar.

Tell me this doesn't break your heart knowing the Burmese people were just left for dead. That the children in China were smothered in debris, smashed between huge concrete beams, and forced to lie twisted in dark, dust-filled tombs hoping someone would rescue them. And the Chinese government did come and rescue them. But, the Burmese government just wanted them to die. And to this day, bodies float in stagnant water while soldiers stand on streets guarding sidewalks or preventing aid convoys from entering the hard-hit areas.

And yet, there is no real condemnation in the media for the Burmese government. Oh, sure, they cite that the Junta are blocking access or are preventing access to US and International aid. But, they defend it by calling the Burmese "paranoid".

This makes me sick and makes me just sick of John (I love liberalism) McCain. (Yes, I am glad to hear that Myanmar recently started to allow a greater flow of relief workers and aid supplies. But, how long did it take? Even people already there had to be secretive with their help. Even news crews had to fear for their lives for reporting the devastation)