What is that Sally Struthers always whining about?

L.A. Times on the “Euphoria” of Being Starved to Death:

The L.A. Times has a story today about how much fun it is to be starved and dehydrated to death. I kid you not. The story describes the “characteristic sense of euphoria that accompanies a complete lack of food and water.”

Euphoria.

There is zero mention of the perspective provided by Kate Adamson, who was mistakenly diagnosed as being in a persistent vegetative state, had her feeding tube pulled, and lived to tell about it.

And the AP gets on the party train too, but doesn't even read it's own expert interview.

Job related injury alert!

(Via LGF) Mark Dodd in The Weekend Australian has a more detailed report on the UN "peacekeeper" scandal in Timor which features this gem:

The deployment of Jordanian peacekeepers to East Timor was probably one of the most contentious UN decisions to follow the bloody independence ballot. It was eclipsed only by the cover-up and inaction that followed when the world body learned of their involvement in a series of horrific sex crimes involving children living in the war-battered Oecussi enclave.

Children were not the only victims - in early 2001, two Jordanians were evacuated home with injured penises after attempting sexual intercourse with goats.

It's great to see the United Nations at work! It certainly gives me hope ... hope that'll we'll dump the chumps. And what do you bet that either the US or Australian taxpayers or both paid to fly these two beauties home?

Besides the low comedy, there's much more in the article about the United Nations "peacekeeping" in Timor. If wishes were horses, beggars would ride and the United Nations would be more than a sad, sick joke. In the meantime, why are we wasting time and money?

But wait, there's more! Even UN bigs are having work related trauma - Depressed Annan close to quitting over UN scandals:

KOFI ANNAN, the United Nations secretary-general, is said to be struggling with depression and considering his future. Colleagues have reported concerns about Annan ahead of an official report this week that will examine his son Kojo’s connection to the controversial Iraqi oil for food scheme.

Depending on the findings of the report, by a team led by the former US Federal Reserve chairman Paul Volcker, Annan may have to choose between the secretary-generalship and loyalty to his son.

Sniff! Where's my violin?

American congressional critics of the UN are already pressing him to resign over the mismanagement of the oil for food programme, and even his supporters have been dismayed by the scandals on his watch, including the sexual abuse of children by UN peacekeepers in Congo.

And apparently just about everywhere else they've dropped by to "help".

One close observer at the UN said Annan’s moods were like a “sine curve” and that he appeared near the bottom of the trough.

Maybe he can compare notes with the little kids in Timor?

I'm so confused!

Yesterday, The Sun said Chirac stabs Blair in back, but today the PM says he conned ole Jacques:

TONY Blair yesterday claimed that Britain now has the power to force France and Germany to open up to foreign workers and accept the European Union Services Directive against their will.

The Prime Minister told MPs that, far from losing a battle with Jacques Chirac over the directive, he has returned home with an agreement that it will be decided by a vote in the enlarged European Union.

He believes this means Britain can join forces with Poland, Estonia, Latvia and Slovakia to force their vision of a reformed Europe on France and Germany - representing a landmark defeat of "New Europe" over "Old Europe".

Reporting on what is expected to be his last EU summit ahead of the general election, Mr Blair told the Commons that he was prepared for a battle over the future of the European "social model", to be defined for all 25 member states.

And here I thought the European "social model" mostly involved a leisurely lunch. But now they're going to do battle over it before enshrining the definition. Sounds like bureaucratic heaven to me!

"Some, notably France, believe this model should remain in its existing form. Some, like Britain, believe firmly in Europe’s social dimension but want it updated to take account of modern economic reality," he said.

Reports suggested that he had caved in to Mr Chirac’s demands, by agreeing to redraft the directive. But Mr Blair said: "Fortunately, the final decision will be by QMV [qualified majority voting]."

Mr Blair’s official spokesman said that at a dinner for heads of governments on Tuesday night, the Prime Minister became satisfied that he had enough support among the new members to win a vote.

"The opinion round the table was very much in our favour," said the spokesman.

When asked whether France and Germany would ever be forced to open their markets, he said: "It’s a Europe of 25, and it’s 25 who will decide."

Ruh roh! Sounds like a steel cage match is coming. Break out the pork rinds!

In case this is all rather impenetrable, the real argument is the following:

The EU Services Directive would mean that people who work abroad can abide by the regulations of their home state, not their host country. The aim is to create a free market in services, as exists with goods at present.

This has alarmed France and Germany, who have high labour protection laws and have secured higher salaries for their workers. This, critics argue, makes companies reluctant to take on staff and explains unemployment rates of 10 per cent in France and 11 per cent in Germany.

Still impenetrable? The idea is that a French company could hire an Eastern European worker and only pay the salary and benefits enshrined in law in his home country which would be rather cheaper than hiring a French worker. You can see why some knickers are nastily knotted.

I guess we should think of the MSM as the Strategic IQ Reserve

Here's proof.

All the phony news that fits

The Prowler:

It's Rathergate all over again, and the same vigilant entities that brought about to the collapse of CBS News could now also cause heads to roll among Democratic Senate leadership staffers and further shame multiple news organizations that would appear to have fallen for another document hoax.
...
Republican leadership staffers now believe the document was generated out of the Democratic opposition research office set up recently by Sen. Harry Reid, and distributed to some Democratic Senate staffers claiming it was a GOP document, in the hope -- or more likely expectation -- that it would then be leaked by those Democrats to reporters. In fact, the New York Times stated that it was Democratic staffers who were distributing the "talking points" document.

The NYT can congratulate themselves for dodging this bullet, but ABC and the rest of the talking heads who transmitted it ought to be ashamed of their stupidity. We know they won't get worked up over their bias. And did you think they would be quick to issue corrections? Well, they're in good company - Air America's new star, Jerry Springer, took time out from his busy transgender lesbian mudwrestling schedule to blather about "the memo".

UPDATE: Fred Barnes in The Weekly Standard - The ABCs of Media Bias.

Always keep your eye on a snake

How about these two prime specimens Tony Blair has to keep an eye on? (Both links via BrothersJudd - here and here.)

Chirac stabs Blair in back:

BACK-STABBING Jacques Chirac last night repaid Tony Blair for helping him by trying to sabotage Britain’s £3billion EU rebate.

The double betrayal came only hours after Mr Blair rescued the French President from angry French unions.

FIRST Mr Chirac joined calls for Brussels to axe our refund.

THEN he accused British and American economic policy of exporting death to the Third World.

Wait for it.

Mr Blair had been banking on France to help save the 20-year-old rebate.

Even with the rebate Britain pays more than TWO AND A HALF TIMES as much as the French.

Without it, the Treasury’s share of running the EU would be a staggering 14 TIMES that of France.

Maybe Jacques left his wallet at home? But then he always does.

He went on to rub it in by accusing Britain and America of “fuelling dangerous global conflict” through free-market economic policies.

He claimed they create an “explosive” poverty gap between the West and the developing world.

And then he whines about where the money came from. I guess nothing breeds envy like success. Drat that pesky free market, eh Weasel Boy? Oh wait, we're doing snakes.

Hours earlier, the PM risked EU fury by helping Mr Chirac to delay new Brussels employment rules while they are reviewed.

French unions believe the laws — aimed at loosening controls over EU service jobs — will flood France with cheap east European labour.

Their threatened national strike would have increased Mr Chirac’s chances of defeat in his referendum on the EU Constitution.

Next time let him pick up the check.

And speaking of the "developing world," They may be continents apart, but Mugabe blames Blair for everything:

FORGET about education. Forget about job creation, even though unemployment is running at 80 per cent. The 2005 parliamentary election in Zimbabwe is all about the threat posed by a middle-aged man living thousands of miles away.

President Mugabe, who since 2000 has made no secret of his contempt for Britain, has dubbed next week’s vote the “anti-Blair election”. Demonisation of the Prime Minister has become the central platform of the ruling Zanu (PF) party’s campaign.

We all know Bobby Mugabe and his entourage aren't the sharpest tools in the drawer, but how's it playing with the little people?

The bizarre campaign has many urban voters perplexed. Foster, a security guard in Harare who did not want to give his full name for fear of reprisals, said: “Why is he talking about Blair when people are starving in this country?” Primrose, a young professional, said: “This has to be one of the most irrelevant platforms ever.” Munya, who owns an IT company, said the focus on Blair was “ nonsense propaganda”.

But Zanu (PF)’s campaign is designed to woo, or rather scare, rural voters by suggesting that if the opposition wins, Zimbabwe will became a de facto colony of Britain once more, and that land will be returned to white farmers. In a rally near the South African border on Tuesday, President Mugabe told the crowd: “Our heritage needs to be protected from neocolonialists like Blair.”

Sheesh, who would want the place? The poor UK taxpayers are already footing the bill for the layabout Frenchies!

Speaking of class acts

Original artwork from Glenn Beck, lyrics by Michael Schiavo.

Air America gets a touch of class!

Springer liberal talk radio show to expand nationwide:

Trash T-V talk show host Jerry Springer is taking his liberal radio program nationwide.

He has reached a deal today to go live weekdays on the Air America Radio network beginning April First.

Good choice of start date. But ole Jerry won't be the same if he doesn't have fodder like:

3/24/05 “I Got Your Man”
Devonte made a mistake by sleeping with Michelle! Not only is he gay, but he loves his transsexual girlfriend, Ashley. He's here to tell Michelle to back off! Next... Amanda believes Aaron is the love of her life, so she is devastated by the news he delivers. He’ll tell her that he loves his ex, Kristine, and he's going home with her, not Amanda! Then... Timmy promised Alice he'd treat her right after he pulled her out of an abusive relationship, then Alice finds out Timmy enjoys threesomes with her friend, Sky, and other girls from local bars. Not her idea of “treating her right!” Later… Arielle has been stripping for a year and now she wants out! Her friend,, Carmen and her pimp, Cody are livid and think Arielle is ungrateful given all that they have done for her.

Deviates, pimps and whores - good practice for Air America.

By the way, his radio show has a "blog" which, aside from some stale leftoid wingnuttery, has got gems like:

Megan caught it and leaned over to me and motioned something. So I killed my mic, lifted my headset and she whispered, "The caller's in the bathtub. I hear the water slurping."

So when June finished all her points with Jerry, I said that Megan wanted me to ask, "Are you calling our show from the tub?"

She laughed and admitted, yes. So she is definitely our caller of the month, maybe of the year.

If she e-mails me a pic, I'll post it.

It'd really be cool if she was using one of those vibrating cell phones, eh Jer?

No need to worry about a pondscum shortage

How about making up a phony "Republican" memo and publicizing it via the usual MSM mouth breathers? Oh wait, ABC is getting a tad nervous. As well they should - they're supposed to be push polling for euthanasia, not touting bogus documents. That job belongs to CBS!

Then ole Ernst Blofeld, er, George Soros is financing a smear campaign against Tom Delay via SPECTRE, er, his foundation, the Open Society Institute, with the help of the same media and Congressional dung beetles. Gosh, I thought the Open Society Institute was busy defending radical lawyers who play post office with Islamic terrorists. One thing you can say about ole George though, he really shaped up that SPECTRE organization.

A tax free, nonpolitical foundation, eh? That sounds familiar! Kinda like the nobs at the Pew "Charitable" Trust that Ryan Sager exposed last week. Other folks are noticing too, here and here:

And the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review:

Pew did not hide the fact it was supporting the ultimately successful attempt to limit free speech to a whisper before elections. But Mr. Treglia said Pew did everything it legally could to hide the $40.1 million donated to front groups.

Congress must demand that Pew's tax-exempt status be revoked for engaging in politics. And it must repeal this abomination to free speech. Otherwise, Congress cannot credibly claim it was conned if it continues acting like a co-conspirator.

These guys know how to party.

Why not pull the tax-exempt status from all of the members of the SPECTRE alliance?

Of course, if you want primo pondscum, there's always the United Nations. When their 3rd world peacekeepers aren't molesting all the local children, the higherups are busy raiding the till to pay the legal defense costs of their corrupt buddies. I mean, gosh, it's not as if the UN bigs didn't have other sources of income. But it's an equal opportunity ripoff as the Economist (via Viking Pundit) notes:

In the run-up to the Iraq invasion, there was the revolting spectacle of Britain and France sucking up to Lansana Conté, the tinpot dictator of tiny Guinea, because the UN’s rules had given him one of the Security Council’s rotating seats.

Now you know why Kofi's "big plan" involves expanding the "Security Council." There's gold in them thar seats!

I wonder what a job like this pays?

NRO's Beltway Buzz:

“I was walking through the Dallas airport with some colleagues and one of them recognized two of the same protestors we had seen outside the event in Albuquerque. We had some extra time, so we decided to talk to them. They were very polite and explained to us they had just come from protesting an event nearby. One of them very quickly identified themselves as professional protestors.”

“Not that they just liked to protest, but that they actually got paid by liberal interest groups to travel the country protesting. Here they were, sitting in the airport TGI Friday’s having a burger and getting ready to travel to New Orleans for another protest. They were good kids and wanted to talk. We tried discussing some of the benefits of Social Security reform. They listened, but weren’t too interested. Not because they had opposing views, they just said they weren’t too educated on the details. They even admitted they didn’t know who it was they were going to protest in New Orleans.”

And here I thought they put ads in the local counterculture and Socialist newspapers and the usual suspects turned up with their costumes and fleas.