The only people who'll be surprised are in big media

Viewers see 'agenda' in war coverage

A Fox News poll released yesterday found 70 percent of those surveyed say that news reports about U.S. military operations in Iraq focus only on the negative, and "leave out the positive."

That figure is up 10 points since Fox posed the same question in October.

I'm sure that if the big media sticks even mention this, they'll downplay it as "a Fox News poll," but the anecdotes in the article correspond with my own informal "polling". I'm sure there are true believers somewhere, but most folks turn on the talking hairdos for momentary amusement, at best.

Which reminds me. Earlier this month, the Viking Pundit mentioned a review of a new book, Misunderestimated, by Bill Sammon. Among a variety of other things:

Mr. Sammon feels that there is a very real leftist plot in the press and among Democrats to get Mr. Bush. He documents this with quotes from the alleged perpetrators at press conferences. The quotes are damning. Some of the participants are very senior and respected White House and Pentagon correspondents. The reader suspects that Mr. Sammon's relations with some members of the White House press corps will be frosty at best now that this book has been published.

The behavior of the "newshawks" at press conferences is perpetually disgusting, so that's no real surprise either.

Must be one of those new-fangled stealth candidates!

Kerry Mulling a $tall Tactic

In what would be an unprecedented move, John Kerry is considering delaying his acceptance of the Democratic nomination so that he has more time to spend his campaign cash and can trim President Bush's financial edge.
Both Kerry and Bush are set to receive $75 million in federal matching funds after they've accepted the nominations at their party conventions, signaling the official start of the general election.

But Kerry's Democratic convention in Boston is earlier than Bush's, meaning he would have to make the same amount of money last a month longer than the president. The Democratic gala is at the end of July, and Bush's Republican convention in New York is at the end of August.

Kerry wants to delay his formal acceptance of the nomination so that he can spend his primary money right up to Sept. 1, the legal deadline, just like Bush.

But there's still the pesky matter of the convention. If he isn't going to accept the nomination, what exactly is going to happen at the already snooze-laden event?

It's unclear how the nomination delay would be done. One campaign expert said the Democrats, after the delegates are counted, could make a motion to table [the] nomination until late August and then reconvene an informal convention for Kerry to accept.
...
Only John Kerry could be for a nominating convention, but be against the nomination. ...," Bush campaign manager Ken Mehlman said.

Sounds like they have too many lawyers in the Democrat party, but then we knew that. Or maybe too many Hollyweirdos - "I know, let's make it a two-part miniseries! Think of the suspense after part 1!"

Tin foil beanie conspiracy theorists take note - yet another avenue for Hillary to worm her way into the nomination.

So much to blog, so little time

Michael Reagan - "we don’t have to find the missing Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMDs) after all – they appear to have found us."

Steven Baker in Olympians, Hold Your Flags High!

On May 16, 2004, Bill Martin, the president of the U.S. Olympic Committee, related the following story to the Los Angeles Times: “We are not the favorite kid in the world right now…I had a very high member (of the International Olympic Committee) tell me recently that we need to realize that the rest of the world doesn't want us on top, it only wants us on tap, meaning nearby, when there is an ugly little crisis somewhere on the globe, where it is then up to us to fix it, to go in there, do the dirty work, put our young men and women on the line.” Therein lies the paradox: Those who hate us also need us.

Kind of reminds me of the lottery winner whose relatives somehow manage to get up off the couch to "advise" him on how to spend the loot.

Maybe they didn't attend the same meeting?

A day after their first meeting of the campaign, Ralph Nader and advisers to Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., were in a disagreement over whether Iraq had figured into the 70-minute conversation between the candidates.

I've got to find a copy of the Flipper theme song. We're going to need it:

John Kerry is rapidly gaining a reputation as the Whirling Dervish of presidential politics, what with his constant position reversals on every conceivable issue.

His dizzying back-and-forth (and back again, sort of) contortions on judicial appointments and abortion this week alone must have set some sort of modern campaign record.

Whew! It's time for a break!

The U.S. distributor of Tecate beer says it will pull billboard ads next month that were decried by some Hispanic lawmakers and community activists as offensive.

The billboards, meant to publicize that the brand was being sold in a bottle, feature a leaning Tecate beer bottle with the tag line "Finally, A Cold Latina."

Like most beer ads are so chaste and demure. Hmm, I wonder if any of the target demographic complained? (Proof of legal age required)

Life is made up of four parts: playing futbol, watching futbol, thinking futbol, and dreaming futbol. Of course, we're only kidding. Who has time to sleep when you're TALKING futbol over ice cold Tecates with your amigos?

Copa Tecate 2004 is on!

Tecate is a proud sponsor of TELEMUNDO's Mexican National Team Broadcasts!

Click for Espanol and no coughing on the cooler!

Fashion Fantod Alert!

Alexandra Kerry wasn't the only one all duded up for the big soiree in Cannes, of course. But here's a shocker - the fashion maven who did her dress apparently sold an exact copy to someone else!

Bad news just in time for the weekend!

We're Doomed Again: Paul Ehrlich has never been right. Why does anyone still listen to him?

Environmentalist Paul Ehrlich has proved himself to be a stupendously bad prophet. In 1968 he declared: "The battle to feed all of humanity is over. In the 1970s, the world will undergo famines--hundreds of millions of people are going to starve to death." They didn't. Indeed, a "green revolution" nearly tripled the world's food supply. In 1975, he predicted that, by the mid-1980s, "mankind will enter a genuine age of scarcity," in which "accessible supplies of many key minerals will be facing depletion." Far from it. Between 1975 and 2000 the World Bank's commodity price index for minerals and metals fell by nearly 50%. In other words, we abound in "key minerals." Naturally, Mr. Ehrlich has won a MacArthur Foundation genius award--and a Heinz Award for the environment. (Yes, that Heinz: Teresa Heinz Kerry is chairman of the award's sponsoring philanthropy.)

So why pay him any notice? Because he is a reverse Cassandra. In "The Illiad," the prophetess Cassandra makes true predictions and no one believes her; Mr. Ehrlich makes false predictions and they are widely believed. The gloomier he is and the faultier he proves to be as a prophet, the more honored he becomes, even in his own country.

The usual suspects love Paulie because sack cloth and ashes just feel so good. He's padding his own bottom line again with a new book and you guessed it - things are looking mighty scary.

Triumph of the Shill

The true believers gave Lumpy Riefenstahl a standing ovation at this year's party congress in Cannes. Well, I'm sure shocked! How about you?

Other folks, who aren't members of the party, weren't as enthused:

"You will see things you haven't seen before and learn things you have not learned before," he vowed on Sunday.

Well, maybe if you spent the last three years hiding in a cave in Afghanistan.

Lumpy was born too late - the era of great propaganda was the 30's and 40's.

More of John Kerry's Greatest Hits

Kerry used enemy to win battle at home: Pact with communist Sandinistas 'trademark' of his statecraft:

In his first major foreign-policy action as a U.S. senator nearly 20 years ago, John Kerry accused the United States of "funding terrorism."

Fresh from a trip to the Far East, Kerry made his sensational allegation in Washington before flying to Nicaragua, then in the grip of a Marxist-Leninist junta, to coauthor a propagandistic peace proposal designed to disarm the U.S.-backed forces fighting to oust the Soviet-backed Sandinista regime.
...
That April 1985 journey to Nicaragua would become a trademark of the Kerry school of statecraft: making common cause with enemies of the United States -- and allowing himself to be used by them -- in order to win political battles at home.

I always liked the snap of him and that odious thug, Daniel Ortega. No word on whether he had a songfest with Danny like he did with the North Vietnamese in Paris.

And speaking of Vietnam - Veterans to Kerry: Stop using photo:

A group of more than 220 veterans who served in Sen. John Kerry's swift-boat unit in Vietnam are calling on the presumptive Democratic presidential candidate to stop unauthorized use of their images in national campaign advertising.

Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, which has declared the Massachusetts senator "unfit to be commander in chief," says 11 of the 20 officers in one photo Kerry uses have signed a letter condemning him.
...
"Of the remaining eight officers in the photo, two are deceased and four don't want any involvement," the veterans said in a statement. Only two of the 20 are believed to support Kerry.

There's also a link to this article where a fellow officer says that Lurch didn't game the system to bug out of Vietnam early - the other commanders told him to leave. Seems he was a trifle trigger happy. Hey, maybe he really was a war criminal!

Funny how that worked out

I was going to make a similar observation, but Bruce Bartlett does it better - India may have solved the oursourcing issue for us:

The great outsourcing controversy is now over. ... In elections last week, the voters of India fixed the problem by turning their country away from liberalism and back toward statism. Should India's new leaders follow through on their campaign promises, there will be a lot fewer businesses there doing outsourcing or anything else.

Count on socialists to kill the golden goose. I especially liked all the news stories with obligatory profiles of poor villagers who complained they weren't getting anything from all the new high tech industries.

But it's not all good news, since the last time around the Congress Party "discouraged foreign capital, believing that foreign aid was preferable." Stand by for lots of whining for the benighted American taxpayer to pick up their bar tab.

"Kerry Lied While Good Men Died"

John Moore has the details.

The prison scandal you won't hear about on network news

Spathic reminds us:

The carnage continued until Ali's weapon jammed. The surviving Americans then stormed the Jordanians' guard shack, where they found his four comrades hiding. The Americans grabbed their weapons from them and killed the assailant, firing 16 bullets into his body.

Today's Hoot!

The article is just a standard Mikey Moore PR whineathon, but I loved the FReeper subtitle: Moore on Bush (Lumpy Riefenstahl says Bush blocking film that will blow apart his reelection bid). As for Lumpy, he's still a legend in his own mind.

OK, who stole her clothes?

Alexandra Kerry, the occasionally campaigning older daughter of His Haughtiness, apparently suffered a wardrobe malfunction at the Cannes Film Festival. Unlike younger sister Vanessa, she paints up real nice considering what they started with.

Some things you just can't make up

Polly Toynbee remains clueless and emotes Only the UN can save us. No humor intended, apparently.

Mickey D also demonstrates his infirm grasp of the clues with Dukakis says Kerry would bring Truman-like style to White House.

And then there's this year's candidate for a major disaster - Another bombing in Athens as Greeks explode over alert:

Another small bomb exploded in Athens outside a bank yesterday as Revolutionary Struggle, the group that has claimed responsibility for the May 5 bombings, warned Western tourists to stay away from Greece.

The Prime Minister, John Howard, headed off increasing criticism from Greek authorities and the International Olympic Committee for the Government's recent heightened travel alert.

"Our responsibility is the safety of the Australian travelling public and we will issue travel bulletins and warnings based on security assessments and they won't be influenced by anybody, including the International Olympic Committee," Mr Howard told ABC radio.

Athens organising committee president Gianna Angelopoulos-Daskalaki said yesterday: "It is unfair. Greece has 12 million visitors every year who return home with happy memories of wonderful hospitality."

Yeah, real warm - as long as you don't show the American flag.

A perfect choice!

Ohio Democrats Pick Jerry Springer as Delegate for Convention:

Ohio Democrats have chosen talk-show host Jerry Springer to be an at-large delegate for the Democratic National Convention in Boston.

Hey, someone has to represent the "Sparring Sluts" and "Multisexual Morons." Looking at the synopses of Jer's shows for the year makes you wonder if Lurch hasn't found his VP candidate.

Sigh, it's the old Reichstag fire gambit again

A plot to kill? Chávez raises stakes, suspicion over conspiracy

The many bizarre aspects of the recent arrests of some 80 alleged Colombian mercenaries accused of plotting to kill President Hugo Chávez have sparked deep skepticism and worry among many Venezuelans and foreign diplomats.
...
The conspiracy, according to Venezuela's ambassador to the Organization of American States, Jorge Valero, was breathtaking in its dimensions.

Not only did the plotters plan to kill Chávez, said Valero, they proposed to hijack air force jets to bomb the presidential palace ``in support of a military operation which would include an air and sea blockade of Venezuela, with the participation of international forces.''
...
The concern is that the leftist Chávez will use the case as an excuse to crack down on his nonviolent opponents or block an ongoing attempt to force a recall referendum on his rule.

''I have no doubt at all that this is an invention of the government,'' said former Foreign Minister Simón Alberto Consalvi, part of the opposition that accuses Chávez of leading the nation into economic ruin and political crisis.

''Nobody believes Chávez. . . . But it's no good just calling him crazy,'' said a foreign diplomat who asked for anonymity. ``You have to pay attention. Everything seems to indicate an imminent curtailing of civil rights.''

By Friday, the number of arrests in the case had risen to 114 and Chávez had turned it into an international brouhaha, accusing Washington, the military in neighboring Colombia, Venezuelan exiles in Miami and opponents at home of plotting against his democratically elected government.

But there's a small problem with the "mercenaries":

No weapons other than the 9mm pistol have been found anywhere. Nor has the government presented any evidence of links between the Colombians and any opposition leaders, although 12 active and retired Venezuelan military officers have been detained.
...
Reports in the Colombian media have quoted relatives in the border town of Cúcuta as saying their sons and brothers were simply peasants or unskilled workers who were offered jobs in Venezuela.

One of the detainees who gave his name as Claudio told reporters Thursday that the men were ''all peasants, and we were offered agricultural and textile jobs'' in Venezuela.

''The commanders told us we'd get identity documents to vote for Chávez,'' he said during a hasty chat after he surrendered to police.

It would be a comic opera, if it were funny.