Snapped Shot

I ran across an interesting collection of articles over at Instapundit today, which I am highly amused by. Apparently, Sir Nicholas Stern, the British preacher of doom, has been going around repeating the absurd claim that Chinese air-quality standards are too high for the American auto industry to be able to send cars over there.

Of course, there's nothing new about claims like this. I honestly cannot remember a time in my life where the Left has failed to attack the West for things which were, at the very least, not the West's fault.

Tim Blair has done a fantastic job rounding up some other notable Leftists who repeat this claim essentially verbatim. He has also pointed us to Right-Thinking, who has provided first-hand photographic evidence of Chinese environmental policy, which makes Los Angeles look like an ecological paradise.

I remember walking through a Russian bookstore in the suburbs of Maryland (the largest in the country--which, sadly, was forced to close some time ago) that contained thousands of old Soviet books, including the textbooks they used internally, and the ones they sent overseas to other countries in "goodwill" missions--textbooks which, of course, represented the Soviet line. (Not that the Soviets ever tried to communize the world or anything.) Continue reading »

I guess I should have expected stuff like this from "The Most Ethical Congress in History."

I guess this scuttles the notion that somehow women are, by nature of their sex (to use the politically-incorrect alternate to "gender"), more "honest" than men.

Anyone have any guesses as to when the incessant screeching and obligatory hearings will commence?

My apologies for the lengthy period of silence over here. I've been a bit tied up at work, and haven't had as much time to devote to blogging as normal. I hope to get things straightened up, and get back on the ol' newsfeeds very shortly.

I highly recommend reading Roger Williams' Dictators of the World, if you want to keep up-to-date on your dictatorial history. One new blog I discovered that's well worth reading is BLACK VELVET BRUCE LI, written by a fellow Virginian who has quite a bit to say about the state of the Commonwealth.

Hopefully, I'll be seeing y'all real soon!

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 »

... that this joker actually considered running for a seat in the federal Senate here in the Commonwealth of Virginia? With acting skills like this, who wouldn't vote for him? (h/t Digg)


Can you say gravitas?

... the other 2/3rds can be found outside the halls of Congress!

Yuk yuk yuk! (h/t PajamasMedia)

Wow, it looks like he really is still alive, though from the looks of it, he probably doesn't have long to live. (Of course, this could still be a "body double," not that dictators ever use those...)

I'm reading a report that Texas is now being served by a "renewable" biodiesel power station. And by "renewable," I mean, "they're burning chicken parts."

For some reason, I have a feeling that the kind folks at PETA won't be too happy with this announcement.

You might recall that we wrote about Palestinian "Self-Destructing" houses a little while back. Here's another example of this phenomenon, straight from the wires. Notice that no speculation is made as to the cause of the explosion, at least not by the caption writers. It takes little imagination, though, to come to the conclusion that the house just might have exploded because it, well, contained explosives.


Let's try my caption out for size:



There you have it, folks. I have more "investigative imagination" in my little pinky, than the entire editorial staff at the Associated Press and Reuters combined. And they say the press is "trustworthy!"

Be sure to keep reading, to see more magnificent examples of media myopia. Continue reading »

Italian reporter Daniele Mastrogiacomo has been released! Here's the wire photo accompanying the announcement - nothing follows yet, including word on Ajmal's fate.


Update: Jawa and Monsters and Critics have more on this story.

I found out today via RSF that Ajmal is still alive and in Taliban captivity, along with Italian reporter Daniele Mastrogiacomo. My prayers are with the family of Sayed Agha, the driver who was killed "as a spy."

Reporters Without Borders said it was appalled by today's announcement by the Taliban that Sayed Agha, the Afghan driver of kidnapped Italian journalist Daniele Mastrogiacomo, was executed by their abductors.

Agha was "executed after being found guilty of spying," Mulluh Dadullah's spokesman told the Afghan news agency Pajhwok.

May the perpetrators be introduced to the "business" end of an American missile, sooner than later.

We've learned today (via Jawa), that one of the two Afghan nationals who was accompanying Italian reporter Daniele Mastrogiacomo has been murdered by the Taliban thugs who took them hostage! No word yet on whether or not this is Lightstalkers member Ajmal, but my prayers are with the unfortunate victim's family either way!

"His throat was slit at 7 a.m. because he was confirmed to be a spy for foreign military forces," ANSA quoted Ibrahim Hanifi as saying. The dead man is believed to have been Mastrogiacomo's driver.

Memo to the Left: The day that Chimpy McHalliburton Bushitler closes down an entire State's government and schools to salvage a fauxto-op, your argument that we're living in an evil dictatorship will hold more weight.

(Of course, ol' Chimpy could always take pointers from the Goracle about campaign photos...)

Richard North over at EUReferendum had previously been contacted by the London Telegraph, who requested that he cease using their photographs to illustrate stories on his website. While the licensing terms used by various news agencies differ in wide degrees from each other, most will tolerate some re-use of their work in the interest of "news discussion," so long as there is no profit to be made by the use of such photographs. Notice, however, that the higher-profile the website is, the less generous these terms usually are.

What makes this particularly interesting, though, is to see that in truly independent fashion, Richard has responded to the Telegraph's request by covering a high-profile protest in London entirely by himself. No photo agencies, no stringers, no wire services--Richard took the story into his own hands, literally. For some of the background behind this decision, I'll refer you to Richard's own discussion, though I do hope he'll share more information with us at a future date.

This illustrates a rather interesting development, though. Are we free to contemplate a future of truly independent journalists, unencumbered by an editorial process that filters out "uncomfortable" information? Will "citizen journalists" be able to share their viewpoint with their readers, without being cropped and captioned into something that in no way reflects reality?

We probably won't ever be fully independent of the organized photo and wire services, and I'm not sure that we need to be. Seeing behind-the-scenes photographs like this, and considering some of the other excellent independent journalism groups out there (I'm thinking of Zombie and Protest Warrior), at least we now have the ability to get the proverbial "Rest of the Story" out there, and to provide a different viewpoint from that of the established press, to which we can compare other coverage with. What this does do is continue to put pressure on the news agencies to be honest, and to be fair, and for that, I am truly thankful.

Bravo, Richard! Please do keep up the excellent work!