A few minutes ago, I posted an update to the Jamil Hussein story. My source just informed me that he had incorrect information. I’m removing the post. I’ll update as soon as I know more.
Update: Marc Danziger reports the results of his investigation.
A spoiler for those who wish to skip ahead: The Iraqi police officer’s correct name is Jamail Hussein, not ‘Jamil.’ So, in regard to Malkin & Co.’s weeks-long hurricane tantrum accusing the Associated Press of using a nonexistent source in order to help spread enemy propaganda: Whoops.
In all its breathless purple prose about the “new digital democracy” and the “unmediated free-for-all” on YouTube, Time magazine ignores certain citizen journalists and overlooks those who have been banned from participating for expressing unpopular views.
Oh, we remembersome thingsas well. 2006 has been a remarkable year for ol’ Michelle, filled as it’s been with the suicide of one of her targets, an admirer’s arrest for serial domestic terrorism, a lot of jumping up and down and yelling, and steaming plates of crow apparently served with onion rings.
I’ll have to go through all the entries again to see if any of us correctly picked the winner, but it looks like the president will soon announce the launch of Operation: Feed The Rush.
You won’t catch a whiff of it in the Associated (with Terrorists) Press, but Brent Bozell’s prestigious Media Research Center has released its 19th annual awards for the year’s worst reporting. Unlike the Pulitzer Prize or Academy Awards, these clear-eyed judges do not fall all over themselves to celebrate treason and other Bush-bashing blather.
New York Times moonbat publisher Arthur Sulzberger Jr. takes the cake for quote-of-the-year for his unhinged rant during a college commencement address:
“It wasn’t supposed to be this way. You weren’t supposed to be graduating into an America fighting a misbegotten war in a foreign land. You weren’t supposed to be graduating into a world where we are still fighting for fundamental human rights, whether it’s the rights of immigrants to start a new life, or the rights of gays to marry, or the rights of women to choose. You weren’t supposed to be graduating into a world where oil still drove policy and environmentalists have to fight relentlessly for every gain. You weren’t. But you are. And for that, I’m sorry.”
Above: Arthur Sulzberger Jr. hates America, loves self.
The bellowing Sulzburger edged out such trusted – yet tendencious – journalists as Rosie O’Donnell, Geraldo Rivera, Jack Cafferty, unidentified black man, Keith Olbermann and North Korean girl, in English.
The Bush administration is split over the idea of a surge in troops to Iraq, with White House officials aggressively promoting the concept over the unanimous disagreement of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, according to U.S. officials familiar with the intense debate.
I give the Joint Chiefs a week before they unanimously cave. After all, no one wants to face the wrath of a president with approval ratings in the low 30s, do they?
Sending 15,000 to 30,000 more troops for a mission of possibly six to eight months is one of the central proposals on the table of the White House policy review to reverse the steady deterioration in Iraq. The option is being discussed as an element in a range of bigger packages, the officials said.
But the Joint Chiefs think the White House, after a month of talks, still does not have a defined mission and is latching on to the surge idea in part because of limited alternatives, despite warnings about the potential disadvantages for the military, said the officials, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because the White House review is not public.
Guys, you should know by now that Bush does not give a damn about the military. This is all about securing his place in history as a bold, decisive decider who made lots of decisive decisions. C’mon, get with it.
Above: My nominee for the new impeachment drumbeat.
The results of the 2006 Weblog Awards are in and my blog, Jon Swift, has won the Best Humor Blog category by a very wide margin despite being behind in the voting right up until the last minute. You can imagine how shocked the boys at Sadly, No! are after thinking they had it in the bag—about as shocked as Salvador Allende was when he found out he lost the 1973 Chilean presidential election to the late Augusto Pinochet. It turns out a huge box of absentee ballots were found that put me over the top. Most of those ballots came from our servicemen overseas, who turned against Sadly, No! late in the voting when they discovered that the blog’s real name is Sadly, Hussein No! In fact, I would have had a lot more votes if the placement of those radio buttons on the ballot weren’t so confusing to senior citizens.
I think this victory gives me a mandate and so I’ve decided to spend a little of my political capital by having the conspirators behind Sadly, No! taken away in the dead of night and sent to an undisclosed location somewhere in eastern Europe. We have them locked away in solitary confinement where they are being subjected to Powerline posts being read over a loudspeaker at all hours of the day and night by Pamela Oshry.
Above: Pamela Oshry
Unfortunately, we were forced to fit them with dark goggles in case their furious blinking and twitching was some sort of an attempt to send secret messages to other terrorist bloggers in Morse Code. We’re sure it won’t take much to extract the names of their fellow travelers in the liberal blogosphere. (You can run but you can’t hide, Michael Bérubé!)
So there are going to be a few changes around here. No more cheap shots at the expense of patriotic conservative bloggers who are fighting the terrorists over here so they don’t have to fight them over there. No more adolescent Fauxtoshop tricks.
No more unfairly selective fisking of obscure conservative columnists from fringe publications like the National Review. No more Hugh Hewitt breast jokes or Jonah Goldberg ass jokes. Nothing but good, clean conservative humor like the kind IMAO and Scrappleface did before a mysterious denial of service attack blew them offline permanently (we’re going to miss you guys!). So this blog is under new management. Let the Ted Kennedy jokes begin!
Shorter Mark Noonan: “Losing control of Congress was a brilliant tactical move by the Republicans. They have the Democrats right where they want them!”
Seriously. That’s his argument.
There’s bonus hilarity in the comments section, of course. It starts when the brilliantly-named commenter “Major Smegma” points out some flaws in Mark’s, ahem, logic:
If a leopard cannot change its spots, how did a party change from “small government/less spending” in 1964 to “federal law on an individual medical case/highway to nowhere” by 2006?
I don’t care for Democrats much but the values-shift of the Republican Party after they gained majority in 1994 makes me think the old “leopard saying” doesn’t apply to our politics.
The more appropriate adage is “absolute power corrupts absolutely.”
A very reasonable point. Which means that Mark isn’t having any of it. (My emphasis:)
Major,
Actually, you’re “individual medical case” was one of the things which kept most conservative GOPers on board with the Congressional GOP…that was a life issue, which pretty much trumps all.
Other than that, the big spending wasn’t so much changing, as the emergence in the GOP Congressional leadership of old-line GOPers who came along for the conservative ride – that and, of course, a great deal of GOP caving to Democratic spending demands in a vain attempt to keep the Democrats united with the GOP in pursuit of victory in the war.
Posted by: Mark Noonan at December 17, 2006 03:04 AM
I… damn. That is some straight gangsta shit right there. Mark Noonan is the hardest wingnut on the block. Ain’t no one can fuck wit dat.
Gavin adds: Ask Mark what these ‘Democratic spending demands’ might’ve been, seeing as the Democrats were completely cut out of the Congressional decision-making process for years, and he’ll come up with something like, “Oh, they just demanded spending; they didn’t care what the money was spent on.” And then he’ll stand there grinning with a halo of flower sachets and Hershey’s Kisses orbiting his graying Peter Lupus hairdo.
Oh, it looks like we won that award. Unless of course something zany happens, like the time Brad left the box of roller skates on the steps and we all fell screaming one by one into the basement chocolate fountain, and of course Retardo had forgotten to latch the door of the honey badger pen, and you know how that whole thing went.
Yup, sure is quiet around here this weekend.
Bradrocket adds: Sorry about that. I’ve had a very hectic weekend of sitting on my ass and doing absolutely nothing. Really. A couple of friends invited me out for drinks last night and I felt too lazy to even return their calls. Bradrocket iz teh slaxxor!1!1!
Travis adds: Am I being overly cynical to suspect that the administration has delayed announcement of their bold, new plan for Iraq mostly because they haven’t yet thought up a bold, new name for it?
I will not read Powerline. It is bad for my health. My blood pressure skyrockets every time I even consider clicking over there. As of right now, I am officially taking a vow of Powerline celibacy…
No, no, no, no, no, no. Will resist temptation. Will not click on the link. Will no… OH NO! TOO LATE!
Mr. President, If I May Be So Bold…
Most of our readers know the story of Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain at Gettysburg. Ordered to hold Little Round Top at all costs, Chamberlain’s 20th Maine fended off one attack after another. Finally, Chamberlain’s men were nearly out of ammunition and it was clear they would not be able to withstand another assault. Prudence counseled retreat, but Chamberlain’s orders forbade it. The Maine regiment could neither fall back nor stay where it was, so Chamberlain took the only course open to him: he told his men to fix bayonets and prepare to charge.
It strikes me that you, President Bush, are in a similar situation in Iraq.
There are differences, of course. Chamberlain was a military genius; George W. Bush can’t tie his shoes without the help of special “safety laces.”
Gavin adds: Shorter Hinderaker: “No, I think we have to go all out. I think that this situation absolutely requires a really futile and stupid gesture be done on somebody’s part.”
