Snapped Shot

It's not clear where this caption came from, but it is highly inappropriate for a news agency to use such loaded terminology in a supposedly impartial news caption. (h/t Jay Tea)



For the record, before our judiciary was corrupted to the point that burglars could sue homeowners if they were shot, it was completely acceptable in this country to shoot to kill any intruder that posed a threat to your home or your property, and anyone who brought such a suit before the judiciary was made a laughingstock. Where else in the heck do you think that Admiral Yamamoto got that crazy idea of his that Americans were armed to the teeth from, anyway?

[Ed.:—I met Slick Willie? Who knew??] Continue reading »

Stephen Braunlich ran across a very interesting picture from today's festivities in New York. From the Associated (with Dictators) Press:



Note that the flag in this picture is not the flag of the "Islamic Republic of Iran," of which Mahmoud "The Petty Dictator" Ahmadinejad is the president. This flag is the pre-Revolutionary flag of the Shah:



Given that this flag has not been flown in Iran since the Islamic thugocracy waltzed its way into autocratic power, what do you suppose the odds are that these people are supporting Mahmoud's little tea party?

Update: Some of the AP photographers on site do know their history:

Aside from the fact that Jerusalem has been a de-facto part of Israel since the Six-Day War, modern progressives sure seem to have a real hard time identifying where it is:



For Reuters' reference, Jerusalem is officially the "ancestral homeland" of the Jews, seeing how the city was built in its entirety by the Jewish people. It is also the most holy city in Judaism and Christianity, who combined account for "2.1 billion" of the world's populace. (Compare that to it being merely the "third-most" holy city in Islam, which accounts for "1 billion" adherents.)

But let's not let facts get in our way or anything...

For the record, the correct original byline read: REUTERS/Yannis Behrakis (ISRAEL)

This is an astounding catch by the good folks at Sweetness & Light. I've been seeing the protests in South Korea demanding their country's withdraw from Afghanistan in reaction to the Taliban's hostile act over the past week, but didn't think anything of it. Leave it to S&L to do the legwork that I missed:

And, as usual, our media cannot be bothered to tell us who is behind these anti-American, pro-terrorism protests. But note the name in yellow at the upper corner of a number of these protest signs.

A visit to the their website reveals what SPARKS is all about:

Solidarity for Peace and Reunification of Korea
...
SPARK oppose

- the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq [Ed.: How does this relate to the U.S-Korean relationship?] and Deployment of Korean troops in Iraq
- joint Korea-U.S. military exercises that hamper the peace process
- the preemptive nuclear attack plan and hostile policy of the U.S. against North Korea

In other words, these protests are just another faux-show orchestrated by the jet-setting World-Wide Leftist Elite? I should've known!

Y'all might want to take a look at this picture. I don't know what to make of it, as I'm not generally weaponry-enabled, but I have a sneaking suspicion that a bullet which has just "hit" something wouldn't look quite this pristine:



Update: Check out what the experts at Confederate Yankee and Gateway Pundit are saying. The general suspicion is that the bullet is unfired, as there are not any obvious rifling marks on it, and the number of horizontal bands on it exceed what is usually found on a projectile. Of course, I'm not weapons-savvy, so be sure to read both sites and their comments to find out what the real experts think!

I think the implications that Muhammed is trying to get across are quite clear:



Muhammed, and whichever AP editor decided that this was newsworthy, deserve nothing less than to be fired immediately. This is blatant propaganda, and it has no place on a reputable (ha) news service.

I'm sure that Palestinians would neeeever allow their children to be near evil guns, right?

See if you can guess who said this:

...the media can be sometimes more important than armed action, and sometimes other tributary of this work provide him with legitimacy and give cover for the continued addition of directing many of the messages both on a psychological level or practical.

What do you think? U.S. Army? State Department? Those Dastardly Zionists?

The answer can be found over here.

Here's an interesting article in WorldNet Daily, reviewing a book by its publisher, Joseph Farah. The book discusses some of the activist groups that control what the press says.

My favourite quote?

CBS correspondent and NLJGA member Jeffrey Kofman made the point: "The argument (is): Why do we constantly see in coverage of gay and lesbian, bisexual and transgender issues the homophobes and the fag-haters quoted in stories when, of course, we don't do that with Jews, blacks, et cetera?"

Paula Madison, vice president of diversity at NBC and news director for the NBC's New York City affiliate WNBC, added: "I agree with him. I don't see why we would seek out ... the absurd, inane point of view just to get another point of view."

There you have it, folks. The "diverse" legions of the press consider our points of view to be absurd and inane.

At least they are honest in their disdain for more than half of the nation. I definitely plan on checking this book out next chance I get. Order it here at Amazon now if you're as interested in this behind-the-scenes look as I am.

Is it proper for the press to participate in a blatantly staged photo op, even when it's admitted that the people who showed up only did so because they were paid to?

Consider this situation from the "occupied" Golan Heights: In exchange for "free" education in Damascus, around 200 people showed up to "shout" Mother's Day greetings to their "relatives" who lived (presumably, as the caption provided doesn't delve into details) on the Israeli side of the valley.

While it's decent of Bassem to note that these people showed up, in essence, as paid players, take particular note of the purposeful staging of the scenery: We're shown "peaceful" students, a vast gulf of land, and evil barbed wire. (It should be noted that the barbed wire pictured is most likely on the Syrian side of the border, which means it's not evil Zionist barbed wire, but the implication that it is still remains.) All of these combine to form some rather powerful imagery, but is the substance presented in the photographs genuine?

There are no news stories accompanying these photographs as of yet, and I've not determined how old this "ancient" custom is, but if any of y'all are aware of the background behind what's pictured here, please do let me know of it.

My question to you is this: Is a series of photographs like this proper? Even though the motivation of the players is mentioned, it's not uncommon to see details like that removed from the photojournalist's captions when the photograph is used in other media outlets. At what point does it become "improper" for the press corps to cover and transmit photographs of a knowingly-staged event? Continue reading »

GatewayPundit has discovered that one of our noble fauxtographs has been honoured as the International Picture of the Year for 2006. My congratulations to the photographer, Tyler Hicks, for the honours, and my sincerest thanks for keeping people like Gateway and myself in business.

The balloons mentioned in earlier stories today have now officially made the photo wires, and as a result, we can start to piece together the nefarious Hebrew writing that is causing such unrest amongst the ignorant enlightened Muslim overlords:




Notice that the green and red ones in the background contain the horrific Zionist code-phrase, "HAPPY BIRTHDAY."

Tremble in fear, o ye Faithful of Allah!

Update: Leave it to Ace to bring on teh funneh. 99 Juden-balloons indeed! I can't believe I missed that connection!

Wow! Who knew there was an actual story behind my oddball Google query from a few hours ago! If I had checked my e-mail sooner, I would've seen Jeha's latest article has an explanation for the dreaded Zionist poison balloons!

The basis of this story is a set of balloons, which were claimed to have been filled with poison gas, and then directed towards Lebanon, to land and destroy all of the native Lebanese population. Apparently, not to be outdone by their pals in Pallywood, this story is being taken completely seriously by parties in Lebanon who, let's just say, have "something to gain" from demonising the Israelis.

Jeha, in discussing the inherent nature of certain groups to accept at face value conspiracy theories, brings up a brilliant point: "I think the real difference here is not in 'minds,' but in different political 'mindsets.'"

He's not too far off, but I'd add that there is no propensity in the West for the widespread belief of crackpot theories. One of his readers suggests that the infamous War of the Worlds broadcast is proof to the contrary, but I disagree: For one, that broadcast was over 80 years ago, in the infancy of mass communication--a period of time in which people believed it just because it was spoken over the airwaves.

Of course, there are true believers in the West, but to suggest that they somehow have majority status is completely bogus. Compare that to some of the conspiracies which are printed in the official newspapers of the Arab regimes, and you can quickly see the difference (MEMRI's always a good source for these):

Blood Libel: "I remember my grandfather who used to gather all the neighborhood children in his home in Alexandria to give them candy and tell them the tale of the Jew who slaughtered a boy and made Passover Matzah from his blood. Then, drunk with lust and barbarity, they devoured it." (Egypt, 2000)

Blood Libel: "One need only point out that they are 'blood suckers' according to the Talmudic dictates, which urge them to murder and draw the blood of Muslims in particular, and Christians even more so, and to use this blood in religious Israeli rituals." (Egypt, 2004)

Blood Libel: "Unfortunately, this filling cannot be left out, or substituted with any alternative serving the same purpose. For this holiday, the Jewish people must obtain human blood so that their clerics can prepare the holiday pastries. In other words, the practice cannot be carried out as required if human blood is not spilled!!" (Saudi Arabia, 2002)

You see the conundrum here? These are the words as printed, verbatim, in the official Government newspapers of these nations! There is no equivalent bloodlust in the Western world that justifies any sort of paranoid conspiracy theory like this. Period.

Jeha's right about one thing, though: The continuation of these types of conspiracy theories is political in nature. It is absolutely a "political" benefit for the leaders of these corrupt nations to redirect their citizens' attentions towards Israel. In doing so, they completely distract their populaces away from their own dalliances, which keeps them alive for yet another year.

At the cost of continued ages of hatred, of course.

You just can't make this stuff up, folks! Many thanks to Jeha for the tip--My apologies for not getting to it sooner!

(It figures, I'm late to this story: Others on this wondeful conspiracy: LGF, Gateway Pundit, Michael Totten, Rampurple, BlueCrabBoulevard, EUReferendum)

Update: The text on the balloons has been revealed!

Curt and Confederate Yankee have the scoop, as usual! Excellent work, guys!